In point #1 of the Total Experience Design Manifesto you learned that everyone creates an experience whether they know it or not.  Point #5 expands on that idea and gives some specific areas where this point is represented.

If you still don’t have the manifesto, you can get it here.

Listen to today’s podcast and make sure you leave us your thoughts.

If you have ever tried to brand your business, the whole concept of what a brand is and how it looks for your business can seem confusing and in some cases ridiculous.

Branding in some cases feels like the girl in high school who doesn’t get enough attention so has to act outrageously to get the attention that they so crave.

We argue that branding starts with how you handle your business and the experience you deliver goes hand in hand with that.

Before you can give an outstanding client experience, you have to have the internal culture in place to support it.

That’s what point #4 of our Manifesto on Total Experience Design covers.

Today’s podcast deals with how you can do that effectively for your business.

Moving beyond the corporate buzzwords of mission, vision and values lies a powerful tool that can’t be underestimated for your business.

Businesses that have a defined mission and a shared commitment to that  mission.  This is not only important for you and your team but is also important to your customers.  They want to know that you are in alignment with their values and beliefs as well.

Take a minute to assess your organizations mission and ask yourself how clear it is.  Also, determine how committed your team is to your mission as well.

How good are you are focusing on important areas in your business?  If you’re going to put your focus somewhere, then make sure that it is on the experience that you deliver.

By focusing on the delivered experience, you are really focusing on all of the different systems and processes that go into putting that together.  Business owners who focus on the experience have more satisfied clients and employees.

This episode focuses on the Total Experience Design Manifesto Point #2.

This week this My Business World Team dive into the Total Experience Design Manifesto.  Today’s episode focuses specifically on point number one.

We will focus on the one point that business owners seem to neglect with regards to the experience that they are generating.  Specifically, business owners have a bad habit of taking their experience for granted and not being intentional with how the team is interacting with that experience.

Perks for your employees can be a good thing.  How do you keep people fresh and effectively working towards the objectives of your business?  How do you create a culture or an environment that makes your business a great place to work.

In today’s podcast we talk about Google’s 80/20 perk and flex scheduling.

Listen to the podcast below:

How much is that information worth to you?  Today’s episode explores the book Buyology by Martin Lindstrom. [amazon_link id="0385523890" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Buyology[/amazon_link]

Martin uses MRI scans and other unconventional marketing tools to see how people’s brains respond to certain messages that they see.

This is a must listen for business owners concerned about marketing.  (Hint: That’s all of you.)

The topic was, what do you do with your Soul Purpose once you have an idea on what it is that you can do to create value in the world.

Chris is a unique financial coach in that he focuses on an individuals ability to create value in the world which then leads them to the ability to create more wealth.

On our call last week, I gave four points that I feel are critical to getting started:

1. Self Understanding-  Knowing what your skills are and how you can match those skills up with problems that need to be solved or value that needs to be created.

2. Build a Rep-  Are you getting out and letting the world know who you are and what you are exceptional at?

3. Understanding Your End Game-  Where do you want to go?  It doesn’t have to be perfect but do you have an idea?

4. Create Products and Services- Once you have the above things in place and while you have been doing the above things, hopefully you discovered ways to create products and services for your following.

You can listen to the rest of the call below.  As always, let me know what platform building questions I can answer for you.

How often do you ask yourself the above question?  For most business owners who have enough to worry about.  Their website is often a forgotten tool specifically if you don’t rely on e-commerce to drive your business.

I interview Richard Swart of Aspen Web Services late last year about what business owners can do to improve their website and make money from their website efforts.

Richard gave me his 8 Deadly sins of website design. (I also recording this as a podcast which you can listen to below.)

Sin #1: Confusing Graphics-  We look at a website as a graphical piece but sometimes we forget that it needs to be functional.  Too many cute graphics and displays can have the opposite effect.

Sin #2: Overwhelming People With Content- You only have a short amount of time to get someone’s attention.  Giving them too much content on your home page can turn people off who are overwhelmed with what they are seeing.

Sin #3: Too Many Choices-  Follow me on Twitter.  Like me on Facebook.  Sign up for my newsletter.  What do I do?  I see this a ton with websites where they have 10 things they want you to do on their home page.

Sin #4: Being Rude- People who are visiting your website are guests and should be treating accordingly.  Make sure they know what to do and how to navigate your website.

