Posted by terry
May 04th, 2012 at 14:53pm
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You Need A Pocket Army
I went to see Arthur Miller's wonderful play, "Death of a salesman" the other night.
As Willie Loman trudged home carrying those huge sample cases, I thought of how different our world is today.
With a tablet computer, a sales person has a 'pocket army' to help them sell.
Industrial companies have found they can show huge machines at work, in relevant situations. Smith Drill bits is demonstrating how their new drill bits cut through rock. Eaton corporation lets salespersons show 3D models of products, display the entire catalog and place orders.
At a recent virtuoso travel show a thousand vendors have five minutes to pitch a thousand travel agents, in a speed dating format. Two years ago it was all done with brochures and flip charts. As you can see on the left, now just about everyone does it with an IPAD.
Get your salespeople a 'pocket army!"
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Posted by terry
April 27th, 2012 at 16:50pm
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Corporations are organized in divisions
The word 'division' is the operative word in many corporate organizations. Divided, separated, competitive, departmental.
To bridge the 'divide' they've created, companies will many times create intra divisional committees to tackle new initiatives.
The problem is that team members retain strong loyalties to and have real incentives for the success of their 'division' rather than to the 'new thing'.
That's why when we were creating Travelocity we created our own little company within American Airlines. It is why we worked so hard to insure that those seconded to us had incentives around the 'new idea', rather than to their department.
It's why we moved the entire team to some abandoned space off campus so we could all sit together and mold a new culture around the success of Travelocity.
It's why we hired heavily from outside American to bring in new ideas and create conflict to break down old thinking.
Divisions can work in huge global enterprises, but to move fast and create the 'new thing' break them down and create a new small nimble team.
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Posted by terry
April 20th, 2012 at 16:29pm
"In real innovation, being comfortable isn't good"
~Terry Tietzen, Edatanetworks
It just isn't comfortable outside the box. Inside the box its warm and cozy and safe. Outside the box it is cold and harsh and dangerous.
To innovate successfully you must try and fail again and again till you hit on just that right combination of ingredients that produces success.
When we were building Travelocity we didn't have any paths to follow, hardly anyone to emulate. It was early days in internet commerce and we were charging through the wilderness and making lots of mistakes.
Our mantra, as an old collegue reminded me the other day was, 'make new mistakes' We knew we'd fail, but we wanted to insure we learned from those failures and if we were to fail again (and we certainly were) to insure that failure was something that had never happened before.
It certainly wasn't comfortable. But it sure was exhilarating and ultimately very successful.
"If you reach for the stars you might not get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either"
~Leo Burnett
Posted by terry
April 08th, 2012 at 18:49pm
Did you know that your welcome email is the most
highly opened email that you will ever send to
your new customers?
And yet, 32% of companies don't even bother
to send one!!
Most companies will later send me creative, visually
exciting emails that contain great offers, but their
welcome emails are all text, contain legalize, ruies
and are BORING!
67% of your email member subscribed to get
deals and promotions, so you'd better put them
into your most opened email.
Make your new customers feel welcomed! Tell
them all ghe great things they will get now that
they are customers. They liked you well enough
to sign up, now keep them excited.
a great one.
Posted by terry
April 08th, 2012 at 18:23pm
When I was touring the country last fall I spoke to
over 10,000 leaders of small businesses.
One of the most frequent questions I got was,
"Now that I have thousands of Facebook friends,
what do I do with them?"
My answer, "Treat 'em like friends!"
Research shows that 84% of your company's
Facebook friends are already your customers.
What do they want? 83% want special offers
and the majority want to be the first to hear
about your new products.
So, treat 'em like friends. Give them new
products and special offers, before anyone
else. Tell them your plans. Let them comment
on your new ideas.
Beau Ties, a Vermont based tie company puts
its Christmas tie designs up in July and lets
customers pick the best. Then in November
their customer chosen designs go on sale.
Treat them like friends and they will tell
their friends, and your brand will grow.
Posted by terry
January 16th, 2012 at 11:48am
There was the sales department (where you bought stuff) and the service department (where you fixed and returned stuff).
Now you see an ad online, read the online reviews on your phone, call to buy, pickup in the store, tell your friends about it on Facebook, complain about it on twitter and if it breaks mail it back for free!
So many companies I talk to today still have silos for sales and service.
When Best Buy tweets me that they don’t have exactly the right product, but had I considered this one...is that sales or service? When Beau Ties puts their proposed winter collection on FB in July to gauge which they should make is that sales or service?
21st century customer service recognizes that every sales channel is now a service channel as well.
Reorganize for successful customer conversations and conversions.
