Business Jazz – 20th May 2013 – LegoMan, Storytelling and Being Human

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Storytelling, SOBCon, Social Media Camp, Customer Experience, Customer Clarity

What is your customer's experience?

Jane attended the recent SOBCon event in Chicago. This year's theme was exactly that and she reports back on some of the things she learned and taught about customer experience.

You'll also be introduced to LegoMan.

Jane was also a speaker at Social Media Camp, Canada's biggest social media conference. You'll hear how she hosted a Google+ hangout with participants from around the world. Jane even made the evening news in Canada.

Links to people and things we mention

SOBCon
Social Media Camp
Phil Sorrell's Social Hiking Podcast
David Bailey - An Englishman in the Balkans
Maaike van Dijk - Bokkers/Comma-M (Dutch)
April Ennis
Marti Konstant
Greg McQueen
Chris Brogan

New rallying point

You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group. Please knock on the door and we'll let you in.

Country tally

Our confirmed country tally as of this week is: 8.

We know we have listeners in Canada, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, India, Croatia, Serbia and India. If you live in a country not on this list, please let us know. We're working on an interactive Business Jazz listeners map, which we hope to launch soon.

Listening to the podcast

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 20th May, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 12th May 2013 – Bad Service, Dead Cats and Dead Websites

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Customer Service

In this episode, we get into a conversation about customer service.

Roger's website was recently killed stone dead by a rogue squirrelly bracket ({). Unfortunately, the web hosting company didn't make tackling this issue very simple. Listener Dean Read also has a sorry story to tell about replacing a wheel on his car.

Jane relates a story from the other side of the spectrum. Her experience of WestJet. Which prompts Roger to retell a story he heard once heard from the remarkable Dinah Liversidge.

Links to people and things we mention

Chris Brogan
Dean Read
Dinah Liversidge

New rallying point

You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group. Please knock on the door and we'll let you in.

Country tally

Our confirmed country tally as of this week is: 8.

We know we have listeners in Canada, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, India, Croatia, Serbia and India. If you live in a country not on this list, please let us know. We're working on an interactive Business Jazz listeners map, which we hope to launch soon.

Listening to the podcast

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 12th May, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 4th May 2013 – Fear

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Fear, Firewalking, The Flinch by Julien Smith, SOBCon, Social Media Camp

Fear is a powerful hurdle we all have to overcome in life. Often, the fear wins out and we don't negotiate the hurdle. Our lives end up poorer for it. We don't progress.

So what can we do to overcome this fear? We discuss solutions ranging from fire walking to smashing plates.

Fear is also a great ingredient in the story of our business. Admitting the fears we have and the hurdles we have to overcome, along with our doubts, makes us human. It makes it easy for others to connect with what we want to achieve. They start rooting for us and following our story.

Brian Moore of Peak Potential at one of his firewalking events. By the way, that's concentration on his face, rather than pain © 2012 Roger Overall

Links to people and things we mention

Chris Brogan
Social Media Camp
SOBCon
Brian Moore, Peak Potential
The Flinch/Julien Smith

New rallying point

You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group. Please knock on the door and we'll let you in.

Country tally

Our confirmed country tally as of this week is: 8.

We know we have listeners in Canada, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, India, Croatia, Serbia and India. If you live in a country not on this list, please let us know. We're working on an interactive Business Jazz listeners map, which we hope to launch soon.

Listening to the podcast

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 4th May, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 26th April 2013 – The Cat Herder and the Leaning Shed of Near Vancouver

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Shipping imperfection; Being unique and marketing that; Working from Sheds

Perfection is key to success in business, right? Your product needs to be perfect to survive in the marketplace. If it isn't, your clients won't like it. Your competitors will steamroller over you.

Really?

Maybe not. Just how perfect should perfection be? There is a point at which perfection is a killer. You keep delaying shipping. Remember that a project that is 95% done, but hasn't shipped, is as good as 0% complete from the perspective of the marketplace. And a 0% product or services isn't attractive at all.

This week we look at perfection in business and how you don't always need to deliver perfection. In fact, have a listen to this episode of Chris Brogan's podcast in which he interviews Paul: The Human Business Way, Episode 10.

The conversation about perfection or imperfection turns to office space. Jane has moved into a shed. Sounds odd? Turns out working from sheds isn't uncommon. In fact, it's quite popular: Shed Working.

Jane at work in the Leaning Shed of Near Vancouver (herded cat in attendance)

We also look at how you market the mundane compared with marketing the new and unique. You'd think the latter would be easier. It isn't necessarily. After all, you have to overcome people's unfamiliarity with the product and service. How can they buy what they don't know or understand, especially if it pushes the envelop?

That also impacts you. If you're doing something new, how do you describe yourself?

Links to people and things we mention

Chris Brogan
Documentally
Peter Cox
Shed Working
Phil Sorrell
Joel Buckland

New rallying point

You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group. Please knock on the door and we'll let you in.

Listening to the podcast

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 26th April, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 19th April 2013 – Asking for Help (Continued)

Many good stories share a common storytelling device: an epic challenge that the protagonist must overcome. The story of your business is also about overcoming challenges. You are on a quest – a quest to grow your business, launch your product, reach your targets. The higher you intend to reach, the more epic the quest, the more we are drawn to it. You are the underdog we are cheering on.

We've set some epic challenges for this podcast, and we'd like you to be part of the quest. Join us on the journey and help us build the bright, giving, supportive, valuable community we have in mind.

What are the challenges we've set? You'll have to listen to this week's episode for that. You'll hear how many weekly downloads we'd like to hit by 31st December of this year. You'll also hear of an epic geographic goal as well.

New rallying point

You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group. Please knock on the door and we'll let you in.

Listening to the podcast

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 19th April, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 13th April 2013 – Asking for Help

In this episode of the podcast, we look at the power of asking directly for help – from your support community and from your clients and customers. Sometimes you need to seek out help, sometimes an offer of help drops in your lap. In the case of the latter, we often let the moment slip because we're not ready. That's happened to all of us. So how can you make sure that next time you're ready?

We also lift the veil on where the podcast is at the moment and start to reveal where we'd like to go with it. Community is key to the future of the show and to grow it we need the help of you, our listeners.

One of the things we've wanted to do for a while is start a group on LinkedIn. It's there now. We'd love it if you stopped by and joined the community: Business Jazz LinkedIn Group.

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 13th April, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Paul, Jane and Roger are only two of a small army. How the podcast came into being is quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Business Jazz – 6th April 2013 – Dealing with the Grind 2

In this episode of the podcast, Jane and Roger continue their discussion about Chris Brogan's concept of Loving the Grind.

What's the Grind?

The grind comprises all those things that you don't really like doing but are essential to the health and success of your business. The boring, dull, hard, difficult, tedious stuff that underpins the success of your business.

You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 6th April, 2013.

We're also in iTunes. We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback.

Business Jazz Players

This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story.

Extras

We have a tradition here at Business Jazz of recording a segment of audio around the main podcast, usually afterwards. Sometimes we forget. This was one of those times. An side effect of recording so late at night (Jane) and so early in the morning (Roger).