Three Degrees of Separation: Building a Powerful Professional Network

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 1 Comment

When you think of networking, are you turned off?

Do you have visions of asking someone you barely know if you can add them to your network because you want something from them?  Experts would call this approach transactional, unauthentic and not very effective. There is value to you but nothing in it for them. Building your network shouldn’t be like that. Let’s agree – connections are important and a truly helpful, professional network can be leveraged to get you your dream career.

In their book “The Start-Up of You”,Reid Hoffman (the founder of LinkedIn) and Ben Casnocha say the real way to create a network requires the ability to:

 

  1. be authentic to build a genuine relationship with another person
  2. work with the people you know
  3. create three degrees of separation for the people who can help you the most professionally
  4. prioritize the high-quality relationships across a large number of connections

To be authentic, start with a friendly gesture that immediately adds value to them by being associated with you. An example would be, “I have a management tool I think you’d love. I’ll send it to you.” The authors say it is essential to put yourself in the other person’s shoes to develop an honest connection. Then think in terms of how you can collaborate with and help the other person. That’s the authentic part that you just can’t fake your way through.

The best way to engage with new people is by working with people you already know but focus on deepening the connection. Most people maintain 5 to 10 active alliances.  An ally is someone you consult regularly for advice and proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together. An ally is someone you will cooperate with, sacrifice for and are few in number.

I cherish my alliances. Recently, a dear friend engaged in possibly acquiring a manufacturing firm to compliment her business. It was her first acquisition attempt. Though she had all of the right resources to perform due diligence and make the decision, we still spent endless hours walking, talking about the process and her feelings throughout. She, in turn, has been a resource for me several times during our relationship.

Looser connections are what sociologists call “weak ties”. These are folks whom you’ve spent limited time with but are still friendly. Why are they important? Because weak ties sit outside your inner circle and are more inclined to bring new information and new opportunities.
Friends of friends of friends are your third-degree connections. Why is three degrees the magic number? Because when you are introduced to a second- or third-degree connection, at least one person personally knows the origin.  And that’s how trust is preserved and credibility is established.

At three degrees of separation, your extended network can lead you to 50,000+ connections via a personal introduction from somebody you know.
How does it work – you leverage your network through an introduction from someone you know, who knows the person you want to reach. For your network to be successful, you need to be effective at requesting and making introductions.

“Relationships are living, breathing things. Feed, nurture, and care about them; they grow. Neglect them; they die,” according Hoffman and Casnocha.
They suggest that in the next week you:
  • Introduce two people who don’t know each other but ought to
  • Think about a challenge you face and ask for an introduction to a connection in your network who could help
  • Identify a weaker tie with whom you’d like to build an alliance. Help him/her by giving  a small gift such as an article or job posting

 

And their paramount tip on networking to build a great career – be authentic!

Debra Koenig, President, B2A

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The Power of Will

Posted on February 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, I was given the opportunity by our expert 3rd party research partner, Empire Research Group, to attend an event, put on by the motivational guru Tony Robbins, called Business Mastery—an experience built through an extreme immersion of time and information to rewire the attendees’ way of thinking so we could “unstick” ourselves to achieve more. Literally, he boomed the importance of doing the right things at the right time.

“Business Mastery is emotional mastery… if you can’t master your emotions you’ll fail at business.” – Tony Robbins

This doesn’t mean don’t show any. Emotions are powerful. Be a master at how and when you choose to use them. Control them to achieve the outcomes you want. Energy is contagious. Find what compels you and share that energy. Make it positive though. Emitting fear only puts people in a fight, flight or freeze mode. Not a great place to work from for anyone, plus your customer experience will falter and, in turn, you and your business will ultimately suffer the most from a profits standpoint.

What I took away from this discussion was that “will power” was a great place to start. I figure you’ll be more engaged in what you are doing if you know your compelling reason for doing it. What is your desired outcome? Does it energize and excite you? If it does it will be infectious. These items not only fuel you, but also, if powerful enough, can fuel everyone around you.  When this doesn’t happen in this fashion, then you probably weren’t doing the right thing or it wasn’t at the right time. You have to have the conviction to question yourself and hold yourself accountable.

Even though I believe and understand the value of all this at its core doing it, really doing it, is much harder than expected—if I’m truly being honest with myself. What rose to the surface in all of this was a need to create a way to hold myself in the new track until it becomes natural.

