Hello.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
And I’m so excited to be
here at WordFest Live.
I’m sponsored by Big Orange Heart.
So let’s get right into it,
and hope there’s some value for you.
So this is called how to
have a human connection
to your clients in a
COVID-19 world, 2021 edition.
I gave this talk a lot last year,
and I started when it
was just kind of new.
We didn’t know how long
this was gonna last.
And we were just doing
the best that we could
with the information that we had.
Well, this is the first time
I’m giving the 2021 edition,
so hopefully you’re in
for a special treat.
My name is MikeDemo.
I’m an Evangelist for Bold Grid,
and I’m also the Lead
Handshaker of Web Ventures.
Bold Grid makes WordPress plug-ins.
Web Ventures invest in WordPress plug-ins.
And Web Ventures is proud
to be a microsponsor
of Word Fest 2021.
You can email me at any
of those email addresses,
[email protected] or
[email protected].
My Twitter is probably the
best way to get ahold of me.
I am most active on Twitter @MPMike.
And then my LinkedIn,
Facebook, and website
is there, as well, if you’re so inclined.
So 2020, [chuckles]
what can I say about it?
Think back to New Year’s Eve,
not the one that happened
a couple of weeks ago,
but New Year’s Eve 2019.
It was a magical time.
We were all excited.
We all had new resolutions,
maybe you saw some fireworks,
and it was gonna be the year.
It had a nice round number to it, right?
And it was just gonna be the year,
that goes maybe start a new business,
or start a new job, or move,
or take that vacation that
you always wanted to take.
Everyone was so excited.
New Year’s Eve is usually a
fun time for a lot of people,
depending on how you are.
So, and then the event
that defined 2020 happened,
pretty early in the year.
Do you remember it?
I certainly do.
It was the Australian wildfires.
Yeah, that happened less than a year ago.
And those devastating fires,
we thought it was gonna
dominate the news cycle
for such a long time.
And it didn’t, because
something that affected
a lot more of the world kind of happened.
And that was COVID, the
coronavirus, COVID-19,
and it changed how we
are gonna work forever.
It changed how we’re gonna
interact with people forever.
See, my job as Lead Handshaker,
and yes, that is my actual
title, is to connect with people.
Ali Nimons from,
you know, on Twitter,
she asked, you know,
explain your job in less than five words.
And I said, “I take people out to dinner.”
And it’s true.
And we need to, you know,
have that self care.
And we say it all the time.
You gotta have self care,
take care of yourself first.
You can’t take care of anyone else,
if you can’t take care of
yourself, but it really matters.
And that’s why organizations
like Big Orange Heart,
or Open Sourcing Mental
Illness, do such a good job
to try to give us a space to connect,
and to help us, you know,
have good mental health.
But how do you connect with your clients,
or your colleagues, or your friends?
Well, let’s forward back, you know,
to my last in-person event.
You know, that was after working at Miami,
it was at Mai Tai, and took a
group of people on the train.
And we, I love Tiki bars, if
you know anything about me.
So we went to a Tiki bar,
and this is what I used
to do for a living.
I used to take people out to dinner,
literally, that was my job.
Yes, it was a connect to
the WordPress Community,
and to meet people, and
to see if I can add value.
But really, it was just
meeting people where they are.
And my job had to shift,
once we went virtual.
And I’ve been really
struggling how to do that,
because I’m really, really,
really good at face-to-face.
You probably can’t tell, but
I’m actually an introvert,
but I at least worked for Disney.
And when you’re a cast member at Disney,
there’s onstage and backstage.
And I always thought going
into like a Word Camp,
I was onstage and it was
kind of like a performance.
And I do really well in face-to-face.
I can connect with people,
I can have conversations.
I can remember people’s names.
It’s a really, really good time.
And then we had, then COVID happened,
and everything went virtual.
You know, first I was like, “Oh, well,
I can’t go to WordCamp Asia.
That stinks.”
But at least I have, oh,
that got canceled too.
And that got canceled.
And then pretty much
everything got canceled
from a work perspective.
And then our season tickets
to our local soccer team,
for our football club, got canceled.
Our season tickets to our
Broadway series got canceled.
Some concerts got canceled.
My wife got furloughed for a little bit.
It was kinda scary.
And we were all in our little bubbles.
And here we are in 2021,
we just had the new year.
And are we any better off
than we were in the summer?
Yeah, there’s some good
things coming, right.
We have some vaccines.
People are starting to get vaccinated.
Some good things are happening,
but lock downs are
continuing, or strengthening,
hundreds of thousands, if
not millions, you know,
people are dying on a weekly
basis, and getting sick.
