PostcardPerfect.com/blog

First, the end of the story:
On my recent trip to Las Vegas, I, “Mr. actually reads the fine print before signing anything,” pulled out $30 from my wallet and handed it willingly to a guy on the street. And no, he didn’t slip me a baggie of white powder in exchange. In fact, he didn’t give me anything. How did it happen?

Relationship marketing. Thanks for reading.

Oh, you want details? OK, let’s go back to the beginning.

I was standing in line for the Duce (a double-decker bus that runs up and down the strip) when the old guy in front of me struck up a conversation. Given the location and his unsavory attire, I kept my initial answers short and tried to avoid eye contact. “Where are you from?” “How long are you in town?” “First time in Vegas?” My “he’s about to ask you for money” alarm was blaring like a fog horn.

And then mentioned that he was from Boston and headed home that night.

Hearing that put me at ease. I figured if he was a fellow tourist that I could probably let my guard down. So, I did - a little. We grumbled together about the wait for the bus. We talked about our games of choice (his was sports betting – and he lost about 5K this trip) and where we were staying. He told me about how he’d been coming here for 30 years and about the old Vegas.

Then, about 5 minutes into the conversation, he asked if I wanted some comped show tickets that he wasn’t going to be able to use. The scamometer started rising again. However, I sure as heck didn’t want to blow potential tickets to Blue Man Group and David Copperfield – so I played along. He was very insistent that if he gave them to me that I wouldn’t let them go to waste. I told him I would definitely go see those shows for free.

It was a done deal. He said he’d give them to me. I still wasn’t holding my breath, but I couldn’t help but imagine that there was a very slight chance that I had hit the jackpot just for being in the right place at the right time.

Our small talk continued. We talked about some of the new casinos on the strip. I asked him what he did back in Boston. (“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. My brother is the biggest bookie in Boston. I work for him.”) We talked about the recent performance of the Cubs and White Sox.

The bus finally came.

As we rode along, he asked me where I was getting off. I told him I was out wandering, so I’d just follow him back to the Bellagio to get the tickets transferred to my name. He said he had already checked out and wasn’t going all the way back there. So, we got off together in front of the Mirage, and he said he’d just call and take care of it.

My fading skepticism kicked back in – secretly of course. He asked to use my cell phone, but instead of dialing himself - just gave me the number. I dialed, and in an attempt to debunk the scam – put the phone to my ear instead of handing it over right away.

“Bellagio. This is Mary. How can I help you?”

Whoa. It was them! A little surprised (and a little excited that it could all be legit), I handed him the phone.

“Hi. Can you transfer me to John Nicks on the floor?”
“John, it’s me - Mike.”
“Not good at all. I busted. It’s okay though, I’ll be back in a few months.”
“No, I’m done. I already checked out. You can close me out.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, can I have those show tickets transferred to someone else?”
“I want to split them – one and one to Blue Man Group and Copperfield for tomorrow and Thursday night.”
“R-A-U-C-H (he looked to me for guidance at this part). David”
“OK.”
“Yeah, I feel like Santa Clause. Haha.”
“OK. Photo ID and pickup by 5:00.”
“Uh-huh.”
“OK. Thanks. I’ll see you in a few months.”
“Alright. Bye.”

After hanging up, he told me the show times and rows that I’d be sitting in. He told me how important it was that I picked up the tickets by 5:00 the next day.

At this point, he had me. I mean, he hadn’t asked for anything – so why wouldn’t it be real? I thanked him a few times as we continued walking. He continued to downplay it saying he had seen the shows many times and wasn’t able to use the tickets anyway. “It’s no big deal. If you couldn’t use them, wouldn’t you give them away?”

And, just as I was starting to explain how my wife would be jealous of me seeing Blue Man Group without her – it happened.

“Hey, I’m kind of embarrassed to ask, but I busted everything at the sports book today. Think you could spot me a little cash for a cab to the airport?”

The “I just scored $300 in free show tickets” bubble popped.

My mind raced as I tried to figure out how to get out of the situation. I had just chatted it up with this guy for the last 25 minutes. He supposedly just gave me multiple hundreds of dollars worth of show tickets. Did I have the guts to tell him no? What if…what if the tickets were real? If I walked away without helping him I could kiss them goodbye.

I stalled by asking questions cleverly designed to trip him up. I offered to walk back to Bellagio with him. I asked where his luggage was. He had a story for everything – and I couldn’t quite get him to stumble.

So, I admitted my skepticism. “Mike,” I said “I’ve been waiting this whole time for you to ask me for money. The fact that you just did makes me skeptical. Don’t take it personal, it’s just my nature.”

He countered by telling me A) not to be so skeptical, B) he had just given, not sold, me the show tickets, and C) if it was a problem that I didn’t have to worry about it - he’d get it somewhere else.

Ugh, the guilt trip. We strolled on as I thought though my options. Before long I had decided; I was just going to give it to him. After all, I rationalized, I was up $150 at the tables and there still was a slight chance he was telling the truth. And, assuming this was a scam – he earned it.

So, I gave him $30 (for a cab and a pack of cigarettes). We talked a few more minutes about where I should go check out next – and then said goodbye. I returned to the tables and he continued his apparent hunt for someone in the area that owed him money.

Deep down I knew it was a scam, but I couldn’t help but checking the show times online when I returned to my room. Sure enough, one of the start times he told me was wrong. Just to be sure though, I decided to try to claim the tickets the next day. I wasn’t about to walk to the Bellagio to do it in person - so I called the box office. Surprise….nothing.

So what’s the lesson here?

Despite being a lying sack of %@#, Mike’s sales tactic was perfect. He engaged me in conversation and talked about things I was interested in. He invested time in the relationship. He gave me something (supposedly) for free. And, he did it all before asking for anything in return. Then, when the time came, I just handed over my money.

I think we can all take a page out of his book. Not the “focus on dumb tourists and watch the money roll in” page, but the importance of building relationships with prospects and customers. Sometimes you have to give a little up front (non-existent show tickets not recommended) on good faith. People love to do business with people and companies they know, and a solid relationship can often trump a low price or a slightly superior product.

So there it is. Once again, my mistake has become free advice for you. Want to thank me? I’ve always wanted to go see the Blue Man Group…

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The rules of racquetball are simple.

Two players lock themselves in small rectangular room and alternate hitting a ball against the back wall. A point is lost when a player fails to return the ball before it bounces twice on the floor.

It’s a great game for beginners because the lack of skill doesn’t translate into downtime chasing the ball off the court (see tennis). Essentially, you’re in a small room where the ball can be hit off any of the four walls (or even the ceiling) – and it’s still in play.

What’s the point?

New players focus on strength. They consistently hit the ball as hard as they can and assume that the extra force will win them the point. The two problems with this strategy are that it tires them out faster, and the extra force of the hit often causes a higher bounce (giving the receiving player more time to return it).

Experienced players focus on placement. They vary their shots to keep the opponent scrambling to different parts of the court. They use a mix of force and finesse to keep their opponent guessing.

No really, what’s the point?

Your business, your marketing, your career – are all like games of racquetball. If you’re expending full force on everything – you’re going to run out of steam (energy, marketing dollars, etc.). Placement is key. Every time you make a hit you need to figure out what is going to net the best return. You have to continually evaluate the alternatives and ignore the impulse to just throw extra money, time, and energy at your problems.

Placement is realizing that you don’t have to outspend your competitors to win market share. Placement is knowing that a few key projects can do more for your career than years of 60 hour work weeks. Placement is the classic “work smarter, not harder.”

The point? Work on placement.

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A few years ago, while working as a valet, I noticed something interesting.

The scenario went like this:

Cars arriving would tend to park themselves - that is, until one car pulled up to the valet area. Then, almost automatically, a line of cars would start to form behind that first car.

What I realized was that drivers were much more likely to use the valet service if they saw other cars doing the same. I think it’s the same”wisdom of the crowd” mentality that drives a lot of consumerism. Essentially, people assume that if other people are doing it - then it’s probably OK. There is level of comfort and safety in knowing that others have proceeded you.

This is what makes diners avoid restaurants that look empty in favor of ones that are full. It’s why they’ll walk past a street performer that’s not getting any attention - but stop for one with a crowd. It’s one reason that top products stay there and the new, often superior ones, can’t seem to get off the ground.

So, as a small business, what can you do to make your customers feel safe? How can you get them to fall in line with everyone else? What if there is no line?

I think the correct answer really depends on the situation. The valet solution is to “stage” a few cars - but using fake customers is probably not the way most businesses should go. Figure out how you can give potential customers a glimpse of current or past customers. There are a lot of ways to do it; be creative.

As March kicked off, I decided to set a new month resolution. I really like the idea because it’s much more manageable than a new year resolution. Thirty days is short enough to keep focused on the light at the end of the tunnel. On the flip side, it’s long enough that you can make some good changes and form a habit.

My resolution was to make sure I worked on PostcardPerfect stuff for at least one hour per night - 5 nights a week. Like I said in a previous post, I was starting to slack off. I wanted to get back into it and keep moving things forward.

It’s only the first week, but so far so good. I’ve found that once I get started I have no problem going for a few hours. By early next week I hope to launch a new expanded website. It will have the same look and feel - just more content.

In yesterday’s post, I introduced the word precedon’t, covered the basic definition (according to me), and outlined the first implication. Today’s post will finish up the idea by covering the second implication.

And that is…

2) It causes review without prompting
Think about it. It’s fun to make changes when a new, impressive alternative comes up, but what about when it’s business as usual?

For example, consider subscription services that you or your business pay for. They were probably fully justified when you signed up. However, every month (or year) you pay again - often automatically. It’s your hosting plan, your cable bill, or your yellow pages ad. Implication two means reviewing the default decisions that are made every day.

Sure, it wouldn’t make sense to do a full analysis of every choice, every time. However, by periodically reviewing your situation, you’ll find that a few things could have happened.

Here are the possibilities using a savings account as an example

* The solution changed (your savings account lowered it’s APR)
* Your situation changed (more reserves lowers your liquidity requirements)
* A new solution exists (a rival bank is offering a better APR)
* Nothing changed (you still have the best savings account for your needs)

So, the challenge is to stop defaulting into so many decisions. Periodically review your situation even if nothing appears on the surface to have changed. If you wait until an obvious opportunity presents itself - you probably waited too long.

“Because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is not a legitimate explanation.
Sorry, it’s a cop out. Period. And, on that note, here’s today’s (made up) word:

Precedon’t: A willingness to evaluate decisions from scratch

Decisions should be made based on information - not on what was done in the past. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the right choice will be a new one. It just means that an option has to be justified on its own merit.

The way I see it, there are two implications. They are both pretty big, so I’m going to stretch this out to two posts.

1) It discourages comparing new vs. old with bias
As a young gun entering the corporate world, I was often frustrated with the seemingly poor decisions made by those around me. It was as if they wore blinders and made decisions based on comfort rather than business sense. I’m sure my suggestions weren’t always the best - but it was often obvious that people were happy with the status quo.

Essentially, the first application is the fun one. It’s the rally cry of change makers. It’s justification for exploring new options and overturing outdated practices. It’s what the young David Rauch (you know, because I’m sooo old now) should have yelled when nobody wanted to listen.

When making your own decisions (nobody to yell at but yourself), it means exploring new ideas even if you are happy with the way things are. It’s realizing that what worked best yesterday may not be the best tomorrow. It’s keeping an open mind about new technology, marketing tactics, etc.

The second application requires work. It’s not nearly as sexy, but is essential nevertheless. Check back tomorrow. In the mean time, here are two other words I encourage you to start using:

Growthitunities

Procrastachievement

I recently did some marketing consulting for someone involved with a multi-level marketing (MLM) organization. Talk about a challenge. MLM’s typically spread though face to face selling, but the client wanted to speed things up by using direct mail.

Given the stigma many MLMs have, our strategy was to be vague until we could get a prospect in a meeting or on the phone. Essentially, we didn’t want MLM reputation to proceed us. We wanted to prospects to hear the whole story before making a decision.

We executed by trying to peak interest in the opportunity without exhibiting common MLM characteristics. Again, the goal was just to get people to contact my client so that he could have a chance to explain.

The initial results haven’t been very good. I knew it was going to be a tough sell, but I thought we’d do a little better. Consequently, I’ve been thinking about different directions I could have taken. The two that come to mind are:

1) Traditional Approach
These are the ones you see all the time. They make promises about how much people can make and how easy it is to do. Example: “Make $100,000 by working part time!”

I tried to avoid this because I think it sets off the ‘too good to be true’ alarm. It is, in my opinion, one of the reasons MLMs have a poor reputation. Many oversell the ease and income potential upfront - and then fail to deliver. Of course, this tactic is still widely used though, so maybe it works…

2) Candor Approach
I blogged about this a couple weeks ago and have wondered if it would work in this situation. Basically, it would mean acknowledging the stigma up front, and then hoping that the initial honesty buys enough credibility to convince people to hear more.

Of course, that’s tricky. It would only work if you can do it in a way that catches people so off guard - that they feel the need to read on. Personally, I kind of like a postcard with “This is not your father’s pyramid scheme.” on the front, and a few sentences about what makes this opportunity different on the back.

Of course, not everyone would get the Oldsmobile reference. And, it makes it sound like the company IS a pyramid scheme (just different that other ones) when in reality it is a legitimate business. I guess I need to keep working on it.

Any ideas?

Beginning this month, Wendy’s will allow dine-in customers to purchase a Frosty with the rest of their meal and pick it up before leaving.

According to a recent press release, customers will pay for the popular frozen dessert while ordering their food and receive a “Frosty-To-Go” certificate. After eating, they can bypass the line at the counter and redeem the the certificate for the dessert that they ordered.

The nations 3rd largest burger chain has been testing the concept in hometown Columbus, OH since October. “We’ve seen a sizable increase in dine-in Frosty sales,” said franchise owner Robert Felt. “Apparently, customers appreciate not watching their desert melt while they eat their lunch.”

Wow. Forget on table advertising. Wendy’s has redeemed themselves.

Well, they would if tried this. I actually just made it up.
I think it could work though…

When starting PostcardPerfect, I was seriously considering taking a title like “Vice President of Business Development.”

Why? Well, I figured it was high enough to get respect from vendors, prospects, etc., but not high enough for people to guess that PostcardPerfect was a one man show. I mean, who starts a company and makes themself a VP?

The title implies not only that there is a president, but also other functional vice presidents. And usually if an organization has a diversified top management, it has a variety of lower positions as well.

So essentially, by using a VP title, I could have conveyed that my company was considerably larger than it is.

Why did I end up with a CEO title? I guess I just didn’t want to have to explain it to everyone. I still think that VP of Biz Development is kind of catchy. I may have cards printed up with it in the future…

Call me crazy, but I think the use of ranges (low value to high value) in communication is interesting. In fact, on an interesting scale of 1-5, I’d give it somewhere between a 2 and a 4.

At the core, ranges are just attempts to give variable information in way that is both accurate and useful. The balancing act occurs because the two are inverses (thank you, 7th grade math) of each other. In other words, the more potential for accuracy a range has (larger range encompasses more possible outcomes), the less useful it becomes.

For example, I watched an entrepreneur pitch his idea to investors and then ask for 1.5 to 5 million dollars in funding. The investors considered the large range a strike against him. Sure, it was safe, but consequently it wasn’t very useful. How much did the plan really need to be carried out? They didn’t know.

Anyway, with that l-o-n-g intro out of the way, I really wanted to blog about something I’ve been noticing.

People tend to interpret ranges in a way that is most beneficial to them.

Recently I told a consulting client that a project would take me 8-10 hours. He tallied the cost of eight hours into his expenses. I however, saw it as a potential for 10 hours worth of income. Same range, different interpretations.

Think about condo developments. Almost every one has a sign that says something like: “Starting from the low 200’s!” Despite being open ended, that’s a range. They may only have one unit (that already sold…) for that low, but they’ll continue to use it to draw traffic. Once prospects are there, the salesman tries to sell them something more expensive. Logic should tell the home shoppers that they are unlikely to get a place for the lowest price in the range - but people see what they want.

From a marketing perspective, it’s given me some new things to think about. I’m realizing that a range can make or break a deal. It can lead to an effective up-sell. It can influence the amount of satisfaction a customer has following a transaction.

If people interpret ranges in the way that most that benefits them, I could theoretically user larger ranges to win more customers. For example, if I quoted “6-10 hours” instead of “8-10 hours,” I may close more deals because prospects will focus on the lower end of the scale.

Of course, this brings up other considerations. If I need to use all 10 hours for the project, the client that was quoted “8 to 10″ will be more satisfied than the one that was quoted “6-10.” So it’s a fine line to walk, and ultimately leads to managing expectations…which is another post altogether. I’ll try to write about it within the next 1-3 weeks.