By Werner van Zyl
In Bongani’s previous post he wrote about failure and how Edison failed 10 000 times before eventually inventing the light bulb. (Seriously, how hard could it be?) The post certainly made me feel much better about my 50 previous failed attempts at writing a book. If Thomas Edison is anything to go by, I still have another 9 950 shots left at writing that elusive first book.
I have already started thinking about my 51st attempt which will be titled “You don’t need customers”.
Basically, the book will be about turning your customers into fans. Why fans, you ask?
That’s because unlike customers, fans will support you through thick and thin. At least the real fans will. And that would exclude the Manchester City fans. Again, I’m talking about real fans here. Like the fans of Leeds United.
Leeds were (and still are) a major football club in England. They played in the Premier League during the 90s and even the Champions League where they once reached the semi final if my memory serves me right. They also did quite well in the Premiership, finishing in the Top 4. Times were good and the fans were happy. Then disaster of Chilean-miner proportions struck. Leeds ran into financial difficulties and suddenly this massive club started sinking. Fast. Within a couple of seasons they found themselves plying their trade in League One (the 3rd tier of English football). A major embarrassment for such a huge club.
What happened to the fans? Did they start supporting another team? No. Here you had a League One team with crowds in excess of 30 000 at home games. To put this into perspective, League One teams struggle to get 10 000 fans into their grounds on a good day. The Leeds fans stuck with their team and supported them even in the dark days. They won promotion last season and now play in the Championship (2nd tier of English football).
So what exactly is my point? Thank you for asking.
Now imagine, instead of customers, your business or product had fans. Real fans. Like the Leeds United fans.
Customers generally don’t come back after a bad experience. Fans do. Fans always come back because they are fans. They love your business or your product so much that they can excuse you for that one time that you delivered a bad experience or a faulty product. They believe in you or your product and fans will almost never change their loyalty. Fans are there to stay. Customers, on the other hand, are not. Customers will try that new restaurant that just opened or will go to your competition because they have a Valentine’s Day special running. Not fans. They go to your restaurant every lunch time. They love your restaurant even if the tuna-melt smelt a bit funny today. They will be back tomorrow.
Now what would you rather have? Customers or fans? If you want fans, then my book is for you. The book will tell you how to turn customers into fans. Real fans for life.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Failure
By Bongani Matshisi
A few months ago Werner and I asked our friends, colleagues, family and just about anyone who would speak to us what the most important lesson they’ve learnt in their lives was. People were very forthcoming and in the process we got some real gems. Over the next few weeks I will be taking a closer look at some of my favourites and sharing my thoughts on them.
To kick things off, I’ve decided to start off with what is the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far. And that is: As human being we are destined to fail and to fail often.
There is not a single person on this earth who hasn’t, at one stage, or another, failed at something. But does failing make one a failure? It depends.
In my opinion, the most important thing about failing is not to wallow in the failure but to actually learn from it. As imperfect human beings (at least those of us who challenge themselves), we are bound to trip up every once in a while. Take Thomas Edison, the American inventor, for instance. On his way to inventing the electric light bulb, Edison failed approximately 10 000 times. We now know that he didn’t give up but used each failure as an opportunity to learn.
With each failed attempt, he made a note of exactly what he'd done and what components he had used. Then he made an adjustment to the experiment and tried again. And when that "failed" he made a note of that, readjusted and tried again. He kept learning from every experiment. He learned all the ways that it wouldn't work. He discovered all the chemicals and elements that wouldn't work. And each time he found a way that wouldn't work, he knew he was closer to finding a way that would work.
When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.
Thomas Edison understood the profound secret that to succeed you have to be willing to fail and fail fast. To Edison all failure provided valuable information that he could use to correct his course, and lead him to eventual success.
So I urge you, and myself in the process, to go out there and fail. Often.
A few months ago Werner and I asked our friends, colleagues, family and just about anyone who would speak to us what the most important lesson they’ve learnt in their lives was. People were very forthcoming and in the process we got some real gems. Over the next few weeks I will be taking a closer look at some of my favourites and sharing my thoughts on them.
To kick things off, I’ve decided to start off with what is the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far. And that is: As human being we are destined to fail and to fail often.
There is not a single person on this earth who hasn’t, at one stage, or another, failed at something. But does failing make one a failure? It depends.
In my opinion, the most important thing about failing is not to wallow in the failure but to actually learn from it. As imperfect human beings (at least those of us who challenge themselves), we are bound to trip up every once in a while. Take Thomas Edison, the American inventor, for instance. On his way to inventing the electric light bulb, Edison failed approximately 10 000 times. We now know that he didn’t give up but used each failure as an opportunity to learn.
With each failed attempt, he made a note of exactly what he'd done and what components he had used. Then he made an adjustment to the experiment and tried again. And when that "failed" he made a note of that, readjusted and tried again. He kept learning from every experiment. He learned all the ways that it wouldn't work. He discovered all the chemicals and elements that wouldn't work. And each time he found a way that wouldn't work, he knew he was closer to finding a way that would work.
When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.
Thomas Edison understood the profound secret that to succeed you have to be willing to fail and fail fast. To Edison all failure provided valuable information that he could use to correct his course, and lead him to eventual success.
So I urge you, and myself in the process, to go out there and fail. Often.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Stop Watching Lost!
By Werner van Zyl
This blog is all about sharing what we learn or experience with the rest of the world. For free (and yet they say nothing is for free). I’ll be posting weekly on this blog but to start off I thought I would share with you my all time favourite Youtube video.
If you haven’t heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, where have you been? See the video below, but be warned it may change your life forever. I love this video for several reasons and it has been an inspiration to me ever since I saw it for the first time a year ago. I now watch it at least once a week. Watch it and let me know what you think and what your favourite parts/quotes are. Its powerful.
This blog is all about sharing what we learn or experience with the rest of the world. For free (and yet they say nothing is for free). I’ll be posting weekly on this blog but to start off I thought I would share with you my all time favourite Youtube video.
If you haven’t heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, where have you been? See the video below, but be warned it may change your life forever. I love this video for several reasons and it has been an inspiration to me ever since I saw it for the first time a year ago. I now watch it at least once a week. Watch it and let me know what you think and what your favourite parts/quotes are. Its powerful.
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