A Fresh Perspective with the Lemon Seed Team
In the virtual Lemonade Stand, we're excited to bring you a special perspective series featuring team members from Lemon Seed Marketing! This week, account managers Hanna and Nina join us to discuss the following:
0:07 - Building Trust and Relationships in Business
11:33 - Navigating Difficult Decisions in Leadership
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Speaker 2: 0:07
Hi, I'm Hannah over at Lemon Seed Marketing. I'm one of our newest account managers in training. I'm a new seed. I'm the greenest lemon over here currently and I was going to talk about gaining trust with clients, because it's a really big thing over here and a silly little allegory I have for it is I could be the smartest person in the room, but that doesn't mean a client is going to like me or trust me especially in marketing, people sometimes get the fear that marketing is tricking their customers into something.
Speaker 2: 0:36
When companies don't want to trick their customers, they want to feel honest. So the comparison is in the last few years there's scientists that have taught rats to drive tiny cars and they want to show it to people and be like. This is really impressive. Look how smart these rats are. But most people look at that and go that's a rat, I don't care that. I can drive a car. That's a rat. And that's the same place I don't want to be in with my clients. I don't want people to look at me and I could spit numbers all day and they go, yeah, but maybe that's still a rat. You can drive a car, but I don't trust you. So I feel like trust really is the first step you have to take with clients. I was going to say I could impress you later, but really there's no need for that. The biggest thing at the end of the day is the relationship and the client knowing that I'm just here to serve you. I'm here to help you get to wherever you want to be. I am basically an assistant with knowledge in a field you may not have yet, and I think that's really just the biggest thing to put out there. I could be the smartest guy in the room, but if you ever watched that cartoon, jimmy Neutron, I mean he was the smartest guy in the room. He had a robot dog. He didn't have many friends. So it's not going to get you far with clients if you're not very personable and you don't let them know that you're here for them.
Speaker 2: 1:49
I think I try really hard to make sure that I don't go into a professional robot mode. I am very open about still being myself, still being silly with clients. I want to make sure they know I'm a person up front. I am never trying to turn off my emotions when talking to a client which I know is easy if you're nervous and trying to make sure a client knows that you're good at your job and my tie is on right. But I would rather they know I'm being authentic more than anything. I think the longevity of trust is a really big give and go and being honest about I'm never going to try to blindside you with a bunch of positives and say I am doing everything right today. I'm going to try to do everything right, but if anything seems to be wrong I'm always going to be upfront about it, whether it's on my end, on one of our services ends.
Speaker 2: 2:38
I want you to know that I see the same stressors. You see, I'm not going to ignore them and sugarcoat things and just say everything's always perfect. I want to be the first person to point out to my clients when something doesn't look right in any of the fields so I can say, hey, I noticed these storms are coming. But also, here are a few things I'm about to do to prepare for them and to fix some of maybe the leaks we had from it. Is there anything else you want me to do? And if so, I will put that on my honeydews. Oh, want me to do? And if so, I will put that on my honeydews. Oh, I definitely. I mean especially with the intro with the client.
Speaker 2: 3:05
I like getting some personal stuff with them. I have a client that mentioned he was going to get a niece to help him and I said how old is she? This isn't just for conversation filler. I'm gauging you know what age. If he hangs out with children, what age of kids is he around? Is he a family person? Does he like? Is he a social person? Does he like the family aspect of his business, really really just kind of question them in small ways together, who they are as a person, so I can get an idea of their brand, as you will, not of their business, but of them as a human, so I can further put that onto their business. So it's all authentically. They feel like if I really am portraying them and it's not myself I'm trying to put through their business.
Speaker 3: 3:47
Cool. So how can a contractor that's listening, a business owner that's listening, how can they take some of the things we've talked about so far and apply it to, like them, building a relationship with their own team members or even the customers that they're serving?
Speaker 2: 4:02
Oh, I definitely think businesses are very scared of transparency. I think everyone's afraid that they're supposed to be playing this role of looking professional. But I think being transparent with their employees, with their customer base, with their account managers, I think that is the overall best tactic. Again, it just builds trust. People are able to know you. I would rather go do business with someone I know than with a stranger, and I think that's the way even clients need to feel. Tell your clients, have it known in the office when your birthdays are for your employees. Have it known just things about your family. Don't be extremely secretive. I think you should have yourself out there so people can know who they're working for or who they're coming to do business with. I just think building relationships is the strongest bridge you can make, because people don't know if they like your services if they've never tried it.
Speaker 3: 4:51
So you have to convince them to like you before they can like your services yeah for sure, and kind of talk about just some like kind of personal examples or testimonies. It can't, it doesn't have to be here, but just kind of in general, just like an actual working example oh uh.
Speaker 2: 5:09
Well, before I used to run a social media for a coffee shop and there's a lot of coffee shop aesthetics online and people can be very. There's a lot of richer coffee shops over in the East Texas area and at some point I think we were wanting to mimic that and then we realized that's not where we are. We were in downtown Lufkin, Texas, and it just wasn't true to ourselves, and so it just didn't seem to be doing as well for our social media, and so we tried to get to where we flipped it and instead we pushed more and more of the insides of the shop, all of the shop, all of the employees, all of the people that make all of the goods there, all of the shops around us that we are so glad that the people that work at those shops are our regulars every day and we post them and we would include our regulars. That we saw on a daily basis in our social media feed and that skyrocketed it more than anything, and customers would even come in and verbally tell us about how much fun they were having following us now, whereas that wasn't happening before because we were just pushing merchandise or a new flavor. I think, as far as going with your team, this won't be something that profits you, but force fun.
Speaker 2: 6:09
First have a little team party, a little dinner. Let everyone on your team know you appreciate them and you want everyone to get to know each other. You give a little speech. You let everyone get to know you. You lay yourself out just transparently I'm so-and-so. This is why I started this company or this is why I'm here. I'm here with my family. We have a couple of dogs at home and I just want to get to know you guys. And then, as the owner, you go around, introduce yourself to everybody. You let your team know you, you let them know that you care about them and you want to touch base. And then there's transparency now within house. And then, going from there on, I would go next to your social media. It's just a really big tool. It is your digital personality. Without it, People again, they don't know you until you've gotten to their front door, if you make it that far.
Speaker 2: 6:55
So going on your social media and posting, like per for, say, it's dog appreciation month in April, post your pets. You got a shop dog. Post your shop dogs. Do you support shelter animals? Post about that. Let people know your values through your social media. It's not gimmicky, really. It may feel that way at first. I know it's an awkward stage for people, but it really is just letting people know yourself for people. But it really is just letting people know yourself and it's an awkward curve to get through talking about yourself, especially for your business page. But once you start doing it you realize that's what people really do want to see. People like independent business social media is phenomenally more than they would follow a Walmart social media, because they get to see things more personable, things in their area and faces that they can look forward to seeing around.
Speaker 2: 7:43
Following up with customers after a service is very important because it makes you feel one as a person, as a client, you feel valued. You feel like the person who just came to take care of your problem is calling back and going to make sure the problem was actually taken care of. They're going to make sure that personally, you had a good time. That it just shows that you care. Otherwise, you can have a technician come out to your house and leave and you don't remember their face, you don't remember their name, you don't remember the company to even pass along to someone else versus another company could come in weeks later and after they leave they send you a text, a call. They say is everything still okay? How was your service today? We just wanted to let you know that we cared about you and that'll stick in someone's mind better. And you feel like, oh, when your neighbor asked you later who can I hire for such and such? Say, these really nice people came out to my house for me versus oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: 8:45
There's a company I hired a few weeks ago, but I don't remember their name. Hi everyone, I'm Nina Duran and I'm an account manager here at Lemon Seed Marketing. Today, I am here to talk about leadership and just to give you a little background. I was a leader for 10 plus years. I worked in civil construction. I have a background in civil construction and extending over 15 years, including a decade of supervising and leading teams across multiple challenging job sites. So I just want to talk to you about my transition into the HVAC and marketing realms, focusing on the crucial leadership lessons that have guided me every step of the way. Focusing on the crucial leadership lessons that have guided me every step of the way.
Speaker 1: 9:22
My experience has taught me that your team is not just part of your company. See and I feel like I'm Okay my experience has taught me that your team is not just part of your company. They are a driving force behind it. Leadership means being tough when necessary, but it also means being apologetic, appreciative and transparent. In the demanding world of civil construction, managing multiple teams taught me the importance of building a culture where training, communication and acknowledgement are paramount. The importance of building a culture where training, communication and acknowledgement are paramount. This philosophy has been the bedrock of my transition to leading in the HVAC and marketing industries. Transitioning these leadership lessons to the HVAC sector, where the focus is on service delivery and marketing, has been enlightening. See and I sound really fake right there the emphasis on training is not just technical skills, but also in customer interaction, and marketing tactics is crucial. Appreciating your team's efforts openly and fostering a culture of clear communication has helped us navigate the competitive landscape successfully.
Speaker 1: 10:41
I feel like I'm reading. Well, I am reading, but you know what I mean. Well, I am waiting, but you know what I mean. My leadership style revolves around being present, being genuine and always striving for collective growth for the team and the company. A positive team environment is built on the foundation of appreciation and effective communication. Acknowledging the hard work and contributions of team members, encouraging open dialogue and promoting transparency are practices I live by. This approach has not only improved our problem-solving capabilities, but has also driven innovation within our projects.
Speaker 1: 11:33
Cool leadership also involves making difficult decisions, especially regarding team composition. Understanding when to let go of team members when no longer align with the company's direction is vital, and I I'm like everyone else. Trying to um let go of someone is difficult One because I don't know if I did all the training I could possibly do to make them the best at what I needed them to do. Sometimes people get it, some people don't. Some people just don't care to get it. You know, they're just there for the paycheck. So unfortunately we do have to make those uncomfortable cuts sometimes. But in the long run, when you look at it, if you keep those people on, it just brings down company morale, brings down everybody else. Your employees will get frustrated because then they have to pick up slack from that certain person that's not doing the work. So we got to do what we got to do.
Speaker 1: 12:39
It's never easy to part ways with an employee, especially when the market's tight, but keeping someone who doesn't fit can adversely affect the team's morale and performance, which I already went through. That it's about being brave enough to have those hard conversations for the greater good of the company and everyone involved. Leadership is a journey filled with learning, adapting and sometimes making hard choices. It's about being tough yet empathetic, setting clear expectations and leading by example In the HVAC and marketing sectors, just as it was in construction. The success of our endeavors always comes down to the strength and unity of our team. Remember, fostering a culture of transparency, appreciation and continuous improvement is not just beneficial, it's essential. Thank you for joining me today.
