Whether you’re happy with the outcome of last month’s election or not you’ve still got a choice to make. Write off 2020 as the train wreck that derailed you? Or, fondly remember it as the year you woke up?
You may or may not be familiar with Gary Vaynerchuck, but he’s become a well-known and outspoken entrepreneur whose predictions about ‘what’s next’ consistently hit the mark. He said something about 2020 that really struck me ‘like a brick to the head:’
“A lot of you are sh*tting on 2020, but in reality, it’s the year that made you reflect, increased your self-awareness, maybe it exposed you to new opportunities. It’s the year that woke you up…and that will lead to your ultimate happiness. You just don’t know it yet.” -Gary Vaynerchuck
It would be soooooo easy to just write this year off, look forward to ‘getting back to normal’ and cannonball into 2021 like a six-thousand-pound elephant.
All year long we heard the complaining, laughed at the memes, and jumped on a thousand Zoom calls like a lumber ninja. In other words, we joked, we cried, we masked up, and we pivoted like no other time in history. And one major way that companies pivoted was by upping their digital game.
In a recent McKinsey article they throw shade on the fact that companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years. (In only seven short months) STAGGERING!
WHAT’S IT GONNA BE?
For you personally? For your company? For your customers?
A mentor of mine always says, “you can hope or you can decide.” Only one creates immediate measurable results.
Let’s start with your customer. (’cause that’s always where we should start.)
Here’s a list of ways you can pivot and digitally improve your customer experience and make this your ‘new normal.’
Which one thing could you take advantage of to make 2021 so memorable and motivating, customers can’t wait to come back? (some cost money, some are freeninety- nine.)
1. Make the Customer the Hero of Your Story at Every Touch Point
2. Train Your Employees to Solve Problems
3. Start a Blog; Populate it with Relevant Useful Content
4. Interview Customers / Create 30-second Testimonial Videos
5. Create an eNewsletter that People Look Forward To Getting
6. Shop Your Company Online; Make it Easier to Find You, Buy From You, and Share the Experience
7. Create Problem-Solving Videos and Create a You- Tube Channel
8. Start a Podcast to Throw Shade on Industry Experts, Customers, Vendors, and Solutions to Help Your Audience Grow Their Businesses
9. Develop Your Social Media Presence to Listen to and Engage with Customers Daily
10. Retool your Website and Turn It Into an Experience I’ll remember 2020 as a ‘pivotal’ year of growth and change. The year I woke up! Coming on board in February as the Executive Director of NAFF. Facing a global pandemic and uncertainty starting in March. And adapting at the speed of COVID with cancelled travel and trade shows.
Like you, we turned our face-to-face events into digital experiences. Zoom! Zoom! Added a digital version of our Truth About Trees Kits to TeachersPayTeachers.com, so that educators have access to lesson plans and resources, even while teaching remotely.
And, for the first time ever, we hosted a virtual golf experience in lieu of our annual live tournament in September. Essentially, we did things we didn’t know how to do and we grew.
We also welcomed two new board members to the foundation—Jeremy Howard (Nyle Dry Kilns) and Bryan Smalley (Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association).
And stepping into the Secretary position, Jesper Bach (Baillie Lumber). Three lumber superheros! Even in light of all the uncertainty and change so many of you stepped up to sponsor, participate, and support us. And for that we are grateful!
With your continued support, we can educate ONE MILLION kids by 2030, encourage young people to choose careers in the forest products industry, and strengthen the fiber of businesses, communities and families, like yours.
To learn more or find out how you can help change hearts and minds about wood, for good, please visit us at www.northamericanforestfoundation.org or drop me a line at adeford@northamericanforestfoun dation.org.
