Author: Garth Beyer

There’s a lot of data you can print out on an excel sheet about a target. There’s plenty of data you can research online. Plenty you can read about at the public library.

What lends power to the accessible data is the less accessible data.

Why is this person part of this tribe? What are they struggling with? How do they want to feel? What are they trying to change (or feel good about not changing, which is more often the case)?

While it helps to converse with enough of the target to learn these variables, I don’t think it’s necessary. In fact, it sometimes removes you from the emotional connection you gleam from having an objective and removed perspective.

Key insights can be attained from a room full of those who are willing to see past their own world views and sink their teeth into the culture of a tribe they’re not part of.

When you look at a tribe rather than an individual, you’re able to remain a step removed and see trends. After all, as marketers, you’re rarely trying to understand just one person, nor are any two people exactly the same even if they are part of the same tribe.

Once you understand why a tribe exists, you can begin to give to them what will resonate.

 

Stay Positive & “Give” Is The Key Word There, Not “Market To”

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Have you ever wondered what a person who you’re meeting for the first time could be looking for in conversation from you?

We network, ask what others do for a living, talk about the weather and the turnout of attendees at the event, but it’s rare we get to the grit of why we’re there – we want to be understood.

We have two actions we can take at a networking event or anywhere we’re meeting new people for the first time.

We can stand around waiting for someone to talk to us and to understand what struggle we’re dealing with related to why we’re at the event.

Or we can remove our concerns from the equation and recognize the struggle of others.

At an event filled with lawyers, loan officers and entrepreneurs I was in search of what would make the lawyers tick. What’s their struggle? After enough prodding, I asked the right question. “Do you work with the three-tier system in Wisconsin?”

Ding ding ding.

From there the conversation cruised, the connection solidified and I made a legal friend to quote in stories and consult.

Sometimes networking isn’t all about what we can give to others.

I had no way of making this guy’s life any easier. I had no answers for him.

Sometimes networking done right is just listening and caring about the struggle of others.

 

Stay Positive & Embrace The Struggle

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You can quickly crash if you’re in pursuit of gaining momentum in specific areas.

Building your momentum by body building, upping the weight regularly and constantly, your body will eventually break and reject any more forward movement.

Building your momentum at writing is capped by the time in the day and your ability to stay awake. There’s a point where you can’t gain any more momentum.

In terms of time invested, too much of a specific good thing can quickly become a bad thing.

When you think about building momentum at work. It can’t be specific to one client, one line of tasks, one particular area.

You build momentum at work by rolling as many snowballs down the hill as you can. You build momentum in your health by exercising, eating right, sleeping right, meditating, and stretching.

Although I only write one blog post a day instead of each day writing one more than the last, I’m still building momentum in writing because I not only write one blog post a day, but I free write, I write social copy for clients, I write newsletters, I write emails, I write recommendations. I’m in pursuit of writing momentum, not an exact momentum in one of the listed areas.

The momentum you want to be after is the big picture movement, the overall momentum; not the specifics.

 

Stay Positive & Run The Gamut (That’s Momentum)

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Many exchange their hours for a price. Obvious.

More concerning: Many give up pay to give others the responsibility to tell them what to do.

I’m guilty of it.

I freelance for a newspaper (static compensation) when I could make more by turning my pieces into a blog or a book (dynamic compensation). On the other hand, I run my one-man business and am working on opening a craft beer bar (unlimited compensation). I do PR for others (salary) at the same time as I do PR for myself (monetarily limitless).

A friend of mine works minimum wage at a radio station when she could start her own podcast station and be successful at it.

A personal trainer spends his time getting people memberships to someone else’s gym instead of starting his own.

I agree there is a threshold of risk and responsibility. At some point it becomes overwhelming.

However, the problem I see isn’t that people are taking too much responsibility and are making too much money and are loving what they do too much. It’s the opposite. The problem is they’re giving up too much just to have someone else take the responsibility.

A friend once said to me, “Those who build ships for others rarely experience the real success of putting something out to sea.”

 

Stay Positive & Start Building Your Own Ships

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Leave a meeting without knowing about an area for personal growth.

Convince people to buy your product who you know will regret their decision.

Ignore the data and realities facing your industry.

Lead with answers and not questions.

Be a fox when you can be a hedgehog.

Spend energy on motivating your team instead of hiring self-motivated players.

 

Stay Positive & Just To List A Few

Photo credit (Good short read by Jiwa on regrettable decisions)

There’s a fine line between being remarkable and being over-generous.

Giving a customer a coupon for unlimited desserts for their life isn’t as remarkable as surprising each customer with a fresh, warm cookie out of the oven.

If I were to write you a note every day expressing my gratitude for you reading my blog, it would mean less and less as time waned on. Reminding you that I’m dancing with the same fears you are has a greater impact.

Bringing flowers home to your significant other each day usually stops being shareworthy after the first day.

Telling you which grade school a CEO went to is less powerful than telling you about what she did right when she became CEO.

The stories we tell about ourselves and our brands and our businesses must revolve around memorable moments.

Too much of a good thing really is a bad thing. However, that’s not to say you can’t have a variety of memorable moments. In fact, that’s what makes for the best stories.

 

Stay Positive & What Are Your Memorable Moments?

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