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Pricing Prestidigitation: One Nissan, Two Prices.

6/5/2015

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Picture- Nissan image -
Tags:  Nissan Rogue, Rogue Select, Infiniti G37, Q40, Q50, Acura Integra
I thought what I was reading was possibly ... bogus.  If it had been April 3rd instead of June 3rd, I’d have been pretty certain somebody was attempting to snooker me.  The article was published on Jalopnik.com, a site for fans of high-performance automobiles with occasional pieces about mainstream auto marketing, fast fighter planes, dumb drivers and generally hoonish fun with cars.

Since the article’s author, Doug DeMuro, has been known to add a dash of silliness to his writing (he's a former manager with Porsche Cars North America), I thought it likely that his claim of Nissan selling two versions of its popular Rogue SUV at the same time might have been written with a sly wink.

DeMuro cited a press briefing in Nashville some two years ago during which a Nissan exec casually mentioned that “Oh by the way, we’re not cancelling the old Rogue. We’re just going to keep it around and sell it to people on a tighter budget.”

He’d never heard of anything like that.  Nor had I, which is why his Jalopnik article at first seemed like a put-on.

So I called an old friend at the local Nissan store, who confirmed that it was indeed true that Nissan had two different Rogues for sale.   I checked out the dealer’s web site to see this new car novelty for myself.  And there they were, the current Rouge and the previous model (now called Rogue Select) offered side by side.  And both were selling quite briskly, thank you!   In fact, Rogue was the 14th best-selling vehicle in the country during May (presumably both models together).

DeMuro further piqued my curiosity by mentioning a similar marketing strategy over at Nissan’s high-line Infiniti brand.  Sure enough, the strong selling, long running G37 four-door has been renamed the Q40 and is being offered for less money (with attractive lease terms) alongside its eventual replacement, the Q50, a kissin’-cousin of a car  outfitted with more advanced cabin style and electronics as well as a small increase in horsepower .

During our conversation, my friend and I swapped stories about times when arrival of the new models used to be a big deal.  My dad worked at a Dodge-Plymouth dealership, and we got to see the new cars before the public did, which was a great coup for us kids.  Nowadays, however, the new models arrive largely without fanfare – so much so, apparently, that Nissan has slipped two new cars into the marketplace while keeping the old model around for a while and giving it a nameplate switcheroo – with a similar strategy at Infiniti.

There have been other examples of car companies selling last year’s model after the new ones have been launched.  The 2013 Chevy Impala remains available to fleet buyers through this year, apparently to keep Chevrolet’s sales to rental car companies cranked without diminishing appeal (or resale value) of the much improved 2014-15 Impala.

I can see the sense in what Chevy is doing, but I truly must admire Nissan’s play!   Not only does the company save money, because much of the Rogue Select tooling has long been paid for, but car buyers get more choice.   People who don’t want to pay something like $3,000 more for the “regular” Rogue – and would prefer not to buy used – now have another option.  

Will this less-is-more strategy migrate to other car brands?   I hope so, because it makes good marketing sense from the perspective of both buyer and seller. 

Perhaps some day in the not too distant future we’ll be able to purchase not only last year’s car brand new but also models from two or three iterations back – improved in performance and safety but looking essentially the same.  DeMuro suggests bringing back an Acura favorite, the Integra coupe, discontinued in 2006.   My son certainly would agree after driving one quite enthusiastically until a new baby in the family dictated not only their move to a roomier (and considerably older and safer) four-door Mercedes. 

Should the marketing savvy Nissan is exhibiting today spread to other auto brands, perhaps not too far down the road we’ll find ourselves having taken a much-needed stop toward eliminating planned obsolescence altogether.

-O-

TakeAway: What's old can also be new in today's marketing world. 

(To see a “new” old Mustang, see my post, Experience Mustang -- All Over Again:  http://www.brianefaulkner.com/blog/experience-mustang-all-over-again

 Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


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Don't Mess With Your Brand Story.

4/29/2015

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Tags: Microsoft, NPR, George Zimmer, Men’s Wearhouse, Joseph Abboud, Jos. A. Bank, Ford Motor Company, GM, Cadillac, Buick, Ford, Lincoln, Apple, Coca-Cola, New Coke
Every brand, company, product or service has a story – just like people.  People’s stories are a combination of image and reputation, which can be anything from well focused to wildly irresponsible.   Some businesses may be well-positioned (in a controlled, strategic sense) while others cast their reputation to the wind, allowing the marketplace to define who they are and what they represent.   Call it default positioning.   The example that most often comes to my mind is Microsoft, which hasn’t done a great positioning job.  There are many “Microsofts” out there, depending on who's doing the talking.  

Heard an interview with George Zimmer on NPR this morning.  His topic was paying people more, even at the expense of company profits.  But what grabbed my attention was his distinctive gravelly voice, the one he used on television when he was boss of The Men’s Wearhouse – you know the one:  

“You’re going to like the way you look. “I guarantee it!”  

Every spot had a story, and as leader-spokesperson, Zimmer was deeply imbedded in the Men’s Wearhouse image -- along with that famous tagline.  I can’t help but notice that the Men’s Wearhouse strategic positioning has become less distinctive since Zimmer was forced out, supposedly because of management disagreements.  Something’s missing from their advertising, and it’s not just Zimmer.   Despite the few recent Men’s Wearhouse spots featuring signature suit designer Joseph Abboud, their marketing seems focused more on price, like their long-time competitor, Jos. A. Bank, which Men’s Wearhouse purchased early in 2014 after a turbulent takeover battle.   

The takeaway here is that a strong brand story should not be discarded so readily, although I’m sure the Men’s Warehouse board thought long and hard about the strategic consequences of dumping Zimmer.   I find it discouraging, however, that they’ve fallen back on price advertising after such success with set-apart positioning, although it must be working or they wouldn’t do it.  But I’ll bet their margins aren’t as good as when Zimmer was hawking the wares, because price was hardly mentioned in his spots and, as I recall, Wall Street liked the stock.

I have several friends and acquaintances, each with a business in the same retail category.  Two of them ride a high-price wave supported by a brand story that's more than 150 years old.  They don’t have to sell on price and, as a result, get high margins.  Another friend sells the same type of high-end merchandise at market prices, although different brands.  His business story has been established for well over 50 years; customers seek him out because of his quality reputation.  Still others I know in that same business always seem to be wrestling with price.  They don’t command the margins they could because their business stories are indistinct.  They don’t have a Marketable Truth© to stand on. 

Both Ford Motor Company and GM currently are wrestling with their image stories.  GM is in the latter stages of rebooting its Cadillac brand to compete with the best German luxury performance sedans; they've had enough success that Cadillac is no longer seen as exclusively for oldsters seeking a luxury nameplate and plush ride.   Buick, another GM brand that used to have a fuddy-duddy image, is experiencing a surprising sales renaissance driven by rising demand in China, where the brand has become a status symbol.  Different time, different story.

Ford also is into a bit of image retooling of late.  Lincoln (finally!) is thinking about abandoning its confusing alphabet soup model designations in favor of real names like Continental and possibly even Zephyr.   All while Ford grapples with a negative quality blip brought about in recent years by a dashboard communication and entertainment system that has proven troublesome and hard to use – so much so that auto enthusiast Web sites are recommending that people wait ‘til a redesigned system comes out on the 2016 models later this year to purchase their new Fords and Lincolns.   

When I think of brand image, however, I think most often about Apple.  They were an upstart at first, but gradually built a business, operating system and reputation that out-shined the king of personal computers at that time, the venerable IBM.  Will gutsy moves into new product categories like luxury watches and even automobiles sour Apple’s reputation?  Not likely, because they’ve told and retold their brand story so well – and so long – that they’re as close to invincible as any business or brand out there.

Even so, in this day of social-driven media, there are new voices everywhere, and some percentage is quick to broadcast bad news.  One exemplary misstep marketers are quick to recall is the New Coke debacle of 1985, when Coca-Cola almost lost its way -- and that was before the Internet became so widely available.  This very day, April 29, 2015, online rumblings are afoot about a second brand of listeria-laden ice cream and a major beer maker’s label that seems to make light of rape.

Reputation or image -- call it what you will -- can bite you in the backside any minute … but also can help lead you to greatness.  All the more reason to consider whether your brand, business, product or service is solidly positioned in today’s uber-competitive, uber-critical world.

 TakeAway:  Shape your strategic position carefully.  And guard your brand story for dear life.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner        
Marketable Truth © by Brian E. Faulkner




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Car BUYING Decisions, Car Dealer Surprises.

3/6/2015

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
I've been thinking lately about buying a new car – a newer car.  My 1998 Crown Vic with “only" 326,165 miles has been showing signs of terminal illness.  

“It’s the transmission,” my trusty mechanic reported after a test drive.  “You can feel it jerking like a fish on a line.”  Sure enough, I could feel it – and could feel my wallet becoming much lighter if transmission repairs were to cost more than $2,000, which he said was possible. 

“You could always donate it to the fire department for training,”  he added, without a wink or smile, which would have meant he was kidding. As the local fire chief, he was always on the lookout for such things.  But sacrifice my trusty old Crown Vic to the Jaws of Life, a car so clean I've been known to dry if off after a rainstorm? I’d sooner make a planter out of it. That way, I could still wipe the paint clean after it showers.

All of this got me thinking about buying another car:

  On the PLUS side:  I enjoy looking around at new cars.
  On the MINUS side:  I don’t like spending money I don’t have on cars I don’t think I really need.
Turns out there are plenty of Crown Vics for sale online, many of them retired police cars.  Some look like they were driven by the Blues Brothers while others are shiny and new.  There was one attractive non-police LX Sport model for sale recently that appealed to me right away.  Unfortunately, the seller’s ex-wife had taken a baseball bat and high heel shoes to the sheet metal.  He was offering the car cheap, since he’d already bought himself a Jag (wait ‘til she gets a load of that!).

Truth is, the Crown Vic is getting long in the tooth.  The newest of them are 2011s and look pretty much like my ‘98, although mechanical improvements have been made over the years.  Should I look at cars with a turning radius less than a small delivery truck?  Should I consider something more stylish?

As a friend once told me, “Lookin’ don’t cost nothin’.” 

So I headed out in the Crown Vic to see what I could find, with the transmission still jerking like it had a fish on the line.  First stop?  The local Ford store, where I’d heard they had a slightly newer Crown Vic for sale.  Long gone.

“Those Crown Vics sell fast,” said Ed the salesman, who looked every bit the man who’d spent years in sun-soaked car lots talking to people like me.  “So why not keep your Crown Vic?” he asked.  

“The transmission may be on the way out,” I said, looking  as hangdog as possible so Ed would feel sorry for me and cut me a deal on something else. “And my wife says we need a newer, more dependable car to ride our grandchildren around in, since even the closest ones live three hours down the road.  And besides, she says, you need to make a more up-to-date appearance. 

Right on both counts.

“You don’t need to get rid of that car,” said Ed.  Right again -- me and the Crown Vic could keep right on goin’ if it weren't for that pesky transmission problem!

“Maybe it’s something else,” proffered Ed, who had taken an odd tack away from selling me something new in favor of fixing what I was already in.

“Why don’t you go up there to the shop and let them check it out before you make a decision.”

It’s worth a try ...  thanks, Ed!

Jarrod the tech no doubt had seen his share of Crown Vics come through the shop, most probably driven by older folks like me who’d grown content with their cars and weren't so easily smitten by curvaceous new sheet metal, and thus appeared to understand where I was coming from. 

“Feels more like an ignition issue to me,” he proclaimed during our short test ride.  “Transmission’s shifting smoothly.  Car runs good.  Let’s put it on the analyzer.”

“I’ll have to come back,” I said, rather lamely, sliding back into the driver's seat and heading out the door.  Gotta think about this:
* Option 1:  Fix it.  Maybe get to 400,000 miles before it breaks again.
* Option 2:  Sell or trade the car before it breaks (or somebody's ex takes a ball bat to it).
* Option 3:  Buy a newer car and KEEP THE CROWN VIC!   We could use a spare car, right?
I can easily see myself in a sky blue Mustang convertible like this.  Or maybe one of those svelte new Lincoln sedans, although stark reality suggests something more like a used Taurus.  But then what would happen to the Crown Vic if the new car gets the garage?  Leave it out in the SUN?  Or the RAIN?!  

One plus about buying a car is that I get to do business with Ed, a man who defies the car salesman stereotype.  His first impulse was to help me make the right decision, not to feather his own nest by pushing me toward an immediate sale, which he said is not unique to him but an extension of his dealership's customer-first philosophy. So let me know if you’re in the market for a new (or newer) car.  I’ll be glad to pass Ed's name along to you.  Meanwhile, I've got an ignition module to replace on my Crown Vic.

TakeAway:  Surprise your prospects with authentic, customer-first sales and service.  They’ll come back for more -- and tell their friends about it.


Content © by Brian E. Faulkner



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Price! Price! Price!

2/16/2015

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Picture
Tags:  Greentoe.com, Priceline, Consumer Reports, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, J. C. Penney, B&H, B&H Photo, online discount cameras, smartshop.org

Have you ever thought about the difference between price selling and selling price?


Price selling is discounting.  It’s lazy marketing.  And having sale after sale after sale not only takes a bite out of profit but could be a long-term trap (just ask J.C. Penney).

Selling price is price-as-product. 

An intriguing example of price-as-product popped up on my screen this morning: Greentoe.com.   Their ad snagged me because I’ve been fishing around online for cameras and lenses.  So I clicked through to their site, where they immediately offered “the lowest prices available” on brands like Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc.

“People like you are saving big on photo gear,” claimed the big green headline (the shade of money).  “Set your price and save up to 20%.  Brand new products.  No grey market.  Authorized retailers.  USA warranty included.” 

Does the advent of Greentoe.com mean I’ll no longer have to contend with my local Best Buy’s lackluster camera department?  (http://tinyurl.com/nywuxcx)  Does it mean I won’t have to risk ordering my next camera from one of those slippery big city camera discounters?

Maybe …

“Greentoe.com is the first and only website that allows you to name your own price for products in five categories: photography, appliances, musical instruments, baby items, and home theater,” reports shopsmart.org, an online Consumer Reports “best deals” resource.   They’re doing for consumer products what priceline.com has done for air travel and booking hotel rooms.  And it has the same sort of intrigue.  Will they accept my bid?   Will it be soooo much lower than the price somebody else paid?

Greentoe’s process is simple: 

(1) Submit an offer, on “thousands of products” (and give them your payment info).

(2) “Hundreds of retailers” then are notified of your offer (a green, orange or yellow gauge helps you determine how likely they are to accept – similar to Priceline).

(3) The first retailer to accept gets the sale; the transaction is between buyer and seller. 

If you know precisely what item you want, Greentoe.com may be your cup of tea – that is, if their retail partners have what you’re looking for.  The site’s selection of musical instruments and pro audio equipment is far from comprehensive, but it’s not meant to be.  They know that brick-and-mortar stores always have aged merchandise or overstocks they need to sell, so greentoe.com matches them up with customers who live hundreds or thousands of miles away.   Same for TVs, appliances and other products.

Their customers don’t have to be lucky or do the legwork, the company states in its well written and informative blog
, they “just have to have a little luck to find that deal.”   Greentoe provides the luck.

There is something else.   Once you’ve punched in your payment card numbers, there’s no turning back, so if you’re at all queasy about things like that – or don’t make purchase decisions easily (like me), it might be best to buy elsewhere. 

Heretofore, the place I most likely would have picked to buy a camera is New York’s B&H Photo-Video, especially if I needed help choosing the right one.  B&H has it all:  vast selection, attentive service, technical expertise, free advice and competitive prices.  And, if you live anywhere nearby or are visiting Manhattan, you get to handle the goods before making a purchase decision.  Walking into their 70,000 square foot their store is like entering a dream world of professional photo, video and audio goodies.

You can buy cheaper than B&H, but probably not as well. 

To be sure, there are other excellent purveyors of professional photo, video and audio products – online and off, and some may have as compelling a presentation as B&H, but the positioning of that big store at 34th & 9th has always fascinated me.   They’re not only the largest independent (non-chain) photo-video retailer in America, they also communicate their competitive advantages clearly and set price accordingly -- unlike all too many businesses that only play the price card.   B&H.com appears to command a slight price premium over some other online camera sources, and if so, they more than earn their margins with their compelling added-value.

Greentoe.com’s selling proposition also is compelling, however, so I will keep them in mind when it comes time to buy whatever camera I decide on.  Who knows?  My bid price just might outweigh the loyalty I feel to B&H for sending me all those informative catalogs over the years.  But then again, during the time in my life when I sold audio equipment, it always rankled me when I helped educate a prospect only to see him buy from some discounter instead of me. 

It’s so easy to discount, which is the unfortunate first impulse of many businesses.  In most situations, price selling is mind-numbing, profit crushing and unnecessary – unless, like Greentoe.com, price is your product.

TakeAway:  Does your business or brand have competitive advantages that will attract more qualified customers and allow you to command better margins?  Or are you content to sell principally on price?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

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If You Want a Great Job, Interview companies With Good VIBES.

11/17/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Have you ever noticed how some businesses just wrap themselves around you and make you feel welcome, whether you’re a customer or a new graduate looking for a job?

I have found after many years consulting to businesses of all sizes (about communicating their culture and competitive advantage) that you can walk onto a sale floor, into a company headquarters or manufacturing plant and know immediately which organizations “click” and which do not.  The businesses that connect have good vibes.  There’s positive energy.  Their leadership is genuine, sometimes even inspired.  The people are real.  They’re not just plodding along toward quitting time.  They’re into what they’re doing -- and believe in it.  The organization shares a clear purpose and vision that are not just words on some poster hung in the break room.

My son-in-law works for REI, a national retailer of recreational equipment, clothing, footwear and other attractive, well-chosen merchandise targeted to the outdoorsy crowd.  He is enthusiastic about the company, which is organized as a consumer cooperative in which members get a dividend check every year for around 10% of a generous array of eligible merchandise purchased during that year, after paying a one-time $20 membership fee (you don’t have to join to shop there).  The more members buy at REI, the better the deal – it’s built-in.  REI also offers its members occasional deals that seem unusually attractive, in addition to store-wide sales that really are sales and not just come-ons.  

The point here is that REI has both a purpose (to make the outdoor life available to more people at a good price) and values (which seem to be that people matter and the environment matters).  The company uses words like approachable, collaborative, casual and playful to describe the work experience.  Everybody with more than 20 hours a week gets health care.  My son-in-law (who’s in retail management in an Atlanta-area REI store) says that the people who ultimately “stick” with the company buy into the REI experience (not to mention their generous performance incentives and retirement plan).  They may have come in just looking for a job but end up finding a passion for work that knits comfortably into the fabric of their lives and helps assure a secure future for them and their families.

The point here is not to suggest going to work at REI, although this perennial placeholder toward the top of Fortune magazine’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For would be a great choice.  You may find something just as rewarding in some other retail setting, in a small manufacturing plant or even a big company.  I have seen what, just for this article, might be called the “REI Effect” in all kinds of workplaces where business leadership and employees are in-synch and often unusually productive.  They know what their purpose is, how their customers benefit, where they are going, and “what’s-in-it-for-me”, which could be just as true for a non-profit -- such as a school – as for a commercial enterprise. 

So, if your goal is to find a work experience like the one exemplified by REI, try “getting a job” using a more differentiated strategy.  Check the place out if it’s a retail store.  Watch how the “team” works.  Ask challenging questions about the merchandise and see if they rise to the occasion – even if it’s almost closing time.   Ask people how they like working there.   If you want to work for ABC Corporation or XYZ Manufacturing but can’t get immediate access, vigorously research them online.  Talk to people who already work there; figure out where they go for lunch or to chat after work.  Then request an interview with a company manager you’ve targeted (by name) before you even apply for the job.  If HR gives you the stiff-arm, try calling the person directly and leave a message that inspires them to call you back.  Let them know that you're interviewing them (and others).  Talk to that manager about opportunities at the company, get other inside introductions and take a tour. If you want a sales position, ferret out some of the company’s customers and talk to them.  This approach should pay off, whether you’re just out of school looking for your first position or a work veteran who has been “right-sized” out of a job (maybe especially so if you’re that person because you can more readily perceive what you want to see and don’t want to see).

It’s also instructive to remember that the world does not owe you a job.   But you do owe yourself a good job.   You are no mere commodity, and you’re not seeking commodity-like work.  You have value, knowledge, experience and intelligence to add to the employer’s collective purpose -- and to their customers’ satisfaction.  And you have every right to enjoy your work.

Look for that “REI Effect”, perhaps in one of the other 99 companies on Fortune’s Top 100 list.   And don’t be satisfied with less.  Because you’re worth it.

TakeAway:  A job infused with passion and purpose pays big dividends.  Use a differentiated job search strategy to find one.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


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Old Business Discovers New Dollars In Content Marketing.

4/30/2014

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Picture
Last month, an article posted on this blog about a 66-year-old Oregon packaging company and its revenue-generating products for the produce industry was sent by one of their sales reps to his prospects and customers.  

It worked! 

Before long, the company reported an increase in sales directly linked to the blog post.  (http://tinyurl.com/l3cw6cc) 

Then a produce industry trade magazine discovered the post, lifted quotes from it and published an article about the astonishing financial performance of the company’s Home-Toters® produce merchandising bags.  It’s too soon to measure the effectiveness of that happy outcome (if it can directly be measured at all), but as with any productive Internet content, the post (and its derivatives) no doubt will have other lives.

Content marketing is a relatively new term based on a time-proven concept:  if you come across an idea (content) you can put to work in your business, you’re likely to send it along to a colleague or friend who can use it in theirs.   They, in turn, will spread it further—perhaps to places you’d never imagined, like that produce trade magazine.   

“Salespeople love great content, because it’s an opportunity to reach out to customers and offer them something of value without asking for something in return,” says Frank Strong, a PR professional quoted today in The Content Strategist , an online publication about content marketing.  Strong calls people like the packaging company rep “potential content champions.” 

The key word in that phrase may be “potential,” because content marketing is only now beginning to take hold in business people’s minds (especially C-suite execs), and its strategic potential is practically unfathomable.  Even an old hand like Bill Marriott, executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott International, Inc., reportedly has taken to blogging after having been “evangelized” by an employee – he records his thoughts and depends on others to weave them into online content.  If you read Marriott’s blog, you’ll see it’s nothing more than good old fashioned storytelling. A good is example is his life-affirming post about “deciding to decide”.  (http://tinyurl.com/pxvnwf4  )

LinkedIn Hops on the Content Bandwagon.

Anyone who’s read one of LinkedIn’s Influencer posts will have witnessed the appeal of content marketing.   “For the past couple of years, LinkedIn has been slowly and effectively doubling down on content,” writes Joe Lazauskas in The Content Strategist.  LinkedIn’s Head of Content Products, Ryan Roslansky, notes in the same article that LinkedIn Influencer posts "average nearly 31,000 pageviews and over 80 comments.”  People are no longer just trolling for job opportunities on LinkedIn, they’re increasingly looking to the business networking site for content that will help their businesses become more successful.

So why not you?

TakeAway:  Got a valuable business story to share?  Extend your reach through content marketing.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner.

ABOUT BRIAN FAULKNER:

Brian Faulkner is a content and strategic communication writer.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

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Best Buy Fails To Satisfy: Poor Customer Experience Suggests Need For Strategic Change.

4/8/2014

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PictureBest Buy image.
Went shopping for a new laptop last weekend at Best Buy.  Over the years, I have avoided Best Buy because it’s too big and sometimes too loud and because the help doesn’t always know what they’re talking about.  Truth is I don’t like big box stores in general.  I miss the small, more specialized, more personable shops (and shopkeepers) that used to populate our towns and cities. 

But if I want a wide variety of laptops to select from – at least in Piedmont North Carolina, there is no choice other than to frequent Best Buy, or one of the office boxes. 

So there we were, two somewhat older, would-be Best Buy customers wandering around trying to figure which laptop from a mind-numbing array of choices would best suit my wife.  Within minutes, a young guy in a blue Best Buy shirt appeared, briefly inquired about our needs and said he’d find someone to help us out – a positive start!  Then he (and apparently his helper) … disappeared.   Later, after having selected an HP laptop totally on our own, he approached us again as we sauntered over to the camera department and went through the same routine again, not realizing that he had spoken to us fifteen minutes earlier.

In the camera department, I asked another blue-shirt about a specific Canon product that they were likely to have in stock considering the price range of cameras already on display.  “No,” the clerk said.  “We don’t have that one.”  He wandered off.

Hmmm …

Then I turned around, and there – at eye level on an end cap display – was the camera I’d inquired about in all its promotional glory!

The clerk came back.  I pointed out the display.  He seemed genuinely shocked.  Then said that the camera department “expert” would be back from lunch in a few minutes and that we should hang around and talk to him.   We did.   He didn’t.   After a while, the clerk returned with news that the expert wasn’t actually working that day and that we should come back during the week.

Hmmm …

So on to checkout.  Only one register open, and there was a line.   After a while, it was our turn.   The young woman behind the register acted bored beyond hope and asked far too many pre-programmed questions, which was one reason the line moved so slowly.   After completing our single-item transaction, her final note of disdain was to mutter “Thank you, have a great day” in a tone that made me want to dope-slap her (or her manager, or his/her manager, or the president of the company).

One miscue I can handle, but five?

1.  The disappearing greeter, Part I.

2.  The disappearing greeter, Part II.

3.  The uninformed camera clerk.

4.  The missing expert.

5.  The disappointing checkout.

HEY BEST BUY People, IT SHOULDN'T Be That Difficult!

Best Buy had five chances to shine but muffed them all.   Sure, the company is having trouble finding its way in a world that’s getting more expansive on one hand (think Amazon.com) and more specialized on the other (think Apple stores).   If they don’t reinvent themselves – and soon, upstart competitors, including those yet to emerge, will eat their lunch and their dinner.

Best Buy Takes Off.

The Best Buy merchandising concept emerged in the late ‘70s after the owner of a small chain of Minnesota stereo shops discovered the power of discounting following a store fire.  Five years later, the enterprise was renamed Best Buy and took off like it was being chased by the future, with innovative store formats and ever more product categories, including appliances.   By 1992 they were a billion dollar company and expanding nationally as more and more personal technology came on line to sell.  With more than 600 stores in the U.S., Best Buy glided into the Millennium as if nothing could slow their inevitability.  By 2007, they were in China – with eyes on other international locations. 

But pervasive market change had begun chewing away at their success, including online gaming, music streaming, online merchandising and (of late) software migration to the cloud.   Strategic disruptor Amazon.com sold their first book online in 1995.  And reached a billion dollars by 2001.  Today, they’re busily selling the everything from A-Z that Jeff Bezos envisioned from the start.  

The Wachovia Personal Banker.

Years ago -- centuries in terms of business change, Wachovia Bank rolled out their Personal Banker concept.  It paired customers with a branch banker who stuck around instead of rotating into the next training slot, as seemed the usual banking custom.  “You Have a Personal Banker at Wachovia,” proclaimed their tagline.  It was true.  And it worked!   For a long time.

There were two keys to the success of Personal Banker:

(1)  It maximized (and managed) the customer experience: created value by creating valuable relationships. 

(2)  It was authentic.  Wachovia delivered on their promise, day in and day out.

But what about Best Buy?  They clearly need a fresh approach, perhaps one as bold and innovative as the concept that first set them apart.  However, instead of looking to selection, scope and scale (even price) for differentiation, there may be strategic ground to be gained in activating their sales culture.

Power To The People.

Like Wachovia Bank did so effectively with Personal Bankers, people power can be let loose relatively quickly and provide an enduring source of competitive advantage.   Under this scenario, Best Buy would hire (and retain) a top tier of professional sales consultants whose primary mission is to create valuable customer relationships, product knowledge experts who have been granted the autonomy to give their loyal customers set-apart service (essentially an expansion of Best Buy’s Geek Squad concept).   The consultants would be amply rewarded, based on metrics like better conversion, more frequent purchases by “their” customers, increased average transactions, time in grade, etc., and newer employees would aspire to join their ranks.  Customer satisfaction and repeat business would skyrocket.  Service complaints would begin fading away. 

Transforming Best Buy’s sales culture into a high performance human asset may sound like a stretch.  But even if the idea were only moderately successful, it beats the heck out of the errors, ignorance and indifference that pervaded our recent Best Buy laptop shopping experience.  And it certainly would give the company a long-term competitive advantage worth shouting about.

To be fair, Renew Blue, a Best Buy performance improvement initiative designed (in part) to “reinvigorate and rejuvenate the customer experience” has been underway for just over a year.  But for the moment, these two Best Buy shoppers are in no hurry to come back -- although when the new laptop breaks, we’ll be first in line to check out the Geek Squad.

TakeAway:   Differentiate your business, brand or product in a meaningful and enduring way.  Create value by creating valuable relationships.  Reward the people who make it happen.   Then tell the marketplace about your success – instead of letting it shape you.   People will want to be your customers.   And will return again and again.

© Brian E. Faulkner.

Related posts: 
www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/01/minimum-wage-should-be-stricken-from-our-business-vocabulary.html

www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/02/mr-grumpy-gets-his-due.html

ABOUT Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003. 


1 Comment

this simple idea can help sharpen your product presentation and increase sales for your small business.

1/7/2014

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Picture
image copyright by Brian E. Faulkner
Pictureimage copyright by Brian E. Faulkner
Developing -- and using -- a strong Key Message can help sharpen your brand or product presentation and increase your sales effectiveness.   

A Key Message is a compact, well crafted expression of competitive advantage in support of well differentiated and well marketed brands and products that helps assure consistency in every business communication you make:
     
  • on your Web site’s Home or About page
  • in traditional media marketing
  • in blog and social media posts
  • on business cards, in brochures & other sales materials
  • in video capabilities presentations
  • on the sales floor and making sales calls in the field
  • in sales and marketing meetings
  • in board presentations and investor relations
  • in recruiting good people and training them
  • in composing your boilerplate
  • when making that all important “elevator pitch”.   

Your Key Message begins life as an internal strategic brief, sometimes called a positioning statement.  In a single accessible paragraph, it describes who you are, who your customers are and why they should want to do business with you -- based on a thorough understanding of customer needs, competitors and market trends.  Your Key Message then may be adapted into key sales points that prompt conversations with the clients and customers you want most (in the field and on the sales floor).  It also may be condensed into a tagline that sets your business, brand or service apart in the marketplace.

Here’s a Key Message example for Greeting Seattle, a made-up greeting card and gift store.  Note how their tagline (presented below) evolves from the Key Message – and how exclusive it is to this business.


“Greeting Seattle offers a competitively broad selection of greeting cards and small thoughtful books and gifts, as well as a few seasonal or special occasion flower arrangements, presented in an upscale retail setting that wraps ‘customers who care’ into the selection experience.   Greeting Seattle is priced just above
ordinary card/gift shops and is staffed by people who have as much fun working here as customers do shopping here.  Our customers enjoy their Greeting Seattle experience so much that, on average, more than half of them shop with us nearly once a month.  New customers are attracted primarily by words of praise from our existing customers and via our time-proven Personal Greeter consultant and Gift Reward referral systems.  We acknowledge that our continuing success – and prosperity – depends on the considered contributions of each member of the Greeting Seattle team, and it is on that assurance that we plan our future.”  

    Tagline: The Northwest’s Most Enjoyable Gift and
    Greeting Card Experience.


The long-term value of a well-thought-out (and well applied) Key Message cannot be overstated.  

  • In sales and marketing, a consistent Key Message can mean the difference between creating immediate belief in your brand or product attributes  ... or not ... between attracting and selling new business or having your presentation fall flat because your story didn't sing. 
  • Woven into company culture, your Key Message provides a lifting purpose for your manufacturing and support teams, enlarges people's vision and focuses their work on what most needs to be done, leading to increased productivity and greater employee loyalty. 

It may look easy, but coming up with an effective Key Message can be challenging.   However, the payoff begins immediately, because the discipline and focus necessary to develop your Key Message alone should prove well worth the time you invest.  Over the long term, applying your Key Message to every business conversation you have, from Web site positioning to product testimonials to making key sales calls, should translate into more business opportunity, less dependence on price as a sales driver and increased revenue.   It may even help make strategic planning a less time-consuming process by having your ongoing strategic story already in place. 

TakeAway:  Time invested in developing an authentic and compelling Key Message will pay off in improved strategic discipline, more precise brand and product positioning, more effective sales presentations and a more profitable future.  


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    sample blog:

    This is a sample blog  for writer Brian E. Faulkner.  It presents stories about brands that do (or don't) communicate competitive advantage effectively. Stories have been gleaned from the business press, personal experience and occasional interviews. New articles are added from time to time, and every so often there will be a post of general interest -- about things like success, passion, social trends, etc. 

    Author

    Brian Faulkner is a writer and strategic communication consultant who helps business clients explain their competitive advantage in compelling and enduring ways.
     
    He also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer & narrator for a highly-rated and well-loved magazine series.

    Picture
    Image © by Brian E. Faulkner

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