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Suggest You - A Guide to Successful Fishing: 1. Fish 2. Keep Fishing
While Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology has promised much, the reality for many has been disappointing. Industry analysts estimate 50-60% of implementations fail, or produce marginal return on investment. Our exposure to small and medium enterprises (SME) suggests that this rate may well be significantly higher. The irony is that the problem lies less with the technology itself (though that may receive much of the blame), but in much more easily addressed flaws in the way that organizations approach and implement CRM projects.CRM technology should help organizations generate more leads, convert a higherproportion of them, and retain customers longer through enhanced service, and more profitably through the more effective promotion of additional products and services.CRM technology is a unifying technology supporting the operational needs of ‘front-office’ departments such as sales, marketing, and customer support, sharing a single database of information about customers, prospective customers, channel partners, suppliers, competitors etc. The CRM database works as a central repository of data typically
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educati
Being able to give effective feedback is not just a good skill to possess in business, it is a great life skill to have. Because when you are masterful at giving feedback, not only can you help your employees to sustain continuously improving performance, you can also improve the performance of the baseball team you coach, the cleaning lady at home, or the performance of your own children on completing their chores. Any person’s performance in any activity can be positively impacted by effective feedback. Isn’t that a powerful skill to have? Wouldn’t you want to be a master at giving really useful and impactful feedback?The good news is that it is not difficult to be good at giving feedback. It does take some effort and practice. But it is definitely a skill that can be learned. So, to get you started, here are the Do’s and Don’ts of giving feedback.Let’s start with the Do’s:Be Timely: in order for feedback to be effective, you need to act quickly. If months have gone by before you bring up an incident, the person receiving the feedback will interpret your delay to imply that it couldn’t have been
—Richard M. DeVos
This is the story of two fishermen, Frank and Joe.
Frank loves fishing. He goes fishing every day. He’s always trying new fishing spots. Sometimes he catches a lot of fish and sometimes he catches none. But that doesn’t really bother him; he just gets up the next morning and goes fishing again. He reads books and magazine articles about fishing, and hires a fishing guide.
Frank invests in new lures and fishing poles. He even tried fishing with a net, then with a spear. Sometimes he uses a fly and sometimes live bait. Sometimes he fishes in a lake and sometimes in a stream. He’s even tried the ocean.
Sometimes Frank wonders if he isn’t wasting his time and money trying to catch these crazy fish. But most of the time he enjoys it.
If the fish he catches is too small, he throws it back and rebaits his hook. If the fish is the right size, he takes it home, and cooks a delicious meal. If he has more than he can eat, he puts them in a freezer.
Occasionally, he fishes all day in the cold rain and trudges home empty handed, feeling like he’ll never catch another fish.
Every now and then, Frank catches a whopper, and feels like he just won the lottery!
Frank finds that as time goes on, he gets better and better at fishing. He learns the techniques that suit him best, which lures work in which locations, the best time of day to catch each kind of fish, and which spots are best in different kinds of weather.
He knows that he can never think that he’s found “the secret” because the fishing is always changing. Fishing holes that were great a year ago are now dried up. Rivers where he couldn’t catch a cold before, are now full of fish.
Interestingly, every time Frank goes fishing, he meets other fishermen, who are only too happy to share fishing stories and to tell him what techniques and locations have—or have not— been working for them.
But most of all, he just keeps fishing every day.
Now let’s meet Joe. He isn’t at all sure that he likes fishing. He wishes someone else would catch the fish and just let him cook and eat the fish, which is, he explains, what he is trained to do. He doesn’t feel he should have to fish.
When someone proposes fishing, Joe wants to know how much it costs to go fishing and if he will be guaranteed to catch fish that day.
If he does go fishing, he doesn’t bother to learn anything about it. He rents a pole and some lures, making sure he gets the cheapest ones possible.
He goes to the nearest body of water, because he can save money by walking there instead of driving. He casts his line in the water a few times and — when he doesn’t catch any fish —drops his pole in disgust and declares “Fishing doesn’t work!”
He does this once a year.
A fishing guide offers to take Joe to the best spots and teach him what he knows about fishing, but Joe turns down the guide because he’s too expensive and he won’t guarantee how many fish Joe will catch.
The guide does offer one guarantee to Joe, however: “I guarantee that if you don’t go fishing, you won’t catch any fish.”
