Old Spice Sales Double With YouTube Campaign

by: Samuel Axon

You know those YouTube videos with that manly Old Spice guy and his hilarious responses to Twitter fans? Of course you do. So does everybody, it seems, because Old Spice body wash sales have increased 107% in the past month thanks to that social media marketing campaign.

We already published stats from video analytics company Visible Measures that made it clear that the Old Spice guy was a hugely successful initiative from marketing firm Wieden + Kennedy, achieving millions of viral video views quicker than past hits like Susan Boyle and U.S. President Barack Obama’s election victory speech.

The statistic of the 107% sales increase over the past month comes from Nielsen, which also revealed that sales increased 55% over the past three months. Individual products that were slipping in sales saw spikes after actor Isaiah Mustafa showed them off in the TV and Internet video ads. Those numbers were cited in an article at BrandWeek.

The campaign began with simple TV ads, which then went viral on YouTube. The follow-up program in which Mustafa recorded funny videos in response to fans, bloggers and Twitter influencers hit it out of the park. Adweek quotes Visible Measures’ Matt Cutler saying that the total web views for all Old Spice brand videos have reached 110 million, “surpassing the reach of traditional broadcast.”

Adweek also reports that Old Spice is working on a new campaign, but that it’s “unrelated” to the Mustafa videos. That’s a tough act to follow, but we don’t think anyone at Old Spice is complaining today.

Go For No! How to turn NO into a Powerful Positive

by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

Have you seen the movie "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey? It's about a guy who says "no" to everything, everyone, all the time.

Carrey's character winds up in a motivational guru's seminar and makes a radical change - he starts saying "yes" to everything. So, he is now saying yes to everything that comes his way; skydiving, Spanish lessons, all night parties, on and on. And of course, hilarity ensues.

There is a story about John Lennon's first encounter with Yoko Ono. He attended the pre-opening viewing of one of her shows. Her art was mostly strange and experiential. So the story goes that he climbed up an unsteady ladder to look through a small eyeglass where he found a single word: yes. It's been reported he later said that if it said "no" he wouldn't have been interested in getting to know her.

It is funny how the word "yes" is always looked at as so positive and wonderful. And it is great, don't get us wrong. We like yeses as much as the next person. But clearly, "no" has gotten a bad rap! No wonder so many people feel so damaged, deflated, and depressed when they hear the word "no!" It's a hated word.

Do you know your NQ?

The problem of course is that in SALES you are going to hear the word no. Even if you are really good, you are still going to hear some No's. If you don't hear any No's, then you probably are not selling to your full potential. The reality is the only way you'll stop hearing "no" is to quit entirely. And a lot of people do.

Why? Because they've been taught that "no" is so bad, such a terrible failure that it is just impossible to continue. It is so sad that too little letters... N and O have stopped so many people from doing great things, building businesses, living the life of their dreams.

And yet all the really super successful people in business (and in life) have gotten tons and tons of "no's" suffering all types of failure and rejection.

When you look at the great success stories of our time, and you peel away the outer layer - the glitz and glamour of what is seen on the surface by the general public - what you discover are stories of what we might call "successful failures." Virtually every "successful" person you can think of got there not just by FAILING... but usually through MASSIVE failure.

The number that really matters in business and in life is your NQ: your NO-QUOTIENT... the number of times you are willing to hear NO before succeeding... the number of times you are willing to get KNOCKED DOWN and then get back up, knowing full well that you are almost certain to get knocked back down again. That is the number that determines greatness in today's world... perhaps the only number... because the history of the world's greatest people, the movers and shakers and doers, is in fact a collection of stories of people with HIGH NQs.

The fact is, most people spend their lives doing everything within their power to seek success while simultaneously doing everything within their power to avoid failure... a recipe that virtually ensures average performance! Increasing your "failure rate" (and the number of NOs you hear) is the ultimate strategy for outstanding performance ... because when you increase your failure, success will show up at your door in greater quantities than you ever could have imagined.

So what's YOUR NQ? Would you like to know? Come take the Assessment for FREE! (A $20 Value)

Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz are the authors of "Go for No!", a short powerful story written specifically for sales professionals in every industry who must learn to harness the power of no to be successful. They are also the creators of the new personal development video documentary, "Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There!" To learn more, visit www.goforno.com or call 800-290-5028.

Long Term and Valued Employees Need to be Confronted for Toxic Behavior

By Joan Lloyd

Dear Joan:

An employee who has been with the company for many years has always been the go-to person for upper management, as they have worked together for a very long time.

As new employees have been hired the dynamics in the office have changed. New employees bring fresh ideas and new energy into the workplace. The long standing employee seems to feel threatened and appears to need a "target" to create conflict.

My questions is, how do you avoid becoming his target? One particular employee seems to be in a position to defend himself over and over for things that are petty. The conflicts are intense, often resulting in screaming matches.

The longstanding employee takes some type of medication for mood disorders but he is still very unpredictable. On a good day his reactions are fine but on other days it's not a pleasant place to be. Question: How long does the "target" excuse his bad behavior due to the mood disorder this person has?

It's obvious that the "target" is getting beat down and may be considering a career change. The "target" is a valued employee and very well thought of by other staff and management. Management does not seem to know how to handle the complicated and sensitive situation, partly due to the close relationship they have with the long-standing employee that is making the workplace "toxic".

Answer:

While Situations like this seem black and white, I often find that human foibles make them gray. The idealistic among us can say, “No one should tolerate being poorly treated. Management should tell that loyal employee to stop treating that good employee so poorly.” But those of us who have been around for awhile know that long-standing relationships can breed a loyalty that anesthetizes logical decision making. For some executives, loyalty and friendship weigh more, so they turn a blind eye to poor behavior.

The resolution of the situation depends upon the maturity and wisdom of the senior managers. For example, if things escalate (and they surely will), there’s a good chance senior management will have to choose between the two of them. Up to this point, they have probably been reluctant to deal with the problem because the go-to guy has added value for a long time and also because they make allowances for him because he has a medical problem.

One of senior managements’ responsibilities is to keep the workplace from being toxic. Hopefully, they will realize the harm his emotional outbursts are causing and counsel him to manage his behavior toward others. If the target is contributing to the problem (“screaming matches”),he also needs to be counseled.

If the long-term employee is unable to treat others professionally, management can mandate that he seek outside help through the EAP, or other medical resources, or face other consequences.

If they are tiptoeing around him because of his medical condition, they need to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. No one should be able to abuse fellow workers and get a free pass to do so, regardless of the reason. They need to consider what is in the best interest of the entire work team and the business as a whole. Loyalty should not trump dysfunctional behavior.

Internal Consulting Skills for HR Professionals is Joan Lloyd’s intensive, interactive full-day workshop for HR practitioners. Human resources professionals—both functional experts and generalists—have a new found opportunity to act as internal consultants who can help their organizations with organizational changes, performance coaching, conflict mediation and other value-added services. This workshop focuses on giving HR professionals the tools and strategies they need to help their organizations as well as advance their careers.

Participation?

Does anyone read this blog any more? Post a comment to this question to answer.

Thanks

How To Leave Voice Mail Messages That Get Returned

By Jeb Blount, Author of People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business

I hate voice mail. I love email, text messaging, and even smoke signals but I despise voice mail more than any other communication tool. Why?

I'm a pretty busy sales guy and I usually spend most of my day talking to other people on the phone. On most days it seems as if my phone never stops ringing. There is just no way to get to every call. Many calls go straight to voice mail. In fact, I average in the neighborhood of 20 voice mail messages every working day.

You may be thinking to yourself, "that sounds like a good problem to have Jeb", and in some cases you would be right. Some of these calls are from customers and clients who want to buy more from me. Trust me, when someone is calling me to do business I'm happy.

But, the vast majority of the calls are from people who want me to do something for them. They want me to buy something, form a partnership, give them an opinion, introduce them to someone, or answer a coaching question. But this is not why I hate voice mail.

I hate voice mail because every day I have to stop what I'm doing, dial my inbox and listen to all of those messages one at a time. It is a slow and time consuming process that sometimes takes up to thirty minutes. Which is usually time I don't have. And of course, the catch with voice mail is that it is linear; meaning that you have to start at the beginning and listen to each message until you reach the end. You can't look at all of your messages, like you can on email, and then determine which ones are a higher priority than others and which ones are just junk.

This is where the pain comes in and my hatred of voice mail begins. As I reluctantly trudge through my messages there are three kinds that really drive me crazy.

The first is when people don't leave their names and phone numbers. I get a message but I either don't know who you are or how to reach you. These messages are automatically deleted.
Then there are the people who leave long-winded messages. There are occasions when I'm ok with this like when the long message gives me all of the information I need and I don't have to call back. But if the message requires me to call you back, which is almost always the case, I just get irritated. Most of these messages are saved for when I have time. Of course the brutal reality is . . I never have time.

Finally, there are the people who garble or say their name or phone number too fast. I hate these messages the most because I'm required to listen to the message more than once which wastes my time and makes it more likely, if I am busy or in a hurry, that I will just delete the message.

