Change is not easy to implement in an organization. People are resistant to change. The fact is, much of what we try improve with change fails. Not because that the change is bad, but because we don’t make sure the change itself succeeds.

If you are the lone wolf crying in the office, then don’t expect any of the change you want to implement to happen. The only way for change to work is if it starts from the top down. If the boss doesn’t care about what you are trying to accomplish, it simply won’t happen.

I find it interesting when IT departments implement some new technology and then wonder why it doesn’t work. More often than not, the business leaders in the organization don’t want to make any change, so the new technology simply falls on deaf ears.

If you are going to push for any change in your organization, make sure the boss is on board or be prepared to fail.

… then why don’t we embrace it? Why has it taken so long for organizations to move paperless? Why is it that we are not willing to make the leap to maintain all of our information in formats other than paper?

The simple answer is that a good portion of our information is contained in areas other than paper. We have implemented paperless management systems such as email, customer contact databases and enterprise resource planning systems. Virtually all office workers, managers and employees, have a computer at their desk. Information more and more is being managed in ways other than paper. More information is communicated via email, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, and newsgroups than is being communicated via traditional post.

Organizations are embracing the paperless office. In fact, often times, organizations have more paperless information that they know how to manage.  With the information stored in multiple databases, on multiple servers and on multiple desktop computers, information is more difficult to find now than ever. Add to that the amount of paper that is still being utilized for the transmission of information, there has never been a time in history that strong document storage, retrieval and retention policies have been more important than right now.

Think of the information that you maintain in your organization. What is your policy on storing those documents? How do you maintain them? How do you search them? How do you destroy those you don’t need? If you don’t have a good answer to those questions, you better get one.

How do you help your customers understand their problems so that you can solve them? I think of the insurance salesman I talked to not too long ago.

“What happens if you crash your car and are out of work for six months?”

“If you lose an eye, this insurance will give you $100,000.”

“What will you do if we have an earthquake and your house catches fire and everything you own is destroyed?”

This model makes a little bit of sense since we all seem to want to hear about all the tragedies in the world… fear is something that we can identify with.

The most common tactic for a salesman to employ is to strike fear, uncertainty and doubt in a customer about their current situation and help them see the light. Help them see how what you provide will make all of their worries go away.

Personally, I am not a big fan of fear as a business model. I don’t like sitting through presentations that tell me about all the things that can go wrong and if I don’t do my things differently my health is shot or my business will go away.

A better approach would be to find out what your customers are concerned about and help them solve that. Then you don’t have to strike undue fear into your customers’ minds to get them to buy.

If you solve your customers’ problems that they know they have, it will be easier for them to identify other problems they might allow you to solve and you never have to scare them into submission.

You have heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting the same result?

If that is the case, then why do we do that in business?

As I drive down the street, I see more and more cars decorated with new businesses that offer the same thing. Video game traders, coffee shops, cleaning companies. All trying to find their niche doing the same thing that has been done over and over again.

If you do the same thing as your competitors, you will get the same results… only more slowly and will have to share the wealth with them.

Dare to be different. Dare to buck the trend. Dare to be irreverent. Dare to find a better way - an easier way to do something.

If you can be different, you will have something that is noteworthy —– buzz-worthy. People will talk about you. They will tell their friends. They will sell for you because they believe in you not because you give them ten bucks for referring a friend.

Don’t think your produt is cool enough for that to happen based on the product alone. We can’t all invent the iPhone, but we can facilitate word of mouth marketing by being better, being different and being superior in how we take the same products to market.

Copier and printing industry experts assert that within the next few years business will print more color than black & white. Sort of reminds me of the paperless office promise from 1975.

The fact is, color printing is on the rise. I thought I would share the real value of color. What does color do to the emotions? How does it affect us?

First of all, color has different meanings to different cultures. Depending on your background, you may have different emotions that are aroused when you see a particular color. I will share the most common emotions that come to the average North American.  Many of these meanings will carry across cultural boundaries, but I would be curious how you agree or disagree with my assertions here.

Primary Colors:

Red is a very emotionally charged color. It tends to increase the respiration rate and can even raise your blood pressure. It creates excitement and can be associated with danger, war, power, strength passion, desire and love. It can even increase your appetite.

Yellow is the happy color… it is the color of sunshine. It creates a sense of cheerfulness and helps to stimulate mental activity. When yellow is very bright, it can attract attention. It can also provide a very sharp contrast to dark colors. Yellow can have the appearance of being brighter than white if over used and can be disturbing if used too much.

Blue is a trusted color. It can provide a sense of tranquility and security. It tends to symbolize loyalty, wisdom, trust, faith, confidence, and intelligence. While red can help to increase the appetite, blue tends to have the opposite affect and can actually suppress the appetite.

Secondary Colors:

Orange is the combination of the happiness of yellow and the energy and strength of red. It symbolizes creativity, determination, enthusiasm and success. In addition orange indicates affordability. Because of its similarity to red, it is great to promote food.

Green tends to suggest endurance and stability. It represents harmony, growth and freshness. Green indicates safety. Obviously, it is associated with money and wealth. With the interest in “green” products, it is the only color that can promote organic foods and products effectively.

Violet or purple combines the energy and strength of red with the stability of blue. It represents nobility, ambition, power and luxury. It symbolizes extravagance and wealth and is often associated with dignity, independence, wisdom and magic.

Others:

White is purity, goodness, light and innocence. It is considered perfection. White is generally positive and simple. Often it is the color of charitable organizations, low-fat foods and dairy products.

Black is elegant, powerful and formal, but can also be associated with death. In marketing, it is dignified. In certain contexts, black is very negative (blacklist, black humor, etc). It can also denote prestige.

There seems to be a lot of recalls lately. Sometimes it seems as though they are trying to make products that need to be recalled.

North Davis Sewer District Bottles Water

“This water originated as all-natural sewage collected through high-quality reinforced concrete sewer lines in the high mountain valleys of northern Davis and southern Weber counties.

“It was then processed using state-of-the-art screening, grit removal, sedimentation/flotation, biological oxidation, solids contact conditioning, and chlorine disinfection on the way back to you. This system is usually effective in removing up to 94 percent of biodegradable pollutants.

“Ingredients: Water, fecal matter, toilet paper, hair, lint, rancid grease, stomach acid and trace amounts of Pepto Bismol, chocolate, urine, body oils, dead skin, industrial chemicals (aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, selenium, silver arsenic, mercury,) ammonia, … soil, laundry soap, bath soap, shaving cream, sweat, saliva, salt, sugar. No artificial colors or preservatives. Some variations in taste and/or color may occur due to holidays, predominant cuisine preference, infiltration/inflow, or sewer cross-connections.”

For the full story, visit the Deseret Morning News.

Sometimes irreverence works.

Right now, the real estate market is a little soft. I know a few realtors that only became realtors a few years ago when the market was incredibly hot. Before the real estate bubble burst, the only thing required to make money in the real estate market was the two week course to get your license.

Now, those same people find there is six months of inventory and high interest rates. On top of that, there are far too many realtors in the market to match the demand so they are scrambling to find business.

This same thing can happen in your business. Whether it be the one hallmark client that you focus all your efforts to the exclusion of all else or the one product that will outshine all the competition.

Focus on more than the here and now. Understand that you always risk dropping your basket and when you put all of your eggs in one basket you may lose them all. Plan your strategy for the future and be sure to execute on that plan because nothing is secure.

At first glance, this picture may seem absolutely unremarkable… it is just a picture of an intersection with a red light, a car and a couple of construction workers holding signs. Take another look.

Let me set the stage a little better. There are four people holding signs… one at each side of the intersection hold the stop/slow signs. The light is not red, it is flashing red… in all four directions. The construction is actually taking place on the street to the side of the construction.

Okay, so let’s assume that we need to control the intersection. Do we really need four people to do it?

Two options to reduce three employees.

1. Hire an off-duty traffic cop to stand in the middle of the road.
2. Have someone control the lights. They are designed to tell people when to stop and go, afterall. You can have someone just stand at the control box and turn the lights red, yellow and green.

I know what they were thinking…. Why have one person control traffic when you can have four at only four times the cost? At least they didn’t put up a sign that said “Your tax dollars at work.”

You need to be willing to automate a bit to increase your efficiencies. If you aren’t, you will always spend more money.

This may sound rather odd, but think about how often you find sometimes borderline and sometimes outright deceptive business practices.

The car dealer that says, “Every application will be accepted!” but the fine print says, “accepted does not imply approval.”

The loan applications that are designed to look like priorty mail.

How about the websites that trick you into signing up? I just found Find Your Admirer. DON’T SIGN UP!!! But take a look. You enter your name, zodiac symbol and cell number and you get a text message from your “secret admirer.” Aside from being downright stupid, here is the fine print:

You agree that in connection with subscribing for the services, (i) Boost customers will receive the Flirting Tips at $6.99 per month on code 66047, (ii) Nextel, Cellular One, Alltel, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile and Sprint customers will receive weekly the Flirting Tips at $9.99 per month, and (iii) AT&T customers will receive the Flirting Tips club at $19.99 per month. Alltel customers will receive Flirting Tips 3 times per week for $9.99 per month.

Here’s a tip. If you have to deceive your customers into doing business with you, there is something wrong with your business model because you aren’t destined to last. If you have to have paragraphs of disclaimers, maybe there are some flaws that you need to have worked out before you are really ready to go to market.