New Site for Demographic Research/Focus Group Planning
I ran across this site called City Data today that has some very interesting information about every city and town in the United States. They also have some very informative lists, including the Top 100 Cities with Old Houses but Young Residents, and Top 100 Highly-Educated but Low-Earning Cities.
The potential use of this information for quick market demographics, presentation fodder, and research equivalents is high—it’s free for now, and I’m assuming it all comes from Census data.
Agencies: 7 Ways to Improve Your New Business Pitch Deck
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Typically, a powerpoint deck ends up being the focal point of a pitch. The following are some of my personal opinions on how they should be structured, and how much (or little) they should say.
1. Don’t use agenda slides: Agendas are for meetings when people can refer to them all the time. Noone’s going to remember what order you’re going to present your information in, so you’re wasting time anyway. If you *must* use an agenda, print out an agenda, and hand it to your audience members.
2. Don’t use people’s titles when introducing team members: Your title doesn’t mean jack to a prospective client. Your *role* does. Instead of using “John Smith: VP, Program Management & Delivery”, try “John Smith: Your Account Lead”.
3. NEVER start a pitch talking about yourself. They know who you are, or else you wouldn’t be in the room. In some cases, there may be attendees who don’t know the company—for those, find out beforehand how many plan to attend, and send some information up-front about your agency. A minute talking about ourselves is a minute we’re not talking about the client. It’s a minute wasted.
4. Decks that have “Our philosophy on...” sections are deadly. Seriously. Don’t get me wrong. Its important to have a viewpoint on a subject. The deadly part is to NOT personalize that viewpoint for a client. For example, in a pitch about CRM, please don’t start with “Our viewpoint on CRM”, using a boilerplate diagram. Instead, find out what CRM means for the client and her industry, and create a viewpoint for it. Take a stand, even if you’re making assumptions. If you think they have no business doing CRM, stay that. If you think they should be focusing on channels instead, say that—customize your viewpoint.
5. Give them all your ideas. Think hard about the client’s industry, come up with great ideas as if we were late for a 3 million dollar deadline, and give it all to them in the pitch. No kidding. We’re often too afraid to do that, because we think clients might steal the ideas and use them with someone else. Yeah? So what? Let ‘em. A client that does that is a client not worth having. So dig up those ideas, get them crystal clear, and make a statement.
6. Don’t be afraid to be creative. The people who are listening to you are just that—people. They enjoy the same jokes that you do, and have similar motivations. Tap into that human element, and create something that can break the ice, if necessary.
7. Don’t be verbose. I can’t stress this enough. It is our tendency to put as much information on a slide as possible. The motivation behind this is simple: You want to show that you’ve done a lot of research, and have a lot to say. DON’T! Put just enough information to have a discussion point, memorize the information (better yet, LEARN it), and then talk about it. It’s much more impressive to see someone who knows information about your business than someone who’s been able to format it neatly into a PowerPoint slide.
Loyalty versus Appreciation
In responding to an RFP for a major consumer retailer today, I was struck by a definition that’s deceptively simple: Loyalty Programs incent customers towards positive future behavior. Appreciation Programs reward customers for past loyalty to the brand.
These definitions highlight the problem with a number of existing consumer brands.
Take, for example, AT&T Wireless, with whom I have been a customer since 1998. My average monthly wireless bill is around $600.00. I have three separate wireless phone numbers with AT&T, and upgrade my phone at least every six months, paying full retail value.
Traditional “loyalty” thinking will tell you that AT&T Wireless should not spend any additional money giving me incentives because I’m going to continue to spend the same amount of money whether they give me a rebate, or points, or anything of the sort. They would, in fact, be right.
What AT&T Wireless seems to have forgotten, though, is that I happen to know that I’m a damned important customer of theirs. I happen to know that I’m in the 90th percentile of their high-spend customers. I also happen to notice that I get absolutely no special treatment. No occasional email or letter thanking me for my business. No special phone number to call so I don’t have to wait 20 minutes in a call-queue. No appreciation.
As a result, I have decided to take my business elsewhere—I’m courting other carriers, armed with my AT&T Wireless statements, and seeing what they’ll offer. I’d do it even if I were getting miles for my dollars spent; or a $10 rebate for every $1000 spent. I don’t want discounts, I want appreciation.
Consumer companies that subscribe to the logical segmentation of customers, and identify “high value customers” who don’t need a lot of communication will do well to consider fixed-cost high-perceptive-value appreciation programs that help keep the customer happy.
Ameniti: New Loyalty Concept from United
So, United Airlines has launched a new subsidiary called Ameniti. The concept is promoted as a concierge-based, upscale travel club. The primary benefit to the membership (now at charter status, at around $400 per year) is the ability to get a same-class ticket for every ticket purchased on United. Which, if you’re traveling overseas, is a pretty good deal.
I have an update on this: In a more recent article, I take an in-depth look at Ameniti, and why it’s actually a brilliant marketing scam.
Marketing Ladder Sifts Through Clutter
Friday, June 18, 2004
Mark Cendella, formerly of HotJobs, has created a new way for the marketing executive to keep apprised of hot new marketing job opportunities: he’s created MktgLadder, a newsletter and Web site that sifts through thousands of marketing jobs from various job sites and corporations, finds the most promising ones, and lists then in one convenient location.