Thursday, May 31, 2012
Managing Creative People
One of the hardest aspects of working within any creative field is dealing with creative people. I, being one of those creative types myself, used to create all sorts of problems for myself and my employer when I was younger. However, in the 90’s when I was promoted to the role of art director and later to creative director, I suddenly had to manage and motivate my fellow artists into doing things they might not necessarily “feel inspired” to do.
Over the years I have come up with five simple rules that I look for when working with creative people.
1. MUST BE A TIME LORD
It may be I have been watching too much Dr. Who lately, but as a creative person time is what you get paid for and how you manage your time is incredibly important. It is so important that a creative person working in a business environment has the ability to look at a project and accurately project the time it will take to complete the project. Without this ability communication, billing and trust break down.
Any child can look at something and tell you what they don’t like about it. It takes someone of maturity to look at a situation that is in need of fixing and see what is still working. By being able to see the 10% that is working, even though 90% is not, you will gain a better understanding of your client as well as develop a deeper level of trust with them moving forward.
3. UNDERSTAND THE LIMITATIONS OF THEIR CRAFT
If you are a fine artists who works in oils you understand that you are not going to create a photorealistic 3D globe that spins around on the canvas. Truly great artists never ask for more freedom, truly great artists understand the limitations of their craft and create something timeless within those limitations. 99% of the time artists that continually want “more freedom” are really showing their limitations, not their genius. The other 1% might actually be geniuses and they wont be ask your permission anyway.
When most creative types get inspired they will kill themselves to complete the project. This is great as long as their vision lines up with the desired end result of the one that is paying them to do the job. It is not so good when their personal need to create something is not what the client is asking for. A seasoned creative pro knows how to leave their personal projects at home and how to use their skills to create what the customer wants.
Here is the most important trait of a successful creative person. They never believe themselves to be a victim. They do not blame clients, they do not blame their bosses and they do not blame the universe in general. They take responsibility for their actions. If they miss a deadline they own up to it. If they slip into looking at everything from a negative point of view they internalize what is going wrong and they fix it. If they screw up, they move on and do better the next time.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wow! What A Tragedy
Just like practically everyone in the state of Colorado I have driven by Wow! hundreds of times as it sits just off I-25 just a little north of Park Meadows mall and never considered going inside. Not once.
My lovely wife Jane is the owner of Snob Interior Design and is in the car with me on those trips past the store. She also has never paid attention (until recently) to Wow!. Her friends in the business have not paid attention to the store and her clients who are in one stage or another of redesigning and refurnishing their homes have also not paid attention to Wow!.
After talking to several of my wives friends and clients about the store the first reason they do not consider Wow! even though they have an incredible location is simply the sign on the building. Not to put too fine of a point on it but the logo screams low end children's furniture.
Additionally, it could be said that the mascot has.. um ... let’s just say a certain Freudian aspect to it, but that’s not entirely the reason it’s being ignored. The branding or personality Wow! conveys to the public is essentially the same as a candy or an ice cream store. That does not appeal to the Cherry Creek or Broadmoor crowd but also does not appeal to those in their 40’s who can finally afford something better than American Furniture Warehouse or Ikea.
Here is the tragedy. Underneath the penus in a tuxedo and the candy coated logo is simply the best furniture store in Colorado. I am not talking just a little better, I am talking about the best furniture by a WIDE margin.
We initially went to Wow! because we finally got around to checking out the new Ikea. With no more thought than “What the hell” we finally walked into Wow! with our expectations low. We ended up spending more time in Wow! than we eventually did in Ikea. We simply could not believe what was inside because it was so badly advertised and branded on the outside. The outside sign told us to expect a Baskin Robbins and we found a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse inside.
So this weekend when my wife forwarded me the ad I have included it made me shake my head at another missed opportunity
Here is a little bit of free advice for Wow!. You have something very special and something incredibly unique. You have found the perfect niche above Ikea and American Furniture Warehouse but below the really expensive furniture (although you can compete on that level just fine). Running ads that proclaim discounts are going to hurt you. Your discount is directly under the words “Next To Ikea”. Really? Do you really think you can compete on price with that juggernaut?
Branding is nothing other than accurately conveying your companies true personality to the public and in the case of Wow! if they did it properly it would have an incredible effect on their business. Focus your message on your strengths and uniqueness, but most of all start shouting to the mountain tops who you really are. Stop trying to be Avril Lavine when you are Angelina Jolie or Sandra Bullock.
What do you say?
Friday, April 13, 2012
3 Ways To Make A Sale Today
1. Contact current and past clients
You've certainly come to know that it costs about 7 times more to gain a new client than to keep a client, right? If not, now you know. Use this important statistic to your advantage and reach out to your current and past clients. Pick up the phone, send a personal email, or go visit them in person to offer your product or service. These people already know you, most like you, and many will buy from you again.
Make it about more than you though. None of us want to be sold and none of us want to feel like we're a used car salesman. To create a feel-good atmosphere, focus on asking questions about them: "How are you? What's your biggest challenge right now? Would you be open to hearing how I can help with that issue?"
Take action tip: Set a goal for yourself to connect with a certain number of past or current clients each day to ramp up your sales. Stretch yourself on this one; your bottom line will thank you.
2. Get better at selling or get your sales team better at selling
Why throw the baby out with the bathwater when you're not seeing the sales you want? Why not work to improve your sales skills instead of going back to the drawing board to create a new product or service. The most successful salespeople are constantly improving their skills because they know that the better they become, the more authentic, relaxed, spot-on, and solution-oriented they'll be. All super things.
Take action tip: Work with a sales coach, read a book, pull out past manuals or training materials and build your skills. The better you become and the better your sales team becomes, the more sales you'll make today.
3. Make your memberships count
Are you a member of a Chamber of Commerce, leads group, or association group? Are you getting much out of your membership? If not, here are two things you can do to not only get more out of your membership but also make more sales.
First, get very clear on why you are a member. It may be for exposure, education, sales, or to simply meet new people. Regardless, you must know your purpose for being there.
Second, pay attention to who you connect with at meetings. Who do you share a sense of humor with or who do you seem to have shared interests with? Call them up and meet with them. Develop a relationship with them and, before you know it, these relationships will open doors to making more sales today.
Take action tip: Figure out today what your purpose is for each group you're a member of and then create a list of three people within each group you want to meet with by the end of the month. Reaching out is the first step to building a relationship.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Introducing Dialed In
Today we are very excited to roll out our new product line. Combining the best aspects of consulting, creative and software agencies Show-N-Tell now offers a powerful single source solution for small businesses.
Over the next few weeks we will be spending more time going into detail regarding these products, but today I wanted to show off something we believe to be incredibly innovative.
This idea started from feedback from our customers and a big problem they all seemed to be facing. With limited capital and limited resources it is almost impossible to know how well you are doing. and not knowing will cost you a fortune in time, energy and effort. There are tools available from Google and HubSpot that show you the results of your website efforts, but we all know that running a business is so much more than your website. You have to factor in marketing, branding, pricing strategy, sales and then your online efforts.
If there was only a way to know how you were doing in all of these areas in such a way that would allow to attack your greatest weakness first. Saving all the guesswork for your competition.
That is where Dialed In comes in. Here, take a look at the dashboard...
The idea is simple but powerful. Dialed In provides a way for businesses to know exactly how they are doing with their marketing, branding, strategy, sales and online efforts in a single easy to read interface. Using this powerful tool you will know exactly what your customers are thinking and saying about your business.
Dialed In also gives you a second row of feedback in each category so you not only know what high level category is falling short, you know exactly what elements within each category are causing the problem.
I’ll be back to talk more about this incredible tool, but for now go to our website and sign up for you free 30 Day Trial of Dialed In and get your business dialed in!
Monday, March 26, 2012
My Visual-Cortex Ad-Blocker
Today there will be 2 billion display ads, 3 million radio ads and more than 300,000 television commercials. However, don’t worry because you personally will be pitched a combination of these ads only 3,000 times today.
Mathematics tells a simple truth that the armies of advertising salespeople across the country are desperately trying to keep silent.
If you are awake from 6:00am to 11:00pm that’s 61,200 seconds of conscious activity. If you gave only 10 seconds of attention per ad (barely enough time to understand what the ad is about) you would lose over 8 hours each day.
It’s a classic darwinian scenario. Our brains have had to develop a way to completely block out advertising. Our very survival depends on us NOT paying attention to all the ads that some well meaning merchant across town has invested their hard earned money in. Nature has equipped us with the ultimate pop-up blocker.
What the armies of advertising salesman failed to mention to the well meaning merchant is that 99.9% of their advertising will never be noticed.
In this day and age there is one thing that gets peoples attention, and believe it or not it’s the same thing that has been motivating buyers since the beginning of time.
Need and trust.
When people have a need they turn to those that they trust.
Here is where it gets REALLY interesting. The need to share good news with each other actually has positive psychological effects. Where advertising is going the way of the dodo bird, humans will never stop needing to tell each other about something that is exciting, interesting or innovative.
Here’s a radical idea. What if you put the money you are spending on useless advertising into understanding what problems you solve for your customers, and then improve upon that solution?
When you take the time to really understand the problem you are solving (for extra credit understand the results of the problem) then your customers will WANT to tell others about your solution. They will literally have a psychological need to share your solution with anyone who is experiencing the same problems they were facing.
Either that or you can run another coupon.
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