I’ve also included her resources, which are good website links for much of her statistics and information.

Katherine

Oct 21 Webinar Handout (2 Slides)

081021_Resources

7MarketingMistakes

The presentation was statistic/research-heavy, so I have included the PDF of the PowerPoint slides, and added my notes in the sidebar. The speaker slipped some new slides into the presentation since he prepared the handouts, so I tried to capture the new info in my notes.

Really fantastic information about how Boomers think about work, retirement, other generations in the workforce, and their “place” in work-world in the coming years. If you’re managing Boomers, working with Boomers, or ARE a Boomer, this presentation answers a LOT of questions.

Boomer presentation

Please – don’t read your slides to me.

 Blog 9 details

Major Pursuits Summary

Download an 8-page PDF of every tip & tool, plus bonus material we won’t get to today at www.blahblahblah.us/smps.htm 

[or click the link here and and have the PDF download from this Blog SMPSToolboxBlahBlah]

Katherine thoughts:

It took me almost to the END of the presentation to figure out that the first third of the presentation was about changing people’s perspective about marketing/marketers. The second third was about channeling that new perception into action, through focused questioning/guiding of the requests made of us. And the last third was about drawing out the desired marketing behavior of the larger group of folks we work with through specific questioning and developing a “one thing a day” mentality towards change. [Just do one thing to day to help your cause…]

I found the presentation disorganized, a bit over simplified at times, and really vague about the particulars of engaging the larger group of people we work with. And frankly, I got tired of the constant references to her book. Give me a break. If your presentation is an indication of the content and organization of your book, you’ve lost a sale.

 All of that said…

It is difficult to do our job because so many people have different ideas about what it is, what is involved. Marketing is more than just a department.

Look at it with new “glasses.” When people rush in and say “Quick! We need to do some marketing!” that tells me they don’t quite have the right perception.

Her definition: Anything that HELPS or HINDERS the sale or use of your products or services.

How do you answer the phone? Do you answer the phone? How does the office look?

First mistake: We think Marketing is something you DO (as in promotion).

In the discussion of “Quick, let’s do…” ask what else can be done to help win the work; what is hindering our ability to win; is it a level playing field.

We tend to think of our department/firm with buckets or silos. We have marketing, business development, PR/Communication, engineering… most of us put profit centers or services in our bucket when we think about what we do.

Instead of putting departments or services in the buckets, put PEOPLE in the buckets. If you want to have a bigger role and have people working together, re-think in terms of clients. Bucket 1 – existing clients, bucket 2 – previous client base, bucket 3- new client base. If we want to refocus – pick the existing bucket and say “What could we do when we focus SOLELY on the existing clients? How are we marketing to THEM?”

Existing Clients:
How do we become a MORE important part of our client’s life?
How can we be MORE customer service oriented?
How can we get a GREATER share of their business?
How can we BETTER communicate with our existing clients?

Previous Clients:
Do we KNOW why they went away?
Are we still on their radar?
What do we need to do to be the 3% of what a client remembers for more than 24 hours?
How do you move from back-of-mind to front-of-mind?
What do we need to DO to right a wrong?
Ask them to RETURN.
Let them know you want them back.

New clients:
Let it rain (rainmakers). There are some people who are really good at cultivating new clients. Let them. MOST people can’t do this.

We don’t have a magic wand. We deal with people’s unrealistic expectations all the time. Here’s our reality:
Marketing and BD – our job is to bring the horse to water. We can even make him thirsty. (Get the meeting, get on the list, get the interview, make them want us). But what happens with the horse gets to the trough?? What happens when our team gets in front of the thirsty horse is where success or failure happens.

Marketing/BD can:
1)      Bring the thirsty horse
2)      Raise visibility/awareness, name recognition
3)      Create an image/personality for the firm (brand) – sometimes the only thing that distinguishes us is the personality; as a company and as the individual who meets with the client.
4)      Create a response – can get people to inquire, go to website, ask for more info; it does NOT close the sale.

ACTIONS are more powerful than any of the promotions we could do. The person/people in front of the client(s) make or break it.

 The Wall:
What is it like to be “normal”? Do we think “Wow, this will be a great day if only someone markets to me today.” Um… no… Even when the client invites you in to talk to them, or propose, there is still a “wall” between you and them because they don’t want to be sold to.

The way to get over the wall is to CONNECT with the client before you try to CONVINCE. Connect with them about what they care about – which isn’t you. What do they care about? Themselves. Obviously.

Our job is NOT to bust our way through the wall. It is to get our people to connect something we do, have, know to something the client cares about.

Instead…
Let the internal group/person:
1)      Describe the heck out of whatever it is they want to do, how wonderful we are, etc. Let them get rid of the exhaust fumes of the info about US.
2)      Think about the 1 individual target audience. Ask the group of ALL the stuff from step 1, what are the 2-3 things that would ATTRACT that audience to us.
3)      Translate those 2-3 “features/attributes” into BENEFITS for the client. What WANT or NEED of the client’s does it satisfy? Put the benefit statement in first person singular from the client’s perspective.
4)      If you really want to stand out, go one level deeper. Take the benefits – and ask “Why is _____ important, personally, to this client/target audience?” And Why is THAT important? And Why?? And Why??? Keep a list – what you will have is a list of wants and needs that are pretty deep and MEANINGFUL for that client. You can have this verbiage handy for the proposals, cover letters, interviews, and every interaction with the client. And it will resonate with the client. You’ll end up with “We work with ____ who want _____ and _____.”  Think in terms of “so that.” We have this, so that you can have that.

Use emotion to get over the wall. The facts/features are the passengers. Emotion is the vehicle that get you over the barriers clients put up.

If we’re going to get more people walking the talk… we need a process.
1)      Get input.
2)      Summarize Key Issues & Direction (SKID)
3)      Make recommendation (outline of presentation, proposal, etc.)
4)      Once you get their ok, implement (buildout)

Input is where you start to elevate the marketing work/people/world. You can start to ask the deeper questions that push our understanding of the client. For example, “Is there anything that you know, that I couldn’t possibly know, but if you were me and you wanted this to win, you would want to know… help or hinder our ability to respond to this effort?”

What is challenge we’re trying to overcome?
What is the problem we’re trying to solve?

“The purpose of this (proposal, effort, etc) ______ is to (verb)______   (for target audience)_______ to (do what) _________ because (why) __________.”

The “because” is the compelling reason for the audience to take action. It better be compelling from the client’s perspective.

She tried to talk about getting people “on board,” and walking the talk within the company. She threw around a lot of conceptual information:
People will do what you want them to do if they understand the behavior.
Told a powder ski story. I didn’t get it…

You always find what you’re looking for – if you are looking for ways to reduce waste, you will find it. If you are looking for ways to improve communication, you will find it. If you’re looking for a mess or argument, you’ll find that, too!

So what is the one thing you could do DAILY that would HELP your position/walk the talk? A Recommended Daily Activity… have the group look for ONE thing we can do to be… more responsive, more communicative, more genuine, more accountable…

Yeah, NOT my favorite presentation.

Lance Armstrong story – come back from cancer, hired coach Johann Bruyneel. They decided to train all year, run one race – the Tour de France. Lance wrote in foreword that Johann did the one thing that all great leaders MUST do – “He believed in me.”

You can have the best talent in the world, but you are never going to get the potential unless you have good coaches/leaders.

Less than one third of all managers/supervisors are perceived to be strong leaders. Two of 3 employees are not motivated to drive their employer’s business goals.

 If employees are not motivated, it is NOT their fault. It is the manager’s fault.
Who hires them? Managers
Who trains them? Managers
Who motivates them? Managers

There are “bad” employees out there — but part of the problem of bad employees that we hired them and put them there.

Less than 39% of workers under the age of 25 are satisfied with their employment situation. Interestingly, if you read the information available about Millennials, it tells you to do what you would do with ANYONE. But it has been forced on us now, because Millennials are demanding it and they are a larger part of the workforce.

Only 45% of workers age 45-54 are satisfied with their current job.
Less than 36% of employees expressed contentment with their workload, work/life balance, communication channels, and potential for growth.

TOO many managers become self-limited teams of ONE. If you want something done right, you do it yourself… But wait a minute. So many employees resent being cut off from the opportunities to do stuff. The development of your people is the highest quality of leadership.

Employee Engagement: (Gallup Surveys)
29% (1 in 3 employees) is Engaged – they’ve bought in, they are attempting to do their best work; they are coachable
56% are NOT engaged – it’s not that are not working, they are not working to their full potential. They are not going the extra mile. They are there, but not doing/seeing the details.
15% are actively disengaged – they are toxic; they are actively attempting to undermine what your engaged staff are trying to accomplish

That means 71% of employees are disengaged at some level – WOW

You cannot do market/BD in a vacuum, by yourself. Need to get all of the people’s creativity, all of their ideas, to take care of their customers, doing BD. The difference between good and great – is how well we take care of our customers. How well we take care of our clients is a direct correlation of how engaged our staff is. If we’re not getting the very best from our employees, we’re putting the mediocre in front of our clients.

