MaxiMeyer.com

• A little bit on Seth
• Someone watching this today is going to do something that matters that will change everything- not because they were told to do it… but because they simply decided they had to do something
• Betty Crocker’s model was to put average products for average people and push product on shelves
• Our society is based on the principle of “more”
• Buy ads, get more distribution, sell more products, and then more profit=  average products for average people
• We have average everything.  Average politicians for average people, etc…
• Typical supermarket has 30,000 different products
• We’ve branded ourselves to death.
• Revolutions destroy the perfect and enable the impossible
• The industrial age is over, a new age of weird…. Different people wanting different things…. Tribes.
• There has been an explosion of tribes
• Deep in our DNA we want to by in sync with “our people”- like a crowd clapping in sync
• What the world is saying, please show up, get us in sync, and help us get there!
• The person who own’s the production, owns the town.  The means of production now is the computer/technology.
• Anyone with a computer and an internet connection has the opportunity to change the world.
• Is this the era of the end of the job?  It could become the era of the artist.
• The factory mindset- keep the line moving.  Managers do what they did yesterday and try to do it faster and cheaper.  Mass assembly of parts also leads to interchangable people.
• They reason they want you to fit in is that once you do, they can ignore you.
• There’s no map for being an artist.
• Competence used to be important.  It’s no longer scarce.
• If you can write it down, I can find it cheaper.
• Quit bowling.  It’s boring.  Do something that is unexpected.
• Everyone’s seen brown cows, the only cow we’re going to talk about is a purple cow.
• We don’t need people to remember facts anymore.  We need people to solve interesting problems.
• Don’t wait to be “picked”.  Stop it.  “Pick yourself”, you have permission.
• If failure is not an option than neither is success because it’s not possible without failure.
• Most of the time the voice in our head says fit in.  Stop it.
• If you want to standout, you have to do something worth talking about.
• Give gifts, not favors.
• Too many people are holding on to things that are only going to rot in their hands.  Give it away!
• How many people would kill for my spot to make an impact or difference?
• If it’s worth doing, then what exactly are you waiting for?
• If your answer to “How was your day” is “fine”…. you’re not putting yourself on the line
• What the world is saying, is “We need you to lead us…”

Imagine going to Taco Bell and having them say “We’ve got some great cheese, we’ve got meat, sour cream, lettuce, and we’ve got tomatoes, and some chunks of chicken, and uh a totilla shell… want to buy something?”

How about just selling them a burrito?

An IT company says, we can fix your computers, load software, install updates, monitor your systems, fix printer issues, work on servers, run cables, check internet settings, handle back-ups, we’re affordable, we’re better than the guys down the street… do you need anything?

How about just offering to take care of all their IT needs for a monthly, budgeted price? (Sometimes referred to as Managed Services)

Much of what I do is work to translate the cool stuff we do at work and try to make burritos out of it…

• Potential clients need a clear, simple path on how it can do business with you and what’s in it for them
• When talking to a company this past week, they had been in business for over 20 years yet their owner and sales manager couldn’t give me a simple answer of what differentiates them from their largest competitor. Can you clearly identify your competitive advantage in your market and communicate it clearly?
• Our old tagline used to be Vision Knowledge Results…. Couldn’t just about every company put that under their name, in marketing literature, or website? Yawn. Our new one? Making Your Business Better by Making Technology Work…. better.
• For service businesses, I love hearing here’s the price and you don’t have to worry about it anymore…. whether that’s my sprinkler system, coffee service at work, or keeping my snow shoveled, just take care of it with no surprises. Give me a bunch of choices and prices… I might just get confused and walk away.
• For our technology company, we need to understand the real business value and return on investment (ROI) first and then package the offering focused on that. Everyone wins that way.
• People don’t naturally connect the dots, we need to do it for them. What is the response you’re trying to release from your target audience?

You have great ingredients at your organization, wrap em’ up and make some burritos.

I recently read “Less Clutter Less Noise” (to many people’s amazement). While it is written as a Communications/Marketing strategy, tips, and best practices using the “church” as a case study… I read it as an Operations Manager for a technology company.

Here are my top 10 favorites for the business world as I observe at our company and the hundreds of clients we consult with:

• Our people (employees) are going to have several touch points with our clients, if they don’t “get” what we’re about, trying to do, or what we’re trying to communicate…. our marketing/communications strategy is already in trouble
• Our communications strategy and a firm understanding of who we are (and aren’t) should come well before we create our first marketing piece or develop our website… (We thought we knew our’s until we encountered the principles and questions in this book…)
• We try to tell our entire story, everywhere, all the time. We need to focus on telling one or two key messages at a time and leave them wanting more.

So in light of that message, I’ll stop there…. not 10…. just 3 bullets.

This book is not for everyone. Just 8,460,000 of you.

The target? If you’re a decision-maker/influencer in ANY of the organizations you belong to and actually want your message heard... say the top 10% of the workforce…. this applies to 18 million of you.

Even hotter target? (18 million of you) x (47% regular church attendees) = 8,460,000 of you. Go get it here.

Now I’m off to learn how our clients REALLY experience us…..

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”- Warren Buffet

Lesson: Observe what the masses are doing and consider an authentic distinction to do exactly the opposite.

How many times have you been part of a meeting talking about what the competition is doing and the reaction is to adopt a “we do that also” strategy?

• While the masses dread Monday at work, find a way to love it.
• When no one wants to deal with a particular client, be the one to ask for that account.
• While everyone is looking for fuel efficient vehicles, look for a ridiculously low priced SUV
• If everyone’s cutting their lawns with vertical lines, go horizontal…or better yet, put in astro-turf
• When people are panicked about the economy, have peace knowing our God will provide
• When all insurance agents send out calendars with mug-shots of themselves to their clients, send all your clients $5 Starbucks cards and offer to meet them for coffee
• When one candidate for President is for a $700 Billion bailout, be the candidate against it with a confident, thoughtful plan B

It’s time to go launch a mortgage company. Thanks for the reminder Mr. Buffet.