I know that most of what Seth writes is amazing but here is something definitely worth pondering!
Enjoy and reflect ….
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Hunters and Farmers by Seth Godin …
10,000 years ago, civilization forked. Farming was invented and the way many people spent their time was changed forever.
Clearly, farming is a very different activity from hunting. Farmers spend time sweating the details, worrying about the weather, making smart choices about seeds and breeding and working hard to avoid a bad crop. Hunters, on the other hand, have long periods of distracted noticing interrupted by brief moments of frenzied panic.
It’s not crazy to imagine that some people are better at one activity than another. There might even be a gulf between people who are good at each of the two skills. Thom Hartmann has written extensively on this. He points out that medicating kids who might be better at hunting so that they can sit quietly in a school designed to teach farming doesn’t make a lot of sense.
A kid who has innate hunting skills is easily distracted, because noticing small movements in the brush is exactly what you’d need to do if you were hunting. Scan and scan and pounce. That same kid is able to drop everything and focus like a laser–for a while–if it’s urgent. The farming kid, on the other hand, is particularly good at tilling the fields of endless homework problems, each a bit like the other. Just don’t ask him to change gears instantly.
Marketers confuse the two groups. Are you selling a product that helps farmers… and hoping that hunters will buy it? How do you expect that people will discover your product, or believe that it will help them? The woman who reads each issue of Vogue, hurrying through the pages then clicking over to Zappos to overnight order the latest styles–she’s hunting. Contrast this to the CTO who spends six months issuing RFPs to buy a PBX that was last updated three years ago… she’s farming.
Both groups are worthy, both groups are profitable. But each group is very different from the other, and I think we need to consider teaching, hiring and marketing to these groups in completely different ways. I’m not sure if there’s a genetic component or if this is merely a convenient grouping of people’s personas. All I know is that it often explains a lot about behavior (including mine).
Some ways to think about this:
* George Clooney (in Up in the Air) and James Bond are both fictional hunters. Give them a desk job and they freak out.
* Farmers don’t dislike technology. They dislike failure. Technology that works is a boon.
* Hunters are in sync with Google, a hunting site, farmers like Facebook.
* When you promote a first-rate hunting salesperson to internal sales management, be prepared for failure.
* Farmers prefer productive meetings, hunters want to simply try stuff and see what happens.
* Warren Buffet is a farmer. So is Bill Gates. Mark Cuban is a hunter.
* Hunters want a high-stakes mission, farmers want to avoid epic failure.
* Trade shows are designed to entrance hunters, yet all too often, the booths are staffed with farmers.
* The last hundred years of our economy favored smart farmers. It seems as though the next hundred are going to belong to the persistent hunters able to stick with it for the long haul.
* A hunter will often buy something merely because it is difficult to acquire.
* One of the paradoxes of venture capital is that it takes a hunter to get the investment and a farmer to patiently make the business work.
* A farmer often relies on other farmers in her peer group to be sure a purchase is riskless.
The company that gave us the first automated, online system to create, publish and send real greeting cards has done it again. Send Out Cards (SOC) recently launched a new twist for delivering their exceptional product, the SOC Box (pronounced “Sock Box”).
By releasing the SOC Box program, Send Out Cards jumps from network marketing/MLM business model into the retail affiliate marketing realm. This new and provocative approach opens the door for a wider range of ordinary people to access the company’s biggest selling product (creation of a two-panel card with your own images) but also to make a little extra money for a nominal fee if they desire to do so.
What’s in the SOC Box?
Open the box and discover your key to becoming a SOC user and access many of the key features of the Send Out Cards system. The basic SOC Box retails for $49.00 (USD) and includes:
Your specific license to use the SOC Box software system;
Access to Picture Plus enabling you to add your own images to the cards;
Sample cards, SOC brochure and DVD presentation; and
Initial credit for 10 two-panel greeting including postage.
Once the initial 10 greeting card credit has been used, the system can be recharged with another 10 greeting card credit for $20.00 (USD).
Remember each card in the SOC Box system includes postage plus SOC prints, stuffs and mails each card!
