Jump Start Your Business Brain - Doug Hall

Scientific Ideas and Advice That Will Immediately Double Your Business Success Rate

Time Date 01-Jan-9999 Venue Speaker Seat Available: N/A

Seats Required:

Doug Hall,
Publisher: Emmis Books
ISBN: 1578601797

This is a synopsis only. RESULTS.com recommends you buy the original book.

Business success is not random. There are reproducible scientific lessons that can help you win more, lose less, and make more money with your products, services, sales and advertising efforts

75% of new businesses fail within 5 years. 75% of new product / service launches fail - and are discontinued within 2 years. A 25% chance of success is terrible odds. Most business owners will have a greater probability of success if they went to the casino and gambled their investment

Working harder won’t do it. You need to think smarter.

Those who excel in marketing, at a reproducible level (anyone can get lucky once), are students of the marketing craft and understand the strategies that have higher probability of success. They are professionals who study the literature.

Research for this book comes from the analysis of more than 6000 client groups, and more than 1,200,000 customers. The findings apply to both products and service

Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan once said, “The medium is the message”. Research has proved this to be wrong. It is the message that motivates the customers, not the medium. It is what you say, not where you say it that matters most. The message is king.

It is important to note, that no amount of communications enhancement will help where the products or services are not competitive.

Who, Why, What, How.

Target market = “Who” your ideal customers are

Dramatic and Meaningful Point of Difference = “Why” your target customers should care

Overt Benefit = “What” you are offering to your target market customer

Real Reason to Believe = “How” you are going to make good on your promise

Target Market

Target market = “Who” your ideal customers are

The rule = “Delight the few to attract the many”

• Your target market are the customers you seek to delight and excite the most with your offer

• Your target market are your most profitable customers with the most potential for growth

• When you have a clear target market

  • Your product and service design has more clarity and focus

  • Your customer communications are much more effective

• Note – while the target market is the centre of your business “bulls eye” it does not necessarily mean they will make up most of your sales volume

• Whenever you focus on a specific target market you immediately enhance customer perception of you as being an expert – and experts can expect to get paid more and earn higher margins

3 Laws of Marketing Physics

1. Dramatic and Meaningful Point of Difference

2. Blunt Overt Benefit

3. Real Reason to Believe

Notes about the 3 Laws of Marketing Physics:

Spending more money is rarely the answer to more growth.

It’s the quality of your idea that matters. No amount of communications enhancement will help where your products or services are not competitive.

Successful selling requires 2 simple tasks:

1. Making the effort to contact potential target market customers

2. Delivering an effective message

The research in this book will help you to deliver an effective message.

You still need to get out there and make the effort!

Dramatic and Meaningful Point of Difference

“Why should I care?”

Dramatic and Meaningful Point of Difference = “Why” your target customers should care

Increases your chances of marketplace success 353%

• Your mission is to create a monopoly – by being so dramatically different to your competitors

• If you’re not meaningfully unique, you’d better be cheap

• Without uniqueness you are a commodity and will only achieve commodity profit margins

• For uniqueness to be effective it must be dramatic and meaningful

  • It must be relevant to the target market, yet unexpected

    • (unexpected = novel, unusual, original, unique, new, different, revolutionary)

  • It must “call out” to your customers

  • It must make a real difference to your customers

  • The only difference that matters to customers is the experience they receive

• Dramatic & Meaningful Difference gets you noticed, remembered, and acted on by customers

• Make sure you can explain it simply to someone who is not knowledgeable in the field

• Can a 12 year old understand what makes you unique?

• Take whatever you think makes you different and multiply it by 10. Be boldly unique

• Dramatic and Meaningful Difference is the greatest weapon a small business has in competing with large companies.

  • As a company gets larger, its courage tends to get smaller

  • Larger companies tend to play it safe rather than trying to be unique

• Dramatically different ideas are usually hard to execute – they challenge you operationally

  • Is it a sustainable, defendable difference?

  • Can you execute effectively?

  • Is there a barrier to competitors copying you?

  • Dramatic differences cause you operational chaos and stretch you to deliver, and can invoke initial resistance from staff

• To be dramatically different is hard work – but worth it (353% more worth it!)

• You must continually develop your Dramatic Difference – if you are successful you will eventually have “me too” competitors

• What starts as a monopoly soon becomes a commodity

• Data shows that 80% of all copycat products fail – (but their entry into the category has the effect of lowering category margins)

• Always focus some of your resources on creating the “next big idea” for your uniqueness

• Being “new” and “having news” is the #1 driver of advertising success

Common mistakes with Dramatic and Meaningful Point of Difference:

• Delusion – refusing to face the fact that your company is not truly dramatically different

• Your uniqueness is too easy for competitors to copy and implement

• Exaggerating a difference based on minor distinctions that require “insider knowledge” but are irrelevant, or not easily understood

• SOS = “Same Old Stuff” - Having a “me too” product or service and hoping that a better marketing message will produce a miracle

  • Your Dramatic and Meaningful Difference must be built into your product or service

  • You uniqueness must come from within

• Shallow gimmicks

• Solving yesterday’s problems

How to craft a Dramatic and Meaningful Difference:

Be a Pioneer

• Having a future focus is 10 x more predictive of success

• Lead your marketplace – don’t copy

• Do not ask customers what they want. Innovation does not come from customers

• Customers don’t know what they don’t know. No customer asked for an iPod.

• Anticipate the future needs of customers. Vision takes courage.

• Pioneer companies enjoy a 4 x sustained advantage – they can command ongoing premium pricing over clones

• Create the news – be the first to offer a “….”

• Create new market categories – position yourself as leader

• Claim a dramatic point of difference

• Pursue change even when you don’t have to

• Learn more about your customers and your industry every week

• Make learning a daily activity

• Be open to new information – new facts

• Be prepared to change your mind with new information

“An excessive customer focus prevents firms from creating new markets and finding new customers for the products of the future. They unwittingly bypass opportunities.” (Harvard Business Review)

“A customer can seldom say today what new product or service would be desirable in 3 years from now, or a decade from now. New products and services are generated, not by asking the customer, but by knowledge, imagination, risk, trial and error on the part of the producer, backed by enough capital to develop the product or service and to stay in business during the lean months of introduction” (W Edwards Deming)

Pursuing dramatically different ideas takes courage

It takes courage to lead customers into the future

Blunt Overt Benefit

“What’s in it for me?”

Blunt Overt Benefit = “What” you are offering to your target market customer

Having 1 blunt overt benefit will nearly triple your chances of marketing success

• Customers stay with the status quo until they see an overtly appealing alternative

• Be blunt. The more obvious it is what you do - the increased chances of success

• Focusing on benefits instead of features is critical for marketing success

  • Features = facts, figures, technology, details about your product / service

  • Benefits = what’s in it for the customer? What do they receive, enjoy or experience?

• Engineers, scientists, and technology driven companies are prone to making the mistake of focusing on features – and communicating their love of the technology

  • For every feature ask from the customer’s perspective – “So what?”

• Benefits must be specifically related to your target market customer

• Tell customers exactly what you will do for them in a direct, easy to understand manner

  • Is it specific about what’s in it for the target customer?

  • Is it clear and obvious?

  • Does it excite and compel?

  • Is it unique vs. the competition?

  • Does it work visually as well as when said out loud?

  • Is it easy for customers to spread via word of mouth?

  • Does it travel well? E.g. the game of Chinese whispers – does the message stay the same as it is passed on from person to person?

• Research shows you need to be blunt and overt in order for your target customer to “get it”

• It’s not boasting when you can really deliver

• The clearer you are about what you do, the more customer word of mouth referrals you get

• Being clever and obscure does not create customer curiosity, they simply reject you

• Can a 12 year old tell what your company does by looking at your business card? By looking at your branding? Your tagline? Your advertisements?

• It’s OK for a customer to say “NO” because your Overt Benefit does not apply to them (i.e. they are not your target market customer)

• It is inexcusable for a target market customer to say “NO” because they do not understand your Overt Benefit

• Sometimes people fear that they might insult the intelligence of their customers if they are too blunt & overt

  • Don’t worry you can’t. You will attract the right customers for the right reasons

  • Being blunt and overt ensures the enquiries you get from your marketing will be pre-qualified and already interested in exactly what you are offering

• The more you focus on doing 1 thing great, the greater your chances for success as a brand

• Analysis of over 4000 concepts shows that if you offer more than 1 or 2 benefits - you lower your chances of marketing success.

• The strongest brands and strongest companies offer 1 focused benefit

• There are many cars, but few “real brands” that are associated with 1 benefit

  • BMW – driving

  • Volvo – safety

  • Toyota – reliability

  • Mercedes – engineering

  • Ferrari - speed

• Contrast this with brands that try to be all things to all people

  • Ford = ?

  • Chrysler = ?

• When customers hear your brand name, what 1 benefit do you want to come to their mind?

  • Ask your customers what 1 thing comes to mind when they hear your brand name?

  • Ask your staff what 1 thing do we offer our customers?

  • Are they all saying the same thing? If not – you have work to do

• People fear that by focusing on 1 thing, they will limit their customer base. They think that by promising everything they will broaden their business potential. However, the data shows the more you dilute your focus – the more you limit credibility and customer appeal.

• When you proclaim and then deliver excellence in 1 specific area, it gives credibility to your entire business. Rather than limit your customer base, you can actually grow as perception of your excellence and focus. Customers assume that if you do 1 thing great, you must have excellence in other areas too.

• The most difficult, yet important decision is to decide what you are not going to be.

• You may feel like you are giving something up, but saying NO to promoting other offerings gives you a greater chance of success. Saying NO enhances your employees’ effectiveness

• Your 1 Blunt Overt Benefit is actually your brand / company mission – it focuses your employees on what really matters

• Your Blunt Overt Benefit is what your brand stands for, what your company stands for

• Your Blunt Overt Benefit can be either rational or emotional – the data shows there is no difference in their effectiveness. The key is to do 1 thing great and focus.

• When a customer buys your product or service they are buying the “end result” they can visualize in their mind

  • What is the defining moment of success for your product or service?

  • How could you show the end result visually?

How to find your Blunt Overt Benefit:

• What is the reason you got into business in the first place?

• What problem did you set out to solve?

• What are you most proud of / excited about regarding what your company offers?

• What would your most loyal customers boast most about what your company offers?

• Complete this statement: We are the best / first / only company to offer….

Common mistakes:

• Providing a solution (or inventing something) to solve a non-existent problem

  • This is the #1 mistake. The customers must have tension for change

• Selling the absence of a problem - instead of a positive benefit

  • Instead of saying “no preservatives” it is better to sell your health benefits

  • Selling “we don’t have a negative” requires customers to know that all other products have that negative. When you ask customers to do more work - you get fewer sales

• Assuming customer knowledge

  • Make sure a 12 year old level of comprehension can understand your benefit

• Selling “low prices”

  • The only time you can “own” this benefit on a sustainable basis is if you are large enough to have economies of scale or are vertically integrated to the extent that you have a sustainably lower cost of production (e.g. Wal-Mart, Dell, Southwest Airlines)

  • Do not market “low prices” unless you truly have lower costs than your competitors

• Being too humble

  • Being overt can feel like boasting - some people are scared to blow their own horn.

  • It is not boasting when you are telling the truth and you can do what you say

  • Beware of comments from close friends and focus groups – who tend to try to water down your offer – because they are familiar with your offer and will say “You don’t need to say that, we know that”. The real world is not familiar with your offer. Your business has mere seconds to get a customer’s attention. Be blunt and overt.

• Doing what everyone else is doing

  • Your overt benefit needs to be unique. If you “play safe” and offer the same things as your competitors you will have no impact.

Real Reason to Believe

“Why should I believe you?”

Real Reason to Believe = “How” you are going to make good on your promise

You are 2 x more likely to succeed if you combine your Blunt Overt Benefit with a Real Reason for them to believe you

• Customers will not commit to purchase until they perceive a Real Reason to Believe that you will deliver on your Blunt Overt Benefit

• You need to provide evidence that you will do as you promise

• Your Blunt Overt Benefit is “what” you are offering. Your Real Reason to Believe is “how” you are going to make good on your promise.

• To succeed in marketing you need the “what” and the “how”

• Customer evaluation of your Real Reason to Believe happens in a split second

• Overt Benefit generates the interest; the Real Reason to Believe is what closes the sale.

• “Real” = you must tell the real truth. Authenticity is the #1 most important personal value

• Customer trust in marketing messages and product and service claims is at an all time low – after having been duped by companies’ and politicians’ hype for far too long

• Real Reason to Believe is built or diminished by small actions e.g.

  • Clean uniforms and clean sign-written trucks increase your credibility

  • Staff answering the phone professionally and courteously increase your credibility

  • Dirty food trays on a airplane make you question the airline’s engine maintenance, and decrease your credibility

• Credibility is like a bank balance. Today you start with a negative credibility balance and need to build trust. 93% of customers do not believe advertising anymore.

• When customers trust you they:

  • Are more willing to make the purchase.

  • Will drive further to do business with you

  • Will be more loyal

  • Will pay more, and be less tempted to shop elsewhere for a cheaper price

• Successful TV infomercials that stay on the air for a long time provide some of the most effective examples of Real Reason to Believe. They provide:

  • Visual demonstrations

  • Customer testimonials – aimed at converting skeptics

  • Common sense explanations of how the product works

  • Verification of the expertise and pedigree of the inventor of the product

• Bricks and mortar stores have an advantage of more credibility than infomercial companies or internet companies because people can see and try products for themselves and know they can come back and present any problems to real people

• Internet companies need to provide as many Real Reasons to Believe as they can

Real Reasons to Believe strategies:

• “Kitchen logic”

  • Use common sense language to explain in a direct and straightforward manner why you can deliver your Blunt Overt Benefit e.g.

    • We make the most durable jeans – because we use triple-thick denim

• “Personal experience”

  • Demonstrations are more effective than testimonials

  • Let customers see, feel and experience your brand

  • Sampling

    • Sensory feedback – see, smell, feel, taste, touch, experience

  • Demonstration

    • Includes “before & after” photos

    • Images of a product being used in extreme circumstances (so customers can imagine how well it performs in their ordinary personal circumstances)

• “Pedigree”

  • Detail the heritage of your brand

  • “Development pedigree”

    • Describe the design, creation, recipe, or process behind your brand

    • (Remember these types of Real reasons to believe are not your overt benefit – they are simply reasons to believe you can deliver your overt benefit)

  • “Marketing pedigree”

    • Use market data to communicate credibility e.g.

      • “The #1 selling XYZ in …”

      • “Winner of the ABC award 2 years in a row…”

  • “Trademark pedigree”

    • Use a trademarked brand name that is already trusted to endorse your new brand – e.g. line extensions

    • The danger is when companies use line extensions to stretch their original trusted brand into another category that is beyond what it currently stands for

• “Testimonials”

  • Either from customers or experts (get their signed permission)

  • Celebrity endorsements (For celebrities to add credibility, the fit needs to be right and they need to be perceived to have some expertise in the area)

• “Guarantee”

  • The power of your guarantee is directly linked to the level of risk your company is perceived by the customer to be taking

  • Keep fine print to a minimum – you must maximize customer confidence, not reduce your legal risk

  • Be bold & confident in order to give your customers peace of mind

Common mistakes with Real Reason to Believe:

• Not big enough reasons

• Not enough reasons. When in doubt, add more

• Irrelevant reasons

  • Needs to be synergy between your Blunt Overt Benefit and Real Reason to Believe.

• Are your marketing communications saying the same message in all your media channels?

• Are your staff all saying the same messages about your company (on the phone / at trade shows etc)? When the messages are different you lose credibility with customers

• “Me too” reasons – following the rest of your industry (“they all say that”). The more a strategy is used in a category the less credible it becomes e.g.

  • All scotch whiskeys talk about their pedigree

  • All mail order companies offer a money back guarantee

  • (You need to come up with a unique strategy to break the cycle of cynicism)

• Destroying your own credibility

  • Usually done by lawyers inserting fine print to limit company liability

The 3 Laws of Capitalist Creativity

1. Explore Stimuli

2. Leverage Diversity

3. Face Fears

• Brainstorming is not effective or efficient = the “suck” method of creativity

• Brainstorming is 50 years old. Data shows brainstorming does not work well in business

• Create a multi-sensory stimulating environment = 2 x more creative ideas developed

• Leverage diversity – surround yourself with people who think differently to you (different cultures, ages, backgrounds, thinking styles etc)

• Let people write their own ideas / solutions individually first

• Then people present their written ideas to the group

• Don’t worry about practicality of ideas in the initial stages

• Generate many ideas

• Suspend judgment

• Drive out fear – encourage dissension and debate

• Left brain people are just as important as right brain people in the creative process– leverage both styles

• Right brain = energy to lead change

• Left brain = doers = turn dreams into reality = bring discipline to the creative process

• Experiment on small scale. Fail fast – fail cheap

• “It is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” (Charles Darwin)

• Take risks – the players who hit the most home runs have the most strike outs

• Courage comes from believing you are making a difference

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