No More Nightmare Clients
October 28, 2011
It’s almost Hallowe’en and the scariest people are your worst clients, not the ghost of Amy Winehouse. Your anti-clients can save you money, if you know who they are. The exercise I’m sharing with you saved one of my clients 100s of thousands of dollars.
Best Buy was the inspiration. They analyzed their ideal customers and, surprisingly, they weren’t techno geeks. One of their best consumer clusters was the soccer mom. Best Buy figured out her ‘persona’. What did she want from a store, staff and a shopping experience? In fact, they persona-lized their brand. They changed who they hired, how they trained and the store layout. Ca-ching. Profits soared.
I was so intrigued by Best Buy’s success, described in Waiting For Your Cat to Bark? Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg, that I used the approach with a global franchise. I analyzed their most successful franchisees and found five buyer personas. For each persona I fleshed out their character as if I was a Hollywood screen writer. This helps you see your client and what they need.
For example, one buyer persona was ‘Ally Buzz’ a 20-something, single, ambitious woman who was glued to her smart phone and wanted her own business. Letting ‘Ally Buzz’ speak with other successful female franchise owners was gold because social proof works for Ally. If she could see it, she could believe it. Also a family member was often a key support person. Inviting them to join in the information gathering conversation – in person, on calls or via Skype, increased Ally’s support and confidence.
You can’t use slick to close a sale, it barely worked before and it really doesn’t work now. You can figure out your best buyers’ path and persona-lize it. Analyzing your customer personas also helps you find your anti-customer. In fact, I only figured the nightmare buyer because I went looking for ideal ones. With this franchise, the nightmare was ‘The Good Neighbours’. You trusted them because you liked them but they knew nothing about business. They were slow to buy, hard to train and sued the most because they didn’t follow best practices.
Identifying and avoiding your anti-customers saves you money. Persona-lizing your ideal customers and smoothing their buying path makes you money. Trick or treat my friends.
Be Iconic
October 4, 2011
She wore red shoes. One of the funniest speakers you’ve probably never heard of said “The way I see it, if you have to spend your days in a wheelchair you can either whine about it or you can seize the opportunity to wear smokin’ red heels with zero discomfort.”
Sue Minns had her goodbye party today. The emcee, yes there was a funeral emcee, asked if those wearing red shoes could take one off and raise them up. This was not an odor test. This was an influence moment. Red stilettos, flats, Mary Janes, Doc Martins and even a lone Converse runner rose up.
Susan got her red pumps on ebay, from a drag queen. Her shoes became her brand icon. They represented saying yes to joy no matter what and Susan had lots of what: a house fire, cancer, MS, dying. Fueled by faith, family and Motown, Susan gave us a great story t
o tell, a perspective to cherish and a distinct way to remember her. She got branding but more importantly she got life.
A Winning Perspective
September 20, 2011
Drum roll please: the winner of the Australian Marketing Institute’s 2011 Award for Marketing Excellence, new product, for the state of Victoria is (I know this is a mouthful but keep reading) Plunkett Fowles’ Ladies who Shoot their Lunch. Yes, the same folks who won the 2010 Great Australian Wine Shiraz Challenge and the only wine in the world designed to compliment wild game, won another award and I helped. My wife thinks I should rename my company ListentoLouise.com.
Last April, I was so impressed by Ladies who Shoot their Lunch that I interviewed CEO Matt Fowles and his team then wrote and spoke about them internationally. I told them to enter Australia’s Marketing Institute Awards. Here’s what happened. Just before the submission was due, Matt emailed and said he wasn’t entering. I emailed back: CALL ME.
Matt, whose entire team has done everything right with their brand, was stuck. You see, you can’t see the picture when you are in the frame, or the label when you are in the bottle. I found the bottleneck. Matt was trying to sound corporate and that was strangling his genius. The game changer was focusing on the essence of the Ladies who Shoot their Lunch brand. It is a personality brand, which has an emotional component that makes it likeable.
Matt had a great story and it needed to be told in the first person with honesty, humour and directness because that is the brand. I wrote and wrote then pressed send. Further beautiful writing by Matt and tah dah (one of my favourite expressions ) he submitted an application that evoked the brand perfectly and they won. Let’s drink to that. Wait, I already did.
http://www.plunkettfowles.com.au/
Grab Brand Attention
August 16, 2011
Your brand is competing for attention against Coca Cola’s 2.9 billion dollar annual marketing budget. I know you don’t think you are competing against them but you are. You are trying to cut through the cacophony of every marketer’s pitch “Heh, look at me, love me, take me home with you.”
Then there is you. A small brand, a brand that doesn’t contribute to childhood obesity, trying to stand out and do good. Maybe you are the green architect, the honest lawyer, or the little music company. What can you do? You can make your audience gasp and giggle. You can realize it’s the era of emotiononmics. You can be brave and cause a reaction.
The Ultimate Smart Start
August 10, 2011
The truth is I watch people, particularly successful folks who won’t make the news but should. I found this athlete/scientist sitting on a rock writing “morning pages.” I asked if I could share her strategy. Yes, as long as I promised anonymity. Super heroes are funny that way.
This wise writer takes 15 minutes each morning to focus on what she wants to feel and have that day. If you were sea kayaking around Franklin Island, a Georgian Bay UNESCO site, you might write “To feel the awe, majesty and beauty of this area.” Now before you say “that’s hokey” ask yourself two questions. Do you go places without really arriving? Do you rush through life without connecting to the people in it? Step one is to focus on what you want to feel.
Step 2 is what do you want to have? This means writing, in full, what you want in your life and day. Our athlete/scientist started with “To have: a perfect, healthy, strong, fast body with an infinitely intelligent immune system.” Spoken like someone who avoids a: junk food and b: complaining. Therein lies the secret. Instead of living a life of reaction, proactively state what you want. Health? Joy? Money? To make a difference? Hazelnut gelato?
I’ve long tried to find a morning practice that centres me for the day. I’ve tried this one for a few weeks. It seems to keep me aligned to the best of who I am and want to be. May it do the same for you. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
