Sutter Communications

We’re wild about words!

Nice people finish first, research shows

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My dad, Joe Sutter, behind the pharmacy counter at Sutter Drug circa 1960s.
My dad, Joe Sutter, was known for being nice. Here he is behind the pharmacy counter at Sutter Drug circa 1960s.

Are you as tired as I am of all the nastiness going on in the world? I’m not just talking about the U.S. presidential race — although that’s depressing enough — but about the me-first attitude that seems to permeate our world.

If you adhere to the feeling that “nice guys finish last,” I’m pleased to report that a column in the Wall Street Journal shows otherwise. Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, writes that if you think it looks like the worst behavior is being publicly rewarded and that the world now belongs to jerks, you are wrong. (Read the column here.)

“Nice people, rejoice: Notwithstanding the prominent examples today in political and popular culture, the best available research still clearly shows that in everyday life the nice people, not the creeps, do the best at work, in love and happiness,” Brooks writes.

Follow the Golden Rule

I’m glad to hear that. When I was 28 and became the editor of the features department at the Bradenton Herald in Florida, I got some good advice from a former boss. This was my first management job, and I was green enough that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But one thing I did know: I wanted to be respected by my new staff (most of whom were older than me) but I also wanted them to like their jobs and excel at them. So the advice that I got from a former boss when I told her about my challenges in helping certain staffers improve their performance: “Be a human being” in working with your staff. “Follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you want to be treated.”

I know I didn’t always succeed at that as a young manager or even as I got more experienced. But I think I achieved a good balance: expecting high quality work while understanding a person’s challenges of getting there.

So back to that Wall Street Journal column. Here are a few research findings:

  • A 2015 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology showed that nice employees were seen as being natural leaders and they got significantly higher marks on performance reviews.
  • A 2010 study published in the Journal of Social Psychology showed “that kind acts, systematically deployed, raised the participants’ self-judged happiness,” according to the WSJ column.

Mr. Nice Guy

My dad, Joe Sutter, was known for being a nice guy. When I wrote my family memoir, Sutter’s Sodas Satisfy: A Memoir of 90 Years of Sutter Drug Co., I heard from many former employees who liked working for my dad, a pharmacist who ran the business when my grandfather grew old. And when my dad passed away in 2013, one of my mother’s sisters wrote in a card to me: “I don’t know anyone who didn’t like your Dad.”

My dad was quiet and unassuming, but he certainly had high standards and expected us kids to live up to them. I like to think we have.

Whom do you admire for being nice?

 

Don’t miss these 3 ‘simplified social media’ classes

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SCORE classes on social media can help you grow your business.
SCORE classes on social media can help you grow your business.

Are you confused about how to use social media effectively? Do you struggle to figure out the best strategies to connect with customers? Are you on LinkedIn but it’s not helping you grow your business?

Then check out three upcoming classes sponsored by the Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE. If you’re not familiar with SCORE, you may be missing out on some great learning and mentoring opportunities. I’ve been a volunteer with the Rochester chapter of SCORE for about 2 years.

Talent galore within SCORE

We have volunteers who come from an amazingly wide background of talents related to business: manufacturing, accounting,  sales, HR, marketing, social media, purchasing, retail, and more. We’re affiliated with the federal Small Business Administration. We offer free one-to-one mentoring (yes, free!) and low-cost classes.

One of our volunteers, Tamara MacDuff, who also is an associate of Sutter Communications, is going to be teaching about social media for the next three Saturday mornings in Rochester.  Each class is from 9 a.m. to noon at the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, 150 State St., and each costs $25. That’s a steal for a three-hour class!  She knows her stuff, and she makes class fun. You can read about her background here.

Be active, helpful and consistent on social media

That’s the subtitle for these classes. Here’s the schedule and click on each name for more info and to register:

Oct. 22, Facebook: Learn about the 80/20 strategy; how to post using a scheduler; making a content calendar; and more.

Oct. 29, Twitter: Learn best practices; how to schedule your posts; using Twitter cards to drive traffic to your website or blog; and more.

Nov. 5, LinkedIn: Learn about LinkedIn groups; how to publish on LinkedIn; how to have conversations; and more.

What questions do you have about using social media effectively? Let me know and I’ll write a blog to answer your questions.

 

 

6 reasons why blogging can grow your business

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Blogging regularly can grow your business.
Blogging regularly can grow your business.

Are you wanting to make it easier for potential clients to find your business on the Internet?

Then you should consider blogging regularly on your company’s website.

Why should a business owner have a blog? Here are my six key reasons.

Search Engine Optimization.

Every time you post a new blog entry, you create a new indexed page that search engines can display in their posts. So this helps your website rank in search engines and helps people to find your business when they are searching for a product or service.

Establish yourself as an expert.

This gives you credibility with your audience.

Offer “calls to action.”

A blog offers you a place to offer goods and services, whether you are selling them or offering a freebie. Bloggers often offer extremely short e-books or PDFs to people who sign up to follow the blog. This gives you more emails for your outreach.

These next statistics are from HubSpot.

Companies that blog have 55 percent more website visitors.

That’s SEO at work  for you.

B2C companies that blog get 88 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Your blog will create interaction with potential customers.

B2B companies that blog get 67 percent more leads per month than those that don’t.

Even other companies are turning to blogs to find expertise to help them with their business needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, I’m teaching Blogging 101 on Oct. 17 at Writers and Books. And on Nov. 1 and Writers and Books, I’m teaching a more advanced class, Blogging 201 for people who already have a blog and want to take it to the next level to grow traffic and interaction. Each of these classes is 2 hours. Click on the links for more details.

On Nov. 12, I’m teaching Blogging for Business through SCORE. This 3-hour class will combine those two, hitting the highlights of each class. Again, click on the link for more info.

If you’re blogging now, I’d love to hear about your successes and where you’d like to grow. And I hope to see you at one of these upcoming classes.