Mike Michalowicz's Blog, page 57

10 Reasons Why NextCon is the Best Business Conference of 2016 (+ free tickets)

Quick: When was the last time you received an email inviting you to a business conference? Last month? Last week? Twice since starting this blog post?

I’m with you. There are thousands of business conferences available to professionals across all industries, and with so many to choose from it can be difficult to decide which to attend. I’ve been to countless conferences over the past 20+ years and can now decipher the good from the bad from the downright ugly. My list of criteria for an worthwhile conference is long, but includes the following:

⦁ Clear takeaways for participants (what can I do TODAY to help my business?)

⦁ Mind-expanding sessions (I want topics to challenge me and make me think of things from a different perspective)

⦁ Top-notch speakers (even better if they have decades of business experience under their belts)

⦁ Networking opportunities (you never know when/where you might meet your next client)

Are you looking for a business conference to round out 2016? If so, I have the perfect one for you. It meets all of my criteria, and—full disclosure—I’ll be speaking during two of the sessions. Its called NextCon and it is a business strategy conference slated for Nov. 14-16 at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. The event is for businesspeople of all types and will—per my criteria—offer tons of clear takeaways to help make your lives more productive and meaningful at the office.

Why should you go? Here are 10 solid reasons: (read to the end for free tickets!)

⦁ Innovative ideas will pop into your head. ⦁ Guy Kawasaki, the business genius credited with helping Steve Jobs and Apple soar to the top of the market, will be on hand to explain how to innovate during his speech “How to Jump the Innovation Curve.”

⦁ Your sales will improve. My session “Selling Out of the Box: Innovative Strategies to Land the Sale Every Single Time” will include actionable tips on how to improve your sales margins. Be prepared to take notes.

⦁ You’ll become a communications pro. What’s the news on business communications? What trends are out there? Nextiva’s CEO Tomas Gorny will explain in “Shaping the Future of Business Communications.”

⦁ New marketing tactics will come to you. Marketing is all about keeping things fresh, and you will be sure to come away with exciting ideas during “The Next Big Thing in Business Marketing,” with Wistia Co-Founder Brendan Schwartz and #SmallBizLady Melinda Emerson.

⦁ You’ll be inspired to rebrand. Social media has completely disrupted traditional models around branding and marketing. Google’s Chief Evangelist of Brand Marketing Gopi Kallayil will explain what this means for your business.

⦁ Social media will net you customers—right away. Bloguettes Co-Founders Sakura Considine and Lorena Garcia will explain how to use social media to snag sales like never before.

⦁ The term “women in business” will take on new meaning. On Nov. 15th, four female business leaders will share candid stories about challenges they’ve faced and their outlook on the future.

⦁ You’ll get the tools to win a “best places to work” award. On Nov. 16, LinkedIn’s Chief HR Officer Pat Wadors will explain how to keep employee engagement high and create an environment where staffers want to come to work.

⦁ You’ll want to “think small” for big results. Jeff Rodman, the brains behind Polycom (the company that created the star speakerphone), will explain how thinking small resulted in a $2 billion business.

⦁ You’ll get to meet Steve Wozniak. Yes, I saved the best for last. Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak will be giving a keynote address and then meeting members of the crowd (perfect selfie moment!) right afterward. Bring your pen for an autograph.

Interested in joining me at NextCon? I’m giving away 10 free tickets to the first 10 people who email me at mike@mikemichalowicz.com.

See you in Scottsdale!

Episode 120: Evaluating our Ecosystem with Pamela Slim

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Show Summary

On this episode Pam Slim will discuss the eco-system that surrounds you, not just your clients but other people you may not realize.  She urges us to take a look at the influencers in our life and really evaluate the value they offer us. Welcome to Episode 120 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

 

Pamela Slim is an award-winning author, speaker and business coach who has been an entrepreneur for twenty years. Her passion for career and organizational development spans many different work modes and client engagements.

A former Director of Training and Development at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco, she spent the first 10 years of her business as a consultant to large companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab and Cisco Systems, where she worked with thousands of executives, managers and employees.

Since 2005, she has helped thousands of people to start successful businesses. She built a powerful online presence at Escape from Cubicle Nation, a site designed for corporate employees who wanted to make the shift to entrepreneur. Pam frequently partners with small business web companies like Infusionsoft, Citrix and LucidPress to expand and promote the small business market. Her two best-selling books are Escape from Cubicle Nation (Penguin/Portfolio 2009) and Body of Work (Penguin/Portfolio 2014). Pam is working on a third book about ecosystem marketing.

Guest Links

Website: http://pamelaslim.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelaslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamslim

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/pamslim

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

She’s Got It! Female Qualities Pay-off in Business

Look out, here comes the female entrepreneur! Women entrepreneurs are making their way in the business world in a big way. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 7.8 million businesses in America in 2007, which were owned by women. That is up from 6.5 million in 2002. Women business owners are surging!

It used to be a guys world. Business used to play naturally into a male mindset. But not so much any more.

If you are a woman thinking about starting a business, it is important to know that you have a lot of advantages in doing so. If you are a guy, well, it’s time to get back in touch with your feminine side.

Here are the six advantages that female entrepreneurs have:

1. Social Networking. Let’s face it – women are natural networkers. They love to talk, mingle, and rub elbows. This is the very reason why husbands rarely ever manage the social calendar. In today’s business environment, mastering social media is mandatory, and the ladies absolutely have a leg up!

2. Intuition. They call it “women’s intuition” for a reason. Women in general can size up another person much faster than her male counterpart. In today’s ultra-fast paced business environment, you need the ability to quickly identify the allies and the enemies. Regardless if you are a male or female, you need to trust your gut.

3. Pain Tolerance. Okay, initially I would have said this is irrelevant. But honestly after watching my children be born, there is no question that my wife can handle a lot more pain than I can. And I am not just talking physical pain, I mean emotional, too (have you seen how tough children can be on their mothers?). In business, there are a lot of painful moments. A lot. Women definitely have an advantage in this area.

4. Multi-tasking. Women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still being able to produce excellent results. Conversely, the guys are masters at focusing on one thing. Still, the advantage in today’s distracting environment goes to women.

5. Patience. Women inherently seem to have more patience. And in today’s business environment, patience is key! Aggressive business strategies are not paying off like they once did. Slow and steady wins the race in this category.

6. Listening. A friend of mine went to buy a new bed at a small bedding store owned by a husband and wife team. The female owner approaches my friend and asked all kinds of questions about why they needed a new bed, if they could fix their old bed, what else they were considering, etc. She asked questions and listened closely. She clearly showed that she cared about helping to meet their needs. My friend was moments away from buying any bed that she recommended. But just then, the frustrated husband on the sales team ran up and said “let me handle this.” Then he just tried to hard close the sale. He was pushy, telling them what he recommended and what they had to have. Guess what? The sale was lost the second he began speaking! They walked out. I am sure he blamed her. But it was him. The key is to ask questions and really listen. Quite frankly, any great sales person knows this, man or woman, it just seems that the ladies are naturally better at doing it.

While female entrepreneurs only represent a small portion of the overall number of businesses in the country right now, make no mistake, that percentage will continue to climb. The research shows that the growth of female owned businesses is growing at twice the rate of male owned ones. The more women take the leap and open their business, the more others will follow in line. And because of these advantages, among others, they should have a pretty good chance of succeeding!

The Simple Truth About Work-Life Balance

I was just talking with Alan Fawcett about life, and work, and more life and more work. During our conversation Alan said something that hit me like a ton of bricks.

It’s our constant quest for work-life balance, that keeps us out of balance.

Wow! If we just let things be, all will be right in the world. If we stop trying to fix everything, things will improve on their own.

Thanks for the wake-up call, Alan!

Get Your Business Blog on the Radar; Here’s How.

There are literally millions of blogs on the Internet, yet you know that starting one for your business could still be a good idea. Business blogs – done right – are a great way to drive traffic to your website, establish yourself as an expert in the field, and even build a rapport with your customers. But just starting a blog is not good enough!

Blogging Visibility

In order for you to gain all those benefits, and more, from your blog, you must make sure it is one that actually gets noticed. There are literally millions of businesses with blogs out there, but nobody really knows about them. If you aren’t going to take steps to get your blog noticed, spare yourself the time and investment of setting up and running one.

But did I mention that getting one noticed is not all that difficult? It’s true! You can create a blog for your business and get it noticed. But it will require that you be a little more proactive than just writing a few posts and hitting the ‘publish’ key. There are many things you can do to help get your blog noticed in a cyberspace filled with business blogs, some that may actually be covering the same topics as yours!

Here are 10 things you can do with your blog to help get it noticed and keep people reading:

1. Make sure that it has a personal tone. The last thing people want is to read a boring post that lacks personality.

2. Stand for something that is unique.

3. On the other end, try standing for something that has an enemy or is against something. (Another business is okay, but it is probably better if it is an outdated philosophy.)

4. Don’t let the blog get stale! Like bread, blogs have a shelf life, and you need to keep posting to keep it fresh. If the content is stale, people will not come back.

5. Pick a niche, which ideally would be something related to your business or to the audience you are trying to reach, and then become an expert on the topic.

6. Get to know your readers and make blogging a two-way street. You can do this by asking your readers questions, allowing comments, and then responding to those comments.

7. People love to read facts, so try to include some facts, as well as practical advice and useful tips that they can use. If you can offer them something they can use, they will be back, as well as most likely sharing it with others.

8. Give people something to think about. If they read your post and then move on without giving it a second thought, you haven’t done the job right. Try to write about something that will get them thinking, doing things differently, etc.

9. Write something that is so good, helpful, or controversial that people feel as if they have to share it with others, once they are done reading.

10. Let the reader see you, by adding a picture or “about” page, and let them get to know you personally.

The More They Know

When it comes to blogging, it’s often said that the more they know, the more your blog will grow. People don’t want to read something that is cold, impersonal or boring. Even when it is a business blog, they want to get to know the person and their personality, so they can feel like they are sitting across from you at Starbucks, having one of those fancy frou-frou drinks.

Creating a business blog can be a smart marketing tactic, but only if you are willing to do what it takes to get it noticed and to keep people reading. If you don’t, your blog will become just another Technorati statistic, and that won’t do much to boost your bottom line.

How To Market Through Your Customers

We all know an effective marketing campaign can be the key that unlocks the door to a world of new customers.  The trouble is that consumers are buried under a sea of images and attempts to separate them from their money.  What’s ideal is word of mouth – the better-than-anything-you-could-pay-for form of spreading the word about companies and products worth supporting.  Your customers actually do your marketing for you, and you simply continue delivering the high quality product they’re raving about.

But how do you get your customers to do it?  Let’s look at a few companies who’ve done it right.

On May 9, 2013, an article was published by a journalist who’d stopped in Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City and asked what was new.  The staff had offered the journalist a taste of a new product that would launch to the public on the day after the article was published.  On May 10, 2013, the Cronut ™ was born.  There were customers waiting outside the little bakery, lined up to sample the delectable baked good they’d read about.

By the end of the week, the line outside Dominique Ansel Bakery was one hundred people long.  People stood in line to sample the Cronut ™ they’d heard about from their friends.  And they didn’t just buy one Cronut ™; they bought lots of them – as well as all of the other unique, handmade pastries the shop produces.

Now the Dominique Ansel Bakery is a small business.  They don’t have a big marketing department who dreamed up the Cronut™ as a publicity stunt.  They simply embrace the creativity inherent in baking, and word of mouth pulls customers from all over the world into the little shop.  It’s organic.  It’s natural.  It’s the power of word of mouth.

Another great example of a company whose customers are ardent fans is a well known jewelry store (whose name I can’t share with you.)  Their policy for purchases of engagement rings is pure genius.  A couple selects a ring – say a diamond of one full carat.  The jewelry store has a secret upgrade policy, and they supply the client with a stone that’s just a little larger than the one they paid for.  When customers take their one carat ring to an appraiser, they discover that it’s a carat-and-a-quarter.  The customer – stunned at having received more than they paid for – returns to the jewelry store, at which point the jeweler thanks them for their business, tells them about the secret upgrade, and – here’s the genius part – asks the customer not to tell anyone about the secret upgrade.

But the customer does tell.  The customer tells everyone he can think of about the spectacular customer service he received and about the exceptional value the jeweler provided.  That customer ropes in hundreds more customers, and the jewelry store doesn’t do anything except make customers happy and wait for new customers to pour in.  It’s brilliant.

So we know small businesses can make a splash by capitalizing on their fans and encouraging satisfied customers to tell all their friends.  But what about larger businesses – say the size of FedEx?  As it turns out, even behemoths can benefit from getting customers to chatter about them – even if the topic of discussion is something relatively minor – like the company logo.  It turns out that embedded in FedEx’s logo is a neat little “secret.”  Once you see it, you won’t ever be able to see a FedEx package or truck without thinking about it.  There’s an arrow in the logo – a perfectly appropriate little symbol for a company that moves things from one place to another, and that arrow generates more interest than you’d think.  Once you know it’s there, you’ll find yourself pointing it out to other people, who, in turn, do the same for their friends.

Think about it – an arrow in a logo generates chatter.  Simple, logical, genius.

Whether customers are sharing a Cronut ™ with a friend, or whether they’re swearing a coworker to secrecy about the jewelry store secret upgrade they swore not to divulge, if you can get your customers talking about you, your company, and your brand, then you’re starting a marketing trend that can not only become self-sustaining, but can also bring more customers than you’d ever dreamed of – right to your door.

Episode 119: Unveiling the Brain with Roger Dooley

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Show Summary

Roger Dooley joins us again to talk about understanding the way our brains work in order to make the best decisions for your business. Welcome to Episode 119 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Roger Dooley is a speaker and author of Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing, the popular blog Neuromarketing, and Brainy Marketing at Forbes.

He is the founder of Dooley Direct, a marketing consultancy, and co-founded College Confidential, the leading college-bound website. That business was acquired by Hobsons, a unit of UK-based DMGT, where Dooley served as VP Digital Marketing and continues in a consulting role.

Dooley spent years in direct marketing as the co-founder of a successful catalog firm and also was director of corporate planning for a Fortune 1000 company. He has an engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Guest Links

Website: http://rogerdooley.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dooley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roger.dooley

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/rogerdooley

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RogerDooley

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Podcast 119: Unveiling the Brain with Roger Dooley

Also Available On











Show Summary

Roger Dooley joins us again to talk about understanding the way our brains work in order to make the best decisions for your business. Welcome to Episode 119 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Roger Dooley is a speaker and author of Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing, the popular blog Neuromarketing, and Brainy Marketing at Forbes.

He is the founder of Dooley Direct, a marketing consultancy, and co-founded College Confidential, the leading college-bound website. That business was acquired by Hobsons, a unit of UK-based DMGT, where Dooley served as VP Digital Marketing and continues in a consulting role.

Dooley spent years in direct marketing as the co-founder of a successful catalog firm and also was director of corporate planning for a Fortune 1000 company. He has an engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Guest Links

Website: http://rogerdooley.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dooley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roger.dooley

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/rogerdooley

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RogerDooley

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Problem? Respond Quickly And Prepare Them For The Worst

I’m in New Orleans (Gnaw Leans, if you are a local) as I write this. I decided to get an early start before I head out to the airport. I fired-up the in-room coffee, and turned on the shower. The only steam came from the coffee machine.

The shower was cold as ice. I turned the dial. The shower sputtered. A few ice cubes fell out.  I called the front desk and they said that the boiler broke last night, that there was no hot water. They said they should have it fixed within an hour. It’s now three hours later and a small iceberg is forming in my bathroom.

Before you think I am a total Diva, I completely understand that the lack of hot water is totally a first world problem. I still took the ice shower, and I am grateful that I even had water. Now let me get my Diva on. The hotel missed a major opportunity.

Boilers break. Problems happen. But when a customer discovers a problem before you notify them, it gets amplified by a hundredfold. The essence of customer service is addressing problems before the customer ever experiences it, or (worst case) revealing the problem to the customer before the customer discovers it on their own.

Here’s what the hotel should have done: The second the boiler broke, they should have prepared an apology note and slide it under the door of every guest. The note should have explained the problem, explained the action they were taking to fix it, and they should have promised the worst case resolution.

For example, the hotel should have told customers that they were sorry and working on having the boiler replaced and that hot water will be back within 24 hours (even if they are confident they could fix it in 10 hours). Then, they should have arranged an alternative solution, like offering a temporary room at a nearby hotel for any guest requesting warm water. Then when they fix the hot water problem (since it will likely be fixed in less than 24 hours), they should have announced that they fixed the problem ahead of schedule.

When problems occur, and they will, notify customers immediately and use the always effective under promise, over deliver method of customer service. Promise the worst case, and when you beat it (and you usually will), you will come out the winner in a very difficult situation.

Superhero Thoughts

When you were a child, you believed in superhero thoughts.

You believed you could create your own Spider Man web wrist launchers, swing from building to building, and fly tree to tree.

You believed you could build your own Wonder Woman invisible jet, deflect bullets with your bracelets, and get people speaking the truth once you lassoed them.

You believed one day you could be as strong as The Thing and crush stone with your fist.

So, you strapped on your Underoos, grabbed the necessary supplies (glue, tape, and sticks), and got to work. You made process. But it’s too bad your birthdays made faster progress than your superhero thoughts. You never finished making your web spinner, invisible jet, or stone crusher because one day your mind said it’s impossible, it’s childish. One day you became an adult.

But a few people, thank God, resist becoming adults. They made the invisible jet and called it “stealth.” They made the web to fly from tree to tree and called it “ziplines.” They made a truth lasso and called it “a martini.” And yes the bullet deflector (Kevlar) and rock crusher (dynamite) exist too. They just kept their child’s mind.

You still have superhero thoughts, but you’re pushing them away as impossible, as childish. Let your mind go free again. Go back to the way you were, right out of the box.