How to Achieve Any Goal Successfully

We’ve all heard the phrase before, “It’s not how you start that matters, it is how you finish.” While that is true, I believe how you start things has a huge influence on whether you will finish successfully. I uncovered this great workbook by Seth Godin called Pick Four (available on Amazon) that breaks it down for us using a scientifically proven method.

While you and I have been busy spending time and money trying to change, and usually failing, scientists have been busy trying to figure out what actually works. And now they know:

1. Small steps work.
2. Consistent effort works.
3. Support from peers works.

That’s it. Three things. Set a goal and in small consistent steps work to reach it. Get support from peers when you start running out of steam. Rinse and Repeat. You will change.

Science has proven that if you want to change your life and you apply these three steps to any goal – you will be successful. You now know the secret to success, otherwise known as the goal process. So what’s next?
3 Steps: (easy to describe, incredibly difficult to do)

1. Accept that people following the goals process accomplish more. Your effort pays off.
2. Choose wisely. Pick from among the many things you want to achieve and are willing to do the work to achieve.
3. Stick with the program. Do it every single day until you’re done or until you realize that you don’t actually want the thing you said you wanted.

The results of hundreds of studies on individuals and groups who have been through the goals process are clear: it works. The studies won’t matter if you’re not willing to accept the uncomfortable steps you’ll need to go through to get started. The steps you don’t want to do – unless you want to achieve your goal:

• Write down your dream list. Without censoring yourself, make a list of anything you think you would like to be, do or have. Anything. (scratch off anything illegal or that defies the laws of physics)
• The Why. For the items that remain, write down what’s in it for you and the people you care about if you reach this goal. If you can’t come up with something, cross it off.
• Balance your goals. Make sure your goals fall into various aspects of your life. (i.e. career, family, financial, mental, physical, social, spiritual). If you are too heavily weighted in one area, you may want to rethink the list.
• From your list pick only 3 you are going to start with and do the following exercise for each:

Goal #1

• Benefits from reaching this goal
• Skills or knowledge required to reach this goal.
• Major obstacles you will face.
• Individuals and organizations needed to help you.
• Plan for reaching this goal

If you stick with it for 60 days, you will be amazed. Unbelievable success is available to all of us, if we are willing to follow a simple process.
*The steps and content from this article came from Zig Ziglar’s Legendary Goals Program, Updated and Simplified by Seth Godin, available on Amazon.com

Are you implementing Beta-Think? What are you waiting for?

One of the biggest issues I see with companies is the ability to implement their strategy.  They have lots of what I like to call “good meeting” but little follow up and execution.  And let’s face it, without action a great strategy means nothing.  I have a saying on my calendar that I look at as part of my daily ritual that says, “The real way to do something is to actually do it.”  There comes a time when you have to stop planning, stop strategizing, stop tweaking and just do it.  Take what you get and go from there.   When I work with companies, one of the first things I tell them is:  “We are going to implement beta-think.”

Beta-think, as you probably surmised, is a software industry term.  Software companies always launch beta versions, sometimes called version 1.0.  They don’t wait to launch a perfect product but purposely launch a rudimentary product.  There could be lots of reasons why they do this, but the main one is because of the “one more thing” syndrome.  You know the syndrome.  The “let’s add this one last feature before we launch” syndrome.  This results in a launch date that gets delayed a week, then a month, then a year and before you know it your competitor comes out with a better version of your idea.  Sound familiar?

When you implement beta think, you know you are going to launch the product in an imperfect state and then sometime thereafter launch the next version and then the next one.

Beta-think works with more than technology products though.  You can apply it to anything and everything:  fashion, restaurants, websites, seminars, etc.  Once you realize that you are never finished, you open up new possibilities.  Technology companies make their beta versions highly coveted under the conditions that users provide feedback.  Apple and Google are known for this.  They iterate really quickly and people forget about the mistakes in the beta version and instead have a lot of respect for how quickly they make it better.

Once you take the fear of imperfection out of the equation in your organization, creativity, innovation and the great strategy you talked about can flourish.

Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress said this: “You can never fully anticipate how an audience is going to react to something you’ve created until it’s out there. That means every moment you’re working on something without it being in the public it’s actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world.”

Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? describes it perfectly, “Beta-think says that we can make what we do ever better because we are never done, never satisfied, always seeking ways to improve by working in public.”

