Hook, Line and Sinker

Well there's only 2 days to go before I set off for a week in the sun, and I'm as excited as a Labour MP with a second mortgage. None the less, there's still time to chime in with this week's words of wisdom. There won't be any next week, as I have learned that wisdom counts as excess baggage, and I'm trying to keep costs down.

A lot of companies like to think about their USP, or Unique Selling Point. It's an important thing to consider, because a lot of your potential customers will want to know what makes you so special. If they've been happy with their existing supplier for any period of time, you have to ask yourself why they would switch over to you.

The problem, in many cases, is that people don't give this question enough thought. Where they fall down is on the first word - UNIQUE.

"We've got great customer service". Wow! Really? That's amazing, because just last week one of your competitors called to tell me that they hate all their customers and regularly spit in their onion rings.

"We always return phone calls." Fantastic. I can't remember the last time someone called me back, especially when I left a message telling them I had a massive order for them.

"We've been in business for nearly eight years." What do you give on an eighth year anniversary? I just looked it up - it's pottery. I suppose it's a good excuse to send out a mug but seriously, SO WHAT?!?!?!?

These things are not unique. Certainly they have a place in a sales pitch. If you're proud of your customer service then you certainly should share that with people. Better yet, get the customers themselves to share it with people for you, and you get to expand your sales force for free.

What makes your company unique? YOU. Your's is the only company that employs you. No other firm can offer your committment and creativity. No other firm can be as excited to work for that new client as you can. Now you might say that it's a little arrogant to think that it's you that makes your company special, but I don't agree. There's nothing wrong with being both confident in and proud of your ability. It's how you got the job in the first place, and in the current climate, it's how you're keeping it as well.

I enjoy what I do here. I get to work with companies within a multitude of industries and on a daily basis, I get challenged to come up with a new idea. My clients are paying for MY skills - not Merchandise Mania's, but MINE.

So the next time a potential client challenges you with "So what is it that makes you lot so special?", you'll know what to say - "Mine is the only company to have the foresight to employ me, so shouldn't you do the same?"

Arrogant? Perhaps. Confident? Defintely. Effective? Absolutely.

Have a good couple of weeks in business and enjoy the Bank Holiday too.

You Can't Put a Price on Happiness

Actually you can. In fact, armed with nothing more than a calculator and a twisted sense of morality, you can put a price on just about anything.

It may seem somewhat harsh to suggest that you can put a price on someone’s emotional state but what marketeers are most interested are people’s feelings. That flashy new sports car will make you feel good. That new aftershave will make you feel sexy. Red Bull never actually gave me wings, but on many occasions it did make me feel energized. Unless I drank three in a row, in which case it made me feel dizzy.

Now what inspired this blog was something that happened here in the office a couple of days ago. Recently we sent out a selection of gifts to some new potential customers. One of those gifts was a mobile phone stand that you put on your desk. It’s quite a snazzy design that really needs to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. If you’d like a sample – just ask.



So someone receives this sample and is very excited about it. She instantly loves this product. Now that first part is important – we’ve created an emotional response – we have someone who loves the product and is excited by it. Now we move on to phase two:

“We’re delighted about how you feel about that product. Just imagine if you could provoke the same reaction in your own customers, how would that be for your business?”

Now we all know what her answer is don’t we? It’s a loaded question. We don’t just send out random gifts to people because we’re all such lovely people. I mean we are lovely people, but that’s not the point here.

So then comes the burning question – how much? The good news is that this particular item is on special offer for the month of May and the price is now just a little over £3.

And that’s when it all goes South.

She’s planning on buying 1000 of these and £3 is just far too expensive for her. STOP!!!! Back up a few paces here. You’ve got the opportunity to get 1000 of your customers feeling good about you. You’ll either open new doors of communication or at the very least you’ll maintain those which are already open. You’ll be in the strongest position to introduce new products and new services. Your customers will be ready, willing and able to spend money with you……..and all of this will cost you only £3 per head.

And yet £3 is too expensive?

I’ve preached on and on about the power of focussed, targeted marketing campaigns which will do more for you than any random advert in a newspaper or magazine. It costs less and makes more – what more do you need to know?

So can you put a price on happiness? Yes you can – right now it’s about £3.

Do You Believe in Yes or No

Well, it looks like Spring has come and gone. In case any of you missed it, it was last Sunday and Monday. The weather does little to lift people's spirits and coupled with how generally quiet things are in the business world, I'd like to congratulate you on finding the courage to get out of bed and face the day.

The trouble is that those people who carry on preaching doom and gloom seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are actually adding to it. Having a positive mental attitude is not a cliche - I just took a sales call from a young lady who was upbeat and ready to answer my questions. She is someone who essentially believes in YES.

It's easy to spot these people - they're the ones to whom you actually do say YES. Conversely, it's not difficult to work out those people who believe in NO.

So how do you shift your beliefs? It's really very easy. The next time you're about to ask someone for something, be it a favour, a sale or even a raise, tell yourself that the person you are asking is going to say YES. Remove any doubt from your mind. No matter what you already know about this person or their situation, fix it firmly in your mind that this person is going to say YES to you. Better yet, make the prospect of them saying NO inconceivable.

If you're someone that forms an opinion on the outcome of a conversation before you have even had it, then it might be a good idea to practice first. Think of a small favour that you could ask of a friend and as you ask them, make a note of your tone and your body language. Pay attention to the words that you use and how much time you give to your friend to ask you questions. Remember, before you even start you have to believe with all your heart that this person will say YES.

For an added bit of fun, try doing the opposite as well. Try approaching someone whom you know will say NO to you and observe the changes - you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Marketing works in very much the same way. If you don't truly believe that your product is the best thing since sliced bread, your message will reflect your beliefs. The true measure of your product is the value that you can add to it. There's no point competing on price alone - someone out there will be cheaper than you and if the client is hell bent on finding the cheapest price, he or she will shop around until he or she has found it. Then you're left with the agonising choice of lowering your prices or walking away, which for most of us is a no win situation.

Customers are really not interested in what your product can do. They want to know what it can do for them. Do you really want to go to the market believing that the only benefit of your product is that it is cheaper than everyone else's? Sure, the economy is tight and people are looking for a bargain, but noone walks into Harrods and then moans that Lidl is cheaper - they know what they want. More importantly, Harrods firmly believes in YES. YES we are an elite store. YES our prices are high. YES we know why you shop here.

Your marketing must reflect your beliefs, and offering a gift to your customers shows them that you're in a position to go the extra mile to make them feel good. If they feel good about you and your products, they're so much more likely to buy.

As I have said many times before, the gift in question doesn't need to be anything too extravagant, but it does need to reflect what it is you're trying to say. You really don't need to thumb through endless catalogues and websites - a good consultant will do all of that work for you.

So what are you looking to achieve with your latest products and how can Merchandise Mania help you? Are you interested? I believe that your answer is YES.

We're Already Well Known Thanks

Well, to those of you who are interested, YES! I did complete the London Marathon last Sunday in a time of just over 6 hours. Initially I was aiming for around 5:30 but my training programme said to allow for the heat and given that over 6000 people were treated for heat stroke, I'm pretty pleased to have finished in one piece. That piece is still rather sore, but believe it or not, I'm actually contemplating doing it again next year.

Thanks to anyone who sponsored me, wished me well or had anything else to do with it - your efforts are truly appreciated.

OK. Let's talk marketing. (Oh, do we have to Paul? It's like all you ever talk about in here. Why don't we just go and bury our heads in the sand like everyone else and look forward to the new Star Trek movie?)

I had a very interesting conversation with a client this week. They were already ordering some items for a conference but we hadn't really talked about their marketing materials. To paraphrase, this is what happened next:

Me: So how do you use promotional merchandise to market yourselves?

Client: We really don't need to market ourselves, people have generally heard of us.

Me: Interesting. Tell me, have you ever heard of Coca Cola?

Client: Good point.

It seems so obvious but people out there still don't seem to get it. We all of us walk around believing that the world at large has generally heard of our company. The trouble is that unless you are working for the likes of Coca Cola, Microsoft and so on, the chances are that you are not world famous.

Merchandise Mania are pretty well known - within our industry. It's not like I meet someone at a dinner party and when I tell them where I work they say "Oh yes, Merchandise Mania, I've heard of you guys - you're brilliant!" Actually, that did happen once but it was an amazing coincidence - the person I met at a party was literally in the process of ordering some merchandise from a colleague. Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it.

Should we all be striving to be world famous? Sure, there are some companies that simply couldn't handle that level of work. That's fine, but to not consider some expansion just makes no sense at all. We should all be working so hard that we are at the point of turning work away, and when that point arrives, we can start looking at hiring more people. The latest unemployment figures suggest that it would not be that hard to find someone out there who's looking for a job.

Let's go back to the Coca Cola reference. Coca Cola don't need to market themselves. Their brand positioning is second to none and yet they still choose to do it. Why? Because they recognise that good marketing doesn't just get you to the top - it keeps you there too. What's to stop me switching to Pepsi? A taste test? Hardly. A lower price point? Nope - I can buy a supermarket own brand cola for a lot less, despite the fact that I'd rather stab my own eyes with a fork. Fact is that it's all in the marketing - subliminal messaging, rebranding, whatever it takes to win the Cola Wars, they've thought of it and they're trying it out on me and you.

