Last week, some anonymous reader posted a comment on this blog. That's brilliant - I often ask for comments so it's always nice to see that people are reading what I have to say and are even motivated further to write something themselves.
Sadly, this same person felt that all of my blog posts allude to my having some sort of chip on my shoulder and that I should consider getting out of sales all together. It's an interesting theory - certainly my blog does have a certain acerbic wit to it, but then that's just my writing style. I poke fun at the world in the hope that the world collectively says "Hey Paul, we're not all like that you know and whilst we're here, can we please order some merchandise?"
For the most part, this blog has done its job. I have a presence on line and my customers and I regularly talk about what I've written and how it brought a smile to their day. So if a chip on my shoulder is bringing a little joy into people's lives then I welcome it. In fact I'm off to deep fry some more potatoes for the other shoulder too!
And so to this week's thought. Have you asked someone how business was lately? I ask it all the time, and I also get it asked of me. Now we know that there's a recession on, but has everyone's response been "terrible". No? Me neither. I get people telling me that sales are up and that morale is great. I get people telling me that they're hiring staff, rebranding, expanding their marketing - the news is all good!
So what's their secret ingredient? More importantly, are they prepared to share it with us? No - and it's not because they're mean, it's because in ANY economic situation, some will be up whereas others will be down. This isn't rocket science and you don't need degrees in Economics to work it out. The fact is that anything in life relies upon BALANCE. You cannot have an up without a down.
Some believe that where you are depends upon how you look at things. I suppose that's true. When things are quiet on the sales front, you can either look at your shoes and wait for the phone to ring, or you could start thinking of more inventive ways to attract new business. We are, all of us, surrounded by opportunity - it just might not be knocking as loudly as it used to!
So how are your customers feeling about their business? Have you asked them? It seems that as time goes on in the ever so politely named 'Economic Downturn', people don't want to ask the question any more. If they do, it's with a tone that suggests they expect the answer to be negative. We've stopped asking, but we haven't stopped caring.
You know, when you take the 'sale' out of a conversation with a customer, incredible things start to happen. You actually start to listen to each other. You learn things that you wished you'd known for years. You discover more shared interests, common contacts and aspirations. The nature of your relationship can change in the blink of an eye into something so much more rewarding.
The people that are doing well are more than happy to tell you how they're doing it, and the people that aren't doing so well are even happier to listen to the teachings of someone who is.
There are so many gains to be made every single day, and it's those people that are pushing for those gains that are telling you how great things are. They're not deluded - they're positive. I'm speaking from personal experience here - I myself have not had a great month, but I've had so many fantastic conversations in this quiet period that I know I'm going to have a great August.
I do hope that you can find the space for some optimistic thinking in your day and if you're struggling, then just give me a call or drop me a line and I'll see what I can do to cheer you up. I charge one smile per session.
Thursday 30 July 2009
Thursday 23 July 2009
Do you want ideas or action?
Did you ever find yourself logging on to Facebook or Twitter and thinking, "I wish I'd thought of that"? Or how about queuing up in Starbucks and asking yourself why you didn't come up with the notion that people would be more than happy to pay over £3 for a cup of coffee?
We've all been there, but what might surprise you is that you may well be amongst the many thousands of people that did invent Facebook. You sat at your computer one day and a little thought went off in your head that said, "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a way to tell everyone what I was doing right now."
The difference between you and the guy that did invent it (apart from the fact that I don't have an overwhelming desire to smack you in the mouth) is that you didn't do anything with your idea. Those people you see on Dragons Den have what they refer to as entrepreneurial spirit. In simple terms, they got up off of their backsides and took action.
Now let's be fair, there are plenty of ideas out there that are just plain rubbish, but the only reason you know about them is because the creators took the plunge and put them on the shelves. Some of these ideas will flourish and many more will never make their creators rich. Regardless, those people will be satisfied that they at least had the courage to try.
Many people at the moment are a lot more reserved. Taking the plunge in an economic downturn makes about as much sense as booking JLS to sing at your next corporate function - lots of money and zero staying power, it's just not worth the expense.
