Business 2.0

There is no doubt that the business world is changing and that means you need to change too. It doesn’t matter what business you are in, if you want to succeed, you must change.

Change doesn’t have to be radical, but simple shifts in how you see and do things are necessary.

Simple Shifts in Business for…

Sales, Realtors, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs

• Instead of numbers first, put people first.
• Replace the words leads, prospects and conversions with people.
• Give people what they want, not what you want.
• In social media, be social. Have a conversation. With people.
• Don’t add people to your mailing list because they gave you a business card.
• Stop calling to “follow up” or “check in”.
• Say “I don’t know” when you don’t know.
• Make every interaction valuable for people.

Websites/Blogs

• Turn off the music.
• Pull down the pop-ups.
• Be Mobile Friendly.
• Add your picture.
• Use a light background and dark text.
• Kill auto video/audio.
• Don’t add people to your mailing list without permission.

Notifications

• Notifications are distractions. Turn them off. All of them.
• You don’t need your phone to remind you that you have email.
• The first thing you see when you open your computer doesn’t have to be an announcement of what is happening at work,news,etc.
• You don’t need an email to tell you who subscribed and who unsubscribed from anything.
• Birds don’t need to chirp when someone mentions you on Twitter.

Social Media/Email

• Be social for 20 minutes and then get back to work.
• Stop auto tweeting.
• Stop following everyone that follows you.
• Don’t check email when you don’t know what to do next.
• Don’t check email hoping for something great to happen.
• Don’t check email because it makes you feel busy.
• Check email 1-3 times a day and respond thoughtfully.
• Do good work not busy work(I’ll touch on this next time).

If you work for yourself, you know that your customers (people) put food on your table. If you work for someone else, remember that your boss might sign your check, but it’s your customers (people) that make that check good.

Out-behave your competition and start treating your customers like people instead of dollar signs. If you don’t do these things, you will lose business to someone who does. If you do these things, get ready to grow.

Next Step…

Facebook………………………………………………………………. That’s exactly what I think of it when someone asks me to be their friend or join a “New Group”. I’m no longer interested in what you did last night at 3 am, nor do I care where you are at ANY given moment by “checking in”. I want to learn! I want to gain a plethora of knowledge. I want to wrap my brain around an interesting topic and get people’s feedback and formulate my own answer/pattern.

This can’t be done on Facebook. I feel it wants more from me than it’s giving back. Is it really that amusing to look at other people’s posts all day about where and what they did?

What I want is simple: A clean fresh reading experience where I can gain knowledge and share mindful thoughts with others who grasp the same topic. I  want to become connected with the content I read, because this benefits all parties including the platform which has become my home:

GOOGLE+

Please, do yourself a favor and check it out. I can’t begin to explain the vast amount of knowledge and topics I have learned and shared. It feels right, it feels safe.