The Snowball Effect

Walking into my financial institution today, I was reminded of the excellent job their marketing department had done on their recent brochures. Attractively and conveniently displayed for customers to pick up, the brochures invite attention.

How do they do this?

Each brochure has one simple verb in large type at the top of the front tri-fold panel. Access. Grow. Benefit. Invest. These are a few of the verbs. The verb leads into a statement which becomes the headline. “Access your accounts with ease.” “Grow your savings.” “Benefit from our checking accounts.” “Invest in a certificate of deposit.” This headline lays the groundwork of what to expect within the brochure.

In addition to using a verb to draw attention, each brochure features one single image on the front panel which illustrates the contents. Some of these images are quite inventive, including the child in yellow, knee-high, waterproof boots watering a tall sunflower. All feature people doing activities representative of the brochure’s contents such as using a laptop to check accounts or leaning on a vehicle for an auto loan. These images further attract attention. They also communicate the financial institution’s focus on its customers.

Finally, the blue color representative of the organization is woven into the brochures with a blue quarter-inch border across the top of all panels and as the main text color. An off-white background throughout makes the text easy-to-read. Text headlines and highlights are in gold. Both colors are attractive on the off-white background and easily read, whatever the size of the font.

The look and message of these brochures is continued on the institution’s Web site with the verbs in large gold type and the text in blue against a biege background. Mirroring the brochures, a verb and a single image are at the top of each page on the site. Taking this a step further, signage inside the locations reflects the same look and the same message as the Web site and the brochures.

This is profitable marketing.

Why?

The financial institution took the time to decide what message they wanted to convey. Once they decided, the message was set up to be attractively presented and easily understood. Then, they reinforced the message by presenting the same message with the same look in their brochures, in their signage, and on their Web site. By doing this, they received the benefit of the snowball effect. Each contact with the organization built upon the past contact, firmly imprinting the organization’s message upon its customers.

What is your reaction to their profitable marketing? Do you think, “Of course they can do this. They probably have lots of money and staff.” Or, do your think, “That just makes sense. Doesn’t everyone do what they did?” What I hope that you think is “Good point! Are we doing that in our business?”

Make sure that you are.

The Lifeblood of a Business

Yesterday I watched a news report about a fascinating individual. Everyday he sets up a table and a chair on a curb in New York City and sells $5 potato peelers to passersby. Seventy-four years young, he rises at 4 a.m. every morning and sets up shop in time to catch the early crowd. He warehouses his inventory in one room of his Park Avenue apartment. Yes, he lives in a Park Avenue apartment. He sells enough of those $5 potato peelers to live in an expensive apartment in New York City and to save for his granddaughters' college education.

"Never underestimate a small amount of money," he says.

Obviously, this gentleman is an excellent salesman. Once someone has purchased one potato peeler, he suggests that the person buy three more. "Why should you buy three more," he questions, "when they last a lifetime?"

"Because you've got three friends, that's why!"

Although he never takes a vacation, he views life as one. "The secret to success," he notes, "is not doing what you like, but liking what you do."

We can learn a great deal from him.

Take a look at how much he does without a storefront, a business name, a permanent location, and employees, except himself. How does he do it? He focuses purely on the revenue-generating function of his business. He sells potato peelers, preferably more than one, to everyone who passes by. His entire day is spent taking in money.

Now I realize that not every business can function this simplistically. Most businesses do have storefronts, employees, and permanent locations. Most businesses must attend to many other functions of the business other than just selling their products or services. Most businesses, even small ones, have many systems which require regular attention.

What concerns me is that in the midst of tending to all of these functions and systems, many businesses lose their focus on generating revenue. They get "caught up" in the daily routine of tending the non-revenue-generating functions of their businesses and unintentionally neglect the revenue-generating activities. They set aside marketing, customer development, and publicity, instead taking care of building maintenance, inventory control, and accounting problems. Perhaps business people feel more comfortable with these activities or perhaps these activities seem more urgent because they are right in front of them, demanding attention.

In contrast, revenue-generating activities are acknowledged to be important but often do not seem urgent. At least, they are not urgent until the business needs revenue. Then, they become urgent. Then marketing gets attention. When the bank account is low, marketing, the business's revenue-generator, becomes important and urgent.

That's always too late.

Everyday a business does not work at generating revenue, the business loses money. The gentleman selling potato peelers recognized that fact, which is why he focused on generating revenue everyday. Although many other functions are important to running a business, the lifeblood of a business is revenue. To generate it, you must give it your attention.

Do you give attention to your marketing everyday?

Listen

Late last week I spent two days at a teachers' convention promoting the products of one of my businesses, Monarch Tree Publishing. We released a new book and a new CD at the event. The book for young adults, Jesse and Cash and The Illegal Trappers, was the second in the six-book series. My emphasis in promoting the book was to focus on the series and the book's position as second in it. However, after listening to the teachers' reactions to the book, my focus changed.

Since the book is set in Madeline Island, Wisconsin, during Christmas vacation and these teachers are from Wisconsin, their interest was piqued by the location and the time of year. They found the series of secondary interest and illustrated that by asking, "Do the books need to be read in sequence?" When they were told that was not necessary, they always chose the second book first. As I reviewed our results at the end of the convention, I was struck by their response and, as a result, have changed my focus on how to market the book.

My focus changed because I listened to my customer.

Yesterday, I was reminded of this when a friend pointed out a reader's comment in Entertainment Weekly. "Look at this," she commented. "This person is criticizing HBO for dropping series. He says that HBO's viewership is declining because viewers don't trust the network. Viewers don't want to invest the time in watching HBO's series because they have been burned too many times when HBO abruptly discontinued popular series. He is saying that HBO doesn't listen to its customers."

She readily agreed with this feeling because she loved Deadwood, an HBO series, and has been agonizing over its demise for the last couple of years. When HBO suddenly dropped the series, the network promised three made-for-TV movies to wrap up loose ends of the story, but that, too, was scrapped. Her upset with HBO was so great that she dropped her subscription to the network. As you can tell, she continues to gravitate toward others who share her complaints about HBO.

HBO did not listen to its customers.

These are two good examples of what happens when you do and when you don't listen to your customers. When you do listen, you find out about your product or services from your customer's point of view. Getting your customer's perspective allows you to make adjustments in how you present your offerings. It allows you to change your offering to better suit what your customer wants. It shows you opportunities for additional business. When you do not listen, you miss all of that valuable information. Not getting your customer's perspective loses revenue. It misses opportunities. Worst of all, it could contribute to the downfall of your business.

You can improve your business today by getting your customer's point of view. Are you doing this?

The Wrong "Me"

I was watching the Sunday Today Show this week and became particularly interested in a segment that Jenna, one of the anchors, presented on coffee. She said that she didn't like coffee and spent a great deal of time on that fact. She recorded most of the segment at a coffee house where the owner showed her how the cup of coffee was made and how to swirl a design onto the surface of her cup of coffee. At the end of the segment, Jenna came back into the studio and talked to an expert about the different types of coffeemakers. The expert had barely begun to talk about the first coffeemaker when Jenna said, "Sorry, we are out of time. Thanks for coming."

Since the expert was halted in the middle of a sentence which I found quite interesting, I felt cheated. "Hey!" I thought. "I want to know more about that thermal warmer coffeemaker." Jenna was in such a rush that she did not even mention if there was more information on NBC's Web site about the story and that particular coffeemaker.

Mulling this over, I realized that Jenna had been focused on the wrong "me." Rather than focusing on theme of her viewer, or customer, she was focused on the me of herself. She spent much of the segment devoted to talking about her attitude toward coffee. She highlighted activities such as making the swirl in the coffee that, while interesting, were of interest to her and not of importance to the average viewer. She cut the guest off in mid-sentence and did not reference where to find out more information, ignoring the viewer's desire to know more because she was not interested.

Jenna fell into a trap which snares us all: We look at what we offer through our eyes rather than through our customer's eyes. We give too much attention to the wrong me, our own "me" rather than the "me" of our customer. We think too much about what's in it for us, not what's in it for our customer. We spend too little time finding out what interests our customer.

Instead, we offer our customer what we choose. We stock products or offer services which we think our customer will want. We don't talk to our customers about what they want. We offer what "experts" suggest, and then we wonder why customers don't buy.

Are you doing this with your customers? When was the last time that you talked to your customers about what you offer? Have you ever done so? If you haven't, talk to your customers soon. Make doing so a priority. Talking to your customers will keep your focus on the right "me."

Focusing on the wrong "me" misses opportunities and reduces revenues.