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educatio
I purchased a video-conferencing unit to connect my office visually with clients all over the world. To use the equipment I need a high-speed telephone line. ‘No problem,’ I thought, ‘I’ll just call the telephone company.’The telephone company referred me to the ISDN Department for high-speed access. The ISDN Department referred me to an outside vendor who faxed me an application form from the telephone company!I filled out the forms and faxed them back to the vendor. He faxed them back to the ISDN Department, who then called me to arrange an appointment. But the appointment is only to ‘lay the line’. A second appointment is needed after that to ‘commission the line’. In between these two appointments, the vendor must come once again to install special ‘terminator’ equipment. Phew!As I was ordering high-speed access for video-conferencing, I considered using the same line for high-speed access to the Internet. The vendor faxed me another form from a different department of the telephone company (the Internet Access Department), which I filled out and returned to the vendor. The vendor faxed the form to the Internet Acc
Sometimes Frank wonders if he isn’t wasting his time and money trying to catch these crazy fish. But most of the time he enjoys it.
If the fish he catches is too small, he throws it back and rebaits his hook. If the fish is the right size, he takes it home, and cooks a delicious meal. If he has more than he can eat, he puts them in a freezer.
Occasionally, he fishes all day in the cold rain and trudges home empty handed, feeling like he’ll never catch another fish.
Every now and then, Frank catches a whopper, and feels like he just won the lottery!
Frank finds that as time goes on, he gets better and better at fishing. He learns the techniques that suit him best, which lures work in which locations, the best time of day to catch each kind of fish, and which spots are best in different kinds of weather.
He knows that he can never think that he’s found “the secret” because the fishing is always changing. Fishing holes that were great a year ago are now dried up. Rivers where he couldn’t catch a cold before, are now full of fish.
Interestingly, every time Frank goes fishing, he meets other fishermen, who are only too happy to share fishing stories and to tell him what techniques and locations have—or have not— been working for them.
But most of all, he just keeps fishing every day.
Now let’s meet Joe. He isn’t at all sure that he likes fishing. He wishes someone else would catch the fish and just let him cook and eat the fish, which is, he explains, what he is trained to do. He doesn’t feel he should have to fish.
When someone proposes fishing, Joe wants to know how much it costs to go fishing and if he will be guaranteed to catch fish that day.
If he does go fishing, he doesn’t bother to learn anything about it. He rents a pole and some lures, making sure he gets the cheapest ones possible.
He goes to the nearest body of water, because he can save money by walking there instead of driving. He casts his line in the water a few times and — when he doesn’t catch any fish —drops his pole in disgust and declares “Fishing doesn’t work!”
He does this once a year.
A fishing guide offers to take Joe to the best spots and teach him what he knows about fishing, but Joe turns down the guide because he’s too expensive and he won’t guarantee how many fish Joe will catch.
The guide does offer one guarantee to Joe, however: “I guarantee that if you don’t go fishing, you won’t catch any fish.”
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educati
If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve undoubtedly encountered obstacles in your self-made business. Obstacles are commonly considered a nuisance, but did you know they are also an asset to your business?While obstacles do indeed emanate unavoidable frustration, they also force us to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. We are challenged to determine what doesn’t work, and turn it around to produce more effective strategies to better ensure our business’ success. Building a business requires a lot of trial and error, one of the key elements in generating a successful business.As entrepreneurs, we are faced with decisions each and every day that dictates whether our business will succeed or fail. A successful entrepreneur uses their shortcomings to develop successful business strategies. Our failures serve as tools to assist us in discovering what works well and what we should avoid in the future.The most successful entrepreneurs strive to discover ways to consistently improve their product or services. It makes no difference if you own a small business or a corporation, success is dependent on growth. To achieve growth we
He knows that he can never think that he’s found “the secret” because the fishing is always changing. Fishing holes that were great a year ago are now dried up. Rivers where he couldn’t catch a cold before, are now full of fish.
Interestingly, every time Frank goes fishing, he meets other fishermen, who are only too happy to share fishing stories and to tell him what techniques and locations have—or have not— been working for them.
But most of all, he just keeps fishing every day.
Now let’s meet Joe. He isn’t at all sure that he likes fishing. He wishes someone else would catch the fish and just let him cook and eat the fish, which is, he explains, what he is trained to do. He doesn’t feel he should have to fish.
When someone proposes fishing, Joe wants to know how much it costs to go fishing and if he will be guaranteed to catch fish that day.
If he does go fishing, he doesn’t bother to learn anything about it. He rents a pole and some lures, making sure he gets the cheapest ones possible.
He goes to the nearest body of water, because he can save money by walking there instead of driving. He casts his line in the water a few times and — when he doesn’t catch any fish —drops his pole in disgust and declares “Fishing doesn’t work!”
He does this once a year.
A fishing guide offers to take Joe to the best spots and teach him what he knows about fishing, but Joe turns down the guide because he’s too expensive and he won’t guarantee how many fish Joe will catch.
The guide does offer one guarantee to Joe, however: “I guarantee that if you don’t go fishing, you won’t catch any fish.”
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educati
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.However, all too often the concept of innovation is intricately linked with radical change. In fact, the opposite is true:a) Most successful innovations take advantage of existing technology, are moderately new to market (not radically new), support existing behaviours, support customer needs and save money.b) Radical innovation is the result of incremental change. Small changes can have radical effects and when considered over time, cause radical shifts. An example of this is looking at an old photo – very minute changes make big differences over lon
If he does go fishing, he doesn’t bother to learn anything about it. He rents a pole and some lures, making sure he gets the cheapest ones possible.
He goes to the nearest body of water, because he can save money by walking there instead of driving. He casts his line in the water a few times and — when he doesn’t catch any fish —drops his pole in disgust and declares “Fishing doesn’t work!”
He does this once a year.
A fishing guide offers to take Joe to the best spots and teach him what he knows about fishing, but Joe turns down the guide because he’s too expensive and he won’t guarantee how many fish Joe will catch.
The guide does offer one guarantee to Joe, however: “I guarantee that if you don’t go fishing, you won’t catch any fish.”
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Educati
The business world is busy. The streets are filled with people with their coat and ties on and carrying their suitcases, rushing to get to daily work – imagine the view of Wall Street in New York.You find it quite difficult to schedule and to accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously. Good thing, the online technology makes our stressful lives somehow lighter. Businesses, suppliers, and other services offer their goods online. Because of this, you need not visit stores to buy your supplies or to order your office needs.Take for example purchasing business cards. Before, you’d look for printing and publishing services on yellow pages or ask through referrals. After so, you’d call them on phone and later visit their office to see the sample prints. If you were convinced with their price and service, it is only then you’ll order for your business cards. After a week or two, you’ll come back to get your orders, or easier, delivered to your office. The whole process of ordering new business cards to refill your nearly empty card container became an added hassle to your seemingly stressful life already.It’s good that the worl
In your opinion, who will catch more fish, Frank or Joe?
When it comes to marketing your services, are you Frank or Joe?
Are you simply interested in cooking and eating the fish, but not interested in investing the time and money that is required to ensure a steady supply of fish?
You don’t have to be a marketing wizard. You don’t have to have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the methods, all the experience, all the personnel and all the expertise. You don’t have to do anything, except one thing: You have to be committed to catching fish.
Try, Try Again
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
— Calvin Coolidge
The secret to successful marketing is the same as the secret to success in all other areas of life—persistence.
Or, to quote Woody Allen, “Ninety percent of success in life consists of showing up.”
With a few exceptions, people fail for one simple reason: They give up. They are not really committed. They give it a half-hearted try, willing to “accept” huge success as long as they don’t have to work too hard, or spend too much money or accept any disappointments.
Imagine an actor who doesn’t commit to his craft, doesn’t spend any money on lessons, doesn’t rehearse or train, doesn’t invest in make-up or costumes, doesn’t do any research on what roles are being cast or what the name of the show is. Now imagine this actor goes to a couple of open auditions to Broadway shows, and is disappointed not to be offered the leading role immediately, and decides to stop going to auditions.
Now imagine another aspiring actor. He reads the trade magazines. He circles all the auditions that might want someone like him. He prepares material that is similar to that of the show being cast. He shows up on time, dressed like a professional. When he’s turned down, he smiles and thanks the casting director for the opportunity to try out.
He does this once a week, every week, forever. He’s losing money. He has to work nights as a waiter. He has to invest in his wardrobe and his acting lessons and in a printed resum? and photo card. But he keeps going and he keeps getting rejected.
What do you think? Who will succeed? Our second actor might or might not succeed. But my guess is that eventually he’ll get a couple of call-backs. Then he’ll get a role. Then, depending on his talent, his continued hard work and luck, maybe he’ll get to be a star.
There’s no guarantee—except the guarantee that applies to the first actor: He’s guaranteed to fail. He’s given up. He’s not even showing up. That’s just how it works with marketing. I have seen it over and over again. If you market consistently, you will succeed and you stand a good chance of succeeding spectacularly. If you don’t, well, you can sit home and wait to win the lottery.
A Long and Winding Road
Can you succeed by working hard for 40 years and building your network, your reputation and your referrals? Yes, but you can fail that way too. At best, it’s going to be a long hard slogging.
In my job, I come into contact with thousands of attorneys each year, and what I see is always the same. The ones who market consistently get the clients and the revenue. The ones who don’t, don’t.
You must be committed, not just interested. You must be willing to accept disappointment. But in the big picture, you will succeed.
Think about friendship. If you go out into the world with a consistently friendly attitude, you’ll be disappointed a fair amount of the time. You’ll meet people who mistake your friendliness for gullibility and seek to take advantage. You’ll meet people who reject your friendliness because they are angry, or disappointed in their own lives, or bitter. You’ll meet people who don’t like your looks or your accent. You’ll meet people whom you don’t want to have anything to do with. But over the course of a year, if you go ab
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