Tuesday Night Marketing News

Clickables from Mediapost:

Food

Doritos Bags Enable Virtual 3-D Concert Experience

by Karlene Lukovitz

Users log onto Doritoslatenight.com and point the printed marker on the bag at a Web cam to launch virtual performances that seem to "pop directly out of the bag." In addition, the technology allows users to change the video performances experienced each time simply by changing the way they hold or move the snack bag. ... Read the whole story > >

Sports

NBA, Taco Bell Ink Sponsorship Deal

by Karl Greenberg

With the new arrangement, Taco Bell gets access to the NBA brand for in-store promotions; sponsorship of NBA, Women's National Basketball Association and NBA Development League events; and television and online branding exposure. ... Read the whole story > >

Electronics

Toshiba Campaign Aims To 'Set You Free'

by Aaron Baar

The television commercials will run in spot markets on broadcast and cable networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Bravo, Comedy Central, MTV, Discovery Channel and others. A print ad, running in general market lifestyle magazines, alludes to Toshiba's history with the line: "In 1985, Toshiba brought you the laptop. 6,927 patents later, we're bringing you its future." ... Read the whole story > >

Retail

Report: Bad News Ahead For Grocers

by Sarah Mahoney

While traditional supermarkets experienced a moderate sales gain of 3.6% in 2008, reaching $403.7 billion, its share of food retailing dollars slipped to 42.1%, according to the annual report on food retailing from consulting company Willard Bishop. And by 2013, it expects grocers' share to dwindle to just 35.2%. ... Read the whole story > >

Restaurants

Chipotle Mexican Grill Extends Campaign For Ad

by Karl Greenberg

Chipotle Mexican Grill, the national burrito chain, is extending its "My Chipotle" ad campaign, which it launched in May, by asking consumers to write its next TV spot. The company is dangling $10,000 to whoever writes the winning ad submission, and says it may put the winner's favorite food combination on its menu. ... Read the whole story > >

Kmart Offers Price Break To Mich. Unemployed

Office Depot Drives NASCAR Promo

Starbucks Promo Gives Away Ice Cream

Subway, 'National Geo Kids' Team On Promo

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Survey Says....

A bunch of numbers from RBR.com. Individual results will vary, (I like those disclaimers!):

Television ads most helpful; Internet banner ads most ignored

A new study from Harris Interactive says that television ads are considered the most helpful to Americans, while Internet banner ads are the most ignored by the public. For radio ads, only nine percent of respondents said they ignore them. However, 46% said they ignore online banner ads.

Over one-third of Americans (37%) say that television ads are most helpful in making their purchase decision while 17% say newspaper ads are most helpful and 14% say the same about Internet search engine ads. Radio ads (3%) and Internet banner ads (1%) are not considered helpful by many people. Over one-quarter of Americans (28%), however, say that none of these types of advertisements are helpful to them in the purchase decision making process. Half of people aged 18-34 (50%) say television ads are most helpful while three in ten (31%) of those aged 55 and older say they find newspaper ads to be most helpful. There is also a slight regional difference. Two in five Southerners (40%) say they find television ads most helpful, while only one-third (33%) of Midwesterners feel the same.

Almost half of Americans (46%) say they tend to ignore Internet banner ads. Much further down the list are Internet search engine ads (17% of people ignore), television ads (13%), radio ads (9%), and newspaper ads (6%). One in ten Americans (9%) say they do not ignore any of these types of ads. There are age and regional differences. Half of those aged 35-44 (50%) and 51% of Midwesterners say they ignore Internet banner ads compared to 43% of 18-34 year olds as well as Easterners and Southerners. One in five Americans 18-34 years old (20%) say they ignore Internet search engine ads while 20% of those aged 55+ say they ignore television ads.

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Can you afford to stop?

It's dangerous and could be fatal:

What Happens If You Cut Media Spending?

Predictive Modeling by ThinkVine Indicates One Brand Would Never Close Sales Gap

In the short term, marketers can get away with cutting media spending without much real harm. But that term is as short as a quarter, and the harm, once it begins, can last long after the media switch gets turned back on.

Those are recent findings of ThinkVine, a Cincinnati analytics firm that does predictive media modeling for marketers such as PepsiCo, MillerCoors and Colgate-Palmolive Co. ThinkVine CEO Damon Ragusa said lately he's been getting a lot of inquiries about the potential impact of going dark altogether for a quarter or more.

An analysis the firm did for one unnamed brand looked at the impact of turning off media entirely for a year, then turning it back on the next year at prior levels. For about 16 weeks, sales volume was about the same. By the end of year one, however, sales volume was about 20 percent lower without media than with it.

Turning media back on in year two reversed the sales decline as the brand began growing again at the same rate it would have otherwise. But it never closed the gap in sales results compared with what it would have achieved had it maintained media spending both years.

