Here it is, a few weeks after New Years and some of you are very excited because you have been following your 2013 resolutions. You have a sense of accomplishment and look forward to continuing down this new road. Others have given up already and probably a 1/3 of you never set any new goals because you may think it is silly.

To those people who feel setting a goal is silly needs to understand that without an objective or goal, no change happens. Maybe you have been through this before and feel that setting goals never work. To you I say that you may want to look at how you set goals but more importantly how you set out an action plan to accomplish the goal.

To those who gave up, why did you? To you I would say that you have not invested enough in how the result will impact your life. If the goal is not worthwhile then letting it go is easy.

Instituting a change anywhere takes work. It takes effort. Anyone who tells you differently is lying.

Be careful of the phrase “time management”. That phrase gets tossed around so easily but it never goes far enough into why things need to happen or why they stop happening.

Setting a goal:

1. The goal you set has to have some repercussion if you do not attain it. Not that you will be fired or something negative happens but you have to be invested in the outcome. If you do not see the downside of not accomplishing this goal then it will be easy to stop.
2. You need to be specific in what you want to accomplish. Saying you want to be a top salesmen is not the same as you wanting to sell 50 units. The same holds true with “I want to lose 15 pounds” versus “I want to lose 15 pounds by May 1^st.”
3. Once you have a goal that you are invested in and have been specific in the goal, the next step is outlining “action steps” that you have to accomplish to get you on the path towards your goal. For instance, if you are going to sell 50 units, here are some things you may begin to work on.
   1. Review marketing materials
   2. Go through your database to create a list of the first 10 clients you will call
   3. Create a script for your sales pitch
   4. Make sure you are logging data into your CRM or tracking tool

Setting up these steps will allow you to focus on small accomplishments that bring you closer to your goal. If you do not have these steps you will end up looking at the goal of “selling 50 units” and may not know where to begin so you keep putting off action until something comes to you. Next thing you know you are way off pace.

Setting goals and focusing on small steps also allow momentum to be built so that you see small accomplishments which get you excited about each of the following steps

For those of you who are still attacking your goals from New Years, keep it up. Keep focused on what you are doing each day.

For those of you who stopped, it is not too late to rethink your goal and get back on the plan. Remember you had some initial desire for change, don’t give up.

For those of you who did not set goals, hopefully you see that all of your life is about goals and priorities and I hope this helps.

Here it is, a few weeks after New Years and some of you are very excited because you have been following your 2013 resolutions. You have a sense of accomplishment and look forward to continuing down this new road. Others have given up already and probably a 1/3 of you never set any new goals because you may think it is silly.

To those people who feel setting a goal is silly needs to understand that without an objective or goal, no change happens. Maybe you have been through this before and feel that setting goals never work. To you I say that you may want to look at how you set goals but more importantly how you set out an action plan to accomplish the goal.

To those who gave up, why did you? To you I would say that you have not invested enough in how the result will impact your life. If the goal is not worthwhile then letting it go is easy.

Instituting a change anywhere takes work. It takes effort. Anyone who tells you differently is lying.

Be careful of the phrase “time management”. That phrase gets tossed around so easily but it never goes far enough into why things need to happen or why they stop happening.

Setting a goal:

1. The goal you set has to have some repercussion if you do not attain it. Not that you will be fired or something negative happens but you have to be invested in the outcome. If you do not see the downside of not accomplishing this goal then it will be easy to stop.
2. You need to be specific in what you want to accomplish. Saying you want to be a top salesmen is not the same as you wanting to sell 50 units. The same holds true with “I want to lose 15 pounds” versus “I want to lose 15 pounds by May 1^st.”
3. Once you have a goal that you are invested in and have been specific in the goal, the next step is outlining “action steps” that you have to accomplish to get you on the path towards your goal. For instance, if you are going to sell 50 units, here are some things you may begin to work on.
   1. Review marketing materials
   2. Go through your database to create a list of the first 10 clients you will call
   3. Create a script for your sales pitch
   4. Make sure you are logging data into your CRM or tracking tool

Setting up these steps will allow you to focus on small accomplishments that bring you closer to your goal. If you do not have these steps you will end up looking at the goal of “selling 50 units” and may not know where to begin so you keep putting off action until something comes to you. Next thing you know you are way off pace.

