Why do some people stay longer in one company than others? In another short but meaningful episode, Ken Courtright talks about the top ten reasons why somebody stays at a company for two years or longer. When employees believe in the cause of their company, they typically stick and dedicate themselves towards growth. Ken also talks about the role of social media in marketing and giving a voice to the voiceless.
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Power Of Belonging
This is episode number 54. The title of this one is the Power of Belonging. The top ten reasons that somebody stays at a company for two years or longer, number seven is the pay. There are six reasons that are more important or significant to an individual as to why they stay at a company for more than two years. A few of them are being part of a team, having their voice heard, being respected and having their opinion matter. This sets the table for this short show. Of the top ten reasons that someone decides to stay at a company for more than two years, they’ll stay for a couple of years for a lot of different reasons, but the lifers, the people that stay, the people that have impact in that organization, state and have stated this going back about 80 years, that the seventh reason is how much they get paid.
There are six reasons that repeatedly in survey after survey, study after study, come up far more important. They’re what I call heavier. What’s heavier? How much money do people make or being part of a team? It’s being part of a team. How much money do people make or having their voices heard? It’s having their voice heard. How much money do people make or being respected? It’s being respected. How much money people make or that their opinion matters? It’s their opinion matter. How do we think about this in the world of business in 2016? How huge would it be to go into a negotiation or the close of a business deal knowing that it’s not their commission that matters in this deal if it’s a salesperson?
Social media gives voices to the previously voiceless. It allows everybody to feel part of a club or group. Click To TweetIt’s as much as it is that that sales rep feels part of his company’s team, voice is heard, respected by his boss and his peers or that his opinion matters. If you’re negotiating a deal and it’s a substantial deal, wouldn’t it make sense as the potential customer or the potential client to put into your narrative during that transaction some narration that allows the salesperson to go back to their company and feel part of a team that their voice is heard, they’re respected and their opinion matters. Maybe even allow that salesperson to have some input in that deal. It’s powerful when you understand that your mind can go from, “They just want to commission. They just want to wrap up,” to say, “No, they don’t want. Yes, they need to pay their bills but honestly, there is something much deeper at play.”
I’m going to bring back my 2016 favorite company, Toms Shoes. Toms Shoes declares they’re $2 to $4 more expensive and you can get the same shoe somewhere else for less money. They’re more expensive than any shoe company out there for a similar shoe, but you feel part of a cause, a team and a movement when you buy a pair of shoes there because you know they’re going to put a brand new pair of shoes on a kid that’s never worn shoes before. It’s lethal. Let’s think about senior homes and senior centers. What’s the overall determining factor on most senior living websites? Do they brag about, “We’re the least expensive place to put your parents or your grandparents?” No, it’s 100% centered around the narrative of the word “belonging.” Every major national senior center has the word ‘belonging’ landscaped into their webpages, their marketing and with everything.
Our world has changed and will change forever because of something called social media. Social media gives voices to the previously voiceless. Social media allows everybody of every personality type to feel part of a club or group. It allows their voice to be heard, to be respected and it proves that their opinion matters. When you are setting up your website, designing your marketing materials and describing your products and services, are you using language that shows that that potential client or customer matters, that they’re part of a club, a team or a group? I need you to consider this because the days of the four Ps. They’re pricing, positioning, placement, promoting products, are long gone. We’re in dog years. One year on the internet is seven years in business, so you’ve got to take a good look at your narrative.
Lynda.com sold to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion. Why? Lynda.com is a club of users interested in education. They pay for $9 or $39 a month to be part of this club. They can go into the archives of Lynda.com and they can communicate with people. The biggest business club, business group, and membership is LinkedIn. LinkedIn bought it for $1.5 billion to add to their club. The number seven reason that people stay at a company for two years or longer is the pay. Most marketers and advertisers are still stuck on features, benefits and pricing. If you want to build an ever-growing business in today’s environment, you may want to consider adding a fourth dimension. Your narrative skeleton might want to switch to features, benefits, pricing and membership. We have added annual events to Income Store and it sponsors a twice a year annual event that grows in size each week called Digital Footprint. We edit a podcast that grows every week.
Why did we do this? Did we want to fly our employees out and have them speak twice a year on how to build in by revenue-generating websites? Do we want to stop life in all 700 revenue-generating sites in a lurch and fly out all the major management? It’s a ten-day twice a year cataclysmic stoppage of work. Do I want to stop my life three times a week and prep podcasts? I don’t want to do it because of the time it takes to do it. I want to do it because I understand the business has shifted from people that need to know you, like you and trust you to buy something to people that need to feel part of a team, group, tribe and association that will listen to their opinion.
People have to understand that their voice will be heard, their opinion matters and they’re truly part of a club. They’ve got to be part of a club, so we did that. We changed our company completely over the last several years because people need to feel part of a team. Does your product or service allow that? Does your company have a structure that has embraced the concept of social media giving voices to the voiceless? If not, you might want to rethink some things. I want you to look around. Take a look at every major store, major company online and the largest product lines that you purchase from somewhat regularly. Dig in and see if they have any form of a group, a club or any forum that people could jump on a monthly. Even like a live group text chat sometimes has hundreds of people on it. See if they have an association attached to their name. If they do, that could be a digital footprint that you could model. I hope this helps. See you on the trail. Take care.
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