Book Review

Are you ready to hug your haters?

June 8, 2016

Hug your haters? Who wants to embrace those who serve up bad reviews, slam you in social or pepper your website with complaints?

If you’re smart — you do.

Back in the good old days, if you were disappointed in product or a company’s service, you wrote them a terse letter or if you were really steamed — you’d call their 800 number.

And then you’d wait. And wait.

Today, if something goes awry — odds are you’re going to grab your smart phone. You might snap a picture and post it on Facebook with a scathing commentary. Or you might go to Yelp, Expedia, or some other review site and share your experience.

You might take to Twitter to ask for some help from whoever is manning their Twitter feed, if anyone is.

But odds are, what you won’t do is stay silent.

According to Jay Baer’s new (and brilliant book) Hug Your Haters, there are two kinds of haters out there.

If we want action on a problem, we’re offstage haters. We prefer to talk privately one-to-one to resolve an issue. We pick up the phone. We send an email. We meet in person.

If we want an audience, we’re onstage haters who are quick to publicly shame on social media.

“In the same way that bumper stickers are the most shallow form of political expression, social media grousing is the thinnest form of customer complaints,” says Baer. “Though onstage haters may not expect a reply, they definitely desire an audience,” says Baer. “That’s why they raise the stakes and take grievances to a public forum.”

Dealing with these public and private complaints is the next frontier of marketing. The truth is that most companies do very little, if anything. Which costs them customers, dollars and their reputation. Customer service has become a spectator sport and we can’t afford not to get into the game.

Baer, the book and the research that the book is base don all say the same thing:

Answer every complaint, in every channel, every time. Admittedly, it’s not easy to hug your haters. It takes cultural alignment, resource allocation, speed, a thick skin and an unwavering belief that complaints are an opportunity.

Answer your onstage haters publicly because the opinions of onlookers are the real prize.

Don’t make it your goal to have the final word at all costs. Respond no more than twice to an onstage hater and then move on. “Violating the Rule of Reply Only Twice can drag you down into a vortex of negativity and hostility, and it’s also a waste of your time,” says Baer.

And offer to resolve the issue offline with your onstage hater. It’s tough to solve a complex problem with 140 characters on Twitter.  You also don’t want anyone sharing personal information in full view of your digital onlookers.
So if you’re a business owner who’s not on social media, start paying attention to what’s being said about you and be ready to respond.  Hug, and never mug, your onstage haters. They’re playing to the crowd and so should you.

How you respond will differentiate your company from all the businesses that stay silent or have no clue what’s being said online, says Baer. “In today’s world, meaningful differences between businesses are rarely rooted in price or product, but instead in customer experience. Hugging your haters gives you the chance to turn lemons into lemonade, morph bad news into good and keep the customers you already have. So few companies hug their haters that those that make the commitment are almost automatically differentiated and noteworthy when compared to their competitors.”

The book is packed with real life examples from companies of all sizes and a ton of data based on research Jay did with partners Edison Research. Jay also reached out to many other thought leaders to get their take.

The truth is — this is a daunting time for us as business leaders and marketers. Evolving your culture to respond to every comment, complaint and review is a whole new landscape for all of us. But the consequences of not doing are even more daunting.

Luckily for you — I have five copies of Jay’s book Hug Your Haters to give away. AND for one lucky winner — I have a pair of Hug Your Hater socks. To be eligible to win the book/socks — leave a comment.

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Are you willing to double your profits?

June 16, 2011

…do you want to double your profits?

Seems like a silly question, doesn’t it?  Who wouldn’t want to double profits?

Wanting to and being willing to do what it takes are two very different things.  But I’ve found a playbook that might give you an edge.

Double your revenue and profit in 3 years or less.  That’s a bold promise and one most authors wouldn’t dare make.  But Cameron Herold doesn’t appear to be just any author.  Cameron earned his chops running high-growth businesses such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK? where in his six years as COO, the company roughly doubled in size every year, growing from $2MM to over $106MM in sales.

What I appreciate about Herold book’s Double Double (click here to buy*) is that it’s practical “how to” stuff as opposed to a lot of theoretical discussion.  Lots of good examples and very tangible tools.  But all of that said….this isn’t revolutionary information.  I doubt you are going to read anything that makes you slap yourself on the head and say, “I’d never have thought of that.”

So why read the book, you might ask.  Well, if you’ve already doubled the size your revenue in the past 3 years and are on track to do it again — then you probably shouldn’t waste your time.  But if you’re like 99% of business owners/leaders — you may be familiar with many of the concepts but you aren’t making it happen.

So read the book.  Take notes.  And notice the focus.

I think most business leaders know what they need to do to make their business successful.  But then one of three things happens:

• They get distracted
• It gets too difficult (they don’t want to do something they need to do)
• They get worn out and don’t have the energy

The other danger is that most business leaders try to do this in a vacuum.  They don’t involve their team.  They don’t create a vision that’s so clear anyone in the company could draw it and they don’t protect/chase that vision like a middle linebacker at the Super Bowl.  While Herold’s book can’t toughen you up to do the hard work — he has written a playbook you can follow.

Part One: This is what I would call the prep section.  This is about creating your map.  You can get somewhere without one, but why go to all that extra work?  Measure twice, cut one!  This isn’t just about vision, it’s about how to go from vision to action plan and how to create a culture where everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Part Two: This section is the nitty gritty of how to execute on the plan.  It covers just what you’d expect it to — right people on the bus, marketing, tracking/measuring progress, etc.

Part Three: This section talks about having the heart of a leader.   Herold talks about juggling all you have to do, finding some balance and the heart murmurs that come with running  business.  His chapter about the roller coaster was worth the price of the book alone.  Having owned my own business since 1995 — I have felt everything he described and then some.

This book is a call to action so read it with a notepad by your side.  I’d also recommend that you read it with your management team and then discuss your ideas together.  It would be a great pre retreat homework assignment and then you could really dig into the planning.

Bottom line — if you want your business to be stronger, more profitable and more fun — this is an excellent playbook.  But…reading the book won’t be enough so don’t bother buying it if you aren’t also willing to do the hard work.

 

*Yup, an affiliate link.  The author sent me an advanced copy of this book to review.  So did a bunch of other authors.  But this book is worth sharing with you.

 

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Congrats to my book winners!

February 27, 2011

I won?  I really won?

Over the past couple weeks, I had 2 copies of Harry Beckwith’s Unthinking* and 3 copies of The Now Revolution* by Amber Naslund and Jay Baer to give away, based on participating in the comments section of the blog.

I’m happy to announce our winners:

Harry Beckwith’s Unthinking:

Steve S. and Jeanne Dininni

Amber & Jay’s The Now Revolution:

Scott Townsend, Kristina Carson and Andy N

If you’ll please e-mail me your mailing address (send it to drew@mclellanmarketing.com) I’ll be sure the book is on it’s way to you!

Thanks for taking the time to add to the conversation!

*These are Amazon affiliate links.

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