30dps Blog e-dreaming

my heroes have always been...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:39:00 GMT

Cowboys? Well, I grew up in cowboy territory (Indian Territory actually), i.e. Oklahoma. And, like most boys around those parts, I grew up with a six-gun in my hand (plastic though it may have been). And, my college team was, of course, the Oklahoma State Cowboys. My favorite pro football team was the Dallas Cowboys. And my favorite TV star was, yep, you guessed it, John Wayne. So, I guess it's fair to say that I've always admired cowboys.

But I realized recently that my true heroes, while arguably cowboy-like in some ways, were really something different. I'll start with my lifelong hero, my father. Now there are many things about my father that I admired, but he was best known for his generosity and concern for the well-being of others. In business, my father was smart, accomplished and motivated. But he was mostly motivated to help others. In the last couple of decades of his life, he had a small retail art and graphic supply store. His customers absolutely adored him. He sold his products at a fair price (although often higher than Walmart), but his customers did business with him primarily because he was such a servant to them. His customer-centered nature was that which really distinguished him the most. Everytime he made a delivery (believe it or not, he was making deliveries into his eighties), he always remembered to greet them with a broad smile and a bag of candy. They loved it.

One of my other early heroes was a man named Charlie Ryan. The first time I ever saw Charlie, he was the butcher in our corner grocery store. Even when I was barely tall enough to see into the glass meat counter, he always greeted me with a warm smile and a hearty welcome. As I grew older, Charlie started his own taco shop near our high school. It was the hangout of first choice for us kids, and we all loved Charlie! (Honestly, for decades I thought I had a "special" relationship with Charlie, because he always treated me that way. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized that he had that same relationship with just about EVERYONE!) The food at the Taco Hut was great, but Charlie is what made it special. I ran into Charlie most recently at a high school class reunion, where he was youthfully serving all of us old graduates a barbeque meal... to the delight of us all. Charlie, like my dad, is one of my heroes. He always knew how to make people happy by being a servant, and providing exceptional customer service.

After college, I eventually landed at Federal Express (now just FedEx). It was a great experience! What made that job so great was the core beliefs of the company, led by our founder, Fred Smith. Now folks have long heard tales of Fred Smith (and I have a few of my own I like to tell,) but the thing that most made Fred a hero of mine, was that he built a company on the concept of "people first," People/Service/Profit was the "cube" that drove the company, but it was truly, people first. FedEx was built upon the absolute conviction that if you put people first (employees and customers), the profit would follow. And follow it did. FedEx became one of the greatest companies on the planet because Fred Smith (and others in his employ) held an absolute commitment to extraordinary customer service. Nearly everyone who worked there believed in it. From COO to courier, every employee understood that we were to do anything in our power to exceed the expectations of our customers. We proudly bled purple and orange for our customers (internal and external).

Even today, I am convicted of my failures in this regard, and commit anew to try to emulate the amazing heroes that I have had in my life. You see, my heroes have always been people/customer centered fanatics.

creating customers for life

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:36:00 GMT

We're very proud of our customer retention at 30dps, as it is substantially higher than that of most agencies. I'm happy to say that we have a reputation for going the extra mile, and being willing to sacrifice short term gain in exchange for long term relationships. But, unfortunately, we've had failures... and every single one of them causes me genuine heartache. While I understand that you can't make everyone happy all the time, the truth is, if we were truly consistent in our performance, we'd probably never have disappointed the customers that cause my distress. (Side note: I'll certainly confess, that some customers are simply unreasonable, and not worth losing sleep over. While I do tend to stress over them anyway, those are not the ones that I'm speaking of here.)

While 100% customer satisfaction is most often not achievable, I believe that businesses should never lose sight of that lofty goal. In fact, I would argue that in today's business climate, creating customers for life is no longer just a matter of providing a consistently high-quality service. Today, customers demand more. They demand perfection... and when they don't get it, they demand complete honesty, transparency, and a commitment to making it right. But even that's not enough. They want more. They want extraordinary. They want the unexpected. They want to have their socks knocked off. They want to be made to feel special.

One of the challenges business owners face is that the bar on extraordinary keeps getting raised. What was unexpected last year, is the norm this year. So how do you keep knocking their socks off? How do you keep making them feel special? It definitely requires getting close to your customers–dialoguing with them. It requires creativity and challenging the status quo. And it requires confessing failure when you've screwed up. Desire and effort score points, but results are what win the game. Creating customers for life is undoubtedly a "life-long" journey. It can be a challenging journey, but it's one that is extremely rewarding! And because it is a long journey, the sooner you get started, the sooner you start reaping the rewards.

can't always get what you want

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:18:00 GMT

It is one of the most common things in business—as in the rest of life—to want what we want. As adults, we generally accept the fact that we can't always get what we want, but it doesn't mean that we don't keep wanting. Unfortunately, there are times in business when our wants may run contrary to the wants of our customers. Then what?

Increasingly, customers want "real" information about the companies they do business with, i.e. they want the good, the bad and the ugly. They want the unvarnished truth. They think they can be trusted with all of the information, and they think they are capable of sifting through the irrelevant, the fabrications and the exaggerations, and making sound decisions.

Unfortunately, too often, business people want to control the information. They want to polish the facts. They want to protect their image. They want to manage the relationship... on their terms. Therein lies the rub. Customers want just the opposite.

As a business person, if you find yourself wanting to filter the information your customers receive; if you are tempted to varnish over the truth; if you find yourself trying to cover up the evidence of your mistakes; if you start believing that you know better than your customers do regarding what they "really" need, you're almost certainly headed down the wrong path. And it is extremely likely that you're headed towards long-term financial difficulties.

Today's business requires a new kind of transparency... a new kind of openness. You might try sometimes relinquishing control. There is little doubt that you can't always get what you want—but if you try, sometimes you might find you get what you need!

please pass the salt

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:16:00 GMT

So if, as I contend, businesses need a bit of a catalyst to promote the thawing of this economic freeze, then what the heck is the salt?

I think one of the answers is in having fun! I've noticed in my personal and professional life that when we were laughing and having fun, life not only seems better (regardless of our circumstances), but pretty quickly becomes better. The positive influence of having fun cannot be overstated. Now that's not to say that you stop providing a quality service and have the entire team head for the nearest game store or saloon, rather, I'm suggesting that we consider productive activities that promote business while having fun. For example:

have a party and invite current customers and everyone on your prospect list
shut the office down and take the team to a movie that is somehow related to what you do, how you do it, or a comedy staged in a business setting
bring a video camera to the office and shoot candid shots throughout the day and post them on the company website
have a contest to see who can come up with the most outlandish and yet profitable idea
start taking clients out to lunch or a drink after work every week and keep it social
buy your favorite vendor an unexpected gift or dinner for their entire team
have a bring-your-pet-to-work-day and encourage the entire staff to participate
have a bring-your-kid-to-work-day and encourage the staff with kids to participate
call an office clean-up day, and insist that nobody do regular work, rather, focus only on organization and cleanup
have an offsite meeting with the entire team— be sure to include fun activities and have it catered
order pizza for the staff for no particular reason
have the entire team participate in an arts-and-crafts project, producing a unique gift for one of your clients
call time-out on regular job duties, and have the staff focus on sales and marketing for an entire day
load the team up and take them to a mall or business complex, and have everyone drop off business cards or brochures, then take them to lunch... then do it again at another mall of business complex
make up a board game that includes clients and their typical problems/challenges, with rewards for exceptionalism
if you're the boss, say stupid stuff; the staff will love it (and I'm particularly good at it)!

is the freeze beginning to thaw?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:19:00 GMT

Even though the economy is still struggling, we're beginning to see signs of life again. There could be any number of reasons that explain it, but I (of course) have my own opinion. I think folks are tired of waiting for something really good or really bad to happen (neither of which seems to be imminent). You can only hunker down so long before your knees begin to give out (and before your business begins to really struggle).

I tend to be an optimist, so I think businesses should be popping up and saying, "LET'S GO!" But also as I've blogged before, I think a recession is the BEST time to market your business anyway, and history proves it empirically! I do understand being worn down by being down. Doctors say that depression can become a chronic problem when the circumstances causing the depression in the first place persist for a protracted period of time. Our body chemistry reacts to the bad circumstances, and may actually extend the effects/feelings of depression even after the circumstances have changed. Not only are businesses run by people, but I suspect that the "chemistry" of a company also reacts in similar ways, i.e. the company stays "depressed" even after the initial cause of the depression has subsided. In people, antidepressants can be an effective way to get the brain back to normal. It's time to look for an antidepressant for business depression.

While the signs of the thawing are there, the business climate is still a bit frigid, but I'm convinced that most businesses are eager to snap out of their depression. Who knows... it might be as simple as throwing a little salt on it. It would not only promote the melt, but would add a bit of spice at the same time.

is cheaper better?

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:12:00 GMT

For some reason (I suspect that it probably has something to do with the economy) I seem to be hearing the word "cheap" a lot more frequently than I used to. I hear it most often from clients, or prospective clients, who are hoping we can save them money... okay, it also seems to be the name the staff occasionally calls me, but I pretend not to hear.

But is "cheaper" really better? Is "cheaper" even really cheaper? When looked at in isolation, cheaper certainly seems to be better. I mean, who would wisely spend more than they need to? In reality, most often when folks say that they want something "cheap," they really just want to pay less for the same product or service. They don't really want to sacrifice quality, or quantity, or speed, or efficiency, or convenience, or any of the other benefits they would receive at full price. They just want whatever they want for less than what they're used to spending (or less than what they have been bid). But the reality is that most of the time (assuming limited intervention by the law of supply and demand), whatever they get "cheaper" isn't the same as what they would pay regular price for. So, in essence, cheaper isn't really better... which is why the word "cheaper" has fallen into ill-repute.

I would contend that always seeking "cheap" is terribly counter productive, often leading to undesirable results. In marketing, going "cheap" often means you do a poorer job of stimulating business, and thus, the return on investment may actually be substantially worst than a pricier alternative, and ultimately, end up feeling like a complete waste of limited resources. Going "cheap" on printing costs, may mean that the quality of the product begins to decline, or that your local printer goes out of business... and when you need those last-minute jobs, you'll be stuck with those fast-service, incredibly high-priced alternatives.

Good value is much different than "cheap" and most consumers really already know this. But the pursuit of "cheap" often times keeps them from ever realizing the better value option, i.e. once customers insist upon "cheap," eventually the vendor or manufacturer gives up on producing the higher value option. A classic example is "service stations" vs. "gas stations." (I can't imagine anyone not wishing there was a station attendant to pump your gas on those cold and snowy days.)

Understandably (and rightfully) we all look for ways to cut costs and preserve cash. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "is the money I'm saving worth the cost!" If we consider that the true cost is the potential for improved returns, higher quality product or service, improved customer and vendor relations, improved self image, saved time (how much is the time we spend trying to find or negotiate "cheaper" worth), etc., I suspect we would often realize that what we "save" is actually more than offset with what we lost.

the death of capitalism

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:26:00 GMT

Okay, it's official: capitalism is dead. Well... if it's not dead yet, it certainly will be soon (I've recently seen the hand-painted signs that insist that it's failed). I'll admit that this news pains me, because, as a "business owner" and "marketing guy," I arguably may have more to lose than others (gosh... I honestly have no idea what I'll do if capitalism dies).

You know, for years I've heard that marketers are little more than deceivers that push inferior products (largely through lies and misrepresentations) that people don't otherwise want or need. As painful as that representation of marketing is, it's even more alarming to hear that the selfish desire of a business to make a profit is something just short of evil.

I have no doubt that some marketers will say almost anything to sell their product or service. I can also concede that some businesses will try to charge more than they "have to" and as a result, realize huge profits. But I guess I don't really think of consumers as mindless cattle, or children incapable of making their own decisions, and as a result, I believe that ultimately, consumers will determine whether a product or service is one they want or need... and aggregately, whether the product or service should even exist. And I certainly believe that consumers, with their purchasing power, will ultimately decide what a product or service is worth... and aggregately, will determine what a company can charge. Because of that, I also believe that only foolish marketers misrepresent the value of their products and services (in word or price) and ultimately, I have no doubt that they will lose their profits and, as a result, their company (and their good name)... and I think that's just as it SHOULD be.

Today, aided by the Internet, we live in the most democratic society that has ever existed. We, as consumers, have the ability and the freedom to choose what we buy, when and where we buy it, from whom we buy it, and even what we (are willing to) pay for it. With that freedom comes responsibility—responsibility to research, compare, evaluate, and provide feedback to others. Now, granted, even with all of that, some companies may charge more for their products and services than they "have to"... but they will never show huge profits if we as consumers aren't willing to pay for it.

With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost one of its most creative minds. Recently pronounced the most valuable company on the planet (with 35,000 employees, and tens or hundreds of thousands of shareholders), it could be claimed that Apple, Inc. has taken obscene profits... but I love my iPhone, my MacBook Pro, my iPad, and my iPod. Steve may well have been one of the greatest marketers and profiteers of all time... I sure hope his passing ISN'T the death of capitalism, because he sure showed us how to do it RIGHT!

just the facts, ma'am!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:58:00 GMT

In the "good old days" of marketing and advertising, copywriters were compelled to constantly herald the merits of their products with increasingly flowery and dramatic terms. Words like:

excellent
high quality
outstanding
innovative
extraordinary
groundbreaking
amazing
cutting edge
break through
revolutionary
leading
state of the art
next generation
one of a kind
etc., etc.

Then there is the all-dreaded "technical-speak." This usually results from an engineer writing or editing the copy, or insisting that the target customer needs to know all of the details. Certainly, there are some contexts in which detailed technical information is needed and appropriate... but it is almost NEVER in a marketing piece. Technical-speak is usually filled with jargon (that only the closest insiders in the industry really know), consisting of complex sentence structure (to impress), and offering way too much detail. It most often talks about how something works, rather than how it helps.

Sometimes, you'll find both mistakes being made in the same marketing material. It says how innovative and groundbreaking it is, then speaks at such a technical level that you have to read it four times just to understand it.

The public, however, has become jaded, skeptical and impatient, and it finds both mistakes to be a turn-off. They have grown tired of glossy-brochure-speak, and impatient with technical-speak. They want common language. They want simple, straightforward conversation. They don't want to hear that it's "simply the best," rather, they want to know what it does, and how it's different. They refuse to study a marketing piece just to understand what the thing is saying. They just want to know what it looks like, or tastes like, smells like, how it works, how it feels, how it helps them, how much it costs.

What if someone marketed a product or service with the truth? For example:

"We sell pretty much the same stuff everyone else does. We're not particularly faster or better. But we're quite a bit cheaper than the competition, and our staff is really friendly (they are non-union, and they really need their job). So please consider buying from us!"

"Unfortunately, our service is often a bit slow. Because we put so much effort into getting it 'just right', and because we test everything just to make sure, we take a little longer than others do. And because the end product is so good, we have a lot of business, and therefore we take a little longer so we can perform just right for everyone. So if you don't mind waiting, we KNOW you'll be happy with the outcome!"

Or do you think consumers would rather hear...

"We have the highest quality, most innovative and creative products on the market today. Our groundbreaking, advanced processes and extraordinary service make us the premier company in the industry... maybe even the world!"

What do you think?

but what should I do?

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:29:00 GMT

I keep beating the same drum: DO SOMETHING! Don't just sit there waitig for the economy to improve. So the logical question then is, SO WHAT DO I DO?!?

Great question. Obviously, the answer varies depending upon the kind of business you're in, what your competition is doing, what has or has not worked in the past, what your budget is (or how much you're willing to squeeze out of a non-existent budget), the size of your market, and the margin on what you're selling. But here are a few general thoughts to get the creative juices flowing:

send a unique direct mail piece to customers who bought from you a year ago
call all of your existing customers and ask them for a referral (and offer an incentive, if you can, for doing so)
throw a party or special event to thank all of your customers; invite everyone on your prospect list
send an email to your vendors, asking them for referrals
start a blog, and then invite all of your customers and prospects
look into search engine advertising (we here at 30dps even have a special promotion going for $100 in free Google advertising for those who have never tried it)
grab a stack of business cards (20-30) and spend an entire day going places you normally don't go, and see if you can hand out every card before the end of the day
do an online search for whatever it is you sell; see who shows up at the top of the list; if any are directories (e.g. yellow-page type websites), find out how much it costs to buy a premium placement, or at a minimum, make sure you take advantage of their free listings, if offered
do a search for your company, then make sure your (free) Google Local listing has been claimed and is up to date
send a quality HTML email to all of your customers, offering a discount or special offer

hunker down and take that time to pack up, talk to the landlord about getting out of your lease, and figure out what you'll do next.

Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic with the last one, but the reality is that if the economy continues on the current path, some businesses will fold. The question is, which ones will fold, and which ones will survive and even thrive? I contend that the answer is, those that invest in marketing will be much more likely to survive (the statistics support that). And, as you can see from the list of examples above, it doesn't necessarily take a lot of money. It takes creativity, patience, and diligence—it takes a willingness to do it. Are you willing? If you need help with execution, we'd be honored to serve.

no... don't stop!

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:38:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of Zig ZIglar. For those who may not be familiar with Zig, he's one of the world's most effective motivational speakers and sales guru. And Zig is a legendary story-teller.

One of Zig's most compelling stories is of a couple friends of his driving across the country, who found themselves in need of refreshment when they came across an old-fashioned water pump along the side of the road. While telling this story, Zig usually has a chrome water pump on stage with him, so it leaves little to the imagination as he demonstrates how to operate a pump. But since most of you have probably seen one, I'll just say that you have to grab the handle of one of these metal beasts, and pump it up and down until the water comes from the deep recesses of the water well and out the spout. It can take a lot of pumping sometimes to get the water up, especially if the well is deep.

I won't recount the entire story (and I suspect a bunch of you have heard the story anyway), but the jist of the story is that one of the two men grabbed the handle and started pumping. After quite a while, the fellow tired out, and let go of the handle, at which point his friend screamed "No! Don't stop! If you do, all of that hard work will go to waste. Keep pumping!"

30dps has been in business for over 21 years. We've had good times, and we've had no-so-good times. In fact, in 2001 after the dot-com crash, the tech bubble burst, and 9/11, we had some VERY tough years. But through it all, we kept cranking on that handle... even when it seemed certain that the well had done gone dry.

Now a bunch of folks (many smarter than me) could make a strong argument that we should have just closed the doors, and possibly tried again with another entrepreneurial idea, if so disposed. But, being the stubborn type, and having Zig's "No! Don't stop! Keep pumping!" ringing in my ears, the course seemed clear.

Times are tough. They may even get tougher. But the cool waters of success rarely come easy. So... we're gonna keep on pumpin' with the firm conviction that the reward for all that effort is worth it. Oh, and feel free to come by for a refreshing drink, anytime!