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          Business Building Lessons Notebook Copyright 2001 by Dennis S. Vogel


Shania Twain has been gaining popularity in Pop Music and Country Music. So, many of us
have heard her sing, "That don't impress me much. Don't get me wrong, I think you're alright."

Think about how the general public regards most marketing efforts. Do they sound like what
Shania Twain sings? They're not impressed much. They may think businesses (products/services)
are alright but that's not enough to get them to buy anything.

It's like my response to somebody who thinks s/he is tough & is bragging. "Well, at least, one of
us is impressed & it's not me."

So, what might impress prospective customers?

Here are some ways to find out.
1) Observe the marketing efforts of other businesses & how people respond to them.
2) Survey them.
3) Ask people who own similar businesses in other areas.
4) Test different things, track and record the results.

Listen to a radio station that has advertisers in other cities. Example: A hardware store owner in
Two Rivers, Wisconsin might listen to WLKN & hear a commercial from a hardware store in Sheboygan. This owner could write down the main message of the commercial.

(NOTE- For clarity, I'll refer to the hardware store owner in Two Rivers as "he/him." I'll refer to
the store owner in Sheboygan as "she/her." The distance between these stores would be about
40 miles, so they're not apt to be competitors.)

Then he could prepare to talk to her by listing things that work for him. After that he could call
her on the telephone, but she may be suspicious & not want to talk over the phone. He may,
though, set an appointment to met her at her store.

By meeting in person, he can properly introduce himself & see what she talks about. But before
he asks her about her business, he should invite her to his store & then talk about his business to
build trust first.

He doesn't have to reveal trade secrets, but he can say what happens at his store & ask if she experiences the same thing in hers. After trust has been established, he can ask about the results
she gets from the commercial.

To go even further (physically and philosophically), he could do the same with a store owner in
Green Bay or Algoma to the north. She could do the same with a store owner in Milwaukee to
the south. Then they could tell each other what they learned from the others in other cities.

To get even more business growth, find what businesses in other categories do & adapt it to
our business. Talking to owners of the same kind of business may help you refine what you do. Talking to owners of different kinds of businesses can help you find new business methods.

At the end of the song, Shania asks, "Do you think, you're Elvis or something? Whatever."

Sometimes, if consumers notice a business's marketing efforts at all, they may wonder, "Who do
they think they are? They must think they're something special or something."

What matters in marketing is what potential customers think of a business. They won't think
highly of a business that doesn't think highly of them!

Don't feature a "Herb The Nerd" using your products/service. People who don't think of them-
selves as nerds or whom are offended by something like will use somebody else products/service.

There are successful exceptions, that's obvious from books with titles like "The Complete Idiot's Ultimate Guide to Totally Foolish Stupidity."

So, how can you show them you think highly of them? By showing you're highly, sincerely
interested in them for themselves, not for their money.

(I hope I won't offend anybody with this analogy.)

If I want to show a woman I'm interested in what she thinks and feels, I'll look at her eyes or her
face in general. I won't let my eyes wander lower than her chin while she and I talk.

Even if I am impressed by something irrelevant to the main issue, I won't dwell on it.

How does this apply to business? Don't be so quick to take about credit applications, prices, or financing terms unless it's what the prospect wants to talk about. Ask what the prospect is
interested in. What's important to him/her? And don't ask, "Why ... ?" That causes some people
to feel defensive because it seems like you may questioning their intelligence or their judgment.

If you want to know why s/he feels a certain way, you can say and ask, "That seems important
to you. I think I can help you better if I understand the importance of your feeling. How did that become important to you?" Yes, this is much longer than "Why?" It frames what you're going to
ask and lets her/him know why it's important for you to know and why it's important for her/him
to tell you. After that, you can say with a questioning inflection, "And that's because ... ?"

Isn't amazing what somebody can get out of song that's less than five minutes long?
 

I have a few old computers, they're just advanced enough I've given up on studying how to fix
them. So this means I know a little bit about computers.

The business that services my computers has been very successful. They've moved three times,
each time to a bigger location.

I get along well with the family running it- a husband, wife and their daughter plus a couple of technicians.

So, what's wrong? The wife and daughter know less about computers than I do. When I ask
(what I consider) a simple question, they call over their dad/hubby or a technician to answer the question. For technical questions, this would be OK. BUT for simple questions, it's not.

At many clinics, nurses will answer questions unless a doctor is required.

Is your staff ready to help customers with non-technical issues? They should be because-
1) It frustrates customers to repeat a question to somebody else;
2) If you're called over for every issue or question, you work IN your business instead of ON it.

If you're too busy working IN your business, you won't reach the level of success you're
capable of unless you have somebody else working ON your business.

If you limit the success of your business, you may be reducing customer's satisfaction. In the
above example, the business has 3 technicians. If it was still limited to the 3 family members, it'd
take longer to get my computers fixed. Sure, I could take them somewhere else, but that may
take a while longer because I don't have a relationship with another computer business. Plus, the techs at the business above understand my computers because they built/rebuilt them.

When my dad brought a computer built by them to another business, the head tech at the other business wouldn't fix his computer. That computer was foreign to that head tech.

When you or your staff form a relationship with a customer, that customer depends on each/all
of you. Please, realize you have that responsibility and take it seriously.
 

Be careful when getting marketing advice, even if you've asked for it. If you want to pretest the message's pulling power, don't ask for an opinion. Ask people if, after reading or listening to a message, they'd be apt to buy the product or service or if they'd want more information about it.

Please, always, remember marketing authorities with decades of experience aren't always right
when they pick what they think will be an effective ad. (I've even been wrong a couple of times.) That's why small, inexpensive tests are important.


I found the ad below in an e-zine.

I haven't checked this one because it's not my orientation but I wonder if it can be done, I
wonder if virtual customers are possible. If so, they'd buy for full retail, not complain, not return products and they pass along the good news to their virtual relatives and friends.

Figure out what it would take to get a real customer like this.
How could/would you satisfy them this much? Give that some serious thought!

Here's the ad:
>TUA GUY
>Finally someone has created the perfect man.
>Take him out play with him and send him away
>before he asks you to wash his clothes or cook
>him dinner. I like this guy!
>http://www.virtuaguy.com/main.html

I could write a similar ad about a virual woman, but I'd probably get complaints.

But apparently, according to Dave Pell, there's something similar.
(dave@davenetics.com http://www.davenetics.com )
>Chasing Scripts
>In Japan, it is becoming increasingly popular for men to sign
>up to maintain an email relationship with a woman -- only in
>this case, the woman is a computer script. According to one
>participant: "I dated Yumi for a while, and I have to confess
>I became very attached to her. It was hard sometimes to remem-
>ber that Yumi wasn't real. She would yell at me and ignore me
>the exact same way as all my other girlfriends have. I thought
>a not-real girlfriend would be more relaxing than the usual
>kind, but I was wrong. Yumi could get very angry over small
>things. Finally I decided to stop the relationship. It was too
>draining for me." There are moments in every person's life when
>the press calls and it is really best just to say "No comment."

Isn't that just like a wom ..., well, what can we learn from this?

The lesson is (of course, there's a lesson) - Automate what you can automate.

I realize Yumi probably had pre-set statements depending on the stage of "relationship" &
maybe some random "reactions" for variety. But this is from the Internet pioneer days - -
the 1990's. Now in 2004, there are programming scripts for web sites to respond to what
people type &/or click. These "responses" can be vocal or written. They include interactive
questions like - - "Did this solve the problem?" & "Would you like to ask another question?"

Another lesson - Find benefits your customers feel strongest & most postive about. Be sure
whoever writes your marketing messages knows those benefits & feelings they elicit. These
should be woven into the messages so the audience feels the feelings.

This is very possible, especially considering the virtual relationship with the virtual person written about above.
 

At times, I call businesses to talk to the owners. I keep having trouble getting through to one
business owner because no matter when I call, I'm only able to talk to the answering machine.

The out-going message on the machine sounds like somebody is yelling into the machine. It's not
a soothing voice either. I've never been able to visit the owner because s/he is gone everytime I
try to contact her/him.

I think one of the services of this business is body piercing. Even I were a prospect for this
service, the jarring, shouting voice I hear from the answering machine would keep me from going
in there. I just wouldn't want the owner of that voice to use a needle on me. (I don't even want
to leave a message.)

The lesson - Be careful about what every part of your business communicates to people.

Also - If you're not able to present for customers and prospects on a regular basis. Should you
really be in that business?

2004 Update- That business is gone.


This is meant to stimulate your mind, it isn't an answer to the issue and it isn't a joke.

Picking an appealing name for a business or a product/service; title for a creative work or headline/opening statement for a marketing message/sales presentation is vital for success.

There's a very successful series of books based on a very appealing title. What I'm referring to
is the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" series. They've expanded it for teenagers, mothers,
Christians, pet lovers, etc. This expansion has undoubtedly increased its popularity.

Copies of it have been purchased for personal use and as gifts. The gift market can be hard to
break into because people don't want the gifts they give to be perceived as garbage. In other
words, they feel safe in giving it. But, why?

The reputation has grown well because of the content, but I'm sure the first reason for the
series's success is the title.

What comes to mind when you think of chicken soup? Warmth? Comfort? Satisfaction? Healing?

Whether chicken soup really has healing qualities, I don't know. Just the feelings and thoughts it conjures in people's minds may have a placebo effect which shouldn't be dismissed lightly.

But will it have this effect on everybody? No.

Will everybody like to buy a copy of one of the books if they have enough money? Probably not.

What about vegetarians? Would they feel comfortable being associated with this series of books?
I doubt it.

Could the authors successfully market a book dedicated to vegetarians' souls. Maybe not. Their names are strongly linked with "Chicken Soup For The Soul."

Somebody else may be successful in reaching vegetarians' souls with a similar theme. Some of
the more serious vegetarians may buy a book like this to show solidarity for their beliefs and as
a possible snub of the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" series.

What about the book "Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul?" This may be appealing to somebody who has a dog or a cat. How would somebody who has a bird feel about it?
Especially if their pet bird is a chicken?

It seems like a joke, but think about this seriously!

This also goes to show you're probably never going to please everybody. You might even find yourself inspiring anger by running counter to some people's beliefs.