Marketing is first and foremost about pattern-breaking.

We all live in a Yellow Submarine. We are encased in our lives as we currently live them submerged in a ocean of our own wants and desires. It is a coping mechanism to protect ourselves from the outside world. Unfortunately, all our prospects live in a submarine, too. They are submersed under the waves, secure in the patterns of their lives. Pattern-breaking is crucial to marketing as most people live their lives inside a microcosm, an iron shell that must be cracked before each person can be reached.

Pattern for success. Patterns are not necessarily bad. Once you figure out how to do something, you want to replicate success. Developing a pattern for successful work completion is a great thing. Developing "muscle memory" for sports is how rookies become pros. Patterns for success are efficient.

Developing a pattern for your work day, your work week, can be tremendously liberating. If you know payroll is on Wednesday you don't have to plan Wednesday. If you know you call back group leaders from 9-11AM each day, you know you'll be on schedule and have time to accomplish your tasks. Patterns for success are valuable.

Patterns of life. You have a pattern to your life. You shop for groceries in the same store. You eat at the same restaurants. You drive the same way to the movies. Sit in the same pew at church. Only drink Starbucks. Always get up at 7:15AM. Buy gas at the same two stations. Ideally, you are creating customers that put you in the pattern of their lives. Either shopping for fruit or produce with you on a regular basis or visiting you seasonally for pumpkins and corn maze adventures. You want to be in their patterns of life.

Patterns for protection. Tricker are patterns in our potential customers. Currently, they have developed patterns of life that exclude you. They don't need you and you often aren't even on their radar. Worse yet, they have a deeply entrenched pattern of ignoring marketers altogether. They developed this "pattern of protection" to ward off telemarketers and swindlers. You aren't in their pattern and they have a pattern to keep you away. Yikes!

Pattern-breaking. As you formulate your marketing plan for the year, you have to particularly pay attention to breaking the pattern of your prospects' lives. Without breaking that pattern, you have zero chance of them listening to your message. Even less chance of them acting upon it.

Pattern breaking strategy. How do you break customer patterns? If I really had the definitive answer I'd be much wealthier, but I'll share some strategies in any case.

The classic, straightforward way to break patterns is to advertise. You tell people who don't know you about you. Even advertising becomes a pattern over time. Effective advertising must remain different enough to continue to engage your customers' minds or it's utility diminishes over time.

Meeting prospects in different settings is a pattern-breaking strategy. Show up at a ball park to hand out brochures. Partner with a fast food chain to introduce your message in a new environment.

Promotions for pattern breaking. Consider promotions as part of your marketing budget specifically targeted to break guest patterns. That means that your promotion must be new, different and target a new, different population. That might be different by age, region, type, product, but it must be different from anything you are doing now. Otherwise, it's still in your pattern. It's a diminishing return.

Here's an example: If you always advertise on one particular radio station, you probably don't need to buy another promotion on that station. You need to do a completely new promotion on another, different station to see if you can break the pattern of those listeners. Your ads will have the added bonus of sounding "new" because the new station's listeners haven't heard them before.

Change your pattern. If you've never entered the local parade, do it. If you've never tried TV, try it. If you've always used one newspaper, use the other one. If you've neglected social media, go bonkers with it. You have control over your pattern and if you don't change it, your results will diminish over time. Once your marketing creates a pattern, people get used to it and slowly begin to ignore it. Think about a great TV mystery you like. Generally, you like it because it keeps you guessing, you don't know what's going to happen. (My current favorite is Daybreak, streaming from NetFlix.) Marketing is the same. Once it's predictable, your done.

We are creatures of habit, of patterns. Examine the patterns in your life. Are they patterns of success? Specifically designed for success? Examine the patterns of your desired customers. Where to they shop, drive, eat, attend, do things currently? How can you break their patterns?

How can you help them create a pattern that includes you?

Have a great week.
- Hugh

Visual Reminders

Visual Reminders
 
I am a VERY visual person. I gesture on the phone. I sketch out new ideas. I have to SEE it to believe it.

You might be, too, so use visual reminders.

