“People go only to places

they have already been

in their minds.”

Roy Williams, The Wizard of Ads

     Just when you think you’ve thought about it all, along comes another thought, but–as the above quote suggests–the human body will only go where the human mind has journeyed repeatedly already. Purchases only happen when people have or believe they have already owned the product or service.

     What does this mean for business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, PR people and publicists, marketers, salespeople, advertisers, branders, website developers, promoters, communicators, media and management consultants?

     First of all, something we’ve said here a hundred times: Repetition Sells! Repetition Sells! Repetition Sells! Repetition Sells! Repetition Sells! (okay, a hundred and five times!) But what else?

Every purchase

is the result of an

emotional trigger!

     In any form of selling, marketing, advertising, communication, if your goal relates to persuasion, then your process is limited to some form or combination of forms earmarked by approaches that hinge on educating, entertaining, boring, screaming, or seducing…engaging the imagination.

     A couple of three-little-words examples: “It’s in you” and “I’m lovin’ it” both sounded like retarded campaign theme messages when they first came out, didn’t they? Do you remember saying: “It”? What the heck is “It”? Ah, but look at what “It” has accomplished. What’s the old expression: “Say something often enough…”? (Spare me saying the RS words 106 times)

     Okay, so where do we start with the imagination seduction stuff? One way may be to take a lesson from stage and screen actors…and WHISPER! What happens next? People lean forward in their seats. What an envious position to have a prospect in, for delivering your sales pitch.

     And what else? Great pictures are great, but they don’t sell! They plant images in the mind that allow words to rush in with for the kill. (With apologies to all my artist and designer friends): One great word is worth a thousand pictures. Think of the artwork/words thing as a one-two punch.

[And if you’re reading this, looking for input about the importance of words in websites, click the 3% tab on the top right of this page!]

     Seduction is the name of the game. Every purchase is the result of an emotional trigger! A past president of Revlon once confided in me that they weren’t selling hair-coloring products, they were selling “the promise of sex to single, young girls.”

     Great, you say, some products can sell themselves anyway; it’s selling intangible services that presents the real challenge. Y’know what? That’s true. And it’s all the more reason that service-based businesses–especially–need professional marketing and professional copywriting help.

     Contrary to the “step-in-and-out-of-the-closet-with-the-magic-idea-and-words” concept that many have, professional marketing and professional copywriting are time-intensive pursuits.

     Both functions require considerable experience and exceptional skill. Don’t cut corners on finding and securing this kind of talent. Not everyone  can make “It” such a big-selling word! 

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Input: Hal@BusinessWorks.US or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. 

Go for your goals, good night and God bless you!

The 3% Sales Factor

     Some interesting information came my way from my strategic alliance partner, Andrew Jackson (no relation to the past president, the twenty-dollar bill, the famous Stonewall, or the recently-deceased entertainer). Andrew is the bright young founding CEO of www.ThePoorIrishman.com.

     It seems, he says, that less than 3% of all online businesses actually make money through their websites. That’s a staggering statistic, even if he’s wildly wrong and happened to be missing a zero after the 3, which he’s not. But, you know what? I started thinking about this, and have concluded that once again, Andrew is right!

     And do you know why? Because all the great graphic designs in the world will not sell what a website offers (unless it’s selling great graphic designs!) as effectively as a few choice words of GREAT COPYWRITING.

     On the Internet, a great word is worth a thousand pictures when it comes to sales. Now, don’t be confused with those fabulous emails we’ve all seen filled with spectacular visuals of amazing jugglers and 3-D artists and talented nature photographers. That’s not the same thing.

     I’m talking about online business website sales!

     So, this thought process prompted me to add a new tab on the top right of this page titled “The 3% Sales Factor.” If you’re curious about the subject of increasing Internet sales and what GREAT COPYWRITING is really all about, try it. You’ll like it.      

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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“It Don’t Matter To Me!”

     That song title should be your answer (aside from the ungrammatical “don’t”) to any question about who’s to blame for this economy. All that matters in the end is what you are doing about it for your own business or professional practice.

     Whether you’re a doctor, a retailer, a small-size manufacturer, a distributor, agent, or service provider, it’s time to take a hard look at how you are dealing with your current spending plans. This, for example, is NOT the time to fold up the sales and customer service training rug and store it in the basement. Besides the fact that basement-stored rugs attract mold and mildew, there are better solutions.

     Check in with your local community college or adult education program for an inexpensive training option. Or, do it yourself! Or round-up a team of masters or doctoral students from a nearby university to put a program together for you.

     Many internship programs across the country award academic credits for firsthand real-life experiences. A combination of business and education or psychology majors should be able to package a good motivational training program for your business. Some training is better than no training!

     Just be sure you present such a program in the right light and discourage over-the-top expectations. Help your people to see such an occasion as an opportunity to foster idea exchanges and teamwork, instead of setting up training quality judgements. Point out that what they will get from any program is what they end up putting into it.

     Speaking of motivation, remember that small frequent rewards (like family entertainment arrangements and lunch invitations) are more meaningful in the overall scheme of things than high-priced permanent rewards (like salary/benefit increases).

     Look at ways to promote your business without having to bite the media advertising bullet that will undoubtedly break a tooth if not your wallet. www.BizBrag.com is a terrific free site to register with and post free news releases and newsy photos — every day if you like!

     People are selling everything under the sun on Twitter these days. Also for free. You need tenacious endurance to make Twitter work for you, but it will if you will. Didn’t tenacious endurance get you to where you are anyway? 

     Are you asking people in your family to help you with certain tasks that will help free up your time so you can be more focused on sales, for example? Maybe retired Uncle Harvey wouldn’t mind at all coming in a few times a week to do some light cleaning (in exchange for some sports tickets or a couple of dinners out) to help offset custodial service fees?

     Cover the tax-deductible cost of some business books for your college student son, daughter, neice, nephew, or cousin in exchange for some office, fieldwork or factory floor interns? Combine expenses with neighboring businesses? Shared transportation and shipping costs, even direct mail postage, advertising, clerical and website maintenance sharing are possible.

     Think it out. Tough it out. But stay focused in the process, and stimulate your OWN budget!    

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      . . . I’m open to your input anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thank you for visiting. Good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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Not much between SOME ears!

     Motivational guru Zig Ziglar says business problems are not “out there” but that they are only between your two ears! Trouble is SOME folks don’t have enough going on at that second location to even know when they are creating their own problems.

     I saw four (4!!!!) “OUT TO LUNCH” signs this past week, and two (2!!) “OFFICE CLOSED FOR LUNCH. RETURN AT 1PM” signs. I really hope someone is driving around ahead of me and quickly putting these signs up just before I get there as a joke, because if not, I’m troubled by what they represent.

     First of all, if you have one of these signs (or anything that even remotely resembles the messages noted), THROW THEM AWAY. NOW! They are costing you business!

     We are in a tough economic period and that requires — more than ever– to be catering to customers, clients and patients (2 of the 6 signs mentioned above were seen at doctors’ offices; 1 was at a veterInarian hospital if you can believe it). What makes me so crazy about this?

     OUT TO LUNCH signs are advertisements that the business or professional practice displaying them simply doesn’t care about their customers or clients or patients. Signs like this say to someone who may only be able to get to your store, office, or worksite at lunchtime, that you have no regard for that person’s time, and that you really don’t care if that person hops on down the road to see your competitor!

     A bit over the top? Nope! In the past three years, and without making any effort because the field of vision was aligned with my windows, I watched a minimum of a hundred people drive up to a CLOSED FOR LUNCH signed sales office, run by a nationally prominent neighboring real estate developer, and drive away shaking their heads.

     The company just went bankrupt. Was this the only reason? No, but the attitude it represented was!

     If you’re a one-man or one-woman band business and you need to be away from your business or practice location for lunch or meetings or whatever, AT LEAST post a phone number where you can be reached in emergency or where someone can schedule an appointment. And AT LEAST make the sign a little friendlier looking and sounding than NO TRESPASSING and KEEP OFF THE GRASS.

[The bankrupted developer, by the way, had a phone message machine answer saying that the sales office was closed for lunch, with no accommodation for messages. And of course, adding insult to injury, the “take-one” information box was always empty!]

     How about: “WE’RE OPEN FOR LUNCHTIME VISITORS” as a radical departure that might actually help increase business at a time when customers, clients, and patients are being much more selective with both their available time and the user-friendliness of businesses and professional practices they choose?                

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It’s A Headline World!

With EIGHT MILLION people . . . 

     . . . now reported to be using Twitter, and millions more engaged in the explosive use of other social media tools as well, we are seeing businesses (especially entrepreneurs of course) rush to the ballgame with their gloves, bats and cleats barely broken in… and scoring runs! 

     Rumors abound that social media is racing past emails as the accepted new communications avenue. This means it’s time to reassess whatever you’ve been using as a marketing plan, and to start looking BOTH ways when you cross a one-way street! 

     At what has now become a maniacal rate of propulsion, blogs have been moving up on the outside rail and coming into full stride as legitimate business marketing vehicles.

     And fueled by the burdens of economic woes that now threaten to (literally) fold every major newspaper, blogs, and electronic books, and social media are re-inventing the long-stagnating worlds of publishing and print media, as ipods have muscled in on CDs and music radio. 

     Business marketers stand on the threshhold of communication revolution once again. And each new thrust now occurs in shorter time periods, each marketing message in shorter numbers of words. We are living in a headline world.

     From TXT MSGS to 140 allowed character spaces per Twitter “Tweet” (or update message), we are communicating quicker, more concisely, with more convoluted, contrived, abbreviated, and acronymed versions of words, and more instantly universal than even one year ago! 

     If you are serious about marketing, you need to re-examine where you and your business marketing interests are headed. As print advertising fades and TV continues to tangle itself up in cables of every description, as billboards dissolve off into the distance of green horizons, and direct mail bumbles it’s way through the vast post office sea of incompetency, we may be left with new options.

     Radio (especially talk) will survive, podcasts, videocasts, blogs, teleseminars, electronic books (which will surely include advertising, ala VCR tape and DVD rentals, as the $400 pricetags fall to $79 and less over the next couple of years) and webcam communications will lead the way. Oh, and yes, island-stranded Wilson soccer ball fans, there will always be a place for overnight deliveries. As this communications metamorphosis occurs, social media will be the blanket beneath and behind it all.

     It’s here. It’s not going away any time soon. Until computerized communication chips are embedded in everyones’ skulls, and one need only to think of a person or place or piece of art or writing or music or news item to bring it instantaneously to the brain’s front burner, we will be firmly entrenched in social media that we will be challenged to use effectively to sell tomorrow’s products and services. Oh, and the new theme song? “It’s a blog world afterall…”     halalpiar 

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HOW  THEY DO IT . . .

“Necessity is

the mother of invention.” 

—PLATO (Between 427BC and 347BC)

This quote drives every entrepreneur, scientific explorer and creative mind on Earth.  It of course holds true as well for military and quasi-military operations, cornered criminals and animals, and most homeless and foodless victims in society.

TODAY, the notion of necessity prompting inventiveness has great significance as a universal entrepreneurial hedge against economic downturn.  Businesses that will survive the existing economic traumas are those that can throw off the cloak of dismay and depression, shake themselves off, and charge forward with positive attitudes that are hell-bent on making the most of every opportunity.

WORKING TOGETHER with other businesses is a major step in that direction.  Networking with others to Barter goods and services should be a first and foremost thought for guiding daily travels. 

SHARING REFERRALS, common space, facilities, equipment, vehicles, furnishings, personnel, training, purchases and purchase discounts, databases, charity leadership roles, advertising, promotion, news release and blog site development and writing, website and online network development and content, are just some of the areas to consider negotiating.

LOOK TO BUSINESSES that are compatible and supportive to yours, or that your business serves.  Check out possible cooperative arrangements with businesses on the same floor, or in the same building, ir same cluster of buildings, or same neighborhood or town, or in the same industry, or that share some common characteristics (online retail as one example, or professional services as another).

TAKE ADVANTAGE of the opportunities to make and save money by working together.  Even competitive businesses can sometimes do this more effectively than standing defiantly alone.  Consider geographical clusterings of antique stores, for instance. 

CONSIDER New York City’s diamond and fashion districts!  Their competition alone in shared physical space/areas serves to boost business for all by bringing customers to centralized, more convenient and more price and quality sensitive shopping areas. 

CAN YOU EXCHANGE SALES LEADS?  Have you considered combining insurance coverage and benefit plans with another business?  Can the neighboring business receptionist do phone or clerical work for you during slow periods (instead of reading paperbacks?)?  Can you combine advertising time and space purchases to qualify for bigger discounts?  Maintenance services?  Supplies?  Conference rooms?

THE SHARED RESOURCES popularized by the old new business “Incubator” and “Conglomerate” concepts still work.  The only problem in realizing true economies of scale and values of barter may be YOU.  If you start with the attitude that it won’t work, it won’t. 

IF YOU START out discounting the ideas, they’ll never be more than ideas.  If you initiate discussions with others, you might surprise yourself with new-found sales and savings that could help you rise above the economic rubble. 

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“You can’t build a reputation

on what you’re going to do.”

–HENRY FORD

We’ve talked before about the definition of integrity being doing the right thing even when nobody else is looking.  The dictionary says it’s “the quality of having strong moral principles,” and “the state of being whole, unified and sound, without corruption.” 

I mention it here because integrity is the best kind of reputation to have.  Some customers flock to some businesses because they offer the lowest price.  Some seek only to have quality at any price.  But in today’s volitile marketplace, integrity (“HIGH TRUST”) is what sells most consistently and most profoundly.  It’s what anchors that elusive customer characteristic: loyalty! 

Consumers have been duped and led to slaughter for too many years.  Consumers are tired of hearing about businesses that make empty promises, that fallaciously attach themselves to worthy causes but fail to walk the walk when it comes to the moment of truth.  

As proverbially expressed, deeds and action speak louder than words.  

Consumers are demonstrating, across the boards, that they do not any longer want to deal with “low-trust” talk-the-talk businesses. 

     What separates “HIGH” from “LOW” trust?  Integrity. 

     How does a business gain integrity?  By gaining respect. 

     How does a business win respect?  By establishing a reputation. 

     How does one build a reputation? 

• By consistent demonstration of honesty and fairness with both internal and external customers, and appreciation that the two need to be viewed as interchangeable. 

• By recognition that the customer is always right and that there are never any exceptions to that short of legal violations or physical violence. 

• By (back to the proverbs) practicing what you preach! 

Being partly honest in business is like being partly pregnant in life. 

If your assessments of your business and the spin you’ve been putting out to the public (or, more correctly,  to your marketplace) are filled with um’s and er’s and maybe’s and sometimes’ and occasionally’s, you’re not kidding anyone but yourself! 

Are you and your business, for example, making token donations to charities, or are you and your employees getting into the trenches and helping charitable organizations to raise money and move forward?

It may be time to step back and revisit your mission as well as the services you perform and that you provide both inside your doors and out.  Today’s a good day for that.  Think about it. 

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When is the customer wrong?

You want the real answer, or the make-believe one?

The make-believe answer is that the customer is wrong when he or she acts, thinks, or behaves wrong — is rude, insulting, crass, mean-spirited, slovenly, repulsive smelling, too-tattooed or overly-pierced, loud, arrogant, drooling, dribbling, fist-waving, table or countertop pounding, or threatening to throw shoes.

And you can run around self-righteously bitching at the elevator operator, maintenance person, or your Mother, pretending that the obnoxious ignoramus is a descendent of some dumb and dumber Neanderthal gene pool.

You can do this until you’re blue in the face or get yourself fired or drunk or sick, or take up smoking again . . . none of which, I can assure you, will help your cause.

On top of all that, it doesn’t even matter that the nasty customer spit on your shoe, called you an illegally-birthed person, smelled of garlic or not bathing, sic’d his or her dog on your ankles, or paid her or his bill with seven thousand rolls of pennies.

Your indignation will come quietly to an end when (if) you next stumble onto a “right” customer.

Aaaah, but Mr. or Ms. Neanderthal will not recover so quickly.

In fact, studies prove that she or he will tell at least ten other people about the bad experience and each of those individuals will tell at least ten others.

At least one person I’ve heard of makes a point of sending out email blasts to 250 contacts offering the condemning details of why she will never again deal with a disrespectful business.  Let’s see, that’s 2,500 bad vibes . . .

So, your one momentary (perhaps only fraction of a second) slip of a snotty comment or a copped attitude or a demeaning or disrespectful action –even as seemingly innocent as a wink or blink at the wrong time, or an inappropriate giggle/gumchew/ noseblow if you’re on the phone!– will snowball into a major bad news broadcast to at least 100 other people, many (maybe all) of whom could have been prospective customers. 

Can you really afford to lose that many opportunities?

     So here’s the REAL answer:  NEVER!

     Let me say this another way:  The customer is ALWAYS right!  And except for physical violence, there are NO exceptions.  Why?  Your job is to provide the product or service being purchased regardless of whether you like the purchaser or not, regardless of what the purchaser says or the way the purchaser says it!

If you don’t like that, choose to change the way you think about it.

  It’s called “take it on the chin!”  The payback is that the reputation you’ll gain by being kinder than necessary will come back to haunt you, with more sales!

     Remember that everyone you meet (customers included) is fighting some kind of battle.  Giving the benefit of doubt breeds sales and customer loyalty!  

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

Dogs, music, and BJ’s

. . . sounds a little raunchy, but remember the source.

       How hard is it to keep your stomach from gurgling with anxiety when you’ve got blog posts to put up and articles that need writing and editing, and the hours tick by, while no one at the cable company knows more than to tell you that your connections are not functioning?  Duh!  Uh, we called you, remember? 

     So me, the great 30-year teacher of stress management needs to . . . well, you know the rest. 

       A little diversionary follow-up report to yesterday’s post, btw, is that the BJ’s I mentioned, that had the gall to charge prospective customers for the privilege to shop in their new (197^th) store, opened today.   

     The most telling comment I heard was that there were more people inside the store at any given moment of the day than live in the entire town (and probably four surrounding towns as well).  So that just goes to show you how little I know about what works anymore in retailing.  Who woulda thunk it?  Right, BJ’s! 

       But the good news is that the store is 100% perfect, bright, cheerful, beautifully laid out, lots of quality merchandise at very low prices, and offering a huge selection.  Just too crowded!  Oh, well.  We’ll try it on a weekday.  I’ll let you know.  Humpf!  

     I just wrote a reminder note for Monday Vet checkup appointment for my two dogs and that stool samples are needed.  Best place to put it is with my papers for early morning meeting with clients so I remember to get on the road asap after the meeting.  Hope the note doesn’t fall out.  “Bring poop samples to next meeting!” might be hard to explain.

       It’s weird to be typing this in Word instead of my friendly little blog window. 

I was reminded today of two things you can never get back:

the stones you throw and the words you use.

     Belated Happy Birthday to my son the musician.  We spoke (and I sang!) on his day, 12/11, but I hadn’t yet managed to squeeze Christopher www.alpiar.com into my blog.  Anyway, he sent me the following link that he ran across:  http://video.stumbleupon.com/?p=kkdpiahine . . . a pretty cool solo performance no matter what your level of music interest.

       Oh, right, dogs.  So now you know the slow motion truth of my brain activity.  But since you already know about their poop, you should want to know that one’s an all black 5 year-old cocker spaniel, Tuckerton (he’s named after NJ’s Tuckerton Seaport, a mile from where we once lived), and the other’s an 11½ year-old golden retriever, Barnegat (she’s named after NJ’s Barnegat Bay, where we once welcomed the waves onto our front yard).  Now you know why I’m not moving to Machipongo, VA, anytime soon.  

     I promise more substance tomorrow, assuming the great awakening of my cable company.  In the meantime, have a wonderful night.   halalpiar

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Every purchase decision

is emotionally-triggered!

     I am forever amazed at the ability of some retailers (and especially in this economy) to assume the luxury of pre-qualifying customers before they ever even set foot inside the store.  Have you noticed?  Or have you been asleep at the keyboard? 

     There’s a BJ’s opening nearby.  Kathy and I went to buy (“buy,” mind you) a “BJ’s Club Membership” card to be allowed to shop at this store that isn’t yet open!  For those even more in the dark than I’ve been (hard to imagine), this means you pay for the privilege to shop at this store.

     Like an idiot, I agreed to stay with Kathy and work through the 35-minute application process (when, alas, I could instead have been happily poking through the aisles of the next door hardware store), highlighted by having to have a photo I.D. in order to obtain a photo I.D.

     Now that makes alot of sense, right?  Isn’t that a lot like the bank being willing to give you a loan if you have enough in the bank to cover the loan?

     Yeah, but, the BJ’s fanatics tell me, you can get lots more stuff cheaper than other places, so it’s worth it to let them take out a second mortgage on your third child in order to be allowed to shop in their store (which, I might add, ain’t quite Tiffany’s!). 

     Well, excuse me, but wouldn’t you think any retailer would be thrilled these days just to have you drop by and do a little shopping?  What makes this join/enroll/enlist/sign up mindset so compelling that people feel they just “have to” buy into the program? 

     We are spending our money to buy products and contribute to –in this case– BJ’s profits, yes?  I mean it’s not like we’re qualifying for the Olympics, is it? 

     Aha!  It’s because we’re all suckers!  It’s because BJ’s, CostCo, Sam’s Club, et al suck us into “Club Memberships” knowing we can’t resist making a good solid emotional decision to join in the mutual exclusivity of others we like to believe we identify with in terms of lifestyle. 

     Huh?  Well, remember that no purchase (ZERO, NONE, NADA) is a rational, logical, unemotional decision.  It’s simply the way we justify ourselves.  But what about the economics of joing retail club membership rolls, and paying to be able to act and feel like we are getting exclusive purchase deals?  Well, maybe we are.  But so what? 

     Maybe we really don’t care about any of this, or maybe we can rationalize it all away.  What?  Oh, you don’t make emotional decisions?  HA!  Ask any good salesperson.  Every purchase decision is an emotionally-based, emotionally-triggered decision. 

     The rational, logical, unemotional stuff is what we use to justify our emotional choices, so we tell our friends about the product or service features, the great price, and how the car will do everything except make coffee, but the truth is we think we look good driving it, or we got totally hooked into the salesperson’s personality, or we have a need to “show off” our good taste . . . something emotional makes it happen! 

     What else?  I am now a card-carrying BJ’er.  YOW!     

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone!