Doing Things Differently
Doing things differently
Introduction
We’ve all read about how to do something and then failed to follow that guidance. We don’t set goals for ourselves, we put them off till tomorrow, we get stressed and overwhelmed, or we just can’t find the motivation.
The question is why? Maybe it’s because the advice you’re reading doesn’t take into account your own personal interests and needs. Or maybe those pieces of advice are too vague and broad to be at all helpful. Or perhaps the timing wasn’t right in your life, so you couldn’t apply them properly even if you wanted to.
It doesn’t matter what the problem is; what’s more important is that you change it! Focus on things that will actually work for your lifestyle instead of tips and tricks that sound great but won’t help you achieve success in any way. This article will go over some ways in which people get stuck trying to accomplish their goals, offer suggestions on how they can improve their chances of achieving them by doing something different (instead), and provide examples from my own experiences with changing my approach when I felt stuck myself.
Materials Audiences staff
To ensure that your materials are accessible to all, you should:
Use materials that are available in a language understood by all stakeholders.
Ensure that the materials are available in a format that can be accessed by people with disabilities.
Delegates
Delegates are people who represent you.
They can be anyone from your boss to your cleaner, but they all have one thing in common:
they need to be able to do the job you want done.
To delegate effectively, consider the following questions:
Who are your delegates?
What do they want to achieve? How does this tie into what you want them to achieve?
What do they need for their success? (For example: tools, information)
How much power and freedom will they have in reaching their goals (and how can you make sure that works out well for everyone)?
Event
An event is a gathering of people in a common place to celebrate, learn or experience something.
There are many different types of events – from festivals and fairs to sporting events and conferences, there’s plenty out there to keep you busy!
Event management is the process of planning, co-ordinating and managing an event from start to finish. Event planning involves designing the event itself based on its purpose. Logistics includes all those bits that go into making sure everything runs smoothly during the actual event itself – such as getting exhibitors set up, getting speakers ready for their presentations etcetera.
Considerations
The culture you create should be rooted in the values that are most important to you and your team.
Ask yourself, “How can we do things differently?”
Start by making small changes that will lead to long-term results.
Useful additional resources on culture change
Leaders need to be aware that any culture change process will be a journey. It’s not going to happen overnight, and you can’t force it on your employees.
Culture is about people, so the first step for leaders is to get out there and learn how your team works. You can’t change something unless you understand what’s happening in their day-to-day lives.
If a company has had a toxic culture for years, then it might take some time for people to loosen up and embrace new ways of doing things—it’s never easy changing one’s habits!
Common challenges to culture change in organisations
The challenge is that culture change is not as simple as it sounds. It’s not just about the organisation, the people or leadership. It’s also about customers and partners, and even about suppliers.
When you’re dealing with something as complex as culture change, you need to be aware of three things:
Culture is a living system – it changes constantly based on what happens in your organisation;
Culture shouldn’t be seen as something that exists outside of us; and
The way we behave can either support or undermine our attempts at changing culture
Conclusion
We refuse to accept that people have to live in poverty, and we believe that all of us can change the world. We invite you to join us on this journey—a journey that is less about giving people fish, and more about teaching them how.
Something To Desire
Something To Desire
Introduction
There are three key components to any successful business: scarcity, desire, and action. Scarcity is created through limited supply or the need to rush; it allows customers to feel they’ll miss out if they don’t buy now. Desire is created by promising that a product will fulfill a customer’s wants and needs. Action requires customers to take some step beyond simply seeing an ad—it gets them to click “add to cart,” pull out their credit cards, or otherwise move forward with a purchase. The real secret behind any successful business has less to do with the products it creates than with how it makes its customers feel when they see those products.
1. Create Desire
DESIRE:
Create a need in the customer to buy your product, use it, and do what it does (i.e., be like it).
Create desire in the customer to be like your product or associated with it (i.e., be in it)
2. Show a Problem
To begin, show the problem or challenge. The customer needs to know that there’s a problem and that it’s worth solving.
Show how your product or service solves the problem. Show how your solution is different from what they have now, why it’s better and why they should care about this difference.
Show why your solution will help the customer, by using their language (e.g., “increase revenue”) rather than yours (“use our software”).
3. Offer Solution
Once again, the problem is stated:
We’ve become too materialistic in our society.
The solution is shown:
You can buy this book and read it, which will help you to understand how to avoid being materialistic.
4. Ask for Action
Ask for the sale: Do you want to sell your product or service? If so, an effective closing question will be a call to action asking for the sale.
Ask for the call: You can use this type of question as a lead-in to setting up an appointment or meeting with someone. For example, “Do you have time next week to meet with me?” or “Can we schedule a time that works best for both of us?”
Ask for the meeting: Like above, if you’re trying to set up an appointment with someone, this is another way to close on that goal without being overly aggressive. It’s less direct than just saying “Let’s meet,” but still gets across what you mean without feeling pushy or needy.
Ask for trial: Another way to ask people if they would like more information before making any decision is by asking them if they would like a trial period first (usually three months). This can be useful if there are certain factors involved in making sure everything works out well before buying something new (such as children needing uniforms every year).
All successful companies have desire to sell something.
You can’t have profit without desire. We all know that, but it’s worth repeating: All successful companies have desire to sell something.
And if you don’t have a company with a burning desire to sell, then why would you bother starting one? There are too many other things to do in life than attempt what can only be described as mission impossible. You’d be better off buying lottery tickets or playing roulette in Las Vegas and hoping for the best. Better still—stay at home and watch TV!
Conclusion
Now you know how to create desire in your customers. You can make them want something so much that they need it, and then offer your product as the solution to their problem. That’s how you get people to buy what you’re selling!
Keep Up With The Times
Keep Up With The Times
Introduction
‘Staying informed on trends is important to help you build credibility and value and to show that you know where your field is heading in the future. Successful people spend time every day keeping up with the latest news and developments in their field, so make time in your day for these strategies.’
Here are some important tips for keeping up with the times.
Be aware of your surroundings
- Be aware of what’s going on in the world.
- Be aware of what’s going on in your industry.
- Be aware of what’s going on in your community.
- Be aware of what’s going on in your personal life.
Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone
It’s time to step outside your comfort zone. You’ve been in the same job for years, maybe decades even. You’re a master at what you do and have reached a level of success that makes other people jealous. But now it’s time for something new!
Take risks and try new things every day. Don’t be afraid of failure because when you fail, you only get smarter! And if learning isn’t enough motivation for you, think about how cool it will be when someone asks how long it took before you got good at something new and all you have to say is: “It didn’t take long.”
Learn the rules before you break them
- Learn the rules before you break them
- Don’t break the rules without knowing what they are
- Don’t break the rules just for the sake of breaking them
Pay attention to details
It’s important to pay attention to details. Details help you understand the bigger picture and the context of a situation, which is important for communication. Details help you stay organized, by helping you remember what happened or where something was located. They help you be more efficient, because they make tasks easier to complete when they are broken down into smaller pieces that can be completed individually and then put back together as a whole. And lastly, details allow us to build on what we already know with new information without confusing ourselves.
Stay up to date on current trends and don’t be afraid to try new things
In today’s world, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of your day-to-day life. When you’re constantly running around trying to juggle family, friends and work, it’s not always easy to stay up-to-date on current trends. As a leader in your field (or even just someone who wants to lead), you’ll need to know how to be consistent while also being able to adapt and innovate when necessary.
The key is making sure that you have all of your bases covered—whether it’s keeping an eye on what’s happening in the news or staying current with industry trends—so that you know where your strengths lie as well as where there are opportunities for improvement. The more information we can gather from our peers about how they do things differently than us, the better chance we stand at having success ourselves!
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you want to be successful, you must keep up with the times. Be aware of your surroundings, don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and learn the rules before you break them. Pay attention to details and stay up to date on current trends. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
The Underdog Story
The Underdog Story
Everyone loves an underdog story until you’re the “underdog”, is how the baritone voiceover starts the @Yoco_ZA card machines’ We the Underdog advertisement.
In our article that was published in the highly acclaimed Journal of Brand Management, we define an underdog brand as “a brand with humble resources that competes with passion and determination against competitors that dominate a market”.
The underdog storyline of Rocky Balboa in the Rocky films offers valuable insights. First, we are introduced to the underdog Rocky Balboa and his physical and emotional struggles, who then overcomes significant obstacles through sheer guts and determination to ultimately fight and (just) win against the top dog. There are only a few top dogs in each industry, so most business owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers can relate to the underdog story. But being an underdog does not only have to be your status, it can be your strategy.
The lesser studied “underdog effect” is at the heart of underdog brand management. Based on our research findings, we define the underdog effect as “the consumer’s affection for and support of underdog brands or of brands that build on their underdog heritage”. This means that not everyone supports the top dogs and that there are people that will support you as an underdog brand because you are an underdog. The secret is to not merely bear your underdog status, rather you need to position your brand as the underdog and tap into the underdog effect for it to become your strategy.
Based on the definitions of underdog and the underdog effect, ponder the questions: Do you consider your brand an underdog? Could your underdog status be used as a strategy to position your brand as a underdog to take advantage of the underdog effect?
-DR Pieter Steenkamp
How To Compete As An Underdog
- First, adopt an underdog Philosophy and demonstrate a fighting attitude and take the top dogs head-on. This evokes the need in consumers to support the underdog to persevere.
- Second, the underdog should localise, personalise and customise their Offering as this demonstrates to the customers that the underdog goes beyond what the top dog offers.
- Third, the People of underdog brand are crucial and they should try their utmost to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
- Fourth, the underdog brand needs to Target end consumers that see themselves as underdogs. And,
- Fifth, the underdog should Positioning themselves by telling their underdog stories.
The underdog brand stories shared on social media and through traditional media should refer to the underdog’s humble beginnings, disadvantages that the underdog had to overcome and the passion and determination of the underdog. You can find the underdog brand management framework in our article.