Different brands respond differently to media cuts, Mr. Ragusa said, and some brands with dominant positions or in less advertising-responsive categories may get away with cutting budgets unscathed. But for many, possibly most, getting back sales and share lost from cutting budgets can be a lengthy and expensive process.

"There is a downside risk," he said. "The cost of getting back what you lose is often greater than the savings."

A brand that is on a downward trajectory anyway because of the economy is much more at risk from a temporary withdrawal of media support than one with flat or rising sales growth, he added.

ThinkVine uses correlation and regression analysis and sales data. But it bases its predictions on the makeup of each brand's consumers, including detailed data on the media and spending habits of various consumer segments. It then crunches as many as a trillion data points for each forecast.

The results aren't perfect but tend to come within 2.4 percent of the real-world sales data in ThinkVine's validation work, Mr. Ragusa said.

(Source: Advertising Age, 06/29/09)

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Some Twitter Numbers

Coming up in a few months, I will be doing a presentation on Social Marketing and Social Media to a group of local business owners and marketing directors.

One area that I'll be covering is Twitter. Look at this:

Half of Twitter Has Never Tweeted

Despite significant growth in the number of Twitter accounts since last year, 53% of those who have registered with the much-publicized micro-blogging service have no followers, 56% are not following anyone, and 55% have never even tweeted, according to a report fromHubSpot.

The firm’s “June 2009 State of the Twittersphere,” which is a follow-up to the firm’s Q408 effort, found that more than 9% of Twitter users are completely inactive, meaning they have fewer than 10 followers, fewer than 10 friends and fewer than 10 updates.

Additional findings:

• 80% of users failed to provide a homepage URL
• 76% have not entered a bio in their profile (vs. 20% last year)
• 69% have not specified a location

Active Users are Regular Tweeters

In contrast to those who don’t use Twitter much, HubSpot did find that a large portion of individuals who are actively using Twitter have embraced it, and are tweeing on a regular basis.

Usage findings:

• The average user tweets .97 times per day
• The average user has tweeted 119.34 times in total
• The average user has a following-to-follower ratio of .7738

HubSpot also reported that the distribution of following and follower numbers falls into a pattern very similar to a power-law or “long tail” curve.

Growth Becomes Exponential

There are, however, dramatic differences in Twitter statistics between last year’s report and this one. In Q408, HubSpot reported that Twitter was growing at a rate of 5,000 - 10,000 new accounts per day. That rate has since accelerated and it has reached a point where it is “futile to attempt to generate a flat growth rate number.”

Twitter Used to Interact & Communicate

The content of tweets that are posted by users reveals that users are frequently using Twitter to interact and communicate with other users rather than just answer the “What are you doing?” question.

• 1% of all tweets are retweets
• 38% of all tweets contain an “@” symbol (mentions)
• 33% of all tweets start with an “@” symbol (replies)

HubSpot also noted that many users often reach the 140-character limit in an attempt to get as much content as possible into every update.

Most Tweets During Business Hours

The distribution of posting over days and times-of-day reveals that business hours during the business week in the US are the most popular, the report said.

London Remains Most Popular Locale

Because the location field on Twitter profiles does not contain any structured data, HubSpot reported that it is difficult to create an accurate picture of location distribution. However, the list of the top thirty most common phrases people type into their location section on their bio provides basic directional guidance. It points to the fact that Twitter seems to be most popular in major English-speaking urban areas, particularly London, large US cities and those in Canada:

Possible Underutilization

The study also found that since Twitter has implemented a limit to the number of users an account can follow (a maximum of 2000 when the user has less than 2,000 followers) there is a large number of users who are following exactly 2,000 users, possibly indicating that many active users are intentionally trying to gain as many followers as possible to increase their reach.

“Recently, there has been a lot of buzz from mainstream media about the growth of Twitter,” said Brian Halligan, CEO and co-founder of HubSpot. “However, the [report] points out that people may not be using Twitter to its full potential. If new users aren’t really engaged, should it really be considered growth?”

About the report: HubSpot’s June 2009 State of the Twittersphere analyzed TwitterGrader data from more than 4.5 million Twitter accounts over a nine month period to measure Twitter growth and report statistics on tweets, the Twitter user base and user geography.

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3 Links in one tip

I could have broken this into three sales tips, but, I decided to give it to you the way it arrived in my email from Jill Konrath:

Top Sales Resources, June 2009

Posted: 30 Jun 2009 06:27 AM PDT

Selling to Big Companies
An Interview with Jill Konrath

David Wolf from Smallbiz America asks me lots of questions about how entrepreneurs can land bigger corporate clients. As you might imagine, I have a few things to say! Click here to listen in.


Don't Cold Call, Social Call
By Nigel Edelshain, Sales 2.0

Learn how to prospect with Sales 2.0 tools and social networks. Just one of the techniques in this ebook causes an approximately 8x improvement over a cold call. Click here to get your free copy.

Top Sales Experts Share Their Top Articles

This free ebook features articles by a whole bunch of people whose work I respect: Mark Hunter, Lori Richardson, Kelley Robertson, Jonathan Farrington, Colleen Francis, Jonathan London, Kendra Lee, Ken Thoreson, Nancy Bleeke, George Huang, Danita Bye & more. I could go on & on!

Download your free copy now.

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Monday Night Marketing News

From Mediapost:

RETAIL

H&M Blasts Past Nike; Wal-Mart Wallops Tesco

by Sarah Mahoney

Millward Brown says its evaluation calculates the dollar value of a single brand (so that Gap is valued as a separate entity from Old Navy, for example) by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users, but also includes a forecasting component, predicting the brand's current growth potential. ... Read the whole story > >

AUTOMOTIVE

Ford Posting Better Results Than Toyota In June

by Karl Greenberg

Edmunds.com says Toyota is hurting for a number of reasons, including the fact that the coastal import gold mine is turning to lead, especially with California's economy on IOU support. "California and the coastal areas have suffered in the economy. But Ford has also been coming out with guns blazing in recent months, promoting their products with positive messages. " ... Read the whole story > >

FINANCIAL SERVICES

State Farm Sponsors Bollywood Contest

by Tanya Irwin

The winner of the contest -- who will be selected online at Bollystar2009.com by Bollywood fans around the world -- will be given the chance to sing in a Bollywood musical. State Farm will promote the contest throughout the summer with Asian marketing firm interTrend, based out of San Francisco. ... Read the whole story > >

FOOD

Food Price Inflation Remains Long-Term Risk

by Karlene Lukovitz

While the spikes in input costs that drove food manufacturing costs and retail prices up sharply last year have subsided, food-price inflation remains a long-term risk, in the estimation of retail and food service industry consultancy Willard Bishop. ... Read the whole story > >

SPIRITS

Tanqueray Is Out With First Global Effort

by Aaron Baar

One out-of-home execution features the headline: "Keep your tongue guessing," while another defines the Tanqueray & Tonic as: "A Many Splendored Thing and Tonic." The global campaign, from Wieden + Kennedy in Amsterdam, launched in the U.S. last week, capitalizing on holiday weekend festivities. The effort will roll out in other countries in September. ... Read the whole story > >

Which Car Brand is Most American?

Synovate Asks: Is A Green Car A Dream Car?

Kelley Blue Book: Honda and Toyota Most-Researched

Real Mex Restaurants Gets New CMO

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Social Media Update

From Mediapost:

Facebook Tops, But Social Networkers Fickle

According to Nielsen, total minutes spent on social networking sites in the U.S has increased 83% year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700% year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month... and worth $10 billion last week according to analysts.

Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights, Nielsen Online, notes "We have seen major growth in Facebook... and a subsequent decline in MySpace. Twitter... (is) perhaps changing the outlook for the entire space... regardless of how fast a site is growing... it can quickly fall out of favor with consumers... (who) are willing to pick up their networks and move them to another platform... at a moment's notice."

Top 10 Social Networking and Blog Sites (April 2009 U.S. Home and Work)
Site	Apr-08 Total Minutes (000)	Apr-09 Total Minutes (000)	Year-over-Year Percent Growth
Facebook	1,735,698	13,872,640	699%
Myspace.com	7,254,645	4,973,919	-31
Blogger	448,710	582,683	30
Tagged.com	29,858	327,871	998
Twitter.com	7,865	299,836	3712
MyYearbook	131,105	268,565	105
LiveJournal	54,671	204,121	273
LinkedIn	119,636	202,407	69
SlashKey	N/A	187,687	N/A
Gaia Online	173,115	143,909	-17
Source: Nielsen NetView

April was the fourth month in a row that Facebook held the top spot in both unique visitors and total minutes, but Myspace has been winning in online video with 120.8 million video streams.

Myspace visitors spent 384 million minutes viewing video on the site, with an average of 38.8 minutes per viewer. In comparison, Facebook visitors spent only 113.5 million minutes viewing video in April, with an average of 11.2 minutes per video viewer.

Top 5 Social Networking and Blog Sites Ranked (April 2009, U.S. Home and Work)
Site	Total Video Streams (000)	Time Spent Viewing (Minutes x 000)
Myspace.com	120,793	384,030
Facebook	41,537	113,502
Stickam	19,617	54,522
FunniestStuff.net	10,206	34,456
Funny or Die	6,503	17,725
Source: Nielsen VideoCensus, June 2009

Gibs concludes, "... maybe the better question to ask is who does each site reach, not who is 'winning'... and how are they building for the future to maintain the loyalty of their visitors, who to this point have shown little long-term loyalty to any specific platform."

For more information, please visit Nielsen Online here.

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Hispanic Online

from Mediapost:

10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics

1.Hispanics are connecting twice as fast as the general market (14% growth vs. 7%) adding over a million users per year. In 2008, 23 million Hispanics online, about 52% of the Hispanic population. In 2012, more than 29 million will be online, increasing Internet penetration to 58.6%.

Living a connected, collective and spontaneous life is a fundamental Hispanic value and desire. Technology that facilitates connecting, sharing, entertaining and learning is rapidly becoming indispensable for the majority of Hispanics. We are referring to those that are connecting on their computers; recent figures put 57% of Hispanics going online through their mobile phones.

2.The growing Hispanic middle class is super connected: 88% of Hispanics with a household income of $50,000 + are online.

For categories such as technology, consumer electronics, financial services and travel, connecting with consumers where they explore your products, research options, share experiences with communities, and ultimately buy your products is not option, it's a necessity.

3.Hispanics are early adopters of mobile technology: 31 million have a mobile phone. By the age of 15, penetration of wireless services is 64%, by 17, it rises to 78%. Hispanics have the highest proportion of cord-cutters among all segments.

For the most part, mobile marketing is not really on the radar as a consistent Hispanic marketing strategy. The challenge and opportunity of mobile marketing seems to lie in truly capitalizing on the relationship people have with their mobile devices. The mobile phone is not just another screen onto which we can send ads. It represents an opportunity for us to fundamentally change the relationship between brand and consumer.

4.Hispanics will spend money on what they really want: They spend 42% more on mobile devices and 35% more on data services than the average user.

Convention tells us that the Hispanic market is very value-conscious and often makes purchase decisions based on price. When it comes to technology, the opposite has proven to be true.

5.Roughly half of the Hispanics online prefer Spanish, and for 66% it's important to be recognized as Hispanic through culturally relevant content.

Online Hispanics move from Spanish to English and back again in different moments of an interactive brand experience. And far from being a disadvantage, this kind of fluid activity opens up interesting opportunities that help us learn about our consumers while allowing them to customize their online experience.

6.Hispanics are dynamic content creators and consumers: Two-thirds of online Hispanics use the Web to view other consumers' content and 40% create content and provide their opinions online.

Initially generated due to a lack of relevant and in-language content, consumer-generated content in the Hispanic market has taken on a life of its own. Hispanics dramatically outpace the general market in creating and sharing content, and few brands have figured out how to be part of the process creatively. The challenge is to support consumers, provide resources and even become part of the process without imposing artificial restrictions or values.

7.Entertainment content main appeal for online engagement: 37% listen to Internet radio vs. just 30% of non-Hispanics and 36% download music vs. just 29% of non-Hispanics.

They represent a captive consumer that is willing to spend time and in many cases, money for entertainment content online.

8.An online collective life: 77% engage in some kind of online socializing. And 40% are part of a social network. An estimated 20% of Hispanics online are considered "Hispanic-fluentials."

If word of mouth is key to any successful Hispanic marketing initiative, the online space has taken the dynamic to another level. Online, the collective, hyper-social Hispanic cultural dynamic can be expressed, explored and developed without limits.

9.Multi-tasking: Part of the Hispanic DNA. On average, Hispanics spend 17 hours per week online, but they spend 14 hours per day with a technology device (versus 8 hours for the general population).

The big opportunity: moving focus from one screen to three, dynamically connected screens. Because of their higher propensity to use converged technology, this consumer is the perfect target for developing truly integrated multi-channel campaigns.

10. Hispanic online landscape is less crowded: Interactive Advertising Media Investment represented 4.6% in 2007, while in the general market, it is around 7%.

The online Hispanic opportunity is not only about a big and growing market, or about consumers that are eager to engage. Brands that go in first and engage the consumer first have a unique opportunity to establish themselves as first movers and true resources for Hispanic consumers.

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Rejecting Rejection

A great piece from Harvey Mackay:

Harvey Mackay's Column This Week

Beat rejection before it beats you

"How are you getting along?" asked the old timer of the new sales rep.

"Not so good," came his disgusted reply. "I've been insulted in every place I made a call."

"That's funny," said the old timer. "I've been on the road 40 years. I've had my samples flung in the street, been tossed downstairs, man-handled by janitors and rolled in the gutter. But insulted—never!"

We all deal with rejection differently. But if you're in the sales game, you better get used to it because rejection is—and always will be—part of business. If it was easy to succeed in sales, everyone would want in. Rejection helps knock out the weak.

In doing my homework before corporate speeches, I often talk to the company's head of sales and ask what skills are necessary for a good sales rep in their industry. Dealing with rejection is always on the list because not everyone can handle all the rejections that are necessary in order to be successful. Too many people just give up. They don't realize that in order to get the yeses, you must hear the nos.

Here is my advice in dealing with rejection, because Lord knows, I've had plenty over my career:

• Don't take it personally. You shouldn't consider yourself a failure if you get rejected. You have to remember that the person isn't rejecting you; they're rejecting what you're selling. The sooner you move on, the sooner you'll make another sale.
• Leave the door open. I always thank the person I'm calling on because they took valuable time out of their day to meet or talk with me. I'm grateful because you never know if your paths might cross again. You might revisit them down the road. They could call you back. And don't forget about referrals.
• Never say no for the other person. Don't anticipate rejection because then you won't even try, let alone give your best effort. Prospects can read defeatism in your voice and body language. If you don't believe in what you are selling, how can you expect a prospect to buy it? Keep your confidence up.
• Analyze every failure, but never wallow in one. I always want to know why people say no, and I'm not afraid to ask. Was it me? Was it my product? Price? Think about what you could have done differently. Then record it in your post-call notes. The next time, you'll be better prepared.
• Know your percentages. Unless you're new to sales, you soon realize how many calls you have to make for each sale. Always remember that your next sale could be just around the corner. Make that extra call before you call it a day.
• Remember past achievements. Look back to your past sales and business successes. How did you feel? This will help ease the rejection of today.
• Consider the market. Realtors, mortgage bankers, car dealers, and construction companies will tell you that cycles come and go. That's not a pass to stop working, but an opportunity to hone your skills and be ready for better times.
• Take a break. If you're feeling down, do something you like—exercise, read a motivational book, listen to a favorite song. Just don't stay away too long. And never take a break when you're on a hot streak, only when you're in a slump.

Two men wrote a book containing a collection of inspirational stories. The two authors figured it would take about three months to find a publisher. What happened next is as inspirational as any of the stories in their book.

The first publisher they approached said, "NO."

The second publisher said "NO."

The third publisher said, "NO."

The next 30 publishers said, "NO."

Altogether, they received 33 rejections over a period of three years. So what did they do? They submitted their book to still another publisher.

The 34th publisher said, "YES."

After 33 rejections that one "Yes" launched the spectacular publishing success of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," written and compiled by my good friends Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. The "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series has so far sold more than 30 million copies—all because Canfield and Hansen had the willingness to fail over and over, but to keep going until they succeeded.

Mackay's Moral: Don't get dejected if you've been rejected—just get your skills perfected!

Miss a column? The last three weeks of Harvey's columns are always archived online.

More information and learning tools can be found online at harveymackay.com.

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Classic Ad of the Week

Is he wearing an eye patch due to injury caused by tiger kitten?

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It's Different Over There

Can you guess who this commercial is for before the end ?

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R.O.S.

Here's how to properly measure the Return On Sponsorship:

You Can Measure Return on Sponsorship

The sponsorship industry has advanced a great deal since the time the phrase "sponsorship can't be measured" typically went unchallenged. As all aspects of the industry have grown more sophisticated, and as the dollar value and prominence of partnerships has grown substantially, the need for accountability has become vitally important.

We are hearing questions such as: Can I measure the impact of my sponsorship activation? What is the return on my venue naming rights deal? As a property, how can I demonstrate return to the sponsors of my event? And the list goes on.

Existing approaches to measurement -- which merely transfer advertising surrogates such as media equivalencies and impressions to sponsorship, or use intermediate metrics such as awareness and attitude shifts to gauge performance -- miss the mark. They don't consider either the differences the sponsorship environment requires or the inherent flaws in the way advertising is measured.

Another issue is the challenge of measuring something for which there is no standard measurement. There is simply no escaping the fact that sponsors must customize the way they evaluate to their own situation.

Truly measuring what we call ROS -- return on sponsorship -- means linking expenditures directly to real investment returns.

Buyers of sports and other sponsorships must -- and can -- assess their partnerships based on actual outcomes rather than intermediate outputs. Instead of measuring the amount of time a sponsor's logo is visible, ROS measures how, if at all, the visibility impacts fan behavior.

Another departure: ROS is an end-to-end solution with strategic and global capability, measuring return against a client's specific, ranked objectives.

ROS contributes to the performance of any sponsorship, enhances the legitimacy of sponsorship and its standing in the internal policy debate, and provides the justification for budget increases.

The following are strategic, organizational and process-related best practices for measuring sponsorship:

Measure outcomes, not outputs: We tend to measure what's easy to measure rather than what matters. This means we end up measuring outputs -- what a sponsor got or did -- rather than outcomes -- what a sponsorship actually produced.

Define and benchmark objectives on the front end: Defining objectives at the beginning of a sponsorship shows which indicators to track.

Measure return for each objective against pro-rated share of rights fee: This allows for fairly measuring multiple objectives around each sponsorship.

Apply the assumptions and ratios used by other departments within your company: Base measurement on metrics already used and accepted internally.

Measure behavior: Retool objectives to align them with the core drivers of value for the business. No matter the brand prestige or business category, behavior shifts are critical to measure.

Measure the emotional connections: In addition to behavior numbers, accurately reflect the contact value between your brand and your target audience.

Include cost savings in your ROS calculations: Not a calculation of how much money was saved by cutting sponsorship expenses, but rather any real savings generated on sales, marketing and recruitment activities that would usually take place outside of sponsorship.

Research the emotional identities of your customers: Successful sponsorship begins with an understanding of your customers -- not as demographics, but as people.

Identify group norms: Psychological connectedness to a sports team or event represents an important aspect of self-identity, and the more a consumer identifies with an organization the more likely they are to support its sponsors.

Slice the data: Client experience reveals that sponsorship does not work equally well with all customers. It works best with those most committed, whether to the property being sponsored or to the brand.

Capture normative data: Sponsors have a dual need for both a comparative, across-the-board analysis of sponsorship activities, as well as individual program evaluation. Incorporate a two-phase structure, addressing both the primary set of objectives (affecting all sponsorships) and the secondary levels, which may be property specific.

(Source: Larry Albus, Marketing Daily, 06/22/09)

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Relationship Selling

This applies to any type of sales:

Relationship Selling
Relationship selling, simply put, is translating all the effort you currently give to selling into building relationships with people instead. Once enough people in your marketplace know, like, and trust you, sales are the natural result.

Building relationships is something we humans do naturally. We talk on the phone, have coffee or lunch, and work or play together. When you need to make a purchase, you call someone you know. If you don't know anyone who offers that product or service, you ask the people you do know. That's how most business actually happens.

The goal of relationship selling is to know a large enough pool of people so that all the sales you need come to you, instead of you having to go out and find them.

Here are the five requirements to make relationship selling work:

1. You have to like the people you want to sell to. You need to truly enjoy their company -- this isn't something you can fake.
2. You must care about their problems, so when you tell them how your product will solve those problems, you are helping them, not selling to them.
3. You have to believe in your product or service 100 percent. You want your customers to trust you, so that means you have to be honest with them.
4. You must be patient. Relationships take time to grow, and can't be rushed. You will make sales by building relationships, but you won't get it tomorrow.
5. You need to have a plan. Building the right relationships won't happen by accident.

If the idea of relationship selling appeals to you, but you don't meet the first three requirements, there's only one way to solve the problem. You need to find a different target market, or a different product to sell.

Relationship selling is based on authenticity, genuine concern, and honesty. It's not a sales technique that can be simulated without possessing those basic qualities.

Source: Sales consultant C.J. Hayden (www.getclientsnow.com)

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Another kind of Wisdom

Collective Wisdom is one of several blogs I write and edit. This one is updated between 21 and 30 times a week.

I also update a personal blog twice a day. On my Really? blog, I sometimes repost articles from the DLM site like the one I'm about to share with you.

With all the focus on advertising, marketing and sales, I also want you to strive to achieve balance in your life.

Read on:

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist

Posted: 28 Jun 2009 07:59 AM PDT

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist." -- Jack London

Too often we go through life on autopilot, going through the motions and having each day pass like the one before it.

That's fine, and comfortable, until you have gone through another year without having done anything, without having really lived life.

That's fine, until you have reached old age and look back on life with regrets.

That's fine, until you see your kids go off to college and realize that you missed their childhoods.

It's not fine. If you want to truly live life, to really experience it, to enjoy it to the fullest, instead of barely scraping by and only living a life of existence, then you need to find ways to break free from the mold and drink from life.

What follows is just a list of ideas, obvious ones mostly that you could have thought of yourself, but that I hope are useful reminders. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this useful, print it out, and start using it. Today.

1. Love. Perhaps the most important. Fall in love, if you aren't already. If you have, fall in love with your partner all over again. Abandon caution and let your heart be broken. Or love family members, friends, anyone -- it doesn't have to be romantic love. Love all of humanity, one person at a time.


2. Get outside. Don't let yourself be shut indoors. Go out when it's raining. Walk on the beach. Hike through the woods. Swim in a freezing lake. Bask in the sun. Play sports, or walk barefoot through grass. Pay close attention to nature.


3. Savor food. Don't just eat your food, but really enjoy it. Feel the texture, the bursts of flavors. Savor every bite. If you limit your intake of sweets, it will make the small treats you give yourself (berries or dark chocolate are my favorites) even more enjoyable. And when you do have them, really, really savor them. Slowly.


4. Create a morning ritual. Wake early and greet the day. Watch the sun rise. Out loud, tell yourself that you will not waste this day, which is a gift. You will be compassionate to your fellow human beings, and live every moment to its fullest. Stretch or meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some coffee.


5. Take chances. We often live our lives too cautiously, worried about what might go wrong. Be bold, risk it all. Quit your job and go to business for yourself (plan it out first!), or go up to that girl you've liked for a long time and ask her out. What do you have to lose?


6. Follow excitement. Try to find the things in life that excite you, and then go after them. Make life one exciting adventure after another (with perhaps some quiet times in between).


7. Find your passion. Similar to the above tip, this one asks you to find your calling. Make your living by doing the thing you love to do. First, think about what you really love to do. There may be many things. Find out how you can make a living doing it. It may be difficult, but you only live once.


8. Get out of your cubicle. Do you sit all day in front of computer, shuffling papers and taking phone calls and chatting on the Internet? Don't waste your days like this. Break free from the cubicle environment, and do your work on a laptop, in a coffee shop, or on a boat, or in a log cabin. This may require a change of jobs, or becoming a freelancer. It's worth it.


9. Turn off the TV. How many hours will we waste away in front of the boob tube? How many hours do we have to live? Do the math, then unplug the TV. Only plug it back in when you have a DVD of a movie you love. Otherwise, keep it off and find other stuff to do. Don't know what to do? Read further.


10. Pull away from Internet. You're reading something on the Internet right now. And, with the exception of this article, it is just more wasting away of your precious time. You cannot get these minutes back. Unplug the Internet, then get out of your office or house. Right now! And go and do something.


11. Travel. Sure, you want to travel some day. When you have vacation time, or when you're older. Well, what are you waiting for? Find a way to take a trip, if not this month, then sometime soon. You may need to sell your car or stop your cable bill and stop eating out to do it, but make it happen. You are too young to not see the world. If need be, find a way to make a living by freelancing, then work while you travel. Only work an hour or two a day. Don't check email but once a week. Then use the rest of the time to see the world.


12. Rediscover what's important. Take an hour and make a list of everything that's important to you. Add to it everything that you want to do in life. Now cut that list down to 4-5 things. Just the most important things in your life. This is your core list. This is what matters. Focus your life on these things. Make time for them.


13. Eliminate everything else. What's going on in your life that's not on that short list? All that stuff is wasting your time, pulling your attention from what's important. As much as possible, simplify your life by eliminating the stuff that's not on your short list, or minimizing it.


14. Exercise. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Eventually try running. Or do some push ups and crunches. Or swim or bike or row. Or go for a hike. Whatever you do, get active, and you'll love it. And life will be more alive.


15. Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the self-doubts, the criticisms of others, the complaints, the reasons you can't do something. Then stop yourself when you have these thoughts, and replace them with positive thoughts. Solutions. You can do this!


16. Open your heart. Is your heart a closed bundle of scar tissue? Learn to open it, have it ready to receive love, to give love unconditionally. If you have a problem with this, talk to someone about it. And practice makes perfect.


17. Kiss in the rain. Seize the moment and be romantic. Raining outside? Grab your lover and give her a passionate kiss. Driving home? Stop the car and pick some wildflowers. Send her a love note. Dress sexy for him.


18. Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? What is holding you back? Whatever it is, recognize it, and face it. Do what you are most afraid of. Afraid of heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by facing our fears can we be free of them.


19. When you suffer, suffer. Life isn't all about fun and games. Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We lose our pets. We get physically injured or sick. A loved one becomes sick. A parent dies. Learn to feel the pain intensely, and really grieve. This is a part of life -- really feel the pain. And when you're done, move on, and find joy.


20. Slow down. Life moves along at such a rapid pace these days. It's not healthy, and it's not conducive to living. Practice doing everything slowly -- everything, from eating to walking to driving to working to reading. Enjoy what you do. Learn to move at a snail's pace.


21. Touch humanity. Get out of your house and manicured neighborhoods, and find those who live in worse conditions. Meet them, talk to them, understand them. Live among them. Be one of them. Give up your materialistic lifestyle.


22. Volunteer. Help at homeless soup kitchens. Learn compassion, and learn to help ease the suffering of others. Help the sick, those with disabilities, those who are dying.


23. Play with children. Children, more than anyone else, know how to live. They experience everything in the moment, fully. When they get hurt, they really cry. When they play, they really have fun. Learn from them, instead of thinking you know so much more than them. Play with them, and learn to be joyful like them.


24. Talk to old people. There is no one wiser, more experienced, more learned, than those who have lived through life. They can tell you amazing stories. Give you advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt. Tell you about their regrets, so you can learn from them and avoid the same mistakes. They are the wisdom of our society -- take advantage of their existence while they're still around.


25. Learn new skills. Constantly improve yourself instead of standing still -- not because you're so imperfect now, but because it is gratifying and satisfying. You should accept yourself as you are, and learn to love who you are, but still try to improve -- if only because the process of improvement is life itself.


26. Find spirituality. For some, this means finding God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha. For others, this means becoming in tune with the spirits of our ancestors, or with nature. For still others, this just means an inner energy. Whatever spirituality means for you, rediscover it, and its power.


27. Take mini-retirements. Don't leave the joy of retirement until you are too old to enjoy it. Do it now, while you're young. It makes working that much more worth it. Find ways to take a year off every few years. Save up, sell your home, your possessions, and travel. Live simply, but live, without having to work. Enjoy life, then go back to work and save up enough money to do it again in a couple of years.


28. Do nothing. Despite the tip above that we should find excitement, there is value in doing nothing as well. Not doing nothing as in reading, or taking a nap, or watching TV, or meditating. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing nothing. Just learning to be still, in silence, to hear our inner voice, to be in tune with life. Do this daily if possible.


29. Stop playing video games. They might be fun, but they can take up way too much time. If you spend a lot of time playing online games, or computer solitaire, or Wii or Gameboy or whatever, consider going a week without it. Then find something else to do, outside.


30. Watch sunsets, daily. One of the most beautiful times of day. Make it a daily ritual to find a good spot to watch the sunset, perhaps having a light dinner while you do so.


31. Stop reading magazines. They're basically crap. And they waste your time and money. Cancel your subscriptions and walk past them at the news stands. If you have to read something, read a trashy novel or even better, read Dumb Little Man once a day and be done.


32. Break out from ruts. Do you do things the same way every day? Change it up. Try something new. Take a different route to work. Start your day out differently. Approach work from a new angle. Look at things from new perspectives.


33. Stop watching the news. It's depressing and useless. If you're a news junky, this may be difficult. I haven't watch TV news or read a newspaper regularly in about two years. It hasn't hurt me a bit. Anything important, my mom tells me about.


34. Laugh till you cry. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes and laugh your head off. Watch an awesome comedy. Learn to laugh at anything. Roll on the ground laughing. You'll love it.


35. Lose control. Not only control over yourself, but control over others. It's a bad habit to try to control others -- it will only lead to stress and unhappiness for yourself and those you try to control. Let others live, and live for yourself. And lose control of yourself now and then too.


36. Cry. Men, especially, tend to hold in our tears, but crying is an amazing release. Cry at sad movies. Cry at a funeral. Cry when you are hurt, or when somebody you love is hurt. It releases these emotions and allows us to cleanse ourselves.


37. Make an awesome dessert. I like to make warm, soft chocolate cake. But even berries dipped in chocolate, or crepes with ice cream and fruit, or fresh apple pie, or homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies, are great. This isn't an every day thing, but an occasional treat thing. But it's wonderful.


38. Try something new, every week. Ask yourself: "What new thing shall I try this week?" Then be sure to do it. You don't have to learn a new language in one week, but seek new experiences. Give it a try. You might decide you want to keep it in your life.


39. Be in the moment. Instead of thinking about things you need to do, or things that have happened to you, or worrying or planning or regretting, think about what you are doing, right now. What is around you? What smells and sounds and sights and feelings are you experiencing? Learn to do this as much as possible through meditation, but also through bringing your focus back to the present as much as you can in everything you do.

Written on 6/19/2007 by Leo Babauta, a writer, a runner and a vegetarian, and the owner of Zen Habits. This article was republished on 6/28/09.

Photo Credit: hunters.green

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The Battle Creek Battle

A lesson to learn:

When in Doubt, Double Down

In a piece at The New Yorker, James Surowiecki recounts how two companies—Post and Kellogg—reacted to the Depression. "Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising," he writes. "But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies."

The strategy paid off. "By 1933, even as the economy cratered," he continues, "Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player."

Surowiecki points to studies that suggest why a company that doubles down on advertising will tend to outperform competitors during economic downturns, and will often emerge stronger than before:

• Recessions make the strong stronger, and the weak weaker. "[T]he strong can afford to keep investing," he explains, "while the weak have to devote all their energies to staying afloat."
• When the weak scale back on advertising, the campaigns of strong companies have a greater impact.

To explain the urge to retrench, despite this evidence, Surowiecki notes the difference between risk and uncertainty. With the former, a business can make decisions based on a likely range of outcomes; with the latter—which becomes dominant during a downturn—no one knows what to expect. "So it’s natural to focus on what you can control," he says. "[M]inimizing losses and improving short-term results. And cutting spending is a good way of doing this."

According to Surowiecki, when companies worry too much about sinking the ship with a bad decision, they might be missing the boat by letting a good opportunity pass. Your Marketing Inspiration is to remember that Miracle Whip and the iPod were both introduced during recessions.

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Status Quo

from a recent email:

Daily Sales Tip: Your No. 1 Competitor

Ask salespeople to describe their number one competitor, and they'll usually come up with price-cutters or competitors who are trying to steal their best customers.

While this type of competition can be serious and annoying, it doesn't meet the criteria of a number one competitor.

The real number one may have nothing to do with outside sales competition.

The real number one competitor is the status quo. It's the mental pattern that exists in your prospect's mind, the one that says, "It makes sense for me to buy," or "It makes sense for me to do nothing. I really prefer not to buy."

Whatever the prospect is doing right now, it's what makes sense to him or her and that's all that really matters.

It's important to find ways to change the status quo, to alter the prospect's thinking. And your questions should be focused on what the prospect is actually doing right now.

Ask in terms of the past, the present and the future, then vary the questioning to include the how and the why. You may get a view of what the customer is doing now.

Buying decisions are usually made slowly -- even over extended periods.

Your goal should be to establish in the customer's mind why it's smart to do business with you and break or stop the status quo.

Source: Adapted from The #1 Sales Team, by sales trainer/author Stephan Schiffman.

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