Thursday, February 28, 2019
What to Buy (and Skip) in March
An overflowing pot of gold may be a fabled image of March, but a lot of the sales you’ll find this month are the real deal. Make the most of March’s shopping opportunities with our guide to what to buy (and skip). Buy: Floor sample mattresses New mattress models usually arrive in stores in the...
The article What to Buy (and Skip) in March originally appeared on NerdWallet.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2019
How They Ditched Debt
Making the Most of a Gig Economy (Photo by Shane Henderson) Kara Perez doubled down on part-time jobs to pay off student loans worth $25,302 in 3 1/2 years. Read more Holiday Bills Break a Couple’s Budget Christmas gifts piled on top of existing debt persuaded Anthony Hartzog and his wife...
The article How They Ditched Debt originally appeared on NerdWallet.
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4 Effective Tactics to Sell Your Property Listing in a Buyer’s Market: Tips for Real Estate Agents
After several years of steady growth, the real estate market is showing signs of another downturn: an oversupply of available properties, stagnating prices, and increasing “days on market” are some of the signs that we are shifting to a buyer’s market.
Are you a real estate agent who has taken on several listings and has been working for weeks or months to get them sold? After a long period with no results, your sellers are likely to start calling you. Why hasn’t their property sold? What are you doing to market it? What else are you planning to do to make the sale?
I would like to share with you a few effective practices and ideas that have helped my own company get our listings sold, and hopefully these tips can help you, too—whether you need to revive a stale listing, or you need to convince a new seller why they need to list with you.
1. Start marketing the moment you sign the listing agreement
Once you’ve got a contract and secured your position, it’s time to get to work.
Harness the power of social media
Share a short preview of your new listing “coming soon to the market” across all your social media channels.
I applied this strategy in one of our most recent property flips, posting periodic updates on the renovation and its progress on Instagram (an ideal platform to share property photos), being sure to always tag the location, the neighborhood, and a combination of other pertinent keywords, as well as using the hashtag #miamirealestate.
On the day I announced we were ready to list, I got a call from a young woman who had been following my updates closely. She was looking to move into the area and wanted to know when we were hosting our first open house. Amazingly, this first caller and her husband ended up buying the home—all through the power of Instagram.
Let your fellow agents know
If your brokerage offers an intranet for agents to communicate, post a sneak peek of your property listing with the address and price for your fellow realtors to see. They might be already working with buyers who are looking to move into the neighborhood.
Don’t dismiss the good old real estate sign
Install your real estate sales sign as you walk away from the listing consultation. Add a “coming soon” sign to it, and make sure your contact information is prominently displayed. Anyone driving through the neighborhood will be alerted that the property is coming to the market soon, and they’ll have a chance to contact you for more information.
You can also be creative with your signs to make them stand out, like the one I saw recently that read “For Sale … Honey, back up the car!” It worked on me—I made my husband back up so I could read it.
2. Stage your listing to make it stand out
In those days when properties are flying off the shelves, sellers might be reluctant to consider the option of staging their home for sale, as it can be significant up-front investment. However, when competition is fierce, can you really afford to not stage and let the empty property sit on the market for months?
From the moment a buyer discovers the home online to the time they walk it during the showing, home staging provides many benefits:
- It creates an impeccable first impression in professional photos.
- It highlights the best features of a property (and can help to hide its shortcomings).
- It allows the visiting buyer to connect with the home on an emotional level and imagine themselves living in it.
- On a completely practical level, the presence of furniture allows the agent and the buyer to sit down and have a conversation, and remain on the property longer.
Imagine these shelves with nothing on them? It would make for a sterile and unappealing environment for the potential buyer:
photo credit: Mike Butler Photography
We started staging our flips and it quickly proved to be an indispensable strategy. We have sold homes within as little as 6 days, at or over the asking price, while similar homes sat on the market for 90 days or more, forced to reduce their prices over and over.
Today we stage every one of our flips and I recommend staging to all my real estate clients. We started to offer our home staging services in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area last year and the results have been very positive. Our latest project scored a cash offer in just two weeks on the market.
3. Hire a professional photographer who understands architecture and interiors
Hiring a professional photographer to take photos of your property listing is essential. But beware: there are wannabe professionals and there are real professionals. The first is the kind who might take photos with the window blinds closed or at unflattering angles; the other is someone who knows how to make an interior shot look as good as possible.
Don’t just hire someone with a DSLR camera and who knows Photoshop; hire a photographer who understands interior design, layout, light, and composition.
What do I mean by that?
A true architectural photographer does not just come in and shoot photos of the space and its elements as they are. He or she moves, adjusts, and places pieces so that the pictures look just right. The image below is an example of a shoot at one of our staging projects:
photo credit: Mike Butler Photography
The dining table decor as well as the mirror are typically not in the position you see in this picture, but a skilled photographer knows how to rearrange things in order to compose an interesting shot. Photography is both an art and a science—invest in someone who can capture a feeling in their photos.
4. Give your listing as much visibility as possible
Of course, don’t forget the basics: publish your listing on the MLS (multiple listing service), syndicate with major real estate platforms like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com, and claim those listings to follow statistics. However, there is more you can do to get more views on your listing.
List on Facebook Marketplace
If you’re targeting younger buyers, post the home for sale on Facebook Marketplace. You’ll be surprised how many enquiries you get from potential buyers!
Use email lists
In the United States, where collaboration between real estate agents is very common, do not underestimate the power of your email list. Make it a habit to send the property to your contact list on a regular basis. In the case of our local MLS, I’m able to pull realtor contact lists and add them to my email base. Make sure you keep the subject line interesting and relevant to increase your email open rate.
Change the featured photo regularly
This might not be obvious, so I will explain my reasoning. More than 90% of buyers use the internet to search for properties. They will use platforms like Zillow to do so, and they will only see the basic information of your listing and one main photo. Here’s the trick: change that cover photo periodically to attract new attention to your listing. The kitchen may appeal to one person, but the living room to another.
Host open houses
Open houses have always been and will always be essential when selling a property. They not only allow potential buyers to physically experience the space, but each time you hold one, it makes your listings pop on all online portals and gives your property renewed attention.
Broadcast on Facebook and Instagram Live
For those who can’t make it in person, offer a livestream tour of the home. Give your viewers a virtual view of the property and answer their questions in real time. It isn’t just a tour of the property, by the way—they are also getting to know you (and perhaps considering you for their future realtor).
The post 4 Effective Tactics to Sell Your Property Listing in a Buyer’s Market: Tips for Real Estate Agents appeared first on AllBusiness.com
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How to Get a New Salesperson Up and Running Quickly
A sales manager once told me he only hired salespeople who could sell; he provided no sales training. You could say that “sink or swim” was his motto—and I’ll bet most salespeople he hired sunk.
Let’s banish this myth that anyone can sell without guidance. Here’s what sales managers should do if they want their new hires to be successful.
Provide a sales manual
I have created many sales manuals for clients. My first thought, in almost all cases, was “I can just imagine what they were doing before they had this manual.” And I know the answer: They were wasting a lot of time. Their salespeople were experiencing unnecessary stress and failure; they certainly were losing sales.
Why does a successful sales organization need a sales manual? Because this is management’s preferred guide to how it wants it products, services, and the company represented in the marketplace. It’s a best practices guide for selling.
Do you want to make it easier or harder for your sales team to be successful? If the answer is you want it to be easier for your salespeople to succeed, then you provide a sales manual.
A manual should define the sales process
Your sales process is a series of steps you want your salespeople to work through in order to make a sale, and you need to provide the steps. Steps should include how to identify prospects, how to contact prospects, how to get the appointment, tips for asking questions during the sales call, how to close the sale, and services to provide after the sale.
Your sales manual should detail how to execute each one of those steps. For example, it should define the criteria for an ideal prospect, and it should define the lower limits of a prospect—you do not want your salespeople thinking an unacceptable prospect is in fact a viable one. As a salesperson uncovers the problems, needs, or wants of a prospect during questioning, your manual should identify the issues that your products or service address and for which types of prospects.
It’s unfair to tell a newly hired salesperson to figure out what prospects are best suited for the products or services he or she is selling. It’s not their job to identify the features and benefits of your products and services. That should be part of management’s job to develop the sales process, and to include it in the manual.
Just remember that “Go sell” is not a process.
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- 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
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Selling is a team sport
Some sales teams provide mentors for new hires, while for other teams, mentoring is the sales manager’s job. Either way, the role of a mentor is a critical role in the sales process. You don’t want new hires wasting time having to figure out the sales process on their own, or experiencing unnecessary failure before they learn how to be successful. Mentors guide new salespeople to avoid failure.
It’s also the role of the sales manager—whether or not they are mentors—to be making sales calls with their new hires. However, there are some sales managers who go on calls in unproductive ways. These managers will make unscheduled calls with their salespeople, and simply say, “Today I’m riding with you.” They don’t give the salesperson a chance to set up a special day of appointments.
Unexpected joint sales calls are an example of management checking up on people and trying to see if the salesperson is working hard or not. But I think there’s a better way. Why not instead give salespeople a chance to impress you? Let them know in advance you will be working with them to make sales calls. That way they can schedule appointments in ahead of time and there is less likelihood of a customer canceling. What you’re doing with advance notice is setting up your salesperson for success instead of failure.
Certainly discuss beforehand what your role will be during the appointment. Ask them what their objective is for the sales call, and then afterwards debrief to discuss whether they accomplished the objective, what they should have done differently, or how they could have improved the sales call.
It’s the sales manager’s job
When you hire new salespeople, your goal should be to find people who have the necessary talent to become top sales performers. But your it’s your job to give them the tools they need to be successful—and then you can tell them to “go sell.”
RELATED: 6 Highly Effective Sales Training Techniques That Every Manager Should Know
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Want a Career You Will Love? Tap into Your Talent and Your Passion
“Looking back on your career 20, 30 years from now, what do you want to say you’ve accomplished?” That’s a question Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, often asks prospective employees.
And how would you answer that question? Take a minute and think about it. In other words, what matters to you as you are building your career?
In answering that question, you would probably include the accomplishments that you have achieved along the way. You may include skills you’ve developed and lessons you have learned. Would you talk about the talents you possess? You see, everyone has talent. Often, we simply overlook our talents, because this natural set of skills comes so easily to us, and we assume it’s the same for everyone else—but it’s not.
The connection between talent and passion
There is an interesting aspect about the talents we possess. In many instances our talents are a direct manifestation of our passions: the things we feel most strongly about. Our passions are wrapped up in what brings us joy and utilizes our talents. In other words, there is a connection between talent and passion. Understanding the talent and passion you bring to the table is extremely useful when building a career and developing your unique leadership style.
Think back to your childhood. As a kid if you liked something, you just did it. On the playground, if you liked swinging on the swings, you spent time on the swings. If you liked looking at bugs, you were on your hands and knees in the dirt looking for bugs. And if you didn’t like those activities, you would be spending your time doing activities you enjoyed. Maybe you were good at playing chess, or drawing cartoons; that’s where you would spend your time.
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When we became adults, we left many of these activities behind: no more swinging on the swing sets or organizing games on the playground. However, if we delve into the skills we developed on the playground, we may find they can be useful in our adult pursuits. On the playground we may have enjoyed organizing people, creating new games, or seeking the thrill of adventure. Fast forward to an adult career setting and notice these skills can be transferred to providing HR services, developing innovative product designs, and taking risks.
As people choose their career paths, there’s an expectation that success is measured in dollars. Obviously, it is important to choose a career where you can earn enough money to provide a comfortable living. Yet, how many people incorporate their passion into a career path as a means of earning a living? An alternative would be to earn money at a job and then use some of the proceeds to fund your passion.
Identifying your passion
Need help connecting your life, talents, and passion? Try this exercise. Think about how you spend the other eight hours of the day—you know, the hours between the eight hours of work and the eight hours of sleep? How do you like to spend that time? Is this when you do your hobbies, hang out with family and friends, or read? Over the next week, list the activities you pursue in those hours, and you may notice a pattern. How do your current activities compare with your interests as a child? These patterns will provide you with insights into where your passion may lie or how it may be reignited.
Returning to the question posed by Jeff Weiner, how would you now answer that first question about what you want to say you’ve accomplished in 30 years? Use those eight hours as a starting point and revisit any passions you may be ignoring. If they’re a fit with the career you are pursuing, it’s a bonus—but it doesn’t have to be.
Here is another exercise to complete: Clare Booth Luce, a noted journalist and U.S. Congresswoman, once said that “a great man (or woman) is a sentence.” For example, Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union and freed the slaves. How would you write your sentence? Would it include your passion? Passion is heartfelt. If you reread the sentence about President Lincoln, within those words you can uncover his passion.
I’ve always liked uncovering the hidden talents that reside in individuals, and that’s why I like working with business startups and helping people turn their great ideas into a reality. It inspires me now like it did when I was a child, when I created new stories and games with my friends.
The reason that identifying your passion is important is a pursued passion provides a sense of happiness and fulfillment, and it provides meaning and fulfillment. There is excitement with passion that can be shared. Pass it on.
RELATED: How to Turn Your Hobby and Passion Into a Profitable Business
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5 Online Marketing Funnels You Probably Aren’t Using (But Should)
An online marketing funnel is a marketing strategy to get a consistent stream of new leads or sales from your site.
Online entrepreneurs are very familiar with funnels already, as they’ve been a buzzword for years. Most already have at least some type of lead funnels or sales funnels in place.
However, there are several types of marketing funnels that most online entrepreneurs and business owners are not using.
Here are 5 online marketing funnels you probably aren’t using…but should.
Quiz Funnel
A Quiz Funnel starts with the visitor answering a series of compelling questions that promise to provide immediate and personalized feedback. After completing the quiz, they are asked for their contact information to receive their results. Buzzfeed popularized online quizzes, and savvy marketers followed their lead.
Depending on what email service you use, the answers from the quiz can also tag subscribers. This way you can customize email follow-ups. For example, if you’re a marketing company, you might decide to segment your emails based on small business owners and agency owners.
Those are very different audiences, but you may have services for each group.
Digital Attention Span Funnel
A Digital Attention Span Funnel is designed to grab the attention of visitors with short attention spans, quickly win their trust and turn them into leads.
This one is different because it is not a dedicated page but blended into a blog post. The post should be focused on solving a specific problem for the site’s prospective customers.
The first step is letting visitors know you are qualified by using “trust triggers” on your webpage. Examples of trust triggers include “As Seen On” publisher logos, testimonials, and incorporating influencers in your content.
The second step is to solve the problem that leads them to your content. This is a critical part of building a trusting relationship. Focus on solving a very specific problem in a very specific way during this step.
The third step is leveraging all that trust and turning the visitor into a lead using content upgrades. You offer an optin for a free bonus (downloadable PDF, training video, etc) that expands on the topic of the blog post. The key here is that it must clearly tie into the problem the post is solving.
Hero Funnel
A Hero Funnel’s purpose is to position you as an authority with elements like your background, expertise, and accomplishments. Then asking them to optin to your list and follow you on your social media.
A Hero Funnel is beneficial for anyone that is the face of their company. You’d probably use it on the “About” page on your site, or even use on a YourName.com type domain.
A good example is one from Russell Brunson, the founder of Click Funnels.
This is not going to be one that brings in the highest number of subscribers, but the ones that do come from this funnel will be the most interested in you personally.
And remember, the goal is not to sell products or even get them to optin for a free gift. You are selling “you”…so focus on gaining social media followers and general email subscriptions.
Reverse Squeeze Page
A Reverse Squeeze Page Funnel gives away some of your best content before asking for a visitors email address.
For example, you have a video training that completely covers a method of how to get traffic from LinkedIn. Then, in the end, ask visitors to optin to see your method to convert that traffic into leads.
This works best when you need to overcome trust issues with new visitors because you are giving them value first. In most cases, your conversion rate will lower than most other optin pages, but they’ll trust you more.
Invisible Funnel
In an Invisible Funnel, people optin with a credit card to attend an event, get access to a training, software, or digital product. But you don’t charge it…yet
You are going to give them access to it for free at first, then bill them after they’ve had a chance to use the product or service. It could be 3 or 7 days later…even a month.
That’s what makes this so unique.
If you are selling an information product, maybe you’d let people have 3 days to review and apply the training, then charge their account unless they cancel.
Conclusion
Some of these online marketing funnels are easier to implement than others (ie the Quiz Funnel would probably require a premium tool or service to implement).
But others are no more than just changing how you position your existing offers.
Don’t jump in and try to execute all of these at once. Pick one and go with it.
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Nonfiction: An Economist’s Argument for Preserving Communities
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Tuesday, February 26, 2019
4 Cash Flow Challenges Facing Small Business Owners Today
You should probably have a good handle on your company’s cash flow, but do you ever wonder how your company compares with other small businesses? Intuit QuickBooks recently released a global study, the State of Small Business Cash Flow, which reveals the cash flow challenges experienced by small business owners and self-employed workers around the world. The study is also an in-depth assessment of the behaviors and attitudes of entrepreneurs experiencing cash flow challenges.
As I read the study, the section on cash flow issues faced by entrepreneurs caught my eye. According to the study, 69% of small business owners are kept up at night with concerns about cash flow. What drives cash flow issues for the self-employed? Let’s take a look at the top four factors.
1. Managing receivables
Receivables, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a balance of money due to a company. The business has provided services to a client or customer; however, the client still owes the company payment for those services. Until receivables are repaid in full, they are referred to as outstanding receivables.
One-third of all small business owners in the United States estimate their companies have more $20,000 in outstanding receivables, according to the study, and the average outstanding receivables for U.S. small businesses is $53,399.
2. Managing payments
How do small business owners manage payments? The study reveals 53% will send out invoices which bill customers and/or clients for services on a specific date. On the flip side of the coin, 47% of small business owners use advanced payment. This allows entrepreneurs to charge customers and/or clients for services before they receive them, or right when they do.
How long does it take money to process for small businesses? More time than you might think. Sixty-six percent of small business owners revealed the greatest impact on their company’s cash flow is the amount of time it takes money to process after receiving payments. Nearly one-third (31%) of small business owners say they wait more than 30 days for payments.
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- 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
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- 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business
3. Employee management
Small business owners are not the only ones impacted by not receiving pay. A lack of readily available funds makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to pay employees on their payroll. More than two in five (43%) of small business owners with cash flow issues have been at risk of not being able to pay employees by their assigned payday.
Unfortunately, 32% of small business owners surveyed have paid their employees after their paydays. As illustrated by events like the recent partial government shutdown, the impact late pay has on employees can be dire. Many individuals live paycheck to paycheck, and when a small business employer cannot pay on time, employees are likely to start looking for jobs at companies that can provide dependable pay.
4. Getting capital
What happens when it becomes too difficult to have liquid finances available? Some small business owners turn to loans and other forms of capital for financial support.
Getting financial support, though, isn’t always easy, and for some business owners, this means admitting defeat before they have had a chance to try. Nearly two in five (39%) of U.S. small business owners don’t apply for loans, with 29% saying they don’t apply because interest rates are too high, 23% do not want to make payments, and 19% do not think they will be approved.
How to resolve cash flow challenges
Sometimes I’m in a position to write content where I can offer actionable advice and help for small business owners. Cash flow is a slightly different matter. As noted by the study, it’s become an increasing problem for small businesses not to have funds readily available for real-time expenses.
While I am not a financial professional, I certainly don’t think it’s fair for small business owners to lose sleep worrying about cash flow. I recommend meeting with a accounting professional or a financial adviser to help sort out these concerns. These professionals will be able to get entrepreneurs on track with better billing practices, for example, that can be an asset to small businesses. Once companies and their owners are better equipped to resolve these issues, they will be able to keep relationships strong with employees, vendors, clients, and customers.
RELATED: The Best Ways to Finance Cash Flow Emergencies
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6 Simple Ways to Humanize Your Brand to Better Connect With Customers
In our digital world, personalization is key. But when the majority of outreach takes place online, it can be difficult for consumers to connect with and trust brands. How can your brand cut through the noise?
You need to humanize your brand.
Humanizing your brand shows consumers the real people behind your business’s front. And, it’s easier to connect with people than businesses.
According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, only 54% of people trust U.S. brands—that leaves 46% of people who are skeptical. On the other hand, 75% of employees trust their employers, aka the key people behind the business. You need to build that same level of trust with your consumers.
Are you ready to connect with your customers? Let’s get started. Check out these six steps to humanize your brand.
1. Develop a relatable online voice
How do you communicate with customers? You may use your website, blog, social media pages, online review sites, direct email, email campaigns, and online chats. And, what do all of these examples have in common? They’re all online.
With so much taking place on the web, you need to develop a relatable online voice. Without one, consumers won’t know whether they’re interacting with a robot or a live person. If you want to humanize your business, write like you’re a person. Personalize messages to customers, use humor, show empathy, and be yourself. Talk to customers like you already know them to create lasting relationships.
Once you develop your brand’s voice, keep it consistent across platforms. Relate to your audience regardless of whether you’re engaging customers on social media or your business blog.
2. Keep your startup story real
Rome wasn’t built in a day—and most likely, neither was your business. You probably had some setbacks, failures, and frustrations when starting your company. Unless you were very lucky, your startup wasn’t a bed of roses.
And that’s OK! Having a rough startup story humanizes your business. Whether you sell to businesses or consumers, your audience wants the real story that highlights the people who worked to make your dream a reality.
Let’s look at my payroll and accounting software company, Patriot Software. Its startup was not glamorous. We started in the basement of a factory. We were hot from no air conditioning, cold from no heat, and wet from flooded floors. Can you picture it? (If you can’t, here’s a video to give you a better visual.)
We, the people in the day-to-day trenches, learned from trial and error. My startup story isn’t perfect because nobody is perfect. And that’s what business is—an extension of the people who operate it and work within it.
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- The Complete 35-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business
- 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
- 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
- 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting a Business
3. Ensure transparency is alive and well
If you want to humanize your brand, make it transparent. Consumers demand transparency from the businesses they buy from. Nine out of 10 customers would likely stop buying from a business if they weren’t transparent.
Keep your business transparent by publicizing relevant information about your business, products or services, finances, and company culture. Ensure transparency is alive and well in your business by doing the following:
- Tell customers where your products come from.
- Disclose what’s in your products.
- Be transparent about your business’s core values.
- Respond to online reviews and take responsibility for your business’s faults.
- Don’t sweep things under the carpet.
- Avoid overpromising and spinning the truth.
- Eliminate hidden agendas.
Of course, don’t reveal trade secrets or too much information about your company in your effort to be transparent.
4. Put a face to the (employee’s) name
Show off your employees on your small business website. Upload photos to appear above, beside, or below the employee’s name and position.
It helps to put a face to a name. Most people are visual and can connect more to a business when they remember that it employs real people. If you look at Patriot Software’s team page, we have photos of each of our employees. And when you hover over the pictures, you get to see a little bit of each individual’s personality.
You can also add icons with an employee’s picture to your online chats. That way, customers know who they’re talking to.
5. Spotlight your employees
Spotlighting your employees lets you showcase one of your workers and boosts engagement among your workforce. Not to mention, it also helps customers connect with your employees, thus humanizing your brand.
Generally, spotlights are question and answer interview. An interviewer asks the employee about themselves, like where they went to school, why they love working for your company, and what they enjoy doing in their free time. You can publish employee spotlights on your website. That way, your employees and the general public can learn more about your employees.
Employee spotlighting has a similar effect as posting photos of your workers. Consumers can get to know your business in a more humanizing light through your workforce.
6. Go beyond online
The web is an outstanding tool for communicating to consumers, but it isn’t your only option. When humanizing your brand, look beyond online outlets to connect with your target audience. Consider integrating direct mail into your outreach efforts.
Direct mail isn’t dead. According to one study, consumers open between 70% and 80% of direct mail. And MarketingSherpa reports 54% of consumers want to receive mail from brands they’re interested in.
If you want to humanize your brand, don’t limit your mail communications to advertisements and mass coupons. Tailor coupons and discounts to customers based on their purchase history. And send personalized holiday, greeting, or thank-you cards, including handwritten cards.
Writing cards by hand can be tedious and time-consuming, and if you have a rather large customer base, you might not want to even think about it. But handwritten cards completely change the game. Recipients know that handwritten cards are from a person, not a machine. This reminds consumers that humans run your business, and those humans are grateful for their business. Spread card writing responsibilities among your team; include the recipient’s name, a personalized note, and the name of the employee writing the card.
RELATED: 5 Low-Cost Ways to Improve Your Customer Experience
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You’ve Been Accused of Patent Infringement—Now What?
By Kevin Wagner and Theodore Budd
Most businesses go about their day-to-day routine without too much focus on intellectual property issues. But then one day an accusation of patent infringement arrives.
This accusation could be in the form of a formal complaint filed in Federal District Court, an aggressive cease and desist letter, or a more “friendly” notice letter identifying a patent that may be relevant to the company’s business and is available for licensing. Once a communication of this sort arrives, concerns about potential patent infringement are no longer a back-burner issue.
This article will provide a road map for companies facing these circumstances for the first time (or for the first time in a long time), outlining the steps that should be taken in the first days and weeks after receiving an accusation of patent infringement to maximize odds of success going forward.
1. Know your deadline for responding
If you have been formally served with a summons and a complaint, then your default deadline under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is 21 days to file an answer or otherwise respond with a motion filed in Federal Court. Those 21 days pass quickly, so you will want to take action right away. Often as a courtesy, the plaintiff will agree to extend this initial deadline by a few weeks, but that is not guaranteed, so don’t count on it.
If you have not been formally served, you have more time. One tactic plaintiffs sometimes use is to file a complaint with the Court, but not serve it right away. In this scenario, the plaintiff will ordinarily send a copy of the filed complaint together with a cover letter asking to engage in settlement discussions. Federal Rules provide a plaintiff 90 days after filing a complaint to accomplish service. Often, plaintiffs use this time to attempt to engage in settlement discussions before either party needs to invest substantial resources in actual litigation. At the end of this 90-day window, if no agreement has been reached, the plaintiff will either need to dismiss the case, formally serve the complaint, or move the Court for an extension of the service deadline.
If the accusation of infringement comes in the form of a letter, whether an aggressive cease and desist letter or the more friendly kind, this probably means the patent holder wants to talk before filing a lawsuit. These letters often include a self-imposed deadline for a response, but that deadline is almost always a soft one. If you write back to say you are reviewing the letter and will respond after completing your analysis, the patent holder will likely sit tight for longer than initially indicated. But you cannot delay forever, and you’ll have to decide what to do next, so keep reading.
2. Implement a legal hold
Once a company reasonably anticipates litigation, it has a duty to preserve all potentially relevant information for discovery. Failing to do so can have big consequences on the case. The most egregious violations occur when someone actively destroys documents to shield them from discovery. But in today’s world of electronic documents, email, and automatic deletion policies, violations can occur unless immediate action is taken.
The best practice is to identify employees likely to have information relevant to the case, notify those employees of the infringement accusation, and make sure they preserve all potentially relevant documents in any form. You will also need to work with your IT department to turn off any automatic deletions for the emails of those employees and any other affected electronic document collections. Ask your counsel to prepare an appropriate legal hold memo and help you put together a plan for implementing the hold as soon as possible.
3. Understand your potential exposure
One of the first things you should do after receiving an accusation of patent infringement is to understand your potential exposure. Patent litigation may feel like uncharted territory, but at its core, it is just another business dispute. To effectively plan and negotiate, you need to know what you have at risk.
As a first step, identify the product or products accused of infringement. If you have other products that also include the feature that has been accused of infringement, be sure to include those as well because they may eventually become part of the dispute. Then pull basic accounting information (unit sales, revenue, and gross margin percentage) for those products, going back to either the issue date of the asserted patent or six years, whichever is later in time. This should give you a good initial sense of how important the accused products are to your business.
Next, you need to understand the potential remedies the patent holder may seek in a litigation. If a patent holder succeeds in an infringement case, there are three primary remedies that could result: (1) a reasonable royalty, (2) lost profits, and (3) an injunction.
A reasonable royalty constitutes reasonable compensation for use of the patented technology, and is the baseline remedy available in every case. In general, it is determined by considering what a reasonable patentee and a reasonable accused infringer would have agreed to as a licensing fee just before the alleged infringement began.
There is no set formula for determining a reasonable royalty, and both the form of the royalty (lump sum, revenue percentage, or per-unit fee) and amount can vary widely depending on industry. If you have other similar agreements at your disposal, they may give you a good estimate. Otherwise, take 25% of your gross profit margin on the accused product(s) to get a ballpark number.
Lost profits are an alternative to a reasonable royalty, available where the patent holder can show that it lost sales due to the alleged infringement. If the patent holder is not selling any products of its own, then there is no risk of lost profits. Lost profits are calculated by multiplying the number of the patent holder’s lost sales by the patent holder’s (not your company’s) profit margin.
Lost profits can be difficult to calculate with precision, but to get a rough estimate, multiply your company’s total accused sales by the patent holder’s share of the market, excluding your sales (e.g., if you and the patent holder each have a 1/3 share of the actual market as it exists today, then 1/2 is the patent holder’s share of the relevant market). Then multiply that amount of estimated lost sales by the patent holder’s estimate profit margin.
A lost profits-based damages award can lead to significant exposure for your company, especially when the patent holder enjoys high profit margins and a substantial market share.
An injunction is a court order prohibiting the defendant from continuing to infringe the patent, and can be issued preliminarily at the beginning of a case or permanently at the end of a case. An injunction is not automatic even if the patent holder wins the case. Courts decide whether to issue an injunction by considering (1) whether the patent holder suffered an irreparable injury, (2) whether financial remedies are adequate compensation, (3) the balance of hardships between the parties, and (4) the public interest.
In general, there is much less risk of an injunction if the patent holder is not directly competing with the accused infringer in the marketplace. If the patent holder is a direct competitor, however, the risk of injunction increases substantially. And if you’re a new entrant to the market, the patent was recently issued, or the product is very important, the chances of a preliminary injunction also increase.
Finally, be aware that if the patent holder can show your company was aware of the patent and willfully chose to infringe it, any monetary damages can be multiplied up to three times their original amount.
It is never fun to think about your worst-case scenario, but understanding your potential exposure is critical. Maybe you’ve only sold a few of the accused products, and you can use that information to convince the patent holder you aren’t worth bothering with. Or maybe this analysis will tell you that the accused products are critical to your business and you need to invest all available resources in defeating the patent holder’s allegations. Either way, this exposure analysis will drive your decision-making going forward.
4. Investigate the patent holder
After estimating your potential exposure, you should have a good sense of what your company has at stake. But in any good negotiation, it is also important to know what is important to the party on the other side of the table. Information is power, so the more intelligence you can gather about the patent holder, the better.
Here are 10 of the most important pieces of information to gather:
1. How big are they? Patent litigation is expensive. Will they be able to fund a litigation?
2. Are they selling a competing product? Without a competing product a reasonable royalty is likely the only available remedy.
3. Do they sell any products? Non-practicing entities (aka “patent trolls”) are usually motivated only by monetary returns.
4. How important is this asserted patent to their business? Bringing a patent infringement case puts the validity of the asserted patent at risk. Emerging from the litigation with their patent intact may be an important consideration for the patent holder.
5. Have they litigated patent cases before? This can tell you how familiar the patent holder is with the process, and how likely they are to take a case to trial.
6. Has this patent been litigated before? Prior litigation records can give clues to how the patent will be interpreted and often highlight potential defenses.
7. How did they acquire the asserted patent? You might find they don’t really own the asserted patent. Whether the patent was homegrown or not can impact the availability of key witnesses (e.g., the inventors) in the litigation. And the price paid to acquire the patent is a big factor in evaluating potential remedies.
8. Who did they hire as their counsel? Patent litigation is highly specialized. If they are using a national firm with a reputation for patent litigation, then you know they are serious.
9. Does your company have a business relationship with them? Your best leverage may come from outside the litigation. Are you an important customer of the patent holder? Do you supply the patent holder with a component critical to their business? Is there any good will from past business dealings?
10. Are there any potential offensive claims your company could bring against them? Is the patent holder infringing any patents or other intellectual property owned by your company? Are there any contracts they might be in breach of? Anything else?
5. Engage competent counsel
Patent litigation is highly specialized. All patent cases are litigated in Federal Court under a unique body of Federal Law that governs patent disputes. Those laws are interpreted by a specialized appellate court, the Federal Circuit, that often changes the rules in nuanced ways that may impact your case.
If you have a local business litigator who you have been working with on other matters, that’s great. That lawyer may have relationships with others in their firm or in the legal community who specialize in patent litigation and might be able to offer you some good referrals. But regardless, you will want to find someone with a deep knowledge of this specific area of the law to handle your patent defense.
Engaging competent counsel early on can be key to achieving a successful outcome in your case. They can help you assess risk, decide on a strategy for settlement negotiations, and set the course for litigating the case on the merits. If you wait to engage good litigation counsel until later in the process, they may have a different view of your case than prior counsel, and would then face additional hurdles in attempting to change direction than if they had been involved from the get-go.
Important factors to consider in evaluating counsel include experience, track record for success, comfort level with your technology, and of course, price. Many patent cases these days are litigated on an alternative fee basis rather than standard hourly rates. Ask about these options and try to negotiate a fee arrangement that works for both your company and the firm you are working with. Ultimately, you want to arrive at a partnership between your company and your counsel, so that all involved are heavily invested in achieving the best possible outcome in your case.
6. Evaluate the merits of the infringement allegations
Working with your counsel, you should evaluate the merits of the patent holder’s infringement allegations. Your potential exposure is an important factor in your decision-making process, but you also need to understand the patent holder’s likelihood of success in proving infringement to truly be able to calibrate your company’s risk.
To assess infringement, you will need to compare the numbered claims found at the back of the asserted patent to your accused product. Infringement only occurs if every single word of a claim applies to your product (either literally or by equivalents), but infringement of even one claim is enough for the patent holder to prevail in a lawsuit.
Infringement, and therefore your potential liability, generally turns on how the words of the claims are interpreted. And that interpretation is impacted by how the words of the claim are used throughout the patent, what the patentee said to the U.S. Patent Office when arguing that it should be granted the patent, dictionary definitions, and other pertinent technical references. Think of interpreting patent claims (commonly called “claim construction”) as trying to draw the boundary lines around the scope of the patented invention. Not surprisingly, just as with real property, the process can be complicated and subject to disagreement.
There is a whole body of law on claim construction, so you will want to work with your counsel closely on this issue—and don’t be surprised if the answer isn’t definitive. Often infringement cannot be determined until the Court rules on how the claims should be interpreted, and even then, there may be lingering disputes that require further determinations.
For example, if the claims seem very broad, the patent holder could have overstepped and claimed something that already exists, rending the claim invalid. What you are hoping to identify at this stage are potential non-infringement arguments, together with a general sense of how likely you are to prevail on each of those non-infringement arguments.
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7. Consider potential design-around options
Often, future liability will be an important factor in your case. For example, if you just launched the accused product, the patent was just issued, the patent holder recently acquired the patent, or the patent holder failed to mark its products with the patent number, there may not be any past damages at stake whatsoever.
In other cases, past damages may be available for only a short period of time, but the bulk of potential liability stretches out into the future until expiration of the asserted patent. In these cases, you should consider whether there are any changes you could make to the accused product to avoid infringement in the future. If there is such a design-around option readily available, you can use it to cut off future liability, and the cost of implementing the design around may even cap damages for past infringement.
Identifying a design around requires a consideration of both the legal non-infringement analysis discussed earlier, and business considerations of whether the redesigned non-infringing product can be technically implemented, economically built, and commercially successful. If you can find a design that checks all of these boxes, it may be your golden ticket to avoiding a protracted and expensive patent litigation.
8. Assess your invalidity arguments
In addition to non-infringement arguments, the other major defense in patent litigation is to argue that the asserted patent is invalid and should never have been issued by the U.S. Patent Office in the first place. This is an uphill battle, because issued patents are presumed to be valid, but it also is not insurmountable.
Invalidity can come in a variety of forms, including arguments that:
- The patent claims cannot be understood (indefiniteness)
- The patent claims capture more than what was invented (written description and enablement)
- The patent claims are directed to an abstract idea or naturally occurring phenomena (section 101 invalidity)
- Prior art anticipates or renders obvious the claimed invention.
Prior art attacks are the most common invalidity defense. To mount an effective prior art defense you will want to search for art dated before the earliest alleged filing date of the asserted patent. Prior art can include other patents, printed publications, prior product sales, and in some cases, prior inventive work of anyone other than the named inventor of the asserted patent. Your counsel will be able to help you run a prior art search for prior patents and printed publications, but you should also consider investigating the following sources:
- Internal sources
- Sales of your company’s accused product that predate the asserted patent
- Records showing your accused product was designed before the filing date of the asserted patent
- Your company’s patents and publications that relate to the accused product
- Industry sources
- Publications familiar to the engineers and/or scientists who developed your product
- Industry experts who have a friendly relationship with your company
- Publications by industry groups your company associates with
- The patent holder
- Sales by the patent holder that predate the asserted patent
- Publications by the inventors that predate the asserted patent
- Other patents and patent applications filed by the inventors before the asserted patent
The most effective prior art will be art that was not considered by the Patent Office before issuing the asserted patent. After identifying the best available prior art and considering your other invalidity defenses, you should ask your counsel for a realistic assessment of your likelihood of success on an invalidity defense. This information, together with an assessment of your non-infringement defenses and an understanding of your potential exposure, will put you in the best possible position to respond to the infringement allegations you are facing.
If your only defense to an accusation of patent infringement is invalidity, it is important to remember that you will need to prove each claim of the patent that applies to your product is invalid. That can be a daunting task when numerous patents or patent claims are involved. Claims within a single patent vary in scope, and so you may need several different invalidity theories even for the same patent.
Patents are also presumed valid; consequently, it will be your burden to establish invalidity, whether in court or before the Patent Office. In sum, don’t bank on the patent claims asserted against you being invalid; instead, look for a pragmatic assessment of the patent’s validity.
9. Draft a non-privileged response or obtain an opinion of counsel
If the complaint against you has already been filed, you will probably skip this step. But if the initial accusation came in the form of a letter, you should seriously consider either (1) having your counsel prepare a non-privileged responsive letter outlining some of your defenses, or (2) obtaining an opinion of counsel that you keep privileged.
Patent holder’s send letters before filing a complaint in part to test the settlement waters, and in part to put your company on notice
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Monday, February 25, 2019
4 Effective Tactics to Sell Your Property Listing in a Buyer’s Market: Tips for Real Estate Agents
After several years of steady growth, the real estate market is showing signs of another downturn: an oversupply of available properties, stagnating prices, and increasing “days on market” are some of the signs that we are shifting to a buyer’s market.
Are you a real estate agent who has taken on several listings and has been working for weeks or months to get them sold? After a long period with no results, your sellers are likely to start calling you. Why hasn’t their property sold? What are you doing to market it? What else are you planning to do to make the sale?
I would like to share with you a few effective practices and ideas that have helped my own company get our listings sold, and hopefully these tips can help you, too—whether you need to revive a stale listing, or you need to convince a new seller why they need to list with you.
1. Start marketing the moment you sign the listing agreement
Once you’ve got a contract and secured your position, it’s time to get to work.
Harness the power of social media
Share a short preview of your new listing “coming soon to the market” across all your social media channels.
I applied this strategy in one of our most recent property flips, posting periodic updates on the renovation and its progress on Instagram (an ideal platform to share property photos), being sure to always tag the location, the neighborhood, and a combination of other pertinent keywords, as well as using the hashtag #miamirealestate.
On the day I announced we were ready to list, I got a call from a young woman who had been following my updates closely. She was looking to move into the area and wanted to know when we were hosting our first open house. Amazingly, this first caller and her husband ended up buying the home—all through the power of Instagram.
Let your fellow agents know
If your brokerage offers an intranet for agents to communicate, post a sneak peek of your property listing with the address and price for your fellow realtors to see. They might be already working with buyers who are looking to move into the neighborhood.
Don’t dismiss the good old real estate sign
Install your real estate sales sign as you walk away from the listing consultation. Add a “coming soon” sign to it, and make sure your contact information is prominently displayed. Anyone driving through the neighborhood will be alerted that the property is coming to the market soon, and they’ll have a chance to contact you for more information.
You can also be creative with your signs to make them stand out, like the one I saw recently that read “For Sale … Honey, back up the car!” It worked on me—I made my husband back up so I could read it.
2. Stage your listing to make it stand out
In those days when properties are flying off the shelves, sellers might be reluctant to consider the option of staging their home for sale, as it can be significant up-front investment. However, when competition is fierce, can you really afford to not stage and let the empty property sit on the market for months?
From the moment a buyer discovers the home online to the time they walk it during the showing, home staging provides many benefits:
- It creates an impeccable first impression in professional photos.
- It highlights the best features of a property (and can help to hide its shortcomings).
- It allows the visiting buyer to connect with the home on an emotional level and imagine themselves living in it.
- On a completely practical level, the presence of furniture allows the agent and the buyer to sit down and have a conversation, and remain on the property longer.
Imagine these shelves with nothing on them? It would make for a sterile and unappealing environment for the potential buyer:
photo credit: Mike Butler Photography
We started staging our flips and it quickly proved to be an indispensable strategy. We have sold homes within as little as 6 days, at or over the asking price, while similar homes sat on the market for 90 days or more, forced to reduce their prices over and over.
Today we stage every one of our flips and I recommend staging to all my real estate clients. We started to offer our home staging services in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area last year and the results have been very positive. Our latest project scored a cash offer in just two weeks on the market.
3. Hire a professional photographer who understands architecture and interiors
Hiring a professional photographer to take photos of your property listing is essential. But beware: there are wannabe professionals and there are real professionals. The first is the kind who might take photos with the window blinds closed or at unflattering angles; the other is someone who knows how to make an interior shot look as good as possible.
Don’t just hire someone with a DSLR camera and who knows Photoshop; hire a photographer who understands interior design, layout, light, and composition.
What do I mean by that?
A true architectural photographer does not just come in and shoot photos of the space and its elements as they are. He or she moves, adjusts, and places pieces so that the pictures look just right. The image below is an example of a shoot at one of our staging projects:
photo credit: Mike Butler Photography
The dining table decor as well as the mirror are typically not in the position you see in this picture, but a skilled photographer knows how to rearrange things in order to compose an interesting shot. Photography is both an art and a science—invest in someone who can capture a feeling in their photos.
4. Give your listing as much visibility as possible
Of course, don’t forget the basics: publish your listing on the MLS (multiple listing service), syndicate with major real estate platforms like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com, and claim those listings to follow statistics. However, there is more you can do to get more views on your listing.
List on Facebook Marketplace
If you’re targeting younger buyers, post the home for sale on Facebook Marketplace. You’ll be surprised how many enquiries you get from potential buyers!
Use email lists
In the United States, where collaboration between real estate agents is very common, do not underestimate the power of your email list. Make it a habit to send the property to your contact list on a regular basis. In the case of our local MLS, I’m able to pull realtor contact lists and add them to my email base. Make sure you keep the subject line interesting and relevant to increase your email open rate.
Change the featured photo regularly
This might not be obvious, so I will explain my reasoning. More than 90% of buyers use the internet to search for properties. They will use platforms like Zillow to do so, and they will only see the basic information of your listing and one main photo. Here’s the trick: change that cover photo periodically to attract new attention to your listing. The kitchen may appeal to one person, but the living room to another.
Host open houses
Open houses have always been and will always be essential when selling a property. They not only allow potential buyers to physically experience the space, but each time you hold one, it makes your listings pop on all online portals and gives your property renewed attention.
Broadcast on Facebook and Instagram Live
For those who can’t make it in person, offer a livestream tour of the home. Give your viewers a virtual view of the property and answer their questions in real time. It isn’t just a tour of the property, by the way—they are also getting to know you (and perhaps considering you for their future realtor).
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These Two Important Elements Make Up Your Company Culture
By David Pierce
We’ve all experienced it: walking into a place of business and, within a few seconds, having that “feeling.”
It’s the feeling of uncomfortableness that resonates from the employees—the scowling, unfriendly, “why are you here?” feeling. You can see it in their eyes, in their body language, and hear it in their tone of voice. The place actually feels like there’s a storm cloud in the room.
And then there are the times you walk into a business and feel so welcomed, that you have to look twice to see if it’s mom and dad behind the counter. Every employee has a smile and is eager to help in any way possible, offering suggestions and pleasantries along the way. The surroundings are immaculate and you could swear the sun is shining inside.
These impressions are what I refer to as the “smell of the culture.” The first one “smells” like a pigsty and the other a rose garden, metaphorically speaking.
But a fragrant culture must be cultivated or it will likely revert to something that stinks. And a stinky culture makes for a bad experience for everyone—employees and customers alike.
How do you keep the bad odor out of your office? Through the creation of a core purpose and core values.
Company culture is rooted in purpose and values
Your company’s culture is rooted in two things: your core purpose and core values.
Your core purpose speaks to why you exist as a business—why do you matter to the rest of the world? If your core purpose is understood and alive in your culture, it will motivate everyone in the company to be more engaged and willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill that purpose and reach beyond it.
Your core values are the set of rules by which you run your business. These values are the principles on which your business stands and operates in order to fulfill the company purpose.
Core values often come directly from the company’s founder or can be created as a team. Just like parents teach values to their children so they will make the right decisions when they are on their own, a company’s core values empower employees with a set of rules by which they can make decisions on behalf of the company. Follow the rules, and in most cases, any decision made by an employee, independent of others, will likely be in line with company desires.
Core values are used to hire and fire, attract and repel employees, and also attract the right kind of customers who share your company’s values. A company with team members and partners who believe in and live your core purpose and core values can conquer the world.
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Positive company culture drives success
I recently returned from a trip to Disney World. The Walt Disney Company’s core purpose is all about happiness, and if you’ve ever experienced Disney World then you know the company’s core purpose is alive and well. From the employees, transportation, park appearances, hotels and more, every facet of Disney is about giving its customers the best experience possible.
I often ask those I coach to name a company which has happiness as a core value, and someone always immediately says The Walt Disney Company. The power of having a core culture that is brimming with purpose and intentionality is that those characteristics are automatically attributed to you and connected to your name, just as happiness and magic is attributed to Disney.
In other words, your culture cannot be great if your purpose and values don’t align with it. A strong culture creates a business of which both employees and customers want to be a part. However, great culture doesn’t just happen. It’s hard work that requires continual focus and accountability, but the return on investment is astronomical.
RELATED: Do You Have a Clear Business Vision? Find Out Why Your Success Depends on It
Certified Petra Coach David Pierce spent a decade with Deloitte and PwC and for over 20 years held a C-level post with a regional banking and financial holding company, developing and launching one of the first stand-alone online banks in the United States and participating in more than a dozen mergers and acquisitions transactions. A tireless entrepreneur, David also helped launch an apparel manufacturing startup and numerous commercial real estate projects. Contact him at david@petracoach.com.
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Sunday, February 24, 2019
Want a Career You Will Love? Tap into Your Talent and Your Passion
“Looking back on your career 20, 30 years from now, what do you want to say you’ve accomplished?” That’s a question Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, often asks prospective employees.
And how would you answer that question? Take a minute and think about it. In other words, what matters to you as you are building your career?
In answering that question, you would probably include the accomplishments that you have achieved along the way. You may include skills you’ve developed and lessons you have learned. Would you talk about the talents you possess? You see, everyone has talent. Often, we simply overlook our talents, because this natural set of skills comes so easily to us, and we assume it’s the same for everyone else—but it’s not.
The connection between talent and passion
There is an interesting aspect about the talents we possess. In many instances our talents are a direct manifestation of our passions: the things we feel most strongly about. Our passions are wrapped up in what brings us joy and utilizes our talents. In other words, there is a connection between talent and passion. Understanding the talent and passion you bring to the table is extremely useful when building a career and developing your unique leadership style.
Think back to your childhood. As a kid if you liked something, you just did it. On the playground, if you liked swinging on the swings, you spent time on the swings. If you liked looking at bugs, you were on your hands and knees in the dirt looking for bugs. And if you didn’t like those activities, you would be spending your time doing activities you enjoyed. Maybe you were good at playing chess, or drawing cartoons; that’s where you would spend your time.
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When we became adults, we left many of these activities behind: no more swinging on the swing sets or organizing games on the playground. However, if we delve into the skills we developed on the playground, we may find they can be useful in our adult pursuits. On the playground we may have enjoyed organizing people, creating new games, or seeking the thrill of adventure. Fast forward to an adult career setting and notice these skills can be transferred to providing HR services, developing innovative product designs, and taking risks.
As people choose their career paths, there’s an expectation that success is measured in dollars. Obviously, it is important to choose a career where you can earn enough money to provide a comfortable living. Yet, how many people incorporate their passion into a career path as a means of earning a living? An alternative would be to earn money at a job and then use some of the proceeds to fund your passion.
Identifying your passion
Need help connecting your life, talents, and passion? Try this exercise. Think about how you spend the other eight hours of the day—you know, the hours between the eight hours of work and the eight hours of sleep? How do you like to spend that time? Is this when you do your hobbies, hang out with family and friends, or read? Over the next week, list the activities you pursue in those hours, and you may notice a pattern. How do your current activities compare with your interests as a child? These patterns will provide you with insights into where your passion may lie or how it may be reignited.
Returning to the question posed by Jeff Weiner, how would you now answer that first question about what you want to say you’ve accomplished in 30 years? Use those eight hours as a starting point and revisit any passions you may be ignoring. If they’re a fit with the career you are pursuing, it’s a bonus—but it doesn’t have to be.
Here is another exercise to complete: Clare Booth Luce, a noted journalist and U.S. Congresswoman, once said that “a great man (or woman) is a sentence.” For example, Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union and freed the slaves. How would you write your sentence? Would it include your passion? Passion is heartfelt. If you reread the sentence about President Lincoln, within those words you can uncover his passion.
I’ve always liked uncovering the hidden talents that reside in individuals, and that’s why I like working with business startups and helping people turn their great ideas into a reality. It inspires me now like it did when I was a child, when I created new stories and games with my friends.
The reason that identifying your passion is important is a pursued passion provides a sense of happiness and fulfillment, and it provides meaning and fulfillment. There is excitement with passion that can be shared. Pass it on.
RELATED: How to Turn Your Hobby and Passion Into a Profitable Business
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How to Get a New Salesperson Up and Running Quickly
A sales manager once told me he only hired salespeople who could sell; he provided no sales training. You could say that “sink or swim” was his motto—and I’ll bet most salespeople he hired sunk.
Let’s banish this myth that anyone can sell without guidance. Here’s what sales managers should do if they want their new hires to be successful.
Provide a sales manual
I have created many sales manuals for clients. My first thought, in almost all cases, was “I can just imagine what they were doing before they had this manual.” And I know the answer: They were wasting a lot of time. Their salespeople were experiencing unnecessary stress and failure; they certainly were losing sales.
Why does a successful sales organization need a sales manual? Because this is management’s preferred guide to how it wants it products, services, and the company represented in the marketplace. It’s a best practices guide for selling.
Do you want to make it easier or harder for your sales team to be successful? If the answer is you want it to be easier for your salespeople to succeed, then you provide a sales manual.
A manual should define the sales process
Your sales process is a series of steps you want your salespeople to work through in order to make a sale, and you need to provide the steps. Steps should include how to identify prospects, how to contact prospects, how to get the appointment, tips for asking questions during the sales call, how to close the sale, and services to provide after the sale.
Your sales manual should detail how to execute each one of those steps. For example, it should define the criteria for an ideal prospect, and it should define the lower limits of a prospect—you do not want your salespeople thinking an unacceptable prospect is in fact a viable one. As a salesperson uncovers the problems, needs, or wants of a prospect during questioning, your manual should identify the issues that your products or service address and for which types of prospects.
It’s unfair to tell a newly hired salesperson to figure out what prospects are best suited for the products or services he or she is selling. It’s not their job to identify the features and benefits of your products and services. That should be part of management’s job to develop the sales process, and to include it in the manual.
Just remember that “Go sell” is not a process.
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Selling is a team sport
Some sales teams provide mentors for new hires, while for other teams, mentoring is the sales manager’s job. Either way, the role of a mentor is a critical role in the sales process. You don’t want new hires wasting time having to figure out the sales process on their own, or experiencing unnecessary failure before they learn how to be successful. Mentors guide new salespeople to avoid failure.
It’s also the role of the sales manager—whether or not they are mentors—to be making sales calls with their new hires. However, there are some sales managers who go on calls in unproductive ways. These managers will make unscheduled calls with their salespeople, and simply say, “Today I’m riding with you.” They don’t give the salesperson a chance to set up a special day of appointments.
Unexpected joint sales calls are an example of management checking up on people and trying to see if the salesperson is working hard or not. But I think there’s a better way. Why not instead give salespeople a chance to impress you? Let them know in advance you will be working with them to make sales calls. That way they can schedule appointments in ahead of time and there is less likelihood of a customer canceling. What you’re doing with advance notice is setting up your salesperson for success instead of failure.
Certainly discuss beforehand what your role will be during the appointment. Ask them what their objective is for the sales call, and then afterwards debrief to discuss whether they accomplished the objective, what they should have done differently, or how they could have improved the sales call.
It’s the sales manager’s job
When you hire new salespeople, your goal should be to find people who have the necessary talent to become top sales performers. But your it’s your job to give them the tools they need to be successful—and then you can tell them to “go sell.”
RELATED: 6 Highly Effective Sales Training Techniques That Every Manager Should Know
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6 Simple Ways to Humanize Your Brand to Better Connect With Customers
In our digital world, personalization is key. But when the majority of outreach takes place online, it can be difficult for consumers to connect with and trust brands. How can your brand cut through the noise?
You need to humanize your brand.
Humanizing your brand shows consumers the real people behind your business’s front. And, it’s easier to connect with people than businesses.
According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, only 54% of people trust U.S. brands—that leaves 46% of people who are skeptical. On the other hand, 75% of employees trust their employers, aka the key people behind the business. You need to build that same level of trust with your consumers.
Are you ready to connect with your customers? Let’s get started. Check out these six steps to humanize your brand.
1. Develop a relatable online voice
How do you communicate with customers? You may use your website, blog, social media pages, online review sites, direct email, email campaigns, and online chats. And, what do all of these examples have in common? They’re all online.
With so much taking place on the web, you need to develop a relatable online voice. Without one, consumers won’t know whether they’re interacting with a robot or a live person. If you want to humanize your business, write like you’re a person. Personalize messages to customers, use humor, show empathy, and be yourself. Talk to customers like you already know them to create lasting relationships.
Once you develop your brand’s voice, keep it consistent across platforms. Relate to your audience regardless of whether you’re engaging customers on social media or your business blog.
2. Keep your startup story real
Rome wasn’t built in a day—and most likely, neither was your business. You probably had some setbacks, failures, and frustrations when starting your company. Unless you were very lucky, your startup wasn’t a bed of roses.
And that’s OK! Having a rough startup story humanizes your business. Whether you sell to businesses or consumers, your audience wants the real story that highlights the people who worked to make your dream a reality.
Let’s look at my payroll and accounting software company, Patriot Software. Its startup was not glamorous. We started in the basement of a factory. We were hot from no air conditioning, cold from no heat, and wet from flooded floors. Can you picture it? (If you can’t, here’s a video to give you a better visual.)
We, the people in the day-to-day trenches, learned from trial and error. My startup story isn’t perfect because nobody is perfect. And that’s what business is—an extension of the people who operate it and work within it.
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3. Ensure transparency is alive and well
If you want to humanize your brand, make it transparent. Consumers demand transparency from the businesses they buy from. Nine out of 10 customers would likely stop buying from a business if they weren’t transparent.
Keep your business transparent by publicizing relevant information about your business, products or services, finances, and company culture. Ensure transparency is alive and well in your business by doing the following:
- Tell customers where your products come from.
- Disclose what’s in your products.
- Be transparent about your business’s core values.
- Respond to online reviews and take responsibility for your business’s faults.
- Don’t sweep things under the carpet.
- Avoid overpromising and spinning the truth.
- Eliminate hidden agendas.
Of course, don’t reveal trade secrets or too much information about your company in your effort to be transparent.
4. Put a face to the (employee’s) name
Show off your employees on your small business website. Upload photos to appear above, beside, or below the employee’s name and position.
It helps to put a face to a name. Most people are visual and can connect more to a business when they remember that it employs real people. If you look at Patriot Software’s team page, we have photos of each of our employees. And when you hover over the pictures, you get to see a little bit of each individual’s personality.
You can also add icons with an employee’s picture to your online chats. That way, customers know who they’re talking to.
5. Spotlight your employees
Spotlighting your employees lets you showcase one of your workers and boosts engagement among your workforce. Not to mention, it also helps customers connect with your employees, thus humanizing your brand.
Generally, spotlights are question and answer interview. An interviewer asks the employee about themselves, like where they went to school, why they love working for your company, and what they enjoy doing in their free time. You can publish employee spotlights on your website. That way, your employees and the general public can learn more about your employees.
Employee spotlighting has a similar effect as posting photos of your workers. Consumers can get to know your business in a more humanizing light through your workforce.
6. Go beyond online
The web is an outstanding tool for communicating to consumers, but it isn’t your only option. When humanizing your brand, look beyond online outlets to connect with your target audience. Consider integrating direct mail into your outreach efforts.
Direct mail isn’t dead. According to one study, consumers open between 70% and 80% of direct mail. And MarketingSherpa reports 54% of consumers want to receive mail from brands they’re interested in.
If you want to humanize your brand, don’t limit your mail communications to advertisements and mass coupons. Tailor coupons and discounts to customers based on their purchase history. And send personalized holiday, greeting, or thank-you cards, including handwritten cards.
Writing cards by hand can be tedious and time-consuming, and if you have a rather large customer base, you might not want to even think about it. But handwritten cards completely change the game. Recipients know that handwritten cards are from a person, not a machine. This reminds consumers that humans run your business, and those humans are grateful for their business. Spread card writing responsibilities among your team; include the recipient’s name, a personalized note, and the name of the employee writing the card.
RELATED: 5 Low-Cost Ways to Improve Your Customer Experience
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