Category: Portland marketing

Why Gary Keller Doesn’t Carry Business Cards

The first rule of selling, I was taught, is “Always carry business cards”. You never know when you might run into a prospect. Over the years, I’ve had occasion to hand people my card at the grocery store, on a light rail train, even (forgive me) at a funeral.

So it was interest that I read the following passage in Gary Keller’s book “Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times”:

When someone asks me for my card, my reply (as I smile, pull out my pen, and poise to write) is: ‘Thanks for asking. I’m sorry I don’t have one with me, but what is your name and address and I’ll get one to you.’ … Remember, you’re in the capture business.

His point is that it’s more important for a seller to get the prospect’s contact information than vice versa.

I’m inclined to think that in my world of business-to-business advertising sales, it’s still a good idea for the seller to have a card — the prospect likely also has one, and generally cards can be exchanged. In Keller’s world of residential real estate, however, his approach makes a great deal of sense, since the homeowner or potential buyer may not have a card.

Portland Real Estate Agent Craig Reger offers tours of foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned properties on the “Real Estate Investment Bus.” There’s basic information about the concept on his web site, but he doesn’t post the tour schedule. If you’re interested in knowing when it runs, he’ll be happy to tell you — once you fill out the contact information form.

In any sales environment, the principle is a good one. A lead isn’t a real lead unless you know who the prospect is and how to make contact.

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Need a New Ad in a Hurry? Try Radio

It was Monday afternoon, and the stock market had just closed. Down nearly 778 points. I was in my car, listening to one of my news/talk competitors, KXL Radio in Portland, Oregon. Within about 15 minutes of the closing bell, as everyone tried to figure out if the end of the world was upon us, Talk Show Host Lars Larson had to do a live spot for a mattress store.

He began the pitch this way (I’m paraphrasing here): “Now that the stock market’s just had the biggest one-day drop in its history, you could probably use a good night’s sleep. And you can get one, on a Sleep Number Bed By Select Comfort.”

I’m not much of a Lars Larson fan. And every advertising dollar that goes to KXL is a dollar that I didn’t get.

But sitting in the Starbucks parking lot, I had to applaud. Because Lars had beautifully illustrated an advantage radio advertising has over just about every other medium — the ability to quickly change the message to reflect changes in the marketplace.

Over the years, I’ve quickly come up with new creative when storms hit; when the product a retailer was advertising ran out; when concerts sold out; and when a representative of Oregon Department of Justice informed me that a car dealer’s offer was illegal. In each of these cases, a new commercial was on the air within hours — and sometimes within less than an hour — of the change that prompted it.

Newspaper can’t do that; neither can direct mail, or television. The Yellow Pages? Fuhgeddiboutit. Each of these media has advantages of its own. But if you need to change something in a hurry, you can’t beat radio.

My name is Phil Bernstein, and I approved this message.

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Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

How to Handle a Bad Month

Ed Ridgway is a marketing consultant to the dental industry. Based in Pennsylvania, Ridgway consults with dental practices all over the country. He also publishes a blog called The Dental Marketer.

June was a rough month for many dentists. Some reacted by scaling back their marketing, and others stuck with the plan they had in place. Ridgway recently dealt with the issue on his blog. Although he is specifically addressing dentists, his advice applies to just about anyone reading this newsletter.

The efficient marketer realizes that ROI success and failure is measured over years, not just a month at a time. Your long term efforts are rewarded by an established position in the mind of the consumer. People still need dentistry, even if some are postponing purely cosmetic procedures. Don’t be the office that disappears. Be the practice that’s been around forever – the one everyone knows. You do that with consistency.

The dental practices who maintained or increased their marketing after the tough month of June rebounded with a strong July. This illustrates the wisdom of long-term planning, and confirms the efficiency of sticking to a plan. Yes we need to track, evaluate and adapt – and we don’t throw good money after bad being stubborn. But a good plan remains a good plan, and a bad month doesn’t change that.

You can read the complete post here.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

LPGA Backs Off English-Only Rule — Fixing a Bad Fix

When I worked in marketing for the New York Mets, one of my responsibilities was to get our players to interact with our sponsors. This was tougher than it sounds — although one might think that the players would realize that sponsor revenue was in part responsible for the exhorbitant salaries they receive, the fact was that most of the players just wanted to play baseball, play cards (this was in the pre-video game era) and chase women. Anything that interrupted their pursuit of these objectives was unwelcome.

Sometimes they would show up and make it clear that they would rather be anywhere else. Sometimes they wouldn’t show up at all. And there wasn’t much we could do about it — the contract language was vague, the team was winning, and Dwight Gooden had more leverage in these matters than Phil Bernstein.

So when the LPGA announced that beginning in 2009, all of their players would have to either learn English or find another way to make a living, I understood their reasoning, and sympathized — even as I knew that the policy would never stick.

A significant component of the LPGA’s marketing is pro-am events, in which golfers pay large sums to play a round with the professionals. The association makes a lot of money from the fees, and also hopes to gain positive word-of-mouth.

Part of the deal is establishing an atmosphere in which it all feels like a regular foursome. If the “ams” and the “pros” don’t speak the same language, they can’t interact much. Apparently the LPGA had been receiving some heat from amateurs who’d written large checks and then felt ignored on the course.

So the LPGA decided to force everyone to learn English. Which is kind of like burning down the house because there are ants in the kitchen. Kills the ants and creates all sorts of new problems.

The new policy angered many of the golfers, 121 of whom come from outside the United States. It created some bad feelings among major sponsors, many of whom have significant non-Anglo customer bases. And it got the attention of several governmental agencies, and probably would have wound up in court quickly.

So, inevitably, the LPGA announced yesterday that it was reversing course and revoking the rule.

Which means that they’re back to their original problem — pro-am events in which the pros can’t, or won’t, talk to the ams. It’s a problem they can’t just ignore. But if the players won’t learn to speak English, and the amateurs won’t learn to speak Korean, what’s the answer?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. In particular, I’d love to hear from the hundreds of new readers I’ve obtained by writing about Sarah Palin — even those who call her Sara Pailin.

Comments and suggestions from all are welcome — leave ’em in the Comments field below.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Sarah Palin — Premature Product Launch?

Years ago I was involved in the Portland launch of a mobile phone company called VoiceStream Wireless (now T-Mobile). The company was determined to make a huge splash.

They opened a bunch of stores… spent an enormous amount of money on radio, TV, print, and transit advertising… rented Pioneer Square in downtown Portland for a launch party. It was beautifully orchestrated. Thousands of people bought their phones and signed up for service during the first week.

Only problem was, they didn’t have any near enough towers in place, so the phones didn’t work very well. A huge percentage of their early customers returned their phones and cancelled the service.

It took VoiceStream a long time to recover.

I’m reminded of this as more details emerge about Sarah Palin. Daughter’s pregnancy, husband’s (22 year old) drunk driving conviction, and other stories that are moving the discussion away from whether the McCain-Palin ticket is better than Obama-Biden.

Whether any of these details affect her ability to perform as VP or President is irrelevant now. What’s relevant is that the McCain camp appears unprepared to deal with their emergence.

The Republicans appear to have rushed the product launch without having all of their cell towers in place. The damage to their brand may take four years to repair.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.