I’ve been neglecting the blog the last few days, but I’ve got some posts lined up for next week that should make up for it! In the mean time, click over to The Daily Muse to view my latest post, “What to Look for in a First Job“. I’ve written a few pieces for The Daily Muse, and you can view them in the education and career sections of the site. The Daily Muse offers great articles, advice, and perspective for young female professionals, so I encourage you to read through the posts by the other talented writers!
Category: Work and Office
Play Nice With Others
My parents taught me to play nice with others, and I kind of feel like Business school is also about teaching us how to play nice with others in the office. Particularly, playing nice with the other functional business areas in the office. It goes like this:
Engineers: “We’re the most important, you wouldn’t have anything to tell customers about if we didn’t design it!”
Marketers: “We’re the most important, because engineers wouldn’t know what to design if we hadn’t given them the market needs analysis, and sales people would have no cohesive message and brand image to share with customers!”
Sales: “We’re the most important, because we actually get people to buy the stuff! We bring in all the money, so your design and message are worthless if you don’t have sales to make people spend money!”
Accounting: “We’re the most important, because we actually collect the money from the customers, and keep track of how all much profit we make!”
Engineers: “Yeah, and how’d you get all the software that lets you do that stuff, huh?”
Marketers…. sales… you see where this is going. I’ve figured out that it pays to play nice with the other business people. Here’s why I play nice!
Engineers/Programmers: These days, businesses use websites to market their products and enhance their brand identity. Personally, I’m not a whiz at websites, so I need to make sure that I’m on good terms with my programmer. I found out just how helpful he could be during our last website go live! He was helping me fix things on-the-fly, and he’s since helped me manage the more information and formatting on the website. I’ve also found that you’ll get much more realistic timelines and budgets if you are open to discussing the project with the engineers, rather than sending them a list of requirements and deadlines. The open communication and understanding that things may take longer or cost more is helpful in long-run planning.
Sales: Sales people are my direct link to the customer, so if I want to obtain strong market data, the sales people are a good place to start. They talk to customers all the time, so I’m constantly picking their brains about praise for the company, complaints about the products or services, and other general market information. Are customers busy or slow? Which magazines are they reading these days? Sales people take the message to the customer, so you want to make sure that you’re using their insight to present a cohesive brand image to your market.
Accounting: If the invoices aren’t paid, my ads don’t run. And, if my ads don’t run, I can’t stay top-of-mind for my customers. If they don’t pay the bill on my corporate card, I can’t book exhibit space for our tradeshow, and we end up stuck in a poor location because we registered late. In addition to the bill-pay function, I’ve found the accounting department to be a wealth of information about customer acquisition costs, customer profitability, and finding places to cut waste from our marketing budget. I’m not really a numbers person, but I’m figuring out that all those numbers the accountants have are really valuable pieces of information to help me improve my marketing strategies.
So, who’s most important out of all the business functions? I think the TEAM is most important, and a cohesive environment where all the functions play nice together. After all, if I take my toys and go home, how will the engineers know what to design? How will the sales people have a cohesive message? How will accountants have profits to post? It’s important to have a marketer in the sandbox 🙂
Contributor: The Daily Muse
I’m excited to be contributing at The Daily Muse today! My piece talks about extreme behaviors to avoid, so click over to read my take on balancing extreme behavior.
The Daily Muse is a great new site that explores all facets of building and maintaining a career, and I highly recommend browsing around the articles. Some of my favorites include handling criticism at work, working with a boss of a different gender, and motivating your team.
Being Ready to Take the Opportunity
I’ve been thinking about career trajectories a lot recently, and memories of my college jobs re-surfaced. The most random job interview popped into my head, and inspired my post about being ready to take an opportunity. I had just moved back to Texas, and I was working as a waitress. I was getting pretty sick of the waitress gig, and I’d told my parents that I was ready to start job hunting again. Then, I started apartment hunting, and my mom joined me for some Saturday tours. While viewing the apartment that I ultimately rented, my mom says, “You know, Ashley, you could do this job. You could be a leasing agent. You should ask her (the leasing agent) about it.” I was not dressed for an interview, and I thought it might be a little awkward to ask the leasing agent if I could interview for her job. After some whispering to my mom about these thoughts, my mom just asked the leasing agent, “You don’t happen to be hiring do you? My daughter would be great at this job.” Surprisingly, the leasing agent replied, “Actually, YES, we really need someone right now. I would LOVE to have someone else in the office, we’re slammed. The manager is downstairs, I’ll tell her you want to talk to her about a job.” Wait a minute, I’m not dressed properly! Wait a minute, I don’t have a copy of my resume! Wait a minute, my mom is here, you can’t go to a job interview and bring your mom! Wait…
The leasing agent told the manager that I was looking for both an apartment and a job, and sent me in to speak with her about 5 minutes later. After apologizing for my lack of professional clothes and resume, I ended up having a great interview with the manager. She suggested that I return the following day with a resume, and ended up hiring me the next day! To this day, she’s a great reference and mentor, and she still laughs about how she took a chance on the girl with no leasing experience, who interviewed in shorts and a tank top.
I tell this story to say that you should always be ready to take the opportunity. Maybe you’re not in your best interview suit, with a nice resume ready to hand out. But, maybe you’ve got the right skills at the right time. Maybe you’re exactly the kind of person they’re looking for, the kind of person who can make a good impression on someone without the mask we all wear during a “formal” interview. Do you have your elevator pitch down, so that when you happen to run into someone with connections, you can speak to your abilities? Do you have a professional email address and your personal voicemail set up in a way that conveys your professional abilities? As career-oriented people, I think we need to make sure that we’re “ready” at all times. This doesn’t mean going to the gym in a three-piece suit, just in case your boss’ boss shows up, and you don’t have to whip out a current copy of your resume every time you step into Starbucks. Being ready is about your attitude, and your willingness to pursue an opportunity when it arises… even if it arises outside your “business hours.” I’ve had several opportunities presented at a time when it wasn’t convenient for me, but I took action and had success.
Phone Voice
I received a voicemail from a representative at another company, and it prompted this post on some tips for voicemails and “phone voice”. I’m not sure if you all know about phone voice, but my mom, sister, and I joke about it, since it’s difficult for people to tell which of us they’re speaking to. Particularly when my sister and I both lived at home, even my dad would sometimes say, “Hi….[awkward pause as he tries to guess who answered]…. Ashley?” Most people sound a little different when speaking on the phone, but that doesn’t change the “rules” from a face-to-face conversation.
Speak slowly! The person who left the voicemail talked so FAST! Now, I can fast-talk with the best of them, and I’m generally a pretty fast listener. But, my goodness, this person gave me a run for my money. It’s imperative to speak slower for voicemails and phone conversations, since cell reception and background noise are much more prevalent during a phone conversation. I know I’m guilty of just tuning out of a voicemail if I have to strain to understand it, so don’t make your recipient work so hard. Also, when leaving the phone number, make sure to pause between the area code and the number, to give your recipient time to write it down. I generally say numbers as follows: (123) PAUSE 456 PAUSE 7890.
Leave contact info. It sounds silly, but there are plenty of people who don’t properly identify themselves or leave their contact information. I’ve gotten messages that state, “Please give me a call. Thanks”. But… wait, how do I call you? These days, people could have a different extension than what the caller ID shows, or their cell phone number might show up as “unavailable” or “unknown”. Don’t assume the caller ID will be sufficient, leave the best number to call, and make sure you state your name and company clearly.
Professional voicemail. If you’re calling on behalf of your company, make sure that your voicemail box is set up and accepting messages for the return phone call from your recipient. Your company voicemail should clearly state your name, and if necessary, give your cell phone number or an alternate contact in case of emergency. I also recommend a professional tone on your personal voicemail, just in case. Similar to the issues with a professional email address, you don’t want clients, customers, or potential employers to think you’re immature or unprofessional due to your voicemail.
After a few listens too many, I managed to write down my contact’s name, number, and company, but I had to work to get it. Make it easy on people, and speak slowly, clearly, and professionally when calling and leaving voicemails.
Running in the Background
When you’re passionate about a subject, you’ve always got topics related to that subject running in the background of your mind. I’m not sure if this is the best way to explain it, but that’s how I feel when I’ve got something on my mind constantly, even if it’s not at the forefront of my thinking. I personally feel like the “background” is often the most productive place for a problem to reside in my brain, as everything that touches my brain also touches the background topic. I think the background provides the “aha” moments in the shower, or the random connection that something provides. Some examples of how I let things run in the background? Let’s take a look into how my brain works.
I received a proposal from one of my colleagues for a TV show titled, “The World’s Greatest”. I’m pretty biased against using mass media to promote our services, as we’re in a very niche industry. I gave my gut reaction as, “This doesn’t seem like a good fit, but I’ll do more research.” For some reason, this proposal was running in the background of my mind, and every so often, something would trigger the, “nope, still not a good fit” reaction. Here’s where the connections get a little funny, but totally useful: last night’s dinner recipe called for vidalia onions… vidalia chop wizard…. “as seen on TV” store…. neon green boxes on packaging stating, “as seen on TV”…. suddenly our products are going out with these little neon boxes promoting our TV status, and our print ads are over-taken by cheesy headlines proclaiming, “We’re the world’s greatest, are you?” The colleague’s main point in sending the proposal to me, was that we might be able to build a whole marketing campaign around the fact that we were on the show, and we’d have more exposure than we’d have via print ads. The above connection ramblings showed me that I didn’t like the idea because it seemed cheesy, and hard to market without our current forms of advertising. And, our current forms of advertising are much more targeted than the mass media show. In an industry that requires rifles, this shotgun approach just wasn’t a fit.
The whole premise of running in the background, is letting our minds make connections at will, versus trying to force the greatest idea out of ourselves immediately. I’ve talked before about making random connections in my discussion of the book, “The Medici Effect”, and I’ve determined that for me, this works best when I let things run in the background. I’ve been analyzing my good ideas recently, and noticing that letting my mind traipse around the subject has been much more beneficial than staring at my computer screen until the idea “pops” into my head. Also, it makes perfect, logical sense, but clearly, the things I’m most passionate about get the most time to wander around my brain. Thus, I think passion is a strong component of a successful employee. I remember a colleague at a former company telling me that he used to intentionally shut down any thoughts related to work outside of business hours, because he didn’t want to devote any more mental space, time, or energy to helping the company succeed, since he was miserable and under-paid. What a sad (and in this case, unfortunately true) sentiment! Some of my best work happens outside of business hours, as my mind just naturally courses over topics that run in the background. This blog and my pursuit of the MBA have been excellent facilitators in creating more topics for my mind to consider, and I’m excited to keep exploring everything that is running in the background.
Are you using your background effectively? Are you passionate enough that your brain just runs through ideas in the idle times?
Noticing and Immersion
Hello from Atlanta, GA! I’ll be here the next few days for a presentation and training session with our sales team, and I’m excited to kick off the week with the first presentation about our new Customer Relationship Management system. On the plane ride here, I noticed three little letters etched into the interior glass, “PMA”. “PMA” doesn’t mean much to those outside the industry, but it’s a pivotal point in our value proposition. Essentially, we offer “generics” for a lower cost in the aviation industry, similar to generic drugs. Sometimes we get push-back that generic parts aren’t up to the same standards as their branded counterparts, so it’s a little humorous to see, first-hand, that the commercial jets are displaying their use of generics. I never would’ve noticed that or thought any of it if I wasn’t in the industry. I’m finding that I start noticing planes and engines much more now that I work in aviation.
