I attended an in-person talk by Seth Godin at a local library as part of its business intelligence series. Intelligence, indeed! In 20 minutes of prepared comments, he sprinkled wisdom like raindrops. Then in 40 minutes audience Q&A, he addressed the dramatic and furious rate of change in our economy with some gold nuggets about entrepreneurship.
Notably, it was to pump his recent book, “This is Strategy: Make Better Plans.” His comments returned to tactics vs. strategy, ensconced in his prepared points and woven into responses to audience questions. Not having read the book, yet, I am sure I will soon learn why tactics do not equate to strategy, beyond what he touched on in his hour on stage.
There are 3 take-aways I want to share with you.
- Remarkably, rather than selling us his book, we were each given 2 copies: one for each of us and one to give to a colleague. If you are the friend I choose, you will remember me, appreciate the favor, and likely refer me for sharing such a great book (and every one I have ever read that Godin wrote is!). The auditorium seems full so 285 books are soon to be gifted as a favor. Godin’s viral strategy of earning referrals.
- He made a comparison the same strategy by Carmine’s Restaurant in New York City that used to (before the pandemic changed everything) only booking reservations for parties of six or more. Bring 5 friends to Carmine’s to avoid a long wait. The 5 will remember you did them an honor/favor and that you brought them, then do the same and this becomes 25 reservations, hungry and very appreciative friends who have avoided a long wait to get in, apt to snag future reservations for their own parties of 6 or more. The restaurant filled up really fast back then when so many were empty.
- LinkedIn pivot to you: Your profile and content must be world-class competitive, with memorable stories and graphics to gain admiration by strangers who stop by for a few moments but decide to stay for a while. When a trusted colleague refers you, you have amped up the opportunity factor of being contacted–you leapfrogged past the inertia of skeptical uncertainty–you are the one the reader decides they need to engage with.
- How can you accomplish this? You earned a referral for one or more reasons (one big hurdle cleared). You reinforced that referral favor by the quality of your profile telling the reader why “you,” plus the admirable reliability of your cogent content.
In all three scenarios above, demand is created, appetites sated. The referral cycle repeats. This is strategy, and it is not rocket science.
Next time: a guest blog post by friend and colleague Will Ferry that is thoughtful and thought-provoking, entitled “Stop Debugging Your Life. Start Architecting It.” I know you will like it. I certainly do! Look for it 01Jul25 at 800 am EDT.