So the next time you're thinking "people have heard of us", ask yourself a few fundamental questions - Which people? How have they heard of you? Most importantly, what have they heard about you?

Good marketing takes many forms and in the current climate, none of them should be overlooked. Even this blog is one of the ways I market myself and all it costs me is the time it takes to write it. My name is Paul Rose and I work for Merchandise Mania - I take it you've heard of me?

Scrap Your No Names Policy

In this job, I have to do a lot of cold calling. That’s a dirty word for a lot of people, whose minds instantly turn to having their dinner interrupted by someone using a fake English name when it’s painfully obvious that they’re calling you from a woefully overstaffed call centre in Calcutta.

These people want to talk about mortgages, kitchens, mobile phone tariffs, investments and all manner of personal information and yet they choose to start their call with a lie. “Hello, this is Mandy from British Telecom” – sorry love, but I can think of at least three things wrong with that sentence.

Cold calling in a B2B environment is an entirely different animal, yet there are still some people who find it hard to separate a genuine opportunity from a monkey trying to sell them double glazing.

On numerous occasions, I get politely told by receptionists that the people with whom I need to speak do not take unsolicited phone calls. Are there seriously still people out there who hold on to that mentality? Some of the greatest business relationships of our time have started with an unsolicited call. Mariah Carey blocked the path of an oncoming limo just to get her demo heard by the record company rep inside. That was an unsolicited call that made them both millions. Just imagine the outcome if that driver had chosen to just plough straight over her – Whitney Houston would have been left to monopolise the market on singing songs that only dogs can hear, and that’s just not right.

However busy I am, I can always spare a minute on the phone to hear a great new idea. If I’m not interested, I say so, and if I am too busy to continue the conversation, I schedule a follow up call for later in the day when I hope things will have calmed down.

Never have I had my colleagues dismiss someone who was calling to introduce themselves for the first time. Every idea and every relationship in history was new and unknown at some point. It was open minded people that allowed them to flourish.

Then there’s my other beef. The no names policy. “Sorry, but we have a no names policy here”. Really? Then how do you address each other?

These policies are essentially in place to block calls from headhunters. I know this because I used to be one. Once they’ve got a name then they can pounce, stealing all of your staff and then laughing wildly as they deposit massive cheques into their already overstuffed bank accounts.

Is that what companies are afraid of? Ultimately, that shows a fundamental lack of trust. Not only in their employees, but actually in their own company’s ability to keep their staff happy enough to not want to leave.

If a headhunter calls me up to tell me about an opportunity, I’ll listen. To dismiss him would be to go against everything that I have said here. The fact is that a truly unhappy member of your team is going to find a way to leave anyway – you can’t stop it, so you may as well let it run its course.

So why can’t I have the name of your Marketing Manager? All I want to do is help him make you some more money. Imagine I was calling to offer him a million pounds. Now imagine his reaction when he learns that reception would not put me through. Now a million may be excessive, but I am calling to help improve the company’s profits. I am calling to technically offer you all some money.

So what’s in a name? That policy is costing your company so much more than you know.

This is your last chance to sponsor me before the Flora London Marathon this Sunday. People keep asking me if I am ready, but as I have never done anything like this before, I have no idea what being ready feels like. All I know is that I will cross that finish line – even if it’s on all fours. Thanks to all of you who have supported me with your kind wishes and generous sponsorship – it really is appreciated.

Don't update that CV just yet

With all the doom and gloom in the air, a number of otherwise joy filled offices have become about as much fun as a Peter Andre concert - you know there was a reason for showing up, but now you're there you just can't put your finger on it.

One group of people feeling the pinch are recruitment companies, mainly because there are fewer and fewer jobs to go around. Any time someone starts looking around, the so called experts tell them to keep their head down, weather the storm, and just wait for things to improve.

Hold on a second. Wait for things to improve and then leave? It seems to me that if you find yourself working within a company that can survive this downturn, that you'd be sitting on a goldmine when things turn around.

Now is not the time to be getting that CV updated, and it's not just about keeping your head down in order to not rock the boat. This is the time to be proving just what a superstar you can be. You need to prove just how invaluable you are to your employer. You see I spent eight years in recruitment before I got into promotional merchandise and if there's one thing I know (that would be rather limiting wouldn't it? Eight years to only learn one thing) is that the best candidates don't need to go looking for the best jobs - the best jobs will invariably find them.

So how to prove one's self in this bucket of crap we call our economy? Your bosses need you to be an innovator - to look at every aspect of your business and find ways to cut costs and improve profits. It's not just down to the sales people and the accountants to make those things work - everyone within every organisation should be thinking about their company's future. Some of the most innovative ideas of all time came from people working in departments other than sales. Companies like Swan Vesta and Colgate are worth millions today because of ideas presented by their cleaning staff.

So let's see if we can come up with your next million pound idea. Trust me - if I had one, I wouldn't be sat here right now. So let's start with something simple. When is the last time you thought about your company's relationship with its customers? I'm not talking about who spends the most money with you or who you offer the best corporate hospitality. I'm talking about all of your customers. How do they feel about you? Are there areas of your service that they would want to see changed, improved or perhaps removed altogether?

Most importantly, when was the last time you asked them?

Merchandise Mania make a point of sending out an electronic survey card with every order that we fulfil. We ask our customers to rank us from 1 to 5 on various aspects of their order. We cover everything from the quality of the advice given through to the speed of the delivery and everything in between.

Those customers that give us 5 out of 5 across the board make us happy - we know that they will be using us again and again. Those that give us less than 5 make us ecstatic - they provide us with a valuable opportunity to improve our service, to outshine the competition and truly become number 1 in our industry.

These survey cards cost us nothing at all, but the information we get back is priceless. So that's my tip for the week - go and make yourself indispensable to your employers by making sure that your company is indispensable to your customers.

Statistics are no use to me

Are you sick of it yet? Marketing people all over the world telling you that the biggest mistake you can make in this economic crisis is to cut your marketing budgets. You need to spend more, you must borrow budgets from other departments, hell, sell a kidney if you have to but for God’s sake DON’T STOP MARKETING!!!!!!

Sure, there are lots of statistics to back up the advice. Companies who spent more on marketing in the last recession saw sales grow by as much as 70%. Such firms included Kraft, Pizza Hut and my personal favourite – Taco Bell, not that they have them over here any more, so I’m left to fend for myself with an Old El Paso Taco Kit and frankly, chopping tomatoes is a bloody pain.

OK, so we know that it works – not the tomatoes, the marketing. We also know that companies all over the world are cutting back on their marketing despite all of the evidence screaming at them that they’re wrong. The trouble is that statistics don’t actually answer the fundamental question – just exactly WHY is it important to spend more and HOW will it make my sales increase.

For me, I think it’s important to strip away all of the maths and economic theorem. I didn’t go to university and I don’t really have a firm grasp of economics. My view of money is a simple one – either you have it or you don’t, and it doesn’t matter which one of those groups you’re in, you always want more.

So once you strip it all away what are you really left with? Emotion. Trust. Confidence. These are commodities that you can actually use.

Let’s say that word gets out that one of your competitors is not doing so well. Their own customers are going to start to lose that confidence. They’re going to feel like it would be a good idea to see what else is available. That once loyal customer goes back out into the marketplace. They’re a brand new prospect facing all of the noise and confusion that goes with looking for a new supplier. Who do they call first? You guessed it – they call the company who made the most noise. In other words, they called the company that utilised the best marketing strategy.

It’s really very simple. When things are going well, you market yourself to attract new customers. There’s a pool of potential clients out there just waiting to be approached. But then if you think about it, it’s always been that way, and it always will be, only when things are bad, there are more people in that pool, and they’re screaming to be taken out.

But wait, you say – what if there is no rumour that my competitor is in trouble? What if things are actually fine? Well they’re not fine are they? Any newspaper can tell you that. All of a sudden everybody wants to negotiate, they’ve turned the entire commercial world into one big Middle Eastern street market – not just because they have less to spend, but because they are working on the assumption that suppliers are dropping prices just to undercut the competition. “What do you mean five quid? That’s daylight robbery. I’ll give you four quid and that’s my final offer”. I see, so five pounds is robbery but four is socially acceptable. Lovely.

None the less our competitors' once loyal customers have started browsing in that stall across the street. They’re enticed by all the shiny trinkets on display, the scent of ethnic snacks that fill the air and the shopkeeper that’s such a colourful character. Put the analogy back in the box and you’ll realise the stall in question is you. Your marketing concept is slicker than your competitors and you will win that business.

It’s all about emotion. People don’t feel confident right now. Your competitors didn’t do anything wrong, but their customers are under increasing pressure to ensure that they are getting the absolute best deal that they can, so whilst it’s more important than ever to hang on to your existing clients, it would be crazy not to take advantage of the fact that your competitors might be struggling to do just that.

How do you do that? Marketing. Do it right and the costs will quickly disappear in a sea of profit. Don’t do it all and…….well, do we really need to spell it out?