By clemens, on May 11th, 2012 
Can Email Be A Productivity-Positive Tool?
The common wisdom is that you shouldn’t let email get in the way of your productivity; that its constant interruptions and the imposition of other people’s needs on your time is not the way to a Great Performance in productivity.
But what it if is?
I have never been comfortable with the wholesale dismissal of email in the productivity dynamic of a professional’s life. This is for two reasons.
1. My clients matter. A lot. This means that to some extent at least, their needs and communications are going to have an impact on me. To say it is otherwise is like saying that as a store owner, my need to count inventory is more important than tending to a customer. What are you going to say to them? “Come back in an hour, I have more important things to do right now?” I don’t think so.
2. Given its availability on every kind of device, email has a powerful presence. So why not use it as a tool? We are all over cloud storage and web-based this-and-that. Email isn’t as new and sexy as all that, but it has been ‘in the cloud’ from the beginning. It can operate in a completely web-based environment (no clients like Microsoft Outlook needed), can store attachments, and can be scheduled and directed in all kinds of ways.
The Remarkable Power Of A Boomerang
One of the most powerful tools for using email as a scheduling tool comes from Baydin Inc. called Boomerang, this tool allows you to schedule email in all kinds of ways. Here’s what it can do:
Bump your email. One of the secrets to controlling email is to empty your inbox completely, every day. To do this you go through your messages and . . . → Read More: Email As A Scheduling Tool
By clemens, on May 1st, 2012 
Two recent conversations about the Facebook Timeline for Pages have spurred this article.
One conversation was with a client about the impact of the new timeline structure on her engagement numbers. As soon as she implemented the new timeline on her Page her engagement numbers plummeted from about 2000 per week to 200 – 500!
The other conversation was with a professional in the area who asked me what my concerns are with the new timeline.
Based on these conversations, and on what I have read on-line, it is clear that while there are some clear gains for brands on the new Facebook Pages, there is one change that must be addressed, and is my response to the second conversation.
Conversations That Aren’t
The central role of social networks in social marketing is to facilitate conversation. The thinking is that through closer dialogue between brands and customers, those brands are able to build loyalty, and ultimately repeat and referred business.
So why did Facebook take the customer-generated content (in the form of posts, not comments), rip it out of the main timeline, and stick it into a limited box that no one looks at any more? What Facebook has done is re-assert the very ‘broadcasting’ nature of brand-generated content that social networks were supposed to make obsolete.
When the only posts that can appear in the main Page timeline are those written by the owner, there is no more dialogue. It would be like trying to have a conversation, but where only one person was allowed to pick the topics and had to initiate every new thread. Everyone else in the room is restricted to responding. That is not a conversation, and it certainly isn’t social.
To get the visuals for what I am talking about, look at . . . → Read More: Why The Facebook Pages Timeline is Anti-Social
By clemens, on April 26th, 2012 
On April 26 Seth Godin wrote “Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO, “so, what’s your telephone strategy?””
And I thought “No it’s not. That could be a great question!”
Mr. Negativity Here
For the second time in as many weeks I find myself disagreeing with Seth Godin.
This morning when I read his article Do you have a people strategy? my first gut reaction was that Godin was absolutely right: if you have your focus on the needs and relationships of people, all the ‘strategy’ stuff becomes trivial.
Then on second sober thought, I realized he was wrong. I understand that the purpose of Godin’s pieces is not to drill down to the operational elements of the business dynamic. Rather they refocus us on what matters more. The trouble for me is that sometimes the resulting message is more emotionally compelling than it is true.
The recent article is a case in point. Godin is right to remind us that too many organizations get lost in a mechanistic/operational relationship with the world around them. We forget that the house and the hammer are not the same thing. I said pretty much the same thing in Digital, Dialogue, and the New Social Business. I just didn’t say it half as economically or as elegantly as Godin does!
Our relationships with people do matter most. Every tool that improves the quality of those relationships is positive, but they are still just tools.
The Other Shoe
The trouble with Godin’s article is that it perpetuates myth that too many small business owners buy into so readily: love what you do, love your customers, and everything else will fall into place on its own.
Nonsense.
Once again, just as in my reaction a couple of weeks ago, my life in the performing arts . . . → Read More: So, What’s Your Telephone Strategy?
By Clemens Rettich, on April 19th, 2012 
The Nightmare
Two people stand on stage. One has a script and plays their part with confidence. The other doesn’t have a script and has to fake it as best they can.
Sound familiar? Well not only is this a great improv game, it is a real actors’ nightmare. I have had it, and know others who have had it too.
Whether it is as an actor, dancer, or musician, the nightmare is the same: you show up, a performance starts, and you suddenly realize you are the only one in the performance who doesn’t know their part. You play along gamely, making stuff up, hoping nobody in the audience or on stage notices.
Imposter’s Syndrome
Variations of this exist in other realms too: showing up for a math class feeling like you are the only one who doesn’t get it. Showing up for a staff or board meeting feeling like you are the only one out of the loop. These are all real nightmares.
When it becomes a factor in a person’s professional life, it is called the Imposter’s Syndrome. At its worst, it is the inescapable feeling that you are not as good as people think you are, and that you will be discovered any moment.
The Game
In the ‘Actors’ Nightmare’ improv game one person has a script that contains the lines of a dialogue. Often the lines are from a scene in a real play, or even sources like comic books. It is the role of the person without the script to ‘justify’ the lines from his or her partner. They respond as if they knew the script, making up dialogue and actions that fit with, or ‘justify’, the script.
To do this well requires the player without the script to -
Listen actively. . . . → Read More: Actors’ Nightmare (Or… Fake it ’til you Make it!)
By clemens, on April 16th, 2012 
Hmmmm…. I post “No woo-woo secret crystals” on my FB page and I lose a few Likes. Or maybe it was because yesterday I posted that Seth Godin was dead wrong about all artists being self-taught.
Maybe I have been misleading people with my smiling face, and the fact I am a business coach. Well, let me clear the air.
Let’s just get the big one out of the way: I think The Secret is mostly nonsense.
And while we are at it, let me lay out a few more heresies for someone who professes to be a (business) coach:
I don’t think “things happen for a reason” I think the quest for a life-work balance is misguided I don’t believe we can always have what we want (“But if you try some time…”) I believe being a great sales person is as noble as being a doctor, and just as hard I don’t believe we are always responsible for what happens to us I believe the 20th-century obsession with the self and self-help are generally corrosive
Oh wait, I don’t believe in time management either.
To paraphrase one of my heroes, Joel Salatin (Folks This Ain’t Normal), I am a Buddhist-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-business coach-carnivore.
There, its all out there. So just in case anyone else following my FB page was there under the misguided impression that I am one of those woo-woo coaches who believes in anything other than 10,000 hours of freakin’ hard work (and a dose of luck and ability), you may unlike my page. The numbers don’t matter to me. Having tough conversations that grow lives and businesses, does.
To unlike a Facebook Page go to the Like button at the top, and click it. All done.
I work with business to redesign their futures. I help them . . . → Read More: Have I Misrepresented Myself?
By clemens, on April 12th, 2012 
What does a business coach do?
How much does business coaching cost?
What is the value of business coaching to my business?
Here are the answers to some of those questions in an infographic about my practice! Check it out and let me know what you think.
I work with business to redesign their futures. I help them become what their owners first dreamed them to be… Want more out of your business? Contact me. From my home base on Vancouver Island, I provide planning and coaching support to businesses across Canada.
Too shy to leave a comment? A Google ”+1″ or Facebook “Like” is sweet too!
By clemens, on April 10th, 2012 
Staying Connected
Anyone who has worked with me or attended any of my presentations knows that sustaining relationships and retaining great customers and employees is a major focus.
My motto in this is “Be a keeper, not a getter.“
Like all mottoes, it over-states the case. But the point is made: we need to focus more on retaining the good and valuable people we have around us, than on acquiring new people.
Given that time is our most valuable resource, what are some time-effective ways of keeping great people close?
Email newsletters. Newsletters are consistently rated as the most effective way of staying in touch with people. That continues to be true in the world of exploding networking channels on-line. Like the potato, newsletters are not the perfect food, and you can’t live on them alone, but if you had to live on only one, it’s the one to go with. Pareto Principle. The sad truth in business is that you cannot treat everyone the same. That is a poor use of resources. Focus your attentions on that minority of customers who are your biggest fans and generate either the greatest revenues or the most referrals, or both. Of you course you would need to know who that is, right? So use… Lists. Using either a formal CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software package or any kind of list in a spreadsheet, do your best to track your customers. Know who they are, what they love, what they return to your business, and how to contact them. Training. You can’t deliver great customer experiences and great follow-up alone. You need a team. And then factor in the statistic that nearly 70% of customers who leave and never return to a business, do so because of employee attitude. Great customer experience, and . . . → Read More: Increase Your Repeat Business – 4 Quick Tips
By clemens, on April 5th, 2012 
A very interesting article in American Express Open Forum has provided some optimism about the economic future based on hiring forecasts. But it also notes some serious reservations employers have about ‘what’s out there’ in terms of hiring material.
Good job applicants and great talent are always hard to find. But I am seeing two trends employers must pay more attention to.
For all the talk about ‘hiring for character’ I still see far too much emphasis on ‘hiring for skills’. If skills are lacking, a competitive advantage can be created by being prepared to invest and train people with remarkable ‘soft’ attributes. If the market for ‘off the shelf’ talent really isn’t there, stop belly-aching about it and do something about it: invest and train. Those remarkable diamonds-in-the-rough could be working for you, or they could be working for your competition. You decide. The growing use of automated recruiting contractors and their resume processing systems is a disaster in the making. Having software eliminate prospective talent because of a lack of key words in the cover letter is insanity. And there are more and more employers jumping on this band wagon. I know the up-front savings are there, but the long-term cost in relying on sloppy algorithms to tell you who is good for your organization is beyond calculation.
This is a very serious issue, but as the responses to this survey indicate that employers are falling back on the old “things aren’t the way they used to be” responses.
We all know what happens EVERY single time this happens in business: while some segment of the industry is in full-on self-pity mode, some aggressive competitors are already converting the challenge into an opportunity and quietly changing the game. So you make your choice: whiner or game . . . → Read More: Do you Need to Change Your Hiring Practices?
By clemens, on April 2nd, 2012 
(Model outside Chopstix Salon – Ladysmith)
This is the 6th in my ongoing series of interviews with small business owners. The goal is to tell a story in which other small business owners will find encouragement, ideas, and confirmation that what they are experiencing is shared by others! These interviews are about extending our sense of community as small business owners.
Darlene Munn – Owner of Chopstix Hair Salon
(Darlene Munn)
Darlene Munn bought the Ladysmith location of Chopstix Salon in 2005.
That statement is important to me, because the purchase of a business location is a critical step in the life of any small business. But it does not stop there for Darlene. She has been in the industry since she was 18, and by 21 she was managing her first salon. Chopstix is her third salon. In a journey of over 30 years, Darlene has relentlessly carved a parallel path as an educator and as a show artist.
Darlene now holds a position as a Senior National Educator for the Paul Mitchell Group, a position that has her travelling across Western Canada and the United States, training, being trained, and participating in hair shows.
You will find some of Darlene’s work on the Paul Mitchell website here: http://www.paulmitchell.com/EN-US/THEBUZZ/STYLEINSPIRATION/Pages/Home.aspx (the three portraits below are from the Paul Mitchell series, and featured in a calendar by Darlene and her team).
Darlene is a creative talent. She has a photography studio attached to her salon, and has redone her home and salon more times than I can count since I have known her.
Systems, consistent management, and a passion for her craft as a stylist, photographer, and teacher are Darlene’s hallmarks as a business owner. Her salon has become a destination where clients will drive for an hour for the . . . → Read More: Up At Night: Interviews with Business Owners – Darlene Munn
By clemens, on March 23rd, 2012 
An Industry Canada Initiative
Wondering how to take advantage of the latest
e-marketing tools and techniques?
Hire a post-secondary student to support your business in anything from social media support to online sales. Industry Canada will reimburse up to 75% of the wage and mandatory employment-related costs to up a total of $10,000.
The Small Business Internship Program is an Industry Canada program that is administered in our network by Community Futures British Columbia. The program provides financial support to Canadian small and Medium-sized Business (<500 employees) to employ a College or University student- intern who can assist them in increasing the usage of e-commerce strategies to improve their productivity and competitiveness in the marketplace.
E-commerce is part of e-business in that it is the purchasing, selling, and exchanging of goods and services over computer networks (such as the Internet) through which transactions or terms of sale are performed electronically. These could be:
Social Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Online shopping and order tracking (inventory control/management) Shopping cart software Teleconferencing and webinars Electronic tickets for event and group activities (like an airline ticket) Document automation in supply chain and logistics Domestic and international payment systems Enterprise content management (organizing and storing an organization’s documents, and other content, electronically) Group buying Automated online assistants (provide customer service or other assistance on a website) Instant messaging clients or those within proximity to your business about deals
Successful applicants will need to demonstrate the following:
Be for-profit and in continuous operation for at least one year Have an active company website Have a desire to utilize new tools to improve their internet-marketing or improve productivity using electronic means
Successful applicants will receive financial support towards the employment of a post-secondary student who will work for 420 hours (12-14 weeks) on the e-commerce projects. Industry Canada will reimburse up to 75% . . . → Read More: Small Business Internship Program
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About Clemens Rettich 
Micro-Bio: Coach, writer, speaker, listener, (devil's) advocate. Clemens makes a difference for clients in SMB fundamentals, communication, and management. Read the Long Version Here
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