This happened with solar panels and electricity bills when I was doing marketing for a solar company. Suddenly, a lot of houses in our neighborhood had solar, and our electric bills were much more interesting. I’d end up in random conversations explaining the tiered billing system in different states, and talking about the differences between solar arrays.
I really enjoy this stage of knowledge, where I start to notice connections to my day job in everyday life. I think it’s kind of fun to be immersed in a subject, and randomly discuss the subject with non-industry people. When I realize I’m noticing things, it’s a clue that I’m getting some fluency in the area. As I don’t have formal training in either solar or aviation, the learning curve feels pretty steep, and sometimes, endless. Seeing those three letters on the interior glass made me a little happy to know that I’ve got a piece of knowledge that most of the passengers don’t have. And, I can explain the importance of this knowledge if asked. I’m excited about the meetings this week, and I think noticing something related to our value proposition was a perfect start!
Acronyms and Industries
I learned something new in class last night… apparently, in some industries, CRM means “Customer Returned Material”. Essentially, a customer is returning some material that you sold them because it is broken for some reason. I learned this from a classmate who is an engineer, and we were discussing projects at work. I mentioned that I was working on a big CRM project, and he replied, “Oh, so lots of customer returned material?” Wait, what? Clearly, we’re not on the same page, as I think CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management”. I’m wondering if there are other meanings for CRM that a marketer and an engineer wouldn’t know? This happens a lot across industries, so I’m interested to hear if any of you have acronym mix-up stories to share!
The Right Tools
Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft
T-shirt: Target
Necklace/Earrings/Belt: Forever 21
Shoes: Sam and Libby, via DSW
Like the outfit? See more details here!
These photos were taken after a long day at work and class. When I asked my husband to snap a few pictures of my outfit, he went into photographer mode, and ended up pulling out his fancy studio lights because the “natural” light from the overhead fixture made the photos look terrible. He also switched out his lenses and played with different flash diffusers. How did he end up getting a few decent photos? He used the right tools! There have been several personal and professional situations recently that have further re-enforced my belief that success is partially dependent on the right tools.
Be selective. We’re working on a huge CRM project at my company, and there’s a lot of features of the system that we just won’t use. There’s a lot of phrases and headers that we haven’t defined, so they haven’t been used in the past. Basically, we’ve got this huge tool that we’re not using effectively because it’s not the right tool for our job yet. Sometimes it seems like having all the tools that anyone, anywhere, could ever need is the perfect way to ensure that you have the right tools for your job. I think this is incorrect, and that often times a select number of the most heavily used tools will serve you better. Think about how much time you have to spend organizing and sifting through all the extra tools that you have, when all you really need is one specific tool. In our case, we don’t need to move inventory through the same sales cycle as service events. Thus, we are better served by eliminating the excess menus, phrases, screens, and keystrokes than we are by keeping tons of unused tools around “just in case”. Be selective in which tools you choose to keep handy!
Know the job, know your audience. I’m an avid scrapbooker (when I’m not in school, of course!), so I’ve accumulated a lot of tools and tricks to use with those tools that help me make my designs “better”. I found out just how much my designs are based on my use of tools when I’ve agreed to create scrapbooks for other people to put pictures in later. Basically, I have to remember that other people don’t have the same tools that I have, so my design can’t be dependent on use of the fancy tools. The same is true in business. You’ve got to know the job and design the solution in such way that special tools aren’t necessary for people to implement the solution. If you require that they use special tools, you may be complicating the job to the point that it can’t be accomplished. For our CRM project, I’m working with our sales team and management team to find out exactly what information they need, and what tactics they can use to retrieve this information. If I just went in and designed it from my own perspective, I would be giving them a tool they couldn’t use.
My husband knew which tools to use to make these photos better… do you know which tools you need to make your business better? Like the outfit? Like the outfit? See more details here!
Am I a Bright Girl?
