Tim Miles Countdown!

Want to come hear best-sellign author Tim Miles speak in April?  Just e-mail Joe Drahozal.  April 18th in Coralville, April 19th in Cedar Rapids--registration is at 8:45 in both locations and the seminar is 9:00-noon.  We'll learn about what works, what doesn't and why, the three controls of marketing, and Tim's thoughts on Social Media.  We'd love to have you come.

In the mean time, here's a link to a great blog post from Tim.
Strategic Planning 101

 

For Pete’s Sake, Stop With the Phone Numbers Already

By Glen Gardner, CEO Glen Gardner and Associates

 

If you are making great use of a phone number as a "call to action" in your marketing, you should probably rethink that. We just don't use and remember phone numbers the way we used to. Fact of the matter is our phones, which are smart, do it for us.

 

I was driving by an electronic billboard today and what I saw really made me laugh and then I thought about all the money this business was wasting and it almost made me cry. On this electronic billboard was a huge picture of a rather average looking man with a long phone number under it. Perhaps the name of the business was on the previous panel, but I was only exposed to the pixelated picture and the 800 number, which of course I can't remember.

 

As a matter of fact, I can't even remember my wife's phone number anymore. The only phone number I can remember is the one we had when I was a kid. Technology has made "remembering" phone numbers irrelevant. All I have to do now is say "Lauren" and the phone connects me to my wife via voice or text. Putting a phone number on a billboard, in a radio commercial or on TV is becoming a very difficult ask. Not only do we not remember a number, we don't even remember how to memorize it. Asking someone to remember a phone number is akin to outfitting them with a bear skin and a stone knife in the year 2013AD.

 

I have become so impatient that the mere act of having to "dial" a phone number feels like Hannibal's trek across the Alps. I get past the area code and start forgetting where I need to go next. Can't I just click on something or tell the phone to do something? What a drag.

 

Even in print phone numbers are a tough sell. That's why you see more layouts that feature elements that can simply be scanned with a smart phone or tablet. The smart marketers know that phone numbers as a recall item are nearly cooked. The world has moved on, get over it.

 

In the electronic media and billboards a much better call to action is an easy-to-remember URL. A good case in point would be the board with the average looking guy. Instead of 1-800-xxx-xxxx, it should have be www.averagelookingguy.com, I would remember that and out of morbid curiosity I probably would have checked it out.

Shopping = Good for your health!

By Kellie J. Lala

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love to shop and according to a recent Radio Sales Today article, the national fitness craze is combining these two.  How you ask?  By having health clubs anchor outdoor shopping centers, you can get fit, take a yoga class, pick up your vitamins and have coffee with your classmates without getting back in your car all morning.  We all like convenience and this concept is the perfect answer.  As you look around the creative corridor in which we live you will see this frequently, many times along with curb side parking.  The article goes on to say that the health club member has a higher education, have disposable income and come to the center 3-4 times a week.  When I travel I also see farmer’s markets in these centers' parking lots, thus playing to the healthy and fresh eating concept we all strive for.  If you are looking to open a new business or have a hot new idea, you might want to think about the old saying; location, location, location!   Talk to you soon.

 

 

 

 

How Does Your Company Answer the Phone?

Note:  
Tim Miles will be speaking and teaching us his secrets in Coralville (4/18 9am-12n) and in Cedar Rapids (4/19 9am-12n).  Want to attend?  E-mail Julie.  This is a guest post from Tim.  You can always find him at The Daily Blur -- you should subscribe to his blog.  We think he's awesome.

Guest post by Tim Miles
“Thanks for calling Picklepepper Heating & Air. How can I help you?”
How does your company answer the phone? You have a set policy, right?
Have you given much thought to it? Do you have a system/policy in place that helps convey an initial thought or feeling to customers and potential customers?
One of my first mentors in this business, Pat Benton, taught me my favorite:
“Thanks for calling Picklepepper Heating & Air. This is Pat – I can help.”
It’s grateful. It gives a person a name to put with the voice, and it’s reassuring.
Reassuring, I guess, as long as the person you have answering the phones can actually help.
Katie Wilson, one of our awesome receptionists at Call Ruby, wrote last month for Ruby’s blog:

Treat each caller like an influencer. Every caller’s experience has the potential to go viral. Whenever possible, keep screening questions simple, and use a familiar style and friendly tone to put callers at ease and show them you care about their call.

In fact, Call Ruby has an entire category on their blog, The Watercooler, dedicated to Receptionist Tips.
I suggest you give your receptionist an assignment today:
Have him or her or them read through all the posts then prepare a presentation for the rest of your company on what he or she or they learned.
Then, treat him or her or them to dinner after they successfully present.
You want to keep the talent happy, after all.
Trust me on this.
I can help.

Big Announcement

We're bringing in a guru.  An expert.  A connoiseur.  A really smart dude.  He'll be doing some seminars for us.  In the morning of April 18th in Coralville and April 19th in Cedar Rapids.  Wanna come?  Just e-mail us.  We'd love to have you.  He's a marketing guy--and he'll preach about ways to make your efforts work better.

Here's some info about his best selling book, Good Company, Making It, Keeping It, Being It.  More about Tim soon. 

Fish don’t know they’re in water. We've been like that, too. 

Tried-and-trusted methods of communication no longer ring true in today’s marketplace.

What’s more (or less, as the case may be), the systems you relied upon are failing … maybe.

If you want to not only survive but thrive in this century, you’re going to need to reorient yourself to a new way of thinking.

Inside this book, you'll find three sections devoted to case studies, lessons learned, and stories of business growth, customer delight, and personal development.

In Part I - "Making Good Company" - you'll learn about strategy and about what matters and what doesn't to consumers today. You'll learn to critically and objectively analyze what you’re trying to make happen, and what’s in your way. 

In Part II - "Keeping Good Company" - you'll learn some of the secrets that have helped my words win customers in seven countries. You'll see and - through a complementary private website - hear actual examples of copywriting and customer service success stories to help you win new customers and delight the ones you already have.

In Part III - "Being Good Company" - you'll learn some techniques for separating the truly important from the merely urgent. You'll take a look inside the Miles family - where Dee and I have learned to look at the world a little differently since our son was diagnosed with autism.

A book filled with heart, humor and historical success, Good Company will help you live, work and play a little better, a little truer, and a little stronger.

If you’re looking for a quick fix, you’re going to come away disappointed.

This book is the diet and exercise of marketing and communication and persuasion. If you’re looking for a bag of magic beans, I wish you the best of luck. But don’t worry – I’m sure some social media expert will  be by in a few minutes.

Your Word is Your Bond

By Neil Jennings

 

Keeping appointments is critical in this world and I believe it always has been. I wasn’t alive in 1827 but I’m sure the same rules applied. “meet me at high noon or else….” No matter what walk of life you’re in, no matter what side of the fence you’re on, no matter what business you’re in, it’s critical to keep the appointments you’ve set with someone else.

 

Sounds easy enough right? Pretty basic stuff. But I see it too often. Now, I obviously understand that sometimes things come up, accidents happen, people get sick blah, blah, blah but to leave someone hanging out there waiting for you is disrespectful.

 

I’m not ranting either from personal experience. Generally in this business people have an almost 100% unblemished record when it comes to keeping appointments with me. However there have been a few that have slipped through the cracks and I’m simply taking this blog opportunity to send a reminder to the world to keep the appointments you’ve set with someone else. If you can’t make the appointment or meeting at “high noon” because ten minutes till “high noon” your horse broke down on I-380 then make a quick call, email, telegraph, carrier pigeon, something to let the other party know. Sounds simple right? Slips through the cracks more often than we’d like it to.

 

We’re all consumers in this world and we all talk a lot. We make recommendations to others about the products and services we’ve used and if the experience was a good one we’ll be back for more. An easy building block in having/keeping a good reputation is keeping your appointments. Your word is your bond. What we say must be trusted.