It’s not who you know – it’s who knows you.

The Musicians Union did a study a few years back indicating that 70% of all 'new' gigs comes from some form of networking. I think it’s way, way higher.

The world will not beat a path to your door. 'Field of Dreams' is a lovely idea ...If you 'build it' they will not come.  They have to know you are there first.

Word of mouth is the most powerful tool in your arsenal to get your material ieee, cause out there and doing what you love to do.. Look at Captain Corellis Mandolin, VIz or Bill Bryson…all where unknowns and their fame and success was won by word of mouth acclamation.

WOM is free, the only cost is time.

So following are some tips to help you spread your story, the story of what you would like to share as an artist...fundraiser, musician ...anybody whose marketing budget is air and enthusiasm.

Now some 'artists' will be reading this and think they are above all that marketing crap!! Or it is just about getting flyers out!! Marketing is something that the record companies do.. and you need a budget So, so wrong....They are the ones who rarely get the gigs, the following, the 'Lucky breaks', The big donation.

First  though I need to get something off my chest...

This article was inspired by some posts I see on a regular basis on FB.Love it or hate it Facebook is the single best way there is currently of telling your story.  But, crucially you need to remember a couple of points ...

Firstly, your friends and followers already know about you.,its' great to keep them informed about you and build that relationship. Its all part of the fun...but the real secret sauce of Facebook is using it to find the  new people you need to hear about you...

Secondly, the biggest mistake I see from a huge amount of musicians in particular,  is that all they seem to do is self promote, which may seem counter intuitive and what you think the whole point of Facebook is... a way to publicise your gig??  If that is your line of thinking you are so, so missing the point.

Facebook is not a sales tool it’s a networking tool. No one is the least concerned how great you think you are. Don’t talk exclusively about yourself, or, even worse publish your own reviews!And if all you talk about is you and your band you just become noise and people tune out, scroll through ..and people miss the important stuff you really want them to know about.

The ratio of stuff about you and stuff about the people should be about you be about one to four or five; In marketing generally to be effective it's usually more like 1.:8.

OK Mini-rant over... so who do you get yourself out there into new markets, areas, opportunities spaces???

The key is to try to make sure your 'digital you' reflects your 'real you.'. that there is as little space between who you want to be seen as and what you talk about. So, it is really important to find your story..and then keep it rolling....If you don't know how to do that there are loads of articles on this site to hopefully inspire you: or drop me line, or come to one of my workshops, or call me about 'Free on Fridays'... (that is my story.)

If I were to give just one area to focus on I would try to work out how you are able to give an UNFORGETTABLE personal introduction in 10 seconds, 30 seconds and 60 seconds. What are you all about???  It is not about pigeon holing yourself... its about generating the metaphor that people hold of you in their mind...and the simpler the better. The more consistent the better .The more visual the better.

This then becomes the theme for your postings and digital conversations. Keep that in your head in all the stuff you create and try not to muddy the water. We are all easily confused by mixed patterns. Random may sound endearing but in the end it doesn't get you five gigs a month.

You simply can't be too precious about using tools to spread the word,...Networking isn’t selling or marketing It’s the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships. Don’t mix those things up.

The most important four letters in the word NETWORKING are W-O-R-K, because that’s exactly what it takes.

Get a  blog site,  or better still a podcast, anything with content that people may find interesting. The honest reality is and chances are the probably  that they won’t actually read it or listen too it but it puts you out there constantly.  You are around and your story is out there and reinforced.

Spend an hour a week reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, postings. If you don’t know what a blog is, you’re in trouble.

When you read a post an article you like, PM the author. Tell them what you liked about it and introduce yourself. They usually write back.

Talk to everybody. Don’t sell them; don’t probe them, just make friends. Make friends with everybody. Because people buy people first.

Take volunteer positions with organisations that are relevant to your industry or cause. Be a visible leader to whom others can come for help.

Never leave the house without a pen and paper. Sounds dumb, right? It isn’t. It’s genius. Nobody keeps napkins with scribblings on them.

Every week, introduce two people you know who need to know each other.

Oh, and it’s not who you know – it’s who knows you. 

People will like you the minute they figure out how much they ARE like you.

Fear not to entertain strangers for by so doing some may have entertained angels unaware. (Hebrews, 13:2)

Find other local artists, not just musicians  with whom you share common interests, ideas and causes. Introduce yourself to them, get together, share ideas and find ways to help each other.

If you think you don’t need to network, you are  right. You don’t need to network: you MUST network!

When strangers ask, ‘How are you?’ don’t say fine. You’re not fine. Nobody’s fine. Give a real answer that’s memorable and magnetic. 

When someone asks where you’re from, don’t just say ‘Leeds.’ Use the add technique: ‘Oh, I’m from Leeds, home of the best music in the country.’ Get creative. Get unique. Watch what happens.

Put your person before your art. Your personality before your position. Your individuality before your industry.

Don’t be different – be unique. Don’t be friendly - be accessible. And don’t be memorable  be unforgettable.

Think about the last five ‘luckiest’ contacts you encountered. Figure out what you did right, realise that there IS NO SUCH THING AS LUCK, then repeat as often as possible.

Balloons and Memories and USP's

One of the many questions I get asked is what makes good story? 

The first thing to say is that stories do not need to be formalised.  I’m passionate about the art and performance of stories but that is only a part of it. I am in awe of the masters of performance storytelling and I have learnt more from them than any text book, seminar or experiment. TED and The Moth are my top two most visited sites.

The storytelling we use day in, day out, is not about having all skills in the stage craft tools, using different voices or postures, timing and silence. That is storytelling as a performance. The day to day communications, the staff meeting, the school run, the conversation on the way to the coffee machine. That is where the magic of storytelling happens and is most effective.

Then they really work best when you can throw in an 'ah-ha' moment, the twist, the shift in perspective, the 'so you were thinking that and then this different thing happens'. The twist in the tail.

Memory loves tags, unique tags. and the more unique the better. OK, I know,... more unique  is redundant but I used it for effect.  You can do that in storytelling :Grammar is a guide to be ignored at will because it is a tool that can be used to show a difference in the normal pattern that wakes brain up. If it sees a famiilar pattern it just files this away in the massive folder or miscellaneous other stuff which isn't that unusual. The shed that is our head.

But if you can take a pattern, and then can tag it with something that isn't that easy to file away in the business as usual bucket then it is far easier for the mind to find it, recall and then far easier to bring to the fore when making decisions.

Our brains function by making sense of the mass of millions of bytes of stimulation it receives everyday and then putting it away, filtering it and then some filed away for later use, and the first thing its does is it asks the question. Is it is of any use. It may not be at the moment but it may be of use later on.... so it gets put away in the, not sure what that means but its may be of help later on.

It's quite easy to prove this and I'm sure you can come up with different examples in a heartbeat or less. 

Here is just one example.

I was driving down a local street the other day, passing a second hand car lot I would normally just trundle on by as queued at the rush hour traffic lights. Outside they had tied lots of bright balloons , yells and sky blues, which certainly coloured up the usual rows of  bonnets and price stickers. Obviously the balloons are not going to instantly persuade me into thinking ‘Gosh they have balloons, I must go in and buy a car and right away;’  No,  that doesn't make sense, after all we are grown ups and not that impressionable…. What the balloons  will do is remind us when I eventually do think I need to buy a car. One of the images that will spring into my brain, whether we like it or not, is the not every car lot we have passed in our lifetime but the one with the clunkers who had balloons.  That  is all the balloons are,  a mental tag. I may actually want brand new car but at least I've thought about them and it makes me think.

(The choice of colours are a brilliant choice by the way. They are the most visible colour combination from a distance, that is why the emergency services  use them. First pioneered in Sweden in the sixties, and we have swathed over form the rage shoes we used to have...But if they had thrown in a few some red balloons too the power of recall would be several times more effective,... ask me why??? and why this is massively important to my web site and business card.) 

The brain can be helped even more by constructing a simple story tag around the recollection imagery around the balloons. For example, In my world the balloons make me think that it must be 'one of the car’s birthdays.' Now try forgetting that car lot!

The point is that if there is something that disrupts the pattern, especially something that would not threaten or make us feel anxious, then that small set of memories  can have a profound effect or how we make our decisions and how we feel about anything at all. We haven't even started thinking about whether to buy a German or British car yet We are remembering the used car lot with the clunkers!!

The twist is what gets remembered and gets the memory higher up the recall list. Some call this The USP in marketing… I call it storytelling. The difference is that storytelling is all about authenticity and truth. You cant' invent or make up good stories..you just need to know how to harvest them and then put them in the right bin them for re-cycling.

10 things I wish I hadn't done ( again) in 2015

Time is precious. It is the one thing you can’t give back. The one thing that you and your project, always want more of.

Here are ten things I wish I hadn't done this year, which wasted my time, time I will not get back. Things which I know I did last year and that I will probably do again next year unless I remind myself to read this again, in time.

1. Wasted my time … advertising.

If people always hear FROM me instead of ABOUT me, I’m doing something wrong.

2. Wasted my time … trying, in general.

If someone uses the word ‘trying’ a lot, they probably aren't.

3. Wasting my time … trying to prove myself.

If I know you’re good enough, that’s enough.

4. Wasting my time … trying to convince people.

If they don’t ‘get it’ right away, they probably never will.

Remember ‘If you can’t explain it in 8 words or less, it’s not a good idea.’ Seth Godin

5. Wasted my time … trying to be better than the competition.

If I position my value to my client correctly, I won’t HAVE any competition.

6. Wasted my time … dealing with people who can’t sign the order and pay the invoice.

If they’re not the economic buyer, I need to save my breath and move on.

7. Wasted my time … selling to people who just aren’t going to buy.

If they’re just there to kick tyres, that’s great. Greet them warmly and move on to someone else. They’ll come when they’re ready.

8. Wasted my time… selling to people who don’t know how to value me yet.

If they’re not ready for me, they don’t deserve me.

 Remember …Saying NO to the wrong person leads to saying YES to the right person.

9. Wasted my time… following up with people who never, ever call you back.

If they wanted you, they would have hired you already. You can only call so many times.

10. Wasted my time… making people happy who aren’t in your target market.

If they’re not your ideal customer, who cares if they don’t like me?

11. Wasted my time… sending prospects my hideous brochures and literature.

If they get it, they will immediately store it in the circular file cabinet.

I’ve just put them all in the log burner.

Small Business or big business Sanity checker Part 2

Following on from yesterdays 10 questions 'you may like ask yourself about your company' as you take your annual mental audit of where you actually are and where you would like to be heading and the stories you need to be telling your staff and your customers.

Here are another 10 for you to think about over the mince pies, bubble and squeak and queues at the Boxing Day sales checkout.

They hopefully won't overwork your brain too much but they may, just, help you think a little differently, to place yourself in the helicopter view rather than the mole's eye.

11.  Are you growing?

12. Are you helping your clients in more than one way?

13 Are you in it for the long haul?

14. Are you productive or just active?

15. Are you seeking influence or affluence?

16. Are you still adding value others can’t?

17. Are you submersed or immersed?

18. Are you the arrow or the bullseye?

19. Are you the one with the most information?

20. Are you tooting or blowing your own horn?

and probably the most important one…. and be honest when you answer this

21. Are you pressing the 'off 'button enough

If you have any more you can think of and you would like to share... you know the drill.

50 Questions to help you fall back in love with your business

It is that time of the year again. A time to sit down review, reflect and re-energise, yeah, right.! Would that we actually had the time to do that. 

Why we do this at the end of the year is seen as that specific time to attempt this I’m not sure but, if you haven’t had time during the last year, maybe now is the time to make some time for you in the Twixtmas greyness. Something to help you avoid the sales, the traffic jams getting in and out of the retail parks, and the mud.

So..get a paper and pencil, a glass of your favourite tipple and dispatch the kids to the outlaws. Sit somewhere comfortable and breath.

One of the things I try to influence/persuade/cajole/beat into… my Free on Friday clients to do, which I believe is actually the most crucially important task you have in running your business, is to make some head space, create some time to stand back and look.…

In the moments you might grab between the chaos you do need to ask yourself some questions. Over next few days I’m going to suggest a few you may like to think about. Asking beautiful questions is the secret to the art of problem solving, innovation and creativity and your business should be an outlet for your creative self if nothing else. It simply just brings the fun back into it. It renews your enthusiasm and sets you up for the ups and inevitable downs of what is likely to await you in the coming months.

Here they are:

1. Are you accepting the same type of tasks, projects and fees as you were two years ago?

2. Are you a company that your competitors envy?

3. Are you a profession or a business?

4. Are you abandoning buyers?

5. Are customers asking to buy products and services you don’t offer?

6. Are you an advisor or just a seller?

7. Are you charging enough for your ideas?

8. Are you competing or comparing?

9.  Are you counting traffic or transactions?

10. Are you doing anything that is no longer important?

Email me for the other 40… or stop by over the next few days in you want to rekindle and fall back in love with your business….. 

Things your customer wish you knew about them

Think you know what makes your customers, staff and colleagues tick? 

What stories will engage them with you and move them to at least recognise that you have your hand up???

What do they really, really, really, need from you? 

Here are 40 plus things they would like you to know about them but don't really want to say out loud.

  

40 plus things you need to know before you even start any conversation with them. Whether it is to try to persuade them that this 'new way' really will be a big help to them. That your new product will make them love you even more, that you are the person or organisation they can trust to solve their problem.

No-one , and I mean no-one, ever changed the way they work or their increased their level of enthusiasm because they read an email from 'on high', read your glossy new brochure or had a beautifully designed newsletter pop into their in-box.

They may, just may, engage with, spare a second to, listen to or even become an ardent fan if you have remember any (or all) of the following, while crafting the story you want to share with them.

1.   I don’t need you to be perfect, but I do need to know I can rely on you.

2.   Telling me what you don’t know makes me trust you.

3.   It means a lot when you take the time to thank me for my idea or input.

4.   You don’t need to do all that much to be a superhero. Just do exactly what you say you will do.

5.   A friendly voice on the other side of the phone means more than you can imagine.

6.   My life is really stressful. If you can reduce that stress, you become immensely valuable to me.

7.   I want to tell you what would make this relationship better for me. Why don’t you ever ask me?

8.   I don’t understand a lot of the messages you send me. Can you make them clearer?

9.   My life is very complicated. If you make it easy for me to do just one task in simple all-in-one package that I can use without learning anything, I’ll take it and be grateful.

10.  I want to trust you, but it’s hard for me to trust anyone.

11. Once you’ve won my trust and loyalty, the truth is you can screw up once in awhile and I will forgive you. If I don’t think you’re taking me for granted, that is.

12.When I refer my colleagues to you and you give them exceptional service, that makes me look and feel smart. I love that.

13. I spend an awful lot of time being scared to death.

14. A lot of the time, I secretly feel like a lost little kid. I don’t admit it, but I want to be taken care of.

15. I’m lousy at admitting I was wrong, but I respect you when you do it.

16.I don’t understand how to use our Web site, but I can’t admit that because it would make me feel dumb.

17.There’s no worse feeling than feeling like I was tricked into trusting you. If I’m screaming at you or one of your other employees, that feeling is probably behind it somewhere.

18.Our relationship isn’t equal and it never will be.

19.I get stupidly jealous if I think you love another customer more than you love me.

20.I don’t have any interest in your excuses. In fact, I usually don’t notice them at all, and if I do, they annoy me.

21.I find myself endlessly fascinating.

22.There’s something in my life I’m afraid of losing. If you can make me feel like you’ve protected it for me, my gratitude will be intense and eternal.

23. I’ll give you anything you ask if you can help me not feel silly.

24. I want you to do the hard work for me. Even better if I can get all the credit.

25. I’d rather do it the convoluted hard way than learn something new.

26. I’d love to know something about our product or service  that I could use to brag at a dinner party.

27. I have the attention span of a goldfish. Go too long without contacting me and I’ll simply forget you exist.

28.What you think you’re good at is not what you’re good at. Ask me, and I’ll tell you what you do better than anyone else.

29.I like it when I feel like you’re talking just to me.

30. It infuriates me when you answer the phone while I’m talking with you face-to-face.

31.Embarrassment scares me more than death.

32.I’m lazier than I would ever admit.

33.I’m more selfish than I would ever admit.

34.I’m more vain than I would ever admit.

35. I’m more insecure than I would ever admit.

36. Despite all that, I secretly think I’m a better person than most people. Help me believe that and I'll follow you.

37. I believe I deserve much more than I’m getting.

38. I want to tell you everything you need to know in order persuade me, but I’m lazy. Make it easy enough and I will. (Especially if you flatter me a little.)

39. I don’t know what I want most of the time. You need to figure it out for me.

40. I mostly daydream about making life better for myself, but I’ll take action to keep from losing what’s mine.

41. I believe that most of what’s wrong in my life is someone else’s fault. Let me keep that cozy illusion and I’ll believe anything you say.

42. It really is all about me.