The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

This business, is coming like a ghost town…

I've moved all my blogging activity over to my site at http://robcuesta.com/rob-cuestas-blog/

The latest post is all about the importance of your physical brand., read it at http://robcuesta.com/marketing-for-coaches/this-business-is-coming-like-a-ghost-town/

 

 

UBC10: What makes a product into a Five-Star Experience?

Well, it's after the end of January and I only managed to make 9 posts, but I'm going to keep going with the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, and get to 31 by the end of February instead :)

About 13 years ago I bought a coffee maker. It was an espresso machine - you know the ones, just like you see in Starbucks, lots of steam coming out, lots of noise (mostly from you banging the old coffee grounds out of the holder).

Most importantly for me, though, it was a machine from a "real" coffee maker brand: the people who make the coffee machines in Italian restaurants.

Well, my espresso machine has finally been retired, and last week I bought a Nespresso machine. It's made by Magimix, the blender people. Not a name I'd associate with fine coffee.

And yet...

And yet...

And yet... I feel so much better about the Nespresso purchase than when I bought the old machine.

And it's not just about the fact it makes excellent coffee (and anyone who spends much time around me knows I *LOVE* my coffee).

It's about the whole experience of opening up the box.

When I bought my old espresso maker, it was about £140 ($210), and that was 13 years ago, so maybe it would be a £200/$300 coffee machine by today's standards.

The Nespresso was £110/$175.

It's a cheaper machine. So I had lower expectations...

UBC9: are you delivering five-star service?

I've often told clients in my workshops about the way that Ritz Carlton hotels make you feel special by using your name as you check in. I know how it's done, and while it's amazing at the time, once you know the trick that's how you view it. Today however I got very pleasantly surprised. I'm in Lisbon, at the five star Onyria Resort in Quinta da Marinha. It's on the outskirts of Estoril, a fishing village that became a target destination for Europe's royalty around 1900. And this hotel knows how to make you feel like royalty. As the cab dropped me back at the hotel this evening after a day working with one of my VIP clients, the doorman opened then cab door and smiled. "Good evening Mister Cuesta. how was your day? Will you be using the pool again today? Remember the spa is open until 8 tonight." I was flabbergasted. In fact, never has my flabbier been so gasted! There was no reason why he should have remembered my name (and there was no luggage with tags to allow some sneaky detective work. There was even less reason fornhim to remember that I had used the pool the night before. Coming after a truly 5-star checkin experience (seated at a desk, rather than standing awkwardly at a counter) it has cemented the Onyria as one of my favourite destinations. And here's the best bit. NONE OF THIS COST THE HOTEL A PENNY. All of this service was free. Here's a question for you: how can you make your clients feel like royalty without spending a fortune?

Competition is good for you

A lot of my mentoring clients come to me terrified of competition.

It's easy to understand why - I was there myself at one point.

We've all been hypnotised into thinking like consumer brands. For a consumer brand, competition *is* bad. Here's why. In a typical consumer Market there's limited demand and over supply: in other words too many vendors chasing not enough buyers. So the law of supply and demand pushes prices down.

And many coaches put themselves into the same position by not specialising enough.

But imagine you were the marketing director of Aston Martin, eager to sell more cars.

So THAT's why people hate being marketed to!

Do you remember when people used to LIKE advertising? Back when people got excited if a salesman came to the door? When we HOPED the phone would ring with someone trying to sell us double glazing?

Believe it or not, that's how things used to be. Back when marketers could say what they did in public and not get a torrent of abuse :)

So what changed?

What a Dominatrix taught me about Marketing

Sometimes it's hard for marketers to think outside the box. Take painkillers. No-one likes pain, right? Why would anyone want to keep hold of pain? Unless they were weird...

Quick Growth Tip #5: Let Them Take The Puppy Home

Have you ever heard of the Puppy Dog Close?

Imagine you're the owner of a pet shop and you want to sell a litter of puppies. If you just let people come into the shop and look at the puppies, they may bond with them or they may not. It's all a bit hit and miss. So instead you let them take the puppy home for a week. When you call them a week later to arrange to take the dog back, 90% of people refuse to let it go. They're sold.

Giving some kind of free experience to people (whether of your time or a product) is a variation on the Puppy Dog Close.

I'm not a big fan of giving away your time. There are a lot of risks that go with it, which I discuss with my clients and workshop attendees, but as long as you're aware of the dangers, and learn to manage them properly, it can be a good way to build your business until you've mastered the art of marketing.

Customer satisfaction? It's the unexpected extras that count

Recently, I had a nasty dent in the rear wing of my car. The insurance company chose the body shop they wanted me to use so I dropped it off.

Three weeks and four aborted attempts to return my car later, I finally have it back. The first time, the paintwork was full of bubbles. The second time, the bubbles were gone but it looked like the whole thing had been rubbed with emery paper and left. The third time, the repair was a different colour from the rest of the wing, and they had splashed my rear bumper (fender, for the Americans among you!) with grey primer - not a good look for a flame red coupe! The fourth time, they brought the car back with the engine management light on. Suffice to say, I was NOT happy.

Fifth delivery, and I finally got Mr Tibbs (it's a Hyundai Tiburon - what else would I call it?) back on Tuesday, and as soon as the delivery driver left I went inside to draft a strongly worded complaint. It's all forgotten now though, so what changed my mind?

Do Your Targets Hear The Sizzle?

There's an old advertising adage that says "Sell the sizzle not the steak". In recent years, it's been distorted and misapplied by less scrupulous ad-men, to become "sell the sizzle, and forget the steak". marketers have taken products with little or no real value to the consumer and hyped them up just to increase the price. It's the basic premise behind the book "Never Mind the Sizzle...Where's the Sausage?" which I reviewed last year.

Of course, one of the common misconceptions people have about personal branding - and branding in general - is that it's ALL about the sizzle, so I thought this afternoon I'd look at the world of sizzle and steaks.

What is marketing?

OK, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy with a major branding project overseas and I have some professional exams coming up which need my attention too. I'm also in the middle of setting up a couple of new joint ventures. Add in the need for some R&R after a very busy last two years for the business and it was about time I took a break.

But now I'm back, and I was asking myself, just what IS marketing? What are we, as marketers (and everyone is a marketer, whether they call themselves that or not) trying to achieve exactly?