Music Maestro

Posted on 2015/08/08 by Jerry Fletcher

My questions, as I took my seat at an alfresco table where the others were already gathered was, “What is the musical theme of our group? Do each of us have a couple of notes that might identify us? What is the melody of this group?”

Kate, our sales doyen put a hand on my forehead and said, “His temperature feels normal, but crazy doesn’t generate a fever, does it?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a week,” I said. “I had my ears opened last Saturday. Arthur is one of my valued resources. He runs a very successful web site development company.

He is also a composer. (listen in here)

Last Sunday he revealed his work for a composer’s contest to a group of friends in a home concert. About 25 of us squeezed into his living room around a baby grand and were taken into his creative process.”

Rick asked, “What do you mean, taken in?”

“He literally walked us through how he developed a composition for this contest. This was one of those fortuitous situations when I was already thinking about music because a friend asked me what one thing I was going to do as a result of attending the National Speakers Association meeting in Washington D.C.My answer was I’m going to add intro music to my speaking website and my speaking introduction.

I’ve already got Arthur working on it.”

“Y’all know I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it, said Rob, our branding wizard. But there’s things that music can do for a brand you cain’t do no other way. I may be a child of the south and I do like country rock but every kind of music can put a hex on you if it matches up with your perspective on a product or service. If it’s right, jus’ one or two notes touch the “wareness and preference centers in your brain.”

“You’re right on, Bubba,” I said. Arthur did variations on the theme that included a ragtime immediately followed by a tango. He made it silly and sad and joyous. In just a few minutes his composition took us on a life journey. Along the way he used that elusive ability of music to take us to places all of us have been and to show us how those emotions can be tapped into with as little as two notes.

”Gail asked, “Did he prompt you or just let you guess about the scores?”

“No prompting was required. He played two notes and all of us could see the fin breaking the water. He talked about how Star Wars had re-introduced the idea of a full movie score. He let us hear why we knew something foreboding was on its way and how music could help us envision someone on screen thinking about another character.”

Kate leaned back, took a pull on her iced tea and said, “So you’re suggesting that each of us has a theme and that somehow they combine to make a mini-symphony each time we gather.”

“No, I wasn’t but if I were producing these blogs as radio plays that would be a brilliant idea!”

The Takeaway:

Music has the ability to use your emotions to build memory hooks that resonate regardless of how long it has been since you heard as little as two notes.

______________________________________________________________________

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and the unruly mob of business development professionals he consorts with. They discuss marketing that works from solopreneur to enterprise level. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and “Watson” 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

Bubba’s Newfangled Branding

Posted on 2015/08/01 by Jerry Fletcher

Bubba, who still looks like the Gerber baby, said, as he was taking his seat, “All this newfangled digital stuff makes it harder and easier to build a brand.”

Kate, who could sell just about anything said, “There’s lot of things about branding I might agree about with you but I’m not buying this. You can’t have it both ways!”

He responded, “Mamma always said you cain’t never do sumpin like that but let’s see if we might could get that knot outa your tail. It makes it harder as y’all are bein’ measured way quicker than before so sometimes folks don’t give the strategy time enough to work. On the other hand some of the things you can do today are quicker than stirrin’ up a wasp nest under the eaves.”

“Rob, Take off that beret and put that drawl away for minute or two and tell us what you’re talking about!” I said. “I know you do that on purpose some times. I’ve seen you present and sound like a Midwest announcer. So just tell us would you?”

Sorry,” our branding guru mumbled, “I figured with friends I could be natural.”

Rick and Gail each patted him on a shoulder and said. “That’s okay. What were you saying?”

“I’ve got a bunch of ‘em but I’ll start with one you couldn’t do a few years back:

Blog your brains out… as a guest for other blogs. Start small and work your way up to the big guys. If you do that enough you wind up being seen and repeated all over the place especially if someone actively tweets quotes from your guest blog. I saw this a week or two ago with one of the articles Fletch does for Small Today.

Build a community. This can be done old style. Think baseball cards and Barbies. The new way is to put the trading and comparing and talking about on line. For the latest entries there is no physical item involved. But it still works. Thing is, it takes time. Yelp added reviewer profiles and now has accumulated over 47 million reviews but it took them 5 years.

Share the experience with thought leaders. One of my clients calls this the Johnny Appleseed approach. He’s not looking to get known by everybody in a hurry. His preference is to have one perfect customer tell the next until his product is the most desired in the category. It’s working at the enterprise level.

