Monthly Archives: February 2009

I Knew Better but Did It Anyway – And Now I Wish I Hadn't

By John Aberle | Customer Experience , marketing

I Confess, a Pretty Picture Led Me Astray
Anybody who’s been around computers and software as long as I have has no excuse for what I did. But it looked so pretty. And their sales pitch was so seductive: “faster, safer and easier than ever.” Besides, it was FREE. So I went ahead and took the upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.0 BETA.

Testing Software Should Be Done by Professionals
If you’ve been around software — and are not a developer or programmer yourself — you doubtless know enough to run just as fast as you can from version x.0, in this case 8.0. Of course, someone has to run software and test it so the developers can fix it and test it again until it is ready for general release to the public. Normally they test it in a simulated live environment. But the testers shouldn’t be the end users. They should be programmers, professionals who are willing to run it through its paces, people who expect problems and are temperamentally suited for the challenges. They don’t mind a bad customer experience because they love that kind of challenge.

Microsoft Excels at Marketing, Not at Giving Great Customer ExperienceContinue reading

Fun Time Adds Zest to Life

By John Aberle | Recreation

This weekend Dorothy and I celebrated her birthday at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Even though she had to work most of the day, we arrived around 4:30 PM and enjoyed the attractions until 9:00 PM when we grabbed dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

We had a blast! We visited the Boudin Bakery and ate some Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread, watched the Pixar Play Parade, walked the boardwalk at Paradise Pier, then flew over California in the Soarin over California ride – it’s our favorite ride in that park. What incredible views: flying over snow covered mountains just above the skiers, zipping over the waves with surfers almost touching our feet, shooting over San Francisco and Los Angeles, gliding over the rocky shore near Monterey, and ending at the Disney Theme Parks in Anaheim. From there we went to Disneyland to shop, helped Buzz Lightyear fight the evil Zorg – twice, and took the Monorail completely around its route and returned to Downtown Disney for dinner.

Most of all, it was an opportunity for me to pull away from work to just enjoy time with my wife. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt describe this in their wonderful book, The Power of Focus. In “The Achievers Focusing System,” they include “Fun Time!” as one of the seven areas of our lives that we need to plan for. It recharges us. Living a balanced life includes allotting time for recreation (that’s when we re-create ourselves).

While Disneyland may not be your birthday treat, get away from everything work related for a day or two or three. Dorothy and I plan a fun outing every two to three months for just the two of us, even if it’s just to go sightseeing. These mini-vacations give zest to our lives.

By now you may suspect that where I go, my camera goes. And so do at least two books. What’s your favorite way to unwind? And do you do it with someone or go by yourself to enjoy the solitude?

Sales Can Provide a Great Life as Well as Great Income

By John Aberle | sales

Becoming a Servant Salesperson Made Life Rewarding and Enjoyable
Selling is one of the most challenging professions imaginable. And yet for over 25 years I have loved every day of it, especially once I learned to become a “servant salesperson.”

Sales Involves a Bit of Detective Work
If the challenges are so great, why did I stay in this profession for so long? First off, I wanted more out of life than most jobs could give me, like control over my time and income. But along the way, I found that I really love selling — true, it normally provided me with an above average income; however, I enjoyed the people side of the business. There’s an element of being a detective involved in many of my business-to-business sales because I had to find out what was really important to them.

You’re Not Always the Most Important Person in Their LivesContinue reading

When Disaster Strikes, Are You Ready?

By John Aberle | Disaster Preparedness , Sales and Marketing

Last Friday, one of my consultant friends sent me an email about disaster preparedness. Living in California, this is something most of the people I know prefer to ignore yet it’s an ever present fact of life. Basically, there is no area of the country truly exempt from some potential disaster: hurricanes, tornados, floods, and earthquakes. While this is not strictly speaking a sales and marketing issue, the whole purpose of sales and marketing is for a business to survive and thrive. Given this viewpoint, I asked permission to share the following email. Tom and his friends all agreed:

My friends called me Tuesday night because their 15 year old daughter ran away.
That kept us up until after 1:00 AM when she was found safe.

Wednesday night, I went to a scheduled disaster preparedness workshop. The
presenter showed the familiar images of Northridge, Katrina and other disasters,
projected on a very large screen; that had a much larger impact than seeing the
pictures on TV.

Here are some things I learned from these two events that you can use for your
children, your parents, or yourself.

Those ubiquitous, small flashlights with LEDs and other light sources are nice in
some places. But when it is dark and there is no electricity, such as in a park or after
an earthquake, you need a large, multi-cell flashlight to see where you are walking
and to illuminate possible threats.

Thanks to digital photography we have lots of photos of families and friends. The
downside is we rarely have paper prints of those people to show to others such as
fast food restaurants as we say “Have you seen her?” The upside is the digital
images can be e-mailed to the police department and electronically forwarded to the
squad cars.

