Are You Convincing or Compelling Customers?

Last Thursday I attended the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce 115th Annual Dinner at the Broadmoor. It was a nice evening of typical fancy ballroom awards. My friend, and killer web designer, the "web diva" Michelle Bracewell snapped this picture and I asked her for a copy. I then pointed out the top of my head, the side of News Anchor John Karroll, who sat at my table, and the speaker, Chamber CEO Dave Csintyan (sin-tain).

Dave was making some great points while I was looking down because I forgot paper and pen and was typing as fast as I could into my memo pad on my cell phone. Here are my notes, thoughts and reactions to what Dave said.

Do you want your customers to be convinced or compelled? Think about this for a second. No one really wants to have to convince people to become their customers, instead we want people to be compelled to call us up and volunteer to become our customers.

Whether or not you are succeeding at compelling them or not can be answered by the question, "Do you have to coerce or manipulate people with gimmicks and pricing or other sales tactics to get clients, or are your existing clients people who are your evangelists that do the convincing for you?"

If you compel, then this implies:

1. Your quality of product and service is good
2. Your customer service is outstanding
3. Your personal relationships with customers are strong

Without these, you are left with convincing.

However, you must have all three parts of this for it to work and the most important part is the relationships with customers.

Let me give you an example. Do you like the toilet paper you currently use? Does it always come packaged conveniently with the same cardboard tube in the middle? Do they always have it on the shelf of the store when you run out? Is it soft and comfortable to use? Do you actually know the guy who delivers it?

See! You probably said "yes" to all but the last question. Without relationships with your customers, you will never develop an evangelist to do the convincing for you. As a result of this, you probably don't open up many conversations by saying, "Hi, my name is... and I love Charmin toilet paper. Let me tell you about it."

When you begin to think about attracting a potential client, give second thought to the last time you attracted an existing client.

Marie Digby in the WSJ

Today's issue of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Ethan Smith and Peter Lattman that tells the story of Marie Digby, the musician that has seemingly made it big with home made videos and word of mouth by using YouTube.



Her videos have over 2.3 million views, according to the article, and have been used on MTV's "The Hills". This apparently has culminated with Hollywood Records press release announcing "Break through You Tube Phenomenon Marie Digby Signs With Hollywood Records."

The article then goes on to disclose that in reality, Digby signed with Hollywood Records in 2005, 18 months before she became a YouTube phenom. This radio interview continues the portrayal that Digby is an innocent start up nobody that found fame and fortune on accident.

This all brings me to this... Do you consider this a case of genius marketing, or customer deceit? Even if you never knew of her before, would you feel lied to and misled? Or do you now respect the outside the box approach to using the trends of independent music to bring new artists into the mix?

Personally, I deeply appreciate the marketing attempt, but I also see how it might run the risk of back firing on them. If it does, I think it will be a backfire triggered by the media and not the fans. Fans like the product and don't want to know about all the mess of advertising and contracts. The media likes to create the controversy. I guess time will tell.

Don't Let Your Product Be Mistaken

Why should you make sure your product or service is distinguishable from your competitor's? I'll give you one reason. You don't want to lose sales because of mistaken identity.

Think about this. Have you ever noticed how some websites use very common names with slightly different spellings in order to capitalize on the more commonly used website to drive traffic to them? Think http://www.whitehouse.gov/ I'm sure most of you have at one time or another in haste typed in the wrong address and ended up at a not so family oriented website.

Another example is the notorious fake Rolex watch. Of course, most people in the market to spend a couple of grand on a watch, don't shop from guys displaying them in a trench coat, but the idea is the same.

I had this problem of mistaken identity happen Friday afternoon when I was at home and my phone vibrated telling me I had an email from work. I popped it open and began reading, then repeated aloud to my wife what I had just read, which went...

Dear UCCS
students, staff, and faculty:
The UCCS Police Department has just received a report of lewd behavior near the campus. According to the witness, they observed a white male, mid-30’s, heavy set, dark hair, who was...

At this point I mumbled the words so my kids, who were in the room couldn't understand what I was reading and was motioning to my wife to keep reading the rest of the email which read...

mid-30's, heavy set, dark hair, who was naked and masturbating. This unknown male was near the dirt trail that leads from Austin Bluffs Parkway south sidewalk to the Cragmor neighborhood just south of the UCCS parking garage.

We both kind of rolled our eyes at each other thinking what kind of deranged idiot would do that when my youngest son piped up and said, "Daddy that's you they're talking about!"

While I am a white male, mid-30's, heavy set and dark hair, there was one important feature of that other guy that was different than me.

Make sure your customers know what the important, distinguishing characteristic your product or service has that your competition doesn't have.

Divapreneurs

I just got the first three issues of a new magazine sent to me by the publisher to help them promote their publication to my clients who might be potential subscribers.

The magazine, called "Divapreneurs" with the tag line "Committed to Colorado's Business Women" seems to be a good resource for women business owners. The name is catchy and obviously makes the connection of women and business owner. After reading the cover letter and thumbing through a few of the articles, I got the feel for the type of articles they were going to be writing and who they were targeting.

I then closed the issues and laid them down, and noticed something I thought was peculiar on the covers of each of the magazines. You can make your own assessment of who you think their target market is by browsing through the online magazine here. My opinion is that I don't think the magazine cover is on target for who they are marketing toward.

These are the covers of the first three issues of the magazine. Without reading anything inside, my first inclination is it's a business version of Maxim Magazine. It appears that they are promoting long, tan legs in high heels instead of business women in Colorado. As a result I would imagine that more men than women would pick up the magazine based on the picture.

As a male I am required to stay relatively neutral on issues such as women's rights and what's appropriate in the workplace between men and women. For the most part, this gets dictated to me by lawyers and other women across the country. However, in my ignorant male mind, it seems a step backward for women to be self publishing a magazine about women in the business world where women have been long thought of as sexy secretaries and executives who have slept their way to the top and then put images related to that stereotype on the cover. I especially think they've missed their audience because the women featured in the articles of the magazine, while are nice looking, aren't exactly the modelesque figures on the cover.

But, what do I know, I'm just a dumb guy who doesn't understand women anyway. What could I possibly know. Oh wait, this article (written by a woman) uses the definition of a divapreneur as "a talented and confident woman, who undertakes and operates a new venture, and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks"

Again, I didn't know that talented and confident required long tan legs, but I'll sure make note of that the next time I go to hire a talented, confident individual.

The Influence of Product Placement

We recently added the upgrade package for Direct TV, which includes the DIY channel. Being a DIY kind of guy, I was bordering on the little kid on Christmas morning kind of excited when we got it. My hero Norm Abram and all the guys from This Old House have become my new best friends. I asked Tommy if he wanted to come over for dinner this weekend, but he went to commercial and must have gotten distracted because he never answered me when he came back.

Needless to say, my happiness level just went up a few points and my motivation level has gone up as well. My lovely wife has even started watching with me. Since getting the DIY channel, I've finished the flower box for my wife's flowers to go in and I hung it nicely under the window on our front porch. We also have plans to remodel our living room and even tear out a wall in our basement.

I told my wife I'd need to have a reciprocating saw to take that wall down, and she didn't argue once. Thank you DIY Network! Because of your influence, I get new tools, my wife gets a new living room and our marriage got better.

My real point is that the DIY Network is a perfect example of how television programming can be more of an influence to buy a product than the actual advertisement is. Sure there are all kinds of advertisements during the shows, but I'm motivated to pay attention to the ads based on what is happening in the show. If I just saw Tom Silva take a wall out with a reciprocating saw, then Milwaukee advertises their saw, I am more motivated to watch the ad and then buy that brand than I am to buy whatever brand of toilet paper they advertise.

It makes me wonder if in the next 10 years with DVR's becoming so prevalent and advertisers losing out on the market to present a commercial, if we will begin to see shows actually become commercial free, but loaded with product placements. Perhaps companies such as Lowe's or Home Depot will actually have a television production studio some day where they go from sponsoring to producing a show.

This article by PQ Media talks about the 37% growth in product placement in 2006 and the new media order that has brought about alternative advertising and marketing strategies.

A New Twist on Old Marketing

One of the oldest grocery item marketing concepts is the "New and Improved" product. Everything from soap to lipstick to microwave popcorn has been new and improved at one time.
While this article from the Motley Fool explains that New and Improved doesn't always mean that much, as I sat down to eat my morning cereal I found a new twist on an old marketing concept.

My wife, being the great mother she is bought my kids the new Limited Edition Spider Man 3 cereal. This is a new product, isn't it? I mean the movie just came out this summer, so how could you possibly have a new and improved version when the character on the box is new? A great question, I'm glad you asked it.

Well as I poured my first of 2 bowls, I was instantly taken back to being about 10 years old at my grandma's house, where she always spoiled me by buying me that sugar cereal my parents would never let me have. I loved eating Smurf-Berry Crunch. Mmmmm, I loved it. I would eat all of the red ones first and leave the blue ones last. Almost like I was Gargamel, I would chase the little blue ones around my cereal bowl and eat them like Gargamel always wanted to eat Smurfs. (But not Smurfette, she was hot)

So take notice of the two cereals. They look strikingly similar I think. Granted Smurf-Berry Crunch was a Post cereal and Spiderman 3 is General Mills, but there couldn't have been much creativity in copying one cereal to another and slapping a cool new box on it.

Honestly, I don't care if it was a blatant copyright infringement as a result of industrial espionage, I'm just glad to have my Smurf-Berry Crunch back in my cereal bowl.

Finding a Zoo's Niche

What do you get when two giraffes collide? A giraffic jam.

Go ahead and groan all you want, but hanging out with these giraffes was pretty cool. They are beautiful animals and very soft behind the ears.

A zoo is a zoo right? They all have animals in cages and they all put up some kind of "save the animals" sign. But if you hang out long enough you'll quickly realize that most zoos have given themselves some kind of niche. There is something special about them, regardless of how big or small they might be.

Since my oldest son loves animals, I've spent many hours in zoos so I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on this topic. For example, the Tulsa zoo had these lions that would frequently roar. Every zoo has lions, but these lions opened up and let go with a chest rattling roar. Sometimes we'd go for a few hours and just sit, watch and listen the lions and do nothing else.

The Omaha zoo has the aquarium with the peanut butter fish. No not really, but after walking through the entire aquarium you see a huge glass pillar filled with live jelly fish. Next to it is another glass pillar filled with some other kind of fish my son called peanut butter fish. He explained that if these are jelly fish, those must be the peanut butter fish.

Well in Colorado Springs, the niche is the giraffes. They stand in a sunken in area with bridges and decks that surround it, which puts you at head height with the giraffes. Then for a few bucks you get some crackers that you get to feed to them. The interaction is the niche here. You can touch and be touched by the giraffes up close and personal. Watch out though. If your personality is like mine, and you enjoy teasing people and animals they might try for some revenge and try removing your backpack when you're not looking.

The best however, was when our son in that gentle quiet voice, screams "EEEWWWW, those giraffes are french kissing!" At which time I felt like hiding in my back pack and hoping the giraffes would haul me off.

Differentiate Yourself As Well As Your Product

I would argue that what we wear on the weekends, while important to our self-esteem is not nearly as important as what we wear during the week.

In a shallow sort of way, we tend to look first toward the outward appearance and make an initial judgement of what that person must be like before ever meeting them. It is for this reason that I say what we wear on the weekend isn't that important.

On the weekend we play. We hang out with friends and have a good time. Our friends are people we already know and whom we are already acquainted with. Therefore, our level of fashion isn't that crucial because a true friend will still like you, even if you wear moderately nice clothes, but not high fashion.

However, during the work week, you are interacting with people that you don't know well, if at all. For this reason, I think you have to continually put your best shoe forward. Of course you still have to dress to fit the career, but even a stuffy banker can spice things up a bit with a shirt that isn't a button down oxford. This shirt maintains professionalism while exuding style. This shirt is professional, but a little stuffy and looks like every other banker on the block.

So, if the concept is to differentiate your product to be different than the rest so your product gets remembered, why would you dress like the rest so your product is remembered, but you're not?

Just make sure that what you are being remembered for is a good thing and not something else like this guy I ran into last week. If low rider jeans are in, then I think we all agree high rider polyester is out.

The Luke Johnson Phone Experiment

As viral marketing continues to grow on the internet, I came across something that truly displays and even measures it's power.

Luke Johnson decided to post his cell phone number on the internet and see just how many phone calls he'd get. Below is the initial video.



I would have guessed maybe a thousand and a few from England or Australia, but certainly not the response that he actually got. Now watch the news story follow up on him to see just how many phone calls he got.



Major kudos to his wife, Annie. Mine would have killed me after about a week of the experiment using words like ridiculous and asinine while she smashed the phone with a hammer.

None the less, his product (himself) will no doubt be selling for top dollar in the near future.

What's In A Business Name

While it is fun and exciting to brainstorm with a few friends or business partners about what to name your new business, is it really that important what you name it?

A business name is like a bathroom at a gas station. If the bathroom is clean, no one cares. They aren't spending money for bathrooms, they are spending money on convenience items and gas. People just expect the bathrooms to be clean. But, if the bathroom is on the dirty side, then people are dramatically less likely to return in the future because they refuse to tolerate the mess.

If a business name is acceptable, then people really don't care what it's named. A law firm should be two to three names like Crane, Pool & Schmidt. It sounds like a law firm you want representing you. A construction company can use names or describing factors such as John Laing Homes or Quality Design Homes. There are unwritten social guidelines that have to be followed. For example, you shouldn't have a doctor's office named Totally Extreme Urology Clinic, but Extreme Pizza works.

I recently came across an event that had a name I wasn't quite sure about. The White Privilege Conference to me sounded like a Neo Nazi conference filled with a bunch of southern red necks wearing bed sheets as hoods. Finally I determined it is quite the opposite, but at a first glance it turns off the potential customer.

No one cares if your name fits the unwritten laws of business naming just like no one really cares that your bathroom is clean, but if your business name is outside the norm, you'd better have a really good marketing strategy to brand yourself and convince customers it's okay to shop for pet supplies at the Vicious Animal, or be prepared to lose business. Your customers will be more concerned about the quality of product and service they receive than who to make the check out to.