Archive of posts from September 2018

“Yes” is not the end

When you enroll a new client, their “yes” should be the beginning of something wonderful.

But it rarely is:

• 20% leave after 100 days: Using SaaS as an example here, if 70% of buying decisions are made based on feelings, but 20% of new customers don’t stay enrolled for even 100 days, what are we missing?
• Care decreases on “Yes”: The attention, energy, enthusiasm, engagement, and support during evaluation disappear all too often when a sale is made. Rather like a spouse that stopped trying after courtship.
• A sign of things to come: That’s all the evaluation process should be. We should expect more of the same following “Yes”, if not a greater amount of what led you to say “Yes” in the first place.

Ever bought something and wondered where the energy of the seller went afterward? Could you be doing that to those you serve?

Are you a fiduciary or a broker?

If you get to make decisions that affect those you serve, you’re one or the other:

• A fiduciary makes things happen between buyers and sellers where he is rewarded for ensuring the best decision is made. Measures people helped (conversations).
• A broker makes things happen between buyers and sellers where he is rewarded by swaying the decision in the favor of a commission. Measures number of closes (dollars taken).

The fiduciary wants the best for you. The broker wants the best for himself. Which of these people would you prefer to do business with?

The red velvet rope

Sometimes, we have to do something very uncomfortable… we have to pull the red velvet rope:

• Work that doesn’t create growth exists in most teams, be they teams of one or many. It may be a wasteful project or a disrespectful client. In either case, it’s important to recognize that’s not the future you want to build.
• There’s a trap door underneath these projects and clients. We ignore it most of the time because caring teams don’t like to think about it. Still, it’s important to recognize that it’s there.
• Pulling the red velvet rope when you’ve been led astray is incredibly uncomfortable for caring teams, be it emotionally or financially. Still, it’s important to do if you care about the future you want to build.

Do you, and those you work with, have permission to pull the red velvet rope?

Judging a book by its cover

Please, judge books by their covers. It’s normal, don’t feel bad about it:

• The best page-turner with a bad cover isn’t the best page-turner at all. If it didn’t put in the work to make you open it up, it chose not to compete.
• The worst material with a great cover is a frequent letdown of trigger-happy buyers. Yet it earned a chance at your attention, it reached the semi-finals.
• Carefully crafted content with a great cover is so rare, we share it with everyone we know. It earned a chance at your attention, and it won.

Whether you’re working on a book or you belong to a team trying to earn your audience’s attention, it’s worth considering asking yourself what type of book you are.

You don’t get to-do that anymore

The ratchet effect in a growing team suggests that, sometimes, you don’t get to-do that anymore:

• The toil you know is more comfortable than the toil you don’t. We enjoy what we’re good at, so letting it go is asking for discomfort.
• Leading others toward your toil takes time you could have spent doing it yourself. Yet leading others forward is what helps your company grow.
• What comes next is even harder. Now what? It’s time to draw a new map, rather than following your old one. That one’s not yours anymore.

The ratchet effect creates leverage but can be uncomfortable to crank. Is your work important enough to you to make you trade your to-dos for discomfort?

How your people identify themselves

Questions control our focus. When posed to us, they have the power to change the way we look at ourselves, even if for just a while:

• Are you a caring person? The focus is on your nature, making us more likely to volunteer for a good cause.
• Are you an adventurous person? The focus is on your spirit, making us more likely to try something new.
• Is quality important to you? The focus is on your taste, making us more likely to invest in a quality, long-lasting solution.
• Are you a people person? The focus is on your social orientation, making us more likely to attend an event.

When we ask questions of ourselves or others, our answers carry into the rest of the conversation. Whether we’re recruiting volunteers or raising their ambition, the lives of those we wish to serve are as good as the questions they–and we–ask them.

What sharing future gives us

Brendon Burchard, motivational speaker and coach, says “Problem marketing was a great technique until 2005, but the culture changed, the world changed. We moved away from a pain-oriented society into an aspirational-society.”

Aspirations exist in the future, and the future doesn’t exist at all (yet). With no ‘reality’ to hold it down, the future makes it a great space for raising ambition:

1. Emotional investment. A journey into the future starts in the present. If we like the sound of where it’s going, it becomes part of our own vision for the future. We want the future to be bright, don’t we?
2. A vision you belong to. Because the vision is ‘ours’, our bias stretches beyond acceptance to advocacy. We want our own vision to come true, don’t we?
3. Permission to raise our ambition. By advocating for this shared future–a bigger future–its failure would mean the undoing of the very world we hope to live in. We can’t sit idly by and let that happen, can we?

It could be a shared future of better smartphone photography (to take better images of your family). It could be one where a type of crime no longer exists (making a safer world for your children). Whatever it is, sharing future gives us a powerful place to end a message and set the sights of our audience in the right direction.

Information vs Experience

I’m working on a book at the moment.

It’s got a lot of important information in it that’ll help a lot of cause-driven companies.

If they engage with it:

• Information is half of the body of work: Experiences without value are just broken promises. They draw you in, engage you, and leave you with nothing. The information needs to be amazing.
• Experience is the other half: Information without experience is a confusing chore. It’s everything you ‘need’, but if it doesn’t motivate you to engage with it and apply it, it’s scarcely even intellectual entertainment.​

It’s not just what’s in the box that matters. The way we wrap, box, and deliver our work is a part of the work itself.

Do you need to learn how to add more to the box, or how to wrap better?

Time has inflation and appreciation

I spotted a man wearing a t-shirt today that said “Time is money” on it.

On its own, that’s a terrible trade:

• Time, to money, to time again: To sell your time for money, only to sell your money for time again later in life, is a lousy deal when you’re…
• Factoring in inflation: Depending on how long you leave it and how long your lifestyle and genetics afford you, the time you buy back again might not be the same as the time you sold in the first place.
• Making it worth it: To make a winning trade, ensure your trade includes mission, contribution, and purpose.

This way, when you buy time back again, it’ll have appreciated faster than its rate of inflation: you’ll have made a difference.

Why we don’t see much ‘spirit’ these days

Pushing through adversity–spirit–is rare because of how it’s made.

Seneca wrote, “This is the touchstone of such a spirit; no prizefighter can go with high spirits into the strife if he has never been beaten black and blue; the only contestant who can confidently enter the lists is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent’s fist, who has been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary’s charge, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, one who, as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever.”

The great irony, then, is that spirit breeds spirit, much like strength breeds strength.

On teams doing important work, fear becomes spirit if you push through it. If we don’t push, it simply becomes more fear.

The marketplace needs your permission

Last May, we talked about how we already have permission.

It’s ours to give away. What does “giving permission” mean in the marketplace?

• Permission to make the wrong decision. Now they can say ‘Yes’ to you and risk being wrong (you’ll let them know & let them go). Otherwise, they may risk saying ‘Yes’ to someone else and be stuck (with something that’s not for them).
• Permission to make mistakes. Now they can be guided through mistakes (by you) rather than suffering the consequences (by someone who cares more about the check than helping people).
• Permission to be greater than they believed. Now they can make bigger, better decisions (because you raised them to it) rather than limiting themselves to marginal, fractional ones (because no one else told them they’re good enough).

You have permission. You can give it to whom you please. Will you?

What sharing a journey gives us

Steve Jobs is often quoted for stating, “The journey is the reward.”

Let’s unpack that a little:

• Journeys create bias. We journey with those we trust, and since they helped choose the path, we trust the journey must be good for us, too.
• Journeys create energy and excitement. Everyone longs to belong, so being present on a journey creates a sense of belonging with our travel companions. We never really want such journeys to end, do we?
• Journeys create the desire to contribute. No traveler expects his companions to do all of the work. Our mere presence motivates us to contribute, be it taking out the trash or live-tweeting the events.

Regardless of where it ends up, the journey itself is an opportunity to belong, to create, and to share achievement. It enables us to develop bonds with those we’ve come to trust, be it a journey toward a religious event, local tradition, or new smartphone release.

If you’re doing important work, journeying–rather than merely transacting–with your audience could compound the reward they receive.

Heritage and homeless

Imagine you’re walking along on a street not far from your home.

A homeless person walks up to you and asks for spare change.

What do you do?

• “I don’t know who you are, but here’s a dollar.” Whether you tell him you don’t have any or you hand him a buck, you’re unlikely to overthink it, or continue to ponder it moments later. The encounter barely registers emotionally or financially.
• “You’re like me, here’s everything I have.” What if they told you they’re from your hometown, went to the same school as you, moved here and fell upon hard times? Are you going to merely give him change, or are you going to give him shelter, food, council, and support?

You and he are still the same people. All that changed was the knowledge of shared past experiences. You realize you’re just like him. Despite not sharing the same blood, shared heritage is enough to make you behave like you do.

As teams doing important work in the marketplace, we should think hard about what heritage we share with those we wish to serve. What could it do to the quality of our relationships with them?

What sharing heritage gives us

Robert Cialdini documents in his book “Pre-suasion” how individuals with no specific genetic connection can employ the power of kinship once characterized by a shared heritage.

Here’s what having a shared heritage gives us:

• Shared heritage is the next best thing to blood. We show an increased willingness to sacrifice our own interests for the group due to these “fictive families”. That’s some bond.
• Shared heritage reinforces our decisions. It brings into focus all we’ve achieved so far, whether or not we had anything to do with it personally. We feel we understand why we are where we are, thanks to the group.
• Shared heritage is something we’re proud of. Seeing all that’s been achieved so far by the group gives us a sense of pride. There’s a sense of belonging in a community or tribe we can’t buy our way into.

Shared heritage lets us build strong bonds between strangers who associate with similar beginnings, be it by culture, race, our cause, or a preferred smartphone manufacturer.

The ‘i’ in iPhone

Every year, Apple does a keynote. And every year, they tell us a story.

Apple manufactures the mystique and excitement around their products using that story. Without the story–the narrative–their keynotes are merely press releases about smartphones with better tech specs.

This is the story they tell us:

1. Heritage: Here’s where we’ve been, together. We’re so proud of how far we’ve come, aren’t you?
2. Desire: We’ve created the next step in the journey you’re taking. Amazing, isn’t it?
3. Future: Look ahead, here’s what our shared future looks like together. It’s exciting, isn’t it?

It’s the story we buy; the heritage, the desire, and the future. And it’s the story we experience every time we use their products.

The story is the ‘i’ in iPhone.

The one you’re afraid to make

In your field of work, what are you afraid to make?

• The important decision: An opportunity to take your current campaign far bigger than you feel comfortable with. Will you say yes?
• The promised outcome: To deliver a result or experience far beyond what you feel comfortable with. Will you commit to making it happen?
• The product or service: A disruptive new way to solve a problem that could shake your entire industry. Will you create it?

There’s always something in our field of work that we’re afraid to make, be it a decision, an outcome, or a service. Which is it for you?

The difficult one

People don’t normally set out to be ‘the difficult one’:

• They’re talented… Being ‘difficult’, stubborn, or indecisive is normally associated with areas of genius, experience, expertise, or passion. All good things.
• …But challenging. The ‘difficult’ side can remove one’s genius from the rest of the world, inhibiting them from doing their best work.

In one way or another, we are all ‘the difficult one’. We just need a good team around to support us enough to help us shine.

There’s a map for that

We’ve talked about drawing the map before.

What do we do with all these maps?

• Draw them where you shine: Your body of work is–or should be–the best in the world for your audience. There’s no map for that, you’re the pioneer. Following a map will only give you results equal to others.
• Follow them where you don’t: Outside of your body of work, others are seeking to be the best in the world for their audiences. Are you their audience? Following their map allows you to inherit the best path forward for people like you.

If you try to enter the market with no maps other than the ones you plan to draw, you’ll get lost. Outside your area of genius, remember: there’s an app for that.

Pricing as a service

You know the price of your service.

But do you know the service of your price?

• Lower the price to lower distraction: By innovating your way to a lower price, you can prevent your audience from considering lesser alternatives. Your price renders the service of overcoming inertia.
• Increase the price to increase focus: A larger financial investment often creates a larger energy investment. By increasing your price, you increase the focus your audience brings to your relationship.

It’s not about what others are doing, or what your hard costs are. It’s about what service you want to add to your work.

On liking your clients

You don’t have to. But what you do about that matters:

• Your team’s skills come with responsibility: To serve your clients as fully and completely as you’re able. Your feelings on the matter don’t change that.
• Their attitude isn’t the same as their impact: If they’re good stewards of their own clients, then underserving your client underserves theirs, too.
• It’s always a decision: If they’re disrespectful to you or those they serve, you can choose to either help them see what greatness actually looks like, or walk away.

Serve them fully or not at all. Diluting your value with less effort or less respect only hurts you in the end.

Planning an encore

Surprises you can’t see coming are the best kind.

The more unexpected, the better:

• A client gift at Christmas is lovely. But the fact its gift-giving season takes the shine off it a little.
• A client gift ‘just because’ is lovelier. It was uncalled for. They didn’t see it coming. How nice to be thought of.
• Changing your mind for the better is loveliest. After receiving great work, to then receive something over scope right after delivery is icing on the cake. This is an encore.

All that’s required for the best surprises–to plan an encore–is to manage expectations, then break your own rules.

How to solve bigger problems

What level do you (and those you work alongside) play at?

Solving bigger problems creates more change while offering a greater reward to those who do so.

How we arrive at those bigger problems determines our success:

• Start small and work your way up? That’s your choice. The problem, of course, is that once you’ve figured out the small stuff, you’ve solved the wrong problem.
• Start by tackling the big problems? That’s your choice. The challenge, of course, is understanding the big problems and then solving them. That’s the point.​

With few exceptions, we solve bigger problems by giving ourselves permission to tackle them in the first place, instead of getting distracted by things we think will give us permission.

It works

But only as much as you work it:

• 10 cold calls, or 1,000 cold calls. Is it the technique you use, or the consistency you bring, that makes the most difference?
• Doing an experiment, or doing yet more research. Is it the extra research you do, or the real-world experience you earn, that makes the most difference?
• The best talent, or the big mission. Is it the skills you have, or the drive to keep going that you bring, that makes the most difference?

Sometimes the difference between successful and unsuccessful teams is that one of them just got on with it.

Protecting yourself from yourself

What are you like?

• “He’s so disciplined”: So much that he expects everyone else to meet his level of performance? Protect yourself by letting them bring their gifts.
• “She’s so sensitive”: So much so that everyone’s tip-toeing around her and diluting themselves? Protect yourself by letting them bring their gifts.
• “He’s always changing his mind”: So much so that nobody around him can get anything done? Protect yourself by letting them bring their gifts.​

Protecting yourself from yourself really means allowing others to bring their gifts. There’s strength in knowing when to get out of your own way.

5,600 weeks

5,600 weeks. 1,200 months. 100 years. 1 life.

• 1,680 gone: At 30, you’ve used 1,680 weeks. At 60, that’s 3,360. How much learning and experience have you gathered in almost two-thousand weeks?
• 3,920 left: At 30 if we’re lucky enough to see 100, we have 3,920 weeks left. At 60, that’s 1,960. How much impact can you make with almost two-thousand weeks?

We can change our teams and ourselves in just days. Next time you feel like saying, “I don’t have the time”, consider the math.

You have the time. What will you use it on?

Making customers ‘we’ themselves

Great teams–those on a mission–make their customers ‘we’ themselves:

• Share the story so far… How Rolls met Royce. How Ben met Jerry. How did your story begin? Where did you come from?
• …But don’t finish it. Stories that are finished give closure. Stories that don’t involve us; we want to know what happens next.
• Write them into the next chapter. When they’re in your story, it becomes their story. “They” become “we”. “We” are building a new car, or flavor of ice cream.

When we truly enroll our audience, there is no more ‘us and them’. There is only ‘we’.

In defense of online ads

Your team runs an advert.

Someone clicks your ad but doesn’t sign up.

Did the ad succeed or fail?

• Your timing isn’t their timing. Do you sign up to everything you like? Or do you sometimes figure later is fine?
• No stalking. An ad’s success isn’t down to statistics, but how useful it was as a genuine act of service for those you serve.
• Measure the right things. Measure it to see if it is, in fact, useful, not to see if you’re herding cattle effectively.

Advertisers get fussy about wanting people to “act now” on their “funnel”. And advertising gets a bad reputation because of it.

Advertising is either an act of service or an act of invasion.

Your team gets to choose.

Today is everyday

Tomorrow won’t be any better than today:

• Stress now, stress forever. Or swap that stress for a disciplined, methodical process that you bring to your work.
• Improve later, never improve. Or make growth a daily requirement worth documenting before each day closes.
• There’s no time, there never will be. Unless we make it, be it for our rituals, our growth, or our team’s side-project.​

For our teams, our work and ourselves, if we want a better tomorrow, we need to work on today.

Your work is the engine

How “spreadable” is your work?

If you build it like an engine, very:

• Advertising is the alternator: It gets things started. You don’t need many people to respond if each spreads your work to others they know.
• Your work is the engine: It keeps things moving. Work that’s designed to be spreadable spreads itself. If you have to peddle, you did it wrong.

How can you make your work more spreadable? The answer lies beyond “a bigger ad budget”.

You’re not ready

“Hello, can I help you?”

Probably not. At least, not yet:

• You don’t yet trust yourself: Until you understand–and desire–your ideal outcome with clarity and specificity, you won’t trust yourself to truly be helped.
• You don’t yet trust me: Because you don’t know me. I can’t help you if you don’t trust me. You’ll question the council, the process, and the price.

Your audience is probably not ready for your help, yet.

But you can help your audience get to a place where they’re ready for help.