1- 330-413-8552 Mark@NoSmokeAndMirrors.com

increase value

Mentor Moment #6, Seek Significance Not Success

Far too many leaders are chasing the brass ring of success and when they finally grasp it they realize how cold and shallow it truly is. The secret is to seek significance and success will come.

So what’s the difference?

Success

 

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. a successful performance or achievement: The play was an instant success.
4. a person or thing that is successful: She was a great success on the talk show.

Significance

 

1. importance; consequence: the significance of the new treaty.
2. meaning; import: The familiar place had a new significance for her.
3. the quality of being significant or having a meaning: to give significance to dull chores.

If you have read my blog, you know I go to the Bible when I am trying to understand something, in Samuel we learn;

“Do not turn aside for then you would rather go after empty things, which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing?

 

I have helped many “successful” people over the years but those who sought out to be significant were the happiest. Success, and more importantly your definition of success may be a lonely empty thing once you achieve it. When I was very young, success was tied to money in the bank. Work hard, make money. Work harder make more money. I share how I feel today, (now sneaking up on 50 years old) in my post: What Jimmy Buffet and Bruce Cockburn can teach Marketers about Nailing a Persona? I also discuss how young managers, some soon to be leaders get it wrong when they feel they have to be a Prick –ly person to get ahead in this world.

Chasing the wrong goal turns you into someone you were not designed to be and leaves you feeling empty.( been there, done that…have the t-shirt)

How about you?

Are you still reaching for the brass ring of success?

Have you achieved success and you think I am full of it?

Are you on a quest for significance? If so tell me about it..

The Expression of Joy Ad campaign by BMW; May be an Expression of Big Money Wasted

Companies spend millions and often billions to advertise their products in their marketplace however the effort to be creative often results in a dilution of their message. When your message lacks clarity, it requires an interpreter…and the variability of the individual interpreters’ ability (your salespeople) to articulate your value is not something market leading companies leave to chance today.

When its 114 degrees in Scottsdale Arizona there is not much to do on weekends unless you head for the higher elevations to escape the heat. As I said when I wrote: Are interruptions “transforming “your customers into shoppers again? I like to go to movies. Now that we are into the hottest part of our summer I am seeing a number of movies.

Is it me or are the ads prior to the movies getting longer? Do they really need to advertise TV series in movie theaters? Recently, I observed something interesting, the “Expression of Joy ad” by BMW. The ad starts out with a Z4 driving through paint and painting the surface like it were a huge canvas, with just one problem…when the ad came on the audience in the theater verbally groaned. So I’m not the only one who has seen this ad and hates it? Is it the music or is it because the ad feels like “the never ending ad?”

Personally I think BMW’s make amazing vehicles, and I get what they were trying to do with this ad; however the audience I shared the theater with not only failed to appreciate this ad’s artistic expression, but verbally groaned when the ad started.

I hear comments in front of me sharing their disdain for this ad. Now mind you, there were a number of other ads from an air conditioned indoor storage facility to a counter top manufacturer who supplies four different surfaces based on your needs, budget, and overall design objectives. None of the other ads caused a group audience response like the BMW ad, again…interesting.

Did BMW test this ad prior to its release? I am curious what the total cost of this ad was and is it driving the desired sales revenues, or just another Addy award for the creative team that developed and produced this masterpiece?

To me this ad says: our cars have so much margin in them we can afford to produce ads like this… 

The reason for this post is not to bash BMW, as I said they engineer amazing driving machines, their fit and finish is best in class, but more so to challenge everyone reading this to listen to the responses your market is making to your advertising. Are you listening? Is your advertising about driving revenue, adding value to your bottom line, or helping your ad firm win another award to dust on a shelf before their next new account pitch? As I discussed in my post: 88% of Those Surveyed Said Advertising Services Have Become Commoditized? Ad Firms Heal Thy Self! I discuss how ad firms must fight the perception their services have become commoditized. Perhaps the firm that created the BMW Z4 ad swung the pendulum too far in the creative direction? At the end of the day, my single opinion does not mean much, but an audience of consumers in north Scottsdale Arizona, groaning when your ad comes on should get BMW’s attention.

Are you listening to the response or lack of response to your advertising?

Have you tested your soon to be released creative in your market?

When you developed the creative, did you do so with a specific buyer persona in mind?

Or do you think I am just a ROI Neanderthal who lacks an appreciation for artistic expression?

 

 

Market leading companies create messages that resonate not repulse their market.

Technorati Tags: BMW,BMW Z4,message,marketing,creative,addy award,drive revenue
Image of ad came from http://www.zercustoms.com/news/2009-BMW-Z4-Expression-of-Joy.html

Mentor Moment #5: Brand with Intention or the Market will “Brand you by Default”

The reason I wrote my first book in 2007 was to solve a problem a number of businesses had; they did not intentionally brand their product or service in the minds of those in their market(s) and the net result was the market” branded them by default”.

After I workout in the morning I like to relax in the steam room. Today I entered the misty dim lit room to wind down after my workout and noticed someone else sitting in the far corner. We exchanged pleasantries and very quickly he asked the common question; “So what do you do for a living?” I answered as I have done for years and then it was my turn…”what do you do?” His answer was symptomatic of why I wrote my first book titled: Branding Backwards; a Brand’s Odyssey Toward Self-Discovery. He stated … “I am in real-estate” and he stopped there. I try not to engage in what could be long conversations in the steam room, particularly days like today when someone had jimmied the thermostat and it was excessively hot.

Do I tell him that what he just said really does not help me understand the problems he solves? Ah …what the heck (I did bring my water bottle)…. So I asked some additional questions and found he was not someone who helped homeowners sell their personal property, but someone who owned a real-estate development company that develops commercial real-estate throughout North America in a very specific niche.

This quick conversation reminded me how critical it is for businesses to clearly articulate their positioning , brand, and the problems they solve for their market using their market’s voice.  Fail to do so and the market will “brand you by default”, and there is a high probability they will get it wrong.

As in this example, very quickly when he said he was in real-estate, I mentally branded him as someone who helps consumers sell their personal property. I mentally logged his name in my referral database in the event someone I know may need that service. It was not until after my additional questions I understood what his company does.

I offer 10 tips to avoid Branding Backwards in my book,  the first is;

“If you do not state who you are, others in the marketplace will create a mental image of how you may or may not be able to meet their needs”

If you would like to download a free copy of my book you can do so here.

(I want to warn you, I wrote it in the form of a story. I find stories seem to stick with people much more than just stating facts.)

How about your company? Can your targeted new customers and or existing customers clearly articulate the problems your product or service can solve for them, or are you branding by default? Over the years I have found it disturbing when I engage with a new sales team how quickly and concisely the salespeople can explain what problems their competitors products solve and do not solve, and yet when asked to describe the products that fill their own commission rice bowls each week they ramble on and on with features, benefits, and how their company is the market leader…and better than….that is not what I asked!

Is your company Branding with intention, or by default?

If I were to ask one of your customers what problems you solve, would they get it right? Would they clearly understand all you solve?

Ask your one of your salespeople today; “What problem does our competitor ________’s product solve for our customers? “

Now ask them “what problem do our products solve?”

Ask people in your market you have never sold to tell you what problems they think you solve…what did they say?

Can you afford for your market not understand what problems your company or its specific products can solve for them?

Mentor Moment #4: When tempers flare, Ask yourself…”Is this the Hill you want to die on”?

When winning the discussion is more important that the business outcome of what you are discussing it is time to ask yourself…”Is this the Hill you want to die on?”

I was a young VP of Sales and we were in heated senior management meeting and tempers were strained. Our CFO made a comment that was not only wrong but I found it insulting to me and my team and I began to fire back. The discussion escalated and our corporate consultant observing this behavior recommended we take a break. So as we left the meeting the consultant said “let’s go for a walk Mark and get some air.”

We walked outside and he said; “you know, I know, and I even think the CFO knows you are right Mark, but is this hill you want to die on?’” I never heard this phrase before and it gave me pause.At that moment I realized this discussion was more about me winning, about defending my team, my silo, my ego, and not about what added the most value to our companies’ bottom line. Was I wrong to defend my team under attacks from the CFO? No. Was it wrong for him to blame-storm the sales team when purchasing ( his silo)  had as big a contribution if not greater in the poor quarterly performance? Yes.But this was not the hill I wanted to die on. This discussion would be much better served one on one than with the entire senior team looking on.

So we returned to the meeting and the other department heads expected me to be my Prick -ly self and instead I apologized for losing my temper, and I asked the CFO if we could meet after the meeting to discuss his perception that the sale team’s matching competitive bids was the main cause of our poor quarterly financial performance. (When we both knew the dramatic rise in raw material costs played a bigger role)

Market leading teams discuss what matters. They focus on the problems and broken processes and not people. Market leading teams discuss roadblocks to the entire team’s success and do not attack or defend silos.

Should discussions escalate and feel like they are getting personal, you need to ask yourself; “is this a hill I am willing to die on?” This quick gut check will often stop those CAM’s (Career Altering Moves) when we feel attacked and tempers flare.

There are hills you may want to die on; those that involve the safety of team members, issues that may open the organization to litigation, behaviors of team members in violation of your corporate values and mission, and or being asked to do something that violates your personal values.

Remember, it’s about adding value to the bottom line of the organization, and not about you, your ego, or you winning. You can’t win as a team if you win and another team member looses.

What do you think?

What hills are you willing to die on? Not willing to die on?

Have you found yourself in a heated discussion that was more about protecting your kingdom and or ego, than it was about adding value to the business? What caused your discussion and how did it turn out?

Do you have other questions like; is this a hill you want to die on, that you use? What are they? 

Technorati Tags: leadership,Emotional intelligence,mentor

What are we supposed to do when the Heat is on and our market dries up?…SOW!

The bible is very clear that we are to SOW in the dry spells, in the time our business hits a dry spell, yet so many market losers do the opposite.

It was 114 degrees yesterday, here in the Arizona, and I know people say it’s a “dry heat” but that does not seem to console me…it’s hot. Simple errands seem to drain you, suck the life out of you even. For example in this time of the year all the trees are dropping their pods full of seeds. Although the animals welcome the food, they quickly make quite a mess. So there I was at 6:00 am (102 degrees) picking up pods in my yard before it got hot. How ironic that the trees are dropping seeds when we are in the hottest part of the summer, where’s natures wisdom in that? Actually it is smart because when the pods fall they are baked in the desert sun and they crack open allowing their seeds to fall into the earth. When the rains return, the seed is now in an environment to take root and grow.

I was thinking about the wisdom in this as it relates to what we as business people must do when our market becomes dry and the heat is on to hit our numbers. The Bible is very clear we are to “SOW” in these times. What does it mean to “SOW”? At Dictionary.com the definition is;

1. to scatter (seed) over land, earth, etc., for growth; plant.
2. to plant seed for: to sow a crop.
3. to scatter seed over (land, earth, etc.) for the purpose of growth.
4. to implant, introduce, or promulgate; seek to propagate or extend; disseminate: to sow distrust or dissension.
5. to strew or sprinkle with anything.

The Bible has a number of lessons about sowing. It is very clear we are to;

 

“Sow in the midst of suffering”

“There may be no fruit now, but the grains of love and faithfulness you have scattered will produce a rich harvest”

“Let your eyes be on the field which you reap”

“Each will receive what he has earned.”

If you feel your market has dried up, it’s time to start sowing. Ironic however that I see a number of companies doing just the opposite; cutting back on marketing and sales travel. Market leaders are taking this time to sow.

As I explore this deeper it is often the result of not having and understanding of what marketing and sales activities actually produce fruit and what are just “ Activities”. To ensure you are sowing to produce the greatest harvest the first thing you must do is understand how your buyers buy. What makes their soil fertile, and what causes the seeds you plant to be washed away? What marketing initiatives are you doing today that are falling among the rocks and will never take root? What marketing and sales activities are you doing today that are falling among the thorns only to have sales spend time on them as “good leads” only to have the life choked out of them before they produce fruit?

The key is to know your market and more specifically your buyers.

How about your company…

How well do you know how your customers shop for your product?

What do your buyers use as buying criteria?

Where do your buyers go when they have a problem they need solved?

Who are the key influencers that impact your buyer’s ability to purchase today?

Answer the above and compare the answers to what your team is currently doing and you will be well on your way to a bountiful future harvest.

What Jimmy Buffet and Bruce Cockburn can teach Marketers about Nailing a Persona?

While at the gym this morning I was listening to my iPod to take my mind off the workout. I guess I hit “shuffle” and in the middle of the upbeat songs I try to keep up with a song by Jimmy Buffet grabbed me. His song; “Pacing the cage” so intimately captured a feeling that so many leaders experience at some time, but more often when the supposedly “made it”.

Maybe it’s because today is my 48th birthday and I am always a bit reflective on my birthday, but this song totally nailed my feelings, and the feelings of a number of the executives I have helped.

If you have not heard the song, below are to lyrics I downloaded from one of the song Lyric web sites for you.

by: Bruce Cockburn
Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it’s pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you’ve lived too long
Days drip slowly on the page
And You catch yourself
Pacing the cage
I’ve proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip’s worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And everyone was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage
[ Jimmy Buffett Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ] I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It’s as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you’ll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage

The way I feel and what I hear other executives share is our lives can be broken into three phases if you will;

Go get it

Don’t lose it

Give it away.

When I was in the “Go Get it” phase I was working 6-7 days a week, traveling 4-5 days per week, with 18 hour days. I thought it was about building wealth, about building safety for me and my family, but the truth was this time was about self justification and proving my metal. A bad choice as I reflect because lost so many memories with my young children and my wife while I was…on the road.

So you have moved up through the ranks, and now “you da man” and you have teams reporting to you. You still are full of the “piss and vinegar” that got you hear, but now you also focus on growing what you captured as well as protecting it in the “don’t lose it phase”. At some point you have a wakeup call moment, something that happens that makes you say “is this all there is?”

At that moment you have a wakeup call and realize all your focus, all your driving for success is kind of a hollow victory. Some of the worst times in my career were when I achieved a goal early. (Now what?) Sometimes I hear executives say it happens when they are sitting quietly at their big desk when everyone has gone home for the night, and they realize they just missed their daughter’s musical recital.

Then we move into “Give it away” in which success becomes second to significance. In this phase, the phase I am in now, we want to not just “kick ass and take names” but we want significance, we want to make a difference in this world and the lives of others. Studying the Word and becoming a Christ Follower has helped me in this phase more than I can share.

For me, I get much more joy in helping others than the thrill of the conquest I once had in my “Go get it” phase. Each morning before my feet hit the floor I pray “Lord, please help me to help someone today.”

If you are a marketer you need to intimately know your buyer. Jimmy Buffet does an amazing job of capturing an intimate understanding of a feeling a number of us feel. I recommend you buy this song and listen to it today.

My question: Do you have an understanding of your buyer’s that Bruce Cockburn had when he wrote this song?

Hit songs, like hit products happen when we intimately understand a buyer persona and their needs, and that takes work. But once you have it, and speak in that person’s voice you will experience explosive sales growth.

If you are in the go get or don’t loose them phase, make a conscious effort to focus on what really matters, what you will realize, often too late in the give it away phase. Put your family, friends and others intentionally into your schedule, and when you are with them, be with them 100%.

88% of Those Surveyed Said Advertising Services Have Become Commoditized? Ad Firms Heal Thy Self!

I am a problem junkie. I see problems everywhere. Problems are awesome as they provide an opportunity for new solutions that we can monetize. Over the years I have called this “the art of thoughts”. Recently I was on the Advertising Age website and participated in a survey that said 88% of those surveyed feel Ad Agency services have become commoditized.

This really bothered me as one of the favorite companies I helped was an integrated marketing firm in North Canton Ohio called Innis Maggiore . I had hired this firm over the years when I was the VP of Sales and Marketing for a local manufacturer, and when our company was acquired Innis Maggiore group asked me to do what I do, and  help them grow. We served a variety of companies from a small Amish furniture maker to MSN.COM , Harry London’s Chocolates, and a local hospital as well as many more. It was easy to help them grow because their work …well it worked, it added measurable value to their clients’ revenues.

(Obviously they never let me help with client copy!)

