Daily Sales Tip: Great Sellers Take the Longer View

Great sellers are not immune to lousy meetings. They sometimes miss a cue, get distracted, make decisions to abort the effort too soon, or too late. Sometimes they mis-target, short change the research effort or just come across a prospect who's there to win the session, which usually means to lose the opportunity.

So great sellers experience what the rest of us do as well, episodic failure. The difference between the remarkable sellers and the rest of the pack is that the exceptional performer doesn't judge himself by an unfortunate outcome. That is to say, he doesn't become that failed visit. That's just not who he is.

The great seller takes a much longer view. The bad call was an occurrence; an event, rather than an inevitable outcome in the absence of sheer luck. He sees it for what it is; a moment in time...a short moment over a long time period. So, he doesn't get down. His self-image doesn't take a "hit." He either has an immediate take on what fell through or makes an artful analysis. If no answer satisfies in either case, he moves on, comfortable in the knowledge that, "hey, stuff happens." It's not a defining moment. There are lots of folks out there to meet with and help. Tomorrow's another day, as is the day after.

Great sellers don't get down and lose time. They get challenged. They never stop learning and growing and trying to make life/business better for all with whom they come in contact.

They take a longer view.

4 in 10 Seek American-Made Vehicles First

Here's a bit of good news for those venturesome souls who are buying up stock in the back-from-the-dead General Motors: A Rasmussen Reports poll fielded this month finds 41 percent of respondents saying they look for an American-built car first when they're in the market for a vehicle.

That nearly equals the 44 percent who said they look for "the best possible deal regardless of where it was manufactured." Just 12 percent said they look first for a foreign-built car.

The buy-American constituency has risen significantly since a similar Rasmussen poll in June 2008, when it stood at 32 percent. And the best-possible-deal vote has declined from its June figure of 51 percent.

Of course, with factories that build foreign-based brands having proliferated in the U.S., it's more complicated now to decide just what constitutes an American-made car. Forty-one percent of respondents subscribed to the view that buying a foreign brand of car that's manufactured in the U.S. is "the same as buying an 'American' product." Forty-two percent dissented from that notion, and the rest were unsure.

Looking at the matter another way, the poll found 59 percent saying they "consider just the Detroit Big Three -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler -- to be American car companies."

(Source: Adweek, 11/19/10)

Consumers Set High Bar for Cause Marketing

It wasn't long ago that "cause-related marketing" was a novelty. Then it turned into a necessity -- something companies had to do if they wished to be welcome in polite society. Now, as the new edition of Edelman's annual Goodpurpose study makes clear, consumer expectations have evolved in such a way that companies must make sure their involvement with causes amounts to much more than a marketing ploy.

These days, found Edelman, consumers set the bar high for companies when it comes to their involvement in social issues. Among respondents to polling in the U.S. (fielded in August), 87 percent agreed that "business needs to place at least equal weight on society's interests" as it does on its own interests. And this can't be just a matter of handing one of those oversized checks to some charity: 62 percent said it's "no longer enough for corporations to give money; they must integrate good causes into their everyday business." Of course, this doesn't mean money is a trivial aspect of corporate commitment to good purposes, as 63 percent of respondents also said they "expect brands to donate a portion of their profits to support a good cause."

According to Mitch Markson, chief creative officer at Edelman and founder of its Goodpurpose study, "It's a matter of brands ingraining the cause into their DNA." And that, in turn, means the cause should have some plausible connection to the brand's own business. "I think it speaks to the need for a company to ask what its business purpose is and to find its cause through that purpose. If you go back to what is the purpose of the brand or company, I think there's a natural pathway to finding a cause," he says.

Mitch Baranowski, principal and chief creative officer at BBMG (a firm whose specialties include analyzing consumer interest in corporate behavior vis-à-vis environmental and other issues), concurs on the importance of choosing a cause that truly fits the company's core identity. Speaking of "conscious consumers" who are alert to matters like corporate social responsibility, he says, "They see companies and causes in a holistic sense. While they often see the benefit of more traditional cause-related marketing, they are candidly more interested in seeing companies be the cause -- for example, Tom's Shoes and Newman's Own -- rather than engage in 'stick-on' cause-related marketing that risks being inauthentic if done poorly." Drawing the implication of this for companies, he says, "If you are to engage in cause marketing, do so in a way that is authentic to your brand. The cause should be relevant to your consumer set and align with who you are and what you do. It shouldn't be an order dictated by the C-suite for no apparent reason."

'A UNIQUELY POWERFUL POSITION'

If consumers expect a lot from business in committing to good causes, it's because they think it's capable of a lot -- and perhaps all the more so in an era of skepticism about what government can and should do. Eighty percent of Edelman's respondents agreed that "corporations are in a uniquely powerful position to make a positive impact on good causes."

Happily for marketers, it's not purely a matter of imposing obligations on companies. Consumers will also reward a company that makes engagement with good causes an integral part of the way it does business: 72 percent in the Edelman polling said they're "more likely to purchase a product from a company that supports good causes and has fair prices than a company that simply offers deep discounts." And while a willingness to pay a premium for cause-supporting products is less than universal, 34 percent said that, in the past six months, they've "purchased a brand that supports a good cause even if it was not the cheapest." That dovetails with the findings of recent polling by BBMG in which 81 percent of respondents said they bought more "socially and environmentally friendly products and services" in the past year than they'd done in the preceding year.

Consumers will also enlist as unpaid spokespeople for brands they believe have a purpose beyond just making profits. Sixty-six percent of Edelman's respondents subscribed to the statement, "I would help a brand promote their products or services if there is a good cause behind them." Surprisingly, given the foibles of human nature, the impulse to reward good corporate deeds seems more common than the inclination to punish bad ones. If a company failed to engage with worthy causes, 34 percent "would criticize it to others" and 36 percent would "refuse to buy its products/services."

CONSUMERS AS PARTICIPANTS

If a company does integrate cause-supporting behavior into its normal operations, rather than making it a conspicuous add-on, does this raise a danger that consumers won't notice its good deeds and give credit for them? Not if the company makes a point of involving consumers in the cause-supporting action -- as, for instance, Pepsi (an Edelman client) has done with its Pepsi Refresh project, which invites consumer input in choosing causes to be funded. In the social networking era, people expect and seek such participation, especially since they feel it will yield the most benefit for good causes. Edelman found 74 percent of respondents agreeing that "brands and consumers could do more to support good causes by working together."

Says Markson: "To me, it's about whether the consumer is partnering with and participating with companies to do something good. If you're involving consumers in your community of cause, we'll all get the credit."

This also empowers consumers to affect the corporate world in a way they normally cannot. Says Markson of such corporate-consumer cooperation on behalf of causes: "It allows consumers to put their mark on it. They can't be involved in setting price or developing product, but they can be involved in defining a company's engagement with a cause."

The long economic downturn has lent a greater urgency to this. Markson notes that the overseas portion of the Goodpurpose polling found people in emerging markets "have higher expectations of companies on social issues than we do in the West, because they're closer to social need." The bad economy here may be creating a kind of global convergence in that regard as economic hardship bites harder for many in the developed countries. This also blurs the divide between self-interest and social interest. Says Markson: "Thinking about 'me' may also be thinking about a social issue, because it might affect 'me.'"

When Edelman asked respondents in the U.S. to identify the causes they'd like to see companies engage in, "alleviating hunger and homelessness" topped the list, cited by 89 percent. "Maybe we're getting closer to the need here, too," Markson says.

(Source: Brandweek, 11/16/10)

Used-car shortage strains dealers, boosts lenders

An industrywide shortage of newer, more desirable used cars is a hardship for dealers looking for used inventory and for customers looking for a bargain, but it's a windfall for auto lenders, which have stopped losing millions of dollars on depreciated off-lease cars and trucks.

For example, the volume of off-lease vehicles coming back to Ford Motor Credit Co. will fall in 2011, echoing a drop in retail volume in 2008 and 2009.

Ford Credit expects only around 230,000 lease terminations in 2011, down from 400,000 this year, says CFO K.R. Kent. That's a decline of 43 percent.

For dealerships, a shortage of off-lease cars, trade-ins and former rental cars has retailers scrambling to buy newer used vehicles. As a result, those vehicles are more expensive. And dealerships are buying more off-lease units instead of sending them back to the lender to be auctioned off.

“As auction values have improved, we have seen lease return rates decline,” Kent said this month at a conference sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.

Fewer returns
In the third quarter, 61 percent of Ford Credit lease terminations came back to Ford Credit, down from 70 percent a year ago. Ford Credit's average 3-year-old off-lease vehicle fetched $16,235 at auction in the third quarter, up from $15,615 a year earlier.

The shortage of off-lease units is helping to drive up used-car prices for the whole industry.

Auction firm Adesa Inc. reported that the average wholesale used vehicle was $9,768 in October, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier. Tom Kontos, Adesa executive vice president, said auction prices may vary seasonally, but overall, tight supplies of used vehicles should continue to support used-vehicle prices for the rest of 2010 and into 2011.

Better results
That's generating much better auction results on off-lease units for auto lenders such as Ford Credit. Instead of more or less automatically losing money on lease returns, in some cases auto lenders can actually come out ahead on off-lease cars and trucks that retained their value better than expected.

Adam Berger, vice president of sales for Milwaukee-based Doering Leasing Co., told a recent finance summit that his company's corporate lease clients are recovering up to $5,000 each on off-lease cars because the cars have appreciated so much in value. His clients include big corporations that lease fleets of cars for the use of their employees.

Most leases are closed-ended. That means the lender bears the risk that the car may be worth less than the residual value that is set at the beginning of the lease. Of course, the lender also can reap the reward if the actual value of the off-lease unit turns out to be greater than expected. That rarely happened before this year, but the rise in used-car values has made it happen for several auto lenders.

In contrast, Doering clients have so-called open-ended leases. In their case, the fleet customer bears the residual risk — and reaps the reward, Berger said.

At Ford Credit, improved residual values in the third quarter accounted for an improvement in pretax earnings of about $100 million, the company said last week.

Digital Advertising Is Driving Growth of Traditional Media

Traditional advertising investments in television, print, radio and out-of-home are projected to grow only 1.8% but digital advertising investments in these media will grow by an estimated 28%, spurring total 3.6% growth in traditional media categories, according to Jack Myers Media Business Report's Media Vision 2020: Media, Advertising and Marketing Economic Health Report 2010-2020. The Report projects total 2010 U.S. marketing communications and advertising investments will grow 3.2% to $601.5 billion. The newly recalibrated data includes 57 media and marketing categories and, for the first time in any advertising analysis, breaks down digital and traditional investments for 14 traditional media and marketing categories.

Consumer print magazine advertising is projected to increase 1.0%, but magazine publishers' digital advertising is estimated to increase 8.5% to nearly one billion dollars, driving magazine publishers' combined growth to 1.4%.

The new Myers Report includes detailed data on advertiser investments in Online Originated Display Advertising, Online Originated Video Content & Advertising, Mobile & Apps Advertising, Satellite/Internet Radio Advertising, Interactive/VOD/Addressable TV Advertising, Point-of-Influence/GPS Advertising, Videogame Advertising, Social Media/Word-of-Mouth/Conversational Marketing, Offline Public Relations, Branded Entertainment/Product Placement, Search Marketing (Online/Mobile), Experiential/Event Marketing, Cinema Advertising and Out-of-Home/Place-Based Advertising.

The report eliminates the traditional barriers between above and below-the-line marketing budgets. Marketers are integrating their budget allocations to reflect the increasing cross-over between their marketing and sales functions, which have historically been separated. This trend is especially apparent in social media, which is growing 50% to $1.2 billion in 2010. (Most Facebook advertising is accounted for within the new Online Originated Display Advertising category, is which increasing 9.2%.)

Small Business Saturday Planned for November 27

U.S. Consumers Encouraged to Join the Movement and Spread the Word

First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday. Now, on November 27, comes Small Business Saturday, a day to support the local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods around the country. Small Business Saturday is a national movement to drive shoppers to local merchants across the U.S.

Joining American Express OPEN, the small business unit of American Express, in declaring the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday, are an initial group of more than a dozen advocacy, public and private organizations. To support Small Business Saturday, American Express has launched a comprehensive national advertising campaign that includes a heavy Radio component.

Small businesses are critical to the nation's overall economy. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were nearly 28 million small businesses in the United States last year. Over the past two decades, they created 65 percent of net new jobs. Their importance to local communities extends even further. For every $100 spent in locally-owned, independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures, according to the small business advocacy group The 3/50 Project.

"Small business is the engine of job creation in the US economy," said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer, American Express. "It is also among the sectors hardest hit by the recession. By spreading the word about Small Business Saturday, we can help raise awareness about the critical role small businesses play in cities and towns across the country at a time when they need support the most."

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds communities together, and we've always sought new ways to support them -- something that became even more important when the national economic downturn began," said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "When Ken Chenault told me about his idea for Small Business Saturday, I jumped at the opportunity to participate. We've all heard about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, if you have the opportunity to shop on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, make it a point to visit local small businesses. It really can make an enormous difference for merchants trying to succeed."

"When we invest in small businesses, we are investing in Main Streets -- the places that give our towns and cities a unique sense of place," said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which includes the National Trust Main Street Center. "By celebrating Small Business Saturday and shopping at independent businesses, everyone can play a part in strengthening our economy and supporting revitalization on our Main Streets."

(Source: American Express, 11/08/10)

Daily Sales Tip: The Shorter the Better

You have to ask questions that truly engage the customer. However, this doesn't mean you need to develop complex questions.

Instead, the best tactic is to ask shorter ones. Long questions tend to result in short answers, while short questions will generally result in long answers.

An example of a great short question is, "Why?" In my opinion, there isn't a better follow-up question you can ask after the customer has shared with you some information.

Consider how your customers would respond to other short examples like, "Can you elaborate on that?" and "Could you explain more?" These shorter questions elicit detailed responses and that's just what you want.

On the other hand, asking complex questions often tends to perplex customers. Because they are not sure what you are looking for, they respond with the universal answer representing total confusion, "What did you say?"

Questions should not be your means of showing your customers that you are an expert. Save that for your statements.