Chutzpah Marketing
Simple Low Cost Secrets For Building Your Business Fortune
by
Philip Copitch, Ph.D.
Marketing Maven
SMASHWORDS EDITION
PUBLISHED BY:
Hutzpah Press
Chutzpah Marketing
Simple Low Cost Secrets to Building Your Business Fortune
Copyright © 2011 by Philip Copitch, Ph.D.
eMail: DrPhil@CopitchInc.com
Web site: www.CopitchInc.com
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DEDICATION
Special thanks goes to my bride of over 20 years—Geri, an amazing person who warms the hearts of all who know her and the only one I know who can put up with me.
Thank you for encouraging my behavior.
Philip Copitch, Ph.D.
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Tell me, I forget.
Show me, I remember.
Involve me, I understand.
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Table of Chutzpah Contents Introduction
Introduction
Now that’s chutzpah!
A note on terminology
1. Talk To, Not At, Your Customers
The psychology of your customer’s mind
Branding
Chutzpah branding in the real world
New FTC Rulings
BigRed’s as a brand
BigRed’s competition
BigRed’s Burgers chutzpah assignments
How can you help your customers?
Chutzpah knowledge is power
2. Your Most Important Marketing Tool Costs 5¢
Old boring standard business cards
Chutzpah business card
Chutzpah logo
Getting your card printed
Ways to save money on printing:
Handing out your chutzpah business cards
Shhhh, this is a secret: How to hand out business cards comfortably
Chutzpah mini-billboards in action
3. Your Second Most Important Marketing Tool is Free
Example of a 9-second speech in a therapist’s office
Why 9-seconds?
Building a 9-second speech
What do you want to teach about your company?
Teaching others to talk glowingly about your business
Develop your 9-second speeches
Write down your 9-second speech
Chutzpah marketing 9-second speeches in action
Variation: Hollywood elevator speech
Variation: MIT speech
4. Advertising Part A: On The Chutzpah Cheap
Brochure dimensions
Center fold
Tri-fold
3-up
Chutzpah focus
What’s in a name?
A chutzpah headline grabber
Smith Magazine celebrates storytelling
Powerful subheads that interest the potential reader
Dazzling copy that stirs the emotions of the potential customers
Emotion evoking graphics and/or photos
A call to action!
Dr. Phil’s Therapy 3-up.
How to get your brochure out and about
Leaving brochures around
Develop your chutzpah brochure
Want my opinion?
5. Advertising Part B: The Yellow Pages and Local Media
Embracing the media with a chutzpah hug
Category and action
Myth #1: The Yellow Pages are very expensive
Myth #2: Good companies do not need to advertise in the Yellow Pages
Myth #3: Unless you can afford the biggest ad, you cannot compete in the Yellow Pages
People have been trained to use the Yellow Pages
Motivated buyer
“Me too” mentality
Your Yellow Page rep
Alternative Yellow Pages
Yellow Page ad size and color
Size
Color
What about the online offerings from the Yellow Pages?
What belongs in your display ad
Chutzpah headline
Chutzpah supporting information
Chutzpah supporting secondary benefits
Call to action
Local print media advertisements
What goes into your ad?
Three types of print ads
The name recognition ad
The direct response ad
The combination ad
Dealing with local newspapers and magazines
Ad and ad size placement
Common up sell fibs sales reps use
Yellow Page and ads: my chutzpah perspective
Want my opinion?
6. Advertising Part C: Chutzpah Gold Mining
Your database
Computer database is a must
What to put in your database
What to do with your gold mine
The 4 best ways to grow a long term clientele
Postcards
Grabbing attention
Size and cost
Label and stamp party
Build your own postcard
Newsletters and enewsletters
Newsletter design, chutzpah style.
Color
Content counts
11 chunks of chutzpah newsletter advice
What to put into your email
Direct mail solicitation with chutzpah
Inserts
Ride-along inserts
Stand alone inserts
Mailbox inserts and card decks
Coconut?
Ways to generate custom mailing lists
List brokers do’s and don’ts
Mail list brokers
Freshness counts
Lists: A numbers game
Email brokers
7. Advertising Part D: Your Office, Store, and Vehicles Are Chutzpah Marketing Tools
Chutzpah cross-marketing
Business signage
External signage
Banners
Internal signage—Part one
Navigation signs
Internal signage—Part two
Odd place for an advertisement?
Uniforms and name tags.
Name tag guy
Chutzpah office paper
Letterhead
Getting past the medical office gatekeepers
Customer note paper
Note cards
How to make a note card
Examples of note cards
From the desk of: notes
Any other mail that goes out
Dr Phil’s thanks a million letter
Fridge Art
Business vehicles
Magnetic signs
Business card dispensers
Cross marketing inside your store
Floor and carpet graphics
8. Your phone and email are chutzpah marketing tools
Controlling the phone and email monster
Phone machine or answering service
Phone and email time management
Multitasking and brain research
Return calls and email in bunches
Email cross-marketing
Gathering statistics
The telephone transmits feelings
Anyone who answers your phone represents you
Avoid the hold button
9. Embracing the media with a chutzpah hug
The media doesn’t owe you anything
Getting noticed as an expert by the media
I asked her to put me there, kind of
Getting press will get you more press
Controversy sells
Don’t confuse editorial coverage with advertisement
Writing a press release
Aim
Spell
Wow
Follow up
The parts of a press release
Sample press releases
The future of press releases
Want my opinion?
10. Getting your staff and family into chutzpah marketing
Change is difficult for employees
It is lonely at the top
If they could do it they would be your competition.
Staff and family should be your best cheerleaders
Chutzpah show and tell
11. Chutzpah presentations, speeches, and trade shows
“I can’t speak to a group!”
Why bother with doing presentations?
The 60/40 rule of presentations.
April is...
February is National National Awareness Month Awareness Month
Finding local groups
Contacting local groups
First contact letter with the speaker coordinator
Your chutzpah cover letter
Know your group
Examples of first contact letters
Honorarium
Chutzpah low cost trade shows
A dummy example of getting attention.
I’m uncomfortable with an information booth...
Chutzpah booth design
10’ x 10’ x 10”
Types of booth signage
The overall look of your booth
Your chutzpah call to action and if possible—save/stick/pass-ability
Table bunting
Dealing with the great outdoors
Educate your booth staff
Chutzpah tricks for garnering attention
Candy
Smile and make eye contact
Police your booth
Think tactile
Avoid being a bump on a log.
Interact with the other exhibitors
Dancing Chewbacca
Promotional giveaways
Be creative
In closing
Introduction
Hopefully you are asking, “What is Chutzpah Marketing?”
First, what is chutzpah? It is boldness coupled with supreme self-confidence. An old Yiddish joke illustrates the power of chutzpah:
A man murders his mother and father. Then he throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan.
Now that’s chutzpah!
Chutzpah marketing is business boldness coupled with supreme self-confidence. It is the art of doing something right, fairly, and with value.
Business is said to be cutthroat, but that is not what I am teaching. I am talking about being basically lazy and getting a lot done. I want you to do what works, and skip the aggravation of wasted effort. A chutzpah marketer doesn’t waste time or money. She works hard and plays hard while loving it all. She has clear goals and follows them. She looks at her options and makes only well informed decisions. Once a decision is made she does not second-guess herself. She is confident that she did her homework and is now following a sound course of action. A chutzpah marketer can make a decision. She is task oriented and prides herself on task completion.
A chutzpah marketer won’t spend a dime if 9¢ will do. But, she is not cheap. She is value oriented. When making purchases she is value conscious. She is future oriented and sees that she is investing in her business, not merely spending money.
A chutzpah marketer is ethical. She carefully abides by the ethical standards of her profession. The ethical standards are incorporated into the very foundation of her business plan.
Please let me tell you a story.
Uncle Sol had a tough life. It started in northern Europe. His family was encouraged to move by the Cossacks. This took the family to central Europe. In time, he and his family were invited to relocate by the Nazis. They spent everything they had to get to America in 1942.
Uncle Sol found himself in New York City with no job, no money, and a distinctively thick Yiddish accent.
Uncle Sol had always been a salesman. So, he went to the biggest store in town and tried to put in an employment application.
“This turned out not to be so easy,” Sol told his friend Moesha.
“So, how did you get the job?” Moesha asked.
“Vell I went to the head of the employment department and I said, ‘I know you don’t know me from Moses, but I’m a really good salesman.’”
“The boss man was not so impressed with me so I said, ‘Look, you must have a department that isn’t making its money for you, give me a chance. I’ll work for free for a month. If at the end of the month, you don’t like my work, you say, ‘Sol, sorry but it didn’t work out.’ And I go. No hard feelings. You didn’t pay me a penny. What do you have to lose? But, if I make you lots of money, you pay me, and I keep making you lots of money.’”
“The boss thought it over a bit and said to me, ‘The fishing department is the worst department in the store. Can you sell fishing equipment?’”
“Can I sell fishing equipment?” I told the boss. “Can a fish swim?”
Over the next two weeks the sales in the fishing department went up steadily. By the third week, the boss man was so curious about how Uncle Sol was achieving such numbers, he went down to investigate. He hid behind a display case and listened.
“Vell, that is a pretty good hook,” Uncle Sol told a middle-aged man. “But I don’t think it is right for you. It’s pretty good, but this bronze tip hook over here, it only costs 11 cents a box more, but it can really hold a fish.”
“I’ll take it,” the man said.
“What do you fish with?” Uncle Sol asked.
“A bamboo pole…”
“A bamboo pole!” Uncle Sol said as he took the brass tipped hooks from the man. “You don’t need these. With your pole, why bother… you couldn’t land a big fish with an old bamboo pole.”
“Really? But I want them,” the man said as he took back his brass tipped hooks from Uncle Sol.
“You need a Flexi Bow 17Xr5. It’s pricey, but with those hooks…”
The man took hold of the rod.
“Where do you fish from?” Uncle Sol inquired.
“Down at Staten bea…”
Uncle Sol grabbed back the fishing pole. “From the beach! You don’t need the Flexi Bow to fish from shore… Who fishes from dirt?”
The man snatched back his fishing pole. “I want to use this pole!”
“But for that pole you’re going to need to be out where the big fish live. That pole is for people who want to catch the big fish. You’ll need the Wave Crasher xz1000.”
All this time the boss man was listening intensely. He had never seen such a skilled salesman.
At closing the boss man went to see Uncle Sol.
“You have the job,” he said as he shook Uncle Sol’s hand. “I saw you sell the Wave Crasher xz1000 today, the most expensive item in the department. I still can’t believe it, a customer came in for a fishing hook, and you sold him a boat! Amazing!”
“A fishing hook, no, no, no, he no come in for a fishing hook,” Uncle Sol said.
“Really, but I saw…”
“No one comes into this store for fishing hooks. We’re in the basement, no one knows we’re even here. So I have to go upstairs and get them.” Uncle Sol said.
“Upstairs?”
“Sure, upstairs. I went up to the pharmacy department and this nice man was buying some lady monthly products so I said to him. ‘I see you’re no having any fun this weekend, do you fish?’”
Uncle Sol had Chutzpah: business boldness coupled with supreme self-confidence.
Are you allowed to build a business and make an impressive living? Are you allowed to afford amazing vacations, retirement plans, and a second home?
The simple answer is yes!
So let’s get started on getting you lots more paying customers that talk highly of your work and subsequently get you even more paying customers.A note on terminology
Throughout this text I will switch between male and female pronouns. This represents my experience in the business world. I have worked with a lot of men and woman business owners.
I will use words like: customer, consumer, buyer, purchaser, patron, subscriber, or shopper interchangeably.
I expect my readers to be from a wide variety of businesses. Thus, the shopkeeper may be more comfortable with the word customer, while the lawyer may be used to the word client. When talking about a potential customer or client I often use the word prospect meaning: a person regarded as a potential customer or subscriber to something.
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The best way to predict your future is to create it.
Peter Druckert
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The more I know about business, the more I’m convinced that it is conducted in homes and churches far more than in office buildings.
Laura Moncur, Merriton
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1. Talk To, Not At, Your Customers
Throughout this book, in many different ways, we are going to discuss motivating a customer to pick your company over every other company in your community. In some cases, due to the Internet, you may well be competing with companies all over the world. Business is a highly competitive endeavor, and the goal of your marketing program is to get the customer to pick you.
There are a lot of other voices yelling “pick me,” all in direct competition with you for the money in your potential customer’s pocket. Most of these other voices have more money and name recognition than you presently have. So, how do you compete for the minds of your prospects? The answer is, your marketing must talk to your prospect, solving a want that she has when she has it. You must use chutzpah marketing!
Before I explain how to talk to your customer, let me take a moment to define chutzpah marketing.
Chutzpah marketing is everything and anything you do to get the customer to pick you, keep picking you, and to tell their friends and family that they should pick you!
Anything and everything? Yep, anything and everything! From print advertising to customer service; from signage to clean restrooms; from welcoming smiles to clear return policies. Chutzpah marketers embrace the customer from first contact until after the product or service is all used up or completed. I agree completely with L.L. Bean who said, “No sale is really complete until the product is worn out, and the customer is satisfied.”
Chutzpah marketers strive to enthuse customers at every contact point. Basic contacts run the gambit, including each time the customer enters the store, calls on the phone, enjoys the product or service, or tells others of their experience with the chutzpah business, are major events for the chutzpah marketer. A chutzpah marketer’s goal is to have their customer be filled with avid enjoyment whenever they interact or think about your business.
Luckily for us, most businesses treat their customers as if they are the enemy, or at least a nuisance. So a little chutzpah marketing goes a long way, and a lot of chutzpah marketing takes your company to outstanding heights.
To pull this chutzpah enthusiasm together we are going to need to know how your company fits into the minds of your customers.
The psychology of your customer’s mind
The human mind has the ability to keep track of six or seven things at one time. This could be numbers, such as a phone number, or a list of seven items to pick up at the store.
Local phone numbers are typically seven digits long, 123-4567. They tend to be pretty easy for most people to learn. Once you add the area code, you get ten digits e.g. (202)456-1414. Most people have a tough time remembering ten digits. In order to master this we kind of cheat. We categorize the numbers into memorable packages of seven digits or less. For example, the area code for Washington, D.C. is 202. So, if I told you that the number for the White House Switchboard is 456-1414, you could put the two pieces of information together and pretty easily memorize the phone number for the White House Switchboard 202-456-1414.
There has been a lot of research done to prove that humans do well remembering seven things at a time. By grouping items together, we can easily expand our basic skill past seven items.
In marketing lingo, getting things to stick in a customer’s mind is called branding or positioning. Throughout this book I am going to show you how to get your company’s offerings positioned in your customer’s mind so that you will have a customer for life. In addition to becoming a customer for life, this same customer will talk glowingly about your company, thus sending more customers your way. All this on a shoestring budget.
Branding
In the cereal aisle Wheaties has taught you that it is the “Breakfast of Champions”. Cheerios has taught you that they are the “heart healthy” cereal. Kix has branded themselves as the “mom approved” cereal. What position does your company hold in the mind of the community? For some of you it may be that the community doesn’t know you exist (yet!). For others, you are an established business with little growth potential until you evolve your branding.
Your company’s positioning needs to be a choice made by you. It is how you have taught others to think of you (or not think of you).
When people shop they shop in categories. The consumer’s mind is too full to keep all information readily available. So, consumers place things into categories. Examples of categories are:
Expensive shoe stores
Inexpensive shoe stores
Dirty restaurants
Clean restaurants
Sit down restaurants
Fast food
Friendly tire store
Unfriendly tire store
Large cheese selection
Basic cheese selection
The categories are developed by consumers based on their personality and their experiences. So, the same grocery store can be in different categories for different people. My wife and I have different categories for the grocery store we shop at the most:
My Beloved Wife
Convenient
Friendly employees
Great vegetable selection. Clean, consistently good quality
Dr. Phil
On the way home
Talkative employees
Overpriced
We have our categories built from our experiences. Although we do a lot of shopping there, we go way across town to the less expensive, larger store that neither of us really likes.
The two stores understand us too. One advertises, Lowest Prices In Town, while the other proclaims, Friendliest Store in Town.
The categories are the stores’ attributes, their positions in our minds. If they want to stay in our minds they need to live up to their attributes. If you look at my categories you will see that the “friendliest store in town” attribute is often a bother to me. I don’t care for the small talk. I wouldn’t mind if they had an express line specifically for No Chitchat. I want to get in and out of the store. The friendly chitchat with every customer adds up to slow moving lines for me.
If a store opened up right next-door to the friendly store, one that was exactly the same, but with a no chitchat checkout, I would choose that store on most days.
In the marketplace, business are in competition with each other. They are categorized in the minds of your potential customers and these categories, branding, is how the customer limits their choices. Have you ever wondered why the mega companies like Coke and Pepsi even bother to advertise? They’re sold everywhere. Everyone already knows about them. The reason they constantly advertise is to stay in the minds of their customers. They each spend millions for a category position in our minds.
William J. McEwen in his book, (Copyright 2005, Gallup Organization) Married to the brand, why consumers bond with brands for life, explains that, “Brands serve a greater purpose—not just for the marketer, but for the consumer, too.” He continues:
Brands identify, define, and express the experience of using the particular products and services with which customers connect. Brands are partners in the dating game, the entities with which individual consumers sometimes form important, reciprocal, and even loving relationships.
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A business exists to create a customer
Peter F. Drucker
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Chutzpah branding in the real world
What we need to focus on is the benefit to the customer. Let’s say you’re in the plumbing business or the deli business—so you sell a kitchen sink repair or a pastrami on rye. What did the customer receive? More succinctly, what value did the customer receive?
A customer will only buy your commodities, products, services, or skills if he perceives a benefit to himself that is greater than the cost to his wallet. Customers buy because of perceived value, not because of your skill, item price, or wicked good looks. The sale and all subsequent sales are about the customer. Is the customer getting their needs met.
What businesses like to sell
Toaster ovens.
Wills and trusts
Hamburgers
Pizza
What customers like to buy, what they value
Melted cheese on bread anytime I want it… or maybe a Pop-Tart.
A way to get my kids to go to college and finally make something out of themselves without having to hear what my sisters think I should do with my money!
A cool quiet place to sit down for just a minute and feed the kids, so I can get them to soccer practice by 5.
Food that relieves me from having to cook or clean up much.
A chutzpah marketer focuses on the needs of the customer. Too often businesses focus on their needs, forgetting that without repeat customers they are doomed.
For example, the business’ versus the customer’s view point:
Business’ point of view
We need to sell $1800 during lunch today.
I need 6 service calls today
Customer’s point of view
Easy to get to, cheap lunch that makes me think I’m eating kind of OK—just in case the wife asks.
I have to grab a sandwich and get gas during lunch or I’ll be late picking up the kids at school.
I need my sink unclogged by 3 PM, so I can get the kids from school. Who can I trust, because I don’t know what they do under the sink, and I’m pretty sure they all overcharge.
New FTC Rulings
According to the Federal Trade Commission (http://business.ftc.gov):
The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection enforces laws that protect consumers against unfair or deceptive practices. The Business Center gives you and your business tools to understand and comply with the law. Regardless of the size of your organization or the industry you’re in, knowing – and fulfilling – your compliance responsibilities is smart, sound business.
The guidance documents in the Business Center are your link to the law. Browse by topic - Advertising & Marketing, Credit & Finance, Privacy & Security - or by industry, to find what you need to know.
The legal resources section of the Business Center is where you’ll find more in-depth, legal information - like case highlights, advisory opinions, staff letters, and rules the FTC enforces. You’ll also find staff reports and FTC workshops.
The multimedia gallery offers short videos and podcasts that explain your compliance responsibilities.
The materials in the Business Center don’t have any copyright restrictions, so you can share them with your employees, your colleagues and your community.
I highly recommend reading the FTC rules. You are legally obligated to follow them.
The following may be of most interest:
Advertising and Marketing (http://business.ftc.gov/advertising-and-marketing)
Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255 (Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
Online Advertising and Marketing (http://business.ftc.gov/advertising-and-marketing/online-advertising-and-marketing)
Selected Industries (http://business.ftc.gov/selected-industries)
Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business [PDF] (Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business | BCP Business Center)
The following is excerpted from the FTC’s: Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business.
What truth-in-advertising rules apply to advertisers?
Under the Federal Trade Commission Act: Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive; Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and Advertisements cannot be unfair.
Additional laws apply to ads for specialized products like consumer leases, credit, 900 telephone numbers, and products sold through mail order or telephone sales. And every state has consumer protection laws that govern ads running in that state.
What makes an advertisement deceptive?
According to the FTC's Deception Policy Statement, an ad is deceptive if it contains a statement - or omits information - that:
Is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances; and
Is "material" - that is, important to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product.
What makes an advertisement unfair?
According to the Federal Trade Commission Act and the FTC's Unfairness Policy Statement, an ad or business practice is unfair if:
It causes or is likely to cause substantial consumer injury which a consumer could not reasonably avoid; and
It is not outweighed by the benefit to consumers.
How does the FTC determine if an ad is deceptive?
A typical inquiry follows these steps:
The FTC looks at the ad from the point of view of the "reasonable consumer" - the typical person looking at the ad. Rather than focusing on certain words, the FTC looks at the ad in context - words, phrases, and pictures - to determine what it conveys to consumers.
The FTC looks at both "express" and "implied" claims. An express claim is literally made in the ad. For example, "ABC Mouthwash prevents colds" is an express claim that the product will prevent colds. An implied claim is one made indirectly or by inference. "ABC Mouthwash kills the germs that cause colds" contains an implied claim that the product will prevent colds. Although the ad doesn't literally say that the product prevents colds, it would be reasonable for a consumer to conclude from the statement "kills the germs that cause colds" that the product will prevent colds. Under the law, advertisers must have proof to back up express and implied claims that consumers take from an ad.
The FTC looks at what the ad does not say - that is, if the failure to include information leaves consumers with a misimpression about the product. For example, if a company advertised a collection of books, the ad would be deceptive if it did not disclose that consumers actually would receive abridged versions of the books.
The FTC looks at whether the claim would be "material" - that is, important to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product. Examples of material claims are representations about a product's performance, features, safety, price, or effectiveness.
The FTC looks at whether the advertiser has sufficient evidence to support the claims in the ad. The law requires that advertisers have proof before the ad runs.
BigRed’s as a brand
BigRed’s Burgers is the newest burger joint in Fiction, California, a community of 100,000 people. Let’s evaluate BigRed’s to see how this business is positioned in the friendly town of Fiction.
Minnie and Big Red both retired from county employment a few years ago. Their dream was to move from the big city and open an old fashion hamburger shack like the one they fondly remember from their youth. They wanted to supplement their retirement income by grilling burgers and making friends. Their menu was simple: large portions of burgers, fries, onion rings, soft drinks, and ice cream shakes, for a fair price. They figured that they would be making money hand over fist.
After two years in business, the business was making just enough to stay open, but they hadn't yet repaid themselves for the startup funds. On a positive note, both Minnie and Big Red loved going to work and they had made some good friends in their newly adopted town.
BigRed’s competition
I asked Minnie and Big Red to fill out the following 2 question form:
1. Name the business competition in your area:
2. Place them in the following graph:
They completed the form as follows:
1. Name the business competition in your area:
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr., In-N-Out Burger, Red Robin, Marie Callender’s, and Denny’s.
2. Place them in the following graph:
What this graph illustrates is that BigRed’s is a small fish in a big pond. It would be very hard for BigRed’s to compete head to head with the likes of McDonald’s and Wendy’s in the minds of burger customers.
This brings us to the chutzpah question, “How can you get a place in the customer’s mind?” The answer is, place yourself in a different brand category in your customer’s mind.
