“J”…JUSTICE

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

 “E”…ENERGY

When you check out this blog’s timeless small business input archives with search window keywords, you’ll find a wealth of useful information and creative ideas for boosting sales, the economy, entrepreneurship, employee motivation and productivity, stress and time management, communication skills,  marketing and branding results and customer service, but not a whole lot of attention on the critical business success ingredient of ENERGY, so here goes:

~~~~~~~

ENERGY is mental and emotional

as well as physical.

It is easily spent and

 sometimes hard to muster.

Many of the dynamics and characteristics of energy apply equally to non-human energy sources and resources, but — here, we’re talking about your life in small business. So if you came here expecting some kind of eco-freak dissertation on Mr. Gore’s award-winning global warming hoax, you can delete and surf on!

Small business and professional practices demand never-ending energy management and infusion. So most small business owners and managers and professional practice principals are forever searching for new sources. “Where do you get it?” I’m often asked.

Well, it makes sense to “be,” as Thoreau once urged, “forever on the alert.” Small business energy. It’s not like it comes from cultivating some underground mine, or panning a streambed for nuggets, or plugging yourself into an outlet (yet!), and none of us want to play around with keys and kites in lightning storms. So, where do you get it?

Small business energy is extracted daily from passion for making your small business idea succeed. You don’t suck it out with a turkey baster or hypodermic needle. You simply direct your mind to reach inside of you and pull it up to the surface, or the front burner as some would say. Or let it just sit there and create mold.

Of course it can be stimulated by “outside” people, events, and circumstances, but it is born and raised inside your self (separated into two words on purpose). The secret is to recognize it, accept it, and nurture it. Hey, that’s great, you may say, but what’s the how-to part? What are the steps to make it work?

Sorry to have to be the messenger, but the only magic formula I’ve ever seen in many years of entrepreneuring work and writing and startups and coaching always comes back to the same reality ingredients: 

• Exercise regularly  

• Eat nutritiously

• Sleep enough

• Moderation in both eating and drinking

• No smoking or drugs

• Listen hard and talk little (take notes)

• Love your family

• Respect everyone you come in contact with every day

• Pray

Small business energy, an life energy of course as well –in fact ANY kind of energy– doesn’t happen or get channeled just because we wish for it. It’s all about nurturing your resources, constantly adjusting your attitude, and recognizing that every day and every night is a new opportunity to do the best that you can do.

Start with the next 86,400 seconds!

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts — 

“D”…DELEGATION

 Does it make a big difference if I tell you 

to do something . . . or ask you to do it?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Telling you what to do might work out fine in the military, or aboard a plane or boat, or operating heavy equipment . . . or if you’re a prisoner, a horse, or a Cocker Spaniel.

But, in business, unless you –the owner or manager– need to prompt cooperation with others to get a job done, the results you’ll trigger by giving directives cannot compare with the response you’ll get from making a request, which can be astonishing. And when was the last time you got great results from giving orders?

US President and General Dwight David Eisenhower taught his senior officers how to exercise leadership by pushing a tangle of string across a tabletop vs. taking one end and pulling it, which of course ended with the string in a straight line moving in a single direction, instead of a jumble going nowhere.

Yes, sincerity, genuineness, eye contact, backpats, your posture, tone of voice, and and smiles often make the difference. So does the reputation you carry for having integrity and authenticity — perhaps the two most important qualities an entrepreneur can have on the road to success.

And, interestingly, integrity and authenticity are ever too late to cultivate.

Well, okay, you know all that, but how far must you go with the “please” and “thank you” routine? Truth? You’ll never go far enough, and if it’s actually become “routine,” go back to your cave.

Here are a few treasured learnings I can share:

• Even when we think we know, little do we ever really know about what life circumstances will bring, and where we’ll end up with our businesses in the years ahead.

• I have seen discounted, dismissed, dissed and insulted employees turn up years later being the bosses of those who once humiliated and looked down on them.

• I have seen long-term top customers walk away from businesses in an instant after learning about relatives (a son, in one case) who worked for the provider business, unbeknownst to the boss, who were routinely berated, chastised, scolded, yelled at and wrongly blamed for screw-ups.

• I have personally watched businesses run by owners who were rude, constantly preoccupied, always angry, and routinely barking out orders . . . go down and under.

Do you –like the carpenter and heart surgeon– make a practice of measuring twice and cutting once? Do you think twice before speaking once?

Remember

you can delegate authority,

but you cannot delegate

responsibility.

Responsibility is yours alone.

When you ask peopleto get things done, asking nicely is not manipulation, it’s respect. Use words that inspire and that demonstrate your passion for your business: opportunity, challenge, reward, investment, courage, pride, workmanship, spirit, spunk, gumption (add your own) . . . the right words make your passion contagious.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0911

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts

“C”…

CUSTOMERS/CONSUMERS

CUSTOMERS and CONSUMERS. These are sometimes, but not always, one in the same.

You buy a can of beans; you cook and eat the beans; you are both the customer and the consumer. But, If I am 6-years-old and badger you to buy me Chocolate Tsunami Cookies because “They Make Waves When Dunked in Milk,” and you buy them and I eat them — then you are the customer and I am the consumer.

In that situation, we are very different people indeed, but the bottom line to the Chocolate Tsunami Cookie Company marketing people is that I, the consumer, have influenced your customer purchase.

The monster corporations out there have monster R&D departments bursting at the seams with monster (3, 6, 9, and 12-month long)  research projects, and are busily preparing monster evaluations, assessments, analyses, executive summaries, and follow-up surveys and studies to support the research findings.

Many of these undertakings are aimed at identifying (in the case of the Chocolate Tsunami brand) which 6-year-olds in which towns are watching which TV shows, and who are most likely to influence their parents (or the most lenient or susceptable parent) to purchase the cookie brand on the next shopping trip.

Oh, and do they have the parent’s email address?

Small business owners know better

than to waste such time and expense.

They make the cookies, sell the cookies, gather feedback from some kids and parents, adjust the manufacturing (or pricing, packaging, promotion) and sell them again. All the while the monsters have no product. They are still doing statistical analysis of adolescent sugar intake.

But too often small business owners direct their marketing messages to the buying customers when actual purchase decisions are being made by the ultimate consumers and/or other influencers. [Women, for example, purchase more wine, but men are almost always the ones who specify what type and brand to buy.]

Small business owners often overlook that different messages need to be directed to different market targets. Parents buying cookies that they are pleaded with to get by their children may require a bit more rationality attached to the emotional appeal that’s focused on persuading the children.

“Making Waves When Dunked in Milk” may be a cute line for something named Chocolate Tsunami Cookies. It could probably attract attention and create interest for any age.

While a child may, however, simply buy into the slogan– Mom or Dad need to know that the chocolate and flour used are organic, or that every purchase comes with free quart of milk or roll of paper towels . . . or that they will be the talk of the neighborhood because their kids are the only ones who can’t “make waves.” 

The bottom line is that by focusing marketing efforts on customers alone risks losing potential business that’s generated by ultimate consumers.

Using the same message in the same ways doesn’t do it. 

KEEP your branding theme and slogan, but address different interests with different language in different media whenever your customers and consumers are different in age or attitude or responsibility or capability.

A handicapped senior may have primary concerns about the safety and ease of use for a stair-lift, while the family making the arrangements may be more focused on price, insurance coverage, and service warranty. The best way to cover all your bases is to ask customers and consumers questions, and keep asking. And Listening!

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone

Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts

“B”…BRANDING

 Besides that you’ll find tips galore by clicking here or on the “BRANDING” tab at the top of this blog’s homepage, here are some seldom discussed points you may want to review that can put a new light on the subject. Here you go:

