Can you believe it! The federal government actually thinks that Harley-Davidson is in the business of selling motorcycles. When asked one Harley honcho explained it this way. “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns, and have people be afraid of him.” So just what does Harley-Davidson sell? In a word . . . an experience. There are some associations who still think that they are . . . well . . . er . . . associations. Recent surveys indicate that 3 of the top 4 four things
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Driving Sales Results – Are YOU Using the Wrong Method?
In the cartoon the king is racing off to battle, his sword drawn, the troops in colors and armor and waiting in row upon row, their pikes at the ready. He brushes past a courtier whom he brushes off with a “I don’t have time to talk to any salesman right now . . . I have a battle to fight” There to the side of his tent is the salesman with a machine gun. Are you going into battle with dated weapons? In 1925 the book was written that was the basis for most selling for the last 100
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Selling Ice to Eskomos and plain simple water to . . . YOU! How to turn the everyday into something speacial
Great friends, exclusive restaurant. The drink order, sweet mint-basil lemon-aid (suggested by friends) and . . . water. When the water arrives it is in a green glass with the requested lemons bobbing in the room temperature water. “Ah, could I perhaps get some ice?” “Well of course,” comes the reply from the waiter, in her crisp and starched attire. Moments later a fully filled glass of ice is set in front of me, with a pair of silver tongs. Not only was the food excellent, but the way the restaurant turned water into an experience was masterful. I felt
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What is NOT "Yummy"
I stopped yesterday at KFC and asked for a glass of water with my meal. I was told that they could provide me with a glass but no water per instructions from management. Can YUM brands really force you to buy a carbonated beverage by not offering water? The customer is insulted. The results . . . you just don’t do there anymore.
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Moving from Successful to Significant – Catalyst #3
The Exception – It takes Exceptions to be Exceptional – The Catalyst #3 Success has five building blocks that act as a foundation for, well, success. These five building blocks have common names like Leadership, Relationships, Creativity, etc. The third building block or Success Imperative is the need to be creative and innovate. When you look, act, and perform like everyone else, then you are . . . average. A key Catalyst to drive creativity and innovation is the doctrine of exception. To be exceptional, you first need to be an exception. For example, Kimberly Clark rolled out (sorry about
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David fights Goliath VIA the Detroit Automotive Show – a lesson in Contrarianism and Synergy
The Detroit International Automobile Show 2012. Among the hundred thousand square feet vendor booths, and the multimillion dollar backdrops complete with state of the art multimedia, and eye candy models . . . both male and beautifully coiffed women; sits the center of attention. It is all about the cars. There are cars. Each collection is often changed out each day for maximum exposure. Audi might have a new metallic paint the invites you to touch it’s too-strange-too-be-true finish. That is OK because some t-shirted youth, armed with polishing rags and dust wands wander incessantly to make sure nary a
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Customer Satisfaction — hogwash –what about your Employees? – The 5 ABC’s that separates winners from losers.
Sorry about the absence. I took a few months off to fight off cancer. That is done and I AM BACK! Let me introduce you to Denise and Leslie. At my Seidman Cancer Center . . . these two ladies were at the front desk. One day I stopped to get a sucker out of their candy bowl. When I came back out one reached up and put the candy bowl down by her phone. I thought, “I didn’t ask earlier . . . I wonder if I did something wrong?” So the next day I asked them, “Does the
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“Man-up”… not!. The imperative is to Brand Up! – The 3 Steps to Creating a Brand Strategy
Fifty seven BILLION dollars! My oldest brother has an acquaintance who sold his brand, for $57 BILLION dollars (ever hear of Gillette). Not bad money if you can get it. This is a powerful statement for brands . . . er . . . equities. What the market will pay you for your value represents an equity. Stocks, bonds, or the equity in your home; are things we understand. But another equity in business is it’s “brand”. A brand is a value that exists in the mind of the customer. That mental place holder is what gives the brand equity
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Good versus Evil Profits – 3 minutes to read
When your customer ranks you “12” on a 1 to 10 scale. When you delight them beyond their expectations. Good profits are not mandated by some executive in a corner office. They are created by the personal interactions between one employee and one customer. There are many Starbucks coffee houses, and not all of them provide awesome customer experiences, but on the whole they try to create a customer experience that evokes a warm emotional and trust laden relationship. The coffee has to be good, but the interaction needs to be better.
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Experiences . . . or lack there of . . . could be the death of your business
Your customers continue to demand experiences. At Niagara Falls you can go and watch falling water, or board a sixty foot boat that is powered by three 500 horsepower engines and then drive through the class 5 rapids below the falls. Now THAT is an experience. Instead of looking through catalogs of caskets, at the Zabor Funeral Home in Cleveland, you are shown into a private display room where the represented ends of each casket are displayed on the walls. Because they want to extend the experience, they have converted a next door building into a food service facility to
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