Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

5 ways to building a committed team

February 26, 2010

If you want a powerful, profitable company — create a powerful team. If you want to create love affairs with your customers — create a passionate team. If you want to leave a legacy — create a committed team.

Your team. Nothing reflects on a business owner/leader more than the team they build around them.

So in this world of disposable everything — how do you, with genuine intention, bring that mythical team to life?

Let them have a voice: There are few things more frustrating than having no control over your environment. Whether it's how to handle summer hours, what charities your company will support or how a customer service policy should be amended — ask them. Ask them and listen.

At MMG, 90% of the company decisions are made collectively. I toss the problem/opportunity on the table and we talk about it. When we think we've covered all the bases, we find consensus and move forward. About 10% of the time, it's a decision I feel I have to ultimately make — but I want the team's input first. So I ask. And listen.

Don't be afraid to use the "L" word: My friend Steve Farber teaches us in his brilliant book Radical Leap that the word and the emotion love belong in business. That there's nothing wrong with loving your team, your clients and your work. In fact, I'd worry if you don't.

Make it mean something: I don't care what you do — it has a higher purpose. Jim Collins calls it a big, hairy audacious goal. A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. If you don't have one….your team needs you to create one.

Celebrate the big and little wins: This doesn't have to be "send the sales force to Vegas" sort of celebrations although there's nothing wrong with those either. It can be as simple as gathering everyone together for a quick high five. At MMG, we have a drum that when someone has big news (new client, big project successfully completed etc.) — we bang the drum and everyone comes to the conference room to hear what's up. It's about taking the moment. (And we're not always good at it either, so cut yourself some slack…but make it part of your culture!)

Thank them in surprising ways: Again — this doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Part of the fun of it is the surprise element. One of the goofier ones that I've done is this simple. Go buy gift cards for various places (iTunes, restaurants, your local grocery store etc.). Get enough so you have one for each person on your team. Then go buy the same number of Pringle's cans of chips. On the bottom of each Pringle's can — write a number 1- how many ever you bought. Spread the gift cards all over the conference room table and put all the Pringle's cans in the middle of the table, so no one can read the numbers.

Call in your team and tell them (with love) how proud you are of them or congratulate them on some client accomplishment or whatever. But…set the mood and tell them why you're doing this. Then, let each person randomly pick a Pringle's can. Whoever got the #1 can gets to pick among the gift cards first, etc.

It will take you 10 minutes, but they'll remember it for much longer than that.

Bottom line — building a rock solid team doesn't happen by accident. It is borne from love, gratitude and sharing a vision that matters. The good news is — it costs very little and the rewards for you, your team and your clients — is huge!

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Drew McLellan iPhone App: In case you want to carry me in your pocket!

February 24, 2010

True confession time….I feel a little silly. And yet a little smart at the same time.

Let me get to the smart part first. Here’s what I know to be true:

Our interaction with the web is shifting very quickly to mobile devices. It’s predicted by 2020 it will be the prevailing tool we use to access the internet.
The new iPad (released in March/April) will bring a new slew of people to the Apple platforms, including the world of apps.
For those who turn up their nose at Apple, the Droid smartphone is taking off like a rocket.
I create a fair amount of content but it’s tough to find it all in one place.
Apps are going to be a vital mainstream marketing tool soon and MMG needs to understand that world.
I am too big to fit into your pocket.

Now the silly part. I’m not a celebrity, famous or even one of social media’s superstars like Chris Brogan, Seth Godin or Dan Pink. So to announce that you should download me onto your iPhone or iTouch (or Droid) feels a bit presumptuous. (BTW — it’s free if that helps!)

But…I predict this will become commonplace shortly and then I’ll just be an early adopter. Besides, it really is the only way I’ll fit into your pocket!

And to entice you to download it… I’ve started creating some Marketing Minute podcasts. The easiest way to get them — the app. Short and sweet — now you can even take my voice along with you.

On my app, you’ll find:

The new podcasts
My blog posts
My posterous journal
My tweets
Links to my books
My guest posts on IowaBiz and Marketing Profs Daily Fix
Links to my Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed accounts
God only knows what else!

I hope you’ll indulge me and give it a try. You can access it here (clicking on this link will launch iTunes).

If you’ve got a Droid, you can see your version of the app here (to download, just search for my name in your apps market.

Other smart marketing folks with iPhone Apps:

Jay Heyman (click here to see his app)

C.C. Chapman (click here to see his app)

Seth Godin (click here to see his app)

Chris Brogan (click here to see his app)

Dan Pink (click here to see his app)

Later this week, I’ll tell you how Mike Sansone helped me figure all of this out and some of the options out there for all of us geeky enough to want our own app.

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A marketing tip from Tiger Woods

February 22, 2010

The world is abuzz about the Tiger Woods apology. It seems like the big question is…"was it sincere?"

What a remarkable marketing reminder for all of us.

We're going to mess up with a client, prospect or employee. It's inevitable. Whether it was the result of a bad but conscious choice or human error — for this conversation, is irrelevant. Let's just nod and agree, sooner or later, we're going to screw up.

Now we can write or verbally deliver the most eloquent apology known to man, but that alone doesn't cut it. Words are lovely but you know what they're waiting for….a behavioral apology.

Otherwise, it was just gratuitous lip service. (Which by the way, only compounds the problem!)

What do I mean by a behavioral apology? It can come in several forms but basically, they want to be able to trust you again. Being sorry is swell but what they really want is to know it won't happen again. After all, isn't that the implied promise in any apology. Not only are you sorry about what you did…but that you're also going to fix it and prevent a repeat occurrence?

So there's the real marketing (and perhaps human) challenge. How do we genuinely demonstrate our apology and our pledge that we'll do all that we can to prevent it from happening again?

Change a policy/process: If something in the way you do business caused the problem — then why not learn from the mistake and make an adjustment. The key here is communicating back to the disgruntled customer that their experience triggered an internal audit and based on what you learned — you've made a change.

Fix it x 2: You delivered the flowers to the wrong address or on the wrong day? Don't just re-send what they ordered — up the ante. If they ordered a dozen roses, deliver two. Or offer to correct the problem now with an accurate delivery AND say you'll deliver a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day to the person of their choice. This is about going above and beyond so get creative.

Follow up: After you've made good on whatever your mistake was — pick up the phone or drop by their office. Demonstrate that days/weeks later — you are still concerned about having done them wrong.

Thank them: I know it sounds weird but it's good manners. You might thank them for helping you discover a flaw in your process. Or you might thank them for their patience in letting you work out the proper solution. You might say thank you for how they handled their complaint (no yelling, biting or kicking) or that they gave you a second chance.

While the reason for doing any of these is to truly impress upon the other person that our apology wasn't just fluff, it shouldn't go unsaid that when you craft a meaningful behavioral apology — you can also generate remarkable buzz and good will.

Our clients and employees will forgive our humanness and mistakes but they will celebrate and talk about our heroics when we rise to the occasion and craft a behavioral apology of note.

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Marketing Executives Group names Social Media Counsel of Advisors

February 16, 2010

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) announced this morning that it has formed a Social Media Council of Advisors to provide strategic guidance on social media trends and issues to the MENG Board and its membership of nearly 2000 executive marketers.

Much to my delight, I will join Mack Collier, Paul Dunay, Beth Harte, Amber Naslund and Joe Pulizzi to form this new advisory group. (You can see their handsome mugs above). All five of my co-advisors are incredibly generous and insightful people that I've been learning from for quite a while. It will be awesome to work along side them and soak in their smarts!

Our duties will be varied…but they will include advising members and the MENG board, doing some writing for the collective and conducting quarterly webinars together (that should be quite the talk fest!) I'm really looking forward to it.

If you don't know much about MENG, it's the premiere international community of executive-level marketers and it provides networking opportunities and the ability to share knowledge and best practices. Members must have reached at least the VP level in their organization. Eighty four percent of members have Fortune 500 experience and 70% have earned graduate degrees.

Stay tuned…it should get interesting!

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How do you evaluate your brand?

February 16, 2010

At McLellan Marketing Group, we live and breathe branding. We believe that branding is the cornerstone to a small business' success or lack thereof. You either brand yourself or you become a commodity. And a commodity has to compete on price.

If you want my views on why branding matters…check out these posts:

But let's assume you agree with me — branding matters. If you think your company has a brand…how do you evaluate whether or not it's a good one?

Here are some criteria we use with clients when helping them either discover their brand or critique the one they have in place.

It's evergreen (this is not something you'll need to change on a regular basis. It will always be true about you.)
It's not a duh (if consumers already assume this about everyone in your category — it can't be your brand.)
Memorable (If it doesn't stick, it won't work.)
The flag to rally around for your employees (Will they be excited and proud to help you achieve this brand?)
True – inside and out (You can't be one company to your customers and another to your employees)
A why or a how – not the what (how you create widgets differently or why you do it builds a brand..not that you make widgets. Everyone in your category makes widgets.)
Makes you a little nervous (A brand needs to be a bold promise to get noticed and to matter.)
Emotion based (We buy everything based on emotions. If your brand doesn't trigger an emotion, it will also not trigger a sale.)
Differentiate you (Isn't that what a brand is all about. It sets you apart from everyone else.)
Should dovetail with your mission/vision (Your internal goals and your public brand should be aligned or else one of them is off base.)
From the consumer's point of view (it's about them after all!)
I can tell — it matters to me (the consumer has to be able to recognize and evaluate your brand promise. If you make the promise but I can't figure out if you kept it or not, we have trouble.)
Big enough to trigger a buying decision (your point of difference has to be significant enough that I'd open my wallet)

If you can say "yes, that's my brand" to most of these criteria — you have a brand that will endure and that your employees, customers and community will embrace and support. But if you can't get a 10 out of 12 on this little test (it requires quite a bit of candor) then you know it's back to the drawing board.

Want a PDF of our brand criteria to keep handy? Click on the words brand criteria to download.

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We have a Colfax Mainstreet logo winner!

February 12, 2010

Wow…the process of getting the community of Colfax a new logo has been a winding road! In a nutshell, here's what happened:

If you want to follow the saga, here are the links.

We now have a winner!! (check out all 23 logos here) The Colfax Mainstreet team selected #13 (see above) designed by Heather Haaland. #11 was their close 2nd choice.

Many, many thanks to all 6 designers:

Heather Haaland (design 13)
Jim Hill (designs 1,3,5 and 6)
Alvin McCoy (18-23)
Cyndi Wiley ( designs 7-9)
Dan Lester (designs 2 and 4)
Robin Blake (designs 10-12)

But the work is not done. Now Heather and the Colfax Mainstreet team need to work through decisions like color and usage in things like letterhead, business cards etc. So stay tuned. We'll share their results in the near future!

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Are you playing your competitor’s game?

February 10, 2010

I'm not good at sitting idle. So if I am stuck waiting for some reason, I get antsy. To kill that time, I'll fire up my smart phone and play a game (or two) of Hearts. In the game, by default I am player south. (4 players sitting around a table, each designated by a direction.)

My arch nemesis is player north. He is the shrewdest of the computerized players and if anyone is going to beat me, it's him. (Stay with me, I promise there is a marketing message in here!)

I have played Hearts (usually with real people so don't feel too sorry for me!) for many years and I'm pretty good. I have a sound strategy that has been time tested so I rarely need to vary from it. But…the fact that north is good and is my most worthy opponent throws me off that track.

I find that I play differently when I am overly-conscious of trying to beat him in particular. And in fact, the more I purposely change the way I play to thwart him….the more I lose. If I stay disciplined enough to play my own game my own way — I rarely lose.

(Did you notice the marketing message I snuck in there?)

We all run the same risk in running our businesses and planning our marketing. Way too many businesses invest too much time and energy worrying about what their competitor is doing. Then, they change their own game plan to chase after the other guy — emulating or trying to outdo.

It's a game you are destined to lose. One of three things is going to happen.

Your competitor is doing something in their sweet spot and you can't really compete so you look second rate.
Everyone recognizes that you're reacting/copying your competitor and you look like a 'me too" brand.
You spend so much of your time and money executing their tactics that you never have the resources to do what you know will advance your business.

The only way to win marketshare, customers' love and brand dominance is to do it your way. All the time. Regardless of what the competition is doing. Reacting to the other guy rarely plays out in your favor.

Look at the recent TV commercial war between Verizon and AT&T. (watch their commercials by clicking on their names) Who do you think is winning? AT&T looks like they're whining and making excuses. Why? Because Verizon sucked them into their game.

Should you know what your competition is up to? Yes. But only if you can then be disciplined enough to stay your own course. If you can't resist playing their game…you're actually better off staying in the dark.

Always play your game. That's the only way companies like Apple, Zappos and Southwest Airlines won. Same goes for you.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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Examples of social media policies

February 8, 2010

In corporate America (and probably corporate World), rules get created when people make bad choices. It's how child labor laws came to be and why we now have sexual harassment policies. The few and the stupid are the catalyst to regulation.

Which is why it's not a shock that companies big and small are beginning to institute social media policies. After the Dominos pizza incident and the world famous FedEx tweet — who can blame business leaders from wanting to protect themselves by setting down some rules?

I've put together a long list of social media policy examples for you to use as you create your own. I'll keep adding to the list as I find new ones, so you might want to bookmark the page. You can view/download them by clicking here.

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Have you built a rock solid foundation for your personal brand?

February 5, 2010

Whether you work for someone else, are a serial entrepreneur or anything in between — in today's world, you can't afford to ignore the idea of personal branding.

A generation ago, employees often stayed with one employer for the lion's share of their career. Today, most professionals will not work for several companies — but they will most likely change their entire profession.

