The Competitive Advantage

May 10, 2016

Selling with email? STOP IT… your emails suck!

Every day, I receive emails from [pitiful, desperate, etc.] salespeople trying to sell me something. And as someone who has spent the better part of his 30-year career in sales and marketing, I can tell you that not only do these aggressive, high-pressure emails rarely work, they are generally so badly constructed and delivered that they have almost no chance of working.

So, for all of you salespeople – and more importantly, for your managers and business owners who just don’t have a clue – let me give you some guidelines for improving your chance of success when selling with email…

May 1, 2016

Strategy Before Tactics!

Before we jump into the importance of strategy – and specifically, the importance of developing strategy before creating tactics – a couple of definitions…

Strategy: Your ‘direction.’ It’s the ‘what’ you will do to achieve your goals.

Tactics: It’s the ‘how’ you will do it.

For example, ‘advertising’ is not a strategy… it’s a tactic that supports the strategy of ‘building awareness.’ One strategy can be supported by multiple tactics… and one tactic can support multiple strategies. Makes sense?

OK, back to the article…

April 26, 2016

Deliver a great customer experience… even to non-customers.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Norwalk, Connecticut after having flown into LaGuardia Airport in New York City earlier today. I got off the plane, followed the Ground Transportation signs and hopped on the shuttle bus to the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Center.

When I arrived at the center, Matt Scro, a very friendly and professional manager at Enterprise greeted me at the counter, introduced himself and shook my hand (something that has never happened to me at a rent-a-car facility… ever!).

When I asked him where I could find the “Emerald Aisle”… the issue came to light. My reservation wasn’t with Enterprise… it was with National Car Rental!

[insert what-an-idiot comment here!]

April 12, 2016

LITTLE things can make a BIG difference in marketing

The value of A/B Testing

A true story… Down the hall from our office is the sales & marketing office for a construction company that specializes in steel buildings. I’ve gotten to be friends with the heads of sales there.

He was telling me about a new video he recently placed on his website’s home page. He had hired a professional spokesperson, written a friendly script and produced a very nice little welcome video. Immediately, site activity dropped and bounce rates jumped. Huh?!

April 2, 2016

6 Marketing & Sales Lessons Learned in our First 4 Years in Business

I am proud to say that April 23, 2016 marks four years since we first opened our doors. And though I’ve led the growth of other organizations, this is first time I’ve built one from scratch. To that end, it’s been truly interesting to learn what it really takes to grow a business.

And based on that education, here the top 6 marketing & sales lessons that I think have had the most impact on our success…

#1. Spend time working ON your business… not just IN it.

As a small business owner or senior executive, it’s difficult not to get sucked into the details. Often, you have no choice. But if you don’t step back once in a while and ‘think’ a little, you’ll always be stuck in the ‘do’ mode and will constantly be forced to be reactive. Use this thinking time to take charge of your business.

March 29, 2016

Not doing Client Satisfaction surveys for yourself? Whuuuuut?!

8 Tips for Building Better Services with Surveys

In the perfect personification of ‘the cobbler’s’ children having no shoes,’ I am amazed at how many market research firms – that conduct studies for clients across the U.S. and around the world – don’t conduct any for themselves.

And the oddest one of those is the huge percentage of firms that don’t conduct a client satisfaction survey after each project. Why is that?

March 22, 2016

7 Tips for Successful In-Person Presentations

Last week, I had the privilege and pleasure (yes – it really was) of speaking to a room full of market researchers at the QRCA-Philadelphia Chapter’s monthly meeting.

It was one of the most enjoyable and successful (based on feedback from the participants) live speaking experiences I’ve had in several years. And as I look back at why it went so well, I think it boiled down to a handful of guidelines that all speakers should follow for in-person presentations…

March 15, 2016

How to Be Remarkable

In Seth Godin’s ground-breaking marketing book, Purple Cow, he espouses that all businesses should aspire to be ‘remarkable’… as a way to stand out from the crowd and build their brand.

On a recent trip to Dallas to visit my son, Alex, I got to experience something truly remarkable – something Godin, himself, would be proud of! My son took me to a place called Top Golf… ostensibly a driving range – but it was s-o-o-o-o much more! Top Golf combines the skill and sport of golf (they even provide the clubs) with the food and beverages of a fun sports bar (delivered to your ‘driving bay’) with the scorekeeping and competition of bowling (yup – it’s on the overhead screens here, too). It’s all very hi-tech/hi-touch… and it’s only $20/hour for all the balls you can hit, regardless of the number of people you’re with!

It not only redefines what a driving range is… it has created an entirely new category and made it a new kind of destination… ideal for fathers & sons, small groups, corporate outings and dates. A wait of more than 2 hours is not uncommon.

Top Golf is a great reminder that ‘remarkable’ is achievable…. that something truly different will capture people’s attention… and that a unique customer experience will create loyalists who come back again and again.