S&MM SoundOff

Product Publicity Tests the Water

By Steven M. Stroum

If you can imagine a new use for an old product, an effective press release can create huge sales opportunities. Last year, a client of mine who manufactures shaft collars, devices used for power transmission and motion control applications on machinery, conveyors, and other industrial, medical and packaging equipment, agreed to put a new twist on an old product.

Rather than illustrating the conventional use of a shaft collar as a stop or spacer on machinery, we showed how it could be used to mount something to a pipe or tube. We named our new product a "Universal Mounting Collar" and created a photograph that showed its two key features; it mounted on a rail and had a flat section on the outside with a screw protruding so that you could attach something.

I then wrote a concise press release describing this "new product" and created a media list of publications and Web sites who might have an interest. I’d let these astute new product editors decide whether our "Universal Mounting Collar" would be of interest to their readers.

Forget About Butterflies

   

OH, THOSE BUTTERFLIES . . . Rising up inside as we face all manner of situations: presentations; asking for a raise; cold calling; presenting a new idea to the team — every individual has their collection of situations in which their insides start churning.
        You’ve probably heard the advice about getting those butterflies to “fly in formation”. Or maybe you follow the advice to “imagine your audience naked”. There are almost as many approaches as there are butterflies.
        But here’s the deal: Much (or most?)(or all?) of what you’re feeling before a particular event is natural. Granted, it feels weird — body revving, muscles on alert, as you wait patiently for your moment to be “on” — but it really is how we’re all wired.
        I struggled with this myself, during my days as a Broadway actor, expecting that I should be caaaalm before my auditions. Then I realized that if my body and mind weren’t at their peak when my name was called, I was not going to make the best impression. So I learned to embrace this animated state, rather than fret and try to fight it, and it made a world of difference.
        The same rule applies in business, as well. It’s natural to feel revved up before an event, even if it’s just asking your boss for that raise you clearly deserve. If you’re prepared, if you know your stuff, then it really is “performance energy” you’re feeling, not nerves.
        So the next time you feel that swell of energy rising up inside, don’t think “Augh! Stop! Go away!” Instead, smile and say to yourself, “Good. Right on time.”

[You can find more on this and related subjects at The YouBlog — practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.]

Betting on your Future? Not a Good Plan

By Susan A. Friedmann (CSP, The Tradeshow Coach)

Recently, the lottery in NY -- the state I call home -- reached a record jackpot, larger than ever before.  When I penned these words, the grand total of funds just waiting to be won was over 340 million dollars.  As you can imagine, this got people talking.  Almost every local newscast covered the huge jackpot. People were lining up at convenience stores across the state, hoping against hope to cash in and win big.

This got me thinking about the two types of people: gamblers and planners.  Both would like to have the big bag of cash, but they take different routes to achieve it.  A gambler might plunk down a dollar -- or two, or twenty, or two hundred -- in hopes of winning big in a lottery, while the planner follows a less exciting route of saving and investing.  At the end of the day, who’s more likely to have the big bucks? Chances are, it’d be the planner.

Tradeshow exhibiting works the same way.  You can gamble on having a good show, approaching it in a frenzy because ‘everybody’s doing it’ and you’ve heard there’s big money to be had, or you can approach it methodically, making a plan, doing your research, and making those actions that are prudent and improve your bottom line.

Some gamblers win.  That’s what keeps lotteries going, after all.  Some exhibitors show up with only half an idea of what they’re doing, a horrible exhibit and only fledgling show skills, and yet still have a triumphant show.  But the odds are against most gamblers.  For every winner, there are thousands of losers.  For every successful ‘We just wing it’ exhibitor, there are hundreds who look at the time and effort expended and realize they could have done much, much better -- if only they’d taken the time to learn what they were doing. Are you willing to take that chance?

Incentives & Logistics

By Enrique Burgos

After many years in the incentives and relationship marketing industry, one idea is fixed in my mind: It doesn't matter what the goal/strategy/rewards of your campaign or program is if you haven’t arranged and really organized all the logistics related to it.

I have been managing incentives campaigns since 2002 for international companies such as Toyota, GE, BP, Nestle, Kodak and Fujitsu-Siemens. The main obstacle in all these projects was logistics. You can prepare extraordinary strategies, new ways to communicate the program (e-mailing, SMS messages, newsletters), and the newest rewards at the incentive scheme, but ultimately the customer, employee or the participant in the program has to receive the reward. Finding the proper logistics partner is probably one of the most important decisions in any marketing action.

I have worked with several partners: logistics companies, marketing agencies with integrated logistics services, purchasing agents, and my conclusion is that there is one solution for each kind of project/company. You have to detect what will be your logistical needs for the related development, and after this analysis, you can select the appropriate partner. Sending gift cards to your sales force in several locations is not the same as managing reference gift catalogue for 150 participants located all over the country.

Finding the proper logistics partner is probably one of the most important decisions in any marketing action. I have worked with several partners: logistics companies, marketing agencies with integrated logistics services, purchasing agents, and my conclusion is that there is one solution for each kind of project/company. You have to detect what will be your logistical needs for the related development, and after this analysis, you can select the appropriate partner. Sending gift cards to your sales force in several locations is not the same as managing reference gift catalogue for 150 participants located all over the country.

Doin' the Lemmings Tango

IT'S SOOOOO TEMPTING TO TELL prospects, partners, and people at a party, that your company is the "leader in" whatever it is you do. People say that when it's true, or when they wish it to be true.

I guess the rationale is that if you say it, people will automatically believe it and be swayed by this pronouncement.

But, soooo many people use these words that they carry almost NO weight, even when they really are true.

More importantly, whatever your company has attained is secondary to whether or not you can actually help your prospect or client or customer benefit by whatever it is you’re proposing (or, in the words of Kathy Sierra, what matters is whether or not you can help your buyers/users kick-ass).

So resist the urge to do what so many others do. Resist those words “we’re the leader in” and, instead, tell them how you can help them do what they do even better.

[You can find more on this and related subjects at The YouBlog — practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.]

Why Change Management Fails

By Mary Donato, President, Applied Principles and Associate Director, ISBM

I was recently a panelist on the topic of "Change Management."  After 27 years working with companies like Xerox, Dun & Bradstreet, ADP, FranklinCovey, Penn State University, Citrix, Lexmark and others, I've seen my share of change initiatives. Many change initiatives were successful, but some did not deliver the desired results/ROI. Those that died a slow and painful death, however, typically had some commonality. A 2004 Gartner study clearly identified the common 10 reasons why change management projects often fail to achieve the desired results, and through my experience, they certainly hold true:

1. Management has little involvement
2. Rewards and incentives are tied to old objectives
3. Limited or no input from the customer
4. Staff culture resists change
5. The organization thinks that technology is the solution
6. Lack of specifically designed, mutually reinforcing processes
7. Poor-quality customer data and information
8. Little coordination of multiple departmental initiatives and projects
9. Creation of team happens last and does not include business users
10. No measures or monitoring of benefits

For your next project that requires change to take place, think through this list of factors and it may just help your program deliver a higher ROI. 

Year of the Global Marketing Sensitivities

Many of us global marketers are all too familiar with using historical cultural marketing gaffes as learning aids but we much prefer to use proactive positive examples of how to use cultural sensitivities to deliver on marketing objectives. 

For such an example, one can look to China and the recent China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast of the 2007 Chinese New Year Spring Festival Gala.

The  CCTV Spring Festival Gala is the equivalent to Dick Clark's Rockin' New year's Eve show on steroids.  The show reaches an estimated two thirds of the television viewers inside China and is shown via six satellites to over 45 million viewers outside of China.  Many Chinese families of multiple generations gather around to watch it as part of their New Year's Celebration.

This lavish extravaganza is reminiscent of 1970s American variety television shows with music, comedy and dance but is done at such a level that it combines the glamor of the Oscars with the energy of the SuperBowl halftime show.  Hosts like Zhu Jun, Zhou Tao, Li Yong, and Dong Qing are familiar household faces.

One may be asking: How did China use this powerful media vehicle to promote it's marketing strategy of being more culturally sensitive?  Did it add overt political statements to the script?  Did its political leaders provide targeted sound bites?  No.  In the case of the 2007 Spring Gala it is seen by what is absent.  No pigs.

In the Chinese Zodiac calendar 2007 is the Year of the Boar.  In a break from tradition in the 4 and 1/2 hour broadcast production you did not see a single Chinese Zodiac boar symbol.   This was done intentionally not to potentially offend Muslims via the promotion of pigs and pork. The target audience included not only the enclaves of Muslims living within China but the Muslims living throughout Asia and of course the Middle East and Africa. ( Can you say key oil suppliers?).

China is clearly strategically marketing themselves as a key if not the emerging global leader  and is using an astute understanding of cultural sensitivities to assist them in this positioning.

This example makes me look forward to see how China is not only going to handle the marketing of the 2008 Spring Festival Gala but their true global coming out party-- the 08 Beijing Olympics.  Stay tuned.  It should be something to see.

Craig Butzine

The Craig Group

HR Chally and Professionalizing Sales

By Dave Stein

Howard Stevens, CEO and chairman of HR Chally in Dayton, Ohio, is a genuine thought leader in the sales effectiveness community. He and his team have built a world-class company and have elevated personnel assessments and predictive testing to the level of must-have for best-in-class sales organizations.

Howard is committed to helping the three dozen colleges and universities that have courses of study in professional selling. In fact, HR Chally is donating proceeds from the sale of a sales benchmarking report to that cause. Howard told me that last year 4,100 graduates educated, trained and prepared for a career in sales were hired into the workforce—professionals who chose sales as a career. How many graduating college seniors can say that?

To give you a flavor of one terrific collegiate event that amazed me, read "The Sales 101 Final Exam"   (written before I founded ESR). There are a number of us who, in our own ways, are contributing to the elevation of sales as a profession. I founded ESR for that reason. Linda Richardson, founder and CEO of Richardson, a leading sales training company is making a contribution through her work teacheing courses in professional selling at Wharton. There are many more.

A few weeks ago, when I interviewed Zig Ziglar, he said, in his inimitable way, "Of all the professions, sales demands absolute integrity, because sales people are trained to persuade." All of us in sales have an obligation to do what we can, when we can, to elevate our profession in the eyes of the rest of the business world. We may yet have a way to go, but I'm convinced we'll get there.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF LIFE WAS AS CLEAR AS THESE SIGNS? Okay, that might take a lot of the fun and flavor out of things, but sometimes it would be really helpful to have a simple guide for how to do things better.

And since this is business blog, I’m going to give you a simple guide for how to improve your communications.

Now, when I say “simple”, I mean SIMPLE. It really comes down to only two words: “You” and “Me”. That’s it. Just two words.

But those two words can help you be more effective, more persuasive, and more connected in all your communications. They work whether you’re putting together a critical presentation for your board of directors, preparing for a client call, or maybe just trying to lobby support for a new initiative.

How does it work?

Go through whatever it is you’re working on — a presentation, a prospecting email or letter, your outline for a meeting, etc. — and mark it up as follows:

Wherever you find something about your company, your products or services, your idea, your agenda, or your plans, write “Me” next to it.

Wherever you find something about the interests, goals, needs, or pains of your audience or reader(s) or prospects, write “You” next to it.

[If you’re not sure whether something is about “You” or “Me”, put a “Me” next to it.]

Pretty easy so far, right?

Now, count up the number of “Me”s and “You”s. How’s the balance? More “Me”s than “You”s? If so, you’re probably not helping your case. And, if a lot of those “Me”s come before you get to the first “You”, you’re really in trouble. (And if you don’t have any “You”s — well, don’t tell your boss about this post just yet . . .)

[Theory alert]

It’s probably not going to shock you that people are more interested in themselves than they are in you. That’s just life, right? So it makes sense that if we want to influence or persuade or motivate someone, we’ll have a better chance if we focus on what matters to them.

But it’s not enough to have something relevant to them somewhere in your presentation or letter or discussion. If the focus isn’t on them from the beginning, you’ll lose them before you ever get to the good stuff. People are not going to patiently wade through five paragraphs until they finally find something to care about, and they won’t sit in rapt attention through forty-five slides if you don’t get their brains engaged on the first slide.

That’s why the words “You” and “Me” are so powerful. They give you a quick way to see where the focus of your communications are. They also guide you to those parts that could/should be revised for greater impact.

So go through your emails, docs, plans, and presentations. Wherever you find a “Me”, either change it to a “You”, move it to the end, or delete it altogether. You’ll find that these two little words can point you to more effective and compelling communications every time.

[You can find more on this and related subjects at The YouBlog — practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.]

Product Publicity Uncovers New Markets

By Steven M. Stroum

Many years ago, a client of mine in the plastics business was driving his expensive motor home during the winter in New England and his windshield wipers kept collecting ice. Aggravated that he had to lean out his window while driving this large $250,000 vehicle and bang the ice and snow off of the wipers, he decided to invent a heated windshield wiper. It would certainly be safer.

Inventing this heated wiper was no easy task. His patented technology involved special elastomers and heating devices that would operate over a wide temperature range and not burn out. The wipers also had to be easy to install and users had to be willing to pay more than $100 per pair. Since I had been publicizing products for his plastics company at the time, he asked me to test market his new heated wipers. 

It was challenging because I had to show them in a generic way. In other words, if I photographed the wipers on a motor home, that would limit his potential exposure to editors in the motor home market. So, we borrowed an actual windshield and staged a photograph with fake ice and snow which illustrated the chief benefits of the wiper: it melted the snow, prevented ice buildup and cleared the windshield. Then I wrote a very concise press release about this innovative product.

Most importantly, my next step was to create a list of media outlets that might have an interest in heated windshield wipers. I figured they would include publications (this experience preceded the Web) in several major markets including aviation, trucking, buses, police, fire, municipalities, loggers, etc. My thought was that editors would pass judgment on the heated wiper and choose to use it as “product news” or they wouldn’t. In that respect, each editor represented a significant constituency.  If they did select my press release about the heated wiper and publish a brief story about it, then they would pass judgment on its usefulness for their market. Most importantly, thousands of readers would then see the product news and seek more information if they were interested.

This method of using product publicity to uncover new markets really works because, unlike advertising, news is objectively presented by editors to their readers. Then the interest generated by that readership is measured by actual reader response rates.