Mostly I like the ones filled with frosting or jelly. So you can send those anytime you’d like….

I’m not all scary-obsessed-fan about donuts, I will eat just about any donut…seriously, deep-fried sugary bliss…how can any donut actually be BAD?

However, I do have my preferences…and here’s where we get to the part about your USP (unique selling proposition) and why you need to make yours delicious.

And for the record, when I say *delicious* I simply mean this…why you?

Okay, here we go:

1. Donuts

I prefer Krispy Kreme, they have these wonderful chocolate covered frosting filled donuts…have I mentioned I like frosting?

So much sugar your teeth hurt and your dentist starts calling but you can’t hear the phone ringing because you’re passed out on the sofa from the blood sugar crash.

But, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, when you wake up…more donuts!

Served warm there’s nothing more delicious but alas not on every corner.

Krispy Kreme, sugary goodness…warm, glazed – moderately available.

2. Donuts

When my preference is unavailable I will definitely do Dunkin Donuts. They too have a frosting filled donut…in fact they have two! Chocolate frosting filled and vanilla frosting filled…mmmm…. mmmm….mmmm. Not as easy to eat because they are powder sugar coated for delightful goodness.

But, unlike glazed, you’re generally not going to be able to hide the fact that you’ve had one…the powdered sugar on your shirt and pants is a dead give away.

But there’s a Dunkin on every corner, almost, so you are never far from donuts.

Dunkin Donuts are not stealth! But still sugar coated goodness – readily available.

3. Donuts

I may have my preferences and my back up preferences for donuts and it’s all good…but then there’s the coveted donut…

The donut I’ve never had, the donut I want more than anything, the donut I can’t have without a plane ticket and an insulin injection…the Voo Doo Donut.

Do they taste good? Doesn’t matter, just LOOK at them.

What could possibly make a plain ol’ donut any better? Well bacon, marshmallows and cereal for donut-sake!

I’m getting faint just looking at them. Cereal and bacon goodness…heaven…currently unavailable.

All I’m saying is this:  no one needs donuts, we simply want them.  And a donut is basically just a donut, right?  Wrong!  Whatever the reason for preference; taste, availability or even hard to get, make sure you’ve got a reason for your difference.

Alright, if you haven’t figured out why you need a delicious USP by now, please go back to the top and start reading again…

I have a flight to book…

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©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

I once wrote an e-book.  Years ago.  And the premise of the material was that success at any level in anything you do takes Action.

Simple, directed Action.

Now I use the word “directed” because you can actually do something every day but if it’s not focused and consistent it may not be effective.  Flitting from one thing to another will not produce results.

Consistent Focused Action = Big Results

Off-line and On-line marketing are similar in that you’ve got to stick with your pitch or campaign in order for it to get results, that’s the consistent part.  Last month I talked about the number of touches required to turn a prospect into a customer and that’s what I mean about consistency; you’ve got to keep doing it.

But it’s not enough to just repeat yourself.  Sending the same marketing piece over and over to the same prospect or customer can sometimes create numbness in the prospect.  You’ve been there yourself, you’ve seen the same ad over and over and over and over for your local pizza shop and you don’t notice it any longer.  So change it up a little, key word “little”.

It is impossible to know what works and what doesn’t if you change up your strategy every time you make a marketing move.  It’s enough to send the same email or flyer with the added text:  “In case you missed it.”  And then send a third time with:  “You might have missed this, but we’ve had a good response so we are sending it out again.”

A successful business is one that gets the customer and keeps the customer.

Seriously, there’s not much more to it, which means that marketing is your number one priority.

There was a guy…who sold a bridge… He didn’t have a bridge, just some old bridge pieces and a really good marketing campaign!  True story.

That’s not to say that I think you should sell crappy stuff or be deceitful because it’s not about the first sale to one prospect.  It is about the second, third and fourth sale to that same prospect.

If, after you’ve sent out your marketing campaign 9 times without response, then that prospect may not be a good match.  But if you quit at 4, 6 or 8, you’ve given in too soon.

The big secret you’ve been waiting for is simply this – Consistent Focused Action.  It takes a dedicated and persistent person to build a successful business because you’ve got to be prepared for the dry spell just before the dam breaks.  If you move from thing to thing or strategy to strategy, you’ll be livin’ in a world of dry spells.

Pick your ammo, stick with it — consistent focused action.

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[Photo Courtesy of David Hoshor]

©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

When Coca-Cola became the sponsor for American Idol the set became a branding platform for Coke.  The judges kept cups of Coke in front of them.  Simon occasionally spouts out, “How much I love Coca-Cola!.”  During auditions contestants enter and exit a holding room where the walls are painted Coca-Cola red.  The chairs and couches have the familiar rounded contour shape of a Coca-Cola bottle.  For this Coca-Cola pays an estimated $26 million annually to do all this branding, including commercial spots.

But does it work?

For Coke it did.  The details of the research can be found in Martin Lindstrom’s book “Buyology”.  But basically, the integrated branding into the program itself had a much higher recall than just those products that ran commercials.  The results revealed that branding integrated into the storyline or show rated higher in the test subjects minds.  Coke was simply more memorable as a result of its branding efforts.

Why is this relevant?

In order to increase brand awareness we must carefully align our brand with all aspects of our business.  It can’t be just about the colors on your web site showing up on every page.

You must align your business mission or personality with all aspects of your web presence.  All of the elements must align in order for your customer to begin to recognize you as a brand.  Design elements are important and should be consistent from page to page.  The design elements should be carried into all your marketing efforts.

Language comes next.  Your web site copy should be consistent.  If you are a light and fun type of brand, then your word and tone choices should align with that personality.  Carry those language choices into all your marketing materials as well.

Develop a personality that can be displayed visually as well as through your copy.

The best brands tie into your customer’s emotions and create a bond and recognition.  Think Apple.  They have raving fans.  Who doesn’t recognize the Apple logo?  Who doesn’t recognize the innovative mission?

Remember though that branding is not just about the logo, design and copy.  Ultimately it is the alignment of those elements with your true mission and service to your customer.  It is about connection.

Good branding starts with authenticity and connection.  From there it must then be recognizable.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• Start with your audience in mind.  Not all strategies will work for all business types.  If you’re selling expensive wine, you may not want to go with the bright cartoon look and feel.  Think Nordstrom’s not Target.

• Keep your benefits up front.  Make sure that your brand strategies align with your key benefits.  Think about what you are offering the customer and how you can best portray that with your copy, images and design.

• Be consistent.  It’s great to have lots of ideas but if every area of your web site boasts a different theme how will your customers remember the important one.  When given more than two choices people tend to not choose.  If you have too much going on your customers won’t be able to remember any of it.

• Be different.  At a minimum differentiate yourself from your competition.  There are far too many “me too” sites out there.  Mimicking your favorite blogger or web site because it is successful will not help to build a memorable brand.  You need to be unique.

Have a little fun and don’t make the process too complicated.  Start with simple design features.  Choose just a few things to focus on.  As you develop your site there’s plenty of time to tweek, adjust and strengthen your brand.

Remember that too much is really too much for the visitor.  Using a minimum amount of branding concepts that are consistent and aligned with your audience will be far more effective and much more memorable.

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©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Okay, stop your cryin’!  I know you have an awesome tagline.  I know it’s clever, cute and funny.  But is it bringing in the customers?  Is it converting?  Is it profitable?

Why I hate tag lines…

Here’s the thing, the problem with most tag lines is that they don’t actually do anything.  Just some fancy text added to a business card, product or web site that is either convoluted or silly or clever, you get the idea.

When you first get in front of a potential customer you only get one chance to make a powerful impression.  If you blow it, well you generally don’t get a do-over.

What you need instead

So if tag lines are the enemy what should you be using?

A unique selling proposition.  Yep, a good ol’ USP.

Now there are lots of different names for USPs, here’s why:  people like to put a spin on a tried and true tactic in order to make it theirs.  Back in the 60’s a guy by the name of Rosser Reeves actually was the first to give the USP it’s name and traction.  Since then every Tom, Dick and Harry has given it a spin.  Essentially they are new names for the good ol’ USP.

So don’t get caught up in the notion that this is a complicated process.  It isn’t.  You need one thing and one thing only, a USP.

What is a USP?

At its most basic, your USP is exactly as described; a unique selling proposition.  It is the very thing that sets you apart from everyone else in the market place doing what you do.  Typically, it is your very best benefit.

Its most important job, however, is to answer one very important question:

“With all the competitive options available in the marketplace, why should a consumer choose your offering over the others?”

This is a big question and should not be taken lightly and the worst thing you can do is complicate this process.

Yes, answering that one question can take some time, some thought, some energy BUT it is only one question.  It should be easy to answer if you are intimately familiar with your business and your competitor’s businesses.

I’ve answered the question, now what?

Once you’ve answered the USP question, you can dive into the fun stuff.  Your USP is going to be the one best benefit that sets you apart from everyone else in your market place.  That answer may be complete and ready to become part of your marketing materials or it may need some work to bring it into a useable positioning statement.

Let’s take the famous Domino’s Pizza example.  It makes a great example of an out-of-the-box-into-the-bowl-ready-to-eat kind of USP.  Domino’s answer to the USP question is that they deliver your pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free.  Simple.  After a little work the actual USP became:  “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.”  Far more powerful than any tag line could ever be.

How it’s done.

The simplest way to do this is to make a benefits comparison list.  List your benefits first.  Then list your competitor’s benefits.  What stands out?

Additionally, you can enhance your list by adding theme items, consumer objections that you answer, special ingredients, similarities between you and your competition as well as differences, personality, and so on.  The bigger the list the easier it will be to see how you set yourself apart.

Pull out your best benefit or two and fashion your statement from those.  Remember to include language that reflects your business personality.

Another helpful tool is to look around at other great USPs.  How are they put together?  Do they work?  Are they clear? Can they be improved upon?  What can be swiped?

The good the bad and the ugly

To get you started, here are some examples of great USPs:

• Walmart:  The low price leader.
• Disney World:  The happiest place on earth.
• BMW: Ultimate driving machine.
• Porsche:  There is no substitute.
• Burger King:  Have it your way.
• Federal Express:  When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight
• M&M’s:  Melts in your mouth, not in your hand

Each of the above USPs are simply stated benefits that set their product or service apart from the competition.  Your USP must also showcase your uniqueness.  If you sell tires and your USP is “best tires in Texas”…better be sure your tires are better.  Simple and straightforward only works if no one else is offering that same benefit.  In Walmart’s case it happens to be true.  You can’t compete on price because Walmart will always be cheaper, it is the reason Kmart isn’t around anymore.  Remember your USP is a differentiator.

That’s all folks…

Now that we’ve covered the basic premise behind the USP you can see that it clearly differentiates itself from the idea of a tag line.  All-in-all a USP will outsell a clever tag line every time because it focuses on the consumer needs and your ability to meet them.

Again, don’t make it more complicated than it has to be!  It should be a fun task and it should be educational.  Bring in friends to help you brainstorm.  Ask for feedback or survey your customers to get ideas.  Defining your USP is a marketing must, so get to it!

(A great resource for working on developing your USP is the book “Differentiate or Die” by Jack Trout.)

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©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Giving this some thought, I realize that when someone does bad marketing it tends to spark an article about something. And here’s the thing, no really bad marketing crossed my path this week but neither did any really good marketing.

Let’s face it, I love stuff. When a week goes by where I am not prompted to open my wallet…well that’s kind of a bad thing.

I’m not living in a cave. I received lots of mail this week, lots of email, lots of pitches for…stuff. But nothing got me to even think about my wallet…

So, what are you doing to stand out?

I can tell you right off that if all your competitors are doing glossy brochures, yours isn’t going to stand out even if it’s got better pictures. Why? Because they all look the same to the consumer.

If everyone is using a blog or pod cast or video or whatever… yours probably won’t stand out. Sorry.

The point is that you cannot, you must not, do what everyone else is doing. You have to be different, you have to stand out. In any market, unless you are a market of one, you’ve got to find that one differentiating factor.

A lot of people tell me that their business has no differentiating factor or that they can’t find one. Or they tell me their competitors all do the same stuff the same way, they say the same stuff, they sell the same stuff, they charge the same….

If you can’t BE different, then DO something they aren’t doing.

But what?

Your marketing. I can guarantee you that your competitors aren’t as marketing savvy as you believe them to be. Not by a long shot!

In today’s market you cannot depend on only one or two or even three marketing mediums. You must use them all because your competition is not using them all.

What is popular is over-saturated, period.

But how?

Right now the biggest bang for your buck is being just a little different.

Snapple commercials are a good example. They are funny, witty, and just plain entertaining. They work because they are different from other similar product advertising.

Lots of other drinks can tout fresh ingredients but Snapple simply calls it all “good stuff” and in that has differentiated itself. Surely you don’t need to know all the different ingredients in your drink, you simply need to know that it’s, well, good stuff. Simple. It is not what the other guys are doing.

I know, I know, your business is different. You can’t possibly be silly or simplistic.

I would argue that you can be and it can be very, very successful.

An Example

When I started the Porsche service and repair business I, too, did what everyone else was doing. I put in an ad, said how fabulous we were. I put a pretty, shiny car in the ad. Looked at everyone else’s ad and made sure I was just as fabulous. I mean why wouldn’t someone choose me over the others, clearly I was fabulous.

But, then, I got my marketing education.

My target is over 40 year old men, driving Porsches. They are “pride of ownership” owners which means they’ve worked hard to have the car of their dreams.

Below is an example of a recent mailer. One-sided. Sent in a colored envelop to get attention. Hand-stamped, hand-labeled.

The response rate…now remember my target…30%. It kept me swamped for two months.

It was simple. It was fun and humorous. It was far from boring. Most importantly, it is different from what my competitors are doing, in fact they don’t even bother to mail to their customers. I could send just about anything and it would get noticed.

The Point

The big points… don’t assume that everyone is doing everything and don’t assume that it is their advantage. The other guys are likely using one or two marketing mediums. They probably are using them in the same way everyone else is using them. Which means it really doesn’t take much to stand out and be different.

Standing out and being different can be as simple as your marketing campaign. Yes, it takes a little time but clearly it’s not boring. I have a blast putting my mailers together and so should you. If you’re having a great time putting it together, your customers will sense that.

I promise if you can get a reaction, any reaction… I go for getting a smile… then you will get the customer, promise!

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©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Graphic Courtesy of Yolanda A. Facio

Well, the ebook is finally finished!  You’re probably thinking, “What Ebook?”

The story is, I’ve been working on a little Ebook project and I’ve finished the content.  It is currently out to the proof-reader.  I will be releasing it next week.  Best part is it’s Free!

There will be a couple of different ways to get it but if you want to be one of the first, then get on the list!

If you are a subscriber to the 10 Minute Marketing Motivator e-newsletter list you’ll get first crack at it.

So look over to the right side of the page, you’ll see a sign up form, fill it out and you’ll be on the pre-release list.

Another announcement… I will be writing a monthly column for GiveABrick.com starting in September and I’m really jazzed at getting to provide information and education to people who will use it to make their lives better.  It is very, very exciting.

I encourage you to visit the site and check it out!

©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Some of you already know what I’m talking about, for those of you that don’t, it simply means that a potential customer needs to have seven contacts or impressions by you before you begin to get noticed and can potentially close a sale.

So that means the consumer needs to see seven commercials, seven ads or receive seven emails or seven flyers before you work your way through the clutter the consumer is bombarded with every day.

That’s the problem…

I am not a patient person.  It is one of the reasons I don’t grow vegetables.  I want results and I want them now!  And I suspect most of you are the same, especially if you are just starting out.

You might run Google ads for a week without any leads and then change your ad or drop your ad altogether.  You might send out one email offering a freebie or discount and get one response, so you dump the email into the “didn’t work” file.

The problem is that maybe your email got deleted by mistake, perhaps it was dumped into the spam folder, maybe that day, in frustration, the consumer deleted everything they didn’t recognize, what if their computer was broken…

That’s the reason behind the idea of repetition.  Besides, repetition works.  The direct mail folks love to do research on this stuff and they’ve got lots of numbers to back up the idea that you have to make multiple impressions on a consumer before you get their attention.  Certainly you’ll have consumers who buy on the first contact but the majority does not.  If you give up too soon you lose the potential for bigger sales.

I see it all the time.  A business owner sends out one flyer, gets no response or a very small response and figures it doesn’t work so they dump the campaign.  Same for email campaigns, same for any campaign.

Aside from the fact that you can generally only expect a very small response, most mass campaigns get only a 1%-2% response rate which is considered good, most people don’t stick it out long enough to really know what is or isn’t working.

Same goes for tweaking the website.  The owner puts up new copy; it doesn’t convert as well as the old copy so they change it all.  Next week, same thing.

Patience

When my father, brother and I started our commercial millwork company it was relatively easy.  My father had been in the industry many years and had a good reputation.  We never had to market…still don’t.  We get most of our work from referral.

When I started the automotive repair business, we had no customer list at all.  And although my partner had a good reputation, no one knew where to find him.  It was very stressful.  For three months we sat looking out the window of our newly painted shop and waited.  $30,000 later we began to make some progress.  Yup, we lost 10k a month paying expenses with only one or two customers who happened to be friends.

It was pretty awful but I knew that it would take time.  We had to find our place in the consumer’s mind.  So we did our marketing and advertising for three months.  We didn’t give up.  After nine years we rarely advertise or market at all.  We pretty much have a referral business and it’s great.

The point is we stuck with it.  We never pulled ads, although they were expensive, we changed them a bit but kept at it.  We networked, handed out business cards, put business cards on cars, we just kept at it.  We had to get our name out.

Keep at it.

So don’t give up if you don’t get the results you seek immediately,  especially if you are running an online business where the noise is even greater than on a local level.  It is critical that you stick with your campaigns and make them multi-stepped.

The seven touch concept has upgraded to nine touches because the noise has become so great.  Think of those nine contacts as your “long-tail”.  As you hit contact 3 and 4 you’ll begin to see more response.  Then as you pass 5 and 6 you’ll see even greater response.  It just takes time.

The biggest take away is the simple act of consistency.  Be consistent.  Keep at it, don’t give up.  Your consistency in getting those impressions out in front of the consumer will pay it just takes a little time.

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©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Okay, not that far to your right!  Just a bit…and you’ll see the sign up box for the weekly email newsletter.

Now, here’s why you should sign up…

“Thank Youuuuuuuu!” – Brenda Leigh Johnson, The Closer

Well my favorite show is coming back next week and I thought I’d use her characteristically famous tag line to ask you a most important question…

“When was the last time you said Thank You?”

Seriously.

This week’s 10 Minute Marketing Motivator was about the simple act of telling your customers “Thank You”.  Over the last day I really began to think about it.

And then, today, a customer stopped by with a six-pack of beer, for my partner Dan and a box of Sprinkles cupcakes for me.  Just to say thanks.  And here’s the thing, it was for something we do for free for all of our customers.  It’s something that other shops like ours charge $100 to $300 for.  Something that we do because our customer’s extended experience is extremely important to us so we feel therefore, it is a necessary service.

Talk about turning the tables!  Monday I said, “thank your customers”.  Tuesday, the customer thanked me!

The Gory Details

Here’s the story, and I’m going to tell you up front why I’m sharing the story…context.  And, because the idea here is to make marketing simple, I’m going to show you why it can be so very, very simple.

About two weeks ago I received a call from an existing customer.  Ninety percent of our customers at Exotic Motorwerks are incredible which makes our work so great and this customer was no exception.  She needed a vehicle and she needed one rather quickly.  She had decided upon a BMW SUV and asked if we would inspect it for her before purchase.

Even though we are a Porsche specialty shop, when existing customers come to us requesting help with other makes and models we oblige when we can.  A BMW is familiar so we said, “No problemo, bring it over.”  She brought the vehicle over for a used-car pre-purchase inspection.

Unless there are special circumstances, these types of inspections are free.  We don’t charge for them, but it didn’t start out that way.  When we were first in business we charged because all the auto shop guru’s told us we had to.  After having a few customers buy used cars and then end up spending a whole bunch of cash in our shop repairing them and not enjoying their new-to-them cars…we stopped charging.  It was just so much more important for them to be excited about their new-to-them cars that we decided we could have a hand in that by making sure they got a good car at the start.

So this BMW was not a good choice at all.  She had been told that certain work had been done but it was in serious need of maintenance and repair.  It was leaking coolant when she arrived which would have left her stranded had she bought it and begun driving it in our very hot weather.  We decided it wasn’t the right BMW for her.

The following Monday I went online and found a comparable vehicle, called the dealership for her, told them I was a shop and wanted to inspect the vehicle for my customer.  They were happy to do so.  We all met at the dealership and Dan crawled all around looking for any issues.  Well, she took the paperwork home and by the time she returned the next day they had sold it.  I started the search again.  But the dealer called and said that they had another vehicle they thought would work out for her and asked if we could take a look at it.  I was impressed with the service we were getting so we jammed over to look at the car.  It was perfect.  From there, with paperwork done, she was able to finalize the deal and she was in the BMW today when she dropped off the box of cupcakes and beer.

The first vehicle she brought for inspection needed $1,200 in immediate repair work, the last needed nothing.  They were priced the same.  And this past weekend she made a 200 mile trip to see her niece without one issue.  Is that cool or what?!

So why the cupcakes and beer?

Why show up to thank us for something we do for free anyway?

The same reason you should thank your customers.  Sure they give you money and you give them value.  But they have a choice.  Whether or not you are the best at what you do, they’ve made the choice to support ‘you’ and your business.

I’d say that’s worth a card, some ink and a stamp.

When was the last time someone thanked you for doing business with them?  You probably don’t remember because it probably hasn’t happened.  Who knew that helping someone find a great car for free would be so…remarkable?  So we had to look at three…I’d look at 10, because the feeling you get when you see them enjoying it is payment enough…in fact, it’s overpriced!  Now if that’s not simple marketing…

©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.

Really.  I was up to my eyeballs in calories already.  I had made a clean plate.  I had had my share of dessert.  I was ready for…well…a nap.

Of course it was my fault, I opened my mouth when the manager came around.  He seemed like a nice guy, a really tall guy, but nice.  And he asked how everything was.  I felt like I owed him a truthful response.

But wait! You need a little more information…

You know how you want to complain about something but you don’t because the waitress looks like she’s 16 years old and she’s all bubbly and you figure she might cry if you mention there’s something wrong with your cupcake?  Yeah, that was our waitress.

Okay back to the story…

So I say to the manager, “Well, since you asked…”

My dinner pals look at me surprised and a little mortified; I scare people with my frankness sometimes.

I go on, “The cupcake included with our delicious dessert sampler platter…not so good…in fact mostly on the dry side.  But other than that…everything was great.”

He looked around and my dinner pal handed him her plate with half of the hard cup cake on it.  Mine was…well…gone.  I ate it dammit, I wanted dessert!  Of course the manager noticed it.  So now I’m explaining why I ate the terrible cupcake…

Anyway he insists on bringing us another cupcake.  At this point I’m stuffed.  I say, “No really, we’re good.  We just wanted to let you know.”  And yet, he insists.

Back he comes with the fresh cupcake that he had a hand in making just that morning.  We fawn over how delicious it looks and he stands there waiting for us to take a bite.  Now the one dinner pal who had no cupcake sits smiling at us, completely amused by this whole scene.  But we can’t put off the inevitable so we grab a knife and start to cut into the cupcake and finally the manager is called away.

We try the new cupcake.  Yup it’s good but we are stuffed and can only eat half of it between the three of us.

Manager comes back.

Manager:  “Why didn’t you say anything? That other cupcake was horrible.”

Me: “Well, it wasn’t that big of a deal I guess.”

Manager:  “Yeah, but you paid for it and it was awful and I feel terrible.  I would feel even worse if you never came back because of it.  Especially since I wouldn’t have known why?”

Me:  “Well…I really didn’t want to hurt the waitress’s feelings, you know.  It’s not her fault, and waitresses take things personally…”

Manger:  “Yeah, but how can I do a better job if you don’t tell me when I’m doing a bad job?”

Huh.  Good point.

And then it hit me…

I was a terrible customer.

As small business owners we take pride in what we do and we want to do a great job.  If we aren’t doing a great job we want to know so we can correct it.  We want our customers to be happy.  We want them to come back.  We want them to be fans.

The very thing I would have fully expected from my customers I, myself, failed to do.  Worse yet, I failed to let this manager do a great job for me and I discounted the importance of it.

Wow.  Bad customer.

If one of my hard-earned customers had failed to tell me when I was doing something wrong I would have felt…the same way the manager did.

So I ask you, what kind of customer are you?

We must be all that we expect our customers to be when we, ourselves, are out there being customers.  I assumed that because this was a big restaurant with nation-wide locations that it really didn’t matter.  That the manager was just a guy managing a restaurant.  But he wasn’t just a guy managing a restaurant, he was a guy trying to make his restaurant great.

This guy was actually a perfect employee…the guy you’d hire in an instant because he clearly gets it.

Worst of all, he got it much more clearly than I did at that moment.

I preach all the time that “you teach people how to treat you”.  I wasn’t following my own best advice.  If I want my customers to be truthful with me and allow me, even help me, do the best job possible for them, then I need to do the same.  If I expect, as a customer, great service, then I need to make sure I demand it.  If not I don’t deserve it.

Demanding great service doesn’t have to be the kind of thing you do in frustration because your food isn’t right.  In fact, mistakes happen.  Demanding great service can be all about helping the other guy do his job the best way possible.

So, next time your cupcake comes to you a little dry…mention it; it just might change your perspective.

Hey Wait!!!  Are you on the list?  You know the 10 Minute Marketing Motivator list? What! Well, scroll up and get on the list…go on now…

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The 10 Minute Marketing Motivator is 1 marketing task that you can complete in 10 minutes.  Easy schmeasy DONE!

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Good question!  Here’s the deal, marketing can be complicated and I really hate that, so I’m changing the game.  I’m going to show you every Monday how you can very quickly and very easily do one marketing task in 10 minutes.  We’ve all got 10 minutes to spare.  The best part is you can do it once and move on or you can be a power marketer and do the task each day.

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Let’s get the customers and skip the boring stuff!

©2010 Marketing Unhinged. All Rights Reserved.