Every once in a while you will hear people say or read that something has gone viral on the internet, or it has a lot more supporters than normal stories receive. What if there was a formula to why things catch on or go viral? The book Contagious by Jonah Berger, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2013 says there is a formula. The formula includes the ingredients or STEPPS – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value and Stories. If the piece has enough ingredients it is possible to leverage the message you want to get out to go viral.

Practical Value                   Does talking about your product or idea help people help others? How can you highlight incredible value, packaging your knowledge and expertise into useful information others will want to disseminate?

People like to pass along practical, useful information. News others can use. Useful things are important. Passing along useful things also strengthens social bonds. The questions what makes something seem practical to pass along?

Saving money is good thing. According to the prospect theory – people do not evaluate things in absolute terms, they evaluate them in relative terms or a reference point.

A key factor in highlighting incredible value is people expectations. Promotional offers that seem surprising or surpass expectations are more likely to be shared. Restricting sales means we have to act. There is a rule called the Rule of 100. If the price is less than $100, it seems bigger to say a percentage discount ie 10 or 20% off. If the price is greater than $ 100 it seems bigger to say dollar amount.

Broadly relevant content could be share more, content that is obviously relevant to a narrow audience may actually be more viral.

Stories                                  What is your Trojan Horse? Is your product or idea embedded in a broader narrative that people want to share? Is the story not only viral, but also valuable?

People do not think in terms of information, they think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story, information comes along for the ride.

Narratives are stories. They have a beginning, middle and end. They are more engrossing than basic facts. When people hear a good story, they stay till the end. The solution to selling something is to build a carrier narrative that people will share, while talking about the product or idea along the way. This means the idea or desired benefit a key part of the narrative. Remember in story telling, some parts are critical and some parts are irrelevant to the story, the task is to ensure your product or service is embedded in the story.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, the process of STEPPS is used to drive your product or service both virally and for consumers to take action with the purchase of your product or service. If you follow the process it should help, no matter what budget you have. The budget is not the most important part, the reason why a consumer shares your information is.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Every once in a while you will hear people say or read that something has gone viral on the internet, or it has a lot more supporters than normal stories receive. What if there was a formula to why things catch on or go viral? The book Contagious by Jonah Berger, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2013 says there is a formula. The formula includes the ingredients or STEPPS – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value and Stories. If the piece has enough ingredients it is possible to leverage the message you want to get out to go viral.

Emotion                               Focus of feelings. Does talking about your product or idea generate emotion? How can you kindle the fire?

When we care, we will share information and knowledge. However we care about a lot of things, what propels us to share even more to make something go viral? One aspect the power of awe – you are amazed, humbled and feel elevated.

If the article is more positive, the more likely it will be shared. Whatever your issue, the cost is not the deciding factor, the issue is why do they care. Emotions drive people to action.

Public                                    Does your product or idea advertise itself? Can people see when others are using it? If not, how can you make the private public? Can you create behavioral residue that sticks around even after people use it?

Making something more observable makes it easier to imitate. A key factor in driving products to catch on is public visibility. If something is built to show, it is built to grow.

Many choices we make it is because others provide information. If we go into a setting where we do not normally go, we look to others for direction and follow them. One of the challenges is to make the product or service more visible. A great example is the wrist bands cancer uses – yellow bands. People can see and wear.

More in part 3

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the STEPPS process allows you as an investor to see how well a tuned your company is in reaching the public. The public reacts to many brands, how is it doing with yours. Some of the campaigns will be better than others, some will be brilliant, others in hindsight should not have started. As an passionate investor, you have a critical eye to determine if your company is doing the right things.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Every once in a while you will hear people say or read that something has gone viral on the internet, or it has a lot more supporters than normal stories receive. What if there was a formula to why things catch on or go viral? The book Contagious by Jonah Berger, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2013 says there is a formula. The formula includes the ingredients or STEPPS – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value and Stories. If the piece has enough ingredients it is possible to leverage the message you want to get out to go viral.

The six principles needed to help go viral can be refer to as STEPPS:

Social Currency                  We share things that make us look good

Triggers                               Top of the mind means tip of the tongue

Emotion                               When we care, we share

Public                                    Built to show, built to grow

Practical Value                     News you can use

Stories                                  Information travels under the guise of idle chatter

Questions to Ask about Each of the Principles –

Social Currency                 Does talking about your product or idea make people look good? Can you find the inner remarkablity? Leverage game mechanics? Make people feel like insiders?

Social currency is from the aspect people share things that make them look good to others. The idea is to give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their products and ideas along the way. The 3 ways to do this are: find the inner remarkability; (2) leverage game mechanics; and (3) make people feel like insiders.

1.Remarkable things are defined as unusual, extraordinary, worthy of notice or attention. The most important aspect of remarkable things is they are worthy of mention. These are the items people will talk about more often. Sometimes what is remarkable is breaking a pattern people have come to expect. (improve it) Anything under the sun can be remarkable.

2. Leverage game mechanics – do you play any games or do puzzles? why? Good game mechanics keep people engaged, motivated, and always wanting more. We also enjoy achieving things and games help us achieve something. If we are better than average the games will help us look good. After all what is the advantage of status if no one else knows you have it? People talk. and share their experiences as well as vote.

3. Make people feel like insiders – using scarcity and exclusivity to make customers feel like insiders. If the products feel scarce or exclusive, then it is more desirable and people assume that it must be worth the effort to use the product or service.

Triggers                                                Consider the context. What cues make people think about your product or idea? How can you grow the habitat and make it come to mind more often?

If you think of Disney World and Cheerios, which product gets more word of mouth? The answer is Cheerios because of Triggers. Every day people talk about products, brands and organizations all the time. If you do not believe it, consciously carry a pen and paper and mark it down. Americans mention specific brands 3 billion times a day.

If you divide the word of mouth to immediate and ongoing, you will begin to see how some products are talk about more. Interesting products are entertaining but generally have a short shelf life in word of the mouth activity, There are other products and services to be talked about next week or day. What gets people talking – triggers are little environmental reminders for related concepts and ideas. More importantly triggers can lead to action. For example if you see a jar of peanut butter, you might think jelly sandwiches. A more off beat example is when NASA was going to Mars, the Mars chocolate bar had increased sales because of increased NASA coverage of Mars.

Advertisers are constantly looking for triggers and if they happen normally, linking the trigger can increase sales. An example is Kit Kat chocolate bar, it was linked to a coffee break. Sales increased. Frequency of the trigger must be balanced with the strength of  the link. The more cues, the weaker the association.

Triggers and cues lead people to talk, choose and use. Social currency gets people talking, but Triggers keep them talking. Top of mind means tip of tongue.

More in Part 2.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, by answering the questions and following the outline, it is possible for products and services to reach larger audiences than it is normally expected. Going viral and reaching more people means the organization needs to have the ability to service the expecting demand on the services. This would be the key to something going viral. The book Contagious contains many examples of companies products going viral and there is no reason why the companies you invest in are not there. The cost does not have to be large, imagination plus following the principles will get people talking and buying.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

Millions of people go to work everyday or 5 times a week, many do not like their jobs but they could. Patrick Lencioni wrote the book The 3 Signs of a Miserable Job published by Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2007. In the book is the story of a successful CEO who after being bought out works at a small restaurant and begins to think about how to make the people who work there like their jobs. What are the obstacles? and how to overcome them. The CEO comes up with 3 reasons why people do not like their jobs – anonymity, irrelevance, and immeasurement.

Anonymity – people are social animals, they like to be known. In many jobs, people are seen as invisible, generic or anonymous.

The easy solution is to acknowledge them and appreciate them for being their talents and why they are at the workplace.

Irrelevance – everyone needs to know that their job matters, to someone. If you do not see a connection to the work and the satisfaction level, the employee will not find lasting fulfillment.

The easy but hard solution – have the manager and employee figure who benefits from their job.

Immeasurement – employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves. They need some measurement criteria which allows them to control their own fate.

The easy solution all jobs have metrics rather than depending on the opinions or whims of another person.

The idea is that management (all levels) need coaching to ensure their direct reports are not anonymous, irrelevant, and not measured. When the three things happen, attitudes change and people work with others. A quote able line in the book – management is a everyday thing, Strategy and financial reporting are not.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, people who like their jobs are more productive and better employees. They tend to stay longer, however it is possible from different viewpoints to see if the people in the companies you invested in actually like their jobs. Once you get over the pay (it is what it is) you decided if you want the job. You can be much more than a description, a person can insert themselves into it. You can ask the HR department for general surveys, because as investors we all look at different criteria to complete the picture. Depending of how much you are investing, you want to know what you think is important besides the company makes money and pays its dividend. Is it sustainable? do they have the correct management? what is their employee satisfaction amount? how does it translate to the best companies? do the best companies have an automatic competitive advantage because they have more satisfied workers. All types of data tells you something when it comes to investing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

People leave any company for a variety of reasons, however according to The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave written by Leigh Branham, American Management Association, NY, 2012 many of the reasons are internal and can be worked on. If the costs of replacing employees falls it is a cost savings based on recruiting costs about 1 times salary. It would expected if people leaving was below 5%, then the human resources function would have the ability to continue to work on maintain low levels of voluntary leaving. The issue is always what is a good level and what is a terrible level of turnover?

The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave are:

5. Feeling Devalued and Unrecognized

It is really quite simple: Everyone want to feel important. It does not have to cost much to recognize people. Recognition cannot replace pay, it can only add to it. Some of recognition is done on an irregular basis, just make your reasoning consistent. The methods are many and can be as creative as possible, they just need to be done.

6. Stress from Overwork and Work-Life Imbalance

The culture of the organization often overrules these considerations. Every organization has a culture, it stems from senior management. either people fit into it or they have to determine whether they need to find work somewhere else. Are the rewards worth it? Both employer and employee have to figure out what they want or do not want and there are many methods to make it seemingly easier to achieve both.

7. Loss of Trust and Confidence in Senior Leaders

Every employee in some fashion looks to the actions of the senior management. What they do and how they do it reflects the culture and actions of the organization. The larger the organization, the more the “average” worker is disconnected from the senior management and believe the interest they have in their satisfaction and well-being. This translates to advice from Sam Walton – it takes a week or two before employees to start treating customers the same way an employer is treating an employee. The easy and hard way to deal with it is to place trust and confidence in your workforce to do the right thing.

In the book there are a number of examples of companies which had high turnover rates and reduced them. Some examples are UPS in Buffalo had a turnover rate of greater than 50% and reduced to about 5% with savings of over a $ 1 million; Mike’s Car Wash the average turnover is typically 75 – 85% has been reduced to 55%; American Home Shield had a turnover of 89% reduced to 35% and FleetBoston Financial which had turnover of 25 to 40% which was reduced to 15 to 22% with a cost savings of $50 million. Besides the cost savings, customers get better service.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if companies you own have high turnover of staff, then there is money being wasted. There are strategies to be implemented to keep the staff longer and become more productive. If they are not being implemented, how do you trust the company to keep costs down in other areas of the company. In the service companies the most important asset is people, if people are leaving what gets done and how long do expect your dividends to be paid?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

People leave any company for a variety of reasons, however according to The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave written by Leigh Branham, American Management Association, NY, 2012 many of the reasons are internal and can be worked on. If the costs of replacing employees falls it is a cost savings based on recruiting costs about 1 times salary. It would expected if people leaving was below 5%, then the human resources function would have the ability to continue to work on maintaining low levels of voluntary leaving. The issue is what is a good level and what is a terrible level of turnover? and if the terrible exists what is the company doing about it?

The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave are:

1. The Job or Workplace was not as Expected.

Ideally this is the easy one to work on. This is based on expectations of both the employer and employee what the employee expects to receive and expects to give. It is also based on what the company expects to give and to receive. In many companies it can be different, however it is possible to do Realistic Job Previews (RJPs) with every job candidate. It is possible to increase hiring from temp-to-hire agencies because the person’s abilities were identified on the job (sometimes it is easy to be more objective when a person comes through on a agency basis). More possible solutions are found in the book.

2. The Mismatch between Job and Person – some people will be over their heads, some will be vastly overqualified. There is a reality that it is rare to get the perfect person. There are things the company can do to minimize it. It is possible the person to be coached or mentored to find their best match, after all the person was hired for a reason. When the position was being filled, the company fills the position and determines what other skills does the person bring. Is it possible, if the person stays, to move them to a position where their skills match better match the job. One measure is to find out what skills the person uses in their leisure time. The procedure would require a plan for employee both individually and with their management.

3. Too little Coaching and Feedback

The book offers results from their surveys:

The number one cause of performance problems in 60% of companies is poor or insufficient feedback from supervisors.

In a survey of 1,149 people at 79 different companies found the manager feedback and coaching were consistently rated as mediocre.

The above cases means this is both a management and employee problem which can be fixable. In terms of management, it should mean part of the way the manager is rewarded is from his/her coaching and feedback given to their group. This includes being trained to give the feedback and coaching as well as part of the criteria to gain a management job is being a good coach. The employee has to understand as resources are put into coaching and feedback, non getting better is reason for termination.

4. Too Few Growth and Advancement Opportunities

The reality is within every company there are a finite number of top jobs, not everyone will gain one, but you can still have an excellent career with the company. One of the hardest aspects in every company is being hired in one division and trying to move to another, particularly if senior management sees the skill set as similar. Why do we want a good person to move to the other division? There are 4 distinct career patterns linear, expert, spiral and roamer which one does the employee fit and can it be helped along.

The easiest method for the company to deal with this concern is to ensure there is a fair process for internal job postings as well as there is a bias for hiring within. Some of them will be the B-players. They are not the stars but they make up the backbone of the organization, how does the company help them?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every company will be facing with fewer bodies as the baby boomers retire and retaining and growing their workforce will be harder and more important. It is harder to do coaching, unless the company rewards coaching in its bonus program. You get what you pay for is a well known expression – it is possible to have different types of management, but in a relatively free society, too much turnover means something and it definitely means greater costs to recruit people to serve your customers. Controlling costs means all costs and if 70% of the reasons why people leave companies are internal to the company, the methods need to be improved in order to ensure continual profitability.

more in part 3

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

As investors to a company, you consideration is not necessarily how much the average person in the company gets paid. In the attachments to the annual report, the top compensation is given to all shareholders and you expect the company to pay what is necessary to maintain its ability to continually make profits. The issue of employees leaving is the cost of people voluntary leaving too high. If a person leaves the process is a new one needs to be hired ( first looking through the pool of qualified people), interview sessions, and attempting to pick the best one for the job. The next cost is training the person so they are capable to do the job they have been hired to do, it ranges the expectations are it may take a month to 6 months of training once hired. In the HR department, there are resources needed to be used in selecting people.

Understanding in all jobs in the company, people will leave, some sooner than others. The reason why they leave is the issue of the book The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham, American Management Association, NY, 2012. The first issue to look at is turnover of employees – if a company has 300 employees with an average salary of $35,000 and turnover of 15% or 45 people, the cost to the employer is $1,575,000. The cost to recruit is about 1 x salary. If the turnover could be reduced because in 31 cases or 70% were fixable, the savings is $1,100,000 per year. In addition when there is less turnover, it can mean the workforce is more productive, less absent from work and more gets done. The issue for investors is why do people voluntary leave a company and is there something the company can do which it is not doing to ensure people stay longer and work harder?

The first concern is what should be the acceptable cost of turnover, given that there will be something, because no company is perfect for every individual. We also know the baby boom group is moving through increasing numbers of retirement, which means keeping talent or people will be a larger issue for many companies as there will be shortage of bodies. The first thing to acknowledge is generally companies do a good job in the hiring stage, it is after the hiring where most turnover is avoidable. Exit surveys reveal many left from something the company is doing or not doing and most of the issues do not relate to pay. Pay is something everyone working for somebody else wants more, but most learn to live off what they get paid. In the great recession we have seen people work long hours for 2 or 3 companies because at one they do not get enough hours at the first job. The issue then is not people wanting to work but to make enough to satisfy their daily needs of the family. The issue of senior management and management managing their departments plays a greater role than pay, and that is something that is fixable.

The 7 Hidden reasons are:

1. The job or workplace was not as promised.

2, There was a mismatch between job and person.

3. There was too little coaching and feedback.

4. There was too few growth and advancement opportunities.

5. Workers felt devalued and unrecognized.

6. There was stress from overwork, conflict and work-life imbalance.

7. Works had lost trust and confidence in senior leaders.

more in part 2 and 3

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there is a saying, People join companies, but they leave managers. If you think about your career, eventually you will come to the same conclusion because similar to school there were teachers you liked better than others. If you have worked for people, there have been managers you liked better than others. The ones you liked better, you were likely more productive; the ones you did not like you likely looked around at other companies or departments or something. From an investor point of view, the issue is what costs are we accepting as investors and what costs can be reduced. If turnover is too high and thus costing too much and there are savings which can be done with reduced turnover, more effective management, then an investor you want to know and what is the company doing about it.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

If you ever had a child, one of the most important aspects to them was the naming. A good name helps them through life. It is same in the business world, picking a name helps the business, the wrong name and customers will be confused with the company and go somewhere else. Two people who help companies name their companies are Steve Rivkin and Fraser Sutherland who wrote the book The Making of a Name – the Inside Story of the Brands We Buy, Oxford University Press, NY, 2004. The authors write about a wide variety of company names and when reading them you will likely stay they make sense and what else would they have chosen? Then the authors tell you of the names that did not make it, until they were changed. Often names look similar because in the example of the mutual funds industry – funds with names such as Growth, Large will draw more money to them even if it the performance does not match the name.  Choose wisely for the name of your organization. By choosing a name – the company in all its operations will “live” that name – from stationary, websites, employee communications, business forms, business affairs, listings and certificates, advertising and promotions, signage to drawing people to work for the company.

A good name shows that a company knows what it is doing and has a firm and focused fix on what it is offering to the public. A good name will answer yes to the following questions about new products – is a specific need fulfilled? is it really an improvement over what already exists? it is easier to use than what already exists? is it safer than what already exists? is there a competitive point of difference?   A good name is also the answer to another question: How will you bring your idea to life? In making a brand name or trade name thrive no single good element of a product exists in isolation. Overlapping, interweaving, they all work together. What all the elements share is an ability to make the customer recall the name.

In today’s world, the English language is not the only language to consider. Many companies have gone to countries around the world to discover their wonderful brand name in the English speaking world, means something very different to the public in other countries. Then a problem is faced on what to do? Picking the correct name for many geographic areas is a difficult task, which is why there are lots of examples of companies getting it right and getting it wrong or needing a name change.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, over time the public has accepted the name of the company and rewarded it well. Similar to all companies, there is always innovation or new products to come up with – partly because we all like new and partly because it allows the company to gear up for the yearly sales campaign. The author once worked for a company that was very traditional and changed its image to new age – the logo were the right colours to compete …. The company changed nothing else in the way they operated and once the President was removed (his decision) the new President changed everything back to where it was before. The company felt better to work for. The name and logo matters to the customers both internal and external.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

Another movie which is about an underdog beating the established, in this case a corrupt establishment is The Cross of Fire. The DVD was released in 2006 and stared John Heard, Mel Harris, David Morse and Lloyd Bridges. The setting is during the 1920’s and times of Prohibition in the State of Indiana. The organizer of the KKK in Indiana wants to put on a kinder, gentler face rather than the traditional white robe. The KKK was the sponsor of orphanages, community centers, gave baskets to the poorest citizens and was seen as a good organization. Being seen as good, membership rose to over 75% of Indiana citizens were members in good standing. The leader was very power hungry, but fell for the wrong girl. Of all the women in Indiana, he fell for the close friend of an attorney for the state. He eventually savagely beats her and her death results. The odds are stacked against the attorney – the KKK has overwhelming support in the rural areas; the leader is a close friend of the political establishment; the leader lives in mansion and seemingly has access to wide resources; the leader is seen by many to be a good man. The attorney takes the lady’s statement (as impartially as he can) and the battle in the courtroom is set.

The attorney has never tried big cases before, but then no one wanted to help in this case. It is found out, the leader of the KKK is actually a drunk, part of the reason for getting the money was he was working with the bootleggers. The bootleggers not the KKK were actually paying the bills. Slowly the tide begins to turn and the leader’s arrogance is seen and a swift decline before the final result and resulting non renewals of membership. In the 1920’s membership was over 6 million, shortly after the trial, the membership was 200,000.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as a profitable company, part of being successful is the trust of the public. Trust the value of the products and services or given the monopoly like position, it stays close to a monopoly. If it is a monopoly like position, the government can open the market to alternatives and there is always alternatives. If the leadership is arrogant or seen to be, as shareholders you want to vote against them because they will upset the apple cart one way or another.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions