Secrets of Power MarketingReviewed by Kirsten Cowan
Another installment from public speaking whiz
Peter Urs Bender, this time with the adept co-operation of speaker and educator
George Torok. Expanding on the themes of
Secrets of Power Presentations and
Leadership From Within, this new release focuses on marketing your business. Secrets of Power Marketing seeks to apply the techniques and methods of the first two books in a practical way to the project of marketing ones business. The result is a lively book, with a streak of practicality that reveals itself in an impatience with hoity-toity notions of marketing that have little impact on the bottom line.
Of particular interest to HotLink readers is the comprehensive "Strategy Three" dealing with media relations. Included in this category is self-published media such as newsletters, and timely insights on getting the most out of the "New Media". Torok and Bender have a clear understanding of the effect a media spot, especially a media interview or article, can have on your marketing plan. As with all their strategies, advice is clear, no-nonsense and effective.
A great feature of Secrets of Power Marketing, which it shares with Bender's previous works, is the plethora of ideas it provides, lists of them, which can be tailored to your specific needs. Appendix A; "101 Power Marketing Ideas," is an army of catch-phrases, concepts, tags, lead-ins and inspirations, ready to leap into action at the reader's behest.
The characteristic charm and accessibility readers expect from Peter Urs Bender is here in droves, with pithy quotes, anecdotes illustrating key ideas and charts and tables depicting multi- layered concepts.
Secrets of Power Marketing is not for everyone. Its brashness may not suit the more cultivated type of business, and the forthrightness of its marketing style is definitely tailored to small or individually owned businesses. The graphics, always somewhat enigmatic in Bender's books, are truly mysterious in this attempt. Nonetheless, the boundless enthusiasm and obviously field-tested wisdom of Bender and Torok make Secrets of Power Marketing a worthwhile investment for any organization.
Reprinted from The Sources HotLink
Labels: book review, marketing speaker, Power Marketing Tips, small business
Power Marketing Tip 23:What's your guarantee?
Buyers want guarantees. If you want to pry the money from the reluctant hands of your clients you must make them feel good about their purchase. You must help them overcome their fear of buying. You need to reduce the risk.
How can you reduce the risk for your clients?
One of the best ways to demonstrate your good faith and understanding of your clients' needs is to offer a guarantee.
Buyers expect guarantees.
But a standard guarantee might not be enough to convince a prospect to buy from you. If your guarantee is only as good as the competition - it's not giving you the edge. It's just saying that you are as bad as the competition.
You need to offer a guarantee that catches attention and scares your competition.
For example:
Domino's Pizza built its success on this guarantee, "Fresh hot pizza in 30 minutes or it's free."
Hyundai offers a powerful guarantee. If you loose your job within one year of your purchase or lease of a new Hyundai you can break the deal and return the car at no extra cost to you. That's smart because it addresses the biggest concern on workers' minds.
A travel company offered this guarantee. If it rains on your vacation we will offer you another vacation at no extra charge.
Don't offer an empty guarantee. The newspaper has a guaranteed delivery time of 8:00 am. I asked the representative, "What happens if the paper is not delivered by that time?" Guess what she said? "Nothing." In other words there is no guarantee.
A guarantee must have two parts. There must be a measurable parameter and there must be a reward or restitution to the client when you don't measure up.
For the guarantee to differentiate you it must be bolder than the competition and it must address a principle fear of your clients.
Tell me about your bold guarantee and I might post it on my marketing blog along with a link to your website.
George TorokPower MarketingRegister here for free Marketing Tips.
Labels: free marketing tips, Power Marketing Tips, small business marketing
Power Marketing Tips 22:
Magic Words Shape Relationships
It costs nothing except your attention to the words that you and your team use with clients and prospects - and with each other.
Three relationship enhancing phrases
Please, thank you and you're welcome. These words seem to be missing in action.
Have you noticed that many business owners and managers are not paying attention to the words that their staff uses? Powerful leaders have fostered revolutions with their choice of words. You can shape warmer relationships by using the magic words.
How would you feel as the client in these examples?
Please
The bank teller stated, "Swipe your card and enter your PIN." It sounded like a command - not a request. The word, "Please", was sadly missing. I dutifully complied.
Thank you
You made your purchase and paid your bill. The seller neglects to say "ThankYou". You wait for your change and without thinking you respond with "Thank you" after the seller gives you your change while saying, "There you go." If you thought about it - you would realize that you just thanked someone for giving you back your own money. Yet the seller never thanked you for buying from them. Who should be thanking who?
You're Welcome
You thanked someone. What do you expect to hear? How about, "You're welcome."What do you hear? "No problem."What's the difference? The first is a positive, cheery and encouraging comment.The second is negative, diminutive and dismissive. Imagine the difference between a doormat that says "Welcome" and one that says "No Problem".
If you want to build warmer relationships use these three simple phrases.Please - thank you - you're welcome.
You might not start a revolution but you'll stand out as extraordinary!
George Torok
Power Marketing
Tell me how this marketing tip helps you.
PS: Forward this tip to your associates.
PPS: Thanks for your comments and feedback.
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Feedback
"The overall convention evaluations were all glowing and members left on an emotional and educational high! Based on a 10 point scale with 10 being the highest score the overall rating for all sessions was 8.44. The score for your session was 9.35. We appreciate all the time and energy put in your presentation. Thank you!"
Susan Fenner PhD, Manager of Education & Professional Development, IAAP
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George Torok
Marketing Speaker
Motivational Business Speaker
Labels: customer service, customer service horror, emotional marketing, relationship building
THE ROSSEAU - A JW MARRIOTT RESORT
Exceptional resort - The Rosseau - a JW Marriot
Most of us have had horrible experiences at hotels - especially hotels that claim to be first class and then treat customers like dumb sheep. Ask me about the Marriot in Halifax if you want to hear a horror story.
Sometimes it is the poor design of the hotel, more often the arrogant policies of management toward customers and most often poorly trained staff.
Recently I had an exceptional experience at The Rosseau - a JW Marriot in Muskoka, Ontario.
The wilderness setting in Muskoka was gorgeous. The new building was incredible. The room was
But what really impressed was the attitude, behaviour and personality of the staff. You can tell when staff has been well recruited and well trained.
When we arrived the doorman introduced himself and asked our names. By the time we reached the second person - he called us by name and introduced himself. While at dinner the servers checked in with us several times. At breakfast the server noticed that my omelet was under cooked. She eagerly offered to get me a replacement and apologized for the inconvenience.
When I checked with others at the same conference they also confirmed the amazing attention to detail. We agreed that it was the little things that made the difference.
The Rosseau - A JW Marriot - top of the line experience.
George Torok
Labels: customer service, marketing, relationship building
This Starwood Sheraton Hotel Survey SucksCustomer surveys are a good idea - but good ideas can be messed up by poor implementation. Here is an example of a customer survey that only served to annoy me as the customer of Sheraton Starwood Hotels.
The first rule of surveys is to be clear on your purpose. For example: are you conducting your customer survey to fix problems, discover opportunities, gather performance stats for marketing - or justify a manager's bonus?
The second rule of surveys is to see it from the customer's point of view.
After my stay at a Sheraton Hotel in Montreal I received the following request by email to complete a customer survey.
When you ask your customers to complete a survey - remember that they are doing it for you. So it would help your cause if you were warm, friendly, respectful and offered a reward for their time and perspective.
When I received the survey request from Sheraton Starwood Hotels - I deleted the first email because it seemed cold, demanding and all about them. And they offered me nothing as a reward for my time and opinion.
Then I received the second email as below. It was no warmer nor convincing to me. But this time I clicked and completed the survey - not because they did a better job of inviting me - but because I wanted to discover if it got any better. It did not. In my opinion, the Starwood Sheraton Hotel customer survey sucks.
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Dear GEORGE TOROK,
We recently sent you an e-mail inviting you to participate in an on-line survey about your stay at at Le Centre Sheraton ending on May 5, 2009. If you have not yet completed the survey, I want to let you know it is not too late to participate. We would like to again take this opportunity to personally thank you for your continued patronage. As you may already know, Sheraton Hotels And Resorts is part of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts family of brands (Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, S t. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, Aloft and Element). As a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Preferred member, you are a highly valued guest and we appreciate your loyalty and feedback enormously.
---
Notice the tone of how this first paragraph starts, "We did something and you haven't completed your part." The thank you gets lost after they chastised me for "not yet completing". And then there are several lines about them - they list their hotel brands. Why? Would that convince me to complete their survey?---
We would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to complete a brief survey regarding your most recent stay. This is important to our company, hotels and our brands that use this information worldwide to continuously improve our guest's experience and, most importantly, how to meet and exceed your expectations in the future. TNS has been retained to conduct this survey on behalf of Starwood.
