All Customers Are Not Created Equal by Jim Palmer

Just wanted to include this as everything that Jim says in this article is absolutely true.  I hear a wise man say once, "You should treat your best customers better than you treat your spouse, assuming that you treat your spouse with utter respect and admiration."

Enjoy the read.  Joanne

All Customers Are Not Created Equal

By Jim Palmer

Here’s something I’d like you to repeat after me: “All customers are not created equal.” Once again, “All customers are not created equal.” Remember that. It goes back to the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. Knowing that fact, why would anyone not cater to that 20 percent? Every customer should receive great customer service, but those who are more loyal, deserve more.

This is the basis for rewards programs like those offered by the airlines and restaurants. When you travel exclusively with one airline, you build up more miles, and the more miles you get, the more perks you get. Those who have more miles are treated differently… treated better, and there’s nothing wrong with that. These programs don’t arbitrarily play favorites. They simply reward loyalty. Those travelers who are packed into economy class, jammed into the middle seat, are as eligible to sit in first class as those who are doing so. They simply have to spend more and earn more miles. Loyalty programs are great ways to reward your best customers.

Catering to your best customers starts with the 80/20 rule, but continues to the 90/10 and even the 95/5 rules. No matter how you slice it, the greatest percentage of your sales (and ultimately your profits!) comes from the smallest percentage of your customer base. Analyze you customer list and learn who’s spending the most.

If you want to sell more (and who doesn’t!) these are these easiest people to sell to since you already have an established and trusting relationship with them, and your cost of doing business with them is the lowest. High sales and low cost always equates to greater profitability. It’s one of the simplest equations in business, so know who your hyper-responsive customers are and use that to your advantage. Marketing legend and one of my business mentors, Dan Kennedy puts it this way, “If you want to sell more, go back to the people that have already identified themselves as buyers – your customers – because buyers are buyers are buyers!”

Learn more secrets on how to use a newsletter to boost your business in my book, The Magic of Newsletter Marketing - The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life.

Jim Palmer is known internationally as the 'Newsletter Guru, the go-to resource for smart, effective strategies for maximizing the profitability of customer relationships. Jim is also the acclaimed author of The Magic of Newsletter Marketing - The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life and Stick Like Glue - How to Create an Everlasting Bond with Your Customers So They Spend More, Stay Longer, and Refer More! Jim is also the creator of the wildly successfulNo Hassle Newsletters.

Trade Show Series, Put Your Best Foot Forward, Volume 1

 These are the show notes from the first in a series of fifteen minute audio seminars on Power Tips for Trade Shows.  

Monday Morning Marketeer, Trade Shows, Put Your Best Food Forward

Time: 11/01/2010 11:00 AM EDT Episode Notes: The Bare minimum five things that you need when spending your already strapped budget to attend a trade show. Don't leave home without them or you might as well throw the money you spent on the show out the window of an expressway going seventy miles an hour.

I continually watch business owners and their staff drag themselves to trade shows thinking they need to be there just because their competitors are. Often they will send in someone, anyone who is expendable at the brick and mortar office that day to take care of their exhibit and their interests.  Question, do you send out your least experienced, worst sales people to get the word out about your business and expect them to make sales?  I don’t think so! 

This is an opportunity to reach a lot of people that you would not normally reach, why wouldn’t you staff your exhibit with the best your company has to offer.  The cost?  Well you already paid upwards of a minimum of $600.00 to sometimes $5,000.00 or more to exhibit, so why not match your talent with your investment?  Even a low end trade show might garner you some phenomenal leads. Remember that those that you send are a snapshot of your business and the only one that prospects may ever see if they don’t like the picture.  Get the picture?

Here are some Power Tips for Putting Your Best Foot Forward:

1.        Take your best people

Don’t send out the second string if at all possible.  Make sure your representatives are well groomed, personable, knowledgeable, sellable and ABLE TO SELL!

2.       Have information about your product or service

My flier for Techno Granny, which is part of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, talks about the difference between new and traditional media and lets prospects know about the free stuff or content that I give away online and  also my premium services which they can pay for and why they should.

Always let them know, “what else you do”

Samples of “what else you do”:  When we exhibit for NAWBO Greater Pittsburgh, National Association Women Business Owners, we always take programs from our last two signature events, NAWBO Day program and our Make the Connection Awards Program.

Make sure you have an offer,  TODAY ONLY,  two week deadline, they will forget about you after that.  Dan Kennedy, number one marketer in the world says, “If you don’t have an offer on your advertisement or collateral material, you have wasted the paper it’s printed on.”

3.       Have something for free to attract people to your booth or table

Demonstration:  blood pressure scan, how to use quickbooks, 5 minute massage, galvanic spa treatment

If you are selling jewelry have another vendor wear it at their booth and direct traffic to you

Candy is okay and you hope you can pitch them but if you can afford it a free ad specialty that will get them thinking about your business.  Some great items that I have recommended to my clients:

·         Stress balls

·         Computers, screen cleaner or canned air

·         Organizer, binder to keep all of your ad stuff in that you got at the conference

·         Business card holder for all of their conference cards that has your name on it

·         Pens are cheap and great but they often get given away to someone who has no idea why they have it and may never even look at the info on it.

·         Create a “How to” Give Away if you have no money, then follow up later, did you use my” how to” white paper?  Do you have any questions or is there any way I can help you?

4.       Have a way to capture contacts with your giveaway, box or fishbowl.

I like to give away something they will want, could be one of your products, make sure it is something you can upsell later.  I often give away an article page on my online magazine.  Later as they get the lay of the land and see some results of the article page, I may sell them an inside radio and TV channel.

Make sure you get referrals out of whatever you give away as a major prize from your exhibitor’s table.

5.       Always work the front of the table not the back.  There is nothing less exciting than someone sitting behind the table waiting for visitors to stop by.

6.       Enthusiasm and excitement is a must, as a matter of fact this will be an entire segment in this series on Power Tips for Trade Shows.

This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information:

© Joanne Quinn-Smith 2010, Monday Morning Marketeer™ 412-628-5048

Listen at:  http://tinyurl.com/MondayMorningMarketeer

Blog:  www.marketingmondaymorning.blogspot.com

Or on its unique radio channel at:

www.positivelypittsburghlivemgazine.com

Joanne Quinn-Smith is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and an expert on Web 2.0 Branding.

Joanne has also been designated by the 2009 U.S. Small Business Administration as the Small Business Journalist of the Year for her work with information relevant to and advocacy of small businesses.

Follow at:  https://twitter.com/monmornmarketer

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/joannequinnsmith

Phone:  412-628-5048

Never Rake Leaves Uphill and Other Management Lessons Learned

Having learned many lesson from my own gardening and outdoor work, I found this to be a tremendous article with wise tips.

Joanne Quinn-Smith, 2009 Small Business Administration Journalist of the Year

Host of the Monday Morning Marketeer

Never Rake Leaves Uphill and Other Management Lessons Learned in the Northwoods

November 4, 2010 by Art Petty
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Management Education, Performance, Project Management, Social Satire 

Note from Art: some lighter thoughts connecting the world of good old-fashioned (and cathartic) physical labor to the world of projects and work. And some bonus advice for getting along, especially with your spouse or significant other!

Spend enough time writing, speaking and thinking about management and performance, and you’re likely to find yourself looking for lessons in all of your dealings. This certainly held true for me this past weekend, as I engaged in the annual fall ritual of cleaning up the leaves at the northwoods home.

While the management guidance here might not make the next issue of HBR, if you ever face several hilly acres of ankle deep leaves, this might just save your back from breaking and your relationships from crumbling!

1. First and foremost, never rake leaves uphill. Ditto for against the wind! Gravity and other forces of nature are your friends here. Don’t fight them. Leaves tend to fall downhill, blow downhill and generally migrate towards their friends at low points in the land.

Adding a little science (very little!), you might reasonably conclude that the energy consumed per unit of leaf raked is pretty high when you push the little buggers up hill one at a time. Your goal here is minimal energy consumption on this task. Remember, after the leaves are gone, you’ve probably got to split a cord of wood.

In the Workplace: Too many projects feel a lot like raking leaves uphill. Poor project design and improper training result in a lot of commotion and little forward progress. And small obstacles easily become gigantic bottlenecks that soak up valuable management time and impact schedules and performance. If you feel like you are “raking uphill and against the wind,” stop, assess and address the challenge from a new perspective.

On a personal note, it is your wife that is raking uphill, use your best tact and diplomacy to encourage her to rethink her approach. Trust me, I learned this one the hard way.

2. Proper planning and flawless execution are required to effectively land a tarpaulin so that you can cover it in leaves on a windy day.

In the Workplace: anyone that has ever been involved in a complex project with multiple coworkers, understands the benefits of great teamwork and great team members operating in synchronicity towards a common goal.  It’s easy to misfire and quickly become aggravated with poor performing or poorly trained team members, and then it’s only a short step away from complete team meltdown. Take the time to clarify tasks, practice the execution and then provide team members with effective, real-time feedback.

Another personal note: if it’s your wife or spouse that is misfiring on the tarp job, use your best tact and diplomacy to teach and encourage improved performance. Trust me, again!

3. Know your own limit of incompetence when it comes to team safety. Don’t ever plan on flying an airplane if you cannot consistently remember to raise the wheel on the brush trailer before heading up your driveway digging a new ditch and wrecking yet another wheel.

In the Workplace: risk management is a critical issue to be managed in real-time. Teach your team and yourself to constantly assess risks and build systems to identify and mitigate or eliminate those risks.  Also, learn your limits. Some people and some teams just shouldn’t fly airplanes or run nuclear power plants.

4. Choose the right leader for the job at hand, and shift leaders as the jobs change. Put two corporate executives used to leading teams on the same task to conquer the clean-up, and you might not find it shocking that both individuals have a very strong opinion on how things should be handled. My Dad and I learned long ago to swap roles. For example, I’m a master laborer and he’s a master engineer. If the task calls for bulk, brawn and speed, I’m in charge. If it’s the redesign of the in-ground sprinkling system or rewiring of 2 acres of ground lights, it’s all Dad!

In the Workplace: learn to lead and to follow and learn to make the transition gracefully and your project and execution performance will improve tremendously.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

May all of your fall projects be as filled with management and relationship lessons as mine!

Tags: Leadership and Labor, Management Lessons, On the Lighter Side

Reproduced with permission from:

Art Petty

Principal, SMI, LLC

Author: The Management Excellence Blog

http://artpetty.com 

Founder: Building Better Leaders

http://buildingbetterleaders.com

847.612.8420

art.petty@artpetty.com 

follow Art on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/artpetty

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