I often cannot get from our bathroom to my office without getting 3 new things to do, one of which I will forget by the time I sit down. Then I remember them in bed at night.

Following up with people you want to get to know just makes sense. You will find people actually thank you, because they were meaning to get back to you but kept pushing it off.

Try it today. Go back to your emails you sent three months ago and follow up with three of those people you have not talked to lately. I am fairly sure you will get a pleasant surprise.

Get Everyone Buzzing

January 26, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I am posting this email with permission.

It is the result of one of the members of an organization really taking up the Buzz Philosophy after one of our presentations and spreading success stories everyone can tell. We just did a luncheon with them a few days ago. He sent this out company wide.

To all:

Several of us attended a meeting earlier this week hosted by one of our newest clients “Buzzoodle”. The general purpose behind the marketing strategy that this client is trying to implement is to get their clients to get all of their employees engaged in creating a “Buzz” about where they work. The buzz is then transferred outside of the workplace so that it creates greater sales leads to people and businesses that would never otherwise be reached.

One idea that we came up with for us at MSA is to more openly communicate our successes and positive client interactions so that everyone can be aware of the positive “buzz” that is happening all around us everyday. We tend to focus on the negative and the problems and take the successes for granted as just a part of our job.

In order to start what will hopefully be several positive e-mails of client success, I will share one that just happened this week.

Without boring you with the details, Chad and I were able to save a client $100,000 in tax by converting what on the surface was a typical ordinary income transaction into a capital gain. There was much outside the box thinking and having to sell the idea on both sides of the transaction to structure the deal in a way to achieve this end. But we did it and we have a very happy client!!!!!!!!!

The thinking behind making this happen goes back to my first week on the job here at MSA, when Dave Myers told me, we earn our living by finding ways to eliminate tax, defer tax or reduce tax for our clients. Ever since then, for me, the culture here has always been to think outside the box to try to make our clients tax burden less, so they can achieve and grow more. This is what we do every day, the problem is we don’t share these stories and we take these successes for granted.

Here’s to many more “buzz” stories the rest of tax season!!!!!!!

Joel
Joel C. Hamsher, CPA, MT
Moore Stephens Apple
Principal

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

January 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I mentioned a while back I am working with my 8 year old on a project on the side. I have not mentioned it here yet in detail because it was just too early stage. Last night we got a call that she is going to be getting a lot of news coverage, and if I do not talk about it today, I will get scooped on my own story.

I am an entrepreneur because I like trying to create remarkable things. I like the challenge and I am not afraid to take risks and take responsibility.

My wife and I home school for the same reason.

This year’s homework assignment for our “would be” 3rd grader? Build a million dollar company.

Actually, it was her idea. She wants a horse and I told her when she could buy it and pay for the upkeep, she could get one. (I know, I am a bad man)

She came to me a while back wanting to sell horse pens, pencils and notebooks online. I told her it would be hard to make a profit on just that, but she should think about other cool products she would love to have and come back with some ideas.

She came back with a long list of things to make her room a stunning horse room, to have a horse club and she wanted to have all different themes so kids that liked other types of animals could do the same thing.

That is not the buzz yet!

We then knew there would be challenges with her having a business. I do not have time to do it for her, so we came up with the idea that a board of directors, all between the age of 8 and 12, would run the for-profit company. The board would not get paid, but would get stock options.

The entire thing is going to be transparent so other kids (and maybe some adults) will learn things about starting a company. We are video taping the meetings, we are posting financial online, we are recognizing people that are involved…

To raise start up funds, she offered board seats for sale. $20,000 each. It can be from the family or from a corporate sponsor.

Now with Venture Capital help, top legal and accounting help, and cities vying to be where Kids Roar opens its offices, the buzz is on.

About two weeks ago, Alexandra (The Chairkid of the Board) said she would like to go to the Business Woman’s Conference this year. Because there is a mention of cocktails, I thought it best to call and see if there was an age requirement.

Now she is helping promote the conference and is getting a lot of press, so here is the premature post about Kids Roar (It is kidsroar.biz which may be a problem in the future but the kids make the decisions, so we will see.)

LONG story short. Creating a new manufacturing company is not remarkable. Putting a bunch of Kids in charge of it is. Having everything transparent is. Letting them publicly succeed and fail is. Letting kids write a corporate website is. Creating tomorrow’s top leaders is.

Can you tell I am having fun?

It nearly got very messy

January 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I just received a phone call from someone I have never met. He started out this way:

“My name is Josh from Company ABC. I was searching around on Buzz Marketing and came across the Buzzoodle Buzz Blog and I nearly crapped my pants…..”

Luckily for me, that was a good thing and he likes it. Maybe if I try a bit harder I can get someone to call up and say they had to go home and change.

Kidding aside, Josh is visiting North East Ohio this week and we are getting together to discuss partnership possibilities. I will write more on this after I meet him tomorrow.

When someone else tells your story

January 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I love to hear someone else tell our story. Mike Sansone does a great job at writing and detective work to uncover the very secret way that I met David Lorenzo a while back, and how we have both benefited from the meeting.

Thanks to David for pointing it out to me so quickly.

It really all came about because he and I share a passion for careers and word of mouth (buzz). If you blog about your passions, other people with a similar interest will find you.

Successful People and Buzz

January 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Ron Finklestein has a good post on the six behavioral traits of successful people.

Being successful with buzz has some of those same characteristics.

Success and Silence

January 23, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Today I did a presentation at a large accounting firm about buzz.

Very early in the presentation I asked them a simple question: “What are your success stories?”

I did not get a response. So I gave them some of my own examples, and asked again. We finally got people talking and a few of them shared their stories.

This is a hugely successful firm that saves people millions all the time, but did not know what their successes were.

One of the partners after the presentation said, “You nailed it when you asked that question. We do not know enough about our own successes to be able to tell others.”

One of the keys to creating more buzz with your employees and your existing customers is to celebrate your successes on a regular basis. Make people aware of those things that go above and beyond the norm. Make sure everyone knows what makes you remarkable and encourage them to tell more people.

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