Sell Like The Cub Scouts

My sons Cub Scout pack has just completed their annual popcorn sales drive, and we hit a new record in volume. This money will power the pack for an entire year and allow the group to go on campouts, receive awards and participate in many other activities.

It occurred to me that cub scouts can teach us a thing or two about sales. (So could the Girl Scouts)

Let’s look at the facts. The popcorn that the cub scouts sell is overpriced and sub par in quality at best. A box that would  cost you $5 at the grocery store will set you back $15 from your local scout. Some can even cost up to $50! Yet, scouts nationwide sell as much of this brand of popcorn as some of the leading major brands on the store shelves. They make millions upon millions of dollars in a single months time.

Here is what the scouts have going against them:

1. The popcorn is overpriced.

2. Nobody needs it.

3. It’s not high quality popcorn

4. There is massive competition from other packs also selling popcorn.

So why are the scouts so successful? It’s because of several reasons. First, the scouts work with people they know. They work their contacts and use their personal relationships with these people to create business. They get referrals to speak with other possible buyers.

They prove that the sale is not all about the product. It’s not needed and not a good bargain. They instead learn to focus on the story. They sell the heart strings about what this sale will mean to the pack. You are also sold on the benefit of being able to give it as a gift.

They are tenacious. They know that they may have to get through a lot of no’s before getting the sale.

If the scouts can sell popcorn against these odds, you can sell your product or service with great success as well. Here’s why: If you can stop making excuses about your product or service, your prices, your competitors prices, the economy, not having time, etc, you can actually start seeing major advances in your sales levels. You just have to go out and get it….. So what are you waiting for?

How Procrastination Cost Me My Freedom

As I sat in the small dark cell dripping with sweat and the uncomfortable cold steel handcuffs squeezing the feeling out of my wrists, I had a moment to reflect on the poor decision I had made….

Maybe we should go back a bit to where it started. It was a cool fall day in Branson Missouri and I had the convertible sports car cruising along the winding hilly roads at a steadily increasing clip. That’s when I saw the colors behind me. You know the ones. The colors that in most cases represent freedom, except in the case when they are flashing on top of a police cruiser.

There was no getting out of it and the ticket was written. I told the officer I was sorry and went on my way, promising to take care of the ticket “soon.” A few minutes later, the incident was a distant memory and the world seemed right again. It’s hard to have a bad day while riding with the top down and the wind blowing in your hair.

About a year later, I was busy opening a new venture. It was a banquet facility downtown and on this day I was taking the final steps necessary to secure a liquor license. The person on the other line of the phone said the following words: “Mr. Amberg, your license has been approved but will only be released upon satisfaction of the warrant for your arrest.” I informed her that I thought she might be on a hallucinogenic.

Upon calling the Branson, MO police department, they informed me that I did indeed have a warrant for my arrest…. from an unpaid speeding ticket a year earlier. I arrived at the station and told them I was here to pay the ticket. They thanked me, and then booked me. Which brings us full circle to where our story began.

Upon my release after serving “three to five” (hours) I reflected upon the decisions and procrastination that brought me to this moment. By continually saying “I’ll take care of that tomorrow”, I had quite literally put myself into lockup.

In business, procrastination might not cost us our freedom, but can certainly cost us our profits. And to be honest, when you lose profits, you lose a certain degree of freedom.

The Secret to Longevity in Business

Have you ever heard someone say “don’t mix old and new batteries”? It even says that on the official Duracell list of frequently asked battery questions. It kind of sounds to me like they’re simply trying to persuade you to only use their type of battery.

But, as it turns out they are correct. If one battery has a stronger cell than the other due to whatever reason, it may overheat quickly in an attempt to compensate for the other, underperforming one.

Why the heck am I going on a rant about batteries? Because I noticed a direct correlation between the batteries and your team at work.

When one person is carrying the bulk of the workload, they can become burnt out, frustrated, and disillusioned about the purpose of their job. That’s why I believe keeping good office morale, and making sure that people who work at your company understand that they are valued, can make all the difference.

People who feel valued at work perform at higher levels of productivity. By taking the time to show people appreciation and reward their efforts, you can fire up an entire organization.

Keep your office “battery life” fully charged, and your company will continue running smoothly and “still going” long into the future.

The Lesson of the Indians

Many years ago when the wilds of America were still vast, there lived an Indian tribe in the heart of what would eventually become Colorado.

The tribe was a prosperous one, with an extended period of peace and plenty of game to hunt. Life was good for the tribe and it was lead by a very wise and very fair chief, who had three sons.

One day, the chief called his sons into his dwelling and said “I am growing old and will not have much time left in this life. One of you will become the next chief. Age matters not, but instead, your hearts will be measured.”

The chief instructed each son to take a burning hot coal from the fire, wrap it up, and carry it to the highest peak where a fire would be lit. The first to successfully light the fire on the mountain would be the tribe’s new leader.

All three gathered up their hot coals and began the full day journey. The oldest son who was the fastest and strongest quickly gained the lead. He soon came upon a village whose own fire had gone out in the rain. They asked him to help relight it with his burning coal. He responded “No, I am on a much more important journey” and continued on his way.

Soon the second Indian brother arrived in the same village. He also was asked to help start the fire, and responded that he had a more important task in catching up with his older brother.

Finally the youngest brother came running into the village. The village people begged him to help relight their fire so they could eat. Without hesitating, the Indian took out his hot coal and placed it gently into the village fire pit, where a crackling fire soon appeared. The youngest brother let his coal get white hot once again, before collecting it and moving on his way once again.

Around this time the oldest brother arrived on top of the mountain peak high above. He beamed as he pulled out his coal only to realize that it was now cold and could not start the fire. His head hung low, he began the trek back to his village.

Soon, the second brother appeared on the summit only to face the same problem as his oldest brother. He too left in defeat.

Later on that evening, a tired young Indian managed to climb to the peak. He reached into his pouch and unwrapped his hot coal. Lighting the fire on the mountain, he claimed his new title and the people cheered. He went on to lead his tribe into many more years of prosperity.

The lesson:

We all lead busy lives. Some busier than others. We all however, have the exact same number of minutes and hours in a day. How we use those minutes will define who we truly are.

Helping those in need will not only provide a value to someone else’s life, but enrich yours as well. Take the time to help others on your way to the top and your efforts will be rewarded tenfold.

Spread Your Legend

I want to tell you a couple of stories today that will blend together to illustrate how legends become legends in the first place. But first I want you to close your eyes. Never mind… that might make reading this a bit difficult. Unless you have a reading buddy to read to you, just keep’em open and allow yourself to remember the game we used to play as kids. The game of telephone. You remember that game don’t you? It’s the game where one person whispers a simple sentence to the person next to them, who then passes the phrase to the next, and so on. By the end of the line of people playing, typically the wording has changed greatly and had morphed into something entirely different. It’s a game used to illustrate how simple communication can be lost as it is passed from one source to another. Now I want you to take yourself back. Way back. Back to rural India during the 19^th century….

Crowds gather in an empty field. An old Indian Fakir and his boy assistant make their way into the circle of wide eyed throng of spectators. A large basket and a long length of rope are displayed, and the rope placed into the basket. Suddenly, the rope rises high into the sky, the end disappearing from view. The boy climbs up the rope, higher and higher. The fakir calls him to come back down, but the boy disobeys and continues to climb, disappearing from sight. Furious, the man climbs up after the boy with a knife in his teeth, vanishing too. An argument is heard, and then limbs of the boy start falling to the ground. When all the parts of the body, including the torso, land on the ground, the magician climbs down the rope. He collects the limbs and put them in the basket, and with a wave of his hand, the boy is magically restored whole again. This is the legend of the Indian Rope Trick, and has been talked and written about ever since by magicians and historians.

There is only one small detail I left out. It never actually happened. As it turns out, a writer for the Chicago Tribune named John Wilkie, wrote of the trick in 1890, gaining the tribune wide publicity. About four months later, the Tribune printed a retraction and proclaimed the story a hoax. However, the retraction received little attention, and in the following years many claimed to remember having seen the trick as far back as the 1850s. According to Lamont, none of these stories proved credible, but with every repetition the story became more ingrained and the legend grew.

If you ask anyone to name a magician today they will often say Houdini. A man who lived and performed in the early 20th century and created his own legend, often through outright false claims. He was a master of spinning his own legend and embellishing his credentials. He was the ultimate showman and even better at creating his own publicity buzz. As years progressed, so too did his legend.

