consumer - Artful Thinkers

January 20, 2013May 31, 2017

Don’t Confuse Confidence with Enthusiasm

Business leaders, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers utilize enthusiasm to draw people to their ideas. They passionately motivate us to follow and take action. Enthusiasm creates an emotional attachment.

Beyond the emotion, we soon find ourselves wanting more. We want to trust that we should follow, not follow blindly. We need proof that the words are supported by facts. We need evidence. We are convinced by confidence.

Enthusiasm opens the door, confidence is the closer. We are attracted by enthusiasm. We believe in confidence. Enthusiasm is selling, marketing and promoting. Confidence is demonstrating, providing proof and creating trust to solve problems and fulfill needs. Knowing the difference is very important. Knowing how to balance the two requires expertise.

A person that lacks confidence will often exude excessive enthusiasm to mask insecurities or lack of evidence. Have you ever found yourself so engaged by a sales person that you forget you are being sold? Enthusiasm wins. The result may be buyer remorse or worse, deception. Perhaps a new hire enthusiastically convinces you that they can “do the job” and soon the facts do not support reality. A very expensive mistake for a small business – costing the company time and money.

On the flip side, a confident person can be so overtly confident they fail to listen to others or fail to create a following. Confidence is not arrogance. Confidence can easily delude rational thinking. The love of power convinces the most confident they can not fail, thus losing all sense of humility and gratitude. When you look around you and no one is cheering you along, your confidence has removed your ability to attract others. There is no emotional appeal. You are now the leader of no one.

Confidence is defined as full trust; belief in powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing, belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance.

Enthusiasm is defined as absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by any interest or pursuit; lively interest.

How do you create balance and avoid the extremes? The perfect blend of confidence and enthusiasm is pitchman Ron “Ronco” Popeil. He used demonstration to prove his inventions were viable and trustworthy. He used hype and selling to capture our mind share and imagination. Who can forget his famous, “But wait, there’s more!” Son of an inventor, Popeil is one of the most famous marketing pitchmen. He showed you how you could dice onions, so you won’t shed a tear. How you could depend on his electronic dehydrator to feed your children healthy fruit snacks instead of candy. The lessons in all the infomercials where about solving a problem. Confidently.

What is the financial impact when you expertly blend confidence and enthusiasm? Many of the Popeil inventions, most designed by Ron’s father, sold over 2 million. Ron Popeil is not rich solely from his fishing poles and spray on hair inventions. He is rich because he used enthusiasm to get our attention followed by confidently demonstrating how he solved our problems. He sold it. We bought it. We bought his confidence.

Whether you are pitching for investor dollars or motivating your sales team, you must build trust. Demonstrate reliability and accountability. Show the why. Why you, why your company, why your ideas, why now. Then use your persuasive personality to make sure the message is received, understood and people are left wanting more.

Enthusiasm without evidence is hype. Hype doesn’t convince anyone, only gives us reason to be suspect. Don’t oversell, don’t undersell. Confidence alone is mundane. Lead with enthusiastic confidence. A moderation of the two, equal but not separate, wins.

“Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale

Jamie Glass, Founder, President and CMO of Artful Thinkers

December 16, 2012December 16, 2012

How May I Help You?

If you provide service as part of your value, the first opportunity you have to learn about your customer’s needs is to ask one very simple question, “How May I Help You?”. These five words will enable you to define the pain and opportunity. Carefully listening to the response opens the door for how you can provide the greatest value, how you might actually help!

Asking someone how you can help them may be viewed as a conversation opener. It does provide a moment to engage. Engagement is critical in moving a target to a potential buyer or consumer of your goods and services. What better way to get the dialogue started by asking how you might fulfill a request or need.

Asking someone how you can help them is different than using professional etiquette to ask, “How are you today?”. Though this is a nice sentiment, it doesn’t require you to stop and listen. In fact, most people use this as a long form hello or welcome. Many will respond with a trite and unemotional “good”, when in fact it may not be how they are at all. It limits your engagement.

The better way to open up a dialogue with a potential customer is to ask how to help them. It requires you to pay attention. It means you have to participate in a conversation that will have to use your perception skills, your listening skills and your problem solving skills. A much higher demand upon your brain than a rehearsed canned response of “good”.

A person skilled in the art of providing outstanding service will anticipate the potential requests that will ensue from the question of how you can help. The proposition of providing outstanding service also demands that the response demonstrates how you plan to deliver the help or better qualify the type of help that will best serve the customer’s needs.

Expectations of your engagement will be defined when you ask how you can help someone. It is up to you then to determine how you can deliver that help or point them in the right direction. The first impression is set by your willingness to open the door, invite someone in and learn of their requirements.

Here are some easy ways to remember how to create the greatest value of HELP:

H = HOW the person defines their need when you ask how you can help them. It is your opportunity to determine HOW you can be the best in serving them when you ask the question.

E = EXPECTATIONS are set when a person is asked how you can help them. Knowing exactly what is expected gives you the opportunity to WOW them with your determination to provide outstanding service.

L = LISTEN carefully when you ask someone how you can help them, as they will assume you will hear and understand their needs. Your first response will be their first impression of how good you will be in helping them resolve their problem or attain their goal.

P = PREPARE to deliver when you ask how to help. Every request may be unique; however, you have standard services that will fit the needs with or without some customization. Know your responses and the value that you will provide in helping them.

Most important, when asking someone how you can help them, is to respond with honesty. If you cannot help, tell the person you are not able to help. It is a measure of your integrity. If you can extend yourself by giving them a referral to others that can help or pointing them to another resource, you will be a better service provider. Your value to help does not require you to actually provide the help, only yield to a pathway to gets the person to where they can get the help they need. Then you are truly a great service provider.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. ~Mohammed Ali

By Jamie Glass, CMO & President of Artful Thinkers and Managing Director of Sales & Marketing Practice at CKS Advisors.

May 13, 2012May 31, 2017

What Does the Brand of YOU Represent?

Winning in the Branding of YOU

Branding is an art and science for marketers. They blend the key attributes of a product, service or company and position them to appeal to a consumer.

Using scientific research, data and analytics, the brand marketer artfully crafts visual and written communications targeting emotions and logic of the intended audience. The ultimate goal is to drive to an action, such as buy or like me.

How does this relate to the branding of YOU? We are all a brand.

Seth Godin defines a brand as “…the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

It is how we present ourselves, talk about ourselves and how we are remembered by others. Branding applies to all aspects of life, professional and personal. It is the first and last impression of YOU.

If every encounter in life was a personal moment for YOU to brand yourself, what are the words and actions that repeatedly represent YOU? More importantly, would you want everyone to repeat them over and over again? Will you be remembered as “Have it your way” (Burger King) or “I’m lovin’ it” (McDonalds) or “Avoid the Noid” (Domino’s Pizza)?

Professional branding is critical for your career. The words that others use to describe you, are your brand. You own it. It may be a definition that comes from a collection of interactions or a single opportunity you had to gain respect and credibility in a brief encounter.

There are several ways for you to represent the brand of YOU.

1. Introduction. This is your 90 seconds at a shot of fame. Whatever comes out of your mouth or you share in an email, is your opportunity to make your brand pitch. It is the firm handshake opportunity. Face-to-face, you have an opportunity to say with confidence who you are, what you do and what you represent. It is the YOU moment. In email, it is your invitation to draw someone in to know and learn more. It should be short, to the point and always conclude with a call to action. Think of it as your 140 character tweet about YOU.

2. Social Media. What you post on the Internet is your brand. And, it does live forever. It is how you are represented on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, and so on. In other words, the brand of YOU is everywhere you put a comment, post or uploaded something to the world wide web! Before you hit send or enter, think how it represents YOU.

3. Your CV. A curriculum vitae (CV) provides a summary of YOU by experience and skills. It is your brand summary. Your CV should clearly articulate your strengths. It is the summary on your LinkedIn profile.

4. The YOU Meme. The one way to control your brand is to have a practiced “meme”.

“A meme is an idea that behaves like a virus–that moves through a population, taking hold in each person it infects.” – Malcolm Gladwell.

Your branding meme is what others take with them and tell others, over and over again. It is your “viral” message. A meme should delivered in 60-90 seconds and cover all the unique characteristics that you want others to remember about YOU.

The creation, care and management of the brand of YOU is very important. It has tremendous monetary value. You are your best brand PR agent, you are the one to spread the word about YOU. The impression you make in the marketplace will confirm YOU are a good “buy” or confirm why people have no interest in buying what you are selling! How others talk about YOU will affirm what YOU represent.

Take time to think about the qualities of YOU and what YOU represent, then how YOU can position this to others to create actions or get results. Rehearse your meme.

Like the Brand of YOU

You can always improve on your brand; however, reputation management is a costly proposition if you have a damaged brand. Even a lot of money can’t always repair a brand. We all like brands that represent qualities that are good and positive. Be authentic, truthful and confident. Make sure that your brand represents the real YOU.