And even in the unlikely case that you do find the employer of your dreams right off the bat — you still want to distinguish yourself by standing out from the crowd.

Enter personal branding.

By the way, I don't think personal branding came about thanks to the internet. It's been around for generations. Abe Lincoln certainly created a personal brand. So did Hitler. But, the internet certainly makes it easier for an average joe or jane to create a credible, spreadable personal brand.

But to do it right, I believe it takes intention.

When I speak to college classes, I warn them. What you put out into the world via Facebook, blogs, Twitter, MySpace, FourSquare and whatever comes next — stays out there. And it's incredibly findable.

Two relevant facts:

No matter what we want to know, we Google it. (So imagine what the next generation of managers, business owners and reporters will do).
Google never forgets anything.

So given those facts…how do you intentionally build your personal brand?

Decide what you're all about.

Note I did not say…create your brand. Just like with a company — a brand comes from your heart and soul. So dig deep and figure out who you are — that is relevant to the world. (We're many things, some private and some for public consumption — your brand is the world's view).

There are lots of ways to figure it out. Write your own obit, do Strength Finders, Myers Briggs or put together your own little brand task force who knows you well and loves you enough to be honest.

Determine what your personal brand looks like — off-line:

No matter who you are or what you do, odds are that you spend more time off the computer than on. So be sure that you can live the brand in your daily life, 24/7. How does it come to life (remember, this is from other's perspective).

If your brand is that you're a developer of others — how would a developer behave? Think of all the touchpoints you have with other people — meetings, networking, on the phone, in an employee review, etc. How does the developer brand come to life?

Evaluate your existing on-line presence:

Google yourself. Does your brand show up? Is it the most prevalent message? Scan through your old Facebook updates. Is your brand there? Are the other themes complimentary to your brand or do they feel off? What types of things are you retweeting? What do your recommendations say on LinkedIn?

Don't just look at the subject matter. Look at language, tone, replies to others, what you do and don't talk about, play, share with others and the online/social media tools you do and don't frequent.

Step back and be as objective as you can. If a stranger Googled you — what would they think and know about you? Does it align with your brand?

And don't forget your traditional old website. It may be the most content rich place for your brand to live. Do you own your own domain (like www.drewmclellan.com). If not — grab it quick if it's still available.

Decide where you need to be online:

Depending on your brand, your presence might be expected on a certain social media tool. Should you be writing guest blog posts for a specific site? Is tweeting resources a part of who you are/want to be perceived to be? If you're the developer of others…how does LinkedIn figure into your plans?

Don't overdo this. Most people do not have the time or patience to establish a deep presence on every social media site, so don't try. Be active where you want to invest the time and where it makes sense.

Live it:

Off line, on line. Be your brand. Think about your choices. If your brand is about being the consummate, buttoned-up professional, should you be playing mafia wars or farming on a Facebook account that links you to your customers?

If your brand is about being very intellectual and deliberate — should you be firing off emotional responses to negative comments on your blog?

If your brand is about being gregarious and generous, should you be the wallflower at the networking event?

Like most things, if you did the prep work — it shouldn't be difficult to live your brand, once you've gotten in the habit of keeping it top of mind. If you find that you can't live your brand consistently or it feels fake — you probably have to go back to the drawing board and dig deeper.

Be consistent and be patient:

This isn't going to happen overnight. The more consistent you are, the quicker your brand will not only rise to the surface but stick. But it takes time to influence opinion and influence Google. Remember…we're living in the age of cynics. Don't try to be something you're not. Don't try to force it.

Your genuine brand will come from within. All we're trying to do is make sure that brand stays in the spotlight so you can do and be all that you're capable of.

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Nuggets of smart

February 2, 2010

I don't know about you, but one of my struggles is sifting through all the information out there to find the real nuggets of smart.

I thought, from time to time, I might point out some of the really smart stuff out there so you don't have to go digging for it. I'd love to know if you find value in this sort of post. (Just click on the bolded text to get to each offering)

New study on customer gratitude: Elaine Fogel talks about a new study done by the American Marketing Association that looks at the sales impact of generating a sense of gratitude in your customers.

Rethinking branding through radical innovation: My Age of Conversation cohort Gavin Heaton has served up a very smart post on how to approach any project that will build your brand.

Woorank.com: Yet another analytical tool for your website or blog. But the interface and elements they rank made this a very valuable look see. For me, it was worth a bookmark.

Do you play Foursquare?: Foursquare is this year's Twitter or so they say. This Marketing Profs Daily Fix post looks at why as marketers, we should care. Humbly offered by yours truly.

There you have it…a handful of nuggets guaranteed to make us all a little smarter. Let me know what you think.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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