---
This paragraph is all about them. Why would I care? They still have placed no value on my time. They simply demand it.---
At your convenience, please take some time to complete the survey. To complete the survey online, simply click on this link:xxxx or copy and paste the link into the address line of your browser. If you have any difficulty accessing the survey, please send an email message to
starwood@tns-global.com.
The survey itself will take only about 10 minutes of your time. If you are being prompted for a validation code after clicking on the link, please copy and paste the following into the field:
---Ten minutes of my time - that's all they want. Don't they realize that if I can afford to stay at a Sheraton or Starwood Hotel that I place a high value on my time?---
By providing this information you authorize Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., and its affiliated and subsidiary companies, (the "Starwood Group"): to collect, process and use the data provided for any lawful, Starwood Group business related purpose; to store the data at and transmit the data to various location(s), either directly or through its third party vendor(s), as the Starwood Group deems appropriate, throughout the world, whether within your country of residence, the United States, or elsewhere. To learn about our data collection and usage practices, please see our Privacy Statement:
---
The lawyers got to have their say to earn their pay.---
We appreciate your business and thank you for staying at a Starwood hotel. We hope that you will visit other Starwood hotels and resorts in the near future.
---
About time that they thanked me. Where's my prize? If they really appreciated me and my business they could demonstrate that with a gift.---
Sincerely,
Denise Coll
President,
North America Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
---So how do I get my 10 minutes of the president's time? She implied that ten minutes of my time was worth nothing.It;s been at least a week since I "completed" the Starwood Hotel Survey and I have not received a thank you, acknowledgement or offer of a reward.The service at the Sheraton was pretty good with a couple exceptions and the Starwood customer service survey sucks.---
George TorokLabels: customer service, customer service horror, marketing, marketing mistakes, marketing research
Power Marketing Tip 21: Raving Testiomonials
Power Marekting Tip 21:Get more raving testimoninals
The last Power Marketing Tip explained how to leverage your client testimonials. This tip will show you how to get more raving testimonials.
How do you get a raging stream of raving testimonials?
Ask and ask often.
If you want - you gotta ask. When should you ask? You can ask while you are closing the deal. Say, "Thank you for the order. You are going to be very happy with our service. I have a small but important favor to ask. When the job is done and assuming that you are satisfied with our service, would you write a glowing testimonial for us?"
Smile when you say this. Use the word "glowing" or "raving" because your client might laugh when they hear it and they will remember your request along with their agreement later.
Another time to ask is whenever your client complements you. This could be before during or after the delivery of your service. Thank them for their feedback and say, "It would help us if more people could hear your comments. Would you put that in writing for me?"
You can remind them when the job is done by saying or writing a note, "We enjoyed working with you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to show our stuff. I look forward to receiving that raving testimonial from you."
Help them write the letter.
Most people need some help to write a good letter. How can you help them help you? Offer to draft a letter for them. Say, "I know it takes time and effort to write a glowing testimonial. Would it be okay for me to draft a letter for you? You can change anything you want or use as is." Most people will accept your offer because they want to please you and they will not sign anything that they don' t like.
Naturally, we're assuming that you deliver outstanding service.
Enjoy that raging stream of glowing testimonials.
George TorokPower MarketingPS: Tell me how this marketing tip helps you.
PPS: Forward this tip to your associates.
Feedback
"You presented marketing insights, principles and ideas to a group of CEO's from anorganization that I belong to. I was so impressed by your presentation thatI signed up to see you again and brought my entire sales and management teamwith me."
William N.Hotrum, President
HMT SalesTax Consultants Inc.
Labels: marketing ideas, personal marketing, Power Marketing Tips, testimonials
Prosper in this RecessionDon't miss out on this opportunity to recharge yourself and your business.
Get more of the three things that your business needs in these troubled times - focused motivation, effective marketing and sharper selling skills.
Attend the Stimulate Your Business Summit on May 20 in Burlington, Ontario.
That's next Wednesday. It's coming up fast.
You have nothing to lose by registering because your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed!
Three recession busting experts will present their best tips on beating this recession.
Featuring three topic experts and bestselling authors:Charles Marcus on motivation
George Torok on marketiing
Kelley Robertson on selling
(and Ringo on drums)
Register at
http://www.stimulateyourbusiness.com/Wed May 20
Burlington Holiday Inn
$295 plus GST.
Check it out
http://www.stimulateyourbusiness.com/See you there.
Labels: marketing ideas, marketing tune up, recession, small business marketing
Free CRM Webinar this Friday May 15If it's time to get up to speed on CRM then take advantage of this opportunity to attend this free non-technical webinar this week. It's offered by my friend Rick McCutcheon. He is an expert on CRM - that's all he does - CRM. He consults, trains and implements CRM for sales teams. From strategy to tactics Rick knows CRM - Customer Relationship Management.
Check out the video to get a flavor for his style and content. The video is a good free introduction to CRM.
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Just a reminder that my next CRM Planning Webinar is taking place this Friday May 15th at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Planning for CRM SuccessThis is a non-technical CRM Planning Workshop focused on User Adoption Success. It is based on the Full Contact Selling Methodology for integrating sales processes, people skills and CRM technology.For complete session details and to register for this free session please go to
http://www.swiftpage2.com/SpeClicks.aspx?X=2U0OZL2NHQSJ05V400ZCW2 .
Thanks
Rick McCutcheon
800-480-5762
mailto:800-480-5762rickm@fullcontactselling.comP.S. You can view my new Full Contact Selling Video at
www.fullcontactselling.com/intro-video.html----------------------
George TorokPower MarketingLabels: CRM, database marketing, marketing, small business marketing
Marketing in Turbulent TimesAs published in the April 2009 edition of Enterprise Magazine----------------------------
May you live in interesting times.Is that ancient expression a curse or a blessing? I think it depends on what you define to be "interesting" and more importantly how you adapt to it. If you define interesting to mean unpredictable, challenging and threatening - then clearly we are living in interesting times.
Business these days is more like shooting the rapids in a rubber raft than canoeing in a duck pond. It's too easy to be mesmerized by the danger of capsizing. If you focus on the rocks - that's where you will go. The secret is to look for and steer to the high water and paddle like a fiend.
Survival is not the goal If you set your sights on surviving you could slip and sink. If you set your target as thriving then you might flourish. How do you thrive in these turbulent waters?
Marketing is the result of all the messages that you and your staff send. In fact your staff sends more powerful marketing messages than all the advertising you ever do. Therefore marketing becomes the end result of almost every business decision you make.
Think long term Don't make knee-jerk decisions especially about business strategy. Gather as much relevant information as you can. Seek the advice of people you respect. Be clear on your purpose. Examine both the short term and long term effects of major decisions. Once you decide, act quickly and confidently.
Your staff will be looking to you for leadership and hope. Be open to course corrections when and as needed while clearly focused on the objectives and purpose.
Read the rest of this articleGeorge TorokMarketing SpeakerRecession Busting ExpertsLabels: articles, Enterprise, marketing, marketing presentation, recession
Hanging Toughby
James Surowiecki April 20, 2009
In the late nineteen-twenties, two companies—Kellogg and Post—dominated the market for packaged cereal. It was still a relatively new market: ready-to-eat cereal had been around for decades, but Americans didn’t see it as a real alternative to oatmeal or cream of wheat until the twenties. So, when the Depression hit, no one knew what would happen to consumer demand. Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop first appeared in the thirties.) By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player.
You’d think that everyone would want to emulate Kellogg’s success, but, when hard times hit, most companies end up behaving more like Post. They hunker down, cut spending, and wait for good times to return. They make fewer acquisitions, even though prices are cheaper. They cut advertising budgets. And often they invest less in research and development. They do all this to preserve what they have. But there’s a trade-off: numerous studies have shown that companies that keep spending on acquisition, advertising, and R. & D. during recessions do significantly better than those which make big cuts. In 1927, the economist Roland Vaile found that firms that kept ad spending stable or increased it during the recession of 1921-22 saw their sales hold up significantly better than those which didn’t. A study of advertising during the 1981-82 recession found that sales at firms that increased advertising or held steady grew precipitously in the next three years, compared with only slight increases at firms that had slashed their budgets. And a McKinsey study of the 1990-91 recession found that companies that remained market leaders or became serious challengers during the downturn had increased their acquisition, R. & D., and ad budgets, while companies at the bottom of the pile had reduced them.
One way to read these studies is simply that recessions make the strong stronger and the weak weaker, since the strong can afford to keep investing while the weak have to devote all their energies to staying afloat. But although deep pockets help in a downturn, recessions nonetheless create more opportunity for challengers, not less. When everyone is advertising, for instance, it’s hard to separate yourself from the pack; when ads are scarcer, the returns on investment seem to rise. That may be why during the 1990-91 recession, according to a Bain & Company study, twice as many companies leaped from the bottom of their industries to the top as did so in the years before and after.
Chrysler’s fortunes in the Great Depression are a classic instance of this. Chrysler had been the third player in the U.S. auto industry, behind G.M. and Ford. But early in the downturn it gave a big push to a new brand—Plymouth—targeted at the low end of the market, and by 1933 it had surpassed Ford to become North America’s second-biggest automaker. On a smaller scale, Hyundai has made huge gains in market share this year, thanks to a hefty advertising budget and a guarantee to take back cars from owners who have lost their jobs. Those gains may turn out to be temporary, but in fact the benefits from recession investment are often surprisingly long-lived, with companies maintaining their gains in market share and sales well into economic recovery.
·
from the issue·
cartoon bank·
e-mail thisWhy, then, are companies so quick to cut back when trouble hits? The answer has something to do with a famous distinction that the economist Frank Knight made between risk and uncertainty. Risk describes a situation where you have a sense of the range and likelihood of possible outcomes. Uncertainty describes a situation where it’s not even clear what might happen, let alone how likely the possible outcomes are. Uncertainty is always a part of business, but in a recession it dominates everything else: no one’s sure how long the downturn will last, how shoppers will react, whether we’ll go back to the way things were before or see permanent changes in consumer behavior. So it’s natural to focus on what you can control: minimizing losses and improving short-term results. And cutting spending is a good way of doing this; a major study, by the Strategic Planning Institute, of corporate behavior during the past thirty years found that reducing ad spending during recessions did improve companies’ return on capital. It also meant, though, that they grew less quickly in the years following recessions than more free-spending competitors did. But for many companies recessions are a time when short-term considerations trump long-term potential.
This is not irrational. It’s true that the uncertainty of recessions creates an opportunity for serious profits, and the historical record is full of companies that made successful gambles in hard times: Kraft introduced Miracle Whip in 1933 and saw it become America’s best-selling dressing in six months; Texas Instruments brought out the transistor radio in the 1954 recession; Apple launched the iPod in 2001. Then again, the record is also full of forgotten companies that gambled and failed. The academics Peter Dickson and Joseph Giglierano have argued that companies have to worry about two kinds of failure: “sinking the boat” (wrecking the company by making a bad bet) or “missing the boat” (letting a great opportunity pass). Today, most companies are far more worried about sinking the boat than about missing it. That’s why the opportunity to do what Kellogg did exists. That’s also why it’s so nerve-racking to try it. ♦
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George Torok
Marketing Expert
Labels: marketing leverage, recession
"I'm in marketing - I'm not trying to sell you anything."That's what he said. The conference presenter from a software company associated with the richest man in the world. What a stupid thing to say. Either he was purposely telling a lie or just
terribly stupid.
Everyone is selling something and marketing folks often fool themselves into thinking that they are not selling anything.
What a stupid thought. Marketing only has one purpose - that is to help sell something.
And this marketing representative from Microsoft had the stupidity to claim that he was not selling anything. He was in marketing and according to him marketing had some nobler purpose.
He seemed to suggest that selling something was beneath marketing.
I won't tell you his name unless you are Bill Gates. Please don't punish this marketing fool - just educate him.
George Torok
Marketing Speaker
Marketing Expert
Labels: marketing mistakes, marketing speaker
Have you ever noticed that subject lines with a number in them are more likely to be read?Comunication Capsules
By Lynda GoldmanFor example, "10 Ways to Attract Customers Using Case Studies" captures your attention much more than "Attracting Customers Using Case Studies."
Why? Here are 3 reasons that numbers sell.
3 Reasons that Numbers Sell
1. Numbers arouse curiosity. The person sees the number, (in this case, the 10 ways to use case studies) and immediately starts to compile her own list of ways to use case studies. Then she wants to compare her list to yours, and see if she missed anything. If she can't come up with 10 ways, she's curious to know what they are.
2. Numbers provide a focus for the reader, and a specific promise. The writer has to make sure to fulfill the promise, and deliver the 10 ways.
3. Our brains take in information in groupings more readily. When we see the number 3 or 10, it's very easy for that message to come into our brain and we stay more receptive to it.Bonus tip (and the reason I presented 3 tips instead of 4): Odd numbers seem to work better than even numbers, maybe because they appear to be more scientific and legitimate. That's why Listerine kills 99% of germs instead of 100%.
However, the number 10 is always a winner! (So now, if you'd like 10 Ways to Attract Customers Using Case Studies, just click on the link on the top, to the right.)
Warmest wishes,
Lynda
Lynda@LyndaGoldmanInk.comRegister for Lynda Goldman's Communication CapsulesLabels: advertising, marketing, marketing copy
Homepage Redesign Puts Target Sectors Front and Center: 5 Steps to 100% Lift in Key Metrics SUMMARY:
The most relevant marketing content speaks directly to your prospects’ needs. But does your website give target industries an instant connection to the content that matters to them? See how an IT consulting firm redesigned its homepage to give special attention to their top target industries. They used big buttons to lure clicks from key prospects, and drove traffic with a vertical-focused direct mail campaign. As a result, they’ve seen a huge jump in Web metrics, such as a 100%+ increases in time on site and pageviews per visit, and are arranging sales meetings at a faster rate.
CHALLENGE
Zaphyr Technologies provides IT consulting and services for the small-medium business sector. But that horizontal focus made it difficult for Shawn Butt, CEO, and his team to create marketing campaigns that resonated with specific types of businesses. “When you say ‘We’re a one-stop shop that does it all,’ it doesn’t connect with people in a certain vertical or industry,” says Butt. “We realized we had to start to define which verticals we are interested in, and which we have expertise in.”The team embarked on a process to identify its top industry targets, and then refine their marketing strategy to immediately connect with the needs of prospects in those industries.
Read the rest of this case study here.Acess is open until May 14, 2009.
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RESULTS
The vertical focus of the team’s new website has caught the attention of their target audiences.After the redesign:o Unique visitors increased 125%o Average time on site increased 106%o Average page views per visit increased 153%o Average monthly email newsletter signups increased 117%
Labels: creative marketing, Internet marketing, small business marketing, web marketing
Bloggers, ask the right question: "What if I'm sued tomorrow?"By Joan Stewart aka The Publicity HoundIf you blog, the worst of your worries shouldn’t be how many times to post, or what to write about, or whether to use Wordpress or Typepad.
Your Number One concern—the question bloggers never think to ask—should be: “What if somebody sues me tomorrow for copyright infringement, defamation or invasion of privacy—what does that mean?”
Here’s what it means. It could cost you your house, your car and your future income stream...
Read the rest of this article at Joan Stewart's Blog.Learn more about the Media Bloggers Association.-------------BewareIf you blog you are subject to the same laws as the mainstream media. Only you don't have their access to corporate lawyers.
That might be a good reason to check out the
Media Bloggers Association.George TorokCo-author of Secrets of Power MarketingMarketing CoachLabels: blogs, controversy, ethics, marketing mistakes, media
Who stole my breakfast?
Why don’t hotels understand the impact that breakfast service has on their clients’ experience? More importantly – why don’t they train their staff to understand this?
Watch how this simple service goes wrong – and the staff didn’t get it.
As a professional speaker, my breakfast is important to me. When delivering a morning presentation out of town I want to arrive the night before.
There are three reasons for this:
Planes can be delayed and I never want to bank on the last plane.
I want to check in and check out the venue the night before when there is lots of time to make adjustments to the room or my presentation.
I want to get up early and enjoy a hearty and peaceful breakfast.
I was speaking out of town this week. I arrived at the hotel restaurant at 7:05 am. I was told that they opened at 7:00 so I allowed a few minutes for them to get into gear. When I arrived there was one other party of about four which grew to at least 15 while I was there.
I placed my order immediately with the server. And it was simple – my usual – scrambled eggs, sausage and brown toast.
Then I read the morning paper while I drank my coffee and waited.
Fortunately there were some interesting articles that day in the paper because the breakfast seemed to take longer than it should.
At one point I looked up expectantly to see my server enter the dinning room with two plates. She walked over to the other table across the room and put one plate down. Then she said to the group, “Who had the sausage and scrambled eggs?” One of the men who had just sat down at that table said, “I’ll take that.” The server gave him that plate.
She gave him my breakfast.
Although I was tempted, I didn’t yell across the room, “That was my breakfast.” But, naturally I was annoyed. And of course I didn’t want it after it had been set done in front of someone else. Would you?
Then I watched the server as she moved to stand with one of her follow servers. I could see that the other said something to her and motioned my way. There was a quick exchange of words between them. Both glanced at me and laughed. Then my server darted into the kitchen.
How would you feel at this point?
I continued to wait less patiently now – even wondering if I was still on the agenda. I was wondering if I would need to leave without breakfast to get to my meeting. I tried to bury my angst in the morning paper. So much for my peaceful breakfast.
In about six minutes my breakfast arrived. It was now 7:30 am. The server said, “There you go.” No apology, no explanation – nothing. Just pretending that nothing was wrong.
Twenty five minutes waiting for breakfast is unacceptable by my standards.
I gobbled down my breakfast because I was behind schedule. The server did not come by to present the bill so I walked to the counter and asked for my bill. I signed it with my room number.
My server was close by so I spoke to her. “I did not give you a tip.” I said softly, so I wouldn’t embarrass her. Her response was, “That’s okay.” I continued, “The reason is that you made two mistakes. You gave away my breakfast and you did not apologize to me. If you had told me what you had done I might have laughed.”
She recoiled. “I made it right.” She insisted.
“No you didn’t. You made a mistake and tried to hide it from me. How do you think I felt?” I responded. Then she started to whine, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
I don’t know what she was sorry about: That she made a mistake; that I called her on it. or that I didn’t give her a tip.
I could have ignored the whole thing and said nothing. And as server she might have thought, “No tip – what a jerk.” I wish that she could have seen the incredible service I received recently from the server to which I gladly gave a $15 tip.
Yet I invested my time to offer her my perspective as a customer hoping that she might learn from her mistake. At no time did I chastise her. I simple pointed out what happened and how I felt.
I wonder if she thought about it later and realized that she could have:
Immediately pointed our her error when it happened
Apologized for the delay
Promised to expedite my order
Give me a break on my bill
She could have done any one or more of the above. Instead she did none of the above. When I spoke to her I gave her a second chance. Instead of taking advantage of that – she chose to defend and whine.
Scrambled eggs, sausage with brown toast and a little courtesy. How difficult can it be?
George Torok Labels: customer service, customer service horror, free marketing tips
The Nerve of Some People
My dad has an expression that he says when ever he learns of some bold and obnoxious action by someone.
"The nerve of some people"
That was what I was thinking when I read this email from someone asking for my help.
What would you have said?
I cut and pasted it so the spelling errors are those of the writer. I also reduced the name to initials only.
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Dear Mr, George Torok,
Nice meeting you. Am a new subscriber to your resourceful site, and I have gotten so much helpful information from it.
Am a student , and i need your help. Please help me with a write up on this question; " Is Marketing an art or a science? Explain."Please help me with 10 - 12 pages of this, or as much as you can.
I will be waiting to hear from you soon.Once again, thanks for the helpful information in your wonderful site. I have lean a lot on marketing from it.
yours sincerely
C M
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Here is my reply
You must be kidding.
If you are a student then you know that for me to write an article for you would be cheating.
If you are a student then I am not happy about you reading my material with the approach you have taken. I wonder if you will properly credit your sources.
I would prefer if you "unsubscribe" from my site.
If you are a student then you would know that the role of a student is to learn how to learn and how to think.
If you are not a student then I am happy to quote you my fee for an article of this nature would cost around $10,000.
Payable in full in advance.
If this was a joke - ha ha.
George
Labels: business school, cheating, ethics
Spring's HereWhat are you thinking about? Marketing. Right.
I found this flyer in my mail box. Simple and crude photocopied on white paper. But it does the job. It gets the message across clearly and with a little character.
You can't help but be amused by the cartoon and typos. You have be impressed by the ambition of the youth that is offering this service - especially if you have kids.
And you might be thinking about - or dreading the regular chore of cutting the lawn.
My congrats to Brandon on his good start to entrepreneurship and marketing. As a good marketer his next step is to followup with a personal visit door to door and another flyer in about three weeks.
Labels: marketing ideas, small business marketing
Power Marketing Tip 20:How to Reduce the RiskYou need to reassure folks during these troubled times. The daily news fans the fears of failure. Water cooler gossip spreads the manure of doom. Every purchase decision can look risky. Therefore clients will tend to hold back on buying. Your chief competition is not some other supplier - it is your clients' fears.
To effectively market and sell in this environment you need to reduce the perceived risk, to diminish their doubts and to demonstrate great value.
How can you do that?
Use testimonials.This is one of the most powerful ways to demonstrate your value. You can promise the world but, folks will be more convinced by what they read or hear that others said about you.
You bragging about you is never as convincing as others bragging about you.
How can you get more from your testimonials?
Include a testimonial in every client and prospect contact.
Post testimonials on your website. Avoid this mistake that many businesses make. They only list all their testimonials on one page of their website. What if your prospects never visit that page? In addtion sprinkle testimonials throughout your website - ideally on every page.
Include a short testimonial in your email signature and in your newsletters.
Revise your marketing materials to prominently feature your testimonials.
Include testimonials with your written proposals and with your invoices.
Display testimonials on the wall in your shop or in an album in the lobby. Create copies of this album for every one of your sales staff and remind them to show it often.
Make sure that your staff appreciates the importance of getting and using testimonials by sharing every one with your staff as they are received.
Dig out every testimonial that you ever received and put them to work for you.
In the next tip you'll learn simple techniques to ensure a study stream of glowing testimonials.
George TorokPower MarketingPS: Tell me how this marketing tip helps you.
Register for your free Power Marketing TipsLabels: free marketing tips, marketing ideas, personal marketing, Power Marketing Tips, testimonials
SECRETS OF POWER MARKETING REVEALEDAs reported in The Sudbury Star by HAROLD CARMICHAELIf the concept of power marketing is something you want to learn more about, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce has a seminar coming up April 21 that will be of great interest.
George Torok, co-author of The Secrets of Power Marketing and a motivational speaker, will host a workshop and also give the keynote speech at a six-hour session set for
April 21 at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel.
The workshop will deal with subjects such as building media relations, influencing perceptions, and building, enhancing and marketing your credibility. The keynote speech will deal with things such as how to motivate and persuade others, generate more sales, and earn more money.
Tickets for the full seminar (8 a. m.-2 p. m.) are $120 for members and $170 for non-members. The cost to attend just the workshop is $90 for chamber members and $125 for nonmembers. To attend just the keynote speech, the cost will be $60 for chamber members and $90 for non-members.
Torok, who is based in Burlington, said the messages he will bring to Greater Sudbury have had some refining due to the current recession.
"The fundamentals don't change: there is a refining," he said. "There are more potholes in these times. These times are less forgiving."
On the Torok website (
www.torok.com),"Torokisms" that can be found include "Success comes from doing little things consistently well over time," "You can do anything you want in life. You just can't do everything," and "Do something at least once a year that scares you."
To order tickets, call 673- 7133, ext. 224.---------------------------------
Sudbury Chamber of CommerceThe Sudbury StarMarketing SpeakerLabels: clients of George Torok, marketing presentation, marketing speaker, small business marketing
Power Marketing Tip 19: Offer Hope
The new US president is clearly an icon of hope. He was elected on the hope that he offered and he is being accepted by the rest of the world for the hope they are counting on.
You are selling hope. Whatever product or service that you offer, the selling factor is hope.
What are your clients hoping for? How well are you addressing their hope? How will you deliver that hope?
Every person on this planet is motivated by hope. We can't get enough of it. We are ravenous for hope. We desire it, consume it and then want more. In that context hope is as much an essential as food, water and oxygen.
Hope is the antigen for fear
In this turbulent time of recession, unpredictability and rampant fears you must offer hope to your clients and prospects. What can you learn from President Obama?
Be more transparentTell people exactly what you can deliver and what they can expect from you. Don't be vague or misleading. Make your policies clear and evident. Don't hide behind "company rules".
Respect their fearsRecognize the fears of your clients and prospects. Respect them - weather you agree with their point of view or not. Point out what you are doing to mitigate those fears. That could be with testimonials, guarantees or extra options.
Be more visibleIt's difficult to trust you when we can't see you. This is not the time to stop marketing. Be visible, be noticed and convey warmth and confidence. Call folks more often. Start a blog or get linked on the online social media. Hold a town hall meeting. Attend a tea party.
Offer solutionsA lot of things appear to be broken right now. Offer your clients solutions to fix things. Help them avoid problems that they haven't considered yet. Make those doable solutions. Appear as the fixer.
Challenge the status quoThe status quo isn't working so it's a good time to question "the way it's always been done". Just be sure to offer a viable alternative. In this turbulent time many folks are searching for a different approach. This is a good time to offer that unusual solution.
George TorokPower Marketing PS: Tell me how this marketing tip helps you.
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas"Labels: marketing ideas, Power Marketing Tips, small business marketing
Secrets of Power Marketing
