September 2009

During September's Ramble we dream about food.

• What’s In A Name?
• Managing Expectations
• More On Expectations and Names
• The Too Hard To Do File
• Food For Thought
• What Shall I Do When I Grow Up?
• Why? and So What?
• Dream On
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

What’s In A Name?

Several weeks ago it was reported that the sales of perry had increased by around 14 times over the last couple of years. The reason for this startling increase is simple. Several of the major producers had re-branded it as pear cider. Now the consumer understands what is on offer i.e. a sparkling alcoholic drink made from pears rather than apples.

This demonstrates an interesting marketing choice. Do you spend hundreds of thousands, even millions to educate the potential customer as to what you are selling? Or do you call the product by a name that they already understand? More generally, it confirms that product names are vitally important and that the customer won’t buy what they don’t understand.


Managing Expectations

Maybe this is why Ryanair are successful. If you make it very clear to customers that they will be treated slightly less well than cattle, they will not be too disappointed. On the other hand, if you tell them that they are special, they may just believe you and expect to be treated as such. I imagine that most of us have tried to get through to organisations on the phone and been subjected to, “Your call is important to us, we will answer it as soon as possible”. Liars! If I’m that important, answer the bloody phone!

The concept of ‘under-promise and over-deliver’ is very sound from a business perspective. Give someone just a little bit more than they were expecting and they will love you forever. Well, actually they won’t. Just one unsatisfactory encounter will undo all of your good work.

And whatever you do, don’t forget what you have promised or change your mind. Think through the implications and deliverability of your promises before you make them. You may not remember that you have promised something but it is certain that the customer will.

Note: I make no promises as to when Random Ramblings will be circulated. I aim for the first couple of weeks of each month but give no guarantees as I don’t want you to be disappointed.


More On Expectations and Names

According to a BBC article, many school teachers make assumptions about likely pupil behaviour based on their names. Interestingly, the naughtier children tend to be more popular than their better behaved peers. More popular with their fellow pupils rather than with teachers one assumes!

The item also reported that teachers find that the naughtiest pupils are often the brightest and the more sensitive. Perhaps CVs should list detentions and exclusions alongside academic qualifications!


The Too Hard To Do File

It is so easy to get bogged down. To start the downwards spiral. To lose motivation. To lose belief. In short, to stop caring. This can happen at an individual level, a departmental level or across a complete organisation.

The in-tray is full but it’s easier to pile new stuff on top than to do any filing (oh dear, I’ve just looked at mine!). The office is getting shabby but decorating takes money and effort. You’ve been doing the job day in, day out for years and it no longer stimulates you. The company is losing sales and profits are falling.

There’s only one answer. Spend the day emptying that in-tray. Paint the walls; preferably a bright colour. Put up some (new) pictures, turn your desk round (different view), swap jobs.

I knew a very good marketing man who came from manufacturing. He brought a fresh pair of eyes, an open mind and new enthusiasm. I have also known very good finance controller who came from engineering – ditto.

Many years ago I inherited a ‘Too hard to do file’ (her words) from an otherwise very competent manager. I suspect that most of us have a similar file, even if it is metaphorical. Often the hardest part is summoning up the enthusiasm to make a start.

Sometimes you just have to take the brave pill and change things. Change something! Change anything! Status quo is more than a rock group, it is a dangerous state of lethargy and inaction.


Food For Thought

Last week we visited the Ludlow Food Festival. The 2009 festival was the 15th year for what claims to be Britain’s best such event. Over 130 local producers exhibited in addition to the regular market stalls in the street outside. Ludlow has gained a reputation as a ‘foodie town’, not harmed at all by having two Michelin starred restaurants.

So why has a small town in the middle of nowhere gained such prominence? Probably for the same reason that Hay-on-Wye has gained a world reputation as a book town. Conventional wisdom is that you try to avoid competitors when setting up a business. But what has happened in Ludlow and Hay is that the whole is considerably greater than the sum of its parts. You may have three competitors and so only have 25% of the market, but if that market is five times larger than it would have been otherwise, you will still win.

So, go out looking for competitors and similar businesses and try linking up with them to create your own Ludlow or Hay. You don’t even need to be in the same town, you can do it virtually.


What Shall I Do When I Grow Up?

Life is so much easier if you are a plumber. You know what you have to do to become one. Potential customers understand what you do. Critically, they also know when they need your services.

Once you decide not to be a plumber or similar specialised tradesman, life gets tougher. The potential customer may not fully understand what you do or may not recognise that they need what you have to offer.

In his book 'Let’s Connect', networking expert Jan Vermeiran lists what must be hundreds of characteristics – he calls them values. He suggests going through and crossing out the least important, and then repeating the process until you are left with a maximum of six. These are your core values. Admittedly, his list tends to be personal more than business values, but the same principle applies.

Not a bad process to use if you are struggling to bring some focus to your business and to communicate your real expertise.


Why? and So What?

Useful questions. It is very easy to get carried away by what we are doing and fail to notice that other people, potential customers, may not understand or see the relevance to them.

Back to Ludlow. Lots going on, but the core of the ‘offer’ is identified in the centre of the festival’s website home page:
“… this year's Festival will feature more than 130 top quality small independent food and drink producers from the Marches, the England-Wales border country.”

Clear message. The opportunity to visit 130 small, specialist food ‘shops’ in one place is compelling. Listening to enthusiastic and knowledgeable owners and their teams is compelling. Is your message compelling?


Dream On

BBC2’s new reality programme, Design For Life, features a group of young designers hoping to win a place at Philippe Starck’s design school. Legendary designer Starck denied that he is in fact a designer. He describes himself as a professional dreamer. I like that: professional dreamer! To be truly creative, surely that is what you must be. If you are anchored in reality, in today, you are unlikely to come up with anything startlingly innovative.

But why restrict dreaming to designers? I imagine that many entrepreneurs are dreamers. And why not marketing folk? Could you create a team of dreamers to include sales, finance, engineering, manufacturing? But always test the dreams with Why? and So What?


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And Finally

If you’ve ever had to endure a really poor presentation delivered via PowerPoint (that’s probably most of them!), you will enjoy this comment from the BBC News Magazine: “The first speaker at a conference I attended told the audience that he would not be using a PowerPoint presentation because "they had neither Power nor Point". The poor folks waiting to follow him with PowerPoint presentations were doomed!”


My apologies if you are doing a PP presentation tomorrow!

David