John Ploetz Bloggin

John Ploetz

27 Mar, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

Task management is all about keeping things moving in the right direction and at the right pace to get the most out of your team. With time being such a scarce commodity these days, you can’t afford to be wasting time on poor task management. The following will help you leverage your task management efforts to complete tasks more efficiently:

    1. Keep it simple. Figure out the right way to track the task depending on the complexities of the task and the number of people involved in the task. Basic Options:
    • Excel spread sheet – Simple to use and share with members of team. Most people are already familiar with Excel.
    • Outlook – Task feature is easy to use. Most offices use Outlook. Geared towards more simple tasks.
    • LeanKit – More bells and whistles. Cloud based allows for more flexibility with added features to track and analyze workflow, bottlenecks, and communicate complex information. Manage multiple tasks.
    • Wrike – More bells and whistles. Cloud based features include timeline views, reporting options, time-tracker, newsfeed options, task update via e-mail and more.
    • SharePoint – More complex software system. 2013 version is cloud based. Little higher learning curve. Manage multiple tasks easily.

2. Decide on your task team members. Figure out who will need to be members of the task or team and what parts they will be involved in at the beginning. Thinking this through early will make sure everyone involved is provided the necessary information from the start of the task. This will make the whole process move along more smoothly.

3. Always remember Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ “two pizza” rule. If you need to order more than two pizzas for the members involved in completing your task when you’re holding a lunch meeting, your group is probably too big. Consider breaking up parts of your task into smaller groups to make things move more efficiently.

4. Hold an initial meeting. Let each person know how they will be involved. it’s all about –

    • Communicating the process steps;
    • Getting people to understand the goals; and
    • Letting people know the expectations you have for them.

5. Define expectations verbally and in writing. That way each person can plan ahead and understand what commitments they will need to give to the task. It’s also time for them to ask questions and resolve initial concerns or perceived problems.

6. Explain communication expectations. Set protocols on the modes of communication that should be used to keep people informed on the task progression. Get buy in up front from those involved regarding how they would like to receive or handle communications.

7. Maintain regular meeting agendas. Provide a copy of the agenda a day before any meeting so members understand how they will be involved in the meeting. This allows members to come prepared to discuss the progress of the team on the task.

8. Meetings should never last beyond 2 hours. Most importantly meeting should stick to the planned agenda for both duration and topic. They should never be more than two hours. One hour is even better. Hold meetings only when necessary.

9. Make information available in a timely manner. Post needed information as quickly as possible. Always make it clear that members should feel free to ask questions about information that is provided.

10. Close meetings with clear delegation. Always make sure meetings close with a clear statement of subtasks to be completed and who is responsible for completing those subtasks, including an expected timeline for completion.

11. Remove hurdles quickly. Remove hurdles individuals encounter as soon as possible so that each person can keep their work flow moving forward. Note each group member’s concerns and follow up with them as necessary to make sure they have the information and tools to move forward.

12. Recap tasks after completion. Develop a simple outline of what type of task management software worked best for specific tasks. Always debrief after a task is completed to verify what worked and what did not.

Manage tasks don’t let them manage you. Smooth task completion is all about organization, communication and defining each member’s roles in the process.

John Ploetz

19 Mar, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

Every day thousands of pieces of information get put out on the internet.  In fact it’s difficult to keep track of all the information.  Today everyone is trying to predict what info will be noticed.  Still, less than 15% of ads on the internet go “viral”.  Even “viral” isn’t easily quantified; it isn’t about a specific number of views on the internet; it’s more of reaching a certain level of awareness, it’s about creating a buzz.  Creating that buzz is a mix of luck, timing, and content quality.  More often than not though we’re stuck looking back at something that went viral and all we’re able to say is that was pretty cool. Well here are some thoughts on why information on the internet gets noticed.

  1. You can get info on what’s going or gone viral.  This can help you understand what types of information actually do get noticed.  Any number of different web sites offer links to what are the hot topics or words on a daily basis.  Just a few include:
    • Mashable velocity alerts – Mashable can send you e-mail alerts on what is starting to go viral.
    • Google hot trends – lists the hot Google topic searches on a daily basis.
    • AOL trend hunter – lists the hot trends on AOL.
    • Bing keyword search tool – research key words people are using in searches on Bing.
    • AOL hot searches – top searches on AOL.
  2. Remember information can be broken down into any number of different subareas.  Data is collected and tracked on all the top trends in almost any area – weddings, cars, child names, etc.  You can access the top searches on any subtopic by searching – “Top trends in . . . .”  Just fill in the blank.
  3. More and more people are looking into the science of how the human brain processes information.  Talk to an expert or do some research when putting your information together.  Formatting does make a difference.  Colors, type of text, location of information all play a part in creating an “easy on the eye” internet piece.
  4. Look at what has gone viral in the past.  Dissecting why something went viral in the past might help you see what elements caused it to do that.  Keep in mind though; fresh concepts and ideas are one of the main ingredients why something goes viral.  Be imaginative and innovative; don’t just copy old ideas.
  5. Who is your audience?  Is your ad being viewed by a warm audience or is it a “cold call”?  Are you trying to do a hard sell or soft sell?  Is the customer expecting to see the ad or are you blindly advertising to a new group of potential customers?
  6. Keep working to insure that the internet information you provide is quality content.  People appreciate information that has value.  Even if your information doesn’t go viral, quality content is a necessary element if you hope to go viral.
  7. Release your information at the right time of day.  Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter are all accessed more frequently in the early afternoon, LinkedIn is accessed more in late afternoon and Google+ is accessed more frequently early morning.  This is not a hard and fast rule.  Each customer base is different.
  8. Think about the best day of the week to put information on the web.  Monday or Tuesday might be good for business related sales information.  The weekend or evenings might be better for sales of personal use products.  Again it depends on your audience.
  9. Think about the time of the year. Keep in mind that the time of the year does matter. People are busier or more distracted during the holidays or seasonal events like school sports tournaments and graduations.  Release your information at the appropriate time.
  10. Always think about relevance and context of your information.  Can you tie in your information and link it to events going on in the world or in your local community to make it more relevant to your audience.
  11. Think about the reason for providing the information.  The reason for providing the information can be anything from getting people to buy something to getting people to take action on a political issue.  The type of message determines how and when you should present your message.

Can we force something to go viral or is it happenstance.  It’s really a mix of many variables.  You can increase the chance of your information going viral by staying on top of current trends and events, designing quality information pieces, and by releasing your information at the right time and with the right context in mind.

John Ploetz

13 Mar, 2014

John Ploetz Bloggin

People talk about “Value Added” selling.  Isn’t it common sense?  Any good salesperson needs to add as much value as they can in the sales process to be an effective salesperson.  There’s always competition in the sales process.  To be successful, a salesperson needs to add measurable value above and beyond what the competition can provide.  People are always looking for the best value for their buck.  In my mind value added selling is all about customers:

  1. Perceiving the value.  It isn’t value added if your customer doesn’t perceive it as value added.  Make sure you explain to your customer what additional product or service features they will receive.
  2. Knowing the value.   If they don’t know they are getting it they don’t see the extra value.  Value added selling is all about creating additional value when you are selling something to someone.
  3. Wanting your value.  You are the added value.   Most people do business with a specific person because they want to. Add your style of value.  Your experience is unique use it to your advantage.
  4. Seeing your strengths.  Don’t sell yourself short.   Focus on your strengths and leverage them where you can.  Play to your strong suit and work on your weaknesses.  Understand the strengths that you add to a sale.  If you aren’t good at technical explanation, then add someone else to your sales team that can handle technical discussions.
  5. Understanding your capabilities.  Be self confident.  Go in knowing you are the most knowledgeable about the products or services you are selling.  Don’t use technology as a crutch use it as a tool to improve your sales presentation.
  6. Becoming comfortable with your candor.  Always provide more than you promise.  Don’t add value that you can’t provide.
  7. Distinguishing value from price.  Value added isn’t about being the cheapest.  It is about being the best value for the dollar.  Make sure your customer understands that value.
  8. Getting needed value.  Added value isn’t about adding something your customer doesn’t need; it’s about adding something your customer doesn’t know they can’t do without.

Value added sales is all about properly communicating with your customer, explaining to them the added value they will receive, and showing them how to distinguish value from price.  In the end you add value to the sales process because of your unique knowledge and experience, leverage it where you can.