He is the most interesting man in the world

Its Friday and I usually take it easy on Friday...try not to give you to much to think about over the weekend, but leave you with a smile. So from time to time you will get my In-Out List and my favorite brand themed web sites. Enjoy them and please as always pass along to friends and family.

Thanks for your support!

Today's web site comes from "The Most Interesting Man in the World" a new campaign from Dos Equis Cerveza. You must check out the "Get to know me" and "Test your Skills" tabs.
http://staythirstymyfriends.com/

WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?

Sorry I have been away...vacation to Upstate NY with no Internet. So nice to get away but fell behind in my writing. I have plenty to say and have a back log of blogs on paper...check back I will have new post starting Thursday!

Thanks for all the support!
Robert

Don't let them leave without a reason to come back. As a business you work so hard and spend lots of money trying to find new customers. And once you get that customer most business think marketing to that customer stops with that effort! Wrong you have to keep that client and continue working that client. Give them a reason to come back. I was having lunch with a very successful CEO of a local tech company last week and I went through an exercise with him. I asked him "do you think this restaurant has any idea who we are?" Will they have any idea who we are when we leave? Will they know if we liked the experience? And will they know if we will come back or if this was our first time in the restaurant? The answer was no to all the above. We walked in had lunch and they have no clue to any of the questions above. Should they..you bet they should! Here are a few examples of how they could achieve gathering all the info they would need about us.

1. Welcome to "xyz restaurant" you have been here before haven't you? No well welcome and let me tell you about us.

2. I want to point out a comment card we have on the table. After your meal if you would take just a minute to fill it out and tell us about your experience and also if you like your name and email address so we can send you email specials a few times a month.

3.Also here are six discount cards for you and five of your friends or family members. We look forward to seeing you again very soon.

Do you know who your clients are?

A smarter way?

"In my life I have found it's great to be the early bird and get the worm.....but I have found that the second mouse always gets the cheese."

-Music Star Hal Ketchum

Passing of a childhood voice

The passing of a legend. Sorry to get a little of topic today but yesterday was probably the first time in my life(early 30's) that one of the biggest voices of my childhood was silenced with the passing of Phil Rizzuto. For my non-sports fan readers Phil Rizzuto was a Hall of Fame player for the New York Yankees in the 50' s and a Yankee broadcaster for 40 years and that's where my generation came to know him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Rizzuto Living in New York most games were on WPIX and the voice was Phil Rizzuto, he was not the best broadcaster he was just the most entertaining and made you feel like he was sitting in your living room talking about the Yankees. I learned the phrase "Howly Cow" and "what a Huckelberry" and learned how to play the game. With his passing yesterday it had me thinking about who that broadcaster would be for my children? And I am not sure in this day in age if there will be one...but I will pass my memories of hot summers in New York listening to the voice of the Yankees...part of my childhood that will live on forever.

"God bless the great game of Baseball"

-Phil Rizzuto

Clean up inside before you go outside

Clean up the inside before you go outside... simple right? But why do most brands go outside before they clean up there inside...it's easier! Throwing money at it is easier for most companies, if sales are down they spend lots of money on a new ad campaign, new logos, new message. And the result..a slight bump in sales for a few months and then the process repeats itself. Great for the Agency...bad for the brand. Will they come back?

Work from inside-out. Do not go outside and market your business/brand until you have the operations/inside the walls marketing operating at a very high level. Do not go out and recruit new clients if you are having trouble taking care of the ones you have.

Simple right????

"If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn't have to advertise them.
-Will Rogers

Be Clean

If you get a chance to check out the CNBC special on McDonalds; "Inside the Golden Arches" I recommend talking an hour to watch it. I came away with a few interesting items but the one thing that struck me was a quote from an Owner/Operator from Connecticut who was asked his secret for success....his answer was not that the fries are so good, or the huge marketing campaigns or the secret sauce....it was keeping the bathrooms clean! What a great answer...he said if you have a clean bathroom people will come back and respect your location. And you know what he is right, as an owner or manager of a retail establishment what does the bathroom say about you? If its clean it says we respect you as a client and take pride in making sure our facility is clean...but if you have a bathroom that is dirty (and we have all been in many of them) it says you don't respect your clients enough to give them a clean facility.

Taking the extra steps to insure your clients feel appreciated can make the difference between being successful and flushing your business down the drain.

Ask the average Joe.

Ask...

Ask you clients what they think. Most brands are afraid to ask there clients what they think about there experience or brand. Why, they may not like what they hear. It is very easy to sit in a conference room and talk about strategies, but you live the brand everyday..your clients more than likely don't and they may see your brand in a different light.

There are many different ways to find out what your clients think of you. Phone surveys, direct mail, but the most effective way is Inside-Out Exit Polling. "IOEP" is one of the most effective ways to find information on your brand. The cost is minimal and the information you find out is invaluable. When I was working in senior management for a franchisee system we had no real idea what our clients felt about us..sure the numbers where good and client retention was good but what did the average Joe think about our brand. Well, we found out some very interesting things by doing the exit polling. They liked the brand and the overall experience, but there was a high number of complaints and things clients wanted added or dropped. Without taking the time to ask... you will never know what your brand looks like from inside-out.

"If you don't ask... they will not tell you."