In times like these, it might feel like we’re in a business “famine” – so it’s more important than ever to look for the bright spots and good news stories.
In Chip and Dan Heath’s best-selling book written over a decade ago, Switch, How to Change When Change is Hard, they talk about looking for bright spots. And there’s one real story in the book I want to highlight:
Navigating relationships in business is never easy, especially when you reach a point where you have outgrown a relationship with someone.
When this happens, it feels awkward and uncomfortable and often, it’s much easier to just stick your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.
When you start to attain higher levels of success in your business, and you start to expand your ideas around what works for you, some of the people you originally worked with may no longer fit your model.
Do you ever wonder why coaches hire coaches? Or wealthy people hire financial advisors? Or social media consultants hire other consultants?
People hire other people to help them do what they already know how to do for one big reason and it is the difference between getting slow or fast RESULTS.
Curious? And no… I am not asking you to hire me. That’s not what this is all about.
You know what to do already.
That isn’t the problem.
The problem is rationalization and procrastination, both of which take you away from doing exactly what you know you should do. It could also be a lack of confidence that is causing you to doubt yourself and that’s why you haven’t taken MORE action.
The MAIN reason you HIRE someone to help you is to get from point A to point B in the shortest period of time so that you can get RESULTS faster.
You want to save yourself time, effort, possible failure, and you want to get results faster.
For example, you wouldn’t hire someone who is broke to teach you how to make money. You hire someone who has a proven track record making money so they can show you exactly how they did it so you can FAST-TRACK your own results.
That’s the ONLY reason to hire someone.
Let’s look at sales for example.
You should hire an objective person who is not caught up in day-to-day office politics, who doesn’t buy into the rationalization in your head, and who will help you to roll up your sleeves and get it done because getting it done means getting results faster.
They will encourage and CHAMPION you to get the sale and help you recover when you get a no.
Uber successful people hire others to help them do what they know how to do better and faster. Selling is a skill and for most small businesses, is typically the biggest gap that exists inside of your business.
This is a gap because YOU are the ONLY person really responsible for sales.
If you worked for a big corporation you would most likely have a Sales Manager or a VP of sales who would help you strategize and figure out the best game plan to get RESULTS.
You hire someone to help you do this when you are self-employed because it works on any scale whether small business or giant corporation.
In The Sales Pilot segment of the Pilot To Profit Program one of the things you will learn how to do is change your whole mindset around sales and money. You will learn a step-by-step system that you can follow for selling. You will be challenged to sell more than you have ever sold before and to share your results with the other members of the program.
For a small investment, you could literally change the course of your results in less than two months.
The stats are in and I think you may want to know the startling truth about the number of companies who have a Social Media Policy.
Most organizations have all kinds of documentation on expectations, culture, service, policies and procedures in place to set their team up for success.
What about when it comes to how employees represent your business online. Have you thought about that yet?
2013 is just around the corner: watch this video and add this to your priority list if you haven’t done so already. I’ve done this work with with my clients — it’s time for you to do it for your team.
I recently had a conversation with a client of mine about Social Media and what it meant to build an online platform and we got to discussing the role of a leader. It occurred to me that most of us do not think of ourselves in term of leadership when it comes to social media.
We get caught up in the day-to-day tactics, and if we are entrepreneurs, the last thing to cross our radar is that our leadership skills are out there in public view for the world to see when it comes to Social Media.
When you work for a corporation all you hear about are leadership skills. It is your leadership skills that have a direct impact on the results of the organization.
You lead people. People take inspired action. Action generates results.
In the absence of leadership most people do not do what they are really capable of. That is why so many people suffer from time management challenges — it’s really not a time management issue, it’s a self-management issue, and well that my friends is our ability to lead ourselves.
Now let’s talk about Social Media.
You have an opportunity to lead a group of people in the Social space, in your industry yet most of the time people are more concerned with the tactics of how to get it all done and have not taken the time to think about how their leadership translates through what they are doing.
When I think of leadership, I think of values, character, integrity, passion and an ability to inspire and move others. What do you think of?
When I think of those things and I ask myself, am I acting in my highest self when it comes to how I demonstrate leadership through Social Media the answer is no.
I don’t think I am the worst leader out there but I also don’t think I have been conscious enough about how I want to be perceived in that role.
This is new territory for many of us and unlike the corporate world — you are never going to be crowned “Leader” on Social Media. It is a position you have to assume, it is a skill you have to demonstrate and the measurement of success will be seen by the influence and goodwill you build through your community.
This week I want you to ask yourself two questions:
1. How do I want to be perceived as a leader when it comes to my behavior on Social Media?
2. What is one thing I can do differently to “up my game” online?
For me, owning my leadership is an important part of taking action. I know that leaders are human, they make mistakes and they can be pretty incredible human beings. I have been blessed to work with some incredible leaders in my life and I have decided to “own my role” when it comes to leadership online.
There is no application process, there is no hiring committee. Anyone can apply for the job and can do a great job of leading their audience, adding value, demonstrating integrity and walking their talk.
I am putting a stake in the ground and choosing to approach all that I do from a leadership paradigm from now on and to be honest — yes it feels a bit scary to write this down and state it so publicly. What if I mess up? What if people criticize me? What if they compare me to others?
Isn’t that what happens anytime we are about to embark on something great? Fear creeps in and tries to stop us. Well I say forget fear, let’s do it anyway. I really wanted to say something else but my new leader requires me to use nicer language 😉
Here is the official memo from me to you:
On my way to the eWomenNetwork Conference on Sunday, I sat next to a top level executive who works in investment banking. Our conversation quickly turned to Social Media and how it can make or break a job offer, and gain or repel your next client. I had an epiphany when we were talking that I absolutely had to share with you–just in case you might be doing this.
You can’t afford to miss what I am about to share with you–I mean it. I want you to keep your customers and get your next job, no questions asked.
Are you with me?
Do you remember your first car?
Mine was a Chevrolet Chevette. It was red, it was old, it was ugly, and I wrecked it by driving too fast, losing control, and submerging it in a pond when I was 19. Back then, I had very little appreciation for cars, speed, or safety and to be frank, I am lucky my desire to drive fast did not harm me or someone else!
Later that same year, I got transferred to Mississauga to work at Square One for Fredelle Shoes as the Assistant Manager and because they thought I was a big shot (not really) I got to spend a month at the Novatel Hotel for free while I searched for a place to live. Every night I would walk back to the hotel from the shopping centre and I would see this black Mercedes and I always thought… some day.
Fast forward 23 years and the time has come for me to get my own. I picked up that car on Tuesday and I was struck by the experience that Mercedes creates for their clients. Yes it is a luxury product but I have bought other luxury items with far less appreciation for my business.
There are 14 little things that they did that really impressed me overall. I think there is much to be learned as business owners from this experience as every time you interact with a client or a potential client you are creating the experience of your business.
Each one of these things on its own might not be a huge deal but when you combine them all together and couple that with my desire to drive a Mercedes since the tender age of 19, they made quite the experience for me.
What can you learn from this in your business?
Do you pay attention to the details?
We all need to pay attention to the details, every one of them in our business because it is the details that create the experience. It is the experience that creates the word of mouth marketing, and in this case, world of mouth marketing because I have already shared the pictures of my new car everywhere I can think of!
I’d like to thank Leslie Mise, the Sales Manager at Ogilvie Motors Mercedes Benz for fantastic service!
This weekend a Radiohead drum tech lost his life in a tragic stage accident. His name was Scott Johnson and I would first and foremost like to offer my sincere condolences to his family for this loss.
This accident sparked a lot of conversation and debate online in the Social Media space due to a couple of things which happened that maybe shouldn’t have.
Live Nation Ontario, the concert promoter, tweeted to inform people that the show had been cancelled. Then, half an hour later, a scheduled tweet showed up, encouraging people to share their photos from the concert. That was when Twitter became a flurry of activity. UnMarketing wrote a blog with all the details here.
Live Nation Ontario is being widely criticized on two fronts:
First, they scheduled a tweet and then someone forgot to edit the scheduled tweet after the accident took place. Once they realized what had happened, they deleted the tweet. Then, Live Nation Ontario failed to address the error in sensitivity.
The second issue people were complaining about was how Radiohead expressed themselves on Twitter. Someone died (at this point the public did not know who) and they tweeted “Due to unforeseen circumstances tonight’s at downsview park tonight has been cancelled. Fans are advised not to make their way to the venue.”
This was seen as insensitive because they failed to offer condolences on a life lost and many immediately complained about it on Twitter.
Seeing this, it struck me that, as a society, we might be expecting too much perfection from individuals who are trying to do the best they can. And, if you take the time to step back and analyze the whole picture, I think you just might agree.
While not an excuse for insensitive posts, Radiohead had only tweeted 87 times prior to this tragedy. I am actually a bit surprised that they Tweeted about it at all.
And while some may say, this was the official response from the band and you shouldn’t use Social Media if you aren’t going to use it “correctly” – I say “define correctly”. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on the definition of what is “correct” in Social Media. Personally, I believe that Tweeting about the death of someone in attendance at a concert (especially when it isn’t known who or how severely others are injured) could be seen as insensitive.
Live Nation Ontario was trying to be proactive and, in the face of tragedy, screwed up. There is no rule book that says, “when you schedule a tweet and there is an accident and someone dies, you must log into Hootesuite and remove all scheduled tweets.” Yes, it was unfortunate, but it was an oversight. I would hope that their minds were more concerned with what was actually happening and the well being of those in attendance rather than “what do we have in our scheduled Tweets?”
There is also no law that says scheduling tweets is a crime. I know that many in the industry think it’s bad business, but at times it just makes sense. And this is one of those situations. Live Nation handles thousands of events each year. It makes perfect sense that they would schedule some Tweets in anticipation of those events. I would go so far as to say it’s “good business”.
No one can see the future and you can’t plan every single aspect of your marketing around every possible scenario that could take place. No matter who you are, big or small, you can only do so much and you (or the person Tweeting for your company) are human.
Dealing with these types of situations is new to all of us. Public scrutiny and backlash in these situations can, unfortunately, create more fear around doing Social Media the “wrong way” rather than more openness to doing Social Media to begin with.
I had a great conversation on Twitter with Hendrik Pape about this and he was the one who said “Social media is judge, jury and executioner”. He also raised some very great points about companies owning up when they make a mistake, silence should never be an option. He said “Even experienced hikers hire guides guides for unfamiliar territory, Social Media may be easy, but it has it’s risks too.”
While I completely agree with Hendrik, I am not certain that all crimes deserve the same punishment. I think we need to cut people some slack.
The problem with social media is, every action or inaction is documented and readily available for criticism. Once the criticism starts it sort of feels like you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
We must all remember that situations like this are the exception not the norm.
What’s your take?
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