Touch Points

Monday Morning Memo for November 28, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

What Are You Offering?

Businesses don't fail due to reaching the wrong people.

Businesses fail when they say the wrong things.

And they say the wrong things when they believe what the public tells them.

Conduct a survey. Ask the public to describe in detail the kind of place they'd like to shop. Then build that place, exactly as described, and see if they ever show up.

Experience tells us they won't.

We'll use furniture stores as an example. People say they want a store where they can look at all the different styles of furniture, see all the different patterns and colors of fabric and grains of wood and colors of wood stain, and then have their own ‘dream furniture' made according to their choices. Today you'll find that furniture store on every corner. "And we'll even show you on a computer monitor exactly what your new sofa will look like! Want to see it in another fabric? Click this button. Another color of wood? Click this button. And we'll deliver it to your home, direct from the factory! You'll be buying factory direct!"

His real name is Jim McIngvale. They call him Mattress Mac. Twenty-five years ago he dove headlong into the furniture business with just five thousand dollars. It's all he had. This year that furniture store will do nearly 200 million dollars in a single location, placing it among the most successful stores in the world.

Jim occasionally buys a day of my time to pick my brain and bounce ideas off me. I should be paying him.

During our last visit, I asked my friend if I could share the secret of his success with you. Graciously, he allowed it: As simple as this may sound, Jim's 200 million dollar secret is immediate delivery. When people buy new furniture, they want to see it in their home immediately. "Buy it today and we'll deliver it tonight," is Jim's angle. He doesn't do special orders. "If you see it, we've got it." Remember all those people who said they wanted to pick from a large selection of fabrics and wood grains? Tell them you'll deliver their new sofa in 8 to 12 weeks. Then Jim will show them something entirely different but offer to deliver it immediately. Guess who usually wins?

What people say they would do is rarely what they will actually do. This is what makes it foolish to put too much faith in surveys. We don't know ourselves as well as we think.

Ask any real estate agent. The homes people buy are never the ones they described to the agent when they got in the car. Not even close.

Now let's talk about you. Chances are, you've been reaching the right people all along. You've just been saying the wrong things. Some ads are like waving raw meat in front of hungry dogs. Most ads are lectures, explaining to these same dogs all the joys of organic popcorn.

Do you have a tasty message to deliver to the world? Or are you expecting your ad writers to apply a thick layer of creativity to hide the fact that you have nothing to say?

Truthfully, what percentage of your ads say anything worth hearing?

Sholem Asch was right when he said, "Writing comes more easily if you have something to say." But Morris Hite said it brazenly, "If you have a good selling idea, your secretary can write your ad for you."

We're here if you need us.

Roy H. Williams

PS - Look to the far left of this memo and you'll see this week's featured product. Selling Customers Their Way is a wonderful DVD featuring my partner, Jeffrey Eisenberg, and Wizard Academy board member Dr. Richard Grant, a consulting psychologist. If you read the product description at WizardAcademyPress.com, be sure to download a sample. It's fun viewing.

MMM for November 21, 2005

Do You Need A Miracle?

Finances. Relationships. Health... the tall monsters we face in life's dark ocean when we awaken underwater, alone in the night, not knowing what to do.

Ever been there?

People respond to deep crisis in different ways. There are:

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E-Commerce Isn't Always Necessary

BY Thomas Tucker | 11/22/2005 3:18:57 PM

For the small business owner with an old or ineffective website who is looking to grab a peice of the online shopping revenue, there is often one big nagging question, "Should I be taking orders online?" Well, should you?

The only person who can answer this question for your business is you, and you, in fact, are the best and most qualified person to answer it. The fact is,... in the world of online sales, we business gurus are still seeing what we call the 90 / 10 walk-in trend.

The 90 / 10 walk-in trend is the statistical average of measurements taken on online buying practices. 90% of people continue to shop online to find the item, or product line, they would like to purchase, and then go to a local store to purchase that item. It's called "cross-channel shopping." The question you have to ask yourself is "to whom am I primarily trying to sell my product?"

For many small business owners, you will get the most value out of a website which features the product lines that you carry and then boldly and directly shows a map of how to get there. If you're still unclear as to what I mean by this you should see how the pros at Kruckemeyer and Cohn are doing it in their community. Roger Levi and his staff have successfully incorporated their domain name in their radio ads to reach potential customers. Then, by using the website as a half step between someone hearing their radio ads and stepping into their store to purchase goods, they allow the customer to learn about Kruckemeyer and Cohn at their own speed (introverted buyers), examine the designer jewelery lines that the store carries, and then easily locate directions to the store. All the while, each time the customer clicks to a new page, they are reinforcing that brand identity exposure in their mind and sinking the Kruckemeyer and Cohn brand into long term memory.

E-commerce is not for every small business and is often something that you want to grow gradually into incorporating into your enterprise. In the meantime, get a site up and running which features your product lines and tells people where you are. These days, you can't really count on your potential customers picking up the Yellow Pages to find your business.

MMM for Monday November 14, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

What Women Want

I did a bad, bad thing.

Last week's memo ended too abruptly. "Yes, selling to men can be very easy. But how does one sell to women? Ah. That is a different question. – Roy H. Williams" The phrase, "sell to women?" was hyperlinked to additional information. Judging from the record number who clicked that link, What Women Really Want remains one of the great, unsolved mysteries of man.

The hyperlinked phrase, of course, took you to the course description for Michele Miller's class on marketing to women. Those who clicked her free, streaming video found the answer. But for rest of you, my cliffhanging question remains unanswered.

Allow me to rectify...

Remembrance Day In Canada

It is Remembrance Day in Canada and the Year of the Veteran. It is an important occasion to take some time and celebrate the freedom we enjoy and the sacrifice it took for us to enjoy it.

My Dad is 82 this year and he travelled back to Holland this past May for the first time in 60 years, since the liberation of Holland by the Canadian forces. He has come back with many stories and can hardly tell them without getting teary eyed.

My favourite story happened as he and my Mother were strolling through the war cemetary where his commanding officer was buried. (He died 6 days before the end of the war). They were approached by two young twin sisters about 8 years of age. These Dutch girls recognized that my father was a Canadian and to honour him and what he had done with the Canadian troups, they sang for him the Canadian National Anthem.

These girls couldn't speak a word of English, but their parents and probably their schools felt it was important  for these girls to recognize the sacrifice of Canadians on behalf of the Dutch, so that they had been taught "Oh Canada" and then went to the cemetary hoping to share that gift.

Folks, this is 60 years later and the Dutch are still celebrating their freedom and giving thanks.

Today, I honour my father, Robert E. Rae, a veteran of World War II.

Here is another story from my friend Russell Friedman....

Friday Morning at Eleven

By Russell Friedman

In its day, World War One was called "The War to End All Wars."

Sadly, it wasn't.

WW I officially ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year, in 1918. Each year we commemorate that ending on Veteran's Day, which was originally called Armistice Day. There aren't too many folks left who were around when that came to pass.

My dad is 92 and he remembers. He was a lad of 8, in 1921, when the first unknown American soldier was buried in

Arlington

National

Cemetery

. The ceremony took place at eleven in the morning on the eleventh of November, with similar ceremonies taking place in

England

and

France

. That event led to the establishment of the holiday we honor today.

My dad just told me all about it. It's wonderful, in more ways than one, to be able to talk with my dad, and have such a direct link to the past. It's like having an interactive civics class with someone who can bring history to life.

In 1926, Congress passed a resolution formally designating November 11th as Armistice Day to honor those who gave their lives in WW I, which was also called The Great War. My Dad remembers because his Uncle Willy had gone off to that war. Uncle Willy returned, but his heart and soul never came back. My dad recalls too many nights being sent to the saloon to fetch Uncle Willy, who spent most of his post-war waking moments drowning his memories in booze.

"The War to End All Wars" claimed more than 10 million lives. In 1938 Congress acted again and declared Armistice Day a national holiday. The simple definition of armistice is truce. The idealistic hope that nothing of that scope would ever happen again was dashed just a few years later with the outbreak of World War Two. Then came

Korea

and then

Viet Nam

, and you can fill in the rest.

Two years before I was born, my dad went down to Army headquarters in

New York City

to enlist for WW II. He'd already said his goodbyes to my mom, thinking he would ship out immediately. But since the age of 5, my dad only had sight in one eye, and the Army rejected him. He was both relieved and saddened. Because he was not able to join directly in what was called the War Effort, my dad has always made a point of honoring both the fact and the spirit of Veteran's Day.

In 1954, the sacrifices of those who died in WW II and

Korea

, and all other wars, were honored with the name change from Armistice Day to Veteran's Day.

In 1968 Congress re-dated Veteran's day to fall each year on the fourth Monday of October. But the symbolism of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month was lost, and with it the emotional gravity that had originally spawned the holiday. In addition, the Monday holiday began to take on a commercial, "long weekend" quality which diluted its initial respectful intent. In 1978, Congress wisely re-established November 11 as the official observance of Veteran's Day.

Like my dad, a major physical liability kept me from participating in the armed forces of our country. Also like my dad, I always remember to respect and thank those who were or are members of any of the services that protect my life and my liberty. I feel compelled to honor those whose actions give me the right to vote, the right to voice my opinion, to argue with authority, even to be a jerk from time to time. Today, the first person I will thank is John W. James, my business partner and friend — make that friend and business partner. John is a Viet Nam combat veteran, and through the 19 years of our friendship I have learned things about war and what it does to people's souls — things that I could not know, not having been there.

I have watched John make the spirit of Veteran's Day into a real-life set of actions. I have watched him "not forget." I have watched his walk and talk match as the hostilities in

Iraq

unfolded and continue. Daily, he sends letters to young service men and women who are in the line of fire. I have seen some of the responses from the grateful GIs to whom he writes.

It's not possible for me to read those responses with dry eyes.

Today, this country will observe Veteran's Day. Personally, I think it takes on exponential importance in light of the events that have shaped and shaken our world over the past four years. To do it justice, I will stop whatever I'm doing at eleven in the morning and walk over to John's desk and thank him. Knowing me, I guarantee that there will be tears in my eyes. And that will be okay.

Because I will be stopping to think about war and its ongoing aftermath, I will also be reminded of other people who are no longer here. Not just veterans. I will think of my mom who died thirteen years ago this month. I will think of other relatives and friends who are gone. I will have the emotions attached to those memories, and I will talk about them with anyone who happens to show up in my life that day.

I will absolutely reach out and touch anyone who calls, emails or bumps into me at the office, in a restaurant, or in the park with my dog.

Lest we forget!

MMM for November 7 by Roy H. Williams

It's Not Good for Man to be Alone.

"The whole nature of man presupposes woman, both physically and spiritually. His system is tuned into woman from the start." – Carl Jung, Two Essays in Analytical Psychology

"What can a man say about woman, his own opposite? Woman always stands just where the man's shadow falls, so that he is only too liable to confuse the two. Then, when he tries to repair this misunderstanding, he overvalues her and believes her the most desirable thing in the world." – Carl Jung, Women In Europe

"I think the idealization of women is indigenous to men. There are various ways of idealizing women, especially sexually, based in almost every case on their inaccessibility. When a woman functions as an unobtainable love object, she takes on a mythical quality. You can see this principle functioning as a sales device in advertising and in places like Playboy magazine. Almost every movie you see has this quality, because you can't embrace the image on the screen. Thousands of novels use this principle, because you can't embrace a printed image on a page." – James Dickey, Self Interviews, p. 153

In New York Harbor stands a lady.

MMM from Roy H. Willaims

How to Buy Word of Mouth

The price of making a powerful statement is cheap compared to the cost of ads that don't work. So make a statement that counts. This is the best advice I can give you.

I'm not talking about making a grand and sweeping claim, such as, "Lowest prices anywhere. We won't be undersold." No one believes hype anymore. I'm talking about a statement that is bona fide, no loopholes, easy to experience. And it only takes one such statement to put a business over the top. This is why you should designate a percentage of your ad budget to purchase word-of-mouth advertising.

Word-of-mouth is credible because ....