Grow!™ with Inbound Marketing Blog

A letter to Jack, c/o Jack-in-the-Box
***
Dear Jack,
I  stopped at your restaurant the other day for lunch. I was in a hurry & you guys are fast.  I also like that you serve breakfast all day.  Sometimes, I like 87 pieces of meat & cheese on one bun too.  So, variety and fast are the draws for me. 

That day you were trying something new.  There was giant red-ish ATM looking box out in front with a friendly attendant beside it. Nice kid.  The box had pretty images of all the food and a touch screen for people to select their choices.  Then, it would take their money, give change - the whole sale.  It had a friendly female voice.  Must be your wife in there... uh Jackie is it?  It's like those self service things in Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, probably your local grocery store. 

The attendant was out front and not at the usual register.  Behind the counter, I heard workers say as they looked toward Jackie, "He wants us to use that and not the register for the front".  No customer knew how to run Jackie in the box to get their food, so the cashier was there doing it for every one.   There was a family of four in front of me.  Jackie's helper patiently stepped them through each question & option for each item the chose. 

"Do you want cheese?"  Someone has to touch yes or no.
"Do you want sauce?"  Someone, please touch yes or no - just like last time.
"Do you want to Super Size, that?"  touch it. NOW!
"How about the drink only?"  Answer her by touching the right spot!
"How about the fries only?"  Noooooooooo!  Stop with the questions!

Everyone was helping touch the screen too.  Nice... I get to handle something handled by thousands just before eating. 

Finally after 5-6 minutes of watching as we moved to the 4th person, I left.  Went to the Burger King across the street. The one next to my other 5 options for fast food where the cashiers take my order quickly and effectively. It was cheaper too. 



So Jack, whoever told you the talking, touch screen, self serve, Jackie-in-the-box was a good idea...?  Well, draw your own conclusion. 

My Best,
Wes
***
What's the lesson for the rest of us?  There are several I suspect - some of which deserve a whole post.  Somebody in Jack's house fell in love with something that others were doing at their point-of-sale and sold it internally as a good idea. I actually like the non-linear thinking and for a moment thought it might be fun. Until I saw the process in action and pondered the whole idea while standing there.

In the internet presence management space, I see the same thinking applied a lot on websites, social media or in the use of 3rd party ads (like Google's Adsense).  Jumping on band wagon to do something because it's the latest thing or everyone is doing should always be pondered at some length.  It maybe really cool but, still not fit your needs, those of your client or your brand.  Think about the purpose and value of it first.  Not the "whiz-bang" factor only. 

Note: I am certain Jack's people presented a wonderful ROI story on Jackie.  Problem would have been - someone had vested interest in it delivering that ROI.   Maybe the round headed one himself.

Let's Grow!

Through one of my Linkedin discussion groups, I was directed to an interesting article at Harvard Business Review.   The Moment Social Media became Serious Business

I made comment there and continued to think about it.  One statement by the author, pointed to a concern I've heard from my clients - "the train {social media} has left the station."  As I think of that metaphor, it implies to me "if you are not on the social media train, you've missed it".  This may not be what the author meant.

Do you feel you've missed the boat (another "too late" reference)?  Well you haven't.

In fact, the timing could be perfect for your business to get add social media into your internet presence strategy.

And don't panic about the myriad of "too late" references you hear all around and run willy nilly leaping into ever social media tool you or your staff has heard about.  Sit down with someone and make a plan on your approach.  Make sure you have a way to metric results before you implement a phase. With metrics on social media, your website, your sales and so on, you can optimize not only your internet presence but your whole strategic marketing plan.

Let's Grow!

Wes

Yesterday I participated in great networking event in Dallas.  The organizers hold them in many cities around the country.  It's called Chocolate, Blues & Business. Kudos to Shelly! The lady who introduced me to it, Catherine, is a connection on Cup of Coffee Networkers.  She and her husband came all the way from Indiana to this event in Dallas (as they have in the past) and will go to the one next month in Austin.

The event was not as large as some events I've been to.  Cup of Coffee is not a large network either.  In both cases that has proven to be an advantage.  Most of my clients are smaller companies.  My company is a small company. 

Quick tip: As you grow your networks and grow your business, don't yield to the temptation to only join big networks.  Think about it, do you get more out of your small networks than the really large ones? I do.  I am also able to contribute "more" when I contribute - the quality is the same, the potential impact is higher.  Caring goes further too.  Simple math: each member is a larger percentage of the total 

In case you didn't already know, SBA & US Census data shows small business is big business. Has been that way for centuries I guess.

If you are in small business one thing is certain: you are not alone.  Yeah, it may feel like it some times.  And some might argue chasing big deals pays better and only big firms have big deals.  That's debatable.

I don't know what size is right or what is too large.  When it comes to ignoring small networks or small businesses, well - I'm just saying...

As mentioned on my Twitter

account earlier, I am testing blogpresslite today. So far seems fine. There was lots of whining in the apps reviews about having to use Picassa with it.

First - that is true. Not the fault of the app developer it doesn't seem. Looks like Google wants it that way. Second - so what? If you've got any kind of Google account you can add Picasa with zero effort. Third - some photographer was whining about his website and not wanting to use Picasa as it would dilute his site presentation. Sorry dude - a) you don't have to share your photos at all from Picasa - google now stores blogger photos there and they can be locked and b) why not use Picasa to get yourself another point of presence, drive some traffic to your main site and even sell a print or two right from Picasa? Instead the guy bailed on this app and Picasa and a marketing oppty - probably uses only film too.

In sum, the free version works fine - I need to post a review to counter the whiners and maybe check out the paid version

Let's Grow!

- Posted by Wes Stalcup using BlogPress from his iPhone

For months, the header information at the top of the blog, has said "Grow!... the constant challenge we face from birth." 

I changed it today. 

The wording suddenly sounded biased toward the negative.  Now it says, ..."Grow!...the OPPORTUNITY we're given from birth"  and it applies to the individual or business or any other organization. 

Now I don't have anything in particular against "challenge" - I actually like the word & what it means to me.  Yet depending on context and who you are it may carry a connotation of heaviness.  Something which is daunting. Something which must be overcome. Opportunity though, tends to have a more hopeful meaning to most. 

It's been said "if you're not growing, you're dying."   That's easy to understand.  Especially if you think of plants or crops.  From that vision it's easy to map it back to our own lives and activities. 

It's easy to translate too: Growth is way better than the alternative.

Here at home in Celina, Texas we have several late season plants still growing and blooming such as pumpkins (some of the giant type for October), watermelons (tasted great!), cantaloupe (also great!), mandevilla (stunning) and morning glories (actually no bloom yet). 

Every day they reach out a little further.  The fruit grows a little bit bigger, toward a day when it will be ready for the business end of things.  Were it not for seasons and the shrinking number of the their growing hours, I think the vines would be keep right on growing.   Plants don't think about personal growth.  They just do it - assuming the right conditions.

Every day we each have the opportunity to reach out a little further,  let our dreams & projects grow a little bigger.  We can prepare to deliver results.   One advantage is we're not constrained by the seasons.  We can go right on growing, improving ourselves & producing good things 365 days a year.  The other advantage we have, is that conditions around us don't have to be perfect.  We can create the conditions for growth right in our own minds.

So, from day 1 of our lives, we have the blessed opportunity for personal growth.  Every day we get to ask ourselves and choose -  "This day, will I grow?"   The best approach?  Just make the choice to grow.  Don't even question it.  Declare it.  "Today, I will Grow!"

Let's Grow!

All Results Drivers (customer, constituents, followers, employees, members) want the answer to one question.

Do you know that question? It's only 2 words.

Ask yourself the question about everything you do on the internet and your results will improve. No doubt. Guaranteed.

A quick intro to help get to the question, so you can begin to make sure you answer it. I recently took a class where a gentleman named Jim Kukral was one of the instructors. Jim's a big personality with a lot of great insights. He always has a look on his face that makes you think he is going to bust out laughing. A smile not quite contained. You should add Jim to your list of people to get good stuff from.

Jim likes to say there are only 2 reasons people use the internet. 1) to be entertained or 2) to solve or get an answer to a problem.

Think about it for a minute & I bet you'll agree.

For this discussion, I might suggest that can even be distilled further. People use the internet to have needs met. (I can't help them with some of those needs, to be sure. :-) )

People - your Results Drivers - judge whether what you are offering satisfies their needs and wants by asking this question about everything you do.

The question? "So What?"

Ask yourself that simple question until you get to the fundamental final answer. The answer which, for your business or activity, is the last answer you can give. That answer will be the benefit your Results Drivers get from that offering.

Really simple example: You say, "We're offering new software"

So what?

"Um.. It's faster."

So what?

"Well... you get your results in less time..." (getting closer)

So what?

"Faster results mean more time for you to do other things"

Ah... So your software means the user will have more free time. That might actually meet a need or want.

Now that you have that answer, you can frame it back into your relationship with the user - in the spirit of Billy Mays - as a question to find out if it really matters. [An aside...speaking of Billy Mays, if you didn't watch the first season of Pitchmen, do catch the reruns - it's quite educational AND note that Discovery Channel has renewed the show for another season. YEA!]

"Are you tired of wasting time waiting on your old software?"

It's sound rudimentary and terribly obvious for that example. Who wouldn't do that for a software product? But, how often do we forget it or think we can ignore the concept in another context.

Do all the elements of your Growth Engine (sign up for Grow! - the eCourse for definition) answer "So What?" for the Results Drivers you engage there?

Does your blog entertain or offer usable bits of advice? Your website? Your Twitter stream? Your Facebook page? Your storefront or shop? Your YouTube channel?

Go back & double check.

Then... Let's Grow! Wes

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