Enchantment Book Review from the Island of Enchantment

May 31, 2011 by Raul Colon

Out of the business books I have read, not many are as diverse as this book. I met Guy Kawasaki at the Samsung Bloggers Lounge just before he was going to hand out complimentary copies of his latest book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions (Amazon Affiliate Link). I had the privilege to receive a copy autographed by Mr. Kawasaki himself and was able to shake his hand and talk for a full 30 seconds.

At first I was very skeptical that the title would not fit me because I am more about finding people with my interests than trying to please everyone. As I started reading, I realized how Guy directed the book to genuine enchantment without each person having to stop being themselves.

He focuses on the Importance of what people are thinking, feeling, and believing. Another interesting point in the book was how Guy guides you into the importance of swearing in some occasions and how that can also help enchant. The book overall is a guide towards creating win-win situations from various aspects. From creating relationships by achieving trustworthiness, to making a better presentation using powerpoint and becoming more effective using email.

In the chapter dedicated, “Achieving Trustworthiness”, it was interesting to see how trust between people leads to business and recognizing when they are playing games.I will be using that one as an indicator every time I see people are playing games with my clients or myself. I am very transparent and Guy urges people to disclose their interests.

His points on Reciprocity and the 3 forms which he states are explicitly expecting something in return, an investment in the future, and for intrinsic reasons. Guy does a great job explaining which one is not enchanting and which one is the best representation of enchantment.

Here are great pointers on how to overcome Resistance. I found these two examples most useful like:

Making people understand your products
Finding Bright spots that are already working

I am a big fan of treating everyone right. Guy also dedicates a whole chapter on Enchanting your employees. He gives some great tips on allowing your employees to do the right thing and using inspiration over intimidation, you can achieve a lot more.

Enchantment also gave me the opportunity to learn and understand of the following terms:

Making Crow’s Feet
- Staying away from the Pan American Smile
10-20-30 rule of creating a presentation
- No more than 10 slides
- No more than 20 Minutes
- No font smaller than 30 points
Keeping your email to 6 sentences
- Why you are contacting the person
- Who you are
- What your cause is
- What you want
- Why the Recipient should help you
- What the next step is
- Where the Term Devil’s Advocate Derives from
- Will make sure I get my copy of Presentation Zen Design based on Guy’s Recommendations

The value I got out of Enchantment made me plan to go back and read some of his previous books.

Book Review- @garyvee’s “Thank You Economy”

May 17, 2011 by Raul Colon

I had the privilege to meet @garyvee at SXSW while hanging at the Samsung Bloggers Lounge. I also had the opportunity to receive a complimentary copy of his new book The Thank You Economy (Amazon Affiliate Link). I also listened to his Keynote where I came in a bit late. He made key references to topics that captivated my attention right away.

That is the power @garyvee has over many people. He is so transparent and genuine that one begins to trust his judgement very quickly. @Garyvee spoke about the Old Spice commercials and how the company used various social platforms to get their message heard. One key factor that @Garyvee touched was the fact that although multiple platforms were used, they forgot the most important part of the campaign; the social part with customers. I had thought that the Old Spice commercials where great examples of Social Media but when he pointed this out to us, I look at the campaign from a different perspective. The Old Spice company ran a marketing campaign and did not make sure to continue building and taking care of the following they built.

I read The Thank You Economy (Amazon Affiliate Link) and many phrases caught my attention. One of them being that @garyvee is Not a fan of SEO. I completely understand him when he approaches it the way he explains it in his book. It should not be a priority when there are many other things on the table that will bring good quality traffic to your site. I was also very happy to see @joesorge someone I admire and have gotten to know a bit more online since I joined Kitchen Table Companies (Affiliate Link). I had the opportunity to learn a bit more about @ajbombers from @garyvee perspective which really made me want to visit the establishment. (I am not sure if they have vegetarian options). I have interacted with @joesorge and I can say many of the qualities @garyvee pointed out in the book, I have been able to experience. I will try to summarize as much as possible some of the points I really enjoyed.

Perfect Date

Gary always uses the example of dating towards creating relationships in social media. I am a fan of quality content and thanks to @garyvee I can also see I am even a bigger fan of Quality Engagement. Gary gave me a quick way to explain this in one or two phrases. He also sees it as a marathon; many business people want to sprint the whole 26 miles without even knowing what direction to take. Make sure you are making steady progress while providing Quality Engagement and Quality Content.

Everything has Changed Except Human Nature

During his keynote at #SXSW, Gary mentioned how the family dog went from being an outside dog in the 50’s towards being really part of the family and living inside of the house (in my case Juanga sleeps on my bed.) Everything has changed except human nature and how easy it is for many people to forget that. Customers are no longer just walking wallets they are seeking something more. On the other side people have prioritized profit over principle and only those who put principle first will have an advantage over it.

Shock and Awe

I have always been a believer of surprising those who are always there for you including your customers. Gary’s advice is “Not too much money invested just a whole lot of heart”.

Intent

The importance of Good Intent is key and for @Garyvee it plays the same role. Intent allows to put Quality vs. Quantity into the equation which can be the difference between being popular and/or successful.

Importance of the Right Culture

I have collaborated with several organizations and getting everything in place for the success of the effort has been key. For an organization to take advantage of the Thank You Economy they need to invest in their culture. Gary advices us to stay away from script reading foreigners (or even locals) and telephone systems that make us press to0 many numbers after the call has been already answered. There is a need for passionate armies not employes.

“A capitalist society taking a communist approach towards there employees”~@garyvee

Gary also brings up the importance of complacency. If a person or organization becoming complacent, they deserve to go out of business. Also the right culture will allow you to identify pain points in your business process or organization which can serve as a map towards improvment.

Social Media is more than Media

Many organizations think Social Media is just another channel for them to push out their message and broadcast. Spreading the message can happen only when you are willing to commit and engage.

“Great for Putting out fires, Even better for building brand equity and relationships with your customers”~@garyvee

Although it is great for putting out fires it does a better job at keeping the sparks from flying in the first place.

I really enjoyed the example of how @garyvee explains the effect of creating a community in social media being similar to how ants collectively gather together, go under a table, and pick it up. The importance is in the unity. It is not the number of followers it is the strength of your bond. The strength of your bond will also make it more difficult for someone to come out of nowhere and take away your clients or community.

It also gives the opportunity for Engagement, which should not be forced. In the next few weeks I will be analyzing how I can improve converting a casual buyer to a committed buyer and on to an advocate. I really have to work on attracting the casual buyer i guess the other part I have to work it with time.

Resist the Thank You Economy

Where I have to agree with @garyvee is that organizations that resist the Thank You Economy will have an exodus of employees and many other things will affect them negatively. I will try to follow his example so in the long run I am on the winning side.

Thank You!

Book Review – Social Media ROI

April 4, 2011 by Raul Colon

I have been reading The Brandbuilder’s blog for quite some time. I find great and complete reports on how to approach social media from a business perspective. When I read that Olivier was releasing a book in March, I was counting the days for the release.

When the book was pre-released, I bought the e-book on the Kindle app for my Ipad. As I started reading the book foreward, I was surprised that Olivier had added myself and others thanking us for the support while he was writing the book. This is the first time my name goes in a future best-seller as was stated by my fellow tweep @treypennington.

I usually create a book review with very detailed points of interest. However, with this book there where so much I wanted to say that I decided to upload a video version of my thoughts.

The Book for Every Social Media Strategist

I can say I will be using this book as a guide as I have been using Olivier’s Blog for quite some time as one of my main sources when I want to get a point across with clients.

Olivier answers one of the most important questions many people and clients ask, “What do we do if someone says something negative about us online”. He also addresses many questions I have gotten from clients with a practical solution and detailed guidelines on the options you have.

I will be sharing pieces of the book with Olivier’s permission from my perspective since I see a lot of value and information that can be useful to all of us.

This is an awesome book so I recommend you download the e-book or go to your closest bookstore and get your copy. Then come back and tell me and @thebrandbuilder how it went.

The first 2 people to comment and state why you want a copy of this book will get a signed copy by Olivier Blanchard. You can also win a copy if you Re-tweet this post and use hashtag #SMROI with my username @rj_c. We will choose 1person randomly out of all the RT’s made of this book on this post by April 3, 2011.

What is your biggest question handling Social Media for your own efforts or clients? Why would this book interest you? Leave your comments win a Copy!

Here is Olivier’s Video on his Book Much More refined and Better Dressed.

Book Review: Price of Everything

February 7, 2011 by Raul Colon

I think one of the things I have gone through life not understanding is how prices are established.

A few months ago I finished reading Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) (amazon affiliate link) which helped me with understanding a bit better how some things are priced and how sometimes our own minds trick us into over spending. A few weeks ago I decided to buy and read The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. I really think it was a good complement for the first read. In my opinion Priceless was a bit more technical and practical and The Price of Everything allowed me to understand the theoretical part of the establishing value.

Here I share with you my summary by some chapters on a great book I recommend you to read The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do:

When Prices Fail
- Price of orange juice has predicted the weather in florida
- Disadvantages of a college graduate entering the workforce during a recession.
- The correlation people not trusting the government the same way they distrust bankers.
Immigrants
- How immigrants value the well being of family members over many things.
- Most immigrants work on the books don’t get full benefits back and still they are treated without respect.
- Illegal immigrants are tolerated by the political system because their cheap labor.
Price of Free
- Be very careful with hidden prices they can be high.
Price of Happiness
- Bhutan’s government has a great measurement of Gross National Happiness
  - Four Pillars of GNH:
    - Good Governance
    - Cultural Values
    - Natural Enviroment
    - Sustainable Development
- Great Analogy with Telenovelas on how one really crossed over many cultures.
- Happiness can be bought with other currencies such as:
  - love
  - time
- Definition of what is fair Pay! I have a huge issue when someone comments on how well someone else is getting paid.
The reason the Speed limit of 55mph was imposed and how it related to reducing costs.
Price of things
- How subjective the value of the product is.
- Cost cutting strategies without moving price by removing items and being creative.
- We often put a lower price in our lives!
- The price of one item has to complement well with others items in the eco system
- Rebates and coupons allow to sell to:
  - Poorer – Coupon Clippers
  - Rich – who care less
Price of Culture
- The most corrupt countries are those which voters are cheapest.
- Little to do with virtue and much to do with strategy.
- Culture sets our personal cost-benefit analysis.
- Price alignment with protecting animal rights.
- Great analogy on how it is legal for Soldier to lose his life for his country but a Kidney sale is illegal because it benefits solely another individual.
Price of Faith
- Defines most religions as being composed a set of transactions in which believers assess the costs of the faith against its benefits.

What other great books can help me with understanding pricing of everything that surrounds us?

photo credit: Kieran Lynam