Create an infographic. Subway posters in the old days were the prototypes of this approach but they were nowhere as heavily packed with information. We know that over 80% of the American public is visually oriented so this is an obviously powerful way into their hearts and minds. The newfangled flip on this is that you can send them to a landing page and sign them up to get more!

Partner with another brand. Borrow that brand’s awareness to kick yours up the driveway. If you’re design-oriented get a deal with the local art museum to let your customers or prospects attend one evening a week or at a special time for a special showing with tickets or vouchers you provide on line. You can go to a broader audience with a coupon for ice-cream or pizza. Just make sure you pick a brand that people think highly of.”

Kate asked, “So what’s the takeaway?”

The Takeaway:

Brands are still built one customer at a time but you can now build a personal relationship with them faster than ever before.

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

Act Your Age!

Posted on 2015/07/25 by Jerry Fletcher

Kate, our sales doyen, sniffed, “Sometimes I think clients are like unruly kids!”

Gail asked, “How so?”

Kate responded, “Jonathan, a client who has been in business forever and over the years volunteered to advise start-ups is going through a life change. He’s retiring from his old business and about to start a new one. He’s so fired up he is overlooking all the basics that need to be done before a launch.”

Rick, Mr. Direct Marketing, asked, “What kind of business is he starting?”

“Consulting,” Kate said. She went on, “He just doesn’t want to do the work he needs to do to increase his chances of success.”

“Could it be an age thing?” I asked. “I don’t mean his age although that is important for consultants but rather a company’s age. Is he thinking like an ‘old-timer” when he is actually a newbie in the new business?”

You’ve updated your Company Phase research again, haven’t you brer’ fox?” said Rob, the Georgia born branding expert.

Chris looked puzzled so Rob continued, “He’s been surveying successful B to B businesses for more years than you’ve been alive. As I recall there are three phases:

Start up
Growth
Established

He’s figured out what marketing works in each phase and because he’s done so much work with consultants he can streamline recommendations and jus’ plain put a jack under your ROI.”

Kate jumped back in asking, “What should I tell Jonathan other than to come talk to you, Fletch?”

“He’s pretty definitely a start up from what you said, so maybe the thing to do is take him for a trip down memory lane. Every business starts the same way whether we want to remember it or not. The differences over time can be put into a 3D matrix. All that changes is Time, Money and Staff. In part, those variables control what you can do to market a firm. But they don’t really change what is effective.”

Chris asked, “So different things are more effective in each phase?”

“You got it. When anyone starts out, especially consultants, they have to get to Trust. There are three ways to get enough trust to get a contract:

Sell a previous employer
Sell someone referred by a previous employer
Network to a previous contact familiar with your work and sell ‘em

Over time, every successful consulting organization, comes to rely on referrals.

Every successful organization.

The Takeaway:

Here are the key ways consultants get business in each phase in order of importance:

Start Up Growth Established

Direct Sales Referrals Referrals

Networking Direct sales Prior experience

Referral Networking Direct Sales

Prior experience Prior experience Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing Direct Marketing Everything Else

Everything else Everything else Networking

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

Coffee, Catchup & Marketing

Posted on 2015/07/18 by Jerry Fletcher

“All I did was take her idea and run with it,” I protested.

“Not according to her,” said Gail, our resident writer. “She tells me that your comments are changing her life.”

I said, “I just met her for coffee and to find out what has been going on. She told me she was thinking about talking to people who stage houses for sale to see if she could get them to display some of her paintings.”

Boy, drawled Bubba, “You’re jus’ like a chicken, you don’t praise your own soup. What did you tell that sweet thing?”

“She’s an artist,” I said. “She’s started painting full time and has been successful at some local art fairs. She’s starting to get interest…not enough to get into a regular gallery yet, but interest. She suggested the staging thing and my marketing brain kicked in.”

“Thas’ all well and good,” said Bubba, “but will you tell us what you told her?”

“This is a perfect example of how I define marketing:

Go where the money is
Sell what they want to buy
Do it again

“I told her to think about the kind of houses that get staged. They are what I call McMansions. They start north of $400,000. Around here most of them have fireplaces.

The one place in a house like that which a painting of size will get noticed is above the fireplace. The painting must be big enough to hang there and command the space. It has to be an original. That’s the only way to get a good price. Big. Original. Commanding. Expensive.

Selling what they want to buy is where the conversation got interesting. She had been making very expensive photo copies of her work and selling those next to the originals.”

