Apr 23, 2012| Geoffrey James

A few years back, I interviewed some of the most successful CEOs in the world in order to discover their management secrets. I learned that the “best of the best” tend to share the following eight core beliefs.

1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.

Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of “troops” to order about, demonize competitors as “enemies,” and treat customers as “territory” to be conquered.

Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers … and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.

Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by “pulling levers” and “steering the ship.”

Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.

Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they’re told. They’re hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the “wait and see what the boss says” mentality.

Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.

Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can’t be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.

Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.

Average bosses see fear–of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege–as a crucial way to motivate people.  As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.

Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they’ll be a part of it.  As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization’s goals, truly enjoy what they’re doing and (of course) know they’ll share in the rewards.

6. Change equals growth, not pain.

Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change … until it’s too late.

Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don’t value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.

Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.

Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.

Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.

Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

Ivana Taylor, Marketing Strategist, DIY Marketers,  November 28, 2011

Do you stay quiet on social media because if you admit that you don’t get it, social media experts look at you like you have three heads? You are not alone.

A lot of business owners feel that this marketing tool is beyond their understanding and will remain so. If you secretly feel hopeless or stupid about social media marketing, read on. You’ll find a strategy and a day-to-day plan that will get results.

Focus on objectives, purpose and brand

First, stop worrying about individual social media applications and tools, and get clear on the purpose of your business and your brand.

• What does your business do for customers?
• What is your brand promise?
• What do you want to be known for?

Don’t over-think these questions, just jot down a few notes and thoughts. They will become your talking points as you step into the Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ worlds.

Think of social media applications as rooms

Once you’re clear on your message and your talking points, imagine each social media application as a room at an event. Walking into any social media space is like walking into a bar.

When you walk into a bar, you might join a group of friends and chat with them. TVs tuned to the news have a newsfeed running across the bottom. (The links that people share on social media sites are like that newsfeed.) You might also hear tidbits of conversations from the people around you. You may leave one conversation for another, or just listen to several conversations.

When you think about it this way, it’s obvious what your behavior on social media sites should be and what kind of information you might want to share with people. You wouldn’t think about blatantly selling anything at a bar because a bar is not a retail outlet. But you would share your experience with a product or service. You should be active in social media to interact, learn and inform others—casually.

Give your business or your brand a voice

Maybe you’re used to relating to marketing communications as a company instead of as a person. In the past, we’ve been conditioned to separate our personal lives from our business lives. But social media marketing emphasizes personal voices inside brands.

Every social media platform was originally designed for individual communication—for people, not companies. Think about what it is that you have to share that supports your business and your brand.

One of my favorite examples is Shashi Bellamkonda, director of social media at Network Solutions (@ShashiB). He is committed both personally and professionally to small business and its participation online. His personal expertise and experience fully support that of the larger Network Solutions brand. Visit his Twitter profile and notice how comfortable he is in this room.

Focus on your marketing objectives and results

Many small business owners try to use social media to achieve sales objectives instead of marketing objectives. Selling on social media is not only ineffective, it’s a sure way to put people off instead of attracting them to your brand.

From a marketing perspective, what are you trying to achieve, and who are you trying to attract?

Suggestions by business type

• Business-to-consumer or retail: Build relationships with your local community to attract local people. Use Twitter and Facebook to communicate what’s going on at your location.

• Professional: Build your credibility and expertise by sharing information and educating your target audience. Participate in LinkedIn groups and Facebook groups and pages in your vertical markets. Build your focused network across regions if that’s appropriate for your business.

• Business-to-business: Build relationships with relevant people in your networks. Use LinkedIn to find and connect with decision-makers and influencers inside the companies you work with and in your customers’ companies. Create lists on Twitter that include experts in your industry and conversations about the industry topics that you’re interested in. Google indexes Twitter conversations, so have those keyword-rich conversations there. Google+ is the latest social media tool that combines the benefits of Facebook and Twitter and makes it possible to collaborate and work in a social media environment.

Create a place for conversations to land and expand

You may not be successful with social media because you don’t have a clear place for these conversation to “land.” It’s hard to get any traction from social media when you don’t have an offer or an internet representation of what you’re talking about.

Don’t just link to your home page—that’s confusing for your audience. Write blog articles that clearly communicate your brand and your offer in a way that is useful, engaging and educational. Start conversations. You can capture people from the online world and add them to your own sales and marketing database by creating landing pages that have offers such as downloadable reports, e-courses, white papers, videos and templates.

Focus on a few key social media spaces and let go of the rest. If you do everything I’ve outlined here, you’ll come up with a few key sites that support your marketing strategies. Participate more fully in the areas that you’ve targeted based on your goals and objectives.

Base your social media policy on your marketing strategy

Writing a policy doesn’t have to be a big, scary, official thing. It’s a set of rules that you follow on social media that supports your goals and objectives. It keeps you focused on what you’ve decided to work on as you navigate social media spaces.

Have fun

Focus on your marketing objectives and then use social media marketing to engage with your audience in a way that generates interest and, ultimately, new customers. Use social media to build a community that is engaged in your brand because you are engaged in helping them understand and use your brand.

You’ll experience the satisfaction that comes from having access to your customers and influence in your market.

By Steve McKee

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this refrain, or a variation of it: “We tried _____ marketing tactic. It doesn’t work.” While it may be true that a given approach is ill-suited for a particular industry, audience, or situation, in my experience the tactic is less often to blame than the implementation of it. In fact, many companies make mistake after mistake based on gaps in their understanding of how marketing really works. Here’s a quick review of 10 of the most common errors to help you avoid the worst of them.

Aiming at everyone. No company can be all things to all people; as much of a cliché as that is, it’s true. Companies paint themselves into a corner because of a misplaced fear that by targeting one group they’ll be turning away others. But aiming at everyone is an oxymoron; the best marketers understand that by narrowing their target audience they can increase the intensity of their brand’s appeal, piquing interest and driving margins. You’re better off being the first choice of 10 percent of the population than being one of 10 options for everyone.

Betting on rationality. This mistake is subtle, but dangerous. Marketing planning is often a left-brain effort, where rational exercises like determining budgets and plotting strategy take place. But consumers don’t make decisions where logic and argument reside; research suggests that emotion not only influences most purchase decisions, it tends to trump reason along the way. Don’t try to convince your prospects; connect with them. They’re depending on their gut more than you realize.

Letting market research trump everything. Too many marketers invoke data as if information had mystical qualities. To say market research has its limitations is to understate the point; some of it can be flat-out misleading. Consumers don’t always realize how they feel, what they think, or why they do what they do, and even when they’re well aware they won’t always tell you the truth. Research is a valuable tool in a marketer’s shed, but used improperly it can cost you a finger (and perhaps your head).

Getting seduced by the new. We live in fast-paced, exciting times, with new marketing and media options sprouting up every day. While they’re all worth a look, none is worth upending your efforts for. It’s easy to be seduced by the siren songs of new tactics, but wisdom says to stick to what works while you evaluate what might. Some company has to be first to give something a shot, but it should rarely (if ever) be yours.

Advertising your aspirations. We all aspire to make quality job No. 1, offer uncompromising service, and demonstrate amazing results, but no company can fully achieve any of these. Advertising your aspirations only invites people to catch you failing to achieve them, and these days it’s easier than ever for them to spread the word. Aspirations are, by definition, promises that can’t be fully kept. Don’t announce them, just try to live by them—use them within the walls to rally your troops but don’t let them escape to rouse the ire of your customers.

Following the leader. Competition is awesome in the abstract. When it gets concrete it’s just plain hard, especially if your competitors are pounding the market with claims you think you can match or beat. It’s tempting to try and one-up the other guys, especially if they’re the market leader. Do so, however, and you may reinforce their strengths and derail your differentiation. Don’t try to be better. Just be different.

Seeking approval by committee. If you can’t agree with your family on what type of pie to serve at Thanksgiving, how can you expect a roomful of managers to agree on something as subjective as marketing communications? Everyone’s taste is unique, and the fewer people involved in the creative approval chain, the better. If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up with a gooey mess that nobody wants to eat. The best committee is a committee of one.

Starving the budget. An anemic marketing budget may save bucks but it will cost business. If you don’t have a line item on your profit and loss statement with a reasonable percentage allocated to marketing, you’re not a real business. Notice I said marketing, not advertising—paid media may very well not be right for your situation, but every company must somehow get its message out. Find the way and spend the money. And keep in mind that most do-it-yourself marketers shouldn’t be doing it themselves. Pay for professional help.

Anticipating customers will act very quickly. When was the last time you leapt out of your recliner to do exactly as an ad instructed? Marketing doesn’t work that way, and as consumers we all understand that. Yet when we slip into our desk chairs we somehow expect marketing to show immediate results. It takes time to seed a message, and credibility grows through consistency. Plan your efforts well, and stick with them. As obvious as it sounds, every time you start over, you’re starting over.

Chickening out. Plans are terrific, but plans are just words on paper. It’s amazing how much time and money companies spend getting their acts together, only to succumb to stage fright when it’s time for the curtain to rise. It’s easy to come up with reasons not to do something, surrendering to fear of the unknown. But just as writers aren’t writers unless they write, marketers aren’t marketers unless they market. Not everything you do will work, but with each mistake you’ll be learning and growing.

There you go. Ten tips that can save you time, money, and a lot of frustration as you learn from the mistakes of others. Now you’re free to make new mistakes of your own (when you do, I’d love to hear about them).

Steve McKee is president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland and author of When Growth Stalls: How It Happens, Why You’re Stuck, and What to Do About It. Find him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

By Geoffrey James | August 15, 2011

Selling for a small firm presents challenges even for top sales professionals. Because your company is small, your prospects probably don’t know much about it. Money is tight, which means that you don’t have luxury of spending lavishly to develop an account. Your firm probably lack the sales support that reps in big firms take for granted. And so forth.

Even so, there are tremendous advantages to selling for a small firm… if you know the rules.  Here they are:

RULE #1: Never Apologize. Man sales reps in smaller firms scuttle their credibility by taking on an apologetic air, trying to explain away the inexperience or size of their firm, and then practically begging for the business. Savvy customers smell that kind of fear a mile away and are often more than willing to use it to their advantage by demanding steep discounts or even amusing themselves by making the hapless rep jump through meaningless hoops. Don’t let that happen to you.

RULE #2: Consider Yourself the Customer’s Equal.Rather than being apologetic, you must convince yourself of the value of what you and your firm has to offer. Rather than dwelling on your inexperience, constantly emphasize the unique value of a truly new approach to the customer’s problems. And rather than begging for business, be hard-nosed and ready to walk out the door. And as for jumping through hoops, your company is business not a dog and pony show.

RULE #3: Treat “Weaknesses” as Strengths. Customers may not know anything about your firm, but they don’t have any negative preconceptions, either. Money may be tight but customers are often negatively impressed when they see sales reps overspending. Support may be scarce in your firm, but that’s an opportunity to get creative and more independent.  Remember: many decision-makers who won’t talk to cookie-cutter sales reps from established firms will take the time to talk with somebody with original ideas and a new approach.

RULE #4: YOU Are the Brand. It’s a truism that customers buy from people they trust. When you’re selling for a small firm, YOU are the brand name, the reputation, the trust-ability, and the reliability that the customer is buying.  A sales rep working for, say, IBM needs only the label on a business card to create credibility. With a smaller firm, that trust and credibility must come from the person that you are and the way you present yourself to the business world.

RULE #5: Be an Entrepreneur. Because your firm lacks the support infrastructure of a larger firm, in most cases the only person you can really count on to get things done is yourself.  You’ll need to be extremely careful about your time and resources, and constantly finding creative ways to get things done quickly and easily. Remember: “activity” multiplied by “hours spent” must equal “sales results.” Make certain that everything you do leads towards the results that you seek.

RULE #6: Match Each Request with a Counter-Request. Insist that anything the customer asks you to do give you the right to ask the customer to do something comparable in return. That policy not only ensures that you’ll not be taken advantage of, but also gives you frequent opportunities to strengthen your competitive position and move the sales process forward. For example, if a customer asks you to provide them with an RFP based upon 35 pages of detailed questions, explain that you’ll only do so if you’re guaranteed a meeting with decision-makers to present your solution.

RULE #7: Be Willing to Say No. Never give in to a customer who’s being unreasonable or demanding things that don’t make sense for your company. Your larger competitor can perhaps afford to kowtow to get the business. You, however, don’t have the luxury of being anything less than the best – and the best in any industry NEVER truckle. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be cooperative, but in all your dealings be aware of your worth and the worth of your company to the customer.

RULE #8: Never be afraid to bail. Don’t let wishful thinking propel you into wasted effort. If it becomes clear that the deal doesn’t make sense for your company or will take to much time and effort to close, it’s not worth pursuing. For example, if you’re being told you can’t meet with the decision-maker, you aren’t going to get the business. Period. So move on, without regrets.

The above is based on a conversation with sales trainer Bob Beck, who (unfortunately) has a track record of borrowing material from other sales trainers.  As a result, I don’t really know the ultimate origin of these rules.  They smack, however, of common sense, so that’s why I’m posting them anyway.