Score a Meeting with Just About Anyone

We’re all inundated with meeting requests these days. It’s easy to say no to the egregious ones, like the stranger who recently emailed me to suggest that I meet with him on a specific date so I could provide him with free career coaching. But — though I know better than to ask for pro bono resume critiques — I’ve certainly been on the other side of the equation at various times, having my meeting requests turned down or ignored altogether. In fact, most of us probably have; in an increasingly time-pressed world, almost no one has the leisure to connect “just because.”

Here are the strategies I’ve learned over time to ensure the people I want to meet are more likely to say yes.

Recognize where you’re starting. A good friend can easily drop you a line letting you know they’ll be in your city and suggesting a meetup. “You can write with a presumptive tone at certain levels of intimacy,” Keith Ferrazzi, the author of the networking classic Never Eat Alone, told me during a recent interview. “But you have to lead with certain degrees of currency when you don’t have that level of intimacy.” In other words, strangers should never presume that the other person wants to connect with them — that fact needs to be established first. So in your initial message, you need to give them a good reason (the “currency” that Ferrazzi mentions), which could be anything from a PR opportunity (such as interviewing them for your blog) to something you can teach them  (how to improve their search engine optimization) to the opportunity to connect with another guest they want to meet at your dinner party. Make clear the value proposition of getting to know you; otherwise, it’s far too easy for them to underestimate you and assume you don’t have anything to offer.

Start with a modest ask. An hour or a half-hour doesn’t seem like a lot of time. But if you’re one of 20 or 50 requests that week — which isn’t an uncommon number for busy professionals to receive — it can quickly become overwhelming. So don’t ask to meet for lunch; aim smaller, so it’s easy to say yes (a strategy I describe in “How to Land an Interview with a Cold Call”). I recently agreed to a phone conversation with one aspiring author who vowed in his email, “You must have a full schedule, so I will get to the point quickly and can keep the call to less than 10 minutes.” In the end, I didn’t speak with the author for 10 minutes; our call, which proved to be engaging, lasted 30 — despite the fact that I likely would have rejected a request for that amount of time. That’s the same strategy that well-known psychologist Robert Cialdini discovered in his early research on door-to-door fundraising campaigns for the United Way. Adding five words to the standard pitch — “even a penny would help” — doubled contributions. “Because how can you say no if even a penny is acceptable?” Cialdini told me in an interview for my forthcoming book. “We doubled the number of people who gave and no one [actually] gave a penny. You don’t give a penny to United Way; you give a donation that’s appropriate.”

Always find a warm lead. No matter how successful you are professionally, there are always going to be some people you’d like to meet that haven’t yet heard of you. The challenge is to break through and ensure they view you as a colleague — someone “like them” — rather than a stranger impinging on their time. Finding mutual contacts is one of the best ways to do it. Even Ferrazzi, known for his networking prowess, still has “aspirational contacts” he’d like to meet. In those cases, he says, “I leverage others to help with outreach.” Facebook, with its “mutual friends” function, makes this simple; LinkedIn — which charts connections out to the second and third degree — makes it even easier. Having shared contacts introduce you puts you on peer footing and gets your relationship off to the right start.

Just as sitting is apparently the new smoking, time is the new money. No one can afford to give it away carelessly these days. If you’re asking someone you don’t know for a half-hour, or even 10 minutes, you have to think of your request like you’re making a VC pitch. Why should they speak to you? How can you establish your credibility upfront? How will it benefit them? How can you pack the greatest ROI into the shortest time? If you can answer those questions well, you should be able to get a meeting with just about anyone.

Dorie Clark is a strategy consultant and speaker for clients such as Google, Yale University, Microsoft, and the World Bank. She is an Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future. Follow her on Twitter at @dorieclark.

Leaders Who Take No for an Answer Build Trust

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inCharlie is a charming, highly persuasive marketing executive for a growing technology company. He’s a delight to work with — until you tell him what he’s asking for isn’t possible.

Then, his charm rapidly dissipates. On a good day, you’ll get a reptilian smile with, “I’m sure someone with as many years in the business can find a way to make this work”; on a bad day, it’s a terse “just find a way.” No amount of reasoning will work with Charlie because, in his mind, there are two types of people: winners and losers. And Charlie doesn’t lose.

The media is filled with stories of CEOs, celebrities and highly paid sports figures run amok with their inability to take “no” for an answer. Whether their reactions are all-out tirades or a more subtle approach like Charlie’s, leaders who must hear “yes” at all costs put their organizations’ financial health at risk. Moreover, these win-at-all-cost types create a culture that damages trust.

According to Loyola University professor Linda Stroh, people who consistently respond poorly to being told “no” are on track to be perceived as one of the “bad guys” — people who are not to be trusted. Stroh, the author of “Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys in Work and Life,” has done research to uncover the key elements that make a person trustworthy. The ability to accept a rejected idea graciously indicates a person is more likely to be perceived as trustworthy.

Persistence and tenacity definitely pay off. But at what point does sticking to your guns become a liability and threaten the trust between you and your team? Here are three ways to tell if you’ve crossed the line:

The thrill of victory. Many business people are former athletes; they enjoy the thrill of winning. When you engage with your colleagues, do you get a buzz when the interaction turns competitive? Be aware: are you unconsciously setting up a win-lose scenario in your mind? Remember, you and the people you lead are a team, not adversaries. If you are somehow thinking you need to “win” the argument, or have your specific idea adopted, you’ve stepped over into trust-damaging territory.

The need to be right. My kids often argue over the smallest details, struggling to maintain who is “right” over the debate at hand: “You said that I said that it happened on Wednesday.” “No, I said that YOU said it was on Thursday. I was at Jimmy’s on Thursday, so I couldn’t have done it on Thursday.”

And so on; the argument continues over irrelevant minutiae. Sadly, similar debates occur with adults in the workplace, as well. The problem is, when we’re embroiled in the discussion, it’s hard to step back and see how ludicrous the conversation has become. When you’re in a discussion in which there are differing opinions, and the debate centers on a small detail, pull back. Can you make the choice to be wrong (or simply concede the point) in order to help the team move on?

The tendency to take it personally. Not every disagreement from a team member is an attack on your character or your intellect. Believe it or not, some leaders are perfectly comfortable with their team members saying, “Um, Stacie, that’s a terrible idea, and here’s why.” They’ve cultivated an atmosphere of “tell me if I’m off track,” and their employees are comfortable giving difficult feedback. If you’ve never heard your team push back on your ideas, then most likely you are somehow sending the message that disagreement is a bad thing. The next time a spirited debate takes place at a meeting and you feel your ideas are being attacked, remind yourself that it’s the idea being questioned, not who you are as a person.

Leaders like Charlie, who see “not taking no for an answer” as a sign of strength, may win in the short term, but their actions have long-lasting negative effects. Their inability to listen to others’ opinions and, if appropriate, concede a point, drives down trust within their team. They overplay the persistence hand, and in doing so, damage not only their personal credibility, but their organization’s ability to thrive.

Jennifer V. Miller is a is a leadership development consultant whose writing and digital training materials help business professionals better lead themselves and others so they can achieve greater career success.

Four Tricks for Unlocking Your Imagination so you can Innovate!

Passion, determination and fearlessness are qualities most successful entrepreneurs and small business owners are known to possess. But where does imagination fit in? It’s imagination, after all, that leads to creativity. It’s imagination that fuels innovation. And, as conventional wisdom goes, if you don’t innovate you may not survive.

While memories of childhood — of looking towards the stars to create your own worlds or playing games with friends while making up new rules as you go — are normally the first things that come to mind when thinking of “imagination,” the ability to imagine doesn’t disappear upon entering adulthood.

Of course, as a small business owner, when you’re in the throes of paying bills or seeking funding, hiring or firing employees, and finding new customers while keeping the ones you have happy, there doesn’t seem to be much room for letting your imagination run wild.
How do we get past the barrier of day-to-day responsibilities and pressures to get to a creative space? I know from my work with start-up founders involved in the Constant Contact Small Business Innovation Program that these tricks work for anyone looking to unlock their imagination.

1. Inspiration is everywhere, so go out and find it

There is no limit to the number of places where you can find a great idea. However, it does take some practice to train your mind to be constantly on the lookout.
To begin, I recommend these activities:

• Scour the news and competitive landscape. Keep regular tabs on what is happening in your industry, what your competitors are doing, and what trends are occurring among both businesses and consumers as a whole. You can often discover ideas that can apply to your business.
• Become aware of what you like in the products and services you use. Hypothetically, take your interest (bourgeoning on obsession) with Instagram. It’s just a photo sharing app on its surface, so what makes it so addictive? For you it may be streamlined and simplified layout, or the pre-set filters that allow you to easily create something beautiful that you otherwise would not have been able to make, or maybe you just like to stalk your friends. You may find an idea in your favorite products that can strengthen your own business offerings.
• Get out of the office and observe the world around you. While customer surveys are certainly valuable (more on that later), it is also valuable to go out and see consumers in the field. Observing how the world works with a lens of “how can I make it better” can go a long way in developing your professional imagination.

