That Filter Problem

I start this post with a tip of the hat to my favorite political columnist and pundit, David Brooks. He writes for the New York Times, has authored several books, and has a regular commentary spot on the PBS Newshour. His wry humor and out-of-the-box thinking have entertained and educated me for many years.

In a recent interview, he used a line that had real resonance with me. Referring to the effect of political advertising, he stated that people use “an extremely thick filter” when evaluating these ads, and that it takes a lot to make an impact on the audience.

While this is undoubtedly true for people listening to political ads, it is also just as true for people listening to your business advertising. And for the same reasons.

To put it bluntly, people recognize that politicians have a lot at stake during a campaign, and therefore assume that much of the advertising they hear is full of purposeful miss-interpretations, half-truths, or just plain lies. History has proven this to be a pretty safe assumption.

To perhaps a lesser but none-the-less real extent, they feel the same way about business commercials. They have become jaded, sceptical, and extremely cautious about accepting what you say as factual.

You can't just say it, you have to prove it.

In this environment of consumers with “extremely thick filters”, just how much proof do you have to provide? There isn't a simple answer to this question but, in general, the more the better. However, this comes in conflict with another precept of advertising, “Keep it Simple”. There is only so much you can put into a short ad (print, radio, or TV) and the audience will only accept a limited amount of information.

• Sometimes, simply making a statement of fact will appear to the audience as proof:    “Our pizza has 20% more toppings than the competition.”
  
• Additionally, you can make a performance statement and invite your audience to see for themselves:  .“Come in, get a quote, and compare our prices to the competition.”
  
• Even better, if a little more cumbersome, is mentioning a positive statement from a 3rd party:   “The Daily Journal rates our service as the best in the region.”

Technically, none of these statements constitute “proof”, but if your target audience believes they are probably true, that will be enough to get past the “thick filter” and get them to respond.

Remember: Don't just say it, find a way to prove it.

 For more about David Brooks, click Here.

5 Signs it's Time for a New Strategy

I have written often about making strategic marketing changes. This post addresses the question “How will I know when it's time for a change?”


1.) It's Always about Price

If your customers are always making buying decisions based primarily on price, then its time to thoroughly re-examine your marketing strategy. An effective strategy offers your customers things they need and want, and that they can't get from the competition. Your customers have a vivid imagination, and their “nice-to-have” list is continually expanding. If you do a good job of delivering those results, the “nice-to-haves” migrate to “must-haves”, and you have outmaneuvered the competition. Additionally, your price and margin situation will also improve.

If you don't offer your customers these distinctions, you'll never get out of the downward price spiral.


2.) You're Losing Good People

If your best staff are looking to move on, this is another sign that it's time for reconsideration. Really good employees are looking for a challenge, and for a place where they can grow. If they have decided that working for you is no longer interesting or challenging, they will look elsewhere. Further, your best people are on the look-out for innovative ways to address the market. If you can't provide that, others will. Address this situation now, before the best are gone and only the mediocre remain. That will make it even harder to turn things around.


3.) The Annual Plan is a Photocopy

Perhaps a more up-to-date sign would be if this year's plan is really just a cut-and-paste version of the last one. Try this test: Pull out the plan from 5 years ago, and highlight 3 major differences in this year's plan. Hard to do? Then it is time for major change. No business can succeed today with the same plan it ran 5 years ago. Too many market factors have changed. Some, radically.


4.) People Confuse You with the Competition

Is this scene familiar: you introduce yourself and your company at some business event, and people think you work for your competition? If people don't automatically know who you are, and how you differ from the competition, that's a sign that some change is needed. When people don't know what sets you apart from the competition, it's because you haven't told them. Some new ideas are in order.


5.) It Just isn't Fun Anymore.

Here is the final and most important sign. Time for a truly honest gut-check. Are things still fun? Is there a sense of adventure everyday when you get to work? Are you always interested in telling people what wonderful things your company is doing? Perhaps more interested than they are in listening to you go on and on?

This is an instinctual assessment, rather than the quantifiable ones listed above. But it is no less valid. If it isn't fun, exciting, and challenging anymore, then you (and your staff) run the risk of just going through the motions.

If these points hit home, then it is time for a change. Some real change, not just tinkering with the details. You need something radically new, and you need to shake things up.

Like the Nike ad says: Just Do It!

The Power Of A Conversation

I saw this line in a recent Wells Fargo Bank commercial. In the ad, they portrayed their banking counselors as courteous, helpful, and full of useful insights. But most of all, they wanted to convince people to come into the bank and just “engage in a conversation”.

It's a great concept, and I am recommending it to you. Except, I want you to turn the idea around. I want you to focus on having a conversation with your customers. Many of them. Non-customers and former customers as well.

In most small businesses, the owner was the original salesperson. He spoke with all of the customers, fielded all of the calls from prospects, and had first-hand knowledge of what was going on in the marketplace.

Then, things got busier. The business expanded, and many of the routine sales duties were handed out to others. Unfortunately, the owner (now Chief Operations Officer) began to loose contact with his best source of information about his customer base.

So how do you cure this problem? Just go have a series of conversations with various members of your target audience.

• Don't leave this to your sales staff.  They are too focused on closing another sale today.
  
• Don't rely on your marketing person to tell you what your customers think. They may be too “inbred” to be really objective.
  
• Don't rely on your customer support people. They're focused on giving customers quick solutions, them moving on.

You really need to do this yourself. Here are some thoughts on how to do it effectively.

With whom should you converse?

Start with your best customers. Actually, that may not be strictly true. You should stay in touch with your best accounts, but keep in mind that they may not be representative of your overall market. Oftentimes, the names at the top of the customer list are there because of special relationships, or unique product packaging, or other circumstances that aren't relevant to your other customers. So, for the purpose of this survey, you might start with accounts further down the list. They may be more typical.

How should you organize this conversation?

Ask if you can stop in and see them for a few minutes. Get out of the office and go to them. Let them know you just want a conversation about your business relationship, your products, and the market. Make sure they understand you aren't there to ask for an order. Maybe even take them out to lunch, in small groups. That can help the conversational atmosphere.

What should you ask?

The purpose is to get deeper insight into your customer's needs, their thoughts about your organization and the competition, and ideas about where the market is headed. Get them to talk about the issues that are most important to them, and you will develop a good picture of market expectations.

And how should you respond?

Consider this a general research project, not a problem-solving event. The important outward response is a simple Thank You for taking the time to meet.

The important inward response is your analysis of the ideas, trends, and patterns found. You may uncover some nuggets of gold here that will help you devise innovative solutions to your customer's problems.

So, there's this week's advice. Get out of the office. Engage your customers in some casual (yet productive) conversation. Don't ask them for an order. Just listen to the things that they think are important.

Your future lies in there, somewhere.

Microsoft & Sears; Apple and Samsung

This week's post is some marketing-related thoughts that passed through my mind recently. Hope there are some lessons here you can apply to your small business.

Microsoft and Sears

I have written about both of these organizations in the past, and I saw a line in Forbes that did a great job of crystallizing their issues:

“A former Microsoft senior marketing manager concludes: “I see Microsoft as technology’s answer to Sears. In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Sears had it nailed. It was top-notch, but now it’s just a barren wasteland. And that’s Microsoft. The company just isn’t cool anymore.””

How True, How True!

In fact, Microsoft isn't just not cool, it has become downright boring. The recent technological advances from Microsoft have simply been improvements to their products to match the competition. In fact, (and this gets a little geeky) Internet Explorer 8 still doesn't come close to passing the Acid Test 3, even though the standards have been around since 2007.

In fairness, there are many successful yet boring companies. Utility companies, for example. However, all boring companies have one thing in common: people are unwilling to pay them a premium for their products, and both their prices and margins suffer.

Microsoft now has extensive competition in each of its product lines. Many of those competitors offer equal or better products than GatesCo (BalmerCo?), and even the OpenSource products (as is FREE) have become very good. One prime indicator of all this boring-ness is the stock price. It now sits at exactly the same price is was 5 years ago.

It may be comforting to think of your business operations as Predictable and Dependable, but if the buying public has translated those terms into Boring, you are in trouble. Time to shake things up!

Apple vs Samsung Court Case

At the other end of the spectrum is the always non-boring Apple. They won a huge patent infringement case against Samsung last Friday, and Wired, CNET, and the other tech sites are alive with chatter as to what this really means for the cell phone industry and, specifically, Google/Android/Motorola Mobility.

I won't comment on the technical or legal implications here. Just some marketing thoughts:

• They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Guess Apple just didn't feel the love.
  
• The power you gain from offering something unique, something different is Huge. If you can patent that uniqueness, it become Hugely Huge.
  
• We can't know what Steve Jobs would think about the new iPad Mini, but I am betting he's smiling about this ruling. Litigation had become a major thorn in this side over the last few years.

Even though Samsung lost the case, they have made boatloads of money selling phones with all of those Apple-like features that the public wants. They charged less for their phones, offered hardware choices that Apple didn't, and made a ton of money as a consequence. Maybe they will think of this $1 billion judgment as just the cost of doing business in the smartphone space.

Most small businesses aren't into manufacturing and, therefore, don't use product design as differentiation. This usually comes in the form of services.

The Good News: Patents can't be used to limit your ability to out-service your competition.

The Bad News: If you can't find a way to stand out with your service, you're probably in trouble.

Comparative Advertising: Get Their Attention!

In my last post, I talked about how ALL advertising is comparative. Your audience listens to what you have to say, and compare that to what they know of the competition. Whether you like it or not, you are forced into this comparative position. The best response is to capitalize on it.

You can create a comparative campaign with three degrees of aggressiveness:

• Focus on the things you do well, and the competition doesn't.
  
• Focus on the things mentioned above, but state that the competition doesn't really do these things well, and suggest the audience check out the situation for themselves.
  
• Focus on the things mentioned above, and then state that the competition (which you identify) just doesn't do these things.

Lets evaluate these three approaches one at a time.

Focus on what you do well.

You should use this tactic at a minimum. Remember, the point of advertising is to be remembered. Bland statements like “been in business for 20 years” and “have friendly staff “ won't cut through the clutter. You need to draw attention to what you do that sets you apart.

Certainly, we can all think of examples where a company used a clever line in their ads to become memorable. My only objections to this approach are that:

• This tactic is more likely to work if the company is already well known, and
  
• It usually takes a lot of repetition (which is expensive) to drive this message home.

Consequently, my preference here is to become memorable with your content (what you do) rather than clever messaging (how you say it.) Either way, find a unique message that sets you apart, and hammer away at it.

Focus on what you do well, and state that the competition doesn't.

This is one notch higher on the aggressiveness scale, and has more impact. The general message is the same as above, but it is more direct. It doesn't just imply that the competition doesn't excel in the same way you do, it states that explicitly.

If this difference might not be apparent to your audience, and if you are confident in your position, you can suggest that they (your audience) check out the competition and find out for themselves. Frankly, unless the competitors mount a campaign in response, most of your audience won't follow-up on your suggestion. They will just take your word for it. They will assume you wouldn't make the claim if it wasn't true.

Focus on what you do well, state that the competition doesn't, and mention them by name.

This is only for the strong of heart, and needs to be handled professionally. If you really do things that customers find beneficial, and that the competition doesn't do, mention all of that in your ad.

For example: “We only use dried-cured peperoni on our pizza. Domino's, and Little Ceasar's don't.”
or “Our service department is open all day Saturday to assist you. Bill's Auto and the Auto Haus aren't.”

This is also only advisable for the nimble of foot, for the competition may respond in attack mode with their own ads, or they may just modify their practices to match yours. Either way, this ad approach can be very effective, even if it has only a short life-span.

Some advertisers object to this type of ad, because they believe it just gives the competition some free advertising. My opinion, however, is that the audience already knows who your competitors are, and your ads give you a chance to improve your position in the audience's mind.

The take-away here should be that all ads have a comparative element and, in order to be memorable, you shouldn't shy away from using that to your advantage.

It's the Comparison that Counts!

The Political Season is upon us. Perhaps it never really goes away, but it certainly is here in all its fury . My comments in this post are not about the politics, but rather the advertising. And, more importantly, the incorrect lessons that may be drawn.

The political ad is the ultimate in Comparative Advertising (today's subject.) Much of the advertising produced in this cycle takes direct, and critical, aim at the opponent:

• He will just raise your taxes.
• She won't support middle-class priorities.
• He is against creating jobs.
• She isn't really like us.

And with all of this harshness in our ears, we come to think of Comparative Advertising as a bad thing. Yes, this political form of the advertising science is bad. But Comparative Advertising in general is a wonderful tool, if used correctly, and the concept should be embraced.

In fact, this facet of advertising can't be ignored, because ALL ADVERTISING IS COMPARATIVE.

Every ad you run, even if it never mentions your competition, is comparative. This may not seem obvious at first, because the comparison doesn't really take place in the ad copy. It takes place in the head of the audience, the people you are trying to reach.

Whenever someone hears / sees your ad, they quickly digest who you are and what you do. Then, they slot you onto the hierarchical ladder of companies they know in your industry. This helps them simplify their choices. The top rungs of the ladder are their first choices when it comes time to buy. Obviously, getting you on one of those top rungs should be the goal of your advertising.

Who's in that position already, and how can you take their place?

People use many methods to determine which companies are on the top rung:

• The last company that provided a good buying experience.
• A company with a highly-creative ad campaign.
• The perceived “leader” in the industry.
• A company mentioned favorably by a colleague.
• The easiest company to buy from.
• And a dozen other reasons.

Every time you touch a prospect (with an TV/ radio ad, a flier, an e-mail, a handshake at the Chamber bar-b-cue, etc.), you get a chance to move up the ladder. And, even if you never mention the competition, the prospect is analyzing what you say and making that comparison for you.

Don't let the harshness of the political season and its horrible ads affect your advertising judgment. Recognize that your ads will treated in a comparative manner, capitalize on that fact, and build some positive comparisons into every contact opportunity.

Just how you do that is the subject of the next post. Until then, here's an idea:

Practical Tip of the Day:

• Look over your advertising material from the last year.
• Eliminate all of the bland verbiage like your name, location, contact info, and general platitudes.
• Make a list of what's left. That's what people (may) remember.
• Is there a pattern? Does it reflect the image you want? Will it move you up the ladder?

Dea(r)th of a Salesman, Part 1.

(With apologies to Arthur Miller)

Far too often we hear the complaint, “I can't find enough good salespeople anymore.” I don't think salesmen are too hard to find, just hard to develop and keep because of prevailing business attitudes.

I like salespeople. I like them because they use their smarts, personality, drive, and initiative everyday in an extremely difficult environment. I like them because they persevere under very trying conditions. I like them because they enjoy being with other people. (Further, I like them because I am one!)

But they have become the most under-appreciated, misunderstood, and scapegoated employees in business today. I have two peeves about the way businesses treat their sales staff:

• Sales training has become almost non-existent , to the detriment of both the sale staff and the business. (The topic of this post.)
  
• Commission programs have become a poor and ineffective substitute for Sales Management. (Next week's installment.)

Why everyone benefits from sales training, and why it has disappeared.

The best known and most profitable companies in the past always had great sales organizations. (Think IBM and General Motors.) The activities of the sales department were the public face of the company, and a key differentiator between organizations. Successful companies put a lot of emphasis on sales training, to ensure the job was being done right, done differently than the competition, and done in a way to enhance the company image.

This approach worked well. Salespeople learned all about the product, and what the customers were looking for. They learned how the company's products helped the customers in their everyday life, and how they were superior to the competition. They also learned how the company expected to be represented to the buying public. That's the kind of training that makes salespeople and companies great.

Somewhere along the way, this concept got lost in the desire to hold down costs. The reasons given to justify reducing training efforts are:

• With high sales staff turnover, whatever training you do will just benefit the next company (competitor?) that hires them.
  
• If you hire salesmen from the industry, sales training is not needed.
  
• If you hire great sales staff, they will resent you trying to tell them how to do their job.

The answer to all of the above is three simple words. Ba. Lo. Ney.

The current issue of the Harvard Business Review has a great article on sales staff turnover, and a key element is the lack of training, mentoring and career development. So, if your turnover seems too high, INCREASE training, don't cut it back. Good salespeople want to be appreciated, and want you to show that by investing in them.

Another fallacy is that if you hire from withing the industry, more training isn't required. This logic only holds if your competitors do a great job of training. Yet, as the above paragraph states, if they were doing a great job of training, they probably wouldn't be losing their good salespeople to you. Further, sales training gives your staff the tools they need to differentiate your company from the competition. And that is something only YOU can do.

Finally, good salesmen are looking for leadership, and the training you offer is part of that leadership. Show them what you want done, why you want it done that way, and how it will benefit both them and the company. Good people will appreciate your efforts and your commitment to them.


So, What is the real reason behind this Lack of Training?

I think, often, small business senior management has become remote from both their customers and the selling process. They have completely delegated the selling function to others, and are too removed from the activity to feel comfortable in the training role. They use the excuses given above, and abdicate their responsibilities.

Everyone suffers. The Business. The Boss. The Salespeople. The Customers.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Option #1: Spend some time on the road with your salespeople. Find out how they spend their time, and what their accounts are saying. Firsthand. Look for patterns that training could improve.

Option #2: Look for some “Best Practices” opportunities. What are your best people doing that the rest of the staff could benefit from learning? The top people will appreciate the attention, and the learners will appreciate the advice.

Next Post: Counter-Productive Sales Compensation Plans.

The Competition Doesn't Count!?!?!?

This old refrain popped up recently while I was interviewing for a consulting project. When asked about his competition and their impact in the marketplace, the business owner told me his philosophy: “The competition doesn't matter. Just do a good job, and the customers will come to you.”

I've heard this line before, and my response is 3 simple words:

Ba. Lo. Ney!

This attitude harkens back to a simpler, more gentile business environment. During the Eisenhower administration, maybe. But that was long ago.


Today, Your Competition Most Definitely Matters.

It sets the parameters for the conversation you have with your customers. Every one of your sales prospects has an idea of the products available in the market, and their price. Where do they get all of that information? From your competition.

• They listen to the ads,
• research their websites,
• and talk to their sales people.

If your competitors offer a similar product to yours for about $100, and you are priced at $120, your customers will be asking questions.

If the competitors have the product in stock, but you need 4 days to deliver, your customers will expect you to have a solid reason for doing things differently.

If the competition allows people to place their orders over the web, but you make them come in and talk to a sales person, your customers will want to know why.

The buying public won't allow you to operate within a vacuum. They'll evaluate everything you do in the context of what the competition does.

I read a great line recently: “we live in the age of transparency”. That is absolutely true in the sales environment. Your customers are familiar with your competition, their products, services and prices. And that frames the conversation when you begin your sales pitch.

So how do you operate effectively in this atmosphere? You need to arm yourself with two critical sets of information:

1. An understanding of your primary competition, and how they are viewed by the buying public.
2. Some key points of differentiation that will help your prospect see you in a different light, and perhaps justify increased margins.

Those two statements are simple to write, but might take a small business years to master. However, in them lies the difference between being a top contender in the marketplace and being just an also-ran. The competition sets the parameters of the game. How well-equipped are you for the challenge?

Practical Tip of the Day:

• Don't ignore the competition; embrace the challenge.
• Do a “shelf-space” analysis of your competitors, inside the head of your customer base. Do some extensive interviews with customers and prospects. (If you are the Boss, do this yourself. Don't delegate!)
• Figure out why you aren't considered at the top of the list, and develop a plan for the next 12 months.

HOWEVER, don't try to become #1 by mimicking the current #1. But more about that later.

It Really Isn't all about Price!

Here is a little drama I come across, seemingly weekly.

The Boss: “My sales people don't know how to sell anything without a discount. Every day, they come to me and want lower prices in order to match the competition. They aught to be selling on our great features, not price.”

The Salesman: “ The Boss won't give us anything we can sell with. The competition is eating our lunch with better pricing, and we are losing a lot of deals.”

Enter the Consultant, who is supposed to save the day. After a little research, I find that both sides are correct to some extent. However, they'll never come to an agreement, because the issue is improperly framed. Here is the reality:

If you get to the end of the negotiating process and are losing deals on price, you actually lost the deal much earlier.

In a previous post, I wrote about how shoppers are looking for an answer to The Big Question (Click Here). In short, when shoppers are early in the buying cycle, they are looking for a reason to buy from you. Specifically, they want to know, “Why should I buy from you, rather than 6 other companies that do the same thing?” And they will continue shopping until they:

• Run out of vendors
• Get tired of shopping
• Find a good answer to The Big Question
• Run up against their buying deadline.

When your prospect gets to the end of the buying process, and only wants to talk about price, it means you didn't give him any other reason to buy from you. In that environment, it is hard to close deals, to build customer loyalty, and to maintain reasonable profit margins.

You can avoid this situation by giving your prospects some good reasons to buy (beyond low price) that set you apart from the competition. Is this easy? NO! But it is much better in the long run than cutting your margins to shreds.

Simply put, here's what needs to happen to get out of the never-ending cycle of price cutting:

If you are The Boss: It's your job to create significant value points (that are meaningful to your customer base) that set you apart from your competitors. It's also your job to see that this extra value is actually delivered to your customers, and not just talked about.

If you are The Salesman: It's your job to mention, re-enforce, and demonstrate the benefits the customer will get from those extra value points, and remind the customer that they make your product worth that little extra in price.

Now, Here is some Good News!

If, in the current scenario, you are always having to compete exclusively on price, it means that you haven't succeeded in giving the prospect a good non-price reason to buy from you. So, where's the good news?

It also means your competition hasn't done a very good job of convincing the prospect of their extra-value proposition either.

That's where your opportunity exists. This window may not last long however. Your competitors are probably working on this project right now.

Practical Tip of the Day:

1.) Talk to you salespeople. Get them to develop a list of what you offer, or could offer, that would set you apart from your competitors. HOWEVER, think of this list as just a starting point. Salespeople (even the best of them) tend to think in the short-term, and are influenced by the last customers they spoke with.

2.) Talk to your best customers. Put together a list of you best 15 accounts last year. Cross off the top 5 (who may represent special circumstances, and not be typical of your overall target market.) Go out and meet with the rest. Take them out to lunch. Ask them what they like about your company / products / services as compared to the competition. They'll have some useful opinions to share. Getting those opinions directly from the customer is far superior to just hearing them (in filtered form) from your sales staff.

3.) Talk to your suppliers. Especially the ones that sell to your competition. What do they see going on in the industry? What innovation have they been impressed with? It is amazing what people will share when you ask their opinion.

4.) Finally, use you instincts about where the market is going. Put all of this together and create some distance between you and the competition. This will improve both sales and margins, and make things fun again.

Leadership Comes in Three Forms

I read a good book recently.

Actually, I've read several good books recently, but only a few have any bearing on the subject of this blog: Small Business Marketing Strategy. One that does, and has some trenchant philosophy to offer (translation: the author agrees with me), is:

The Discipline of Market Leaders
       Choose your customers, Narrow your focus, Dominate your market.
        by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema.

My reading list is eclectic. I don't spend a lot of time on “Just Released Best Sellers”. I do look for solid, non-fad ideas that can be translated easily into the small business environment. Although this book takes its examples from the world of well-known corporations, the strategies still apply on the smaller scale.

The book was written about 15 years ago, and many things have changed. In fact, some of the corporate examples used in the book have fallen from favor. However, their replacements as market leaders have succeeded by using the same strategies, which is an excellent validation.

The authors cover a lot of ground, but one key element is this:

All market leaders lead in one of three ways:

1. Operational Excellence
2. Long-term Product Innovation
3. Customer Intimacy

Lets look at these one-at-a time, and go through some examples.

1. Operational Excellence

These market leaders have a well-defined target audience, they offer only a limited numbers of products or services, and they use their intense focus to squeeze out costs throughout their organization and supply chain. This allows them to offer customers a very predictable and highly reliable buying experience at a low cost.

Typical examples would be McDonalds, Costco, Dell Computers, and Southwest Airlines. These companies have brands built around their operational consistency and the low pricing that it allows. In most every industry, you can name a low cost, tightly focused, operationally excellent company that is seen as a leader, and has significant market share.


2. Long-Term Product Innovation

These market leaders are often at the other end of the pricing scale, but they succeed because of their product reputation. A prime factor here is the words “Long Term”. This isn't the company with the latest, greatest product. Its the company with a tradition of innovation that has been earned over several generations of new products.

Some examples here would include, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Nike, and Disney. One example used in the book was Sony, which was certainly a product leader for many years, but may have fallen by the wayside now. Then new leader in TV's might be Panasonic, and Virgin Atlantic might fit in this bracket in the airline industry.

Once you have a reputation for product excellence and innovation, the market rewards you with the ability to charge higher prices and earn higher margins. Its the long term performance that develops the brand, and its the brand that allows customers to feel justified in paying a higher price.

3. Customer Intimacy

With the advent of liberalize TV advertising standards, this term has taken on a new meaning. In this context, however, it means the ability of a company to truly understand all of the buying needs of the customer, and to offer customized solutions. In some sense, this is the opposite of the highly focused, “operational excellence” company.

Not that these companies aren't good at what they do. Rather, they offer a variety of products and services in an effort to create a unique solution for each customer. And, they charge for it. This type of market leader is going after the customer that can’t find exactly what they want off-the-shelf and are willing to pay more to get a precise solution to their problem. Some examples here would include IBM and Johnson Controls.

In this scenario, the company looks to create a long-term relationship with the customer, and seeks a deep insight into their needs. They also study how they customer benefits from the products / services offered. This deep knowledge allows the company to tailor solutions that fit the situation. The relationship has value to the customer, and is reflected in a higher pricing structure.

Applying these models to small business

In the Operational Excellence model, the secret is limiting your offerings and finding ways to squeeze costs out of your operations and supply chain. It is these cost reductions that allow for low prices while maintaining reasonable margins. I have some service-provider clients who have increased their use of automation, allowing them to offer faster results at lower cost than their local competition.

The Product Leadership model is harder to implement as a small business, because few of them actually create the products they sell. An exception, obviously, is the restaurant business, where many small operations have been successful by offering unique products and presentations to their customers. Another approach is to associate your business with a national product leader, such as offering specialized training and add-ons to Apple products, or becoming a local service outlet for a manufacturer with a major reputation.

Due to the close relationship between most small businesses and their customers, the Customer Intimacy approach may well have the most potential. I don't recommend trying to offer everything to everybody. Rather, you should pick a niche you want to specialize in, and then carry a combination of products and services that let your customers feel like they are getting a customized solution. You should also look for ways to make your business an integral part of their business success.

And now, the really hard part!

For each of these three models to succeed, they must be fully integrated into every aspect of your business operations. These are not simplistic “marketing veneers” that can be slapped on top of your existing business plan. They must be engineered into everything you do, and must be the focus of every customer interaction you have.

It took years for IBM to leave behind its Big Iron business and to get into services and consulting. It took even more time for the buying public to see how they had changed, and for them to once-again regain their leadership position.

The same can be said for most of the examples mentioned above. This isn't a quick solution to the problems of a mediocre brand, but it is an effective one.


Wiersema and Treacy have updated this great book. The new edition is entitled:

        The New Market Leaders: Who is winning and how in the battle for customers.

Fred Wiersema has written several other books about superior customer service. More information,  click here

The Sears Problem and Theory Validation

'Tis the Season for a great many things, including holiday shopping and evaluating the resulting retail profits. Some of this years' results seem to bear out the underlying philosophy of this blog.

As reported on the Dow Jones Newswire: “Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) plans to close as many as 120 stores and take a charge of up to $1.8 billion as the struggling retailer reported fewer sales during the all-important holiday season, again raising questions about the company's ability to regain lost momentum.” The article went on to say that the company plans to take the money saved by these store closings and re-invest it into the store facilities and in their customer loyalty program.

Investors aren't impressed.

Share prices have fallen 25% over the last 12 months, and fell by another 25% on the announcement.

SHLD owns the Sears and Kmart stores, with about 2200 locations in North America. These brand were the kings of American retail a few decades ago. So what happened?

Sears was the biggest name in department stores. They were famous for their catalog, and they were the place to go for appliances, tools, and quality clothes at reasonable prices. They competed against Montgomery Wards and JC Penny on the clothing, but nobody put the whole package together as well as Sears. Kmart was the top discounter in the nation, when the only competition was Woolco.

The competitive landscape has changed.

• I buy most of my clothes at specialty clothing stores.
• I buy tools at the big-box hardware stores.
• I can buy brand-name appliances at numerous retailers.
• If I want to shop at a discount store, I head to the big W.
• And no one but my 95-year old mother shops from a catalog anymore.

So what, one might ask, are Sears and Kmart particularly good at these days?  

NOTHING, it would seem.

Business mediocrity comes in many business forms, but the most common marketing example is the “Me Too” image. Neither of these companies do anything particularly noteworthy, and their marketing image is simply one of the many Me Too's.

Mediocre operations can survive when the competition is weak and the selling environment is strong. But when the competition is strong and the economy is weak, the mediocre have few advantages to promote. The only option left is to constantly lower prices, and they aren't well positioned to do even that. As a consequence, they often die a slow death.

Although it doesn't make the headlines, small businesses go out of business every day for exactly the same reason: They haven't figured out how to stand out, and the buying public sees them as just another “me too” operation. If your company falls into this category, NOW is the time to make some changes.

Practical Tip of the Day:

• What is your company known for in the buying community? Don't trust your analysis of this, take the time to ask your customers for their opinion.
• If the answer is “Nothing”, but your sales numbers are still OK, then your competition is in the same boat, and you still have an opportunity to succeed. Start looking for some key differentiation.
• If the answer is “Nothing”, and your sales are drifting downward, Now is the time to respond.

The Great Sales Training Myth

As mentioned in previous posts, I have worked for several organizations, in both sales and marketing positions. Some of these companies were very large and (supposedly) well organized, while others were small operations trying to grow any way they could.

One phenomena I often saw involved the Great Sales Training Myth. The purpose of the myth was to excuse management from having to provide any relevant training for the sales staff. It wasn't phrased that way, of course. Instead, what you heard was:

• “We hire only professional sales people, who are already trained.”
• “If we gave them more training, they would just leave and go somewhere else.”
• “The good ones would be offended if we tried to tell them how to do their job.”
• “If they would just work harder and sell more, everything would be fine.”

And to all of those bosses who used these excuses to save themselves some money and effort, I say You are Complete Idiots!

The sales staff is the customer-facing part of the company. These are the people who interact with your customers every day, for good or bad. If the sales staff doesn't create a great impression in the mind of your prospects, all of the money spent on advertising has been wasted. If the sale staff can't effectively close leads because they don't know (in detail) how customers use their product, then all of the marketing efforts are for naught.

A well-trained sales staff can make up for weak marketing, but it can perform twice as well when given the benefit of great marketing. But even a well-trained sales staff cannot make up for weak product or poor customer service.

Lets answer the four excuses listed above:

1. Even “professional” sales people bring both the good and bad experiences from their past employment with them. You should take the time to train them to seek the customers you want, to promote the benefits you offer, and to make the kind of lasting impression you deserve.
   
2. Good sales people want to be successful, and they want some appreciation for their work. If you don't invest some training time into your staff on a regular basis, they will look for other job opportunities that do offer the recognition they seek.
   
3. The “good ones” want new opportunities to succeed, and will be ready to soak up any good information you can offer. This assumes, of course, that you really know what you are talking about. The good ones don't want you to waste their time.
   
4. Finally, if you really think that having your sales people “just work harder” will bring great results, you most likely have deeper problems to deal with. It's usually a general marketing problem, not a sales problem.

Don't skimp on training and skills development with your sales staff. A small investment here can have a huge pay-off.

Practical Tip of the Day:

In addition to the points listed above, your sales people should be a great source of information about the competition, and your customers' expectations. Get your people together often, and listen with an open mind to what they have to say about their selling environment. It can be very enlightening.

How Does Your Business Card Sound?

If you've read my previous posts, you know I believe in having a tight company focus. If everyone in the company is focused on doing a few things very well, you have a much better chance of success....if you also communicate in the same way.

One approach to improving your communication is known as the Aural Business Card.

Side Note: This is also sometimes called the Oral Business Card. However, “aural” (what people hear), is more important than “oral” (what you say), so I prefer the former.

Imagine yourself in the following setting: you are a visitor at a Chamber of Commerce mixer, with hundreds of attendees. People come up to you during the evening, shake your hand, and ask “what do you do?” How do you reply?

When we run this exercise at seminars, we get all sorts of answers:

• The long, rambling explanation that wouldn't fit on a brochure, much less a business card.
• The too-short reply that mentions the company name, but not what it actually does.
• The technical product description that few people can understand.
• And a few that are short, simple, and to the point.

The preferred form is the Aural Business Card: One or two sentences that state what your company does, and some additional point that sets you apart from the competition. It's an approach that people will remember.

Here is what it should include:

Part A.)  “I am with XYZ Company.” 

“I own...” or “I am a partner in...” also work here.

Part B.)  “We do ABC, specializing in DEF.”

Don't start this section with “I”, even if you are a 1-person business. Find a way to say “we”, or “our company.” Something that makes you look bigger than just yourself.

Make the ABC part generic enough that everyone can easily grasp what you do. Assume your audience isn't as conversant with your industry as you are.

Make DEF some feature that sets you apart from the competition. If that person at the Chamber mixer meets 10 people who say they sell insurance, he won't remember any of them. If you say you specialize in Key Man Insurance, you will be easier to recall.

 Some examples:

• We sell deli sandwiches at lunch time, specializing in mid-town office delivery.
• We manufacturer metal storage racks, specializing in industrial refrigeration installations.
• Our company provides bookkeeping services, focusing on independent retailers.

Have another 2 or 3 sentences ready and waiting for the person who wants more information. But wait until they ask before trotting them out: In the introductory stage, the more you say, the less they hear.

You can change the words to make them fit your situation, but you should have a statement available that covers all of these points.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Create your own tightly focused company introduction.
Practice it enough so it rolls off your tongue.
Get everyone else on your staff to use the same line.

It may take some work to create this introduction, but it's well worth the effort.

NEXT POST: The Tiered Elevator Pitch

Letting Go is the Hardest Part

I had a great conversation over coffee the other day with an acquaintance that runs a small business in town. He'd read my posting touting the benefits of focused product lines, and had a major objection. His argument boiled down to this: He needs all the business he can get, and can't afford not to offer a wide range of products and services.

I understood his plight, and I paid for his coffee. But I don't agree with his analysis.

If his objective is to earn enough money to pay his bills this month, I can see his logic. If, however, he is trying to build his business for the long term, he should take a different approach. I recommend the following:

Part One: Find a unique niche that will provide both sales and profits.

This is a three-step process:

• Find a product or service at which his company truly excels, and
• the competition does not do particularly well, and
• that appeals to a significant segment of his market.

I know, that seems like a big, perhaps impossible task. Isn't everything already being done? Aren't the competitors already in the lead in these areas? Not necessarily.

Most competitors are not particularly innovative, and customers are always looking for new products and new ways to do things. There are often unexplored niches available to exploit. And all significant profits come from providing something the competition doesn't have.

Many business people will say they differentiate their business from the competition in some way. Observe them at work, however, and what you see is their daily attempts to convince customers that they are:

• Nice people to work with
• Willing to work hard for their customers 
• Always eager to offer a discount to get some business.

Two problems with this approach: It doesn't set them apart from the competition (who are doing exactly the same things) and it doesn't give customers a compelling reason to buy from them. (Read The Big Question post here.)

So get going, find the one big thing that will set you apart from the competition, and then move on to

Part Two: The really hard part, Letting Go.

The first part is undoubtedly difficult, but it deals with pragmatic, quantifiable issues. Part Two is much harder because it has an emotional impact. Part Two involves Letting Go of something.

• Your staff is already busy doing things they assume are important.
• Your management group bandwidth is already stretched working on existing projects.
• Dedicating time and resources to the new focus (as determined in Part One), requires eliminating some current activities.

It may be some products or services, it may be some territories or some specific customer groups. It won't be easy, and it may feel like you are being asked to cut off one of your arms. However, not all products, territories, and customers offer the same profitability or have the same future potential. They do, however, all soak up resources that would be better applied to the new focus.

Calculating what to eliminate may not be highly difficult, but actually Letting Go can be extremely hard to do. That will be the true test of your leadership skills.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Look for some new ideas that will set you apart from the pack.

• Listen deeply to your customers. What are they looking for that you aren't providing now?
• Listen to them again. What do they dislike about your competition?
• What are the innovators in your industry doing to set themselves apart? Are there any clues here you can adopt?

My Favorite Steve Jobs Quote

Tons of newsprint and an enormous number of megabytes have been dedicated in recent months to the wisdom of Steve Jobs. Every article seems to include the word “genius” at least once, and every utterance has been poured over looking for significance.

There are websites devoted to his wisdom, and several lists of his most famous quotes as the high-priest of technology. My favorite quote, however, comes from a more distant past; before his successes with the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. My favorite is also directly relevant to small business management.

Let's go back to the mid- 90's, and remember how the computer industry was structured at the time. The top players in the industry were:

• IBM, run by Lou Gerstner, a marketer with great credentials from his time at American Express and RJR Nabisco, the tobacco / snack food giant, and
• Compaq, run by Eckhard Pfeiffer, the former financial controller at Texas Instruments.

These were the biggest players in the industry, and had the lion's share of the business computing segment. Steve Jobs wanted to make the point that business buyers were best served by dealing with companies that had leading edge technology, comprehensive software-hardware integration, and leadership that would create great products both today and in the future.

While speaking to a conference of business leaders, Jobs said:

"Never buy a computer from a company where the CEO can't do the product demo."

(Note: I couldn't confirm these words in my on-line research, but that is how I remember the line.)

I was blown-away at the time with the wisdom and simplicity of the concept, and it applies today to every business, not just computers. Here's why: To do a competent product demo to a customer, you need to know

• The product, and how it compares to the competition, and
• The customer, how he uses the product, and what he wants to accomplish.

If you don't have both sets of knowledge, you won't deliver a compelling demonstration.

And if the leadership at the top of an organization isn't equipped with both sets of knowledge, the company won't have the focus needed to deliver long-term benefits to their customers. It doesn't matter which industry you pick, the concept is the same. For a company to succeed, the leadership needs to understand the product, the competition, and the customer. It also needs a vision about where each of these three components is headed.

I just finished a great book: Car Guys and Bean Counters, by Bob Lutz, certainly a “genius” in the automotive industry. He must be a genius; He agrees with me on this issue.

In a section discussing the decline of General Motors, he describes how car design decisions were being made by marketing types that had earned their reputations selling laundry soap at Proctor and Gamble.

He writes, “Shoemakers should be run by shoe guys, and software firms by software guys, and supermarkets by supermarket guys.” And, obviously, car companies should be run by car guys.

It doesn't matter what industry you are in, if the boss hasn't got in-depth knowledge of both the product and the customer, you will see that reflected in poor product development and weak marketing decisions.

Here's a great BusinessWeek article on the book.

Practical Tip of the Day:

How far down in your organization do you need to reach when its time to give a great demonstration to a new account? If the head person can't do a compelling demo, that's a sign of major organizational weakness.

Why Building a Successful Small Business is Hard.

A reader of this blog has asked my opinion about small business owners in general. I have made critical comments here about typical small business marketing strategies and advertising concepts, but I am a big fan of those entrepreneurs who create successful companies.

It is very hard for a small businessman to become a success, and I have great respect for those who create thriving organizations. The fact that it is hard to do, however, does not excuse the poor examples of marketing that one sees every day.

But why is it harder for the small organization?

Because the small company suffers from two significant drawbacks:

• lack of expertise in multiple disciplines
• lack of a regular infusion of new blood / new ideas.

If you examine the structure of a company with 100 or so employees, you will typically find 7-10 key executives involved in most major decisions, and they will often bring a large and varied experience set to the decision-making process. In the small organization (20 or less employees), you will commonly see on 2-3 decision-makers, and they often have most of their experience within the same industry.

The second phenomena found in larger companies is staff turnover in the middle and upper ranks. Each new employee brings in new ideas, and sees the industry / customers / competitors from a different perspective. It is the mixing of these new ideas with the tried-and-true that gives birth to creative solutions.

In the small, or family-owned business, operating ideas can easily become “inbred”, and can remain in force long after they have become stale. And groups that pride themselves on very low turnover (whether social, political, or business) tend to suffer from stagnation.

Isn't that why I pay outside professionals?

Yes, absolutely, and they have their place. Recognizing this disadvantage inherent in the small business environment, the entrepreneur should be constantly seeking sources for new and innovative ideas. Lawyers and accountants typically fall into this “outside professional” category. Unfortunately, they also tend to focus on specific issues that you bring to their attention.

Another source for ideas can be a board of directors or advisors. If the owner can build a network of people who will serve in this capacity, it can create a significant advantage over the competition. This strategy needs two elements to be effective:

• The advisors must represent several different experience sets and viewpoints
• They must be allowed to see the whole picture, warts and all.

Neither is easy to do. Too many small business operators prefer to stay in their comfort zone, don't go looking for new ideas that would upset the apple cart, and end up missing out on the benefits of outside viewpoints.


Practical Tip of the Day:

• Take a good look at the people involved in you major decision-making process. How many have had extensive experience outside of your company within the last 10 years?
• Take some time to review the strategies of your competition. Do they seem to be moving off in different direction? Are you still using the same basic game plan that you used 5 years ago?
• Do your customers consider your company to be “leading-edge”, or so they see you as being in the middle of the pack?
• If you are not happy with what you have found with this review, go out looking for new answers, from new sources, from people outside your industry. It could lead to some revelations.

And How Would You Define “Marketing”?

The term “marketing” has been used by so many people to mean so many different things, it's no wonder that people find it confusing. Rick Pence defines marketing as the activities that precede the sales conversation. My best description of the term is to say that the purpose of marketing is to create a qualified sales lead.

Too often, people use “marketing” when they really mean “advertising”, and sometimes it is used as a substitute for “sales”. While these concepts are all inter-connected, the important marketing activities occur before the advertising kicks in. These early-process activities are sometimes referred to as strategic marketing.

What is it?

In the world of small business, marketing is the triangulation of three things:

• The benefits that your products / services provide, as compared with
• The benefits on offer from the competition, as compared with
• The wants and needs of your target buying group.

An effective marketing plan will offer an in-depth analysis of these three components, and will produce the single most important marketing tool: The Message.

In an earlier post, I discussed how most small business advertising fails to answer the Big Question. To save you going back and looking it up, I'll remind you: Before making any significant buying decision, the customer asks, “Why should I buy from this company, instead of 6 others that do the same thing?”. If you don't answer the Big Question, you don't have much chance of getting the customer's business.

That's where The Message comes in. It gives the customer a great reason to buy from you rather than the competition, and is formulated in a way that resonates with the buyer. The Message clearly states the unique extra value that you offer.

Once The Message is formulated, everything else gets easier:

• Advertising can be created to push the message to the targeted (receptive) audience
• Leads will come in from prospects that are attracted to the message
• Sales staff can tailor the message to the needs of individual buyers

And why doesn't it get done?

Because, too often, the small business owner prefers to stay in his comfort zone. Further, practical business people often prefer the tangible (What deals did we close this week?) over the intangible (How do our customers perceive our value proposition vs the competition?).

Additionally, there is the Never Quit Credo, which condemns many businesses to endless mediocrity. More on that later.


Practical Tip of the Day: 

     Does your advertising really give your prospects a good reason to buy from you instead of the competition?  If not, try this 4-step approach:

• STOP YOUR ADVERTISING ! It isn't really working anyway.
• Bank your savings, to use when you have something better to say..
• Analyze your top 25 accounts, and determine why they buy from you instead of the competition. (Hopefully, it isn't just price.)  If you are having trouble figuring this out, ASK THEM.
• Create a message based upon these strengths, and re-build your advertising campaign according.

Avoiding the 2 B's of Advertising – Part 2

In the last post, we talked about Baloney. Today's blog topic is about Bumph.

Although they are both prevalent in poor advertising copy writing, they are different subjects. As a reminder, Baloney refers to half-truths, distortions, and falsehoods. Bumph, on the other hand, is less tangible. Simply put, it is “filler”: All the extra lines of copy added-in to fill out the page and make it look like you are saying something important.

Every line of Bumph copy may be absolutely true, it just isn't considered relevant by the reader. The danger with Bumph is not that the reader / listener won't believe what you say. Rather, after 2-3 sentences of useless verbiage, they decide the message doesn't apply to them and they tune you out.

I hope that hasn't just happened here!

The real problem with Bumph is that it hides the message you are trying to communicate. So why is it so prevalent in small business advertising? Let's look at some examples, and then we'll look for some reasons.

• Been in business for 23 years.
• Largest supplier in town.
• Come visit our friendly staff.
• We have been working hard to bring you the very best.
• We put the customer first.

And the list goes on and on. Perhaps every one of these statements are true, but when the audience sees/ hears this type of line, they ask “So what?” They wonder why you are spending your advertising dollars telling them these irrelevant things. At which point, they tune you out and your advertising dollars have been wasted.

Why is Bumph so common?

• The copy writer is lazy, or has been told to use some of the boss's favorite lines.
• The printer wants more copy on the page to balance the look.
• The businessman doesn't have a clear message to communicate.
• Decision makers haven't thought through an answer to the Big Question.
• The piece was designed to target multiple audiences.

This last option may seem reasonable and cost effective. However, it ends up being a waste of money. In an effort to say one thing to audience #1, and something different to audience #2, the primary points end up getting swamped with unrelated copy and the message gets diluted. You are much better off giving one strong message to one audience, and making a big impression.

Bumph is everywhere, and distracts from the purpose of the communications. If you cut away both the Baloney and the Bumph, you will have far fewer words but they will be much more powerful.

Practical Tip of the Day:

• Look over all of the advertising copy from you prime competitors. Try to look at this material through the eyes of your target audience.
• Use a highlighter to identify the statements that qualify as either Baloney or Bumph.
• How much impactful copy is left?
• How does your advertising material compare?

The Tale of the Unlucky, Lucky Entrepreneur

This is a generic tale, representative of several stories I have witnessed in the past. It is not about any one particular businessman, but I know several that can relate to the story.

It begins with a hard working small business owner who finds himself in a very desirable position. Whether due to a great product, or strong people, or a fast-growing market, or lack of competition, etc., the businessman lands in a sweet spot in the market, and becomes very successful. And in this success are the seeds of his undoing.

Lets be clear: for the businessman to create a successful company, even in this sweet spot, he must work hard and work smart. He deserves great credit for building the company and capturing the profits produced by all this work. To use a sports metaphor, once he sees the hole in the line, it still takes a great athlete to run the ball, avoid the opposition, and get to the goal-line.

Too often, however, this great entrepreneur has a weakness. Its roots lie in the fact that the business owner didn't create the sweet spot, he just found it. Sometimes, he just stumbled into it. Consequently, he never really studied the key underlying elements that contributed to his success. Maybe it was a truly unique product, or some innovative marketing, or simply getting into an evolving situation first. Whatever his initial advantage, he didn't keep a close watch on it as things shifted.

What causes a shift?

• New technology arrives on the scene,
• new players enter the market,
• customers begin to look for other options and new features,
• new advances are changing cost structures.

Virtually every key element in a business plan is constantly, and slowly shifting. The entrepreneur who falls into a sweet spot often has trouble noticing these subtle shifts.

Which brings us to the other element of bad luck: the shifts often start in subtle ways.

Why is worse, you ask, for the business elements to shift slowly rather than dramatically?

Why is the slow shift worse?

When the business owner that gets hit on the head by the two-by-four of radical market inflection, he falls down, gets back up, and immediately understands that everything has changed. He knows he can't survive by simply making small adjustments or minor tweaks to his system. He instinctively knows that continuing to do things the same old way will lead to disaster. And so he seeks radical change.

But the subtle shifts are hard to see, and much easier to rationalize. When business is down 2% one year, he can blame it on a new competitor. When business falls another 3% the next year, he wants to believe its because he lost one of his better salesmen. And when the slow, downward spiral continues, he clings to the idea that just doing the old things the old ways (maybe faster, better, harder) will put him back on top.

He was lucky, and had some great success in the past. That success, however, hurts his ability to deal with the future.

Practical Tip of the Day:

    Be pro-active!

• Identify your most profitable line of product / service
• Look for the underlying reasons for this profitability (lack of competition, unique product features, low production costs, etc.)
• Develop a system to accurately chart these metrics quarterly.
• Be prepared to adapt quickly, as shifts occur.

Have you Checked your Brand Today?

One of the biggest buzzwords from the past decade is “Branding”. The word has been used to describe every form of image, from personal to political to commercial. In spite of, or perhaps because of, all that over-use the original concept has become obscured.

In the business environment, the term “brand” is too often used to refer to a company logo, trademark, or slogan. These are the images constructed by companies in order to communicate their message. But they don't equate to the company's Brand.

Your Brand exists in only one place: within the mind of your target audience!

What kind of impression do you make on your customers? That's your Brand. How do prospective buyers perceive your company? That's your Brand. What do people think of when they see your logo? That's your Brand. How does the marketplace rate your business versus your competitors? That's your Brand.

If the buying public thinks of your company as being “middle of the pack”, then you probably have modest sales, limited growth, and mediocre profits. Many small business owners experience these problems, but don't make the connection with their weak Brand.

Surprisingly, I often meet entrepreneurs who aren't concerned about managing their Brand. They focus entirely on their operations, hope that customers will be impressed, and expect sales growth. This strategy may have worked once, but no longer.

A Strong Brand = Solid Profits

Every time a company touches a potential customer, either directly (through sales interaction or advertising) or indirectly (through some publicity, or comments from a friend), the company's Brand is impacted. Every time a customer is happy with the sales experience or unhappy with a service issue, the Brand is impacted. Every time the company's product is used, and it works well or doesn't, the Brand is impacted.

If you aren't happy with you sales growth, or how the market ranks you versus the competition, CHECK YOUR BRAND.

Check inside the head of your customers, both large and small. Check inside the head of those who don't buy from you, preferring your competition instead. Check inside the head of your vendors' sales staff. And (although this is tricky to do) check inside the head of your own sales staff.

Don't be afraid to discover the truth. Therein may lie your future success.


Practical Tip of the Day:

Add a Survey Widget to your company website (there are many available, some free). Ask your site visitors what aspects of your product / service are most important to them. Then ask them how well you deliver on those issues. If you are worried about the answers you'll get, your instincts are telling you that some problems need to be addressed.