Respect goes both ways, up the leadership ladder and down it. Show the employees below you the same respect you show the ones that will be performing your review. Why? It helps to build mutual respect. For example, if people lower on the totem pole see you showing up early to meetings where the higher ups are, but constantly showing up late to meetings with them, it subtly suggests that they aren’t as important to you. The fact of the matter is that you probably depend on these people way more than the higher ups. Show them the same respect. Make them feel as important as you KNOW they are and they’ll respect you more for it. Employees that feel respected are much more likely to go the extra mile, to speak up when something is going wrong, or suggest a better way to do things. What manager doesn’t need employees that do that?
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Four Ways to Keep Projects in Motion
As Newton’s first law states:
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Ever feel like you are continually being acted upon by unbalanced forces? While trying to overcome the unbalanced forces is probably another (series) of blog posts. I would recommend that each of us do our best to keep the project rolling. How do we do so?
- Sum it up:
Projects often get bogged down when people aren’t sure what they are expected to deliver in the next phase. End each meeting or call with a wrap up that details specifically what was decided and who is responsible for handling each deliverable. This is often relegated to the meeting minutes but it’s important to reinforce what’s been decided before the meeting ends. This gives everyone involved the chance to clarify the goals one last time, something we may be unwilling to do if we are simply e-mailed a meeting summary. - Check up:
If you’re worried about a project and haven’t heard anything on it, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Just make sure to come across as helpful, not as a dictator. This can also be achieved by building a project time line with regular update intervals. Don’t forget to give credit where it’s due! - Keep it moving:
We’ve all been stuck behind the car driving a little too slow and it’s always amazing to see the trail of cars that piles up in the rear view mirror. Don’t be the project roadblock. Respond to inquiries in a timely, organized manner. Alan Weiss, adheres to a two hour rule. - Keep it moving (forward):
Keep the project moving forward, don’t get bogged down with endless details and re-dos. Once something is done, put a stake in the ground and move forward while keeping your goals, quality, and the customer in mind. This gives the project momentum and gives those involved a sense of accomplishment. Motion is good, but direction is a key component, otherwise you’ll end up where you started, just more tired.
To Our Valued Customers
How many times have you read that before? How many times did you actually think it was sincere?
By your actions each and every day you are either adding points to the valued customer premise or taking them away. They already know if they are valued or not. Stop telling them and start proving it.
Does It Make Sense?
So you’ve just finished planning a brand new direct mail (or e-mail, facebook, twitter) campaign. The files are on your desktop, ready to be shipped to the printer along with the carefully (or in most cases – not-so-carefully) crafted list of addresses. All you have to do is hit Send. But wait. Before you do that, take a last look at what’s been created. If you’re in a large company, chances are it went through the ringer more than once and changed more than a lot. “But Matt, everybody signed off on this. It took us a long time to get it approved. We need to get this done yesterday.”
For everybody out there that has ever received a piece of marketing collateral they didn’t need, want, or understand; for every marketing professional out there striving to build respected and dignified brands. I beg you to take one last look at that campaign. Sure it (might still) make sense to you and your colleagues but does it speak to your audience? Does it make them thankful they took the time to pick it up? Can you fulfill the promises made? If not, maybe the most important thing isn’t getting it done. No, what’s really important is what you do right now. *Hint it doesn’t involve the Send button.
Do Something (Stupid)
I recently caught an interesting piece on NBC News about the Muppets and their humble beginnings. Working on the Jack Paar show, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Don Sahlin and Jerry Juhl) had a lot of downtime. Decades before the Blackberry and iPhone, the crew couldn’t check email or while away time on Facebook.
Instead, they did something that some would have considered a waste or just plain stupid. They found a closet full of pipes and drew faces on them. Those faces later became The Muppets. Is your organization open minded enough to let people do something ‘stupid’? Are you open minded enough to try something ‘stupid”? The next time you’re waiting for a meeting, put the smart phone away and see what crazy things you can dream up!
A Quick Way to Improve Your Reputation
I’m reading a book called Getting Started in Consulting right now and Alan Weiss brings up a simple way to improve your standing with clients. When people call or email you, get back to them within 3 hours. Don’t just make this a guideline, make it a foundational rule and promote it as such.
Think about how nice it feels when you leave someone a message (or email) and they get back to you with an answer very quickly. You feel like this person/firm is well-informed and capable of producing results. Surely, there will come times when an answer can’t be given right away but you can still keep your promise by acknowledging the request, restating what you believe they need, and stating what you will be doing to meet that need.
Lose What You Know (or at least give it a long leash)
As we progress through our lives and careers it’s easy to get stuck in the same thought patterns and procedures. I encourage you to stop every once in a while. The next time you find yourself in a meeting and someone brings up a weird idea, give it a chance. It may not work on the whole but there may be pieces in there that can help you improve some aspect of your game. At the very least, you’re showing your co-workers that you appreciate and respect their contributions.
The bottom line is that things change. Ideas become outdated. And with technology driving change every day, process can quickly become obsolete. Take the time to examine new ideas or your competition will.
Just Be Better
Just got done reading Adobe’s clever new ad re: Apple. How much energy does your company spend trying to keep others from copying you? How much time do you spend trying to let good leads in while keeping the bad (competitors) from peaking in?
My advice is to take that time and invest in making your product better. Talk to your existing customers. Talk to potential customers. Talk to people who’ve never heard of you. Explore promising solutions in other industries and find new ideas. Don’t engage in a feature war. Features can be copied. That’s how the game is played. The trick is to change the game with innovation.
in an open market, the best products will win in the end – and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.
Chuck Geschke and John Warnock Adobe Founders
Don’t worry about what your competition might do. Just be better than it.
It’s Not About What You Want
As marketers it can be relatively easy to get sucked out of reality into the dream world where our company offers everything WE could ever want it to. Everything WE offer is cutting edge, revolutionary, and safer than ever, even if that’s not necessarily true. Problem is, WE don’t matter. What matters is providing, to quote McCann Erickson’s enduring slogan, ‘Truth well told’.
The moment marketing collateral begins to edge away from truth, brand equity begins to chip away. And when people can’t believe what you say, whatever you do say starts to matter less. In the age of social media, brands can’t afford to be disingenuous.
So the next time you’re thinking about rounding the corners to make your brand look good. Think about the last time you bought a product that was grossly overstating its potential and how you felt about that brand.
You don’t have to exaggerate to be successful. You just have to concentrate on finding real benefits. Real benefits beat unmet expectations every time.
The Importance of Asking Why
As we go through our lives, it’s very easy to get caught up in routine. Routine is comforting in life but can be detrimental in business. While we all have any number of assignments, duties, tasks, and deliverables, it’s important to re-evaluate each task and ask why it is being done. Hint: The answer isn’t ‘because we’ve always done it’. Is this process still relevant to your goals? Has technology afforded you an easier, faster way to achieve the same result? There’s no shortage of things to do. Make sure the things you are doing are worth the effort.
Demand Generation Consulting 