Want a little extra cash? Consider the optional SOC Box Retail Affiliate Program for only $25.00 (USD) more …
Once you see how easy it is to create a card and the quality and power of a personalized, heart-felt SOC greeting card, you will likely be eager to share you new found gift with those you admire and love.
Another amazing feature of the SOC Box system is the inexpensive investment (an additional $25.00) to become a retail affiliate and make a little extra cash. Each SOC Box is purchased by a retail affiliate (or SOC distributor) at the wholesale price of $25.00 and when sold at the retail price of $49.00, the affiliate makes $24.00 profit!
SOC corporate also pays a bonus of $100.00 for every 10 SOC Boxes activated within 30 consecutive day period. A quick check of the math shows the potential to make $340.00 profit for each 10 SOC boxes sold an activated within that 30 day period.
The SOC Box makes an excellent Christmas gift for anyone with access to a computer. What a great way to share an amazing gift idea and cover the cost of your own holiday expenses at the same time!
Try the system for yourself!
Access the super easy SOC card creation system for yourself by clicking on the image below and completing the form on the next page for a free card-sending trial!
It was a positively gripping read that in my opinion is the book of the millennium. The authors have written a marketing masterpiece and a personal development manual all wrapped up in an eloquently penned, easy to follow and quick to read paperback. If you are in business of any kind, or not, this is simply a MUST read! Tommy and Curtis are at the top of their game when it comes to teaching appreciation and the law of attraction. And this book comes from their own proven experience, not one word from a bunch of rehashed ideas found in hyperspace like so much self published clap trap is nowadays.
Opening with Kody Bateman’s famous words “Appreciation wins over self promotion every single time”, the first chapter will give you a clear understanding of just what Appreciation Marketing really is. If you are in business you better understand how to garner Customer Loyalty, before your competition does!
Is it ever too late to say Thank You? Chapter Two reveals why expressing gratitude is better late than never, a hundred times better actually. And, perhaps more importantly, why NOT saying thanks does you more harm than good. You may be surprised to read who has been doing this all along, and up to now you may have just thought these champions had lucky breaks. From chapter two onwards each chapter finishes with a quick summary of a key attribute of The Appreciator (The character we all need to aspire to). Expressing Gratitude get’s the ball rolling.
Do people like you? Studies show likeability as being the common ground amongst successful business leaders and successful marriages so you will want to learn chapter three’s attribute – the magnetic personality.
Plato’s wisdom opens chapter four which is really seven mini chapters and seven more attributes rolled into one easily read section. In the Seven Deadly Creatures we have: The Energy Sucker who needs to transform into a positive energy giver. The Pukers, who can verbally vomit over anyone within a three foot radius, they need to learn how to control their enthusiasm. The Toppers, who can and will trump anyone, will learn to lift others up. The Whiner (In Australia, it’s called a Whinging Pom – and I’ve been one) can learn it is better to become someone who does not complain. Narcissus, you know the one who is so full of self admiration we should all wear shades. Well no one wants to spend time with this character so a bit of humble pie is top of the menu.
Next amongst these seven deadly creatures’ is the Vulture. Hard to pick out from the crowd this bird of prey can come up with many a cunning plan to meet you under false pretenses. Vultures need to learn patience and cultivate a genuine nature. Last but not least is Mr. Halitosis; the deadly creature whose offensive appearance and/or odor can get in your face and right up your nose. Can a stinker be turned into the clean appreciator? Yes, this book will have you coming out smelling like roses! While the authors claim to have met, and even been, all seven deadly creatures at one time in their lives, I must admit while glued to this chapter I too recognized myself in each. But I’m OK because I have the book so I now know how to make the changes that will transform me into a first class appreciation marketer.
Chapter five drops a doggy turd on your plate! But it is covered with chocolate so it alright, isn’t it? I’ve never read a better report on sincerity. So if you want to be a sincere appreciator, chapter five is another good reason to buy the book. By the way, if you are in real estate, a doctor, dentist, vet or a florist and you need a way of asking for referrals this is an absolute must read.
