Business is not what it used to be

foreign [Music] fold and I'm going to talk to you today a little bit about how to do business in 2022. high level we're going to talk about several topics but before we jump in I wanted to give you a very high level overview of a strategy I once learned that was music to my ears it's called the canvas strategy and the author is Ryan holiday and this is what he says the way to do business in 2022 is to create canvases for other people to create masterpieces on or to pave the road for others to go on their way to success he says as follows imagine for every meeting that you have you think of a way to help the person that you're meeting and you take yourself out of the equation what's going to happen first of all you'll strengthen the Relationships by helping other people second of all you'll learn to overcome diverse problems because you're always helping people solve problems the third thing that will happen is you will establish a reputation for being indispensable and the fourth thing that will happen is you'll have a bank of favors to call upon down the road so when you meet someone oh always be thinking how can I help that person the beauty of this is that it manifests in very very specific things interviewing people giving other people a stage but Ryan holiday says a sentence that to me like I said before is just poetry this is what he says he says everyone around you is obsessed with credit and respect he says you can forget credit let other people take credit for your work here it is let others take credit on credit while you defer and earn interest on the principle I'm going to repeat that let others take credit on credit while you defer and earn interest on the principle most people come to companies and say pay me and I'll do something which means they're paying you on credit instead come to a company and say what are your challenges let me help and defer the payment let them not pay you what ends up happening is eventually it might be in a month it might be in a year it might be in a decade they come to the conclusion that they need you and when they come back to you and they need you now you have the leverage now you define the terms and there's no negotiation they need you and they'll pay whatever you say you get paid that's it help others win in business and you end up winning the first topic we're going to talk about today is communication we all communicate we all send the emails we all text we all use WhatsApp so let's talk about communication the most effective way specifically the business sector how to communicate I want to talk today about introductions business is all about introductions about connecting to other people but there's a way to make an introduction let me tell you a story a couple of years ago someone sent an email to me introducing me to some tech executive and we set up a call to talk I got on the phone with this Tech executive and I said nice to meet you how can I help you and she said how can you help me how can I help you and I said what do you mean what are we talking about today she said I don't know I thought you had the context and I said well I thought you had the context it was one of the most awkward conversations I've ever had the lesson here when you're introducing two people speak to both of them first speak to one side and say this is the context of the conversation speak to the other side and when they both agreed to be introduced then make the introduction not before because otherwise things get super duper awkward the second topic I want to talk about was in the umbrella of communication is social media of course everyone understands they need to be on social media today but how many people actually understand why they need to be on social media today or how to leverage social media what to do there who should you follow how often should you tweet or post this is this is fundamental stuff and most people most companies just don't get it so for starters the word social media I should say the phrase social media is really a paradox because media generally speaking means broadcast means one way social means two-way so this is really important most companies focus on the media thing they broadcast they self-promote they use 20 hashtags in their tweets they focus on getting more followers instead focus on the social listen you have two ears and one mouth use them in that ratio listen to what the Market's saying use the search option on Twitter or Facebook search to hear what the Market's saying about you about your competitors listen at least twice as much as you talk that is how social media is used in the most effective way and that is something that most companies unfortunately even in 2022 still don't understand and another important topic within the umbrella of communication is of course email right we all have these texting apps and many of these companies want you to believe that email is going somewhere email's not going anywhere so let's talk about how to write an email right we all write hundreds of emails but how many of us actually think before we draft an email there are a couple of things you can do to increase the chances of someone opening your email for starters the subject of your email is not intended to summarize the email the subject of your email is very similar to let's say a tagline just do it for Nike it's not meant to tell me what is in the email it's get it's meant to get me to open the email that's first and foremost second of all how many times have you gotten an email that said dear friends no one's opening an email that's not addressed to them so there's software out there use software address the person right in a personable in a personal manner second thing this is like trivial stuff people don't have time we're all busy keep your emails short and finally make sure to end the email with a specific call to action and one that I can answer easily hey does Monday nine o'clock work out for you easily I could just say yes or no don't just leave it open-ended because I'm not really sure how to reply to that email those are some ideas on how to write an effective email and get real results from your emails in the business context the second topic I want to talk to you today about is marketing we all have heard the word marketing but how many of us understand what marketing really is I recently heard a story that I loved here's the story a man is going to some big event let's say it's his parents 50th Anniversary he gets all dressed up in a tuxedo and he heads out of his house an hour and a half before the event and it's only a 30 minute drive so he's set he opens his garage door it's pouring rain outside okay get to this car starts Drive slowly and then he blows a tire he's not gonna get out and change the tire he's on a tuxedo he calls a tow truck the tow truck company comes walks over to his window and says sir did you order a tow truck he says yeah he says will you get into the right company we are the best towing company in the world look at that vehicle look at those tires those tires are custom made we worked with this tire company to make those tires and that and that automobile that vehicle of ours it is the best tow truck in the world because it has ABC and he just keeps going he's chewing the guy's ear off this guy's sitting in his car thinking get me on the road I don't want to hear about your company scenario one scenario two the tow truck arrives walks over the guy's window and says Hey sir did you order a tow truck he says yeah he says great our motto is get you on the road in 15 minutes perfect that night which one of those two scenarios is going to leave an impression on this man who's he going to talk to to his friends about which one the answer obviously is the second one nobody wants to hear from a company who talks about themselves the second tow truck guy focused on the needs of the ban his needs not as not the company's needs not focusing on them and that is the fundamental of marketing make sure you're focusing on the value that you create for the recipient and of course this manifests in 10 000 different ways from communication to social media to PR to Business Development it all comes in at the end of the day to figure out how you can help the other person and stop focusing on yourself and your product said otherwise you could say focus on the problem and not the solution this is something so fundamental that so few companies understand today and the truth is nobody has tolerance for a company that spends all day long on all their social channels talking about themselves don't do it okay within the topic of marketing I'm going to talk about specific subtopic that is basically the foundation of all marketing and that is content now let's just Define what that means I'm not talking about PR where journalist writes about your company I'm not talking about your copy on your website I'm talking about you the company producing industry content I call it the Red Bull model right Red Bull owned energy drinks and yet when you go to Red bull.com the word beverage is not even on their homepage they're not selling you a drink they're producing content they're a Content lifestyle company so you as a company you need to start producing industry content and when you do that everything in your marketing strategy becomes more effective you reach out to a journalist for PR they're going to Google you and see that you're producing content just like they're producing content it changes the whole dynamic you reach out to an investor they're going to Google you and see if you're legit right if you guys know your stuff they read your content like these guys are serious the world of SEO search engine optimization the entire world of seos content and anybody who tells you otherwise doesn't get it so doesn't get how SEO works it's all content and on and on and on everything you're going to do to grow your company is going to become significantly easier and more effective once you start producing industry content at scale another really important component within your marketing strategy is SEO right search engine optimization AKA when someone Googles something they come across your company there's also another thing called ASL which is App Store optimization it's the same concept one is on the web one is on the App Store so ASO would get people downloading your app because they search something in the app store they come across your app so how does it work the entire world of SEO is content when you produce content on the internet people talk about you on the internet when people talk about you they link to you when people link to you Google says wow what's this website has 10 000 incoming links they must be an authority in their space you know these SEO people they only buy links they're morons you think they're gonna trick Google they're not tricking Google Google says to you how to get links and that is by producing content the more you write on the internet the more people talk about you the more people talk about you the more incoming links you have and that is the entire world of SEO in literally a few sentences ASO is no different figure out what people are searching for and optimize for those keywords get people to come across your app in the app store then it's game over let's talk about PR public relations it's part of your marketing strategy whether you like it or not you need journalists talking about your company so how does this work well at the foundation is a press release what is a press release it is a document not a marketing document it's more like a legal document it is dry it is factual no superlatives no adjectives no revolutionary no disruptive just tell the journalist what the story is you raise money well tell me the journalist how much you raise who invested what you plan on doing with that money and that's it let me the journalist decide how revolutionary that is great so you write your press release you then need to do research who the relevant journalists are who writes about your space if you're an AI company who writes them at AI you pitch that journalist the way they like to be pitched that requires research maybe they want to be pitched on Twitter maybe they want to be pitched by email learn the journalist which at the end of the day comes down to the most foundational and fundamental lesson in business always be thinking about the audience and not about yourself last category I want to talk about today is etiquette or more specifically do do's and don'ts or more specifically don'ts here's the first thing that I think is so foundational and slightly controversial phone calls but before I explain what I want to say about phone calls let's talk about the fact that I'm talking about a business context this does not apply to friends or your mom calling you I'm talking about in business to pick up the phone in middle of the day unannounced unscheduled just to pick up the phone and call some journalists or call some strategic partner or call whoever to pitch them your product is ineffective inefficient and inconsiderate let me explain to you why when you call me in the middle of the day I have to stop what I'm doing to answer your call so you might say well ignore the call I can't ignore the call because it's from a random number it might be my kids school for all I know I don't know what's the other person you know on the other side of the of the call so I have to answer it which means I have to stop what I'm doing to answer your call really what you're saying when you call someone is my my time is more important than your time because you're making me stop what I'm doing to answer your call that's not okay by the way the same thing applies to voice notes and I get it controversial and I send voice notes sometimes as well sometimes they're necessary but if you could send a text or an email to someone why send a voice note which would require them to stop what they're doing to listen to your voice note right if I'm in the car listening to a podcast and I get a voice not for me what do I have to do I have to stop my podcast press play and listen to your voice note if you could send a text send a text so that I can respond to you on my time that's the important fundamental thing here you sending me a voice note or calling me I have to respond to you now on your time don't do that send me a text send me an email and I will respond to you on my time this is the most important lesson in all business which is always be thinking of your audience not about your own needs of the audience's needs of the recipient's needs send emails thinking about the recipient make calls when necessary thinking about the recipient where are they right now is this the right time to call if I have to call at all always be think of the audience phone calls and 99 of instances can be avoided as can voice notes if we're only just a little bit considerate of the recipient okay let's talk about something that is a massive pet peeve of mine as I'm sure it is of yours so we are all on social media some are more active some are more passive some are on Facebook some are on Twitter fine there is this phenomenon where companies or people beg for likes beg for shares don't ask me to like your Facebook page don't ask me to tweet your fundraiser give me a reason to right it's all about emotion it's all about sentiment getting people to care when you ask someone to go share your stuff there's nothing more obnoxious than leveraging my network and my audience that I spent years building in order to promote your cause first of all go build your own audience go build your own network it takes time it takes effort there are no shortcuts but more importantly if you're doing something meaningful that you think should be shared then write it and present it in a way that will get people on Board and they'll want to share it but to ask for likes ask for retweets all of that stuff inconsiderate and highly ineffective okay another topic within the do's and don'ts the etiquette of business is this this is something that really doesn't even need to be said unfortunately it does and that is being considerate of people's time you know we're all busy today you know we have a lot of noise in our feeds we're all over stimulated be considerate of people's time so for example you set a meeting if you're coming late make sure to email the person let them know I'm coming late even if you're two minutes late it doesn't really matter and it doesn't cost you anything to send an email but more fundamentally if you're asking someone for a favor let's talk about an introduction let's say you want me to introduce you to whoever now I could go and write that introduction and say hey David meet him this is why you need to meet him or if you want me to introduce you to David what you can do is you could send me an email saying hey hello I know you're close with David I'd love an introduction because a b c d e f g and then instead of me having to write the entire introduction which is a waste of time all I need to do is forward your email to David and say David this guy's a good guy here's the context do you want an introduction and that way I can make an introduction in four seconds instead of 20 minutes be considerate of other people's time because as you know time is money within the umbrella of do's and don'ts of etiquette I want to talk to you about a very specific topic and that is meetings and how to break the ice and make them more effective in every single meeting that I've had over the last 15 years without exception anybody who's ever met me can attest to this I've asked one specific question that is what are your challenges ask the person you're sitting with to tell them about your challenges or say well tell me about you instead of you speaking about yourself for seven minutes straight not letting the other person talk let them talk it breaks the ice and it frames the whole meeting in a more effective way that is give and take and not just me me me presumably if you want to meet this person you need their help for something so you talking about how amazing you are for seven minutes straight and not letting them get a word in is ineffective and quite obnoxious if I'm being honest so in every meeting that you have always think about the other person and think about how this dialogue is going it should not be a monologue if it's a monologue You're Doing It Wrong and those are some thoughts on business in general huge shout out to amudin an incredible phenomenal organization that I've had the privilege to work with a few times over the years thank you for this opportunity I hope it helped you viewers I hope you gained something from this go try to implement them let me know how it works thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music]