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Amazing!

7/7/2014

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What will it take to get to Amazing?

Many promotional products professionals are really getting beat up on price and see the industry’s products as becoming commodities.  Many people tell me that their customers are demanding them to match or beat impossibly low prices. What is happening out there?

The answers lie in the fact that if you are not growing, you’re dying. It’s brutal, but true. Buyers assume that you will give them quality, service and a low price. The assumption is that you will deliver goods as pictured or promised on time done right. This is the first level of a transaction based sale between a buyer and a seller.

When you raise your performance and give more, you gain a happy customer who expects that you will perform and provide them with peace of mind. Your customer expects and trusts you to make them look good.

What if you can get your client to be impressed?  What would you have to do to impress them? Perhaps you’ve anticipated their need. You may have researched their market position and brand and created some really custom, personalized and “wow-worthy” design. Your client is impressed. They will tell others.

But if you want to move to the fourth level of customer experience?  What will it take to amaze your client and seal your partnership? If you want to be an integral part of your client’s business, to be the go-to resource and problem solver — you need to be nothing short of amazing.  Amazing is hard work. Not everyone can be amazing. Can you?  

These are the four levels of customer service.  

  1. Your buyers assume that you will deliver.
  2. Your customers develop expectations of how you will deliver.
  3. Your clients are impressed with your professional service.
  4. Your loyal clients are amazed by what you do, how you do it and just how good you are.  

Here’s the thing. What customers are amazed by today will just impress them tomorrow and by next week they’ll expect it and by next month, it will be assumed.

Creating value and being the best is a journey. You need to get up every morning and ask yourself. “How Can I Be Amazing?”







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6 Clients You Need to Fire Now!

2/18/2014

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Many of us hold the mistaken belief that the more clients we have the more money we make. That is a myth that does not serve us well.  My first great breakthrough on my quest to become a multimillion dollar producer was that to get to the next level, I needed to fire the deadwood out of my client list. The first year that I did this, I was finally able to break into the seven figure territory.  Pruning the client list allows you to provide better serve your good accounts and to fully realize their potential.  It also allows you to be filling your prospect pipeline with more good prospects and do a better job of getting into the types of clients that you want.  Here are some of the clients you might want to fire.

“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”  OK, I realize probably nobody under 40 years old understands that reference to a Popeye character (Google it and find some YouTube videos if you don’t understand the reference).  Usually, they were the big clients but there were people who were constantly asking for no-profit or at-a-loss favors from me today with the promise of the big order tomorrow.  Guess what, tomorrow never comes.  If your client is unwilling to allow you to charge a fair price for even the smallest order or favor, let them go. Fire them.

They won’t pay you on time.  If your customers won’t pay you within your terms, they have broken the contract. Let them go. You have a responsibility to your suppliers to pay them according to terms. You have to pay your employees every pay day.  Payment terms are called terms because they are the basis of your agreement. If you agree to longer terms than the traditional 30 days, that is your business. But if your terms are net 60 or net 90 and the client is still not paying within those terms — fire them.

“Thanks for the recommendation and the six samples and the design, I think we’ve figured out what we want now, so I’ll just have to get a couple other quotes from other agencies.”  First of all, shame on you for not making it clear that your research, your artist and your samples do not come free. Include a statement on every quote or proposal that you own the ideas and designs that you submit and that services such as samples and freight for them will be billed if the client chooses to source elsewhere.  Base your hourly rate on what your overhead is and quote it.  State clearly that your price includes all of your development charges. The first time they do this to you send them an invoice for your time and charges.  The second time or the first time they don’t pay you for your work — fire them.

You feel your stomach tie into knots every time they call or you call on them. Since this is a family publication, I’ll need to alter the wording of one of my longstanding principles—”Life is too short to deal with sphincter muscles”.  If someone makes you feel uncomfortable because of the way they treat you and other people. Fire Them!

They do not treat you or your people with respect. You are only a vendor, a necessary evil to them.  They withhold information and don’t give you enough background in order for you to do the best job possible for them. They won’t share their budget and make you guess at what they want, why the want it, when they need it. If they swear at you or an employee or show no respect for your professionalism — Fire them.

They don’t let you make a fair profit.  I fired a company after they spent more than $2 million dollars with me.  They wanted to dictate profit margins, payment terms and wouldn’t agree to pay for my creative and project expertise.  A good friend of mine also fired an account whose brand name would make most of you salivate. Why? Because they set up everything in their favor. You need to know what you are worth and you need to know the profitability of each account. If they won’t let you make what you are worth — Fire Them.

Take the Donald Trump approach to your clients and just fire them if they are not letting you make money.  Focus on your great clients and grow within their companies.  Find companies that are listed as “Great Places to Work”.  In my experience, if they treat their employees well, they will also treat their suppliers well.  Remember why you are in this business.  Have fun, build relationships and get paid for the value that you create.


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7 Ways to Create A Social Media Presence

2/11/2014

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You’re not still asking why or whether you need to have a social media presence are you?  Real quickly now. You need a social media presence because that’s where your new customers are and it’s how they will find you, trust you and try you.  Ignore it at your own peril. My definition of marketing is — Turning Strangers Into Friends, Friends Into Customers and Customers into Raving Fans.  Your social media presence allows you to do just that.  Here are seven tips... 

1.  Make learning Social Media Marketing a priority. Your town probably has a big building in it with lots and lots of books.  It’s kind of like Blockbuster used to be except with books instead of videos and you can check them out for free.  Get reacquainted with your local library.  The internet is also your friend. Google, Yahoo or Bing a phrase such as “How to Learn Social Media” and pick out some great articles to read. Check out your regional trade association’s, ASI’s and PPAI’s pro development offerings.  We have several great professionals in our industry sharing their knowledge on these topics.  Get your own domain name and website that you can use Social Media to drive traffic to and to improve your rankings on search engines. Learn about SEO - it’s not that hard to do it yourself - and optimize your website. You want to create a presence so that when someone in your market enters: Promotional Products - (Your Town Here) into Google that your website comes up in the top half of  the page. 

2.  Update Your LinkedIn Profile and Make Connections. In the past, successful sales people had their Rolodex and it contained all of their contacts names, addresses and phone numbers. It was one of the most valuable business tools that they owned.  Get on LinkedIn today. If you have a profile but haven’t used LinkedIn, get back on there and first update your profile and polish it.  Make so that it leaves the impression that you want your number one prospect to have of you if they were to look for you.  Here’s the thing.  They will look there. Make LinkedIn Connections. Use the “find connections” tools that the site offers and send out invitations to connect.  Watch your network grow!  It is amazing just how many people we are all connected to.  Look at your friends and acquaintances connections and connect with the people that you know from their lists too.  You might also take a look at some of your customers’ and prospects’ profiles for ideas for whom you should invite connections.   

3.  Use LinkedIn Right.  There are several ways to build your presence now that you’ve updated your profile and have a growing network.  First of all be aware that Google loves LinkedIn.  You will notice that when you Google yourself (it’s okay, we all do) that BOOM your profile just came up near the top of page one.  Second, explore the search capabilities. You can find people by location, by job title, by company. Use this as a prospecting tool to not only identify potential clients, but also to identify people in your network who may be able to provide you with at best an introduction and at worst a common ground conversation starter. Next get into the LinkedIn Groups that will highlight your level of expertise.  Sign up for notifications and contribute to discussions. Pick groups where your best customers and prospects hang out and they’ll soon see you as an expert. 

4.  Use Facebook Right. If you are going to use Facebook for building your business and your social media presence, keep personal and business separate. Either use two separate pages one for personal and one for business, or make sure that all of your posts are of the type that you would want your best customer or prospect to see. Post things about your company, your people, any awards or accomplishments. Feature profiles of your customers and highlight their successes. (Particularly their successes using one of your services!)  Keep your posts interesting, informative and valuable. Use it to promote your presence on other social media channels like YouTube, LinkedIn, your blog, your podcasts. Use Facebook to create your online personality. Be interesting and likable. 

5.  You can know own your own television station and your own radio station. Have some fun with video and create a YouTube channel. Record yourself, your employees, your customers, your suppliers having fun with promotional products. If you’ve got more of a face for radio, you can create your own broadcast of podcasts on iTunes. Once again, it’s all about the content. Make sure you have something worth watching or listening to and topics that people will actually search for online. Your video on how to select the right giveaways for a golf outing may show up on a prospects search for information on just that topic and BOOM! you’ve got yourself a new client.   

6.  You also can publish your own newspaper. It’s called a Blog. There are several great platforms available for free (I like Wordpress and blogger). This is where you can use that great domain name that your bought for yourself and create an informative, valuable website.  I’ve heard it joked that blog stands for Better Listings on Google. That is one of the benefits of blogging. Your name will come up higher on searches when you’re a blogger.  Another great benefit is that the internet is forever.  Three years from now, a prospect might find the article that you wrote yesterday on how to plan a company picnic or other valuable content. 

7.  Remember this is Cocktail Party Marketing.  I hope you wouldn’t go to a cocktail party among both strangers and friends and begin shouting out that you’re offering end quantity pricing, free set-up charges or twenty-five percent off on coffee mugs this week.  Social Media Marketing is about having conversations.   

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?  It is work, but if you get consistent at it, it will pay off with customers finding you which is a lot more satisfying than cold calling. The rules of marketing have changed. Change with the times and you’ll find new relevance and new business coming to you. 
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10 Things You Need To Know To Become a Professional

11/6/2013

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1 - All major sports teams have coaches. If you want to play in the major league, get coaching. Our industry has several good ones.

2- If you want to be good, hang around those who already are. Your regional association is where the really good hang out. Get involved, volunteer, serve.  You’ll meet the best in the industry. You’ll find your mentor.

3- Customers remember only a few of your words. They never forget the essence of who you are. Work on who you are, more than what you say.

4- Don’t rush to make a sale. Clients forgive a lot of the things that can go wrong with an order. A bad recommendation, a promotion that makes them look bad is forever.

5- Everything you ever wanted to know about promotional products can be learned at your regional and international associations. Read the publications from cover to cover. Attend every workshop, seminar and presentation that you can. You are lucky to be in an industry with the breadth of free education and professional development it offers.

6- This is a crazy business, but that doesn't mean that you need to go crazy. Don't go bonkers if someone drops the ball sometimes. It’s going to happen. I know of no long term calamities befalling mankind because of a screwed up order. Yes, it is the end of the world. Until you let go, take the lessons from it and move on.

7- Never compete on price. No one wins.

8- Don't try to do it all. Everything you learn from reps, from PPAI, from ASI, from your regionals, from your reps shouldn't be everything you do. Take only what fits for you, your style, your market, and leave the rest behind.

9- Have a passion for what you do. It will help you get through those missed deadlines, lost packages, bad artwork, unrealistic clients, unreliable resources and those days when the entire universe conspires against you.

10- Have fun. If you are not enjoying what you are doing, why do it?

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Love as a Business Strategy

4/25/2011

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When we talk about the need to “Create Value” we’re talking about making a very real and discernable difference.  For all of us, no matter whom we depend upon for our daily bread, that means making our customers love us.  

If people buy from you because you give them the cheapest price, they’ll buy from the next guy for the same reason.  When we create business propositions around cutting prices, I’m reminded of a joke about a man and a woman in a bar.  The punch line concludes with the recently face-slapped man answering, “We’ve already determined what you are.  Now we’re just haggling over the price.”  That type of transaction in the bar and the ones that we engage in predicated on discounting are not healthy, are of questionable character and are devoid of value and meaning.  We not only can do better than that — we must.

If your customers buy from you because of the love that you show them and because they love you, you can profit more — both in your bank account and your heart.  You need to know this—People don’t buy with their heads.  They buy with their hearts.  You don’t compete for their money.  You compete for their feelings and emotions.  If you touch the hearts of the people you serve, they will be loyal and become partners.  Engage their emotions and they’ll become raving fans.  Raving fans don’t just give you referrals.  They become your ambassadors and evangelists.  

Is there room for softhearted words like “Love” in the world of business?  In our self-important universe of trade and commerce, can we use this kind of language?  I believe it is critical that we use it and live it.  Speaker and author, Tim Sanders wrote the bestseller, “Love Is The Killer App” and challenges business people to become “love cats.”  He argues that the way to fix your future is to fix yourself and that in today’s world the road to prosperity is paved with a commitment to generosity.  

Milton Mayeroff in his philosophical book, ”On Caring”, defines love as “the selfless promotion of the growth of the other.”  When we help others grow and become their best selves, we are being loving and we grow.  It is one of the most amazing counter intuitive realities of this world; the more we give, the more we gain.  I speak of this in the presentation that I’ve given at several industry events entitled “How Full Is Your Bucket?” We each carry an imaginary bucket and when that bucket is full of positive feelings, we operate in our zone, at our best and at peak performance.  When our bucket gets emptied through the negative emotions of others, we cannot be or do our best.  But the very best way to fill our own buckets back up is to consciously and conscientiously be filling the buckets of others.

So what does it mean to bring love into our professional lives and how does that create value?  I like Sanders’ definition:  “Love is the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your knowledge, networks, and compassion with your business partners.”  When we are openly human with each other great things can happen.  We can operate from the perspective of assuming positive intentions from each other and not creating drama skits of ulterior motives.

Some brilliant business minds have stated that the purpose of business is to make a profit or to maximize return to share holders.  I could not disagree with that more.  It leaves no room for the most powerfully motivating force on the planet — Love.  Love can propel you forward and give you a sense of meaning and satisfaction, which will help you do your best work and be your best YOU.  The purpose of work is not to maximize profit.  It is to come together to do good things, to help each other and bring about important and lasting changes to our society and our planet.  

We can build relationships, learn from each other and openly share our knowledge; expand and connect our networks of value-driven people, and express our true selves despite the harried pace we set for ourselves and our business partners.  We can hold each other to higher standards and demand from each other that we leave everything we touch better than we found it.  And we can live out our values and do good things not because we expect a Return on Goodness, but simply because it is the right thing to do.  We can believe in a karmic quid pro quo, but it should not order our days.  Do the right thing because you want to be the right person.  

The passion and compassion that you bring to your customers, your supplier partners, your associates and your world are what defines you.  Compassion and generosity are the best strategies for individual and organizational prosperity.  We must be people of value with the right values. Together we can make a difference for good.

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How Are You Different?

2/4/2011

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Can you come up with five points where your customers would regard you or your organization as being different from everything else they see in the marketplace?  Can you come up with three? One?   

Being different is a competitive advantage in the new economy.  It is critical that you be able to stand out from the crowd.  Who are your competitors?  Have you looked at their website, their brochure, their marketing efforts?  How does your marketing differ and stand out?  

Having friendly service, being able to source products, being responsive and able to provide quotes and proposals quickly, having competitive pricing — these are requirements in today’s economy.  Can you really differentiate yourself along these claims?  

You may need to reinvent yourself or your company along several lines.  Peter Drucker said, “Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future.”  Are you prepared?

Unless you can differentiate yourself from your competition, you WILL be caught into that zero sum game of commoditization, where the race to the bottom becomes a vicious cycle of more and more work, frustration, stress and anxiety and less and less profit and joy.  All of the reasons that you came into this business are lost when you get caught up in that game.  

Seth Godin has put it best.  “Be Better.  Be Different.  Or Be Cheaper.”  One of the best ways to be better and different is to have a relentless pursuit of continuous improvement, creative problem solving and focus on customer needs.  

Here’s my challenge to you.  Take a week and work on this.  Discuss it with your employees, with your customers, with your suppliers, with your mastermind group.  Come up with 5 points of difference between you and your competitors that everyone will agree defines you.  Then communicate those points of difference.

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    Paul A. Kiewiet MAS CIP CPC
    Coach, Speaker, Facilitator



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