Productivity with Purpose
Branding tips
Brand Yourself as a Productive Person
Aug 3rd
Productivity is about more than getting things done. It is also about positioning, branding or marketing (whichever term you choose) yourself not only as a productive person, but as a dependable, responsible and hard-working professional. You really want to build a reputation as a person or business who gets things done, who can be counted on and who is respectful of others efforts and time. You may not think about your demeanor, your communication or your business practices as being markers of productivity, but in the eyes of prospective customers, clients and colleagues they increase your competitive advantage. I may not be the most experienced in my field or arguably the most talented, but I certainly try to be the most reliable. That is one of my major differentiators along with my honesty which you are about to get a dose of.
I have to warn you, if you aren’t prepared for some professional coaching tough love, then stop reading now!
I have assembled a short list of those “best practices” that help me to determine whether I want to do business with a professional or their company. They are compiled from years of dealing with professionals who I have witnessed or interacted with in professional, personal and volunteer situations.
- If someone leaves you a voicemail, return it – It really doesn’t matter what form of communication you use to reply; what matters is that you do reply and in a timely manner (within 24 hours is dependable, 2 – 3 days is adequate and 1 week is poor, but better than nothing.) I once had a volunteer committee member tell me that she got my VM the week before, but did not call back because she didn’t know the answer to my question – I no longer work with her on my committee.
- Leave a detailed message – This may be a subset of the prior practice, but phone tag drives me so nuts that I’m making it separate. Don’t just say “Call me,” say what you are calling about and what you need. This way the other person can be prepared with the necessary information for the return call and if a return voicemail is necessary, then the answer can be relayed in a message. (Hint: I try to also leave in the message when the best time to reach me is.)
- Finish your projects on time – Be reasonable in your estimated due dates and let the other party know if you cannot meet the deadline and the reason for the delay. Remember, under-promise and over-deliver.
- Stay on top of your email – Clear your inbox every day (preferably by noon, though my goal is much earlier.) I get approx. 80 emails per day through several email accounts. About half of those are waiting for me when I open my inbox in the morning with a few being spam. I allow myself an hour to process those 35 – 40 emails and then the rest of the day I check my inbox every hour or two. Your volume or work schedule may be different, but you need to find a way to make it work. It is a terrible thing to have missed an opportunity or to be known as the person who never responds to their email. The time frame is the same or shorter than voicemail. Don’t make people send reminder emails; it is waste of time for both of you. If you have trouble with this; either you are getting too much email – unsubscribe to some newsletters (not this one of course) or delegate more (you probably don’t need to be copied on everything) or you don’t have an efficient way to process your inbox. (Hint: it is not meant to be storage.) If you need a refresher read, Get Control of Your Inbox.
- Be very good at follow-up – When you have finished a project or completed follow – up actions, let the person who requested the work know that it’s done and if possible provide a brief summary. This may be as simple as a quick email just saying “This task is done” or it may be paragraph or bullet points describing what actions were taken and what was the end result.
I would be glad to hear your comments on these practices of mine. Agree or disagree! One thing I know is that having a reputation for being Miss Reliable has paid off for me and may help you be more successful as well.
It’s About the Experience
Mar 16th
Focus your marketing efforts on creating an experience. This does two things.
First, it creates a buzz around your brand for your customers to share. We all know that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing method available, but how often do you actually give people something to talk about?
Creating an experience or feeling also helps build a sense of relationship with your brand and gives customers a reason to keep coming back. People want to feel a certain way and if you associate your brand with what they’re looking for, they’ll respond to that.
How do you go about creating experiences?
- Appeal to a customer’s emotions.
- Make interactions as personal as possible.
- Cultivate and promote the values that YOU stand for.
- Be interesting, thought-provoking or noteworthy in some manner.
- Identify what’s important to your customer and find a way to connect that to your brand.
- Find techniques to become part of your customer’s daily life.
- Give customers a take-away, even if it’s just a smile.
You recognize you want your customers to talk about you, but…what do you want them to say? What steps have you taken to build experience-making into your marketing approach? Is it reflected in the way you conduct business?
Free Publicity – Really?
Mar 15th
Ever heard of HARO – Help-A-Reporter-Out?
This website has been highly recommended in marketing and business circles, but I had never taken the time to check it out until recently. It is a portal where nearly 30,000 reporters from many of the major television news networks, prominent newspapers and magazines connect with sources for their articles and stories; even book research.
You can be one of those sources. It’s really very simple. You just sign up for one or multiple daily communication lists. They are listed by category; Business and finance, Lifestyle & Fitness, Education, Entertainment, Technology, Travel, etc. , as well as a general list that hits the highlights of them all.
The lists are sent out either once or twice per day and you can unsubscribe at any time if you find a particular list does not appeal to your area of interest or expertise. If there is a query you have some knowledge about, you simply click the link and send a short email to the reporter (not named) answering whatever the question is. If you are the kind of source they are looking for, they may use you in their article, TV interview, news story or book.
It’s free publicity for you or your company if you are selected and if not, you should only have lost a few minutes of your time. Don’t spend hours on this trying to answer every question you remotely know anything about. Just scan the list in your email inbox and delete it if nothing applies. If you see a query that is a fit, send a quick note and then delete it. Do not clog your inbox with these emails or save them for later. There will be more tomorrow!
