The family and I took a labor-day road trip to Hayward, WI. After a great time at the Fishing Hall of Fame, we decided to hit up the original location of Famous Dave’s restaurant chain. For the non-BBQ fans out there, it’s an award winning barbecue joint with dozens of locations across 36 states.
Besides all of us appreciating the great atmosphere, the scrumptious food and the beautiful location on Round Lake, my bro-in-law and me enjoyed one of the local brews on tap. (worth mentioning before continuing: they were served in generic mugs).
Since I’m a collector of beer glasses I was excited to remember the occasion by buying a Famous Dave’s logoed beer mug. And I knew they once existed because my dad bought one from a previous Hayward trip a while back.
A Case Study in a Failed Merchandising Strategy
Having visited the gift shop, I looked through the custom tees, the logoed water bottles & coffee mugs, even a business success manual from the founder. But no bar gifts.
No beer mugs at a famous restaurant/bar’s gift shop? Seriously?
So after finding out they didn’t have any barware for sale I inquired into the matter. The response I received from both the gift shop lady and the bartender was, “too many people were stealing them.”
What?
While I seriously doubt these workers’ ridiculous reasoning for discontinuing their barware line. I responded by saying, “Your destination location with huge memorabilia appeal doesn’t have logoed mugs anymore because of crappy security?”
And the fact that people were stealing the mugs, it shows the high demand for these glasses – I wonder if there would be a way to cash in on the demand? Hmm…?
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I was in the beverage aisle of Target today and I noticed something interesting:
The packs of RedBull were on sale. But with a non-congruent pricing structure. The two choices on sale were 4 packs and 12 packs, priced at $5.99 and $18.99 respectfully. This got me thinking… how many people fall for this trick? $1.02 more for the convenience of buying one box, instead of 3? Do people not know math anymore?
Illogically Logical
This pricing structure is genius. Target must make a ton of extra cash on people’s inherent laziness to logically think situations like this through. And I’m willing to bet this strategy is carried throughout the store and undoubtedly the bulk of shoppers will not catch this price difference. (note: I’ve seen this gimmick many times in other stores as well)
Symbolically, this has many underlying themes applicable to your business. As you are pricing your service or products, think about what you could do to cash in on laziness. Or how a little convenience may be consciously or subconsciously worth extra to them. And most importantly, always remember:
Most buyers do not think logically.
Day in and day out, business owners, executives and sales teams struggle to compete for new business. Constantly approaching new companies and consumers begging for a sale. To assist in the search, marketing departments continual craft witty messages to attract buyers. But more times than not, the sales staff will never sell anything to these folks.
Beaten and depressed, most sales people move onto the next target. The entire time thinking that they lost the sale to their competition down the street. Never realizing that more likely, the prospect never bought from the competitor either.
Finding Your True Competition
B2B Example Scenario: I spent some time after college working as an account manager for a technology reseller. And in the beginning, the sales process was a shaky one. I would find myself with a sinking feeling in my gut every time I heard, “we decided to go another route, but thank you.” It was heart breaking, to say the least.
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Writing ad copy is not easy. Or let me rephrase that, writing great ad copy is not easy. However, it’s essential for success in business. But most copywriters get the entire process wrong. It’s not about how awesome you are, pal. It’s about the needs of the audience.
So as an entrepreneur (aka marketer hat), how do we accomplish great marketing copywriting?
I’ll let you in on my secret to copywriting; I use the SPIN selling model. For those of you unfamiliar with the SPIN cycle. Neil Rackman’s book, SPIN Selling changed my professional career completely. In summary, the method teaches you to use a series of specific questions in a sales situation. I highly suggest you read it.
But for the sake of this article, put the book on you wish list, toss on your marketing hat and keep reading…
The SPIN cycle is an acronym for situation questions, problem questions, implication questions and need-payoff questions. Each step in this strategy essentially brings the answering party closer to selling themselves on the product or service.
In ad copy we obviously cannot list a string of questions as the method suggests. But we can use the underlying concepts to bring the reader in. And closer to a conversion. Here’s how:
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Buyers are a fickle bunch. Most consumers shop around. And nowadays the web has made every shopper, a savvy shopper. They can easily find coupons by checking out sites like Slickdeals. And they can compare prices of similar products and services relatively quickly.
As marketers, how do we convert these price conscious shoppers into happy purchasers?
Assuming you have a somewhat unique offering through a differentiation strategy, you must reshape their subconscious price bias.
There is an interesting concept in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) called anchoring. In short, people can become attached to a certain concept and retain that bias when making future decisions. This has huge implications for your offerings and pricing. And should be taken seriously when looking to successfully compete in your industry.
When a potential buyer becomes anchored to a price, breaking their preconceived price notions is difficult. Which is why you must create your own anchor. While this is easier said than done, it is possible.
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Expos, chamber gatherings and other networking events will certainly leave you with pockets full of business cards. And I am assuming you cherish the business cards from the important contacts you met. But what about all of the cards from folks you may never intend on speaking to again? (i.e. an unrelated industry worker) What should a smart networker do with these contact cards?
Most people fail to do anything with seemingly undesirable business cards. Some may throw them away. While most others probably toss them in a drawer, only to throw them away five years later. And so it seems that most people never recognize the golden opportunity presented with all business cards: building a network. Shocking revelation, huh? Since this was your original intention of going to the networking event anyway, might as well do it correctly. Here’s my advice:
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To an entrepreneur, cold calling is a daily task. It’s inevitable. Sometimes, one phone call can determine your continued success as a business. With so much riding on these cold calls, why are so many entrepreneurs fearful of picking up the phone and asking for sales? Two words: The Gatekeeper! And depending on the self-importance of the decision maker sought by the call, you most likely will be hung–up on quicker than a 3 am collect call to an ex-partner. Yikes, no fun!
So what is an entrepreneur to do about an unrelenting gatekeeper?
I asked myself this question every time I was transferred to some generic voicemail or asked to leave a memo. And I have crafted the following helpful tips that have allowed me to successfully speak with whomever I choose. So without further ado, five tips to successfully get past gatekeepers:
1. Confidence is Key
Do you think a fellow CEO & golfing buddy uses the formal name of the intended call recipient when speaking with the gatekeeper? Or worse yet would they have a shaky, insecure voice? Absolutely not! So buckle up your confidence and ask for the decision maker like you are old college chums… it works!
2. Have a Solid Reason
Sorry to break it to you but no gatekeeper cares what you have to sell. But they do care about a benefit that may help the company. So have a good reason for your call. And it may be as simple as “The reason for my call is that I was hoping to introduce myself to X as I’m the founder of Y as we offer product Z, which has resulted in an average return on investment of 200% for our current client’s manufacturing operation.” Or something similar.
3. Avoid the “I’ll take a message for you” Trap
Message taking is a great trick gatekeepers use for keeping unwanted sales people out. And unless it’s a message about a sick family member, there is a slim to none chance the decision maker will ever receive your memo. To combat this trap [click to continue…]
I thoroughly enjoy the rise of the Walmart-style businesses in the world. Low-cost leaders have all but destroyed those location-based businesses that live in the past, hate change and failed to evolve. (You know… the stores that usually emit a mysterious scent of mothballs) And while I do feel for the employees of these failed businesses who lost their jobs, the owners and managers are to blame.
With the rise of these super companies we have become accustomed to sub-standard customer service and the slue of other complaints I constantly ramble on about… Where are you now Circuit City? Lucky for us, the lack of niche, value-added storefronts has created a hole in the market. And savvy business owners can jump in and rapidly take market share from the big guys. In general, though, most businesses are failing to innovate and are falling back on only low-priced claims.
To illustrate this growing trend of competing on price, simply open your local newspaper. Special sales, coupons and price cuts galore! “Mom and pops” are not buying in mass enough quantities to afford these cost cuts. So where does the cash flow balancing act come from? The essentials, that’s where. Important expenses such as training and retaining employees as well as constant storefront innovations are going by the wayside. These stores feel their price slashing is necessary to compete… not so! Over the years I have worked with numerous brick and mortars on their rebranding efforts. And I have found a common theme for storefront success. Here’s how to eliminate low cost considerations:
Create a Destination
By creating an experience for the shopper, a destination of sorts, any business will find its customer base expand greatly – usually from word-of-mouth. Cabelas is a great example of perfectly implementing this strategy. There is so much extra stuff to do and see at Cabelas than a regular big-box outdoor supply store. From huge fish tanks and animal displays to carnival-style hunting games. Even corrals for “parking” your horse (if equine is your preferred method of travel), the store is a sight to be seen.
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Shedding The Status
To an entrepreneur, what’s the difference between a vice president, a director, a general manager, a partner and a chief? Nothing. When creating your corporate governance and management structure, keep this in mind. A job title is nothing more than a tag line on a business card and an email signature. However, job titles in general are one of the most important elements when going into negotiations.
The Multi-Hat Advantage for Entrepreneurs
As a start-up, you are free to label you and your initial employees whatever you want. This means you and your team can virtually be any employee of the business. In essence, you can construct a much larger business in the minds of prospective clients, companies and the public. Do you think the CEO of your competitor is going on sales calls? Probably not. But the senior account manager is. Swallow your pride and shed the founder label. Become the account manager on sales presentations, the director of marketing when buying advertising and the vice president when negotiating for better insurance rates.
Why is this so important?
The most important negotiation tactic to expose upfront is higher authority. And what better way to make the other side assume you have little to no decision making authority than by lowering your job title. [click to continue…]
Build it and they will come
“We’re in the phonebook.” Phonebook! What’s that? Elderly aside, most people turn to the Internet these days. They read reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp. They quickly check out the competition. And usually make up their mind before leaving their desk. The companies that rely on the fact that they are simply out there and available, will be left to die a slow and capital-depleting death… alone.
We’ve always done it this way!
Have you heard the saying, “The only thing constant in the world of business is change?” Marketing strategies are no different. Fifteen years ago, the Internet was mainly reserved for geeks and gamers. Five years ago, YouTube didn’t exist. Four years ago, Facebook was a thing college kids played with. Think of the past few years. Has your marketing and business system evolved at this rate? For your business’ sake, I hope so.
Location, location, location
Besides gas stations and convenience stores, this mantra [click to continue…]
