Tuesday, December 30  

Giving enough information for the customer to make the decision

Like many people, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to get a bit fitter. One of the best tools in helping me achieve this is Heart Rate Monitor. (These things are fantastic - if you exercise to your appropriate heart rate you'll get fitter faster, and lose weight quicker.)

My old Polar Monitor had given up the ghost, so I went looking for a new one.

What influences the buying decision?

As with many high priced items (a Heart Rate Monitor will cost between $150 - 500 depending on what features you want), the propsect will gather together and review as much information as possible before committing to a purchase.

And although I knew how great the Polar Monitors are, I still wanted to make sure I was getting the right monitor with the right features.

* I checked out the Polar stand.
* And read a couple of brochures.
* And asked the Sales Assistant.

I didn't really get all the information I needed. And then I remembered that Polar have a great web site. So I zipped back to the office (a 5 minute drive), checked out the web site, got the answers and reassurance I needed before I was comfortable enough to buy.

Jumped back in the car, back to the store and purchased a monitor. Not a bad result for Polar considering their investment in the brochures, point of sale material and their web site. But the store could have made it a lot, lot easier to buy.

I'm sure a lot of people want some information that the usually part-time sales staff cannot provide. And a computer with access to the Internet would be the perfect sales assistant to provide that information, that assurance and that help.

Make it as easy as possible for your customer to buy from you. Give them every available tool so that they can get exactly what they want from you. Easy!

Have a good night.

Brendon

Jack Sinclair's guide to easy money

I played golf yesterday with an old friend from my high school days. After I had my beating on the course we decided to go out for dinner. So it was back to my place for a quick shower and change.

And that's where Jack Sinclair, my great little 11 year old son, comes into the story. Click here to take a look at the little rascal.

You see, Jack loves to earn money. Any little job needs doing, Jack will do it. He is a hard working fellow.

I knew there was 70 cents in my golf bag. So I said to Jack, "Okay, if you get my golf bag out of the car, wipe the clubs and clean the rubbish out of the bag and the car, you can have whatever money you find in the bag."

70 cents for a couple of minutes work. Fair enough. He happily set about working.

Or so I thought!

I'd just finished getting changed when a very sheepish looking Jack Sinclair walked into the bedroom.

"Dad, I found $20.70 in the bag. Do you want it back?"

Oooops! I'd forgotten about a $20 note in the side compartment!

It's times like these when I give my kids what we call "Dad's business lessons."

We all sat down and had a chat. And here's the gist of the business lesson.

Jack and I entered into a contract. I asked him if he wanted to do some work with a probable reward for his efforts. He agreed.

That's a contract. And it's an almost perfect contract because both of us entered into that contract with goodwill and honesty. A verbal contract is as good as any written contract - just harder to prove if there is a dispute.

The fact that Jack made a lot more money than I had expected is irrelevant. That's his money. But because he's a lovely little fella, he offered me the opportunity to review our agreement and alter it to reflect the usual work/reward ratio.

And that's a great thing to do. Makes good business sense. Because now when I enter into a contract with Jack (when I say "contract" I mean me saying "If you clean the car I'll give you $1" - and he agrees.) I know that he's fair, honest, decent and wanting to make it a win-win situation.

He didn't have to offer me a chance to rectify my 'mistake', but the fact that he did means I'll do business with him again and again.

And that's a great example I want to emulate with my clients. Maybe we should start calling them "Jack's business lessons" rather than Dad's?!

Have a good day and a great New Year if I don't get a chance to write later.

Cheers.

Brendon

Monday, December 22  

Buy from your business

I have a client in an industry that I know fairly well. I've been providing some marketing advice and it has all been solid enough stuff.

As usual, I purchased something from my client as a regular person (she didn't know it was me buying). As soon as I did that, and experienced the way I was treated as a customer, I had a lot more to say about the marketing.

Sampling the entire experience as a customer rather than a service provider enabled me to really identify some areas that needed work. And the insights will make a big difference.

I think about 1% of the people I suggest this to don't do it. But the 1% that do always say "I never knew that our company was like that!"

Be different, be daring and be successful. It's the little things that count.

Have a good night.

Brendon

How should I market to this?

I've mentioned before this very example I'm about to give, but this time I'll use it to lead into an example of developing a marketing strategy.

On the weekend, my wife and I went to Sydney (Australia) for the weekend. It's 1,000 km down the coast. As usual I booked the air travel via the airline's web site (Virgin Blue) and the accommodation via a web site that provides last minute (2 weeks in advance) accommodation.

The hotel I stayed in was superb. Just metres from Circular Quay, it was the perfect position. We couldn't have booked a better place.

But this hotel is like many, many hotels and motels in Australia. They don't have an e-customer strategy. Or if they do, it's terrible.

This hotel cost me $180 for the night.
Here are a few things to tell you that this hotel's e-strategy is non-existent:

a) Via Wotif I can book the hotel room for $180 per night.
b) Via the hotel's own web site, the cheapest I can get this exact same room for (on the exact same night) is $584!
c) I can just about guarantee that this company will never contact me again with any sort of promotional literature.
(I have never, ever been contacted by a hotel I've stayed in. Never. And in this day of emails and SMS, the least that could be done is toss my details into a database and say "Thanks for staying. Hope everything went well. Here's another offer for next time."

Cutting prices is never a smart strategy (unless you cut value)

I think that the fact that hundreds of hotels are happily cutting each other's throats in terms of discounting, via sites like Wotif, to be a major strategic error. They're saying to the customer "It's not about value or relationships. It's only about price."

And they take the easy option by not even matching the prices on these discount sites (prices they put on themselves) on their own web sites, and saving themselves the 10% or so commission. And let's not forget the added value of email marketing, better information, being able to demonstrate value without instant comparison, etc if they use their own site more effectively.

Okay, I've gone on for long enough. How about I do something about it. How would I get this hotel to employ me as an e-strategist?

1. Direct mail?
2. Call up?
3. Get a friend to refer me?

None of the above. What I would do is establish myself as an expert to meet this particular company's needs. Positioning myself as that expert will mean:

a) Articles to industry publications
b) PR campaign to raise my profile within this niche
c) Start an industry specific newsletter
d) Speak at an industry conference

That would be a good start. Then when I approach the company (or they approach me after some well-targeted newsletters, press clippings and articles) my credibility as an expert is well-established and they'll be much more receptive to what I have to say. Easy!

If a potential client thinks you're an expert, then you are. If a potential client thinks you have superior product knowledge, then you do. What influences your market? How can you ensure that you are seen as a credible solution provider?

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, December 16  

Quality people are nice people

I have a client at the moment within a niche industry for whom we are doing some work. This client wants to develop her business in a fairly unique way to generate the type of clients she specifically wants.

A great guy who provides services to us just happens to have developed his business in this exact same niche, the exact same way that our client envisages her business going.

As wonderful as our work is (!!), our client will receive far greater value from sitting down and having a chat with our friend for an hour or two. I rang our friend and asked him if he would be so kind to have a chat with our client.

"Of course, Brendon. Be happy to."

No payment, no hassle, no drama.

Huge value

What will this value be worth to our client? I'd guess thousands and thousands of dollars. This conversation will change the entire way she looks and thinks about her business (she is a very smart woman and knows great information when she hears it).

And my friend is doing it because he's a nice fellow. And wants to helps us out.

Dealing with quality people means you'll always get a quality outcome.

And benchmarking against industry leaders is a fantastic way to review what you are doing. And it can be as simple as making a call and saying "I'd like to pick you brain. Can I buy you lunch?"

Have a good night.

Brendon

Friday, December 12  

75 great reasons to invite Col to golf

I played golf today with 3 others - a great day was had by all. The day was put on by a charity we do a little work for and they gave us 4 spots as a way of saying "Thanks for your support."

Col was one of the guys I invited along and, boy, am I glad I did!

17th hole. Par 3 over water. 140 metres to the hole. Nearest to the pin (the person whose first shot is closest to the hole) wins a prize.

The prize? Your weight in James Boag's Premium Beer.

After much discussion our group agreed that if any of our 4 won, we'd split the prize between the 4 ouf us.

Col, the legend, then smacked his ball to within a foot and we won! (Only problem was, Col is only a small fellow. 75 kgs to be precise. Still, it was enough for us!)

At the golf day the only beer you could buy was James Boags. They had signage everywhere. The drinks staff all wore James Boags t-shirts. Our complimentary bags contained a James Boags key-ring. James Boags was everywhere.

That's lovely marketing. Well targeted and integrated campaign to brand James Boags as a quality beer. And for a few cases of beer, very effective.

Cheers, I have another 32 bottles to get through!

Brendon

Thursday, December 11  

So this is Christmas.................................

It's been a frantic week.

We've been trying to finish off all of our work so we can have a break over Christmas. We've hired some extra staff to get things done and all is going well.

Jo has a heap of sites to finish off and they are all coming together very quickly. She has developed one major site herself from scratch (even down to sourcing the products for this new concept) and is very excited about it's launch in a week or 2.

Bianka has only got a million things on the go (!!) and just seems to thrive under pressure. Along with management clients (public speakers) she is also developing a whole new department for our business that will be launched early in the New Year.

My gorgeous daughter Laura was the dux of her class at school, and was second in the dux for the school (she was beaten by a boy, which bewilders her!).

My 2 sons (Jack and Harry) are hanging out for the holidays (1 school day to go).

The in-laws for a month

The dreaded in-laws are coming to stay on Sunday. For a MONTH!!!!!!!! Oh yes, I'm sure you can laugh. You don't know the misery that my mother-in-law can put a man through!! I'll be in the office working over Christmas! (And mother-in-law, if you're reading this - I'm only kidding).

Yep, sure I am.

As for business stuff, I really have to do some work on customer service things. I continue to have the usual poor customer service experiences that we all have. And I think I should stop mouthing off about it and actually be proactive about providing a solution.

Having said all that, the e-book author I mentioned a couple of days ago has just sent me an extra 'bonus' (completely unadvertised) report as a thanks for buying the book. I haven't looked at the bonus yet, but I'm feeling very positive towards the author. That's good customer service.

As you might know, I'm a big, big advocate of every business developing a database of previous customers (these people are highly likely to buy from you again if you ask). In discussions with the new restaurant client we have, we identified a database as a crucial element of his strategy.

SMS an offer

Imagine if he is sitting there on a Friday at 5 pm with just a couple of bookings for dinner. A quick SMS to his database could yield a instant and fabulous booking rate.

Could you SMS your previous customers with a "Super special for 1 hour only" offer? Maybe, just maybe, it would work a treat.

Have a good night.

Cheers.

Brendon

Content Management web sites

I've seen quite a few decent content management web sites and today I was shown another one.

A Content Management System is essentially a web site where anyone can maintain/edit/add to/delete from.

The one I saw today was simply amazing. The features and benefits it provided was astoundiong and incredible for the end users. At about $20,000 a pop, they aren't for everyone, but they do provide superior value for the company looking for a superior solution.

Content Management Systems have really developed over the past few years and are now coming within financial reach for the small to medium business owner. Well worth a look.

Cheers.

Brendon

Tuesday, December 9  

Perception of value - it gets us all!

I think I know a bit about how people perceive value. I observe it, test it, document it and write about it. I'm pretty cynical when it comes to assessing the true value of things.

Or so I thought.

Or so I thought...............until I caught myself assessing the value of something I purchased today. You see, I purchased an e-book today. It came with 4 bonus 'reports'.

When I downloaded the pdf files (the e-book and the reports) I opened the folder I'd saved them in. The first thing I noted was the file size. The book had the largest file size. I immediately assigned that as having the most value.

Next most valuable in my quick review was the next highest file size report.

As soon as I made that judgement I knew I'd made a judgement call on value based on flimsy, flimsy evidence. All it would take is an extra large graphic within a report and it would suddenly be perceived (to me anyway) as being more valuable.

The point is this: We make judgement calls every single day. Based often on nothing more than very poor criteria (like file size for instance!).

How do people judge your service or product? Every single part of your business matters. It all says something to your customers. Are those things saying the right thing?

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, December 8  

A rewarding experience

Now here's a rewarding experience. I'm playing golf on Friday at one of Australia's best golf courses. I've been invited along by a charity we support (we do a little work for them here and there).

Not only did they invite me, but they've also told me I can bring along 3 clients of mine.

Everything is laid on - we start with breakfast, then it's golf, then it's lunch. All at no cost.

What a great idea by the charity

Rewarded behaviour gets repeated. The charity guys are taking care of me and my business, so we'll obviously be likely to continue to help them (we would anyway, but it's nice to be appreciated!).

And they were smart enough to tell me to invite some of my clients. That way I get to look good (or better!) in front of my clients. Boy, am I feeling good about our charity work now!

Reward that behaviour you want repeated. Reward your best customers. It's good for business and it's nice anyway.

Have a good night.

Brendon

Sunday, December 7  

Here's the plan, Stan

Looking at the stats for this web site, it's obvious that more people look at the articles page than the archives of each day's blog page. A lot more.

Over the next week or so I'll be adding lots more articles to the 'Articles' page.

I'll develop these articles from the content of the information I put on the Home Page each day or two.

That way it will be easier for you to find information of interest and relevance to you.

Hope that helps. See ya.

Brendon

Will your business idea work?

I see a lot of new business ideas. And a lot of people just starting out in business.

And a question I'm often asked is "Do you think my business idea will do well?"

After looking at new businesses and new business ideas for years, I can say this.

The success has almost nothing to do with the business idea. Sure, it has to be half decent. But it's generally not a big factor in the success.

The most important component of your business success is you. Just you.

Do you have what it takes to succeed?

Can you drive the business?
Do you have the passion to work hard on the business?
Do you have the energy and the drive to succeed?
Will you persevere?

You are the key. After all, one person might operate a store and go bust. The next person who comes along might operate it and it becomes a raving success. The only difference is the person.

It's all up to you.

Cheers.

Brendon

Thursday, December 4  

2 great ways to increase sales tomorrow

1. Ring up all of your past customers and make them a Christmas offer
2. Get 2,000 leaflets printed up (about $80 Australian). Make it a great offer. Distribute those flyers to 2,000 houses within your market area.

Try that and you'll make more sales. Try anything and you'll generally make more sales.

Cheers

Brendon

The one thing NOT to do when networking

I see this a lot. It's a networking function. People meeting. people introducing themselves. people chatting. Business cards flying around like confetti!

Most people aren't your potential clients. So don't push a card on them. It's wasting your time and money and their time.

The worst example I see of this is at business dinners or lunches where someone rocks up and proceeds to deal his/her card around the table, like they were dealing Poker (speaking of Poker - playing 7 card Stud Poker with some old school friends tomorrow. They are on the Coast and are practically insisting I empty their pockets of there hard earned!).

Don't talk about you

If you want to make an impression you are much better of talking to the person about them. Not about you. About them. If you see where your services or products might be of benefit, mention it in that context.

And then, maybe, just maybe you give them a card (but don't expect them to call you. They almost never will - unless you've provide some great information).

Cheers.

Brendon

Wednesday, December 3  

Branding - not just for cattle

Thinking about this today as we reviewed some work for a new client.

He's built a nice little business and wants to take it to the next level in terms of image.

We're looking at a new logo, new business stationery, new signage, web site, newsletter, slogan, unifroms and a few other bits and pieces.

All simple stuff that doesn't cost a fortune and will very significantly aid the positive perception of his business.

Could you sharpen up your image? What would the impact be?

See ya.

Brendon

5 steps to effective marketing

1. Survey your customers. Ask them how you should market. Find out what they think of your service or product.

2. Get a decent logo. Use it on everything you have. You'll build brand recognition. And that's good for business.

3. Advertise. I'm constantly amazed at the number of my clients who haven't advertised regularly. Blow your own trumpet and let everyone know what you do.

4. Check out the competition. Educate yourself on what your competition is up to. Emphasis your strengths. Attack their weaknesses.

5. Move, move, move. Change, change, change. The quicker you can respond to market changes the better. I especially love advertising that is related to current events.

I'd better go - my wife has made me a Milo and she has got the Tim Tams out. And a man doesn't knock those back.

See ya!

Brendon

Tuesday, December 2  

So, you can't spell. Does it matter?

Take this simple test. Read the paragraph below:

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe and the biran fguiers it out aynawy.

Amazing, huh??! What's the lesson here - I have no idea. It just amazed me, that's all!

Cheers and have a good night.

Brendon

Monday, December 1  

Another way to get business - have a few wines and start yapping

So there I was. At Lilly Pilly's for dinner on Saturday night as I mentioned below. I was 'cheerful' after I'd had a few wines.

Happened to strike up a conversation with the restaurant owner and I said what a great idea the 10% discount was. We got chatting about his marketing and I tossed a few ideas in. He asked me what I did and I told him.

Got a phone call at home this morning from the owner (he had it from Mel making the reservation) asking if I'd like to do their marketing. We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss how we can help and then we'll make a deal.

Business opportunities crop up in the most unexpected places and times. Be aware that anyone at all could be your next client or customer.

Cheers

Brendon