Well here we are at the end of another decade. It's a good time for us to look back and compare where we are now to where we were in 1999, but you can do that later when you're on your eighth double vodka and telling all your mates how much you love them.
This week I wanted to leave you with a thought about how we can all do more business next year. It's nothing to do with better customer service, calling more prospects, sending out more gifts or any of the other things I have suggested in this blog. No - it's more that we all work on a simple basic principal and, as the title of this blog suggests - stop giving it away.
Allow me to elaborate. Oh go on, what else are you going to do? It's bad enough you're being made to work on New Year's Eve, and if you had some proper work to do you wouldn't be reading this would you?
My wife is a singer. It's not her full time job, although she would dearly love it to be, but none the less she does get paid for what she does. She sings as part of a duo and a few weeks ago they were booked to sing in a restaurant. Now the restaurant asked them to entertain the customers between 8.30pm and 11.30pm and a price for this three hours was agreed.
Everything seemed straightforward, except that just a little before 11.30, the manager asked if they could carry on for a little longer and, not wishing to disappoint, they carried on and the evening finally wrapped up at around 12.30pm.
The manager, duly satisfied that the evening had gone well, came over to pay the entertainers and........and I suspect you know what's coming here......paid them the originally agreed amount.
Was the manager out of order? Absolutely - he agreed upon a set amount of money for three hours' work and then paid the same amount for four hours' worth. Cheeky, but not entirely his fault. You see, from a moral perspective, he should have offered to pay more when it came time to settle up, but the responsibility actually rests with the people charging, and NOT with the people paying.
The fact is, when the manager came over and asked them to continue, their response should have been a little more like this:
"Of course we're happy to carry on and we're delighted that everyone is enjoying the music. I'm sure you'll appreciate though that we agreed upon a figure based on our working for you for three hours, so if we are going to extend that, we would have to charge more."
Risky? Well it can be. What they risk is that the manager would have thought of them as inflexible and purely working for the money. If that's true, then that manager needs to think more about the way he's running his own business. If someone came into his restaurant, ordered a meal and then, as they're eating, asked for a whole bunch of extras, he would charge them for it. It's not cheeky - it's business.
The worst thing that could have happened for the singers is that they were not invited to sing in that restaurant again. How likely is that though? As a result of their singing, customers were staying longer and therefore, spending more. That manager's profits were up as a direct result of the entertainment that he had booked, so would it not be fair for him to reward them accordingly?
Regular readers of this blog will know that I do not believe in "giveaways". Everything that you give to a potential customer is an investment. You are literally buying customers, and as long as they are spending more on you than what you spent on them, your business model is going to work.
Did the singers have any other options to guarantee that they were not giving their time away? Of course they did. If they didn't feel comfortable charging for the additional hour, then they could have tried this:
"No problem at all Mr Manager (how weird would it be if the bloke's name actually was Mr Manager?) we're happy to carry on for you but before we do, how about you grab your diary and we'll set up our next engagement with you".
Sure it's bold, but is it any more bold than the manager asking them to work for free?
This is my plan for 2010 and beyond, and I invite you to join me. Together, we're going to stop giving it away. We won't give away time. We won't give away knowledge and more importantly, we won't give away money. All of our businesses are built on profit. I'll gladly work for you, come up with ideas, create campaigns, provide samples, create visuals and everything else that I am able to do to help you make the most of your marketing, but I am going to ask that you make it worth my while.
So let us all march boldly into a new decade with a clear mission in mind. The recovery on our economy doesn't need to be put into the hands of moronic politicians who make promises that they cannot keep. It's up to each and every one of us to truly value who we are, what we do, and what we can do to help each other.
Have a fantastic new year and please keep reading and recommending this blog.
Thursday 31 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
Budgets Schmudgets
Think about the last time you saw or heard an advert for the next lottery draw. What was their hook? It's usually along the lines of "this week the jackpot is an amazing twelve million pounds!!!" Seems fair enough, why wouldn't you buy a ticket when the chance to change your life forever is a mere six digits away?
What would happen if the advert simply said "This week, a lottery ticket will only cost you fifty pence"? Do you think it would have the same massive appeal? No, of course it wouldn't.
Now the interesting thing for me is that people look at their marketing from the latter point of view. So many people take a look at their next important campaign and start by setting themselves a budget.
Of course we have to be realistic. You can't just throw an infinite amount of money at something on the assumption that it's going to return a profit, but it does seem that there is a fundamental difference in the question that we are asking, rather than the one that we should be asking.
So how about this. The next time you decide you want to use some promotional merchandise for a campaign, don't ask yourself how much you want to spend. Instead, ask yourself how much you want to make.
As I've mentioned on many occasions, simply giving out merchandise to the masses is not effective marketing. You have no real way to test and measure how effective it is. You may well send out 5000 gifts, get 50 customers and then congratulate yourself on a 1% conversion rate - and in the world of direct mail, 1% is considered a victory.
One percent? Say it again and really think about it - ONE PERCENT. If I told you that tomorrow morning you would have to go to work, slog it out for eight hours, put up with all manner of stress and at the end of the day, improve your personal circumstances by one percent, you'd probably do the smart thing and stay in bed.
So the next time you're putting a campaign together, shift the focus to what it is you truly want to get out of it. If you're only looking at a 1% conversion, then put your money away. You'll make so much more by simply asking your existing customers to refer you to someone they know and arranging to go and meet them.
However, if you have a very clear objective that what you want is hundreds, if not thousands of new customers, then now we have something to talk about, and your allocated budget will pale in comparison to the amount of money that you stand to make.
Well, I'm off to sunny Spain for a week and then it's Christmas, so the next posting from me will be on the 29th of December - I hope to see you then.
What would happen if the advert simply said "This week, a lottery ticket will only cost you fifty pence"? Do you think it would have the same massive appeal? No, of course it wouldn't.
Now the interesting thing for me is that people look at their marketing from the latter point of view. So many people take a look at their next important campaign and start by setting themselves a budget.
Of course we have to be realistic. You can't just throw an infinite amount of money at something on the assumption that it's going to return a profit, but it does seem that there is a fundamental difference in the question that we are asking, rather than the one that we should be asking.
So how about this. The next time you decide you want to use some promotional merchandise for a campaign, don't ask yourself how much you want to spend. Instead, ask yourself how much you want to make.
As I've mentioned on many occasions, simply giving out merchandise to the masses is not effective marketing. You have no real way to test and measure how effective it is. You may well send out 5000 gifts, get 50 customers and then congratulate yourself on a 1% conversion rate - and in the world of direct mail, 1% is considered a victory.
One percent? Say it again and really think about it - ONE PERCENT. If I told you that tomorrow morning you would have to go to work, slog it out for eight hours, put up with all manner of stress and at the end of the day, improve your personal circumstances by one percent, you'd probably do the smart thing and stay in bed.
So the next time you're putting a campaign together, shift the focus to what it is you truly want to get out of it. If you're only looking at a 1% conversion, then put your money away. You'll make so much more by simply asking your existing customers to refer you to someone they know and arranging to go and meet them.
However, if you have a very clear objective that what you want is hundreds, if not thousands of new customers, then now we have something to talk about, and your allocated budget will pale in comparison to the amount of money that you stand to make.
Well, I'm off to sunny Spain for a week and then it's Christmas, so the next posting from me will be on the 29th of December - I hope to see you then.
Thursday 3 December 2009
How was your meal?
I had a fantastic couple of meetings this week, and as we sat there talking about all things marketing, I was struck with a couple of gems which I thought would make good blog posts.
It highlights just how important it is to keep having conversations and asking good questions. The well of ideas can dry up at any time, but the world is full of people who can inspire you if you just take the time to listen to them.
In one of my meetings, we came onto the subject of customer feedback. Now lots of companies send out survey cards - we certainly do at Merchandise Mania, because unless we're scoring five out of five in every area of the customer experience, we know that there is room for improvement.
Now the survey card is great, and you've probably filled out one or two in your own time too. I know that I see them in hotels, for example, but the truth is that I only feel compelled to fill them out if the service has been either very good or very bad. If everything was just OK, I probably won't bother.
See the problem? Really? Well you must be even more tired than me then.
The problem is that just OK is simply not good enough. Nobody ever came back from a restaurant, called their friends and proclaimed in their most excited voice "I just had a meal and it was satisfactory!!!"
Now I mentioned restaurants here because they are the worst offenders, and it's not really even their fault. The Great British Reserve certainly plays its part here too. You know the scene - you're eating a meal and quite frankly, it's so so - you'd give it a five out of ten. Not bad enough to complain but certainly not good enough to return.
The waiter comes by and asks "How is everything" and you reply "Fine thanks" and away he goes.
It's a tale as old as time, but how would you feel if the conversation went more like this:
Waiter - "How is everything?"
You - "Fine thanks".
Waiter - "I'm delighted to hear that, but truth be told, all of us here were hoping that your experience was so much more than fine. Would you mind if we asked you what you would change to make things better? We promise that we won't be offended and what's more, we'd like to reward you for your honesty with a round of drinks on the house".
Sounds too good to be true? That's because it never happens. Think about it - the investment of time and a couple of drinks from the restaurant could not only create a repeat customer, but could also lead to referrals from a customer who was blown away at a new and refreshing experience. He's bound to mention it to at least one person, and that is the core of a good marketing strategy.
Well that's one way of looking at it, but what if the meal was more than fine? What if it was actually really good? How about this conversation instead:
Waiter - "How is everything"
You - "It's great thanks"
Waiter - "I'm delighted to hear you say that. If it's not too bold a question, we want to make sure that all of our customers are just as pleased as you are. Do you mind my asking what you liked the most and what, if anything, you would change if you could?"
At the core of all of these questions is an understanding that everyone has one favourite topic of conversation - themselves. Nobody is likely to have a problem with this scenario because people love to talk about their opinions, it's just that some of them need a little nudge before they truly open up.
So how do you relate to your customers when it comes to feeback? Perhaps you use a survey card or a website but, just for fun, why not engage them in a conversation instead? Not only are you likely to see them return with more business, but you are bound to get referrals as a business that truly listens to the needs and wants of its customers.
The only investment you need make is time, and if you can't spare ten minutes to double your revenue stream, what the hell are you doing all day?
Have a great week in business, and please let me know how you get on.
It highlights just how important it is to keep having conversations and asking good questions. The well of ideas can dry up at any time, but the world is full of people who can inspire you if you just take the time to listen to them.
In one of my meetings, we came onto the subject of customer feedback. Now lots of companies send out survey cards - we certainly do at Merchandise Mania, because unless we're scoring five out of five in every area of the customer experience, we know that there is room for improvement.
Now the survey card is great, and you've probably filled out one or two in your own time too. I know that I see them in hotels, for example, but the truth is that I only feel compelled to fill them out if the service has been either very good or very bad. If everything was just OK, I probably won't bother.
See the problem? Really? Well you must be even more tired than me then.
The problem is that just OK is simply not good enough. Nobody ever came back from a restaurant, called their friends and proclaimed in their most excited voice "I just had a meal and it was satisfactory!!!"
Now I mentioned restaurants here because they are the worst offenders, and it's not really even their fault. The Great British Reserve certainly plays its part here too. You know the scene - you're eating a meal and quite frankly, it's so so - you'd give it a five out of ten. Not bad enough to complain but certainly not good enough to return.
The waiter comes by and asks "How is everything" and you reply "Fine thanks" and away he goes.
It's a tale as old as time, but how would you feel if the conversation went more like this:
Waiter - "How is everything?"
You - "Fine thanks".
Waiter - "I'm delighted to hear that, but truth be told, all of us here were hoping that your experience was so much more than fine. Would you mind if we asked you what you would change to make things better? We promise that we won't be offended and what's more, we'd like to reward you for your honesty with a round of drinks on the house".
Sounds too good to be true? That's because it never happens. Think about it - the investment of time and a couple of drinks from the restaurant could not only create a repeat customer, but could also lead to referrals from a customer who was blown away at a new and refreshing experience. He's bound to mention it to at least one person, and that is the core of a good marketing strategy.
Well that's one way of looking at it, but what if the meal was more than fine? What if it was actually really good? How about this conversation instead:
Waiter - "How is everything"
You - "It's great thanks"
Waiter - "I'm delighted to hear you say that. If it's not too bold a question, we want to make sure that all of our customers are just as pleased as you are. Do you mind my asking what you liked the most and what, if anything, you would change if you could?"
At the core of all of these questions is an understanding that everyone has one favourite topic of conversation - themselves. Nobody is likely to have a problem with this scenario because people love to talk about their opinions, it's just that some of them need a little nudge before they truly open up.
So how do you relate to your customers when it comes to feeback? Perhaps you use a survey card or a website but, just for fun, why not engage them in a conversation instead? Not only are you likely to see them return with more business, but you are bound to get referrals as a business that truly listens to the needs and wants of its customers.
The only investment you need make is time, and if you can't spare ten minutes to double your revenue stream, what the hell are you doing all day?
Have a great week in business, and please let me know how you get on.
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