Setting goals and focusing on small steps also allow momentum to be built so that you see small accomplishments which get you excited about each of the following steps

For those of you who are still attacking your goals from New Years, keep it up. Keep focused on what you are doing each day.

For those of you who stopped, it is not too late to rethink your goal and get back on the plan. Remember you had some initial desire for change, don’t give up.

For those of you who did not set goals, hopefully you see that all of your life is about goals and priorities and I hope this helps.

Are you launching a new product or service at NADA? 

The PCG Consulting "Spotlight Awards" recognize the top 5 most innovative products and services being launched at NADA 2013. These awards reward forward thinking vendors who continue to raise the bar in automotive digital marketing. The top product or service will be crowned with the prestigious "Best In Show" award. 

While all vendors will be considered, those who fill out an early application are guaranteed to have their product or service reviewed by a member of the PCG team at NADA 2013. All submissions are confidential and no private information will be leaked prior to the show. 

Companies that are releasing new products at NADA, should schedule a visit to your booth using this link:  2013 Spotlight Awards 

Winners will be announced on ADM on March 1, 2013 and the awards will be presented to each winning company in March. 

2012 Spotlight Award Winners

• Dealer.com, Display Advertising Platform (Best In Show)
• Dominion Dealer Solutions, Be Back Mobile App
• ADP/Cobalt, Flex Website Technology
• Phone Ninjas, PSI Coaching System
• AutoAccelerator, Mobile CRM for iOS

Are you launching a new product or service at NADA? 

The PCG Consulting "Spotlight Awards" recognize the top 5 most innovative products and services being launched at NADA 2013. These awards reward forward thinking vendors who continue to raise the bar in automotive digital marketing. The top product or service will be crowned with the prestigious "Best In Show" award. 

While all vendors will be considered, those who fill out an early application are guaranteed to have their product or service reviewed by a member of the PCG team at NADA 2013. All submissions are confidential and no private information will be leaked prior to the show. 

Companies that are releasing new products at NADA, should schedule a visit to your booth using this link:  2013 Spotlight Awards 

Winners will be announced on ADM on March 1, 2013 and the awards will be presented to each winning company in March. 

2012 Spotlight Award Winners

• Dealer.com, Display Advertising Platform (Best In Show)
• Dominion Dealer Solutions, Be Back Mobile App
• ADP/Cobalt, Flex Website Technology
• Phone Ninjas, PSI Coaching System
• AutoAccelerator, Mobile CRM for iOS

Who are you?

I really want to know

Who are you?

I bring this up because it still seems that businesses are heading into 2013 without any idea of how important constructing and controlling their online reputation will be in regards to their success in 2013.

Simply put, if consumers cannot find who you are and how you take care of your customers very easily online, they will go do business with someone else. It is not about your product, (unless you are the only one selling a boutique item) it is about how you conduct business.

Consumers have been trained by Amazon.com and other online retailers to look at star counts to edit choices. We are constantly using Yelp, Google+ Local, or Urban Spoon to make decisions on where to eat, shop, stay, etc.

Yet many businesses feel that this online presence of “good will” will just happen versus looking at how your company has to have a focused approach to creating the atmosphere for great service and then installing a simple process to get these happy customers to help spread the word online.

Think of it this way. You spend money on traditional advertising to get people to know your brand. This drives them online but where many businesses fail is that they do not inspect and/or cultivate what customers find about them. Customers are not just looking for your product or service, they are looking to see who you are and if you are people they want to do business with.

Read reviews and you will see less than 25% have anything to do with the product while most of them are speaking about the “process” of doing business with you.

Everything shopping experience is a two-step process. Research the product through reviews, blogs, articles, videos etc. Then the next step is locating and researching who can provide this product.

Here are some tips for your 2013 Reputation Management strategy.

Strategies: Visibility, Engagement, Incentives, and Monitoring

Tactics:

• Visibility
  • Research where you are currently showing in reviews
    • Look in Google + Local Account
    • Look at Yelp
    • Type in Search: Business Name+ Reviews
    • Create monthly list of what sites you will send customers to in order to post comments
• Work with your Website platform to make it easier to find reviews on your website. I should not have to dig into four dropdowns to find them. Display them front and center showing happy customers.
• Make sure that in your business that you have posters of your staff, Wall of Fame and other assets to show you use feedback in order to serve customers better.
• Engagement
  • Respond to all negative posts. Post short response to bring conversation offline.
  • Respond to 60% of positive reviews as well.
  • Keep responses short. Do not try to defend your business online.
  • Make sure you are using Social Media platforms for review postings
  • Create and post video testimonials from customers on website and YouTube.
  • Incentives
    • Do not give incentives to staff for reviews. It will lead them to create “one and done” accounts that Google and other platforms do not like.
    • Do not offer gifts or services to customers in order to get reviews.
    • Find creative ways to involve your team.
      • Team breaks a certain goal they get lunch
      • Top reviewer gets on Wall of Fame
      • Monitoring
        • Monitor accounts daily in order to respond accordingly
        • Track amount of reviews on all platforms monthly
        • Read competitors reviews to see how you can capitalize on their failures

Each week, reputation results should be reviewed in weekly staff meetings. If the top leadership does not make this important, it will not happen. Reviews have an impact on buyers of your products.

Happy customers love to share their experiences. Make it easy for them to do so.

If you are not willing to listen to your customers and then use this feedback to improve and market your business you will end 2013 wondering why you did not grow.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th

Who are you?

I really want to know

Who are you?

I bring this up because it still seems that businesses are heading into 2013 without any idea of how important constructing and controlling their online reputation will be in regards to their success in 2013.

Simply put, if consumers cannot find who you are and how you take care of your customers very easily online, they will go do business with someone else. It is not about your product, (unless you are the only one selling a boutique item) it is about how you conduct business.

Consumers have been trained by Amazon.com and other online retailers to look at star counts to edit choices. We are constantly using Yelp, Google+ Local, or Urban Spoon to make decisions on where to eat, shop, stay, etc.

Yet many businesses feel that this online presence of “good will” will just happen versus looking at how your company has to have a focused approach to creating the atmosphere for great service and then installing a simple process to get these happy customers to help spread the word online.

Think of it this way. You spend money on traditional advertising to get people to know your brand. This drives them online but where many businesses fail is that they do not inspect and/or cultivate what customers find about them. Customers are not just looking for your product or service, they are looking to see who you are and if you are people they want to do business with.

Read reviews and you will see less than 25% have anything to do with the product while most of them are speaking about the “process” of doing business with you.

Everything shopping experience is a two-step process. Research the product through reviews, blogs, articles, videos etc. Then the next step is locating and researching who can provide this product.

Here are some tips for your 2013 Reputation Management strategy.

Strategies: Visibility, Engagement, Incentives, and Monitoring

Tactics:

• Visibility
  • Research where you are currently showing in reviews
    • Look in Google + Local Account
    • Look at Yelp
    • Type in Search: Business Name+ Reviews
    • Create monthly list of what sites you will send customers to in order to post comments
• Work with your Website platform to make it easier to find reviews on your website. I should not have to dig into four dropdowns to find them. Display them front and center showing happy customers.
• Make sure that in your business that you have posters of your staff, Wall of Fame and other assets to show you use feedback in order to serve customers better.
• Engagement
  • Respond to all negative posts. Post short response to bring conversation offline.
  • Respond to 60% of positive reviews as well.
  • Keep responses short. Do not try to defend your business online.
  • Make sure you are using Social Media platforms for review postings
  • Create and post video testimonials from customers on website and YouTube.
  • Incentives
    • Do not give incentives to staff for reviews. It will lead them to create “one and done” accounts that Google and other platforms do not like.
    • Do not offer gifts or services to customers in order to get reviews.
    • Find creative ways to involve your team.
      • Team breaks a certain goal they get lunch
      • Top reviewer gets on Wall of Fame
      • Monitoring
        • Monitor accounts daily in order to respond accordingly
        • Track amount of reviews on all platforms monthly
        • Read competitors reviews to see how you can capitalize on their failures

Each week, reputation results should be reviewed in weekly staff meetings. If the top leadership does not make this important, it will not happen. Reviews have an impact on buyers of your products.

Happy customers love to share their experiences. Make it easy for them to do so.

If you are not willing to listen to your customers and then use this feedback to improve and market your business you will end 2013 wondering why you did not grow.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th

If I ask you how 2012 was for you and for your business, what would you say? Great? Good? Brutal?

The reason I am putting this out is that this is the time when the pundits all begin their lists of the “Best of 2012” and we somehow feel if we do not do the same, then the year does not end correctly.

Businesses will look at their balance sheet or their sales targets to decide if 2012 was a good year. Personally, we look at our goals from January 2012 and where we are now and begin the slog of judgment. Did we do well, did we miss out, and what do we do for 2013?

I want to focus for a moment on the most important thing you can utilize while sitting and reviewing the year’s results for wither your business or yourself and that would be PATIENCE.

It is very easy to make snap decisions. Whitewashing the year as good or bad just based on a few numbers or examples. Look at the whole year through the lens of the last few months. What I recommend is to sit back and take each department at a time and make a list of good and bad. Think of it as the naughty and nice list.

If you are honest, you will have items on both sides of the ledger. Remember that blame is not a good barometer for ongoing success. Make sure to take emotion out of it. Focus on process and execution as two separate issues.
In terms of management process, make sure you look at each step of the process as well as then making sure the team has been properly trained. Next look at execution. Were there any issues that impacted execution that may have been outside of the team’s control?

Lastly, just because something became a focus in month 12 does not mean people were not paying attention all year long, it may have been that the process or execution changed during the year. Make sure your inspection and results match reality.

Remember if your business is open, then something had to go right. What was it? What can you look at on your balance of success and failure to give you or the team a sense of accomplishment?

We tend to focus on many things that went wrong. We missed sales, we did not do “x” or “y”- but do you spend as much time anchoring in the things that went correctly? Building ongoing success for the next year will depend on first making sure that success will be repeated before you tear into fixing what did not work for you.

I wish everyone a very joyous end of 2012 and may 2013 be filled with success.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th

If I ask you how 2012 was for you and for your business, what would you say? Great? Good? Brutal?

The reason I am putting this out is that this is the time when the pundits all begin their lists of the “Best of 2012” and we somehow feel if we do not do the same, then the year does not end correctly.

Businesses will look at their balance sheet or their sales targets to decide if 2012 was a good year. Personally, we look at our goals from January 2012 and where we are now and begin the slog of judgment. Did we do well, did we miss out, and what do we do for 2013?

I want to focus for a moment on the most important thing you can utilize while sitting and reviewing the year’s results for wither your business or yourself and that would be PATIENCE.

It is very easy to make snap decisions. Whitewashing the year as good or bad just based on a few numbers or examples. Look at the whole year through the lens of the last few months. What I recommend is to sit back and take each department at a time and make a list of good and bad. Think of it as the naughty and nice list.

If you are honest, you will have items on both sides of the ledger. Remember that blame is not a good barometer for ongoing success. Make sure to take emotion out of it. Focus on process and execution as two separate issues.
In terms of management process, make sure you look at each step of the process as well as then making sure the team has been properly trained. Next look at execution. Were there any issues that impacted execution that may have been outside of the team’s control?

Lastly, just because something became a focus in month 12 does not mean people were not paying attention all year long, it may have been that the process or execution changed during the year. Make sure your inspection and results match reality.

Remember if your business is open, then something had to go right. What was it? What can you look at on your balance of success and failure to give you or the team a sense of accomplishment?

We tend to focus on many things that went wrong. We missed sales, we did not do “x” or “y”- but do you spend as much time anchoring in the things that went correctly? Building ongoing success for the next year will depend on first making sure that success will be repeated before you tear into fixing what did not work for you.

I wish everyone a very joyous end of 2012 and may 2013 be filled with success.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th

In the November issue of T&D magazine, there was an infographic discussing how some employees feel bullied at their job. Immediately the image of the playground bully came to mind, but what struck me hardest was the ways they showed how people interpreted being bullied:

• 42%: Being falsely accused of mistakes
• 39%: Being ignored
• 33%: Being constantly criticized
• 36%: Having different standards and policies for others versus themselves
• 31%: Being negatively affected by another’s negligence

I would like to focus on focus on the top two: falsely accused and ignored.

Imagine an employee walks into his manager's office with a concern. As they sit down to talk, the manager just rattles off a list of things the employee needs to do, ends with a “thank you” and that's it. Once he leaves the office, the employee is left wondering what happened.

Imagine that a manager pulls an employee into his office and begins to have a meltdown about the performance of the team on a certain project without realizing that this team no longer handles that project. And, even worse,  never goes back to apologize after realizing their mistake.

If I were to ask your staff, would they say that this is your communication style? That you have no time for discussion but instead give a list of instructions and then make the person feel uncomfortable until he leaves your office?

Could there be times where you assume a situation and blast out an email based on initial reaction without taking the time to gather all of the information or people together to discuss the situation?

Are there some people on your team that are being ignored? Just because they do not open up as easily as others should not mean that you stop asking for their input.

Simply put, people will not work for leaders who are egomaniacs for long. I know many of you are thinking of people who you think fit that term, but I think many people are using them for short term leverage for their own career, so how invested were they in the company as a whole?

Two way communication is respectful and helps build a team. Much of the danger lies in speed and emotions

Here are a few ideas that have helped me and others in the past.

•  Write the email but don’t send it. Wait thirty minutes and then reread it. I am sure you will have some edits or delete it entirely.
•  Take a walk. Write down the pros and cons of the argument or situation. Look at potential consequences of what happens on both sides.
•  Write out your feelings; get them out of your head and look for the logic of argument without the emotions.
•  Make sure you have all the right information before you explode on someone and end up destroying the morale of your workforce.

I know that at times business moves quickly. Sometimes things happen that may make your company look bad and your frustration builds up to the point of bursting. But to just lash out at your staff without all the facts cheapens your ability to lead in the future. Mistakes happen, but lack of respect will end up hurting you more in the long run.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th

In the November issue of T&D magazine, there was an infographic discussing how some employees feel bullied at their job. Immediately the image of the playground bully came to mind, but what struck me hardest was the ways they showed how people interpreted being bullied:

• 42%: Being falsely accused of mistakes
• 39%: Being ignored
• 33%: Being constantly criticized
• 36%: Having different standards and policies for others versus themselves
• 31%: Being negatively affected by another’s negligence

I would like to focus on focus on the top two: falsely accused and ignored.

Imagine an employee walks into his manager's office with a concern. As they sit down to talk, the manager just rattles off a list of things the employee needs to do, ends with a “thank you” and that's it. Once he leaves the office, the employee is left wondering what happened.

Imagine that a manager pulls an employee into his office and begins to have a meltdown about the performance of the team on a certain project without realizing that this team no longer handles that project. And, even worse,  never goes back to apologize after realizing their mistake.

If I were to ask your staff, would they say that this is your communication style? That you have no time for discussion but instead give a list of instructions and then make the person feel uncomfortable until he leaves your office?

Could there be times where you assume a situation and blast out an email based on initial reaction without taking the time to gather all of the information or people together to discuss the situation?

Are there some people on your team that are being ignored? Just because they do not open up as easily as others should not mean that you stop asking for their input.

Simply put, people will not work for leaders who are egomaniacs for long. I know many of you are thinking of people who you think fit that term, but I think many people are using them for short term leverage for their own career, so how invested were they in the company as a whole?

Two way communication is respectful and helps build a team. Much of the danger lies in speed and emotions

Here are a few ideas that have helped me and others in the past.

•  Write the email but don’t send it. Wait thirty minutes and then reread it. I am sure you will have some edits or delete it entirely.
•  Take a walk. Write down the pros and cons of the argument or situation. Look at potential consequences of what happens on both sides.
•  Write out your feelings; get them out of your head and look for the logic of argument without the emotions.
•  Make sure you have all the right information before you explode on someone and end up destroying the morale of your workforce.

I know that at times business moves quickly. Sometimes things happen that may make your company look bad and your frustration builds up to the point of bursting. But to just lash out at your staff without all the facts cheapens your ability to lead in the future. Mistakes happen, but lack of respect will end up hurting you more in the long run.

Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th