Local Business Blog

Monday March 12, 2018
8:08 PM Pacific [ROSEVILLE]

Imagine for a minute you walk into the local pickup joint – lookin’ for love!

What are you looking for?

For the guys…. what does she look like?

Can you see her?

For the ladies… how about him?

Is he a tall drink of water?  Does he have a strong chin and square shoulders?

What are they wearing?

What do they do for a living?

What are their hobbies?

Can you picture them?

Can you smell their cologne or perfume?

Can you imagine their voice?

** You’ve Just Been On a Journey **

A journey where you’re able to picture your ideal mate.

What about your ideal customer? Can you picture them? Do you know the pickup joint they’ll be in?

Well… let me tell you about something a friend of mine and I just put together for you.

A raw, uncut, live WEEKLY podcast.

Just for you.

And, in our first episode, we dive right into the pickup joints you’ll be wanting to discover for your business.

Don’t take my word for it – listen here!

Talk tomorrow,

-b

8:35 AM Pacific

PS:  Let’s make your trip to the Pickup Joint something that happens regularly!  And, with a podcast… what happens in the headphones stays in the headphones 😉

>> Why not subscribe to the podcast here: Across The Pond, Live!

Tuesday February 20, 2018
6:10 AM Pacific [ROSEVILLE]

A recent Harvard Business Review Article “The Parts of Customer Service That Should Never Be Automated” (Ryan W. Buell Feb 19, 2018) points to the few things that we should simply leave alone.

Today I’m just gonna give it to you straight…. the list of 4 things to automate and 2 things to simply leave along.

So, here goes:

Let’s face it, as a business owner, you don’t have time to do everything manually in your business. And, when you focus on manual labor, the only way to scale your business is to add more manual labor.  But…

when the labor market get’s tight, you might have to move or open a new branch, just to get the critical assets you need to have your business thrive.

And… if you believe the Harvard Business Review (which I don’t normally), then here’s a quick list of those things that you can automate:

1. Transactional stuff – this makes it easier for customers to get the goods and services they need.  In today’s society, we see this with self-checkout at the grocery stores, swipe your card for coffee and just put money in the till and grab your sandwich to go.  This reduces friction and keeps your customers moving through the sales process.  In fact, you can even use this tip with delivering information or having them sign up for your mailing list.  Simple. Effective. (and one reason we’re in the Digital marketing business)

2. Non-Human Resources – that’s right… I said it.  A lot of the human resource requests are actually requests for information, filing claims, signing up for this or that.  These are non-human resources because they don’t actually require a human to provide the information.  Automate this and you’ll have extra energy for the real “human resources”.

3. Giving Your Customers Transparency – Something special happened when Michael Dell moved out of his dorm room and into a factory to build computers…. he gave customers visibility into the process.  He had a special system developed that took the anxiety out of ordering a computer because you could know exactly where it was in the process.  And, taking it a step further, have you been in an Uber lately?  It makes hiring a ride super easy…. tell us where to pick you up, we’ll ping you as the ride gets close, and then if you want to watch your ride go turn-by-turn… then you’ve got that too.  By they way, you’ll know the name of your driver, what he/she looks like and the type and color of the car they are in.  Now, that’s transparency!

4. Special Offers and Appreciation – While not every special offer or token of appreciation should be delivered electronically, it does provide a simple way to get the best offer into the hands of your best customers.  It’s one of the reasons why I like sending you an email (almost daily).  If I didn’t, I’d have only a few ways of telling you about the great things you can do to boost your bottom line in your business today.  And, if the communication is too much for you… you have the option of opting out (it’s the unsubscribe link at the bottom).

** Now Onto The Things You Should NEVER Automate **

1. Getting wound up! Let’s face it… business can and should get emotional.  It’s inherent in what we do.  We get excited, scared, anxious, angry, etc.  And, if we do our jobs right… we’re whipping up those emotions in our customers too!  The best testimonials I get are from super-excited people like this:

“Wow! That’s an amazing comparison Bradley! Awesome Man! Thanks for posting!” Tim Verdouw, Re-Engager

So… when this happens, we need to interject ourselves and be geniune.  If you see the thread this is in, you’d be going on and on about how I appreciate the shout out and the kudos.  It’s very personal! So… of coarse, it’s not automated.  Machines can’t express emotion (yet).

2. Riddle Me This Batman! Yep. Sometimes our customers actually need help solving a problem.  Solving a problem with the product, with the service, or with something that’s not even related to either of those.  There’s no way a computer can process the way a human can in these situations. And… it’s unreasonable to try to put together a phone tree or online maze of questions and answers to get them the help they need. It’s a human thing!

And while we’re at it… it wasn’t in the article, but we don’t automate our appreciation quotient. We simply use this…

>> It’s Our Magical Gratitude Unicorn

Talk tomorrow,

-b

PS:  So, which 1 thing are you going to work on today?  And, you might think email messages are “automated”, but they aren’t.  I sit here every day so that I can talk directly to you. And, when I get replies back – I know it’s working.  Have a great day!

6:32 AM Pacific

Monday February 19, 2018
3:48 PM Pacific [SACRAMENTO]

I was just reading an article titled “Inside an Immigration Roundup: Crying Children, Closed Doors, Coffee” in the Wall Street Journal.

The article isn’t the interesting thing here – the headline is!

No… this isn’t a copywriting how-to. But…

It is a business how-to!

The whole premise behind an immigration round-up, if explained by the current White House, is that there are people inside our walls that don’t belong here.

And, no matter how you fall on the subject, I’d suggest you ask the same question about your business…

Specifically…

Ask yourself if your current customers “belong” behind your walls.

Ask yourself if your current providers “belong” behind your walls.

Ask yourself if your current employees “belong” behind your walls.

And, if they do… it’s time to be straight with them.

It’s time to thank your customers for being the lifeblood of your business.  And, as you’re thanking them, it’s time to reinforce “why” they are welcome.  And, the answer should be because they appreciate and adhere to your core values (at least during the times you work together).

…and…

It’s time to thank your providers for taking such good care of your business and your customers.  And, as you’re thanking them, it’s time to tell them “why” you appreciate them and their hard work.  And, as you’re thanking them… it should be because they treat your staff and your customers as you would treat them.

…and…

It’s time to thank your employees for taking such good care of your customers and your bottom line. After all, without their dedication to your core values, you might be out on the street looking to prosecute someone for theft, embezzlement, or slander.

That’s right… when your business is running on all cylinders, adhering to a common set of core values and and taking care of business – it’s a peaceful and amazing place to be!

Onward and upward!

If you’re trying to figure out how to thank all these people and do it well – there’s a few things we do.  But…

the most important is this >> It’s Our Magical Gratitude Unicorn

Talk tomorrow,

-b

3:58 PM Pacific

Saturday January 27, 2018
11:55 AM Pacific [ROSEVILLE]

I know… I know… it’s been way too long since we last chatted – but I’ve learned some lessons over the last few weeks…

But, before I dive right into the lessons I’ve learned – let’s talk about the challenges I needed to overcome:

CHALLENGE ONE – Being in 2 places at the same time.

As some of you know, I lead a team that does just under $10M annually ($9.8M to be exact) and the team is spread out over all of Northern California. And…

over the last three weeks, I’ve had a need to be in Menlo Park and Fresno at the same time… that’s a gap of 173 miles (and a 3 hour drive).

CHALLENGE TWO – Doing 3 jobs at the same time.

We lost a group leader in just before Christmas and we gained a new assignment that needed work completed at night.  So… I was doing my job – the old group leader’s job and the job of a structural inspector all at the same time!

CHALLENGE THREE – Doing “in person” and “online” work at the same time.

When I travel, I have no time to be online.  I have no time to send email. I have no time to be on Facebook and I certainly don’t have time to post and repost content.

So – I’m getting a lot better at delegation!

Here’s how it’s gone down over the last 3 weeks and what we’re doing going forward.

SOLUTION ONE: This one seems simple, but often overlooked.  We bought 8 webcams and queued up GoToMeeting and FaceTime on our phones… problem one solved.

SOLUTION TWO: We simply listed what needed to be done and asked the team to raise their hands for tasks they could take.  This was just delegation… but it also meant we had to be ready to make some mistakes and pay for inefficiencies… but problem two was solved.

SOLUTION THREE: This was the hardest of the challenges to solve.  We looked at Post Planner, planable.io, and CoSchedule and all of them fell short.  So, we took a risk and purchased a team plan for…

** MissingLettr ** – this is the coolest way to re-use valuable online assets and it automatically creates new content and schedules it out on your social accounts over a year.

Don’t take my word for it…

Check it out here

http://digitalmainstreetmedia.com/recommends/missinglettr

Here’s to solving problems!

-b

12:14 PM Pacific

PS:  We’re always learning lessons and passing them along to you.  If you’re trying to delegate your social media marketing and posting to someone else or a tool – then you’ll want to check out MissingLettr