The Pedestal Group

The first time I saw a marketing technique like the one used on me today, I was both disgusted and impressed.  This afternoon in the mail I received a marketing piece with a post it attached saying some person thought I would be interested in the information and signed it with their initials.  The first time this happened to me, I really worked at determining who the “J” was on the post it to make sure I didn’t blow off something that was important to someone I cared about.  Unfortunately for the person who sent it, I checked with my “J” friends first rather than just calling them.  So I was disgusted because it is a lie. If I call this person, they don’t know me and it was a ploy to get me to call.  I’ve known some recruiters who do this in the form of leaving a voice mail “regarding a highly confidential matter” and then it is because they think you will know someone good for a position.  It got the desired result, but now the rest of the call is to prove the recruiter isn’t a slime bucket.

But I was impressed  because it was genius.  If we had even the most tenuous relationship, when I called if the person could say we met somewhere or talked at some point and they truly thought I’d be interested, I’m hooked.  To tell someone they made enough of an impression on you that you remembered them when something came up is a huge ego boost and would definitely get my attention.

So do this the way it was intended.  Go to a networking event and meet people.  Jot down on the back of their business card something they said or something they are interested in.  When you follow up after the event, don’t just send a “great to have met you” email- instead, include in it something that is based on what they discussed; something they would truly be interested in.  If you don’t have it electronically, send it hard copy.  But be sure to put your name on it and have the note say something to reference your conversation so they have a context.  At the end of the day your messages will get noticed and people will think of you as someone who really pays attention.  Meanwhile, I’m not returning this call.  But I’m still impressed.

Recently, President Obama was in Seattle and met with three small business owners to talk about their situation.  Now, this is not a political post and I refuse to discuss the politics of anything here.  But the point is, when you read the comments from this meeting, the business owners felt like it was real and that he really cared and listened.  Here’s one of the most intimidating meetings those business owners could have had and yet they came away thinking he cared. How did he do that?

First, he wore a dress shirt and tie but had his sleeves rolled up.  He didn’t come dressed to the teeth – he came dressed in a professional but accessible way.  Next, he asked good questions.  We have all been told to ask our clients, “what keeps you up at night?” and that’s one he asked.  But then he listened and paid attention to the answer. He took notes, obviously while the people were talking, and then at the end, gave a summary of the meeting where he was able to reference specific things each person said.  So he started the meeting stating he wanted to hear their issues, he listened and took notes, and at the end was able to explain to others what they said.  How  do you think those business owners felt at the end of that meeting?

Wouldn’t this be much easier to do with your clients? After all, you don’t have to line up secret service or shut down blocks of traffic to have a meeting.  Sitting down with your clients in a casual atmosphere, asking good, pointed  questions about their business and then being able to discuss those concerns after the meeting go a long way in showing how much you value their business.  If you can’t be there in person, schedule a phone conversation and really ask those questions that they want to answer – “what keeps you up at night?”; “what are your biggest challenges in the next 6 months?”; “what one thing could have a large positive impact on your business?”; etc.  And then, do what you can to follow up.  If the one thing that could positively impact their business is finding a specific type of customer or breaking into a specific company, see what you can do to help.  If the thing keeping them up at night is cash flow, think of ways you can help or bring in a speaker to talk about smart money management strategies. Find ways to show you were listening and you won’t need a press conference to announce you had the meeting.  You’ll need one to announce how much you’ve grown your business!

I’ve had an interesting couple of weeks trying to get a project wrapped up for a client.  We need some things professionally printed.  They aren’t complicated, but we were hoping for around 100-200 pieces and we need to get a proof to my client before he can sign off on doing it.  I used to work in a publications office and that was pretty standard back then – can’t imagine it is so different now.  I contacted a printer I’ve used before and I really like him.  Except after discussing the projects and promising a quote, he’s disappeared off the face of the earth. Can’t get him to answer phone calls or emails. Just gone.  Okay, no big deal, right?

SEVEN printers later, I have two quotes. One came with two sentences of “we’re here in the mornings to talk about this” and the other doesn’t even have any text on the email!  And worse?  One of them sent me a note back the first time around telling me why they couldn’t take on the project (too small of a quantity, etc.).  I had to write back additional questions to get them to consider the job!  Four of the others didn’t return phone calls or emails and the fifth one was very service-oriented, but was three dollars a piece higher than is in the budget. So now I will take my business to the people that at least have some information in their email, but I am left feeling extremely unhappy with the whole experience and will continue looking for a good printer.

Can you imagine your customers feeling like this?  I’ll bet big money the owners of these print shops have no idea this is what I’ve gone through.  I’m confident they are all (most) nice people who care about their businesses.  I am hoping nothing bad happened to the first one!  But, at the end of the day, six printers will lose business because I couldn’t get them to do their jobs.  It has been said before, but obviously could do with repeating:

Respond to people – if you are not going to be in the office, set up an out-of-office message and TEST IT.
Every communication with a customer or prospect is a marketing piece – be sure you represent yourself well at all times.
When sending quotes or contracts, keep in mind this is an email that will be saved so make sure you put some context into the email itself.
Talk about what you CAN do.  Can’t run 100 pieces?  Tell the prospect you can run 250 and 100 is not in their best interest due to the high cost.
Follow up.  Not one single company has followed up on their information. It was left to me to handle.

Don’t make things hard for customers because they won’t do business with you.  Instead, make it easy because service is everything!