Want 6 Consumer Trends To Watch In 2011?

2011 Spring's "Hot Color"

My brief Christmas day sneak peak list is based on talking, reading, and visiting different companies in this last month as a passive observer. Nothing scientific on this last 2010 blog, just some things to put in your hat while I take a break from the grandchildren running around playing with their new toys:

*RAK - Random acts of kindness are more prevalent than I have ever seen and it’s a nice touch to boot in a struggling economy. I witnessed a few days ago a company that catered a lunch in for all workers. It didn’t stop there, a “Mystery” thank you plastic ball was passed out to all.  Inside were crisp 50 dollar bills, brand new gold one dollar minted coins, and gift cards, all opened together as a group. I had never seen this before, smiles were everywhere! Major WOW!

*ECO-SUPERIOR- When it comes to “the green consumer” in 2011, expect a rise in ECO-SUPERIOR products: Green products need to be the real deal and not just lip service, better than polluting products in every possible way.

*"IT"S ABOUT ME" Marketing- Personalization and One to One marketing are getting stronger and stronger.  

*TWITTER-SUMERS and SOCIAL-LITES- Expect even more consumers to become cub reporters: broadcasting, sharing, commenting, and recommending, purchases, content, products, and consumer experiences to both their friends and beyond.

*PANDEMONIUM PRICING- Always-on connectivity is changing consumer spending habits in myriad ways. For example “NOWISM” is a constant handheld PDA online activity. Pulling out one’s smart phone at the counter, getting the latest low price via GPS, or barcode scanning is very smart. 

*HONEYSUCKLE (PMS-18-2120) is "the" color for Spring 2011 per the Color Marketing Group and Pantone.

Merry Christmas!

Do Manners Still Matter In Modern Business Success?

I’m compelled to write this after hearing about the Bob McDonnell (Governor of Virginia) “F” grade remarks in American History last week. His totally off the wall revisionist "political" proclamation was a huge injustice to African Americans, Historians, and former black governor Douglas Wilder for sure. In my humble opinion this was also very insulting and displays  bad manners, unbecoming of a modern day "Virginian".

My blog focus today, however motivated, is a look at business manners in the age of the modern internet which was merely spawned by his recent misguided perspective of  "all" Virginians.

Most Virginians in my long travels have been held in the highest esteem by many  for their well mannered social skills in the business world. Whether I’ve been on the winning or losing end of a project, I’ve mostly admired this trait where Virginian business folks can leave you with a sense of dignity even when you have lost the “deal”. They are generally always tough, but polite, have impeccable manners, and are well spoken. Governor Bob McDonnell appears to be an isolated exception to my perception in this specific case.

I submit, manners are still one of the great traits of successful businesses people.  Even in a point and click world quality leaders want to connect with the human behind the keyboard.  Some notable selected examples in my career that I will never forget:

•       Williamsburg, Virginia and Gettysburg Pennsylvania merchants, per my reference to the Governor's recent remarks (He used these towns as examples to make his point), are really very business savvy.  The Governor should now apologize to these modern merchants as he is not fully understanding why they are so successful. Both town’s represent two of the top destinations for tourism and buying of consumer goods in the world.  They present traditional, powerful branding,  marketing, merchandising, customer experience, and ebusiness as well as any.  Both towns welcome all to their doorstep, it's about commerce and proudly making all visitors feel like very important guests.

•       Most striking in these two towns is the open public display of manners that make you feel special where ever you come from or your background. Always a “please or thank you Sir or Madam”, doors opened for ladies, and proper but friendly table and server manners on display from 2 stars to 5 star restaurants. These merchants have successfully blended the past traditions with modern marketing, always remembering how appreciative they are of the buyers coming to their doorstep. They are marketing leaders in person, television, printed catalog,  or over the internet.

• Suzie Ormond has the gift and respect of manners! At one time in my career I had fun being a guest presenter for the QVC television network. My first show was nerve racking as can be and much was new to me.  I was following the Susie Ormond show, one of QVC’s top stars and shows.  To this day I will always remember her simple kindness in reaching out her hand and offering to carry my boxes in from my car. Suzie was next up and under pressure to go on, yet she extended this incredible “human” offer. I mentioned I was impressed by her being a big star and so grounded; her response was “We are all in this together, I was just raised this way”.  Needless to say she has my respect forever, and again makes my point of why manners are a distinguishable trait of highly successful people.

•       Richard Chan owner of Morningside Investments (Former cancer M.D. in Boston, and one of the world’s wealthiest people) in Hong Kong understands the force of manners in the business world. In visiting his firm for expansion capital he met me at the Oriental hotel on HK island , but asked me to stand by a certain spot and he would come by, find me, and quickly leave to another location.  Five minutes before our meeting he showed up and personally opened the doors for me as we walked to his office.  During the meeting, he always stood up when someone entered and was the last to be seated.  I surely appreciated such an important person picking me up but was respectful of his time and my relatively small request compared to his holdings.

•       I, however, was very puzzled.  When I openly asked and complimented him about this, He told me he does this every time he meets a new person to make them feel comfortable and give undivided attention.  I was blown away by Richard's explanation that was now becoming familiar; “I was raised to have good manners by my parents”.  I’ll never forget his lesson that day! This is what I now call a class act!

      So, in the age of modern technology, my question to many of the young business people and entrepreneurs hitting the career street in the next few year is simply “How were you raised?” My sense is traditional good manners will be a great arrow to have in your quiver to differentiate you for your business competition in the growing high tech world. JMHO

Want A Simple 6 Point Sales And Marketing Strategy?

1) MARKETS you are in. Do you really know about your current or future market? Who are your customers? What differentiates you that would attract more non-customers? How can you sell to more loyal customers? Are you just playing defense or do you have the needed moxie to go on offense and get new customers aggressively?


2) COMPETITION. Who are they and why are customers choosing them over you? What is the overall market trend and how are you holding up in terms of market share and profit position?

3) DISTRIBUTION. Can you get the orders to the customers within two days? Why not? Do you know what the customer experience is or do you assume you know what they receive? How do you check what was actually delivered and what it looked like?

4) Supply Chain. Price quality delivery, pick any two. Every company wants and knows about JIT (Just in time inventory). Do you have the financing with street smarts to forecast, project, buy with good margins, quality, and manage inbound and out bound freight? Watch this closely if you want to succeed

5) Promotion and Pricing. Advertising budget, specials, testing, measuring results of any promotions you do? Pricing changes with the market pressures, are you still maintaining margins or panic selling?

6) SALESFORCES. Do you need one? Did you check the references of that salespersons past volume sold before hiring? Do they have access to all you customers or just their own? Are they paying for themselves? How do you know they are working for you every day?

Is Your Company Great, Or Yet To Be Good? - 5 Basics:

So many business leaders I chat with these days pontificate about how their company will be moving from “good to great” as their business plan. Well great, unfortunately what I have witnessed of late is  many customers would be happy if the same companies would just be “good”. 

There is just too much “big hat no cattle out” there when it comes to understanding why people buy today.  Some companies believe “if you build it they will come”. Yes, at first, but will they come back?  Loyal customers and repeat buying is the basic yet so many companies never learn it. They constantly look for new customers to bring in but rarely track the patrons they are losing for little reason.

I submit, buyers would be happy if the basics were executed, as today’s buying climate has very low expectations. With all the “brew ha ha” about CRM systems and Web enabled visibility, it still is about getting a quality widget to the customer ( in a box, on time, in good condition, fast, paid, and few returns or call backs, period).

Five “Good” customer basics to remember before you even think about trying to be “Great”. Consider these if you offer a product or service B to B or B to C:

1)       They want to buy your product, but you make it too difficult to buy. Listen, you may hear..."I want it now, without the “story” of how to buy, I’ll lose interest fast….."

2)      "I want your product to make me happy, even for a moment, if your quality is less than I expected, I’m unhappy for a long time."

3)      Are you easy to find, understand, and remember on the web, storefront, phone number, Email,  and catalog?

4)     Can  they understand your five P’s and S within 15 seconds? Price, Product, People, Promotion, Promise, and Service?

5)       Are you a fun to buy from? Tom Hopkins once said. “People buy emotionally, then defend their decision logically".  Guess what, Joe Girard also said  "If you patron has even one frustrating customer service experience, they will warn 250 other people not to buy" (His law of 250).

                                                                                                 

You will notice there is nothing new here, other than to say just master all five before you try to move your company to “Great”, there are no shortcuts.

Are Some 2010 Olympic Athletes And Sponsors Guilty Of Questionable Hidden Persuasion?

*As a long time alpine ski/snowboarding family, dad, and believer in brand marketing, there are some questions I have for the ski /snowboarding gear industry.  My beef is regarding over all brand honesty this year (Truth in advertising) and photo ops showing name brand equipment by winning athletes.  As I watched every night, with Home theater HD joy, the Vancouver Winter Olympics had a few questionable use of logos on shifting equipment models and overreaching shots in the winner's circles.

To be sure,  I looked up at my walls to see my own OCD personality displayed in my recreation room decorated with "real" ski/snowboarder race gear circa 1996.  It’s not a “sports bar”, but my own home version of one with a winter sports tilt from "back in  the day".  I noticed something odd  at what I was seeing on my TV vs my "wall" and  now have a few questions for today's advertisers and athletes using product placement photo ops after a race.:

• In the Women's Downhill, did Lindsey Vonn race on “long traditional, old,  dated Head men’s racer downhill ski’s and at the bottom  show "new" short wide Head recreational level skis for the cameras? (Hence a brisk discussion at my house with hard core skiers who were upset at this illusion and deceitful promotion… see photos).

• Allegedly, did some of the top skiers spray paint their long time racing ski boots with the current and future colors as they did not want to use the newer equipment? (Look closely at the paint chipped boot photos).

• At what point are sponsorships going to be called on  regarding dishonest brand  and model manipulations? How many times are after race photo ops misleading consumers to believe the winner actually used that equipment shown?

• Check out the entire photo’s of this year’s games and ask youself; did Ad agencies and sponsors go over the line this year advertising their brands? Could it be getting a little tacky and intellectually deceitful? Just a little bit? Is it getting worse?

• On a personal note, can NBC ever put their logo on the bottom right of the screen like most TV stations? It is very distracting  on the upper right and HDTV really sharpens how annoying this positioning is…. JMHO.

• Gotta Love Apolo Ohno’s values and ethics, he is “old school”. No goggle glass sponsorship or preening for the cameras with brands…. He is the brand! I would look at buying what he advertises and represents, based on his “story”. The really great ones always are the brand!

All in all, I am a very big fan of the Winter Olympics, all the athletes, America’s team, and the NBC coverage this year. My rant is minor, but in hopes that this blog brings some  attention to this exagerating practice to get more truthful in the future of product placements.  Bravo to all the athletes, we are all very proud of you and what you did in Vancouver! Ad agencies and agents, please don't cheapen our national treasure of current olympic youngsters, they deserve better!

*Photo by Doug Mills/NY Times

Its 10:00 Do You Know Where Your Mom Is? (Mom Marketing 2010)

A sizable bit of my business in CPG takes me to studying the buying habits of Moms all across the nation. Today I came across the most current study from The National Retail Federation (RAMA study) below, thought I would share and ask your observations:



My curiosity is; with the importance of MOMs and Marketing, wouldn’t it be interesting to see the Social Media impact on Moms who are one of the most active consumer groups that buy my consumer goods? Some interesting findings from the study are:

*Regular and Occasional Weekly Media Usage: Moms vs. Adults 18 PLUS:
Listen to the radio 80.3% | 70.2%
Listen to Satellite radio 14.2% | 18.0%
Listen to Web radio 15.0% |14.2%
Watch TV 91.2% | 88.9%
Surf the Internet 86.2% | 82.0%
Read/Send E-mail 90.3% | 86.5%
Read magazines 60.7% | 57.6%
Read the newspaper 54.0% | 58.1%
Read the mail 81.5% | 77.9%
Instant Message 30.7% | 26.1%
Blog 11.4% | 9.6%
Video Gaming 27.5% | 28.8%

*Mom Is More Tech-Savvy Than You Think:
The world of online shopping has grown leaps and bounds in the last decade. As the internet becomes more sophisticated, Americans are finding it easier to locate exactly what they want when they want it.

*Moms and Social Media:
Read Blogs: 51.6%
Post to Blogs: 27.7%
Have a “Blog of my own”: 15.3%
Twitter: 15.3%
My Space: 42.4%
FaceBook: 60.3%


What are your observations? Yes, Social media is growing, but what are you doing to find Mom where she is hanging out? Any surprises here?
*Source: BIG research SIMM 14, June 2009 and NRF