I promised to tell you why some companies - especially telcos and banks - treat people like s---, as though the customer service revolution had never happened.
It goes like this: there was this guy called Pareto who worked out that 20% of your customers give you 80% of your business.
You could work out who they were by looking st your books This came as a revelation to many companies, who used the 80:20 principle as a means of allocating resources.
For the fortunate 20%, times got better, but for the 80%, things got worse. Prices and fees went up, service levels fell.
So now these companies are working on a principle that it is good business to p--- off the majority of your customers.
S----- f----- i-----!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
When the customer is wrong...
The following was carved into a giant rock that stood outside the doors of Stew Leonard's "Dairy" in Connecticut, USA. In the late 1980s it was the most profitable grocery outlet In the world. Then Stew got into some trouble with the IRS and I lost touch. But the message remains valid and instructive:
"Rule No. 1: The Customer is always right.
Rule No. 2: If the Customer is ever wrong, read Rule No. 1"
The way some banks and telcos treat people, you'd think the customer revolution hadn't happened. (I'll tell you why tomorrow.)
--
"Rule No. 1: The Customer is always right.
Rule No. 2: If the Customer is ever wrong, read Rule No. 1"
The way some banks and telcos treat people, you'd think the customer revolution hadn't happened. (I'll tell you why tomorrow.)
--
If I had a hammer...
I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, all over this world...
If all you hold in your hand is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If you ask an advertising agency to solve a marketing problem, the solution will be advertising, whether or not advertising is the most appropriate solution.
The same can be said for PR firms and DM agencies.
If the solution you are offered is one dimensional, choose another supplier.
If all you hold in your hand is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If you ask an advertising agency to solve a marketing problem, the solution will be advertising, whether or not advertising is the most appropriate solution.
The same can be said for PR firms and DM agencies.
If the solution you are offered is one dimensional, choose another supplier.
I had no thoughts yesterday
...so here's two for today:
1. Marketing is a life skill. It's about creating the conditions within which getting what you want is inevitable.
2. Don't take anything I say seriously. Or anything anyone else says.
3. Always deliver more than you promise.
1. Marketing is a life skill. It's about creating the conditions within which getting what you want is inevitable.
2. Don't take anything I say seriously. Or anything anyone else says.
3. Always deliver more than you promise.
Fish where the fish are
This sounds like the bleeding obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many companies spend money talking to people who can't or won't buy their products. How does a television advertiser know there is anyone watching their ad?They don't. They are fed crap by television stations called TARPS (Target Audience Ratings Points) that are measured by some witchdoctor's formula that says it can tell if the lounge chair in front of the tv set is empty during the breaks. Ratings, schmatings. It's amazing how much faith some marketers have - truly religious zealots - in TARPS. I say show me the money. If I'm gonna spend a fortune keeping Kerry Packer's zillionaire kids in a manner to which they've become accustomed, I want proof that Channel 9 actually sells something. I'll believe it when a viewer calls a telephone number on the screen and goes on to buy my product... Either right there and then or soon. "Real Response TV" is a great new idea of mine - invite people to call or email or dial up a web site and interact with the brand. D'uh!
Pain
I posted this on my Man Overboard blog about human love, yet it contains a message for marketers.
..........
Everyone in the world is in some kind of pain.
Feel it, and you will understand them.
When they feel you understand them, they will hear you.
Only then will you know what to say.
--
Except the marketer is inclined to change the last line to:
Then you can sell them anything.
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
It's an oldy, but a goody. And it says much the same thing. A con artist is a 'confidence trickster', someone who gains your confidence for as long as it takes to relieve you of your money.
So the insight above about pain is like any power - it can be used for good or evil.
We can take advantage of another person's vulnerability or we can respect the privilege they have given us by opening up.
Everyone suffers from pain of some description. For many it is physical. For many more it is emotional pain - memories of past trauma, anxiety about the future, fear of patterns repeating themselves. For the vast majority it is the pain of loneliness, which is in epidemic proportions in our society. And for many there is the spiritual pain arising from a sense of meaninglessness of life. Most people spend their time running from the fact that their time here is finite and that one day they will die. We fill our lives with amusements and obsessions while the Grim Reaper stands waiting at the back of the room. And the question this forces on us? What does it all mean? What is the meaning of my life? The lack of a satisfactory answer brings pain.
Buddha's great insight was that the whole of life is suffering. And he developed his system of spiritual practice to eliminate suffering - which he said was caused by our attachment to the material world. The principle of Surrender that I recommend in the book man Overboard is a Buddhist principle. It is also a Christian principle. Surrender to Christ, and, through Him, to each other.
Each of us bear our private pain courageously. Just living through a day for many is a triumph. But the light comes breaking through the clouds when another human being acknowledges our pain, can feel what we feel. These moments confirm our existence and affirm our goodness. Finding someone who does this can be like falling in love. I suspect there is a good deal of this behind Infatuation. Perhaps the illusion of genuine understanding.
The word for building such a bridge across people's pain is COMPASSION. Christ was said to be full of it. Mother Teresa's compassion was legendary. We all have the ability to be compassionate, like the Good Samaritan.
The Dalai Lama, who doesn't believe in romantic love, says the two building blocks of human love are empathy (identifying with another person) and compassion (feeling their pain).
In fact compassion means, literally, "suffering with" another. Walking alongside someone. That's how a Christian Brother described his version of Christian love.
When someone attacks you or is angry with you, and you can understand that they are simply expressing their pain - searching for someone to acknowledge it - you will feel less inclined to counter-attack and more inclined to seek to make peace.
If you can see all the people suffering and feel a little of it, you can grow your heart, literally. You can grow your ability to feel love.
You also grow your ability to sell stuff to people.
Now ain't that something?
..........
Everyone in the world is in some kind of pain.
Feel it, and you will understand them.
When they feel you understand them, they will hear you.
Only then will you know what to say.
--
Except the marketer is inclined to change the last line to:
Then you can sell them anything.
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
It's an oldy, but a goody. And it says much the same thing. A con artist is a 'confidence trickster', someone who gains your confidence for as long as it takes to relieve you of your money.
So the insight above about pain is like any power - it can be used for good or evil.
We can take advantage of another person's vulnerability or we can respect the privilege they have given us by opening up.
Everyone suffers from pain of some description. For many it is physical. For many more it is emotional pain - memories of past trauma, anxiety about the future, fear of patterns repeating themselves. For the vast majority it is the pain of loneliness, which is in epidemic proportions in our society. And for many there is the spiritual pain arising from a sense of meaninglessness of life. Most people spend their time running from the fact that their time here is finite and that one day they will die. We fill our lives with amusements and obsessions while the Grim Reaper stands waiting at the back of the room. And the question this forces on us? What does it all mean? What is the meaning of my life? The lack of a satisfactory answer brings pain.
Buddha's great insight was that the whole of life is suffering. And he developed his system of spiritual practice to eliminate suffering - which he said was caused by our attachment to the material world. The principle of Surrender that I recommend in the book man Overboard is a Buddhist principle. It is also a Christian principle. Surrender to Christ, and, through Him, to each other.
Each of us bear our private pain courageously. Just living through a day for many is a triumph. But the light comes breaking through the clouds when another human being acknowledges our pain, can feel what we feel. These moments confirm our existence and affirm our goodness. Finding someone who does this can be like falling in love. I suspect there is a good deal of this behind Infatuation. Perhaps the illusion of genuine understanding.
The word for building such a bridge across people's pain is COMPASSION. Christ was said to be full of it. Mother Teresa's compassion was legendary. We all have the ability to be compassionate, like the Good Samaritan.
The Dalai Lama, who doesn't believe in romantic love, says the two building blocks of human love are empathy (identifying with another person) and compassion (feeling their pain).
In fact compassion means, literally, "suffering with" another. Walking alongside someone. That's how a Christian Brother described his version of Christian love.
When someone attacks you or is angry with you, and you can understand that they are simply expressing their pain - searching for someone to acknowledge it - you will feel less inclined to counter-attack and more inclined to seek to make peace.
If you can see all the people suffering and feel a little of it, you can grow your heart, literally. You can grow your ability to feel love.
You also grow your ability to sell stuff to people.
Now ain't that something?
Act boldly!
"Act boldly and mighty forces will come to your aid."
I found this statement in Reader's Digest.
Don't be put off by that. The statement is true. The difference between success and failure is not that you got beaten by someone else or circumstances. Most of the time we fail because we don't even get on the starting blocks.
Woody Allen says 85% of success is simply turning up.
Look at the great brands. Not one of them has been built by meekness. Aggressive self-belief and dramatic action typifies success in marketing.
Zigging when the others zag. Risking ridicule. Almost inviting it.
Now I met with a 'client' recently who has been in the marketing boss's chair way too long. This person can't act boldly because they have so much to defend. And they are afraid that any time the knife will drop. Probably a great marketing operator stifled by having too much to lose.
This person tells me they know their customers - plainly bullshit. It's a very rare company that knows its customers at a level they need to for making intelligent decisions. Do you know their favourite radio announcer or the last book they read? Those that do know their customers well vibrate at a higher frequency than this organisation. My task: to win the client's confidence and free them from the shackles of office to make bold decisions.
I'll write a paper just for him, on 'customer DNA'. That ought to cheer him up.
You can't do good work for a client who's afraid. The best and most spectacular successes I have engineered for clients have been for those who had more faith in the solution than even I had.
Anyway, back to the topic. You make your own luck. If you expect to fail you will. Even if it's the wrong thing to do, do it boldly and you'll probably win through just through impulsion and energy.
If someone asks me can I do something, I say "Yes" and then go and find out how to do it. That's a risky strategy, but it works for me. Takes me out of my comfort zone, into the danger zone.
Dancing in the danger zone... Nothing like it!
I found this statement in Reader's Digest.
Don't be put off by that. The statement is true. The difference between success and failure is not that you got beaten by someone else or circumstances. Most of the time we fail because we don't even get on the starting blocks.
Woody Allen says 85% of success is simply turning up.
Look at the great brands. Not one of them has been built by meekness. Aggressive self-belief and dramatic action typifies success in marketing.
Zigging when the others zag. Risking ridicule. Almost inviting it.
Now I met with a 'client' recently who has been in the marketing boss's chair way too long. This person can't act boldly because they have so much to defend. And they are afraid that any time the knife will drop. Probably a great marketing operator stifled by having too much to lose.
This person tells me they know their customers - plainly bullshit. It's a very rare company that knows its customers at a level they need to for making intelligent decisions. Do you know their favourite radio announcer or the last book they read? Those that do know their customers well vibrate at a higher frequency than this organisation. My task: to win the client's confidence and free them from the shackles of office to make bold decisions.
I'll write a paper just for him, on 'customer DNA'. That ought to cheer him up.
You can't do good work for a client who's afraid. The best and most spectacular successes I have engineered for clients have been for those who had more faith in the solution than even I had.
Anyway, back to the topic. You make your own luck. If you expect to fail you will. Even if it's the wrong thing to do, do it boldly and you'll probably win through just through impulsion and energy.
If someone asks me can I do something, I say "Yes" and then go and find out how to do it. That's a risky strategy, but it works for me. Takes me out of my comfort zone, into the danger zone.
Dancing in the danger zone... Nothing like it!
...Without attachment to the outcome...
What happens to a golfer when they choke? The downside risk of the shot gets to them. That's attachment to outcomes. When you have filled your mind with the experience of your successful outcome, you close your mind to doubt by removing the emotional attachment to success. Adopt a "so what" attitude. Relax. When Arjurna is called upon to shoot a fish in the eye from 100 paces in order to save his son's life, he asks Krishna what to do. Krishna says "See only the eye." Focus and relax.
Doesn't sound like a marketing idea?
Every move you make in marketing should involve risk.
The best marketers are always in the danger zone, on the frontier.
Watching other people choking.
Doesn't sound like a marketing idea?
Every move you make in marketing should involve risk.
The best marketers are always in the danger zone, on the frontier.
Watching other people choking.
...Then act!
Start with the end in mind (continued).
Visualise success.
If it is a new product concept, write the ad for it.
If it is a launch, write the news report.
If it is a presentation, picture shaking hands on the deal.
Then act...
With no attachment to the outcome.
--
Visualise success.
If it is a new product concept, write the ad for it.
If it is a launch, write the news report.
If it is a presentation, picture shaking hands on the deal.
Then act...
With no attachment to the outcome.
--
In the beginning...
... was the END.
Start with the end in mind.
Express your intended outcome as though it had already materialised.
Then act.
--
Start with the end in mind.
Express your intended outcome as though it had already materialised.
Then act.
--
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