Your Online Reputation, That Is
I’ve had had an ongoing conversation on Twitter with someone opening a fast food franchise outlet in the area. He’s had a rough time finding qualified and willing workers for his establishment. This doesn’t surprise me. I’ve had conversations with many food service managers in the area who tell me it’s hard to find good team members.

I feel for him, because it’s tough enough getting the construction completed, certifications, permits, supply contracts, etc. set up. You’d think with lingering unemployment lurking about he’d have no problem finding people willing to join his team. Even with many applicants, he said a challenge to find people with good attitudes he can train to do what he needs them to do.

First, only half of the people with whom he scheduled interviews even bothered to show up. That in itself is telling. Second, he pre-screened applicants, checking their online spaces, and disqualified a few applicants because of things found in their Facebook profiles.

Your Online Reputation Matters!
He mentioned one applicant entered “Smoking Big Joints” as one of his interests. Another entered “Legalize Marijuana” as his interest.

I don’t want to get into the politics of things and do believe in one’s private life being private. But, how private your life is depends a great deal on how much you post online. Smoking marijuana and taking other illegal substances is considered such a liability in employment that many companies routinely screen new applicants for drug use. Coming up positive on a pre-employment screening means automatic disqualification. Many companies even go so far as to randomly screen all employees for drug use. This being the case, it really doesn’t make sense to advertise your use of such substances in a very public forum.

My friend is certainly not alone in his use of social media to screen potential hires. Consider this Mashable article by Erica Swallow from October 2011: How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates. This type of search is routine now and job seekers should expect that they will be “googled” when they apply for a job.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written on this topic. After I posted that article, I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague whose daughter was getting ready to apply for teaching jobs. She went through Facebook and “untagged” herself anywhere she could find herself “tagged” – regardless whether the picture could be considered “bad” or not. She didn’t want to take any chances.

Job Seekers: Market Yourself
Whether you realize it or not, you are a brand. When seeking employment, you have to market yourself in a similar way a company markets its brand. You have to show potential employers you have skills and the right attitude to be part of the team. If your career goal is to work in a head shop, then advertising the fact that you smoke marijuana might be a positive thing. However, if you want to work somewhere else, you might want to think twice about putting that fact in a public forum.

Some may be thinking to themselves, “That’s not fair.” Whether it’s fair or not is beside the point. This is where the job market is and you need to take your overall online reputation into consideration.

Current Employees Also Need To Consider This
If you are already employed, you might also consider what you post online and how your management might feel it reflects on them. This past weekend I told some business-owner friends about this article which prompted them to tell me about a problem they had with a former employee. He “friended” them and “liked” their Facebook page, which is nice. But, he routinely posted profanity-laced tirades against people he felt slighted him. They were concerned about how these posts might reflect upon their business.

I’m not for businesses having the ability to muzzle their staff online. However, it is worth thinking about how your actions reflect on the people who pay you salary. Whether you realize it or not, everyone is brand ambassador. Would you want your online actions to hinder your company’s ability to do business?

Employers also need to consider this. How much is too much when it comes to your team members potential damage to your reputation? It’s a good idea to consider this and create some sensible policies for this eventuality.

What say you? Have you run into any problems hiring or getting hired because of something posted online? Have you taken steps to clean up your online reputation? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Update: 1/22/2012: Marty Weintraub shared this post on The Bookshelf  Blog: How To Totally Destroy Your Facebook Reputation (& Life…) in 10 Easy Steps! [PRINTABLE FLOWCHART]. It illustrates very nicely how you can ruin your online reputation very quickly.

photo credit: -Tripp-

Be excellent to each other! – Fake Socrates in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”

I’m going on my soapbox here. I hope you will indulge me while I get something off my chest.

I wrote once before about how your attitude towards those who give you service you in buying situations can affect what kind of treatment you receive. Although their attitude is primarily their responsibility, how you act toward them can affect their attitude positively or negatively. I bring this up again because yesterday it hit rather close to home.

My wife works in the retail businesses. This close to Christmas, you can imagine she’s pretty harried. The stores are crowded with holiday shoppers who are in a hurry and in foul moods. Although most of those who work at her store try to deliver superior service, sometimes things outside their control adversely affect what kind of service they can give.

For example: long lines at the checkout can be caused by a flu bug going around and several key people calling in sick on the same day. That type of situation can adversely affect how long customers will wait in line to pay for their purchases. It’s also something outside the realm of an individual’s control.

My wife cried herself to sleep last night. As she was going about her duties she ended up on the cash register and had to deal with someone who lambasted her for having to wait too long in line. With little regard to her feelings or the fact that she had no control over people calling in sick, he insulted her and blamed her for all the problems with this particular retail outlet. She was so upset when she came home, she couldn’t even tell me what the man said, other than he cussed her out and called her terrible names.

I understand this person was probably having a bad day. He was likely tired and in a hurry to finish his holiday shopping so he could finish other tasks. Or, he could just be a total jerk. We’ll never know for sure. What we do know is he ruined the day of someone who was doing her best to help him along.

I say again that the Golden Rule applies: Treat others as you wish to be treated.

Back when I was a mere lad of 16, the first job I got was as a Stockboy at a local Kresge store. Kresge was the “dime store” predecessor of Kmart, founded by S.S. Kresge in Detroit. I came in on evenings after school and on alternating weekends to clean up the store. It was a great learning experience.

Everyone was a “regular.” Most of the store’s employees worked there for many years. The customers came from the neighborhood. When describing the store, I even joke that the shoplifters were regular “customers.” It had a nice family atmosphere.

There was a elderly man who frequented the store. He would come in and walk around, looking at things and mutter to himself in Polish. He always wore a charcoal grey suit and a hat with a hat feather in it. Always quick with a wave and a greeting though, he would say the only two English phrases I think he knew: “Hey, how’s it going?” and “Don’t work too hard.” After I got to know his routine I would often cringe watching him cross the very busy street outside the store as he walked against the lights. There was more than once he came close to getting run over.

One Saturday when I first started working there, I was doing something on the sales floor when I saw him pick up a candy bar and put it in his pocket. I watched as he made his usual rounds through the store and then headed for the exit. I stopped my manager, “Mrs. L,” a wonderful lady who clearly understood the role of that small store in the grand scheme of things (she started with the company as secretary to the then-Chairman of the Board when he was a district manager). I told her what I saw and offered to stop him and bring him to her.

She told me not to do it, though. No doubt I had a puzzled expression on my face. She went on to explain that he suffered from dementia and really didn’t know what he was doing. When he came into the store, the employees were told to watch him and report the the service desk person on duty if he took anything so it could be tracked. On Friday afternoons, his daughter would come in and pay for whatever he took.

Now, that’s personalized service! Can you imagine a Walmart or a Target having employees who were empowered to do that kind of thing? I don’t know if such an arrangement is possible in today’s environment.

Still, if you own an small, local business, what kind of special service can you offer customers to set yourself apart from your competitors? Really, the sky’s the limit so long as it makes sense … and cents.

photo credit: TommyIS

I won this book in an online drawing, I believe from Chris Brogan’s web site. In light of that, this is my honest opinion of the work.

Ryan Blair is a man with a checkered past, to say the least. He is someone who came from an abusive family, a broken home and ended up in a gang committing various crimes. He makes no attempt to hide the fact that he was not always the nicest guy.

Things turned around for him when, in high school, his mother married a businessman who took Ryan under his wing and mentored him in the world of commerce. Being the smart guy he is, Blair blossomed under the tutelage of his step-father and went on to become a multimillionaire entrepreneur.

I enjoy books which have great ideas to help the reader succeed. This book has those. It is full of helpful information, inspiration and ideas to help you improve your career.

Even more, I enjoy books in which the author is honest about mistakes he or she has made and the lessons they learned from them. I often tell my kids that it’s much less painful to learn from someone else’s mistakes than to learn from your own. This book certainly has those, too. In fact, there is an entire chapter which the author entitled “Million-Dollar Mistakes.” I appreciate Ryan’s authenticity and transparency about those mistakes as he expressed in this book.

There are a lot of leadership lessons contained in the work, as well. Many of them I’ve written or told about in other posts. Many of these lessons he learned the hard way – it’s nice to learn from someone else’s mistakes.

This book has a lot of information and valuable lessons, and, it’s well worth reading for those. However, in all fairness, I have to point out it’s not the best-written book I’ve ever read. It feels as if the copy was dictated and transcribed, but not edited very well. That’s not to say it’s totally bad – it’s just not best. If you’re distracted by that kind of thing, you may want to pass this one up. If you can ignore it, however, the information in the book is worth the effort of reading through it.

Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain by Ryan Blair – lots of good information and lessons. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

You can also get more information at www.nothingtolose.com

Summer does content strategy, and has been involved in content generation for 12 years. Her employer requires all employees to have a personal blog related to content in order to let them have a voice in the industry. They also blog on the corporate blog.

Summer tweets as @summerH

• Whether to have separate personal and business blogs really depends on what business you’re in
• At a recent conference, it was said “Being human is the new black.” You need to express your real voice in your writing
• The policy at her company is simple: “Don’t be stupid.”
• The things you write on a personal blog can lead to business contacts. You never know who’s going to read your stuff. They may never find you “business” blog, but might get to know you anyway
• Consider: if you want to be found – connect all your stuff together somehow. Otherwise, set up an alias to keep stuff completely separate
• Even a corporate blog should have a personal voice. People will relate more to a person than a “corporation.” Instead of having a “talking logo,” be a person or persons. People want to know the people who make up your business
• Summer tries not to tie herself to a calendar when blogging. She would rather write something interesting and timely rather than write “just because it’s Tuesday”
• When posting, consider a filter like, “What would my mother think about this” or sister, or dad, or whomever. That can help keep you in line and possibly out of trouble
• If you have separate blogs, you can use purposeful linking either by inclusion or omission

Early in my military career I was put in for promotion to the rank of Sergeant by my boss (and, later, very good friend) John. At that time, to make that first rank in the Non-commissioned Officer Corps, one of the things a person had to go through was the promotion board. Promotion boards at that unit consisted of the Sergeant Major and the senior NCO from the units in the squadron asking questions of the soldier. Although it was more or less a formality, the amount of points award from the board members could have a direct bearing on how fast one was actually promoted. It was a big deal.

I was scheduled last out of the slate of 6 or so soldiers who were set to appear before that particular promotion board. John and I showed up a little early for our scheduled time, both in our Class A dress uniforms with everything shined and polished which could be shined or polished.

I formally reported to the board at my appointed time, while John took his seat at the back of the room. When I sat down, the Sergeant Major leaned over to look around me to look at John. He asked, “Sergeant, why are you dressed in your Class A uniform?” John replied as he pointed at me, “Well, Sergeant Major, because he is.”

The Sergeant Major stood up and said, rather loudly, “Come here! I want to shake your hand. You are the first supervisor to come with his soldier before the board dressed in the same uniform. Thank you for doing so.”

I thought, “So far, so good.”

Elmer at the National Training Center near Barstow, California

John gave his “spiel” about me to the board, telling them what a great soldier I was and what a great NCO I would be. The Sergeant Major looked over at me when John finished and asked, “Well, those are some very flattering words. What do you think about what he had to say about you.”

I have to admit, I was rather flattered. John wasn’t always one to puff someone up, but you certainly knew where you stood with him. I was happy most of all that he appreciated my efforts for our team. I said something contrite and humble* and we continued on.

The rest of the time in front of the board was spent answering questions about unit history, basic soldier tasks, leadership and current events. I answered most of the questions correctly. The ones I didn’t know the answers to I plainly admitted as much rather than try to tap-dance around the fact that I didn’t have an answer.

When the questions were wrapped up, I walked out. As John rose to leave after me, he got a “thumbs up” from our First Sergeant. That meant a lot, considering he was a fair man, but expected a lot out of his charges.

What Does This Have To Do With Business?
In short, part of the success John and I had that day was that we delighted the people on that board. We gave them more than they expected, and they reacted to it very positively.  This taught me a lesson I still remember today: deliver excellence and people will respond.

While you may never be in exactly the same position I was in that day, I’ll bet you regularly have similar experiences? For example, how many times are you placed before a potential client (or a room full of potential clients) and asked to put your best foot forward in an attempt to sell them your goods or services. Or, how many times have you given a presentation to your boss or senior staff over a very important topic?

In this situation, John and I were selling the idea that I would make a good Sergeant and we did a great job convincing that board of that fact. We went out of our way and spent a great deal of time preparing for the 20 minutes or so I would be sitting in front of that board. It paid off.

Think about it:

• Do you spend time preparing for those meetings when you have to deliver to potential clients? Or – do you just throw something together at the last minute?
• Do you learn about those you will be speaking to and attempt to learn what it is they might use your goods or services for? Or, do you use the same canned presentation for every meeting?
• Do you know what problems you might be able to solve for those you meet with?
• Do you spend time preparing your team members to deliver excellent customer service?

If you answered “no” to those questions, here’s your change to rethink how you do things. Instead of delivering schlock, delight those you come in contact with. You may very well be amazed at the results.

* John later told me my answer should have been: “Of course I agree with them, Sergeant Major, I wrote them. And, I paid Sergeant Smith a handsome sum to say them.” We laugh about that even today, but I don’t think it the humor would have gone over very well on that audience.

I first wrote about how The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan “gets” social media back in 2009 after a visit there to see the “Guitar Stars and Cars” exhibition. I’ve had the opportunity to visit again a couple of times since then; most recently a couple weeks ago. This last time, I had the foresight to contact Kate Storey, Social Media Manager for The Henry Ford, ahead of time and arrange to talk with her about how they use social media to help tell the story about this unique indoor and outdoor history museum.

In this installment of the interview, Kate describes the basic strategy she and her coworkers employ to engage people about The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village*.

I’m really interested in how The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village are using social media to get the word out about this gem of history.

We’re trying to find ways to let people know about the different things happening here.

People outside the area don’t know or may not have had a chance to visit here before. Truth be told, not many people think of Detroit as a vacation destination because, unfortunately, there are a lot of bad perceptions about the area. I think that once people come to Detroit, they will see that the city itself is really a fantastic place to visit.

The people behind the @visitdetroit Twitter handle, managed by the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, have been doing a very good job and working very hard to try to change perceptions about the area and get people to come and explore. They say “We know what you’ve heard, now come to the area and give it a try. Come see it for yourself.”

Our location and our attractions are part of this as well. We hope that as people start to explore the Detroit Metro Area they will discover us and see what we have going on here. We’re using social media to give people the inside and “behind the scenes” looks.

There is such a wide range of interests here. One misperception people have is that because it’s called “The Henry Ford” that it’s either only about Henry Ford himself or it’s just about the Ford Motor Company, or all about cars. That’s not really true.

 Right, it’s not at all. it’s really about a lot of everything

Exactly. We present many other things in many different areas. But, there are many people who want to learn more about Henry Ford, the Ford Motor Company or cars. So, we do present some of that history. At the same time we want to show many different ways Americans have innovated over the years and different ways people have helped make this country great.

We hope that through social media we are sharing those stories so that people understand, for instance, we have a fantastic design collection in the Henry Ford Museum; great examples of furniture and industrial design and many other things.

And out here in Greenfield Village we have all these different buildings which tell different parts of America’s history. One can visit the Wright Brothers home and their bicycle shop where they built the first airplane. We also have Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory. Many people come here and say, “I didn’t know you had those things.” They had no idea, and either thought the buildings were still in their original locations or that they didn’t exist any more.

Henry Ford had the foresight to preserve those buildings and bring them here. We continue to keep them up and present them today in the hope that people will make those connections between the past and the present.

I know you have a blog and that you’re very active on Facebook and Twitter. We’ve conversed on Twitter many times. How do you as the social media person incorporate those things together in presenting the story? What kind of strategy do you have to spread the word out about The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village on social media? 

It’s all about conversations on social media; it’s all about making those connections with people. Our effort is really just an online version of what we do here every day. We try to connect with people and share in their passions and their excitement over a particular artifact or with a program we’ve presented. Part of my strategy is to help bring that excitement and passion online and to spark those conversations which a presenter might have here in Greenfield Village with a visitor as the person might say “I didn’t know you had this here.” Or they might say, “Tell me more about this point in history.” We’re really hoping to bring those types of conversations online and to be able to share them more broadly so more people can take part. It’s not just a one to one interaction; now it’s with everybody.

It helps us to learn as well. It helps us to understand what types of programs people would like to see or do here. Perhaps it means we should do more video content or more stories on our blog. Perhaps they would like to just have a “here’s what’s happening right this minute in Greenfield Village” kind of thing. Perhaps it’s a quick snapshot or tips about how to make your visit more interesting. We might even help people who are doing research or who are interested in trains, for instance, and they want to get a little more information. We can answer questions like “At what point were steam engines still widely in use?” We can answer many questions like that.

Part of our strategy is to help share those conversations and that excitement.

The Weaving and Pottery Shops in the Liberty Craftworks Area in Greenfield Village

 Do you have a YouTube Channel?

We do.

OK. I just haven’t seen it yet. I was just in the Glass Shop and was taking some Bloggie shots and thought to myself “They must have a YouTube channel; I just haven’t seen it yet.”

Yes, we do have a YouTube Channel. I’ve put up several videos recently about our Liberty Craftworks area. We did a 3-part video series about firing our salt kiln outside our pottery shop.

I did see the blog post about that. I was just telling my mom, “Hey, I know how that works because I read about it on their blog.”

That’s so good. Farther down in the blog post there is a link which takes you to the video where we show how it works.

I’m also getting ready to post one about the glass shop. Our glass artisans were changing out the crucibles in the glass shop. As part of that they had to remove all the molten glass which has accumulated over the past several months. It looks like lava just pouring out of it; it’s very cool looking. That will be coming soon.

Click here for the next installment in which Kate will describe how The Henry Ford’s social media efforts got started and some new things coming to the museum.

* I transcribed this from the audio I recorded of our conversation and edited for clarity and formatting.

I’m in the Detroit area visiting family this week. On Monday, my  mom wanted to pick up some lunch meat and some fresh corn. We went to Trentwood Farm Market (3 locations in the Downriver area).

Trentwood Farm Market is a little gem of a store located in what was once (for decades) an A&P grocery. In these days of one-stop shopping where the Walmart Supercenters, Super Targets, Krogers and Meijers dominate, this is a nice, little store which focuses on fresh foods and superior service.

I was quite taken aback by the smells. Next what got me was the variety of local (and not so local) goods on the shelves. It’s not laid out in a grid like a traditional grocery store, but rather in a meandering of aisles with a surprise at every turn. It looked nothing like the A&P which used to occupy the space.

The service was excellent, too. All the people working behind the meat counter were friendly and efficient. They made sure the lunch meat and cheese were sliced exactly how the customers wanted it. The people at the checkouts were also very friendly and efficient. One could even opt for paper sacks instead of the plastic ones if reusable bags weren’t brought with.

We normally shop at Walmart because it’s easy and convenient. I can see, though, where this type of store could turn into a great option for the person tired of the harried and hurried shopping experience which is prevalent today. I very much enjoyed my visit there and I hope this type of store concept takes off.

The oddest thing, too: They don’t have a web site – or at least I couldn’t find one. They must get some great word of mouth coverage because the place was packed.

Update – August 29, 2011
I was quite surprised to see this article of mine is one of the top-read items in the past several weeks and that it scored high in the SERPs on Google. I decided to google “Trentwood Farms” to investigate further and found that Trentwood Farms now has a web site. Good for them and I wish them all success.

I’m on a road trip this week, driving from Texas to Michigan.

All was going smoothly until we got to Sidney, OH. That was where we got a flat. Talk about an inconvenience.

No problem. I was wise enough to make sure the donut spare had plenty of air before we left. We exited the highway and pulled into a gas station to change the tire.

What I didn’t count on was not having a jack or a lug wrench! When I bought this car used a few months ago, I took it to a mechanic to have it checked out before I bought it. He checked it over from top to bottom and front to back and declared the car in great shape. I didn’t think, however, to check for those items under the spare tire in the trunk. Momentary panic set in.

Then I remembered we had roadside assistance coverage though our auto insurance provider. A quick call to Progressive secured the required assistance and help was soon on the way.

Now, we didn’t relish the thought of driving the last 150 miles or so of our journey going 50 miles per hour on that donut spare. It would seem we had little choice, though, this happening in a small city on a Sunday evening at 5:45. My wife suggested we look for the nearest Walmart. After all, their Tire and Lube Centers (T&LC) were open on Sundays.

I googled for the nearest Walmart on my phone and found one was nearby, just one exit up the road. I called to make sure they were open – best to be prepared (especially since up to this point I was woefully unprepared). I spoke to the Co-Manager, who told me the T&LC closed at 6:00 PM.

Well, that wasn’t going to help. I told him the situation we faced; just as an aside, actually. When he heard we were passing though on a long drive, he offered to hold the T&LC guys late to help us out. That was great, and certainly unexpected.

The truck from Bushnell’s Collision and Restoration arrived at our location 1/2 an hour before the estimated arrival time and got us on our way within 15 minutes. Of course, with the proper tools, changing a tire doesn’t take very long. Once that was done, on to Walmart.

Once we arrived, we got a new tire mounted, balanced and installed on the car in short order. The Co-Manager even stopped by to check on us. Overall, it was a great experience.

Why Am I Telling You This?
I think we can all agree that Walmart does not have the best reputation when it comes to customer service. In the “Race To The Bottom,” they are generally regarded as the forerunner. Still, even in such a large organization there can be individuals who, by their actions, make an experience for a customer a joy. This was certainly the case for my experience with the great folks at the Walmart in Sidney, Ohio.

Oh, by the way: while I was there I made sure to purchase a jack and lug wrench. I won’t be caught without those again!

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I was not paid by Progressive, Bushnell’s or Walmart in any fashion.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … . With apologies to Charles Dickens.

Vendor #1 did some work for us. It was very well done, but there was a small detail missing. The small detail probably wouldn’t have cost us much success. It may have been the result of a miscommunication on our part, but nevertheless when brought to the attention of our account manager he took immediate steps to fix the problem. No fuss, no muss, just done.

Very well done.

Vendor #2 was doing some web work for us. I gave them some instructions which would have cause some small problems down the line. I had missed a small, but rather important detail in my instructions. Nothing critical would have happened and it could have been fixed later on. Of course, it’s always best to get started on the right foot.

How did they handle it? Quite well, as a matter of fact. Instead of just going along with what I told them, they contacted me via email and explained why my instruction would not have the outcome I expected. Not only were they very gracious in their explanation, they also provided some excellent and authoritative documentation pointing out my mistake.

It’s nice to know you’ve partnered with a team you can trust to have your back.

Very well done again.

Vendor #3 does some great work for us. I had some questions about some of the work. It’s not that the work they’re doing is bad. It’s actually quite the opposite. In this case, we wanted to be able to accurately measure what’s going on so we can make better informed decisions and give them better guidance as to how they can help us going forward.

They did great accommodating us for part of our request, but for another part we seem to have a disagreement about how to go about getting to a solution. When asked questions about this via email, they go unanswered.

Not so well done.

No doubt, we can all share stories such as these. The key for us as service providers is to remember to be gracious when we are right, and when we are wrong. It benefits everyone when we put our best foot forward. As you build a relationship with your customers and partners, there will be disagreements from time to time. It’s how you handle those disagreements over the long haul which separates you out of the “Good” or “OK” groups to the “Great” group.

Don’t get me wrong: all three of these vendors do great work and (if it were strictly up to me) I’d continue to hire them to do what they do. My purpose in sharing these stories is to help remind all of us about the importance of building good relationships and the constant work which goes into doing that with excellence.