Recently I took on a very unique client. Former Super Bowl winning NY Giant’s offensive lineman #60, Brad Benson. On a personal level this was big for me as I’m a huge NY Giants fan (still on a high from the big win this year) and remember watching Brad Benson in Super Bowl XXI.

On the marketing side I am just as big a fan. It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of the way car dealers handle marketing (if you can call what they do marketing). Their websites are among the worst I’ve ever seen, filled with useless information wrapped in a flashy hard to use design. Their commercials are even worse. Whether radio or television they all use the same lines, “we’ll beat any price”, “drag it in, pull it in and we’ll give you top dollar!”. These terrible, non-believable marketing messages are always followed up by a disclaimer that is played at such high speeds that you can’t understand it. My opinion on what is said in these disclaimers is, “everything said before this disclaimer does not pertain to anyone listening to this disclaimer”.

Brad Benson radio commercials have developed a cult following of sorts. Brad’s commercials have no fast talking disclaimers or beat any price promises, instead, he uses his larger than life personality to make you either love him or hate him. He stirs up controversy by taking on topics such as celebrity gossip, pop culture and politics and from time to time recruits football legend and former team-mate Lawrence Taylor to get in on the action and discuss, “sacking a customer or two”.

Love him or hate him Brad Benson has turned car dealership marketing on its ear. He has gotten people to talk about him and this has made his marketing the stuff of legend. He steps outside the box and then sets the box aflame and this has made him the top Hyundai car dealer in NJ and the 5^th largest Hyundai dealer in the nation.

Stepping outside of your industries norms when it comes to marketing is something I implore all of my clients to do and is often the subject of my writing. If you want your marketing to stand out from your competitors  take a cue from Brad Benson and you’ll sack the competition every time!

When I say, “marketing strategy” you may not instantly think of, “customer service” but you should.

When it comes to customer service, as a marketing professional it is painfully obvious to me that customer service in this country has taken a drastic downturn in the last five years or so. 

Making a customer happy, whether an existing client or a new prospect is tantamount in the battle for customer loyalty yet customer service is seldom discussed in the marketing phase of creating a customer acquisition strategy.

TGI Fridays has taken big (but simple) step to improve customer service for their patrons. Along the lines of the call button on hospital bed or an airplane, Friday’s in Toms River, New Jersey has adopted the, “ESP System” to provide better service to their diners.

The ESP system consists of a wireless table top button that when pressed sends a signal to the tables assigned waiter / waitress. The server wears a wrist watch that vibrates and displays a smiley face and table number when the button on the receiver is pressed.

I was a featured conference speaker for the New Jersey Restaurant Association in 2007 at their annual conference and will be speaking there again on March 31^st at their 2008 conference. When I spoke there in 07 I was able to sit with some of the restaurant owners and discuss the customer acquisition issues facing today’s restaurants as well as the marketing challenges they are experiencing in a competitive connected world.

I learned that the number one reason diners do not return to a restaurant is poor or slow service and the number one reason a diner frequents a restaurant for the first time is a result of word of mouth marketing from other satisfied customers.

I don’t know how much the ESP System costs but I can’t imagine it is an investment that would take much thought. First off this device solves two major issues facing a restaurant, it increases the level of service offered to a patron (this in and of itself is worth the price of admission). Second, while the device is new it gives diners something to talk about to other people once they leave the restaurant (look at me, I just saw the thing an hour ago and I’m already writing about it!).

In our busy and noisy world creating word of mouth marketing is difficult to say the least. Anything that can help spread the word and attract new people to your business deserves serious consideration and if it can help make a diners experience better that’s a slam dunk!

I have a few clients that run high end restaurants and I already know what their objection would be to the ESP System. They would say, “Our diners are affluent, they don’t want to see a device like that on the table in our restaurant, it cheapens the experience”. Personally, I would want a five star restaurant utilizing everything in their power to make my service the best it can be (and I already expect it to be better than a TGI Fridays), especially if I’m paying five star prices for a meal.

If you’re worried about the look of the device on the table, dress it up, wrap in jewels or put it in a crystal dish but be rest assured, as a diner, I’d appreciate the effort to make my service the best it could be. If anyone from ESP Systems is reading this you may want to create a high end unit for the upscale places so you can avoid the objections all together.

There is a Chili’s, Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Red Lobster, Longhorn, Outback and countless other dining choices within a three mile radius of my house. Guess which one I’ll be visiting next time my stomachs growling?

Because of the overwhelming feedback I received from my last post about my cruise story I have created a great follow-up. 

In my last post I told the story of how a cruise ship bartender used memory skills to remember names of bar patrons and how this was a great technique to use to create deeper customer relationship connection. If you’re in sales, marketing or any position that requires customer interaction, memory skills may just be the best skill to have to gain a competitive edge and build that sought after customer loyalty. 

On my moments in marketing Podcast show I just interviewed Ron White. Ron is the foremost expert on sales and memory training. Ron created the internationally acclaimed Memory in a Month system that I personally use. Ron is also appearing live in New Jersey at a Move Ahead 1 Success Expo on February 27^th. 

Click here to listen as Ron and I discuss his techniques and how they influence sales and customer retention.