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Blog Posts With the Most Comments
Even losing customers can impr
It's a fair comment to say that every organisation will occasionally lose customers. However it's vital that any disappearing customer is still engaged. After all, there was something which made them choose to stop using your product or service.
Sometimes it's just not possible. If you're selling FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) obviously you can't expect to have a 1-2-1 relationship with either your customers or your ex customers. Resources just don't allow it, and customers just aren't interested. There are methods using social networking, but often true engagement just cannot exist, so customers are dealt with as a collective and series of stats.
However, for smaller organisations, dealing on a more personal level it's vital you keep track of new customers as well as former customers.
As a policy, I try to greet every new customer personally, I'm genuinely grateful for their interest and custom. Whether they are the first customer or the 1,000,000th, it makes no difference to me. Without them the company would be nothing, so I thank and try to help. This can and does take a significant investment in time, but it's worth it. Relationships cannot be underestimated, however young.
I try to start that relationship building as soon as possible. It's a commonly stated phrase that your customers will not tell you they are dissatisfied. Personally, I don't buy into this. I think they would do if they are offered the chance - not through feedback forms, but through genuine communications. Ultimately, getting personal feedback is so much more beneficial as it also allows you to respond directly. I've seen a roadmap for a competitor product - and that was very helpful, but I couldn't help feel that what was suggested was what should be on any product roadmap in this day and age. Everything on their was on ours...! However, we've been asking for feedback personally and we've been able to address small issues which make big differences to our users. This is truely invaluable. It may not make us that many friends in the press, but it does seem to make friends with the people that matter!
This relationship also goes beyond the moment the customer leaves. Don't forget that they will have left for a reason - and while they may not have told you they were unhappy, they may well tell you what you could do to improve. So ask the question, if you can, and you never know, your product roadmap or customer service strategy may take a huge positive step.
So the message from me? Talk, communicate, but be genuine, be personal and above all else, don't be afraid of the answers you get. They could just make the difference of your organisation being a huge success, an average performer or even an ex-organisation.
ISONAS Is A Green Technology P
ISONAS, the World Wide leader in IP Access Control Systems, recognizes the PowerNet™ as a Green Technology Product.
Green building is as much about design strategy as about selecting eco-friendly materials.
Integrated design is thinking about how a building works as a system, and designing that system to be environmentally friendly is a key part of green building. Certain products, particularly those that deal with energy, can be used in ways that enhance the environmental performance of a building. The ISONAS PowerNet™ Access Control System can be used in any building type, and through its BACNet and OPC interfaces can integrate seamlessly with Building Automation applications.
Reduced energy usage, which also reduces carbon dioxide emissions and your energy bill, is one of the most effective green strategies for business. The PowerNet IP Reader from ISONAS uses PoE (Power over Ethernet) to power the reader and the associated door hardware. This provides the lowest possible energy cost for powering an Access Control system.
Eco-friendly materials are used in the manufacturing of ISONAS Reader-Controllers. ISONAS is certified with RoHS, a standard banning the general use of six hazardous substances including lead and mercury. ISONAS has also taken the strategy of using green materials in its packaging and shipping of its products.
The smallest manufacturing carbon footprint of any Access Control system is made possible by the panel-free nature of the PowerNet series. Combined with a single Cat 5 cable for installation versus the multitude of copper wiring required by alternative Access Control systems, the ISONAS PowerNet is the cleanest, most sustainable Access Control system in the world.
Low impact manufacturing means that ISONAS creates inventory based on consumer demand. With the ability to access and analyze real-time demand signals, ISONAS is one of a growing number of companies moving from push to pull manufacturing. By nature, this not only eliminates excess inventory, thereby reducing waste, but it also decreases carbon emissions as it relates to the creation of products and materials.
No Paper Waste is the ISONAS philosophy. As an IP product manufacturer in the electronic age of technology, marketing materials as well as technical manuals are created electronically and posted on our website available to everyone in PDF form. By making technical manuals, marketing materials and catalogs easily accessible on our web site, ISONAS does not waste paper on needlessly printing excessive paper-based documents.
Localized Manufacturing ISONAS is based in Boulder, Co, where its PowerNet Readers are manufactured for the North American market. Off-shoring models of the past are increasingly being replaced with more efficient “right-shoring” models, as the risks and costs associated with manufacturing at long distances from one’s customers continue to surface. Longer lead times, increased fuel costs, larger carbon footprints and excess inventory are causing companies to re-examine where and how much they outsource. With the ability to analyze the various factors driving costs and environmental impacts, companies can create balanced plans that are both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. ISONAS is committed to manufacturing as close to its end user base as possible.
