As Long As I’m Moving…
May 20, 2009
A good quick read is Lance Armstrong’s autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, where he talks about his battle with cancer, his subsequent return to competitive cycling, and his victory in the Tour De France – the first of what would turn out to be an unprecedented seven consecutive victories.
One passage in particular recounts Lance riding his bike while in great pain from the cancer treatments. When people asked him why he was doing such a thing, he replied, “As long as I’m moving, I’m living.”
In a somewhat different but definitely related story, I learned about a research study where volunteers were placed into one of five different groups based on their levels of fitness and activity with “couch potatoes” on one end, and world-class Olympic athletes at the other end.
They were all evaluated, with comparisons made between their chronological age and their “physical” age, based on a variety of lifestyle activities and medical tests. The objective was to predict expected lifespan based on these factors.
The results were interesting: the single biggest increase predicted life span was between the first group – the people who did no exercise at all – and the second group that did minimal exercise like walking for ten minutes a day. The implication being that any activity is better than no activity.
And this really gets us to the heart of the issue. Because so many people are absolutely paralyzed by fear and uncertainty that they’re doing absolutely nothing to help grow or at least reposition their businesses to be stronger and in a better position to compete when the economy ultimately begins its slow road to recovery.
You hear things like, “I’m just going to sit out this economy.” Yeah, good luck with that! You can’t just wait it out like parking under an overpass during a bad rainstorm; you have to develop alternate plans.
You have to become a student of business and marketing. You have to implement. You have to take massive action when others are sitting in the corner, contemplating the universe with “a deer-in-the-headlights” looks in their eyes.
Like Lance said, “As long as I’m moving…I’m living.” The same thing could be said for you and your business: if you’re moving, you’re living. Don’t let yourself become a victim of the economy: take action when others are content to be spectators; be bold when others are timid; and above all, don’t be a “marketing couch potato.”
Lahaina Strikes Again!
May 13, 2009
Most business owners and salespeople seem content to sit back, complain, and rattle off an endless stream of reasons why business is slow…while they continue to work in exactly the same manner they did when the economy was strong – or worse still, sit around and wait for business to come to them.
This second strategy is unreliable even in the best of circumstances, and downright foolish in today’s economy. And yet you see it in use constantly. We certainly do…with one notable and recent exception.
First a quick bit of background. Lorie and I like Asian art. In fact, we like Asian food, Asian culture, and, of course, Asian martial arts. We joke that if there’s such a thing as “previous lives” then we were both certainly Japanese during the samurai period.
One of our favorite artists is Hisashi Otsuka. Lorie bought me a framed poster of one of his pieces as a wedding present nearly 25 years ago. We’ve since bought two prints of his that grace our living room.
So it came as a pleasant surprise when Lorie got a call from Mike Summers last week. Mike works at Lahaina Galleries, the company that represents Otsuka and many other prominent artists. Based in Hawaii, Lahaina Galleries has locations in Maui and on the Big Island, in San Francisco and Newport Beach, California, and in Bend, Oregon.
Mike called to let us know about a new release by Otsuka we might be interested in, and to tell us about an October event they’re having at the San Francisco gallery called “I Found My Art in San Francisco” – a play on words on the classic Tony Bennett Song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
As a bonus, they’re hoping to have Otsuka at the gallery for the event, which would be a real treat since I’ve never met him before.
There are three extremely important things Mr. Summers did, and I’m hoping you’ve already picked up on at least two of them:
1. He contacted previous customers – We’re not big-time art collectors. In fact, the two Otsuka prints and one poster we own make up our entire collection. But we did buy two of them, the most recent one a little over a year ago. So in addition to sending us periodic e-mails and print newsletters (hey, there’s a bonus strategy for you!) he reached out and presented us with an additional opportunity to acquire a third piece from the artist.
When was the last time you got in touch with past customers?
2. He called – The personal touch of reaching out and talking to us personally is something that’s not done quite enough, particularly with people who’ve suddenly and mysteriously stopped buying from you.
Do you call regular or lost customers with special information and updates?
3. He took initiative – I’ve never met Mike Summers. He didn’t sell us the recent print we bought, and he certainly didn’t sell us the first one we bought back in 1995. For all I know, he could have been seven years old back then. What he did do was compile a list of the gallery’s customers, call to introduce himself, and offer something of interest (the October event) to get our attention. This took a lot of time and effort, and was certainly more difficult than sitting on his butt in an empty gallery, complaining about how bad the economy is, while waiting for buyers to walk in off the street.
