"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does."
Stuart Henderson
Experience Matters
How to refresh the PEF.
by Mike Dandridge
A playground stands beside a sunbeam-yellow and Grape Ape-purple cinderblock structure. Step inside and enjoy fresh-baked cookies, gourmet coffee, a 50” HD television, and if you’re a Type A who can’t stop working long enough for an oil change, free WiFi. Oh. And a complimentary carwash on the way out. The owner of this one-of-a-kind oil change station has managed to infuse charm into a business not known for its charm.
But, that was a year ago.
Yesterday I pulled into one of the bays in the sun-faded yellow and purple oil exchange. Absent were the coffee canisters (at 9:30 in the A.M.). A few stale, broken cookies sat on a dirty counter top. The TV was silent and dark. A sign hung from the chain link fence surrounding the playground. Closed for Repairs.
It’s a natural fact. Paint fades along with enthusiasm.
It starts slowly. One day you come in and a couple of customers are waiting for you to open. No time to make the cookies now. The early birds are the first signs of a busy morning. The action doesn’t stop. You look up. It’s 10:30. Haven’t even made coffee. And you know this because a few customers grumbled about it on their way out – in a good-natured way, of course. The next morning, the phone is ringing when you walk in the door. One thing leads to another, but no thing leads to cookies and coffee. After a while, it becomes part of the routine – no coffee – no playground - no charm. Business is good. Why spend the money? No one seems to notice. I mean, after all, none of our competitors do it.
And gradually, suddenly, it’s not a one-of-a-kind business any more. It’s just an ordinary, average lube joint.
Or retailer. Or office. Or restaurant. Or hotel. Or "________________."
Customers gauge their emotional connection to anyone with whom they do business and the deeper the emotional connection, the deeper the loyalty to the business. That’s the whole idea behind the Personal Experience Factor, PEF. Most business owners intuitively know this and they start out doing their best to surpass their customers’ expectations, to raise the needle on the PEF meter. But, over time, they get busy and forget. And before long, they begin to take their customers for granted.
K-Mart and Sears used to dominate the retail landscape. Didn’t they see Walmart coming? Or, did they just stop doing the things that made them successful in the first place?
You must remember this: Work as hard to keep your customers as you did to gain your customers and you will always have your customers.
To keep a high PEF score in the eyes of your patrons, the experience has to stay polished and shiny. Things have to be renewed, repainted, replaced. Refreshed. Need some new ideas to refresh your business? Come to the Marketing Performance Seminar Feb. 19-20 in Denver...
Fresh ideas abound.
Is it Important, or is it Urgent?
by Clay Campbell
Many times a business owner doesn’t have time to do important things that really needs to be done with their business. Why?
They are busy taking care of the urgent.
If you let the mowing and weed eating go too long in the springtime it soon becomes urgent.
If you put off paying estimated taxes all of 2006, long about April 14th 2007, it becomes very urgent.
When your doctor says, “Your blood pressure is so high you are in danger of a heart attack. Change your lifestyle to include a healthy diet and regular daily exercise.” Taking care of your health has just become urgent.
Looking for ways to promote and market your small business should be a constant ongoing thing. It is important but not urgent.
We business owners have a tendency to work in the business and not on it. We are always doing things that are urgent and sometimes put off important things.
If you neglect or procrastinate marketing & promoting your business, by the time it becomes urgent it is such a problem the business owner becomes frustrated, desperate, and sometimes wants advertising to “create a quick fix.
You can make a fortune in a business if win the hearts and minds of your potential customers then be patient and wait until their time of need arises. Convince them to like you and trust you by talking to them about their needs wants and dreams. Persuade them gently that you are the person to come to when they need your service or product. Then they will come do business with you when they are ready. Advertise consistently. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Win their hearts first their money will follow.
If business is slow in January and February, don’t wait until January 1st to advertise. When you try to whip the public into a frenzy by urgent messages to “BUY NOW” they may ignore you.
I encourage you to develop the discipline to do the IMPORTANT THINGS before they become URGENT. This discipline will help you prevent future situations of a constant rush do things ASAP.
If you don’t have much money to advertise with, then you need to be extremely frugal with what you do have.
Perhaps now would be a good time to have a complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at www.americansmallbusiness.com 2009 would be a great year to attend a class at the Wizard Academy 21st Century Business School in Austin Texas. What is the Wizard Academy?
See you next week.
Clay Campbell
Wizard of Ads
PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business?
