Out of the Box - Strategy, Sales and Marketing

Are you feeling pressures to provide your value and reduce your price?

Average. 

The best of the worst and the worst of the best.   The Bankruptcy Gap is the phenomina the requires you to drive down your costs and compete on price OR move your to offering unique and improved value and move up in the pricing world.  If you stay in the middle, the average . . . you are courting bankrutpcy . . . until time serves it up to you. 

This is comparing Dell to Apple.  Dell competes on price, Apple on the customer experience. 

This is comparing GM to Lexus.  GM is bankrupt and Lexus continues to build its reputation as a solid car that maintains value (we are shopping for one for my wife as I write . . .and boy does it ever.)

This is comparing McDonalds coffee to Starbucks. 

I asked the group of hospital managers, “who likes Starbucks?”

One participant indicated that she went there all the time. 

“So you like the coffee” I asked?

“No, I just like Starbucks.  The furnishings, the ambiance, the background music, the connectivity for my laptop.” 

“So” I said, “ you just go there to . . . go there?”

“Oh yes!”

I then asked this group of hospital management.  “When was the last time people came to the hospital just to hang out?”  That got a big laugh.

Customers are wanting these meaningful connections that go beyond price. 

Just look at Apple.  How many companies have products that make the front page of the newspaper?  Because the customer is looking for real value.  The client is looking for an experience. 

I hired an “intern” for one day this week to help me with an engagement.  He asked about my marketing.  I explained that when I am helping the customer to bring about change, get results, create transition then for every engagement, I tend to get another 1.5 new engagements.  “If you are good, then your work will have puppies” I said. 

If I am average, then I have to market more proactively.  Average will get you average results.  Focus on delivering value and results and your customers will buy, and recommend others.

There is the scene in the ShamWow! commercial where the spokesperson pours cola drink into a piece of carpeting.  He then proceeds to suction up massive amounts of liquid with the fantastical Shamwow.  On watching the commercial a second time I notice that between the soaking of the carpet and the picking up the liquid there is a moment when the camera cuts to a shot of the spokesperson. When the camera goes back to the carpet all of the soda that was running out from beneath is GONE.

The picture had been doctored.  Ah ha.  The ShamWow! is a SHAM . . .wow!

It is exactly things like this commercial that have turned us into the cynical bunch that we are.  We just don’t believe the hype, the advertising, the promotional materials anymore.

What program are you trying to sell?  What endeavor are you trying to recruit for?  What clients are you trying to attract?

The key to creditability these days are messages of performance from sources that we trust.   In a word . . . testimonials.

One friend singing the praises of the latest movie, the new restaurant, the most recent fashion and we move toward adoption.

So where do you get testimonials for your efforts?

In a few weeks I am going to speak to the Columbus chapter of ASTD (American Society of Training and Development).  These professional educators, both in private practice or working for various corporations need to sell their programs.  If the student won’t come, then they are out of business.

So how do you get testimonials for training?

Evaluations.  Not the ones the have a scale with smiley faces and a number grading system.  The “10s” are only good for feeding the ego of the presenter.  They don’t give you any feedback that can be used.

Imagine instead an evaluation sheet that asked, “What did you get out of this training?  What will you use?”  And then space was left for comments.  Wouldn’t those comments then be considered testimonials?

Look at your materials.  Are you wanting others to take you word on something?  Imagine the power of a hoard of others all touting your greatness.

To do this takes time.  It takes years to collect good testimonials.  For example: http://www.kordellnorton.com/Testimonials.htm

Start today.  Ask your customers what they think and write it down.  You are starting the journey of making an impact.

Which stranger would you go with?

There at the end of the pier stand two men. On the left is the wizened old man, white beard, sun toughened face, calloused hands. 

To the right stands the expert.  He oozes sophistication, education and professionalism. 

Again, which one would you go with?  The old man or the young professional?

And what about you personally?  Where are you?  Where do you mentally slot yourself in your business, your profession? 

Are you the highly educated, sure footed and professional provider of products and services?

Or are you second guessing yourself, wondering if you are good enough, intimidated by the competition?  Do you ask, “why would they want to do business with me, when they could go to Mr. Big down the street?”  Do you really believe in your experience, your insights, your judgment and what you bring to the table?

Like David in the face of the Goliathian challenges: today requires courage and faith in your value.  More now than ever. 

The smaller can move faster, build stronger relationships, and need fewer approvals from others in the giant organization.  They can customize and listen with more intensity. 

The Rock Star of Consultants, Mike Weiss, says of his coaching clients, “the biggest shortage of value in business today is self confidence.  People have no belief in what they are really worth.”

So back to the end of the pier.

On the left, behind the old man floats his creation.  Same with the professional. 

Which would you pick?

The Titanic or the Ark?

Ralphs!  Found by referral it is an awesome auto mechanic here in my town.  I refer friends and they call with accolades and thanks.

Add to the list “Georges Donuts.”

The local that are in the know all go there.  When you stop several times and find out they are closed during the day you wonder why until finally figure out that he sells out everyday and closes up shop till the next round of caloric rich goodies are created.

I stopped last Saturday.  A glazed Croissant?   Are you kidding me?  It was awesome.  Like eating air and sweetness. Don’t tell my wife.

I had that because they didn’t have Apple Fritters (”those are made on Wednesdays”).  Are Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts scared?  Probably not.  Not as long as he empties his shelves every day and then quits.

How great are your products that the word of mouth advertising empties your inventory by noon every day?  Not a bad business.  Make you wonder why George doesn’t want to grow beyond that?

I spoke to the ACCA - PHCC conference last week.  That is the Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the Plumbing and Heating Cooling Contractors.  They had a trade show that I wandered around.

One vendor had nifty key chain flashlights and screwdrivers that were their “giveaways”.  I suggested that they might want the screwdrivers that had a flat head on one end and a phillips on the other.  They indicated that the flashlights we 40 cents each and the screwdrivers were $2.50 and that was for a reason.

“The little screwdrivers have a very narrow tip on them for our customers to use when they work on thermostats.”  Up walked one of their customers who joined the conversation.  I then listened for five minutes as THEY discussed the pros and cons of tiny screwdrivers.

What for me was a throw away trinket, was for this vendor/customer relationship a profound connection point.  No wonder the vendor opted for a $3 item that was customer specific, that you could get in a standardized format for ONE TENTH the price.

The point, the more specialized your value, the higher the price others will pay.  If you are struggling with price issues, dig deeper.

As a marketer I found the accolades given to the Obama campaign interesting a year ago.  From a purely scientific viewpoint they did put together a great win given his historical leanings and how those match up with the population at large.  They went into his presidency with a powerful brand with a lot of mental equity.

At the core of all great marketing is a religious vigor for listening to the customer.

The Obama camp have, with the health care bill, done a fantastic job of completely discounting that customer dialog.  They have done serious damage to his reputation, brand image and creditability.

When the late night comedians put your antics at the core of their humor you know you are in trouble.  They have been having a field day with the public’s reaction and in the past couple of nights have heaved some big hand grenades at Obama.  Political humor is easy.  But political humor where real emotion and commonality with the viewing public is gold.

If Obama’s people don’t start listening and responding with respect then the poll numbers will drop faster than a Tiger Woods endorsement.    It may be said that they have health care as their target but that doesn’t negate the issue that you can be totally right and out of business.  In wars men die for wrong causes all the time.

You have GOT to listen and HEAR what the other person is saying otherwise you have a heathy dose of pride in tow and we know where that takes you.

Something about a fall.  Which has a different name to those who can remain distant.  Entertainment.

It reminds me of what Johnny Carson said a few decades ago about one politician.

“Some people can shoot themselves in the foot.  I don’t have a problem with that.  But in this case, he can reload so FAST.”  (Johnny Carson)

Are you tired of competing on price?

Introducing the Bankruptcy Gap.

Remember when there was only one Tide laundry detergent?  I counted last week, there are now over 70 sizes, types and smells of Tide at the supermarket.  There are versions for top load washing machines, front loaders, for smelly clothes, for whites and even a version in a tube that you can get the coffee stain off the front of your shirt at the office. 

What about personal computers?  When I first started selling PCs in the 1980’s (ancient history I know) there were 3 or 4 major brands, each with 3 or 4 models.  I remember years later when just Hewlett Packard had over a hundred different models, sizes and flavors. 

Who would go to a travel agent these days?  They have gone the way of 8 mm camera and betamax and are being followed by newspapers it seems. 

These are all examples of The Bankruptcy Gap.

When you look at any market or industry there is a bell curve for the distribution of products.  At the low end of the curve are the low price/low cost products and services.  At the high end, the right side of the curve, are the high value and customized offerings. 

Over time as competition increases the biggest part of the curve inverts itself into what is known as the bankruptcy gap.  This is caused as the products become 1.) more of a commodity and the customer opts for a lower price or 2.) the products become tailor made, luxury oriented, or more “experience” based. 

Organizations no longer wait for these natural changes to occur.  More companies are taking proactive and strategic steps to address the oncoming train.  For those not willing to cut their costs the only choice is to learn how to move “up the food chain”, to develop a brand, to connect with the customer in new ways or to fine tune offerings. 

A few days ago I spoke to a large Chamber of Commerce.  I mentioned one of their sponsors, a company called Moving Solutions.  I referenced them as being in the middle of the bell curve with their Moving Vans and the typical household who was relocating.  I was amiss to point out that they were smart to move up the food chain.  They have become movers of choice for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for several high tech and medical companies where advanced expertise were required.  (Sorry about that Mr. Bill)  If a moving company can be smart enough to morph their business, what does that say about you?    

What do you need to do?

If you are competing on price then you better lower your cost or employ more technology.  Just ask Amazon, Progressive Insurance or Wal-Mart.  There has to be a constant strategic focus on getting cost out of the business and products OR you had better leverage with technology.

If you are tired of the price wars then the answer is to start owning your category of one.  Plus your products and services, learn how to brand yourself (call Kordell), get closer to your customers and focus on THEIR business and how you can help them win more.  Look at FedEx, Disney, Burt’s Bees, Five Guys Hamburgers, Alan Weiss and Lexus. 

The light at the end of the tunnel is a train filled with the cheap offshore labor.  If you are not considering your strategies to move away from the commodity business you will get run over.  Not fun for you but entertaining for your competition. 

Variety is the spice of life.  Because I am the curious sort I continue in my search for the perfect hot chocolate getaway.  I continue to work on the next book each morning and thought my Starbucks and McDonalds forays might be helped with a journey to the other two A.M. eating establishments.

Cracker Barrel.  Pleasant surprise when I discovered the hot chocolate is 50 cents less than Mickey D’s.   The table top space for my weapons of writing was huge but the wait staff was surly, I guess because of the demands on them to distribute the salt and pepper shakers, napkins and the like.  Add to that the blue grass and country western music at a decibel level that would make a Green Bay Packer fan proud and you get the feeling that they want your money, but you are kind of an inconvenience that early in the morning.  They would like you a whole lot better two hours later.

Then this morning I struck gold.  Bob Evans.  Bright, clean, music at the right level, big table tops and the hot chocolate was cheaper than elsewhere and . . . get this . . . NON STOP.  The waitress offered to leave me the menu so “when you finally decide you are hungry” it would be available.  There on the front cover was a quote from Mr. Evans (he passed away in 2007) to the effect, “we serve great food at very reasonable prices.”  Now isn’t that nice.

As I was about to leave the waitress asked, would you like a cup of hot chocolate to go?  Imagine that.  Lowest price, best service, cleanest facility, great tables, back ground music not over bearing, a staff that is friendly, helpful, kind (I feel like the Boy Scouts must be feeling uncomfortable as I almost break into a rendition of America the Beautiful) and most of all serving.

Is this too good to be true?  Well the last few pages of the draft will find out as I travel back again and again.

Now I don’t think the world revolves around a cup of hot chocolate.  But I do think that it is the little things that reflect on whether we are paying attention to the stuff that sets the Gold Medal winner from the mediocre.  This is the stuff of thousandths of a second.  If you can’t take out all the brown M&Ms for the visiting rock group and pay attention to the little detail, then the tens of thousands of volts for rock concert equipment may have some massive issues with it.

Get the little things right and the big stuff will be easier than finding fresh air in Switzerland.    That is, of course, where hot chocolate comes from.

And while I am at it, I think I will have another refill of hot chocolate (smile)

With a ratio of  9 to 1 the answer is . . .  (the suspense builds, but more on that in a minute).

It was the late 60’s and Fred Smith was listening to the conversations of the other Jet Jockey’s.   Fred was flying charter flights out of a the Tweed New Haven airport.  The pilots of the other sleek corporate jets were mentioning how their planes were empty.  No passengers.  They were flying around the country delivering computer parts.  These pilots for IBM, Xerox and the like were trying to cover for the need that was not being filled by the hot stock of the day . . . Airbourne Express.  Airbourne was tryiing to meet the demand for fast delivery using space in the belly of commercial airpline flights, but that system was not conducive to high priced, critical computer parts moving around the country.

So Fred Smith wrote his famous paper while in a class at Yale.  Rumored to earn only a “C” (he later said that was something he made up) he proposed a system that was optimized for the transport of materials that “absolutely, positively had to be there overnight.”  It would take years to debug his system, but the success of FedEx (because he liked the distribution method of the Federal Reserve he used part of their name) is a monument to getting the Execution down pat.

I spend a lot of time facilitating groups of executives who want to do their Strategic Planning in a fun environment, where everyone has input and where the energy level needs to be extremely high.  I get to see some very well intentioned planning.

These plans are brilliant whether they are a business, Chamber of Commerce, a restaurant, a major hospital, association, or a university.

But ask, the question when it comes to the point where the discussion focuses on “who is going to do what, when, where and how” and conversation gets interesting.

I ask. . . “What do you call someone who has high strategy hopes but they are low on execution?”

The answers that come back usually have a negative connotation.   The most common are: boss, CEO, visionary, the guys at the top.

I had one client who said, “Kordell, I hope you are not offended by this but we have a name for these people.  We call them consultants.”  Laughter exploded around the room.

My clients are asking for help in elevating their execution abilities, the ability to drive to and meet the numbers.

In one recent survey done by DDI International the question was asked, “what is the single most important ability for an executive?”  Number one at 38% of responses was ‘the ability to drive too and meet the numbers.’   That is execution.

So what are the 7 Execution Keys or Disciplines?  Each has a processes and practice which we can talk about later if you are interested. Depending on the organization they might need one or more of the following to move from “wishes to fishes”.

Execution Disciplines or Plans must. . .

1. They must be reality based. This is to say they must be customer centric.

2. They must be focused on the goals and priorities of the organization

3. Knowing your people and proactively managing who is on the team and what they are focused on.

4. Growing and Developing your Resources.  Creating additional capabilities or becoming unique (can you say innovate and creative?)

5. Following up is not only important, it is essential if you want to get anything done.  There must be accountability.

6. Rewards and corrective actions are used, only if you want results.

7. Know yourself.  Coaching and correlation in a world where people talk to each other.

So 9 to 1 the answer of which is harder . . . the winner is Execution.

Think of your budget and expenses.  If you could get twice the results and spend 40% less would that be important?   Yo can see the need to be accutely aware of driving up execution in what ever you are doing.

And here is the ponder point.  What do you get when you combine high Execution and a great Strategic Plan?

Tune in next week. . .

Writing the next book.

My friend Janine Moon, an awesome business coach, gave a great insight.  “There are too many distractions in my office.  When I write I go to the local coffee shop.”

Day 1 - Starbucks - The words flow onto my laptop as my hot chocolate sits next to the iPod that is pulling it’s load of a gentle mix of movie soundtracks.  Outlets are everywhere as other business people sit addicted to their latest email fixes.  A fireplace radiates heat into the warm oak-paneled space.  Small and intimate.  I sit at an oak table with hot chocolate,  a special blend of dark European flavors which seems to flow hot, but not scalding . . . all in a $2.70 cup with the snazy sleave that keeps you from getting third degree burns.

Day 2 - McDonalds - I slide into a laminated table top and smack my leg on the square steel support pole.  They have to make it square so it has a sharp edge that raises a need for a tourniquet and immediate medical help (just kidding of course. . . but not by much).  The accoustics are awesome.  I can clearly hear the conversations of everyone within 50 feet as the sound bounces off all the flat and plastic surfaces.  I have just looked around for an outlet.  NOT ONE in 1,500 square feet.  NOT ONE!  The hot chocolate is ten cents less than Starbucks, but it does come with a high tech lid that takes a couple of MIT graduates to open.  The plastic seat tops are to keep you from getting to comfortable and I think they have embedded them with refrigerant coils so you will consume your stuff and move out in time for the next arrival.

I reflect on why they call it fast food.  It is because you don’t want to eat/drink it.  You just want to slam dunk it and move on.  Fast.

Lessons to be learned for us.

Walk a mile in your customers moccasins.  I am sure the McDonald’s people never ventured into their “dinning room” with a laptop.  Wifi?  Are you kidding?  They will connect together some drink cups with some string.

Starbucks has a fetish of improving the Customer Experience.  I recently read a article written by the CEO of Starbucks.  He confessed that he was re-reading Jim Gilmore’s tome The Experience Economy.  These guys get it and just for 10 cents more.

Tips, Tricks and Traps for Writing Copy

 

Remember when you learned those concepts in school on how to write persuasively?  Here is a little update and refresher.   

 

Rules for Headlines and Copy

1.      Headlines should be at the top of the page

2.      Sans Serif (without “tails”)  fonts for Headlines. . . serif for Body

3.      Write 15 different headlines and use the best one

4.      80% of the focus and attention for the eyes of your customer will be on the headline

5.      Flag the Headline with your message subject – if you are selling Sales Training then “Sales” ought to be in the headline

6.      Should have a “You Cans” or one of the benefit statements as part of the headline.

7.      Words that sell (the “grand-daddy’s” are in bold type)

Easy/Easily

You/Your

Money

Health/healthy

Guarantee/guaranteed

Free

Yes

Quick/Quickly

Benefit

Person’s Name

Love

Results

Safe/Safety

Proven

Fun

New

Save

Now

How to

Solution/Solve

More

Discover

Suddenly

Announcing

Introducing

It’s here

Just Arrived

Important Development

Improvement

Amazing

Sensational

Remarkable

Revolutionary

Miracle

Magic

Offer

Quick

The  truth about

Bargain

Hurry

Last Chance

 

8.      Include the Brand Name in the headline (if possible)

9.      Include selling promise (creates a long headline but that is OK)

10.  Arouse curiosity

11.  Don’t use negatives

 

Writing Copy Rules

1.      If your customer (or woman at a dinner party) were to ask, “I am thinking of buying ____________ (your type product or service)?  What would you recommend? 

a.       Go straight to the point. . don’t beat around the bush

b.      No “Just as, so too”

c.       Be specific, factual, enthusiastic, friendly and memorable

2.      Length?  If there is a lot to tell. . .the copy should be long

3.      Include Testimonials – there is huge creditability in hearing what others think.

4.      Give advice (“How to” . . .tips, tricks and traps, . . . )

5.      Use simple language  - 7^th grade English

6.      Make the first letter of the first paragraph oversized and dropped and it will increase readership by 13%

7.      The first paragraph should be short . . . 15 words or less . . . to get people to start reading

8.      Try to keep your column width 40 characters.  People learn to read newspapers which have narrow columns

9.      Every few inches of text insert a “divider” headline to break out the monotony of the text

10.  Serif fonts (Times Roman) read easier than sans serif (Helvetica, Ariel)

11.  Never reverse the type and background.  Studies indicated that people read slower when reading white letters on a black background.  This is especially true when you text will be electronic.  If people print it out after it comes off a web site . . . it looks horrible. 

12.  Left justify the text.  Unless you are a professional graphic artists, it is probably best to left justify your text.  It is a lot easier to read. 

 

Guidelines for Photographs and Pictures

1.      You should consider a caption or point of interest below each picture since that is where the eye first gravitates.

2.      If you sell to customers . . . you pictures should be of people.

3.      The absolutely last thing you want on an advertisement is a picture of your factory, school, business building.

 

My friend Carol had to go back and see the Imax version of Avatar in 3D a second time last Saturday.

Carol, Glenn and I had gone to the morning show and it was awesome.  I think it represents the future of entertainment.  It is a true TransBrand.

A what?

Turn the clock back one hundred years.  Farmer John used to take his eggs and milk into town.  His neighbors brought their produce and they traded with each other or exchanged dollars.

Then the world got sophisticated.  It certainly got bigger as the cities grew.  No longer did the luxury exist of knowing each individual producer.  So instead Farmer John “branded” his products.  He built trust with the number of years he was in business, the quality of his product.  While he was doing that, other were following his lead in soaps, clothes and all things “branded”.  It was the golden age of products and manufacturing.  Tide, Levi’s,  Coke, Kleenex, Nike, Band-Aid, Gillette, Formica and, in keeping with the Farmer John and produce theme; Chiquita.

Then the world got sophisticated.  Why not brand our services?  People are copying our products and creating competitive brands.  For every Tide, there was a Cheer or a Gain.   For Coke there was Pepsi.  Each diluted the profits of the catagory so organizations started looking at branding their services as well.   The 1970s through the 1990’s saw the emergence of the service brand.  McDonalds, H&R Block, Bank of America, Mastercard/Visa, Mr. Goodwrench.

Then the world got sophisticated.  My acquaintance Jim Gilmore (co-author of The Experience Economy) points out that by combining a product brand and a service brand you can create an Experience Brand.  No longer did dinner entail soup and salad, now we had to have eatertainment at Rain Forest Cafe.  The Starbucks coffee was replaced with the Paris side walk cafe experience.

But what comes after product brands, service brands and experience brands?

Trans Brands.  

These are products and organizations that guarantee change.  They are agents of transition, hence TransBrands.  You don’t buy them because you think that maybe, perhaps, you might get a great purchase.  You pay more, a lot more, to get to a different place.   Does Oil of Olay Regenerist remove wrinkles?  You bet.  Will Red Adair put out your oil well fire?  Absolutely!  Does the TV show Biggest Loser prove that heavy can be replaced by thin?  On national TV it can.

So when you “absolutely, positively have to get it there overnight” (FedEx) you move to a Trans Brand.  A transformation and transition product or service.

Come and join the ranks of the future.  Come and change your world, and that of your clients with the qualities shared with Steve Jobs, Avatar - the movie, your hairdresser (hopefully yours is a TransBrand), the Statue of Libery, Gillette, Disney and Harley Davidson.

So how do you create a TransBrand?

Hang on, the journey begins.

So my post yesterday was on Wal-Mart and how they fell on their sword.

Magic things happen.  I called 1-800-Wal-Mart and told them how they were messing up.

You will not believe this.  They called back.  And within 4 hours.  And they fixed the issue.

So in a few minutes I am heading over to get my meds and now I have a great success story for customer service FROM WAL-MART of all places.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think Wal-Mart provides a great service for America.

Today I needed to pick up some prescriptions at my local Wal-Mart.  When I called to inquire on availability they informed me that the price was higher than I had been buying down the street at a K-Mart store.

“Why don’t you match the price” I asked?

“Because it is farther than 5 miles away.”

“But if you don’t, I will just go back to K-Mart.”

“Sorry” they said.

So called the Wal-Mart that is a couple of miles further away but just down the street from K-Mart and THEY would match the price.

Dumb on the part of the local Wal-Mart.   They rejected a $4 concession only to have me buy ALL my families needs at another store.   That is thousands and thousands of dollars.

I remember years ago a book by Wayne Dwyer.  In the book he talks about how frustrating “policy” can be sometimes.  He has a pithy saying he espouses.  When the clerk is sticking to the company line he just says to himself . . .”Clerk’s a Jerk. . . Clerk’s a Jerk”.

The sad thing is that organization won’t let the person who is interfacing with the public to make a decision that is best for the company and the customer.

Years ago my customers was on a panel in front of 600 sales and marketing executives at my company.   The question came, “Do you feel like your local office does anything above and beyond the call of duty for you?”

My customer looked down and me and I shrugged.

He said, “Yes they do.”

“What sort of things do they do?”

“I don’t know if I can tell you because I know they adapt your procedures and policies to get us the service and products we need.”

The convention hall erupted in a standing ovation.

The President of the organization stood and called for the microphone.  Everyone waited to see what was said.

“Folks, that is the right answer.  We want to be able to charge for higher service levels and that only comes after a relationship of trust and service is built.

I went from being worried about my job to being the hero in one honest comments time.

One of the great stories in business was when the Kimberly Clark company decided to sell off all of it’s paper mills and focus on their consumer products in the 1971. 

All of business told them that they were absolutely crazy.   The result was a focus that allowed them to chase after, catch, and trounce their largest competitor.  Procter and Gamble.  Within a short time period they were so profitable they were able to buy back their paper mills at a fraction of what they sold them for.

Image that.  Sell you manufacturing capabilities.  What kind of crazy person does that?  What has that got to do with you, the average Joe?

If you are average (and thank heavens for average) then you spent 70% of your waking hours last year consuming information.

That is right.  That is 11.8 hours a day of reading, viewing, or listening to what our world calls “content.”  If you were to convert all that information into words it would amount to over 100,000 words a day.   That is about 3 books a day with each containing 150 pages.  This information comes to us from a University of California, San Diego study that indicates we are consuming about three times the information today that we did in 1980.

So are YOU any smarter?   Or are you any smarter than those in 1980?

The information and opportunties continue to roll in front of us.  Like a personal trainer on the first Monday of January, the opportunities are awesome.

So what is keeping you from having a Happy New Year?

Bandwidth.

Bandwidth.

A fresh new canvas of another 12 months and you are there with all those plans lined up and ready to go.  Do you want to make a REAL change in your world?

Then don’t START doing things but first STOP doing things.

Michael Porter of Harvard said that planning is all about what you are going to stop doing.

Since the 24 hour a day thing is fixed; you have to ask how you are going to get more done in the coming year.  The answer is to stop doing things that are not important.  Then move that time and resource over to that which you want to focus on.

Example: Weight loss

If you are like me you need to loss some tonage.  I can start working out more frequently, or more intensely.

OR, I can stop drinking milk and replace that water.  I can stop with the carbs and move to green vegtables.

Example:

I need to increase my sales and revenue.

I have to stop surfing the internet, turn off the TV, consuming my 11.8 hours of content each day and focus on creating new customer relationships.

We think that the down of the economy has pulled out all the fat and excess.  I don’t think so.  As individual business people we can still re-evaluate what we are doing and STOP doing things that don’t really have an impact.

Answer this question. . . .

What do you need to STOP doing to move to the next level?

So write the answer down. . . stop doing it . . . and have a Happy New Year.

It was scary.  Nashville was mobbed by educators from across the country.  As presenter at their conference I was amazed by the slate of Social Networking sessions.  There are thousands of experts who travel the country espousing the correct method to Twitter, Facebook and a host of other sites.  Each tells of how these tools will bring world peace or cure the common cold. 

Problems tend to turn to technology for a fix.  If the horse isn’t fast enough then build the car.  If the saw blade gets dull invent the laser to cut.  The latest invention in the world of webs and electrons is the Web 2.0 - social networking explosion. 

Twitter is growing at up to 1200% a day and Facebook is on track to be the first billion person collection of people who don’t qualify as a country. 

Business is catching the buzz of growth through Web 2.0 and the unemployed are flocking to social networking with the hope of future employment.

The problem is that they just don’t work. 

Tell that to the people who brought us “Will it blend?” videos, or Susan Boyle.  They did OK.  But these are most often the exception.   Don’t get me wrong, I have a Facebook page; I have YouTube videos.  These sites and others establish my place in the world and allow potential customers to go “see if this guy is any good.” 

Let me digress for a moment.  Finding a job for decades has gotten pretty predictable.  You build a resume and “they will come.”  But where 3% to 5% of jobs are found online with resumes and electronic applications; the major portion of jobs are still found through personal connections and relationships.  One estimate puts it at 60% to 80% for finding a job through networking. 

How many hiring executives say to themselves, “I think I will sit down at the computer and just go look for resumes.”   I am sure you have customers who just love to sit down on a weekend and say,”I wonder what ole Kordell is doing this weekend?  Let me go surf his web site.”  NOT!

When you think of these internet sites take a step back and consider their place in the world of television, networking events, trade shows, and thousands of other marketing tools. 

These tools allow the message to get to the customer, but each by itself will not build customer relationships.  That comes through the combination of all of your marketing and business efforts. 

When anyone pays homage to the method of connecting with the customer over the fact that the end game is building a relationship, then red lights need to flash and bells ring.   

So post to Twitter and Facebook (I will when I finish this blog) but then go and make something happen.  You might as well get in a cave and light a candle and wait unless you do some more proactive things to get a job, to grow your business. 

Pick up the phone and call someone.  Go visit a customer.  Your uniqueness will scream out a message that is unique and different. 

George Campbell is good at being bad.  A professional standup comedian, he found his clean humor appealed to the corporate meeting crowd.   One day he was thinking about how much easier it is to speak to a conference than it is to entertain a crowd in a Comedy Club.  In his conversation with a friend he said, thinking out loud, “I ought to put together stage personality and act as the ‘world’s worst motivational speaker’.”

It took him two years before he was ready to introduce Joe Malarkey, this over the top, cheesy, motivation speaker.   For example he parodies the typical motivation speaker by selling in the back of the room a weight loss program which includes 3 CD’s and a Sandwich.  His YouTube promotional videos are on the wacky ways that Joe Malarkey got fired over the years. 

Recently I sat with a group of professional speakers that got to spend a day with George and Mark Mayfield.  These two comedic geniuses were like a great comedy club on steroids. 

As a marketing maven I am so impressed with the marketing that George put together in his Joe Malarkey character.  He went counter to the thousands of other speakers who are trying to outshine and outperform each other.  His is a lone and unique product offering and it shows.  His positioning is distinct, the imitators are nil, and his bookings reflect it. 

With the multitude of marketing tools today success in the future will depend more and more on having a unique and fresh product or offering.    

If you want to compete against United, Delta, Continental and American you start by looking at all their standard offerings and then pick the opposite: like reserved seating, meals, poor customer service, hubs for routing flights.  When you pick the opposite you have Southwest Airlines.

If you want to compete with McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Subway instead of competing on price and speed, you pick high price and slower meals.  Many names come to mind but Chipotle pops up for me. 

What are your contrarian offerings?

Who thinks this stuff up?

Pittsburgh with a friend and he, the native, explains that you don’t go to Steel Town without having a sandwich at Primanti Brothers. 

It seems that years ago the drivers from the produce businesses that line the river would race over to Primanti to get a sandwich.  One rather hurried and harried driver was asked if he would wait for his grilled potatoes while they got a container to put them in.  Behind schedule our intrepid truck driver instructed the restaurant to “just put them on top” of his meat and put the bun on top.

It is now almost 80 years later and you can still get a Primanti sandwich complete with bun, meat and a liberal layer of French fries on a sandwich that looks like a Storks nest gone bad. 

The recent G20 Summit of the world’s greatest economic powers moved the Primanti sandwich from a local/regional standing to the world stage.

The truth is that MY Primanti sandwich was NOT-THAT-GREAT. 

But aren’t regional dishes and restaurants an acquired taste anyway?  Skyline Chili in Cincinnati.  Pirogues in Cleveland.  Crown Burgers in Salt Lake City (which are awesome actually.)   And the two competing Philly Cheese Steak wonder houses of Geno’s . . . and across the street, Pat’s.  I do know for a fact that you have lived a deprived life until you have eaten at both, although I do prefer the Geno’s sandwich with the works and “wiz” (you gotta go there). 

But what is it that makes a Primanti a “must have?”

It is the same thing that makes the best tasting cola drink in the world unavailable for purchase.  That’s right.  By research and study, the best tasting competitor to Coke and Pepsi cannot even be found on shelves anywhere.  Why?  Because “new coke” got a bum rap by the locals – who just happen to live all the way across the country. 

So the common thread. 

We buy things based on emotion and not on logic.  Why are there so many pairs of shoes in your closet?  Emotion.  Why so many fishing poles, or golf clubs, or dried flower arrangements.  It is not because of any logic (“thank you Mr. Spock”).  Like so many of our favorite things, we buy based on emotion. 

In one focus group study a manufacturer wanted to indeed know which catsup (or is that Ketsup?) was the best tasting.  To find an impartial, non-brain washed group they went to a third world country and asked the local focus group which they liked.  Heinz?  Del Monte?  Hunts? 

The answer.  None of them.  They thought all of these products were horrible and wondered why anybody would eat this nasty, pasty red stuff. 

Is it really all in our heads? 

Not always.  But once your product or service has a home in the mind of your customer as “theirs” you have to mess up pretty bad to lose your brand, your franchise. 

So how do you do that?   Bad quality.  Changing tastes. 

But the biggest one is being focused on internal politics, power struggles, and the day to day stuff of running a business.  A sure fire formula for destroying your value and equity with the customer is to not be listening! 

The way to keep your business growing?  Oh quality is still important.  Making sure your business is run well. 

But number one? 

Being focused on the customer and making sure THEIR experience is great, and getting better every day.  Meeting their needs and wants.  There are no short cuts to respect for the customer. 

Now can we go get a sandwich and a coke?

You gotta love someone who does their job with simple elegance and ease of execution.

Many moons ago I was putting on a morning workshop for three smaller Chambers of Commerce in a small remote Ohio hamlet.  I know I need to get over myself, but I have to tell you; this was pretty good stuff.  Great information on how to grow your business, ways to communicate your value . . . all of that doctrine. 

So afterward Craig Brown, who works for the Small Business Development Center in that area says, “This is something the businesses in the north end of my area are in dire need of.  Kordell, would you let me pioneer having you do this workshop in Findlay, Ohio?” 

The date was picked and the location targeted.

Then the fun began.

Enter the Findlay Chamber of Commerce.  These people “get” marketing.  One of the most masterful jobs of brining all the resources together I have seen in a long time.  I have just stood back and watched the orchestration of several events, the media and people as they promoted this event. 

As a marketing guy for 3 decades, the simple, clear and obvious things they did seem so simple.  Each a “of course. . . that should happen” event.  But added together and the impact is huge. 

1.       They set up the morning workshop almost 4 months prior to the event.  This has allowed them to market.  It is has also allowed me to invite others to come and “get a taste” of the materials.  There will be businessmen who will drive for an hour to Findlay to hear this presentation.

2.       Next came the 20 minute speech to a networking group on the subject of Coop Marketing.  In hind sight, although I managed a $31 million dollar a year coop marketing budget, this little Chamber of Commerce has LIVED coop marketing on this event (which was the subject of that presentation – How to get Coop Marketing going for your business.)

