Two Cents by Parissa Behnia

Monday, September 12, 2011

Social Media Half Life & A 50th Anniversary...

My parents will be celebrating their golden (50th) anniversary next week. It's quite an accomplishment for anyone who makes it this far because marriage requires a lot of hard work. I'm biased, of course, but my parents make it seem rather easy breezy. Here's how I think they do that:

They like each other.
They celebrate each other's strengths and complement the other stuff.
They respect each other.
They listen to each other.
They enjoy each other's company.
They can spend some time apart.
They appreciate one another.
They compromise.
They apologize.

In other words, they are in constant pursuit of a life together that's well lived and meaningful on their terms. They share the good times with each other and try to forget the bad ones.

What of Social Media?

Our friends at Hubspot published this blog post last week covering bit.ly's research on the relative "half life" of a shared link across social media platforms. The gory details are as follows:

The mean half life of a Twitter link is 2.8 hours.
For Facebook, it's 3.2 hours.
It's 3.4 hours if delivered via email or instant messaging.
On YouTube, it's a whopping 7.4 hours.

The research goes on to conclude that it's not where you decide to share the content but it's the quality of the content in and of itself that matters. Hooray!

If a social media tree falls in a forest...

and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Look, I'm happy that the research shows that it's not where but what it is that gets shared... So, whatever channel you choose to receive information is no less worthy than another channel. However, I find it depressing that a link only lives for a few hours until the next bon mot type of link comes along because we're all fighting for share of eyeballs.

The replacement rate of all of this quality content boggles the mind. It's not that I doubt the quality, it's just that it's impossible to appreciate the quality truly and it makes me wonder:

If it is true that it's quality that rises to the top, why do we need so much of the quality all the time?
What do we miss when the mean half life of a link is only a few hours?
What's the opportunity cost of this short period of time?
What if the best people to read what you share aren't online that day?

What does this have to do with an anniversary?

Relationships last because we take the time to celebrate the details and intricacies of one another. We remember favorite things, eye colors and bucket lists. We talk, we ask questions and yes, sometimes we even bicker. All of these things take time to appreciate truly. All of these things are, though small, not fleeting.

Instead of fighting for share of eyeballs, let's fight for share of mind or even share of thought. I realize it's a romantic notion and I might look a little foolish for suggesting it. But, given the amount of information overload these days, it may just be that what I'm asking for is not so silly after all.

What's your take on the social media half life?

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Child of the 80's...

So, my sister and I took a road trip to scenic Door County, Wisconsin. Good times were had and I do recommend a trip to Wilson's in Ephraim. The ice cream is homemade and top notch.

On the drive home, we listened to an 80's CD which included The Fixx, Level 42, Soft Cell, Culture Club, you name it. For the next hour, we sang every song word for word and knew exactly how old we were and what we were doing when those songs were popular. We had smiles on our faces and fond memories dancing in our heads even though we were teenagers then with all of the awkward trappings, thick glasses and bad hair.

To get you "in the mood" for this post, I've shared an "oldie but goodie" video.

True love has no ending.

In my last post, I quoted a Rev Run tweet which suggested that true love has no happy ending, rather it is that true love has no ending. And I've suggested before that we have an obligation as product/service providers to let our customers know how much they are appreciated regardless of the size of business they've given us.

So, this means that at a moment's notice, if a customer should happen to think of our company or one of our employees, it should be with a fond smile and happy thoughts. Our customers should be able to recount the number of different ways they are made to feel "special" because we listen and offer solutions that help their wallet instead of thinking of our own.

What does this have to do with Depeche Mode?

You could swap in a hair band in place of DM if that was more your thing. Regardless of the genre, these bands and their music videos were a seminal part of an 80's child's growth and history. They fed the environment, contributed to experiences and allow us to bond with others today (A.G. and B.P-S.). Without these iconic images, we may not be able to recall ourselves at a particular point in time nor will we have a framing of sorts for how we react culturally (or otherwise) to things today.

And so too, we should be thought of as a key part of our customer's growth and history. They should be able to think of significant milestones and link our activities to the accomplishment of those milestones. They should be able to set goals in the future that include our participation in helping them achieve those goals.

If we continue to do right by them, we will be inextricably linked just as those 80's jams are inextricably linked to me today. What's your perspective? And if you are a child of the 80's, what was your #1 tune?

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
Twitter

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

1 Lesson From Real Housewives of NJ

There are a lot of things one can learn from the ladies of New Jersey and they don't include table flipping, hair pulling or drama though those are all admirable.

Instead, in a recent episode, I learned the art of the sale in action. And no, it clothing sold at Posche though Kim D. is quite a determined salesperson. Instead, today's lesson comes courtesy of Soul Diggaz.

Who? Soul Diggaz.

As many of you know, Melissa Gorga hopes to be a R&B singer one day. We've heard snippets including her famous misquote of "Amazing Grace" (... that saved a wench like me...) but it's fair to say that she can carry a tune. In a recent episode, a meeting was ~~autotuned~~ ~~engineered~~ set up with Soul Diggaz, a production team that has worked with brand name artists, came to the Gorga home for a mini audition.

They listened to her sing intently and politely. When she finished, Corte established his expertise by saying that as he has been singing since the age of two and he can identify singers. And he said she can sing. K-Mack politely agreed but then added she needs to practice up to 15 hours per day.

Both Melissa and her husband were extremely happy - though both did take note of the excessive practice time. Solution? He started to build a studio in their home where he wanted his wine cellar to be before she sees even $1 from her recording career.

A sale in action.

What just happened here? It was a masterful sale. Of course, there must have been numerous things edited out but let's play along with this for a spell. What happened was kind of interesting. What they did that could not be re edited or edited out was to make a few statements in this order: they agreed she had a singing voice and she needs to practice.

The reason why it's significant is the affirmation of her singing and the order in which it came... first! As you know, the typical sales/vendor behavior is to create (or play up) some insecurity or fear if you do not purchase their product/service or if you do not buy the more expensive upgrade.

You're bombarded by everything you're doing wrong with the design that you start to see the salesperson as your only way out of this mess. It's what makes the sales profession look so bad and probably why it's called "business development" these days.

Yes. And.

What's successfully different with Soul Diggaz? They affirmed her conclusion that she could sing. And they offered their conclusion that she needed to practice. They didn't attack her, her conclusion nor did they attack how she arrived at her conclusion.

Their practice comment was a "Yes. And." to her instead which was to dissuade her from thinking that talent and success are linked. And it worked. She was so happy to hear others agree she could sing that the 15 hours of daily practice was something she more than embraced. And she wanted to work with them.

What didn't she hear? A promise that she'd be a chart topper. All they said was she could sing but needed to practice. And that was masterful.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below, send an email or visit with us on the 678 Partners Facebook page. We'd love to visit with you.

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
Twitter

Thursday, July 7, 2011

One Afternoon's Musings...

No, you can't. That was an answer I wanted to give to this unfortunate question that came my way this afternoon:

"Hi! Can I ask you about your hair?"

Background

I've been going non stop since about 5:30am this morning: email, phone calls, drove to 2 different places and walked a few miles around Chicago's Loop in the pursuit of a multitude of complex errands/projects. Like many of you, I've a lot on my mind these days and everything feels like a race against time.

So, there I was on State Street making a mad dash towards a government office where I had to fill out the same form for the third time. It was around 3:30ish, the office closes at 5 and I was meditating on pleasant thoughts so I could wrap this thing up for once and for all. I was ~~a bit~~ very anxious.

It was at that very moment when that question I mentioned above was delivered unto me. I smiled, thanked the woman and declined politely.

That question makes my hair stand on end - pun intended.

I've heard that question before -- either directed to me, to people I'm with or other passersby on the street. I'm always amazed that people think it's a good question and that they coach their staff to ask it. Here's why:

It puts people in a defensive posture particularly as it's hurled at them out of the blue.
For some, hair is sacred. To ask about something sacred in the middle of the street seems... unholy.
It makes people (more) insecure about their looks... especially if they're just starting to recover from a bad cut, for example.
It just might be a wig.
Maybe how it looks is by design.
It's a negative opener.
And so on...

It kind of reminds me of Seinfeld's close talker episode.

What's your natural instinct when someone invades your personal space? You tend to step back or find a way to regain some breathing room. That's exactly the posture I adopt when I hear that question about hair or anything that intrusively direct -- especially when it's so random and out of the blue.

Like the anecdote in this post, typical pushy sales-y vendor behavior like this that make customers and prospects head for the hills. It's out of context and, worse, they're not properly asking for permission. The "Can I..." isn't a request so much as it's better than saying "I'm going to.,."

Ask for permission. Make people feel okay.

It's your mission as a business person to make people feel okay with the decisions they make as they work with you. I've said many a time that our "gut" drives our decision making with the mind rationalizing what we decide. Our job is to attract them to us and not to repel them.

If we, without permission, approach prospects with an opener that makes them insecure or "not okay" like this hair question, it's difficult to engage with them meaningfully. Our mission as product/service providers is to look less like a pesky vendor and more like a critical business advisor.

Let's think about customers or prospects -- have there been times where we've made them feel "not okay" as we've interacted with them? Are there ways that we could be doing better? Please share your thoughts and, if you've liked reading this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
Twitter

Monday, June 27, 2011

12 Most Likely Signs You Never Had the Sale

We’ve all been there. We get ready to meet with a new prospect that we’ve been dying to meet for weeks, months or even years. We know our products, we know our competitor’s products, we’ve memorized our elevator speeches. And somewhere along the way, someone taught us Always Be Closing. We go in with our style tight, our mojo right and expect a sale (or at least a follow up meeting) by twilight.

whomp whomp

You hear news that makes you cancel the mechanical bull upgrade you wanted for the company picnic. That huge sale didn’t happen and yet you were so certain you had it in the bag.

Our view is that it’s best to disqualify yourself from a situation before you are too far “in it” which means to keep asking strategic qualifying questions to understand the true pain such that you can map the solution to the pain. We’ve outlined some signs for you to look for in the next go around.

“Getting to Know You”

1) Let me think it over.

This is not really a desire to think it over. It’s a desire to back out politely without hurting your feelings. It often happens when you are not connecting with the true driver of this meeting: the customer’s pain. If you can’t demonstrate that you can understand, let alone articulate their pain, but you’re eloquent at pitching, then you’re not adding value or helping the customer identify the solution.

2) I will get back to you in a few weeks or months.

The good news is that it’s better than #1. The bad news is that while you may have connected nominally with their pain, someone in their gut says that your competitor just may be a better option. If they tell you they will get back to you in 6 months, delete their number or contact details. Disqualify yourself as soon as you can from situations like this.

3) Lets talk again in a few months.

Better than #1 and somewhat better than #2 as there may be interest in speaking again because you’ve uncovered some of their pain. The trouble is that there is no clear understanding of who is calling whom and for what reason. This is vague and not a good sign. You could certainly display initiative and “go for it” in a few months but be careful not to be too pitchy. Our advice here is again to disqualify yourself.