“And the originals sold better,” Kate said, finishing for me.”

“Yes, madam sales master,” I replied. “More importantly she had pretty good sales records of the three major styles she was working in. One approach was selling three times better than the others. Visually it was less complex than either of the others but still gave her a great deal of latitude in which to work. She will build an inventory in that series before moving on to the more complex canvases because she will be able to sell them more quickly.

Of course, I suggested she find some way to acquire the names and e-mails of anyone who saw one of her paintings and wanted to see more. For an artist, as foreign as the idea may be, a good CRM system can be crucial. People who buy original art tend to buy again. Staying in touch with them can be the difference between a hobby and career.”

The Takeaway

Go where the money is
Sell what they want to buy
Do it again

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

Form With A Personal Touch

Posted on 2015/06/20 by Jerry Fletcher

“It all comes down to your form, “I said.

“Are we talking golf or Tennis? “ Chris asked as he sat down.

“Neither” said Rick, our direct marketing expert. “We’re talking forms for web sites and landing pages and other uses on line. One of Fletch’s clients was unhappy that he recommended that a form to capture visitor e-mail addresses be included on every page of the website. The client argued that it wasn’t classy and interfered with his branding.”

Chris, our digital director in residence, turned expectantly to Rob the Branding authority in our midst and said, “So the branding viewpoint is….”

Bubba didn’t disappoint him. “Son,” he said, “That feller’s got his knickers in a knot for the wrong reason. Heah’s the thing. You got folks comin’ to a website and the reason they are there is to find out some more about you or your product or service. They may be looking to meet you. If you were dealin’ with them in person what would you do? You’d make it as easy as possible. You’d answer their questions. You would try to connect with them. You’d invite them to keep in touch. That means the form has got to be there but:

The form needs to fit in with the personality of the site
The design should emulate the rest of the site
The language should fit in with the rest of the site

Kate, our sales veteran took over. She said, ”If you think of the form that way you treat it less like a form and more like an invitation. You tell people what they are going to get and you treat them with respect. You make your approach more personal. For instance, instead of having a button that says Submit you use language like ‘Sign Me Up’ or ‘Connect Me.” (Here’s an example)

“Limiting the amount of information they have to supply is important in that situation,” said Rick. “The other thing you have to tell them is that you won’t sell or give away their information to anybody. Of course, there are other kinds of forms. Those need to include Bubba’s rules but forms that are designed to detect digital body language or for gathering more information such as an application need to assume a couple things:

The fewer the queries the better. (Try to keep it under 7)
Make it as simple as possible for the visitor
Consider gathering information sequentially to build up a prospect profile for multiple interaction situations
Put your labels above the fill-ins
Use Drop down menus to conserve the visual space of the form
Use checkboxes to allow selection of multiple values at the same time
Use radio buttons where applicable to allow for faster viewer scanning.

“If I bring my client to lunch will you guys repeat yourselves?” I asked.

Gail, our writer/editor quietly spoke for the group saying, “You’re big boy. You can convey what was said here today. “What I hear you saying is that you’re not sure you can convince your client. Try telling him what you learned.”

The Takeaway:

Forms on web sites, landing pages and sales sites are all better when they are built with a personal touch in mind– like an invitation. That means designing the form to fit in seamlessly while making it as easy for the user as possible.

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

The Eternal Opposite

Posted on 2015/06/06 by Jerry Fletcher

Kate asked, “Are you just naturally contrary or do you do it on purpose?”

I began, “Sales experts like you are always telling me that…”

Bubba, our peach of a branding expert interrupted me as he arrived and slid into an open seat . He said, “Y’all should know by now he’s just naturally cantankerous but there is usually a reason and most often it is because he smells money. He’s looking at things that way agin I’ll bet.”

Chris took a sip of his tea and said, “So why don’t we let him defend himself if he can.”

“Challenge accepted,” I said. “I was telling Gail about a client that was bemoaning the fact that a survey from Aspect Software found that one-third of consumers would rather clean a toilet than talk on a phone with a customer service representative. She was overwrought about her customer service department. All I really did was point out the other side of that equation. Two thirds were happy talking to a CSR on the phone.

The problem is that humans are gated to see the danger and run from it. That’s okay if it’s a rattler or a hungry tiger but statistics and analytics are for sorting out the good the bad and the ugly rather than a reason to put on your track shoes.

You have to look behind the numbers.

Reporters and marketers are always backing the hearse up to the door. That doesn’t mean there is dead body inside.

Gail piped up, “So you’re advising us to look at all the percentages or both sides of the survey, right?”

“No,” I said. “I’m saying you should not only look at all of it but think about how you can use the data to your benefit. Some examples:

One up Kate’s alley—in 2015 CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Survey of 1000 firms worldwide reported that 37% of companies had implemented a sales collaboration/networking system such as Chatter, Jam, Jive, and Yammer. Less than 35% reported noticeable impact. That tells me that 65% are in need of some help in making it work. Whether she goes direct to the companies or gets a contract to do the job for one of the software firms there is money to be made.
Any of you ever hear of Optor? No? But I’ll bet you’ve heard of Occupy Wall Street. The occupiers got our attention branding themselves ‘the 99%.’ The movement was an abysmal failure. Everyone lost interest.

Optor, on the other hand succeeded. They overthrew the Milosevic government in Serbia. They focused everything on their mission. People joined them over time seeing that dedication and the slow but sure progress. They became the definition of a positive feedback loop.

Optor operated like a start-up company rather than a protest group. They wrote a manual that has been picked up and used in the Georgian Republic, the Ukraine, Egypt and other parts of the Middle East.

The lesson for me is that to succeed you need a vision and a mission not just a slogan.

One more. According to the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Facebook is the most used Social media for B2C companies while Linked In is the one B2B companies prefer. No surprise there. What is surprising is the role Twitter plays in both and the fact that it is nearly twice as heavily used in the B2B space. No, I haven’t figured that one out yet.”

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

Speak to Me!

Posted on 2015/05/30 by Jerry Fletcher

Jean asked, “Should I hire a receptionist or a phone answering service?”

“What did you tell her?” said Gail.

“It depends.”

“Hold on theah, Slippery, thas your answer to just about anything it seems to me,” said Rob, our loveable branding behemoth from the peach state. “Just what does it depend on if you please?”

Kate jumped in before I could say word. She said, “I can tell you what he’s going to say, Bubba, because I’ve had this discussion with him a couple years ago. I can’t swear to the statistics but he made a pretty good case for having a human on the phone, particularly for a small business like mine. As I recall

Somewhere north of 75% of all callers that get an answering machine hang up.
Nine out of ten customers that get a machine in business hours think you are too small to do business with.
About two thirds of people will immediately call a competitor if a human doesn’t answer.

I said, “You didn’t tell them the most important reason to have someone answering the phone…you can’t afford to miss a call, especially if you look at the average value of your proposals.”

Chris pointed out, “You didn’t really answer Jean’s question: Should she hire a receptionist or an answering service?”

“True,” I responded. “A start-up should definitely look at hiring an answering service. Later, when they can hire a receptionist, assuming there are other clerical activities that person can perform you should look at keeping the answering service on.”

“Wait a minute,” Chris said. “Did you say keep them on?”

“Yes,” I said. “the fact is that if you operate like Kate and a number of consultants I’ve worked with, you will have people calling in anywhere up to three hours ahead or behind the local time zone you operate in because you work with clients or prospects across the USA. In addition, if you are connected on multiple continents you need to worry about what day it is as well as what time.

Over 85% of the times someone might call are outside the time a receptionist is in the office! The beauty of an answering service, a good one, is that you can get coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On top of that, if you need to gather data for a form or other information a good service can handle it. There are even services that can set telephone appointments for you when someone calls in.

I did a little on-line research to be sure I gave Jean today’s facts. The numbers Kate quoted are still true. Here are a couple others I found that make it a good idea to work with a telephone answering service that is human:

80% of callers that get a machine will not call back (and that percentage is increasing).
73% of callers answered by a human will not call a competitor (but you have less than two minutes to have someone knowledgeable on the line to handle their questions or arrange for someone to call them back).
A study from the UK indicated that a human answering every call could increase sales by 25%.

So I believe that it is a worthwhile experiment to try using a human based answering service and carefully monitoring the change in acquisition of new business and retention of current business. The probabilities are: up to a 25% increase in acquisition and assuring between 60 and 70% retention.”

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and the unruly mob of business development professionals he consorts with. They discuss marketing that works from solopreneur to enterprise level. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and “Watson” 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

Your Story Is What?

Posted on 2015/05/16 by Jerry Fletcher

“We missed you last week. What were you doing?” asked our get right to it sales type, Kate, as I took my seat.

“Since you must know,” I said, “I was talking someone down from a ledge.”

“Mistah Fletcher,” Bubba oozed in his best Georgia peach way, “that is no job for the likes of you in my humble opinion.”

“That depends” I replied, “on a number of things. First, how high was it? Second, why was he up there? And third, was there a fire company with a net handy?”

Chris suggested in his digital director way, “Sounds like your leading up to the topic of the day and it doesn’t sound a lot like marketing or sales or all the stuff we usually talk about.”

“You are so wrong my oriental mastermind friend,” I said. “The guy on the ledge was me and I had totally screwed up my first column for a major forum. I didn’t need a net because the founder/editor is a gentleman and knows how to get the best out of a writer.”

Gail leaned looked over her glasses in her writer like way and said, “Back up. What were you attempting to write about?”

“My premise was that every company has a story. Each of us has heard and I’ll wager told stories about our companies and those we have advised. Most of us have heard how ‘when it absolutely positively has to be here overnight’ came to be and the legend of ‘just do it’ and others.”

“So where did you go wrong?” asked Rick our Direct marketing guy.

“I’ll bet I can tell you where he got all cattywampus,” said Bubba. I’m thinkin’ he went off the tracks on either Persona or Plot Line.”

Rick smiled and said, “I’ll do the Persona piece. My partner studied this for years. What he came down to was that there were only three or four personaes that work in a selling context. He called them archetypes. They are:

The Expert the person who has gathered the data, compiled the information, taken action to gain knowledge and with experience has come to wisdom.
The Knight who doesn’t know about something but goes looking to solve a problem and then reports back on the results of the quest.
The Collector who gathers experiences and along the way finds secrets that must, in his/her mind be shared. Sometimes the most powerful version of the Collector is a person reluctant to step into the limelight which makes the discoveries just that much more appealing.”

Rob said “Well done, Yankee!” He acknowledged Rick’s nod and went on, “Plot, according to Ray Bradbury is human desire let run, running, and reaching a goal. It cannot be mechanical. It can only be dynamic. Here are four plot lines that you are already familiar with if you’ve ever read a comic book, attended a Shakespeare play or sat through a George Lucas movie:

Challenge and Call can be a game of chance, a personal problem remedied or as simple as standing up to that voice on your shoulder. You respond to a negative situation and find your way out of it.
Transformation is the before and after story. It demonstrates the change you’ve learned which you can bring to someone else’s life or status or health or you name it.
Finder’s Sharers is when you relate the way you came upon something and the effect it can have for the buyer. A subset of this is often about revealing a secret discovered.
You and me against the world is a replay of the competitive thing that most business owners believe in. Just like the war of Yankee aggression, it divides the audience and will make some of them hardcore fans.

Theah’s more but that’s the bigun’s in the briar patch.”

“You guys hit the nail right on the head,” I said. “I went back to my notes on our discussions about stories and using them for corporate positioning and branding. It was all there. Thank you all for helping me down off the ledge.”

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and an unruly mob 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 “Watson” 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

Go Where They Ain’t

Posted on 2015/04/25 by Jerry Fletcher

“Go where they ain’t,” said Rob, the southern fried branding guru we lovingly call Bubba.

Chris asked, “That is your great business development advice?”

“Yassuh,” said Bubba around a dinner roll slathered with butter. I’ll give you examples from every part of marketing ‘cause that is advice you can take to the bank.”

“Okay,“ I said, “if we use the seven P’s model of Marketing I’ll just set them up one at a time. Is that okay with you?”

“Bring it on, Watson” said Bubba, “and if any of y’all want to jump in, feel free.

“Prospect Viewpoint,’ I said, “out of all the people out there who buys or will buy your product or service and what do they think, feel and believe about it?”

Rick, our direct marketing expert said, “Let me take this one. If you really analyze both the demographics and the psychographics of buyers you’ll find that they have more than one reason for buying. Yes, one will be prevalent but reasons two and three are often just as viable as number one. You go where they ain’t by orienting your creative to one of those other reasons.

“Profitable Niche is next. I said when he finished. A niche is a way to minimize competition with a focused portion of a market that requires a product or service that is outside the mainstream either in the need it meets or the design of the product or service. “

Gail, the copywriter volunteered, “you know how the whole world is now into mobile? Well I have seen that work out really well for two industries not known for it. Our vet’s practice is all house calls. And our computer guy lately seems to live in our spare bedroom/home office.”

Kate asked, “Are the virus’s attacking again?”

“Don’t get her started.” Rick said.

“Positioning is the third item,” I said. It is how you differentiate yourself or your product or service.

Bubba cleared his throat and said, “I figure I oughta take this one ‘cause everybody confuses it with brand and names and logos and taglines and you name it. Positioning is how you tell people quickly and succinctly how our product or service is unique. The classic examples are: The Uncola for Seven Up or We try harder for Avis or when it absolutely positively has get there over night for Federal Express. All or part of it may appear in a tagline. It can be a product name. It will, overtime, be part of the brand.”

“Persona is next, I see it as the heart of any business, the operational strategies. It is a core of trust wrapped round by Product, Price and Passage (distribution) encased in your name. Any one of the key elements can take you where they ain’t. For instance: The Chronotherm (the world’s first automatic setback thermostat). Or how about a fixed price to get a Pilot’s license or to integrate reporting software into your corporate systems. Consider a vending machine in orthodontist offices to dispense the most common items used. TWo of those I helped put in place and they are killer!

“Promotion Anybody”

Chris said, “I’ll take it. The internet has changed things but mostly just added another channel. The easiest way to go where they ain’t is to use direct mail. Use has declined so it stands out. Yes, it costs more than e-mail but used in combination with on-line activities it can increase acquisition geometrically.

“Performance is next, I said, “this is the way you, your company product or service interface with the client/customer/user.”

Kate, our sales doyenne said, “Got it. Have humans answer the phone. Actually help people find a competing product. Provide content that actually helps. Listen to your sales force when they tell you what people are saying about you and competitive products. Make it easy to opt out. Basically just treat people the way you’d like to be treated.

“Perception is the last one,” I said. “Bubba will you do the honors since Brand is your baby?”

“Sho’ nuff. Brand is the sum total of all the ways you or your company, product or service wind up on folks’ radar. What you want to have happen is for folks tell others Look what Mama gimme!”

The Takeaway:

Be different. You can do it with a name, a product, a distribution channel, pricing, delivery, after sale support, positioning, finding a niche. The better you understand your customer/client/user, the easier it will be.

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

Personal Touch Breakthrough

Posted on 2015/04/18 by Jerry Fletcher

“Once again a blast from the past takes over!” I said as I slid into my seat for lunch with the rowdy crew of business developers I’ve become the Watson for.

Gail, our copywriter par excellence took a sip of iced tea and replied, “Can we assume that this has something to do with your choice of a topic for the day?”

Kate, the sales consultant sneered, “Yes, do tell. We’re all atwitter.”

Rob, who we call Bubba because he hails from Georgia, said, “Y’all are a cranky bunch today. Give the man a chance to ‘splain himself afore you go flingin’ him into the briar patch.”

“Thanks Bubba,” I said. “You know how we all get those heavy duty pitches from guys trying to sell us on line sales and SEO expertise and products and you name it? Well I look at some of it but this last video really threw me. Usually these guys are all about on-line and they’re as personable as a loan shark looking for a past due account.”

Chris, the Digital Director said, “Whoa. Not every on-line business is that way. The truth is you have to offer some value or you will soon be out of business. You know that. You helped me when I was doing my entrepreneur thing.”

“My point is,” I said, “that because about midway through a video presentation that had some good stuff in it I was astonished when three of the experts being interviewed talked about how they experimented with personal touch in their on line businesses. What they tried was:

Hand written thank you notes to everyone that signed up for a free trial for an App. That more than doubled the conversion from trial to paid membership.
Personalized 30 second videos maintained that increase but cut the time needed per touch from five minutes to a minute or two.
A one-to-one text e-mail that is not generated by an auto responder started a dialogue that allowed a merchant to discover things about how his product/service is received and used. It proved to be a huge value for the next version.
You can use You Tube to put up an unlisted video. Then you send a link to the customer. They never forget.
You can overcome cart abandonment using the telephone. If you use a two-step sales approach (Contact info entered separately from Credit card) you can easily see who leaves without buying. Once a day or so, simply call those folks and have a conversation with them. You don’t sell, you just listen to the problem they have and let them know how your product can help them. This approach generates 12% to 30% additional sales.

Rick, our direct Marketing guy who really understands process said, “Let me sum up:

The Takeaway:

Customers do not want to be treated like numbers. They want to connect with a human being that understands their problem, relates to it and is really interested in them as a person. That pays off in increased sales.”

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

Jerry Fletcher's Secrets of Small Business Marketing

How to build your business, your brand and a life of joy…on and off-line.

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