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You’ve got a bird in your hand. Now what?

August 8, 2011

 

… Do you value what you already have?

Like the old idiom goes…a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  I’d argue, when the bird is a customer, the ratio is even greater.

For years, at the risk of preaching, I have been banging on the idea that we spend way too much time and energy chasing after potential customers and way too little time and energy romancing (and creating a love affair) our current customers.

I’ve pushed on the idea that our math is all backwards.  It’s cheaper and easier to get more (and more profitable) business from our existing clients — and yet, our “new business” efforts are always aimed at strangers, rather than those friendly, pre-disposed to love us customers.

Which is why I’ve always enjoyed and respected Becky Carroll and her blog Customers Rock.  Becky is an Age of Conversation author and a huge believer in the power of treating customers like gold.

So when Becky emailed me and asked if I would read her new book The Hidden Power of Your Customers (click here to buy*) I have to admit — I already knew I would like it.  Because I knew it would tout the importance of creating love affairs with your customers.

I just finished it — and wanted to share it with you.  As I suspected, Becky spends time making the points that I’ve  made above.  But the lion’s share of the book is spent showing readers HOW to cultivate and celebrate their current customers.  Becky teaches us the how using the acronym ROCK.

R = relevant marketing. This is all about talking to your customers how and when and where they want it.  Which, of course, means you need to listen/ask them.

O = orchestrated customer experiences. Brilliant companies are very purposeful in crafting customer experiences that deliver delight and marvel their most valuable clients.  It doesn’t happen by accident.

C = customer focused culture. I don’t care how smart or insightful a leader you are — if honoring your customer isn’t baked into your organization’s culture… it won’t happen.

K = killer customer service. This is all about consistency. (as you know, one of the cornerstones to good marketing)  When your brand and values are woven into your organization’s culture…. your entire team is able to deliver incredible customer-centric service, regardless of circumstance.

One of the best aspects of this book is the collection of case studies.  Becky went beyond the usual suspects and tells tales of customer loving companies like Nicor National, Salon Radius and Sanuk.  (Nope, I’d never heard of any of them either!)  The fresh stories add a depth that other books are missing.  However, no book on treating customers can leave out stories from Disney and you’ll enjoy those as well!

If you want to build an organization that truly treats its current customers as a precious commodity — this book will serve as a valuable guide to making it so.

Check it out and let me know what changes the book inspired.

 

*Yup, it’s an affiliate link and I was sent a copy of the book by Wiley. However…as you know, I get 4 or 5 books a week.  I only recommend the ones I genuinely believe you’ll value and enjoy.

 

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What should you buy from a social media savvy agency?

August 5, 2011

…buy the right help from the right agency

Okay…the other day I blew a fuse about social media consultants selling smoke screens and mirrors.  (read my rant here)

Which of course begs the question — what SHOULD you buy from someone who actually has an expertise in melding social media into the rest of your marketing efforts?  (And yes…at MMG we do all of this but so do many other qualified and competent consultants)

Strategy: Whether you’re pretty familiar with all things social or you don’t know your Facebook page from your Facebook status — it helps to have an outsider help you think through your strategy.

They’ll ask questions to get you really thinking about WHY you’re investing resources into social media and WHAT goals/results matter to your organization.

Measurements: A good social media strategist will help you determine WHAT to measure and HOW to measure what matters.

While social media serves up things to count, they don’t always count, if you know what I mean.  That you have 1,348 Twitter followers may be important or it may just be a meaningless number.

A good strategist will help you determine not only what to measure but help you set up a comparative reporting system (we call ours The MMG Digital Footprint) that monitors your progress.

Mechanics: You don’t need to know how to code a blog or customize a Facebook fan page to build one into your marketing activities.  Let your social media consultant either do the heavy lifting or supervise someone else doing it for you.

The great thing about most social media is that it’s plug and play but the truth is — it should all look and feel like your brand.  Which means some customization is needed.

Content Massaging: Odds are you already have plenty of raw material for content creation.  But it’s probably not written in the style, length or format best suited for social media.

Need a white paper turned into an ebook?  Or a research report converted into an infographic?  Let your social media agency take your existing material and get it ready for your friends and followers.

Coaching: Understanding that a touchdown is worth 6 points is very different from knowing the nuances of how to actually get into the end zone.   Many companies fumble the ball (sorry — the last football analogy) by applying old school marketing behaviors to these new marketing tools.

Having someone at your side, teaching you how to navigate the new waters without making any faux pas.  Remember…Google never forgets.