4) Wow, that sounds really expensive.

Contrary to popular belief, price is never the issue especially if you can demonstrate that you are capable of solving the right business problems. It’s a stalling tactic and it’s an effective one because it distracts from the point of solving their business problem. A similar comment is “I have also heard your competition is 30% cheaper.”

5) This was a great meeting – I want to make sure that I keep you in my list of contacts as we have many projects coming up. Please send your product information to me.

Doh! This means absolutely nothing. We recommend saving rainforests and not sending any follow up brochures. To be polite, send them to your site or LinkedIn profile instead.

6) Tell me about your company’s history.

This is not a capabilities request. It likely comes up when they are not certain why they should be meeting with you and so ask for background. If the question of why is in their mind and (or because) you can’t demonstrate you understand their pain and offer a direct solution, it’s advisable to “cut your losses” and move on to people who are a better fit for you and vice versa.

“Window Shopping”

7) Send me the proposal so I can present it.

Oh dear. As in branding, you own your message. It’s not in your interest to let them state your case for you. This is likely shopping for information to compare with their favorite vendor or to perhaps maneuver you into a negotiating situation that isn’t tenable. Even worse, you’re not able to demonstrate your superior understanding of their business problem vis a vis the competition.

8) How is it that you are different to your competition?

Hmm. When asked this question, it’s because it’s hard to tell the difference in offerings/value proposition/likelihood of delivering best product. You’ve not successfully connected with their pain/emotional drivers nor have you presented in a way that it’s clear to them that your solution solves their pain. This is not a capabilities question because in their mind you are equal to your competitor. They are looking for an emotional reason to connect with you and you’re missing the mark.

9) No need for my boss to be here since I can sign off on the project.

When you hear this, you don't have the right decision maker in front of you. It may be a technically true statement but a boss can slash a budget just as quickly as a boss can make one. You want to make sure you’ve connected with the budget owner as well so that your project is saved and another’s is slashed or cancelled altogether.

10) Can we have a product demonstration?

We think this is a cart before the horse problem and a rather direct technique they use to get information so that they can negotiate with others or create an unhealthy negotiation session with you. To be clear, we don’t think it’s a bad thing to do so much as it’s better to ask and learn about their business first. You may learn that you’re not a fit and disqualify yourself before you give the demonstration thereby protecting your information.

11) We want to change our vendor.

We find this one troubling because there can be inertia in changing a vendor. Your success depends on so many variables like how long have they known the vendor, who else in the company does business with this vendor, if the vendor’s President has a social relationship with the prospect’s President, etc. Once you’ve been fleeced of all relevant information, they will go back to their vendor asking for a discount or something else. And, the current vendor may fight dirty to keep the business.

12) We currently work with Schoolmate/Family Friend but we feel we’ve outgrown them.

This is like #11. Though they may have proof that the schoolmate or family friend is doing an awful job, it’s a sticky wicket trying to “fire” them. Unless you can demonstrate Olympic style feats in your understanding of their business and the solution you offer, it’s best to move on.

What would you add or change about this list? We’d love to get a vibrant conversation going!

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

p.s. This was originally a 12 Most article. Have you ever visited 12 Most? It's worth a look see! You can also follow 12 Most on Twitter and like it on Facebook!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Tale of Two M&Ms

When I was little, I had specific tastes in candy: chocolate, chocolate and chocolate. Anything that deviated from chocolate was strictly forbidden as I viewed any ingredient interlopers as damaging to the overall experience. This was particularly true as my mother strictly (and wisely) regulated how much candy we had at home. In my mind, if I was going to have it so rarely, it may as well be only chocolate.

This was particularly true of M&Ms. If it happened that I were treated to that, it was always going to be the plain ones and I made them last as long as I could by pouring out the contents of the bag, sorting them by color and then eating them two at a time by color. It was, at the time, a religious experience. So much so that if I were offered peanut M&Ms, it was blasphemy to me and not unlike Kryptonite to Superman.

Fast forward to 2011.

I don't have to tell you that as we age (gracefully), our tastes change. It turns out that these days, I don't enjoy chocolate so much as I enjoy chocolate with something else. And, while I still do have a fondness for anything M&M (especially their Facebook page), it turns out that now I turn my back to plain M&Ms in favor of the peanut ones.

I started thinking about this yesterday in particular. We were on the tail end of a 5+ mile walk and I really wanted some sugar (please don't tell Linden). I popped into the drugstore and out of all of the M&M choices in front of me, plain was at the bottom of my list. I walked out with the peanuts.

What was I thinking about? Well, my brand affinity is clearly intact and the value I derive from the brand affinity is clearly intact. What's changed is how both manifest themselves in the purchase decision I made yesterday. I got to thinking how much we pay attention to these shifts in purchase within the product lines that live under the brand umbrella.

Nothing has changed.

Or has it? I'm still buying M&Ms so it's not like they have to worry about the competition but what I'm buying and why I'm buying should matter to them. And that's because it matters to me, the customer, even though it is just a bag of candy that I buy every so often.

And, more importantly, it matters to our customers when they shift how it is they give us their business. I'm wondering at the level of care we have when these shifts happen besides the slicing and dicing of data we pay our CRM teams to do. Other than saying customers have cross shopped, bought a different flavor or gizmo, how else have we been treating the shifts? What were they buying before that is now Kryptonite to their Superman?

I wonder how effective we are at circling around and checking in with our customers. I wonder how good we are at learning about how things are going all the while resisting the urge to pitch something new. How often do we ask:

How are you?
How is business?
Are we helping you?
Have things changed for you and how can we change with these new circumstances?
What can we be doing better that would be helpful to you?
What things have been particularly helpful to you?
And so on...

The Customer Zeitgeist

You've heard me say a before that our emotional drivers are at the core of our decisions and our rational minds justify those decisions. By finding out what's going on in the zeitgeist, the environment or vibe allows us to better understand how our customers have shifted and, more importantly, how we can meet them at the new places to which they have shifted.

Why do this? The point in which they see that we've adjusted with them is the point in which our customers view us less as indifferent and pushy vendors and more as someone as a stake in their success.

What's your take? Please share with me and, if you've enjoyed this read, please share it with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678 Partners
LinkedIn
Twitter

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Pick Any Two: Daniel Newman's Thoughts

A few weeks ago, I wrote about trust which featured an interview with the awesome Dan Newman, CEO of UnitedVisual. Today, I'd like to share with you another of the questions asked of him.

As you'll soon see, I deliberately didn't edit out the guys who randomly walk through as Dan is trying to answer. This is for two reasons. One, this is kind of in keeping with our "on the go" and "spur of the moment" type of vibe we like to have with how I write and also with our 678 Partners vlogs. As to the second reason, I'll get to that in a bit. In the mean and in between, please watch...

I'd like to highlight something that Dan brought up which is critical. Interestingly for us, though we didn't direct him, he went straight to pricing. As he says, price is not the issue. Even in this economy, people will not set aside the important intangible elements like trust as they decide how and why to do business with one another.

To borrow from Talking Heads, it's "same as it ever was" in distressed economic environments. No matter how bad it may seem, pricing still does not supplant how important it is for the customer to feel that the vendor is providing the most appropriate solution for the stated need. In other words, trust always matters.

Price-Quality-Service

We couldn't agree more when Dan explained it nicely in his Price-Quality-Service triangle. When he suggests "pick any two" it's precisely because price is never the single decisive issue for someone when making a purchase decision. Though it may contribute in some instances, the point is that there are intangibles that have a hand in selection: anticipated level of quality or the anticipated level of service.

Let's bring this to real life. All of us have a "gut feel" as we evaluate items for purchase based on our own Price-Quality-Service continuum. I am picky about gas station brands and consequently pay more at the pump even though it's up to $5/gallon here. I have weakness for certain brands of clothing as Amir does for his favorite watches. On the other hand, I have negative hang up about buying private label grocery. I don't lose sleep over store brand peanuts.

In economics, this is very simply called price elasticity. And, we know that there are many factors that play into elasticity like budget and income among others. While I'll never admit to being an awesome economics student, I always felt like much more time and care was spent on the tangibles of elasticity rather than its intangibles. This conversation with Dan brought that home for me even more. The intangibles do matter and we need to spend more time caring for them.

Final Thought

I'd like to go back to why I kept the two guys in the video. The second reason why I kept them in is because it was striking to me how unscripted Dan's answer was. Despite the interruptions, he quickly gave us a succinct direct answer which showed that this idea of trust and how trust is granted live with him in his daily personal AND business life. Both his idea of trust and its granting are in his DNA and manifested in his view of Price-Quality-Service.

Do you have a point of view on Dan's Price-Quality-Service triangle? Please comment below and, if you've liked this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
Twitter

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Why Do We Make Trust A Four Letter Word?

Hi! Please watch this video of Daniel Newman, CEO of United Visual, who is a very smart and all around nice guy:

Amir and I had the pleasure of meeting with Dan last week to learn a little bit more about him, his business, and his management philosophies. There were a host of good things that we discussed and I managed to capture some of that on video. Today, I'd like to capture this first question we asked of him which was specifically around how, as a CEO he grants trust to others.

I've captured some of the things he said that piqued my interest and, needless to say, would like to get your input as well. When he grants trust, it is because he believes:

that someone has the right intentions and has high integrity.
that someone is exactly how they present themselves.
the solutions offered are out of a genuine desire to help.
that it's best to give a little trust ahead of time and watch for results.
that because his time is precious, it's best to earn trust quickly because once you're "on the other side it's hard to gain it back."

Dan the CEO versus Dan the person.

You'll notice that in the beginning of the video that I asked him how, as a CEO, he grants trust. And yet, the answer that Dan gave was as Dan the person and the sincere answer he gave was his personal model that he has adapted for business life. Obviously, Dan the person is Dan the CEO but the lack of context in the answer is what I thought was so interesting as it could have been in any context.

So let's talk about this further. There are a bajillion really good, meaningful and valuable conversations taking place these days about authenticity and transparency in business, social media, etc. And, you could argue that this question about trust fits within all of those good conversations about how human business interactions are taking place these days. And you'd be right to do so.

I guess, sitting back, I wonder that we have to have these conversations in the first place. Beyond our early school years and conversations at the dinner table as kids, we rarely have discussions about the processes we use to grant our trust to others in the context of personal relationships. It's just something that becomes a part of us as we age, mature, have life experiences (good and bad), etc. We don't have to over analyze it per se.

So why over analyze it in business?

Chiefly because we behave other than our authentic selves in our drive to win new customers or keep current ones. The pitch is what matters and we're desperate to push features and benefits of things we want to sell (typically high margin) to people like Dan. But senior leaders like Dan, though they assess a solution/product on its merits, what they are really looking for is a partner who appears to be the real deal.

Senior leaders like Dan want to sense that the person with whom they are engaging genuinely wants to help -- a radically different thing from someone who just wants to pitch. As I said in this post, emotional drivers are the ones that make us give or withhold business. We don't use emotions to justify rational decisions (based on features and benefits). Rather, it's our emotions that color how we value/assess discrete facts and figures -- and ultimately drive what we buy.

If you don't believe me, I ask you to please watch the video again, share your thoughts and, if you've found this an interesting read, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

I'm worth 33 Eaves

That's my share "price" on Empire Avenue as of this writing. Since I joined last week, I've constantly monitored my share price, rejiggered my activity on the site plus other social platforms, speculated by buying shares of unclaimed twitter handles (@rupaul, @revrunwisdom and @bravoandy, I'm waiting...) all in the pursuit of more "value" such as it is.

I've been really focused on driving my price up. I'd hate to think that I have no c/klout, influence, likability, respect, trust, cool factor or whatever makes people popular these days. See, my days of having enormous thick glasses in junior high are still fresh in my mind and I do what I can to purge these memories.

It seems I'm a bit of a hypocrite.

Yes, it's true. But thankfully, I've figured this out early on. See, the problem is that I'm never going to drive my share price up if I keep focusing only on driving my share price up. I've had my blinders on in a big old way in that I've been focusing on myself instead of on YOU. And, if you've read any of my posts from last month, you know how I feel about self interested marketing/business/sales behavior! Doh.

I've said before that people buy based on emotional drivers. I've said that it's not that our emotions justify the rational decisions (discrete facts and figures) we make. It's that our emotions color how we value discrete facts and figures and then drive what we buy. And, work with me, Empire Avenue is no different. Sure, your price is derived by a of social media behaviors but all of those are predicated on "engaging" with others.

My interest is your best interest.

If I sit idly, so does my price -- actually, it may fall. If I am not focused on you, nothing good may yield for neither you nor me. The onus is on me to provide practical value to you to not only invest in me but also perhaps tell your friends about me too. That's the only way that I'll be able to survive in the long term and if survival's truly my goal, my activities are 100% oriented to being good for you.

I've not mentioned Mitch Joel in a while but he wrote a lovely post the other day about utilitarianism in marketing as well as an example of Charmin's "Sit or Squat" app to back his point up. I'm going to excerpt the relevant part here but please do take the time to read it in its entirety. It's worth it.

"The rise of Utilitarianism Marketing is not something we see talked about as much as we should. When something out of the marketing department doesn't have a huge splash around it or a billboard in Times Square for the senior management team to point at, it tends to get yawns. The yawns happen because the numbers don't look the same when benchmarked against traditional mass media or other forms of advertising. Actually giving consumers something valuable seems counterintuitive to most marketing departments because they equate "value" with "cost" and the last thing a marketer wants to do is give something that costs them more money to less people than the heat they are getting from their traditional advertising.

The point is this: if you give something to people that they actually want to use.... no, need to use, they will love you and be loyal to you forever."

I'm still in the game.

The tragedy of the human condition is such that I will still continue to fixate on my share price and the level of "right" behaviors to drive it up. That doesn't change and I'm not going to try to introduce a more zen like approach to Empire Avenue. That said, this lesson for me in this enjoyable game is that it's so easy to fall back on self interested things as opposed to what's best for you.

Having pledged my commitment to your best interest, I've put my ticker below... Won't you consider a purchase? ;). And, if you've liked this post, comment below -- I'd like to become acquainted with you.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
Twitter

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

You Like Me... You Really Like Me!

Okay, so that's not what Sally Field said when she accepted her Oscar in 1985. Here's what she actually did say:

"...I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"

Where is this walk down memory lane coming from? Well, I'm still musing on my last post. Particularly, I am reflecting on how I can be doing a better job to make others my focus as opposed to making my needs my focus. My mantra lately is:

"My interest is your best interest."

In other words, in a cheesy kind of way, I want people to say what Sally Field said long ago when they interact with me. It sounds easy conceptually but it's actually not easy to retrain ourselves to net that result. And the reason is that it requires a certain belief that you reside in a virtuous karmic circle: whatever you provide to others will ultimately be repaid to you. And, it also requires that you hone your skills to identify better those people who can live in that circle with you. Not all people are both givers and takers... A lot are just takers.

Whatever, dude.

Concepts are pretty... They're occasionally even amusing or thought provoking over your favorite beverage. But, they can also be hard to grasp and implement unless we see them in real life... So, what to do in this case? I was just thinking that yesterday when, fortuitously, the universe delivered unto me yet ANOTHER tweet but this time from @SouthwestAir:

"Do you prefer honey roasted peanuts or dry roast peanuts when flying Southwest?"

To which I very quickly replied:

"I do enjoy the honey roasted peanuts! thank you for asking!"

At that moment in time, I felt like Southwest was talking to ME and ME only! They wanted to know if I had a preference which is not often experienced when we travel by plane these days. I felt special. I felt wanted. I felt liked. I may have even harbored warm fuzzies for Southwest. I felt like Sally Field.

Um. Here's where I harbor some human contradiction.

As you know, I wrote this post last month about how I got all excited for in flight wifi courtesy of Southwest that never came to fruition. I felt disappointed and, well, a hair betrayed even.

Do you know that I totally forgot about that post in my excitement over thinking that they cared about what peanuts I like? Yes, friends, something as small as a tiny bag of peanuts completely threw out of my mind an actual customer experience issue I had in real time. And, also, made me forget that tiny crack in the fuselage problem, too! Something as small as a tweet that asked about ME did all of this.

For a moment.

And then I smiled. I realized that one small question that had nothing to do with where Southwest flies, free checked bags, quality of service, etc., made me deepen an emotional tie that I already had with them. That small little tweet about peanuts embodies this:

"My interest is your best interest."

What better practical example exists than a question about peanuts to demonstrate why this mantra is effective? Perhaps more importantly, this practical example shows that the mantra does not have to be reserved for grand gestures only. These little details, these surprise and delight moments matter to people. They feel special, they feel valued and they feel distinctive. And it's what we should be working towards all the time.

What say you? Please comment below and share this with others!

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Two Months or Two Years

"You make more friends in 2 mo's by becoming interested in other people than in 2 yrs trying to get them interested in you. - Dale Carnegie" -- @JeffreyHayzlett

On April 2, my most righteous co organizers and I hosted ProductCamp Chicago at Orbitz. It was well attended by a whole bunch of engaging and engaged Product Managers and Marketers with a great keynote by Ross Kimbarovsky, co founder of Crowdspring. I was lucky enough to have my topic "How to Win the Hearts and Minds of Decision Makers" voted into a presentation slot -- a tremendous honor!

And yet, procrastination and a little bit of anxiety got in the way so I turned to Twitter for some assistance and I was not disappointed! Right when I went to Tweetdeck, that lovely tweet quoting Dale Carnegie flew by. Whew! Thanks, Jeffrey Hayzlett!

We spend a lot of time convincing people every day to buy our services, hire us outright, buy our products, buy our client's products, not buy our competitor's products, not buy our client's competitor's products, etc. It's a never ending odyssey of facts, figures, illustrations. Some even believe that overwhelming people with information will get them to cry out for only the help that we can provide... not unlike a lifeline from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

We've got it wrong.

I submit to you that it's a recipe for tepid short term success and, come to think of it, tepid long term success with a healthy dose of frustration to boot. Oh sure, what we say matters. What I'm suggesting is that how we say it and to whom we say what we say differs by time of day, where we are in the sales cycle, where we are with internal projects that need cross functional support, to which business function we're presenting, etc. We keep making the same sales presentation without bothering to think who might be in the audience and what specific things may be hot buttons for them. We're selfish.

And what do people say when we make our typical self interested pitches? It's often things like:

"Thanks, I'll think it over."
"Gosh, I'd love to meet with you but I'm tied up the next four weeks. I'll call you then."
"We've had to put that project on hold for a while."

At 678 Partners, we often say that we treat every business situation like a fingerprint -- no two are alike. And it's because each person has his or her own emotional lens through which the business issue is viewed. At the core of it, our positive and not so positive emotional drivers are the ones that make us gravitate one way or the other. Our decisions are often ostensibly based on discrete facts and figures but if we peel back the layers enough, we see that how we feel about something or someone plays the largest role in how we make decisions.

It's not that our emotions justify the rational decisions (discrete facts and figures) we make. It's that our emotions color how we value discrete facts and figures and then drive what we buy.

Let's use the iPhone as an example. Verizon's announcement that it would start selling the iPhone probably caused ATT no small amount of worry. ATT's differentiator is that with its iPhone, you can talk and surf at the same time unlike Verizon. By telling it to you straight (discrete fact) just as I am here, the best reaction one could hope for is a shrug and maybe a yawn. But, ATT made this commercial which brings the point home in a very real and easy to relate to kind of way.

What this commercial does is transform the boring "browse and surf" feature and turns it into a life saving (and maybe relationship saving) device. We can all imagine scenarios similar to this one -- actually I was locked out recently and was able to browse and call for a locksmith at the same time. That got me out of a jam and now, I see this feature as critical and necessary as opposed to just another gizmo on this phone. And... get this... I feel that ATT is a more secure choice for me than Verizon despite the known issues with ATT. That's emotion right there.

Dale Carnegie had it exactly right. Of course, the quote was in general terms but if we think about it in the marketing and/or business development process, it 100% applies. If we just took a little bit of care to find what emotionally motivates our audience (e.g., job security, ego, financial security, image, etc.), then we will make much more headway in building a strong relationship and, ultimately, a business transaction than by just selling something on its discrete features alone.

What say you? Please give me your two cents and, if you've liked this post, please share it with others!

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

1 Email's Broken Promise

What happens when you hype something up and create a ravenous appetite in your customers? They’re chomping at the bit, right? They wait in eager anticipation for that delivered good/service/X that you’ve so tantalizingly described to them and the minutes seem like hours. What happens when you don’t follow through after all that build up? Tremendous disappointment and dissatisfaction.

Last year, I wrote this post about how Southwest proudly touted their “last to market” approach to offering WiFi on their planes. As their story went, they wanted to get the mechanics and the pricing right before offering it to us, their valued customers. They were so unselfishly worried about our experience that it was best to be last but perfect. We are their loyal customers, after all.

Created Needs

When airlines started offering WiFi in planes they put structure and shape to a need that was there but not fully formed. Prior to inflight WiFi, some of us enjoyed the forced unplugging either to read a book, nap, etc. This created need is not unlike the created need for heated seats in cars, the microwave, daily trips to Starbucks, etc. Living in Chicago, I give thanks to my heated seats but it’s not like we couldn’t survive without them when they didn’t exist twenty years ago.

Because of this created need for WiFi, we look to see if the airlines we’re flying offer them… For some, it’s been sold so successfully that it’s a must have. For others like me, it’s nice but other factors influence more. And with this, airlines are feeding the need’s appetite.

Practical Experience

Case in point: as I’m writing this (though posting later), I’m sitting on a Southwest plane. Yesterday, I got an email from Southwest informing me that the plane that I am on is equipped with WiFi so I can tweet sweet nothings to you all from 30,000 feet. Prior to getting this email, I knew there was a chance that I could join the Facebook mile high club but I hadn’t given it much thought. Either way, I was going to get on this flight.

After I got the email, I have to admit weakness. It built an expectation of productivity in me: to write a post, to catch up on email, to fix up some things on the 678 Partners site, etc. I built a huge laundry list of interactive goodness in my mind. Never in my life would I be a dynamo like this morning!

As soon as we hit 10,000 feet, I was amped with delusions of Chris Brogan/Mitch Joel/Joe Jaffe like grandeur. I pulled out my trusty MacBook and searched for the connection. Nothing. Nothing again. I checked the email that I had saved and I also looked for instructions in their magazine. At last, the flight attendant did inform us that while the plane was equipped with WiFi, it was not working.

*Womp Womp*

I got a case of the sads. I felt I was so close and yet so far. I felt thwarted and frustrated. I felt unproductive and panicked at the thought of all that HAD TO BE FINISHED on the flight that now WOULD NOT BE FINISHED. The horror.

Once I took some deep cleansing breaths, I realized my emotion and panic, though self made, were due to created expectation of a created need that I didn’t really have in the first place because truly, the original plan was to tackle the crossword. Had I not received the email, I wouldn’t be where I am now: writing a post because I feel like a promise was broken… because I feel like I was somewhat misled.

Perception is reality. And when customers perceive that something has been promised and then reneged upon, it’s hard to maintain the same level of trust and respect you had with them before. After all, if a friend makes and then breaks a promise, we're somewhat taken aback and it's no different with our favorite brands. So it's incumbent upon us to be very careful and serious about the promises we make.

Trust and respect are difficult to earn but easy to lose. And while I believe that Southwest truly wished to offer WiFi in this flight and was so excited that they had to tell me yesterday about it, the fact that they couldn’t deliver it today is a bummer.

That can’t be a good thing. What’s your take? Please comment below and if you’ve enjoyed reading this post, please share it with others.

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

P.S. In fairness, there was a disclaimer but it only covered switching planes out. Here it is:

“You are currently scheduled to be on one of our WiFi planes; however, in the event of operational challenges throughout our system, we might have to "swap" the aircraft and put it on a different route. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience that might cause. This information is accurate as of March 14, 2011.”

Thursday, March 3, 2011

1 Tragic Email and The Animal Kingdom

A friend forwarded me this email she received yesterday morning... Have a look and then we'll get cracking.

"Over 90 days have passed since our first correspondence and you may now be employed. If this is the case, congratulations! However, if you are not securing multiple interviews then your resume could be the cause and you may wish to consider having it professionally written, so that it is a more effective personal marketing tool.

Our clients are securing interviews, even in this economy, because they are properly "branded" and positioned for success in their job search. If you think a professionally crafted resume and cover letter to position your candidacy would be beneficial to your job search, as it is for our six-figure clients, then please feel free to write me anytime to discuss your resume. I look forward to hearing from you."

Before we get going, I'd like to state that:

It may very well be the resume that stops someone from getting an interview.
A professionally written resume may very well be a break-through-the-clutter type of attention getting tool.
Your "personal brand" always matters regardless if you're in your dream job, an entrepreneur or a job seeker.

But also please consider:

It could be more than the resume. It could also be millions of other reasons: geography, personal "fit" within company culture, the other highly quality talent whom they are evaluating, they can't afford you, the gate keeper is bad, etc.
Given the first point, someone could have the best written (and dipped in gold) resume but it may not matter.
You may be considered one of the experts in a certain field such that even if your resume were written in Esperanto and sprayed by a skunk, you'd still be interviewed.

Letters such as the one above are designed to make one feel insecure about the quality of their candidacy, make them go in panic mode and rest all of their faith (and money) into an external entity on the path to job hunting success even though the resume may actually have nothing to do with the reason why they are (or are not) getting the interviews.

The operative word is designed in this scenario. The fact is that many a time we resort to marketing tricks that use "fear as a great motivator" as its foundation. The thinking is that if we push someone to a certain level of insecurity they'll snap and look to us as their saviors.

Pay for play recruiters like the one above do this, term life insurance salespeople do this, a lot of women's magazines do this, some social media "consultants" do this (here and here)... Actually anyone who says that "if you don't act now" or "if you're not doing this" in any of their communications with you does this. And, to me, it's off putting because it's aggressive and it's bullying... and it makes many people like me run away instead of the intended effect of asking for help and mercy.

Why are we making business moves like it's a jungle documentary on a local public TV station? If an animal is another animal's target, it flees. So too with marketing communications like the one above. The idiom "you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar" never rang more true in cases like this. As you know, the premise is that being confrontational (e.g., your resume is the pits) is less effective than making a positive approach.

So if we know it to be true in life, otherwise the idiom would not be in existence, why are we not keeping it true in business? The path to business success is based upon the earning of others trust and faith in your ability to help them and not the mindless stoking of their fears. Earning someone's trust by instilling in them the faith that you can help should be the foundation when winning new customers and keeping loyal customers loyal.

So why aren't we doing it? Why are we acting like a National Geographic show?

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Where's the Mahi? (h/t Clara Peller)

Remember this goodie from about 25 years ago?

Now that I've successfully aged myself, you may wonder why i've chosen to take a stroll down memory lane. Well, I've recently had two dining experiences that left me wondering something similar to that famous "Where's the beef?" line in the commercial:

I ordered a salad for lunch one day... Its selling point beyond the artichokes and the feta was the toasted pine nuts. I had a hankering for them but when the salad was presented, they were switched out for walnuts without a "heads up" from the server. I was bummed and wished I had ordered the other salad that caught my eye.
On Monday, I ordered cioppino for dinner. I was excited for the mussels, scallop and mahi. Instead of mahi, there were clams again without a "heads up" from the server. I'm not a fan of clams. I was bummed and my overall impression of the place was kind of muted.

In the grand scheme of things, walnuts for pine nuts and clams for mahi are not punishable offenses of any sort. But there were a couple of items that these seemingly innocent switches didn't consider and actually apply to any product though I bring this up in relation to dishes at restaurants.

One such item is the overall perceived value of the product by the customer. We know that all businesses (theoretically) manage their margins and consequently know how much each item delivers net of expenses. But what of the customer? When a customer selects a salad, a widget, a shirt or anything for that matter, there's a certain overall value he/she assigns because of the features/benefits beyond the actual price of the product. There's a certain level of utility and/or enjoyment value that gets assigned as well.

Now, it would be wrong for me to suggest we become mind readers and know that a customer values pine nuts more than feta cheese and the pine nuts drove the order. That's not the point. I am suggesting that we consider that an innocent switch (in our minds) may actually be a deal breaker in the mind of the customer.

In the case of the walnuts, what if I hated them and would not have ordered the salad if I saw the word walnut in the description? We can't make the assumption that a switch of one item for the other is a thing of perfect indifference for the customer. We have to appreciate and respect the possibility of utility and/or enjoyment value assigned to the item.

The other item is customer opportunity cost. What I mean here is that because the utility or enjoyment value may be diminished, a customer can't help but think about the option he/she sacrificed. It would be natural to wonder if the other item (in my case) was tastier, if it worked better, fit better or what have you.

It would also be natural to wonder if he/she should have gone elsewhere to make a product selection. Would they have been more honest, have better quality products, be more attuned to my needs, apprised me of product modification? In other words, the customer starts second guessing their decision in selecting us as a product/service provider. Disastrous!

Back to that Wendy's commercial. That hilarious 30 second spot covered both utility/enjoyment value as well as opportunity cost. Let's hope no one ever builds a campaign about how we give customers short shrift!

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com
678Partners.com
LinkedIn
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

International Terminals, Sales and Service

Have you ever met a friend or loved one after they exited Immigration and Customs at an airport? The palpable anticipation and noise of the eagerly waiting loved ones is one of the most beautiful things to watch. Little kids are often dressed in their best clothes and holding on to the flower or the balloon they are to present to whomever emerges from the door.

The payoff comes when they finally see the friend/cousin/sibling/parent/spouse and there is this huge swell of emotion. Some people laugh with joy while others show their happiness through tears. I've had the chance to see this play out over and over through the years thanks to family visiting from abroad. I never get tired of it.

I was watching a similar scene unfold yesterday as I was waiting for my parents. While I was enjoying the reunions, I saw something dramatically different unfolding. For those connecting through O'Hare, there was some serious and immediate confusion which as you know is not difficult in my hometown airport. Immediately upon exiting Immigrations and Customs are three large arrows that are pasted to the ground that direct people to use the airport train to go to the domestic airline terminals. They look something like this (my ugly facsimile):

And just beyond, are signs immediately pointing to a escalator appearing to go nowhere and a sign outlining which airline is in which terminal. There was also a female security guard shouting out "Take the escalator" over and over as people were exiting.

This is what I saw: people groggy from jetlag, scarred by Immigration and Customs, confused by the lady guard yelling the same thing over and over, with somewhat of a language barrier in some cases, who have never been to O'Hare and not familiar with domestic airlines. The result: a sort of vertigo and people looking all around and up above to get bearings and information. They never looked down. If they did, they'd see a collage of baggage and luggage carts and never the arrows.

All of this reminded me of a post that Bruce Temkin wrote back in August about the new elevators in New York's Marriott Marquis. I encourage you to read the post and travel back here. If you've not the time, his overall point was that one key design element can go a long way.

So why talk about the airport when this is a business blog? Good question. I think the people at O'Hare meant well when they devised the stick the colored arrows on the floor solution. I really do. My main indictment here is they designed for themselves and not for the groggy and confused passenger. They made the groggy and confused passenger even more confused. That's a big no no.

It's a big no no in business, too. We should never make people confused by our business processes. We should never make them feel like they made a mistake (even if they had) with the reward being an alarming error message and instructions to call a random 800# with an obscure code to report to the phone rep. And if you think I threw that out there randomly, I didn't. That was my customer experience with a loyalty program recently. No lie.

As business owners and executives, we are supposed to make things easy and seamless for the customer and not for ourselves. Even in the worst and most stressful, complex moments, the #1 feeling the customer should have is confidence as they are doing business with us. It's the emotion people have (in addition to the actual product/service) that make people want to come back to us. They are buying confidence and it always has an equal or greater price than the product/service itself.

And this point of emotion is critical. When anyone buys anything, it's to address a particular pain point that he/she has. Sometimes it's not a grave pain point but sometimes it is. The way we interact with prospects and customers should be predicated on the underlying diagnosed pain and not what we choose to foist upon them.

So, let's go back to the arrow example. Have you had an experience where you've made to feel like you've a bit of customer vertigo?

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef