Can we fix this? 11/23/2011
 
Everyone I know is disgusted with things that are going on in the US right now. OK, maybe not everyone - but everyone tuned into politics and the economy... I personally think about it way too much. There are so many things that make me angry or that I just can't comprehend. It has gone far beyond a difference of opinion or different values - it has become intolerable. The most frustrating part is that many of us just don't know what to do. So, I turn to what I know - writing things down.

It makes things happen at work, right? We make to-do lists, assign action items, discuss solutions to problems, write procedures that people follow... and we make changes to improve our company. Can't we make this work for the US too?

There are lots of philosophies and opinions that I don't agree with, but many I can at least understand. As our country continues down this path of polarized opposites, extreme views, my way or the highway... I find my list of things that I just cannot understand, growing by the day.
 
Partly as a cathartic exercise and partly to get a conversation going - here is my list (in no particular order) of things that I simply cannot understand and I truly wish we, as Americans, could do something to change. 

  -The religious right having such an influence in our political system (what happened to separation of church and state?) Please - I am all for religion and freedom of expression, but don't be pushing your beliefs on me or my political leadership.
  -Greed/power ahead of anything or anyone else. Among the great people of the US are a number of people who live by the mantra "look out for #1" at all costs. I wouldn't really care so much if that greed did not affect my financial situation or push our country to the brink financially - but it has.
  -Money's influence on elections, policy and law in the US. The funding of candidates by corporations and large organizations, million dollar campaigns, billions spent lobbying,... We are out of control and it is time we at least admit it.
  -Negative campaign ads. Can anyone tell us what they believe and what they will do? People move up in polls by pushing down their opponents - when did this become the status quo? When did Americans decide to respond more to this type of advertising?
   -The overreaction tick that has become America. Everything bad that happens needs a law to 'prevent' it from happening again. Do we ever consider education over legislation? Or, better yet... wait for it... holding people personally  responsible?
  -People who cannot afford things but somehow feel they deserve to buy it anyway. (I think the recession has been addressing this problem.)
  -I never got the whole Black Friday thing - but moving it into Thursday baffles me. The 'extreming' of America continues. What if no one showed up? Probably not going to happen. Face it, many more Americans will probably be working on Thanksgiving next year.
  -Wall Street protests. I get the concept, but don't protesters usually have demands or a list of things that they want someone to do or change so that they can end their protest? Just telling everyone they hate rich people in the financial sector doesn't seem like it is going to do much.

There are so many things we need to get done.  In the spirit getting things done, here are a few ideas:
  -Vote for anyone who is not an incumbent. Send the message that this is a job for the people and everyone is expected to work the entire time - not spend the last half of their term campaigning for re-election.
  -Whatever your beliefs, support the fundamental concept that we can't always get what we want (I feel a song coming on!). We all have to get on the bandwagon of give and take. Don't support politicians who sign pledges to NEVER do something or tout a rigid stance on negotiating or the 'branding' of their party. There are values and then there are policies. Let's reward strong values but push for policies that benefit the country as a whole.

On second thought, I would support a politician who signed a pledge to never be corrupt or never cheat on their spouse... Unfortunately, those pledges don't seem to be in the cards.
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A Great Weekend. 09/17/2011
 
You may think I'm crazy, but I am having one of my favorite kind of weekends. It may not be what you are expecting, but here it is.
 
Friday night everyone was gone except for me - kid and husband - just me and the guinea pig. So, I read a bit, made a huge salad for a late dinner, poured a glass of wine, talked with our oldest daughter in California, watched some TV and went to bed late. I know - you are so jealous right now - right? It gets better.

This morning I slept in (still, no one home but me and the pig - guinea that is). OK, I did have an unpleasant moment at 8:30am when the phone woke me and it was Sears trying to get me to renew my protection plan on my washing machine. Lets just say she will not be calling here again any time soon.

Sorry - back to my day. I went back to sleep and finally got out of bed at 9:30. Took my sweet time getting showered, having coffee and grabbing a bite. Finally got myself out of the house around 11 and headed to Polyarts.
What is this Polyarts I speak of? Well, it is just the best thing ever. The quintessential, small town Americana event that brings an entire town out for the day. Local vendors - crafters, jewelry makers, photographers, artists, honey producers and more gather on our town common and every mother and child (and a handful of men) venture down to browse, buy and just socialize with everyone they know.

My youngest had a little table with her 'business partner' - 2, 13 year olds selling their beautiful, hand made greeting cards. They donate their procedes from this event to the local animal shelter. All of their friends hung around trying to get parents to come look at the great cards, but most having no money to spring for a couple themselves. It didn't matter - they all had fun just hanging out together and discussing which booth had the coolest stuff in it.

Ah, the simple things. In the reasonably small town of Hopkinton, this event happens every year and is not to be missed. The Public Library is selling their famous apple crisp - like they do every single year. I never pass it up and gladly hand over my $4 to support the library and enjoy the decandent goodness. My friend Angela is selling her beautiful jewelry and I treat myself to 2 pairs of reasonably priced earrings. My daughter tells me that I HAVE to go buy some of the Tupelo honey from the honey stand - it will go great with our goat cheese (by the way, the honey lady has never heard of goat cheese with honey - such a shame!)

After spending as much money as I felt I could, and catching up with Shiela, Jean, Katie, Kathy, Pam and Binki, I head out to run a couple of errrands and go home for a bit before I have to pick up my daughter at the end of Polyarts.

This weekend will continue to be quiet to the end. With a tired husband returning from the Reach the Beach race tonight and the daughter who had a sleep over last night (more of a 'stay-awake over') and spent the day on the common, tonight should be a quiet family night. Tomorrow has some chores on the list and we can't miss watching the Patriots game and our tradition of making a big serving of nachos for game time.

Some of you may think this is dull and boring. I can understand that. But, if like me, you work full time and you and your family members are involved in lots of different activities, I'll bet you long for this kind of weekend from time to time. I enjoy it because it is just once in a while.
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Well, as you can tell from the date of my last post, I have not had much time to write lately. I actually still don't feel like I have much time right now either, but was inspired to write after reading a couple of posts by Geoffrey James on BNET. I like to read about marketing and get different perspectives and I sometimes like the articles on BNET - but this one got me going a bit. Since I had too much to say to post a reply on the BNET article, I thought it would be best to simply write my own post.
I will try to not be as self-serving and one-sided as Mr. James - as I post a different view of Sales and Marketing roles. By the way Mr. James - have you ever heard of a Product Manager or a Product Marketing Manager?

Here are a few of my picks for organizational dos and don'ts related to Marketing:
1. Sales and Marketing should always be under the same leadership

2. For any business with more than $5million or so in Sales, Sales and Marketing Departments should also have a Product Management function.

3. No matter what the 'experts' tell you - it is still important for someone to focus on the 4Ps of marketing - Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

4. In a perfect world, the Product Manager sets the rules on Pricing, determines, with Sales, the product mix and looks to Sales to determine the 'place'. Marketing takes care of the promotion piece.
BTW, if pricing is set by Sales, it will inevitably be too low. It is easier to sell things when you can beat competitors prices. Like it or not, it is a rare company that offers commissions based on margins.

5. Promotion can mean just about anything, but a good Marketer can figure out what is best based on the company goals, the product mix, the market being targeted and the demographics of the decision makers. Promotion does not mean booking a booth at a show or running an ad and walking away. A good Marketer can also craft a message correctly to help Sales. ALthough B2B selling is largely based on relationships and reputation, everyone needs to find new leads and provide messaging that will engage these propects.

6. Marketing should talk to Sales and Sales should talk to Marketing - regularly. It does not have to be an us vs. them situation.

7. Anyone in Marketing should have to go on a few sales calls and to a couple of trade shows. Talk to customers and look at competitors - figure out what everyone needs and does.

8. Anyone in charge of Marketing at a high tech company better know the products. If you do not have a technical background, get one. You have to be able to understand what your product does and why it is worth buying. There are few Marketing professionals who can market a product they don't understand.

9. Branding and Strategy are important elements to Marketing, but here is the problem - people get too caught up in trying to define and work out these elements until they are 'perfect'. The problem is - they are never going to be perfect to everyone - they are too subjective.

[Quick aside - a professional I know chose not to quote on a logo design project for one of my clients. He cited the difficulties in getting the logo right and stated that even $10,000 was probably not enough to make logo design worth the effort. WHAT? I'm sorry - I don't want to minimize the difficulties in coming up with a new company logo, but really? This is what I mean - it is not THAT important. Make sure it is nice and a good representation of your company and/or your products... and off we go.]

Anyway, to continue - 'Branding' comes when you develop a name for yourself - a reputation. Take enough time to make sure that your products and information all look like they come from your company so that everything you do builds your brand. But, don't get too worked up with the logo, font and color choices, tag lines and all that. Pick something appropriate and nice and stick to it. If you have something old or dated looking or just plain ugly, change it.  If you do everything else right, you will build a brand whether your logo is blue or red or...
As far as strategy goes, let's rename it 'planning'. Marketing planning is an essential function. Marketing strategy is too often confused with Strategic planning for the business. Marketing plans should be part of your business strategy - not vice verse.
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I hate politics. So, when I was considering a post about politics and business, I stopped to think about this a bit. Did I really want to spend my time thinking about politics any more than I had to? Especially these days when it is all so ugly.

Then I read an article in the Boston Globe today about Governor Patrick and I just could not help relating many points to the business world. For those of you who are not up on Massachusetts politics, Governor Deval Patrick (D) was elected in 2006 and came from the private sector - never having held a political office before. WHAT? you say. Yeah, in a political machine like Boston, it was a crazy idea. But, just like Patrick, I have seen this happen in business many times - an outsider is brought in to lead a company or a business unit. Maybe for a good reason or maybe because he/she had the right connections - kind of like politics, right? 

In the article, that looks back on his first term, several statements really made me think of the business world. Speaking of Patrick in the early weeks in office, "...simply unaware of how to wield the influence of the corner office,... how to project an image as a strong leader." "He didn't understand how to corral his power,..."  Have you ever seen this in business? New company executives come in and don't understand the politics of being in charge. This politician did not understand the business of politics. 

Often, managers come into a new company and rub people the wrong way, are looked at suspiciously and may struggle to make the changes they want to see. Perhaps, like Governor Patrick, they need to learn the ropes first, observe and learn and then test the waters with new plans and decisions. Maybe they need to realize that they don't know everything relative to THIS organization and should take some time to figure out the who, what and why before laying down the new order. 

Patrick eventually got the hang of getting things done from the corner office. The article later states, "We are now seeing an experience, tough, seasoned political leader who has learned from some very painful experiences." I wonder if this is just the nature of being in charge. You need to come in and make a few mistakes. If you are smart enough to learn from these mistakes, listen and adjust, you are likely to make it after all - in politics or business.
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It is time for high tech to get involved in Social Media. Even with the millions of people on Facebook, twitter, etc., there is a very small number of high tech companies joining the conversation. It's not easy convincing these companies to get involve though - kind of a catch22 going on. Other companies are not on Twitter for instance, so companies don't want to waste time talking to no one. Someone has to bite the bullet and start an industry trend, but no one wants to be first - and alone.
After putting much thought into this for the industry that I know best, fiberoptics, I have decided that Twitter is the place to be. OK - let me back up a bit. I guess I should clarify that I think all businesses should have a profile on LinkedIn and be active there, but I'm pushing for a high tech Twitter movement.

Here is my thinking. High Tech does not (in general) see much need for the social aspect of Twitter, but they can be well served by using it to share information. For many of us involved with twitter, one of the most useful aspects is how easy it is to find articles about things that interest us. We follow people and keywords that are relevant to what we want to read about and learn and are rewarded daily with snippets of information and links that prove to be helpful. This, I believe, is the key to social media engagement for tech industries. 

The Proposal:
  -Every industry has a trade association, a few industry news websites and even some local chapters/sub-chapters of associations. Start there. These organizations need to get active with twitter - posting industry news and info.
  -Associations with member mailing lists need to email their members with a call to get engaged and share their knowledge and product information.
  -Make a plan. Who will post for your company? What type of things will you tweet about? Don't just sell - engage. Post info about what you offer, but balance it with industry news and general info that your potential customers may find informative. Make a plan for addressing complaints or nasty posts that may crop up. Monitor your business name and keywords.
  -Set up your Twitter account and search out a few people to follow - look for customers, vendors, competitors, trade associations, industry news sites...
  -Make sure to put a link to your twitter on your website.
  -Send an email to your customers and vendors announcing your twitter address and encouraging them to join the conversation. Tell them what type of information you plan to post.
  -Now engage! Use one of the many sites that help manage your social media info if you find that helpful. I use HootSuite, but you can use Tweetdeck, Tweetizen or many other sites.
  -Remember, this is still "Social", so send thank you notes to new followers, follow some of the people who follow you, retweet interesting posts, acknowledge people who retweet you.

That's it - go for it. Don't give up or get discouraged. It takes time to build a following. You will not have 100 followers in a week - or even a month. But, if you follow the plan and keep at it, you will suddenly realize that people are following and engaging and you are seeing posts with links to good information... It's all good!
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What do you do about socal media when you are part of an industry that has not embraced it?

This is my current dilemna. Having worked in the fiberoptics industry for many years, I have been approached by Marketing Directors of small FO companies, asking "Why should I have a Facebook page?" or "How can I justify the cost of setting up and maintaining a Twitter account or a blog...?" Since I am a true believer in the power of Social Media Marketing and feel it is here to stay (will evolve, but won't go away), I can generally give good information and examples of how SM can help a company.

But... here it comes... it is difficult to convince companies that this is worthwhile when other companies from their industry are not active in social media. Who is a small fiberoptic company going to reach if other companies and potential customers are not engaged? It's not just fiberoptics. There are many industries out there that are not involved in social media widely enough to attract a good number of companies to join in.

So, how do we solve this problem? I can't say for sure what will work, but relative to the industry I have been involved in the most, I am proposing the following:

Start with industry groups and news outlets - they are generally involved in social media at least a bit and they have mailing lists. See if they will send a call out to their members/readers to get active and help to build a useful online community.

Find the few from the industry who are active (there are generally a handful from any industry trying things out) and reach out to them to contact their customers/vendors and encourage engagement.

Encourage industry trade shows to bring in at least 1 speaker on social media marketing to inform and encourage companies to engage and to share some much desired statistics,...

I can't say for sure that this will have the desired effect, but it's worth a try. I'm off to put together a nice note to send out to some news and trade associations to see if I can jump start this.  I'll let you know in a few months if I make any headway in the Fiber Optics market and we can take it from there!
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I was at a business dinner a couple of weeks ago with a group from the New England Fiberoptic Council (NEFC). After a lot of chit chat around our table about the changes in our industry over the last 30 years, we listened to talk about FTTH (fiber to the home). It was a bit long, but interesting to most in the room. As we wrapped up and started saying our goodbyes, one of the gentlemen at my table approached me. I was ready to offer my hand to say "It was nice to meet you..." when he said "Tell me why my company needs to be involved in Social Meda. And how will we benefit?" Wow, I just wanted to say goodbye and go home!

Actually, anyone who knows me does not believe that last line! So, we engaged in a lively discussion about the importance of social media today. He was very stuck on the idea of Facebook and how a company like his (small company doing specialty optics stuff) could not possibly find Facebook to be anything but a waste of time. It struck me a bit odd that his whole view of social media centered around Facebook. He admitted that he really did not know much about it, but he just did not get it. Obviously!

So, I offered up a few thoughts about other things that may be more worthwhile for his type of business. Perhaps a blog to show expertise and develop a following, make a few videos showing some applications for his products, get involved with Linkedin, look at Twitter to see if some of his keywords are being discussed... He did not seem moved! So, it was late and we left it there. I offered to send him an email with a bit of data about B2B social media successes and a few more thoughts on what might be right for his business in particular.

Fast forward 2 weeks and we have now gone back and forth several times in an email conversation. I have made him think about this more and he has pushed back, citing the Target boycott ordeal on Facebook. I reminded him that people can post negative things on the internet whether or not you have a presence in Social Media, so you might want to engage and monitor - at least you will be able to respond. He has not been convinced that any of it is worthwhile to spend time doing, but he has engaged - even discussed it with his daughter in college who happens to be creating a FB page for a company as part of her part-time job. A little ironic, eh?! 

I have to say that he does have reason to doubt the effectiveness of social media for his business in particular. The fiberoptics industry has been slow to adopt social media as part of their marketing strategy. When you have an industry that, in general, is not on board, there are not many people to engage with online. So, I am joining the NEFC as a board member soon and I'm on a mission to change that. It's time for this high tech, fast moving industry to see the positive side of engagement. Every industry needs to have a good presence in social media (for B2B companies) otherwise, maybe it is a waste of time. Oh my! Did I really say that?!
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This post may come across as being a bit self-indulgent and maybe I will sound a little full of myself - but please bear with me.

Let me set the stage here. I have been looking for full time work for a long time now and the process is taking a toll on my psyche. I consider myself to be a really good catch. I know, everybody thinks that, but most people that I have worked for would confirm that - at least that's what I tell everyone ;-). Until this recent job search - which began last year, I never had a problem finding a job.

I'm sure that in this economy, there are more and more people who are struggling to find a good job. For those of us who are getting a little older or who have been quite specialized for a good part of our careers, things are probably even a bit tougher. Or, those of us who have worked for ourselves for several years may find that companies discount us too quickly - thinking that we may not really want to go back to a 'regular' job.

This post originally consisted of a rant about my woes and expressed much of my deep seeded frustration. But, who wants to read about me - right? So, I have replaced my original post with this update - a list of some things that I plan to do better/differently moving forward. Perhaps this will be a bit more useful than my personal ranting!

#1 I am blowing up my resume and going to make more of a splash. A friend has inspired me (and he just landed a new job). Goodbye boring summary statements - hello confident, talented ME. My original is posted on this site - look for a new one next week.

#2 I have never been a fan of recruiters, but I am putting together a bigger list and hitting them all with my new resume - and new attitude.

#3 I am going to start calling people more - instead of using emails. I think it is time to push a little harder and get some real feedback.

#4 I just volunteered to use my talents to help a small, local non-profit charity market themselves more effectively and I plan to use my new connections to network into another market area.

#5 Finally, I am pushing back on opportunities that are not quite right - making clear suggestions as to how I could still help a company even though I may not meet all of their requirements.
I just looked at a job posting where I would be well suited for the Product Marketing/business dev. part of the job, but they wanted someone who could do Engineering work too. Although I am an Engineer by degree, I have not done lab testing or made samples for a very long time. Since I think they may have trouble finding someone who can do all of those things, I suggested they consider hiring an Eng. tech instead of an experienced Engineer and let me manage the project and marketing end of things - even if I worked less than full time in the beginning. I don't know what will happen - but it COULD work.

Well, that's it. That is my new plan. I will be working on it diligently starting next week. I don't know if it will be successful, but I'm going to give it a try. I'll keep you posted!
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I have been reading a lot of articles and blog posts lately. I’m not sure what I’m trying to learn or if this is worth doing, but I am doing it. We are so inundated with links to information – as we search for things, check our twitter, wander around facebook, stumble upon things, etc. It’s hard to resist clicking and looking and reading and then clicking a reference link … you know how this goes.
It seems to me that I am not reading much new stuff anymore. Maybe info about new technology that makes getting business info easier or is the new rage in Marketing – but whatever happened to good old fashioned business management talk. It may be out there, but it’s buried in a sea of social media thoughts and discussion.

So, I put together my thoughts. Here is my list of top things that a good business person should know – in no particular order:

1. Understand how to deal with people. Whether inside the company or out, good people skills mean good business.

2. Understand that Quality is a philosophy, not a department. If I need to explain this, you are not on board with this one.

3. Cash flow – understanding that cash is king. You can’t keep a business (especially a small one) afloat if you can’t pay the bills.

4. You cannot do it alone – but you especially can’t do it without good people. The emphasis here is on “good”. Do not tolerate inept or lazy employees – they can ruin everything you work hard to build. Hire good people.

5. Lead by example. You cannot demand that employees, or customers for that matter, do the right thing if you do not make decisions and support people who do the right thing – even when that gets hard.

6. Find your value proposition and build your story around that. Stay focused enough to move forward, but not so stuck in your ways that you can’t make adjustments as things change around you.

7. Communicate, communicate, communicate. People cannot achieve unknown goals or meet vague expectations. Praise good work and discuss how to improve anything that does not meet expectations.

8. Make decisions. Don’t be afraid to make the wrong one and don’t let things happen by default. You loose control when this happens. Gather information that you need, understand whose advice you can trust, weigh the options and decide. This is key to getting things done. If it turns out to be a bad decision, make a decision to try something else.

9. Lead with respect and others will follow.

10. Measure. Find useful ways to measure progress – of the business, of your employees and your own improvement.

Finally, always look to improve. Never sit back and feed off the status quo – this is the kiss of death. Everyone can improve upon something. Make it a mission.
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I am really in the mood to write today, but have been struggling with choosing a topic. I was thinking about my job search and how unprofessional companies have become over the last few years. Then I was thinking about my oldest who was just fired from her job because her boss found out she had been accepted by Americorp for a year of service and they tried to make her quit now instead of in October (when her service starts) - some very slimy biz stuff going on there. Then I was playing around with the idea of writing a book about what NOT to do in business - things I have learned along the way. I thought I could play around with a few topics from that much too long list of lessons learned!

So, what will it be? I think today I will take a peek at the way companies treat people these days. (I know, that line just made me sound old - 'kids these days...') I have never considered myself an old fashioned gal or someone who gets too caught up in formalities - but I am professional and polite and like to think that I act that way in my work life. Something has happened in business over the last few years. People have forgotten their manners and basic courtesies.

When did we stop notifying candidates that they did not get the job after an interview? When did we not reply to a direct email asking for information that we were told we would receive? When did companies stop giving a #@! about people? When did companies start intimidating young employees and trying to take advantage of them?
Does anyone care about doing the right thing anymore? Are we really that busy? That cold? Are we afraid of something?

I'm not going to go on and on here. I just want to encourage everyone to stop for a moment and think about that person on the other side - the one being interviewed or going through a performance evaluation or phoning you with a question. Think about how you would want to be treated if you were on the other side. Do you deserve a reply? An update? An explanation? It only takes a few minutes and it can make a big difference to someone. It should make you feel good too - doing the right thing always does. Let's get back to a little professional courtesy - you never know when you will meet that person again!
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Product Management, Marketing Strategy, Social media