• For sales goals, I print out a page with my goal on it in numbered boxes so I can see every time I look at my board how close I am.
• For lists I installed a 4ft x 6ft whiteboard near my desk where I put my lists for the week or month.
• For attendance and group bookings I like thermometer-style graphs posted on my bulletin boards.
• For instructions, I like pictorial guides, not just written words.

What can data that's very important to you can you put into visual form?

Where can you post it?

What should you be posting for employees to see?

What should you be posting for guests to see?

Got a deadline looming for a big project for which you need all hands on deck?

Post a calendar next to the clock-in area and cross out days to the deadline with a black magic marker - Use red in the final days.

The most common complaint I hear is "Nobody told me." "I'm in the dark." "No one communicates."

Take that excuse away with Visual Reminders.

 

Victories of Ommission

Goal setting, achieving, and making progress are all closely tied to our concept of victory. It's often what you don't do that's just as important. I would call those successes "Victories of Omission."

Don't eat it. One of the most direct examples of a victory of omission is "Don't eat it." As proponents of local food, fresh food, healthy food we know, and promote to our guests, that they should be mindful of what they eat. Our cider doughnut machines might be a glaring example of how we don't wish them to consider it all the time they are in our establishments, but otherwise, we advocate healthy choices.

We also know that "Don't eat it" is a victory of self-control. "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips" is an old saying so exaggerated in America that we have a show called the "Biggest Loser" in which many of the contestants' starting weights exceeded 400lbs! If you "Don't eat it" you don't have to burn it off later with Jillian screaming at you.

Don't say it. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will permanently scar me." How many times have we caused anguish by "saying it"? What a victory of omission to control our tongues! How many times have you had to waste your precious time and energy trying to fix a relationship you wrecked with thoughtless words? How much energy lost to the world for the other person, too?

"Don't say it" only comes with time and patient practice thinking for a split second how your words will be received and reacted to. Just give yourself a glimpse into the future. If that future looks like a world of pain with a whopping a waste of time repairing the damage you are about to do. Adjust your words. Keep your eyes on the prize, the big picture. Think about the difference between the split second it takes to change your words and the hours, days, or forever it might take to fix the relationship. Occasionally, "Don't say it" and you'll save yourself a lot of time and heartache.

Don't do it. Lots of victories come from "Don't do it." Don't drink and rive. Don't borrow that money. Don't fly off the handle. Don't surf on the back of a pick-up truck. Don't buy that business. Don't take on another project. It sounds pretty negative doesn't it?

One of the guides to living a simpler life is the joy of learning to say "No." We're all over committed, time-crunched. Our kids are over-scheduled. Work bleeds into life. Work is life. Just another dollar. Chasin' that paper. (That was just for you gangsta rap fans.) Learn to, allow yourself to, say "No."

Janine and I have said "No" to over scheduling the kids. The peer pressure is on, but our 6 & 9 year old kids don't need more than 1-2 activities each in any given season. I have (finally) learned to say "No" to expansion for expansion's sake and (lightly) curbed my attraction building habit. I have said "No" to two boards and two committees already this year, and dropped another one. You too can set these limits in your life - because it's YOUR life!

Need some specific language? Here's my last committee request "No.":

I really appreciate that you thought of me for this committee, but I must respectfully decline the opportunity. While I believe in what you're doing / stand for / are advocating I would be doing the cause / group a disservice by saying I would join / be a part of the group / cause. My current commitments and this new one would all suffer as I couldn't dedicate myself fully toward it. I know you want people to be fully committed, and I just can't do that for the group / cause / board right now. Thank you so much for asking. I am honored you thought of me.

You can do it. You can say "No." Better you do it now, than get kicked off later for poor attendance at the meetings you knew you could never make. (I've had that happen, too.)

We often forget that we are nearly completely in control of our own lives. We're swept away in a sea of activity, peer pressure, and implied obligations foisted upon us by others. In the end the foist-ers don't have to live with you - YOU do and your spouse/significant other does, too. While every obligation, opportunity, item, attraction, invention, deal, and activity might indeed be good, it just may not be good for you.

