On our way home from a ski trip recently, we pulled into a fast food drive-thru for dinner.  After I placed each person's order, the voice would say, "Is that all? Is that all?"  Then this past weekend, I called for some Chinese carry-out.  After I placed each person's order, the voice would say, "What else? What else?"

Does anyone else see a marketing lesson in that? 

We know the value of upselling current clientele.  It can be a huge boost to profits and extremely cost-effective since the customer is already right in front of you.  But do we squander those opportunities by asking, "Is that all?"  Wouldn't we open up more opportunities by asking, "What else?"

One way suggests the conversation should be ending.  The other way keeps the dialogue wide open -- as open as the customer wants it to be.

Getting your customers to talk and explore rarely has bad results.  This begins as a training issue and then becomes a management issue.  Some employees will do this instinctively while others will be content as mindless order-takers.  Teach them the difference and help them build new habits. 

Give the customer a chance to explore.  Let's replace "Is that all?" with "What else?" and see what happens!

Labels: bad habits, bank, credit union, customer centered, customer service, customers, differentiation, employees, management, marketing, messaging, salesmanship

Some people scoff at the idea of golf as a legitimate networking tool. 

"Just an excuse to play," they'll say.  "Just a way to get the company to pay for your golf," they'll say.

But it most certainly can be done.  In fact, I believe I just saw a company make many, many thousands of dollars on the golf course today.  How's that for return on investment?

What follows are some tips to make sure you convert golf outings into leads and revenue.  (A more complete piece, perhaps with an infographic, will follow as soon as time permits.)

1. It's about mindset.  If you go to a charity or community outing committed to starting, renewing or reinforcing business relationships, you will.  It will infuse your conversations.  You won't even have to think that much about it.

2. To go along with your mindset, go armed with business cards.  Keep some in your bag at all times.  I have gained new business on the golf course on multiple occasions, and it always helps to put your card in someone's hands.

3. Target. What past or present contacts do you need to see? Who do you need to be introduced to? ROI is how you can justify golf (and more golf and more golf), so make sure you get something out of each event. A big part of that is determining what you want to accomplish. Golf can be a great ice breaker with new acquaintances but only if you seek them out.

4. Give. Just like your interactions on social media (for business purposes), be a giver first. Don't be a taker, looking for what's good for you as your main goal. Don't be selling and promoting and hustling. People went to the event expecting to network but not to feel sold. Just make contact, have a brief two-way conversation, and agree to talk further later.

5. Follow up.  Don't expect the card and the short conversation to do all the work.  This is a start, not a finish -- unless they signed agreements and cut you a check right there on the tee box.  Don't wait for the other party to follow up with you; be proactive and lead the conversation.

I was playing with a couple bankers today.  First I made sure they met a hospital CEO, with whom they gained agreement to meet for lunch to discuss new construction loans that they never would have known about otherwise.  At the turn, one of them chatted up the snack shop worker who had plenty of gripes about their credit card machine and agreed to check out a proposal for switching that service to them (which happens to be one of their specialties).

Was this just a day on the links for that bank?  No, it was a very profitable day of networking that only golf could provide.  Tee it high and watch sales fly!

Labels: bank, branding, credit union, customer centered, customers, differentiation, employees, management, marketing, messaging, planning, salesmanship, strategy

There's a biblical proverb that says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." 

It is Proverbs 27:17, to be exact, and it has really stuck with me lately.  There was a time when I had lots of "sharpness" around me.  As a young entrepreneur, lots of other young entrepreneurs seemed to gravitate to each other. 

And we made each other better.  Not always by challenging each other or pushing each other like personal trainers in the business world, but just by pursuing our dreams and being our best and loving what we were doing.  I think that was one of the really important yet lesser known factors in my early success.

[A big thanks to Rob and Jason and Christy and Bobby and Anton in particular.]

Then, for no real reason other than perhaps the demands of growing families or people moving around, there was a time when I didn't feel much sharpness in my business or friendship circles.  I didn't even realize it until I got in one of those rare introspective states.  Maybe it was when I turned the ripe old milestone age of 30... 

I had become surrounded by people who preferred coasting over driving.  People who didn't really expect much, people who weren't really trying to accomplish anything meaningful.  There are a lot of nice people out there who aren't going to make you better.

We need iron.  We need it badly.  It is so vital that we find ways to keep getting better, and one understated way to ensure you stay sharp is to be in contact with others who are sharp.  The rest of the world needs us to be our best.  Who is your iron?  Who can you be iron to?

[My wife is an iron lady -- she makes me better.  I've been blessed with iron vendors and iron clients too.  So this is where I thank Michael, Mike, and Mike.  Rich and Leasa and Scott and James and Julie and Magi and Ben and Frankie and Vernon and Jeff and another Mike.  I know a lot of Mikes... but more than that, I know a lot of iron people and I'm better for it.]

Labels: bad habits, creativity, differentiation, employees, management, marketing, planning, strategy

We often find ourselves pontificating against cookie cutters.  Not the kind literally used on cookies, but the kind of lazy "copy and paste" thinking that too often turns into marketing plans that have little hope of succeeding for business owners.

You're not a cookie, so don't go for a cookie-cutter marketing program.

The cookie-cutter approach is ultimately just about selling a product.  Someone has a so-called "program" and they want to sell it to you.  But maybe it's not right for your particular type of customer... in which case it's not right for you.

That's not to say we don't learn from past experiences and carry those insights forward.  It's also not to say we see familiar opportunities but try to reinvent the wheel regardless.  When we have similar clients in similar markets with similar needs, the marketing strategies will inevitably look similar.  The marketing for a flooring store in one midsize Midwestern market will likely have many of the same elements as the marketing for another flooring store in another midsize Midwestern market.  But they won't be identical.  They can't be.

We never assume.  We never fit the client to the program; we fit every single program to the individual client.  To have a highly effective marketing plan for a small business, it can't be stamped out like factory work.  It can't be mass produced.  It must be tailored for the one and only.

Two major reasons good marketing work is always custom are these:  personality and personnel.  Every company has a personality, often driven by the owner and/or founder(s).  That's only natural, but it also means every company is distinct -- often in ways that aren't readily realized -- and therefore a cookie-cutter marketing approach is going to miss much of the company's essence because it's not set up to even identify or account for it.

Every company also has distinct personnel.  Two community banks may be similarly sized and in similar markets, but have grown and developed in entirely different ways because of the people inside.  Their strengths and weaknesses are likely to be very, very different.  I can think of one case in the past where the executive team wanted to drive a specific type of lending that was quite profitable, but they didn't dare because they didn't have personnel in place to make it work.  A cookie-cutter marketing idea would have failed miserably at that place and time.  Once they got the personnel side corrected, great new opportunities opened up; the change was dramatic and almost immediate.

What are your distinctives?  How can you market your business in a way that is effective and authentic only to you?  Let's talk about it today.

Labels: bank, creativity, credit union, customer centered, differentiation, employees, management, marketing, planning, strategy

Labels: differentiation, employees, marketing, planning, salesmanship, strategy

Toys-R-Us has recently announced plans to add short-term locations this Christmas shopping season. They will be setting up shop in vacated storefronts in malls and shopping centers to pick off additional traffic that their current permanent stores don't attract. It's a brilliant move for several reasons.

First, it's tried and true in other industries. Look at any empty Blockbuster Video or Circuit City location right about now -- they are being occupied by Halloween stores on 2-month leases. Same goes for fireworks shops each summer. They pop up in every vacant storefront for a short selling season and then disappear again. That's exactly what Toys-R-Us wants to do, adding outlets for their busiest season and then folding up when the season is over.

Second, it's low risk. Retail property owners don't exactly have big lines clamoring for their vacant spaces right now; supply far surpasses demand. As a result, I'm guessing Toys-R-Us has gotten sweet deals almost everywhere they have gone. Between convenient locations and their well-recognized name, they are sure to get traffic. That spells profit!

The adage "Location, Location, Location" holds true even in short-term bursts of seasonal business. Where could you be more convenient to customers? How could you be easier to access when the buying decisions are being made? Pick your spots, and compete for traffic in creative new ways!

Labels: creativity, customers, differentiation, management, marketing, planning, strategy

As mentioned in the previous post, Kohl's has a new radio spot that got me thinking. The question in the ad is, "Is it just me, or . . .?"

Finish that sentence with your own business in mind. What do you offer that is "just you?" What is it about your products or services or company or delivery or experience or follow-up that can only be found with you? You'll have to be specific, like Kohl's with their no-hassle, no-questions, no-receipt return policy.

Get creative, until you can answer that question affirmatively: "Yep, it's just me!"

Labels: advertising, differentiation, management, marketing, planning, strategy