Category Archives: Business

May 22 2012
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Business

Dorm Idea, Connectedness, Growth, 900,000,000 Users, IPO, Hype, & A Crystal Ball

Now that Facebook has reconnected all of us, the challenge ahead for the company is more connecting the corners of the world while becoming profitable.

Remember, the dorm room idea had nothing to with profitability – just connectedness.

No other company, other than Twitter (today), is better positioned to create more connectedness.

We need more connectedness to ideas, solutions, great (emphasis on great) products, news, etc. If Facebook can do this, $30/share will be a steal.

At 900,000,000 million users, it is safe to assume that a billion users is just around the corner. There must be a dollar to two to be made in this pool. Would you give 100 pennies a year to have access to this pool??????

Like we discussed a few days ago, the future belongs to the companies that give. This includes those that will market their products and service on Facebook. Marketing in this platform will work for the companies that listen to the conversation instead of screaming and interrupting the user’s current conversations.

Is it possible that one day you will have to log into Facebook to watch the Today Show, Gray’s Anatomy, or whatever the fad of the day is? I think so.

No one has the crystal ball, but one day I feel you will hear/see something like this: “Reporting from Palo Alto, I’m Tom Brokaw – Facebook Inc.”

 

 

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May 21 2012
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Business, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership

Sales Meeting 2.0

Pardon the last post. It published on its own.

Good morning again.

We are all in sales. The lawyer, the dentist, the banker, the Realtor, the doctor, the pastor, the mom, the dad, the artist, the mechanic, the poet, the musician, the coach – all of us.

You don’t just have to have a product, thing, or widget to sell. You can sell you, your service, your thoughts, your ideas, and even your brand.

Three things lead to successful sales careers.

1) Contacts

-Do you have enough contacts/people/potential customers? Remember 99 no’s typically equals 1 yes. Put another way, you may need a database of 1000 contacts for 10 deals.

2) Appointments

– This could now also involve web/social interactions and conversations. Who’s on the books for today? Tomorrow? July? Spring 2013? Question – are in you on the conversation? If you are not busy today, something went wrong yesterday (go back, dig in, replay – watch film on yourself).

3) Sales/Contracts/Closings/etc.

-AKA payday.

If you’re light in the #2 category, you’ve got a #1 problem. If you’re light in the #3 category, you’ve got #1 and #2 problem.

If you’ve got a #1 problem, you may be the problem.

Happy monday. #LTMP

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May 18 2012
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Business, Leadership

Follow the Eyes

The newspaper has mutated into Twitter. And it didn’t ask for permission from its Publisher.

Wal-Mart is now in the palm of your hand via the Amazon App. I wish Sam were here to respond.

We have become our own travel agent at Kayak.com.

And those billboards you love??? Just remember most are looking down rather than up these days.

Every time you look at a computer screen, smart phone, or iPad ask yourself how can I make my business presence here better, more streamlined, more efficient, and more customer focused. This is the destination for your mercantilism.

The future companies that get will be the ones that give.

Look where we’re looking and don’t be blind to what’s happening right in front of your eyes.

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May 17 2012
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Business, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership

Music Contingencies

Your music is contingent on two things: your experiences and your response to those experiences.

Experience is going to happen and we don’t have much control there. It’s happening right now – every millisecond.

Response, on the other hand, is all up to us.

No matter your current state, some of the greatest music ever was written in the artist’s most clueless times. So in the midst of your confusion, bend your ears and peel your eyes.

Your music will happen when your experience collides with opportunity for you to respond.

Fear and resistance will plead with you to not respond. Deny them all their rights and #LTMP.

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May 16 2012
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Business, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership, Marketing, Real Estate

Gibberish

In the midst of your product, service, or brand transaction careful with your choice of words. Even though, you know the lingo and how it works – the customer may not.

For instance…

Today, the Realtor should have only one song streaming in his car while his clients are riding with him…INTEREST RATES WILL NEVER BE THIS LOW AGAIN. He should play that song over and over and over. And he should not just say they are 3.75% fixed over 30 years – that doesn’t mean much to most people. He should paint the picture of what rates were just a few years ago, and show the difference in monthly payments and interest saved. Like the blog at I’m A Happy Buyer.

The financial advisor should probably stay away from his opinion of the “T-Bill” and simply advise us with historical charts of different fund performance, potential dividend performance, and tax benefits when we hand him our dollar. GDP is not on our radar when we’re talking about retirement and college tuition.

The car salesman, for most people, should abandon words like torque, hemi, and maybe even MPG. Just show us what THIS car will cost compared THAT car to fill up once gas hit $5.00 gallon. We’ll make the call from there.

Or what about beer? At the ball park the only word associated with the brew that the consumer is concerned with is cold. This is not the time to discuss born on dates, filtering, and calories. Not the case at an upper end micro-brewery in Boston. The consumer there is very beechwood and hops conscious, so it’s ok to go there with him.

The higher price of poker becomes in the transaction the more basic the vocabulary should be. The fancier your words, the more we feel we’re being sold not served. Simple wins in sales, so be careful with your gibberish.

Put another way – We’re not impressed when you know a lot…we’re impressed when we walk away knowing a lot more than when we came to you.

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