Systems: There are plenty of tools out there to help make your social media activities more efficient and easier to manage.  Whether it’s setting up your listening post (it’s not just about creating content — you need to know what people are saying about your company, your industry, your competitors etc.) or scheduling your content’s publication (so you can time fresh content to appear when your audience is online) — your social media partner can help you do more with less effort.

Integration: Social media (like all marketing tactics) should not exist in a vacuum.  It should fold into the rest of your marketing strategy and efforts.  Otherwise, you are not stacking up your impressions and maximizing every dollar and every effort.

Of course, that’s just hitting the highlights but you get the idea.  There’s plenty for an agency to help you with.  But they should be behind the scenes…not front and center.

There’s no substitute for your smarts, years of experience or personality.  That’s how your prospects meet your brand.

 

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You can’t sleep through your own social media efforts

August 3, 2011

 

…no effort, no real gain

I will admit right off the bat, this is a bit of a rant, which you know I don’t do very often.

I was on the phone with a prospect (an organization who is just contemplating how/if they should begin to participate in social media) and I was talking about the process we’ve developed to help clients create a social media strategy that actually defines why they’d invest resources into the effort and then measures against those goals.

Just like any marketing strategy — we identify audiences, key messages, the right channels etc.

We end up creating a very robust strategy with our clients and then we teach them how to implement it.  For the next several months, we walk along side them as they get their sea legs.   We help them test drive different tools and schedules until they really feel confident that they can generate, conduct, find and participate in the kinds of conversations where they can add value and get value in return.

After that, we help them tweak the strategy and we might help with some content editing or repurposing some existing content for a blog or e-newsletter — but for the most part, they’re doing it on their own.  Because it is their conversation to have.

At this point in the phone call the prospect stopped the conversation and said “wait a second, are you saying that you don’t believe you should do it all for us?  I’ve talked to four other firms/consultants and no one’s ever suggested that we would do some of it ourselves.  They said it would be much easier on us if we just paid them a monthly fee and they took care of it all.”

What???  Are you freaking kidding me?

I’m not going to get into the “social media expert” discussion because it’s been done to death.  But, it infuriates me when people hold themselves out as any sort of expert and then purposefully give their clients bad advice because it puts more money into their own pocket.  It’s not only a crappy way to do business and dishonest — but it has the potential to do some serious damage to the client’s business.

Of course hiring someone else to do it all for you would be easier.  But that doesn’t make it better or even right.  It would be easier if you sat on the couch rather than going to the gym — but you don’t actually build any muscles that way.

Now don’t get me wrong.  There’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to help you.  People hire MMG all the time for that very purpose.

But you have to do some of the driving yourself.  Think about it.

Can a paid consultant respond to a customer complaint on a Facebook page wall or add to a conversation about your area of expertise in your blog’s comment section?  They can probably fake it.  But it certainly is a lost opportunity if you let them “handle” it rather than you digging in and really either starting or enhancing a relationship — all in front of hundreds (or thousands) of potential buyers.

Don’t let any social media agency, company or consultant own your social media activity any more than you’d let a stranger answer your customer service line.

If you do, it may be the most expensive buying decision you ever make.

 

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How to be creative on purpose

July 31, 2011

…Do you need to be creative on demand?

My job is to be creative on demand.

The demands come in all forms.  It might be a strategy session for a client’s marketing plan, writing a print ad that will generate action or keeping the content on my blog, newspaper column or enewsletter fresh and worthwhile.

I don’t have the luxury of waiting for a muse to strike.  I’m always on deadline for something.  Which is why I was eager to pick up Todd Henry’s The Accidental Creative* (click here to buy) and learn as he promises in his subtitle…how to be brilliant at a moment’s notice.

There’s this myth out there that suggests that creativity comes from total freedom.  Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t know any professional today who lives in a world of complete freedom.  Instead, we’re called upon to be creative within the many constraints of life, world and our own habits, fears and obligations.

Todd explains that we all need to adopt the goal of being prolific, brilliant, and healthy. He explains why you need all three succinctly:

• Prolific + Brilliant – Healthy = Burnout
• Brilliant + Healthy – Prolific = Unreliable
• Healthy + Prolific – Brilliant = Fired
• Prolific + Brilliant + Healthy = Producing great work consistently

According to Henry’s book (and my own life experiences) there exists a creative rhythm deep in the heart of every individual, that is, “independent of the pressures and expectations you face each day.”

Establishing this rhythm will unlock your creative potential, provide you with the stability and clarity to tackle challenges, create and let your best thinking flow.

