buying process | No Smoke and Mirrors

Entrepreneur Best Practice; #5 Tailor Questions for your buyers that Illustrate your Expertise and Prepare you to Serve their Needs

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When you are being served by a market leader you know it. When someone experienced in understanding the needs of their buyers, the overall buying experience is amazing. When buyers experience this kind of service they buy, and they become raving fans for referrals.

Market leaders understand the value of knowing their buyers needs, criteria, and how the very questions they ask illustrate your knowledge and expertise.

As I have shared in previous posts, I decided in March I needed to lose weight. Since March of 09 I have now lost 70 lbs. The good news is I have a tremendous amount of energy, I feel healthier and I no longer need my blood pressure medicine or my sleep apnea machine. The only bad news is I need a new wardrobe.

I was recently asked to be the keynote speaker for the Boomerz event and I wanted to buy a suit. All the suits I have are 52 jackets and I swim in them now. I could deliver my content casual, but I would prefer to be more formal. (There I go showing my old school nature again) My wife recommended I look at the local Stein Mart as they have designer suits at significantly discounted prices.

I went to a local Stein Mart and started trying on jackets to determine my size today. I was quickly approached by Howard, the floor salesman and asked if he could be of assistance. He asked …” what size are you?” and I explained that I do not know. So he quickly measured me and said you are really a 43 long, but let’s try a 44 long. As I was trying on various suits, Richard (who also worked in the men’s clothing) approached and asked me a number of questions;

What size do you typically wear? I explained I do not know as I just lost weight…

What size were you before? A 52 jacket and a 42 pant…

So you have always bought athletic cut suits? …how did he know that?

Did you typically buy Heart Shafter Marx? (How did he know?)

Did you play football? Yes…again how did he …?

What occasions will you be wearing this suit? I explained I do public speaking and training workshops and consulting…

So you will be on your feet most of the time? Yes…

Oh, this is the wrong suit for you…and he disappeared, and I liked that one…

Within a few minutes he came back with two suits I had not seen prior … (Forgive me but I thought to myself …oh great he probably just found two of the most expensive suits off the rack, and like a car salesman wanting me to take a test drive he put the new jacket on so I would fall in love with it and find the money)

The suit looked great, but felt snug…

Richard said; the suit lays exactly as it should on you; this suit is cut better for men built like you… (He must have detected my concern about the snug fit)

I can tell you are not used to wearing clothes that fit… are you? Kind of a bold question from someone who wants my money…

He went on to say …You told us early on you have lost a lot of weight…it’s not unusual when we are overweight to not have clothing that fits properly…this is how a suit is supposed to fit. Wow, they were listening to me…

He asked me to look into the corner of the mirrors so I could see the back of the suit, and he said; see how nice this lays on you? And he taught me how a suit is supposed to fit.

He asked; when you speak do you button your coat? (I never thought about it)

He went on to tell me; Gentlemen never button the top button and he recommended when I first greet my audience I have the middle button buttoned and then unbutton it as I begin to speak…( is this guy for real? Or is it that I have never met someone before who knew so much about men’s clothing as Howard and Richard?)

I decided to buy the suit they recommended and have the suit tailored…

Again, a new series of questions from Howard and Richard (I’ll spare you but you get the idea)

Howard asked …so when do you need the suit? I explained I have time its a few weeks away…

He said; no… When you pick up your suit we want you to come back and we will check everything with the actual shoes you plan to be wearing…again, amazing….I felt like I was not only in experienced good hands, but I felt like I was the only customer in the store…

As I went in the dressing room I forced myself to peek at the price and to my surprise it was the same price as the suits I originally was looking at! …He paid attention to my price target…

When I came out of the dressing room Howard handed me a claim ticket and went on to explain the date it would be ready, where it would be located that day. Again both Howard and Richard reminded me to try the suit on, bring the right shoes and if for whatever reason it did not look right they would have time to fix it as …they wanted me to feel good when I walked to the front of the room. …again wow!

I thanked them and they asked what I teach. I explained how I teach leaders how to treat customers the way they both just treated me. It turns out they both had over 25 years of experience and Richard served clients for over 30 years on a commission only basis prior to joining Stein Mart.

Since that time I have told over a dozen of my friends about what a welcome interruption it was to receive such amazing service. I told everyone about the team of Howard and Richard and if you want to have an expert serve and fit you, you need to visit them at the store on Shea near the 101 freeway in Scottsdale.