People are losing their jobs.
I’ve been really fortunate, you know.
I’ve been able to stay employed,
but I had to figure out
how to shift the focus,
you know, from physical to digital,
and kinda how to have that connection.
So when we look forward to 2021,
I think we need to push out of our minds
that, well, I just need
to make it to June.
And then everything
would be back to normal.
We’ll be back at WordCamp,
we’ll be traveling.
I just need to make it till fall.
And then everything’s
gonna be back to normal.
That’s maybe not gonna happen.
And if last year taught us
anything, for me anyway,
having these mental blocks of saying,
“Well, I have a cruise booked
in October, so that’s safe.”
And then having those mental
blocks being torn down,
even took a bigger toll on me.
So let’s look at how we can
have a human connection,
’cause that’s what we’re
here to talk about.
So this is what we used to do.
We can’t do that anymore.
However, you can do things
like this virtually.
You can you know, get on Zoom
and cook a meal together.
You know out of different
virtual WordCamps,
Liquid Web and Nexus have
done like have a chef come on,
and everyone made like
nachos, or cheese steaks,
or whatever the case is.
So, you know, you can
have virtual happy hours.
Now, we’re kind of all sick of, you know
having Zoom meetings that last forever.
But, find different ways
to connect with people.
And breaking bread is
a good way to do that.
It’s a little weird, but you
know you get over it over time.
You can do video content like this.
It’s a great way to connect
with your customers.
Some cool ideas with video content.
I just ordered something from a store,
and they sent me an email and it said,
“Thanks, Mike for your order.”
And it had a Pit Video in the email
of my specific order, getting packed up.
It’s a little thing, but
it was kinda cool, right.
And it made me, you know,
appreciate that interaction.
I gave a webinar months ago,
and the organizers gave me
a list of all the emails
of the people that attended.
So, you know what I did with that?
I put them on my mailing list,
and I spam the heck out of them.
No, I got one email from them.
And that email, wasn’t an
offer, wasn’t a sales pitch.
It was a video thanking
them for their time.
I got 150 attendees or so.
Did I take one video and
send it to 150 people?
No, I literally recorded a personal video,
for every single person.
The average length was 24 seconds.
From beginning to end,
it took me less than
four hours to do that.
But the response I got was amazing,
and the business impact is way beyond
the cost of the four hours.
And in the video, it wasn’t a sales pitch.
It was just saying, hey
Bill, hey Julie, hey Amy,
thank you so much for coming to my talk.
If I could do anything
for you, just hit reply.
If you wanna read the
transcript of the webinar,
link’s down below, have a great day, easy.
So if you’re using video content,
try to find unique ways to do it.
And with everything I’m
talking about today,
none of this is quick
ways to get rich quick.
It’s ways to try to have
meaningful connections.
If you’re not genuine in any of this,
it’s gonna come through,
and it’s gonna be a waste of time,
and possibly a waste of money,
depending on what you
decide to do with it.
Email is another great way
you can connect with people.
Yes, I know we’re all
sick of email, right?
Again, I don’t mean an email newsletter.
I’m talking about just a plain text,
plain text email, on people’s birthdays.
Or here’s a great tip,
contact someone on their half birthday.
Everyone gets contacts on their birthday,
no one gets contact on
their half birthday.
Ask how their kids are doing,
ask how their pets are doing.
If you have a CRM,
start recording the details
of who they are as a person.
Because they’re not
doing business with you,
because of your product or service.
They’re not.
Yes, you have to have a
good product or service
and you have to fulfill the
need that you’re offering them.
But most people are all
about the relationships.
And we used to get this
by doing meetings, or calls, or dinners.
And I’ve been doing this for years,
but it’s always been face-to-face.
And I had to shift to virtual.
So I started sending a little email notes,
just one or two sentences,
asking people how they’re doing.
Happy New Year.
I appreciate you.
Let me know if you anything.
Phone calls, phone calls are great.
They’re so underused.
And I know what you’re thinking.
I hate phone calls.
Nobody likes to get called.
Everyone says that, everybody says that.
I’ve talked to so many people,
when I did agency work,
we had thousands and thousands of clients.
Some of them Fortune 500 companies.
They would tell me to my
face, “I prefer email.
I am too busy, email is what I prefer.”
Guess what?
When I called, they were
happy to hear from me,
because you know what we talked about?
because if I’m calling, if
it’s not a scheduled meeting,
I’m usually just checking in
on the person, not the project.
And people love talking about themselves.
They love talking about their kids.
And phone calls to have
these personal connections,
can go a long way, and it’s free.
Notes, physical notes,
mail, ah, gotta love mail.
You know, it helps the postal services,
and people like getting stuff
in the mail that’s not a bill.
It can be a note card.
It can be a thank you.
It can be a birthday card,
or half birthday card
like we talked about.
It can be a gift,
and we’ll show some examples
of that in a little bit.
But people love getting stuff in the mail.
And what they like getting in the mail
more than cards, is what I
call lumpy mail, packages.
And this works really well,
if you’re trying to get
a hold of like a CEO
or someone higher up,
that might be a prospect.
If you send a package to a
CEO or president of a company,
they will be the ones opening it.
If you send a letter,
their secretary opens it.
But most boxes get opened
by the person their addressed to,
’cause it’s like a
present, it’s like special.
I’ve taken this a step further.
And you know how many meetings
I’ve got in by just sending the people
I can’t get ahold of through
traditional reach out methods,
a telegram.
Yes, an actual old school telegram.
There’s a couple of
companies that still do it.
And it has to be hand delivered
and signed to only the recipient.
If you go to an actual
legal telegram service,
not one of the, we print out
a telegram looking thing,
and mail it to them.
No, an actual telegram service.
That’s something else you can do.
Telegrams can get expensive though,
’cause you pay per character.
Embrace your weirdness.
Think about what you like,
and what the person you’re
interacting with likes,
and connect with that.
‘Cause weird stuff is
what’s gonna get noticed.
People remember experiences,
and they talk about them.
They’re not gonna remember
that your cost was 20%
less, in 10 years from now.
They’re not gonna remember
that you have 9.99% uptime,
They are gonna remember
the custom stuffed animal
of their new puppy that they got from you.
They are gonna remember
a handwritten card,
when their daughter got married.
These are the experiences
which will actually help you in business.
It will help you exceed.
And it works beyond just clients.
Think about your colleagues,
think about your friends.
Think about everyone else
you touch in your life.
Right now, more than ever,
you need these reach outs.
I know I certainly do.
Christmas, I sent more
gifts this Christmas season,
holiday season, than I ever have.
Mainly ’cause I like hearing
how people like the gifts.
Yes, it’s fun to get stuff too,
I’m not gonna say it’s not.
But when I send a gift to someone,
and if I’ve sent a gift
to you you’ll know it,
because I’ll be like
calling, did you get it?
Do you get it?
Did you get it?
I’m awful at secrets, by the way.
What did you think?
What do you think?
I sent my CEO of my company a board game
for him and his family.
I asked him weekly, if he’s played yet.
Going on a little over a year,
still hasn’t played it yet.
Maybe I picked out the wrong one,
but it’s the thought that counts, right?
People are gonna remember the experiences.
They’re not gonna remember
your products or services.
If you have bad products or services,
they will remember that.
But they’re gonna talk
about the experiences.
And how do you have memorable experiences?
You embrace your weirdness.
Use some pictures of actual
things I did in 2020.
I sent out custom mugs to people,
at the beginning of the
COVID, with a little note.
Which cost me like $18, shipped.
Bottom left, I sent 80 pounds
of pasta to random people
in the WordPress Community,
Upper left, mascots, stuffed animals,
the company’s mascots,
that we’re thinking about
doing business with.
Bottom right, boxes of cookies.
I’ve sent hundreds of
boxes of cookies out there
throughout the years.
And upper right, you
know the View-Masters,
the little click the reel things.
This is my pitch deck.
There’s a company I’m
trying to reach out to,
where we just had an initial call,
that we thinking of maybe investing in.
They get a box with some sweets,
a business card, and this.
And all my slides are 80 retro,
literally in the View-Master.
This has been one of the
best investments I ever did,
and it’s fun.
And you know what I
hear from these clients,
even, or prospective clients later,
even if we don’t do a deal,
they go on eBay and buy old school reels,
and show their kids
what they used to have
as a toy, before VR.
People remember experiences.
And they’ll also remember help.
So President-Elect Joe Biden.
He is calling for a
National Day of Service,
on one of our holidays called
Martin Luther King Jr Day,
National Day of Service.
This was started
right before the first Obama
presidency inauguration.
Well, when I was filling out the initial
volunteer in my community,
it asked, do you want to
commit to an hour a month,
five hours a month, or
like 10 hours a month?
I personally committed
to five hours a month.
And this doesn’t have to
mean being at a food bank,
since they have, there’s lots
of ways to do it virtually.
And again, you don’t have to
sign a pledge or anything.
But, if you can genuinely help people
it’s gonna pay back dividends.
A good friend of mine, John
Rampton, used to own Do.com.
He owns Do.com, and used to own Host.com.
He writes for like CNN, Forbes,
a lot of those big
magazines and publications.
He said, “For every 10 people,
I know I’ll get this much money.
For every a hundred people,
I know I’ll get this much money.
These are people I help,
and for every thousand people I help,
I know I’ll do at least
a million dollar deal.”
And he isn’t saying, “Hey,
let me sell you something.”
He isn’t saying, “Let me help you,
and now, here’s what I want.”
He’s just helping, and
naturally stuff pays back.
I believe in karma.
But you know when somebody helps you,
especially if they really help you,
genuinely and doesn’t feel salesy,
what do you want to do in return?
Usually ask,
suppose is there is there
anything I can do for you?
And this isn’t like the mafia,
like how I’m gonna call it in my favor.
But they generally wanna know
if there’s something they can do to help.
And maybe there is, maybe there isn’t.
But you know, maybe they have some clients
that like could use your services.
And say, well, you know,
“If you could send out
something to your email list,
I’d appreciate it.”
Or, “If you know anyone
that’s looking for this,
just keep me in mind.”
Or, “No, I’m fine.”
And they’ll naturally just
talk about it over time.
Being able to be of service,
and have a servant attitude.
I am a member of CMX Pro.
CMX is an amazing online
community manager,
like an evangelist portal.
And I always say, “You have
to have a servant heart
at community for evangelism.”
You’re not there for your company.
You’re not there for your APIs.
You’re not there for you product.
Yes, marketing is what, and
sales are what pay the bills.
But if you’re not truly helping
the members in your
community, or in your circle,
or your clients, or your friends,
it’s just gonna look
shallow and ingenuine.
And sometimes this stuff can be simple.
I noticed people having
a hard time early on,
so I helped organize a
few virtual escape rooms,
where different people that
work with this community
came together and we
need an escape sometimes.
That was a lot of fun.
And there was no agenda
behind it, besides I’m bored.
I’m stuck in my house,
and you are probably too,
let’s do something together.
I know a lot of people
doing virtual karaoke,
virtual board game nights,
there are so many different
things you can do.
But the point of this is,
give, without the
expectation of receiving.
Participate in things
like Big Orange Heart.
Invite people, and it
feels like church, right?
Invite a friend to service
on Sunday. [chuckles]
But really, like Big Orange
Heart does their meetups online.
Like, you know, they helped
power the Word Camp, London meetup.
And the platform’s pretty darn cool.
And they do a great job.
Invite someone to come to that.
Maybe they’ll meet someone else.
You can do things like lunch club,
which is where you get matched up
with someone in your community,
and similar interests.
And it’s a 20-minute commitment.
You know, I applied to be
a mentor for Lambda School,
which is one of the
online coding boot camps.
Think about how you can help.
Maybe serve on the board of
a nonprofit you care about.
But try to find stuff
you’re passionate about,
and engage with people in that.
And it doesn’t mean
you need to be on video
calls all the time.
Trust me, I’m sick of Zoom.
But it does mean you have
genuine conversations,
and you’re building real relationships.
I took the election
day, both election days,
the general election in the U. S.
and the Georgia runoff election.
I volunteered for a nonpartisan group
helping flag voter
disinformation on social media.
And I probably filed
over a hundred reports.
And some of those things
got national attention,
some of those reports.
You know, that I helped flag,
you know it went up to a specialist,
and then they talked to Twitter,
or Facebook, or whatever.
But, I was a small part of that.
And then, somebody attacked
me online, just last week,
for a very personal reason,
for being part of the LGBTQA+ community,
which I wasn’t public on
this, until this summer.
And it hurt.
But you know what made it better?
Friends online, people I know,
they were like, they
supported me publicly.
But then somebody in
the WordPress Community
donated to the Human Rights
Campaign, on my behalf.
One of the managers or staff people,
for the nonprofit I was volunteering at,
talked to me personally
to make sure I was okay.
And we go back to those
personal connections,
helping people, being genuine,
embracing your weirdness,
and just reaching out.
So with that, we have
reached the end of my time.
I want to thank you so much,
for you taking your time
to be with me today.
Please talk to me on Twitter.
I’ll be around during the event,
if anyone has any questions,
comments, whatever it is.
I would love to hear from you.
And thank you so much.
Again, my name is MikeDemo,
and my Twitter is @MPMike.
And enjoy the rest of Word Fest.
Bye.