2. Listen — and I mean really listen — to your customers and their pain points

A lot of businesses only talk to customers in order to mitigate problems. Take your business one step further and use conversations with customers to spark an idea to improve your business. Some easy ways to collect feedback include sending out surveys via email, asking questions of your Facebook and Twitter followers, or simply having a conversation with someone at your place of business.
For example, innovation and design firm IDEO recently worked with State Farm Insurance to find ways to better build relationships with millennials. Through extensive rounds of interviews with consumers between 18 and 35 years old, IDEO discovered that millennials found insurance companies to be intimidating and unwelcoming. With this information in hand, State Farm and IDEO sought to introduce brand-new State Farm brick-and-mortar locations, designed specifically to accommodate and educate millennials on insurance. The results were, well, quite welcoming.

3. Step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in new ways

We all have a tendency to think in limited perspectives based on our strengths and experiences. If you have a marketing background, you may look at your product in an entirely different way than if you have a design background.

When stuck in a creative rut, many songwriters will switch to an instrument other than their one of choice in order to become re-inspired. Push yourself to consider different perspectives and think of problems from a different angle and you too may soon see great new ideas form.

Similarly, push yourself to think bigger. It’s perfectly fine to have “pie-in-the-sky” ambitions as long as you remember that not every idea will result in success. Search engine giant Google is particularly good at this. Take a look at its recent ventures: wearable technology, self-driving cars, smart thermometers. Do any of these fall in the category of its “bread-and-butter” search engines? No. Will all of them succeed? Probably not. But it is through Google's willingness to push itself that it has become one of the most successful companies on the planet.

4. Make distractions mandatory

At our Small Business InnoLoft, it’s common to see Nerf gun fights and skee ball competitions. Taking a step away from your everyday tasks gives your mind the space to wander — or simply not think at all — for just a bit.

The benefits of distraction have been scientifically proven. The Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology found that 20-minute “progressive relaxation” midday breaks reduced stress in the afternoon, helped blood pressure, produced better sleep quality, and more.
The benefits of fostering imagination and creativity are many, from the creation of a rewarding work environment to the discovery of those “wow” moments (big or small) that make your business a success.

And remember, as George Lucas put so well, “You can’t do it unless you can imagine it."

Written by Andy Miller,chief innovation architect at Constant Contact.

Creativity Is Not Innovation (But You Need Both)

"Creativity" and “Innovation” are two words that constantly get thrown around in brainstorming sessions, corporate meetings and company mission statements. There's no question that these values are highly prized in the fast-paced modern workplace, but do leaders who use the terms truly know the difference between them?

Shawn Hunter, author of "Out Think: How Innovative Leaders Drive Exceptional Outcomes," (Wiley, 2013) defines creativity as the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual, while innovation is the implementation or creation of something new that has realized value to others. Business leaders frequently interchange creativity and innovation, without understanding what separates the two.

"Creativity isn't necessarily innovation," Hunter told Business News Daily. "If you have a brainstorm meeting and dream up dozens of new ideas then you have displayed creativity, but there is no innovation until something gets implemented."

 Hunter noted that many leaders focus more emphasis on generating creativity on demand, instead of simply building innovative products, processes and interactions. "Innovation isn't a mysterious black box," he said. "It can be simple small tweaks to existing processes, products or interactions. And by focusing on the process [of innovation], and not the heroically creative individual, we can build innovation at scale."

In other words, process is replicable and scalable; a creative individual is not. Once leaders understand the difference between creativity and innovation, they can work on inspiring both among their team members and building a culture that supports these values.

"While leaders can foster innovation, the organization as a whole must also support innovation through the makeup of its culture and the way it designs its processes," Hunter said. "Sometimes the best way to spark innovation is by allowing activity within the organization that deviates from the norm but that may lead to positive outcomes." 

Hunter cited the birth of Starbucks' now-popular Frappuccino drink as an example of how leaders giving their employees some room for deviation allows creativity to blossom into innovation. In the early 1990s, the staff at a Santa Monica, California, Starbucks invented a new drink and asked an executive to propose the product to headquarters, where it was ultimately rejected. Later, the same store invented another drink (the Frappuccino), and the executive asked the staff to quietly make and sell the drink to local customers. It quickly became a hit, and the management group implemented the successful idea companywide once its value was proved.

"The Frappuccino turned out to be one of Starbucks' most popular and profitable drinks," Hunter said. "And, according to [Starbucks' then-vice president of sales and operations] Howard Behar, it happened because someone was allowed, and even encouraged, to experiment with a new product that deviated from the company's core product line."

by Nicole Fallon, Business News Daily Assistant Editor 

10 Phrases That Will Make You a Better Leader

Want to be a better leader? Try improving your vocabulary.

No, I’m not talking adding the latest management and leadership buzzwords or jargon to your repertoire. If that’s what you’re looking for, try the Wall Street Journal’s Business Buzzwords Generator. You’ll be able to walk around uttering leadership gibberish such as “Moving forward, it’s time to act with strategic vector and transform our team bandwidth”and “Looking forward to 2015, ideation will be key to our ability to impact the solutions holistically.”

I’m talking about adding some powerful phrases to your vocabulary that will engage and motivate, encourage people to come up with ideas, and inspire commitment.

It’s not an exhaustive list – just a collection I’ve picked up over the years – so please feel free to add your own in the comments section.

1. "How can I be a better leader?" Credit goes to Marshall Goldsmith for this one. Variations of the question include “How can I be a better parent?” “How can I be a better spouse?” and “How can I be a better child?” Just make sure to listen and say …
2. “Thank-you.” Use these two powerful words as a response to constructive feedback (which should be seen as a gift), positive feedback, as a way to express gratitude for going the extra mile or a job well done, or when someone brings bad news or a problem to your attention.
3. “Nice job.” Variations include “good work” and “way to go.” Giving positive reinforcement becomes even more powerful if when it’s specific, timely, and you can explain why (positive impact), but let’s not over-complicate it too much for now.
4. “What do you think?” Credit goes to Tom Peters for this one. Asking someone for their opinion or ideas is the ultimate demonstration of respect. And when you get those ideas, don’t forget to go back to #2.
5. “How can I help?” Often used as a way to express support during a development discussion, in problem solving, when someone is going through personal difficulties, or when problems or ideas are brought to your attention.
6. “What’s possible?” Credit goes to Jack and Carol Weber for teaching me the importance of “possibility thinking.” Instead of coming up with reasons why something won’t work, ask yourself and others “what’s possible”. And if they do come up with examples of how similar ideas have been tried in the past and have not worked, use the phrase “Up until now.”
7. “I don’t know.” Use this when you truly don’t know the answer to a question or solution to a problem – it demonstrates humility and authenticity. It goes well with “what do you think” as a follow-up.
8. “Why is that important to you?” This question demonstrates that you care, and you’ll learn a lot about the person’s motivation and values.
9. “Help me understand.” A much better way to understand someone’s logic, reasoning, feelings, etc… than “really?!” or “seriously?!” or “what the heck are you smoking?!”
10. “I believe in you.” I may have saved the best for last. What a way to express confidence in someone’s ability or potential!

Dan McCarthy is the director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire and runs the Management & Leadership channel of About.com. He writes the award-winning leadership development blog Great Leadership and is consistently ranked as one of the top digital influencers in leadership and talent management. 

What is Real Power?

Leadership just isn’t what it used to be. Thank goodness! We’ve all known of organizational cultures where the managers’ use of command and control is a source of power. Because we are now in an age of flattened organizational structures, global broad based knowledge, and speed-of-light decision making, real leadership power lies in work relationships that are formed and intentionally sustained.

In the next 20 years, we’ll see more change in how managers lead. Although here are still pockets of managers who grasp for power through force and strength, they’ll leave and be replaced with a new type of manager. This manager will be adept at real power. They’ll share influence by being a catalyst to bring out the best in their stakeholders and organizations.

They’ll focus on others as a significant investment as opposed to simply checking off items on a “to do” list. The managers who are adept at force and control will not survive, except perhaps in rare cases where safety and security may be necessary.

Up and coming managers: be ready! Your time will come to lead on a bigger scale and change the world! You might as well begin learning about how to have real power now. Your real power is in:

Relationships: Always pay attention to the relationships you need to foster that are mutually beneficial. Develop them, sustain them, and mend them as necessary. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with those you lead; it simply means that you need to be able to work with each other for the common good. You don’t even have to like each other, but you do have to clean out your personal closets of assumptions, judgments and beliefs to be able to achieve together. Be honest and foster trust at all times, especially when you disagree.

Collaboration: Gone are the days of competing with internal (and sometimes external) stakeholders to foster creativity or to get you want. Collaboration is the new currency in the sense that it goes miles beyond cooperation (which generally means to “go along” even though you might disagree). When you collaborate, you leave behind your self-interest to achieve goals for the greater good. Embrace collaboration and model it for others.

Equality: Real trust doesn’t happen without a sense of equality between leaders and stakeholders. Inequality is behind the use of force, fear, coercion or control, and it breaks trust. When that happens, lost revenue or missed opportunities aren’t far behind. Don’t put yourself “above” others by judging them to be something less than yourself. Everyone has a stake in organizational success, and when you lead in the spirit of equality, trust and success will follow.

Conversation: All ideas, progress, relationships and success are built on a foundation of conversation. Yet, when you are so focused on getting things done, you may forget that the people doing the work need dialog to be their best. Stop and think often about the conversations you need to have; then, have them! You can’t lead alone, and powerful two-way conversations are crucial to making the right decisions.

Coaching: Consider what our organizations will become when every leader believes that coaching others is an imperative instead of a time-waster. Coaching grows people, and when people grow, organizational performance thrives. One of your real powers is knowing how and when to coach others. When you coach, you are able to watch the expansiveness for thought, creativity, and innovation that occur in others. You can revel in the impact this has on your organization.

We’re at the precipice of a new time that calls for new kinds of power. Embrace these new sources of power and watch your organization flourish!

Mary Jo Asmus is an executive coach and a recovering corporate executive who has spent the past 12 years as president of Aspire Collaborative Services, an executive-coaching firm that manages Fortune 500 corporate-coaching initiatives and coaches leaders to prepare them for bigger and better things.

What do “Call of Duty” and Gandhi have in common?

I’m not a gamer, but when I hear the phrase “call of duty,” the popular video game immediately comes to mind. In fact, I’ve heard it so much that when I hear the phrase outside of the gaming context, I sit up and take notice. Just what does call of duty mean in the real world? It sounds like a summoning, urging me to take a stand.

Embodying the call of duty
There are so many people who exemplify following that call, but Mahatma Gandhi immediately comes to mind for me. Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa. His call of duty was in representing the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. We all know the rest of the story.

Applied in our everyday lives
I asked some of my compatriots in the Lead Change Group what the phrase “call of duty,” meant to them.

• “A devotion to a Higher Power, principle or value that calls us to step up… The term in its usual context implies both service and a battle.” ~ Page Cole, leadership blogger and self-described student of life
• “In my community, where most members work collaboratively and the hierarchy is pretty minimal, the “call of duty” is each member’s responsibility to step forward first and more often … easing the burden of others.” ~ Deb Costello, author, teacher and passionate about leadership
• There “is the internal call of duty. That is where a great leader adopts and personalizes the calling, truly making it and the mission theirs. The sense of duty becomes bigger, with more depth of scope, and seeing a more broad vision and impact. This type of “calling” will persevere longer in the face of adversity and inspire more to follow and succeed beyond the obligation to merely carry it out.” ~ Paul LaRue, author, writer, blogger, speaker, and encourager of people

What about you?
I’m reminded of the post I wrote a few months ago about behaviors being contagious. On one hand, you find yourself annoyed at someone’s carelessness and in turn, strike out at the next person who crosses your path. Or you observe a good deed, and within minutes find yourself holding the door for another. But the call of duty requires something else. You must initiate the desired behavior first. You must be the role model, the leader. Or, in the words often attributed to Gandhi, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

What is your call of duty? Are you allowing yourself to follow the call?


Mary C. Schaefer is a coach, trainer and consultant specializing in creating manager-employee interaction breakthroughs and work cultures where both organizations and human beings thrive. Connect with her via her EmpoweredManagers blog or on Twitter @MarySchaefer.

How To Be a Leader Without Faking It!

859
iWhat makes it important to understand and stay connected with the core of who you are as a human being? How do you become an authentic leader? How do you know when your actions are less than genuine?

These are some intriguing and deep questions that you may not have thought about. I have — for the simple reason that I believe the answers are important if leaders are to sustain the energy and dedication necessary to to inspire themselves and others.

Inspiring others is part of what you must do, because doing so keeps people engaged and interested in the work at hand. You can’t fake it. You have to feel it. Recent studies in human interaction and brain science have shown us that emotions are contagious, and this goes both ways; any dissonance you have gets picked up by others no matter how hard you might “try” to be genuine.

This is why it makes sense to know yourself well, and it may be some of the hardest work you do. Learning about who you are is also a good way to develop self-confidence, stay resilient in difficult times and to develop the kind of relationships that will support organizational health.

Self-knowledge is a journey, not a destination. Too often, I see executives in the C-suite avoiding the kind of development that will help them remain true to themselves and be honest and genuine to stakeholders. That’s where trouble begins. So no matter whether you are the CEO or the project leader for a small initiative, it pays to:

Learn about yourself: Much of your self-knowledge will come from observing your behaviors and reflecting on them. Since we learn by accumulating a variety of experiences, this learning takes time. Being present enough in your interactions and decisions to observe yourself is a great start. Taking well-vetted self-assessments (Myers-Briggs, DiSC) to learn about your strengths and foibles are helpful if you notice and observe how your results play out in your behaviors.

