I’m sure you’ve attended one of those seminars where a self-proclaimed expert wows the audience with his or her tales of ‘awesome customer service’. Have you ever wondered whether the long-term success of a business really does rest in the hands of grinning bellhops, airline stewards who forward-guess your every need, and receptionists who answer… “Is customer service overrated?”
A message for those business people who insist on competing on price: go ahead! That’s right. If you have a cost advantage, flaunt it. Cut your prices, build marketshare, consolidate that cost advantage and annihilate your competitors. So what’s the catch? Well, to successfully compete on price, you need to be able to manufacture, market… “Go ahead. Compete on price!”
“If only we could get distribution … we’d have it made.” I hear this anxious declaration regularly. Particularly from manufacturers and software vendors. I’ve even heard it from a number of musicians! Manufacturers want representation from agents or retailers. Software vendors want to establish relationships with resellers. And musicians want representation from a record label.… “Why resellers don’t sell, and why you should be glad they don’t!”
I’ve discussed in the past that an assumption that underpins the design and management of most sales processes is that conversion (rate) is the primary driver of sales. The Sales Process Engineering method recognises this assumption as erroneous. In most all sales processes, opportunity flow (volume) is the primary driver, not conversion. It’s quite easy… “When higher conversion equals lower sales”
At best ‘brand’ is a useful word. At worst, it’s a dangerously misleading management tool. It’s hard to talk about marketing without using the word brand (or one of its derivations). Believe me, I’ve tried! But in spite of (or, perhaps, because of) its useful nature, the word brand is functionally bankrupt. More often than… “The myth of brand equity”
My friend Jamie Hayes (whose Sydney gym was featured in edition 4 of AdVerb) likes to remind me that people don’t visit fitness centres any more. “The truth is,” he says, “they never did!” Jamie’s point is that, while almost all gyms have been calling themselves ‘fitness centres’ for the last ten years, their customers… “If it quacks like a duck!”
A message for those business people who insist on competing on price: go ahead! That’s right. If you have a cost advantage, flaunt it. Cut your prices, build marketshare, consolidate that cost advantage and annihilate your competitors. So what’s the catch? Well, to successfully compete on price, you need to be able to manufacture, market… “Go ahead. Compete on price!”
Why mysticism and marketing are incompatible bedfellows Imagine the reaction of your local doctor if you presented yourself with a cough and a slight fever and proceeded to inform her that you were suffering from tuberculosis! Can you imagine her obediently writing a prescription for Isoniazid and reporting your bad news to the relevant health… “‘Doctor, I think I’ve got tuberculosis!’”
It’s a conversation I’ve had time and time again. JR-M: Does that advertising campaign work? Marketing manager: It’s a little hard to say. JR-M: How do you mean? Marketing manager: Well, the phone doesn’t ring, but at least we’re getting our name out there. There they are, those nine terrible words: but at least we’re… “The nine most terrible words any marketing manager can possibly utter … and how you can avoid the need ever to use them”
[Note: the following post concludes with a challenge. I hope you’ll consider proposing a solution!] I can’t stand it anymore. If I hear one more (otherwise intelligent) person mention the concept of a ‘profitable customer’, I’m going to scream! The concept of a ‘profitable customer’ is as big a nonsense as that of a ‘profitable… “Is there such a thing as ‘customer profitability’?”
