“I Can Get It Cheaper”

Jun 12, 2017/0 Comments/in Blogging, Innovation, Leadership, Stories/by Jeph

Few phrases say more about an individual than those five words. So much is communicated when one judges a product or service based on the price alone.

The fact that you can find anything these days for a cheaper price shouldn’t come as a surprise. The surprising part is people still use price as a major factor in decision making, when they verbalize their frugal attitude it labels them.

**1. When you say the words “I can get it cheaper” you seem, well, cheap.**

We don’t look up to cheap people. Do you have a friend or family member brag about a “deal” they got at Walmart? Probably not because that’s not something to brag about. We look up to people who are generous, who don’t count the change after some one gives it to them, who tips more than they should, who doesn’t make a big deal about money ever. Those are the people I look up to.

In the creative field you can always find someone who’s willing to do what you do for a cheaper price, but that price comes with a cost.

Just because it costs less at first it may end up costing you a whole lot in the long run. I find in my old age I’d rather pay a good price for something and get a great product in return. Every now and then when cutting costs you get burned. Ever buy something just because it was cheap? Tennis balls, never buy the cheap tennis balls, I’d much rather pay more for a better quality ball.

Pizza, sure you can get cheap pizza but c’mon Sparky’s isn’t even that much more but the taste!!

As a kid it was hockey sticks. You could buy a cheap stick at Superstore but it won’t last long.

I wrote about this 7 years ago, labeled it as “Walmart Culture” cheapest prices for the cheapest products, it wasn’t sustainable. Now in 2017 it has become extremely apparent some people will always use price as their major deciding factor.

price is a calculation value is a feeling

Price is a calculation, value is a feeling.

Be careful not to confuse the two, value is a much bigger topic for another day. Read more

Professional Stock Photos-the wait a minute, i have one more really important something to tell you

3 Reasons Why Your Nonprofit Won’t Exist In Five Years & What To Do About It

Dec 8, 2013/1 Comment/in Advice, Blogging, Community/by Jeph

Underwhelming leadership, a reactive approach to technology, and a communications strategy that hasn’t evolved since 1999. This is the sorry state most nonprofits find themselves in. Leadership’s difficult to change, technology changes too much to understand, and marketing teams with a bad case of the “but it’s what we’ve always done!’s” syndrome.

You’re worse off than you thought if you don’t admit to having a problem.

The good news is that there is hope for you. Change isn’t fatal, not adapting is. Below are three thoughts on why I think many nonprofits are becoming obsolete. Agree or disagree, let me know in the comments below.

and make it a better place. it is in your hands to make a difference.

1. It’s never been easier to create a nonprofit.

It’s easier to start a business today, for and not for profit, than it was 20 years ago. The fact that you can start a nonprofit without leaving your couch (over simplification) is bound to increase the amount of entities that are started. The ease of entry to the market has caused an influx of nonprofits starting and subsequently dying before they had the chance to see the light of day all because some other organization with a more pressing issue moved into town. They cannibalize the publics’ wallet share for donations, with more and more organizations asking people for charitable dollars, the more difficult it is for charities to acquire the donations they used to collect with little to no effort.

Solution: Create loyalty. I weird concept for a nonprofit? Not anymore. How do you create loyal contributors? How do you increase repeat donations? How do you set up a referral engine for giving? Every organization is a little different but if you can Answer these questions for your nonprofit and you’re half way there. Keep reading for the other half.

2. There’s a nonprofit overseas needs more help than yours does.

The worldwide need for nonprofits is much more apparent. We communicate worldwide in real time now, problems on the other side of the world are now our problems too. As we learned with “Kony 2012”, within a couple clicks (or Retweets) I can see what some of the most important issues are today. And yes, we’re not always right in our first impression and sometimes we support organizations which later we regret (insert Kony 2012 into this category).

In the future we’re going to be exposed to the horrors of our world overseas and in the furtherest places on Earth from where we currently reside. Geography doesn’t matter. When humans need help on the other side of the world wallets begin opening and all those charity dollars that went to the local chapter of the Lions club all of a sudden left the city, province and country.

Solution: Make an emotion connection with the problem you’re solving and the intended audience. The only reason donor dollars are going out of country is that there is a major perceived(real or fake) need for aid in other parts of the world. Rarely do local nonprofits make a compelling case as to why you should donate to your local food bank versus feeding children in a third world country. Find peoples heart strings and gently tug on them. First and foremost we Canadians need to ensure the wellbeing of our people so that in the future we can help other areas of the world.

3. We’re all looking for something to believe in and your organization isn’t doing it for me anymore.

As countries develop and generations get older, people look for ways to feel fulfilled, a purpose per se. This is getting increasingly more difficult. But more and more people are looking for alternative ways to get that rush in the bottom of their stomachs. That moment when you realize you’ve actually changed someones’ life for the better. Volunteering for an organization is one way to achieve this feeling.

