ALLEN D'ANGELO'S STRATEGIC BUSINESS GROWTH INSIGHTS AND INSPIRED THOUGHT SPIRALS

Breaking News About the Challenges Facing Marketers in 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Allen D'Angelo, M.S.) — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:13:00 +0000

This morning over my morning Coke Zero (I don’t drink coffee), I briefly looked at a study put out by the Chief Marketing Officer Council about customer retention. The purpose of the study was to identify what deepens, solidifies and perpetuates customer relationships. Why commission such a study? Is it because marketers are facing some stiff challenges? Why do the companies sponsoring the study want us to focus on this problem? I have listed below what the CMO Council claims in the study are factual, statistically sound truths about the challenges facing marketers.

Challenges Facing Marketers in 2008
1. The average U.S. business loses 10% of its customers annually due to attrition--you would think the pain of this alone would be enough to motivate change, but this is not typically the case

2. Capturing new customers costs 500% more than satisfying and keeping present customers in satisfying relationships--the challenge is in convincing your company to take the long view on relationships

3. For every one-percent increase in customer retention the average business will save five-percent in costs, not to mention the added value of revenue retention--convincing most top team members to invest in retention is a tough sell

4. Committed, satisfied customers are 1500% more likely to spend more with businesses than their higher-risk, intermittent counterparts--you must convince your company you are capable of influencing satisfied customers to actually spend, not just be likely to spend

The CMO Council claims that companies are focusing on front-end lead generation, but not doing enough with their existing customer data. They further claim that marketers should determine their most profitable customers, improve the customer experience and increase business with those customers.

Allen DAngelo’s advice for CMOs…

The present business environment in which CMOs must operate is treacherous at best. CMOs are often caught in the fray between CEOs and CIOs. Top management executives demand short-term gains at the expense of customer relationships and information executives are resilient to the collaboration necessary to enable the greatest use of customer knowledge. CMOs face challenges in knowing how to harness Mount Everest-size volumes of customer data while balancing and integrating the human dynamics of emotion into the experiences customers desire.

Being a CMO is a tough job… it may feel like a mission impossible. Some days you are the fall guy. You may feel like quitting some days… most days.

CMOs need to become organizational connectors who build bridges from resilient top managers to the customers. They need to become more forceful by taking a dominant role in leading their companies. They need to become Strategic Growth Champions who lead their company past the short-term nonsense and toward relationship rich horizons where customers feel trust again.

Stop Your Sales Funnel From Turning Into The Sales Tunnel From Hell Or The Marketing Commode

noreply@blogger.com (Allen D'Angelo, M.S.) — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:41:00 +0000

When marketing expert Seth Godin addressed a captured crowd at Google to share insightful pearls of wisdom from his book “All Marketers Are Liars,” he presented his version of how Google redefined the sales funnel. He said that Google turned the sales funnel sideways to allow people to use Google’s funnel as a megaphone. That was an interesting insight. He also mentioned that the cost of prospects (or suspects) is becoming greater, the further down into the funnel a prospect descends. This certainly has been true of Google’s ad word marketing program, and anyone earning or losing revenue on ad words understands this lesson.

This made me wonder what the funnel might actually look like for other businesses, based on their present experiences, frustrations and the challenges they must solve every day as strategists with seemingly elusive prospects.

First, there is the funnel-turned-tunnel from hell, which resembles more of a black hole, a pipeline with no end for the unlucky marketer that never sees enough prospects turn into customers pour out of the end. Why does this elongation to destruction happen? For thousands of reasons (and non-reasons) everyday. It’s not surprising, really. Maybe mass ADD is the culprit. Lack of focus, distraction, too much of a focus on distraction, or just too much multivariate, multi-level background noise distraction. Is it too many options, or too much competition for attention? Is it holes in the funnel, or a lack of cogent communication and determined follow-up?

Secondarily, there is the sales and marketing funnel that resembles the commode. It comes complete with a flush lever and an amazing one-step process: Just push it once and you’ll never see a prospect or your marketing investment again. Neither Criss Angel nor Harry Houdini could have created a better prospect vanishing device as the marketers using this sales funnel.

So how should marketers handle sales leads now to avoid pain and bring on the sweet success we long to enjoy daily?

If you take Christine Comaford-Lynch’s advice, you will use a disqualification process and personalized telephone or e-mail contacts to increase your conversion rates. Christine is an expert at improving human performance and communication. So how can disqualifying potential clients help you succeed at converting more prospects into clients?

Call your prospects and tell them who you are, what company you are from, then…

Christine says to state only two compelling features of your product or services by clearly connecting those features to a benefit—one of the three biggest reasons people will buy from you, or any one. Here are the three biggest reasons people buy from you:

1. To increase sales or get money—who isn’t looking for this kind of improvement?
2. To save money—most people like to think this is possible, but don’t always believe you can deliver it.
3. To remove pain or frustration—From Icy Hot to your therapist, we all have some issues.

Then, simply ask them if that’s interesting to them. If they say yes, move them out of your funnel. Christine says to remember to STOP SELLING them once you have given them enough information to make a decision. In other words, never oversell.

Here’s how I would use this in my company at Archer Ellison, Inc:

My name is Allen D’Angelo. I am with Archer Ellison, Inc. We are one of the top strategic consulting firms in this industry, specializing in helping your company find overlooked growth opportunities in your customer loyalty programs. Our track record is providing clients with an increase of 41% to 2037% in profits. Are you interested in securing professional help to improve your customer loyalty program?

I don’t care what any new media marketing guru tells you. Your sales funnel won’t magically fill-up with sales revenue unless you help people through your funnel, either with a great marketing system, or a great people system, or better... both. To do that at some critical point you must connect your potential customers to great experiences with your company and your people. Then your sales funnel becomes more like a giant hug, embracing your potential clients through positive encounters. Now that’s a funnel that sounds inviting.

Strategic Growth Consultant Allen D'Angelo On The Set of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak

noreply@blogger.com (Allen D'Angelo, M.S.) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:32:00 +0000

I have worked with mid-size business and many famous clients, but few have the energy and ability to generate, grow and mobilize a platform of fans like Criss Angel. He makes it all appear effortless.

Last week while in Las Vegas I was invited onto the set of Mindfreak as illusionist Criss Angel performed an historic barrel escape from a height of 75-feet for Season Four of his Mindfreak Show—which airs on A&E.

I have always noticed the unique ability Criss has to manage many separate teams that provide support to him with precision. From his inner circle consisting of multiple teams of consultants—many of the world’s brightest and best—who work on specific sets of illusions. His production and stage managers handle the taping of each event. His production office handles public requests—and he even employs many family members. His ability to keep his team energized and engaged is one of the aspects of the real magic behind Criss Angel’s business genius.

To contact Allen: archer@archerellison.com

The Challenge of Change for Marketers—Is Each Day a Brand-New Game or a Threat?

noreply@blogger.com (Allen D'Angelo, M.S.) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:54:00 +0000

The balance of power is shifting (has shifted) to your customers. The changes most marketers are facing are unprecedented. Why do some CMOs (chief marketing officers or simply you, if you are an entrepreneur) embrace this change with the vigor of playing a brand-new game each day, while others feel threatened?

The game for Strategic Growth Champions is something I simply call, “getting closer to your clients.” When marketers play that game they always win. Marketers tend to lose the game when they unintentionally get stuck, become embedded, or stagnate for too long behind anything (good or bad)—including spending too much time focusing on things that are not meaningful and actionable, and that make a measurable difference for their clients. These are proof points.

The analytics, the exploration, the creative, the marketing organization and the realization of the vision—all of these process elements and many more—are incredible tools.

When the tools don’t work, new initiatives do not take flight on time as promised, or when any upset occurs, marketers must find new ways to discover fresh key drivers and transformative insights.

Sure, expensive studies help. Ethnographers can help, too. There are experts like me. I am here, too. I have many unique and creative methods, approaches and insights that will enliven your business and influence growth. And there's something simple I lead my advice-based clients to do. If you really want refreshing insights during a time of any marketing challenge, remember first to find fresh new ways to connect with them—your clients—regularly.

Put your customers at the heart of your business. You know this and unfortunately have heard it often enough to probably feel it is a mundane, trite and an overused statement. The secret is that understanding customers intimately will always help you deal with the changes the business world appears to throw at you.

You know your customers have the power. You as CMO have a special kind of power—the power to connect with your customers. Your customers choose to either dollar-vote your products and services every day or not. Your clients are precious resources who want to help you understand and expand your businesses to pre-eminent levels in your market. Your clients are your special guests at the daily party you are creating for them. In essence, they are the party, you are the host and everyone benefits when it all goes well.

Strategic Growth Championess comes from that special something that gives clients almost a feeling of supernatural connection and meaning in their lives, or in their product and service experiences.

The most narrow definition of success in my opinion is marketing’s role of merely expanding reach in a given consumer or b-to-b arena. Unfortunately, some CMOs only define success in terms of expanded reach. But we know we must dimensionalize our thinking on how we define success.

This requires a shift because most customers move faster than the minds and action-taking capacity of even the best marketers of today, hence causing some marketers to possibly feel threatened.

Omid Kordestani, senior vice-president of global sales and business development for Google, led a different initiative and approach. He opted not to do traditional marketing, and instead simply put out a lot of services and then raced to innovate at a rapid pace. For Omid, every day appears to be a fun game with wonderful new challenges and many rapid innovative successes.

What can you do today as a marketer to innovate for your clients, in your industry and in your market? What must you do to convert challenges associated with change in your business a fun game you can win?

Strategic Growth Champion Identified

noreply@blogger.com (Allen D'Angelo, M.S.) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:12:00 +0000

Strategic Growth Champions are different. They think very differently and their actions prove it. Strategic Growth Champions set a unique direction that often forges a new trend or counters one. They bring an interesting level of innovation to almost everything they do. They create initiatives that solve real big problems for others and they are never afraid to boldly share their solutions—often presenting them in the form of wildly successful products, services and high-growth companies.

I have had the very good fortune of crossing paths with many people whom I consider champions. I will share more about some of them in the coming days—and some are highlighted in my bio. Here’s one I have not met yet, but hope to very soon…

He is the “anything-but-stuffy-rich self-made billionaire” Tim Blixseth. He is rare. He understands strategic growth championess. I say that not because he grows fortunes, but because he connects with others in ways that change people’s lives.

From his early days Tim displayed a strategic ability to leverage his investments of time and money. In his first business venture at age 15 he purchased three donkeys from a classified ad in a Pacific Northwest newspaper for $25 each, then sold them as “pack mules” for $75 each. They sold immediately.

Tim’s next display of championess occurred soon after. He bought a $1,000 option for a $90,000 timber property. It was just under 400 acres. Imagine the level of courage, innovation and self-belief required for the then teenage Blixseth to stare confidently into the eyes of a realtor who threatened to keep his $1,000 if he couldn’t pay the remaining $89,000 within the week. Blixseth leveraged his bet and won. He found a timber company to buy the property for $140,000, giving him a profit of $50,000. I want to ask Tim how hard it was to secure that timber company.

He went on to buy overlooked properties and flip them to logging companies and large landowners in remote Pacific Northwest towns. He grew his business to $1 million a month, by the time her was 30 years old.

His work in recent years has focused on building Yellowstone Club. There, members can take one of the resort jets to St. Andrews for golf, followed by yachting on the high-seas and then shut off the valve with a retreat to one of Blixseth’s exclusive beach hideaways in Tamarindo. It is truly something. A strategic champion creating outstanding retreat experiences for top achievers.

Tim has accomplished it all without incurring debt and he is a very down-to-earth person. Tim carries a small plastic Staples calculator in his pocket everywhere he goes.

Tim Blixseth is highlighted in Robert Frank’s newest book Richistan, a wonderful read.