When you are being served by a market leader, someone experienced in serving the needs of their buyers, the overall buying experience is amazing.

You can identify Market leaders by the questions they ask, and their bottom line.

Market leaders make you feel like your goal becomes their goal as well.

Market leaders not only want you happy, but they want to make you a raving fan.

How about your organization….

Are your salespeople trained as well as Howard and Richard?

Are you hiring “service people” or “salespeople”?

Is your team creating raving fans?

Do your clients feel like your team members are “internal champions” for their needs …or just trying to hit a goal and make their commission?

(In hind sight I now wish I had the guts to have the pants cut without a cuff as Richard adamantly recommended, but I chose cuffs …obviously showing my lack of knowledge in the current styles.)

Remember… buyer’s like to buy…they hate being sold.

Our job as salespeople today is to help buyers buy.

Guide buyers through their buying process and be their internal champion and not just “protect the fort” of company policies, rules and reinforce “we can’t do that’s”

Thank you Howard and Richard!

I can only hope I make my clients feel as you both made me feel.

Technorati Tags: buyer experience,buying experience,entrepreneur best practices,good questions,sales consultant,sales,sales training,service,buyer needs,buyers like to buy,salespeople job today

Entrepreneur Best Practices; #4 Remember “The Law of the Locker Room”… it truly is a small world after all

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“The Law of the Locker room”: after your work (out) is done, there is a high probability others too have seen this pain point the buyers in your market have that you set out to solve and will want to share that space. It does not mean you should quit, it just means; As an Entrepreneur never assume you are the only one who saw the problem and set out to make the pain go away.

As I have mentioned before, I like to work out first thing in the morning. If I wake up before the alarm as if often the case I can workout at my gym Mountainside Fitness at 4:30 am. What I like about working out so early is you pretty much have the gym to yourself. There are a few other crazy people there, but unlike Friday nights at 6:00 pm you can get your work done, without waiting on machines, and you are off to start your day.

What never ceases to amaze me is; “The Law of the Locker room”. Simply stated it goes something like this; no matter what time of day, or how little the number of the cars in the parking lot, nor how many lockers they have in the locker room, when your workout is done and you return to your locker…someone will have the locker right next to you, and you will have to share your space.

So what’s the relevance to entrepreneurs you might say? Well just last week I had lunch with two partners of a start up venture who asked for my help. They shared (an awesome product I plan to blog about after we launch) and I put a bit of a damper on their enthusiasm when I asked one simple question;

“Have you researched to see if others have seen the problem you are setting out to solve, and if so does any of them have patents that your new product violates?”

Entrepreneurs who see problems and set out to solve them must never assume they are the only one who sees this problem.

Entrepreneurs must never assume they are the only one who sees the market problem and they are the only one setting out to solve it.

Like the Disney ride my daughter loved when she was young that’s song still echo’s in my mind “it’s a small world after all…it’s a small, small, world.”

I recommend my clients: assume others are trying to solve this problem, have solved this pain, and ask yourself why a buyer should choose you over the others?

How do you know if others have or are setting out to solve this problem?

Google

Google your product as if it already was in the market. Google the problem you are setting out to solve. You definitely want to Google the name you plan to call your product. For example I will be launching a seminar to help entrepreneurs late this year. When I Goggled what I had planned to call “my” seminar there were 989,000 entries in Google. As I reviewed them further I found one person pretty much owns what I had planned to call my seminar. I could boldly launch as like most entrepreneurs as I am convinced the other content out there can’t be as good as mine…or I need a new name for my seminar that I can own.

The Market

If the need, the pain, you are trying to solve is big enough, ask people in the market how they make the pain go away today. Find out if what others in the space are doing completely solves your market’s pain, or is a just an incremental solution. What you will often find is most people, if presented with something can poke holes in it. If you are an entrepreneur you have learned what most people can not do it create solutions…that is your gift. So listen to your market, let them share their gifts and apply yours.

Patent Search

This part scares most start ups and seasoned pro’s alike but it is a must if you feel you have a unique product or service. What scares most are the perceived fees, and yes this can get expensive. But let me ask you a question;

What is more expensive in the long run, a Patent search before you launch…or finding out after you launch (and you invest your 401k, loans from family and friends, and use your home equity) that you violate someone else’s patent?

Remember “The Law of the Locker room”: after your work (out) is done, there is a high probability others too have seen this pain point the buyers in your market have. It does not mean you should quit, it just means;

As an Entrepreneur never assume you are the only one who saw the problem and set out to make the pain go away.

How about your organization…..

Has your team launched something only to find many others in that space…after you launched?

How did that make your sales guys feel?

How do you think it made you look in the eyes of your current customers and the market that you did not know?

Have you ever designed-built-launched a perfect solution to your buyer’s pain only to be shut down by a patent violation? (I have, when I did not have grey hair and it sucked!)

The good news is you have the “Entrepreneurial DNA Gene”; you too have a spider sense to see and want to solve pains your buyers have.

They say “reasonable people if given accurate information make reasonable decisions” so please take a few extra steps before you invest and launch your product or service.

And if you do, you can thank me by forwarding a link of this post to your other 9 entrepreneur buddies who may not know the law of the locker room…it’s a small small world after all…

Technorati Tags: Entrepreneur best practice,entrepreneur,law of the locker room,product launch,new products,buyer pain,buyer problems,marketing,launch,small world

Entrepreneur best practice #3; If Sales are Scary, You Can NOT Afford to NOT get Creative..

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Market leaders act different. They understand it’s about more than taking your customer’s money. They go out of their way to teach their clients about their products and they show their clients creative new ways to use their products or services .

Market leaders focus on the buying experience.

The net result is they deepen the bond, the trust, with their clients and their sales increase.

I needed some chlorine tablets for my pool floater so I went to Paddock Pools. I have tried a number of pool supply stores over the last eight years, but I always come back to Paddock. I could buy my tablets at Home Depot, or even Big Lots if I time running out correctly, but I prefer to pay a little more and buy my chemicals from someone who knows pools.

As I entered the store I could not help but notice a mini Haunted house to my right. I thought how cool…just like they create amazing Christmas tree displays to offset their down season sales, they also have Halloween decorations.

How smart…they created a merchandising customer experience.

As I checked out with my new bucket of chorine tablets I was asked …” Did you go inside?” I admitted the young boy still inside me wanted to, and she encouraged me to go inside and check it out. So I ducked my head and went through the cray paper streamers and went inside.

Inside there where all kinds of products merchandised to illustrate how to use them, even a spooky fireplace in the back of the room. Everything in this mini Haunted house were product’s the store sells and they showed how to use them with a little creativity.

I just had to ask the cashier how long this took to build and the cost. She said with a smile…” well we argues about how to do it for an hour, …we planned it for another, then it took two hours do when the store was slow.” I asked; “was it expensive?” …she said “no, not really.. I think we spent about $75”, (and my gut said they spent their own money and did not expense it.) I asked if I could take pictures of their handiwork and their faces just lit up with smiles.

When business is tough you must be creative. As I discussed in my post about leveraging what you have, you must assess what you have instead of doing what most struggling entrepreneurs do and that is make a list of what they need to be successful…”if we only had….we could hit our revenue numbers”.

This store, this organization, did a number of things right…

They leveraged what they had.

They stuck to their “flight plan”

Created an experience and not just a floor display

They “showed” their clients how to use their products

They “taught”their clients

They empowered their associates to be a part of the solution

They recommended I check it out

Once inside they had a create Halloween Christmas tree, reinforcing their other seasonal products

If I had young children, I promise you this display would spread in their network of friends and parents would be visiting this store, or junior would make their lives miserable until they did.

Market leaders act differently.

They understand it’s about more than taking your customer’s money. They go out of their way to teach and show ( versus tell and sell) their clients creative new ways to use their products or services and they focus on the buying experience. The net result is they deepen the bond, the trust, with their clients and their sales increase.

How about your business….

What can you do today that is creative, but is not expensive?

How can you create a customer experience instead?

When sales are scary you must leverage what you have and get creative to; “create sales velocity”.

I plan to circle back with this Paddock store and hopefully their manager will share with me the sales this year compared to last year as a % as my guess is their seasonal Halloween merchandise sales will see an increase AND their other products will as well.

Great Job to those at Paddock Pools who built this display in the store on Shea near the 101 freeway,… if you live nearby , bring the kids and check it out!

Technorati Tags: Entrepreneur,entrepreneur best practices,bootstrapping,get creative,grow sales,buyer experience,buying experience,passion,empowered employees,create sales velocity

When Bootstrapping, Leverage What you Have….

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So you want to be an entrepreneur? You sure?

I am just finishing an eBook that will be titled; 50 “UGLY TRUTHS” about owning your own business …and 5 reasons to do it anyway. I have served entrepreneurs in a variety of industries for 25 years. Some of my clients today are people passionately setting out to launch their new service or product. Some have owned their business for years and want to take it to the next level in revenues and profit.

One common area I help entreprenuers with in the start up, bootstrapping stage, is to focus on; Leveraging what you have….as opposed to making a list of what you need.

Look, I’ve been there….you’ve mentally made the commitment, you have made some investment, you’ve told your family and friends about your business… and you are all in. Very quickly what most entrepreneurs do is start making a list of what they need.

I often see lists that include; new buildings, office space, people, a new printer, fax machine, a custom showroom, new cell phone, new computer, business cards, stationary….and so on. I spoke with one entrepreneur that went out and leased a new Lexus and he has yet to open his first customer. He contacted me because he needed sales velocity because he had no cash.When I inquired as to why he leased a new car…I heard the common response when buying wants versus needs…” I needed to look successful…” Really? (So he must think I am a real loser driving my 2003 Toyota Camry huh?)

If you are about to launch your business or planning your growth, focus on leveraging what you have and not making a list of what you need. It is in this phase you build your leadership muscles.

In 2005 I was asked by an entrepreneur I was serving at the time to launch a new retail business as an independent division of his company VMI. VMI is the second largest manufacturer of wheel chair accessible vehicles in the world. I was the VP of Sales and Marketing and created a repeatable sales process and adjusted our messaging to be more specific to the problems we solved for our three main buyer persona’s rather than” features and benefits speak”. We modified some of our designs based on customer and user feedback and sales were exploding. The owner asked me to take on the new challenge; open a local retail store.

When we launched what soon became Arizona Mobility Products we had arguably…nothing. We did not have a business name, a building, a website, a logo, a sign; computers….you get the idea. So I too quickly went into list building mode. However I quickly learned this business needed to “eat what we killed”…we needed to be self funding.

So like my clients, I went off to think at a local restaurant as I don’t know about you, but I do my best thinking out of the office. I took inventory of what I did have;

as VP of Sales and Marketing I had worked with the most successful mobility dealers in the world for the past four years; I intimately knew best practices of market leading dealers

I have observed what dealers have done well, and the mistakes like signing leases for expensive elaborate show rooms that only erodes the bottom line

I knew our customers, our community, from the market research we did for our new corporate marketing, website, and product designs

We had over 400 finished vehicles available for sale in every configuration , ready for sale

The company had warehouse space vacant, old extra computers, extra phones

A small customer list of local consumers who have bought accessible vehicles over the last eight years or so

I had an amazing salesman named Pat with over 30 years of vehicle sales and local connections with car dealers

I know sales, marketing, and I have developed sales acceleration programs for companies for 20 years

I know that one common problem consumers who need a wheel chair accessible van have is the ability to see one, they lack transportation to get to the dealer

I personally have a network of thought leaders in internet marketing, marketing creative, and print marketing support

After making the list, I asked myself ;based on what I know from meeting with other dealers and customers, the inventory we did have, how can we… leverage this to grow this business? To make this operation a market leader?

We could give our customers what they needed, with the specific options they wanted, and we could do it same day.

We didn’t have large fancy showrooms, so we went to our customer’s homes. We did not have an ad budget so I wrote content that was picked up for free in local magazines that served the community, like; Arizona Mobility Products makes doing-good good-business…

With each unit we sold we accrued money to support a web site, ads, direct mail to past customers who’s vehicles were about to go out of warrantee, and business cards. I called my network and asked for favors. I offered to barter when possible and thanks to our service partners we launched.

In case I never said so, Thanks go out to some amazing partners;

John Scott Dixon and his team at Thought Lava for our web site

Jay Wilson and his creative team at Real World Marketing

Phil and Barry at BC Graphics

Bill at Tempe Dodge

Within months we were averaging what most successful mobility dealers sell each month, and after the first year we were in the top 10 dealers nationally in total revenue. We had five people, and we were focused;

“Serve our customers with what they need and want…we bring mobility vehicles to you”

When bootstrapping your business, focus on leveraging what you have as opposed to making lists of what you need.

Lists of what you need are good for the future but they do not fill the cash register…as a matter of fact we did not even have a cash register…smile.

Have you launched and business?

What can you leverage to serve your market?

Did you rush out and buy a bunch of office furniture, equipment, or did you learn to ;“eat what you killed”

Your leadership muscles grow in the bootstrapping stage as you learn to leverage and scale what you have. Those expenditures that add value you keep and those that do not produce your desire ROI are removed.

Although I left AMP years ago to help other entrepreneurs, Pat now running the store and continues to provide amazing service and bringing vehicles to his customers. Pat continues to serve his market as opposed to selling them, and continues to be in the top 10 mobility dealers nationally.

Technorati Tags: Bootstrapping,entrepreneur,boot strap business,start up,fund new business,mobility vans,wheelchair accessible vans,ramp vans

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #8; Buyers Become Tone Deaf to Lazy Marketing Messaging

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Marketers who build their message from within the perceived safety of their office walls create lazy marketing messages that are perceived as safe, but do not resonate in the marketplace. When marketing and their creative teams build messaging from an inside out approach, versus the market needs and problems in, they create noise and buyers learn to tune out to the noise. If you continue to violate your buyer trust with luke warm messaging that fails to explain the problems you solve for them, your buyers become tone deaf to all you’re marketing.

Scientists who have studied people who are tone deaf have found they lack specific connections in their brains. These individuals have an interruption in the synapses and thus no longer able to distinguish changes in pitch.

Your market becomes tone deaf by hearing repeated messages that do not resonate so they learn to disconnect from your product and your Brand.

The Obama administration is now in that ever so common place entrepreneurs find themselves after rushing to launch without doing the market research and connecting to buyer needs early on. When you launch products with a; Ready-Fire-Aim approach you miss your target and may actually hurt your relationships with buyers in your market.

The current administration was so focused on hitting a launch date (hasting) they compromised the needed upfront strategy work. When this occurs in your business, you launch expecting to sell 3,000 units of your new product or service and in reality you only sell 3.

Market Leaders recognize they have a problem early on, conduct win loss interviews, dive deep into their market to gain understanding (and not sell), and create learning’s.

In the Bible it talks about the sailors sending out “soundings” in the black of the night during storms at sea. What they were doing was listening for land, and more importantly rocks that could sink their ships. The Obama administration needs to be connecting to the market, and listening for soundings and not selling.

Once you learn more about your buyers, their problems, their buying process, buying criteria, and develop buyer personas, you can speak to them in a voice they hear an understand.

Market Losers just tell the same message, over and over again.( hoping this time it sticks)

Market losers are like Americans hiring taxi cabs in foreign countries…if the driver does not speak English…we just speak LOUDER!

Market Losers create Lazy messaging because they failed to do the strategy work upfront and pay in missing ROI targets and more importantly broken brand trust in their market.

If you find yourself in the middle of a storm brought on by underperforming sales to goal…

If you find your marketing team trying to convince you to spend more, have more placements and impressions, you may be dealing with a tone deaf market.

What do Market leaders do?

understand the value of spending time upfront in their markets
understand buyers and their problems
segment those buyers into common groups
create buyer persona
speak to their buyers in a voice that resonates
Constantly send out soundings in their markets, always listening…

How about your company…

Are you in a Taxi cab In Mexico City trying to speak louder in your market?

Does your team practice; Ready-Fire- Aim Product Launch?

Have you learned to become Tone deaf to the Obama administration messaging?

Is your messaging resonating with your buyers…or is it lazy marketing noise?

Can you afford to have your lazy marketing negatively affect your Brand image in the minds of your buyers?

Technorati Tags: messaging,marketing,buyer persona,market leader,market loser,obama,president obama,health care reform leasson,market problems

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #7: Asking…and not listening to your market, is worst than not asking at all…

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A number of organizations are so focused to achieving their objectives that they stop listening to their market. Oh, they ask the right questions, (like they are supposed to) but they only hear the answers that are in alignment with their internal goals, understanding, and historical data. The market (your market) has changed as I discussed in my post interviewing salespeople. So asking open ended questions in your market is imperative to gaining current information and understanding the buying process of today’s market. When organizations ask, but not authentically listen, they create more damage in the trust between their team and their market than if they never would have asked in the first place.

I received an email invitation to attend a telephone town hall being held by Harry Mitchell. What the message said was;

U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell will participate in two live telephone town hall meetings to discuss the issue of health care and health insurance reform on Wednesday, August 26, with individuals residing in Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District.

“I believe that the telephone town hall format maximizes the ability to engage respectfully on the issue with folks across the district,” Mitchell said. “Reaching more people and taking more questions provides an opportunity to constructively listen to the thoughts, concerns and opinions of people and to answer their questions about the proposals in Congress. I also want to highlight the provisions where there is bipartisan agreement and on benchmarks I believe should be met in order to gain my support.”

I have followed Harry Mitchell since moving to Arizona and what appeals to me is he seems to be a regular guy, someone I could call and have a conversation with. Someone, unlike a number of representatives in Washington, he is one of us. On his website he does a much better job than the Obama administration in clearly stating his views;

As I meet with people throughout the district, many have shared with me personal stories about health care. Like most Arizonans, I believe that rising costs and the threat of losing existing coverage is cause for great concern.

Our health care system needs reform and I believe that it should be comprehensive. Reform should not only improve access to affordable and quality care for all Americans, but it also needs to also preserve individual choice and protect competition in the marketplace. Reform should not leave individuals with fewer options, should not add to the national deficit, and should not leave doctors with inconsistent and low reimbursement rates as is often the case with Medicare.

This page closes with:

While our advances in the health care system are the envy of the world, too many Arizona families and businesses are facing skyrocketing costs, the threat of losing coverage, or denied care by their insurance companies. Reform needs to protect what works and fix what doesn’t. Any solution must first start with an open and honest conversation that gives all of the stakeholders in the debate a seat at the table. That includes you.

As legislation works its way through Congress, I will continue to review the bill and monitor its changes. I have also created this resource page where you can also read the bill, access information about the legislative process, and contact me with your thoughts.

Awesome, he clearly has done what I ask business leaders to do;

go out into your market, discover their needs and unresolved problems listen and do not try to overcome their objections…

Here’s my concern; Is a telephone conference call truly the best venue for you Harry, and your brand?

I do not think so, and I think it will be the biggest strategy mistake in your career….but I may be wrong. For me it is an interruption in your Brand. But then again all who Am I? I live in Arizona, I am a Republican, and I help business people connect with their markets which ultimately results in explosive growth. However, what this “feels” like is you are trying to control the voice of the customer. Whoever recommended a telephone conference, in my opinion, should be asked to serve in another capacity on your staff. I thought it might just be me, so I asked a number of friends, and unfortunately perception is reality and the perception is you are afraid, and you want to control the venue. The reality may be you truly want to serve more people in a better way; however the execution does not match your Brand so we are Branding you by Default.

I tried to sign up for the telephone conference but your web site said;

Note: Due to heavy traffic, we are experiencing delays with our email system. If you encounter difficulties, please return later and try again.

Did you not expect heavy traffic? Did your advisor not research what was necessary to support this venue, support you?

Here’s the problem, we the American people have lost trust. The shame is you “feel” like a great , Authentic guy next door, (like someone I wrote about ), however this teleconference “feels” like you will be “telling and selling” not listening.

It feels like you are trying to control the voice of your customers and shape a confirmation of what you already believe and not listen and learn.

When you ask buyers why they do not buy, most think it is price, or the product is not right…but what buyers tell you the top two reasons are;

#1 the salesperson did not listen

#2 they did not understand my problem

Keep in mind, as consumers, we Love to buy…we hate being sold!

I truly hope your motivation was to reach more people and provide a positive venue to address real questions. I was not able to participate but I hope to hear from those that do. However, if you are trying to control the voices of your marketplace, stop, and have someone on your staff buy you a copy of a book titled: World Wide Rave.

How about your business…

Are you asking and not listening?

Are you trying to validate and support your beliefs or are you authentically listening and connecting to unmet needs?

Are you “selling and telling” or listening and solving?

Did you attend the teleconference? How did it make you “feel”?

You see, at the end of the day how markets “feel” about you, your company, your Brand, and if you and your team authentically Listens, Understands, and solves my problems affect their purchase decisions. Each purchase is a vote of confidence.

Technorati Tags: town hall teleconference,listen to your market,find market problems,not listening to your market,brand,brand by default,Harry Mitchell

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #5: Without a Clear understanding of the Problems your New Product Solves, Marketing will resort to “Buzz Word Bingo” and “Gobbledygook”

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Just as marketing often throws products “over the wall” to sales, development often throws products over the wall to marketing. When marketing lacks a clear understanding of the problems your product solves, the buyers they solve them for, and a clear understanding of the criteria and process those buyers use when making buying decisions marketing resorts to “Buzz Word Bingo” in hopes that something they say sticks.

Marketing’s job is to create a story that spreads.

Or as Seth Godin states “Marketing tells a story that spreads”.

Without market knowledge and a clear understanding of the problem(s) your new product or service solves the marketing message becomes one of “Gobbledygook”.

As David Meerman Scott explains on his Blog Web Ink Now, That’s how so many PR people write — using gobbledygook-laden phrases that are so overused to have become meaningless.

When marketing creates buzz words and Gobbledygook it makes your market nervous as you have not clearly stated the problem(s) you solve for them, …so they assume.( and we know what happens when we are left to assume…)

One symptom your marketing story has gone astray is the need to have specific messages that address the myths in the market that have grown due to a lack of story clarity. Your marketing efforts will move away from developing a story that resonates with the market and they will produce defensive copy like: Top Five Health Care Reform Lies—and How to Fight Back.

All of the above are signs of a solution being thrown over the wall to marketing without a clear understanding of the problems your new solution solves and marketing is playing catch up. What should have been market research and testing of messages becomes surveys to validate the need. It gets really dangerous when development asks marketing to “create a need” for this new solution they just threw over the wall.

What should we all remember about creating stories that resonate in our markets so we do not have to be defensive? Cheryl Clausen helps us understand what it takes to write a good story in her blog: How to Put Life in Your Sales .

As you develop your short powerful story include these elements:

Curiosity – Incorporate unexpected things, open a loop with an incomplete thought you have to stick around to finish
Make it about the people who buy your stuff either explicitly or implicitly
Keep it logical – Stories have a plot. Therefore, a person like the people who buy your stuff must have an urgent challenge or problem that is resolved as a result of the actions they took.

It does need to:

Speak to the right people
Share the right message
Tell your story the right way
Connect with people at the right time
Focus on the right reasons people want to act

If you find the market is struggling with the messages your marketing has created and its stories, what you are experiencing is your lack of market knowledge and the problems you solve is showing.

Chances are you are experiencing a Hasted effort to market without clearly understanding the unresolved market problems you were supposed to solve, your buyer personas, and an understanding of your buyer’s buying process.

You can keep trying to catch up and or defend yourself and your new product idea, or you can back up and spend time understanding the needs of your market.

You must stop telling and selling and start asking and listening.

In the process of doing so create buyer personas and speak to those personas in their voice. You must make your story specific to those most likely to buy.

When you use your understanding of your buyer personas and their voice you can create concise messages that are easy to understand and are emotional engaging.

How about your company….

Are you throwing products over the wall to marketing and they are using Buzz Word Bingo in hopes that something sticks?

Is your website full of Gobbledygook that fills a lot of white space but says nothing of value to your buyers?

Do you have to defend your solution and expose myths?

Technorati Tags: Buzz wrod bingo,Obama,Health care reform,marketing stroy,message,market

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #4: Your Previous New Product Launch success (or Failures) Affect Current and Future Launches

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At the Austin Pcamp last weekend I was speaking with a young product manager and he shared sales and marketing do not seem to be embracing his current new product launch. The first thing I asked him was;

“Have you launched other products or solutions recently expecting to sell 60,000 (and that was the sales goal) and you only sold 6…”

His answer was “Yes, how did you know that?”

I explained the one thing about having grey hair is I earned each one,and I went on to explain

“… you have a trust and credibility issue within your team and probably market you must fix first.”

As a salesperson and someone who has lead sales teams it is hard not to become a bit skeptical when marketing and product management “throws another new product over the wall for my team to sell”.

It is particularly difficult to get excited about a new product opportunity when marketing and product management have throw two previous solutions over the wall and my team was given a goal for 60,000 and we only sold 6.

So I explained to this ( now wide eyed) young product manager that once you break trust with your sales and marketing team, once you no longer have credibility among your team members you have a much bigger problem you need to solve first. (And you need to solve it quickly)

I asked him a number of questions and the one that seemed to make him most uncomfortable was;

“When the last product launch failed and sales was out in the market banging their heads against the wall trying to sell it (so they get paid) and you were at corporate…did you attend any meetings with your leadership team and when asked why the product is not selling…did you throw sales under the bus?”

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Where a number of entrepreneurs make a costly mistake is in jumping into a new product launch and making a product launch checklist without spending an adequate amount of time gaining an intimate market knowledge and building strategy. When this occurs, developers and engineers (Representatives) build things because they can not because they should.

How do we end up with a 1,000 page bill? ( few have read, and fewer understand?) Or an ipod station and toilet paper holder? Or a laptop that smells?…. ( by design)

Without a clear understanding of the problem you want to solve, and clear requirements and not understanding who you are solving them for, you will build stuff.

Developers are creative problem solvers. They want to be given problems and requirements. They go nuts if you also tell them how to solve it. Just as salespeople hate it when accounting tries to tell them how to sell more.

The inherent problem though lays in the fact developers also see problems that are real to them, that may not be market problems. So they have their “wish list” of solutions they want to introduce.

If you lack a clear definition of the problems you want to solve and the requirements needed and just “throw a challenge over the wall” two things will happen;

1. Development will create a perceived list of problems and prioritize them themselves.

2. Without a clear direction, they will build what they always wanted to build and not necessarily what the market needs or wants.

What happens next is even more dangerous. So you have shared your “big hairy audacious goal” with your market: “A Health Care reform bill before the August break”.

Not having a connection to the problems your team will connect to something…so the August goal is clear, measureable and written so they rally to meet that goal.

The achievement of the goal date becomes more important than solving the unresolved market problem.

When this occurs your team tunes out the market and its needs and tunes into the leaders goal ( and often ego).

Teams aligned around the wrong goal “tell and sell” versus “teach and share the problems they solved” and markets often rebel.

Buyers like to buy; they do not like to be sold.

With the power of social media, and the lack of alignment to the correct goal, a solution can launch and die within hours.

Market leaders understand the value in spending the time upfront, clearly defining the problem(s) they want to solve and developing requirements that set their developers up to win, and ultimately add value to the bottom line of the organization.

Market Losers are so focused on a delivery goal they Haste, and they waste. Focus on the wrong goal results in their team members thrashing around, starting and stopping and not able to develop revolutionary solutions that the market willing buys.

How about your organization….

Does your team throw things over the wall?

Do your developers ask for more information and the prioritization of requirements, or do they assume they know.

Has your company launched something because you could and not because you should? ….How’s that working for you?

Technorati Tags: requirements,market leader,market loser,throwing things over the wall,marketing,product development,launch,new product launch,build products your market wants to buy

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #1: Without a Clear Definition of the Problem You Want to Solve, You Will Experience “Scope Creep” and Your Launch Plan Will Fail

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Without a clear definition of the problem(s) you solve with your new product or service you will experience scope creep and your team will thrash around. When you thrash around you have a number of starts and stops without completely solving each individual initiative. Not only is this behavior ineffective but it is costly and often dangerous.

Fundamentally I agree, if what the news media tells us is true regarding; the number of uninsured Americans, the rising costs of care, the rising costs of caring for uninsured Americans,… that there is a problem that needs to be solved. However I do not understand the problem, or problems we are trying to solve with the 2009 Health Care Reform Initiative, nor how the over 1,000 page proposal solves them.

I see this frequently with entrepreneurs. They discover what they perceive to be an unresolved market problem and the solution is crystal clear (to them) so they launch. They take out 2^nd mortgages, they cash in their 401k, and they ask family and friends for support. (Money) They share their brilliant idea with their buddies on the golf course to validate their idea and everyone says… ”brilliant idea”. However very quickly they learn an expensive lesson when they expect (and have created the support) to sell 60,000 units and only sell 2.

Without a clear definition of the Problem you solve your New Product Launch Plan will fail.

Instead of clearly defining the problem, quantifying the need, making sure people want and will pay money to solve that problem they broaden their scope. Now they have a number of messages floating in their market that are Luke warm at best and none clearly articulate how you solve any problems for buyers in your marketplace. None are connecting with anyone.