Author Archive
Recession-Inspired Smart Changes to Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsI just want to be done hearing about – and living – this recession. All of the analogies, comparisons, sound bites, and talk. Most of the firms I know are getting down to business, marketing and focusing on their target market of prospects. But it is true that the recession is still here and there continues to be stories of businesses folding or becoming unrecognizable in terms of staff, clients and success. One of the most successful individuals I had the privilege to know was a top financial advisor for many years – one of the best in the nation. But the recession has been exceptionally hard on him. It causes a few conclusions and lessons: 1. Success is fleeting. 2. Change is necessary. 3. Testing new ideas is a critical task so that time/money is not wasted. 4. Having the right staff in place is critical in moving forward.
Ultimately, today we have to get more quantitative. If what we are doing is not getting tangible RESULTS, we have to make a change. Firms that have come through are doing a few things differently and better than ever before. Here are some of their smart and simple activities:
Why do clients really leave you? It may not be what you think…
Posted by: | CommentsBlog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing
When a client is upset with you…when your spouse is angry at you…when your teenager is ranting about some way you’ve wronged her again… it very often is not what it appears to be. Yet, in our attempt to minimize conflict, we immediately react to the outburst and attempt to fix the problem they describe. But often, the outburst is just the surface wound, there is much more beneath the surface that needs to be tended to first if we ever expect to properly repair the problem.
People get upset. We are not perfect, and sometimes our emotions take hold. These are facts of life.
But what I have learned from analyzing specific negative interactions between financial advisors and their clients is that a lot of the time, if not most of the time, when a client gets irrationally upset, the problem isn’t really the problem they are reacting to. It’s the series of things that lead up to it.
A Picture Says 1,000 Words – Especially on The Internet
Posted by: | CommentsIf a picture of you appears on Facebook or somewhere else on the Internet, it is likely that just about anyone can see it if they search for you. Right now there is a Facebook application called Photo Finder, powered by Face.com. It uses facial recognition and social connections software to locate a photo of someone – even if it wasn’t identified by name (tagged). You want you and your business to be searchable, but are we becoming too searchable on the web?
According to the exceptionally insightful article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (July 25, 2010), as facial recognition software becomes more sophisticated, people will be able to find any picture of you located anywhere on the Internet. Someone could simply take a picture of you with a cell phone, plug the image into Google, and pull up all photos (whether identified or not) of you that are on the Internet. Yikes. What about that fun neighborhood party last weekend where a bunch of adults were swimming… yeah, better not put those on Facebook…
Do You Have a “Reputation?”
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I was growing up, we wanted to avoid being someone with a “reputation.” Today, we want a reputation, but we need it to be positive. However, maintaining one’s reputation is getting harder and harder. As social media and social networking sites continue to flourish, the power of the individual voice is growing greatly. We have to protect our reputations, and have someone (it’s probably you) that is fully in charge of managing our online reputation. It may seem insignificant now, but new things on the horizon will make this a part of any businessperson’s life.
According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (Sunday, July 25, 2010), in the near future, people will be rated on reputation (trustworthy, good parent, good insurance risk, etc), similar to the credit report rating services of today.
There are services now that can aggregate information about people from the Internet and social networks. Not your private information like social security or credit card information, but information that is readily available: the movies you like, books you read, search terms you use, blog posts you write, videos you post/watch on YouTube, and people you follow. These reputation and trustworthy ratings could eventually be used to determine employability and other factors. And it can be incredibly positive or incredibly detrimental to your career.
Successful Marketing Strategies for The Job Seekers
Posted by: | CommentsI have several friends who recently found themselves in the market for a new job – and, fortunately, have successfully landed another job. Watching them through the process, I’ve concluded that finding a job in today’s job market can be like conquering a new frontier – and not just because the job market is flooded with stiff competition. The days of mailing in your resume and receiving a phone call to set up an interview are over. It’s actually very similar to the changes that have been happening in marketing your business. If you want someone to notice you, your business, or your product or service, you can’t do things the same old way. Today, searching for most everything from a new job to a new refrigerator begins – and sometimes ends – online.
Now you need much more than just an experience-filled resume, a cover letter and crossed fingers to land a great job. In order to get noticed, you need to think like a marketer. It requires looking at yourself as a brand that needs to literally grab attention.
Here are 3 quick tips I learned from my friends who went from under-employed to gainfully employed.
Are Your Client Delight Efforts Misplaced?
Posted by: | CommentsI have spent many years speaking about the concept of creating an exceptional client experience. I even have the term, “Client Delight” trademarked because of the educational materials I have created around this topic. But recently, I read something in Harvard Business Review (July-Aug 2010) that made me change my thinking on this topic, quite drastically actually. The article, “Stop Trying To Delight Your Customers,” makes a case that to really win a client’s loyalty, you need to forget the bells and whistles and just solve their problems. In essence, solving their problems efficiently IS the experience. And it is where loyalty comes from. Doing an excellent job of delivering on a promise of standard, expected, and basic service, according to the article, is much better than trying to over-deliver.
The reason: firms rarely can pull off the over the top, unbelievable and unexpected client service that delights. And, most companies lose clients by underperforming on the basic service tenants. So where should we concentrate our efforts?
Here are some shocking statistics from the research:
The Customer Contact Council, a division of the Corporate Executive Board, conducted a study of more than 75,000 people who had interacted with service departments at companies. Here are some key findings:
Generic Answers Lead to Lost Opportunities
Posted by: | CommentsIf you find yourself constantly resorting to generic answers when people ask you questions about yourself – it’s time to rethink your approach. We can so often drift through our day, not even seeing the opportunities in the conversations with others. From the simplest Hey, how are you? to the more complex questions you are asked throughout your work day – how often do you take time to answer the questions fully?
Many try to get by answering in as few words as possible, but in a world where relationships are a key to success, I’m not sure this approach is really helping.
A critical question we so often shy away from giving a powerful answer to, one that can open doors to a world of opportunity, is: What do you do?
I have heard even the most seasoned professionals use the old standard, black and white description of their business. As an example: “I am a financial advisor.” Although you are concisely stating exactly what you do for the person that asked, you are also opening the door for all of the stereotypes and preconceived notions they associate with that title or profession. For many, you would be tossed into the broad category of salesmen and forgotten in their minds. Simply said – the real benefits are being left open to hope (I sure hope they know what a financial advisor does). But in order for action, they must WANT what you have (and it’s your job to make them want it).
People ARE listening! The question is – Are you saying anything worth hearing?
Posted by: | CommentsFrom years of experience, I’ve learned that if I leave a voicemail message for my husband, I have to get to the compelling and important information at the beginning of the message. If I leave it for the end, he never really makes it there. He begins doing something I call “light listening” (i.e. He’s bored with his own wife’s rambling message and can barely pay attention).
How are your voicemail messages? How about your email communications? Are you communicating something compelling that is short and concise? Does it give anything of value? Or are you becoming a victim of “light listening” as you fail to get to any point in a timely manner?
A serial entrepreneur I’ve worked with, who seems to turn most everything he touches into gold, told me his secret to communicating well on the phone. He told me he writes out the voicemail message before he makes a phone call. And he does it before just about every call he makes. Then, if he has to leave a voicemail, he is ready. And, if he speaks live to the person that he’s calling, he is much more prepared. It is especially important when talking with a prospect, a strategic alliance connection, or a networking contact. Because if you don’t give them your best, you have left them with a lasting message that may have them questioning you and your abilities (it happens)!
