Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

The single biggest mistake made in face-to-face selling is the seller’s reluctance to name the price. When your customer asks, “How much?” the next syllable to leave your lips should be the first digit of a number.“But you don’t understand. That’s just not possible in my business. We have to gather some information before we can name a price.”Piffle and pooh. This is not true.“Okay then, Smarty-pants, ‘How much is a 1-carat diamond?’”Twenty thousand dollars is the most I’ve ever heard of anyone paying for a flawless, colorless, ideal-cut, 1-carat diamond but I can also get you a highly-flawed 1-carat diamond for about a thousand dollars but I doubt you’re looking for either of those. A truly beautiful 1-carat diamond – the kind you can really be proud of – usually costs between 29 hundred and 39 hundred dollars depending on the specific combination of color, clarity and cut you choose. Some shoppers fixate on color, others on clarity, others on cut, some try to balance all three. Have you made any hard-and-fast decisions about color, clarity and cut, or are you open to a couple of suggestions?See how easy that was?If you want to:1.     reduce your customer’s anxiety and2.     increase your customer’s confidence in you and3.     elevate their attention and4.     make them feel comfortable and in control,just train yourself to listen for the price question and then, when you hear it,1.     be sure no sound leaves your lips before you2.     take a breath and3.     spit out the price.The reason you take a breath is because you aren’t going to pause before you explain all the cool stuff that’s included at no extra charge.  Once a price is on the table, customer anxiety is eliminated and the longer you list things included in that price, the cheaper the price becomes.“What do you mean, ‘customer anxiety is eliminated?’”Customers feel a bit anxious when they ask the price because that’s usually the salesperson’s cue to launch into attack-and-destroy mode. “Here, step into my office and fill out this customer information sheet. Tell us a little about yourself so we can serve you better. And be sure to include your email address and cell phone number.”“We don’t do anything like that. We just want to list all the features and benefits before we name the price.”So I’m assuming your customer asks, “How much is the mobile home next to the road?” and you say, “What a good eye you have! That’s an authentic Northfield mobile home with 6-inch stud walls, wood burning fireplace, vaulted ceilings, color coordinated draperies, built-in appliances and wall-to-wall carpeting. That mobile home is fully air-conditioned, has an R-40 insulation value, comes with a 5-year limited warranty and…” Something like that?“Yeah, sort of.”When you leave the price question dangling in the air like that – twisting in the wind like a man hanged for stealing chickens – the customer won’t hear anything you say until you finally cut that hanged man down by naming a price. The longer you talk before you finally name a number, the more your customer thinks, “These clowns have a horrible price and they know it or they would answer my question.”“Well, okay, but how about those times when the customer knows exactly which make and model they want and prices are easily compared but your company adds a bunch of intangibles and you need to make sure the customer recognizes the value of those intangibles? If you name the price right away, they’ll just say, ‘Thank you,’ and walk away and you’ll never have the chance to explain why your price is higher than the price of that cut-throat, lying, cheating, thieving, drug-dealing whore of a competitor down the street.”Give me an example. Ask me the question that scares you most.“What’s your best price on the new Northfield Tierra del Sol mobile home? And before you answer, we want you to know that we’ve already checked the price at 7 other authorized Northfield dealers.”Forty-two thousand six hundred and twelve dollars which includes at No extra charge: Delivery, Tie-down, Set-up, Floor Leveling and reinforcement in 28 key points so your floor never sags or squeaks – and we supply all the labor and materials by the way – and we connect your new Tierra del Sol home to your water meter and septic system so you don’t have to call a plumber and then our carpenters construct a 6 by 12 foot redwood front porch for you at no extra charge and build a 20 by 20 foot redwood back deck at no charge and, finally, a beautiful 2-car carport – your choice of whether it’s attached to the home or free standing. Oh, and I almost forgot: we also deliver and set up a Weber gas barbecue grill and put 20 pounds of USDA Choice rib-eye steak in your freezer as a little housewarming gift.See what I mean when I say, “the longer you list things included in the price, the cheaper the price becomes?”Just take a breath and name a number. That breath gives you all the time you need to qualify the number you’ve just named.Now go sell something.Roy H. Williams