Your creative rhythm is set by how you structure and manage five key elements, the acronym for which is “FRESH.”

1. Focus

Most waste comes not from not doing the right work, but from doing the right work inefficiently. Clarity around objectives, separating the urgent from the important, is the springboard to effective creativity.

2. Relationships

Engaging with others is a powerful source of creative inspiration. Intentionally forging the right relationships with others gets you focused outwardly and frees you up creatively.

3. Energy

Think energy management, not time management. According to Henry, “it does you no good to micromanage your time down to the last second if you don’t have the energy to remain fully engaged for that time…you need to establish practices around energy management.”

4. Stimuli

Like any process, the output of the creative process depends on the input. Consistent brilliance demands that you be purposeful about what you’re feeding your brain.

5. Hours

Time is the currency of productivity. You must ensure that the practices that make you a more effective creative are making in onto your calendar.

It’s dandy to discuss all of this in theory but Henry really won my confidence when he provided practical weekly, monthly, and quarterly checkpoints at the end of the book to help put the five elements into practice.

Here are a few other key takeaways from the book:

• How books should not be read as pure information but conversations like social media
• The concept of the “Big Three” to allow you to focus on your critical creative goals
• How to send messages to your brain to look for solutions

If you are involved in work that requires you to think and create for a living, The Accidental Creative will help you form and build your best ideas and manage the creative process and work that comes from it.

*Yup, it’s an Amazon Affiliate link.

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Can your brand co-exist with your company’s brand?

July 28, 2011

…How do you balance your personal & company brand?

Earlier this week, we explored the idea of how your personal brand influences and sometimes becomes your company’s brand.  If you are an author, solo consultant or solopreneur that can actually work to your advantage, as we discussed.

On the flip side, if you’ve got an entire organization behind you (whether it’s 4 employees or 400) then having a very prominent brand can be problematic.

Why?

Because you get into the sticky situation of people wanting to hire YOU not your firm.  Which means your company can only grow to the peak of your own capacity.   And potential customers will be disappointed if they get assigned to one of your co-workers rather than being excited to be connected with an organization as smart as yours.

So how do you combat that?  You certainly don’t want to douse your own brand and when pointed in the right direction, your brand’s reach can extend to serve your entire company.  But how do you make sure your personal brand doesn’t overshadow the entire team?

Only the best: If you’re in the position to influence or control the hiring, you’re going to have to guard against settling.  You will need strong individuals who perform at the top of their game every day.  They also have to be ready to stand in tide of your brand and hold their own.   Be candid about the situation and help them define and build their own brands that compliment yours and the company’s.

You’re also going to have to recruit people who are committed to always bettering themselves: And part of your role is going to need to be coach/mentor.  We give a lot of lip service to the idea of hiring people who are smarter than ourselves, but you’re really going to have to walk that out.  How can you truly motivate and support them getting even better?

Celebrate your team: Get out of the spotlight when you can.  If you can turn it to one of your teammates, all the better.  You’re the team’s biggest and most vocal cheerleader.  Do it internally and do it with clients and prospects.    Encourage them to take leadership positions in the community, especially in areas where you have not already been.  Let them carve out their own path and be on the sidelines applauding the entire time.

Think differently about your products/services: Odds are your strong personal brand was borne out of you being very good at something.  And you probably built your company around that core competency, as well you should.

Let’s say you are the best cupcake maker in the world.  Your cupcakes make grown men weep.   And maybe there’s no way any of your very able bakers are going to be able to duplicate your cupcakes.  That’s okay….you keep making the cupcakes.  And if you want — your business can only sell cupcakes.  But that means you have to always be in the kitchen.  And your team can’t grow and enjoy basking in their own light.

Why not examine both what your customers need and where you team has some unique talents.  Perhaps there are some complimentary offerings that they could own.  Maybe one of your staff makes killer expresso or quiches.

Even within a niched company like a law firm specializing in taxes, there are nuances or levels that are worth exploring.    Help them find their own niche that can flourish alongside yours.

In the end, it’s a balancing act.

Every company would like to have a charismatic leader who is well known and well respected.  So you don’t want to do anything to diminish that.  But you do want to elevate the rest of your crew so that all of you can build a company that exists and succeeds beyond your own sphere of influence and your 24 hours in a day.

For those of you who have a strong presence or brand — how do you create the balance for your organization?

 

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Am I the brand?

July 26, 2011

…Is who I am as a person my company’s brand?

For many small business owners and solopreneurs, when people think of their business, their mind immediately goes to the person and that person’s attributes become the attributes assigned to the business as well.

If you are truly a consultant or solopreneur, that’s probably okay as long as you infuse those attributes with a strong elevator speech or key phrase.  You don’t want to just be known as Bob the straight shooter.  But it might be just fine to be known as Bob, the straight shooter who helps you cut reduce your health care costs.

So how do you purposefully weave your personal brand (how people think of you the person) with what it is you do?  Here are a few ideas:

Write, write, write: Whether its a blog, a column or articles you submit to online ezines, you want to link your name to your area of expertise.  The key to this strategy is you have to maintain a laser like focus.  If you’re the bomb when it comes to eliminating bedbugs, then stay on topic.  Teach me what a bedbug is, why I don’t want them in my home, how hotels and colleges have to deal with the problem and how specially trained dogs can detect bedbugs.   Write profusely and keep your focus narrow.

Speak: Offer to speak at industry conferences, do break out sessions for your local association or college.  Be the person who is so knowledgeable that not only are they good at what they do but they can make it accessible and interesting to an audience.

Say no: If you’re the best wedding gown designer on the east coast, when someone asks you to design their new restaurant’s uniforms, you need to politely decline.  Even if you’d love to have the money and the job would be a cake walk.  The best heart surgeons don’t repair broken bones.  Even though they could.

Be purposeful: It’s not enough to be known for your subject matter expertise.  If you want to be known for being accessible or for being expedient or funny or whatever — think how you can weave those attributes into your daily work. Some of it will come naturally.  If you are funny, it stands to reason that working with you, people would see and appreciate your humor.  But how could you spotlight even more?  Think of your client touch points.  How could you be sure to include a dash of your humor into your invoices, voicemail and website?

I think it’s pretty tough when you’re a one man band to not have your personality color your company’s brand.  After all, when they hire your accounting firm, if you are the accounting firm — they’re going to get to know you and be exposed to who you are as a person.

Rather than fight to separate who you are from what you do — carefully mesh them together to strengthen the argument of why they should hire you over a competitor.

Whether you’re in a company of one or one thousand — people hire people.  Why not use that to your advantage?

 

Hat tip to Jane Chin for asking the question that triggered this post.

 

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Stelzner’s Launch should get you off the ground

July 24, 2011

…Stelzner’s Elevation Principle illustrated

The basic premise of Michael Stelzner’s new book Launch* (click to buy) is that companies have to shift from telling customers “buy this” to asking “how can we help you?”  He goes on to advocate giving away your content (knowledge) or sampling to create familiarity, trust and eventually demand.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’ve been preaching that gospel for years.

• Best recession tip — give it away
• Give to get

Stelzer has created an nifty little equation that he calls the Elevation Principle. (see the graphic to the right)

GC + OP – MM = G

Great Content (plus) Other People (minus) Marketing Messages (equals) Growth.

The principle basically suggests that you provide great content, get other people involved and subdue your hard core sales pitch. Up to this point…I would argue that the book is covering well tred ground. (despite the fact that most companies still follow the old school rules and hard sell whenever possible.)

But much like Stelzner and his fellow authors at Social Media Examiner do every day — he shares relevant ways to bring the principle to life. That’s the real value of the book — the tangible examples. One of Mike’s greatest talents is using analogies to teach. This book is full of good ones and stories that will bring his “how to” tips to life.

The book deals mostly with the assumption that you have an online presence that you use to showcase your content/knowledge. But of course the ideas work off line too.

Overall, I thought the book was a good read. I took away a few ideas and for me, if I invest an hour or so reading a book and get a few new things to try — it’s well worth my time. I wouldn’t expect this book to be a game changer for you, if you’re a regular reader. Call it a refresher course with some really strong examples to emulate.

 

 

*As you might imagine, this is an Amazon affiliate link.  I was also sent a copy of Mike’s book by his publisher.

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If you look just like your competition…

July 21, 2011

…Windows version of the Genius Bar

…then how will I know it’s you?

I was at the Mall of America earlier this month and came upon a Microsoft Windows store.  I’d never seen one before, so we wandered in.  And it wasn’t a Microsoft Windows store.

It was an Apple Store with Microsoft products in it!

Right down to the Genius Bar — they’d copied everything.  That’s hardly the way to build your brand.  In fairness…they did have the hardwood floors and the stools.  So that’s a little different.

But other than that — you name a feature of the Apple Store — and it was there.  (minus the cool products of course…they don’t sell Mac stuff!)

I’d contend that if you don’t have a better sense of who you are and how both you and your customers are different — you have some brand homework to do.  Before you open up shop.

