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Are you receptive to feedback?
By Phillip
I was just coaching a speaker via Skype, following a public speech he recently delivered. One of my observations was that he seems a little too controlled. Not enough passion.
He said, “Two or three others have told me the same thing.”
He knew, yet he had not acted on that feedback, …read more
Source: CV Masterclass
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Will branding win you advocates?
A business creates its position in the market place by developing a Brand. The brand is its identity, based on its core competencies. It is how customers recognise it. Brand recognition comes through familiarity with the company logo, the livery on its vans, the style of its retail premises and its promotional literature.
But most of all, a brand is recognised by the experience it delivers. And that has to be consistent. Every experience of the company has to deliver the same kind of experience. Customers develop an expectation of the business, and the business must ensure that it regularly meets that expectation.
The paradox of branding is that you want to become generic (like Hoover, Sellotape or Coke) and you also need to identify the One Defining Element that distinguishes your company from all others. If you can achieve that, all competitors will be seen as followers or, at best, lookalikes.
The brand has value, just like a Google ranking. It determines where the company stands in the list of choices made by customers.
Innocent Drinks went from a standing start in 1999 to handing over to Coca Cola in 2010 for £100 million, selling their versions of a product (fruit smoothies) that they did not invent. However, they began with a cheeky tone of voice in communicating with their customers, who thought, “Good product, fun people.” That is now their trademark style, their brand.
A good marketing strategy is to create a strong brand, make it recognisable and then make it very well known. Customers believe that a well known brand is better than a less well known brand. That’s what is meant by brand equity.
Now let make a very important distinction between brand value and brand values. Brand value is the same as brand equity – the financial benefit of being better known than other alternatives, which may allow you to charge a premium for what you do or sell.
Brand values, however, are about why you are in business, and how you do your business. For example, the retailer Marks and Spencer has always made it their policy to accept the return of merchandise without question. That is their style and it reflects their values.
When your brand has a clear set of values, you attract customers and staff who share those values, and they form your tribe. Their reason for doing business with you goes beyond the transaction’s value. Doing business with you becomes an expression of themselves, and they become your advocates. That should be your main purpose in marketing – to cultivate advocates.
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Quantitative Easing: hard cash or paper money?
I was listening to a discussion about Quantitative Easing (QE, QE2 etc.) and one person implied that it was just the Bank of England printing more notes. That didn’t sound right, so I asked a man who knew. This is what he told me:
If the Bank just printed more notes it would be disastrous. That’s what the German Weimar Republic (1918-33) and Zimbabwe (recently) did, and their currency became worthless.
Quantitative Easing means releasing more cash into the economy by buying back assets from such institutions as insurance companies and pension funds. The BoE has bought two types of assets: Government Bonds (known as Gilts) and high quality debts.
Gilts are so called because the original Bond Certificates had gold edges.
When the BoE buys the assets, the money goes into the seller’s bank account, enabling that bank to increase its lending. Equally, the seller may choose to spend that money. Either way more money gets into the economy.
In addition, when the BoE buys those assets, the effect will be to increase their prices, making their owners better off. So they may spend more, further increasing the money in circulation, and encouraging growth.
Such interventions by the central bank are rare, and used only when the economy is stagnant and business confidence needs a boost.
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25 Ways to keep customers for life
- Reward your customers with a gift for a lead for new business
- Buy or use their products or services. Loyalty works both ways.
- Be accessible and return phone calls or emails promptly.
- Keep your word. Deliver what you promised – on time.
- Under promise, and over deliver.
- Be flexible. Be open for business outside normal hours, even on holidays.
- Thank your customers for their business. Send handwritten notes.
- Always look professional. Your customers should feel proud to do business with you.
- Have integrity. Trust is hard to build, almost impossible to recover.
- Be supportive of your customers – like a good friend.
- Remember their birthdays and anniversaries. Send cards and small gifts.
- Promote their business to others. Believe in them.
- Be friendly. Aim to make it a pleasant experience to deal with you.
- Eliminate hassle. Make it easy to buy from you.
- Be a problem solver, not a hardware store.
- Have real people dealing with customer queries, not a multiple choice answering machine.
- Treat existing customers like pure gold.
- Occasionally, cancel an invoice, just for goodwill.
- Help customers get what they need, even if you don’t supply it yourself.
