Jim Connolly Marketing

The retailer who’s killing his business

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marketing content, copy

There’s a powerful marketing lesson I’d like to share with you, from my own personal experience.

I visited a store yesterday morning. In the space of just a few minutes, they damaged their reputation and lost at least 2 customers instantly. They will almost certainly have already lost more by the time you read this, as the story has now surfaced on a local Facebook group.

Here’s what happened.

I was standing in line waiting to buy a new razor, at a local, independent store. A customer in front of me was trying to exchange a faulty hair dryer she’d bought from them. The hair dryer was, apparently, 2 days past the store’s return policy. The customer tried to explain that she’d just returned from a 14 day business trip and couldn’t return it sooner.

The guy at the store wasn’t interested. He just kept loudly telling the customer there was nothing he could do. The customer left the store, vowing never to return. I put my purchase back on the shelf and decided to buy a razor elsewhere.

A better approach leads to a better result for everyone

The guy at the store was wrong when he said there was nothing he could do. There were a number of useful things he could have done.

  • He could have listened to the customer as she explained her situation. Instead, he chose to avoid eye contact.
  • He could have looked at her passport, when she showed him the stamps that proved she returned to the country yesterday. Instead, he chose to look away, rolling his eyes.
  • He could have spoken to the customer with empathy. Instead, he chose to keep repeating the same mantra, over and over.
  • He could have been flexible because of the customer’s situation, offering her a working hair drier or maybe a discount on a second one. Instead, he chose not to.

And he could have turned the customer’s problem into a positive story.

He could have given her a remarkable customer experience, which she would share with her family and friends. After all, he’d sold her a defective product and her passport stamps (which she showed him) proved she’d been out of the country until the previous day.

Instead, he chose to give the customer a very poor experience. The kind of experience she has since used as a warning, via a popular local Facebook group. When I last looked, her story had almost 100 reactions, with comments from others who’d had similar experiences.

All this is happening, when the store had a great opportunity to delight a customer and give her a positive story to share. It would have cost them pennies.

Small business should play to our strengths

As an independent business, they had the flexibility to deal with that situation in any way they wanted. And that’s exactly what they did. Whether the guy who served the customer was the owner or an employee, it was clear that they operate a rigid returns policy.

Certainly, the retailer needs to avoid customers taking advantage of them. However, it was very clear that this customer was an exceptional case. This is the exact kind of situation, where a small business can use their agility and win a client’s goodwill and loyalty. It’s a golden marketing opportunity. (I wrote this piece explaining why everything in business is marketing that you might find useful).

Our customers will talk about us, regardless. It’s the way we look after them that determines the kind of story they share.

A genius marketing idea from a 19th century artist

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Back in the 1800’s, Edgar Degas said: Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

The same is true of great marketing

Successful marketing paints a compelling picture in the mind of a prospective client. It doesn’t list a series of facts or features. Instead, it talks directly to the needs and wants of your clients. It paints a picture of how you can help them. It illustrates how you’re passionate about helping them. Everything is rooted in what’s best for them. Everything.

Ineffective marketing paints a picture of the provider. It’s all about their business and the products or services they offer. It’s dry. It’s dull. It’s forgettable. And it fails to motivate people to take action.

The message, my friend, is simple. If you want to attract better clients, paint better pictures.

Get more referrals with this simple idea

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marketing, referrals, word of mouth recommendations

Give this a try.

  • Think of some amazing things, which you would LOVE your marketplace to be telling their friends about your business.
  • Write those amazing things down.
  • Next, put a plan together of what you will need to do, in order for your marketplace to say those amazing things.
  • Finally, get to work on your plan.

This is a switch of focus, from the vast majority of advice on getting referrals.

Most referral advice is about how to motivate others to recommend your services or products to their friends and contacts. How to change their behaviour.

This advice is focused on you taking direct control. It’s about you crafting an experience, which makes people want to recommend your services or products.

People are naturally hardwired to communicate with each other. When we give our marketplace an experience worth talking about, that’s exactly what they do.

The wonderful thing about this, is that it means your referral stream is always, always under your direct control.

Suddenly it smashes you in the face!

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Jim Connolly marketing, fix your marketing

Marketing tactics and strategies seldom fail overnight.

Instead, they become a little less effective over time. The decrease in effectiveness is usually so gradual that for weeks, often longer, you hardly even notice it. Then you look at your sales leads, your upcoming sales meetings and your sales figures and the reality of the situation kicks in.

Your marketing is no longer effective and you’re about to feel some real pain, unless you resolve things.

One guy went 5 months without a sales lead, before he contacted me. He said, and I believe him, that he hoped it was just a long blip, and that things would pick up ‘next week’. It was only after his bank refused to increase his lending that he reached out for help.

That months-long period is how marketing problems usually manifest themselves. There’s a slow, very gradual decline in results. Then suddenly the numbers punch you in the face. It’s at this point, where most business owners will take action.

Other business owners do things differently.

Here’s what I see regularly, with new clients. They have been keeping an eye on their marketing and the results generated. They then paid extra attention as soon as they saw a negative pattern emerging. The moment they believed there was a bigger problem ahead, they contacted me.

So, why do most small business owners hesitate?

There are a number of reasons behind the decision of some business owners, to wait longer than others, before proactively taking control of their problem.

Here are the reasons I hear most commonly from new clients.

  • Some are sat on a fat bank account, which decreases their hunger to fix things. They’ll try to ride it out.
  • Some hate the idea of change, so leave it as late as possible.
  • Some have far less motivation or need to make money, as the vast majority of their family income is from their life-partner, wife, husband or parents.
  • Some have a well-paid job and their business is really just a hobby or pastime.

It boils down to different circumstances and different attitudes.

Whatever your current situation or mindset, marketing problems are easier and faster to resolve, the sooner you get started. Because the moment you start doing the right things correctly, you change the direction of your business.

How to get your prices right: High, medium or low?

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how to set prices, get your prices right

One of the best things about owning a business or directing the path of a company, is that you have the freedom to adapt and improve as things change. With this in mind, I’d like to share an idea, more of an opportunity really, with you. Something you may not have considered before.

It’s all about which segment of the market you should serve and how to get your prices or fees right.

High priced, medium priced or low priced?

Long before the current economic turmoil. Before the pandemic. In fact, for decades now, here’s what we have seen.

High priced, quality brands are doing really well.

Low priced, budget brands are doing really well, too.

The average priced, average brands are struggling.

Yes, those are general observations. But the core message is loud and clear. It’s a lot harder to sell an average priced, average positioned product or service. Average prices (or fees) are too expensive for those with limited budgets. Average prices are of no interest whatsoever to those who demand the best possible products or an exclusive, premium service.

Why then, is the middle ground where the great majority of businesses land?

Obviously, most new businesses set their prices where they feel they have the best chance of making sales or attracting clients. In my experience, they’ll start off a little higher or a little lower than whatever the average is. By default, this means most businesses begin life within the average price range. And that’s where most of them will remain, adjusting prices roughly in keeping with their similarly priced competitors.

Are your prices or fees pitched correctly?

If you’re currently serving that highly competitive middle ground, and you’re finding it hard to thrive, I’d like you to consider leaving it. (I wrote this helpful piece about how to leave the middle ground that you may find useful).

I’d like you to think about one of the following alternatives.

  • Embracing the opportunities that come from serving the high price, high end of your industry or profession.
  • Or embracing the opportunities that come from being a successful, budget provider.

By the way, there are huge opportunities at the budget end of things, if you get the balance right.

Poundland, a budget retailer in the UK, generated revenues of over $1.5Billion when its most recent figures were announced. Similarly, service providers who are able to put robust, highly optimized systems in place, can make a fortune whilst charging significantly lower fees for their services. I’ve seen this low-fee model work extremely effectively, many, many times.

So, should everyone reading this reposition away from the middle ground?

No. It totally depends on your answer to the following question.

Did you intentionally chose the middle ground?

Over the past 25 years, I’ve found that business owners tend to naturally gravitate toward the middle ground and average pricing. Very few of them intentionally set out to be there. It just happens. The reasons are many and varied.

My suggestion is that it’s a good idea to consider your options. All of them. Is the segment of the market you find yourself serving today, taking you where you want to be in the next 5 or 10 years?

  • If it is, then you’ve landed in the right place.
  • If not, then examine the opportunities open to you, serving one of the other segments.

In short, make sure you intentionally choose where you set your prices or fees. Determine what part of the market you are most likely to succeed in. Many business owners ‘happen upon’ the right segment, others happen to get it wrong. We need to be smarter than that and deliberately decide for ourselves.

They lied: You don’t pay the price for success

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pay price for success, pay price failure

As a business owner, you never pay the price for success. However, you do pay a hefty price for failure.

The price of failure is being paid daily, though most business owners are blind to it until they get the bill at the end.

For example.

  • You pay the price for missing opportunities.
  • You pay the price for failing to adapt to the evolving needs of your marketplace.
  • You pay the price for refusing to invest in marketing.
  • You pay the price for ducking the important decisions.
  • You pay the price for wasting time. Your time and the time of others.
  • You pay the price for being risk-averse.
  • You pay the price for knowing more about what’s happening on a reality TV show, than what’s happening in your industry.
  • You pay the price for being too similar to your competitors.
  • You pay the price for giving your attention to the notifications on your phone.
  • You pay the price for pessimism.
  • You pay the price for applying free, general business development advice to your specific business problems.

Thankfully, the opposite is also true.

You enjoy the rewards of success

For example.

  • You enjoy the rewards of a wise decision.
  • You enjoy the rewards of turning an opportunity into an absolute gold mine.
  • You enjoy the rewards of building a great, professional reputation.
  • You enjoy the rewards of growing a powerful marketing asset.
  • You enjoy the rewards of building a wonderful network.
  • You enjoy the rewards of expert advice that earns you a fortune.
  • You enjoy the rewards of knowing, and witnessing, that you’re on the path to success.
  • You enjoy the rewards of owning a business, which gives you and those you love a great quality of life.

There’s a price for failure and a reward for success. As a business owner, you have total freedom regarding which you choose.

You would assume that goes without saying. You would assume the answer is obvious. It isn’t. It really isn’t.

Think about it.

The majority of small businesses fail in the first 4 or 5 years. All these business owners were genuinely hoping for success, while unintentionally paying the price for failure. The lucky ones failed fast, without getting into a ton of debt. The unlucky ones went under slowly, which is far more painful.

If you’re not currently achieving the success you want, it’s critically important you commit exclusively to following the path of success. Refuse to follow what the failing majority of small business owners do. It doesn’t work. It can’t work.

Get the expert help you need, so you can quickly get on the right track. Enjoy the rewards for success. Yes, of course I can help. It’s exactly what I do for small business owners, just like you.