How could a thing like rejection possibly make us more attractive?

Some readers are likely thinking, “Oh boy, Deo’s really gone off the deep end this time.” But it’s true. The more people we REJECT, the more attractive we become to that small, discrete little market.
Consider this: What is the fastest growing franchise chain in the United States? McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks? Not even close.
Try: Curves.
From humble beginnings barely a decade ago, fitness center Curves International has expanded to nearly 9,000 locations. To put that growth into context, consider that it took McDonald’s and Subway 25 years to open 6,000 franchise locations. Curves needed just seven.
How could this be? What is the secret of such exponential growth?
Strategic Rejection
If you’re a body builder you definitely will not want to go to Curves. In fact if you’re a man, I doubt you would be caught dead in Curves. Curves targets the soccer mom. Designed to appeal to an older, female demographic, Curves is a fitness center that differs greatly from other gyms. Instead of 50,000 square feet of saunas, pools and fancy equipment, a typical Curves franchise occupies 1,200 square feet and has 10 to 12 machines. It is simple and affordable for Mom.
Curves has effectively applied rules number one (Become a bigger fish in a smaller pond) and two (Strategic rejection makes us more attractive) of the Rules of Attraction. Together these rules have created breakthrough performance for the company. They have rejected the largest segment of the fitness market and thereby become a big fish in a small pond. In our Attract More Business program we look at how by targeting a very specific audience and rejecting others we make ourselves far more attractive. In fact we analyze some of the ads from Curves and see precisely how they and other companies have done this.
Oddly enough when we reject the larger segment of the market we end up being more important to our target audience and the result is a product or service that performs exceptionally well when stacked-up against the competition. When we are on a mission to add more business at all costs, however, regardless of how these new prospects match with our target profile, we risk devaluating our market position and reduce our competitive worth.
I have seen many occasions where management, in pursuit of meeting ever exceeding numbers, will oblige and make the requisite changes to land a new customer, ANY new customer. If you fast forward into the future and continue this behavior, you will end up with a company that has a great number of new customers but also a support nightmare (i.e.: too many different versions of a product which makes it difficult to maintain and support from a development and customer service perspective). In addition, you end up constantly delaying the next release of your product or service as precious resources get sucked away. You also have lots of features that the market does not want. You cease to be exclusively important to ANYONE. You become a “jack-of-all-trades” important to no-one. Finally, the profitability for each customer goes down significantly as you add new features just to close deals.
In the long run, having too many of the wrong customers can kill your business. The more experienced and disciplined strategy is to identify the “gap” in the marketplace (the need which is not being met) then developing a solution that so perfectly fits this need that it would be ridiculous to even consider any other solution. This is precisely what companies like Curves are doing. While they are incredibly important to the working, mature mother, they are ultimately useless to the average health-enthusiast, bodybuilder.
This does not simply apply to service-based businesses. It works the same way for industrial or consumer products as well.
Think about the iPod. It is probably the hottest consumer electronics product on the market today. Yet it has terrible features and ultimately (like many other niche-oriented, Apple products) alienates the majority of the marketplace. Consider this: If you don’t care about low battery life, aren’t fond of jogging, have ample disposable income, don’t need to record/encode music portably, and want to purchase music downloads ONLY from the iTunes Music Store, then the iPod is the best the way to go. Is it me or isn’t iPod REJECTING most buyers? Then why are they doing so great? While not ideal for some, it’s still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world.
Now who’s your niche audience? How can you reject the majority of customers, only to become so perfectly geared to that exclusive market that they would be idiots not to buy from you?
Interested in applying this technique to your business? Check out our latest workshop:

Attract More Business One Day Workshops 
By popular demand, we are now offering the Attract More Business one day workshop. This full day workshop incorporates content from our “Attract More Business” learning program and 8 week class. The workshop will be held from 9am to 5pm on June 11, 2005 in Long Beach, CAand August 25, 2005 in Pasadena, CA. Attendees of the workshop are eligible for 2 follow up 30 minute coaching sessions. As a special bonus when you attend the Attract More Business one day workshop, you will receive our audio CD on “Branding in the 21st Century.”Sign-up at: Attract More Business One Day Workshop.

