Monthly Archives: February 2015

How To Work A Room Offline

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“Y’all send him off to a networking event and he’s happier ‘n a tornado in a trailer park,”said Bubba, our rotund branding expert who hails from Georgia.”

150228 How To Work A Room Offline

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“That’s because he is a master at working a room old style, you know, offline, up-close and personal,” I replied. “Rick, our direct marketing friend is a natural. The man can strike up a conversation anywhere there are people—ATM machines, ticket counters, the nine items or less line. I’ve seen him manage to get a stranger to agree to a new business meeting in a rental car line.”

Gail asked, “So why are you called the Networking Ninja, Fletch?”

“It’s not on the video so I’ll tell you. I had to have a name for my product line on Networking when I started speaking back in the 90’s. I liked the alliteration and apparently a lot of meeting planners still like it. This is a presentation I updated for a webinar for a client last fall. Subscribers to my blog and Newsletter can see it here for a short while but then it goes to the store.”

The Takeaway:

  1. Have an objective
  2. Don’t be late
  3. Introduce yourself
  4. Be sincere
  5. Ask for a card
  6. Circulate
  7. Follow up

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and secretary of the dialogue.

 

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

How Do You Decide To Fire A Client?

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Time to fire a client?

Time to fire a client?

Kate, our sensitive sales expert took one look at me and said, ”who rained on your parade?”

I said, “Is it that obvious?”

At that point the entire table erupted with comments ranging from “Totally transparent” to “Like smellin” your way to the ribs dinner.”

I admitted that I was indeed down in the dumps because I was trying to decide whether or not to fire a client.

Gail asked, “Are they paying their bills?”

“Not really,” I said, “you see it’s a pro bono account.”

Bubba, our Dixieland brand expert asked, “So how did y’all get crosswise with each other?”

“It started when they decided that a new name was necessary,” I replied. “Every time I tried to get them to follow a proven process to get to a name they went kiting off in directions that were at best ill-informed. I nearly quit when I literally had to bite my tongue at one point.”

Rick said, “Let me guess, they simply wouldn’t listen to you. We run into that all the time in the direct marketing business. We get hired because they say they need and want our expertise then when we strongly recommend something that scares them even though we have precedent they want us to change it.”

“And when you say no they won’t listen to why,” continued Chris the Digital Marketing Director.

“Are you guys Psychic? I asked.

Kate said, “Yes we are in a way. I’ll bet that you were trying to get something resolved at reasonable speed and the continuous changes and multiple different requests just built up until you told them off.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s only the second time in my life I’ve been this angry. The first time cost me about $150,000 and a marriage. This time I’m out several hundred dollars and a bundle of time but that is not the major problem.

Bubba asked, “So what’s the problem? You’re supposed to be a pro. Just ‘cause the cat worried th’ yarn to a frazzle ain’t no reason to up and quit.”

“Rob, usually I’d agree with you but they are adding insult to injury. In my view every consultant is known by the work they do for their clients and this is one that is committing graphic offenses I just cannot be a part of. I can’t let people think I had anything to do with any part of this organization. I wish them all the luck in the world and I hope there are a lot of contributors out there with little or no graphic taste but I have standards.

The Takeaway

Good clients hire experts and then listen to them. Good clients base decisions on recommendations, measured precedent and the proven ability of the consultant to accomplish preset objectives.

Jerry Fletcher’s recaps his conversations with clients, prospects and a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the fiction’s ringleader and secretary.

 

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 20 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

 

 

 

Marketing In An Age Of Simultaneity

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“It’s morphing again,” Bubba said as he lowered himself into a side chair.

Robot juggler“You are the branding Guru” said Rick,” but sometimes you are more than a little mysterious my friend. What the heck are you talking about?”

“Marketing and ‘bout everythin’ else,” Rob responded.

“So,” Kate said, “does that include sales?”

Rob drawled, “If you can’t run with the big dogs, these days y’all gonna have to stay on the porch.”

“Rob,” I said, “back up and tell us what got you all stirred up.”

“Look around the table,” he said. “Ain’t a one of you that does just one thing anymore.

Rick is a statistical whiz which is why he’s so good at direct marketing. And on top of that he can network his way to new business pitch standing in line at an airport check in counter!

Gail, writes, edits, teaches others to do it and has been an on-air personality and run a couple of ad agencies.

Kate can consult in a boardroom in the morning and go out and make cold calls with a newbie in the afternoon and then make a speech in the evening.

Chris writes code plus drives a digital marketing team that has built a business to twice what it used to be and he dabbles in real estate because he likes the investment opportunities and making houses better.

Fletch has a degree in design but managed ad agencies and PR firms. He’s an expert at positioning, CRM and automated marketing and speaks on three continents on networking. Somehow he explains what Rick does.

And we are not unusual. Like a lot of folks we do all that stuff simultaneously!”

Gail interjected, “So what is bothering you Rob?”

Rob replied, “Used to be y’all could be a writer or a coder or a single whatever. Today to be say a reporter you have to blog, tweet, video the event or the interview, photograph it, edit it and serve it up in multiple forms all of which require some expertise.”

Kate said, “I see what you mean. Most of us have been successful because we can do multiple things reasonably well rather than just a single thing.”

“But it’s more than that,” Chris noted. “That multiple expertise is what used to make us stand out but I think Bubba is saying that it is now the new marketing norm.”

“Y’all got it,” digital dude. “If you’re fixin’ to get into the business or you are ready to break out you’d best be adding some skills that match up with what you do or take it ‘round a corner folks haven’t connected yet.”

Gail said, “I’ll translate:

The Takeaway

Being good at one thing is not good enough anymore. You need to match your primary skill with a couple more that give you more insight and a greater spectrum of bankable capabilities.

 

This blog recaps the luncheon conversations of a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the fictions ringleader and secretary.

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 20 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

What’s The Right Amount Of Copy On The Web?

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HIgh ROI copyBill, a client who had joined the lunch bunch today, pushed his plate to one side, looked across the table and asked, “Are my web pages too long?”

My reply, a little smart aleck, was, “Compared to what?”

“The other guys that do what I do,” he replied.

“Good answer,” Gail, our resident writer jumped in, “Especially since people who don’t understand how to figure this out are always doing that.”

She pulled her pad computer out, fired it up and said, “Let’s see what we can find in the way of a list of successful folks in your business…

Ah, here we go this list is the top15 in the area. Does this one have shorter or longer copy than your web site pages?”

Bill looked and said, “It’s about the same. Try this one. It’s a bigger firm.”

She did. They looked. The copy was longer still. On the third try, the copy was shorter.

Chris, our Digital Director said, “In my experience, there is no one right answer. The appropriate length boils down to the fact that people will read as much as they are comfortable with as long as it provides information they want.”

Gail commented, “I agree completely but there are four times that well-written long copy performs better:

  • When you’re selling something of high value
  • When you’re selling an information product and you have to tell ’em all the benefits and overcome their concerns
  • When you need to develop trust
  • When you’re selling something new and you have to convince the buyer the features are really something they want or need
  • When you are selling on line and they can’t get any sensory data about it except for some visuals.”

Rick, our direct marketing specialist added, “And on the web if copy is too short it really limits ROI. When copy is too short it leads to lower response rates, increased cancellations at checkout and leads to more returns due to unmet expectations all because you didn’t tell them enough. At a minimum, it takes about 250 words per page to keep the search engines and the customer happy.”

I jumped in to say, “But if you need more and have to go “below the fold” to be persuasive, you should go ahead. There’s a study by User Interface Engineering (UEI) that says users are perfectly willing to scroll and in the trade-off between hiding content below the fold or spreading it across several pages, readership increases when the content is on a single page.”

The Takeaway:
The only copy count that matters is the number of sales or opt-ins or phone calls the page generates.

 

This blog recaps the luncheon conversations of a group of business development professionals. They discuss what’s new, what’s old, what’s good, bad and ugly plus creative thinking to find what works. Jerry Fletcher is the fictions ringleader and secretary.

Jerry Fletcher has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com