Many organizations are afraid to spend marketing dollars these days claiming no one is buying. Some organizations are “hoping” for growth but not willing to make the effort to grow, or try new things to grow.

Normally, I try to teach the cutting edge and challenge executives to try new things, but today here is a reminder of a tried and true technique that need dusted off, that’s old school, but still works.

Growth strategies are not always new and innovative; sometimes the growth opportunities can be easily accessible and right in front of you. In advising a fellow speaker about growing her business I told her the easiest sale I can make is to one of my audience members. They have heard my information, delivery style and feel a connection. They know me and my approach to growth strategies. When they come up to me afterward and start asking about available dates on my calendar I know it’s mine to lose. Why does this happen? It’s the connection.

The same thing goes for my corporate clients who use me year after year — They know I am good; therefore, it’s easy for me to get to the point of sale. What about your current clients or customers? Do they feel comfortable enough with you to open up and share what’s really going on in their organization?

Get Interested

Every company is experiencing its own unique economic ride these days. How well are you tuned in to the specific journeys of your customers? Do the research, interview key executives of the client, get to know their situation. Trust me, right now people want to talk and tell their story. Whether it is a go-against-the-flow story of having a great year, or telling a tale of woe, people like to be heard. Show interest, listen and do not sell. That’s right don’t sell, just be the friend with the ear. Not only are you gathering information for a later sales call, you are being the friend they need right now. The more they know you, like you and trust you, the more they will want to do a greater amount of business with you.

Of course this is nothing new, but I see few organizations grabbing this opportunity. They are still pressing the sales staff to find new sales, to bring home the big new contract, when the best thing these sales people can do is grab a box of Krispy Kremes and a few coffees and make a call on a good current client and talk about the state of the industry, the economy, and that client’s tale to tell.

Be the friend, and set down the order pad for a couple of visits. Be the ear they want to use to brag, let off some steam or just chat with.

People buy from those they are most comfortable with and we all know it’s easier to sell to a current client than go find a new client. The key is you don’t just want current clients, you want current clients who find you indispensable, and not just because of the products and services you offer, but because you are someone they need.

We all face adversity, challenging times and tough moments in our lives. Those who succeed have the ability to bounce back from these trying times and elevate their drive to overcome and achieve. Learn how to improve your bounce.

To get a prospect’s attention you need to grab their attention. To grab their attention in the age of information and overwhelming sales pitches, you need to deliver a Shock and Awe approach they will immediately identify with. Here is how.

Technology is amazing how it can transform tasks and the flow of information. Without technology we wouldn’t be able to operate at the speed with which business moves today. Although technology has transformed our daily tasks, it has not replaced these critical components of success I’ve noticed lacking in the technological world. In fact, technology may even hinder these important pieces of success.

Hustle

Drive

Persistence

The ability to communicate

Interpersonal skills

Focus

Discipline

Commitment

Attitude

Belief in oneself

The next time you want to learn a new app for your technology; consider relearning one of these old apps instead. I believe the more hustle app will help your personal success much more than the TMZ app for your phone.

Can you imagine your every move during a disaster being scrutinized and reported to the world. BP is giving us a vision into the future of business reporting. Is your business ready for the microscope of attention during your worst times? Just looking at the drop in BP stock says the cost of mistakes has significantly gone up.

To prepare for such close scrutiny:

• Manage the news from the beginning by being upfront and forthright with information.

• Throw the kitchen sink at problems. Time is measured in nanoseconds in today’s world.Mistakes and disasters will happen to your organization at some point.

• Be financially ready for the dip in orders and possible stock backlash.

• Expect external finger-pointing while you are still in solution mode. Maintain focus.

• Once the problem is finally solved. Develop a white paper on everything you learned in the process and share it with the rest of your industry as a gesture of commitment to preventing this from happening again. If you don’t do it, someone else will with an edge of blame and contempt. Rebuild your reputation on your own terms with this first step.

I’ve heard it called paying your dues, sweat equity, falling on your sword, and doing what it takes to survive. Bottom line it’s a red flag your business model is broken. What am I speaking of? Not paying yourself what you are worth.

I’ve never seen a business fail because the owner was being paid properly, but I’ve seen many businesses fail because the owner was not taking a check home.

If you are not getting properly rewarded for your efforts you will lose interest and energy and there is where the business failure comes from – you start just going through the motions.

You aren’t running your business to be a non-profit or damage your lifestyle. Remember why you started your company to begin with – to get paid what you are worth and improve the quality of your life!

If your business isn’t paying you enough to at least support the lifestyle you had when you started the business, why are you operating your business this way? It’s an important question to ask yourself.

This is not a question about your work ethic, how many hours you are putting in or how much desire you have to succeed. Ever watch a gerbil on a wheel? He has focus, desire and exerts lots of hard work but he never gets anywhere.

When you find yourself in this situation re-evaluate your business model because the red flag is waving indicating something is wrong. There is no joy or reward in being a martyr for your business.

1.  Begin the process at least a year before you want to make the transition.

2.  Recognize that a new set of skills will be a better fit for the future.

3.  Locate the best talent before it becomes a necessity.

4.  Clearly communicate the transition before it takes effect.

5.  When you make the transition, do so graciously by stepping away to let the company transform.

The Social Media Pool Rules

Before you dive into the social media pool you need to know the pool rules.

By Russell J. White

1. If you don’t want your boyfriend, girlfriend, BFF, wife, husband, mother, father, grandmother, priest, doctor, local newspaper, national press, TMZ, Huffington Post, current employer, previous employer, future employer or any current or ex-friend to read it; don’t post it.

2. Anything you post is part of the public record and will be treated as such.

3. The best privacy protection for social media occurs between your brain and your keyboard.

4. Not everyone in social media can be trusted. Ask yourself: What if criminals read this information? Because they have and will continue to do so.

5. We don’t care what you ordered at Starbucks.

6. Just because you thought it doesn’t mean you should post it.

7. It’s great to wish someone a happy birthday, offer congratulations, condolences, support, love, respect and recognition. Otherwise, negative personal feelings might be better left to a private message.

8. Private messages can easily become public.

9. Don’t SPAM.

10.  If you did something great, let us know! If every day in your opinion you do something great, we will get tired of hearing it quickly.

11.  Adding attractive “friends” doesn’t suddenly make you a stud.

12.  There is a difference between networking, voyeurism and stalking. Know what it is and act accordingly.

13.  Keep in mind those party pictures you post could follow you for decades, even after you have removed them from your page.

14.  Deleting someone from Facebook doesn’t actually make them go away.

15.  Even “nom de posts” can lead back to the real person – with consequences.

16.  Never meet a Craig’s List purchaser in your home or their home.

17.  Links are great to share unless they always lead back to something you are selling or have written.

18.  Being opinionated is fine. Expecting no one to be offended is unrealistic.

19.  When talking about your job, customers, boss, fellow employees or the company who employs you, you are speaking as an employee.

20. Geo-location software is a criminal’s new blue light special. Don’t announce every time you leave your home.

21.  If you monitor your friend, fan or follower counts and brag on them, your ego is misplaced.

22. If you spend hours on your “farm” or in your “Mafia,” you might want to evaluate where you could otherwise use that time to improve your life.

23.  If you automate tweets, posts or responses, there is nothing social about your social media involvement, so stop it.

24. Nurture the social relationships that are most important to you.

25. Zuckerberg’s law: The less you want your social information to fall into the wrong hands, the more likely it will.

Last week in Charlotte a waitress lost her job for a disparaging Facebook comment she made about some customers. One of her facebook “friends” brought it to the attention of the management of the restaurant she worked at and she was relived of her duties.
The outcry of violation of her right to free speech surprises me. Not that people want to come down on a business that fired an employee over this, but surprised that people don’t really understand what the first amendment says about free speech.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

There is nothing that says free speech won’t have consequences nor does it protect you from an employer expressing his right to enforce business policies about conduct unbecoming an employee, especially in a work at-will state such as North Carolina.
I’ve heard argument about the waitress’s right to privacy. She should’ve exercised that right between her brain and her keyboard. Facebook is a public forum and to expect your words not to be noticed; well, it goes against the intended purpose of posting them to begin with doesn’t it.

The younger generation has been beguiled into thinking Facebook is like a diary for your inner most thoughts. When in fact it is the most public of forums and should be used with caution and care.

Two weeks ago a daughter of a close friend posted with excitement she was engaged. I was surprised to know this and texted her father for details. Based on the “de-friending” I received from the daughter followed by her post, “I hate Facebook” I think the father learned about the impending nuptials from my text message.

This week a neighbor’s son received a red T-top Trans Am for his 15th birthday which he immediately posted a picture of on facebook with the caption “My new whip.” He and his sister then got into a friendly sibling rivalry publically about who had the nicer car, to which one friend commented, “Rich kids…”

I recently read information that a couple in Louisville, KY announced on facebook they were going to a concert only to return to a ransacked house. The security camera caught the robber in the act. Turns out it was one of their facebook “friends.”
Do you really know what that high school friend from 30 years ago is like today? Do you add friends to build your numbers? Do you really need to inform people of your every move?

Instead of bantering on about the first amendment to the Bill of Rights, maybe we should be talking about the creation of a new document entitled The Internet Information Code of Conduct.

Why is this necessary? Aside from the illustrations I’ve already mentioned, a man was killed and his son beaten by the couple who showed up to purchase the diamond ring he advertised on Craig’s list.

Thieves are using non-MLS real estate listings to check out the pictures of the rooms for the valuables such as TVs and computers, etc.

Speaker friends of mine like to post what cities they are flying to and if they are using geotagging software such as foursquare or Gowalla, it gets picked up by the website robmenow.com And the stories can go on and on.

Some things are better left unsaid as I hope the fired waitress now understands. There are times when using discretion is the responsibility of the individual. It’s time to reconsider what information truly has a need for public consumption and what should be kept privately. In some cases, information may not even need to be shared at all.

Employees are wondering why they should care when at work. The old saying, “They don’t care what you know until they know if you care” is true even more so in today’s environment. Here are three great ideas managers can use to demonstrate how much they care about the employees. This will help them care about performing for you even more. At PinnacleSolutions.org Russsell J White teaches you how to enhance your profits with no hocus pocus.