Last week we discussed Rule number 3 of our Fourteen Rules of Attraction, The problem is more important than the solution. This week we will examine Rule number 5, Reverse people’s risk in changing.

Often times the reason prospects are hesitant to change suppliers or service powders is because of the inherent risk in changing. Their concern is that if they make a change in favor of your solution, their situation not only may not improve, but also may even become worse. The goal is to reverse their risk so that they feel comfortable making a change. Most importantly we must create a way for them to feel that any “risk” involved in changing is eliminated. There are a few ways that we can do this: 

Guarantees
The more compelling the guarantee, the less risk your customer will perceive. It is important to understand that while you may be offering a strong guarantee, it doesn’t mean that all of your customers will take you up on it. In fact, studies have shown that less that 2%, of all clients cash in on the very guarantee that motivated their buying decision. You probably already have a strong guarantee that you’re not promoting.

Sample Guarantee
Let me tell you about a client that we’ve worked with that has developed an astounding service guarantee. The company is Pelican Products. Their claim: “You break it. We replace it. Forever.” This is not marketing hype. The company manufactures cases and flashlights that are virtually indestructible. The product is sold to the military, law enforcement, fire, and emergency agencies. This guarantee is unmatched in their industry and their competitors are stymied by their inability to match this offer. Even more amazing, Pelican tells me their return rate is less than 1%! How do they do this? By innovating the guarantee right into the product. How big is the market for industrial cases and flashlights? The company will do almost $100,000,000 this year. It helps to have a powerful guarantee.

Results Oriented Guarantee
Providing a guarantee of specific results is the most powerful type of guarantee. This might include a guarantee of timely performance, error free operation, asset depreciation, or financial value. The more specific the benefits or results, the less risk will be perceived. This requires citing some evidence so that prospects can understand precisely how the guarantee ensures the results. Here are a few examples:

A very common guarantee is: “Either you’re completely satisfied or we’ll give you your money back”. The reason this type of guarantee is so popular is that very few people take advantage of it. It’s more inconvenient and time consuming for people to request their money back than it is for them to suck it up and move on. Often times people will be hesitant to admit to themselves that they are dissatisfied with the purchase. Their egos get in the way. If they request their money back, they are admitting to themselves and others that they made a mistake in making the purchase. This kind of guarantee is often constructed using very powerful language such as: 

“I’m so convinced that you’ll be absolutely delighted with your purchase, that I’m prepared to give you an ironclad 120 day, totally outrageous take it or leave it guarantee.”

This type of compelling language and commitment often is enough to reverse the inherent risk for the buyer.

Non- Results Oriented Guarantee
Examples of these type of guarantees are “hassle free”, “personal guarantee”, “guaranteed customer satisfaction” and “conditional guarantees” (if you do this, we’ll do that). These type of guarantees are not as strong as “results-based” guarantees, as we discussed above. “Results-based” guarantees therefore do a much better job of reversing risk. I strongly suggest that you make your guarantee based on specific results.

Giveaways
Giveaways are very effective ways to reduce risk and to overcome procrastination. By giving away part of our solution, we build credibility with the buyer and allow them to try out our solution. This leverages two powerful forces in the marketing process. The first is utilizing the word FREE. While it may be overused, the word “free” still carries a powerful effect over those that hear it. The second is when we give something to someone, they automatically feel obligated to give something back. This is human nature. 

Examples of Giveaways
I have seen countless examples of this in action:

• The auto repair center that gives away free oil changes- these are valued at $69 each, but by giving these away they get an armful of new customers that purchase several thousand dollars in services each year.
• Consultants or professionals that offer a free introductory assessment.
• Software companies that offer free trial ware or “shareware”.

Combination Strategies
While guarantees help to reverse risk and giveaways overcome procrastination, imagine how powerful both techniques can be when combined. 

Here is a great example of a guarantee and a giveaway in the same offer for a search engine marketing company:

“Join our search engine optimization newsletter and you’re automatically entered in a drawing for a Gold Search Engine Optimization Package valued at over $2,999. We’re giving away one Gold search engine marketing package every month! We guarantee first page ranking on several major search engines. Click here to request a first page ranking proposal.”

Regardless of the type of guarantee you often, every product or service should incorporate a risk reversal strategy into their marketing campaign. We spend considerably more time on this in our Attract More Business program, Tele-clinics and in our one-on-one Tele-coaching. Think about how you can reverse the customers risk in changing. Reversing Risk TeleClinicTo help you put the concepts discussed in this article into action, we will be holding a Reversing Risk TeleClinic on Monday, November 22nd at 1 PM.  To register, go to:https://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.asp 
Special news for our Southern California Readers!
Can’t get enough advice on reversing risk?  Be sure to stop by the FM Talk Financial Fest on November 13th.  I will be speaking on the subject of reversing risk in business.  Go to the KLSX website for more details.  You can also see Tom Leykis speak on amassing personal wealth, Doug Fabian speaking about investing through mutual funds, and Gabriel Wisdom sharing his thoughts on the stock market.  If you stop by, please say hi to Matt and Myself. Also be sure to listen for the Small Business Tip of the Day on 97.1 FM KLSX, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the 8 O’clock hour of the Conway and Steckler show.  If you’re out of the listening area, we will soon be posting these segments on our website for everyone to enjoy.   Have a great week! I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com 

Mark Deo

Do what you love and you will be successful.

We’ve all heard that before. But you have to admit there are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, what if, the thing that you love is offensive to some people? In that case you may not be all that successful. You will be relegated to serving a very small and select market. But this leaves you without the broad appeal that brings in the big bucks.So how can we leverage “doing what we love” to create success, satisfaction and even wealth?Few, I think would argue the fact that actor-producer-director Mel Gibson has accomplished this with his movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”There’s no doubt that this film is on its way to being a blockbuster. But how could this be? Here’s a movie that depicts the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life in excruciating detail. It is first off, politically incorrect (Christians are less popular than the gay community today), filled with more blood and gore than all Freddy Kruger flicks combined, and scripted in ancient Latin and Aramaic. Not exactly the formula for successful filmmaking.Yet “Passion” opened in over 3,000 theaters, an unusually large release for a religious film with English subtitles and the sparsest of plots. Advance ticket sales hit $10 million and in the first weekend generated over $30 million in sales.You’ve got to wonder with all this gratuitous violence, no dialog or characters to speak of, no advertising and NOT A STAR in sight, how Gibson ended up selling this movie?Regardless of our religious beliefs, there’s no doubt that Mel was passionate about telling this story. He was clearly doing what he loved in making this film. And he was employing that “remarkable marketing” that we talk about all the time in on our weekly radio show, in our classes, seminars, and in our weekly Business Updates. With everything against him he created something exceptional, new, interesting, compelling, worth noticing and worth talking about. He actually built the marketing right into the product itself.Newsweek said of the film, “when all’s said and done he’s made what may be the most watched Passion Pay of all time. Putting his money where his mouth was, Gibson invested $20 million of his own cash in a film so divisive that no Hollywood studio would touch it.”Tom Peters said in his book, “The Pursuit of Wow,” that the only products or services of the future will be those that are created by passionate people. Gibson used the hive mentality to create sneezers (the Christian community) to develop something virus-worthy. He didn’t create an ad campaign catering to the masses. That would be trying to swim upstream. He went with the flow. He previewed the movie to evangelical media and church leaders.Focusing on this small, self-contained hive market was very smart marketing indeed. There’s no better organized subgroup. This was the market segment most influential, most profitable and most likely to sneeze. And sneeze they did – all over each other. Think about it, these religious groups have their own radio stations, TV networks, publications and web sites.Not long after this, Churches from coast to coast reserved entire theaters for opening. According to People magazine, The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 50 denominations and 43,000 congregations, even helped sell tickets on their web sites. The religious community embraced the film as “the best outreach opportunity in 2,000 years,” according to the Rev. Rob Schenck, President of the National Clergy Council. Pope John Paul II seeing the movie said, “It is as it was.” Billy Graham was so moved that he wept and called it a film “equal to a lifetime of sermons.”Now how would you like to enjoy these kinds of accolades for your business, product or service? I would not for a moment reduce Mr. Gibson’s work to one that is aimed only to generate profit or business success. On the contrary, I believe that the film is enjoying the success it is particularly because of his passion and focus on making a product that is a tool for evangelism as opposed to one that needs to be marketed.What about if we could apply these principals to our business? The good news is that we can. Here’s my advice:1. Identify the smallest most influential market that you can possibly find – a powerful, smooth subgroup that will have interest in what you have to offer. 2. Create a premium product or service that is so impressive and compelling and offer it ONLY to this group. 3. Figure out a way to give them a small taste of the product. Do so in advance of everyone else. 4. Empower the leaders of this group to make claims and statements to their community regarding the product that you have created. 5. Build your marketing right into your product or service rather than tagging it on as an afterthought. 6. Inject your own passion in what you do. Do it because you believe it. And if you don’t believe it, don’t do it! 7. Do what you love. Love what you do. Let it show no matter what anyone thinks!Our thanks, Mel. Bet you never thought you’d be giving us a marketing lesson along with the Gospel?I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.comMark Deo

This article is part 2 of 2.

 3. Product or Service Mix 
In a sense the product or service that you sell is meaningless! Are you reading right? You are! The problem is more important than the solution. Too often marketers make broad assumptions when communicating their message to clients. This happens in both the selling interaction (face-to-face and on the phone) as well as the marketing interaction (with ads, brochures and web sites.) This is a natural tendency since as marketers we know far more about our products and services than our customers. In many cases we may know what the customer needs more than they themselves know. The danger, however, is that customers don’t care about the benefits and solutions that our company offers. Let me repeat that: CUSTOMERS DON’T CARE ABOUT OUR BENEFITS AND SOLUTIONS! First off people today make buying decisions more emotionally than ever before. Our prospects and customers care FAR more about their problems than they ever will about our solutions! 

4. Exclusive Selling Proposition 
For years, marketers have learned the way to differentiate their company, product or service was by creating a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). I no longer think the USP is effective. We must create an EXCLUSIVE SOLUTION which is specifically tailored to solving the customer’s problem(s). This can only be accomplished by fully understanding the customer’s problem(s). Only then can we design the exclusive solutions to these problems. Ask yourself these questions: What do you do that is so different from your competitors that it makes you the ONLY solution to the problems you’ve identified? How can you use this knowledge to develop marketing language that emotionally speaks in terms of the problems that you have identified? How can you do this in an emotionally charged way that stimulates the right hemisphere of their brain?  Don’t be a better option, become the ONLY solution.

5. Positioning Statement
The position statement allows you to articulate all of these messages in a tight, economical phrase. Often time the right tag-line or Meme is born from the position statement. Mission statements are also developed from well expressed marketing position statements. The position statement is ultimately a summary of the above elements tied-up in a nice little sentence or two. It communicates how you exclusively solve the distinct problems for those in your target audience.

Making the Brand Tangible
Once this strategy is established we can then begin “packaging” to make the branding elements tangible to clients, prospects, affiliates and even members of the team. When we can create visual, pneumonic and auditory branding messages that are overlapping then we have the ability to influence people on more than just a “conscious” level. We can influence them on an “unconscious” level which is far more powerful. Brand packaging is comprised of these typical marketing communication elements:

• business cards and stationery
• web presence
• incoming call reception
• email delivery
• advertising and promotional material
• product ergonomics and packaging
• brochure or collateral material
• signage, point-of-sale displays and billboards
• trade shows presence
• gifts, premiums and giveaways
• sales approach and presentation strategy

In the coming weeks I will be talking more about branding and how a synergistic branding program is conceived, strategized, and implemented. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. That’s what I’m here for. My sincere desire is that marketers will begin to look at branding in a more holistic way. It’s not about your logo or tag line, it’s about your heart and identifying with your clients problems in a way that no one else is doing.   

When people think of a “brand” the first thing that often comes to mind is a logo. 

It is not surprising that someone would view a logo itself as the brand because it is the most identifiable visual element related to the product, service or company. However the logo is only a small part of a branding strategy. We think of the “swoosh” as the Nike brand yet the “swoosh” itself is the Nike logo and just a reminder of the brand, but what a reminder! In fact if you go to the Nike web site atwww.nike.com you will not even find the Nike name at the top of the site, you will find ONLY the little orange “swoosh!” The Nike brand conjures-up the desire to compete and win. It clearly communicates high attainment, no excuse environment – just do it! When we make a Nike brand selection we are stepping-up to a higher level performance and making a greater commitment to seriously compete. Consequently Nike products are more often perceived as being more valuable than the competition. They are positioned higher in the prospective customer’s mind. They are willing to make a greater investment and pay more for the product.
 HeartshareA well executed brand takes-up residence in the hearts of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the culmination of their experiences and perceptions of the company, product and service. The brand ultimately constitutes the promise to the client. This promise must be packaged in such a way as to accomplish the following goals:

• Clearly communicate the company, product or service message
• Strengthen credibility
• Emotionally motivate the buyer
• Solidify client loyalty
• Create a memorable identity
• Ensure distinctive positioning

By addressing these elements we can build a branding strategy that is more effective to implement. This, far more than developing a cool looking logo, is the true essence of branding. This is similar to one of the rules of attraction that I often talk about in my seminars, books, CDs and classes; “Heartshare is more important than marketshare or even mindshare.” Heartshare is the emotional reason that your company product or service exists. Pre-requisites of BrandingPerhaps now you can see how branding extends far deeper than just a logo. Several aspects of the marketing mix must be addressed in order to develop a branding strategy. I have addressed these in a way that is different than most branding experts. However when implemented faithfully this strategy is extremely effective: 1) Target Audience – practicing “rejection”There are more competitors emerging every day in every industry and profession. Because of this we might find ourselves chasing ANY type of business that we can get. In a highly competitive environment there is a tremendous temptation to take “what ever comes along” until you can find some kind of niche. This strategy is no longer effective because while we are taking whatever comes along, so are the rest of our competitors. This process pushes down the market price of the products and services being offered and ultimately results in price erosion and even creates technology or price wars wherein the weakest players are eliminated. Realizing this, it’s not surprising that U.S. Department of Commerce states that 95% of all new businesses fail in their first year! Far more important than identifying your market niche and the kind of business you “want” is identifying the kind of business that you DO NOT want! This is counter intuitive and difficult to grasp but once implemented it is extraordinarily effective. In short, if we can reject the kind of business that we DON’T want, we will automatically become more attractive to those that we DO want. The first step however is to fully understand the marketplace in which we compete. 2) Competitive LandscapeBy fully understanding the competitive landscape and how our company, product or service integrates into it, we can identify the “GAP” in the marketplace. It is impossible to develop a powerful brand without identifying the GAP. The “GAP” is the area of product, service, quality, selection, application, delivery or price which is NOT being satisfied. When we understand the “GAP” in the market we can find the specialized need or needs which we can EXCLUSIVELY satisfy. If we develop our product to satisfy the “GAP” we have the ability to define a very tightly focused audience profile. This profile should become our exclusive focus.  By doing so we will only accept business that matches the profile of the type of customer we want to deal with. In order to ensure that our product or service matches the specific unmet needs of the target market (or the GAP), it is critical that we invest time in fully understanding our competition. I have devised a very simple way to gather intelligence about the competition.  It is completely ethical and devastatingly effective. The best way to understand your competition is to “become their customer,” at least for a bit.  Few entrepreneurs or business professionals do this, yet it is probably the most effective way to understand what your competition is all about.  Call or visit them and ask them plenty of questions.  Do not tell them you are a competitor; your purpose for becoming their customer is to learn what makes them tick.  I do this for all of my client’s noteworthy competitors.  It works magnificently. In our consulting firm, one tool that we use to understand our client’s competitors is what I call the “Competitive Landscape Profile” or the CLP.  The CLP allows us to plot the proficiency of each of our competitors on a chart that gives us a very clear picture of who they are, what they do, where they fit, and how they are different. When completed the CLP clearly tells us where the GAP is in the marketplace. This article is part 1 of 2.  Read next week’s business update for the conclusion.