BY STEVEN WINOKUR – www.TPStrategies.com

I recently had an experience at Staples that prompted me to write to their customer service department regarding their Rewards program. I went to their website and filled out the online form. I received two different responses back:

Thanks for contacting us! We appreciate that you’ve taken time out of your busy schedule to let us know how we’re doing. We will be happy to respond to your inquiries. Please allow up to 7 business days. Thank you for your patience and as always, thanks for shopping Staples.

AND

Thank you for contacting Staples Rewards.We are currently experiencing high contact volume; please expect a delay in our response.Don’t forget to view our Frequently Asked Questions at http://www.StaplesRewards.com .

First off, why two emails? Second, they’re telling me I expect to wait up to 7 business days for a response! Excuse me! 7 business days! What, do they have one part-time person responding to customer inquiries?  I always chuckle when a company says they are experience high contact volume. Either something bad happened and they’re getting a lot of complaints or they’re understaffed. I can’t think of a good reason to warrant a 7 day response time.

And remember their brand - EASY. Filling out the form certainly was. I guess their brand doesn’t make it all the way to customer service.

So, my issue - I joined their rewards program and received a certificate for my quarterly rewards. What I found out in the store (and to be fair, it is on the back of the certificate), if you don’t use the entire total and the remaining amount is under $1.00, you lose that amount. Now, just stating the policy doesn’t make the policy sound. I questioned the store manager why I would lose that amount and his response basically restated the party line - “That’s our policy.” Apparently EASY doesn’t apply to understanding their rewards program either.

Since I think that’s a ridiculous policy, I asked about it on the website. I even told them that I was going to go back to Office Depot because their rewards program made more sense. After only 4 days, I got this response:

We do apologize that you are not finding our Rewards program beneficial. Your comments and concerns have been forwarded to management for a review of the current policies for the Staples Rewards program.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and we appreciate your feedback. 

Once again, no real help here. Someone obviously cut and paste from the standard response document and didn’t come close to answering my inquiry.

There are many lessons to be learned here:

1) Don’t take days to respond - all inquiries should be answered within 24 hours, one business day. If it requires research or more time to figure out how an answer, respond and let the customer know. In today’s fast paced world, 4-7 days is past ridiculous.

2) When you build your brand, that quality must resonate within every thing you do. Shopping at Staples may be EASY, but getting an answer from customer service and their rewards program is most certainly not.

3) When someone takes the time to contact you and give you feedback, make sure you respond to them with a solution. Often, the best feedback you can get is negative - that allows you to fix the problem and rebuild the relationship. In this case, I told them I was going to shop at Office Depot. That obviously was of no concern to them because not only did they not answer my question, they did absolutely nothing to try to keep the relationship with me, a paying customer.

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What in the world of electronic communication is High Velocity Radio? Nope, it’s not a new genre of rock music nor is it a higher frequency of radio waves managed and regulated by the FCC. It is high value content generated by expert dialog accessible live by the internet, captured forever and distributed anywhere via MP3 files.

High Velocity Radio is the name-sake of a business radio program hosted by Stone Payton and Lee Kantor. Its strategic intent is to celebrate top performers producing better results in less time and ask them to “Return The Learning.” If you know Stone, you know he stands for S.P.E.E.D…a leadership formula that hard-wires business success. Don’t know Stone Payton? www.marketmate.org.

About 6 weeks ago, I connected Stone and Lee for the first time. Within that time, the first High Velocity Radio show was produced and the virgin voyage was history. I was proud to be Stone’s first guest and in a small way, served as a catalyst to this venture, but quickly got out of his way. This weekly radio show is really a credit to the personal beliefs and practices Stone published in his book, Never Fry Bacon in the Nude. He has a knack for taking an idea, setting vision, structure and adding his secret sauce (S.P.E.E.D.).

Perhaps this Don Rigby interview will become a collector’s item much like Elvis Presley’s first recordings That’s Alright Momma and Heartbreak Hotel. Just in case, save this on your hard drive, share it with your friends and contemporaries. Or click the player below to listen to the interview.

If a few learning moments on the Power of Process, GrowthANSWERS and Get Objectivity resonate with you, take a lesson from Stone and put SPEED to work at www.integratedmarcom.com.

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BY MICHAEL MCCLELLAN – www.PlexusMarketing.com 

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of the attendees to my ‘Meet the Expert” presentation of 9/17/08 on B2B Demand Generation.  As a follow-up to that session, I’d like to address two questions from Laura Hollenstein of Premier Marketing Resources, who attended my presentation:

1. What have you found to be the most effective approach in reaching the decision makers when selling your services?  Sometimes that “firewall” can be pretty difficult to break through. 

This is an excellent question, since marketing professional services (which includes ‘marketing services’) is typically more challenging than other B2B products and services.  While there is no one approach that fits all professional services companies, here are a few suggestions (that Plexus Marketing Group, Inc. also uses) which might make the challenge easier: 

(a)    Enlist the Help of Gatekeepers –  the “firewall” can indeed be difficult to break through, but most ‘gatekeepers’ (e.g. personal assistants and marketing coordinators/analysts) are reasonably informed about the overall direction and ‘pain points’ of a company.  Invest a few minutes of time talking with them and share your ‘elevator speech’, paying particular attention to specifically how your services have benefited companies like theirs.  Next, indicate how answers to 2 or 3 key questions (that you intend to ask the decision maker who you’re trying to reach) could help determine if there is a potential match between your firm and theirs, and enlist their help in getting the answers to those questions.  Finally, offer to send a Capabilities PDF or whitepaper to them that explains your company’s benefits and ask them to share it with the decision maker.  Indicate that you would like their help in determining how best to proceed and that you are interested in starting a relationship building process with their company, then arrange a time to follow-up – remembering to thank the gatekeeper for their assistance.  My marketing team has used this approach successfully, and I believe it will work for you (at least in a significant number of cases where it is used). 

(b)  Cultivate a Business Development ‘Apprentice’ Skilled in Consultative Selling of Your Firm’s Services —   while I spent the first 7 years of my career at a Fortune 100 company (including experience as an outside sales representative), it was not until I started a consulting practice that I felt that I really learned the art of the complex sale and how to be truly consultative when selling.  I am convinced that my day-to-day participation in consulting service delivery was one of the key reasons for my improved lead generation and close rates during that part of my career.  Since those early days of Plexus Marketing Group, Inc., I have been committed to the ‘apprentice approach’ to developing business development talent within my firm.  For example, I am strongly committed to a ‘team selling’ approach, where other members of our marketing and business development team can acquire consultative selling skills and be exposed to ‘best practices’ first-hand.  There are certain parts of the business development process – such as lead generation and marketing event support – where less experienced team members can be a part of the process and gain early successes without having to do the actual consultative selling.  Also, by involving these business development ‘apprentices’ in portions of your company’s service delivery (even if just for one or two projects), they will more quickly become experts on your company’s professional service delivery processes and will be able to speak with more authority during their business development calls. 

(c ) Consider Leveraging Your Key Business Development Executives’ Time and Expertise through Web Videos —   my firm is a TechLINKS sponsor (see www.techlinks.net) and we recently attended one of their special events where they gave participants the opportunity to make a 4 minute presentation on their services to a group of C-level executives, which was then digitally recorded and posted on our company listing at the TechLINKS site.  This marketing tool not only allowed me to leverage my time and expertise in a way that my business development team could then use on its prospecting calls, but it also has generated new business leads from prospects using TechLINKS to locate potential service providers.  Web videos are especially effective tools for professional services companies because they allow the consultants, doctors, attorneys, or other professional service providers to showcase their expertise and let prospects evaluate the potential fit with the provider companies prior to talking with one of the company’s representatives (who then, because of the video, does not have to be one of the key professionals or executives).  Roger Stix of Atlanta Business Video (www.atlantabusinessvideo.com) – who is a client and friend of mine – has related case studies of how professionals such as doctors, attorneys, and B2B professionals have significantly improved their business acquisition metrics through the use of website videos for a modest investment of less than $3000. 

2. How effective or is it ever effective to leave a voice mail for the decision maker regarding the products and services you are selling? I’m referring to a cold call voice mail. 

I think that voice mail messages can be effective in building awareness for your company’s products and services, providing that you have targeted your market segment and audience well and adhere to a few key guidelines:  (a) keep it brief (30 seconds or less is preferred); (b) describe your services and include an attention-grabbing ‘factoid’ that highlights one of the benefits your firm offers companies like theirs; and (c ) include your web address and contact number.  Then, follow up with a key gatekeeper at their company (using the techniques described above) to build upon the ‘beachhead’ that your voice message has established.  And, of course, keep at it … it may take a number of attempts and a variety of approaches to finally reach a particularly busy executive. 

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BY MARK WALKER - www.jmwalkergroup.com

Many years ago I worked for a small manufacturing company.  As one of four regional managers, I was invited to the home office the first week of the second month of each quarter, to meet with our Vice President of Sales for a five-day “Sales Meeting.”  We really had a good time eating at our favorite restaurants in the area, but we all HATED those meetings! 

We were never sure just why we were called in for a full week, four times a year. These meetings consisted of hours of boring discussions without meaningful decisions, bull sessions about sports teams or favorite cars and where we would have lunch.  These hours were punctuated by moments of interesting discussions with engineering, marketing and manufacturing, which helped us feel a part of something larger than ourselves.   Here is what I observed about how not to conduct a sales meeting: 

1. No advanced agenda.  We were often unable to contribute effectively to a particular discussion because we did not know the subjects in advance.  Lack of preparation resulted in frustration and poor decision-making.
2. Failure to adhere to the established agenda.  The first morning of each event we were presented with the week’s agenda.  We rarely stuck to those topics, and often got behind.  We all felt like two of the five days were wasted.
3. Avoiding the “elephant in the room.”  Sales were flat for four of the five years I was part of this group.  While we discussed ways to increase sales (of course!), the “elephant” of our antiquated technology and poor market positioning was ignored.
4. Lack of a marketing and sales plan.  I do not remember any cohesive marketing programs or plans of action which would increase our market share or customer awareness.  It was difficult to generate excitement in the field.
5. No business fun.  We had four talented, capable managers, who wanted to succeed and make money.  There was no “motivational speaker” or trainer  or consultant brought in to help us grow personally, to get outside our habits and look for innovative ways to grow our business. 
6. No follow up from the top.  The CEO and the VP of Sales were great people.  We became friends.  But they had no action plans to work with us in the field to identify markets, build distribution or increase OEM sales.  We may or may not see them in the field between quarterly meetings.

From these experiences I have three recommendations for effective sales meetings: 

1. Identify and promote a specific and definite objective for each meeting.
2. Keep it short  and stick to business.  Generate excitement to make the meeting personally rewarding and business profitable.
3. Follow up with executive presence in the field to reinforce the initiatives or the plans decided in the meetings.  Field managers need to be accountable and  feel supported.
4. If you want to have fun, build the business meeting around a fun location, but make sure that the business is the focus of the meetings part.

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Closing the Customer Gap

I learned an important lesson from one of our members, Mark Walker early last year when I took his course on Intregrity Selling^®. The sales process has distinct steps that must be followed for a successful outcome. But more importantly, that the “Close” is not really a step that happens in isolation. You don’t go through the whole sales call and then “Close”. You “Close” all throughout the interaction with the prospect.

Once you’ve asked the right questions, demonstrated that your solution does indeed solve their problem and overcome any objections (including price), the “Close” should almost automatically happen. That’s because of during the sales call, you’ve been building creditability and above all, value.

Contrary to the typical gym membership sales process, closing the Customer Gap is about providing value throughout the sales call - not the hard “Close”.

In our first article, Mark Walker explains how to build trust and demonstrate the value of your solution to a prospect. Steven Winokur highlights how a political campaign mirrors the sales process. Don Rigby uses a case study to discuss the power of innovation and systems. And finally, we have an article from an Associate Member, Michael Harper, that introduces the concept of viral video marketing using the Internet.

If you’re interested in receiving our newsletter in your mailbox each month, please subscribe here.

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BY ZAHIR PALANPUR - www.azularc.com

The environment we are in and how we act within it has a major impact in defining the position and success we are experiencing with our business. With the economic downturn, many of us see our own set of challenges and the news can give rise to thoughts of doom and gloom. Look a little beyond though and there are a lot of positive happenings that we can look to for ideas and inspiration in addressing the current economic climate. Two recent events that are exciting and inspiring are the recently concluded Olympics and the Presidential race.  

Along with the standard set of sports analogies and examples, one that I find particularly relevant is an idea practiced in a lot of sports with Judo being the most significant embodiment of this idea (not that I am a big Judo fan). The key strategy in Judo is the ability to use the forces of the environment to work for you, even if it is directed against you much like the movement and attack of an opponent in Judo.  This is a powerful idea and one see examples of this in the current Presidential race. The McCain campaign used and turned what is a strong position of Obama, his charisma and popularity around the world, by creating an ad on this and asking the question if what we are looking for is celebrity status or substantive experience. Obama has used McCain’s experience against him by linking him to the old establishment. Interestingly, both candidates have elected running mates that embody the strengths of the other – Obama took on experience and McCain a more “diverse” and younger candidate. 

So what is the judo we can practice with the economic forces stacked up against us? One of the most compelling things a downturn does for you is point to what are the most important activities to sustain and grow you business. Nothing brings more clarity on prioritizing what is important than tough times that make you take a hard and thoughtful look on what is essential to the success of your business. If business has slowed, use the valuable time to revamp your marketing and sales initiatives. At Azul Arc, we have revamped our own website, updated our case studies and collateral and ramped up our sales effort in a focused manner. This is also a great time to get deals with your vendors and service providers to address important things that you know need to get done and for which you never had the time (a downturn can create a situation analogous to the off peak season and deals for vacation spots). Perhaps now is the right time to get that much needed training for your team and to retool aspects of your business. Experts will tell you that it is also one of the best times to hire. These are a few among many ideas – so use this time for thought and use the forces you are faced with to your advantage keeping this advice from the CEO of Intel in perspective: “You never save your way through a downturn. You innovate your way through it”

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BY STEVEN WINOKUR    www.TPStrategies.com

As a strong proponent of figuring out an optimal target market and building messaging to target that group (versus being everything to everyone), I was quite pleased to see the current ads running by Jose Cuervo. Instead of trying to appeal to anyone who may want to buy tequila for any purpose, they’ve built their messaging after a market niche – margarita drinkers.    

There are other reasons people buy tequila. But you can’t create positioning that effectively appeals to every group. You have a pick one - create the most powerful, appealing message to that group and then consistently express that message to your chosen target market.  

Their ads purport Jose Cuervo to be THE tequila to use when making margaritas. Now, when you’re in the liquor store looking to buy tequila for a party where you’ll be making margaritas, which brand are you going to buy? When looking at the myriad of choices, consumers will go with the one that best fits their need. And Jose Cuervo is well positioned to fulfill the margarita drinker needs.  

Think about all the reasons people buy services for you and your competitors. Is there a market niche there you can own? Remember one of my favorite sayings, “Trying to be everything to everyone means you end up being nothing to no one.” 

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