Thanks to Flickr user ~ggvic~ for the photo.

You stare down the cover of an exercise book, determined to make good on that New Years resolution, five months late or not. The woman on the front clearly eats nothing but flaxseed and grapefruits and must lift weights 6 days a week.

The question to wonder right at this moment is: is she fit because she’s a workout instructor? Or did she decide that was her career of choice because she was fit, in the first place? Or does it have nothing to do with either? Perhaps steroids are her drug of choice.

These same questions (well, not necessarily the same ones) should be considered when it comes to media spend and sales revenue, according to the Senior Vice President of Organic, Steve Kerho. We can thank Organic for the online banner ad, the first mobile ad and the first Youtube channel (according to Wikipedia, at least).

Steve explains that it can be difficult to discern whether your media spend is really affecting the revenue, so he suggests taking a look at the method called Granger Casuality (developed by Nobel Prize winning economist Clive Granger). Here is a list of possible connections between media spend and sales, as illustrated by this G-Causalty:

1. Media spend caused sales: This is what you’d be hoping to hear. To test this, you would observe what happens when, over a period of time, media is given a bigger budget (you can also look back over past budget and revenue reports).

1. Sales caused media spend: In this case, adding to media spend would show no increase in sales. However, when sales increase, there would be an increase in media spend. Steve explains that, “[t]his would indicate that media budgets are driven by prior sales levels.”

1. An unknown third factor caused sales to occur: This is when there’s no increase in either one of the previous tests. Time to search for variables.

1. Media and sales give each other “positive feedback”:  This is the case when both test 1 and 2 show an increase. It’s like the snake that eats it’s tail (which, if you weren’t already aware, is called an ouroboros,).

1. Last month’s sales were a coincidence: Sometimes the world just doesn’t make sense, yo.

Whether you care or not to figure out if that exercise lady is on the ‘roids or not, is your decision. But, I think taking a bit of time to closely scrutinize if the money you pour into sales and marketing is coming to fruition, is a fabulous idea.

My source and where to find more details on G-Casuality: Untangling The Complex Relationship Between Media Spend And Sales

Thank you to Flickr user NickPiggot for the photo.

“So, I’m driving in a parking lot, when I see a plastic bag fall out of the car in front of me. It tumbles over the ground for a couple seconds. Then, all of the sudden, it gets up and walks back to the car,” my friend explains. He talks over the coffee shop chatter to our group, “It turns out it wasn’t a plastic bag at all. It was a little girl.”

In my mind there is a thick catalogue filled and filed with stories from friends. Storytelling is emotionally engaging and is touted to be super effective in both sales and marketing. That’s great to hear, but scientific evidence would be even better

Enter Peter Guber and his book Tell to Win. He finds that through stories our beliefs (attitudes, fears, hopes and values) can be influenced more effectively than a strong, logical argument. This is bad news for the mainstream website, proposal, or powerpoint.

“Entering fictional worlds ‘radically alters the way information is processed’” according to psychologists Melanie Green and Tim Brock. They found that the more absorbed a reader is, the less likely they are to notice mistakes in the story.

A well crafted story is can be a fun way to learn (or tell) about something new or it can essentially be a trojan horse. It can deliver false information without the consumer catching on. Guber, the author, makes note of this, but highlights the positive uses of the story.

Incorporating plot, prose or narrative into your upcoming presentation, discussion or what have you, can be incredibly effective and engaging. This allows you to make that all important personal connection with the customer and just about anyone around you (including your friends in the coffee shop).

Source: Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Weapon

Thank you to Flickr user Patrick Hoesly for the picture.

“If usefulness is your first principle, you’re less inclined to get lost in your own jargon or legacy.” This comes from Mary Ellen Muckerman, who has just about 20 years of experience with Fortune 100 companies and big advertising agencies. She deals out two pieces of advice that maximize usefulness and through that, your ability to connect personally with the customer: evolve directly through feedback and evolve indirectly through observation.

Evolving directly through feedback would look a bit like Walgreens. They realized that they were no longer the leading drugstore, and decided that that needed fixing. So they built prototypes of the pharmacy and lead their customers through them on tours. The customers shared their fears and hopes about their personal health and from that Walgreens was able to receive upfront feedback. Then, they set out to redevelop their storefront. They’re now geared towards the smaller, daily elements of good health, and have brought the pharmacists out from behind the counters to really connect with the people. They took in the feedback, and directly responded to it. However, this is not the only approach.

That’s because, as Steve Jobs famously touted, the customer is not always right. Because they aren’t 100% certain about what they want, Muckerman suggests that observation can do the trick, since direct feedback doesn’t cut it in this situation. If you want to truly respond to your clientele, look at what they are doing and figure out how to harness that in order to become even more useful to them. A great example would be M-Pesa. They realized that a huge amount of Kenyans were using the pay-as-you-go mobile phone cards as currency. Then, they used this observation as a sort of indirect feedback, and responded with a service that allows them to do transactions straight from their cell phones. As it turns out, 66% of Kenyans have used it at least once.

Instead of focusing so much energy on beating out the competition, Muckerman presents an alternative, which is really taking the customer into account when building user experience. She says it sounds common sense, but oddly enough customer usefulness is rarely at the heart of product, service and company design.

Source: User Experience Is The Heart Of Any Company. How Do You Make It Top Priority?

Thanks to Flickr User Thomas Hawk for the photo.

There’s this guy named Chas who will hook you up with ten-thousand dollars if you hook him up with his future wife. I’m not joking; check out his personal dating site. Is this the modern solution to the search for love? Doubtful. But it is a booming marketing technique right now. I introduce to you crowdsourcing.

To crowdsource is to take a task that is typically carried out by employees and to put it in the hands of the public. Like outsourcing, but with crowds (duh). It might be a new term, but I’m sure you’ve seen examples of it. Remember those commercials they used to play on T.V. asking for the viewers to come up with their own jingle? That’s a classic crowdsourcing move.

Did you ever call in? Because, I sure as heck didn’t. This brings us to a poignant fact. Although crowdsourcing is popular, the truth is it won’t reach everyone and it isn’t a inherently successful technique. It, like anything else, must be carried out with skill and care. So, let me fill you in on the different types of crowdsourcing and keep in mind that whatever you use needs to connect to your audience.

Crowd-contests: Crowd-contests abound on Facebook, Twitter and just about every other corner of the interwebs. Some companies have even based their entire structure on these contests. Threadless is  popular online t-shirt vendor, that sells tees sporting images of anything from gangster Abraham Lincolns to artsy prints of a tiger hugging a woman. All of their designs are created by the public and each week about 1,000 are submitted. Those who’s designs come out on top in the crowd-voting (my next point) get the paper money, thus motivation.

Crowd-voting: In its most essential form, this is a survey. But, done creatively, this could be the second step of Threadless’s selection process. They ask their customers to vote on the t’s they’d most like to sport and then the staff checks out the top scoring picks to decide which ten will be on their way to the printing press.

Crowd-funding: A perfect, popular example of this would be the company called Kickstarter. They are a platform that allows the public to fund any sort of project they’d like to see carried out. These projects range from the wildly popular watches that raised one million dollars in just 28 hours to smaller art endeavours. People pledge money to help kickstart the artists because with each monetary promise, the backer gets a specific piece of the project. So, you help to kickstart a theatre performance? Thanks, here’s a signed poster from the crew and a tax-deduction.

By knowing your customers and tailoring a contest, vote or creative fund, you can get in touch with them on a much more personal, interactive level. As our friend from hookchasup.com might say, there is strength in numbers. And there are numbers in crowdsourcing.

Thanks to Flickr user purplemattfish for the photo

What if it turned out that the way we traditionally view intelligence is not the best way to reach our end goals. Perhaps not even an inconvenient route, but one that might just get us lost when it comes to both business and life? Our fear of making a mistake and taking a fall, might just be making it harder for us to succeed.

This is where mindset research comes in. There are two important mindsets to be aware of when it comes to intelligence: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Stanford psychology professor, Carol Dweck defines people with fixed mindsets as:

• believing that their intelligence will not change throughout their life
• being concerned with tasks that will prove their intelligence and avoiding those that make them look less successful
• Additionally, they are more likely to hide their mistakes, to fear effort, and to give up when the going gets tough

On the other hand, Dweck describes the person with a growth mindset as:

• believing that their intelligence can change with experience and effort
• being concerned with tasks that will develop their intelligence and are willing to risk making mistakes
• Additionally, they are more apt to learn from their mistakes, to view effort as a something good, and persevere

How to Find Growth Mindset

It’s pretty clear which type of mindset would give your company the best results. But how do we hire people with that type of energy? Dweck suggests that it’s natural and healthy to praise talent, but make sure that effort gets some of that spotlight, too.

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

And these people who push, stretch and confront are the ones that you want on your team. Hiring the top of the class does not always guarantee success. When people are told that they are the cream of the crop, suddenly a fear creeps up inside of them: “What if I don’t shine as bright today, as I did yesterday?” So they box themselves in and avoid the risky, innovative projects, instead taking the safe, easy ones.

Dweck does not suggest that you do away with any respect for talent, but rather take a page from the senior vice president of Apple, Scott Forstall’s book. When looking to hire some highly gifted folks for a special project, he told them during the interview that they would have the opportunity “to make mistakes and struggle, but eventually we may do something that we’ll remember the rest of our lives.” He only took on those who immediately jumped at the idea, because they were the growth mindset guys, not the ones who just wanted to be “king of their particular hill,” as Dweck puts it.

How to Foster Growth Mindset

What if you aren’t in the position to hire? The good and the bad news is that Dweck found that while some people tend to lean more towards one mindset or another naturally, it is also possible to teach them. This is why she says that it’s a good idea to take a close look at the way we dole out and receive awards and to analyze exactly which mindset it is that we are fostering in the workplace.

Giving someone a pat on the back for a job well done is not always the best idea. Instead she suggests that, as a leader, you identify a point of interest to praise and always emphasize effort over talent. “I can see that you’ve been working pretty hard on making your presentations more aesthetically appealing. I can totally see the results.” is much more effective than simply saying  “Nice job on the presentations.” The first may take a little more time, attention and mindfulness to come up with, but the second may just as well be leading someone in the wrong direction.

When working on your own personal mindset, remember to take praise and criticism with a grain of salt. “Last month’s budget was a mess.” is not the end of the world. And “Last months budget looked b-e-a-utiful.” is not the end of your growth. If you are working hard to try on alternative routes and find the best way to your destination then mistakes will come and go on your journey. Learn from them, adjust your bearing, and then get back on your path.

Sources:
New study yields instructive results on how mindset affects learning

If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow

The Perils and Promises of Praise

“But experiments rarely tell us what we think they’re going to tell us,” Dunbar reveals. “That’s the dirty secret of science.”

More like the dirty secret of life. Failure is inevitable. In business, as in science, we will create expectations (The projected revenue should look like ___ in May or the experiment will yield 1 mole of Co2) and every now and then reality will rock these predictions. Dunbar found that our first inclination is to think, “Oh, I’ve done something wrong and I won’t do that again,” and then try something else. Throw away the unexpected data/result and move on with life.

The amount of unexpected results that are tossed at us every day make it impossible to analyze each one, but Dunbar argues that throwing them all away is a mistake. What was really going on was that “[t]he scientists had discovered a new fact, but they called it a failure.”

Dumbar also found that teams of scientists that were more diverse, or communicated more with non-experts in the field were better able to view these failures with a critical eye and create efficient, effective solutions.

“This is why other people are so helpful: They shock us out of our cognitive box. “I saw this happen all the time,’ Dunbar says. ‘A scientist would be trying to describe their approach, and they’d be getting a little defensive, and then they’d get this quizzical look on their face. It was like they’d finally understood what was important.’

If you want to increase your success, take a look at your failure and discuss it with like-minded folks, people who have no idea what you’re talking about AND a diverse team.

A screenshot from the article "Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up"

1. Check Your Assumptions: Another cold call failed? What assumption of yours does this contradict? That the potential customer was in the market? Maybe you are cold-calling the wrong people. Perhaps you think that your telephone skills are up to par. Are they really?

2. Seek out the Ignorant: Bounce your failure off of a family member who isn’t involved in business. “How would you have felt if you got this call and I said this to you?” They might have a valuable outsiders opinion.

3. Encourage Diversity: Seek out experts in other areas to discuss this with. Maybe that one guy in the IT department has something to say about this. During the next meeting, don’t hesitate to bring up your problem and let a couple colleagues take a shot at it.

4. Beware of Failure Blindness: Simply be mindful of the fact that we are apt to sweep little failures under the rug, or attribute them to this or that. But those who are truly striving for excellence will take a little time to analyze their mistakes with a critical, diverse eye.

(Disclaimer: This does not mean stressing about them and attacking other people around you by constantly mentioning them. We would all appreciate it if you did NOT do that. Please and thank you.)

When an inbound marketing campaign is properly managed it relies on detailed analytics to tell the marketers exactly what is working and what is not.  They harness the power of rich media and video to connect with their audience and engage.  They run A B testing utilizing the analytics to see what landing pages perform better and generate or convert more leads.

How do you earn a MBA in thirty seconds? Is it by watching FastCompany‘s Thrity Second MBAs? I’m going to be honest with you: no. We are all friends here, right? This is not how you earn a MBA in thirty seconds. Actually, if we’re going to be completely frank, it isn’t even possible to earn a MBA in under a minute. But you didn’t hear that from me.

Nevertheless, these guys do have a pretty cool idea going on. They have a collection of “professors”, AKA various founders, supervisors, and CEOs of well-to-do businesses. The professors are posed a handful of questions that range from “How do you resolve conflicts” to “How do you give negative feedback to a colleague?” and answer these questions in easy to watch, 30 second videos.

There are dozens upon dozens of these little video blurbs, but one of my personal favorites is the “How do you handle mistakes?” series. Christopher Lukezic, Director Of International Communications of Airbnb (a company that provides an alternative to hotels for frugal travelers) gives some profound advice:

“You are never freed from making mistakes, but you are held accountable for how you respond to them.”

The advice of Ryan Boyles, Worldwide Social Media Strategist of IBM Software is exceptionally practical. He, predictably, focuses on social media, but I feel like this idea is pertinent in every realm:

“I believe the best way to address making mistakes [...] is really no different than in real life: you need to own that mistake [...] So the speed in which you respond, even if it’s just admitting the mistake, is key.”

Finally, I leave you with the motherly advice of Dr. Elizabeth  Mellon, Executive Director of Duke Corporate Education. Failure is just an opportunity to learn, in her opinion, and she underscores everyone’s ability to bounce back. Her advice, in the face of failure is to:

“sit down with some colleagues, dissect what happened, [and] help them and you avoid making the mistake again. The bottom line is, if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not trying hard enough.”

Thanks to Flickr user Viajar24h.com for this picture.

Today, while chilling out in the room of an urgent care center, I was able to witness the importance of customer updates first hand. After getting my blood drawn, I waited on that crinkly, white bed for a good 10-15 minutes, before the nurse came in to tell me that the testing would take about 45 more minutes and that I could either wait for the results, or go home. He says that he’s going to ask the doctor what he wants me to do and will be back with the answer in a minute or two. 45 minutes later he walks in, apologizes for not telling me sooner and tells me the doctor wanted me to wait.

It’s all fine and dandy that he wanted me to wait, but it would have been nice to know that 45 minutes ago, when he said he was going to tell me. My trust in him took a nose-dive after that.

Whether the time it takes to provide your product of service takes only seconds or takes months, become mindful of it. Having an accurate perception of your timeline allows you to provide true to life promises to your clients.  The nurse had this down pat, but it was the next part that he failed at: updating.

Unexpected setbacks can occasionally pop up and wreak havoc on deadlines. The best thing you can do in these situations, in addition to working your butt off to keep things on schedule, is to communicate with your customer. It is better to inform them as soon as possible, to adjust their expectations, than to let them find out later. when you don’t deliver on time, and completely shatter their expectations. Even if the nurse had come in to tell me that he had forgotten, half way through the waiting period, I would have been happy to know he didn’t completely blow me off. But instead, he made no attempt to right his wrong, and waited until the last minute to let me know.

It’s also good to remember that updates aren’t reserved just for bad news; it is completely okay, and desirable, to let a customer know that things are on track to happen when expected. A simple, “I’m still on schedule to finish by the end of the month,” will suffice. Doing this maintains the customer-provider relationship and can even create a dialogue. Perhaps the client has something they want to discuss and they didn’t know when to bring it up. Maybe they just want to mention something they really like about your business. Any chance for conversation should be welcomed with open arms, especially if it helps to keep expectations on track.

And, Mr. Nurse, if you’re reading this, you were fabulously friendly and I completely appreciated that, but you really must work on your notification skills.

Source: Want to be successful? Learn to manage expectations.

This picture sure is /promising/. Thank you, Flickr user kennysarmy.

It may sound great in the moment, and you may really believe you can do it then, but making big promises under pressure can result in breaking them when under more pressure.

Promising less often sounds like you must necessarily deliver less, like it will hold back growth, improvement and possibly a business deal. But in reality it is always possible, and even desirable, to bring more positive to the table than originally agreed upon.

It’s the bringing less that you really have to worry about.

The key to this is to truly think BEFORE you speak. And AFTER you’ve thought, have the courage to to speak up. Easier said than done. But anytime you are about to make some sort of agreement with the client, take a moment to think it over. Is this something I’ve been able to do effectively and completely in the past? What happens if I can’t deliver on this? Then be brave enough to say no, ask for more (time, money, resources) or to modify requests (as professionally and gracefully as possible).

The pressure, excitement and anxiety of business decisions can make it hard to say “No, two weeks will be needed to complete that, not just one.” But isn’t that better than saying, “No, it isn’t ready yet. Can you wait one more week?”

Inspiration: “Want to be Successful? Learn to Manage Expectations”