Forget coasting into the weekend, make today Kick Ass Friday and dominate the competition today.
I hear clients bemoan the competition all the time. The whining sounds like…They are bigger. They have larger budgets. They have more man power to get things done. They have a bigger market share. They. They. They.
Forget playing the game THEY play. Figure out what they are not doing and be the one to deliver that.
Answer these 10 questions for your organization and you will be who THEY wish they could be. After you make millions of dollars from the answers to these questions remember where you got it from and let me know about your success.
1. What is the marketing approach in your industry no one has tried yet? Do it.
2. What relationships do you want to establish your competition wish they had? Go for it.
3. What service could you improve to remarkable levels? No waiting, act today. In fact, right now.
4. What are the trends of your industry changes over the next five years and how could you be there next year? You have a full 8,760 hours to make it happen. Make it happen.
5. What is the most creative marketing idea you could smack the competition upside the head with? Think how good that would feel.
6. How could your salespeople out-smart, out-hustle, and out-maneuver everyone else in the industry? It's there for the taking. It's up to you how bad you want it.
7. What is the one product you produce or sell better than anyone else? Scream to the heavens about it like your hair was on fire.
8. What online technology hasn't reached your industry and how can you capitalize on that fact? Go find it because it's probably something you can do for free.
9. What is the biggest customer complaint about the competition? Be the superstar to those customers in that one area.
10. Where are you not giving your full effort and passion? Ask someone who reports to you and you'll get a better answer than the one you came up with – unless they are afraid for their job.
11. What are the next ten questions you need to ask yourself as a leader who needs to grow?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I Want My Mommy
I learned how to ride a bike by falling off my bike. I’d wobble down the street until I lost my balance and end up knee down in the street. After a number of times doing this I was determined to learn how to stop skinning my knees because it hurt!
Although, not knowing how to ride a bike and leaving it in the garage just wasn’t an option. Eventually, I learned how to ride and rode with reckless abandon and soon I loved riding my bike. I still fell off and got hurt at times but only when I was pushing the envelope of my skills and daring do.
The consequences of falling helped teach me the importance of learning to ride the right way. I didn’t like the hurt because I knew what the hurt felt like. Today we are creating a society and workplace that doesn’t understand the hurt. If you are protected from the consequences of your actions or someone swoops in and removes the pain from you by bailing you out – what did you learn? Did you learn to ride your bike or call for your mommy? We are becoming a society crying for their mommies.
Every watch someone hit their thumb with a hammer? Who do you think learned the better lesson about hammers and thumbs; the guy who felt the pain or you watching the guy in pain?
Most successful entrepreneurs have had a failed business attempt in the past, in fact many reached the point of being penniless and bankrupt, yet they came back with a resounding success the second or third time because of the painful lessons learned the first time. What if they had been prevented from that first failure, would they have learned those lessons that created their later success? Ask them and they will tell you no. Mommy saving you doesn't teach you anything.
To grow your business, it’s time to remove the mommy strings from your organization and your employees. In these scary times, playing it safe is sure failure and a good way to lose your bike. You have to take some measured risks to be successful. Small failures and injuries such as skinned knees are part of the learning process and the growing process. In order to grow and improve your organization you need to allow for lessons to be learned.
Make today Thursday’s Lessons day and invite your employees to offer new ideas to try new things and sure there is going to be a skinned knee in the process but the benefit to your organization over all will be far greater. And will no longer need to count on your mommy.
Although, not knowing how to ride a bike and leaving it in the garage just wasn’t an option. Eventually, I learned how to ride and rode with reckless abandon and soon I loved riding my bike. I still fell off and got hurt at times but only when I was pushing the envelope of my skills and daring do.
The consequences of falling helped teach me the importance of learning to ride the right way. I didn’t like the hurt because I knew what the hurt felt like. Today we are creating a society and workplace that doesn’t understand the hurt. If you are protected from the consequences of your actions or someone swoops in and removes the pain from you by bailing you out – what did you learn? Did you learn to ride your bike or call for your mommy? We are becoming a society crying for their mommies.
