Ideas for profitable
communication
by Baruch ter Wal
‘Jaws’ on a spaceship
August 19th, 2010
According to Hollywood legend, that was the four-word pitch used to sell the concept for the original ‘Alien’ movie.
The game plan here is to sell something new using concepts that people are already familiar with.
This is an important tactic for Kiwi firms who are trying to market a bleeding edge product. How many global customers want to take a risk on the New Zealand firm doing things in a way that nobody else is? Nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM and all that.
You can still be completely unique without using any unique words.
“We are the only point of sale software that operates on a software-as-a-service model, but also works offline” is wordy but intelligible. “POS – reinvented” is punchy but scary.
Vanished into thin air
July 22nd, 2010
Shakespeare came up with that. You wouldn’t think so: it sounds so mundane and cliche. But when he first composed those words they were fresh, edgy, genius. Imagine it being said on stage for the very first time in 1600.
The moral is that an idea that once upon a time was a stroke of genius may not have cut-through today. The first person to say, “Hey, we don’t sell services, we sell solutions” was a genius. Describing your offering as a “solution” today does not set you apart. Yesterday I saw a dented tradesman’s van with the tagline “Solutions for Every Industry”.
Somewhere in the world, someone is coming up with the idea to call their services “solutions”. They’ve never heard the term used before. They too are a genius. But it’s still not going to have cut-through.
That’s why research, especially competitor research, is so important. Without it, you or your creative team could be re-inventing (at great expense) an idea that was once shiny, but is now dull from overuse.
Lest we forget
March 17th, 2010
We learned some useful things during the recession.
Yesterday I hung out with a room full of buzzing entrepreneurs who saw more opportunities than they had time to grab (I’m not quite sure what Auckland would do without The ICEHOUSE).
As much as it looks like 2010 will be a great year, it was clear that many of the opportunities spring from what we learned during the dark days of 2009.
We learned that marketing benefits – new or deeper relationships and sales – should be measurable.
We learned to seek lower cost channels that were just as effective as the old high cost ways of getting attention (one of my favourite stories was Turners Auctions tripling profits while cutting marketing spend in half to focus on a smart online strategy).
We learned to paint a clear picture of how our products and services would improve our customers’ lives and businesses.
Let’s not forget.
My biggest screw-ups (part 1 in an occasional series)
February 23rd, 2010
Four years ago we were asked to design sales material for a new software service.
We produced a “before and after” diagram aimed at strategic decision makers. It beautifully illustrated the behavioural changes required, and the various efficiency gains that these would make possible. The client liked it, as did a small test audience of CEOs and CFOs.
When the material was used in practice, however, it emerged that operational staff were also key decision makers, along with the strategic managers they reported to. The strategic managers were conceptual thinkers. But the operational staff were concrete thinkers, and they found our diagram shallow and unconvincing.
One of the most important principles of business-to-business design is to identify all of the different decision makers, and tailor material to them. Four years ago, we failed to live up to that principle.
The, ahem, 3 secrets to successful business-to-business communication :-)
January 21st, 2010
Self knowledge; customer insight; design thinking.
- Self knowledge. This is about truth. What does your business truly do better than anyone else? (BTW: that means now, not what you will be the best at, or hope to be the best at.) Narrow the scope until you find it. Ideally it will be something you are also passionate about.
- Customer insight. Who are the people and organisations most in need of the thing you’re best at? What do they currently believe about their needs? What do they currently believe about your ability to meet their needs? (Hint: it won’t be the same as what you believe).
- Design thinking. On a blank piece of paper, paint the world’s most compelling and truthful picture outlining why those customers (with those beliefs) need what you have to offer.
If you’re 100% committed to these three steps, I will always be happy to talk to you with the meter off. Not before 10am though.
Sometimes you need to be narrow minded
December 10th, 2009
Should we be saying “no” to lucrative opportunities just because they fall outside the target market specified in our business plan?
Some of the time it makes sense to grab these opportunities when they fall into our lap. But it almost never makes sense to actively chase them.
There is always a temptation to spread the marketing net too wide. You know that your service can add value across industries, and is useful for both large and small businesses. So that’s the message that you take to market. But if your sales and marketing tries to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody. Helen Clark may have rubbed many people up the wrong way, but compare her popularity to Phil “all things to all people” Goff.
And the benefits of a clear focus go beyond perception. A clear customer focus
- Helps you pick your marketing channels
- Influences which networking events you’ll attend
- Determines your PR and case study priorities
- Pushes you to make your products special by being sensitive to how customers are different – not how they are the same.
So narrowing your focus, and sticking to that focus in your marketing and planning, helps you to end up with better products that are easier to sell. It’s a no brainer. But so is grabbing the odd amazing opportunity, even if it’s outside your focus. It’s New Zealand, not New York.
Just remember: they’re not gift horses if you’re chasing them.
I’ve got you pegged
November 9th, 2009
I know that if you talk fast, dress in a business-like manner, and quickly get to the point that you hate people who sit on the fence and will judge me by my track record.
Here’s the full table, simplified and adapted from conversations with the experts at RogenSi.
If you weren’t aware of models like this, now you are. There are many more. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm
If you’ve known about these tools for some time, ask yourself: “How often do I apply them in my interactions with clients and prospects?”
Most sales people revert to their own style. Analytical thinkers will provide lots of detail and focus on process – even if they are boring their Expressive client to death.
Just as common are so-called “experts” who will tell you to lose the detail and cut down the word count in all situations. If your audience in an Analytical one (like a majority of lawyers, systems analysts and financial controllers) you’ve just sunk your battleship.
Another interesting trick is to talk to all the styles at once on the same piece of paper. I’ll leave that for another post.
‘When’ is the new ‘What’ [part II]
October 29th, 2009
We can all talk for a long time about how special our products and services are. But when should we be selling what benefits?
One of the most common mistakes I come across is trying to sell benefits that will only become clear once someone has been a customer for some time. The productivity gains in 6 months may indeed be the most valuable thing about your product. But that’s intangible. More important at the outset are the benefits that people can easily believe and see demonstrated.
If you’re clever, your pricing strategy will allow you to capture more upside once the longer term benefits become available and believable.
The best sales people make a distinction between what gets them in the door, and what keeps them there.
‘When’ is the new ‘What’ [part I]
October 19th, 2009
What you tell a prospective client is important. But timing is everything. If they are not in a receptive frame of mind, you’ve wasted your breath (or dollars).
Most people are loyal to their mediocre accountants. And switching accountants feels like a pain. The only times that they are going to be especially susceptible to marketing from a new accountant are:
- After a major screw up
- When starting a new business
- At the start of a new financial year
A good accountant should point out the screw ups that mediocre accountants are prey to. She should appeal to entrepreneurs, and she should be ramping up her marketing at key times in the financial calendar.
When are your prospects going to be receptive? What will they be doing at that time? Where?
You need to find the answers to those questions. When you do, it will dramatically change your pitch.
