Many people come to me saying they need more clients, prospects, revenue, referrals, meetings, appointments, etc. And what they really need is just more conversations with more people. Ideally, with the right people, but at the least, more conversations with more people. To continue reading click here
February 20, 2015 Newsletter
No matter how much technology changes, people pretty much stay the same. As my friend and fellow International Speaker/Author, Bob Burg, says “All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust”. To continue reading click here
February 5, 2015 Newsletter
Thanks for being a subscriber to my newsletter and sorry for such a long delay in sending one out. 2014 was a crazy, fun year with speaking and training engagements literally around the world from Seattle to New Joisey to Australia to England to Panama – phew. To continue reading click here
Lighten Up, Francis….
A long time ago, I was very “professional”, “corporate” and somewhat formal in my emails, proposals, etc like most people are and I had success. And then I eventually brought more of my personality into my biz dealings, and I still delivered valuable info and content in my communications, but I changed my greetings and endings and had even more success. I noticed that when I start my emails, proposals, etc with things like “Hi Bob, I hope you had a great holiday season and didn’t gain 15 pounds like I did” or “Hi Bob, Did you see that Broncos game? I haven’t seen choking like that since the Heimlich video in high school health class” and ended my emails, proposals, etc with things like “And don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is coming up so get your wife something nice. Think about what you’re planning to spend on her gift …
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New Day’s Resolutions
This is the time of year when folks are talking about their New Year’s Resolutions. Being the poster child for Adult ADHD, it took me many years to accept the fact that I struggle with long-term goal setting, although over the years I muscled through and have been fortunate to accomplish some great long-term goals. A long time ago I decided to focus instead on New Day’s Resolutions. I get up every morning, give thanks to God for another day and resolve to add as much value as possible to whomever crosses my path that day. Of course there are some business and personal goals I also focus on on a daily basis too. Daily basis, not yearly basis. Subtle distinction, huge difference. So while many are resolving to lose 100 pounds and a foot or so around their waist while getting rich in record time, perhaps just focus on …
Paying It Forward As Part Of Your Biz Model
Just had a company call me and tell me that they were referred to me by someone whom I haven’t seen in at least six years and even then I only met her once or twice in a group setting. About a year ago she called me and asked for some tips on getting a particular sales job and I helped her over the phone, made a few intros and she got the job and I quickly forgot about it. I can’t remember my own name half the time. For a long time, I’ve built an hour or so into my daily schedule to pay-it-forward and give people coaching and training for free, with no expectation of any kind. I’m a big believer that if God’s blessed you, you should bless others (BTW – God has blessed you). We reap what we sow. There’s no escaping this. It’s a principle …
CONVERSATION SKILLS TRUMP SOCIAL MEDIA SKILLS
Most people and organizations use a “throw mud on the wall and hope something sticks” approach to Social Media. This may be an effective strategy if you’re in a commodity business, but there really are no commodity businesses, only people who have commodity thinking, but that’s a post for another time. Your success in using Social Media effectively to increase your visibility, showcase your credibility, create referral relationships and strategic alliances and gaining clients while growing your revenue will not come as a result of your Social Media skills. It will be the result of your conversation skills. Just as your success in using your phone will not rest on the bells and whistles of your phone, it will be the result of effective communication skills. It doesn’t matter how many fans, connections or followers you have if people don’t know you, like you or trust you. And the way …
Conversation Skills Trump Social Media Skills
Most people and organizations use a “throw mud on the wall and hope something sticks” approach to Social Media. This may be an effective strategy if you’re in a commodity business, but there really are no commodity businesses, only people who have commodity thinking, but that’s a post for another time. Your success in using Social Media effectively to increase your visibility, showcase your credibility, create referral relationships and strategic alliances and gaining clients while growing your revenue will not come as a result of your Social Media skills. It will be the result of your conversation skills. Just as your success in using your phone will not rest on the bells and whistles of your phone, it will be the result of effective communication skills. It doesn’t matter how many fans, connections or followers you have if people don’t know you, like you or trust you. And the way …
WAS HEMINGWAY A TYPEWRITER EXPERT?
