Anne-Maria Yritys Show Notes

Anne-Maria is a Creative Communications Director at Y.E.S. Yritys Executive Services. She is a vocational teacher and has an MBA, communicates fluently in several languages and has a passion for inspiring leadership and authentic, positive communication. With her vast international experiences and love for humanity, she is a Global Citizen who values ethical leadership and responsible decision-making.

She believes that advanced communication, empowerment, knowledge, continuous development, and learning contribute to the sustainable economic development and a sustainable future in individuals, organizations, and nations across our Globe. Her mission and vision include accelerating positive change through effective change communication and leadership. She Tweets @annemariayritys & @GCCThinkActTank.

Most passionate about

• I’ve been involved in many things. I was in the hospitality industry for more than ten years, and then I changed to banking, retail banking, and investment sales, and then I was teaching many things, and I’m also a vocational teacher.
• Where I’m heading? I think we are all in a working process all the time, what I’m really into is helping people and making the world a better place to be.
• I’ve been passionate about sustainable development projects and the environment for many years. One of my projects that I’ve been working on for a while now is climate change and the human impact on climate change.
• I have used social media for many years and intensively for the last five years. I have my personal account and separate accounts and groups for this climate change project I’m involved in.
• Social media, in general, is a great tool, but you can also waste a lot of time on social media. If you use social media in the right way, you have to work in a very focused way.

Anne-Maria’s best advice about approaching customers

• The first thing is to know what you are offering the customers and to focus on that.
• And then, of course, trust is very important, and being reliable with your customers.
• Also consultative sales and environment, not a push strategy anymore. If you are working with people, then you have to use a pull strategy; find the way to create value for your customers. What value do you provide to your customers?

Biggest failure with a customer

• Failures and the learning experience. When I started to work in the investment bank, I once called a customer like ten times… Don’t chase the customer. At some point, you have to understand that you can’t force customers. If they are canceling your appointment, again and again, they have a reason.
• And you have to understand you can’t help people if they don’t really want to be helped.
• And the third thing is what Adam Grant’s book is about. He wrote a book based on research about giving and taking. About people that give and give and give, who are very empathetic. And I was thinking about it a lot, like when I worked in investment sales: I have too much empathy; I’m too kind. And sometimes that’s a problem, especially in sales if you can’t close a deal because you are too kind.

Biggest success due to the right customer approach

• I think that like any customer success is to keep it simple. The secret is to believe in yourself and your ability and to believe in what you’re selling.
• It also very important to be able to read the customer. That’s also something that’ll come with experience.
• My biggest success was in the investment bank, when I was able to find the perfect match for a couple that needed something very specific, and the solution combined with the company’s portfolio. It’s a success because what people really want today, is service; an enterprise, and especially a structured company like a bank, can’t offer tailored programs. Finding that match was a success.

Recommendation of a tool for customer focus, marketing, or sales:

• There are so many possibilities and channels, but I believe that the most important tool that people need is a website. If you are going to have an online business (and even offline), you need a site.
• Of course, many businesses have a website, but there are also so many online experts (SEO, PPC, social media, etc.) and so many authors and even bloggers that don’t have their own sites. Any person that does some kind of business should have a website.
• It’s also critical for content sharing, which is such an important thing to market your ideas, free apps, and any business.

Anne-Maria’s key success factor

• I think my key success factor is my persistence. And also networks are so important, personal branding, and focusing on content.

Anne-Maria’s Mountain

Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get a fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, or conquering the mountain; I want to ask you if there is a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?

• Yes, I really love mountains. I lived in Switzerland for many years I’m not a climber, but we were hiking a lot. We went to the smaller mountains like Pilatus which is the mountain overlooking Lucern where I lived, and Mount Rigi.

• But it would definitely be nice to conquer one of the highest famous mountains someday. For instance, Kilimanjaro; I have a connection with one of my contacts.
• Today it’s covered with snow, glaciers, and ice, but we were discussing in one of my climate groups, that the glaciers are melting because the world is getting warmer, and that’s why I chose Kilimanjaro.

The best way to connect with Anne-Maria

• Website
• Twitter
  • Anne-Maria Yritys
  • Leading With Passion page
  • Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank page
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
  • Anne Maria Yritys
  • Leading With Passion page
  • Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank page

 Recommended Book

•  “Give and Take – Why Helping Others Drives Our Success” by Adam Grant

More resources for Entrepreneurs

1. Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for Fundraising
2. Hayut Yogev’s Latest post: The three free, most practical steps to researching and locating your market
3. Former interview: With Jonathan Gan, an awarded entrepreneur, says one of his most significant successes was when he closed a deal with one of the biggest retailers in the world in only seconds, and lost an opportunity of thousands of pounds…