Start:

  1. What do I want the outcome to be?
  2. What is my compelling reason to want that outcome?
  3. Do I have the ability to make it happen or do I need help?

Structure:

Plan – Create a blueprint to understand the vision and the details to make it a reality.

Prioritize – Put in place my 3-1-3 to keep the ball moving on what’s important.

Process – Use a daily system to break down my high-level objectives into everyday actions.

Postmortem – check in with my plan and actions regularly so I can hold myself accountable, course correct when necessary, create opportunities to learn and teach, as well as celebrate milestones.

Of course, if I begin by actually writing it down my ability to achieve it goes up drastically. Studies prove that by doing this in the written hand increases retention, accelerates learning, drives better decision-making, and ignites more brain activity. Count me in. On a personal note, all of this exercises my brain in a way that makes it healthier and regulates emotions. Wonderful, sounds good.

We learn things, get incredibly excited by them, know that by doing them our lives will change for the better, and, finally, swear we will do them. Then the honeymoon is over and life picks up again dragging us back to our former mindset of what needs to get done (our familiar comfortable old friend… the rut). Seemingly reasonable distractions continue to do what they do best—distract. In the back of our minds the things we wanted to focus on are always there nagging at us, creating a level of stress and, let’s face it, a background feeling of failure because we know but we just aren’t doing. The voices get quieter as the weeks pass by into months. We all know deep down the strength of our will to carry out our decisions, wishes, or plans is what defines our success as leaders.

And, hey, where there’s a will there’s a way.

Shiloh Kelly, Vice President of Marketing, Red Book Solutions 

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Posted in Better Managers, Communication, General Business, Management, marketing, Networking, Performance, Shiloh Kelly

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Looking for that Magic Bullet

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

As managers, we are all looking for that magic bullet that will make us a better manager and make our lives easier.  Let’s be honest; being a manager is not an 8 to 5 job.   I have been in management for over 30 years and have managed both a small group of people and indirectly managed more than 1,000 people.  During these 30 years I have talked to, advised, hired and fired thousands of different managers. 

The one common thing I have found is everyone is looking for a magic bullet. Unfortunately I don’t think it exists.

What I have discovered is successful managers who follow the Six Fundamentals of Management are significantly more successful and seem to live a more balanced life than managers who don’t follow them.  So what are these Six Fundamentals? Well they aren’t magic bullets; just good management.

Six Fundamentals of Management

  1. Priority and Time Management
  2. Task/Compliance Management
  3. Team Communication Management
  4. Key Metric Variance and Corrective Action Management
  5. Crisis Management
  6. Training Reinforcement

My guess is not one of these items surprises you.  I also suspect you will find it difficult to dispute that these are key components to successful management.  You may have some additional items you would like to include, however, I would love to have any manager on my team who can successfully execute each of these areas.

So if you are not performing at an above average level in any of these areas, what can you do to improve yourself? Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do you have the awareness of these Six Fundamentals (obvious answer)?
  • Do you have the desire to improve in each of these areas or in the area you are not performing strongly?  Without desire, nothing else will matter.
  • Do you have the knowledge to get better?  There are numerous articles and books written in each of these areas.  Are you willing to read and learn? In other words, make the effort?
  • Do you have the ability to change your behavior?  This is not such an easy answer.  Your mind might say yes but the rest of you might say something else.
  • Do you have a daily system that reinforces this behavior? Getting on track is one thing, maintaining the track is where your old ruts seem like old friends.

I believe where most people fall short is either desire or they don’t utilize a daily system that reinforces this behavior and creates a habit.  There is nothing I can say about desire, this is an individual choice.  However, without a daily system, it is impossible to plan and focus your day to successfully manage through each of these key components.  You will fall prey to reacting to what is happening in the moment, you will lose some control and your operation will lose some control right along with you. Keeping your focus on the important and not the urgent is a golden opportunity to improve in itself.

There are a variety of systems for you to choose from that will help you to stay focused on each of these categories (that would be a lot to manage in itself), but rarely are they captured in a single simple system. Of course, I happen to be the President of one of these companies, so I have a slight bias.  Regardless, find something and use it religiously.  You will find the results will speak for themselves, your life will become easier and you might even be rid of those restless nights dreaming of mythical magic bullets.

Greg Thiesen, President and CEO, Red Book Solutions and B2A

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Great Service…What does it really mean?

