Marketing That Sticks

You are a Champion!

Isn’t it amazing that people barricade themselves in an office and dream up stuff that’s not customer driven and won’t stick in the marketplace?

The Duct Tape Brand wasn’t left at the prom (they were stuck at the prom) and built a WEB site and promotion around making prom dresses and tuxedos out of duct tape. Stuck at Prom is the name of their WEB site.

I knew a very smart engineer (Clarence Glasgow, Tulsa Tribune, 2/7/82) who had over a hundred patents and was part of an engineering class project at OSU that invented the Parking Meter (a deluxe residual income like bottled water). Do you only implement your own ideas? Often, original ideas aren’t original and if they are they may not succeed. It’s not uncommon that others have the ability to take the ideas of others and make them work (the Ray Kroc McDonald’s Story).

Keep your eyes and ears open for new ideas that “already” work! That’s what Ray Kroc did when he met the McDonald’s and that’s what Howard Schultz did at Starbucks. Starbucks was inspired by Italian espresso bars (European business model). Perhaps it would work for you?

That’s what happened to Duct Tape when they found out that the kids were building prom attire out of duct tape. No self respecting Marketing person would have ever dreamed up the prom duct tape idea internally at Corp but it made them a few bucks (great word-of-mouth) because they know their customers.

What’s going on out in the marketplace and what are the customers doing? What are your competitors “customers” doing? Make it your idea!

It’s Not Your Mission Statement

You are a Champion!

Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing:

“A word of mouth topic is not your official marketing message or your formal brand statement. It’s a simple message that sparks interest and conversation.

Great word of mouth topics are often hard for traditional marketers to see. They violate the rules of marketing. They aren’t planned, they aren’t corporate, and they are rarely official. It’s an exception when real people want to repeat your official company motto or carefully crafted theme. Instead, people latch onto the unexpected.

RedEnvelope is an online gift catalog. They have nice stuff but not necessarily nicer than any other good catalog. Their motto: “RedEnvelope’s mission is to make gift giving, no matter what the occasion or circumstance, simple and fun.” That’s fine, but nobody is going to repeat it.

But they have a killer topic: Every item comes gift wrapped in the most gorgeous, elegant, impressive red box with a giant bow. People who receive gifts from them can’t help but talk about the wrapping. (They talk about the wrapping more than the gifts.)

The wrapping is a perfect word of mouth topic. It makes people want to talk, and it’s easy to talk about. When most people get a gift from a catalog, they rarely remember the catalog, just the item and who sent it. RedEnvelope’s box creates instant word of mouth. When one of those boxes is opened at a party or a baby shower, a whole roomful of people are talking about it.”

“…Bloggers respect bloggers.  You can’t just show up and expect everyone to talk about you, any more than you can show up at a party and expect to be the center of attention.  You’ve got to earn it.

Sooner or later, you’re going to want to be blogged about, or you’re going to need to respond to a negative blog comment.  When that happens, you don’t want to be a stranger.

Start blogging now, so you have time to build relationships and credibility before you need it.  You want to become a known quantity and a part of the conversation.  That way, when you are ready to interact with blogs, you are seen as a member of the community instead of a crass marketer looking for shameless publicity.”

“Every company, every product has at least one great topic. Your job is to find it and give people something to talk about.”

Business Driver No. 1

You are a Champion!

Let’s skip the great products and great customer service, for a moment, and talk about what drives your business:

• Talkers Drive Your Business.

Do you give people reasons to talk about your business?

Talkers are people who share you with their friends because they are enthusiastic about you, the company, and the products. Talkers are not necessarily the best customer. Good customers often do not talk about the great products (based on marketing studies and surveys) unless someone asks them about a recommendation for the products or services you offer. People who dine at great restaurants regularly may not talk about their exceptional experience. It’s more likely someone who notices an exceptional experience, that they don’t often experience from other restaurants or businesses, that does the talking. Leave everyone with a great (exceptional) experience!

Obviously, a serious business builder is always looking for opportunities to sell the product or the opportunity. In many respects, talkers can have more of an impact than marketing people. That’s why every customer, or even non-customer, is so important.

What drives talking about a great Hotel? It’s the experience. Professional Hotel people are trained to give an amazing experience (as well as a very comfortable night sleep) and they will pay great attention to details. You probably won’t remember too much about the room (unless it’s not good) but you will remember your experiences at their Hotel.

People often just visit (and talk about) the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville just to see the lush indoor gardens, 44-foot waterfall, and an Epcot Walt Disney World type of atmosphere. It’s a very pleasing and exceptional experience. If you have ever stayed in their rooms they are nice but not exceptional. The rooms (their product) does not directly make money for this Hotel in my opinion–it’s the experience.

If you walk down Times Square just imagine Times Square without all of the lights and activity. The experience would be like walking on the sidewalk in any major city (not great). Times Square is a happening or event because of the lights, Broadway shows, and the crowd. It’s an experience. Try taking away the lights and see what happens.

So you are trying to sell your house what do you do? What is it that attracts people to your house? As in any organization or business no two are alike. Realtors talk about “curb appeal.” What will it take to create it?

We often don’t have to spend a lot of money to create an excellent experience. Often, the best creators of an experience have great imaginations and a trained focus on giving people an exceptional something to remember. For example, how would you leverage the millions of dollars that Gaylord Hotels have spent as your experience? You might try having an event at their Hotel or some other progressive place where excitement, events, and things happen. Or, you can always try the hospital atmosphere of a convention center? Or, how about the football stadium since it’s all about you? Don’t we just love it when we have the charisma and influence to speak and draw a crowd to just any old mountain top?

Give people some negative experiences at happenings (events) and watch them never come back! They may have not been great customers but they will be sure and tell all their friends about the experience.

Market Connection

You are a champion!

You won’t try to market or sell something if you don’t have a market “connection.” There is good word-of-mouth and bad word-of-mouth.

What do I mean by market connection? Well, let’s give a personal example about being involved in a market that has great word-of-mouth marketing that I couldn’t personally be involved in a positive way. I’ve made this an extreme example (for me) so you will get my point. Some people think they could sell about anything but this violates rules related to word-of-mouth, core values (belief systems), and cultural values that do matter to many people.

I personally couldn’t market or sell Tattoos because it goes against my core values. When I see someone with a Tattoo (particularly if they have a lot) it’s a big time turn off to me. My personal opinion of that person goes down immediately. People will tell you that they are open minded and seek diversity in their organization or business. Oh really? Would you hire someone with a nose ring or Tattoo (always displayed so that you can see because they are so proud of something that makes me want to throw up).

And so, what kind of word-of-mouth would I give selling a Tattoo? Not good. It’s not part of my culture and I am too biased. Therefore, I couldn’t sell body rings and Tattoos. It puts you at the bottom rung in society in my opinion. Does that make my opinion right? No, it’s just my opinion and it is very doubtful I will change my opinion. On the other hand, if you love Tattoos, and fit that culture, you are a perfect word-of-mouth candidate for the Tattoo business.

Andy Sernovitz in Word of Mouth Marketing talks about the (4) rules of word of mouth marketing:

1. Rule #1: Be Interesting
2. Rule #2: Make People Happy
3. Rule #3: Earn Trust and Respect
4. Rule #4: Make It Easy

Next, he talks about three reasons people talk about you:

1. Reason #1: They Like You and Your Stuff
2. Reason #2: Talking Makes Them feel Good
3. Reason #3: They Feel Connected to the Group

“The desire to be a part of a group is one of the most powerful human emotions. We want to be connected, very badly. Talking about products is one way we achieve that connection.

We are emotionally rewarded when we share excitement with a group that has a common interest. We share a bond with people who like the same teams or bands that we do, and we feel a similar connection with those who like the same cars or clothes. The passion generated by being in a group of enthusiasts translates very easily into word of mouth.

Similar phenomena grow around political causes and non-profit organizations. People can become astonishingly powerful advocates for an issue with which they often have no formal connection. It’s interesting to see people who are active volunteers for a cause (such as fighting a disease) that they are not personally affected by. There are a lot of issues to choose from, but being part of a group, any group at all, kicks conversation up to the next level.

Working with this motivation is all about group recognition. It’s giving away T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, or temporary tattoos. It’s holding events and rallies that bring people together.

Members of groups that coalesce around specific brands, such as Harley-Davidson riders, Macintosh users, and Nikon owners, are the most likely to talk about the companies’ products.

You’ve got to make these people feel special, feel like part of the family, as though they have some skin in the game.”

When we say, “feel like part of the family” are we talking about a people connection with the family of Harley-Davidson? Absolutely not. The Harley-Davidson families don’t mean much to most Harley-Davidson enthusiast. We are talking about a connection to the product that is strongly related to the “experiences” of the group. It’s like waving to another Harley rider going down the road.

“Harley owners take pride in bikes and look for any excuse to talk about them. Harley gives them that excuse in the form of dozens of statewide and national rallies every year. More than 500,000 people attend the big annual rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. Every gathering supercharges their enthusiasm and gives them something new to talk about.”

It’s a group connection and fun, and if that connection goes away often the word-of-mouth (at least from a “positive” perspective) goes away.

Business Stereotypes

You are a Champion!

More Magazine is a magazine right on target and can provide a lot of information for the “right age” group of women. The September cover is Jodie Foster at age 44 and she looks great.

Read the article on 5 Myths About Women entrepreneurs (here are a few paragraphs):

“Jill Blashack Strahan, 48, was sitting in her bathroom reading a magazine at three o’clock one morning in 1994, trying not to wake up her husband and son, when she had what she calls her “ding ding” moment. “I’d always felt unfulfilled, as though I hadn’t yet found what I was meant to be doing,” she says. “Then, in an instant, I figured it out. And I could just feel that it was right.” On the spot, she decided to start Tastefully Simple, a company that uses in-home tasting parties to sell gourmet foods. Nothing about this late-night scene in Alexandria, Minnesota, would necessarily have pointed to Strahan one day becoming a wildly successful entrepreneur, but that’s what happened: In 2006, Tastefully Simple brought in revenues of $120 million.

Contrary to common wisdom, most of the businesses that belong to older entrepreneurs are more likely to survive, according to a published report by Simon Parker, professor of economics and entrepreneurship at the University of Durham, in England. The average age of the leaders on the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., is 43. (The oldest entrepreneur I’ve come across, Doris Drucker, started her first company when she was 82.) And yet I’ve taught entrepreneurship students at a business school who seriously asked me whether, at age 28, they were too old to start a company. They had been told that entrepreneurs need to start early, because only the young are brave enough to try something that has such a high failure rate.

According to modern myth, the typical entrepreneur is a twenty-something man who is geeky, emotionally immature, and one sleepless night away from fame and fortune. It’s a caricature given iconic status with the ascent of men like Bill Gates, Marc Andreessen of Netscape, and the Google boys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But while their stories do fit the mold, pretty much everything about the stereotype is wrong. In the United States today, it’s women who are the driving force behind new businesses. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, women-owned companies are growing at nearly twice the rate of all firms. They employ more than 12.8 million people and spend about $550 billion on salaries and benefits; they also generate $1.9 trillion in sales.”

Women Spenders

You are a Champion! 

Networking Skills - Why the world’s big spenders are now women.

Please note, these comments are from a renowned scholar and not a Network Marketer (like me) with an agenda. After all, I’m a man (part of the 7% purchasing decision makers).

Professor Richard Scase is the author of the highly influential Britain 2010: The Changing Business Landscape and Living in the Corporate Zoo. He is one of the United Kingdom’s leading business strategists and an authoritative business forecaster of scenarios for this century. He was voted by Personnel Today as one of the top 10 most influential people in Britain on management. The following quote is from his book, Global Remix The Fight for Competitive Advantage:

“Business: it’s a man’s world, isn’t it? You’d be forgiven for thinking so given the continued pay disparity between the sexes–in most countries. However, from the perspective of a modern marketer, the world’s economy has been driven by women for some time, especially in the West. Their spending power has risen dramatically since the 1960s, in spite of the fact that equal opportunities legislation is clearly still being applied unevenly. At the same time, their control over household finances doesn’t seem to have diminished. Today, in the average family unit, women make 93 per cent of all purchasing decisions and carry out 70 per cent of the shopping too.

Women also have a unique skill that marketers have only recently started trying to exploit, but that is quickly becoming vital to corporate strategies as traditional consumer categories disintegrate–the skill of networking. On average, men recommend positive customer experiences to 2.6 people, while women recommend them to 21 people. Why? Because women exchange information with friends, family, neighbors and work colleagues much more readily and effectively. Clearly, if a company gives its female customers a particularly good or bad customer experience, it has a disproportionate effect on their ability to attract new customers.

…Is it any wonder that, according to one recent survey, 91 per cent of women say ‘advertisers don’t understand us’?”

Think about that ratio for a minute: 2.6 to 21 (women engage in over 8 times the networking actually done by men). Women make 93 percent of all purchasing decisions.

Do you think your Network Marketing strategy should take a look at these numbers and try to determine how to attract some of the 93 percent decisions and the 8:1 networking skills?

And so, if your demographic of “choice” is the 18-to-34-year-old male what is your marketing plan missing? SALES!

Balancing Act

You are a Champion!

