I was reading about the big supermarkets in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks back though, Gussie / All, and was a little startled to find that all of those millions of price-drops, and super-competitive wars, are literally a "penny" every time (or most times anyway), sneakily offset by a (co-ordinated?) 50% hike here and there, off radar, so that what was a £60 basket a couple of years back is now £90.
30p off and £30 on, is more than a "little help" - to them - and according to my wallet.
Just a quick note to welcome you to the UK Dave - and to say that I picked up on your story at around the 9 million hits mark, saved as a copy / paste innumerable times, like this...
___________________________________
A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines.
United apparently damaged his treasured $3500 Taylor guitar during a flight.
Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor. During his Final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video exposing their lack of cooperation
The manager responded, "Good luck with that one, pal," so he posted a retaliatory video on You Tube, which has since received over 9 million hits.
United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal."
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
If I may just endorse you Peter, as someone I know personally who is really getting to grips with all this, and advise MyCustomer.com readers that they can find out a lot more about the topic, and hear you, and some other world-renowned experts, discussing all this, and their concerns, on our forthcoming webinar...
(And sensitive, sharp-eyed readers may also like to note that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", as they spot that the new-look ModernSelling.com there - re-launched April 2011 - bears an uncanny resemblance to elements of MyCustomer.com - so thanks may also be due to someone at Sift Media, who I don't know...yet. And I mean it, thank you for all your hard work, I get a lot of good stuff off you and your contributors, and will also be Tweeting this page.)
Ian and I have been chasing each other around the block looking for ways to integrate the UK sales profession with the “real” leads they so desperately seek, for about the last 4 years folks. And it’s the “passive” (Web 1.0) angles on all this that have been the main hurdles, which these interactive, 2-way and multi-way communities and connections might overcome. People will only talk to people when all of the automated, “marketing machine” collateral and communication channels are out of the way, or just offered in support, in other words.
It is tricky to simplify and explain the words and jargon around all of this, but much, much easier when everyone can actually see it happening – for example via your excellent (“rich media”, “video as a selling tool”) interview there Ian.
It brought to mind (firstly) a terrific story and video clip about how “Customer Service”, dealing with unknown (and unimportant?) “customers” can get it all so terribly and expensively wrong….
A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines.
United apparently damaged his treasured $3500 Taylor guitar during a flight.
Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor. During his Final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video exposing their lack of cooperation
The manager responded, "Good luck with that one, pal," so he posted a retaliatory video on You Tube, which has since received over 9 million hits.
United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal."
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
…And then (secondly), and quite by chance – although I suspect because Ian & I are on the same evolutionary branch of this tree - I’m delighted to announce that ModernSelling.com is also going to be re-launching (on March 14th) in “2.0” community and communication, “connect and collaborate” mode…
…in flattering emulation of what we’re all witnessing here on MyCustomer.com, of course - like this "conversation"!
B2C and Brands and those "Consumers" do have substantial differences from B2B and Products/Services and the needs, wants, desires and connectabilities (and volumes) inherent in those "Customers", of course, which in turn affects what we all think our "social media" markets might be, like Facebook v LinkedIn. But there are many similarities too, and we can obviously share and learn from best practice (like "what works"), across the divides. We definitely want a lot more UK sales people engaging online, for example, as well as the nation's shopkeepers and sole traders (plumbers, decorators, accountants, consultants, whatever).
So maybe we’ll be able to hook all this up after all Ian – you never know!
Yes - spot on Lynn. Then, as per my headline/response...
And, B2B, that'll often mean making Sales People the Customer Feedback/Interface?
...these being the changes I was chatting about on some LinkedIn Groups with sales management, discussing "What is a Sales Strategy", and where this "inverted" thinking means...
The “chain of command” if you like no longer goes…
Inventor – Business – Marketing – Sales
…but rather…
Customer/Prospect – Sales Interface – Colleagues – Innovations (and maybe a bit of marketing and finance).
"...adverts and any statement on a website that is intended to sell products or services, including direct requests for fund-raising donations. It will not extend to journalistic or editorial content related to causes and ideas..."
...it'll be interesting to see how that gets applied to "social media chat" along the lines of those IBM Sales People who Blog...
There are endless crossovers on this question, online and offline, and between B2C and B2B. At one end of the spectrum, say if you’re marketing (with hardly any selling) something like Dr Pepper, Facebook may well be a happy hunting ground, and you can afford to just pay a bunch of our children to do the “selling” and mention and link to your product (as they do – allegedly!). But at the other end of the spectrum, when you are selling (with hardly any marketing/advertising) a high-priced business service as a solution to quite a sophisticated business problem, then you do need to be much more selective about the audience that you are after, and the people who will represent your organisation, to build a “trusted advisor” profile/role, and conduct the relevant and informative “conversations”. And indeed, if it’s oil-rigs or similar, it may well be that your 50 real prospects do not lend themselves to being a “group” or “fans” or “followers” of any sort at all. That could be all one-to-one eyeball-to-eyeball custom-tailored stuff.
The “problem” will remain, as it always has, in that middle ground where managers and business owners must decide whether the equivalent of “cold calling” every “prospect” under the sun, and regurgitating an elevator pitch is the way to go, for them and their product or service (drink it, what’s the worst that can happen?), or something more attuned to finding out real prospects’ needs, wants and desires.
My answers
I was reading about the big supermarkets in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks back though, Gussie / All, and was a little startled to find that all of those millions of price-drops, and super-competitive wars, are literally a "penny" every time (or most times anyway), sneakily offset by a (co-ordinated?) 50% hike here and there, off radar, so that what was a £60 basket a couple of years back is now £90.
30p off and £30 on, is more than a "little help" - to them - and according to my wallet.
Just a quick note to welcome you to the UK Dave - and to say that I picked up on your story at around the 9 million hits mark, saved as a copy / paste innumerable times, like this...
___________________________________
A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines.
United apparently damaged his treasured $3500 Taylor guitar during a flight.
Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor. During his Final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video exposing their lack of cooperation
The manager responded, "Good luck with that one, pal," so he posted a retaliatory video on You Tube, which has since received over 9 million hits.
United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal."
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
_________________________
Always strikes a chord, as they say, plus I get to see and love the tune and band, over and over.
"Customer Service", Marketing AND Selling, B2C or B2B, all vital stuff. Doing it right, and adapting quickly to the changes, more so.
Encore!
If I may just endorse you Peter, as someone I know personally who is really getting to grips with all this, and advise MyCustomer.com readers that they can find out a lot more about the topic, and hear you, and some other world-renowned experts, discussing all this, and their concerns, on our forthcoming webinar...
http://www.modernselling.com/news-and-events/webinar-corner/marketers-tale-workshop-webinar-discussion-tips-series-sharon-drew-morgen-jeremy-spiller-peter-johnston-20114029.aspx
That also forms part of on ongoing series, The Canterbury Tales, which can either be discussed on the umbrella discussion here...
http://www.modernselling.com/work-tools/lead-generation/better-sales-marketing-buyer-finance-management-alignment-integration-20114007.aspx
...or accessed as learning modules and the like through the Webinar Corner page...
http://www.modernselling.com/news-and-events/webinar-corner.aspx
(And sensitive, sharp-eyed readers may also like to note that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", as they spot that the new-look ModernSelling.com there - re-launched April 2011 - bears an uncanny resemblance to elements of MyCustomer.com - so thanks may also be due to someone at Sift Media, who I don't know...yet. And I mean it, thank you for all your hard work, I get a lot of good stuff off you and your contributors, and will also be Tweeting this page.)
Nice one Ian – and MyCustomer.com.
Ian and I have been chasing each other around the block looking for ways to integrate the UK sales profession with the “real” leads they so desperately seek, for about the last 4 years folks. And it’s the “passive” (Web 1.0) angles on all this that have been the main hurdles, which these interactive, 2-way and multi-way communities and connections might overcome. People will only talk to people when all of the automated, “marketing machine” collateral and communication channels are out of the way, or just offered in support, in other words.
It is tricky to simplify and explain the words and jargon around all of this, but much, much easier when everyone can actually see it happening – for example via your excellent (“rich media”, “video as a selling tool”) interview there Ian.
It brought to mind (firstly) a terrific story and video clip about how “Customer Service”, dealing with unknown (and unimportant?) “customers” can get it all so terribly and expensively wrong….
______________________________________________________
A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines.
United apparently damaged his treasured $3500 Taylor guitar during a flight.
Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor. During his Final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video exposing their lack of cooperation
The manager responded, "Good luck with that one, pal," so he posted a retaliatory video on You Tube, which has since received over 9 million hits.
United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was, "Good luck with that one, pal."
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
_______________________________________________________
…And then (secondly), and quite by chance – although I suspect because Ian & I are on the same evolutionary branch of this tree - I’m delighted to announce that ModernSelling.com is also going to be re-launching (on March 14th) in “2.0” community and communication, “connect and collaborate” mode…
http://www.modernselling.com/sales-editorial-comment/Modern-Selling-out-with-old-in-with-new-social-media-20113941.aspx
…in flattering emulation of what we’re all witnessing here on MyCustomer.com, of course - like this "conversation"!
B2C and Brands and those "Consumers" do have substantial differences from B2B and Products/Services and the needs, wants, desires and connectabilities (and volumes) inherent in those "Customers", of course, which in turn affects what we all think our "social media" markets might be, like Facebook v LinkedIn. But there are many similarities too, and we can obviously share and learn from best practice (like "what works"), across the divides. We definitely want a lot more UK sales people engaging online, for example, as well as the nation's shopkeepers and sole traders (plumbers, decorators, accountants, consultants, whatever).
So maybe we’ll be able to hook all this up after all Ian – you never know!
Best regards - Neil
Yes - spot on Lynn. Then, as per my headline/response...
And, B2B, that'll often mean making Sales People the Customer Feedback/Interface?
...these being the changes I was chatting about on some LinkedIn Groups with sales management, discussing "What is a Sales Strategy", and where this "inverted" thinking means...
The “chain of command” if you like no longer goes…
Inventor – Business – Marketing – Sales
…but rather…
Customer/Prospect – Sales Interface – Colleagues – Innovations (and maybe a bit of marketing and finance).
Yes, fascinating. On this bit, for example...
"...adverts and any statement on a website that is intended to sell products or services, including direct requests for fund-raising donations. It will not extend to journalistic or editorial content related to causes and ideas..."
...it'll be interesting to see how that gets applied to "social media chat" along the lines of those IBM Sales People who Blog...
http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/case-study-ibm-drives-millions-dollars-worth-sales-leads-social-media/
...because I'm sure we've got a lot more of that to come.
Neil Warren - Publisher - ModernSelling.com
There are endless crossovers on this question, online and offline, and between B2C and B2B. At one end of the spectrum, say if you’re marketing (with hardly any selling) something like Dr Pepper, Facebook may well be a happy hunting ground, and you can afford to just pay a bunch of our children to do the “selling” and mention and link to your product (as they do – allegedly!). But at the other end of the spectrum, when you are selling (with hardly any marketing/advertising) a high-priced business service as a solution to quite a sophisticated business problem, then you do need to be much more selective about the audience that you are after, and the people who will represent your organisation, to build a “trusted advisor” profile/role, and conduct the relevant and informative “conversations”. And indeed, if it’s oil-rigs or similar, it may well be that your 50 real prospects do not lend themselves to being a “group” or “fans” or “followers” of any sort at all. That could be all one-to-one eyeball-to-eyeball custom-tailored stuff.
The “problem” will remain, as it always has, in that middle ground where managers and business owners must decide whether the equivalent of “cold calling” every “prospect” under the sun, and regurgitating an elevator pitch is the way to go, for them and their product or service (drink it, what’s the worst that can happen?), or something more attuned to finding out real prospects’ needs, wants and desires.