Archive for September, 2009
YOU’RE KNOWN… BUT ARE YOU BEING NOTICED?
Tags: email marketing, Facebook, Marketing, Twitter
How easy it is for your business or organization to be known… but how frequently are you being noticed? In an era where there’s more work to be done than time to accomplish it… when the term “business” should more appropriately be spelled “busy-ness,” it’s your job to make sure that you’re not getting lost in the white noise of the marketplace.
QUESTION: If you’re looking for a plumber… where would you start? You might have answered Google, Yahoo, Bing… or perhaps the Yellow Pages (online of course.) But you’d be wrong. The first place you’d check would be your memory. Your prospective clients and customers will hop on the search engines if and only if they don’t have a quality resource readily stored in their minds. Your customers and prospects are busy, convenience is everything. If they have a need or problem, your name should be on the very tip of their tongue.
Make sure you’re being noticed. Are you regularly staying in touch with your existing customers? Are you utilizing tools like email marketing, Facebook, Twitter… and other social media tools? Are you advertising? Your customers and prospects start forgetting you within minutes of their last interaction with you. If you don’t stay connected, noticed… your competitors will.
And I don’t encourage you to start SHOUTING your name from the rooftops either. Find ways to gently remind people you’re around and eagerly waiting to serve their needs. For example… send a hand-written notecard, or call to wish someone a happy birthday. Giving back is a great way to be noticed. Provide tips to your audience on how to save money, or how to avoid a business pitfall… how to be more efficient, or how to grow and market their business. Tell stories that inspire and motivate them. Let us know when you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. We’re willing to listen when you have something valuable to say… valuable to “US.”
ARE YOU A LEADER OR A FOLLOWER?
Tags: Andrew Carnegie, Leadership, Napoleon Hill
I am reading a book right now entitled “Think And Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, at the request of Andrew Carnegie. Whether or not you’d like to grow rich… Napoleon’s classic addresses the differences between a leader and a follower.
Decide at the outset of your career/ministry/path whether or not you’d like to remain a follower, or become a leader. The difference in compensation and influence is vast. The follower cannot reasonably expect the compensation to which the leader it entitled… although many followers make the mistake of expecting such pay. While it is certainly no disgrace to be a follower… it is no credit to remain a follower.
Most great leaders began in the capacity of followers… and they became great leaders because they were intelligent followers. With few exceptions, the man who cannot follow a leader intelligently cannot become an efficient leader. The following are the important attributes of an effective leader…
1. UNWAVERING COURAGE based on one’s knowledge of self and one’s occupation. No intelligent follower wishes to be dominated by a leader who lacks self-confidence and courage. No intelligent follower will be dominated by such a leader for very long.
2. SELF CONTROL: The man who cannot control himself cannot effectively control others. Self control sets a might example for one’s followers, of which the more intelligent will emulate.
3. A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE: Without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can retain the respect of his followers.
4. DEFINITENESS OF DECISION: The man who wavers in his decisions shows that he is not sure of himself. He cannot lead others successfully.
5. DEFINITENESS OF PLANS: A successful leader must plan his work and work his plan. A leader who moves by guesswork, without practical definite plans, is comparable to a ship without a rudder… sooner or later he will land on the rocks.
6. THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR: One of the penalties of leadership is the necessity of willingness upon the part of the leader to do more than he requires of his followers.
7. A PLEASING PERSONALITY: No brash or careless person can become a successful leader. Leadership calls for respect. Followers will not respect a leader who does not grade highly on all the factors of a pleasing personality.
8. SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING: The successful leader must be in sympathy with his followers. Moreover, he must understand them, and their problems.
9. MASTERY OF DETAIL: Successful leadership calls for mastery of details of the leaders position.
10. WILLINGNESS TO ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY: The successful and effective leader must be willing to assume the responsibility for the mistakes and shortcomings of his followers. If he tries to shift this responsibility, he will not remain a leader. If one of his followers makes a mistake and shows himself to be incompetent, the true leader must consider that it is “he” who may have failed.
11. COOPERATION: The successful leader must understand and apply the principle of cooperative effort, and be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls for power, and power calls for cooperation.
My next post will highlight the 10 major causes of failure in leadership. See you there.