3.       There was the video of my the 20 minute speech now presented on the web site of the University of Findlay.  Good visibility for the University and for the event.  The school gets to drive traffic to their site and be part of the team.  Their visibility goes up and the public wins.  http://www.findlay.edu/newsevents/sightssounds/ces/080409com.htm

4.       The morning of this writing I just got off the phone on a radio interview with a local morning talk show “Good Mornings!” with Chris Oaks on 1330 WFIN-AM.  It makes the Talk Show look great as they are in the know AND get to make and report on news, and makes the big event more visible.  Chris was a true pro and our pre-established possible questions with responses made a conversation directed and made HIM look very knowledgeable. 

5.       The BIG event is still 9 days away . . . stay tuned.

6.       The afternoon after the event, the SBDC champion has arranged for 8 companies to get together for some one-on-one coaching on growing their businesses. 

7.       The evening of the big event the local Community Action Commission, a nonprofit organization that helps start up entrepreneurs has me speaking to their class of new businessmen. 

Which all begs the question.   Who is at the center of the great efforts by this Chamber of Commerce? 

I just got off the phone with Ray De Winkle, who is the President of the Chamber.  In great fashion he blames Jeremiah Garcia (his guy) and Craig Brown.  A hallmark of a great leader is passing the blame down on good things and taking blame on the bad stuff. 

It is great to see things happen right.  Way to go Findlay!  Who says you have be a big giant business, Chamber of Comerce with 1,500 members.  Small is nimble.  Small is adaptive.  Nimble, adaptive and living off the land will become the winner in our high speed world. 

Think outside the box.    

He was my mentor and teacher in developing the artistry of “the  boil”. 

I blame Jim Dixon. He taught me.    

I had a day job of marketing $200 million dollars of personal computers a year.  But at night I would dawn a white apron and become. . . .Wait for it. . . .

Shrimp Boil Chef

You take a pot the size of a large microwave; add olive oil, salt, garlic, cayenne pepper, whole lemons, whole onions and lots of Cajon spices.  Bring that all to a boil and add red potatoes, corn on the cob and finally fresh shrimp.  When this boiling mass of Louisiana Shrimp Boil food is done you pour it out on a newspaper covered table and the lucky sit with drinks in hand; having personal contest of “just how many shrimp I can eat?”  The potatoes and corn on the cob drip with butter and fresh cocktail sauce awaits the arrival the delicious pink
shrimp. 

For years I would travel to our offices across the country, conduct marketing planning sessions, go on high level sales calls and then after hours . . . cook shrimp for the employees in this most memorable and morale lifting service.  In Jim Dixon’s words (the CEO of our then multi-billion dollar company) “when was the last time the boss fixed YOU dinner?” 

Turn the clock ahead and go with me to a Shrimp Boil event last month for 61 sixteen-to-eighteen-year-olds and their adult leaders from a church.   

I had help.  I have a close acquaintance (this guy is really sharp) who was helping me keep three boiling pots going and distributing food to the crowd.  But he brought a surprise with him. 

He had a large canister of an additional spice that he had used in the past.  With a “too many cooks” look I watched as he sprinkled HIS spice all over the shrimp as it sat on the tables, waiting for the culinary attack by the hungry teenagers. 

I was somewhat miffed. I thought, “This guy is going to screw up hundreds of dollars of shrimp and food”. 

Then the light bulb went on.

He is sprinkling his spice all over the shrimp which has shells!  People then pick up the shrimp, peel it and discard the peels (and his spice).  He was adding to a product and the customer didn’t care.  They were after a different value.  They wanted the shrimp meat, not the shells.

What are you doing to your products and services that is adding costs that the customer does want, doesn’t need?

Our blender broke.  We replaced it with a high end product.  It cost more than its pioneer forerunner and yet it has fewer capabilities.  The broken blender had 10 different settings.  The new one has two.  Got that? 2.  How many settings do you need to crush ice or to make a milk shake? How many settings do you need to puree tomatoes?  Two works great.   The extra eight settings were like spice on shrimp boil shells.  They just weren’t used.

A few weeks ago I was working with some associations on growing their membership.  One executive noted that the smaller companies who joined his association wanted more services and offerings than the big corporations.  The smaller organizations didn’t use all the offerings, but they wanted them none the less. The big companies didn’t need the additional offerings (i.e. shrimp spice.)  If the small didn’t use them and the big didn’t even consider them . . . why incur the additional cost?  Why incur the extra work for all the offerings the customers don’t use. 

Southwest Airlines. Reserved seating – nope.  Airline meals – are you kidding?  They cut out all the extra spice stuff and the public loves it. Give em what they want.  On time flights with courteous employees and the experience is something the customer wants again and again.

In our “life at the speed of light” world, bandwidth becomes a major focus.  Until you CUT OUT stuff, you can’t start the new, or expand and improve current strengths. 

So what ARE you doing that is a waste for your customers? What do you need to cut out to increase customer satisfaction and lower costs?  How do you find out?

If you don’t know that answer to that . . . we need to talk.  I can help, and maybe we can throw a shrimp on the barbee (smile).