I hope you’d enjoy this brief trip back down ‘Memory Lane’ with me. I sure did!
The Wizard of Oz contains the secret of business GROWTH.
You need (at least one!) a clear GOAL and a PLAN (of action) designed to help you reach it.
The other thing you need to be successful is . . . ACCOUNTABILITY!
“Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow . . . Follow The Yellow-Brick Road!”
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has a clearly defined GOAL — to go the the Emerald City and find the ‘great and all-powerful Wizard of Oz’. After that she had another ‘bigger’ goal — to get back home to Kansas. And, just like Dorothy, your business has multiple goals that all depend on still other goals to become realities.
Every business has a basic and clearly defined Goal — generate revenues and . . . profit.
Early in the story, Dorothy gets a road-map (literally!) to reach her goal – when the Munchkins tell her to, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”. (That was the 1939 equivalent of our modern GPS!)
But what happened to Dorothy?
She manages (catch my humor, there?) to recruit some staff members. But she soon learns that her staff is far from perfect! Tin-man has no heart (legal department?). Scarecrow has no brains (operations?). And the cowardly Lion has no courage (the sales force?).
Great way to start the process of achieving her goal! Maybe you can relate?
The Wicked Witch of the West
The wicked witch represents the ‘force’ that makes many things ‘go awry’ during the implementation of any plan. So it wasn’t surprising that Tin-man was threatened with water so he could rust again, Scarecrow was set on fire and Lion was scared into catatonic paralysis.
Later, Dorothy’s entire staff was easily distracted by being made to fall asleep by the Wicked Witch in the poppy field scene — making her ‘easy picking’ for those winged monkeys!
And THAT is why if you want to be successful . . . you need a Goal, a Plan and you need to be held accountable for doing what you planned to do in the first place.
KEY POINT:
Success reflects a PLAN to reach a GOAL and some way to be ACCOUNTABLE for doing whatever it takes to reach your goal and achieve success.
I’m often asked about the ‘funny’ name of the marketing organization that I represent –
Duct Tape Marketing.
There’s a great story behind HOW the name came to be but … I digress. ’-)
What is more important, is why Duct Tape Marketing exists and why, in 2005, I become affiliate with this fine organization of people that began in Kansas City, MO and now has over 80 of my colleagues in every part of the world.
Enjoy . . .
In a recent post (3/22/2012) I discussed the need to be sure you get a response from any marketing you do to promote your services. But getting a response depends on WHAT you’re offering and . . . HOW you’re inviting a response from your prospective client.
Which is More Potent . . . Needs or Wants?
No doubt about it, marketing what people want is relatively easier than marketing what they need. If that seems odd, consider this:
Most people will agree that ‘being healthy’ is something they ‘want’ to be. At the same time, they may ‘need’ something to achieve that goal — i.e. a colonoscopy after age 50. 
Of these two, which one is easier to sell? Which one is easier for someone to ‘buy’ into getting?
You may want a new sports car, but you may need some sales training to help you get it. 
Wanting the sports car is obvious and desirable. Needing sales training that can help you get it is neither!
Needs or Wants — There’s a Different Approach for Each!
If your prospect wants what you offer, then you can invite a response in the form of an immediate buying decision. For example, if you’re offering a wonderful Caribbean cruise, that’s highly desirable. And a good Call-To-Action would invite someone to book with you.
However, if your prospect needs what you offer, then you should use a different approach. Typically, ‘wants’ are associated with ‘soft’ services like ‘business consulting’ more than ‘hard’ products or goods like a ‘getaway weekend’ cruise. Remember, we want to be healthy but we need a colonoscopy. The former is obvious and desirable. The later is not.
The Two-Step Call-To-Action
I’m assuming you’re offering a service more than a product. So what you’re offering is really the (needed) MEANS to some (wanted) END that your prospect would like to enjoy. This requires an offer to get something — usually information — that would help someone get what they want.
A CPA might therefore ‘offer’ an e-book on:
“The Five Biggest Tax Deductions Business Owners Always Seem To Miss”
Inviting people to download that e-book would certainly identify people who might logically need other services that a CPA can render. But, absent an opportunity to engage prospective clients in the first place, those subsequent conversations may never have a chance to occur!
KEY POINT:
When appealing to ‘wants’, always offer an item-of-value that is low-risk / no-cost to accept and suggests high-value if it is. Once you have the ‘first’ step out of the way, you can make follow-up actions appropriate to the person’s ‘need-to-know’ and ‘readiness-to-go’ ahead with later offers to engage your services.
I just received a direct mail piece from a firm I did business with years ago. They’re still in business. Which is nice to know.
But their mailer is, well . . . ‘deadly’ to say the least.
The copy is self-centered drivel and their offer is non-existent. How sad. For them. I hope his mom ordered extra copies for her bridge club because at least she’ll see some value from this mailer!
What’s The Goal?
The creation of any promotional marketing communication must begin with as clear an understanding of what you want to happen after someone receives it as is humanly possible.
That implies, of course, that you expect ‘some thing’ to happen as a result of receiving and processing your message in whatever medium of delivery you may choose to use — print, verbal, online, etc.
Response . . . Must (ALWAYS) Be Your Goal
Given the time, money and effort required to produce and deliver a message these days, you really can’t justify any marketing that doesn’t call for your reader, listener or viewer to do something in response to your message. This is a ‘Call To Action’ or ‘Offer’. Same thing.
Of all the goals for your marketing communications, make sure a response is one of them!
KEY POINT:
Any communication that doesn’t invite response is a wasted opportunity.
“With one foot in ICE water and one foot in BOILING water . . . on the average . . . you should be pretty comfortable!”
One of the things I remember from my college statistics class was that an ‘average‘ is a theoretical construct abstracted from empirical reality.
Practically speaking, it doesn’t reflect in any accurate way what’s really going on in your world — i.e. ‘empirical reality’.
“Statistics Lie”
That’s 100% Incorrect. Statistics don’t lie any more than guns kill people. But people do use them to present reality in a way that may invite you to either misunderstand or (more likely!) misperceive the ‘empirical reality’ that they’re based upon.
The 80 / 20 Rule — AKA “Pareto’s Principle”
Pareto was the Italian economist who first suggested that “80% of any result is generated by about 20% of the effort required to get it”. This ‘rule’ of input and output has been applied to almost everything. In business, you often hear, “80% of your profits comes from 20% of your clients”. That’s accurate — until you dig deeper!
Pareto’s Principle reflects a Statistical AVERAGE Not an Empirical Reality!
In advertising, you hear, “50% of every dollar spent is wasted” followed by the collorary “So I have to spend a buck to see any value”. That’s consistent with the “80/20 Rule” — only in that case, it’s more like the “50/50 Rule”!
Even if the 80/20 rule is ‘technically correct’, it can be ‘practically in-correct’. Why? Because is SIMPLIFIES the situation and that is what causes the 80/20 rule to be dangerous if you take it on face value.
Pareto was a Pessimist!
What I mean is that when you examine which of your clients are contributing to your ‘bottom line’, you may find what MIT lecturer, Jonathan Byrnes points out in his book “Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink“. Byrnes argues that your practice has a relatively few ‘super profitable clients’ who cover for the ‘grossly un-profitable ones’. So while the 80/20 Rule may appear to be true, in reality, your profits are more likely to reflect the “99.9 / 0.01 Rule”.
KEY POINT:
Identify your SUPER PROFITABLE clients and cultivate relationships with them!
I just read an excellent rant (or, venting?) by a noted business growth consultant — Andy Birol.
Andy’s earned a solid reputation based on a history of helping clients build their business and value.
He’s actually quite good at it, too.
His latest post reflects his honest frustration with how well his website is working for him. Or, maybe not.
The Problem With Many Websites
What Andy and many advisors realize is that “good-looking websites” aren’t necessarily ‘effective websites’. Of course, it might help to define what ‘effective’ means, right?
‘Effective‘ means that your website can create an opportunity to help you generate revenues.
In most cases, this doesn’t imply an online transaction or purchase. But it does suggest your website should be able to create well-qualified opportunities from which you can generate a client (and, the revenue that suggests) in a reasonable amount of time.
Let’s face it. Whatever your expertise, it’s safe to say you probably aren’t a website developer. Your expertise may lie in helping your clients manage their risks, make good investments, protect their intellectual property, and the like. So the lure of a ‘pretty-looking’ website may be quite compelling.
If It Looks Terrible But Works Great . . . Don’t Mess With It!
What Andy’s learned is that ‘good looks’ aren’t all that important in producing the performance criteria he’s learned is really important — i.e. identifying a well-qualified individual for his services. That’s a huge insight. And, a valuable one to remember.
