Your customers do.

According to Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, even the all-powerful Apple Computers used to mess this up. In Reality Check, he explains how Apple used to spend millions of advertising dollars trying to convince people that Apple Computers are “more powerful” than their PC counterparts.

Apple Computers are more powerful.

Apple Computers are more powerful.

Apple Computers are more powerful.

It turned out that their customers didn’t care much about “powerfulness”.

Mac customers loved how easy to use their Mac’s were, and how much fun it was to make cool stuff. And so that’s what they talked about. And that’s what they told their friends. And that’s why their friends ended up buying Mac’s too.

Because they were easy to use and they could make cool stuff on them.

How about your window cleaning or pressure washing company?

I know that when I ask you to describe your company, you’ll tell me all about your commitment to excellence, or your being in business for 26 years, or your shiny new trucks. I know that you have a story about your brand that you’re trying to tell.

The better (more profitable) question is: What stories are your customers telling about you?

They have already decided what your company stands for.

That’s the truth.

Are you listening?

IDEA: Why not make up a little postage-paid survey for clients that have recommended you, with one line on it:

“When you recently recommended us to your friends, what did you say about us?”

And leave the rest of it blank.

You might find out for the very first time what your brand actually stands for.

P.S.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

I’ve read it cover to cover myself, and while disagreeing with what Taleb philosophizes about when it comes to evolutionary psychology and all that kind of stuff, I must say that his work otherwise sparkles with actionable truisms galore.

He’s a specialist in identifying and evaluating the impact of highly improbable events. He also explains how you can position yourself to take advantage of asymmetrical outcomes.

(Caveat: The Black Swan is pretty deep reading, and I’m not going to pretend that I could follow all of Taleb’s arguments and reasoning. This guy dives deep and fast in his analysis.)

But amidst the musings he offers a great insight into how his own business meetings begin.

Taleb starts “every meeting convincing everyone that we are a big bunch of idiots who know nothing and are mistake-prone, but happen to be endowed with the rare privilege of knowing it.”

Brilliant. Now that’s something you can use.

What do you think you know that you really are clueless about?

Here’s a more specific one for you:

Why do your customers love you, and continue to give you their hard-earned money?

Because of your awesome workmanship?
Attention to detail?
Great prices?
Friendly demeanor?
“Professional” conduct?
Impeccable comportment?
Prompt response to inquiries?
Unique guarantee?
Good-looking workers?
Punctuality?

Why not try this: Assume you’re clueless.

Learn from Taleb. Assume that you know nothing. Assume you’re a big bunch of idiots.

Ask the people that give you their money (your clients) instead.

Ask your 25 favorite customers these two questions:

1. Why did you choose our company in the first place?

2. Why do you continue to do business with us?

You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

Case in point: Several months ago, I had a client ask me for some help with rebranding their window cleaning company. They’ve been in business for around 8 years, and have done well. They have lots of clients, make good money, and appear to be in demand and healthy. I asked the owner – who we’ll call “Mark” – why he thought his business was successful to date.

He replied right away, without hesitation: “Attention to detail.”

Incidentally, this is the default reply for any business owner when they are asked why they have been successful. Ask around and you’ll see for yourself. We all tend to believe that offering the highest quality ________ is the linchpin to our business success. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I suggested to Mark that instead of assuming that his company’s secret weapon was “attention to detail”, maybe we should poke around a little bit and ask some of his clients about why they had given Mark their business to date.

So we did.

We asked his 10 best clients (best in terms of likability, ease of doing business, high profit, you know, the kind of client that you wish you had 100 more of) the two questions I shared with you above:

1. Why did you choose our company in the first place?

2. Why do you continue to use us for this kind of stuff?

Of Mark’s 10 best clients that we polled, how many do you think commented on “attention to detail”, or “quality of workmanship” in either of their answers?

Two. A measly 2 out of 10.

And 1 of those 2 said that Mark did just an “okay job”, when it came to workmanship.

Mark’s heart sank.

Imagine busting your butt to obsess over workmanship only to find out that none of your best customers could care less. In fact, to 90% of them, your “attention to detail” in downright invisible.

Quality is boring because quality is ubiquitous.

Most of your competition is good enough that they could go toe-to-toe with you and your crew on quality, and to the untrained eye, there simply won’t be much of a difference.

(Have you ever had a client tell you their “windows look great!” even before you had cleaned those particular ones yet?” Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about when it comes to the untrained eyes of your clients.)

I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s true. So stop obsessing over quality.

There was a bright spot in all this, however: Mark discovered that 7 of his 10 best clients did care very much about something else that he never even considered as being equally important to workmanship: reliability.

7 of the 10 commented that it was his company’s reliability that keeps them coming back to his company.

That’s gold.

I’m working with Mark on helping him to use this precious information in his current re-branding efforts.

What about you?

When’s the last time you asked your customers why they love your company?

Is it time to “assume you’re a big bunch of idiots who know nothing”?

You’ll be happy you did.

I won’t be surprised if it totally changes the way you look at yourself and your window cleaning or pressure washing company. In fact, even if you’re in a totally different kind of business, I wouldn’t be surprised if it has the exact same effect.

Every week, another window cleaning or pressure washing professional sends me a heartfelt email about how much my recently published 255-page hardcover book – entitled “$600/hr” – has helped them.

Unfortunately, the original 2010 version of “$600/hr” is now out of print, and gone forever.

If you missed your chance at grabbing a copy of this highly-acclaimed book, then make sure you keep reading, because this message is for you.

For a while now, people have asked me, “What is it that you do, exactly, Kevin?”

And my answer has varied a little over the past few years.

At the beginning, I would say “I teach you how to market your stuff better”, and then a year or two later, I changed it to “I give you valuable marketing feedback and advice”.

If you had asked me that question this past 12 months, I would have replied: “I help you understand how proven marketing principles can be migrated to your pressure washing and window cleaning company.”

I’m proud to tell you that – as per tradition – I’ve found an even more accurate and easy-to-understand way to describe how exactly I can help someone like you.

Here it is:

“I help you sell your stuff for more money, and get more customers than you can possibly handle.”

Does that sound like something you could use?

Are you the kind of person that believes that if you work hard and smart, then you should never feel guilty about charging more money and earning more money than any of your competitors?

Cool.

I’m glad we met, then.

This four-part FREE Preview Excerpt from my newly-revised and expanded 441-page version of “$600/hr” is for someone exactly like you.

Get your hands on the first part of this exclusive four-part preview right now by clicking the link below.

Part 1 of 4: How To Sell Your Window Cleaning and Pressure Washing Services For More Money (an extended excerpt from the 441-page newly-revised and expanded edition of $600/hr)

Toft’s has been around forever, and they have a raving fan base of loyal customers, in addition to the tourists that catch wind of this weird and cool legendary ice cream company.

My wife and I and a couple of friends happened to be in Sandusky 9 days ago, so we stopped by. (We went for the amusement park, but high winds shut it down, so no Top Thrill Dragster for us. Sad.)

Toft’s offers pretty much the standard ice cream fare. Homemade creaminess, tasty hand-mixed flavors, and overall a fun experience, with friendly, pleasant staff that appear to truly enjoy working in Ohio’s ice cream mecca. The Toft’s store also has weird wooden chairs in the main customer area, too, which we happily sat on while we ate our ice cream on a cold and windy October day.

"Breaking News: Astronaut Loves Ice Cream!"

What caught my attention more than anything else, though, was this framed, autographed picture on the wall. Turns out the Toft’s served some ice cream to an astronaut from NASA named Don Thomas, too, and he thought it tasted great. (Okay, he actually said “out of this world”, but I knew you were gonna roll your eyes at that one)

What did genuinely surprise me was just how magnetic I found that framed photo.

I’ve never even heard of Don Thomas before, but it still seemed remarkable.

Wow, a real-life astronaut liked ice cream from Tofts!

Of course, in retrospect, with the logical mind in gear, who cares what Don Thomas thinks about ice cream.

Is Don Thomas an ice cream afficianado? No.

Have I ever heard of Don Thomas? No.

Does Don Thomas’ ability to man a flight to space have some sort of correlation to ice cream evaluation? Again, no.

S0 why should I care that he ate some ice cream, and said it was good?

And why did the owners at Toft’s Ice Cream think that an astronaut’s opinion of a lactose-product should be framed and hung on the wall in a prominent spot?

Answer: We’re all suckers for other people’s words.

We hang off of them, and they affect the way we spend money.

Are you using your own words to sell your stuff, or other people’s words?

We don’t care what you have to say about your stuff, because we think you’re exaggerating and stretching the truth. So find some people that have bought your stuff (and still like you) to say those nice things instead.

We’ll listen to them.

Even if they’re not astronaut’s.

And even if we’ve never heard of them.

You just have to tell us a bit about them.

Tell us that they’ve been your customers since 1991. Or that they grew up and raised their family right here in the neighborhood. Or that they tried using 6 other companies before they finally found you, and have never switched since.

They don’t have to be an astronaut, they just have to be interesting.

We’re listening.

Who (besides you) can tell us a story about you and your company?

Kevin

P.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

Elephants are lovable animals. Gentle giants. I rode one in Malaysia back in February, and it was pretty cool. I fed them, too. They love eating fruit. I didn’t know that. We placed giant chunks of melon and papaya directly into their mouths and they happily munched away.

Their tongue feels like sandpaper, and their eyes search through you with ageless wisdom as you pat their head.

So I get why Kruger National Park would want to protect them.

Unfortunately, life is rarely so simple and clear-cut, and the elephant situation is no exception.

Since 1995, the elephant population has mushroomed, causing stress on the delicate balance of life within the park. In the first ten years, following the ban on culling, the elephant population exploded from 7,500 to 12,500.

At first, elephant contraception seemed to be the answer.

But it wasn’t implemented right, and it didn’t have the effects they were hoping for.

It seems like it might be time to kill some elephants again.

Gehard Verdoorn, a leading South African conservationist based in the financial capital of Johannesburg, remarked: “I don’t think anybody likes the idea of culling elephants. But, it is a definite option to contribute to the management of overpopulation – as long as it’s done with the most humane and ethical methods available to the Kruger National Park.”

“Populations cannot continue to grow indefinitely,” said David Mabunda, chief executive of SANParks.

It’s just the way it is.

Sometimes you have to kill some elephants.

What elephants do you need to kill in your business?

Not because you want to. But because you have to?

Kevin

P.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

“If you can’t say sumthin’ nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”

Little did Thumper know way back in 1942 that he was very close to giving profound business advice:

“If you can’t say sumthin’ interesting, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”

Never spend a dime telling an uninteresting story. It’s too expensive for your pocketbook. And it’s annoying to your target audience, because it’s nothing more than background noise.

If you’re going to interrupt me, you better have a story to tell. And you better get to it fast.

Let’s get more specific:

If you’re designing a postcard, find something interesting to say before you start the design.

If you’re designing a website, find something interesting to say before you make the first page.

If you’re recording a phone message, find something interesting to say, before you push record.

Otherwise, your wasting your time. And money. And energy. And your shareholder’s patience.

That’s the Bambi Lesson.

And it applies to every business on the planet. Including yours.

Kevin

P.S. This lesson is also related to “c”. But since I didn’t mention the expenditure of money, I felt that I owed you a bit more application.

P.S.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

Obtain hundreds more customers for your struggling fitness club, in the presence of several large and intimidating competitors in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Problem:

Your fitness club is boring.

Despite your professions of awesomeness, in reality there is almost nothing original about your business or your service experience.

• You’ve got elliptical machines.
• You’ve got free weights.
• You’ve got protein bars for sale.
• You’ve got spinning classes.
• You’ve got personal trainers wandering around.
• You’ve got flat screen TV’s hanging from the ceiling.
• You’ve got yoga action.
• You’ve got nice showers.
• You’ve got a sauna.
• Your oversized postcards show pretty people doing crunches.

All that stuff is boring.

Every one of your competitors does that stuff, too. Don’t trick yourself into believing that it makes you special, because it doesn’t.

And don’t believe your own ethereal promises of how you make your customers feel like someone special, unless they’re the ones saying those words. Otherwise, no one is believing or feeling it besides you.

The 2-Step Solution:

Step 1: Find a way to be different.

What can you do that would actually make your fitness club different from every single other club in the area? I mean genuinely, truly, undeniably different? In a way that your target market would care about, and find irresistible?

Some questions that might help:

What is every other club afraid of doing? What has no one ever done before? What could you start doing that would allow to claim the title of being the “only” fitness club that offers it?

What if you were the only fitness club to offer:

• A bottomless protein shake bar?
• Complimentary protein bars?
• Lifetime personal training sessions?
• Super-expensive training outfits with your club’s branding on it?
• A meet-and-greet with local recognized celebrities?
• An amazing massage with every single workout?
• A complimentary shuttle-service?

What does your target market’s idea of the “ultimate fitness club” look like? Why not take a few minutes to ask your 50 best clients right now, and see what they say? Their answers might surprise you.

Here are four kinds of related questions you can ask them:

1. Ask them what they wish you would start doing.
2. Ask them what they wish you would do more of.
3. Ask them what they wish you would do less of.
4. Ask them what they wish you would stop doing.

And then, once you have the data, look for consistencies in the responses. Did the majority mention the same stuff? Great! Then you have some clear indicators as to where some edges can be explored in your service experience.

Step 2: Speak to the true motivations of your target market.

Why do people work out?

Actually, that’s too ambiguous, so let’s get more specific.

Let’s segment your target market a little bit, and assume that your best bet for new members are men who are 18-34 yrs old, and women who are 25-45 yrs old.

Target #1: The 18-34 yr-old male.

Question: Why does he work out?
Answer: So that women will look at him, and want to meet him.

Right?

Guys are pretty simple creatures. They like women, and they work out (generally speaking) so that women will find them irresistibly handsome and attractive. Efforts to pack on the pecs, shred the abs, and thicken the triceps are all with this goal in mind.

So why is it that NONE of the hundreds of fitness club postcard designs that you’ve ever seen have ever tapped into this reality? Why are there only ever pictures of pretty people doing yoga, or crunches, or sporting a silly smile while doing a spinning class?

What if you had a postcard design that showed a couple of women admiring a guys attractive body, and whispering to each other “Wow, look at that guys chest…”.

A stock photo along these lines would be great as a starting point (here’s one I quickly designed):

And the back could be connected like this (I quickly designed this one for illustrative purposes, too):

Do you think that an 18-34 yr-old male would find that motivating? You bet. And yet, no fitness club has ever used this approach.

Target #2: The 25-45 female.

Question: Why does she work out?
Answer: So that women will look at her, and secretly admire her.

Right?

This one is counterintuitive to guys, because every guy likes to think that women only care about what men think, but the truth is, most women who are concerned about their appearance are more concerned about what other women think.

For emphasis, I’m going to restate the point I just made a moment ago: So why is it that NONE of the hundreds of fitness club postcard designs that you’ve ever seen have ever tapped into this reality? Why are there only ever pictures of pretty people doing yoga, or crunches, or sporting a silly smile while doing a spinning class?

What if you designed a postcard that showed two women admiring how good another woman looked, and whispering to each other “Look at how she looks in those jeans…”

Do you think that would resonate with a 25-45 yr-old woman? Sure it would. And yet, you’ve never seen a fitness club use these angles.

Why do you think that is?

It’s just easy. Every club just defaults to copycat mode, and pumps out the same boring stuff as everyone else, hoping desperately that it will somehow work.

Don’t fall into the same trap with your club.

If you’re looking for some help to get your fitness club back on track, then I can help you. Drop me a text or call to 416-859-3171. Or, if you wish, you can first learn a little more about me here.

P.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

Waterloo is home to a company called RIM, or Research In Motion. Otherwise known as the Blackberry guys.

RIM is an ensemble of genius types, no question.

RIM’s reigning co-CEO’s Jim and Mike could out-MacGyver even MacGyver himself.

These guys were the original purveyors of the smart phone. Redefining the frontiers of technological advancement for years now. Visionaries. Rocket-scientists. Dreamers. All that stuff.

You have to respect that.

Which makes it all the more painful to see them struggling with something as simple as their marketing.

Marketing is about finding ways to deliver overwhelming value to people who have access to spendable money. Telling compelling stories. Connecting emotional dots.

In these crucial areas, RIM has lost it’s way.

And of course, RIM’s shareholders are paying for it.

Here is the 2-step marketing plan that can save RIM:

Step 1: Stop trying to beat Apple at it’s own game.

Blackberries are not cool. Not at a root level. Blackberries are very serious. Or more specifically, amazingly secure.

They offer remarkable, industry-leading email encryption capabilities that make Apple code-breakers cry themselves to sleep. No cautious Fortune 500 director would dare check his private email account on anything but a Blackberry because of it.

Blackberries are serious. That is not a weakness, it’s a strength.

RIM had enormous opportunities to leverage Obama's Blackberry obsession. Yet they did nothing. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

Even the leader of the free world wasn’t inclined to use anything but a RIM product, and was proud enough to declare his fondness to the rest of the world during his pre-inaugaration into the Oval Office.

The New York Times printed these remarkably quotable lines back in January ’09:

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

Of all the fights facing Mr. Obama as he prepares for the White House, one of the most maddening for him is the prospect of losing the BlackBerry that has been attached to his belt for years. It is, he has vigorously argued, an essential link to keeping him apprised of events outside his ever-tightening cocoon.”

And yet, did you ever see RIM try to capitalize on that? Did you ever see them attempt to pound home the fact that the soon-to-be most important and powerful man on the planet insists on using their device? I sure didn’t even hear a whisper from the RIM folks. And neither did you.

And it gets worse: According to The Toronto Star, “RIM already counts the U.S. government as its single largest customer and has had its technology vetted for use by a broad range of departments, including the FBI, Department of Defence, Congress and the White House.”

That’s pretty darn amazing, too. And yet the myopic marketing minds out of Waterloo are oblivious to the potential of those kinds of stories.

Absolutely crazy.

Instead, the “smart” marketing guys as RIM thought it would be better to try and play catch-up with the cool kids over at Apple, and try to out-Apple the Cupertino Cool Trust.

That’s like trying to out-cool Steve McQueen.

Talk about branding suicide.

Case in point: RIM’s latest obsolete campaign focused on BBM’ing as the next best thing. Here’s one of the videos that was released to show how awesome it is:

RIM’s “revolutionary” new BBM feature allows the following:

1. You can text your friends.

Umm, yeah you can do that on any other phone, too.

2. You can send videos and photos as rich SMS messages to your friends.

Umm, yeah, also old news.

3. You can “update” your profile on an ongoing basis.

Yeah, a guy called Mark Zuckerberg has been all over that for a while now. His toy is called Facebook. We already have one of those.

4. You can tell if someone has “read” your message.

Who said that’s something I want you to be able to do?

That’s the whole BBM story. Another foolish waste of millions and millions of development and advertising dollars, in a feeble attempt to be fresh and new while somehow not noticing that your peddling last year’s fashions.*

Not cool.

(*Don’t even get me started on RIM’s useless new “Playbook”. Such a massive allocation of intellectual resources and precious capital to create something so boring and undesirable. The only noteworthy feature about the new RIM Playbook is that it can play flash, and yet that benefit is not emphasized very much.)

Come on RIM, we expect more from you.

The market is speaking, and you need to sit up and listen.

RIM is missing projected revenue targets. They’re shrinking their promises about future earnings. They’re “reducing the headcount”. And they’re vaporizing billions of dollars of market cap with their schizophrenic marketing madness.

But it’s not too late.

The truth is, all this obsession with coolness is unnecessary.

Fixing it is simple:

Step 2: Rig the game back in your favor.

Apple has been trying to convince everyone for years now that the most important thing about smartphones is fun-ness. And for the most part, they’ve been pretty good at convincing us.

So-called experts love to quote public polls indicating that people want fun smart-phones, suggesting a massive market shift. Apple has manufactured that shift.

In response, RIM has just rolled over and said “Okay, Apple, I guess you’re right. Fun-ness is number one.”

Snap out of it, Waterloo people. Put down the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid for a minute, and think.

Who says that California Steve gets to make the rules?

Why not call for a brand-new (but actually a return to the old) set of rules?

What if you took a completely different position from Apple? What if you had the guts to make Apple products, Android products, Samsung products, and all other non-RIM products look childish and silly, in comparison to the serious, grown-up RIM stuff?

What if RIM launched a campaign that declared:

“Toys are for kids.

Blackberries are for business.”

What would happen if RIM took it’s strengths and made them even stronger? RIM currently has a stranglehold on email encryption technology. What if they obsessed over making it even more airtight and impregnable?

What if they started collecting stories of Wall Street M & A’s that hinged on 100% secure, private communication? What if they introduced some of Blackberries biggest fans to the business world, and let them talk about why they demand their entire corporate staff to use only RIM devices, and share a horror story or two of what happened when someone broke protocol?

Remember all that stuff about how the US Congress, the FBI, the US Defense Department, and the White House all have pre-vetted the Blackberry suite of products for use by their staff? Tell those stories, and show those powerful visuals. That stuff is gold! Make seriousness matter again.

Talk about the economic recovery of America. These are serious times. Think of yourself for a minute. As a small business owner, you need to be serious about business stuff. Forge an emotional connection to the struggling business person. Tell some real-life stories about the importance of discretion and security in successful business transactions. Talk about how essential it is to get the business stuff right.

And then find more ways to strengthen the business end of the Blackberry experience.

Show in very concrete terms that Blackberries are for business people. Gather some stats on Fortune 500 usage, and if the numbers are in RIM’s favor, shout them from the rooftops.

And why not introduce a new suite of super-titanium-secure-encryption for enterprise customers to take advantage of? Deliver massively-higher levels of security, and charge accordingly.

In short, what if RIM rigged the game back in their favor?

Let me repeat the marketing campaign that can save RIM:

“Toys are for kids.

Blackberries are for business.”

Re-establish RIM products as absolutely incomparable business tools.

Change the rules of the game.

It’s not too late, Mike and Jim. But I’d recommend starting today.

Kevin

P.S. If you know someone at RIM, then please do them a favor and forward this article to them. They need all the help they can get right now.

If you’d like me to help you with your marketing challenges, let’s talk. I’ll be happy to give you 15 minutes of my time to see if maybe we’re a good fit to work together. First, though, here’s a quick overview of what I can for you.

P.S.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

Where can you listen, rewind, fast forward, and pause for slow motion during a conversation that you never want to forget, because it is so full of meaning and value?

Where can you sit in the comfort of your couch or easy chair and explore the far reaches of the subject you crave information on?

Answer: Books.

I constantly marvel at the immense value of the books that I regularly refer to and consult when I am developing new marketing strategies or simply tweaking and improving the marketing systems I have in place.

Below are a couple of snapshots of some of the books that have been indispensable in helping my window cleaning business over the past year and a half, and in opening my eyes to the power of marketing. While I don’t agree with or love every single thing in all these books, I can honestly say that they all contain amazing insights that can directly help your window cleaning marketing efforts.

I hesitated to share them at first, but I realize it would be selfish not to.

If you are not sure about any of them, I’ll be happy to clarify the title and author for you.

I would also like to point out that the book “Predictable Irrational” by Dan Ariely is not in either photo, but is essential to your personal marketing library.

Again, let me know if you need to clarify any of these titles or authors.

P.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.

Okay, let’s begin.

What’s the last thing you bought?

Why did you buy it?

Was it pretty?

Was it shiny?

Did it make you feel special?

Pampered?

Save you time?

Make you look cool?

Earn you more money, somehow?

Make someone jealous?

When you buy something, ask yourself “Hey, self! Why the heck did I just buy that??” and do a little reverse engineering.

Once you’ve identified the trigger, find a way to use it on your clients and prospects the very next week.

It’s a free education, it’s proven to work, and you can start right now.

P.S. If you know someone that would enjoy reading this little article, please feel free to share it with your friends on facebook, using either of the two links below.