Our world isn’t about to get less confusing (quite the opposite actually) and “giving back” is still an easy way to get that feeling that you’re putting a dent in the universe. With the decline of traditional spiritual/religious paths, the Y Generation and Millennials need a new outlet to find their own spirituality, a feeling found through serving others. But we’re not loyal to a fault. If your mission is getting stale, if your strategy has never evolved, if you’re behind on technology, you’re giving people a great reason to check out your competition.

Nobody wants to board a ship that’s sailing nowhere.

Solution: Define (or redefine) your why. The reason your nonprofit exists. Develop the model of how you’re going to scale the impact you’re creating. Remember, a nonprofits ‘brand’ isn’t the logo or the advertising, or the website, the ‘brand’ is what the organization has done. Events ran, program put on, people affected. If you want a forward thinking brand set a BHAG, empower your people, try new initiatives, acquire feedback, and constantly improve upon last quarters results. Simple as that.

It always seems impossible until it's done.

Sources:

Nonprofits Are Growing, What Is It That They Do?

Nonprofit Fundraising Study – Covering Charitable Receipts at U.S. Nonprofit Organizations in 2011

Why Don’t the Best Nonprofits Grow?

Growth in the Non-profit Sector and Competition for Funding

How To Win Business and Influence People

Aug 8, 2012/3 Comments/in Research/by Jeph

1. Smile. Smile a lot. When walking into a boardroom. When meeting someone for the first time. When you’re unsure of yourself. When you need that extra boost of confidence. Just smile, it’s contagious. Don’t you love walking into a restaurant and the person at the front door is happier to see you than you are to see them? Happy people are the best to be around, always remember that.

2. Don’t hold grudges, ever. Under no circumstance hold a grudge because of what you think someone did or said. If they did something wrong confront them about it and tell them how you feel. Otherwise when you hold a grudge against someone you seem like you’re in high-school again and I don’t want to do business with high-school kids. Being upset with someone for a silly reason makes me think you’re not a very big thinker either. Forgiving someone is a very humbling thing to do. Try it.

3. Don’t offer your opinion of someones work unless they ask for it. No one likes getting impromptu feedback on something they probably could pick holes in them self. Wait till someone seeks your feedback out. Want more people to seek you out for feedback? Get smarter on your topic of interest. Stop watching (insert pop culture TV sensation of the week) and start reading more.

4. When you pick a fight with your competition don’t make it personal and try to be as professional about it as you can.
I openly will critique agency’s in Regina for their work. I try not to make it personal and I try to give research and the thought process behind my opinions. We’re competitors so it makes sense we will disagree on many things, however, I do very much respect the work they do. Phoenix Group is the agency that I’ve written about the most and they’re the biggest in Regina and do some really amazing work. I assume they can handle my critique because of their success (Yes, I do think David Bellerive is extremely talented).

5. Say ‘yes’ as much as you can. Like the movie Yes Man, always take advantage when an opportunity presents itself. You never know who you might meet. Lunches, dinners, nights out, weekend trips, if you have no other obligations and financially it works you must say yes. It’s kinda fun to try. Watch Yes Man if you haven’t yet.

6. Stop talking about yourself. Seriously. One of the biggest turnoffs in life and business is someone who talks about themselves too much. Like Dale Carnegie says, “become genuinely interested in other people”. Ask them questions and be curious about what they do. The more the other person talks about them self, the more you know about them to help them in the future.
An old piece of advice; “in a meeting, the person who talks the least, is usually the smartest person in the room.”

7. If you’re a leader, creative person or an artist, sometimes you’re going to half to ignore what others tell you. As Albert Einstein said “if at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.” Some of your ideas must be absurd.
As a leader you’re going to have moments where entire groups of people disagree with you. That’s ok “great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” another great piece of advice from the smartest person ever lived.
Don’t worry what people say about you, if no one is disagreeing with you, you aren’t doing much with your life.

8. Be someone others look up to. The way you act, the way to dress, the way you sign your e-mails, your business cards, everything. People look up to others who are confident, well put together and articulate. I remember the first time I met Steve Klippenstein, the President of Captive Audience. He was smart, funny, and a leader, someone you really wanted to be around. I’ve always looked up to Steve because of that. His attitude is a reflection of how well Captive has done and will do in the future.

9. Don’t be cheap. I met with a lady once trying to start her own business and one of the first things she informed me of was that she didn’t have much money and was “cheap”. As a consultant that’s the last thing you want to hear. Not that I’m greedy at all, I believe as an entrepreneur you can’t be successful and “cheap”. No one wants to work with cheap, you don’t want to invest in cheap, it’s not an attractive quality in anyone. Frugal is fine but you must be smart frugal. Buy people coffees and lunch, take the bill, bring donuts to a meeting, offer to supply the coffees from Timmy’s, do something that screams “I’m not afraid to be generous!”. I don’t know about you but I LOVE generous people, I try to do as much as I can for them, the more you help others the more they want to help you. Don’t be cheap.

Tag Archive for: don’t be cheap

1. When you say the words “I can get it cheaper” you seem, well, cheap.

**1. When you say the words “I can get it cheaper” you seem, well, cheap.**