In their brilliant metaphoric chapter on cultivating a tomato garden you will learn precisely how to develop ‘Top Of Mind Awareness Through Others’ – T.O.M.A.T.O. Learning how to begin, nurture and develop strong business and personal relationships is an essential skill if you want success in business, a vibrant personal social live and even love. And yes you get that education in this book too.
If you have read Bob Burg’s excellent book the Go-Giver you will simply love how Tommy and Curtis bring in the idea of service as an essential part of being a successful appreciation marketer. Using the perfect quote from Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success you will be left with no doubt of the importance of being an unconditional giver. This chapter sets you up to be the type of person people want to be around and refer people to.
Do you collect business cards? You soon will, and furthermore, in chapter eight you will learn a game of making connections through playing cards – business cards – that will become a vital part of your Appreciation Marketing Strategy.
Now to learn about taking a little extra care. If you do not care for your past, present, and prospective customers – (and spouse?) – someone else will! You will come away from this chapter really knowing why AND HOW to go the extra mile.
Appreciation is the breakfast ritual of champions. Pass on the morning doom and gloom news, and feast upon the warm fuzzy feelings of asset recognition. Ten is a very short chapter that provides you a morning mental exercise that will positively frame your day.
After reading Appreciation Marketing I realized it was far more than a marketing book. As I passed a copy to a friend I said, “hey John read this, it is better than a bible”. In the eleventh chapter, with a little help from the Wallace Wattles classic book The Science Of Getting Rich, Tommy and Curtis provide the grateful secret to prayers and affirmations for people of all faiths (or none) who want answers.
Do you find it easy to see the good in people and situations where most other cannot? You will want to, and be able to, when you get the message about there always being sunshine above the storm clouds.
Earlier in the book some deadly creatures where brought to the fore. Now we learn how to leave our Narcissus ego at the door, but still know how to love and appreciate ourselves and our lives so that we can more easily appreciate others too.
Setting the stage for the construction of our Appreciation Marketing Strategy, comes advice for developing some good habits. As Jeff Olsen says in his book The Slight Edge, the secret to a successful life is in repeating the right simple little things over time.
In closing we are given the how-to steps with which to set up a failsafe Appreciation Marketing System that will bring each who uses it, greatness through gratitude.
A final word of warning – Don’t buy this book! – buy a few and pass ‘em round! The world will be a better place if we would all read this book.
PS: Thank You for reading my synopsis I appreciate you doing so.
Ian Parkin’s website http://www.AppreciationCentral.com will provide you the links to purchase the Appreciation Marketing book as well as an offer to take a free trial of the very system the authors use and recommend to make Achieving Greatness Through Gratitude an automated process.
Parkin provides a great overview of a fantastic book covering the importance of the “appreciation factor” in both the offline and online marketing world of today.
To learn more about the “appreciation system” described in the Wyatt/Lewsey book, click on the following link:
In this video interview, Seth Godin (Permission Marketing, Squidoo and Tribes) provides his unique perspective on the subject of sales and marketing in the Web 2.0 Internet world.
Godin is quick to point out that although the “Web” is one of the more alluring tools for sales and marketing professionals to seek prospects, it is completely different than the “old world” environment they are used to working.
Several of the points he makes in this short video interview include:
Unlike former offline advertising practices, people on the Internet can simply ignore the ads;
The “Web” mandates the use of permission marketing approaches;
Once you have an audience, they can publicize for you through various forms of social media; &
Online marketing and sales pros need to focus on Web 2.0 tools, especially blogs and blogging.
Rather than try and cover all the points Seth Godin covers in the video, just give it a quick watch below and get the insight firsthand …..
Remember, the Internet is a completely different environment and different approaches to sales and marketing are required to succeed in the modern Web 2.0 world ….
Nearly everyone agrees one of the more effective social media platforms to access increased traffic is a blog. After adding effective blog commenting into the mix, blog traffic results can be significantly increased.
When you combine a continual flow of value-oriented content with SEO optimized software such as WordPress, the stage is set to gain excellent page position on the search engines. Though this process often takes time to create enough content such that the search engines provide decent page rank, it can often be shortened by creating social buzz via content syndication.
The use of effective blog commenting is another tool often allowing you to add a little tidbit of valuable information to someone’s blog and draw increased traffic from the blog owner and their readers.
Does that mean you can just surf over to any related blog, make a comment and expect an instantaneous surge in traffic to your site?
Only on rare occasions!
Though there are times when you comment on a blog post generating a significant amount of comment buzz and a short-term increase may occur; these instances are somewhat rare (though cool when they happen). Most often this process takes some time, so be patient.
A few other pointers to keep in mind to help use effective blog commenting to increase traffic back to your blog include:
• Search out bloggers in your niche with a quality blog, lots of readers, a steady stream of useful content and readers comments;
• Always post an honest comment by building on the original post and previous comments and by being authentic and insightful. Never be superficial;
• Become a regular reader and comment frequently on the blog; not only on the new posts but repeat comments on posts that you already posted on to help keep the “blog’s conversation” alive (I have personally used this approach to be social and it has also delivered more visitors to my blogs);
• Always be respectful when leaving comments even when expressing a different viewpoint from the blogger or their readers; and
• Don’t fret the fact the blog may be “no-follow” (the default for WordPress for example) rather than “do-follow”. Even though you may not get the back-link credit, you still have an active link to your blog which is a direct path not just another small SEO enhancement.
Always keep in mind that blogs are another of the social media platforms and should be treated as such. When you take the time to be social while offering value oriented comments, those comments will be more effective and result in increased blog traffic over time!
If you are in need of assistance with setting up a WordPress blog or enhancing your post’s search engine page position using social buzz and content syndication, feel free to complete the contact form at the top of the page for assistance.
A few weeks ago I was somewhat fortunate enough to encounter Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge; a free training program for neophyte Internet marketers.
The only reason why I say I was somewhat fortunate … after scanning through the training materials available on the site, I was wishing I had found it much earlier.
For the last four years, Ed and his associates (Dan Raine, Guru Bob, etc.) have facilitated a 30 day crash course on the fundamentals of Internet marketing with the goal of having participants make their first online dollar.
The training program assembled for the 2008 Challenge started everyone out defining their intended market then progressing onto market research (last year using a new market research software package … Market Samurai … (though it is paid software there is a 40 day trial period for challenge participants)) then up through establishing your central content hub, building a web presence, evaluating analytics, etc.
They also highly encourage the formation of teams to support one and other in various ways before, during and after the challenge is completed. The atmosphere appears fantastic.
It truly seems to be a phenomenal training resource about Internet marketing at an amazing price … it’s FREE!
Following is a video tour of the 2008 Thirty Day Challenge site that I made a few days before it came down to prepare for the 2009 version that runs in August. Take a few moments and see what I mean:
Ed Dale and crew also conduct a periodic 30 Day Challenge UStream broadcast both during the event and throughout the year with updates and follow-up to the current or previous year’s event. During the last few shows, Ed has indicated an even stronger program for this year’s challenge including guest instructors on podcasting and social media marketing. I know I will be participating in this year’s challenge and invite you along for the ride as well!
If you are interested in learning more about Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge or participating as a team member during this years challenge, complete the form found via the “Contact” link located on the top of this page. I’ll contact you straight away to discuss this “Awesome” event …
and as they say around the Thirty Day Challenge camp …..
Over the last few months, I have been in a state of shock and awe at the number of product launches and the overtures of those products on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and even pn the video marketing sites such as You Tube, Viddler, Blip-TV.
It is truly amazing and almost mind-numbing!
So here I am on the day of one such launch (Mike Dillard’s & Jim Yaghi’s PPC Domination) making and posting this video expressing my amazement about all the same Internet marketing affiliates that instantly pitch not only PPC Domination but WebProsperity, as well as the Mike Dillard & Perry Belcher social networking launch.
As I close the video, I plead for all of those super multi-tasking Internet marketers to move beyond the sales pitch and show us how to become super multi-tasker Internet marketers too!
So here’s a peek at the video:
(Of course I was sort of smiling with tongue in cheek the whole time I was recording that )
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