Happiness Sells

I once got caught in the trap of leading with the business problem.  It’s easy to fall into because it’s logical to state the problem, then how your product fixes it.   What I found though, was that leading with the problem didn’t work.    

Our business provided a solution that improved customer service experiences while cutting costs.  My team developed messaging we called “The Service / Cost Dilemma.”  The premise was, on the one hand you know providing better service is necessary to differentiation, on the other, better service costs more to provide.  We knew our solution solved the problem.  

We began with an image of a frustrated looking man with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.  The campaign was a flop.  We changed the image to a business person standing at a fork in the road, unable to decide which way to go.  It also flopped.

By leading with the issue, the take-away was a focus on the problem, not the solution.  Emotionally, our audience was repelled by the depressed face and the feeling of confusion and indecision.

Next we tried images of people screaming into their phones or rolling their eyes at bad customer service.  The idea was, “this is what will happen to your customers if you don’t use our platform.”  These campaigns also flopped.  The images may have caught people’s attention, but they reinforced the negative and tried to frighten our audience into buying our product.  

Finally, we reversed our strategy.  We began leading with:  “Experiences That Make People Happy.”  The focus was on the benefits of using our product, not how bad it is without it.  We used images of people doing things that made them smile.  The most popular one was a lady sitting on a couch next to a giant chicken.  

Leading with the business problem may be the logical approach, but what works is: “Here’s where you want to be, we’re going to show you how to get there.” People are motivated by emotion, not logic.  And when you think about it, who wouldn’t like to plop down on that couch between that lady and chicken?  

Imagine If....

I often ask people to tell me what they think of when I say the word “salesperson.” The response is often “car salesman.” “And what do you associate with a car salesman?” I ask. "Dishonest," and "self-serving" are the two most popular answers.

Imagine you are on a car lot and you see a salesman approaching. You brace yourself for an introduction along the lines of “Which one of these beauties are we sending you home in today?” But instead, you get this:

“Hi. I’m Joe. Would you like a copy of the Consumer Reports Auto Guide? You’ll find the cars on our lot are reviewed really well in there. My card is stapled to the cover and my office is inside. Come in or call my cell if I can answer any questions for you. We’ve got complementary drinks in the fridge. Come in a grab one whenever you’d like.”

As he hands you the magazine, he asks for your name and email address. If the first thing Joe had done was ask for this, you might have been reluctant to give it. But he began the relationship by giving you something of value and he’s not being pushy. He’s giving you space to think, so you don’t see the harm in giving him your email.

Let’s assume you are serious about buying a car and a soda sounds good, so you go into the office and get a can out of the fully stocked refrigerator. There’s Joe at his desk. He waves to you and you walk over. You ask him about a particular make and model.

“Great car,” he says. “I’ve got a review Car and Driver magazine did on that model . I’ve got a hard copy or I can email it to you.” You opt for the hard copy because you figure you’ll read it right now. He hands you the photocopied article, then, he asks for your phone number. Again, this guy is giving you valuable things, what’s the harm? He’s already demonstrated that he asked for your email so he could help you with your research.

Even so, you may ask him why he wants your number. “In case we don’t have exactly what you are looking for in stock,” he says. “I want to be able to reach you quickly if I come across exactly what you want.” So you decide that the things you are giving him are to help him help you. Sounds like a pretty good deal.

Now Joe has your name, email, phone and he knows what kind of car you want. You have two documents that educate and validate your decision on make and model. You didn’t have to spend money for the magazine or time doing research. Joe took care of that for you. He’s more than a salesperson, he’s a resource.

Think about what Joe has spent on you as a prospect; just a few dollars. But what did that small investment buy? You will probably go out of your way to do business with him now. You are less likely to haggle on price because he has already proven that he gives you a lot in exchange for a little. And since it was such an unusual and stress-less car buying experience, you are likely to tell a lot of your friends about it.

Joe just got a lot for the price of a magazine and a soda. He is a practitioner of Demand Management.

Fueled by Design Thinking

Imagine combining Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and Michael Bosworth's Solution Selling with IDEO's Design Thinking methodology.

Traditional sales and marketing processes are sequential since the objective is to move the prospect through a life-cycle. But Design Thinking is non-sequential and overlapping, encouraging learn-as-you-go rapid iteration.

I've just read a paper titled "Design Thinking for Social Innovation" by Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt and am inspired to experiment with a redesign of the Demand Management process at BrandJuice that incorporates what I think are some of the best elements of Design Thinking.

The idea is to adapt the DM process into a sequence of steps that become a repeatable cycle enabling the benefits of both linear and overlapping systems.

The result should be a measurable progression combined with the ability to incorporate improvements into the next cycle.

I'll have early results in 30 days.

These are the new leads…and to you, they’re gold

Lead generation is the most measurable and easy to justify marketing activity. But, like other sales and marketing strategies, it doesn't work independently. In essence, lead generation is collecting a prospect’s name and contact information. The quality of the lead, as measured by likelihood to buy, can vary widely depending upon how you acquire it.

Email list providers that pre-screen names which are supposed to be part of your target demographic are literally a dime a dozen. There are also ways to collect names through awareness and engagement tactics that allow the prospect to self-qualify.

When vetting lead acquisition strategies, ask yourself, “How would I feel about this approach if I was in the prospect’s shoes?” Enjoy SPAM? How about a phone call for a service you have no interest in? What would that do to your impression of the brand?

To some, sales is purely a numbers game. Telemarketers and SPAMMERS know that for every hundred phone calls they make, or every thousand emails they send, they are going to convert someone. So they play the numbers, and get results. What’s not factored into their equation is the negative impression they gave most of the other names on the list. Congratulations, you’ve closed a sale while ensuring hundreds of other people will never buy from you.

You’re brand’s credibility is priceless. If you are a huckster interested in short-term results and don’t care about your brand’s reputation, the number’s game is the technique for you. Otherwise, invest in a strategy designed around helping your prospects, not churning through them.

The most important thing to remember about lead generation is to be the first to give. Lead generation is the natural beneficiary of thought leadership. This is where I apply “premium assets.” In B-to-B this usually means a white paper or a report. The idea is to give away something of value. Intellectual property may be expensive to acquire, but it tends to scale affordably.

In B-to-C, the equivalent could be a free consultation, evaluation or sample. Either way, the objective is to collect a lead, determine their level of interest in deepening the engagement, and escalate them into the qualification pipeline.

What is Demand Management?

Demand Management is a holistic approach to connecting marketing and sales. It accelerates prospects through the qualification funnel and builds customer trust, driving loyalty and brand affinity. Demand management is holistic, strategic and actionable.

Holistic: Demand Management views every stage of the qualification and the sales funnel as a single, interdependent, and interrelated process.

Strategic: Demand Management considers the mechanics of three marketing and three sales stages, synchronizing, then optimizing, their interrelationships.

Actionable: Demand Management uses thought leadership, media, lead generation, segmentation and prioritization to drive fast, profitable results.

The way to your customer’s heart? Through your employee’s mind.

My wife and I went to the Vesta Dipping Grill in Denver last week for dinner on a recommendation. The restaurant was packed and we had to sit at the bar. I envisioned an uncomfortable evening of patrons standing behind me ordering drinks, money and sloshing beverages passing over my shoulder while I tried to eat.

To my surprise, the bartender got right to us and was happy to serve dinner. In fact, he was one of the better waiters I’ve had. I thought he must be the owner. He treated us so well it was clear he wasn’t just doing his job, he cared about us having a good time and coming back. The bar-back brought a sample of soup which I liked so well I ordered a bowl. His service was excellent too. A food runner brought us our meal, treating us like old friends.

None of the staff seemed flustered though they were very busy. It was easy to get their attention, the music wasn’t so loud you had to yell, the food was pretty good, and somehow, they were able to serve those who wanted a drink without putting me in the middle of the transaction. It was a great overall experience but the best part was the service. Everyone clearly loved their job.

There seems to be a rising awareness of the common sense philosophy that if you empower your employees, they feel fulfilled in their work and that satisfaction is passed along to your customers. It used to be that you took care of your customers at your employees’ expense, now we’re learning that you take care of your customers by taking care of your employees.

But, not every business has arrived at this conclusion.

My bank tries to up-sell me every time I walk in the door. The branch manager (always a different person) approaches me while I’m in line with a huge smile and tries to coerce me into sitting down with a banker to discuss a new program. After I decline, the teller usually tries to sell me on another service while asking me about my day.

I didn’t mind at first. I appreciated that they were friendly and they seemed to be trying so hard it was kind of endearing. But now it’s weird and uncomfortable. Behind their smile, the teller’s eyes seem to be begging me to help them escape the charade. The manager’s eyes are more distressed. “I’ve got a quota,” they seem to say, “if you don’t sign up for this, I’ll be fired.” That’s a lot of passive guilt to lay on a guy who’s just trying to deposit a check.

I came across an organization recently called WorldBlu. Their mission is the promotion of democratic companies, meaning those who’s “system of organization is based on freedom, instead of fear and control.” One of WorldBlu’s members calls their management approach, "Employees First, Customers Second."

I think we are only beginning to see the effects of globalization and technology on commerce. Competition is bound to become stiffer as systems are further automated, services are outsourced and supply chains become more efficient. Business managers will react to the increase in competition in different ways. Some will take the short-view and look for ways to cut expenses and increase revenue. Others will take the long-view and invest in their brands, including employee empowerment initiatives.

My prediction is that the short-view will prove short-lived. As consumers, we are drawn to the human face of a brand that is friendly and content and less inclined to do business with people whose smiles seem disingenuous, and even desperate.

Social Media – Channel or Destination?

The past few years, the emphasis on businesses adoption of social media has been on how a channel designed for peer-to-peer interactions can realize its business-to-consumer potential. Some organizations understand they need to have a dialogue with customers and resist the urge to control the conversation, as they did in the age of expensive and exclusive media. These businesses are thriving through the transition to a world where social channels dominate the landscape.

As a marketer for a multi-channel customer service software company, I’ve followed the rise of social with particular interest since I've been in a position to dabble with it as a marketing channel early on. Today, MySpace is one of my company’s major customers, I’ve invested in LinkedIn’s ad evolution, run joint marketing projects with major community platforms, and been close to my company’s acquisition of a social media powerhouse. We’ve also developed a social monitoring tool, and released a major Facebook integration.

I now find myself in the unusual position of using social media to sell social media to social media companies. From dabbling and conceptualizing a few years ago, I’m all-in today.

Brands used to invite customers to engage on company turf like the website or retail locations but meaningful engagement is now predicated on going where your customers are. Where they are is on social media sites and their expectations are that brands respect protocol and participate in authentic and transparent conversations that are not sales pitches.

This has given rise to the concept of “earned media” and is responsible for the reinvention of the “media mix.”

Traditional Media Mix
Billboard / Print
Broadcast
Direct mail

New Media Mix
Paid
Owned
Earned

Paid encompasses traditional channels like advertising, the standard model where a brand pays for exposure.

Owned describes the channel a brand controls, the company website or company sponsored Facebook or Twitter page.

Earned describes the social enabled channel. If a happy customer blogs, tweets or posts about their experience with your brand, that’s earned exposure.

In just a few years, we’ve seen most major consumer brands become adept at encouraging and contributing to earned media. They really have no choice. We’ve all witnessed how quickly a brand can implode as the result of a negative video gone viral. Business can’t afford to play defense in the social realm.

Now, hybrid models are emerging. TV commercials (paid media) are beginning to direct consumers to brand pages on Facebook (owned media) instead of the brand website (also owned media.) My reaction when I noticed this was, what’s the point? A brand-owned Facebook page is still owned media. Isn’t it better to send consumers to your website where you have more control over the content and design?

Then I realized how trusted and familiar the Facebook interface is and how much it encourages interaction. A brand’s FB page may be owned media but it occurs within the framework of one of the most successful earned media models.

Now, social media, not long ago considered merely another media channel, is becoming much more. It’s transitioning to the latest brand destination and potentially the new face of the brand.

Will this encourage greater brand affinity? Will it drive sales? It’s too early to tell, but you might want to invest in spiffing up your brand’s presence on Facebook. Experimenting with directing customers there in your advertisements also couldn’t hurt.