I could say more about this and I’m certain say it better, but in the spirt of beta-think, I’m ready to hear from you.  So I finish how I started: Are you Implementing Beta-Think?  What are you waiting for?

Wendy’s Tips for A Successful College Experience

I had the opportunity to go back to my college alma mater Florida State University this past week and participate in E-Week, an event geared to educate and inspire students to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit.  As with most things in life, when you give you always get back so much more.  I had so much fun interacting with bright, articulate, inquisitive students from all types of backgrounds.  I also had the chance to meet other alumni and entrepreneurs doing exciting, crazy, BIG stuff.  It was incredible.

It also made me think about what I wish I would’ve known if I were in their shoes today. Here are the key 5 things I came up with to get the most out of your college experience:

1. Take advantage of everything around you.  Take in new, different experiences.  Check out art exhibits, film festivals, music events, the circus.  FSU, as do most universities, has over 500 different organizations so there is always something new and exciting to experience.  Make it your mission to try something new every week at least.  You won’t regret it and you may learn something new about yourself.
2. Spark other areas of your brain.  You are at a great learning institution.  Don’t just take classes because you have to.  Take an extra class every so often just because it sounds interesting.  If you are in business, take an acting or art class.  If you are a music major, take a marketing class.  If you’re a math major, take a literature class or fashion design class.  Spark other areas of your brain.
3. Interact with your professors, deans, faculty and staff.  They are there because they want to help guide you.  Schedule some time every week to chit chat and pick their brain.  They are invaluable resources to you not only while you are in school but also as you embark on your career path and beyond.  Form those relationships now.
4. Start a business while you are in college.  Any business.  You are in a safe and supportive environment and this will be one of the best learning experiences you have plus you can make some money.  Again, it doesn’t matter what your major is.  Just do it.
5. Lastly, view your experience here as a lab.  Everything is an experiment.  Play, have fun and enjoy the experience.  It will be over before you know it.  Don’t take it all so seriously.  Do your best but also pay attention to what you like and, just as important, what you don’t like.  These are good life clues that will help you know yourself better which equips you with the tools to create a life that taps into your passions and strengths vs. just doing something because that’s what one of your parents did or it sounds good on paper.

I definitely wish I had done all of these things during my experience.  Someone probably told me this stuff and I was just too stubborn to listen:-)  Imagine that.

Lastly for those business owners out there:  If you aren’t including students as part of your hiring plan,  whether as interns, to work on special projects, or for entry level positions, you are missing a big opportunity.  They want to contribute.  They know how to use technology to share information.  They have great ideas.  Include them!

Lastly, Go Noles!

Ten Tips for Getting Started in Social Media

Social Media is here to stay and should be an important component of your overall marketing strategy. I recently ran across some of these tips on a blog I follow called www.simplemarketingnow.com and wanted to share it. I know a lot of business owners feel overwhelmed and have no idea where to start, so here is a simple guide that anyone can benefit from:

1. Start small and steady. Commit to 15 minutes per day exploring, learning and getting engaged with social media.
2. Pick a topic you care and know something about. It can be work-related or not.
3. Explore that topic on Google Blog Search, Alltop and Technorati. Check out as many blogs as you can and experience firsthand several valuable resources for discovering blogs.
4. Experience what makes each blog that intrigues you unique. Is it the tone of the article? Is it the images used? What do you notice in the sidebar? Are there interesting links to other resources? What kinds of comments do you notice?
5. Pick five blogs and subscribe to them. You can do so via e-mail updates or RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) in a feed reader, such as Google Reader.
6. Leave a comment. When you receive your updates, click on the title link that takes you back to the source blog and leave a comment. Ideally, your comment should add insight to the blog post (often referred to as the conversation).
7. Explore your topic on YouTube. What do you find? Pay attention to the titles and the descriptions of the videos that come up in search results.
8. Explore your topic on Twitter using http://search.twitter.com. What do you find? Click on the links to evaluate their worth. Click on the pictures to learn more about the person “tweeting.” Which words generate useful results?
9. If you have an account on LinkedIn, see if your topic comes up in LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Groups. What do you observe?
10. If you have an account on Facebook, see if your topic comes up in Facebook search. What do you observe?

Rinse and repeat until you feel comfortable.

How to Become an Inbound Marketing Expert – Part 3 of 3

I hope you have been experimenting with your inbound marketing efforts over the last few months. If you have, you are beginning to experience the power that “showing up” and delivering relevant, remarkable content to your visitors can have on your business. In part 3 of this series, I will focus on the importance of monitoring your efforts. By using analytics, you can continually assess and refine your inbound marketing programs.

