Paul M. Boomer - Business Therapist - Grow your business faster.

When “Boomer” Becomes a Verb, a Business is Born.

Posted February 17, 2016

I have a knack to attract questions about marketing, business, customer service and technology. My Wizard of Ads colleagues – some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet – will often ask me questions they can’t figure out and miraculously I come up with an answer backed with curiosity and research.

On February 7, 2016, one Wizard of Ads colleague added a post to our double secret private Facebook group page that reads “When I have a question and google can’t answer it… I BOOMER it.” The following week I – as a verb – was officially indoctrinated into our Cognoscenti Dictionary. That dictionary is something we share with clients and visitors of the Wizard Academy.

Boomer It!

When your name becomes a verb you must take it in like a weary traveler stumbling across the nation in hopes of finding a place to crash.

There is more to it than a little fun. Pride came with the verb.

My father, who will remain nameless to protect the innocent, is one of those people who helps with anything he possibly can. He’ll find answers to questions people are asking. He’ll get right in the dirt and dig with you. He certainly has with me a few times. My mother, who’ll also remain nameless as well, is similar in that she’s often called a professional volunteer (though she’s volunteered so much she’s just about over it). She’ll help, for free, organizations get shit done.

Boomer, the verb, rubbed off on me.

I seem to be following in my parent’s large footprints (as is my sister). We have great role-models. Not only have I expanded my mind after helping more than 27 owner operated businesses with less than 100 employees grow (some by 104% in our first year together), but I must have picked up my research and curiosity from my parents. But family extends beyond blood.

In 2007 the Wizard of Ads group, including my business partner Roy H. Williams and his talented wife Pennie, took me in as their own. They too, are family.

There’s something about (the Wizard of Ads) in-laws.

My Wizard of Ads colleagues – 49 of them worldwide – impress the hell out of me. Some are world renowned (and not just in their own heads). They helped Best Buy turn their world around in the early 2000’s. One has placed over 78 books on national bestsellers lists. Some of their own books are New York Times Best Sellers. Two consult a company that rhymes with frugal (yeah, that company). But what’s most impressive is our ability to grow small owner operated businesses with smaller budgets than the other guys.

When my colleagues ask me a question, I’m honored.

Days after Boomer became a verb, one friend and mentor within the group, looked up and suggested I purchase the domain name BoomerItDon’tGoogleIt.com. Without knowing what I’d do with the name, I bought it.

Then it was suggested.

“Keep it until you forget why you bought it then give it up. Isn’t that what we do with most domain names?” That was most likely to happen.

Then this…

“Print it on a business card with nothing else. Then on the site put a big buy button with a search field to ask you anything.”

And so I built a website.

I’ve built more websites than I can count on my family’s fingers and toes. This site received no more or less attention. But as I worked thru what looks like a simple site, I got to thinking what I believe – what I believe in my personal life and in my consulting life (which are really the same in one).

I believe owner operated businesses prop the world economy up. They are the gears that grind. The cogs keep turning and every cog deserves and requires a little maintenance now and then. Some can afford a lot of maintenance, others are stumbling along.

BoomerItDon’tGoogleIt.com

For businesses who need a little guidance, an outside perspective, a little oiling of the gears and who have a question about…

Business succession and sustainability
Business growth
Internal and external marketing
Digital marketing (SEO/SEM, blogging, PPC,etc)
Business culture
Getting things done for less money
Advertising
Team dynamics
Productivity
Information and communication technology

…there is a place to seek answers. No Googling. No frustration. No judgement.

Go to the website , ask one question and then name your price. I’ll research your question and send an answer back in a way that’ll make sense to you. The complexity of your question determines how long it takes to get back with you.

BoomerItDon’tGoogleIt.com is a site businesses can find answers to questions they have no idea who to turn to.

There are over 5.91-million small businesses in the United States. There are only 49 Wizard of Ads partners. BoomerItDon’tGoogleIt.com is one swing of the hammer to help businesses of the world.

Get answers to your business questions.

Ask a business related question and get an answer that’s backed by years of knowledge from me and the Wizard of Ad partners.

Boomer It! or share it with people you know using the links below.

Empathy Creates A Tighter Bond With Your Customers And Brings Higher Profits – An Example From Airbnb

Posted October 19, 2015

Watch how Airbnb created its own fantasy to bond with customers.

In a previous post I explained how a business can apply empathy to accelerate growth. I detailed how beverage Clearly Canadian missed an opportunity to use their passionate customers to find mass distribution opportunities. But I want to share with you a company who did apply empathy and was rewarded for it.

Airbnb allows homeowners to rent their house, condo, room, etc as if they were a hotel. Hosts use the Airbnb site to display what they have to offer, things like the cost, availability and other amenities. The site then allows travelers to search for a place they may want to stay at in whatever destination they’re traveling to. Airbnb acts as the two parties intermediary and receives a small commission for providing their services. A few years ago the top brass smartly wanted to find ways to increase loyalty from three diverse customers – the host, the guest, and the hiring process. What they did was something any size business can reproduce.

Watch the video on FastCompany.com

(link opens new window)

The project, called Snow White, helped Airbnb connect with its ever increasing mobile visitors. The fact they focused on their mobile app has little recourse as this same process can be used for your sales process from beginning to end. You can design what people feel when they:

hear your ad
call your business
speak with a customer representative
call your main line
walk in the front door
purchase from your sales floor
check out at the counter
what they experience when the job is complete
when they use your product

All of it can be designed to create a tighter bond with your customer.

In a future post, I’ll detail how your business can create your own Snow White and share hints to make the process more effective.

(Thank you to Loren Javier for the use of the photo)

An Empathy Lesson from Clearly Canadian (and how you can apply it to your business)

Posted October 11, 2015

I want to help but I don’t know how.

It’s like I’m standing at my friends’ doorstep, ready to help them get some painting done, but they’re not telling me what room to paint or even what color to use. “Here’s your paintbrush,” they say. “Some paint cans are over there.”

[nothing else but silence]

I feel like an idiot.

Clearly Canadian – the taste-tastic beverage that practically vanished from the world in the early 2000s – is trying to make a comeback. I love the stuff so much that I placed two pre-orders, which will ship in October/November 2015 along with over twenty-five thousand other pre-orders (order yours here). I recently received an email notifying me that production had begun. As I read the message, I realized something important.

I placed my pre-order five months ago, and since then, Clearly Canadian has sent out only one email update. One. In five months. I don’t care how long it’s taking for the scrumptious beverage to arrive at my doorstep; I do care that Clearly Canadian is not using me, or the tens of thousands of people like me, to its full advantage.

Those who’ve pre-ordered are people who are loyal to the brand. By pre-ordering, they’re telling Clearly Canadian that they’ve got its back. These people want Clearly Canadian to succeed, and they may do just about anything for the company. And thankfully, Clearly Canadian execs are smart enough to see our willingness to help their business, but they still don’t take full advantage of it.

Clearly Canadian needs mass distribution to continue production. This is clearly stated in the one update email:

Take careful note of item number two.

Clearly Canadian wants me to talk to grocery store managers about selling its product. Smart. But I don’t believe something as simple as “Hey, this is a great drink – you ought to sell it” is going to cut it.

This list comprises thoughts I had when I read email item number two:

How do I get ahold of a manager?
What should I tell the manager?
What questions might the manager have for me?
If the manager has more questions, where or whom should I send him or her to?
How do I convey confidence that Clearly Canadian is a good product that the store manager should consider selling?

Since I read Clearly Canadian’s plea, I have yet to talk to any store managers.

If I’m given guidance, I’m more likely and happier to do what you’re asking of me. So, if Clearly Canadian wants to paint the world faster, it’s going to need to provide some direction. How? By execs putting themselves in my shoes and in the shoes of store managers. These are some suggestions Clearly Canadian may want to consider if it wants its loyal fans to help it find mass distribution:

Provide a downloadable PDF I can print and give to a store manager
Provide some conversation-starter ideas
Create and maintain a dedicated website I can direct store managers to
Provide a phone number I can distribute to store managers (better yet, also provide the name of the person who’ll be answering the phone)
Start a blog and keep it updated (there is a company that makes blogging easy)
Send me more email updates (and in them, include links to the blog)
Create and use a dedicated email list for store managers

How to Build a Better Business and Grow It Faster Using Empathy

These are steps any business owner or manager can use to find success faster. Use these steps to uncover the ugly stains on the wall of customer relationships.

Think of your customers. Who do you want taking action on your company’s behalf? What is that action? Clearly Canadian wants both existing customers and store managers to help achieve the ultimate goal of attaining mass distribution.
Considering the action you want your customers to take, write down everything that would cause a person to not do it. Write down every idea that comes to mind without judgement or second thoughts. Clearly Canadian’s customers do not know how to convey important information to store managers, and store managers do not know what to do with a customer who’s asking if the store will sell Clearly Canadian. (There are more things I could list here, but this type of issue is what I get paid to help with.)
Think about what would prevent someone from taking final action. For the Clearly Canadian customer, it’s not being sure how to start a conversation with a store manager or not knowing what to say after the conversation has begun.
Continue the above process until you know that you can give your customers what they need to take action.
Find ways to fix and address the things that give you pause.

Here’s another way to look at it: start from your ultimate goal and work backwards. Once you know what action you want your customers to take, imagine you customer interactions and find ways to avoid situations that might make your customers hesitate or feel uncomfortable. When done properly, this process will help you become empathetic toward your customers’ experience and allow you to place yourself in their shoes.

This method will help you find holes in the ways customers bond with your brand. And don’t worry: it doesn’t matter how many people work at a particular company – a one-person practice can use this method just as well as top execs at a Fortune 100 company can.

If you have friends who are willing to help paint, ask them to help. Just make sure you provide some guidance (and maybe some Clearly Canadian). You’ll be surprised how much faster it goes.

P.S. As of today, Clearly Canadian has 59,133 likes on Facebook. I think they have a loyal tribe, don’t you?

P.P.S. If you work at Clearly Canadian and want to talk more, I’d love to chat. Please give me a call at (573) 268-4109.

P.P.P.S. If you like Clearly Canadian as much as I do, share this post along with the hashtag #ClearlyIsBack.

Motivation in Business and Education

Posted October 1, 2015

(I was writing about trust and business and then this happened. I’ll get to that topic later. For now…)

In 2010, Daniel Pink, author and chief speech writer for former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, listed three key motivational factors:

Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose

Motivation in Business

In the video, Pink demonstrates why hourly wages may not be the best tools to motivate employees. Instead, he offers why autonomy, mastery, and purpose are what best motivate people in jobs that require cognitive processing (e.g., teachers, plumbers, writers, customer service representatives, consultants, electricians, engineers, and so forth).

This isn’t anything new. Autonomy is something author Benjamin Benson wrote about in his 1990 book, Your Family Business. In fact, he claims that autonomy is important not only for the individual, but also for the team.

Ever hear of Skunk Works? They’re the Advanced Development Programs/Projects Division, an autonomous team operating within Lockheed Martin. This team is the one that brought us the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117, and several other highly valued aircraft. How were they able to do all this? By employing their operational autonomy within Lockheed Martin.

Ensuring that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are present within your business culture helps solidify your organization so that it will last generations and enjoy lifelong customers and employees. For a great example, see Zappos. Google. See Mars, Gordon Food Service, and JM Family Enterprises. Each one of these companies proves this powerful formula.

Motivation in Education

The public school system in the United States is always evolving. Here are some questions that are frequently asked: How should we test students? Should we test teachers? What are the standards we should hold districts to? How should we help those who are less fortunate? What about the kids who struggle with mainstream learning? All of these are valid questions, but if a formula for success has already been proven, why reinvent the wheel?

If autonomy, mastery, and purpose motivate employees, why would they not also motivate children? Why would they not also motivate teachers?

Teachers are the beating heart of the public school system. They’re the ones—not the districts—who intimately know each and every child in a class. Most educators choose to teach not because of the money involved, but because of a desire to help kids grow. So why not get out of their way, give them autonomy in their classrooms, and allow them to create a learning structure that works for their students?

Children are natural learners. They want to discover the world around them. They want to become masters of the subjects they’re naturally drawn to. Why not get out of their way, as well, and allow them to guide their own paths toward learning?

The question I pose is this: With the goal of advancing our public school system, what would happen if we gave kids and teachers autonomy, allowed them to become masters of their unique interests, and granted them the purpose to become who and what they want to be?

The Meshing of Business and Education

I believe everything in our world is connected.

If kids today were able to guide their own educational paths, would they become pioneers of better business practices in the future? And from there, would they spearhead a generation of better people? Happier people? If so, that could lead to less crime, less violence, and more advancements in technology, engineering, sociology, psychology, and healthcare.

What a Business Therapist Does (and how they can help you succeed)

Posted September 25, 2015

A business therapist isn’t a coach to motivate you or cheer you on. I won’t have you take a seat on a virtual couch. Instead, I get involved in your businesses and help make your long-term vision a reality.

An Outside Perspective is Required

Business succession is hard to navigate. You have your lawyer. You have your financial planner and accountant. Do you have someone to help guide you through everything else?

Succession is not just about money and legalese. There are many important questions for you to consider:

How do you mold your business today so that your grandkids can pass it to their grandkids?
How do you build your customer base now so that it will last throughout the decades?
How are you going to pass the helm without affecting customer loyalty?
How are you preparing your successor (or successors)?
How are you going to step back fully confident that your business will last?

When building a business to last, you can’t forget about culture, accountability, trust, and performance.

A business therapist will help you create a successful business trajectory that will last the next twenty-one, forty-five, or even the next eighty-eight years. This trajectory will help you grow your business in a feasible, sustainable manner.

Business Therapists Start with Business Culture

A business therapist will start with you. Why? Because a strong, thriving culture within the walls of your business begins and ends with you. It’s crucial to understand how your actions – what you say, what you don’t say, and the things you do and don’t do – set the foundation of a business culture designed to drive long-term growth and sustainability.

You’re not a sociologist or psychologist. You’re in business because you love the trade and the potential freedom it can bring you.

But, it’s important to create and maintain a culture that’s true to you. Your family, your employees, your customers—all of these various groups must be on board for your legacy to carry on.

A business therapist works with you to create or modify a business culture that will attract employees and customers and make the business last.

How Many Hats Can You Wear?

In the early days of your small business, you laid the first bricks of its cultural foundation. The beginning is a tough time; everyone wears multiple hats to make sure things get done. Wearing all those hats allows the company to get on its feet.

At some point, those hats must be passed on. If not, trouble ensues. The culture suffers. The likelihood of sustainable growth diminishes—and quickly.

A business therapist evaluates the human side of your business. He or she will help you structure the business relationships of your family members, board members, employees, and even customers. The therapist will help increase internal and external communication, improve employee and customer retention, and help you find the right people to wear each of the many hats in your business.

Know and Stay True to Your North Star

The North Star – also known as Polaris – is famous for appearing to remain nearly still while the entire northern sky moves around it. It’s the single point that can be used when all other methods of navigation fail. The North Star has allowed people to sail the seas and cross the trackless deserts without getting lost. When slavery existed in the United States, escaped slaves counted on the North Star to light their way to the free states and Canada.

Though our work together, a client of mine was able to define her business’s North Star; I then helped create ways for her to share her guiding light with others. She grew her business 120 percent in less than a year despite having had a near-zero advertising budget. Recently, she’s been in the process of handing the business down to her daughter, and because she could point to her business’s North Star, she and her daughter have been discussing what the business should look like in twenty-plus years. They’ve been talking about what steps they can take today to achieve their goals. Their efforts have sparked conversations among their employees and customers, ultimately leading to the acquisition of new customers from across the globe. They’re on the cusp of altering an entire industry and helping others in their industry grow.

The process of using your North Star to create sustainable growth (and, ultimately, succession) is important culturally and communicatively. Your business’s North Star should be defined and communicated both internally with employees and externally with the public at large.

Your business therapist will help you define your North Star and strategize ways to share it with others.

Business Therapists Understand and Navigate the Human and Operational Sides of a Business

Every year, the Edelman Group conducts a worldwide survey about trust in different industries. According to survey results, the most trusted type of organization is a family-owned business. Customers are more empathetic toward family-owned businesses, and the public has a natural desire to help family-owned businesses succeed. This is especially true when the customer has a sense of personal involvement in the business’s success, much like a mother, father, or sibling would. Customers want to watch a good company grow up. Even if it’s subconscious, customers will root for the business to succeed.

If it’s going last through many generations, a business needs to be viewed as a living human being. Owners need to use their North Star to personify their businesses and help them grow up. Humans have a natural tendency to bond with family members, and a business therapist can help your customers bond with you.

There is Your business therapist can help you navigate the sociological, psychological, artistic, scientific, strategic, communicative, and human-relationship sides of your business.

Want to learn more?

Part of being a business therapist is being available to answer questions. If you want to learn more or setup a consultation, contact me. Looking forward to hearing from you.