What creative, innovative, and proactive strategies are you using to get new business?
With no clear end in sight to this economic downturn, you simply can’t rely on previously successful strategies or simple good fortune to see you through – you need to develop a new mindset and a different approach that will seem like a “work of art” to your customers, clients, and members.
Only Three Ways…
May 7, 2009
The most common topic of conversation on my one-on-one coaching calls is how to counteract the falling revenues that come as a result of the current economic situation. Fortunately, the solutions are relatively straightforward, even if implementing them can be a bit tricky.
They generally fall into one of three broad categories:
* Find something that makes you truly unique in the marketplace
* Make yourself indispensible to a specific market segment
* Deliver a value proposition that amounts more or less to “selling money at a discount”
We explore these three approaches – and literally hundreds of others – in our Business Self-Defense™ 90-Day Success Program. (Watch for a special one-time-only offer coming soon!)
And if you really want to get to a solution to this problem even more quickly and directly, there are actually only three ways to increase revenue:
1. Get more customers
2. Get them to buy more frequently
3. Get them to spend more each time they buy
That’s it – there are no other ways; anything that seems to be is just a variation or combination of one or more of these three. If you truly want to increase your revenues, start applying the Outrageous Marketing strategies we teach here every week, and be bold in how you use them instead of running scared and hiding in dark corners like most of your competitors.
Despite what the media would have you think, this is actually one of the best environments for growing your business that we’ve had in a long time. The competition for attention is dwindling; media and design costs are dropping as vendors panic and lower prices to try and hold on to business (the wrong decision in most cases); and people are looking for value.
If you can provide it, they will respond.
The Dogwood Tree
April 24, 2009
Because of the warm weather we get here in North Carolina at various times during winter, there are lots of “false starts” as to when spring actually begins. It certainly fools the daffodils that poke up though the ground and bloom, only to shrivel up and die a few days later when the normal lower temperatures return.
Just last week, though, I went out into our backyard and did a double-take. The dogwood tree on the side of our property was in full bloom, and it was absolutely magnificent!
We’d planted the tree about five years ago, but it never really seemed happy there. We pruned the tree, and fertilized it properly, but the leaves never seemed quite as green and healthy as they should have, and the flowers always seemed a bit anemic. This year, though, it was completely different – bright white blooms virtually covered the tree to the extent that you could hardly see the branches underneath.
When I commented on this to my wife, she said, “Maybe it just needed some time to get used to us.” Now, I’m not a big “give each house plant a name and talk to it in an encouraging way so it will thrive” kind of guy, but there was something that rang true in what Lorie said.
We’ve had clients book programs with us years after first seeing me present at conferences they attended themselves. We’ve had people invest in our resources after “sitting on the sidelines” for months. Things like these actually happen quite frequently.
And this is why you absolutely have to maintain ongoing relationships with your customers, members, clients…and prospects. Too many people make a sale, put a “tick mark” on a chart somewhere, move on to the next person, and completely ignore the lifetime value sitting, untapped, in the customer they just served. Why? Because they figure the customer just bought something, so what’s the value of this person to me now?
When we bought a new car back in October, we witnessed this first hand. Entering dealership after dealership, we had to “run the gauntlet” past four or five salespeople (all standing around doing nothing productive) as the one who was “up next” virtually pounced on us, almost salivating at the prospect of actually selling a car.
Prior to this, we last bought new cars in 1993 and 1995 from Toyota and Jeep dealers, respectively. Do you think in all that time we’ve heard anything from the salespeople who sold us those vehicles? Not a chance.
It’s as if they’d planted a tree, seen no flowering or growth, and then stopped caring for it.
It would have been far better to stay in touch with us with a regular print or e-mail newsletter, and then invite us, after, maybe three years, to a special, nicely catered, Open House Event, where we could test-drive the new version of the Toyota Camry we had bought – if for no other reason than to get a whiff of that great new-car smell.
And if the salesperson who sold us the original car had moved on, then a new, aggressive, hungry salesperson could have done minimal research to collect all the unattended leads and taken them over as his own.
But this didn’t happen, and now these very same people are blaming the economy for their sub-par sales numbers.
Yes, the economy is a factor, but not cultivating and maintaining long-term relationships is an even bigger issue. If things are slow where you work, then now is the best possible time to develop these relationships, so when things pick up again and people are ready to spend, they’ll do business with the people they know and trust.
It may not happen next week, or even next month, but one day you’ll wake up and see that all of the time, effort, and money you’ve invested will start to pay off, just like the work and patience we put into that sad dogwood tree that has turned it into something truly amazing.
Don’t Redesign…Reorganize!
April 17, 2009
If you watch the news or read the commentary in the local and national papers, you’ll surely come to the conclusion that the end of civilization as we know it is just around the corner. I’ll agree, it’s not the rosiest time I can recall in my adult life, and yet far too many people are making the situation more complicated than they need to by not taking charge of their environments.
Fortunately, this is not the case for our Inner Circle Gold Coaching members, and for one in particular, whose situation may be familiar to you.
I had a 30-minute call scheduled with this member to review proposals she had received for redesigning her company’s web site. She wanted to increase the amount of business that was directly attributable to the site and was uncertain about which vendor was the right one to choose.
She had sent me the proposals in advance, so I had a chance to review them and, more importantly, take a detailed look at the web site as it existed currently. Not surprisingly, this exercise revealed the need for three specific enhancements:
- Dedicated landing pages for specific offerings
- A “triage” function on the home page to immediately guide visitors to the correct page
- A compelling offer that would convince visitors to leave their contact information so a follow-up sequence could be initiated automatically without leaving the next action in the prospects’ hands
In stark contrast, all three of the vendors’ proposals were focused on improving the “look and feel” and “flow” of the site.
This, of course, is the very real danger you face every day if you don’t take firm ownership and control of your marketing. There’s a vastly different set of skills required to design an attractive web site than to design a site that will generate revenue – and these skills are almost always mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s extremely rare to find someone who can do both tasks skillfully.
As frequently happens when I’m talking with members who “get it” and are clearly going to act on what I’m recommending, the 30-minute call expanded to a little over an hour, with an extremely simple summary of what should take place: the site didn’t need to be redesigned; it needed to be reorganized. And, as a bonus, this was going to be an easier, faster, and less costly exercise than all three vendors had proposed.
In addition, it will ultimately be a more profitable approach.
Be extremely careful whose advice you take. Web site designers know about designing web sites. Media sales reps know about selling media. You need to be the one who knows about marketing and growing your business, and you have to makes sure everyone else understands it as well as you do.
“Try Sports”
April 12, 2009
If you’re planning on climbing Mt. Everest, you’d make absolutely certain that you have the right training, conditioning, and equipment – to do otherwise would be foolish…and dangerous.
Oh, don’t worry, Mt. Everest is not in my immediate or future plans – I don’t have the time or the inclination to attempt anything like that. But a half marathon is exactly the kind of physical and mental challenge I enjoy (more on that in this week’s Tales from the Road article below…) and the selection of equipment is important here as well.
The list of required items is fairly short: running shoes.
Sure, you can get special running socks, heart-rate monitors, and wicking shirts; but really, the only essential item you may not already own is a good pair of running shoes.
Normally, when you walk into a sporting-goods store, the clerk will ask what size shoe you wear, maybe inquire briefly about the type of running you do and your average weekly mileage, and then disappear into the back to see what shoes are available in your size. She’ll then leave you with several brands to try on, before moving to the next customer.
While this may be efficient, it doesn’t always result in the best possible selection – and running with the wrong shoe can lead to several different injuries that can essentially sideline you for weeks, or possibly months. But it does allow for slightly lower prices – I mean, it is a commodity item, right?
There is another approach, and a company called TrySports has it nailed down perfectly. Their four stores in North and South Carolina focus on people who run triathlons, or participate in any of the three component events: swimming, biking, and running. Let’s ignore the brilliant niche marketing that went into even identifying the need for this type of business, and focus on something even more specific: their process for fitting running shoes.
In stark contrast to the example I gave above, TrySports has a unique five-step process they go through to help you select the right shoe based on the size and shape of your foot, the way you train, and your running style. They even have a name for this fitting process: “5 Steps to the Perfect Fit” – an important thing to do to distinguish yourself from the competition.
One of the steps is a “Video Gait Analysis” where a digital video camera, aligned perfectly to videotape your stride as you run on the treadmill, lets the staff analyze exactly how your foot is striking the ground – particularly helpful if the customer tends to pronate or supinate (striking with the outside or inside of the foot).
And if, despite all of these steps, the shoes don’t work out, they’ll exchange them for a different model – even if you’ve run with them on the pavement, because that’s the only real way to know if they’re right for you.
So you see, they’re not selling running shoes, they’re selling the experience of making sure you have the perfect shoes that will help you enjoy your running, and do it without injury. And, by the way, if the shoes cost a bit more than at the discount stores, no one seems to care – the store was quite busy when I went there a few weeks ago to buy a pair for myself.
Do you have a unique process for what you do? Can it help you distinguish yourself from the competition? Can it put you in a position where you can charge a premium price for your products or services? Find a way to do this, and you’ll leave everyone else in the dust.
The Quality Department Won’t Approve It
April 6, 2009
Moving into a bigger office is a lot like moving into a bigger house: there are more rooms to furnish. That means you have to buy stuff, and that means dealing with damaged shipments. And that’s exactly what we’ve been experiencing this week.
We ordered a hutch that will go on top of a credenza we already have, a conference-room table, a desk set, and a storage cabinet, all of which arrived within a seven-day period. That was the good part. But when we started opening the boxes, the fun quickly came to an end.
I should point out that this wasn’t bulky, heavy, solid wood furniture, but rather the kind that comes in a box. You lay out all the pieces, screws, dowels, and cams, and then spend an afternoon putting it all together. I don’t mind the time – it’s actually quite relaxing and even a bit therapeutic – but I do mind it when there’s a problem with the parts.
You see, all but one of the items had some damage on the component pieces. Some had gouges and scratches; some had damage around the corners; and some parts were simply broken. Oh well, it’s basically particle board with a wood laminate, and some of it is going to get damaged. So we called the customer-service numbers for two of the companies and got two very different responses.
The first representative was extremely courteous, efficient, and helpful; explaining that she would send out a replacement, and instruct us on what to do with the old piece; but that, of course, we wouldn’t be responsible for even one dime to correct the situation. She also apologized for the inconvenience, and even looked up and e-mailed us a copy of the assembly instructions we had somehow misplaced.
The second company’s representative took a slightly different approach. In this case, there were five major pieces – essentially the entire frame of the cabinet – that had damage because, apparently, some particles had gotten in between the pieces during their internal packing process and had scratched and gouged them in transit.
Oh, she was courteous enough at the start of the call, but as soon as Lorie told them how many pieces needed to be replaced, and which ones they were, she quickly changed her tune. “Oh, we can’t ship out that many pieces; you’ll have to contact the company you ordered this from and deal with them. We explained that the package had arrived well cushioned and with absolutely no signs of visible damage. The problem, we explained, was caused by the packing process in their factory.
What I was afraid of was a “he said, she said” affair, where the company we ordered from would say it was the manufacturer’s fault, and the manufacturer would say it was the company’s fault, leaving us in the middle, quite likely picking up the cost for shipping back a 100-pound package.
When we asked why they couldn’t ship out the pieces directly themselves, she explained, “I just don’t think the Quality department will let us send out that many replacement parts for a single unit.”
Hmmm, would that be the same Quality department that allowed the defective parts to be shipped in the first place? It would seem to me that the Quality department should hand pick the replacement parts, jump in a truck, and drive directly to my office to deliver them personally and apologize for having failed us initially.
Ultimately, we did get them to authorize the parts, primarily because Lorie was extremely persistent, calm, and rational in explaining why it was their responsibility to do so.
But we won’t likely buy any furniture from this manufacturer ever again, and that’s the important lesson for you here. Mistakes do happen – it’s extremely difficult to cover every single contingency, but it’s how you handle this problem that makes the difference in how the customer remembers the experience. Do everything you can to make sure you get it right the first time. But when you don’t, take full advantage of the opportunity to address the problem quickly and definitively, and you’ll have a customer for life.
Only 60 Calories
March 11, 2009
One of the “occupational hazards” of embracing our style of marketing is that you become a keen observer of everything around you. I can’t tell you how many of our members tell me things like:
Yeah, whenever we walk through the airport, I point at the signs on the wall and say, “Hey – that headline is awful! There’s no benefit, and they don’t even have a call to action!” – My wife thinks I’m crazy when I do this…
But this is a really good habit to get into, since it exposes you to a vast collection of “swipe file” material, and is an incredibly effective exercise for sharpening your own creative abilities. Plus, in my case, it provides a never-ending source of stories for this newsletter and for our monthly Inner Circle 12-page newsletter.
And, of course, this week is no exception. Because I saw an ad for a new “Lite ‘n Fit” yogurt that claims to have only 60 calories, less than a normal container of yogurt. That part, of course, is true – it’s hard to make up cold, hard data like that.
What they left out, however, is that their product comes in a 6 oz. container, when the normal size for a yogurt is 8 oz. It’s easy to have fewer calories when you have a smaller portion. This is similar to other interesting claims I’ve seen, like the 12 oz. package of potato chips with the following copy taking up a very large part of the bag:
Now: 20% MORE
(than a 10 oz. bag)
Well, yeah, 12 oz. is 20% more than 10 oz., but all most people see is the 20% more part. And if they raise the prices 20% to cover the additional product, then all you’re doing is paying more for more chips. No real bargain here – only increased consumption and more money spent on an individual purchase.
Mind you, this is very creative – perhaps a bit murky – but definitely creative, and it demonstrates an understanding of the psychology that drives human behavior.
Are you as clear about what motivates your customers? You don’t have to go quite as far as these two examples, but getting into your customer’s thought processes will help you do a better job at delivering exactly the right product or service, and presenting it in the way that will get the best possible results.
One of Our Best Customers
March 4, 2009
I got a message a while ago from someone named “Dave” who wanted to talk to me about “an important marketing opportunity.” Not having any information, but being interested in marketing, I called the number he had left for me.
When the phone was answered, and I explained why I was calling, there was a brief pause while the person on the phone had to go off and find out exactly who Dave was. A few minutes later (at this point, they had piqued my curiosity) Dave finally arrived on the call.
He had called me about a marketing conference – a “boot camp” type event featuring three well known marketing people, including Adam Ginsberg, who teaches people how to make money using eBay. Always curious as to how people select and target their mailing lists, I asked how they got my name in the first place.
At first, he didn’t know, and then, after further digging, he said triumphantly, “Oh, here it is: Adam Gisnberg says you’re one of his best students.”
Wow – what an honor! Except for one simple fact: I’m not one of his best students. In fact, I’m not one of his worst students: I’m not even a student of his at all. I’ve never bought so much as a book from him. The closest I’ve ever come to any involvement with Adam Ginsberg is the time he spoke at one of the major marketing conferences I attend each year.
Turns out, I had reached a call center where people were working fervently to fill seats at an upcoming event. There were many ways they could have gotten my name, any of which would have made me a likely candidate. But the minute they couldn’t explain how they selected me – and got their only attempt at it dead wrong – I lost all interest in attending the conference…and in continuing the conversation.
Affinity is important: teachers selling to other teachers; stay-at-home moms selling to other stay-at-home moms; entrepreneurs selling to other entrepreneurs all have better results because of the common background, language, and experience they share with each other.
But you have to get it right. You can’t send a letter to a list of vegetarians that starts out: “Just like you, nothing brings a smile to my face like a big, juicy sirloin steak…” And that’s essentially what they did.
It doesn’t take much effort to select qualified lead sources, segment your own “house list,” and customize the message you send to specific market segments. Best of all, the effort you put into this process will almost always lead to improved response and increased revenue.
Four for the Price of One
February 27, 2009
Most people understand that technology, remote workforces, and quality outsourcing have significantly leveled the playing field and eliminated many of the “economies of scale” that used to be the exclusive domain of very large companies.
But despite this, it’s still tough being a small business these days. People can be reluctant to work with you because they secretly wonder if you’re going to be the next casualty to fall as a result of the recession, and they don’t want to be left hanging if anything happens to you.
Fortunately, there’s a way to make yourself appear to be much bigger than you are, like when cats puff up and arch their backs when they’re near a dog to look larger and more menacing.
We recently called the local company that does our annual termite inspection. It had four numbers listed on the receipt from the last time the company was out here – one for Raleigh, one for Durham, one for Chapel Hill, and one for Hillsboro – four cities in our general area.
What we discovered after talking with them was that the company didn’t really have individual offices in all four cities, but rather a single office with four different numbers, each with a local exchange that made it look like other phone numbers in that area.
There are many ways to do this, whether through your local phone company, or through Voice-Over IP services (VOIP) like Skype, and it’s actually a good strategy for two reasons:
- It makes you look like you’re a bigger company than you actually are, providing subtle reassurance to your customers.
- It implies that you have a local presence in each area so people think you’ll be closer to them in the event of an emergency.
Of course, it’s important to note that nowhere in its marketing did the company actually claim to have four offices or even imply that – it simply listed four different “local” phone numbers on its materials.
You always have to determine if your strategies and approaches meet the guidelines for “acceptable use”: try whatever you like, as long as it’s not illegal, immoral, or unethical. And, of course, you set the rules for the last two of these.
Remember, there’s a lot you can do to establish and maintain credibility with your customers and prospects, and in this economic climate, it’s more important now than ever.