If 2/3 of supervisors are poor leaders, and 71% employees disengaged… is there a correlation??

7 Reasons Employees Leave – #1 category – I receive far too little leadership and feedback. I do not have the opportunity to grow my talent, grow within the organization.

Supervisors surveyed… 9 out of 10 said employees leave because of money. Employees surveyed… 9 out 10 said they leave for reasons OTHER than money.

“I would gladly go to work for somebody else today for a little less money if I could just work for a good boss.” – employee quote.

If we spent comparable money to make better coaches/leaders (vs. salaries/benefits increases), you’d increase retention and key hires.

Top 25% OF COMPANIES WITH HIGHEST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT have:
12% higher customer advocacy
18% higher productivity
12% higher profitability

BOTTOM 25% OF COMPANIES WITH LOWEST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:
51% more inventory shrinkage (stealing)
31-51% more employee turnover [it costs 1 to 2 times the salary of the employee to replace them]
62% more accidents

The leaders who engage their team one-on-one SUCCEED. Focus on individual skills, aspirations, and their input on what could be done to do things better. Then give the empowerment to implement the ideas that help the individual AND the team improve.

The best firms develop good coaches and teach them how to coach new coaches/leaders to come along behind them.

“When compared with their industry peers, organizations with more than four engaged employees for every one actively disengaged employee saw 2.6 times more growth in earnings per share than did organizations with a ratio of slightly less than one engaged worker for every one actively disengaged employee.” – Building Engagement in This Economic Crisis by Jennifer Robison

Most people who are promoted to manager are promoted for 1 of 3 reasons: Knowledge, Production, or Skill. NOT because they are good managers!!

Managers NEED to do THIS:
1)      Have a plan. Follow the plan. [So easy, so mundane, most people skip over this.] Employee engagement is NOT an accident. It has to be planned and implemented.

2)      You have to EVALUATE – making sure the right people are in the right jobs. “Good is the enemy of Great.” (from the book, Good to Great) You cannot be a high performance team with marginal players

3)      You have to COACH – guiding, leading, teaching, and training.

4)      And finally, you have to BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE, pouring out encouragement, caring, and recognition. When your people know that YOU BELIEVE IN THEM, it does important things to their work ethic.

Evaluate, coach, build self-confidence – this is the fuel of winning teams. Can one person make a difference? YES – positive AND negative. The technical aspect of your job is NOT going to make you excellent/great. What is going to make the difference is your ability to development the team.

Stuff you can go back and use right away:::
1) Tremendous emphasis on COMMUNICATION. The vast majority of the workplace problems are caused by poor communication. You could do a lot worse than reminding yourself/practicing this: Did I communicate today? Did I communicate well? Our execution may be poor, so it is important to improve that. This is SO important, especially in the process of change and conflict. Most of the personalities we work with hate change and conflict. They are not going to demand more information. You have to GIVE it to them willingly. (Do it gently, of course! But do it!) The real effective execution of our work is getting everyone on the same page.

Our style as managers has been to just tell employees what to do. True communication is dialogue.

And while we do not measure lack of communication in terms of lives lost (NASA), we DO measure it in terms of lost business. If this is a really problem, then make a strategic plan to FIX IT.

a) Communication is MUCH more than your words. 7% is the words. During emotionally-charged communication, 93% is tonality and body language. People do NOT interpret your written word based on what you’re thinking. They interpret based on their own filters. It is always better to talk to someone in person, one-on-one.

Your actions speak louder than words, too. If the customer is the focus, why chew people out for spending time/dollars on the customer?? The actions speak louder.

b) Avoid multitasking during critical communication. If manager is not focused on the employee when they come in (especially on emotionally charged issues – emotional for the EMPLOYEE), the message is “You’re not important to me.” If you’re not looking at me in the eye, you’re not listening. When they come in to talk to you about something important, put away all the other stuff.

c) When you are providing feedback, ask “What…?” not “Why…?”  Why sounds critical/negative. Ask what or how. What happened, how did that come about, what can we do next time… Expect that there will be failure. People have to fail to grow. The reality is, as you become a better coach, people will fail less. And the more they TRY stuff and take RISKS, the better the department.

2) Learn how to ESTABLISH DIRECTION. Type A personalities… tend to lead out in front and blaze trails. Sometimes we forget to look behind us and see if we’ve given enough direction for the others to follow.

a) Set clear expectations.

b) Establish goals and metrics for the key things the employees do. You WANT your employees to know how they will be evaluated, and they should know AT ANY MOMENT how they are doing against those measurements. Is it efficiency? Is it wins? Is it training? Some goals/expectations don’t have obvious metrics. Think about “professionalism” for a moment. If you tried to define it, to have rules for what it looks like, sounds like, etc, you have loopholes. Easier – we expect you to be professional. If you have any questions, come in we’ll talk about it. If you don’t follow our expectation, I’ll talk to you and COACH you up.

3) PROVIDE SUPPORT.

a) The best thing you can do is to let your people know in word and deed that you wholeheartedly support them.

b) Training – most organizations do a pretty poor job of training their people, even in the BASICS of doing their job. FIX that. Make it easy for them to do the work by giving them the training they need.

c) Resources – do they have the stuff they need to do their job well? If they don’t, they cannot succeed.

d) Feedback – not criticism. Needs to be one-on-one; focus on the things they are doing, not on them as an individual. Be sure to give them the “why” behind the changes. If you’re giving advice/instructions for doing something differently (or at all), explain the WHY. It fills in the why it is important and how they fit in the big picture. Show them how they fit into the big picture.

e) Emotional Support – if employee is having emotional issues at home, they WILL bring this to work. You cannot separate the two worlds. You can’t ignore it. You cannot acknowledge it in a group meeting. It has to come in a one-on-one conversation. You’re not counselors or therapists, but you ARE human. A sympathetic ear is very powerful.

“A good coach communicates a belief in people’s potential and an expectation that they can do their best.” – Daniel Goleman [author Emotional Intelligence]

www.1-on-1Management.com

kelly@vmaxpg.com

Thoughts:

1)      GREAT overview of prevailing thoughts on management tools/styles.

2)      Fabulous speaker – very engaging, very personable. Marvelous stories

3)      Wish we’d had time for Q&A. There is clearly more information on the topic than can be covered in 90 minutes and still have time for Q&A.

4)      And it’s time for me to communicate MORE. I realized as I was listening that any leader’s ability to coach and help is proportionate to the information they have about what the employee is working on and their aspirations.

I am watching the keynote speaker talk on the phone and conduct business. He’s wearing jeans and flipflops and a striped long sleeved shirt. Not exactly my internal image of what a keynote should look like. Not exactly my definition of “business casual” either.

Las Vegas mayor is here. He has lots of good stories about filming in Vegas. Haven’t figured out what the relevance is, yet… Ah; he’s here to present us with the City’s proclamation of Build Business days.

And now, the keynote speaker, author of How to Have Kick-ass Ideas … Chris Baréz-Brown

The question that stirs innovation – “Is this it?” It’s not just about driving business growth, it’s about drawing out the extraordinary in yourself and your team. He is having the group stand up and do vocal warm-ups to get ready for the activities he’s going to put them through.

Most products come from an Insight, Ideas, Impact process – it is reproducible. But “the magic” cannot come from a process. It comes from people – from interaction. Chris’s main concept is “Productive Creativity: The habit of doing new thinks to make a positive difference.”

Two problems – people are basically lazy. They’ve developed habits to help them get through the day, not to be creative. The second problem is that people cross their arms and won’t engage. In order for the creativity to flow, you have to be spontaneous and say “yes” to it.

The second part of the concept/quote: Must be positive impact/change. It has to be a good thing, or why invest the energy in it? It’s easy to have a negative impact with little effort. If you’re going to put forth an effort, make it a positive goal.

What is the number one excuse people use to avoid being creative? [everyone wrote on paper, crumpled in ball, and threw at speaker]
It’s too hard.
It takes too much time.
It’s not my job.
I’m an engineer; I’m not creative.
Fear of failure.

 There are 5 factors that affect how creative a team can be:

Attitudinal – if you say you can/can’t you are absolutely right. If you think it is too hard, not your job, you’re going to fail, etc., you have sabotaged the effort from the start.

Behavioral – are you accepting of new ideas, create an encouraging and inviting environment? Or are you dismissive, judgmental, and “been there, done that”?

Skills – do you know how? Everyone can learn this; but not everyone can do this instinctively.

Structure/System – Is there a company culture for this? Do you have in your group/department/company something in place to guarantee acceptance/use of creativity?

Environment – 70% of new ideas comes from the immediate surroundings. What do your conference spaces or meeting rooms have to offer to the creative juices? What about your cubicle or office?

 Today, Chris is focusing on BEHAVOIR – the five things that can make the most positive impact on BEHAVIOR factor.

