Help Everybody Everyday

I meet a fair amount of fellow marketers and I have found out something interesting about them. They are shockingly bad at followup. They go to networking events and give out/collect business cards. But they rarely will ever follow up with you after that initial encounter. If you follow up by sending them an email, 9 out of 10 will not respond. If you call them, they often won't answer and most likely they won't return your call.

I've called marketers for the express purpose of giving them work, never to receive a return phone call. I've emailed (and emailed) CMOs and never received any response. Then a month later I get a call from their technical staff who want to piggyback on our proposal (because they can't win without us).

When I call the technical staff, do they return my call? Yes. Do they return every one of my emails? Yes.

I often find it much easier to get a hold of the firm's Principal than to get a hold of its CMO or Marketing Director.

If you are that one marketer out of every ten that follows up after a meeting; the one out of every ten that returns phone calls; the one out of every ten that returns an email; my guess is you are worlds above most marketers in terms of performance.

For people who stress the importance of relationships, marketers often forget that relationships are in a constant state of decay. If you don't nurture them, they will die on the vine.

Tim Klabunde was doing a SMPS webinar on networking like an introvert. In preperation for this, he asked me if I was an introvert or an extrovert. 

It's hard to answer that question yourself. So I asked my coworkers and my wife thier opinion. I think my wife said it best when she said, "You are an introvert unless you are interested in the topic or person."

There are several technical terms for this. One of them is "jerk." The one I like to use is "focused."

I think everybody has a little introvert in them. Clearly, some more than others. But being an introvert or an extrovert shouldn't stop you from completing a task, networking, or anything else. You simply need to use these tendencies to your advantage.

Later that day I tweeted, "I'm not an extrovert, I just play one for a living."

From the response, it seems a lot of marketers feel the same way.

We were at a large networking event and noticed a tactic people were using to get out of conversations. It was the "my cell phone is ringing" tactic. It concludes with pulling your cell phone out and walking away.

This seems to be an effective tactic, but not one I would recommend or endorse.

As I get older, I'm noticing something. I don't spellz so well anymore. You won't notice this in my emails, letters, or proposals. That's because I use spell check.

But on this site and in my handwriting you see another side of me, a drooling idiot who can't spell simple words like "your," "delegate," or "perfect."

It's even more disturbing to me than it is to you. When I was in school (way back in the early 90s), we didn't have spell check. Most people didn't have personal computers. I didn't even learn to type until the 7th grade. And did we have spell check on the word processing machines we learned on? Nope.

I wasn't winning any spelling bees, but I could at least seem something more than a grade school drop out.

In fact, back then there was a stigma associated with poor spelling. When one of the kids in my school decided to take a jab at our Principal (Mr. Wall), he famously wrote on the bathroom stall, "Brun Down the Wall" instead of "Burn Down the Wall." He was then viewed and treated as something less intelligent than the rest of us. This person would go on to became a very successful construction foreman and the  first in our graduating class to buy a house. As a kid he would also buy the other students' dead cars for nothing, completely rebuild the engines, and sell them for a large profit. His business sense, ingenuity, and mechanical ability were highly advanced for his age. But his spelling sucked and therefore he was considered the lovable fool.

Communication is becoming more important in our world. That is the trend I see. But ironically, the emphasis on grammar and spelling has seemed to diminish over time. We have become dependent on spell check like the crack addict is dependent on the rock. And while it seems harmless, I find myself crossing out and rewriting words that I should know how to spell.

Do you find yourself a victim of spellcheck? Is there something we can do about it? Leave a comment.  

Me: Hi, I'm looking for Doug.

Doug: Yes, that's me.

Me: Hi, my name is Matt Handal. I work for a company called Trauner Consulting in Philadelphia. We met at a design and construction network event in July.

Doug: Yes, I remember.

Me: I understand it's your birthday today.

Doug: Ha, yes it is. You are good!

