Archive for the ‘Relationships’ Category
Emil Brolick, the new CEO of the fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s, has some excellent observations on his new position and the challenges he’ll be facing as the CEO.
Vision . . . is Always a ‘Good Start’
“A leader has to bring a vision to an organization . . .” Agreed. But you also need the strategies to achieve the vision or your vision won’t happen and your staff will feel disengaged very quickly.
Keep Your People Focused and Involved
I’m fond of saying, “The difference between your people and your profit is their performance.” Management is often defined as, “Getting things done through other people”. Those ‘other people’ are your staff.
Communicate Your Expectations
If other people are to help you carry out your strategies, they must ‘buy in’ to your vision. They must also understand — and that’s your responsibility — what their roles require and how they support the achievement of the strategic vision you have created for your business.
Appreciate Your Employees
As the leader of your firm you want to recognize your staff as the essential asset they are. Also, make sure they know that the performance of the business reflects their collective performance. “All for one and one for all” is very true.
KEY POINT:
Brolick says it well . . . “A leader has to define reality and give hope”. Amen, Emil!
“I don’t know” isn’t the end of the world
When I was starting out in business, I was reluctant to tell a prospect, “I don’t know” when I was asked a question about how taxes, policy provisions or business law would affect them.
As I ‘matured’ in my career, I learned to get real — real comfortable admitting, “I don’t know” to many of the questions I was being asked.
Be ‘OK’ being ‘Not-OK’
Social psychologists have proven over and over again that your ability to openly acknowledge that you are NOT perfect . . . that you don’t have all the answers . . . actually makes you more attractive to a prospective client.
Seek to demonstrate . . . “Credible Candor”
The fact is . . . your ‘trustworthiness’ factor goes up whenever you exhibit what I call, “Credible Candor”. This means you say, when it’s true, “I don’t know”. This makes you more ‘real’ (i.e. less ‘plastic’) and, therefore highly attractive to prospects. Just be sure you add something like, “. . . but I’ll make sure I find out for you!”.
What you DO is more telling than anything you might SAY to a prospect or client. Behavior that reveals you’re not perfect in every way – makes you seem even more perfect to others.
KEY POINT:
Be Human . . . you’ll reveal your imperfections . . . and become more attractive
I just read a great post by a Marcus Sheriden. Marcus is in the pool & spa business serving the VA and MD area. He’s been through some rough times in the last few years. He was embezzled out of over $200K in 2005, the economy tanked in ’08 and (oh, yes!) the IRS actually put a lien on his home to help ‘get his attention’.
Inbound Marketing . . . to the rescue
In 2009, Marcus started using Hubspot to attract interested people to his website. And his business is doing very well — even though many others in his industry have closed their doors. He owes it all to learning how to be a business that attracts prospects to him — AKA ‘Inbound Marketing’ and using the Hubspot platform to do that easily and effectively.
The Magic Number: “30 Page Views”
Marcus discovered something very interesting using Hubspot’s built-in website analytics. Specifically, he’s seen a positive correlation between:
• the number of website pages someone visits, and
• their propensity to buy a pool from him
Marcus learned that if a prospective client has at least 30 unique ‘page views’ they present his company with an 80% or better chance of buying a pool. And with over 600 pools sold and installed by his company, Marcus’ insight is worth noting!
KEY POINT:
The more familiar prospects are with your business, the more likely they are to buy
