Archive for April, 2009
No, it’s not fair. From time to time we’ll compete against another person for a job or promotion, or another company for a sale and feel they’re making false claims that will help them win.
And it doesn’t matter whether the competitor is intentionally misleading or not. Mom’s not there to sort it out, so we deal with it.
But wouldn’t it feel great, just once, to call out that competitor as a liar? You know it would, come on, admit it.
You also know that if you did, that super nova of satisfaction would instantly sink into a black hole of despair, knowing you’d hurt your cause more than if you’d stayed quiet.
Don’t Stay Quiet
You don’t have to. There are communication strategies to use that don’t require crying out “for shame” on your competitors.
Here are a few. All are based on knowing your decision maker(s) and their issues as well as, if not better than your competitors.
- Reframe the Issue
- Change the Issue
- Make Fun of the Lie
- Bring in the Validation
Reframe the Issue
The competitor’s lie addresses some issue of interest for decision makers. And it’s intended to be seen as a strength.
However, every strength is also a weakness. Reframing the issue uses that as a strategy.
Your challenge is to find a different side of that issue, then make a more compelling, powerful claim.
EXAMPLE:
Your competitor’s claim they have the best training.
RESPONSE:
Reframe the issue around competency gained from training.
By focusing on training competency there’s an implied message that everyone else has training that’s overstuffed with hollow, worthless hours.
CAVEAT
You’ve got to be able to deliver on your claim.
Change the Issue
You don’t have to respond to the competitor’s lie, as in the reframing strategy above. Change the issue to focus on one that’s more important to decision makers than the one competitors are lying about.
Find another issue based on a strength unique to you alone. That steers the conversation away from a perceived competitor strength to one of yours, which ideally is a competitor’s weakness.
EXAMPLE:
Your competitor states they have the greatest financial acumen among the candidates for a promotion.
RESPONSE:
While you’re competent fiscally, you’re also fluent in German. This enables you to raise the international requirements of the position up front and center. Change the issue, change the conversation.
CAVEAT:
You’ll have to have unique strengths in the first place.
Make Fun of the Lie
This is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. It requires tact and intelligence. But you’ve got that.
EXAMPLE:
Apparently it’s a common practice among poultry producers to inject salt water into fresh chicken to increase the billable weight. Yet these producers still claim it’s natural chicken, implying their product is as healthy as any other poultry producers.
RESPONSE
Foster Farms fought back. They’ve had a TV ad campaign for years called Fosters’ Imposters that highlights their competitors’ wannabe attempts to be natural chickens.
Foster Farms knew competitors were injecting their chicken meat with salt water, but couldn’t call out the lie on national TV.
So they made fun of it.
In a new Foster Imposters’ TV ad, two large, white feathered puppet chickens are seen lying on exam tables in a medical office looking obscenely bloated.
A very cheezy looking doctor has just finished administering their salt water injections. He’s praising their health.
The chickens questioningly ask the doctor if they really look natural. The doctor asks his nurse, who has her back to camera, to confirm that the chickens do indeed look natural.
Here’s the punchline. When the nurse turns around and confirms the chickens’ naturalness we see her unnatural face and figure, an obvious result of many face lifts, tucks and augmentations.
The ad ends with a reassuring voice over telling the viewer that Foster Farms chickens are always natural, with no salt water added.
This ad is a great example of using humor to differentiate in a positive way against a negative claim.
CAVEAT
Caution must be used to ensure the humor doesn’t get sideways and only look mean.
Bring in the Validation
Use recognized and trusted outside sources to validate your claim. This works just as well when competing for a job or promotion, as it does competing for a contract sale.
EXAMPLE:
Many companies are on the green bandwagon at the moment, even those not truly green in product or service. Greenwashing claims are made hoping to peel sales away from legitimate green providers.
RESPONSE:
Companies may consider backing up their legitimate green claims with:
- 3rd party business certifications, such as ISO 14001
- Personal professional certifications, such as LEED AP
- Testimonials from green clients
- Case studies of green implementation
- References from green clients
CAVEAT:
Third parties are putting their reputation at stake on your behalf. Your claims must be scrupulously accurate. Or you’ll damage not only your chance of winning the competition, but also your relationship with your outside source.
How do you compete against lies?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: marketing, greenwashing
April 23rd, 2009
Seth Godin has a way of describing the unseen so that we say “Oh yeah, now I get it”.
But not for me this time. In his post “Blogs, books and the irony of short“ he writes:
“Blogs have eliminated the reason for most business books to exist. If you can say it in three blog posts and reach more people, then waiting a year and putting in all that effort seems sort of pointless.”
and then summarizes with
“…This is irony (we say we want long and deep and rich but we also insist that it be condensed to a sentence) so it’s not clear what you should do about it as a marketer, other than to accept that it’s going on.”
As a marketer I don’t see it that way. There’s a menu of mediums out there seeking to gain readers’ attention. By better understanding readers, marketers can reach for that split second of free attention. Yes, summaries are needed, but CliffsNotes never replaced the full versions.
Here’s my take on the attention menu. As a reader, we run through an instantaneous thought process deciding what to read. It may look like this:
#1 What’s Our Purpose for Reading?
We first decide what we want to get out of reading at the moment, it’s our purpose for reading. And we read for different reasons at different times. We read to:
- Get news
- Learn ideas & practices
- Relax & escape
#2 Purpose drives Choice of Content
After we’ve chosen to read, we then choose the content; topical, theoretical, educational, spiritual, fiction or non.
#3 Content drives Choice of Medium
Only after content has been chosen do we choose the medium. And it has to be available at the moment. But when faced with multiple choices (book, blog, newspaper, etc.) content drives the choice of medium.
Here’s an example. I have a 35-minute ferry ride from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. Sometimes I’ll read a book, sometimes a newspaper, an ebook, case study or white paper, or even a blog online via wi-fi.
My choice is driven by what I want to get out of reading for the 35-minutes during the crossing. My choice isn’t “do I want to read a blog or a book”. It depends.
So whether the medium is long, short or summarized, it’s our purpose for reading at the moment that starts the chain of choice
Blogs are just another option to invest readers’ attention and time. As is Twitter. If you want to stay current with personal and social news, and spend very little time (140 characters worth) Twitter is for you. And many of the people I follow on Twitter use it to share what books they’re reading. Twitter is on the menu now.
Here’s the part I agree with Seth about – the Peter Principle would’ve been a better blog than a book.
What’s on your attention menu?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: blogs, Twitter, Seth Godin
April 17th, 2009
When the process becomes more important than purpose strange things can happen, some not so good.
Even responsible managers diligently working through a process, but without defining their purpose, can cause not so pleasant things to occur.
For example:
Q: What happens when Procurement follows a strategic sourcing process without requiring business units to define their purpose and goals?
A: Business units can end up misaligned with corporate strategy, and lack needed capabilities from selecting a less than optimal vendor.
Q: What happens when vendors setup a proposal process to write proposals as efficiently as possible?
A: Vendors can produce large numbers of proposals quickly, but loose their proposals’ effectiveness. Essentially lessening their ability to win bids.
No Purpose?
Without first defining purpose, time and effort is sunk into an unintentional, murky vision of the future.
Without purpose goals can only be guessed at and process choices become limited. And going forward, the long-term commitment to work through challenges again and again will be lacking.
Working a process without purpose is like horseback riding in a loose saddle – you’re not quite sure you’ll make the full ride.
Goals aren’t Purpose
Don’t confuse goals with purpose, they’re not the same. Goals define destinations, they describe where you want to end up.
Purpose is the mission we’re on, the reason our work exists, the reason we get out of bed in the morning.
And purpose is harder to define than goals or process. But by defining purpose first, goals become clear, and the choice of process(es) reveals itself.
Process in its Place
Being process-oriented is a good thing. Mapping, managing and improving processes makes purpose and goals achievable.
However, process benefits most when purpose and goals are defined first.
How do you define purpose and goals with your processes?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: process, procurement, proposal writing
April 16th, 2009
Unfathomable sums of money are spent on sexy new technologies for sending out marketing messages.
All this cool new technology can put a fine point on what’s missing in action.
And what’s MIA 9 times out of 10 is an emotionally compelling, intellectually persuasive message.
Here are two examples I’ve come across. The first is an Online Brochure and the second a serious Web Upgrade.
#1 Online Brochure
I received an email from Huthwaite, they’re the SPIN Selling
folks. The subject line in the email was “Huthwaite Open Courses Brochure is now ONLINE!” (Not to sound too cynical, but WOW! A sales brochure to read online. Now that’s something you don’t see every day.)
The text in the email body gave instructions on how to use the online brochure once you got there -AND- future brochures would be available in that same format. (I can hardly wait.)
Clicking on the email link took me to a new online brochure technology. Once there, your mouse movements and clicks page you through it. The technology wanted to make you feel like you were turning the pages of a real brochure. (OK, if you say so.)
Here’s the Problem
The email didn’t have any heart or soul in its message. It was saying “hey, I’m here, you should look at this, but I don’t really know why”
The email was well formatted, clean, neat, and informational (in a way that should make the British proud).
But the message was flat, without life. The epitome of “who cares?”
The online brochure was the same as the email; well produced and easy on the eye. But about as emotionally compelling as stapling a class list on a bulletin board. It was a data dump.
I Love Cool Technology
Yes, I do. I’m a bit of a gearhead myself. And I may use that very same online brochure technology in the future.
But if I do, I’m sure going include a message that has red corpuscles in it. A message that connects to the head and heart of the audience – that’s the goal.
It’s been said (and I’m a believer) that we make decisions based on emotion and then justify them with our intellect.
In that light, this online brochure never got off the emotional ground, and so my intellect didn’t come back from lunch (not that I was flying to London for SPIN training anyway).
#2 Serious Web Upgrade
A friend of mine owns a Seattle marketing firm and he showed me the web upgrade for a client we have in common.
It’s one of the coolest websites I’ve seen in a long time.
Great site. Stunning flash animation. Hyper organized and wildly interactive. I could have spent hours watching it, but…
After the gizmo stuff, I just didn’t care about the business connected with the web site.
It didn’t have a message that mattered to me. It wasn’t compelling or persuasive or engage the heart at any level.
There was a cold sterility that let you sit back and watch everything going on, but didn’t connect with you.
And in the end, what’s the point?
Don’t we want to engage our audiences, prospects, and customers?
Don’t we want them thinking yes and saying yes because we’re in tune with what they want and we’re able to share that with them?
Why all this talk about heart in Messaging?
As technology gets ever more capable of doing amazing things onscreen, the message will matter even more.
It’s the message that truly counts.
Crazy new technology gets a brief look in, but quickly fades from consciousness. Only to be surpassed by the next new crazy cool widget.
Messages that engage the head and heart engage prospects, customers, and audiences. Think about the 1,000s of bad movies out there, and the few truly great ones. You remember those great ones, they reached you. Those are the ones that matter, even decades after first seeing them.
Good business messaging, like great movies, connects emotionally with its audiences. Technology by itself doesn’t.
What are your messages about?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: marketing, Huthwaite, messaging
P.S. If you receive this post by email you may notice a new addition at the bottom. It’s our free ebook gift to new subscribers. Feel free to download it yourself. We first published this material in July 2007 as a Revenue-IQ monthly article.
April 8th, 2009
Our Facility Service Value survey went live on 4/1. This is an opportunity to better understand value in the minds of those who buy facility services, and compare that with those who provide them.
If you haven’t taken it, go on, it’s only 10 questions, you’ll be done in 5 minutes.
Ideally, input from both sides (customers & contractors) will make the value picture clearer.
Currently we’re receiving more contractors’ views than customers. Let’s change that.
CONTRACTORS CALL TO ACTION
If you’re a contractor, I’m sure you’re interested in learning what your customers, prospects and Procurement think about value in your services.
Ask for their input:
1) Create an email for your customers, prospects and any Procurement folks you know.
2) Copy & paste this link into your email:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2hwl9ehft0a87zk/start
3) Ask for their input, 10 questions, 5 minutes. Tell them you’ll share the findings if they participate. And let them know the survey will close 4/15.
4) Hit the send button.
Shortly after 4/15 I’ll publish the findings. And you’ll be able to share that information with your customers, prospects and Procurement. Just as you promised. Now, won’t you look smart.
FACILITY MANAGEMENT / PROPERTY MANAGEMENT / PROCUREMENT / SOURCING
If you’re involved with the buying or oversight of contracted facility services, take the survey and we’ll share the results with you.
Take the Survey: Don’t you want to know more about value?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: facility services, service value, procurement
April 3rd, 2009
