Marketing Hall of Shame-Bludgeoning Your Customers is a Bad Idea
Note from Art: this is a rave, however, I am not disclosing the firm’s name out of discretion. They earned that for a lifetime of service up until this recent episode. And importantly, the goal is not to pick on this firm as much as it is to illustrate a point. I directed my annoyance in a note to the firm’s CEO. I’m still waiting for a response.
I’ve been a lifetime client of a particular hotel chain…with favorite properties in different cities, and more nights than I care to count spent in one of their convenient locations somewhere around the world.
Imagine my surprise when in a fit of insanity, I picked up the phone the other night….right after dinner (well, I answered because the caller i.d. indicated the Hotel Chain’s name, and because the troops had the dishes will in hand), and I ended up on the receiving end of an old-fashioned marketing bludgeoning.
Run on sentence for dramatization: From “Hello,” the representative from “Hotel Chain Name” Vacation Clubs launched into a breathless pitch on why my family and I should take them up on their offer to visit an Orlando property for a low, low price, not per person, but for up to x people, and that we would only have to spend 90 minutes in a meeting with them and so forth and so on etc., etc., until I started to turn blue in the face, worrying about this individual running out of air. Michael Phelps should have such good breath control.
I politely disengaged with the unwitting telemarketer, and saved my marketing outrage for the note I wrote the CEO and for this post.
You Must Be Kidding!
Seriously, Hotel Chain! You think so highly of the relationships with your clients that you’re engaging in tactics like this to reward them for years of business. Your “thanks” for patronizing your properties, holding sales meetings and conferences and sending teams out to far-away places to camp out for weeks on end in support of clients, is to call your clients and subject them to a Hall of Shame sales pitch for a time-share?
My Advice:
1. Fire the marketer who conceived of this program.
2. Fire his/her boss.
3. Rethink the value of your relationship with your customers. Is this truly a good way to get them interested in spending more money with you?
4. While you are working on #3 above, rethink the value and meaning of your brand. People have spent careers getting to know, like and trust you, and your response is to try and cram a time-share sale down their throats!?!
5. Hire someone who understands how to strengthen relationships and engage clients with approaches that don’t reek of 1950’s era aluminum siding sales.
6. Please have your team spend some time with John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) and David Meerman Scott (New Rules of Marketing & P.R.).
7. Please take my name off of all of your lists.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
In this case, one dumb ass marketing tactic wipes out a good portion of a lifetime of great experiences. For the rest of us, remember that it never makes sense to try and bludgeon your clients into spending more with you. There’s always a better way.
Leadership Caffeine: Frame Carefully to Improve Discussion Quality
Filed under: "To Do" List, Decision-Making, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine
Decisions propel people, teams and organizations forward. Get more right than wrong…especially the big ones, and the only thing standing in the way of success is the critical issue of execution. And of course, most decisions start with a discussion.
One of your important jobs as a leader is to ensure that your team is engaging in the right discussions prior to offering a solution. Paying attention to how an issue is framed is an important part of monitoring discussion quality.
Framing-Beware of Splinters:
One of the constant contributors to less than ideal discussion processes comes from how leaders or team members frame a situation. Whether it’s described as a positive or a negative…a crisis or an opportunity…and the assumptions that are made, all serve as part of the frame for a situation. Framing drives the discussion and importantly, it steers and biases solution set development.
If the boss describes a situation as a problem in need of immediate repair, the discussion and solution set will focus on fire-drill type repairs. That’s OK if it’s a fire drill, but perhaps there are bigger issues that might be solved by reframing the situation as an opportunity to solve a systemic problem.
Management teams frame their strategic environment by assessing the current state and making assumption about the future. Consider:
Americans don’t care about quality..they are focused on style and will buy a new car every two to three years and, the threat from foreign automobile manufacturers is relatively small. (GM in the 1970’s)
Our biggest threat will be from a well-armed nation-state. (The U.S. Government up until 9/11, as they used the framing of the Cold War to drive thinking and preparation.)
Managers bias a decision discussion as soon as they open their mouths and offer their characterization of an issue and/or their perceived best solution. Again, that might be appropriate in some circumstances, but in others, it will preclude alternative idea development.
One of the most common issues many firms struggle with today is how to determine the role of social media in their business. I’ve participated in a number of these discussion with clients, and observed repeatedly that the managers and teams who view social media as a threat (a waste of time and a potential liability) develop restrictive policies, while those who see it as an opportunity (new way to engage clients and promote) develop policies that encourage experimentation.
Frames are powerful…and we offer them without thinking about the impact they have on others we’re looking to for input. However, with a bit of discretion and some deliberate practice developing good framing habits, managers can improve discussion quality surrounding decisions almost immediately.
Six Ideas for Improving Discussion Quality through Better Framing:
1. Manager Hold Back: ask others for their description of a problem/situation before you offer your perspective.
2. Frame like Switzerland: offer only neutral descriptions…neither positive or negative, and see how the discussion develops.
3. Develop Dueling Frames: for every situation, encourage team members to develop two completely different description (frames) of a situation. For the serious issues, frame the situation as both a crisis for one discussion and an opportunity for the other.
4. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Framing: teach your teams to frame first before solving. Their discussions should lead off with a description of the issue (the frame) and people should be encouraged to challenge these frames for validity.
5. Stop, Look and Clarify the Frame! Many discussions take on a life of their own and the frame gets lost in the emotions and politics. Regularly stop discussions to reaffirm or challenge the original frame.
6. Beware of Perfect Frames: things aren’t always neat and clean, especially when talking about strategic options in this fast-changing world. If your assumptions begin to sound GMish and too overwhelmingly supportive of your direction or investment, it’s time to look harder at your situation.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
For relatively little effort, you can achieve significant improvement in discussion clarity and decision quality. Starting today, watch how you and others frame issues and encourage everyone to put the time in early in the discussion to ensure good solution set development. Measure twice, cut once.
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About Art Petty:
Art Petty is a Leadership & Career Coach helping motivated professionals of all levels achieve their potential. In addition to working with highly motivated professionals, Art frequently works with project teams in pursuit of high performance. Art’s second book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development, will be published in September of 2011.
Contact Art via e-mail to discuss a coaching, workshop or speaking engagement. Check out Art’s on-line “Professional Development Sprints,” designed for the busy professional.
Leadership, Unrealized Potential and the Sad Passing of Amy Winehouse
The sad ending to the life of 27 year-old and talented but visibly troubled singer, Amy Winehouse, offers a sobering reminder of the horrible waste of undeveloped talent.
Winehouse’s music now belongs to the ages. While perhaps she was most well known for her troubles, I suspect her fans are even more saddened by what they won’t hear from her in the years to come.
What if?
Different circumstances…an accident, but I still wonder what Stevie Ray Vaughn would have given us these past two decades. Perhaps the difference between SRV and Winehouse was that Stevie soared beyond his problems to deliver something remarkable for a time, only to be cut down by an accident. Too short, but greatness delivered.
What if?
Some people flirt with their potential for a moment in time, but never quite realize it. Winehouse seems to fit in this category. If you listen and experience her work on “Back to Black” and “Frank” you hear something special. Someone flirting with greatness…and it leaves you…or at least me wanting more.
What if?
What’s the Unrealized Potential on Your Team?
I see unrealized potential in the workplace all of the time. Brilliant people held back by their lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. Visionaries who labor in silence…and great minds working in one area to pay the bills while their true talents go unappreciated.
Some bosses hold people back. I overheard this recently…a remarkable knowledge worker with talents invisible to his boss offered some ideas to improve the business. “You stick to your job and I’ll make the right decisions for the business.”
What if?
Other bosses fail to help individuals and teams find the greatness in them. These people are transactional managers or narcissistic leaders interested only in the task at hand…and blind to the potential of people and the business.
As a leader, you have a choice to search for greatness in your people. Your actions, your word….your efforts to nudge or push or help people develop, is what you are supposed to be about. In your own small or big way, you’re supposed to be a contributor to greatness.
Ask and help people answer: “What if?”
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Don’t leave unrealized potential on the table…for yourself or the people you serve. It’s OK to ask “What if? in the present tense…as long as it’s answered by actions. After the fact however, the words simply speak of greatness unrealized and talent undeveloped.
Have Space Ship Will Travel-In Celebration and In Memoriam
Note from Art: there are a remarkable number of leadership and management lessons as well as a fierce debate about importance and economics that all swirl around the space program. Just for today, let’s put those aside and remember and wonder and give thanks to those who served and to remember those who perished. The debates can continue another day.
The last Space Shuttle of this era has returned and the program is officially grounded for good.
For those of us who lived through the period from Apollo to Atlantis, it’s a bittersweet day filled with memories of fascination, pride and accomplishment, as well as memories of sadness and loss.
My fascination with the space program started as a young child in the 60’s. I remember sitting on the sofa eating a popsicle the day after having my tonsils removed, and watching grainy black and white pictures of Neil Armstrong taking that first step on to the lunar surface. I remember Walter Cronkite choking up and I distinctly recall a sense of wonder and amazement at the accomplishment. Even at my young age, the moon landings seemed like a welcome reprieve from news of the Vietnam war and the daily fatality count.
Time stopped while we waited for news of the Apollo 13 astronauts, and to this day, I cannot think about that event (or watch the movie) without doing my best imitation of Walter Cronkite and choking up. Their return felt miraculous then…and more so now, given our knowledge of the challenges that the NASA community faced and conquered.
Apollo gave way to silence for a few years, and inspired by our success in space, I hungrily devoured much of the content in the world of science fiction. There were big dreams of going to Mars or returning to the moon someday…perhaps people living on the moon, and the science fiction content fueled the dreams that were openly discussed in newspapers and on television.
After a few years of silence, Apollo gave way to the Space Shuttle program, and while it did not have the cool end destination, it was still fascinating. It was progress and we were putting people back in space, running experiments and looking forward. In our minds at the time, it was getting us one step closer to Mars.
Watching Columbia take off was exciting, but it paled in comparison to what was then to me a jaw dropping feat of flying this craft into space and then landing it like an airplane back here in the U.S. Yes, I know…old hat to many of you who have come to expect this as “normal” for the past 30 years. However, if you share the same demographics, you likely recall how purely awe inspiring it was (and still is) to see this spaceship land safely back on earth. (Here’s a clip of the first launch and landing of Columbia.)
Challenger broke our hearts. It seems as if every generation has a “moment.” My parents had JFK, all of us have 9/11, however, Challenger was our “moment.” Ask someone who was older than about 15 where they were when they heard the news about Challenger and they will be able to tell you in detail. Most of us old enough to remember the event, remember President Reagan’s speech to the nation following the loss of the Challenger 7. Here are the words at the end that are burned into our minds:
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.” (Here’s a link to the video and text)
Fast forward a generation and the craft that got us started, Columbia, disintegrated upon reentry, saddening us all and reminding us once again of our frailty in the face of space exploration.
Nearly another decade has passed, the International Space Station is operational and the Shuttle Program is at an end. There’s been a certain “Ho Hum” feeling about the International Space Station, and whether it’s age or time…or it’s just boring, it doesn’t have that seem feeling of forward progress. Let’s hope that feeling is wrong. Perhaps it will serve as a stepping stone.
The hope of space exploration is often drowned in the realities of economics, and while work continues, things are changing. Perhaps the next step for developing and advancing in space will come through private commercial ventures or cooperation between various countries around the globe. It’s unlikely that one country and its taxpayers can bear the burden, especially because so many of the returns are somewhere down the road in an uncertain future.
Today, instead of debating merit and economics, it’s appropriate to take a moment and be thankful for the opportunity to have witnessed some remarkable accomplishments that have stoked the dreams of humanity. It’s also time to remember those who gave their all in pursuit of our collective dreams.
Here’s to the future of space development and exploration, in whatever form it takes. May future journeys and successes reflect well on the sacrifices of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts.
The Votes Have Been Counted-July Leadership Challenge
Although the case lives on and discussion is always “in-session,” the voting for the July Leadership Development Round Table Challenge is now closed. Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership, was the leading vote earner, in a closely contested and well debated case. Congratulations to Dan!
The July Challenge focused on a scenario I’ve seen described in the business press as the Brilliant-Problem Child. Many of us know this character…someone with remarkable skills and ability to create value, while at the same time creating significant tension or stress in the workplace. When coaching and developmental approaches don’t take, the situation becomes a bit more challenging for the manager who must navigate the dilemma, while the stakeholders watch and wait.
Issues of team, culture, workplace environment, peer pressure, ethics, values, creativity all come into play. It’s also not missed by many that we often celebrate these characters and excuse their behaviors when they are iconic organization leaders, and tend to want to exorcise them when the same approaches are evidenced somewhere below the top.
I’ve used a variant of my Brilliant Problem-Child case in many different settings, and one thing I can predict is that the approach on how to handle it will breed not only disagreement, but, sometimes fairly vocal disagreement. Our reader commenters did not disappoint, serving up some of the best developed comments/approaches I’ve yet encountered in the leadership blogosphere. The fact that a good number of them took issue with the Round table Member approaches, made the exchange of ideas all the richer for everyone involved.
If you missed it, feel free to visit the original post, check out Dan’s winning answer and the great input from other commenters. And of course, it’s never to late to share your own ideas on how to handle our Brilliant Problem Child.
And stay tuned, because the August challenge is just around the corner.
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