How Not to Blog

Another day, another argument about Blogging: Daily or Monthly; revenue or lead-generating, or just a means of venting, same old same old.

I'm a control freak; did I win the argument? (You two guys know who you are!)

Back at my desk I open up my "Daily Dose" of blogs and start reading, and realize that I am frustrated at and annoyed with blogs which offer one paragraph and then force me to click "Read More" to read more.

Why am I annoyed?

I figure that if the blogger presents the full text, my eyes can read as much as I choose to "above the fold", and then I can make the decision to apply physical effort to read more (scroll-down), but forcing me to take action to reach a point where I can make a decision is making me do work I should not have to do.

It is the blogger's equivalent of a web page that says "Click to Enter".

Now, where's my Delete Key ...?

Re-sent-ments

We all do it from time to time - click "Send" and too late, realize that we forgot to attach the file.

What to do? Wait until the recipient emails us back "Where is the file?", issue a resend with a short apology? Pretend it didn't happen?

To make things worse, without the attachment, the send transaction is near-instantaneous; there's little chance of clicking "cancel" in time.

Thought #1

Issue a resend with an apology. We are only human after all. We are permitted, from time to time, to make mistakes, and it is to our advantage to 'fess up and make amends before putting the other party to the trouble of sending us a reply.

Thought #2

If you find you are doing this once a week or more frequently, stop sending emails. Save the email instead.

Get into a better habit, that of closing the email and saving it in your "output" or "drafts" box, to be sent an hour later.

Truth is, there are not many emails that need to be sent instantaneously.

Saving as a draft and re-reading of an hour later before resending can save you a lot of embarrassment AND make you look more professional.

Thought #3

Along the same lines, when I find I can't keep up with email, I do not send personal emails until after 5pm.

If nothing else, it reduces chatter ion my mailbox during prime business hours.

Try it. You'll see!

The $100 Job is Not Revenue

Another small technical job, one at which I am experienced. (Installing a simple comprehensive backup system for solo entrepreneurs).

My colleague arrives with a $100 cheque, for which I am grateful.

I call it "Grocery Money", and it varies, but typically is around one hundred dollars.

In this case it pays for my expertise, and my ability to spend several chunks of 15 minutes each at each stage of the process, sometimes staying up an extra hour while a long-running task completes so that I can start the next long-running task to run overnight.

It feels good too to see my fellow entrepreneurs grow in wisdom, and it fees good when they tell others that I'm good at what I do.

But it's not revenue.

At best it is the icing on the cake of networking with my peers.

Hope is Not a Plan

This little statement caught my eye in a blog last week, and I failed to note the blog.

A Google search turns up many hits, none of them my original sighting.

"He who lives on hope will die fasting" is another one that caught my eye.

And yet without hope we have no dreams, and no goals. Without a goal, we can have no plan, and without a plan, we are reduced to random actions.

So?

The way I see it I can take each statement I make about hope, and jot it down on a sheet of paper.

Hopes are not bad things.

Periodically I can mark each hope as "reasonable" or "not reasonable". Unreasonable hopes are bad; they keep me from attaining what I might attain.

If I focus on each rational hope and develop a plan for it, a series of steps, each step reaching a measurable objective, I stand a good chance of getting there.

I hope.

Talk to Me!

They're Not Gift Certificates ...

I am initiating a scheme to bring together about a dozen solo entrepreneurs to develop a collection of coupons.

The Tim Horton's $10 gift card I drop in the envelope of the proposal, invoice, or thank-you note can be redeemed at face value in hundreds of Tim Horton's coffee shops across the GTA.

I am hoping to amass several stacks of coupons from solo entrepreneurs known to me, people I have met and talked with.

Next time I mail out an invoice with a gift certificate, I can slip a couple of promotional coupons in the envelope too, and my client (always an individual within the firm) will have a chance to contact another entrepreneur to inquire about the on-site chair massage or the supply of tea.

The theory is that I will benefit two ways:

From my client's point of view I am introducing a new service ("20%off your first massage" or "$15 off your first order").

From my colleague's point of view I am helping them to promote their business and expand their range of contacts.

Of course, I too hope to benefit by having my coupons mailed out, or handed out on a personal face-to-face basis with their paying clients.

Talk to Me!

Let's Do Lunch!

I am not making progress on developing face-to-face meetings as I ought.

I have instituted yet-another-scheme to help myself to focus on my goals.

On the office door - where I will see it every time I walk past on my way to the kitchen or the washroom - I have screwed a sheet of cardboard, since this idea has to be implemented NOW, not to wait until I can run out an purchase a corkboard.

A supply of push-pins is next to the board.

Each time I bring up a contact record I ask myself "Would I like to meet with this person face-to-face?". The answer is usually YES, so I write their name on the back of an old business card and pin it to the board.

I have a frequent reminder of who I should be asking out for a coffee or a lunch.

And I know as I pick up the phone that my purpose in calling is to ask when (not "if"!) we can meet for a coffee or lunch.

Let's see if this works.

(I have plans to scribble the street address sand phone number on the card and take it with me as I head out the door).

Changing Course - Slowly

My prospecting calls have bogged down. The prospector continues to deliver good leads, but I have ceased to make the phone calls to the Presidents.

Why?

Possible cause: I sense it is not working.

What's "it"?

My procedure for establishing a relationship; I was calling the president, mentioning the press release, and asking for a name to contact; then I'd phone or email the contact, mention that the president had sent me, wait 2 days, make a follow-up call, send information etc. etc. when my goal was to get a face-to-face meeting.

Once my body/foot is literally in the door, I can usually make a sale of one or more of my services or products.

So I'm trying a new tactic. I'm going to phone the president and ask for a 15-minute face-to-face meeting.

It's what I want, and I'm making the call.

Management Measures!

I get 2 prospects per business day (19 prospects in 14 days so far this year), which translates to 10 prospects per week.

Suppose I call each one and ask, point-blank for a meeting.

Worst-case: he says no.

But if one case out of ten results in a curious but guarded "YES", then I'll be establishing face-to-face contact with 50 presidents each year.

And that is way better than I have been doing in the past.

How about you?

Best Compliment this Week

Yesterday during one of my follow-up telephone calls I was paid a compliment.

I was told that my follow-up methods were excellent, my sales manner top-class, and my telephone skills impeccable, or words to that effect. I can't remember the precise words, but those three areas were singled out.

By an Internet Marketing Guru, No Less.

Now an internet marketing guru may be an internet marketing guru because he knows he lacks telephonic skills, but still I am delighted to receive the compliment.

The guru went on to suggest a meeting where we might see if my skills could be applied to his business. The future looks bright.

But that's the future, and today is another day. Today I have to make a sale.

Today's phone calls will be easier because of yesterday's compliment; that compliment will give me the courage to assert my business throughout the day, and establish myself more firmly in people's mind.

Makes me wonder how my day would be if every phone call I made included the act of me complimenting my contact, on a smooth web site, a great business, a friendly receptionist, whatever, as long as it is a sincere compliment.

Why Are Testimonials Awkward to Write?

I've been asked to write two testimonials over the past 3 days.

It took me 10 minutes to write one, and I'm struggling with the second. Why?

In both cases my suppliers made me look good by their extra efforts. In both cases I am, and would be, delighted to discuss my statements over the phone.

Do You Find it Difficult to Write a Testimonial?

I'm not talking about the letter-to-head-office when you receive great service at a hotel or restaurant chain - those are straightforward and necessary.

I'm talking about the one-on-one business you do with fellow entrepreneurs.

My "difficult" case is the person who laid me before the feet of the Microsoft Board of Directors.

Quick now: When did anyone present YOU to the Microsoft Board of Directors? I thought not.

So why is it so difficult to get finished?

We Have Five Fingers on Each Hand

It is early morning as I type. I am tempted to write another list. There is a rent cheque to be processed, two vital phone calls to make, a problem list to be updated, two technical issues to be resolved, .... plus my regular business-marketing tasks.

If I write a list it will bloom to 20 items within 60 seconds, and I'll not get them all done, and I'll feel bad at the end of the day.

I don't believe our brains have evolved to cope with 20. not really.

• I can count to 20.
• I can count to 100.
• I can estimate the number of navy beans held in the cup of my hand.
• But my brain can cope with five, maybe seven. Ten at most.

And when we are talking critical tasks, forget ten. My brain is too occupied with "emergency" to worry about 10.

My best strategy is to write down 4 tasks one on each of 4 blank business cards, and get those 4 done.

Perhaps by lunchtime I'll feel so good at completing my Urgent List that I'll be able to get 6 more done after lunch; but that will be a set of 4, followed by a set of 6, not a set of 10.

If I don't complete that second set, I will retain the feeling of success at completing my first set, completely!

We Live in a Village of 200 Souls

We humans have evolved, and that part of us known as "the brain" has evolved.

We have evolved to deal with 200 people, tops.

I watch with amazement the brags about having "four thousand Twitter followers" or "four thousand friends on FaceBook", or even "four million hits on my YouTube vide", and known that in terms of friendship it counts for nothing.

Literally nothing.

The only thing that 4,000 or 4,000,000 can do for you is present you with the opportunity to make $5.00 off each of them and become financially well-off, a goal to which I aspire.

But don't confuse that with friendship.

I shop at No Frills supermarkets, but have never chatted with any one of the managers; I am one of the 4,000 shoppers who stream through the door each day.

I shop at Big Barn bulk outlets, but with one exception have never chatted with any one of the managers; I am one of the 4,00 shoppers who stream through the door each day.

I view YouTube videos of Rowan Atkinson or John Cleese but have never met either of them - to my deep regret - nor chatted, even by phone, with any of the people who have uploaded the videos.

They and I are nameless and faceless blobs of protoplasm who happen to be husbanding a share of the planet's total available biomass.

I don't have 200 friends, either.

I *might* be able, after much thought, to write up a list of 100 people who I can recognize by face AND put a name to them within five minutes; I doubt I can do 200.

My village includes my sister in Queensland, Franky and George in Adelaide, five ladies at church who I greatly respect, and about 20 people who I meet at networking events and some of whom are always eager to grab a chance for a small Caesar salad at The Montreal Deli.

My village includes about 20 nameless people who are a part of my life - the Indian guy who runs the dollar store across the street, the waitress at the burger joint up on Keele Street just south of Lawrence, ...

Challenge:

Next time you are waiting for the bus/train/plane to arrive or takeoff, try to write down 200 people in your village. I bet you can't.

Now write down your friends, real friends.

Now write a list of those people you'd be willing to go to and beg a loan when you have trouble paying your rent.

See?

Where Do I Find the Time to Read a Book?

I don't.

I find the time to read at least 6 books at once.

I have a book (1) at the bedside, one (2) next to the couch where I take a tea-break, one (3) in the kitchen, one (4) on my office desk, one (5) in the bathroom. I have a small (5"x4") Shakespeare play, one of seven I picked up for $1 each a couple of years ago, and all but one over a hundred years old) (6) sitting in my jacket pocket.

There are books spread about the place on coffee-tables.

When I need to watch the pasta until it comes to the boil, I read a couple of pages.

When some one puts me on hold, I read a couple of pages.

While walking to and waiting for the bus, I read a couple of pages.

The local bus drivers offer me "a bookmark", but to everyone else they offer a transfer ticket. I've told them that going downtown (about an hour each way) is for me like attending two hours of evening class - but in the daytime. I'm early, or my contact is late, for the appointment? I don't get resentful: I read a couple of pages.

You would be amazed at how much I read in a week, a month, and I say that you'd be amazed because I'm willing to bet that you don't have at least 6 books, each one book marked, lying around your home.

Sprinkles - part 2

In Sprinkles - part 1 I suggested that you send off a $20 coupon with a thank you note.

Remembering that "Business is the exchange of two pieces of paper, one of which must be a cheque", and what a pain it is to trek off to Tim Horton's each time you want to send a Thank-You note, consider buying a half-dozen coupons all at once, and then you can pop them in the note without trekking through the snow.

Or better yet, pop one in the invoice that you mail out.

Your client will be doing business with you, whether they know it or not, and guilt will help them shove your invoice through the accounts-payable pipeline.

If it Ain't Written Down ...

Yesterday was installation day. I set off for a 3-hour on-site visit.

Armed with printed copies of my proposal and specifications.

I had already emailed an agenda that read:

1: Review proposal, terms, copyright, specifications.
2: Demonstrate on laptop.
3: Install on a local machine.
4: Run from memory key or spare folder.

I am prone to giving away too much, especially to businesses that rent or own large offices in warehouses, pay salaried receptionists, and have vacation and medical and pension benefits plans.

I invented another meeting at 5pm which would necessitate my leaving at 4pm, once the 3 hours were up.

My first item of business was NOT on the laptop, it was on the stapled specifications and proposal.

We skimmed through the proposal, allowing me to remind the client that while they had a site-wide license to install and use the code, they did not own the code, and had no license to unlock or reverse-engineer my efforts. I retain copyright to the code.

We skimmed through the specifications, allowing me to firm up in the client's mind that this was a first attempt at resolving their problems based on the one (!) sample document that had been afforded me, and based on my necessarily limited knowledge of their word-processing ability.

Then we ran the demos; then we discussed good vs. bad habits in Microsoft Word; then we installed (one problem there), then I left. At 3:58 p.m. after ostentatiously making a phone call on my cell phone.

And hurried off to my 5pm meeting, with Jupiter my cat, waiting patiently for me to return home for supper.

Early in the three hours, my contact started chatting and said "I like to talk", so I gently murmured "it's your dime", and watched 15 minutes slip away before steering us back to the tasks at hand. My commitment is to be there for 3 hours; if the client wants to chat instead of learning, that's their decision. A direct result of my stating the 3-hour on-site time-limit.

As questions arose, the contact commented that "this is a first stage, we will quickly get that matter into phase 2", so my review of the limitations of phase 1 paid off and I did not offer to "dash of a quick macro and email it to you".

The hard copy served me well; it held my generous and impetuous nature in check, guided us both for 3 hours, and appears to have left me clutching a fistful of change orders which translate directly into dollars.

Why I Read Books

Now that you have read just two pages in less than two minutes, please go back and re-read the bit about ""... attempts to reach the policy holder were fruitless". "letters" and "telephone" suggests a period of four weeks or more - but then TaDa! Why not ask around; after four weeks someone has seen or heard of a way to establish contact.

There follows a page that indicates that the salesman knows his material; figures are prepared. "Management Measures", and the salesman wants to be in control to make the sale; the salesman must manage the conversation, and that means measurements, in this case, numeric quantifiers.

Please re-read the last sentence of the paragraph at the head of the second page. "If I can stay under $100 that'd be OK". The client has stated a goal, out loud; all our hero must do is achieve that goal, not any other goal, the client's stated goal. At this point it matters not a whit which policy is sold; to make a sale our hero need only select the one that offers premiums that bring him under the $100 goal.

At the end of the second paragraph on that second page, client objections have died down. It is time to Close The Sale, and at the start of the third paragraph, our client pulls out a piece of paper. "If it ain't written down, it don't exist".

At the foot of the third paragraph a cheque is written. "Business is the exchange of two pieces of paper, one of which MUST be a cheque".

The deal is done.

So What's the Point?

Obviously I've bought myself a "How to Make Sales" self-help book for Christmas and I'm ploughing through it, right?

Wrong. As Richard Dawkins says "Utterly Wrong!".

I am half-way through a 400-page book.

In the flyleaf is written "Grandpa Xmas 87".

Not me.

My friend Betty's mother's husband, John, he who died some 14 years ago, and Mum has hung onto his books.

Mum passed away February 2009, and Betty knows I read books.

So amongst five cartons of books (four cartons of which I kept) is "Risky Business" by Rod McQueen; Macmillan 1985.

25 years later I am learning about selling myself as a consultant (and a whole lot of other stuff) from a book describing the Canadian Insurance Industry a quarter of a century ago.

For Free.

There Appears to Be Some Confusion

About four weeks ago, a lead developed quickly into a sale, and by "quickly" I mean from the first telephone contact at 10:00 a.m. to an issued proposal by 5:00 p.m.

Not a big job, $975 plus taxes, and to sweeten the deal, a $200 discount if the new client took the go-between to lunch. (It's a long drive to Richmond Hill if you don't run a car, and I've known Andy for twenty years).

Turns out that the contact can't cut a cheque, the manager has to do that, but what with it being a budget term proposal (under $1,000 and expires in a week) it expired before the cheque was actually emailed to me.

I called, and re-issued the proposal, valid for another week, this time with an invoice which, with taxes, bloomed to $1,023.75 which is a long way from $775.00.

I heard nothing and had shrugged the deal off (although a follow-up call is planned), until yesterday, when a cheque for $813.75 appeared in my mail box.

Now that represents the original quote less the $200; in other words, the cheque is full payment for a deal which expired three weeks ago, and I have not heard back from Andy that he has been to lunch.

What to do?

I need the money, and I need the business; there's another 4 phases stretching down the highway, but my generous $200 discount was based on the premise that (a) Andy was taken to lunch that week and (b) the cheque was cut that week. Cash Flow, you might say.

1. I could sulk and return the cheque, but that behavior never did me much good, ever.

2. I could hold the cheque and wait until business opens its doors, telephone and have a business-like chat with the contact to sort things out. Could be acrimonious at this early stage; we do not have a long-term relationship as yet.

3. I could cash the cheque, say nothing (for now), and reflect that (a) I've got money that I wasn't going to have and (b) I operate independently and can get my $200 back in stages of $50 each added to each of the upcoming phases.

What would you do?

Sprinkles - Part 1

So you've got the cheque, the down-payment from the new client.

How do you say "Thank You"?

You write a hand-written note , with a hand-written envelope, and you use one of your custom postage stamps .

And you include a twenty-dollar gift certificate for Tim Hortons coffee shops, or whatever passes as a broadly-available service in your client's area.

Your client will think of you tomorrow when they open the note, and they'll think of you the next day when they line up for coffee.

If it's a long line-up, they'll probably mention you to the prospect/client they're standing with.

The Traditional West-End Solopreneur Christmas Get-Together

... was held this year at The Montreal Deli (*), my favorite watering hole.

I can't say I thought of it. Jim White and David Sappleton suggested the three of us meet over Christmas.

I went home and mulled over my situation - no family, no office party, and, feeling sorry for myself, invited everyone I knew, well, everyone who operates as or with a solo entrepreneur.

I recommend you try it as an exercise.

Don't wait for next Christmas.

There's nothing to organize.

Pick a diner where you are well-known, well enough for the staff to tolerate an indeterminate number of guests, well-enough that you can overflow to a second table if need be.

A place where one can order a stomach-filling plate of liver-and-onions or a dietary salad, or just a plate of French fries.

Team up with two other people who guarantee to be there, and the three of you make a good party; any extra attendees are the icing on the cake.

We learned lots, including:

1: When seven of you sit over coffee for three hours or more, each person gets a solid chunk of time to be interrogated in depth about what they do; the interrogation reveals more about them than any canned speech.

2: When seven of you sit over coffee for three hours or more, you get to form a deeper relationship than you will at a table at a networking meeting; you come away feeling that you KNOW someone.

3: Even though you email 52 people, the seven that show up are, by definition, the quality folks, those who are willing to spend some time broadening their range of resources and passing on useful help to other net workers.

4: Perhaps the best part: You don't need a speaker, a formal time, an RSVP, or any of that stuff.

Hang Tight!

Photos

(*)

"If it weren't for the great food, low cost, and excellent service, I couldn't be bothered coming here" (Chris Greaves 2001)

When 80% is Good Enough

I have been re-reading How to Write Magnetic Headlines , and if you haven’t read it, stop reading this now and go take a peak.

There is too much for me to take in at one sitting – it’s rather like the 100-pound box of chocolate mints I didn’t get for Christmas this year – but I don’t have to digest it all at once.

The ideas in the articles are better than anything I might come up with off the top of my shiny head.

Here’s the good news; I don’t have to be 100% perfect.

I don’t have to get the exercise 100% correct.

Getting 80% of the way is 70% better than my previous best.

I am known as a good writer, but I can’t claim to be good at writing headlines or subject-lines.

These guys are good at it, far better than I am now, and who knows? In a year’s time – or less if I am diligent – I’ll be better than them.

But right now I need to craft an email that will get people’s attentions.

And a headline that’s 80% perfect ought to have a better success rate than one that is only 10% effective.

So go mediocre, but go today, not tomorrow.

My 80% of today will be 81% tomorrow and 82% the day after. By the end of next week it will be 85% pushing 90%.

And starting at 80% is a lot better, faster, cheaper, and profitable than starting at, or worse, staying at 10%.

Where Did the Time Go?

A new year, right? Where did last year go?

For that matter, here it is Friday; next Monday everyone goes back to work, but in practice they'll all spend the day wading through a two-week backlog of voicemail and email.

So I will recommence phoning my contacts on Tuesday.

So I have left Saturday, Sunday and Monday to complete those tasks which I figured would easily be done over this two-week break.

OK, so I pretty well wrote off Tuesday December 29th . And spent Christmas day in bed reading books.

Luckily for me I have my own billing system that reports where my time went.

Luckily for you, you can see how you feel about keeping track of your time without downloading my system.

1: Open up Windows Notepad

2: On the first line type ".LOG" without the quotes.

3: Save the file in a regular folder (C:\Greaves\Admin\2010\ will do fine) with the name "201001.TXT"; that's the 4-digit year and the 2-digit month number.

4: Create a shortcut to this file on your Quick Launch bar.

When you sit down at the computer, click the icon and type in the client code and whatever you plan to do for them. If it is your own finances you're working on "Admin Month-end" will do. When I'm prospecting "Prospect" does me fine, as does "Phones" or "Email".

When I'm developing a template for Able Engineering "Able Template".

Close the file.

When the phone rings, click the icon before picking up the phone; the time is recorded. If it is a 2-minute lunch arrangement, close the file without saving; I don't track 2-minute phone calls. But if it is Able Engineering and a 20-minute discussion of the project, type "Able Phone" alongside the date/time from the file opening, and on the next line tap the F5 function key to record the end of the conversation.

At lunch time, click the icon and close the file.

You get the idea.

And if you don't, Talk to Me !