Jonathan Vaudreuil

Lydia asked a great question about handing out ice cream cones:

“Now if someone gave me an empty cone, I would assume they were going to offer a way to fill it.
I've heard of the term ‘bait and switch.’ Is this tactic of empty promises still a bait and switch or is it the customer's fault for assuming?”

We’re conditioned to think if we’re given an ice cream cone by someone they have a way of getting ice cream. The person giving us the cone KNOWS this. If they don’t have a way to get you ice cream then it’s a bait and switch. Which freakin’ stinks. Now you’re mad at that person, mad at that company, and will probably go write a blog post about it (or at least tweet your frustration).

Now let’s say they hand you an ice cream cone and they tell you they have some great flavors. You go try a few out and don’t like any of them. Hey, no hard feelings. They just didn’t have what you were looking for. Huge difference.Read more

Have you ever stopped in your tracks when you saw something you just couldn’t believe?

When that happens, the power of the unexpected has crashed down upon your consciousness. You have to stop to register what’s going on. Maybe you’ll keep on like nothing happened; and maybe you’ll check it out a little more if it continues to keep your interest.

This is where most failed marketing positioning gets it wrong.

If you’re talking about the same things everyone else is talking about, you’re part of the background noise. Think about someone poking you in the same spot over and over. It gets your attention, and it’s annoying. It’s not going to help the person poking you get what they want.

Let’s say you like ice cream, and they handed you an empty ice cream cone. Now you’re intrigued. The outlook for getting some ice cream just got a whole lot sunnier.Read more

If you were hired for a new position today, what would you try to do on your first day?

It’s a question we should all ask ourselves. We’re in the process of hiring a new member to our team, and it makes me think back to my first day at AiM&M. They knew I’d fit in because of how I handled the first day. What did I do?

I jumped in and offered my help in what the team was doing.

We were still figuring out how to position this new technology to prospects. I overheard some of the conversation in the room, picked up on what I could, and gave advice on how to present it better. Immediately I had credibility because I was making something positive happen. The next day I was trying out our new angle myself.

Who cares if you don’t know everything about the company, or had their official training yet? You were hired for who you are, not who you’ll become. Find someone you can help out on day one. Get involved. It’s the best way to understand what’s going on, develop relationships, and make the most of your new position.

Ever feel like the people you’re talking with are way behind you?

We could be talking intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, career-wise, relationship-wise, or any number of other things. These people seem to not have made the kind of progress you have. You realize you have to go back so far to get to their level.

Here’s what I’d like you to do: open your eyes up to what you’re looking at. Think about how you’re sizing up this person.

The easy route is to say, “He’s ahead/behind me.” You’re measuring this person using your scales, your goals, and your perspective. It’s on your terms. Not on their terms, not in the context of what they are trying to achieve, but on your terms.

There are times when this is necessary. If you’re hiring someone for a job and you need this person to have certain skills and experience, then pull out your scales and see how each candidate measures up. Rate away! “She’s got everything we need for this role.” Perfecto.

Unless there’s a reason to rate someone, why are you doing it? It’s one thing if you want to understand the distance between you and someone else. It’s another to use this against them.Read more

If there’s one thing I always want my sales team to do, it’s asking the question “Why?” more often.

Heck, I think if we all asked “Why?” more often the world would be a better place.

On a sales call, our goal is to dig around for ways we could help the person on the other end of the phone, and then present these things in a way which creates enough interest for them to talk to a sales rep. No manipulation, no cheap tactics. All we want is a thought-provoking conversation so we can understand the other person better.

What’s the easiest way to get someone else thinking and talking? Ask them why they do what they do.

Asking “Why?” causes someone to think about it for a moment. Sometimes we get a knee-jerk response. We ask “Why?” again, digging deeper, getting more input, letting the other person walk us down the path they’ve traveled so many times. They point out things they take for granted. It’s these things they take for granted we want to hear about: we want to understand why it’s taken for granted.Read more

As TechCrunch’s TC50 conference wrapped up the buzz was about how weak this year’s group of companies were. The judges, the writers, and everyone in attendance was wondering, “Where were the earth changing companies?”

TechCrunch made post after post asking this very question. Top to bottom, they wrote about how unimpressed their panel of judges were over this year’s crop.

Which leads me to ask TechCrunch one thing: uh, why didn’t you pick better companies?

There’s nothing respectable about pointing out how bored the judges were over your fifty chosen finalists. You picked them, remember? You’re the reason they were on stage strutting their stuff. Every step of the way you stomped on them. Were you hoping people would forget YOU are the sole reason these particular 50 companies were on stage presenting?Read more

Tell me, how did you come up with your price?

By price I could mean your salary, the price you charge for your products/services, or the minimum amount of money you need to take on a project. Just think about it for a moment. How did you come up with your price?

I can think of a number of ways you might have used. Maybe it’s the least amount of money you’ll do the job for. It’s enough to live the life you want. It could be the financial projections you do which shed some light on how to price it. Or you could have just used some industry standard (cost x 2.5 = voila!).

Now that you’ve thought about how you came up with it, I’m going to ask you the important question: are you happy with your price?Read more

Have you ever read a personal development book? You know what I’m talking about, that self-help feel good inside stuff.

Looking at the short stack of personal development books I’ve read, along with the ones I’ve skimmed and gagged at, I get it now. Some people read new ones all the time because they get a rush from it. It’s like reading all mystery or romance… except we’re talking about books which are supposed to help you help yourself.

If you’re reading new ones all the time at some point I hope you have this thought: are these books helping me get any better at X, Y and Z?

That’s the point of them. If all you get out of them is a good feeling before you slack off and read another one, what are you doing? It’s an addiction at that point. But hey, I bet you can find a book to help you break that addiction.

Or maybe you can’t and that’s why you’re still reading self-help books all the time. You’d rather scratch the itch than find a way to make it go away. It feels good enough for a little while. Even though nothing changes long-term it seems like a healthy way to change. And maybe this time you can do it. Maybe this time you’ll make those changes you wanted to make.Read more

“Nobody will sift through the entire 47-yr Rolling Stones library. But they WILL buy Forty Licks.” @nametagscott

As a music aficionado, I have to admit I enjoy sifting through the entire Rolling Stones catalog. Most people? Nah. Their best-selling album is “Hot Rocks: 1964-1971,” a greatest hits collection released at their peak in popularity. It has sold twice as many copies as anything else they’ve released. Heck, the Stones have six different “hits” collections that have sold at least a million copies in the USA.

The all-time best-selling album in the USA? The Eagles collection “Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975,” which has sold 29 million copies.Read more

For everyone not born filthy stinkin’ rich, which is just about everyone, we have to trade our time to do things so we live or we die (like earn money to pay for food, clothes, shelter, and on and on).

Let’s say we’re using time to make money, and this is a natural part of life. My point was if someone offered me more time or more money I’d take the time. Trent Hamm’s comment got me thinking about trading time and money and the parallel between trying to accumulate more time/money.

A lot of people look at earning more money as an important aspect of life. It is to a certain point, no doubt. Here’s what I ask you: what are you willing to pay for all this money? There’s a cost associated with everything in life, and even if you’re willing to pay the price there’s no guarantee you’ll reach your goal. The few who accumulate all that money get to reap the rewards of it.Read more