Notes from the Hive (Entries tagged as Business)

Transparency – A Leadership Trait

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:49:18 -0700

When I think about those in business I want to learn from and admire most, I realize it isn’t about how big their company is or what they created or discovered. The common traits that catch my attention are generosity and humility as characteristics I find most appealing.

Great thinkers and determined innovators are certainly worth paying attention to but they may not whom I admire.

The internet has changed the world in so many ways that I dare not attempt to cover them all in this post but what I do want to point out is how it has changed marketing and movie stars.

I lump these two very different entities into one sentence because there is almost no difference today. For the first time in our history, there is a wide range of CEOs, from large companies and small, that have as much star power if not more than most movie stars.

You may have read about a CEO in the business section of a newspaper in the past but more than likely you saw a movie star bigger than life across the silver screen acting in some role that either you identified with or romanticized about. Today, CEOs can take on that same power and build their brands through digital stardom.

Between Youtube, Digital News, blogging and micro blogging, news travels fast and everyone is fair game for exploration and exploitation. The bottom line is that your life is revealed on line with or without you.

As I speak with clients, prospects and audiences about reputation management and social media marketing, sometimes it rings a bell with them and some run for cover. And just so you know, with the Internet in play, there is no cover.

Only revealing the polished version is what holds respect and admiration is a bygone belief. Allow me to share two examples of individuals I consider well worth admiring.

Last week I ran into two individuals at the New York Enterprise Best Advisors Awards event.

Norm Brodsky is not only a successful business man, he is also a best selling author of The Knack and a regular contributor to Inc. magazine with his column Street Smarts. Just before he got up to address the audience at WIBO’s Annual Awards Event, a cap on one of his front teeth fell out. He could have feigned illness and left quickly but instead he chose to stand up and make the best of it. My admiration for this man quickly magnified. He not only shared his challenge but wove it beautifully into demonstrating the meaning in his speech and sprinkled in humor fueled by humility. This made him more lovable to the audience and was a picture perfect example of Grace Under Fire. I was never more motivated than I was that evening. I knew right then and there that what was important to this man was not how he was perceived but what he contributed. This is someone I want to learn from – this is someone I admire and could trust.

A little later that same evening I ran into another individual whom I admire and respect, Matt Weiss. Matt is a successful lawyer who has embraced social media. I believe initially he engaged social media to grow his business, and as a leader in EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) to connect, share, and learn. Matt blogs regularly and some of his posts were inspired by being a father (getting to movies like Toy Story 3 and making the connection to best business practices) and a more controversial post on getting a colonoscopy. Both posts demonstrate fresh thinking and a commitment to being true to himself.

A lawyer discussing a child’s movie and a medical procedure might seem unprofessional to some, but these posts earn him greater respect and admiration. When you decide on who you would want as your lawyer, having someone who communicates that they are in touch with the same world we live in and is open to share challenges in a positive light, well this would be my lawyer of choice.

Why? He demonstrates two key characteristics through his blog posts. First he ‘gets it’ and isn’t that nine-tenths the challenge when we want to communicate an issue or concern and second he reveals himself with honor and integrity.

Now, if only I needed a lawyer.

If you are a CEO or entrepreneur who is in hiding from the world or keeps their company under the digital radar, the only question that comes to mind is just what are you hiding? Are your services or products sub par? Is your company being run poorly? Are you the type of person only your mother could love?

No company is perfect and no human beyond reproach. So if you are committed to being a good business citizen and have some redeeming qualities, you might want to share those so that when there is a mistake or a problem you have a platform to move through it and earn back what ever you may have lost or are at risk of losing.

Get on board, be real, be transparent and lead the way.

That's Interesting

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:41:34 -0700

No, I have not changed my career path from design and marketing to arm chair therapy, and bearing my soul isn’t something I do easily, and revealing my weaknesses is something I am even less likely to share. But alas, as I continue to learn my lessons, some not for the first time, I have to believe that I am not alone in the ongoing journey for continuous improvement. My business can’t get better unless I get better or get out of the way when I am not at my best.

I have had some incidents in the last few months that brought this all to light and although they were weaknesses or flaws I thought I had overcome years ago I forgot to keep working on them and so they grew back like ugly warts.

EGO. We all have one. Some of us have a little one that lurks in the background, some of us have monster sized egos that run in front of us like body guards on steroids, and others have ones that are napping, waiting for a moment when you are weak to awaken and get back in charge.

I started off with the monster-sized ego and over the years trained it to be a napping or lurking ego. I got lulled into believing that I had my ego in check. Unfortunately, without realizing it my ego quietly woke up and started out pacing my common sense. Why is that a problem? Well when you react emotionally in a situation all you stand to win is the argument, at least in your mind. You lose everything else – including the prospect, a happy client or a chance at moving forward. I’m right can only mean that they are wrong and as Kierkegaard so brilliantly observed, “you can only change someone’s mind from their point of view.”

FEAR AND ANXIETY. We all have moments or phases where we are running on fear and living with anxiety. This is another one of those areas where I know it is a force of human nature and I don’t believe anyone lives without some mixture of the two. The key is what you do with that emotional baggage. If your decisions, or lack of decisions come from fear then chances are they are not good decisions. If your fear and anxiety are motivating you to move forward and using that energy in a positive way then this could be a good thing.

However, sitting and stewing with your fear and anxiety makes for muddled communications with clients and prospects. I avoid confrontation as a general rule as it makes me uncomfortable that I might not react rationally or be smart about my responses. So of late I began sitting on some issues and what resulted were some emails that should have never been written, words that were out of context and tone that was misinterpreted. By allowing the anxiety to grow it became out of proportion and the best way to address issues got lost in the ego monster’s animalistic survival rather than the rational, proactive, compassionate and positive communication. I have pissed off some people and now have to fix that.

What? Like you have none of these challenges? I am fortunate enough to have a dear friend and colleague that I can run things by to get a read or simply get the coaching I need to save me from myself. But at times I forget to check in or feel guilty about using up his valuable time. I am putting other stopgap measures in place now. For one – I am remembering what a wise coach once taught me; always respond with “that’s interesting”. That was some of the greatest advice I ever got. This response does so many things. First it gives you some time and space to sort out your thoughts versus your ego’s reactions. Second it opens the topic to a conversation first avoiding judgment and second avoiding a challenge to the other party. The third thing it does is preface moving forward with an opportunity to ask questions rather than state facts and issues – just in case you are completely off base. And that in of itself is critical because, well isn’t it interesting that when we ‘assume’ what the issue is, we make an ass – out of – u – and me.

And so now I go back to work, and with old lessons relearned – some the hard way – I have another day and another chance to do it better the next time and even better than that the time after. Learning to think and act differently isn’t something you learn and becomes a natural skill even though some people appear to have these naturally, it really does take consistent work, continually evaluating your behaviors and actions and finding ways to improve each and every time.

And so if I continue to improve, my business will continue to improve. My staff will be happier, my clients more satisfied, my prospects more willing to move forward, my vendors more anxious to serve and what can be better than that?

When Bad Reviews Are Good News

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:47:24 -0700

Recently a client emailed me a link to a Google review that was several months old and less than flattering to their firm. You could sense the anxiety and fear in the tone and the seemingly simple question, “can you make this go away?”

So how can a bad review possibly be good news? No I haven’t lost my mind – at least not entirely. What this does it put a sense of urgency and a dose of reality that what is in fact happening on the internet today effects everyone. Companies that are taking their time to dive in should take note. Even if you don’t have a plan or strategy in place to engage in social media it is time to recognize that millions upon millions of people are and one is bound to be a customer of yours.

That being said, no company in the history of man is perfect. There are system, service and product failures and this is normal – as long as they are not the ‘norm’ for the company. It isn’t that you never make a mistake or have a bad product or customer service is asleep at their desk, it is how you respond.
A tweet here or there, a review in one place or the other picked up immediately can be a early warning alarm that something has gone wrong in your operation. It could be a single episode or worse the beginning of a pattern and either way requires your prompt attention.

As far as the disgruntled consumer or client goes – the faster you respond the more likely they are to either remove the post or update it with a satisfied review. People are usually realistic and more often than not, are understanding. They want to know that they matter and that you care – you heard them and you responded. The faster you respond, the better they feel. Don’t make excuses or blame someone else – find out what will make the situation right or what can you offer to compensate for their pain? You need to find a way to let them know they matter. Yes there are chronic complainers and just some evildoers in the world and there are ways to address that as well.

At the end of the day take note: if you are not listening and watching your brand and your reputation is at the mercy of anyone and everyone. If you aren’t ready to tweet, fan, follow and blog (and I still can’t think of a reason not to do these things) then at least make sure that you have your alerts set to listen for mumblings, good or bad and make the most of them. You might even have a band of fans out there who are feeling a bit unappreciated and that too is a missed opportunity or worse the beginnings of a soured relationship.

Tip #1: go to www.google.com/alerts and start using their free service to email you as soon as your company’s name appears anywhere.
Tip #2: if you don't already have one, then open a Twitter account so that you can at least use something like Tweetdeck to search for tweets that use your company’s name.
Tip #3: make it a priority or someone’s job to go to Yelp and socialmention everyday to search your company’s name.
Tip #4: consider having every order filled, every service provider or however your customer is ‘touched’ be accompanied with a simple card that says SERVICE EMISSARY – PLEASE CALL (PHONE NUMBER) OR EMAIL (EMAIL ADDRESS) IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS – WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS. And make sure that the person on the end of that phone and email know that it is a crisis management hotline.
Tip #5: have a response team or plan in place to respond appropriately and swiftly to what ever the complaints are and that they have some latitude with resolution offers.

Protect what you have worked so hard to build and improve improve improve at every step of your company’s development. Your customer’s are your best advisors as to how well you are doing.

And for those of you who are just discovering a bad review that is months or years old, I can suggest that you start a campaign to get customers to add great reviews, this will accomplish two things. First it will bury the bad review, and second it will positively increase your search rankings.

Your thoughts? Suggestions? Please feel free to make some comments and share your experience.

The Experience

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:49:12 -0700

When we engage with prospects and clients what it really comes down to is the experience. We pay so much attention to the marketing, the website design, the brochures and yet, what about the actual experience?

We hear and read stories about extraordinary, over the top customer service that explains how some companies grow to mega businesses. The amazing story of ZAPPOS or the over the top customer service and experience at Disney, and we nod our heads because we have either experienced it or we nod our heads as a barrier thinking that this doesn’t relate to our business.

Each business has a culture, a personality, a structure, a process, and a channel. How often do we review the interactions that any outsider would experience when encountering our companies? From initial contact to the collection call… every touch is an experience.

This came alive for me as I am still relishing the amazing meal I had last week while in Tampa on business. Part of my time away I was evaluating our price structure, our service offerings and other aspects of our company as we move forward in 2010. Taking an evening break, I went to the famed steak house Bern’s. I knew I would get a great meal and heard they had an outstanding wine collection so I was psyched to have a treat. What I had instead was a dining experience. A real dining experience that took nearly 5 hours.

Yes it was expensive and depending on the bottle of wine ordered or the country or origin for the caviar you might select you could control the amount of the total tab but once you are caught up in the experience, well reason might just go out the window. The waiter was more like a guide than a salesman or waiter, his attentiveness to answer questions and offer assistance guiding you through a wine list that reads like the novel War & Peace, was helpful. The wines ranged in price from $45 a bottle to $10,000 and up a bottle so there was plenty of room to satisfy anyone’s pallet and pocket. There was no selling, no up grading, no promoting of side dishes. Instead there was an engaging conversation that allowed the waiter to uncover our particular tastes, appetite and of course spend level comfort zone and then he made some recommendations accordingly. He got to know us and therefore tailored his suggestions to meet our desires.

Beyond the table experience, we were offered and we took part in a tour of the kitchen and of course the wine cellar. The wine cellar holds one of the largest collections of wine in the world ranging from some of the more familiar to some of the rarest. Row after row, floor to ceiling we were guided toward some of the more interesting bottles.

Once the tour ended and our after dinner stroll through the kitchen and wine cellar we built up the desire to experience even more. So we were escorted to their desert room upstairs. Here there is a maze of private alcoves built out of wine casks, to sip exotic coffees, ports, sherries while experiencing the most decadent of deserts.

Five hours later, a bill that could have paid for a weekend vacation including airfare, we did not have a moment’s regret. The experience had been well thought out, orchestrated, rehearsed and perfected from beginning to end and all designed to take you from a good meal, priced accordingly to an experience unlike any other you might have known and a price tag to match.

The receptionist, waiter, table staff, tour guides all of them knew the history and story of the restaurant and even after a long hard evening of work, each played their role with a sense of personal pride that conveyed that they knew that they were a part of something very special and wanted to share that with others.

I came to several conclusions after this experience. First no matter how creative our designs and marketing strategies are, if our client’s aren’t creating an amazing experience – well we might be able to get them in the door but it is up to them to keep them. If our client’s don’t have an amazing experience with us then will they contract us for more, rave and promote us to their colleagues? And of course, what makes an experience with us different from our competitors? How will prospects know that they have engaged with something very special and want our team to be a part of their team? What are we leaving to chance?

Time to think about the experience of doing business with your company. How do you make it so extraordinary that prospects can’t wait to engage and customers can’t think to negotiate price or shop elsewhere?

We’d love to hear from you about what you are doing in your company and how you have experienced ours.

Chris Brogan and Peter Shankman

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:33:38 -0700

One evening, two great Social Media Marketing talents. This past Thursday night I was privileged to be a guest at EO24 where Chris Brogan and Peter Shankman sat in overstuffed living room styled chairs and spoke to a group of entrepreneurs from NY’s Chapter of EO.

Chris and Peter have such different styles that at first I was surprised to see them together but they worked really well with one another. It was apparent that they trusted and respected one another and I can only assume that they know each other personally as well. Chris is Mr. Mellow and Peter is – well, Peter is Mr. Hyper, both are polite and considerate, both have a wonderful sense of humor and generous mindsets, and both are icons to everyone in the Social Media Marketing and PR worlds.

Chris’s recent book co authored by Julien Smith, TRUST AGENTS is one that I put on the must read list months ago. I have given this book out to clients, prospects and attendees at my workshops. Social Media is so misunderstood and misused and this book is one of the best that I have read that delivers the message that the key ingredient to Social Media – is the SOCIAL! If misused as a broadcast system, you are sure to be frustrated with lackluster results and can even risk being shut out all together.

Some of the highlights or key points that they drove home last night are:

GROW BIGGER EARS. You should be listening to what is being said about your company, your competitors, your clients, and your industry. Peter shared a story about being stranded on a Delta flight and although he tweeted continually, called and reached out, no one from Delta was listening or concerned. However, Southwest contacted him and got a bus over to move the passengers to their flights and honored their tickets. So who do you think all of those passengers are going to book flights with next?

GIVE FIRST. Chris and Peter both encouraged that you give first and give value. If you want to attract attention your generosity needs to be real. Helping others is an open invitation to engage and build trust.
FORGET B2B or B2C. This is about people, not companies. Be a person, talk to people. It is people that make decisions not companies.

RESPOND. If you are listening, and people reach out to you, you need to respond. Developing relationships requires dialogue. Be polite, be real, and be gracious.

WE ARE ALL CITIZEN JOURNALISTS. Peter used this term and it is a powerful message. News is now transmitted instantly by pedestrians and product and service reviews are instantly generated by customers. Are you listening?

These are just some of the key notes from last night. To learn more – read the book TRUST AGENTS. I promise you it will be worth the read.

Invite A Devil's Advocate

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:54:53 -0700

I am making a bit of a departure here by writing a book review, but I found this book thought provoking and an opportunity to do some self evaluation. I just finished reading the book Sway:The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman.

When you are discussing and reviewing the actions of leaders, managers, clients, friends or family and the thought that their choice or decision defies logic, reading this book offers some insight into what drives people and the choices they make. It is a relatively fast and easy read and you don’t have to have a science or psychiatric degree to understand the theories they discuss.

There are interesting insights and examples to demonstrate behaviors and choices that we have all experienced and exhibited. The idea that I can reflect on some of my own choices and instead of only thinking ‘well that is just the way it is’ or ‘I don’t know, I had to go with my gut on that one’ there is an opportunity here to look back and really understand what was going on. Sometimes the wrong choices and actions can’t be helped and sometimes there is not a win-win resolve as a situation evolves but understanding how one has arrived in that state can be helpful toward improving your overall choices and decisions.

As managers or business owners, we are constantly making decisions and choices whether it is who we are hiring, what vendor we are selecting, and in what direction we are going to move our company. Understanding how we make decisions is helpful and this book offers insight on all of these topics.

Gaining an understanding how others make decisions is invaluable as we sell, manage clients and our staff.

The greatest take-away for me from this book is their discussion on research that shows that groups make better decisions when there is a “blocker” or a nay-sayer participating. Not that the concept of a devil’s advocate is anything new, but having experimental data to support the value makes me think that I need to be more open to encouraging this type of person in the mix. I know at times it has been my role and so now I feel better about myself as well.

This book won't take up a lot of your time and is well worth the read. Afterward, come back to this blog post and let me know your thoughts!

Don’t Throw the Baby Out With The Bath Water

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:55:53 -0700

This past week I went to an event hosted by The New York Enterprise Report where John DiJulius spoke. John is the author of Secret Service Hidden Systems That Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service and What’s The Secret? To Providing World-Class Customer Service. Both books well worth reading, and by the way he is a fabulous public speaker. At the close of John’s presentation he opened up to take questions from the audience. There were several good questions but one in particular made my jaw drop just a bit was, and I am paraphrasing here, how do you have a world-class service organization and get rid of the smaller unprofitable customers?

To be honest with you, I don’t recall John’s answer. Maybe he was as thrown as I was but maybe my ears were just hurting and so it took awhile for me to hear again. Kind of like getting a light bulb flash in your eyes and your vision goes for a few moments. Well, if you have read my blogs you know I have addressed how to move out clients that need to be moved out. Yes, you should move out clients that don’t pay, haggle you for every nickel and dime, demand more and more and are continually rude to your staff. Ok, so maybe the gentleman who asked the question meant more like these types of clients and not just the smaller ones. And please feel free to go back to my article Should You Fire a Customer? for some suggestions.

But, if the client’s only failing is that they are small, then stop before you boot them out the door. I must say that I am always peeved when I am treated as ‘small’ and makes me think twice about doing business with or referring the provider who makes me feel small. I understand volume discounts, economy of scale and so on but I don’t understand professional snobbery that often times comes with it. I confess that I am more prone to take my business to other smaller businesses that appreciate my trade.

So what is the value of a smaller, less profitable client? Allow me to share with you what I have found over the years. If the smaller client is not sucking the life blood out of your staff or draining resources or making life miserable then they are keepers. Why? Allow me to offer you some points to consider. I urge you to truly evaluate a customer before you choose to move them out of your life and discover ways to make the small account profitable. Understand their value and by this I mean their full value including life-cycle.

Cash flow. No matter how good your business is cash flow is a wild animal we chase every day. Keeping money flowing through the system is key to survival. There maybe times in between projects or even hard economic times when the cash flow is less predictable. If this smaller customer offers a steady, albeit small, stream of cash flow then their life-time value is far greater than the size of any one of their orders. There is comfort in knowing that every month and year after year that an amount of money will continue to flow through your coffers. It serves as a piece of the foundation of the health of your organization.

Training Ground. I sometimes use our smaller more senior accounts to train new hires to our way of doing business and with the skills that they need to grow. If you make a mistake with one of these accounts your ability to reach out and make good is much easier since you should have a longer history of great service and know the owner more personally and so have a better chance of a gracious acceptance of your mistake, as long as you make it right quickly.

Referral Base. A small company maybe small but each person in that small company knows someone else. Consider the opportunity that their vendors, clients and social contacts become an open ear to hear their recommendations and hence these smaller companies can become a referral base. The staff in these firms can move onto other companies and recommend your business to the new management. Hopefully, you have been a good provider and that small client lands a big client themselves and begins to grow and hence, you grow with them.

So before you throw the baby out with the bath water, check and double check that you are doing the right thing for your own organization’s health.

Do This and You Will Succeed

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:24:54 -0700

Great headline right? Isn’t that the gist of everything being printed and bantered about today? You might be getting an overload of information and sales pitches about what you need to do to survive this economic crisis. The rose color glasses are off and the Obama administration is saying that this is going to last for at least a year before it begins to improve.

So cut, slash, burn? No. Be smart, don’t panic and think things through. This is a good time to sit with your accountant and get cozy with the numbers that constitute your fixed and variable costs. Real cozy! Then at least a couple of times per week walk through every inch of space of your operation and observe, chances are you will find waste. Involve every member of the company to identify waste and provide suggestions for savings. Where ever there is a fixed number – see where it can be moved back. After all, your clients are probably asking for discounts from you – shouldn’t you be asking for discounts from your vendors? Renegotiate everything you can. Phone, electric, trash removal – don’t miss an invoice without examining closely. Then decide what to cut and where. Business pundits warn that if you are going to make cuts that you don’t diminish the quality of your service or products and that is really good advice.

Other sound advice offered by experts is that having a panic attack and dropping your price can do more damage then good as raising prices later will drive customers away and shrinking your margins may leave you paying for the privilege of servicing an account. Some suggestions they offer, and keep in mind that these suggestions work both ways – with your customers and your suppliers and vendors!

Short term discounts for longer term contracts. You don’t want to drop prices as it will be difficult to raise them again, so offer a special short term discount if they commit to an exclusive and longer term agreement. If contracts or agreements are not apart of your business model, the same tactic can still apply. Ask for more share of their business and provide a lower short term price structure in exchange. It is okay to lower your prices, but it has to be a win/win scenario with either a larger piece of the pie or a commitment of loyalty for long-term business.

Now for the fun part. What is your plan to replace lost revenue? No one wants to watch revenues and margins shrink waiting in hope that it will all pass soon. As entrepreneurs we are born of challenge, made from creativity and passion, so it is time to tap in and think it through again. You may have had dozens of great ideas before but were too busy to implement. Now, it is a necessity to implement innovation. A new service or expansion of an existing? Another option in your product matrix?

And now for my favorite topic: MARKETING. Some specialists say market heavily and others say cut back. I think it would be helpful to have a better understanding of what marketing is today, especially since it is very different than it was years ago. Advertising was marketing. Sales people were marketing and the objective focused on driving in new business.

Today, we don’t ‘market’ we ‘relate’ and that requires having a conversation. These conversations take place face-to-face, over the phone, text messages, IMing, tweeting, linked-in’ing, facebooking and so on. Everyone in your company is involved in these conversations. Marketing today is an on-going dialogue between your team and your customers and prospects. It is less expensive to maintain and grow a current account, and quicker I might add, then it is to bring in new business. A sensible tactic then would be to pay attention to your existing customers first – think of them as trees that need tending and watering in order to bear more fruit season after season.

If you plan to red-line your marketing and sales budget, think about redirecting for greater return. Examine every touch point in your company to customers and prospects and look to improve each and every one. Take a look at your website and see if it can deliver ‘ka-ching’. If it isn’t generating revenue and opportunity then it isn’t doing its job. (see previous post).

These and other ideas were stimulated from podcasts and articles that I recommend from the Open Forum from American Express. I recommend Wharton’s Marketing Professor Eric Bradlow.
And video interviews with Owner/Chef Tom Colicchio and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin.

Problems Are The Highest Opportunity

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:11:51 -0700

I just finished reading The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. Just finishing it, I can’t wait to start over again. The book subtitle is “The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life.

I am not a student of Buddha and I am not a practicing Monk, yet I have read many books on meditating, creating wealth and the latest genre of books that play off “The Secret”. I didn’t experience this book like the others, as this book felt more real and even attainable. I don’t wish to take anything away from the other books; however this particular book is practical in nature and builds from the experience of being in the working world. He eloquently relates the lessons to realistic examples and passes the teaching and lessons on through reality checks that most of us experience.

The major take away right now is his process to create the discipline of understanding how in fact Problems themselves are the highest opportunity we can have. “Problems are not problems from their own side; rather, there is something in our mind making you see the problem as a problem. Every problem can be turned into an opportunity, because no problem is a problem in and of itself.”

If this sounds like hogwash, think about the challenges that you face today. A downturned economy, a recession, depression or what ever the economists are calling our current state of affairs is a problem. And yet, there are thousands of small and large companies alike that are flourishing. Why is that? Because they have seen the challenge, accepted that there is change and adapted by creating opportunity. And trust me, there is a lot of opportunity out there.

The other aspect of this lesson is that getting upset and having major anxiety will not and does not accomplish anything positive, it might however make you physically ill. Roach recounts a famous verse from an ancient Indian Buddhist book that I would like to share:

If a situation can be fixed, Why get upset about it?

If a situation cannot be fixed, What’s the use of getting upset?

Actually, this proverb sounds like something my grandmother would have said in her heavy Russian accent, but the truth is that it is simply a gift in understanding. Understanding this concept that your anxiety and worry will accomplish nothing positive is critical to your shift toward success. It will more likely stifle your creativity, and in times like this, you are going to need a lot of creativity and energy.

So allow me to make a suggestion. Take a piece of paper and create two columns. If you are feeling particularly energized, create a second sheet, one for your business and one for your personal life. You will have two sheets of paper, each with two columns. On the left column, label this OPPORTUNITIES and begin a list of the challenges, or what you might be thinking are problems that you face in your company, and on the other sheet, the challenges or problems in your personal life.

Now on the second column to the right, label this ACTIONS. Actions are the things you can do to turn around a situation to the benefit of all involved. Creating success from each opportunity. Don’t expect to have all the answers right away, but keep these sheets with you and work it religiously. Take 15-20 minutes first thing in the morning, another 15-20 minutes over lunch and so on throughout the day for at least a week.

By labeling them as opportunities, your mind will slowly change its view of the issues and open the creativity flow to find the opportunity within each situation.

Lastly, email me some of your lists as I would love to see how this is working for you. And if you show me yours, I will show you mine!

It All Comes Down To Core Values

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:33:30 -0700

Today the environment is more challenging and everyone is talking about this topic. Even more so, seminars, webinars, conferences, white papers, and books are springing up all over the place to explore and offer solutions.

This blog post, coming from a design and marketing firm may appear to be blasphemy to my stock and trade but I do believe what I am about to share. It all comes down to your core values.

Advertising is no longer the end-all solution to increasing sales. Traditional advertising is too expensive and often perceived as an interruption. I am not preaching that all advertising should cease, however, I am suggesting that this should not be your only answer to survival and growth.

If not advertising, then what? Good question. First, go back and look at your organization’s core values. Really look at them. Are they meaningful to you personally and are they meaningful to those in your organization? If they are vague or lofty then maybe this is the starting point or the starting over point. I might suggest that you look at two of the most wildly current success stories for inspiration and clarity. First, the Obama campaign. Second, the online retailer Zappos. Both have a clear set of core values and have been extraordinarily successful at communicating them and being willing to live and die by them. The results speak for themselves. Obama won the presidential race with initially all odds against him and Zappos broke a billion dollars in sales in just under 9 years.

Next, look at your organization and ask yourself if each and every person is living those core values and performing accordingly?

And finally, look at every communication method, every marketing piece, website, emails and ask if they stand as testimony to your core values?

Some suggested quick reads to give you an idea.

First, an interview with Jim Collins that defines leadership that is a must read.
Second, an interview with Obama’s Campaign Manager David Plouffe.
Third, the core values list from Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos. And while you are there, might we suggest you read his blog, especially the most recent entry on how Twitter Can Make You A Better Person.

And then, we suggest you read an article recently posted on BBC, How companies tackle the interweb thingy.

I know, I know, gee this is a lot of reading, but tough times require hard work so please, please, get started right away.

The Sun Rises

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:19:33 -0700

And the sun sets.
New companies are born and others die.
This New Year brings an air of excitement and anxiety like no other that I have witnessed in my 30 plus years of being in the business world. I have attended networking events, cocktail parties and business meetings, and in each case the emotions are high and anxiety is at the surface of each conversation.

Who will make it and who won’t, will come down to a strategy I learned long ago in corporate America – learn to dance on ice. As the slope steepens and the road becomes more slippery, entrepreneurs who can muster up the courage to take chances, do things differently and far better than ever before will have a better chance of survival. Those who are imaginative enough and brave enough to ‘remodel’ their organizations into lean mean fighting machines and develop new and innovative ways to better serve their clients will surely make it through the recession and could even garner profits unlike those they have experienced in their past.

Scared? Who isn’t? The proverbial financial sh*t storm hasn’t run its full course yet. Those who have acted quickly and are facing reality while getting a positive rush on their anxiety, well, these are the folks that I want to know. This is truly an exciting time for entrepreneurs. When we all first started, it was the rush to do something unique and interesting that was born of passion. If you have been in it a long time, you might have become lost in the routine of your operations. So, this is the dawn of the rebirth of your drive and passion. The sun does rise and your belief in your business, your self and your ability to be creative and innovative will see you through to success.

We wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year and we want you to know that we are more grateful than ever for all of the friends and acquaintances, customers and colleagues, new and old, who enrich and fulfill our personal and professional lives.

A Heartfelt and Sincere Thanks to You All!

Cheers and Happy Holidays

Should You Fire a Customer?

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:40:00 -0700

Hard times require hard decisions. All of us are looking at our overhead, renegotiating our vendor costs, interest rates and utility service costs. We are looking at everything under a microscope to find savings to allow us to sustain and continue to grow. Now is a good time to look at HOW we do business. Can we develop better logistics? Is it time to automate more of our routine functions? Can we provide customers incentives to have prepaid accounts or deposits, or weekly payout schedules to help shorten the intervals between cash outlay and customer payments?

It is also a good idea to look at our customer base and evaluate them by which ones you can afford to serve and which might need to be fired. Slow paying customers and customers who require a lot of resources to manage, and those at low profit scales should be looked at differently. Cash is king, limited resources are a challenge and we need to ensure that they are not misused.

I know this might sound counter-intuitive. Do certain clients always require ‘do overs’ and constantly battle you for discounts because they are never satisfied? Now is a good time to really evaluate these types of accounts through a financial magnifying glass. If your administrative efforts are doubled and they are slow to pay, and demand deep discounts, then what is the real cost of doing business with these accounts?

How do you fire an account? There is no easy way and you risk a lot when you take these measures, so before you act hastily, devise a plan.

I have watched companies steadily raise the price and add on fees and surcharges so the customer feels compelled to ‘shop around’ and hopefully takes their business elsewhere. No hard feelings other than the undesirable client having the complaint that you are just too expensive.

I have also seen the tactic where a company explains to the client that they are no longer able to support them – either due to location or special service requirements and provide a ‘list of vendors’ that they can pursue along with an ‘exit strategy’.

What ever you do, don’t drop your standards in the level of service you provide as you never want a client saying you didn’t perform or the quality was lacking.

If you have other suggestions or comments on this topic, please post! We encourage the feedback!

IT’S ALMOST OVER

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:49:30 -0700

I was just doing some project planning. Getting timelines for projects set and in play so that we can meet our promised delivery dates and I realized that we only have about 4 working weeks left until we say Good Bye to 2008 and welcome with trepidation I might add, 2009.

The murmur is that the real tsunami of lay-offs and the economic downslide has not yet really hit bottom and none of us really knows where that is going to leave us personally or our businesses. And yet, we have to move forward. Not only do we have to close out 2008 with success, we have to be planning how we are going to not only enter 2009 with a bang, but how we are going to move forward with success in our sights.

I just read a great blog from e-myth that gives some great tips on preparing for the new year and suggest you take a look. Equally as important, I would sit down with your accountant and bookkeeper and take a microscope to your finances. What are you spending money on, how much cash do you have on hand – forget about credit as that is hard to find these days – and how much cash can you count on to continue to be generated that you can actually hold on to. Examine each and every line item and plan for an expense savings on each of these. Electricity, go green and go with frugality! Get everyone in your company involved! Ask them to turn their computers, monitors, and printers off at the end of the day and I guarantee you that your next utility bill will be smaller. POST the results firm-wide so that your employees can see how much of a positive impact they had on the company’s bottom line! That’s right, it is everyone’s responsibility in a company to impact the bottom line. Ask for other suggestions and you will get great ideas and input from the staff as you work your way through each expense line item and shrink the number.

Marketing idea: share these ideas and results with your clients and prospects. No matter what business you are in, this shows them that you care about their bottom line as well, and it just might impress them that you are doing everything you can do to keep your costs down – which translates in not raising theirs unnecessarily, and won’t that buy you some loyalty? I think it might just do that. So, 2008 is almost over but we aren’t out of the game! Go forth and save and make business work for you!

TIME: FRIEND OR FOE?

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:57:29 -0700

Let’s face it, everyday and in everyway, more and more demands are put upon us for our time and our attention. No matter what your job function or if you are the owner of your own company, everyday presents challenges that takes our eyes off the ball. So are our jobs/companies running us or are we running our jobs/companies?

There are a lot of articles out about work life balance and there are tons of companies, books and tools for time management and focus power at work, but how we effectively implement these techniques is the real challenge. I recently heard Jack Daly speak at a convention, where I was also a speaker, and he asked the question: “What is your most productive day of the year?” The answers were interesting but no one got it right. What he said was “The day before you leave for vacation.” I thought that was interesting as I realized just how right he is. You spend days anguishing over what has to get done before you leave so that nothing will interfere with your holiday away, and you get your lists together and you get on a mission to accomplish everything. It is amazing how much I am a character in that one act play.

So the question is, can’t everyday be as productive as the day before vacation? Maybe, but you can’t always tune out what is thrown your way. I’m sorry, but the IT Meltdown isn’t scheduled until next Wednesday, or, your number one client’s emergency that needs immediate attention wasn’t scheduled until Friday. No, we can’t bury our heads in the to-do list and expect to still have a job or a company when we raise our heads. We live in a time of instant gratification and instant results, and on-line, synchronized, harmonized data and information travel.

Allow me to suggest then that the work balance becomes a success when you can immediately asses the situation and answer the questions “What can I delegate?” and “What needs my attention this instant versus what can slip somewhere in the priority mix on my to-do list?”

Being able to ask these questions and have an answer is what will get you to the ‘finish line’ on that to-do list and still have a job or company to come back to. This becomes the measuring stick of how well we communicate with our staff and teams and how well we’ve trained them. If there is no one to delegate to or you can’t delegate until you have to do a lot of preparation before handing the situation off, then you need work on your management skills. If there is no one – I mean physically no one if you are short staffed, might I suggest a (VA) Virtual Assistant. Having a VA on call and familiar with you and your business might be the silver bullet in your bag of tricks that gets you out of the fray and back into the game, and maybe they can pick up some of the line items on that to-do list you so diligently built and maintain.

And while you are at your to-do list, make another notation. That incident that just pulled you away, find out what needs to be done to not have it reoccur and should it, who else can be trained or coached into the role of responding other than yourself.

Now you are cooking with steam and time becomes your friend and not your foe.

YES WE CAN

mardy@bumblebeellc.com (Mardy Sitzer) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:19:39 -0700

We stood witness to history last night. No matter what your political affiliations or leanings are, you have to admit that the country, if not the world, celebrated this momentous event. Living in New York City, with the mild weather and my windows open, I could hear cheering and partying as though it were New Years Eve.

In many ways, it is New Years Eve – the dawn of a new era where anything is possible and the mantra “Yes We Can” is on everyone’s breath. What we have undergone in these last years has been a series of knocks that have sent many of us reeling in disbelief but never without the resiliency to move forward. We may have to redefine who we are, what we do and for some, where we live, but no one can deny that the spirit is alive with change and optimism for a better tomorrow.

Take stock in the things that matter. Pay attention to where you spend, what you do and most importantly, reevaluate your priorities. If you have thought about doing something differently, now is the time to give it a go! If you have been caught up in a treadmill, now is the time to step off, stand back and look at the process and implement change.

Yes We Can – we can thrive and not merely survive. We can grow and not stand by and count our losses. We can create, and not dwell on what has been destroyed and we can move forward with the great spirit, both entrepreneurial and patriotic that has been true to what makes this country great.

So, invest in your future by taking action. Market creatively. Love what you do and most of all, experience gratitude for those around you, for everything that you do have, and in yourself. Yes You Can!