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Archives: June 2010

Jun 9, 2010 0

Spending Review Framework

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There’s a UK government spending review going on before the new coalition’s upcoming emergency budget. The figures are mind-boggling, so for sanity I thought I’d note the nine tests now newly applied to all spend.

Slightly edited for their corporate use, it’s spooky how applicable they would be to credit crunch slammed buying constraints that solution sellers are likely to encounter for some time to come:

  1. Is it essential to meet (stated) priorities?
  2. Do (we) need to fund it?
  3. Does it provide “substantial economic value”?
  4. Can it be targeted at (areas) most in need?
  5. Can it be provided at lower cost?
  6. Can it be provided more effectively?
  7. Can it be provided by (someone else)?
  8. Can (other) providers be paid by results?
  9. Can (we internally) provide the activity instead?

I wonder how helpful it’d be to place any mooted new spend within this framework?

My hunch is that a cheeky page in a Prop, over the next month or so that this remains topical, may well show you as more worthy than any adversary’s pitch, hidden or visible.

Jun 9, 2010 0

Chocolate Pitch

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I’ve seen a documentary series on one man’s efforts to establish a new type of (dark, perhaps almost bitter) luxury chocolate to the all too sweet craving English taste buds. Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory follows our eponymous hero spend every last penny (and more) he has in pursuit of his dream.

One fascinating exchange shows him meeting the relevant buyer at trendy department store Selfridge’s. He was pitching his cacao-based barrel shaped bars as a posh cooking ingredient.

We see him walk into the meeting room. Within a nanosecond, he pulls out a chocolate cake and offers up a piece.

In sales terms, this is remarkable. The inference is clearly that this was a first meeting. Yet there was absolutely no questioning up front. Willie knew nothing about what the guy was after, how he decided what he’d stock, what drove his stocking vision.

I can’t think of any solution based meeting that would effectively start with the product demo. He compounded my misery by stating, ‘this is the best chocolate cake you’ll have ever tasted’. Unbelievable! The usual reaction to this kind of statement is a silent “we’ll see about that shall we”, rapidly followed by an inevitable negativity in the mind’s ear of the prospect.

Yet Willie was rescued. The buyer loved the cake. Willie’s stated vision was to make the world’s best chocolate. If you really are after breaking the mould, and truly have the product to back it up, then maybe (just maybe) you can get away with this.

Whilst we were spared the close (if indeed there was one), Willie had all sorts of barriers to success here, not least of which were having to educate anew the consumer, and deciding to major on the ingredient aspects, when all his informal research suggested that his drink (’choc-shocks’) and bar would be better starting points. But at least he got his foot in the door and started a relationship. I hope it’s a fruitful one.

Jun 9, 2010 0

No Shoeshine Trickledown

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I wonder how difficult it would be for rolling news channels to find anyone with kind words to say about FIFA President Sepp Blatter if they held a debate on the good the World Cup brings its host country? Given the media I’ve witnessed in S Africa none appear forthcoming there.

Even as kick-off approaches, the local population match excitement with resentment. Looking forward to the party for sure, but lamenting the absence of legacy. White elephant stadiums, untackled transport inadequacies, ignored infrastructure requirements and no dividend reaching the people whom need it most. It’s not pretty.

One place where this was pointed out to me was in Bloemfontein. A World Cup host city, potholes in the town centre streets remain and the new road to their small airfield is unfinished yet the airport itself is nicely rebuilt, albeit without public transport links to the city or even a proper taxi rank.

In the departure room, there’s a shoeshine service. I’ve been there a few times lately, normally with a Second Avenue induced sluggishness and on one memorable occasion a crazy Wild Boar hangover from Langenhoven Park. I’ve never seen the shoeshine service utilised.

On my final visit, I was buried in my laptop trying to simultaneously type and join my closing flight’s queue, when I realised the young shoeshine man was talking to me. He was touting for business. He simply stated that he was a shoeshiner and asked whether I’d like my footwear polished.

Why was he there? Was it all part of drive to yield World Cup benefits? Was it simply a typical SA airport service? How did he make his money?

It seemed like such a missed opportunity. Especially as he’d taken the step already to actively approach potential customers.

The marketing and sales pincers of a shoeshiner attack must be well documented. From offering the comfy chair in an otherwise seat-less environment, a paper to read, even a shot of coffee to sales tactics such as pitching against oneself doing the job, the distance since last attention and the improved stature gained from the professionally completed job, a smile and a nudge go a long way.

Although a vital step in the right direction, one often not taken, it’s not enough just to approach. You’ve got to know what to say once there.

Jun 8, 2010 0

Penalty Precision

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In S Africa for the World Cup at the moment my main focus is on keeping out of the storms and how to avoid my natty St George wing mirror covers being pinched off my car.

Over four years ago, I blogged about how missing a stone can aid sales success, and just today, I read how psychologists recommend you score a penalty; you ignore the goalie.

Luckily, this wasn’t news to me (I never had a competitive pen saved. Never.) but it does add more weight to the argument that focusing on a problem only enlarges the loom of that problem. Better to think of the solutions, or the vacant areas of goal-line if you will.

I was also intrigued to see confirmation that raised anxiety rates are detrimental to success. You are in control. And it pays to remember so.

One point not considered in the article, is that when I took pens, I got into the habit of staring into one specific corner, subtly making a point of taking aim. I ensured that the keeper spotted this. I then always drove into the other corner. The keeper always dived the other way. One-nil.

Jun 3, 2010 0

O’Leary’s Corporate Power Pitch

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Ryanair are an anomaly of a company. I myself have flown with them. Yet after several underwhelming experiences, for a few years now I’ve not taken up the offer of their services.  I remain intrigued how in this day and age a company that shows such scant disregard, contempt even, towards the concept of ‘customer service’ can not only survive, but strikingly thrive.

Whilst I find their sobriquet among the disaffected, “pikeyair”, and for that matter the equivalent for their similar competition (EasyJet’s of “sleazyjet”), a tad harsh, especially given the British disgrace of knocking the successful, the pronouncements of their boss, Michael O’Leary, whilst often entertainingly the opposite of anodyne corporate doublespeak, tend to do very little to endear the flying public towards him and his wares. (By way of illustration, see this 1 June WSJ blog post)

Their exceptional annual results heralded typically belligerent rolling news soundbites from the man himself. I was so taken with the sales savvy of his words that I scribbled them down straight away as follows, after he stated that for 99% of passengers, the only thing that matters is price:

The first question people ask is not ‘who’s got the best wine list’ but ‘who’s got the cheapest price’. If you’ve got the cheapest price you win. We’re like the Tesco of the air; people might not love us but they’ll certainly fly with us.

It was a masterclass in pitching. My immediate thought was that anyone could adopt his structure and position their strengths in such a way. Think about what facts he frames.

He knows his number one strength (low price) and mercilessly pushes it. He adds power to it by comparison with the unnecessary bells and whistles of competition. Whilst I never commend the wanton slagging off of competitors, his technique can be gotten away with. He continues by aligning to an admired blue-chip from a different industry (retail giant Tesco, only bettered in size worldwide I read the other day by Carrefour next and Wal-Mart top). And does so in usual fashion by exposing their possible ‘fault’ in an advantageous way.

In addition, this is a lovely approach for any new product or new company direction you wish to plug.

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