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Customer Engagement & Retention

Seth Godin Speaks in Salt Lake City

Before you read this, let me explain what I may start doing from time to time at MollerMarketing.com:

This blog post is a compilation of note taking, internal brainstorming, and reflection based on a great business conference I went to with Seth Godin.

I’ve read lots of Seth’s stuff. I know the guy is good. But I didn’t realize he was THAT GOOD.

Everything he said hit me right in the core.

I left the event with a new energy.

So anyway, from time to time I’m going to do blog posts in a brainstorming format (similar to this one).

Two Objectives for this Blogging Style

  1. Help readers see how they can put their own brains to work.
  2. Help me see and reflect on my own crazy ideas

I also hope this encourages questions, comments, and ongoing dialogue.

Seth Godin Conference

The more you fail, the higher your chances are to succeed!

Question: Are you a genius?

  • Someone who solves a problem in a new way.
  • Someone who figures out how to be a person, not a system.
  • Doing a word map – PEOPLE is what shows up most.
  • His new book talks to PEOPLE, not a company, system, organization.
  • Henry Ford created the “factory world” concept.
  • Interchangeable Parts – there used to be no such thing
  • Ford changed that process
  • Interchangeable parts leads to interchangeable people.
  • Replaceable people – AT&T hired TONS of women to be operators.

Public school is a scam design to create compliant workers.

The reason they want you to fit in is that once you do, then they can ignore you. – Seth Godin

Hunting > Farming > Compliant COGS > “Artists” is where we are NOW

What is an Artist?

  • Being a human.
  • Connecting with others.
  • Giving a gift.
  • Making a change for the better.

We don’t need painters who are cameras. We need painters who paint the way the see the world.

Artists shake things up – they are hard to replicate.

Text books are obsolete.

If you can write it down, I can find it cheaper.

We have to radically re-think what we do ALL DAY.

Don’t become a professional bowler!

  • The best you can do in bowling is 300.
  • There are no super-star bowlers.
  • No chance to stand out.

Don’t get in to a business where average is expected.

If you reward average, how are you going to get ahead?

The recession we are in is not about a bubble. There’s a 3rd thing going on.

A WALL has fallen down – you have the whole world at your fingertips. The world is now there with no middle man.

If you want to write a book, just publish it yourself.

Now you have no one to blame if you don’t succeed.

Why Being a Cafeteria Lady Sucks

  • You’re mistreated by your customers.
  • By your boss.
  • You’re interchangeable.

The Law of the Mechanical Turk

Mechanical Turk breaks things up in to 1 minute segments to get something for nothing.

Lift
Hunt
Grow
Produce
Sell
Connect
Create & Invent – can you invent stuff I didn’t think of?

= VALUE

Taking notes are no good! (woops – I was taking detailed notes as he said that)

What questions ought one to ask to FIGURE THINGS OUT?

The way people/kids think now days:

  • If you buy a lot of stuff at Abercrombie, you’ll be more popular.
  • If you graduate with an A average – you’re “really good at school!”

The next thing I’m going to do is get a D, get laughed at, FAIL…

Most of Picasso’s paintings were HORRIBLE.

Don’t skip the few minutes that are filled with scariness.

Just because the tide is out doesn’t mean there’s no more water in the ocean.

Take a shot – make a difference.

I should try to fit in less. I should try to stand out more.

Gone is the day of Day’s Work = Day’s Pay

The most powerful voice in your head is the voice of the “lizard brain” – it’s the survival mechanism.

Anxiety of the experience of failure in advance.

How can I conquer the “lizard brain”?

If your “Art Doesn’t Work” you’re not pushing it hard enough.

Labor means DIFFICULT

DO WORK THAT MATTERS!

When your lizard brain speaks up and says stop – GO!

SHIP – conquer the lizard brain, get the stuff out the door

Make Art
Give Gifts
Do work that matters
Connect
Lead
Ship

Thoughts on this blogging style?

6 replies on “Seth Godin Speaks in Salt Lake City”

I love to brainstorm. Coming up with ideas for new ways to make money online and new internet marketing methods is what I thrive on. Although, I’m not so great at taking action to help realize my ideas most of the time. That is something that I need to personally work on.

However, I like this blogging format that you have going on. Keep it up!

Love brainstorming. Brings out the best in people and the best ideas. In my experience brainstorming is for non-conformists and free thinkers.

Among so much jetsam and flotsam we get in the internet marketing world daily, Seth Godin is more than a breath of fresh air. He calls it as he sees it and doesn’t rely on the usual rhetoric and cliches we get from the usual self-styled gurus.

Seth is a leader and does not run with the pack….. a mindset that breeds success.

Thanks for passing along your notes. I’ve been wanting to buy one of Godin’s books. Then 2 days ago I discovered a copy of “Permission Marketing” on my shelf. I bought it in 1999 but never read it. Reading it now, am discovering how prescient Godin was. What he “foretells” in that 11-year-old book about the “future” of the Web and consumer relationships has indeed come about. He is a trustworthy source of inspiration.

On the style of this blog. I like it. My brain fills in the blanks between list items. I don’t have to wade through a lot of “then he said” and “this is my take on it” etc. You respect my ability to come up with MY own take on Godin’s words—which ultimately is more beneficial to me and to my needs.

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