Victors, Victims, and Volunteers

SAFETY TIP: Do not try to remove a 10-pound fire extinguisher from its bracket with your head. You really should just use your hands.

I was minding my own business, really. I’d leaned down in my garage to see if I – a mere mortal with a flawed sense of mechanical aptitude – could remove the front bumper cover off my needy car to get to the horns.

See, it had wimpy horns. And in the intelligence of the Dodge Viper assembly team who likely considers honking inferior to just lighting up the tires to escape harms’ way, they’d stuck the horns in a thoroughly unreachable area. I knelt all the way down to see the dinky little horns beside the radiator. Then I stand up abruptly.

Major ouch. At my height, I don’t bump my head very much, so I made up for several lost opportunities.

Two very loud ‘clonks’ rang through the building – the first being my head removing said fire extinguisher from the bracket, the second being the extinguisher hitting the floor, scattering tools about the cement floor.

I got to my feet and poured a bottle of water on my aching head, clearly needing stitches. I contemplated going to the emergency room, but images of waiting behind gunshot victims and those with various communicable diseases coughing in my general direction made me to reconsider. (Avoidance of additional pain, a sales lesson worth noting.)

So, with icepack on head, I watched Americans in Idle with my sweet wife and marginally concerned teenagers. The next day I went to the doctor who did his embroidery and sent me on my way. Got me to thinking.

Stuff happens. Quickly and without notice. There are ‘accidents’ so named because there’s no one to blame for their occurrence. I guess I could’ve gone ‘victim’ and sued the contractor who installed the fire extinguisher, the fire extinguisher company for not ‘softening’ the edges of said unit. Plaintiffs and the tapeworms posing as their attorneys have gotten paid for more preposterous things, I assure you.

In this economy, we’re hearing more about “victims” of its wrath. For the guy or lady who lost their jobs due to plummeting sales (which govern the economic machine, lest you forget) out of their control, “victim” could be apropos.

Or for those whose livelihoods have taken an epic-sized belt tightening due to skittish customers or the collectively paranoid lenders that used to keep the pipelines flowing, the “victim” word accepted. Yet for many hoping for a Victim card, might I suggest a different word…

Such as “Volunteer”. You make the call:

Case Study: A contractor who had been doing well in the go-go economy, was seeing his agreement renewal rate slip, his closing ratios tilt downward, and his margins erode to get the jobs. “This is the economy” he told us.

We suggested circling the wagons and protecting his customer base first, locking down renewals, beginning a low-cost referral campaign, then getting aggressive with Direct Response acquisition strategies for better-heeled, less price sensitive new customers.

In essence, he responded “Nonsense”, and promptly spent $60,000 on a radio campaign that was more about his ego and price-cutting than existing customers. Failure ensued.

During the past 12 months, he’d actually reduced his Customer Retention campaign to fund the “new” marketing. In time, his “old” customers heard the “new” offer, saw it as superior which generated two responses: a) Cut me the same deal or I’m gone and/or b) If that’s how you treat loyalty, I’m gone. Thus, his respondents became a mix of current customers seeking a concession and cheapskates.

Immediate margin erosion and accelerated customer exodus sent our contractor into a tailspin. Most profitable leads dried up. Ninety days later and half a staff later, he still has $15grand a month due in radio, his YP budget was never trimmed (suggested for 3 years, “couldn’t give up the priority placement” said his ego), many current customers and their agreements defected due to inequity and inattention. Some defectors commented on a blog site and reflected same in Google Rankings. Not good.

He admitted that he’s very likely a couple pay cycles from the “B” word if things don’t improve. Called his company a “victim” of the economy. Your assessment?

Send responses to editor@hudsonink.com. Hottest strategies for ‘Joining the Victors” next issue.

There are victors, victims, and volunteers. This economy is making their distinctions very clear. Joining the victors is mostly a choice to do so.

NOTE: A discussion of “Victor” strategies in lead generation will be covered in a one time webinar hosted by the NEWS on April 14. Called, “Phones Not Ringing? Top 7 Ways to Generate More Leads”. Very limited seating remains. More here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=198591&sessionid=1&key=5239ED983DFE7328DF1AA7EC49A026DB&partnerref=hudson&sourcepage=register