What can Eminem teach you about marketing and writing?

Turns out, a lot.

Rap music is not my genre, but I do have to admit to liking some of Eminem’s work. I always have felt he was a storyteller, even if it was a little extreme and overly dramatic. But then, maybe that's just part of the style, as well as a reflection of him and his life.

Frankly, I hadn’t given it much thought, until I read “The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing and Marketing Machine” on Copyblogger. Sean Platt makes some great points about writing and marketing, with credits to Eminem — who knew!

Here’s a quick summary:

What Eminem can teach you about writing:
1) Write and read all you can
2) Edit ruthlessly
3) Write what you know
4) Start strong and finish stronger
5) Be concise and use powerful sentences

What Eminem can teach you about marketing:
1) Put yourself out there
2) Be extreme
3) Tell a story
4) Experiment
5) Address objections

Read the whole brilliant piece at: http://www.copyblogger.com/eminem/

Why I love my dry cleaner

In my previous life, when I worked at big company and wore “big lady” clothes to work, I was a frequent dry cleaning customer. Initially, I went to the neighbourhood dry cleaner because it was convenient, just a few steps from my office.

It didn’t hurt that it was owned by a young Italian guy, who also lived in the area. He was friendly and charming, and it was nice to walk in to the door and get a big hello.

But what I truly loved about the place — or Joe, to be specific — is that he knew who I was. Not just, “hey, how are you, I’ve seen you before” but he knew my name AND my phone number. That was pretty impressive when I was a fairly frequent customer.

These days, I work mostly from home, and don’t have much need for dry cleaning. But I do usually drop by about once a year with a few items that need cleaning. Joe still knows my name, and sometimes even gets my phone number right. I call that great service.

That’s why I still take my dry cleaning to Joe — at Peloso Cleaners — even when there are closer, less expensive cleaners. If you’re ever in Ottawa’s Little Italy, be sure to stop by.

Simple survey

Last weekend, I was at a farmer’s market near my cottage. They have a good selection of produce, baked goods and other products such as honey, jams and coffee. It is quite popular and you need to be there early if you want to get your hands on some of the more coveted items – one bakery makes the most amazing sticky buns, which are usually sold out in the first hour.

On a previous visit, I was chatting with the bread baker. He mentioned that he had been coming to this market for more than 20 years. I was shocked to know that it had existed for that long. I guess they must be doing something right to have been successful for that long.

On this visit, they were doing a survey to see how they could improve things. Smart idea. It was their approach that I thought was quite unique, and so simple. They had a couple of poster boards up on easels. The sheets were divided into a couple of sections, each with its own question. Each section was then divided into quarters, each with an answer to the question. To respond to the survey, you were given a strip of stickers that you could use to indicate your answer.

The visual effect was great because it was so easy to see which answers were most common. No more counting ballots or using technology, you could simply see to results — immediately.

Free prize customer service

In a last ditch effort to get to Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer show, I recently spent most of my Saturday online trying to find an relatively inexpensive way to fly there. I had two key criteria — low cost and short travel time. With multiple web browsers open, I searched Aeroplan, Expedia and Travelocity for several hours before I was finally able to say: “Mission accomplished!”

The result was a flight on points to Chicago and then a low(ish)-priced flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City. The only hitch was a very tight connection in Chicago. Since I was exchanging an existing points flight, I made the arrangements over the phone with an Aeroplan agent. When speaking with the agent, I asked if I could select my seat — to try for a seat at the front on the plane. The agent told me I would have to call United directly. Okay, but wasn’t I booking my flight through Air Canada?

So I called United. After a few minutes of picking my way through a variety of prompts and selections, I was able to select my seats (in the back half of the plane). The process was completely automated — which was kind of cool – but I never had the opportunity to speak with a real person — to explain that I wanted to be as close to the front as possible. Hmmm, not very satisfying, but it would do for the time being — at least I had a seat. I figured I would try to change it later when I checked in.

Since I was traveling on two different tickets, I thought it would be a good idea to call Delta to see if I could ask them to put a note on my file to say I would be arriving on another flight, one not connected to my ticket I purchased through Expedia, with a tight connection.

When I called Delta, it rang a few times before it was answered — by a live person! I had expected to go through a number of prompts, then wait on hold — potentially for many minutes — before being able to speak with an agent. It was quite a shock to immediately reach a real person.

I explained my situation, but she was unable to make such a notation. But it didn’t really matter, I was still basking in the warmth of being able to quickly have a conversation with someone to get an answer to my question, even if it wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. It gave me warm and fuzzy thoughts towards Delta.

Often, it’s the little things that make a big difference. This small experience with Delta customer service made a big impression on me. It was so completely different from the experience I was expecting. It’s also a good example of a concept discussed in “Free Prize Inside” by Seth Godin — that something remarkable and unexpected will get people talking about your business or product.

These days, telephone customer service continues to be one area where most companies could make serious improvements. Smart companies might consider following in Delta’s footsteps and start reducing the barriers to communicating directly with customers — barriers that were created in the name of cost-cutting or efficiency, but which have seriously impacted the quality of customer service.

The importance of keeping in touch

Last year, I was thinking about selling my house. To help with the decision, I wanted to get an idea of what the house was worth. The best approach seemed to be to contact one of the many real estate agents who were soliciting business in my neighborhood to get an appraisal. In a 3-month period, I had received a number of direct mail pieces from four different agents. After reviewing the materials I had received and doing a little research online, I chose to call two of them.

The first agent I spoke with was friendly and personable. We made an appointment for him to come by and look at the house, after which we agreed to meet again in a week or so to go over his research and findings. In our conversations, he revealed a good understanding of the area and a recognition that my house was somewhat unique as it is more in the style of the adjoining neighborhood, a factor that would have an impact on how it was marketed. We also discussed any repairs or improvements that should be done before the house went on the market. During the several weeks that we spoke and met, I was impressed by him and felt confident that I would be satisfied with him should I decided to put my house up for sale.

Then, I never heard from him again. I realize that I was not sure that I even wanted to sell my house but I thought it was strange that he never even followed up to see what my plans were.

On the other hand, my experience with the other agent was quite different. By the time we spoke, I had already gotten the ball rolling with the first agent. I didn’t want to lead this guy on, so I told him I was still thinking about what I wanted to do. He asked if he could follow up in a couple of months, to which I replied: “no problem”.

Follow up he did. He called every few months to see what I was up to — I was still undecided. And I got on his mailing list, receiving branded notepads and a calendar at various intervals — useful items that put his name in front of me on a regular basis.

Recently, the moving bug was in my head again. So who did I call? Not the first agent, with whom I was initially so enamored. Rather, I called the second agent who had been persistent in keeping in touch with me.

Although I still haven’t decided yet whether I will sell my house, I have changed my opinion on who I will chose to represent me should I decide to move forward.

This is just an example of why it is so important to continue to communicate with your customers and your prospects. Just because someone is not ready to buy, it doesn’t mean you should write them off. Rather, it is just as important to continue a dialogue with them so that you gain a deeper understanding of what they are looking for and what their barriers may be.

The approach, of course, will differ depending on your product, but simply keeping your name in front of the prospect will go a long way in making you the first person they think of when it comes time to commit to a purchase.

New perspectives to drive your business

I enjoy talking to people — particularly smart, interesting people. There is always something to learn or a new perspective to see. It is easy to be focused on your own thoughts and talking to other people helps to get a different view of the world.

This week, I met with the founder of a local outdoor store to get his perspective on the local outdoor industry. I am in the process of outlining a research project on the subject, so I thought it would be useful to get his thoughts on what has changed over the past 30+ years that he has been in business.

We talked about the shift in what people do with their leisure time; for example: young people are spending less time outdoors and older people are looking for adventures that are more comfortable. The activities people participate in has changed as well; running, trail running and hiking are increasing in popularity while traditional outdoor activities such as paddling, camping and skiing are becoming less popular.

Another interesting trend is that people are tending to dabble in multiple activities rather than become fully invested in one specific pursuit. I expect this applies mostly to activities that are less equipment-intensive or have low barriers to entry (such as availability, cost and required skill).

These trends coincide with recent research by the Outdoor Industry Association. The most alarming trend noted in their latest Outdoor Recreation Participation Topline Report (2009) is the decrease in participation by 18-24 year olds — in some cases significantly — in the majority of categories. Of the 28 activities surveyed, the key exception was increased participation by this age group in almost all water-based activities, including board sailing/windsurfing (+27%), sailing (+40%) and triathlon (+55%).

Overall, alpine skiing, snowboarding, canoeing, kayaking, camping and climbing experienced low or negative growth while the activities that had the greatest increase in participation include telemark skiing (+22%), snowshoeing (+22%) and backpacking (+19%).

Industry research, such as that generated by organizations like OIA, will help you gain insight into the trends within your industry. It is also important to have a good understanding of how external factors, such as politics and the economy, influence your industry and your business. Even a down economy will create business opportunities. However, it is rarely a good long-term strategy to jump on every trend.

One of the “keys to success” that Wally mentioned during our conversation was to stay true to your roots. Sometimes, this can be a challenge when you seen a great opportunity you think you should take advantage of. To make the decision — on where to expand or what opportunities to pursue — focus on those that are related to your organization’s core business; use your expertise and passion to build on the reputation you have already built.

Measuring performance — it’s really about you

This week, I saw a rerun of The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. I’m a big fan of the show (and George) — always interesting people and great interviews. This particular show featured Gene Simmons. Now, I can’t say that I’ve ever been a big fan of KISS, but I must admit that Gene Simmons is an interesting character.

During the interview, Gene said something that I quite liked. It was: “There is no such thing as winning; there is only trying to be better than you were before.”

You can spin this comment a number of different ways, but I want to look at it from a business perspective. In some industries, there are benchmarks you can use to evaluate your products against those of other companies. A good example is the automotive industry, which uses such factors as gas mileage, acceleration rate, etc. to compare the performance of different cars. Financial benchmarks are a common way to compare the performance of different companies.

But what about marketing — how do you measure performance and how do you know that you are successful?

Certainly, there are established benchmarks for a variety of activities, such as email open rates, direct mail response rates, etc. When you first try a particular tactic, it may be unreasonable to expect that you will initially achieve that standard. Or if you are trying something completely different, there may not be an established benchmark.

To start, it is important to consider what you to measure — what metrics are important to you? What metrics will help you understand whether you are successful? What metrics can you measure?

Before you start making changes, you need to establish a baseline for the metrics you choose so that you can see the impact of your actions. Once you have a starting point, you will also have a better idea of what goals are appropriate.

Having metrics that are easy to capture is also important so that you can continuously take measurements without too much difficulty. For example, knowing the number of people who enter a store on a daily basis would a good metric for understanding variations in store traffic, but manually counting visitors might be impossible. Therefore, having a mechanical or automated means to capture this information would be necessary in order for the metric to provide valid data.

Measurement doesn’t have to be complicated — a few key metrics can provide useful data — but it does need to be consistent over a period of time. Measuring the same metric over multiple intervals will enable you to see how different actions have an effect.

After establishing a baseline and a few goals, you can test your marketing tactics or messages to see what works best with your audience. It is important not to try doing too many things at the same time, as it will be difficult to know what tactic contributed to any resulting variations. By testing one or two different approaches — such as different offers or call to actions in a direct mail piece — you may discover some valuable insight into what resonates with your customers.

It is also important not to give up too quickly. Keep testing — try different messages, different marketing tactics and different audiences — to see if you can discover the strategy that works best. Making wholesale changes won’t provide you with the answers you need and they could confuse your customer.

While it is good to know what the key benchmarks are, you may find that comparing your results to someone else’s may not provide the most useful information. Rather, having a solid understanding of your own results — and what drives them — may help you find the best way to grow your business.

Reinvention

This weekend, I saw the GM reinvention ad for the first time. I’m not sure how long it’s been out, but they seemed to be running it everywhere, as I saw both US and Canadian versions on several channels. I wasn’t able to detect much in the way of differences but I expect at least the wording was adjusted for the different markets. At the very least, different URLs were shown at the end of the ad.

My first impression was “Wow, they are actually admitting that they made a mistake. That’s brave.” The images used were dramatic and emotive — some current, some historical — and the language was conciliatory. It began with “Let’s be completely honest, there was a time when…” which certainly sets the tone for acknowledging that things are different today. Overall, they did a good job of picking the right tone and the right words and images to communicate their message.

I hadn’t thought much more than that until I read today’s paper. Terry O’Reilly, host of CBC’s The Age of Persuasion, wrote an editorial in the Arguments section. He makes the connection between an image of boxer Joe Louis and the comeback of GM. It was an interesting commentary. And it illustrates that an audience can infer a great deal about your organization from a single image — a good argument for thinking strategically about how you market.

All a-twitter

On Thursday, I attended an excellent presentation on social media at Zone5ive, a local technology marketing forum. The panel discussion, called 50 Ideas on Using Twitter and LinkedIn for Business, was excellent.

Moderated by Andrew Milne (bv02 inc.), the panelists included Kelly Rusk (MediaMiser Ltd.), Scott Lake (ThinkSM and SWIX) and Luc Levesque (TravelPod.com). They covered a lot of ground, sharing their experience with both twitter and LinkedIn, as well as offering suggestions for using both technologies as a way to connect to like-minded individuals.

At the moment, I am not on twitter — and my exposure to it has been rather limited. The presentation gave me some hope that twitter was more than just an ongoing stream of consciousness, that there was interesting and informative information out there. It may have been convinced me to jump on the twitter bandwagon.

The panelists presented some great ideas on how to manage the overwhelming amount of information — so that it can be useful — and organize your time to get the most out of twitter. A fun feature of the presentation was a big screen feed of tweets tagged with #zone5ive so that the audience could ask questions and add commentary.

A video of the discussion, along with the presentation, links and additional information, can be found on the bv02 website.

Ironically, in this morning’s paper, the Non Sequitor comic strip reflects what I used to think about twitter:

One size NEVER fits all

Clothing manufacturers sometimes resort to offering their wares in “one size fits all”. While this approach does reduce inventory challenges, it is a disservice to the customers. What are the chances that a woman who is 5’1” and 110 lbs will fit into the same size as a woman who is 5’8” and 155 lbs? Even if they were both willing to wear it, odds are that neither would be truly satisfied.

The same concept applies to marketing. Your chances for success are much higher if you segment your audience and focus your marketing on specific targets with messages that are tailored to address their interests and concerns. Simply consider the following different audiences:

• the youth market vs. the boomers
• single people vs. families
• French-speaking Canadians vs. people living in Paris, France

Even if the same product was targeting each of these groups, the way in which you approach them — through message, language, channel, etc. — should be different in order to achieve the best response to your marketing efforts.

Recently, I received unaddressed admail from Reno Depot. For those of you who don’t know, Reno Depot operates home renovation stores in 16 cities in Quebec. So what is wrong with this picture? While their store is less than 10 miles from where I live, it is in another province. Another problem — the DM piece was entirely in French.

Now, it could be that they were trying to build their customer base in Ontario. Ottawa is a fairly bilingual city, but the majority of residents speak English, so it is likely that many people who received the piece would not be able to read it.

What they did get right? As a home owner, I am part of their target market. I live in an area of older homes without many rental units. But with limited French, I was unable to take away anything from the copy that would pique my interest.

Sadly, this is mostly an example of what not to do. What should they have done?

• Some sort of enticement to visit the store — there is a Home Depot only a few miles away from me and crossing the river is a bit of a psychological barrier.
• Map to store location — it’s not in my neighbourhood so I might not know how to get there.
• Bilingual copy — I will need to understand what you’re saying in order to respond to it.

It’s hard to say what Reno Depot was trying to accomplish, perhaps it was just shotgun approach to the entire Ottawa-Gatineau area. With the availability of targeting DM down to a postal carrier route, it is a shame that Reno Depot didn’t take a more direct approach by segmenting their market and using more specific messaging and language to reach their audience.

Talking WITH customers

There is a key difference between talking to customers and talking with customers. When you talk TO someone, you may find you are having a one-way conversation and you are not necessarily connecting WITH them.

Connecting WITH customers is a key component of business success. Build a relationship with your customers and prospects — by engaging in relevant and personal two-way conversation — and you will increase your chances for an ongoing business relationship.

How to begin
The conversation starts with a common interest. From there, build the relationship with relevant and personal two-way interaction. It is important you there is give and take on both sides; the conversation can’t simply be about selling product.

For example, if your company sells hiking boots, start by talking about hiking. Then ask about their favorite hiking trails. Build the conversation further by soliciting for their input, such as asking their feedback on boot features that they like or don’t like. The key to the interaction is to build trust by talking about a subject they care about.

The goal is to get them to know who you are, but at the same time, you want to learn more about them. With a better understanding of your customers, you will be able to serve them better.

Know your product; know your customer
In addition to understanding how and why your product fits your customers’ needs and/or wants, it is important to know how to connect with customers. The language you use is as important as is how you deliver your message.

Finding the right words does not just mean using the latest buzzwords, but using them in a way that catches the eye or ear of your audience. Key words are important, but context can make or break the effectiveness of the communication. Your success will be influenced by how well you understand the culture of who you are doing business with — whether they are in a different demographic or different country than you.

It has been a decade since Seth Godin’s ground-breaking book Permission Marketing was published. So much of what he said then is still relevant today, particularly the simple concept offered in the book’s sub-title: “Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers”.

Creating a mutually beneficial relationship with your target market with help you connect WITH customers —to the benefit of your business.

A different way of doing business

As I reflect on my time in Egypt, I have been thinking about how people do business in different countries. Two years ago, I traveled to India with a client. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of the market opportunity there in preparation for targeting one of the world’s largest markets.

Before we left, we spent some time learning about business customs and getting an understanding of the people we planned to meet. Even with our preparation, it was not until we were in the country actually meeting with potential clients that we truly started to understand the market. Talking to people first hand provided more insight and data than we ever could have accomplished remotely. And the trip built relationships that led to significant business for my client.

Even though I was in Egypt to travel, rather than do business, I found it interesting to see get a glimpse of how business was being conducted. Most of what I witnessed focused on the tourist trade, but I believe some of it would translate to typical business situations.

Conducting business in Egypt seems quite different from how we do it in North America. The pace is generally slower, there is a great deal of haggling over price and a key component is the concept of hospitality. While it is unlikely we will adopt the Egyptian style of doing business, there are lessons to be learned from their approach.

The concept of hospitality is one that is worth exploring. In Egypt, it is common — even in the smallest retail shops — to offer visitors a beverage such as tea or soft drinks. This is typically a prelude to a conversation about the items you are interested in buying. A casual browser should keep moving, but if you are interested in buying something, it can signal the start of the deal. Often, concluding the deal can take some time as significant price negotiation usually takes place.

The key to business successful is having a solid understanding your customer — regardless of their language, culture or location. When you are doing business in a country or culture that is different from your own, it pays to know their style of conducting business. Being able to adapt will help you build a relationship that could increase your chances for success.

One thing I enjoy about travel is meeting people in other parts of the world and gaining a better understanding of how they live and work. With the globalization of business today, an appreciation for different ways of doing things will go a long way in closing the gap.

Home again!

I arrived home late last night from an amazing trip to Egypt. I am still a little jet lagged after our 24 hours of traveling home, but it was well worth it. My good friend Kim and I had a blast, and I expect to share some stories from our journey.

Please stay turned.

Customer service

Good customer service is something close to my heart. I think that most companies could probably do a better job if they thought a little more about what they say and do. A recent posting by Jackie Huba on “Church of the Customer” is a good illustration of how to connect with your customers by using key words.

Jackie makes a good point about creating an emotional connection by using less formal language. I would agree with her there. While it is important to speak the language of your customers, it is also important to communicate your passion and enthusiasm about your company and its products. If you don’t believe in them, who will?

Sometimes, the formal prose of business is too stilted to evoke any emotion from your customers. Translating your company’s passion in your products into the language you use to communicate with your customers can increase the emotional bond you make with your customer, which in turn could translate into increased sales.

How this applies to your company will depend on the business you are in, but almost any company will benefit from a sense of fun and enthusiasm mixed with a professional approach.

Customer communications

Only 8 more sleeps until I leave for a 3-week holiday to Egypt. I LOVE to travel so — as you can imagine — I am very excited about my trip. With travel on my mind, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about customer communications, with a focus on some of the newsletters I receive from various adventure travel companies.

I must say that I am a big fan of “Intrepid Express” from Intrepid Travel (HQ in Sydney, Australia). I have been a subscriber since 2004 and I enjoy their weekly newsletters so much that I have kept almost everyone of them!

So what make Intrepid Express so good? They follow some “best practices” that help me get the most out of their email. For example:

• Subject line — each subject line starts with “Intrepid Express” which tells me that it is the newsletter and not some other correspondence from Intrepid.
• Topic — each week, there is a short intro from the editor (Sue Elliot) which is always interesting and well written. It gives me an idea about the content and helps me make the decision as to whether to read further.
• Quick links — at the top of the email, there is a section labeled “In this issue” with links to each section of the newsletter; a fast way to get to the sections that interest me the most.
• Sections — each issue has many articles, with several them on recurring themes such as: “Top Trip”, “Local Know How” and the latest contest.
• Side bar — Intrepid uses the sidebar promotes upcoming trips or deals with links to their website.
• Timely and relevant — the newsletter arrives every Monday, like clockwork and, even if I’m not planning a trip, the content is fresh and interesting.

The tone of the writing is interesting and informative, but never heavy with a sales pitch. That may be why I like the newsletter so much — it feeds my passion for travel, giving me ideas about where to go next, but doesn’t pressure me into buying.

Intrepid Express is not the only travel company e-newsletter that I receive, but it is my favourite. Long before I became an Intrepid customer, I developed a high affinity for the company, due in part to the “relationship” created through this single form of communication.

I’d also like to give a big shout out to Sue Elliot, who has been the editor of Intrepid Express for many years: thanks for keeping me hooked all these years.

Want to learn more about Intrepid and see what trips they have to offer? Start with their home page: www.intrepidtravel.com.
Ready to sign up to their weekly newsletter? Go to:
http://www.intrepidtravel.com/inspirations/expresssubs/

Goal setting for your career

Every month, I write a blog entry for the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition blog, based on the monthly professional development topic. The focus for April is “Planning Your Career Path”, a relevant continuation of my own blog entries from January on Goal Setting.

Since access to the OIWC blog is considered a member benefit (so it is located on members-only pages of the website), I have included an edited version of the entry here.

I encourage you to learn more about this amazing professional development and networking organization for women at: www.oiwc.org. [Full disclosure: In addition to developing content for the site, I am on the Board of Directors and sit on the Professional Development and Marketing/Branding committees.]

Get started on planning your career path
You’ve thought long and hard. You know what you want to do. But now what? How do you make your dream a reality? As Stephen R. Covey says in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, "Begin with the end in mind."

With the end in mind, you can start planning how to get there. You would do this if you were driving somewhere, so why not do it for your career. Since a career goal is not on any map, you will need to do a couple of things. First, determine your destination and, second, set some milestone goals. To increase your chances for success, your goals should be SMART — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

SMART goals will help you develop a plan that is realistic and achievable. And, as you create these goals, be as detailed as you can. This will enable you to clearly understand how you are doing as you work towards your end goal.

Not only are SMART goals important, but so is timing. Make sure you check on your progress at regular intervals and consider: How close are you to achieving your goal? What is helping you be successful? What is getting in your way?

In addition, there is nothing that says you have to stay true to your original plan. As you evaluate your progress, consider making adjustments based on what you accomplish — or did not accomplish — so far. Did you set your goal too high? Will it be difficult or impossible to achieve? Did you learn something that changed your mind about what you thought you wanted? Is there now something else that you would rather do?

Don’t be afraid to change direction. Use your knowledge and experiences — as well as the knowledge and experience of others — to shape your goals and your career path.

Get inspired!

You hear a lot about Zappos.com — customers love their shoes and service, they have an interesting corporate culture, oh yeah, and they have a billion dollars in sales — they must be doing something right.

I first heard about Zappos, a few years ago, from a friend who loved shopping on their site. I personally don’t have the nerve to buy shoes online, but she was very pleased with her purchases — and the ability to return them easily if they didn’t work out.

Last year, Bill Taylor wrote about the company in his blog:

Every so often, though, I spend time with a company that is so original in its strategy, so determined in its execution, and so transparent in its thinking, that it makes my head spin. Zappos is one of those companies.

Bill Taylor wrote Mavericks at Work: Why the most original minds in business win, with Polly LaBarre, so I expect it must take a lot for his head to spin!

One of the things Bill mentioned was the fact that Zappos will offer new employees $1,000 to quit, after they have been with the company for only 1 week. The theory behind “the offer” is that if you take them up on it, you aren’t the right fit for the organization, so it is better that you go sooner rather than later. Interesting strategy — not one every company could adopt but apparently it’s working well for them.

More recently, I read about Zappos on the Church of the Customer blog where Ben McConnell wrote about the company's values.

Many companies create a vision, mission statement and corporate values. Most communicate them to their employees and some post them publicly on their website. Zappos does this and more — the “About Us” section of Zappos.com is extensive. In addition to the usual company history and executive profiles, it features descriptions (with photos) of almost 20 different teams at Zappos, links to a collection of blogs and detailed explanations of the company’s core values. Here they are, with links to each description:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

If you want to know even more about the inside of the company, you can buy a copy of their Culture Book, but be prepared — it’s 479 pages long!

So why should we care?
While it is not necessary — or appropriate — to copy other companies, it is useful to learn about what other organizations are doing. Inspiration can come from unexpected sources —sometimes a completely unrelated business will help you see things differently for your company.

The key is to be open to new ideas — you never know what will trigger a bright idea.

Organize your inspiration

During my recent magazine purge, I found a number of interesting articles. Rather than throw out the article with the magazine, I tore out a few to keep. As you might have guessed, I’m a bit of a packrat. But, I am an organized packrat — I’ve taken those “articles of interest” and filed them for future reference.

By categorizing the articles I’ve collected over the years, I can pull them out easily when I’m looking for ideas. They are within reach — in a desktop file caddy on top of my filing cabinet — so I don’t have to go far to find them.

If I am looking for inspiration on a particular topic, I can leaf through a file folder and see if anything stirs an idea. To keep it simple, the files are organized into categories that reflect my main areas of interest:

• Marketing and branding
• Business and innovation
• Sports and fitness

I also keep my “Inspiration Journals” close by so that I can look up “that comment I heard on the radio the other day” or remind myself of a contact that someone suggested to me. Keeping things simple and being organized means that you access the information you need without too much trouble — important for a packrat like me to put all the “stuff” to use.

Innovation inspiration

I must admit I am a bit of a magazine junkie. Over the past few months, I have build up quite a stack, thanks in part to dozen freebies I picked at the Winter Outdoor Retailer show (which I greatly appreciate!). Most of those were outdoor and travel related, but I have also acquired a collection of business magazines. In an effort to reduce the pile, I have been reading some of the older issues and discovered a number of interesting and/or inspiring articles.

One article I enjoyed was from the December-January 2007 issue of Profit magazine. The main article, called “Get Lucky” by Susanne Ruder, was a discussion of the book The Luck Factor: The Four Essential Principles by Richard Wiseman. [Please note, when I posted this entry, I had difficulty accessing the article. You can also try the Profit home page.]

The book was based a 10-year study, called “The Luck Project”, which focused on the characteristics and behaviors that made people “lucky”. The article expanded on the four principles Wiseman identified:

• Maximize your “chance opportunities” — lucky people tend to be extroverts who are good at meeting people, open to new experiences and like unpredictability.
• Listen to hunches — your first instincts are usually correct; they are based on what you’ve learned over time even if you are not completely aware of your knowledge.
• Expect good fortune — lucky people are optimists who persist in the face of failure.
• Turn bad luck into good — as your mother said, “look on the bright side”.

I also found a sidebar to the article, called “Innovation Calisthenics: Five exercises to tone your creative muscles”, provided inspiration for trying to see things in a new light. I have included the content here verbatim:

1. Get out of your rut. Move your watch to the other wrist. Leave your keys in a new place. Take a different route home. Force yourself out of one habit a week, and you’ll start thinking in new directions.
2. Record it before you forget it. Don’t leave home without a notepad, tape recorder or other means to record ideas as they occur. Then force yourself to add 10 related ideas.
3. Immerse yourself in fresh viewpoints. Explore books, magazines, newspapers and websites that are unrelated to your business or personal interests. Travel somewhere you wouldn’t normally go. Surround yourself with people from diverse fields whose new-to-you perspectives will expose you to opportunities.
4. Reimagine the old. Encourage lateral thinking by taking an everyday items such as a paper clip or a rubber band and brainstorming 25 alternative uses for it.
5. Take up a brain sport. Exercise pumps your brain with glucose, which increases oxygen delivery and nerve connections. Keep your mind sharp by participating in a strategic sport, such as football, hockey or soccer. And loosen up your imagination with a rhythmic activity, such as running, walking or swimming.

My favorite point is #2. I now carry a notebook with me at all times (and most of the time I have a pen with me as well). I use it to write down anything bright idea that pops into my head and I’ve used Post-It tabs to divide it into sections, so I can categorize my random thoughts slightly.

The notebook has been useful to record smart things I hear on the radio that I want to learn more about, dumb things that I want to comment on, business opportunities I think about, etc. I have it with me any time I meet with someone, so I can take notes. I even added a small pocket for business cards and a few bucks so it is all I need for a quick coffee.

The key is to be ready for inspiration because it can happen any time.

Achieve success with your goals

Regardless of the time of year, setting goals can help you accomplish the tasks or objectives you want to achieve. Establishing SMART goals and creating a plan will go a long way to help you successfully achieving your personal or business goals. To continue with the theme of my previous post, I wanted to present a few pointers to improve your chances for success.

1. Write it down — the act of writing down your goals solidifies them into tangible objectives. In addition, creating a written plan helps you think through the process of how to achieve your objectives in more detail.
2. Take baby steps — break down a big goal into smaller goals; what you learn from reaching the smaller goal will help as you tackle the larger one.
3. Make it a habit — if reaching your goal requires a change in behaviour, the key to success is to create a new habit. It takes 3 weeks for an activity to become a habit, so stick with it until the behaviour is part of your routine.
4. Visualize it — visualization is a common method used by elite athletes. Picture what success looks like and visualize the path required to get there.

New Year’s Resolutions

It’s a new year, so it must be time for New Year’s Resolutions. Personally, I am a big fan of setting goals. However, New Year’s Resolutions always seem to be set up for failure. Perhaps the reason is that people tend to set big goals for the end of the year. How often has someone said “I want to lose 30 pounds this year.” Whether it is appropriate for the person or not, it is certainly an achievable goal. Reducing your weight by 2.5 pounds per month is a healthy and reasonable amount to aim for. But why do most people fail to reach a goal like this?

There are a number of reasons…

1. In January, December is a very long time away. With such a long timeline, it is easy to put off working on your goal until later. Unfortunately, later often become too late to achieve your goal.
2. Many people want to make big goals for their New Year’s Resolutions, perhaps with the reasoning that a big goal is more worthy for something that may take a full year to achieve. However, it also sets them up for failure when the goal is not reasonable.
3. Change is hard. Whether we like it or not, humans are creatures of habit. It can be hard to reach a life-changing goal, like many New Year’s Resolutions. Losing weight and quitting smoking are two commons resolutions, but they require lifestyle changes and those often require more fortitude than most people realize.

So, how can you meet your New Year’s Resolutions? Two steps that will help are:

First, set SMART goals.
SMART stands for Specific / Measurable / Attainable / Realistic / Timely and SMART goals will help you create a reasonable and achievable objective. As you create your goals, think about them in these terms:

• Specific — be as detailed as possible about what you want to achieve.
• Measurable — how will you know if you have reached your goal? Be sure to include some numbers that you can measure.
• Attainable — given the goal and the timeframe, is it reasonable to expect that will you be able to reach your objective?
• Realistic — when you consider both internal (such as ability) and external (such as the economy) factors, is your expectation realistic?
• Timely — is there a timeframe attached to reaching your goal? Is it suitable for what you are trying to achieve?

Second, create a plan.
Creating goals without a plan to reach them is a recipe for failure. To reach your goals, you will need to determine how to get from Point A to Point B. The plan doesn’t necessarily have to be complex, but it does needs to reflect the various steps along the way and the order in which various activities happen. In addition, it is important to have some checkpoint along the way to see how you are doing and to determine if there is anything you should change before proceeding.

These are two simple — but not necessarily easy — steps to help you reach your goals. Good luck with your New Year’s Resolutions. I’ll keep you posted on what mine are.