Your Actions Change Your Reputation and they Change You

On Thursday (Feb. 12th) I was listening to the Radio and heard an author of a book on Parenting saying that statistics show that older children are tending towards "disassociation" when it comes to self perception and behavior.

Folks, this is not about anyone's religion. Your actions shape who you are. It may take water a long time to erode a hillside but given enough time much damage can be done. When you engage in any activity repeatedly, especially over longer periods of time, it becomes more and more difficult to cease.

Overeating is one example. Gambling is another. Cheating is another.

But not only do your actions shape you, they also shape others perceptions of you.

Recently I saw a van with a realtor's bumper sticker parked in the blue striped access space just to the side of a handicapped parking space. The sticker said that the agent wanted to be my realtor. My reaction? No way, no how.

Why?

Because if they would do that in a parking space they might also mess up any transaction in which they represented me. Not going to happen.

Seth Godin wrote "Good guys finish..."

The final item on the checklist

What should you always do, before you tell the client that the job is done? What should you always do before you send a letter or article? What should you always do before you sign a contract?

Jon Swanson wrote an article about a local auto mechanic who apparently consistently fails to do the final item on the checklist. The article is entitled: "There Is Always Something."

Are you worthy of my trust?

The more voices that there are in the marketplace, the more important it is that a buyer knows who can be trusted.

Therefore, a seller needs to known how to be WORTHY of being trusted.

Matt McGee wrote "Why Trust Matters & How To Earn It."

Can You Be Trusted?

There has almost always been a segment of the business community that was convinced that Nice Guys finish last.

These are the Donald Trumps and the Financial Advisors that do redistribution just in time to pass on 1099s to those who are supposed to be their clients.

Well if you want to swim with the sharks, go right ahead. But sharks are neither trustworthy nor trusted, at least not by the wise.

Someone recently asked Marshall Goldsmith what advantage there is in business to being "good." He wrote an article entitled: "Why Shoot Straight in a Crooked World?"

Tomorrow's Leader

Short term leadership is easy compared with life long success. If you want a long career as a leader of the pack, you have to consistently convince the pack that you are worthy of long term leadership.

Jonathan Farrington wrote "Influencing Really Is That Important!"

Borrow a page from the wise Politician

Politicians who stay in office for a long career learn the same lesson. Their constituency's voting patterns are not based on the strident special interest group demonstrators.

Sometimes to survive a primary, a politician will focus on pleasing special interest groups, but when it comes to the general election - the wise politician realizes that the independent vote is often the deciding factor. He also realizes that the size of a market segment is not based on the volume of the vociferous few.

As a business, to discover how to please your customer base, you need to discover how large the silent majority is and what the gripes of the silent majority are.

Seth Godin wrote "Listening to the Loud People."

Your Brand is not your Logo - How To Destroy it.

Too many small business owner's confuse brand and brand identity. However you can't really blame them when a lot of article writers who should know better use the term brand when what they mean is brand identity.

Your company brand is your public corporate reputation. If the general public thinks that your corporation is reliable, trustworthy and customer friendly - that is part of your brand.

But another part of your brand is what the general public thinks that your company does. Some companies have ruined themselves by trying to do too many things under one brand identity.

That is why some companies, for example, Nestle, have separate brands for separate products. Sometimes consumers are surprised to learn that two products are from the same company. This is actually good for marketing as the segmentation of identity allows for more flexibility.

However, some business owners ruin their company's reputation. Ed Roach wrote a "tongue-in-cheek" article entitled: "Dork Your Brand!"

No Presumption of Innocence, Defendant!

You are accused of being a con-artist and a cheat.

The prosecution does not have to establish its case because in this court - there is no presumption of innocence.

This is the Buyer's court and you are the seller. In this court, the seller is presumed guilty.

There are some articles that I almost always skip over and don't recommend. One of thes is the Book Review. But every rule has its exception. If an article could stand on its own even without the Book which is being reviewed then it might just make it to this venue.

Ardath Albee wrote about a book that describes the last century of salesmanship. This book traces many of the traditional methods of salesmanship back to the deceptive practices of a company which was convicted of anti-trust practices before World War I.

Yet their methods of selling became part of the foundation of the culture of American salesmanship. The result is that most Americans find it very difficult to trust any salesperson who they meet for the very first time.

Ardath Albee lists eight of the reasons that twentieth century sales tactics don't work and gives a preview of the tactics which are suggested by the book which she reviews.

Ardath's article is entitled "Salespeople guilty until proven innocent." If you are a business owner or a salesperson, you really should read this article.

To receive Trust, you must first be worthy

Recently, I talked about the need to be genuine.

Today, let's talk about being "real." Real people have convictions and opinions. Real people are not always trying to hide. Real people have the courage to be real. Real people are loyal to their relationships.

In other words, to be real is to be engaged in the humanity of others.

Sonia Simone wrote "Are you trustworthy?"

Why does Trust based selling work?

Many people who have not mastered trust based selling do not believe that it works. Sometimes someone who "tries" it without truly being trustworthy becomes convinced that the fault does not lie with himself but rather with the method.

One of the biggest hurdles of trust based selling is that it can only be mastered by someone who is truly genuine. The truth is that many entrepreneur's have an "It's only business" attitude. If that is your attitude then you can never master Trust based selling because when you try it you are a phony.

The reason that trust based salespeople are masters of their craft is because they truly do care about their clients and when their client suffers, they bleed.

Charles Green wrote an article explaining why the idea that trust based selling doesn't work is based on a misconception.

How DO I Know I Can Trust You?

Just because you say to a prospect that your company is trustworthy does not mean that you build their confidence. In fact making that statement may have the opposite effect to what you intended.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. - William Shakespeare - Hamlet

However, there are things which your company can do to build trust and to help build a referral network because of trust.

Ardath Albee wrote "Marketing Behaviors that Build Trust"

Economic Slowdowns favor certain Businesses

During a booming economy people are more likely to take risks than they are during a slow economy. Those companies which are perceived as being less risky and more trustworthy have a better chance of prospering during a slow economy than do edgy and avant garde companies.

The Brooks Group wrote an article containing three sets of three items each that focus on how to improve sales during an economic slowdown

Calculating the ROI of being Loyal to your Client

A lot of companies create customer loyalty programs to try to encourage their customers to keep buying from them. However, many of these companies make no attempt to be loyal to their customers. This has a hindering effect on their efforts to encourage loyalty in their customers.

However, if it were possible to calculate how much each customer is worth in revenue to the company over the lifetime of the customer, companies might be more inclined to being loyal to their customers.

Crystal Williams wrote an article entitled "How Much Is Your Customer Worth?"

Nurturing Relationships

I am a big believer in business relationships. Unfortunately, those who believe the way I do about business relationships are few.

I believe that business relationships should be two way. Some businesses have Customer Loyalty programs but they are not loyal to their customers.

I believe that business relationships should not be based on being transactional but rather on character. Transactional business relationships are like affairs and flings, they tend to focus on selfishness and a year later are awkward.

I believe that today's small potatoes may be tomorrow's King of the Hill. Businesses that treat their small clients differently than their big clients are sacrificing long term brand loyalty for quarterly profits.

I believe that sharks should be avoided. Any business person who betrays an ally is very likely to betray me.

I believe that takers are not worth the investment of time and energy. A taker is one who demonstrates over and over that he "is only in it for himself."

I believe that givers are always worth more than I can ever invest. A giver is not simply someone who gives to me nor is a giver someone who does something for personal glory or satisfaction. A giver can be impoverished and still be a giver. A giver is a giver in their heart and character, one who possess a generous spirit.

Another thing about business relationships is that, unfortunately, there are also "rules."

Mark F wrote an article about the rules of vendor-client relationships.

Transparency can destroy Mental Commodification

Have you ever found yourself faced with a long term client who is beginning to waver about whether or not to switch to your competition?

The reason this happens is because of mental commodification.

Although you are always trying to differentiate your company from your competition, on some level this client has decided that the difference is relatively insignificant.

But what would happen, if instead of your TELLING the client that you are different, the client was able to SEE the difference?

Sean Hazell wrote an article entitled, "Take Your Customer to Work Day."

How to start a Business Newsletter

This posting is not going to contain a whole-hearted endorsement of an article. However, the article which I am going to recommend that you read, does contain many good ideas.

I will provide a link to the article at the bottom of this posting, but the article is "Starting An Ezine" by Corte Swearingen. Tips 2 and 3 are very good. The other three are good, but ....

Regarding Tip #1: If you do not plan to publish your ezine as a downloadable or as an e-mail attachment, then I agree with Corte's tip #1. However, if your audience agrees to receive your newsletter as an attachment, then a PDF is greatly superior to HTML e-mails.

Regarding Tip #4: Let your audience community "drive" your content. Too many business newsletters focus on "telling" the audience some viewpoint or philosophy which the business wants to promote, instead of focusing on what your audience wants to hear.

Regarding Tip #5: PREselling is like salt in a cooking recipe. Too much salt will ruin a recipe, too little salt makes some foods taste bland. I strongly recommend that you keep your PREselling content to less than 20% and that you treat it as delicately as great copywriters treat the inserting of keywords into copy. In other words, keep it to a minimum.

Corte Swearingen wrote: "Starting An Ezine."

Relationships or Cold Selling

If you don't already know it, I hate selling that focuses on overwhelming or manipulating propects.

My clients know that if they ask me a question, the answer will be in their best interests not in mine. I am not the kind of business owner that thinks that everything he sees is a nail, because all that he has is a hammer.

If you are looking for making your website into a web application or if you want to create a point of sale website with ever changing inventory, I don't try to convince you to hire me, I refer you to someone else. Why? Because building business relationships is the route I have resolved to tak in building my business. If I can't be your friend, then I don't want to "sell" you.

Bruce Fryer wrote "Push Sales: Does It Work For You?"

Client Driven Sales

In the 1970s, I learned Sales, the wrong way. Oddly enough, I had been doing Sales the right way for years. But I had not been doing it effectively the right way.

The right way to sell, is to place the client in the driver's seat. The salesperson asks questions, offers suggestions, provides advice, does research, but does not attempt to manipulate or overcome the client. The right way to sell, makes the salesperson a resource for the client.

I no longer do Sales, the way that I was taught. I have no desire to persuade someone against their will. But if I can help my clients, I go out of my way to find solutions which make their business more effective. If I can not help, I refer them to someone else - I don't try to get them to buy something which is not in their best interest.

Karen Swim wrote "Five Things Freelancers Should Know About Sales."

If you Want Commitment, Then You Have To Give Commitment

Many companies have what are called "loyalty programs." But what they tend to be is bribery and commoditization programs. If you really want your clients to be loyal to you, you might want to start by first being loyal to them.

If you want love, you got to give love. If you want good branding, then you better give customer service and satisfaction bountifully. If I am your customer, I don't want your discounts and your rebates - I want to know that I can trust you and that when I have a complaint that I will have my problem resolved as if I were your absolute best friend.

If I have a choice and the service is available from all three, and my choices are Comcast, at&t, and Earthlink. All things being otherwise relatively equal, I am going to go with Earthlink. Why?

Because even though Earthlink does not offer me six months at half price or a hundred dollar rebate, Earthlink has always (at least as far as my memory remembers) made me happy when I had a problem. And if it can be resolved, they resolve the problem with very little hassle.

I can not say the same thing about Comcast and at&t.

Steve Yastrow wrote an article (on Walt Goshert's blog) entitled "Turning Customer Loyalty Upside Down."

Three Marketing Strategies

What is more effective than improving Quality or Lowering Price? If you are seeking to affect your client, should your client be affecting you? How do you get past the prospect's skepticism?

These questions are answered by an article by Corte Swearingen.

Don't Be A "Nowhere Man"

Are you Marketing in a Nowhere Land and making Nowhere adjustments to your marketing position and Customer No-Service?

Seth Godin writes about the success of a show in which the performer is not acting but being.

Don't Pretend to Be Who You Aren't

Have you ever gotten a business card from a one person company that attempted to make it appear that the company was much bigger?

Credibility is key to trust. If I learn that you are not credible then it is harder to trust you.

Admission: Qwerty is a one person consultancy. Sometimes a plural pronoun creeps into my writing or my conversation. I try to avoid this, but it is about as difficult for me to avoid as it is to get a native born Georgian to quit saying "All you alls" or a Wisconsinite to quit saying "Ya betcha." (Those comments are made with affection and not with disparagement. I live in Georgia and have family in Wisconsin.)

Search Marketing Gurus posted an article on Truth In Marketing. (Hey, SMG, let us know which of you are writing each post.)