bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

Workshops & seminars are always great fun, you learn a lot, meet interesting people, get re-enthused with your business.

The real difficulty is taking that away and apply it to your business.

Tom started out by saying that he wasn’t there to introduce something new he was there to remind us of what we already knew when we started out in entrepreneurship but had lost sight of in the heat of the moment.

He was right.

They key points of the day were:
– Write thank you notes. Religiously.
– Small is nothing to be ashamed of.
– Good enough is not a term we should take lightly. We need to be using works like shock and awe.
– #1 word for this market is focus.
– Learn to listen. Not half listen. Really listen. (Hint: take a listening course).
– Adapt small changes which result in behavioural changes.
– The next five years are going to be the defining years of our careers. We need to act on it, not hide from the challenge.

The underlying theme of all this was, the small things matter, they matter now than ever before and this should be our focus.

You can download slides of Tom’s presentation from his blog:
http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=010862.php

Also you can check out my exclusive interview with Tom on Youtube, Ben Young chats with Tom Peters.

The lighting wasn’t great, but audio is, so please listen as the content is mint.

It amazes me how many people ARE NOT doing this, so….

Do you:

1) Have an online business (or storefront)

2) Automated systems to sell your products?

Then you need to be investing in automating your business growth.

How you say?

Invest in:

1) Google Adwords / Yahoo Search Marketing: capture people already motivated in your product and sell to them.

2) Search Engine Optimisation, after above run a Search Engine Optimisation campaign to garner daily free traffic to drive sales.

After three months you will have a fair idea on growth off that and do exactly that.  Grow.

When you watch a movie it is a combination of thousands of different shots, all put together to create a story.

Stand alone they have not nearly as much value as they do together.

A classic example in an action film, is a 2 second shot showing a police car driving through people with one ring of the siren.

The very next shot shows the stars, either in an ambulance, or talking to police, or off to the side talking to one another.  Everything is safe now, it’s ok, what’s next?

That 2 second shot communicates, things have quietened down, everyone is safe (the police have arrived) we can slow down for a while.

Your interactions with your customers are exactly the same, you need to build them into an overall experience.

Tourist operators are fantastic at this, they decide what experience they want to have and ensure that all interactions help build it.

Another example is board rooms, often outside the board room are picture connotating success (mountains, graphs of success, newspaper clippings), the books you can read are on super yahcts, luxury cards, golf.  All things associated with success.  This is a priming tactic so that you walk into the board room thinking of being successful.

What is the story you want your customers to have? Define that, and work backwards.

Ps. Apologies if you never watch a movie the same again!

You know the 6 degrees of separation rule.

It is even smaller online.  In New Zealand apparently it’s 2 degrees of separation to everyone.  If two people are on Twitter or LinkedIn I would guess most people would be 2 maybe 3 degrees of separation (especially for larger networks).

I would like a quick app, I could load up my Twitter + LinkedIn (Facebook for others) and it analyses my networks and theirs (first level only).  

Then all i do is enter a name, it searches those, and lets me know who I know someone through.

It would be fantastic! At a conference I could put someones name in see if I know someone they do, instant conversation starter.  Someone pitching to me, same deal.

The world is all about relationships, someone please build this.  Give me this app now!

It would make social interactions such a breeze.

When did you last say thanks?

And really meant it?

Thanks shows appreciation.

Thanks shows you care.

Thanks shows you notice.

Thanks shows your human.

Thanks shows I’m important.  And that should be important to you.

When you are stuck in the trenches battling you inevitably hit some hurdles and need inspiration.

Inherently we are somewhat intrinsically motivated but even that can falter.

When I set up up bwagy I needed something to remind me, that yes you are doing the right thing and you should never give up.

What I did was search for ‘internet marketing’ on Seek a local job site, grab the rss feed and add it to Google Reader.

Therefore whenever a job came up it would load into my feed.  Now the key was this was always unexpected, unanticipated and it has arrived at a few crucial times. 

1) When my two biggest clients delayed payment for almost two months which in the life of a 6 month old company is tough.

2) When I started 2009 to find all contracts were on hold.

I was flicking through my reader and they would pop up.  This would remind me of a few things:

1) Of what I didn’t want to be doing which was working in a job I didn’t like.

2) Not to give up.

3) A bit of an external nudge to keep going.

I reflected on this today as I came across another item and how much value that has been. 

So what can you set up to provide you unexpected inspiration in times of need?

When it is unexpected you gain the most.

(Also if you know someone who may be struggling send them a quick note to say how well they are doing, I’ve had this along the journey from lots of random readers of the blog, they may be perfectly timed for them)

And the magic answer is:

Turning up.

And then….

Blowing everyone away.

Pretend your Schwarzenegger.  Leave everyone in awe.  Believe me they’ll talk.

(Note: I fib there is never a magic answer but this is one)

The term Internet Marketing is dying.  

Not quite but that is where it’s going, Internet Marketing will be the cornerstone of the Marketing mix, in fact it is going to be the defining characteristic of companies built from this point in time.

Don’t believe me? Talk to me in five years, remind me I’m wrong.

We won’t be referring to Internet Marketing it will just be Marketing and of that they internet will be a key component.

That is the argument I want to be hearing.

How is your small team outpeforming the big clunky guys?

ReadWriteWeb queried over twitter what’s next after web 2.0? I responded:

“Startups powered by 1-4 people, ultra small niche to dominate in, started for under $20k” 

This has been requoted a few times as people have discussed the topic over and over again.

Web 2.0 was the term to describe the wave of internet businesses that have grown in the past few years (technical details aside).  Web 3.0 is the new wave.

Extending my initial thoughts Web 3.0 will be where the web connects with the real world and the distinctions between the two become blurred.  Are we really an online company? or offline? It will be hazy, it will be gray.

The power in this new wave will be in the ability of small teams; mainly collections of evangelists, working in unison to solve minute problems, on a global scale.

Growing these companies will not be about getting big, it will be about agility and efficient delivery.

Thus the argument 3 years from now will not be, mine is bigger than yours, it will be mine is smaller than yours!

We all need leads.

Qualified prospects whom we can do business with.

Consumers also need leads, leads to valuable, reputable and passionate companies.

The question is how can you put yourself within this wedge and help both parties.

If you have an answer to that in your niche chances are you have a business in the waiting.

Do not just suffice with communicating good value for money.

You need to communicate INSANE value.

Where your customers go this is crazy how can they offer that? Now i’m not saying inflate values with ponzi values, offer genuine value.

If you can offer insane value each and every month your customers will never leave.

One of the number one questions I get is:

1) What do you do?

2) How do you earn money?

Since #1 almost requires an essay i’m going to answer #2.  

Actually no I’m not as that would require answering #1 which neither of us have time for (save that for another day).

The real question is how do you make a return off social media?

It is all about frame of reference.

Some Tv Ads are all framed around awareness, such that when you are making a purchasing decision you choose one brand over another.

Social Media works on a similar wavelength, that is by turning up and participating, you are putting yourself (and your products/services) in the frame of reference of those that also read / participate.  

Then once they in turn have a conversation or are making a purchasing decision their experience with you floats to the top of their minds.  

Why? Because they have had a real experience with you, whether it was some Marketing Advice or some chit chat about your favourite podcasts.  In such a fragmented world this is where the real value is derived.

Is this directly measureable? No but neither is word of mouth (unless you engage in just one tactic) but it is rewarding.

How about trends? Return is not straightforward, you need to look over the long term, over 6 months how are we trending.

So when you find yourself doubting social media, remember:

1) You are engaging with people.

2) They may not need you now but are likely to sometime in the future.

3) Once you have a relationship.  No one can compete.

I tweeted this the other day:

“The real problem 99% of the time is people aren’t willing to do what they know they ought to do.”

Tom Peters also iterated this last week, stating that he wasn’t there to introduce something new he was there to remind us of what we already knew when we started out in entrepreneurship but had lost sight of in the heat of the moment.

It’s more true that you first realise.

I want to share a brief story from my uni days:

“I was heading back from the airport on the motorway, and a car in the lane beside us suddenly jerked to the left, forcing itself into our lane, nearly forcing us off the road.  Argh!! Five minutes later this same car missed the offramp so swerved across two lanes nearly missing us again.  I jotted down its number plate.  Later that day I wandered into uni, only to be very nearly swiped off the road by a lunatic driver.  The very same driver that had already just about wiped me out.  Three times, one day, same driver.”

The issue here is accountability.

Sure I can report the dangerous driving to the Police who may send a warning letter BUT what difference is that going to make.

Altering the general attitude on the road is almost a culture change.

Particularly in Auckland where I live.  Drivers are frequently rude, cut in, swerve, drive with no care for others.  As there is virtually zero accountability such people continue.  This continues on a downward spiral as it becomes more acceptable.

How could you solve this? Make everyone accountable to their number plate.  Register each number plate online where people can put feedback on your driving.  In fairness for each negative response you should have to upload a positive response for someone who was nice to you.

It would be a gold mine of activity, huge opportunity for novel stories to be shared and create accountability.

Benefits:

• Suddenly a cars value could depend on its driver.
• Accountability
• Dangerous drivers are quickly identified
• Culture change in driving attitudes

It would be nice to implement.  However could you really do this? I fear (like the recording industry) their would be a huge uproar and the dangerous few wouldn’t let it through.  

Thoughts? Do you think there is a better way? Or more importantly has a model been proven but in a different scenario?

Small matters.

Enough said.

In my wind down from Tom Peters yesterday, the underlying theme was that small matters, it matters more now than ever before.

Focus on small things that result in behavioural differences.

For example he gave the case of:

“Docs, nurses make own checklists on whatever process-procedure they choose, Within weeks, average stay in ICU down 50%.  Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)”. (from Slide 74, download below)”

The next five years are going to be our defining legacy.  It is what we did during this time that we will remember.  

Download the slides from the Tom Peters blog, dig through them, print them out, there are lots of gems in there.