This short clip from the movie Walk The Line says the most important thing about marketing. Be real.
9 reasons why point of view is the future of marketing
I think that having a clear point of view is the future of marketing.
The photos to the right illustrate very clear and amusing points of view.
But what does having a clear perspective have to do with marketing?
I think it’s future of marketing not because I think it’s the most important but I think it’s one of the least understood and least explored facet of marketing today.
The marketing world has been talking about features, benefits, speaking to the problem or evening promising a clear result for years. Those are all vital, but I think that point of view is often an overlooked piece. Yes, having a target market matters but it’s not a new idea – and what does it matter if you aren’t bringing those people a refreshing perspective?
I think that having a clear point of view is the difference between people paying attention to you and ignoring you.
I think that having a clear point of view is the difference between people talking about you and forgetting you.
I think that having a clear point of view is the difference between crafting good offers and irresistible ones.
I think that having a clear point of view is the difference between attracting okay clients and amazing ones.
A big claim.
Let me back it up a bit . . .
What’s a point of view all about?
Your point of view is your liberating idea.
My friend and colleague Alex Baisley offered up the liberating idea for entrepreneurs that we should design our ideal lifestyle and then back our business into that – not the other ways around. The idea that you can live your dream lifestyle right now; that you don’t need to wait until you retire.
John Gray had the novel notion that it’s like men and women are from different planets – Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. A lot of people resonated with it. The idea was that if we could honour our differences we might actually come to celebrate and enjoy them rather than seeing them as sources of frustration.
The documentary The Corporation came from the point of view that if we were going to consider corporations people (as they legally are) then we should be honest about their personality profiles: psychopaths.
The documentary The Economics of Happiness explores the idea that we need to shift from global corporate economics to local economics – and that this shift would create deeper community, happiness and well being.
My colleague Carrie Klassen‘s tagline is ‘guilt free marketing for nice people.’ There’s a whole worldview in there. That marketing can be done by nice people without guilt. What an idea!
I had the idea that marketing training should be accessible to people regardless of their income – and especially to folks doing good work to make the world a better place.
These are all ideas that some people will hear and say, ‘yes! that’s always felt true for me . . . you said what I’ve always been feeling.’
Your point of view should express people’s unarticulated inklings.
What’s your liberating idea?
It’s some new notion (or an old notion framed in such a way that people can hear it) about how to engage in a particular journey people are on.
It’s both the map and the route you’re planning to take but it’s also WHY you chose that route. It’s all the elements (e.g. wind, tides, waves, sea monsters, rocks and reefs, safe harbours, pirates etc.) that come together to determine why one route from Island A to Island B is better than the others.
It’s your understanding of not just the source of the pain (the symptoms people experience) but the underlying causes of it.
It’s your world view, opinion, your take on things, your angle, your diagnosis, context, an expression of your unique voice. It’s your thesis.
It’s the accumulation of all your past experiences of a particular journey organized, sifted and distilled.
Generally, it’s about your point of view on yourself, life and other people – but more narrowly it’s your take on how to best make the journey. It’s your opinion on how to go about solving the problem. It’s the case you’re trying to make to the jury about why the evidence should be looked at in a certain way.
It says, ‘there are _____ people/communities with _______ problem. and I think that ______ is the best way to address it because of _______ factors.’
It’s acknowledging that what’s being done is, somehow, not enough. that if enough were being done – if the right approach had been found, we wouldn’t still be having the issue. It doesn’t mean your plans are guaranteed to work – but that you have a working blueprint; you have a direction.
You do things a certain way – why?
Here’s a piece I wrote in another blog post about this:
The heart of marketing is this: “You have ______ problem, and want _______ result.” Does that make sense? You’re basically asking them to trust you. You’re asking them to follow your lead, to trust in your product or service, to trust the process you will be taking them through. And that can be scary for people – especially around certain problems.
Once you’ve established the basic relevance clearly, once people see that what you’re offering is a fit, that it’s designed for people like them, you need to go about building some credibility by telling them about past results, and how you do what you do. But there’s a level most people ignore which is sharing why you do your work the way you do it. Sharing the ‘point of view’ or ‘philosophy’ that guides your work. It’s surprisingly powerful to give people the bigger picture, the context that you see yourself working in. Like showing people not only the best route from Grand Central Station to Central Park – but breaking out the whole map of Manhattan and explaining why you chose that route. There’s something about this that is enormously reassuring and can allow people to really relax into your guidance.
This is my experience: most people have years of experience in making a journey and supporting others but most people haven’t reflected on it and articulated their findings. They’re learned from their experiences, but they haven’t yet learned what they learned. They went through the experience but they haven’t taken the time to sit with it and pull out the lessons in such a way that they’d make sense to anyone else.
