Email is Personal... Be Polite! 5 Do's and Don'ts when sending email

I hate marking messages as junk, I really do. As an email marketer there is nothing more brutal than to tell someone their messages are the worst. It's like missing the spectacular vision behind the raindrops on your window pain. Sometimes we are so blinded by our message we miss the opportunity to give someone what they want! I call this self focus.
But what happens when you get on a list from someone who constantly sends you advertisements on viagra, or they market to you in another language? What do you do when you are suddenly receiving messages from someone you don't know, about something you don't care about, so much so you can hardly keep your inbox clear?  YOU take NOTE! That's what you do.  Here are five do's and don'ts when engaging in email marketing!

1. ALWAYS use a SUBSCRIBED LIST!  Under the federal CAN SPAM laws, you can be fined if you email someone with out the explicit permission. Make sure you get the A-OK to proceed.
2. Segment your list ~ Here are some really good questions to ask yourself: Who is this? How do I know them? What do they want from me? What do they do? How can I help them? How do they desire to be helped? What is the purpose of my relationship with them? How can we help each other?
3. Be creative: Don't send the same email to everyone, it's not appropriate.  Get those creative juices flowing and design an email campaign that is target toward the segmented lists you just created.
4. Don't over email! People want to see you, but not everyday! Use your click through rates to determine how often they want to see you.  Send them good info, but don't just send them any info.
5. ALWAYS reply to RESPONSES! Engagement, just like in Social Media, is key. They want to hear back from you. If you can't do this in a timely fashion, set up auto-responders. But make those responders targeted, too.  This creates a comfortable situation for your audience.

Email is personal. People want to feel like each message they receive is specifically for them, and that it addresses their needs and interests. They don't want you to waste their time. They don't want you to waste yours.
If your opt out rates are high, it's time to design a new campaign.  You are more likely to win by counting your losses and revamping your efforts! There's no sure fire way that works, just get in the game. I pays to be personal, and personality pays...

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/

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…

What the Experts Know…

Recently I was called in to work with an IT firm who was trying to implement and troubleshoot issues with a LAN based CRM solution that I support.  When I got on-site, the flustered and frustrated technician told me through angry tears that he had exhausted all his resources: time, technique, and treasure. In the end he lost money on this deal, and he was losing his rapport with the client by the minute.
After assessing the situation, diagnosing the problem, and setting up a plan to solve it, relief immediately overcame him.  I was glad to facilitate this, but it also reminded me of 3 important lessons I learned early on in my career.
1. Always have a plan before starting any engagement with a client.  If you are not an expert in what they are asking you to do, it’s best to evaluate how much time you can spend figuring it out versus paying someone who knows how to do it, in order to prevent you from losing money. If you are not profitable, you will not stay in business.
2. Set the expectations for the client (this is why the plan is PARAMOUNT). If you can explain to the client before hand what steps need to be taken, they will trust you as you walk through the steps with them, and they will likely go with what you determine as situations progress.  People want to know that what you say will be, especially when dealing with their livelihood and business processes. Set the expectations and follow-through with them as described.
3. Develop partnerships: If you are not an expert, work with experts. Partnerships will make you a lot of profit because they save you time.  It is important to remember that time is worth more than your hourly rate! When you think about it from this perspective, can you really afford to sell it for cheap?
Being and all hands technical expert can take you very far, but it limits your ability to get really good at any one certain thing.  Assess your abilities: strengths and weaknesses, and grow your clients in light of them… This is what the experts know will bring them the greatest success all the way around.

Lessons from THE LORAX

I have never been much of a writer... but I love watching movies with the three year old... I love to listen to him hum the tune of each show he has watched 200 times.  There is no better sound to me...

This weekend we watched THE LORAX and as I watched my little guy enthralled by every moment in this movie, I found myself very intrigued by the lesson we can learn in life and business that I took from this movie... As I said, I am not much of a blogger, so I thought I would make this short and sweet:

1. Preserve the SACRED by not using more than you need for personal gain!  Don't cut down the trees translates across many platforms.  Things that are sacred in our environment can extend to things that are sacred in life: TIME is of great value when at home or at work.  We should be careful not to overindulge others who mean to misuse it or discount it.  We should carefully value our time, and the time that belongs to another.  We should show them that in everything we do.  VALUES are another example we can attribute to  SACRED.  Ask yourself what you regard as SACRED in your life and business.  Can you identify those things?

2. Love is a motivator!  We will do all kinds of crazy and wonderful things for love.  That should be an important motivator in life and at work. The Golden Rule can move us to make major moves toward another in various ways.  Even though some of the things we do will not serve us well over time, most of the time LOVE Wins. Pursue all the things you desire that are motivated by love.

3. Let it Grow!  NO matter what it turns into, to grow is better than to die.  Death symbolizes the end of something, sometimes good and sometimes bad.  But to Grow something is the essence of a seed that has taken root. In life and in business the fruit of these seeds should be analyzed by the first two lessons listed: Does this fruit look like love, and does this fruit have attributes of the sacred.  That's how we can foster good fruit, deciphering between the weeds that seek to steal the sacred and remove the love. You cannot, however, examine the fruit without them taking root.  Don't be afraid to let them do that.  There is truth and power in learning from weeds.

I love the LORAX. I love the time that I get to cherish with the three year old, but I also love how these things transcend into all areas of life.  Does your business preserve the SACRED, and is it motivated by LOVE.  These will determine how it GROWS... I want to encourage you to think on these things... Use them to Turn your relationships into Gold...