Can you irritate people into becoming your customers? What a concept.
But some idiot attempting to market a Canadian (?) pharmacy is working cleverly to do just that by sending remarkable quantities of spam my way. What's clever is that the person has thought up all kinds of almost plausible names that shoot right by my spam filters with the subjects always something almost requiring legitimate attention, once again shooting past my spam filters.
Now I've caught on to the game. I know what to look for. I just need to educate my spam filter.
But is this any way to get customers? Don't think so. The only relationship the spammer's built is to educate me to his stupid attempt to drum up business.
Unfortunately too many "business people" figure they can sell you if they can only get you to visit their site, apparently feeling their value proposition is so weak it won't meet that first test of attracting your attention. So they try subterfuge to get you there. Why should a prospect trust the seller if the initial approach is to lie?
One can only hope they go out of business quickly.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Critical Mental Flip
So many companies fail to grow for two fundamental reasons: first, they are wedded to their products and second, they measure themselves against their competition.
It's natural to fall in love with your product or service. It's defines what you do. It's how you defined yourself. "My company is the leading supplier of widgets to the world." But to the rest of the world, particularly your customers, it's not what you do. They don't buy your product or service, they buy what it does for them. The product of the product or the product of the service.
And you measure yourself, naturally, against your competitors. You've been doing it since grade school. Who had the better grades; who won the football game? So, "we're growing faster, or we're larger or we have higher quality standards or we're more profitable." We all want to be the best at what we do -- better than the competition.
Here's the problem. The most important person in the entire equation hasn't been mentioned yet -- the customer. They are the ones who put up the money that buys your plant, your raw material, pays your labor and all your other costs, and if you run a cost-efficient business, some of their money becomes your profit. But it all starts out as their money. So maybe you should pay attention to what they think, what they believe.
They don't purchase your product or service because "you're the leading or the biggest or the fastest growing or the most profitable." They buy it, they pay their hard-earned money for it because they want what it can do for them. And they've judged that what they buy is the best at doing that.
They don't really care about your product. Or you. Or your company. Or how fast you're growing. Not a whit.
Maybe now they're your loyal, loyal customer. But along comes someone else with something that does what they want to do better than whatever it is that you have been offering. Then that customer becomes your ex-customer. And that someone is all too often not one of your old, familiar competitors.
You're now yesterday's news.
Why didn't you develop that new product that has just captured your customer?
It's simple -- you love your product more than you love your customer.
How do I know? It's because companies that love their customer more than their product or service, continually grow. They set the curve. They value innovation. They continually try to obsolete their own products. Their customer's values are more important.
They have made that mental flip from loving their products to loving their customers.
It's natural to fall in love with your product or service. It's defines what you do. It's how you defined yourself. "My company is the leading supplier of widgets to the world." But to the rest of the world, particularly your customers, it's not what you do. They don't buy your product or service, they buy what it does for them. The product of the product or the product of the service.
And you measure yourself, naturally, against your competitors. You've been doing it since grade school. Who had the better grades; who won the football game? So, "we're growing faster, or we're larger or we have higher quality standards or we're more profitable." We all want to be the best at what we do -- better than the competition.
Here's the problem. The most important person in the entire equation hasn't been mentioned yet -- the customer. They are the ones who put up the money that buys your plant, your raw material, pays your labor and all your other costs, and if you run a cost-efficient business, some of their money becomes your profit. But it all starts out as their money. So maybe you should pay attention to what they think, what they believe.
They don't purchase your product or service because "you're the leading or the biggest or the fastest growing or the most profitable." They buy it, they pay their hard-earned money for it because they want what it can do for them. And they've judged that what they buy is the best at doing that.
They don't really care about your product. Or you. Or your company. Or how fast you're growing. Not a whit.
Maybe now they're your loyal, loyal customer. But along comes someone else with something that does what they want to do better than whatever it is that you have been offering. Then that customer becomes your ex-customer. And that someone is all too often not one of your old, familiar competitors.
You're now yesterday's news.
Why didn't you develop that new product that has just captured your customer?
It's simple -- you love your product more than you love your customer.
How do I know? It's because companies that love their customer more than their product or service, continually grow. They set the curve. They value innovation. They continually try to obsolete their own products. Their customer's values are more important.
They have made that mental flip from loving their products to loving their customers.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
United breaks guitars ... and more than a few customers
A friend sent me a cool video created by Dave Carroll after he had a terrible and expensive experience with United Airlines. As he was traveling with his band, United baggage handlers threw his guitar case off the plane, ruining it. After nine months of frustrating dialogue, United finally and flatly denied responsibility and his claim. He responded by posting a music video on YouTube. You'll find it by searching for "United Breaks Guitars"on YouTube or Google "United Airlines" and you'll find it as the third listing.
Pre-internet, the general rule of thumb was that one friend telling another would eventually reach about 100 people. With friends emailing stories to friends who then forward them to more friends, this now must reach thousands, maybe tens of thousands or more. While I doubt that United really wants that kind of negative exposure, it sure won't result in a noticeable dent in their business.
But as of now, the video has been viewed over 5 million times. And this is increasing by about 30,000 more viewers per day, equivalent to 60 planeloads of a 747. This might actually hurt United.
Like so many have said so often, the internet is great for connecting marketers with their customers. More importantly, nothing connects your customers with your other customers like the internet. We are all turning into evangelists and critics. Marketers need pay attention.
United clearly doesn't understand that the most important principle of marketing -- your job is to create and nurture customer relationships -- has more impact than ever before. In United's case, 5 million and counting.
This can't be good for United's business. If they had just apologized and tried to make good for their employee's negligence they'd still have Dave for a customer. No video; no 5 million hits on a very persuasive critique of their service. I guess they've lost more than enough fares to pay for the guitar several times over.
The internet forces you to follow the most basic tenant of marketing -- it's about customer relationships not transactions -- or pay big for it. Those are your only choices. Ignoring customer complaints is no longer an option.
Pre-internet, the general rule of thumb was that one friend telling another would eventually reach about 100 people. With friends emailing stories to friends who then forward them to more friends, this now must reach thousands, maybe tens of thousands or more. While I doubt that United really wants that kind of negative exposure, it sure won't result in a noticeable dent in their business.
But as of now, the video has been viewed over 5 million times. And this is increasing by about 30,000 more viewers per day, equivalent to 60 planeloads of a 747. This might actually hurt United.
Like so many have said so often, the internet is great for connecting marketers with their customers. More importantly, nothing connects your customers with your other customers like the internet. We are all turning into evangelists and critics. Marketers need pay attention.
United clearly doesn't understand that the most important principle of marketing -- your job is to create and nurture customer relationships -- has more impact than ever before. In United's case, 5 million and counting.
This can't be good for United's business. If they had just apologized and tried to make good for their employee's negligence they'd still have Dave for a customer. No video; no 5 million hits on a very persuasive critique of their service. I guess they've lost more than enough fares to pay for the guitar several times over.
The internet forces you to follow the most basic tenant of marketing -- it's about customer relationships not transactions -- or pay big for it. Those are your only choices. Ignoring customer complaints is no longer an option.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Companies finally start to focus on Customer Satisfaction
I guess it takes a downturn before the companies that don't like customers begin to see their error. The latest report from The American Customer Satisfaction Index is out with a few surprising findings:
Sprint has improved. The average subscriber only called customer service four times last year, down from eight. I guess this is good.
Comcast, another favorite, cut repeat calls 30% last year. Hmmmm.
US Air reduced mishandled baggage by 43% in 2008 compared to the prior year. Wonder what they'll do this year now that they charge for checking your bags? And passenger complaints fell 35% in the first quarter. That's worth celebrating. Wonder what they did.
And Southwest, with the best customer satisfaction scores in their industry cut passenger complaints 56% in the first quarter.
Wonder why United wasn't mentioned in the article.
Sprint has improved. The average subscriber only called customer service four times last year, down from eight. I guess this is good.
Comcast, another favorite, cut repeat calls 30% last year. Hmmmm.
US Air reduced mishandled baggage by 43% in 2008 compared to the prior year. Wonder what they'll do this year now that they charge for checking your bags? And passenger complaints fell 35% in the first quarter. That's worth celebrating. Wonder what they did.
And Southwest, with the best customer satisfaction scores in their industry cut passenger complaints 56% in the first quarter.
Wonder why United wasn't mentioned in the article.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A few knew there would always be a future
Interesting article in Ad Age yesterday titled, "Unilever, Walmart, P&G Buck the Short-Term Trend." While the premise of the column is that all three companies are focusing on the long-term, having scrapped the Wall Street tradition of quarterly investment advisories, what was more interesting were comments on their marketing activities.
If you compete against any of these three, particularly P&G, watch out. Their CTO predicted that 2010 would be their biggest year in a decade for innovation. They are out to capture your customers with new products, expensively developed when others were cutting costs.
Knowing there would be a tomorrow, a future, knowing that the best time to drive your business is when everyone else is pulling back, P&G maintained their relentless drive for growth. They saw the terrific opportunity when so many others saw the potential for disaster.
Where are you now? Where will you be when your competitor pulls "a P&G?"
If you compete against any of these three, particularly P&G, watch out. Their CTO predicted that 2010 would be their biggest year in a decade for innovation. They are out to capture your customers with new products, expensively developed when others were cutting costs.
Knowing there would be a tomorrow, a future, knowing that the best time to drive your business is when everyone else is pulling back, P&G maintained their relentless drive for growth. They saw the terrific opportunity when so many others saw the potential for disaster.
Where are you now? Where will you be when your competitor pulls "a P&G?"
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Is this guy interesting or what.
David Meerman Scott delivered the keynote at BMA National Convention, addressing the group with thoughts and examples from his books, "The New Rules of Marketing and PR," and"World Wide Rave."
He has a great take on the impact of internet marketing and Web 2.0. Check out his site at www.davidmeermanscott.com or his blog at www.weblinknow.com.
He's one of the most thought-provoking speakers on this subject.
He has a great take on the impact of internet marketing and Web 2.0. Check out his site at www.davidmeermanscott.com or his blog at www.weblinknow.com.
He's one of the most thought-provoking speakers on this subject.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Terminix Gaurantee
I just received my second mailing in three weeks from Terminix. For under $25 per month they guarantee to protect my home from termites. The card details all the terrible things termites might do to my home. But they guarantee they can protect me.
Terminix should ask for a similar guarantee from their list provider. Their mailing to me is not much of an endorsement of their marketing prowess. I live on the 14th floor of a high rise, made from concrete and steel. We're in a zip code where I'd be surprised if there were more than 10 structures made from wood. The buildings are either concrete high rises or steel high rises. Only a few wood buildings remain.
Not much for termites to munch on.
Terminix should ask for a similar guarantee from their list provider. Their mailing to me is not much of an endorsement of their marketing prowess. I live on the 14th floor of a high rise, made from concrete and steel. We're in a zip code where I'd be surprised if there were more than 10 structures made from wood. The buildings are either concrete high rises or steel high rises. Only a few wood buildings remain.
Not much for termites to munch on.
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