Musings…
If you read today’s business books and blogs you might get the wrong impression about how easy it is to throw something together, some product or idea, and THE INTERNET will take you to financial heaven. You might even sit in on meetings where the major topic is basically HOW DO WE GET THE INTERNET and the social media to do all the really hard work for us?
I am thinking that this “internet” discussion is really about how do we get the 256 people who talk to one another about good it can be, to acknowledge our product. Somehow we think that these 256 people have a magical influence on zillions of others. Nope, they don’t. They are just better at Twitter and blogging. Want proof? Four words: Danny Bonaduce, Ashton Kutcher. Until you can show me where Warren Buffett and Steve Jobs are dedicating THEIR time to it, I am not holding my breath here for easy sales the Ashton way.
Some examples. Soon I am going to be helping advise a class of university students on doing startups. ( Hey I wrote a book on it, why not?) The U offers a class that is very popular where the students come up with new company ideas. Then they vote and pick the best two, split the class up into two teams, and each team assigns roles–You be CEO, You be Head of Marketing, etc—and then spend the rest of the term, developing the business idea and marketing it. The U even funds it to a degree. The idea, of course, is to let the students learn about starting their own business, and the U will even let them ‘buy’ the business after the terms ends.
I was selected to help out for next term because the head guy…THE professor, but a guy with true start up experience himself (unusual, I know)…thought they needed someone for next term with some in depth sales experience. I guess that be me. Anyway, I got to observe the final presentation of this term’s class.
The winning team had a terrific idea, especially for Minnesotans. They came up with an idea that solves a big problem for hockey players and their families. They invented an odor-eating hockey and big gym bag! With magical carbon inserts (they even got a USA exclusive on this carbon!), the foul smelling bags will smell all sweet and pretty like your prom date. They did a lot of work, got a website together, attended hockey games and tournaments, exhibited at the state tournament, had all kinds of positive testamonials and on and on. They wrote about it, tweeted it even. The bags were priced right, just slightly more costly than any normal bag. And, they would even customize with the team’s logo. So guess how many they sold?
47.
So,next time you think something is going to sell ezy-pezy, remember this story. These were exceptionally bright, modern kids. Selling anything is hard work, and nothing can take the place of a good sales effort and program. Too often, those in leadership positions forget about sales, thinking sales will just happen, somehow. Yeah, right. The kids in this class now have a better appreciation for sales.
What should you do instead? Is there an easy way to get your product noticed and bought. Ummm, no.
Take LinkUp.com for example. LinkUp is by far, the best job search engine out there. Career experts like Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, JT O’Donnell, and Nick Corcodilos say so. Alison Doyle who writes about job searching for ABOUT, says it is one of her most favorite recommendations. Job seekers love it and why shouldn’t they, we have about 450,000 jobs up right now, nearly 70% of them are never advertised elsewhere. The jobs are open, current, and it is all free. Anyway, we are growing and growing, each month we have more site visitors than the month before. We are proud of the work our team has done to make it the best possible place to look for a job. And it is not only industry insiders that recommend us. US News and World Report wrote about us in their May 10 JOBS issue. Everyone in the industry knows about it. I am trumpeting it every place I can. Which makes it especially frustrating when a RELATIVE of mine, who recently lost her job, asked me what “our job site was again?” If a relative cannot remember….grrrrrrrr. Which should simply point out the fact that it is not her fault, nor mine even. It is just hard to get the word out about a new thing, no matter how good it is or helpful.
So for you and your new company, or product, or service, what does this mean for you?
It means that contrary to what you read, there are no easy shortcuts, even with the internets, the IPads, the know-it-all gurus out there, shouting information and ideas to every twitter follower on the planet, like some carnival barker. Just because the medium is sexier, doesn’t mean it works in every case.
Nothing works better than staying focused on serving a real customer need or problem. And just get better at doing that, a little more and a little better each day. Incremental improvements will win the day. If you think you are pushing a rock up the hill some days, with your nose, just realize this is the way that most of us work. You can read about the others, and their easy ways, but don’t change your own work habits. At the end of the day, the persistently focused performers will win.
Time to re-read Peter Drucker.
6 users commented in " Reality Bites, Going Viral and What Really Works "
GL-In the last paragraph, change ‘customer’ to ‘employer’ and ‘performers’ to ‘job seekers’ and you have some pretty good advive on a winning attitude for job search.
You are so right, Chris. Multi purpose this article, shall I?
Oh my gosh, I totally understand what you mean about trying to push something out there and have people remember it. We launched a new website at work and have been trying to get our own employees to use it…I have emailed people about it, sent out information in various forms, went to their meetings/buildings to talk about it, blah blah blah and people still act like they have never heard about it before when I point out something they are looking for there. So frustrating! Makes me want to stab myself in my cube sometimes.