Category: Uncategorized

I’m trapped. Talking about Seth Godin or his books seems to mean the bar is raised and I have to talk in an outlandish tone so others will buy the book, or tell others. Its got to be an IdeaVirus, or Purple Cow, or Free Prize.

But thats not what I want to do. That’s not me. That’s not what this blog is about. But I do want to talk about Free Prize Inside because I think it is important, especially to smaller B2B businesses. Why important? We are often trapped in innovation-less marketplaces, but our organizations are loosely structured, making Free Prizes easier to roll out. Lets take a closer look:

• A Free Prize is nothing but an innovatation that makes selecting your product rewarding to the customer. The prize may be hidden or obvious. But it is Remarkable–which means that it isn’t just a gimmick and that it is worth remarking about.
• The way to find a Free Prize is by Edgecraft. Edgecraft is taking existing or potential competitive advantage and pushing it to the edges. A very cool idea but…
• It is Difficult. Difficult means more than hard work, it means stepping out of the box and being able to look in (and looking and looking). This is where using Jackie Huba’s idea of “What Would Seth Do” as a mantra could be helpful. It means having your radar on for sensing the edges that customers like so that you can exploit the edges.
• Most inspirational to me is the idea of the Champion. The champion is the person (hopefully you) who can take the Free Prize and make it happen. Seth says it is better to have a Free Prize that is within your power to be a Champion for. Passion is not enough. You have to also work at creating a reputation that allows others to let you be a Champion. Really, it is a lesson in being a leader. People don’t follow people they don’t trust, no matter how great the idea.

So there is the secret to the whole book. But if you really want to be a disciple, buy the bible (I mean book). use it learn W.W.S.D.

This cover article in Sales & Marketing Management discusses the need for a strategy for email communications. Mostly, it warns against salespeople ‘hiding’ behind email, instead of engaging the client. It suggests that “more important communications…and communications with new clients are almost always more effective in person”.

In this sidebar, called Don’t Hit Send, the advice about what messages not to email is pretty common-sense, too, but this one attracted my attention. Why? Its probably the easiest trap to fall into:

When a client e-mails you a question, more often than not your first reaction is to hit “Reply.” But your response probably doesn’t answer the question he didn’t ask yet. “When a customer asks a question, there’s frequently a question behind the question,” Turmel says. If you call your client instead of e-mailing him back, you can respond to his real concern, be proactive, and prevent a barrage of e-mails that can tie up your time.

In the last few weeks, I’ve received three different requests-for-quote from people using AOL email accounts.

Like asking the guy driving a Hummer about his mileage, it feels a little rude to ask questions about why they don’t have an email account with a real domain name. But it also makes you suspicious–I’m not selling Emerilware, after all. Are they a spy, or just a dealer/agent wasting my time?

Trust but verify–I do the following:

• Ask a couple more qualifying questions
• Write down the number on my caller-id
• Try to get other info, such as phone and address
• Search their phone number and email address on Google

In the end, its just scary to think that these people can’t spend 50 bucks and a little time to make themselves look more professional. AOL could probably make some money offering such a service directly. (But AOL would rather foist 50,000 ad impressions on you to make that same 50 bucks.)

UPDATE: I just got a significant order from one of the people with an AOL email account!!!

Thomas Register is putting on an Internet Marketing Seminar again this year. Just got an email inviting me to the local program here in Michigan. It’ll be interesting to meet some other industrial marketers and see what people are interested in, regardless of the program content.

Anyone else interested in coming along? Leave a comment below.

I could have written this opening paragraph:

For the past couple of months I have been coping with an incredibly frustrating problem. My files in the File Open dialog box mysteriously started appearing in order of the ‘Last Modified” date, instead of in alphabetical order. Let me tell you, this problem was driving me nuts. Our Web site has more than 200 files in it and wading through the list NONalphabetically has been one gigantic pain. I figured at some point I must have clicked just the right key combination to change some Windows default setting somewhere. But I couldn’t put it back. (Oh the aggravation!)

Susan has been nice enough to post her solution here (with many accolades from people like me): Windows Explorer Weirdness

I want to tell you my insight into this article: Trade Publishers Warned of Google’s Impact on Magazines, but first I need to share my opinion about the article:

[rant] This is not new news. Only by substituting the word ‘Google’ for the more generic ‘Internet’ makes it news. Trade publications have dealt with lowering ad revenues and subscribers for a while now. And the article doesn’t clearly address why and how trade publications will survive.

‘If Google can slice and dice [information],’ said one b-to-b publishing executive, ‘and give highly qualified users to very targeted advertisers, then what do you need a trade publication for?’

If the author or the executives would answer this question, it would be a much more constructive article. The author jokes about ‘Chicken Little’, while acting like one himself.[/rant]

The sky is not falling…it has been falling! Trade publications and newsletters that were of low quality or easily replaced by the convenience of the web have already been killed. This pressure will continue on trade publications. I’ve written about this before.

Trade pubs need to provide new information (including product info) that readers want to learn about. Engineers are not going to search the net to see if Agilent has a new impedance analyzer, but they’ll be thankful if it is presented to them. Google can’t do this–that’s the red herring.

I spend money on Google to generate leads, something it does efficiently. Trade ads (or articles) provide awareness of what is newsworthy from my company, as well as branding–both of which Google can’t do. Only the trade publications that can deliver awareness and branding (for the reader and the advertiser) are going to survive. Why the article didn’t say this, I don’t know. After all, it is posted by AdAge, a trade pub itself.

Sorry to do this to you, but I want to go off-subject. Even before my recent ‘speeding ticket’ regarding high cholesterol, I had learned that partially-hydrogenated oils were evil. Now that I am on health kick, I feel I have to impose this information on you. Read more at my new blog.

Oh, and by the way, high-fructose corn syrup is evil, too.

When I built our company’s website last year, I knew my most difficult challenge was to create appropriate product ‘buckets’. Buckets are the categories used in the product section to help visitors find what they are looking for. Having buckets enabled me to settle on a site-map. A site map led to my most important effort–useful navigation.

I was mentaly walking thru this process again as I read the following articles about navigation that is not only usable, but increases conversions to a lead or sale. These is seriously-good reading for anyone considering site architecture or navigation.

• Fix Navigation to Increase Conversions talks about creating useful categories based on the visitors need. Most importantly, it reminds us that there are two kinds of site visitors: those who know what they want, and those who aren’t sure.
• Part two makes the need crystal clear as the writer shops for a ‘thingy’ to remotely advance PowerPoint slides
• Part three goes into specific discussions about breadcrumbs, site maps, and other details.

A thought to ponder from the end of the article: As Don Norman of the Nielsen Norman Group said, “Usability is not the goal. Honest, it isn’t. Usability is always secondary. The goal is to satisfy the needs of the user. Information, functionality… And if you work for a company, one goal is to keep the company profitable…. Would I degrade a product if I knew it would increase sales? Yup.”

Here’s a site that sounds like it is doing something right:

LabX really works! Of the 1252 auctions that have closed in the past 12 days, 713 auctions resulted in $199,983.00 of sales. Currently, over 56.9% of items receive bids.

LabX emphasizes used lab equipment, mostly in the pharmaceutical/chemical vein. Unlike eBay, they don’t take commissions, which allows for off-line negotiations and less specific advertising. There are more listing options, including standard ‘classified’ ads, too.

The site does suffer from lots of smaller blinking ads, but I imagine the active lab shopper is going to actually study these, as they might help in their search for a bargain.

So just because you can’t find your products being resold on eBay, doesn’t mean that they aren’t being heavily traded. I can’t find any of our products on eBay right now, but over half-a-dozen units on LabX.

My new blog is here: www.lower-my-cholesterol-blog.com. I originally listed the URL incorrectly.

This also gives me a chance to play with the new Blogger templates and tools. I like them very much. Take a look.