I Need Some Magic

Although Tom Connellan’s book, “Inside the Magic Kingdom” isn’t new, it is very fresh for the time. The book describes the secret sauce is for the mega amusement company to continue to have loyal customers who come back over and over again and don’t mind paying for the experience. It’s not about adorable creatures, mystical heroes or the most thrilling rides in an amusement park. As a matter fact you can find all of that less than 5 miles away, but the loyal Disney followers pass by it to find the magic. The magic is a state of mind. Everyone’s state of mind – the customers, the employees, the vendors, the creators – everyone.

I would propose that the key’s to Disney’s success that Connellan reveals, apply to just about any business interested in building passionate customer loyalty. The book is chock full of mind shifting ideas. Here are the concepts and just some of the great quotes that might just get you and your teams thinking.

 1. Your competition may not be who you think. “If someone else satisfies customers better than, no matter what type of business, you suffer by comparison.”

2. Pay fantastic attention to detail. “Quality is not about limited possibilities. Quality is about unlimited possibilities.”

3. Everyone walks the talk “Everyone needs to focus on providing what customers want – even people who never come in direct contact with customers”

4. Everything walks the talk “The trick is to turn common sense into common practice”

5. Customers are best heard through many ears. “If you overlook information from employees, you overlook probably the most valuable source of customer information you have.”

6. Reward recognize and celebrate. “People treat customers the same way they get treated.”

7. Everyone makes a difference. “To achieve good teamwork and optimize customer loyalty, you have to break down silos.”

8. Continuous pursuit of excellence. “Just when everyone is saying how great you are is when you’re most vulnerable”

Thanks to Tom Connellan for writing this great instructions guide to bring out the best in others and in business – “Inside the Magic Kingdom.”

Lead on!

I Need To Know How To Hold ‘Em and When to Fold ‘Em

When you are selling your own services, one of the most difficult things to do is to set your own price.  When I work with entrepreneurial or emerging consultant clients, we typically go through an exercise to determine market value, cost of good/services, market share strategy and regional pricing tolerance (where applicable).  However, the after that data driven exercise, complaints start to creep up regarding reducing prices and “free/pro-bono” work eating up too much time without any return.  Here are five things to do to avoid losing your livelihood and your sanity. 

1. Find out early in the sales process what the client’s budget is.  You want to ask them a budget question before they ask you a price question. If their budget is in line, then proceed.  If it is not, then quickly let them know that their budget is below your standard pricing.
2. Help them afford you – if you are consulting to help a company save money, then you can structure your contract to be your full price but has two pay components.  A base price (their budget) plus the savings realized up to 5% over your standard fee with a guaranteed minimum (your fee).   If you are facilitating a workshop, you can structure the contract to be your full price which includes the base fee for the workshop plus X number of presold workbooks.  They can either gift the workbooks to their employees, or ask the employees to pay for workbooks to make up the budget gap.  The key is to keep each invoice at or above your market value. 
3. No free-bies unless there is WIFM value (What’s In-it For Me).  If you can garner exposure (verified in advance), marketing, a chance to sell other products, etc. then it is a good idea to do some “free-in exchange for” work.  But be cautious.  For some crazy reason, friends and family often assume you want to work for free.  What’s up with that?  You can politely but directly say “that is something do for clients, and my fees are X.  If that is not something you’re comfortable with, I completely understand and I’d be glad to point you in another direction.”   When was the last time you asked an attorney friend to review a contract for you for free or an architect friend to draw up some plans for your new beach house?  Hopefully never.
4. When you are asked (in case you don’t get that budget question in first) “what is your fee, say something.  Even if it is “what is your budget?’.  Anything is better than, “um” “well” or nothing.  That’s the first clue that you are flexible or will negotiate – i.e. talked down.  If you have a price and stick with it, you can at least say it confidently and work on the details of the project as the conversation progresses.
5. Hold your own.  Don’t change price based on pressure of the prospect.  If they indicate the price is too high, ask them why they feel that way.   Ask them what they were expecting and where they are getting their price base from.  You may learn that a competitor is charging less – and you may have to either explain how your services differ or be willing to match price.  At some point if there is a competitive pricing issue you have to decide if you want to “compete” on a price, quality, or product differentiation.  Or, you may decide that you don’t want to compete and fold ‘em and move on to the next opportunity.    

I Need A Good Reputation

Nobody’s making money until someone sells something.  So, who is really responsible for sales?  I would argue that anyone in any position is selling whether they’re asking for the buy or not. People sell loyalty by providing excellent customer service, we sell trust by doing the right thing, we sell product by solving a need/problem – and most importantly we sell “word of mouth and word of mouse” advertizing, good and bad, whenever we interact with a customer or prospect.

We all prefer to buy when we know someone else has already had a good experience. Social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) has become a Mecca of resources for recommendations. Just post the question “has anyone ever bought XYZ from ABC?” and see what you get back! And, as human beings we are wired to want to help people succeed who are doing a good job, so we tell people freely when that is true. So there’s the good news – you get to choose.  Create a culture where you/your team consistently provide(s) positive customer experiences and you will get more business  . . .  or not. 

Here’s the scary news – there have been recent studies that found that 84% of consumers will tell someone else about a bad experience, which was up from 67% in 2006. And how easy is it to use email, FB, Twitter, or even the news media to proliferate a public warning? One mouse click away.

Forrester.com recently published a research study where it asked more than 4,500 consumers how often they talk about experiences with companies in twelve industries. It turns out that more consumers talk about good experiences than bad experiences with eight of the industries. Retailers and banks have the most consumers saying good things about them, and credit card providers, health insurance plans, Internet service providers, and TV service providers have the most consumers saying bad things. This negative bias is worst for airlines. As it turns out, Gen Xers and Older Boomers share news about a negative experience most frequently.

All industries and services take heed. More consumers share positive experiences and consumers tell more people about negative experiences.  Here’s the bottom line; people are talking. Whether the experience is good or bad, the consumer is going to tell someone about it. What do you want them saying about you, your product and your company?