I was so excited about Ogilvy’s contest for the World’s Greatest Salesperson (Sell a Red Brick on YouTube), primarily because I figured we had a good shot at winning (the We being creative hubbie Michael Lovas and several of our friends in the agency biz).  Michael and I grew up in Advertising and Marketing, then went into sales, then ultimately sales and marketing training.  This combo background, enhanced by post graduate work in psychology and social psychology has helped us develop a good set of strategies and tools for understanding customers and delivering what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.

No matter whether you’re in sales or marketing or advertising, it all starts with understanding the customer or customers, and by understanding I mean really getting inside their head, and their business if you’re selling b-to-b, so that you are able to add value rather than just sell them a product.  So my first step in my quest to become the world’s greatest red brick salesperson, was to find out who I was selling to.  Makes sense, right?

Imagine my dismay when I read the Ogilvy Brief and found this description of the Target Audience:

Target audience:

Who are we trying to convince: This is open for you to decide but it should be someone who could actually take action for consideration or purchase. Sure, construction, but who else do you think could use it?

Oh no – please don’t tell me you’re letting the salesperson summarily pick who they want to sell to.  I’ve seen this movie before and it doesn’t end well.

And it gets worse….

Wouldn’t you think the best judges for this contest would be actual customers and the best measure of success would actually be sales?  But no, not in this case. The judges are executives from Ogilvy, IBM and Salesforce.com, which is particularly interesting given the NY Times interview comment from Ogilvy CEO Brain Fetherstonhaugh, “Salesmanship has been lost in the pursuit of art or the dazzle of technology.”

As for actual sales being the measure of success, no such luck there either.  Again from the Brief:

What do we want them to DO:

Take action today towards buying a red brick for their use.

How do we want them to respond:

You have the option of how you want people to respond but it must include some kind of measurable response. Examples: Phone call, SMS, email visit web site, join relevant social network or visit store.

As you can see no actual brick sales are required.  You just need to email or text or join Facebook.  Are you kidding me?  Only an advertising agency could believe that joining a social networking site or texting is equal to a real sale.

So, what started as excitement has now dwindled into despair at yet another example of how companies continue to drink the same old kool-aid.  This contest will (actually already has) received a lot of good press (and maybe that was the point in the first place), but in the end it will not produce the World’s Greatest Salesperson.   At best, what you’ll see are some entertaining videos, creative advertising flash and neat-o uses of technology.  Wait, wasn’t that exactly what Fetherstonhaugh said they were trying to avoid?

There is a great article by Virginia Heffernan in last Sunday’s NY Times Sunday Magazine . In (Trust Busting) she talks about how a company “wears it’s anxiety on it’s face – i.e. it’s website.”  Heffernan looks at the sites of several recently troubled companies, including Toyota, hoping to find sincere apologies and focused efforts to rebuild damaged trust.  No such luck. It was as though nothing ever happened.

Even worse, take a look at the website of Maclaren, the British company that recalled millions of umbrella strollers in November amid reports from American consumer groups that the hinges occasionally severed children’s fingertips. This from Heffernan’s article:

Its Web site tries so aggressively to represent the company as a kind of family that it ends up implying that to stop buying its strollers would be to betray kin.

The Maclaren home page is dominated by a wide shot of adults, evidently employees of the company, in country-casual clothes posing on a green knoll before three knotty climbing trees. Not a stroller in sight. Mouse over the image and you get a blurb on each person. Dylan, in a country-squire jacket, is, cryptically, “raised on a Maclaren and always committed.” Graham, in shirtsleeves, is, just as cryptically, “the Father of the modern Travel System.” Pauline, entirely in black, is “Bob’s wife.” (Bob?) Over the heads of these “family members” — as the employees are known in the blurbs — are rotating banners that comprise a weird, Churchillian incantation. “For all those who trust us, we say we are grateful,” it starts, sensibly enough. But then the weirdness sets in:

“For all those who believe we saved a life, we say that is our ultimate reward.

“For all those who believe we have caused them pain, we say we are sorry.

“For all those who shun us, we say look around, check the facts, be objective.

“For everyone else we say, we strive for excellence and we all stand together to achieve it.”

Then the kicker, in italics: “And . . . for all those who copy us, we are delighted that our past inspires your future.”

Oh, come on. The classic insincere apology (“Those who believe we have caused them pain”) and the nonsense heroics about lifesaving and then the jab at competitors! Petulance and paranoia: only someone way too emotionally involved with Maclaren’s reputation — and not a corporate P.R. firm — could have made such a hash of damage control.

Well then.

Heffernan also mentions the John Edwards website, which still looks exactly like it did in 2008, again as though nothing has happened. If Edwards hopes for any sort of future, why would he not begin to rebuild trust by coming clean about what happened.  Own it, take responsibility and move on.  If you can’t do that, then for God’s sake, take down the site. It’s embarrassing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/magazine/28FOB-medium-t.html?emc=eta1

I (Pam) recently came up with this acronym to help our clients credibilitize their websites.  It’s called the RESPECT formula.  Although we’re using it to talk about websites, the RESPECT formula works for any marketing piece.

R – Relevance – Provide relevant information that helps users solve problems

E – External opinion – Show “who else says so” including both experts and “people like me”

S – Scientific basis – Provide research-based validation

P – Proof of results – Show concrete proof of actual results

E – Elimination of Risk – Provide ways to reduce or eliminate risk

C – Comparisons – Provide comparisons to competing products, services and companies

T – Transparency – Use honest, straightforward language; Show real people, have real discussion about real issues

Now, let’s more closely at each one:

Relevant, customer-focused information

The more informational a website is, the more credible it can be. And, we’re not talking about just any data, but exactly the information your visitors and potential buyers want, and in the appropriate quantity.

Credible websites are not advertisements.  They are informational, educational vehicles whose content is focused on solving problems.  Perhaps the biggest blunder made on many websites is to focus internally – on the company, product or service – rather than on the user or buyer.  That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about your company, product or service;  it simply means that you should do it in a voice and manner that makes sense to the buyer.

Of course, this requires you to understand exactly who’s coming to your website and why.  After all, you can’t write to your buyer unless and until you know who that is.  We recommend you create Buyer Profiles.  This is nothing elaborate, just a description of who visits your site and what they’re looking for.  Once you know this, you then have clearer insight into what to write about and how to write it.

External Opinion – Who Else Says So

One of the most effective marketing tools is something we refer to as “other messengers,” and it’s based on the fact that we tend to put more stock in what other people say about us than what we say about ourselves.  The old Will Rogers adage has never been more true than it is today “Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.”

Other messengers or external opinion as we refer to it here takes two forms – the first is from “people like me” (i.e. endorsements and testimonials from customers and people I can relate to.  The second form is “expert” opinion.  This can take the form of expert reviews or analysis, 5-star rating type information, Profession or organizational approvals (Recommended by 4 out of 5 doctors).

In order to know which “experts” to include in your credibility marketing, learn which expert sources your audience finds most credible.  If you’re selling consumer products, the source might be consumer reviews or online consumer groups.  If you’re selling a business-to-business product, the source might be trade publication writers, analysts, or Wall-Street journalists.

Scientific Basis

The more you can offer in the way of scientific validation, the more credible you will be perceived.  Research studies, surveys, white papers, focus groups, clinical trials – they all help you provide scientific validation.  If you have real academic research, provide the report on your website.  If you don’t have the research, find some research that substantiates at least some of your claims.  Then, either get permission to reproduce it, or summarize it.  And, of course, provide links to it.

From the time the internet allowed (literally) anyone to publish opinion under the guise of expert advice, the world has been inundated with drivel and opinion.  The research and scientific validation is your most effective way to distinguish yourself from mere opinion.

Proof of Results

Providing Proof of Results should accomplish two important objectives: 1) Provide validity that you deliver the results you claim to deliver;  and 2) help prospects get a sense of what it’s like to do business with you.  When your prospects are able to relate to the experience of your customers, they become more likely to believe the results.  That’s a giant step in their decision-making strategy.  It helps them feel comfortable enough to take the next step.

Elimination of Risk

The first hard question to ask is: Why?  Why is this important?  Here are a few very bottom-line facts that might surprise you:

• Consumers reported $17.8 million lost to online fraud (FBI’s White Collar Crime Center Report. 2001)
• Two out of three consumers whose privacy was violated by a Web site would not visit that site again (Gartner Group, Feb 2001)
• Of 23,000 panelists, 48% believed their credit card information was at risk and 51% were less likely to give personal or financial information to a Web site (Gallup poll, Feb. 2000)
• 62% of online shoppers are not confident that their privacy is protected on the Internet (PriceWaterhousCoopers, 2000)

(source: Dan Kim, Michigan State University, 2004)

Credible websites make it easy for prospective customers to get to know you and ultimately decide to do business with you.  As you can see from the bullets above, one of the elements in this process is risk avoidance.  Risk avoidance speeds up the decision-making process and makes it easier for customers to do business with you.

Comparisons

The internet gives us immediate access to information about a company.  It also gives us a simple way to compare firms.  Prospective buyers come to your website at varying positions in the sales cycle.  Some are just starting to collect information, while others have multiple choices in mind and are looking for distinguishing qualities in those options.  Comparisons help prospects make their decisions.  They also help you move them from prospect to client.

Comparison is one of the primary decision-making mechanisms.  Comparison is also one of the fundamental ways humans learn.  Humans rarely ever see two items as 100% different from each other.  We measure them in relationship to each other.  And, we relate and compare new data to what we already know.  An apple is like a smooth orange.  A banana has a similar weight as an orange.  A dime is he same color as a quarter.  Laptop A is similar to Laptop B, except it’s faster, bigger, lighter.

You can use this as a marketing tool by taking care to help the customer determine how your product or service compares to others.  Wouldn’t you do this type of market research anyway to know what your competitors are offering?  The comparison you provide on your website or in a print piece doesn’t have to be anything elaborate – a simple 5-point comparison will do the trick.

Transparency

When people come to your website, one of the first things they look at is the AboutUs page.  They want to know the real people behind the scenes.  The simple act of including photos, personal bios and contact links to real people can go a long way to enhancing your website’s credibility.

A second element of website transparency is being clear about who you are and what you do.  This sounds basic, but so often company and product descriptions are obscured in techno-speak and advertising fluff.  Consequently, they come across as disingenuous and salesy – which negatively impacts credibility.

Credible business websites avoid sounding academic or stodgy.  They manage to communicate credible information in a personal way.  Effective websites have a personality and a voice, a voice that resonates with the customer and reflects the personality of real people who are “client-centric.”

The title of this post is a quote from Howard Moskowitz, a psychophysicist who helped Campbell Soup develop it’s Prego line into a top selling spaghetti sauce. Moskowitz is also responsible for another one of my favorite quotes – To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.

In this TED video, Malcom Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and many great New Yorker pieces), tells Howard’s story, which as it turns out is really a story about customer psychology, product development and marketing.

For more about spaghetti sauces, ketchup, mustard and other customer curiosities, read Malcom’s New Yorker article The Ketchup Conundrum (which is also in his latest book – What the Dog Saw)

http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html

We’ve worked with a lot of individuals and organizations who believed they were credible. When we ask them to rate their credibility, they score it high. When we ask them what elements they used to score themselves high, they answer with things like years of experience, specialized expertise, licenses, degrees, service to customers, good deeds and such.

Even though some of the things mentioned, do in fact contribute to one’s credibility, the lesson that most people miss is that It’s not what you think that matters. Credibility rests in the other person’s perception.

No matter how great your personal integrity or competence, it is not you who gets to determine your Credibility. Credibility can only be given to you by other people.

So, if the criteria for credibility is in the mind of the other person, how can we consistently meet that criteria? Stay tuned for next week’s post where we give you the answers.

If you read our work, you know by now that we focus intensely on the psychology of credibility and business relationships.  In that vein, we’re writing a new book on business credibility.

As with all our work, we’re diving deep into the most relevant research and extracting the most effective logic, solutions, skills and processes – specifically for building business credibility today! This post gives you a glimpse at some of the most important information about the most important point – how to make the business case to justify spending time and money to build your Credibility. After all, if it’s not tied to great returns, why bother, right? Here is the first item:

Shorter sales cycle/Higher closing percentage
With high levels of credibility, your customers don’t feel the need to do as much due diligence, checking, thinking about purchase decisions. Trust is already established and this reduces the second guessing and doubt. Ultimately the sales cycle speeds up and the closing percentage increases.

Several years ago, we had a client in Texas who ran a large financial planning practice.  They calculated that they were losing 60% of their prospects.  The problem was, their sales cycle included nearly thirty separate steps and took months to complete.  Most people abort such a long and involved process.  We helped them create a book explaining their approach and philosophy.  That helped enormously.  We also created a large poster that reframed the process so it contained fewer (but larger) steps.  Problem solved. 

If you’re making more sales, making larger sales, and making them faster, doesn’t that mean credibility has a positive impact on your bottom line?

– Michael Lovas

We’ve worked with a lot of individuals and organizations over the years who believed they were credible. Sadly, it’s not what you think that matters. Credibility rests with the other person in the relationship.  It’s about how others perceive you.

The hard truth is, no matter how great your personal integrity or competence, it is not you who gets to determine your Credibility.  In truth, Credibility can only be given to you by other people.  Some people may have had direct experience with you and your credibility.  Others may have only expereinced you through media or by reputation.  Either way, they have gathered impressions and perceptions that influence how they feel about you.

Acceptance of this reality is often a profound experience for business professionals.  They begin by arguing that they are credible and thus should be perceived that way.  Doesn’t matter.  That’s not how it works.

Once you accept this reality and begin to understand the things that influence perception and begin to manage the perception in a positive way, that’s when you can really make a difference in your life and in your business.

Referability is the state of being highly referable or easy to refer. What makes you highly referable or easy to refer? Simple, it’s providing a service that is of high value to the people you want to attract.

But here’s the kicker. It’s not about whether YOU think you offer a valuable service, it’s whether the person you’re trying to attract perceives your service (and you) as highly valuable. It’s about how well you communicate your value.

Now it may seem like we’re splitting hairs here, but this is an important distinction. This distinction flavors your approach to referrals, and it dramatically impacts the results you’re likely to achieve.

Let’s start with a key principle of referrals: Most clients making a referral do so in order to help their friend or colleague, not to help the the person being referred.

At first blush, this may not seem like a profound statement, but it really is. Why? Because many referral efforts fail because they’re focused, whether consciously or unconsciously, in the wrong direction. They are focused on the benefit to the person being referred rather than on the benefit to the referee.

Think about it. When you ask for a referral, what do you say? “Can you share with ME the names of other people you know who might benefit from my services?” Or “I’d really appreciate if you could tell your friends about ME.

What does it mean or look like to shift your focus? It means you focus on what you can do for the friend or colleague referred rather than what the referral means to you. In terms of specifics it means you understand where your value intersects with the prospect’s needs and wants and you can effectively communicate your value proposition, the kinds of problems you solve for people, and where you do your best work.

It means ensuring that your best clients not only understand this but can easily and effortlessly communicate your value to their friends and colleagues. You are far better served employing a “pull” approach where you focus on making yourself a resource that clients will be eager to share, rather than a “push” approach where you focus on collecting names or directing clients to tell all their friends about what a great guy or gal you are.

We (co-author Michael Lovas and I) have written quite a lot about first impressions. In particular the series of subconscious assessments that go on when we first meet someone. We know that the first thing that goes on is the “am I in danger?” assessment.

Every time a stranger looks at you, he or she makes a split-second determination as to whether you are friend or foe. Also among those split second assessments is an analysis of your attractiveness, likeability and credibility.

According to Princeton researcher and professor Alex Todorov, we are “hard wired” to quickly draw these inferences.

“The link between facial features and character may be tenuous at best, but that doesn’t stop our minds from sizing other people up at a glance. We decide very quickly whether a person possesses many of the traits we feel are important, such as likeability and competence, even though we have not exchanged a single word with them. It appears that we are hard-wired to draw these inferences in a fast, unreflective way.”

For more on first impressions, and in particular what people are “reading” to make these assessments, check out our book Axis of Influence – How Credibility and Likeability Intersect to Drive Success.

For more on Alex Todorov, check out All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 – Scientists Search for Winning Look. Forget political polls. Scientists usually can tell whether political candidates will win or lose by testing voters’ reactions to the contestants’ faces. A study in the journal Science shows that voters chose the face that looks more “competent.”

Professor Todorov’s Princeton Website