Three things, interwoven, suggesting that Logic has died.

As Alan Alda once said, the world is running “like a car with square wheels.” Allow us then to mash together three separate occurrences – as evidence in our case to declare Logic clinically dead. Here goes:

Exhibit A: Fired by State Farm

State Farm fired us: my household was told that our homeowner’s policy was not going to be renewed. It was, at the end, an “underwriting” decision – but it was handled in the worst possible way, and it is a cautionary tale for businesses that want to fashion themselves as a “Social Business.”

And this is the first thing that tells me Logic is Dead.

First: The Background

My own relationship with State Farm goes back to when I was covered on my parents’ Auto policy. Since I got my license at the age of 16, and I’m now…well, let’s just say we have recently crossed the quarter-century mark in our business relationship.

When I moved to Chicago, in 1993, I took my policy with me and found a local agent to insure my 1993 Nissan Sentra. Then, we switched agents – but stayed with State Farm – when my wife and I got married. In 1995.

The cold, calculating letter

“Dear Policyholder(s):

“Thank you for allowing State Farm to provide your insurance under this policy. We are sorry that we cannot continue this insurance. Therefore, your policy will not be renewed…

“This insurance coverage is no longer acceptable to State Farm Fire and Casualty Company because of your overall claim activity. Our records show the following loss(es):”

What follows? One claim paid out in 1998. Before we even had homeowner’s insurance. Five claims filed that weren’t paid out, but at total of $561.25 paid on this policy.

What does THIS have to do with dying Logic?

Logic would tell you that, if someone has a long history with a company, the lifetime customer value of that customer trumps one $561.25 claim filed 13 1/2 years ago.

Logic would also tell you that, if someone has paid an estimated $40,000 in lifetime premiums, you may not want them to take their business elsewhere. OR, if they are a risk, you want to keep them – but jack their rates up.

The cold calculation of an underwriter about number of claims filed could have been countered by one look at some sort of CRM data. 17 years with the same agent. Number of policies (2) with the company. Even profitability or lifetime customer value.

I would have respected their decision had they told me that, in light of all the above about my loyal patronage, I was not going to be a profitable long-term client. That did not factor into the decision.

The reality here is this: we are in a “check the box” world – that’s a given, and you’ll see another example in Exhibit B. But in order to really thrive in this Logic-Free world, businesses are going to need to start asking the right Binary Questions before they check the boxes.

This is the cover logo for the book. Stay tuned.

[You'll hear much more about Binary Questions in the weeks to come; as Dave from Area 224 is working on a book called "The Binary Business."]

Here’s a for instance:

“Does this client’s long-term history make him or her a profitable client?”

OR

“Does the client’s total amount of claims paid equal a percentage of his premium that is above our acceptable risk threshold?”

These are both Binary Questions – you can answer either YES or NO. A 1 or a 0. Those are your choices. But the way the questions are phrased on the front-end makes for profitable business decisions on the back-end.

More, in Exhibit B.

Exhibit B: GM Pulls Its Facebook Advertising (Right Before Facebook’s IPO)

First of all, I want to be fair – and, quoting a somewhat wise person I used to work with, “Everyone’s an Armchair Marketer.” It’s easy to say that GM is making the wrong decision from wherever you are: maybe you don’t see them engaging on Facebook like other auto brands (hint: Ford). Maybe you think they should be spending their money making better cars (like Ford). Maybe you think Facebook advertising doesn’t work (which is in stark contrast to, uh, Ford).

But the higher your profile, the higher profile your decisions become: add in the ultra-high profile of Facebook right before its IPO, and you get a headline that writes itself:

General Motors Pulls Facebook Ads Right Before Facebook IPO

Lovely. If you’re GM, you have abandoned all logic and made a decision right when it would make the most negative news for you. (You also don’t score any “social business” points either.)

Binary Question:

Will making the about a $10 Million “savings” in ad spend be done at the most inopportune time that the damage to the brand will offset the savings?

I’m reminded of another little Binary Question that was actually quite big in the annals of the auto industry in the US…

Did you take bailout money?

If you don’t think THIS question is being asked time and time again by people looking for a car, think twice.

GM does deserve a little credit here – as they did say that the reason for their moving their ad spend off of Facebook is that “it isn’t helping them sell cars.” And we can surmise that this was a numbers-based decision of some sort.

Or was it?

Are there television ads? Radio ads? Newspaper ads? Are those selling cars?

Once again, the right binary questions – ones with yes or no answers – can make all the difference.

Do we need to maintain a presence on Facebook because those are the “table stakes” that will help us compete?

OR

Do we have something else up our sleeves that will be a more calculated marketing spend that will help us sell cars?

I want to think that GM is doing some of those SAT-style questions, like: “If Sally spends 10 million dollars in advertising but doesn’t measure the ROI of the advertising, how much is she wasting?”

Hang tight, here comes Exhibit C. Also from the automotive world.

Exhibit C: The Air Bag Light

We drive a Hyundai in Dave’s house. (Not IN Dave’s house, as that would be illogical.) We enjoy our Hyundai, but we don’t get warm fuzzies. It has been reliable, it’s a fine machine, etc., etc.

We took it in yesterday for a routine oil change AND to have them look at the “Air Bag” light. (Take a look over there.)

Shouldn't be on...

It shouldn’t be on, and we want to know why it’s on. Leading us to the following exchange with the service person.

Service: “In order to find out whether the Air Bag light is covered under warranty, I’m going to need to charge you $120 to look at it.”

Me: “What?”

Service: “We need to know whether or not it’s covered, so we have to have an electrician look at it. The minimum service charge is $120. If it’s covered under warranty, you won’t have to pay the $120.”

Me: “No. Just the oil change.”

[Time passes. Oil Change complete. Time to pay for the oil change.]

Service: “The Air Bag light is probably covered under warranty. $120 is a standard charge. You can ask other service stations. I don’t want you to be upset.”

Me: “I’m not upset. I just want to know why I would be charged $120 to figure out whether or not it’s covered under warranty.”

I left upset.

Here’s the thing; and, again, this appears to be a rather binary question, or a series of binary questions:

Is the Air Bag light broken? (Yes or no.)

Is the Air Bag itself broken?

Is whatever is broken covered under warranty?

Even better – how bout offering to pull up my warranty information? You should have it right there. On your computer. Thanks.

Critical thinking. Snap judgments. Taking a step back and figuring out “if A, then B, A is bad, B is bad, let’s not do A.”

These are the types of logical decisions that aren’t happening at very rudimentary levels. And it’s symptomatic of a larger problem in business – in “Social Business” – that we’re all going to have to head off at the pass, lest we see some major trouble.

The Takeaway: Logic is Dead. And the “Social Business” might die, too.

In each case, logical thinking went by the wayside. In its place – old thinking. Formulae. “That’s not how we (used to) do it.”

In Timothy Ferriss’ brilliant “The 4-Hour Workweek,” he talks about a time he empowered his customer service team to take care of any problem that doesn’t cost him more than $200 to solve.

Where’s THAT thinking in these scenarios?

I’m not saying that you should put a dollar value on every big or little decision – what I am saying is that Mr. Ferriss’ focus on asking a very binary question – is this worth my time? – came about from first valuing his time and then thinking that his time had an actual dollar value, that dollar value was at least $200 an hour, and it made more sense to spend the money and use his time another way.

And the root cause here may be the Social Business Conundrum: How do you do what’s right, what makes sense, what’s logical, what you would want the other person to do (being “social” as in…the opposite of “anti-social”), when you have so many gosh darn polices and rules and crazy illogical thinking driving the organization you work for?

State Farm’s agent could have picked up the phone, called us, and tipped us off that corporate was trying to cancel our policy and they were going to fight it. They didn’t.

General Motors could have called Facebook Headquarters, said that they really want to work with them to maximize the money they spend on the platform, and they want to figure out how to do it better, faster, smarter. They didn’t.

Hyundai’s service guy could have said “hey, let’s see what your warranty does cover before we scare you away with mumbo jumbo about gambling your $120.” He didn’t.

Logic is Dead. Social Business: Dying with it.

Does it sound like there’s a whole bunch of social media gabbing and not a lot of actual doing? Yeah. I think so, too.

Photo by oatsy40, used with Creative Commons license

There’s a phenomenal book from a few years ago – WARNING – NOT A SOCIAL MEDIA BOOK! – and it’s worth another look.

The book? Paper Tiger by Tom Coyne. [NOTE: I'm in Illinois and can't make a red cent off of Amazon Affiliate Links; thus, there's nothing in it for Area 224 if you buy that book or go to your library and check out a copy.]  The subtitle of this book probably tells you a ton: “An Obsessed Golfer’s Quest to Play with the Pros.”

I won’t spoil the plot of the book – it’s a true story about the author and his handicap index and whether or not he can get a tour card. It’s a great read.

A Story with Social Media Parallels

There’s a ton of gabbing in social circles about who is great and who is awesome and who is killing it or crushing it. And if you were to believe everyone you follow, tweet with, are friends with or subscribe to – the economy should have no problem rebounding.

Which brings us to the story from Coyne’s book. About a young golfer who showed up for his first day on tour bragging about how he wasn’t nervous because he had already been a winner at every other level of his career.

Amateur Champion. College Champion. And so on, and so forth – this was nothing by comparison.

The story may be a little apocryphal – but, as Coyne explains in the book…

“As the story was told to me, it was Craig Stadler who wandered over to where the rookie was hitting balls and gave the young man a few quiet words of advice.

“‘You see the guy next to you, and the guy next to him? Every one of them, All-Americans…hell, some of these caddies were All-American…nobody here gives a damn if you’re All-American, or even if you went to college at all. All anybody here wants to know is…can you play stick?’”

Can YOU Play Stick?

There’s humble-bragging a plenty on the interwebs. It’s getting annoying – sorta like showing up at the tournament as a seasoned pro and having to listen to the guy brag about how he just won the college championship.

And the scary thing is – a good many of the braggers haven’t done anything of substance. They talk a good ballgame but, when it’s time to execute, they’re big on excuses – and small on actual work product.

Consider the precarious position of some social media types with no actual inside-the-ropes experience. (“Inside the ropes” being a golf term, as in…those inside the ropes are playing in the tournament. Those outside the ropes are spectators.)

They may have watched and reported on the business world from the get-go – and they may even have a blog with hundreds of subscribers, or a flirtatious Twitter presence that draws you into their lifestream.

But have they actually been inside the ropes?

AND, those who throw the darts at those who are “doing it wrong” may have never actually built something.

Organizational Dynamics On Tour

If you think pro golf involves showing up, hitting a bunch of balls, being awesome and winning tournaments – consider a good chunk of the behind-the-scenes stuff that has to happen. I’m not talking about practice, mind you. I’m talking about playing in the qualifier to make the US Open field. I’m talking about writing the letter asking for a sponsorship exemption so you can play in the smaller event.

I’m talking about being the type of tour pro who has a great time at the Pro Am – not because it’s required of him, but because he’s playing golf with some people that he truly wants to have fun playing golf with.

And the list can go on, and on.

Because word spreads.

Play Stick at the Office

We’re not asking for you to suck up to everyone you meet, hoping that there’s an eventual payoff. We’re not asking that you put in extra hours creating white papers that show that you know what it is you’re doing.

What we ARE saying is this:

There’s “table stakes” in business and life. Eventually, you will be found out as the person who is all hat, no cattle.

You might be bloody awesome at whatever it is that you do. Great. You know what we want to see?

Evidence. Of you being bloody awesome.

That’s All We Want To Know: Can You Play Stick?

New to this site? We’d love for you to check out our book: Six Biggest Mistakes.

Photo by simpologist, used with Creative Commons license

The payoff of your online efforts is proportional to the amount of effort that goes into it.

Spend an hour working on your link-building, and get a few people to visit your site. Spend some spare time on launching a business – and get that sort of spare-time quality traffic.

And so on, and so forth.

No Shortcuts to Online Success

Here’s a for-instance: Let’s say you’re launching a blog called “New Frugality.” It’s not an overnight success, because it takes real time. Time for you to build relationships, time for you to get real quality content, time for you to carve out your niche.

We’re in our Fourth Month over at New Frugality HQ. And it’s taking some time to get over the hump – as expected.

But here’s the thing: we’re actually in this for the long haul.

The Tactics to Definitely Avoid

If you’re new to the online space – or you’re a veteran marketer but are just now getting into blogging – you can easily get sucked in to some shortcuts that are disguised as strategic moves. They’re actually just tactics that are kinda lame – and will end up giving you headaches as you build your online empire. And here are a couple:

1. The “Can I Guest Post?” Email

These can be great – and you need a healthy reliance on guest posting (as you will read in this awesome “Noob Guide” on the SEOMoz site). But we have had a few requests over at New Frugality that gave us some serious pause.

Quoting an email: “This is Jack…I went through your site while surfing in Google.com, am very much impressed with your site’s unique informations.”

AVOID.

We HAVE had some great guest posts on that site – but they came to us from legitimate people with legitimate social presence. (Hint: they had last names.)

2. The “Same Stuff, Different Site” Post

We have watched a couple bloggers of note make this mistake – and they may NOT be paying attention to words like “Panda” or “Penguin.”

“Penguin” is Google’s Algorithm Update. This controls search like nobody’s business. And this can affect your business like nobody’s business.

In brief, you can’t copy and paste content that you used on one site and put it on another site you own WITHOUT making changes to a good percentage of the text.  (Estimates we’ve heard: 70% of the content can be the same.)

3. The Over-Reliance on Facebook Likes

“Engagement” by big brands on Facebook – that means how many times stuff the big brands say gets shared, commented on, or has the like button clicked – is as high as 0.2% in the auto industry, according to this report by “All Facebook.” (This study looked at “daily page engagement.”)

Wait. WHAT?

Ford is considered the industry standard for its social media presence – and they have 1,400,000 fans on Facebook. They should expect 4,200 of those fans to be engaged each day. A tiny number.

This isn’t to say that 4,200 is a BAD number for Ford.

But for you…that percentage of engagement multiplied by your number of Facebook fans (or people who click the like button) isn’t going to give you much. And the amount of time to get those fans – well, your efforts might be better spent elsewhere. Now, the last thing to avoid:

4. Posting Stuff That Isn’t Good

Chris Brogan had a great piece on this the other day – though we think the title of the post doesn’t match the content.

Upshot? Write Good Stuff.

Not everyone is an awesome writer – we get that. But that doesn’t mean that crap needs to be put on the page just to have the page filled. You’re not running a daily newspaper here – if you don’t have something good, productive, well-thought out, clever or (here’s that word again) “engaging,” don’t publish it.

Real Work – Online AND Off – Takes Time.

Time's a Wastin'

Sometimes, you need outside perspective.

There’s not a doubt that everyone is going digital – we talk to businesses on a daily basis that are trying to make sense of the digital migration, and what it means to their own business.

And, sometimes, you might find some excellent blog posts – such as this one from Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion – and realize that a lot goes into understanding the digital world.

Landing Pages? New Facebook Fan Pages? Conversion Rates? Sales Pages? Twitter Followers?

How To Breathe Easier When Getting Help

We get asked questions about the Modern Marketing Mix A LOT – it’s part of the reason behind the 12 Minute Marketing program, actually – and we think that we can help you breathe a little easier, whether you hire us or hire somebody else. Or even if you go it alone. Here’s how you can breathe easier with the assistance of a digital marketing consultant:

1. Know What Your Business Objectives Are FIRST

These may not be digital objectives at all – in fact, starting with an objective such as “Get 10,000 Fans on Facebook” can be a surefire means to a flameout. Why?

What are you going to DO with those 10,000 fans? How will you “engage” them? And so on, and so forth…

Back to The Sales Lion for a second. Even if you think all of the stuff he talks about is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, he started his business with a very clear objective: Sell People Swimming Pools.

If you have a restaurant, a consultancy, an Etsy business, or you’re a book publisher or…gosh, we could name a thousand different things…you HAVE to have business objectives. If you don’t have those – you’re going to be wasting the time of the Marketing Consultant you call, and they’re not going to be able to help you. Seriously.

2. Have a Firm Grasp on Your Marketing Budget

Here’s where even the smallest business can go dangerously off the rails: No grasp of your marketing budget will mean you are in for a world of hurt. Why?

In the chase for “ROI,” you MUST realize that the “I” in ROI is “Investment.”

Take a restaurant as an example. We’re not going to say that a restaurant with no marketing budget at all is doomed to fail…

But we WILL ask the restaurant owner to take a good hard look at all the expenses that they need on a monthly basis. Do those things fall into the marketing budget? And you do need to ask where the customers are going to come from, how they find the place, how the buzz will build business…all of that leads to, well, the need for marketing. May be digital, may NOT be digital.

But, trust me, restaurant owner: you have a marketing budget.

3. Have a Really Firm Grasp on Who Does What

Back in my own early entrepreneurial days, I did just about everything. Once I could bring on staff, the lines of demarcation became clearer, and some things could easily be outsourced.

Regardless of whether it was outsourced, some of those tasks that fell outside my own scope could easily have been called “Digital Marketing.”

Let’s use a consultancy as an example here – maybe there are three of you, and you’re all out servicing clients, chasing new ones, and somebody’s responsible for the website. Someone else runs the Twitter account. Another person thinks that you should be setting up a sales funnel and…

You can see how THIS can possibly go off the rails, too – even if all three of you are smart and capable and provide excellent client service.

4. Knowing all of this…you might just need a diagnostic

The Sales Lion guy likes talking about Hubspot – and they do have some excellent paid tools. But they’re not for everyone – and, in fact, you can run a free diagnostic on your own web presence just by going to a Hubspot site: grader.com.

Here’s a link to the Marketing Grader.

VERY IMPORTANT: This is NOT the end-all, be-all. This will get you started, but your own diagnostic from Grader doesn’t do you much good if you haven’t completed Step 1 above – HAVING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES.

But this CAN get you thinking about the online things you should be doing. Or not doing: if you have that restaurant above, maybe an online funnel won’t do you 1/10 of the good that a presence on Yelp or Pinterest will.

5. And, the Biggest Mistake You Can Make: “It’s Free!”

We bump into this all of the time:

Twitter and Facebook are free sites, so…I can just do it myself for FREE!

No. Your time costs money. Your team’s time costs money. Even offshoring this to some dude on Odesk will cost some money. And you get what you pay for.

Consultants – yes, even me – can share some knowledge for free. It’s called “Thought Leadership.” But, once you get into the key points of digital marketing – integration, measurement, making sure that you and your business have your marketing aligned with your overall goals – that costs money.

Hire someone? Do it yourself? Get a full-time paid intern? Get a consultant part time? Lots of options – but, we’ve found, if you keep the 5 points above in mind, you – and your consultant – can maximize your chance of business success.

Hi, it’s Dave here. Thanks for visiting the blog. I’d love to talk with you directly, but I’m with a “customer.” Or I’m on Twitter (@Area224).

Photo by plumberluton, used with Creative Commons license

Sometimes, a little mindset is all you need. Changing the way you think about one little term can make a big difference in how you – and your business – treats people.

So, when’s the last time you spoke with a “Customer?”

A little background for ya: back in the day, we had a client that was (and still is) a small college with a small, under-performing athletic program. They got better, over time, but needed a mindset change.

When you walked into the Athletic Department offices, you didn’t get warm fuzzies. Quite the opposite.

He’s With a “Student-Athlete”

There was the subtle, but really important change that started to turn things around. It’s not spin, it’s not BS: the fact was that, if someone was otherwise occupied – say, the Athletic Director was in a meeting and his phone rang – the required response was not “He’s Busy,” or even “he’s with a student.”

“He’s With a ‘Student-Athlete.’”

Making that same sort of distinction with the people you work for is pretty important, too.

“Client” – not “Customer”

To be blunt: a customer walks into a store, buys something, and walks out – not returning until they need something again. If ever.

A customer visits your website and thinks about making a purchase. And so on, and so forth.

If you’re a plumber – you have clients.

If you’re selling something – you have clients.

If you provide a service – you have clients.

Brass Tacks here people: I walked into my local chain Sporting Goods store recently and, frankly, I felt like a customer. Not a client. Frequent shopper card? Didn’t make me feel like a client – I felt like a number. Talking to the people working there? Well, again, I didn’t feel like a client – I felt like a customer.

My plumber? “Dave, here’s what I’d advise, because, as much as I like you, I don’t want you to have to keep paying me to come back every month.”

So he gave me a tip that saved me a few hundred dollars.

Guess who I’m using next time?

Customer is demeaning, and connotes a one-and-done purchase. Client: long-term relationship.

Go with “client.”

Challenge: Write a blog post about marketing and business. Don’t use the First Person at all.

Roman Numeral One, Thanks, chrisinplymouth, used with cc License

Easy, right?

Here’s the thing: people love to talk about themselves. People love to point to the awesome stuff they’re doing – and, with the dawn of Social Media Marketing, it’s so much easier to be self-centered.

Because you have to connect with someone else, and they have to connect with you.

But How To Avoid Crossing “The Line?”

You know “The Line,” because it’s rather garish these days. Everyone has a book coming out, it seems, and they’re doing the mass market promotional thing. Everyone has expertise that they want to tout – for a fee, of course – and it’s tough to separate the value from the pablum, the pitch from the meat.

Even the uber-engagers – the ones who call their fans “community” – have to point to themselves as the examples of pure awesomeness…in a bottle, or on a blog.

Don’t Fall For It. Don’t.

Pretty soon, you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

The valuable posts start going away, the “Buy The Book” posts start arriving. Maybe there’s an F-bomb for effect, or maybe it’s just an old idea disguised by new social media buzzwords.

Don’t. Fall. For. It.

Don’t.

Third Person Credibility

So, here’s a list. Some blogs that aren’t all First Person. Ones that aren’t overly promotional – and, instead, give you a taste of knowledge that you can take and do something valuable with.

Go forth. Avoid the First Person.

1. Olivier Blanchard, The Brand Builder. This is worthwhile for the past couple posts alone: a frying pan to the face of conventional business wisdom.
2. Marjorie Clayman, MargieClayman.com. She’s just cool – but her insights, which DO sometimes involve the First Person, are spot on.
3. Shelly Kramer and Team, V3im.com. People from Kansas City are just really nice. Down-to-earth. And focused on helping you.

Done. One List, No First Person. What do you think?

Anyone else tired of hearing about how Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg leaves the office at 5:30 every night?

little f gets big a for work-life balance

It’s all relative: Including Work-Life Balance.

You can all stop talking about it, starting now. Why?

What works for me may not work for you. What works for Ms Sandberg may not make sense for the rest of us. And so on and so forth.

Here’s a story: back in the day (code for “when I worked somewhere that isn’t at Area 224 headquarters, or for a startup”) we had a dynamite research strategist on staff. He was on the short list of quality speakers who could command a room – talking about work-life balance in his inimitable style.

And…he couldn’t stand the phrase “work-life balance.” He preferred “work-life harmony.”

Why?

One person’s 80-hour-a-week sweatshop is someone else’s dream job.

What works for you works for you. Darnit.

Face time? Bed checks? Lurkers? Annoying meetings?

Look, you still have to get your work done, you still have to prioritize. You still have to provide awesome client service – even if your clients are internal ones.

Bravo to you for leaving early. Or staying late.

It’s all relative. Commit to being excellent when you’re there, and commit to being “there” when you aren’t.

And find what works for you, whether you’re a billionaire or flat broke.

New here? Dave from Area 224 would love to talk with you about getting your marketing plan aligned with your business plan. And your objectives. And the important stuff. Need a marketing coach?

Image from Twitpic of Keith Olbermann wearing Miami Marlins hat

Baseball Season Is Here. And?

What does that have to do with finding the right business coach? Good question…

We’re a week (or so) into the 2012 Major League Baseball season, and, as usual, there will be a story line or two (or three) that gets people buzzing. But if you don’t follow the game, that’s okay: we’d like to put some of the early developments into place and talk about getting a coach. For your business. Even if you don’t care about baseball one iota.

The Miami Marlins are a Startup

Funny – how can a team that is starting its 20th Major League season and has two World Championships be a startup?

Let us count the ways: new ballpark. New uniforms – all the way to the hats (see photo). New manager (controversial guy, that Ozzie Guillen). Bunch of new players.

Even a new name: they used to be the Florida Marlins, but they wanted to be truer to their home city. So in with a new name, the Miami Marlins.

Wait, does your business need a transformation? Or is it fine under current management?

Miami needed a transformation and decided that the complete brand overhaul was in order. Overhaul of everything – the product on the field and the ambiance off the field.

Yet, one thing is crystal clear: they want to win championships. Clear objectives make for better marketing, better operations, better brand management.

Finding a coach who can help you see your business from the outside in is vital in a day and age when EVERYONE looks like they’re running a startup, even the Miami Marlins.

Longevity is Tough in the Majors

Remember the old days: when people worked for 45, sometimes even 50 years at the same company, then retired with a gold watch and a pension?

If you want further proof that longevity in any business is tough, consider this list, from ESPN, of the nine major league players who are considered active “lifers” – ten years or more of service with only one team.

MLB Lifers.

 

However you want to look at this trend, consider what it means for your business: maybe you have a shop that isn’t keeping people, or maybe you know you have to rely on free agent talent to keep your shop moving. Maybe there’s a way to get people better “engaged” or more committed.

Getting a coach who can suggest ways to improve how you’re managing your people is really important, too.

The Dodgers Are Smoking Hot

Sometimes, “Under New Management” may be just what the doctor ordered.

The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be doing no wrong lately. Winning on the field, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dodger Stadium. AND…they got bought by a group that includes Magic Johnson.

What happened?

When all the pieces are in place on the field, maybe you need help figuring out what has to be fixed OFF the field.

Let’s be direct: the off-the-field “stuff” with the Dodgers’ ownership was ugly. Yet, on the field, they had the reigning Cy Young Award winner (the best pitcher in the league) AND one of the best hitters in the league.

So getting things right off the field was rather important – and they’re well on their way.

Finding the Right Business Coach is Important

In your own business, you need to get at the objectives. Are you in it to win it? Sure, we all are, right?

But…what does it mean to “win?”

You have to step outside your comfort zone, and yourself, to really REALLY understand where you’re going – and what you’ll do to get there.

In the baseball examples above, there are possibly a myriad of objectives. Win on the field. Win off the field. Stay with your team. Create an image that wins your old fans back – or wins new fans. And so on…

Are you ready to answer the tough questions – and ask them of yourself, too?

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: On April 10, 2012, Rick Santorum announced he was suspending his campaign, thus paving the way for Mitt Romney. So we’ve decided to re-run our March 6 post, part of an occasional series called “The Marketing Guy.” Read on…

Governor Mitt Romney's Book; the title is key to his marketing success

First of all, this is not a political site. I have political leanings, you have political leanings, Rush Limbaugh has political leanings. We’re not discussing those today. Instead, we’re tackling a marketing challenge head-on.

Mitt Romney presents a Marketing Challenge unlike any other. Wildly successful as a businessman (co-founded Bain Capital, made lots of money). A family man – married to the same woman for decades, raised five strapping young boys (or maybe it’s six, details, details). Religious; despite what the average person may think about Mormonism (again, not something we’re discussing here), the guy doesn’t drink or smoke or even touch caffeine, and he has stuck with his LDS beliefs.

The Challenge? The guy hasn’t broken through. In fact, in a down economy, where numbers continue to tell a really crappy story, a guy who took a Salt Lake City Olympics, rescued it from near-death after scandal, and turned it into a winner SHOULD be seen as the Candidate from Central Casting.

Except he’s not. Far from it. And, while he’s now the front-runner and, after the results of Super Tuesday declare him the de facto winner, he still has a long, long way to go.

What every marketer loves is a challenge – and this is one of those multi-variate problems that isn’t THAT simple. But it is, in my mind, easy enough to boil down into two things. In my humble opinion, these two things – and these two things ALONE – will make or break Mitt Romney’s candidacy – and decide whether or not we get four more years.

Before we “go there” let me give you a couple ground rules for this discussion. (1) You must abandon your political beliefs for a moment. This means that if you’re a right-winger, a left-winger, or something in between, you must abandon your emotional attachment to either side and hear this out from a purely logical standpoint. (2) This argument assumes that Mitt Romney is the nominee. I’ve had discussions with marketing experts, dyed-in-the-wool Reagan-era Republicans and even a few former political operatives. They’re all in agreement: the only way the GOP wins in November is if Romney is the nominee. (3) These two steps are interrelated. Without 1, 2 doesn’t work. Without 2, 1 doesn’t work. Both must go right. So…

Factor #1 that will get Mitt Romney elected: Gas Prices stuck above $5 a gallon.

Everyone has seen the numbers: gas prices when President Obama was inaugurated averaged about $1.89 a gallon. Today, they’re over $4.00 a gallon in some parts of the US – near me, north of Chicago, $4.07 today.

I suggested above that you abandon the emotional attachment to your candidate – but not to your pocketbook. In fact, that and that alone is going to be very key to this discussion.

Hey, I’ve been there as an entrepreneur: where you have to make that decision as to whether or not you can afford to take the meeting or go on the trip or do lunch with someone based on the cost of gasoline. (One of the reasons we started the New Frugality site was because of these types of decisions; we even did a post about saving on gasoline.)

If gas hovers where it is now and stays here before the summer driving season, we’re probably all going to be mildly inconvenienced, but not overly unhappy.

But once the calculus of whether or not you can make the trip starts to really hit hard – President Obama may be in some trouble.

And if that figure is $5 or more, per gallon, for the whole summer: Katie bar the door.

Here’s why – and one of the key marketing challenges faced by the incumbent. President Obama may have a firm grasp of both micro and macro-economic principles – but, unless you are one of the people who has benefited from a low interest rate mortgage refinance, you’re probably not totally noticing. His “wins” do not hit you in the pocketbook at a micro-economic level.

However, if gas hits $5 and stays there, your summer will be dramatically impacted. Less trips to the coast or the shore or the lake. You’ll start to do the math more often – should we take that trip out of town or not? Do we fill the tank up this time – or do we only get $50 in petrol and wait it out, hoping that prices will be better in a few days?

And you will ask “Is the President doing anything about this?”

This is where you WOULD need a higher degree in economics and a team of experts to figure out what the President can and cannot do about gas prices. It’s a win-lose: try everything to fix high gas prices, succeed, and watch the other side say that you didn’t play much of a role. OR, try everything to fix high gas prices, fail, and be painted as someone who is ineffective.

$5 a gallon is the magic number because – like 3,000 hits for a ballplayer or some other round milestone – it’s kindof a rare occurrence.  If your minivan holds close to 20 gallons of gas, you’re looking at $100 to fill up your tank. Another painful round number.

Factor #1 – sustainable gas prices at north of $5.00 a gallon – is largely out of Mitt Romney’s control. Factor #2 – which, again, depends on Factor #1 – is his issue to own.

Factor #2 that will get Mitt Romney elected: “I am not ashamed of American Capitalism.”

This has been, IMHO, Gov. Romney’s major challenge throughout his campaign. How can a guy who is worth a reported $200 Million NOT be an avowed American Capitalist?

What should be an ASSET has become a LIABILITY – and President Obama has had to do very little work to create this perception.

You could argue that Mr. Romney’s discussion of owning a few American cars did him more harm than good – they were AMERICAN cars, after all, but this is the bane of his existence (pun intended): even if Bain Capital made money by turning around troubled firms, the perception (hire and fire) trumped the reality (creating jobs). (We’re playing “hide the pun” here. Thanks for obliging us.)

Romans 1:16 – “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Why did we throw in a Bible quote? To appease the Evangelicals – something Mr. Romney may have not done enough of?

No; rather, we suggest he paraphrase:

“I am not ashamed of American Capitalism”

Compassionate Conservatives didn’t energize the base the way Evangelicals did – evidence Rick Santorum’s surge. But the base is not going to win the election in the Fall – the rank and file are going to win the election in the Fall.

And the Rank and File are Ashamed of American Capitalism. They shouldn’t be.

Gov. Romney must do everything he can to paint himself as the guy who can, indeed, absolutely, unequivocally restore American Capitalism. He’s the guy to do it because he’s the guy who has done it. Creating jobs, creating wealth. Creating capitalists.

When Romney made news after releasing his tax numbers, part of the reason for the outrage (again, my opinion, as a marketer): jealousy. I, for one, WANT to get to that magical place where I am living off of dividend checks and interest income. Crap, dude, that’s a lot of scratch when all you’re doing is paying taxes on dividends and you’re still making 7 figures.

Why are both of these factors necessary to elect Mitt Romney?

Remember when President Clinton said “I feel your pain”? It’s because we thought that Clinton did indeed feel our pain. Empathy. Whatever the pain was, he felt it.

The difference here is that Factor 1 - $5 a gallon gas – will be actual pain that we will all actually be feeling. If I’ve gotta spend $5 a gallon and I get 20 miles to the gallon, it costs me 40 CENTS in GAS to DRIVE ONE MILE. Society won’t believe that the President feels their pain if they’re looking at $5 a gallon at the pump. They’ll want answers instead – of how do we get out of this mess.

Factor 2 – “I am not ashamed of American Capitalism” – brings us all to that place where we feel that we’ve tried everything that has been dished out for the past four years and it hasn’t worked. So we will want to go back to that place that did work – and it’s the go-go-90s, pre-bubble, growth that was unprecedented.

And it’s up to Governor Romney to prove that American Capitalism can restore that feeling.

Thanks for reading. Again, these are my views, they are opinions, and, in a future rendition of The Marketing Guy, you can expect political marketing advice for the other side of the aisle. For now, love to get your comments.

New Here? Learn Why We Really Don’t Think Coaching is BS.

It seemed like quite a while ago we issued ourselves the 20 Minute EBook Challenge. Can we write a book in 20 Minutes?

The answer was…yes. Heck, anyone can write a book in 20 Minutes. Right?

That being said, we thought we’d let you see the results – and, since we’re really big fans of the Amazon Kindle platform, we’re using their FREE promotion thing today.

The 20 Minute Motivation EBook is Free Today.

You have to go to Amazon Kindle Store to grab your copy.

We’d love to get your thoughts – or, even better, love to have you, too, take the 20 Minute EBook Challenge.

Oh, and if you missed the first book as part of EBook Week, take a look.

(And the other EBook – on Growing Businesses – is here, also on Kindle. And it’s FREE – IF you’re an Amazon Prime member.)