Wizard Wisdom

From my email:

Dear Scott, Save money in as many areas as you can to help improve your bottom line... but NEVER attempt to cut back any area that involves or touches your customer's experience. "Hotel chains face tremendous costs to upgrade their properties, but if they don't, they face the slow erosion of customers. Kmart's neglect of its stores made the company look and feel outdated and cheap, and fall out of favour with customers and Wall Street. - Dr Neale Martin, consumer behaviour expert Take a fresh look at your office, showroom, store display, waiting area... does it look tired and dated? Your customers are taking note. In This Issue: Making Your Name Stick Information. Ideas. Action. Commitment. Making Your Name Stick What can you give a customer - that won't get thrown away - to serve as a reminder of you when you’re not around? By Wizard Partner Mike Dandridge Give it away, give it away, give it way, now! – Anthony Kiedis In the break room, I’d often find leftover peppermints with the Sonic drive-in logo imprinted on them. Even though no one wanted to eat the mints, no one could throw them away because they were perfectly good mints. (Same with the catsup. We had a drawer filled to the top with nothing but packets of Sonic catsup.) After seeing the peppermints with the little logo on the wrapper, I would want to jump in my car and head to the drive-in and pick up a # 1 double meat with cheese and an order of tater tots, (or as my nurse-daughter Emily calls it, “a heart attack-to-go”). Back at the break room, I’d finish the meal and then I’d leave the mints on the table. So what can you give a customer - that won't get thrown away - to serve as a reminder of you when you’re not around? A friend of mine owns a produce company. He often found his expensive full-color product brochures in his customers’ trash until he started placing exclusive recipes on the back. Now he finds the brochures pinned on the bulletin boards in the offices of his clientele. Of course, not just any promotional gadget or "gimme" is going to work. For it to have any chance of triggering a positive memory of your company, it has to meet at least one of the following three criteria for the customer. * Relevancy – it has to be related to your business and the customer. * Personal – it has to be something that specifically fits the individual client. * Functional – it has to serve a purpose for it be used and not forgotten. Offering premiums to your customers is one way you can fight the big boys and win. The tactic of giving stuff away is certainly not new. William Wrigley Jr. started his successful career by selling soap and baking powder. He’d include a free stick of Wrigley’s gum with each can of baking soda. It seemed to work out pretty well for him. The Editor: Get to know Mike. He's one of the best speakers you'll ever meet and a down-to-earth person who's here to help you grow. Hire Mike to guide you through the Customer Experience Architecture. You will not be disappointed. Information. Ideas. Action. Commitment. By Craig Arthur There is much of the first two, very little of the third and even less of the fourth. You are standing beneath a waterfall flowing heavy with information. Your mind is swimming in a swarm of ideas. The danger with so much information, so many ideas, is that you never implement anything. Or you start much, but finish nothing. We have become like butterflies… happily flitting and drinking from a field of brightly coloured flowers (websites, books, magazines, seminars, podcasts, newsletters, Facebook, Twitter…) oh… there’s a pretty one… and another… and another. Information and ideas, no matter how brilliant, are worthless without action and commitment. So to action… 1. Select ONE idea 2. Commit to this idea 3. Map a plan 4. Implement your plan 5. Stay focused… don’t be side-tracked by pretty new possibilities. Let’s look at this another way… below is an extract from Making Ads Work. “The idea of media mix assumes that your advertising budget is adequate to do a good job in each part of the mix. Proctor & Gamble, Coke, Pepsi, Ford, and the other big boys are able to accomplish a media mix without being forced to compromise any part of it. They can mix radio, television, newspaper, magazines, and skywriting without having to do anything halfway. Is this true of your company? Do you have this kind of budget? If not, I recommend that you do one thing well rather than two things badly. You may be able to do two things well, but our firm has never worked with a company that could do three things well. But then our firm has never worked with anyone who had more than a couple of million dollars to spend on advertising.” The above principle of concentration of resources as opposed to dilution applies equally to your business ideas. Do you have the resources to commit to multiple ideas at once? If not, we suggest you do one thing well rather than two things badly. Select one idea. Commit to that one idea. Implement that one idea. Finish that one idea. Then move on to the next. Previous Issue: Contrasting to Become the Unmistakable Choice Money is Flooding to Lower Ticket Items Closing Thought: As a business owner you have a major impact on the emotional outlook of your employees. Good or bad, confident or fearful, you largely set their mood. Below is an excerpt from this week's Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams Fear is contagious "A frightened person frightens other people. And these newly frightened people will frighten still more people until finally no one is spending any money. Fear is the fuel of recession. I understand perfectly what’s happening in the world. I simply choose not to be afraid. You can choose, too. Warren Buffett agrees with this outlook. “Fear is very contagious. You can get fearful in 5 minutes, but you don’t get confident in 5 minutes.” - Warren Buffett on CNBC, Monday, March 9, 2009 Any boss can make staff fearful... but it takes a true leader to inspire confidence. Are you a true leader? Catch you next week. Craig Arthur Wizard Partners - Helping Business Owners Attract, Convert, and Delight Customers Strategy + Persuasive Copy + Advertising + Customer Experience + Online Part of the Wizard of Ads group of companies PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business? Our Promise? We will NEVER try to sell you. So what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and call, or send us an email. We look forward to hearing your story. Australia & New Zealand Call Craig Arthur - (07) 4728 4866 or send an email United States & Canada Call Dave Young - 308-254-2732 or send an email Call Tom Wanek - 440-610-9746 or send an email Call or email to book a FREE alignment meeting. No obligation. No pressure. It is at this meeting we both decide if there is a fit between our 2 companies. It is only then can we explore your options. We will never try to sell you. Call (07) 4728 4866.

Wizard Partners Australia. Call Us: (07) 4728 4866

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