Media Training Company, New Media Courses

10 Little Known Facts

– Posted on Jun 26, 2009 by Margie

Did you know?
1. Wilma Flintstone’s maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal and Betty Rubble’s maiden name was Betty Jean McBricker
2. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors
3. Every time you lick a stamp you are consuming 1/10th of a calories
4. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple
5. If you toss a penny 10,000 times it will not be “heads” 5000 times but more like 4,950. The “heads” picture weighs more than “tails” so it ends up on the bottom more frequently.
6. 12 or more cows are called a “flink”
7. The only nation whose name begins with “A” but doesn’t end with “a” is Afghanistan
8. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
9. “Stewardesses” is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand
10. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain

Are you asking why I’m writing about this?

If I can find this obscure stuff on the internet think what you can find out about your customer, your donor, your volunteer, and/or your client. Knowledge and facts give you the ability to get customer’s attention and speak to them in their language to ensure success. Isn’t that what we all crave?

Now that I am a business owner I am amazed at how often I meet people who immediately want to talk about themselves and the wonders of their product. Oh, they may ask me some polite questions to make me think they care but their intentions are so clear. Trust me, insincerity and desperation is easy to spot!! Most have never been to my website or understand what I do but they sure want my business!

Show your customer you care, prove you’ve done some preparation, come up with interesting questions about their business needs and offer creative solutions to solve them.

Back again to asking why I’m writing about this? If it were that easy more people would be doing it. Do you or your team need some help? I’d like to get to know you. I will FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SUCCESS!

1 comment

Become a “Question Artist” – 10 Tips

– Posted on Jun 09, 2009 by Margie

Have you ever met someone new and they really appeared to want to get to know you? They ask great and appropriate questions with energy and excitement and before you know it you have told them your life story! This can, and does, happen in business as well IF you ask the right questions with energy and excitement. Sounds so simple but it is an art.

Here are 10 “Question Artist” tips for you:

1. Prepare – know as much as you can about the person you are meeting with – their place within their company, their community involvement, their business, their business category, their competitors – you get the picture.

2. Research – don’t just scan their website, or look for their ads in the paper, on the radio, on TV, on the internet. Subscribe to their newsletters and read them. Are they registered on Twitter? If so, look at their tweets. Do they, or more importantly, their company have a page on facebook? Is your contact on LinkedIn? Who are they linked to? Anyone in your network? If so, this is another source for great information. Dig deep.

3. Write your questions prior to the meeting and put them in a logical order – do not try to “wing it”. Besides, it will be a signal to your client you cared and prepared. It shows respect. Having said that be prepared to digress should the conversation change direction. Which takes me to #4.

4. Do your best to keep the process conversational rather than appearing like an interview. Interviews can be so stale and boring and scary. Ugh! Bring some energy and excitement into the room with you – it can be contagious. Let it flow just as you would at a social gathering.

5. Ask factual questions – Who? What? Where? When? Why?

6. Ask interpretive hypothetical questions – How would things be different if…? How will something look if…?

7. Ask one question at a time. No complex, multi-part questions. Be specific and use as few words as possible. Ask your question and be quiet. Don’t overcomplicate it!!

8. A great follow-up question is “what do you mean by that?” It will take them and you to the next level of understanding.

9. Save the tougher questions for the latter part of the discussion. Hopefully by then you have gained some trust and you will get the answers you need.

10. Leave your nervousness in the car! The worst that can happen to you is you get thrown out or you puke. Either way you will live to see another day. This may be the most important appointment of your day but I can assure you your client isn’t looking at it with that intensity. Have fun getting to know the client and their business. And it’s OK to let them know you too! That’s how relationships and trust are born and today it’s all about relationships and trust! Remember from one of my past writings – we ALL want to belong and we ALL want to be missed. That includes your client.

Some of you may be asking, “Why is she writing about this when her business is training people how to use the digital space to grow their business?” Asking great questions and gathering information about your clients’ goals has everything to do with my training. If you aren’t gathering this information effectively all the training in the world won’t help you. For more information, to ask questions or just to chat please contact me at Margie@focusoncustomersuccess.com. But be prepared, I love to ask questions!

Cause of Death – FEAR

– Posted on May 30, 2009 by Margie

Cause of Death – FEAR

Look for companies who are “stuck” and they are really easy to find today. Check out the stock market and pick out companies with dramatic decreases in value. Is it all because of the economy? Absolutely not. Many of these companies are just plain stuck in fear. They may tell you it is something else but I’ll bet you my last dollar it isn’t!

These companies continue to do business the way they have for the past 10 years ignoring the gargantuan changes in our society. Their products are stale, lack innovation and, as Seth Godin would say, “unremarkable”. Their salespeople are focused on product rather than on customer, their television commercials are still “one size fits all” and their media buys are A25-54 or, for the more advanced, W1849. Can you get more impersonal, homogenized or “unremarkable” than that?! The masses are not going to save your company – they will keep you stuck.

FACT: Most companies are scared to death of the innovators and early adaptors. They will say they aren’t. In fact, many will internally and some will even externally ask for ideas and feedback. Then what happens? They are “fully vetted” and defeated after being beaten with a stick in committees full of scared non-risk takers worried about today’s stock values rather than the future.

As Dr. Phil would say, “So how’s that working for you?” Check those stock values and the chatter on the street!

Why is making a decision to change so scary?

Harvey Mackay recently wrote “Sigmund Freud was once asked why it is so difficult for some people to make decisions. He shocked people when he said he asks them to toss a coin. He went on to explain: I did not say you should follow blindly what the coin tells you. What I want you to do is to note what the coin indicates. Then look into your own reactions. Ask yourself: Am I pleased? Am I disappointed? That will help you to recognize how you really feel about the matter, deep down inside. With that as a basis, you’ll then be ready to make up your mind and come to the right decision.”

Psychologist Joyce Brothers advises, “Trust your hunches…they are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”

My simple version of that is “trust your gut.”

When you’re on the floor you can’t fall very far. There has never been a better time to take a risk. And how risky is it to ask your customers what they want and provide it for them? How risky is it to shut up and listen? How risky is it to actually court, embrace, and even coddle your future – the innovators and adaptors?

And that leads me to YOU. What are YOU doing to get you and your company “unstuck”? Are you terminally stuck in fear?

Trust your gut, flip a coin, take a risk, do something. Speak up loudly and often. Scream if you must! Don’t be afraid. Don’t be part of the unremarkable stuck. In the end, we are all depending on YOU!

I would love to hear what you have to scream– please comment!

4 comments