Every watch someone hit their thumb with a hammer? Who do you think learned the better lesson about hammers and thumbs; the guy who felt the pain or you watching the guy in pain?
Most successful entrepreneurs have had a failed business attempt in the past, in fact many reached the point of being penniless and bankrupt, yet they came back with a resounding success the second or third time because of the painful lessons learned the first time. What if they had been prevented from that first failure, would they have learned those lessons that created their later success? Ask them and they will tell you no. Mommy saving you doesn't teach you anything.
To grow your business, it’s time to remove the mommy strings from your organization and your employees. In these scary times, playing it safe is sure failure and a good way to lose your bike. You have to take some measured risks to be successful. Small failures and injuries such as skinned knees are part of the learning process and the growing process. In order to grow and improve your organization you need to allow for lessons to be learned.
Make today Thursday’s Lessons day and invite your employees to offer new ideas to try new things and sure there is going to be a skinned knee in the process but the benefit to your organization over all will be far greater. And will no longer need to count on your mommy.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
You Suck!
Last night at the hockey game during the introductions of the opposing team, after each player’s name was announced some fans would holler “You suck” until the last player was announced and the fans chanted “You suck, too!” By the third period of the game and the home team up 3 – 0 a few fans were heckling the opposing team’s goalie with three chants of his name and then a loud “You suck!” During a break in play the goalie came over to where the hecklers were sitting and made a gesture toward them. Then the fans started chanting “We’re in your head!”
Can you imagine having a bad day at the office and dozens of people hollering at you “You suck”? Can you imagine making a significant mistake like letting the competition score a client (goal) and hundreds of people started booing you? Sports spectators can be brutal, and that behavior is making its way into the workplace as well.
Managers are calling down employees with harsh behavior, in some instances threatening their jobs if they don’t improve. Employees are challenging each other and pointing fingers toward each other. We have become a society who wanting zero defects, which are tense over the economy and insecure in our futures and are quick to point out where someone else failed.
Leaders need to recognize these challenging economic times are causing insecure behaviors in the workplace that could have lasting damage if not controlled immediately. Do you think one of those fans standing on his own with no glass protection between him and that goalie would still scream in his ear “You suck”? No, the protection of the glass and having other fans join in with them allows everyone to vent their anger. It becomes a culture. Leaders need to protect healthy work cultures so they are not taken into a “You suck” direction.
Now is the time for people in the workplace to tighten their connections, create a solution-focused environment instead of a blame-focused environment. Those leaders who replace the “You suck” culture with another sports chant: “You da Man (Woman)” culture is going to have more secure workers more focused on making improvements instead of sending each other to counseling or retribution behavior.
Can you imagine having a bad day at the office and dozens of people hollering at you “You suck”? Can you imagine making a significant mistake like letting the competition score a client (goal) and hundreds of people started booing you? Sports spectators can be brutal, and that behavior is making its way into the workplace as well.
Managers are calling down employees with harsh behavior, in some instances threatening their jobs if they don’t improve. Employees are challenging each other and pointing fingers toward each other. We have become a society who wanting zero defects, which are tense over the economy and insecure in our futures and are quick to point out where someone else failed.
Leaders need to recognize these challenging economic times are causing insecure behaviors in the workplace that could have lasting damage if not controlled immediately. Do you think one of those fans standing on his own with no glass protection between him and that goalie would still scream in his ear “You suck”? No, the protection of the glass and having other fans join in with them allows everyone to vent their anger. It becomes a culture. Leaders need to protect healthy work cultures so they are not taken into a “You suck” direction.
Now is the time for people in the workplace to tighten their connections, create a solution-focused environment instead of a blame-focused environment. Those leaders who replace the “You suck” culture with another sports chant: “You da Man (Woman)” culture is going to have more secure workers more focused on making improvements instead of sending each other to counseling or retribution behavior.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Have You Lost Your Identity?
So many companies are trying to be all things to all people and they end up being nothing for nobody. They have no clearly defined culture because it is totally fractured into mini-segments trying to serve the masses. They also no longer are able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the competition and are considered by customers to be a commodity.
Where is the appeal?
Where is the uniqueness?
When do you find passion is such organizations?
I see leaders making the same mistake in these recessionary times. They want to blend in, they are willing to do whatever the boss wants and conform to whatever the organization says because of fear of being the renegade, drawing attention to one’s self and being let go.
Renegades are what we need now more than ever!
We need leaders to break from the pack and try new things. We need renegades to shake things up and let go of the status quo that got us here in the first place. Leaders need to create their own identities and unique differentiations to stand out to customers and following employees. Uniqueness creates passion and passion creates commitment and commitment creates new ideas to solve problems. Now is the time to claim your identity as an organization and as a leader.
Overcome the desensitization
If you see enough ads on TV they all begin to blend together and become meaningless. If you see enough action in a movie there no longer is the spike of adrenaline from yet another car chase. We are becoming very desensitized to what we witness daily as a society and especially in the workplace.
As a leader you must reinvigorate a desensitized workforce!
Call a stand up meeting of employees to get them involved in solving a particular problem they've never had input on before yet deal with the problem regularly. Involve some of your front line employees in gathering ideas for a new customer contact campaign. Ask employees to suggest ways to stand out in the service to your customers. The key is to try new things and create a work culture that has meaning and importance.
Create your identity in the marketplace!
Stop being one of the pack!
Be the unique leader of a unique organization!
Most work cultures today don’t inspire employees to act, only to hide and blend in. Inspire your employees by creating some uniqueness in your organization and begin the process of building momentum for the emerging economy. Sales may be stagnant and orders may be off, but now is the time to be the renegade and out run your competition – by recapturing the real you and giving your organization a real identity.
Where is the appeal?
Where is the uniqueness?
When do you find passion is such organizations?
I see leaders making the same mistake in these recessionary times. They want to blend in, they are willing to do whatever the boss wants and conform to whatever the organization says because of fear of being the renegade, drawing attention to one’s self and being let go.
Renegades are what we need now more than ever!
We need leaders to break from the pack and try new things. We need renegades to shake things up and let go of the status quo that got us here in the first place. Leaders need to create their own identities and unique differentiations to stand out to customers and following employees. Uniqueness creates passion and passion creates commitment and commitment creates new ideas to solve problems. Now is the time to claim your identity as an organization and as a leader.
Overcome the desensitization
If you see enough ads on TV they all begin to blend together and become meaningless. If you see enough action in a movie there no longer is the spike of adrenaline from yet another car chase. We are becoming very desensitized to what we witness daily as a society and especially in the workplace.
As a leader you must reinvigorate a desensitized workforce!
Call a stand up meeting of employees to get them involved in solving a particular problem they've never had input on before yet deal with the problem regularly. Involve some of your front line employees in gathering ideas for a new customer contact campaign. Ask employees to suggest ways to stand out in the service to your customers. The key is to try new things and create a work culture that has meaning and importance.
Create your identity in the marketplace!
Stop being one of the pack!
Be the unique leader of a unique organization!
Most work cultures today don’t inspire employees to act, only to hide and blend in. Inspire your employees by creating some uniqueness in your organization and begin the process of building momentum for the emerging economy. Sales may be stagnant and orders may be off, but now is the time to be the renegade and out run your competition – by recapturing the real you and giving your organization a real identity.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Shark Won’t Let You Park
The average American watches 30 plus hours of television in week. That's a little over four hours a day parked on the couch, letting your mind idle making no progress to be better. Ever wonder if your life feels stale? Maybe it's time to turn off the TV and get into some shark infested waters.
The Japanese population enjoys fish as a steady diet, and to feed this population fishing boats had to venture further and with larger holding tanks to catch enough fish. Freezing the caught fish wasn't an option as frozen fish doesn't suit the Japanese palate. So the problem facing the fishing industry was how to transport large holds of fish without the fish arriving stale tasting. The fish in these large holding tanks on the boats for days became listless and sluggish without a predator in the tank and actually tasted poorly and people stopped buying fish.