It’s interesting how people think when it comes to success. Some people will tell you that you can only major in one thing in order to be successful. I haven’t found that to be true at all. Of course, it depends upon “your definition” of success. If you are Tiger Woods I suspect you will play a “lot” of golf.

I recall a really good professor at the business school I attended (he was the Dean) talking about how management was a juggling act: “How many balls can you keep in the air at one time?”

I recall a managerial economics professor saying, “This course is for those of us who don’t have the intuition (gut feel) for business that some of the great business leaders have.”

And so, for those of you who can only manage one thing (juggle one ball) I just have one question:

Which act did you pick to follow, being good at work or at home? Since you can only be good at one thing I must assume that your wife and kids have come up second place in your decision unless you’ve decided not to do your best at work?

What many of us have found is that much of our skill and knowledge are basic building blocks that allow us to be successful at many other endeavors. These activities don’t “detract” from our ability to succeed (there is also a little “trick” known as delegation or leverage). For example, if we become great listeners will it detract from our ability to be innovative? Hardly! This is not a “zero sum” game.

I’ve always admired executives who have convinced their assistants and employees that being the CEO is so much more demanding and requires so much more pay as they call their assistant (who’s hard at work implementing their latest knee jerk idea) from their afternoon of golf. Haven’t you ever known an executive who had “arrived?”–I have.

If you believe that you’re worth more than you are getting paid now, then you can take a few hours per week in Network Marketing and take back control. After all, you are the one who gave up the control aren’t you? In case you can’t tell–you’re the cat that dog is setting on and the dog looks content–are you?

You are a Champion!

In Network Marketing we want you! You will never hear me say, “I’m taking the journey with or without you, hope you want to come along.” I’ve heard more than one person in Network Marketing make that statement and probably wished someone was following them. I’m taking the journey “with you” because I know that your success is my success! It always works best when the focus is turned 180 degrees.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of talented and key people on jobs and in business not take the journey, and move on, because they really didn’t feel needed or wanted any more (couldn’t deal anymore with their bosses unfounded arrogance, pride, and greed). Don’t let your boss or anyone else (who thinks he’s the only one) take control of your life.

Don’t worry you can figure out how to get that dog off, and he can set his butt down on the hard concrete.

Start thinking for yourself and consider carefully and critically the things people would like for you to believe!

What Needs Fixing?

You are a Champion!

Author Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, says:

“Let’s say you come to me for coaching. We go through your menu of five documented areas for improvement: 10 percent of your coworkers say you don’t listen; 10 percent say you don’t share information; 20 percent say you’re bad at meeting deadlines; 40 percent say you gossip too much; and 80 percent say you get angry.

Which single issue should we focus on changing? Objectively speaking, it’s a no-brainer. You have a serious issue with anger. Four out of five coworkers think you have a hot temper. We need to change that first.

…In a way, I can see why people have problems choosing what needs fixing. In golf, for example, it is common wisdom that 70 percent of all shots take place within 100 yards of the pin. It’s called the short game, and it involves pitching, chipping, hitting out of sand traps, and putting. If you want to lower your score, focus on fixing your short game; it represents at least 70 percent of your score. Yet if you go to a golf course you’ll see very few people practicing their short game. They’re all at the driving range trying to hit their oversized drivers as far as they can. Statistically, it doesn’t make sense because over the course of 18 holes, they’ll only need their drivers fourteen times (at most) whereas they’ll pull out their short irons and putters at leas 50 times.”

In coaching any sport it’s called getting back to the basics.

Where do you make money in Network Marketing?

• Talking to People (that’s an 80 percent listening skill).
• Providing a real “Solution” (products or business) to their problems (through stories and third party credibility).
  
• “Asking” for a commitment or sale.
• Follow-up (the money is in the follow-up): Don’t you want repeat orders, successful Distributors, etc.?

Of course, there is a “learning curve” in everything we do and once we learn the business we need to apply our knowledge. “Massive Action (practice) cures all problems.” Games are won on the practice field. You are a Champion!

Want to go to Wally World?

You are a Champion!

Want to go to Wally World?

Some people have goals that are about as delusional as the screenplay, written by John Hughes, about his own family’s ill-fated trip to the fictional Walley World (Disney Land) when he was a boy, written in short-story form for National Lampoon magazine.

I once had a young Secretary who wanted to marry a rancher in Montana (she didn’t know any Montana Ranchers). Aside from the fact that she didn’t know any Montana Ranchers her goal may have been somewhat limited (delusional). Note: Delusions are irrational beliefs, held with a high level of conviction, that are highly resistant to change even when the delusional person is exposed to forms of proof that contradict the belief. Non-bizarre delusions are considered to be plausible; that is, there is a possibility that what the person believes to be true could actually occur a small proportion of the time. Who knows, perhaps she has seven kids and is happily married to a Montana Rancher?

You might notice that Chevy Chase went to great lengths planning the perfect vacation for himself (I don’t recall his kids and wife having his desire to go to Wally World). No matter what happened his family WAS GOING TO ENJOY Wally World.

People can become delusional about their goals. Marshall Goldsmith wrote this, “The canyons of Wall Street are littered with the victims of goal obsession. I asked one hard-driving deal maker, ‘Mike, why do you work all of the time? He replied, ‘Why do you think? Do you think I like this place? I am working so hard because I want to make a lot of money!’

I continued my inquiry, ‘Do you really need this much money?’ ‘I do now,’ Mike grimaced. ‘I just got divorced for the third time. With three alimony checks each month, I am almost broke.’ ‘Why do you keep getting divorced?’ I asked. The answer came out as a sad sigh. ‘All three wives kept complaining that I worked all of the time. They have no idea how hard it is to make this much money!’

…Are you making money to support your family–and forgetting the family that you are trying to support?

…After all this effort and display of professional prowess, you don’t want to find yourself at a dead end, asking, ‘What have I done?‘”

Consider your goals carefully (particularly if they involve other people) and try to determine where you will end up.

When my wife and I decided to work in Network Marketing it was because we were confident that that goals were “reasonable” and “achievable” and others would want to go too. We didn’t want to go to Wally World wishing we were someplace else (riding the rides alone–the smaller the crowd or group the more you get motivated–Right?–Ugh!). Don’t become delusional about your goals–you may take the journey and find the destination is closed!

“Blessed are they that laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be entertained.”–Chinese proverb

How can I do Better?

You are a Champion!

Some people just have great skills when it comes to dealing with people. My wife was telling me about a recent event dealing with an employee of a particular company (some people are never wrong and they wonder what’s happening to their market and their friends). The customer service person insisted that my wife was wrong even though my wife’s the customer and even though my wife had absolute “proof” that it was not her mistake. My wife’s objective was not to argue and prove she was right but to accomplish her objective. In light of that goal, she took the responsibility for being wrong and asked the person how it could be resolved. The objective was quickly accomplished. I’m afraid that, with the proof of being right, I may have gotten bogged down in being right and lost sight of the real objective. And so, how can I do better?

Marshall Godlsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, tells how:

“In my experience there are a hundred wrong ways to ask for feedback–and one right way. Most of us know the wrong ways. We ask someone, ‘What do you think of me? How do you feel about me? What do you hate about me? What do you like about me?’ These are all variations of the same encounter group question designed to elicit honest feelings between people. Well, we’re not running encounter groups here.

These types of questions are particularly pernicious in power relationships where the boss is asking the bossed, ‘What do you think of me?’ In a power relationship you have all kinds of issues that influence the answer–because the answer has consequences. People will not tell the truth if they think it will come back to haunt them–and in a power relationship subordinates have no guarantee that the unvarnished truth won’t anger the boss, send them back to the end of the line, or worse, get them fired.

When you think about it, these ‘what do you think of me?’ encounter group questions are actually irrelevant. In the workplace you don’t have to like me; we don’t have to be buddies who hang out together after work. All we have to do is work together. How we really ‘feel’ about each other is practically moot.

Think about your colleagues at work. How many of them are your friends? For how many of them would you be willing to articulate your true feelings? How many of them have you actually thought about in terms of feelings? The answer, I suspect, is not that many. A small minority. And yet you probably work well together with a majority of your colleagues. That disconnect–between the small number of friends and the larger number of colleagues with whom you work well–should convince you once and for all that what people feel or think about you is not the the key to getting better.

In soliciting feedback for yourself, the only question that works–the only one!–must be phrased like this: ‘How can I do better?’

Semantic variations are permitted, such as, ‘What can I do to be a better partner at home?’ or, ‘What can I do to be a better colleague at work?’ or, ‘What can I do to be a better leader of this group?’ It varies with the circumstances. But you get the idea. Pure unadulterated issue-free feedback that makes change possible has to (a) solicit advice rather than criticism, (b) be directed towards the future rather than obsessed with the negative past, and (c) be couched in a way that suggest you will act on it; that in fact you are trying to do better.”

Read this book!