Travel Karma Part I...The Bad

Given all the bad economic news of late I thought I’d post some lighthearted comic relief at my expense. This post has nothing to do with Sales or Marketing, best practices, etc. If you here looking for something insightful please scan down to my last post. If you’d like to be entertained for a few moments (hopefully) read on.

I’ve pulled this from the archives and it's for anyone who’s ever had “one of those days”, or in this case...four days. For those of you who don’t believe in travel karma this may change your mind…pay attention to the time/date stamps.

This is the first post of two on Travel Karma…first the bad and then the good.

Schadenfreude!

Day 1 - Monday June 11, 2007

Travelogue 5:45 pm – arrive in Detroit early, nice airport… can’t believe I've arrived early. Call Lara because I can’t find Mark’s flight information on the arrival board. Lara tells me that his plane is delayed and won’t arrive until 7:30 pm. No problem I’ll grab something to eat and wait for him and Sean.

-----Original Message-----

From: Mark
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 6:03 PM
To: Scott Gillum; Sean
Subject: Flight delayed- still on the ground in ATL

Scott and Sean:

I've been stuck on the tarmac for about 90 minutes they say due to weather up North. No sign of anything at the airport taking off to the North.

What time do you arrive? Looks like 8:00 to 8:30 if we get out in the next half hour. Otherwise I'll probably shoot myself... And then it won't matter.

BTW, who booked me on Northwest?? Very tight, very hot in here...

What's your status?
Mark

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Gillum
To: Mark, Sean
Sent: Mon Jun 11 18:11:08 2007
Subject: Re: Flight delayed- still on the ground in ATL

I've arrived and am sitting in a nice air conditioned bar in the A terminal about to have a nice Greek dinner.

Got to go... my drink just arrive, call me when you get in. Headed to the hotel for a good night of sleep after a big dinner.

Good luck and safe travels. Oh, here comes my appetizer. Bye.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark
To: Scott Gillum; Sean
Sent: Mon Jun 11 18:14:10 2007
Subject: Re: Flight delayed- still on the ground in ATL

Oooooooh. You're just getting me ramped up. Don't expect any mercy from me when the moment is right.

Mark
Sr. Vice President
MarketBridge

-----Original Message-----

From: Scott Gillum
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 6:39 PM
To: Mark, SeanSubject:
Re: Flight delayed- still on the ground in ATL

Sorry I couldn't respond sooner, you really need your hands to eat Greek food.

You realize that I probably have cursed myself on the outbound flight now.

Call me when you get in...unless it's too late. I really need my sleep to be on my game.

Travelogue 7:00 pm - Catch the Hilton shuttle bus to the hotel a quick 5 min ride. Arrive at the hotel – “OMG, what a shit hole”. Under-construction, the front is completely gone…contemplate getting back on the bus. Suck it up and enter to find a lobby in the hallway. Check-in and walk thru the Workout Area (a former hotel room) and thru the make shift restaurant which looks to be meeting room. Diners don’t seem to notice that I’m walking thru with my bags. Enter room and open the curtains for a fine view of what looks to be the Motel from the Eminen movie 8 Mile across the street. Look at the direction for the meeting tomorrow - the map and notice we’re a good 20 miles from the client…meeting starts at 8:30 am.

Travelogue 8:10 pm - Mark and Sean land…decide to flee and find a hotel closer to the client. Check and make a reservation at the Weber Restaurant & Hotel. A well known steak house in the area that happens to have added a hotel that “get’s a lot of press for its indoor pool” according to a review on Google.

Travelogue 9:30 pm – arrive at Weber and check-in. Clerk has a problem finding the reservation…finally finding it under “Scott Dillum”.

Day 2 – Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Departing on the 3:17 pm to Washington. All of us are leaving at about the same time.

Travelogue 1:00 pm – check voicemail and hear a message from Northwest Airlines that my flight has been canceled and I have been rebooked on the 9:00 pm flight. Call and speak with my assistant who works with the travel agency to book me on the 5:35 pm.

Flight departs from the gate but…

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Gillum
To: Mark; Sean
Sent: Tue Jun 12 17:58:45 2007
Subject: What comes around...

Sitting on the tarmac... in the parking lot... grounded because of a weather delay...no time given yet for wheels up.

Great, they just shut the engines down...

-----Original Message-----

From: Mark
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 6:34 PM
To: Scott Gillum; Sean
Subject: Re: What comes around...

Oh man... The sweet taste. I couldn't reply sooner because I had to finish my frosty ice cream cone I just picked up after landing.

Mark
Sr. Vice President

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Gillum
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 8:40 PM
To: Mark, Sean
Subject: Perfect karma

Spending the night in Detroit...

Travelogue 9:00 pm – arrive back at the gate with tension headache and taste of bile in my mouth. Buy underwear, shirt, socks, Tums and Tylenol. Check into an airport hotel…not the Hilton.

-----Original Message-----

From: Sean
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 10:09 PM
To: Scott Gillum; Mark
Subject: RE: Perfect karma

Sitting in Seattle and I can't help but think you brought this all on yourself, Scott Dillum.

Regards-

Sean
MarketBridge

Day 3 – Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Departing on the 6:30 am to Washington connecting to the 8:30 am Delta Shuttle to New York. No flights available to New York direct from Detroit. Need to be at a important client meeting in NYC for 10 am meeting. No chance to make it on time but my colleague Chris is catching a 7:30 am flight on USAir and will be there on time to cover.

-----Original Message-----

From: Chris

Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:05 AM

To: Chris, Scott Gillum
Subject: Also having flight issues .

Will arrive at LGA at 9:30

I will have Lara contact the client.

Travelogue 8:30 am – make the shuttle to find Chris sitting on my plane. No chance of being on time for the meeting now. Ingest 2 Tums and Tylenol.

Travelogue 6:00 pm – call Lara to make sure my 6:30 pm shuttle is on time and to check weather condition. Make comment that if there looks like there are any problems I will go to the train station. Lara confirms that the flight is on time and looks good.

Travelogue 6:15 pm – check-in…flight is on time but notice 5:30 pm has been cancelled. Plane departs gate on time. Pilot announces that we will be parked for at least a half an hour waiting for our flight sequence.

Travelogue 7:00 pm – Pilot announces that he has no news but will update in 15 minutes…bile taste coming back, grab Tums. 15 minutes later…no update…15 later…we’re #5 for take-off. We’re airborne.

Travelogue 8:00 pm – Pilot announces that DC has stop inbound flights because of storms in the area. We’ll be circling Dover, Delaware for at least 30 minutes. Search briefcase for Tums to find a banana that I thru in earlier that day….completely destroyed…feels like wet oatmeal.

Travelogue 8:30 pm – Pilot announces that he has no news…but will update us again in 15 minutes. 15 minutes later makes announcement that they are still not taking flights and if we don’t get the word in another 15 minutes we’ll have to re-route to another airport to re-fuel.

Travelogue 9:15 pm – we land…in Baltimore. No gate available which is not a issue because…no one is available to bring the plane into the gate, work the jet way, etc. Tums are gone.

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Gillum
To: Lara
Sent: Wed Jun 13 21:21:50 2007
Subject: Didn't make back again

Landed in Baltimore tonight. Catching a cab...if I'm lucky. I may or may not be in tomorrow.

Travelogue 9:45 pm – catch cab, 45 minute should be home finally. Get on I95 to find that 2 lanes are closed…traffic slows to a crawl. Bile returning, stomach churning, head out the window…possibility of hurling very real. Call home and announce to wife that I’m quitting my job.

Travelogue ? – lost all track of time but finally home….car at Reagan National.

Day 4 – Thursday, June 14, 2007

Car service takes me to Reagan to pick up my car.

Travelogue 12:45 pm - finally, in my office searching online for a Psychic to get my "Aura" adjusted. Find that I now have a twitch above my left eye brought on by any mention of a storm, airport or plane. Just submitted a PO request for a “Madden Cruiser.”

Creating a Trend

3/4/09 - Click on "Twitter" in the 5th paragraph for an update on this story...we're getting closer.

What if you could create a trend that could make your product “THE” hot product? Think it’s impossible? Maybe now, but in less than two years IT WILL HAPPEN.

I saw something a few weeks ago that gave me chills when I thought about the potential uses. The tool is...in a sense...the world’s largest and most sophisticated digital listening device. It was built to monitor chatter by those "not so friendly" folks that see the US as the “evil empire”. (Let’s just say that Homeland Security has got this one nailed.) Yes, other companies have similar tools but nothing reaches the size, scale and scope of this one (consider this, it has archived ALL the web pages in the ”www” for the last three years).

Anyway, we’re helping to develop a commercial use for the tool and I as was watching the demonstration, I couldn’t help but think about Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. Many of the concepts he wrote about, I was now seeing play out in real life. This gigantic ear could easily determine who the “connectors” of the digital world are (in real time), “The Power of Context” as Malcom refers to it (in over 20 languages), and when something is going “viral”….all with very sophisticated algorithms and complex math.

It got me thinking, could it also determine how to create a trend? According to the team that developed the tool , it can’t yet because it doesn’t assess and/or integrate a number of important factors needed to understand the audience and what drives behavior. But if you combine the power of this tool (and other similar tools) and social networking…I believe that we are getting close.

A few days later a colleague sent me this post. Facebook is studying “sentiment” behavior. Right now it’s limited to things like how “nasty news is impacting stock” and when folks are “going out” but it can, and will evolve quickly. To this point, Zuckerberg has not really monetized his platform yet, unlike Murdoch with MySpace. So could this be the “killer” app that drives Ad sales into Facebook? It's too soon to tell at this point but it sure sounds good. With 222 million unique visitors sharing very personal information with most of it in the public domain this might be the next piece to fall. Throw in Twitter and marketers will soon have the ability to understand what’s “hot” or has the potential to be “hot”, who says it’s “hot”, why they’re saying it, where they like to buy “hot”, etc.

So the question to marketers is…if you have the opportunity in the near future to make your product the “hottest” thing…could you? You currently have the ability to access massive amounts of consumer data today and that will grow dramatically over the next few years. What are you doing with it now and what might you do with this information in the future? One thing is for certain, it will require new capabilities, vendors, and tools to interpret and draw out insight. Get ready now, it’s coming… and in this situation there will be a clear early mover advantage.

For now, go back and re-read The Tipping Point (replace Hush Puppies with UGGs) and start dreaming about the possibilities, especially what it would take to make it happen. Think about this for a second: you could start a trend for a product that doesn’t exist…demand before supply…yea, that’s “HOT.”

The Goldmine in Your Backyard

This post was recently featured on the DemandGen Report
How to Identify Opportunity in Your Existing Accounts

In my blog post on December 16th (The Myth of the Foot in the Door) I shared with you some thoughts on where NOT to look for new business.

So it’s only fair that I share some ideas on where to look for new business…we try to keep it “fair and balanced” here the B2B S&M Knowledge Sharing channel. And this one is a winner. A guaranteed tip that works 100% of the time or your money back. And the reason it works 100% of the time is…because sales force behavior is predictable and consistent regardless of industry, company, etc.

Here’s why:

• Show me the money – a good sales force sells what they GET PAID on…we like to think of them as “good corporate citizens” but they’re not. And they don't have to be, they're trained and motivated to sell those things that retire quota. Ever heard of the expression…”tell me how I get paid and I’ll tell you what I’m going to do” Who do you think created it?
• Company priorities – good companies pay comp on priority products/solutions. Many times those products are new. Typically, companies have three priority products and/or reps sit on a patch that they need to grow by an incremental 5-10% a year. The best way to achieve that goal for most…sell a few new customers or new things to existing customers.
• Shiny New Thing – sales forces love the latest and greatest. Whether it’s a new product/service and/or customer…if it’s something new to talk about (we’ve done research on this see my blog post, the 2008 Sales Effectiveness study is being released soon). Combine those to ingredients, stir and voila, you have the makings of a goldmine in your backyard.

Here’s how to discover the goldmine:

• Segment your customer database into date acquired using ranges (0-2yrs, 3-5 yrs, etc.
• Segment your products based on when they were launched using ranges (same as above)
• Then create a cross segment with the two sorts (see below)

What I really love about this analysis is that it is simple and actionable. You don’t need to get the Ph.D propeller heads involved who have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Do the analysis and here’s what you will find:

• New customers will be well penetrated with new products (see reasons above)
• Old customers will be well penetrated with older products (ditto)
• As a result, you will most likely find opportunities for new products in older customers and… yes, you guessed it…older products in new customers

We discovered this pattern years ago when building out new sales channels for companies. To avoid channel conflict we had to find “white space” to create opportunity for the new channel. If you have dedicated product specialists this pattern will be even more extreme. You’ll need to do some work on the products (in particular, the older ones +5 years) to see if they’re still relevant. It’s particularly useful for finding opportunities for products that are “rev. 2.0, 3.0, etc". Sales reps tend to take a pass on a product enhancement or extension.

Give it a try, and if you do, please report back your findings. The need for "easy to access" opportunity couldn’t be greater in today’s economy and, as everyone knows, the value of gold goes up in a recession.

Are You a Better Seller than a 6th Grader?

What a Girl Scout can teach us about the customer experience...and how to sell

Last week I had the pleasure…to my surprise…of hearing my 6th grader work the phone selling Girl Scout cookies. She’s been a Girl Scout for a number of years and has achieved “Cookie Diva” (Cookie VIP this year) status numerous times by selling more than 150 boxes of cookies. Although I had helped her over the years by selling some cookies at work, I never actually got to hear her sales pitch, until last night.

Sure, it’s hard to resist a Girl Scout selling cookies, but as a sales and marketing consultant for the last 12 years, I was struck by how well a simple, honest approach to selling worked. It was an interesting and enlightening 30 minutes.

Here are some of things I heard:

• Niceties/Pleasantries – started every conversation with “happy new year”, and talked about their holiday, children, etc. She invested the time in catching up with them even though she had limited time to make calls between homework and bedtime. She didn’t jump to “getting the order.” It made me think about how often I rush through this important step because of time constraints, pressure on revenues, and/or proposals. If customers think that the only time you call them is when you want something...this certainly confirms it.
  
• Customer Knowledge – no sophisticated databases, profiling or scripts. She did her homework by knowing what they ordered last year, what girls were no longer Girl Scouts, etc. which made it easy for customers to place orders because she knew them well.
  
• Attitude – sometimes people consider sales as a “dirty job” and/or that we may be they are inconveniencing/imposing on someone by pitching them…like a stalker (maybe that’s just me). Could this stem from the fact that perhaps we don’t believe in our product or the value it can deliver to our customers. Listening to my daughter, I heard her talk about how good some of the cookies are and know how much they and/or their children love them, how she likes to put the “Thin Mints” in the freezer because she likes to eat them cold or dunk the “Do-Si-Dos” in a glass of milk before bed. Having seen boxes of GS cookies disappear from our shelves, I can attest to how much she loves her product.
  
  She’s not imposing on others, even though she caught some folks at dinner, she’s turning others on to a great product that she loves. What a difference that makes…
  
• Product Knowledge – not only did she know all the cookies, including the new and classics, but also how many where in a box and how they were packaged. The best part was describing how to consume them…see above. I can’t tell you how many marketers I’ve worked over the years that don’t know the products their companies sell. I’m convinced that this lack of product knowledge is the leading reason why sales organizations dismiss or don’t respect marketing/marketers. Want to improve sales and marketing integration, train your marketers on products and see what happens.
  
• Reference/Customer Testimonies – when her personal testimonials weren’t getting the job done she started to talk about others in the family and/or someone they knew. It made me think, do customers really care to hear reps experience with their own products? Maybe not, but do they listen to how convincingly or passionately they’ll testify…you bet! Customer testimonies are always the best --the more relevant the situation the better, but they also judge reps consciously or unconsciously on how well reps make their case (see the bullet above).
  
• Handling Objections & the True Decision Maker – she went after a new customer who told her that they usually buy from a girl in the neighborhood. She then asked for the lady of the house recognizing the dad/husband was not the real decision maker (home schooled on this trick). She got an order but not the full order…the girl in the neighborhood will still get hers...but it will be a couple of boxes short.
  
  How often do our reps stop at “no” or get stuck dealing with the first contact vs the real decision maker? We all know that we’ll have to work harder to get the order than in the past, maybe we don’t go for the home runs as often, and settle for few singles instead.
• Incentives – simple and straight forward, no complicated % or calculations…sell this much…get this. A compensations consultant’s dream, straight forward and easy to implement. On the order sheet, it lists the prize the girls receive based on their sales. As she reached certain level (25 boxes, 50 boxes, etc) she would tell us what prize she was won and what she was going for next. But the big one, the President Club, the one that screams “I’m the Diva” was the Cookie VIP patch.
  
  Good old fashion recognition for a job well done that lasts all year. Oh, how we’ve complicated incentives plans over the years. The search for the ultimate motivator has many times led us down the wrong path. Is it time to simplify, not sure, but I would bet it’s worth investigating.
  
• Connecting it to Social Causes – this is the primary fundraising vehicle for the Girl Scouts and people know it. Can you write off the $3.50 per box as a donation? No, but you do feel good about placing you order, sure. We’re all so socially aware nowadays, are there opportunities to connect your products to the “greater good?” You may have seen the latest ads from IBM and how they’re products and services can help companies “go green.” It’s time to add this to the value proposition…or at least consider it.

Yes, I know that many of us have much more complicated sales processes and products/services, but how much of that is self inflicted? At the end of the day, don’t all customers want the same thing…a good product or service that satisfies a need/want representing good value acquired through a pleasant experience?
During this difficult economic environment, listening to my daughter was a good reminder of how well having a good product, knowing your customers and believing in the value that you’re providing can work. Is it time to simplify our products, value proposition, how we compensate our reps? It may depend on the company, the situation, the market…but I would bet it wouldn’t hurt.
At the end of the night, ten phone calls, 10 closes and over 70 boxes of cookies sold in the matter of 30 minutes (pleasantries, product description, and an order every 3 minutes). Not bad for a junior telemarketer with no training. The GS’s will sell over 200 million boxes of cookies over the next month…more than any cookie manufacturer will sell the entire year.
Does simple work…for some, extremely well. The question is will it work for you?

Managing the "U"

Happy New Year! Well...I'm not sure if happy is the right word, maybe we should just hope that it will be better than 2008.

Anyway, I know that the current economic conditions have many executives scrambling to cut costs and keep their heads above water. As I mentioned in my post on November 6, 2008 entitled Best Practices from the Last Downturn, we’ve gone back and looked at what leading companies did to weather the storm, steal share and come out of the downturns ahead of their competition.

In the video above, MarketBridge CEO Tim Furey looks at what leading companies are doing this time around, and shares some best practices for firms going into 2009.

In Part 2 of this discussion Tim will more closely examine how a few specific companies (namely HP and CapOne) are utilizing the downturn as an opportunity to position themselves as market leaders.

Pre-register Here