Greg's Right FIT Newsletter #124

Techniques for FIT

• In email marketing optimization, the first thing you test and troubleshoot is the subject line. Take that to your regular emails too. Make sure the subject line still relates to the content and increase effectiveness. 

• At the third bullet point in your email, go ahead and pick up the phone and call. You have your outline in front of you, so you'll have a productive conversation and eliminate misunderstandings in the recipient. 

• The number of GDPR compliance emails clogging my inbox suggests that I opt-in to way more than I can read. While everyone's being nice, it's a good time to opt out of what you don't get value from anymore. (you can always do that with me at the bottom of the email)

• Inbox zero is a real thing. Right now I'm at 19 and 18 of them are reminders to myself. A reminder that the inbox is a terrible to-do list tool. Get the to-do's into a real list. (Mark Hurst's goodtodo.com is a great one - and he doesn't track your every move in order to sell ads)

Being Human - Big vs small

A workshop I am attending has a slide from a giant consulting firm projecting on the screen and a well dressed woman is expertly poring through its contents. It's summarizing the takeaways from her extensive work with organizations on business intelligence, analytics, and artificial intelligence. It's all very fascinating, but something sticks out on the slide. 

There isn't one reference to the customer or the customer's decision process in this summary. It's all about how marketing and IT and sales need to work together for advanced analytics to have a chance. A solid inside the company focus. 

It sticks out to me because for most of the small to medium enterprises (SME) that I work with, they have the opposite problem. They focus too much on things outside the company. Not on customers, but on competition and other threats to their existence. 

In both cases, the advice is the same. Shift some of that focus the other way. SMEs need to focus internally, and large companies need to focus a little more on external things, like customers. 

It makes good things happen. Swear. 

Random Stuff

Ajax the cat. . .

If the amount of bird droppings that is finding its way onto my windshield and patio furniture is any indication, my wayward cat is on walkabout again. The feathered ones simply have no fear when the gray menace takes to wandering around town. 

As a matter of fact, as I sit here sunning myself on the patio next to a panting Wilson, we watch what has to be the world's fattest robin sitting on the fence, defecating over and over. Almost taunting us. It reminds me of one of the first times I went fishing with Laura's uncle at a little farm pond in southeastern Nebraska. I couldn't catch anything, and I mused out loud, "I wonder how many fish are even in here." He slowly turned his head with a smile that indicated I just said something stupid. 

"Greg," he said, "How many fish do you think are in the pond?" 

Despite the setup, I quietly answered, "Maybe . . . 100?"

He doubled over in laughter, so I'm guessing the answer is more than 100. 

How many birds are flying through my yard? How often do they relieve themselves in the area? I've heard humans are terrible at estimating big numbers, and thinking of the birds is like trying to comprehend the size of a social media network or the number of stars. The numbers are just too big for my tiny brain. 

I hope Ajax comes home soon. I'm afraid to go barefoot out here now. 

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