#that you thought one might be better off focusing on Ecommerce platforms and Social Media in China than on organic & paid Search (= SEO & S

[marcuspentzek-chinaguy]

[whatevernevermind]

Is SEO 2019 The Most Trending Thing Now?

Content marketing plus SEO are two frequently utilized terms and broadly discussed subjects in digital marketing. If you work in research marketing, you'll know that SMX is one of the greatest search engine marketing conferences associated with the year, covering topics which includes SEO and PPC. SEO is conducted each on-site and off-site via various resources that are the existence of your web identity associated with different social media platform plus prominent display of your home page's link on other well-reputed sites. Our unique data science-driven SEO & content marketing platform can help your eCommerce business discover millions of dollars' worth of earlier untapped organic search marketing possibilities. On the other hands, if the website doesn't make use of any digital marketing strategies or even SEO services, no one troubles to search for pages plus pages on Google just in order to find your website and check out it. Some dentists, who possess tried applying SEO, have not really been very successful in moving their website to the best of Google search engine. Just before we do, let's check away a couple essential areas regarding SEO: social media and cellular. SEO can price between $100 and $500 for each month if you do this yourself with a keyword analysis tool. This SEO manual explains acquiring links from exterior domains. Let's review the fundamentals of SEO (search engine optimization). SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is conducted on the knowning that webpages rank because associated with how relevant a webpage is usually to a search query plus how many links point in order to that webpage. Business professionals try to rely on these SEO techniques regarding optimization wishing for a larger profit. Given that research engines have complex algorithms that will power their technology and everybody's marketing needs are unique, jooxie is unable to provide specific SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION advice to our customers. We all think SEO in 2019 might find a shift to focusing a lot more on user intent, problem resolving, and hyper locality in purchase to capitalize on the ongoing rise of voice search. Private demographic information would come in a great deal handier in 2019 as significantly as the ranking of key phrases is concerned. Links are one of the particular most important SEO ranking aspects. However, more advanced that will readers will recognize the decrease quality of sites employing dark hat SEO at the cost from the reader experience, which usually will reduce the site's visitors and page rank over period. So - THERE IS SIMPLY NO BEST PRACTICE AMOUNT OF CHARACTER TYPES any SEO could lay down because exact best practice to GUARANTEE a title can display, in full in Search engines, at least, since the search little title, on every device. While getting as many pages listed in Google was historically the priority for an SEO, Search engines is now rating the high quality of pages on your own site plus the type of pages this really is indexing. Jerrika Scott, Digital Marketing Specialist in Archway Cards Ltd, also thinks in voice being the tendency of 2019 rather than 2018. Today, regardless of all the hype about whether or not SEO is dead, we discover that organic search is nevertheless one of the highest RETURN ON INVESTMENT digital marketing channels. Upon the subject of speed, in the beginning of 2017 right now there was still much resistance in order to AMP in the SEO neighborhood overall, but as we mind toward 2018 that feels in order to be dissipating now somewhat along with a reluctant acceptance that AMPLIFIER looks as though it's not really going away sooner. The biggest way that individuals misuse SEO is assuming that will it's a game or that will it's about outsmarting or deceiving the search engines. Both are crucial to the particular success of an SEO advertising campaign, but they're on completely different edges of the fence when this comes to improving your search motor rankings. Greater than 50% of mobile phone customers started using voice search correct from 2015, and so all of us can expect that in 2019 and after that not much less than 50% of searches may be in the form associated with voice search. Within the past, getting a great SEO was only about making use of keywords. Just remember that , SEO will be about targeting real people, not really only search engines. When you do these on-page plus off-page elements of SEO in least along with your competition, you can achieve higher lookup engine ranking positions in the particular organic section of search motor results pages and have the quality website capable of keeping your revenue goals. In my opinion that 2018 is going to be the particular year where voice search changes how users search and SEOs need to optimize. SEO or Search engine marketing is a term coined collectively to describe the techniques that will the website should use in order to boost its rankings on the search engine. To possess a better SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, helps your website can obtain on the top among well-known search engines like Bing plus Google. On the some other side, you can ensure a good effective content marketing campaign just when you apply the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques properly. SEO -- Search engine optimization: the procedure of making your internet site better with regard to search engines. The purpose of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION writing is to make your own company more visual, more attractive in website search engines. SEO is usually the practice of increasing the particular quantity and quality of site visitors to your website through organic and natural search engine results. 31. SEO data can notify a smart social media technique. Solid keyword & marketplace research assist SEO strategy plus allow us to supply 7 New Thoughts About SEO 2019 That Will Turn Your World Upside Down realistic projections and forecasts of opportunity inside your market. Nevertheless, when this comes to developing and performing an audio SEO strategy intended for your business, just creating content material for the keywords your clients are looking for is each arduous and, well, wrong. In this situation, in, the article ranks correct after the official Google recommendations (and it makes sense that will Google should be number one on their own branded query) but Smashing magazine is demonstrated as a position 0” little of text on the problem Google pop up guidelines” within. Search Engine Land, a top quality SEO blog this is the pillar of the community is definitely ranking after Smashing (which occurs to be associated with a style blog than an SEO one). You discuss core SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategies and tactics used in order to drive more organic search network marketing leads to a specific website or even set of websites, as properly as tactics to avoid in order to prevent penalization from search motors. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Smart links allows you in order to specify a word, like 'SEO' and then link it in order to a post on your web site. It's great for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION to feed the search motors a good amount of keyword-rich links. Sites making use of organic SEO in the strict sense is going to end up being much like organisms, meaning they will will grow, expand and adjust over time according to readers' desires. No matter the business, the age of business, or even status of competitors, every company should at least implement fundamental SEO strategies to help their own offerings get found on Search engines. So your SEO if your own thinking mobile, needs to end up being either responsive or app-store technique with the right dimensions, style, user-friendly, UX experience. Dark hat SEO methods, such because the use of keyword filling and link farming, can furthermore boost organic SEO. SEO is definitely important in every area associated with advertising, marketing, design, optimization, video clip, content, mobile and e-commerce, with regard to without SEO all is untuned in need of synchronization, such as an orchestra of musicians without a good experienced conductor. Unfortunately, 95% of links through SEO link building never provide a single new visitor in order to your website. Performing SEO upon your own websites is the great method to practice plus hone your SEO ability. We optimize your web site both of internal and exterior factors thats Google's engine believe in and reliable for top rating search result, Gurantee your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking No succeed can refundable. Looking deeper: An SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION cost often means one associated with two things: the investment within your organic search strategy, or exactly how much you pay for compensated search engine marketing (SEM) providers like Google AdWords. All of us are dealing with new methods designed to target old design SEO tactics and that concentrate around the truism that WEBSITE ‘REPUTATION' plus Plenty of WEB PAGES plus SEO equals Plenty associated with Keywords equals LOTS of Search engines traffic. BrightonSEO is a one-day search advertising conference and series of coaching courses held, unsurprisingly, in Brighton. From narrowing straight down target markets to changing the particular way content is written, AI and voice search will possess a continuous effect on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION moving forward. One aspect of SEO will be link building, which we can discuss slightly below, which usually leads to thin content. Applications for this 2018-2019 cycle of the SEO Improve programme are now closed plus will re-open again in Planting season 2019. SEO could be difficult because search engines are often reevaluating and changing how these people prioritize search engine results. Moreover, it will help SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION by gaining backlinks, likes, responses or shares. 55 The difference from SEO is many simply depicted as the distinction between paid and unpaid concern ranking searching results. I get into much more detail in SEO Titles on pages: 15-Point Checklist for B2B and B2C Brands, which explains how one can work in relevant keywords that will accurately reflect the page content material. Are good nevertheless SEO potential may be decrease when compared with single links. The training behind our SEO expertise has been developed from years and yrs of learning from mistakes marketing and advertising with our other businesses. Our own in-depth guide contains the most recent SEO best practices so a person can improve how your content appears in search results, plus get more traffic, leads, plus sales. Keyword analysis definitely belongs to the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION basics. I'll start by stating that social press and SEO are heavily linked to each other. Black head wear SEO attempts to improve ratings in ways that are disapproved of with the search engines, or even involve deception. This particular is more tedious and tasking than inorganic SEO because this particular is how all the key phrases get a full blast associated with attention. SEO: It stands for Research Engine Optimization. Within this post, we'll break this down in the complete first timers guide to SEO: what SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is, how it works, exactly what factors affect search and exactly what sorts of changes you may make today to improve your own search optimization. The no follow hyperlink has been contradicted many occasions over where SEO is included and it depends on the particular web owner concerning if they will allow them on the web site or not. The number one particular reason for using video upon your site to improve SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is to increase the quantity of time users remain upon your site. Search engine optimization had been but still is fascinating in order to me. The SEO placement intended for any size business begins along with proper web site optimization, a good excellent link building strategy plus a well planned online marketing and advertising plan. One section of focus for higher marketing and SEO performance within 2018 is the confluence associated with content, influence, and social. This can be advantageous for SEO, as it helps avoid search engine crawlers from getting confused by syntax or acceptance errors, and leads to even more accurate indexing. Stop thinking in terms associated with SEO vs. content marketing” plus start exploring how well they will perform together. (Give it a try tone of voice search using OK Google through your cell phone and inquire "What Is BlowFish SEO" ) In case all remains as it is definitely, Google will read out loud most about my company in the short to the point method, These cards are formatted in order to fit the screen of your own cell with no scrolling upward or down. Although SEO is really the time-consuming process but believes myself, if you work well along with dedication and trendy techniques, the particular combined results of on-page plus off-page SEO holds you upon the top with rank #1 for a specific search outcome. Fairly lately, I've seen a resurgence associated with on-page SEO factors making the difference searching engine rankings. Dave Gregory, Content Marketing Supervisor from the UK based overall performance marketing agency, SiteVisibility, predicts that will 2019, and not 2018, is usually going to be the true year of voice. If we consider Google's Guide then there are almost 200+ factors that lead a site in ranking, which we possess researched and clustered in twenty one On Page SEO Factors, that will needs your attention in 2019. SEO Wise Links can automatically link essential terms in your posts plus comments with corresponding posts, webpages, categories and tags on your own blog. 41. An effective sociable media strategy needs a strong SEO plan. Google does make a few of this data accessible in their own free Webmaster Tools interface (if you haven't set up a merchant account, this is a very important SEO tool both for unearthing search query data and with regard to diagnosing various technical SEO issues). AI and Tone of voice Search Impact SEO, Lets observe how voice search analytics Impact's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and can impact in the particular coming time. A great many businesses make a decision to hire external help in order to get the full benefits involving SEO, so a large component of our audience is studying how to convince their clientele that search is a good investment (and then prove it! ). Nevertheless, SEOs tend in order to prefer links higher on the page. Because your site, credited to the nature of your own business is going to end up being more image orientated than textual content heavy, you may be at a minor disadvantage when it comes in order to employing SEO techniques such while keywords, backlinking and so up. Screaming Frog SEO Index tool does it to suit your needs inside a few seconds, even regarding larger websites. SEOs also used to believe that buying links was the valid method of link developing; however, Google will now punish you for buying links within an attempt to manipulate page rank. Ultimately, achievement in SEO in 2018 plus forward will depend on generating amazing content and making this as easy as possible with regard to search engines like google in order to understand exactly what that articles is all about. Answer: When you focus about SEO for voice search a person need to create your written content around long tail keywords while people tend to use a great deal more words in voice search. SEO is the practice associated with increasing the search engine search positions of your webpages so that will they appear higher in research results, bringing more traffic in order to your website. In the particular previous example, Bob's home web page might have the title, "Bob's Soccer Store - Soccer Shoes or boots and Equipment. " The name is the most important component of SEO, since it shows the search engine exactly exactly what the page is all regarding. 47. When creating SEO articles, keep the social layer within your mind. In case you have time to get good search engine optimisation education, after that combine this knowledge with greatest practices and you are upon your way to become a good SEO expert. 46. Use SEO practices in order to optimize your social media articles. 4. Mobile SEO plus Local Business: - As all of us mentioned before, users tend in order to search for local business upon the smartphones. A lot of of these so-called 'tweaks' include advertising and link-gathering, and I actually use SEO and article advertising for that. Within 2018, your SEO success will not depend on how well a person optimize your website for Search engines. But if you're brief on money, use these diy SEO suggestions to improve your natural rankings. If you choose SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, you're helping Google's spiders in order to crawl and understand your content articles. The job of a good SEO is to manage the particular optimization of websites to make sure they gain site traffic from lookup engines such as Google and Bing. One great part of content that will ranks well within the research results is its beginner's explained SEO. SEOs plus online marketing specialists in standard who are dealing with global Blog9T websites or for online firms thinking about going international may certainly benefit from attending ISS. We might like to serve you in order to save money and your power by offering affordable SEO solutions to increase link popularity. Work the key word into the SEO page name, content header, image, image betagt text, etc. SEO equipment provide position monitoring, deep key phrase research, and crawling through personalized reports and analytics. Certainly, white hat SEO always integrated creating high quality, unique content material as a prerequisite for acquiring long-term quality results, this truth hasn't changed. Beyond compensated and organic, there are some other types of SEO and expertise and niches within search motor marketing. Right now there are a few fundamentals that will can help boost the technique, but SEO, or seo, will be hardly ever considered. While employing the services of a great SEO agency can get a person good marketing copy for the particular website and an effective make use of of the related keywords, getting a brilliantly designed website will certainly help a lot when this comes to attracting people plus even the search engines in order to your website. You are able to get into important SEO-related data like the particular page title, description, and key phrases for every page or a person can have the system immediately populate this data depending upon a document name or some other fields. SEO has become broadly adopted as an online advertising strategy due to its effectiveness. Creating high-quality content along with SEO in your mind through the beginning boosts search presence. In contrast, dark hat SEO is about attempting to take shortcuts and video game search engines. You may also use Google Analytics in order to find SEO keywords for content material optimization. Keyword research is the particular process SEOs value to discover what search queries consumers get into into a search engine with regard to a given topic. Within today's rapidly shifting world, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques can change on the dime—and the worst part is usually that you might not actually know it. Hacks that can have won you a front-page result as recently as 2016 are not only obsolete today, but they may even harm your website's rankings. But definitely, the acronym many people ask about is SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, or search engine optimization. Between this plus 2017's Best SEO Campaign honor from the UK Search Honours, it's clear the world is definitely starting to recognize Elephate because one of the most reliable SEO and Content Marketing companies in Europe. To understand how SEO functions to improve search rankings, we will have to break it straight down a little. Whichever way you choose in order to categorize keywords, one of the particular most important steps in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION does keyword research. Some illustrations of White Hat SEO consist of optimizing META tags, putting key phrases in URLs, submitting sites in order to directories, making sitemaps, obtaining hyperlinks on related sites, and generating keyword-optimized content. An SEO Executive optimizes web sites to generate them show up increased on search engines like search engines and gain more website site visitors. Nevertheless, the brand-new trend in SEO is ideal for long-tail keywords and even more conversational searches. SEO is the great marketing tool for the particular websites promoting their businesses on-line. Still, the keyword factor of SEO is becoming progressively difficult with Google Adwords concealing volume data. Making use of advanced Search engines semantic search algorithms, we link the gap between old college SEO and the new content material marketing. Tug has been appointed specifically to roll out a multi-lingual internet marketing campaign using its experience in international SEO and PAY-PER-CLICK. There is definitely no magic wand in your own hands to regulate or manage your competitors' strategies or administration, Google analytics update, or client's behavior communicate business but a person can manage your SEO. In this particular new environment, the digital internet marketer who views SEO in the broader context will surely come out there ahead of the competition within 2018 and beyond. Good SEO textbooks explain in detail how greatest to use keywords and exactly how to structure your entire web site to attract the attention associated with search engine spiders and associated with human visitors, and a posting such as this cannot perform the topic justice. While businesses begin on an SEO advertising marketing campaign, they should realize that a good entire marketing campaign can drop flat on its face in case a business is unable in order to reach the masses, that is usually, their target audience. If your own pages were designed to obtain the most out of Search engines, with commonly known and right now outdated SEO techniques chances are usually Google has identified this plus is throttling your rankings within some way. Several business people find keeping upward with the "moving target" associated with SEO distracts them from every day priorities more than they actually imagined, so it's good in order to appear closely at what can make sense for every business. The program process for the SocialSEO Electronic Marketing and SEO Scholarship is usually done 100% electronically and needs the next list of materials. All of us wished to look at a large group that included businesses of just about all sizes and in all sectors so we could really notice how SEO traffic increased whenever the only common denominator was incorporating reviews to their site. In reality, this is area of the SEO technique we have used to continuously grow our organic traffic throughout the last 12 months right here at SnapApp: #3. Mobile can account for 72% of ALL OF US digital ad spend by 2019. This workshop will be designed to help business proprietors implement Digital Marketing techniques intended for their business including social press, organic SEO as well since paid channels. The Beginner's Guide in order to SEO continues to be study over 3 million times plus offers comprehensive information you require to get on the road to professional quality Search Motor Optimization, or SEO. Whether it's using web analytics for carrying out research or even conversion tools that monitor plus report the usage of essential keywords, SEO agencies know exactly how and where you can obtain the information they need in order to save time furthermore decrease your in-house price. Right now there is probably no more simple strategy for SEO than the particular integration of internal links directly into your site - it is definitely an easy way to increase traffic to individual pages, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Consult says. SEO SERVICES Presently there are a number of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services which can help enhance the organic search engine ratings of a website.

[ebizworldwide]

How to Create Stellar Marketing on a Small Business Budget

Small companies are frequently strapped for cash and also time. With numerous areas of business defending interest, it's very easy to see exactly how sales and procedures-- things that are crucial to keeping business to life-- have the tendency to take priority. This normally presses marketing demands to a perpetual last position.

While you might see no instant repercussions for waiting to focus on marketing, you will certainly additionally proceed seeing mediocre results. A well-planned advertising and marketing approach drives brand name understanding, thoughtful material and also successfully includes worth across a number of segments of your business.

Although you cannot keep an eye on shut advertising offers, you can track email click-throughs, acquisitions made from social, SMS or e-mail communication, made media get to, in addition to other electronic advertising efforts that make shutting sales bargains easier.

If you're searching for methods to begin your advertising plans, utilize these three very easy actions to help get the round rolling.

1. Get Started

It could occasionally be paralyzing to create an advertising and marketing plan when you're fretted about all the relocating items. Focusing on the nice-to-haves and the must-haves will certainly produce a beginning factor for implementation. Slowly marking off one activity each time turns the overwhelming task of doing every little thing into the capability to at least do something.

Start by thinking about how each of the complying with influences your sales capacity and begin with the activities that will certainly move the most leads with the sales cycle. These jobs might include, starting an e-mail advertising project, revitalizing your internet site for much better Search Engine Optimization, optimizing it for mobile, content creation for your blog site or partner blogs, engaging your target market through social media, display or retargeting advertisements or a wide variety of various other electronic activities.

Getting started can feel like the hardest component, however marketing shouldn't be marked down because it could effectively drive sales.

2. Find a Partner

There is most likely one more local business that specializes in each advertising location that you need assist with. Instead compared to spend your useful time discovering the best ways to implement each area of advertising and marketing, most likely at a sub-optimum level, it can be handy to deal with experts.

For instance, at SimpleRelevance we make sending tailored e-mail simple. A quick integration with an email provider and also an eCommerce platform, as well as the information does the help you. No time at all invested deliberating client accounts to create one-off personalized messages, sending out the exact same email to a whole list, or worse, falling short to send out e-mail totally. Partnering with someone that concentrates on a specific advertising ability gets the work done much faster and also most likely produces greater top quality outcomes.

3. Utilize Tools

Tools for every location of advertising could be discovered online or in app form. For instance, Hootsuite can be made use of for social media surveillance or posting. Publishing numerous items of content for the entire day or week can minimize some of the pressure of always being on Twitter. Involving your audience as they react will certainly be a better usage of your time. There are likewise devices as well as how-to video clips for Search Engine Optimization, like BoostSuite.

Finally Google Warns proves to be fantastic for keeping an eye on information within your industry as well as for keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing. Making use of terms like "web marketing," "digital advertising and marketing," e-mail marketing," as well as others help us remain on top of the current electronic trends.

These are simply few ways small businesses can begin concentrating on advertising with little spending plan or time. This is by no suggests a replacement for a well thought out advertising and marketing strategy, yet these ideas should get you began proactively thinking of marketing as a piece of the total job strategy.

Do you have any kind of various other tips that small companies can make use of to develop a stellar advertising and marketing campaign on a budget? Leave them in the comments!

[wsiestrategies10]

How to Optimize Your Digital Presence During COVID-19

Adapt Your SEO Approach and Content Marketing Strategy

Consumer trust in governments and large brands has been on the decline for some time now, not just after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. A recent report by McKinsey & Company shows how COVID-19 is and will continue to affect consumer behavior, stating that, “Consumers across countries will remain hesitant to return to international travel, large public gatherings, and trips to the mall once the effects of COVID-19 decrease. Across most countries, consumers say they will increase online shopping. Overall, consumers intend to continue some of the digital and low-touch activities they have adopted during the pandemic.”

With continuing lockdown and physical distancing measures in place, most people are more likely to trust the recommendations of friends and family, while also feeling more inclined to support local businesses. Whether you are a local, national, or international business, you need to re-establish customer trust through a strong, credible, and customer-centric brand presence.

While digital marketing and its cornerstones of SEO and content marketing are still your best chance, your approach and your messaging may need to change suitably in the current scenario.To do this, it’s important to recognize that a contact-free economy is here to stay.

During and post COVID-19, we will continue to see an increase in online inquiries and purchases for both goods and services.

Consumers are adapting quickly to the new normal and in some cases, prefer the shift.

Consumers still expect their needs to be met by their favourite businesses and brands.

Never has digital marketing become more necessary or relevant to consumers. Customers are increasingly shifting their buying activity towards online options, and brands need to be present if they expect to survive. Is your digital presence optimized for profitability and growth in this next normal?

As businesses work to remain top of mind with their customers throughout this pandemic, maintaining a strong digital presence through SEO and content marketing could be one of the most important steps you take. If you are a brick and mortar business, you may be slowly re-opening amid strong physical distancing restrictions that limit your ability to generate higher sales volumes. How long can you keep the lights on if revenues don’t bounce back?

Why Should Your Brand Care About SEO During and After COVID-19?

If your business has survived on traditional marketing in the pre-COVID-19 era, that’s miraculous. No kidding, but it’s time to make a change! So, for those of you who are not familiar, we’ll take a moment to explain…

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content (i.e.: web pages, videos, blogs) so that a search engine (Google or Bing) wants to show your webpages at the top of the SERP(search engine results page) for searches of a certain keyword or key phrase.

So, why is SEO critical for your business right now?

Here’s some food for thought:

According to Google Trends, the search term “SEO” and related SEO search terms have seen a spike in recent weeks.

People are searching online more than they ever have before.

SEO-focused content is the most cost-effective and direct path to maintaining your business during economic downtimes.

Foreseeing the Future of Search Now & Post COVID-19

Here are the most significant trends we notice:

Ecommerce sites selling essentials are up in traffic.

Health & Wellness sites are exploding.

Travel websites are all over the place.

Publisher websites are in high demand.

Restaurants and retail are having to pivot.

Volatility is present in almost all websites.

Traditional business leads are slowing down.

What Can Smart Business Owners Do Now?

Monitor consumer patterns and behaviors: It’s crucial to monitor customer conversations to have a clear understanding of how their habits are evolving, how their interactions with your brand are shifting, and where your brand can meet their changing needs. Looking at your analytics data is so important right now. Use the data to make smart decisions. Also look at your competitor. Follow them. Now might be a good time to invest in a competitive business analysis to see how your competition is pivoting and selling.Ask questions! Use social surveys, email marketing surveys etc.… and get the information you need. Your local WSI consultant in the Ottawa area can help you craft a plan.

Strive for expertise, authoritativeness, and trust (E.A.T): Google doesn’t want to serve up links to pages that share uneducated advice, opinions, or potentially fraudulent information or websites. To rank well on Google, you need to nurture your brand by building its expertise, authority, and trustworthiness — which is exactly what E-A-T stands for!

Show Expertise: This begins with keyword research and understanding the searchers’ intent behind the keywords you discover. Don’t forget your brands. Brands that are searched for by name often own top positions for keywords. Find out what questions your customers are asking that are relevant to their needs now and craft content that answers those questions.

Show Authority: Still a fundamental, backlinks from High Authority sites shows Google you’re producing original and compelling content.

Show Trust: Positive reviews, site security (SSL Certificate), website is associated with a location, privacy andcookie policies, CMS updates, are just a few examples of trust building elements in your digital presence.

Proactively manage your web presence: A strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can help you direct more high-quality traffic to your website, but to do so, you need to manage and control the narrative on your channels.

Ownedmedia are channels you created and/or control. This could be your website, company blog, YouTube channel or even your Facebook and other social media pages.

Earnedmedia is when customers, the press, and the public share your content, speak about your brand via word of mouth, and otherwise discuss your brand.  In other words, the mentions are “earned,” meaning they are voluntarily given by others. Albeit hard to control, it’s your responsibility to try and shape this perception to be strong and positive.

Paidmedia is when you pay to leverage a third-party channel, such as sponsorships and advertising on third-party sites.

Audit your upcoming content campaigns: It’s okay to take a second look. In fact, you must!

If you or your marketing agency had designed and built out campaigns at the start of the year for every quarter, it’s important to re-evaluate.

Buying patterns and trends have changed. Digital marketing needs a new approach with tools, technologies and tactics that are relevant and effective in this new normal. Talk to us at WSI eStrategies—we have a pulse on what works and what doesn’t.

Take stock of the keywords you are currently targeting: Your products, your service, and the way you deliver them might have changed. Possibly, so have the search terms being used by your customers.Smart business owners and marketers are foreseeing what terms, questions and platforms are trending. Remember, many of these search terms may not exist yet in Google’s database. You need to be proactive and ensure your content is ready and optimized to take advantage of this new search traffic when it takes off.

Ensure your mobile presence is exceptional: Consumers today demand a seamless and fast mobile experience. To thrive online, everything you do should be done for mobile-first.

Focus on the user experience of your customers: When we talk user experience, we often talk about site navigation, clear calls to action, accessible forms, and anything that can help improve conversion. Although these factors are all still applicable today, we need to consider our current state and provide a different user experience that is reflective of the care, concern, understanding and empathy your organization is showing towards your customers during these difficult times. For example, your branded, gated content that previously may have required sign-ups, subscriptions, and memberships, can now be made available to all users. You stand a better chance at converting new customers than of losing existing ones!

Narrow your focus. Think about what you have that your customers need right now and speak directly to those needs front and centre on your website.

Don’t squeeze!Move from hard selling to soft selling. Focus less on the product or service you’re offering, and more on what it can do for your customer.

Make customer service easily accessible.  Phone numbers email addresses, hours, instructions for pick up or delivery should be quickly discoverable.

Give assurances: Show that you can deliver, even if it’s slower than usual. Stand behind the products/services you’re offering and let customers know you’re following your country’s public health guidelines.

Want to discuss your optimization strategy and find out which short-term and long-term SEO tactics you should be using? Rely on the experts at WSI eStrategies in Ottawa. Book a discovery meetingand learn how we can help optimize your digital presence during COVID-19, and beyond.

Original Source: https://wsiestrategies.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-digital-presence-during-covid-19/

[brianobrienny]

How Your Small Business Can Improve SEO with Content Marketing

As a small business, your content strategy is the key to getting yourself seen. It drives traffic to your site, increases conversions, and strengthens your brand.

Creating blogs that rank, and rank well, isn’t easy — but it’s not impossible.

Read on to discover how to write and rank content that customers and search engines will love, and build your brand community in the process.

Quick Takeaways:

Speak directly to the area and community in which you do business. Create content specific to them.

Don’t focus on text length for SEO. Figure out what works best for you and your readers.

Keep your content fresh, current, and relevant.

Enhance the visibility of your images in organic search with image SEO.

Optimize your blog posts for featured snippets. These can give you quick wins (and traffic) from the SERPs.

Fuel Your SEO With Pure-Value Content Marketing

A study conducted by Moz showed that higher traffic and greater levels of engagement correlate to improved search engine rankings. So regardless of a site’s traffic sources, the more you can improve its visibility, the better it may perform in Google search.

For most professionals engaged in SEO, regular blogging and content marketing has become best practice. However, many SEO-driven content marketing strategies are too focused on keywords and search engine manipulation. To cultivate greater success with content marketing, put human-centric, thought leadership content on the forefront.

What defines “pure-value content?” From a search-first content marketing perspective, instead of writing generic, keyword-optimized articles on topics like How to Hire an ‘Atlanta DUI Lawyer’, a pure-value approach would sound more like Can You Beat DUI Conviction in Georgia?

In essence, you can still make the content keyword-relevant and optimized for SEO, but with an emphasis on being more educational, informative, and solution-oriented. Whether as a video, in-depth article, or infographic, a pure-value piece of content on such a legal topic will most certainly address a common question among many individuals. Further, such content will have greater potential to drive traffic and enduring levels of engagement.

Find the Optimum Length for Your Content

The perfect blog post length is a controversial topic. I’ve done my fair share of guest posting, and I’ve seen guidelines specifying everything from 500 to 2500 words minimum.

Unfortunately, regularly churning out 2500 word, high-quality blog posts is too demanding for most small businesses. Instead, shoot for around 1000 words. This gives you the scope to create a quality blog post, and won’t eat into too much of your time.

The more words, the better of course. But if you can’t manage more, don’t obsess over it. Aim for no less than 500 words as a minimum, and your content will still be readable and rankable.

It’s worth mentioning your title length here too. A clickable blog title drives traffic (e.g. “10 SEO Trends You Need To Know In 2019”), which in turn signals to search engines that it’s worth ranking. Your titles should also be between 50-60 characters long to display fully on SERPs.

Remember, your title tags, meta description, and URL all play a part in improving your content SEO. If that sounds daunting, don’t be put off. The Yoast plugin for WordPress makes it easy to optimize your tags and descriptions with intelligent keyword planning.

Plus, as WordPress integrates with most reliable online store creators, you can start optimizing your blog’s SERP data with whichever ecommerce platform you use. It’s a versatile blogging solution that makes it easy for small businesses to enhance their SEO, perfect for novices or experts.

1000 words is a good rule of thumb, but don’t sweat it too much. Quality is important, and an amazing 500 word blog post is better than a terrible 2500 word one. And don’t be afraid of bulking it out with some images and video either — it’s great for your readers, and great for your SEO too.

Embrace Local SEO

Local SEO is your small business’s secret weapon in the battle of the SERPs. It’s vital in a mobile-first market and will both net you sales and drive traffic.

Of course, local SEO won’t work for every small biz. If you own an online store and your customers come from all over the globe, locality won’t necessarily affect your sales. But for those small businesses that deal with face-to-face transactions, local SEO is an absolute must.

Beyond optimizing your website for local SEO, you should create a blog content strategy that addresses and explores local issues. When you write about regional places and events, search engines pick up on it and increase your ranking in local search queries.

Identify the local keywords that relate to your small biz: your state, town or city, even your borough or street. Next, pick out local issues such as cultural events or news and write blogs about them.

Increase Visibility & Interaction With Social Media Advertising

Even for the businesses and brands with thousands of social media followers, there’s significant value in leveraging social media advertising on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. On these social media platforms, you can get exposure in front of new audiences based on specific interests and pyschographics, demographics, and geographics.

Using on the latter DUI example, an attorney could advertise its content on How Beat DUI Charges in Georgia by targeting individuals located in Atlanta between the ages of 18-45. Not only can the criminal defense lawyer earn new social media followers in the process, but he could drive in-market traffic to his website.

In addition to improving site traffic and engagement, the piece of content can rack-up social signals (i.e. tweets, likes, +1’s, shares, etc.) While Google has yet to confirm any influence of social signals over its rankings, countless search marketers will debate that social signals do have a positive impact on SEO and higher rankings.

This may or may not be a result of the content earning links naturally as result of its popularity on social media platforms. Or it could be an emerging and unannounced ranking signal that has yet to come to publicized. Regardless, social media can dramatically help start-jump SEO, especially when drive by pure-value content marketing and strategic utilization of social advertising platforms.

Keep Generating New Topic Ideas

Struggling for inspiration for a blog post that ranks? Thankfully, there’s a number of useful tools to help you identify relevant blog post topics to write about that let you search for current popular content based on your business keywords and identify trending topics related to your industry.

Simply use these trending topics as inspiration for your own strategy, and you’ll have superb blog content that your customers — and the search engines — will love.

The key to a successful ranking blog strategy is fresh and current content. Update yours regularly with content that addresses trending events and issues. It’s good for your SEO, great for your customers, and it positions your small business as modern and relevant too.

Image SEO Is a Thing

Did you know that the images and videos that you use in your blogs also affect your SEO? Last year, Google updated its image search function, including providing the option to filter results by theme.

For example, an image search for “cats” could be further sorted by categories such as: anime, baby, kitten, white, wallpaper, and so on. Consequently, those blogs that contain search engine optimized-images will be favored by Google’s crawlers.

Beyond that, having images or video in your blog increases your reader’s time on site, and generally enhances their experience of your website. Choose high-quality images and optimize their alt tags with relevant keywords. And avoid massive photos that take too long to load which will negatively impact your SEO.

It goes without saying that original photos will always trump generic stock photos. But as a small biz owner, finding the time to take high-quality original snaps is tricky. So while generic stock photos are a no-no, there are some websites that offer quality free images for download that actually look and feel unique. Use a free online photo editor to give them a creative spin and truly make them your own.

Make the Most of Featured Snippets

Google is increasingly keeping its users on the SERPs through the use of featured snippets. These are the text boxes that appear at the top of results pages, answering queries and often preventing people from clicking through to a website.

For small businesses, this is both good and bad. In many cases, a searcher might get the answer they need and not visit your website as a result. But savvy businesses use featured snippets to pique their visitor’s interest, compelling them to click through.

As with most things, it’s better to swim with the tide than against it, so it’s important that you optimize your blog content for these snippets where appropriate.

If you’re writing a blog that answers a query (think evergreen content and essential guides), make it high-quality and comprehensive. Maybe that’s a given, but you should also format it in a way that works for Google. This is a multi-pronged task, so find out exactly what this entails here.

Over to You

Your small business’s content strategy is a core path to online success. Simply writing blog posts isn’t enough — you have to play the SEO game to get them ranking on the SERPs. Follow these tips for how to write and rank small business content , and you’ll have high-quality optimized content in no time.

What are your tips for creating rankable small business content? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Blog Your Way to #1: How to Write & Rank Small Business Content appeared first on B Squared Media.

The post How Your Small Business Can Improve SEO with Content Marketing appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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[marcuspentzek-chinaguy]

Online Marketing for Yoga Equipment in China - Baidu Search or Tmall & WeChat?

🇨🇳 #ecommerce #socialmedia #search #SEO 

Maybe some of you remember that I asked in summer for some B2C topics, that you thought one might be better off focusing on Ecommerce platforms and Social Media in China than on organic & paid Search (= SEO & SEA)?

Well, I have been a little busy - so I couldn't follow up in time.

But I finally did look at some numbers. Spoiler Moonie Zhu - you were right: There is so much more to gain on E-commerce platforms and Social Media in (for this) B2C topic.

But there is also a little twist to this story - in the end.

Let me summarize the numbers for you:

I looked at around 3,300 keywords from the Yoga industry.

I gathered them using some different tools (including Searchmetrics of course - but some others as well) plus some input from my friends Jademond Digital.

For you to better understand them, I auto-translated them using Google Translate (you'll see that in one column in the screenshots).

For those Chinese keywords I got the Baidu Search Volume from Baidu Keyword Planner, the monthly searches of China's biggest ecommerce platform Taobao / Tmall and the monthly Wechat Index numbers to cover the most important Chinese Social Media app. I could have surely added some more values like those of other ecommerce platforms and further Social Media channels - but I think for this quick view, that should be enough.

In the first three screenshots you can see the top keywords by Search Volume (for Wechat the Monthly Index) in descending order for those three platforms.

I color marked transactional keywords in green and informational keywords in blue (if the search intent is mixed, it would be green for transactional).

The most important takeaway for every B2C sales strategy is, that Wechat is the most impirtant channel, followed by Taobao / Tmall and then Baidu Search.

- Wechat: 120 Million

- Taobao/Tmall: 34 Million

- Baidu Search: 319 Thousand

So definitely any company wanting to sell Yoga equipment like Yoga Mats, Yoga Leggins, Yoga Balls, ... should get on WeChat for reach (and maybe open a Wechat store as well) and onto the ecommerce platforms for sales.

But does that mean, that Organic Search on traditional search platforms like Baidu Search should be neglected? 

Well, I looked at some further numbers:

I (auto)translated the same 3.3K keywords into English and into German.

I checked the Google Search Volumes for (English) for US, UK and Australia.

I checked the Google Search Volumes for (German) for Germany and Austria.

Given that apart from Social Media and Ecommerce (Amazon, Ebay,...) Google Search is still an important channel for B2C companies in the west, I figured it might be worth comparing the Chinese search numbers to those western search numbers.

Without having confirmed with any Yoga supplies trader in the west, I do believe, that SEO / organic search traffic is one important traffic channel for many to sell their goods (if you work for such a company - please comment below, if I am right or totally off track).

Here are my findings (last screenshot):

in UK there are 47% more people searching for Yoga topics on Google than in China on Baidu

in US there are 617% more people searching for Yoga topics on Google than in China on Baidu

in Australia there are 20% less people searching for Yoga topics on Google than in China on Baidu

in Germany it is about the same amount of people searching for Yoga topics on Google like in China on Baidu

in Austria there are 87% less people searching for Yoga topics on Google than in China on Baidu

While most of these numbers show, that there is so much more demand on traditional search in the West compared to China, we can also see that in Germany the amount of people is even the same as in China. Sure, in China there are massivly more people living than in Germany, which makes the people searching on Baidu for Yoga just 0.03% of the population, while in Germany it is 0.4% of the population. But still there are traders selling Yoga equipment to people in Germany and earning quite some good money from that.

Now - my take on this:

YES, it definitely makes a lot of sense to focus on Social Media and Ecommere platforms first, when trying to sell Yoga equipment in China.

But leaving the sales potential of Germany untouched in China, because not paying attention to Baidu SEO and Baidu PPC, is something I would like to reconsider. Sure, the percentages of the revenue on Tmall might be much higher - but the money one can earn through an own ecommerce platform (or through redirecting visitors from the website to Tmall) in the same amount one could reach in Germany (and more than one could reach in Australia and Austria) would make this strategy worth for me trying as well.

Now many people might want to say, that much search volume for Baidu / Google search lies in informational search queries. While this might be true - to me as a full time SEO consultant, helping with SEO strategies for many Google-SEO and some Baidu-SEO clients, it is important to not only target those transactional keywords that lead to a sale right away. It is even more important to build a holistic search strategy for exposing the Brand to as many people as possible - to help a brand becoming an important brand in the heads of the people, to attract people to visiting the website, understanding the brands philosophy, learning new stuff, facts and tips and tricks from you as a brand, for them to remember who made them know more about their favourite topic. So hell yeah - it does make sense to produce a traditional Yoga guide with nice imagery, videos, ... (could all be reused for Social Media) do a Beer Yoga special (maybe not trendy and strange enough for becoming viral - but maybe Baby Yoga? StarWars Yoga? Space Yoga? Qigong Yoga combination? ...).

Looking forward to your take.

Cover Image Credit: Dall-E Mini

[netstripes]

3 Email Marketing Tools To Help Grow Your Business

Email marketing is a powerful tool in any internet marketing strategy. Years ago, it was the only digital marketing tool available for businesses and bloggers, and now, it plays an essential role when pursuing current and potential leads for brands.

When compared to the ‘fun’ social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook, email marketing is often considered a mundane form of communication. However, ask any digital marketer and they’ll tell you that building your email marketing campaign should be top priority from day one.

Nevertheless, using email marketing requires a lot of tasks to manage such as:

Managing subscriptions of your clients

Sending planned emails to your potential customers

Sending out follow up emails

Sending out personalised emails

This can be a very overwhelming, especially for a small business that might not have a lot of employees, or none at all. That’s why email marketing services, also known as marketing automation tools or system, have become valuable for businesses to manage their email lists in a convenient and process driven way.

What To Look For In A Good Email Marketing Tool or System?

A good email marketing tool should enable you to create engaging email newsletters with an easy to use interface in addition, you should be able to easily manage contacts, experiment with A/B testing (testing two versions to see which gives a better result), email segmentation and track the performance of each campaign. All these features can create opportunities to find new leads and convert them into customers, as well as manage your relationship with existing customers.

Having said that, here’s a quick look at some of the most popular email marketing tools and how they can help you.

1. MailChimp

MailChimp is one of the more popular email marketing tools in the world, primarily because they offer predesigned templates and a free service plan. It is relatively user-friendly but when compared to several other email marketing tools, they offer less in the way of automation options. You can easily integrate MailChimp with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and many other ecommerce platforms, ideal if you are running an online store.

While the lifetime free plan sounds amazing, there are strings attached. The free option only allows you to send 12,000 emails for up to 2,000 subscribers. This plan also omits key features like send-time optimization, advanced targeting, multi-variant testing etc. you are also obligated to display their branding in all your emails.

Last but not least, support for the free plan is restricted to emails, and that’s definitely not okay if you plan on building a business. Their paid plans start from $10 per month for up to 500 subscribers, and then increases with every 500 subscribers.

Some of MailChip’s main features include: Customization – Use predesigned template or customise your own email from scratch. Integration – Integrate your email campaigns with shopping carts and customer relationship management CRM systems. Mobile Distribution – Use Email Beamer (an email that connects to custom audiences in Mail Chimp) to send a campaign from any email app or your smartphone, without having to log in to MailChimp. Facebook Integration – Use Facebook to make connections, add fans, and get the word out about your newsletter.

2. Campaign Monitor

A highly regarded home-grown Aussie business, Campaign Monitor is widely used by leading companies in Australia as well as overseas. The email service has a pretty simple interface that is easy to navigate, and features like a drag-and-drop email builder and pre-designed templates to help create emails.

You can also personalise and segment email campaigns to send focused emails and track results. The service also provides a full analytics suite to track campaign performance, ideal if you’re sending out multiple email campaigns weekly.

Campaign Monitor offers three service packages with the basic package starting at $9 per month. However, the basic package only allows 2,500 emails per month (the other two are unlimited) and doesn’t include the analytics suite or marketing automations. Something to note is if you don’t plan on sending email frequently, they do provide the option of paying per campaign. Additionally, Campaign Monitor offers 15% off on their service packages to non-profit businesses.

Some of Campaign Monitor’s main features include: Drag and Drop Email Builder – Choose a predesigned template and easily edit it with one click. A/B Split Testing – Test different subject lines and messages to fine-tune your campaigns. Contact Segmentation – Build targeted segments and create campaigns tailored to individual needs. Security – Grow and store your lists in a secure, permission-based environment. Social Media Integration – Promote your campaigns on social media sites. Insights Analytics Suite –You’ll get insights on how to improve your campaign strategy. The suite includes geography, acquisition and engagement per campaign. Sign Up Forms – Build your email list with pop up registration forms on your website. Support – The service offers fee personal coaching and support by phone, and email.

3. Infusionsoft

Better suited for experienced marketers, Infusionsoft is an advanced marketing automation service that provides an integrated CRM system and intuitive interface. Like the other two services listed, Infusionsoft offers the option to choose predesigned templates or design your own emails. However, when compared to the other services, it is definitely not cheap.

The basic package which only provides users with marketing automations and CRM services starts at $99 per month, and as your contacts grow, so will your monthly fee. Integrating an e-commerce portal or trying to manage a sales pipeline will cost an additional $118 per month.

If you can look past the hefty fees, Infusionsoft does offer quite a lot of features, but another downside is that because of its numerous features, users need to invest a large chunk of time to learn how to use it properly to make the most of it. There is a basic training panel that you can browse through for guidance and video tutorials, but if you’ve never used an email marketing tool before, you will need some time to work it out.

Some of Infusionsoft’s Main Features Include: CRM – Managing your leads information is relatively easy although it requires quite a bit of scrolling through a small window. Marketing Automation – create segmented campaigns, landing pages and web forms, integrate social media platforms and track website visitors. Lead Scoring – Lead scoring and distribution tools make it possible for businesses to identify “hot” leads and improve overall productivity through visual lead scoring. Sales Automation – Along with pipeline management, lead scoring and distribution, there’s also sales reports on key performance metrics such as conversion rates and revenue. This makes it easier to understand where campaigns have been successful and where they are under-performing. Analytics Suite – Track and export campaign data to review performances. Support – The quick service offers which offers support by phone, email, and live chat.

Final thoughts There are dozens of email marketing services out there, and they’re all packed with different features that can help you to optimise your email campaigns. If you are not sure which one will work best with your business needs or which price plan to start with first, book a free 1-on-1 digital growth advisory session with our digital specialists to find an email marketing tool that suits you and your business needs.

[seo75074]

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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This transcript is sponsored by our transcript partner – Rev – Get $10 off your first order

John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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This transcript is sponsored by our transcript partner – Rev – Get $10 off your first order

John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And this allows you to easily turn this information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email auto responders that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships, they’ve got a really fun series callKlaviyo’s Beyond Black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun. Quick lessons, just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondbf. Beyond Black Friday.

Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

http://bit.ly/2HpwSkI

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Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention

Transcript of The Benefits of Giving Intentional Attention written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Back to Podcast

Transcript

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John Jantsch: This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo’s a platform the helps growth focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook, and Instagram marketing.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, my guest today is Neen James. She is a leadership expert and author about a book we’re going to talk about today, Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability. So, Neen, welcome to the show!

Neen James: G’Day. What a treat it is to get to serve you and your listeners today.

John Jantsch:  So, attention is hard. I’m really tired of paying attention, and all I really want to pay attention to is my mobile phone.

Neen James: Well, you’re not on your own there. The trend has been escalating. Think about it. Like no one really wants to pay attention. I mean, we get told from kids, John. Our parents say, pay attention. Our teachers tell us to pay attention. We’re so tired of people telling us to pay attention. And in our very destructive world right now, there are so many things the want our attention. And I think attention is a choice, and it’s a hard one.

John Jantsch: Well, let’s flip this around. Because you say attention pays. If we’re not paying attention, what is the cost?

Neen James: Think about … Let’s talk about your cell phone for a second. I don’t known if you know this, but nine people die every day because of distracted dying. Like people would rather update their Facebook status than they would pay attention to the road. I mean, you’ve seen it. People in car parks trying to park their car and still be on their phone with it like in the crook of their neck, which is crazy town. So the cost-

John Jantsch: Well, I ride my bike to work most days, and so I’m really watching out for those folks.

Neen James: Yeah, and have you noticed, like the people who don’t see you are often trying to send the message or look down at their phone. I’m astounded at just that. So from a cost of like, let’s get super serious, like human lives, basically. That’s one cost of it. But I think as marketers, we have to think about the fact, you know, you said in one of your great episodes, about one of the trends being for 2019 that really attention is an important thing, right? We’ve been very focused on the attraction strategy, but retention strategies. What it costs us as marketers, as business owners, as, you know, people in the organization is it costs us clients. They may not tell us that we’re not seeing them, that we’re not hearing them. They might just decide to leave us and not tell us why. And so they think there’s real business costs when we don’t pay attention to the customers that we serve.

It costs us from an employee turnover point of view, if you have team members who don’t feel like you see them, if you don’t hear them. That you don’t value them. Those employees go somewhere else, and so I think there’s so many costs in business that it’s kind of astounding when you start to get into the numbers. Not to mention just lost productivity, ’cause we’re all over the place, and not focusing on anything.

John Jantsch: Well I guess maybe I should back up a minute. Maybe to help define what you mean by attention.

Neen James: Mmm. Good question. My belief is that we want to pay intentional attention. That’s making a conscious choice of where our attention goes instead of an unconscious choice. It’s about being very deliberate in the way that we’re paying attention, instead of being distracted. And it’s also about making sure that we’re looking for opportunities for our attention to be, let’s say, more transformational instead of transactional. I think we often pay attention unconsciously, John. You know, we think we’re paying attention, but we’re not. We think if we sort of look at someone, and maybe be on our cell phone on the same time that they think we’re paying attention to them, but we’re not. So for me, attention kind of shows up in three ways. What I found when I was researching my book, that I really group it into three areas. We pay attention three ways. One is personally. And this is kind of, when you think about who deserves your attention. This is about being thoughtful with your attention.

The second way we pay attention is professionally, which is really about what deserves your attention, and that’s about being productive. And then the third way we pay attention is globally. This is really how we pay attention in the world. And it’s about being responsible. So if you think about attention in these three ways: personally, professionally, and globally, it’s about who deserves your attention, what deserves your attention, and how you’re paying attention in the world. I really think attention is a deliberate, conscious choice. Not just a transaction.

John Jantsch: So one of the things that I’ve struggled with, and I know a lot of people have, is we now have the ability to connect with so many more people, even on a surface level, then we ever did before. And you and I are in a group, a Facebook group, and there’s a whole bunch of great, really smart people in that group that I’d like to pay more attention to, but how do you kind of reconcile that we probably only pay attention to about 100 people?

Neen James: And I love that number. I feel like these days there are so many different ways that we’re asked to pay attention. Not just in the lives that we live, with the people that … The teams we serve, the people we share our homes with, the communities, the churches, temples, wherever you spend your time. But there’s the whole commitment to social media and digital communications. And emails that are coming in, and meetings we’re asked to be a part of. And so when you think about social media and groups for example, one of the most powerful things about these groups is that they create this sense of community for people that in our case, John, you and I spend our lives on planes. That’s what we do. We’re in planes, airports, convention centers, hotels. And there’s something lovely about the opportunity that in this group that you’re a part of, we can say, “Hey, I’m going to be in Orlando this week, is there anyone around?” And you get the opportunity to connect with people.

So I think it does give a tool to connect. And I think that that is an initial touchpoint for connection and attention. But the real attention is often paid when you get the opportunity to share a meal with someone. Or have a coffee or have a phone call. And I think we have to take some of those digital forms of attention and go back to some analog forms. You know, these days a phone call is considered a personal touch. That’s amazing to me. I mean, we use our phone for everything but making calls, right? And so I think what we have to do is think about … That goes back to that personal attention, John. Get really clear on who deserves your attention. You know, I work with a lot of corporate clients, and one thing I hear many of them say is, Neen, there’s never enough hours in the day. Or they say, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first. And they work so hard to create this lifestyle for people they love.

And yet, they’re not giving the people that really adore them their undivided attention when they get home. And they’re often exhausted and distracted and checking their email, and overwhelmed. And yet, if I ask so many of the people that are my clients, they’d say that the reason they work is to support the people they love. So I think we really have to get back to what’s super important to us, and who’s super important to us. If you can manage 100 relationships, that’s amazing. I think we can only have a handful of really quality relationships, and then we just have all of these other people that are kind of on the perimeters.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I’m actually kind of an introvert. I’m fine with two or three people. But I had to come up with a number, so.

Neen James: My honey is also an introvert. And you know, he … Think about networking, John. You go into these events. People like me, I’m an extreme extrovert. And I go in and go, Oh my God! There’s people to play with. Yay! And my husband would rather have a root canal. Like that is just not his idea of fun. But one’s not better than the other; they’re just different. What I notice is he has really quality conversations, and he’s great at spending his attention on just a few people, as opposed to some of us, like me, where we can go to all of these different conversations. But I have to really learn from him in focus even harder on how can I have more quality conversations, as opposed to quantity of conversations.

John Jantsch: So this is a good segue to something I’ve heard you talk about, but also is in the book. And this idea of, and I’m gonna just let you explain it. Listen with your eyes.

Neen James: Oh, the wisdom of my friend. So, you know, I was sitting in the kitchen of my next door neighbor’s house. Her name’s Eileen. She has a five year old called Donovan. And he and I were in this heated debate about who was cooler, you know, was it Superman or was it Batman. So clearly with a five year old, this is an important world conversation. And Eileen and I were just trying to have a cup of coffee. And he kept inserting himself into our conversation, John. Asking me all these questions. And I thought I was answering him, but he got so frustrated with me, he jumped into my lap, he grabbed my face, in his tiny little hands, he turned it towards him, and he said, “Neen. Listen with your eyes.” John, he was five. I mean, I was schooled by a child. And yet, that wisdom of that child has been a constant reminder to me that we don’t just listen with our ears, we listen with our eyes. We listen with our heart. We listen with our soul.

And you know, I believe the reason I do so much of this work, and I think it’s true for many people, whether they are a CMO in an organization or a marketer in a nonprofit, or you know, whether you’re running your own company, everyone wants to be seen and heard, and that’s the basis of so much of my work, is I just want more people to feel seen and heard. And if we can constantly remember to listen with our eyes, I think we increase our attention exponentially.

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Yeah, I know in my own experience, particularly … And I think it’s particularly true of the people you’re the closest with. I mean, if I really want to engage my wife, I do that. I not only listen to her, but I’m very intently drawn in, and lean in, and listen with almost your whole body.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: And I think the person receiving that can really feel it too, can’t they?

Neen James: Oh my goodness. And I think that also requires, John. It’s that deliberate choice you’ve made, right? You’ve made it a conscious choice. And I also think sometimes in order for us to pay attention, we have to eliminate the distractions. And for some people, that’s our cell phones. So let’s put it away and just have a conversation. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, she and I joke, we have no photos together. Because often we catch up, our phones are in our bag. We don’t even think to grab our cell phones. We’re having such a great time just catching up. We don’t take the selfie. We don’t always capture the moment. But we have this database of memories together, and I find that really fascinating. You know, nowadays people say, “Well, if they didn’t take a photo, it’s not on social media. It didn’t happen.” And yet, think about some of these crazy, wonderful conversations you and your wife have. Chances are they’re not on social media.

John Jantsch: Yep. Oh, I guarantee. So, you mentioned already, intentional attention. And you actually map out an entire model for that. So what does that look like?

Neen James:  Yeah, intentional attention, if you think about it. It’s not just trying to be a kind of clever play on words. Although, you know, I do like that it kind of ended up that way. This is going back to what we were talking about with really thinking about those deliberate choices that we make. And being very much … Instead of being distracted, we’re being very deliberate. Instead of it just being a transaction, it’s about being really transformational. But I think we need … It starts with the choices we make, right? So the model is very much about choose consciously. Invest transformationally. And act deliberately. That’s what I think intentional attention’s about. So it’s really the choices we make, the actions we take. And you know, where are you investing your time, your attention, and your energy?

If I look at someone’s calendar, John, it gives me a really great snapshot into what they think is important in their life. Because we’re going to invest the time in the things we think are important. The people we think are important. If I look at someone’s home screen on their phone, it gives me an indication of what sort of apps do they like spending all their time on? And so I think when it comes to being intentional with our attention, it all starts with the choices that we make, and the actions that we take in order to truly to make a greater impact on the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, and I guess I would say it’s really easy to get sucked away from the stuff that is meaningful to you. So you know, you talk about the calendar, you know, sometimes what happens is it just gets filled up with, I don’t know, I’ll call it crap.

Neen James: Yeah.

John Jantsch: So part of this intentional idea to me is that you have to look at that, go, oh, wait, wait. You know? How have I gone wrong here.

Neen James: And honey, I think it’s something we have to do all the time. It’s not like we can wake up in the morning, go today, I’m gonna be intentional. And then, you know, I’d love it if it were that simple. But I think what’s happening is, there are so many things that are vying for our attention. And when you think about the profession of marketing, we want people’s attention. We have to be able to not only grab it, but we have to be able to keep it. And so I think this choice that we need to make is a regular choice throughout the day. Yesterday there was a conversation on social media where someone was trying to engage me with a conversation that was not going to necessarily help advance my goals for the year.

And it would have been very easy to go down the rabbit hole of the conversations. It ended up a post that was across multiple groups, involved my industry. And at one point I stopped myself and thought, why on Earth would I engage in this conversation? It doesn’t help me advance my goals for this year. It’s not going to support the community. It’s certainly not going to advance my message. So I had to just make the choice to not get involved in the conversation. And I think it comes down to the simplicity of saying no, but finding ways to say no nicely. I had to say no to myself. Like that’s just not an area you need to play in. And there’s some ways you can do that. Like, technology’s not the enemy of our attention. I think we are. We’re the ones who choose to be on our phones. We’re the ones who choose to go to those websites. We’re the ones who choose to go to all the meetings.

We have to say, you know, this is not gonna help advance my goals. So that might mean turn your phone off, or put it away. It might mean declining a meeting that is just a regular meeting that you’re not adding value to. It might mean saying no to some social obligations that really don’t advance where you want to be and the relationships that you have. And so I think we need to say no to more things, John. So we can really say yes to what deserves our attention.

John Jantsch: So I think everyone have a personal brand. Some people are more aware of it than others. And you write it about it in the book. Is attention, or your ability to give attention, an attribute of a personal brand?

Neen James: Oh, you better believe it. You know, think about it. When you think about the people you work with. You know some people who are kind of famous. We know them amongst our circles, where they have this wonderful ability to really focus in on what you’re doing and who you are and to be able to have a great conversation with you. People like Michael Barber is brilliant at this. Michael Porter’s fantastic at this. There are people in our lives where when they’re with you, you are their focus. And that is part of the brand. But we also know people who are notorious for running late, for always being on their phone. For not replying to emails. You know, those type of things in our personal brand is something that’s always on show.

And our personal brand is something that people talk about, whether we’re in the room or not. And so the way you pay attention in conversations, online, to your physical presence. The way you walk into a room, the way you hold yourself. The way you hold a conversation. These are all things that people are paying attention to as well. And so if you want to enhance your personal brand, become someone who is known to listen with your eyes, to respond, and to give undivided attention to people. Because I promise it will increase your communication skills. But it will also increase the impact of your personal brand. When you walk into a room, walk into a room like you look like you want to be there, and you want to see those people. Instead of having your beautiful face down in your phone, and people can’t see who you are and what you want to do in the world.

John Jantsch: Yeah, I mean what’s interesting is as I hear you describe that, you’re mostly talking about giving attention, but in a way that actually ultimately gets you attention, doesn’t it?

Neen James: Yes, and I think you have to give attention to get attention. But not in a manipulative way. Here’s what I mean by that. Say for example, you and your wife are sitting there having a conversation. And you’re giving her your undivided attention, she’s going to want to reciprocate that and have that great conversation and continue that with you. I’m hoping. And so you know, you’re giving that attention because you also want to be able to be in conversation with her and get her attention as well. As marketers, I think we have to think about this as well. In order for us to give the attention that our existing clients want, we need to make sure they realize that they’re important to us. That they’re special, instead of always just chasing after the new client.

You talked about this in one of your episodes on retention. You know, Seth Golden talked the you on one of the episodes you did about the way that we’re going to be judged by the way that we treat people’s attention. And I think we have to give attention to people in order for us to also deserve the attention. And so as marketers we have to think about well, who are the people that we want to just say thank you for your business? Who are the people who we want to stay connected with? And then who are the people we believe would benefit from what we do? And start to follow what they need, instead of selling at them, and marketing at them, have more of a listen and a conversation that is curious and find out more about them, so that you can then apply your messaging in a very targeted way, very custom, so they feel like you see them and you hear them. I believe we do need to give attention. But that we get great attention in return when we give first.

John Jantsch: You have a fun little tool on your website, the resources for the book, called a distraction questionnaire. And I think everybody should get it, and it’s three pages. And you just look at the categories of sort of distraction, and ask people about do you expect immediate response to your emails? I think it’s really good sort of evaluation to go through.

Neen James: Thank you. If people go to neenjames, backslash, forward slash, which slash is it John? I think it’s forward slash, right? Neenjames/extras. And I can give you the details, obviously, for the show notes. So people can download some of those resources.

John Jantsch: That’s one of my favorites. So where can people find out more about your work and acquire a copy of Attention Pays?

Neen James: Well, the great thing for me is there’s only one Neen James online, so I’m very spoiled in that regard. So it’s kind of a marketer’s dream. So if you just go to neenjames, N-E-E-N-J-A-M-E-S.com, you will find I’m the only one. So you can follow my adventures on Instagram, you can have a look on my website, and Attention Pays will be sold wherever your favorite books are sold. So I would love people to help me out. I’d love to start an attention revolution, John. I’d love to start this moment where this year people chose very deliberately to be intentional with their attention. And to truly listen with their eyes.

John Jantsch: Awesome, well I’m on board. So …

Neen James: Yay, thank you!

John Jantsch: So Neen, thanks for joining us today. And hopefully we’ll bump into you soon enough out there on the road.

Neen James: It was a privilege. Thank you for all you do in the world. I love what you’re doing.

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