Honestly, as a buyer of Ad firm services for years I lacked an appreciation of the what goes on behind the scenes. Many times the good firms just made what they do look too easy.The firms I hired would listen to what we needed and produce something that either drove the desired result, usually revenues, or their work had no effect, and I found another firm. Good Ad firm partners like Innis do a great deal of work to ensure their work produces a result. At Innis we often would listen to the client’s objectives, and after the meeting have more questions than answers. So we would go into our clients’ market and interview customers, non customers, and influencers. From these interviews we would gain a better understanding of the problem our clients’ product solves and then we were equipped to turn those amazing creative folks  loose on the solution. They say you need to “walk a mile in another man’s shoes…”well having helped this firm gave me a new appreciation for what goes on behind the final work for market leading firms.

Good Ad firms connect to the problem in the market, understand buyers and speak to those personas in a voice that emotionally connects. When I wrote “blame-storming” I referred to an ad that is amazing. Whoever led the creative for this ad connected with something almost every executive has felt in a meeting at some time…”being thrown under the bus”. This firm nailed it so well that it  made me feel Direct TV knows me…

What is the value of that kind of creative? Creative that cuts through the noise and gets your message to connect with a targeted buyer persona is not priced as a commodity.

When creative connects so deeply with your buyers that it creates an emotional attachment it shows you have a market leading Ad Firm partner.

Market Losing Ad firms will lower their billable hourly rates and write off more of their hours. They will replace their talented creative’s with young kids fresh out of college to drive down their costs. In a recent Ad Age article it discussed how firms are auctioning their services on EBay, offering free work and crazy low rates to capture large accounts from market leading firms.

If you are running an Ad firm today, you must” heal thy self.” Get out and understand the needs of your customers. Create buyer personas for your customers. For example, in today’s environment it should not shock us that the guy in charge of Ad Firms at P&G comes from a purchasing background. You have a new buyer persona. Like your clients, you now have many more people in the buying decision…make it your quest to understand them! If you speak to him in the voice you used with the past CMO you will fail. Get to know him, how does he make decisions? What are his problems, pain points? Just as you conduct focus groups to verify creative before you kick it off for clients, you need to test your new messaging before you launch your firms’ value proposition.

Or, you can keep playing let’s make a deal and keep complaining about how your accounts “just don’t value your work anymore…” And oh by the way, how is that working for you?

Advertising Age’s Jonah Bloom offered seven steps to fight commoditization;

1. Say No

2. Realize you are on the same side as your rivals

3. Specialize

4. Change the cost dialog

5. Accept risk

6. Stop selling ads as a solution to everything

7. Look for new revenue streams

Markets will always have bottom feeders doing stupid things, and rarely do they survive. It is your job to rise up and connect to your client’s needs of today and your firm will survive. If your entire business model is selling ads alone, then you are in trouble. When was the last time an Ad made you take action and buy something? An Ad may play a role in the overall buyer process, but buyers today are doing much more than waiting for the perfect ad to solve their problems. If your model feels like it has become commoditized it is because your customers have lost the connection between your work and the results your work produces. If all you have been “pitching” are more and more Ad’s then they have also lost trust in you.You are speaking to new buyer personas that make buying decisions differently than your buyers in the past. If you are selling a “one size fits all solution” in ads alone, you will fail.

I need to check in with Dick Maggiore. I learned a great deal working with his amazing team. Get to know the customer, buyer and users and speak to them authentically about how you solve their problems… my guess is Dick is struggling more with turning away clients than commoditizing his services.

“Our Competition Sucks Selling”, one of the signs of a Market Loser versus a Market Leader

One of the things that used to drive me nuts as a VP of Sales and Marketing was if one of my regional managers or a independent representatives used “Why our competition sucks” selling. You know the guy, he talks about the competition more than his own product. He shares “horror stories he heard from other customers” about your competitoin that may or may not be true.

This out-dated style never impressed me, and today with a sales enablement 2.0 environment, it actually creates an interruption. Interruptions  turn customers and possible customers into shoppers. The internet has given buyers the ability to see behind the black curtain of sales product information and they can conduct research without talking to a salesman. When your rep challenges a competitor, particularly when that competitor is a current vendor of that buyer, he is actually challenging the buyer. Do you want your sales rep saying “Hey, what are you an idiot or what for buying ______?” no, I didn’t think so.

The recently published Razor Fish report indicates what influences buyers; “Trust plays a key role in influencing a consumer’s interest in purchasing a product” Peer networks and influencers play a major role in the buying process today. So when your rep is selling against a particular vendor, he is not only challenging the buyer’s decision making, he is also “calling out” that buyer’s peer and influencer network who he went to before he made the purchase.

If you have rep(s) using the “why our competition sucks” method it must end. To turn these reps around use the following guidelines;

· Product knowledge– make sure your salesperson understands your product and more importantly the problems it solves for buyers as well as the process buyers use to buy your type of product

· Listening, as I wrote in warning….. Buyers share why they don’t buy, reps who do not listen was the #1 reason buyers do not buy, NOT PRICE

· Conversation distribution – they say there’s a reason the Lord gave us two ears and one mouth. If you are talking you are not listening. Monitor buyer meetings with particular focus on the amount of time your rep talks in relation to the buyer. A good rep will have no more than 30% of the conversation time

· Echo – when you learn customer pain, echo back what you heard. This does two things; first it tells the buyer you are not like the 90% of other reps calling on him as you are listening. Secondly, it will help clarify your understanding if the buyer corrects your echo of what you heard.

Besides, market leaders are focused on serving their market. They do not focus on what the competition is doing as much as solving customer problems. After all, if you focus on beating your competitor, you are limiting your success based on how good your competitor is. Companies who obsessively focus on competitors assume their competitors are smarter than they are. What if your competitor is also launching products that no one is buying? Following competitors often results in a “follow the leader death spiral” that becomes very difficult to pull out of.

Understand your buyers, their needs, and how they buy and you will quickly outpace your competition.

Let your competition spend time studying and criticizing you instead of listening to your buyers and understanding their needs.

Let your competitor salespeople keep using : “Our Competition Sucks Selling”, while your team listens and solves customer problems…..while breaking sales and profit records for your team.

Are You “Spinning” the Wrong Marketing and Sales Formula and getting nowhere fast?

I have been trying to lose weight for years as I discussed in my post: Do you need to “Detox “your business before it can hit your goals? If you have struggled with your weight as I have, you know it is very frustrating. I have tried a number of diets and workouts independently .One of the workouts I tried was “Spinning”. If you have not tried it, spinning is a very intense workout on a stationary bike. It was not unusual for my heart rate to exceed 160 beats per minute and the calorie counter would show 600-750 calories burned in each workout

When I first started spinning, I did lose some weight. After a few weeks of spinning my weight loss hit a plateau. So what do we do in situations like this? Well type A’s like me…we work harder! I added more resistance to the stationary bike and after the 50 minute spinning class I would go into the weight room and work out for another hour. Again, I saw some weight loss and again I quickly hit another plateau…very frustrating.

What I lacked was the right formula for weight loss. To have sustainable, repeatable weight loss the formula is 65% your food intake and 35% your activity level, your workouts. One without the other and you will not reach your goals.That explained why working out harder and not significantly changing my diet did not help me achieve my weight loss goals.

This reminded me of how most businesses lack or have the wrong formula for sales and marketing. I have worked with businesses in different industries and varying sized revenues; from under $1 million to $300 million, as well as over a billion and I have seen teams frustrated in each. They keep working harder, spinning faster and faster in sales adding more training but 40% still miss achieving their sales goals. They lack the correct formula to feed (marketing) their sales  in relation to their selling activities.

When I worked for Frito-Lay I was fresh out of college. I would say the formula back then was; 30% marketing and 70% sales and service. Marketing did research and generated brochures and sales would pick and choose the tools we thought would work. Frequently we would create our own tools borrowing what we liked from what marketing created. This model may have made the marketing team at Frito-Lay cringe, but it worked in the 1980’s. My Unit of route salesmen realized huge sales gains year over year and our team was recognized in Frito-Lay’s national magazine with yours truly standing in front of a bridge display we sold to Giant Eagle stores that spanned the entire back of their store for July 4th weekend.

That formula; 30% marketing/70% “bare knuckle selling” worked in the 1980’s The problem today that is the 30% marketing/70% sales formula is dated and backwards. The change that caused this formula to flip flop was the internet. The advent of the internet changed how buyers gain information. Salespeople are no longer the” keepers of the product knowledge keys”. Buyers now demand; instant, accurate, authentic information at their finger tips 24/7. Not only must we provide this, but we must provide product information in the voice of the buyer so they quickly can find solutions to the problem(s) they are trying to solve. Fail to clearly state the problems you solve and the buyer “clicks” their way on to the next website.One of marketing’s key roles is now sales enablement.

Today the formula for most businesses should be 70% marketing and 30% sales and service.

Peter Ducker said: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” To achieve this definition a considerable amount of time must be spent in understanding your market.

Buyers like to buy; they do not like being sold. (Truth be told they probably didn’t like being sold a bridge display that spanned 15 isles) Sales today have a responsibility to start conversations and lead buyers throughout their buying process until they are ready to buy. Salespeople must now “serve” their clients as opposed to “sell” them. I discussed the top concerns buyers had with salespeople in my post titled: WARNING: Buyer’s say what salespeople do wrong? PRICE is not on the list! Buyers today want salespeople to listen and understand their problems before presenting what’s in their bag.

When I speak of “sales” and “marketing” I am discussing the roles and not titles and people. In some of the smaller companies I have served my title was “VP of sales” but I performed a marketing role in identifying customer needs and pain points. The smaller companies I have helped did not have marketing departments and we outsourced the development of sales tools to ad agencies. As companies grow they segment and define roles more clearly. I really do not care what you call the person that does it, but someone must understand your market and how your buyer’s buy.

How your buyers buy has changed since the 1980’s and market leaders have already made the sales and marketing flip flop to insure buyers move quickly through their process to a sale.

Stop “Spinning” the wrong sales and marketing formula, working out harder and harder only to miss your goals.

Find out how your buyers buy and create a winning formula for how your buyers buy today…

… or keep spinning with your heart rate racing while your competitors adjust their formulas to the market of today and leave you in their dust.

How about your company…

If you had to guess, what % is your companies’ energies are spent in the roles of sales and marketing?

Are you still “bare knuckle selling” or are you helping buyers find you, and supplying what they need to buy from you?

Do you know how your buyers buy?

Gym Socks and the importance of listening to customer concerns

 

My wife and I went for a walk the other evening after work. Although the sun was setting here in Arizona the temperature was still just over 100 degrees. When you walk in the dessert the heat radiates up from the ground. By the time our walk was over I could not wait to get my tennis shoes off. I took off my shoes and then my socks and my wife said “why do you do that?” Not to be too insensitive a husband my response was “do what?” She said that as someone who does the laundry it really irritates her when socks are turned inside out. She explained (as she has done before) how as a child her grandmother would not wash socks turned inside out. I quickly moved into my “overcome objections mode”; I do not care if my socks are washed inside out… they will still get clean…I do not care what I look like at the gym so I will probably wear them inside out…this is not a big deal… However this was not listening nor taking my wife’s feedback seriously.

This discussion reminded me how customers often share little things that annoy them and we quickly move to justifying what we do, or “defending the fortress “instead of listening and making necessary changes. It is my desire to serve my family.to listen to their needs. So although my wife has mentioned her concerns a number of times over the past 24 years, I quickly mentally rationalized the feedback and did not listen and I did not change my behavior. I failed to be intentional about something that obviously concerned someone I cared about. It would take little effort to accommodate her requested change in my behavior. However it would require a change of habit.

Businesses must also be constantly sensing, listening, and observing the needs of the customers you serve. Listening to customer feedback and responding to their needs solidifies your relationship. Your competitors will keep selling. They will keep rationalizing customer concerns and not make changes. Why not be the partner that listens and makes the necessary changes to eliminate frustrations in dealing with you?

 

How about you, what small complaints have your client partners expressed?

 

Is your first reaction to listen or dismiss?

 

Are you turning any customer gym socks inside out?

 

(I need to turn the sock on the left right side out before I put it in the close hamper!)

Back To Top
Verified by MonsterInsights