SAMBA Blog

Turning to your community for inspiration and evangelism

Olafur Arnald is a 21-year old composer who lives in Reykjavik, Iceland. I am listening to his beautiful compositions right now as I type. His work is breathtaking. I would not know who Arnald’s was if he went through the traditional route of publishing his work through the music industry.

For his latest album, Found Songs, Arnald challenged himself to write and record a new piece of music every day for one week. He lived up to his promise and posted the recorded songs daily to website to download for free. As a way to tackle his resistance, he encouraged his community to hold him accountable and share his work, posting to his website, “Feel free to send me hatemail if I miss out a day!'

Arnald turned to his community for inspiration and evangelism. He opened up his experience through Twitter. The community was able to have an inside look at his life and inspiration for creating each song through his tweets. He incorporated the community into the challenge by asking any artist that was inspired by one of the songs to post their work to his Flickr page. He is selecting the best photo for each song for the album cover. He also turned to the community to help spread his work by bookmarking and sharing the Found Songs web page on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Through the power of social media and online communities, Olafur Arnald won. He fought the resistance, completed an album in one week and had his work spread throughout the world.

Big is the New Big

It takes a lot more work to build a small company than it takes to build a big company.

Does not make sense on first glance but this is completely true. Who works harder? The CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the local dry cleaner? Keep in mind, working harder is not the same as having more responsibility.

Clearly the Fortune 500 CEO has more responsibility. He is charged with protecting and growing the value of the company's stock on behalf of shareholders (possibly numbering in the thousands). He also leads a workforce of thousands of employees. Thousands of customers depend on his company delivering.

But does he work harder than the dry cleaner? Not likely. The dry cleaner can barely afford to hire any full time employees. He has to be the budget guy, the cleaning guy, the folding guy, the cash register guy, all at the same time. I use an extreme and almost ridiculous example but you can intuitively apply this to slightly larger companies that have similar scaling problems.

The Fortune 500 CEO can delegate to a staff of professionals and focus on the big picture strategy stuff. He has the advantages of scale that comes naturally to building and running a large business.

How do you start to build a big business? What should you look for or do?

1. Choose a large market.

2. Choose a market with lots of potential competition and partnerships

3. Build Platforms - not applications based on platforms

4. Surround yourself with smart people who want to grow

The secret to great presentations

Want to know the secret to making a great presentation? Here it is:

Figure out what the one thing is. The one change you want people to make as a result of your presentation. Make sure your audience knows you love them, gain their respect and then do only what's necessary to sell your audience on the one thing.

You're not the judge

If you're a competitor, you're not a judge. When you lose, and you blame the judging...no one cares, because you're not the judge. And if you were, it wouldn't be much of a competition would it?

In gymnastics, for example, often times what separates the winners from the losers is only a tenth of a point. When this happens, it's pretty clear that if the judges were in a happier mood, or been watching a little more closely, or had eaten a different meal for dinner, 1st place could've easily gone to the 2nd place competitor. And when a competition ends up so close (and this is not a rare occurrence) there's no shortage of protests and complaining by the losing parties.

The loser may have legitimate claims. In fact they actually may have performed the best. And you could make the argument that they should've won.

But it doesn't matter because judging by definition is subjective. And you're not the judge.

So in a competition where there are judges, if you can do better than your competition and still lose...how do you guarantee a win?

I'm glad you asked:

Perform so much better than every other competitor, that a judge wouldn't even think of voting for anyone else.

Be so extraordinary, that a judge would be accused of foul play by his peers for not giving you the highest marks possible.

Do so spectacular, that your losing would force people who normally don't even care about your competition, to stop, take notice, and create a massive uproar

You may not be a gymnast, but if you're in business, you better bet you're in a competition. And in it, you're not the judge, your customers are.

Lines in the Sand Aren't Enough

Your company did something very wrong. It maybe sold the customer email list contrary to the privacy policy. Or it waited too long to execute a product recall on dangerously defective goods. Perhaps it falsely claimed to use environmentally friendly resources. Or it simply did not honor perfectly legitimate claims on a warranty. There are any number of sins it could have committed.

You were brought in to fix things. You've fixed them. The wrong is no longer being committed. Life goes on and everything is roses right? Wrong.

If you haven't gone back to right the previous wrongs, you haven't done enough. Just because you're not doing wrong anymore doesn't mean permanent damage hasn't been done to some previously loyal customers or your company's brand. Just because it all happened under your predecessor doesn't mean you're not responsible.  Merely drawing a line in the sand and declaring the past dead does not make things right.

Go back and right the wrongs. Apologize. Be graceful.

The two conversations

New marketing is all about conversations...not the “conversation” where you the marketer shout out your message to as many people as possible, but the conversation where your customers are talking to their contacts about your company.

The first conversation is the conversation that's happening some place else.

Right now, if you have any market saturation at all, people are talking about your company. They may be saying good things...or bad. The question is do you know where the conversations are happening and, when appropriate, are you taking part in them?

The IT guy for a client of mine (a well known author) recently sent me a report showing all the references he’d been able to track that referenced my client over a two week period. This included twitters, blog posts and news reports. In 14 days there had been over 100 “conversations” that referenced my client or his work. Now, the question is what, if anything, should they be doing with that information.

My recommendation is whenever possible you should engage in the conversation. If someone writes a blog posts and mentions your product, why not leave them a comment, thanking them for the mention and give them a coupon for a discount on the their next order (or perhaps a free download). If someone is complaining about your company, why not take the opportunity to pro-actively engage them and provide excellent customer service before they even ask (the whole world is watching). Rather than dealing with negative comments once someone gets frustrated enough to reach out to you, why not take part in the conversation where its already happening.

The second conversation is the conversation that probably isn’t happening yet, but should be. Its the conversation that you host.

Who better to connect your customers than you, their point of contact? If your customers naturally gather around your product in the real world why not help facilitate that happening in the virtual world? Threadless gets this...so does Amazon.

I make purchasing decisions every day and very seldom, if ever, are they influenced by traditional media. When I’m wondering if I should buy a book that’s been recommended to me, do I go to the New York Times book reviews? Nope, I’ve never read one. What I do is look on Amazon at the book reviews to see what their customers have to say.

You may be thinking, yeah, but Jon you’re on the bleeding edge of early adopters...true, but think about what influences your buying decisions. Chances are the number one thing is word of mouth. The same is true for your customers. Why not create a place for them to connect with each other and prospective customers? Don't try to control the conversation but do take part in it. What you'll earn is permission to talk to them about what you have to offer.

Are you taking part in the two conversations?

4 easy steps to pick-up a girl (or customer)

For the first time in history, companies have the ability to have conversations with their customers and not just talk at them. Tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Ning allow them to join in on the conversations. The conversations are going on, however, companies are often hesitant and scared to participate. It is a new way of interacting with their customers. Questions arise such as: Will they talk back? What if I am rejected? Will they like me?

These questions sound familiar?

These are the same questions a single guy may ask when wanting to pick-up a girl. Think about companies as a single guy on the prowl for a girl at a bar. The same steps in The Art of the Pick-up can be applied to companies looking to become involved in the social media conversations.

Step 1: Just say ‘hi’. Saying ‘hi’ takes little effort and can yield high rewards. If you hear they are already talking about something you know about such as your products, you already have something in common. Just say hi and introduce yourself.

Step 2: Focus the conversation on them. Ask open-ended questions such as, “What do you like about the product?” What would you want to change?” “Tell me more about yourself.”

Step 3: Ask them to dance or buy them a drink. This is not a necessary step, however, it helps you engage. It is a way for them to learn more about you. You can show off your skills or offer them insights or free offers to your products. If they say ‘yes’ you know there is some interest and they are committed to talk to you longer.

Step 4: The close. The conversation is going well, but eventually it has to end. You must be focused on extracting something out of your interaction with the girl, either her phone-number, a promise for a new meeting or a kiss (aka a sale). This is the most important step to success. Get their number and permission to call them again to continue the conversation.

The secret to success is to not be afraid. It is just a conversation. If you are genuine and follow through with these 4 steps you are sure to find a date!

The power of negative

Everywhere I go these days, I see books about the power of things. The Power of Less. The Power of Now. The Power of Intention. The Power of Positive Thinking.

Whatever.

Not a single one of those things has nearly the same amount of power as the power of negative.

The power of negative hits us every time we start to second-guess our ability to accomplish something.

The power of negative spotlights the places where we feel deficient.

The power of negative causes us to toe society’s lines more often than we should.

But the power of negative has a bright side. It charges our thinking during the planning process so that we consider all the downsides and obstacles before starting. It points to voids where we can create a market. It makes us remarkable.

Much like the force, it has to be channeled for good rather than evil.

How are you handling the power of negative?

Who are you?

Who are you? The way you answer this simple question is what we call your identity. And the need to act consistent with your identity turns out to be one of the strongest forces known to man.

But who you are, how you behave, the way you carry yourself is different depending on who you're with isn't it? In fact, if I put you in a room with all your family, friends, and coworkers...you wouldn't know how to act!

We often have very different identities for the different communities of our lives. And its useful to know what those identities are...because they're influencing you right now.

For example, who are you in your family? Are you the funny one? The serious one? The overachiever? The underachiever? The rebel?

What about at work...are you the smart one? The lazy one? The honest one? The creative one?

Once your identity is established, it's incredibly hard to change it. Because you're compelled to act consistent with your identity no matter what. For example if you're the clown at family gatherings, even if you don't feel like telling jokes, or if you've grown out of it, you may feel compelled to do so anyway because...you're the "clown."

If you're the underachiever among your friends, when things start going well...you may sabotage yourself because hey...you're the "underachiever" and that's the 'you' people are comfortable with.

It's important to realize what your "relative identity" is with all the different communities of your life. Because they're no doubt shaping you.

The question is are they shaping you the way you want?

If not, it's up to you to change it. But remember your identity is not only your perception of yourself, but the way others perceive you. And people usually don't like change. It scares them. So they'll probably be uncomfortable with the new you and want you to stay the same.

So you have to be courageous enough to change and stick with it despite what those people think.

So the question is who are you? Or more importantly...who do you want to be?

You Can't Bring More Than One Bat to the Plate

Entrepreneurs are known as crazy people running around with ADD. They jump from one idea to the next. They cannot pay attention to details. They are hyperactive and get distracted easily. They find it hard to concentrate. As with most stereotypes, there are elements of truth to this perception.

However, I've known few entrepreneurs who end up successful and are truly unable to concentrate on one idea. Unless you're lucky, it takes years and not quarters to build a valuable company. And because it takes an effort of endurance, there is very little room for distractions or significant side project. Not if you plan on building a serious company that stands a chance of being bigger than you are.

There is a conceit amongst would-be entrepreneurs that they are "serial" entrepreneurs. They assume they can have brilliant ideas and execute flawlessly one after another. Really? It is hard enough to have one great idea and see it through the finish line. Most self-described serial entrepreneurs are just lining up a few so-so ideas to give them the excuse to quit early and move to the next scheme.

The bigger conceit comes from those who call themselves "parallel" entrepreneurs. They assume they can have several breakthrough ideas and execute flawlessly on them all at the same time. As Warren Buffett explains, diversification is a recipe for mediocrity and careful concentration is the likeliest way to hit homeruns.

If you've hit a homerun through concentrated effort on one great idea, by all means, be a parallel entrepreneur. I'm assuming you have enough money and people to delegate details to. If you're just starting out on the road of entrepreneurship, focus. You don't get to swing and miss too often before you end up having to take a job and disappearing into the anonymous fog of corporate drudgery.

Is College Obsolete?

Many people say that our education system is broken. It's not. Our system of education is obsolete. What may have made sense one hundred years ago no longer makes sense today.

One hundred years ago college didn't matter. Maybe for bragging rights, but not for getting a job. People lived in the same town their entire lives. Everyone knew everyone else and anyone could vouch for you. It was a network; the most advanced form of social organization.

With the advent of modern transportation, people were no longer fixed. After the first world war, people could live anywhere they wanted, and increasingly they did. No one knew anyone and so no one could vouch for you. Transportation and surpassed our social support systems. Colleges saw this and stepped up to plate as the trusted middleman, and so we regressed from networks to hierarchies.

This wasn't necessarily bad in and of itself. Hierarchies can be efficient too. Corporations are usually hierarchies, and they are one of our most adaptive social systems.

Things got bad when credentialism surpassed education as the primary function of college. If you want evidence of this, consider the criteria for the US News & World Report college rankings: Peer assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources, graduation and retention rate, financial resources, alumni giving, and graduation rate performance. Notice anything missing?

Are colleges not ranked in order of how much students learn because that would be impossible to measure? Or is it because no one cares?

As the old saying goes, "What gets measured gets done." According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, 71% of college graduates are unable to read proficiently. What exactly is getting done?

Colleges have failed. Credentialism has failed. Hierarchies have failed.

And they haven't just failed abstractly or in general. They've failed me personally.

The good news is that, thanks to the Internet, degrees may be on their way out. The Internet, as the name suggests, is a global network. Everyone is connected to everyone else. I'm connected to every fortune 500 CEO within one degree. So are you. Sounds a lot like pre-WWI society doesn't it?

Recruiters rely on degrees because they are the easiest way to grok what someone is all about. The problem is that relying on credentialism is an act of faith, comparable to closed source eVoting without a paper trail. And we all know what that got us. The Internet is changing this. Every year our lives become more transparent as our words and actions become increasingly digitized and searchable. What credentialism was to the twentieth century, Google will be to the 21st.

In the 20th century your references were something you put on your resume. In the 21st century your references ARE your resume.

Thanks to the Internet I am connected with almost every CEO within two degrees. It's as if we all live in a small village again, where everyone knows everyone and anyone can vouch for you. Hierarchies are no longer necessary, because hyperlinks have subverted them.

As technology multiplies, new social systems and metaphors will emerge as others obsolesce. Only humanity remains untouched.

Giving your customers an "us"

Last week I wrote about how we don't make our decisions alone...we make them as part of a tribe. We're highly influenced by those around us.

What some really smart companies (or their customers) have figured out, is you can give people an "us" to be part of.

Does Apple sell a better personal computer? Yes, but you're also becoming part of something larger when you buy a Mac. You're joining a movement (and Apple sells the tickets).

The same is true for a Jeep or a Harley Davidson.

And your local church or synagogue.

And a Ted Dekker novel.

Do your customers have something to be part of?

Is your mom on Facebook? She should be!

It is human behavior to want to fit in and connect. Online tools like Facebook, Twitter and Ning allow people to do this. I often hear people joke about their parents being on Facebook and Twitter. I admit I have done this myself. However, it should be just the opposite – we should encourage them to join. These tools are there to help us do the things that we want to do in real life such as: connect with people who have similar interest, keep in touch with friends and family, learn about new ideas and create change in the community. These online community tools make these natural human behaviors easier.

Oh, and just keep in mind, when your parents join Facebook – if you don’t want your mom to see anything you have online – you should not have it up there in the first place!

Feet on the ground?

Get your head out of the clouds!!

Day dreaming is something adults try to shake out of us as kids. We’re told to keep our feet on the ground, to be realistic, to be practical about what is possible. The adults in our lives tend to err on the side of protecting our little spirits rather than pushing us to think big.

Where does that leave us as adults? Any time we start to think big, our trained response is to pull back. Too often we mistake negative thinking with being realistic. We see being practical as a protection against harm rather than playing it safe, which is more harmful in the long run. The reality check becomes a shackle holding us down to earth.

But learning to soar in the clouds, to dream, imagine, think big allows us to find something we never expected—a better reality.

From up high, we can see so much more of what could be and choose a better place, a better reality to be grounded on. One we can’t see if we stay shackled right where we are, in a location we’re already familiar with.

How long have you had your feet on the ground where you are? Is it time to get your head up in the clouds?

Change your Arrows

A short and brilliant metaphor for the type of person you are is the "Be-Do-Have" model. Google it and you find thousands of examples to which this model has been ascribed, even one linking it directly to God http://www.taketheleap.com/create.html.

Al, a fellow SAMBA http://www.sixmonthmba.com and student of human behavior, brought it to my attention today excitedly after listening to me wax on about my aspirations the entire train ride to work.

The Be-Do-Have model describes two incredibly different patterns of thought. My personal experience today highlighted self-limiting beliefs and showed me that my arrow points sharply to the left, indicating that I'm a "have-do-be" person, someone who needs to learn everything first, translate that knowledge into action, and then "become" an experienced person.

Intuitively, that classification felt right. I've always acquired knowledge first, then put it into action, then used that skill and applied it to my life. I feel more comfortable with all the facts and tools in front of me before I take action-a response to my fear of failure. Despite knowing that this method of mine does not work, I was still shocked to see it so clearly laid out in the Be-do-have model.

The other arrow points directly to the right, a Be-Do-Have person. This person feels the way he wants to feel (happy, wise, compassionate) and acts from that feeling, creating actions and opportunities in line with who he "is". By acting in that direction, he ultimately gets what he's always wanted to "have."

Is it time to change the direction that your arrow points? 

The Primacy of Product

The conceit of some marketers is that they can create desire for anything. Some argue that good marketing can make any product desirable. More sober marketers argue that you must have a great product first.

There are two sides to every story and we can find plenty of examples to prove both camps. But let's get real. Outstanding execution of marketing tactics cannot make a horrible product great.

A great product gives you the luxury of experimenting with different marketing strategies until you hit on the magical combination. You can have a great product and incompetent marketing, here you remain undiscovered. You can also have the unfortunate pairing of a horrible product with equally poor marketing. But you cannot have a horrible product and outstanding marketing - that does not exist. In the gray area, you might be lucky to have a mediocre product dressed up just enough with great marketing that people are fooled for a little while to give you their money for your trash.

Great marketers are rare. Rarer still are great product developers. Rarest of all are world-class product developers with a marketer's mindset.

So the question we should ask ourselves as marketers is: how do we create remarkable products fit for our best marketing thinking?

I vs. us

For generations marketers have used polling to figure out why people buy.

There's a problem with this. Polls often assume we make our decisions alone.

But we don't make our decisions alone. We make them together. We live our lives in a glass polling booth, where almost every buying decision is influenced by the decisions of those around us.

And we like it that way. We like being part of something bigger than ourselves.

When you're trying to figure out how to sell me something. Don't just think about me, think about us.

Back seat driving in your own car

When creating a community, it is very important to remember that you are the back seat driver in your own car. You are not the one in control who can determine the destination where you are going, how fast you drive or the people you pick-up along the way. What am I talking about?

Back seat driving – In the most vibrant online communities such as Dell or XMF, the community is in the driver seat. They have a good relationship with a few key leaders in the sponsoring organization, however, it is the community who is in control. Sitting in the back can be difficult for some organizations, however, the best organizations manage to do this respecting the goal that they are there to serve and support the community.

It is your car – If your car is a Ford Focus or a BMW, it will get you where you need to go. It is the features you include that determine your ride experience. For example: power steering, interior lights, anti-lock breaks, 4-wheel drive, etc. When you build your online community platform, you need to make sure to include the tools that will allow your community to comfortably go where you want it. For example, the goal of MyBarackObama.com was to foster a community of people who wanted to lead and support the Obama campaign. They included online tools to aid in fundraising, phonebanking, canvassing and self-organizing. The Obama team provided the car and then took a back seat to support the community throughout the campaign.

The rules of the road – In online communities, just like on the road, people need structure and guidelines. People do not like to get in wrecks or tickets so they will drive cautiously. If the guidelines for the community are there like stop lights and lanes, they will stay in them. A good example is the Digg community. Mainly they are a self-regulating community, however, there are always the few careless who need a warning or ticket!

When you start your journey, remember, that in reality no one likes a controlling and loud back seat driver. Give your community a car with the right features and guidelines and you should have a smooth ride!

Cozy is the enemy of action

Waking up in the morning, all snuggled down in the covers, it’s so tempting to never come out of your warm and cozy cocoon.

You feel like nothing can get to you there. All is right with the world as you burrow further down, safe and snug.

The problem is, while you’re playing Rip Van Winkle, the world is moving on. Things happen without you. Progress is made. Innovation occurs. Rules change.

Beware getting too cozy with where you are right now. Whether in life, love, work, play, getting cozy means standing still.

Playing catch-up later is far harder than being the one taking action today.

How to grow like a fern

Ferns are a natural symbol of growth. Just to exist they battle bugs, storms, a tough layer of soil. Existing itself is a tiring.

But existing isn't enough for ferns.

Ferns reach.

One by one their leaves create a lofty shape reaching far past the soil. This comes from an intense push against the ground to rise higher, continuously breaking free of the physical limitations imposed upon them. Growth.

Growth doesn't come from doing things you're good at. Nor does it come from doing things you love. Real growth comes from a more uncomfortable place. A place of challenges and obstacles that force us to constantly push to get above ground.

Growth comes from doing things you don't want to do when you don't want to do them. It's embracing the thing we resist and fear the most. Doing a great job working for someone else is growth. Teaching yourself something you don't like doing but need to learn is growth. Prioritizing tasks in the face of intense deadlines is growth. Admitting to yourself why you're scared is growth. Not running away from your responsibilities is growth.

Most importantly, acceptance is growth.

Accept the thing you least want to do. Embrace it. Pretend it was the very thing you were put on this Earth to do. Do it to the best of your ability and don't think about the results. Take the next step, finish the daunting task, get clear about your relationship.

Effort counts. Battling the desire to flee counts. Realizing that the anxiety of fighting it outweighs the risk of doing it counts.

That's growth.

Now reach.