So,
"Don't eat it." It's so much easier to not put it in your body, than it is to burn it off.
"Don't say it." You're not really that mad anyway and you don't have time to repair the broken-ness you are about to cause.
and
"Don't do it." Learn to live simply and simply say "No". The world doesn't have to live with you, YOU do.

Victories are not all goal setting, achieving and making progress. There are very important victories to be won by omission.

Have a great week.
-Hugh

 

Find Hugh McPherson, The Maze Master:
www.cornmaze.com
www.mazecatalog.com
www.mazefunpark.com

Facebook Marketing Primer: "Account" or "Page" - "Friend" or "Like"

 

I had a Friend request from some farm buddies, that made me think of some of the experiences shared on the NAFDMA Crab Bus (Best bus by far this year at the convention.) This applies whether or not you are in the corn maze business, farm market business, or just in business.

Just a quick note before you get too far on the Facebook Friending with your business. After this year's conventions and my own experience - I would encourage you to use a Facebook "Page", in place of a Facebook "Account"

Accounts are for people, Pages are for businesses. Not only does Facebook frown upon an account used for a business, there are limitations to using the Account.

On a Page, which you create from your personal Facebook Account, you can get "Insights" which allow you to track activity to your Facebook Page.

There are no limits to the # of "Likes" you can generate from your guests and your guest's personal news feeds aren't visible to the Page, where they are visible to your Account.

Essentially, it is a bigger commitment to get someone to "Friend" your Account, than it is to get them to "Like" your page. Since either gets your messages to them, I vote for reducing as many barriers as possible to getting them on your social network.

Just my free advice! ooooo.... a Bonus Post this week for Blog subscribers!
- Hugh

 

Find Hugh McPherson, The Maze Master:
www.cornmaze.com
www.mazecatalog.com
www.mazefunpark.com

Quickbooks Online Version REVIEW

Hugh's Reviews

Each week Hugh reviews something, anything really, that has provoked a thoughtful insight.

 
Quickbooks Online Version
Details, details, details. Accounting is all about details, and I am not a detail person. Luckily, I am a determined person, so when the opportunity arose for me to be a part of the AgChoice Farm Credit AgBix Masters program, I took it. It was great motivation to delve into my own accounting reports to learn more.

Familiarity is the first hurdle to mastery: Before you can know and understand any concept you have to be familiar with it. One of the hurdles to accounting for me was that the accounting software was on our office manager's computer. If I wanted to look at the books, I had to kick her out or wait until she was done for the day.That might have been an excuse for not familiarizing myself with the book, but it's a good one.

Quickbooks Online: We are growing our business every year, eventually I was going to have to grow up, in accounting terms, too. Since I needed access to my books from my desk, our bookkeeper's desk, my invoicing agent Michelle's desk - who works at home - and better, timely access for my new accountant/coach, Quickbooks online was the answer.

Super easy and convenient. If you can run Quickbooks, you can run Quickbooks Online.

-It all the same, just through your browser.
-Up to five people can have login IDs, each with a different access level.
-Payroll and payroll taxes set-up to pay online/efile.
-Working on merchant account tie-in.
-Reports galore and everyone can be on at the same time and everything updates instantly.

Here's the big difference:
I've been in my books, looking at reports, assigning expenses, checking balances nearly every day this month. Michelle did all the billing for our entire system from her living room. Linda and I are correcting the categorization of expenses simultaneously.

I'm a believer. It took some time to get the switch done, but it was well worth it and we're not even in our busy season.

-Hugh

 

Maize Quest Fun Park Twitter:
@mazefunpark

Hugh's Twitter:
@themazemaster

Hugh's personal Facebook: www.facebook.com/ themazemaster

Maize Quest Fun Park Facebook:
www.facebook.com/ maizequestfunpark

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion...

...and other things we don't do well.

See the full gallery on Posterous

What a complex world in which we live. Messages come at us through so many channels it can feel like we're drowning. We also pump messages into the system hoping beyond hope to be heard. You. Us. We. Me. Me. Me. Won't somebody just listen, right now! It is into this world that Mark Neeper suggested that our true goals should be Simplicity, Patience, and Compassion.

Don't worry the first two allow you to focus on yourself, the second is the outward focus to the world. In our businesses, the concepts are so completely antithetical we might dismiss them as "Wouldn't that be nice." or "I wish I had time to be patient." or "Once I'm taken care of I can care for someone else." I know I've tried to through off the truth inherent in these concepts with many such excuses. Since it never worked for long, I thought I might try examining why they just might hold some light to the pathway toward success.

Simplicity. Really? Could it even be possible? Today? Simplicity doesn't mean stupid, lame, easy. It means focused. When you substitute Focus for Simplicity, the truth becomes self-evident. You already know that focus is key to success. You can't be great at everything. You can't multi-task and be great at any of those tasks. Simplicity, focus, is essential in a complex world. Know what you do well and do that. Don't try to get better at 10 things you don't do well, do one thing really well.

In design, simplicity is implicitly part of the things you find most beautiful. Apple designs products with clean lines, easy purchasing systems, beautiful interfaces, intuitive features, and they have become the 2nd largest company in the world. Zen rock gardens are simple, beautiful. Think of a relaxing day at work. Probably it was a day without distractions, without interruptions. You could focus.

Simplicity in your life comes from reduction. Just like you reduce the liquid while cooking to make a culinary reduction, you must boil off extraneous responsibilities, tasks, and distractions. A few years ago, I sold my Internet Service Provider business because it was a mental distraction. I hired an account and purchased Quickbooks Online to efficiently manage our growing operation. We've reduced the number of programs and choices in our birthday party and group tour brochures to make choosing easier. I created a daily schedule that allows me lunch and a (fairly) defined end time to reduce the stress of thinking about what, when, and how to do work during the day.

More farms hire us every year to create not only their corn maze designs, but to cut them, create games, create educational information, and deliver products directly to them. Boil things down and keep only the richest flavors. Keep doing the things that you, and only you, can do. If someone else could do it, let them!

Patience. Don't you just love patient people? Everyone loves patient people, yet somehow patience escapes us. We get so wrapped up in our over-scheduled lives we don't have time for patience. One of the hardest connections to overcome is that patience in our culture is tied closely to humility. Americans don't do humility. We view humility as weakness, therefore patience is weakness.

This couldn't be further from the truth. I bet people you would list as the most patient, you would also list as the strongest. Patience is strength. Inside we know this to be true because we know that strength, the discipline it takes to be patient. We intuitively admire this in other people because we know how easy it is to be impatient.

Patience pays off. Impatience in spending leads to debt. Impatience in planning leads to projects over budget. Impatience with customers yields fewer customers. Impatience with employees breeds animosity.

Patience is a muscle. You have to build your patience over time. It takes patience to build patience. I've chosen just little things to slowly build my patience, from nearly ZERO by the way. In my car, I choose to defer. At stop signs, I wave the other guy to go first. On the highway, I let people pass me. In the parking lot, I park further away. Silly? Maybe, but it's slowly helping this "speed" addict learn patience. Choose your own exercises, then wait patiently for the results. Patience in you will grow, young Skywalker.

Compassion. Sympathetic concern for the suffering of others. Everyone's suffering in this great big world and a little compassion goes a long way. Customer service is all about compassion. My dear, now deceased friend Greg Skinner told me, "If you help enough people get what they want, you'll end up with what you want." Everyone's suffering in some way and if you care outwardly for your fellow man, be it customer, employee, family, you will become highly valued in his/her life.

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion. I have to be honest. I don't have this all worked out and under control. I'm not preaching from my ivory tower, but strive to get a little better each day. With broad, life-changing, visionary goals for your life such as these, it's not a matter of reaching the goal, but the process of striving for it.

You can never reach a goal for which you do not strive. With Simplicity, Patience, and Compassion even just a little closer each day is a victory.

Have a great week.
-Hugh

Find Hugh McPherson, The Maze Master:
www.cornmaze.com
www.mazecatalog.com
www.mazefunpark.com

Evernote as a field scouting tool?!

Evernote.com
I have a scattered thought process. As I think and scour the Internet for ideas, write blogs, work with clients, help manage the farm, work with clients, I generate a lot of ideas.

I started using Evernote.com to collect those ideas and I encourage you to look into it.

The basics of it are simple: You can take notes on any device and they sync to your Evernote account from anywhere to be viewable anywhere you are.

For instance: I have Evernote on my iMac in the office, on my Android phone, on my iPad, and can reach it anywhere online.

If I enter a note about a blog idea, on my phone, the next time I'm at my computer, it's there in Evernote.

Super easy and convenient. If my phone falls in a puddle, not that a farmer would ever do that, all my notes are already in my Evernote account.

Here's the mind blowing idea we've had:

1. Evernote will log the location of the note via your phone's GPS system.

2. Evernote now supports shared "Notebooks."

3. If I scout a field and take a note, my farm manager can see that note AND it's location in the shared Notebook. If my Dad takes a note, I can see it AND it's location in that same Notebook.

4. We just created a geo-located farm field scouting program FOR FREE.

I'm dying to know how other farmers will be using it in the future. Want to be a part of the experiment?

Connect with me and we'll find out if it works.

-Hugh

Find Hugh at:

www.cornmaze.com

www.mazecatalog.com

www.mazefunpark.com

Twitter: @themazemaster

 

In support of dictators....sometimes.

Dictatorship has its benefits.

You are the boss. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but you are the boss. We are small business people, sometimes specifically because, we get to be the boss and there is no denying that dictatorship has it's privileges and benefits.  A benevolent dictator distills informations, creates a unified vision, and makes clear choices. We get to do our thing. Lead! That's why I am in support of dictators... sometimes.

On the committee. Many of you, like me, serve on committees, boards, groups, and panels. Inevitably you have faced the situation of that group taking FOREVER to make a decision. You know full well what the best decision is and that it will eventually be made, but you had to wait for the group to come around. You had to wait for the troublesome member of the committee to become convinced. Ah, dictatorship - you'd have made the call and moved on.

In the system. You probably have ways of doing things on your farm, in your market, in you life that are the ways things have always been done. In a positive sense, you need systems to make things flow, but if you stop to evaluate the system, it's horribly out of date.

Once in a heavy manufacturing plant, a new manager arrived from outside the company. He set about reviewing the forms and paperwork the floor supervisors were filling out. He came across Form 41. When he asked what Form 41 was used for, no one knew. They said we just fill it out and file it. He got curious and searched the aged file cabinets and discovered it was used to record materials used in the process - to meet World War II conservation guidelines.

Changing systems is the immediate purogative of the dictator, to overrule the status quo, to ask "why" in the face of existing bureaucracy. To make the call. To change. In a recent presentation to owners, I mentioned that one's hiring system can be completely upended, dramatically changed for the better, immediately. Last year, I unilaterally made the change 15 minutes before the first interview.

After some scoffs and disbelief, I reminded them that they are in charge! In there business, they operate in a world that is nearly completely under their control. That control allows rapid change for good by the benevolent dictator. If you don't like it or the results do not suit you, change the system - immediately!

Keeper of the vision. Once you decide upon the organization's vision, the dictator must be the final keeper of the vision; must exercise direct control over the delivery of that vision with full veto power. When there is doubt, the leader must rule.

"With great power comes great responsibility." - Spiderman's Uncle Ben Parker.

Benevolent dictatorship comes at a terrible price. It comes with ultimate responsibility and accountability. If the vision rests in your hands, it is yours to safeguard tirelessly. If your people aren't delivering, it's your fault. If you make a wrong call, there's no one to blame. Dictators are being held responsible around the world for any and all actions taken under their purvey.

Watch your back. A benevolent dictator better have some people in advisory positions to watch their back. You need people to keep you and your little dictatorship in line. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," so before you go lording over your subjects, it's good to keep current events in mind.

Dictators are being overthrown with greater frequency because free-flowing information allows injustice to be discovered, disseminated, and destroyed. Remaining benevolent is paramount to remaining dictator.

Choosing the best of dictatorship. Let's be serious. You are ultimately responsible and accountable for everything in your business. I know I am in mine. Choosing the best parts of dictatorship AND the best parts of teamwork and inclusion is a mandate. You cannot 'rule' your business with an iron fist because your employees, staff, sometimes family, will simply revolt and leave you holding the bag.

What you can do is realize your rule is the ultimate responsibility to care for, tend to, your business, your business culture, your staff, your clients with benevolence as your guiding principle.

Self-sacrifice is the most powerful leadership characteristic and if your kingdom knows you will sacrifice for them, you will be able to lead effectively and efficiently.

Self-sacrificing dictators are never overthrown. In fact, they are just called "leaders".

Have a great week.
-Hugh
 

 

 

 

 

Find Hugh at:

www.cornmaze.com

www.mazecatalog.com

www.mazefunpark.com

Twitter: @themazemaster

Speak your unspoken expectations.

Words left unsaid. Have you ever left words that needed to be spoken unsaid? Think back to high school, then think again. Ever leave something unspoken that needed saying? Ever watch someone bullied, picked on, and turn away? Remain silent in the face of social pressure? Sure, we all have.

Unspoken expectations. Do you live in a world of unspoken expectations? Do you have them in your family? If you desire your kids to excel in academics, but punish them verbally no matter the grade with "Well, you could still do better." You have unspoken expectations. If you desperately want your employees to "Do a good job.", but provide no written guidance, no training- You have unspoken expectations.

"If you move the target, I'll just give up." Unspoken expectations are like a moving target in a shooting gallery. Kids, employees, friends, your spouse, will go ahead and keep shooting and gauging your reactions for a while trying to find the target. Sometimes they will voice their desire for feedback, but often it is just a silent voice in their mind  asking, "Is this what you want? Is this good enough? Does this make you happy? Am I safe now?"

Inevitably, we, as driven people, purposely move the target the minute they hit it. Our rationale is "If they could do that well, then they can do better." Sounds like progress right? Sounds like we're "taking it to the next level" or "Raising the bar". Something we're even told to do; trained to do. Clarifying our expectations can feel like we'd be setting a level for them that they would never have to exceed, as if we'd be purposely thwarting our continual improvement.

The trouble is that most people will not play the "moving target" game very long. In the movie "Despicable Me", a carnival game plays the moving target game for the kids. Once it is clearly not fair, "Gru", the anti-hero of the film, pulls a blaster gun and incinerates the entire booth. People will not play the moving target game for long. They will burn out or flare up.

Evaluate your expectations. Are they realistic? Are they achievable? Do they account for imperfection in the world? In other people? In the marketplace? Are they clear?

"Do a good job" is unclear. "Keep this area clear of trash" is clear.
"Give good customer service" is unclear. "Greet each guest with a smile" is clear.

"Keep track of guests in the corn maze" is unclear. "Greet each guest and ask how they are doing each time you meet" is clear.
"Give me respect" is unclear. "We do not criticize each other in front of guests" is clear.

Rise up and voice your unspoken expectations. The best news is ITS YOUR BUSINESS! You get to set the expectations! It can be just like you want! You set the systems and clear expectations exactly how you want them followed. Provide your people examples, scripts, stories of successful implementation, training, checklists and feedback.

Cut the waste. Once you clearly articulate your expectations, you never have to fire someone again. What?! That's right. Once you clearly articulate your expectations and develop the system by which your people can implement them, employees choose to fire themselves.

Never again battle with "I did a good job!", "Oh, no you didn't!", "Yes I did!" - check the system, the checklists, the clear expectations. If they do not meet your written expectations, they chose to fire themselves - so cut the waste. Get rid of anyone who does not get with the system.

Muster your courage. It takes courage to quit the "moving target" game and speak your unspoken expectations; to write down the systems you need to run your business. If you have the courage and take the time, you will find yourself in a whole new world of interaction with your staff, your family, and your guests.

Have a great week.
-Hugh

 

Find Hugh at:

www.cornmaze.com

www.mazecatalog.com

www.mazefunpark.com

Twitter: @themazemaster