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There’s Only One Way To Get A Different Outcome
We should have known as soon as we walked in. The place was empty, not a soul in sight apart from two lone waiters who pounced. Every other breakfast place in the city was teeming with life and overflowing with plates of over easy eggs. This place was dead.
We stayed because we didn’t have the heart to back out, but instantly regretted the decision when the food and the bill arrived. The waiters having fewer customers to keep the place afloat upsold and charged handsomely for sides of fruit and freshly squeezed juices (which weren’t).
We left feeling sorry for them (it must be soul destroying to work there), and more than a little ripped off.
It might be easy to nab a one-off table of rookie tourists but that’s hardly a brilliant marketing strategy.
If nobody shows up or something is not working then there’s a reason. It’s your job to find out what that reason is and fix it. If you keep doing the same thing you did yesterday and expecting a different result, or even a miracle tomorrow you’re going to be both disappointing and disappointed.
Image by Tom Ellefsen.
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Don’t be the brand that people buy. What Don’t You Do?
It’s easy to rattle off the features of your product or benefits of your service.
Which means it’s not hard for the competition to do that too.
Far more difficult to stand for something and be willing to stand out because of what you don’t do.
It turns out that time and again telling the story of what’s missing and how you are least like the competition is a far better marketing strategy.
Image by Eric Konon.
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Anticipation Is Your Point Of Differentiation
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Brand new guest rooms, sleek kitchenettes, minibars and bright, new bathrooms were only the start of the boutique hotel’s story. The ‘dream pillow menu’ gave me six choices from buckwheat to hypo-allergenic, duck down to Swedish memory foam.
And yet…..there was no chance of an early check in after a 30 hour journey. No mechanism to anticipate or to care in a way that the competition doesn’t.
Anyone can take instructions. Every business can get customer to tick boxes and say exactly what they want. The thing that’s scarce is what the customer didn’t know they needed or wanted in the first place.
The brands that succeed understand that the ability to anticipate, and act upon what isn’t already known is what makes them stand head and shoulders above all the rest.
Image by Amanda Tipton.
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More Than Words
filed in Entrepreneurship, Storytelling, Worldview
The school public speaking competition was in full swing. One after another the young and accomplished speakers stepped up to the lectern. Their opinions, convincing arguments and confidence just blew us away.
The evening was drawing to a close and the audience began to fidget as the second last speaker took the stage. Before he said a word he got hold of both sides of the heavy wooden lectern and pointedly moved it to the side of the stage. He paused, then stepped forward to make eye contact with the audience.
Before he had even opened his mouth or his argument this kid was a winner.
It’s true what Annette Simmons says….whoever tells the best story does win. It’s important to remember though that your story is more than the most convincing argument you can make, or the eloquent words that you write.
Image By Tommi Komulainen.
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What’s Your Sentence?
filed in Entrepreneurship, Worldview
Tomorrow you might consider making a list of resolutions. You might even set goals for the coming year. Before you do watch this short video from Daniel Pink and then go craft a sentence that will be your guidepost for everything you plan to do.
The best bit is that you get to choose.
If you’d like to share in the comments I’d love to read your sentence.
All my best to you for 2013!
Image by Jilarson.
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What Your Clients Need Now
They need you to ask the right questions, not to have all the answers.
They need your generosity, not jargon.
They need the truth.
They need what works for them, not what makes you look good.
They need faith in you and your intention.
They need to be empowered more than they need to be helped.
Image by Skinnyde.
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Petrol Station Flowers
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
‘Petrol station flowers’ never quite hit the mark.
It’s obvious to both the giver and the receiver that they were unplanned….an afterthought.
That the giving of them lacked the thing that’s more important than the blooms themselves.
The intention.
We care about the intention as much as the gift, often more.
Your intention matters in business as it does in life. It costs nothing to care more than the competition. And the flip side of course is that if you care more, you not only have the opportunity to change how your customers feel, you also get to do work that matters to you too.
Image by scorpians and centaurs.
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The Glory Or Generosity?
filed in Entrepreneurship, Worldview
The performer exited stage left, applause ringing in his ears. Relief and joy flooded through him as he grabbed a sandwich outside the greenroom. The stagehand waiting in the wings congratulated him on giving a great performance. He didn’t stop or turn to face her as he stuffed the sandwich into his mouth whole.
“Boy, I didn’t realise how hungry I was.” he said, as he moved right on to receive the next compliment without acknowledging the last one, or the person who had given it.
When the spotlight is off you. When the applause dies. When the next promotion doesn’t come. When the big idea fails. When the next performance doesn’t go so well and even when it does.
When whatever will be is. What will matter then?
The glory or the generosity?
Wishing you lots of moments of generosity and love this holidays.
Image by Eva Ekeblad.
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What Versus Why
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Worldview
My middle son left school this year and here’s the question everyone asks him.
“What do you want to do?”
I bet it’s a question you’ve been asked too at one time or another.
My seventeen year old tells people he wants to study either architecture or design, and then that he’s off to Billund in Denmark to work as a designer for LEGO. He has absolutely no idea how he’s going to make this happen, but here’s what he once told me.
Can you imagine the feeling of being in a toy shop and seeing a little kid talking excitedly to his Mum about the big LEGO set on the top shelf? The set he wants more than anything in the world. The one you designed.
It’s important to know what you want to do.
Knowing ‘what’ however pales into insignificance when you understand deep down why you’re doing it.
Image by Ben Spark.