Posts filed under 'Marketing'
“Restaurant Chains Close as Diners Reduce Spending” describes more downstream parts of the US economy adjusting to the recession. And that matters if all your business “eggs” are in one basket.
If your business touches those lately hit by the downturn, you’re already feeling it. Hopefully, those in charge of your firm’s diversification have planned for it in advance .
If you’re a service contractor, and the bulk of your business is serving customers like those chain restaurants, you’re probably looking at new vertical markets. Good hunting, so are lots of others.
In either case, customer or contractor, diversification of your business base isn’t a bad idea. But who thinks about it in good times?
I guess the lesson to be learned is “in good times try and remember the bad times”. But not by missing out on some portion of the gold rush.
How is your business base diversified?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: diversification, service contractors, vertical markets
July 30th, 2008
I recently worked with a client on an annual report, which doesn’t sound earth shattering by itself. Until one realizes he doesn’t work for a public company. He’s the President/CEO of a regional security guard firm.
He’d started with the company 9 months ago and wanted to formally communicate his achievements to the owners.
The professionally printed and bound report highlighted financials, technology improvements, service innovations, and sales and marketing efforts.
This was a smart move on his part - to explicitly get recognition.
Wherever you are on the food chain, you’re accountable to somebody - to your boss, shareholders, customers, employees, regulators, the environment, the public at large. Any and all of the above.
How is your personal performance communicated?
Most businesses attempt an employee performance review annually. But those reviews can be perfunctory, or skipped altogether when the latest crisis calls all hands on deck.
Then you’re left with another year of great work and accomplishments, but unsure if anyone upstairs knows your name.
Upwardly mobile career path
Ever wonder why some executives rise up corporate org charts faster than other, more qualified ones?
It’s due to their skills communicating personal success. And although it’s self-serving, it’s made not to appear so. It’s described in terms of the business’ success. And they were its engineers.
Create an Individual Annual Report
Take a page from the fastest rising among us - communicate your success. As it helps your business and stakeholders get what they want.
1) Create a 1-page annual report of your achievements.
Make it easily read within 45 to 60 seconds. Stay away from dense text paragraphs. Make it fact-filled with bullets, charts and tables. Define accomplishments.
2) Send it to your boss shortly before your annual review.
You can then spend your time talking about your future. And how you’re going to help the business further, and in the process make your boss look good.
How do you communicate your success?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: annual report, career path, personal performance
July 20th, 2008
…the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service…
Bandwagons are for jumping on.
And Green is playing loudly everywhere, especially in the facility services arena.
Greenwashing was inevitable. There’s always a population of businesses and individuals trying to capitalize on deception and misinformation.
Why? SourceWatch lists a number of reasons why companies greenwash, but the one they list I believe is the main driver is:
“…seeking to expand market share at the expense of those rivals not involved in greenwashing; this is especially attractive if little or no additional expenditure is required to change performance; alternatively, a company can engage in greenwashing in an attempt to narrow the perceived ‘green’ advantage of a rival…”
Not all green marketing claims are false. But add a healthy dose of cynicism and some investigation to the claims.
And it’s never black and white for those who are, and who aren’t greenwashing. There’s always a location on a sliding scale that gives a rationale for claiming Green.
Is it using a few Green Seal products? Or is it being certified ISO 14001:2004 at all a companies locations?
Who’s to say?
In the very near future Green will be a requirement, like following OSHA. Really, who markets their contract business is OSHA compliant. It’s a given, an expectation. So it will be with Green, evenutally.
But for now, here’s an excellent guide to greenwashing (it’s a large file, 2.82 mb) from Futerra Sustainability Communications. Though written for the U.K. it gives a great window into greenwashing.
Where have you seen greenwashing lately?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: environmental marketing, Green, Green cleaning, Greenwashing
July 12th, 2008
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has enlisted retired HP employees to pitch its products in person.
In today’s NY Times, Going to the Company Elders for Help describes how HP asks long-term loyal employees, now retired, to volunteer. Their job? To promote HP products in retail outlets like Circuit City.
That’s right volunteer. No pay.
These retirees feel loyal to HP, very loyal. Rare in Silicon Valley anyway.
However, from a marketing standpoint, it’s not about the volunteerism. Although free always helps.
It’s about branding and word of mouth. Making a personal connection between buyers and seller.
This tactic adds the personal touch to HP sales, on top of its mega marketing. Asking retirees to act as good-will ambassadors and volunteer sales people.
“We’re moving forward with an effort to capitalize on the fact we have these great brand stewards,” said Michael Mendenhall, chief marketing office of Hewlett-Packard. “When you look at the importance of great word of mouth and great third-party endorsement — who better to do that than your own employees?”
Who Says Great Things About You?
You have your reference list of golden customers you can count on. So does everyone.
But what about your current employees? You have more employees than customers, right?
That larger number represents a potential army of brand stewards.
And they’re motivated. They have every reason to want your company to succeed - because they’ll benefit from it.
3 Reasons Your Employees Aren’t Brand Stewards
#1 YOU HAVEN’T ASKED
You haven’t asked customers what they value, or asked your employees what you’re good at, or found out the unique place in the market you can own. You can’t make this up in a vacuum. You have to ask people other than your executive team.
#2 THEY CAN’T ACT ON IT
You haven’t defined your brand (customer experience) in actionable ways. Mission statements on marble plaques or jazzy logos are worthless for employees interacting with customers. They need guidance and training. Tools with the flexibility to enable them to act 1,000s of different ways and still be on brand.
#3 NOT LIVING YOUR BRAND WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES
If your company doesn’t serve your employees the way you want them to serve customers, why would employees deliver your brand to customers?
Don’t get confused; employees are the primary vehicle for delivering your brand.
And it should happen in all instances with employees, as it should with customers.
Your employees should experience your brand in all their company interactions. From all departmental functions, such as:
- Hiring
- Payroll
- Training
- Promotions
- Recognition
- Incentives
- Time-off policies
Avoid the hypocrisy of asking employees to provide exceptional service when their own needs and requests are ignored.
Everything in your company runs directly from your brand, through your employees, straight and true, to serve customers. For more about your employees and delivering your customer experience read The Leaning Tower - Parts I & II
What are you doing to make your employees brand stewards?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: Branding, Marketing, Service Industries
March 10th, 2008
Green is definitely the flavor of the moment for marketing janitorial, engineering, and of course, landscaping services.
But everyone’s doing it. They’re Me-Too Green.
Contractors seeking to get an edge and stand out from the competition are seeking that next advantage.
So what’s next?
The Triple Bottom Line (3BL).
3BL is a concept where business success is measured in profits -and- environmental stewardship -and- social responsibility. The key is “and”.
3BL (also called People, Planet, Profit) takes into account the interdependence among all three. Not profits at the expense of the environment, or the community at the expense of profits.
3BL is different from green because it recognizes the need for businesses to be profitable. And adds social responsibility into the mix.
Multiple Names - Overlapping Concepts
There are two other concepts that are similar to 3BL; sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Confusingly, 3BL is also known as an approach for public sector full cost accounting. It was adopted in early 2007 by the UN’s International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
These concepts overlap, interconnect, and are sometimes used interchangeably.
Mind boggling.
A Clearly Understood Name
However, for marketing purposes, one name must be commonly used to avoid further confusion.
Sustainability can sound as if it’s only about the environment. And corporate social responsibility may be too much of a mouthful.
That leaves 3BL, which seems to fit the bill for ease of use and memorability. Specifically since contractors’ focus has been on the bottom line, profits. Using 3BL as a new name for a new concept seems an easy choice.
Does 3BL Give An Edge?
The short answer is yes, if the green movement is any indication. Already more customers are looking to do business with green contractors or buy green products. This trend will only speed up as public awareness and peer pressure continue to rise.
Besides the poster children of Levi Strauss , Ben & Jerry’s , and The Body Shop there are many other successful, large 3BL businesses.
Getting to Scale
by Jill Bamburg, explores how front running 3BL businesses grew up without selling out.
How will 3BL help Contractors Prosper?
1) A True Win-Win-Win
When 3BL contractors achieve their goals (People, Planet, Profit), everyone’s smiling, worthy warm fuzzies for all.
2) More New Business & Faster
This is the point of this post. Contractors who can tell customers their 3BL story will have the advantage over competitors.
3BL contractors will capture that wave of business from customers that green contractors are now receiving.
But here’s the surprise, and it’s a good one.
3BL contractors will get more business more quickly than green contractors.
That’s because customers will be more aware of the ethics of business. The green movement will have prepped them. And they’ll be ready to move their business quickly to 3BL contractors.
3BL is the Trifecta of cause marketing under one roof
Think of the number of customers who are now going green, and the multitudes who will shortly.
Add corporate customers who require representation by small and disadvantaged businesses (Proctor & Gamble, Bank of America, etc.).
Toss in public agency customers who require prevailing wages and benefits (airports, counties, municipalities, etc.).
Lastly, include customers who have been harassed by unions about wage and benefit issues (property management firms, hotels, etc.).
That’s one enormous salad of opportunity for 3BL contractors.
Those contractors will have designed, or re-engineered their business to serve People, Planet, and Profit. And are now aligned to reap the market advantages of 3BL.
There Really Will Be A First-Mover Advantage
Unlike the slow take up of green services, 3BL contractors will reap first-mover advantages over latecomers.
With compelling messaging and marketing, 3BL contractors can launch further, farther and faster than green contractors have done.
Several of those benefits are:
- Greater customer awareness
- High customer preference & loyalty
- Greater efficiencies from the earlier learning curve
How to Get Started
Learn the concepts and then take them into action.
Read The Business Guide to Sustainability. It provides a self-assessment and rating system for the services industry, and by individual functions within an organization. Throughout the book additional resources are listed.
For facility service contractors I’m guessing the most challenging of the three bottom lines will be the People part. At least regarding higher wages and customers’ price sensitivity. Did someone say recession?
3BL is a challenge. But it’s the future of services industries, specifically janitorial, security, engineering, and landscaping.
Are you up for the challenge?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: green cleaning, marketing, change
February 6th, 2008
Can you find a building service contractor that doesn’t offer green cleaning, or environmentally friendly service and products?
It’s time for the me-too bandwagon.
First movers (those committed to green cleaning early) are likely seeing less benefit from being first now that everyone else is in it.
Being first gave firms a head start refining services, working out profitability, with the hopes of capturing lots of new business.
But with the current availability of green how-to information (LEED, USBGC, ISO-14000, Green Seal, etc.) latecomers can ramp up fairly quickly. Doesn’t matter if they have limited green experience. Their marketing efforts tell customers they’re green.
And that leads to a strategic question of the moment.
Is green a competitive advantage now?
My take is no.
Green is now a requirement.
Like having a safety program, online training, or managing quality control with technology.
If you don’t have these, you’re probably not the most competitive. It doesn’t mean you’re not in business. But you may not be in a year or two. Same for having green services. Better have ‘em now, than not.
Does green guarantee more business?
As you’ve guessed, green services can add incremental business. Or help you compete and keep a portion of what you already have.
Customers are the Driver
The driver is how fast customers buy green. Literally, how fast will they spend more to be green.
To understand how that evolves, I came up with the Green Adoption Lifecycle. OK, I didn’t create it, but adapted it from the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, read more here.
As long as green services cost more than traditional ones and there’s no legal requirement, customers will get there when they get there. And that will happen along the lines of the Green Adoption Lifecycle.
The Lesson
Be green now, and really good at it. And look for the next competitive advantage coming down the pike. I have an idea what that may be.
Look for next week’s our upcoming blog
“What’s Next: The Triple Bottom Line”
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: communication, green cleaning, marketing
January 25th, 2008
1/15/08: Here’s a concept “The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people” (yup, S. Godin again). It’s the unspoken, but absolute keystone to the following business sermon, which started with All Business is Personal. The overall premise goes like this.
All business is personal
-> Everything personal is a relationship
-> -> All relationships are an exchange
-> -> -> All exchanges can become more valuable
Business requires “blocking and tackling” (pardon the sports analogy). And successful business requires better “play calling”. You have to do both. And do them well. This post is about better “play calling”.
So everything personal is a relationship. No blinding insights there. But what about…
Relationships to People We Don’t Know?
Yes, we’re in relationships with people we don’t know. Those would be our suspects. They may, or may not need our services.
So, what’s the problem? We don’t know them, and they don’t know us.
Or do they? Word travels. Gossip’s cheap. People talk. Promotions occur. Jobs are changed. And there’s Google.
Many people may know us (and our business) who we don’t know.
Later on, we may know them. And if they fit our target profile, they’re no longer suspects. They’re prospects.
The key is they’re out there first, before we know who they are.
These unknown people will hear about us from potentially many different angles.
We’d like to think they’ll be knocked out by our clever print ads, Flash/video web sites, or glossy brochures. And a small percentage will - if we’re very lucky. But don’t count on surviving this way. The numbers don’t add up.
The best and strongest first mention of us to a suspect will be personal; a referral from a customer evangelist during an RFP, or word of mouth buzz at a trade association luncheon.
It’s the metamorphosis of suspect-to-prospect-to-customer that begins with relationships to people we don’t know.
And all this business is personal.
Making it Easy to get to People We Don’t Know
Help make it easy for the people you know (customers) to spread your word. Here’s a simplified list.
1. Give ‘Em Something to Talk About
Overperform in delivery and value for your customers. You want more than extremely satisfied customers, you want ravers. Those customers are hungry to spread the good word about you. (I’m sure you’re already working on this)
2. More Than a Tagline
Provide an easily shared message. Create 1-2 short sentences that customers can remember, and then repeat in their own words. You can’t force your customers to use this message. But they’ll pick it up if you use it consistently in person, in emails, in almost every communication. And if it accurately reflects your value, your strengths and your uniqueness. Learn more about messaging here in the Leaning Tower - Part I & II.
3. Bake It In
With both the above in place, incentivize sharing. Create a simple referral program that rewards customers and your employees.
Rewards can be business related (discounts, additional services or free products) or personal (lunch, gift certificate, mention in a newsletter). Is it necessary to say be careful when giving cash rewards? Remember, appearances can be misconstrued.
Rewards are earned from referrals that call in, and/or lead to promoting the good word about your business.
Obviously the large rewards go to referrals that lead to contracts. But these can take time, and because of that don’t happened as often. The reward can be too far away from the effort.
Look for rewards you can give more often. Consider rewards for every referral that contacts you, especially those you didn’t know about.
This works for suspects that call in, even if they won’t be prospects because they don’t match your target profile. Here’s an opportunity to give a minor reward to your customers and educate them about the prospects you’re looking for.
Whatever program you come up with, make it:
- Simple to understand
- Easy to run
- Rewarding frequently & appropriately
4. Create a Target Profile
It’s essential you define what your prospects look like. How else will you know them when you come across them? Learn more about creating a target profile in Sales Plan-o-rama.
It’s also worthwhile to put some effort to find out the size of your market. This would be the number and size of target prospects. This will help you decide where and how much of your resources to spend.
How are you developing relationships with people you don’t know?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: marketing, prospecting, sales planning
January 7th, 2008
Turning ideas into reality, that’s the hard part.
Blogs, new media, wi-fi, email and cell phones, have changed an idea’s life span.
Before the info age, an idea was power and if you had it, you held onto to it. Then charged dearly when you let it out.
But now ideas must be acted on, or they’re blown away with other dust motes.
Gazillions of ideas sleep on notepads or in notebooks, waiting for someone to act. The hard part is turning an idea into something. And it’s usually not the idea thinker that’s going to make something happen. It’s a doer with vision.
This is why ideas are now free. Because there are so many of them, coming from so many bright people.
The world will always need ideas. But there’s a bigger need for people to apply them.
Don’t Worry So Much About Uniqueness
An idea’s uniqueness isn’t everything. I’ve heard a few people over the years worry that others might have the same ideas.
Here’s a fundamental truth.
Share the same idea with different people - and they’ll implement it differently. Always. Every time.
Yes, marketing messages and features can be similar. But doing something better always wins over first-but-poorly-done.
So, it’s not always about getting there first. It’s about doing it great. Remember the wars between:
- Pepsi vs. Coke
- FedEx vs. UPS
- Toyota vs. all U.S. automakers
One of them was second to market, but still made a viable, and arguably more successful business than the pioneer.
Just Do It
I forgot who said it before Nike (Anthony Robbins?, Tom Peters?, Aristotle?) but it’s true all the same.
Trying things and failing quickly just means you’ve eliminated one way not to succeed. And that brings you closer to success. Witness Edison’s 100s of attempts at the electric light before getting it to work.
The same is true about implementing ideas for better service.
What have you implemented lately?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: change, ideas, improvements
November 29th, 2007
Exercise increases strength, flexibility and creativity.
I’m exercising here, a marketing exercise for a situation and client that I won’t be working for.
Interestingly, in the exercise I’d used Word of Mouth and Web 2.0 to market a business. Your challenge, should you accept it, would be to consider how you might use these tactics to get new business for your business.
Sound like a stretch? Sure, but you’re up for it.
Situation
The restaurant is on the Ile Saint Louis in Paris. Like most high-end Parisian restaurants, it gets business the traditional way. It courts tyrannical food critics for reviews.
My wife and I were there when a food critic (she) and a wine critic (he) arrived.
It was clear these were powerful people. The owner came out, fussed over them, and then personally served them.
She, the owner, was dressed elegantly in black.
All her wait staff jumped to hand full platters and instantly whisk away empty ones. With each dish the owner spent several minutes explaining it to the critics.
Everything was going beautifully.
Until the wine critic asked about the wine.
Then it all went wrong.
The wine critic asked the owner to rate this particular wine on a scale. He moved his hands asking the owner where she felt the wine belonged on his imaginary scale.
The owner froze. She was bent at the waist, in mid pour, leaning over the table. Her brain must have vanished. The muscle’s on her face smoothed. Her expression dissolved, her body fossilized.
The wine critic’s questions became emphatic.
The owner thought this was the perfect wine for this meal, for these influential critics. What happened? It’d all gone wrong and now she was locked in rigor mortis.
She didn’t throw down the bottle and run from the room sobbing. But she wanted to, you could tell.
Finally, the owner, after what must have seemed like the Spanish Inquisition, stood upright, placed the bottle on the table, and without saying a word, dissolved into the kitchen. She wasn’t seen again that evening.
The wine critic made sneering faces to his partner, the food critic, as the owner made her silent exit.
This was cruel, fascinating, more than reality TV. It was a cheetah bringing down an antelope. We couldn’t stop watching. It was worth the price of the over priced meal.
However, it got me thinking about the owner, the pain, the personal humiliation she must have felt. And how she could break free from reviewer tyranny.
The Challenge
How could she find a way of attracting guests to her restaurant without having to rely on critics’ reviews?
This was the marketing exercise. Here’s what I came up with.
If It Was My Restaurant
I’d first recognize that my restaurant could survive in the large Parisian market on more than repeat diners.
Repeat diners would, at best, eat there four to five times a year. This means the large majority of our diners would be one timers, in and probably never back again. In other words, they’d be tourists. And if I’m paying rent on the Ile Saint Louis I’m getting an extremely healthy number of tourists year round.
I wouldn’t drop quality because of this insight. My goal is still to remain a four-star restaurant. But to get diners differently.
Word of Mouth
Tactic - Free Introductory Meals:
There are a large number of hotels on the Ile Saint Louis, and nearby on Ile de la Cite, and in the Latin Quarter.
Each of those hotels recommend restaurants to their guests. However, most hotel front desk staff can’t afford to eat at expensive restaurants, or never tried.
I’d offer free meal tokens to all hotel desk staff.
The token would entitle them to one full dinner on a traditionally slow night (Tuesday’s?). They’d have to pick up their wine but the meal would be free. Anything on the menu.
I’d want tokens used on slow nights for two reasons. First, it would make the restaurant look busy when others were empty. Potential diners walking by would see a busy restaurant and figure it was good and give it a try. Second, I wouldn’t want tokens filling my restaurant on busy nights, taking tables away from paying diners.
My wait staff and I would treat those hotel staff as if they were the most important food critics. Because they are, they have the same power. They’d recommend our restaurant over the hundreds of others in the area. Their word of mouth is powerful to tourists looking for a place to eat. We’d become their first recommendation.
Web 2.0
I’d also seek out bloggers writing about food and restaurants in Paris. I’d invite them to try us out, and then write about the experience.
This is similar to traditional food critics. However, by adding influential bloggers to the list of intentional reviewers I’d have more chances for good reviews. And I’d increase the content on the Internet. Either way, having more critics helps reduce the power when there’s only a few.
Summary
Now I don’t know how this will help you sell more service contracts.
I do know that by exercising your marketing brain power, you’ll eventually come up with some tactic that you can use.
And, who knows, maybe it’ll get you those rave reviews you’ve been longing for.
Bon Appetite
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: marketing, web 2.0, word of mouth
November 21st, 2007
It rains a lot here.
Everyone has an umbrella. They lose or break them and buy another one. They give theirs to a friend and buy another one. Umbrella demand is high in Seattle.
There’s a tremendous opportunity that’s not being met here. Free umbrellas for advertising.
A few hotels and office buildings provide umbrellas as a courtesy but not with the intent to advertise. They’re using innocuous business umbrellas, which are lost among the others.
As a matter of fact, all umbrellas could be free if enough branded umbrellas were produced.
Don’t laugh yet, there’s something here.
Here’s how it can work:
A business gives away branded umbrellas whenever a customer comes into their building, or hands them out during the normal course of business.
For free, no charge, no obligation to bring them back.
In fact you don’t want customers to return the umbrellas. You want customers to take them home, use them in their neighborhoods, at the supermarket, give them to their friends.
Now your branded message is being seen more often and in more locations than you could afford to advertise in.
Think how low the cost per ad impression would be in this model. Probably much better than impressions from advertising on the sides of buses or some billboards.
Don’t forget to make sure all your employees get their umbrellas too. They add to the total number of impressions.
Here are a few details for free umbrellas to work:
Good Quality
Free umbrellas must be good quality so people will keep and use them, and people don’t like throwing away something of quality.
Remarkable Color/Design
Umbrella design must stand out, they must be remarkable in color, design or both - imagine a day-glo pink, leopard-spotted umbrella in a sea of black umbrellas.
Limited Number of Takers
Not everyone will want to use a free remarkable umbrella. But for those that do, the scarcity raises visibility against the rest.
Those choosing your free remarkable umbrellas will take it as a fashion statement, or just because they prefer staying dry over being like everyone else.
Lots of Ad Space
Place your logo on the handle butt for visibility in umbrella stands. Place ad copy on the top covering to be read while it’s open, and text up the handle.
Why aren’t umbrellas free now?
Traditional business thinking.
Its logic is about selling umbrella features and benefits to its distribution channels. Our umbrella is better than that umbrella, or its cheaper.
Umbrella advertising could be the next big thing. And you can tell everyone that you read about it here.
Hope it keeps raining.
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: change, marketing, selling
November 15th, 2007
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