 1) Positive Minded – “smart people can make anything rubbish.” They can tear it down in a heartbeat. It is MUCH harder to stay positive. When you first have an idea, you have no idea if it is any good. Deliberately nurture the ideas. [exercise: pair up; 1 person tells a completely made-up story. The second person, feeds random words. The 1^st person has to incorporate those words into their story.] Stand – for some reason, our great ideas are stored in our buttocks… Good fun. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it. Stories were spontaneous and surprising, IF you were accepting of the words being thrown at you.

Businesses cannot afford to have all the key creativity in one or two people. You have to have the input from different points of view, etc. And you have to accept the ideas as they come. Everything has potential.

2)  Clear – analytical and creative are at polar opposites. You have to clearly state what the purpose is of the group’s interaction. All it takes is one person to say “Oh, we’ve done that, it didn’t work,” to kill the creative buzz. He told a great story: There’s a party at someone’s home. Everyone is having a fabulous time, lounging around the pool, drink their beverages of choice, waiting for the burgers to come off the BBQ. One guest stands up to jump in the pool, and sees 7 turds floating in the pool. Do you jump in? Of course not. The guest picks up the screen and fishes 3 of them out. Do you jump in now? Of course not! The guest continues to fish out filth until there is only 1 turd in the pool. Do you jump in now? Of course not! The moral to the story? It only takes 1 turd to ruin a party.  So… be clear about your purpose for bringing the people together – are you going to be creative/accepting? Or analytical and judgmental?

3) Be fresh – as opposed to pulling from similarities or “something like this thing we’re trying to do…” When you pull from your past experiences, you’re cutting off the other pathways that may come up. You are traveling a path you have already walked before. Ask yourself/the group: How else can we look at this? What other question can we ask to get at this? 

Do you sleep on the same side of bed every night? Even when solo? Drive the same route to work? Order the same food at your favorite restaurant? We are creatures of habit. If you do the same thing day in and day out, you don’t have to do much work. Second problem, you are having the same experiences. You’re not stimulating the brain. Just break some time out to do something different, and see what comes of it. On your Friday off, go to the zoo, play bingo, take in a show. Break the routine, and your subconscious will become restimulated and ready to help you be creative.

Exercise – use three sheets of paper, build a tower, must be taller than three sheets, no props. It took one group about 3 minutes to do this. The point wasn’t the building of the tower (although several engineers in the group were still puzzling over this problem long after the exercise was over). The point was to move around and do something with your hands in response to the complex instructions. Everyone’s interpretation was different. Only in “playing” with the design options did the instructions become clear. Which led to…

4) Make it REAL – try stuff out. You can’t do this all in your head. It’s the reason prototypes work for inventors. Each one brings you closer to the one that works. Second reason – communication – if you’re trying to explain complex stuff, it is MUCH easier if you can draw it, build, make it concrete/real. If you can engage the group in making the topic “real,” you’re well on your way to innovation.

Exercise – come up with as many song titles with the word LOVE in it in 60 seconds
All you need is love
Love makes the world go round
Love is in the air
And I love her
Love is the reason
His love
Love me do

5) If you had a month to do this, you wouldn’t do as well. You’d forget, get sidetracked, find other things to do. You have to make it FAST to maintain the momentum/energy. Take people away from the usual environment, work on 1 thing, for a concentrated period of time (he did something with a group over 5 days – focused on one thing). There is something about forcing a decision by the end of a tight timeframe that spurs creative juices.

Movement is always positive (said he put post-it note under seat to do duet with him) – there wasn’t a post-it note. What was going on in your head? Don’t let it be me, I might look silly. [There’s always one who says “I hope it’s me!”]

6) Make it BIG – gotta stand for something, take some risk. Risk is implicit in creative development. If the solution is normal/traditional, it’s not really innovative. You’re being too safe.  Not everything will work. You have to do a lot of new things, and know that the ones that work will pay for the failures. The goal has to be worth the risk. Movement forward, towards the goal, is self-perpetuating, and will encourage more and more risk/innovation.

Thoughts:
1)      Overall, an entertaining, thought-provoking speaker. I’m excited to try some of his exercises on our larger group of client managers and see what is dislodged.

2)      He was difficult to understand. I don’t know if that was his delightful British accent or the fuzzy audio. Much of what he said was muffled. But I got the gist.

Blogging:
I’m wearing a hot pink sticky note on my name tag that tells people I am blogging the conference. I have the same hot pink sticky notes on my laptop, too, so people can tell at a distance what I am doing. I believe in full disclosure!  It is quite a conversation-starter, too. People are intrigued by the concept.

Anna Liotta, CEO
Resultance, Incorporated
(206) 283-2905
www.resultance.com
http://Annaliotta.typepad.com