Post-recession, everything's changed!
I was in the States last week, working on a deal I’ve been trying to land for years. More of that another time, but I also spent some flying hours reading the ever-brilliant Jeffrey Gitomer, an inspirational writer and guru of sales, marketing and networking.
I’ve always found his books and articles hugely entertaining and readable, but his latest newsletter really grabbed my attention.
I’ll paraphrase without plagiarising – for the real thing, visit www.gitomer.com
It’s all about how your customer has changed during, and maybe because of, the recession -
1 – He’s angry that his home and investments went down in value
2 – He won’t be banking, or buying homes, cars or insurance like he did before, and has lost all his respect for previously revered institutions
3 – He’s online, and blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, Linkedining and YouTubing about his buying experiences. If your service sucks, all your other customers will soon know
4 – He’s Googling, not Yellow-Paging, and can do this anywhere, anytime on his mobile device
5 – He’ll buy immediately if you take credit cards online, including after midnight 365 days of the year
6 – By the time he buys, he will have checked your price and facts online in seconds, and read what customers, as well as you, have to say about your company
7 – Because of this, he knows as much about your products as you do, and more about your competitors’ products than you do
8 – He wants you to answer the phone, and is sick of your hold music, your automated options, your offshore so-called “help-desks” and you telling him how important he is while he pays 10p a minute holding on your 0870 customer “service” line
9 – He’s looking for ideas, answers, help and advice, not crummy, transparent special offers
10 – He expects you to be as computer-literate as he is, and will be utterly turned off if you reply to his online query from a Hotmail, msn, AOL, gmail or other proprietary address. Get your own domain name for £7.99pa to meet your customer’s minimum expectations!
As Gitomer wisely adds, we are not going to “recover” from this recession; we are going to “revive and revise”.
Is your business ready?
Jon Cooper is the founder of Jupiter Dawn Consulting. Add any comments or questions to this column online, or by e-mail to jon@jupiterdawn.com
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Monday, 21 September 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Reading and meeting for a Tremendous Life
Reading and meeting are the keys to a Tremendous life
Like many in business, and with an interest in the success habits of others, I’m an avid reader.
I was reminded again of the power of a well written phrase when I picked up an article celebrating the life of Charles “Tremendous” Jones, an inspirational American speaker, author and life coach who died in 2008.
For six decades he toured the world imparting his wisdom and touching the lives of millions of people, but the one thing he’ll be remembered for above all else is a simple 26-word mantra –
“You are the same today as you will be next year except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”
It’s a beautifully simplistic view of course, but how true! If you read nothing and meet no-one for 12 months, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be particularly successful.
It’s also a given in that statement that it matters what you read and who you meet. If you read the Beano and meet only the postman every day, you’ll get what you get.
In a life devoted to advancing the understanding of business fundamentals, Jones published nine books, all of which have become reference works of their kind.
I’m about to re-read my copy of his 2 million selling “Life is Tremendous”, still available online and in bookshops.
Peppered with memorable quotes such as “To know what to do is wisdom. To know how to do it is skill”, his output consistently redefined how we should think about generating lasting wealth and happiness.
Like many business icons, he was a passionate philanthropist, and firmly believed not only that to receive anything you first have to give something, but also that giving is simply returning what you owe anyway. “Everything I have was a gift from someone”, he said recently.
Charlie also said that the secret to success is two words – “I will”, as against “I’ll think about it” or “I might”, or (God forbid) “I can’t”.
This year I’m going to follow Charlie’s “Tremendous” guidance. I WILL meet some more exceptional people, and I WILL read some more amazing books. I hope you do too.
Jon Cooper is the founder of JupiterDawn.com business consulting.
Email jon@jupiterdawn.com with feedback and business strategy queries.
Like many in business, and with an interest in the success habits of others, I’m an avid reader.
I was reminded again of the power of a well written phrase when I picked up an article celebrating the life of Charles “Tremendous” Jones, an inspirational American speaker, author and life coach who died in 2008.
For six decades he toured the world imparting his wisdom and touching the lives of millions of people, but the one thing he’ll be remembered for above all else is a simple 26-word mantra –
“You are the same today as you will be next year except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read.”
It’s a beautifully simplistic view of course, but how true! If you read nothing and meet no-one for 12 months, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be particularly successful.
It’s also a given in that statement that it matters what you read and who you meet. If you read the Beano and meet only the postman every day, you’ll get what you get.
In a life devoted to advancing the understanding of business fundamentals, Jones published nine books, all of which have become reference works of their kind.
I’m about to re-read my copy of his 2 million selling “Life is Tremendous”, still available online and in bookshops.
Peppered with memorable quotes such as “To know what to do is wisdom. To know how to do it is skill”, his output consistently redefined how we should think about generating lasting wealth and happiness.
Like many business icons, he was a passionate philanthropist, and firmly believed not only that to receive anything you first have to give something, but also that giving is simply returning what you owe anyway. “Everything I have was a gift from someone”, he said recently.
Charlie also said that the secret to success is two words – “I will”, as against “I’ll think about it” or “I might”, or (God forbid) “I can’t”.
This year I’m going to follow Charlie’s “Tremendous” guidance. I WILL meet some more exceptional people, and I WILL read some more amazing books. I hope you do too.
Jon Cooper is the founder of JupiterDawn.com business consulting.
Email jon@jupiterdawn.com with feedback and business strategy queries.
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