The Secret to Selling: What Great Leaders Know

Why do some companies outperform others? Why do some people achieve things others do not? Why do some leaders inspire, while others don’t?
 
In this Ted Talk, Simon Sinek asserts that all great leaders think, act and communicate differently than others. They stay focused on the question of “Why?”—which engages humans at a deeper level than facts alone.
 
Sinek says that people will buy what you sell if they believe what you believe. As he said, Martin Luther King gave a “I have a dream” speech, rather than “I have a plan” speech. In marketing, this means talking more about why we do what we do than about what we do.  
 
What’s the why behind your business? And how might that inspire others to buy what you have to sell?

A One-Minute Lesson in Creativity from Steven Jobs

Sometimes the best ideas don’t come from within one’s own industry, but from outside of it. Some of the grandest human ideas have been expressed in art, architecture and music—and these still serve as sources of inspiration for us even centuries after their creation.  
 
Giving oneself the time to take in life outside of our limited vantage point may lead us down more creative paths. Steve Jobs knew this, and summed it up well:
 
"Ultimately creativity comes down to … trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then trying to bring those things in to what you're doing.... I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”
 
Why not take a moment today to expose yourself to ideas outside of your industry, and see what happens?

Four Ways to Improve Your Customers' Experience (And Be Happier)

In this business, we pay attention to image because image matters. We also pay attention to substance, because without substance, image makeovers won't matter. So when it comes to retaining customers, paying attention to every interaction a customer has with your brand is imperative. But as professionals, our job is also to create the narrative that inspires your organization to thinking about customers in a way that builds strong alliances.
 
No, you can’t do this alone. But don’t underestimate the power of our words and the images to  inspire a perspective that improves the customer experience—and ultimately sales. Here are four ways you can do that:

1. Engage, don’t perform. Help your organization decide in its collective heads and hearts that they really are interested in helping your customers achieve their goals. Tell the stories of happy customers. Make them compelling, real and personal. (This, by the way, is also a very happy way to live.)
2. Deliver compulsively on your promises. This is where the executors separate themselves from the going-out-of-business businesses. Build an ethos that talks about how that looks. Help the team see how quickly they can rise above their competitors by returning calls, following up on promises, making notes, reviewing notes, delivering actions.
3. Help orient your team to the long-term. It is not only immensely more pleasant to have mutually satisfying long-term relationships than making an extra buck—it also allows yourself to truly invest in, and therefore become an expert, on what your customer needs.
4. Put yourself in their shoes. Be the voice in your organization that inspires your  team to treat people the way you’d like to be treated. Showcase examples, tell stories.

The facts are, anything you needed to learn about selling your mother has probably already told you. Share. Care. Listen. Be polite. Keep your promises. As professionals, we can help nudge our organizations in this direction by modeling this behavior and by shaping our company’s narrative.
 
As Geoffrey James so wisely said in his Inc. article. “The secret to customer loyalty lies in putting the interests of the customer ahead of your own. It’s really that simple.”

15 Year Anniversary: A Time to Be Thankful

Celebrating a milestone like our 15^th year in business immediately brings to mind the clients whom we have been fortunate to serve over the years. Many of them have been with us since our earliest days, and have helped our business grow primarily by word of mouth.

The creative work we produce with them is a direct result of how they manage, inspire and work with our creative team. Today we want to say thank you to those of you who have trusted us with your company’s image—and sent us other clients because of your referrals. 

Need inspiration? Step into your right brain.

Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, suffered a stroke in the left side of her brain and learned what it really means to be a right-brained thinker. She's spent the last eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk, and has now become a major advocate for stroke recovery.

 

From her experiences she hopes she can inspire others to think differently about thinking. "Right here, right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere... [where] I am the the life-force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form, at one with all that is. Or, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere where I become a single individual, a solid. Separate from the flow, separate from you."

Innovation comes from right-brain thinking. So when lacking inspiration, try stepping out of the structured left-hemisphere of your brain and into the creativity of the right. Selfgrowth.com lists several ways you can tap into the power of right-brain thinking:

• Use your non-dominant hand. If you are right-handed, trying using your left hand for common activities such as brushing your teeth or combing your hair. 
• Try some brain boosting body moves. Certain body moves are known to balance the brain, such as juggling, walking while swinging opposite arms and legs, and marching on the spot all help to get the left and right side of the brain working together.
• Do some creative planning. Doodle rather than writing word lists or linear notes. You can daydream, scribble and sketch your way through a problem-solving session and find yourself stress-free and resourceful when you emerge from the other side.

Regardless of what your natural brain lead is, you can develop both sides.

Reputation or character?

Legendary UCLA Coach Wooden understood how to inspire success in others. His focus on character was foundational to his leadership. As he put it, character is what you are, and reputation is what you are perceived to be. This is true not only of people, but of companies. Although our work as communicators is about building reputation, it is always in adjunct to the organization’s work to be a company of character.

Wooden also believed that how we make the journey is more important than our final destination, and redefines winning by how we conduct ourselves along the way. “You can outscore another team and lose, and you can be outscored by another team and win,” he says in this inspirational interview.

You Can Be Indispensible

Ever notice how easy it is for all of us to see all that is wrong with the world? Anyone can point out problems, but it's the one who brings solutions to their organizations that stands out.

 

You will be surprised how quickly you can distinguish yourself by observing this one simple rule. By seeing and addressing the strategic issues that impact the success and future of the organization, you can establish yourself as a visionary, a leader and a valuable member of the team.

 

More often than not this requires more persistence and positive attitude than it does brilliance. As Albert Einstein once said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

Execution Trumps Brilliant Idea

Being brilliant can be an asset, but knowing how to execute a strategy—that's what will make you a rising star in an organization. Many strategies fail in the execution stage—even though the original idea was a winner. That's because big ideas are much easier to come by than the long, hard haul of building a service or product.

If that weren't the case, there'd be myriad knock-offs for every business success. Who can't walk into a McDonalds and observe their big ideas in action? Yet few are able to replicate this operationally.

Pay attention to the people in your organization who know how to execute an idea successfully, and see what they have to teach you.

Faster, Farther, Bigger

A week's worth of information found in the New York Times is believed to be more than what a person obtained in his/her entire lifetime in the 18th century. Our ability to send information globally at unprecedented speeds creates a world of opportunities—and challenges. This insightful video highlights the research done by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman on the explosion of connectivity, which has implications for how marketers and communicators do their work.

Are you solving problems your boss or customers care about?

The workplace is filled with people who are brilliant, capable and talented—but who never achieve the success commensurate with their career achievements.

It is possible to provide superior work, and still fail in the workplace. Often, this is because one has failed to find solutions to the problems his boss or customers see as most significant.

Want to set yourself apart from the rest? Figure out the biggest challenges your boss or customers have, then recommend and implement solutions to them. You will likely find that a problem solver will rise in both responsibility and esteem.