So why, other than getting all of this off of my chest, is this long rant important to you? Because, as a sales and business professionals, the telephone is still your most important business tool. Every day business professionals all over the world make millions of calls to current and prospective customers, colleagues, and potential employers. Most of those calls go straight to the voice mail boxes of people, who like me, hate voice mail. This is why so many of your messages go un-returned.

The key is to come to grips with the fact that on some level most of your buyers despise voice mail and either ignore or delete most of their messages. However, with a few simple adjustments, that make your messages easier for your prospects to deal with, you may succeed in getting many more messages returned and at the same time earn the respect of the people you call.

Five People Buy You Tips for Winning Voice Mail Messages

Give Contact Information First: 99% of the time when we leave a voice mail we want the other person to call us back. When you give your contact information first you are far more likely to entice the person you called into writing down your name and number for a call back. Besides, it is just good business. Try something like this: "Hi this is Jeb Blount, from SalesGravy.com. My phone number is 555-222-1212." This demonstrates your respect for the other person's time and your professionalism.

Keep It Short: Your messages should be thirty seconds or less and deal with only one subject. When you hold yourself to thirty seconds if forces you to be succinct and to focus on the most important information. In her outstanding new book Snap Selling Jill Konrath describes how "crazy-busy" buyers are struggling to deal with information overload. Take Jill's advice and make your messages simple.

Say Why You Have Called. After you give your personal information just say, "The reason for my call is" or "the Purpose of my call is", then tell them why you are calling and leave your message. In SNAP Selling Jill drives home the point that if your message is not relevant to your buyer's situation they will not give you their attention.

Be Honest. One of the core People Buy You levers is trust. If customers and prosepects don't trust you there is virtually no chance you will win their business. There is nothing more irritating to a buyer than a salesperson who is less than honest about their intentions.

Repeat Your Name and Phone Number: Before you push # always say your name again slowly and clearly and always, always say your number twice. It should sound something like this, "again, this is Jeb Blount with SalesGravy.com my phone number is 555-222-1212 that's 555-222-1212." This will ensure that your name and phone number are registered correctly and that you leave your prospect with a positive impression of you.

Bonus Tip: Leave your email as well. May people will write back via email quicker than returning your voice mail.

Jeb Blount is the CEO of SalesGravy.com, the world's most popular sales website. A respected thought leader on sales and sales leadership, he is author of three books, People Buy You: The Real Secret to what Matters Most in Business, Sales Guy's 7 Rules for Outselling the Recession, and Power Principles. He is the author of more than 100 articles on sales and sales leadership and the host of the top rated Sales Guy Podcast.

Loyalty Is Built Through C.A.R.I.N.G. Service

By Debra Schmidt

Voicemail, automated phone systems, email and other technology have replaced the personal touch when it comes to customer service. Customer frustrations are on the rise. Their number one complaint is that no one really seems to care anymore.

Your customer can tell the difference between satisfactory service and caring service. Satisfactory service is what most customers expect. This type of service focuses on completing a task rather than building a relationship with the customer.

The market often talks of customer satisfaction, a deceptive phrase because it sounds better than it is. Would you have wanted a grade of satisfactory in school? Probably not. Satisfactory implies adequate, good enough and acceptable. Customers who are merely satisfied with your business can be wooed away by others who offer something better.

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Customers are discouraged by poor service and expectations are low. The simple gesture of showing your customers that you care about them will be a welcome surprise compared to the apathy they experience elsewhere. Building customer loyalty boils down to one simple concept—C.A.R.I.N.G.

C = Consistent

Commit to delivering exceptional customer service with every customer interaction.

• Take complete ownership of your actions and your customer's happiness.
• Deliver respect, friendliness and knowledge, whether you communicate face-to-face, by telephone or through email.
• Maintain a positive attitude--all the time!
• Sign your work with excellence. A = Attentive Your customer is not an interruption of your work. He or she is the reason you're at work.
• Focus 100% attention on your customers' needs. Ask yourself, "If this were me, what would I want?"
• Listen carefully—don't rush service. Your customer took the time to do business with you. Honor that decision by taking the time to deliver a quality experience.

A = Attentive

Your customer is not an interruption of your work. He or she is the reason you're at work.

• Focus 100% attention on your customers' needs. Ask yourself, "If this were me, what would I want?"
• Listen carefully—don't rush service. Your customer took the time to do business with you. Honor that decision by taking the time to deliver a quality experience.

R = Reliable

Take proactive ownership of your customers' requests. Follow through until they are successfully resolved.

• Watch your image. Dress professionally. Don't wear clothing that can offend or embarrass your customers. Dress in a manner that enhances your credibility and positively reflects on the organization.
• Maintain order in your workspace.
• Communicate with a warm, friendly tone of voice. Provide clear and accurate information. Avoid the use of jargon or slang. Also, be careful not to talk "down" to your customers or co-workers.
• Follow through by keeping your promises, no matter how small, to your customers and co-workers.
• Focus on timeliness. Respond quickly to your customers' and co-workers' requests. Show up for work and meetings on time. Return phone calls promptly and deliver information on time.
• Promptly reply to email messages.
• Commit to professional development by attending workshops and seminars, and reading materials that will help you to learn and grow in your ability to do your job better.

I = Individualized

• No two customers are alike. Each customer has individual needs and concerns.
• Pay attention to your customer's tone of voice and actions.
• Learn how to respond to your customer based on his or her particular style. A dominant customer may seem impatient and will want to control the situation to get his or her desired results. A shy customer may need assurance and guarantees. An outgoing customer may require more "chat" time. You can build rapport quickly by learning to respond appropriately with each type of customer.
• Pay attention to your customers' family members. Ask about their children.
• Congratulate your customers when you learn of their celebrations, such as having a new baby or buying a home. Acknowledge their birthdays.
• Pay attention to their accomplishments such as an appointment to a board, getting promoted or landing that important client. -
• Ask your customers for advice on how you or your company could better serve them. Encourage their feedback and ideas, and yes, even criticism. Then listen.
• Sincerely compliment your customers every chance you get. Compliment them on how nicely they're dressed, their pleasant phone voice, or their patience during a long wait. Don't mistake compliments with false flattery. -
• Surprise your customers by delivering unexpected service, such as free shipping or a little something extra to show them they're appreciated.
• Keep your customers informed about the status of their order, any delays or obstacles to meeting their needs and changes in policies that may affect them.
• Customize the way you communicate to honor the style differences of your customers.

N = Notable

Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing campaign of all. Give your customers quality service that they can brag about. Is your service worth bragging about?

• When you hear repeated complaints about something, take the initiative to fix the problem! For example, if customers frequently complain that it is too cold in the building, contact the person in charge of climate control and ask him or her to adjust the temperature. If more than one customer complains that the music is too loud when they are on "hold," take the initiative to have the volume turned down.
• Go the extra mile by delivering more than expected. This may mean chatting a little longer with a customer who sounds lonely or just wants to visit. You can waive a shipping charge if an order has been delayed.
• Notice their needs. If a customer sounds rushed or stressed, acknowledge their busy schedule and do everything you can to speed up their service experience.
• Save them time. Look for ways to remove service obstacles that may waste your customers' time. Make sure there is a working pen on the counter if they need to sign a credit card receipt. If you need to transfer a customer call, stay on the line to explain the situation to your co-worker so your customer doesn't need to repeat his or her request. Offer to call them after you have resolved their complaints so they don't need to remain on the line while you track down the cause of the problem.
• Stand by your promises. Return calls at precisely the time you said you would call. Don't put a customer in a position of having to call back to remind you that they are still waiting for information. Never promise service by a co-worker unless you're 100% certain that he or she will be able to deliver on that promise for the customer.

G = Generous

Be generous with your service by looking for ways to go the extra mile for your customers.

• Look for ways to remove service obstacles by bending a rule or making an exception when your customer has a special need.
• Periodically, give away a free item to your customers. Enclose a calendar, tips guide, kitchen magnet or one of your company's products. Be sure to write a note to let your customers know that this is a gift of appreciation just for doing business with you.
• When your customers make appointments to meet with you, take them early.
• Introduce your customers to other members of the team, especially staff who only deal with internal customers.
• Slip your customers a handwritten "thank-you" note when they've been patient, when they've complained, when they've referred a new customer or just to thank them for being a loyal customer.
• Hold monthly contests for your customers where they can win prizes.
• Actively seek out and participate in community outreach and service events or causes that your customers care about.
• Give each of your best customers a standing ovation the next time they walk through the door.
• Create over-satisfied customers by frequently asking your customers, "How can we do an even better job of serving your needs?"
• Put value on what's important to your customers, not what's important to you. People are loyal to a business when they feel they've been treated well and received good value for their money.

Customer service goes a long way toward pleasing customers on both counts. C.A.R.I.N.G. customer service means going out of your way for customers, doing everything possible to meet their needs and sometimes making decisions that benefit customers, even at the expense of the company.