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Beginning With The End In Mind

by on 02/08/2011 in Mindset

At a recent surf and fashion show...

I was at an industry surf and fashion show this past weekend and got some decent ideas for some new niches, but more importantly got to see the latest color trends, and what happening in the marketplace.

In case you were wondering vintage colors is big this year. Golds, browns, oranges, and greens. You know, like the 70s. Also, pinks and ocean blues are hot too.

But that’s not what I want to talk to you about in this post.

Its about beginning every project your working on with the end customer in mind.

Sooooo many wholesalers got this wrong over the weekend. They only thought of me the buyer.

But, they forgot they are in. The middle position.

I have to buy off them and then retail to the end consumer. So, really the end customer is not me it’s the customer I’m selling to. They priced like the end consumer is me.

There was one person selling a watch for $8.50, with retail of $20. Advertised their own URL on the product itself. By the way, they sell retail on that site as well. Didn’t know any demographics sales data, or anything that would help me make an informed decision. Rigid ordering like $500 minimums. And further more, they were rude about it. Oh, and no protection.

Needless to say we said NEXT!

What was really horrendous is that this was not an anomaly. A lot of folks were doing this. It must be some weird epidemic or something, because what would posses a company to give the royal shaft to their retailers like this?

What can you learn from this?

There is hope.

There was still buying going on (me included). As long as there is commerce going on you can make a few bucks out there. Also, with all these bad wholesalers (and retailers) you can get in a position to set your self away from the pack by actually thinking about what the end is.

Ask yourself what position am I in? Answer in earnest and adjust your strategy accordingly. A great example of this that was not just based on price (which i hate competing on) is great displays for the product that was geared toward consumers. The display was so clever that it eliminated many of the objections that I had about the product, because it took up less sq ft, and was very inviting for customer to shop from.

Buy the items for a reasonable price, that looks great, and I can get it again and again. Sounds like a winner in my books. This is an example of a company that actually thought about it.

Another was less sophisticated but was very friendly and professional service, great pricing which left a good profit margin for me, and a very competitive price for the customers, offered protection, and the product is hot. Another great deal for me and my customers.

Starting to see a trend here?

What can you do to give value? Beginning with the end in mind you can always see some way to add value to your customer.

Until next time, hopefully you got something out of this post (rant). Leave your comments below!

- Mark

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Micro Niche PDF Download

by on 11/07/2010 in Micro Niche Marketing

I was putting together a presentation about Niche Marketing for my friend Dan Stojadinovic Hypefree boot camp this weekend and I found this presentation that I spoke on about a year ago.

Now before you say… “You don’t expect me to read your year old e-book?”

Hear me out.

95% of the stuff in there is highly relevant even to this day.

The only thing I would change is more emphasis on YouTube videos. I am generating a lot of traffic from YouTube vids right now. You can expect a blog post about that shortly.

It’s all about the fundamentals, and there are some key tips in there.

Especially if you have just heard me speak over the weekend a lot of the information in there should make a lot of sense.

If not, use it as a jump off point to further your education. Either way it is yours totally free.

You can download it below…

Download the Micro Niche presentation handout.

Hope you enjoy it, and if you like it just tweet or share it along.

Thanks,
Mark

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Marketing Lessons from Ben Affleck’s The Town Movie.

by on 09/18/2010 in Productivity

Ben Affleck’s new movie The Town opened this weekend and is seeing great results.

Great for Ben, the studios, and investors.

But what does this mean for you?

In a world where industry reviews, consumer reviews, comments, Twitter, Facebook, etc., can be found at the click of the mouse or finger.

Good news travels fast, bad news even faster.

So, as a business person you can’t expect to sell junk in the marketplace and still get results.

There are so many people out there that sell utter garbage and they wonder why they are not successful.

People don’t want crap.

The Town Movie

What to learn from The Town Movie.

The Town (Ben Affleck) vs The Devil (M Night Shyamalan)

A classic battle between good and evil. A David and Goliath type match. Ali vs Frasier.

One movie comes highly praised by critics, reached a starving crowd, word of mouth was huge, great acting, correct target market, and buzz..

The other, trashed by critics, flooded marketplace, long history of junk, no buzz, bad premise, wrong target market, tarnished name.

You get the idea.

Guess which movie opened better?

You got it. The Town.

It beat “The Devil” for about 10-15 million in just this weekend. It will far outperform it in the long run.

With the interwebz you can no longer do whatever YOU want. You have to do what THEY want.

The market spoke and you have to listen.

- Mark

P.S. So, what is your takeaway? Is M. Night over? Did you see the movie? Leave a comment below!

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Engage Your Customers Even At Trade Shows.

by on 09/12/2010 in Productivity

In case you guys don’t know this, my family is in the retail business. We have a couple of stores over on the beach, and it’s something that we’ve all worked on over the past 9 or so years.

Around the start of the year, and then again around Late Summer some industry trade shows are held in Florida and that is where we get to see some of the latest products for season, talk with reps, order merchandise, etc.

Without fail there are always some obnoxious reps, reps that couldn’t give-a-crap, reps that follow you around the booth all stoic, and the list goes on and on and on.

Basically, I wonder why they are there.

Why would I give them my business?

However, this year the utter lack of caring and rudeness became more apparent to me since reading the wonderful book Un-Marketing by Scott Stratton. A part of his book is on this very topic. It is a great read, and the guy clearly “gets it”. You should buy it off Amazon or better yet your local book store.

But, amongst all the epic fails there manages to be some guy or gal that engages with me (the customer) on a level that is on a different plane. They shine the most amazing bursts of ethereal light, that sometimes you question is this really happening. And after the initial shock, you quickly get over it and talk some business.

So, it got me thinking. What sets these individuals apart from the pack? I settled on this…

They actually want your business. They act like they want to be there, they don’t just “show up”. They are willing to go that extra mile so to speak, and for that they are rewarded with my business.

Let me clarify something here.

Their product has to be a Rock Star. If it’s not… No matter how nice they are to me they’re still not getting my business. Because at the end of the day I still have to put money in the bank.

But, there are probably a lot of really good products out there.

The ones that get my business will be from the folks who care enough to engage.

If you are just starting a business, or are already out there in the marketplace. Think of how you can engage your prospects, clients, and customers in a way that will rock their socks off.

Today, there was this one company that did everything right.

The owner and the guy working the booth really left an impression. He was attentive, his product was attractive, prices are reasonable, cared enough to listen, cared enough to ask questions, told me about his product lines, payment and order taking was a breeze. It just worked. Guess what? Out of 140 booths I stopped by today he was the only booth that got my business. (The other I might get later, I might not. Most of them won’t even follow up with so I will probably end up forgetting they exist.)

Here’s another fact. That was the only person who engaged me.

There are some awesome ways to engage your customers at trade shows.

Here are some tips to do that…

  • Look them in the eye.
  • Listen to what they have to say. Don’t just hear.
  • Care enough to ask them about there own business, or store.
  • Explain your products clearly, with passion.
  • Don’t sell crap. Sell quality things with a real potential for both parties to make a profit.
  • Don’t sell everywhere, to everyone. (This is very important to specialty retail stores like ours, it gives that exclusivity and feeling of protection.)
  • Don’t sit on a chair in the corner on a laptop. Stand up and be attentive.
  • Talk with them, show them around, and make them feel welcomed.
  • Engage.

At the end of the day, why come all the down to Florida to talk on your cell phone and not talk to potential customers that are there standing in front of your booth. That is why you bought the booth, setup space, and are taking time on the weekends! You want more business!

So, I hope you can take some of the tips and find a space for them in your business. If you are already engaging; great. Because with the internet, and some very savvy entrepreneurs out there that are changing the way customers buy things. Companies that do not keep up with the times will become extinct like all things that don’t evolve.

If you want my business, you have to engage me.

- Mark

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