(SALES) Rise Above The Clutter

6-17-2013

Off to the firing squad I go. Yes, I am guilty! I do not write enough thank you notes. A thank you note is so much more than sending a simple acknowledgement. George Bush 41 attributed his presidency to writing personal thank you notes. He would always write something special in the note that would let the recipient know it was personally written by him.

I was never taught how to write a proper thank you note. I just knew that I had better send my clients something even if they could not read my doctor?s handwriting. Mailing a thank you note to a prospect who says ?no? is a great touch. Rarely do sales reps send a note thanking them for their time even when they told them to hit the Klondike Trail, so to speak.

When my mother passed away a couple years ago, I received a personal note from a friend that ?rose above the clutter.? I decided to ask my friend, Shawn, for some tips on writing a proper thank you note.

In today?s e-world, the younger generation does not realize the importance of the personalized letter. If time is of the essence, send the thank you electronically. If not, rise above the clutter and write those notes by hand. The handwritten thank you note is the best investment of a sales rep?s time other than being in the field.

Here are Shawn?s must do?s on thank you notes plus an example.

Top 10 Tips For Thank You Notes

1. There is no such thing as writing too many thank you notes. No reason to send one to the same client every time?make it rise above the clutter and change it up once in a while with a ?seeding letter.?

2. Thank you notes are another form of ?the first impression.? Leave a good one. If the front of the letter looks shabby, what will they think when they open the letter? (Sean?s note: When I started my own business, my mom addressed everything, so I knew the clients would at least open the note.)

3. Use good quality paper preferably printed with your name. Dress for success and write for success, also. If your station has thank you notes, use them. It is a good idea to invest in your own and mix it up a bit.

4. Handwrite the notes even if penmanship is poor like my friend Sean?s.

5. Make sure to use the correct spelling (especially names), punctuation, and grammar. Learning how to write correctly is still a work in process for my friend Sean. Work on it, and send the note anyway.

6. Write the note on your laptop first. Save them as examples. No marked-out words or scribbles.

7. Ideally, send out the note within 24 hours of contact. Forty-eight hours at the latest.

8. Hand address the envelope and include a return address, also.

9. ALWAYS use a stamp, not the postage machine.

10. Do not abbreviate when addressing the envelope. Example: Street not St.

Bonus Dozen

11. Properly address the person: "Miss" should be used for a woman who has not been married. "Mrs." and first name for married or widowed women. "Ms." if the marital status is unknown. Use "Mr." for a man.

12. Lick the back of that envelope. Then kiss it goodbye. The note always seems to find its proper home upon arrival with a lick and a kiss!
Dear Sean,

Thank you so much for the time that you spent with me on Monday. I enjoyed the sneak peak of the new addition to Flying R Western. Wow! Those extra square feet will really help display your new lines of boots and jeans.
I understand that you have already committed your marketing budget for 2013, but I would like to set up an appointment after your vacation to learn more about your business and see how KKDY could assist you in selling those new boots and jeans in 2014.
Happy trails on your Wyoming vacation! I will check back with you at the end of the month.
Warm Regards,
Shawn

There you have it? the tips and an example of how to write a thank you note that will rise above the clutter. Now get to writing those thank you notes! Write them either after a sales call, or at the end of the day. No procrastinating! Otherwise, they will stack up and you will forget about them. Oh yes, thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Sean Luce is the lead instructor for Luce Performance Group. To contact Sean, email him at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or visit www.luceperformancegroup.com

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(SALES) Advertising Above The 60th Parallel

4-29-2013

Over the past week, I?ve spent time with advertisers and marketers in the Canadian north -- the Yukon Territory -- in a city called Whitehorse. Being somewhat of a history buff, it was always one of my dreams to come to where the last great gold rush happened at the turn of the 20th century which was located in the Klondike region of Alaska and the Yukon. Whitehorse is the largest city above the 60th parallel. We figured that late April would be warm enough for flatlander Sean. The weather on my trip was a whole other story. How did those gold rushers go over the Chilkoot pass in the dead of winter? Ugh.

The seminar was a big hit and congratulations to Rush 96.1 for perfect execution. You impressed me by putting some of the biggest powerbrokers in the city in the same room at the same time. After a few million miles of speaking and consulting, I?m not easily impressed. After our 90-minute seminar, the advertisers had a chance for me to come and visit them personally and explore more in-depth their current advertising, and if I could offer some tips to them. The seminar was on Tuesday, and we offered up Wednesday through Friday for the follow-up calls. We were overwhelmed with the response and could only manage to fit in18 calls -- 6 per day. Is advertising above the 60th parallel any different than below it? No. It?s the same and the basic principles of marketing in today?s new media have similar threads no matter if you?re in Whitehorse or Timbuktu. The only things that change are the media outlets to advertise with.

When you give a seminar, you try to focus on and emphasize certain points. For example, in the seminar, my advice on running advertising is to drill home one idea at a time. My goal was to offer expertise on my experience, how you should advertise and approximately how much of your money you should allocate to specific media as an advertiser.

On the 18 follow-up calls, to a person, came back the impetus of the seminar. I try to make it easy for advertisers to remember, so I use an analogy of warfare and I believe marketing is warfare -- just marketing warfare -- and you have to know how to execute a marketing campaign so you win. Losing in marketing warfare can be very painful and very expensive. On the 18 follow-up calls, to a person, came back:

1) Air Force: Your ?Air Force? drives the top-of-mind awareness in the mind of the consumer. Not everybody shops price and item. Some people still shop at the business that comes to the top of their mind. Price is a consideration -- it?s just not always the number one consideration. Trust, credibility, superior service, and name recognition play a huge part in the top-of-mind battlefield. Radio, TV, cable TV, and Internet display advertising do an outstanding job in driving awareness when people first come into the buying cycle for a product or service. Based on how people shop today, from the NPD Group?s Consumer Tracking survey 2010, 45 percent of people shop top-of-mind awareness. Invest 45 percent of your money in top-of mind-awareness media with a message that rises above the clutter.

2) Ground Force: Once you have established control of the ?air? -- and in warfare, if you don?t control the air, you will not win the war -- it's time for the ground force. Fifty-five percent of people today shop price and item. This is where the ground force comes in --your print, direct mail, yellow pages, outdoor, magazines, and hand-to-hand combat with your POS and POP materials inside your business. Your ground troops and tanks have a better chance of succeeding when you have dominant air power in the skies. Depending on the ground force media in your market, and if you can dominate without spreading your money around, invest up to 30 percent of your money in the ground force.

3) Special Forces: In reality, and in today?s warfare, the ?Special Forces? go in first and identify the points of opportunity where you can take a laser beam to your targets. No different in your marketing warfare. This is where the Internet comes into play along with your mobile and social media advertising. Your ?Special Forces? enhance your traditional ?above the line? media and make your ?Air Force? strike their targets with better precision. Some markets have superior ?Special Forces? that can take up to 70 percent of the advertising dollars. Your ?Special Forces? can build up both top-of-mind awareness/branding and is also very potent with direct-response advertising. Most markets, however, do not have top-flight Internet domains to dominate in advertising and it can become hit and miss on the Internet. Mobile is starting to come on and your social media is starting to become more utilized and effective, though in most cases a retailer cannot survive on social media alone. If you have a normal market, you should allocate up to 25 percent of your money for your ?Special Forces.?

The above is a guideline on where and how to allocate your advertising dollar. If you spread your money around and do a little bit here and a little bit there to satisfy the media reps who call on you, then take your money to Las Vegas. It will go further and you?ll feel a lot better. Scattershot, spray-and-pray advertising is not effective. As in warfare, focus and dominate ?share of voice? in your Air, Ground, and Special Forces media mix.

Also, Slovakian born Ms. Eva Bidrman (General Manager of Klondike Broadcasting) gets a distinguished service medal for hanging with me minute by minute, hour by hour, and call by call over an entire week. Well done, Eva. You?re the only person I know that has ever done that.

You can reach Sean in the midnight sun at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or at www.luceperformancegroup.com.

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(SALES) Make Your Advertising Rise Above The Clutter

4-1-2013

According to research from "Advertising Age" magazine, a typical consumer encounters between 254 and 5,000 advertising messages per day in one form or another. That number includes signage on cars, t-shirts, radio, TV, newspapers, and so on. If a business is going to be remembered, the advertising message must rise above the daily clutter of messages.

This following story is one of the best examples that I have encountered of an ad rising above the clutter. This week I am consulting for a media company in Ricky Land, Missouri. Ricky Land was made famous by the business owner who calls everyone ?Ricky? to keep things simple. While in Ricky Land, I traveled to Mountain Grove, Missouri which is home to Southern Missouri Financial Investments owned by Jim Bukowsky. Like me, Jim does seminars but in the financial field. We were comparing traveling notes and some small talk before we got to the meat of the call.

We discussed the meaning of rising above the clutter in advertising, and how to make one?s message memorable. Jim told me that his best rise above the clutter of advertising consisted of a billboard advertisement he did once showing the business name, his name, and a photo of himself. I thought that sounded like a fairly typical ad for the investment industry.

One day Jim was in his car listening to the local radio station and he heard the talk show host discussing how terrible it was that a local billboard had been defaced. The host continued to talk about how degrading this act was, and how he felt so badly for the local business owner who was advertising on this billboard. Jim certainly agreed. The host then said it was Southern Missouri Financial?s billboard. Jim slumped in his car seat in utter shock. He then drove over to his billboard to see that an artist had climbed up the billboard the night before and put a mustache thick with curls on his face. It was the perfect Doc Holliday mustache.

The story gets better?maybe. Also on the billboard, the artist had drawn on top of the photo of Jim?s head an obviously phallic representation. Jim said it kind of looked like a hat drawn on his head to go with the mustache.

Needless to say, it was graffiti on Jim?s billboard. However, Jim said it was the best advertising that he has ever utilized. Several local radio stations interviewed him about the graffiti on his billboard. In one case, he was interviewed for 20 minutes and had a chance to plug his business while talking about the ?terrible? thing that had been done to his billboard. Jim was the talk of the region which stretches about 100 miles in any direction. To the billboard company?s credit, they called the next day and told Jim they could take it down immediately and replace the billboard for free. Jim thought about it, and he said that he wanted to review the offer. I asked Jim how long he was able to keep it up (no pun intended). He said he was able to keep the graffiti billboard up for three weeks before the company insisted they take it down and restore it back to its original design. Jim knows something about helping his business? message rise above the clutter.

I highly doubt that Jim was the one who climbed up the billboard and defaced his photo. I also doubt that one of hiscompetitors did it. To this day, no one has 'fessed up to the great artistry that was laid on Jim?s billboard. However, keeping it purposely in place for three weeks, Jim understood more than most business owners about the concept of ?rising above the clutter.?

I am not suggesting that business owners conjure up something disgusting for their advertisements. My point is that to be different it has to be memorable. Since 99.9 percent of what a consumer encounters every day is washed and forgotten, the message must stand out in a crowd. Try asking a group of 10 consumers how many advertisements that they remember from yesterday. Out of 10 people, maybe one person might remember one advertisement from the previous day. In my seminars, the usual response is about three percent of attendees will remember one ad from the day before. For business owners, make sure your message is there every day, all day, over and over again. Building top-of-mind awareness does not happen overnight. 

As we wrapped up the meeting, Jim, and I discussed the possibility of a ?slogan? for his business. Jim is a clever guy. He said, ?It could be Southern Missouri Financial Investments -- the place where you can hang your hat on your investments.? Hmmm?.maybe Jim did climb up that billboard after all!

NOTE: If you have rise-above-the-clutter ads that you would like to share, please email them to sean@luceperformancegroup.com. I will feature the best stories in a future article.

Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group.

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(SOCIAL) Is Radio Above Facebook's Rules?

9-12-2012

In May of 2011, Facebook released (quietly, of course) new guidelines for brands using the platform. Here at The Randy Lane Company, we notified our clients of the new rules, and tried to help you understand them.

Fast forward 15 months, and you?re still asking about it. Not only are you asking about it, but you?re still violating the rules. Often.

Before I keep talking, know two things:

1. I don?t make the rules. I just tell you about them.
2. Personally, I?m a rule breaker. So when I tell you to follow the rules, it?s because the ramifications are serious and I want to protect you. (Wow, I sound like such a Mom right there. Let the record show I don?t wear ?Mom jeans.")

Now that you understand where I?m coming from, and what kind of jeans I?m not wearing right now, let?s take a look at some of the rules and how radio stations and shows are violating them.

Rule 1: Promotions on Facebook must be administered within apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.

How We?re Breaking It: We?re running quick contests on our Timeline as often as we change underwear, without hiring a third-party app to build it legally.

For an example of a legal contest using an App, click here to check out the 102.9 K-Lite Match Game. https://www.facebook.com/1029klite/app_326853300699610

Rule 2: You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall.

How We?re Breaking It: We break it with our fun ?caption this picture to win? contests. We break it with our ?comment on this post? contests. We break it with our ?The first five people who like this post win? contests

Rule 3: You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion?s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant.

How We?re Breaking It: We run on-air contests that tell listeners we?ll draw one Facebook fan as a winner. The only requirement for entry is that they like us on Facebook.

Rule 4: You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.

How We?re Breaking It: We post status updates to notify listeners that they?ve been chosen (probably for a promotion run illegally in the first place!) as the winner.

The rules can be found here in their entirety, under section ?E?. But remember, don?t shoot the messenger! I just want to make sure you?re aware of what the rules entail.
https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

Notice the simple threat below the rules: We reserve the right to reject or remove Pages for any reason. These terms are subject to change at any time.

That threat is the reason you should be wary of these rules. Should Facebook take notice, they have the right to shut your page down without warning. That would mean that you lose everything you?ve worked so hard to gain -- your fans.

Is it worth the risk?

Stephanie Winans is Social Media Specialist and Content Curator for the Randy Lane
Company and Stephanie Winans Digital. E-mail: stephaniewinans@gmail.com

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