Sin #5: Lying To People-  Most small business owners aren’t trying to purposely deceive people but sometimes it happens unintentionally.  There are also times where it is intentional.  Just make sure that when people click on a link that they get what they are expecting.

Sin #6: Not Providing Enough Reassurance-  You need to reassure your visitors that they came to the right place.  Make sure they understand what you do and how you can help them right away.  Testimonials are also a great tool here as well.

Sin #7: Invasion of Privacy-  When you are collecting information from people get what you need and no more.  Asking for too much info and people start getting leery.

Sin #8: Ignore Your Customer- So your customer signs up for a newsletter or buys a book from you and then you never talk to them again.  Once your client engages with you.  Engage back and build a relationship not a one sell stand.

Your website for your small business can be a money generator, credibility builder and an engagement tool.  Take a look at your website and see if you are committing any of the deadly sins of website design.

I was in a board meeting for a company that I work with about six months ago and one of the gentleman in the board, Rick Sapio, called this simple statement a “Catalyzing Statement”.  He gave a few examples of catalyzing statements:

Fed Ex – When It Absolutely Positively Has To Be There Overnight—
Microsoft Bill Gates – I pitcture a world with a PC on every desktop and in every home – 1975
President Kennedy – We will put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the century.

A great statement of clarity for your business allows you to communicate effectively with your internal team as well as any outside partners.   This tool comes in handy when you are looking for mentoring help, talking to your clients and building a team.  If you can’t describe what it is that you do to a prospective job applicant.  Unless they are desperate, how likely are they to accept your job?

Look at how a simple statement like the one that Zappos has around creating the best customer service possible.  Zappos made it their mission to create great customer service, their employees got behind and deliver it every day to their customers.  This is how a great statement works.

The statement has to stir some emotion in your team and to the people outside of your organization.  If you can get people behind what your business is about on an emotional level.  Look out.  Lots of businesses function in the same manner within their industry what often sets them apart are the emotions that hearing the name of the company evokes.

Your business has to back up your big, hairy, audacious goal.  If you say you stand for something big then stand for it completely.  No shortcuts.  no days off.  Your company must breath it each and every day.

How does your business look?  Is it clear what value you deliver?  Does it inspire passion?  These are the questions you need to ask yourself and your team.  This is also a great way to interact with your client base and get their input as well.   Once you have the feedback in place then go out and create that simple sentence that can drive your business to success.

Business are bombarded to innovate, innovate, innovate.  That’s great but you can also have too much of a good thing.

This week we talk about drawing that line and being smart about innovation.

The question then become, when should you outsource and when should you hire an employee in house?

We tackle that question this week:

Shaun has done a great job growing his business platform while also staying true to himself and his sport.

This week we share his story.

Photo courtesy of nkzs http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=profile&l=nkzs

To write or not to write.  That’s the question.  Many business owners that I talk to feel like they don’t have time for writing or that it’s not important.  Writing in and of itself won’t make or break your business but it could make you a better business owner.

Writing is a great tool for self discovery and for gaining additional clarity about your business.  It’s also a great way to be social in the social media landscape without being present.  Today I wanted to go over some time where it may make sense to write and times where it may not make sense.

Sales copy: If you are needing sales copy my advice is to get the help of professionals.  You need sales copy that is persuasive and that drives someone to want to pursue a deeper relationship.  While you should get a professional to help I don’t think that means you wash your hands of the process altogether.  I see a lot of business owners have no involvement in the creation of sales materials and web copy.  This is a mistake.  No one knows your business like you do.  No one can speak your customers language like you can (At least I hope that’s the case).  You can’t expect even the best copy writer to nail it on his/her own.

Article writing/Blogging: This is something that you should spend time doing yourself.  Some people are more gifted than others but writing can definitely be learned and is something that you can improve on.  If you need help with article writing, you can certainly get help but make sure that it stays true to your business and the message you want to convey to the public.

Book creation: Lots of people need an experienced writer to help them organize a book and polish it up.  Writing a book is a great tool for building clarity personally and in your business.  Writing a book can help you understand your business offering, who your customer is and where you truly provide the most value.  If you aren’t involved in this process, you are missing out on this discovery process.

Those are just a few of the opportunities you have to get involved in writing for your business.  Will it make you a superior business owner?  It can’t hurt and most likely writing will help you understand your business at a deeper level and show you where you provide the most value in the world.  Get your pen out and start writing today.