Improve My Business

It’s been a while since I’ve posted… because work has gotten in the way.  In a big way.  Let me explain a bit…

A nice Request for Proposal came out that I thought would be a good fit for McDonald Consulting Group. It had a pretty short turnaround time; made even shorter by a potential partner who bailed out 1/2 way through the process. After scrambling to find a new partner, we put in long hours getting everything ready for the submission. [If you've ever prepared a government RFP, it will not surprise you to learn that we had to build 3 ring binders, with seven tabbed sections, and submit an original and six copies, each clearly labeled... so once we were finished writing, we still had hours and hours AND HOURS of administrivia to deal with...]

OK, got that submitted, and thought I could get back to my other work - but No! A long-time client got in touch with us to let us know that, instead of calling us ahead of time to help with a submission to their customer on a standard they had no prior experience in, they “thought they could do it on their own” and didn’t pass muster with the customer, who was asking for an action plan to address the shortcomings.  So now, instead of getting back to what I’d put on hold to get the RFP out the door (including writing some blogs to get ahead of the curve), I’m helping them dig out of the deep trench they’ve gotten themselves into - which requires my rearranging calendars and priorities (because of COURSE it’s a rush job) to meet their customer deadlines; undoing the damage that the initial submission did, and working with Asia (where the customer visit took place) to understand what that factory has, and what we have to create, to support them to address the requirements (what we should have done initially).

It’s a grueling job (7 pm phone calls to China sound familiar to anyone else?) and very time-consuming due to the dual language issue. [I have all the respect in the world for them working with me in English; my Chinese is very rudimentary/touristy and I couldn't work with them in their language...]

Which brings me to the point - when am I supposed to blog in all of this? I’m already juggling and dancing just to find time for my family and myself; when am I supposed to carve out time away from them to blog?

My answer: I’m not. I’m supposed to be doing exactly what I’m doing. And blogging will just have to wait.

Technorati Tags: asia, blogging, customer satisfaction, emergency, rush

Steven Covey, in his groundbreaking work The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells us to “begin with the end in mind”. The concept is to know what you want to accomplish, and to set up your tasks to assist you in reaching that goal. This is nothing more than knowing what you want to accomplish, and aligning your tasks and assignments with that goal.

Many folks get caught up in the social media craze – I admit that I did too for a while. The good news is that my personality gets ‘tired’ with things pretty easily – whether it’s posting 5-6 times per day on twitter, or connecting with acquaintances on Facebook, or answering questions in the Q&A on LinkedIn Answers. Why is that good news? Because I know that, once I ‘master’ this new application, it will lose its allure. So, I can focus on my new obsession in the knowledge that it’s only because I’m not expert at it yet; once I get there, my nature will allow me to naturally ratchet back on the time, effort, and brainpower I’ll put in on this.

Let me give you an example: when I first logged on to Twitter, I was one of the earlier adopters (I won’t say early adopters, but certainly am not a newbie to the app). I was focused on identifying posters who were interesting, humorous, leaders in their field, and leaders in my field. I grew my follower list thoughtfully (I don’t automatically follow those who follow me; and if someone follows me, I go to their profile, read 2-3 pages of the most recent posts, and decide to follow or not based on whether I want to hear what they have to say. If their entire post history are either retweets (RTs), responses (@twittername) or links to their own products (“come check out my 50% off sale!”) I don’t tend to follow them.)

My twitter followers to @marymcd has grown organically to around 1,000 – 1,100 followers – every week I gain some, and I lose some. I check out who I lose, and it’s invariably people who have followed me for 48 hours, seen that I don’t automatically follow them back, and they drop me (Twitter Quitters). Conversely, I’ve built online relationships with folks that I’ve never met IRL (In Real Life) and have a network of professionals I can tap at any given time to get their thoughts on something I’m struggling with. So, although I devoted a bunch of time to building this network, I don’t spend NEARLY that much maintaining it (and yes, I do post regularly on Twitter except when I’m travelling…)

What was my original goal? To understand this new tool, to figure out if I could build a revenue stream from it (yes, but indirectly only), and to connect with colleagues in far-flung locations. Did I accomplish this? You bet. Was it worth the effort? Yes, when I consider the friendships I’ve developed (you know who you are, @my-virtual-twitter-friends…) Am I a twitter guru? Not even close. I use the tool, and am happy with my use, but do not aspire to be a Twitter queen.

Re-examine how you are spending your time – are you doing things that support your ultimate goal? If not, why not? What can you do differently?

Technorati Tags: blogging, Business, communication, efficiency, goals, managing your time, Time Management, working smarter

To close out this relationship themed month on our blog I want to talk about online relationship building, and before you ask, no I am not going to talk about online dating sights. By now everyone knows that your business needs a website, and if you are reading this blog chances are you are relatively tech savvy and have a nice website set up. What is the purpose of your website? Does it give information? Is it simply a place to list your phone number where prospective clients can find you? Or is it a community? Are you using your website as simply an informational tool or are you using it to build relationships with clients and prospective clients? This is what I mean when I say I want to talk about online relationship building.