Me: I think I may have a present for you. We are doing a teleconference on construction delays on November 5th, and I have a golden ticket for a free attendance. I know it's not a bicycle, but, even if you don't want to attend, maybe you can pass it on to one of your project managers for some brownie points.

Doug: Wow, that would be great.

Me: I'll send you an email with the information and just let me know who wants to attend.

Doug: Ok

Me: Doug, enjoy the rest of your birthday.

Doug: Thanks (click)

How many times have you been given a business card and never did anything with it? How many times did someone you met at a function fail to receive an email response from you after they sent a followup email? How many times did you make a commitment at a networking function and then fail to follow through. This is PPM (pretty poor marketing) and I know for a fact some of you practice it. Does that make you a bad person? YES!

WHAT? Yes, you heard me. In the non-business world, we have a term for people who don't respond to communications and break commitments. They are called "jerks." So why do people in the business world think this type of behavior is somehow acceptable? It's not. And from a marketing standpoint, it's a massive failure.  Nearly every successful marketer, business developer, or CMO I have spoken to has cited the same "secret" to their success. It goes by different names like "pay it forward" or "help everybody everyday." But it boils down to caring about and helping other people. It sounds like something you would read on the back of a John Tesh CD, but the psychological principle it is based on has been proven time and again in controlled studies.

Getting back to my conversation with Doug. How long does it take you to do something nice for someone? 5 minutes? How long does it take you to send someone a caring or thoughtful message? 2 minutes? If you say you are too busy to do this at least once everyday, it's because you are a liar. 

Honesty is a tricky thing. It is. I just walked through the "expert traveler" line at the airport. Have I travelled? Yes. Am I an expert traveler that met all the requirements on the sign? No. So, was I being dishonest by walking in that line? In the classical sense, yes. But everybody has their own personal tolerance for dishonesty, even if they don't like to admit it.

When you are in a business environment, honesty can be a big issue. It's especially big in the marketing profession. What are the honesty guidelines for marketers? Here is my take on the subject.

Clients and Coworkers

In my early career, I was read the riot act by a Project Manager one morning. He was upset that I had failed to deliver a letter proposal to an important client. He was at the site, sitting next to the client, while tearing me a new one over the phone. I felt like dirt and apologized up and down. I did not even remember what the proposal was about.

After the call, I sat down at my desk to lick my wounds. Then I looked to my right. What I saw was handwritten notes about the scope of the letter proposal. They were written in the Project Manager's handwriting and he had written the date on the top left corner of the page. It was that day's date.

This guy had procrastinated on getting me the information for the proposal. He knew the client was expecting it, so before his meeting he stopped by the office early and dropped it off at my desk. He then called me in front of the client to make it look like he was not to blame. He wanted the client to think that he was responsive; he was on the ball; it was just that stupid young marketer in his office that screwed it up...again!

When I confronted him, he was perplexed that I was so PO'd by this. He explained that this was not uncommon. He was right, I was later told by another Project Manager that she would blame "Suzie," the Marketer in the office, to cover her tracks. But there was no "Suzie." There was only "Matt."

In my book, lying to a client, no matter what the circumstance, is unacceptable.   Lying to or about another co-worker is unacceptable. It shows a lack of caring. If you don't truly care about the clients or the people you work with, you should be working somewhere else.

Making Misleading Statements

Another area where dishonesty rears it's ugly head with Marketers is misleading those you work with or for in order to reach your personal objectives.  It may seem like a victimless crime, but often you end up victimizing yourself.

"Here is a document that has been approved by Joe Blow."

If Joe Blow has never seen or approved that document, he may never find out about it's existence. And sure, this approach will get things done much quicker. But if and when Joe Blow finds out, you have not only hurt your relationship with Joe, you have also hurt your credibility at the firm. This is because there are few secrets in any organization. Whether you realize it or not, word gets out.

Misrepresenting Activity 

One more situation Marketers find themselves in is misrepresenting their activities to create the perception that they are being more successful or to paint themselves in a more sympathetic light.

"I've left ten messages with Jim at XYZ Corp and he just won't return my calls."

What happens if a member of the technical staff mentions this to Jim and finds out you left only one message or didn't even call. That creates a crack in the fragile bond of trust you have with the technical staff. That bond should be sacred. You've also inadvertently alerted  the client to the fact that you are a liar.

Marketers tell themselves that these things are "no big deal." But what you are doing is creating a negative reputation for yourself and hurting the rest of us by feeding the perception that Marketers are liars. Think about your firm's honesty guidelines and how they connect to your firm's marketing effort. You can create a culture where this behavior is unacceptable. But you have to be willing to lead by example.        

A loss leader is something the seller losses money on, but puts the buyer in a position where he/she will spend more and cover the loss. This tactic is used a great deal in marketing, probably more than you realize.

Let me give you an example. This weekend, my wife and I went to Disney World. She was in Orlando for business and it was her birthday on Saturday. Disney has a policy where you get into Disney World for free on your birthday. This rules applies to anyone. So, my wife decided she wanted to spend her 30th birthday in Disneyworld. I flew down to meet her and we had a great time.

Disney gave my wife a free $80 ticket to the park. But once there, we spent hundreds of dollars that Disney would not have realized but for giving my wife this ticket.

• Two nights in Disney hotel: $300
• Husbands ticket to the park: $80
• Breakfast at Disney hotel: $60
• Meals and snacks at the park: $150
• Purchases and gifts at Disney stores: $200

There are other costs, but this gives you an idea at what Disney gained from this approach. By taking a $80 loss up front, they gained over $750 in sales that they would not have realized otherwise. This is a wise marketing effort as far as I see it.

Disney is not the only one who uses this tactic. CDs at stores like Walmart and Target are loss leaders. This is what, in part, put Tower Records and other record stores out of business. Target will advertise a CD for $11.99, which is lower than what they paid the manufacturer for it. CDs are a commodity. Target knows you'll buy it from them at $11.99 rather than from Tower Records at $14.99. Once you are in the store, they are gambling that you will buy other (more profitable) products. Now think about how many times you left Target or Walmart with just a CD. Now ask yourself where the CDs are in the store? That's right, in the back of the store. You will have to pass by a sea of products to get to them. That is the loss leader tactic used well. Professional service firms try not to give out services for free. They see it as a slippery slope. But other industries are using loss leaders to great success. Can this tactic be successfully executed in A/E/C Marketing? What do you think?

Leave a comment on the site.

Recently I started using an Outlook plugin, from Sperrysoft, that allows me to automatically send emails (with or without attachments) at a designated time of my choosing. I use this to send out to the staff a monthly email that shows what proposals we submitted, which ones we won and which ones we lost, why, etc.

I'm thinking that there are a lot of people in my address book that I haven't heard from in a while. it would be nice to shoot them a quick email to see how they are. And, in general, I probably should send them a personal email every so often. I want to go beyond "I met you once at a networking event. Now your information is collecting dust in my contacts."

What if I set up a system that would email them at intervals that seemed random (like after 6 weeks, followed by after 12 weeks, followed by 16 weeks). Using Texter, I could have 90% of the email be standard language and 10% (I'm pulling these numbers out of my butt) of the language contain some sort of personal/targeted info. I could create three different template emails so it doesnt seem like you keep getting the same email from me. By doing this I could fully automate the process of "pinging" my contacts without sending them some meaningless newsletter that simply talks about my firm and how great we are.

I know you are thinking, "God Matt, that  is just so impersonal!!" But I submit this question. How do you know that any email I send to you is in realtime? You just assume that it is, unless you can detect some sort of pattern.

Also, I should note that this isn't for people who are on my "hit list." if you are a contact on my hit list, I'm already communicating with you more than once every six weeks.

Do you think this will work? I'd like to hear your thoughts!