Nine reasons why point of view matters so much . . .
reason #1: the confused mind says no. Most people’s businesses are tremendously fuzzy. No one really ‘gets it’. They describe them and people are left having no idea what it’s about. You need to be clear about the journey you’re offering to help them with (i.e. the problem you solve for a particular group of people and the result you’re helping them achieve).
That’s the baseline.
If there’s no clarity there then there’s no chance for relevance.
But beyond that you need to be clear about your perspective of the journey. If you aren’t . . . well there are a lot of other people offering what you offer to choose from. You don’t want them feeling fuzzy about your approach to the problem. You want your core philosophy to be clear and explicit.
Again, it’s not just what you’re offering – it’s where you’re coming from.
When it is, your approach will make sense to them (and you). When your point of view is clear to them then suddenly everything you’re doing will make sense to them because it all comes from the same core perspective. They will value it more. Everything gets aligned. Your point of view becomes the true north around which everything magnetizes. This ‘golden thread’ provides an overall narrative or story to follow. This doesn’t mean people will love it, or agree. It just means that what you’re offering will make sense to them and that they can decide if that is a fit for them.
reason #2: You’ll attract way better clients. There’s an old adage that ‘people love buying, but they hate being sold to.’ And yet, there’s the fear that if we stop advertising and selling then people will stop buying. But a) that’s a terribly limited notion of marketing and b) it’s just not necessarily so. What if there was a way to draw people to you who are a perfect fit for you?
There is.
But let me define ‘perfect fit’ in a way that might be new for you.
Criteria #1: They are committed to taking a journey that you can help them with.
Criteria #2: They are generally the kind of person you like to like to connect with. They embody the qualities you most want (e.g. open minded, positive, ready to do the work and take responsibility for their lives, they show up on time, pay well etc).
Criteria #3: They share your point of view on life and particularly the journey even if they haven’t been able to articulate it as well as you (or they’re in a place where they’re genuinely open to being persuaded about another way of seeing things).
When you put out a clear point of view, your approach will attract people who are already aligned with what you believe; people who are open to what you have to say and ready to work with you. It’s like a clear homing beacon. It’s like a bright lighthouse that cuts through the rain and the fog indicating where safe harbour is. They see the lighthouse and think, ‘Aha! Finally. We’ve arrived.’ That’s how we feel when
It’s much harder to try to educate a client into a new point of view. You’ll still have to do some of that – but overall you’ll be getting a lot more people who are a match for what you’re offering.
And consider this: while clarifying an explicit definition of who you’re trying to reach (your niche) is vital – what if a niche could also be implicit? What if another way to look at your niche is, ‘people who are into _______ point of view’? Interesting, yes?
Consider these brilliant words from Seth Godin‘s book seminal book Tribes.
This leads to an interesting thought: you get to choose the tribe you will lead. Through your actions as a leader you attract a tribe that wants to follow you. That tribe has a worldview that matches the message you are sending.
Important clarification: Great marketers lead people, stretching the boundaries and bringing new messages to people who want to hear them. The core of my argument is that someone’s worldview, how they feel about risk or other factors, is beyond your ability to change in the short run. Sell people something they’re interesting in buying. If you can’t leverage the worldview they already have, you are essentially invisible. Which is a whole other sort of magic, one that’s not so profitable.
If you are leading a tribe focused on saving the world by fighting global warming, the tribe will of course have a worldview that includes the idea that global warming is a problem and that it includes the idea that global warming is a problem and that it can be addressed through its actions. They come to the tribe with that in mind and your leadership resonates with them.
If, on the other hand, you choose to work to persuade a different group, one with a very different worldview, they will likely reject you. Al Gore started leading his tribe when he didn’t know who they were. He stated his message and people found him.
Ultimately, people are most easily led where they wanted to go all along. While that may seem as if it limits your originality or influence, it’s true. Fox News didn’t persuade millions of people to become conservatives, they just assembled a tribe and led them where they were already headed.
Tribes are increasingly voluntary. No one is forced to work for your firm or attend your services. People have a choice of which music to listen to and which movies to watch. So great leaders don’t try to please everyone. Great leaders don’t water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger. Instead they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the mist of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be.
As the ability to lead a tribe becomes open to more people, it’s interesting to note that those who take that opportunity (and those who succeed most often) are doing it because of what they can do for the tribe, not for what the tribe can do for them.
This is the heart of the matter: Every leader cares for and supports a movement. A movement like the free speech movement at Berkeley or the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square or the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Or maybe a movement like the obsession with hand roasted coffee in Brooklyn or the worldwide collection of people obsessed with tattoos.
Today, you can have a narrow movement, a tiny movement, a movement in a silo. Your movement can be known by ten or twenty or a thousand people, people in your community or people around the world. And most often, it can be the people you work with or for, or those who work for you.
The web connects people. That’s what it does. And movements take connected people and make change. What marketers and organizers and people who care are discovering is that they can ignite a micromovement and then be propelled by the people who choose to follow it.
reason #3: A clearly expressed point of view will help you find the right hubs. You’ll naturally attract more clients, but, perhaps even more importantly, you’ll know where to find them. The myth of target marketing is that people hang out primarily with people who share the same demographics. While this is true in some ways, in others it’s not. People are more likely to hang out with others who share a similar worldview.
Not all black males, ages 50-60, living in Seattle, making $60-80,000/year are going to hang out in the same places, read the same magazines, or frequent the same events. But Pentacostal Christians? Fanatical pet owners? Doctor Who fans? Vegetarians? Anarchists?Improvisors?
Once we have identified the world view we’re coming from we can begin to ask ourselves, ‘where would people who believe this (or are open to this) hang out?’ To read more about the importance of thinking beyond demographics click here.
People often gather around a world view.
reason #4: Your offers are more likely to succeed when they align with what they already believe. It’s crucial to understand that people already have a point of view on why they’re stuck. They already have some kind of ‘take’ on their own situation. They already have a general worldview. Imagine a fundamentalist, born again Christian walking through a health show and seeing one booth for a pagan, ritual healing business, and another one that is all about prayer and faith healing. In truth they might do the exact same thing! But guess which one our born again friend goes to.
Now, some are confused and lost and very open to a worldview that would make sense of their current problems. And some are clear what the problem is and changing their minds is unlikely.
So, the point isn’t to cynically figure out your target market and identify their worldview (though I guess you could do that). It’s about you figuring out your own worldview (and you can begin that process by answering these questions) and then sharing that as clearly as possible. Your liberating idea becomes the beacon that draws people in. It’s a refreshing alternative to what they’ve already tried.
A clear and unique point of view is a powerful distinguisher. It is the core of what makes you unique. It’s the heart of why you design your offers the way you do.
But it’s more than this.
Your offers will become clearer, better and more aligned. Remember, your point of view is your diagnosis of the situation – and so it informs and affects your offers, your solutions – even your tone. As your understanding of the territory deepens, your map gets better and you’re better able to design a boat that is perfect for the route you want to take. The clearer your point of view is the more your offers will become embodied expressions of them. If you’re liberating notion is that we’re all equal – it wouldn’t fit to run a workshop where you are on stage speaking down to everyone the whole time with no chance for group interaction.
If you’re a men’s program and your take is that men need more honest feedback from women about what it’s like to be with them – you’re hardly likely to have the basis of your business be e-books. You’re far more likely to design workshops and events where men get a chance to get that live feedback like the Authentic Man Program did. Their point of view about raw authenticity isn’t just an idea – it affects the tone of their marketing, the colours they choose on their website etc. Nothing in your business is left untouched by your liberating idea.
Given that a core part of my point of view is about accessibility of this kind of marketing info for conscious entrepreneurs – it wouldn’t be very congruent for my programs to be the most expensive in the world and all happen at tropical resorts. So, I offer my workshops on a pay what you can basis.
This will happen naturally but it’s also possible to engage it consciously as an art form.
reason #5: They will trust you more. Think of anyone you deeply trust. Don’t they have a clear point of view? Don’t they have a clear and well articulated understanding of certain things? In fact, think of anyone who’s well known for making a difference in the world. People often become famous for a holding a certain point of view. Others who share it say, ‘yes! i’ve always believed that too.’ This is at the heart of becoming a hub.
Think of Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Che Guevera, Malcolm X or Mother Theresa. Didn’t they all have crystal clear perspectives? We come to depend on people for these. People who can clearly express what everyone else has been feeling and thinking and back it up . . . we love these people.
There’s something reassuring about knowing where someone is coming from and what they’re about.
reason #6: Your point of view is the source of every piece of content you ever create. Over the years I’ve come up with a bunch of questions that help people clarify their take on things. You could write a blog post question and have people love it. Looooove it.
Why?
Because people are looking for a map that makes sense. They’re looking for someone they can trust. They’re desperately trying to make sense of their situation so they can know where to invest their energies.
reason #7: It feels really good to articulate it and take your whole life’s experience and find a framework for it, to make sense of it. It’s freeing and liberating. There’s the old saying that ‘every master was once a disaster’. Because they went through pain but then they reflected on it and harvested the wisdom from it. Your mess is your message . . . but only once you’ve reflected on it and learned from it.
Articulating your point of view is not only an offering to the world – it’s a beautiful gift to yourself. It’s healing. It refreshes you. It will have you excited about your business again. You will feel rich . . . overflowing with this feeling of, ‘wow. I have so much to say about this!’ And you do. You have more to say that you can imagine. Don’t believe me? Go answer these questions and see for yourself.
reason #8: It will make people talk about you. Point of view is central to word of mouth marketing. It’s what draws them to you. It’s how they talk about you to their friends. ‘you know how most ______’s do it ______ way? Well he does it ______ way instead because of ______ story.’ People like to talk about ideas that make a difference. It makes them feel smart. And, if the idea was liberating to them, you’d better believe they’ll tell everyone.
reason #9: You get to be yourself. Perhaps the best reason . . . A while back I wrote a blog about finding your voice. There’s something even better than finding your voice. It’s expressing it. When you get really grounded in your point of view you move much more into a place of expressing yourself instead of trying to impress everyone. You get to authentically say what you think.
Scary. Will anyone listen? Will anyone care. It’s the feeling that every artist feels as so beautifully captured in this video by Tanya Davis
So, it’s scary but you can do it! What’s the alternative? Trying to be someone else?
In fact, it’s more than that . . . this approach doesn’t just allow you to be yourself – it demands it of you. It requires that you actually say what you want to say in the way you want to say it.
You get to swear if you want to (heavens!). You get to call a spade a spade. You get to say what you think about your industry. It’s so relaxing to no longer feel like a fraud, like we’re posing and pretending to be someone or something we’re not. What a relief to no longer be chasing people but simply sharing where we’re coming from and seeing who that resonates with (more people than you think).
*
So that’s it – nine reasons why having a clear point of view is the future of marketing. I’d love to get your reflections on where or not this makes sense or resonates with you.
To begin to articulate your point of view go and answer these questions.
i got robbed thursday night (no joke) – some business lessons ensued
This Thursday night at some point between between 1am and 8am, while I slept, someone entered my home and stole my laptop and iphone.
My entire business is run from those things.
Without them I can’t run my business. I can’t blog. I can’t tour. They hold my products, my blog post ideas (all 600 of them). All of it.
And those were both stolen from me Thursday night.
I woke up around 8am to go check my email and stumbled into the living room, still groggy, and saw my value village scored, wood framed couch empty and my painted white front door to my porch left slightly open letting in the cool morning air. “No no no no no . . .” the words tumbled out of my mouth as I registered what happened.
I’d been robbed.
My stomach sank and twisted. I felt dizzy. There was nothing I could do. They were long gone. I felt the shock hit my body hard as I struggled to take it all in.
I’d left my front door unlocked when I went to bed and my laptop on the couch and someone had just walked in and taken them.
My relief was visceral and immediate when I realized they had left my back up drive. And when I realized I’d backed up my computer immediately before going to bed. They’d left it. I felt an odd gratitude to my thief. ‘Thank you for not taking that.’ It has been plugged into my computer at the time. They’d intentionally left it. It meant that I’d not lost a single iota of data. They also left the leather satchel I loved so much and my wallet. Amazingly.
I called the police. Filled out some papers and went to buy myself a new computer and iPhone from the Apple Store at West Edmonton Mall (silently thanking the clients from my last tour who were allowing me to be able to pay for this all).
All is well now: the police are able to track my iPhone (if you have an iPhone get mobile me if you don’t have it already and enable ‘Find My iPhone). They have the serial numbers and there’s a decent chance they’ll find them at a pawnshop in the months to come.
And . . . this may seem odd – but I find myself wishing the thief well. He might be an asshole. I don’t know. He might just be desperate. He caught me on a good day? He might be a she. I don’t know. But I know people do the best they can with what they have in the moment. I’m aware of how useless judging people is. On my good days.
But today for some reason (and this is genuinely not my default response) tonight my prayer for him is that he becomes so overwhelmed with the unexpected generosity and random support of strangers in his life that his heart is filled right to his cockles, his bank account filled up nicely so that he no longer feels any need to take from others without asking. My prayer is that whatever larger issues of social justice that have him feel oppressed and downtrodden come to the public attention so we can all work on resolving those right down to the roots. My prayer is that he finds himself met with such a profound thunderstorm of respect from those he meets that he finds his deepest self respect and becomes an overflowing well of respect for others. And maybe in the midst of that he feels an irresistible urge to return my laptop.
Other upsides: my new laptop has more memory so i can fit so much more music and all the Doctor Who episodes I want. My old one kept telling me it was full. yay!
Another reason to be grateful to the thief who stole my laptop: my new laptop is finally able to rip those amazing CD’s I bought that my last laptop wouldn’t recognize. So excited to finally be able to listen to these CD’s!!
Other things the thief didn’t steal last night: my wallet and credit card, my bicycle, my leather bag i love so much, my trust in people’s goodness, my belief in the possibility of healing and redemption around every corner, my sense of humour, my sense of safety in this world and most importantly any of my Doctor Who things.
Here are the lessons I want to share from it:
- Back up your computer often. Just do it. You know you need to do this. Do it today. Don’t put it off. This could save your business. You can do this with a hard drive on an online drive. Or both. I feel like the universe gave me a relatively inexpensive lesson in responsibility Friday morning. Note taken. Thank you.
- Lock your doors. Be responsible for the things in your life. Until now, in true Canadian Hippie fashion I haven’t been a big door locker. I will now. There’s something about self respect here. Self care. Lock things up. This includes putting a passcode on your laptop and phone so people can’t just hack them.
- Install anti-theft software on your computer – I commend www.hiddenapp.com (check it out – so cool).
- When you have reserves built up – loss hurts less. How are your reserves? Do you have bit extra in money, love, community, support, food etc. So many people sort of scrape by and never take time to build up that little bit of extra padding. But it feels really good to have. When our basic needs are met a certain generosity in our heart opens up.
My question for you:
How do you responsibly take care of and protect your business?
All useful ideas, resources and tips are welcome.
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
Oh, No, She Didn’t!
The other week, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Maruxa Murphy (pictured right) for the Social Media Marketing Masters Telesummit (at which I’m a guest speaker).
After the call we ranted a bit about our frustrations with modern marketing. You can read it here. I thought she was brilliant and so I asked her if she would share her thoughts on my blog.
Oh, No, She Didn’t!
by Maruxa Murphy, MA
What if (and when) someone comes to you or I and says, “(Your Name), I’m not fully in line with the products/services/coaching I purchased from you. I’d like us to talk about it or refund the remaining balance please.”
How would you react?
Would you choose to puff your chest and huff back a response, or take the road less traveled – and listen to the concerns of your clients?
Last week, a good friend of mine sent me an email asking me to look over a conversation she had with her business coach and asked my opinion.
It seemed harmless enough, so I started to read. And as I read, I started to feel warm, mmm, actually kinda hot. I realized in that moment, as I was reading this thread, the response from her business coach was pretty much messed up.
In a nutshell, my friend was treated as just another number to this coach. It’s as if she was nameless, faceless without a dream, a desire or an opportunity to change the world for the better.
Her coach tried to change her branding approach completely and told her that her current message was garbage after meeting her for only 20 minutes and not fully knowing the true impact she’s already made in her industry. Not only did my friend who spent months crafting this message feel like a failure, but it broke the trust she had with this coach.
My friend then asked to pay her remaining balance and close this relationship. Instead of owning there may be an ill-fit in their relationship, this coach huffed in pride and couldn’t believe that someone would dare to question (this coach’s) knowledge?!
I was getting all hot and bothered by this email thread because the coach was basically shaming my friend for thinking for herself and trusting her inner wisdom.
Then, it hit me. In today’s day and age online, there are unfortunately more and more coaches, practioners, educators, and service providers who don’t know how to handle and wrestle with the idea that someone MAY NOT like what you offer or how you serve another client.
We are all told of the goodness, the richness, the yummy-ness of having an online presence for our businesses.
Some of us are even able to live the dream and completely give up the offline business to serve clients primarily through a virtual, information-based business, through online classes, e-books, audios, videos, etc.
We’re told that going online will allow us to live anywhere in the world, work from the beach, and drive the cool car we’ve always dreamed of driving (ah – thinking of that Yellow Old School Volkwagon Bug, convertible!)
And while YES, many of us who work with a primary online focus can live anywhere, work in our pajamas or bathing suits, and own the cars of our dreams, it’s not the full truth. To do that, you’ve got to be OK working a lot of hours, building quality relationships, and being your own version of you (i.e. Be completely OK being you) no matter how uncomfortable that may feel at the time. It’s all a process.
The other thing you’ve got to have, is the ability to work out the kinks, the bumps in the road that you can expect to have happen. And even more importantly than just working them out, you’ve got to handle obstacles with grace, kindness, and respect.
The people who are coming to you for your services are people. With dreams. With true passions. With God-given talents and abilities to make the world a better place in the best way they see that they are able to do on this earth.
If someone comes to you, and you huff and puff like our friend, the coach, in our post here, believe me, you’re not going to get a second chance from that customer, and easily hundreds of potential customers that customer is connected to.
However, let’s say you take the road less traveled, and you choose to listen, and hear what your client needs to share with you, you may end up with a client who knows you actually care, you actually want them to succeed. You SEE them. You leave them with an experience of you that let’s them know they matter.
It may be that they want to work with you again, but it also may mean that they don’t. And either way, it’s completely OK. But at least they feel heard, and their last interaction with you leaves a good taste in their mouth about you.
And if they run across someone who may be interested in your services, they may let them know how you treated them in the process.
I’m personally on a mission to help more businesses create experiences that impact their relationships, sales, and ultimately, give them more opportunities to enjoy what many describe is one of the hardest callings on earth – being a business that serves those around them.
I invite you to live and breathe in your business as you’d like to live and breathe outside of your business – treating all people (client or not) with grace, kindness and respect.
On Twitter? Let’s connect
On Facebook? Would love to connect there too
I love LinkedIn – Click here to connect on LinkedIn
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
would you write a testimonial for my blog?
An odd blog post to write.
I’m about to do a big launch of my blog to get more people subscribed to it. If you read this blog and like it – would you be willing to write a small testimonial for me about why you like it so much?
It will be used on a special page on this site where I’ll be sending people to subscribe for my blog. The page will spell out the difference between my email list and my blog and give a few testimonials from readers and subscribers like you. There will also be a video giving them a ‘tour’ of my blog. I think it’ll be pretty cool – and it might inspire you to make one of your own!
If you are getting this in your email and can’t see the form below, just CLICK HERE.
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
‘it was good for me’
My mom sent me an email the other day which I thought was really brilliant.
So many businesses set things up so it will be easier for them as a business – with no thought of how it might be for their clients (or for the environment or the rest of the world for that matter). It’s a very selfish focus. In the worst cases this can lead to slavery and exploitation and in the least intense situations it’s terrible customer service.
They set up those long voice mail systems of ‘press one if you want this, press two if you want that’ and ‘enter your phone number now’ and then the very first question they ask you when you get on the phone is ‘what’s your phone number?’
Enough to drive a person mad.
So much bad customer service comes down to this: seeing things through our own eyes as business owners and not through the eyes of the customer. And, of course, we need to honour both.
But, it’s critical to really step back and ask yourself, ‘how would it be to go through the process I’m asking my customers to go through?’
I’ve heard of CEO’s who shop anonymously in their own stores just to see what it’s like, or who call their own customer service to see how they are treated.
Here’s what my mom had to say – I bet you can relate:
Several times in the last few weeks, I have come up against this realization: I get how this is good for [insert name here]; I don’t get how it helps me as the customer.
Examples:
When the iPhone4 came out, the policy of the Apple Store was (finally — for a while they just had people line up) was to book appointments for people who wanted to upgrade their current cell phone service with an iPhone4. BUT, you could *only* book that day, and it had to be in person. No appointments for tomorrow, or the next day. If you arrived at the store at 10:00 am, you might get an appointment for 2:00 pm. What do you do in the meantime? (Specifically, what do *I* do — you heard me deliver this rant, I believe). I got that it helped them to control the flow of customers in the face of an erratic supply and limited customer service staff. I really didn’t get how it helped me. In fact, I very nearly gave up entirely, but Kevin prompted me one more time and it turned out that Rogers finally had them in stock. So, Apple nearly lost a customer over that one.
Automated dialing for solicitation: I get that this is great for the company, especially if they can attach a computerized announcement. Click “start” and the process takes care of itself. I really don’t get how it helps me when I have to interrupt what I am doing to answer the phone, only to hear a computer talking about something I neither need nor want.
Adobe keeps all the help files for its programs online. I get how this is easier and cheaper for them: they don’t need to print or ship bulky documents with their products and they can, at the same time, provide community support access. This one is a two-parter. I don’t get how online help is better than electronic help attached to the program, residing on my computer. I *particularly* don’t get how online help is better for me with my satellite connection. I am really tired of big companies assuming that everyone in the world has zippy, problem-free internet access.
You get the idea — and you can probably think up a bunch of your own examples.
Mum
Another example that comes to mind:
I went to get sushi years ago at a fastfood sushi place. I ordered an avocado/cucumber roll. He said he couldn’t make it. “Oh,” I said. “Are you out of avocado?” No, he replied. They had avocado. “So . . . you’re out of cucumber?” No. They had that too. But he explained that he couldn’t make it for me since it wasn’t on the menu. “I’m to pay extra?” He again said he couldn’t. “Can I speak to your manager?” He said I could but that his manager had punished him for making non menu items before. I was amazed. I get that this keeps things easier for the manager but it renders his workers bound with no flexibility to delight their customers.
Before you implement any policy, procedure or systems – ask yourself: would this make my life better as a customer?
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
the five secrets behind my video makeover
A few months ago, I got the video on my homepage redone by a colleague of mine named Donna Santos (pictured right) from Toronto. In a blog post, I asked my list if they liked my old, home made video better or the new professional one. The feedback (from over 50 people) was clear that Donna’s version was better – and also yielded 14 really clear reasons why it was better.
And, if you go to the link below, you can read another perspective still – behind the scenes. Donna will share the five elements she used to make the new video work so much better than the old one.
Read her insights at the link below . . .
http://donnasantos.com/2011/01/05/video-revamp-ba/
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
guest blog: From Hijacking to Rainmaking
You’re reading this post because I have a blog and a website. And that is almost entirely due to the incredible support and brilliance of Jaime Almond (pictured right) of www.rockyourniche.com.
The other day, she was browsing my blog and came across my blog on the phenomenon of Hijacking in business. And that inspired her to add her brilliant thoughts . . .
Tad wrote a great post about Hijacking that talked about the 4 major ways that people hijack at events and in business social situations:
How to be a Hijacker
1. Hijacking a table – people who leave cards or brochures without permission of the organizer.
2. Hijacking a brand – using a competitor’s brand to try to promote their brand.
3. Hijacking conversations – when someone jumps into a conversation without understanding what it was about and then taking it somewhere else.
4. Hijacking people’s wisdom – using other people’s content without permission and passing it off as their own.I would like to add two more to the list:
5. Hijacking people’s inboxes:
This happens after the event. You have given your card to someone and they add you to a mailing list without your permission. Usually, there is no way to get off the list without emailing them directly because they aren’t using proper mail management software like Mailchimp (check it out if you don’t have one – it’s free until you reach 500 subscribers).
Apart from being rude and forceful, it’s actually illegal to send a commercial message without permission being granted by the recipient or without a way for them to unsubscribe. For full details of this you can see the Bill C-28 .
6. Highjacking Facebook threads or other online social forums:
Tad and I ran a workshop together a couple of years ago. One person came to the Facebook event and started posting her own stuff about her cause all over the page – she added pictures, links and all kinds of stuff. It was rude, inappropriate and completely out of context. We deleted it all, but it left a very bad feeling.
I’ve also noticed that some people don’t take the time to visit people’s walls and post updates. Instead they just see something in the News Feed and post it directly on to that conversation. An extreme example of this was my partner Krister had posted an update asking to borrow something from his network. His mother then threadjacked to give an update that ended with his grandmother having cancer. No one was going to post after that. It killed the thread and he had to repost it.
I think everyone has experienced hijacking in one form or another and it doesn’t feel great.
How to become a Rainmaker
1. Become a Giver
Generally, people hijack in business situations because they think it’s going to get them something. The problem with this behaviour is that it comes from energy of taking, instead of giving which is far more effective in building business relationships.
To be a giver, you can’t have expectation of getting anything in return. You might, you might not. If you do, it could be tomorrow or it could be in 2 years. Usually relationships take time to build and hijackers think about the short term, rainmakers build relationships for the long term.
2. Stop looking for clients
It’s unlikely you are going to get a client at an event by going out there and pushing your services, so change your focus. Instead, work on boosting your profile by getting well known in your niche or networking to find referral partners.
The best referral partners are people who also serve your niche but don’t compete with you and who you can also refer business to. If you met someone who could be a good referral partner, you can initiate a follow up conversation by saying “I have clients that need your services. Let’s get together for a coffee and explore this”.
3. Introduce Yourself To The Organizer Before The Event
- Phone the organizer and introduce yourself. Ask questions about the event and find out who will be in the room. Ask them if there is anyone they recommend you meet. This simple step will help you get more out of the event no matter what happens.
- Offer to share the event with your network on Facebook. This doesn’t cost you anything if you are going anyway. You can simply post “Hey everyone, I’m going to this event, it looks great because of X. Does anyone want to come?” By mentioning it to the organizer, you now have made them aware that you have shared it and that could invoke feelings of reprocity from them. They may go out of their way to introduce you to people at the event.
- Offer them something (they will want). Depending on the situation and your business, you may be able to offer them something that has a mutually beneficial outcome. For example, if it’s a day long event, and you are a massage therapist, you could offer to give 5 minute seated massage during the lunch break. Or if you are a holistic practitioner, you could offer to bring a healthy snack where you could introduce it with the health benefits. If it’s a networking event you could offer to donate a door prize. This type of offer usually allows you to usually allows you to stand up in front of the room and introduce yourself. I’ve found it’s the most effective way for everyone in the room to know your name and what you do.
4. Be an Ambassador at the event
An ambassador acts like a host to help make other people comfortable. They ask a lot of questions and don’t try to dominate the conversation. They find ways to include others and introduce new comers to the conversation. This is the true meaning of “working the room”.
People love to talk about themselves and their passions. By finding out about them, you are helping them become interested in you. If they are interested, they will ask about you.
I find it very helpful to take notes about people discretely because if I met 20 people, I can’t always remember everything. Don’t do it while they are talking to you and definitely don’t write on their card as this offends some people. Sometimes I do it straight after the event while it’s still fresh in my mind.
My ultimate goal is always to get in front of as many people as possible and the best way to do this is to speak in front of the room. At one business group I attended as a guest, there was a series being done on getting great testimonials. I went to the to person who had been doing it and told him my best tips and he asked me to stand up and share them with the room. When I offered them to him, I didn’t expect him to give it to me, I was happy to let him use them, but it turned into a great outcome for me.
4. Follow up sincerely
Follow up in email the next day with the following 3 types of people:
- Potential Partners – people you met that could turn into a great business relationship. Start by reminding them about you through referencing something you talked about because they may not remember you. If you discussed a follow up coffee at the event, remind them, if not ask them now if it seems appropriate. Try to give them something in the email, like a link to an article or a resource they will like based on what you talked about.
- Potential Clients – only follow up with potential clients to offer a follow up consultation or phone call if they specifically asked, otherwise, send them something useful based on what you learned about them and ask if they want to connect with you on Facebook or Linkedin. Then make sure you share great stuff with your network and comment on their stuff.
- The Organizer – email the organizer and thank them for the event and tell what you enjoyed about it. As someone who has organized events, I have received very few thoughtful thank you messages afterwards. They will be grateful to hear it and it will help you to continue your relationship with the organizer.
If you’re needing help with your online presence (e.g. website, facebook, twitter, linkedin etc) then I can’t recommend contacting Jaime Almond enough. She’s brilliant.
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
seth godin says ‘moo’
Seth Godin is some kind of genius. Check out these cool ‘epigrams’ on little cards he’s offering. You can buy the at Moo. Here are my favourite ones.
how to organize a retreat
Wow. So many practical little nuggets here from Seth Godin on how to organize an effective retreat. I love this.There’s a tremendous opportunity to create events where people connect. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to turn these events into school-like conferences, not the emotional connections that are desired.You can create an advance with a team that knows one another from work, or even more profoundly, with a bunch of independent thinkers who come together to energize, inspire and connect.
I’ve been to a bunch and here’s what I’ve learned, in no particular order:
- Must be off site, with no access to electronic interruption
- Should be intense. Save the rest and relaxation for afterwards
- Create a dossier on each attendee in advance, with a photo and a non-humble CV of who they are and what they do and what their goals are
- Never (never) have people go around a circle and say their name and what they do and their favorite kind of vegetable or whatever. The problem? People spend the whole time trying to think of what to say, not listening to those in front of them (I once had to witness 600 people do this!!)
- Instead, a week ahead of time, give each person an assignment for a presentation at the event. It might be the answer to a question like, “what are you working on,” or “what’s bothering you,” or “what can you teach us.” Each person gets 300 seconds, that’s it.
- Have 11 people present their five minutes in an hour. Never do more than an hour in a row. The attendees now have a hook, something to talk to each presenter about in the hallway or the men’s room. “I disagree with what you said this morning…”
- Organize roundtable conversations, with no more than 20 people at a time (so if you have more attendees than this, break into groups.) Launch a firestarter, a five minute statement, then have at it. Everyone speaks up, conversations scale and ebb and flow.
- Solve problems. Get into small groups and have the groups build something, analyze something, create something totally irrelevant to what the organization does. The purpose is to put people in close proximity with just enough pressure to allow them to drop their shields.
- Do skits.
- Have a moderator who is brave enough and smart enough to call on people, cut people off, connect people and provoke them in a positive way.
- Invite a poker instructor or a horseshoe expert in to give a lesson and then follow it with a competition.
- Challenge attendees to describe a favorite film scene to you before the event. Pick a few and show them, then discuss.
- Don’t serve boring food.
- Use nametags at all times. Write the person’s first name REALLY big.
- Use placecards at each meal, rotating where people sit. Crowd the tables really tightly (12 at a table for 10) and serve buffet style to avoid lots of staffers in the room. Make it easy for people to leave boring tables and organically sit together at empty ones.
- Do something really interesting after 10 pm.
- Serve delicious food, weird food, vegan food, funky food. Just because you can.
- Don’t worry about being productive. Worry about being busy.
- Consider a tug of war or checkers tournament.
- Create an online site so attendees can check in after the event, swap email addresses or post promised links.
- Take a ton of pictures. Post them as the advance progresses.
If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.
Connect with Me: