Everyone has their off days.
When they deliver substandard product.
So what to do when its your vendor or employee?
In The Power Of Nice,
Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
suggest saying
“You do such great work.
I’m not sure this is up to your caliber.”
I’ve used this same technique
(though without the first sentence)
with solid success.
Stuck in a sales plateau?
Consider raising your rates.
That’s what
Jessica Duquette of ItsNotAboutYourStuff did,
with success.
“At one point,
I hired a fabulous business coach
who insisted that I raise my rates
for people who wanted to work with me specifically,
and to hire others to do
the more routine work with my clients.
I can honestly say that each time
I have raised my rates,
I have actually gotten more business,
not less, as I had initially feared.”
Lois Kelly, on Guy Kawasaki’s blog,
talks about the types of stories
with word of mouth power.
One of them, event or seasonal related,
I use frequently,
not by covering the obvious story
but by offering a complementary piece.
A star wedding in Paris would prompt
an article on Parisian restaurants.
A fresh angle on the story.
Less closely tied but
less competition also.
While music sales may have suffered
from the sharing culture,
the bank accounts of music stars haven’t.
I can’t watch a music video lately
without seeing some sort of product placement
and these deals are lucrative.
Jessica Simpson for her video A Public Affair
was paid $200,000 by HP
for showing their products.
Smart, innovative business people
can make money in any environment.
Recently there was a discussion
on Ken Silver’s eBook forum about
promoting eBooks on exercise.
The reco?
Narrow the niche
from the general population
to stay-at-home Mom’s
or seniors
or those with chronic fatigue syndrome.
With a few simple tweaks,
the author has gone from
one general, untargeted product
to a product line-up
for each easily marketed niche.
Many people use a lawyer after
they’ve gotten themselves into trouble.
Me, I use a lawyer to avoid trouble.
Some people prey on the weak,
the employee least likely to sue,
the neighbor with no idea of her rights.
I’d rather not be that person so
what I do is subtly let people know
that I have legal counsel.
I’ll make jokes every once in a while
about “how my lawyer’d like that”
or how I drive my lawyer crazy.
I ALWAYS take legal documents
home before signing,
stating that I’ll have my lawyer look over it
(whether I do or don’t).
The best lawsuit is the prevented lawsuit.
There are two major companies
in the $62 Billion U.S. Golf business,
Nike and Fortune (owner of Titleist).
Fortune,
targeting the money rich baby boomers,
is number one in golf clubs, shoes and gloves.
Nike with Tiger Woods and his younger demographic
are snapping at their heels.
So are all the opps in golf already taken?
According to Rick Horrow of Horrow Sports Ventures,
20% of all new golfers are women.
Who is directly addressing their needs?
As crowded as a market appears to be,
there are always opportunities for a new entry.
Dual drawer dishwashers were originally designed
for dishes needing to be cleaned at different settings,
delicate and heavy duty.
Consumers have found a new use.
They,
instead of putting the dishes away,
use one drawer for dirty
and one for clean.
Saves time and saves space.
And yes, the pioneers of this usage
have been single males.
Has this new use been properly promoted?
No.
Opportunity?
Yes.
Men and women are different.
They have different needs and wants.
In everything, even housing.
Responding to the increasing sales to single females,
Gemstone is designing condo units in Las Vegas
especially for them.
The Diva suites have features such as
a vanity drawer plug for hairdryers,
terrace gardens with self-watering systems,
and walk-in closets with built-in organizers,
shoe storage, and full-length mirrors.
Can your product be better tweaked
for your target customer?
As John Carlton weighs in again
on long copy vs short copy
(long copy won years ago),
he reminds us that successful marketing
isn’t always the most “popular” marketing.
“It’s not entertaining…
it’s not often pretty…
and it’s not about “branding” or creating cool art.
Or even being “liked”.”
Its about sales.
Suck up the vanity
and do what works.