Oh look, people playing with tablets and laptops

 

 

Related articles

• Microsoft Ready To Take On Apple Stores With 75 More Retail Stores (techcrunch.com)
• Detailed, counterfeit, and fake Apple Stores spring up in China (edibleapple.com)
• Viewing the World Through Rose-Colored Windows (slog.thestranger.com)

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How CustomInk.com creates a love affair with me

July 19, 2011

...they even send love notes!

There’s no valuable and ROI focused marketing goal greater or more effective than to create a love affair with your customer.  Remember the perks:

• It feels good
• It’s easier to sell more to a current customer than something to a new one
• It’s more profitable
• It generates word of mouth
• It’s incredible for employee retention

And here’s a little case study to prove my point.

We’re an agency, I sit on the boards of several not-for-profits and I was very active in my daughter’s high school.  All of that adds up to a ton of t-shirt purchases throughout the year.   A few years ago, we stumbled upon CustomInk.  I was shopping for cheap, t-shirts for a fundraising event for one of the boards I’m on and couldn’t find the right quality for the right price locally.

The experience I had with CustomInk that first go around made me a customer for life.  And every interaction I have with them since that first one just reinforces my buying decision.

Here’s how they create a love affair with their customers.

They are accessible: Live chat on their website, a phone number to a real person, very fast e-mail support — I’m pretty sure I could even send them a carrier pigeon and they’d get back to me.

They give me the tools to be successful: Whether you’re a novice and need clip art and suggestions to a pro who wants to upload print ready files — they have easy to use tools to let you do business with them the way you want to do business.

Their store (website) is well organized, has lots of help prompts and let’s me get to it: God love them for organizing their site in a way that lets me search by price or by color or by quality.  I never have to wonder “where would I go to do XYZ” because I always know.

When things go wrong (on our end)– they bend over backwards: If they think your shirts (or whatever you print) aren’t going to turn out well due to a design issue or if they just think your logo needs to be cleaned up — they do it.  They’re helpful and they don’t make you feel like a dope.

They support what I support: Every time I do t-shirts for a fundraising type event — they call the organization and make a donation.  It’s not a huge dollar amount ($20 or so) but the gesture means a great deal.

I get a person: Once my t-hsirts are in production, the work is assigned a staff person who oversees the order until it is shipped.  When I e-mail or call – I am connecting directly to that person.  When I have an art question — I’m assigned an art person who helps me get it right.  Follow up question — go back to your person.

They’re grateful: They go out of their way to let me know they appreciate my business.  I’m sure I am a small fish in their pond but they always check to make sure we were happy once the t-shirts get delivered and as you can see, every once in awhile, I get a hand written note.

None of what they do is rocket science but all of what they do is a sincere effort to connect with, support and thank their customers.  They’re an online company that understand the importance and power of creating real relationships.

I feel the love…and love them in return!

How about you — is there a brand that’s created a love affair with you?  How’d they do it?

 

 

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If you really walked a mile in their shoes…

July 16, 2011

 

…have you really walked a mile in their shoes?

 

We give lip service to wanting to serve our customers better, but I see so many examples where people clearly didn’t bother to even consider their customer, that I wonder.

I’m betting we could walk into any business today and point to things that make life better or more enjoyable for the employees but make the customer feel less important or considered.

Here’s what it might look like if you genuinely walked a mile in your customer’s shoes if you owned/worked at…

A take out food establishment: I’d put all the cold food in one bag and all the hot items in another.

A oil change shop: I’d have more than just car magazines in the lobby.

A CPA/business banker: I’d take the forms I make you fill out every year and put them into excel so you could easily update them rather than re-writing pages and pages of numbers.

A pest control company: I’d show up at your house in an unmarked van so all your neighbors wouldn’t know you had a bug problem.

A movie theatre: I’d have a “in your seat 5 minutes before the show” rule like they do in live theatres.

A lawyer: I’d provide you with a cheat sheet of all the important legal documents you need, have and where they’re stored.

Your financial planner: I’d give you a template that captured all of your financial data (investments, bank accounts, credit cards etc.) to put with your will in case something happened to you.

A clothing store: I’d have a room you could enter and have a store employee take a picture of you (with your phone) so you could get other opinions on the potential new outfit.

Did you notice that none of these changes are a big or expensive deal?

If I can do this with 8 types of businesses — I’m pretty sure we could do it with yours too.  Your turn — tell us your organization’s core business and what you’d do differently if you truly walked a mile in your customer’s shoes.

 

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