70 years later I would receive a little bit of this education myself. While working as a magician in a local restaurant/pub, I was approached by a gentleman who asked to see the “watch trick.”

This was a bit of magic where I would take two red balls and make them appear and disappear in someone’s hands, while I secretly removed their wristwatch using the misdirection caused by the trick. I asked the man what he had heard and he proceeded to tell me the “legend” version of the trick. “You asked my friend to stand ten feet away and look at his watch, and then cover it with his hand. You then snapped your fingers and the watch was now on your wrist and off of his!” I replied to the gentleman, “Yes, that pretty much sums up what happened so there is no point in repeating it!” I knew better than to get in the way of my own “legend”….

So what is the take away here? Just like the game of telephone, the communication of stories will inevitably change over a short amount of time. The secret is to help those stories take shape early and most importantly…in the right direction. You see, people’s memories of daily occurrences can be either good or bad. People will share amazing and horrible experiences with countless other people. And the reality is that both will be over embellished by the teller with each time it is told, making the good better and the bad even worse. Make sure that you are a master of your craft. Then, create moments with your customers that make them want to spread your tale…and create a legend.

 

 

It’s the end of the world as we know it

The world is changing right under your feet. Scratch that…. It already has changed. This is a great thing, but it can also be a scary thing for entrepreneurs who are used to doing business the “old fashioned way.”

The product or service with the best features and benefits will not always win.

The best students in high school don’t always get into the best colleges, and the students from the best colleges don’t always get the best jobs.

The companies with the highest advertising and marketing budgets no longer control the conversation with potential customers.

The fact is that people want to be inspired, believe in what your offerings can do for them, and be a part of something great. We live in a world where online companies such as kickstarter can launch new products and companies with crowdsourcing with little or no effort. The effort they give is in the story they tell. People invest in these ideas, not because of features and benefits, but because they believe in the passion the entrepreneurs project in the online video.

How passionate are you about your business? I don’t mean how many hours you put into it.  In my opinion, people who work on their businesses 80-90 hours a week are spinning their wheels. You should work smarter, not harder. Instead, how can you develop a strategy to tell your story? If you can tell a compelling story that captivates people’s attention, you can make a lot of money and grow your business to amazing heights.

My father and brother both work in the world of public relations. One of the most memorable things I hear them say is when asked what “News” is.  “News is whatever the editor says it is…..” It is your job to give media, customers, etc, the most compelling story that they will be interested in themselves, and want to share with others. Seth Godin, a highly respected marketing expert calls this “sneezing.” Getting others to share and spread your story.

It’s been said many times before and is worth repeating; “People won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel” You must be a story teller. You must be an artist. By painting a picture of your vision, filled with information that will entice their senses, you will be on the road to success, and ahead of your competition who are still selling on features and benefits. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

What a Balloon Animal Taught Me About Winning

When I was fourteen years old I discovered magic. Like any pimply fourteen year old I wanted to impress girls. So I chose magic. Yep…I know. What a stud. My mom would drive me from one birthday party to the next so I could knock the socks off a bunch of six year olds.

I am very competitive by nature, so I immediately wanted to be the best in town. Hours of practice and a lack of friends gave me increased confidence and dreams of greatness. It was during these early stages that I discovered how much I enjoy marketing. I just did not realize that’s what it was at the time.

One of my first lessons is still one of the most important in my marketing “toolbox.” Here is how I discovered it; As I would sell my magic show to potential buyers (birthday moms), I would list out all of the benefits of what I had to offer and talk about what a wonderful experience the birthday “star” would have. At the conclusion of my pitch I would often hear “That sounds great, but do you do balloon animals like your competitor?” I did not. I would go on to explain that I closed my performance with a magic rabbit puppet. Yep….I know. What a stud.

After the realization that I was losing out to the competition because the lack of my latex twisting abilities, I had two options; learn how to create balloon poodles or how to sell my show better. I chose the latter. I decided to focus on turning the strength of the balloon animal argument into a weakness. When asked if I did balloon animals, I would respond “I do not do balloon animals and here is why.” I would then go on to explain the following:

1. Balloons make loud noises and often scare kids when they pop.
2. Balloon never stayed in animal form for long and would untwist or pop, leaving sad crying kids….not an image they wanted to think about.
3. Kids bite things. They put things in their mouths. Balloons can choke and kill your kid.