This is another post that’s been sitting in the queue, unpublished. In my continuing effort to have transparency and credibility on the blog, it’s finally coming out to the world! Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of articles about pay equity and glass ceilings for women. When I first started noticing these articles, I generally brushed them off as, “This doesn’t happen any more, women can definitely rise to the top without a problem!” But, the more I read, the more I started looking at myself, and noticing that I display some of the traits mentioned in the articles. This post is not about “discrimination”, but about self-reflection, and realizing that if you don’t at least consider the issues at hand, you might be part of the problem. So, which issues really hit home for me?
Women are too nice. Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois Frankel is on my to-read list, as every article that mentions this book seems to hit home for me. Basically, Frankel argues that being “nice” won’t help you get the corner office. She’s not talking about common courtesy, but rather the niceness that comes across as weak or less than confident. The day I realized I might be too nice: I was writing a bullet point list of action items that needed to be completed in order for me to submit a large purchase order. I’d already written, “please” in the instructions. I then proceeded to write “please” in front of every single bullet point! Now, I know that saying “please” is generally a good way to do business, but before every sentence on a bullet point list? People don’t have time to read all those extra words, and I’d already set the tone of polite but necessary at the top of the form, so there was no need to write “please” 10 additional times!
Women don’t ask. I’m coming to realize that I need to work on my negotiation skills for myself. I tend to do well when negotiating on behalf of the business, but poorly when it comes to myself. This article talks about negotiating first salaries, and many of the articles I’ve read discuss negotiating raises. Study after study shows that women leave money on the table at every stage of their career, and that most assume, “My performance speaks for itself, my bosses will give me a raise because they know I deserve it for all my hard work and achievements.” This really hit home for me, because every time I think about my review, I think about my achievements as either “standard” for my job, meaning they don’t equal a raise, or I think my bosses will get angry at me for asking for a raise. See point #1 about being too nice… I don’t want to hurt the working relationship by asking for a raise, and thus, I’ve now failed on two of the points that contribute to hitting the glass ceiling. I need to “man up” about negotiating for myself!
Women give up too quickly. This article discusses a point that slaps me in the face daily: women are too quick to give up if a task is difficult for them. The article cites a study showing that women are just as capable as men, but we’ve been taught to believe that abilities are innate. Thus, if something is difficult, we can’t change it, learn it, or overcome it, because our abilities just are what they are. Young girls are praised for being “good” or “smart”, while young boys are told, “If you just focus, you can do it. If you just worked harder, you could solve this problem.” I think back on my school years, and that’s the truth. I was always just smart, plain and simple, smart. It wasn’t that I’d studied hard or paid attention in class, I just WAS. My husband has actually been a big part of me realizing that I have the ability to do it, and “smarts” have little to do with my ability to accomplish a task. Particularly regarding technical acumen, he’s always trying to teach me how to do it, instead of just doing it for me (he’s a software engineer by trade, so manipulating WordPress is a walk in the park for him). I think I’m actually making progress toward overcoming this trait, as I’ve started to fiddle around in the code when I need to change something on the blog (note to the engineers, I recognize that WordPress doesn’t really constitute “code”, but there’s syntax and tags that make it look like code to me!) . I’ve started solving problems on the website at work, instead of always running to our IT person to make the changes. Sure, it takes me longer… but I’m reducing the time it takes to complete the steps each time I perform the task. What does this mean? It means I’m LEARNING, putting in the hard work and frustration to learn. I completely agree, at least for myself, that it’s been detrimental for me to attribute my accomplishments to being “smart” over being “persistent”.
I truly believe women are just as capable as men, and that we do possess the intelligence and work ethic to move up the ladder. However, I’m finding out that for me, I’m reluctant to take the step up to the next rung for fear that I’m being pushy and greedy, or that I don’t possess a particular skill set. I’m working on changing my contribution to the glass ceiling for myself, are you?
Consciously Corporate 