28. August 2010 by Bob Griffin.

I was speaking with a class of management students this week at the University of Georgia.  My topic was on getting customers, but I veered off topic a little when we got to communication to customers and word-of-mouth marketing.  I mentioned that bad word of mouth marketing - the media saying bad things about you or your business - can actually help you if it is played well.  Since it was a group of students and Thursday is the unofficial start to the weekend, I was impressed when they sat up and took notice of my statement.

There are exact times and places when bad word-of-mouth marketing works when nothing else will.   Seems counter-intuitive, but it is true and we have real world examples of this to point to.  BP has been dragged through the mud (or mucky oil if you wish) with little hope of recovery.  When the oil platform exploded and people died, that was a low point for them.  When millions of gallons of oil washed up on shore killing wildlife and the economy of several states, that was another low point.  It seemed that there was no end to the bad news and the CEO, Tony Hayward, was not helping the situation…except he was.

When bad things happen (and bad things will always happen) you have two ways of handling it.  Fight it or deal with it.   The first part, fighting it, seems to be what Tony wanted to do and we can see how far that got him.  He was covering his company’s rump with as much actions as he could stand, but he was ill prepared to make much positive change since he really did not understand why everyone was upset with him.  He wanted things to “go back to normal” as fast as possible since the accidents did not impact him directly.  He was mad and all of the actions he showed indicated he wanted to fight back.  To the families who lost a loved one or the people who live and work by the Gulf coast, they wanted to fight too.  One man against a population who have been harmed is ugly.

So, when the cap was attached to the pipe and the oil stopped gushing out of the well, they fired old Tony.  Look back and you will see, the bad press for the most part stopped as well.  All of the bad word-of-mouth marketing ended when the target - Tony Hayward - left the scene.  BP and the Board of Directors were smart enough to see that they had a chance to let the bad press go when they let Tony go.  No face to the business means the press is unable to fight and the population has no target for tough words.  Did the problem go away? No, but the bad word-of-mouth marketing was carried away on Tony’s shoulders.  Now, any news is going to be compared with the bad news that Tony endured.

Timing is everything.  If they fired Tony before they capped the well, it would still be BP that was the bad guy.  With a built in bad guy, they waited and made the change when good news was available.  BP is a media savvy company.

I was going to add in examples of other industries and celebrities, but you get the idea.  Since bad things happen, you have a choice in what you can do.  Fighting is sometimes an option.  Tony Hayward thought so.  BP let him fight. Then, they let him go away with the bad press.  Will BP bounce back? Yes.  Exxon did and they did the same thing with the Captain Joe Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez.  There are ways to let things work out without losing your business.  Are you ready for all of the kinds word-of-mouth marketing?

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10. June 2010 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

It is always the execution that we stumble on.  Mostly because we get the right idea with the wrong delivery.  I was passing this sign and had to take the picture.  It seems innocuous, but add the word “IF” to the end of the message and you have a whole new meaning.  It would be our pleasure to serve you IF we wanted to or IF we were done with our smoke break.  Any time you do not make a good point, you lose credibility and putting a bland message out says a lot about who you are.

“It is our pleasure to serve you” is a better message, but what does it mean?  Why are you wasting prime space on your sign to make a throwaway statement?  Step up and sell me something.  Be funny or eye catching.  Be bad, strange, or thoughtful, but be something that people will remember.  This made me think they are not worth my time.  From the number of cars driving by that had passengers that didn’t even look at the sign, I am right in my analysis.

The message you send needs to be as thought out as any big advertising campaign.  If you are not making the effort to do something that will draw customers into your store to buy, you are wasting time, money, and effort. 

I saw a tiny doughnut store that was packed.  I mean they had people who were getting kind of personal they way they were crammed into the front of the store and everyone one of them was smiling and wanting to spend money.  The sign at the front of the store said, “Fresh Doughnuts! If we drop them twice we throw them away!”.  That is bad, but it was memorable.  It has been over twenty years since I visited that shop and I still talk about that sign and those doughnuts.  Did anyone really think they reused a doughnut that they dropped?  Maybe.  Did it keep some customers away?  Yes.   Why is that good?  The owners made it a point to target the customer base they wanted.  They wanted fun people who would put up with a tiny store and being packed in.  I bet you go somewhere that is not up to your standards as an owner, but keeps you coming back because of some bit of character the place created.

Never let your message be wasted on blah!

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23. May 2010 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

When is the last time you looked at your business?  No, not the numbers…the message.  There are a lot of messages that we project to customers that are unintended because we are overwhelmed with too many things to take care of in 24 hours.  How many of you have put a sign at the cash register that says, “No checks!” or “Payment Upfront”?  It is that kind of negative message that makes customers think you don’t trust them or want them.

You want to be known as being a professional and then you put up a hand written sign that says, “All Sales Are Final”.  If that doesn’t scream Go Away, I don’t know what would.  OK, so I have another more extreme way of keeping customers out.  Let them know you don’t want them in the first place. 

Take a look at this picture.  It can be hard to read the words on the window, but is says, “Hot People Wear Shorts”.  Sorry, I used my phone to take the picture and I am not a photographer.



Can you see where the problem is?  None of the mannequins are wearing shorts.  Even the picture in the window has a guy in pants.  This is typical of what we do.  That desire to get everything done now gets us further behind because we tell customers we do not know what we are doing.  Would you buy shorts where they think pants are the same as shorts?  Probably not.

How about this wonderful image?  I was driving around and saw a nice building with a dry cleaners in it.  I would never drop off clothes here because the message they project is - Dirty = clean.  (I blurred the name of the business.  They aren’t all bad).



What are you telling your customers?  It can be as simple as having the same signs up year after year.  Follow Bulldog Rule #12 - Be aware of your entire business.  Get out and look around.  While you are out there, use the article, SWOT ‘Em to get a good understanding of the message that your competition is telling your customers.  We do like to multi-task don’t we?

As much as I want to place the blame on the shoulders of the owner, I also want to take this opportunity to let you know I understand how this can happen.  Being an owner is like getting trying to roll a million little balls in the same direction at the same time at the same speed.  Bad things happen when you move too fast.  It is the nature of business to move fast, but make sure you end up where you intended.

The best way to fix many of these problems is to get out of your business.  Yes, get out! Go out to the parking lot and just stand there.  Close your eyes and start thinking like a customer.  Now open them and look.  What would draw a customer’s eyes to your business?  How do we look?  What message do we send from just looking at the store?  Often, the need to just get things done makes a potentially good message go bad.

Find the message you want to send and then stop, look, and read what your customers see.  If you are not projecting the professional business you see in your head, make changes and make the message one you intend to send.

Bob Griffin - The Original Bulldog
Bgriffin@BusinessBulldog.com

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7. January 2010 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

There are two types of owners that need to grow their view of the business they own.  One type of owner spends a lot of time on numbers.  They see the trends and how the customers respond to the marketing or employee efforts.  The “Number Cruncher” is a good master of his domain.  He is up to date on what has happened in his business and what works.  He can plan and explain his business in terms of dollars and cents.  Why is this not a big enough view?  He is good with changing to a new plan.  He can see what works and plan, but moving to a new plan is outside his view.  Limits like this are part of an old way of doing business.  I grew up in this format.  I am happy to look through these eyes.  I also know that if I want to make stores successful I need to look bigger and make changes quickly to stay ahead of the competition and fire up my team.  Numbers tell no lies, but they also do not inspire growth.  People do.

The second type of owner is the marketing guy.  He can tell you what works and why.  Coupons, discounts, and media buys are part of his lexicon.  There is no way he is going to let a customer get away without knowing what his business is all about.  Branding is a key to his success.  Finding new ways to communicate to customers is his passion.  This guy is his own best marketing…just ask him.  Why doesn’t this work well.  If you are focused on marketing outside your business, you may the operations  and the reason customers come back.  Ever watch a commercial, try out a new business and then never go back? Why?  The hype did not match the service, the products, or a combination of both.  Marketing is critical, yes critical, to every business.  It just can not be the beginning and the end of the game. Save marketing until you have something to brag about.  Then yell it!

Look at the whole picture.  Crunch numbers to see what works best.  Take the best parts of a campaign, product, or service and build your store around it.  The best businesses ask more questions than make statements.  Every question or answer should bring more questions or answers.  Look bigger.  Dream about where your business can grow.  Do not EVER be comfortable.  Comfort is good for a blanket, but bad for a business model.  Be ready to change.  Look inside your business first to ensure that when you go out and invite customers in you are ready to make them say “WOW”.

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22. October 2009 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

I hate Mission Statements.  There I said it.  There is absolutely no reason to waste good time on a paragraph of words that no one looks at, lives by, or is inspired by.  Do NOT create a Mission Statement.  If you must, here are all the words you need: excel, inspire, create, serve, endure, success, and forge.  Man, I had to struggle to write that last sentence.  Yuck!

Instead of a Mission Statement, make a Vision Statement.  What’s the difference?  Peanut Butter!

I wrote recently about listening to elevator pitches from MBA candidates and I started thinking about a speech I heard from Ray Barton, CEO of Great Clips, Inc, who instructed new franchisees to the chain to create a vision statement.  Ray said that a Vision Statement is more than a bunch of words, it is your vision for your business.  (I may be paraphrasing.  It’s been some months since I heard him speak those words).  The idea is to have something you can describe in vivid detail how it works and where you see the business going.

Mission Statements are an endgame approach to describing business.  It’s a “This is what we do” statement.  Vision Statements paint a picture of what success is and the path it is on.  Ask Ray what he sees when he thinks of Great Clips and in a few words will make you want to buy a franchise to be a part of that vision. There are only a few people I have met in my life that make be thankful for having the time to speak with. Ray is one of those people.  He paints a picture you can see yourself in.

OK, so where does the peanut butter fit in?   When you describe your family or your favorite car or something you love.  You have words that make the description stick.  Those are peanut butter words.  It’s those words that are still on the tip of your tongue after you hear someone talk about something they are passionate about.  As the listener, you internalize those words like they mean the same thing to you.  If you can’t describe your business with the same kind of peanut butter words that you would use to describe something you love, sell and get out before the business sells you out.

To describe what I do, I say:

“I use magic bullets to make small business owners successful.” 

I am asked for the magic bullets all the time.  Those are my peanut butter words.  The bullets I use are the Bulldog Rules for Business on the second tab of this website.   It makes people interested in what I do.  I never want to sound like I am bored telling you what I do.  A Mission Statement will do that.  I also don’t want to be glib and say, “I increase sales and lower costs for business owners.”  What sticks there?  Nothing!

When you say your Vision Statement be creative, inventive (no one says you have to use real words), and keep changing it up.  Your business is never the same form one day to the next.  Why should your description of it stay the same?

Inspire me with your peanut butter words too.  I bet there is a Peanut Butter phrase that will make me talk about YOU next.  As of now, we have more than three dozen countries reading this blog and more joining every week.  I would love nothing more than to give you a forum for highlighting your business, job, or talent.  That is why I created this site in the first place. Which country has the best Vision Statement?  I guess we will see who grows the tastiest peanut butter.

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