Be Different or be dead

August 24, 2019

The surprising side gigs of some famous and creative people

The surprising side gigs of some famous and creative people.

In recent years the benefits of cross-training have been put in the spotlight. Employers are cross-training their employees, athletes are cross-training their bodies, and studies have shown that cross-training your mind can drastically impact your career.

Cross training is now a priority

Prioritizing time away from your daily tasks to devote to hobbies or side gigs can help you push past creative blocks and spark new ideas.

Though the benefits of cross-training your mind are just being realized, the practice of taking a break from your craft to inspire new ideas is centuries old.

Did you know that Emily Dickinson was an avid baker? She would often retreat to her kitchen and find so much inspiration that she would have to scrawl poems on the backs of her recipes.

Many creatives throughout history have had similar practices.

Invaluable put together this infographic that highlights 8 famous creatives who had side hobbies that significantly impacted their careers.

Whether you are an author, an engineer, or a personal assistant, prioritizing a hobby could be the key to your next big career move. If you are struggling to find inspiration or just feel stuck, make time for your interests and see how cross-training your mind can impact your productivity and creativity.

— Emma Welsh is a writer at Invaluable.com, the world’s leading online marketplace for fine art, antiques and collectibles. You can see more of her and her colleagues’ work here.

• Posted 8.24.19 at 04:40 am by Roy Osing
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August 19, 2019

Why a bad strategic goal to chase is to be ‘the best’

Source: Pexels

Why a bad strategic goal to chase is to be ‘the best’.

Every organization wants to establish a competitive advantage in the markets they serve. And they all look to creating a claim that establishes themselves in the dominant position.

These types of declarations pervade the communications space.

— “We offer the best network”

— “Our services provide the best value for money in the business”

— “Our customer service is better than our competition”

— “We have the best people in our industry”

— “Our sales support is best in class”

These types of claims don’t cut it in today’s world of intelligent discerning customers and intense competition.

A hope and a prayer

They are aspirational statements that don’t provide any meaningful guidance to people in the organization in terms of what they should do and how they should behave to live the strategy.

Lack of meaning

They don’t give customers any meaningful information that helps them understand the competitive claim. For example the largest Telecom Company in Canada claims to have the ‘best network’ among their competitors. Is this useful information to a customer? Does it explain the characteristic of their network that makes it the best?

No proof

They are difficult if not impossible to prove particularly in terms that address customer needs. In my experience, claims of this nature attract internal organizational statistics to ‘prove’ the claim and not specific attributes that are compelling to customers. They talk to the internal audience rather than the external one.

A competitive claim based on how different your organization is, on the other hand, forces you to define in precise terms how you are unique among your competitors.

Through the use of The ONLY Statement, a detailed assessment of the competition is done and is correlated with the critical desires of the customer groups you have chosen to serve. And it leverages the competencies and skills of the organization.

Here’s an example:

“We are the ONLY team that provides integrated safety solutions that go beyond the needs of our customers ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. We are committed to grow our customer’s business. We ONLY serve safety.”

The ONLY Statement informs the organization what specifically it intends to do that is unique in the marketplace and it declares to the customer what specific value and benefits will be delivered to them — it provides a framework for measuring and proving the competitive claim.

Winning is not about comparative and superlative claims in any event. They are not needed. You don’t have to be better than another company or best among your competitors to succeed and survive. You need to be different in some meaningful way.

Provide relevant, compelling and UNIQUE value to those you have chosen to serve and the spoils of the battle will flow your way.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.19.19 at 01:27 am by Roy Osing
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August 12, 2019

Why the sales flogger is disgusting and creates pain for people

Source: Unsplash

Why the sales flogger is disgusting and creates pain for people.

Sales product pushers torture customers when they try to force the customer to buy what they’re flogging.

Here’s the profile of the sales pushing technique that inflicts pain on people and diminishes the credibility of the profession.

1. One way conversation — Throughout the engagement process little interest is shown by the salesperson in discovering the customer’s needs, wants and desires. Their primary focus is on driving the product down the customer’s throat with no attempt to identify solutions that might address burning customer problems.

There is way too much fast talk. It’s a sales monologue about the features and benefits of the product. It’s not a conversation with the customer. If the sales person takes a breath during their speech it’s a miracle. It’s full-out transmitting with no listening.

2. Products and prices — The features of the product are highlighted. What the product does takes precedence over the benefits and value it creates. It’s a gee-whiz expose on the cool things the technology can do whether it resonates with what the customer wants or not.
And it’s a pricing pitch with the emphasis being on what the product costs and how it’s cheaper than the competition.

The sales monologue is dominated by a complex technology narrative which typically leaves the customer in a daze with little or no understanding of what the salesperson is talking about.

The flogger is infatuated with their technical knowledge and they beat the customer over the head with it.

3. Twenty-Four hour attention span — The sales engagement has a here and now short term focus; what can they extract from the customer today, right now in the moment?

There is little interest in searching for and presenting any long term benefits; the sales pusher doesn’t really care if the customer returns to buy again.
What’s important for them is to consummate the sale and move on to another potential sale with their sights on making quota.

4. Unrelenting pressure — The pressure on the customer to buy is immense. And in the face of the sales barrage, all the sales target wants to do is to get it over with and escape the pain.
There are no easy flight defences for the customer who sits perspiring, looking to leave the intolerable scene. The flogger is relentless. The customer cannot escape.

All through the process there is implied criticism on the customer if they don’t buy. The unsaid conclusion from the salesperson lurks: ‘Don’t you understand the great deal you’re getting (you must be stupid if you don’t)?’ and the customer feels it.

Actually this picture of the sales push process is really not the salesperson’s fault. They behave this way because it’s what their leadership wants.

Salespeople are compensated by how much product they sell in the short term, with little emphasis on bonding with people.

It’s this fuzzy stuff that these leaders find difficult to quantify in terms of benefits to the organization and therefore they tend to exclude it from the evaluation of sales effectiveness. And they certainly avoid putting relationship building in the annual sales compensation plan.

Sales performed in this way does not paint a pretty picture. Customers hate it and it doesn’t maximize long term value for the organization.

And, ironically, it doesn’t allow the salesperson to realize the full potential of their compensation.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.12.19 at 04:00 am by Roy Osing
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August 9, 2019

10 ways top level executives can improve company culture

Source: Pexels

10 ways top level executives can improve company culture.

Culture is the one element that glues an organization together, and this starts at the top of the hierarchy—the CEO.

Excellent leaders leave a positive impact on the people they work with. They have the power to influence how people work and act in the organization. With this, they make it a goal to build a healthy company culture that promotes learning, empowerment, adaptability, and of course, fun.

C-suite executives who strive to lead their organization to success value their employees first and foremost. They have this purpose of ingraining a positive culture to inspire and motivate everyone in the company.
When you manage to create a workspace that breathes your values and hold your employees in high esteem, it translates into their work.

Signs that your company embraces a healthy culture

In thriving organizations, their culture goes beyond free gym passes, bean bags on the lounge area, snack bars, free meals, and other perks. They continuously promote their shared values — the company’s DNA — and create a sensible and employee-centric work environment around those and their principles.

When this is instilled, employees are more driven to do quality work, perform the best of their abilities, voice out their out-of-the-box ideas, and grow collectively. Ultimately, you have happy employees, satisfied customers, and a boost in revenue. It’s a win-win situation!

Here are a few indications that you have a positive company culture:

● Low employee turnover
● A sense of employee engagement
● Open and transparent communication across all departments
● Clear mission and values
● Absence of office politics
● Satisfied employees

Below is a visual guide that best illustrates the different ways top executives can improve company culture and motivate their team to shape a more positive work environment. If you want to enhance your employees’ productivity, efficiency, and welfare, start taking notes.

This is how you can hone a roster of future leaders in your company.

— Melanie Alvarez provides fast, convenient advice to high-growth, innovative teams with specialized recruitment requirements in the Philippines. She also connects top-level candidates to Manila Recruitment’s placement services, through social media and digital channels. As a leading member of the client services team at Manila Recruitment, Mel is passionate about helping clients solve their executive, expert and technical recruitment needs in Manila’s dynamic job market.

• Posted 8.9.19 at 04:26 am by Roy Osing
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