a peek, a glimpse, a conclusionIt is dangerous to write sentences that require the reader to think. Frankly, you would be safer to blindfold yourself and walk in front of a Taliban firing squad wearing a Jesus Loves You T-shirt.Here’s an example of dangerous writing:“Amnesia is not knowing who one is and wanting desperately to find out. Euphoria is not knowing who one is and not caring. Ecstasy is knowing exactly who one is – and still not caring.”A surprising number of people will read those three sentences and say, “I don’t get it,” and then, rather than think about it for seven seconds, send a condescending email to the author.Yes, zombies are real. The dead walk among us and they know how to use computers. Need proof? Read Twitter.Extremely dangerous writing doesn’t just require a reader to think; it assumes the reader to already know a vital tidbit of trivia:“Does koala bear poop smell like cough drops?”In this case, the writer assumes the reader already knows that koalas eat nothing but eucalyptus leaves.Could such a brazen writer succeed? Evidently yes, since both of the quotes in question come from the novels of Tom Robbins, one of America’s most beloved writers. Tom Robbins doesn’t fear the Taliban. Most of us, however, avoid doing anything that might bring us to the attention of narrow-minded legalists who have no appreciation of whimsy and adventure. But these fears aren’t new. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree offered the following advice more than 100 years ago:“Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humor. He will always use it in evidence against you.”Sir Herbert, it would seem, had felt the lash of the Taliban.I write today’s message for two reasons:1.    To remind you that most ads aren’t written to persuade; they’re written not to offend. This is why most ads are boring. We are terrified by the prospect of criticism.2.    To warn you that the Monday Morning Memo is returning to its roots, flying the Jolly Roger once again, wandering whithersoever the winds of Curiosity blow us, chasing the scent of Wonder like a beagle, scrambling with slippery feet up the mountain called Incredible, leaping from its pinnacle to grab a beam of light from the star that hovers above the Impossible Dream, using it as a zip-line to fly us into the next adventure.When the white-collar criminals of Wall Street shook consumer confidence with the subprime earthquake of 2007, I decided to focus the majority of these Monday Morning Memos on subjects that small business owners would find clearly useful and imminently practical. Three years later, I’ve grown weary of my own writing.Messages that are clearly useful and imminently practical rarely contain words like “euphoria,” “ecstasy,” “zombies,” “zip-lines” “Jesus Loves You” and “koala bear poop.”Have no fear. I will continue to write useful tips about business matters. You need to grow your business and I want to help. Your business booms. The economy thrives. The world is made better. Generally speaking though, I’m elevating my assumptions about the level of your intelligence and the breadth of your interests and knowledge. In other words, I will always assume you know what koala bears eat.Thank you for not being the Taliban.Roy H. Williams

Adolphe Monticelli has been forgotten by all but the most devoted art historians, but his legacy will live eternal through the work of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and a whole generation of French Impressionists.Monticelli may rightfully be called,”The World’s Most Influential Painter That No One Has Ever Heard Of.”Thomas Jefferson was alive when Monticelli was born and Teddy Roosevelt had just entered politics when Monticelli died in 1886. Although he lived an obscure life in deep poverty, Monticelli left behind nearly 3,500 paintings.Confronted with criticism of his unpopular style in 1860, Monticelli remarked, “I paint for thirty years from now.” When Vincent Van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886, he discovered the paintings Monticelli had created 30 years earlier. Immediately upon seeing these works, Van Gogh adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack and later remarked, “I sometimes think I am really continuing that man.” When Van Gogh’s new style was praised by an art critic in the newspaper, he replied,“Dear Monsieur Aurier: Many thanks for your article in the Mercure de France, which greatly surprised me. I like it very much as a work of art in itself, in my opinion your words produce colour. In short, I rediscover my canvases in your article, but better than they are, richer, more full of meaning. However, I feel uneasy in my mind because I know that what you say is due to others rather than myself. For example, Monticelli in particular. Saying as you do: “As far as I know, he [Van Gogh] is the only painter to perceive the chromatism of things with such intensity, with such a metallic, gem-like lustre…” Please be so kind as to go and see a certain bouquet by Monticelli at my brother’s – then you will see what I want to say.” – Vincent Van Gogh to G. Albert Aurier, February 1890Nine years after Monticelli died, Oscar Wilde moaned of his bankruptcy in a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, “That all my charming things were to be sold: my Burne-Jones drawings: my Whistler drawings: my Monticelli: my Simeon Solomons: my china: my Library…”Finally, more than 100 years after his death, Monticelli’s paintings hang in the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in London. One painting by Monticelli was recently auctioned at Christie’s for $608,000.The Monticelli at the top of this page is on its way from Luxembourg to Austin where it will hang in the tower at Wizard Academy, on loan from Pennie and myself. Would you like to have a limited edition print of the painting? If things go as planned, we should be able to get your print to you by Christmas. No copies of this glowing Christmas image have ever been made. You’ll own one of only a very few copies of this Monticelli image in all the world.May his light shine forever.Roy H. Williams

“Thoughts are the threads that bind us to deeds.Deeds are the ropes that bind us to habits.Habits are the chains that bind us to destiny.“– Inscription carved on the West Wall at the Palace in Maygassa My friend Don Kuhl says, “All change is self change” and the first things we must change are our thoughts. Harvard’s beloved Frances Frei echoes Don Kuhl, “To change a person’s behavior (deeds) you must first change their beliefs.” Frances Frei’s friend and Harvard colleague, Youngme Moon, takes this discussion of habits even further in her new book, Different. (I’m notorious for not reading business books, but Frances Frei promises this is NOT a business book, so I’ve ordered a copy from Jeff Bezos. He doesn’t read business books either.)Want to see a really cool video about the book?The wonderfully insightful and irreverent Ms. Moon also gives us this marvelousAntiCreativity Checklist“For People Who Want Nothing To Do with Pie-In-The-Sky Innovation, Crazy Flights of Imagination, or any of that wacky,Out-of-The-Box Thinking.”1.     Play it safeListen to that inner voice. “Why should I stick my neck out?” “I’m not going to go out on a limb…” “Safer to let someone else champion that.” 2.     Know your limitations: Don’t be afraid to pigeonhole yourself.“I’m not an artist.” “I’m not creative.” “I’m not an innovator.” 3.     Remind yourself: It’s just a job.“I don’t get paid to come up with ideas.” “I’m keeping my mouth shut.” “There’s nothing in it for me.” “When’s lunch?” 4.     Show you’re the smartest guy in the room: make Skepticism your middle name.“Here’s why that idea won’t work.” “You won’t be able to execute on that.” “Our organization’s not set up for that.” 5.     Be the tough guy: Demand to see the data.“What does the market research say?” “There’s no evidence it’s going to work.” “That didn’t come out of the focus group.” “Show me the spreadsheet.” 6.     Respect history: Always give the past the benefit of the doubt.“We’ve always done it this way.” “If it’s such a good idea, why hasn’t anyone thought of it yet?” “That wasn’t part of the original plan.” 7.     Stop the madness before it can get started: Crush early-stage ideas with your business savvy.“You haven’t made the business case.” “I don’t buy your assumptions.” “There’s no immediate R.O.I.” 8.     Been there, done that: Use experience as a weapon.“We tried that a few years ago and it didn’t work.” “You haven’t been around long enough to know how things work.” “Let’s not reinvent the wheel, guys.” 9.     Keep your eyes closed. Your mind, too.“The world isn’t changing. The media just wants us to think it is.” “I refuse to get caught up in all these technology fads.” “Don’t tell me how to run my business.” 10.  Assume there is no problem.“It was a tough year, but we can blame the economy.” “We think next quarter we’ll see a rebound.” “We’re doing okay.” 11.  Underestimate your customers.“Our customers aren’t going anywhere.” “They’re not ready for that.” “That’s not what they’re asking for.” 12.  Be a mentor: Give sound advice to the people who work for you.“Just keep your head down and do your job.” “I got where I am by not rocking the boat.” “Choose your battles, kid. This isn’t one of them.” 13.  Be suspicious of the “Creatives” in your organization: the liberal arts majors, the poets, the anthropologists and other wackos. “Those guys don’t understand business.” “I can’t believe we’re keeping them on the payroll.” “Who invited them to this meeting?” 14.  When all else fails, act like a grown-up.“I really don’t have time for this.” “Do you have an appointment?” “Back to work, everyone.” Wizard Academy is a year-round summer camp for business people. Frances Frei would love it, I think.So would Youngme Moon.And so would you. How soon can you get here?Ciao for Niao,Roy H. Williams

And It All Comes TogetherWe love that moment when a divergent anomaly becomes the missing piece of the puzzle.The key that unlocks a mystery.The “Eureka!” of an inventor.The punch line of a joke.We hunger to see disparate elements resolve into a coherent pattern.Tedious teachers tell us the answers. Astounding teachers make us see the answers for ourselves; Click! Snap! The light comes on and we are filled with the electricity of life.Divergence: How much does it not belong?Convergence: How well does it fit?Divergence x Convergence = FascinationMost people do what obviously makes sense. This is why most people are boring. The key to holding the attention of the world is to do what indirectly makes sense. This is a simple, yet practical application of Chaos Theory. (Chaos, in science, does not speak of randomness, but rather the opposite. Chaos is a higher level of organization than is immediately apparent.)There can be no delight without an element of surprise. We notice the disparate element and think, “This doesn’t make any sense. I must be missing something.” Wait for it… wait for it… wait for it… then it all comes together in an implosion of understanding and we are submerged in a new reality.Three elements are all it takes. But each of the three must be sufficiently divergent from the other two. If the divergence is insufficient, there will be no surprise when they come together.You must also have an explicit moment of convergence. If your three divergent elements fail to converge into a clearly coherent pattern, you will have merely created randomness.In the Bev Doolittle painting at the top of this page we see:1. A forest of birch trees in winter2. A red fox3. A horse, carrying an Indian.You may have noticed these in rapid succession but you did not notice them simultaneously. The three are connected chaotically.Please don’t assume this technique to be limited to visual chaos alone. It is equally applied to words, music, mathematical equations and sequences of events. Just ask any cognoscenti of the Magical Worlds Communications Workshop and they’ll tell you that Alice always finds the bottom of the rabbit hole on Day Three.Randomness is irritating.Chaos is thrilling.Be chaotic.(Or be boring. It’s your choice.)Roy H. Williams

Today’s memo was recorded 12 years ago. Paul Compton had a wife and four daughters, and in later years, a fourteen-year-old son added himself to the dinner table. That son was me. My own mother was a great cook and she loved me like crazy, but Mom had to work full time and there was a lot to do in the evenings, so I fell into the habit of showing up at Paul’s house every night around suppertime.Paul Compton is the kindest and best man I’ve ever known. Paul understands the difference between “doing” and “being,” so he never once asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Paul felt he knew who I was going to be, and for Paul, that was enough.Many nights after dinner, Paul’s youngest daughter and I would get up from the table and leave on separate dates, but after our dates we would often seek one another’s advice. Over the next four years, she had a long string of boyfriends and I had a long string of girlfriends, but when she wasn’t on a date with a boyfriend and I wasn’t on a date with a girlfriend, Paul’s daughter and I were most likely together, usually about five nights a week.I know it sounds insane, but Paul’s daughter and I went at least a thousand places together without it ever crossing my mind to hold her hand as we were walking.Somewhere near the end of our senior year, as she and I returned from buying a root beer across town, I turned off the ignition, looked at her, and said, “I recently realized that I enjoy being with you more than anyone else in the world, and that makes it difficult for us to be friends anymore, because it would be torture for me to keep seeing you every night if I thought there was ever a chance it would end.” I had never once kissed Paul’s daughter good night. Six months later we were married.A whole generation of American kids grew up being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” as though it would be the most important question we would ever face. It wasn’t. We learned we could easily and painlessly change careers throughout the course of our lives. Not one of my childhood pals is currently involved in the career for which he studied. Now that I have boys of my own, I’ve elected not to quiz them about what they would like to be.Should any person ever ask my sons what is important to their father, I’ll wager that my boys will be able to recite it verbatim. “Boys, when you’re ready to marry, don’t marry a person who has high and lofty expectations of you. Don’t marry the girl you’ve struggled to impress. Marry the girl you always thought of as a sister, the one who knows you as you really are. Marry the girl who has seen your every fault and weakness but likes to be with you just the same. Boys, when you’re ready to get married, I hope you’ll marry your best friend.”Roy H. Williams

One Bad, Two GoodAds are(1.) category-focused, (2.) product-focused, or (3.) client-focused.The good thing about category-focused ads is that they’re portable; anyone in the category can use them.  The bad thing about category-focused ads is that they don’t distinguish you from your competitors, because anyone in the category can use them. I’ve been told there are some good category-focused ads out there, but I’ve never encountered one personally.Here’s an example of a category-focused script for TV or radio. Prepare to be underwhelmed. It’s really a very bad ad:MALE: I used to hate going to the dentist, but then a friend told me about Dr. _________, ‘the gentle dentist with the healing touch.’FEMALE ONE: I love Dr. __________. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.FEMALE TWO: So you recommend Dr. _____________?MALE: No question about it.FEMALE ONE: Absolutely! He’s ‘the gentle dentist with the healing touch.’FEMALE TWO: I’ve had some bad experiences at the dentist office. Dentists scare me.FEMALE ONE: Not Dr. ______________! He (she) is truly concerned about his (her) patients. He (she) really cares. And his (her) friendly staff will even fill out your insurance papers for you.FEMALE TWO: Does he (she) charge extra for that?MALE: No! It’s a free service that Dr.____________ extends to all his (her) patients.FEMALE ONE: I’d be willing to pay twice as much to go to Dr. ____________ because he (she) has the healing touch, but he (she) doesn’t charge a penny more than those other dentists!FEMALE TWO: I’m convinced! Do you have Dr.______________’s number handy?MALE: I have an appointment card here in my wallet. [short pause] Dr. ______________’s number is XXX-XXXX.FEMALE TWO: Was that XXX-XXXX?MALE: Yes, XXX-XXXX.ANNOUNCER: Dr. _________________ . The gentle dentist with the healing touch. Call today for your appointment. XXX-XXXXFEMALE ONE: XXX-XXXX. The gentle dentist…MALE: …with the healing touch. I’ll bet you’re glad that’s over, right? Like category-focused ads, product-focused ads are portable. Anyone who sells the product can use the ad. Butunlike category-focused ads, product-focused ads can be hugely effective.Are your flower beds lifeless? Fruits and vegetables suffering? This summer has been hell on Idaho gardens. But I’m going to help you resurrect it as the Garden of Eden. This is John Crook of Town and Country Gardens and I’ve found a miracle I want to share. It’s called Save-A-Tree, but don’t let that name fool you – Save-A-Tree was invented by a gardening genius who knows all about plants but next to nothing about marketing. Flowers spring back to life and look beautiful again, fruits grow sweet and ripe and luscious, and vegetables get bigger and tastier than you’ve ever had before. And it’s all natural so it’s almost impossible to burn your plants with it. Our customers are raving about Save-A-Tree because it works. Don’t give up on those plants! Give’em the gift of NEW LIFE.  Save-A-Tree is available exclusively at Town and Country Gardens. It’s truly a miracle-in-a-bottle.(jingle: Town and Country Gardens/Bringing beautiful things…to LIFE)Across from the Budweiser plant south of Idaho Falls, and at the corner of Oak and Hyde in Pocatello.My newest employee, Jacob Harrison, wrote that ad to say thanks to John Crook when John donated $500 to help finish the tower at Wizard Academy.  John emailed us recently to let us know the result:John invested exactly $750 to air Jacob’s Save-A-Tree ad on the radio for a few days in August.Gross profit from Save-A-Tree sales in August 2009: $ 933Gross profit from Save-A-Tree sales in August 2010: $3,099“Thank you so much for the excellent ad, Jacob. We were extremely pleased with the results.”John CrookOwner, Town & Country Gardens, Inc.BOTTOM LINE: John paid for the product, paid for the advertising and put $1,416 dollars in his pocket. The residual benefits of the ad cost him nothing. Life is good when ads are effective.Product-focused ads can be wonderful, but you have to have an exceptional product. Save-A-Tree is an exceptional product.Client-specific ads are powerful but they’re never portable. They’re also the hardest ads to write:When I was seven years old, I held my father’s head in my hands as he took his last breath and died. A thing like that stays with you. It helps you understand that relationships – people – are what life’s all about. You gotta tell’em you love’em. This is J.R. Dunn. So now you know why I became a jeweler. Fine jewelry is one of the ways we tell people we love’em. When I got older and fell head-over-heals for Ann Marie, the love of my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy her an engagement ring. She married me anyway. Go figure. But I can promise you this: If you’re thinking of getting engaged to the love of your life, come to J.R. Dunn Jewelers in Lighthouse Point. No one in Florida, no one in America, is going to give you a better engagement ring for your money than me. One of the great joys of my life is to make it possible for guys to give the woman they love the diamond she deserves. There was nobody there for me when I needed an engagement ring. But I promise I’ll be there for you.END OF AD – No location tag – We don’t want to ‘commercialize’ the message.Every word of that ad is true. You’ve never met Jim Dunn but you feel like you know him a little, right?And you know he wants to help you.And you know why.Client-specific ads are difficult to write because it takes a long time to dig what you need out of the client. Writing great ads is easy when you have something to say. What do you have to say?Roy H. Williams

BONUS: The Wizard’s Prediction of What’s About to HappenIs there any part of your business you’d like to improve?Listen to me: You won’t improve what you don’t measure.Here’s how to get the ball rolling:Step One: Identify, clearly, what you’re trying to make happen.Step Two: Determine how progress might be measured. (This is the hardest step by far.)Step Three: Measure current performance – prior to making any changes – to create a baseline. Step Four: Implement a change you believe will alter the outcome.Step Five:  Measure again, and compare the results to your baseline measurement.Repeat steps Four and Five until satisfied.You’ve heard of “consumer confidence,” right? But did you know Reuters News Service and the University of Michigan established the original Consumer Confidence Index by(1.) measuring the mood of the American public in December, 1964, and(2.) arbitrarily assigning that mood a value of 100?So in effect, when someone says, “Consumer Confidence is up,” or “Consumer Confidence is down,” what they’re really saying is, “Here’s how Americans are feeling compared to December, 1964.”I’ll bet you considered the Consumer Confidence Index to be more authoritative than that, didn’t you?The Index was later revised to use 1985 as the new baseline because it was a year without peaks or troughs. The Federal Reserve looks at the CCI when determining interest rate changes, and it also affects stock market prices. That’s powerful stuff.Here’s my point: Someone – let’s call him RALPHIE – got up one morning and said, “We should monitor the mood of the public.” Step One was completed in that single sentence. An objective had been clearly identified.Now it was time for Step Two:FRIEND: “How are we gonna do that?”RALPHIE: “I dunno.”FRIEND: “Wanna just forget about it and go have a beer?”RALPHIE: “No, let’s ask around. Maybe someone will have an idea.”FRIEND: “Okay.”They bumped into someone who said, “The government’s already measuring the Gross Domestic Product, so why don’t you just compare that to how much Americans are spending each month?”RALPHIE: “Sounds good to me.”And then a person who overheard all this said, “You could ask people their opinion of current economic conditions.”RALPHIE: “Okay. We’ll add that in.”FRIEND: “And while we’ve got them on the phone, we’ll ask them what they think the economy is about to do!”RALPHIE: “Okay, here’s what we’ll do: We’ll look at that Gross Domestic thing that first dude mentioned and then factor in people’s answers to our two questions.”FRIEND: “Do we give both questions equal weight?”   RALPHIE: “No, we’ll give their opinion about the future 50 percent more weight that their opinion of current conditions.”FRIEND: “That sounds complicated.”RALPHIE: “I think it’s just a 60/40 thing but we’ll ask someone down at the university.”FRIEND: “Well, 60 is 50 percent more than 40, but we should go ahead and ask the university dudes because that’ll give us credibility.”RALPHIE: “Now all we need is a really official name.”FRIEND: “You mean like ‘The Better Business Bureau?’”RALPHIE: “Exactly. Bureau is a power word. It makes’em seem official.”FRIEND: “Maybe we could call our thing an ‘Index.’”RALPHIE: “Ralphie’s Index?”FRIEND: “No, but we’ll think of something.”RALPHIE: “Yeah, we’ll think of something.”There are currently two trends in America that have me utterly fascinated. I’ll tell you what they are in a minute, but first let me tell you how these trends were observed:(1.)    My partners, my staff writers, my media buyers and I maintain ongoing conversations with small businesses across the US and Canada.(2.)    Our income is tied to how much these businesses grow or decline each year, so we keep a close eye onhow they’re trending.(3.)    We write ads and buy media all day, every day, for these clients.(4.)    This requires us to have thousands of conversations each year with local media reps in cities large and small from coast to coast. In turn, each of these media reps is in touch with dozens of local businesses in their towns.(5.)    These conversations give us a finger on the pulse of Small Business America. They allow us to spot trends long before the trends become news.Think back a couple of years: Bernie Madoff and the Mortgage Meltdown were a one-two punch that dropped us to our knees. America got scared and hunkered down. People were frightened about losing their jobs and their homes. Credit got tight and the price of gold soared.The worst now seems to be over. But strangely, the sales volumes of businesses aren’t climbing at quite the same rate as public confidence.Here’s what’s happening:Trend One: People are feeling more confident than they were a year ago. Quite a bit more confident in fact. This confidence would normally indicate a strong Christmas.Trend Two: People have learned they don’t need as much as they once thought they did. We’re learning to live within our means.Uh-oh. These are conflicting trends. And both of them are strong. My gut tells me these trends will cancel each other out and Christmas 2010 will look a lot like Christmas 2009. Focused business owners – those who keep a sharp eye on the ball –  will be slightly up over last Christmas. Average business owners – and those unlucky enough to be in small communities that experienced the loss of a major employer – will be flat to slightly down.Powerful trends are afoot but I don’t think there will be any strong indication of those trends this Christmas because they sort of cancel each other out.Weird, huh?Now all I need is a catchy name for these observations and a university to give me credibility.Roy H. Williams 

Old ideas are carried by old words.New ideas are carried by new words.Old words keep you inside the box.New words help you escape it.If you want to remain inside the box and fall behind the pack, just keep talking about target customers, demographics, gross impressions and unique selling propositions.Do you want to keep up with the times, get ahead of the curve? Grasp the new ideas. Learn the new words.These are the new ideas. These are the new words:Felt need: A desire in the heart of the customer. To speak to an unfelt need is to answer a question that no one was asking.Relevance: A message has relevance to the degree it speaks to a felt need.Credibility: A message has credibility to the degree it is believed.Impact quotient: Relevance + Credibility.Competitive environment: an objective assessment of (A.) the market and (B.) your place in it. Your strengths and weaknesses compared to the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, including location, reputation, selection, product lines, unaided recall (brand awareness,) etc.Limiting factor: anything that’s holding you back.Unleveraged asset: an ace you forgot you had up your sleeve.Core competence: what you’re all about, really.Market potential: the total dollars available in your business category in your marketplace. Easily measured if you know your NAICS code.Share of voice: An advertiser’s percentage of all the advertising done in their category. Location visibility, signage, word-of-mouth, etc. are included in this metric.Share of mind: The mental real estate an advertiser owns in the mind of the public. Share of voice x impact quotient = share of mindShare of market: An advertiser’s percentage of the total business volume done in their category.Authenticity: Being what you say you are.Transparency: showing your dirty laundry; admitting a downside rather than ignoring it. Transparency increases credibility.Personal Experience Factor: Buzz is triggered by personal experience. If the experience of your customer – the word on the street – does not line up with your message, your message has no credibility. Unscripted, unedited, unpolished testimonials have credibility because they carry the credentials of personal experience and the markings of authenticity.Ad-speak: Cliché’s, empty phrases, unsubstantiated claims and hyperbole – the language of yesterday’s advertising. Words without weight, having neither relevance nor credibility.Curse of knowledge: The blinders that come with expertise.Brandable chunks: vivid, recurring phrases used by an advertiser to help position and define the brand. Slogans and taglines are out. Brandable chunks are in.Black words: empty words that fail to contribute to a colorful mental image. The objective of every good writer is to remove the black words so that the others shine more brightly. Were you waiting for me to discuss metrics, unique visitors, page views and the other jargon of digital media? No need. Those things are already being discussed as much as they need to be.The 4 keys to a rainbow future are these:1. Relevance2. Credibility3. Speak to a felt need.4. Be what you say.That’s it, really. The rest is just bookkeeping.Roy H. Williams

from our correspondent in St. Petersburg, RussiaARoy, Ogilvy’s St P. office is a client of ours, only there are a tonne of project managers there, and we had really only one contact person, with a few other managers who knew vaguely about us. I was chatting to the lovely Katya, my contact person, on skype one day. Joked something about her using our corporate plane if she needed it; she said she hadn’t time, but couldn’t we send our pilot to Paris early one morning to pick up some croissants and deliver them to her?Well, needless to say we don’t have a corporate plane, let alone a pilot, but the idea took seed, and a few weeks later, costumes hired, boxes specially made, 65 croissants ordered, we barged into the Ogilvy offices mid-morning and distributed to an amazed team of advertising and PR professionals a load of fresh croissants.The initial silence was followed by the odd “WTF?”, and then a huge round of applause, posing for photos, and many grins all around. Followed numerous thanks emails, and lots of comments on the facebook photos. Plus everyone I know and work with in St P, and further afield, saw the pictures too. For an outlay of about 350 USD, that was some awesome publicity in itself. But the best bit was the orders that followed. We’ve seen a huge surge in translation and interpreting orders from them since, so the costs were covered within a month. Result!I was wondering about popping in to WA in Jan, but so far no details on courses for then. Saw another of my missives in a rabbit hole the other week – thanks.William.William,Well done! You’re doing amazing things.This latest was a perfect example of Buzz Snatching.  Take a look. https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=362February 2nd.Yours,Roy H. WilliamsRoy,That sounds delightful, thanks. I’ll see if I can tie it in.Quick question: listening to Moondance by Van Morrison, I suddenly wondered whether hit songs by artists who continually pump out hit songs also depend on 3rd Grav Bods for their success? I ask because I couldn’t identify one in the song, and then I remembered that we only looked at one-hit wonders in the example. So I figured perhaps there was a different formula for repeat successes?William. The Answer to the question posed by William Hackett-Jones can be found in the rabbit hole. Do you know how to get in?Aroo.Roy H. Williams