Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing

by Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis (Contributor)

Good marketers know that customer-centered marketing is mandatory. However, we are not the customer. What the customer perceives as relevant is the thing successful marketers must anticipate, plan, and deliver on. Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing offers Persuasion Architecture, a proven Persona-based methodology. Persuasion Architecture enables marketers to anticipate different angles from which customers frame their questions and then coordinate messaging across multiple channels so that marketers can create predictive models of customer behavior. Don't miss out on learning about this six-sigma marketing approach that can skyrocket the effectiveness of your interactive marketing. "There's some big thinking going on here-thinking you will need if you want to take your work to the next level. 'Typical, not average' is just one of the ideas inside that will change the way you think about marketing."- Seth Godin , Author, All Marketers Are Liars "Are your clients coming to you armed with more product information than you or your sales team know? You need to read Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? to learn how people are buying in the post-Internet age so you can learn how to sell to them."- Tom Hopkins , Master Sales Trainer and Author, How to Master the Art of Selling "These guys really 'get it.' In a world of know-it-all marketing hypesters, these guys realize that it takes work to persuade people who aren't listening. They've connected a lot of the pieces that we all already know-plus a lot that we don't. It's a rare approach that recognizes that the customer is in charge and must be encouraged and engaged on his/her own terms, not the sellers. Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? takes apart the persuasion process, breaks down the steps and gives practical ways to tailor your approaches to your varying real customers in the real world. This book is at a high level that marketers better hope their competitors will be too lazy to implement."- George Silverman , Author, The Secrets of Word of Mouth How to Trigger Exponential Sales Through Runaway Word of Mouth "We often hear that the current marketing model is broken-meaning the changes in customers, media, distribution, and even the flatness of the world make current practices no longer relevant. Yet few have offered a solution. This book recognizes the new reality in which we operate and provides a path for moving forward. The authors do an outstanding job of using metaphors to help make Persuasion Architecture clear and real-life examples to make it come alive. Finally, someone has offered direction for how to market in this new era where the customer is in control."- David J. Reibstein , William Stewart Woodside Professor, Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and former Executive Director, Marketing Science Institute "If you want to learn persistence, get a cat. If you want to learn marketing, get this book. It's purrfect."- Jeffrey Gitomer , Author, The Little Red Book of Selling "In 1999, the Wachowski brothers revolutionized moviemaking with stunning new angles and special effects revealed in The Matrix . Now the 'Eisenbrothers' have done the same for business in Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? Stunning new angles! Techniques that will be copied for decades. Cat is sure to be remembered as the genesis of an important new direction in marketing."- Roy H. Williams , New York Times Best-Selling Author, The Wizard of Ads Trilogy "The Web is a democratizing force as the world's largest global brain. It educates everyone

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Bryan Eisenberg and his brother Jeffrey are the co-founders of Buyer Legends. Jeffrey was a former investment banker and Bryan a former social worker. They have been entrepreneurs for nearly three decades and have consulted, advised and mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and businesses over the years, They are the co-authors of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, USA Today and New York Times bestselling books "Call to Action", "Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?", "Always Be Testing", "Buyer Legends", and the Axiom Business Book award winning business fable "Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It."

They have been the keynote speakers for corporate events and conferences such as Google, Microsoft, Gultaggen, Shop.org, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Direct Marketing Association, DreamForce, E-consultancy, Emerce, the Canadian Marketing Association and many more. They are recognized internationally as pioneers in online marketing, improving conversion rates, persuasive content and persona marketing, and helping organizations improve their customer experiences.

Bryan was been recognized by eConsultancy members as one of the top 10 User Experience Gurus, by LinkedIn as a Retail Influencer and he is also an IBM Futurist, he was selected as one of the inaugural iMedia Top 25 Marketers, and a Marketing Edge Rising Star Award winner.

Reviews

[Katrina Kae Carriedo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice and easy read. Yes, learned a few terms and abstract and concrete ideas about marketing/advertising (some I already knew about), but the whole book is just basically a selling-point for the authors to sell their company/skills.

[Michael Gardash · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can accept the shift to digital, then skip ahead to page 99 and start with the practical application of persuasion architecture.

[Carlos Bermudez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for marketers and everybody that wants to learn more about conversion rate optimization; explains the fundamentals and the “common-sense” when designing online experiences or consumer journeys; the examples are great and provides a great framework, think of this as a very well thought and easy to read introduction to performance marketing.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for marketers/sales persons/business owners in the online world. The authors have invented a process called 'Persuasion Architecture' loosely based on Six Sigma framework. A Six Sigma for marketers if you will. Throughout the design of your own Persuasive System you will answer three basic questions:

1- Who are we trying to persuade to take the action?
2- What is the action we want someone to take?
3- What does that person need in order to feel confident taking that action?

The persuasion architecture is a six-step process:
1- Uncovery
2- Wireframing
3- Storyboarding
4- Prototyping
5- Development
6- Optimization

This process provides a measurable and sustainable way to measure your marketing and sales with your website. We as marketers must embrace our customers way o f thinking and their motivations as we are no longer in a mass-market and product centered environment.

The Eisenberg brothers have created a genius system.

[Dmitry · Rating 1 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Единственное, что есть ценного у этой книги, это её название и обложка, на которой красуется милая кошка. Действительно, название у книги очень многообещающее. Оно так и кричит: прочти меня, и ты узнаешь все секреты маркетинга. Поэтому уже по названию можно понять, что книга является очередной попыткой пересказать давно известные маркетинговые истины.

Второй момент, который должен подсказать читателю, что эта книга является пустой тратой времени, это авторы книги. Кто они? Оба автора занимают высшие посты в созданной ими (или только одним автором) интернет компании BuyerLegends. Теперь, я думаю, суть книги окончательно ясна. Если же не ясна, то я поясню. Такой тип книг является обычной PR продукцией, цель который, поймать на крючок читателей, чтобы они обратились к авторам книги за консультацией (наняли бы их). Книга написана, с одной стороны так, что сначала всё ясно, понятно и непротиворечиво. Однако ближе к середине (книги) авторы придумывают свою собственную теорию, которая представлена в книге, максимально размыто и неконкретно. Делается это специально, ибо, во-первых, 100% работающих инструментов (советов) как повысить свою чистую прибыль/приумножить клиентов просто не существует, а во-вторых, чтобы читатель обратился к авторам, т.е. в компанию BuyerLegends за разъяснениями (описанного метода) или просто нанял бы данных консультантов. Такой тип книг представлен довольно широко и его всячески стоит избегать.

Что же предлагают авторы книги? Начинается всё как обычно в книгах по маркетингу: сегодняшний мир переполнен информацией, клиенты стали более требовательны так же как более осведомлёнными (о ситуации на рынке), конкурентов всё больше и больше и так далее. В общем, типичная картина бизнеса в высококонкурентном западном мире. Одним из главных условий успеха, т.е. что нужно сделать компании, это узнать, что клиент ищет или в чём он нуждается, после чего предоставить ему это. Меня особо поразили два примера, в которых клиенты обращаются к продавцам с вопросами по поводу тех или иных товаров, на что продавцы либо не знают ответа, либо некомпетентны в том, чтобы дать полные и удовлетворяющие клиентов ответы. Этот выдуманный диалог крайне странен, ибо он показывает простую некомпетентность продавца, но к маркетингу имеет самое отдалённое отношение. В любом случаи, поведение покупателей и решение их проблем и является основной темой книги. С этой целью они вводят понятие «Persuasion Architecture». И вот с этого момента книга становится очень размытой. Можно даже сказать, именно с этого момента начинается их – авторов – a sales pitch. Ближе к концу авторы вспомнят типологию Юнга (система типологии личности), типологию Майерс – Бриггс и пр. Уже одного этого достаточно, чтобы понять, что авторская теория или их маркетинговый метод – миф. Точнее, это пересказ обычной стандартной практики, просто описанный более сложным и неконкретным языком, но не более.

The only thing of value this book has is its title and the cover, which features a cute cat. Indeed, the title of the book is very promising. It screams: read me, and you will learn all the secrets of marketing. Therefore, you can already understand from the title that the book is another attempt to retell long-known marketing truths.

The second point that should suggest to the reader that this book is a waste of time is the authors of the book. Who are they? Both authors hold top positions in the internet company they (or only one author) created, BuyerLegends. Now, I think the point of the book is finally clear. If it is not, I will explain. This type of book is a common PR production, the purpose of which is to hook readers so that they turn to the authors of the book for counseling (hire them). The book is written, on the one hand, so that, at first, everything is clear, understandable, and consistent. However, closer to the middle (of the book), the authors come up with their own theory, which is presented in the book as vague and unspecific as possible. It is done on purpose because, firstly, 100% working tools (tips) on how to increase your net profit/customers do not exist, and secondly, so that the reader would turn to the authors, i.e., to the company BuyerLegends for explanations (of the described method) or simply hire these consultants. This type of book is quite common and should be avoided at all costs.

What do the authors of the book suggest? Everything starts as usual in marketing books: today's world is overflowing with information, customers have become more demanding as well as more knowledgeable (about the market situation), there are more and more competitors, and so on. All in all, it's a typical picture of business in the highly competitive Western world. One of the main conditions for success, i.e., what a company needs to do, is to find out what the customer is looking for or needs and then provide it. I was particularly struck by two examples in which customers approach salespeople with questions about certain products to which the salespeople either do not know the answer or are incompetent to give complete and satisfactory answers. This fictional dialogue is strange because it shows simple incompetence on the part of the salesperson but it has nothing to do with marketing. In any case, customer behavior and solving their problems is the main theme of the book. To this end, they introduce the concept of Persuasion Architecture. And this is where the book becomes very fuzzy. One might even say that this is where their - the authors' - sales pitch begins. Towards the end, the authors recall Jung's typology (a system of personality typology), Myers-Briggs typology, etc. This alone is enough to realize that the authors' theory or (their) marketing method is a myth. More precisely, it is a retelling of the usual standard practice, just described in a more complex and unspecific language, but no more.

[Stef Garvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors introduce the idea of persuasion architecture. It's a solid structure for designing and understanding the customer journey. I'm a big proponent of increasing structure. The more structured and systematic, the greater likelihood for success.

In persuasion architecture there are numerous points that are aligned in order to provide an optimal experience for your customer. This, in turn, reduces the friction that occurs when prospects aren't getting their questions answered and problems solved.

I would have given five stars if the book had followed it's own advice and followed a better narrative. While providing some fantastic structure in leading prospects to their desired solution, the book itself felt choppy. Perhaps, this reflects the fact the authors' work is focused on web-based material with hyperlinks and non-linear content.

Despite the choppiness of the narrative, I thought the content was relevant and well laid out. It makes me want to learn more about what they've done since this book was published over a decade ago.

[Aneta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was published in 2006 so be ready for some of the scenarios to be outdated and not consider very recent technological developments.

However, the chapters that discuss Persuasion Architecture in detail make up for it. The concept of maintaining persuasive momentum is universal. I particularly appreciated the framework of three help questions to use when creating content, copy, pages, you name it.

[CJ Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific book to help you focus on communicating effectively with the customer, particularly on the web. It's not as easy as it looks! Some good tips - a great read before you set up or make changes to your website.

[Nilan · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the first great books on mraketing

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is accompanied by a CD containing an 80-minute video seminar during which Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg (with Lisa T. Davis) explain how to persuade people to purchase what you sell at a time "when they ignore marketing." That is, emerging media have redefined "the rules of the game" in the competitive marketplace. First the bad news: traditional mass marketing models are no longer appropriate. Now the good news: businesses now have an unprecedented opportunity to communicate effectively with customers by leveraging the power of increasingly interconnected media channels. The authors suggest a number of strategies and tactics by which to do that. It is worth noting that, given all the major changes in the American workplace, Warren Bennis suggests that managing people is like herding cats and wrote a book bearing that title.

This book's title may state it but, obviously, cats do not, indeed cannot bark. And even if they could, they probably would not because that would be - as they see it - beneath them. The first objectives with cats as well as with customers is to get their attention, then convince them (somehow) that what you have in mind is in their best interests. To the authors' credit, they devote most of their attention in the book to the "how" and "why" of mass marketing rather than to the "what."

Persuasion Architecture offers a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective methodology by which to launch and then sustain profitable mass marketing. There are others worthy of consideration. Whatever the eventual decision, decision-makers should commit to a methodology (rather than to a bromide) and keep in mind that the transition from "old" marketing to "new" marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Also they should keep in mind, as they begin a lengthy and difficult but necessary process, what Peter Drucker observed (in 1963) in an article published in the Harvard Business Review: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my To Read list for a long time. There were a lot of good points in this book. I like the three questions to always keep in mind: Who are you trying to persuade? What action do you want them to take? What do they need for them to feel comfortable taking that action? I also like the phases of the process they describe: Uncovery (which is supposed to mean that you understand you business, the selling & buying process and create personas for your customers), wireframe, storyboard, prototype, develop and optimize.

But a lot of let downs as well. This book has way a lot of made up terms like uncovery. Most of what is covered in this book just barely touches on the subject and then points out how great they are at it. It felt like on big advertisement to hire them. Also the book really only covers the first phases of the process they describe. The other 5 phases only get the last 20 or so pages in the book are and only briefly mentioned.

It is worth a read, but I felt the authors should have gone into more depth on subjects and covered the other phases. Clever title that did not quite deliver.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is material that poo-poos the old dead-and-pretty-much-gone interruption advertising of television, radio, and print. People ignore advertisements today. So what's to be done? Marketing today is more personal and intimate. Marketers create and go to blogs to get an understanding of what customers want. They also ask questions and build products based on the responses. And it's more about niche marketing than mass marketing which allows a more intimate approach. Of course these ideas work; they've been working for years. But the brothers don't go into detail. Why? Well, marketing, of course. You have to pay them the big bucks to get the details on the "how to." Good book for those just starting out in marketing. And don't confuse marketing with sales. Sales suck and are counter productive. If you do sales in the classic sense, you'd probably talk to 1,000 people and make 20 sales. With the new marketing method you talk to 1,000 people and make 100, 200, 300 or more sales. Learn the method and prosper.

[Justin Gerhardstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool book about marketing to the new age consumers that don't just eat up the shit we push in their face. These consumers are tech-equipped and more often pull themselves toward information about products and services than allow information to be pushed upon them. The only fault I have with the book is that it is more based in theory than it is in practice. The Eisenberg brothers offer a lot of great advice about marketing, yet you have to wonder while reading this book if they are great marketers or just great advice givers. A lot of the steps towards marketing to new-age consumers make a lot of sense, yet there is little advice given as to how a company would actually impliment these strategies. The one great point that the book does make is that consumers are changing and marketing (and advertising) can be better utilized when it is formed on the basis of pull marketing, not push marketing.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

My distaste for marketing is slowly receding, and books like this are a part of the reason why. The title is somewhat strange, but it's based on the idea that traditional marketing is based in eliciting Pavlovian responses from possible customers, and that the advent of the internet and the absurd number of marketing messages that we all come into contact every day has people acting more cats every day - cantankerous, individualistic, and not interested being trained. Since I'm not really a dog person, this has some appeal.

The authors cover their model of persuasion architecture for helping to market to different personality types, different stages of buying readiness, and different types of needs. I've read a few of their other books, and I felt like this was the best of them so far. While I liked this, I can't imagine anyone but specialists would want to read it.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so surprised by this book. The title definitely is unusual. I learned new things from this book and I've been reading marketing books for a long time. This book is about persuasion yet from a whole new viewpoint. It covers many of the same topics other marketing books do; however, it's their viewpoint, based on their experience, I found refreshing and more realistic -- more believable. No hyped stuff.

[Liz Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Humorous.

[H L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah. Marketing. The majority of this reads like a treatise on common-sense, which I guess is in short supply in marketing world.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend this book to anyone in marketing, or people who need to understand how marketing impacts buying decisions.

[J. Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for marketers. Highly recommended.

[Josh Camire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marketing strategies of old are outdated. To stay ahead in the marketing game we need to think more intelligently about how our customers find us and the products we sell.

[Nicky Hirst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for persuasion information so invaluable for content writers. Earlier pages very much revision for more experienced marketing people.

[Brian Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so moved by this book, that I build my business on its teachings.

This book is the bible for online marketers.

[Tiffany daSilva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great book on information architecture or "persuasive architecture." Great real life examples and processes.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bem sabia que não ia ser um livro sobre gatos, mas esperava outra coisa...
Não deixa de ser interessante e falar sobre aspectos do marketing que nunca tinha ouvido falar.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmable.