I sat through a capabilities presentation today.  These people were friendly, taught me about their business, why they were successful and why they’d be a great fit for me and my clients.  But, there was a fatal error: they didn’t ask enough questions nor knew enough about my business to assert their perfect fit.  Though I’m confident they’re awesome, I was surprised at their certainty of particular fit with me.  It turns out, they’re not.

In my last post, I said that our customers (and sometimes ourselves) can be so caught up in immediate business challenges that it becomes super easy to miss the forest for the trees… and that it makes them vulnerable to risk.  The temptation is to tell them directly where they are at risk and how, because we’re so smart, we can swoop in and save the day due to our sheer awesomeness and superhero like business acumen.

Featured image courtesy of Brett Jordan licensed via Creative Commons

Resist the urge.

We have to find new and creative ways to help customers and prospects and to resist the urge to make them feel that without us, they are damned to forever ignorance as the poem I mentioned in my  last post suggests.  When we put our capes on and go into superhero mode, people get defensive, build up walls, eye you warily and other things.  Even worse, they may even say the death knell of a business meeting, “I’d like to think it over.”  Doh!

Business kryptonite is actually a good thing.

Previously, I mentioned reading Patrick Lencioni’s “Getting Naked” and I learned that showing the chinks in the armor goes a lot further than presenting a perfect veneer.  Embracing our business kryptonite and admitting what we don’t know (but are willing to learn) are all things that help establish relationships with others.  We fail our customers when we aren’t embracing vulnerabilities by:

• Acting out of fear of losing their business;
• Acting out of fear of embarrassment; and
• Acting out of fear of feeling inferior.

When we do any one or a cocktail of these things, we build up walls which protects us from others.  But what happens when we build walls as a defensive measure?  Our customers and prospects build walls too in a form of business arms race.  This business arms race is the exact opposite of a trusting relationship.  Not good.

Mr/Ms. Business Person, tear down this wall!

Yeah, that was a riff on Reagan’s famous line to Gorbachev but it’s fitting here.  I’ve included some quotes from this on Lencioni’s Table Group site but the italics are mine.

“… clients are more interested in candor, modesty and transparency than they are in confidence, authority and perfection.  That’s not to say that competence is irrelevant; clients need to know that we have the knowledge and experience to help them.  But once we’ve reached that level, the best way to differentiate ourselves from competition – not to mention help a client implement the ideas we’re recommending to them – is to be vulnerable with them.

Vulnerability is the opposite of, well, invulnerability.  It’s about honesty and authenticity.  It is only by facing and overcoming those fears, and getting comfortable being naked, that we can earn the kind of trust that creates loyalty with clients.

Naked service providers and consultants confront clients (kindly) with difficult information and perspectives, even if the client might not like hearing it.  Naked consultants ask potentially dumb questions, and make potentially dumb suggestions, because if those questions or suggestions ultimately help their client, it is worth the potential embarrassment.  They also admit their weaknesses and celebrate their mistakes. Even before landing a client, a naked consultant will demonstrate vulnerability and take risks. They will give away their best ideas and start consulting to the prospective client during a sales call.  In fact, they’ll do no real selling at all, foregoing that activity in order to find a way to help a client even if they never actually become one.“

But, this is not free consulting.

We’ll discuss this distinction in my next post.  In the meantime, please share your thoughts below and, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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678 Partners is working with CEOIntronet to bring unique and interesting CEO stories from Chicago, Philadelphia and other parts of the Mid West. Twice a month we bring 8 CEO’s to downtown Chicago so they can share their story. They have told the stories of over 200 of the most innovative, interesting, and inspirational leaders in the Philadelphia and Chicago region! Sharing best practice from leadership and management to innovation as well as how they are impacting their community, county, state, country (and where appropriate the globe). Stories on how jobs are being created to making a difference and adding value. See what you think: 5 – 6 minute interviews all about the company and the CEO. www.ceointronet.com/ceointronet-tv A CEO roundtable about a topic that each participant has a point of view www.ceointronet.com/video If you know a CEO that fits the bill, please contact me to learn more.

