My biggest screw-ups
(part 1 in an occasional series)

February 23 2010

Four years ago we were asked to design sales material for a new software service.

We produced a “before and after” diagram aimed at strategic decision makers. It beautifully illustrated the behavioural changes required, and the various efficiency gains that these would make possible. The client liked it, as did a small test audience of CEOs and CFOs.

When the material was used in practice, however, it emerged that operational staff were also key decision makers, along with the strategic managers they reported to. The strategic managers were conceptual thinkers. But the operational staff were concrete thinkers, and they found our diagram shallow and unconvincing.

One of the most important principles of business-to-business design is to identify all of the different decision makers, and tailor material to them. Four years ago, we failed to live up to that principle.

Don’t forget to test on
(real) people

February 8 2010

When designing something with a clear call to action (brochure, ad, website landing page) it’s easy to be captured by textbook or expert opinion. But there’s no replacement for user testing.

The toughest part is not finding the people. The toughest part is getting them to be real. When marketing advice is just a blog away, most people you “test” your design with will put on a marketing hat and try to say what an expert would say. That’s of little use to you.

You need them to act like your customers would act. Don’t ask, “What do you think of this?” Set the scene properly. “You’re a really busy engineer. What would you do if one of your staff put this on your desk?” Or “What would you click on next?”

Jakob Nielsen says that testing with five people will reveal 85% of the usability problems in your design. He means five real people.

The, ahem, 3 secrets to successful business-to-business communication :-)

January 21 2010

Self knowledge; customer insight; design thinking.

1. Self knowledge. This is about truth. What does your business truly do better than anyone else? (BTW: that means now, not what you will be the best at, or hope to be the best at.) Narrow the scope until you find it. Ideally it will be something you are also passionate about.
2. Customer insight. Who are the people and organisations most in need of the thing you’re best at? What do they currently believe about their needs? What do they currently believe about your ability to meet their needs? (Hint: it won’t be the same as what you believe).
3. Design thinking. On a blank piece of paper, paint the world’s most compelling and truthful picture outlining why those customers (with those beliefs) need what you have to offer.

If you’re 100% committed to these three steps, I will always be happy to talk to you with the meter off. Not before 10am though.

How can you change the game?

January 12 2010

Here's a simple recipe for doing something really transformative for your business or career in 2010.

Make a list of the things you’ve been wishing you had the time or money to do. Pick something off the list.

Now (this is the important bit) tell all of your LinkedIn, email, Twitter or flesh and blood friends that you’re going to do it in the next 6 months. Now you’ve got peer pressure to make it happen. As a bonus, people will want to know whether you’ve achieved your goal, and you’ll generate a truckload of free and useful word of mouth marketing.

My game changer is this: I’m going to hire someone smarter than me to drive my business forward.

What's yours?

Sometimes you need to be narrow minded

December 10 2009

Should we be saying “no” to lucrative opportunities just because they fall outside the target market specified in our business plan?

Some of the time it makes sense to grab these opportunities when they fall into our lap. But it almost never makes sense to actively chase them.

There is always a temptation to spread the marketing net too wide. You know that your service can add value across industries, and is useful for both large and small businesses. So that’s the message that you take to market. But if your sales and marketing tries to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody. Helen Clark may have rubbed many people up the wrong way, but compare her popularity to Phil “all things to all people” Goff.

And the benefits of a clear focus go beyond perception. A clear customer focus

• Helps you pick your marketing channels
• Influences which networking events you’ll attend
• Determines your PR and case study priorities
• Pushes you to make your products special by being sensitive to how customers are different – not how they are the same.

So narrowing your focus, and sticking to that focus in your marketing and planning, helps you to end up with better products that are easier to sell. It’s a no brainer. But so is grabbing the odd amazing opportunity, even if it’s outside your focus. It’s New Zealand, not New York.

Just remember: they’re not gift horses if you’re chasing them.

Make it stick

November 25 2009

Last night, Bart Simpson came to me in a dream. He said I needed to jump across a small chasm.

(“Small chasm” might be an oxymoron, but it was a dream, OK?) It was only 2 metres wide, but it was really, really deep. Parts of me shrunk with fear as I looked down. I could make it across. But the fear of slipping and falling kept me from attempting the jump.

I think that’s how we are with a lot of things in business. Once we’ve made the leap (invested in a new hire, switched to new systems, ditching a shrinking market) we kick ourselves for not doing it sooner.

What I actually want to talk about, though, is Chip and Dan Heath’s book, “Made to Stick”. It’s fabulous. They’ve got a great framework, under the acronym SUCCESs, for making messages memorable and impactful. We know most of it, but once again it’s about the discipline of applying what we know.

• The first S stands for Simple (a core idea: making the obvious leap can still be scary).
• The U is for Unexpected (Bart Simpson is an unusual way to start a blog post).
• The first C is for Concrete (2 metres wide, parts of me shrank).
• The E is for Emotional (fear).
• The last S is for Stories (Last night...).

The second C is for Credible. Maybe I’ll replace Bart Simpson with Yoda...

I’ve got you pegged

November 9 2009

I know that if you talk fast, dress in a business-like manner, and quickly get to the point that you hate people who sit on the fence and will judge me by my track record.

Here’s the full table, simplified and adapted from conversations with the experts at RogenSi.

If you weren’t aware of models like this, now you are. There are many more. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

If you’ve known about these tools for some time, ask yourself: “How often do I apply them in my interactions with clients and prospects?”

Most sales people revert to their own style. Analytical thinkers will provide lots of detail and focus on process – even if they are boring their Expressive client to death.

Just as common are so-called “experts” who will tell you to lose the detail and cut down the word count in all situations. If your audience in an Analytical one (like a majority of lawyers, systems analysts and financial controllers) you’ve just sunk your battleship.

Another interesting trick is to talk to all the styles at once on the same piece of paper. I’ll leave that for another post.

‘When’ is the new ‘What’ [part II]

October 29 2009

We can all talk for a long time about how special our products and services are. But when should we be selling what benefits?

One of the most common mistakes I come across is trying to sell benefits that will only become clear once someone has been a customer for some time. The productivity gains in 6 months may indeed be the most valuable thing about your product. But that’s intangible. More important at the outset are the benefits that people can easily believe and see demonstrated.

If you’re clever, your pricing strategy will allow you to capture more upside once the longer term benefits become available and believable.

The best sales people make a distinction between what gets them in the door, and what keeps them there.

‘When’ is the new ‘What’ [part I]

October 20 2009

What you tell a prospective client is important. But timing is everything. If they are not in a receptive frame of mind, you’ve wasted your breath (or dollars).

Most people are loyal to their mediocre accountants. And switching accountants feels like a pain. The only times that they are going to be especially susceptible to marketing from a new accountant are:

• After a major screw up
• When starting a new business
• At the start of a new financial year

A good accountant should point out the screw ups that mediocre accountants are prey to. She should appeal to entrepreneurs, and she should be ramping up her marketing at key times in the financial calendar.

When are your prospects going to be receptive? What will they be doing at that time? Where?

You need to find the answers to those questions. When you do, it will dramatically change your pitch.