Posts Tagged "Marketing"

A Real Business Comes From the Real You

Posted by LisaYoung in videos |

So after a quick trip to the local library with my oldest child and his best friend, I scoped out the shelves for some new reads.

I found a couple of VERY good resources, and I had to share this one today:

Kaira Sturdivant Rouda is the president of Real Living, and “gets it” when it comes to personal branding. I’m half way through her book, Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shouted from the rooftops the importance of Branding yourself. Kaira’s book really gets it done.

Stay tuned!

2010 Update: This book is uber transformative. After a couple of years of living with this book, I can tell you it really gets to the heart of building a business around your passion. I use it every 6 months as my business bible when it’s time to review my progress, make sure I’m on track for goals, and to be certain I’m still following my passion in my business. I had the pleasure of interviewing Kaira for my Direct Sales Super Summit last fall and it was a dream come true in so many ways. Every woman should have this book on their shelves – or in their briefcase for easy access. It’s truly transformative for business and personal growth.

Listen With the Intent to Understand

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas |

I recently sat at my desk listening to a recorded conference call by Dr. Ellie Drake, another network marketing professional. It was an effective teleconference about developing listening skills and learning to connect to people with ease. The crux of the training call was the art of empathic listening.

Empathic listening requires you to ask a question and WAIT for the answer. But while you’re waiting, you’re LISTENING with the intent to understand, not with the intention of replying.

Did you catch that? Listen with the intent to understand. Don’t listen with the intent to reply.

This means not thinking about what you want to say while your prospect is talking. It means to really focus on the words they are saying and what is going on in their mind. Without judging. Listen to their words, watch their body language, and focus on the speaker completely.

It’s easier said than done. It takes practice and it doesn’t always happen. Drake suggests to observe the speaker’s feelings, emotions and inflections. Without judging, without trying to fix or solve anything. Just listen with your intuition and pick up on their feelings. Then state your observations about their emotions, without judgment and a tool belt in hand ready to solve their problems.

The idea, particularly in network marketing, is to stop pulling people into our business, to meet them where they are, without judging. Then, by meeting them where they are (emotionally), and validating their experiences with empathic listening, you open the door for them to make the choice to follow you into your opportunity. Once you understand your prospect – or more to the point, they feel like you understand them – then you can attract them to where you are by using empathy to connect to them to what you have to offer.

Drake suggests using a pattern of “ask, listen, ask, listen, speak” to direct you efficiently to the root of their “pain” which may indicate a need for an affirmative buying decision. This isn’t just a recruiting idea. It’s a sales concept that applies to any attempt to earn an affirmative buying decision. Stop trying to make decisions about what to say when you should be listening.

Take mental notes when the speaker is speaking. When the speaker is finished, make observations about the emotional issues laid before you. Drake states, “The degree that a person will cooperate with change is exactly dependent upon their clarity on what their pain is.” It’s not about the degree of pain, but the clarity on their pain in their situation.

Asking the right questions makes a difference. Ask questions with a focus to understand their situation and their pain. Then listen. Ask another question about your observations. Seek to understand the speaker. Only after you’ve asked valuable questions that elicit emotional responses from the speaker, and sought to understand the person behind the emotions, then you can move them from where they are to where you are.

People are looking for opportunities year round. It becomes easier to recruit them when you seek to understand their needs first. Then – and only then – should you attempt to attract them to your opportunity. Once they feel understood, they look to you as a source of pleasure and an expert that can help them resolve their issues.

But wouldn’t it be nice if this happened everywhere?

What if the car dealer actually listened to what you wanted in a car, instead of bringing you the car he “knows” is just “perfect” for you?

What if your doctor took the time to listen to ALL your symptoms, not just the ones he can prescribe away? Now some Doctors ARE very good, don’t get me wrong, but many times, they are not so attentive.

What if the teacher at school really listened to what your child told them – and took it to heart?

What if your spouse took time to focus on what you were saying – not just with your words – when they asked you “How was your day, honey?”

There are rare gems in the world that do all of this and more.

But can you imagine how much better it would be if everyone was like this?

Cackling Babies Tell it like it is

Posted by LisaYoung in Uncategorized |

When you get a chance, do a search on YouTube for “why buy expensive toys” The little boy in the video is delirious about ripping out pages in a magazine.

This video is hilarious, but please don’t patronize the links in the video. I learned the hard way that it’s connected to a very UN-family-friendly website, if you understand what I mean.

I seriously thought about not posting this video referral at all, but then I got it in an email last week, and I knew God was telling me to share some details.

It’s real life, after all!

In essence, the kid gets so slap happy from helping his father tear up the magazine pages that he starts busting out into raucous laughter – even before he tears the sheet.

And here’s the marketing lesson: Sometimes simple is best.

Seriously. Sometimes we fret about how to make things so “perfect” for our end user, that we forget about the simplicity of things that already work.

Dan Kennedy says that sometimes “‘good’ is good enough” I take it one step further and say that sometimes “easy is hard enough”

Sure, there are people in the world that want a Porsche for the price of a moped. But that’s not realistic.

Of course there are people that will pay $100 for a plastic toilet seat from Home Depot. But that’s exploitative.

When you look at your customer, your product base, and your message – are you making it too hard for people to digest?

Keep it simple. Keep it real. Keep it on the level.

Chris Haddad wrote a post a while back about writing at the 4th or 5th grade level. That’s the God’s Honest Truth, folks. Even in a technical industry, the more simplified the marketing, the easier it is for people to grasp it.

Sure, your average Chemical Engineer should be able to read at a 12th grade level – but why would he want to? Higher-level thinking takes a lot out of you – especially when the same thing can be said in 150 words (or less) with one and two syllable words.

Take it from someone that loves to use big words:
Not everyone loves big words.

So if a cackling baby can find pleasure and delight in the daily tabloid rag, why can’t we, as marketers, take a cue “from the mouths of babes” as it were?

Sometimes the easiest, and simplest messages are the best.

Here’s one of my favorites:

“Dear Mom,
I love you.
Can I have a Nintendo DS?”

It doesn’t get much clearer than that. I know right away who’s being addressed, the message is loud and clear and there’s no subterfuge.

Ya gotta love kids!

“Swordfish!” – Expectations, Critics and Movies

Posted by LisaYoung in videos |

My friend, Mark, has a daily humor blog and email post, and at the bottom of his credits, he usually has some sort of clever “ism” that goes unnoticed by the majority of the public – after all, it’s in the credits.

Well this morning, his ism was “SWORDFISH” and I didn’t get it, so I emailed him back.

He told me to go watch “Get Smart” – and then it made perfect sense to me, as I hope it now does to you.

We conversed a bit about the film, and he had this to say:

“despite what *all* the critics said, it was a 90-minute laugh-a-scene hoot! I haven’t laughed so hard at a movie in years. Bonnie could hardly catch her breath at times!!

Which put me in mind of this almost blog-worthy thought:
Why are critics’ opinions often so different than my own experience? Then I realized that a critic goes into a movie theatre and says, ‘entertain me.’ It’s almost a dare. I go into a movie theatre and say, ‘I want to be entertained.’ It’s my fondest hope.

So it’s the expectation level that makes all the difference. I’m expecting good things, the critic challenges everything he/she sees.

I bet that happens in church on Sunday morning a lot, too.

It was so deeply profound, and yet so simple. I HAD to share it with you.

From a marketing perspective, many times our critics (or we as critics) will challenge everything and expect nothing. Very often we get just that – nothing – in return. We feel deflated, disappointed, and our perspective is one that’s just plain poopy.

But when we modify our outlook, change our mindset, and expect greatness – in whatever we are pursuing – very often we are pleasantly surprised, or at least pleased with the outcome.

Does that mean we lowered our standards? Not necessarily. It means we held a different kind of expectation.

What about YOUR expectations? What about YOUR perspective and mindset? Are you looking at your business, shaking your head as you meet all your negative expectations? Or are you setting your business into motion each day with the “fondest hope” of a positive outcome?

Do you dare yourself to succeed, or are you pushing forward with the expectant end result in mind – regardless of the swordfish in your way?