Last week I searched for a cover for a vent on the outside of my house. I had looked online and had seen many different options, none of which would work for this particular vent. My next stop was a chain home improvement store. The salesperson there was helpful and walked me over to the one item that the store stocked which might work. I had seen that item online and already knew that it was not my solution. I voiced my thoughts and asked for alternatives. She replied that was all they had.
Nearby was an independently-operated hardware store. Suspecting that the store stocked the same item as I had found online and at the chain store, I thought, “I am assuming what they stock. I want to know for sure.”
As I walked into the store, I was greeted by the owners’ sweet German shepherd. The husband of the husband and wife team who owned the store immediately asked me if he could be of assistance. I reiterated that I wanted to cover the vent.
He showed me the same solution as I had seen online and at the chain store.
“That won’t work,” I replied. “I want a cover with smaller holes and more flexibility in attachment. Any other ideas?”
He sat down on a stool, cupped his head in his hand, and looked down at the floor. “Let me think a minute.”
After a few seconds he had a solution. “I’ll cut you some flexible screening. You can lay the screening over the vent and cut it to size. Then double the screening over along the edges and attach it around the vent with these screws.”
I walked out of the store with the solution to my problem in hand.
The next time that I have a problem or want an item that the hardware store may stock, I will go there first. While online offers quick access and big chains proclaim cheap prices, neither one of these offers someone to help you solve a problem. Neither one offers someone to create a solution. The chain store’s salesperson did her best to be helpful, but she had not been taught to think of solutions. She had been taught to sell products.
On the other hand, the independent hardware store owner thrives on solutions. His solution resulted in a sale and a new customer.
As business people and as consumers, we can be lured into thinking that cheapness and bigness are everything. In truth, what really matters are solutions to problems. Those solutions come from one person to another. When a person is unavailable as happens online or the person to whom I am speaking has not been taught to think in solutions, as a customer, I become frustrated. Only knowledgeable solutions will ease my frustrations.
For years small business people have built their businesses by offering solutions to customers’ problems. They have taken the time to listen to their customers. They have stopped to mull over problems. They have created solutions and offered them for the customers’ benefit. This is the trend of the past and the future. To be successful, this requires thought from those working at the small business.
How are you solving your customers’ problems?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Ineffective Communication
A couple of days ago, I watched a commercial which I had seen several times. This commercial always gets my attention because it starts with a little girl sitting alone on a school bus. She is the last rider of the day. The bus driver asks her questions.
“How was school today?”
“All right,” the little girl replies.
“Do you like your teacher?”
“Yeah.”
At this point, the first time I saw the commercial I wondered just why the bus driver was quizzing the little girl. After the next question, I understood.
“Did you miss your mommy?”
The little girl gets out of her seat, scurries down the aisle, jumps into the bus driver’s lap, and wraps her arms around the driver‘s neck. “Yeah, I missed you, Mom.”
No matter how many times I have seen this commercial, I feel a swell of emotion during that scene.
Then I wonder, “Whose commercial is this, anyway?”
I tend to think that it is for a kid’s treat or food, something that Mom might give a child after school. Usually, I am so caught up in the emotion from the little girl hugging the bus driver that I forget to notice what business name is listed at the end of the commercial.
When I watched the commercial the other day, I made an effort mentally to register the business. As the little girl and her mom walked away from the buses hand-in-hand, the voiceover said, “For life’s important moments, Marshfield Clinic.”
Since I am suspicious that I am an unusual consumer of advertising, I turned to my roommate. “Did you just watch that commercial?”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“Who was it for?”
She gave me a perplexed look. “I don’t know. Some food company?”
“No,” I replied. “Marshfield Clinic.”
She was astonished. “Really? I never would have guessed that.”
This is a wonderfully-written, well-acted, attention-getting commercial that is woefully ineffective.
Why? First, it does not deliver a message, unless you maintain that the closeness of the mother and daughter is a message. Second, this commercial does not make any reference to Marshfield Clinic until the end of the commercial, which is not enough. Third, nothing in the commercial has anything to do with healthcare. A consumer’s mind must make many flips and somersaults to connect what is shown in this commercial with Marshfield Clinic. Who was sick and got well, the child or the mother? How sick was she? How recently did she recover? No one will think this far. Viewers will mentally turn off the commercial because Marshfield Clinic’s connection to it does not make sense.
As evidenced by me and my roommate, the viewer not connecting the commercial with the business is the most devastating result to Marshfield Clinic. I am certain that we are not alone nor unusual in our responses.
While creating an attention-getting commercial is important, sacrificing effective communication to achieve attention makes the marketing effort a waste of time and money. Your message is more important than creativity. Make certain that your message is clear and that your business is easily connected to your message.
That is effective communication.
“How was school today?”
“All right,” the little girl replies.
“Do you like your teacher?”
“Yeah.”
At this point, the first time I saw the commercial I wondered just why the bus driver was quizzing the little girl. After the next question, I understood.
“Did you miss your mommy?”
The little girl gets out of her seat, scurries down the aisle, jumps into the bus driver’s lap, and wraps her arms around the driver‘s neck. “Yeah, I missed you, Mom.”
No matter how many times I have seen this commercial, I feel a swell of emotion during that scene.
Then I wonder, “Whose commercial is this, anyway?”
I tend to think that it is for a kid’s treat or food, something that Mom might give a child after school. Usually, I am so caught up in the emotion from the little girl hugging the bus driver that I forget to notice what business name is listed at the end of the commercial.
When I watched the commercial the other day, I made an effort mentally to register the business. As the little girl and her mom walked away from the buses hand-in-hand, the voiceover said, “For life’s important moments, Marshfield Clinic.”
Since I am suspicious that I am an unusual consumer of advertising, I turned to my roommate. “Did you just watch that commercial?”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“Who was it for?”
She gave me a perplexed look. “I don’t know. Some food company?”
“No,” I replied. “Marshfield Clinic.”
She was astonished. “Really? I never would have guessed that.”
This is a wonderfully-written, well-acted, attention-getting commercial that is woefully ineffective.
Why? First, it does not deliver a message, unless you maintain that the closeness of the mother and daughter is a message. Second, this commercial does not make any reference to Marshfield Clinic until the end of the commercial, which is not enough. Third, nothing in the commercial has anything to do with healthcare. A consumer’s mind must make many flips and somersaults to connect what is shown in this commercial with Marshfield Clinic. Who was sick and got well, the child or the mother? How sick was she? How recently did she recover? No one will think this far. Viewers will mentally turn off the commercial because Marshfield Clinic’s connection to it does not make sense.
As evidenced by me and my roommate, the viewer not connecting the commercial with the business is the most devastating result to Marshfield Clinic. I am certain that we are not alone nor unusual in our responses.
While creating an attention-getting commercial is important, sacrificing effective communication to achieve attention makes the marketing effort a waste of time and money. Your message is more important than creativity. Make certain that your message is clear and that your business is easily connected to your message.
That is effective communication.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Brevity
“This is John Smith at 652-3400. Call me back, please.”
I received this message on my voice mail today from a person unknown to me. Although I immediately deleted the message, I have been mulling over its positive and negative aspects.
On the positive side, I am intrigued. Who is John Smith? Why did he call? What did he want? Should I have called him back?
This, of course, was precisely what Mr. Smith wanted me to think. He wanted me to be intrigued. He wanted my curiosity to prompt me to return his call. I have had to restrain myself from calling back. By telling me little, he piqued my interest.
That’s a good lesson to remember; less is more.
On the negative side, this person’s unwillingness to tell me why he called makes me very suspicious. My he’s-trying-to-sell-me-something antenna are waving crazily. Questions plague me. Why wouldn’t he tell me the purpose of his call? Was he calling me in particular or am I merely on his calling list? (I suspect the latter.) Why did he decide to call me?
These thoughts led me to remember a billboard that I drove past recently. The billboard’s message was short: Because stuff happens. In addition to being brief, the message was written upside down and backwards. That grabbed my attention!
Both the billboard and the caller delivered their message with brevity. That’s not easy to do. Distilling your message into a few words is tough. Having those words actually get attention is tougher. Assuring that the words communicate your message is the toughest.
While the caller accomplished two of out of three with a short message that got attention, the billboard achieved all three. Even more, the billboard’s message did not destroy credibility; the caller’s message did.
Do you communicate your message with brevity? If not, doing so will require thought. Brevity is not just a few words. Brevity is a few words that communicate your message well. Sit down and think through your message before you attempt to abbreviate it. Then, run your abbreviated message past a few customers to find out how well the words that you have chosen communicate your message. Apply your customers’ input to tweak and finalize your brief message.
Then use it on everything.
I received this message on my voice mail today from a person unknown to me. Although I immediately deleted the message, I have been mulling over its positive and negative aspects.
On the positive side, I am intrigued. Who is John Smith? Why did he call? What did he want? Should I have called him back?
This, of course, was precisely what Mr. Smith wanted me to think. He wanted me to be intrigued. He wanted my curiosity to prompt me to return his call. I have had to restrain myself from calling back. By telling me little, he piqued my interest.
That’s a good lesson to remember; less is more.
On the negative side, this person’s unwillingness to tell me why he called makes me very suspicious. My he’s-trying-to-sell-me-something antenna are waving crazily. Questions plague me. Why wouldn’t he tell me the purpose of his call? Was he calling me in particular or am I merely on his calling list? (I suspect the latter.) Why did he decide to call me?
These thoughts led me to remember a billboard that I drove past recently. The billboard’s message was short: Because stuff happens. In addition to being brief, the message was written upside down and backwards. That grabbed my attention!
Both the billboard and the caller delivered their message with brevity. That’s not easy to do. Distilling your message into a few words is tough. Having those words actually get attention is tougher. Assuring that the words communicate your message is the toughest.
While the caller accomplished two of out of three with a short message that got attention, the billboard achieved all three. Even more, the billboard’s message did not destroy credibility; the caller’s message did.
Do you communicate your message with brevity? If not, doing so will require thought. Brevity is not just a few words. Brevity is a few words that communicate your message well. Sit down and think through your message before you attempt to abbreviate it. Then, run your abbreviated message past a few customers to find out how well the words that you have chosen communicate your message. Apply your customers’ input to tweak and finalize your brief message.
Then use it on everything.
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