For the last eight weeks, each day I enter the first floor lobby I see four plastic bags sitting inside the front door.  Can you guess what’s in the plastic bags? Garbage? Not exactly but very close.

If you were to open the bags you would find the most recent Yellow Pages or Yellow Book or whatever the hell their calling it these days. These bags have been littering the lobby floor for over two months – nobody wants them! It’s just a matter of time before they end up in the recycling dumpster in the back.

It appears that no one wants their fingers walking anywhere aside from a mouse and keyboard and I have not met anyone in the past 5 years that can answer the burning question, “why be yellow?” When will this book die?!?

We live in a clickable culture where everything we want is just a click away. Whether local, national or global our connect customers turn to the Internet, search engines to be more specific, for everything they want. Companies are spending their former Yellow dollars on Internet marketing such as search engine optimization, Pay Per Click, podcasting, blogging, email, social media and alike, and rightly so.

The yellow pages failed to adapt quick enough, they rested on their laurels and now they are paying the price. Back in the day the Yellow Pages controlled all the information and companies’ payed big money for their coveted listings. Along comes the Internet and the Yellow people decided that they were not going to give away their information. The thought process was that their reputation and market share would keep the book at the top of mind of consumers. They were wrong.

Along came search engines like Yahoo!, Google and MSN. These search engines began to categorize and index businesses for free. Consumers began to see the benefit of having the world (not just their county) at their fingertips. Yahoo! launches local search and put yet another nail in the Yellow coffin. Now all search engines have a local component complete with detailed maps and driving directions. In just a few short years the market completely shifted from Yellow page lookups to online queries.

The yellow response to all this change, Superpages.com and YellowPages.com. Too little too late. Even with big budget advertising campaigns featuring Kung-Fu star David Carradine (I liked him better in Kill Bill), the Yellow online movement never takes hold and now just like their spokespersons Kung-Fu character,”Caine”, they are destined to aimlessly, “walk the earth”.

Contrary to what business people are being told by Yellow sales reps, no one goes to SuperPages.com or YellowPages.com to find the products and services they need. If we did, we’d be, “Yellowing” people as opposed to, “Googling” them.

I personally deal with businesses of all types and sizes and I hear the inflated claims made by Yellow reps. I’ve heard it all from inflated numbers of searchers to claims that SuperPages.com powers Google! Some businesses fall for it but far more have and continue to shift budget to online offerings. At best companies are hedging their bets by keeping a very small ad in the book and a listing within the online Yellow counterparts.

Here’s a quick little fact. One of my clients is Zippos Car Audio. Zippos is one of the top car audio dealers in NJ. They own four car audio stores in New Jersey. In the past they have been big Yellow Pages advertisers in multiple books. The budget was staggering. They were convinced (by their Yellow rep) to add their listing to SuperPages.com to the tune of almost $1,800.00 per month. The Yellow rep told them that they would get tons of traffic to their site because SuperPages.com is the largest shopper’s portal on the Internet.

Once my company was hired we re-developed their website and began an intense search engine optimization program. We started watching where traffic was actually coming from. On average Zippos.com receives 3,700 visits per month from search engines (Google, AOL,Yahoo! Ask and MSN). SuperPages.com delivers a whopping average of 42 per month. Not 42 hundred or 42 thousand, just plain old 42.

How much do you think Zippos spends with SuperPages.com now? Zero. How much has it impacted their business when they stopped spending almost $22,000.00 per year on SuperPages.com? Again, zero.

All this being said I don’t want the Yellow Pages to go away. There are plenty of great uses for the Yellow Pages. Makes great kindling, can be used as a booster seat for children, doorstop, origami paper supply and that’s just off the top of my head! Plus what would all those tough guys at the gym rip in half to impress women if the Yellow Pages went belly up?

On a personal note I just hired a new landscaper. Guess where I found them?

The Better Business Bureau reports that car dealerships are the most complained about business type with cell phone sales a very distant second. No big surprise that car dealers are the brunt of consumer complaints. Car dealers have historically had a reputation for underhanded dealings which is why the term, “car salesman” evokes images of plaid jackets, patent leather shoes and toothpick sucking shysters.

To be fair, not all car dealerships are bad and not all car salespeople are scam artists, in fact most of them are quite the opposite. There is no shortage of bad salespeople and unscrupulous businesses in every industry, car dealers just seem to have gotten permanently tattooed with an unethical moniker.

In my marketing book I rant about the uselessness of car dealer websites. I ramble about the absurdity of practically every car dealer on the planet using one of three companies to develop their websites, email marketing and just about any other type of online advertising a dealership does. 

When it comes to marketing why would you use the same company that your competition uses? Every car dealer website seems to be a variation on every other car dealer website. The same useless information used over and over again.So why do car dealers do this? I’ll tell you why, because it’s easy. They have to put zero effort into it. They pick a template and all the content is created automatically. Even in their email marketing they just have to choose a few canned articles and voila! Instant email!  Sounds pretty easy right? When was the last time anything easy produced worthwhile results? The same car dealers that have been accused of scamming consumers seemingly have forgotten one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to sniffing out a bad deal. “If it sounds too good to be true…”

With the car sales industry taking a major hit due to our current economic landscape it seems that dealerships are taking a second look at the web as a marketing tool and an even closer look at the services they are paying for. Recently I was called into a very prestigious Mercedes Benz dealer in New Jersey to take a look at their Internet marketing efforts.

After looking at their website, pay per click programs and email marketing it became abundantly clear that they were being ripped off. First off their website was exactly what I expected it to be, useless information. What I didn’t expect to see was a search engine spamming technique called, “cloaking”. Cloaking is where you use technology to show a search engine spider one thing and a website visitor another. This type of tactic is what got BMW banned from Google a couple of years ago.

On the Pay Per Click side of things they were paying for a ridiculous amount of irrelevant key phrases. One of the first questions I asked was, “do you sell Mercedes Motor Homes?” the answer was no so I wondered why they were paying to show up under that search phrase? The company handling this program for them gets paid on the clicks so they targeted lots of phrases even if they had no relevancy or benefit to the dealership.

Their email marketing program was no better (big surprise). Again, they are using the same service as all of their completion. Here’s how it works. Every month they select a few canned articles and an email newsletter is sent out to their list of 27,000 names. I asked if all the email addresses were people that purchased vehicles from their dealership. Half were and half were just people that requested information or stopped in while shopping for a car and end up purchasing elsewhere.

At first glance you may not think this is a big deal especially since they told me that they are getting some response. Here’s the catch. If I did not purchase a car from them and I’m on their mailing list chances are I’m on the mailing list for other dealerships as well. If they are all using this email marketing service that means I’m getting the same content from lots of dealerships. This is not only annoying but shows a lack of effort on the part of the dealership. They can’t event take the time to create something original? Here’s an opportunity to show your expertise and all you do with it is show that you’re the same as every other dealer and that I’m not worth the effort.

Long story short (too late) make sure you are involved in your marketing efforts. Know what people are doing on your behalf and stop being lazy! Nothing good happens without effort. If you truly want to connect with your customers show them that you care enough to put the effort in.

Some of you may say that it’s poetic justice that car dealers are being ripped off. Keep in mind each time they rip off a car dealer we the consumer end up paying for it in the end so if you happen to run across any of these car dealer centric marketing companies be sure to show them your appreciation.

I met with, “The Worlds BEST Negotiator” Herb Cohen. Herb is credited for coining the terms, “Win Win”, “Win Lose” and, “Lose Lose”.  He has been involved in more high profile negotiations then practically anyone on the planet! He’s been an advisor to presidents Carter, Regan and Clinton. He’s been involved in negotiations from the Iranian hostage crisis to the NFL football strike. When it comes to negotiation skills there is no better.

Herb and I hit it off very well. He has lived in New York and New Jersey for a good part of his life and after listening to his New York accent it was like being home during my southern visit.

After dinner Herb and I sat down and created a Podcast (I always have my recording equipment with me for just such an occasion) and that’s when the magic came out. Herb is a master story teller and truly enjoys teaching others how to develop negotiation skills.

Herb is going to be appearing live in New Jersey at a Move Ahead 1 event on Thursday September 18^th 2008. I highly recommend that you get tickets to this event. Seeing Herb Cohen speak is a true treat not to mention the impact it could have on your business and life.

Take a listen to the podcast I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Burger King had a marketing hit on its hands when in 2004 they reintroduced, “The King” as an incredibly spooky plastic faced character. The launch could not have been timed better. The new mono expressive King character is as popular as he is creepy and in 2004 the marketing world was well on its way to being entrenched in web 2.0 media sharing sites like the popular video site, You Tube.

People all over the world began making hysterical videos playing upon the creepy and the cool nature of the King character from having him appear at sleeping children’s bedsides to applying tanning oil to scantily clad women on the beach. King videos and doctored images were popping up everywhere and Burger King Restaurants were reaping the rewards of this viral marketing.

The new king was proving to be the best marketing decision BK had ever made. They finally had a mascot that could compete and even beat that friggin clown at,” arch” rival McDonalds.

None of the pervious BK mascots have had anywhere near the acceptance or charisma of the new King. In actuality they were all pretty forgettable. In the early 70’s, when I was a kid, the King was a cartoon character that really had no pizzazz. In the late 70’s the King became a real man. He was magical and performed tricks at Burger Kings all over the country. This new live king was a marketing flop. Grown men with onion ring breath and scraggly red beards just didn’t appeal to little kids – go figure.

Burger King was not the only fast food chain to struggle with creepy marketing mascots. McDonalds introduced their first mascot in 1963. Former Bozo the Clown actor and now famous weatherman Willard Scott portrayed the very first Mickey D’s clown. As a weatherman Scott is lovable and kind, especially to century year old women around the country who get a shout-out on their birthdays from the jolly weatherman but as a fast food clown though he hit the disturbing scale on a level that would only be topped by John Wayne Gacy.

We’ll now that BK seems to have a winning mascot on their hands they may be fazing him out to be replaced with the 70’s cartoon King. To make matters worse they seem to be using both Kings at the same time.

On a recent visit to a Burger King in Connecticut I noticed that the old King was appearing on Kids Meal bags while at the same time the current King was on signage around the restaurant. What is the point of this? From a marketing perspective it seems counter-productive. You’ve got a King that is a viral marketing phenom. Hordes of people are marketing for you – why screw with that, especially to return to such an insignificant character?

I wonder if all this viral marketing is gong un-noticed by the franchise or is it just another case of an ad agency not understanding the power and potential of the new Internet culture. Well Burger King, if you want to throw away a good thing – have it your way.

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 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?

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.   

As sales people and marketing professionals we have all forgotten the little things that make the big difference. Time constraints and extreme competition have sent most sales and marketing professionals into fire drill mode. We are all so busy and rushed that we haven’t taken the time to hone the core skills needed to make better connections with our customers.

Our consumers are deluged with non-personal interaction such as the drive thru, walk up, self checkout, online checkout, live chat, interactive phone menu and on demand video tours.  Today’s consumer seldom has to interact with a live person and when they do, the experience leaves them less than impressed.

Even the deli counter in my local supermarket has become automated with touch screen order placement. I never even see the person slicing my bologna (not a euphemism), when my number is called over the PA system I just go and pick up my meat (also not a euphemism). I then proceed to a self checkout line and out the door I go without ever interacting with one single live person. Sure, this is a great convenience and a savings to the store but at what cost?

By losing the personal connection with customers we are losing valuable loyalty. I no longer have the personal interaction with anyone in the store. No one knows my name and I don’t know there’s so how are they any different than any other market in the area? The people are the difference. Their experiences, stories and personalities are the glue that builds customer loyalty. Without the personal connection there is no bond.

I recently went on a Caribbean cruise. On a cruise you spend a good deal of time on the ship. These ships are like floating cities, 138 thousand ton, 15 story cities complete with 4 themed restaurants, 6 bars / lounges, a movie theater, rock climbing wall, 4 pools, casino and ice skating rink.

Out of all of the impressive things a cruise ship of this magnitude has to offer there was one thing that impressed me the most – the crew. Every crew member whether a waiter, bartender or stateroom attendant strived to make a personal connection with me. They were always pleasant, smiling and made me feel like each day was greater than the next. Customer service was top priority and it showed.

One crew member stood out far above the rest (at least to me). His name was Donny. He was the bartender at one of the many lounges on the ship. I watched Donny masterfully make a connection with every customer. He immediately made it a point to remember the names of every person (over 3000 people on this particular cruise) that ordered a drink from him. Not only that but he remembered the drink they ordered as well.

Donny made me feel like Norm from Cheers as I strolled by and he yelled my name and by doing so he made a deep connection with me. Whenever I wanted to have a drink, no matter where I was on the ship I went to see Donny because he knew me. I never visited any of the other 6 lounges on the ship because Donny and me were buds! And guess what, everyone else must have felt the same way because Donny’s bar was the busiest on the ship.

Donny mastered name memorization techniques to better connect with his customers, which in turn led to more sales and larger tips. The time it took him to master this technique more than paid for itself.

I have personally taken a memory skills training program created by a friend of mine named Ron White. Ron is a great guy from Texas who is a Guinness world record holder for memory. Ron’s program allows me to memorize names in meetings, at networking events and my speaking engagements.

By using his techniques I have made solid connections with people. When you know someone’s name they connect with you. This simple skill is one worth learning if you are in any form of sales and marketing. We need to remember that the only thing that makes our products and services great – is us. Our unique personalities allow us to connect with customers on a deeper level than will ever be available through an automated system.

Buying is an emotional process, it’s a personal thing. Selling and marketing requires a personal touch in order to succeed. Don’t forget to hone the skills that have stood the test of time.

Ron White will be speaking at a Move Ahead 1 Success Expo in Piscataway, NJ on February 27^th. I have seen this presentation 3 times and each time I have left with a great new memory skill. I highly recommend seeing Ron; the skills you will leave his seminar with are truly invaluable.

A revolution can be defined in many ways but it can only mean one of two things. An overthrow of an established system / procedure or, course back to a starting point.

Only one type of revolution can help you make the upcoming year one to remember, at least from a marketing perspective.

Many companies get caught in a trap when it comes to marketing. They keep doing the same things over and over again. Round and round our marketing goes when it makes money we never know. The world changes too fast for anyone to think that doing the same old thing will produce new results. When it comes to marketing, that type of, “revolution” is the one to avoid.

Our customers are changing; in fact, you might even say they are creating a revolution of their own. There is no denying that the Internet has changed the face of business and marketing forever. One of the biggest changes brought about by the Internet is in customer behavior. We live in an on-demand society, a clickable culture where everything a customer wants is only a mouse click away.

Our customers have more choices and they can have whatever they want any way they want it whenever they want it. This limitless choice has created a very competitive environment for every type of business on the planet. You either work within the clickable culture or lose business to armies of competitors who are very anxious and willing to take your best customers.

In order to grow in the competitive Internet marketing landscape you are going to have to start your own revolution this coming year. Here are my 3 Internet marketing tips that will help you create a marketing revolution for your company.

Tip # 1 - Think like a customer

Sounds simple but in actuality it is very difficult. You must separate yourself from your products, services and solutions. Throw away what you know and put yourself in your customers place. When people search for products and services on the Internet try and remember that they do not search for the solution, they search for the problem. If they knew what the solution was they would not need you.

Does the content on your website speak to the problem or jump right into the solutions with industry jargon and other language a client may not connect with? Simplify things and get to the heart of the matter. What are the client’s needs, wants and overall issues that brought them to your site in the first place?  Review all the content on your website and make sure it speaks to the customers needs. Shake things up and start to change your writing style and messages to be customer centric or bottom up as opposed to top down.

Tip # 2 – Step out of your comfort zone

In today’s competitive marketplace a website alone just won’t cut it. We have to expand our reach and use more diverse methods to connect with connected customers. We’ve all heard of Blog’s and Podcasts, YouTube videos and MySpace pages but did you know that a lot of these communication tools are great ways to connect with customers? It’s true, corporate Blogging alone is one of the fastest growing marketing vehicles on the web.

Start using some of these tools. Look into creating a Blog, see what others are doing on YouTube and Facebook. Familiarize yourself with some of the new media tools and figure out how you can use them in your marketing. If you don’t step out of your comfort zone, your competition is going to step all over you.

Tip # 3 – Seek out opportunity

The best information to help your business grow will come form outside your industry. Stop looking at your competition when deciding what type of marketing to do or what should be on your website. The dumbest thing you can do is to do something just because a competitor is doing it.

When I sit with clients to help them create Internet marketing strategies they always give me the list of things their competitors are doing as if to say, “They are doing this so we should too”.

How do you know if what your competition is doing is actually working? Will they tell you? Probably not. You will end up spending time and money to create something that was doomed before you ever got started.

What you really need to do is figure out what your competitions not doing and then do those things. If your competitor has written testimonials on their website, you create video testimonials. Is your competition Blogging? No, then start a Blog. Are they Podcasting? No, do that.

Look beyond your industry for ideas. Seek out what has been successful for other industries that service your customers. If everyone is doing something and you do it to all you do is level the playing field. If you find something no one else is doing, you’ve found an opportunity.

Those are my tips that should help you break the oppressions of old tired marketing and get started on your New Year’s Revolution! Remember, most revolutions are started with a desire for a change from the norm; it’s only when you take action that true change takes place.

I was recently asked to speak and do a book signing at Georgian Court University. I spoke to business people and marketing / business students.

At the event I had a chance to sit with some of the attendees and discuss marketing issues.
One of the topics we discussed was online surveys. The general opinion was that online surveys are annoying and intrusive.

The particular surveys I am talking about are the ones that appear after a purchase has been made a purchase through a website’s shopping engine. Typically, there is little to no incentive to fill out these surveys other than helping the website owner better their service and sales process.

I got to thinking about this, why ask the customer to take their valuable time to help you? This seems like a total disregard for a customer’s time only to make the process better for the store. It’s not a customer’s responsibility to help you get better, not directly anyway.

We should, “listen” to our customers even when they say nothing. It would seem to me that it’s a futile effort to survey the people that made it through to checkout. I’d much rather know about the experience of the people that didn’t buy.

Website statistics and analytics programs give us great information about what people look at; don’t look at, where they leave the site and more. You can track failed site searches, abandoned carts and time spent per page. Sure it takes time and it’s a tedious process to analyze this data and then fix the issues but it’s your site, it should be your time spent not your customer’s. You’re the one who will benefit so take the time and stop asking me, the customer to do it.

Ironically, after coming home that night I received a call from my health insurance provider (technically a call center they hired). They wanted me to take a customer satisfaction survey so they could improve their performance.

At first I thought, okay, my insurance company doesn’t have an analytics program tracking my movements in the doctors office (at least I hope they don’t – how embarrassing would that be?) so I’ll take a minute to give them some feedback. If figured it was a general,  “What would you like to see improved” . I would say, “Charge me less and stop making me submit the same claim 15 times before you pay it.” They would reply, “We’re on it, thanks for your time”. Unfortunately it was a little more complicated.

Once I agreed to take the survey I was told, “This should only take 8 to 12 minutes”. Eight to twelve minutes! Are you friggin kidding me! I don’t want to spend that kind of time on the phone with someone I don’t know, I don’t want to spend that kind of time talking to people I do know!

I told the woman I really have no interest in spending that kind of time answering random questions. She told me she could call back when I had more time. I said sure, I’ll be retiring in about fifteen years, try and catch me then but don’t call too late, I’m sure I’ll be going to bed early.

I am sure that an insurance company gets boat loads of complaints on a regular basis. How about surveying the unhappy customers? I’m sure they would have no problem telling you how to improve your service – at length!

If you truly need my feedback you better give some kind of valuable incentive to make it worth my  while. The insurance company offered nothing other than the satisfaction I would get from knowing I helped a large corporation become larger. They proved what I already knew about insurance companies. They do not value my time and they proved it by offering me nothing in return for it.

As marketing people and as business people we all need to realize that in our clickable culture customers are busier than ever before. Respecting a customers time is one of the best things you can do to make your service better. Get me in, get me out. Make it easier for me even if that means it’s harder for you. 

If you want me to answer survey questions, you better be Richard Dawson and I better win some cash if I get the answers right!