The Day I Discovered My Marketing Calling

I write this on a flight back from London, which provides ample opportunity for reflection.

I’ve been thinking about my career path and chosen field and why I got into it.

Certainly, hearing Todd Newfield speak when I lived in Japan was a seminal moment. One that was further catalyzed when he instructed me to read my first marketing book, Peppers and Rodgers’ The One-to-One Future.

Intellectually, I was hooked.

But, there was a moment a few years later when I was working at Snickelways and we had a client called Quantum Cycles (I’m still in touch with one of the clients from that assignment) and they instructed us to come down to Florida to observe Daytona Bike Week. They wanted us to understand the mentality of the customer to whom they were selling.

At one point, we entered a drugstore. Not a chain, kind of a five-and-dime variety.

As I walked the aisle, I found myself behind a man who fit every stereotype there was about a redneck/biker.

Dirty jeans, long, greasy hair, worn boots and a mesh baseball cap.

He also had a jean jacket where the sleeves had been cut off, showing his arms.

On his left and right triceps were tattooed-in kind of a gothic/old English style, the words “Harley” and “Davidson,” respectively.

I was mesmerized and I felt an emotional jolt that lit up the intellectual wood which had been gathering.

I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “I don’t know what it is that motivates someone to tattoo the name of a company on their body, but that’s what I want to figure out.”

So, while the tangible goal might be to have someone so passionate about Sprinklr or Never Stop Marketing or whatever company, product, service I am marketing at the time, that they will tattoo it on their bodies, the real goal is to understand the human condition on such a deep level as to understand the Why.

It’s a long run and I’m not there yet, but that’s just how I seek to make sense of Life.

This Commercial Made Me Cry….

and that’s why I am telling you about the video.

What I love about it is that they realized, “we’re not in the gum business, we’re in the storytelling business.”

If you get people to connect emotionally with your brand, no matter what you sell, it’s going to help.

The Value of Compounded Time…

Image by acnatta via Flickr

If you get the idea of Compounded Interest, this post makes a ton of sense to you.

I was mildly aggravated by one comment I saw on Chris Brogan’s recent post “Selling Information” where he sought to (completely unnecessarily in my mind) defend his position to sell access to a 2 hour webinar on Google Plus for 1,000 people at $47 a pop.

One guy wrote:

were you aware that the webinar seats 1,000 people? yes, Mr Brogans haul off of this stands to be $47,000 for an hour or two of his time (fyi)....lots of personal attention you are gonna get on this puppy!

Actually, I was more than mildly aggravated, I was severely ticked off.

Mostly because it demonstrates what I consider to be the mindset of far too many (“how much time did you spend actually doing the work?”)

In his mind, Chris Brogan (whom I had the privilege of meeting a few years ago and is one of the few ‘social media gurus’ I actually think is an innovative thinker) is going to “work” for 2 hours and get paid $47,000.

But, that’s the mindset of someone who thinks he is working in a factory.

It’s not the mindset of someone who thinks in terms of “how much value is he creating for those attending AND how did he get to a point where he can even create that value?”

And that’s where the value of Compounded Time Fits in…

Chris is a “time person”. He values his time and makes the most of every single moment (takes one to know one).

So, here’s how he gets to the point where he can make $47,000 in 2 hours.

Let’s say you have 2 people of similar talent and intelligence.

Each night, after a full day of work, doing some exercise, and spending some time with their kids, that person has 2 hours to do whatever.

Person 1 spends 1 hours paying bills, managing the house stuff, etc. and then an hour watching Law and Order:SVU re-runs (no offense, it’s a good show).

Person 2 previously invested 4 hours over 4 nights to get to the point where house maintenance tasks only take 20 minutes (bills are automated, etc.) and now has 1 hour and 40 minutes left.

During that time, he may kick back on his couch with his iPad and scan/read 100 blog posts, watch some videos of thought leaders in his industry, comment on a few blogs of those he respects and, if he is trying to formulate some new ideas or new understanding, writes a blog post of his own (mostly for himself, just to grapple with the ideas).

Now, let’s say that Person 1 and Person 2 do this every weeknight for an entire year.

When the year is over, Person 2 has spent 100 minutes x 5 nights x 52 weeks= 433.33 hours on gaining mastery on his craft. That’s an extra 18 days!

Basically a FULL month over Person 1.

Do that for a few years and, pretty soon, a HUGE gulf opens up between the two of them.

Nobody sees that part….

By investing in himself, his blog, his community, he gets to a point where he can offer all this stored compounded time to people in 2 hours and he deserves to get paid for it.

(In fact, if you factor in all of that time, it’s like getting paid garment factory worker wages, right?)

It’s all of the work he did, day in and day out that mattered.

It gets compounded, like interest.

When you do that…no matter what industry you are in, you’ll have “pay days” that will make others say “hey, that’s not fair!”

Of course, they were watching SVU while you were working.

Kind of like the modern day Grasshopper and the Ant, only this time the commodity isn’t food for the winter, it’s information and knowledge for the globalized attention economy.

Related articles

• Is Chris Brogan a Google+ Expert or Just Stealing Your Money? (blogworld.com)

Never Stop Marketing Award #13…one of America’s top real estate agents

Reprinted from the NSM blog.

Let’s get the obvious conflict of interest out of the way first.

This month’s Never Stop Marketing Award Winner is my sister, Kira Epstein.

Yes, I’ll admit that I’m emotionally invested in her career.

• When she initially came up with the idea of getting her real estate license, I enthusiastically supported her.
• Also, I eagerly put forth marketing advice.

However, she was named one of the top 30 real estate agents under the age of 30 in the ENTIRE USA on her own merit…and then some.

• In 2010, she sold $18 million dollars worth of real estate.
• She is ranked in the top 5% nationally among ALL agents in her firm (Long and Foster).

What’s even more impressive is if you look at the other “30 under 30” winners, both in terms of sales (lower) and the fact that many of them were part of teams, not solo practitioners like Kira.

So, for THOSE reasons; for her results and her approach, she gets this month’s NSM award.

“It’s All Time Management”

If you ask Kira what has made her successful, she’ll talk about her work ethic, her commitment to the “Never Stop Marketing” mantra, and her savvy use of all types of technology, but when all is said and done, she says it comes down to: Time Management.

First of all, she decides what is most important.

Then, she is relentless in her focus on doing activities which are related to those key goals.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Along with attention, time is our most valuable commodity and asking yourself “what is the BEST use of my time AT THIS VERY MOMENT to drive my goals?” is something we should all practice.

Kira does and you’ve seen the results.

Congratulations to Kira.

She joins this all-star group of previous award winners.

1. JackBe
2. Dave Sobel
3. Microsoft LET team
4. Global 360
5. Jay McBain and the SMB Lenovo Team
6. Pinstripe
7. Tim Wood of OBA Bank
8. Matthew Lesko
9. Derek Coburn
10. Jeremy Lustman
11. Chad MacDonald
12. Jeff Wasserstein and Kurt Karst

What I don’t get about taxi drivers…

Now I have had some good taxi drivers and some bad ones in my day, but I’m wondering if I am alone in tipping at different levels for good versus bad.
My dad is worried about being embarrassed at giving a small tip, so he tends to tip the same.
Not I.
When I hire a taxi, I am looking for a few basic things.

1. Be punctual (if I’ve made a reservation)
2. Get me there efficiently
3. Have a relatively clean car
4. Make the experience pleasant

On my recent trip to Argentina, I had two cab experiences that just baffled me.
I made a reservation for a cab from Barwood Taxi to take me from my house to National Airport.
Now, they participate in a new service called “Taxi Magic” (no link, since I’m in the back of Cab #2 at the moment) where you download an app onto your phone and you can make a reservation as well as pay (since your credit card is already in the system).
So, being the technophile I am, that’s what I did.
I made a reservation for 2pm.
At 1.40pm, I get a text saying “taxi #203 dispatched. ETA is 1.53pm”
By 2.10, no cab
2.20, no cab.
I call the cab company. The operator says to me, “he’s pulling up right now.”
Now, I was standing outside so I know that wasn’t the case.
Finally, at 2.30, he shows up.
I then used the app on my phone to pay directly. And I didn’t tip him at all. Not one cent.
Call me a jerk, if you want, but 30 minutes when you are flying internationally can be make or break. I was counting on them and they failed me.
I made the flight, but that’s besides the point.
Buenos Aires Cab
When I landed in Buenos Aires (which may have the most inefficient immigration/customs system I have ever seen), I hired a car from an overpriced service.
I get in the car and there is music BLARING.
Notwithstanding the fact that I had just flown overnight and was a bit groggy and wanted to relax, I think that this would have been jarring normally.
I asked the driver to turn it off.
He turned it down.
I asked again (since it was right in my ear).
He said he’d make it lower.
What?!
So, now, I’m in the back of his car, listening to his annoying music which, frankly, I don’t think I should have to do.
Tip coming his way?
Nope.
Sorry, if I reward service with which I am unsatisfied, I am sending the wrong message.
As a marketer who seeks to great customer experiences, I have chosen to fight this battle.

Updated: How Barwood responded brilliantly!

Excitement and Mild Irreverence...

I'm excited and terrified at the same time on "hanging out a shingle". I'll admit it.

There are large and small details, but I've come to a realization.

The single most important thing I can do in building my business is this: SELL.

I was talking to a friend the other day who was trying to come up with a name for his new website. In his voice, I heard a similar tone as I'd had when I was preparing my business cards:

I need to get it right.

Actually, I don't.

It's possible to spend hours thinking about names, logos, typefaces, etc.

Does my blog look consistent with my business card and with my email signature?

Right now, who cares?!

Somewhere between now and multi-billion dollar corporation, it is important to get all of that right, but TIME is my enemy.

My cards have to reinforce my brand, which as my newest client (still waiting on legal approval) said represents:

A sense of excitement with mild irreverence

And I am fine with this. More than fine, I love it!

The "brand" is the sum of experiences that a person has with the corporate entity (right now, me), so do the business cards, the blog, the Facebook status updates, and EVERYTHING else reinforce that "brand promise" of excitement/mild irreverence...even if they don't look exactly the same?

That's what matters and I can quickly act according to those guidelines.

Meantime, I need to go out and sell the services I am offering.

BTW, beta 2 of the answer to the "what do you do" question is this:

I help companies figure out how to turn their customers into their best marketers.

Thoughts?

IPod Issues...

OK, I admit it. I have an iPod. Well, I should say "had."

A few weeks ago, I won a family lotter for my dad's old iPod (he bought an iPhone) .

I really enjoyed it, using it primarily for some great Podcasts while in the car.

Today, however, I dropped it from about a 3 ft. high. Now, I've got a "white screen of death" (and apparently I'm not the only one....a pretty widespread problem if you search on "dropped iPod).

Bummer.

Thing is, has this now turned into a need? how much is it worth it to me to get it fixed? Can I go back to living w/o it? ;-)