Revenue Generation | Wendistry

Such an "Arrogant Bastard"

2007

Having drinks with friends last night at the W and one of them ordered “Arrogant Bastard Ale” http://www.arrogantbastard.com/ I immediately proceeded to fall in love with this product. Not because of the liquid contents (I can’t stand beer… hard liquor gal), but because of the irreverent-ness of the branding. To quote the label:

Tagline– “You’re Not Worthy”
Story– “This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or the sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory… maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this.”
Ingredients– “Nothing but the finest Barley, most aggressive Hops, clearest Water, our proprietary Yeast strain, and abundant Arrogance.”

This company GETS IT! Stand up, stand out, shoot your mouth off, be different, be daring, anything… just please don’t be safe.

Filed Under: Branding, Ideation, Revenue Generation

Christmas Coupon Concepts

2007

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Being the holiday season and with all the enticements to spend more than the wallet allows, just what exactly prompts a customer to redeem coupons? And, should your company even bother with this type of promotion?

Time and value are the two most imporant variables to consider when looking to predict coupon redemption. Value has been relatively stable in recent years with low inflation rates while the trend has been to cut expiration lengths creating a greater sense of urgency (always a good thing).

However, many false notions about a couponing strategy faily to acknowledge that the redemption is less immediate, due to people’s busier lifestyles, more dual incomes, and expanded home inventories (due to more closet/garage/pantry space). The following are a few myths:

1. MYTH: Targeting the most loyal users of a competitor’s product yields the best return on a coupon program. FACT: Light to moderately loyal competitive users are more likely to try a new product.

2. MYTH: The presence of a sample is a requisite for driving high redemption rates. FACT: Other factors are much more likely to drive redemptions like expiration date, value, current versus competitive user, and frequent versus infrequent coupon user.

3. MYTH: Current and competitive product users need the same coupon value to be motivated. FACT: In any product sector, current users typically require a much less offer value to drive them to purchase.

Filed Under: Revenue Generation

Embracing Objections

2007

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If you find yourself constantly dealing with or dreading objections late in the buying cycle then there’s something you’re not doing early in the buying cycle: you’re not creating objections. You should be.

Embracing Objections:
Stress is caused by the things you don’t do. One of the largest sources of stress among those who do not see themselves as natural salespeople is the conversations they are avoiding. An objection is a little like bad news in the investment world: if it exists, you want to hear it as soon as possible. If you ignore it, it only gets worse.

The Race to Object:
Once you become aware of the potential objection consider yourself in a race to see which party can first serve it up to the other to address. Let’s say that you, the buyer, beat me, the seller, to the price objection – you get it on the table first. I can try to convince you that the objection is not real, or I can share my concern and try to hand it back to you. “I have the same concern. Reengineering your entire business development approach is not a trivial investment. It’s a sound investment, but my experience is that of firms the size of yours, not all can afford my fee, which I require in advance.”

The Common Mistakes:
The wrong way for me to respond to your objection is the way I typically responded throughout the early part of my career: defer (“Let’s not worry about price right now – I’m sure we can work something out if we get that far,”) cave (“I might be able to lower my fee,”) or shamelessly convince (“You really need to make this investment. Isn’t there some way you can come up with the money?”)

It may seem counterintuitive to create objections when you see yourself in the business of overcoming them, but look at it this way: the objections are there anyway, and somebody has to address them. Why not ask the client to do it?

Just ask early. Start looking for reasons why it might not make sense to work together as early into the relationship as possible and then ask the client to address them before he asks the same of you. You’ll find out which objections can be dealt with and which might be cause to part company.

Filed Under: Revenue Generation

Time Keeps on Slippin’, Slippin’, Slippin’……

2007

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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) once said, “I wasted time and now time doth waste me.”

Don’t waste the MONEY HOURS: the hours in a sales day when you can talk with prospects and/or customers… the most valuable hours of the day, make the most of them. Schedule reporting, email/faxes, and reading documents between 6am–9am and 6pm–9pm.

Sounds like a no-brainer, but you’ll look up and you’ll been pulled into an email exchange with an internal employee for over an hour… mid-morning. Ugh. Waste of your time and theirs. Establish these boundaries and watch productivity soar.

Filed Under: Corporate Management, Revenue Generation, Strategy

Want Brand Extension? Create New Products

2007

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from this past weekend’s edition of the Wall Street Journal

When it comes to brand extension, conventional wisdom states “don’t overextend.” Which is even more a maxim with startup companies. Coming out of the gate with too many product identities makes your business look unfocused and like it’s trying to hard to be a “me too!” company.

The problem with the don’t-overextend mind-set is that executives can easily fall into the trap of inbreeding: overwhelming customers with narrowly different new features and calling these items “new brands.” Paradoxically, in an attempt to not overextend the product line, managers do exactly that leading to “feature glut” and reduced usability for consumers.

Get a new perspective–
OLD THINKING: Product managers often limit their imaginations by trying to improve their goods incrementally, daring only to add new features that supplement the original product purpose.
WHAT YOU MISS: By cross-breeding, you can take completely dissimilar products and combine them in ways that inspire wholly new functions.
RESULTS: A shoe-and-iPod combination from Apple and Nike, for instance. This shoe enhances athlete training by turning the iPod into a step and pace counter as well as an entertainment source.

So, look at products in terms of their external attributes and how they are used. How well would your product play with others?

Filed Under: Branding, Revenue Generation, Strategy

Valuing Your "Free" Customers

2007

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Businesspeople understand that not all customers are created equal—the 80-20 rule suggests that over time a small percentage of a company’s customer base can generate a high percentage of its sales and profit. Models for calculating customer lifetime value (CLV) are built on just such a premise.

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.

Filed Under: Marketing, Revenue Generation

Problems or Opportunities?

2007

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It’s all in how you look at it. A typical day… you start out fresh, energized and focused on what you want to accomplish. Then, you get the impromptu request from a staff member to speak with you. Next comes the sit-down with your company’s other leadership team members. Then, the irate customer, the broken shipment, and the failed computer system. In short, problems.

Why can’t the everything flow like it’s supposed to? Why can’t everyone just do their job and get along? Is your first response that your defense mechanisms go off with a “what the #@&! is wrong with you people?!!??” Or, do you welcome these scenarios as an opportunity to stretch yourself and shine?

Relax. Merriam-Webster defines “problem” as an inquiry for consideration. A problem is merely a question awaiting a solution. Tricky part is being able to handle yourself while answering it and most of us are not equipped with a proven problem solving process. Get one… fast.

Filed Under: Corporate Management, Ideation, Revenue Generation

The Cycle of Greed

2007

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Filed Under: Ideation, Revenue Generation

Forget-Me-Nots

2007

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In any company, no matter the size, it all comes down to the one-on-one exchange between the buyer and the seller, and a great first impression can make or break the sale — and how memorable your business is to others will determine your success. Marketing is constantly being told by Sales to “gimme something I can pitch.” Salespeople want to think they’re being unique or memorable by trying to impress the client with their product knowledge. Not so. Others believe if they have a flashy way of presenting their product, they’ll stand out. Yes, your firm may stand out, but for the wrong reason. The goal isn’t to be remembered by being outlandish or a know it all .

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.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Revenue Generation

Pardon Me, but "Your Competitive Edge is Becoming Dull"

2007

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Keeping customers is one of the most effective and yet neglected ways to control marketing costs. There are always new and inspirational tactics for holding onto those customers you’ve spent so much to acquire.

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.

Filed Under: Branding, Corporate Management, Ideation, Marketing, Revenue Generation