Download this free e-book now: The Top 10 B2B Marketing Mistakes . . . and How to Avoid Them, a Crowdsourced E-book compiled by Dianna Huff

My colleague, Mac McIntosh, and I asked our respective networks to send us the top ten B2B marketing mistakes they see other marketers making. From email to social media, people expressed their opinions — and often quite passionately.

The Top Three Mistakes?
1. No marketing strategy
2. Website not optimized
3. Wasting lead opportunities

Are the results surprising? Yes and no. You can find reams of blog posts, reports, articles, etc. full of how-to-do-it-right information. Yet, despite all of this information, you can still find many B2B Websites that aren’t optimized and companies that throw their unqualified “leads” at sales.

The remaining seven mistakes include:
4. Wrong messaging
5. No offer
6. Not testing
7. Jargon
8. Not paying attention to details
9. Not taking advantage of how people process information
10. Not marketing the Website

I included a description of each mistake as well as information from top marketers on how to avoid each one. And since it’s a crowdsourced e-book, you’ll find many of the survey responses on each page. It was a fun book to compile and write — I hope you enjoy it. If you like it, please be sure to tell your social network about it.

Thank you to following contributors who filled out the survey or sent in email:

Ardath Albee
Bob Bly
C. Edward Brice
Katie Brown
Meghan Carmody
Kirstie Colledge
Sarah Farrer
Ed Gandia
Mark Gibson
Matt Heinz
Anne Holland
Adam Jacobson
Russell M. Kern
Rob Leavitt
Michele Linn
Jim Loadholt
Kim Cornwall Malseed
Barry D. Martin
Mac McIntosh
Raymond Ng
Mike Ortner
Ken Poray
John Rasco
Erica K. Rice
Geraldine Roy
Steven Sessions
Mark Schaefer
David Meerman Scott
Altaf Shaikh
Jim Somers
Kate Spiers
Jeremy Victor
Kurt Weisenberger
Ralf Weiser

Edited to add:
No stock photography was used in the development of this e-book (Mistake #8). The people you see are actual contributors. I originally wanted to use an image of a “crowd” on each page, but didn’t want to use a stock photograph. The designer tried to custom make one out of people’s Twitter photos, but they were too low res.

I tried connecting the mistakes with each contributor, but that was becoming time-consuming and not everyone sent me a photo. So, the designer and I made the executive decision to post pictures of contributors through out to illustrate that “real people” were used in the making of the e-book (i.e. “crowdsourced”).

If someone was quoted on particular page, he or she is placed on that page — i.e. Ardath Albee or Michele Linn. The result may seem confusing — as someone just emailed me said, “Who are these people?” But I believe it’s a small trade-off for pictures of real people. What do you think?

The e-book was designed by Sonora DesignWorks (for those of you who want to know).

With print magazines and newspapers in serious decline, it’s easy to say that B2B print advertising no longer works. I beg to differ. I firmly believe that print advertising does work (and that people still read print, but that’s a different story). The reason people mistakenly believe that print advertising doesn’t work is because many B2B marketers / small business owners don’t know how to create print ads that drive leads.

Creating print ads that deliver a real return on investment isn’t difficult or expensive. It just takes a little know-how. Herewith, 10 tips you can use to increase B2B print ad ROI.

1. Develop a direct response ad versus an image ad — A direct response ad tells people what to do. If it’s done right, it also lets you track response.

When you look at a typical consumer image ad (re: Apple, Coke, or some other consumer product), you see a beautiful picture of the product and maybe some copy. An image ad differs from a direct response ad as it reinforces brand awareness. A direct response ad drives leads because it includes benefits-rich copy and a call to action (think TV infomercials). “Download our free report.” “Call today and request your free sample.”

2. Focus on what your prospects want — The best networkers know to keep the focus on the people they meet at face-to-face events and not on themselves. (Do this and you’ll gain a reputation as a great listener.)

It works the same for your ad copy. Instead of focusing on your company and how it’s an industry leader, focus on the challenges your target audience is experiencing and how you can help solve them.

3. Eliminate “we,” add more “you / your” — “We” is a very weak pronoun, as my good friend Tom Ahern says. Fill your copy with “you” and it will naturally be easier to focus on your target audience and their needs.

4. Send readers to a specific landing page — Want to waste a boatload of money? Create a print ad and include a URL that goes back to your home page. How in the hell do you track that? You don’t. Instead, create a specific landing page where people can go to get your offer and then track how many people visit and how many fill out the form. Tweak accordingly.

5. Create a great offer — Give people something of value: a new white paper, a report detailing survey findings, free samples, or a half-hour consultation. Make sure the URL directs people to this exact offer versus sending them to a page listing all of your white papers and reports and then make them hunt for the offer listed in your ad.

6. Put a benefit in your headline — Capture people’s attention by putting a benefit in your headline. Stay away from play on words or anything that will make people scratch their heads.

7. Include a testimonial — If possible, include a pithy testimonial from a big name client. Also consider dropping a couple of client names in the copy (i.e. “Product XYZ, used by Big Name and Big Name . . . “).

8. Include your phone number and email — Make it easy for people to contact you by including all relevant contact info including a phone number and email. Don’t hide this information in a 4-point grey font at the bottom of the ad.

9. Don’t use reversed out type — The biggest mistake I see people making, when it comes to print ads, is using reversed out white text on a tinted or colored background. This type of formatting was proven by Colin Wheildon and others to reduce reader comprehension. To ensure your ad gets read, stick with black type (in an easy to read font size) on a white background.

10. Don’t use stock imagery — Before the advent of sites such as iStockPhoto, we in MarCom would spend a great deal of time taking original photographs of products for ads, brochures, and press releases. The good thing about this process is that you had photographs that were used only by your company.

With the advent of stock photography, which is wonderful — and yes, inexpensive — you see the same people / photos *everywhere.* Spend some money and have original photography taken. The result is imaging and branding that is uniquely your own.

For additional tips, see my article, “Effective Print Ads: Tools to Increase Sales.” And, to see an actual B2B ad that’s getting phone calls, see the ad I created for Inca Gold Products, LLC (design by Sonora DesignWorks). Do you have additional tips? Post them below.

Here’s a safe exercise you can try at home: pretend you’re a B2B prospect looking for a company who can help you solve a business problem. Choose any B2B vertical / industry, a professional service or a product and then do an online search. Once you’re on the search engine results page, click through to those listings that look like company Websites (stay away from article spam and the like).

If possible, visit seven to ten sites. Quickly scan the home page of each one to see if you can figure out what the company offers. Don’t take notes — just run through each one.

Now, which company stood out in terms of content? Do you remember any of the company names? No? Congratulations, you just encountered what your prospects go through when they’re searching for providers / solutions.

The Problem? Poor Messaging

Poor messaging happens when companies use the same staged, corporate-y images purchased from stock photography sites and content written in jargon-y unreadable gobbledygook. After viewing a few sites, everything starts to look and sound the same.

The result is that prospects come to your Website . . . and click right back out.

How do you prevent this problem? Create fresh, original content that explains what your company does and why your company is different — in plain English.

Marketers usually refer to this process as “developing your message” or “determining your position.” It’s the first step you need to take when redesigning your Website. To develop your message, consider the following strategies:

1. Conduct competitive research
Most small and mid-sized business owners often know exactly who their competitors are and what they offer. Get this information out of people’s heads and onto paper (or an Excel spreadsheet or white board) by holding a strategy meeting with all parties. Also include any “scuttlebutt” you’ve picked up in your travels and from reading the news media.

Analyze your competitors’ Websites to see how they position themselves. What words and images do they use? How are their offerings similar or different from what you offer / provide?

My client, Greenway Golf, for example, differentiates itself from other golf course maintenance companies by stating that they help golf course owners and managers significantly lower costs while vastly improving playing surfaces.

2. Analyze your strengths
Look at how you’ve solved your customers’ challenges in the last few years: what value did you bring to the table? What was your expertise and how were you able to use it to solve the problem?

Ask your customers why they hired you and why they continue to do business with you. (Conversely, go over recent deals that fell through and ask why you didn’t get the deal — this knowledge will help you craft messages that resonate with future prospects).

Ask sales people for feedback they get from customers — this is all valuable information that you can use in your content and to help better define your position.

Also look at the awards you’ve won, industry certifications, and any data you have that shows how your customers are better off since implementing your solution. Veterans Development Corporation, for example, has earned a highly coveted 94% DECAM rating from the State of Massachusetts (a rating providing by the state based on past performance), a fact they point out on their Website in various places.

3. Tell some stories
Do you have great success stories — stories that really show your expertise, strengths and can-do attitude? Showcase them on your Website! While formatted PDF case studies that people can download are always wonderful, you can include vignettes and what I call “mini case-studies” within the content on your site.

These stories don’t have to be text-based or follow the traditional “problem, solution, result” format. I like how Macro-Air Technologies, for example, uses a video to show how their HVLS Six-Blade Fans beat out their competition. I also like how Greenway links to industry articles about their clients via their blog posts.

The goal of implementing these simple strategies is to create fresh, original content that reflects your company’s values and expertise . . . and that gets potential customers to call or email you.

I know lots of other strategies exist for developing great messaging — feel free to list yours below.

I have a new venture I’ve started, the Profitable Female Consultant. My mission is to help work-at-home moms and female consultants make more money. You can read all about why I started it at my other blog as well as view the site.

If you’re friends with WAHMs or female consultants, please forward the link to them. Thank you!

One thing that drives me insane is seeing pictures of buildings on company Websites (whether large or small companies).

As I’ve said on numerous occasions, people do business with people, not buildings, so why not add pictures of your team on your About Us page? Even better, why not include video, that way savvy companies are now doing?

I’ve also been promoting the idea of going for a walkabout through your company in order to glean ideas for Web content. I’ve always thought this a great idea, but how do you do implement it if you’re a company where people sit in cubicles and peck away on keyboards all day? What exactly do you tour?

How to combine the two?

I scratched my head about this for awhile and hit on the idea of asking companies if I could tour them in order to feature their people on my blog. I needed a test subject, so I called Jonathan Kay, Ambassador of Buzz for Grasshopper Group, and asked if he would be my guinea pig. He immediately said yes.

The result is my first video — Let’s Tour Grasshopper. In it you’ll find four brief interviews of the people inside the building where Grasshopper is located.

The video gives you only a brief sense of just how much Grasshopper interacts with customers as well as how busy they’ve been developing new products. Since filming the video, Grasshopper has come out with Spreadable, the product Jonathan talks about in the video. (Spreadable lets companies increase word of mouth referrals; Grasshopper Group has also developed Chargify — a simple recurring billing system).

This was a real learning experience

Let me just say that while it sounds easy to go out and buy a cool Flip video camera, interview some people, and then upload the video to YouTube, it’s actually not. I made all kinds of filming errors, such as talking over my subjects.

I also had to figure out how to cut down about 60 minutes of “tape” into the three and half minute video you see above. That took awhile and a lot of back and forth between me and my video editor.

Despite all the mistakes and the humble product, I’m very happy and can’t wait to do the next one.

Thank you, Jonathan, and everyone at Grasshopper Group. You were welcoming and hospitable and open with your information. I wish I could have shown the interviews in their entirety. I’m really impressed at what you’ve accomplished and where you’re going as a company — and I’m honored to showcase you on my blog.

I’ve noticed people on Twitter talking about QR codes, so of course they popped out at me while I perused the November 15, 2010 issue of Fortune. Specifically, companies are using them in ads: in this particular issue, Time, Fortune and Ford ran ads that included QR codes.

What is a QR Code?
According to Wikipedia, “a QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.”

Because they’re so new, the three ads gave instructions for what to do with the QR code — which is how I learned that you need some background info in order to see the marketing riches behind these funky codes.

“Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone” . . . uh no.
The ads for Time and Fortune carried easy to follow instructions — “simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.” To me, scan means “scanner,” as in a scanner iPhone app, as in RedLaser, which is a really cool app, in case you don’t have it.

RedLaser does scan the QR code and then gives you a URL. You then have to cut and paste the URL into your iPhone’s browser, a two-step process. You can also download QR scanner apps. My son, who is much geekier than I, immediately took on the challenge of downloading QR code apps; we spent close to an hour trying to figure out how the codes and apps worked.

The problem with using RedLaser to scan QR codes is that you have to ensure the code is in an upright position. To do this, I had to tear the ads out of the magazine and then hold the ad steady while trying to scan the code. This process worked for the Time and Fortune codes, but this is because the printed codes were fairly large. The Ford ad didn’t work at all and I think this is because the code is too small.

After trying to open the Ford QR code via TwittQR (see below) I finally followed the instructions on the ad, which read, “Simply open your phone’s browser and download the free app at gettag.mobi [from Microsoft] or text “MFORDTOUCH” to 4FORD. Then follow the directions to snap this tag and see MyFord Touch come to life.”

This worked. After downloading the app and then scanning the code, I was taken directly to a mobile Web page advertising Ford’s new 2011 Edge.

(You Droid users have it easy: a scanner is part of your phone.)

QR codes now part of marketing campaigns
During this trial and error time, my friend Margie Dana, founder and President of Print Buyers International, and I tweeted back and forth about our frustrations with QR codes and the apps. (Margie also has a new book out: “Print Buying Made Simple,” 138 pages of advice for print buyers. Be sure to check it out.)
In the middle of this, @SpeakFeel tweeted me to say I should check out TwittQR.com for an easy way to handle QR codes.

All you do is take a picture of the QR code, open your Twitter phone app and tweet the picture to @TwittQR. TwittQR then sends you back the URL, which appears in your timeline. You can then click on the link to view.

It took me a couple of tries, but I finally got it. The entire process made me see that I needed to write about this topic, because as I told Margie, if I can’t figure it out, how will non-marketers?

Since he had tweeted me the link to his QR app, I asked Noel Webb, Vice President of SpeakFeel Corporation if I could interview him. (This, my friends, is Real Time Marketing in action. See how it works?)

Svedka Vodka integrates mobile, Facebook
Noel’s company is the genius behind TwittQR and the new Sveda vodka campaign that’s been getting some buzz in the trade press. Posters around Canada advertising Svedka also included a QR code. When people tweeted the code (via TwittQR), they received a message with hashtags “#SVEDKA” and “#TwittQR” plus a custom message and a short URL that went to a mobile site.

Once there, people could then sign in via Facebook and “Like” the Svedka Vodka Page. (For those of you not using Facebook, this means that any time Svedka puts out a message to its “Friends,” that message shows up in their personal profiles. This is why companies are drooling over Facebook’s 500 million users. Who wouldn’t kill for that kind of one-to-one marketing?)

“One of the goals of the campaign,” says Noel, “was to increase the number of Facebook fans, which we accomplished. Svedka also outsold Smirnoff for that quarter.” You can read the full campaign details at Mobile Marketer. You learn more about TwittQR and SpeakFeel Corp. at Going Cellular.

Are QR codes the next best thing?
I definitely see the potential of QR codes and how marketers can use them to engage people by getting them from print to Web. However, the downside is that QR code use is not standard nor are the apps, something pointed out in the Going Cellular post.

In addition, marketers need to use language carefully. As my experience shows, telling people to “simply scan using your smartphone,” isn’t “simple” nor do you “scan” if you’re using an iPhone. And making people download an app, as the Ford ad did, is ok, but it did take me a few minutes. In our now “instant world,” these few minutes are the difference between campaign success and failure.

What’s your experience with QR codes and how do you think B2B companies can incorporate them into the marketing mix? If you’re a B2B company and have successfully used a QR code in a campaign, I’d love to interview you for a blog post.

UPDATE: Also check out these related items:

The CueCat — A barcode reader from the 1990s used for scanning barcodes in catalogs (way before its time, unfortunately). Hat tip to @PeterKretzman.

JagTags — Tags used by consumer brands, such as Macy’s. Hat tip to @LoisGeller.

2d Code — A magazine that is the definitive resource for all things QR Code. Edited by @RogerSmolski (and a hat tip to him).

Nice e-book from Schenkel / Stegman Communications Design, written by Stephanie Tilton of Savvy B2B Marketing fame, and sponsored by AG SalesWorks: Gear Up for Success: 8 Steps to Get Sales and Marketing Cranking in Unison.

As the title states, the e-book covers how to get sales and marketing to work together in order to “sell the way buyers want to buy.” As we all know, the Internet has completely upended how companies sell to other companies — and it’s more important than ever that companies’ sales and marketing teams be on the same page with regard to defining, attracting and nurturing leads.

Stephanie culled insights from blog posts and articles online, and interviewed leading experts for ideas and recommendations you can put into play today. Strategies include:

1. Identifying your ideal customer
2. Defining a qualified lead and processes for generating and nurturing them
3. Developing messaging and executing a more comprehensive yet targeted marketing strategy
4. Creating content that attracts, engages, and nurtures
5. Connecting where prospects spend time
6. Implementing an inside sales/teleprospecting strategy for lead follow-up and qualification
7. Handing leads off to sales
8. Closing the loop, measuring the results, and refining your strategy and tactics

Even if you’re an advanced marketer, you’ll find lots of nuggets in this e-book. I especially like the tip from Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot. “Every time a lead enters your system,” he says, “automatically find the lead’s Twitter and LinkedIn profile, so the sales person can see what is on the lead’s mind (by following them on Twitter) and who is most closely connected to them (by looking at the LinkedIn info).”

In addition, your CRM system should incorporate the various feeds from social media platforms for each lead. With this information inside the system, sales people and teleprospectors doesn’t have to do time consuming research to see what each prospect is thinking / talking about. It’s all right there in the lead’s record.

Whether you’re a small or mid-sized B2B marketer, you’ll get a great deal of information from Gear Up for Success. You can download your copy without having to register for it.

61 out of 100. That’s the number of Fortune 100 companies that didn’t respond to an email from best selling author David Meerman Scott requesting information.

The big names are astounding: Abbott Labs. Comcast. DuPont. General Dynamics. Ingram Micro. Pfizer. United Technologies.

You can find the full report and analysis in David’s new e-book, Real-Time: How Marketing and PR at Speed Drives Measureable Success (and his new book, Real-Time Marketing and PR, a MUST READ).

One could argue that these multi-national companies are too big to respond to an email from a book author. After all, they’ve got so many more important things to do. And besides, anything can go wrong with an email, as I’ve learned when people say they’ve sent me email but I never received it.

I’m sure a few of the 100 emails David sent didn’t reach their intended recipient. But still, 61 out of 100 – that’s almost two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies that didn’t respond to a simple email.

As David points out after analyzing the Fortune 100 and their stock prices, the ROI of real-time engagement with customers, media, and prospects is glaringly apparent:

Fortune 100 companies that engage in real-time beat the S&P 500 while others, on average, underperformed the index.

Not answering an email from an author who writes about marketing and PR in the Internet age not only makes you look bad, it costs you money.

This holds true for small and mid-sized companies, too. I’ve heard horror stories of small companies who send all Web inquiries to an email address that rarely gets checked. In fact, I had an electrician to my house a couple of weeks ago who said that the email on his Website doesn’t work. (But he’s so busy, he didn’t seem to care, which is a shame.)

Email is a pain in the butt, but . . .

Look, I know email is a pain. I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with keeping up with it. And sometimes things do fall through the cracks and to my horror I’ll realize I haven’t returned someone’s inquiry in a timely manner.

Unlike our Big League Fortune 100 cousins, however, we small business owners really have no excuse. And due to our size, the performance expectation is higher. I don’t expect an answer from a big company. I do expect to get one from a small company — and fast.

When you build a Website, you’re basically building a path to your business that anyone in the world can use to get to you. This path is used by spammers, clueless PR people, vendors who want your business — and prospects interested in your offerings.

This means that instead of keeping people at arm’s length via a contact form, which I often see companies do, you have to make it easy for people to contact you. This is why I think small B2B companies should post their phone numbers and email addresses on every single page of a Website (rather than just the Contact Us page).

When people do contact you (and I’m talking about real people, not spammers), return the favor and reply back to them. Who knows, you could end up a with a sale (which is what happens for me on a regular basis) or you may get a good write-up about your company in a book, blog post or news article, as the following examples show:

Does Your B2B Website Need a Facelift? — An interview with Samuel Greengard of ChannelPro SMB.

Are Customer Testimonials Smart Marketing Tools? — An interview with Lisa LaMotta of Forbes.com

Personal Branding Through the Eyes of a B2B Marketer — An interview with Dan Schawbel.

What do you think? Have you had a company respond to you in real time via email or Twitter? How do you feel when you call a company and get a “real” person answering the phone instead of voice mail? I’d love to hear your stories.

I write a lot of Web content for B2B companies. Manufacturing companies, software companies, service companies, chemical companies, widget companies — basically the small and mid-sized companies that make up the backbone of our economy.

This work, although incredibly important to the companies themselves, isn’t exactly sexy nor big budget.

So I was blown away when I opened my mail yesterday and learned that I had been awarded a Platinum MarCom Award for the Web content I wrote for the National Security Institute. You can read the case study if you want the full story. You can view other Platinum and Gold Award winners at the MarCom Awards site.

Winning the award got me to thinking about what’s involved with helping small and mid-sized B2Bs revamp their Websites.

Too often SMB Websites are “do-it-yourself” jobs. I’ve seen everything from sites managed by office admins using Microsoft FrontPage to sites that haven’t been updated since George W. Bush first became President.

The biggest problem I see, outside of poor design, is that companies don’t know how to communicate their message. The result is a poorly developed site that gives prospects few reasons to hang around the site looking for information. So they click right back out.

The first step in working with companies who want a Website overhaul isn’t so much “writing a few pages of copy” (which is what I usually get called in to do). It’s educating the client about Web marketing and then once we’re all on the same page, doing a complete message rebrand:

• Who are you?
• Why are you in business?
• Why do your customers do business with you?
• What makes you different?
• What’s your sales cycle?
• How do people find you?
• What’s changed for you in the last few years?

And most important, “What do you want your site to do for you?” Nine times out of ten people say, “Get us sales!” Ok! Now we’re talking!

The real problem is that people don’t see Websites as ASSETS. A building is an asset. Office furniture is an asset. A laptop computer is an asset.

A Website, however, is an EXPENSE. Because Websites grew out of traditional marcom — we migrated paper brochures and datasheets to the Web — they’re not seen as assets that deliver real value.

A bricks and mortar building delivers real value because it houses employees and the business of the company. It’s the same for a Website. Done right, a Website works for you 24 hours a day — generating leads, giving directions, answers questions, and promoting job openings, to name a few.

My job as a B2B marketing consultant / Web marketer is to help companies see the Website as an asset — and to develop messaging and content accordingly.

In addition to winning a Platinum award for the NSI site, I also won a Gold Award for overseeing the revamp of Dr. Helaine Smith’s site (WordPress design by Cre8d-Design) and an Honorable Mention for the e-book I wrote for her, “Dental Implants: Five Questions You Must Ask.”

Thanks again, Dave and Steve — you guys are great and I loved working with you. And thank you, too, Dr. Smith for your continued trust and business.

Michele Linn of the Content Marketing Institute emailed me this evening to ask where my article was . . . the one that was due last Friday.

Uh oh. I hadn’t done it . . . because it wasn’t on my schedule (even though I swear up and down I put it there).

In the last six months or so, lots of things have fallen through the cracks. I find myself doing more and more mind-numbing tasks — tasks that eat up tons of time — and less of what I really want to do. I find myself getting flustered and angry and resentful.

Matt Cutts has been writing about his 30-day challenges on his blog. I do 30-day challenges with myself but I haven’t been too public with them.

I’m changing that because I want to make a HUGE change. I want to off load the tasks that make me unhappy and upload the projects that make me happy. (See Kel Kelly’s post, Lick Subway Railing or Attend Networking Event?, about happiness in business.)

Even though it’s not Nov. 1, I’ve already sorta kinda started my 30+ day challenge. I hired a bookkeeper. This is huge for me because I’m one of those people who thinks she has to do *everything* herself.

In other words I have a very hard time asking for help.

But I need help. First off, let me just that I’m a marketer and while I know how to add, subtract and balance my checkbook, anything beyond that makes my eyes glaze over.

Second, I started using Quickbooks Online (huge mistake) and now my books are rife with errors. (The bookkeeper suggested I go back to the desktop version. I’m following her advice — it’s why I hired her.)

Third, I spend hours entering data and pushing buttons and trying to make sense of it all. It never makes sense. It’s like it’s written in Sanskrit.

And last, I HATE ACCOUNTING!

Glad I got that off my chest.

So travel with me during November as I learn how to let go of tasks and make room for the things I do want. As my former coach Sharon Teitelbaum told me repeatedly during my coaching calls, I’m the CEO of DH Communications, Inc. I shouldn’t be doing low-level tasks that I can pay someone else to do. (Sharon, btw, is fabulous. If you’re considering work-life coaching, call her.)

What’s your take on the DIY trap? Do you offload everything you can? Or do you get bogged down in details?