~~~~~~~

BRANDING is rarely thought of by many business owners and, it seems, by most of the general public, as being what it really is. Branding is a composite of all things related to a business product, service, or idea (or a cause or individual), and those who represent these saleables. All things? All things.

If you’re a business owner, manager, operator, partner, investor, or entrepreneur, YOU are the brand as much as any product, service, idea or platform you offer.

Simply stated, your actions, inactions, initiatives, attitude, behavior, beliefs, decisions, appearances –the WAYS you treat others every day– are as integrally woven into the fabric of your brand as your logo, theme, slogan, color scheme, marketing message, and “packaging.”

Like it or not — as head honcho, you have created or are carrying forward a specific parental posture that is constantly being evaluated and looked to for setting examples, offering advice, citing experience, expressing empathy, and fostering every conceivable aspect of effective leadership.

The problem is that you probably never counted on having to be both mother and father to assistants, associates, work teams, employees, consultants, partners . . . and carry your personal life family role along with you in your travels.

So how can you bring your maternal or paternal (or both) leadership role up to snuff when you really don’t care about nurturing other people’s idiosyncrasies? Well, here;s the bad news: The responsibility comes with the territory.

You cannot run any business bigger than a one-man-band with any measure of sustained success without exercising both passion (for what you represent) and compassion (for those you’re in contact with each day).

Does this mean you need to be a shrink, therapist, counselor? No, but you do need to be the parent because the business is your baby!

No one else (other than perhaps a spouse who shares the same values as you) can ever do the same justice to your enterprise that you can. No one else can sell your business message as effectively as you. No one else (other than –again– a spouse, and of course any investors) really cares about your bottom line.

It’s your job to be the leader and show people the way to feel empowered and rewarded for doing quality work on your behalf. You must bridge the gap. You must lead by example. People will rally to your mission and vision when you pull instead of push, when you show sincerity and honesty in all your dealings.

 Others are always watching what you do,

and listening to what you say,

measuring your integrity.

“All the world’s a stage,” said Shakespeare. Your spotlights are on and your curtain is up. Make the most of your business debut and all of your curtain-calls, along with every opportunity to polish your act. Have a great run!

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts

“A”… AUTHENTICITY

Not to worry. The other “A” subjects have been adequately addressed already. You can put Attitude and Action and Advertising and Addiction into the Search window and find ample applicati0ns. I have dealt with “Authenticity,” but not with such appropriate substance! So, here you go:

AUTHENTICITY is not just acting authentically –genuinely, realistically– but actually BEING authentic. Not just occasionally or periodically, or just with certain people. Being authentic means all the time, with every encounter, every day, from opening your eyes on the pillow, to closing your eyes on your pillow.

BAH! That’s not possible, you might think. Who, after all, can be genuine every waking minute of every day? We’re humans, you might argue. We’re inherently manipulative, devious, off-putting. It’s not like turning a water faucet on and off.

 What’s your AQ?

(Authenticity Quotient . . . is there such a thing?

Who knows? But pretend there is.

Make it what you want to be and keep reading!)

Hey, points well taken. But there ARE opportunities for each of us to do better than what we do. Part of that is attached to visualizing the payoff, and recognizing that increasing our Authenticity Quotient from –for instance– 30% to, say, 50%, has most of all to do with recognizing and accepting that authentic behavior is a choice!

[And, like smiling when you don’t feel like it has been proven to actually make you feel better,behaving in more authentic ways can actually help you BE more authentic.]                                 

Whats the ROI? How about a more fulfilling life, a more productive and rewarding business, strengthened relationships, and a head-over-shoulders reputation for being upstanding? You need a bigger carrot on the stick, a bigger pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

Does feeling better about yourself count?

Does  making a difference with your life count?

Ah, getting closer to your inner spirit and the heart of the matter?

Authenticity is seldom a birthright quality. It’s something we learn over years of observation, application of our gut instincts, and our interactions with others. So, start boosting your Authenticity Quotient by paying closer attention to saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

Ask those around you who you trust to tell you what animal or creature they associate most with you. And, VERY important to preserving your trust relationship, do not argue or rebuttal their responses. Take it in. Take it on the chin. Smile and thank each person you ask. Then start to process what you learn.

Do you get responses like Saint Bernard (perhaps because you’re always rescuing others?) or Shepard (because you’re always herding people together or team-building?), or how authentic do you think a snake or fox (or worm?) might suggest? Cats of every type and size are generally considered sneaky (and some, vicious).

Elephant could imply steadiness or dependability (or that you’re a Republican frontrunner). A donkey or mule could mean your stubbornness prevails. A new, eager-to-please puppy will be seen as more authentic than a snapping turtle, an alligator, a shark. You can imagine the rest.

Does this prove or disprove authenticity? Of course not, but it will give those who may be unsure about how them come accross to others, some clue about how they are perceived. And perceptions are facts! 

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Hal@Businessworks.US

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

 A LIVE CASE

OF LOST SALES

A major global service provider recently sent me a direct mail piece offering a $50 gift card for a retailer I frequent if I sign up for their online demo. Hey, this is a win-win-win, I said to myself. I like the service provider company and imagine doing business with them on behalf of some of my clients. I’m interested in their updated information.

The mailing piece suggested I reply by mail OR by phone or email. I called. The rep at first acted skeptical that I was a legitimate prospect (I don’t think I sounded like a freeloader!), but I convinced him otherwise and he proceeded to put my contact info in for the gift card and schedule a demo for me.

A few days later, I sat in on the demo and Q&A,

Three weeks passed, and a follow-up call from the rep prompted me to ask if, btw, there was some problem or delay with getting the gift card. He said he “had no control of the gift card delivery once the contact data was entered, but it shouldn’t be longer than 30 days fulfillment period.”

Another month later, after an additional follow-up phone message and two follow-up emails — and no gift card!–  I politely asked once more by email reply, underscoring my legitimate interest in doing business, about the $50 card. His response was that those cards were only for people who sat in on the demo, and did I still have the mailing piece.

As luck would have it, I did have the mailing piece in a file folder (along with 12 pages of the company’s service descriptions that I downloaded to share with clients) and emailed him with the mailing piece code number and the exact date of the demo, which I had jotted on the file. I politely asked again for the gift card.

I added the comment that “given the circumstances of not delivering on a promo promise– I am not feeling very confident in your company’s services.”

His response: “I did put in the request. I apologize for it taking longer than expected. But what does a promo gift card have to do with using our services? Don’t let a gift card get in the way of what we can offer your clients. (boldfacing mine)”

 Ah, but it   

DOES get in the way.

In fact, on the “Don’t” list —

Don’t Promise What You Can’t Deliver!

[Keep in mind that I never questioned legitimacy, or entertained any doubt about this company prior to this failure to honor a promotional deal — and the attitude that accompanied it.] 

The experience made me wonder how many others were deceived. I wonder if the company provides all the services it claims to provide. I wonder if the company thinks so little about $50, what its attitude would be about an invoice discrepancy with one of my clients (or whether they would pad their bill).

The experience made me wonder how true their performance is and whether any of their performance documentation is fudged (there would be very little way to know without hiring a detective). The services they deliver are not always tangible or identifiable. Neither do they always produce accountable results.

Does it strike you as odd that a business (with sales far beyond a hundred million dollars) whose performance is entrenched in trustworthiness, and in the interest of protecting their brand integrity, would balk at making good as promised on a $50 gift card promotional incentive? 

Do you see shreds of bad customer service here?

Or is it just me? 

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, 

and Clients and Patients

and Customers Too!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! As different as each creature may be from one another, all are considered equally dangerous, equally entrancing to watch, equally exciting to find in one’s camera lens, equally cuddly, equally threatening, equally enthralling. In other words, sometimes they can all fit the same category.

As marketing targets, it’s often all for one and one for all. Professional practices (doctors, lawyers, accountants, management consultants and trainers) are small businesses with special skills and special interests. They have clients and patients. But clients and patients are customers too. They just have special needs.

All this specialization stuff, however, makes little if any difference in marketing plans, targets, approaches, strategies, or branding programs. Perceived differences matter only to professional practice principals. No one else cares. The bottom line is that we each spend our money to get a product or service.

And each of us wants to know:

“What’s in it for me?”

Whether a product or service is life-saving or life-threatening has nothing to do with whether a client or patient is considered a client or patient — or customer. All that matters is product or service performance, and the integrity and authenticity of the person(s) representing or standing behind the product or services purchased.

The issue, say some, revolves around the concept and delivery of “high trust” vs. “low-trust.” Marketing people will be quick to recite the five criteria of effective programs, campaigns, and messages. Regardless of what name is used to define a target market (customers, clients, or patients), marketing must:

1)  Attract Attention

2)  Create Interest

3)  Stimulate Desire

4)  Bring About Action

5)  Provide Satisfaction

. . . and it really must do ALL of these to be effective.

On top of that, the rule of thumb applies to ALL FORMS of marketing — print, broadcast and outdoor advertising; sales; public (industrial, professional and community) relations; promotion; merchandising; pricing; packaging; labeling; website content; social media content ; business and appointment cards; stationery and invoices.

It applies as well to direct mail, bumper stickers and building signage, plus a hundred other uses. It applies to branding themes, logos, and jingles as well as trade and professional show banners and exhibits.

When you want to know how your business or practice is coming across to others, ask. Measure people’s responses and each marketing implementation against the five criteria.

If you’re looking for prime examples of marketing that fails because it fails to deliver all five criteria, you need go no farther than your local hospital. Hospitals breed marketing mediocrity because they refuse to spend money on outsourced creative services and convince themselves they can handle it all in-house!

Most professional practices seem to think in similar terms. The problem is that their products and services are justifiably more expensive than the local coffee shop and must carry messages that appeal to a higher level of audience needs, but that doesn’t eliminate the need to trigger emotional buying motives.

Sophisticated products and services are not sold with dumb slogans or rational, logical appeals that push features instead of benefits. Humans are humans are humans. Market from the heart. Market benefits! Pay attention to corporate advertising for Mercedes Benz.

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Hal@Businessworks.US     931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Success seldom surfaces

when creative service

providers are squashed

. . . or does it? 

Show me a writer or designer who thrives on being torturously pushed and prodded to stressful deadlines, and I’ll show you someone who is likely to be a do-nothing PR agent or brain-dead news media person, but don’t expect to find great advertisers, marketers or creative service people thrive in angst-ridden  pandemonium.

With rare exception, creative development work that’s “rushed” breeds mediocrity (and costs more, which makes the engager a double loser!). Truly remarkable talent, it is said by many, is born of free spirit, and ample time.

Do I know exceptions? Plenty. But exceptional creativity is the product of unconstrained imagination and self-discipline. The exceptions I know –ah, including myself (!)– coulda/shoulda/woulda produced more outstanding creations if they’d (we’d) not been pushed, prodded, intimidated, threatened, and time-pressured.

My best writing has surfaced during both

great duress and great relaxation. So

maybe the rule is an exception?

My national boo0k award effort was done at my leisure. Its underperforming predecessor took two years under pressing deadlines. My worst book was written under crushing due dates. My best book –now almost ready to market– was ten years on the drawing board. My best award-winning jingle was done in one all-nighter.

My worst ad campaign took six months to research and justify and another six months to finalize and launch. My national award-winning, record-sales marketing program took three months start to finish. I have a future award-winning children’s book series ready to launch after 40 years in hiding.

And only heaven knows how many hundreds of new business startups have benefited by my rushing attacks on their website content, news releases, packaging, media positioning, and strategic planning. Yet the most successful, sales-productive efforts I have made have come only with major investments of time.

The trouble is that upstart business owners want what they want when they want it and time is not a worthy commodity to offer when they’re sitting on a hot idea and investor dollars.

Neither patience nor perfectionism has ever been a trait of entrepreneurs.

Neither has analysis, which is typically the province of corporate muckity-mucks. 

Okay, so knocking this subject all over doesn’t settle the issue of business time pressures and the creative product. That, however, is the issue. Pushing and prodding and time-pressuring creative people may not always produce the best or most productive work, but it gets the job done.

Depending on circumstances and the marketplace and the economy (and who can depend on the economy?), a judgement must be made about whether you want to win awards or customers. Without a lot of room for awards on the walls of a crushing economy, the bottom line should be to insist on results, not pretty words and pictures.

Design awards only produce sales for designers. Copywriting awards only produce sales for copywriters. You can stop paying for your creative service providers to get more sales by putting some heat on their abilities to perform for you, the client.

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Turning prospects

into customers

means leading

with your soul

. . . not your mouth.

Not a whole lot happening with accounts receivable, eh? Welcome to the cusp of The Great Obama Depression. As many business owners keep stumbling along, muttering to themselves that they’ll vote for the Aflac Duck if he can beat Obama (and, hey, who knows?), many others have given up wallowing in self-pity, in favor of enlightenment.

What exactly does this mean? There’s a new found awareness that prospects are not whipping out their wallets just because you tell them how great you are or how great they are, or just because you map out all the logical, rational features of your products and services.

People have not stopped buying with their emotions just because incompetent government, union thugs, and big corporations are heartless and have no clue about how to create real jobs, and really restore our economy.  

Every purchase

–including those that 

seem most rational–

is emotionally triggered.

It’s human nature to want to be sold, to want to have someone show you how what you want is what you need. But you can’t accomplish this with the words you say anywhere near as effectively as you can with the actiojns you take. As a writer, I hate to admit that, but words can only lead someone to your door. Actions make the sale.

What kinds of actions? Authentic ones. Sincere ones. Actions grounded in genuineness vs. sound bites and photo ops and slaps on the back. It’s called “leading with your soul” which means that when you effectively put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and see things from the prospect’s perspective, you are practicing empathy. Empathy sells.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?  When you buy something from a sales representative, odds are overwhelmingly in favor of you actually buying into the rep’s attitude. And, in fact, the more you keep hearing kiss-up statements, the less interested you become in purchasing, at least from that platitude attitude. Instead, you go down the street!

Who needs a salesperson filled with pandering, patronizing remarks and preoccupied with ticking off product or service features? You want someone to show you passion and conviction and authenticity.

You need only to have

an emotional buying motive

trigger pulled to justify your

wallet on the counter or

your pen on the dotted line.

So surely you don’t think you’re any different because you own or run a business? That’s exactly the point. You ARE no different. Everyone is unique, yet we are also all predictable when it comes to what happens psychologically when we make a purchase. Our egos get pumped up. Even a can of beans is an emotional purchase.

Emotional buying motives are ignited by exceptional and sincere service and by positive (and contagious) attitudes. So, how do you think you come across to prospects? When did you last ask one? Is your ego keeping you from learning more about yourself and what it takes to be enlightened and exuberant?

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!