Is a Fungus Among Us?
Beware employee theft of trade secrets, intellectual property and clients
Author, direct marketing guru, and always entertaining Denny Hatch focuses on a major story in the news and shows how businesses can take advantage of—or avoid the pitfalls from—the lessons to be learned in terms of marketing, sales, PR and communications.
Here are two stories about people working for two businesses—an employee in one and members of the board in the other—who knew a lot about their respective companies.
Both allegedly annexed a core product and went into competition with it.
Both cases have resulted in lawsuits and countersuits.
A person that would do this to an employer is a fungus—a parasitic organism that obtains nourishment by locking onto a host and sucking it dry.
What can you do if such a person is loose in your company?
If you have an idea for a new product, do you develop it and then offer it to your current employer? Or do you surreptitiously shop it elsewhere?
If so, why?
A Personal Digression
In 1964 I got a job selling advertising for Library Journal, a magazine published by R.R. Bowker. At the time, book publishers produced seasonal catalogs—usually fall and spring—which were mailed to the Bowker editorial department as well as to booksellers, wholesalers, agents, foreign rights buyers, schools and libraries.
Arriving in the mail at different times, these catalogs came in various sizes and shapes and were stuffed into files, where they spilled out and were a perpetual nightmare to keep current. I figured a better information system had to exist, one that was more efficient, user friendly and less costly to the individual publisher, who was spending a fortune on composition, printing, binding and mailing.
At a client’s office, I discovered how British publishers dealt with the problem of catalogs. In the waiting room was a multivolume set of fat, paperbound books—a compendium of publishers’ catalogs bound together alphabetically. It was produced and shipped by The Bookseller—the British version of Publishers Weekly. From this I came up with the idea for “Publishers Combined Seasonal Catalogs”—same format as the U.K. product, same concept—and quietly floated the idea to a number of my clients who advertised with Library Journal.
Some publishers loved it. They immediately saw that by participating in this format (1) their catalogs would not be lost in an overstuffed file drawer and therefore would be far more easily accessible, and (2) this co-op binding and distribution system would save considerable money. Further, they could produce overruns for their sales representatives and as giveaways at the American Booksellers and Library Association conferences, as well as regional gatherings.
While others hated it, feeling that they would lose their individuality, enough said they liked the idea to make it a viable business. What’s more, once established, other publishers would see the wisdom of the product and come on board. For Bowker, it would represent a brand-new profit center with virtually no editorial expense that could be sold as an add-on by existing sales representatives.
I put together a business plan, designed a cover, made a crude mock-up of the product and sent it in to top management. Word came back from the board meeting that everybody loved the idea, but Library Journal—and its sister publication, Publishers Weekly—was undergoing a redesign, so nobody could get to this project for at least six months.
My salary at Bowker—the junior number three guy in a two-man office—was peanuts. When a very good offer for a job with another company came in, I was immediately interested. I went to Bowker’s VP of advertising and asked him where the catalog project stood, since I had just received a job offer.
“We want to go ahead with it,” he said, “but the redesign of the magazines is taking longer than we thought.”
“If I stay at Bowker and help launch this new catalog project, could I count on getting a piece of the action?”
“We don’t do that,” he said. “You have your salary.”
The idea was worked up with the full knowledge of my employer. I would have had no compunction about shopping the idea elsewhere. But at the time, only two other companies served the book industry, Kirkus Reviews and H.W. Wilson, which published a bunch of directories. Only Bowker had the clout and the contacts to get this show on the road.
I quit. Dunno whatever happened to the idea.
Barbie v. Bratz
I was astonished to discover that Barbie is 47 years old, and that, for all the competitors that tried to knock her off her pedestal over the years, Mattel’s savvy design and marketing staff swatted them all down. In 2005, the Barbie doll franchise brought in $3 billion.
One of the premier Barbie designers was Mattel’s Carter Bryant, whose Cinderella-like Grand Entrance Barbie sent adult collector Kristina Frazier-Henry into orbit. Frazier-Henry of Indiana is a serial blogger who has written 1,325 reviews on Epinions.com under the handle kristinafh. Her take on Grand Entrance Barbie:
I am a fanatical Barbie collector. Fanatical in the way that I would rather have an NRFB (that’s Never Removed From Box) Barbie than just about any other gift. Surprised? Yeah, thought you were.
Doll Description
This Grand Entrance Barbie is the first collector doll designed by Carter Bryant. It came out in 2001 and was met with a lot of oooh’s and ahhh’s from the adult collecting world. Here’s why.
Close your eyes and imagine an elegant ball. Your hair is blond (natural of course) and shiny. There’s no frizz to be had. The sides of your hair are gently gathered back while the back of your hair is curled in waves and lays gently across your shoulders.
Your gown is a steel blue taffeta creation made by designer Carter Bryant. The bodice is fitted and compliments your elegant waist. Underneath your gown is a thin, slip-like layer of tulle the color of ivory. Sewn into the middle part of your gown is a creamy pink silk sheath. The way the light shines off of the creamy pink makes a total stranger want to come over and touch you.
A Sabbatical
In 1998, Carter Bryant decided he needed a hiatus from Barbie and the fast life in Los Angeles. He returned to his roots in Springfield, Mo., and moved in with his parents. Driving by a local high school, Bryant claimed that he saw some local high school girls “wearing kind of, you know, oversized clothes, big, baggy jeans ... just got me to kind of thinking, you know, wouldn’t it be cool if there were some characters that kind of accurately represented today’s teenager.”
He dashed home and made sketches for a new doll to compete with Barbie. Its name was Bratz, described by Margaret Talbot in a 2006 story in The New Yorker titled “LITTLE HOTTIES: Barbie’s New Rivals,” as a design that “showed a face in which the lips and eyes were cartoonishly prominent and the nose was vanishingly small: it was as if the doll had undergone successive rounds of plastic surgery.”
Back to L.A.
In 1999 Bryant returned to Mattel as a Barbie wardrobe designer but continued to refine Bratz, which he presented to Isaac Larian, president of MGA Entertainment—a minor, money-losing electronic games company located in the San Fernando Valley of northwest Los Angeles.
The story gets murky as to who did what when, but a Mattel phone record paper trail indicates that Bryant was working on Bratz and talking to Larian from his Mattel office until he handed in his notice in October 2000 and went to work for MGA.
Bratz was launched in 2001, caught on big and began generating $1.25 billion a year in sales while the Barbie business declined some 12.5%. In 2006, Mattel decided it had been ripped off and instituted a lawsuit. Among the charges made by Mattel was that former employee Bryant’s 3% royalty on Bratz brought him $30 million.
Bryant and Mattel settled out of court, but Mattel is going after MGA in a trial that started last Tuesday. Meanwhile, MGA is countersuing Mattel.
The question here is not about dolls—or even this trial—but rather about a corporate culture that causes a creative employee to take a hot idea to a competitor, rather than bring it in-house and jointly reap the rewards.
Craigslist v. eBay
As readers know, I am no fan of eBay. Last Feb. 7, this cranky little e-zine published, “Should Congress Shut Down eBay? Is this auction site the world’s biggest criminal conspiracy?” I wrote:
If my numbers are remotely correct, it means that eBay is the supreme enabler of counterfeiters, forgers, hooligans, miscreants, petty crooks, pirates, rapscallions, reprobates, rogues, scallywags, scamps, scoundrels, swindlers, thieves, thugs and villains on a scale heretofore unimagined in human history.
If my numbers are correct, eBay is perpetrating the largest, most pernicious worldwide criminal conspiracy and fencing operation the world has ever seen.
If my numbers are correct, eBay is costing consumers whose homes have been burglarized—and businesses and copyright holders of all sizes whose property has been plundered and who have lost legitimate sales—billions upon billions of dollars, not to mention the insurance companies that have paid for the losses.
I am no fan of Craig Newmark and his Craigslist, a Web enterprise that seems bent on (1) taking over the classified advertising business and (2) putting traditional newspapers out of business. My problem is not that Craig Newmark is unhorsing a vestigial medium, but rather his service in 100 cities on five continents is mostly free. The free market, freebooting buccaneer in me screams, “For Pete’s sake, if you’re going to revolutionize an industry, do it to serve customers and make a killing while you’re at it!”
Now these two highly questionable organizations are in a fascinating death struggle.
In 2004, eBay bought out a former employee of Craigslist and wound up with 28.3% ownership. The two companies said that deal would allow eBay and Craigslist to “share expertise, resources and creativity.”
“Craigslist is an excellent example of how the Internet brings people together,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay. “Whether it’s to trade goods, help neighbors or speak out on important issues, Craigslist has become the online gathering place for local communities.” eBay was given two seats on the Craigslist board.
Fast forward to the next year, 2005, and eBay announced that it was starting Kijiji—a series of 50 Web sites around the world offering free classified ads in direct competition with Craigslist. Alex Kazim, senior VP of eBay’s new ventures, proudly announced, “Kijiji builds local communities online, giving neighbors a way to come together around local needs and interests.”
On April 30, 2008, eBay filed a 29-page complaint against Craigslist in the Delaware Court of Chancery, claiming in essence:
NEWMARK AND [JIM] BUCKMASTER [CRAIGSLIST CEO]CRAFT A PLAN TO DILUTE AND DISENFRANCHISE EBAY
Let me say, if I were Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, I would sure as hell do everything possible to disenfranchise eBay after buying into the company, learning the business and starting a competitor.
Craigslist filed a countersuit suit in California State Superior Court in San Francisco requesting a jury trial with the following complaints:
* UNFAIR AND UNLAWFUL COMPETITION UNDER CAL. BUS. AND PROF. CODE §17500
* FALSE ADVERTISING UNDER CAL. BUS. AND PROF. CODE §17500
* CALIFORNIA TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT AND UNFAIR COMPETITION
* CALIFORNIA PASSING OFF AND UNFAIR COMPETITION* DILUTION UNDER CAL. BUS. & PROF. CODE §14200
* BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY
A Personal Digression
In the 1960s, I was at Grolier Enterprises, which was run by four dynamos: founder Elsworth Howell, whose real love was judging dog shows; VP Bob Clarke, a lovely human being who started in the Grolier mail room and died young; Ed Bakal, a rough-hewn ex-paratrooper; and Lew Smith, a brilliant, low-key marketing genius who went on to become Lester Wunderman’s creative director.
Grolier’s business at the time was selling Dr. Seuss books to kids. The competition was Weekly Reader Book Club and Scholastic’s paperback book clubs. All sold books to students in classrooms through the teacher.
Using the Scholastic paperback model, a guy named Joe Archie started the Willie Whale Book Club. Elsworth Howell watched it grow and told Archie he was interested in buying Willie Whale. They signed confidentiality agreements, and, stupidly, Archie laid out his entire business plan, MO and results for Grolier to see. Whereupon Howell told Joe Archie that he had decided not to buy Willie Whale and started the Peter Possum Book Club offering children’s paperback books in direct competition with Archie and Scholastic.
Archie sued and lost.
If history repeats, my bet is that both Mattel and Craigslist will lose.
Takeaway Points to Consider:
* As an employee, you come up with a great idea for a new product that could be a moneymaker. Do you trust your current managers enough to give them first dibs? Or would you keep it secret and surreptitiously offer it to competitors?
* As an employer, do you encourage new ideas from within and—if they come to fruition—are the creators rewarded?
* As an employer, do you engender trust among those who work for and with you?
* If not, why not?
* If an employee is drawing salary and benefits, then according to United States copyright law, if “the work was done within the scope of his employment (whether the work is the kind he was employed prepare; whether the preparation takes place primarily within the employer’s time and place specifications; and whether the work was activated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the employer), then the work is a work for hire and the employer is the initial owner of the copyright, rather than the employee who actually conceived and fixed the expression.”
* Carter Bryant maintained that he conceived and developed the Bratz doll when he was at home in Missouri and not in the employ of Mattel. Therefore, he reasoned, he owned it and had the right to sell it to MGA.
* Employers and employees alike are urged to look carefully into the pros and cons of noncompete contracts.
* If you’re working up a new idea on your own, always use your personal computer and cellphone. Don’t leave a digital trail of memos, notes, proposals or e-mail exchanges on the company server. Do not use the company phone to make calls or receive calls about your project. Do not leave a paper trail in your filing cabinet.
* If you swim with sharks, chances are you will be eaten.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Prospecting
Here is another email I received from another colleauge about prospecting
Greetings Paul,
I wanted to speak with you briefly on the subject of prospecting. You see, prospecting is the fuel that feeds a business. Turn off the prospecting, and you turn off the lifeblood of your business. Prospecting is what keeps the cash flow of a business viable and steady.
But how do you prospect for MLM business? What are you looking for when you prospect? What makes a person a "master prospector"?
Well, one of things that I do is lead with a product or service, not an opportunity.
The reasons I lead with the product or the service in an MLM business are many. They include:
1. You cannot separate yourself in the marketplace based on opportunity. Everyone has an opportunity, and in this day and age, the average 18 yr old has been hit over the head with so many opportunities that leading with your company's opportunity to earn compensation sounds just like all the other opportunities out there. Everyone has a way to get rich, which means that for you to sound halfway credible, you cannot lead with opportunity.
2. Retention rates increase dramatically when you lead with the product or service. You see, residual income means that you get paid later, not now. So when you are building a residual income foundation, it takes a little bit of time, and if a distributor signs up to market your product based on the potential to make a million bucks, then 3 months later when they're not making all the money they want, they quit. The only reason they were ever using the product in the first place was to get a paycheck.
3. People buy in the presence of expertise. What I am referring to is the concept of "positioning". Paul you simply cannot position yourself as an expert in the creation of wealth until you have actually created it. You see, if you are talking to somebody about making tons of money in your business, and you are leading your pitch with the opportunity to make money, and they see that you are NOT making a ton of money, it's over. It's like listening to a person that weights 700 lbs give you advice on staying in shape. There is a credibility issue there, and unless you have generated serious income with your business, you simply cannot effectively lead with your opportunity.
So...when you lead with the product, the reason a prospect is purchasing from you is to access a solution that your product provides them. Which means that if they do choose to market the product, then they won't quit while they are building the foundation for their business and they are waiting for the big bucks to start rolling in...because the whole reason they got involved in the first place was because they wanted the product or service. Both business builders and product users stay on the books longer...which means more income in your distribution channel.
So if you are leading with the product or service, how do you prospect?
When you do your prospecting, and you are leading with the product / service, you are looking for 2 key things in the prospect to determine if they would be a good fit for what you have:
1. They need to have pain - The best type of prospect that you could ever hope for is a prospect that is aware of a need for something else. For example, if you are marketing a health juice, you want to be talking to people who are actively aware that the type of health solution they are currently using isn't providing them with the benefits they are seeking. You don't want to convince them that they need what you have. You want to determine that they are already aware of a need, and if so, how you could help.
2. They need to have a desire - Have you ever heard the phrase "misery loves company"? Well here's a new one for ya: "sometimes, misery loves misery".
We all know people who, for whatever reason, seem to take pleasure in their pain. We have all had a friend that was involved with a relationship that was less than beneficial for them, but regardless, they stayed in the relationship. Well, if your prospect has given up all hope of fixing their pain, then there is nothing you can do for them.
So... if a prospect has pain, and a prospect has desire to fix that pain, then I simply show them how to get that done. I know that there are plenty of opinions out there on how to grow a business, but personally, I enjoy helping people to solve their pain much more than convincing them that they need what I have.
If you have a business, then go find some people to help! We live in world that is chock-full of pain. If your product has benefits, then go find the folks that are in need of those benefits, and help them out! Ease their pain. Make the world a better place.
If you don't have a clue where to start, don't worry, I'll talk about how to find people with pain in further emails. Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted.
Walking This Road With You,
Joshua Fuson
Business Growth Specialist
Here is another email I received from another colleauge about prospecting
Greetings Paul,
I wanted to speak with you briefly on the subject of prospecting. You see, prospecting is the fuel that feeds a business. Turn off the prospecting, and you turn off the lifeblood of your business. Prospecting is what keeps the cash flow of a business viable and steady.
But how do you prospect for MLM business? What are you looking for when you prospect? What makes a person a "master prospector"?
Well, one of things that I do is lead with a product or service, not an opportunity.
The reasons I lead with the product or the service in an MLM business are many. They include:
1. You cannot separate yourself in the marketplace based on opportunity. Everyone has an opportunity, and in this day and age, the average 18 yr old has been hit over the head with so many opportunities that leading with your company's opportunity to earn compensation sounds just like all the other opportunities out there. Everyone has a way to get rich, which means that for you to sound halfway credible, you cannot lead with opportunity.
2. Retention rates increase dramatically when you lead with the product or service. You see, residual income means that you get paid later, not now. So when you are building a residual income foundation, it takes a little bit of time, and if a distributor signs up to market your product based on the potential to make a million bucks, then 3 months later when they're not making all the money they want, they quit. The only reason they were ever using the product in the first place was to get a paycheck.
3. People buy in the presence of expertise. What I am referring to is the concept of "positioning". Paul you simply cannot position yourself as an expert in the creation of wealth until you have actually created it. You see, if you are talking to somebody about making tons of money in your business, and you are leading your pitch with the opportunity to make money, and they see that you are NOT making a ton of money, it's over. It's like listening to a person that weights 700 lbs give you advice on staying in shape. There is a credibility issue there, and unless you have generated serious income with your business, you simply cannot effectively lead with your opportunity.
So...when you lead with the product, the reason a prospect is purchasing from you is to access a solution that your product provides them. Which means that if they do choose to market the product, then they won't quit while they are building the foundation for their business and they are waiting for the big bucks to start rolling in...because the whole reason they got involved in the first place was because they wanted the product or service. Both business builders and product users stay on the books longer...which means more income in your distribution channel.
So if you are leading with the product or service, how do you prospect?
When you do your prospecting, and you are leading with the product / service, you are looking for 2 key things in the prospect to determine if they would be a good fit for what you have:
1. They need to have pain - The best type of prospect that you could ever hope for is a prospect that is aware of a need for something else. For example, if you are marketing a health juice, you want to be talking to people who are actively aware that the type of health solution they are currently using isn't providing them with the benefits they are seeking. You don't want to convince them that they need what you have. You want to determine that they are already aware of a need, and if so, how you could help.
2. They need to have a desire - Have you ever heard the phrase "misery loves company"? Well here's a new one for ya: "sometimes, misery loves misery".
We all know people who, for whatever reason, seem to take pleasure in their pain. We have all had a friend that was involved with a relationship that was less than beneficial for them, but regardless, they stayed in the relationship. Well, if your prospect has given up all hope of fixing their pain, then there is nothing you can do for them.
So... if a prospect has pain, and a prospect has desire to fix that pain, then I simply show them how to get that done. I know that there are plenty of opinions out there on how to grow a business, but personally, I enjoy helping people to solve their pain much more than convincing them that they need what I have.
If you have a business, then go find some people to help! We live in world that is chock-full of pain. If your product has benefits, then go find the folks that are in need of those benefits, and help them out! Ease their pain. Make the world a better place.
If you don't have a clue where to start, don't worry, I'll talk about how to find people with pain in further emails. Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted.
Walking This Road With You,
Joshua Fuson
Business Growth Specialist
Attitude is Everything
Jim Rohn
Last week I posted a quote by Zig Ziggler about "Attitude" and ran across the following this week:
The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.
Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, that produces the intensity of our activity, and that predicts the quality of the result we receive is our attitude.
Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.
No one else "makes us angry." We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.
If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.
If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.
Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Jim Rohn
Last week I posted a quote by Zig Ziggler about "Attitude" and ran across the following this week:
The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.
Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, that produces the intensity of our activity, and that predicts the quality of the result we receive is our attitude.
Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.
No one else "makes us angry." We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.
If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.
If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.
Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Here is another recent email to me from Blair Singer
Hi Paul,
Why would someone happily pay $11 a gallon for something that falls from the sky, yet complain when spending $4 a gallon at the gas pump?
Pretty wild, isn't it? But Fiji water has done a stellar job of positioning itself as the finest water available to the market. How? The price, the story, and target marketing.
Fiji water is possibly the most expensive bottled water on the market. A fact that they're proud of, and so are their customers. The price is an indication of value and supports their story.
"Drawn from an artesian aquifer, located at the very edge of a primitive rainforest, hundreds of miles away from the nearest continent." That distance "is part of what makes us so much more pure and so much healthier than other bottled waters."
If you drink Fiji you'll also be happy to know that Fiji Water has a naturally high level of silica which "helps strengthen your hair, skin and nails."
This is water for the "elite," served in the finest hotels and restaurants.
Even with their premium price, Fiji is about to replace Evian (if they haven't already) as the best selling premium water here in the states. In fact, there's no sign of sales slowing down.
Wondering how to sell more product, at a higher price, to a loyal and raving market? Take a look at how you're positioning yourself.
Be awesome,
Blair
Hi Paul,
Why would someone happily pay $11 a gallon for something that falls from the sky, yet complain when spending $4 a gallon at the gas pump?
Pretty wild, isn't it? But Fiji water has done a stellar job of positioning itself as the finest water available to the market. How? The price, the story, and target marketing.
Fiji water is possibly the most expensive bottled water on the market. A fact that they're proud of, and so are their customers. The price is an indication of value and supports their story.
"Drawn from an artesian aquifer, located at the very edge of a primitive rainforest, hundreds of miles away from the nearest continent." That distance "is part of what makes us so much more pure and so much healthier than other bottled waters."
If you drink Fiji you'll also be happy to know that Fiji Water has a naturally high level of silica which "helps strengthen your hair, skin and nails."
This is water for the "elite," served in the finest hotels and restaurants.
Even with their premium price, Fiji is about to replace Evian (if they haven't already) as the best selling premium water here in the states. In fact, there's no sign of sales slowing down.
Wondering how to sell more product, at a higher price, to a loyal and raving market? Take a look at how you're positioning yourself.
Be awesome,
Blair
An expert from another email from Blair Singer
The 3 Pillars of a Persuasive 30-Second Pitch
1. Credibility - it's always important to establish credibility, even more so when you only have 30 seconds to get your message across
2. Promise - let the person know exactly what they will receive
3. Risk removal - this one's often overlooked yet can also be the most appealing aspect of your pitch. Risk removal makes it safe and comfortable for your audience to move the conversation further.
Go ahead and examine your pitch and see how you use the above elements.
In my next email we'll dive into this a bit further... right now, I'm going to dive back into the emailed pitches.
Be awesome,
Blair
The 3 Pillars of a Persuasive 30-Second Pitch
1. Credibility - it's always important to establish credibility, even more so when you only have 30 seconds to get your message across
2. Promise - let the person know exactly what they will receive
3. Risk removal - this one's often overlooked yet can also be the most appealing aspect of your pitch. Risk removal makes it safe and comfortable for your audience to move the conversation further.
Go ahead and examine your pitch and see how you use the above elements.
In my next email we'll dive into this a bit further... right now, I'm going to dive back into the emailed pitches.
Be awesome,
Blair
4 Ways to Pass the B-to-B Gatekeeper
by Britt Brouse, associate editor, Inside Direct Mail
Ever wonder what happens to your B-to-B mail? Will it make it to the right person? If you are targeting businesses, especially mid- to large-sized companies, your mailing is likely to face the B-to-B gatekeeper, an employee who receives and sorts a company’s mail and decides which pieces warrant attention from the boss or decision maker. “If you watch them at their jobs, you know they sort the mail pretty quickly,” says Bob Bly, copywriter and author of “The White Paper Marketing Handbook.”
A gatekeeper will screen about 80 percent of B-to-B marketing mail, says Greg Demetriou, president of Farmingdale, N.Y.–based American Mail Communications. Here are four ways to create a B-to-B mail piece that will pass inspection.
Segment efforts by company size
Before you tailor your mailings to get past a gatekeeper, consider appending data regarding company sizes to your lists. “Large corporations are much more likely to have gatekeepers than small offices and home offices. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the company, the more likely they are to have gatekeepers; the smaller, the less likely,” Bly claims. (A good cutoff for companies that have direct mail gatekeepers is anywhere above 25 employees.)
Smart designs get noticed
Gatekeepers may have a keen understanding of the bosses’ professional needs or save mail simply on the basis that “it looks important.” In the former case, you need to appeal to the business’s present needs and performance. “I want that gatekeeper to say, ‘You know, I really have to show this to the boss; this really might be good for us,’” asserts Demetriou. In the latter case, Bly recommends a design that doesn’t look too promotional and instead resembles important correspondence, such as content-based mailings (newsletter or whitepaper). Along the same lines, Demetriou suggests that a high-end package will more likely pique interest than a self-mailer.
Appeal to a gatekeeper directly
You can also target the gatekeeper directly with offers, freemiums and premiums that address her responsibilities as an employee. Bly cites an example of a classic 9˝ x 12˝ mailing that was addressed to the prospect and had a smaller envelope spot-glued to it, addressed “To the Receptionist.” The smaller envelope explained the benefits of how and why the boss would profit if he or she had this great technology. Bly says the mailing was a “keeper” because it also offered an incentive to the gatekeeper where she could return a reply card and get a premium or discount.
Don’t forget the mailroom
When sending a mailing to a company with 25-plus employees, marketers need to realize the mailroom is their first real barrier. “In the bigger companies, Standard mail is usually not making it upstairs. The higher up the corporate ladder you’re going to reach, the more highly produced your approach has to be,” explains Demetriou, who says that mailings to C-level executives at large companies have the best chance of surpassing the mailroom if they arrive via a courier service or in dimensional packaging. Bly adds, “You don’t want 40 of your pieces to arrive in one day in the same pile. Mail three to five pieces at a time, and then wait a day or two before mailing the next five.”
by Britt Brouse, associate editor, Inside Direct Mail
Ever wonder what happens to your B-to-B mail? Will it make it to the right person? If you are targeting businesses, especially mid- to large-sized companies, your mailing is likely to face the B-to-B gatekeeper, an employee who receives and sorts a company’s mail and decides which pieces warrant attention from the boss or decision maker. “If you watch them at their jobs, you know they sort the mail pretty quickly,” says Bob Bly, copywriter and author of “The White Paper Marketing Handbook.”
A gatekeeper will screen about 80 percent of B-to-B marketing mail, says Greg Demetriou, president of Farmingdale, N.Y.–based American Mail Communications. Here are four ways to create a B-to-B mail piece that will pass inspection.
Segment efforts by company size
Before you tailor your mailings to get past a gatekeeper, consider appending data regarding company sizes to your lists. “Large corporations are much more likely to have gatekeepers than small offices and home offices. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the company, the more likely they are to have gatekeepers; the smaller, the less likely,” Bly claims. (A good cutoff for companies that have direct mail gatekeepers is anywhere above 25 employees.)
Smart designs get noticed
Gatekeepers may have a keen understanding of the bosses’ professional needs or save mail simply on the basis that “it looks important.” In the former case, you need to appeal to the business’s present needs and performance. “I want that gatekeeper to say, ‘You know, I really have to show this to the boss; this really might be good for us,’” asserts Demetriou. In the latter case, Bly recommends a design that doesn’t look too promotional and instead resembles important correspondence, such as content-based mailings (newsletter or whitepaper). Along the same lines, Demetriou suggests that a high-end package will more likely pique interest than a self-mailer.
Appeal to a gatekeeper directly
You can also target the gatekeeper directly with offers, freemiums and premiums that address her responsibilities as an employee. Bly cites an example of a classic 9˝ x 12˝ mailing that was addressed to the prospect and had a smaller envelope spot-glued to it, addressed “To the Receptionist.” The smaller envelope explained the benefits of how and why the boss would profit if he or she had this great technology. Bly says the mailing was a “keeper” because it also offered an incentive to the gatekeeper where she could return a reply card and get a premium or discount.
Don’t forget the mailroom
When sending a mailing to a company with 25-plus employees, marketers need to realize the mailroom is their first real barrier. “In the bigger companies, Standard mail is usually not making it upstairs. The higher up the corporate ladder you’re going to reach, the more highly produced your approach has to be,” explains Demetriou, who says that mailings to C-level executives at large companies have the best chance of surpassing the mailroom if they arrive via a courier service or in dimensional packaging. Bly adds, “You don’t want 40 of your pieces to arrive in one day in the same pile. Mail three to five pieces at a time, and then wait a day or two before mailing the next five.”
Understanding Your Personal Energy Cycle
Laura Stack
An important piece of productivity concerns what time of day you select to work on which activities. Everyone has a natural time during the day when they are "UP" (prime time) and a natural time when they are "DOWN" (down time). During prime time, your brain is "on"; your batteries are charged and you're able to focus. During down time, your brain feels "slow"; it's difficult to muddle through your work.
First, let's chart your energy levels. Get out a piece of paper and draw a big "L" for a graph with a vertical and horizontal axis. Mark the vertical axis "0" to "100" to represent your energy level as a percentage. Mark the horizontal axis with your work hours, in one hour increments. When you arrive at work in the morning, draw a dot where energy intersects with time, to indicate how you feel in terms of your energy level. As the day progresses, draw a series of dots horizontally to show how your energy ebbs and flows. Then connect the dots and analyze your line chart.
If you wait until you're in down time to work on these types of activities, it will take much, much longer and be much, much more painful. The challenge for most people is that when they're in prime time, they feel GOOD! The last thing you might feel like doing when you're "up" is working on that report, writing a proposal, or analyzing those figures. But if you wait until you're going down, you've lost the opportunity to get it done quickly. The trick here is a lot of self-discipline. Resist the urge to do “fun, easy, trivial” things during this period or talk to your friends.
I actually have two prime times: one in the morning, and one early afternoon. When I'm in prime time, I need to make my marketing calls, because I need to be "up" and on top of the conversation. Sometimes, I will purposely let my voice mail pick up my calls, when I know I'm in down time and won't be as articulate as I'd like to be with a client. I will also respond to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) sent by prospective clients in prime time. I want to write quickly and succinctly, and my prime time is the key opportunity for that work.
Similarly, I listen to my body when I'm in down time. When I feel my energy level waning, a quick glance at the clock will usually tell me why. I know I need to get up, stretch, perhaps go for a quick walk around the block, eat an energy snack, or make a cup of tea. Then I will go back and work on some different activities, not necessarily ones with low priority, but those that don't require the brain power of the prime time tasks. If I don't listen to my body's signals and respond appropriately, I will get a rip-roaring headache, preventing me from taking advantage of my second prime time.
Another consideration is when to hold meetings. If you're a manager or professional with the ability to call a meeting during a certain time, really think about when to hold them. It's often eye-opening to do this prime time graphing activity with your staff or the people normally in attendance. I think you'll find that corporate America has trained most people to be “morning people.” Our natural energy cycles cause us to be “up” or have “prime” time first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, most people insist on holding meetings at that time. *Some* meetings are good to have during prime time, like those involving brainstorming, problem solving, or strategy. But routine staff meetings, project updates, or information-only meetings should be held during lulls in productivity. If you are stuck attending these meetings with no control over when they are held, a phone call to the chair with this graph as a team-building activity might be well-received. Also send that person this article!
I think about my energy level like a dimmer switch my hubbie John recently put in our bathroom. People don't operate at "OFF" and "ON." You're not running full-tilt all day long, then sleep at night. It's not "0" and "100%" but rather various levels all day. People are more like dimmer switches. Or cats.
My kitty Emma follows the sunshine all day. She plays some, sleeps some, eats some, and pays attention to her own desires. People say things like, "I *have* to check email at (x) time of day." Why? Better to schedule times to handle email when you're in down time and stick to a self-imposed limit. Rarely to people need to be going a hundred miles an hour to handle email. Pay attention and slow down when your brain and body tell you to.
Be a cat. Be a dimmer switch. Follow your rhythms and work with your brain's and body's desires for you throughout the day. Remember, it’s costly to have key people, including yourself, tied up in routine meetings during periods of peak energy and productivity. And it's costly for you to work on things you can do in your sleep during your peak productivity zone. Once you know what that zone is, protect it for all your worth! Be self-disciplined when you're "up." And listen to yourself and rest when you're "down." Meow.
Laura M. Stack, MBA, CSP, is “The Productivity PRO,"® helping people leave the office earlier, with less stress, and more to show for it. She presents keynotes and seminars on time management, information overload, and personal productivity. Contact her at 303-471-7401 or visit her website at www.TheProductivityPro.com.
Laura Stack
An important piece of productivity concerns what time of day you select to work on which activities. Everyone has a natural time during the day when they are "UP" (prime time) and a natural time when they are "DOWN" (down time). During prime time, your brain is "on"; your batteries are charged and you're able to focus. During down time, your brain feels "slow"; it's difficult to muddle through your work.
First, let's chart your energy levels. Get out a piece of paper and draw a big "L" for a graph with a vertical and horizontal axis. Mark the vertical axis "0" to "100" to represent your energy level as a percentage. Mark the horizontal axis with your work hours, in one hour increments. When you arrive at work in the morning, draw a dot where energy intersects with time, to indicate how you feel in terms of your energy level. As the day progresses, draw a series of dots horizontally to show how your energy ebbs and flows. Then connect the dots and analyze your line chart.
Draw a dotted line at about the 75% energy level mark across your line drawing to represent your peak productivity zone. Write these exact time ranges out to the side of your graph. These are your "expensive" hours, compared to other times during the day, because your brain is capable of doing higher-level activities in that range. It’s important to know when you’re in prime time, because you can get so much more done. The key is to focus on:
- Important tasks
Critical decisions
Problem solving
Complex thought
If you wait until you're in down time to work on these types of activities, it will take much, much longer and be much, much more painful. The challenge for most people is that when they're in prime time, they feel GOOD! The last thing you might feel like doing when you're "up" is working on that report, writing a proposal, or analyzing those figures. But if you wait until you're going down, you've lost the opportunity to get it done quickly. The trick here is a lot of self-discipline. Resist the urge to do “fun, easy, trivial” things during this period or talk to your friends.
I actually have two prime times: one in the morning, and one early afternoon. When I'm in prime time, I need to make my marketing calls, because I need to be "up" and on top of the conversation. Sometimes, I will purposely let my voice mail pick up my calls, when I know I'm in down time and won't be as articulate as I'd like to be with a client. I will also respond to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) sent by prospective clients in prime time. I want to write quickly and succinctly, and my prime time is the key opportunity for that work.
Similarly, I listen to my body when I'm in down time. When I feel my energy level waning, a quick glance at the clock will usually tell me why. I know I need to get up, stretch, perhaps go for a quick walk around the block, eat an energy snack, or make a cup of tea. Then I will go back and work on some different activities, not necessarily ones with low priority, but those that don't require the brain power of the prime time tasks. If I don't listen to my body's signals and respond appropriately, I will get a rip-roaring headache, preventing me from taking advantage of my second prime time.
Another consideration is when to hold meetings. If you're a manager or professional with the ability to call a meeting during a certain time, really think about when to hold them. It's often eye-opening to do this prime time graphing activity with your staff or the people normally in attendance. I think you'll find that corporate America has trained most people to be “morning people.” Our natural energy cycles cause us to be “up” or have “prime” time first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, most people insist on holding meetings at that time. *Some* meetings are good to have during prime time, like those involving brainstorming, problem solving, or strategy. But routine staff meetings, project updates, or information-only meetings should be held during lulls in productivity. If you are stuck attending these meetings with no control over when they are held, a phone call to the chair with this graph as a team-building activity might be well-received. Also send that person this article!
I think about my energy level like a dimmer switch my hubbie John recently put in our bathroom. People don't operate at "OFF" and "ON." You're not running full-tilt all day long, then sleep at night. It's not "0" and "100%" but rather various levels all day. People are more like dimmer switches. Or cats.
My kitty Emma follows the sunshine all day. She plays some, sleeps some, eats some, and pays attention to her own desires. People say things like, "I *have* to check email at (x) time of day." Why? Better to schedule times to handle email when you're in down time and stick to a self-imposed limit. Rarely to people need to be going a hundred miles an hour to handle email. Pay attention and slow down when your brain and body tell you to.
Be a cat. Be a dimmer switch. Follow your rhythms and work with your brain's and body's desires for you throughout the day. Remember, it’s costly to have key people, including yourself, tied up in routine meetings during periods of peak energy and productivity. And it's costly for you to work on things you can do in your sleep during your peak productivity zone. Once you know what that zone is, protect it for all your worth! Be self-disciplined when you're "up." And listen to yourself and rest when you're "down." Meow.
Laura M. Stack, MBA, CSP, is “The Productivity PRO,"® helping people leave the office earlier, with less stress, and more to show for it. She presents keynotes and seminars on time management, information overload, and personal productivity. Contact her at 303-471-7401 or visit her website at www.TheProductivityPro.com.
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