Dunning-Kruger Effect and HR

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias manifesting in unskilled individuals suffering from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude.
No interest to go into massive detail here. I prefer to apply this to reality and You can have a look in the WWW for more scientific details and also experiments that guys conducted.
This effect can be really well applied to HR and talent acquisition. How will you ask? HR people need to keep in mind the attitude of qualified and unqualified interview takes regarding their skills and expertise.
Interesting fact about less qualified people (prefer to call this way rather saying unqualified. I really believe everyone has skills and qualifications and talent as well):

• those people have tendency to overestimate their skills and experience
• they can't adequately value the skills and experience level of other people
• people of this kind can't really understand their own incompetency 
• however in case one can lift up their competency level, they are able to understand how incompetent they were before

On contrary, there is a chance to lose a very qualified person with a deep understanding of what you really need to apply in your business because they have tendency to underestimate their skills and expertise.
Make sure to hire the right ones and recognize talent! :)

How to Make Your Online Shop Work

Today I would like to share my experience in how to attract target customers to your website/online shop. I have devoted a lot of time, efforts and also have failed a lot to get these things all together. Seem to work now and want you trying implementing this and share your experience. Maybe we can find something to improve there as well?

Sure, many of the ways to attract your potential customers to your online store are well known however you can try to have a look under a different angle here and see what can be done else.

IMPORTANT! Attracting customers is one thing however you should remember that behind a good quality website MUST be a good quality business.

Target audience is the most important to be attracted to your website. Attracting all possible prospects can bring nothing because visiting your website and creating traffic without conversion equals your efforts to nothing.

Let’s have a look on a handmade online shop as an example.

Before starting targeting your potential customers, make sure you know who they are. Create a detailed description of your potential customer. I won’t come back to this topic. On this blog I have devoted a couple of articles to this ( about finding a target audience and also I have a video about target customer for handmade goods).

After you found out your target audience, you need to find the way top reach out. For the handmade it’s normally women.

After you know who you want to target think on what you sell and how much it suits. Think again.

So now we go..

We need to work on inside and outside website optimization.

1)      When you launch a website, make sure you put TITLE and META tag for each good you place there.
2)      Description for each good should be unique and not Copy+Paste
3)      Each photo should be unique, not searchable in Google images and have ALT tag
4)      MANUL link with similar good. This will help to increase number of pages visited, time spent on the website plus increase cross selling.
5)      Pages with goods were optimized under specific keys.

After 2-3 months search engines should recognize and index your webpage and now you need to optimize your “outside” appearance.

-          Writing articles with useful info

-          Overviews of products

-          Free e-stuff

-          Articles

-          Participation in forums connected to your web store goods, etc.

Attracting traffic to your website:

1)      Select similar portals to your topic
2)      Use bloggers
3)      Use aggregator websites
4)      Advertise where possible on different advert boards and classifieds
5)      Use forums (involves a lot of manual work however create a great traffic). In case there is an opportunity for paid adverts there try one week and see what happens. Never try to buy a lot of time without testing. See and compare your results. Use most effective ways.
6)      When there is an opportunity for free advertising:

-          Comment articles with links to your website

-          Write articles about your website

-          Create record about you in the catalog of this website

-          Create a topic in the forum with Q&A options for your potential clients

Your priority should be website with low number of participants however YOUR TARGET rather than a lot of participants and slightly your target. In last case you have simply less chance to reach out to who you need and just be lost in the posts.

-          Create Live Journal

Social networks

Working with social networks is important. Make sure to follow several rules:

1)      Never add 100000 people liking your page or group. If that’s not your target, it brings zero conversion and no orders.
2)      Write interesting articles. This will attract more potential customers.
3)      Arrange contest and initiatives however never make rules too easy or too hard to take part it.
4)      Create Q&A sessions.
5)      Use target advertising.
6)      Use twitter to share news and updates.

Offline advertising

Take into account how much you invest and what conversion you get.

Handmade examples:

-          Showroom

-          Exhibitions

-          Business cards

-          Flyers

-          Free advertising n magazines with exclusive goods

-          Taking part in offline events and presenting something or some topic

-          Advertising in companies who arrange events and birthdays, partnering with them

“Word of a mouth” method

Ask happy customers about recommendations. Ask customers who didn’t like you and convert them to happy ones. 80/20 rule!!

For even more effective business:

-          Make sure you have high quality customer service

-          Quick delivery

-          Be original in style and packaging

-          Give presents with every purchase

-          And show your customer you value him!!

There is no better recommendation than the link left by your customer on a forum with his positive feedback. The best way to do that is to provide excellent customer experience!

So we plan the work than work the plan!

1)      After website launch start Google adwords.
2)      Inside and outside SEO.
3)      Forums, blogs.
4)      Social media.
5)      Offline marketing.
6)      “Word of a mouth” campaign.

You can see where your customer is coming with the help of Google analytics.

In offline case, make sure to follow up and see what works and what doesn’t.

5 Ways of Telling Client the Price and Doing It Right.

One of the most sensitive moments in a sales process is telling the price. The difficulty of the moment is mainly that one side wants to earn more and the other wants to save more. In majority of the cases after announcing the price, sales person gets into the situation of price negotiation because the product/service is the way too expensive, client needs a discount and starts comparing what is offered with less expensive etc. Following this we come to the situation where the whole deal can be lost.

I would like to present 5 techniques on how to announce the price to win the deal.

Technique 1
"Sandwich"
As we remember better first thing we hear and last thing we hear, this can be used as a bonus to say something in the middle without being noticed that much.
Same way you can say price without a discount and then with a discount to make a difference.

"You need to order flowers to congratulate a colleague with recent promotion? Great! This will cost you only 50 EUR and we can do that taking into account all individual wishes from you and your company, making sure to highlight the individuality of your colleague and corporate culture and on top of that all modern trends."

Technique 2
"Forbidden word - BUY"
Avoid using all words connected to financial aspects of the deal. Those words are connected in your clients mind with giving the money away, spending it. Nobody likes to give the money away. Use the strategy to persuading your customer that he is not spending money, he is investing it! Use the word "acquire" rather than "buy" in this case.

Technique 3
"Fork"
Offer your customer a choice (different packages, services etc.) with different pricing options starting with the highest one. You think the client with choose the cheapest? :) Normally they go for something in the middle!

Technique 4
"making Money"
Show your client he can earn something or save money having what you sell. Think on what saving can be made and have some options prepared in advance.

Technique 5
"Price division"
The amount to pay doesn't seem to be that high if you say price for one item/monthly/etc. This technique is widely used by SaaS/Cloud Serve providers/Sports clubs. Sports clubs say what you can get in one month in terms of activities for only 20 Eur a month however you have to buy the membership for as minimum as 6 months or a year. Or construction companies advertising the price for square meter.
The advantage of this method is mainly in using it when client is referring to a cheaper analog of what you offer.

"Yes our tyers are more expensive however they can serve you 10000km. This means that 1 km will cost you 0.05 cent only! You can buy the tyers from our competitor for 0.03 cent/km however it's not guaranteed they will serve you that long."

7 Strategies and Banana Example

Negotiation is really interesting thing and here you go! Let's uncover 7 main negotiation strategies on the example of a banana.

Strategy 1
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "Hold on! There are so many much more important things!We need to find out where the apples are."
This is avoiding or ignoring strategy.

Strategy 2
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "Sure, take it! You are welcome."
This is an adaptation strategy.

Strategy 3
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "I want to say once and forever to make it clear. This banana is mine. And if you want this banana, pay a good price."
This is a domination strategy.

Strategy 4
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "Why are you asking me? Do you want to use the situation that you have more power? And I have just to give you this banana?"
You reply, trying to justify: "No, no! I just want a banana. Really! Very much! And I see you have one.."
I keep on pushing: "Things are not same good they were before. Would you have 50 EUR till Monday to lend?"
This is a manipulation strategy.

Strategy 5
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "It's mine. I bought it."
You reply: "But I did give you money."
I keep on going: "They money you gave was you debt you paid back."
You don't give up: "But I did lend you money as well and not even ones!" and this keeps on..
This is a rivalry strategy.

Strategy 6
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "Let's think over the way so you can have some and me as well. For example, let's cut in two!"
You react: "Oh, that suits me!"
I say: "And when you have a banana, will you share with me?"
You agree: "Deal!".
This is a compromise strategy.

Strategy 7
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "What for?"
You: "I need banana for the cake."
Me: "And I need the peel for my hamster. He loves eating it."
We share banana the way you get the actual banana and I get the peel.
OR
You say to me: "Give me the banana".
I reply: "Let;s sell this banana and buy 2 apples instead?"
You: "And then we will exchange those 2 apples for 3 oranges, sell them and buy 2 bananas!"
This is a cooperation strategy.

How to Sell A Pen?

Sometimes at interviews when trying to get a job of a sales person we are asked to sell something. In majority of cases it can be a pen :) Use a strategic approach to this! Never be afraid to be funny. It's proven that spontaneous decisions are usually the best and use the efficient sales strategy.

Step 1: Uncover the need

Any sales strategy should start not with a product but with a customer. Have a look at your potential customer and think what he can use a pen for? Singing papers? Then offer him a pen for these purposes with a good functionality suitable for signing papers, contracts etc.  Prestige? Think about offering a pen that will help your customer to feel that luxury class pen in hands. Sell this value!

Never be afraid of asking questions that will help to uncover this need and help you to figure out what exactly to offer.

Step 2: Presentation

After you have all the information from the customer you need, start presenting your product taking into account this information. Make sure you will highlight the features of the product that are useful for this customer. Try to avoid those not relevant for him.

In first place your offer should cover your customer needs. Only this will help you to sell. For people price sensitive select a suitable price offer, for prestige conscious, make sure they get the feeling of buying a luxurious pen at the price of a designer good.

Main idea is to sell what customer wants i.e. luxury, efficiency, good value etc.

Step 3:  Selling

Making an offer and closing the deal. In case you have done a good job covering first two points, that will be an easy one!

And yes, a very nice example of that:

CEO: Do me a favor, sell me this pen. (reaches across to hand me the pen)

Me: (I slowly roll the pen between my index and thumb fingers.) When was the last time you used a pen?

CEO: This morning.

Me: Do you remember what kind of pen that was?

CEO: No.

Me: Do you remember why you were using it to write?

CEO: Yes. Signing a few new customer contracts.

Me: Well I’d say that’s the best use for a pen (we have a subtle laugh).

Wouldn’t you say signing those new customer contracts is an important event for the business? (nods head) Than shouldn’t it be treated like one. What I mean by that is, here you are signing new customer contracts, an important and memorable event. All while using a very unmemorable pen.

We grew up, our entire lives, using cheap BIC pens because they get the job done for grocery lists and directions. But we never gave it much thought to learn what’s best for more important events.

This is the pen for more important events. This is the tool you use to get deals done. Think of it as a symbol for taking your company to the next level. Because when you begin using the right tool, you are in a more productive state of mind, and you begin to sign more new customer contracts.

Actually. You know what? Just this week I shipped ten new boxes of these pens toElon Musk’s office.

Unfortunately, this is my last pen today (reach across to hand pen back to CEO). So, I suggest you get this one. Try it out. If you’re not happy with it, I will personally come back next week to pick it up. And it won’t cost you a dime.

What do you say?

CEO: (picks jaw up off floor)  Yes.

source

How to find your Niche and Make sure You like It?

That's in majority of the cases quite tough. You have lots of ideas and don't know what to do to have fun and make money. You also understand that sometimes your idea looks brilliant to you but it won't work.. So how to start, find the idea and see if it works?
First of all have a look at yourself. Think what you can do in general. Especially about things you can do well. Then have a look at this all from the point what you like to do and if that can be really applied to business. I have prepared a small action plan on how to select the niche and do what you can do well and most important like to do. Feel free to use!

So you did it! You found your potential niche. STOP! No rush! 

First test and then start. No worries you want to sell bikes and you have none! Create a fun page on Facebook and try to sell. And if you see people calling you, just say "We have so many orders, I will put you on the waiting list and get in touch when we have the goods in stock". There are a lot of customers around. No worries if you miss some!

Try Google trends. Have a look on what people search and how often. You can also figure out what can be your potential time of no orders.

Have fun with whatever you do! Feel free if any questions:)

Feeling Lost? Some of Those Questions Can Really Help

Some days you can think differently about yourself and I once came across a very interesting set of questions. Those questions make you think about YOU, what and how you do things. Very interesting. The most interesting trick here is that each time you give a different answer..

1. How old would you think you are if you didn't know your age?
2. You are doing what you believe in or you make yourself believe in what you are doing?
3. What are you doing different in your life than other people around?
4. Can you remember something that made you very sad 5 years ago? Does it still make you same sad?
5. Do you have a feeling that this day happened same way many times already?
6. If everyone you know would die tomorrow, who you go to visit today?
7. If you could become your own friend, would you want to have such a friend?
8. What is the difference between life and existence to your point of view?
9. If not now then WHEN?
10. Decisions are made now and here. The question is are you making these decisions or somebody else is doing that for you?

I find those really cool and motivational. Do you want to share your ideas?