Speaking of digital, PDAs and smart phones with names, addresses, phone
numbers, and medical information such as prescriptions, can have the data police
and other involved parties need.

Cell phones with built in GPS can help find people, but the person must be carrying
it.

There have been twice as many earthquakes in California and around the world
during the first month of 2009 as there were in previous years. We are due for a big
one.

That earthquake kit in your home must be duplicated in the car.

The workshop was taught by April Kelcy of www.EarthquakeSolutions.com . Go to
her web site for future events and products. I just printed out the instructions on how
to get water out of my water heater.

Now look at how ready you are.

Tom Lenzo,
Business & Technology Consultant
tlenzo@att.net

I hope that these tips will prove helpful to you and maybe help prepare you better for whatever challenges, besides the economy, that life has in store for you. If you never need them, I will be truly happy for you. In that case, let’s focus on growing your business in a way that’s fun and mutually rewarding for you and your customers.

How Well Do You Take Care of Your Best Customers?

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing

What’s your experience with promotions run by companies to get new customers? In my experience, most companies run these enticing offers to get new customers to sign up. However, once they have my business, I become a given in their minds. I don’t count any more. (You don’t either to these companies.) They only focus on getting new business so the offer doesn’t apply to me, or you if you’re one of their existing customers.

Recently with travel off and the economy in a turmoil, businesses like amusement parks have been taking a serious hit in their revenue. As a result, Disneyland created a clever marketing campaign that invites you on your birthday to come free. Naturally, they expect you will bring your family or friends, spend the day, and spend money on food and souvenirs. Good campaign, but typical so far. Being the cynic that I am from past experiences with banks and mobile phone companies, I figured that this wasn’t a deal for annual pass holders who already get in free any time during the year – depending, of course, on your type of pass.

That’s where Disneyland did something truly amazing. They remembered those who committed to them long before this campaign began! They offer annual pass holders a credit equivalent to the price of a one-day admission. This credit can be used in their stores at the park. There are certain restrictions, like it can’t be used for food or for purchases at their carts located throughout the parks. Fine. That’s understandable. To me the incredible thing is that this company actually remembered the people who are their best customers, their loyal customers who buy passes year after year and come multiple times a year.

There are all sorts of articles by marketing experts and studies that show your cheapest – and easiest – sales are to your existing customers. The question is, how well do you treat them? Do you do things to keep them loyal by showing you care and keeping them informed about what is happening in your business, or do you figure that once they bought from you, they’ll come back so you can focus on finding the next sale? I suggest you follow Disneyland’s example. Your customers will love you for it.

I Love Podcasts

By John Aberle | Internet Marketing , Podcasts

I love podcasts. If you haven’t tried them yet, you might find they are a wonderful way to expand you knowledge while exercising or driving. Despite the name, which implies they are for an Apple iPod, podcasts are actually mp3 recordings that will run on any mp3 player or even on your computer if you have an mp3 player. Most sites with mp3 downloadable files also have a flash mp3 file you can use to listen to the recording right there. For an example, check out my PodBean site, http://johnaberle.podbean.com/. You can also Google – or use your favorite search engine, like Yahoo! to find “flash mp3 player” if you want to install one on your site.

Because I find podcasts so helpful, it came as a shock when I read something on Paul Colligan’s Business of Podcasting and New Media blog post, 1/28/09, “Podcasting Is Dead?” http://www.paulcolligan.com/. Apparently some authorities claim podcasting is dead. Yet Paul showed a Google Trends graph that clearly indicates an incredible interest level in podcasts compared to social media, new media, and online media. Obviously the public still thinks podcasts are vital and important. You can find my comment at http://www.paulcolligan.com/2009/01/28/podcasting-is-dead/#comments.

What do you thinK about podcasts? What do you like or not like about them?

Focus Your Marketing on Your Ideal Customer

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing

Everybody today is under pressure to perform, to do more with fewer people. So how do you get more sales with the time, effort and money available? The key today, as always, is to focus on your ideal customer’s profile.

Everything builds from there out. No matter how good your product, your ideal niche market is something less than the entire world poplulation. So look at your best customers to help determine where your niche really is right now. One rule of thumb is that 20% of your customers account for 80% of you sales.

Knowing the characteristics of your ideal customer enables everything else to flow naturally. For instance, knowing the profile of your ideal prospects makes it possible to figure out what their wants and needs are. It’s even a wise idea to ask them why they buy from you. Sometimes the reasons will surprise you.

Armed with that information, you can write your unique selling proposition or USP to appeal to what people fitting this profile care about. The USP tells them what is unique or special about your products, services, or business that makes you their ideal choice.

Using the USP, you can write your questions and benefit statements to appeal to those concerns. Ask these questions to find out if they have problems you can help solve. People buy when they see a product fits their interests. It must answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” When they feel good about what your products and services deliver for them, they will seek you out.

Your marketing campaign flows from the inner three: ideal customer > unique selling proposition > benefit statements > marketing campaign. Naturally, your headlines and your copy or written material must attract the attention and hold the interest of your prospects. Additionally, knowing your ideal prospect’s profile also helps you target your marketing activities and budget on the ways most likely to reach that sort of prospect.

So to get the most impact from your marketing campaign, first decide what your best customers have in common. Usually they provide 80% of your business. From that knowledge, identify your distinctive value to people like them. Develop questions to find out if they have wants and needs your products and services address. When you present your solution, stay focused on the benefits from their viewpoints. Use this knowledge and understanding to be sure your marketing materials speak to their concerns. And have this customer profile to guide your marketing investments. This focus will help you generate the most sales for your time, effort and money.

Customer Service Lessons Learned from Installing Plugins

By John Aberle | Blogging , customer service

I know that this sounds like a simple, silly thing to someone who’s a code jockey or programmer or even just really technically knowledgeable about WordPress. Nevertheless, because I’m a blogger who is only slightly knowledgeable, I have spent days in frustration over plugins. I would upload them to my blog site but they never appeared on my plugins page so I could activate them. Finally, it dawned on me what the problem might be – and I just confirmed I was right.

After I downloaded a plugin to my computer, I would click on it to extract it to a folder. What happened with most of them is that they created another folder or they were already in a folder. My installation instructions would say to upload the folder to the blog’s wp-content/plugin folder so I would. Then I would go to my Site Admin and select Plugins, but when I went down to the available but not activated plugins I wouldn’t find the ones I uploaded. Yesterday I realized it was because the plugin folder had another folder in it instead of the files that WordPress was expecting, so they couldn’t show up. When I moved the files up so there was only one folder, the plugins showed up.

This issue goes to the whole concept of customer service. All of us make the same kind of errors. It’s actually a form of blindness because we can’t see the assumptions we take for granted, the steps we are not even conscious of taking because they are so automatic.

What procedures do you have that are frustrating your customers? These are the things that destroy loyalty. On February 1st, I wrote about building customers by word-of-mouth in “The Best Marketing Is Word-of-Mouth.” It takes a positive, exciting customer experience to draw people to you. A negative experience creates word-of-mouth stories that drive people away. What can you fix in your products or services that will remove something annoying your customers so that they can enjoy their customer experience with you more?

The Best Marketing Is Word-of-Mouth

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Sales Management

We know it from our personal experiences. Word-of-mouth marketing is the best because we all believe our friends more than some advertiser. But generating word-of-mouth business is a challenge. I have no control. It just happens, right?

Actually, there are things we can do to encourage people to talk about us. I just listened to a fascinating podcast, “Word-of-Mouth Marketing,” by Karen E. Klein, Business Week Smart Answers columnist. She interviewed Bertrand Cesvet, about his new book, Conversational Capital.

Bertrand said we need to plan from the beginning to encourage word-of-mouth marketing. Think about the “story” we want people to tell. Basically, people talk about consumer experiences. He gave examples of Cirque du Soleil and Volkswagon to show what it means to have a story.

In Conversational Capital, Bertrand covers eight elements to becoming a topic people want to talk about. It really comes down to developing a great “story.” What I got from this is that it needs to be something people experience. I bring this back to benefits.

Just what is it that the customer can experience with your product or service that is exciting? In other words, what emotional connection will they make? Remember, not all word-of-mouth is positive. I’ve told my share of stories about service so bad I’ll never go back. Here’s an interesting “story” from a blog post Seth Godin made July 05, 2005: Red Lobster claims to be a Maine company, but they’re located in Florida and, at that point, didn’t have any restauarants in Maine. While I may not stop going there because of this lie, it undermines my respect for the chain. I’ll give them some slack because it’s a “theme” restaurant.

On the other hand, I’ve also heard wonderful stories about the salesperson who became a resource and so earned ongoing business – he helped the manager of this manufacturing line to solve a problem with production. The engineer I spoke to made it clear he wanted to ensure he would have access to that salesman’s knowledge and ideas because the rep made his job easier.

“Stories” I’ve told people include my confidence in getting a fabulous Ribeye steak at Outback Steakhouses everywhere I go in the U.S. The best story is about how Stephen Brooks in Covina comped a meal because the service wasn’t up to his standards. And I will long remember the extra effort by Tony Gonzales at my West Covina Men’s Warehouse to fix my cuffs so I could take the suit for a trip the next day.

What can you do to make dealing with you enjoyable enough that people will enjoy telling others about the experience? Give them a “story” to tell, but be sure it’s a good story.