Mills on Marketing

Most of us are appalling listeners. We may have 2 ears and 1 mouth - but we rarely use them in the proportions nature allocated us.

The famous editor, Maxwell Perkins (1884-1947) who is credited with popularizing Ernest Hemingway, believed no one really listens at most social events. To test his theory, he turned up late to a cocktail party where he grasped his hostess’s hand and said, “I’m sorry I’m late but it took me longer to strangle my aunt than I had expected.” “Oh, I completely understand,” replied the hostess, smiling sweetly, “I’m so happy you could come.”

Listening takes place on different levels. At level 1, the person simply hears us, but makes no attempt to emotionally engage. think of the bartender who doesn’t smile or affirm your order but turns to the fridge and gets the bottle of Stella Artois you ordered.

At level 2 the barman would make good eye contact and smile.

Level 3 listening involves engaging a person so they feel that they are the only person. They attentively listen to ever word you say and engage you emotionally.

All staff engaged in customer contact need to be able to listen at level 3. Can you?

Popularity: 14% [?]

In the 1900’s all train passengers traveling from East Germany to West Berlin had to pass through Checkpoint Charlie.

At the border, an East German officer would check all passports and travel documents. As the officer checked each passengers papers he asked the same 3 questions:

1. Who are you?
2. Why are you here?
3. Where are you going?

These 3 fundamental questions were all the officer needed to ask to test the validity of the family’s travel plans.

When you are selling to customers you need to be able to answer three questions that your customers will ask of you:

1. What makes you different?
2. What makes your company different to other vendors?
3. What makes your company’s product or solution different to your competitors?

Before you ever sell to a customer you need to be able to answer these 3 questions with clarity and conviction.

Popularity: 18% [?]

BIRGing - Basking In Reflected Glory is a delightful acronym coined by Arizona State University professor Robert Cialdini and his colleagues. Cialdini and his colleagues found more students donned the logo apparel of their college football team on Monday, following the big game, if their team had won over the weekend. The pride associated with winning encouraged them to wear their school colors.

Brand advocated similarly like to be associated with the hot brands which they perceive to be “winners”.

By way of contrast, Cialdini & Co. found there was a downside to BIRGing. When their team lost they actively tried to distance themselves from their school team. Cialdini & Co. termed the mirror side of BIRGing, CORFing - Cutting Off Reflected Glory

Popularity: 14% [?]

I never cease to be amazed by the number of inane responses when we ring service centers.

It doesn’t matter whether its Dublin, Atlanta, or Mumbai, but the same prerecorded voice bleats out, “Your call is extremely important to us. Please hold and your call will be answered by the next available agent.”

As a customer, you know your call is not important. If it were there would be enough staff to answer the call.

Why don’t companies limit themselves to a simple sorry? Gratuitous responses simply add to the frustration of hanging on.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Traditionally brands have used advertising to excite demand. The problem is, it is very difficult to communicate your cutting edge features and end-user benefits in a magazine ad or even a 30 second t.v. spot.

More and more brands - especially those who have supreme confidence in their products superiority are allowing customers to try before they buy.

Take Bose, the world leaders in speaker technology. Bose now offers to send its new wave music system to customers and let them try it out for 30 days at no cost. If they truly don’t like the product they can return it to Bose at no cost. Bose now runs Try and Buy retail kiosks in airports - where flyers can trial Bose’s noise canceling headphones.

Tryvertising obviously has its costs, but as brand experts Keith Lincoln and Lars Thomassen point out in their book, How to Succeed at Retail (Kogan Page, 2007):

“Marketers operating a tryvertising mindset will find completely new ‘conversation channels’, if not the most unexpected partners and alliances.”

Popularity: 15% [?]

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: 93% [?]

Back in 1999, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore wrote a paradigm-busting book called The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage.

Pine and Gilmore argued that the future of marketing would belong to companies who moved from pushing goods and services to delivering “sensational” value-adding experiences.

Since then, a barrage of books have appeared on customer experiences. But the best book I’ve found is Experience the Message, How Experiential Marketing is Changing the Branded World.

Max Lenderman is creative director of GMR Marketing, one of America’s top event marketing companies. Lenderman has written a must read book. My copy is marked heavily with annotations.

Pine and Gilmore remain the heavy-weight thinkers in this field. I call their book The Experience Economy, the “old testament.” Lenderman’s book deserves the title “new testament.”

Popularity: 17% [?]

I’ve had lots of fun recently visiting ZARA fashion stores in Barcelona and Paris.

Customers flock to their stores, literally grabbing the latest fashions which seemingly come into their stores in a never-ending stream.

Zara is not just cool for its modestly priced, affordable clothes. What makes Zara really cool is its ultra-competitive business model which allows it to design and deliver product to its stores within 15 days.

Competitors typically take 9 months.

Zara’s designers start by attending the fashion shows looking for cool designs. They then produce small batches of imitation cool product which is shipped to stores to test for demand.

Product runs for popular lines then are scaled up. Zara avoids the big mistakes its competitors regularly make. Plus it doesn’t have to spend much on advertising because its customers are always coming back looking for the latest cool wear.

Compare that to competitors, where you wait around for the end of season sales.

No wonder Zara is so cool. Or should I say hot?

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my other blog, The Naked Negotiator - The Secrets of Big Deals, Big Sales and Big Pitches - laid bare.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Advertising legend, David Ogilvy loved to remind his fans that "any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes a genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand."

Ogilvy, like most advertising creatives have overcomplicated branding.

A brand is nothing more and nothing less than a promise to create unfailing value.

Philip Kotler was spot on when he wrote, "the brand amounts to a contract with the customer regarding how the brand will perform."

The brand may be underpinned by a great product or service, but a brand is largely built by employees who deliver engaging experiences.

Engagement is all about getting and holding attention. Too much marketing is focused on getting attention. Holding customer attention is the hard part. Creating a compelling customer experience that holds and retains customers is what marketing is all about.

The Brand Test
Every time a customer encounters your brand at home or out on the street, they test your brand by asking, "Does the brand experience match the brand promise?"

If the answer is more often no, than yes, your brand equity is eroding.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Each day, alcoholics and drug addicts on 12 step recovery programs across the globe, utter 33 memorable words.

"God give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

These words known as the Serenity Prayer were coined in 1943 by the American theologian Rienhold Neibuhr.

I can’t think of a more profound piece of timeless wisdom to guide us as we tackle the challenges of business and life.

Set aside 5 minutes each day, to recite and contemplate what the Serenity Prayer means for you — at home, at work, and in your community.

Popularity: 27% [?]