Jun 1

Easy on the eye

Posted in Uncategorized

I was talking to a friend the other day about an internal communication he had that had a bad font. Bad, meaning it didn’t look like any other font the company used. It was just an odd font. Sometimes people send me things with a size 8 font, which is waaay too small for me to see comfortably, especially in certain font styles.

A bad font is bad communication. Choose carefully so people will read what you write and pay attention to you. If it’s business, don’t use a cartoony, all caps or crazy one. It’s distracting, and if I don’t know you, I’ll just ignore it if I can’t read it.

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May 30

Are your processes stale?

Posted in Communication, Customer relations

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of doing something a certain way because that’s how it’s always been done. It’s comfortable, but is it really safe? It may feel safe, when in fact you’re going the way of the dinosaur. Whether it is a customer treatment process, sales presentation process or anything else, it’s worth keeping up with what others are doing.

Is another company doing something different that’s setting them apart from the competition? If so, that company may be taking business away from you. It’s worth it to evaluate your processes once in awhile and ask if they could use a few changes and freshening up.

 

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May 24

Change? What change?

Posted in Communication, Dealer communications, Employees, Internal branding, Marketing, Sales, Teamwork

I have been reading about agency compensation changing, consumer prices staying higher and other stories about how the world and business are changing. This is often framed around the idea of business survival. Change, of course, is inevitable. However, not all businesses react to change in the same way.

Changing your business plan or products can be a good thing. Often, the missing piece is how that change  is communicated through the sales channel. We all know for change to be accepted, it must be understood, especially where people’s livelihoods are concerned, but businesses will often announce changes without explaining them upfront to employees, dealers, distributors and reps. And these are the very people who ensure success or failure. If they don’t get it, they just sell another company’s products instead.

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May 23

It’s the story

Posted in Branding, Communication, Customer relations

I had the pleasure of eating at Mattie’s Diner in Charlotte, NC earlier this week. Mattie’s is housed in a dining car built in the 1940′s. The owners wanted to start a restaurant and fell in love with a dining car that fed diners in New Jersey for decades. Their journey to find the car, restore it, and move it down south is interesting and makes the dining experience that much more pleasurable, and you can’t help but get caught up in their passion for good food and atmosphere.

We found Mattie’s on accident–just driving by. But when we saw the charming dining car, we had to stop. The food was wonderful, but while reading the menu and the  history of the car and the current owners, the food somehow became that much more enjoyable. Looking around the car and seeing the woodwork, tile and craftsmanship, it made the occasional dings and imperfections that time and use had given it seem special.

What’s your story? What makes your company more interesting and fun to work with? If you don’t share it with customers, I recommend you do. It makes your company more human and adds to the appreciation of your work and your credibility.

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May 15

Giving negativity a rest

Posted in Communication, Employees, Teamwork

I recently read an article about how to stay motivated at work and one of the tips was to neutralize negative triggers. If you’re stuck in traffic and going to be late for a meeting or other appointment, you can either decide to add to your problem by not only being late, but also being frustrated and in a bad mood, or you can use your extra time to come up with a damage control strategy to address your tardiness. There’s definitely some benefit to staying positive. Ever been around a friend, family member or coworker who’s always negative about everything? It’s exhausting to be around that all the time and probably even more exhausting for the person expelling all that negativity.

 

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May 14

What are Mondays to you?

Posted in Uncategorized

Remember the Garfield cartoon and how he hated Mondays? Instead of Friday the 13th, he dreaded Monday the 13th.

Mondays are either the best or worst part of your week.  When Monday comes, are you laying in bed, hitting the snooze button to postpone getting to work? Or, are you jumping out of bed five minutes before the alarm sounds because you are so excited to start your work week?

If you live in the former, find something that ignites your passion. You’ll be better at what you do and much, much happier. And then you’ll love Mondays and every other day of the week.

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May 9

Clarity

Posted in Uncategorized

I was at an event last week and a speaker was talking about the importance of clarity to an organization’s success.

Do you get it?

Does your team get it?

Do your dealers or reps get it?

Do your customers get it?

If so, then you have clarity. If not, make it clear. Otherwise, you’ll fail.

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May 8

Is it a good fit?

Posted in Communication

It’s a great thing when a customer says they want to do business with you. But depending on what industry you’re in, not every customer is a good fit. As tempting as it is to take the sale right away, it’s worth asking a few questions first. A good guide to use is IBM’s BANT sales qualification approach, which stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline. This is a good framework for the questions to ask when determining whether a customer is a good fit for your business. Can the customer afford your product or service? Does the customer have the authority to make the purchase? Does your product or service really fit the customer’s needs? Can you produce what the customer needs within the time he or she needs it? Better to ask these questions upfront, before you get too far into it and realize one of these key elements is going to throw off the whole business.

 

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May 7

Will you commit to it?

Posted in Uncategorized

I once heard someone say, “Americans will do anything to lose weight except diet and exercise.” Which is funny, because we know that is the way to lose weight. But, like in business, what seems like a good idea in theory and what we are actually willing to commit to do can be two very different things.

If an idea sounds really good and you immediately say to yourself, “…but it will never work.” Or, “…but it will take too much time, effort, etc.” Then the idea may very well be good but you won’t commit to it. If you can overcome your internal objections, and you know the idea will work, then commit to make the change.  That’s the only way anything will work.

There is no silver bullet or magic pill in business or in dieting.

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May 3

Can’t handle me

Posted in Communication, Customer relations, Dealer communications

Flo Rida says it (or sings it) best,  “You know I know how to make’em stop and stare as I zone out. The club can’t even handle me right now. Watchin’ you watchin’ me, I go all out.” Stay with me…

Communication, whether on the sales floor or on the dance floor, needs to be conducted with confidence, grab the audience’s attention and allow you to do your thing.  People are only watching if you’re doing it really well or really bad. No one’s watching if you’re boring.

At LaBov & Beyond, we are all about passion, bravery and joy–being passionate about what we do, brave enough to try something new, and having joy when we succeed. That joyous celebration leads to more passion, bravery and confidence.

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