Shut Up and Say Something (or How Do You Know When They Get It?)

One of the biggest challenges we all have in telling our business or personal story is to know when to stop talking.

[Pause]

In written form, it is hard to represent that very important moment of silence that helps the reader absorb what is being said.

[Longer Pause]

What we tend to do, instead is find a way to repeat or supplement the message. 

[Short Pause] 

In other words, we give examples, or we digress. 

[Very Short Pause] 

But when we get together with friends and share our stories, we stop talking when we see the other person's expression change.  And that change tells us if they get it or not.

[Think about that for a moment] 

In the digital age, we have become crazed about trying to determine if someone is getting the message.  We ask people to Like us and Tweet us and reply to surveys, fill out forms.  Is any of that effective?

In the end, people get the message when they take action.  If they buy the product, make an appointment, call your office, come up and talk to you after your talk, or make a referral you know they get it.

So, what's the message in all this?

First, we need to give enough information to capture the attention and interest of the receiver.

Then, we need to shut up and listen. 

That pause says something very important - You care what they have to say. 

Since it is much easier to do that in person, then offer to do that, or at least make the call. 

 [Pause]

So, what do you think?

Succeeding at Failure is Not an Option

Failure is one of those lessons everyone loves to learn from, as long as the lesson is at someone else's expense.​

I love reading about failure, not because I like to see people lose the battle with the unknown and the known, but because it teaches us lessons.  Either we learn how to fail forward to success, or we learn how to continue to succeed at failing.

The difference is a matter of setting expectations high enough to be both profitable and sustainable. ​

Back in the days when direct mail marketing campaigns were the rage, companies would play down the poor response rates they encountered by focusing on how few responses were needed to break even. 

​Today, the Internet has made even poorer response and click through rates seem attractive.  Proponents of the Inbound Marketing approach have been very successful at developing a suite of tools and training modules designed to convince marketers that it is possible and profitable to capture new customers from the ether by following what we like to call the Post and Pay Method.  

What is Post and Pay?​

​Post refers to creative content, like this blog post.  No matter how interesting it is, it is only helpful in growing my business if someone sees it and acts on it.  For that action to be profitable, it needs to lead to a sale, and that means it needs to be found.

That's where Pay comes in.  I need to spend money to tell people it is there, or to have a link for it which will appear in search results.  

​Proponents of this Post and Pay approach will tell you what you are doing wrong if you don't get high responses, leads and conversions.  It is your fault if you dont succeed at the numbers game.  Similar to the old direct mail marketing days, the more people you reach, the greater the number of respondents.

So, if you are failing, you need to try harder, create more content, add the right tags, build keyword tables, create Calls-to-Action and Landing Pages, with forms and buttons and icons.  The list of things you need to do to get someone to find you goes on and on.

STOP!

This is not the kind of failure that leads to breakout success.  This is failure that leads to more failure and disappointment and loss of money.​

In order to move forward to success, you need to Market Smart.​

​Smart is knowing how to determine the level of success you can handle, and having a plan to go beyond it.  

Smart is starting with the right tools, the right focus and the right mean of tracking success.

Smart is understanding that the only way to grow your business is to provide value to your customers.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it?​

It is.  It begins, grows and ends with the customer.​  To deliver value to your customers at a profit to you, you need to create value in your products and services and communicate that value to your customers.  This is what Dr. Philip Kotler, Professor, Scholar, Marketing Expert and Author teaches, and it is the foundation of our business.

If you are failing to succeed, it may be because you are succeeding at failure.  Why not turn that around?

Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits?

Well, I did it.  I decided to treat myself to the Kennedy's Experience.  But before I explain what that is all about, let me share the backstory.

I am not one to pamper myself, at least not when it comes to personal grooming.  When I was single, back in the 1980s, I used to shave in the shower, give myself haircuts and buy wash and wear suits.  Need I say more?  Over the years, I have adapted and adopted some new behaviors that I hope make me a little less suspect when I meet new people.  I credit my wife with this transformation.  Why she undertook the challenge at all, given my previous distressed and wrinkled appearance I'll never know.

But some things never change.  I still shave in the shower, something that could be dangerous and is definitely not very accurate, when it comes to the matching left and right sides of my mustache.  (Once while vacationing in Portugal, I accidentally cut too much off one side and decided to shave the whole thing off, causing my wife to scream.  She had never seen me without one.)  

Kennedy's Products and Menu of Services

Today, though, I am treating myself.  I actually got dressed up to go for a Signature Haircut and Shave at Kennedy's All-American Barber Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.  Billed as The Authentic Barbershop Experience, and operating on a membership business model, I couldn't resist the temptation to be pampered like a gentleman's gentleman.  In fact, the term "Kennedy" is a synonym for "The Ultimate Gentleman", according to the company website.  

The Greenwich club is run by Emely Serrano (ESerrano@KennedysBarberClub.com), who greeted me from behind the bar where she checked me in and offered me something to drink.  Coffee, espresso, soda or water were the choices.  We met last week when I brought my grandson Matthew for his haircut.  According to Danny Davi, the stylist who attended to Matthew last week and me today, Saturday mornings are usually the most popular day for the young gentlemen.

Danny Davi

The place is designed like no other barber shop or hair salon I know, with a touch of the old world in style, class and level of service.  I have to admit I had mixed feelings about all this.  Not only am I not accustomed to pampering, but a men's club?  Isn't that politically incorrect?  And what about Sal, who usually does my hair?  

Once I sat in the chair, crooned by the likes of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, I began to think I might actually enjoy this, even if I couldn't bring  myself to believe I deserved it.  Danny explained the process involved in the Signature Haircut and Shave package.  We would begin with the cut, followed by the shave and ending with a rinse.  It sounded simple, but it was far more involved than it sounded.    

My standard haircut typically takes less time than one quarter on the meter.  For those of you old enough to remember the old song, that's two bits or what a shave and haircut once cost.  Today's full experience clocked in just over an hour, and my scalp and face are thanking me for the treat.  I won't spoil the experience for you or for the male in your life you intend to treat, but I will say that at the end, I did feel I deserved it, and I probably will deserve it again in about a month or so.  

What I couldn't get over was the idea that I could become a member.  How posh is that?  I mean, do I have time to get a shave every day at "The Club"?  It is relaxing, though.  (I think I snored once or twice.)  

The concept is rather ingenious.  In an age when businesses are struggling to compete on all fronts, here is a staple (everyone needs a haircut, right?) that has gone over the top with a focus on service.  There is a lesson in strategic marketing and business design here.  If you do something well and pay attention to detail, you may make it in this world.  However, if you focus on the customer and do everything you can to make him or her happy, they will come back and bring friends.  And that's what I intend to do at Kennedy's.