I would, if only my head weren’t about to explode

Follow up is key to all good marketing, especially in the 1:1 environment of expos. As you know, my company is an exhibitor at some events, but we also attend the same conferences so we appear on the attendee list as well.

I returned and waited a few days before dropping a line to anyone let alone picking up the phone. I assumed that my new contacts, like myself, were up to their teeth in unchecked email, telephone messages, and sticky notes from their bosses.

Meantime, in a single week I’ve been deluged with prospecting emails from companies I did not meet, along with (God bless the list trade industry) dozens of invitations to exhibit yet somewhere else totally irrelevant, because I do after all exhibit. Maybe I do so without any plan at all!  The marketing director seems to hope.

Whether it’s because I am a marketer, so always curious about other people’s tactics, or because I am an optimist who believes there are even more good ideas out there than I can carry in my head…I dutifully open every email, letter, and prospectus. Sometimes I chuckle and toss or hit delete. Other times, the company proposition sounds really interesting.

And I would respond, if only my head weren’t about to explode.

This is an important thing for sales people to understand. In Mark Kuta’s excellent book, Think Like A CEO, he describes the process of getting into the minds of business leaders in order to close a sale. Understand their problems. Position yourself to solve them. Do you really have the answer to a business problem? If you don’t, find someone else and stop bothering me. This is the answer for reaching decision-makers of every level.

Of course if you’re busy my company can help. But you need to have time to breathe and think about what you want to have done. We understand that. A salesman who jumps in the moment you’re back in the office…now-that-we’ve-met (if we did) let’s-talk-about-my-product…is missing the big picture.  

The big picture is a working relationship.

Not sometimes, but always.

Think of dating. Are you picking up a chick or looking for a mate? Chances are, the person you’re trying to pick up is looking for a mate, and is considering the hundreds of options closely, right? So with sales.

I would recommend anyone, in any type of sales–whether it is for conference management, advertising sales, trade association membership, electron microscopes, or automobiles– read (over and over) Jeffrey Gitomer’s excellent series of Little Books. The Little Black Book of Connections will probably do even more for your sales than The Little Red Book of Selling.

Gitomer emphasizes the giving side of the sales relationship: learning, understanding, sharing information, building friendships, getting into the head of this other person whom you hope is going to buy a car or a house or a software subscription from you. This is different from a drip email campaign that says the same thing to everyone…like the one from Ford that lies and says they’ve been trying to call me about the car I emailed about (no calls received). “We’d like to know what you’re looking for” it pleads, even though I visited the sales person onsite and told him exactly what I wanted. Subject: unsubscribe.

This is also different from the organization that I asked about sponsorship opportunities, which immediately offered me an advertising buy. There were no sponsorships for the event I was interested in. However, I knew (because I’m good at this, after 25 years) that a space ad would be the lowest possible return on my investment…that’s why, despite receiving their journal every month for years, I have never wanted to run an ad. The ad would reach thousands of professionals, about 20% of whom are my prospects. Those 20%, like me, are too damn busy to rip open the polybag and read the journal on 6 months out of 12. So why would I pay 10k to reach 2M people at the outside, who have barely time to skim the pages and then run out to the next deadline? (Yes, I know my prospects are that busy. When I email them at 10 p.m. they reply. I think they should unionize.)

By contrast, I can pull together even a fairly pricy direct mail package and reach the exact same people…the list is commercially available…for half the cost of advertising. And I can personalize and segment my message in a way that space advertising cannot. Ah, yes, that is why I love direct mail even after spending my first career in advertising. What I am looking for is my business solution: How to reach key targets in a practical, cost-effective way. I will hear out the salespeople who can show me the solutions, not the product.

This sales message is just as important for nonprofits. Don’t think Major Gift cultivation is not selling…it most certainly is. If you do it right, you are giving people an opportunity to buy back their own souls. Likewise, you may be selling membership in a trade organization: Are you not offering them a golden road to their own better future? Nobody wants a membership. They want a better future.

And that is the most important thing to remember when selling, whether in person or by campaign: People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want. If you don’t believe me, go to the city where you’ll find people who can’t pay their rent, but they have tattoos and order pizzas. Tattoos are a decoration; take-out anything is a luxury, when for under $2.50 in most of America you can make a modest meal for 4 (eggs and toast–a nod to the American Egg Board for promoting what is still the best nutritional value on earth). This, to me, is living proof that people will buy what they want, not what they need.

So getting back to my in box: How about an email that says, “Let’s touch base when the dust settles. I’d love to hear more about what you do. Maybe there is even a way we can work together. But most of all, it was great to meet you.”  Because what I want right now is time to breathe before I decide.  If you give me that courtesy, I might like your brand just a little better than the next one.

Managing your marketing firm? Here’s what to do.

We sometimes encounter people, in businesses of every size, who are new to the marketing function and need to learn how to manage relationships. This can be especially tricky when the relationship is with an in-house marketing department.

We all read and consume advertisements and marketing daily. This leads most people to feel that they are qualified to direct creative work. And maybe they are: maybe their intuitions and tastes perfectly match those of their target audience. But such is not always the case.

When I started work at the American Diabetes Association, I was not new to marketing, only to ADA. The membership control package was hideous. I mean, really ugly, and the teaser was awful. I didn’t like it, and I’m sure my predecessor didn’t. That did not stop the package from winning dozens of tests over the years.

When I did finally beat the control, I tested a 4c litho package down to a 4c flexo (remember flexo?) version and from there to 2c. Each cheaper, uglier version won over the last, until finally my control had reduced costs by $250k…which we promptly spent to mail more, growing the society 35% during my tenure.

So, as many nonprofits know, sometimes ugly works.

Now, back to managing your agency, whether internal or external. If you love everything they put out, terrific. But once in a while you may see something that you don’t like. Here’s how to react.

Rule #1:

Remember that your writers, artists, production managers, etc. are real human beings. If you don’t like their work, or you don’t like them, or you can’t think of any other reason such as the Golden Rule, remember that one day one of them may have to make the decision of whether to save you from a burning building, or they may be in a position to help you get a nice new job/raise/whatever. Make the emotional investment. When you don’t like something, be civilized in how you express it. It’s hard to get good work from someone you continually berate.

I knew a copy chief once who would walk into a writer’s office and ask, Whattaya, stupid? Such charm. Not promotable, either. Don’t be that person. 

Rule #2

There is an infinite number of ways to skin a cat. If you don’t like concept A, then don’t just ask for something different or you can get B to the 97th power of more things you don’t like. What didn’t you like? What do you feel you need? How do you feel it is ineffective? Listen, also, to what your people explain. I have challenged some talented people in my day just by saying I’m not sure how something will be perceived. Then I listen. When I hear the thought process and multiple people concur, I have to let go. I’ve held my breath during the release, but I haven’t been wrong yet.

Rule #3

An hour of planning together will pay off in eliminating weeks of revisions. If you feel strongly about directing creative work yourself, all you need to do is say so and plan a brainstorming session in which you hear and approve ideas first. Planning is one area that too few clients take time with; in fact their lack of time is often why they hire us to begin with.

Spending even a half hour in conversation will help you either to have a comfort level with the creative team’s ideas, or be able to express where you see things going. It will save you countless headaches when you are coming up on deadline, and a fortune in revision fees.

As a corollary to this: When you just need a line or two changed because it doesn’t sit right with you, just change it. Sending people back for 100 ways to rewrite 12 words is just silly. We once had a client rewrite a single paragraph postcard several times…it’s 5 sentences, but as the six sentences blog has proven, there is still an infinite number of ways to write it…right or wrong.

As a young copywriter, I discovered that every week our store would have a new dress shirt on sale for men. Every week. 52 shirt ads a year. I discovered ways to differentiate: I counted threads per inch, inspected the buttons for evidence of being made of real shell, was it oxford cloth or broadcloth, buttondown or spread collar? Not only did I write 52 ads a year, and 52 more the next, and the next, but so did 10,000 other writers for 10,000 other stores and catalogs. There is an infinite number of ways to say something.

Your agency expects you to edit their copy, not just send it back to be rewritten, reread, and resent back for more rewrites. Remember, you’re paying for their expertise…when you’ve written your edits, they can polish the wording for you.

Rule #4

Let go. Letting go is a difficult thing for anyone with a revenue stream responsibility. It’s even harder for someone with a lot of background…whether design or copy or product management…to let go; we are accountable for the results or the brand, and we don’t want to let go.  It’s ok to be nervous when you’re doing something new…just recognize it, take a deep breath, get some neutral (NEUTRAL) opinions, or just walk away for an hour or a day and look at it freshly tomorrow.

I distinctly remember the first time I had heart problems. I was moving a million piece mailing to a new control. Gulp! Why am I nervous, I asked myself? I listed all the reasons why I had made the decision, listed all the pros and the cons, and made the decision all over again. I have had to do this twice…once I reversed my decision on press (ouch) due to updated reports on the previous test; the second time, I stuck with the change and it was the best decision I ever made…our average response rates popped up over 5%.

Rule #5

Lead. Don’t do. You’re in charge. Remember that a true leader hires people who know what they are doing, and then lets them do it. Just because you would do it differently doesn’t mean that your way is better.  If you allow your team to take initiative, they just may make you look like a hero.

All my best,

Leigh

Technology vs. gravity

In this technological age, businesses and individuals alike suffer from advances that seem to be moving faster than light. Just as you buy an iPhone (the last big thing) a new one comes along; before you pay off the $1800 laptop an improved one is available for $600. As I catch up with tech purchases I’ve been behind on, my capitalist heart goes out to the companies that must struggle even more with the pricing: the manufacturers.

As friends know, I move in a circle of associations and nonprofits. Hence the title of this entry. In associations, it’s not usually tech vs. better tech, but how to move straight to rockets from the horse and buggy. Even the largest organizations with the biggest budgets operate with frugal constraints, and it can be hard to convince a volunteer board why it will cost XXX (often topping a million dollars) to create a new website that will enable dynamic order processing, event registration, member interaction, etc. Boards are active in their organization and don’t always think like the “average” member, so they don’t realize the scope of problems encountered by members navigating a site that has evolved organically from its 1995 origins. They don’t realize the encumbrance placed on an eager new member when they have to download a form, fill in a credit card, and fax it back, so a human can hand-capture the purchase. (Hint: the fax better be in a locked room to comply with bankcard requirements.) There are organizations that don’t even allow that ….you apply, and a staff member or committee decide how much you should pay, and then send you a bill, and then you send in the payment, maybe, or maybe you postpone that part until 3 or 5 months go by and you get the journal for free in the meantime perhaps, and then you decide not to pay, and then maybe someone takes you off the rolls but you probably still get the enewsletter because frankly, there isn’t enough staff or any updated management system to coordinate all these efforts.

Then someone calls me because the membership retention is down…

I think the hardest pill for association executives to swallow is believing that things can change, that a business case can be made for improving processes. Because Board members and other volunteers are an organization’s greatest evangelists, they deserve to envision their organization as the modern center of its field. Once in a while, at least once a year, help them overcome gravity by painting a picture of what it would look like…before a competing organization does.

With that in mind, look forward to the launch of the Social Networking and Media Association, which promises to set an example of just how far into the stratosphere associations will need to go in order to trump what the internet can do without them. Kudos to Andy Steggles for giving legs to the vision.

“Blog This Meeting”

Day 1 at the American Society of Association Executives’ Membership & Marketing Conference ended with a lot of energized and excited faces spilling into the halls. Ben Cross, Stephen Sye & I have been dividing the schedule to maximize our intake from dozens of speakers and panels…great case studies from some speakers I have not seen before, and rich content from some of the favorites that we need to hear again and again to realize the full value (folks like social networking guru Jeff deCagna of Principled Innovation).

I’ve been focused on the business of learning, networking, and sharing ideas and did not bring a computer to truly “blog the meeting”, but this is an opportunity that all associations have to meet one of their key challenges for marketing to the under-40 crowd. OK, I’m 52, so I’m being generous to my peers…even some of the 30s guys are just spinning up on social publishing.

The point is, every annual meeting, every training event a society offers there is an opp to market on the fly: Offer a scholarship (even a partial scholarship) with the condition of blogging the event. This gives you running publicity, word-of-mouth among a certain generation of peers, and even a chance to peep into the mind of your future members. 

When blogs first came out, associations hit the “terror barrier” immediately: what if someone said something negative about the society or (God forbid) offended a VIP? the past 3 years have been spent passing that dread question up and down the halls to determine how scary it really was. The truth is, the decision for blogging takes fearless leadership at its best.

Tip Kendall of American Association of Equine Practitioners shared the value of the AAEP blog, http://www.aaep.org/blogs/outofthestartinggate.html, a semimonthly entry by a young professional member in his/her first practice year: When other people studying, undergoing, or considering entry to the profession see this blog, which sometimes provokes readers to tears, they realize the great heart, wisdom, and grace it takes to manage…and even be willing to euthanize…these intelligent creatures. It is a bonding instrument for the profession, a glimpse into the rite of passage, and an inspiration to stay the course.

Associations also have to understand that negative press is out there. Transparency and candor are valued more by millenials than any pomp and circumstance, as is the ability to laugh at oneself. And if the boomer generation can’t take it…well, we shouldn’t have raised our kids this way! But we former hippies taught them to say it like it is, be true to themselves, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Now we have to listen to what they have to say.

Imagine the savings on research if your open blog allowed people to post the complaints about the organization as well as the testimonials. (We’re not immune; our clients and colleagues can chime right in here.)

Think risk vs. reward. Remember, online, we go to travel websites to find hotels, and there are 87 hotel ratings, some good or bad…we read them all and decide whether to take it. A smart hotel would read too, and change for the better, even post apologies and corrections! Associations spend a lot of time and money contemplating what people may like or be frustrated by, but they don’t open themselves to public remonstrance through a blog.

But an association blog is a resident columnist first; it is only second the subject of peeved letters to a nonexistent editor. Experiment with a trusted columnist and a members-only writing policy, and…as is the intended nature of social publishing…find out what the “association”–the MEMBERSHIP–has to say. Chances are they will aim to strengthen and fortify one another, as they have done on listservs for years. With so many tools to make a trial instantaneous, and just as easy to discontinue, you have nothing to fear but fear itself!

All my best,

Leigh Slayden
President & Fearless Leader
Bigger Better Marketing