Make the Pain Go Away

How Many People do You Tell about Bad Service?

Probably more than you tell about good service. Why? We tend to remember and share our pain more than our joy.

Doctors are experts on identifying and relieving pain. People visit their Doctor when they have a pain. When the Doctor greets them and asks, "How are you?" they respond, "It hurts when I do this". The Doctor's job is to make the pain go away.

How would you feel and think if the Doctor told you "the pain is good for you", "we can't do anything about the pain because it's our policy", or "there must be something wrong with you because no one else had complained"?

Sounds ridiculous - yet that is the way many companies respond to customer pain as expressed in customer complaints.

Perhaps companies should change the name of the complaint department to "Pain Relief". And perhaps they might label the staff in that department as doctors and nurses.

Naturally, companies need to adopt that perspective - that they are in the Pain Relief business.

Just imagine the possibilities.


George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
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What's in a Name?

Does a name determine value?

Maybe. Names plant images or emotional value in our minds. Product names seem to influence value. Consider these examples.

Wine
If you are selling wine then consider the study by Brock University as reported in the Globe and Mail.


“Names that seem unique or harder to understand or wrap your mind around are that way because they’re rare,” said Antonia Mantonakis, the Brock associate professor of marketing who led the study. “Things that are rare are more valuable.”

Apparently wine appears more valuable when it seems to be unattainable.

This study demonstrated that a difficult-to-pronounce name like Tselepou was perceived as more valuable than Titakis, which was perceived as more valuable than a simple common name. Wine drinkers want to be mysterious. Read the rest of this report at the Globe and Mail

Investment
The same article in the Globe and Mail mentioned:


"In one subsequently famous case, Harley-Davidson shares shot up 16 per cent in the weeks after it changed its ticker from HDI to HOG, the biker-slang term for its motorcycles."

When it comes to investments simple names are better. Investors want to be reassured - not confused.


Dating
Imagine if you are a guy looking to meet a woman on an online dating site, how likely are you to contact a Gertrude, Bertha or Gretchen? Would Melanie, Tiffany or Jennifer sound more attractive?

Imagine that you are a woman hoping to meet the guy of your dreams. Your friend offers to introduce you to   Igor, Rudolph and Herbert. Would you prefer Brad, Stephan or Trevor?

Naturally the attractive people names will be influenced by your age and culture.


I suggest that when you are naming your company or product think about what sounds attractive to your best prospects. They are the ones who need to give you money. Buyers won't care about the name of your grandmother, your hero or your pet.

Should the name sound exotic, simple, foreign, common, reassuring, provocative or suggestive?



George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

Sell to the Greedy – not the Needy

Business Lessons for New Entrepreneurs

I spoke to a business class at Mohawk College recently and gave them several lessons about marketing, business and life.

This point might have been unpleasant to hear.

Sell to the Greedy – not the Needy

That was the advice that I heard from my mentor and co-author, Peter Urs Bender. It might sound mean spirited at first. When you think about it you might see the wisdom. As a business owner you can save yourself a lot of grief if you follow that advice.

You will waste much time and money trying to convince the people who need your product to buy. The reality is those who need you the most are too stupid to buy. That’s why they are so needy. They are looking for a magic pill to cure all their problems.

I have talked to many business owners who need help with their marketing. I know that I can help them tremendously. But they can’t see the value and they only see hiring me as expenditure. They can’t see their marketing as an investment for which they can increase their return. They really need what I’m offering but aren’t willing to invest.

Instead the business owners who hire me are already leaders in their field. They’re looking for incremental improvements and they are willing to invest in that.

Sell to the greedy – those who want what you are selling. They recognize that they only need to gain a few inches or seconds to beat the competition and are willing to pay for that competitive advantage.

If you want to help the needy, make a good profit and donate generously to chairity.

Don’t waste your time and money trying to convince people that they should buy your product. Instead find the educated souls who already want it, appreciate the value and are willing to pay.

Your marketing then becomes a process of search, qualify and sell.


George Torok

Marketing Speaker

Canadian Business Speaker

Crazy People: Movie about Advertising Truth

This old movie with Dudley Moore might offend some of you with the language - but it is a real look at advertising.

What is Strategic Positioning

And how does it impact the rest of the business?

• Do you see business making this conscious decision?
• What benefits come from this?
• What is the cost or loss?
• Examples welcomed.

While researching the topic of Strategic Positioning I surveyed people in my Linkedin Network. I found it helpful to learn how other experts perceived this topic. My thanks to all of them for their thoughtful replies. Here are a few of those replies.

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Robert "Alan" Black
NSA, CSP Prof Member, speaker/consultant/trainer/author
Athens, Georgia Area

When I taught Fundamentals of Marketing courses for the American Management Association around the US at various AMA centers from 1984 to 1986 the book POSITIONING by Al Ries and Jack Trout had already been a best seller and Strategic Planning was also a popular selling topic; first to business and industry and then to governments and agencies.

You are asking about STRATEGIC POSITIONING in the era of BRANDING.

hmmmm?!

Strategic thinking....chosen thinking, deliberately chosen planning

Positioning....getting the mindset you want into the minds of your customers/clients/patients that you want them to have.

One of the problems of becoming too STRATEGIC and too specific about a POSITION is what do you do when the situation changes such as the past couple years with the international global financial disasters.

Do you change your strategy(ies)?

Do you change your position?

One of the lessons, I believe, I got from Ries & Trout is often POSITIONS or POSITIONING happens in the mind/s of customers/clients/patients even when you are trying to establish or create other Positions.

Then the question becomes HOW TO UN-POSITION OR RE-POSITION you, your products, your company or FINDING NEW CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS/PATIENTS OR NEW MARKETS.

hmmm?!

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Paul Weber
CEO Entrepreneur Advertising Group
Kansas City, Missouri Area


There is no better case study than Southwest Airlines. Both in strategic positioning and in brand positioning, they have been the only airline in 25 years that created a recognizable differentiation based on consumer preferences. Fast, friendly, fun, low fares....

These are always the words that describe consumers' experience with the airline. No other airline has ever had a recognizable position that was identifiable to the general public.

I am speaking from more of a marketing and brand perspective but I'm sure that their operational strategies ran similar. Southwest, without a doubt, one of the better examples of positive positioning against the competition.


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Arun Prakash Maruthavanan
Principal Consultant at GETCXO
Chennai Area, India

Strategic positioning is the way you position your company, business model and offerings by analyzing your marketplace, rapidly changing environment, futuristic trends, competition, consumers and leveraging it to your advantage.

The strategic position of a business is its perceptual location relative to others. Awesome benefits like competitive edge,overall efficiency, early entry advantage, huge sales,brand loyalty and positioning; shall be reaped resulting in excellent growth of the business.

Unfortunately the majority of business are not making this conscious decision due to the lack of leadership, vision, market intelligence, professional support and their inability to accept, implement "Change".

The cost is directly proportional to the size of the business and the domain/marketplace in which it operates. A loss shall happen if this type of positioning is implemented in a wrong way resulting in a disaster.

I believe that the decision making capabilities of the business leadership plays a crucial role in the outcome of Strategic positioning.
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George Torok

Marketing Expert & Speaker

Executive Briefing for your Management Team

Strategic Positioning: What is it?

My new presentation on Strategic Positioning went very well. It was a workshop format for about 20 owners of medium sized businesses.


This was less about me speaking and teaching then it was about asking probing and disturbing questions. That type of presentation is always a little scary for me because I don't have the answers - only the questions.


The business owners realized that they must find the answers. That was an "ah-ha" moment.

Some of the issues and questions that we explored:

How to recognize the difference between acute and chronic problems and the connection to changing strategy or tactics.

Where are you now in terms of current strategy whether on purpose or by circumstance?

Five competitive forces that play with your strategy.

Identify your resources and how to leverage them.

How can you quickly generate a lot of creative ideas on demand?

What can you do in each of the four quadrants to develop new markets and products?

Some marketing strategies and tactics to consider.

This was a serious group of business owners yet we still had some laughs. I was impressed at the depth of discussion and exploration that we accomplished in this session. Of course no one-day workshop fixes anything, especially on the topic of Strategic Positioning - so everyone left with plenty of take-aways and homework for their business.

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Comments from the business owners about this program on Strategic Positioning

"George takes complex business challenges and provides simple actionable tips to tackle them."

Kevin Hiebert, President, Cell-A-Net Printer Services

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"Invaluable perspective on leveraging business through effective marketing."

Bob Alsip, President, Convenience Group Inc.

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"Clear route map to establish a realistic strategy."

Paul Herman, President, Firwin

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"I enjoyed the presentation because it forced me to think of my business from a 10,000 foot view. I will use this opportunity to build a stronger company."

Chris Giles, President, Dyamic Connections

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George Torok

Strategic Positioning

Executive Briefing for Business Owners