Monthly Archives: December 2016

0 How to Build Support (Even When it’s Christmas)

A brief note today to announce that as usual, I shall be resting this blog over the holidays.  I’m planning to restart on Monday 9 January 2017, a break of 3 weeks.  It is possible I shall need a longer break while I build support and if so I’ll let you know what is happening.

The reason I’m not 100% certain is that I am planning a number of projects to increase support for my work promoting the local economy and the role of coaches in supporting change.  I may decide to take another week or two to bed down these new initiatives.  Here’s a sample of what I have planned.  There are a few other things in the pipeline that I am not ready to announce just yet.

Facebook Live

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my plan to promote my work by integrating online and offline marketing.  At the time I had just started using Facebook Live and was on day 2!

Today is day 16 and I think I’ve improved my approach.  I’ve found I’m better if I stand to deliver the talk.  I usually plan what I am going to say the previous day and then rehearse just before I go online.  You can find the Facebook Live posts on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page.  You may have to scroll a long way down the page to find them all.  They are all numbered to help you follow the sequence.

A few problems I have not yet resolved include:

1. I’m aiming for 1-2 minutes and so far I’ve been going on for too long.
2. I cannot find a time of day when I can regularly post.  There are advantages to doing this if you can because some people may be present to watch you live.  I’m not sure what the advantages of performing with a live audience are but there you go!
3. I have not so far been able to find a way to link to individual posts, which means it will be difficult to get access to them in the future.
4. People are visiting these posts and some of them are watching them.  I do need to remind people they are there though.

I’ve pinned a Facebook Live video at the top of my Facebook page, where I interviewed several people about the proposal to sell Sheffield’s Central Library to a 5-star hotel.  This is one example of how Facebook Live can be used.  I’m planning to complete the current sequence of posts at day 30.  After that I want to explore possibilities for using Facebook Live at events.  I shall also use it to promote events before they happen.

I’m sure there are many other ways to use this new tool and once I complete the current sequence, I shall post about how to use it for marketing.

Webinars

I held my first Webinar on Wednesday 14 December.  You can find the replay of “It’s Where Your Feet Are“, so please go over and watch it there.  There is a comments facility below the video and I shall respond to all relevant comments as soon as I see them.

Three people watched the video live and as far as I know they appreciated it.  I felt my planning and rehearsals paid off and the words seemed to flow.  I need to find time to watch it myself and see how I come over.

The next webinar is on Wednesday 4 January and you can sign up for “A Brief History of Social Enterprise” by following the link.  If you signed up for the first, there’s no need to sign up again!  The third in this series will be on 18 January.

I have exciting plans for webinars following these three.  I see these first three as opportunities to set out my manifesto and to become used to the system.  Once I feel confident in the approach, I’m planning to branch out in an entirely new direction, so stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Business Success Summit

Finally, for those of you who live close enough to Sheffield, I am part of a team planning a live event.  It will be a day event on Saturday 11 February 2017.  I can’t say much about it at this stage.  Make a note of the date in your diary and I shall put a link here as soon as I can.

I’m hoping to encourage coaches and consultants to attend this event but it is for any local business in the region.  We’re aiming for 200 people to attend the event and so, if we get it right, it will be huge.

0 Handling Success

Success can be just as stressful as rejection.  With success you can contemplate the joys of delivering a service to a new client but it is actually a great responsibility. So, take time to take stock and decide your strategy.

Celebration

Celebration is painful for those of us who don’t naturally take to having fun at the drop of a hat.  But taking time to pause and take stock after winning a big client is never a bad idea.  Some of my best ideas come at times of repose.  By all means take a note-book to your celebrations.  A notebook is a brilliant aid to forgetting.  Just jot down a legible and coherent note and then forget it until you’re back at your desk.

Keeping Track

If you have lots of clients, consider customer relations management (CRM).  There are several well-known packages that offer you everything you need.  Perhaps you won’t need a full CRM system when you start but bear it in mind for later.

There are other tools you can use to ease your journey.  Use Office tools, email service providers, etc to organise during the early stages of your business.  As your business grows you will need more help and you can take it on as you need it.

Don’t forget you may need a Personal Assistant as your business grows.  They handle matters like CRM and free you to pay attention to your clients.

Be Generous

Finally, don’t forget to over-deliver.  Bonuses can be a good way to build a relationship with your clients.  Sometimes you can offer opportunities that also help you out.  You know you can work together and so it is natural to invite participation in relevant activities where you can help each other out.

Besides that there are many other products and services you can offer beyond what you contracted to deliver.

However, be aware you may find it difficult to manage many spontaneous bonus activities.  Better to schedule in a few unannounced bonuses, so you can add them into your routine.

How do you celebrate business success?

0 Making and Testing Assumptions

Remember the problem in the circuit questionnaire is your clients’ problem.  Your clients make assumptions about it and so shall you!

Your Clients’ Assumptions

Expect your clients to be familiar with the problem and so likely to make assumptions about it.  You will have critical distance and so may be able to help the client name the assumptions they make.

Your clients pay you to challenge their assumptions.  Your role is not to change their mind but to suggest alternative approaches to their problem.  Their task is to consider your questions and consider changing their understanding of their problem in the light of them.

Don’t forget, 90% of problem solving is identifying the right problem.  Once you know what the problem is, you and your client are much more likely to find a solution that works.

Your Assumptions

Your problem is you promote your business as a solution to a particular type of problem.  Then you attract clients who believe they have the same problem.  What happens if you take them on and then discover their problem is an entirely different one?

This is one reason to be familiar with alternative solutions.  Focus on getting the problem clear.  When you have done this, you have completed most of the work.  It is even possible with new clarity, the client will find their own solution.  “Oh, now I see I’ve been approaching this entirely the wrong way!”

So, remember you are a guide.  Of course you need some knowledge of the problem but don’t assume your approach is always the best.  You may need to make a referral but the chances are with clarity about the nature of the problem, you can together adapt your solution to solve the problem.

Don’t underestimate your client.  The chances are they are capable of finding their own solution but in a challenging situation, need support.  They may believe there is a lot at stake and so seek reassurance their approach is the right one.  They want a second opinion; reassurance they have not missed some vital clue.

How to Test Assumptions

This is one reason being stuck can be a good place.  Nothing works.  Your client came to you because they had tried everything they know.  You have gone over their reasoning and suggested a few things.  They try them and they don’t work.

Maybe there’s an assumption you’re both making.  You have two pairs of eyes on the problem.  Go over everything in detail.  Is this true?  What assumptions are we making here?  What other perspectives could we view this from?

Every time you comb over the information, you see more detail.  You both need to allow your subconscious minds to work on it.  Once you’re familiar, take a break.  Sleep on it or go for a walk.

Then return to your data and look for inspiration.  Answers rarely arrive fully worked out.  You might have a small clue that draws your attention to some aspect of the problem.  Trust your instincts, review that area.  An insight from one of you may trigger an idea in the other.

Note the key to this is familiarity with the problem.  So, keep returning to it and with each failure, remember you are learning more.

Finally, use contacts to challenge your assumptions.  If you have a personal coach, they may be able to help.  If not, sharing the problem with others may help (but remember confidentiality).  A last resort may be seeking a specialist.  But most problems can be resolved with application, don’t assume a specialist will have any more luck with the problem.

Your client should be the number 1 expert and with your support, most times they will find a solution.

Are you aware of examples where clarifying the problem has led to a solution?

0 Re-Enchanting the Urban Environment

I suppose this is a dilemma for me, although I don’t see it that way.  I am still a community development worker at heart and subscribe to its values despite making my way in the conventional business world.  This Wednesday I was involved in three activities that related to campaigning for the Urban Environment.

After a business breakfast, where I promoted my Facebook Live campaign, described in last Friday’s post and my webinar about the local economy, I spoke at the Urban Theology Unit (UTU).

Re-Enchantment of Dark Holy Ground

I’ve been a Trustee of UTU for many years and the meeting was an introduction to the new director’s recently published book.  The book is “Re-enchanting the Activist: Spirituality and Social Change” by Keith Hebden (affiliate link).  I haven’t read it yet and I will review it as soon as I have.  They asked me to comment on the book; no mean feat given that I hadn’t read it!

I spoke about my experience in Cleveland County during the 1980s, a time of overwhelming unemployment.  The discovery by long-term unemployed of the dark face of God and that many were living on Dark Holy Ground.  Sometimes empowerment comes from the darkest of places.  This contrasts with self-help approaches that sometimes seem relentlessly cheery.

I’m sure the experience most people have of being highly sceptical or even cynical about just about everything, including marketing campaigns and political campaigns.  Many people are seriously disenchanted although this does not always lead them to choosing the right people to follow.

Save Sheffield’s Trees

After that I joined a demonstration outside the Town Hall before the council meeting, after the early morning tree removal on Rustlings Road earlier in the month.  I’ve known that road for all of my life and it was a beautiful road before the forced removal of 11 trees, most of which had earned a reprieve from the Council’s tree panel.

It involved 22 police officers knocking on doors at 4.30 in the morning, to ask people to remove their cars.

The Council has entered a 25 year PFI contract with a contractor that sees trees as an obstacle to maintaining roads and pavements.  It seems this contract overrides democratic accountability.  This takes us to the nub of the tensions we all feel about business.

Few people would argue that business is essential to community.  Everyone needs income and businesses need lots of people with money to spend.  If we build public spaces, then business is necessary.  But it is not sufficient.

Public spaces are where people interact and trees are an essential part of those spaces.  As soon as we allow specious arguments about efficiency to tear down what makes our spaces humane, we are losing track of the purpose of our lives.  And it seems there are some businesses that power this destructive tendency.  Most business owners have little problem with the idea that as citizens they are accountable democratically.  But it seems size and power clouds judgement for some business owners and politicians.

This is why I and many other Sheffielders have joined STAG (Sheffield Tree Action Groups).  You can join on their Facebook page; follow the link and click on join.

Proposal to Convert the Sheffield’s Central Library into a 5-Star Hotel

Sheffield Central Library, Surrey Street. © Copyright Chris Downer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Then I met up with Billal Jamal from the Public Speaking Academy (affiliate link).   He suggested we use Facebook Live to conduct an impromptu Vox Pop about the proposals to convert Sheffield’s Central Library into a 5-star hotel.  The building houses several libraries and the Graves Art Gallery.  The paintings and indeed the art deco building were gifts to the city; contributed by JG Graves, a prominent business man in the early twentieth century.

If you follow the link you will find the video at the top of my Facebook page.  It is about 15 minutes.  Billal worked with me to ask people to take part, whilst I interviewed them.  Billal took the opportunity to show me the power of Facebook Live as a campaigning tool.  It is equally effective for promotion of business and for campaigning.  It may be an effective approach to helping people’s views to be heard.  One problem many campaigning groups face is they end up talking to each other.  Facebook Live is a splendid to hear what people are saying.

Julian Dobson in “How to Save Our Town Centres: A Radical Agenda for the Future of High Streets” (affiliate link) devotes a whole chapter to libraries.  They are an important part of the public space.  And note I specifically asked about the value to business in the city centre.  Perhaps business is a threat because the proposal is to hand the building over to a private enterprise?  It does not necessarily follow that all the businesses in the city centre would benefit from such a change.

Sign up to the Sheffield Central Library Action Group, if you wish to support the campaign for the library.

Still a Development Worker at Heart?

Billal later suggested that perhaps I am still a development worker at heart.  It could be argued that I am unlikely to accept the business thing, speaking their language and following their ways.

Except that is not really what I am about.  I am seeking a new standard where business finds its place at the heart of society.  Business people are members of our families, they are friends from school and university.  They are also some seriously delusional billionaires who really believe the world owes them increasing wealth and power.

We have to find a way to direct the entrepreneurial vision away from self-realisation and towards an ethic of the common good.  After all, it is well-known  our relationships form the selves we seek to develop.

Where Individualism leads to isolation from the world, it is bound to become morbid.  Precisely the tragic consequences Keith Hebden describes in his book.

How do you experience tension between business and community?

0 Handling Rejection

Rejection takes many forms and it’s always worth taking stock when it happens.  Why does it happen?  Well, yes it might be your fault.  But it is rarely entirely the fault of one person.  The best thing you can do is uncover the reasons for the rejection and work out how to mitigate them in the future.

Whatever is rejected, eg a grant for a community project, financial backing for a business proposition, an offer made to an apparently warm prospect; you need to review your approach, make changes and try again.

In this post I shall review some of the reasons for rejection.  In later posts, I shall take a closer look at the impact of failure on individuals and of repeated failure on organisations.

Most Things Don’t Work

Over thirty years in community development, I can testify to this.  I have had my successes but in the main, most things you try, do not work out.

Yes, there are stories of someone who comes up with a new idea, launches it and to everyone’s surprise it works first time!  This is very rare.  People who achieve this often share their story and so there seems to be a lot of success about.  There isn’t; most things fail.

Usually success follows repeated attempts and periods of being stuck.  If you fail and persist, you have to dig deeper but will also have a better understanding of what you are trying to do.  The longer you keep going, the more likely you are to stumble upon an approach that works.

If it’s not working, change your approach!

So, the message is, keep going.  Every failure is a step on the road to success.  With one exception.

Don’t keep doing the same thing, if it doesn’t work.  I was recently asked to organise a meeting, even though I knew the timescale was too short to publicise it properly and bring people in.  I went ahead against my better judgement.  No-one turned up.

Let’s pause and consider this for a moment.  I’m sure it was a bad idea to run it so soon.  Is it possible my pessimism contributed to its failure?  Maybe I would have done better had I put my heart and soul into pushing the meeting.

I don’t know.  But I do know the reasons for failure are multi-factorial.  If I’d had time to market it properly, maybe my attitude would still have undermined numbers.  And maybe the event itself was not attractive.

But here’s a thought.  How can you turn a failure to your advantage?  Is it possible we miss opportunities because we focus on the immediate failure and so do not see the bigger picture?

Failure to Close

Failure to close plagues the lives of many people starting out in business.  We do  not know how to bring a business conversation to a satisfactory close.

There are two positive ways to close.  On yes and on no.

A yes, so long as it is a real yes, is clearly cause for celebration.  It comes at the end of a complex sequence of actions and sometimes we make a mistake (or several).  If we don’t know what works we’re working in the dark.  There are plenty of guides about how to close.  Use Daniel Pink’s book “To Sell is Human“, as a thorough starting point.

A no, means you need to see the bigger picture.  This might be a “no for now” or a no forever.  Whichever it is, can this person support you in other ways?  Will they sign up to your list, recommend you to others, write a testimonial?  I have found it incredibly difficult to get even these results primarily because I forget to ask (another example of failure to close!)

Bad Clients

I’m afraid some clients misbehave.  It goes with the territory.  The first thing to remember is, if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t take them on.

Misbehaviour has many manifestations.  It might range from saying yes and not meaning it, just so they can get out of the room or perhaps changing their mind and failing to tell you or apologise.  Others simply cannot work with you.  They are forever seeking insights from other practitioners and throwing their (not necessarily good) advice in your face.  Or they just misbehave.  After one particular client, I decided if a client can’t conduct themselves respectfully I will end our contract.

What to Do

Bad client behaviour is not your fault.  Sadly, some people simply lack the social skills they need to conduct business properly.  If you are a client and not happy, then say so.  I have just done this with someone who is supporting me.  I’ve written to point out a weakness in their approach.  I haven’t ranted or demanded my money back or even blamed them.  All you need to say is, I followed your advice and this happened, can we discuss it?  After all, how do I know it was not my fault?  Blaming others for our own failings is a common human response to failure.

Do be aware of one other thing.  If you negotiate a contract with an organisation, you may find you are not working with the person who agreed the contract.  You don’t know if the person who manages the contract agrees with it and you may not know what internal struggles are taking place in the organisation.  This possibility may be worth discussing at the time you agree the contract.

I’m sure I haven’t discussed all the reasons for failure.  What are your stories of failure?  What have you found can go disastrously wrong?

0 Seeking and Using Alternative Solutions

Most problems have more than one solution.  You can offer several solutions to a problem or you may have a single approach that works for some clients and not others.  Either way it helps to show you are aware of alternative solutions.  And what do you do when nothing works?

This question is step 2 of the Awareness Ladder and here it is important to show prospects you are aware of alternative solutions.  In your publicity, you can discuss alternatives and use them to move your prospects to consideration of your solution, step 3.  For certain prospects, your solution will be the best.

How to Explain Alternative Solutions

There are several ways you can move someone from alternatives to considering your solution.

How Well Known are the Alternative Solutions?

If you are scraping around, seeking arcane approaches to your prospects’ problem, just possibly you don’t need to fill a lot of space explaining about the alternatives.

If there are alternatives, your prospects need to know why they should consider your solution.  For example, many organisations seeking a website will consider a website designer.  Very often they know little about website design and choose perhaps the cheapest.

They need to know the risks when making that choice.  They may be lucky but often a £500 website is a waste of money.  Indeed larger sums of money can be wasted because the prospect is not aware of likely pitfalls or other options.

You could ask and answer questions your prospects are likely to ask or have not thought of asking.  This is an educational approach, you are not simply debunking alternative solutions but helping the prospect understand what they really need.

Some solutions, perhaps including yours, may not be well-known and raise issues  your prospects have not considered.

On Being Stuck

Sometimes no approach, including your own, will work.  Being stuck is not a bad place to be but it needs patience on your part and your client’s.  Maybe you have overlooked some issue that negates your approach. Or maybe you are on the verge of a new insight!

So, your client has tried everything, including your suggestions.  You’ve reviewed everything they tried and as far as you can see they have tried everything with diligence.

The most important thing is patience.  You have two brains working on the problem and one of you is likely to have an insight.

But perhaps not today.  You may need to take a break and allow your subconscious to work on the problem.  Take a break but keep in touch.  If you have a germ of an idea (once referred to as a maggot!) share it!  Communicate insights, however trivial they may seem to be.  You don’t know what might trigger a breakthrough in your mind or the other person’s.

So, celebrate being stuck!  Welcome the opportunity to venture into unexplored territory.

Have you a story of being stuck and making a breakthrough?

1 Building an Integrated Online and Offline Marketing Campaign

I’m planning something big to take place in February.  The challenge is how to market it and this post is the first of a few that will explain what I’m doing.  The campaign will integrate online and offline marketing and this post explains what I started on 1 December 2016.

You will note I haven’t explained what I’m planning for February and I’m not going to – just yet!  If you start early enough, a little mystery or intrigue helps your campaign.  I’m hoping you will hop on board, follow what I’m doing and pass on the message to anyone you know who may be interested.

There will be plenty to take part in online, even if you are too far away from Sheffield to take part in the live event in February.  My consultancy offer is available to all coaches, consultants and local businesses, wherever they are based.  At the same time, I’m working with others to promote best practice locally.

Facebook Live

First, I’m doing a series of 30 daily Facebook Live broadcasts.  You can see all of them on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page as they appear.  I shall add a 1 to 2 minute video, daily.  I’ll probably break over Christmas but the idea is to build a presence or following, engaging in debating local economics.

You can take part in the debate by commenting on my Facebook Live videos.  Each day I shall share one simple idea and together these posts will seed a powerful online conversation.  I have the 30 days mapped out but will respond to comments either direct or in one of my videos.  I can be diverted to explore relevant themes, which may mean I extend the series – we shall see how we go.

One of the issues I’ve had planning this is, the time of day to record the videos.  It is possible to view them live.  To do this it is ideal to have a regular time.  My problem is I cannot find a time when I can absolutely guarantee I can post every single day.  I may be able to find such a time as I get into the series.  However, I’m not too worried as I suspect the recordings for most people will be more accessible than the live performance.

These posts will be an opportunity to promote other activities.  So, I may encourage people to like my Facebook page or visit this blog or attend my series of Webinars.

Webinar Series

I’m planning a series of three webinars, opportunities to explore some of the themes in the Facebook Live series in more depth.  I’m aiming for 1 – 2 minute soundbites through Facebook Live and so the Webinars will be about 20 minutes, including and followed by comments and questions.

I’ll record each webinar on YouTube and it will available as a replay.  You will be able to comment and ask questions on the replay too.

The first webinar is “It’s Where Your Feet Are: How Businesses Benefit from Supporting the Local Economy”.  One thing I’ve noticed is we often discuss how businesses can support community but rarely ask how businesses themselves benefit from their commitment to their locality.

The benefits have to be mutual.  A business that went out of business because it supports its community would be neither use nor ornament.  When the benefits are mutual is an opportunity for sustainable local regeneration that includes local businesses as well as the amenities that make it possible for everyone to take part in their neighbourhood.

I have lots of plans for webinars following these first three about the local economy.  Stay with me as this is likely to become very interesting.

I’ve found an approach to webinars that is cost-free and you will see it does not involve a commercial webinar host. It is hosted on my website.  I shall write about this in more detail once I’ve tested this method.  But if you’re interested in trying this approach yourself, it is worth considering and I’m happy to answer your questions.

Conclusion

You will note I have said little today about offline marketing.  The mysterious event in February is an offline event.  And there will be offline aspects to the marketing as well.  I shall review how I’m approaching that in a few weeks’ time.

Have you used the methods I’ve described here?  What other online approaches do you use to promote events?