None the less, a lot of those same people are currently sitting on the next genius marketing idea. A campaign so clever that it's not only going to generate revenue, but it's probably going to win awards. This one campaign is THE SINGLE GREATEST IDEA SINCE GOD SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT. But of course, your Financial Director simply cannot sign off on it, because there is no budget.
AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! Are we back to this again? A bunch of non creative, scared, conservative number crunchers who cannot see beyond the end of their calculators. Why should you have to "sell" good ideas within your own company? Weren't you hired in the first place for your creativity? Perhaps they liked you because you had a track record of taking risks that proved to be successful. Whatever it was, it seems to have vanished amidst a fog of fear and doubt and guess what, as soon as the economy picks up, you'll magically become creative all over again!
See my point? If you're not being allowed to flex your creative muscle, you need to do something about it. You need to point out that the rewards will outweigh the risks. You need to put your best foot forward and show your company that you mean business.
The next time you see a problem and find yourself thinking, "Someone should do something about that", remember that you ARE someone, and go and do something about it.
We've all been there, but what might surprise you is that you may well be amongst the many thousands of people that did invent Facebook. You sat at your computer one day and a little thought went off in your head that said, "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a way to tell everyone what I was doing right now."
The difference between you and the guy that did invent it (apart from the fact that I don't have an overwhelming desire to smack you in the mouth) is that you didn't do anything with your idea. Those people you see on Dragons Den have what they refer to as entrepreneurial spirit. In simple terms, they got up off of their backsides and took action.
Now let's be fair, there are plenty of ideas out there that are just plain rubbish, but the only reason you know about them is because the creators took the plunge and put them on the shelves. Some of these ideas will flourish and many more will never make their creators rich. Regardless, those people will be satisfied that they at least had the courage to try.
Many people at the moment are a lot more reserved. Taking the plunge in an economic downturn makes about as much sense as booking JLS to sing at your next corporate function - lots of money and zero staying power, it's just not worth the expense.
None the less, a lot of those same people are currently sitting on the next genius marketing idea. A campaign so clever that it's not only going to generate revenue, but it's probably going to win awards. This one campaign is THE SINGLE GREATEST IDEA SINCE GOD SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT. But of course, your Financial Director simply cannot sign off on it, because there is no budget.
AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! Are we back to this again? A bunch of non creative, scared, conservative number crunchers who cannot see beyond the end of their calculators. Why should you have to "sell" good ideas within your own company? Weren't you hired in the first place for your creativity? Perhaps they liked you because you had a track record of taking risks that proved to be successful. Whatever it was, it seems to have vanished amidst a fog of fear and doubt and guess what, as soon as the economy picks up, you'll magically become creative all over again!
See my point? If you're not being allowed to flex your creative muscle, you need to do something about it. You need to point out that the rewards will outweigh the risks. You need to put your best foot forward and show your company that you mean business.
The next time you see a problem and find yourself thinking, "Someone should do something about that", remember that you ARE someone, and go and do something about it.
Thursday 16 July 2009
A long term view
Well for the three of you that haven't come down with Piggyitis, or Swine Flu as it's more commonly known, hello. I'm a little worried that some doctors are just getting lazy with this pandemic.
"Doctor, this man's been shot!"
"No problem nurse, it's clearly another case of swine flu - plenty of rest and fluids and he'll be fine."
"Shouldn't we remove the bullet?"
"Nah - couple of Lemsip should do the trick."
But I digress, as indeed I often do. To be fair, if I didn't include those parts where I do digress, this blog would only ever be about 2 sentences long, so I appreciate your patience.
Recently I was put on to a company called Infusionsoft. As I am not an official partner, I have not included a link here but I did want to give them credit for a particular philosophy: People buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell.
I thought about that for a while and it actually makes perfect sense to me. I make a lot of sales calls in any given day but if I only applied myself to those people who had a need when I called, I really would be limiting the amount of opportunity that there is out there.
In the world of promotional merchandise, this way of thinking has become more important than ever. So many customers are telling me that their budgets have been cut or frozen and that they don't anticipate needing anything for at least six months.
Now it would be easy for me to be disappointed, but actually I'm just the opposite - I'm delighted to have called them when I did. You see we get a lot of phone calls from people who need a complicated order delivered yesterday. It happens all the time and I have spoken about planning in this blog on more than one occassion. So how wonderful to get the chance to speak with a company who are not panicking - who have time to strategise and partner themselves with new suppliers and new ways of thinking.
I am now and have always been interested in the long term. I want people to see what we do and how we add value so that when they find themselves in need of some new marketing ideas, they won't need to trawl through piles and piles of catalogues which all look the same. They'll think of Merchandise Mania and they'll call.
Great for me, but how does it apply to you? Well just how are you keeping yourself in the minds of people who told you three months ago that they weren't looking for your services right now? Did you diarise a time to follow up and did you share something with them that they could use right now? In most cases, the answer is no, and that's a shame, because you may well have just handed your next great customer over to your competitors.
Fortunately, there is a solution. Get yourself on their desk. Get yourself in their home and in their car. Get yourself in their reception and in the minds of all of their staff. A useful piece of promotional merchandise will create a buzz in the minds of your potential customers and when they are ready to buy, just who do you think they will call first?
A good calendar will stay on a desk for a whole year. A fun toy may well go to the child of a powerful CEO who will think of you every time he sees his kid playing. Even a simple pen might be the one thing they needed to scribble down the contact information of their next big client and thank goodness your pen was there!
Think about it, a good piece of merchandise is an extension of your sales force. I met someone last week who wanted to send out mouse mats to 1000 potential customers. Now if any of these customers sign up, they're worth £5000 each. Now what do you imagine the chances are that out of 1000 people, that at least one of them will convert into a client? The mats were 85p each. Now if I told you I could turn 85p into £5000 you'd give me the money, right?
I almost feel like an employment agency sometimes. I have the cheapest labour on the market. I will get you a sales representative who will actually sit on your potential customer's desk and remind him about you every single day, and all for under a pound! I challenge you to find a better deal than that.
Remember, people buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell. Position yourself correctly, and they will be ready to buy from you.
"Doctor, this man's been shot!"
"No problem nurse, it's clearly another case of swine flu - plenty of rest and fluids and he'll be fine."
"Shouldn't we remove the bullet?"
"Nah - couple of Lemsip should do the trick."
But I digress, as indeed I often do. To be fair, if I didn't include those parts where I do digress, this blog would only ever be about 2 sentences long, so I appreciate your patience.
Recently I was put on to a company called Infusionsoft. As I am not an official partner, I have not included a link here but I did want to give them credit for a particular philosophy: People buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell.
I thought about that for a while and it actually makes perfect sense to me. I make a lot of sales calls in any given day but if I only applied myself to those people who had a need when I called, I really would be limiting the amount of opportunity that there is out there.
In the world of promotional merchandise, this way of thinking has become more important than ever. So many customers are telling me that their budgets have been cut or frozen and that they don't anticipate needing anything for at least six months.
Now it would be easy for me to be disappointed, but actually I'm just the opposite - I'm delighted to have called them when I did. You see we get a lot of phone calls from people who need a complicated order delivered yesterday. It happens all the time and I have spoken about planning in this blog on more than one occassion. So how wonderful to get the chance to speak with a company who are not panicking - who have time to strategise and partner themselves with new suppliers and new ways of thinking.
I am now and have always been interested in the long term. I want people to see what we do and how we add value so that when they find themselves in need of some new marketing ideas, they won't need to trawl through piles and piles of catalogues which all look the same. They'll think of Merchandise Mania and they'll call.
Great for me, but how does it apply to you? Well just how are you keeping yourself in the minds of people who told you three months ago that they weren't looking for your services right now? Did you diarise a time to follow up and did you share something with them that they could use right now? In most cases, the answer is no, and that's a shame, because you may well have just handed your next great customer over to your competitors.
Fortunately, there is a solution. Get yourself on their desk. Get yourself in their home and in their car. Get yourself in their reception and in the minds of all of their staff. A useful piece of promotional merchandise will create a buzz in the minds of your potential customers and when they are ready to buy, just who do you think they will call first?
A good calendar will stay on a desk for a whole year. A fun toy may well go to the child of a powerful CEO who will think of you every time he sees his kid playing. Even a simple pen might be the one thing they needed to scribble down the contact information of their next big client and thank goodness your pen was there!
Think about it, a good piece of merchandise is an extension of your sales force. I met someone last week who wanted to send out mouse mats to 1000 potential customers. Now if any of these customers sign up, they're worth £5000 each. Now what do you imagine the chances are that out of 1000 people, that at least one of them will convert into a client? The mats were 85p each. Now if I told you I could turn 85p into £5000 you'd give me the money, right?
I almost feel like an employment agency sometimes. I have the cheapest labour on the market. I will get you a sales representative who will actually sit on your potential customer's desk and remind him about you every single day, and all for under a pound! I challenge you to find a better deal than that.
Remember, people buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell. Position yourself correctly, and they will be ready to buy from you.
Wednesday 8 July 2009
Let me see those pearly whites.....
Have you ever heard the expression, “Smile when you dial”? Sales people all over the world get taught to slap on a grin before even picking up a receiver. It’s not just for over enthusiastic double glazing sellers – the rule applies to everyone.
The premise is very simple. If you smile when you call someone, the person at the other end of the phone will pick up on your cheerful disposition. Let’s face it, when was the last time you bought something from some glum robot who was clearly reading off a script, counting down the hours until he could run away from his boring, soul destroying job and bury his face in a plate of chips?
But why only smile when we dial? For me, I really cannot understand why we all choose to limit ourselves in this way. Surely there are really only a handful of circumstances under which a smile is not appropriate. I can think of a few, but I’m not going to list them here to make you sad, and you’ve probably got your own too. But let’s face it, what percentage of your life do those moments actually inhabit? It can’t be more than about 10% if you really took the time to think about it.
Just today I was walking down the street and I saw someone on the other side of the road. I didn’t know this person but as our eyes met each other from a clear 100 feet away, they smiled at me. It was infectious – I was trapped – there was nothing left to do but……smile back! Well what else could I do?
But it’s what happened next that prompted me to write this blog. I felt happy. I mean I wasn’t sad before but my mood was actually lifted. I held onto the smile that this person had given me and if I had seen anyone else on my travels, I’m fairly sure that I would have passed it on to them.
Why am I telling you this? Well this week I have found myself calling a number of people who were clearly not smiling. Despite my calling them with a happy spring in my step, many of them were downright miserable – suspicious that I would want to ask them their first name so that I could have a friendly conversation. What’s the point in that? These people are the first point of contact for new customers calling in to their companies and yet their demeanour sucks all the joy out of you in the time it takes to say hello.
I’m forced to press on deflated and utterly unmotivated. Now what if I had been someone calling them to become their next best customer? I simply haven’t the energy to carry on.
Perhaps they were having a bad morning – it happens, we all get them from time to time, but a simple smile can actually lift your spirits when the world around you is not inspiring you as much as you might have hoped. So the next time you see someone not wearing a smile, just give them yours.
Does this have anything to do with marketing? Well of course it does. Marketing is all about image, and who wants to deal with a miserable company. Unless they’re shopping for a funeral director, people expect a smile.
Now I know that people expect this blog to be my opportunity to sell promotional merchandise but that’s not really what I do. I help my customers increase their business in any way that I can. My advice is free and as I have said on many occasions, I’d be more than happy to visit your office and offer you even more of this free advice. If I can help you take a fresh look at your marketing, then I will have done my job.
Smile when you dial? Why not just smile when you live.
The premise is very simple. If you smile when you call someone, the person at the other end of the phone will pick up on your cheerful disposition. Let’s face it, when was the last time you bought something from some glum robot who was clearly reading off a script, counting down the hours until he could run away from his boring, soul destroying job and bury his face in a plate of chips?
But why only smile when we dial? For me, I really cannot understand why we all choose to limit ourselves in this way. Surely there are really only a handful of circumstances under which a smile is not appropriate. I can think of a few, but I’m not going to list them here to make you sad, and you’ve probably got your own too. But let’s face it, what percentage of your life do those moments actually inhabit? It can’t be more than about 10% if you really took the time to think about it.
Just today I was walking down the street and I saw someone on the other side of the road. I didn’t know this person but as our eyes met each other from a clear 100 feet away, they smiled at me. It was infectious – I was trapped – there was nothing left to do but……smile back! Well what else could I do?
But it’s what happened next that prompted me to write this blog. I felt happy. I mean I wasn’t sad before but my mood was actually lifted. I held onto the smile that this person had given me and if I had seen anyone else on my travels, I’m fairly sure that I would have passed it on to them.
Why am I telling you this? Well this week I have found myself calling a number of people who were clearly not smiling. Despite my calling them with a happy spring in my step, many of them were downright miserable – suspicious that I would want to ask them their first name so that I could have a friendly conversation. What’s the point in that? These people are the first point of contact for new customers calling in to their companies and yet their demeanour sucks all the joy out of you in the time it takes to say hello.
I’m forced to press on deflated and utterly unmotivated. Now what if I had been someone calling them to become their next best customer? I simply haven’t the energy to carry on.
Perhaps they were having a bad morning – it happens, we all get them from time to time, but a simple smile can actually lift your spirits when the world around you is not inspiring you as much as you might have hoped. So the next time you see someone not wearing a smile, just give them yours.
Does this have anything to do with marketing? Well of course it does. Marketing is all about image, and who wants to deal with a miserable company. Unless they’re shopping for a funeral director, people expect a smile.
Now I know that people expect this blog to be my opportunity to sell promotional merchandise but that’s not really what I do. I help my customers increase their business in any way that I can. My advice is free and as I have said on many occasions, I’d be more than happy to visit your office and offer you even more of this free advice. If I can help you take a fresh look at your marketing, then I will have done my job.
Smile when you dial? Why not just smile when you live.
Thursday 2 July 2009
We just go with the cheapest
Now does that sound familiar to you? Certainly in the current marketplace it makes sense for people to shop around for the most competitive prices. Now I’ve spoken many times about the importance of value over price, but it seems that there are still some people in the world who just want it cheapest and so for those people, this week’s blog is dedicated to you.
The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s FREE. There you go, you simply cannot get cheaper than that short of my actually paying to read this stuff, and as I know that quite a lot of you are, I think we can all agree that that’s not going to happen.
In all seriousness, let me ask you a question. Is your company the cheapest in your industry? Now really think about that before you answer, because some of you would have instantly thought “YES! YES WE ARE AND WE’RE PROUD OF IT”. Well newsflash – if two of you reading this are in the same industry then at least one of you is wrong.
John Lewis make a point of claiming to be “Never knowingly undersold” but the fact is that they are undersold…… regularly – and they know about it too. They don’t offer interest free credit on any of their larger purchases, so whilst their unit price might be lower, if I choose to buy something on HP, I will be paying more for it. On top of that, I know dozens of smaller merchants who are happy to charge less than John Lewis for identical items, and don’t try looking for the loopholes like delivery and installation charges – they beat them there too.
OK, let’s not turn this who blog into a knock against the mighty partnership – I actually buy things there a lot and it’s mainly because they offer me a good shopping experience; intelligent and courteous staff who actually know something about their product, as opposed to the herd of spotty monkeys currently employed in thousands of stores up and down this great nation of ours. You know the sort – they have an attitude that could curdle cream and all the enthusiasm of a box of corn plasters.
So once again – still claiming to be the cheapest? Gosh, you’re a tough nut to crack but OK, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say I’ve gone to every price comparison site, shopped on eBay and scoured the globe to beat your prices and I have failed – now that is something to shout about. That message should be on every piece of stationery, on every advert and on every piece of merchandise that you put out to the market. You don’t need to sell your services on any other level because you have the lowest prices IN THE WORLD.
Likely? No, of course it isn’t. When was the last time you visited a website which boasted those claims? And so it is that we come to the point of this blog – you don’t have the cheapest products, you don’t have the cheapest service and yet you still want to go with the cheapest marketing.
Call me crazy (and most people who know me do) but that just doesn’t make any sense. There are some very cheap pens out there but they won’t last for very long and therefore, what message are you sending when you offer them to your customers? “We’re cheap but hey – you get what you pay for right?” Not a campaign I imagine happening any time soon is it?
You don’t drive the cheapest car. You don't live in the cheapest house. You don’t wear the cheapest clothes, sleep in the cheapest bed, eat the cheapest food, watch the cheapest TV or read the cheapest books. You may well have worked to a budget but what was key when you started shopping for anything was that you had a choice – you based your decision on more than just price. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you were always just offered the cheapest option available? You’d be living in a tent somewhere eating Tesco Value baked beans straight out of the tin.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The cheapest option is to not buy anything at all. If you don’t believe in the value of a good promotional campaign then just don’t do one – keep your money and let your competitors get out there and steal a few more of your clients away from you.
Think about it while you enjoy the sunshine – that’s free too!
The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s FREE. There you go, you simply cannot get cheaper than that short of my actually paying to read this stuff, and as I know that quite a lot of you are, I think we can all agree that that’s not going to happen.
In all seriousness, let me ask you a question. Is your company the cheapest in your industry? Now really think about that before you answer, because some of you would have instantly thought “YES! YES WE ARE AND WE’RE PROUD OF IT”. Well newsflash – if two of you reading this are in the same industry then at least one of you is wrong.
John Lewis make a point of claiming to be “Never knowingly undersold” but the fact is that they are undersold…… regularly – and they know about it too. They don’t offer interest free credit on any of their larger purchases, so whilst their unit price might be lower, if I choose to buy something on HP, I will be paying more for it. On top of that, I know dozens of smaller merchants who are happy to charge less than John Lewis for identical items, and don’t try looking for the loopholes like delivery and installation charges – they beat them there too.
OK, let’s not turn this who blog into a knock against the mighty partnership – I actually buy things there a lot and it’s mainly because they offer me a good shopping experience; intelligent and courteous staff who actually know something about their product, as opposed to the herd of spotty monkeys currently employed in thousands of stores up and down this great nation of ours. You know the sort – they have an attitude that could curdle cream and all the enthusiasm of a box of corn plasters.
So once again – still claiming to be the cheapest? Gosh, you’re a tough nut to crack but OK, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say I’ve gone to every price comparison site, shopped on eBay and scoured the globe to beat your prices and I have failed – now that is something to shout about. That message should be on every piece of stationery, on every advert and on every piece of merchandise that you put out to the market. You don’t need to sell your services on any other level because you have the lowest prices IN THE WORLD.
Likely? No, of course it isn’t. When was the last time you visited a website which boasted those claims? And so it is that we come to the point of this blog – you don’t have the cheapest products, you don’t have the cheapest service and yet you still want to go with the cheapest marketing.
Call me crazy (and most people who know me do) but that just doesn’t make any sense. There are some very cheap pens out there but they won’t last for very long and therefore, what message are you sending when you offer them to your customers? “We’re cheap but hey – you get what you pay for right?” Not a campaign I imagine happening any time soon is it?
You don’t drive the cheapest car. You don't live in the cheapest house. You don’t wear the cheapest clothes, sleep in the cheapest bed, eat the cheapest food, watch the cheapest TV or read the cheapest books. You may well have worked to a budget but what was key when you started shopping for anything was that you had a choice – you based your decision on more than just price. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you were always just offered the cheapest option available? You’d be living in a tent somewhere eating Tesco Value baked beans straight out of the tin.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The cheapest option is to not buy anything at all. If you don’t believe in the value of a good promotional campaign then just don’t do one – keep your money and let your competitors get out there and steal a few more of your clients away from you.
Think about it while you enjoy the sunshine – that’s free too!
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