Tim Bursch

A few things I notice about businesses that are thriving today:

• Transparency- dropping the walls of corporate facade and engaging directly with customers
• Trust- giving people (customers and employees) freedom to make the right choice
• Gratitude- taking time to thank each customer for their trust and business
• Focus- investing their time, energy, and resources in what they do best

What would you add?

Photo by: Orin Zebest

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I was in a meeting this week and the presenters forgot to take the temperature. It was a demo/sales meeting. We were the potential customer.
They talked. And talked. And talked some more. I think I remember about 3 questions and a lot of irrelevant information.

The thing about selling and meetings is that you need to check the room. It’s about the other person not the presentation.

I have a few ideas on taking the temp:
-Look up. You know, don’t rely on your powerpoint or sales sheets.
-Notice the body language. Are people crossing their arms?
-Check for understanding and tracking. Does this make sense? What do you think?
-Ask more questions and shut up.

Been to any good meetings lately?

Tags: meetings.

Eat at Joe’s. Buy now. Turn Here. Fill up. Action words, telling me to do something.

Wanna get away? What’s in your wallet? Asking.

Is one better? I know there is a psychology behind both and each style works. Are you telling customers to do something or asking them to join your tribe?

I lean towards asking a question, mostly to start a conversation.

What do you think?

Image by: timparkinson

Tags: advertising.

I was listening to My Side of the Mountain in the car with my kids. If you don’t know the story, it’s about a boy that learns how to live in the mountains by himself.

One part of the story reminded me of the need for systems. The scene from his journal starts with something like this … boy gets hungry and it takes work to find food. Then he’s tired from all the searching but he doesn’t have a place to sleep. So he works on making a shelter and then he’s hungry again and so on. In his journal he wonders how prehistoric people got anything done! So the story continues on with him figuring out some daily systems and tools.

I think the same goes for business. You go looking for new business (hunting), working hard and getting tired along with finding business for today. Then a few leads come in and you’re overwhelmed. Same story of reaction until you do the hard work of creating a system.

Here’s the rub though, it takes extra time and energy to build the process while doing the daily work, but work that will pay off.

What part of your business is in reaction mode? What could you create to ease the pain? Any ideas to share?

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Have you ever been sailing? It’s awesome. I’ve been to the Apostle Islands twice. Amazing.

One thing that I learned was you have to be attentive to the wind. You watch the water and the sky for where the wind is going. You listen for what angle you’re going into the wind. That whole sailing-directly-into-the-wind-thing still puzzles me. But it makes complete sense too. It seems like we went faster sailing at a slight edge into the wind.

What about resistance in life and work? It’s hard to move towards and yet it might be the best path.

In his new book, Linchpin, Seth Godin says to use resistance as a weather vane:

“When you feel the resistance, the stall, the fear, the pull, you know you’re onto something. Whichever way the wind of resistance is coming from, that’s the way to head–directly into the resistance.” (131)

Are you being attentive to the wind? Is it something to head towards?

Tags: linchpin, resistance.

I took my kids (son and daughter) sledding the other day. We are getting slammed with snow here in Minnesota. We were at a popular hill, and it was busy.

Here’s what I noticed: My kids make friends. They invited other kids to join them. Pretty soon they had a whole group sledding together, cheering each other on. I know it’s so simple, but I think this translates to social media (and business).

Rules for social media from my kids:
Be social. Ask people questions. Be friendly.
Be helpful. It’s not all about us.
Be inclusive. Invite others (yes even strangers) into your circle.
Be an idea person. Share your ideas. Collaborate.

Think back to the playground, or watch your kids, what would you add?

Image by: Clearly Ambiguous

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We watch the Superbowl most years. Usually to eat and hang out with family and friends. And the commercials.

We screen them for our kids and I asked what they liked best: Doritos. (2 years running)

Why: “They’re funny dad!” My kids tell the story of the Doritos commercials over and over. My kids are teaching me the simplicity of marketing.

• Tell a good story

• Be memorable. Don’t do something average. Throw things. Go crazy.

• Have fun. Business is serious enough, let’s have more fun.

What was your favorite ad and why?

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This is my story for #FAILweek. How to Fail. Don’t Plan.

The State: I was working with a partner in the investment business. Big dreams. Lots of ideas. We were targeting clinics and hospitals for new clients. Our project was a big conference down south at a hotel/casino. I was responsible for marketing and running our booth. Our goal was to find (big) clients and build relationships. I was hopeful that running a golf contest (Doctors like golf right) would work.

The Fireball: I walked away with one or two leads. Boom!

The 3 main reasons I failed:

1. I didn’t have a good plan. It was generic.
2. I wasn’t offering anything of value to prospects. Except golf balls.
3. I didn’t engage with people where they were. The potential clients were there for education. I stayed at the booth.

The Lesson: Looking back it’s pretty obvious. I got zero results because I didn’t have a plan. I am learning more and more to start at the goal and work backwards. Break the big mountain into small hills. I also learned to bring something of value to a prospect. It could have been a resource or a connection.

Failure is not fun, but I’m slowly learning that it’s part of being human.

Have a story about failure? Add yours to the comments. Or head over to #FAILweek.

Image by: PhotoDu.de

Tags: fail, plan.

A friend was recently telling me about a restaurant chain that has over 1 million customers in their email database. Granted they are a decent-sized chain, but that’s a lot of permission.

Here’s how they get permission: At the end of the meal the server intentionally asks the guests if they would like to join their newsletter. You get a free appetizer next time, something on your birthday, and…you get the point. Who says no? I have not been to this chain in a awhile, but I bet the servers are trained to frame a positive response question.

Big deal, they have people’s email address and are giving away free stuff. Actually that list is like gold. Why? People gave permission for that restaurant to market to them. Email is still the most shared medium. Targeted marketing. You can send a coupon to men a week before Valentine’s Day.

I think there a few ideas to borrow from this restaurant:

1. Just ask. Ask every person that walks into your store, visits your site, or becomes a fan on your Facebook page.
2. Get the whole store involved. Create an easy question and process that everyone can jump on board with.
3. Give to get. Offer some value for joining your list/e-club/newsletter. What do I get for joining?

Do you have a list? Do you have a process in your business for asking people to join your tribe? What’s working?

Image by: drcornelius

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If you need to find a business, do you call or look online? I look online.

I recently filled out two web forms. I waited a few days because it was the weekend and I wanted to at least give them the benefit of a doubt. Still waiting. No response.

So, why would you have a door to you company that no one answers? It is like having a phone with your voicemail not set-up. Please don’t put something out there unless you are going to cover it. Same could apply to Twitter or an email newsletter. Do you have a sign-up form, but only deliver content sporadically?

I know I don’t always call or email people back immediately. That’s not the point. The point is coverage. If you offer a customer a connection point, cover it.
Here are some ideas for consistent coverage:
-One person owns the online entrances
-Rotate the weekend coverage (we don’t want to wait two days or we’re going somewhere else)
-If you have an autoresponse, set realistic expectations and follow though

What would you add? How do you cover your connection points?

Image by: madmolecule

Tags: contacts, online, web.