Feelin’ Good

Feelin’ Good

How are the feeling right now?

Are you:

Happy?

Sad?

Excited?

Scared?

Hopeful?

Hurting?

Melancholy?

Enthused?

No matter what you said you are feeling right now, it’s okay.

I just randomly came up with 8 possible emotions that you could be feeling at this moment and if you were in a room filled with 25 other people, I’m sure you could find someone else who is experiencing the same emotion you identified with.

Some of us have days when we go thru all 8 of those emotions in just a few hours.  Others can experience the same emotion for not just hours, but days, weeks, or even longer.

Emotions are part of our human experience and even if you think you are a facts and logic person, your emotions are actually in the drivers seat of your life.  If you are a facts and logic person and you got a little miffed by what I just said, it simply proves the point.

But I’m not here to play with your emotions today.

No, instead I want to help you understand the importance of our emotional side.

Because I write and talk about media and marketing and offer tips for businesses, I’m going to focus on how our emotions work in that context.

The emotional state of the people you deal with are going to have an influencing factor on how that conversation or interaction occurs, just as your emotional state at the moment will too.

Quite frankly there is a lot of negative news out there, and some peoples emotions are rubbed raw.  I’m not even talking about the political stuff, I’m referring to the challenges we are facing as we wrap up 2021.  Prices are going up.  We have shortages of everything from computer chips to staffing shortages.  A year ago we saw empty shelves instead of toilet paper and sanitizing supplies, and in my visit to the store recently, we seem to have plenty now.

There are other reasons people are having a tough time.  In my circle of friends and acquaintances, I’ve witnessed marital discord and divorce, loss of loved ones, either permanently by death, or because of disagreements that are hopefully temporary.

If you own or run a business, realize that your team wants to be the best versions of themselves, but there are other things going on that could be preventing that, at least temporarily.

If you work for someone, what I just said also applies to your boss.

Customers and clients, they are going through the wide range of emotions too, and we just don’t know the full story of what is going on in their lives do we?

I titled this piece, Feelin’ Good, because ultimately that is what we all want.

We want to feel good about our lives, our jobs, our family and friends.

We want to feel good when we spend our money.  

My wife recently spent money on two very different experiences, one was a gift box that included some fun things she picked out to send to out of town family members.  The other was spending money on getting her car repaired.

Two very vastly different reasons to spend, and yet both times she wanted to feel good when she punched in her pin number as she paid for her purchases.

It might be easy to make someone feel good when they are buying gifts, and more challenging to make them feel good when they are spending it on a repair.  But no matter what your business, please do your best to help your customers and staff feel good.

That’s the best kind of marketing you can create, an experience for all that leaves them Feelin’ Good because of what you did for them.

One more tip and this may not be earth shattering but after living in a world where we couldn’t see peoples smiles because of being masked up, please smile purposefully.  Even behind a mask, we can see a smiling face.

 

6 Lessons Learned From Surviving A Pandemic

6 Lessons Learned From Surviving A Pandemic

Now that we’ve made it this far in a once in a century pandemic, I thought I’d share with you a piece that I wrote for radio insiders.

First, the backstory.

This summer, radio consultant Loyd Ford reached out to me to be a guest columnist on his website that is designed for people in the radio industry.  People who work at radio stations on the air or behind the scenes.  I’ve done both but for the past couple of decades, what I do is not on the radio with the exception of a few ads I voice on WOWO radio where I am the General Sales Manager.

So what I am about to share was written for a very specific niche audience, however I believe you too will perhaps get some insight and ideas for you and your business.

6 Lessons Learned During A Pandemic was first published earlier this month at https://rainmakerpathway.com/free-blog/f/6-lessons-learned-from-surviving-a-pandemic

At the beginning of 2020, none of us thought that Surviving a Pandemic would be on our to do list, but sure enough, it rose to the top of the surprises for the year.

Now that we are in year two and continuing to battle the lingering effects of the Coronavirus that still rears it’s ugly head and will impact the communities we work and live in, I’ve got a few hints on how to move forward, no matter what happens next.

1. Pivot for your people. Pivot was an overused word in 2020, but it was appropriate. We are in the people business, otherwise we would not be needed. When our radio stations needed to allow our air talent to broadcast from home, our engineers made it possible. When our sales and office support staff needed to stop coming to the office and needed some leeway to accommodate kids at home instead of in school, we worked with them instead of being inflexible.

2. Don’t dwell on the past. In Northern Indiana, we saw our weekly revenue reports going from our best ever, to being cut in half, and then negative numbers. Weeks went by with only a fraction of the new business that we had been used to and had budgeted coming in. Instead of getting stuck there, our company made some cuts and also adjusted. When we closed the books on 2020, we finished further ahead than we thought we would when everything hit the fan in March 2020.

3. Create a Plan B, Plan C & Plan D. This is a lesson that I’ve had to relearn and apply more than ever. If you never have to use the alternative plans, fantastic. However the process of creating the alternative plans helped us leap forward and update practices that needed to be revised.

4. Care about your business partners. I gave my sales team the latitude to do what they felt was needed to help their customers. Some got reduced spot rates, some received extra no charge ads. Some had to suspend their ads because they were shut down and had no way to make money. We ran free ads informing our listeners and their customers what was going on. Meanwhile we heard about other local broadcasters that stuck to the letter of the law and refused to help their advertisers because they were trying to hang on to their radio revenue. In the end, the business owners remembered who cared and we have stronger and more robust relationships with them.

5. Adapt to the new ways. Video conferencing was never really on my to do list for 2020, although I was familiar with Zoom because of a client I meet with who does a weekly Zoom meeting with her marketing team across the country. Now video calls are another tool for connecting. In the retail world, they adapted to curb side pick-up and delivery. What ways can we adapt to make life easier for people to do business with us?  We also added an online payment portal in 2020.

6. Follow the Basics. No matter what the circumstances there are basics we need to do every week, like prospect, meet, present, sign, and service. Repeat. Business owners need and want our help to make bring them customers.

Our Guest Expert

Scott Howard is the General Sales Manager of WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana, one of 6 local stations owned by Federated Media. WOWO is nearly 100 years old and continues to be both the most listened to station and top billing station in both our company and also in Fort Wayne.

Scott has been with WOWO since 2013 and his background includes sales and management positions in both Indiana and Detroit after starting his broadcasting career on the air and in programming a few decades ago.

Since 2004 Scott has been writing and publishing media and marketing insights every week at https://www.scotthoward.me/and launched the Genuine ScLoHo Media and Marketing Podcast also updated weekly with over 200 episodes under 10 minutes each at https://podcasts.federatedmedia.com/show/scott-howard-media-marketing/

You can find him online by Googling, “ScLoHo” which is his online persona. Besides leading, teaching, training and mentoring the WOWO Local Sales Team, he also is called upon the guest lecture at area colleges and universities annually.

 

Thank you Loyd for the opportunity and I will be contributing to his website regularly in the future.

A Lesson in Business from the Business of Baseball

A Lesson in Business from the Business of Baseball

Long before baseball was known as BIG business it was known as America’s favorite pastime! But the truth be told, it’s always been a business and some valuable lessons can be learned by looking at how a baseball organization is run.

As a fan, we look at baseball as pure entertainment. Behind the scenes, the owners and managers are meticulously trying the create the perfect team on the field and the perfect balance sheet in the office. It’s not just the team they put on the field that makes them successful. There is more to it, much more!

As you work each day to build a successful business, there are some lessons to be learned from the way a professional baseball team builds, creates, and even re-organizes its rosters.

As with baseball teams, businesses have owners, managers, assistant managers, players, and personnel. They also, intentionally, have a mix of veterans, rookies, and those somewhere in between.

When creating a roster, it’s more than just pure talent that they look at.  They look at personalities, and attitudes on and off the field as well. Regardless of the position, each player and person on the team plays a major role in the overall success of the team. The same rules apply when creating your roster of employees.

In the 10 Lessons from Baseball on Building a Successful Business, Lesson #4 is: Hiring or Identifying Specialty and Utility Players.  In today’s baseball, every team has specialty and utility players. Having employees on your team that specialize in one area or another can be very rewarding. Likewise, having a player/employee that can play several positions can pay huge dividends as well. While a utility player may not be an all-star player at any one position, it’s the player, or in a business’ case, the employee that can fill in in a pinch without missing a beat.

Lesson #8 is: Create Fans.  Fans just don’t happen, they’re created. Baseball players will tell you that it’s much easier to get hyped up when you have fans cheering you on.

Teams that have the best fans sell the most tickets, t-shirts, and logoed products. True fans are fans that cheer and promote the team, or your business, whether they are inside or outside the stadium.  Do you have a plan to create raving and vocal fans/customers that not only root for you when they need you, but will root for you between purchases as well?

The similarity between a professional baseball team and your business is that you want to create a team that attracts a lot of fans/customers that are so thrilled by your product(s) or service(s) that they not only come back time after time, but they bring friends with them.

The ultimate goal is not just to win, but to be successful on and off the field.

To see the 10 Lessons from Baseball on Building a Successful Businessclick here.

8 Principles to Improve Your Life and Business

8 Principles to Improve Your Life and Business

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article on Medium.com titled: 8 Pillars of a Satisfied and Happy Life.  Here’s a link to it: https://medium.com/mind-cafe/8-pillars-of-a-satisfied-and-happy-life-847d98707e81

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I read it and decided that I wanted to add my spin on the 8 Pillars with both insights on how to apply this to you business and also reflections on how I do it personally.

On the business side of my life, I am the General Sales Manager of WOWO Radio, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I lead and coach 6 full time advertising sales people on our Local Sales Team.  I moved into this position at the beginning of 2020, a few weeks before Indiana went into lock-down due to the pandemic.  This is my 8th year with WOWO and I’ve been in the media and marketing world most of my life, although I do know how to drive a forklift and run a thermoformer too.

On the personal side, my wife and I have been married for over two decades and our 5 kids from our 1st marriages of made us grandparents multiple times.  The people on my Local Sales Team at WOWO range in age from my age to my kids age and so I know most of what they go through both personally and professionally.  The term, “Been There, Done That”, applies however the world has changed since I was a new Dad, some for the better, other changes not so much.

Pillar Number One from the Medium story:

1. Allow Yourself To Be Happy Before You “Succeed”

Absolutely.  As you grow, you need to learn to enjoy the journey.  Starting a new business is challenging all the time, not just in extreme circumstances.  Give yourself credit for doing the work.  One of the ways I measure the activity of the sales team I work with is the types of activity they are doing and how much they are doing.  I know that if they do certain benchmarks, success will follow.

Similarly, my wife likes gardening and it makes her happy.  It is hard work and the rewards take time to grow, but in the meantime, she is happy doing the work.   How about you? Do you have benchmarks in your business or life that you use to measure success before the financial success comes in?

2. Have A Clear Vision

Goals need to be both short and long term.  My team has a big picture goal that I shared at the beginning of the year, and then each month I break it down into smaller chunks for each person.  Together I work with each of them to help guide them to achieve those smaller goals which will add up to the original long term goal for our team.

I’ve worked for others who had no vision or they were continually changing course which creates frustration and confusion.  As a business owner, make sure your team understands the vision for your company too. When my wife and  I plan a trip either for ourselves or to visit family, we agree on the important elements and then also plan the details.  I learned several years ago how we best travel together and perhaps you and your spouse have learned what works best for you too.

3. Devote Yourself To Something Meaningful

I really dislike most advertising salespeople.  At least the way they do business, too many are focused on themselves, not on their clients success.  That has been the secret to my success.  To help others succeed, using the wisdom, knowledge and experience I’ve learned.  That’s one way I devote myself to something meaningful.  I also am involved serving on a non-profit organizations board to give back to the community.  How do you and your employees give of yourselves?

4. Become a Lifelong Learner

The day I stop learning is the day I stop living.  My formal education is not documented with college degrees but I keep getting invited to speak at numerous higher education colleges and universities.  Be curious.  Learn from others, listen and ask questions and figure out how to apply it to your life, your business or the people around you.

5. Do Not Settle For Less

I’ve done this a couple of times.  I’ve walked away from the world of advertising and took a break, but then I returned.  Some people decide not to return to their dreams and by doing that they never know if they could accomplish what they once sought.  On the personal side of life, this is very personal.  On the business side, you are going to have to decide what is important and what isn’t.  I used to work with an auto repair shop that was going to be open 24 hours a day.  Then when the owner discovered that it wasn’t a sustainable way to run his shop, he settled for less hours.  He also discovered how to merge what his customers really wanted with his vision and came up with a business plan that was unique, and he’s doing great now.

6. Remember To Have Fun

I took my WOWO Local Advertising Sales Team out for a morning of golf and lunch last month.  It was a team building event but it was more than that.  It was a time to set aside time to just have fun.  It wasn’t a reward for hitting a certain goal, it wasn’t earned based on performance, it was simply a guilt free way to hang out on a day when others were working and have fun.

At work, at home, having fun is something we all need to include in our lives regularly, not just special events.  How do you accomplish this?

7. Take Care Of Yourself

At the end of 2020, I decided to improve my health by dropping a few pounds and lost 20 pounds in about 6 months. I’ve maintained that and am slowing dropping a few more this year.  Stress is the silent killer for everyone it seems.  99 out of 100 people you see this month have something stressful going on in their lives that you may never know about.  You need to take care of your health, and encourage those who work for you to do the same.  Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual health are all needing our attention. The H. R. Department  at WOWO’s parent company, Federated Media sends out reminders about this and also provides resources that members of my team have made use of.

8. Cherish Those You Love

This is the last pillar from the Medium.com article, but it’s not the least important.  I’m blessed to have loving relationships with my family and we work at making sure we stay in touch and express that love.

While the dynamics are usually different in a business setting, how would the culture improve if you really told your staff individually what you appreciated about them?

They need to know that they are appreciated and why.  The companies that have problems retaining employees are the ones that have the worst company cultures.  As a business owner or manager, you set the example.  A genuinely positive work environment is also appreciated by your customers and clients too.

I hope you’ve learned a few things today, and perhaps go back and answer those questions I mentioned to see how 2021 can be even better for you and those around you.

 

The Value of a Single Customer

The Value of a Single Customer

When a person walks through the doors of your business, in-person or online, and purchases something from you for the first time, at that moment, they become your customer, your patient, or your client.

The question is, what is the value of that individual to your business or practice?  Is it the amount of profit from this one-time purchase or, is it the potential lifetime value they create?

Most experts will tell you that the cost to acquire a new customer is ten times more than what it costs to keep them.

With that said, most successful business owners have a well thought out advertising plan, or at minimum, an advertising budget intended to acquire and attract “new” customers, but very few have a plan to keep their “current” customers, patients, or clients.

Since we agree that keeping them is far less expensive than acquiring them, understanding the true Lifetime Customer Value should be enough to persuade you to at least consider implementing a plan to keep them.

There are 4 factors we need to consider when calculating a “Lifetime Customer Value”:

1) Average profit per individual sale including upsells and add-ons

2) # of purchases per year

3) # of years they will remain a customer

4) Word-of-Mouth – average # of people they persuade to do business with you

Paid media advertising is the best way to acquire new customers. Word-of-Mouth advertising is the best way to multiply your customers, and over-the-top customer service is the best way to ensure your customers become repeat customers.

Understanding the “Lifetime Value” of your customers will inspire you to create a strategic plan to serve each customer with more passion.

Click here to get our Lifetime Customer Value Worksheet to help you calculate the LCV of your customers.
 
Subscribers to my Sound ADvice email newsletter received this information in their inbox last week and you can too.  Just sign up, free in the form below.