So how did the fishing industry solve this problem? They put a shark in the holding tank on the ships. Although the sharks would eat their small share of the caught fish in the tank, the rest of the fish would arrive alert, and quite lively, and yes, very tasty.
We are creatures of habit. If our habits are sitting on the couch watching TV, then we are embracing listlessness and our minds dull in the process. Put a challenge in your life and you will be livelier, alert, and be able to rise to overcome more obstacles.
What shark do you want in your tank?
The Japanese population enjoys fish as a steady diet, and to feed this population fishing boats had to venture further and with larger holding tanks to catch enough fish. Freezing the caught fish wasn't an option as frozen fish doesn't suit the Japanese palate. So the problem facing the fishing industry was how to transport large holds of fish without the fish arriving stale tasting. The fish in these large holding tanks on the boats for days became listless and sluggish without a predator in the tank and actually tasted poorly and people stopped buying fish.
So how did the fishing industry solve this problem? They put a shark in the holding tank on the ships. Although the sharks would eat their small share of the caught fish in the tank, the rest of the fish would arrive alert, and quite lively, and yes, very tasty.
We are creatures of habit. If our habits are sitting on the couch watching TV, then we are embracing listlessness and our minds dull in the process. Put a challenge in your life and you will be livelier, alert, and be able to rise to overcome more obstacles.
What shark do you want in your tank?
Friday, February 13, 2009
Creating The Insider: Every Customer Wants "In"
Back in the dark ages I owned record albums with “hidden” soundtracks and “backmasking.” Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief album had a second, or “hidden,” groove on one side of the album that only played if the stylus hit it accidentally. We called this the “third side” of the album.
The Beatles White album has a message recorded backwards under the song Revolution Number 9. I had access to a radio studio turntable, so I could play the album backwards and hear what the words really said. These were the surprise prizes that were shared from person to person; the “inside” information made us feel in the know, clever for having figured it out, and part of a special crowd.
DVDs now do the same thing with Easter Eggs. They are exciting to discover, and the customer feels special and rewarded. And the best part for the customer -- sharing the “secret” with someone else! For example, the Cars DVD has hidden treasures aficionados enjoy. If you’ve seen “Boundin’ with Mater,” you are an Insider!
What are you doing to create the buzz of word of mouth marketing for your surprise prizes?
Do you know about the “secret menu” at In and Out Burger? Have it “Animal Style!” Are you a Maker’s Mark Ambassador with your own barrel of private stock bourbon? Now you want to be an Insider don’t you?
Define the “Insider”
Insider: A customer who feels special. A customer possessing special knowledge. A customer who has been given a unique and remarkable gift. A person who resists the invasion of the masses.
Insiders are going to be the best salespeople you have -- and they will sell your company and products for free, and with greater enthusiasm than many in your paid sales force. With the speed information now travels across the Internet, a single person can create a tidal wave of information and buzz!
Create the “Insider”
Resist the temptation to overexpose an Insider opportunity. Let your customers do it for you! Avoid publicity. This flies in the face of conventional marketing wisdom, which is, in fact, its special power. It is non-conventional. It creates selectivity. Here are steps to consider in creating your Insider:
1. Define who you want to “qualify”
Who you want to qualify establishes your parameters. Are you looking to create buzz through a “membership” program? Correct mistakes overwhelmingly? Let your customers create the “inside” information? Have customers occasionally have discoveries and tell others where to find them? Your Insiders need to reflect the culture you are creating with your organization and products.
Maker’s Mark is a small distributor of high quality bourbon that is worth the extra expense to their clientele. Maker’s Mark’s “Ambassador” program is focused on those loyalists who want to be part of the Maker’s Mark family. Both the company and the loyal customer like the family feel and status identification of their product.
2. The discovery
Insiders love the discovery. It’s the surprise prize. The discovery has to be exciting, remarkable, and of value. In the early days of HBO, the movie channel used to offer a gift movie at midnight one night during the end of year holidays. In the listing it simply listed it as “movie” with no fanfare or promotion. One year, it was the movie Ghostbusters, which was a real surprise because it hadn’t been released on videotape and was barely out of the theaters. The unexpected discovery was exciting! I got to tell everyone the next day what they missed. I was an Insider who got a treat others missed out on! The discovery creates buzz, creates scarcity and makes the Insider feel special.
3. The gift
Maker’s Mark sends gifts unannounced. They just appear in my mailbox. Surprise! They are always gifts of quality that I can display, use and share with friends and are linked to the use of their product.
Some are gifts of immediate practical value such as engraved glasses and stirrers, and some are gifts of prestige. I’m proud to say there is a barrel of Maker’s Mark in their warehouse with my name on it. It’s a gift of recognition that my “Ambassador” status has significance.
I received a certificate announcing the birth of my barrel. I receive updates on its progress. My barrel will not be ready to be tapped for 7 years (how’s that for anticipation marketing!) -- and notice how I say it is “MY” barrel. Roughly 18 names are on the 50-gallon barrel, but it’s mine! I can even have special engraved bottles made to share with friends. The extra expense for these VIP bottles? Who cares -- I look like I am “The Man!” giving those away. This is what most Insiders value: the peer recognition of owning such a gift. I have given some of my Insiders golf towels from Augusta National, home of the Masters. It’s not the towel -- it’s the comments from their friends that are the gifts.
4. The access pass
Insiders like special access. Whether it’s the password to a special website page or access to a “forbidden zone,” Insiders like the special treatment. On a distillery tour, the tour guide decided to take the small group where “we really shouldn’t go” through a door that read “No Unauthorized Admittance.” The buzz of the group at the end of the tour was being able to see behind the scenes.
It was doing the forbidden that made us feel special. It’s the backstage pass. It’s the press credential to get onto the field. All insiders want to feel special. It’s what we tell our friends about.
5. Keep it fresh
McDonald’s Happy Meals regularly change the toy inside with savvy movie tie-ins. The kids may not be in the driver’s seat but they make the fast food selection. They are the Insiders who were able to get the “limited edition” Mater toy.
You need to keep your Insider’s attention fresh. Your Insiders want to be intrigued. If every year you send out pocket knives (as one of my vendors still does), they lose their appeal. Since I fly so much, a pocket knife is now actually undesirable because if I forget it’s part of my normal pocket contents, not only will I lose it at airport security but I now have the inconvenience of getting pulled for a special security check. I no longer feel special. The vendor is no longer in touch with my needs, therefore I no longer feel like an Insider.
Insiders want to be appreciated, pampered and know the company is in tune with them. The minute you lose freshness with your Insiders they will feel less appreciated.
6. Listen to the Insiders for what they create
If your organization is lucky enough, your customers will create their own Insider information (I mean the good kind.) Nothing is better than word of mouth you never had to initiate. It’s information that takes on a life of its own. Be familiar with the buzz, enjoy it, and work to keep it for Insiders only without trying to overly capitalize on it. Why?
7. How to lose Insider buzz
A. Allowing the masses in.
Waffle House once had its Insider lingo: Scattered, Smothered, and Covered. It was the inside way to get special treatment to your hash browns for the after-midnight crowd. Word traveled fast about the lingo, and people knew there were options but not sure what they meant. Sadly, now some menus actually explain the words’ meaning and promote those options. Insiders no longer feel part of the inside few because now everyone is an Insider.
You will lose your Insider once the masses become the Insiders and the buzz will be lost.
B. Easy entry premium clubs
Airlines have their premium clubs trying to make frequent flyers feel special but the clubs have lost much of their meaning. What good is early boarding for premium club members if 85 percent of the passengers are in the club? What good are upgrades to first class seating if, as a flight attendant told me, the bean counters are removing 25 percent of the first class seats and replacing them with coach seats to make more money once they realized 25 percent of first class seats were being filled with premium upgrades? Thanks, USAirways! Now I feel so special!
A premium club has no meaning unless it has scarcity.
What are your scarcity items Insiders crave? What is the Top Secret information only given to Insiders? How are your customers creating buzz about your company or products? What are you allowing Insiders to discover? It’s the multi-million dollar marketing advantage you need to get in on.
The Beatles White album has a message recorded backwards under the song Revolution Number 9. I had access to a radio studio turntable, so I could play the album backwards and hear what the words really said. These were the surprise prizes that were shared from person to person; the “inside” information made us feel in the know, clever for having figured it out, and part of a special crowd.
DVDs now do the same thing with Easter Eggs. They are exciting to discover, and the customer feels special and rewarded. And the best part for the customer -- sharing the “secret” with someone else! For example, the Cars DVD has hidden treasures aficionados enjoy. If you’ve seen “Boundin’ with Mater,” you are an Insider!
What are you doing to create the buzz of word of mouth marketing for your surprise prizes?
Do you know about the “secret menu” at In and Out Burger? Have it “Animal Style!” Are you a Maker’s Mark Ambassador with your own barrel of private stock bourbon? Now you want to be an Insider don’t you?
Define the “Insider”
Insider: A customer who feels special. A customer possessing special knowledge. A customer who has been given a unique and remarkable gift. A person who resists the invasion of the masses.
Insiders are going to be the best salespeople you have -- and they will sell your company and products for free, and with greater enthusiasm than many in your paid sales force. With the speed information now travels across the Internet, a single person can create a tidal wave of information and buzz!
Create the “Insider”
Resist the temptation to overexpose an Insider opportunity. Let your customers do it for you! Avoid publicity. This flies in the face of conventional marketing wisdom, which is, in fact, its special power. It is non-conventional. It creates selectivity. Here are steps to consider in creating your Insider:
1. Define who you want to “qualify”
Who you want to qualify establishes your parameters. Are you looking to create buzz through a “membership” program? Correct mistakes overwhelmingly? Let your customers create the “inside” information? Have customers occasionally have discoveries and tell others where to find them? Your Insiders need to reflect the culture you are creating with your organization and products.
Maker’s Mark is a small distributor of high quality bourbon that is worth the extra expense to their clientele. Maker’s Mark’s “Ambassador” program is focused on those loyalists who want to be part of the Maker’s Mark family. Both the company and the loyal customer like the family feel and status identification of their product.
2. The discovery
Insiders love the discovery. It’s the surprise prize. The discovery has to be exciting, remarkable, and of value. In the early days of HBO, the movie channel used to offer a gift movie at midnight one night during the end of year holidays. In the listing it simply listed it as “movie” with no fanfare or promotion. One year, it was the movie Ghostbusters, which was a real surprise because it hadn’t been released on videotape and was barely out of the theaters. The unexpected discovery was exciting! I got to tell everyone the next day what they missed. I was an Insider who got a treat others missed out on! The discovery creates buzz, creates scarcity and makes the Insider feel special.
3. The gift
Maker’s Mark sends gifts unannounced. They just appear in my mailbox. Surprise! They are always gifts of quality that I can display, use and share with friends and are linked to the use of their product.
Some are gifts of immediate practical value such as engraved glasses and stirrers, and some are gifts of prestige. I’m proud to say there is a barrel of Maker’s Mark in their warehouse with my name on it. It’s a gift of recognition that my “Ambassador” status has significance.
I received a certificate announcing the birth of my barrel. I receive updates on its progress. My barrel will not be ready to be tapped for 7 years (how’s that for anticipation marketing!) -- and notice how I say it is “MY” barrel. Roughly 18 names are on the 50-gallon barrel, but it’s mine! I can even have special engraved bottles made to share with friends. The extra expense for these VIP bottles? Who cares -- I look like I am “The Man!” giving those away. This is what most Insiders value: the peer recognition of owning such a gift. I have given some of my Insiders golf towels from Augusta National, home of the Masters. It’s not the towel -- it’s the comments from their friends that are the gifts.
4. The access pass
Insiders like special access. Whether it’s the password to a special website page or access to a “forbidden zone,” Insiders like the special treatment. On a distillery tour, the tour guide decided to take the small group where “we really shouldn’t go” through a door that read “No Unauthorized Admittance.” The buzz of the group at the end of the tour was being able to see behind the scenes.
It was doing the forbidden that made us feel special. It’s the backstage pass. It’s the press credential to get onto the field. All insiders want to feel special. It’s what we tell our friends about.
5. Keep it fresh
McDonald’s Happy Meals regularly change the toy inside with savvy movie tie-ins. The kids may not be in the driver’s seat but they make the fast food selection. They are the Insiders who were able to get the “limited edition” Mater toy.
You need to keep your Insider’s attention fresh. Your Insiders want to be intrigued. If every year you send out pocket knives (as one of my vendors still does), they lose their appeal. Since I fly so much, a pocket knife is now actually undesirable because if I forget it’s part of my normal pocket contents, not only will I lose it at airport security but I now have the inconvenience of getting pulled for a special security check. I no longer feel special. The vendor is no longer in touch with my needs, therefore I no longer feel like an Insider.
Insiders want to be appreciated, pampered and know the company is in tune with them. The minute you lose freshness with your Insiders they will feel less appreciated.
6. Listen to the Insiders for what they create
If your organization is lucky enough, your customers will create their own Insider information (I mean the good kind.) Nothing is better than word of mouth you never had to initiate. It’s information that takes on a life of its own. Be familiar with the buzz, enjoy it, and work to keep it for Insiders only without trying to overly capitalize on it. Why?
7. How to lose Insider buzz
A. Allowing the masses in.
Waffle House once had its Insider lingo: Scattered, Smothered, and Covered. It was the inside way to get special treatment to your hash browns for the after-midnight crowd. Word traveled fast about the lingo, and people knew there were options but not sure what they meant. Sadly, now some menus actually explain the words’ meaning and promote those options. Insiders no longer feel part of the inside few because now everyone is an Insider.
You will lose your Insider once the masses become the Insiders and the buzz will be lost.
B. Easy entry premium clubs
Airlines have their premium clubs trying to make frequent flyers feel special but the clubs have lost much of their meaning. What good is early boarding for premium club members if 85 percent of the passengers are in the club? What good are upgrades to first class seating if, as a flight attendant told me, the bean counters are removing 25 percent of the first class seats and replacing them with coach seats to make more money once they realized 25 percent of first class seats were being filled with premium upgrades? Thanks, USAirways! Now I feel so special!
A premium club has no meaning unless it has scarcity.
What are your scarcity items Insiders crave? What is the Top Secret information only given to Insiders? How are your customers creating buzz about your company or products? What are you allowing Insiders to discover? It’s the multi-million dollar marketing advantage you need to get in on.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Step Forward or Run Scared
Right now companies are falling into two different camps on how they view the economy. Which group do you think has more members in it? Which group do you think has a better chance of corporate growth in 2009? Which group are you leading your organization toward?
Run scared
This is the group that will sit back, wait and see then hope a light at the end of the tunnel appears soon. This is the common choice, this is the choice for those companies who desire (Based on their actions) to be a commodity, a middle of the pack company who have no interest in attracting more customers and are more interested in just letting the economy buoy or sink their bottom line. These organizations have executives and boards of directors looking at budgets with Samurai swords looking to slash costs, worried how their organization is going to fare and essentially looking at the next 12 months with the expectation of how hard it’s going to be to just sustain. They collectively shake their heads about how bad “everything” is. They have accepted they are staring at a hill too big to climb and would rather run scared than run up the hill to move forward.
Step forward
The few leaders who honestly believe in the core of their being they can make 2009 a great year for profits are rolling up their sleeves, laughing at the competition and getting ready to make quantum leaps in their industries. Instead of taking out the Samurai swords to slash budgets, they are planning and making strategic choices on how to spend MORE money on development, advertising and innovation. How can they afford to take this approach?
Lance Armstrong is a fast racer but everyone else in the peloton could keep up with his pace in almost all stages of the Tour de France. Where Lance became unbeatable and won each of his 7 Tour De France races was in the mountain stages. He knew in the roughest terrain in the most challenging stages, was his opportunity to move forward. To take control. To teach the competition that in the toughest stages the best was able to gain great ground and move forward to be the leader of the pack.
Those companies who are looking to run forward in 2009 know that this is the year to make those hard decisions to invest time talent and finances in making great steps forward. While the rest of the pack is thinking negative thoughts on the way up the mountain, the best leaders are thinking about how they are gaining a competitive advantage.
Was it purely mindset that put Lance Armstrong in the lead in the mountain stages? No, the mindset was the foundation of the preparation, the planning, the diligence, and the hard work. He knew it would pay off dividends after the first race it worked. Great leaders know the payoff when an opportunity like 2009 comes along. Do you? Are you ready to set you mind and follow with your actions to step forward?
Have you ever seen this behavior before in your life? Sure. These are the students in school who are always hoping for a teacher curve to adjust test scores so enough people will get a passing grade. These are the football players who show up for practice every day, go through their work outs knowing that are not going to start in the big game and they’ve accepted that spot on the sidelines. When the team wins they are happy! When the team loses they drop their heads to listen to the coach’s locker room comments just like those who actually played the game.
Run scared
This is the group that will sit back, wait and see then hope a light at the end of the tunnel appears soon. This is the common choice, this is the choice for those companies who desire (Based on their actions) to be a commodity, a middle of the pack company who have no interest in attracting more customers and are more interested in just letting the economy buoy or sink their bottom line. These organizations have executives and boards of directors looking at budgets with Samurai swords looking to slash costs, worried how their organization is going to fare and essentially looking at the next 12 months with the expectation of how hard it’s going to be to just sustain. They collectively shake their heads about how bad “everything” is. They have accepted they are staring at a hill too big to climb and would rather run scared than run up the hill to move forward.
Step forward
The few leaders who honestly believe in the core of their being they can make 2009 a great year for profits are rolling up their sleeves, laughing at the competition and getting ready to make quantum leaps in their industries. Instead of taking out the Samurai swords to slash budgets, they are planning and making strategic choices on how to spend MORE money on development, advertising and innovation. How can they afford to take this approach?
Lance Armstrong is a fast racer but everyone else in the peloton could keep up with his pace in almost all stages of the Tour de France. Where Lance became unbeatable and won each of his 7 Tour De France races was in the mountain stages. He knew in the roughest terrain in the most challenging stages, was his opportunity to move forward. To take control. To teach the competition that in the toughest stages the best was able to gain great ground and move forward to be the leader of the pack.
Those companies who are looking to run forward in 2009 know that this is the year to make those hard decisions to invest time talent and finances in making great steps forward. While the rest of the pack is thinking negative thoughts on the way up the mountain, the best leaders are thinking about how they are gaining a competitive advantage.
Was it purely mindset that put Lance Armstrong in the lead in the mountain stages? No, the mindset was the foundation of the preparation, the planning, the diligence, and the hard work. He knew it would pay off dividends after the first race it worked. Great leaders know the payoff when an opportunity like 2009 comes along. Do you? Are you ready to set you mind and follow with your actions to step forward?
Have you ever seen this behavior before in your life? Sure. These are the students in school who are always hoping for a teacher curve to adjust test scores so enough people will get a passing grade. These are the football players who show up for practice every day, go through their work outs knowing that are not going to start in the big game and they’ve accepted that spot on the sidelines. When the team wins they are happy! When the team loses they drop their heads to listen to the coach’s locker room comments just like those who actually played the game.
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