Let’s Play Stump the Stumpy Guy

I usually do the interviews for our coaching calls. I actually like being on that side of the mike, hopefully helping “decomplicate” the expert’s topic, cutting volumes of information into bite-sized chunks, suitable for complete digestion.

But last Thursday, at 5:30 pm, it was my turn to squirm. Copywriting and marketing superstar Dan Kennedy called to interview me for his apparently information-starved Copywriting Students. In my world, being interviewed by Dan Kennedy is like having Jimmy Johnson ask you to drive him around the block.

For one hour, I had to fake my way through sounding intelligent. And in this smart, tough crowd with a fairly expensive $30,000 annual tuition, that wasn’t going to be easy. So, in-between making up big words and ending every other sentence with “in this economy” to sound relevant, I attempted to offer advice.

The REAL reason I was on the call was for having been the idiot who won a new car last year, but turned it down in exchange for an equal amount ($35,000) of copywriting work from contest sponsor Kennedy. Yes, I – the self-proclaimed copywriter – sort of “paid” 35 large for 8 pages of work.

Whatever. I didn’t need the car, but felt I could use learning from a good coach. (Can’t we all?) Of course, those winnings became yours because we took what we learned and applied it to not only our marketing, but to what we offer you.

But during the interview, amid all these people ‘tuned in’ to hear the answers, Dan throws me a curveball. He asks, “If you had all your copywriting tools taken away except 3, what would they be?” There I am, mildly choked to answer, clock ticking, sweat forming. And it’s below.

Whether you’re copywriting “student” or not, the answers still go to the core of marketing. Remember, this was not a “beginner” crowd, so my answers aren’t the normal “big headline, bold guarantee, and hot bullet points” that you’re sick of hearing. And shockingly enough, in the light of day, I still stick by these answers…

Below, you’ll see my answer. I’ve put in italics how you can use this hint in your business, whether marketing, selling, or negotiation. They work for all, and that’s a promise. So, a peek behind the marketing curtain…

AH: “Well Dan, I’m a big fan of the Provocative Headline, Big Promise Headline, The Killer Offer, Powerful Guarantee, and all that, but I assumed – hopefully correctly – that your students (and I frankly) have enough resources on those topics from you and other training. Here are the ones I consider more advanced, more stealthy, that you do NOT hear about much, but generate massive results for us and our clients -

1. I’ll call the first one ‘Planting Psychic’ Seeds. Some may call it ‘empathy’ but its more than that. I like to write as if I’m listening in on what keeps these guys up at night, and shock them with the well placed ‘prediction’ of that state.

The “You’re probably wondering…” is a nearly worn-out but effective version of that. I want to let my clients know that I understand what keeps them up at night, or the problems they’ve faced, or even where their mind is at the moment.”

Contractors – you too want to do this. Force your marketing language, website, sales presentations to enter your customer’s subconscious. Make them say, ‘YES! That’s what I was just thinking!” and you will magnetically gain acceptance. People want to be understood without having to explain themselves.

2. Curiosity Accelerators – I often drop in a foreshadowed thought, hinting at something yet to come. I try to give the readers’ subconscious a moment to dwell, then DESIRE the object of their curiosity. Such as, “I’ll explain that in a moment, but first, here’s why nobody’s doing it…” See? They hear, they hang, anticipation and momentum are built.

Contractors – This is done WAY too little in your websites, and especially your sales presentations. Your Maintenance Agreement forms are the WORST at this. Why? They tell too much, too quickly, ending forever the ability to let the customer ‘weigh’ out the value before you blurt it in their face OR attempt to defend it! An example:

Websites stupidly put, “Read what others say” as if anyone really goes to read a bunch of bragging. Curiosity is OVER. We all know it’s awesome or you wouldn’t put it there. Instead, pepper it ‘inside’ the message, such as “You’re probably thinking I’m full of beans, but so did David Wanker from Canker who said…”

See the difference? Don’t make ‘em hunt it down. Make them want it. Also…

Most Agreements typically line up a bunch of gobbledegook on a page that is SUPPOSED to seem beneficial, but it’s tiresome, boring, hogwash to a customer. All they’re scanning for is the price, but nothing else means anything to them. Instead, you should line up and explain why the bullet point is tantalizingly valuable, THEN put your price in the two-tier method, compared against an UNmaintained system failure.

3. My next most crucial element is “The Turn” as Maxwell Sackheim called it. This is very difficult for most amateur marketers and salespeople. This is where you go from consultive coach to presenting the offer they should accept. I mean, if they’ve expressed a need, it is your duty to present a viable offer.

Contractors – too much of your marketing, and many of your “salespeople” simply spout off specs, scribble something down, and blurt out a price as if magically people’s Visa cards will float from their highly guarded wallets. Ain’t gonna happen. That’s called “Order taking” not “Selling”.

The turn is where you skillfully build a communication “bridge” from “I know you, and know you have this problem” to “Now that we know each other, here’s how to solve it. Just look.”

Your presentations and marketing sales pieces have 3 parts: the opener, the presentation, and the close. These are essentially seamless except for a clinical sales discussion, and the turn is between presentation and close. So, if you’ve got great presentation skills and a lousy closing ratio, it is THE TURN that is causing you to fall flat.

All successful infomercials have “the turn”; watch them. (Heck, all great movies and books have “the turn”) Become a student of the turn.

So, there’s your look into a formerly secretive ‘list’ of items I use to persuade you, and you to persuade others, now advising you to use in your marketing and selling. Happy Sales!

Adams Hudson

Questions:
□ If I took all your marketing tools away except 3, what items would YOU keep?
□ How effectively are your sales presentations at any of the 3 items on MY list above?
□ Do your sales presentations need a makeover?
□ Does your marketing need to be polished up for 2010?

Repeating History’s Repetition

For some reason, a group of historian type people want to tour our offices this Sunday. Further, they’ve asked me to speak to them in some meaningful fashion, relating the historic mission for downtown and our role in it. Personally, I feel they’re really hoping I’ll say nothing but serve Bourbon.

Long time SMI readers will remember that our renovation of this 1880’s building (5 years ago) employed most every tradesperson in 3 counties, including trades that hadn’t been invented at the time. I was billed virtually every time they inhaled, and charged overtime for their exhales.

There were many excellent, pleasant, skilled techs and companies that came through here, doing exquisite work that has withstood great use. There were also a few tradespeople with skills and attitudes that rival meth-addicted wharf rats, except with less dexterity.

Of all those trades folks – perhaps 20 in all – I still use exactly 3.

That coveted group includes:

The electrician (charges more per hour than a cosmetic surgeon, but worth it… darn it), the roofer (needs shock therapy to return a phone call, but competent and fair) and the HVAC company (undermarketed to a fault, but fair and reliable.)

Why do I still use them? And why will I unhesitatingly recommend them to the 30 or so assembled ‘influence peddlers’ on Sunday, and any other time? The reasons you’ll read are the exact same as why they’re doing well in this economy, and the others, well, aren’t.

A “hint” given first …

The historic group this Sunday is touring properties to see and hear firsthand: 1) How does a historic building function into today’s business environment? 2) What obstacles and advantages does a commercial restoration entail? And 3) How does an overly-critical short guy ever get to manage anything? Plus, why can’t he spell “INC” properly?

In addition, every time there’s a tour through here, people also ask “Who” did the work? What’s generally implicit in the question is “Who would you recommend?” (Pointless to give names of the UNrecommended.) And there’s a free lead source for the contractors who understand and work this angle. I may only be telling 30 or so people on Sunday, but they all have homes (I think) and are “influence peddlers” to their peer group. Very important. Somewhere in your town, right now, someone’s asking a knowledgeable person “Who do you use for your ?”

How did these 3 companies get to be the answer?

1) Relentlessly regular contact. I promise you, I could not – at gunpoint – tell you the name of the plumber. Or the tile setter, landscaper, brick mason, window man, painter, or locksmith… all of whom I’ve needed several times since, and been asked about umpteen times more. But the “chosen” tradespeople have stayed in touch, making them a) Stand out against the sea of ‘call-me-if-you-need-me’ nincompoops who FORGOT that people FORGET (ironic isn’t it?), and b) Rise to the top of ‘recall heirarchy’ as Maslow said it or TOMA as we say it, plus c) They become the default choice for referrals. Smart to recontact. They stay in touch ‘mostly’ through mail, occasionally by phone. Two attempted ezines earlier, but those floundered and were systemically eliminated in favor of regular mail.

2) They use Professionalism as a Competitive Advantage. This is going to make some of you mad. Whatever. Trades in general do NOT have a very professional demeanor, thus status, assumptions, and price points are commensurate. I don’t make the rules, but you tell me – Two guys have IDENTICAL diamonds for sale. One guy is in an exquisitely elegant, hushed environ, immaculately dressed and as polished as the gem he represents. The other is wearing an Alice in Chains T-shirt, hasn’t shaved, and smells vaguely of Vienna Sausage. Which one are YOU going to confidently pay WAY more money to? Oh, silly me, I never mentioned that either one spoke. Guy #1 coulda been on out work release and Guy #2 a graduate gemologist, but you didn’t wait to make your judgment either. You got that impression purely by the professional ‘aura’ presented. Don’t expect your customers to be any different.

3) Great Customer Service Creates Price Elasticity and Pain of Disconnect. That’s a mouthful, but a high degree of Customer Service means I “pay” more but “get” more… though largely intangible and without ‘cost’ to the company. This is attributable to general courtesy, appointments confirmed, neatness, prices submitted upfront, material options presented, follow-ups initiated by the company, and thank you via phone and with invoice. After that, I’m in their “sequence” (newsletter, recontact, see #1.) The “Pain of Disconnect” is a direct response marketing term for a loyalty creation that is hard to ‘unhook’, thus, “going back” to the non-Customer oriented contractor makes an odious comparison. Good customer service is by nature, relatively rare, highly attractive, and very “sticky”. Train for this and financial gains naturally flow.

Maybe you read this and say you “knew” these 3 elements, are sick of hearing of them in some form or fashion, and were looking for something “new”. Why? History, as they say, is a great teacher.

Questions for You:

1. What is your ‘system’ of recontact? There is no “winging it” in a system.

2. What is ONE THING you could do TODAY to bump your professionalism? (Phone courtesy, uniforms, truck rewrap, new logo, better ads, scripted presentation, burn the Alice in Chains shirts?)

3. Scale of 1-10, what is your company’s customer service ranking? How could you make it go up today?

Minority Rule

An old adage: “When the word on the street is ‘buy’, it is definitely time to sell.” This supports the contrarian’s favorite point that the grand herd called “they”, are generally far behind, already approaching irrelevance, since the leaders have long since left the party.

Zig whenever “they” zag. It is true elsewhere.

Those rare folk who sold at the height of the market – deemed idiotic at the time – are now considered enlightened. The crowd moves in huge swells and sways, while leaders in thought and action pull away, immune to the self-appointed critics. The top 14% of the earners in the U.S. out-earn the remaining 86% combined, all of whom are certain “their” way must be right. It sure doesn’t seem that way…

Currently, about 40% of the population spends exactly what they earn or less – zero or negative savings. Another 40% eke out a living, with less than 10% of their income for ‘non-essentials’ including savings, recreation.

The next 15% up are considered the new mass affluent ($155,000 household income and higher, a group 23% larger than just 10 years ago. Yes, even now.) The top 5% generate over $500,000, some way over. Categorically, they’re considered “thought leaders, business leaders, community leaders” – and there’s just one word consistent in those descriptions.

Before I continue with the peep show (a marketing hint right there) let me back up a sec.

This has not been the most fun year for the contracting majority. You can’t pick up a newspaper or listen to news without being reminded. Those of us in business, out to slay the daily dragon, now get to hear the constant chorus of wails and moans in the background.

“They” begin to seep into our dreams, leaking from under the foundation, causing a less enthusiastic voice answering the phone, a less than committed upsell, a pulling back on the marketing reins, and a tail slowly tucking inward because “they” are all doing the same.

“They” are usually wrong. So accepting that and responding accordingly is Step #1 of the vastly more successful, tiny minority. In other words, they zag quite regularly.

They are deaf to the crowd’s advice. They are mute to chiming in on the “me, too” Pavlovian response to bad news. They’re blind to seeking crowd approval. (And yet, ironically, their self-esteem supremely well-intact.)

And in contracting, despite the fact that consumers are spending less and more resistant to the optional than ever, small numbers of very successful contractors tout the rarely discussed “good”. They draw it inside their ranks, becoming “bad news immune” and thus a magnetically more confident company. This too is contagious.

Supporting that –

□ Consumer Trends found out what we all know: “Nearly ¾ of the American public has tired of the recession news, some openly resisting same. Buying pattern increases indicate a renewed attraction toward durable, reliable, trustable.” Advice: Same for the past year – Good news is attractive. Reliably market your reliability. If you go silent in your marketing, your phones follow.

□ “A drop in new housing starts is bringing renewed interest in existing home-improvement, energy upgrades, environmentally-sound investing.” Advice: Pay attention to the word “investing”. Unlike the “norm”, now is not time to low ball every bid. Flaunt your higher priced upgrades that can demonstrate a sound investment. (Hint: Your Proposal Books and online consumer videos need updating.)

□ More good news: “Is the do-it-yourselfer dead?” HGTV saw massive drop in popularity of “flipping” and “do it yourself” shows in favor of maximizing value, with the subtext of professional trade contracting. (Holmes on Homes, Renovation Nightmares both illustrate “false economy” of unprofessional and DIYer.) Trends to watch: Shows for contractors supporting model customer service, smart marketing, image-enhancement. Advice: As in a recent editorial, some “normal” contractors send homeowners (me!) to a big-box to “save me some money”. If you’re a professional, you should either support professionalism or quit the profession. Fair enough? The successful minority shows the risks of DIY and unprofessional work on their websites, newsletters, and publicity.
□ Customer service is becoming the great “separator”. People are tired (and distrusting, see first bullet) of the low-image, slacker contractor – rudely handled phone calls, the follow-up that never happens, the unanswered after hours phone, the static and self-absorbed website all indicate “old” think. Consumer buying, repeat buying and referring all follows superior customer service. Advice: The majority falsely believe they’re “saving money” by cutting training and expertise.

Do the different thing, contractors. Follow the advice of the successful minority. Tap into that however, and whenever you can. Be willing to do what’s different from the crowd, most of who are complaining. That alone will get you noticed.

I believe that 2010 will widen the gaps in the “haves and have nots”. The “haves” will not have gotten there by following the masses, that’s a promise.

Questions for you:

1. What are you doing differently in your marketing? Sales presentations? Customer service? How is the “language” in your shop different from that of the “normal” contractor?

2. Do you regularly “shop” the competition to see how they either blend in or stand out? (Our Competitive Intelligence guide in your PowerPack is an outline in doing this, or you can do it yourself.)

Before You Hit “Delete” or Run out the Door…

We've all heard enough 'bad' news this year to last for several more. Yet, if you believe we still live in a great country, if you still have enough health to get through the day, and still have the love of family and friends among you, you can indeed be thankful.

And regardless of your income, the many blessings you have – and even enumerate in your conscious now – makes you a very rich person.

The Power of Referrals

Andrew Leslie is a man they don’t make anymore. Hard-working, Cajun born, duty driven. If the deep caramel skin (that’s about as smooth) and the tell-tale accent reeling quick witted tales didn’t make you question his age, his overbooked work ethic would.

Though just days from an age 65 retirement, I’d suggest training if you tried to keep up with him. I’ve seen his own shadow almost give up in frustration.

He had a full time career with J.R. Smith, helping assemble a few million specialty plumbing products, then moved into receiving, spanning as he told me, “23 years, 5 months, 2 days and about 6 hours… or thereabouts.” Andrew is rarely without supporting evidence.

Yet his “other” full time job was being a father to son, Eric, who’s with the Federal Railroad and daughter Rachelle, vice president of a bank. Andrew also unhesitatingly calls his nieces Kerry and Kimberly – both business owners – his “daughters” since they raised them as well. His wife, Eva, was equally active, but Fibromyalgia and Arthritis had other plans, enlisting Andrew as supportive caretaker for the last 14 years.

And his other full time job was lawn maintenance. He probably did other things, but I am getting tired of listing them all. Yet atop all this…

He was also a master of generating referrals, as many as he wanted, when and where he wanted. At the price he said, and here’s how he did it.

He was our lawn maintenance guy. Did it by himself too. Pulled a neatly-crafted and packed trailer behind his trusty silver Dodge Ram truck. Weed eaters, blowers, and a Snapper Mower than was more an extension of his hands and feet than a separate machine. Many a Saturday, I’d see Andrew, turning a zero radius circle around one of too many pine trees, never dropping a shaving of bark nor the ash of his Kool, with the fluidity of an ice skater, (yet thankfully in khaki instead of spandex.) Where he willed, the Snapper went.

And if our yard wasn’t enough, he had the neighbors to the left. And the right. And two doors down, plus the next one, and a couple more he’d hit on his way home. Master of efficiency, he had to “disengage” from one customer who was well off the route. “I had to tell her the drive was too much for an old man” he said to me once, adding “She wasn’t all that darn nice either.” I laughed, but he wasn’t done. “I hope she doesn’t move to a yard that’s more convenient”.

You can tell by the ‘connection’ to customers that if Andrew got one job, he’d get all the other ones he wanted, where he wanted, at the price he said. Shopping was over. Why? Because Andrew’s referrals were so enthusiastic you’d half question if there was some pyramid scheme of sudden riches coming to the referring party.

He got jobs – at will – in our neighborhood of yard-crazy people (historic neighborhood in the deep south, need I say more?) that is regularly patrolled by the ‘big’ companies. Their postcards were tossed, their TV commercials rendered us blind, the radio ads made us deaf. All we knew when prodded was, “Andrew does our yard,” usually recited like unwavering, slobbering robots. And we were.

Until Andrew retired from us.

Finding his “replacement” will be in word only. Oh sure, the “new” guy may have a little more bounce in his step, some more “moderness” to the approach, and potentially more eagerness for additional clients. But he ain’t gonna be Andrew, and that’s a fact. The beauty of Andrew’s legacy, only briefly shared herein, has a marketing thread of fascination for me in that he scored 100% of the jobs he wanted, sans price-shopping.

He “Advertised” his work while doing his work. A neat truck, parked out front, with good well maintained equipment was better than an interstate of billboards. If you’re NOT doing this, plus yard signs, and/or parking pylons, and/or door hangers, and/or windshield signage, how are the neighbors to know you’re ‘endorsed’?

Focused marketing efforts. Andrew controlled his jobs instead of the other way around. Sure, he could’ve gotten jobs in multiple inconvenient locations, but he focused on a particular customer, in a particular area, and “owned” that area.

Pricing insensitivity. Andrew could price a job since he had to move his truck a few feet, spreading the ‘windshield time’ over the adjacent yards, where others had to quote from a ‘rate sheet’ that unwisely assumed a trip charge regardless of relative proximity. Smart.

Established a Referral chain. Each new job came with a blessing and endorsement from the previous. This was the ‘first step’ in a three step process that followed with…

Asked a simple question of the potential referrer: “If I introduce myself to your neighbors, is it okay if I tell them that I do your work?” Who’s gonna say ‘no’ to that? No one did. Thus the near simultaneous 3rd step…

Qualified Introduction: Andrew would introduce himself as being the lawn maintenance professional for and wondered, “I love this area and these great lawns. If you’re looking for someone to take care of it, I’d be honored. The said it’d be okay to call them to ask anything you’d like about my service.”

Generally a phone call would ensue, which began the blathering, which ended in “SOLD!”

Regular re-endorsement and relationship building – We got an invoice monthly, sometimes with a hand written note (bill stuffer anyone?) and a Christmas card every year. It’s the small stuff that can make the strongest glue.

If Andrew had been a “company” of more than one, I’d have recommended all these, but using media to broaden the message. The message remains the same…

Your referrals will not “just happen” in the numbers you could get if you “made them happen”. Andrew made his happen. You must target, ask, follow up, and perform as promised, then repeat. If you do this for 23 years, 5 months, 2 days and about 6 hours… or thereabouts, you can grow your referrals and retire happy too.

Happy retirement Andrew. Me and my overgrown yard already miss you.

Questions for You:

■ What “ACTIONS” do you take to ensure that one customer leads to many? I’d suggest a 7 step follow up procedure, beginning on the first day following a new customer contact, spread over the next 120 days, with 2-4 ‘programmed’ contacts until they moved, died, or told you to go away.

■ What “SYSTEM” is in place to make sure the actions don’t get “forgotten”? This is a biggee. Our “Endless Referrals” program is designed to be just that, putting a single person in charge of this (should take 20 minutes a month) to enact.

Calendar Marketing

I don’t like it when contractors read the weather page to see whether they’ll be busy or not. To me, an utter loss of control. Yet in the 5 “Ms” of marketing, “month” is number 4 and thus mightily important. (This week’s poll: What are the other “M’s”? Guess and you may win fame, shame, or something in between.)

There is great validity to marketing within a known field of “timing” relevance. That is, chocolates during valentines, anti-depressants during the evening news, stuff like that. For another example…

At last report, it had rained 732 times in the past 4 days. It’s so wet, the fish are complaining and I’m going to see if Al Gore can arrange some “Global Drying”. This is neither politics nor weather.

This is about relevant timing and opportunity. In the past 45 days…

We have called a plumber for persistent drainage problem. A roofer for small leaks in two buildings. An HVAC contractor about dehumidifier in one of those buildings. An electrician for a leak-related fault in some track lighting. A neighbor about his gutter system (that he couldn’t see). A landscaper about a diverting berm and French drain.

There were 2,600,000 homes (NOT including commercial) affected in the recent high rainfalls in the southeast alone. Though I’ve occasionally felt like it, I trust I’m not the only one who needed a contractor. Multiply that by at least 6 trades, that’s lots of service calls.

Question: You want them Google searching or YOUgle Searching? Thought so.

This applies to the first cold snap. Most lightning strikes. Most burglaries (for home lighting and security). Most rain, hottest, driest. Energy prices up, energy prices down. And for you, your slowest months need the most attractive off-season offers. (See “Swimsuits in the Winter” ads in your PowerPack and many others, for example.)

All have a timely relevance in the mind of the homeowner, and YOU need to be in their mind when the need hits.

So, while other contractors are scanning the weather page, crime reports, or moaning about how energy prices have risen, you’re forcing your way into their conscious mind, up front and out front of the others leaving it up to chance.

Look at your calendar right now. There is your ‘map’ to marketing relevance. Each month, a wave of consciousness overtakes and replaces the previous. Your job is to be in front of that wave to get the call, as opposed to behind it waiting and hoping. Big difference.

• Did you get your free 12 Month Marketing map yet? We publish about 2,000 per year, and give all of them away, with ZERO chance of “reprinting” once they’re gone. Friendly advice: Make a polite request and get one now. You are now in competition with 12,000 other contractors.

Aside from getting into prospect’s minds ahead of the need, you’re also ‘programming’ your marketing, sometimes up to a year in advance. Think of the load off you, your staff, your budget, and your media contacts. You can use your calendar or ours, but use the season as the reason to program your marketing plan.

If your “negative” voice is saying, “Hey, WHAT IF I market for an item in a month that does NOT produce the highest need for that product?” Then what have you lost?

Was it second highest? Did it only make new 3 times instead of 5?

You may wonder, “What if something just HAPPENS and it was not on the calendar?” Then you readily and aggressively market that.

Quick Case Study: Tornados had stricken an area, resulting in much insurance-covered roofing work. Yet HVAC contractors started getting calls for repairs that should’ve been part of the now-released coverage. Our tactic: Created newspaper, postcard, and radio scripts that began, “Do NOT settle with your Insurance Company until you read this”. And that my friends, landed millions in necessary, legitimately covered work for hundreds of happy homeowners.

The market has a barrier of relevance and you want to penetrate it, with consistent regularity. Be the company who’s “there” in their consciousness as the needs arise. Lead the market, don’t trail it.

Questions for you:

1. What are the TOP ‘calendar driven’ items coming up in the next 90 days?
2. What products and services help solve problems related thereto?
3. What marketing pieces do you have exactly relevant to that solution?

The opportunities are there. Are you? Contact us for help.

Crack for Clunkers

Maybe I missed something. Just read that the Government Used Car Lot traded in 700,000 soot factories on wheels they call ‘clunkers’. Good that we got some unsafe and/or vile vehicles off the road to save Americans from our dependence on foreign oil. Read on.

Given that the average clunker got 12 miles per gallon and the pristine ‘new’ car (with a pristine payment book for our formerly non-spending shoppers) gets 25. Driving 12,000 miles a year, the deathmobile uses 1,000 gallons; the bluebird of vehicular happiness uses 480. Love it.

That’s 520 gallons saved per vehicle. We are geniuses! For the 700,000 vehicles, we just saved 364MILLLION gallons of fuel. We are even more smarter than geniuseseseses! Since we get 23 gallons of automotive fuel from one 55 gallon barrel of oil, that’s about 16MILLION barrels of oil we don’t have to buy!

Take that, Oily Mongers! Since we’re currently gulping down 6million barrels of your crudeness a day, we just saved nearly 3 days worth! HA! Go find another customer!

For my next to last calculation (because my abacus is smoking) at $75 per barrel, that’s a savings of $1.2billion dollars. The savings are racking up like crazy now! The only slight negative here is that it cost us $3billion to save the $1.2b.

If anyone in the health care debate brings up “Cash for Cankers,” I’m moving to New Zealand.

By the way, this is not political commentary, policy debate, or assailing the effort to save fuel or car dealers. This is about shallowness and mismanaged relationships.

Though the Clunker program brought great throngs of people trading in $500 cars for $4500 and the ensuing “great news” of heavy spending surge, I have a fairly dire prediction for the next couple months: ain’t nobody trading in any more clunkers unless you pay ‘em handsomely. Sorry. Get ready for really ‘bad’ car sales numbers. We’ve built an expectation we can’t continue, and it was NOT based on loyalty.

The best relationships may start with an inducement, an urgency, a ‘reward’ (faster service, discount coupon, tax credit offer) but will not last unless one of two things happen. Whether a car dealer or a contractor, the same rules apply:

1. Offer another incentive, equal or better than the last. This shallow “gimme” based relationship is why I caution that over-using Direct Response is like crack, i.e. ‘more is better’. This is a downward spiraling, profit robbing model.
2. Build a solid (preferably programmed) plan of contact that deepens trust, instills confidence, reinforces value, and requires cooperation from both sides.

The first one is easy to offer, harder to maintain. The second is harder to start, easier to maintain. And the second one kicks bootie every time.

You wanted something more glamorous? You wanted me to talk about getting more leads for less dollars, or how to guarantee differentiation in your market? You’d rather learn how to turn one sale into many? You feel our time would be better spent discussing the nuances of phone-melting headlines?

Well, if you practice the rare art of “active” customer retention, all of those things can happen. It is truly, the “X-factor” in a contractor’s marketing arsenal.

Of course, this is already known by a small, well-rewarded group of contractors who’ve held a tight lid on this weapon.

In fact, a few years ago, I began polling contractors on “Who uses customer retention?” and only about 6% did. Now that figure is nearer 11% - and growing.

Given that contractors don’t spend where there’s no result, I’ll let you conclude why this number has nearly doubled in three years. This is also the marketing method that has gotten most of the credit for “saving” contractors in this recession. The profitability among “those who do and those who don’t” seems to be widening as well. Makes sense.

Regardless of which group you’re in, you may find the following useful.

If you already have a Customer Retention program:

• Increase your aggression for maintenance agreements in stand alone mail/email and in your newsletters. Do not limit newsletter mailings to MA customers only, since you want to increase the natural ascension from “normal” customers to MA customers.
• Push for greater differentiation through IAQ initiatives, which, due to a high-tech nature and health slant, can elevate your marketing position considerably. (Request a free IAQ Marketing Report from us if you want to read more.)
• Stealth pursuit of web-based lead generation allows “customized, flexible lead flow” largely under the befuddled noses of your competitors. Those who get in early tend to maintain an advantage. This is inexpensive and fast.
• Continue to wean yourself from Yellow Page addiction to fund and extend your newsletter, thank-you campaigns, and follow-up referral sources. Allow your remaining YP ad to be a pure lead generator – small, fast, and uncluttered.

For New Retention Marketers

For those who have just recently begun a customer retention campaign, allow it to build momentum. Too many contractors get the instant differentiation benefit and positive comments from customers, yet have a tendency to jump to the next thing. These sporadic efforts lose the momentum and bring confusion to your staff. Remember, retention is a program, not an event.

Also, realize that the effect of retention marketing is like compounded interest – the true benefits requires continued application. It builds on itself, multiplying the effects, allowing low-cost marketing advantages for the earned loyalty, shorter sales cycle, easier upsells, more referrals, and a greater response rate.

For the “I’m Still Thinking About it” Group

The remaining 89% of contractors who leave their customer base at risk are either “hoping” their customers come back or must regularly initiate an incentive to generate new leads. Doubtless if you’ve read this far, you’re looking for change.

The first one is to change your mindset. And since it’s my job to be your personal tour guide for guilt trips, check this mind-shift:

• The “normal” contractor gets a customer in order to make a sale.
• The “marketing” contractor gets a sale in order to make a customer.

Admittedly, that sounds odd, and the scarcity of those who actually understand this mind-shift is almost the point. But this should make it clear…

The contractor who is wisely counter-intuitive in marketing wins the marketing. Period. Those who think, act, and do like everyone else get results just like everyone else. I’ve also noticed that his or her complaints are just like everyone else’s too.

So, by really understanding and applying the contractor marketing mindset, you’re automatically in the small segment that has differentiated from the pack. No matter how you initially get your leads and customers, make sure your effort to keep them proves you value them. After all, they’re customers, not clunkers.

Request a free Customer Retention Report and Fall customer newsletter sample.

Corduroy Pillows Are Making Headlines!

Get it? HA! Okay, that was bad, but it got you here. (Marketing Lesson #1: Your headline's main job is to get your prospect to your next statement.)

So, what got you where you are now, and where are you going next? I mean, humans are presumably the only of God's creatures who think of the 'future', though someone needs to tell me how we know this. (Did scientists poll wolverines and platypuses with questions about living out their dreams?) Regardless, the past is an awesome teacher about the future.

The core of every survey, the reason we "apply" for loans, insurance, jobs, etc., is to allow the past to be a vaguely reliable predictor of future behavior. (The sub-prime mortgage research teams apparently overlooked this fact. Too busy interviewing wolverines.)
I get calls from contractors who say they're 'stuck' at a certain sales level. As an overpaid consultant, I'm trained to ask, "And what have you done differently in the past 24 months?" The highly predictable answer is "Nothing much." No changes equals no change. And why was there no change? The core cause - usually unspoken but obvious - is fear.

During this "R-word" economic time, contractors more often call to get marketing 'suggestions' to get out of their financial calamity and make the phone ring. We make suggestions, by the dozens, in both broadly publicized media and to private coaching clients. Results shared, stories retold, strategies revealed.

Oddly, the ones who never did anything different during good times are just as resistant to change anything during bad times. Why? "Fear", plain and simple.

The past behavior weaves its nasty way, right into the future. Goes both ways.

The hyper-active, hyper-achievers seem to relish in differentiating behavior. (Marketing Lesson #2: Market leaders, by definition, don't copy and can't wait on the crowd. However, they often sensibly "reformulate" based on proven criteria.) Those stories, new successes, and "breakthroughs" carry them into the future. They tend to see a wave coming and prepare to ride it ahead, while others frantically splash about.

Which way are YOU going next?

5 Things the Super Successful DO NOT Do

1) Accept the Norm – A few examples: If “normal” contractors spend over half their budgets in the YP and perennially complain about the sorry results, the leaders shun same. Our top clients spend about 20% in the yellow pages – less if we can make a business case for it. Likewise, the “normal” ad is a stupid, puffed up, ego-driven and ridiculously ineffective ad designed for “Free!” by the staff whose design criteria is to “not stand out too much”. Leaders advertise with customer-focused direct response ads that DO stand out.

Likewise, if the “crowd” is not having success with Maintenance Agreements, the leaders find a way to pile them on. If the “crowd” is not getting publicity, the leaders focus on it. If the “crowd” doesn’t want to invest in customer retention, the leaders quietly amass legions of devoted fans by using it.

2) Resist Outside Advice from Qualified Experts – The “fear of change” aspect again. Leaders typically hire specialists in finance, estate/succession planning, insurance, legal, marketing, sales, personnel, and technical training. They see these as “investments”; the crowd sees them as “unnecessary costs”. In time, the gap between the investor and the fearful non-spender widens. The “crowd” calls them lucky. The leaders would call the crowd names, but they have bigger things to focus upon.

SIDE NOTE #1: Our Coaching Clients typically say things like “just having someone on my side, giving advice and urging me forward is worth several times the fee”. That was NOT a plug to join OUR Coaching Program, but to find someone, some place, where you get a regular “sense of mission”. Looking at the same walls, the same employees’ blank faces, generally will not do it.

SIDE NOTE #2: This month’s Coaching Call is with none other than sales superstar Joe Crisara, who had one of THE most provocative (and successful) short sales videos I’ve ever seen here. Coaching Clients WILL get a double earful of Joe’s “Triple Your Sales” magic on this call. Be ready. (Not in Coaching? Click to find out how to join.)

3) Refuse to look at the “Hole in the Bucket”. If the website visits are going down, there’s a reason. If the response to direct mail has sunk, there’s a reason. If your ‘old’ customers aren’t calling you back, there’s reason. If you regularly hear people ‘not’ requesting a certain tech of yours, there’s a reason. All are costing you. Turning the other way doesn’t make it go away or get better.

Self Admission Time: Though our ‘renewal’ rate for newsletter clients had gone up, I still wondered about those who did NOT renew. So we launched a 3 part mail/email/call campaign to all who – for any reason at any time – didn’t renew. It’s amazing. Many new phone calls, old clients feeling “appreciated”, and new orders came in. The hole in the bucket, now smaller.

There are negative habits, practices, trends in your company NOW that are reversible. Take a hard look at them. Be the leader who a) Admits b) Takes corrective action c) Measures and repeats accordingly.

4) Being ‘Hurt’ by Criticism. Sorry, but we’ve become wimpy, politically-correct, crybaby prone fence-sitters concerned about everyone’s self-esteem. This is, to me, the ‘fear’ behind change. We fear resistance, reluctance, ‘making a wrong move’ (so we make NONE) or offending. Respectful leaders forge ahead without bullying but also without regard to slings and arrows of sideliners. Most critics do little other than criticize. So, if you have something you’ve “been thinking about doing” for awhile, there’s a God-given reason it won’t leave you alone. Apologies to Nike, but just do it.

5) Expect New Results from Old Habits – The “old” model has died. This economy just gave it a not-so-respectful funeral. Those who change are going to manifest their destinies accordingly. Yet following the same marketing pattern, sales presentations, going to the same discussion boards and same industry events with the same speakers, are NOT going to bring change.

Best thing you could do is buy a plane ticket to visit a business you want to become and find what they did. Ask whose advice they sought, what ‘systems’ they have. You’ll find that they were never afraid to change. Emulate that.

Watch for these 5 nasty habits in your business, and pick one thing you can change now. You’ll soon make far more headlines than corduroy pillows.

Questions to consider:
1. Which of the above 5 are most damaging to you now?
2. What people can you involve to change it?
3. What’s the FIRST step you can take to change it?
4. What day will you do that? Now, go do it.

The Pricing Spiral

My son is 16, which of course means that I have been downgraded in intellect to somewhere between a sponge and a dead moth. My “inclusion” in many of his activities is often restricted to no closer than 3 zip codes. I remember being a teenager too. So, imagine my elation when he suggested a summer trip and I got (sort of) invited!

What was his idea of a trip with Dear old Dad? A roller coaster tour. Yes, a tour of the best parks in Ohio, whose new state motto is, “Come Hurl in a Loop-D-Loop!” Sounded like fun to me. Let me back up a sec.

First, he’d never been a wanton, crazy thrill seeker. Second, I’ve scarcely mentioned a desire to go 100 mph upside-down in a spiral either. Third, Ohio? Are you nuts?

Turns out I was wrong about Ohio. The drive was beautiful. I mean, 'Get out of the car and take a picture' beautiful. Gorgeous green rolling hills, picturesque farms, Amish Cheese flowing out of Amish Cheese wells. Unreal.

So, we went to two terrific parks: King’s Island near Cincinnati and Cedar Point in Sandusky. These are not your normal amusement parks with people with questionable hygiene – and a low inventory of teeth to prove it.

These parks are immaculate. The rides are incredible and the focus of their incredulity is on “Roller Coasters”. If you’re thinking “up the clickety hill, down the other side, ‘Whee’, ride’s over,” you’d be criminally mistaken. They’re rocket launchers on tracks. They hurtle into outer space, narrowly missing other planets at speeds that actually put you into the future.

>> Click here to read if Adams still has most of his organs AND the marketing lesson in PAYING someone to make you go upside down at warp speed >>

Value Lesson: It may be worth noting that the average attendee spends $50 to enter, is totally on their own to navigate, figure out ride choices, and spends – on average – 90 minutes per ride standing in line. This means, in 8 hours, with eating, walking, and required bathroom visits, they can ride 4 rides, 5 if they forego food. (Not the worst idea.) My son and I rode 19. Our average wait? Under 2 minutes. Lunch? Free. How’d we accomplish such a thing?

Given that I only plan on doing this once, and Cleveland is 1070 miles from my house so I can’t really “drop by”, we did what’s called the VIP tour. Our personally-appointed guide knew exactly which rides did what. She also got us in through the “exit”, meaning no wait. Ever.

One ride, called “Top Fuel Dragster” was new to Cedar Park. It was so popular that the wait was – get ready – just under 3 hours. The ride lasted 40 seconds. Lest you feel that was being gypped to Madoff like proportions, please know a couple fun facts - -

It was 41 stories tall. Not a typo. You start off, strapped into a padded car that renders you paralyzed from the eyelids down. Then it shoots horizontally, from 0-120 mph in just under 4 seconds. When your eyeballs almost hit the people behind you, the thing turns 90 degrees straight up said 41 stories to give your thoughts time to catch up. But no, they over shoot and merely orbit with space junk among other thoughts, many of which are just two words, starting with “OH”. You turn around at a navigational satellite next to Ursa Major and head straight down 180 degrees – in a spiral – to make sure your spleen comes out smoothly (no one knows from where) and clears the horrified onlookers below. By the time it stops at over 1g, you know exactly what snorting Red Bull laced with LSD must be like. Before you exit, you check your pants for potential waste fluids, and stagger away.

People waited 3 hours for this. We rode it twice in 6 minutes. But I had the time of my life, albeit now sans spleen.

So the questions for you, oh seeker of the truth, are…

Q: Am I cheap?
A: Yes. But I like to call it “value oriented”.
Q: Am I easily sold?
A: You ever read these editorials?
Q: How much is the VIP package worth?
A: You tell me how much it’d be worth it to you to ride the rides, on a once in a lifetime trip with your child, building far more memories than standing in line having to go to the bathroom for the last half of the wait. Send your guess here.

This is about “price elasticity”. You think your drain cleanings are ‘x’ because that’s what people charge. You think your services should be ‘y’ because that’s what people charge. Price elasticity exists in all markets, for all people. You must locate the ‘value’ for them and charge accordingly. Next issue will explore that.

Part of my value – and one clearly known by the amusement park people – is that a vacation is typically not repeatable. The “best time” means making the most of that time, with price an often secondary consideration. I assure you, I never once considered price while spiraling upside down, out of control wishing I’d never heard of blue ice cream.

Finally, I don’t know about you, but time with my children is special and moving by faster than any ride at the park. Now where are those seat belts?


Questions to consider:

1. What do you charge for a “normal” service for the top 3 most common services you do?
2. What would customers pay extra for to make this extraordinary? Name 3 things.
3. What would they pay? Ask around. You’ll be surprised.

Love Hurts

I love contractors – seriously. That’s why you get to read exploits with the various good, bad, and ugly varieties out there, hopefully learning along the way. Today, we’ll look at a bad and a good, while I play the role of the ugly.

Now, this may be a shock, but the deep south is hot. This causes electrical panels to erupt, irrigation systems to work overtime, and hvac systems to burn their little bearings up. Contractors love it here.

A couple weeks ago, a tenant at our old office (we still own) called the property manager to say, politely, that she thought the ac vents were blowing hotter than the ‘bad place’. (No, not Cleveland.) The property manager suggested his “ac guy” take a look, and I agreed. Told him, “Whatever he says, I’m probably fine with it. Just get the system and her cooled down.”

After about 3 hours for him to actually make it out to the property, he checked the outdoor unit (without announcing himself to the tenant – take a note) and surmised that it was too small for the building. This was made more astonishing since I later found his company had done the installation. He also said the duct system (which they didn’t do) was “a mess”.

I waited for him to give me a suggestion, or options, but he said nothing else. So I just asked, “Then your only recommendation is to replace the system? That’s it?”

His response? “Yeah, that’s about it. If you’re interested, I can go back, do some more measurements and give you a quote.”

Let's see, it's 103 ̊; this is Alabama; it's late July, I have a tenant who is about to ignite, and his statement, in case you missed it, is: "If you’re interested, I can give you a QUOTE."

Not terribly impressed, I felt stuck, so I answered “Sure, I’d like a quote, but in the meantime, can you do SOMETHING, like make sure the charge is up, the system clean, or even let me rent a couple window units to help her out?”

“Nope, I don’t do that. Plus, I'm kind of shorthanded right now. I’ll try to get back by there in a couple days.”

Maybe I expect too much. But my blood pressure was just under the level required to boing your eyeballs out on cartoon like springs.

Mr. "Get a Quote in Days! Not Hours!” seemed a little lacking in the customer service department, and perhaps a couple pounds shy of coolant himself. Given this, I made my way to the dreaded Yellow Pages, called another company I had used in the past. Can’t remember now why I didn’t use them again. (Take another note.)

Says they’ll be there in about a half hour.

Wondrously, he’s early. The tenant lets him inside (note). He handles her very professionally, apologizes for her inconvenience (note #3), takes a look and calls me. “The unit probably is a quarter ton too small, but mainly just dirty, both of which are exaggerated by the heat. BUT, we’re gonna clean it up, reduce some flow to the storage room she’s hardly using, pump that to her office (note) and I recommend you install some solar tinting on the back of the building. I don’t do this but have a pro who can” (note)

Whoa. Not bad for the first 20 minutes. “How about the duct system?” I ask.

He replies, “Beautiful. All hard pipe, well-crafted. Not sure who did it but it’s first class.” (note)

Credibility of Contractor #1 goes subterranean. “Can you help her out a little now, and then go ahead and schedule whatever repairs will make the unit work for her?”

“Sure thing. I don’t have window units, but I have a bunch of desk fans I picked up at Harbor Freight and left her a couple. She seems appreciative. I’ll call the window tinter now and give him your info…”

“No need to,” I interrupted, “just have him do it and bill me”. (Please note, sales occur quickly with a trusted referral.)

One day later, Contractor #2 does the work, drops the temps in the office, re-calms the tenant, reclaims his fans. Calls me to give the update.

He then quotes on a Maintenance Agreement for the building. Done. Asks what else I need. He’s installing a new system at a warehouse as I write this. We’ll see how that goes.

Funny thing. A little turns into more, long as you keep the momentum with some customer service and good sense. Don’t make doing business with you too hard. Rivers of money are forged with the path of least resistance.


Questions for you:
1. Is solving your customers’ problems your first concern?
2. How much income do you lose a year if this scenario is repeated in your business just once a month?
3. Once your image is shattered, it’s hard to repair. How are you using service to keep a higher image in your market?

Death of a Salesman

“Billy Mays here, for Oxy-Clean.” Wow, we won’t hear those words again, unless his near clone of a son, Billy Mays Jr. does it. At the moment, unlikely.

Those of you in our Coaching Group have heard me laud Mays’ show, “Pitchmen”, regularly due to the background of how products were positioned, priced, and pitched. A fascinating introspection into the world of influence on a mass level, quite applicable on the individual level.

I’ve also encouraged you to pay attention to most any oft-repeated infomercial since it was a) Successful and b) Worthy of study for the ‘sales triggers’ and sequence of pitch to apply to your own business.

Billy Mays had a sixth sense about such things. Getting to ‘know’ him through the show allowed us to see past the tightly groomed beard and over-zealous voice affectations rising and falling under the blue starched shirt.

To him, and to those who do any craft well, their zeal is real, thus credible. We knew without any pretense, that he was there to ‘sell’ us something, something new, amazing, wonderful, and probably something we could live without.

Do I really need to Mighty-Putty a hose reel to the wall in 4 minutes flat? Didn’t matter, nor that this product (plain old two-part epoxy) wasn’t ‘new’ at all. When Billy Mays pitched it, “For the incredibly low price of just nineteen ninety-five… here’s how to order”, over 10 million orders poured in.

That’s $199,500,000 from a 1 minute commercial folks. Not too shabby for a product that had sleepily laid in bins at auto parts stores, hardware stores, general merchandise stores, grocery stores, and drug stores for nearly 20 years. And therein lies at least 1 part of the sales epoxy: the ability to ‘see’ the opportunity others miss.

These sales masters clearly don’t “need” a new product, only a new way to package or angle the product, re-aim it to a different audience, remove the mystery of its use, while maintaining the mystery of its miracle (very important). And the second part was the Mays’ epoxy – we’ll call it the hardener – is the beauty of the pitch.

There are 5 parts to a well-crafted pitch, as old as PT Barnum, as cutting-edge effective as the iPod, and as copyable as a slow dance. Here they are –

“The 5 Step Pitch of SuperStar Salespeople”

Anyone who says, “A pitch is a pitch,” may as well be talking about baseball, because neither is true. There is art, craft, timing, skill, indelibly linked to a single emotion of persuasion. If you’ll watch the infomercials closely, you’ll see they all start at the same place, which is precisely where you should start…

1. The problem. Be it weight loss, wrinkles, an overcrowded purse, no time to go to the gym, acne, flabby abs, halving meal time preparations, or by golly needing that darn hose reel to stay stuck on a brick wall, the “problem” is framed harshly.

No one cares about solving a minor problem, so the “old” method of trimming the dog’s toenails (which seemed fine only moments ago) will now cripple him and get you turned into the SPCA. Those “old” pants you used to fit in would be great if you didn’t have a rear end the size of Missouri. And that wrinkle on your forehead that TO YOU seemed small is actually making strangers on the street call hospice for you or have you carbon dated.

There’s no time in direct response for minimizing the issue, and actually there is no point. You either agree or you don’t, and are welcome to change the channel, unless of course…

2. The Proof convinces you. Whatever you “thought” or “suspected” is now confirmed. A dude in a lab coat with an unpronounceable last name tells you so. The Swedish Sleep Institute has confirmed it, NASA took that crap into outerspace, the 4 half-drunk neighbors think YOUR Magic Bullet Margaritas are the best, and Tony Horton – whose biceps actually won the Kentucky Derby – swears you’ll be able to bench press a building by Friday if you’ll just watch the DVD.

Billy Mays showed Magic Putty pull a Naval Carrier; Oxy Clean turned a vat of red dye clear; he erased stains, greened lawns, and uprooted weeds right before our eyes. What other proof does a person need?

Aside from my playfulness here (done to dramatize their universal existence) the preponderance of proof is what takes you from mental query to mental acceptance. This is the exact step they want you to be at, and as your mind enters this “what if” stage, out comes…

3. The Probe. These are deeper questions that ask your subconscious for a “yes”. Once asked for and gotten, you’re just millimeters from whipping out your Visa, but not yet. You must now ask yourself, “Could it be that I’ve gotten that out-of-shape?” or “Wouldn’t it be fun to scrapbook?” or “Can I get my vitality back?” and “Why do I pay the exterminator when that plug-in thingy will electrocute any bug that even considers coming to my house?” The probe appears to be an impartial judge, merely an internalizing of a fair question. This is the same thing you’d do presenting your prospects with your contracting offer.

“Why put up with that leak any longer? Why not be comfortable in your own home? Shouldn’t you lower your energy bill?” Get your prospects to probe and make their subconscious seek you as a solution. This bring us to…

4. The Presentation. Ta-da, here’s the solution. You asked, and here’s the answer that supports your very own conclusion! “I am sick of my partner wanting a ‘too firm’ mattress, so check it out – a SLEEP NUMBER BED!” Or “Man, I do need exercise, but don’t like the confines of the gym, so that Tryke thing is for me!” And “Yes, I hate hours of back-breaking labor or paying a detailer hundreds of dollars, so the ‘Miracle Wax’ is the answer!”

Each presentation is indeed the rabbit-out-of-the-hat syndrome. Your contracting offer must ‘answer’ or ‘solve’ the initial problem you handed your customer. I don’t care WHO handed it first, your job is to make it stink to the rooftops (at least) and present your solution as the fragrance from on-high.

This step also contains the price and the negating thereof, known as the guarantee. There must be an offsetting acceptance where the gain far outdistances the pain (price) and IF that is just hype, there’s always the fall-back (guarantee).

Your presentation is not separate from the price; price is a merely a trivialized component. The dollar amount is ONE element within a well-crafted presentation, minimized to nothingness. “Sure, you COULD throw all these hopelessly stained clothes away, or eliminate the stains and save hundreds!” Or “A private fitness coach is $200, $300, $400… but you get 28 sessions of P90X, each like a one-on-one private lesson, for just $90.”

The dollar amount is then dropped again in one of several ways. Payments are extended. The amount of product is doubled at the last second. The last payment may be dropped entirely. In any of these, the lingering pain of payment is dropped to a non-issue. But if a molecule of hesitancy remains…

The guarantee saves them. It is the safety net of perceived risk. The bolder the better. “We guarantee you’ll save 25% on this 16SEER system, or we’ll write you a check for the difference.” “We guarantee this water heater will be the last one you ever buy for this house, or we’ll give you a new one, all you pay for is minimal labor.”

Billy Mays’ presentation helped turn Oxy-Clean into a $300,000,000 soap. How? It was safer, faster, worked better, less harm to your clothes, less toxic than the competitive (bleach), worked ‘naturally’ (a great distrust over the unnatural in case you wondered), was cheaper (more loads due to concentration), and who could argue with what they saw?

Once you’re nodding, or salivating, the final frontier is upon us.

5. The Push. Also called the “Call to Action”. In this, a sense of urgency pervades. “Operators are standing by for your call, but you must order in the next 7 minutes to get all the bonuses mentioned.” I don’t need to elaborate here, we all know them, and they do work.

In contracting, you don’t use these enough. Inventories run low, and people HATE to wait, so why not use it? Price increases do happen, but few contractors use that as an incentive to act. Crews get busier in the summer, so a return to normal NON discounted pricing is expected. The Tax Credit rebate ends in 2010, but who knows when they could pull this program? We can schedule you in for Tuesday, but if you wait, it could be another 10 days. All of these are legitimate “pushes” to help make the decision, and to make it faster.

In fact, using the 5-step pitch can radically change your business. Too many contractors focus on “product” which you’ll notice was NOT one of the “P’s” covered. Why? Because no one wants a drill… we just want the hole. Focus on solving the problem, with convincing proof, and a credible presentation filled with price and pain minimizers. Then gently push toward the acceptance.

Billy Mays showed that sincerity coupled with a gift toward the dramatic, we all wanted cleaner clothes, better lawns, sharper knives, and better glue. And we’d buy any of it from someone we trust.

So relaying that homeowners want safer, more efficient, cleaner, and more comfortable homes shouldn’t be too hard. But wait! There’s more! Because since they trust you to help them make good decisions, it should make both of your lives easier.

Questions for you:

What problems do I solve for homeowners?
What 3rd part proof do I share with them to support the solution?
What probing questions do I WANT them to ask themselves?
Is my presentation convincing? What are the steps I take to convince. (If you answered ‘none’, you’re NOT convincing, you’re hoping.)
How to I incentivise action? How do I follow up to help?

Why I Hate Twitter

I could almost just generalize with “Social Media” in the above headline, but it sounds more violent and unruly to hate something with a cartoon name. I mean, it’s like “I’d Like to Scrub the Toilet Bowl with Sponge Bob”; who wouldn’t read that? (Power in a headline.)

Anyway, “Twitter” and other social media sites are indeed the rage. Facebook, with a mere 200 million users, is hardly a kiddies’ playground anymore. LinkedIn (sort of like Facebook for business) is “the” social hangout for commercial connections. With myriad other discussion groups, subgroups, and topical hotspots for micro-niching, how’s a marketer to make it anymore?

Heck, we got kicked off of two social sites in 40 minutes because my 20-something year old intern failed to read the rules. He posted a mildly promotional link (“mildly promotional” to a marketer is like “moderately costly” to a Government Official) on both, we got an “instant death” email, and that was that. Oops. Been kicked out of better places.

But we continued down the Social Media paths as an experiment, attempting to see why it was so crowded, being reminded of Yogi Berra’s famous quote: “It’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.” As it turns out, he was more prophetic than imagined.

Before you get your twit in a wad, or unlink me from the scintillating post that “you’re going to breakfast soon”, please put on the marketing glasses for a second. My first and main interest is the “who”. It is the defining, crowning, all-valuable “who” that dictates the message and its hopeful response.

If a market’s sole value is sheer numbers, then there’d best be a unifying language, problem, villain, or passionate cause in their psyche or the marketing is for naught. Have fun with that “branding” campaign; just don’t ask me to pay for it. Thus, my “who” needs definition. The reason I also hate card decks (Money Mailer et al) for contractors is the same: big, broad, ill-defined numbers.

By all accounts, staying “active” long enough to define your Social Media groups is time consuming. (I’m bracing for the email response now “IT IS NOT! MY BOSS WOULD BE MAD IF I SPENT MORE THAN 7 HOURS A DAY DOING IT!”) Some experts claim just “30 minutes a day” but I ain’t buying it.

Any interruption in our ADD prone world takes 10 minutes to refocus, so if you’re tweeting your little pecker off (bird analogy) at each twit, that’s a lot more than any 30 minutes. And going “silent” in this group is not endearing. Plus, given the parameters of the group, “marketing” to them is not nice or socially acceptable. Seems a three-time loser in productivity.

Yet, in a nearly redemptive statement that all marketers do not have leprosy, FaceBook has just announced sweeping changes to their advertising rules. They may now realize that ad revenues actually support media. (Just ask XM and Sirius.) We’ve got an experiment going there too; I’ll let you know.

In Twitter, you get 140 characters per Tweet. (Every time I talk like this, I imagine myself wearing huge orange shoes, scanning for Sylvester the Cat.) This is scarcely what we’d call “long copy”, and without a TweetDeck (organizational tool) you’ll be mind-numbingly insane before you establish enough of a relationship to even mention what you do for a living. Snidely, you may be in the minority there anyway.

So, back to the numbers. The hours spent, the nose-time invested, the “ad aversion” mentality, message brevity, and response reaction time all lead me to conclude this is a currently sorry place for B2B. For the time/productivity wasted, you could buy a radio station and get your following that way.

Twitter has its place – obviously - but do NOT consider it as anything other than a tangential media. It is really NOT for business any more than hanging out at the bar or golf course is designed for business. That may come as a long-term, profitable way to rationalize the time spent, just don’t mistake the mission.

So, let the crowds check it out; let the Today Show feature it; and let the marketing gurus laud it (and be sure to watch for their “how to” packages, kits, training on “mastering it” at an e-commerce site near you soon!) You’re advised to spend your time more productively.

Next time, FaceBook and LinkedIn.

Until Then, Here are some thoughts on how (or if) you should consider Social Media...

1. Common sense first. Do your target buyers use social media? If so, READ THE RULES and register. Follow the lead of those claiming success. Basically, understand the WHO.
2. How big is your database? If of the above group, ask them to sign up for your Facebook page or follow your Tweets. See how many do so.
3. If your database is under 500, is building the list on social media the way to go? Similar to #1 above, you must know who they are and if they are online.
4. Once you’re POSITIVE social media is right for you: start a Facebook and Twitter account. Stay focused on your profession, not what an idiot your Congressman is, or how Dale Jr keeps getting the shaft this year. Let people know you by your profession, and put SOME personal things in there, but never damaging or unnecessary polarizing.
5. If it gets active, get a Tweetdeck. Far easier than the Twitter tool. In a shocking display of efficiency, Tweetdeck helps organize your posts, replies, and followers.
6. Provide quality content. Just like the golf course scenario, it helps to ‘give’ advice before expecting someone to pay you for it. You can discuss technologies, ‘green-ness’, point to articles (hopefully ones you’ve written), other sites, books, more. you need to be a “Helpful authority.”
7. Get Promotional and Get Gone. This is why you do #6 instead. If it becomes the “you show”, then you can get banned, deleted, cancelled and otherwise “offed”.
8. There are some benefits to consider:
   a. Fast feedback. (Quantity and quality of your responses is a great measure of your success.)
   b. Good posts get spread virally. Clever, informative posts get shared on other networks, creating more links and exposure.
   c. Cross –promotion. You can put other sites, blogs, of yours on Twitter, Facebook, linking them back and forth. (Of course, once on your site, you can promote.)

Let us know your THOUGHTFUL thoughts, reactions, responses, or suggestions by sending an email to TwitThis@HudsonInk.com. Some selected comments may make it to our editorial or blog. Thanks!

There's Goodness In The Badness

Housing starts are up. (What? Someone in this country is being paid to build an actual house? Someone tell CNN!) Pending home sales up 2.1% from February to March. Unemployment slide slower than expected. Retail sales better than both 3rd and 4th quarter projection. Consumer confidence – perhaps the most important of the indices – plateaued in March from a 6 month freefall.

Sure, you’re used to me doing April Fool’s jokes, but this time I’m leaving that predictable hilarity to others. (“Contrarian” being my continued advice to you.) This is good news for real, though the perceptions remain “bad”.

People are paralyzed, polarized, or both by “bad” news (it also sells media, opinions, and short-term dependency.) Yet people are magnetically attracted to good news, and right now, “good news” is the attractive contrarian approach more than ever.

You can change one perception into the other, because as an entrepreneur, you’re in charge of both.

In other good news, the Hudson family returned with all the ligaments we had before our ski trip. (click to read last editorial if you missed it.) If the ski vacation business mirrors America even slightly, then more people are staying home (important to note contractors), saving more, and being more sensible. This is certainly not a bad outcome, even though skiing vendors say post-boom business is off 30%. Considering the escalated prices paid for dinners, they’re making more money off of less food. Complaints were few, because regulars told me they enjoyed their trip more due to less crowding. Take two marketing notes there.

Yet the whole buying public seems to be in a holding pattern of collective schizophrenia: “Capitalism is good; gluttony is bad.”

A fine line of perception divides them. Hard to spend your way out of a recession when – to a large degree – the inability to save enough for a “proper” down payment triggered it. (Feel free to disagree openly in your comments; I’m not running for office.) Regardless, most buyers aren’t inclined to plunk down for the unnecessary when they might need supplies during the apocalypse. “Showy overbuying” is definitely out. Makes you feel good to be a supplier of required services doesn’t it?

So, what perception isn’t selling now? Okay, cars, namely American ones. The perception is that this is due to a “quality” issue. Sure, the US Auto Industry has its woes, but quantifiable quality is not among them. To wit: since its inception in 1990, Lexus has won the world-acclaimed “JD Power Customer Satisfaction Index” (the top “Oscar” of automobiledom). Until this year. It was won by the very American Buick. The most “unreliable” car on the list? Suzuki, which last time I checked was Japanese.

However, the perception (important word for salespeople and marketers) among the public is that the average unreliable Buick is driven by a 112 year old female who needs a periscope to see above the steering wheel. Sorry if that’s NOT you, but that IS the perception. (I owned a turbocharged Buick Grand National, loved it, but every time I drove it I had the irresistible urge to shop for dentures.) Likewise, we think, “If Japanese, then reliable.”

Both are factually incorrect; perceptionally intact.

So, perceptions are running the asylum, and you and I are inmates.

What perceptions are in the market now? The general perception is that contracting is down (as an industry). Yet the #1 reason our clients miss a paid coaching call: “We’ve been too busy.” They’re having record months, amassing customers from quieted competitors because services are in high - and potentially increasing - demand.

That’s one perception you can drive a stake in. Good riddance. I’ve written so often about not becoming a silent statistic to your customer base that I’ve chosen to only give the shorthand list here –

1) Thank you cards 2) Scripted Thank you calls 3) Scripted Follow up surveys/referral generators 4) Newsletters 5) Maintenance Agreement bumps 6) Radius Mailings 7) Google and YOUR own website “Rankings” (no one is taking this seriously enough; thus a leadership role awaits you)

Then there’s the public perception (not your customers) that contractors are messy, unprofessional, and on the edge of trustability. Whatever, I don’t make the opinions. Your job is to obliterate that perception about you.

As an entrepreneur, you’re the Chief Perception Officer out there. For the last several months, we’ve urged clients to resist the dour attitude, find the good news, focus upon finding more. Become the “anti-contractor” image. He’s quiet; you’re loud. He’s amateur; you’re professional. He forgets his customers; you tattoo your logo into their frontal cortex. His ‘fleet’ looks like extras from a crash film; yours like a showroom. And on it goes.

So if the “norm” is to gripe and become a long-term repellant, then the “contrarian” becomes a relevant long-term attractant. You’re an entrepreneur, this is what you do.

In his February 24th State of the Union Address, Barack Obama publicly declared that “The future of our economy relies on the imagination of our Entrepreneurs.” Regardless of your political convictions, those 12 words are about business, and the perception of your role in it. Curl up with the complainers or gather gold with the gainers.

Benjamin Franklin – our nation’s first millionaire by the way – persevered through adversity, always seeking the “good in the bad”. He said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain… and most fools do.” He followed that up with, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”

Get moving.

Some Much-Kneeded Time Off

My left knee hates me. We go back a long way together, and I thought we were past that little “episode”. Apparently not.

My family is taking a ski trip for Spring Break. (The word “break” already having a dual meaning.) I had resisted such a trip, since a time when both knees loved me equally and I went to Colorado with two college friends. We were 25 and stupid, which may be redundant.

They told me it’d be fun to drive cross country, which the way we figured, was just under 7,000 miles. And they insisted it’d be fun to ski, “ESPECIALLY if I’d never done it”. The logic in this – and I use that term loosely – is that basically anything, such as sticking a hot needle in your armpit would be fun, ESPECIALLY if you’ve never done it. I oddly never questioned it, nor readied my body for the trip.

I was in “reasonable” shape and took care of myself. As a bachelor, this means Cheet-O’s are one of the major food groups, along with coffee and Slim Jims. I was limber enough to touch my toes, provided my toes were 18 inches long, so I had that going for me. And I could watch someone on TV work out for hours without even breaking a sweat. With this rigorous training, we headed to Colorado.

After a month of solid driving, we arrived. The first day we went to “Hit the slopes” (ski lingo for “accelerate down a mountain with no provision for brakes”) but wisely decided to get our skis first.

The guy who rented me skis and poles (also known as the “Weed Technician”) must’ve instinctively assessed my powerful a) experience level b) physical prowess and c) fear of ramming a pine tree, because he skipped all those dumb “aptitude” questions and merely asked, “MasterCard or Visa?”

Soon after, all three of us, dressed and looking like overserved Michelin Men waddled off, chafing madly toward the ski lift. If you’ve never skied, the ski lift is basically a proctologist on a conveyer belt.

Everybody else knew how to “ride” it gracefully to the top of – I think it was Mount Vesuvius – while sipping bubbly and chatting about moguls. We however, all peered nervously over our shoulders braced for a highly personal trip up Witch Mountain. Soon as realize your skis dangling far above the earths’ atmosphere, you must “dismount”.

Again, the bubbly-sippers eased out, shooshing gaily away. There’s not really an “Exit” sign per se. You’re suddenly aware, “Hey, this stupid thing is turning around, and I’ll be the only doofus in all of Mountain Time Zone riding it BACK downhill if I don’t jump out NNNNOOWWWW!” and you do. Two of us busted it, while the third looked like the Tin Man in a windstorm.

So, we stood atop Mount McKinley, peering down. One by one, we descended. Except I called a cab. Not really, but just before I went, I had an “epiphany” (where you realize how stupid you were a moment ago): Once high atop the mountain air, I understood why people would trudge 7 or 8 miles vertically up a frozen mountain, then strap long, thin strips of metal coated in Z-Max to their feet and let gravity, ice and a rather large rock do whatever it wanted to you for several terrifying, defenseless minutes. Makes perfect sense. So I did it…more than once, sort of.

My second trip down Mount Saint Helens was even more exhilarating. I exited the proctologist with ease, and not wanting to look like a “newcomer” (since I HAD been down once) I turned left instead of right. Soon I saw a different sign. “Golly, a Black Diamond Slope. That must be the pet name of this fun hill” I thought, much in same way a slaughter-house pig says, “Hey, let’s follow Larry into that fun barn!”

For those not in the know, a “Black Diamond” is technically not a slope since it has “0” angle. It’s a gigantic, ice-encrusted fireman’s pole that’s several miles tall. The easiest – and perhaps only - way down it is by helicopter. My “weed technician” failed to mention this option.

I did however see others heading down it, in an ever-speedier parade of death. I joined them, since my brake pads must’ve fallen off. As I picked up speed, I noticed various 12- year-olds, smiling and shooshing their overly-agile selves, not even realizing the horrific fate ahead. Once I hit the speed of sound, my only option was to jump the children or forever impale them in sort a ‘kid kabob.’ This would’ve been very difficult to explain to horrified parents at the bottom of Mount Rainier.

Yet, I needed ballast, and I needed it now.

So in an act of heroics, I took an intentional fall at roughly 700 mph. This caused whatever held my left knee together to go shooting over the next mountain and land in Montana. I never looked for it, but I’ll bet it caused a stir in some quaint shopping village. Once I came to a halt, I felt lucky I didn’t burst into flames re-entering the atmosphere. Plus, though most of my clothes and ski garb were scattered over the mountain, my left ski was still firmly in place! You sure don’t want that baby coming off when you’re doing a nuclear pirouette!

To be honest, it hurt. And I’ll never ever forget it. Pain does that.

You’ve got two ligaments per knee (or should) called the interior and anterior “cruciate” ligaments. From this, we get the word “excruciating”, so they were well-named. I’ve had a great recovery, actually enjoying stretching exercises ever since.

Yet as soon as we began “thinking” about going skiing, my left knee started tugging at forever-shortened cruciates, saying “Remember Mount Everest?” That’s all I needed to hear. Plus, something’s wrong if you keep up a conversation with your knee.

Plus, it reminded me that the world’s best marketing message is “Absence of pain.” Pain, and the avoidance thereof, has a long memory.

We’re going to Park City, Utah. My athletic kids and my dear healthy wife will have a great time skiing. I will be an easy sale of anything my knee wants. I plan to enjoy a few hours of marketing study on my iPod, a book, a few car magazines and may even take a day trip to a quaint Montana village, just to um, look around.

Have fun in your business.

http://www.hudsonink.com/

Numbers, Members, Reminders, Blinders

This was not a shy group. Nor a depressed one, unlike the relatively pervasive mood out there. Their questions were top-drawer stuff, seeking the “next thing” in this now-changed economy. Plus, I’m always appreciative when people don’t throw blunt objects at the seminar leader. In a dark room, there’s so little time to respond.

Having just returned from the ACCA National Conference, I’m glad to report they had record attendance. I don’t mean “if you count everyone twice” or any other statistical hogwash, I mean “biggest ever”. This, the result of a few things, nearly all marketing based:

1. Relentless retention efforts. Members of the “old” way were contacted infrequently, and then generally about something thrilling like IRS codes. Current members get weekly, snappy communiqués, membership benefits are regularly restated (take note if you have an Agreement program) member-discounts are liberally announced. Likewise the “disconnect” fee should you rescind membership is painfully stated, as it should be.

2. “New and Improved” is powerful for a reason. The “old” events were primarily aimed at the deceased (and I’m being kind) with hushed changes – if any – as not to cause any stir. The “new” event formats are jiggered, adjusted, yanked, stretched to the point of mild confusion. The question for you and your company “What’s new?” had better have an answer.

3. Relevance. Upgrades and updates are a regular subject in their newsletter, magazine, ezine, and platform announcements. (Note how many ways they communicate with members.) Mainly, ACCA “gets their point across” to members that they’re not just “behind” members, but “ahead” of them too. This helps breed a dependent community (vital for membership, as it is for “customer-ship”) that appreciates the service. You want to become irrelevant? Quit telling your customers what you do for them, what you’ve learned, how you’ve changed.

4. Education. ACCA offers their annual Conference but now has ComfortU (acclaimed topical monthly webinars.) Two smart moves here. Instead of just telling members they should “get smarter” ACCA actually offers, organizes, schedules and wisely charges for it. Likewise, it gives them another way to communicate directly, reinforce value, enhance membership experience. Even if you NEVER took advantage, you couldn’t blame them for educational deficiency. With your customers, this is done by any form of regular communication (newsletter) where you marvel at how different your company is from just 5 years ago: diagnostic gizmos, GPS, billing, training, hiring standards, etc. If you just invest in this stuff and don’t tell your customers, how in the world are they to value it over Lonny the Half-Wit and his #2 pencil? Too many contractors invest in “customer enhancements” and fail to tell the customer.

All these things have been done front and center, for all to witness over the past 5 years, and the transformation has been remarkable. Attendance and membership continues to climb while loyalty (retention) to the mission deepens, as well it should. Of course, I focus primarily on the marketing initiative behind the incredible content, value, and leadership, but that’s my job. It is applicable to all contractors, all those who’s “service” can occasionally be hidden behind what a customer might deem a dull exterior. In a crowded market, trying to cut through the clutter is tough enough. Now, in a fairly dismal mental state, getting noticed is even tougher. Attempting to do this through frightened silence, impossible.

Please note, that a common theme in their message has been “regular reminders of value”. You’d be wise to emulate. Yet be prepared for the negative “advice” you’ll get...

When other membership groups decided to “save money” and go with cheap, very deletable, very forgettable email only, ACCA improved their magazine. When others talked of the dismal 2008 event attendance and how this year would be worse, ACCA put on the blinders (if not the earmuffs too) and marketed earlier, harder, smarter, actually adding targeted events to the schedule. (Four marketing lessons in this paragraph. Click here if you caught them all – a prize awaits.)

In many ways, ACCA had a harder challenge with contractor members than you have with your customers. (“Optional vs. Required” comes to mind.) Make your presence known to customers; rattle your competitor’s cages; push while others pull back. It’s a changed market out there. The thinking that forced many contractors to the brink of insolvency is not the same thinking that’ll keep you from it.

How to Make A Recession

You’d think there was no business shortage. You’d think it was business-as-usual. Maybe we all dreamt up this “recession” thing, because these people can’t be having one.

3 Examples of the Apparently Fake Recession

#1: I needed tires for a weird old car. One tire was badly worn, the other three “passable” but too old to try and match. I told my wife it was for safety reasons. (This is how car guys justify most purchases, including paint jobs.) I called a tire place I’d dealt with a few times before.

When I called, I asked tire dude if he was looking at my account. “I don’t need that now” he says, “I’m out in the shop; can you call me back in an hour or so?” This is a pet peeve of mine, shared among the customer public: We called YOU already. So now we’re supposed to set a reminder to call and ‘guess’ when you might be available? The other problem was I felt like an unknown; no history nor regard for any prior relationship (marketing lesson). I never called back.

Called the competition, was treated fairly, paid slightly more (most customers value service and reliability above price anyway) and have my tires. I guess the other company, where I’d bought 16 tires previously figures I’ll “remember” to call them one day. More likely, I’ll remember not to.

#2: Our church needed banners to display in the very Gothic sanctuary and being a formal “traditional” church, the ones from Kinko’s wouldn’t do. (Picky picky.) They wanted tapestries and it was my job to find them. Fortunately, with digital printing technology, this can be done without employing Turkish women from the 11th Century. If you’ll do a Google Search – and gosh why wouldn’t you (marketing lesson) – you’ll see roughly half of America is in the church banner business.

In this apparently competitive field, I chose 4 companies, and completed the dreaded “contact field info” for my query (marketing lesson in the word “dreaded”). I filled out all the little boxes and emailed them saying basically that “We want to purchase 4-8 tapestries, with custom designs, and were excited to speak with them about this project.” I don’t know about you, but some might call that a “buying signal.”

I guess the tapestry business is booming. I guess those looms are humming ‘round the clock, because exactly ONE company called me back. I couldn’t even compare services. I won’t say she did a great sales job, but she did comply with Woody Allen’s mantra: “Half of life is just showing up.” She showed up, got the business.

I guess the others are weaving their own little tangled webs about why business is off.

#3: We painted our house 3 summers ago. Had some mildew attacking the sun room windows. (This is Alabama; if you don’t keep moving, you’ll mildew. We cleverly use Tilex as a Body Spritz.) I called the original painter, who collected $21,000 for the work 3 years ago, that I’ve not heard from since but referred one job to, nearly immediately afterward. (Actually 2 lessons in that sentence.)

I wonder if he’d stayed in touch, acknowledged the referral, or had a referral ‘system’ if he’d have gotten the apartment building job down the street, my small warehouse downtown, or gotten introduced to the ever-popular interior designer next door? Just a thought. Anyway...

He gave me some home-made chemistry lesson on how/why the mildew attacked my fairly new paint (though it didn’t happen with my old paint, go figure) but said he could pressure wash, etcetera, and use some new/different/better paint to correct. All on my tab. I wasn’t enthused, but agreed. (Painters: have you ever considered a maintenance agreement? I’d have one if it existed.)

He did that job, and just for being here, (proximity and recall, very important in future sales) my wife ‘remembered’ two other small jobs inside, that he also did for a fee.

I made the mistake of asking him how business was. Told me that times were hard; no one is doing anything, he has laid off 4 painters, may be selling his other truck and calling it quits if things don’t pick up this spring. (My knee-jerk reaction: Does the calendar tell you what to do? Farmers rely on seasons too, but THEY PLANT SEEDS to get results.)

While he was inside, he never noticed that our stairwell looks like it’s been sandblasted (I have two teenagers) and that our baseboards may have Chicken Pox (teething puppy). Never asked us if we were even considering getting this done, or any new work to our house, even though the aforementioned Interior Designer has been nearly camped out here helping us with a Kitchen remodel. (Lived here 12 years, it’s about time.) He was blind to the opportunity less than 6 feet from where he was standing.

I mentioned, “What if you mailed all your former customers in this area, told them about your ‘House Wash and Touch Up’ Service that could make their house look like it had been repainted, but for a fraction? Told me no one would do it, even though I just had.

I mentioned, “What if you agreed to give a free ‘Painting Check Up’ – inside and out – to gain audience with customers and find other jobs they’d neglected?” He said, “Too much trouble for the work, probably no one would do it.” We just did that too, and he was holding a check as evidence. Sigh.

With that, I knew he’d been beaten. Had nothing to do with his skill or availability, but everything to do with a self-created limitation. His attitude pummeled his aptitude, limiting his altitude in the process.

Sure, there may be ‘victims’ of the recession, yet some hoping not be left out, become partners as well. Here’s to the victors.

Marketing Research You Can Copy Now!

“Talk to your doctor about Cialis,” said the overly friendly voice at the end of the Super Bowl commercial. Just then, there were some less friendly warnings that I think said, “Stop taking Cialis if you experience cramping, or if your liver starts kicking your duodenum, or if an image of the King of Clubs appears on your forehead.”

All prescription commercials seem to follow the same, apparently lucrative even if warning- filled format. Yet, they likely figure, “Since 80% of our prospects will be ‘turned off’ by the little, tiny, insignificantly debilitating side effects, let’s mark up our price to 812 times what it costs us to make it.” Then all the 3-eyed board members laugh manically and go to lunch at the nuclear power plant.

Yet – legally required warnings aside – the pharmaceuticals have several zillion dollars (each, rounded up) to spend on research including demographics/psychographics and the most likely hour we’ll arise in the middle of the night to deal with that little “going and going” problem.

You’re not seeing ED drug ads during the Tyra Banks show but you are seeing Anti-depressants during the Nightly News. You are seeing ED drugs more before Valentine’s Day, but less allergy medicines after allergy season wanes. Not exactly coincidental, and the results are staggeringly profitable.

You think predicting a plumbing problem is difficult? You think aiming your furnace message to the right crowd is tough? Try combing through 2 billion people who all claim individuality, and would like to keep their medical problems to themselves.

Four marketing lessons emerge from these gargantuan models, worthy of emulation. If, in a downward-spiraling economy, you’d prefer to copy than to re-invent with your own wallet, I offer.…

$660,000,000 of Marketing Research You Can Copy Now (This sample will ONLY be open to the public for 24 hours; thereafter only for Coaching Members.)

1. Direction or Call-to-Action – Drug companies always give specific “call to”, “ask” “get a free DVD” advice. Tell your prospect what you want them to do. Especially in a downward economy, leaving them to “guess” is a bad idea, a waste of your ad space, time, and money. This has been my advice for 8 years in a row; significantly more important now. No guessing allowed.

2. Damaging Admission – Drug companies are law-bound to mention anything that occurs in a certain percentage of cases, laughably-frightening or not. Yet in marketing – and here’s the lesson - there is an “automatic filter” that we all employ when an offer sounds too good, too perfect, the be-all, end-all of our misery. Thus, a “damaging admission” is a honesty-inducer, effectively opening the filter toward credibility. Such as - -

“We have the most popular colors and the biggest selection in town!” is ‘typical’ ad schlock, filter set to “high”. Then read, “We have virtually all colors, but navy blue sells out the fastest.” This one is far more specific, interesting, urgent, and allows the customer to ‘accept’ other statements more readily. The trick is to make your “admission” positive.

What is worthy of admitting? What % of calls are handled same day; how often are you late; what’s your customer retention rate; what’s the warranty claim rate. Any of those ‘exacting’ numbers are more believable, turning, “We have the #1 Best Service Department in Town!!!!” (Unqualified, highest “filter” rating, common) into “Voted #1 in with a 96.6% Excellent Rating!” (Specific, limited, credible.)

3. Targeting – This is actually the most important one, but put here on purpose. The “who” you want to attract must match the audience for the media. This is why you won’t see Viagra ads on the Tyra Banks show, but you DO see anti-depressants during the Nightly News. Not coincidence. What is your targeted audience watching, reading, listening to?

The best target – by far – is your current customer base. Immediately after is a shocker: former customers. Then referrals, then those “like” your customers, then those in proximity to customers. This is the most efficient method of contact, with the highest “probability” of sale, now more important than ever. Leaving your customer base “to chance” financially suicidal. Your competitors will gladly invite them to dinner, serving you as the main course.

4. Benefits over price – In a weakened economy, “cutting prices” up front is common, but often interpreted as “desperate, quivering, weak” negating any real gain. They don’t know how much a furnace tune up should cost; discounting up-front is pointless.

Make sure your price cuts are positioned powerfully after benefits are spelled out. The drug ads speak initially of “improvement, health, increased energy, no soreness” and other benefits, then offer a free 1 month Trial, making it irresistible.

Offering a free energy survey, plumbing ‘freeze free’ inspection, 4 outlets for the price of 3 had better come after value points made. Also, better to “bundle” services as a discount once in the home, such as, “I’ve invoiced you for the water heater today, but since you’ve already paid for the trip charge, we’re reaching out to customers who’d rather not pay it again on a small repair. So, with your permission I’d be glad to take care of any other smaller repairs while I’m here, or could I ask you a few questions about your plumbing and heating system?”

See, this way, you’re adding to the transaction size, getting closer to an agreement sale, locking in the customer, and filling up a tech’s time with billable hours, gaining valuable “future sales” information simultaneously. Not bad for 2 sentences.

LIMITED TIME CASE STUDY ACCESS: Problems on the website, and several other places too

Okay, now the LIMITED TIME ACCESS to a free rewrite, using most if not all the above. This was for a P&H company’s website, which was about stupid looking anyway. No one could find it either. (Not my specialty, so I sent them to www.markethardware.com)

The home page copy was rotten. But it was taken right out of their oversized, junked up Yellow Page ad. (A failure from the start, but they told me, “But we already had it!” as if that was a bonus. Like saying, “No need for Salmonella, I already have syphilis!”)

Then, if you DID call them, their CSR had NO CLUE how to “convert” a call into a sale, upsale, or an appointment for that matter. Very pleasant, but largely ineffective. (This wasn’t my specialty either, but we spent a year on this subject and found it is a profit sinkhole of epic proportions. Get this fixed. Call or email here for options.)

I was hired to do the copy rewrite, several pages, lots of good money invested. Here’s the OPENING paragraph only, rewritten using the lessons you’ve just read:

‘Typical’ Company A Opener: “Our Plumbing and Heating company is always available, 24/7, to serve the needs of our many customers. We’re #1 in the service area in quality and dependability. We know plumbing and heating. We have a great selection and best prices too! So, for ALL Your plumbing or heating needs, call on us today! XXX-XXXX.

Okay, even though I’m about to throw up after writing that schlog, which is painfully reminiscent of virtually every amateur with a braggy but low performing ad, here’s the rewrite...

‘Atypical’ Company B Opener: Your plumbing and heating system doesn’t always work perfectly. (Nothing in my house does!) But your call is welcome here – 24 hours a day – and routed to one of 5 stocked trucks, with a skilled tech that can solve your problem in ONE visit, 94% of the time! (We’re working on the other 6%!) Company B doesn’t waste your time hunting parts or guessing. Gives us a call at XXX-XXXX.

Be specific. Target your message. Give “admissions” to raise credibility. “Position” yourself powerfully, not negatively. And finally,

“Ask your marketing doctor about advertising. Should you experience pain or lack of customers in this recession, stop taking the advice of your whiny competitors and contact someone who’s actually solved the problem in real life, not just seen it on TV.”

NEXT UP ON THE CALENDAR:

Adams Hudson heads to the ACCA Conference and Expo in Fort Worth, February 23-26. Will they change the locks while he’s gone? Will anyone in his seminar learn the methods that put nearly 400 people in a Home Show booth or increased a post card’s results by 17 times?

MegaMarketer Coaching Call – next Wednesday, February 11 at 1:00 Central
TOPIC: Continuity Income and Maintenance Agreements.