- Keep customers informed of all your new developments and products, and offer them the same special deals you offer new customers.
- Train your staff to have a welcoming, helpful and respectful attitude.
- Use Mystery Shoppers to check how customers are treated.
- Who speaks for your company? Call your business yourself to learn what callers hear.
- Never be indifferent to customers or prospective customers.
- Treat your staff well. They are your partners in business.
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Avoid commodization
We live in an Experience Economy. Customers judge us according to the experience of dealing with us, just as we do when we are customers.
Those who have not understood the concept of the Experience Economy often resort to the “commoditization” of their offerings. They have lost sight of anything that makes their offerings different or distinctive, and the only way they can compete is on price. That’s just about the lowest level of marketing.
What do I mean by commodization?
Commodities are the things we get from the natural world – minerals dug from under the ground, the vegetables and fruit we grow from the ground, the animals who feed on the ground. Coal and copper are what they are no matter where they come from. Apples and pears likewise. Beef, pork and chicken meat do not carry passports.
True, there are different levels of quality, but within each level, the product is what it is, wherever it may have originated. Its price is determined by the basic law of demand and supply.
When a business sells its products or services with no added value, it is behaving as though it sells commodities. Imagine having a business directory such as Yellow Pages, in which there are no advertisements, only basic entries, just like a directory of domestic telephone numbers.
If you were looking for a builder, a plumber or a florist, how would you know which one to choose?
That’s the effect of commoditization. It gives customers no reason to choose you, except price. So remember why you are in business, and why people should spend money with you rather than elsewhere. And put that across in every contact with customers and those who should be your customers.
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By your grammar shall they know you
The Bible says, By their fruits (works) shall ye know them (Matthew 7:20). In the business world, and especially when it comes to recruitment, it is equally true to say By your grammar shall they know you.
Correct grammar is the mark of education and erudition, both desirable attributes at the higher levels of employment. Grammar is more than a set of rules: it is the process that gives your communications clarity and meaning. Let’s set aside exceptions to the rule, and even those historical ambiguities that are trotted out as excuses for ignoring the rules of grammar.
Instead, let’s take two examples that I encountered in The Times this morning, a journal that should be setting a better example. One example is the common wrong choice of two words that look similar but which have directly opposite meanings. The other is simply a confusion between the subject and object in a sentence.
In the Weekend section, agony aunt Marie O’Riordan was asked how to ditch wild friends from university days. Her reply included this: “Start by making yourself available only on rare occasions … This infers that you are expanding your social circle.” It does not. It implies that.
To infer is to gain an understanding of something. To imply is to let others gain that understanding. “Infer” means you receive or deduce it, while “imply” means you give it. She could, of course, have said, “(the friends) will infer that you are expanding your social circle.” See the difference? You imply, they infer.
The second solecism was in the Saturday Review, and was perpetrated by Matthew Parris, a man who should know better. Reviewing Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher, he wrote this: “As to her father, Alderman Roberts (whom Moore suggests may have been etc.)” It’s a common misuse of the word ‘whom’.
Take out the words “Moore suggests” and you are left with “whom may have been etc.” Clearly it should be “who may have been.” Who is the subject of the sentence. It would have been easier to get it right if he had written either “who, Moore suggests, may have been ,,,” or “who may have been …, according to Moore.” When you clearly separate the subordinate clause “Moore suggests” by the use of commas, or by placing it at the end, you can easily tell what is right.
Correct grammar makes for greater precision in communication. It also avoids creating an unfavourable impression of the writer. Worth doing, wouldn’t you say?
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Writing letters that sell
We all write letters, and many in business may feel that there’s nothing to it. So let me ask you this: do you get “junk mail”? What makes it junk? Do you throw it away because the product or service being offered is of no interest to you, or for some other reason?
How long does it take you to decide it’s not for you? Probably less than 3 or 4 seconds. In fact, in tests done some years ago, 3.2 seconds was the average time it took for an advertising message in newspapers or magazines to be rejected.
If the advertising message is in the form of a letter, you will make that decision based on the language used, the grammar, the tone, and even the layout … as well as the offer itself.
I wonder if you would read every word of a letter that began like this:
Dear Reader,
We at Commonplace Computers pride ourselves on the most advanced equipment for small businesses, comprising of PC’s, Laptop’s and Software. Indeed, we have won several awards for our technology and customer service. We are therefore pleased to offer you the chance to share in our success and become one of our privileged customers …
See what I mean? You make up your mind very quickly. There are certain things to include and certain things to avoid. Now, quickly jot down as many faults as you can find in that opening.
This is an edited version of an actual mailing I received not long ago. The original letter was set in a font that was difficult to read, but which I am unable to reproduce here. That apart, here are some of the other reasons for binning such a letter:
- It’s unpersonalised. There’s no excuse for Dear Reader
- There is no headline — how will the reader know what it’s about?
- The opening is one of my pet hates, “We at …”
- No opening ‘Hook’ to engage my attention
- The entire letter is self-focused
- Bad grammar: “comprised of”. Should be ‘comprising” or “consisting of”
- Bad punctuation: plurals such as PCs and Laptops do not require apostrophes
So what should you include?
- Whenever possible, address the recipient by name
- Put your most powerful ‘come on’ in a headline
- Make the opening sentence a compelling reason to read on
- Follow that with a clear summary of your proposition
- Follow the sequence of persuasion (ask someone who knows how to sell)
- Have the letter proof read by someone with a proven knowledge of grammar and punctuation
- Have a clear call to action
- Repeat your main benefit in a PS
There are other guidelines to follow, but these will do for now. But the best advice I can give you is to employ a professional copywriter. Otherwise your mailings could be just a waste of money.
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7 Key Elements of Direct Mail
1. The List comes first
• Who is your target market?
• Must be relevant to your product or service
• Is the Database up to date, accurate, fully named?2. Make the envelope look right
• Use a stamp not a franking machine
• Make it look like personal correspondence
• Don’t put sales messages for the sake of something to say3. Create an offer that’s hard to resist
• You must MAKE AN OFFER
• Address the question, What’s in it for me?
• Make a ‘soft offer’, i.e. one that requires minimal commitment. If you require a ‘Yes/No’ response it’s a Hard Offer.4. Aim to create ACTION
• Always have a response device
• Write the response device first
• Give a compelling reason to reply5. Stop expecting only a 1% return
• With the right ingredients you CAN get double digit response
• Avoid trying to convert non-users
• Focus on getting users to switch to you6. Testing can make all the difference
• How will you know what works? By testing
• How will you know what works BEST? By testing
• Use a rolling test programme to stay ahead of the game7. Monitor your results
• Things change. So keep your eye on all results
• Change only one key element at a time and note the effect -
Networking winner
He worked alone, from home, like so many solo-preneurs. But he missed the companionship of workmates. So an invitation to a networking event seemed attractive.
He put on a suit and pocketed a quantity of business cards. For good measure he also took along half a dozen trifold leaflets about his business. Just in case. But his social skills were rusty and no one seemed willing to engage him in a lengthy conversation.
Before long he was stranded alone on the middle of the floor, while clusters of twos, threes and fours chatted freely around him, But not with him. Just then the iPhone in his pocket vibrated with a message to check his UK Lottery account.
It told him, “Congratulations! You are a winner!” He grinned.
“Good news?” asked someone. In a steady, loud voice he replied, “It seems I have just won the jackpot on the Lottery.
Suddenly he was no longer alone.
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What do people hear when you speak?
Recently at my Barbershop singing club, a chap came up to me to say he liked the video of me. “Which one?” I asked. “The one in which you talked about first impressions.”
I was puzzled because no such video exists. However, he had gone on my website and seen the video on The Dos and Don’ts of Business Presentations and somehow remembered it as “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”.
The process in his mind probably went something like this: My video = something motivational. Embedded motivational message (from past experience) = First impressions Therefore my video = first impressions
I must admit it gave me pause. How often do my speeches or seminars get translated into something that I did not say, or get confused with an embedded preconception? Do folks hear what I say, or only what they want to hear? Perhaps the answer lies in better structure.
PKP
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Phillip F. Khan-Panni MBA PSA Founder
PKP Communicators, Inaugural UK Business Speaker of the Year
35 Hillbrow Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 4JL, UK t: 0845 165 9240 m: 07768 696254
e: phillip@pkpcommunicators.com
w: www.phillipkhan-panni.com View my profile on LinkedIn:
