I'm preparing some training for the sales team of a hospice company. We'll cover a wide range of topics, but one keeps surfacing in my mind: It's not about you.

Many of them will feel pressure to meet goals, which is not a bad thing in itself. But many come from a sales background where negative reinforcement is the norm. What these companies might call "sense of urgency" more accurately plays out as desperation. And when someone is desperate, they walk into a sales call thinking, "I need..."

As soon as you're centering your mind on your own needs, you have abandoned the way your customer thinks.

I'm going to tell these reps, "There are several things that are very important to hospice care. Your needs are not one of them."

This is actually a very liberating thought, one I've posted on before. Customers do not exist to help you meet sales quotas or to help you win awards or to keep your manager off your back. You are supposed to be offering something to them, not the other way around. Once you get that, you are free to speak their language and truly help them.

And the funny thing is, that's when you win!

Labels: bad habits, customer centered, employees, management, marketing, salesmanship

"Tyranny of the Urgent" is not a new concept. It's been around a long time in business -- and every other endeavor. Tyranny of the urgent is the concept that urgent, time-sensitive tasks suck up our time that should be spent on more important big-picture activities.

It has only gotten worse since our ability to multi-task and produce has increased exponentially.

And I'm guilty. I fight it all the time. I have fought it since the opening day of this company. I am fighting it right this second, in fact. The "urgent" tasks of the week are why I'm writing a blog post at 5:08pm on a Saturday afternoon!

For many business owners, marketing suffers at the hand of the urgent. An employee no-shows, creating an urgent need for all hands on deck. Invoicing is behind schedule, meaning that will take full attention until it's back on track. You get the picture. Stepping away from the fray to build a marketing plan is important, but too often derailed by the urgent.

But stepping away from the fray is exactly what is required sometimes. When I need to step away from the fray to write -- like the important white papers I'm going to finish next week -- I head to Ball State University's Bracken Library, top floor, private room with plate glass windows facing north. That's my spot. Uninterrupted and totally dialed in.

When it comes to marketing your business, filling your pipeline with customers, don't let the daily urgencies steal your ability to win. Step away from the fray -- or might I suggest delegating to a marketing firm that specializes in people just like yourself!

Labels: bad habits, management, marketing, planning, strategy

In the earliest days of my business, I ran across an interview with Robert Blattberg of the Northwestern University business faculty. One thing he said really stuck with me, to the point that I cut it out and kept it all these years.

"Having a customer database is no longer a competitive advantage," he said. "Not having a customer database is a competitive disadvantage."

This was 1996 or so. He was referring to larger companies, but there's no question he was right and the truth of his statement has trickled down to enterprises of every size. If you're not contacting customers directly by now, you are missing out in a big and tragic way.

I don't recommend cookie-cutter programs for anyone -- the same set of activities for every business. That's foolishness. But one thing that is consistent across all the companies I serve is an active, systematic direct communication plan.

Database marketing sounds a little cold and technical, but in fact it is a warm and engaging process that keeps you and customers (and prospects) in direct contact with one another. And it is that direct contact that feeds you repeat business, referral business, and additional new customers.

Are you keeping track and keeping in touch the way you should? Blattberg called the trend right 15 years ago, and it won't be going away.

Labels: customers, management, marketing, media, planning, strategy

I was brought into a mild disagreement yesterday.

The client is hosting a charitable event, and I am on the organizing committee. A marketing piece was being passed around for review when one member objected: "Why are we wasting so much space? There's room for a couple paragraphs here!"

The designer replied, "It's white space." This term wasn't familiar to everyone, so the objection continued: "We could put a lot more information here. Why wouldn't we do that?"

Finally the chairman glanced at me as if to say, "Help!" I said that white space is often a good feature, it gives the eye a chance to breathe and takes the attention to the great photo that anchors the piece. I closed with this summary: "If it looks like work, people won't read it."

That's really the point of white space -- and legibility of the type and other design features. A lot of marketing pieces are overdesigned, and therefore look like work. People don't want to work to read a marketing piece, so make it easy and attractive. Invite them in.

Overloading your materials with text might make you feel like you've gotten your whole message out there, but in fact you might be hurting yourself.

In this particular case, all we want to do is pique curiosity and drive traffic to the website for further information. Designed to be clean and simple, it will succeed; cluttered and heavy, it wouldn't.

Labels: advertising, design, marketing, planning