I’ve been fortunate to have been speaking, training and coaching on how best to use LinkedIn and other Social Media platforms since 2003. Yes, 2003. That makes me Jurassic in the Social Media world. From time to time, I like to reiterate a very important point. Was Hemingway a typewriter expert? Was Picasso a canvas expert? No. These were just some of the tools these artists used to convey their messages. They were artists. And that’s what Social Media is for you. You’re an artist in terms of whatever value and message you’re delivering to the business world whether you realize it or not. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever, are just some of the tools you use to deliver your value and message. Have a basic understanding of these platforms but don’t think you need to become an expert at them. You don’t need to know how to fix a …
Was Hemingway A Typewriter Expert?
I’ve been fortunate to have been speaking, training and coaching on how best to use LinkedIn and other Social Media platforms since 2003. Yes, 2003. That makes me Jurassic in the Social Media world. From time to time, I like to reiterate a very important point. Was Hemingway a typewriter expert? Was Picasso a canvas expert? No. These were just some of the tools these artists used to convey their messages. They were artists. And that’s what Social Media is for you. You’re an artist in terms of whatever value and message you’re delivering to the business world whether you realize it or not. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever, are just some of the tools you use to deliver your value and message. Have a basic understanding of these platforms but don’t think you need to become an expert at them. You don’t need to know how to fix a …
YOUR NEWSLETTER AND EZINE ISN’T A “TOUCH”
We all get various newsletters, ezines, etc. Many people and organizations who send these out think that they’re “touches”. That’s marketing speak for impersonal mass communication. They’re not bad things, but let’s not pretend that they are in any way personal. When I work with my clients and I teach them and help them develop their own simple “High-Tech/High-Touch Relationship Marketing System”(TM) we don’t consider those newsletters, ezines, etc as touches. They’re normally accepted and expected forms of communication, but they’re not touches. When someone says “that touched me” they’re probably not saying this in reference to a newsletter they just received. Ever. But when you take a sincere interest in someone and add value to them in a personal way, you better believe you’re touching them. When I care enough to learn what’s important to you, where you went to school, your spouse’s name, your favorite sports team, your …
Your Newsletter And Ezine Isn’t A “Touch”
We all get various newsletters, ezines, etc. Many people and organizations who send these out think that they’re “touches”. That’s marketing speak for impersonal mass communication. They’re not bad things, but let’s not pretend that they are in any way personal. When I work with my clients and I teach them and help them develop their own simple “High-Tech/High-Touch Relationship Marketing System”(TM) we don’t consider those newsletters, ezines, etc as touches. They’re normally accepted and expected forms of communication, but they’re not touches. When someone says “that touched me” they’re probably not saying this in reference to a newsletter they just received. Ever. But when you take a sincere interest in someone and add value to them in a personal way, you better believe you’re touching them. When I care enough to learn what’s important to you, where you went to school, your spouse’s name, your favorite sports team, your …
One Conversation At A Time
No matter how many Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections or Twitter followers you have, nothing happens until a conversation is started. A billboard on the highway isn’t a conversation. While most people are running around trying to get more “likes” remember that business is conducted one to one. You can use Social Media to broadcast your message, but at the end of the day, biz is conducted one to one. This may sound obvious, but just look around. Very few people and even fewer organizations understand this. Take a deep, sincere interest in the one person you’re speaking with right now. Whether you’re speaking to them face to face, by phone, or on a Social Media site. Your success always occurs in a conversation. Never outside of a conversation. One conversation at a time.
ONE CONVERSATION AT A TIME
No matter how many Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections or Twitter followers you have, nothing happens until a conversation is started. A billboard on the highway isn’t a conversation. While most people are running around trying to get more “likes” remember that business is conducted one to one. You can use Social Media to broadcast your message, but at the end of the day, biz is conducted one to one. This may sound obvious, but just look around. Very few people and even fewer organizations understand this. Take a deep, sincere interest in the one person you’re speaking with right now. Whether you’re speaking to them face to face, by phone, or on a Social Media site. Your success always occurs in a conversation. Never outside of a conversation. One conversation at a time.
PERSONALIZE EVERYTHING
As Dale Carnegie said many years ago, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” No matter how much technology changes and no matter how sophisticated Social Media (SoMe) platforms become, human nature doesn’t change. When you have the opportunity to modify a standard invitation message, reply message, etc. on a SoMe platform, do it. Never use the template which the SoMe platform has auto-populated for you. Using their standard template is like holding up a sign which says, “You’re not important enough for me to take 60 seconds to send you a warm, personal message.” Huge doors of opportunity swing on little tiny hinges. Use effective internet etiquette which I call internetiquette. Personalize everything. Don’t worry about followers, connections, likes, etc. Invest in sincere, authentic relationships.
Personalize Everything
As Dale Carnegie said many years ago, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” No matter how much technology changes and no matter how sophisticated Social Media (SoMe) platforms become, human nature doesn’t change. When you have the opportunity to modify a standard invitation message, reply message, etc. on a SoMe platform, do it. Never use the template which the SoMe platform has auto-populated for you. Using their standard template is like holding up a sign which says, “You’re not important enough for me to take 60 seconds to send you a warm, personal message.” Huge doors of opportunity swing on little tiny hinges. Use effective internet etiquette which I call internetiquette. Personalize everything. Don’t worry about followers, connections, likes, etc. Invest in sincere, authentic relationships.
Anti-Social Media
There are many people who think that success in leveraging Social Media comes down to understanding analytics, marketing conversion ratios, data mining, aligning planets, smelling colors and all other forms of modern alchemy. Maybe for some of the people with tape on their glasses it does, but those things have never been important to me or my clients. I own a car, but I have no idea of how the transmission works and I don’t need to know how the transmission works. But I do know how to drive. Whether online or offline, we can’t outrun our character and we can’t outrun our people skills or lack thereof. If someone IRL (“in real life” as the kids say) gives you a compliment, you’d probably thank them. Unless your social skills suck. And many people’s social skills do as it says in the Good Book “sucketh”. If someone retweets you, mentions …
ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA
There are many people who think that success in leveraging Social Media comes down to understanding analytics, marketing conversion ratios, data mining, aligning planets, smelling colors and all other forms of modern alchemy. Maybe for some of the people with tape on their glasses it does, but those things have never been important to me or my clients. I own a car, but I have no idea of how the transmission works and I don’t need to know how the transmission works. But I do know how to drive. Whether online or offline, we can’t outrun our character and we can’t outrun our people skills or lack thereof. If someone IRL (“in real life” as the kids say) gives you a compliment, you’d probably thank them. Unless your social skills suck. And many people’s social skills do as it says in the Good Book “sucketh”. If someone retweets you, mentions …
Unplug From Time To Time
It’s good to unplug from time to time. For the last week, we’ve been on our annual family Spring Break trip. We usually take Spring Break trips somewhere where there’s lot of sunshine, beaches, palm trees and drinks with little flags in them and this year we decided to go to Atlantis in the Bahamas. It was a fun week of eating great meals, drinking lots of margaritas, sightseeing, sleeping late, playing, watching sunsets, swimming in the ocean, in the pools, playing in the water slides and a private swimming encounter with the Sea Lions. The kids had a ball and of course, so did Karin and I. This afternoon I’m flying from here in the Bahamas to Chicago to deliver two speaking engagements tomorrow at a large Financial Services conference. Back to civilization. I made a pretty obvious observation in the beautiful Bahamas. It was interesting to see that …
Your Personal Brand
Hi there! I hope you’re having a great end to your February. End of February – wasn’t it just Y2K?! If you didn’t get that last reference, I probably have cowboy boots older than you. As we covered in our last newsletter, Social Selling is made up of four things: 1) Your Personal Brand 2) Your Deep Network of Relationships 3) Your Sales Intelligence 4) Your Social Listening Today, we’ll dig into Your Personal Brand a bit. I often tell my audiences that people who refer to themselves as “gurus” usually do so because they can’t spell “charlatan”. And self-proclaimed gurus typically like to make their supposed area of expertise sound complicated, deep and mysterious. I choose to take the opposite approach. Let’s remember the KISS Principle….Keep It Simple Sweetie. In the old days, your Personal Brand was called your reputation. And it took time to develop, and it usually …