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The Motivated Marketing Letter |
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July
9, 2003 You're Always on the Kiss Cam |
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This article caught my eye last month. See if you can spot the marketing message: Kissing Freedom Goodbye
What Does This Have to Do with Marketing? The Kiss Cam is the realization that you're always advertising yourself and your business. Entrepreneurs and salespeople are always "on," always giving free samples of what it's like to do business with them. I became miserably aware of this early in my career, when I was a schoolteacher and cantor in Princeton, New Jersey. I taught hundreds of students each year and led religious services for hundreds of college students, faculty, and community members. I was a respected member of the community, a beacon of spirituality, and a source of wisdom to thousands. I was also an immature, hot-tempered, self-centered, stupid, smart aleck. And I didn't recognize by sight most of the people who thought me a paragon of virtue. I was on the Kiss Cam big time, and it took me quite a while to realize it. Until I reformed, I was continually apologizing to my "customers" for
I had to make a choice: give up the jobs that gave me public exposure and expectations of, if not saintliness, at least better-than-averageness, or bring my leisure time behavior in line with those expectations. I chose to improve myself. And while it was an act for a while (and sometimes still is, you'll be shocked to learn), the more I behave like my "best customers" expect me to behave, the more effective I am and the more I like myself. Last week my wife was getting a prescription filled at the pharmacist. She was waiting on line behind an elderly woman who was confused about her insurance coverage, her dosage, and her payment method. As the woman exited, the pharmacist and his assistant rolled their eyes and made fun of the woman. Now my wife and I wonder what they're saying about us in front of their other customers. We haven't switched pharmacies because of it, but we're no longer "loyal" customers. Now we're looking for a reason to switch. Your Competitive Advantage How you answer your business phone, how you negotiate with vendors, how you treat customers and prospects, how you deal with your neighbor with the barking dog, how you discipline your kids in the grocery store - all these are advertisements for or against your business. They differ from "traditional" advertising in two important ways. First, you get to choose whether or not to advertise in the newspaper or Yellow Pages. But your behavior advertises you 24/7, whether you want it to or not. Second, your behavior is infinitely more credible than your words. In the newspaper ad, you can say, "We care about our customers" all you want, and nobody's going to believe you. But when they experience your caring, or hear about it from their friends and neighbors, no convincing is necessary. You've bridged the credibility gap. Lest you think that I'm just advocating being a good person, let me tie this advice to an appeal to your greed glands. In order to appreciate how powerful this strategy is for building your business, you have to realize how unusual it is for businesspeople to be aware of the fact that they're always on the Kiss Cam. We delude ourselves into thinking that we're not in public all the time. Look at how people behave in their cars, on public roads. First of all, they pick their noses. People in a clear glass box, just a few feet away from hundreds of other people, picking their noses and applying mascara and for all the world acting like nobody can see them. Here's a marketing experiment: Get some magnetic signs for your car that advertise your business. Then, as you drive around, let pedestrians cross in front of you, give right of way to motorists pulling out of driveways, go two miles under the speed limit on residential streets, and break for small furry animals. That's the only form of "brand-building" I'd ever recommend to my clients. And it will go a long way toward making the rest of your marketing believable. There's an old Jewish tale about a rabbi who lamented, "I wish people would fear God as much as they fear other people." One of his followers asked, "Only as much as that? Surely people should fear God more than they fear each other." The rabbi replied sadly, "I'd settle for that. People always look around and say, 'I hope nobody sees me.'" Go out there and make this a beautiful day for your business. And pucker up - you're on the Kiss Cam!
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us
that someone may be looking.
If you want to know how pious a man is, don't
watch him while he prays. Watch him while he eats.
It is well to remember that the entire
universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
And I wish you'd stop whispering.
Who are you going to believe, me or your own
eyes?
I just got skylights put in my place. The
people who live above me are furious.
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1. Think about your own Kiss Cam - a time you witnessed a colleague, vendor, or client make a fool of themselves or act badly in public. I've witnessed drunkenness, obscene jokes, inappropriate come-ons, uncontrolled rage, pettiness, negativism, racism, sexism, homophobia, cruelty to animals - you name it. It's hard to see the person in the same light ever again. It's rare, in fact, to ever speak of the matter to the offending person.
2. Make a list of five common situations in which your "off-duty" behavior has been or could be noticed by customers. In each situation, write down one behavior of yours that would turn them off, and one behavior that would turn them on.
3. Remember the Danny Kaye movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"? He fantasized about performing all sorts of heroics to win the woman of his dreams. Let your imagination run wild. How would you like to be "caught" by the customer of your dreams. What are you doing? How are you acting? Write a paragraph describing what the customer sees and hears. 1.
Word of Mouth Marketing, by Jerry Wilson. I've
praised this book in another context in this newsletter. It merits a repeat
mention because word of mouth travels powerfully when you come out looking
good on the Kiss Cam. Click
here to buy it from amazon.com. One of the main sources of new leads is referral business and joint ventures. Your good name, on and off the field of business, will generate the goodwill that will generate the good leads. Leads into Gold helps you market your business by seeking to serve, rather than manipulate, your prospects and customers. If you haven't been in a while, check out the Leads into Gold website. I have a cool "talking testimonial" from a customer, and a goofy little audio message that I recorded from my telephone. Click here to buy Leads into Gold before the price goes up. 3. Lead GenerationTeleseminar on CD Interested in Leads into Gold, but not quite ready to commit? Why not dip your toe in the water instead of diving in? Get the CD of a live teleseminar that I conducted a couple of months ago. I pull out all the stops in this introduction to lead generation. End cold calling forever - learn how in just 1 hour of listening. Your investment is a whopping $15, and if you order before July 14, you get free shipping anywhere in the US. Click here to order.4. Put talking testimonials on your website: www.howieconnect.com/talkingwebsite.htm If you've visited http://www.leadsintogold.com in the last two weeks, you've seen a very cool new audio component. It's a service that makes it simple, quick, and cheap to get people to give you glowing testimonials at the moment you've deserved them. Picture this: you've just helped a customer or client, and they're really grateful. You hand them your cell phone and say, "Would you mind repeating what you just said so I can use it on my website? It's so much more powerful when you say something nice about me than when I say it about myself." They wait for the beep, record the message, and eight seconds later it's ready for you or your webmaster to insert on your site. If you are truly shining on the Kiss Cam, you're probably missing dozens of opportunities each week to capture glowing testimonials from adoring customers. Check out this truly revolutionary technology and let your customers brag about you to the world. The Motivated Marketing Letter Details The Motivated Marketing Letter is published whenever I feel like it (these days it seems to be coming out twice a month), and is a copyrighted feature of howieconnect. For down-to-earth, ethical, and easy-to-follow marketing guidance, visit www.howieconnect.com. I work with businesses and solo practitioners who are great at what they do, and not so great at telling the world about it. What would you like to read about in future issues of the Motivated Marketing Letter? Email me topics and questions, and save me the trouble of guessing. To unsubscribe with no hard feelings, click on the link at the bottom of this email. If you would like to subscribe to the Motivated Marketing Letter, fill out the form on my home page, www.howieconnect.com. You'll get my seven-part lead generation course, and then about two letters a month. I build my business through referral - I'd be grateful if you would forward this email to any associates who would be glad to receive it. Thanks.
Could it be that all those trick-or-treaters
wearing sheets aren't going as ghosts, but as mattresses?
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly
ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life
without even considering if there are men on base.
Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are
they afraid someone will clean them?
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Until next time, all the best, |
The Leads into Gold™ System. A marketing course, toolkit, swipe file and audio crash course & "personal trainer" to help you attract more business than you can handle with no cold calling. Learn how to generate qualified leads who want what you sell. Get them to call you. Listen to a happy customer who almost didn't buy for a very good reason! Click here to buy Leads into Gold before the price goes up. I'll "bribe" you to tell a friend about howieconnect with a special report, "How to Achieve Massive Superiority in Your Market" May 7 Teleseminar available on CD: An introduction to a revolutionary approach to lead generation. End cold calling forever - learn how in just 1 hour of listening. Your investment is a whopping $15, and if you order before July 11, you get free shipping anywhere in the US. Click here to order.
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