The Salesby5 Blog

Today is a great day to know who your friends are! When the tech stock market crashed in 2000 or when 9/11 happened, who took care of you? After the tough times had passed, I asked a few of my friends to fulfill their promises made during the struggle. They not only let me down, but allowed me to lose respect for them. Remember that true friends help you when you’re down, and cheer you on when you’re up. Now is a great time to see who your great vendors, customers and friends are, as the true test is not the best of times, but the toughest.

Kleenex would definitely not  be considered a sexy product.  It’s a paper product, and one that you use most often when you don’t feel well.  Honestly, Kleenex couldn’t be more of a commodity product.  To break out, they are creating a program called Feelspace.  Feelspace is Kleenex’s mall experience where they have a 20 x 20 booth that features Kleenex’s products.  You’re able to touch a waterfall, get a hand massage or sample Kleenex tissues from dispensers.  Feelspace even features a 42 inch touchscreen to have fun with images.  Kleenex is bundling the experience with an iPhone app to boot.  Having taken these initiatives, Kleenex is taking a commodity product,  then using Feelspace to fulfill a customer’s need for a see, feel, touch experience – the single most powerful way for a consumer to understand your product benefit. Are you in a perceived commodity market? What are you doing to help customers see, feel and touch your product to help differentiate yourself?

photo via brandfreak.com

Last night, the SalesBy5 team visited RiverWalk Studios for the unveiling of the new logo for San Antonio Sports (formerly Foundation). The owner of the studio is a great old friend, Oscar Williams, who is one of the best photographers I have seen. He recently redesigned this studio and told me the story of a makeup artist who was touched by her first visit. She was so happy and inspired that someone would put forth the effort to build a beautiful place for her to use her craft that she started crying. The other photographers and talented individuals that visit and use the studio are fueled creatively by the colors, layout and attention to detail.

Research carried out by Hewlett-Packard and the Mind Lab found that a staff with a “free range” office with open spaces, laptops and mobile communication saw their stress levels decrease by some 50% and saw their IQ scores rise by 28%, along with a reduction in blood pressure levels, compared to an office design with cubical desks and slower computers.

We invite you to take the tour!

…Now is the time to advertise – A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.

…Now is the time to market – “When times are tough, it is time to invest, not cut. All research shows that if we cut marketing during such times, the impact is damaging and it can take you longer to get back to where you were.” —Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive, WPP Group, as quoted in MediaWeek

…Now is the time to act – “Many businesses will turn to the Web to stay in touch with consumers during a difficult financial climate. This is going to be a lifeline.” —Adam Sarner, analyst, Gartner, as quoted in CNET, October 6, 2008

On Friday, I woke up to a Dell laptop that only showed beautiful lines, but left my computer useless.  I called Dell and the support technician wanted to go through the traditional troubleshooting.  I asked if he would allow me to email him with a youtube video that showed exactly what problem I was experiencing.  He said he could neither receive emails nor access youtube.  I was annoyed, so I sent out the following tweet on twitter:
“Dear Dell, I could show your support team EXACTLY what’s wrong with my XPS M1330 if they had youtube access. Apparently, it is a common prob.” – 10:22 AM

I then received this tweet from @chrisbatdell:
@nanpalmero What’s going on with your Dell XPS? Is there something I can assist with? – 10:32 AM

Within 10 minutes, one of Dell’s excellent staff followed up with me to make sure my issue was taken care of. Additionally, Chris followed up with me to let me know that he would take care of my issue at Dell and to please contact him with any problems. Similar to my Sandisk experience with Rachel, I was so pleased.

How do Dell, Sandisk, Sprint and other companies keep track of their brand?  The foundation is Twitter Search.  This allows you to search Twitter for a keyword or keywords.  Instead of hitting that website, you can try TweetDeck and Twhirl, two of the most popular applications for laptops and desktops.  Here you can use Twitter Search within the application, so you can keep an eye on your brand, yourself and even better, see where your competitor is dropping the ball.

Need more help?  Drop us a line, we can show you how to better monitor Twitter for your keywords.

We have so many opportunities to connect with people electronically, through email, phone, instant messaging, twitter, facebook, etc.  The most powerful way to do so, though, is via face to face interactions.  Whether you cross the hall to meet or cross the country, your clients, prospects, associates and employees will recognize the efforts that you make.  Nothing beats face to face interactions.  According to Doug Hall’s Jump Start Your Marketing Brain, a study of response rates from 497 independent research surveys found that in-person requests were successful 82% of the time, versus 47% conducted via mail.  Face to face is powerful!  Get out of your office and go meet with your front line, your customers and your family, while you’re at it!  So, where are you spending your time?

The most important research tool is not a computer, a library or a friend who will dig through the prospect’s trash can.  The most valuable tool is your willingness to ask for help.  Information is everywhere if you look.

- Randy Schwantz, The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning

We recognize that many of you are fast growing companies that take your continuing education seriously.  At the same time, the current economic situation does make these investments more difficult.  To help you stay at the top of your game, we want to introduce you to a series of upcoming live video webcasts with Pat Lencioni (Jan 28), Seth Godin (Feb 10), and Guy Parsons (Mar 17).

Pat is talking about how teams can handle the extreme stress of the current situation and remain “healthy” (and he’ll touch on his new “Three Big Questions for Frantic Families”); Seth will discuss what is really working and not working in marketing; Guy, will cover how Toyota’s LEAN practices apply to service firms.

Live interactive sessions with three top business thought leaders – also available on-demand for 30 days if some miss the live event. It’s an inexpensive way to bring some top-notch executive learning to you – view on desktops or in a conference room. No travel time or expense. Smart, easy, inexpensive.

If you’re interested, you can get more information and register under Erik Darmstetter as your referral.

The recent news of Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple until June has analysts, customers and reporters on the edge of their seats.  Leander Kahney, who wrote Inside Steve’s Brain, speaks of Jobs as being the one whose hand is figuratively on designer Johnathan Ive’s hand in designing Apple products and being the mastermind behind the company.  That combined with the shrouding of Apple’s succession plan in secrecy is leaving everyone nervous.  Will the interim management team be able to move forward knowing that Jobs might come back in June?  Will they be paralyzed in fear of his return?  When a company is heavily based on an individual’s capabilities, it can mean the end of the company when that leader departs, as showcased by Jim Collins’s book, Good to Great.  Have you made plans for your departure?  Have you shared these plans with your team to minimize infighting, maintain continuity in your product/service and provide a level of stability?

photo by diamondrefractionindex

We cross paths with many young people that are new college and graduate school graduates who look around and don’t know what to do with their lives.  Their professors have prepared them to expect large salaries, company cars and corporate health plans.  At the same time, these new contributors to the workforce want to do something that is fun and that “doesn’t suck.”   Many ask for our advice.  One suggestion we offer (to those with experience) is to take an inventory of their strengths and weaknesses, as defined by The Marcus Buckingham Company.  A strength is an activity that you are good at AND that fulfills you.  The previous definition of an activity that you are good at isn’t wrong, just incomplete.  On the flip side, a weakness is an activity that leaves you bored, drained or flat out weak – even if you are great at it!  Now that you have a basic understanding, why not help those students in your life?  Pick up a copy of The Truth About You by Marcus Buckingham for them.  It will help them determine what their strengths and weaknesses are, learn how to talk about them and then, how to build their lives around them.   Whose next 40, 50 or 60 years can you shape today?