Posts filed under 'Marketing'
I’m recovering from the flu and as you can tell by this post’s title my crankiness hasn’t left. So here are a few gripes about business dealings as seen from the customer’s POV (point of view), that’d be mine.
And if there are business lessons here, they’re about how we should be mindful of what we say, or do to our customers. Or we’ll get a message from them saying “What’s Wrong With You?” (which I’m fully expecting after this post). Here’s what we’ll look at:
- Framing the Conversation with a Sledgehammer
- A Bill by any other name, would still smell…
- The Pit of Despair: Phone Message Options
Framing the Conversation with a Sledgehammer
Watch for messages with titles that leave no doubt as to which side of an issue the publisher is on. Here are a couple of examples framing different sides of the same topic (politics).
#1 CNN’s special programming called “Broken Government“
If you watch CNN, you’ve probably seen their graphic of Broken Government as they present an issue, or in the upcoming window on screen.
By framing the conversation in the title this way it leads one to think:
Broken Government = Current Administration is broken = Obama’s presidency is broken
I searched and couldn’t find CNN running this special programming during the Bush presidency. So, the way CNN has framed this title says they’re against Obama’s presidency (my observation).
However, CNN’s implication of government being broken highlights several underlying assumptions:
- Government is something that can be fixed
- Government was fixed at some time in the past
- CNN knows when Government is fixed
Those assumptions put me into rebuttal mode with:
- What if the nature of Government is to be constantly changing, always fluid?
- What if Government will never be fixed because it’s unfixable, like water?
- Is there a trusted source that could tell us when/if it’s fixed?
#2 Moveon.org’s email: “Washington’s Broken”
Here’s one from the liberal citizens’ movement Moveon.org. The same sledgehammer approach to framing the conversation. This time the rationale goes like this:
Washington’s Broken = Must Fix It Now Or Bad Things Happen = Take the Action We Want You To
One can identify the same underlying assumptions, and my rebuttals that go to this messaging. It’s just trying to get the audience to do something different than CNN’s messaging.
Takeaway for Businesses
When framing the conversation is done heavy-handedly, it becomes manipulation. And when it’s that obvious, it raises hackles and throws objectiveness and credibility out the window (some might say it shoves the BS meter off the charts).
That’s a shame because there may be valuable information to be gained if one starts with an open mind.
For your customers: when composing messages, titles, banners, headlines, etc. seek some level of objectivity. Otherwise you’ll lose that which you’re seeking: customers’ open minded attention.
A Bill by any other name, would still smell…
Comcast provides a bill online, Ecobill, and you can discontinue the paper bill. They”re greenwashing it as an ecologically responsible way to pay.
That’s really stretching the green thing. Yes, I’m not receiving paper, and that makes it green. But the company is saving millions in not printing and mailing these dinosaur bills.
When is doing something that’s just plain better for a company’s bottom line going to get pushed in customers’ faces as doing something for the environment?
Takeaway for Businesses
A little more honesty upfront and you can still keep the self-serving catch phrase.
In Comcast’s case, if they’d included a little honesty that they were saving money, then the message would be more believable. Ecobill could have stated they were passing those cost savings on to customers by keeping their costs down (see, didn’t even cost them anything).
The Pit of Despair: Phone Message Options
Here’s a great example of developers not working with users for a better interface.
Of the many different phone services that have voice mail options, few get the order of instructions right. There are many different phone services, not all have you press the same key to just leave a message.
Some services say just hang up, or press #, or press 1, or press 79, or press.
You get the idea, there’s a different instruction with different services. Not all have you do the same thing.
Here’s the problem. Almost every service doesn’t tell you what that key to press to leave a message UNTIL the end of a long list of other options, such as review, revise, delete, priority, etc.
And leaving a message is probably the most common choice 95% of the time. So why wait to the end to tell us that? Start the instructions by telling us how to do what we want to do 95% of the time?
And while I’m at it, why don’t all the phone services get together and decide on a common key for leaving a message, or replaying, or re-recording, or appending, or deleting, or…? Create a standard messaging system protocol, make it easier on all customers.
Takeaway for Businesses
It’s almost too obvious, but getting customer input in the development phase is crucial, even for a facility service offering. If not through focus groups, then one-on-ones with friendly customers/prospects.
Time to Rest
Hoping to return to some form of normalcy shortly and shake the flu. Maybe this post has prodded you to consider where in your customer communications or interactions you’re getting it maddeningly wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ
March 10th, 2010
Service contractors can should learn a great deal from web marketers.
Web marketers are data diligent and process aware.
They’re focused on “conversions” – points in their online process that are measurable, lead to a tangible next step, and eventual sale.
They track performance at those points and with that data continually tweak presentation and offering for incremental improvements.
Conversion results are regularly reviewed and improvements continuously made.
Stuck in the mud
Compared to web marketers, service contractors are prehistoric. They focus on “advances” – those major steps in the selling/buying process.
Contractors rarely define their new business process at the granular level, not to mention measuring and improving steps in the process. It’s almost entirely done on an ad hoc basis.
Conversions in contract service sales
Switching one’s thinking from “advances” to “conversions” can increase sales by focusing on the data and process in manageable chunks.
Then focusing on accomplishing the smaller goal directly in front of you.
It helps that you can see what needs to be improved and have the measurements to assess results.
Start at the web
The truth is that almost every prospective customer will check out a contractor’s web site. Even if the contractor was referred by a trusted source. Web site’s are a quick and easy check. Who doesn’t Google or Bing?
Starting at the web for conversions makes sense.
The thought and discipline used for online conversions can be used with customers off line as you begin selling.
Getting started on the web requires setting up web analytics, which…
…requires defining your conversion goals, which…
…requires defining customers’ actions in measurable ways, which…
…fully shows all the steps you need to secure contracts, which…
…provides metrics to track results and identify improvement areas, and which…
…shows the improvements you need to make on your web site and in your sales process.
All these conversion activities are valuable to the off line sales process. Even more so when you consider that sales don’t occur until the end of the process. A lot of effort, time and money can be spent up front and then lost in the end because the final off line steps were weak.
A quick look
The following graphic highlights common conversion points that can be tracked. Once tracked, they identify easily managed improvement projects. What’s to stop you?
How are your conversion points?
~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue IQ
January 7th, 2010
I’d like to thank you for making 2009 a successful and productive year for Revenue IQ. As the weekly blog for facility service contractors, it’s the only sales posting (I know of) that’s not for beginners. You, dear reader, are interested in post graduate education in sales and marketing.
And with those flattering words, here are the best posts of this year. These are the “best” because:
a) They received the most page visits as tracked by Google Analytics
b) They generated the most reader feedback (via email, hoping to get you to comment online in 2010)
c) I felt they were the best out of what I’d written
The Best of Revenue IQ in 2009
These are grouped for easy navigation but aren’t in any ranked order. Enjoy, and please let me know of any topics you’d like explored in 2010.
Selling, Proposals & Presentations
Customers & Buying
Marketing
Happy Holidays and a healthy and prosperous 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ
December 22nd, 2009
Last week’s post, The Greatest Sales Question, drew numerous reader responses. A number of them were around a common sales issue facing service contractors.
Why aren’t customers more (open / responsive / interested / curious / concerned) about how to improve their service?
To simplify this would be to say:
Why won’t customers talk with me about how I can help them? -or- Why won’t customers let me sell them?
It’s All in the Mind of the Customer
Sales and marketing activities must be (should be) dictated by the customer’s place in their buying cycle.
That’s in their buying cycle. Not where we are in our selling cycle.
Recognizing where customers’ minds are focused is a sales essential.
It’s like going fishing and standing at the river but not knowing:
- What kind of fish you’re fishing for
- What they eat
- Where they’re safe from predators
- Where they hang out to conserve energy
- What kind of food they eat
- What part of the river they find their food in
The 1,000 Word Picture
Describing how to deal with this sales situation can be very wordy. So I’m presenting the following graphic to put a voice to where customers are at, relative to our wanting to sell them. It’s all about hearing their voice, and then directing our sales and marketing actions accordingly.
Here’s the graphic:
What to Do
If you haven’t already read the 3 Stages of the Buying Cycle you should. It lists specific sales and marketing actions to move customers towards selecting your firm depending on where they’re at.
By starting from where the customer is at, your actions will be more effective and eventually produce the results you want, whether that’s:
- A returned call or email
- An introductory appointment
- Getting on their bid list
- Making their short list in an RFP competition
- Securing their contract
- Re-securing their contract
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ
December 11th, 2009
What’s important to you?
Or put another way, what is your single most pressing challenge today?
That pressing challenge is the one keeping you from getting or enjoying what’s important to you.
So, that’s it. That’s the question – what is your single most pressing challenge today?
As a reader of Revenue-IQ you are……my customer. You’re developing new business and/or holding onto what you already have.
I want to know because…
The more I know about your challenges, the better I can share industry and market knowledge that might not have come across your radar screen.
Your Answer
Not looking for a perfectly worded, formatted or even rational answer from you. Just what’s on your mind regarding getting new, and/or keeping existing service contracts.
How to Answer
Post Comments Online
Try posting your comments on this blog. Use an anonymous screen name if you like. Here’s a quick
8 Easy Steps to Start Posting Comments.
Email Me
If commenting online isn’t for you, just email me at carlen@serviceperformance.
Heads up: If this is the first time you’re emailing me, you’ll have to prove your human. That is, I use SpamArrest, a web service that asks you one time to verify you’re not a spam mail robot.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ
December 3rd, 2009
They’re different; marketing and selling.
However, they seem to get mixed up in the minds of many who’s job it is to bring in new business.
You can see it in proposal responses that are trying to “educate” decision makers. Those are the elaborately long answers to RFP questions that go off into the ether and entirely miss the need to sell at that moment.
And you can see it in marketing that presents only features and benefits…in every message. Messaging without a compelling customer experience. It’s as if you sit down in a restaurant and the first thing you’re given is the bill, before ordering, even before eating the meal.
Here’s a quick, non-academic separation of church and state (marketing and selling):
Marketing is…
- Speaking to the anonymous many in a market
- Understanding the needs (hidden or explicit) of customers in that market
- Publishing compelling messages about the valued customer experience your firm delivers
Selling is..
- Solving one customer’s specific service needs
- Connecting that customer’s service needs to the impact they have on their business results
- Presenting a unique solution to address those needs & help customers reach their goals
Do the right thing – market when you want to:
- Raise awareness
- Get qualified, motivated leads
- Seek to own a specific position in a market
Do the right thing – sell when you’re:
- Introducing your firm the first time face-to-face
- Writing a proposal & answering an RFP
- Presenting your proposal in-person as a short-listed supplier in a bid process
How do you differentiate between Marketing & Selling?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ
November 25th, 2009
When internal sales talk crosses the line to become outside customer conversation, your perspective and word-choice can leave you fully exposed and vulnerable.
The words used in customer conversations are a dead give away for how you see the world, and how customers will see you.
Customers intuitively pick up on your approach to solving their problems and serving their needs. They’re deciding if you should be their supplier based on your communications, which are driven by your choice of words.
Competitive Advantage vs. Value Proposition
Consider this, if you’re describing your competitive advantage to customers your naked. Why?
Because, competitive advantage is “internal sales talk”. It’s needed when talking sales and marketing within your company. It identifies what you do against the competition and helps you design service offerings.
However, customers aren’t interested in hearing about your competitive advantage (read competitive comparisons).
They’re interested in what you’re going to do for them.
Specifically, how you’re going to:
- Lower their costs
- Improve their performance
- Make them look better
They’re interested in your value proposition.
Speak to customers about what they care about
Ultimately, customers seek what serves them best.
It won’t matter that you’re the world’s best in xyz, if customers don’t care about xyz.
For sales people that means not crossing the line, unless and until you’re communicating appropriately from the customer’s perspective, using words that show it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Revenue-IQ
November 5th, 2009
The following story is fictitious, but you’d have guessed that anyway.
The marketing and selling lessons in it are true AND absolutely essential to marketing and selling anything, but even more true (if that’s possible) for selling contract services.
Here goes…
I’d just moved to a foreign country where I happened to speak, read and write the official language (lucky for me it was English).
While I was settling into my new home and work, I started hearing about something that I absolutely must buy: Yorwin.
My neighbors praised Yorwin.
My colleagues at worked swore by Yorwin.
I saw newspaper and TV ads imploring that I buy Yorwin, telling the story of the greatness that is Yorwin.
I read on the Yorwin web site about the founder and his struggle from poverty to undreamed of wealth and prosperity.
I even received a visit from a Yorwin salesman at work. If I could have gotten a word in edgewise I might have been able to ask my Yorwin questions.
But the salesman was a non-stop river. At 120 words per minute I heard the Yorwin story (already knew it from ads), about the Yorwin founder (already read about him on the website) and the Yorwin community (already overwhelmed by recommendations from neighbors). After the salesman left my office it took me 25 minutes to refocus on my work.
However, at this point in time I was still in the dark. Everyone told me that Yorwin is the name of a company, based on a founder named Yorwin. Everyone knew Yorwin.
So, I admit, I was curious about Yorwin.
But curious about what?
Not the story of Yorwin, that was everywhere.
Not the size and strength of Yorwin.
Not the ubiquity of Yorwin (seeing Yorwin embossed paper towels in public restrooms sealed that perception).
What I Didn’t Know
This is what I didn’t know as a potential buyer:
- What is Yorwin for?
- Why do I need Yorwin?
- What will Yorwin fix for me, that I need fixing?
- How will I feel once I buy Yorwin, whatever it is?
- What is Yorwin going to cost me relative to what I’m getting from it?
I didn’t know the answers to any of these questions. I was numbed.
I was blind to its ads and positive Word of Mouth. I was unenlightened about the value one gains from Yorwin.
In the end, I didn’t buy Yorwin.
Marketing Lessons from Yorwin
There must be a message about value, one that solves customers’ pains, delivers their goals, and does so at a price much less than the cost of NOT fixing those pains or achieving those goals.
This universal message is for the mass audience in a marketplace.
Selling Lessons from Yorwin
The universal marketing message must be revised to fit an individual buyer during the sales process. Otherwise, it’s a hit and miss affair on a buyer by buyer basis.
The only way to target the universal message into a specific buyer is for the salesperson to ask the buyer questions and get explicit answers.
Only then can the salesperson define and communicate value to their buyer.
The Moral of the Story
You can’t sell a company’s wares without communicating the value their offering will provide to a specific buyer’s individual needs. Otherwise, there’s no point for a buyer to buy.
Just remember Yorwin.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President
Revenue-IQ
July 9th, 2009
The multitude of social media is overwhelming. And trying to find their use in business to business (B2B) is even more confusing.
For example, what’s all the hoopla about Twitter? (14 million unique visitors in March ‘09, up 1,202% over last year)
What happened to MySpace? (55 million unique visitors in March ‘09, down 11% from a year ago)
Why is Facebook everywhere now? (91 million unique visitors in March ‘09, up 195% over last year )
New social media come and go, rise and fall in popularity, sometimes even before you’ve figured out if they’re worth learning.
This post is my attempt to understand the purpose of social media for business. And like the ever expanding universe, the web is evolving and so my perspective is a snapshot of the present, to eventually be eclipsed by the future.
If you want to learn “how to” use individual social media I’d recommend HOW TO 2008: How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media.
The Best Communication Tool Ever
Before getting to the point, here’s a personal, historical perspective to help frame things. In 1999 I was leading a startup of a web-based facility service. It gave me insight into the craziness that existed then.
At that time every business had to have not only a web site, but an Internet strategy. A strategy that would revolutionize the way humans lived and worked.
Remember Venture Capitalists throwing millions at programmers for anything Internet, without business plans, without any proven basis in reality?
Remember serious discussions about whether supermarkets, bookstores, and all retail stores would disappear, to be replaced by online shopping?
It was the biggest green-field, blue-sky day dreaming that’s occurred in the last 100 years. Anything and everything was possible if it involved the Internet.
In 2009, now that some of the glare and glamor has come off the Internet, it can be seen for what it truly is, and has been from the start: a communication tool. The greatest mankind has developed, so far.
And this tool, like all tools, is at the service of human needs. So what are the human needs this Internet communication tool serves?
Seekers by Nature
Despite all the changes the Internet has brought about, we’re still human by nature. And part of that nature is to seek (food, water, friendship, love, achievement, self-realization).
The Internet helps us seek. Whether we’re looking for information or relationships the Internet makes us better seekers.
The Next Big Thing for Seekers
The proliferation of social media is just another evolution of the Internet as a tool for seekers.
By looking at the Internet as a tool for seekers, it becomes much easier to understand where the plethora of social media fits with your work and business.
Social media as Critic
Some social media enable seeking the info first, and then using relationships from the media’s users to let you know if its valuable. Here social media acts like an enormous pool of critics.
This is seen in ratings, rankings and authority (number of links pointing to it) used by social media.
Social media as Guide
Other social media have you use relationships to guide you towards the info you’re after. This works only if the relationships are reciprocal – the back scratching thing. And it means that you have to develop relationships first before they’re willing to help you get what you want.
This is seen in the number of followers, friends or contacts in these social media. It also suggest that the more popular you are, the more others will help you get what you’re seeking.
With all that preamble, here’s my take on connecting web dots, understanding the purpose and therefore eventual usage and strategies for the myriad of social media out there.
Social Bookmarking
This is social media as critic.
Examples:
We use these social media to seek information that’s been noted by others. Those others can be people we know or anonymous users of that media.
We’re using others’ opinions (as rankings, ratings, or authority) to help us:
- Find information based on what others are looking at (the popular stuff)
-and/or-
- Determine if the information found is credible or valuable (if so many others say its good, it must be, right?)
In both cases we’re seeking information and using others to help us find it and/or evaluate it.
Digital Networking
This is social media as guide.
Examples:
These digital versions of old fashioned networking are used for seeking relationships (creating new ones or keeping connected). It’s from these relationships that seekers hope to get what they want, eventually.
In a B2B setting, it’s who you know and are known by.
Whether you’re a follower, friend, or contact, digital networking extends your reach beyond your geographical and time constraints.
In digital networking we’re seeking the relationship first, then seeking how to make that relationship beneficial for both sides.
For example, if we’re seeking new business, digital networking can be used to find someone who can help us with an introduction to a prospect. We’re working from people we know to get to people we don’t know, but want to.
A little about Twitter
Twitter is the hot social media of the moment. It’s based on a 140 character answer to the question “what are you doing”?
These tweets (read by followers) are a call for relationship. A tweet requires followers to ask themselves “why do I care what this person is doing”?
The answer to that question defines the relationship with the person posting the tweet. Followers are seeking information, entertainment and/or relationship with others. In a B2B setting, Twitter enables that on an almost continuous basis.
Search
Though search isn’t really a form of social media, it’s worth including here as it is seeking in its truest form.
Examples:
Search is the most direct seeking. We kind of know what we’re looking for, we type it in a search box, hit enter, and are sent towards a number of possibilities of what we were seeking.
Now, if we’re not seeking, but want to be found this way that’s another story, which is best achieved through a content rich web site/blog, that follows.
Content Rich Web Site/Blog/Squidoo
Although a content rich web site, blog, or Squidoo lens is a destination, it’s used in seeking too.
Content rich means there’s a lot of relevant content available on the site. And if that content is in a searchable format, seekers will find it via search and social media.
Seekers can be directed online through traditional marketing outreach, such as:
- Direct mail programs
- Printed brochures, business cards, fliers, etc.
- Email blasts
- Links in email signatures
These communications tell the seeker what they’re looking for is online, then point them there with either a digital link or printed URL.
All of these methods work only if they’re permission based. Meaning the seeker has given the marketer permission to send information.
Also, I’ve included Squidoo here, it’s a community website for users to create pages (lens) for subjects of interest.
How are you seeking? How are you being found?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: new social media, twitter, content rich web sites
May 3rd, 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
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