Boom. My close ratio on birthday parties jumped over 50%. A valuable lesson for anyone selling anything against a competitor; Turn your competitors’ strengths into their weaknesses. Now go out there and make mucho dinero.

Authors note: No balloon animals were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Forget the Cookie… Focus on the Fortune

Right now I’m flying at 39,000 feet on the way back home from a business trip. A single thought from a book I’m reading has given me pause and clarity into a truly important business lesson we should all take to heart.

Who does not like the fun of a fortune cookie? What mysterious, fun future prophecy lies waiting inside the crumbly goodness of its outer shell? While the cookie itself may be somewhat tasty, it’s the entombed fortune inside that people get excited about and creates the real experience.

In her book, The Fortune Cookie Principal, author Bernadette Jiwa says “it’s not how good you are, it’s how well you tell your story.” As a business owner or employee of a small business, you probably realize that you don’t have unlimited resources to spend on marketing and advertising. Your product or service may be something you believe everyone should get excited about. But sadly, that simply does not just happen.

What is it about your business that deserves recognition? Why should people care. The answer lies in how you present your company to the world. How you tell your story. As event planners and entertainers, we have a truly interesting tale to tell. People want to be entertained, and amazed. They want to believe in “magic.”

You may ask “what kind of story should I be telling?” The answer is a simple one. You must first ask yourself “what is the reason we exist?” What is your unique reason for being? What makes your company truly stand out. And, how can you solve your customers problems and add a wonderful experiential element to their special events? The answers to these questions become the “talking points” of your story.

It does not matter if you are the biggest, have the most inventory, worked for the most prestigious clients, or have the largest bankroll. You must however, have a compelling story to tell. Services that are worth talking about get talked about.

What’s your story?

Customer Musical Chairs

You know what I hate? Being treated like royalty by a company in order to get me to sign up for their service, buy their product, etc., only to be completely forgotten about after the initial transaction is complete. We’ve all had this experience at one time or another. Credit card companies, cable and satellite providers, insurance carriers, and a plethora of others.

The question is why? Why would a company focus its energy trying to get new clientele, and in many cases work twice as hard trying to win back their previous clients after they leave in disgust? What these companies should be focused on is treating their existing customers like VIP. After all, these are the people who are currently showing a company their loyalty. Why on earth would we want to take these people for granted?

But it happens all the time doesn’t it? You get a “trial period” or great customer service during the honeymoon stage of this new relationship, and then inevitably, rates go up, calls are not returned, and customers left hanging alone….because the company is off looking for more customers! Most phone companies even have a win back department to try and convince previous customers to come back. And the dance continues. It’s one big game of musical chairs.

Smart companies realize that their current customer base is extremely valuable, and should be treated with higher standards. They deserve the white glove treatment because they have chosen, and continue to choose, to do business with your company. Not only should your company be grateful for the business, but you also save a great deal of money retaining customers rather than recruiting new ones. The smartest companies figure out how to do both effectively.

Are your customers merely happy, or are they raving fans? It’s the latter that stick around. Ask yourself “how can we take better care of our customers and show them that they are truly valued?” I guarantee it will be worth the effort.

If You Don’t Have It…Fake It

Samuel Goldwin said, “Once you learn to fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.”

How many times have you not felt like going out of your way, bending over backwards, or simply being polite to a potential customer? Too many times, we spend time trying to “qualify” our leads, when we should be qualifying ourselves to them.

To me, customer service and glad-handing come very natural.  I know that without my customers, my business will fail. Seems pretty straight forward. I run into an absurd amount of business owners that have not figured out how to treat a customer. This blows my mind. If you don’t take care of a customer, and certainly a potential customer, somebody else will.

Tom Peters once summed up customer service in a single sentence. “Find out what the customer wants and give it to him.” We all know what a customer, or potential customer is looking for. It’s pretty obvious isn’t it? It’s exactly what you want when seeking service from someone else. Respect, attention, courtesy, and a willingness to take care of them in a friendly way.

Now the horrible truth: Not everyone can learn to actually care, be friendly, or make “friends” with people they deal with. So we are left with two options; ignore their needs and fail to keep repeat customers, or learn to fake it! Put on a show and pretend if you have to. It’s not the best option, but better than the alternative.

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity. So next time you are working with a potential client, ask yourself “what do they expect from me?” And then do exactly that… or at least fake it.