Elizabeth, Author at Yellow Dog Consulting

My Quarterly Follow Up Rant

11.02.2016 by Elizabeth // 1 Comment

I was chatting with a colleague of mine the other day about a referral I had made a few years back. they were ready to sign a contract after their initial consult and then…crickets.

WHAT THE HELL PEOPLE?

Why oh why do you keep doing this? What is so hard about follow up that you can’t be bothered to send over the proposal or contract or details and recap of the call you just had?

Why is it when you’re networking and someone says they need to hire you, you find the worst place to put that business card so you either never find it again (“oops I forgot” only works so many times) or find it weeks later. That business card was COLD HARD CASH and you treated it like a gum wrapper.

Here’s what I think is happening…

You don’t know what to say – You have the card, you know you need to follow up, but you don’t know what to say. “Hey you said you wanted to give me your money” isn’t the way to start that conversation, but “I wanted to follow up with you to setup time to talk further about working together.” Is a great way to start.
You don’t want to – True confessions, I have accidentally misplaced/recycled a business card because I didn’t want to work with them and didn’t have the energy to go through all the hoops of pretending I did.
You don’t have a system in place – Do you need a schedule for when and how to follow up with people? Do you need prompts of WHAT to say? I’m honestly curious here…
Being successful sounds like a terrible idea and so you do nothing to make sure you’re never successful. Too on the nose?

I LOVE follow up, if you’ve ever read this blog (or my newsletter) you know this. And one of my top goals in this business is to help solopreneuers create systems and schedules for their marketing efforts. Getting out of your office and going to network is great. Never following up with people you network with is a waste of your time, money and the people you meet. Someone said they were interested in what you sell and you couldn’t find 5 minutes to follow up?

If you struggle with follow up I’d love to hear what’s holding you back and I might even have something coming up that can help…

October Pop Culture Roundup

10.28.2016 by Elizabeth // 2 Comments

norm and E and boba fett October may mean pumpkin spice crap for you, but to me, October means fall TV in all it’s glory and an abundance of great pop culture to be consumed. And it meant one final EPIC image from my photo shoot with Britney Gardner this summer. I’m not sure another photo better encapsulates my favorite things like this shot!

Reading

Hey – I read a book! Sure some of you read a book a week, but I consume my pop culture in a variety of ways, and this month a book made the cut. I was excited when I learned that Maria Semple had a new book coming out this fall. Today Will be Different did NOT disappoint! She is a really fun writer and her books are a quick and easy read, which is what I needed this month. The entire book takes place in a day, and includes a flashback or two, and is very fun. The book also takes place in Seattle and does a better job at getting the geography right than her last book that I also loved, Where’d You Go Bernadette?

I caught up on some comics including Outcast and Han Solo, but really need to get to the comic shop so I can power through Clean Room, my new favorite comic! I like to read about the TV show I watch, so I’m spending more time than usual on The Ringer and HitFix lately getting insight into what’s going on on Westworld and trying to decide if I want to watch this season of The Walking Dead.

Listening

As per the usual, I’m listening to a lot of Keepin’ it 1600 and The Watch. A friend introduced me yesterday to Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell & Hari Kondabolu, it’s AWESOME. I listened to the interview with SE Cupp and it’s fantastic if you like politics, which I do!

I went to see Hannibal Buress last week with my brother and the same week he started a new podcast, Hannibal Buress: Handsome Rambler. It has a way to go still but I’m sticking with it for one of my favorite comedians.

On a road trip earlier this month to Seattle I caught up on Ask Me Another – which is a GREAT road trip podcast to keep you awake. I also listened to a few episodes of The Nerdist, Sarah Jessica Parker and Neil deGrasse Tyson were both really great! And the WTF with Katie Couric was interesting and made me want to check out her podcast.

Watching

Let’s be honest, there’s too much TV to watch. I am still loving This is Us, The Good Place and Pitch. My new obsession though is Westworld! It’s really fantastic and I’m loving the world they’re building and figuring out what’s in store…Dolores is a great character and I think it’s impressive how far Lyle the Intern has come.

images The Hamilton special on PBS was the best way to see the show for 99.9% of Americans. The history of Hamilton the man and the musical were both very interesting, and the music was obviously great!

Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are both back! I think I’ll keep up on Jane almost weekly, but I may stock up a few Crazy Ex episodes, it’s a show better binged.

Masters of Sex has turned around this season and I’m glad I’ve kept with it. I watched the first two episodes of Luke Cage and want to finish that up in the next couple of weeks, it’s really great and the music is fantastic! I watched the first episode of the new season of Black Mirror and it was too long and not a strong start, but I keep hearing the rest of the season is good so will keep with it, since it’s such a great show! You’re the Worst is still fantastic, and I think I’m going to stop watching The Walking Dead unless someone tells me that season premiere wasn’t needlessly violent.

Okay, that’s it for me this month (not really, but that’s a good summary of what I remember!) What were you loving in pop culture this month?

8 Great Ideas From the Clinton Campaign’s Email Footer

10.19.2016 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

The thing about running a political campaign is that you send a lot of emails to your supporters. It’s ridiculously overwhelming and very easy for people to unsubscribe so you just go away and stop harassing them for more money. If you follow me on Twitter you’re probably aware #ImWithHer – I promise you this isn’t a political post. The other day after the 7th email from HRC’s campaign I decided that I don’t need to hear from her more times a day than I have to let Norm outside. So I scrolled to the bottom of the email to see if I could reduce the number of emails I receive and what I found instead was BRILLIANT.

Here’s 8 great ideas I discovered from Hillary’s email footer.

Feedback! First things first – this is MY campaign – and they asked for feedback – what a great idea! Asking your contacts for feedback is always awesome. If you send your newsletter on a very regular basis this is a good idea…
Key Policies – I like that they also included a link to more information on her key policies. For a business owner you might say something like “want to learn more about the services we offer? Visit http://yellowdogconsulting.com/services/“
There’s an App! – Small business owners don’t often have apps – but a lot of folks in direct sales might have them, and this is a creative way to remind folks to download the app without overwhelming the newsletter each month, clever.
Update Your Preferences – you can choose to receive less email (which I am terrified of folks who didn’t do that, I still get 5 a day!) or unsubscribe. I like that it’s a bit more sandwiched in and you have to read to find it. Typically I find this annoying but they did it so well…If you have multiple lists or are sending out emails for a variety of offerings I highly encourage creating lists that your subscribers can pick and choose from.
Social Media links – typically I suggest you add in your social media icons earlier in the email, however throwing it right into the footer there for folks who unsubscribe but still want to be aware? This is clever…
There’s a Spanish option! – okay this one honestly makes little sense to me. If I preferred my newsletter in another language this would be more helpful at the very top preview of an email instead of squished into the middle of a footer.
A Super Secret Picture – This is just clever. I like to add easter eggs in blog posts and newsletters occasionally but I hadn’t thought about my newsletter footer before!
Thank You! – A very smart move here, you probably read the email that was sent and you’ve read all the way to the bottom of the footer. Holy crap you do deserve a fun picture and a thank you.

If people scroll to the bottom of your email just to unsubscribe wouldn’t it be cool if instead of leaving you forever they actually became more engaged?