Q: Why are you involved with Awaken?
A: I met Jim Wardlaw several years ago, as we were in the same advisory group. Through our work here, we decided to partner up to create Stitch Brand & Strategy. I have marketing experience, so he asked me to help out with last year’s Awaken conference. This year, he asked me to speak.
Q: What is the nature of your presentation?
A: I’ll be presenting on how to leverage technology to get your customers to help you grow your business. As a fractional CMO, I help companies to drive revenue, and I create customer relationship and business automation systems using ZOHO. What we do here is try to get to the advocacy stage. For example, think of your favorite shoes, coffee shop, or car – you probably tell y our friends about it. Or, say your colleague has a problem and you say, “I have a guy!” This is magical advocacy because you’ve just become the salesperson for a product or company without them even knowing it. My presentation focuses on leveraging technology to make it easier for consumers to recommend to others because things such as how to stay in touch, how to take an order, how to follow up, etc. all influence us one way or another. I’ll discuss how you, as the company, can make it easier to identify your biggest influencers using cool, new technology.
Q: In your opinion, why is organizational culture important?
A: Because we spend more time at work than we do anywhere else. And if that’s not fulfilling, then life’s not as great as it could be. I’ve seen awesome and I’ve seen awful as far as organizational culture goes. In companies where culture is sub-par, the performance is the same. People don’t want to try hard for a company that doesn’t want to try hard. In places where people feel safe, supported, nurtured, and challenged, they thrive. If it’s a supportive and well-aligned culture, performance goes up; if it’s toxic, it goes down. Pretty simple. However, it’s impossible to see everything in the culture if you’re in it. Part of establishing culture is getting aligned with people who believe what you believe in. Success is about having a consistent culture, an alignment with it, and the right people who believe in the organization and its associated culture.
Q: What are you looking forward to at this year’s Awaken conference?
A: I’m looking forward listening to the keynote speaker, Dr. Barlow. That’s going to be great. I’m also looking forward to popping into some of the other sessions because they’re always fun and interesting. I hope to meet some new people and learning new things…because if you’re not learning, you’re dying.
Q: Attendees will be learning a great deal from you and other presenters at Awaken 2020. What specifically do you hope to learn?
A: I don’t necessarily have a goal of what I want to learn because I don’t know what I don’t know. I know I’m going to learn something and I’m excited about it. I have no idea what it’s going to be and that’s part of the excitement. I never know when a lesson will arrive – could be from a keynote speaker or while casually talking with someone while getting coffee. Basically, I’m looking forward to learning anything from anyone at this eclectic conference. It’s going to be great!
Do you have your tickets for Awaken 2020 yet? If not, get them here! We look forward to seeing you on March 19th!
Recent Comments