Twitter Gets a "No" from Business Expert Steve Strauss

Alan J. Zell

Twitter gets a NO . . .

Kevin, Your article and the two responses by Frank and “Sales Training” are like putting candy before a starving boy. Thank you, all three!

Kevin, you wrote “We're in business to help our customers accomplish something. We do that, in part, by selling a product or service.” I guess you realize that there are not a lot of people who see it your or our way. The challenge, especially with working with startups and new businesses, is to convert them from thinking that they want to sell what they want to sell. No potential customer/buyer cares what they want to sell unless it does for the customer what the customer can’t, don’t,, won’t do for themself.

Add to this that part of the job of selling is to help their customer profit from what they’ve bought. Profit not by a lower cost, although that may be a factor but not the only or most important one, but profit by allowing the customer to profit from use, making them more efficient, turnover, or their helping their customers profit from what the customer sells to them.
When a customer finds that what they buy from a resource, they stay with that resource, which is a more profitable for the resource because there is little or no marketing costs for these second sales – add-on, repeats, sales by referral.

This “help make one’s customers make profit from what one sells” starts at the raw material or originator of a service or other intangible . . . and it continues at each transfer up the line until it gets to the end user or, even in some cases, to those the end user interfaces with. Profit has many meanings and, in my estimation, it comes down to customers believing they have bought the right product and/or service . . again, at each level upwards.

I love your statement, “The proof of this is in the lousy service most of us get when we are customers.” I would like to take it a bit further. It is, often, the same people who are responsible for the lousy service they or their firm gives are the first one to complain and gripe about the lousy service they get from their suppliers or resources. When they make decision that end up as lousy service is due to trying to do it at the lowest cost and when they complain/gripe they do it because they believe that they are not getting their money’s worth. The expressions “do unto others.. . “ and “if the shoe fits . . . “ are voiced but not followed.

As an exercise for some of my clients where service given could be improved, I give them a form with a line down the middle – the left side of the line for listing the good service they’ve received as a customer, the right side for poor service they’re received as a customer. The left side rarely gets to be more than on one page. The right side calls for additional pages. After I get their exercise back, I wait a week or 10 days and then ask them to look at all the things they wrote on the right side and see if their business is doing the same things to their customers. It’s eye opening for them to realize what their customers might be facing. Changes do take place but it’s a slow process as one change can cause a domino effect.

I did not read Steve’s article that you commented on “Steve suggests we shouldn't want our customers too engaged in our businesses” and that you disagree with him. You and I agree on this. I call it “practicing business etiquette.” Etiquette, be it social or business etiquette, is making the unfamiliar familiar. Easy to say, not always easy to do.

As to Twitter or other social (business) networks. If a business, as you said, would do the due diligence they should do with other marketing methods, they would find that it is, as are all other marketing formats, not what the proponent say they are. None are the perfect answer. It takes multiple uses of multiple methods to be most effective. Which ones, including traditional methods as well as social networking should be an integral parts of one marketing mix takes time and study to decide which is best to use. Taking on a new fad without, as you said, without the planning will be wasted time, effort and momey.

Frank commented on brand and its importance. If one changes the term “brand” or “branding” to “customer awareness,” their approach to what they do will change considerably. Brands as well as customer awareness can be negative or positive . . . all decided as to how the firm and its products or services are seen by current, prospective and past customers. A firm cannot control it but they can influence it.

Mrs. Training’s son, Sales, has it right in that it is the relationships that are built and crumble or built and stay up. It’s all theater and the business and its people are the play and the cast, the products and services are the settings. When customers leave they ask themself or others, “How did I/we like it?” How many performances will the play run?

Well, I’ve had my fill of candy. Thanks for the present. I was very hungry and you three helped satisfy my hunger.

Alan

Alan J. Zell, Ambassador of Selling, Attitudes for Selling
Attitudes for Selling offers consulting, workshops and speaking on all business topics that affect sales. He can be reached at azell@aol.com or via www.sellingselling.com.