One of the things I love about digital marketing is the immediate gratification it provides. The Internet is an amazing and responsive marketing testing bed. You can take a great idea and within 24 hours, test that idea using one of the digital tools available to you (i.e. main website, branded landing pages, blog, social media sites, discussion boards, etc.). Each one of these tools has analytics associated with them that you can use to determine if it created the results you wanted (i.e. increase in visitors, more “likes,” sign ups, shares, feedback, etc.).

Companies should review key analytics on a monthly basis, at the very least, and then use that information to drive actions. Here are some tips you can use immediately to begin measuring your efforts:
1. Make sure you have Google Analytics (or at least some analytics package) set up for all your websites, blogs, landing pages, etc. It’s free and it’s powerful.
2. Understand and review these analytic terms:
• New vs. returning visitors
• Time on site
• Bounce rate
• Traffic sources
• Most popular pages
• Highest exit page
3. Measure your social media using the following:
• Audience (number of friends, fans, followers).
• Referrals from social media to your website.
• Engagement – is your audience participating?
• Leads/customers – are your social media visitors converting into a business lead or customer?
4. Set up a Google Alert for key phrases or terms for your own company, your competition, your industry.
5. Experiment – use your digital marketing landscape to test an idea, a message, a new offer or a hot topic in your industry right now. Continually analyze the results so you can constantly improve.

It’s important to realize that although we are using new terms that didn’t exist a decade ago, the underlying principles haven’t changed. It’s always been about:
1. Showing up and Getting found.
2. Converting visitors Into leads/customers.
3. Analyzing results to learn and constantly improve.
The difference today is that there are new tools available that make it easier and quicker to apply those principles. So what are you waiting for?

If  you missed part 1 or 2, here you go:

How to Become an Inbound Marketing Expert – Part 1

How to Become an Inbound Marketing Expert – Part 2

How to Become an Inbound Marketing Expert (Part 2 of 3)

Last month, I wrote about inbound and outbound marketing and how what once worked in the offline world is no longer effective today. The key points were:   
• Shopping Has Changed…Has Your Marketing?
• Your customers use the Internet to shop and gather information.  
• Your customers are searching for you every day. Do you show up?

Thanks to the Internet and web-based tools and technologies such as blogs, YouTube videos, Podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and other online platforms, companies have an unprecedented and enormous opportunity to engage with customers and prospects.  

By producing great content, you attract customers to you instead of chasing after them. By producing really great stuff, they will share and disseminate your message for you.  

So how do you produce really great stuff?  

1. Focus on generating amazing content first. Too many companies get caught up in trying to generate more traffic (more fans, more followers) instead of converting the traffic they have by providing them relevant, remarkable content.

2. Provide content that solves your customer’s problems or pain points. If you don’t know what those are, spend some time asking them. Or, talk to your sales and customer service team. They know.

“Remarkable content shares a resource, solves a problem, helps your customers do their jobs better, improves their lives, or makes them smarter, wittier, better-looking, taller, better-networked, cooler, more enlightened, and with better backhands, tighter asses, and cuter kids. In short, it’s of high value to your customers, in whatever way resonates best with them.”  (Ann Handley, Content Rules)

3.  Don’t just think of content as the written word. Think variety. Here are some examples of types of content you can create:
• Blog articles – short, informal written thoughts on topics related to your industry.  
• White Papers – education oriented papers on a trend or challenge.
• Videos – keep them short, less than 3 minutes.
• Webinars – live or recorded presentations on a hot topic.
• Podcasts – audio interviews with industry experts.
• Webcasts – video shows viewed online.

The great thing about these different types of content is they can be re-purposed multiple ways. A blog post can be a video which then turns into a webcast. A webcast can be turned into three to five short articles combined in an ebook. I bet you have plenty of content in your office or on your computer just dying to get out into the world and be seen by others.

We are living in such an exciting time to be in business. Big budgets and glitzy TV ads no longer win. We pay more attention to companies that tell a compelling story that resonates with their target audience. And the best part, it is a fun and more rewarding way to market and win!

Understanding Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing – (Part 1 of 3 part series)

Most companies spend their marketing budget using a combination of outbound marketing techniques, such as direct mail, e-mail blasts, TV, radio and print advertising, and trade shows (or expos), to reach potential buyers. As we’ve become more adept at filtering out unwanted information, these techniques have become less effective. We don’t answer the phone if we don’t recognize the number, we don’t open unsolicited e-mails, we use DVR or TiVo to skip commercials and most mail is considered “junk mail” and goes right in the garbage without a glance.  

And then there is inbound marketing. Two key things have happened in the last decade to dramatically change the way people shop and learn: Google and access to a high-speed Internet connection. Think about it. How many searches did you perform last week? One? Ten? Or, if you are like most people – including your customers – hundreds. Here’s the thing: You have customers looking for you every day. The question is, “Are you showing up?” so they find you and not your competition.  

So how do you become an inbound marketer? How do you make sure you show up?  There are three key ways people find information using the Internet: through a search engine like Google, through the blogosphere (more than 100 million of them and growing) and through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit and StumbleUpon, among others.  

To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products. And, you do that by generating leads through inbound marketing.

Where do you start? I am going to tell you where NOT to start. DO NOT START BY REDESIGNING YOUR WEBSITE. Most websites are nothing more than static brochureware. But rather than spend a lot of money redesigning it and getting caught up in where the logo should go or what colors look better, take what you have and add some simple things that will turn it into an interactive hub for your marketplace. An easy way to do this is to add a blog and RSS feed to it – even make that the home page. Then, add relevant, compelling content that people want to consume. If you aren’t sure how to create relevant, compelling content, start reading other blogs. (P.S. I’ll give you more ideas for this in Part II of this series.)

What worked before in the off-line world is no longer effective. You must learn new skills and become an inbound marketing expert if you want to compete and win today.

The good news is it doesn’t require that you have a huge budget, but it does require your participation. Use the next 30 days to evaluate your marketing efforts and notice how much of what you do is outbound marketing vs. inbound marketing. Stay tuned for the next two articles in this series that will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to become an Inbound Marketing Expert.

Which quadrant are you living in?

We recently missed some key project deadlines in my company so we scheduled an urgent team meeting to figure out what had happened and how we were going to ensure it didn’t happen again.  Consistently honoring our commitments to our clients is vital to what we stand for so I viewed our recent misses as catastrophic. 

Here is what we uncovered: 

We had deviated from our process on how we manage projects.  We had received several new projects all at once and rather than “plan the work” and then “work the plan”, we just started working as fast and hard as we could.  We delved into how we had gotten off track and determined because we were so busy, we weren’t taking the time organize our projects in our project management system.  We quickly acknowledged that planning is not another task.  If you don’t do it, you fail.  It’s like breathing.  This led to a bigger, productive discussion about the four quadrants we operate in illustrated below:

 

You have probably seen and used this grid before.*  But very few of you have ever structured your life so you consistently spend most of your time in Quadrant 2.  If you have, I would bet that you are running a very successful company, career and life.  In fact, multiple studies have shown that the most successful companies and people spend 80% of their time in Quadrant 2. 

We realized that a big part of our team was spending 80% of their time in Quadrant 1 where everything is urgent and important.  Now you can also have a successful company if this is your management style or company culture but it comes with a cost:  first it’s not much fun to live here on a daily basis and two you will never win long-term against your competitors who spend the majority of their time in Quadrant 2. 

Not having fun and being vulnerable to our competitors was not an option in our culture.  We drew a line in the sand and committed to spending 80% or more of our time in Quadrant 2.   We started identifying what quadrant everything we spend time on falls into.  For example when a meeting is being scheduled, each agenda item has a quadrant assigned to it.  This is a quick way to move things off the agenda, even the whole meeting sometimes!  We do it for our phone calls and emails too. 

It’s simple time management – organizing and executing around priorities.  But as with everything, you have to develop the mental muscle to do it day in and day out to generate results. You also have to make sure everyone in your organization is also developing this mental muscle and you are giving them the tools to do that.  Not as another fad or new initiative but as a way of being that is consistent with what you are up to in business and in life. 

*If you are interested in learning more about the Time Management Grid, I recommend 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  Habit 3 covers this topic in detail.

5 Steps to Make 2011 a Triumphant Year

By the time you are reading this we will have already entered the 3^rd month of 2011.  That means there only 10 months left in the year.  I bring this up because I’ve noticed increased activity in the business community lately.  When I ask someone how things are going, I’m consistently hearing “Busy”, “Crazy”, “Awesome”, “Overwhelmed”. 

Peter Drucker is quoted as saying “You cannot manage what you don’t measure”.  It seems obvious yet when business get’s busy, we often put measuring and analysis on the back burner until there is time.  Given that 2011 appears to be starting out nicely for most, I want to make sure we don’t lose ourselves in trying to make up for lost time and repeating some bad habits from the past.  So I’ve put together 5 steps to ensure you end up where you want at the end of 2011. 

1)       Identify your company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) – Quantifiable measurements that reflect the critical success factors of your organization.  I like having no more than 5 but depending on your business you may need more.  Examples of some KPI’s include:   # of new customers acquired in the last 30 days, %  increase is Internet marketing conversions, increase in average size of project, etc.  The list is endless so choose the ones that matter most.  If you try to measure too much you’ll end up measuring nothing.

2)      Identify who will be responsible for each KPI  – Make sure one person has ultimate accountability for measuring and reporting the KPI.  Determine the frequency it will be discussed.  Monthly is a good place to start if not weekly.    

3)      Make sure there is a simple process for measurement.  – Don’t just assign someone the responsibility of measuring a KPI without making sure there is a simple process.  If it’s too time consuming either figure out how to simplify it or pick something else.

4)      What does it mean?  – Don’t just report it.  Data means nothing if you don’t learn something from it.  Discuss it, use it to grow from, create action steps as a result.  Even if your KPI reveals something negative, it’s always a positive because now you know and can do something about it.    

5)      Do It Consistently –   Develop the discipline to review, discuss and learn from your KPI’s however frequently you determine is right for your business.  Things will come up that make it easy to skip a week or month, so don’t let that happen.  If you do 1 – 4 correctly, this one will be the easiest to do because you will very quickly determine the value it creates in your business.

It’s very easy to get caught up “being busy” vs. “being impactful”.  Especially when so many companies have had too much quiet time on their hands the past few years.  Don’t let the excitement of growth get in the way of making sure you take advantage of what is shaping up to be a great year. 

Wendy Lieber is the president of Athena Marketing, a trusted marketing advisor and resource to companies interested in the growth and success of their business.  Wendy can be reached at 954.294.6467 or wendy@athena-marketing.com.

Seven steps to creating an exceptional customer experience

I had a conversation with a good friend of mine who told me about a new strategic partner he had just hired to help propel his business forward. He felt super excited about the initial meetings they had and the possibilities they created for his company. But, his enthusiasm started to dim when I asked him what the status was. He said, “Well I hired her, and I haven’t heard a thing since then.”

I initially assured him that a lot of work was probably going on “behind the scenes” and that he needed to be patient. It had only been a week and a half. I could hear myself starting to get a bit defensive. But why? The more my friend kept talking, the more uncomfortable I got. It forced me to ask myself some questions: What is my customer’s experience when working with my company? Do we set the expectations up only to disappoint? I realized we sometimes get so focused on doing the work we’ve been hired to do and the results we are trying to achieve that we overlook a critical element: the customer experience. I felt like a huge idiot and a fake given the business I’m in. I should know better. It has been an unbelievable wake-up call and opportunity for my company, and I’m happy to report it’s now a topic we think about constantly and, more importantly, act upon.

We created these seven simple steps to create an exceptional customer experience:

1)     Manage customer expectations: Make sure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities and how often they want a progress report. We use a great project management system called Basecamp (www.basecamphq.com) which allows our customers to check in anytime, and even better, we can give them assignments.

2)    Check in early and often: Ask your client every so often how things are going. What could be improved upon? Don’t be a stalker about this, but touch base every so often.

3)    Develop a communication system that works: Make it easy to share information and feedback. Some of our clients love Basecamp, but others like a weekly conference call, while others love e-mail.

4)    Do what you say you are going to do – EVERY TIME!: Be relentless about keeping your promises.

5)    Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: Ask yourself, “If I were them, would I be ecstatic?”  If the answer is less than positive, figure out what it would take to get it back on track…and fast.

6)    Be willing to say no: When you care intensely about your customers, it is easy to fall into the trap of saying yes to everything. Big mistake. Say no, and provide an alternative solution.

7)    Maintain a human touch: Get eye to eye every so often with a face-to-face meeting.

Bottom line is if your customers don’t appreciate what you provide them, then it doesn’t matter how hard you work behind the scenes. Make 2011 “The Year of the Customer.” You can’t go wrong when you have elated customers. Go create some!