When I was little, we had a Cutlass station wagon as part of the American (Immigrant Upwardly Mobile) Dream.  It was a very vibrant sort of cranberry color.  Here’s a picture so you can get a visual of the car’s style and color.  Mind you, this is a sedan and not a wagon but it’s a good proxy so you “feel” the vibe of the car.

Featured image courtesy of John Lloyd licensed via Creative Commons

To my 5 year old eyes, this station wagon was the most massive thing ever.  Often, late at night when driving home from somewhere, I would climb from the back seat over the front bench style seat to sit between my parents or fall asleep in my mother’s lap.

When you don’t know that you don’t know.

No, it wasn’t safe.  And we’re not going to discuss our relatively cavalier approach to seatbelt usage in those days, either.  But then, all of us did a lot of things those days that were (unbeknownst to us) to our detriment e.g., polyester leisure suits, avocado green linoleum and other horrors.

Essentially, we didn’t know at that time that we didn’t know.  But, thanks to car safety data and education from various sources that showed how people were vulnerable to injury, my parents stopped me from climbing over the front seat and we started using seat belts.  It is a perfect example of guiding your customers to what is their best benefit.

In this post, I shared with you an old Persian poem that’s been around for centuries but Donald Rumsfeld made famous more recently. Here are a few lines that resonate with this post in particular:

Yes, and…

The issue with this poem is that forever dumb part.  I do feel it’s possible to help customers continue on the path to success.  Our mission, as a strategic business development consultancy, is exactly this.  Often times, your customers can be so caught up in their immediate business challenges that it becomes very easy to not see the forest for the trees which makes them vulnerable to risk.  Telling them directly where they are at risk and then showing how you’re going to save the day sounds like the right thing to do.

But it’s not.  It makes people defensive, they build up walls and worse, they sometimes don’t trust you.  If we are truly to be the best business partners possible, we have to find new and creative ways to help without making them feel that without us, they are damned to forever, albeit dramatic, ignorance as the poem suggests.

Get vulnerable.

How do we do get them to course correct without sounding like know it alls?  It turns out that embracing vulnerability is a good first step, not unlike the data which caused us to be aware of car safety.  I recently read Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni of The Table Group.  It’s something I know that I’ll read quite a few times and here’s why: it was an educational primer on some of the things we could be doing better for our customers.

We’ll talk more about this in my next post but briefly, we fail our customers when we:

• Act in fear of losing their business;
• Act out of fear of embarrassment; and
• Act out of fear of feeling inferior.

When we act out based on either or all of these fears, we protect our vulnerabilities instead of embracing them.  We’ll discuss what embracing vulnerabilities means next time but please do share your thoughts, so far, below and also comment in the next post.  Also, please share with others!

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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On Facebook I’ll report, every so often, a sighting of either legendary B.J. Armstrong or equally legendary David Axelrod in my building’s gym.  It’s become a running joke with some goading me to speak to either or both of them depending on political or basketball leanings.  Until yesterday, I stayed silent.

Featured David Axelrod image courtesy of Newshour, a news program on PBS

My habit, and so too with Mr. Axelrod it seems, is to work out mid morning.  Yesterday, he arrived after me and wanted to watch cable news.  No surprise – his selection always includes at least two of the “left”, the “center” and the “right” of the news channels.  Lucky for him, the gym has 4 TVs and at least 1 of them is tuned to 1 of his channels.  Also, lucky for him, people are flexible as long as you ask to change the channel first.

You can tell from my detail that not only have I seen this play out quite a bit and that I am also somewhat in awe of him.  For the record, I’m also in awe of B.J. Armstrong.  I shared an elevator with him once and I couldn’t breathe.

Change your perception channel.

Yesterday, TV #4 was giving Ol’ Dave a hassle and the remote couldn’t change the channel.  TV #4 is a weird bird and a challenge to many.  Some have taken #3 remote to change #4 channel which has been successful.  I wasn’t going to say anything out of shyness but then I changed my perception channel and realized, “This is just a dude who wants to watch TV.”  and in that spirit, I shared the tip about #3 remote.  He warmly smiled and welcomed the tip as it wasn’t something he had heard or seen before.

What does changing your perception channel mean?  It means that too often we let our assumptions about others our customers or would be customers run away with themselves to arrive at conclusions that hold no water.  Too often, we take the veneer of a customer profile and take that to be the truth without a) challenging our assumptions and/or even worse b) not taking a closer look at the subject.  With Axelrod, I wrongly assumed he wouldn’t welcome help because of his title but I saw him more completely as a person and changed my view.

It’s more than just basic cable…

I sat with a group of startup founders recently and I admired their smarts, focus and energy.  What I found interesting was an unwillingness to explore “pivots” as they were developing their customers and business plans further.  The resistance wasn’t so much based on business discipline and focus – those are good things.  The resistance was based on assumptions which they clung to — almost too firmly.

Seeing what’s on another TV channel doesn’t commit you for the full 30 minutes, it just tells you what program is playing.  So too in business, seeing a more textured view of the customer playing field gives you an informed view such that you can more exquisitely strategize and execute.

Opportunity presents itself when we allow for it to do so.  

We borrow trouble when we don’t challenge assumptions and welcome changes in our perception channel.  Sure, it’s not always easy but I’d argue it makes for a better customer experience overall.  What say you?

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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P.S. Unlucky for me, the tip I shared with Axelrod didn’t work!  We tried a couple of different ways but to no avail.  I apologized and explained I had seen it before and he was gracious about it.  We both expressed confusion about #4 and then I said, as a joke, that perhaps it was a Republican.  It was the closest my ego could get to acknowledging him without looking like I was pandering.  And with that, I left the gym.

Recently, I took time off to recharge a bit as running 678 Partners, a strategic business development consultancy can run you ragged.  We jetted off to Cancun and stayed at this beautiful and peaceful resort.  We used sunscreen liberally, wore hats, took long walks on the beach, sipped some margaritas, swung on hammocks and took plenty of naps – ideal vacation activities.

Oh yeah, I also booked a 80 minute massage which was completely relaxing and fulfilling – as you’d imagine.  It was a complete multi-sensory experience: neutral colored walls, soothing music, lemon flavored water, tight muscles turned to lovely mush and bright, refreshing aromatherapy to boot.  All five senses were engaged so I was alive and completely relaxed from the beginning, middle to end of the experience… and when it was all done, I had the following thought:

EXACTLY LIKE #unGEEKED!

Some of you may know that I happily attended my first #unGeeked conference last year in Chicago.  It was so nice to meet wonderful people in 3D and learn from them over the course of a few days.  The fact that it was a deliberately small, more intimate setting made it that much more meaningful.  How often do you get a chance to make small talk with Jason Falls, for example?  And, how often do you get the chance to meet and become acquainted with the strong, inspired and inspiring Cd Vann?  It’s not like that happens every day, folks!

What defines the #unGeeked experience is a generosity of spirit.  The intent when you walk in the room either as attendee or discussion leader is to share with each other what you know and what you’d like to know.  It is also based on trust.  When you’re in that room, what you’re sharing or what you’re learning is a reflection of the trust.  Either that you’ve placed in the discussion leader or the trust the discussion leader has placed in you to listen without judgement but with a desire to share ideas (differing or otherwise).

And, most importantly, everyone recognizes that some things don’t come easily – either because you have to get rid of fears, assumptions or what have you.  It’s that environment that makes this experience so powerful.

#unGeeked actually is like a mental spa experience.  

Think about it: when you walk into a spa, you’re seeking to feel better in some form or factor.  How successful that treatment is is 100% dependent upon your intent to feel better and the therapist’s intent to help you feel better.  It’s a two way street of therapeutic goodness with the power absolutely in your hands to determine how effective and lasting that goodness is.

Voila: #unGeeked!  Won’t you join me and a bunch of other awesome discussion leaders March 28 – 31?  We’re going to spend the first day at Zappo’s – our awesome sponsor.  If you’d like to register, please visit Eventbrite.

Between us friends, I do have a discount code I can share so if you’d like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  And, please do share this post with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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Since we finally had our first real snow last week, I’d like to share with you a Chicago tradition: dibs.  After any snowfall, Chicago residents will grab their shovels to clear up whatever snow the city plows can’t or won’t clear away.  Because of the time and effort involved, these same people will take it upon themselves to reserve the spot that they have just cleaned with whatever household items they have.  Here’s a typical representation:

Featured image courtesy of Meryddian licensed via Creative Commons.

Some think it’s crazy to reserve a spot that one technically doesn’t own and others think it’s perfectly fair to reap the benefit of the literal heavy lifting and removal of snow.  Depending on where you fall, you’re either tossing aside the chairs and parking or you respect the dibs and move on.  Regardless, it’s tradition much like the annual disappointment by our Cubs.

Companies think they have dibs on customers…

Anyone who sets out the lawn chairs has a sense of entitlement to the spot and also a sense of faith that no one will disrupt order.  Frankly, it often feels like companies call dibs on us out of those same feelings.  From their point of view, they took some sort of sales or marketing effort and resources to get us as customers so of course we’ll always be there at their beck and call without anyone stealing us away. All they have to do is put forth the equivalent of the flimsy folding lawn chairs to keep us…  which is rather like buying Valentine’s candy for your sweetheart on February 15.

We’ve seen loads of examples of companies believing it can serve less yet demand more and they’re the usual industry suspects like cell phone service, airline, banking, insurance and, yes, medicine.  The most egregious examples of late have been Bank of America and Verizon raising fees on basic services believing that consumers would just roll with the punches.  It’s great customers fought back and the fees didn’t stick…  but the acts themselves are examples of companies thinking they have dibs on us.

You’ve got to shovel the snow every day…

because we can’t assume our customers will allow us to call dibs on them.  If we’re in the business of serving others – and, we all are – we’ve got to treat each day as if we’re committed to serving others just like Chicagoans commit to cleaning up the snow from that coveted parking space.  Sometimes, it’s fun with a series of snowball fight breaks.  And other times, it’s not.  Regardless, if you want the satisfaction of a job well done, you’ve got to commit to it and engage in it regardless of the enjoyment level.

We have to overcome the urge to treat our customers as if they will always be there.  Every day should begin with a refreshed commitment to serve them the best way possible.  So, I ask you, are you shoveling snow daily?  Please share how you commit to your customers and, if you’ve enjoyed reading this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 is joyous and prosperous for you!  I have high hopes for everyone this year.  Like many of you, I took some days off last month to regroup and recharge.  For me, that meant after Christmas shopping and multiple trips to the movies to take my mind off of brands, marketing and such.  It’s one trip to the movies, to see Young Adult, that I’d like to talk to you about today because it brought brands and marketing very much to mind.

In that trailer alone, there were shots of the Mini and Macy’s brands as well as mention of the Hampton Inn brand.  What other brands from that movie do I remember that aren’t featured in that trailer?  Here is a list of some:

• Makers Mark
• KFC
• Taco Bell
• Blackberry
• Ben and Jerry’s

A series of commercials strung together.

Truthfully, for me, there was so much product placement that it distracted me from paying attention to the story – and I actually liked the movie.  It’s no secret that Hollywood likes product placement and it’s prevalent in some movies/TV shows more than others.  It’s big business and the studios and advertisers alike believe it works.

The bombardment of brands and product is what compelled me to write the post because of what I see to be a dissonance between the story and the brand images of each featured product.  This movie is about a depressed and delusional woman with a probable issue with alcohol who is trying to recapture her beauty queen glory of her high school years…  Gee, that sounds like a great fit for Macy’s!

Let’s talk about fit for a spell.

Since I’ve Macy’s on the mind, I’ve got to ask: do you deliberately buy yourself shoes or clothing three sizes too big?  Other than for Halloween costumes, I’m pretty certain your answer is no.  In this post about your brand’s natural limits, I said we’d never go to Sears for Herve Leger and we’d never go to Neiman Marcus for drill bits.  So, as tempting as product placement is, why would we subject our brands to a topic or fictional character that may not be the image we’d want to positively portray?  Yes, the movie stars Charlize Theron – a great actress – but the movie isn’t about her.  It’s about a very flawed character she convincingly portrays.

Be a jealous lover.

I’ve said this in some form or fashion before but we can’t be too protective of where and how are brands are marketed directly or indirectly be it by ourselves or by those with whom we choose to do business.  The burden is on us — not others — to make sure that the brand persona is never placed in jeopardy.  I’m not suggesting rigidity in the slightest…  just a call for questioning ourselves about fit and educating others to consider fit when it comes to our brands and products.

What say you?  Please share your two cents below…  Your opinions and comments matter!

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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In my last post about brand marketing, I argued that the customer has power but within the natural limits set by the brand and I used Christmas parties as an example.  Then, this YouTube video was played ad nauseum on network TV yesterday morning that gave FedEx the type of Christmas gift it probably didn’t want…

I’m sure you’ve seen the video but have you seen the colorful (ehem) comments section?  I recommend reading a few of them to get a feel for the feedback, observations and conversation.  .

Retain control of your brand’s natural limits or suffer the consequences.

My last post was about brand natural limits and today’s post is about challenges to natural limits.  What happens when individual created content challenges the brand image you want to convey to the public?  What happens when you have a viral video with some very scathing commentary about your brand and your company?  How do you have conversations on your brand’s territory as opposed to your customer’s territory?

You may have heard that Lowe’s pulled advertising from TLC’s All American Muslim based on customer complaints.  They shared their announcement on their Facebook page and a slew of very colorful and arguably racist language followed.  Russell Simmons has taken Lowe’s on with an aggressive social media campaign.  The result: Lowe’s brand is now operating outside its natural limits – they have given so much up that they don’t own what the brand may or may not mean anymore.  Other people may have painted Lowe’s as a brand and as a retailer other than what it may intend.

Bring the brand conversation back to you.

Sometimes, stuff happens to your brand that you don’t consider in your wildest of (bad) dreams.  Unlike Lowe’s, FedEx went a completely activist route in addressing the issue.  Very quickly, FedEx posted a press release as well as this video on their company blog from their SVP of US Operations:

What is so awesome about this is that they went toe to video toe in wresting brand control back from the customer and those who commented on the YouTube video.  They could have just left it at the press release and the letter on the company blog but adding its response in video form makes brings brand intent and impact to its actions.  And, judging by the tweets I’m seeing this morning, I’m not the only one who thinks they’ve brought the brand conversation back to them.

What’s your angle?  Please share your comments below and, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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So, just like many (if not all) of you, Amir and I have been going to quite a few holiday parties lately and this past weekend was no exception.  We went to three different places (hi MM, KH and AM!) and the festivities started at 4pm and we didn’t get home until past 1am in the morning.

What’s more, there was a kid’s craft table, a horse drawn carriage and house music in this 9 hour span.  I also had a costume change at my sister’s house between parties #1 and #2.  Yes.

A lovely sweet table to end a great holiday party!

These three parties had a lot in common: holiday theme, good company, friends whom you don’t see all that often, tasty nibbles and quenching libations.  And yet, they were all STRIKINGLY different from one another.  And that’s what we are going to talk about today.

It’s all about honesty.

Each of these lovely and generous hosts threw the type of get together that matched their styles and personalities.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Neither of the hosts would go to all three parties if they were invited to them but I’d wager they’d attend at least two of the three.

As much as sales consultants may tell you otherwise, you can’t sell to everybody.  You shouldn’t even try to please everybody as it would be a complete waste of time, effort and energy…  And a huge opportunity cost in terms of not focusing on the people that you can sell to and satisfy all the time.  In point of fact, we tell our marketing and business development consulting clients to disqualify themselves as soon as they possibly can instead of spreading themselves thin.

The lesson here is that each party’s talk matched its walk.  Neither of them promised any more than what was part of the host’s core essence and that was beautiful.  As guests, we knew what to expect even before stepping inside.  And by stepping inside, we agreed to the host’s terms of entertainment.

Yes, the customer does have power these days…

And we still retain control of our brand marketing and our brand messaging.  These days, I see more and more customers wresting control of brand marketing because these brands give them permission to do so.  It’s my view that self actualized customer power can be a beautiful thing but we don’t sacrifice the brand core while ceding the control.

A holiday party is a perfect example of customer power but in a brand controlled environment.  When I went to each party, I agreed to the terms of how I would be entertained by my host (aka the brand).  The conversations I had at each party, the food I ate, the drinks I had (shout out to the Santa’s Helper cocktail), if I sat, if I stood, if I boogied, or if I wandered around were ALL my choices.  How much I enjoyed myself was absolutely within my control.

But everything has a natural limit at a party.  Unless I were lacking manners, I’d never go to the CD player at party #1 to switch the carols to the house music of party #3 because that was not the “vibe” of the party.  It would have been disruptive.

So too with a brand, there is a natural limit.  A customer would never go looking for Herve Leger at Sears nor would a customer look for drill bits at Neiman Marcus…  and that customer may very well be the same person operating within a brand’s natural limits of product type, assortment, price point, customer experience, etc.  How the customer engages with the brand is within his or her control within the context of the natural limits.

What say you?

What’s your take on the natural limits of a brand?  I’d love to hear your thoughts and, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please do share it with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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Do you remember this musical gem from the last decade?  It takes me back to my NYC days (Hey A.G.)!  Please watch at least some of the video to get a feel for the lyrics and the point of the song…  Of course, if you want to watch all 4 minutes, I won’t stop you.

Say my name.

This song is a dare to a woman’s (allegedly) cheating boyfriend to say her name out loud, to affirm and to confirm that she is his girlfriend (or “boo” as ol’ Beyonce says).  As customers, this is no different for us.  All we really want is to be acknowledged by those to whom we give our hard earned money.  We want appreciation, we want them to know our preferences, we want them to give us what we want before we articulate it.  Yes, we want them to be omniscient.

We want them to treat us like we are their sweetheart.  Melodramatic?  Maybe.  But it is accurate.  And as a marketer, I always want to treat my customers like they are my one and only (sorry Amir!) whether engaging with them directly or devising marketing strategies that may appeal to them.  I want to recognize them and I want them to feel as if I recognize them.

Can we have them at hello?

I had the pleasure of evaluating the elevator pitches of student teams participating in the Concept2Venture business plan competition.  The terms of the judging was that we were not to be privy to their plans – we were to evaluate them on their ability to connect with us in 90 seconds.  It occurred to me as we were judging that, really, all we have ever with any prospect is roughly 90 seconds (metaphorically speaking).  How good are we at quickly establishing rapport and demonstrating their need is satisfied by what we offer?  That is, without making it sound like a door to door encyclopedia salesman?

It’s not that easy and, to riff on the song’s theme, if we can’t identify them, call them by name or establish some sort of connection with them in our first meeting, it will be difficult to do so in the second meeting let alone be difficult in obtaining the second meeting.

Data mean nothing…

Unless you’re willing to use the information to connect with customers in a meaningful way.  I join a lot of tweetchats and many wax rhapsodic on the power of data, how data can mean a lot of beautiful things for customers and so forth.  Those people are right.  When used effectively, data can be a theoretically lovely thing.  But often, no matter how many points of data collection and opportunities to apply the data points, it can still go horribly wrong.  Many of us can sympathize with:

• Receiving offers from companies that do NOT appeal to us or fit our lifestyles; or
• Differing level of service between in person, online and phone channels within a bank; or
• Doctors’ offices and hospitals billing incorrectly (old insurance policy, former addresses, etc.) though current information is in their systems; or
• Insert your favorite example here.

Essentially, unless you fully accept the responsibility of data, don’t go through the herculean effort of building a data amassing system of any kind.  If you can’t recognize them effectively, they will know it.  And they will be disappointed.

Don’t say any name.

If there’s a chance that we can’t help someone or that we can’t use our data effectively, we’ve got to resist the urge to offer a solution because the chances are great that what we provide will miss the mark.  Making the right connections with your customer are what determine success. Recognizing their needs and offering a solution that fits is art and science.

It’s better not to engage in any sort of flirtation with a prospect (or even current customer) than to risk great disappointment and a yucky breakup.  What say you?  Have you had any “say my name” horror stories that you’d like to share?  Please do so below and, if you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

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