THE STICKY BOOMERANG | LOUD! CREATIVE WEBLOG

Potential buyers are hesitant to consider products and services that they cannot see, so they emphasize what they CAN see. As a result… visual symbols of a service become important.

Many services recognize this principle… that services are simply relationships amongst people. Visualize the following business leaders that focus on the person behind it. Charles Schwab, Henry Block, Colonel Sanders, Dave Thomas, Joel Hyatt and Wolfgang Puck. Ad agencies have consistently visualized their services through their people.

Consider the leather binders that financial firms use to symbolize prosperity, the dark columns that many law firms use to symbolize tenure and longevity, or the padded shoulders in military uniforms that the armed services use to symbolize strength.

Prospects look for visual clues for a service, and if they have none… they tend to look to services that do provide clues. So, provide clues in all you say and do. Make sure people see who you are throughout all of your marketing and promotional efforts… as well as in the experience you provide. You must create these visual surroundings, from the parking lot to the last page of your proposals… that will enhance the client’s perception of your quality.

Watch and perfect the visual clues that you send.

I’ve met people in professional services, that are prone to think that the bigger they get, the better their business will be. But there is proven evidence that superior performance is not critical to success in the services industry.

In one particular survey, clients rated “track record” 9th out of 17 attributes, rating it BELOW a sincere desire for a long term relationship.

Typically, neither your prospects or ours buy how good you are at what you do… but rather they buy how good you are at who you are.

Everyone loves to talk about ROI. The benchmark has firmly planted itself in the soil of marketing doctrine, widely accepted as a measure that makes it simple to evaluate marketing programs and gauge spending levels. “Return On Investment” enables financial types to evaluate marketing initiatives with the same approach they use to evaluate capital expenditures and acquisitions.

There is a fundamental problem with overemphasizing ROI as the single measure of marketing success: It is often impossible to accurately quantify the impact. Although the world of marketing has come a long way in terms of analytic capabilities, applying financial numbers to the marketing equation is not always possible or preferable.

Take branding, for example. For many companies, brands are their most valuable assets. Determining the precise value of a brand at any given moment is nearly impossible. If the value of a brand cannot be precisely calculated, then it’s impossible to solely use ROI to evaluate the decisions that impact the brand.

Click Here to read this article in its entirety, written by Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker for AdAge.com. Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker are both professors of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management.

It’s easy to calculate the investment cost for marketing… since it’s always at the bottom of the invoice. But how much is it costing you for failing to market your businesses to its maximum potential? Consider this “reverse-analysis” case study.

ASSUMPTION
Let’s assume a business sells its average product/service for $5,000, and that a new website to market your business costs $10,000.

QUESTION
What is the “least” number of new clients that would call, email or visit your doorstep… if your were to invest into a new website that was fresh, visually stunning, inviting, relevant, easy to navigate, up to date, a truer reflection of your brand… and more effective at shadowing your competitors?

FORMULA & RESULTS
If you were to only add 1 new client per month, at an average rate of $5,000 per each new client, you’d be adding $60,000 of newly found revenue over the next 12 months. If you were to add 2, you’d be adding $120,000 of new revenue. If the investment for your new website is $10,000, and the potential revenue from a new and more effective website ranges from $60,000 to $120,000… then the minimum cost of “not” upgrading your website is between $50,000 to $110,000 to your business over the next 12 months.

SUMMARY
Marketing is essential to the success of your business… and in this technology age… your website plays no small part in your marketing strategies. While counting the investment cost for your new website, brochure or any other marketing effort… be sure count the cost of “not” investing into your marketing and brand. You’ll inevitably find that it’s considerably more expensive to do “nothing” than it is to do “something.”

Computers, paperclips and office furniture are merely an “expense,” but your website and marketing efforts are an “investment” that deliver large financial dividends when executed effectively. How much revenue have you already forfeited in 2008 alone? Be a smart marketer.

Do you know how to create your position statement? Do you even know what a “position statement” is?

Your “position” is a cold-hearted, no-nonsense statement of how you’re perceived in the eyes of your prospect. Your “position statement” is a statement of how you’d wish to be perceived. It is the core message you wish to communicate in every medium, to influence the perceptions of your service.

Utilize the following questionnaire to establish your positioning statement.

1. WHO: Who are you? What’s your style… your drive… your personality… your priorities?

2. WHAT: What business are you in?

3. FOR WHOM: What people to you serve?

4. WHAT NEED: What are the special needs of the people you serve?

5. AGAINST WHOM: With whom are you competing?

6. WHAT’S DIFFERENT: What makes you different from those competitors?

7. WHAT’S THE BENEFIT: What’s the unique benefit that a client derives from your service?

Have seven good, clear… and accurate answers. Make sure these answers are consistently embedded into the fabric of your website, print marketing collateral, email marketing & broadcast advertising.

An association recently commissioned a study of 300 clients by asking… “What do you value the most from your service provider?” You might assume that fees to be at the top of the list… but you’d be wrong. Fees ranked only 9th on the list. Technical skills and high-level certifications ranked only 8th. The 2nd highest priority for choosing a service provider was a sincere demonstration to establish and maintain a long-term relationship with the client.

What was 1st on the list? “The speed at which they return my phone calls.” That’s right! When questioned in greater detail… these 300 surveyed clients indicated that they weren’t expecting immediate answers… but simply a prompt response. These clients wanted to be treated as though they were important.

Making your clients feel important is a key ingredient to the success of your company and your brand. In spite of your busy schedule… make this your first priority.

If your primary selling and branding position is “good value” — then you have no position. Value is what every service promises. The price of your service must fairly reflect its value to your prospective client or customer, or your business will fail.

In services, value is a given, and givens are not viable competitive positions. If good value is the first thing you communicate, you won’t be effective. If good value is your best position… IMPROVE YOUR SERVICE.

First, I want to wish each and every client and reader a Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that 2008 proves to be the best and most prosperous year ever for you, your families and your businesses. I am grateful for your friendships.

For me, 2007 has been a journey filled with growing and learning. As you may already know… my intention for this blog is for it to be a
no-cost, value-add resource for you, and your business or organization. It’s here that I share from my experiences, my client’s experiences, and the various resources from which I study and read.

As you endeavor to grow and develop in 2008, I thought it seemed a thoughtful gesture to share with you some of the books I’ve discovered and studied personally… and from which I post to this blog quite frequently. I hope this is helpful. I recommend all of them.

Please feel free to leave your comments. Don’t be inhibited to call me at my office should there be anything I can do for you. Again, Happy New Year !!! Congratulations on all your successes, and may you have so many more.

Brian

BRIAN WEBB’S RECOMMENDED READING LIST
(not necessarily in this order)

ALL MARKETERS ARE LIARS Author: Seth Godin

SELLING THE INVISIBLE - A FIELD GUIDE TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith

THE FOUR OBSESSIONS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE
Author: Patrick Lencioni

THE DREAM MANAGER Author: Matthew Kelly

THE DIP Author: Seth Godin

THE TIPPING POINT Author: Malcom Gladwell

E-MYTH REVISITED Author: Michael E. Gerber

E-MYTH MASTERY Author: Michael E. Gerber

DEATH BY MEETING Author: Patrick Lencioni

SECRETS OF CLOSING THE SALE Author: Zig Ziglar

THE INVISIBLE TOUCH, THE FOUR KEYS TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith

WHAT CLIENTS LOVE, A FIELD GUIDE TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS Author: Harry Beckwith

GETTING REAL Author: 37 Signals

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE Author: Dale Carnegie

ADVANCED SELLING STRATEGIES Author: Brian Tracy

THE FIVE TEMPTATIONS OF A CEO Author: Patrick Lencioni

NEVER EAT ALONE Author: Keith Ferrazzi

GOOD TO GREAT Author: Jim Collins

BUILT TO LAST Author: Jim Collins & Jerry Porras

Imagine this… What if you were to highlight the details of a business problem to the executives of a particular organization… What do you think their response would be?

The CFO would likely say… “It’s a resource problem.”
Human Resources would likely say… “It’s a people problem.”
R&D would likely say… “It’s an information problem.”
Marketing would likely say…“Let’s double the marketing budget.”

While I fully advocate that marketing is an absolute necessity for any business or organization to thrive… more marketing isn’t always the answer. To be successful, any organization needs to have their ducks in a row. Marketing; however, is just one duck.

Better marketing is good. A better reality is even better. Evaluate your business, your service, your systems, your leadership, your marketing. Keep getting better at what you do.

Your brand is the perception your clients and prospects have of your business or organization.

Keep improving your brand.

James Carville said… “It’s the economy, stupid,” and helped to win the presidential campaign for Bill Clinton. This campaign relentlessly focused on the economy… and the results? Well… you know the rest of the story. Bill Clinton was the “economy” candidate. Focus won. Clinton won.

Here’s another example. Sears used to be America’s department store. Now… they’re a casualty. Consider their competitors though…

NEIMAN MARCUS - Stuff to die for.

WAL MART - Good stuff so cheap you won’t believe it.

BLOOMINGDALES - Shopping as entertainment.

Sears focused on everything, and ultimately nothing. If you do not have a focus, you may soon not have a business.

Your brand is more than a symbol. In the public’s eye, your brand is a warranty. It is a promise that your service will live up to its name, and perform. Your brand is even MORE important than a warranty. No warranty does enough, because no warranty compensates the warranty holder for the lost time, suffering, frustration and inconvenience.

Your brand is more important because it is the closest thing to a guarantee… that the customer will not need the warranty, and have to endure the claims process. Brands are even more important to service customers because few services have warranties, in part because most services are difficult to impossible to warrant.

How does one warrant that their legal advice will be certainly good… that a waiter’s service will be good… that a tax accountant will find every permissable deduction? Clearly, in most cases, one can’t.

Left without a warranty, the client has only your brand on which to depend. And depending on brands is just what service clients do. A service is a promise, and building your brand, builds your promise.

Brands are decision making shortcuts in a fast paced world. People will frequently choose a well-branded product or service that’s inferior and more expensive, over a non-branded product or service, that’s superior and 30% cheaper.

Think about it. Prospects trust brands. A brand is a promise… a promise that you’ll do what say you will do. Offer your clients a shortcut. Build and strengthen your brand.