Seth Godin Impacted Business Chicks & Business Blokes

Ok I admit it, I was nervous going to a lunch put on by Business Chicks thinking Seth Godin and I would be the only men in the room! There was however a smattering of men who joined some of Sydney’s most entrepreneurial women to hear from a world guru in marketing and thinking.

 

Here are few of my thoughts and Seth’s quotes:

“People like us do things like this” meaning to focus on the people/customer who do things like us. Forget the majority, just focus on the people you want to serve.

He talked about ways to compete and mentioned price. He said if you compete on price, it is a race to the bottom and the problem with that race you might just win! Forget competing on price.

Your goal in business should be creating a conversation piece or a story that people talk about. He used an example of Hallmark Christmas ornaments that are ‘limited edition’ and only available in July! Here’s the lesson:

Hallmark’s average shopper, buys 52 cards a year, not counting Christmas which Means July was slow for the 1500 plus Hallmark stores;

• For the heavy shoppers of Hallmark they wander in in July and the sales person says, “Have you seen our limited edition, only available in July Christmas ornaments for only 10 bucks?”
• The heavy user buys the ornament and then leaves behind their name and email, so that “You receive a personalised postcard to get next year’s limited edition ornament.”
• When she brings it out at Christmas, people make comment on the beautiful ornament and she says “it is limited edition, only available in July at Hallmark.”
• A conversation that Hallmark didn’t pay for!
• Note – in 1999 Hallmark sold $100m worth of junkie ornaments thanks to the postcard reminders and conversations

The best time to launch a new product is 15 minutes ago. The next best time is tomorrow.

These days it is VERY easy to find you! The Internet makes it difficult to hide your business and what you do. The real question is ‘why would someone look for you?’ Do something or make something so that people WANT to find you! And generally, that ‘thing’ is your story!

His catch phrase and mantra came out loud and clear: “Remarkable means worth making a remark about!”

He gave a great comparison about what we are selling in business. He said we want to have a product people want to talk about. For example, if you get a great hair cut with an awesome experience, people notice the haircut, they comment and you can tell them about it. But if you get a massage, you may feel better, people don’t notice and you don’t want to walk around saying “I just got a great massage!” Interesting point: Do you want to be in a business that people/consumers talk about?

We are trained from a young age to hold a little back! Change your mindset so them no one can get ahead of you. Do your very best from the beginning.

He questioned how we teach our kids. He suggested that we should teach kids to solve problems, as opposed to learning the answers. This means they are learning about the solutions we already have rather than answers we don’t yet know.

We may not brain dump or brain storm as we are afraid – afraid of coming up with bad ideas. Don’t be afraid of bad ideas! When you get the bad ideas out, the good ideas will then come out. And the cool thing, you can come up with ideas anywhere in the world!

I found he made a profound statement that truly impacted me: the market will NEVER be ready for a new product. He said in the 1400’s when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press the majority of the world was illiterate. When Karl Benz invented the modern car in 1886, there weren’t petrol stations on every corner nor did anyone have a driver’s license! And we have seen that Apple more recently.

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

“The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.”

Fear will not go away. Acknowledge it. Use it as a compass to ensure you are going in the right direction. So forget fear and embrace freedom!

My fav quote for the day: “Shun the non-believers! The people who criticise us are not who we do business with. Do business with people who want us.”

If you haven’t read any of Seth’s books, here are the ones I recommend: Click here.

You can see loads more from Seth Godin by going onto Twitter and searching #SethGodin. You’ll see great quotes and notes from awesome Tweeps:

• @TarnyaBaohm
• @MarketingIsUs
• @LynneCazaly
• @inBloome
• @Trevoryoung
• @Secrets09
• @_wideyedgirl
• @LivIntegrating
• @_DebraSinclair
• @OneDegreeHR
• @BusinessChicks