Make Mantra
Albert Einstein said, “Genius is making the complicated look simple.”
I attended the Radio Ink Convergence Conference in San Jose, California last week,and by Einstein’s definition, the conference key note, Guy Kawasaki, is a genius.
Throughout my career I’ve been telling media sales people that if you focus on getting results for your clients, the money will magically follow you. I called it “putting on your ad manager’s hat” and presenting a campaign that will work for the client.
I’ve gone through gyrations to prove that focusing on selling tactics and this month’s budget won’t be as successful as learning how to create results for your clients and building strong customer relationships.
But Guy Kawasaki made it simple when he said, “Make mantra, not money.”
Guy, the author of nine successful business books including Reality Check and The MacIntosh Way, led the Apple charge against domination by IBM.
He astutely observed that the companies which had the most growth in the last ten years are those that set out to ‘make the world a better place’, not those that had a business plan focused on making money.
From creating more user-friendly computers to creating Facebook-style chat lines for friends to keep in touch, the money does follow those who help others.
This isn’t new. Motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, always said, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
But Guy’s genius made it simpler. “Make mantra, not money.”
He also suggests that we get rid of complicated mission statements with all of the business buzzwords and that we make simple mantra with just three words. Can you explain why you exist in just three words?
While companies like Wendy’s and FedEx might have trendy or lengthy mission statements in their board rooms, their mantra is simple.
Wendy’s mantra is, ‘healthy food fast’ and FedEx creates ‘peace of mind’ allowing you to track your parcels 24/7.
Try it! Say what you do in three words, then use that mantra as your beacon for every plan and decision you make. After hearing Guy, I’ve finally created mine…… ‘Make advertising work!’
It’s what I’ve always done, and the money has followed. There’s not a lot of ‘selling’ to do when your clients realize the ideas you are presenting will make their advertising work.