Drilling for Diamonds

Marketing pioneers have to be prepared to put aside their customers immediate concerns or needs.

Henry Ford who sold over 1 million Model T Fords, and invented motoring for the masses was once asked what inspired him to create the Model T car.

Ford’s answer, “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse.”

If Steve Jobs of Apple fame had asked us what we wanted, would we have said, a hand held device that stores all of our music?

If Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon had asked what we wanted in 1990, would we have said a huge virtual bookstore? No, of course not.

Real innvators have to think outside the square and anticipate customer needs.

Popularity: 11% [?]

If there is a car brand that is synonymous with trust it has to be Toyota.

Corolla, Camry, Hilux, and Landcruiser are all icons of reliability. When a brand oozes trust like Toyota you have a potent asset. The challenge for an advertising agency is to get the message across with flair and creativity. Here is one of my favorite Toyota adverts. It comes from Spain. We laugh because the underlying message that you can trust a Toyota resonates and rings true.

Popularity: 34% [?]

I have worked with Toyota and Lexus for over 20 years.

Undoubtedly, I’m biased. My wife and I both drive a Lexus. Plus, I’ve been part of numerous Toyota and Lexus product launches, branding and sales plays.

Over the years, I’ve thought deeply about what separates Toyota from its competitors.

Building cars that are relentlessly reliable and offer exceptional value explains much of Toyota’s success. But you can only do that consistently if you have a culture or mindset, that welcomes customer feedback - especially when it’s a negative.

No other company I have ever worked for embraces and faces problems or challenges like Toyota.

When Toyota discovered the average age of a Toyota buyer is about forty-five, compared with about thirty-seven for Honda and thirty-two for Mitsubishi, they set about building a brand that would win the hearts of the next generation of consumers by launching a new brand called Scion in the U.S.A.

The median age for Scion buyers is thirty-five. More importantly, 76% of Scion buyers have never bought a Toyota before.

Compare this to GM who spent years trying to rescusitate Oldsmobile with slogans such as “This is not your father’s automobile” and “A New Generation of Olds.” The campaigns didn’t work. So in 2000, GM killed off Oldsmobile.

Popularity: 65% [?]

The following exchange took place on Craigslist, the New York community message board.

“What am I doing wrong?

I’m tired of beating around the bush.

I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25-year-old-girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year.

I know how that sounds, but keep in mind half a million is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m over-reaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips?

I dated a businessman who made around 200-250K. But thats where I seem to hit a roadblock. $250,000 won’t get me Central Park West. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker, and lives in Tribeca. She’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right?

Here are my questions specifically:

• Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics - bars, restaurants, gyms.
• What are you looking for in a mate?
• Is there an age range I should be targeting?
• Why are some of the women living on the Upper East Side so plain? What’s the story there?
• Lawyers, investment bankers, doctors. How much do those guys really make? And where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
• How do you rich guys decide on marriage vs just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY.”

An Investment Banker’s Response:

“I qualify as a guy who fits your bill- I make more than $500K per year.

Here’s how I see it: Your offer is a plain and simple crappy business deal.

What you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your good looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple.

But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity - in fact, it is very likely that my income will increase, but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms, you are a depreciating asset. In Wall Street terms, we’d call you a trading position - not a buy and hold. It doesn’t make good business sense to ‘buy you’ (which is what you’re asking) - so I’d rather lease. The deal that makes sense for me is dating, not marriage.”

Popularity: 13% [?]

Assumptions are the mother of all stuff ups.

All companies continue to pay for making the wrong assumptions about customers.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G), one of the world’s largest and most profitable consumer companies, recently launched its highly successful Swiffer Wet Mop in Italy.

P&G researched the Italian market. Italians spend an average of 21 hours a week on household chores. Americans spend just four hours on similar chores. Italians wash their kitchen floors and bathroom four times a week or more, compared to American’s who wash their floor just once a week.

So how come the Swiffer flopped? P&G sold Swiffer as a labor saving convenience which turned out to be a big turnoff for Italians.

Italian women prefer products that are tough cleaners, not timesavers.

Italian women didn’t believe the Swiffer was tough enough for mopping, so they used the Swiffer for polishing, rather than mopping.

P&G learned from their mistake. They launched the Swiffer Duster which did a light job well with timesaving convenience. Sales took off. Italy is now the biggest European market for Swiffer.

This story taken from Robert H. Bloom’s book The Inside Advantage underscores two vitally important lessons about customers.

“First and most obvious, what works in one market or with one customer does not work with others. One size does not fit all…Second and even more important, it’s not enough to define your customer as a market statistic.”

Popularity: 16% [?]

Sydney Finkelstein, author of best-selling books Why Smart Executives Fail and Breakout Strategy, tells the story of a construction company that had completed a project for a private school, which was the first part of a multi-million dollar master plan that had not yet been awarded.

The project had been completed without a hitch and the client was “ecstatic”, which boded well for the construction company getting the major part of the construction project as well.

However, the school was having problems with a doorknob and workmen came a couple of times to fix it. But they never replaced it.

One day, it came off in somebody’s hand and locked him in the office.

The trapped man happened to be the person who would award the master plan contract.

The CEO of the construction company now has that doorknob on a plaque in his office, labeled “The $10 million doorknob”.

No need to explain why.

Popularity: 12% [?]

A man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptising people in the river. He proceeds to walk into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon he asks the drunk: “Are you ready to find Jesus?”
The drunk answers: “Yes, I am.”

So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water. He pulls him up and asks the drunk: “Brother, have you found Jesus?”
The drunk replies: “No, I haven’t found Jesus.”

The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again for a little longer. He pulls him out and asks again: “Have you found Jesus, my Brother?”
The drunk again answers: “No, I haven’t found Jesus.”

By this time, the preacher is at his wits’ end and dunks the drunk for about 30 seconds. When he begins kicking his arms and legs, the preacher pulls him up and again asks: “For the love of God, have you found Jesus?”

Gasping for breath, the drunk wipes his eyes and splutters: “Are you sure this is where he fell in?”

Doesn’t this preacher remind you of so many presenters and salespeople who try to swamp you with words and powerpoints?

Popularity: 7% [?]

It doesn’t take long for businesses who fail to deliver what customers want to suffer disastrous decline.

Remember when Japan was the world’s exemplar for business success? in 1994, Japan had 149 corporations listed in the Global 500 with $38 trillion in total sales. Then, sales plummeted to 82 corporations with $2.2 trillion in sales in 2004.

Failure to adapt to changing markets spells disastrous for firms and nations alike.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The most dangerous C-level job in business according to Fast Company is the Chief Marketing Officer.

A who’s who of Corporate America has watched their CMO depart within the last 12 months. The exit list includes Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Gap.

Research by executive-search firm SpencerStuart shows the average work stay for a CMO at a top 100 consumer branded company is averaged at just 23 months. By contrast, CEO’s hold onto their jobs for 54 months.

CMO’s are soft targets. Everyone seems to know why marketing works - or more particularly, why it doesn’t work. CMO’s might enjoy better job security if they knew the precise costs of acquiring, holding onto and growing each customer.

Do your marketing measures allow you to precisely calculate what it costs to:

1. Acquire a new customer?
2. Retain an existing customer?
3. Up-sell more products to a customer?

If you’re a CMO and can’t calculate these three figures, then you better start.

Popularity: 8% [?]