The Dons of WOMM… goes live!

Word-of-Mouth Marketing Leave a comment

Today, The Empty Bin dot com launched The Dons of WOMM.

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“…a PRIVATE & confidential, informal community of proactive and creative like-minded Pro Lumberyards who believe that word-of-mouth marketing and sales excellence will lead to healthy, sustainable revenue!”

The Dons of WOMM are about throwing some spaghetti against the wall, and seeing what sticks! Try some WOMM!

The staff at TEB look forward to collaborating online with the Dons of WOMM Founding Members…

…there’s a contract out on your ideas!

Starbucks vs. Dunkin’ Donuts

Messaging One comment

There’s really no differences between the two… both have flavored coffee, both have food. Sure, you could argue for hours about the quality of drinks, how they’re brewed, etc… but as a “buyer” I’ll come back to you each time with, “Yeah, but it’s still just a coffee bean at the end of the day, pal.”

Chocolate donuts with coffee

So then, how is it exactly then that these two companies create VALUE for their customers?

Both maintain DISTINCTION.

 Starbucks:

  • Take your time kind of place;
  • Bring your laptop;
  • Sit and read the paper.

Dunkin:

  • Move your butt;
  • Get out of line;
  • Get a good cup coffee, quickly!

These are two very successful companies that have won by creating Distinction. They don’t focus their selling and marketing efforts around the “difference” between the features and benefits of their coffee, they do so around the experience.

Successful companies today realize that the tried and true historical best strategy for success is to create and maintain DISTINCTION.

Distinction creates VALUE.

The Soda Machine

Sales Methodology Leave a comment

Mostsales people are like a Soda Machine, does that include you?

Soda Machines

If I want a soda, I show up in front of vending machine “row,” look at the sodas available, put in my 75cents and walk away with a can of carbonated sugar-water.

There’s so much information out there today, that most sales people have allowed themselves to be reduced to a simple Soda Machine.  The Buyer does his/her own research on the options available, which includes you and your stiffest competition… then calls in the vending machine (salesperson) to share availability and pricing.  Buyer then makes his own decision.

Why wait until the end of the sales process?

If you’re acting like a Soda Machine, spewing up availability and pricing at the end of the sales process, you’ll never be able to demonstrate value for your product/service.

Advertiser vs. Consumer!

The Thought Police, Word-of-Mouth Marketing Leave a comment

This is a very good (& funny) video depicting the pitfalls of print media and other traditional forms of advertising… pair it with the earlier post, “The Big Drop Off” by Seth Godin, and hopefully it will all come together for you.

Successful Pro Lumberyards that we’ve dealt with have all had one thing in common: a very loyal “first circle.” The question then becomes, “How do we get the first circle to keep talking about us?” Now we’re getting into the effectiveness of WOMM.

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Lumberyards might want to re-think that “next $5,000” they spend on advertising. A couple of good quotes we frequently reference:

(1) “Advertising is the cost of being boring. If your customers won’t talk about your stuff, you have to pay newspapers to get people to talk about you.” –Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing Book

(2) “Advertising…can work for MegaBrands like Coke…for the rest of us, traditional advertising is so wide and broad that it is ineffective.” –DM Scott, The New Rules of Marketing & PR

Instead of advertising to the masses, wouldn’t it be a more effective to get your loyal customers (first circle) TALKing, and telling their colleagues about your exceptional service and products?

Rally your fans! They’re often your best salespeople…

Golden State Warriors vs YOU!

The Thought Police, Word-of-Mouth Marketing Leave a comment

Do we work this hard to get new customers?  (And if you think about it, none of what they did really even cost them that much $$…)

[post by Andy Sernovitz]

In professional sports, the term “free agent” refers to an athlete who is free to sign a contract with any team. But, as one sports writer pondered, what happens when a fan declares their own free agency? Free for anyone to earn and sign?

Scott Soshnick sent the same memo to every team in the four major U.S. sports leagues: The NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and the NHL. In it, Scott declared his free agency as a fan, said he was theirs for the taking, and offered a lifetime of allegiance. All they had to do was tell him why he should pick their team.

Of the 122 teams that make up the four major leagues, all but nine ignored Scott’s note. Eight of those that responded made offers ranging from marketing materials to invitations to use the owner’s court-side seats — all pretty amazing considering 113 teams didn’t respond at all.

But one team, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, went all out. In addition to sending Scott his own personalized Warriors jersey, they also:

  • Called to say they wanted him as a fan and asked for a photo
  • Had 28 employees from various departments send him emails
  • Had fellow New Yorker and then-Warriors General Manager Chris Mullin call to make the team’s case
  • Sent Scott a “We Believe” slogan T-shirt with his face on it
  • Put together a mock press release announcing a new fan acquisition
  • Created a highlight DVD with rookies wearing Scott’s personalized jersey
  • Sent Scott a $1 lifetime contract, signed by Mullin

The Lesson: It can be astonishing at how little effort the majority of your competitors are making in doing special things to earn new fans. Yet, at the same time, every industry has their version of the Warriors — an organization that loves to amaze customers with fantastic service and special treatment.

When building your word of mouth program, the little things are a great start — they’ll quickly put you among the minority of companies willing to wow their customers. But we’d encourage you to not just settle for beating the lazy guys. Instead, assume your industry has someone working as hard as the Warriors and aim to outdo them.”

Pretty cool…  

The Big Drop Off

The Thought Police, Word-of-Mouth Marketing Leave a comment

An excellent post this morning from Seth Godin; try and relate it to your WOMM campaigns and strategy!

“The big drop off

We try so hard to build the first circle.

This is the circle of followers, friends, subscribers, customers, media outlets and others willing to hear our pitch. This is the group we tell about our new product, our new record, our upcoming big sale. We want more of their attention and more people on the list.

Which takes our attention away from the circle that matters, which is the second circle.

The second circle are the people who hear about us from the first circle.

If the first circle is excited about what we do and it’s remarkable enough to talk about, they’ll tell two or six or ten friends each. And if we’re really good, the second circle, the people we don’t even know–they’ll tell the third circle. And it’s the third circle that makes you a hit, gets you elected and tips your idea.

The big drop off is the natural state of affairs. The big drop off is the huge decline that occurs between our enthusiasm (HEY! BUY THIS!) and the tepid actions of the first circle (yawn). Great marketers don’t spend their time making the first circle bigger. They spend all their time crafting services, products and stories that don’t drop off.”

The original Post can be found here.

Um, What’s Golden Silence?

Miscellaneous Leave a comment

Last post we talked about the ‘ol “Show Up & Throw Up“… and the importance of following this: “Stop Talking. Ask Questions. Practice Golden Silence.”

So, what exactly IS Golden Silence? Well, it’s easy:

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Ask your great question, wait for the Buying Influence (BI) to answer… and once the BI has responded, wait and additional 3-4 seconds. Why the second pause after the BI answers? Two reasons:

  1. It demonstrates to the BI that you’re actually LISTENING to and PROCESSING the important information the BI is sharing with you;
  2. As a general rule, people will elaborate on their initial response given the chance! So, give it to them, ’cause you’ll get even more information critical to your sale!

Golden Silence: don’t leave home without it.

The Show Up and Throw Up!

Sales Methodology Leave a comment

SilencedToo many times us sales people show up to a meeting or appointment and TELL! TELL! TELL! about our products and/or services.

It’s called the ‘ol “show up and throw up.”

We TALK TALK TALK, and continually “throw up” a bunch of features & benefits.

Stop talking. Ask questions. Practice Golden Silence.

By asking great questions, we can truly understand the problems that the customer is facing… and how our products or services can help provide a solution.

Think it through in the most basic way: you could likely tell me 1,000 things about your widget-service. Out of those thousand, are you planning on guessing which ten to tell me and “throw up” in the twenty minutes you have in front of me?  Most of us actually just use the ten we’re comfortable speaking about, and hopefully some will relate to the customer’s needs.

Why take that risk?

Ask some questions… understand my problems… then share with me the relevant information about your products & services!  Accomplish just this, and we can begin to morph into true sales professionals…