I am constantly amazed (but not surprised) at how often a website built on the HubSpot platform looks ‘clunky’ but works extremely well. There’s a New Yorker magazine cartoon where two dogs are in the library and on their master’s PC. One dog says to the other, “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog”. Very true. And that’s why even ‘ugly’ websites can be more productive of leads than pretty websites . . . ‘pretty useless’, that is!
On a Google search, if your website or blog offers highly relevant content, it will attract traffic in the form of well-qualified visitors to you. Once you have qualified visitors, using CTA’s (Calls To Action) and offering items of value can help reveal their identify so you can begin a marketing dialogue with them. Just as Andy’s learned.
KEY POINT: Find Out If Your Current Website Is Working As You Wish
A valuable service of HubSpot is a complementary review of your current website. The service is called “Marketing Grader“. It takes only a few moments. You enter your URL (and up to 2 of your competitors) and it will give you an most insightful report on where you’re doing good and where you might be able to be doing even better.
If you’re wondering why the image of nice boats at a marina is being displayed, let me explain . . .
“I’d Like (a lot!) More Referrals!”
That’s the most frequently cited comment that I hear when I’m talking with providers in financial services, accounting, law, etc. It’s a definite issue. Maybe for you, too?
And why not? After all, isn’t meeting a prospective client through a referral from someone who knows, likes and trusts you . . . about as good as it gets? I sure think so.
Why You May Not Be Getting More Referrals
Reason #1: You’re Not Asking
The most likely reason is that you’re not asking for them! So obvious. So true, too.
Reason #2: No System
You don’t have a system for generating referrals. Referrals don’t happen by accident. That’s why many people aren’t getting the quantity and quality of referrals they want on a consistent basis.
Reason #3: No Skill
You have a system but you’re not skilled enough to be effective using it.
OK, So What’s with . . . The Boats?
Great question! In our Preferral Prospecting System® — it’s like a referral, only better — we show you how to create a referral system based on four (4) elements:
Profile … of the ‘Ideal Person’ you’d like to meet
Source … of the Preferrals you’d like to receive — e.g. a ‘Center-of-Influence’
Method … the means for making your sources produce Preferrals
Plan … the coordinated schedule of actions that will generate the Preferrals you want
PROFILE . . . is based on a few observable characteristics . . . that correlate highly with the kind of people who truly understand what you do, value the benefits you offer and are willing and able to pay you a ‘fair’ price to enjoy them.
Some examples . . . “a CPA” . . . “a parent with children in private school” . . . “a homeowner” . . . etc. The key is to choose a characteristic that doesn’t require someone to be psychic or make a subjective judgement that someone ‘needs’ whatever benefits you offer. And that’s why we have those ‘boats’ in today’s post.
One of my clients, a financial advisor, has found that asking, “Do you know anyone who owns a big _ _ _ boat — 42′ or bigger that is kept at a marina on Long Island Sound?” is the ONLY profile characteristic he needs to use to gain an introduction to someone who is most likely to understand, value and afford his services. See how that works?
KEY POINT:
Developing a PROFILE of your Ideal Client, based on observable characteristics, is a key element in creating a system for generating more and better referrals for your practice.
When you think about what makes for a valued relationship between two people, I think EMPATHY has to be a key factor.
Empathy Invites Emotional Engagement and Commitment
Jane Wurwand, Founder of Dermalogica wrote an article and cited author, Daniel Pink who argues that empathy is a right-brain quality. Jane feels empathy is more ‘feminine’ than ‘masculine’ and it’s why, more often than not, highly successful business people seem to possess this quality and exercise it liberally.
Empathy Is a Key Factor in Business Success
Wurwand’s article reminds us of how both the masculine quality of ‘assertive energy’ as well as the feminine quality of ‘connective energy’ are necessary for reaching effective decisions and building consensus to implement them effectively.
Gertrude Bell’s Legacy: Rim-Walker
Gertrude Bell was woman ahead of her time. A graduate of Oxford University in England, she was an advisor to Arab kings, European heads of state and spoke several dialects of Arabic.
Her ability to connect with her clients was incredible. She knew how her clients saw the world because she lived as they did. After graduating from Oxford, she learned Arabic by living with the Bedouin tribes in North Africa for several years. When King Faisal of Iraq (it was 1921) sought her counsel, she not only understood Arab culture, she spoke his language.
If western culture was in one ‘bowl’ and arab culture was in another, Ms. Bell was able to ‘walk the rims’ of each — seeing what both had to offer (or, protect!). Her role as advisor and liaison to powerful world leaders resulted from her being highly effective at providing empathetic counsel and using it to gain consensus from extremely disparate parties.
What You Can Learn From Happy Clients
Ask clients of highly regarded / desired advisors, “What do you like most about your advisor?”. They’ll tell you. Usually, it’s some variation on “S/he understands our business, our culture, our industry, our competitors but most of all . . . me”.
This makes it easy to ensure any recommendations you may make will be more acceptable and more likely to be implemented. But it all hinges on your ability to understand your client’s world, hopes, fears, concerns and desires.
KEY POINT:
Get out of your world long enough to get into your clients’ world and business
There’s a lot of truth to the saying, “If you want to be heard, say something worthy of my attention”.
The image to the left was part of a sidebar on a blog where the ‘offered information’ is highly relevant to the ‘Ideal Client’ or ‘target audience’ who’s seeking to use their telephony more easily and effectively.
The Lesson: Be Relevant!
In the ADHD world of today where people may have less time to do what they want and less attention than they’d like . . . to invest in a meaningful exchange with you . . . you must be relevant or you’ll be history very quickly!
Key #1: “Have a Goal in Mind”
Anyone can create a presentation, not everyone will get a desired result. All communications should be based on the result or outcome you’re seeking. In business, that’s often to ‘get a sale’ or ‘move the chain’ in the sales pipeline. But it can’t be simply to ‘communicate’ . . . a grunt will do that (and not much else!).
Key #2: “See The World As Your Audience Sees It”
“If you can show me a Tisch, I’ll give you $5,000, right now”. If you speak German, I’m probably about to part with $5,000! If not, I’m probably confusing you. So ‘losing’ you isn’t far behind. Effective communications implies getting to understand the world as your prospect sees it. Knowing their hopes, fears, dreams, concerns, etc. is the basis for knowing what they’ll find is relevant.
Key #3: “Learn To Construct a Compelling Argument”
Most schools and universities aren’t teaching young people how to communicate ideas effectively (i.e. persuasively). That’s a vital skill-set that’s rapidly becoming a lost art. Good news. If you learn how to create a compelling argument, you can move people to take action. Often, actions that will benefit both of you. My recommendation: read “How To Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less” by Milo Frank. Master what Milo is telling you and you’ll communicate more effectively than most people on the planet!
Key #4: “Communicate Consistently”
With the many distractions all around us, even a well-designed message will be ‘missed’ unless it is repeated consistently. You’ve seen an ad on TV that seems to show up every time you watch TV? The reason is because the marketers know you’re probably not even going to notice it unless you have a number of opportunities to see it. Same thing with your messages. Staying ‘in mind’ without getting ‘in face’ is an art form. But it’s an art form you’ll want to learn and practice if you want to move people with your messages.
KEY POINT:
Being RELEVANT, having a GOAL to achieve, being COMPELLING and sharing your messages CONSISTENTLY will make you a far better communicator with prospects and clients than most of your alleged competitors!
Systems.
That very word sounds so technical, doesn’t it? It conjures up images of NASA engineers sitting around small screens, white-shirted people in black glasses hunched over drafting tables, in large worksites, in small communities of connected cubicles.
What IS a System?
In the end, a system is just a group of related elements and coordinated actions that are designed to create a specific result.
Business Success Relies on Systems
In business, we have any number of systems. Generating clients (and, the revenues they bring into your operation) can / should be a system. Same for selling. If you need people to run your business or practice, then a system to recruit candidates and another to select the better ones each suggest a ‘system’ as well.
Then you need to develop your new hires to perform effectively, yes? So a ‘performance development’ system for developing your people — by training, motivating, problem-solving, etc. all suggest yet another kind of business system. And lest we ignore operations, you probably have a system for how you manage your funds — an accounting system. In short, whether by design or not, an effective business is one that probably relies on using systems more than one that doesn’t.
GROWTH . . . Yeah, there’s a System For That, Too
One of the systems I find is most often not present is a system for creating growth in a business. Yes, there’s a system for that, too. We call it The Profit Project™
Check out a brief video on this
KEY POINT:
Business success is no accident. And a systems approach to achieving it makes it far more likely . . . for you!