About ISONAS Security Systems, Inc. Since 1999, ISONAS Security Systems has provided advanced, Internet Protocol (IP) Access Control solutions for customers who require the superior, real-time access control enabled by a true network appliance. ISONAS is the first and leading developer of IP-at-the-door reader-controllers. Driven by its Windows-based Crystal Matrix Software™, ISONAS products are easily integrated with other network based systems, providing the most advanced physical access security for buildings and workplaces worldwide, across a wide range of industrial applications.
Thanks for visiting Kondor Security and remember, if you can't find it at first glance, you're more than welcome to contact us.
Character building in Fargo
Shortly after graduating in 1990 from my Alma Mater, St. John’s University (like a mother’s womb—warm, peaceful, quiet, happy--compared to the “real world”), I moved to Hell (Fargo, North Dakota—Hell is cold, not hot). Hell was hiring; there were no jobs anywhere else. So, I packed up my basketball and ten speed and took a job as the “Production Manager” for a small wholesale tuxedo business. The business, as you can imagine, was highly seasonal. This resulted in periodically hiring full-time, temporary staff to handle the shipping/receiving, dry cleaning, and alterations, all managed under my youthful, inexperienced watch. Because I was so “green,” I made many hiring mistakes; also in management; and in leadership. This resulted in an onslaught of misery with impeccable timing: when the work flow increased, the hours got long, the temps started resigning. My ultimate responsibility was to ensure that the Groom in Bizmark was wearing the white tuxedo ordered, and the prom date had a matching periwinkle bow tie to his girlfriend’s gown. If I failed, those special moments would be tainted by my ineptitude. If the temps fled; I was the safety net. Following were the countless hours “pinch hitting” where needed (management was out the window—it was absolute chaos), begging the few dedicated workers I had to stay, racing up and down the 3 story building, pressing shirts in the basement (sometimes well over 100 degrees), learning how to blind-stitch a pair of pants, and making sure shipping labels were properly affixed. My longest day was 36 hours. I remember the feeling, as I peeled my suit off at the end of the day(s), eyes blood shot and swollen, and seeing the salt stains around my navy blue dress socks from the sweaty heat of that basement: nobody knew and nobody seemed to care. The job; the location, all irrelevant. I was the hardest working 22 year old in the state. It was a secret, so I left a year later with the opinion I didn’t belong in management; it was miserable, and I wasn’t any good at it. It was certainly character building.
Another experience, similar, was in working for a large, residential painting contractor in the Chicagoland Area. I was 24, and recruited by them to head up the North Shore operations, later to take over a major portion of the metro area. It was my first crack at managing the P & L: sales, marketing, operations. Although the company was very small at the start, I was in way over my head. Like always, I compensated with effort where my ability was lacking. In the beginning, I had only 12 employees and finished with over 100, and the company made a decent profit. This, like the tuxedo business, was highly seasonal. I moved from Minneapolis to Chicago, was alone, and worked every day for the first few months. I was so “challenged” (I was terrible at the job at first) I slept in my office from Monday through Thursday. My logic was that if I saved a half hour commuting to and from, I would be able to get an hour longer sleep. So, every night at about 10 PM in my little office suite, hearing through the thin walls a periodic car racing by, the air conditioner rattling in the window, I would unroll my sleeping bag, turn out the lights, set my watch and wallet on the oak-colored Formica desk, curl up on the musty old carpet, and sleep like a 25 year old (I was thankfully young). The hard work was starting to pay off as we grew.
One morning, we had an executive meeting at the headquarters of the company with the leaders of the Minnesota and Ohio operations getting together to discuss our respective performance. It was a Friday morning, the end of a work week with nights spent on the office floor, and while driving south for the meeting, I pulled out my electric razor to start shaving (I was one of those guys—saved about 5 minutes a day). The battery died. I couldn’t shave. When I arrived, the owner of the company looked at me with disgust—tired looking and day-old stubble--and tossed me a rhetorical question like he was throwing a Frisbee: “You couldn’t even shave, could you?” Now, he’s not a mean-spirited guy and had every right to expect professionalism from me. However, it was out of character for me to look like that, and he knew I was working hard; I tried to explain I had been sleeping in the office to keep up, but he cut me off and we began the meeting.
Why is all of this pertinent? Well, as I progressed, those painful experiences I’ll never forget. Not so much the hard work, but the combination of the hard work (and performance) and not feeling appreciated. At a very young age I held positions where I hired many, many people. It became clear to me through that process, that there weren’t very many people willing to be dedicated and put forth the effort I thought was so common. I DID learn that it played a key role in my success as I started to develop in my career. So, through simple deduction, I realized that if I was able to identify similar effort, there was almost immeasurable value there; likewise, with the opposite. That epiphany shaped the way I recruited, managed and lead, looking specifically for signs of determination and effort--even above experience and a history of success--and created an environment where the great people surrounding me carried me to levels I hoped for but didn’t expect. Although not always with perfect execution, those I inherited with that character, I spent the lion’s share of my time with, mentoring them. To summarize my lesson learned the hard way, after identifying those characteristics, I made it my mission to ensure I would never allow an opportunity to pass in recognizing that level of determination and effort. These characteristics, once identified, are true “diamonds in the rough” and should be treated as such, with great care.
A Blog Virgin is Deflowered
Okay, I've put off doing a blog long enough. Now it seems that WorkBench is making it way too easy. I've Twitter'd, Facebook'd, Plaxo'd, LinkedIn, posted to del.icio.us, flickr'd and most recently Plurk'd. I regularly read a few marketing blogs (2 favorites: www.drewsmarketingminute.com and "Opinions of An Ad Guy "http://blog.bggadvertising.com/), try to post when I have good content to add, and use Google's news feed as my primary outlet for live news. Compared to the average 46-year-old person, I'm pretty experienced with Social Media. So why does it still feel like the utility and purpose of these things for business are frustratingly just beyond my grasp?
As the President and Creative Director of an Advertising and Design firm, I need to "get it."
Over the next few weeks, I'll attempt to chart my course in figuring it out. If you have any advice or suggestions, I welcome your input!
There! No longer a blog virgin, but still far from being the blogospheres's version of a street-corner evening entrepreneur....
Finally- A Social Search Engin
Scour.com introduced (in Beta) a social search engine that lets you make comments about (or rate) the relevancy of the search engine results and to post comments about the site. Members earn points for searching and being active within the community and can exchange their points for Visa gift cards. Scour uses the combined search results of Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Mid-Week Marketing Makeover
ANNOUNCING: A new way to make your marketing stick, without getting stuck!!
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Dear fellow small business owner,
Do you want to grow your business - but just don’t know how? I meet business owners and executives every day who are amazingly technically competent, financially and business savvy, but they struggle to understand marketing. They don’t know where to spend their money - or what to expect in results. It seems fundamentally “unfair” that good people fail in business because of a lack of marketing understanding. This fact inspires me every day to find clients that I know deserve better. If you have a good business, and you want to make it GREAT - I hope you’ll make this The Mid-Week Marketing Makeover part of your critical path to success.
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Take them all in a month, or spread them out, we made it easy so you can make it work!
The Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Program allows you to:
Tornado Marketing and the Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Program is ideal for:
How does the program work?
What will you receive by joining the Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Program?
What will be covered in our Duct Tape Marketing Coaching program?
What is the cost for the Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Program?
The total cost for all of our guaranteed marketing coaching is $1,500 dollars. You may also choose to pay $500 dollars a month.
*There is also a $300 dollar fee for the Duct Tape Ultimate Marketing System workbook and audio course material & the book, The Duct Tape Marketing System due before starting the program. A three month payment plan for this fee may be included.
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A couple of thoughts on online
1) Branding extension
2) traffic driver
To be effective any ad has to be eye catching. There has to be a strong visual componant that attrracts the eye and compelling content that keeps the attention focused on the ad. Online, the ad can utilize motion/animation to attract the eye (we can't yet handle video or sound in e-mail ads at this time - and until such time as the file size of those ads decreases, it's really not a realistic option). Otherwise, a strong/compelling visual must be used.
The other thing that online ads need, is a call to action. This is typically done through a clear benefit statement. You don't have to say the words "click here",
Be different
Be Sticky
Be Practical
...
Find out How!
Online ads aren't always as large as their print counterparts. That means space is at a premium. I typically do not advise including elements such as web addresses, phone numbers, and street addresses in online ads unless it is part of your overall brand identity (1800flowers.com is an example). Usually this information is simply included out of habit from advertising on other mediums.
1) This information is already on your web page, which is where you are trying to get the person to go to anyway.
2) Web address, you are trying to get them to go to the site by clicking on the ad - why include it on the ad
3) Phone #, street address: This is an online viewer, if they are going to follow the link, it is because they are looking for information about you online, now. Not later, in an offline medium.
Thanks to John Jantsch, And My
Well, I wanted to thank John for the invitation to Get More Social , so here I am following his advice and socializing in his very own back yard, so to speak -- or should I say garage, inasmuch as the metaphor is a workbench.
So far so good. No bloggers were harmed in the filming of this post.
