Archives for B2B

How Many Licks Does it Take?

May 15, 2012

Remember that old commercial for Tootsie Pop® when the boy asks, “Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a TootsiePop®?” Mr. Owl replies, “One, a two, a three…a three.” Funny that we still remember it now, thirty years later. Coincidence? I think not!

Ever thought about how many random things have to happen in order for you or your sales people to meet a new customer? It CAN be very few, but most often it takes “more than three” and timing can be everything.

I was at the Word of Mouth conference in Austin last week and had the privilege of being part of a conversation between a sales rep and his customer. The epiphany between the two was how serendipitous it was (they didn’t actually use that word) that they met over ten years ago. How several random conversations and common connections led to what is now a profitable and long-standing relationship for both parties. Don’t get me wrong! Several things had to occur along the way to nurture this long-term relationship. Excellent customer service, product availability, on-time deliveries, etc.

What’s ironic though are the random acts and coincidences that happen daily that we sometimes take for granted. Somebody moves from one state to another and had they not they might not have ever joined that LBM group and connected with Tom at Bastanchury Building Products and, therefore, wouldn’t have the amazing and profitable relationship they have today. If you hadn’t taken the time to send that handwritten note to John at Custom Manufacturing he wouldn’t have been able to introduce you to Steve, whose now your largest customer and was the best man at your wedding. 

You and your team work really hard to sell potential customers on your products and services, but maybe what you need to do is serve. A handwritten note, lunch for no reason, flowers to take home to their wife on their anniversary or just a shoulder to lean on during a tough time. A few random ways to serve that lead to those long-lasting relationships that build your business.

So, just how many “licks” does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a TootsiePop®? The world may never know….now, go out and create some serendipity by doing random things.

And make your presence felt!

P.S. Be sure you don’t miss a one golden nugget – subscribe to the Felt blog. 

Allison DeFord POSTED BY: Allison DeFord| Leave a comment

29¢ Water for $50 – An Offer Your Customers Can’t Refuse

May 8, 2012

Ice cold and irresistible!
Ever been in a situation where you’re dying of thirst and you’d pay just about any amount of money for an ice cold bottle of water? Seriously, you’re so thirsty and so far away from any kind of precipitation, you’d pay $50 for a 29 cent bottle of water.

A compelling offer is just like an ice cold bottle of water in the middle of the Mohave. Irresistible!

How do you make your offer this irresistible? In the building products industry, it doesn’t always feel that easy, does it?! You’ve got these amazing widgets to sell and you send your sales team out there to beat the streets, pound the pavement, drop in on customers and convince them why they need train loads of your stuff. Why are they still beating you up on price? Why don’t they understand how irresistible your quality products are?

Remember, first you need to sell what people WANT to buy. Then make sure you’re talking to the right people at the right time. You know that old saying, “right place, wrong time”…sometimes you have the right audience, but you’re talking to them at the wrong time. And, be still my heart, sometimes you’re not talking to them at all. This boils down to knowing what your audience is struggling with; knowing how to solve these challenges and knowing what they want to buy.

Then you take your product or service and craft it into a compelling pitch … an offer they can’t refuse. If the value is clear, the decision is easy.

Here’s an exercise from author, Chris Guillebeau, that will help you put together the offer your audience won’t be able to refuse.

Remember the Magic Formula:
The Right Audience + the Right Promise + the Right Time = 
Offer You Can’t Refuse

BASICS

  • What are you selling? _______
  • How much does it cost? _______
  • Who will take immediate action on this offer? ________

BENEFITS

  • The primary benefit is ________
  • An important secondary benefit is ________



OBJECTIONS



What are the main objections to the offer?

How will you counter these objections?

TIMELINESS

There’s Good News
The good news is that when you understand what your customers want and how they want to buy your job and that of your sales people gets so much easier. When an offer they can’t refuse comes along at just the right time the perceived value is much higher. Remember to think about value the way your customers do, not necessarily the way you would like them to.

As you follow your marketing blueprint, think carefully about how you can create a more compelling offer. Then take it out into the world! 

Here’s to making your presence felt and quenching that thirst.

Allison DeFord POSTED BY: Allison DeFord| 1 Comment

Social Media Is Not About You

February 3, 2012

It's not about you. 

There is a great deal of hesitation in the building products industry around whether or not to add social media to the marketing agenda. You all know by now that I am a firm believer that social media is here to stay and is a fantastic way to converse with and listen to your audience like never before.

There is also some confusion as to what social media is about. The simple answer, it’s not about you. It’s about your customers. I came across some enlightening dialogue this week from a blogger that I admire, @margieclayman. I think she sums it up nicely. (Thank you, Margie)

Enjoy! 

Social Media should not be about you.

It should not be about you getting a high Klout score.

It should not be about you getting perks.

Social Media should not be about you gaining ground as you tear others down.

It should not be about you calling out everyone (and their mothers and their fathers.).

It  should not be about you scraping money off of people who believe you can help them.

Social Media should not be about you building your case as to why you are the greatest human ever.

It should not be about you making a list.

It should not be about you bad-mouthing a list you didn’t make.

Social Media should not be about you and your ego.

It should not be about you finding a platform where  you can feed unadulterated BS to other people who may buy it.

It should not be about lying to see if you can get away with it.

Social Media should not be about you recreating definitions to better suit your purposes.

It should not be about you offering silver bullets.

It should not be about you maliciously spreading rumors that ruin peoples’ lives.

Social Media should not be about you. It should be about the people you help, the companies you grow, and what you are able to accomplish with this new and powerful tool.

So I’m interested to know, do you agree with this? What do you think Social Media is about?

Allison DeFord POSTED BY: Allison DeFord| 1 Comment

I Dare You to Stop!

November 29, 2011

 

In a recent strategy meeting with some of our favorite clients they got to do something they haven’t done in a long time. They stopped and took a breath! They created a 2012 mind map for their brand. With crayons. They had FUN. They took time to THINK. This was just one of their comments:

“I don’t remember the last time I just sat and thought about the business.”

Sound familiar? Yeah, I see your head nodding feverishly. It’s something, isn’t it?! You’re in a position to lead and develop people and instead you’re busy playing fire fighter every day. This is the ‘norm’, right?! It’s what you have to do to keep up. If you slowed down or STOPPED you’d never get everything done. Work would pile up. Fires would burn out of control. People would be let down. Consider this idea from leading author, speaker and coach, Steve Chandler.

“The best seminar I could ever really give would be to put the people in a room, give them a blank pad, have silence pumped in, and allow them to simply sit and jot ideas down about what they would like to create in future days, and how they might like to bring miracles about and why. That would be a wonderful, wonderful eight hours for them, unlike anything they had ever done in their lives ever before—a full day of silence. Just with their own thoughts, because so many inspired things bubble up. That’s why people say they get their best ideas on vacation, or they get their best ideas in the shower—it’s the only time they’re away from this frantic, addicted inner mental activity.”

I’ve personally been inspired by many of his books, but this year I had the distinct pleasure of spending an entire day with Steve. It was like the difference between reading about the Eiffel Tower and actually experiencing it in person. Steve talks alot about slowing down. STOPPING. THINKING. At first, it sounded crazy to me. I thought, stopping and thinking…how’s that going to help me get more done? Reach customers? Be more successful? Absurd, right?!

It actually works. Let’s get started.

1. CHOOSE A TIME —Yes, actually schedule time to think. You put everything else in your calendar—workouts, meetings, reviews, sales calls. So, schedule some time to THINK. The key is to start small. Carve a 15 minute window into your day. The ticket is to create the space. “If you build it they will come.” When you create the space and honor it by “showing up”, the ideas come.

2. PICK A SPOT —I have found that you have to plan ahead. Decide in advance where this sacred space will take place. Mine has happened everywhere from the center of my garage floor (not kidding), to the back yard, the beach or a local Starbucks. Consistency is good, but some people thrive on variety, so you experiment and decide what works for you.

3. SHOW UP —If you schedule a meeting with yourself, make sure you honor it and show up. Don’t brush it off because something else comes up. Treat it as a true sacred space. A premium chunk of YOU time. You deserve it. You need it. You’ll be better for it.

4. SHUT UP —This may be new for some of you, but I recommend you start with silence. No headphones. No iphone. No pals. Just you and your thoughts. You may be surprised what’s brewing up in that intelligent noggin of yours. Don’t be worried if nothing profound comes to you the first time. Or the thirty-first time. The point is just to be. To think. To stop.

It’s not essential, but having a journal handy or your favorite notebook and a pen at the ready isn’t a bad idea. I liken it to those nights you can’t sleep and churn up some amazing ideas, but forget to write them down. Then morning comes and you can’t remember one of those brilliant epiphanies.

I’ve accomplished more in the last year by slowing down then I ever thought possible. Giving myself permission and the space to stop and think. It’s a crazy notion, but one that yields amazing results. So, I dare you to stop! Try it for one week and let me know how it goes. (get all crazy and use some crayons)

Have fun!

“Success is a process of diverting one’s scattered forces into one powerful channel.” -James Allen

Allison DeFord POSTED BY: Allison DeFord| 2 Comments

Thinking of scrapping your catalog? Think again.

September 8, 2011

Do you actually know why you use a catalog to sell your products? It’s a visual representation of all of your products in one place, right?! It’s easy for sales people to distribute and for customers to order from. It’s your product playground.

That’s what Benjamin Franklin thought when he created the first catalog in 1744 to sell scientific and academic books. Another catalog pioneer you are familiar with (unless you are under 40) is Aaron Montgomery Ward, who produced his first catalogue for his Montgomery Ward mail order business in 1872. (Or, as it was affectionately known to many in Iowa, as “Monkey” Wards) His first catalogue was a single sheet of paper with a price list, 8 by 12 inches, showing the merchandise for sale and ordering instructions. Montgomery Ward identified a market of merchant-wary farmers in the Midwest. Within two decades, his single-page list of products grew into a 540-page illustrated book selling over 20,000 items. And I know you’re familiar with the ever-popular Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, established by Alfred Hammacher in New York City in 1848. Offering mechanic’s tools and builder’s hardware, its first catalogue was published in 1881.

Do you think any of these innovators could ever imagine that some day they could also sell all of their products online? Well, probably not, since that word wasn’t even invented yet. How they would marvel at this idea of selling off a computer. Would they abandon their printed “Wish” books and just offer their wares electronically? Wouldn’t that be cheaper?

With the growth of online “everything” some of you may be considering scrapping your printed catalog and putting it all online. Take a look at some fascinating statistics on print and catalogs, provided recently by our friends at the USPS:

“More than 12 billion catalogs were mailed in 2010.” (that’s billion with a b)

“55.6% of respondents found catalogs “useful”, while only 21.5% found catalogs “interesting”. (Useful, meaning worth using)

“52.4% of consumers read direct mail from merchants. More than 53% found merchant mail “useful” and nearly 17% responded to offers.”

These numbers are telling. People still read. Customers like a tangible catalog. They find them useful, not wasteful. The benefit now is that you can have it all. You can offer customers that meaty printed book they love and also offer even more information about those same products on your website. Databases allow you to manage, layer and tier this information like never before. In real time. You can be more succinct and brief in print and layer the more elaborate details online. The catalog helps drive traffic to your site and to direct sales. A creative catalog can inspire and motivate. It can inform and excite. The combination of print and online, for customers, is like having their cake and eating it too. They get your current product info and images all laid out in an easy-to-read book they keep at their desk, or under their pillow. They can also go to your site and search anything and everything for more in-depth information, images and even video. It’s like “Candyland” for them.

Scrap your catalog in favor of a line of oragami childrens toys? I don’t think so.

No way. Not now. And give up the 1-2 punch?! I know some of you have been doing the same book the same way for years. It feels comfortable. You don’t think you have the budget to consider changing it. How about saving some money? Ever thought of printing a smaller book and release it seasonally instead of once every year or two or even three? Think Hammacher Schlemmer. Highlight your most popular products and new products and send them to the website for the whole kit and kaboodle. The content is always fresh and more timely and you spend less on a smaller book. Your price book can be the “big kahuna” of detailed pricing and info, but the seasonal catalog becomes more of a show piece. Attention-getting. Inspirational. Vehicle that drives customers to the site, to make the call, to want more.

Believe me, if your competitors have scrapped their books or if they aren’t staying current this is the perfect time to gain the upper hand. Make your move. Offer customers something different. Instead of scrapping your catalog, consider a face-lift and a little lipo. (think Suzanne Sommers, not Joan Rivers) Make sure it works in tandem with your online and social marketing vehicles. Think of it as the 1-2-3 punch. Customers won’t know what hit ‘em, but it’ll sure feel good.

Have you scrapped your print catalog? Are you already moving full speed ahead with the 1-2-3? What’s your opinion? I’m all ears.

 

 

Allison DeFord POSTED BY: Allison DeFord| 1 Comment