Jim Connolly Marketing

The problem with knee-jerk reactions

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marketing, knee jerk

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…is that they often leave us looking like a jerk.

And more importantly, they can seriously damage a business.

In today’s post, I give a very recent example of how nasty a knee-jerk reaction can be, along with a strategy to avoid it happening to you and your business.

Here’s what happened.

Yesterday, a business owner responded angrily to a customer complaint on Twitter. The customer replied. A very heated argument ensued. The business owner then deleted his angry tweets, aware of the damage this could cause him.

Problem solved, right?

No.

As often happens, someone took a screenshot of the business owner’s angry tweets and shared them. Then more and more people shared his tweets. The problem escalated fast. He was soon being attacked by lots of his customers for the way he handled the original complaint, and his attempt to cover his tracks.

4 minutes

Knee-jerk reactions happen fast. Those offensive tweets were sent over a period of just 4 minutes, yet they’ve created a considerable marketing problem for the company concerned.

Marketing problem?

Yes!

Many of the company’s Twitter followers are customers. Some tweeted to say they were going to switch providers. What’s not known is how many other customers saw what happened and will simply leave. However, he also has a longer-term problem to deal with. Tweets are indexed by Google. Any prospective customer researching a new provider can easily stumble upon what his angry customers are saying.

That’s a heck of a marketing problem to overcome.

He’ll need to try and rebuild his connection with his customers. He’ll also need to earn their trust again. Some in similar positions have needed to invest in a rebrand. Others have needed to appoint a new CEO or leadership figure.

All because of 4 minutes of angry tweeting.

I believe the best thing we can learn from situations like this, is to develop a strategy that stops us making the same mistake.

Here’s the strategy I use. I  hope you find it useful.

Pausing our knee makes us less of a jerk

Knee-jerk reactions only happen, because we react almost instantly… when emotions are running high.

Just as it’s hard to solve a problem using the same kind of thinking that caused the problem, it’s hard to respond with *love, when you’re still feeling angry or irritated.

*Yes, love. If we don’t love the community we serve, we’re in the wrong job.

So, my strategy when someone puts me in a toxic frame of mind, is to press pause before I respond. This inserts a time cushion between the incident and my response. I find 15 to 20 minutes is ideal. When possible, I use that time to go for a walk. I find a change of scenery makes my thinking even clearer. Either way, I’m able to respond in a much more thoughtful, measured fashion.

That approach has not only helped me professionally, but been enormously useful in general. After all, no one likes a hothead.

The key is to find an effective strategy, before you need it. If mine doesn’t work for you, keep looking until you find one that does. It’s so much easier to avoid knee-jerk problems before they happen, than to have to deal with all the damage afterwards.

Mistakes, birthdays and billionaires

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marketing, think different

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I have an idea to share with you today, from a weird combination of sources. It involves mistakes, birthdays and billionaires.

My friend Amy has a landmark birthday today. One of those birthdays with a zero at the end. She said she was now “officially old” and that it’s the first time she’s not felt like celebrating a birthday.

I offered her another way to look at things, as she was clearly feeling down.

  • Imagine you’re just a penny away from becoming a billionaire. Nothing really changes on the day you earn that final penny. You were already pretty-much a billionaire and probably extremely wealthy for decades. You may feel different now you have that extra penny, but you’re just a penny richer than the day before. That’s all.
  • Landmark birthdays work the same way. You may feel very different. In reality, you’re just a day older than yesterday. That’s all.

What does this kind of thinking have to do with business?

Every year in business, you make countless decisions, have thousands of conversations, give numerous presentations and send lots of proposals… it’s an almost endless stream of activity.

  • When you make a poor decision, it’s just one decision.
  • When you have an unproductive conversation, it’s just one conversation.
  • When your proposal is rejected, it’s just one proposal.
  • When a meeting doesn’t go the way you want it to, it’s just one meeting.

In the same way as the final penny doesn’t make you rich, and the day your age has a zero on the end doesn’t make you old, a negative commercial outcome must be seen in context.

  • When you make a poor decision, learn from it and make better future decisions.
  • When you have an unproductive conversation, unpack it and make the next one more productive.
  • When your proposal is rejected, look for ways to make the next one stronger.
  • When a meeting doesn’t go the way you want it to, review what happened and improve.

A recent failure does not define us as failures. The last penny doesn’t make us rich. And I hope Amy now has a very happy 20th birthday.

Waking up?

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marketing get motivated

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A reader emailed me earlier with an observation. She explained that even though it’s only February, it’s already starting to look a lot like 2019 for her business. And 2019 was pretty similar to 2018.

She’s frustrated with her progress. And she’s not alone. I always hear similar things around this time of year.

On one level, the answer to her problem is simple. No. It’s extremely simple. Because we know exactly why this happens and exactly what to do.

On another level, it’s a very hard problem to crack. Allow me to explain why PLUS some ideas to overcome it!

Cause and effect

Like everything in life, business follows the law of cause and effect.

In short: The law of cause and effect states that for every effect there is a definite cause. Likewise for every cause, there is a definite effect.

So, if a business owner wants better results (effects), they need to take better actions (causes). Obviously, if we carry on doing things the same old way, we’ll get the same old results. Old ways won’t open new doors.

It’s tricky

Knowing why business owners get stuck in a rut is one thing. But actually resolving the situation requires a mindset shift.

And that’s not easy. Not easy at all!

This is especially the case when:

  1. The business owner has developed a level of acceptance with their situation. They start to self-identify as having reached their potential; consciously or unconsciously. This is pretty common.
  2. The business owner has a degree of comfort, which makes it hard to motivate themselves to leave their comfort zone and improve things. Sure, they’re not where they want to be, but they’re kind of okay. This is easily the biggest cause of unfulfilled potential.

What should a business owner do, if they identify with one of those mindsets?

They should wait!

Yes. Wait. Allow me to explain.

Wait for the wake up call

Entrepreneurs will motivate themselves to do what’s required, as soon as they realise they’re coasting or in their comfort zone. However, real entrepreneurs are just a tiny fraction of small business owners.

What tends to happen, is that something unexpected occurs. Something that creates the motivation for the small business owner to act. A wake up call.

Common examples I see include.

  • They lose a major client or source of income.
  • They have a birthday with a zero at the end and realise they’re wasting time.
  • An agile competitor arrives and starts to target their best clients.
  • They were in a marriage / long-term relationship that’s recently ended.
  • They discover they’re not going to be able to retire with the quality of life or security they hoped for, or retire as soon as they thought.
  • A family member or old friend reminds them that they used to have much bigger dreams.
  • They just get tired of making-do and want something more from work (and life).

The key to our success is not whether we get wake up calls or not. We all get them. And we get them fairly regularly.

Our success depends on our decision: to either hit the snooze button… or wake up.

Note – I explain the entrepreneurial mindset in a little more detail here.

Steve Jobs, some journalist and a great marketing lesson

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marketing tricks

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This post is a little different from my usual stuff. I hope you find it useful.

One of the keys to business success is to be memorable (for all the right reasons). The following brief story shows the difference between making a big, but instantly forgettable impact and making a big impact that’s remembered for years to come.

Steve Jobs and a heated email exchange

A few years before Steve Jobs died, a journalist published a private email exchange he’d had with the legendary Apple CEO. Jobs was a passionate man. And the exchange got a little heated, as the journalist intentionally tried to get Jobs angry. This was dynamite for the journalist, who spotted an opportunity to get noticed, on the back of Jobs’ fame.

As I started writing this, I was unable to recall who the journalist was. I did recall covering the story a little while after the event, so I checked that blog post, and even at the time of writing that post, I wasn’t able to remember his name.

However, even today the core story is fresh in my mind.

  • I remember the journalist’s tactics, in goading Jobs for click-worthy comments.
  • I remember Steve Jobs’ passion, as he responded in person to the string of emails.
  • I even remember Jobs asking the journalist something along the lines of, “Have you ever created anything yourself… or do you just criticise those with the courage to create?”.
  • But I’d totally forgotten who the journalist was and what publication he represented.

Unforgettable

We soon forget those people and companies that grab our attention with PR stunts. That’s because stunts and tricks attract drive-by interest: People look quickly at the hoopla, but it lacks connection / meaning, so they just ‘drive by’.

What we DO remember are those rare people and brands, that are willing to make a difference. Those brave people in business (and every area of life), who have the courage to do something useful and meaningfully different. We remember them and connect with them because we value their contribution. And it serves us well to learn from them.

A few notes you may find useful

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marketing notes

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I jotted a few notes down during this morning’s Pick My Brain client session. I hope you find them useful.

  • How many of your activities today will help make your business stronger in 12 months time?
  • How many of your daily business activities have you assessed recently: Either to check that they’re still relevant or still the optimal way to achieve your business goals?
  • How many of your hours today will be spent responding, rather than initiating?
  • How many times have you checked your phone notifications in the last 30 minutes?

Whilst the notes were for a specific business owner, they could be of wider interest. Especially for those of you, who are finding January 2020 is already looking a lot like January 2019.

So, what’s inside the box?

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marketing mystery

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Today, I have something different for you. It’s a simple, yet powerful technique I often share with business owners. By the way, this leads on nicely from my previous post. You can read it here.

I want you to imagine for a moment that you’re sitting with a potential client or customer. Between you is a table. And on that table, you place a box.

  1. You explain that the box contains something of truly great value.
  2. You tell them that other people are using it, and they love it so much that they recommend it to their friends.
  3. You then tell them that once they have it, they’ll wonder how they managed without it.
  4. And then you explain that the price for what’s in the box, is way below what it’s worth.

Finally, you ask them, “Would you like to see what’s inside the box?”

Their eyes widen as they lean forward and say, “Yes please!”

This begs the question: What’s inside the box?

As a business owner, your task is to develop a product or service for your clients, which fits inside that box. The only rule is that in order for it to fit, your product or service needs to be able to deliver on the 4 points above.

Why bother?

It changes everything. If you take the time to get it right, you’ll find yourself speaking with highly motivated potential clients. People will need very little encouragement to hire you or buy from you. Plus, your existing clients will be eagerly telling their friends and contacts about your services and your business.

Make no mistake, this process requires creative thinking. And it takes guts, too. Why? Because whatever you decide to place in the box, will by default, be different from what your competitors are doing. And it takes courage to stand out, to zig when everyone else zags.

Is it worth it?

In my experience, (both with my client’s businesses and my own) the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. It’s easier, more profitable and far less stressful to have products or services that pretty-much sell themselves.