It was interesting to learn a little more about the technology behind this. Being something of a part time Web 2.0 Luddite, I wrote a silly little Ning Review a couple of months ago. Come to find out Ning is just one of the companies allowing you to set up your own social network. Another popular choice is Kickapps, which is what the Workbench is running on. So far so good -- though I very much dislike the bug where the profile page editor wipes out all your work if you make a mistake. Kickapps developers, wake up and smell the user friendliness!
But all that is past us now -- hopefully I don't lose this blog post when I hit submit. Let's find out, shall we?
[UPDATE -- SURE ENOUGH, THE SOFTWARE BLEW IT AWAY. LUCKY I COPY AND PASTED FIRST]
Discover The Health Benefits o
Those looking for natural ways to be healthy may be very pleased to find out more about the health benefits of Acai Berry.
As you must know, Acai Berry has been used by indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest for thousands of years, for long life. You see, Acai Berry is one of the most nutritious fruits in the world. Many consider Acai Berry as a super food, and it may very well be. This deep purple fruit is loaded with antioxidants and vitamins that boost a human being’s vitality.
The healing properties of Acai Berry cannot at all be taken for granted. Besides the abundance of antioxidants, Acai Berry is also rich in anthocyanin, a compound that is said to contribute largely to good heart health. Anthocyanin is also found in red wine, but in lesser quantities. The fruit also has high levels of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, thereby helping to protect the heart and reducing bad cholesterol levels.
The powerful combination of antioxidants, essential vitamins and anthocyanin also makes Acai Berry very effective in delaying the aging process. At the same time, it can also be used in detoxification and also in weight loss.
In the past, Acai Berry was limited only to the people in the Amazon Rainforest, but nowadays, this powerful fruit comes in different preparations so more people can experience its health benefits when they take Acai Berry as a supplement.
If you are unable to take Acai Berry in its freshest form, you will nonetheless be able to take it in capsule form. Since the discovery of the goodness of Acai Berry, many manufacturing companies have come out with their own version of Acai Berry supplements. It is important that you take extreme caution before buying Acai Berry supplements. Always take time to read through product reviews and customer testimonials so you can be confident that you are making the right decision.
Most sellers of Acai Berry are so confident in their product that they allow you to try Acai Berry supplements for free for a certain period, say two or three months. Then again, always read thoroughly the terms and conditions the product comes with to make sure that you can always return the product without any obligation on your part if you don’t experience any visible effects at all.
The health benefits of Acai Berry are definitely more than just hype. Be on the road to good health yourself when you use Acai Berry as a food supplement.
1000s of people have tried these acai berry pills and have seen improved health and weight loss. Read this about how to lose weight using acai berry supplements.
Ready for Operational Excellen
This particular document covers Operational Excellence and how one would get started. Robert Stapp of OP-EX Direct Results was in the hot seat answering the questions.
An excerpt from the transcript: "It's when you decide that you want to move from being a good company to a great company. That's when you say to yourself: "OK. We need to take this path, and this path is the path of operating excellence."
OP-EX Transcript on Operational Excellence -
Related Blog Post:
Operational Excellence, It's about the People not the Tools
Hoshin Kanri aka Policy Deployment
News Release
Technorati : Black Belt, Lean, Operational Excellence, Six Sigma
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Network Your Way to Success
Positive personal impact is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. First, create and nurture your personal brand. Second, be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. Third, know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
People who create positive personal impact are good at networking. They know how to engage others quickly and leave a positive, lasting impression. Dressing well and paying attention to your appearance is a great start. However, great networkers know that looking good is only one piece of the puzzle. Here are some of my best common sense tips on how to create positive personal impact through networking.
Here are my four best ideas on creating positive personal impact when networking…
Stay focused on the person with whom you are in a conversation. Many people let their eyes wander – especially at networking events. When you do this, you are sending a message to the person with whom you are speaking that he or she is less important than someone else you might spot in the crowd. It’s not only polite, it’s good business sense to focus on the person in front of you. Exchange business cards before you move on to speak with someone else.
Listen and respond appropriately to people you meet. Maintain eye contact. Ask questions if you don’t understand what they say. Paraphrase what they say to make sure you understand. Above all, respond appropriately – don’t take the conversation in a new direction until the topic under discussion has been exhausted.
Build relationships with people you meet by being helpful. Take the initiative. Give them leads that may help them. Last week, Helen Whelan CEO of SuccessTelevision.com sent me an email letting me know about a pr opportunity. I thanked Helen and followed up on the opportunity. I also sent it to two people I know who may be better suited than me. Why? Because I wanted to strengthen my relationships with them – and what better way to build strong relationships that by giving something of value to other people.
Learn from as many people as you can. Everybody has something to offer. With some people you have dig a little more deeply than with others. Regardless, treat every conversation as a learning opportunity. The more you listen, the more you’ll learn.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. Networking is a great way to create a powerful lasting impression for yourself. You will create positive personal impact in networking situations if you: 1) stay focused on the person with whom you are engaged in conversation; 2) listen and respond appropriately; 3) build relationships by being helpful; and 4) learn from as many people as you can.
That’s my take on using networking to create positive personal impact. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Positive Personal Impact and S
Positive personal impact is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. 1) Develop and nurture your unique personal brand. 2) Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. 3) Know and follow the basic rules of business etiquette.
I have a new book coming out this summer: 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been giving readers of this blog a sneak peek at what’s inside. Rule 11: Create Positive Personal Impact is an overview of some of my thoughts on creating positive personal impact. Here it is…
All successful people create positive personal impact. Positive personal impact is like charisma, only more so. People gravitate towards people with positive personal impact. When you create positive personal impact other people want to be around you. They want to work with you. They want to be your friend and colleague
People with positive personal impact develop and nurture their personal brand. They are impeccable in their presentation of self. They know and follow the basic rules of etiquette. If you master these three keys, you’ll be able to create positive personal impact.
I have a customer service model that I use with my consulting clients. It begins from the premise that after any interaction your customers R.A.T.E. you. The people in your life R.A.T.E. you too. You can use your R.A.T.E.ing to build positive personal impact. It works like this…
• R stands for Responsiveness;
• A stands for Assurance;
• T stands for Tangibles; and
• E stands for Empathy.
If you notice, only one of the four points in the model – tangibles – is what you actually do for, or deliver to, the people in your life. The other three are the emotional measures by which people judge you. These emotional measures are at least as important as the tangibles you deliver, especially when it comes to creating positive personal impact.
You have to deliver the tangibles. You must produce results. That’s the cost of a ticket to the professional success sweepstakes.
However, you have to pay attention to the other three factors – responsiveness, assurance, and empathy – if you’re going to make a positive personal impact while you’re performing. Let’s look at each of these three in detail.
Responsiveness. You have to ensure that the people in your life see you as someone who is willing to help, someone who understands what needs to be done and is willing to do it. Other people need to think that you will give them what they want, when they want it, and in a manner that they can use it.
Assurance. You have to be able to convey trust and confidence. People need to feel that you are going to deliver. To do this, you must be very knowledgeable about the people in your life and their needs and wants. You need to be clear on what you can offer them to help them meet their goals. You need to ensure that they are confident that you will do what you say you will do.
Empathy. The people in your life must perceive you as an individual who understands, cares about, and pays attention to their needs. To do this, you need to be willing to walk a mile in other people’s shoes. You have to demonstrate to them that you are aware of and sensitive to their unique and individual needs.
The common sense point here is simple. To create positive personal impact, you must do more than deliver results, look good, and act graciously. You have to be seen by others as a person who is responsive to their needs and requests. You have to build trust with these individuals, and you need to demonstrate that you understand their needs and issues.
That’s a sneak peek at Rule 11: Create Positive Personal Impact in my forthcoming book 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. I’ll let you know when it is available. As I’m still working on this book, I would appreciate your feedback in the form of a comment on this post. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Social Networking and Success
Positive personal impact is one of the keys to success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. 1) Create and nurture your unique personal brand. 2) Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. 3) Know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
Even if you’re not in business for yourself, you need to have a personal brand and a web presence to create positive personal impact. These days, I hear the question, “If you don’t exist on line, do you really exist?” That’s a good question. Prospective employers will Google you. You’ll be better off, if they like what they see. It’s much better than if they find unfavorable results or nothing at all. Today when people want to learn about you most of their answers usually come from Google.
This can be pretty scary – if you don’t take the time to make sure that you have an internet presence that reflects well on you. The best place to begin is with your unique personal brand. Your personal brand highlights what is special and unique about you – why you are not a commodity.
For my money, the best book on personal branding is Career Distinction by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. They stress the importance of the “Three C’s” – Clarity, Consistency and Constancy. You can use the internet to help you with all three C’s.
I’m a big believer in social networking sites to help you build your brand online. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace are great places to build relationships with like-minded people. I believe that LinkedIn is best for building professional relationships. Choose the social network where you have the greatest affinity with the people who are on it.
Leaving comments on targeted blogs is another good way to build your brand on line. This means that you read blogs that are tied to your field or area of expertise and comment on posts that interest you. I used to be bad about this. I read quite a few blogs, but commented very infrequently. I set a goal to leave at least five comments on blogs per day. That’s 25 comments a week. I’ve stuck to it, and it has paid off. I have raised my web presence by commenting on other people’s blogs. Of course, I am in business for myself, and my web presence is very important to me.
