Wave Marketing - How Not to Fail at Your Marketing Part One by Michael Lovas Professional advisors and sales people in America face a gigantic wall of interference every day. That wall has been there for a long time. Have you felt it? Because it's there, you have to do things differently and hopefully better. Because it's been there for a long time, prospecting in the "traditional" way is virtually guaranteed to fail. How can I say that with authority? Because I've conducted a fifteen year study to identify the forces that cause marketing to fail. (And, yes, I've also identified what causes marketing to succeed.) Let's look at two Causes for Failure, and then look at what we can do to correct it. 1. Who's Fault Is It, Anyway? Let's call the first Cause for Failure "Whose fault is it, anyway?" The following statistics show that some people stop doing business with us for external reasons ó ones that are seemingly out of our control. But most people who stop doing business with us are actually chased away. This indicates that our marketing has focused on getting the initial sale (traditional marketing) instead of building a relationship or educating our clients in how to love us (different and better). 4% get promoted, quit their job, move, die, go to prison, change their name or go into show business. 5% change to another supplier for ridiculous reasons like, "My brother-in-law suggestedÖ" 9% actually perceive a valid advantage in switching to someone else. 14% are simply unhappy with the results you provided. 68% leave because they felt unwanted and unappreciated. They got little or no contact from you. Someone at your firm expressed a lack of caring. Source: Ray Jutkins 2. Information Overload. The second Cause for Failure is called "Information Overload." It's a phenomenon created when millions of unimaginative marketers conduct "traditional" marketing. They bump into a gigantic wall: The average American is targeted by 3000 messages per day. That includes phone calls, e-mail, meetings, conversations. -- Data Smog by David Shenk. The typical business manager reads 1-million words per week. -- Data Smog by David Shenk. Typical workers send and receive 190 messages and documents per day. -- National Public Radio 5-20-98. The average American adult is exposed to over 600 advertising messages in a single 24-hour period. -- Managing Business to Business Marketing Communications, De Bonis and Peterson. Each of us sees more ads alone in one year than people of 50 years ago saw in an entire lifetime. -- DMNews magazine, 12-22-97. The typical business person has 200 ó 300 hours of incomplete work. -- Fast Company magazine. When in doubt define, so what's the status? People don't like us and they too overloaded to read our special offers. How can we compete in a world like that? Easy. The answer is obvious to people who understand the "Law of Requisite Variety" ó do whatever it takes to have more flexibility, more alternatives than your prospect has reasons to say "no." In pragmatic, every-day language, that means you need to stop playing the cards that are dealt to you, drop the chain, use a different ball and come in through a different door. What makes a victorious general? He chooses his battles. He fights on his own terms. You can do the same thing, can't you? Let's look for a better battleground. Every sale is made with a decision. So, let's look at some really sophisticated psychology. We're going to look at how people make decisions. We're going to make that our battleground. Every decision is made in exactly the same way. Every decision is based on a psychological filter called the "Decision Strategy." Simply, every person must see, hear, read or do something. And, they must experience it a certain number of times. Most people need to SEE things. And, most of them need to see it three times. If you try to "close" and make that sale before satisfying that person's decision strategy, you'll likely fail. He's just not ready until the requisite strategy is satisfied. If you send a prospecting letter and make a follow-up call, you'll likely fail. A lot of people wear their business glasses backwards. They succeed at failing. They know that what they're doing isn't working, but they continue doing it, anyway. "See, I told you it wouldn't work!" Albert Einstein called that the definition of insanity. How to be different and better. Most people require three experiences to satisfy their Decision Strategy. The ramification here is huge. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a manager who urges you to send an approved letter and then place a "follow-up phone call?" If you do, then you are doomed ó the percentages are heavily weighted against you because you're meeting only two of the three experiences required by most people before they're convinced to try something. Remember, do something different from what doesn't work ó hopefully, you'll do something better more logical and smarter. This is smarter - send your prospects a 3-part series of contacts: A postcard, letter and brochure. A flyer, video business card and calendar. A savings bond, balloon and birthday card. A T-shirt, movie coupon and one white sock. In a way, it doesn't make hill of beans what you send, as long as it's obviously from you. After your prospects experience the three contacts, most will remember you. That doesn't mean they'll like you or trust you or even talk with you - but they will remember you. Ever hear someone say, "That AT&T ó I hate those people!" The reason is rooted in the decision strategy. AT&T has satisfied that person's decision strategy ó but they've convinced the person that they're annoying, obnoxious, uncaring and untrustworthy. They used the correct Decision Strategy (accidentally), but they gave the opposite message. So, how do you get people to like you, trust you and talk with you? That's a topic for our next session. However, I will leave you with one final tip. In every written or spoken communication, begin by saying three things that are undeniably true. By doing that, you establish a "truth frame." You help the other person over the first hurdle. That's the place where he or she is looking for you to show yourself to be self-serving, or untruthful, or deceptive. Do what it takes to prove you're not those things, and do it immediately. Do something different and better. This article is taken from Michael Lovas keynote on Credibility Marketing. About the author. Michael Lovas is the author of two books: Face Values ó how to read people, adjust your pitch and motivate them in 3 minutes AND Beyond Wave Marketing ó how to add credibility to your relationship marketing program. He is also the co-author of three up-coming books published by HRD Press on using psychology and motivation in business processes. Michael is a popular Coach, teaching professionals how to quickly predict behavior and motivate target markets into becoming loyal clients. He has worked with: CIGNA, Prudential Securities, Mobil Oil, J.C. Penney, AFLAC, Hospital Corp of America, ItechUSA, SouthWest Bank of Texas, Pegasus Federal Credit Union and ChaseBank, Great West Life and London Life of Canada - to name a few. Michael delivers very entertaining keynotes to: Million Dollar Round Table, Financial Planning Association, NALU/NAHU chapters, International Quality and Productivity Center, American Marketing Association, International Human Resource Information Managers, Society of Certified Senior Advisors and many businesses. Michael Lovas 10718 Morning Glory Dr. Dallas, TX 75229 michael@aboutpeople.com www.aboutpeople.com (214) 366-0919