How often have you thought up an elaborate promotion to get your team and customers excited about your product(s)? It seems like the more elaborate the promotion the less likely it is to succeed.

Dollar Shave Club does a great job of holding monthly contests that are both simple and fun. Check out their most recent one below.

http://www.dollarshaveblog.com/winter-is-coming/

You should consider “keeping it simple” when planning your 2013 promotions.

It was a cold morning at a subway station in Washington D.C. A young man walked through the crowd, opened his violin case, and proceeded to play for 45 minutes.

Thousands of people walked by him, it was rush hour. Only six people stopped to listen. Twenty people threw change into his case, for a total of $32.

What people didn’t know:

• it was Joshua Bell;
  
• playing 6 of the most intricate Bach pieces;
  
• on a $3.2 million violin;
  
• and 2-days earlier he played in Boston to a sold-out crowd, where ticket prices started at $100/seat.
  

If people had the above Insights, they would have stopped, and Joshua would have garnered a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands. People walking towards the music could “hear” that the music was different, but their blockers were on… and he was playing for quarters, not $100’s.

What Insights should your prospects & customers know about your company?

Our job as sales/marketing professionals is to create VALUE.

Insights do just that. Remove the blockers.

[Joshua Bell in DC Metro a true story]

We’re all busy; and we get hundreds of e-mails, voice-mails, text messages, etc… every single month.

Do your customer a favor:

1. Draft your email/vmail/proposal;
2. Re-read it;
3. Then reduce the number of words by 50%.

Your customers will appreciate it, you’ll gain more credibility, and your message will be that much more powerful.

[This post used to be twice as long]

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.”

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.