You don’t have to do 25 comments a week. Start small, one comment a day is reasonable. I think that if you have limited time, you are better off starting your own blog and posting two or three times a week. This will also boost your web presence and enhance your personal brand. This assumes, of course, that you have something to say. And, in my opinion, everyone has something to say.
On line book reviews are another way to build your brand. Do you read a lot? If so, take a few minutes and review books that you like on Amazon.com. Because I blog about books quite a bit, I have started to receive review copies from major publishing houses. A while back, I decided to post only positive reviews. If I don’t like a book, I don’t do a negative review. I do this because there are enough interesting, well written books out there. I choose to focus on them instead of bashing those books (however few) I don’t like. If you begin writing reviews, you too, may start receiving free books to review.
The common sense point here is simple. Use the internet to build your personal brand by paying attention to your internet presence. Focus on the “three C’s” – clarity, Consistency, and Constancy when building your brand – both on line and off line. Make sure your web presence reflects the person you want others – especially those who don’t know you -- to see. Besides presenting yourself well, you can do a number of things to amp up your web presence. Write a blog, comment on other people’s blogs. Review books on Amazon.com. Having a lot of hits come up when someone Google’s you is a good thing.
That’s my take on web presence and positive personal impact. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Lessons from the World's Great
I’ve recently been newly inspired by a man by the name of Joe Girard. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s called the World’s Greatest Sales Person - and for good reason.
For more than a decade Joe sold cars. A lot of cars. In fact, in 1973 he was given the title of World’s Greatest Sales Person in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here’s a blurb from that entry: ” The all-time record for automobile salesmanship in individual units sold is 1,425 in 1973, by Joe Girard of Detroit, author of “How to Sell Anything to Anybody” and winner of the Number One Car Salesman title every year from 1966 to 1977.”
1,425 cars sold in ONE YEAR! In fact, during his fifteen year selling career, he sold 13,001 new cars and trucks, all at retail - no fleet, wholesale or used vehicles. After selling cars for just 3 years, Joe had so much business it was by appointment only. This is an amazing individual.
Read Joe’s bio when you have a chance. His entire life story is remarkable and inspiring and there is much to be learned from his story. However, I want to focus on just one of the things Joe did to build the amount of relationships necessary to sell thousands upon thousands of cars.
Joe truly understood the importance of relationship marketing if you want to consistently sell anything. (Or, in Joe’s case, completely dominate your market.) He did a couple of key things to build those relationships that all could revolutionize every business.
First of all, he hired people to deal with administrative work so that he could have more time to interact with his customers. Second, he kept in touch with people via mail month after month. At one point, Joe was sending 16,000 cards each month to customers and prospective customers. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to get a card in the mail each and every month from a car salesman. When you needed to purchase a car, wouldn’t it seem unthinkable to go to anyone else?
Dan Kennedy is quoted as saying that 68% of customers leave because they don’t feel loved or valued. You don’t really even know you’ve lost them. They just go away. Think about what would happen in your business if this wasn’t true. If, instead of loosing 68% of your business each year, you kept it. And imagine what would happen if that 68% felt so valued by you that they told their friends, family and coworkers. What would that do to the growth of your business? For Joe, it meant selling 13,000 cars.
This kind of customer retention and referral generation isn’t that hard to do, it just has to end up at the top of your priority list. You could send a hand written “Thank you for your time” every time you meet with a prospect. Send a hand written thank you card for each order. Send gifts of appreciation. Go beyond the flat customer retention programs that many companies mindlessly employ and do something for your customers to show your appreciation that is completely unexpected.
Here’s a great example: I heard about a handyman who built his business on the promise that his company would leave each client’s house cleaner than when they arrived. He trained his employees to not only clean up their own mess, but to noticeably leave the home cleaner in some way. What an amazingly simple way to not only create a wildly successful business, but to completely dominate a market.
What customer retention systems can you add to your marketing strategy this year to not only keep the customers you have, but to ensure that you are their only source for what you offer? How can you apply what Joe did to increase sales? What can you do that provokes those same loyal customers to tell everyone they know about you? Please share your ideas!
Become Interpersonally Compete
This is a blog about personal and professional success. If you’ve read it in 2008 – and if you have, I thank you -- you know that in my Amazon.com bestseller, Straight Talk for Success, I point out that successful people have five things in common:
1. Successful people are self confident.
2. Successful people create positive personal impact.
3. Successful people are outstanding performers.
4. Successful people are dynamic communicators.
5. Successful people are interpersonally competent.
As we begin 2009, I will do a brief recap of each of these. Today’s focus is interpersonal competence.
Interpersonal competence is the final key to success. If you want to become interpersonally competent, you need to do three things.
1. Become self aware. Understand yourself and your impact on others. Use your self awareness to better understand others and to increase your influence with them.
2. Build solid, long lasting mutually beneficial relationships with other people. Relationships are the key to long term success. Treat other people with dignity and respect, and they will reciprocate.
3. Finally, find ways to resolve conflicts with a minimal amount of problems and upset to relationships. Conflict is inevitable in business and life. Find ways to resolve conflict in a manner that enhances, not detracts from the relationships you’ve worked so hard to build.
That’s it for today. Next week, I’ll resume my typical posting. I will blog about one of the five keys to success every day, Monday through Friday. On Monday, I blog about Self Confidence; Tuesday, Positive Personal Impact; Wednesday, Outstanding Performance; Thursday, Dynamic Communication; Friday, Interpersonal Competence.
This week, I reviewed the basic ideas behind each key to success. In the weeks to come, I will be using quotes and anecdotes to highlight these five ideas.
I really appreciated all of your support and comments in 2008. My goal for 2009 is to make this blog more interactive. I want to turn it into more of a dialogue, where we can all share ideas. Please add your thoughts to what I write. Together we can become a very strong learning community.
And, as I’ve mentioned before, I hope that 2009 brings you lots love peace, love health, happiness and prosperity.
Thanks for reading.
Bud
www.iflyguy.com
PRESS RELEASE
11.13.2008
contact: marketing@iflyguy.com
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Traditional Marketing - An Ove
Marketing - A Juggler’s Art:
Marketing, in more the one way, is like juggling. This strange analogy will become crystal clear if we take a close look at it. Just like the juggler the marketer too has to do these things to thrive in his business: first, he has to hook his audience; gain their attention through several jazzy tricks; and then hold their attention by still more innovative juggling. All this he has to achieve without losing balance, focus or steadfastness in the art, the industry, in the marketer’s case. In short, marketing is all about alluring, attracting and holding a collection of customers for your Company’s welfare.
The Purpose Behind:
To quote the American Marketing Association’s definition, it is “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders”. If one dilutes all the verbosity and looks at it, marketing means “selling” a product. This is the prime purpose behind any kind of marketing. The “selling” is accelerated with the help of properly chalked out plans called marketing strategies.
Factors that Influence:
With “selling” as the ultimate goal, marketing strategies are influenced by two basic factors: first, acquisition of customers; second, retention of the acquired customers. So every other strategy that is laid out will focus on the above two. A Company has to work closely towards achieving these two to attain the desired cutting edge over its competitors. There are also a few other objectives like creating awareness (informational and educational) about the product, brand-building and accelerating sales.
Traditional Marketing:
With the world changing at every nanosecond, marketing is also reeling under a whirlwind of change. New modes of marketing like e-marketing and online marketing have evolved. Yet traditional marketing still holds sway with many corporates. Traditional marketing operates based on the following strategies.
The Four Ps- Worship them:
The ‘Four Ps’ or the ‘marketing mix’ is a cliché with every marketer. Formulated by Jerome McCarthy, the ‘Four Ps’ refers to the four factors that a marketer has to consider before launching a product or offering a service. The marketing mix comprises of Product, Price, Promotion and Placement. In McCarthy’s assessment, first and foremost comes the Product-its production and management; second, the process of fixing an affordable price; third, the promotion of the product which includes advertising, branding etc and finally fourth, the placement or distribution of the product, its retailing and the process by which it reaches the customer. All these four elements have to be decided and well planned before pitching into any product launch.
Segmentation- Categorize your audience:
In traditional marketing, the market is segmented into many subsets or segments depending on geographic, demographic, psycho graphic and behavioral variables. Each segment is homogenous and responds in a particular way to a particular marketing strategy. Small segments are considered as ‘niche’ markets or ‘specialty’ markets. A product is aimed at a particular segment and is launched only after thorough market research and consumer research on the segment. This assures the marketer that he is not bungee jumping but walking safely and securely on a well-laid road. Hence a product that is not needed by that particular segment is not produced. This deep analysis of the target segment is called ‘depth segmentation’. While the study of the target customer’s behavioral traits, nature, lifestyle etc is called ‘Buyer’s Profile’. With all these the marketer draws a marketing plan, which is fully geared to reach the target consumer.
Other aspects:
Traditional marketing, unlike New Marketing, is Company-focused and product-based. It intends only to increase the visibility of the Company and its brand. The message conveyed to the customer is Company-controlled and motivated unlike in new marketing, which is Consumer-focused and attuned to consumer’s interests. The Company becomes the active participant while the consumer fades into the inactive and passive zone. A marketer, adopting the traditional method, will use his product’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to market it. USP is that unique feature which is exclusive to a particular product from a particular brand. With less number of competitors, USP-marketing is a very novel method. But in today’s world every other brand has all the features offered by its competitor. Hence the glamour of USP-marketing is fading away.
Advertising and Promotion:
Marketing plans and strategies finally end in advertising. For it is advertising which exposes the product to the world and places it in a platform for the target customer to view. It gives the product visibility and helps boosts its sales. Advertising, in general, can be classified into two trends: Above-the-line (ATL) and Below-the-line (BTL). ATL covers all the advertising done through media. BTL stands for all the promotions- public relations, sponsorships, merchandising etc. In traditional marketing mostly ATL is practiced. The following media are the ATL modes of advertising:
Print Medium: Newspapers, Magazines, Yellow Pages, Posters and Billboards.
TV & Radio: All kinds of TV and Radio spots
Other Communications: All kinds of mailers and leaflets
Traditional Marketing – Is it valid today?
When the world shifts gears and operates in a faster pace, it is advisable for us also to follow its lead and take up the trend. Traditional Marketing, say many market analysts, fails to work in today’s world. The brand recall is very minimal as the customer is exposed to a variety of brands. Moreover, as every other brand is as good as its competitor, there is no particular reason for the consumer to opt for a particular brand. That’s why today’s marketer aims at 360-degree marketing - an all round marketing strategy covering all the available modes and aimed at constant brand recall. This is where online marketing offer a lot of hope for the marketer as the web reaches out to the prospective buyer in a fastest pace possible. With all these around, the question of whether traditional marketing is valid today rises.
Maybe one can nullify this question by a few well-grounded answers: Traditional Marketing is adjudged as the best method according to a national survey conducted in 2005 in the U.S. jointly by Harris Interactive and Public Relations Society of America. As per the survey, most of the general public, Fortune 1000 businessmen and Congressional Staffers voted the traditional method of marketing as the best method. Though the year 2005 belongs to a dead past now, the statement by the reputed marketer Mr. Wilson will put an end to doubting queries: “ Traditional Marketing helps because people still view them”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jeff Blackwell is the founder of www.salespractice.com a member-driven online sales training community and information center where anyone involved in the profession of sales can identify and access the resources needed to expand their selling skills, knowledge and expertise.
Can I put razor wire on the to
Using razor wire and broken glass in order to stop people getting in to your home is not advisable perforated metal . You are making yourself liable to civil action as you owe a duty of care to ensure that visitors to your property are reasonably safe. As absurd as it may seem you also owe a lower duty of care to trespassers.The use of such a preventative measure could also be seen as being detrimental to the neighbourhood.Using other methods of crime prevention such as trellis fencing and defensible planting is often more effective and pleasant to look at.Trellis fencing is effective because it increases the height of the boundary and it is not usually strong enough to hold an intruders weight and they will not want to welded wire mesh risk climbing over it, breaking it and making a loud noise.Prickly plants such as Hawthorne, Poncira, Pyracantha (rapid growth), Rosa rugosa, or any kind of Berberis are an effective obstacle against possible intruders and much more pleasant to look at.
Email Marketing Campaigns; Whe
I just sent John this email, but maybe some of you can help me solve this dilemma.
John,
I am wondering if you could provide some insight into best practices of creating email marketing campaigns.
I am not really sure what the best or legal course of action is here in regards to structuring an email campaign for our businesses. I have reviewed online sources and find myself in a dilemma. It appears that it is improper for us to contact those who have not asked to be contacted by us first. This chicken and egg dilemma leaves me wondering whether this effort may be futile.
We could restructure our websites to include an opt in key for our mailing list on our main page rather than hidden in the back, but I seriously doubt we would get any takers and traffic levels are not significant enough to generate enough leads.
We may be able to generate an internal email campaign to update contact info which would give the recipient the option to opt in to our email marketing. But how many would respond?
Maybe we can create a link at the bottom of company emails which would give the recipient the option to receive company news and updates. But this does not increase our marketing audience, and again most would not opt in.
It must become instinctual to tell those in business whom we make contact with in person that we will be contacting them through emails and updating them with newsletters and campaigns in order to stay within accepted email etiquette and laws.
I fear none of these options will generate enough new leads to make this effort an effective use of company resources.
Without a high traffic website it seems daunting to generate a legitimate contact base for these campaigns.
What are your thoughts?
Have you written about this or could you?
Thanks,
Seth Platt