No matter what business you are in, it seems that there are so many things to remember these days.  This is certainly true being in the service business. You’ve worked hard to learn your craft and continue to grow in knowledge daily.  You have a game plan that you continue to refine and execute with each successive client (if not you should ;).  The details of such plans have too many steps to list here, but you get my point – there’s a lot to do before the final product is delivered and often much that the client doesn’t realize or even need to know.  But that’s the point right, they don’t need to see it…but the not seeing it leaves them in the dark.

People tend to get nervous in the dark…they start to get anxious, even scared, and make noise so they can be found, right.  Well, this is true in the business process as well.  Clients left alone, with little understanding of what’s going on behind the scenes, tend to get nervous and start making noise.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it when my clients get scared or nervous.  I used to convince myself that they were just difficult people, but it’s more likely that I wasn’t managing their expectations well.  That was on me.  If you own your business, it’s on you too.

So it’s imperative that part of your plan is to manage the expectations of your clients.  Don’t allow this to be an afterthought, rather integrate it as a key part of the client experience you provide.  You’ll find that things will go more smoothly and your clients will enjoy the process so much more.  Plus happy clients mean more referrals, while exhausted clients…well, don’t.  But just remember, they don’t need to know everything, so don’t burden them with all the fine details…that’s just going to the other extreme.  A wise man told me once – “no surprises…good or bad” and he was right.  Managing expectations helps everyone keep a level head and enjoy the outcome.  Surprises throw a wrench into the mix, so I’d suggest that you’re better off keeping the line of communication open as much as necessary.  Don’t keep clients in the dark, rather keep them informed and execute according to those expectations.

Keep up the good work friends, cheers!

CEDAR Institute is a continuing education provider for licensed therapists. An experienced team of administrators and contributors set out to create a better online home for this type of specialty education. We think they succeeded! The new brand was crafted around the concepts of being rooted in truth, trustworthy, and genuine.  In the logo above, you get this sense. The tree is mature, stable, and has many good stories to tell. The type and colors are more modern and progressive without loosing the security of the tree and foundational aspect of the ground.

Translating the new brand to the digital space was enjoyable. CEDAR is one of the only continuing education providers we’ve seen that really has an eye for design and a desire for a modern look and feel. Even with a full list of courses and categories, it’s a breeze to navigate and the user interface is really clean.

Each user’s account home allows them manage their course list, access course content, take exams, leave evaluations, and publish their completion certificates. All aspects of this site and application were custom built from the ground up. CEDAR is a company with unique content and a new approach, so we had to outline their workflow and build a system that accounted for each and every process, exactly the way they needed it to work. We’re talking a highly scalable, web based business model with efficiency and key integrations for administration.

Everything needed to be dynamic, from creating courses, to building tests, auto-scoring exams, and for managing users. Also, integrating sales, marketing, and accounting created key workflow efficiencies and very clean custom reports. No rock was left unturned and we are proud to say that CE for therapists now has a reliable, trustworthy, and modern place home on the web. If you are in need of CE courses or know someone who is, please direct them to cedarinstitute.com

CIFT is a top notch Christian counseling center in Orange County with four locations and over 50 qualified therapists.  They have been doing phenomenal work for close to two decades helping people find hope, healing, & growth through difficult circumstances. When they sought a rebrand and new marketing approach, we were eager to help. It’s certainly a blessing for our team to work with companies and individuals who are very good at what they do and have such a big rate of success. Our job was to prepare their communications strategy and provide a new visual identity to match the essence of what already has existed for some time.

The new logo (above) has been carefully crafted to communicate the essence of the organization.  The focus of the logo is on the primary concept of growth as the goal. The text shows movement and has character (life), while the rings get progressively more refined as they work from the inside out (ie: true growth).  The T that falls in the circle has the subtle imagery of Christ working at the center of the person to create growth from the inside out.  Working with the other design elements, it has a very strong, but understated feel…

Translating a similar strength and warmth to the web presence was key.  We took actual images of the locations and staff to remain authentic and used black and white for the images to capture depth and emotion.  The overall feel needed to be peaceful, safe, and comfortable while certainly user friendly and easy to navigate.

One of the most used part of the site is the staff interface, so we wanted to create a easy way to find and contact the desired therapist.  Each individual has their own page, accessible from this spot or from their own personal URL.  Helping the therapists market themselves within the umbrella of the company brand was an important marketing strategy and value.

Accessing resources is now much more easy as well.  Links to books and websites for many topics allow for anyone to find trusted information about things that concern them presently.

Hope you enjoy their new digs and if you ever find yourself in a rough spot with need of a quality counselor, please contact CIFT…great people doing wonderful work.

