One of the marketing/sales concepts that I preach all the time is give a little first. If you want someone to give you their valuable time or attention, let alone their money — you give first. A free sample to let them taste what they can have for themselves.
Jill, as you'd guess, is a master at this technique.
In launching her sales conference (November 5-6, Mpls) geared specifically for women, Sales SheBang, she has put together an incredible Goody Bag, filled with free e-books on the art and science of selling, all written by Jill herself.
I'm no fool so I downloaded each and every e-book. Each one is an excellent primer on a different aspect of selling. Check out this grid of insights from one of Jill's e-books.
There's content for staff meeting or two right there!
In a recent e-mail exchange Jill said something that I think is very indicative of who she is as a person. She said, "I am in my "mentoring" years and willingly share what I have to help others in any way that I can."
On the surface, it makes sense. We want our customers to be satisfied. Measuring customer satisfaction has become an industry of its own, with recognizable names like JD Powers and other similar institutions in the forefront.
Tracking and understanding a customer’s attitude about a company or product can be very insightful. It gives the consumer a chance to vent or point out product performance issues or the opportunity to spotlight a good or not so good customer service system or employee. But what customer satisfaction does not indicate at all is what the consumer will do next time they’re faced with a buying opportunity.
Customer loyalty, on the other hand, is not based on opinion or attitude. It is a measure of commitment and is a much stronger indicator of future buying choices. It is also quantifiable. If one of your customers has been consistently buying a specific product or service every month for the past year and suddenly their buying pattern changes – their loyalty might well have been compromised.
Loyalty can be used for projecting future sales, what will be bought next and revenue estimates. For a small company, you probably just need to flip through your receivables to detect loyalty patterns. For larger companies, there are mathematical techniques that you can use with your accounting system to track, trend and nurture loyalty.
A good business wants to pay attention to both satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfaction will help you identify what is or isn’t working day to day. Loyalty can help you look ahead and more accurately know what your consumers will want and be able to devise strategies to hang onto those customers long term.
So of course, the question is….how do you create customer loyalty? Think of a business that you are absolutely loyal to. You'd rather fight than switch. What did they do/say to earn that depth of commitment from you?
Having a teenager in the house means we watch some pretty interesting TV shows. A recent VH1 offering is called The Pick Up Artist. It features 8 lovable losers who have never had any luck with women and a Pick Up Artist named Mystery.
In the hour long show, Mystery teaches the guys some slick language and practiced "gambits" as he calls them. Then, the guys walk into a crowded bar and look for possible "targets." It doesn't matter who they are. Any woman will do.
The guys fumble through the gambits, trip over themselves in their eagerness to sell themselves to just about anyone….and in the end, usually leave the bar alone, tail tucked.
They're not there because they care about the women or even want to get to know them. They're just trying to score before the other guys do. It's about the win, not the person.
Pretty sleazy, isn't it?
I was feeling pretty high and mighty until I realized that what Mystery's teaching isn't all that different from how many companies approach marketing.
Use slick language
Have a practiced "gambit"
Identify a target
Run the gambit, hoping to score
It's not about the other person, it's about the score
It's an easy hole to fall into when you're trying to make this quarter's projected sales numbers or feeling the pressure of a CEO's scrutiny.
So before you dismiss Mystery and his pick up lines are you sure you're not a pick up artist too?
As you no doubt remember by now, once a month I join some other branding experts to tackle a marketing/branding problem ala the BrandingWire collaboration.
This month's BrandingWire takes a slightly different twist. A Canadian IT company has asked for our help. So we wade into the B-to-B world.
Here's a quick peek at them:
Offerings (according to them):
They'll do just about anything from proactive maintenance to 24/7 trouble shooting to setting up new users, buying equipment or helping you with software decisions. They are also getting into Green IT – from managing energy costs to eliminating packaging waste.
They are (my words, not theirs) like an IT department who happens to office outside of your workspace.
The money part:
You can engage them in one of two ways. You can buy a maintenance contract or buy their hours ala carte. The contract gets you a discount on services rendered.
Target:
As you would guess, businesses who use IT but are too small to have their own internal department.
Conundrum (again, their words):
It's difficult to convince small businesses that our services are worth the amount we are charging – however, to draft a legal document, they're more than willing to a pay a top notch lawyer $500/hour. Customers view IT issues as a pain (i.e. my email is down again) instead of as a critical part of their business (ie. without IT, we can't function as a company).
Customers just don't always understand the value of IT services.
Drew's take:
Ahhh, there's the rub. We don't get to decide what our customers should value. It's annoying, but true. We have to figure out what they need/want. Once we serve up that…we provide value. We can provide it but we can't define it.
But there's a flip side to this truth as well. Our clients should provide value to us as well. For it to be a long-term relationship of value, both sides need to benefit and feel good about the value they both give and receive.
But let's look at the client's side of things first.
One of the most significant keys to smart branding is knowing the heart and mind of your customers. Once you really understand where they're coming from…you can talk to them from that place.
Without talking to them (which is dangerous at best) here's what I suspect the IT customers feel.
They're scared of IT. They know they can be crippled by a virus or something else they don't understand.
They hate being so dependent on someone outside of their walls.
They're embarrassed that they don't know more than they do.
They hate the down time when they do have a problem.
They don't understand it, so paying for it scares them. (Am I getting taken?)
They don't want to pay for something they don't need. That's why the contract scares them. Are they just spending money they shouldn't?
They're petrified that something catastrophic is going to happen and it's going to cost them an arm and a leg.
They've been taught that extended warranties and maintenance contracts are fool's gold and benefit the seller much more than the buyer.
So that's where they're at in terms of IT in general. But how are they feeling about the IT company?
One of the IT company's stated goals is (in their words) "help our clients understand why our services are worth the price tag."
That's a little worrisome to me. Again, we're doing this in an artificial vacuum. My guess is that they have a mixed clientele. Some who should be clients and some who should not. And it's the who should not's that are causing them trouble.
But, if we were sitting in the room with the client, I'd ask them to describe the clients who don't object to the price structure. I'm guessing they have some. Then, we'd profile those clients based on industry, size, type of work the IT company does for them, scope of the projects, clients that can make a fair and reasonable profit from, etc.
When we were done, we'd have built a profile of the types of businesses that are a good fit. Good from the IT company's perspective in terms of retention and fair profit. Good from the client's side…trusted advisor, a value, and someone who relieves their worries.
Then, we'd go through their client list and score each client against the profile. Anyone who got a C or worse should be weeded out. They're not a good fit.
Anyone who receives a B- or better should be cultivated and nurtured.
We'd do the same thing with their prospect list. There's no reason to waste time and money talking to prospects that are not a good fit.
Once you know who to talk to and how they're thinking and feeling, deciding what to say to them comes much easier.
I will leave those details to my BrandingWire compadres. Check out their posts and welcome our three guest bloggers as well!
Here's the question. Now that we have blogs, should we still have e-newsletters?
My friend Dawud Miracle raised the question and paints a picture that suggests that e-newsletters are really thinly veiled tricks to capture e-mail addresses and sell products. Blogs on the other hand, according to his initial post, are less intrusive and give the reader more control. He's generated quite an interesting collection of responses.
Here's mine.
With all due respect, who died and made us King? That is so 1980’s. We are not in charge anymore. The consumer is.
My agency has had a e-newsletter since 1999 and we have thousands of subscribers. They seem to like it.
I have had a blog for less than a year. Have a good number of subscribers but certainly not the thousands that the e-newsletter has. The blog subscribers seem to like it.
Some of the e-newsletter subscribers have opted to also sign up for the blog and visa versa. (I try not to use the same content).
If we have learned anything in this era of citizen marketing — we don’t get to decide. We offer up value in a variety of media and let the consumer choose which option works for them.
And if we think that e-newsletters are more sales driven — we are crazy. I have seen blatant blog posts that practically begged for work. I’m not saying that is bad…but I saying we are deluding ourselves to think of one as a sales tool and the other as an educational vehicle. Both…can be both.
As long as we have subscribers to either vehicle, I will keep writing them.
So what do you think? Are they mutually exclusive tools? Does one replace the other? Is one medium more geared towards a sales pitch?
Do we or should we choose for our readers/prospects/customers?
Remember when we were kids and banks would offer toasters, clock radios and stadium blankets in exchange for opening a checking account?
Well baby, we have NOT come a long way.
All too often, when a company tries to bribe potential customers with incentives, they fail to really understand the math that's going on in the prospect's head.
The key to developing a good incentive offer is understanding the value of what you are offering versus the cost of what you want in return. Check out my post at IowaBiz.com as we explore the good and bad of incentives.
They’re just too good to take the risk that you feed reader users might have missed them. So read carefully and heed their hard earned warnings.
Look for a web developer who gets both function and fashion
“Finally I would list to suggest to anyone looking for a web developer to look for a company committed to both Design and Development. Some companies do a really good job of creating a great looking or flashy site but it has limited backend functionality. A lot of people are tempted to go with a service because of the “look” they can provide. The most important aspect of “design” is usability across platforms and devices.
Look for a company who is committed to good programming practices that can accommodate future changes and security concerns. We are big believers in giving in giving our clients RSS functionality so their message can go to their customer/reader base instead of making them go to their site manually ever time.”
“She has a very small business and a small footprint on the web, so the only way she’s getting all this spam is because her current website is plastered with her email address. But her company never told her this before, or advised her about how to prevent spam–despite the fact that her spam is incredibly high for what she does on the web–they happily let her get deeper and deeper into spam-hell.
And now that she wants to switch, they’re trying to frighten her into staying. Very frustrating!?
“Make sure you have someone in-house who can update, manage, and add content to the site. There’s nothing worse than having to rely on external sources for something you could easily do yourself.”
Don’t overlook blogging software as a website content management option
“For a couple of non-profits, I’ve built sites using hosted (free) WordPress blogging software (some of the templates are nicely set up to create pages/tabs that resemble regular websites). Tied into those sites are Google calendars (free), and storage of files at Box.net (free). I’m not a programmer, but with these kind of tools, as long as the web presence is not too extensive as far as information and use of forms, it’s do-able. And, of course, maintenance is a breeze – no need for a programmer, just train the user on how to use the free tools for administration.”
“Ask around… a lot. I almost went with someone who was very nice and very helpful but in the end she realized her work and time might not be a good fit for me. She referred me to Mike Sansone and Sandra Renshaw. I consider that to be entrepreneurial divine intervention. With the right tool and their help, another star is born. Ask around…A LOT!!!”
1. How long have they been in business?
2. Who are some of their other clients?
3. How do they deal with customer service issues?
4. What kind of training/information will they provide when the site launches?
5. Can you select the hosting provider, with their help?
You don’t have to be a techie to maintain your site
“It has mostly been said here but I want to add my vote for users insisting on control of their content. Simple software such as Contribute allows even the most tech-disabled of us to manage our content easily. And changing content frequently is the best way to grow visitors to our site.”
“In other words the vendor should supply a notebook of all critial passwords for everything about the network. I am a small shop (3 people) and when we build out a new network we supply all relevant info about their network.”
“I always advise folks to make sure that whoever they select to develop their site or blog understands that it’s a marketing tool and should be an element of their marketing plan, not a standalone project. I just got a call from a company (referred to me by a client) to help them understand why their web site wasn’t coming up in the search engines. I took a look at the site and source code and it was very obvious that the site was not designed or developed with search engine marketing in mind (even though they told the client that SEO was part of the project).”
Thanks to all these experts for sharing their good counsel with us. Remember…there are lots of good web developers out there. Don’t settle for anything less.
2007 has been a good year for many businesses. Studies are showing consumer optimism and spending are up. B-to-B reports are saying that businesses are also spending with renewed confidence.
You may be one of the lucky companies that's feeling pretty good about the work you have piling up. Customers are aplenty and the register is ringing. In fact, you are probably so busy you just don't have time to think about marketing. You'll get back to it when things slow down. Right?
Wrong. Really wrong.
The time to aggressively market is now. Why? Somehow we forget that client acquisition is hardly an instantaneous event. If we wait until we have extra time or really need the cash flow – we're in trouble.
The best time to reach out to potential new customers? It needs to be a constant part of your day. Every day. The challenge is to automate your efforts so that no matter how busy you are, it does not stutter or stop. So how do you go about making marketing part of your routine?
Identify at least one marketing tool that you can commit to for the rest of the year. It might be a monthly sales postcard to dormant customers, hosting a 4th quarter seminar aimed at your target audience, or a push in your print ad schedule.
Next, do something that locks you in. Print the postcards. Schedule the seminar and publicize the date. Sign a contract for the print ads. Do something that commits you. No matter how busy you are.
Is it enough? For most businesses, no. But it's a good start.
We just guided a new (pro bono) client through an absolute nightmare. They were being held hostage by their web developer/IT provider. I wouldn't wish what they went through on my worst enemy so here are some warning signs and tips.
Who registers/owns the domain name? Whoever controls your domain name, controls your site. Be sure the domain is registered in your name. You want to own your own domain.
Is it built so you can update your own content? With all the software solutions out there, there's no reason in the world (unless you have more money than time) to pay a web developer to update your content, once your site is complete. That doesn't mean you have to. Many businesses choose to retain their web developer to modify content. The question is — could you if you wanted to?
Is the site built on proprietary software? If you count on your site and get sideways with your web developer, what happens? Could you move your site? How about your databases? Could you do it even if the web developer shut you out?
Software and technology has completely changed the way websites and blogs are built. In the olden days (late 80s and early 90's) no one but the web gurus understood coding and the like.
But the world has changed and now you can control your own destiny.
The good news — most web developers are completely above board and honest. The problem is that the people hiring web developers that glaze over as soon as they hear HTML or WYSIWYG are the ones who are least equipped to pick out the good guys from the bad.
So let's help them out. Come on – add to my list. What else should neophytes know or watch out for when looking for some help with a web presence?
Good news for us, so did Josh Hinds. He went one step beyond wondering. He asked. His blog, Business Networking Advice.com is a treasure trove of brief interviews with a who's who of the business world. Each interview explores the person's viewpoint on networking, asks for some pointers and success stories.
None of them are a long read, but they are all good reads. Josh kindly decided to include me in his series. You can read more about my take on networking, if you'd like.
I decided to turn the tables on Josh and posed a few questions of my own.
Q. When did you start your interview series and what prompted it?
Josh Hinds: One of the topics that I speak to groups and companies on is networking –creating win, win relationships — both personally and professionally. Initially I was going to use the site to feature mostly my own articles on the topic, but then the idea struck me that it would be a whole lot more interesting to reach out to others who were getting the whole "effective networking" thing right — so I decided that in addition to my own articles on the topic I'd feature the short interviews. I actually started BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com in August of 2006. When it comes to personal development I've always held to the belief that you have to really stay plugged in and learning on going — doing the interviews have helped me a great deal and of course I always learn something useful with each one as well — even if it's just another take, or validation for something that I already believed to be true.
Q. Are there any themes you see among the answers that really resonate with you?
Josh Hinds: That's a great question. Within about the first several interviews I'd done a pattern began to show up and continues — that is givers gain — but you can't go into a situation where you just met someone and expect to get something from that person right off the bat. It's all about building rapport with the other person. Creating value in their eyes first, then as time goes by there's a better than average chance that you'll be in a position where that person will help you if they are able to. Again, the key is that you don't come from a point of what can I get from this other person — but rather, what can I do to serve this person I've just met (or the people who are in my "network").
Q. Who is the one person you'd like to interview but haven't snagged yet?
Josh Hinds: I'm not sure I have enough space to list everyone I'd love to interview 🙂 Two that come to mind though would be Zig Ziglar and Jack Welch (former CEO of GE). Zig Ziglar has a quote which I absolutely adore and try to live my life around — it goes like this: You can have everything in life you want, if you'll only help enough other people get what they want" — talk about a philosophy that would serve anyone well. I think it would be particularly fascinating to get Jack Welch's take on networking — to have risen to the level he did as CEO of GE I suspect he could teach us all quite a bit about networking and building professional connections.
Thanks to Josh for being the interviewee for a change and for inviting me to be a part of his stellar series.
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