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Burnout is no badge of honor.
If you squint your eyes just enough, tilt your head at the right angle, and hold your breath for a count of 10, you might see burnout as the result of lazy, incomplete, ineffective, and bad business design. We hear a lot of ‘success stories’ about founders and CEOs working 12-16 hours each day, providing…
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Data is not the story. Nor is it marketing
Modern marketing is ever-more difficult to distinguish from data. But it is crucial that we put forth continued effort to separate them in order to best invest our resources. Here is my take on it. Marketing is the story. Multiple stories, actually! – The story about why and how you (the brand, product, team, individual,…
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Everything is Marketing. Marketing is Everything!
Everything we do and don’t do communicates something about us, our values, preferences, and personalities. It helps us build trust and social bonds to those around us, as well as to seek other places/groups where we can easily connect. This applies to individuals, small business entities, and large corporations equally. Humans evolved to communicate at…
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Listen, connect, innovate.
These three words will do wonders in EVERY relationship you have – both business and personal. As simple as it sounds, it represents a lifetime commitment of practice, patience, getting it wrong, and improving. LISTEN:It must start here. Hear the words others say as well as what they don’t say. By following the ‘anatomic rule’…
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Give More TIME
FACT: We all have the same 24 hours each day. What we get largely comes down to how we allocate those moments. Let me be clear, “Give More Time” is NOT about giving all of your time away. It is about establishing ways to be selective about where you invest your time so that you…
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Profitability is Key to Sustainability
Sustainable business IS profitable. Let’s start with simple explanations of 2 key concepts with 7 words each. PROFIT: calculation of total revenue less total expenses. SUSTAINABILITY: The ability to continue operations perpetually. In order to continue operations, businesses need to collect more than they spend. Each business has a unique pattern to the sources, timing,…
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Easy Is Always Better
One way to gain huge advantages in the minds of the human buyers and users is to make things simple. Einstein has been famously attributed to a reminder to us all that if we can’t explain it simply enough for a 5th grader, we don’t understand it well enough. This applies to Business, Finance, Economics,…
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Celebrate Perpetually
There is an old management saying about catching people doing the right things and celebrating, rather than catching them doing something wrong and correcting them. It is hard work to do this day-in and day-out. Shortly after the new year, I began formally dedicating a portion of my day to writing out an actual list…
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Ideal Clients Are Not Always Ideal
It is easy to describe ideal clients/customers as being … well… perfect. As in:– Easy to identify and find digitally– Already know they have a problem or challenge– Currently looking for solution options– Funding approved– Ready to buy While some of these attributes ARE available, they alone are not likely to sustain your growth goals,…
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Story is EVERYTHING
You’ve likely heard it many times before, story is important to your brand. What is most fascinating is that it is less about the story you tell, and more about the story people say over and over within their own mind. You get to influence their story of you through the following: – content –…
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Personalization is HUMANIZATION
YES. We are buyers, sellers, users, employees, partners, owners, influencers, interacts, and an unthinkably broad range of demographics. Most importantly, we are HUMANS We are individuals with passions, interests, dreams, hobbies, friends, people demanding things from us, challenges to navigate, and lots of ideas. Smart marketers understand the value in the first list. They build…
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Whole-business approach
Whole person approach = whole business approach Thankfully, there is a lot of talk about mental health and stability as it pertains to business, career, growth, and success. The benefits apply to EVERYONE, not just entrepreneurs, founders, and executives. A whole-person approach to business design is merely about creating support systems for critical infrastructure. It…
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Growing with Values
Formalizing and adopting clear values in your organization or team does have a immediate and positive impact on morale, trust, and growth. When organizations approach this as a 1-time investment, they can expect a 1-time bump. If shown graphically, it would likely be a sharp spike followed by sharp decline. The decline may be more,…
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Dreams Require Processes
Ideal outcomes are like whimsical dreams without a process to bring them into reality. These 6 Key areas help channel efforts and energy into building systems that create ideal outcomes. They are presented in a circular design to suggest that it doesn’t matter where you begin. There is no particular order to follow. Start where…
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Limits of Product Design
It is nearly impossible to design and build a product that will sell itself millions of times over! Great product design IS important. But Sustainable and growing revenue streams are built by stories, connections, and relationships of marketing, branding, and sales professionals. Period. Revenues can be generated without them. However, the default arena is PRICE – which is heavily slanted toward…
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How To Prioritize
Ever come out of a strategic meeting with TOO MANY PRIORITIES? It might be a sign that they actually aren’t priorities and might benefit by a system. Feel free to apply, adapt, and/or share this simple one. 1: GET PHYSICAL: not like fisticuffs! Write the following down on paper or whiteboard (avoid software as much…
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Strategy and Execution
Execution is a valuable and important skill to have in business. It shows up as our history. We can easily look back at the sum of the decisions we make and assess a judgement – Did we execute well? But execution is only half (at most) of the story! Strategy and purpose are what drive our decision-making and will…
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Always Add Value
When business is booming… When things are slow… When you are absolutely confident… When you are in doubt… Find ways to add value to whatever situation you find yourself! Here are some common ways to start adding value. Listening and attention Compassion and understanding Sincere compliment Smile or tasteful humor Hope, new options, or a path forward Education or…
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Simplifying “BRANDING”
I wish I had a nickel for every time I had a conversation with a business professional about what branding is or isn’t; why it is valuable; when and how to invest in it; etc. Here is an overly simple solution for executives, owners, founders, as well as our friends and family members. Every time you see the word branding,…
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Uncertainty is the result of unclear VALUES.
Decisions are made nearly sub-consciously and are absolutely driven by emotions. Even the big decisions that are supported by mountains of data and have sweeping impact on thousands of people. Having clear values – whatever they might be – helps align information and resources to ease the decision-making process. They also help bring consistency to decisions made…
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Leading from Chaos
All your thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions have brought you to where you are today. It might not be the depiction of Strategic Mastery you would like it to be. It is likely the most accurate depiction of “learning curve” and represents huge investments in developing emotional boundaries, physical dexterities, understanding others, situational awareness, and…
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What is Leadership in Marketing & Sales?
-It is building authentic connections with customers, clients, and users; as well as teammates, other departments, and internal competitors. – It is helping those in your sphere grow, benefit, find joy, minimize pain. – It is sharing knowledge and skills while constantly learning from others and trying new things. – It is about facilitating communication and trust. (notice that it is NOT…
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Is your business sexy?
My personal belief: confidence, consistency, something of clear value or benefit to me, and maybe a sense of humor … all without taking one’s self too seriously is #SEXY, #ALLURING, and #ATTRACTIVE. It is what I want! Though they are expressed very differently; I think it is what most people want in terms of product, service, and functionality,…
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Polishing Turds or Audience Selection
I admit it! On more than two occasions in my career, I invested massive amounts of my creative, persuasive, and story-telling energies into a product or company that I knew wasn’t going anywhere. It was torture! What separates successful #innovations isn’t how much spin or #marketing resources are applied. It is doing the challenging work to understand who can…
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The Thin Line Separating Crazy from Genius
The distance between “Crazy” and “Genius” is measured in tenths of millimeters and often comes down to 3 categories – #Practicality, #Audience, and #Messaging. Here are some questions to help bring clarity to each of these categories. The more you invest in them, the more you will develop unlimited value, markets, and revenues. PRACTICALITY:How does it benefit, bring…
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Why People Love Brands
The foundation of every #Brand is psychological safety. People want to feel #heard.We want to feel #connected with others.We want to be part of a shared #future #Communicating that brand is done through #BelongingCues – subtle and authentic behaviors repeated over time that create conditions for collaboration, shared problem-solving, listening, and learning. People show love and support where they feel it reciprocated. Are you…
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Innovation and Product Life Cycle
Innovations are often mis-understood as being instant hits that immediately resonate with mass audiences and ‘virtually sell themselves’ based on their merits, coolness, or impact alone. This is NEVER the case! More accurately, all innovations follow the exact same sequence of growth as every other product. No brand, person, or idea can escape it. Following…
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Only Execute Fully-Funded Projects
A mentor talked with me about only executing fully-funded projects early in my career. I feel strong and confident every time I use this tip to make a decision about where to invest my energies. I have been burned every time I go against this methodology. As have countless others. One trick I have learned…
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To Brand Is To Be Human
Your brand is critical to attracting ideal clients/customers, defining expected quality, overall business stability, growth opportunities, and personal wealth. Meaning: without a defined brand, all the above is extraordinarily difficult. It has always been this way! By always, I refer to dating of early branding irons that go back thousands of years. More crucially, branding…
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Where Your Brand Lives
Your #brand is the reputation that lives in the minds of people. They might be internal, externally connected, or totally disconnected. Over-simplifying, I put 60% emphasis on external but connected people. they might include:– #Vendors– Former employees– Distribution partners– #Customers (current and past)– #Prospects– Ideal #audiences, etc. The remaining 40% on internal people.– #Employees– #Investors Synergies and momentum build when there is overlap and…
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Simple Rules For Communication
1st Rule of Marketing and Communications:Say something you believe and that people want to hear. It is about being original in your perspective, not just verbal vomit 2nd Rule:Say it clearly, and in appropriate channel. 3rd Rule:Repeat and refine your message, audience, and channel. These rules are alarmingly simple and easy to overlook. They are…
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Finding Your Marketing Sweet-spot
Marketing initiatives and strategies are as unique and diverse as humanity. There is NEVER a single best-solution for any brand, product, service, or industry. Rather, each marketing and leadership team must determine their own goals, outcomes, and objectives they wish to achieve with their efforts and find a range of nuanced tactics that serve them…
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How Do You Harness Engagement?
How do you build #engagement beyond social and digital platforms? Many consider engagement strictly as a buying signal and assign points or metrics as a form of progress towards a purchase. But there are many times when engagement is consistently very high, yet there is no opportunity to transact.– Industry Incompatibility: maybe respectful peers like…
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Who do you serve?
#Business exists to serve people. And to the extent people are served, business grows. Get to know your people – as individuals.People often fall into categories of shareholders, owners, employees, vendors, buyers, users, subscribers, followers, and friends – each with different needs. None of them is more important than any other. Find ways to help them…
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Connect. Don’t Persuade
My acceptance into the Sales Training MBA program offered by The School Of Hard Knocks was accepted 3.5 years ago – shortly after the birth of my daughter. I continue to learn so much from this program and am enthusiastic about never graduating! Before enrolling, I had sat through countless seminars teaching the benefits of…
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NO is GOOD for Business
NO is a great answer in sales! We often think about only the buyer having the ability to say no, and it often hurts our egos when they do. There is huge power in saying no to a prospect. I recommend it be done with professionalism, some empathy, and at least a hint of rationale.…
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Platinum Rule For Business
Happy, safe, and trusting humans are THE BIGGEST KEY to any business being able to operate. It is the foundation for employment, leadership, buying, and selling. Surely, we can all agree that there is no way a business can make money without these systems in place. Today’s business environment is often demanding that these systems…
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Compound Interest For Marketing
Long ago, I freaked out when I read one of the first quarterly statements regarding the performance of my 401k. I was ALREADY LOOSING MONEY! Thankfully, someone slapped me out of my panic and reminded me that financial investing is all about money growing over time… as in 2, 3, even 4 decades. The same…
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Measuring Ideas
Some people talk about ideas in terms of being big or small. The idea itself is not measurable beyond a couple firings of neurons somewhere in our brain. What IS measurable is the impact of the idea – the number of people involved in it, the amount of #change it brings, the #value it creates,…
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Creativity is capital
Each of us has unlimited capacity to increase our value. Each of us has unlimited capacity to create! Our #imagination, interpretations, and #insights grow more and more keen with every experience. They represent our largest, and mostly untapped, opportunity to contribute to the world. #Creativity is a natural state of #humanity, making it infinitely #abundant.…
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Better Questions
Great #interviewers and #entrepreneurs are often known for asking #powerful, simple, concise, #cutting, and BIG questions. While they do make their share of #assumptions from time to time, they are followed with more #questions. Better questions aren’t just about getting better #answers. They prime our #curiosity and #imagination, open our minds to #solutions, help us…
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Movement follows value
There are many conversations growing today around ways #leadership, #management, #marketing, and #sales are changing as #technology and #information become ever-more present in our lives. In many ways, these aspects of business have changed dramatically in the past two decades. But as the headline suggests, not much has truly changed! #Humans are social creatures. We…
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Build culture on purpose
Be #intentional. Sure, many business cultures are built on the fly, by accident, and without much deliberate thought. Sometimes they even manage to produce great #products and #systems. But the best cultures are built over time and under careful directives. They exist to #grow, #inspire others, protect themselves, and accomplish specific tasks. Be #mindful. In…
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Leading with HEART
#Sales and #leadership are practically synonymous. Both are about moving people and aligning beliefs. Leading people starts with #passion. Doing something that lights you up from the inside builds more #authenticity and #trust with people. It naturally connects you with others who are like-minded and like-hearted. Now that you have the #connection, #intention, and #direction;…
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Connect more than conquer
We use numerous references to war, battle, and conquering when discussing #business – #sales in particular. These suggest that business is about gaining advantages over customers and buyers that only benefit us. That sure doesn’t sound like the best type of relationship we can create! #21stCentury business and sales models are about building beneficial connections…
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Inspiring Fixers
We can fix it – the #environment, the #economy, the #government, society… anything really. #Creative ideas flow through us constantly as a way of telling us we are alive and to prime our #passions for action. The Internet gives us resources like #Google, #Siri, #Alexa, #Watson, and tons of upcoming new #ArtificialIntelligence systems to streamline…
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Serve Others First
I first heard the concept of #ServantLeadership about 25 years ago (though it dates back over 40 years) and was hooked! The idea is that those in positions of #power and authority put the needs of others first and help them develop in ways to perform their best. In committing to this, they selflessly build…
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Entrepreneurs Change The World
#Teachers educate the world. They share knowledge, help us learn valuable lessons, and inspire us to do more. They are never restricted to the classroom. #Politicians rule the world. As in they create the norms and laws we are to follow to live in society. For better or worse, we give them this permission and…
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Importance of Innovation
#Innovation is the ONLY way to change your current situation, direction or hope to get new results. It can seem scary when you don’t have ample resources of time, money, friends, or whatever. It might not “work”. Meaning it might not bring the results you intend. But trying something new will always bring new results and #feedback.…
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Marketing and Sales Relationship
I like to describe the relationship between #sales and #marketing to be that of heads and tails of a coin (or front/back of a dollar bill). In many situations, #CEOs seem to have systems and structures in place to measure sales. Marketing can and should be designed to compliment and enhance their sales processes. Places where they feel a lag, struggle,…
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My 3yr Old Taught Me ALL About Engagement
Numbers can be a good reflection of our progress, but are NOT the actual target! Proof from my 3ry old:She mostly does what we ask/tell her to doShe always behaves in ways that are expected of her (tantrums ARE expected).She wants to be part of the things we do.She wants to contribute with her skills…
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Unique Value Proposition = Never-ending Revenue Stream
#Marketing, #Brand and #Sales channels ARE your unique value proposition – not merely a way to communicate it! It is time to re-design them to reflect their true power of building engagement and future-proofing your business. What exactly do I mean? Engagement is a signal that audiences trust you, your messaging, and/or your brand. Sometimes…
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Understanding BRAND
A #brand is simply the framework for decisions. It should reflect #humanity, #integrity, and #consistency while leaving room for interpretation and application across diverse situations. For businesses this is reflected in the employees we hire and the partnerships we pursue more than the images and words we promote. For individuals it is reflected by the…
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Business Growth in 6 Simple Steps
Business growth is simple. More specifically, it is based on simple steps. This simplicity is not to be confused with being easy. The better we grow as individuals, as contributors, as leaders, and as marketers; the more we can see opportunities to build systems that help those around us and make decisions to benefit us…
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4 Simple Statements
I recognize the #humanity in you.You are valued and valuable. Your ideas, opinions, and experiences are valid and help shape others.I am excited to #collaborate with you. Imagine what we could accomplish if we started our meetings with these 4 sentences! It would be difficult, uncomfortable, and a challenge to make such a commitment on the front end. It…
David R Frick
IMPACTFUL MARKETING, SALES, & STRATEGY LEADER
David R Frick 