Debbie Mayo-Smith

A motivational speaker gives her tips on business success

Debbie Mayo-Smith: Guy Kawasaki on positive influence

Guy Kawasaki. Photo / Supplied
Guy Kawasaki. Photo / Supplied

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend $85 to see Guy Kawasaki present at the Air New Zealand Social Media Breakfast last Wednesday.

In case you haven't heard about Guy, he is a Silicon Valley author, speaker, and advisor to Motorola, owned by Google. He was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing the Mac in 1984.

I thought you might be interested in what this thought leader said about being more successful in business today. He had a few interesting tips.

Please excuse the outline basis of today's column, I'm trying to condense an hour and a half into 500ish words.

His presentation's overall theme was Enchantment, or how to positively influence for your business. It is coincidentally the same name as his new book. He broke enchanting down into ten key points, and then delved into a further ten on how to get more followers on social media.

We will cover that next week.

Guy's Ten Keys to Enchantment

1. Likeability

One of the easiest ways to be likable is to develop crow's feet. That's the side effect of always having a genuine smile . A smile that includes the Duchene muscles (around your eyes).

a. Accept others for what they are - don't try to change them.
b. Always default to yes. Help others and don't be afraid to be taken advantage of - you'll always win in the long run.

2. Achieve Trustworthiness

Amazon is an example. They have a seven day eBook return policy. They trust people won't take advantage of them and in turn, their customers trust them.

a. Be a baker, not an eater. This refers to your mind set. Instead of worrying that someone else will get to eat (do, use) something before you do, instead adopt the plentiful spirit where there is more where that came from.

b. Agree on something. Come to a common ground. His example was that in the early days of Apple, no one wanted to use the computers for normal work such as spread sheets, word documents. It was desktop publishing that saved the company from oblivion. This was the area that the Mac developers and the Apple staff were able to agree on.

3. Perfect (Your Offering)

Enchant with greatness. Not crap. Your offering must be:

a. Deep - with lots of features and functionality.
b. Intelligent - you've understood the pain and problems.
c. Complete - encompasses all areas. A restaurant isn't food alone. It also includes a reservation system, valet parking, etc. All the services that surround the product.
d. Empowering - the end user.
e. Elegant - in design.

4. Launch

You must tell a story, not just outline features.

a. Personalise your story of why you created the product or service. How it came about.
b. Plant many seeds. Marketing used to be you found a top reporter for a top paper to write about it. Today it's no longer just finding the top dog/that influencer. It's about getting as many nobodies as you can. This aggregation of nobodies on social media becomes the somebodies that will promote you.
c. Use salient points. In other words describe it in ways your customers understand. For example Steve Jobs didn't say I give you 16 gigabytes with the new iPod. He said I give you 1000 songs in your pocket.

5. Overcome Problems

Look at new ways of marketing or telling the story.

a. iPod became popular because of the visual difference of the white earbuds.
b. Use datasets - animated if you can to prove your point. He mentioned the site
c. Enchant all influencers - participate and add value to your social networks.

6. Endure

Use, tap, evangelise your friends. The Grateful Dead have a portion of their concert floors for people who video - they want to encourage their fans to help generate new ones.

a. Build an ecosystem around your offering - be everywhere
b. Invoke reciprocation. When you follow point 1 and 2, and always say yes, and have the bakers attitude, then instead of saying thank you to the person you've done the good deed or went the extra mile for instead say 'I know you would do the same for me'.
c. Don't rely on money. Influence should be based on appreciation, not paying people.

7. Great Presenter

You have to tell your story well.

a. Customise your introduction
b. Sell your dream - what your product/service does for someone.
c. Optimum is 10 slides. 20 minutes. 30 point font.

8. Use Technology to Wow People.

It enables you to reach millions, fast.

a. Remove speedbumps. Find clever ways of getting around barriers such as not using a captcha for signing up to a newsletter. A US solar panel company using Google satellite maps for viewing a home rooftop location rather than having to go out and conduct an inspection for an initial quote.
b. Provide value, not me, me, me. Use information, insights and engage your audience on social media

9. (For staff) Enchant Up

When you're asked to do something for the boss, drop everything and do it. If you have bad news, deliver it early rather than closer to when it's going to happen.

10. (For employers) Enchant Down

Give your staff a map of their future and where the company is going. Give them autonomy and a purpose.

a. Suck it up. Do the dirty jobs

Do you agree? What are your thoughts?

- NZ Herald


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