by Helena Escalante | Growth, Marketing, Mindset, Resources, Sales
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 48 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA:
How to apply the Law of the Category to your benefit.
— From The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! by Al Ries and Jack Trout (read a sample or watch an animated video summary of the book).
“What’s the name of the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? If you didn’t know that Bert Hinkler was the second person to fly the Atlantic, you might figure you had no chance at all to know the name of the third person. But you do. It’s Amelia Earhart. Now, is Amelia known as the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo, or as the first woman to do so?”
You just witnessed in action one of the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, the Law of the Category:
“If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.”
As professionals, we are constantly selling either products, services, or our efforts (say, our work to our boss) and we tend to focus on “better.” But better naturally brings a comparison: better than what? Better than X we say. And then a further comparison ensues. Ok, better than X, but can you top Y? The bar is constantly being raised to unattainable levels if we just focus on better, better, better. Let’s think new instead.
Marketing gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout say that while “everyone talks about why their brand is better… prospects have an open mind when it comes to categories. Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.”
By promoting the category you are first in, you can differentiate yourself from the competition. And since every category has a leader, you can become this way the market leader in your category.
So, what category are you first in? Let me know in the comments!
ACTION
TODAY: Figure out what category you are first in. If you sell a product or service this should not be difficult, as what differentiates you from the competition is a way to define your category. If you are not in sales directly, you can create your own category in the work that you do. Are you the first to try some new strategy or method? Or the first to try out some new technology? Or the first to teach something to someone? There are so many firsts that come to mind! What can you do that can give you a leg up, and create a category of “you did this first” in the mind of the people you report to? If you can’t come up with anything, check out this post: There is no such thing as a shortage of ideas or ping me and I can help.
FUTURE: One of the ways in which you can constantly create value is by reinventing yourself, your business/work, and your categories. Make a point to review your categories at least twice a year. Are you still dominant in the one you chose? If so, congrats and keep on going. Are you still dominant but many competitors are trying to snatch your title? Come up with another, complimentary category. That way you’ll have the strength of the first one plus the additional one, and this will certainly be a further differentiator in your clients’ minds.
Know someone who can benefit from reading this post? Please share it with them via email, Facebook or Twitter — thanks a lot!
by Helena Escalante | Mindset, Networking, Planning, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
There is a method to “hack” networking events for best results.
— From: Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards
Happy Friday! It’s social Friday. And whether you are at a social event for business or pleasure this weekend, you may find yourself in a room full of strangers and need to make the most out of it. Instead of dreading it, now you can hack the social scene in your favor.
Vanessa Van Edwards, behavioral investigator, and her team at Science of People studied superconnectors (those people who make the most quality contacts and who have the most robust network on LinkedIn). Science of People studied many networking events by placing cameras on the venues and looking at the patterns of people. They analyzed the foot traffic of those individuals who easily worked the room as a way to see if there were networking hacks that could be learned and applied by anyone. The verdict? Yes, there is indeed a way to work a room successfully!
Take a look at the room. “Whether you are at a networking event, holiday party, wedding, dinner at a friend’s house, or in a conference ballroom, most events have this basic setup… a social map… the start zone, the social zone, and the side zone.”
Image courtesy of Portfolio/Penguin
The start zone is where you check in, enter the room, hang your coat, etc. This is where you land when you arrive to the event and where you get prepped to network. This, as well as the side zone (where the rest rooms are or around the food tables, are the not the best zones to stay in, psychologically speaking, as people in these zones are not necessarily ready to network at that moment. Areas marked with X in the map are traps to avoid.
The social zone is the best part to stand in, optimally, as people exit the bar (areas marked with stars and the triangle between them). That is when they turn around, drink in hand, and are ready to meet and greet. At that point they’re thinking: “Who do I know?” “Who do I talk to?” And you become an instant savior if you stand there and say “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you.” It is right then and there that they will be ready to network and you can start making meaningful connections.
Who would have thought… Makes total sense, doesn’t it? Want to learn more about this? You can read here and here, and watch this five-minute video. Also, since I adapted this post from a longer book review that I wrote for The New York Public Library, you can read that here.
ACTION
TODAY: If you are going to an event today, put this to the test! If not, simply study the zones and make a note in your schedule to revisit this when you have a social event next.
FUTURE: Figure out when your next networking/social event is taking place. Make a note in your calendar to come back to revisit this post. Then when you get to your event, remember the social map, identify the zones and work the room. Once the event is over, analyze how you did compared to other times. What worked? What didn’t? How can you adapt the learning for future events?
Make a note in your calendar to come back to this post after your event and let me know how it went in the comments, please, I’d love to know.
Happy networking! 🙂
by Helena Escalante | Planning, Productivity, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
There is no such thing as a shortage of ideas!
This idea is a segue from yesterday’s post on practicing proactive procrastination to generate ideas. Yet instead of procrastinating and getting bored, today we are going to do the opposite: take action.
How many times, when we need an answer, do we ask “hey, do you have any ideas on…?” only to hear our teammates, or even ourselves, say “no, I really can’t think of anything…” This answer naturally leads us to call for a brainstorming session. But more often than not, during brainstorming sessions everyone tends to agree with a few of the first ideas tossed out and that’s it, we’re stuck again with a less-than-desirable solution.
This happens because, usually, the most vocal people in the group toss out the first ideas and the rest of the group either agrees or keeps quiet, leading to groupthink (“the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility” – Google Dictionary). To avoid this, the concept of brainwriting can be used. It’s very simple: have everyone write their ideas down in paper before either saying them out loud, or passing the list on to the next person as a way to spark more ideas. That’s it.
The process then can follow many different courses (examples here and here). Yet it ultimately follows the course of whatever the moderator wants to do with the many ideas generated.
I recently put this to the test with several friends where the task was to generate as many business ideas as possible in 10 minutes. We came up with over 130. Of course, not all of them were good or viable, but they were all valid for what we wanted to prove to ourselves: that anyone is able to able generate many ideas at once with this method, and that it’s better if you do it as a team because you’ll produce many, many more ideas than as as individual. And once you start discarding the crazy, unviable ideas, you’ll be left with a handful of good, actionable ones that you can start putting into practice right away. As Seth Godin says, “you can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.”
So there you have it. Use brainwriting instead of brainstorming, and you’ll never be at a loss for ideas again.
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.”
— Linus Pauling
ACTION:
TODAY: Play along with the idea of brainwriting for yourself. Take 10 min and write down as many ideas as you can think of for an issue you want to solve or for a goal you’d like to achieve. Don’t judge the ideas, simply write them all down and let your brain loose while you’re doing this exercise. You’ll see that you can come up with a great amount of ideas and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at yourself. Then discard the bad ideas, take the good ones and implement them.
FUTURE: Get together with a group of friends, colleagues, or family and brainwrite answers to a challenge or problem that you are facing. Alternatively, set a goal (e.g. write down 50 ways to improve a process in your company, or 100 places where you’d like to go on vacation, etc.) and give yourself a finite amount of time, say 10-15 minutes. Then be in awe as to how many ideas you come up with! Vote for the best ones, discard the bad ones, and happy implementing!
Enjoy learning this new process, it’s easy, fun and VERY helpful in all aspects of business and life. Let me know how you did in the comments!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
Need help on something? Create your own FAB PAB
–From Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business by Carrie Kerpen and The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want by Dave Kerpen.
(Yes, Carrie and Dave are married, they are both rock stars, and they have one of the coolest wedding stories you’ll ever hear!)
So what is a FAB PAB you ask? It’s your own FABulous Personal or Professional Advisory Board.
But isn’t an advisory board for corporations? Originally, yes. But who says that you cannot use the power of an advisory board to your advantage? “You can form an advisory board for any purpose, duration or idea that you choose,” says Dave in his book. And the multiplier effect of having very smart people in the room together—all with the intention of helping you—generates sparks that produce powerful results.
Are you thinking of taking time off from work and going back to school to get a law degree or an MBA? Create a Personal Advisory Board of people you trust who can guide you to make that decision.
Are you thinking of starting a business or growing your existing one? Do as Dave did: realizing he needed a mentor—but being the one with most seniority in his company—he built a Professional Advisory Board. “The members of my advisory board have been game changers in helping me tackle problems I’ve really needed help with and achieve things I’ve really wanted, including launching [a] software company… I found my own mentoring program and I haven’t looked back since.”
“No matter who you are or what you do for a living, a well-constructed advisory board can help you take the next steps to grow personally and professionally. The board can help challenge you, guide you and teach you. […] The key is to find smart, experienced people in whatever area you’d like to focus on.”
And as Carrie’s book explains, we all need guidance on a lot more than workplace related issues. Our lives have many different, interwoven threads and, very likely, one person won’t be able to help you in every single area. That is the beauty of creating your own advisory board made up of people who love you, respect you and want what’s best for you.
Whether formal or informal, your FAB PAB is an invaluable tool to help move you forward. Consider creating one for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, depending on your goals and aspirations. And don’t forget to pay it forward when your turn comes!
ACTION:
TODAY: Figure out where you need help. Draw a circle on a piece of paper: that is your table. Who would you like seated at that table sharing their experience and expertise with you as part of your FAB PAB? List their names (choose wisely and carefully). Contact them.
FUTURE: Once you have contacted them and they’ve agreed to help you, figure out the best way to run your meetings (in person or virtual) so that they are structured, solid, purposeful and efficient to maximize everyone’s time and knowledge. Dave suggests starting with an icebreaking exercise, then sharing one or two challenges, and then going around the table to give everyone a chance to weigh in with their experience, ideas and suggestions. I love this formula. I would add to that: making a promise to the PAB to move swiftly on implementing the ideas/actions, and following up with them individually (prior to the next meeting) to celebrate when a little win happens based on a particular PAB member’s idea, or an introduction they made, etc. (it’s important to keep them in the loop and to show your appreciation).
Happy FAB PABing! Let me know how it goes, and if you’d like to bounce any ideas with me, I’ll be happy to do so. 🙂
by Helena Escalante | Growth, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
“Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what is not working.”
— From Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, by Derek Sivers.
The idea of persistence and dogged determination has been ingrained in us from a very young age. While there is enormous merit in being persistent, we have to make sure that said persistence will take us somewhere: sometimes we are just trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.
We do have to try (or see someone trying) to fit the proverbial round peg at least once into the square hole to realize it won’t work. Substitute this for whatever is not working in your business or life. Once you realize that this is not working for you or anyone involved, improve, switch, redesign, reinvent, modify… experiment and iterate again and again until you get it right. As Leadership Guru John C. Maxwell so wisely says: “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
By failing “forward” you know that you will learn something and apply that learning to the next iteration of whatever you are doing. Eventually, like Edison*, you’ll find the formula that works. As Derek aptly says in his book:
“Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what is not working […] Don’t waste years fighting uphill battles against locked doors. Improve or invent until you get a huge response.”
How do you know it’s finally right? Derek says that your clients will tell you: “Wow! Yes! I need this! I’d be happy to pay you to do this!” Or depending on what you’re doing, you may get any other positive expression of love, gratitude and/or desire to acquire.
* The story goes that Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent filament for light bulbs, experimented and failed ten thousand times before finding the one that worked. When asked about it he said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
ACTION:
TODAY: What is a proverbial round peg that you’re dealing with now? Ask WHY 5 times to see what’s the real reason why you’re not moving forward. What is one action that you can take today, (even if it’s just scheduling time in your calendar to deal with this next week) that will move you towards improving what is currently not working?
FUTURE: Grab a journal and take inventory of some—or all—of these areas of your life (the ones that apply to you): physical, intellectual, social, financial, spiritual, marital, parental, emotional, professional, and your hobbies. I’m sure you’re determined to make all of them work, right? (I hope so!) Where are you banging your head against a wall trying to make something work, but it’s just not happening? Write down a few experiments you’d like to try. Write the time/place/date where you will take action, then take action and see if your experiments work to improve the issue. If not, ask WHY 5 times to see what’s the real reason, write it down and try new experiments. Note: the experiments you try can be big, but I suggest breaking them down into small, manageable chunks. It’s easier when the chunks are not earth-shattering, enormously time consuming or eat up a month’s budget: minor tweaks work too.
I’ll share with you a couple of examples of small tweaks that worked for me recently:
- My husband and I, for a while, tried to have a “date night” on Wednesdays… dismal failure. Work and everyday obligations got in the way. The experiment? Switched it to Saturday mornings. The result? It’s just fantastic because we don’t have to worry about work the next day, and we can tackle any pending issues over the rest of the weekend.
- I was going crazy with one of my client’s electronic billing systems. I do some work for this client on and off; so it’s not often enough to remember clearly how to deal with the convoluted system, but often enough to deal with the system to the point of annoyance. Then I read somewhere that it’s worth establishing a system for anything that you do more than TWO times. Eureka! What a concept… eye-opening indeed! The experiment? Create a system. My “system” became a cheat sheet where I detailed the process—step-by-step—that I needed to follow every time. The result? Smooth sailing every time now that I use my client’s system. Voilà! No more frustration.
So now it’s your turn. Try out inventing, experimenting, improving, enhancing… and let me know how it goes!
by Helena Escalante | Leadership, Planning, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
To get to the root cause of a problem, ask WHY five times.
I’ve read this idea in many books, and it’s brilliant! I believe it first started in the manufacturing plants of Toyota in Japan, and it soon spread widely, because it can be applied to virtually any situation, any industry, and even to personal issues where we need to get to the bottom of something.
The idea is as follows: to get to the root cause of a problem you need to ask why (an average) of five times to uncover the issue. For example, let me share a case with which I was familiar:
Problem: It seemed that an outreach campaign for a gym was not working: people were not going into the gym to use the equipment that was being promoted.
Why #1: Why are people not coming into the gym to use the equipment that is being promoted?
Answer: Because people don’t understand how to use it on their own.
Why #2: Why don’t people understand how to use the equipment on their own?
Answer: Because it’s a very particular kind of equipment that requires guidance at first to learn how to use it.
Why #3: Why don’t we offer the guidance that people need at first to use the equipment?
Answer: As a matter fact the gym offers appointments for people to come in and have their questions about the equipment answered.
Why #4: Why aren’t more people requesting to make an appointment to come in?
Answer: People do make requests to set up an appointment, but they are being turned down because trainers don’t have the time.
Why #5: Why don’t trainers have the time?
Answer: Because management never checked with them or their schedules before creating the campaign and simply expected trainers to handle the additional flow.
As you can see, it’s like peeling layers of an onion to get to the core issue. Now we see that the campaign is indeed working because people are requesting appointments to come in, but the gym—at its current staff levels—is not being able to handle the new-client inflow. It’s now up to the gym’s management to figure out the best way to solve this based on the information uncovered. Good thing we asked five times, we wouldn’t have known all this had we stopped at the first why!
This is a very simple but truly great method to get to the bottom of things. If you need more than five, keep asking why until you get to the core of the problem, that’s the only way in which you’ll find out what it is. Then you can move on to solve it, which is the best part!
ACTION:
Share this method today with your colleagues, clients and loved ones. Try testing it out on simple things and you’ll see how rewarding it is to solve some of those mysteries. Think about a problem that you faced in the past and mentally apply this method to see how you would have arrived to the bottom of it. Next time you need to solve an issue where the root cause is not clear, remember to use the five whys; and when you do, please let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear how it worked out for you!
