What your Grandma Never told you about Relationship Management

Grandma always said; mind your own business, do not gossip, respect your elders, keep your mouth shut, choose your friends wisely. Perhaps that works on the playground, but not in a social business world.

CRM says:

• Everyone is your friend and their business is your business
• Gossip is a note that you need to highlight in RED, and share discretely with your team members! 
• Respect your elders and all the other relationships you encounter by connecting with them on their terms, the way they prefer
• Open your mouth and log what you say ~ make sure what you are saying is relevant to your listener and benefits your goals for them
• Choose your friends wisely and tag the rest of your contacts as vendors, prospects, alliances, or otherwise needed to remind you that not all relationships have the same value, but all relationships have value.

CRM says not to:

• Clique, classify, or corner yourself into a reputation that you don't want to represent you. By handling all appropriate relationships in a strategic way you have more control over your customer experience.
• Be your own data aggregation tool! That will be an epic Fail! Trust a technology sweet that will give you some integration and streamlined analysis
• Work with someone without properly understanding the relationship. If you have no way to monitor or reference your history with a person, than how can you expect to classify them as a good partner! 

You can't live without Grandma or CRM, they both have their places in your life. But you spend more than 8 hours a day developing your business value, shouldn't you trust that to someone more relevant! Sorry Grandma! New Media Wins this one!

5 Reasons CRM Projects Fail...

Taking a look at the whole story...

I was sitting in the office of a new prospect just the other day, and the inglorious topic of software blunders came up as a topic of conversation. This particular professional was carrying on about how they have found most software they have implemented in the past to be a real headache for users: filled with bugs, not user friendly, and poorly designed. When I looked around their office, I took note of many clues as to why this person felt this way. It led me to write this post. Here are the five most evident reasons software fails:

1. NO Implementation Strategy ~ This is not just the Why, but the How, and the What. They need to be clearly defined to measure not only the proportion of need for this software, but the methods to how it will solve problems, meet needs, achieve goals, and fix something that is broken. Many time I find that clients who sign on for new technology without strategy, haven't properly assessed the situation as a whole. They sign on to fix one thing, and create a slew of other concerns in the aftermath. There has to be a good strategy behind any successful implementation.

2. NO Desire to Change ~ Let's face it, any new addition to your already comfortable system is change. Change that is not embraced corporately will create a bigger problem for any company. Data is our most precious commodity, and it needs to be preserved and protected. Companies that resist change are usually not good candidates for successful implementation unless they change their thinking.

3. NO Proper Investigation ~ You can't be an expert at understanding the ins and outs of technology and business process unless that is what you do... for a living. Working with experts can help you find and address the right questions, give you all the options, and help you understand thoroughly the pros, cons, benefits, and differences. This is desirable in order to make a solution last, and not have to revisit the existing issues that were not solved or that were newly created over and over.

4. NO Appropriate Training ~ I tell my clients that training, and not just software training, but process training is 95% of a CRM solution. I have gotten to a point where I will refuse to perform an implementation without commitment to train in most corporate environments. The reason should be so obvious. People who are busy don't have time to teach themselves a new software and a new process. They need the method predetermined for them. This is not only fair, but it is necessary. You cannot expect a person to develop a system for use and a application on their own, and yet so many companies do this to their employees. This can cause anxiety about implementing any of the right software tools because of the wrong software experience.

5. NO User Feedback and Follow-up ~ This is critical to pass or fail. Like most technology, once you get your users on board, they become your biggest evangelist. Once the see the vision, tackle the mission, and embrace the tools, they drive your productivity sky high! This is what we want. This is what we like as Software Experts! We want to see the user commit. You have to engage the user to get them to marry the strategy. They have to be able to work, refute, develop, and rework the technology to best fit their roles and needs. They are as diverse as there are options! This is why feedback and communication can seal your deal. If you want a technology solution that delivers, include the users in its development and redevelopment. You won't be sorry.

Think of your technology as not the solution, but the method to your philosophy. Get a really good expert to help you define it in ways that can be interpreted through sophisticated software tools. As you do this, you will realize that your technology has endless possibilities and immense value to you, because of your timeless and developed philosophies underlying it. Then and only then will almost any software solution you implement will be a success.

Marketing Lessons from the Polar Express

I love looking at this face. I dream about it. I meditate on it. It is by far one of the richest parts of being his mother. It occurred to me that there is a magic in this Holiday Season I had never experienced before. It is a small window in time unique to me, unique to him. It is a window especially designed for us, for our life and our memories. It will expire before long, but it will never leave us. It is ours to treasure. It is ours to embrace.

This window in time reminded me of three valuable things to try to capture in my message. The message of life, and the message of work. This message is the expression of your heart. The expression of meaning that penetrates another, that locks them in and focuses them on what’s really important. Three lessons I discovered in The Polar Express by way of the face of my child are as follows:

1. Believe in the magic. Imagination and creativity are forces for good in the world. We can use them to create an experience that will transcend time both in our lives and in our hearts, and expressly in the hearts of others.

2. Engage with the message. Create a message that compels others to encounter, embrace, and engage with awe, excitement, and anticipation. There is something so powerful about the feeling that underlines truth that you cannot help yourself but to desire it over and over again. No matter how many times we watch this magic, it is more and more magical every time. Over time, it becomes fixed in our minds and our hearts, a very poignant part of who we are in the greater story of our life and message.

3. Lead with purity, integrity, and courage. Take risks for another. Be vulnerable, be honest. Take a moment to listen to stories. Take a moment to wear their message on your heart. Let your message become a message that identifies with others. Let that message create your value. Let that message become your worth.

During the year, we have little time to reflect on how well or how limited our impact is and was. Take a moment this season to watch, reflect, listen, and dwell. Those things are the medicine for the soul. Infuse a penetrated soul in all you do, and create for yourself a magical experience that never ends. Look closely at that captivated face. You aren’t the only one watching.

Happy Holidays,

-GoldCoastLady

Personal is Business, and Business is Personal

You cannot be or conduct your best without taking personal ownership of the craftsmanship...

Very recently, I came across this story about a man that lived his whole like being so diligent with his work that it became him.  He was respected for his quality, commitment, and results.  One day when he reached the point where he was tired and ready to quit, his boss came to him and asked him to do one more job.  Because he was weary and exhausted, and ready to be finished, he cut corners and delivered a substandard result.  His boss then handed over the finished work to him as a personal gift in thankfulness for all the work he had done in all the years he had worked for him.

I think about the various careers we pursue, whether they be in the home or out of the home, having a distinct and important purpose gives each of us worth.  A homemaker does that for a living, but understands also that the job of maintaining a home and raising a child is very important and personal. Maybe they understand something that we all take for granted.  Maybe we would do well to learn from them the value of loving what you do, and doing what you love.  

When I read this story I was immediately moved. This is not just a story about doing work, it's a story about being a work of great worth. It's about being fully committed to the ethical nature of putting your best foot forward, being fully engaged, and doing your best always, even when we are weary and exhausted. If this isn't personal, than nothing is personal.  The truth is, everything is personal... and we should be proud of that...

Read this story

http://betterlifecoachingblog.com/2011/09/23/the-retiring-carpenter-a-story-about-the-life-we-build-for-ourselves-2/

5 Tools for Posting on Social Networks

When I first began the great big dive into Social Media, I was scared to dealth... Literally shivering in my shoes... It can be very overwhelming tweeting, posting, retweeting, favoriting, direct messaging, and so on and so forth. As I began to get more adventurous and brave, I discovered some great tools to better manage my time and help me be the most effective.  I have listed the ones I use below. Each of the tools I use helps me solve a certain struggle I had with new media marketing. I hope you can find these solutions helpful in your efforts as well!

1. Content Aggregation:  When you begin any marketing strategy, it is paramount that you begin with a content blueprint.  This is an outline of what you are posting when, where, and why. It is important to really listen to your audience, and study your industry to filter through only the best stuff to pass along to your audience.  My two favorite tools for this are

Google Alerts and Feedly. Use them everyday and they make researching my content an absolute breeze!

2. Time Management: We all start this social media thing doing the same thing over and over again. We spend hours on end trying to figure out how to listen and share, share and listen. Before long we are speaking in hashtags and dm's. This is where Bundlepost has proven to be invaluable!  I can spend half the time scheduling posts after my content is gathered, and more time listening.  I would much rather listen than speak, that's just who I am!

3. Frequency of Posts: Hootsuite is an absolute must have in the social media arena.  I never knew how awesome scheduling my posts could feel until I realized how normal my life looked after Hootsuite!  Using Hootsuite in conjunction with Bundlepost is a breeze and a true answer to Social Media overload!

4. Analytics: While Hootsuite does a terrific job with analytics, I truly enjoy SproutSocial for my account analysis. The presentation is seamless, simple to read and interpret, and just the most comfortable Social Media Portal I have experienced.

5. Twitter Conversations: TweetDeck is my go to desktop application for twitter conversations. The real live feed and alerts makes following and engaging in any discussion and event simplified and profitable.

And what would be a good social media strategy without a CRM component!  NOTHING! That's why I use NimbeCRM which has a direct integration with Hootsuite! This way I can easily qualify my social leads by importing them into my CRM for more analysis, opportunity tracking, and historical reference across all my platforms, including email!

Without a strategy and a well thought out plan, these tools are not fully utilized and effective. You can waste time and effort figuring out just what to do next with what platform. STOP!  Get some help from an expert.  They can lead you the right way and save you more time for your business. They can even manage your strategy for you!  Don't dive in without your life vest!  Be a smart marketer and invest in the right gear to keep your boat afloat and get you where you intend to go!  You can do it!  Don't wait!

Why Having an Expert Makes the Difference

 

Recently, a new client called me into their business to clean-up remnants of a database implementation gone wrong.  I might mention that they shopped me first, determined I cost to much, and hired a general IT firm.  Now, I am not saying anything negative about IT firms, I need them as much as they need me in a perfect network LAN setup situation, but what I am saying is: Don’t let a general doctor perform your heart surgery! That’s just asking for trouble!

After peeking into the situation, and seeing all 30+ databases that were created during the troubleshooting process, it reminded me of why I specialize in particular areas of expertise.  Here are three things that I need to remind my clients and prospects of when price is a factor:

1. What I can do in 3 hours as a product expert, others probably will have to multiply by 5. In the end, how much money did you save?  Not only did you spend your time, but they spent theirs trying to solve problems they didn’t really have a complete and total understanding, grasp, and full scenario of possibilities.  A product expert that knows the ins and outs of the product will be able to leverage different aspects of the software that most other professionals miss, or fail to completely develop thesis on.  Sometimes their solutions create the need for other solutions. Sometimes their solutions create other problems to be solved as well.

2. What happens when they cannot fix a problem is: You are paying for me anyway.  That has to really hurt.  When you shop someone, go with the lowest price, and then you have to pay the firm you hired for their time, and the person you could have hired from the beginning to fix the mess.  Can you imagine all the time and money saved had you just done what needed to be done in the first place. Moral is: Go with Experience! It is the only truth that can be trusted.

3. Trust your IT firm to provide you references for professionals/experts they have worked with. Your IT firm is your trusted advisor, your intermediary.  A good IT firm will refer you to who you can work with when they realize and understand the extent of their own expertise.  They will steer you in the right direction and save you money by bringing in partners or experts in what you are trying to do.  If they don’t, find a new firm.  You are no one’s Guinea pig. Don’t allow yourself to be treated that way.

Having and expert makes a difference because it saves you time, energy, and money.  They all combined equate to success…

To Drip or Not to Drip... That is the Question

In my previous post about the power of perpetual touch we talked about what is a drip marketing technique and why it is an important part of cultivating relationships for business.  To expand on the idea that perpetual touch is important, I wanted to cultivate and explain the difference between a good drip, and a bad drip.  As I explained in that article, it is not enough to simply touch someone, they have to desire your attention.  So what are some good ways to drip, and some not so good methods you ask? Here are my top five:

Top 5 good drip marketing tips:

1. Always ask them first!  This is especially important with email marketing, and does not relate as much to Social Media touching and direct mail!  Permission is key, email is private and personal to many of your recipients. The very first bad way to ruin your impression is to send them something they don't want!
2. Be authentic! If you think about business all the time, it is OK to post about business, however, you will tire your audience! They want to know that you are well rounded! Keep your posts centered around who you are. Get a little personal by sharing your values and your humor! They will connect with it.
3. Show up for every meal you are invited to! If you know what they want and need, give it to them and show up on time. There is nothing worst than getting someone to give you access to their trust, and under delivering what they expect you to know and offer them. 
4. Send cards! People love them and they go a long way, especially if they are hand written!
5. Be spontaneous!  As much as you can try to stick with a blueprint of how you want to touch your audience based on information you have gathered about them, but don't hold tight and fast to this.  Spontaneous and unprompted reach can be very compelling. Follow your promptings! If you think of them, send them a note!  This always translates into a language they receive!

Top 5 bad drip marketing tips:

1. Don't: Send them everything you got! If they don't care about this service, product, or event, don't bully them with information about it.
2. Don't: Forget their interests, important occasions, and technical aptitude! If they give you a birthday, remember it! If they don't tweet, don't invite them to connect on twitter! If they want to learn about email marketing, don't teach them about widgets!  You know longer look like a person who wants to help, but like a person who wants to sell!
3. Don't: Send them a letter you send to everyone else. Be careful of form letters! They look very impersonal and usually get trashed.
4. Don't: Show up for every meal! Don't overstate & over saturate them with your presence! People like seeing you, but if they see you too much, they will certainly get bored with your content. Listen better than you talk. You will be received much better.
5. Don't: Get too personal! People care about your kid and the cute things they do, but they easily get tired of your opinions on all hot topics!  Have opinions, just respect the opinions of others more! Stay close to places where we all see eye to eye, relate, and understand with common ground.

Drip Marketing is not rocket science, but it is an art!  Be creative, courageous, and meaningful so all will value what you have to say, and how it affects them... beyond business, into every day life.