Selling Bricks

I tweeted earlier today about the NYTimes article covering The OgilvyOne Brick Sale.

I’m torn, really torn. I like the fact that they are encouraging the noble art of selling, but they are going about it in a very poor way I think.

They use the analog of a door to door salesman. A bad start; to me that conveys high pressure tactics unrelated to the need of the ‘buyer’.

And is a YouTube video ‘selling’ especially by a person? How does it develop the contributor’s sales skills? Advertising, perhaps.

“Salesmanship has been lost in the pursuit of art or the dazzle of technology,” said Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and chief executive at OgilvyOne in New York. “It needs to be rekindled in this postrecession environment, as consumers are making more informed and deliberate choices.” (As an aside, can you pronounce the chairman’s name – without using the web?)

Now that I agree with! Helping consumers make informed and deliberate choices is EXACTLY what we as marketers and sales pros should be doing. Now how are you going to do that? Are you really going to develop and hone those skills in the individuals taking part? With a video, really? Explain how please! Or are you simply employing a cheap gimmick to promote your company? It feels more like the latter to me.

“Those involved in developing the contest considered something more exciting as the subject, said Mish Fletcher, worldwide marketing director at OgilvyOne, but “the iPad does not need ‘the world’s greatest salesperson.’ ”

This quote simply reinforces The ‘they don’t get it’ feeling I have. Apple are the master storytellers and they DO do it with video more than most other organizations (and yes, I am a fan boy, I’ll be picking my iPad up at 9AM tomorrow). Back to my point though; none of knew what to do with an iPad until Apple told the story. We don’t know the full story yet; we’ll learn a lot by using the tool In the future. But Apple told a story compelling enough that we rushed out and said ‘that’s good enough for me’. The (rumored) sales Figure was over $75million in the weekend it was available to order.   

So let’s hope that OgilvyOne do a bit more to develop sales skills in the wider world than a flashy piece of PR. How about an ongoing effort to help people grow their skill? That would be a real boon. But only once you ‘get it’ that sales is about storytelling and helping people make choices. Not about kicking down the door.

So what’s the lesson for YOU? I’m back on my authenticity kick. Is the offer you are making to your customers authentic? More importantly, do THEY find it authentic? How do you know, have you asked them?

Wow Marketing

I went to by a chest belt for heart rate monitor at my local bike shop a couple of weeks ago. As well as offering to loan me his own personal item till an order came in, Justice offered advice and guidance on the best way to use it.

We chatted, and by the time I’d finished, I came out with a new Garmin Edge bike computer (I’ll write more about the horrible experience with Garmin’s site later). I was happy, added Wheels of Justice to 4Square and was on my way.

This week in the mail I get this:

What a fantastic piece of reinforcement of my purchase and a personal way to emphasize their personal service and support.

What could your business use a hand written note for?

Try it……

Golden Rule – again

I’ve talked a lot about the Golden Rule – ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’ (what my mum used to quote, from the Water Babies I seem to recall “Mrs. Do As You Would Be Done By’) – because it seems to me to be the fundamental ethical plank for all businesses. Or it should be.

The one below made me laugh out loud. I visited a local web lately looking for a massage therapist and noticed that the practitioner is applying for a patent to protect their method. Wellness is a business where ethics are pretty important one would think. And a competitive edge could be important.

But perhaps relying on intellectual property protection – through a patent – is not the best thing to do whilst ripping off someone else’s image for your web site.

Mrs Do As You Would Be Done By should be paying a call! Does your web site send dissonant messages to your visitors? Are you sure? Have you tested with real users?

How to delight with a boring old product….

How can you exceed expectations when your product is a commodity?

Like a car parking garage?

How about $7 a day (downtown central Austin) “we add a dollar at weekends, sorry”? Personable attendants, and a ticket that gets you three ‘in and outs’ per day.

Amazing.

Now what can YOU do for what seems like a boring, mainstream product?

John Nack’s though provoking quote

” I’m told there’s a Japanese proverb, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” If I could code worth a damn, you’d never see me again as I’d never leave my basement. That is, I already have the ideas for what to do, but I need to collaborate with people who can actually turn those ideas into reality. I’m lucky to work somewhere that lets me go beyond daydreaming, at least sometimes.”

Borrowed from John Nack’s blog.

Captures me, and my philosophy to a ‘T’, well perhaps a little less daydreaming. And that I get to choose the people I work with and the projects I pursue myself. That’s why I’m an independent and not in a corporate role nowadays.

We are REALLY sorry, now about that hard sell?

Some weeks ago I received the attached message and new credit card form Citicards:

I was not happy to hear that my personal data may have been compromised, but at least I live in a State that requires that a company tell me when such an event happens. In too many places that is still not the case and such an event can be quietly forgotten, more than six years after California became the first state to require such disclosure.

As usual, I’m required to activate the card by phone. I call and my home number is recognized and the activation proceeds smoothly. Till I get the message ‘Please hold for a representative.’ Oh, oh. It’s a cunning move as I can’t drop the call just in case the activation isn’t completed properly.

Turns out that there isn’t a problem with activation, but Citicard – in their misguided wisdom – want to do the hard sell on me. I’m pressured for additional services that I neither want or need. This in response to a major cock up in their systems and processes. Who on earth thought that ANY message other than a contrite apology for all the hassle that comes a credit card number change was a good idea?

Is that how you would treat your customer? I hope not. If one of my clients is ever in that situation my advice is to apologize, be contrite and ask what the company can do to make amends. Not to apply the high pressure sales tactics, with not so much as a ‘by your leave.’

And to add insult to injury, I can no longer download transactions from my Citicard account into Quicken which I use for my business and personal finances. 12 weeks later, I still can’t. ‘Customer Service’ tells me that they don’t know when it will be fixed.

Hey it’s only three months, for a feature that I’ve come to depend on. Fortunately, this is not a card I use a lot, so the volume of transactions can be hand entered, but it is a pain. And each time I have to do that for a monthly reconciliation, I’m reminded about the abysmal customer experience that Citicard makes me go through.

Compare and contrast with the customer experience at my other credit card – American Express – they have invariably done the right thing.

Citibank can send me as much marketing bumf and encouragement to spend. It won’t make me use their card, except when I have no alternative. Oh, and the last statement came with a notification that my APR is now 29+%!!!

Definitely feel like a valued customer!

So, how do YOU treat your customer when something bad happens? Do you go out of your way to make amends? And to make sure that each interaction thereafter reinforces the positives – and doesn’t keep rubbing salt in the sore wound?

Are you SURE?

Where is YOUR advertsing dollar going?

I collected mail from a PO box today and was once again struck how many people did what I did. I struggled to get the mail out of the small box; not because there was a lot of mail in there, simply because of all the unsolicited brochures, mailers, junk flyers etc. They come in a huge bundle and a royal pain in the nether regions.

There are big tables and very large trash bins, as far as I ca see only to serve to sort the wheat from the chaff and to dump the chaff. The bins are invariably full.

Someone is paying big bucks to create, print, and mail these items. And all that happens is they get dumped without a second glance. Your ONLY chance of making an impression (positive or not?) is when the recipient sorts through to ensure that there is no real mail in the middle of this stuff.

Is that how you invest your marketing spend? Do YOU pay for creative, print, mail just to see your investment thrown away?

I hope not, but its worth checking!