Tag: time listening

The Best Secrets for Influencing Readers

Ever wish you were better at influencing readers to do what you want? You can be. All it takes is practice and desire.

I know this from experience. When I first got involved in Digital Spark Marketing, I quickly learned a few things about freelance writers. They’re (mostly) brilliant. They’re creative and articulate, accustomed to living literally by their wits. But for the most part, they are not joiners. They’re self-motivated, self-directed, and not inclined to go with the flow (or else they’d be working in an office somewhere). They’re individualistic and can be cantankerous. And here I was, trying to get them to follow my lead.

My first initiative was an internal market to match volunteers with volunteer jobs. It didn’t go well. The people giving out jobs either didn’t want new volunteers or didn’t want to put their jobs in my market. They didn’t want to hear from me or the volunteers I’d recruited. Despite my best efforts, the project fizzled out. I couldn’t figure out how to sway them.

It’s been 13 years since then, and I’m now president of Digital Spark Marketing, which is a job that still in large part consists of asking freelance writers to follow my lead. And sometimes to set aside their strongly held opinions for the good of the organization. I couldn’t do it if I hadn’t learned a few things over the years about how to get people on my side:

Ask lots of questions

Not only because everyone wants to be listened to. Careful questioning will help you determine what people really want, which is often different from what they say they want. It will also tell you what they have to offer.

Make a human-to-human connection

Look for ways to connect that have nothing to do with the work at hand. Maybe they have children the same age as yours, or they live somewhere you’ve vacationed, or you share the same hobby. Even if none of that’s true, you can still make a bit of a connection on the basis of universal experiences. For instance, right now a large portion of the United States is suffering through extreme winter weather.

Lots of time listening

Even if you already know what people are going to say, and even if there’s no way you can do what they want, start by listening. Being listened to is one of the things they want–that’s true of just about everyone. That was one mistake I made on my first project: I had listened to people who wanted to volunteer, but not to those who had volunteer jobs to offer. I assumed they’d be happy to have new volunteers, but I was wrong.

Never miss a chance to say thank you

Think hard about who’s helped you or put him- or herself out, and make sure to thank him or her. That makes it much likelier he or she will put him- or herself out again for you next time.

Let your own guard down

It’s always tough to know just how much of your personal life it’s OK to share in a business context. Many people err on the side of caution by sharing little or nothing about themselves. Instead, decide what you feel comfortable having other people know, and then give them a few details. You’ll make other people feel safer if you engage their human side. 

Never miss a chance to give praise

Most of us never get enough praise for the things we work hard to do. So if you want to influence someone, make sure to call out what he or she has done well and how he or she has contributed to your organization or your well-being. Do it in public if you can.

Strive to give people what they want

Obviously, this isn’t always an option. But if you can figure out what people really want or need and make sure they get it, they’ll be that much more likely to give you what you need from them.

Let people save face

Sometimes you know that someone would be disastrously bad at a job he or she wants. Should you say so? Unless you’re giving him or her feedback with a view to his or her being qualified later on, don’t. You’re better off giving that person a more palatable out. For instance, you’ve already promised the job to someone else.

Never miss a chance to apologize

If you hate apologizing, get over it. An apology is one of the most powerful tools you have for winning people to your side. If a decision you made caused someone inconvenience or upset, an apology lets him or her know that you care. That’s true even if you don’t regret the decision itself but only the harm it caused him or her.

One word of caution: Don’t ever apologize, praise, or thank unless it’s sincerely how you feel. People can tell when you’re faking, and it will backfire.

Pick up the phone

Do you find yourself getting and making a lot fewer phone calls than you used to? With email, text, and social media, I do. But there are times when a phone call or face-to-face communication makes a big difference. One of those is if you have disappointing news to deliver. Another is if you are asking someone to take on a bigger role or added responsibility.

On the phone, you can answer any questions he or she has or listen to any venting he or she may need to do in real time. You’ve stepped away from your other duties to spend time with him or her. That lets him or her know you really care about whatever you’re calling for. It’s a powerful way to make him or her care, too

Ever wish you were better at influencing readers to do what you want? You can be. All it takes is practice and desire.

I know this from experience. When I first got involved in Digital Spark Marketing, I quickly learned a few things about freelance writers. They’re (mostly) brilliant. They’re creative and articulate, accustomed to living literally by their wits. But for the most part, they are not joiners. They’re self-motivated, self-directed, and not inclined to go with the flow (or else they’d be working in an office somewhere). They’re individualistic and can be cantankerous. And here I was, trying to get them to follow my lead.

My first initiative was an internal market to match volunteers with volunteer jobs. It didn’t go well. The people giving out jobs either didn’t want new volunteers or didn’t want to put their jobs in my market. They didn’t want to hear from me or the volunteers I’d recruited. Despite my best efforts, the project fizzled out. I couldn’t figure out how to sway them.

It’s been 11 years since then, and I’m now president of Digital Spark Marketing, which is a job that still in large part consists of asking freelance writers to follow my lead. And sometimes to set aside their strongly held opinions for the good of the organization. I couldn’t do it if I hadn’t learned a few things over the years about how to get people on my side:

Ask lots of questions

Not only because everyone wants to be listened to. Careful questioning will help you determine what people really want, which is often different from what they say they want. It will also tell you what they have to offer.

Make a human-to-human connection

Look for ways to connect that have nothing to do with the work at hand. Maybe they have children the same age as yours, or they live somewhere you’ve vacationed, or you share the same hobby. Even if none of that’s true, you can still make a bit of a connection on the basis of universal experiences. For instance, right now a large portion of the United States is suffering through extreme winter weather.

Lots of time listening

Even if you already know what people are going to say, and even if there’s no way you can do what they want, start by listening. Being listened to is one of the things they want–that’s true of just about everyone. That was one mistake I made on my first project: I had listened to people who wanted to volunteer but not to those who had volunteer jobs to offer. I assumed they’d be happy to have new volunteers, but I was wrong.

Never miss a chance to say thank you

Think hard about who’s helped you or put him- or herself out, and make sure to thank him or her. That makes it much likelier he or she will put him- or herself out again for you next time.

Let your own guard down

It’s always tough to know just how much of your personal life it’s OK to share in a business context. Many people err on the side of caution by sharing little or nothing about themselves. Instead, decide what you feel comfortable having other people know, and then give them a few details. You’ll make other people feel safer if you engage their human side. 

Never miss a chance to give praise

Most of us never get enough praise for the things we work hard to do. So if you want to influence someone, make sure to call out what he or she has done well and how he or she has contributed to your organization or your well-being. Do it in public if you can.

Strive to give people what they want

Obviously, this isn’t always an option. But if you can figure out what people really want or need and make sure they get it, they’ll be that much more likely to give you what you need from them.

Let people save face

Sometimes you know that someone would be disastrously bad at a job he or she wants. Should you say so? Unless you’re giving him or her feedback with a view to his or her being qualified later on, don’t. You’re better off giving that person a more palatable out. For instance, you’ve already promised the job to someone else.

Never miss a chance to apologize

If you hate apologizing, get over it. An apology is one of the most powerful tools you have for winning people to your side. If a decision you made caused someone inconvenience or upset, an apology lets him or her know that you care. That’s true even if you don’t regret the decision itself but only the harm it caused him or her.

One word of caution: Don’t ever apologize, praise, or thank unless it’s sincerely how you feel. People can tell when you’re faking, and it will backfire.

Pick up the phone

Do you find yourself getting and making a lot fewer phone calls than you used to? With email, text, and social media, I do. But there are times when a phone call or face-to-face communication makes a big difference. One of those is if you have disappointing news to deliver. Another is if you are asking someone to take on a bigger role or added responsibility.

On the phone, you can answer any questions he or she has or listen to any venting he or she may need to do in real-time. You’ve stepped away from your other duties to spend time with him or her. That lets him or her know you really care about whatever you’re calling for. It’s a powerful way to make him or her care, too

Author | Marketing strategist | Consultant

Please read my blog at www.digitalsparkmarketing.com

How to Build Successful Customer Influencing

Ever wish you were better at building successful customer influencing? You can be. All it takes is practice and desire.

influence skills
Influence skills.

I know this from experience. When I first got involved in the writing I quickly learned a few things about freelance writers. They’re (mostly) brilliant. They’re creative and articulate, accustomed to living literally by their wits. But for the most part, they are not joiners. They’re self-motivated, self-directed, and not inclined to go with the flow (or else they’d be working in an office somewhere). They’re individualistic and can be cantankerous. And here I was, trying to get them to follow my lead.

My first initiative was an internal market to match volunteers with volunteer jobs. It didn’t go well. The people giving out jobs either didn’t want new volunteers or didn’t want to put their jobs in my market. They didn’t want to hear from me or the volunteers I’d recruited. Despite my best efforts, the project fizzled out. I couldn’t figure out how to sway them.

It’s been 15 years since then, and I’m now president of Digital Spark Marketing, which is a job that still in large part consists of getting businesses  to follow my lead. And sometimes to set aside their strongly held opinions for the good of the organization. I couldn’t do it if I hadn’t learned a few things over the years about how to get people on my side. Here are my best ten tips on improving influencing:

Spend lots of time listening

listen and observe
Listen and learn.

Even if you already know what people are going to say, and even if there’s no way you can do what they want, start by listening. Being listened to is one of the things they want–that’s true of just about everyone. That was one mistake I made on my first project: I had listened to people who wanted to volunteer, but not to those who had volunteer jobs to offer. I assumed they’d be happy to have new volunteers, but I was wrong.

Don’t fear letting your own guard down

It’s always tough to know just how much of your personal life it’s OK to share in a business context. Many people err on the side of caution by sharing little or nothing about themselves. Instead, decide what you feel comfortable having other people know, and then give them a few details. You’ll make other people feel safer and engage their human side. 

Ask lots of questions

Not only because everyone wants to be listened to. Careful questioning will help you determine what people really want, which is often different from what they say they want. It will also tell you what they have to offer.

Give praise when you can

Most of us never get enough praise for the things we work hard to do. So if you want to influence someone, make sure to call out what he or she has done well and how he or she has contributed to your organization or your well-being. Do it in public if you can.

Make relationships matter

Look for ways to connect that have nothing to do with the work at hand. Maybe they have children the same age as yours, or they live somewhere you’ve vacationed, or you share the same hobby. Even if none of that’s true, you can still make a bit of a connection on the basis of universal experiences. For instance, right now a large portion of the United States is suffering through extreme winter weather.

Never miss a chance to say thank you.

Think hard about who’s helped you or put him- or herself out, and make sure to thank him or her. That makes it much likelier he or she will put him- or herself out again for you next time.

Never fear apologizing

If you hate apologizing, get over it. An apology is one of the most powerful tools you have for winning people to your side. If a decision you made caused someone inconvenience or upset, an apology lets him or her know that you care. That’s true even if you don’t regret the decision itself but only the harm it caused him or her.

(One word of caution: Don’t ever apologize, praise, or thank unless it’s sincerely how you feel. People can tell when you’re faking, and it will backfire.)

Strive to do what people want

Obviously, this isn’t always an option. But if you can figure out what people really want or need and make sure they get it, they’ll be that much more likely to give you what you need from them.

Always let people save face

Sometimes you know that someone would be disastrously bad at a job he or she wants. Should you say so? Unless you’re giving him or her feedback with a view to his or her being qualified later on, don’t. You’re better off giving that person a more palatable out. For instance, you’ve already promised the job to someone else.

Be the first to pick up the phone

Do you find yourself getting and making a lot fewer phone calls than you used to? With email, text, and social media, I do. But there are times when a phone call or face-to-face communication makes a big difference. One of those is if you have disappointing news to deliver. Another is if you are asking someone to take on a bigger role or added responsibility.

On the phone, you can answer any questions he or she has or listen to any venting he or she may need to do in real time. You’ve stepped away from your other duties to spend time with him or her. That lets him or her know you really care about whatever you’re calling for. It’s a powerful way to make him or her care, too.

The bottom line

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it .”

You have an influencing idea that will change the world? Well, it’s not worth anything unless you can turn that idea into a reality. So take the plunge and see just how far that idea can take you. Or, you can sit around trading advice over the internet.

The choice is yours.

Now, what about you and your business? What are some of your ideas for collaboration and potential partnerships?

And what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.

 

It’s up to you to keep improving the growth hacking of your business. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. Or maybe offering to collaborate. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

 

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your growth hacking for your team?

 

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

  

Check out these additional articles on local business and its performance in our library:

 What Makes a Day at Brevard Zoo So Enjoyable

14 Walt Disney World Stories and Facts Not to Miss

7 Ways to Create a Customer Service Evangelist Business

Social Proof: a Powerful Marketing Influence

Social proof is a concept that is as old as time. It has just begun to gain traction amongst online marketers as it explains a lot about the success of the marketing influence of some online ventures and the failure of others.

Marketing influence.

To put it simply:

“Social proof in a social media context is the theory that accounts that have high follower numbers are trusted and followed more often”

It can be used to build trust in a social media environment for your business.

Social proof marketing is not new but often forgotten.

Peer pressure

One of the earliest influences on human development is something we have all experienced…” peer pressure”. When one person within your group of peers pressures you into doing something, you’re not so likely to do it.

When many people within your peer group are pressuring you to do something, you’re much more likely to do it. This will escalate as more people join in.

The world of social media is, as you’d guess, much like the real world. In a social media context, social proof comes into play when web users see that a large number of people already follow, like, share, or commented on a piece of content. The increased activity is seen as something desirable to join in on.

What video are you more likely to watch?

Another view of social proof is the idea that people will refer to the past actions of others when they’re unsure as to what they should do. When on YouTube, if someone isn’t sure they should comment on a video or not, a large number of comments will say to them “Yes, you definitely should.” No, or few, comments will say “No, not worth your time.”

Let’s take a look at a more practical setting that we’re all familiar with… television. TV shows have been using social proof for decades.

Watch a sitcom with canned laughter, or laugh tracks, in the background. When you hear those people laughing you’re more prone to laugh as well, increasing your enjoyment of the show and the chance that you’ll watch it more often.

Examples of social proof

There are a number of excellent examples of social proof over on this blog. I’ll summarize them in point form so you can quickly expand your knowledge here before clicking over:

  • Bloggers have been promoting their number of subscribers for years. More subscribers = more trustworthy.
  • A key guest blog on a relevant website can increase sales better than an article in the New York Times, or a spot on CNN.
  • Yelp’s entire designs are centered around social proof – higher star ratings and better comments are a result of customer reviews. You’re more likely to go when more people have given it a high rating – just like peer pressure.
  • Customer testimonials have been used in commercials for years. Some real, some fake – both are examples of social proof.

These are all more advanced forms of social proof. That most immediate one, and the one that people will see the most often and make the highest number of judgments on, is quite simply your follower numbers.

A low number of Twitter followers leads to few people taking you seriously. Few subscribers on YouTube leads to people thinking that your videos aren’t any good.

What aspects of social proof should you focus on for success?

We just spoke about your follower numbers as a key aspect of social proof, but what else do you need to think about?

Here are some points to consider:

Positive social proof is better than negative

Negative social proof is the type of bullying behavior that we all resent. To look at the most basic examples in the Twitter images below, which are you more likely to click on? You’ll never truly win people’s trust with negative social proof, just like those schoolyard bullies.

Money is less persuasive than social proof

A study in the Wall Street Journal showed that consumers were more likely to make decisions based on social proof than the potential of saving money.

In the study, “Your neighbors are already doing it,” was more persuasive than “you’ll save $54/month” when it came to influencing consumer behavior!

Use pictures to make it real

Social media is the perfect platform for building social proof as it gives you a nearly limitless number of ways to attached pictures to your social proof. You can post photos with calls to action that breed comments that lead to social trust. You can make comments, with the author’s permission, and post them to your website along with their photo. Your blog posts can be filled with images of success enjoyed by your products or services.

Check out this excellent tweet that shows a brand with a story to tell, and with a picture added for visual impact:

Your best social proof may be the stories you tell

Statistics are great for bored, sorry, board meetings, but they are hardly ever going to truly interest people on social media. A compelling story, from a customer with a positive experience, could be positive social proof that increases engagement more than any other thing you do. People understand stories, people relate to stories, people are entertained by stories – statistics are work and are often ignored.

Influencers: The friendly online bullies

As discussed in the point form notes above, nothing quite equals the positivity of having a respected leader say something positive about your products or services. Their behavior is able to “bully” their users with their positive influence. They’re much more likely to trust your product when someone they trust speaks of it positively.

Social media is an absolute dream for this type of social proof – no more paying celebrities for an expensive commercial, just cut right to the key influencers in your industry!

Social proof is more than an ego

Social proof is something as old as the human race itself, but social signals and social media have made it something tangible for modern marketers to use. Remember the next time you make a push to increase your followers that you’re not stroking your own ego, you’re trying to show the next person that finds your account that you are worth their time and trust.

I couldn’t do it if I hadn’t learned a few things over the years about how to get people on my side:

Lots of time listening

Listening well.

Even if you already know what people are going to say, and even if there’s no way you can do what they want, start by listening. Being listened to is one of the things they want–that’s true of just about everyone.

That was one mistake I made on my first project: I had listened to people who wanted to volunteer but not to those who had volunteer jobs to offer. I assumed they’d be happy to have new volunteers, but I was wrong.

Ask lots of questions

Not only because everyone wants to be listened to. Careful questioning will help you determine what people really want, which is often different from what they say they want. It will also tell you what they have to offer.

Human-to-human connection

Look for ways to connect that have nothing to do with the work at hand. Maybe they have children the same age as yours, or they live somewhere you’ve vacationed, or you share the same hobby.

Even if none of that’s true, you can still make a bit of a connection on the basis of universal experiences. For instance, right now a large portion of the United States is suffering through extreme winter weather.

Let your own guard down

It’s always tough to know just how much of your personal life it’s OK to share in a business context. Many people err on the side of caution by sharing little or nothing about themselves. Instead, decide what you feel comfortable having other people know, and then give them a few details. You’ll make other people feel safer and engage their human side. 

Say thank you

Think hard about who’s helped you or put him- or herself out, and make sure to thank him or her. That makes it much likelier he or she will put him- or herself out again for you next time.

Give praise

Most of us never get enough praise for the things we work hard to do. So if you want to influence someone, make sure to call out what he or she has done well and how he or she has contributed to your organization or your well-being. Do it in public if you can.

Always give people what they want

Obviously, this isn’t always an option. But if you can figure out what people really want or need and make sure they get it, they’ll be that much more likely to give you what you need from them.