Posted on February 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

Many believe that the word “service” is an ambiguous, overused term.  What does “service” really mean?  According to Wikipedia, “Service is a set of one time consumable and perishable events.” So how does this translate into the hospitality industry?  Simply put it’s the greeting, suggesting, serving, interaction, presentation, pre-bussing and the closure of a transaction.  It is all-encompassing and every piece counts.

U.S. Customer Experience Impact Report reveals:

  • 82% of consumers left due to poor customer service
  • 73% cited “rude staff” as the  primary pain point
  • 55% said failure to resolve their problems in a timely manner drove them away

Service is the lifeblood of a restaurant.  In today’s economy, service is more important than ever.   All restaurants are vying for the consumer to choose their establishment rather than the competitors.  It is the single most important tool to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Consumers today DEMAND good service.  Good service is not great service; it’s simply what is expected; it’s part of the transaction. Good Service, Bad Service or Great Service is defined solely by the customer’s perspective; however, perception equals reality.  Do you remember the last time you had a truly memorable experience because of the great service you received?

On a recent business trip to Chicago a co-worker of mine had the unhappy experience of the airline losing his luggage.  For those of you who have ever lost your luggage, you know what a hassle and inconvenience it is.  My co-worker stopped for lunch at an upscale restaurant chain just down the street from his hotel.  Eating his hamburger at the bar, he told the bartender about how badly his day had gone. When he was ready to pay the bill, the manager of the restaurant approached him, acknowledging his frustrating day and handed my co-worker an envelope.  Inside the envelope there was a note expressing their regret to hear about his bad day and hoping his day would improve. They added that they were glad he came into the restaurant, his meal was on them, and included a gift card to use at a future time.  WOW!!!  Now that’s an example of exceptionally great service! I guarantee they’ve received a tremendous amount of positive association to their brand just due to the pass along of the story from one traveler to another.

How do establishments provide “Great Service” – the type of service consumers yearn for that will keep them coming back and telling their friends?  Service like the example above.

Of course, there are the basic steps of service  which every server should follow, such as  serving the beverage within a specific timeframe, delivering the food, and thanking customers for their patronage, but it goes much further and one word can explain it….  HOSPITALITY.

Hospitality is forging a relationship with each and every guest.  Imagine if every time you walked into a restaurant your server developed a relationship with you.  Clearly in the example above, the bartender established a strong rapport with my co-worker.  Not only did he serve him, but he listened and took additional steps to inform his management.  Wouldn’t you want to come back over and over again to a restaurant that treated you like that? One that took the time to connect with you on a deeper level? The end result would not only be a sales increase from repeat business, it would also include growing acquisitions through positive word-of-mouth.

Remember a key point: your people are a direct reflection of your business. Hiring great staff is about finding the right people.  You must find someone who has a great attitude, is personable, empathetic and wants to serve.  Experience is significant, but not necessarily the most important thing, as attitude cannot be taught. It can only be cultivated where it already exists!

Once the right people are found, you reinforce daily by putting the right tools in place.  Empowering your people is not a one time training event, but an ongoing process.

The entire staff must be engaged in recognizing that the customer is their total focal point.  Giving that customer a positive experience must be everyone’s goal, and providing incentives from acknowledgement and positive reinforcement  to monetary rewards will reinforce the goal of  “Hospitality”.

Laura Johnson, Business Development Director, Red Book Solutions

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Posted in Better Managers, Customer Service, Employees, Guest Blogger, Laura Johnson

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Tips to Survive and Grow in 2012

Posted on January 25, 2012 | 2 Comments

I have been a partner in two restaurants for the past six years. My restaurants were not performing well and although the operating partner and management were doing a reasonable job with customer service and the menu, the business side was not being managed correctly. In all my years of experience it seemed crazy that a restaurant that was doing good turnovers was not making it on the bottom-line.  Eventually the landlord began calling in all outstanding debt and threatened possible closure of both businesses.

It was difficult for me to be involved in the actual running of the restaurants as they are situated in another city approximately 350 kms away, and I wasn’t able to get there as frequently as I would’ve liked.  The stress of the two restaurants not performing well became too much, and in March 2010 I made the decision to leave my corporate position and my family and commute every week.

South Africa has been negatively affected by the global crisis, and this in turn had an impact on the restaurant industry. Food prices, labour costs and electricity were increasing disproportionately to the sales revenue at a rapid pace.  

A pessimistic outlook during difficult times will always impact negatively on a business. A successful manager therefore remains positive and optimistic, always looking for opportunity. The recession and other obstacles need to be acknowledged, yet the focus needs to be on what a manager does have control over. For example, we have no control over the economy, but we do have every bit of control over what takes place in our own businesses.  This is what I call the internal control and focus of one’s own business.

Points you can control:

  1. Create a budget for the year. If you do not have a budget, you will not know what targets you need to achieve. A budget provides direction, focus and purpose.
  2. Service more than ever is the differentiating factor.  Customers now demand even greater value for their money and excellent customer service adds considerable value to the experience. Investigate ways to improve your service cycle. Your biggest competition is your customer, not the restaurant across the road. The best (free) marketing is a satisfied customer shouting your praises.
  3. Hire the correct staff.  Unfortunately managers generally do not spend enough time or lack the know-how and/or skills to hire the correct individuals.  Hire for attitude, as skills and knowledge can always be learned.  Remember, your waiters are your first line marketers. It is also very easy to hire and very difficult to “unhire” staff.  The biggest stress in a restaurant is the staff.  Hire the correct staff and the majority of your stress will disappear.
  4. Management is key – get this wrong and no matter how good your line staff is, the restaurant will not succeed without good management. If your staff doesn’t perform, look at your managers first.
  5. Have systems and controls firmly in place. All management need to be disciplined to ensure that these systems and controls are implemented and managed. Without controls and measurements, you are running your business in the dark.
  6. The only 3 ways to increase sales turnoverare
    1. New customers
    2. Customers increasing their visits
    3.  Upselling
  7. The key method to achieve this is to train your staff. See training as an investment. Amongst the many advantages, the benefits of trained staff include improved service, increased sales, upselling and improved staff motivation.
  8. Always market your business.  Investigate innovative methods to market your business. Ensure you are utilising social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Focus on community marketing. Revisit tips 3 & 6.
  9. Be brilliant at the basics. Successful management focus on getting the basics spot on.  Some managers want to be extravagant with big ideas, yet they do not have the basics in place.
  10. Aggressively control your costs (tip 1 – budget).  Educate your staff about all the costs incurred in your business. Sometimes staff perceive you are making loads of money even if you aren’t.
  11. Be bold.  Be prepared to make the changes that will positively affect your business, even if it is a painful change. As Albert Einstein defined insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

The last year has been challenging, however I am happy to say that after implementing all of the above, coupled with hard work, I now have a flourishing business with revenue constantly increasing and with food costs and expenses that have decreased significantly.  Running a restaurant isn’t rocket science, just stick to the basics and have some fun while you are at it.

Larry Hodes, Guest Blogger

Larry Hodes has over 25 years of experience in hospitality, which includes consulting to the hospitality industry, owning and operating 2 restaurants, working as an Organisational Development Manager for a global food service company, heading up HR and training for a large restaurant chain, Restaurant Operations Manager for a 5-star hotel, as well as management for other independent and chain restaurants. Currently he is a partner in The Restaurant Code a hospitality consulting company.

Larry is a past chairperson of the Restaurant Association of South Africa Training Committee and the South African National Barista Competition and a past director of the Speciality Coffee Association of South Africa.

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5 Steps to Get You to the Next Step

Posted on January 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Most of us can’t resist the temptation to set goals with the start of each New Year. Typically, we want to exercise more, spend more time with family or friends, eliminate bad habits, get better organized, learn a new skill or do some other thing to improve our lives. For example, when did you decide you wanted to be a manager?
What is next for you:
• To move further up the chain?
• Qualify for that bonus?
• Improve your location’s performance relative to others in your region?
• Hit a specific metric your organization values?
• Or, just become better at what you do?
Fewer of us take the next step and actually determine exactly how to achieve what we want. If you’d like this year to be different than last, you need to do certain things to set yourself up for success.
Step 1: Determine your next step
Step 2: Plan a path to achieve your goal
Step 3: Identify possible obstacles and how to overcome them
Step 4: Talk your strategies and tactics over with an advocate
Step 5: Tell people what you are doing and what you’ve acheived
“People who get what they want tend to be the ones who make the effort to know what they want.” Oprah Winfery
If you haven’t defined your next step or goal, you won’t be able to achieve it. Once you’ve set your goal, you can congratulate yourself on getting a good start. Now decide how to get there – what things need to be implemented, reinforced or eliminated. Do you need to instill new habits or get rid of bad ones? In an article on “Moving Up the Ladder”, Dr. Randall S. Hansen identifies not planning your day as the top “Surefire Way Not to Get Promoted”. Even if promotion isn’t your immediate goal this year, planning your day is essential to working toward whatever goal you have set.
Part of your plan will most likely include identification of potential obstacles to your success. While you may not have the ability to remove all of the obstacles, accounting for them will help you to have strategies or tactics for working around them.
One way to create strategies and tactics is to discuss issues with your supervisor or a mentor and take advantage of their experience or perspective. If you don’t have a mentor, 2012 would be a good time to look for one. Mentors can be people within your organization or industry, but they shouldn’t be people with direct supervisory responsibility over you. Research shows that 80% of people who receive promotions have mentors.
Having a mentor can help you craft plans, strategies or tactics, but they can also serve another important purpose. They can help expand your professional network by introducing you to others.
Finally, if you want to be recognized in 2012 for your achievements, you may have to do a little self-promotion. Nobody likes the person who can’t stop talking about themselves, but you need to learn how to be sure your achievements and contributions are known to the folks who can influence your future. If your organization doesn’t highlight achievements via recognition events or newsletters, suggest that some kind of program be implemented. If you can’t get it done company-wide, start with your own department or unit and go from there.
My son is a high school junior and we have a shared goal of seeing him enter college in the fall of 2013. Although it may seem early to start the college search process, we are glad that his school starts now to help him identify a goal (what type of school he’d like to attend), put together a plan (what courses should he take, can he get a recommendation from his coach or employer, does he have submission deadlines on his calendar), figure out how to address any obstacles (will his SAT scores be a match for the schools he targets), discuss his plans with an experienced college counselor (to be sure he’s realistic and on the right track), and create an application/resume that reflects his accomplishments.
Strong performance at current responsibilities isn’t always enough to earn you the next prize, bonus or promotion. You may not want to relive your college application experience, but if you’d like to take the next step in your career, get started on your plan so you can be celebrating in 2013.

Nancy Lane, Director of Human Resources, Red Book Solutions

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Best Laid Plans Don’t Get Done Unless They Get Made

Posted on January 11, 2012 | 3 Comments

“The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably.” Atul Gawande wrote in The Checklist Manifesto.

What I see is that we have way too much knowledge coming at us at any given point in time and it can be overwhelming or just plain distracting. So we write down the important…what we need to remember in order to have something we can refer back to…so we aren’t missing anything.

I am willing to bet if you have ever done a household project and gone to Home Depot without a list you forgot something. Even if you had the list, if you weren’t specific, you still got the wrong item. Either way, you are back on the road wasting your valuable time redoing what you should have done right from the get go. Yes, I did this recently. The only difference is I did it three times in a row. Frustrating to say the least although, my wife seemed to find humor in it.

In the business world today, I have seen executives talk about their plans, but I would say only half actually wrote that plan down. If I had a nickel for every one of them who said, “It’s right here in my noggin,” I would be a rich man. So why write it down.  Writing objectives down solidifies what I want done, where I want to go, and how I am going to get there. I look back at some of the sales campaigns I ran, and when I don’t write down my plan, it fails.  Yes, it was in my noggin, but the complexity of the campaign did not allow me to cover all the bases or learn from my mistakes. Doctors have check lists so they don’t miss a step. Missing a step as a doctor has major implications. As managers, can we afford missteps? Bottom line is, the top performing managers believe they can’t.

Having a plan on paper allows you to learn from past mistakes. As a football coach in my earlier years, I would have the first 12 plays already on paper before we started the game. From those 12 plays I would learn what worked best and move forward with those best plays and retool the others to make them better. Don Mann wrote “Inside Seal Team Six” and how they planned for the capture or death of the USA number one bad guy, Osama bin Laden. They had a plan but were prepared for all kinds of contingencies.  “Plan your dive and dive your plan.”

What it really boils down to is what do you really want to happen? If it’s that important to you or your organization, then write it down and make it happen.

Richard Goering, Guest Blogger, Roseburg Forest Products

Richard is a top performing sales and operational leader in the building industry backed by 18 years of experience. He currently is the national field sales manager for Roseburg Forest Products. His previous position was as the General Manager, for BlueLinx Corporation (a leading national wholesale distributor) presiding over the entire northwest & mountain regions of the US including Hawaii and Alaska.  Richard’s career path has encompassed various positions held across the nation and abroad. He has a B.S. in Sport Management and a minor in Public Relations from Georgia Southern University. Richard currently lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife, Shiloh and children.

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Not Achieving Your New Year’s Goal’s? Procrastination may be to Blame

Posted on January 4, 2012 | 2 Comments

2012 has finally arrived and many of us have set our New Year’s resolutions.  We all know the story; the majority of people quickly abandon these resolutions and live their lives the same as they always have.  Why does this happen? Our hearts are in the right place but maybe our minds haven’t wrapped themselves around what it truly takes to make them stick.

As a manager, my guess is many of you have established your 2012 operating and financial plans and have outlined how you are going to achieve these plans.  The day starts and you are putting out fires and dealing with the mundane day-to-day.  You rationalize that this stuff has to get done even though it may not necessarily be that important.  The bigger issue, and one we can control, is the dreaded word “procrastination” and its costs.

How many of you knowingly procrastinate doing something that is critical to your plan?  How often have you rationalized pushing it off once again?  This week is just too busy…I’ll block out time next week to get it done.  My guess is that almost all of us have done this at one time or another.  So how do you solve procrastination?  Dan Ariely, in his book Predictably Irrational Revised and Expanded Edition, did an enlightening experiment.

Ariely, who is a professor at M.I.T., set up a study with three of his classes:

  • Class 1: Was told they had to turn in three papers and did not give a deadline when any of these papers were due, except they were due at the end of the semester.
  • Class 2: Each individual in the group was to tell him when each of the papers would be turned in.  Each student was then penalized 1- point for each day the paper was late from their self-imposed deadline.
  • Class 3: The last group was given specific dates that the papers were due; the dictatorial method which we all claim to dislike so much.

Guess which group scored the highest average grades?  Surprisingly, or maybe not, the dictatorial approach achieved the best results and the group given complete freedom had the worst results.  The conclusion is that we need to be given clear deadlines from a higher authority, otherwise we tend to procrastinate.   As a side note, the good news is that the people in the second group who used the tools Ariely gave them to determine their deadline dates performed as well as the dictatorial group. The people in this group who did not follow the outlined process did not fare so well.  Once again a defined structure prevailed.

His study showed that procrastination is one of the root causes of poor performance and not achieving your goals. The key to minimize procrastination is to set up a process and use tools that force you to do what you need to do.  It is critical to have someone consistently monitor your progress to hold you accountable.  If you don’t have this, devise your own structure by communicating your goals publically and asking your peers and employees to hold you accountable. Don’t kid yourself that you can do it on your own.  You need a support system.

One last thing you should consider when you get caught up in procrastination rationalization is to think about the possible consequences of your decision.

  • 1st Consequence:  I am too tired, too busy, have something else to do—all which just delay achieving your goal.
  • 2nd Consequence: Overcome these excuses, complete the tasks and achieve your goal.  This could then result in a…
  • 3rd Consequence:  You could be getting the next promotion, making the money you want, attaining the work-life balance you seek, etc.

Put in place a support system NOW, stop procrastinating and watch what happens.

Greg Thiesen, CEO, Red Book Solutions

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Posted in Better Managers, Greg Thiesen, Performance

Likeonomics (Like + Economy) – Marketing for 2012

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 2 Comments

While searching for Christmas and Hanukkah gifts online this year I came across a book that will be released worldwide in 2012 called, Likeonomics – How to Be More Believable in the New Affinity Economy.  I’m not one to read business book after business book but being in the marketing world and especially the digital marketing world my entire career the title intrigued me.

With the overwhelming amount of PR spin and marketing messages flying at us on a daily basis (hello – information overload?), we are constantly on guard, trying to spot the underlying motives behind each claim, motto, message or deal that brands introduce. And, as consumers many of these messages are assumed to be motivated by greedy or deceptive intentions. Bhargva calls this phenomenon a “believability crisis”.

“The new global currency isn’t made of paper. It’s made of relationships and affinity. Likeonomics is a term that explains the new affinity economy where the most likeable people, ideas and organizations are the ones we believe in, buy from, and get inspired by.”

Sounds a bit like a high school homecoming campaign to me – but he’s right. For those of us in the marketing industry it is important to gain back the trust we’ve lost from consumers by understanding what makes people, ideas, and organizations more believable.

What makes a person or organization believable then? Likeonomics is based on being Simple, Human, Brutally Honest, and Emotional. I know an entire generation that would love marketing based on these four principles.

No matter your organizations size or marketing budget here’s how you can implement these tactics to make your marketing strategy for 2012 just a bit better.

1.       SIMPLE

To be more believable, the first step is to be genuine, honest, and open. BE SIMPLE. The social media revolution is the prime example. No longer can brands hide behind the curtain of television advertisements and billboards – deceptive industry practices are tweeted the moment they are leaked.  The goal should be for complete transparency – help us, help you.

2.       HUMAN

If you’re trying to build relationships, it’s a good idea to be human. Today’s consumers look for vulnerability, truthfulness, and humility first when choosing a brand. The brands that attract us the most are the brands that speak to us – as individuals. Brands are not people, but brands can act in a human way.

3.        BRUTALLY HONEST

Relationships of any type are based on trust – trust isn’t possible without honesty. Bhargava says it best in his book, “Wikipedia is only the most visible example of a revolution in trust that has meant that people are going online and trusting the opinions and expertise of people who they don’t know. Content creation, aggregation and now … content curation are all new forms of microinfluence and they are shifting everything we know about trust.”  The fact is, truth sells.

4.       EMOTIONAL

Brands that don’t make emotional connections with their consumers will eventually lose out to those that do. Emotional marketing is all about getting your target audience to connect with your product, service, and brand at a very basic and fundamental level – the level of emotions. It doesn’t mean much if your people, products, and services don’t back it up though. Companies like Nike succeed at this type of marketing because its core belief – its brand promise, the potential for the athlete inside everyone lives inside the people who work there. The result is not only an emotional connection but an individual one. Emotional marketing can only take place once you deliver a user experience that embodies your purpose.

The greatest take-away from Likeonomics is that marketing efforts will no longer be based on who has the biggest budgets or off-the-wall creative. Instead it will be about who delivers the most believable message.  After all we are human BEings not human BUYings and it’s time to start marketing that way.

Kimberly Kelsey, Marketing Manager, Red Book Solutions

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Putting the “U” in Priorities

Posted on December 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

When everything seems like it is spinning out of control, it is generally because our work-life balance is off. Demands are ever-increasing and the boundaries between work and life continue to blur. Together these elements are bringing our workforce—that includes you—to the brink of burn out. According to a recent study for the Center for Work-Life Policy, 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours excessive.

Without work-life balance everything suffers. Your quality of life is compromised. Since none of us live in a bubble, your loss of balance can negatively affect the lives of those around you from family to employees and even your customers. In order to do our jobs to our fullest, we must take care of our own well-being.

A good place to start might be by asking yourself the difficult question, “Where do I fall in my list of priorities?” The idea of taking care of yourself first may strike you as wrong in some way. Let’s try changing your perspective on it. Think of focusing on your own well-being as preparation far meeting the needs of others. Picture yourself genuinely having the energy to make a difference for those around you.

There is a reason that every time you get on a plane the flight attendant politely reminds you, in the event of an emergency, to put your oxygen mask on before assisting others. You have to be breathing properly in order to help the person next to you. It is impossible for you to give 100% to anything or anyone when you are running at 45% due to stress, sickness, overload, or any other reason.

Sometimes when I find life overwhelming, I visualize planting my feet firmly on the ground as a tornado swirls aimlessly and violently around me. It reminds me that I cannot control the tornado. The tornado represents to me the uncontrollable elements that can derail my focus. If I let myself get sucked into the uncontrollables I’ll find myself tossed like a rag doll. The only controllable for me is me. The stronger I am, and the more focused I can be—the more likely I am to achieve great things.

The ultimate solution, in my mind, is best said by Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, “Be the CEO of your own life.” Find your harmony in work-life balance. Make what you do count each and every day. Secure the energy to give your best, which at points may not mean giving your all, because that may not be what is best for you at that moment. Put yourself on your priority list, and you’ll see the benefits unfold before you.

Shiloh Kelly, Vice President of Marketing, Red Book Solutions

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