Zane Safrit

Highlights from My Talk with Jeanne Bliss, author of I Love You More than My Dog

Customer service is the new marketing. Finally. After all the billions spent on pretty ads and colorful websites, after the hours spent on free social media sites, making friends with folks you haven’t spoke with since what...grade school? (And we remember the reasons for that...) after getting lean and six sigma’d...we remember the C words in business:

• Customers.
• Customers bring Cash.
• Customers bring Cash and other Customers... if we serve them.

Otherwise, a business is just a...Commodity.

Ultimately the only way to compete is to...Provide Wildly Wonderful Customer Service.

How do you serve customers?

I think it’s relatively simple. Make the customer happy.

How tough is that? Judging from our economy, very. Despite the tens of thousands of books on customer service, most businesses see it as very tough.

Fortunately, we have Jeanne Bliss. Jeanne Bliss is a passionate proponent of well, customers and providing for their bliss. In fact, the URL for her website is www.customerbliss.com.

And she’s just written a great, great, book titled I Love You More than My Dog: 5 Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad. (And she’s provided me with 10 copies to give away free for anyone. Let me know you want one in the comments here, include your email (kept private) I’ll send you yours.)

It is one of the best books on customer service, well, business really, I’ve read.

She was a guest recently on my radio show. We talked about serving customers, her book and the 5 decisions your business needs to make to better serve your customers, case studies of companies who have made those decisions, how she helps companies...and more. You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Your book is the best. Seriously. But I have a complaint. It’s too easy to put down. In fact, I’m compelled to put it down to either note what you’ve written, or start scribbling in my notebook or writing a post from all the examples and anecdotes and research you’ve included. I’ve read it every day for 2-3 weeks and I’ve covered maybe 25 pages.

Now. Let’s talk about the title. I LOVE it. How and why did you come up with that title?

My book's publishers at Portfolio are masters at titling. I was thinking of boring things and they gave me the title.

Erika Andersen, in her book Being Strategic, coined the phrase reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal. What was your reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal in writing this book?

What I wanted to show was what goes on behind the scenes what enables these companies when there is a fork in the road to move in the direction of their employees and customers and what makes them beloved.

I think the word beloved is very powerful. They are loved for who they are. They are a force in their customer’s lives. They cannot imagine their life without them or their employees. They make purposeful decisions to get there.

I wanted to show readers that you too can get there. It is about how you direct your decisions. You have a choice. People become what they become because they are not united. There is not a clear lens to which decisions are made.

Companies don’t know what pushes the customer’s YES button. It is discipline, process and delivery. It is not a casual thing. Successful companies, companies I profiled, will stay up at night working on the YES button for their customers.

If you haven’t been there in a company like this, you may not understand it. It is very elusive. My intent here was to get behind the elusiveness.

Where is the gap that makes it so elusive?

It comes from 2 things.

In a large company it is the agenda. They all have their own score cards to do their own thing. Executing on a particular discipline – their own goals, sometimes it happens accidentally.

The second thing is that we are quarterly inclined and we can’t see past the goal to understand that many of these decisions that will earn the right long term to be beloved and being prosperous, won’t happen in a quarter.

The lack of the ability to be patient gets in our way.

I hate customer personas as a tool. But, what’s the perfect reader persona for your book?

I think anybody in a company can find a voice in the book. It is not a one size fits all. It is a personal journey. The decisions are about how to conduct yourself as an individual and as a collection of individuals to represent yourself to your customers and employees who you are and what you value.

I’d say anyone who cares to find a simple, true, sustainable strategy that’s cash-flow friendly...should read this book. Titles are irrelevant.

Are customers really, really, loyal any more?

I think they are loyal to the brands that are loyal to them in the way they conduct their business, in the way they honor their customer, in the way they understand their customer’s lives and the way they honor their employees.

What is on the inside shows up on the outside and customer’s have a great 6th sense and can sniff out impostors.

It is about the personalization about the company. You must create that personal connection and this is earned!! Your customers are the ones that will speak for you.

The honesty and integrity of the customer’s words are what is important and what is happening today.

Why don’t companies listen to their customers?

I think that the customers going out on the internet today is important and when they rant, that is related to revenue. Each of those rants is a lot of revenue – either come here or not to the business.

They may be listening but making the process and the changes are much harder than people expect. We need a collaborative environment to solve problems. Small and medium businesses can do this. It is difficult for larger companies.

16:25

We are so wired to solute the flag of our score card that it gets in the way of putting some of those things aside to solve the real problem.

What are the 5 decisions that drive extreme customer loyalty in good times and bad?

1. Decide to Believe. Believe in your customers and your employees.

2. Decide with Clarity of Purpose. What is your company's purpose? Does it live consistently across your company.

3. Decide to Be Real. Do you connect your personal self with your business self?

4. Decide to Be There. Are your there for your customers and employees on their terms?

5. Decide to Say "Sorry". Apologizing well is an important peace process between companies and their customers.

What is the best case study for Decide to Believe?

The one for a small bicycle shop in connecticut, Zane's Cycles. They decided to believe their customers who come in the door that they have never seen before and want to take a bike for a test drive. They have bikes for $6,000 each. You can take this bike out for a test ride with no collateral. And out of 4,000 bikes sold each year, only 5 are stolen. That religion of believing permeates the business. They know this buyer will spend over $12K over their lifetime. They sell $13 million each year. Their annual growth rate is over 20% for the past 25 years.

What is the best example of Decide with Clarity.

Griffin Hospital in CT. They are a small regional hospital in CT. About 15 years or so ago, they were the hospital that most families and patients would avoid. They committed to change –to create an experience to change what they wanted to deliver. They had such great clarity on creating an embracing experience to hug their patients and families. They have had enormous financial results. Their growth rate is 3 times the rate of other CT hospitals.

What made Griffin Hospital wake up?

They realized that no one wanted to go back there, people were avoiding them. They had an event. That event was that fewer and fewer customers were coming in. Surveys, comments and patients who did not come back, told them.

Where in our corporate lives did we decide to be someone we are not?

I think it starts back in English class when we are taught how to write a corporate letter.

I think it is the corporate ego!! We get so busy and let it go the way of the generic cut and paste, not thinking of what our personality is.

How many companies really do have a personality? One that we know? We gravitate too?

We are not robots. Each of these 5 decisions goes back to clarity. If you are clear on what your higher purpose is and what your personality is, you have a much clearer idea when you go out and select employees to be part of your company. You need to know these things. It is not just filling a slot.

Each of these decisions seems fairly straight forward and obvious. For small business, definitely. Why and how does it become so complicated?

I think I have a 2-step plan for businesses to find their way home.

Obviously, the first step is get a copy and read your book. Ok. Check. You’ve done that with your offer of free copies.

But now they’re paralyzed by even a choice of 5 decisions.

So, the second step is which decision is the most important. If they can only execute one, and execute it really well, which is the one?

You need to believe. Belief is the cornerstone of these companies. By deciding to believe, they free their employees from the extra rules and inability to think on their feet, which translates directly to customers. It is fundamental to becoming beloved and prosperous.

Many customers feel as though the companies are holding something back. You need to suspend the cynicism and believe in both your employees and your customer. The key: believing and enabling belief, then create an environment of belief.

32:50

Trader Joe’s. You profile them in your book and you wrote a great blog post about them as well. What do they do that inspires such admiration in you and devotion by their fans?

They are an adventure in eating!! They create an experience for the customer. They obsess about each moment of interaction with the customer. They want to leave you with a great memory before you leave the store.

That tiny step of trying to remove the pinging noise in the checkout lines is so simple, yet so important. Why? Why’s it reflect Trader Joe’s commitment to customers?

This is about clarity and the purpose in your customer’s lives and what you want to mean to them, it drives that obsession. You want to remove any and every thing that interferes with the customer experience. The pinging sound interrupted customers talking with each other.

ROI. Let’s talk about return on investment from these decisions. It’s pretty high isn’t it?

Most of the company’s revenue in the book did not go down in 2008. Many of them grew in this apocalyptic time.

44:14

One thing I noticed is the relative modest amounts of cash required with any of these decisions. And when that amount is compared to an ad campaign...

Many of these companies grow organically and do very simple things to show they care, are interested and believe. It is not about chasing the silver bullet – it is about hard work.

Speaking of bright and shiny, what’s your thoughts on the elephant in the room, social media. What’s its role in providing customer service?

This is the newest thing – it is important. You must understand what is ailing them and what they need. You need to listen to them in a natural way. You must realize you must earn the rave.

Listening to customer feedback includes a variety of things: surveys.

You have employees who are talking to customers: believe what they say.

Then combine that with the stuff your customers are telling you in Social Media, in a real time simple way to fix what is broken, as well as giving you cues of where to take your experience to the next level.

It is part of an overall strategy. You must believe in the words of your customers.

It is not a campaign; it is a place for a trusted conversation. If you believe your employees and your customers, they will believe that you are open to speaking with them.

Let’s say we talk again next year. I hope we do. What will be the biggest sign that businesses have come out of their own wilderness to find customers waiting loyally for their return?

I think it is these:

Customers are talking about you in a positive manner; you will know about it in many forms of media, not just social media.

Customers are going to be purchasing more. You will see less turnover in your business if you do these things.

Customers will become the army that grows your business.

Where can people follow you on the web?

* Website

* Twitter

Thanks, Jeanne!

Upcoming Radio Guest: Pam Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation

Yes! Pam Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, joins the show Wednesday, October 21, at 9:30 AM, Central.

There are any number of reasons for delight: mine and yours.

* Pam's a great speaker.

* Pam's a great writer.

* Pam's on a mission to help more people connect their passion, their strengths, their talents with a purpose that brings meaning to everyones lives they touch.

I met Pam last year at the Author's PowWow conference sponsored by 800CEORead. Todd Sattersten, the CEO for 800CEORead was the host, the great host I might add. And Pam and I were attendees. Pam and I spoke a little bit at an evening reception and then again at dinner the next night. I'd never read her blog, never heard of her. ( Full disclosure: she'd never heard of me, either.) I came away thinking...who is this person who is collected, focused, alert, with an incredible life journey, someone who can survive in corporate environs, but then be a rebel at heart and keep that heart alive so when it's time to break free...she can and has and now shares what's she learned on her journey.

Now, her book is hugely successful, as it should be. Her audience has gone global. Her workshops with the book generate rave reviews and evangelists for her message and resources.We'll talk about all that, her journey this past year and what you can do to plan your Escape from Cubicle Nation.

She joins us Wednesday, October 21, at 9:30 AM, Central.

You have two options to listen:

LIVE

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

2. Call in live. Call 646-915-9212 during the show 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, Central.

ARCHIVED

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Radio Show Guest: David Pogue, NY Times Technology Columnist

David Pogue, the Technology Columnist for the NY Times joins me tomorrow at 9:30 AM, Central, to talk about...technology. And, how we met...online.

It's a sordid story. It involves a book, an author, a man, an idea, an editor, Twitter, Twits, Tweets, a blog post, email (email?!?!), an author surrogate in the form of an excellent book agent and 25,000 members of the Twitter community, and a lucky crew of 2500+ co-authors . It uses (abuses) bandwidth and eyeballs, viewers and followers, mouses and monitors...

 The book is The World According to Twitter. The Twits were the followers of David Pogue who Twittered answers to his daily questions posed on Twitter. 25,000 tweets were sent in response. And 2500 were approved for inclusion in the aforementioned book. And he's off and running with releases and editors, a book agent who thought I might want to read his book.

Turns out she was right. I loved the book! And I blogged a review of it. . And, David Pogue liked the review. And, he agreed to be a guest.

As I prepared for this interview I found there's a lot more to Mr. Pogue than 500,000 (now 1 million) followers on Twitter. From his website:

Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column, an online video and a popular daily blog, “Pogue’s Posts.”

David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, and he appears each week on CNBC with his trademark comic tech videos.

With over 3 million books in print, David is one of the world’s bestselling how-to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the “for Dummies” series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music); in 1999, he launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called the Missing Manual series, which now includes over 100 titles.

And all this from a music major, too! ( I say this collegially as an art major).

Tomorrow. 9:30 AM, Central. Here are your listening options:

LIVE:

1) Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.
2) Call in during the show at 646-915-9212.

LATER

1) Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

The story continues. Now we have BlogTalk Radio involved....And another blog post. And more to come.

Radio Show Guest: Drew McLellan, Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group where he writes excellent posts on...well, marketing and social media and word-of-mouth and branding. Drew has not only survived 20 years in the advertising and marketing arena, he’s thrived in it. After working for several other agencies, including Young and Rubicam’s CMF&Z, Drew created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. Over these years he's attained a reputation, well-deserved, as a national branding expert, highly sought after speaker with about a zillion presentations at national conferences, key note addresses, training for his peers in the profession, college students and even his daughter’s tenth grade class. Drew's offered his expertise to clients like Nabisco, IAMS pet foods, Kraft Foods, Meredith Publishing, John Deere, Iowa Health System, Make-A-Wish, University of Central Florida, SkiDoo and a wide array of others.

Drew also organized 2 editions of The Age of Conversation, a collaborative book project with a few hundred bloggers and proceeds for its sale going to charity.

Drew and I will discuss what's changed over this past year in social media and marketing and the Dodger's chances for World Series glory.

The show is Friday, October 2, at 9:30 AM, Central.

Join us in either of these ways:

LIVE

1. Call-in. Dial 646-915-9212
2. Live streaming at this link

ARCHIVED

1. Streaming on-demand at this link

Book Review: Being Strategic, by Erika Andersen

Each week I review the book, Being Strategic, by Erika Andersen. Actually, each week I endorse Being Strategic.

How?

I ask each guest on my radio show this question:

My friend, Erika Andersen, turned a nice phrase in her book titled Being Strategic. That phrase is reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal. What was your reasonable aspiration for...?

Why?

A light went on and stayed on when I read the description of this phrase. It may be the most pragmatic, reasonable, phrase I have read to discuss setting goals. Here’s what Erika Andersen wrote to describe reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal.

What I’m encouraging here is to learn to envision the future you want in a more fully fleshed-out way. First you define the challenge...then you pull back the camera to look at all those elements of your current state...most relevant to the challenge. Then...begin to imagine what it would look like in a future where the challenge had been addressed.

Bam! There it is: A pragmatic approach, systematic and even sequential, to reaching our goals which builds on our natural capacity to envision our hoped-for future.

I was born a dreamer. ( That may startle some who know me.) Dreams are not my challenge. Nor is holding on to them, stubbornly some may say, and yet, eventually...sometimes they come true.

My challenge is the rest. I lacked this pragmatic approach Erika describes in her book.

• Define the challenge.
• Pull back the camera to review my current situation. And THEN,
• imagine less the goal but the change in my life when I reach that goal. What would it mean to me, where I sit, what I do, who I do it with, what my day is involved in creating.

Some business authors lecture the reader. That's ok.

But, it is one thing to lecture an audience. It is quite another to weave in a parable set in Castle-on-the-Hill times in Wales to illustrate and describe strategic principles we can apply today to reach our goals.

Erika’s book in itself is a fascinating (i.e., successful) example of...a business parable using the Castle on the Hill and imaginings of what was required to build this castle...back in the day. Her story accomplishes what the best authors and experts accomplish in their writings: they tell the story in a way that allows the reader to make their own discovery.

But wait, there’s more.

Not only is there a parable used to help us discover her process, the parable is also used to illustrate the steps and the practices each reader can use to...create their own pragmatic approach, systematic and even sequential, to reaching our goals which builds on our natural capacity to envision our hoped-for future.

And each chapter ends with exercises the reader can use to help us further own Erika's story. ( I think Erika will say it's because it's our story she's telling.)

I have tried those exercises. They are simple, easy to give a whirl and see for myself. Oh. And they work as intended.

True Confession. Like many books, I have not finished this yet. I list it in the sidebar as a book I have completed. But, that is inaccurate. If you define completing a book as reading each page from beginning to end, then it is inaccurate.

If you define completing a book as re-reading portions over time, keeping it handy for a quick reference, and completing some of the exercises...several times...then I’ve completed the book.

I plan to continue this process. I will keep inching up a few pages at a time. Then I will revisit the early chapters. It is that satisfying a read.

Being Strategic is not for everybody, even every business book reader. But, if you enjoy a well-written book, true to its author’s voice, blending parable and knowledge and actionable steps, into a program you can use to craft a better strategy for reaching your goals, then...it is for you. The rest of you, I don’t know what kind of books would matter to you.

Now, each week I’ll keep asking the question of my radio show guests: My friend, Erika Andersen, turned a nice phrase in her book titled Being Strategic. That phrase is reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal. What was your reasonable aspiration for...?

And I will keep asking them this until they complain. Because until now, each guest has said Wow. That’s a great question.... Silently to myself, I say each time: Yeah, it is. My friend, the book's author, wrote a whole book about it.

Erika was kind enough to share an hour of her time recently as a guest on my radio show. You can listen in streaming on-demand here.

Radio Show Guest Hightlights: Steven Groves, Chief Evangelist for SocialMediaBible.com

Steven Groves is Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist for TheSocialMediaBible.com as well as President of TSMB Media. I met him through the recommendation of Lon Safko, co-author of The Social Media Bible and a previous guest. Steven joined us to talk about his passion for social media, helping clients discover the power of social media and how he does that with TheSocialMediaBible.com and TSMB Media.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Tell us a little bit about TheSocialMediaBible.com and TSMB Media. Why are they your business passions and why are you the chief evangelist for TheSocialMediaBible.com?

My dream in social medial started about 4 years ago when my friends and I put on a mini conference and we invited Robert Scoble and Chris Heuer, the founder of The Social Media Club. They came into town for the half day conference. Robert said there are five things you need to go explore in social media:

• Blogging
  
• making a list of 5 people you thought were important
  
• having lunch with them
  
• going into Second Life
• and a few others.

My take on it, to start with, what is the ROI? Why spend all this time networking- I just don’t get it. My journey has been all about social media and the ROI.

Scoble did a video interview of Lon Safko where he talked about a business model that he developed to create revenue from selling bits over the internet. It was very fascinating. I soon met Lon and we connected after the Social Media Bible came out. Lon and I soon created the social media services company to answer questions regarding Social Media and become a more deep seated part of the community.

Let’s start with the flashy stuff with social media. What’s the biggest, flashiest trend impacting social media today. Why? What are the factors driving this trend?

Three things come to mind:

1. Twitter of course is one of the hugest, main stream tools
2. Video
3. Social networks

The adoption rate of social networks is just astounding. When we consider there are over 250 million people on Facebook and over 70% of them are outside the US, it really is the technology that is making the planet smaller.

The flashiest thing was earlier this year with the race to one million followers by Ashton Kutcher and CNN. Then the adoption as Twitter as another media channel for stars and celebrities.

I am starting to see a larger push to video content and part of that is probably due to the capacities on increased quality and the expanse of potential applications. It adds another consumption channel to the social media model.

How do these three trends, Twitter, video, and social network affect social media for small business and what are three ways a business can benefit?

What is really happening with social media is for a business owner to now connect to their audience: customers/stakeholders, and find out what they really want. In the business model we are coming out of, it was what we thought they wanted. The social media model changed all this.

There is a conversation aspect of social media that we can talk to the customers and prospects, finding out what they want, and then write the business plan according to the current needs and trends of your audience.

1. Listen. Don’t think you know all of the answers.
2. After you listen, go out and interact
3. Validate your assumptions.

19:46

One of the reasons I wanted to talk with you is you’re a doer. You’ve been doing applied research in social media since...back in the day, 2005 or 2004. When did you find the power of social media? What sold you?

It came from starting to look at the early industries around social media. The real estate market had many questions about social media and how it would work for them. I ended up developing a model for social media and real estate agents. The people who had used Social Media came back with some very powerful success stories. Using social media gives the consumer a vast opportunity to research properties, locations, demographics, etc and this creates a much more informed buyer. It was remarkable. Having a social media presence allowed the realtors to show more of themselves. Share what you are doing in your business and your personal life. Engage and make it real. There is a huge ROI that now you can use this tactic to connect with your audience vs spending money on print media. The power of SEO that comes out naturally from social media is unmatchable.

Let’s talk about Second Life. You’re a big fan of 2nd Life. I tried it a few years ago and didn’t get it. What’s the appeal?

Second Life is a functional 3D social platform. I found a remarkable Social Media platform within-it is so powerful to feel as though you are connected to people all over the world. You can find us on there-just search social media and we usually come up first.

The big difference on Second Life as compared to other social media resources is the interaction:

Once you are in Second Life, you will see none of the avatars are computer controlled, they are human controlled. When those avatars are interacting, you see when people get distracted or go off and do other things. It is real time – live.

You know exactly how many people are where you are and you have the ability to interact with them.

31:32

What is a tangible result from your effort, from your community, from your site, from Second Life?

Part of my investment in time in Second Life is supporting the American Cancer Society. Last year, right on Second Life, they held the Relay for Life. They raised $275,000.00-real dollars. I get to connect with real people, doing real things. The ROI is amazing.

You wrote a great post titled The Trinity of Social Media. What is the trinity of social media? What are its three elements?

It is by far my most popular post. The Trinity of Social Media is a basic strategy for a business that isn’t going to hire someone to manage their Social Media.

The three components are:

1. Blog: it is rarely NOT included in Social Media. You talk about your principles, strategy behind your product and company, and your service. You will talk about all of the things that your customers/prospects would ever want to know about you and your company. They will get a sense of who you really are.
2. Micro-blog: could be Twitter. A lot of life happens between blog posts and a micro-blog allows you to create the social capital of business.
3. Social network: tailored to the audience that your product/service addresses. [Facebook, Ning, Second Life, all offer social networks around a product/service/topic/cause, etc. ]

We’re all busy. Some may not have time to develop all three right at the start. If you could only use one form of Social Media, which one would you recommend?

The blog!! People get a real sense of who you are and what you are about. It is the fundamental component that businesses under appreciate and it is the one that will get you the best results. Your customers will opt in for what they want to learn.

You and I and about billion others drink from the well of social media. But, why do so many still remain reluctant, hesitant outright fearful of social media’s use?

It is all about control. You and I have been raised in a generation where control is so important. There are things in life you can control, but in social media, you do not have that same control. People will say bad things in social media and it is how you respond...using transparency and an earnest desire, using no hidden agenda. Many agencies just can not accept this in their world. You must learn to embrace Social Media, accept that people may say bad things, but if you are doing the right thing, then you shouldn’t worry about it. You must just be authentic.

When they do get it and see the opportunity to get involved with Social Media, what is their reaction?

They do get a sense that the ability to connect with the consumer is so different from what they had before.<

Let’s talk about TSMB Media. Who is your standard client?

We have clients from all businesses, from startup, to medium size and large biz.

What forces a business into the recognition that they must have a conversation with their customer?

When you engage the audience, they do it with the thought, they think they will guide the conversation, but when they realize they can’t, the dialog takes on a life of its own. They soon realize they can direct the conversation, but never control it. This is when the light bulb comes on. They learn to listen more and learn to engage the customer.

What are the most common misconceptions you clear up with your clients about social media’s use?

1. You’re not in control of this conversation
2. You need to listen first.
3. You can’t be silent. You do need to participate – engage the consumer at every level

Your business passion helps people understand, embrace and use social media. Can you share with us, one story of a client that has applied your recommendations for a successful outcome?

The one that comes to mind is a real estate agent. We started them out on a blog, then Twitter and videos. They started in such a down market when there were so few prospects to increasing their business tremendously to selling about 25 houses per year. They engaged and participated.

What’s the three most important points we all should remember about social media?

1. You can’t control what's said.
2. You need to listen to it.
3. You need to engage/participate in the conversation with social media...after you've listened first.

Business people need to practice and know these things.

Where are you on the internet? How can our listeners stay in touch with you?

Steven Groves
Website
Twitter

The first step to improve your brand’s word-of-mouth?

Here's the first step to improve the word-of-mouth generated for your brand.

Improve what you think about your brand.

That's it. That's where change starts.

Change what you think and say and feel about ...your brand, corporate or personal.

Change that and you’ll change what others say about your brand.

At the risk of lecturing...word-of-mouth for your brand, corporate or personal, begins with you. That starts with your internal dialogue.

If you don’t like what people say about your brand, don’t get angry. Get internal. What are YOU saying about your brand. What is your team saying about your brand? What is your leadership saying about your brand?

What role are you playing in their dialogue. Is it as an enabler or as a disruptor? Are you an inspiration or an obstruction?

Are you excited about what you do to create that brand?

Do you forgive yourself for your failures, laugh about and celebrate them...one time, with others? And then do push on to the inevitable discovery, success, solution, victory.

How about between your team and other teams?

Do you inspire others? Do you uplift those on your team or another team. Do you celebrate their successes? Help them through their failures?

How about your interactions with your customers? Those on other teams are your internal customers. They’re as important as those external customers. They both buy your services. You both enable them to celebrate their successes and look good with their community of peers and mentors, bosses and customers (internal or not).

What if you’ve checked your own internal word-of-mouth marketing for your brand? Your own internal Net Promoter Score for your brand is 10. You rave about and refer your brand to everyone.

And still, you hear more customer vigilantes than customer evangelists.

Then you have to take the next step.

Ask others. Denial and delusion are wonderful defenses. But, like all fixed defenses, they get in the way. Peer out and ask someone. Use the Ultimate Question Survey to generate your own personal Net Promoter Score:

• Would they recommend you and what you do to a friend or colleague?
  
• On a scale of 0-10 and 10 is definitely would and 0 is definitely would not, how likely would they be to recommend you?
  
• What do they say?

Let’s say you’re rated a 5 (or worse). Listen to their next answer. That’s what they tell others; that’s what you need to change. Now your journey begins to breech your own defenses and connect what you do with what matters to others.

Let’s say you’re rated a 10. By everyone.

You’re probably not the problem (or you’ve surrounded yourself with sycophants posing as friends). But you can be the solution. You may be an A-Player swimming in a pool of C-players.

Ask yourself:

• Are you allowed to be excited about what you do?
• Is anyone else excited about what you accomplish?
• Are you allowed to grow?
• Are you recognized for your accomplishments?
• Do you have the tools to grow?
• Are you inspired by the cooperation between yourself and the others on your team?

These are some of the questions put forth by Marcus Buckingham in his book: First Break All the Rules.

If your answers are ‘no’....it’s time for a change. Doing the same thing and expecting different results makes you insane. Accepting an environment where you answer no to these questions accepts an environment that denies your gifts and weakens you and your personal brand.

You have to change your environment to reach an audience who wants to testify on your behalf. Making that decision is tough. Make it and you become the solution. Don’t and you risk becoming part of the problem.

The first steps of changing word-of-mouth begins with ourselves and our internal dialogue about the brand we serve. Agencies and logos, community sites and give-away trinkets, are rarely needed. Make our own internal dialogue the word-of-mouth from a customer evangelist and we’ll soon hear that same dialogue in those we talk to every day.

Book Review: The World According to Twitter, by David Pogue

The World According to Twitter: 2,524 Crowd-source Tweets about Life, The Universe and Other Pertinent Stuff: First-Kiss Stories, Spam from the Future and Proposals for the 11th Commandment.

Author: David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech Columnist and...and...his 500,000 Followers on Twitter.

When you saw the title and the cover here, did you think: Huh, cute..?

I saw the title and I thought...Huh, cute, clever marketing. And from a business perspective, I thought...Ok, it's an efficient means to pick the low-hanging fruit of this timely, trendy topic.

That’s Twitter. And it’s a very efficient way to ‘write’ a book by crowd-sourcing your 500,000 most devoted fans: followers on twitter.

And crowd-source them on your shared passion of some sorts: Twitter.

And flatter them with your questions and interest in their answers. Include them in your conversation. Connect with them. You, the NY Times Personal Tech Columnist...connect with them, the every day users of Twitter. Very flattering. Even...meaningful.

And the book is all this. It’s cute in a self-conscious, I-know-that-you-know-that-you-know-that-I-Know, way. The author, David Pogue...knows he’s surfing their wave or rather his followers and their answers both create the wave and pull him onto it. But it’s their wave he rides. Twitter’s the ocean. But they, his followers, and their answers to his questions are the wave they tow him onto to ride. And he knows you know, they know, we all know.

That’s part of the charm of the book. We all know. We all know we’re in this together. Even his publishers and book agent know this. They asked if I wanted a copy. I’m pretty sure they know I’m a sucker for a free book. And if it’s a topical book, with an author I recognize, and adorned with a clever cover...I’m there saying yes and giving my mailing address.

NOTE: David’s book agent is FSB Associates. They’ve been great. Their approach is helpful, low-key, non-condescending, respectful and always on target.

I opened the book. I smiled at the cover. Turned to the first page. That’s when the surprises began.

And the surprises weren't of the self-aggrandizing, self-serving, all-about-me kind.

The surprises were from the responses. His followers offered genuine, authentic (gag for its overuse, but it’s appropriate here), open, sweet, vulnerable even like this secret I-share is-one-I’ve-never-shared before...responses.

Consider this question: Describe your 15 minutes of fame

* When my family & I were chosen to open Disney World for the day, I threw my confetti prematurely. Teenaged sons were mortified.

That’s sweet. That’s funny! That’s one of a kind.

Or this answer:

* I was crowned Miss Watermelon at local pageant as a teen. Parade, interviews...embarrassment to last a lifetime!

Who thinks of embarrassment when you consider your 15 minutes of fame. Of course, who thought about being Miss Watermelon either. I’d be very embarrassed, too.

Or this question: Describe your Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever

* 1st date (with now wife). I drink from straw, don’t want to break eye contact, straw goes straight up my nose & I bleed like stuck pig.

* I worked info desk at mall in Stamford. Family asked for info and I said, “I have their card right here” - and pulled out a condom.

And each of these answers to each of his questions was...true, authentic, real, honest, genuine, volunteered as a choice.

Somehow, through that crazy magic that comes from a community of volunteers united around similar interests and willing to share with each other to broaden their own interests...something greater was created. They all added to something greater than the author or any of the 2,524 co-authors could muster themselves.

See. That’s the great power of social media. The power of the community. The power of real, genuine, unique creations from everyone...collaborating.

Who knew what would happen when David started posing these questions? He didn’t. Neither did his editors. Neither did the contributors. They didn’t even know if he would notice it, much less include it.

But how could you not answer these questions:

Invent a witty collective noun for something. (Ok, only a professional writer would think a ‘collective noun’ is meaningful to a large group of commonly and wrongly assumed illiterates on Twitter. )

* a rant of talk radio hosts

Who’s got the worst romantic-dumping story?

* MY boyfriend was dumped by his ex in the delivery room while giving birth to their son. (Yowsuh)

Let’s hear your best marriage-proposal

I know a couple who got engaged during an argument. “Well, why don’t we just get married then!?" "Fine!" "Fine!"

You know the honeymoon’s over when...

...both of you stop shaving. ( Whoa! )

Remember, each of the questions and answers was limited to less than 140 characters, including spaces. And in those limits, collectively, was found...a really charming insight into the kindness of strangers we first find on a resource like Twitter and who become somehow closer, more important, to us from the simple act of sharing an answer in 140 characters or less.

That act is not the goal. It's the first step towards reaching that goal. That goal is community, created with our efforts, around our interests, in our own words, again and again.

There are so many great questions and even greater answers. I've read this book 2-3 times already. I marvel at the wisdom, the honesty, the determination, the smarts, the stories that are shared and the people who chose to share them to create...something unique and delightful for more people to share.

But, the best thing I can say about this book? “Goodbye. I want to re-read this book, again, for the 4th time.”

3 Keys to Developing an Entrepreneurial Mind

Gary Hoover, founder of Hoover's Inc.,  shared these 3 Keys to Developing an Entrepreneurial Mind during our conversation on my BlogTalk Radio show.

1. Make sure you are in touch with the birth down to earth.  See things in context! Getting back to basics – being real!  Hanging out on the streets and getting close to the ground.

2. Travel to unexpected places you wouldn’t think you would like. Travel with your eyes open.

3. Start reading business history! Check out Abe Books  for used books. Read backgrounds on who started your business or your industry. There is so much to be learned from the past. Don’t overlook it.  Read old Fortune Magazines.

The best business book to read is, The Visible Hand,by Alfred Chandler, telling about how American big business rose up.

To learn more from Gary Hoover, you can:

1. read the highlights of our conversation
and/or
2. listen to the full conversation on-demand.

3. Read Gary's blog. Gary Hoover writes a great blog at Hoovers World.

The Three Things a CEO Has to Do Well

Three Things a CEO Has to Do Well

This is all you need to do as a CEO:

1. Set direction and milestones (resisting the tempting distraction of juicy diversification). The ability to clearly say, "No, we are not doing that," is very important.
2. Allocate resources (both financial and human, starting with your time).
3. Hire and fire the top team (we have devoted a separate chapter to hiring an A-Team because this is much harder to say than do).

There it is. Three things. Simple. Especially that 'no' part. Saying no is vital to a strategy you can communicate, inspire others to join and execute.

Of course, there's more to being an effective leader. And the article that includes this list of three things a CEO ( a leader, each of us individually) has to do well includes them. The article is How to Be an Effective CEO.

Martin O'Neill, author of Building Business Value, tweeted this link. Thanks, Marty! You can follow Martin, who's also founder and CEO of Corsum Consulting, on Twitter at mfoneill. You should, if you're interested in building your business' value.

Disclaimer: Marty's a guest on my BlogTalk Radio tomorrow at 9:30 AM. You can call in at 646-915-9212 or listen at this link, on-demand.

BlogTalk Radio Guest Highlight: Gary Hoover, Founder of Hoover's Inc., July 1

I am enjoying so much listening again to Gary Hoover from our conversation last week. You can listen here on-demand. There's so much he shares. Here is a transcript of but a few of his salient points.

Gary Hoover studied economics at the University of Chicago, worked on Wall Street as a securities analyst, worked for two giant department store chains, founded a pioneering book superstore chain (BOOKSTOP, now part of Barnes & Noble), and founded the company that became Hoover's, Inc., the operator of www.hoovers.com.

Laurence Kirshbaum, CEO of Time-Warner Trade Publishing calls Gary a true visionary. Gary shared his ideas and solutions for small business growth, strategy, innovation and principles that separate winners from losers. You can listen on-demand at this link.

I saw 2 1/2 minutes of your envision presentation from 2007. There you talked about 8 principles that separate winners from losers in business. Would you share with us those 8 principles and what makes them cull winners from losers.

Eight Principals that separate Winners from Losers in Business

1. Curiosity: the people who lead and create great enterprises are always looking for answers in unexpected places. People tend to see or discover new breakthrough ideas from outside of their industry. Information is everywhere; it is just waiting for us to see it.
2. Sense of history: learning the lessons of big history and learning the trends and how things change over time. Nothing in business is really new, but there is a huge amount to be learned from the past and its visionaries. Trends – you can only look as far forward as you are willing to look. If you want to see 5-10 years into the future, you have to look that far into the past. Trends happen slowly over time. Look at demographic changes or the changing role of women in the workforce...these changes have slowly evolved over time. Study them.
3. Sense of geography: 90% of the business world does not know the metropolitan geography they live in. Americans are probably worse than most people at not knowing what is going on around us. You need to visit your own neighborhood. Discover that area. Explore! We need to understand where it us comes from. It shapes us. Having that sense of context is one of the most important advantages of an entrepreneur. The winners figure it out and put their business in context.
4. Clear Vision: Clarity: no buzz words, plain English. Straightforward plain talk
5. Consistency: once you figure out what you are going to do and it works, stay with it. Be true to what you love, what you are good at, your passion.
6. Service: The only valid reason for the existence of any enterprise is to provide goods and services! You must put the customer first.
7. Unique: need a unique vision to be successful. Do not copy other companies. You won’t be another great by doing what someone else does. Do your own thing and make it the best.
8. Passion: You must love what you do and without that passion, you won’t be as successful. Whatever you love is where you have the greatest chance of success.

28:46

Business is better learned during observation, exploring, and traveling; not just in the academic arena. People who create successful enterprises have a breadth of vision. The best of them have such varied interests that do provide more of a well rounded impact on their businesses.

Can you change to become any of these principles?

Yes! Especially curiosity. People are naturally curious, but as we age, we lose our sense of wonder. This begins in the school system where we are instructed to listen to the teacher, the lesson and do not question the information. This is the way it is.

We should always wonder!

Most people do have passion and if it is lost, it can be rediscovered!!! Our brains are just packed with information and memory capacity. Exercise it! We all have passions for something. Practice it.

Let’s say we have a roomful of business managers who want to develop an entrepreneurial mind. And they’ve asked you to tell them 3 things they can do as soon as they leave the room, and do them every day to develop an entrepreneurial mind. What are these three?

1. Make sure you are in touch with the birth down to earth. See things in context! Getting back to basics – being real! “Hanging out on the streets and getting close to the ground.”

2. Travel to unexpected places you wouldn’t think you would like. Travel with your eyes open.

3. Start reading business history! Abe Books for used books. Read backgrounds on who started your business or your industry. There is so much to be learned from the past. Don’t overlook it. Read old Fortune Magazines. The best business book to read is, “The Visible Hand,” by Alfred Chandler, telling about how American big business rose up.

43:13

I’ve read a lot over the years about the need for entrepreneurs to hurry up, fire-aim-load. But in a blog post on Monday at hooversworld.com you encourage readers to Ponder First, Act Later. Does anyone have the time to do that?

Think about what you want first and then how to execute your plan. There is always a balance in how you build an enterprise. You must really think about your business at every level. If you are going to be a successful startup, you need to be one of the best experts. Do whatever is necessary to really think about it, the lessons you have learned, what has been before you that you have just never taken notice of. Pay attention!!!

This brings us to understanding the role of failure in a business. And, you’re very public with sharing your failure, such as it was with Travel Fest. I admire you for labeling this as a failure when it wasn’t your fault that the airlines cut your commission.

Why do you call it your failure? What did you learn from that experience? What did you apply in starting Hoovers and your future projects?

You must be accountable for the failure and learn the important lessons. Look hard at what you could have done differently. What would have made the difference? There is always something to be learned from a failure, making it a success strategy for the next time. You learn what you can from it and how do you pick yourself up. Keep on moving.

What are the three biggest trends you see effecting entrepreneurs here in this country?

Depends on the industry: we are moving to a service economy. Most opportunities in the service industry. Manufacturing is declining on a global scale... takes less to create the same products because everything in automated.

There are so much greater opportunities in the service industry: healthcare, arts and entertainment, the Presidency, pet services, or financial services. People will have to add services to their businesses or enhance their current offerings.

The next thing is globalization and trade. We really are at turning point where it is pervasive in our lives. Huge shares of the things we buy are made overseas. It is the biggest force for world peace in the history of the world. People are much less likely to attack each other when you are economically intertwined. It touches all of us!! You must understand the globe if you want to be a successful enterprise.

Let’s say we talk a year from now. What’s going to be the biggest change in our culture for business.

Nothing earth shattering in the next several years. It will be interesting to see how the government unfolds. We are all linked together – Europe – China. At the end of everyday everyone should ask themselves, “What did I learn? How might it relate to my enterprise, my mission?”

We are developing a nation of entrepreneurs and that last statement ties into the curiosity factor of becoming a business owner.

One of my favorite quotes from you was Saying a business exists to make a profit is like saying a car exists to get good gas mileage.

Can you leave us with one more inspiring quote for entrepreneurs, their passion and purpose?

“You can not know too much about your customers.” Get inside their head; find out that correlation that your competition does not see. Do whatever it takes to get in touch with your customers! Ultimately the understanding of your clients is up to you!! Get in touch with your customers and get deep in their eyes. Not just fluffy focus groups!

You can follow Gary on the web at his website:

HooversWorld

LinkedIn.

Chris Anderson: Nothing’s free, sorry.

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, has stirred the pot again with his book, Free. You can get a free copy here. (Thanks to Jay Ehret, TheMarketingGuy on Twitter.) Chris has stirred it with an egg-beater this time, enough for Malcolm Gladwell to chime in with an excellent rejoinder at the New Yorker: Priced to Sell.

Chris. I don’t think what you describe is free. Sorry. I think what you describe is another way for companies to A. Add value; B. Differentiate their brand based on that added value; C. Hide the costs to the consumer for that added value.

I was prepared to be swept off my feet, in a veritable swoon of abject adoration, with the logic of Chris Anderson. But I wasn’t. Maybe the problem was my expectation. Like that of going to see an expected great movie, maybe I created unrealistic expectations.

But while the writing was great, the examples fun to read (and remember) and the anecdotes illustrative,  I thought....what he’s talking about isn’t free. It’s merely a way of adding value to the experience while hiding the corresponding costs to the consumer of those experiences.

By Chris’ logic, shipping costs for our groceries is free. We’re not charged for it. The grocer’s...give it to us for free. But we all know the costs for shipping grapefruit north from Texas or Florida during winter are not free. They’re not absorbed as an act of generosity by the grocers or shippers. They’re passed on to consumers in higher retail costs. Grapefruits during winter are very expensive.

Maybe it’s called bundling. Companies, especially in media and telecom, bundle services. Cable offers ...300 free channels, charges you for the 10  ‘premium’ channels you want, 4 of which are ESPN. Everyone nods and winks at each other like blind horses to the ‘free’ stuff being offered.  You can claim the consumer gets something for free. But they don’t. You just hide the ala carte itemized cost to the consumer.

Some companies also bundle their costs for these products and services. In effect, they hide these costs from prying eyes, even their own. But that only feeds the delusion that they have somehow outwitted market dynamics, creating a truly new business model, one based on free stuff and the freedom it offers to avoid boring things like accounting and cash-flow reports and unpleasant decisions like which stuff is generating profits and which isn’t, given the costs associated to deliver it.

Giving stuff away for free makes everyone like you. It also makes you broke and oddly no one remembers your name, then. And remember the dotcom bubble? Lots of companies thought a revenue-free business model was quaint.

Back to Chris. He starts with examples on page 2 that include Monty Python’s site on YouTube and free wifi at coffee shops selling $3.00 lattes. Let’s look at the first one:

Monty Python’s site on YouTube.

The members of Monty Python noticed their videos being shared for free on YouTube.  The members of Monty Python decided to join this conversation with a public notice they were building their own site to stop the ripoffs, the poor quality of the videos shared by their fans in desperate fealty to Monty Python.  Monty Python would share the highest quality videos and in return they wanted their fans to buy their videos.

The results were surprising. Monty Python rose to No. 2 on Amazon’s movies and bestseller’s list, saw 23,000 percent increase in their sales and as chris Anderson wrote:

So there. Free worked and worked brilliantly.

Not so fast, Chris, I think. The videos Monty Python provide for YouTube viewing had been paid for long ago in a galaxy far away when television ruled the day and Monty Python’s show was one of the few original programs available...on PBS (or any network). Their syndication fees had been paid not by individual viewers unless they donated to their PBS affiliate but by the affiliate itself. The viewing experience then was as free then, via PBS, as it was now via YouTube.

Monty Python was smart enough to not charge their most fervent fans, their customer evangelists, for the opportunity to be a loyal and volunteer sales force for Monty Python. Had Monty Python found any other effective means to market their services over that 3-year period, clearly they would have continued to ignore this community of devoted fans for another 3 years or until a more effective means to market was offered, whichever came first.

And in return, they asked their customer evangelists for :

None of your driveling, mindless, comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies and TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.

Only Monty Python and its fans could have this conversation with tongue firmly planted in their cheeks. 

Why?

 Because their fans and their dedication had kept MP’s brand alive in their hearts and were now sharing it with their family and friends in an act of true evangelistic devotion.

MP’s disgust, such as it was, was misplaced. The disgust was either at themselves for not recognizing this for 3 years or at their ad agency for deluding them into thinking yet another ad campaign would work.

That aside, none of this was free. The costs were minimal and easily absorbed by the resulting 23,000% increase in sales. If I had the time, I would look back to see if there was a slight increase in their retail prices at/or about the time of the launch of their YouTube site for their fans. Regardless, a 23,000% increase in sales and you don’t own Australia means any costs to digitize your existing content and create a custom site for your brand would be easily absorbed in the resulting sales.

Free ? No. They absorbed the costs. They hid them, as grocers hide the costs of shipping in either higher unit prices or more units sold or as cable companies hide the costs of the channels you want to receive.  Or, they redirected their existing ad/marketing costs from their previously unproductive, but traditional and safe, strategies into this new strategy, the strategy that worked. And finally, their marketing matched their brand and connected with their audience. And they saw 23,000% increase in sales. And no one noticed the relatively miniscule costs for digitizing existing content and building a site around it.

FREE WIFI.

Yes. It’s free at least if you define free as a feature/service/product whose costs are not itemized as part of the retail price for it or any part of another service where it's included.

And, it’s good. It may even offer higher speeds than your landline DSL.

But, Mr. Anderson, it ain’t free. The daily cost of that wifi to the shop owner is about the cost of one patron’s cup of coffee, latte or not.

It’s not free to the customer. $3.00 cups of coffee aren’t free. Nor are the over-priced pastries.  It’s cost to the coffee shop patron is bundled in with the cost of the coffee and the over-priced pastries and assorted juices and cups.
These costs are no less free than the cost for the patron to drive and park, walk to the coffee shop, wait in line...then walk back to their car and drive home or to the office.

No. All these costs are disassociated from the experience of that cup of java, hot and steaming.

Shop owners (and smart hotels) no longer charge for wifi any more than they charge for clean bathrooms. The expense is bundled in the price of the products and services delivered. The hotel doesn't charge for a clean bathroom anymore than coffee shops, except Starbucks, charge for their Wifi. Offering ‘free wifi’ at coffee shops is now considered a standard part of the experience as are clean bathrooms in hotels. Neither choose to itemize the costs to their customers. Instead, they bundle it into a single cost for a cup of coffee or a night at a hotel with a clean bathroom.

Claiming free wifi  creates the illusion of freedom for the consumer. It’s free...like butterflies, free from the constraints of gravity and the reality that it would be far cheaper, and we’d be far more productive if we either stopped drinking coffee or had an espresso machine in our homes or offices. 

Chris.  Creating your ebook  for your fans to share for free is the same plan that Monty Python offered. Give your devoted fans a means to share your product with their fans. And we’ll do it for free. I’ve done it for free here in this post, except for my opportunity costs of writing about something else. Nothing’s free.

But tip of the hat to you for writing so eloquently and inspiring me to encourage others to read your book and comment. We disagree. While I doubt it matters to you, for what it's worth, I only disagree where I find articulate, passionate, clear and concise writers.  But ain’t it great that we can disagree. ( It’s still not free. But, it’s great.)

My Healthcare is Killing Me: I recommend it

I recommend the ebook (and site), My Healthcare is Killing Me.

Why?

Let’s look to its reasonable aspiration* or hoped-for goal. In the words of their authors at Change Healthcare, the book seeks to educate, encourage, and reward savvy healthcare consumers...

If you already are a savvy healthcare consumer, then they arm you with more tools and resources in your negotiations with healthcare providers, primarily health insurance companies as they set the prices for the providers.

But, more importantly perhaps, I think they go one step farther. They create....savvy healthcare consumers. The state of our healthcare system, and its poor delivery of quality to its consumers, indicate the majority of healthcare consumers are not savvy.

This book will move  us all quickly up the path to becoming one.

The book is:

• smartly written
• concise( 60 pages )
• well-designed
• well-illustrated
• free

And these help it fulfill it's vital purpose as the healthcare reform debate heats up. And as we, the consumers, realize we must participate in this debate.

Arm yourself with knowledge from  My Healthcare is Killing Me. Then join the debate.

* reasonable aspiration is a term coined by author, consultant and coach, Erika Andersen, in her excellent book, Being Strategic. She defines it as our hoped-for goal.

Authors, Google Alerts and Blogs: 4 Steps to Increase Book Sales

...And minimize your expenses.

Here’s a cost-effective marketing plan for aspiring best-selling authors to create a sustainable community of evangelists for your book, your blog your message. It maximizes:

• a free resource: Google Alerts
• a relatively free resource: your time
• your limited resource: cash
• your plentiful resource: writing and creativity.

It will work on its own as your only proactive push-marketing program.

It will work in conjunction with a more traditional marketing campaign using PR agencies, and/or publishers and their marketing campaigns. By in conjunction, I mean it will likely serve to accelerate their results.

First, a few assumptions:

* You have a blog. You’re an author; you’re a writer. You should have a blog. What kind of author doesn’t have a blog? Your blog served as your daily writing exercise while you wrote your book. Now you have your book. And now your blog serves as your marketing platform.

Even if you are mentally exhausted from finishing your book, and let’s say on top of that you’re a new mom with your first born child only a few weeks old. So there’s no real expectation that you’ll refill mental energy reserves within the next 25 years...(but you’re a mom, so you’ll find those secret mom energy stores...today.) You have content you can easily organize into a series of posts by cutting and pasting from your book. And you can do a series of 5 - 10 posts, scheduled to be published in the future on a later date, within 1-2 hours of your precious time (when the stars align and baby falls asleep after you’ve found those secret energy reserves only Mom’s possess.)

* You have access to a computer. Unless you drank the organic kool-aid and decided to live off the grid, completely off the grid in a yurt deep in a forest where jet contrails even can’t be seen...this shouldn’t be a problem. Right? Trick question. You’re reading this post.

* You’re not a martyr. Some artists are martyrs. Think Chopin, Van Gogh, the crazy guy at the bistro whose caffeine levels now should help create his own jet contrails...as environmental art.

But, you're not. Why should you be a martyr? ( I’ll wait a minute and let you adjust that thing on your back. Some people call it a cross. You call it your burden as an author...) That means you’re willing to engage in the mundane world of...engaging with your readers in their communities.

Here’s the plan.

1. Create a Series of Google Alerts. What are they? Google will email you when they see an important term (company name, your name, phrase, topic, names, titles, words...) published. You provide Google the term; they alert you when it’s published online in an article, a blog, a website. For this exercise you want to Google to alert you when it sees your book title or your name published online.

2. Go to the Blogs (or articles with comments available). Go to the blogs that mention you or your book.

• Read the blog post.
• Comment on the blog post.

Now you’re engaging with your audience. More importantly, you’re engaging with the most important members of your audience: those who are talking, and talking online, about you. They are talking about you to THEIR audience...of prospective buyers of your book.

And you’re all engaging authentically:

• they in their blog post
• you in your comments
• their readers with their attention
• maybe they, in their comments

3. Thank them for their favorable review. This is the key. Those who’ve written a favorable review deserve at least a thank you. An author leaving a thank-you comment on a blog post review of their book thrills the blog’s author. Vanity, thy name is bloggers.

And, it serves another purpose. Your comment shows the blog’s reader you are

1. listening
2. connected
3. cool, maybe.

( Definitely, one and two, maybe three. )

Now you’re in a conversation. Now make that conversation meaningful.

4. Offer to send them a signed copy of your book. Or two or three copies. Here's why:

• They can give to their friends. You can personalize the signature to their friends.

• Now they should be wowed. The blogger and their friends.

• Now, you've made that blogger stand out as...cool, connected, important. You've boosted their street cred in their community.

• Now, you’ve made yourself stand out as an expert resource and great person.

That third part is the personal connection that builds loyalty, word-of-mouth, testimonials and ultimately sales.

Now some, me sometimes, say sales is the most important. But without readers and testimonials (that’s why you have them on your book jacket, right?) you have no sales. It’s the author’s conundrum. Which comes first readers or sales?

Now let’s say their blog post isn’t a testimonial for you and your book. Baby still needs new shoes, right? ( Regardless of Baby’s definition including ‘squeeze’, spouse, pet, yourself or even your newborn child)

4 A. Thank them for their rant. Why? They read your book. They took the time to share their thoughts about what you wrote.

Now you can engage with them.

Thank the blogger for their thoughts. Don’t argue. Don’t get into a flame war. As tempting as it may be to create your own burning man festival on their site (or yours)...don’t.

Ask if they would publish a guest post from you to discuss your differences more fully. Now you have an interesting conversation to bring more readers to THEIR blog from THEIR community to discuss..what? YOU. You and your book. Discussions lead to sales. (Flame wars lead to cinders...)

BUDGET: The other b-word we can use here.

• You’ve built a website (and the publisher didn’t help).
• You quit your job to write, to pursue your passion.
• Cash is tight.

Maximize your budget with these options:

1. Buy your own book from your publisher at their wholesale cost. That saves you money.
2. Self-publish using an on-demand publishing site like Lulu.com.
3. You could create ebooks for each chapter. And share that with your audience in lieu of a hard copy from either of the above publishing sources.
4. You could create ebooks with distinct content, add-on, more detail, future books and share that with your audience.

Either way, either option, word-of-mouth testimonials with online blogs and comments are a powerful resource to incite, excite, build-on, grow in order to drive book sales, feed Baby and let you rest easy knowing people love you enough to buy your book.

BlogTalk Radio Guest: Steve Farber, author of Greater Than Yourself

Steve Farber, national best-selling author of two great, best-selling, books on leadership:  The Radical Leap and The Radical Edge books on leadership, joins me tomorrow at 1:00 PM Central, 11:00 AM, Pacific to talk about his latest book and project: Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership. You can listen here.

A few things about Steve:

* He's an amazing public speaker. I think he used PowerPoint slides. I can't remember. I was too engaged with his words, his presentation, his engagement and interaction with the audience and how seamlessly and spontaneously he presented.

Of the many presentations I've seen at conferences...I'd put Steve's in the top 5. Outstanding content, useful content, inspiring content. He's mastered the content. He's fluent in its presentations. He's passionate about the topic and his purpose: helping grow true leaders.

* He's an excellent author. I read a lot of books. But I rarely read one straight through. Greater Than Yourself was a book that...ok, started for me a bit slow (that may be from my high expectations) but within a few pages I was compelled to finish the book. I don't do compell well. But I was compelled by the story and the principles shared.

Ultimately, his book surpassed my expectations. And it's more than theory illustrated with a great story. Steve offers tips and resources to help us  become Greater Than Yourself.

I hope you join us at this link, tomorrow at 1:00 PM Central, 11:00 AM Pacific.

 

Guest Post by Steve Farber: How Do You Get Back Up?

How Do You Get Back Up? A Counterintuitive Approach to Thriving in Challenging Times

By Steve Farber, Author of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Le sson of True Leadership

A while back, I received a distressed email from Ken, a young manager at a high-tech company.

Ken and I had never met, but he had read my first two books and had done his best to apply the ideas and practices of Extreme Leadership to the way he'd led his team.  To their culture, their work ethic, their camaraderie.  When necessary, Ken told me, they would band together and work hard -- 10 to 20 hours a day at times -- to solve a problem or meet a pressing need.  Ken's wife would cook food for everyone and bring it to the office. They felt like a family, he said, committed to doing great work and devoted to one another's success.  No one ever complained, least of all Ken.

And then something happened. A downturn, a re-org, a shift in the management structure -- we all know the drill.  Ken still had a job, but his position was eliminated.  New management full of old ideas came in to oversee the department's function and the emotional fibers that connected Ken's team to each other and to their work unraveled.

"Now," Ken wrote," for the last 4 weeks I sat at my cubicle, web surfing for 8 hours a day at the same company where I once worked 39 hours straight with my team to make things right, never going home.

"I'm not a quitter; I don't want to leave.  But -- just or unjust -- I feel stripped of everything we've done" he said. "So the advice I'm looking for is this:

"How do you get back up?"

I admit that I was loath to hand out that kind of potentially life-altering advice to someone I'd never met.  After all, I had only the sketchiest of details about Ken's situation, and it seemed way too presumptuous to represent myself as the all-knowing answer man. But I did have an idea for him, and I really felt that it could make a huge, positive difference in Ken's life -- and in the life of those he worked with.

And it wasn't the kind of advice you'd expect.

It's already become a cliché to say that we live in unprecedented, challenging times.  We all know it.  But the truth is, the world of work is always challenging.  That's why they call it "work."

No matter the industry, market, or type of company you work in, you've had to deal with some combination of the classic work-place obstacles, issues, and barriers to a satisfying, fulfilling experience.

At some time or another, for example, you've reported to bosses or people in positions of authority who were self-centered at best, and idiotically egotistical at worst.  They took all the credit and none of the blame and could care less whether or not you succeeded or failed.  Or worse, they preferred that you'd fail, and took great pleasure in your struggles.

Or perhaps you worked in a company that, even though populated by terrific human beings, was so obsessed with the bottom line and shareholder value that they made executive, strategic decisions that compromised the employees' ability to serve the customer.  And the customers, therefore, exited in droves.

You may have been in an environment that was hyper-competitive to the point of paranoid, risk-averse to the point of stifling, or so political that it made you consider running for local office just to get some relief.

We've all experienced some combination of these themes with varying levels of intensity.  And we've all spent some amount of time and energy navigating our way through the personal challenges that the organizational pitfalls present. It's just the price we pay for hanging out with other human beings.

Now, add to that the current, sucking implosion in the economy, and it's easy to see why, with all our efforts to be positive, productive leaders, we still get knocked down from time to time.  Sometimes way down.

The problem is in the way we typically deal: Our knee-jerk reaction in times of crisis is to hold on tighter, to be more cautious in our actions, and more protective of our resources.  We think that our way out -- or up -- will come by virtue of shoring up and hoarding what we have.

There is, however, a much better, far more powerful alternative.  A counterintuitive course of action based on this ageless reality of true leadership:

Your own greatness as a leader (or in just about any other role you take on, for that matter) lies, paradoxically, in your ability to cause others to be greater than yourself.

Said another way, your (and my) best way out of a challenge or crisis is not to focus on your own peril or rut, but, instead, to reach out and try to boost someone else over your head.

The idea should sound familiar.  It's really just a variation on the "do unto others" sentiment of the Golden Rule, a philosophy that exists in virtually all religions, schools of thought, and philosophies on the planet. And in none of those versions -- not one -- will you find a footnote saying, "Does not apply Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 to 5 or any time you find yourself in a jam."

So the solution I offered to Ken was this:

Pick someone at work to invest in, with the intent of making that person greater than you are.  Be a coach, guide, or mentor in the truest, most personal sense of the words by choosing someone to be your GTY (Greater Than Yourself) project, and see what that does to your own predicament, your own state of mind.

Maybe it was out of desperation, but as surprised as he was by the curve ball I'd thrown him, Ken took my advice and agreed to the challenge.

Two weeks later, Ken wrote to say that he'd thought deeply about our conversation and had come to realize that before he could lift someone else up by sharing his knowledge and experience, he needed to be sure that he had learned the right lessons from the recent team trauma.  So he'd met with his boss, and asked for feedback on how he could have acted differently, what he may have done to contribute to the problem, and how he could be a better leader in the future.  The "30 minute meeting turned into a 2 hour confessional," said Ken, which resulted in him learning some hard, "gold lessons" about himself.

"Now," he continued, "I've already started to work with a tech on my team who wants to be a manager.  And I'm taking a vow," he said, "to make the people around me better -- as I continue to grow myself.  I'm going to teach my children about this, too."  Ken, it seems, has gotten his energy back, and he's well on his way to getting back up.

We're all human, just like Ken.  And just like him, we all get bashed down from time to time.  So, the next time that happens to you, resist the temptation to pull yourself up by the proverbial bootstraps, and reach out to pull someone else up, instead.  Go find someone to be your GTY project.

Come to think of it, why wait?

Copyright  © 2009 Steve Farber author of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership

Author Bio:
Steve Farber, author of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership, the president of Extreme Leadership, is a leadership consultant and speaker, and the author of the national bestseller The Radical Leap, and The Radical Edge. He lives in San Diego, California.

Todd Sattersten, CEO of 800CEORead, on BlogTalk Radio

Todd Sattersten, CEO of 800CEORead, shared 90 minutes with me this morning talking about...his book, 100 BEST Business Books of ALL Time: What They Say, Why They Matter and How They Can Help You.

I knew, with 96.2% confidence factor, that I would enjoy this conversation. Todd's one of my favorite people.  He's smart and funny, kind-hearted, attentive, thoughtful, crisp, evangelistic, compassionate....and a die-hard Packers fan. And as expected...the conversation was great. I could have talked for another hour or two with Todd. And I think that's the power of BlogTalk Radio...a good conversation shared for all to hear.

He had so much to share. Being the thoughful, smart, crisp, organized person he is...it was easy to take notes. That said, I'm awaiting the transcription from Susan Poirier of Aceconcierge tomorrow. (She's excellent, BTW.) 

Here's a few points AND a media player where you'll be able to listen to Todd's thoughts on his book, the process of co-authoring it with Jack Covert, the founder of 800CEORead, how they market it (smartly, efficiently) and where you can get it.

Todd's thoughts on:

Why did they write this book?

This is our stake in the ground. We are the experts on business books.

Too many people read bad books. By bad, I mean they read the wrong book.

Everyone's read 1 or 2 of the same business books: Good to Great or 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Then after that they read books based on clever title or powerful marketing copy.

We wanted to help people read the right books. Business books are self-help books at their core. And we wanted to make sure people read the right books, the best books. Best business books also apply to our personal lives. The solutions apply to our personal lives, too.

And in future posts we'll share his 3 tips for authors, 7 sales that take place with every book purchased and some of the very smart and efficient leveraging of their strengths included in their marketing efforts.

In the meantime, you can listen here. And, the first 3 people who comment here will receive a complimentary copy of 100 BEST Business Books of ALL Time: What They Say, Why They Matter and How They Can Help You. (Hint: it's a great book to read and a great resource for your continuing education.)  Leave your email and I'll contact you directly for shipping details.

BlogTalk Radio Guest: Todd Sattersten, CEO of 800CEORead

Todd Sattersten, CEO of 800CEORead, will join me tomorrow on my BlogTalk Radio show at 9:30 AM, Central. You can listen live or in streaming mode at this link.

Todd's one of the most respected experts on business books. Todd’s also one of my favorite people. He’s smart, funny, insightful, humble, a true packers fan, a runner, I’m thinking a great boss. . . I met Todd a few years ago at WOMMA event in Chicago. And I spent 2 days with Todd and a host of smart, talented, authors and book publishing experts  at the Author's PowWow hosted by 800CEORead.

Todd’s going to talk with us about the book he co-authored with his boss, Jack Covert: 100 Best Business Books of All Time and why they matter and how they can help you.  (Can you image collaborating with your boss to write a book....? That speaks volumes for Todd, his boss and their company.) We’ll talk about how they’re promoting it, what the experience was like now as an author, what he’s learned. And more. We always talk about more. Come join us.

Pictures from 800CEORead's Powwow

I had the delight to spend a day and a half with some very smart, bright, talented, passionate, articulate, funny, creative, resourceful, skilled authors at last week's 800CEORead Powwow.  Thank you, Todd Sattersten. And thanks to all the people who attended and those who spoke and the folks at Catalyst Ranch who once again provided the facilities that fostered the creativity and engagement and interaction.

Here's some pics from that event.

Find more photos like this on 8ooceoread Author Pow Wow

BlogTalk Radio Guest: Tom Fishburne

Tom Fishburne, author of This One Time At Brand Camp, will share his insights on branding, marketing, agencies, innovation, clients, customers, employees, great brands, what happens when good clients/agencies go bad (no that's just in there for fun) and what happens at Brand Camp.

Tom shares a tremendous amount of wisdom and insight on the process of marketing and branding and how it all works, or doesn't, in creating a brand, a customer, a marketing plan, word-of-mouth...through the use of humor and cartoons. He started sharing his cartoons with friends and colleagues. Before he knew it, he had 10,000 people subscribing to his weekly newsletter.

Join us at 9:30 AM Central, today, Wednesday, September 17 at www.blogtalkradio.com/zane-safrit.

Tom's already done a series of interviews about his career, his passion, his book and his cartoons. You can read them  at the links below:

*  Fresh Peel | Aug. 25
*  Church of the Customer | Aug. 26
*  Dan Roam | Aug. 28

John Moore from Brand Autopsy generously shared these links and notes from his conversation with Tom.

Disclaimer:  Tom's gladly and quickly agreed to license his cartoons for use here on my blog. I've chosen his cartoons on Innovation. They appear each Thursday when I discuss Innovation.  You can see the first 3 here , here and here.