I go back and read every single word of the email promotion… not one letter about a minimum purchase amount. I now take precious time out of my morning and call Customer Service. The associated reads her copy of the email with me over the phone and doesn’t find a thing about a minimum amount either. OH…. THERE it is. I’m supposed to go to the Home Page http://www.skinstore.com/ of the web site and click a “Details” link in Times New Roman 7pt. font embedded inside the huge purple graphic to know that I have to order a minimum $100 pre-tax / pre-shipping to qualify for the $20.08 off my order. Now, I’m pissed.

Note to all marketers, salespeople, and senior management of companies big and small: This move is misleading… It’s LYING… but, most of all, it will make your loyal customers angry. And, they’ll think twice about doing business with you again.

Marketing’s purpose is to generate the leads. Sales’ purpose is to close the deals. However, it happens all the time… these guys butt heads. Picture it: the sales rep and the marketing manager go together to a visit a prospect and close the sale. The marketing manager watches in horror as the product/service/widget/whatever doesn’t perform up to “brand specifications” rendering the entire Marketing department essentially LFC, Liars First Class. Now watch the horror to the nth degree that flashes across the sales guy’s face when he hears marketing blurt out, “We’ll give you another upgrade… this time for free.”

The old line goes, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later.” When a company understands the true essence of both sales and marketing, and applies them in the right blend, the question isn’t being paid now or later. It’s being paid now and later.

Simply stated, marketing takes the long-term view of customer relationships, paving the way for sales to occur in the short-term. One feeds the other. Companies get into trouble when their appetite for short-term sales neglects the key role of long-term marketing.

Putting sales and marketing together in the same group is the single biggest mistake… actually, it’s mistake number 2. The Biggest Mistake is hiring a guy with the title “VP of Sales & Marketing” expecting her to actually do either one worth a crap. These two groups have different goals, and when a wheel falls off, sales always wins because squeaky-wheel problems win against the need for long-term results.

And then here’s another thought… In this age of microcelebrity, are ALL these people necessary to make Scene be the place to be seen on the scene? (geesh… mouthful) Seriously, you can’t feed 3,000 people anything. Tiny plates with 10 appetizers on it were devoured by one guy. Most of the alcohol was gone by 9pm, and then, in true $30,000-Millionaire form, the crowds disperse. Off into the night to find the next scene.

So, would the owners have been better off inviting a select 400 movers-and-shakers to really get a tour of the restaurant, hear the Executive Chef speak about what inspires his creations, have the wine steward share his most special selections? With a truly grand and unique experience (where you can actually SEE how the restaurant is designed), these 400 become advocates.

Although external marketing remains the most important business development task, it is essential to sell inwardly toward a company’s people. When employees understand and commit to the value proposition of the company and its brands, external marketing becomes more effective, because the employees become product champions.

Internal marketing is becoming increasingly important as the pace of change accelerates. Many companies are undergoing some form of transformation through mergers, alliances, or downsizing. The need for communication is stronger in these circumstances.

When companies also change their brand, their name, or their values, it is essential to communicate the change to all stakeholders including employees. As companies empower staff to build stronger customer relationship, internal marketing underpins the drive for greater involvement, commitment, and understanding.

Constant organizational change can loosen the ties between employer and employee. Internal marketing can bring the parties together with shared goals and values. Internal marketing helps the process of knowledge development by building understanding and commitment to personal development.

However, new research is starting to look at customers whose value is not as readily apparent and where CLV calculations break down. In a recent working paper, Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta calls them “free” customers—think of buyers at an auction. Traditionally, auction houses make most of their profit from fees paid by sellers; buyers don’t pay fees. So although buyers are a necessary ingredient to the deal—no buyers, no sellers—their value is more difficult to quantify. To the auction house, is one buyer worth four sellers? Is one buyer worth one seller? That answer is critical for the auction house, which must determine how to allocate marketing and other expenditures between buyers and sellers to attract new business.

Now consider a firm such as eBay that has two sets of customers—buyers and sellers. EBay generates almost all its profits from sellers through commissions and listing fees. Buyers do not provide any direct profit to the firm. However, without buyers, the firm would have no sellers and vice versa. This kind of situation, which is called a two-sided market, is common in many industries such as real estate and employment services. A traditional model of CLV will not be able to estimate the worth of a buyer. And, how about “indirect network effects” where more buyers potentially attract more sellers and vice versa?

Customer value changes over time. As a business owner you have to know that, in general, each individual customer value initially increases as the company grows and then later declines when the firm reaches a critical mass or maturity. And, you have to know that it is quite possible that some customers have low tangible value (i.e. they don’t buy anything), but high intangible value (i.e. they promote your company/ talk about your products to others in a positive way/ use their influence to encourage others to buy). Traditional models would label such customers as low value and would miss a huge opportunity for a firm.

from Jeffrey Gitomer and his AMAZING book, “Little Black Book of Connections”

11.5 Steps to Win Prospects and Contacts at a Networking Event:

1. Target the people you want to meet
2. Talk to them (wow! I actually have to write this!)
3. Get information from them that pertains to you
4. Get them interested in what you do
5. Categorize them (mentally) on the back of their biz card as soon as you get it– A. wants my product B. knows someone who may want my product C. valuable contact D. professional contact E. useless contact
6. Qualify the contact (if they’re a candidate to buy, are they likely to buy?)
7. Establish more rapport and find some common ground (make nice)
8. Remember the information they’ve given you (write it on the back of their card as soon as you finish the conversation)
9. Make the next appointment to meet (i.e. “We should get together and have a coffee some time.”
10. Write the commitment made on the back of YOUR card– the one you hand to the prospect. (write it also on the back of their card you keep)
11. (this is key!!!!) MOVE ON to the next person (no, you haven’t made a best friend for life and most sales people blow a sale by just being “there” too much)
11.5 Follow up in less than twenty-four hours after the event to confirm the next meeting

The hard work of marketing lies not in developing a ground-breaking, earth-shattering, jaw-dropping campaign, but in coordinating the efforts of R&D, manufacturing, finance, communications, and sales. Do this right the first time, and you’ve created a team that knows how to compete and win new business and new customers over and over again every time.

1. ASPIRATIONS AND BELIEFS: More than any other topic, people like to hear about aspirations and beliefs. (This may be why religion is the most popular word-of-mouth topic, ever.) Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy’s point of view about ending the digital divide is aspirational as is Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s views about how companies can grow by reducing pollution and creating more sustainable business strategies. Aspirations are helpful because they help us connect emotionally to the speaker, the company, and the issues. They help us see into a person or company’s soul.

2. DAVID vs. GOLIATH: In the story of David and Goliath, the young Hebrew David took on the Philistine giant Goliath and beat him. It is the way Southwest Airlines conquered the big carriers, the way the once unknown Japanese car manufacturers took on Detroit, and the way social media is taking on the media giants. Sharing stories about how a small organization is taking on a big company is great business sport. Rooting for the underdog grabs our emotions, creates meaning, and invokes passion.

3. AVALANCHE ABOUT TO ROLL: The mountain is rumbling, the sun is getting stronger, but the rocks and snow are yet to fall. You want to tune in and listen to the “avalanche about to roll” topic because you know that there’s a chance that you will be killed if caught unaware. This theme taps into our desire to get the inside story before it’s widely known. It’s not only interesting to hear someone speak about these ideas, they have the ingredients for optimal viral and pass-along effect.

4. CONTRARIAN / COUNTERINTUITIVE / CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS: These three themes are like first cousins, similar in many ways but slightly different. Contrarian perspectives defy conventional wisdom; they are positions that often are not in line with—or may even be directly opposite to—the wisdom of the crowd. The boldness of contrarian views grabs attention; the more original and less arrogant they are, the more useful they will be in provoking meaningful conversations. Counterintuitive ideas fight with what our intuition (as opposed to a majority of the public) says is true. When you introduce counterintuitive ideas, it takes people a minute to reconcile the objective truth with their gut assumption about the topic. Framing views counter to how we intuitively think about topics—going against natural “gut instincts”—pauses and then resets how we think and talk about concepts. Challenging widely-held assumptions means that when everyone else says the reason for an event is X, you show that it’s actually Y. Challenging assumptions is good for debate and discussion, and especially important in protecting corporate reputation.

5. ANXIETIES: Anxiety is a cousin of the avalanche about to roll, but it is more about uncertainty than an emerging, disruptive trend. Examples of anxiety themes abound: (1) Financial services companies urging baby boomers to hurry up and invest more for retirement: “You’re 55. Will you have your needed $3.2 million to retire comfortably?” (2) Tutoring companies planting seeds of doubt about whether our kids will score well enough on the SATs to get into a good college. Although anxiety themes grab attention, go easy. People are becoming skeptical, and rightly so. Too many politicians, companies have bombarded us with FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) with no facts to back up their point.

6. PERSONALITIES AND PERSONAL STORIES: There’s nothing more interesting than a personal story with some life lessons to help us understand what makes executives tick and what they value the most. The points of these personal stories are remembered, retold, and instilled into organizational culture. Robert Goizueta, the respected CEO of Coca-Cola, said he hated giving speeches but he was always telling stories—often personal ones about how he and his family had to flee Cuba when Castro took control and had nothing more than his education.
Similarly, when Steve Jobs gave the commencement address to Stanford University in June 2005, he shared his personal story and life lessons. That commencement address, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish,” was talked about on thousands of blog and was published verbatim in Fortune magazine. It helped us see Jobs in a new light.

7. HOW-TO STORIES AND ADVICE: Theoretical and thought-provoking ideas are nice, but people love pragmatic how-to advice: how to solve problems, find next practices, and overcome common obstacles. To be interesting, how-to themes need to be fresh and original, providing a new twist to what people already know or tackle thorny issues like how to get IT and marketing organizations to work together despite deep culture clashes between the two.

8. GLITZ AND GLAM: Robert Palmer sang about being addicted to love. Our society is more addicted to glamour and celebrity. Finding a way to logically link to something glitzy and glamorous is a surefire conversation starter. For example, tagging on to the widespread interest in the Academy Awards, Randall Rothenberg, former director of intellectual property at consultancy Booz Allen-Hamilton, last year talked about the similarity and challenges between creating new “star” product brands and movie stars.

What about your business? How are you remembered and talked about by your clients? Here are a few ideas to be more memorable:

YOUR LASTING IMPRESSION: First impressions are very important. In all communications, make sure your entire team is careful what they say when they meet someone for the first time. The first impression can make the difference between getting the business or getting the boot. However, there’s one thing greater than a first impression. It’s your lasting impression. Be concerned more about what your company does more than what your people say. The rhetoric gets the shot, but the actions define who you are.

YOUR IMAGE: What does your firm look like? What do people think of when they say your company’s name? Your image is priceless in sales. Your people don’t need to wear Italian suits or designer shoes to be viewed as a professional. However, you do need to think about how you can stand out from the competition. I love to wear t-shirts, jeans, and flip-flops. If I showed up to a presentation like that, no one would listen to the message because my image would be a negative distraction and reflective of too laid back an attitude in business. Your company image needs to reflect what you want to be remembered by. Teach all your people to think before you wear and create an image that’s worth remembering.

YOUR REPUTATION: Does it really matter what people think about your business? Of course it does if you care about making sales. Your reputation is everything in business, and yet, most people put little effort into what their reputation is on the street. You need to plan for your company’s reputation… it is something to be crafted and molded because it eventually becomes your brand. Start by thinking about who you are. What do you want to be known for? What do you want others to say about your business? After you come up with the answers, work on the plan. Want people to think your company is reliable? Then, all your people will show up on time for meetings. Want people to trust your products and services? Then, always honor your word. Your reputation is something that takes a lifetime to build and a moment to take away. Pay very close attention to the actions of everyone in your company and remove those who present obstacles to a stellar reputation.

1. Offer Personalized Picks and Services: We all know Amazon.com does this to perfection. So, let’s look instead at Netflix, the online movie rental service. The various tools available at Netflix enable you to pick movies that you want to watch and put them in the order you want to receive them.

2. Ask for Opinions: Both your satisfied and not-so-satisfied customers have lots of valuable information to share with you. Begin to regularly send surveys to customers who have returned items and find out why they did so. Offer a dollar incentive, such as $25 off the next purchase, to those customers who respond to the survey.

3. Research Before You React: Do you have any idea how much an individual customer is worth to you at the point when he or she is ripping your head off for a customer service issue? Even though I don’t have the world’s most integrated systems, I always train our customer service staff to check how much a customer has spent with us over the years (and how often) before making any kind of service decision. Yes, I’m stating the obvious no matter how un-PC it might be… some customers are more valuable than others.

4. Create a Client Portal: Service and software businesses are more and more frequently creating useful client portals in which customers gain access to exclusive information about the service, the industry or both. One approach is to enable customers to share information with one another in terms of experiences, tips and tricks. Create a place where they can blog to each other about you… Wow! What amazing feedback you’ll receive!

5. Reward Loyal Customers, Part 1: This may seem like a no-brainer, but how often have you seen ads or commercials for a service you already use wherein new customers are offered great deals while you just sit there feeling neglected because you’re paying more for the same product or service? This is maddening to existing customers. Your conundrum is figuring out how to lure in new customers with a good teaser rate without alienating your existing customer base. How about a reward program based on how long they’ve been a customer?

6. Reward Loyal Customers, Part 2: Another way to reward customers is with one of those ubiquitous “membership” cards or programs that accrue points or whatnot the more you spend with the company. In some cases these types of programs have revolutionized industries – for example, frequent flyer miles.

And, finally (and most importantly!)
7. Under Promise and Over Deliver: Give existing and prospective customers lower predictions of solutions/satisfaction rates/completed sales/etc. than is typical. Spell out that you are looking to manage their expectations by quoting figures that are lower than average in terms of solutions and goals met. Your clients and prospects will appreciate the candor and realize they’re not getting a typical “sales job” filled with a bunch of happy talk and bombast. It has the effect of increasing the comfort level and trust in the deal.