Up Market

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• For the Love of Catchisms
• Top 10: Upmarket Articles May 27-June 2, 2012
• People Do Business With People They Like and Trust

For the Love of Catchisms Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT I grew up fairly religious. I use the word "catchism" and it smells and looks an awful lot like "catechism", but it's not. You might even say it carries a similar connotation: "to sound out", "to indoctrinate". But it's so much more. Catchism is a word I've been throwing around lately.  It's a catch phrase, literally, for something bigger – the ability of a concept or ideology to "catch on" and to become part of our part of life and way of describing something.  Great examples of this today are "Google", "Q-Tip", "Xerox". A catchism. The word or words themselves are incredibly relevant to something we do. They are part of our lives. We know what they are and how to use them. In marketing, we idealize catchisms. We aspire for them. Catchisms especially poignant in a startup environment where all you want.…is to be relevant. To "catch on".  To become more mainstream. An article circulated amongst my colleagues recently talked about the relevancy factor – whether or not a business or idea is good enough to "catch on".  Sadly, many are not.  Yes, you or I may feel passionately about it. And that's awesome. But to become a full-fledged business, an idea must go mainsteam. It must strike a chord with the masses. It must be relevant at scale. It must be a catchism.

Top 10: Upmarket Articles May 27-June 2, 2012 Posted: 04 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT Excellence. Perfection. Communication. Ideas. Great ideas. Following up on great ideas. Hiring the right designer. Creative problem-solving. Are you thinking about all these topics? Upmarket readers were, and landed posts on these topics in our Top 10 list of most-viewed articles from last week. If you’re thinking about these issues but didn’t connect with these pieces last week, here’s an opportunity to check out all of them, at once. 1. Get Clear on These Three Things to Hire the Right Designer When hiring a designer to create graphics for you the most important thing for you, as the business owner, to bring to the table is a clear business direction. 2. The Next Million Dollar Idea Crazy ideas, like flying across the ocean for example, changed our quality of life forever. Great ideas come from the minds of ordinary people not much different than you. The only difference is in taking action or dismissing yourself as crazy. 3. Are You Communicating Your Vision? (And Summer Mentoring Made Easier) If you have the chance, seek out at least one young professional to mentor this summer. You won’€™t regret it and you might even make it a tradition. 4. You are / whatever you say / you are. Who are you? Who do you want to be? And who is it that you say you are? This is important. Are you what others say you are? Or are you what you say you are? More importantly — do you dream big and admit your capabilities to yourself? 5. The Paradigm of Excellence vs. Perfection Excellence versus perfection is the difference between organizing your home, but skipping the dusting. It’€™s the difference between putting away your clothes, but not folding them. 6. Presence Point: Prime your Central Nervous System (CNS) for Peak Communication Performance with an Audience of 1 or 1,000 Breathing, smiling, visualization, practice — all have a role in helping you achieve peak performance. 7. Creative Problem Solving with Metaphor What’€™s another way of looking for solutions in the midst of disruptive change? How about giving yourself uninterrupted time and space to imagine a challenge you are working on through a metaphoric lens? 8. Social Entrepreneurship: What It Is & How Together We CAN Change the World! There’€™s nothing simple about this type of entrepreneurship, but, then again, solving any social problem (whether home grown or global) is not supposed to be easy. 9. Why Yard Sales Are Named Wrong (And What That Means to You) A yard sale is not about making money. If you want to make money, carefully craft meaningful ads for Craigslist, eBay, your website, the local paper. But piling all the junk from your garage and closets out in the yard is not about making money. What can business authors learn from that? 10. Communication Technology and the Information Value of Your Business Valuable communication occurs when informational value is also high.

People Do Business With People They Like and Trust Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT It's true. All things being equal, people do business with people they know, like and trust. Why? They want to know that when something goes wrong they can come to you for help. We only seek out help or appear vulnerable to those we know, like and trust and that's why we often buy from friends of friends. It's safe. It's safe because we know we won't be scammed, cheated or lied to. It's safe because we won't look or feel silly, and even if we do we know we won't be laughed at. Make an effort to be known, liked and trusted. You don't have to be everyone's best friend, but you do need to convey the fact that you genuinely care about them and their well being. Showing an interest in their industry, their business, their lives, their needs, and their questions is a way to open the door to trust. Asking questions, getting clarification and keeping up with the challenges they face that you can't meet also instills trust because: You can connect them with other people you know who can help. It demonstrates caring that is not tied to making a sale. Think about the people you enjoy doing business with the most and the least. Which ones do you know, like and trust the most? I bet you'll discover that they are focused on you and your needs and not their own. Internalize the Golden Rule of sales that says: All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust. -Bob Burg

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