To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.
—Charles F. Kettering

“So few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.”

Dang, I love that.

Don’t wait for some conductor to tap a stick and tell you what to play.

Imagine. Risk. Lead.

Get out there and compose.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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This charming fellow won The Kid first prize in the pumpkin-decorating contest at school. Now residing chez nous.

The Kid’s been practicing her schtick for a week. You know the one:

Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet!

“You’re not saying that while I’m walking around with you,” I say calmly, without looking up from my writing.

Fine. Gimme candy…

I raise one eyebrow.

Gimme candy please!

She knows that’s not going to happen.

Funny enough, she also knows that such wildness is totally against her nature. These antics are only for my benefit; she’d never say any such things out in public. Costume or no costume.

For the first few years of trick-or-treating, I was lucky if I could get her to squeak out a bare “Thank you” before she’d run off. Yes, she wanted to go trick-or-treating, but when we went, her voice would desert her. And some meanies won’t even give you a candy if you can’t holler trick-or-treat at them. So now, she practices.

Trick-or-treat, please, I catch her saying to herself a few times a day in the week before Halloween.

She doesn’t say it loudly enough that it’s going to help with the volume, but I think it’s more about reminding her vocal chords to GO on cue.

When I was a kid, we lived in rural nowhere, Illinois. Ironically the state’s built up so much that the area is now a bedroom community for Chicago—

Was that in the caveman days, Mama?

She’s reading over my shoulder now. I hate that.

“No. It was way earlier than caveman days. Aren’t you in bed yet?”

—my old house is gone, and as the song goes it was paved to put up a parking lot. For a mall. We had five “neighbors” to a mile when I lived there. A lot of change. Anyway, the place was quiet and unpopulated, and we simply didn’t go trick-or-treating when I was a kid.

When we moved back to a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, near where I was born, I was nearly eleven. I tried trick-or-treating once, but I felt too old, too silly, and if The Kid is still peeking over my shoulder, too shy. Just like she seems to be.

I wish you wouldn’t write that I’m shy.

“Too late. Delete key’s busted. Go to bed.”

So I couldn’t stand going.

She *loves* going—but her reserved nature keeps her from being much of a salesman.

Ah, you knew there was a point, didn’t you? Clever reader.

Every year when we go I see dozens of kids along our route. Their schticks range from goofy to greedy to plenty of shy ones like little Kelly was, and like The Kid has always been.

The ones I love to watch—well, they’re the ones you love to watch, too, aren’t they? There are some who are postively pitchmen on Halloween night. Trick-or-treating gives them a chance to be charmers, persuaders, cajolers, actors, comedians, and lovers of the limelight in fifteen-second spurts all over town.

Is there a spooky tie here? Scientific proof of such a fleeting phenomenon is hard to get—after All Hallows’ Eve, they go back to wheedling and wheeling and dealing with their parents in private—

What do you mean by wheeling and dealing?

“Trying to sneak an extra fifteen minutes out of their bedtime. You’d better run, or the bogeyman’s gonna get you even if it is a couple of days early…

“1… 2…

“2 1/2…”

I’m wondering what kind of trick-or-treater you were. If you were a pitchman, has it carried through? Are you the one who gets called to close the difficult sales with the meanies who won’t give your company candy?

I’ve made a massive effort all my life to become a better actor, speaker, and salesman (or salesperson, if you like, but that kind of gets stuck in the mouth, doesn’t it?). I’m still just as frightened inside, but man, I don’t have much time for letting that show on the outside. Life’s short and we need that candy.

I’m curious, this week, musing as The Kid works on her schtick—is knowing who’s a natural as simple as opening the door on Halloween?

2.83759! I made it!

‘Scuse me. I have to go tickle The Kid now.

Grow and be frighteningly well,

Kelly Erickson

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To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.

Our mission statement about treating people with respect and dignity is not just words, but a creed we live by every day. You can’t expect your employees to exceed the expectations of your customers if you don’t exceed the employees’ expectations of management.
—Howard Schultz

Truth is, it’s almost pathetically easy to exceed customers’ expectations these days. When we’re the customers, we have our hopes set pretty darned low.

No wonder, when so many companies are busy eroding the trust their staff has in them, looking for ways to treat them in the way that does the least harm (to the company) instead of the way that does the most good (for the employees).

The natural human reaction is for staff to look for ways to do the least harm (to their jobs).

Instead of doing the best job (for the customer).

So some customers reset the bar even lower; some vow Never Again; the cycle continues.

When you’ve got budgets and deadlines and fires to put out, it takes guts to stop that vicious cycle. To guard your company’s long-term health. To realize there’s only one way out:

Change that oddly adversarial relationship between you, and the people who are your living, breathing company. Start giving your staff 100%. One day, they might give you 100% (and feel great about it).

And like Mr. Schultz says, when they can trust in you to treat them right, they might even give your customers 100%—or my favorite mathematical impossibility, 110%.

(Now that would exceed my expectations.)

It might not be mathematically possible, but it’s possible to make it feel like your customers are getting 110%, so they never say Never Again about your Customer Experience.

Treat your staff like the most precious resource your company has.

If that’s so obvious, why isn’t everyone doing it?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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1. Quick! Name the last store you went to where you had an awesome experience—the kind you could hardly wait to tell a friend about.

What was so special?

Take your time.

I’m stringing this out right now while you remember back.

Oh, that was a nice time, wasn’t it? I can almost imagine it.

2. Ready? Name the last store you vowed you’d never step foot in again.

What did they do?

To you, or to a friend you were with?

Now that you think about it, were there other signals?

Yes, I hear you.

Wow. All that?

And how many times before had you thought, “I shouldn’t come here again,” before deciding this was the last straw?

Jeez. That’s bad.

3. Confess… Which one did you actually tell someone about?

And how many someones have you told, so far?

Scoring for this quiz is measured in customers gained or lost. Including potential customers, who heard about the companies through your word-of-mouth.

Even though you said, gosh, that was wonderful, I can hardly wait to tell someone, if you’re like most folks you probably never told anyone about #1.

#2, you’re still mentioning. Not only that, you can still remember every hairy moment, and the three to five trips before that when you should have said never again, too. That’s all become part of the story, to give clear proof to your listener why they should also never shop there. (Skip their name, but do share the dirt in the comments!) The awesome experience has sort of faded. Sure, it was great, but for most of you, I’m guessing you can’t tell nearly as detailed a story about that positive experience.

The good experience you provide at your office or your store (or even your online experience) is important. In fact, it’s absolutely critical.

But let just a few bad customer experiences slip through your fingers, and you’ll find out the business-crushing truth: the power of one angry customer can outweigh the joy of a hundred happy ones.

Food for thought.

Let’s get a little catty today!

If question #2 got you steamed all over again, I’d love to hear your horror story. (Remember, no naming names. To protect the guilty, we’ll need that rule of civility.)

What did the business in question do to get you to turn on your heels for good—and how many people have you told?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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Imagine’s a mighty powerful word.*

In copywriting class, the professor reminds you to get your reader to imagine the successful outcome of purchasing from you. Funny thing is, first you have to do the imagining, in order to write the copy that helps that reader’s imagination.

In every self-help book you can pick up, you’ll be advised to imagine you already have (the lady, or the career, or the healthy lifestyle, or the cottage in the mountains, or the productivity, or the empty laundry basket, or the Rolex and the chauffeur and the private jumbo jet with male models serving your rum and cokes… *ahem*) that you desire. It’s the first step in getting what you want.

Where would poetry, plays, art, film, and music be, if we didn’t imagine ourselves in the shoes of the narrator, the hero, or at least the fly on the wall?

For your business: Put on your imagining-cap today, dear reader. Imagine you had hundreds of articles at your fingertips, all ready to help your grow your business, and you wanted to read just a few… ones that can kick you into action or spin you into fresh thinking about what you do and why.

I hope this little round-up of goodies from the MCE vaults will help you imagine your business, thriving. Click around, catch up, leave comments, and come on back to discuss.

Imagine you need more sales right now. Would it be worth 30 minutes of your time? If you missed it (just this past Wednesday), DO make this quick post the start of your imaginings. Guaranteed to help you out.

Imagine you’ve got an idea that nobody’s ever tried for your business. You’re halfway to real innovation. Time to decide whether you should go your own way, or go the customer’s way.

Imagine your idea’s in place and you’re wondering—what’s the very the most important ad I’ll ever write, the one that will make everything else an easier coast or an uphill climb? Find out what it is and get tips on outdoing the Big Boys with yours.

Imagine your business growing without ever having to feel slimy about “being in business.” Can it be done? It can if you know a little something about the tides.

Imagine there are simple ways to extend your reach into your community without spending vast sums of money. Let Charlie show you how to get personal and have fun with it.

Imagine you’re scared. We all are at times. Believe it or not, that fear can power you forward. Embrace it!

Imagine your Ideal Customer. Oh, sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Need help imagining him or her? Read the three-part series that starts here.

Imagine you’d like to know where I go when I need snappy perspective as fresh as the waters of Nova Scotia. The whole Round Table series is filled with great inspirations, but I’d be pleased if you’d imagine a place in your email or RSS feed for these excellent writers. (Bonus: Imagine you were in on a bit of my summer fun when you click through.)

Imagine you—with fewer limits. Maybe all you need is a little help from Curtis Armstrong. He still helps me out several times a week.

Imagine you write a blog. Or you read blogs, and you want to know whether they’re any good for business. Or, heck—just imagine you want to know what it will take to get me to shave my head. If your imagination is running wild now, then this post’s for you.

If all that imagining got you wondering how I can help your blog or website, just click this link, where you can imagine what it would be like if your website actually did what you thought it would when you sprayed it out of the can of Blog-Wiz.

(No, I don’t know why that funky image came to my head at this moment. Maybe I’m working too hard…)

Imagine you work hard. REALLY HARD. Every. Doggone. Day. And right now, you need to see why someone else does it, because it just might remind you of why you do it. This post is my virtual hug to you, because we can’t be all go-go-go all the time, even when we’re after Maximum Customer Experience.

And if you’ll indulge me, while I imagine that may not have been enough to set your imagination on fire: here’s just a little bit more to help you kick ass.

Wow. You’ve got a heck of an imagination. No wonder you’re so good at what you do.

To keep this topic going a bit longer—I’d love to hear your tips or stories of business breakthroughs you’ve had when you let your imagination run free!

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

*It’s amazing how that word “imagine” got you to click through! I promise not to make a habit of drawing you in with such strong language too frequently. The Kid is going to give me such a hard time if she spots this one!  

I couldn’t possibly let this go without a special musical guest: One who at times in his career would have hated being a part of this, and at times, might have gotten a big kick out of it. (Plus it’s one of The Kid’s favorite songs and it might help me get out of trouble when she reads the aforementioned title of this post.)

Imagine, 1971. The inimitable John Lennon.

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll subscribe by email or by RSS (it’s free), and please tell a friend! Give it a Tweet, a link, a Stumble, or otherwise bookmark using the “Share” button below.

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To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.

Your audience gives you everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience.
—Fanny Brice

Wondering how to increase your sales in a hurry? Need some direction?

This is top-secret homework I give to only my most ambitious, determined, rock-the-world clients, so we can work together to create their Maximum Customer Experience. I’m trusting you with this homework because you know, I’m obsessed with your success—and I know you’ll only pass this link along to those who really need to hear this secret, so they can grow their business starting today.

(Sounds like fluff, huh? Just try it. This is the real deal.)

It’s a surprisingly easy bit of homework that I do myself from time to time, as well. Yes, I regularly take my own advice—why not?

No. I’m not listening to your why-I-can’t. This will take less than 30 minutes, will improve your business tremendously, and may massively change your thinking. It’s no risk and high reward. You absolutely can—and you’ll thank me later.**

This afternoon, around 2 or 3 pm when business is usually quiet, grab a small notebook and a pencil and go to a business that fits your Ideal Customer description perfectly. Choose one that already uses a similar product or service if you can—this is important because you don’t want them to see themselves too closely in the questions you ask.

Introduce yourself. Explain that you’d like some advice and perspective, and that you only want ten minutes of their time. Most folks are flattered to be asked for their insights.* Tell them you have [X] years’ experience in what you do, and that you want to expand your business. (Try to stay light and funny, making a joke about getting advice after you’re already in the thick of things. Get them on your side.) Tell them very briefly what you’re planning with your business. One sentence.

Ask him or her only four questions:

(a)  what does he think would get a business that’s been sitting on the fence to change their mind about using your product or service;
(b)  what does he think your biggest barrier will be;
(c)  if he were searching for such a product or service online, what words and phrases might he use (or has he used) to look; and
(d)  what words and phrases would definitely hook him.

TAKE NOTES. Especially make note during any of the questions of particular words or phrases (the best ones will almost always come before you ask the “what words or phrases” questions, because that usually stymies people, but you never know).

It’s that easy.

Thank them for their time and walk away. No card or contact info unless they specifically ask. This is NOT a sales pitch, this is info-gathering.

Next, go through your notes with a fine-toothed comb. Look for key words, phrases, insights, and the general attitude of the person you interviewed. There’s a lot to be learned here, and you can put it to use right now.

You can use these notes:

to help you rewrite a sales page on your website;
to write a new brochure;
to make sure you’re selling what the Ideal Customer wishes he could buy, packaged so he recognizes it;
to target blog articles to the needs and thought processes of the Ideal Customer;
to refine your sales presentations.

Tomorrow, send him a thank-you note. On the reverse of the note, put your contact info. Don’t be in-your-face. This is not a sales pitch.

(Bonus: Do it three times today.)

Why? Because Ms. Brice was right: Your audience—the Ideal Customer—will give you everything you need if you know how to take direction.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

*Why this afternoon? Better to do it earlier in the week, when workloads are easier for most folks. Wednesdays are perfect. Also better to do this homework with little notice. Don’t give yourself time to think—just get out there today.

Should you make an appointment? No. Then (in their minds) it’s a sales call. Which it’s not, remember.

If you phone them, they can say no, or they can work up defenses before you walk in and make the talk pretty useless. I’d rather see you walk in and ask if you can pick their brains for ten minutes (use flattery! — “because you’re well-established here, because I know you know the business community like the back of your hand, because I’ve known you and spent my money here forever” —a bit of guilt too), at a time of day when they’re likely to be just bored enough to say yes to giving advice to a bold pup like you.

If you run into someone who’s not flattered and willing to spare just a few minutes, move on. It’s not a sales call. So there’s no need to feel rejected, okay?

Feel free to leave a comment below about all the reasons you can’t do this. But remember, I’m not listening!  

**If you do decide to interview an Ideal Customer or three today, and you don’t want to leave your “Wow, this really was a revolution!” comment here, feel free to email me: kellye (at) visionpoints (dot) net. I would love to hear your success story!

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Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don’t let this get around.
—Herman J. Mankiewicz

Dear readers and friends, crowd around. Having you join our luncheon once again is worth millions to me. Turns out Mankiewicz was inviting a colleague to write for Hollywood in the 1920s, but he could as easily have been sending you a spam email last week, suggesting you jump into business for yourself—after all, making millions is so easy right now! I’ve invited new friends and old to look into the ease and the ethics of getting the word out and growing your business today, and folks, it’s eye-popping, but it’s not all pretty. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know them—leave them a comment, and come on back to share your thoughts around the Maximum Customer Experience Round Table!

To lead off, in the short and sweet There’s a Ferrari in Here Somewhere, Jackie Huba at Church of the Customer reminds us that word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals are still more powerful than any other method of getting the word out about your firm—the ugly truth is that nothing else works as well, even though almost everything else is easier to control. Great chart to drive the point home, too.

“Unfortunately, for the typical individual salesperson or small company, the numbers simply don’t work.” Yeah, and I just said word-of-mouth is so powerful. What to do? Don’t get me wrong, I advocate doing everything in your power to increase WOM, but Paul McCord nails it when he Talks about the reality of WOM marketing, especially for small businesses. The False Promise of Word of Mouth Marketing at AllBusiness’ Sales Coach blog. A sharp reminder that a WOM strategy should only be a part of your marketing mix.

What about advertising? Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, tries to figure out the role of the industry in Nothing To Sell but Uncertainty Note: The comment section here is as thought-provoking as the post itself.

This week’s stealth stunner in the ugly truth department is Ronnie Lebow’s We Have Become Cheap Whores. I felt a bit ill as I read it—there’s more truth in this killer post than in everything else I’ve read this month. And more ugly, too. Try to think about it from the provider side and from the customer side. Your head will hurt.

And if cheap isn’t low enough, consider The Audacity of Free! Chris Brogan says, “Sometimes free is a promotional matter, a loss leader, the chance to build some buzz, but sometimes, we get confused on how that works, too…. free is a choice, and it’s not your buyers who decide this, no matter what we like to think in social media kumbaya-ville.”

Lets finish up with a bit of ugly fun. Advertising sometimes gets a bad rap—yet it puts bread, one way or another, on everyone’s tables, and good advertising allows us to enjoy that bread a lot more, too. The very funny Rory Sutherland ties intangible (perceived) value together with everything from prostitution (oh, the search terms I’m going to get now) to Pernod in Life Lessons From an Ad Man. From TEDGlobal: