Lessons in business and marketing come from all kinds of places and sources. A recent goldmine I discovered came in the form of a TV show, The Shark Tank. Although The Shark Tank is considered a Reality Show it shouldn’t and in my opinion doesn’t have the same negative connotation that so many of the Reality shows have. The reason is what is real in this REALity show is the many business lessons that come out of each and every episode. What I realized after watching just a couple of episodes is the magic of the show is the “light bulbs” that each business owner receives from feedback they receive from the Shark panel. For those who haven’t seen it, the premise of the show is that each participant (business owner) gets a chance to pitch their product or company to the panel of Sharks which consist of 5 very successful business experts in a variety of industries. Their goal is to take their business to the next level by selling their product/company to one or more of these sharks for money and more importantly additional resources including their expertise and the business relationships/partnerships these experts’ posses. Along the way here are some business lessons that can be learned.
The good lessons:
1. The passion or drive these owners have for their product or company. You can’t expect your customers to have passion for what you are selling if you first don’t have it yourself. It is no coincidence that many of the most successful business owners posses the most passion.
2 Where their business idea originated. It is amazing how many business owners have capitalized by turning their own personal experience into a product or business.
3. New Ideas. Contrary to the popular saying, there are new ideas under the sun. It is amazing to see the ideas that people continue to come up with and how it can change or enhance our everyday lives.
4. A dream realized. How motivating it is to see someone who has crawled, scratched and clawed their way into making a dream a reality.
The bad lessons:
1. Not being willing or open to constructive criticism. These business owners are coming to these experts because they need help to get to the next level but sadly many of them are not willing to take what the experts tell them to heart and admit they have either made mistakes or are not on the right path. Are you open to feedback even if it’s something you don’t want to hear or admit?
2. Spending more time talking than listening. Sometimes you just need to shut up and listen to those who are trying to help you.
3. Being inflexible or not willing to step outside the box. These business owners have reached a certain level of success but are often not willing to change to get to the next level.
4. Not diversifying. Having a single idea and being unwilling to diversify how it came be used or promoted.
It’s hard to imagine what the business landscape would look like these days without the ability to utilize email. It can be a very useful tool while at the same time leave you completely frustrated when you don’t get a response. The reality is that most inbox’s are being inundated on a daily basis, making your chances of getting through the “email barrier” to a new contact or customer, a delicate dance. This dance is constantly changing so you need to be creative if you want to keep your emails from going directly into the trash.
To truly understand how to bust through the email barrier it is helpful to first understand what a recipient is thinking when he or she receives a new email. The four main questions are:
1. Do I have to respond right now?
2. Can I delete it?
3. Do I need to hold onto it?
4. What am I being asked to do?
The goal then is to get the recipient to take action on your email now, not later. We all know how easy it is to hit the delete button or throw it into a folder, which often ends up in the same fatal destination. The next question becomes then how can we compose our emails to get the recipient to act right away? Here are a few suggestions you might try:
1. Compose an email that feels like a quick read. Avoid composing an email that would rival a War and Peace novel.
2. Draw the recipient in with compelling info (The goal of the subject line is to try to hook them)
3. Make the email easy to act on
4. Keep the email less than 200 words
5. Vary the paragraph lengths
6. Use a compelling first sentence
7. Make sure the email is not about you
8. Get conversational (instead of merely focused on the proper grammar)
9. Use a triggering event to catch the recipient’s attention
The use of email is a communication cornerstone in today’s business world but if you hope to break through the email barrier, you must avoid sending mundane or monotonous emails. Take one or more of the suggestions mentioned above and see if you can bust through.
Happy composing!
It is no secret that mobile shopping is the newest ecommerce trend. According to a recent stat by Forrester Research, 16% of consumers purchased via their mobile device over last year’s Thanksgiving Weekend. What you may not know is how companies are capitalizing on this latest trend. It wasn’t very long ago that most people would never think of shopping, doing their taxes, etc with their mobile device. The sheer amount of information now available at your fingertips or should I say on your smart phone is truly amazing. Now there are mobile companies out there that can not only tell you where to get the lowest price but when you should make the purchase! Yes, you heard that right. Don’t ask me how this technology works but let’s just say there are companies out there that have built some incredible algorithms. Decide (decide.com) is one of those companies that are taking Mobile shopping to the next level. Their company mission is to be a service dedicated to helping consumers buy electronics with no regrets. Their mission sounds simple but the technology behind it is anything but. The free app that is available for both the iPhone and Android phones helps you decide when to buy. Decide advises you to buy or wait depending on their proprietary price and model predictions. They state that their predictions are right 77% of the time. Here is how it operates on your smart phone: when you are in a store, you would scan the UPC barcode on the product and the Decide App will then give you a green “thumbs up” saying you should buy or it will give you a red “hand” telling you to wait and purchase later. They also have the ability to send you alerts on future product purchases so you can be alerted about price changes, product releases or even rumors!In this economy more than ever consumers are looking for ways of saving money and this is just one potential ways companies are helping consumers do just that. Go here to download their free app: http://www.decide.com/mobile
As the U.S. economy continues to remain soft, many companies have turned their focus on expanding globally. This is primarily due to the fact that off shore business is an untapped market for many companies. According to Forester Research, 25% of U.S. web traffic comes from international shoppers, but the actual orders from these shoppers are only 4% of total U.S. web sales. Global expansion can often be a complex and challenging project for companies, which is why they focus on solidifying their domestic business first before they look to expand overseas. Here are four key areas to think about as you focus on expanding globally and improving the off shore shopping experience for your customers:
Fully-landed cost for shoppers- This allows the off shore shopper to see the “total” cost—including retail price of the product, customs duties, local taxes and transportation charges—prior to submitting the order. It ensures a better customer experience and increases customer loyalty.
Purchasing in the consumers’ own currency- This also ensures a better customer experience as the company instead of the end consumer assumes the risk of currency exchange and the fraud risk.
Export and Import Regulatory Compliance- One of the complexities of Global business is dealing with Customs Compliance and all the rules and regulations that exist. The regulations change depending on what country you are exporting to as well as the type of products you are exporting. Companies normally outsource compliance to a 3rd party company or slowly build their own compliance department.
Global Returns Management- Something to think about is how you will handle return as it can be very costly when you return products back into the U.S? Again, there are some rules and regulations enforced by customs depending on the country and product being returned.
If you've been on this planet for any length of time, you’ve had ample opportunity I'm sure to say the words, I’m sorry. In the business world, when is the last time you heard a CEO use those very same words? It can be difficult for executive to let down the curtain and show vulnerability but it’s often even hard to admit their decision or product missed the mark or that it just wasn’t the right time. Listed below is an apology letter crafted by the Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix regarding their recent announcement to raise their subscription rates. Now many cynical people will smirk and say the timing of this is just to protect their shareholder value or try to win back the customers they lost. Regardless of the motivation, I don’t believe you can ever go wrong admitting your mistakes, especially to your customer base. In business, it’s not always about which company never makes mistakes but rather how the company responds to the mistakes that truly counts.
Dear Dennis,
I messed up. I owe you an explanation.
It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.
For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.
So here is what we are doing and why.
Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.
I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.
So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.
It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.
For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.
I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.
Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.
Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix
p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.
I received this little bag of goodness from one of my customers who knows what I am passionate about. Do you know what YOUR customers are passionate about? When is the last time you surpised THEM with a token of appreciation?
We’re all looking for the competitive edge. That little nugget of information that could help you secure an appointment with the decision maker or possibly even win the prospects trust, and then their business. The issue is not the lack of information available today; in fact the opposite is true. There is so much available at our fingertips at an instant that it can sometimes be overwhelming and can make it difficult to swim through the sea of web sites, newsletters, books and magazines. At the same time our daily to-do lists and schedules have only increased which makes it difficult to squeeze in this additional task which we know is vitally important to our success, but often gets placed on the back burner due to other pressing needs. Here are some web sites I have found to be very valuable in gaining the business intelligence or competitive edge that we are all looking for: http://www.zibb.com/ The Global business search engine- you can search by industry or specific company and includes the latest business to business news. http://seekingalpha.com/ Although this is an investor site, it allows you to read companies earnings transcripts which often contain very valuable information as to their corporate objectives and new initiatives. http://multichannelmerchant.com/ Provides targeted compelling content for multichannel merchants. Provides valuable information on latest happening is the catalog, ecommerce, BTB, Retail and Social Media channels. http://socialmention.com/ A great search engine for social media content. Give you the ability to find out if the person or company you are interested in is active in the social media environment. http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en You can set up emails alerts where you will receive emails anytime the company or person you are following is mentioned in the media or has a press release. http://www.linkedin.com This is much more than just a business connecting site. This site gives you the ability to follow a company which will give you company updates as well as tell you when there are changes with personnel. Linkedin is also a very valuable tool in obtaining information about the person you are trying to get a meeting with. It will not only tell who they are connected to but where they use to work which can be just the edge you are looking for. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list but hopefully you will find one or more of these useful in gaining the competitive edge you are looking for.
As a parent it seems I am constantly saying to my kids something to the extent that “it’s not the words that you are using but rather how you are saying them that’s wrong.” It would be wrong to assume this only pertains to personal relationships with family and friends. Unfortunately, the business world is not immune to this issue. We often mistakenly believe that it is our words that really influence others, whether positively or negatively. In the business world so much time is spent focusing on making sure we use the right words to our customers, employees or co-workers that we end up focusing on only 7% of our total influence. Think about how much time the average person puts into crafting the right speech or sales pitch. This 7% is part of what is known as “The 7%-38% -55% Rule of Influence.” In other words the influence we have on others can be broken in the following manner:
· 7% of our influence comes from the words we share
· 38% from our tonal quality while saying it
· 55% by what our body is doing while were saying it
As you can see we are missing the mark by spending so much time and energy crafting what we want to say which only makes up a small amount of the overall influence we have on others. By focusing on the 7% or the words we say, we are truly missing out on the opportunity to really influence others.
Influence is about getting others to either do something we want them to do or not do something they want to do. Obviously, influence plays a large role in the sales arena and is quite visible in the normal interaction between a seller and a buyer. However, it’s not something that should only be left up to those who interact with customers on a regular basis. It is also evident in daily interactions that managers have with their employees and in interactions that employees have with one another. By looking further at “The 7%-38%-55% Rule of Influence” we also see that perception is a large part of influence. How do others perceive you? You may be surprised not only with how the tone of what you say is perceived but the perception that your body language gives off. It is very naïve to think that others can’t tell from our actions and mannerisms how we really feel. Your words might be saying one thing but your tone and body language might be very well telling a very different story.
The next time you are in the position to influence someone, try focusing on the 93% and you might be surprised at the difference in how you are perceived!
More than ever before online retailers are using free shipping as a marketing tool to increase revenues. As a result many companies are feeling the pressure to offer free shipping to their customers which may or may not be a good idea. In order to understand whether it makes since for you, we must first understand why it’s offered to begin with. To be completely blunt, it is offered because it works and the #’s back it up. In a recent comScore report, three-fourths of consumers surveyed said they abandon retailers at checkout if shipping isn’t free.
Here are four key ways to understand this fast growing free-shipping trend:
1. The importance of free shipping is growing. ComScore reports that free shipping accounted for an incremental 6 points of all transactions in 2009. As more companies are offering it, the pressure to compete intensifies.
2. Shipping costs are the most common reason for shopping cart abandonment. Many times consumers don’t understand the true cost of getting their products shipped to them, and as a result shipping becomes a weak link in the check out process. Forrester Reseach surveyed online shoppers and found that Forty-four percent balked at the price of shipping and abandoned their shopping cart.
3. Customers tend to spend more when they receive free shipping. Amazon.com is a great example of a company that has proven this is indeed true. They have been quite successful in getting their customers to purchase one more item in order to hit the free shipping threshold. A comScore survey of Holiday (4th quarter) spending in 2010 showed that the avg. order on free-shipping purchases was $110, compared with $95 for non-free shipping purchases. Now this may not seem like a big difference but the numbers start adding up fast!
4. Free shipping boost sales when offered as a special. Stamps.com put out a survey of online retailers in October of 2010 and found that 64% stated that “some type of free shipping promotion” with or without a minimum spend is the most effective promotion they can offer to drive sales during the Holiday season.
From the online retailer’s perspective there really is no such thing as free shipping. Large online retailers such as Amazon.com or LL Bean can absorb the added cost due to the economies of scale they have. If you are not a large behemoth of a retailer, how can you survive? Many smaller retailers understand that people will buy more if they offer free shipping, but they can’t afford to absorb all of the shipping costs and never pass any of them along to the customer. The good news is that with free shipping comes options. Actually, offering free shipping on every order all the time is the exception rather than the rule.
Here are six alternatives to offering free shipping all the time:
1. Flat rate. Many companies set up thresholds where if you exceed that threshold the shipping is free and below the threshold it is a flat rate. Macy’s ships all online orders of $99 or more for free. For order that fall below, they charge an $8 flat fee. In addition, companies that offer flat-rate shipping typically send those orders via ground delivery to keep their costs under control.
2. Shipping club. Many retailers offer customers the option of paying a one-time fee in order to receive free shipping or faster shipping. Amazon was the first to use this strategy but now other companies have caught on.
3. Optional upgrades. Online retailers are giving their customers the option to upgrade to a faster service for a fee which is usually between $3-$6 unless it is a large shipment. This allows the retailers to set the proper expectations in terms of delivery times and also gives decision making power to their customers, which is always a good idea.
4. Free shipping for minimum purchase. Many retailers now provide free shipping with a minimum purchase. This is becoming much more popular in the ecommerce industry.
5. Free shipping on eligible products. This option is often offered with products with higher profit margins or on products that a retailer wants to promote.
6. Free shipping for a limited time. A survey by the E-Tailing Group found that nearly 9 out of 10 online retailers offered some form of free shipping during the holiday season last year. Free shipping also works well to help move more products that are out of season.
One of the worst mistakes a salesperson can make is forgetting that it’s always and only about the customer and his or her needs and feelings. When you are interacting with a customer your feelings, needs and desires are to be placed on the back burner. In reality, what you feel or need doesn’t matter. Nor should emotions such as guilt ever be used for negotiation when a customer is making a business decision. If you are looking for a quick way to lose credibility and ruin a relationship with your customer, this is definitely one way to do it! If you have ever had a customer tell you “to not take it personal, it’s just business” you know this is a pride swallowing moment but then again if you don’t have thick skin, you probably need to look for a different line of work.
Recently I heard a real-life story about a salesperson that recently lost a large client’s business and made the fatal mistake of trying to make his customer feel guilty by telling the customer “you are taking bread off my table”. I’m sorry, when was it the customer’s problem or responsibility to make sure the salesperson’s bills were paid? The salespersons job is to build a relationship with the customer, earn their trust and then consistently bring them ideas and solutions to help their business run better. Not only does this ruin any trust the salesperson may have built with the customer but it shows the customer clearly what this person’s focus was really on. The reality of sales is that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. However, I haven’t known many salespeople that have been successful in sales by using “guilt trips” on their customers.
At the end of the day, who would you rather do business with? A salesperson who is concerned primarily with how your business impacts his or her bottom line or one that is focused on you and your needs and concerns?
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