The Serious Shift Podcast: Recent Episodes
Dennis Moseley-Williams
We provide premium consulting services and strategy development for clients who are just like us, which means entrepreneurial and willing to shift their approach to doing business.
What makes something cool? It has something to do with being in the exact right spot between familiar and surprising. There is a fine line between trendy and looking ridiculous, and believe me I have crossed it. This one guy, Raymond Loewy had it figured out. You might not know his name but you know his work. He designed a lot of very familiar things that you know such as the Coca Cola bottle, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, a cool car or two, Air Force One and he was even brought in to consult on Skylab. Raymond Loewy had a simple formula to help him hit the sweet spot, and this formula can help you sell anything. MAYA. (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) Loewy had two rules which were that if you want to sell something surprising, make it familiar. Conversely, if you want to sell something familiar, you better make it surprising. Makes sense? This got me thinking about the Serious Shift, and whether or not I’m making it familiar enough. How about you? Are you surprising enough? Too familiar?
The problem with bad habits is that they die really hard. Habits hang on, which is why it is such a benefit to develop some good ones. A few months ago, I had a successful business and then it all ended. Suddenly, while I was standing in my kitchen 12 hrs before a flight to keynote a conference and speak to 400 people in Miami, I got an email and since that moment everything changed. What I realized the other day is that I have the habits of a sports dynasty. I need to let those habits and that identity go and develop the habits of a team that nobody thinks deserves to make the playoffs. I need to develop the mindset of a team that believes that they are capable of an upset and even more importantly, that an upset is necessary. This requires new thinking, and new habits. The King is dead. Long live the New King.
There’s a difference. When you are buying something, you are meeting a need. You are buying something, and you probably already know what that something is. But shopping is different. Shopping is about discovering you might have a need, and being interested enough to explore it. Successful shopping is about discovery.
What are you helping your clients discover?
When we buy stuff – like a trip to the drugstore to restock your medicine cabinet, we value time saved, we hope for a quick moving line so we get out of the store as quickly as possible, but when we shop it’s about time well spent, not time well saved.
When you focus on the shopping experience you are forced to consider the customer, and the goal shifts from getting them what they need, to helping them discover what they might want. And you do all of this not as quickly as possible, but in a way that is as satisfying as possible for your client.
So, what are you helping them discover?
Take care,
Dennis Moseley-Williams
Most humans share the same social anxieties about showing up and in a place where you are the stranger, where you are unknown. From an evolutionary perspective, strangers and strange places represent danger.
The opposite is also true. Strangers are also an opportunity, to learn, to connect and to make new connections, to create community that benefits everyone.
My experience tells me that what you find is what you seek. If you expect to find rejection and disinterest you’ll find it. Conversely, all I ever find are people who need me as much as I need them. That’s who I’m looking for.
The good news is it’s never been easier to get a conversation going, to convene a meeting and host an event and make a connection.
We’re waiting for you.
Thank you,Blog 124 Are You Finding What You’re Looking For? Dennis Moseley-Williams
Not what you do, or what it does but the idea itself. Do you love your idea so much that your excitement and complete enthusiasm is infectious? What is it about not what you do, but how you do it that you know people are going to go crazy for?
Before everyone loves it, you have to love it and everyone else has to know it.
Love is all in.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
When you’re in a rush, an uber driver with local knowledge and a convenient short cut is worth the extra tip. When you’re in a rush, a quick-thinking waiter who can seat you and serve you and quickly get you back out the door is worth the extra tip.
Seems to me that saving time is worth some money.
But are we missing something important?
When you’re worried about someone you love in a hospital, the extra few minutes are worth a lot.
When you are working with your teacher, who is helping you understand something important, the extra attention is worth a lot.
When you’re a father, and your daughter lets you hold her for a few extra minutes, it changes your morning.
Maybe you’re paying too much attention to saving people time, and not enough attention to being worth the time.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Does it feel like you’re on a Game Show? My kids like watching a reality tv show about making desserts. Like all game shows this one follows a predictable pattern with all the bakers facing off on a series of competitions where they not only compete against each other, but they also compete against the clock.
And like all game shows, there can be only one winner.
This got me thinking … We are not living in a game show. We hyper celebrate the people who get it right while we ignore the people who admit mistakes and try again.
When we find ourselves in trouble, rarely is it because of one big event such as CV19. Instead, we are in trouble because of the compounding nature of decsions. Make enough good ones, you’re golden but if you make enough bad ones … trouble.
When given the choice – keep going or admit you’re wrong, each of us would pick “admit I’m wrong.”
The good news is that admitting you’re wrong isn’t that hard.
The bad news is that telling everyone is.
Getting it right takes courage.
You’re got this.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
When your clients leave your office, where do you want them to go? This was the question I asked an advisor the other day who is struggling with his “why.” They should be so motivated to do what? Go home? Go to lunch? Go take a nap? Go back to work? Go wait for you to call in 90 days? Go watch the business news and market commentary? What I’m really asking is … What do you inspire them to do? Who do you inspire them to become?
When you know where they should want to go, you’ll know what business you’re really in.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Do you need an office or a stage? Most of us have settled into a new work routine from home. The early jitters have mostly settled themselves down and based on my very unscientific research which is almost entirely based on personal conversations with friends and clients, we seem to like it this way – working from home that is.
We like it, our staff likes it and our clients like it too.
We have all discovered the benefits of avoiding a commute, feeling fresher and having a little more control of our 9-5 existence. As it happens, it is good for us to go for a walk, or tour the garden between our tasks and if we can do so in our favourite baggy pants vs a suit, then even better.
Of course, now we’re wondering if we need an office at all? Why not just keep it this way and save the expense and hassle?
Respectfully this is the wrong question to ask. The question isn’t “Do I need an office?” The question is “Do I need a stage?”
And how you answer that depends on what kind of work you think you do. If you sell stuff such as products and services then probably you don’t need an office becaue if all you are going to do is sell stuff then the value you can bring your client is convenience. Save them some time.
But if you are in the business of changing your lives and guiding transformations then you need a stage, not an office.
What happens on stages? Events. Events that inspire, captivate and engage us. Stage experiences that your clients can’t miss. Make sure your meetings are events that people look forward to and talk about.
Business done in an office. Transformation happens at the Theatre.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Problems. Lean into them, away from them or run away? There are three ways to solve a problem, and two of them work.
The best way to solve a problem – especially a scary complicated one – is to lean into it. Don’t fear it. Sit with it. Feel how scary it is. Don’t get frustrated when the solution doesn’t present itself or when your solution falls apart.
It’s not a problem, it’s a puzzle. Learn to love the puzzle and the process of solving it. Start with the boarders …
Leaning away from it never works. There are a lot of people waiting for Covid19 to blow through and magically fix itself. It won’t, and your business won’t fix itself either. Leaning away is hoping the monster will get bored and haunt someone else.
Last, you can quit. Decide the problem can’t be fixed and move on before it crushes you. Believe it or not, this isn’t a bad option.
The second option, leaning away from it will make it worse. We both know that.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
ou will be tempted from time to time to do a little less than you could. You will be tempted to hold a little back, so little in fact that nobody will notice. The idea is that if by holding back just a tiny little bit, compromising the impact of your work, in enough tiny little places, that all those tiny little adjustments will add up to a tidy profit. A tidy profit is more than a little tempting.
The problem is pretty obvious. Someone always notices, and some people even get offended and some of them leave and never come back. If you leak out a tiny bit of good will every day, gradually then all of a sudden you’re in trouble.
Over the long run, companies that do a tiny bit more beat the companies that do a tiny bit less.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Every industry has a short list. There is a short list of directors that Steve Spielberg has on speed dial. There is a short list of session musicians that Mick Jagger would want to work with.
How do we get on the short list?
Being on the list is important, your fees go up, you spend less time attracting business and more time weighing opportunities. Its easy to tell yourself that its all based on merit – the funniest commedians get on The Tonight Show, the most impactful and insightful speakers get invited to present.
This isn’t true.
Sure, you need some talent and even some luck can really help but what you really need is persistence. There are a lot of people with plenty of talent, and lots to say who aren’t anywhere near the short list.
The secret to getting on the shortlist is doing your best work fearlessly for a long time before you get on the list, and especially when you’re not on the list. Put the work in, it’s worth it.
Have a great day.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Everyone wants to make a big splash, but I wonder if everyone is willing to make a big enough leap, to take enough risk to do something that is worth noticing, getting excited about and sharing? When you share a really good idea – an idea that is going to make an impact, you should expect your audience to say “I don’t get it” or “explain it to me.”
These are the only two things you should hope to hear.
When someone gets it right away, it’s because they got it already and they already know where they can get it again, for less.
Have a great day.
Thank you,
Dennis Moseley-Williams
Successful marketing starts at the beginning when you answer these two critical questions. Who is this for? What change does it help create? This means that before you start to do anything, your first seek to understand who your client is today and more importantly who your customer wants to be tomorrow. Steve Jobs once famously said that everything at Apple was guided by this question – “Where can we take the customer?” When you start with the products and then try to figure out why people will care about it you’re selling, not marketing.
Who is it for? What change does it help create?
Have a great day.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
We love to believe in the big splash, the once in a lifetime opportunity, the chance meeting that changes everything. We like to believe in these things because it gives us an excuse to wait. To wait to be discovered, or for the offer or the time to be right.
Waiting for a miracle is a lot more compelling than working for chance.
The truth is, the reason we can all tell a story about a big splash, or an overnight success story is because they stand out. Miracles are miracles by definition, because they almost never happen.
Usually success comes from the drip method. One drip, impression, touch at a time that builds familiarity and trust until finally, you get the result you’re looking for.
Obviously, you know this.
I’m not here to tell you about first drips, I am here to warn you it will be lonely. You will have a lot of friends around celebrating the first drip, but not the last. Everyone who gets excited about first drips will have moved on to another first drip to be excited about.
Not you though.
What you know is that the thing to be excited about is the opportunity to release the next drip.
Thank you,
Dennis Moseley-Williams
At some point everyone who wants to build an audience will have to make the difficult decision to try something that might not work. Or, you can choose to never take a risk by doing work that is so predictable that it lies outside the possibility of criticism. The Peanut Butter Sandwich is a great example of this – it works, it has forever, everyone knows what it is and if someone is hungry and you hand them one they probably won’t complain. If they are hungry enough, they might even thank you.
This fear of doing something original, or losing the audience is the trap that cover bands fall into as well. A cover band can make a living playing someone else’s songs, but the upside is equal to the risk.
Mick and Keith took a lot of risk when they created the song Sympathy for the Devil. If I play it at the local pub as part of a 10 song set, I’ll get paid a pitcher of beer. I’ll do a good job, but that isn’t the point. You don’t get paid for the job, you get paid for the risk.
So are you the next big thing, or a successful cover band or worse? Something stuck somewhere in the middle?
Thank you,
Dennis Moseley-Williams
Three Steps to building a great tribe. First, create content constantly that will help your clients.
Second, don’t focus on who are you are not reaching, just worry about the people who are paying attention.
Finally, show up every single day. Trust your audience, if you keep showing up so will they, and they will bring a friend to the show.
Thank you,
Dennis Moseley-Williams
10 days ago you decided to lose some weight. You have been minding yourself, watching your calories and changing your habits. So far so good. But this morning you woke up and you’re still fat. Life can be so miserably unfair. This is called “Changing your life for the better for the long run.” Stay at it.
Your child struggles at school. You help with homework every night and sometimes you are pretty sure that for every step forward you take two steps back. I have been there.
This is called ‘Being a parent.” Stay at it.
You are tired of the status quo, you have this great notion for what your work could be, for its potential to change people for the better. The problem is everyone you share the idea with tells you that you’re crazy.
This is called “The Serious Shift.” Stay at it!
The biggest fantasy that entrepreneurs, small business owners and creators believe is that if you create something excellent to share, that people will beat a path to your door. This simply isn’t true.
The Beaten Path doesn’t happen to you, you build it.
You build it by identifying the people who are already predisposed to want it.
Over time, an engaged tribe is the easiest way to build your audience. One engaged tribe member at a time.
Trying to convince people who are not convinced to be convinced is selling, and you’re not a salesperson. At least I hope not.
Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Anyone can weather a big bad storm. Stop moving, shutter the windows, if you have to move to the basement and wait it out. Trust us on this we’re Canadians and weathering storms (and driving through them) is our thing. An adversary that isn’t so obvious as a big storm, or a pillaging pack of Pikers isn’t so easy to defeat. A persistent enemy that is willing to take an inch from you every day will eventually, given enough time, take you over. The good news for you is that persistence works both ways. What you can lose gradually you can also gain. So long as you understand that persistence isn’t your willingness to do the same things day after day, persistence is never changing your goal. Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
When you want to get better, it makes a lot of sense to study the best in your field. By learning what the very best do, you can adopt their best practices apply them your own plan. However, a lot of people overlook the value of studying the best from other fields. When you want to get even better, it makes a lot of sense to study the best in other fields. By learning what the very best in other fields do, such as - Coffee shops, Hotels, Banks, Libraries, Engineering/Accounting/Financial Planning firms, Liquor companies, Publishing, Education and … Podcasting, you can adopt their best PRINICIPLES and apply them to your own plan. What could Starbucks teach your Dentist? What could Disney teach your doctor? What could you teach a clothing store? Thanks for this opportunity to teach you something.
When you are trying to figure out how effective your marketing is, there are a lot of different data points that you can measure. Clicks, requests, conversion rates, time spent engaged with your content. Of course the very best measurement would be this one – If I stopped showing up, who would care? Who is going to miss it and how do they let you know. Whatever you do is what you do, and you are probably not the only person doing it. There are lots of other people who know what you know, and are willing to help. But would these people be missed?
To be missed, do this.
Think about community not customer. You are not the only person who sells what you sell, but you are probably the only person who is trying to make a connection. Don’t focus on what you buy, focus on who you are trying to help your clients become. Narrowcast. You can’t be all things to all people. In fact, stop thinking about finding new clients, instead be unreasonable about figuring out how you can matter more to the clients you have. Give your customers a story to share. They will only share the story with other like minded people, and when those like minded people hear the story, and want to hear it again, they’ll next want to be part of that story. Don’t worry about being everywhere. Worry about being where your clients are. Thanks for this opportunity to teach you something.
The 80/20 rules tells us that 80% of our revenue will stem from only 20% of our clients, and form only 20% of our activities. Consider how much better off every business owner would be if they spent 80% of their time on those 20% activities that do all the good. In the blog I share a personal story form my own life, here are the three serious shifts. Know what business you are really in, and to figure it out answer these questions: This business I am in, when someone buys/uses/experiences my offering, what happens? What is the benefit for them? Whom specifically do I do my work for? What change do I help create? How do I do it? List all the things down that you do every day that you think helps your business. Be unreasonable. Go through the entire list, and ask yourself honestly if working on that actually helps you achieve your mandate? Listen to today’s blog – When I went through this process my list of daily responsibilities was whittled down from “too many things” to three things which were then and remain today: Public speaking Talking on the telephone to past and future clients, journalists, and decision makers. Writing/blogging Everything else that was on my list that kept me busy but didn’t actually accomplish anything I never, ever, did again. I’ve made a career (and then some) out of my 20% activities. Ask yourself how you can do your 20% activities better, and then do so right away. I worked on being a better speaker. I improved my call to action, visuals, and story telling. I invested in a headset, a stand up desk so that I could stay energized during the day and also improve my note taking and follow up. Writing and blogging – I went from writing when I could and posting haphazardly to writing a blog 5 days a week and posting daily at 5 AM and my readership increased dramatically.
A little adjustment here, another one there and pretty soon you’re what everyone is talking about.
We all know that you can’t be all things to all people but we are less clear on how to do it. Start by shifting your thinking about 3 key points: Find your people. When you sell average things to average people, who want an average solution and are not interested in anything rare or special then you are stuck competing on price and service. Instead find your people, those who will appreciate your perspective, your effort and point. Great work makes a point, it touches your clients and they miss it when it’s gone. Average people don’t care about things like that. Stand for something. 81% of millennials expect the companies that they support to be good corporate citizens. They don’t want it they expect it! Other than sell your clients the things they need, what do you stand for? What kind of story would your existing clients share with the people they know about you, that would make a person want to connect with you? Do more. The great thing about surprising clients is that it doesn’t take a lot. You just have to bring a little more humanity, generosity and compassion to what you do. When a person hears a good story, they want to hear it again. When a person hears a good story twice, a good story with a nice surprise at the end, then they want to be part of the story. Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
Summary: Having all the facts on your side is great, but it isn’t always enough to win the sale or the argument. Great businesses and brands understand that the facts should support your great story, not be the story. When you become a story that people want to hear again, you become a story that they want to be a part of. Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
When everything that could go wrong does go wrong you will most likely be the one required to fix it. You will feel a pull between the Old You and the current New You. The New You will be the loudest voice in your head, equal parts certain and uncertain with conflicting opinions about what should be done now, tomorrow and in the future. The Old You is also in your head and this is who you should listen to. Old You who built everything in the first place. Old You knows what to do, because they have done it before. Old You is the most qualified to engineer the turnaround. Listen to Old You. Your mother was right, you never gave Old You enough credit. Old You is amazing and is ready and knows what to do. Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
I know the coronavirus is really serious and important. We should do what our health care professionals are advising. Stay home, stay safe and out of the way. While the proper authorities worry about that, here are 5 things you should worry about (and likely were worrying about before civilization flipped its desk). Mattering more to your clients vs worrying about finding more clients. Managing the finances of your business. Managing your energy. Getting out of the founder dependency trap. Balancing quality and growth as you grow. Thank you, Dennis Moseley-Williams
I have been working in a home office for over 20 years, successfully. An office is where you go to solve other people’s problems. An Accelerator is not an office – it’s a laboratory where you produce your best work and ship it to the world. The rules are: You must have access to state-of-the-art technology. It must be comfortable. It must have a door that you can lock so you can focus and concentrate. While you’re working, keep these points in mind: It’s really easy to overwork when you are working from home, so stick to a schedule. Have a morning routine: get up, get started and if you need to, dress up. It helps. Take breaks (see no. 1). Go outside (see nos. 1 and 3). Spend the last 30 minutes of your day tidying up so that you walk into an inspiring place the next morning. Don’t walk into a mess, it’s crushing. Thank you,
To summarize: Everyone can think (very) creatively if they give themselves enough time and space. To think more creatively, you have to get yourself out of routines, expose yourself to new things and most importantly schedule enough time to allow your ideas to grow. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Executing one of them could be priceless.
To summarize: Very few people’s employment requires them to be exact or perfect. There are some notable exceptions (brain surgeon, astronaut, professional athlete), but for the rest of us, we are employed to get things done or make things better. If your job is to make things better, then don’t get faked out by trying to make things perfect. That will just allow you to hide and delay finishing. Instead of making something new, you held back trying to make something perfect. I’m not sure if you will find this comforting or not, but when you first started you probably felt like you were pretty good at your job. Now, many years later, you realize that you weren’t; you were just trying really hard. You were far from great, and certainly not anywhere near perfect. Yet here you are. Isn’t that perfect?
To summarize: Who is your next client – not specifically, but conceptually? How does she see the world, who is she affiliated with, and who are her people? Are you managing your clients’ assets, or guiding them to who they want to be? Who are you helping them become?
To summarize: Be careful of what you wish for. You might just get it. Less is more, more or less.
To summarize: You don’t get referrals because you believe people refer the work. They don’t; they refer you. The work is a service, you are an experience. People would have you believe that the problem is that your process isn’t clear enough. I am not so sure. I think the bigger problem is that you are lost in the work. If you want referrals, you need to deserve them. You deserve them when you do your work generously, and with more humanity than your customers expect.
Accepting these truths will get you what you want – not as fast as you’d like, but quicker than you realize is possible. Make sure that what you deserve is what you want.
Prospecting is over – when did you last successfully prospect to anyone? Want to improve your chances? Start staging a better experience for your existing clients. There is a 47% chance your next client knows an existing client. See your clients for what they are – precious.
Accept that your job is important, but not interesting. You are interesting (ask your mother). Don’t be boring. Remember: it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it that makes a person a fan of yours. Cater to those who care. No matter what you do, make it for people who care the most. They will spread the word and sooner or later, and others will want it.
Most of us ask the wrong questions, and the wrong questions focus on ‘us’ instead of ‘them.’ A few passionate fans who think you are great, who want to share the word about you, is all you need. Turning the tables and being discovered (instead of searching) is easier than you realize.
To read the original article, click on the title: https://moseleywilliams.com/push-me-pull-you/ (Push Me Pull You.) So to summarize: The easiest way to grow your audience is to pull them towards you. Pushing is selling, and discounting your cost is pushing mistaken for value. Read the blog or watch the video, you’ll be glad you did.
To read the original article, click on the title: https://moseleywilliams.com/weirdos-waiting-in-the-wings/ (Weirdos Waiting in the Wings.) So to summarize: Better to be called something than nothing, and being called weird is better than being called ordinary. The problem with weird is that weird means different. And different means dangerous and we flee danger. The opportunity of being weird is that weird people are passionate, and when they find what they are searching for (not looking for), they tell everyone else they know: weirdos with the same problem.
Today’s blog features a link to an article I’m recommending you read by Bob Priest-Heck, courtesy of Entrepreneur magazine. To read, click on the title: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/335686 (Closing the Gap Between Brand Promises and Customer Trust.) So to summarize: Companies spend a lot of money attracting customers through promises, but very little creating trust and engagement after the point of sale. Your clients value you more for how you do what you do, than what you actually do. This is especially true in regards to solving problems. The best marketing is the experience you STAGE for your existing clients. Give people a story to share that other people would want to be a part of.
How is your summer going? Are you recharging? Your three resources are time, energy and money. Money is the least critical to your success; you can always earn it back, but a million dollars won’t buy you a minute. Drop me a line and let me know what you’re thinking about.
A few questions to start today’s blog: How do you identify the constraints within your business? And how do you solve them? Are you actually solving them, or are you simply managing them? Summary: Constraints are a silent killer. They cost you more than time. Most people don’t solve constraints, they manage the symptoms. Identify the true constraints by asking “why” and then slow down until flow is restored. Implement a solution, and measure.
To read the original article, click on the title: https://moseleywilliams.com/do-you-love-it-enough/ (Do You Love It Enough?) So to summarize: What is it about — not what but how — you do what you do that you love so much that you know everyone else will love it too? Most great businesses didn’t become great businesses for what they did. It was about why they did it. Figure out why the people who do business with you chose you. Once you figure that out, a lot of your other marketing problems will go away.
To read the original article, click on the title: https://moseleywilliams.com/the-non-believers-at-the-gate/ (The Non-Believers At The Gate.) So to summarize: Do you know the difference between a ‘really good idea’ and a market? A market is a really good idea that other people want. Seems pretty obvious to me that the smartest thing you can do is pay attention to the people who like the idea, and the people they know who agree with them.
To read the original article, click on the title: https://moseleywilliams.com/consciously-curious-connecting/ (Consciously Curious About Connecting.) So to summarize: No matter what business you think you’re in (investments, hardware, advertising, hospitality, industrial design), you’re really in the “making friends” business. If the people you know can’t help you because they don’t know, then you’re going to have to talk to some strangers and make some new friends. If the idea of starting conversations with total strangers makes you uncomfortable, then practice by complimenting strangers. Start with the next clerk you encounter: “Excuse me, those are great glasses by the way.” That’s all. Just start. A good word can go a long way.
Two tornadoes hit my town on Friday and did some damage. Some people lost their homes, but no one lost their lives. By comparison, my neighborhood and my family got off easy. With much of the power grid knocked offline for a few days, all we immediately needed to make things right was coffee. At just after 7:00am of that first morning without power, my neighbor texted from across the street with an offer for hot coffee. Pretty soon, he had a coffee party going on. Everyone showed up, sleepy-eyed with an empty mug and hope. Through social media, people were offering power from generators for phones and hot showers and shelter. I could write you stories all day long about people doing good for their fellow citizens. It was really nice, and of course this got me thinking. The heart of nice is empathy. When someone gets it, when they understand you, they are nice to you. They don’t make you explain or plead your case. They don’t quote policies that forbid them from making a difference. They don’t make it worse; they make it better. Of course, when a tornado hits a town, it’s really easy to find hero stories – the stores handing out free food, the restaurants to serving free meals on the street, and if you want to make donation, that would be nice too. But there is an opportunity for empathy every day, and maybe it’s even more appreciated when we are not in a state of emergency. Maybe it matters just as much, or maybe more, when we are buying stamps, or dropping off kids, or shopping for windows. When I buy a business class seat for more money, the flight attendant is nicer to me. When I check into a hotel and the desk staff sees my status, odds are they are going to be extra nice to me. If I give the valet a big tip to park my car, chances are he is going to be nice to me too. So here is the question: If all I want, the only extra consideration, is for someone to be nice to me when I visit your business, how much extra does that cost? How much extra to talk to a nice person, who is present and tuned in when I call to book an appointment or for tech support? How much extra to find a nice person at the counter who smiles? Would you pay $7.37 extra to have the ticketing person smile at you when she sells you an economy class seat to Newark? Of course you would! I own a business too. I know you’re rushed and stressed and maybe even a little temporarily overcommitted. I know your team deals with hundreds or thousands of customers, and I know that some of them are not always nice. And I know that some of your customers (who knows, maybe a lot) would be willing to pay a little more to get that one thing they really want. I think there is a huge gap between what people are willing to pay for nice (lots) and what I think it would cost a business to deliver it (next to nothing). Seems like an opportunity to me.
I’m about to head up to the lake for the summer to recharge – I’ve flown well over 100 times in 7 months, I have had a very busy year speaking about the Experience Economy and how financial advisors and other entrepreneurs can avoid the commoditization trap. Now I’m on my way to the lake to think slowly and deliberately. I am going to think about one question deeply and see where it takes me, and I’d like to suggest that you think about the same question. “Who does my audience want to become?” You are a sales manager; does your audience need more managing? You are a teacher; does your audience need more lessons? You are a financial advisor; does you audience need more money? You are an interior decorator; does your audience need a prettier living room? Or is there something more they need? Do they buy these goods and services to have them, or to leverage them into something else, something with more meaning? If you can write down your job description on a few lines of paper, then you can be replaced for less, and likely will be. I manage a sales team. Replaced. Nobody needs a manager. Your sales team needs a leader who inspires them to do human work, not do safe and predictable work more frequently. I am a teacher. Replaced. Nobody needs a teacher. Your students need a leader and a guide. I am a financial advisor. Replaced. Your clients need someone who guides them to greater personal transformation. If you die, and someone else can do your job as good or better than you, then you can be replaced for less and likely will be. If your value is what you sell, then you can be replaced for less and likely will be. The work that you need to do now is work that has nothing to do with your job. You have to help your clients achieve their personal aspirations. They bought your goods and services to solve a problem, and the problem has been solved. Now what? How are they different, or how can they be different because of these products? The choice is clear, we can do the safe work, the predictable work, the expected and commoditized work. Or we can do the dangerous, unpredictable and human work that our audience is looking for. We are all looking for something … more. We are looking for personal transformation. We are looking for a transformation from our current state into something or someone better. We don’t only want the experience; we want the experience to change us, to help us become something greater than we are. I’m going to the lake to think about this question all summer. “Who do the people who read my blog want to become?” That’s it. Whatever I figure out, that’s where I’m taking you.
There are only two mindsets you can have – fixed or growth. People with a fixed mindset shut themselves off from learning and growth. People with a growth mindset believe that (almost) anything is possible if you apply yourself and are patient. Believing you can learn new things is essential to a business owner because everything is always changing. Fixed mindset people spend all their time convincing themselves to defend the status quo. They avoid anything that pushes them towards personal growth (serious shift). Good news: your problems might not actually be your problems. The real problem is likely the way you think about problems.
Podcast - Ep - 11 - Serious - Shift - Dennis - Moseley - Williams - The - Hard - Stuff by Dennis Moseley-Williams
Podcast - Ep - 10 - Serious - Shift - Dennis - Moseley - Williams - 80 - 30 by Dennis Moseley-Williams
Weekly podcast as part of our Serious Shift video blogcast available on Youtube and www.Moseleywilliams.com
Weekly podcast as part of our Serious Shift video blogcast available on Youtube and www.Moseleywilliams.com
Weekly podcast as part of our Serious Shift video blogcast available on Youtube and www.Moseleywilliams.com
Weekly podcast as part of our Serious Shift video blogcast available on Youtube and www.Moseleywilliams.com
Weekly podcast as part of our Serious Shift video blogcast available on Youtube and www.Moseleywilliams.com