Know what you value: It’s important for you to have a shortlist of values to refer to when making decisions, interacting, and influencing others. A list of your top three to five values are like the foundation to a building. If they aren’t there, the building won’t stand. Likewise, if you don’t know what you value, your actions may not be consistent and anchored, causing others confusion and doubting your motives. Trust can erode, undermining your leadership. Make your values explicit and keep them accessible.

Be aware of what others' perceptions are of you: One of the most honest ways to understand how others perceive you is through 360-degree instruments, where those who respond to the questionnaire remain anonymous. If your organization doesn’t have one they use, find an external consultant or coach who does. Alternatively, asking for feedback directly from stakeholders is another way to get this information, although it may be less than honest. This can give you information about what others observe in your behaviors which sometimes may not sync up with your own perceptions.

Reflect: For many action-oriented leaders, taking time to reflect is the hardest part of getting to know themselves, but think of it as the beginning of becoming a better leader (an action in itself!). A few minutes each day to reflect back on whether you showed up in harmony with who you and what you value will serve your intentions to be authentic. Ask yourself: What did I do today that was a genuine outward expression of who I am? Did I make decisions and act with my values in mind? Where did I stray?

It’s important to know who you in order to lead others with inspiration. Where will you begin to learn more about you?

Mary Jo Asmus is an executive coach and a recovering corporate executive who has spent the past 12 years as president of Aspire Collaborative Services, an executive-coaching firm that manages Fortune 500 corporate-coaching initiatives and coaches leaders to prepare them for bigger and better things.

16 New Rules of Business

Entrepreneurs are nothing if not a trailblazing bunch, and they know firsthand that many rules were made to be broken. From hiring to time management, email etiquette to funding, today's business owners are tossing the guidebooks. More and more businesses these days are even breaking the (former) cardinal rule of business — don't start a venture with friends — and seeing success.

We spoke with a handful of entrepreneurs about their approach to business — and the rules they broke along the way.

1. Hire outside the box

"I have learned over the past eight years that it is better not to hire someone with 'industry experience,' particularly when your product and business model is a disruptor. People with industry experience have been trained to approach growing a brand, going to market, and selling in the same way that all big incumbents have. When you are a disruptor, you purposefully need to think and act differently — to see the opportunity where others haven't looked. It is true in how you talk with your consumer, how you make your product and how you go to market. I have found that people from the industry have a very difficult time thinking another way." — Kara Goldin, founder and CEO, Hint

2. Timeshift your team

"Of a Kind HQ doesn't officially open for business until 10:30 a.m., and we made the decision to have a late start-time in order to protect our mornings. We realized quickly when launching the company that our nights were almost always packed with commitments (drinks meetings! events! dinners!), and that if we didn't do things like exercise and drop-off dry-cleaning in the morning, we would never have that personal time. This way you can come into the office feeling like you've got your sh*t together, which sets the tone for the day ahead." — Erica Cerulo, cofounder, Of a Kind

3. Do a little bit of everything — even the dirty jobs

"In the very early days we did everything ourselves to save cash (cleaning toilets is not below us!). But this was really instrumental in helping us understand how to operate the most efficiently, and it has generated enormous respect from our employees. When they see us doing everything and working our butts off, it helps motivate them to do the same." — Chelsea Kocis, cofounder and COO, Swerve Fitness

4. Tune out

"Disconnect and take time away from your 'baby.' When first starting a business, you most likely play the role of the CEO, COO, CFO, CMO and Director of HR. This leads to long hours and very little separation between work and home. Set aside time to shut off your phone and take time to disconnect. You will be a better entrepreneur and a better human being by doing so." — Tracey Noonan, owner, Wicked Good Cupcakes

5. Be transparent — even in HR

"Every new employee joins us on a 45-day trial. At the end of that trial, the entire company gets to have input on whether that person should join the team — kind of like Survivor, where the person can be voted off if there isn't a fit. Cultural fit is so key to an early-stage company that spending this extra time in hiring is key — about 60% of candidates successfully make it through the trial. We also don't have many of the traditional recruiting levers at our disposal. With all salaries banded and transparent to the rest of the organization, it isn't possible just to get a potential employee to sign up by slipping a few extra thousand dollars. Negotiation really doesn't exist in the salary component, which changes a lot from the normal process.” — Dane Atkinson, CEO, SumAll

6. Enforce a hard stop

"My company is distributed, with most of us working from home most of the time in different time zones. Our rule: No email on weekends or after 7 p.m. in whatever time zone you're in. You can work any hours you want, but you have to use Boomerang for overnight email. (We make exemptions for urgent business and in the time before a big event.) It helps everyone stay conscious about working too long and ensures that we have meaningful breaks from each other. Plus general sanity." — Sarah Milstein, CEO and cofounder, Lean Startup Productions

7. Don't think in annual terms

"It took the experience of running five companies before I was able to slap some sense into myself and convince myself I could bootstrap it out of cash flow and sales. Many times it's not until you begin to lose money in business that you cut back on marketing and customer service, which is a vicious cycle. It's foolish to cut costs in the business to the detriment of the delivery of your product or service. Simply getting rid of staff or resources that adversely affect great customer service or quality of your product will only serve to end up costing you more in the long run. [In the beginning, you should] seek better supply chain deals to reduce cost of goods and bonus staff on performance so your salary and wage costs reflect a sales result or improvement of revenue in the business. [Also], monitor your P&L monthly, not annually — a business is typically going broke 12 months before it does, so an annual review is too little too late. Spend time managing the money you've made, not just on making more money. — Troy Hazard, former global president of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, founder and owner of 11 businesses and author of Future-Proofing Your Business

8. Splurge on things that are often overlooked

Image: Stitch Fix

"Many ecommerce companies make the mistake of only thinking about the customer experience in relation to the website experience. There are a series of touchpoints that customers will have with your brand, and

the shipping experience is a huge opportunity to improve your customer’s overall brand experience

the shipping experience is a huge opportunity to improve your customer’s overall brand experience. Many companies only think about how to make shipping as cheap as possible, and as a result, the items you spent your hard-earned money on arrive in plain, dirty packaging. We made a point not to skimp on shipping, instead investing in beautiful branded boxes, tape and tissue paper. Our warehouse team puts an incredible amount of care into packaging each Fix so when it arrives, it's an exciting and engaging experience for our clients, like opening a gift. As a result it's one of the most inherently sharable parts of our service, and beautiful packaging has become synonymous with the Stitch Fix experience." — Katrina Lake, founder and CEO, Stitch Fix

9. Toss out the projections — your business is you

"The new rules of business say that a voluminous business plan is no longer necessary to get in the game. Friends and family, angel investors and VCs care deeply about who you are as a business owner, what you bring to the table, your experience, your likability, your drive, your horse sense. Everyone knows your financial projections for a startup are best used to wrap fish. There’s no formula based on silly projections — you have to show you know your offering and your market in a way you never did before. While you don't need a big fancy business plan anymore, you need even more clarity and direction than you'd find in that plan. Under the new rules of business, no longer is your business something you do, it’s something you are." — Emily Chase Smith, Esq., attorney and author of the new book, The Financially Savvy Entrepreneur: Navigate the Money Maze of Running a Business

10. Embrace a hybrid model

"We started our menswear brand on Kickstarter last year to test our market affordably, and since launching we've adopted a hybrid model. Half of our line is direct to consumer and exclusive to our online store. The other half, we do the traditional wholesale/retail way. We also make a point of keeping our prices affordable and our items eco-friendly while still manufacturing small-batch goods in the U.S.A. Our hybrid business model straddles the traditional and direct to consumer pricing strategies. By offering online exclusives, we're able to sell some items at a lower (D2C) price point while still expanding the brand's reach through retail accounts. It doesn't pigeonhole us into only using one method. It allows us to test things out and we can pivot at any time." — Josey Orr, cofounder, Dyer and Jenkins

11. Ditch the HQ, go BYOD

"Formerly a part of a large agency, we're working to provide the same quality of service with much lower overhead expenses. We have reduced real estate overhead through telecommuting, allowing our employees to work wherever they are most effective, while bringing each other together for necessary meetings. Along with this, we have implemented a BYOD (bring your own device) to work policy, again cutting down on infrastructure costs. We use cloud-based networking and CRM and CMS tools in cost-saving ways. Additionally, there are many free and freemium tools that we use to further cut down on overhead." — Katie Mayberry, principal, Spyglass Digital

12. Nix ineffective meetings

"We don't like meetings. We have weekly staff meetings that last 30 minutes or less, but otherwise we do not schedule and plan lengthy or otherwise repetitive meeting dates. Meetings don't accomplish what we want and often waste the time of the parties involved. [Similarly,] we don't feel the need to involve every single person in all our tasks; we prefer getting things done versus just talking about getting things done." — Luke Knowles, CEO, Kinoli Inc.

13. Use CC to replace your old "status update" meeting

"Claire and I are CC superfans. We CC each other on most everything — we ask our employees to do the same — and it gives us peace of mind. Yes, it means you have a ton of emails in your inbox, but you don't have to actually read them all: They're there for reference when you wake up in the middle of the night and think, "Dear god, did so-and-so ever do that thing?" And, because Claire and I have a general sense of what the other's working on, we can spend our meetings together thinking about bigger-picture projects and can be better brainstorm partners — it eliminates the need for the endless stream of status meetings." — Erica Cerulo, cofounder, Of a Kind

14. Go on and ask for things

"Don't be shy to ask for favors. When you're building something valuable, you'll be amazed by how many people are genuinely excited to pitch in and help." — Trina Chiasson, CEO and cofounder, Infoactive

15. Don't charge for status — price your goods fairly

"We evaluated the retail landscape and saw the majority of brands abiding by antiquated norms. Businesses that incur massive distribution costs and rely on high-priced marketing campaigns have less to invest in their product. At American Giant, we decided to forego those norms in order to build a business we believe resonates with consumers. By selling direct-to-consumer, online only, we avoid the costly practice of opening, maintaining and marketing brick-and-mortar retail stores. Represent something your customers care about by focusing on building quality product and selling it at a fair price. We believe this is what resonates with consumers and what ultimately drives word-of-mouth marketing and brand awareness, as opposed to spending on expensive traditional marketing campaigns and materials." — Bayard Winthrop, founder and CEO, American Giant

16. Be the human face of your company

"You are your brand and your company. Social media has changed everything! People expect transparency and — to a certain extent — an element of publicity. Be aware that everything you do and say on the Internet can and will be connected to your company. Use this to your advantage! Share your personal story. When people feel attached to you, they feel attached to your company. Tweet about your company from your personal social media accounts. Include pictures of you and your team in your company blog posts. You and your brand and your company are one." — Jody Porowski, CEO and founder, Avelist

By Lauren Drell

All the Marketing in the World Won’t Make a Bad Product Good

Here’s the scenario. You’re heads down. Trying to build a business from scratch. Is marketing your first priority? Let me tell you why it shouldn’t be.

It seems counterintuitive. And believe me, there’s no shortage of advice out there on the best ways to market your product or business. I mean, just Google it. But don’t be tempted to take a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, take a step back and size up your product. Is it innovative, game changing? Is it something that people will tell their friends about?

Prioritize nailing the product before you put too much focus on marketing. This is an alternative approach to what we currently see from many startups.

Silver Bullets Are Rare: Don’t get me wrong your startup needs a strategic marketing plan. Even with the best product or service, if customers don’t know you exist or understand the value proposition, then you can’t build much of a business.  But everyone thinks there’s a silver bullet. Believe me, silver bullets are rare. When it comes to marketing, the expectations around what it can deliver are often way out of line. Marketing is a long-term play and very much a “what have you done for me lately game”. Very rarely do you hit a home run. It’s much more about hitting lots of solid base hits.

Follow good advice.

Product first: Let your product speak loudest. Whether you’re building a product or a service it must be innovative, disruptive and indispensible. Qualtrics didn’t have a dedicated marketing team for the first 10 years. Instead, we focused on product development. We tore down our systems time and time again until we knew that it was the best it could be. You have to nail it before you scale it. How did we know it was good? Because our customers would share it with their friends, and a strong recommendation from one customer to another is the best marketing. Period.

 Market Focus Matters: Be laser focused on one specific industry. The shotgun approach does not work. You can’t spray and pray. Goal setting is super important to making this strategy work. So set goals and be relentless in achieving them. For Qualtrics it was all about academia. The target: Secure 200 leading universities as Qualtrics customers. Nothing else mattered. Professors were the early adopters, essentially crowdsourcing our product and providing great insight into feature development.

Never Underestimate Word-of-Mouth: Single market focus taught us a great lesson: Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of marketing. Whether you’re a startup or an established brand, harness the power of WOM, but use it wisely. With a solid product and concentration on a slice of the market, your startup can more readily build customer advocacy.

Be Bold: Now, when it comes time to scale your business and really amp up the marketing machine, don’t be afraid to do it your way. Be unconventional, wild or just different. Or as we say in Utah, “Don’t be afraid to lean out over your skis a little”. There’s no standard playbook.

Qualtrics has grown up a lot since our young startup days, while we currently have a full marketing team, our biggest goal is to stay lean and scrappy no matter how big we get.  And, we haven’t forgotten the core values that ultimately took our company from a crowded basement to almost 500 employees.

This lesson is one that we won’t soon forget: Stellar products that deliver ultimate value are the foundation from which all marketing efforts will either succeed or fail. Let’s face it; you can put lipstick on a pig, but all the marketing in the world won’t make a bad product good.

Mr. Smith is CEO and co-founder at Qualtrics, a private research software company.