Do your customers like you?

Did you watch the Heroes vs. Villains Survivor finale last weekend? If you didn’t, stop reading now then come back when you do watch it cause there’s a spoiler coming up.

People are saying that this year’s season was the best ever. I might have to agree, even though Colby didn’t win and how can you not love that smile?

Anyway. If you watched the finale, you know that Russell was sitting there thinking he had the whole thing in the bag. He brought Sandra and Pavarti to the finale with him (as if he really believed it was him that was in charge of the game) because he assumed he would have all of the jury’s votes because he was “obviously” the best player of the three.

What he didn’t take into account, however, was that nobody liked him. He screwed over every person on the jury and they hated him.

He really believed that the deceiving way he played the game would be rewarded. His strategy centered around lies and betrayal and not everyone respects that as much as he thought they would.

At the end, Sandra won. She always seemed to know what people were thinking. She knew where she stood and everyone else playing knew where Sandra stood. She outsmarted them all and she can be proud of the game she played.

That being said though, if I were on the jury (maybe someday), I would have voted for Parvati. Not only did she work her butt off during the entire game, but you can’t possibly discount the greatest move in Survivor history – giving not one, but two hidden immunity idols away to her fellow teammates during a tribal council to keep all the villains safe. It was simply brilliant.

Now where was I going with this again?

Oh yes.

Remember when I said how Russell assumed everyone would put his name down?

They didn’t. Not one single person thought he deserved their vote for one million dollars.

And what does this have to do with business?

Well. How many assumptions are you making today in your business? Is your process streamlined – as streamlined as it could possibly be? Are your clients’ needs being met? Are you meeting their expectations?

Do they like you?

How do you know? Unless you’ve asked them recently, that is. So have you?

If Russel had considered the fact that everyone on the jury could possibly hate him, he may have changed his strategy and who knows? He could have won.

I challenge you this week to implement a step in your process to ask your clients how they enjoyed their experience dealing with your company. You’ll learn ways to improve the way you do business and you might even get a client testimonial or two in the process!

I’ll be working on mine this summer while I’m in the process of doing a little business revamping…you heard it here first.

Wrangle Your Creativity With Wordle

You may have heard of Wordle before now, but if you haven’t it is a MUST for your business. What is Wordle? Well here’s a little blurb straight from their site:

wordle-logo

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

So how can Wordle help your business? For starters, it can help you identify the frequency of words that appear in your marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, websites, or any other advertising material you currently have, or more importantly…plan to have. You can take things even further by using Wordle to analyze your business plan or mission statement. By doing this you can visually see the prominent keywords that reflect your business message…and what kind of image you’re portraying to your clients or potential customers. Heck, you could even use it to create a graphical representation of your products, services, or business values to use in your marketing materials.

You may be wondering why you wouldn’t just use a free keyword density tools to analyze your website pages for frequently used words. First, you only get a list of words – they’re not visual like Wordle. Second, you also have to typically enter a URL to get that information which doesn’t do you any good for all your off-line copy, while Wordle on the other hand allows you to enter text, a URL, or del.icio.user name to create a cloud. Last, but not least, you certainly won’t have as much fun as you would with Wordle.

What can you do with Wordle?

How do I use Wordle? Besides using it in many of the examples mentioned earlier, I also use it to brainstorm. When I’m working on a new tagline for a client or strategizing a new marketing campaign for them, I love to use Wordle. And I actually use it in conjunction with the Visual Thesaurus. These tools allow me to visualize my thoughts and notes, as well as to get better results by tweaking here and there.

I have to admit that I get a little caught up with Wordle, but it sure is fun and actually feels more like playing than work…which I don’t get to do much of these days unless it’s Duck, Duck, Goose with my 4 year old or peek-a-boo with my 10 month old.

I created a couple of “Signature Wordles” based on my Design and Marketing websites. I think Signature Worx is represented quite well as a Wordle. Take a look at the finished products [hint: you can click on the images to enlarge them]:

Signature Worx Designs Wordle
Signature Worx Designs Wordle
Signature Worx Marketing Wordle
Signature Worx Web Design & Marketing Wordle

Have you used Wordle yet? How do you use it in your business?

Freebie Friday: A Flowchart on Making Flowcharts

I’m in a humorous mood today so thought I’d post something fun…again.

Have you ever made a flowchart? Well, here is the flowchart of all flowcharts…The flowchart of should you make a flowchart. Follow it to find out!

flowchart

Click to see the full size version.

Freebie Friday: Just Plain Fun

hoops-yoyo-tallanimatedMy family and I are on a little mini vacation right now in Memphis, TN. So while we’re have a great time at the famous Memphis Zoo today, I thought it appropriate that you should have a little fun, too.

If you haven’t met hoops & yoyo over at Hallmark, then head on over there to meet these two hilarious little creatures and their friends. I’ve been a huge fan of hoops & yoyo since their debut many years ago. They’ve gotten a few of my previous co-workers and I through some pretty stressful times just by visiting them. We loved all their animations poking fun at working at the office…which of course always hit home because they are so true.

They offer downloads, animations, printables, e-cards, a blog…heck they even have a Facebook page! My favorite is the Office Lingo Notes (PDF) on their Free Downloads page.

For those of you who are familiar with hoops and yoyo, then you already know what I’m talking about, but head on over there just the same because you KNOW you’ll be having fun in no time.

I warn you though, going to this site will make you laugh or just down right roll and you may just have so much fun that you forget all about work all together.

Have fun!

Freebie Friday (for real this time) – Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act

Ok, so I posted a freebie for Saturday earlier, but here is the real freebie for Friday…and every Friday through September.

If you haven’t heard, Mars has been giving away FREE chocolate all summer long during their Mars Chocolate Relief Act. Every Friday beginning at 9:00 AM ET through September, visit THIS LINK for a chance to get a FREE Real Chocolate coupon for your favorite Mars product. Be one of the first 250,000 to request a coupon each Friday and sweet relief is on its way.

Which Mars products are included in the coupon? M&M’s, Dove, Snickers, 3Musketeers, Twix, and Milky Way

The only catch is that you’ll have to wait for your coupon to come in the mail. They indicate 4-6 weeks, but mine have come within a couple of weeks at the most.

So get on over there this morning and secure your FREE chocolate!

Next Page →