When the internet first came around it was a great source for easily search-able information, and this is still true. Now days most any question can be answered if you know how and where to look on the internet. However, this is not the only use for the internet, like anything else it grows and evolves. Recently we have seen the rise of social networking and what is being called Web 2.o. The importance of these new innovations from a business standpoint is that they are shifting the way our customers use the internet, and therefore we need to shift the way we use the internet.

Web 2.0 is changing the internet from a simple search-able database of information into a forum for creating community and fostering relationships, and as business people who realize the importance of relationships this is great for us. People are no longer content to simply find information posted on your website, they want interaction, both with you and with other customers. We need to  make sure that we are tapping into this new way of building relationships and using it to reach a new customer base that we may have never thought of before.

To me it makes sense to think of the new internet as one big trade-show. At a trade-show you can have your booth and just put on information for people to come by and pick up and look through, or you can stand at your booth and invite people in, engage people in conversation, and start building a relationship with that person. The growth of web 2.0 has given us the opportunity to stand out front of our online booths and interact with the people coming in, not just let them pick up information and leave. As anyone who has worked at trade shows will tell you, it is the interaction more then the information that is valuable, and this is becoming true on the internet as well.

One final point that I think a lot of people forget is that the rules and tips for building personal relationships apply just as much on the internet as they do in person. This means that whatever you do to start building your relationship presence on the internet you need to make sure it is honest and genuine or you won’t get the desired response.

So I encourage all of us to start thinking about how we can increase our presence on the internet not just from an information stand point, but from a relationship standpoint. That is part of what we are trying to do with our blogs at McDCG. We want to use these blogs to not only provide information, but also start growing a community. This is why we always encourage you to leave comments and start discussions. So how is your business using the internet? Leave us some comments so we can all see what you have done and learn together.

Technorati Tags: blogging, Business, Business Relationships, communication, twitter

Those of you who are regular readers of the blog may notice that we have several bloggers who regularly write these posts. This is done for two reasons:

1) I’m willing to share the limelight with other McDonald Consulting employees - that’s just the kind of sharing, selfless person I am.

2) I don’t want to write blog posts twice a week, every week. That feels too much like ‘work’.

OK, so there are really 2.5 reasons:

2.5) I think it’s important for you, or loyal (or occasional) reader, to hear more than one voice, one outlook, one viewpoint on how you can improve your business.

How does this work? Well, any one of us can write a post and upload it to our site. Suzanne, our intrepid Ops Manager, will review quickly for grammar, spelling, but otherwise does not change what’s written (in most cases, unless we’re ragging on Suzanne, in which case I’m guessing she’d edit it prior to posting) and then upload. Oftentimes, the first time I’m reading the blog post is the same time that you are.

This is great for 2.5 reasons:

1) It gives me insight into what others who are working with me closely are thinking (because sometimes our conversation just doesn’t get around to whatever the blog post topic is on);

2) It gives you multiple voices to hear from on ways to improve your business, implement efficiency ideas, or hear what we’re thinking;

and

2.5) I don’t have to write blog posts, twice a week, every week. (at least you know I’m honest!)

So if you like a post, or dislike a post, or want to comment on the post, note who wrote it - and feel free to address us by name!

Thanks to our bloggers Suzanne, Barret, Jenny, and James!

-Mary

Technorati Tags: blogging, communication, working smarter

Mary is on vacation this week so the task of contributing to the blog falls squarely on my shoulders, which is great, but the topic of process improvement is so overwhelming getting started has been a bit of a challenge. At least it was until last night when I decided to change my usual work process…

Normally, I do all my work from my desk in my home office during daytime hours. This usually works great since I can shut the door and work much like anyone would from a conventional office. Every day I get up get dressed and “go” to work. But every once in a while I get up, get dressed and go to work only to find myself stuck, staring at email and not able to generate the enthusiasm I need to tackle the tasks of the day.

So, when I found myself pondering what I would write about while brushing my teeth before bed, and actually coming up with ideas, I decided to change my process. Normally it is against my personal policy to bring work to bed. This policy was decided based upon multiple articles and interviews I’ve seen with doctors and relaxation experts that say over and over again that if you bring your work, bills, and other stressful tasks with you to the bedroom, the bedroom will cease to be a place for relaxation and rest. This theory made sense to me, except I still found myself laying awake and thinking about work. Well, obviously my policy was not having the desired effect.

Instead of trying to forget all the ideas I was having, I gave in, grabbed my laptop and just let them out. Voila! I now have something to share on the blog, and it even has a message that may help others: If you find yourself stuck, try something new! Break your own rules every once in a while to see if they are serving you well or holding you back!

Please share a comment if you’ve had a similar epiphany and let us know how it worked out for you. Did you eventually go back to the old routine, or did you make a change for the better?

Technorati Tags: blogging, change, process improvement, working smarter