Jeremy Miller's Blog, page 27

Overcome Customer Indifference

One of the greatest obstacles to your brand is customer indifference.

You may be passionate about your business and its capabilities, but that doesn’t mean anyone else cares. The majority of prospects that you come across are perfectly content. They are making decisions and solving problems on a daily basis. They have their preferred suppliers, and they know how to get things done.

That doesn’t mean what they’re doing is perfect, or even effective, but it works for them. From their point of view, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Buying Is Habitual

We would never get anything done if we had to think deeply about each and every purchase.

When I go to the grocery store I have a routine. I start in the produce section, then I pick up some staples, wrap up in the frozen foods aisle, and head to the check out. I’m in and out of the store in 15 minutes, and there’s not much thinking happening as I throw things into my cart.

The same types of behavior happen in B2B procurement. We have processes, and we have preferred suppliers. If you need office supplies, you’ve got someone to call. If you need to add licenses to your software packages, there’s a process for that.

A significant portion of our budgets is spent without much thought or consideration.

Customer Indifference Is the Default

Buying routines dull your customers’ senses. They don’t like or dislike most brands. Rather, they don’t care.

Customer indifference can be infuriating. It’s one thing to have customers reject you or say “no.” That’s manageable. You get to learn from the experience and get better. But being ignored is entirely different. Your prospects are on autopilot. They’re choosing the status quo.

You can’t take customer indifference lightly. Fight it.

Indifference is the worst place for a brand. Love and hate are visceral emotions. They take energy and commitment, but indifference is purgatory. Your brand may exist, but no one cares.

Break the Routine

You’ve got to break the customer out of their buying routine to catch their attention.

A simple way to capture people’s attention is with a conversation. It’s not complicated. Just talk. Find common ground. Share your opinions. Ask for a response. Create a dialogue. The very simple and human act of talking with your customers can pull your brand out of the indifference trap.

It’s easy to ignore companies that don’t engage with you, but it’s hard to ignore a conversation. A conversation is a two-way dialogue to share ideas and opinions. It gets thinking started and fosters personal connections. That spark of engagement can shatter the indifference trap.

The challenge is conversations start with you and your brand:

Find points of interest for you and your customers.
Spark conversations that engage your customers’ opinions.
Invite them to an event or an experience to facilitate a conversation.

Conversations are powerful, because they can be scaled. You can have them one on one, or you can develop them into Brand Storylines. But the results are always the same. A conversation creates engagement, and that engagement shatters customer indifference.

Premature Price Conversations

There’s a problem afflicting millions of companies every single year, Premature Price Conversations.

Premature Price Conversations, like the other form of premature affliction, leaves both parties feeling underwhelmed, disappointed and maybe even a little embarrassed.

It doesn’t have to happen. Premature Price Conversations are preventable. With a little self-awareness and some training anyone can kick this affliction.

Price Is Not a Feature

Salespeople have Premature Price Conversations for two reasons:

They’re selling a commodity.
They don’t know how to demonstrate what makes their products and services unique.

True commodities are exceptions. Service providers aren’t selling products like grain, oil, and steel. They’re selling processes, expertise, and licenses. Price is definitely a factor for a client to select one brand over another, but it’s rarely the primary factor. Price comes second.

Selling on price should be avoided. When you focus on what makes your service unique and how you assist your clients, you automatically rise above Premature Price Conversations.

Price Is a Fact of Life

You can’t avoid price conversations, they’re a fact of life. Customers want to know what your services cost.

Avoiding price conversations is as bad as having them too soon.

When a customer asks for the price, be direct and specific. Salespeople establish credibility by talking about their service’s price with authority.

Your customers don’t want to dance around and play games. They want the facts, all of them. When asked for the price, share it.

What Makes Your Brand Unique?

It really boils down to differentiation. Customers want to know what makes your service unique.

Selling on price is a cop-out.

What makes your firm unique?
How do you bring value to your clients?
How do you solve problems?

These are the focal points of your conversation with a prospect. Price comes second.

Fans vs Followers: Is Your Social Network Buying?

If your brand quit social media tomorrow would anyone care? Would anyone even notice?

We’ve been led to believe that social media is important. According to comScore, consumers spend nearly 20% of their online time on social platforms. Facebook alone takes up 14% of consumers’ time online.

The logic (and hype) will lead you to believe it’s essential for your brand to be active on social. But is it?

I am willing to bet for the majority of brands social media’s impact on the bottom line is nominal. You can quickly prove it. Silence your brand’s social activity for a week, and see what happens. See if it makes a lick of difference to sales, relationships, and referrals.

The problem is we’ve bought into the hype. The social platforms — Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google — have convinced us that “Followers” are “Fans.” It’s a masterful stroke of marketing. They’ve sold us on the idea that lots of followers and engagement are a sign of popularity and appreciation. But it’s not!

Reciprocation Is Not Appreciation

Likes and followers are Pavlovian responses, not fans.

You can acquire 10,000 new followers on Instagram or Twitter in a few weeks. The formula is simple. Follow a bunch of people every day, and unfollow the ones that don’t follow you back after a week or two. Repeat the process until you acquire 10,000 new followers (or whatever number you are targeting).

Your brand can generate thousands of followers in a short period of time, but these aren’t relationships. They’re shallow connections at best.

Develop True Fans

A “fan” is distinctly different from a “follower.”

In 2008, Kevin Kelly wrote an influential blog post, 1,000 True Fans. He argued, “Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum bestseller hits, blockbusters, and celebrity status, you can aim for direct connection with a thousand true fans.”

A true fan is a good ol’ fashion customer that sings your brand’s praises. They’re the ones that talk about your company, and gladly refer you to friends, family, and colleagues. They don’t expect anything in return. They’re happy to do it, because they know your brand, like it, and trust it.

I say “good ol’ fashion customer” deliberately. In the pre-social media era generating an audience with true fans was hard work. Companies spent years establishing rapport and nurturing relationships, but it was worthwhile. True fans are more profitable, and an excellent source of generating new customers.

Focus on True Fans

True fans exist today, but they get glossed over and ignored in the pursuit of social media metrics.

You can’t count your fans based on Likes and followers. You count them in terms of brand loyalty, referrals, and participation. These aren’t glamorous metrics. The numbers are small, and the outcomes are squiggly.

True fans are the measure of a Sticky Brand. When your customers know you, like you, and trust you they’ll sing your brand’s praises. They’ll line up for a new product release. They’ll refer you to friends and colleagues. And they’ll choose your brand first every single time.

It’s a question of priorities. Do you want followers or fans? Each direction requires entirely different strategies, behaviors, metrics, and investments. You can still use social media to engage and serve your fans, but it’s going to be only a small portion of the work.

What’s Now: Asking “What’s Next?” Won’t Help

In a world of uncertainty, it doesn’t matter what’s next. All that matters is WHAT’S NOW.

Over the past few weeks I have caught myself asking, “What’s going to happen?”

I feel anxious about the political uncertainty in the United States and abroad, and how these changes will affect the economy (as well as basic rights and freedoms). I wonder about disruptive technologies, and what’s the next frontier with artificial intelligence and automation. I try to read the signs to determine my path to success, because everything feels chaotic.

The more I ask “What’s next?” the more I get sucked into the vortex.

Unaware of it, I created a daily ritual surveying all the major media outlets to figure out what’s happening. I look to the left, the right, and a few points in between. I don’t trust any source on its own so I look at everything. But this is a colossal time suck that only amplifies my unease.

Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, calls this “outrage porn.” He explains, “Rather than report on real stories and real issues, the media find it much easier (and more profitable) to find something mildly offensive, broadcast it to a wide audience, generate outrage, and then broadcast that outrage back across the population in a way that outrages yet another part of the population. This triggers a kind of echo of bullshit pinging back and forth between two imaginary sides.”

Yes! That’s exactly how I feel. And it’s not just with politics. It’s with technology, business, and the economy. Everything is amplified in a way that forces us to fixate on “what’s next?”

WHAT’S NEXT does not matter! All that matters is WHAT’S NOW.

WHAT’S NOW is the mantra. It’s not just a question, it’s a call to action:

What can you affect right now?
What matters right now?
What can you do right now?

These questions apply equally to your life and work. You have today. You have opportunities and challenges. You can make choices. “What’s now?”

Yes, you can fixate on the future and what may (or may not) happen, but that’s another form of procrastination. The media wants your attention. Every moment you spend stressing out about things outside of your control is a wasted opportunity. You have the power to make a real difference right now.

The actions you take now will impact your future. Pick up the rallying cry, WHAT’S NOW!

Give Your Customers Time and Control

“Time” and “control” are two powerful value propositions. If you give your customers the feeling that they have more time and control they will reward you with their loyalty.

“Busy” is the common response to “How are you?” It’s not that people are trying to gloat about how busy they are. Rather, it’s a pervasive feeling.

Consumers are drowning in obligations: work, home, kids, deliverables, commitments, friends, family, and everything in between. Trying to fit your life into a week can feel like a Herculean effort.

Companies don’t make it any easier on their customers either.

Think about buying a car. It’s a process. Go to the dealership. Deal with a salesperson. Give your car keys and driver’s license to the salesperson so that you can test drive a car. Now he has your keys, and he’s trying to get you to buy. Now you’re obligated to negotiate: either to get your car keys back, or to buy a car.

Two hours later you get home exhausted.

It’s easy to blame pushy salespeople as the problem, but that’s not fair. Companies implement deliberate strategies to “control the customer” to secure “desired outcomes.” But if you’re the customer, this feels like a manipulation that doesn’t honor your time, knowledge, or needs.

This is the branding opportunity. Relinquish some control to empower your customers. Make them feel like they’re in the driver’s seat. Let them get information and make decisions quickly, easily, and on their terms. As soon as you do that you are making time and control value propositions for your brand.

Here’s the neat part. It doesn’t take a ton of effort or resources to elevate time and control as value propositions. You can make major advancements by optimizing the areas of your business that cause your customers stress.

Is getting the price of the product a hassle? Publish your price list on your website.
Is navigating the buying options overwhelming? Offer fast and efficient ways for customers to speak with a knowledgeable human being.
Is negotiating pricing or payment terms stressful? Streamline your pricing model.
Is implementing the solution causing problems? Embed a kick start program to quickly train customers and get them operational.

Every time you eliminate a stressful moment you are empowering the customer. You are giving them the feeling that they are in control, and that means they are saving time.

Small changes can greatly enhance your customer experiences.

Time and control can grow into what your brand stands for. It’s like valuing great customer service or being the lowest cost provider, you can anchor your brand on providing your customers more time and control. You can make it your mission to empower your customers and deliver hassle free experiences. The deeper you dive into this idea the more opportunities you will find to differentiate your brand.

Trolling the Trolls: Wendy’s Is Killing It on Twitter

Wendy’s is killing it with snark. Pop over to @Wendys on Twitter, and you will find a brand that is pushing boundaries and having a blast. It’s absolutely delightful to watch.

At the start of the year Wendy’s posted a rather innocuous tweet:

Our beef is way too cool to ever be frozen.

Win the Ties, Repeat the Buys

A Sticky Brand delivers two key results:

Win the ties
Repeat the buys

These are easy to define metrics that you can you use to measure and manage your brand’s performance.

Let’s explore the idea further.

Win the Ties

Customers have choice, lots of choice. When customers can’t distinguish one option from the next they tend to default to one of three positions:

They will go with what they already know,
They go with what’s cheapest, or
They go with what’s available.

Relationships, price, and availability aren’t very scalable or sustainable ways to grow your business.

A Sticky Brand provides you competitive immunity. When customers clearly see what makes your products and services unique they’ll beat a path to your door and choose them first. Your brand helps you win the ties.

The first set of brand performance metrics are related to customer acquisition. Is your brand winning the ties? You will find these metrics in your sales data:

What percentage of your sales opportunities are competitive? This means your customers are weighing multiple options, and talking to two or more suppliers.
What is your company’s win ratio in competitive situations?
How often does your sales team discount to win new customers, and by how much?

These metrics are easy to capture in any CRM system like salesforce.com. Using the data, you can track performance quarter to quarter or year to year. Pay attention to the trends. Is your company’s sales performance improving, staying the same, or declining?

These metrics are a good early warning system to demonstrate your brand’s performance.

Repeat the Buys

Winning a customer once is great, but there is something wrong if they are not coming back again and again.

A brand isn’t sticky without repeat customers.

Tracking customer loyalty provides another set of brand performance metrics:

Are sales transactions with existing customers competitive or exclusive? Are they going to market again and again, or are they loyal to your brand?
How receptive are existing customers to new products or services?
Why do customers leave, and what triggers them to move on?
What is the annual value of a customer, and is that value increasing, decreasing, or staying the same year over year?
What percentage of your company’s revenue comes from existing versus new customers?

It’s also worth questioning if your company is investing enough sales and marketing dollars into existing customers. Often a disproportionate amount of the marketing budget is invested in customer acquisition, but you may find even more growth opportunities with your current customers.

Repeating the buys is an ideal brand performance metric, because it is far more efficient and effective to serve a loyal customer than to constantly be hunting for your next one.

Track Acquisition and Retention Metrics

When you create a compelling brand experience it makes everything easier for your business:

Selling becomes easier
Service becomes easier
Hiring and attracting great employees becomes easier

The challenge is to quantify the process. You may have a gut feeling about how your brand is performing, but the metrics show the real picture.

You don’t have to look far for the metrics. Your customers will tell you how your business is performing. Look at both customer acquisition and retention metrics to quantify your brand’s performance.

Is your company winning the ties?
Are your customers repeating the buys?

3 Questions to Help You Win in 2017

2016 is being labelled the worst year ever. Dozens of celebrity deaths. Seismic shifts in politics at home and abroad. Zika, Syria, Flint Michigan. There’s plenty of suck to go around.

John Oliver, comedian and host of Last Week Tonight, captured the collective frustration by paying tribute to 2016, “F*ck You 2016.” (Video NSFW)

2016 had a lot of negative moments, and I suspect we’ll see a lot more of the same in 2017. But that doesn’t mean 2017 should be bad for you. This is your year. Own it!

There’s Opportunity in Change

Periods of change are amazing for ambitious people.

It’s hard to win when everything is staying the same. The status quo can be stifling, because it prevents innovation and experimentation.

When the world is in motion you get to play.

Following the Brexit decision, Fred Wilson tweeted, “It is important on days like today to remember that change creates opportunity and opportunity can create wealth if approached correctly.”

It is important on days like today to remember that change creates opportunity and opportunity can create wealth if approached correctly

— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) June 24, 2016

Change creates opportunities:

People need help managing change and dealing with a new reality.
A shift may make a giant in your industry temporarily vulnerable, and you can exploit their weakness.
Look for ways to serve your clients better. How can you use new tools, technologies, or processes to reimagine how work gets done.

Periods of change reward the agile and the ambitious. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. You may find a way to tilt the odds in your favor.

3 Questions to Ask to Spot Opportunities

To find opportunities on a regular basis I ask 3 questions:

Vision: What do I want?

Constants: What won’t change?

Opportunistic Tools: What can I use to create an advantage?

I like to visualize the questions in a Venn diagram, because the magic happens where the questions intersect.

When you are clear on what you want to accomplish — your Vision — you can exploit the right opportunities. The world is changing all around you, but your vision functions as a lighthouse. It’s guiding you and showing you how to navigate both opportunities and challenges.

Answer Your 3 Questions

I’ve been writing and thinking about the 3 questions a fair bit lately. You can read more on each:

Vision: 5 Elements of a Bold Vision Statement

Constants: Define Your Business Strategy By What Won’t Change

Opportunistic Tools: Challenge Convention to Change the Game

The more I work with these questions, the more relevant they become. For me, the real gold is in the Opportunistic Tools. I am clear on the first two questions in my business, and now I am continually seeking new tools, technologies, and processes to hack convention. This is where I believe I can make a big difference in my business and life in 2017.

What about you? Take a moment to work on the 3 questions:

What do you want?
What won’t change?
What can you use to create an advantage?

Santa’s Workshop: A Remarkable Story and Brand

Every year Santa’s Workshop rockets up the list of the world’s most influential brands. The company’s ranking fluctuates throughout the year, but in November and December this brand shines.

I’ve been fascinated by Santa’s Workshop for a long time, and in May I received the opportunity of a lifetime. Nick Kringle, CEO of Santa’s Workshop, invited me for a visit. He’d read my book, Sticky Branding, and wanted to share his family’s story.

To say I was excited was an understatement. I have profiled and studied dozens of remarkable brands, but this interview was on another level. The Kringle family has grown one of the largest global toy brands.

For over 240 years Santa’s Workshop has been manufacturing and distributing toys to children around the globe. And the company operates under the daunting task of delivering all of their inventory between December 24 and 25 — for Christmas morning.

Heritage Shapes Brand Equity

Santa’s Workshop was founded in 1773 in the North Pole by Nick’s great (to the power of five) grandfather, Kris Kringle.

Kris Kringle created the company with a clear vision, “Spread Christmas cheer.” The vision is rooted in a long family tradition dating back to their fourth century ancestor, Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Saint Nicholas was a driving inspiration for the Kringle family. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, like putting coins in shoes left on doorsteps. Kris Kringle was inspired by his ancestor’s innate generosity, and wanted to grow a company that shared a similar set of values.

Today, Santa’s Workshop is nothing short of astonishing. The main distribution center is a sight to behold. At 4 million square feet, it makes Amazon’s distribution centers look tiny. Technology is at the forefront of Santa’s Workshop. Almost everything is automated: putaway, replenishment, order picking, sleigh loading, cycle counting, you name it.

“We make purposeful investments in our operations and capabilities, because we know why we’re here,” explains Nick Kringle. “It ties back to not only our founder, but to the generations before him. We have a clear vision, and there’s real value in the toys we deliver.”

Create Recognizable Brand Symbols

One of Santa’s Workshop’s greatest brand assets is Santa Claus. It’s symbol recognized at every corner of the world.

With each generation, the CEO of the Workshop takes on the role of Santa Claus. For the past 38 years Nick has proudly held this position. He explains, “It’s a big responsibility. I lead the delivery of all the toys to boys and girls on Christmas Eve.”

The practice of Santa Claus delivering toys started out of necessity. Nick continues, “Our founder, Kris, didn’t have a lot of resources when he started out. All of his staff were busy making, packaging, and preparing the toys, and he was the only one available to deliver them.”

“The practice stuck,” Nick continues. “Children began to recognize Kris in his bright red suit and curly white beard, and they nicknamed him Santa Claus. I’m not sure who coined the name, but Kris loved it. Over time, the character became the key symbol of our brand.”

Share Brand Experiences

As Santa’s Workshop grew the company worked hard to instill the values of Santa Claus around the world.

Throughout the 1800’s and 1900’s Santa’s Workshop commissioned a series of artists to share stories of Santa Claus. In 1820, Clement Clarke Moore was engaged to write the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas”, also known as “Twas The Night Before Christmas”. In 1939 Santa’s Workshop commissioned Robert L. May to write “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

Nick explains, “These stories have been instrumental in growing our brand. They depict our values, our beliefs, and they create a vehicle for families and their children to experience the richness of our company and brand.”

Simple, timeless stories carry the brand. The tales are shared every season, and passed on from generation to generation.

Create Open Lines of Communication

Santa’s Workshop was social long before social media.

“We couldn’t fulfill our mission without open lines of communication,” explains Nick. “Every year millions of children write letters to Santa. This is essential. Not only do the letters reinforce our bond with children and families, it provides us the data we need to operate at this scale.”

Recognizing the need to communicate with its market, Santa’s Workshop created partnerships with the post offices. Canada Post, for instance, has one of the longest standing relationships with the Workshop.

Canada Post has made it extremely easy for children to write to Santa Claus. Simply address the letter to:

Santa Claus

North Pole

H0H 0H0

What’s even more astonishing is Santa writes back. If Canada Post receives a letter by December 14th, you’ll hear back from Santa Claus himself. Nick said, “Last year I responded to over 1.5 million children in Canada alone.”

Share Expertise Freely

One of the great surprises of my interview with Nick Kringle was the extent of his family’s involvement in the business community.

Nick shared a story of how his grandfather worked with Ray Kroc to grow the McDonald’s brand.

Ray was struggling to personify the McDonald’s customer experience, and he came to Santa’s Workshop for some guidance. Nick said, “My grandfather told Ray to develop a character like Santa Claus. And as the family lore goes, he even told Ray to call him ‘Ronald McDonald’, because it was rhythmic and fun to say.”

The Kringle family is extremely private, but their generosity carries through all aspects of their business. Nick makes a point of mentoring next generation business leaders so they too can grow ethical, values-driven companies like Santa’s Workshop.

Santa’s Workshop is truly a remarkable business. They embody what it takes to grow a sticky brand.

Merry Christmas! Have a safe and happy holidays.

Opportunistic Tools

Dick Fosbury is one of the most iconic innovators of all time, because he’s the guy that transformed the high jump.

In 1968, at the Mexico City Olympics, Dick Fosbury shocked the world by going over the bar backwards. Not only that, he landed on the back of his head, neck, and shoulders.

People were in awe. He was a spectacle. What was this kid doing? Why was he jumping like that?

Fosbury’s new style of jumping was weird, but no one could deny that it worked. Dick Fosbury set a new Olympic record by jumping 2.24 meters. As a result of his success, the style of jumping was dubbed the Fosbury Flop.

Fosbury’s innovation made him a hero. People studied him. They wrote about him. They admired how he challenged the conventions of his sport, and this propelled Fosbury into the stratosphere. He is now considered a symbol of innovation.

But what I find fascinating about the Fosbury story isn’t discussed very often. Yes, Dick Fosbury was an innovator, but he was also a product of his time. Fosbury was able to create his new style of jumping by taking advantage of a small technological advancement in the sport of high jump: foam mats.

In the 1964 Olympics, and all previous games, high jumpers landed on a pile of sand or hay. I am sure you can perform the Fosbury Flop onto a pile of sand, but you’ll regret it afterwards. That’s concussionville.

Following the 1964 Olympics, the IOC and IAAF introduced a new safety device in the high jump: foam mats. The foam mats provided a raised and softer landing surface, which is ideal for the Fosbury Flop (considering it requires landing on your head).

Foam mats are a fantastic metaphor for what it’s like to be in business today. We live in a world of rapid change and new technologies are being introduced constantly: social media; 3D printing; machine learning; artificial intelligence; and blockchain; or simple things that we take for granted, like having a map on your smartphone.

All of these technologies have the potential of being like foam mats in your business. Anyone can pick them up, reimagine them, and change the conventions of your industry forever.

That’s what Uber has done to taxis. Uber reimagined how to hail a cab by using the base functionality in your smartphone: maps, GPS, and secure payment processing. Uber didn’t invent any of these technologies. It simply took advantage of them to challenge the conventions of the taxi industry.

Fosbury did the same thing in high jump. He took advantage of foam mats, and made the traditional styles of jumping irrelevant.

I call these technological advancements “Opportunistic Tools.” The tool itself doesn’t disrupt your business, but it gives an opportunity for an unlikely innovator to create a massive disruption.

I love the idea of Opportunistic Tools, because it democratizes innovation. You don’t need a skunk works or a big R&D budget to innovate. You just have to be creative and observant.

Every person and company has an opportunity to be an innovator like Dick Fosbury. There are Opportunistic Tools all around you. You can find them in social media, marketing automation, ecommerce, or dozens of other tools that you may have simply overlooked. The tool on its own won’t change your industry, rather it’s how you apply them.

You have the power to disrupt your industry. Look for Opportunistic Tools that you can use to challenge convention and tilt the odds in your favor.