New Year's Resolutions for Marketers

Last year, we offered a list of suggested resolutions for corporations. This year, we'd like marketers to use these resolutions to gain more loyal fans for the brands they promote. Better yet, perhaps they would less frequently disappoint the customers they already have!

• Our membership program will be valuable to our customers, and allow for easy participation (i.e. no card to carry in already overstuffed wallets).

• Forays into social networking will be driven by a plan with measurable goals, and will be managed as a serious offshoot of our overall, integrated marketing plan.

• Our Facebook presence will reflect the personality of our brand, and provide important information that lets our “friends” feel like insiders, and presents valuable deals that lure repeat visitors to our page and attracts new customers.

• We will strive to engage our fans with our brands and products, and create opportunities for them to interact as a community, share experiences, and generate buzz.

• Managing negative feedback will be part of our transparent communication with our customers. We will view it as a positive opportunity.

If you missed last year’s blog on resolutions for corporations, click here:
http://habaconsulting.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-resolutions-for-corporations.html

How To Be A Bad Boss

It’s hard to verbalize all the attributes that make someone in management a good boss. But, after many years of experience in the workplace, I do have some firm ideas about what makes a bad boss. If you want your employees to despise you, here are some sure-fire ingredients for leadership failure:

• Be close-minded and keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. Ridicule anyone who makes suggestions for positive change.
• Publicly and repeatedly claim the success of your team as your own, with no mention of the efforts of your employees.
• Ensure that people that work for you that do a good job stay in their position for years and years. Allowing them to be promoted up and out would disrupt your operation.
• Be sure that you give more credence to ideas that come from highly paid consultants than those generated by your experienced team.
• Don’t trust anyone (however experienced they may be) to do their job without incessant needling, pushing, and questioning from you. It’s your job to keep them on their toes.
• Being remote and inaccessible suits your position of importance. If an employee comes to you for help, push the challenge back into their court and make it clear that you’ll be disappointed if they can’t work it out.
• You are the idea guy/gal, so be sure you not only tell your team what to do, but exactly how to do it.
• Minimize risk by squelching creativity. You can’t afford to make a mistake and look foolish.
• Make sure any training you authorize doesn’t interfere with real work.
• Business is serious – discourage levity in your workplace.
• Push on relentlessly from challenge to challenge. There’s no time to celebrate when there is so much still to accomplish.
• “Rank Hath Its Privileges”, which include vendor-purchased or hosted trips, gifts, and fancy dinners you have earned.
• Instill a little fear in your team members. It’s good motivation.
• Always balance the occasional compliment with a well-chosen criticism.
• Enlighten your subordinates only on a “need to know” basis. Explaining context and strategy to them is a waste of time.
• NEVER admit that you’ve made a mistake.

There’s so much material for this subject! Chime in, and contribute your own bad boss experience.

Make It Work

On Lifetime TV’s hit show “Project Runway”, Tim Gunn is co-host, consultant, and mentor for the fashion designer competitors. His grace, honesty and gentle humor make the show something special. “Make It Work” is Tim’s well-known directive to contestants when he is concerned that they have designed themselves into a corner. That phrase, “Make It Work”, can be well-applied in a corporate environment.

When faced with an important assignment on the job, conditions are never perfect. Challenges are ever-present, and come in various unwelcome packages. You may have an unreasonable deadline, insufficient funding, the wrong skill-set, changing requirements, conflicting priorities, and/or a lack of management support. In spite of everything – you are responsible to Make It Work. That requires fluid, creative thinking and guts.

First, discard any unrealistic, preconceived notions about the best way to accomplish your goal. That might have been the easiest and fastest route, but is not necessarily the best. Start back at the beginning, thinking about exactly what you are trying to accomplish and, for the moment, divorce the end from the means. There is always more than one way to get something done.

Brainstorm with others. Talk about your end goal and review the tools you have at hand. Look at the situation from all perspectives and kick around some “crazy” ideas. Keep your solution simple and straightforward. Assuming that the stakes are high, invest more of your own time and energy to make up for a lack of other resources. Use the specific strengths of individual team members to contribute an organic uniqueness to your solution (i.e. technical ability, artistic flair, writing skills, hole-poking, and humor).

Once you have an idea for your approach, float it past your target audience to test their reaction. Make adjustments. Dummy up a draft of the final product and see how you feel about it. Let the creativity of your team flow, and don’t be afraid to do something a little unorthodox or even wacky – it will be more memorable.

Overcome obstacles, trust in your instincts, your team, and feedback from your audience, and Make It Work. Tim Gunn would approve.

Lessons from Kindle

I’ve only had an Amazon Kindle eReader for about 3 months, but I have already experienced multiple examples of Kindle Customer Service that were really impressive. Here are the lessons customer service providers can glean from Kindle’s practices:

TIMELY & TARGETED COMMUNICATION: Before Kindle released its new generation Kindle, it announced that pre-sales were available. I ordered mine through a link made available on Facebook. On the release date, the new Kindle was shipped to me overnight at no additional cost.

MAKE PRODUCTS EASY TO USE: The Kindle is very user-friendly. Start-up was amazingly simple, and I downloaded books and started reading immediately.

PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL MEDIA: I “Like” Kindle on Facebook, and have received many useful tips and recommendations by monitoring their page.

APOLOGIZE FOR ISSUES & MAKE IT RIGHT: I use my Kindle a lot to play word games like Scrabble, and (to my dismay) the letters started to wear off the keyboard. I called Kindle Customer Service, and the first thing they did was to apologize. Then they arranged to send me a new Kindle via overnight delivery.

GREAT PRODUCTS HAVE GREAT SOLUTIONS: My replacement Kindle came with simple instructions for re-loading content I had already purchased. I was up and running within minutes.

MAKE LOGISTICAL ISSUES YOURS; NOT YOUR CUSTOMER’S: I needed to return my defective Kindle within 30 days, in order to avoid being charged for the replacement. Kindle made it easy. I used the new packaging to pack up the old Kindle, and printed a prepaid mailing label provided via a link in an email from Kindle.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO SMOOTH THE WAY: Just as I was wondering how to “wipe” my old Kindle before sending it back…it turned itself on, activated its wireless communication, and displayed a progress bar indicating that content was being deleted. When done, it turned itself back off – ready to be sealed up and shipped. That was a “Wow”.

The only thing that would have made the exchange with Kindle more perfect was to be reassured that they have resolved the issue with the letters on the keyboard, so that I know I won’t have the same problem with the replacement. But, time will tell.

Kindle has a new loyal customer in me, and I’ll be providing a referral to Santa for additional purchases. HO, HO, HO!

The Changing Landscape of Employment

The U.S. national unemployment rate is 9.6%, and the percentage of unemployed who have been out of work for more than a year has risen to 30.9%. (October 2010 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) The situation leads us to consider what has changed, perhaps permanently, in the corporate work environment. Here are a few trends we have heard, read and learned about that could affect decisions you make about your career:

• Companies are increasing their use of contractor resources, in lieu of hiring permanent employees. Companies don’t provide expensive benefits to contractors, which can make this practice more attractive financially. And contractors can be hired and released at will, with minimal legal implications. TAKEAWAY: Although you might prefer to land a permanent position, reconsider working as a contractor – at least in the near term. This adds experience to your résumé and money into the bank.

• During this period of austerity, when employers ARE hiring they are often looking for people with a broad range of skills and experience. They may have previously eliminated two positions that they now want to fill with one person who wears several hats. TAKEAWAY: Your resume should highlight the breadth of your interest and experience. If you lack important skills, consider taking some classes and gaining appropriate certification(s).

• Labor statistics reveal that companies prefer to hire people who have been unemployed for a shorter period of time. (A discouraging fact.) TAKEAWAY: During your unemployment, do some work that you can add to your résumé, even if it is unpaid. Take some substantive responsibility with a volunteer organization. Get involved at your child’s school. Accept a temporary contracting opportunity. Work part-time for a relative who has a cottage business. Consider starting your own small business.

• Companies are doing what they have to do to stay viable during tough times. You need to do the same. Neither an emotional investment in your work nor misplaced loyalty should cloud your judgment when the wellness of your career is at stake. TAKEAWAY: Pay attention to what is changing around you in your company’s workforce. Make decisions that are best for you, while retaining ethical behavior toward your employer.

Give Thanks

This Thursday, Americans celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday by gathering with friends and family and enjoying a bounteous feast. For my readers who are employed during this holiday season, remember to appreciate the good things about work, and give thanks for any of what’s listed below that you are fortunate to have as a result.

• A regular paycheck and paid holidays

• Company-subsidized benefits (e.g. health care, 401K)

• The opportunity to travel on business and see the country or the world

• Occasional expense account meals
• The fellowship of your co-workers
• Worthwhile work to be done
• A supportive boss
• Career advancement opportunities
• Appreciative customers/clients
• Freedom to contribute ideas
• New experiences and interesting challenges
• The power of diverse teams
• The chance to celebrate accomplishments

What do you have to be thankful for?

If you have friends who are looking for a job, have you helped them lately? You can provide friendship, encouragement, networking opportunities, references, recommendations, and/or a heads up on promising job postings you’ve run across.

Who's to Blame?

When things don’t work out as we hope in our careers, it’s tempting to look around for someone or something on which to lay the blame. It’s the fault of that boss that you think doesn’t like you or the co-worker who is undermining your efforts. You would have done better if it hadn’t been for that case of the flu you had during the annual meeting, or if they had adopted your project plan. Office politics, misunderstandings, miscommunications, in-fighting, favoritism, organizational changes - - things just didn’t go your way. The company is messed up, and you deserve better treatment and more recognition. Well, maybe so and maybe not. You need to take responsibility for your fate.

YOUR BOSS DOESN’T LIKE YOU: That could actually be true. It’s always more pleasant if your boss likes you, but it’s not strictly necessary to your success. To combat the effects of a personal mismatch, you must be vigilant about your communication. Be sure your goals are clear. Document your work and accomplishments on a regular basis (weekly or monthly) and ask for specific validation of your work plan. Never let issues fester. Instead, face them head on and ask your boss directly for clarification, advice, feedback, or assistance. If this straightforward approach doesn’t work, you may need to seek reassignment to another department. Some incompatibilities are not salvageable. But, if you make your boss look good and be successful, he/she might learn to like you more.

YOU DESERVE BETTER TREATMENT: Try to take the emotion out of your reaction. What is “better treatment” to you? I’ll assume you get a consistent paycheck. Do you want to get verbal kudos for your accomplishments? You may have to ask for them. Seriously. “Hey boss, did you see that great thing I did? What did you think? Wow, thank you!” It’s sad to have to beg for appreciation, but if you do, it helps your boss understand what motivation you crave. Hopefully, they get the message and adjust their behavior accordingly.

THWARTED BY ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: It can be scary and difficult to navigate the tides of organizational change, but that sort of upheaval is inevitable in today’s business environment. Get skilled at dealing with it. Make sure your new boss knows your background by providing a copy of your current resume. If you are not invited to a one-on-one familiarization meeting, ask for one. That is your chance to pitch your experience and skills, explain what you are working on, and communicate your enthusiasm for new challenges.

It is a waste of time to look for someone to blame for your stalled career. Take ownership of your fate. If the issues you face are insurmountable, it may be time to think about moving on to greener pastures.  If the timing is bad, await your chance.