5 Things Really Influential People Do

BY: Kevin Daum

Want to make a real difference in people's lives? You'll need to learn to do these five things.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. listens to staff members of the Southern Christian Leadership Convention during a meeting at an Atlanta restaurant in April 1964.

The people you remember in your life are the ones who influenced you in some manner. These people make you sit up and take notice. They help you change course for the better.  It might be a teacher, boss, colleague, or maybe someone who influences you through thought leadership or public service.  These are people to be admired.

And you should be one of them. Not everyone is looking to be the next Jim Collins, Hillary Clinton, or Michael Bloomberg, but each of you is responsible to your own sphere of influence, even it's just your employees, friends, family, or children. Best to be intentional in your influence and cognizant of the impact you have, than to send the wrong message or worse, no message at all. Master these five actions and you'll effectively inspire yourself, the people around you and maybe even the world.

1. Become a World Observer

Most don't have the extra fold in the brain that Einstein had. Some people derive their genius from what they learn of the world around them. They pay attention to detail and ponder how it might impact their community. It's hard to influence if you don't know whom you're influencing. Be one who looks for important trends that will impact your community. There are plenty of useless pontificators out there, but real resonance comes from those who identify complex patterns in the universe and can provide simple interpretations and prescriptions for the rest of us.

2. Be a Compelling Writer

In today's world, content is king. The keyboard is the No. 1 method of communication. It doesn't matter whether you're sending your message through a tweet, comment, email, blog post, white paper, or book. You will be judged by how eloquently you can turn a phrase. Learn how to make your point clearly, concisely and in a way that connects empathetically. You'll have to practice. Find opportunities to write convincingly every day. And it helps to solicit feedback from your harshest critics. Being prolific won't automatically help you be more interesting as a writer, but it will give you more opportunities to see where you are boring, superfluous, and nonsensical, so you can make the necessary adjustments.

3. Be an Engaging Speaker

What's the point of you saying something if no one wants to listen to you? Speak proudly, clearly, and succinctly. Tell stories to make your point so people understand the context of your message. Don't just be chatty or boring. Make every word count. Exude energy and passion. If you aren't interested in what you are saying, why would anyone else be engaged? There are plenty of resources to improve your speaking. Use them. Don't assume you understand how you are perceived as a speaker. Have a friend video you, then force yourself to watch it and adjust. No need to let accents, impediments, nerves, shyness or a tendency to ramble get in the way of your purpose. These are all fixable issues if you are willing to be vulnerable and learn. If what you have to say is truly important, you have an obligation to share it with those who need to hear it.

4. Promote Appropriately

Get the word out that you have something to say, but use discretion. Shameless self promotion has its merits, but you can't just assume what you have to say will automatically be recognized as significant. Assess the situation and match your promotion to the proper forum. Constantly posting comments on blogs will be ineffective if all your comments have a blatant advert for your URL. (Smart people will click on your name and see the foolishness of your efforts.) Promote yourself through your wisdom and insight, and then people will want to follow you. Give them a taste of something brilliant and they will clamor for more. Manage your impatience, and build your promotion steadily. If you have to convince them you are brilliant, you probably aren't. Don't force it. If the substance is there the loyal followers will come and they will be worth the wait.

5. Find Ways to Entertain

Entertainment by definition means: To hold the attention of, pleasantly or agreeably. Whether you use humor, intrigue, or discourse, holding attention with a truly entertaining medium is the surest way to get people to entertain your ideas. Once you have their attention, people are open to what you offer. For a moment at least. Their attention is now yours to lose. Today's options for creative delivery are broader than ever.  Video is cheap, broadcast is accessible and artists are abundant more than ever before. Attempt creative and interesting ways to communicate in a memorable way.

Simply put:

If something important you wrote
You find you're obliged to promote
Find ways to be fun
Engage everyone
And you, everyone will then quote

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An Inc. 500 entrepreneur with a more than $1 billion sales and marketing track record, Kevin Daum is the best-selling author of Video Marketing for Dummies. @awesomeroar

SOURCE: www.inc.com

What Your Customers Would Love to Tell You

BY: Karl Stark and Bill Stewart

Customers are your best insight into launching a new product if only you're willing to listen.

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We have been working with an early-stage enterprise tech company to help them get their product to market. We recently gathered to watch their first customer installation. They were naively fearless--they knew things would go wrong, but they didn't know what or how severe the problems would be.

No one, however, expected the install to go as badly as it did. If there was a feature that could be broken, it was. If there was a process that could be challenged by the new technology, it was. If there was a remote possibility that some network setting would cause chaos, it did.

All the testing they did in advance didn't prepare them for "real" users. The tech team was at first horrified by the volume and severity of the challenges they experienced. But then something amazing happened. They showed us exactly why we are excited about their potential.

They took a deep breath, stopped trying to gloss over the challenges, and instead embraced their flaws. They encouraged users to try to break things. They feverishly took notes as they learned what they needed to do better.

The customer wasn't scared off by the bugs because our client had prepared them for possible issues. The team was honest about where the problems were, but more importantly, they showed the customer their resolve to learn everything that they could to develop a great product. The customer's attitude actually shifted from tolerance to excitement as they realized the system was going to be refined beyond just fixing flaws and that they were going to be a part of designing a system that they would love to use.

The tech company accepted that they didn't know it all and eagerly solicited feedback from the customer. The experience gave them the best free product development input they could ever expect.

We thought to our own client experiences, and the experiences our other clients have with their customers. If we can all listen to customers as openly as this tech start-up did, we will not only build great products and services, but we will forge the sort of lasting relationships that most companies seek.

When developing new products and services, it's good to trust your intuition and your internal expertise--to a point. But when an opportunity to learn from a real live customer presents itself, you need to be all ears. You can't possibly know it all if you don't recognize the wisdom of others.

Please send us your thoughts at Karlandbill@avondalestrategicpartners.com

Associate Jason Abromaitis contributed to this article.

Karl Stark and Bill Stewart are managing directors and co-founders of Avondale, a strategic advisory firm focused on growing companies. Avondale, based in Chicago, is a high-growth company itself and is a two-time Inc. 500 honoree. @karlstark

SOURCE: www.inc.com

Get Inside Your Customers' Heads: 3 Ways

BY:  Karl Stark and Bill Stewart

Find new ways to mine the most important insights to improve the customer experience.

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Understanding your customers is the universal rule for entrepreneurs. Successful businesses understand their customers' characteristics, demographics, and buying habits. Exceptional businesses gain additional insight into what their customers see, hear, think, and feel.

Knowing your customers so well that you can anticipate their needs and exceed their expectations is the key to securing customer loyalty and beating your competition. There are three key steps to achieving deeper insights into your customer base:

1. Make better use of your data.

How well are you leveraging the customer data you currently collect? This data--which may be stored in multiple databases across your business--holds valuable information around customer characteristics and buying habits, as well as your ability to serve them. Analyze the data to understand when and where customers make purchases. Identify customer segments that are most profitable and what characteristics set this group apart. Analyze your customer service performance, including response times, profitability on contracts, and overall customer satisfaction. This information can help you to identify your customers' needs more effectively. Keep in mind, however, that this analysis will only address existing customers who are using existing product or service offerings.

2. Shift to a more customer-centric business model.

To better meet evolving needs and improve the customer experience, you must shift away from an organizational or product view to a customer-focused view. A few questions to ask yourself:

• What does my customer need to accomplish and how can our company help?
• How can I better serve my customers?
• What relationships do my customers expect me to establish with them?
• How do our customers prefer to be reached and how do we fit into that routine?
• For what value is our customer base willing to pay and at what price?

Answering these questions requires customer analytics informed through data, understanding your business through the customer's eyes, and process improvements that focus on the customer.

3. Explore what your customers truly want, not just what they are asking for.

The ability to view your business through your customer's eyes can lead to the discovery of new opportunities. As automaker Henry Ford said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses.'" While "the customer is always right," they may not always be asking for the right solution. This is where innovation comes in. Innovators are able to see what their customers actually want, rather than what they are asking for--which usually reflects what your competitors are already offering.

A better approach is to anticipate your customer's challenges, by identifying patterns in customer behavior and paying attention to the differences in local, regional and global customer needs and desires. As you identify these patterns, take action to develop a solution that will meet unmet needs and deliver it to the customer. The key takeaway here is that customers often don't understand the value of a new offering until they see it.

 

Developing a better understanding of your customers will help you identify areas for improvement in your business model and give customers what they really want at the price they are willing to pay. That's the best way to get a leg up on your competitors.

Please send us your thoughts at karlandbill@avondalestrategicpartners.com.

Associate Lindsay Comstock contributed to this article.

Karl Stark and Bill Stewart are managing directors and co-founders of Avondale, a strategic advisory firm focused on growing companies. Avondale, based in Chicago, is a high-growth company itself and is a two-time Inc. 500 honoree. @karlstark

SOURCE: www.inc.com

3 Types of Poison Employees

BY: Janine Popick

Here are three types of employees that drag your company down, and how you can stop their bad behavior.

Wouldn't it be great if every employee were an angel to work with? As managers and CEOs, it would make our jobs a heck of a lot easier, right?

Unfortunately, we've all had our own version of poison employees in our companies at one time or another. We try our best to weed out the suspicious ones during the hiring process, but how much do you really know about someone after a couple of interviews? And besides, bad behavior can take months, even years, to rear its ugly head.

The challenge is identifying poison employees and eradicating their behavior. Hopefully you can do this without eradicating them.

I've identified three types of employees that could be bringing your company down, but I'm sure there are others. Please add your own categories in the comments at the end!

Wendy the Whiner

Wendy is just waiting to find your company's mistakes (and we all have them), and will complain about them to anyone who will listen. Hopefully Wendy's peers will see through the whining, but it can really wear on anyone's nerves. Wendy will complain that the free soda you give out isn't all natural or the free pizza didn't arrive on time. She'll try to find flaws in you and surface them. She'll complain that her seat isn't ergonomic enough and her basic mission is to get people around her to be as miserable as she is.

Wendy's issue is not that your canned soda is not farm-to-table fresh; she's probably got issues outside of work. Is it your job to find out what those issues are? Not necessarily, but if Wendy is actually good at her job, you might want to address those issues and make them your own.

Sit Wendy down and gently let her know that it's been brought to your attention that she might not be happy at your company, and you'd like to know how you can make her day better. You might even ask her if everything is okay outside of the workplace. I did that once and my team member started to cry. Whiner turned weeper! But at the end, I had a clearer understanding of "why" it was happening and the employee realized that people around him were noticing. It worked out both ways.

Gary the Gossip

Gary is your most paranoid employee. He's constantly on the lookout for any information he can spread, either good or bad. "I heard we're getting sold." "Did you see who [insert your name here] was meeting with? I think they're getting let go!" "Did you see [insert name] was hanging out with [insert name] at the company party? I hear they're [insert scandalous thing here]."

You might not think you have a Gary at your company, but trust me, you do. What do you do with Gary? First of all, you need to keep close to the heartbeat of your company to even know what rumors Gary is spreading. If you are close to your people, engage with them and have gained their trust, someone will come to you and ask if what they've heard is true. Then you can address (if you can) your entire team and let them know that you've heard the gossip and put the kibosh on it (or not!) once and for all.

If the rumors start getting out of control, you might have to sit Gary down, tell him that if he "hears" any of this gossip to come to you instead of asking or telling his colleagues. You need him to stop the rumor mill, which will show him that you've entrusted him with this job without calling him out.

Recently at my company, VerticalResponse, we were meeting with a group of advertising executives who arrived dressed in suits. (We're a pretty casual company and jeans are the norm.) The rumors started that we were going to having an IPO. I told my team, "Trust me, if we're ever going to have an IPO, you'll all be very, very aware."

Harry the Hider

Harry is the best! He's the person who sets the bar low over in the corner and over-achieves every single time. You're continually surprised when Harry does anything good even if, in reality, it's so below the output compared to his peers.

Guess what? You're feeding Harry's underachievement.

The problem with Harry is not only is he an underachiever, but his peers see you letting that behavior go on and they might start thinking that's okay. They might ask, "Why does Harry get kudos for tying his shoe?"

How to deal with Harry? You need to start to measure Harry on smart goals and get him up to where he needs to be. What's a smart goal? Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. This will clearly show Harry what he needs to do going forward.

Do you have poison employees? More importantly, how do you help them become a better team member? Chime in below!

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service email and event marketing, online surveys, social media, and direct mail solutions. The company was ranked No. 2,802 on the 2012 Inc. 5000. @janinepopick

SOURCE: www.inc.com

Go From Employee to Entrepreneur: 4 Tips

BY: Minda Zetlin

Use the skills, industry knowledge, and contacts you have today to set your business up for success.

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Sick of working for someone else? Want to go out on your own as a solopreneur or running a small business, but not sure how to get started? Don't try to make the leap all at once, advises Joanne Cleaver, author of The Career Lattice.

"We think of becoming an entrepreneur as a one-way street," she says. "You 'take the leap'--that's how we talk about it. You leave the staff job and you become an entrepreneur and never go back." She recommends taking a more open-ended approach, and looking at the many ways the staff job you have now can set you up as a successful entrepreneur, as well as the ways having been an entrepreneur can set you up to be successful in case you decide to return to working for someone else.

With that approach in mind, these four steps can bridge the gap between employee and entrepreneur:

1. Decide between using your industry or professional skills.

"Let's say you're an accountant in a healthcare company," Cleaver explains. "Maybe you want to build your business on your accounting skills by opening an accounting firm. Or maybe you want to apply your accounting skills within healthcare because you're really familiar with that industry." For instance, you know that electronic billing is creating big challenges in the health care field. So perhaps you want to open a consultancy to help healthcare companies with electronic billing.

2. Find the trends that are driving your industry.

Like electronic billing in healthcare, every industry faces its own set of challenges and changes. Identifying those trends can tell you where you're likely to find the most success. But what if your job doesn't give you a good view of overall industry issues or future concerns?

"Look at what associations are talking about at conferences," Cleaver says. "If you can't go to conferences, you can still look at the agendas. Read association publications and blogs. Find out who the influencers are in your profession or industry and follow them. Often stock analysts can give you good information about trends if you can see through their temporary hyperventilating about ups and downs." Once you've identified the key issues shaping the future of your industry or profession, set up some news alerts so you start getting a steady stream of information and commentary.

Another way to identify trends is to put your own company under a magnifying glass, she adds. "If you envision yourself having a relationship with your clients similar to what XYZ company has with your employer, dissect that relationship." Take a close look at the current factors that support your company's success (or lack thereof) with that customer, and you can begin to understand how your company is filling industry needs.

3. Find your sweet spot.

Once you understand industry trends, you can get a better idea of what potential clients most need from you. "What do they need right now, what will they need in six to 12 months, and what will they need in 12 months and out in the future?" Cleaver asks. Answers to these questions should help you determine what offerings will likely meet with the most eager reception from your potential clients. "If clients need something now, you have a pretty good chance of turning that into a winning sales pitch," she says.

An equally important question, though is this: What do you want? If the answer is merely that you're sick of your job and want out, that's not necessarily bad, but it's not enough. If you're running away from something rather than toward something, your process will likely stall at this stage, Cleaver says. "I get it, I've been there, but it's not a long term success factor. You have to figure out what you want to do, translate your ambition into a goal."

Once you answer this question, start looking for places where what you want to do intersects with what clients need in the near term. Each of those intersections is potentially your sweet spot--the place where client needs dovetail with your skills and desires to create the potential for a successful business.

4. Work your network.

Now that you know what product or service you want to offer, it's time to use the connections you have for everything they're worth, both to learn about your industry and potentially sign up new clients. "Go ahead and set up an exploratory conversation with someone in procurement," Cleaver says. "If you don't have direct contact with them, you might meet them at a company mixer or connect with them on LinkedIn. Start a conversation and say, 'I'm trying to understand the industry better--do you have 15 minutes for a cup of coffee?'" When you meet, ask your contact to describe the markers of a strong client relationship, and don't settle for platitudes such as 'good service at a good price.'

Keep your eyes open for opportunities that are right in front of you. If you have a good relationship with your company (though not necessarily with your boss) you may be able to use that relationship to land your first client. "Who do you know who can recommend you for things that fall into your sweet spot?" Cleaver asks. "Are they saying that they need extra help now while they bring in a new customer, but won't in six months?" If so, she says, that's an opportunity that you can grab. Tell them you're transitioning from on staff to consultant, so you can take on that extra work during that six-month period. Or, you can double down--stay at your current job, but then work extra hours as a consultant to help with the overflow. "The results will give you your first marketing materials that you can bring to other potential clients," Cleaver says.

SOURCE: www.inc.com

4 Easy Stress Busters

BY: Erik Sherman

You need peace of mind to work efficiently and make smart decisions. Get back some of your sanity--and productivity--with these tips.

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You could say that stress is one of those #firstworldproblems. But if you're an entrepreneur, stress is far more than a hipster hashtag on Twitter. It can be distracting, lower your productivity, affect your leadership, and even damage your health. (The last comes from my own experience years ago of developing pneumonia and shingles simultaneously after a tough time trying to get a consulting business off the ground.)

Author Heidi Grant Halvorson, associate director for the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia University Business School, has a list of sound strategies that can help reduce stress and let you focus on what is important, not what is nibbling at the edges of your peace of mind. Here are four of them. I've translated them from psych talk to regular business English.

1. Stop beating yourself up.

Halvorson talks of having self compassion, but let's get to the real heart of the matter. Entrepreneurs are typically driven people and they often make the mistake of assuming that flogging the horse that has tripped will make things better. It won't. Beating up yourself (or others, for that matter) rests on an assumption that the person who makes a mistake is just lazy or intentionally dense. But no one is perfect, including you. Admit you're human and focus on finding solutions to a problem or developing systems that will shore up where you fall short.

2. Put things into context.

There are all sorts of activities that are time consuming and grinding. Anyone who disagrees should open their email and see how many unexamined or unanswered messages they have. But the proper context can make things more bearable because it helps you remember not just what you're doing, but why you're doing it. When staying late in the day to answer those emails or inputting expenses and invoices into your accounting system, remind yourself that it all goes into building your business. Suddenly what was an annoyance is a lot more important.

3. Use routine to cut unnecessary decisions.

Halvorson points out that the invisible in life--making decisions--can create as much stress as dealing with those emails and accounting systems. It's the mental tension of wrestling among a number of options that tires you. As she writes, "This is why shopping is so exhausting--it's not the horrible concrete floors, it's all that deciding." So use routine to reduce the number of decisions you have to make. For example, President Obama uses routine to make his days less complicated. "'You'll see I wear only gray or blue suits,' he said. 'I'm trying to pare down decisions. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.'"

4. Add when or where to the to-do list.

I recently wrote about the legendary time management tip of prioritized to-do lists. But Halvorson offered a new intriguing variation: adding the location and time at which you'll do things. Apparently, many studies have shown that deciding in advance where and when you'll perform a task--whether working out or returning phone calls--can double to triple the chances that you'll do it. It further reduces the number of decisions you make and sets up your unconscious to look for the opportunity to complete the task. Of course, if you're using prioritized task completion, where the most important one gets done first, this may not always work. So do it when it can, even treating the task as a scheduled appointment.

SOURCE: www.inc.com

Super Charge Your Energy at Work: 10 Ways

BY: Kevin Daum

Feeling tired at work? Forget the triple shot latte and try these 10 tips instead. You'll be raring to go!

Chris Schmidt/Getty

You may have read the stats. Workplace productivity is up and employment is down. That can only mean that fewer people are in the workplace but now they have to work harder and longer. No wonder so many people are always tired and sucking down coffee and energy drinks.

Since there are still only 24 hours in a day you not only have to be more productive, but also maintain high energy and stay happy. Otherwise you'll drag yourself down, end up a miserable, grumpy, scrooge, and take a lot of folks with you on the way.

The demands of work are keeping people so busy these days sometimes they forget the simple things that make them feel energized. Here are some tips to keep your energy soaring that don't require the use of drugs or an unlimited Starbucks card.

1. Start Your Day With a Workout

You would think a big workout would make you tired, but actually getting that blood pumping first thing will keep you going for the day. Don't forget a good breakfast as well, solid fuel to stoke the day's fire.

2. Take a 20-minute Power Nap

Of course you don't want your colleagues to see you sleeping on the job, but studies have shown that a brief power nap can help revitalize you for the whole day. One employer I know actually set up a motorized massage chair in a designated "nap room" for employees and requires they use it for breaks. Check out Inc. columnist Jessica Stillman's power nap primer.

3. Remove All Personal Grudges

All that emotional baggage takes its toll day in and day out. Whether it's anger you feel for a coworker or even someone who is distant from work, the emotions can be distracting and absorb energy. We like to think we can ignore the feelings, but often we just mask them and that takes energy in and of itself. Make a list of your grudges and commit time to reconcile each of them until they are gone. Soon you'll feel like someone added minutes to your clock every day.

4. Take a 15-minute Humor Break

Laughter is a natural energizer. Those endorphins from chuckles are as good for you as a solid workout. Sign up for the joke of the day, or cruise YouTube for some funny videos. Grab some colleagues and have a joke pow-wow. You'll lighten the atmosphere all around, and help everyone feel good about the rest of the day. This is a good one for 2:30 in the afternoon when the classic after lunch doze is coming on.

5. Take a 15-minute Walk

Sometimes we just need to get out. It doesn't matter if the weather is hot, cold or rainy, getting up from that chair and computer can rejuvenate your body and your mind. Leave the smartphone behind as well. Stretch, breathe and take in the outdoors to feel refreshed and awake.

6. Read Something Fun During Lunch

A little escape is good to clear the mind and reset your energy. Short stories are my favorite for lunch breaks. Not only are they entertaining, but finishing one at lunch gives you a sense of completion which helps boost your confidence to get back and fight through the day. Try a classic like Mark Twain or Rudyard Kipling, and you'll feel like you are doing something worthwhile with your time. 

7. Resolve Any Conflicts With Your Boss or Colleagues

Concern over conflict can eat away at your attention and tire you quickly. Don't hold back.  Confront issues head on. If you are open, empathetic, and diplomatic in your approach you may forge a closer bond that will make coming days easier to enjoy. 

8. Do Something Nice For a Colleague

Energy is easily transmitted from person to person. This tip helps on so many levels. It's energizing to think about someone else, the actual act of giving creates a natural high, and of course gratitude provides plenty of energy as well. Try this hat-trick every day for a week and feel the surprising buzz.

9. Call a Good Friend and Chat for 15 Minutes

Nothing perks up my day more than time with a close friend. Whether it's quick catch up, or a chance to vent some of the day's frustrations, this short, fun reconnect will recharge your batteries and give you the support required to battle any tough day. The best part is that you will give your friend the same benefit.

10. Make Sure Your Work Activity is Fulfilling

If you hate what you do then none of my suggestions and no amount of caffeine will energize you enough to grind out depressing workdays continuously. Find a way to get paid doing what you enjoy. No need to make yourself and everyone around you miserable. Life is short and you are entitled to enjoy every day of it.

SOURCE: www.inc.com