Author Archive for Jeremy

There are some homes near the downtown area of the small city in which we live that are undergoing a very interesting maintenance. The homes have been moved off of their foundations so that the foundations can be rebuilt. Clearly, the homes are still viable, but the foundations are crumbling under them. Without drastic work to rebuild those foundations, the homes would be lost.

It seems to me that there is a parallel with established businesses. Each and every business had a beginning. Each and every business had to fight to convince real people to buy their products. Each business started with a foundation that allowed them to become viable. But along the way, a business can lose their focus and the foundation can begin to crumble. When a business becomes comfortable, it can begin to relax on things like quality control and customer service. As a business grows, sometimes complex bureaucracies and/or silo structures form. An established business loses the desire to take chances—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

When these things happen, a business needs leaders who can see that the foundation is crumbling, leaders that will make the decision to make drastic changes when necessary to restore the strength of the foundation. What choices can you make now to ensure you’re destined to be one of those leaders?

Over the decades, as businesses have grown, the Mom and Pop style of running a business suffered, and so nostalgia has grown over the years for those “better days”.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we walked into a store and knew the proprietor, and they knew us? We would call each other by name (our first names) and ask about the kids or the spouse or the job or the car we’ve been restoring in our garage.

We long for the days when we weren’t accosted by a stranger the second we walked into the furniture store, trying to sell us what they think, from a moments glance, might be the thing we want—or even worse, the thing they get the most commission for.

Most of us haven’t even experienced these “good old days”, but we can see the appeal and even develop a longing just the same.

Businesses everywhere are using technology to try to bring back the “mom and pop” feel to their businesses. Many, though, do it wrong.

Here is a list of considerations that are a must when trying to personalize your marketing and your business.

1. Your customer expects you to know certain things about them, so you SHOULD use these things to personalize your online and printed communications with them.  Seamlessly calling your customer by name, referring to past purchases, referring to shared events (like a dentist’s reminder for an appointment), etc.
2. Your customer will get creeped out if you demonstrate that you have information they never gave you. If you can buy demographic information, don’t tell your customer that you know their income, how many kids they have, or anything else.
   Be subtle when you use demographic data—like tailoring the images and/or text to match age, gender, and other demographic attributes.
3. Use what you know about your customer to help THEM, not yourself. The secret here is that if you do this, it will help your business far more than any other approach.
4. Know your data. It sounds cold and impersonal, but one of the best ways to get to know your customer is to get to know your data. What products are popular? What types of customers are buying which types of products? The trick is, when you look at your data, try very hard to see the people that gave you that data.

The other day I was sitting on a bench at the end of a small basketball court at our local Y watching my young son practice dribbling the ball. His coach was trying to teach the young boys several advanced dribbling techniques, like dribbling behind the back and between the legs.

I’ve seen enough movies, television shows, and commercials to know that it’s just not right to put too much pressure on a young boy to perform. And although I agree with this modern wisdom, I can’t help but want my son to be, if not the best, at least good. And so I got a little nervous when I noticed that he was going slower than most of the other boys on the team. This seemed odd, because he’s one of the better players on his team. But, knowing my love for my son and the dangers of speaking rashly, I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything.

However, as I sat and watched him struggle with these advanced moves, I started to notice that he was going slower than the other boys because he was really trying to get it. Several of the other boys had mostly given up and were going fast because they weren’t really trying. I realized that the fact that he was going slower might have given the illusion that the other boys were better, because they were faster, but in reality, he was building skills that would give him the advantage in scrimmages and games—because my son, wiser than his father, found the pursuit of excellence to be more important than how his peers might perceive him.

How often in life do we miss out on the opportunity to pursue excellence because we’re afraid that we’re getting passed by? Or that we’re doing it different from everyone else? Or that we might look foolish to our peers?

Walt Disney said “I am not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other motion picture company.” He also said, “We created Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster—closed and forgotten within the first year.”

Very few individuals can claim to have had a greater impact on modern culture and entertainment than Walt Disney. Excellence requires a single minded pursuit that may not ignore everything around it, but certainly isn’t distracted by it.

Make the decision to pursue excellence today and follow through. If you do, and endure through the trials that will undoubtedly come, you’re guaranteed to create something of real value. The thing you create might be different than what you initially set out for, but it will have value. And you will find, like Walt Disney, that when you pursue excellence, your accomplishments will inspire others to do the same. Can any of us hope for a better legacy than that?