Living in a digital world, we tend to value speed and the ease of quick communication. Rightly so, but I’m constantly reminded of the power that a written thank you card can hold. Yeah, it takes a little time, but says “I care” so much better than with an email or direct message. Not saying that you have to write thank you cards, even tho I do suggest it as a common practice, but learn to say thank you well. It will transform your networking efforts, increase your sales, and improve your client experience.

Have some good ways of saying “Thank You”? Do share!

It’s important to expose yourself to new ideas both for personal growth and for your business, but what good is that if those ideas don’t actually change the practical things you do every day?

Reading books, blogs or attending a conference or workshop are great ways to get exposure and get excited about new ideas, but the more time passes the more inspiration fades. Making changes is difficult, even when we know those changes will be good for us. Implementing change takes discipline. The more the change goes against our predispositions, the more discipline it requires.

There’s a lot of talk around the interwebs about playing to your strengths, and that’s absolutely true.  You need to know your strengths and maximize them, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also minimize your weaknesses.  You need discipline to say no to what you shouldn’t do, and discipline to improve upon the things that don’t come naturally to you.

When a change feels daunting, break it down into smaller goals, and set accountability so you can measure and report on the change you’re wanting to make.

What change are you going to be disciplined about implementing this week?

Things are still changing.

It’s funny how it seems that the internet has been around for so long, yet the impact of communication channels moving online is still playing out in various industries.  As the cost of distribution of information plummets, traditional paradigms are forced to shift.  Newspapers are going out of business.  Independent music distribution is flourishing like never before.  Opportunity to place your product or service in front of people is cheap and easy.

The more choices you have, the more bad choices you have.

Once in high school I noticed a screen saver on the monitor of an English teacher that read “The possibilities are infinite, choose wisely.”  Like the smart-ass that I am, I asked her, “If the possibilities are truly infinite, how can you possibly choose wisely?”  There’s some truth to this:  The catch about the barriers to communication falling is that with the increase of good information available (you define good), there’s also a plethora of bad information.  Whatever shall we do?

There is more information available to you than you can possibly digest.

As consumers, we have no choice but to be selectively ignorant.  In this environment, we often rely on others to filter information for us.  Since we can’t possibly sort through all the possibilities ourselves yet still desire to make an informed decision (whatever that actually means), we rely on recommendations from sources we trust to tell us to whom we should give our time, attention and money.

The best way to get new business has always been referral.

In one sense, the power of recommendation  has been true for a long, long time.  However, never have the effects of recommendation been felt on the scale that they have been or will be felt as barriers to communication fall away due to new tools becoming available.

The more the power of recommendation grows, the more it is essential that you harness it for your business.  This is the single reason why you can’t afford to ignore online software that we presently label “social media.”

I’m a big fan of Hugh at http://gapingvoid.com because he tells it like it is, and provokes thought with his work.

How you’re speaking to your customers and prospects is as important as as what you’re saying.

Gary gave a talk at the Orange County Direct Marketing Association that follows in the same vein as last week’s post, Vision and The Hierarchy of Success. Gary discusses brand development, vision, voice and tactics.  He also briefly touches on how vision and voice must come before tactics in the context of social media.  Below is a short audio excerpt from his talk, enjoy!

Gary Sikes – OC DMA Oct 2009

One struggle with being a visionary is experiencing  a constant discontent with the way things currently are.  While seeing how things could be and pointing others toward that is so important, it’s easy to skip over appreciating the present.

Celebrating our successes is a discipline we’re learning at ELEVATION.  No matter how small or even if it is not quite what we imagined, success deserves a proportionate celebration.  When we celebrate what we have accomplished we’re more motivated to press on towards what we see in the future and what we want to achieve next.  Not only that, but we’re happier people, appreciating the present.

When our clients see us celebrating the results of our hard work on their behalf, they’re also more inclined to stop, reflect, and appreciate us as well.  Celebrating success is not only a great practice for your business, but also a great way to live.

How will you celebrate your past success this week?

Seth Godin recently wrote and article titled “The Hierarchy of Success” in which he outlines the following hierarchy for success: (Brackets added)

I couldn’t agree more that we spend so much time on the bottom of the list (because they’re the tangibles) and neglect the higher items on the list.  However, there’s something very key that is missing here: vision.

Vision comes from an understanding of who you are and what you bring to your work.  Out of vision comes the attitude and approach you bring to what you do.  It’s vision that refines and provides a litmus test for your goals.  If your goals don’t match match who you are, you need new goals.

An understanding of your vision sets you up for success and cascades down the hierarchy.  This is why vision is so important to us in our work with our clients.