The big burger chains own the category, “Fast Food Burger”, and they will continue to spend millions to keep that powerful branded position, while constantly fighting amongst themselves for market share. But, BigRed’s has chutzpah, they can carve out a new category that the big burger corporations aren't able to occupy.
We will come back to BigRed’s in a little while, but for now, let’s talk about your company. Take some time to complete the two questions:
1. Name the business competition in your area:
2. Place them in the following graph:
You will have to come up with the X and Y categories of your graph based on your company’s business type. Some common categories are:
Small/large
Low market share/high market share
Well establish name/unknown name
Lowest prices/highest prices
Low customer service/high customer service
Tourist trade/local trade
Close to freeway exit/far from freeway exit
You may find, depending on your business climate. that you will need to come up with many graphs for the same group of companies. A company and a group of companies often has the main brand and many secondary brands.
BigRed’s Burgers chutzpah assignments
Let’s look at how Minnie and Big Red dealt with four chutzpah branding questions.
List problems that you solve for your customers.
Who are your customers?
What is the brand (position) of your business in the community?
How does your customer find you?
I asked Minnie and Big Red to fill out these four chutzpah branding questions. They struggled with this. They both wanted to write from their point of view, but the questions need to be answered from the customer’s point of view. This is what we ended up with:
#1: List problems that you solve for your customers.
Friendly environment
Food is tasty
Food is made to order and served quickly
Easy to call in lunch orders for pick up
#2: Who are your customers?
Workers in the neighborhood
Moms and dads in the neighborhood
Moms and dads on the way to soccer or baseball fields
Single people in the neighborhood
#3: What is the brand (position) of your business in the community?
Small place with good burgers and milk shakes
Mom and pop business, feels friendly
Custom orders makes it easy to get exactly what you want
Food is good but a little pricy compared to other fast food places in town
#4: How does your customer find you?
See our sign
Walk by and see people eating
Newspaper ads, but we don’t think they really worked
When I sat down with Minnie and Big Red, they were frustrated. They explained that they made a much better tasting burger and fries than the big companies. They were frustrated with the fact that the people of Fiction just didn’t get how hard they worked putting out a quality product for them to choose!
I bring this up because this frustration is normal in the business world. Your product is superior and you have worked so hard to get where you are. But, that is all about you. To get customers to choose your business you will have to focus on your potential customers’ needs. You will have to show them that you are right for them.
I asked Minnie and Big Red to tell me who their average customer was. After a little bit of brainstorming, they came up with this statement.
Lunch is mainly hard working men looking for filling food and fast service. Dinner is overworked, really busy, moms and dads needing to get food for the family.
Then I asked the biggest question of them all: How can you help your customers?
With this information I asked Minnie and Big Red, “How can you help your customers?”
“Help ‘em? We already make the order exactly the way they want it,” Big Red said.
“Yeah, but,” I interrupted, “You’re talking about the burger, McDonald’s does burgers. What can your company do that McDonald’s can’t do?”
“I think the busy moms and dads would like us to deliver the food,” Minnie said.
“Delivery? We have never done that,” Big Red grunted.
“It's an idea. Your competitors can’t deliver,” I said.
Then the ideas started to flow.
Over the next month, BigRed’s started three new (very low cost) services to help their customers:
Curb side pick-up “Dinner boxes” for the soccer and baseball families.
Lunch delivery service for the three business complexes just down the street.
Friday and Saturday night home delivery to the four apartment complexes and the six blocks of single family homes all within minutes of BigRed’s.
As we will discuss in subsequent chapters, bringing unprecedented customer service tends to be inexpensive and it brings great rewards to the company that does it. By positioning BigRed’s as the burger place that caters to its customers, the branding of the company changed. BigRed’s left the “fast food” brand they were lost in and developed a whole new category: “Truly Helpful.” A brand that stuck in the minds of their growing clientele. In a few short weeks, the fast food burger eating customers changed their thoughts from, “Rush over to Burger King’s drive-thru” to “Call or email BigRed’s, they’ll bring it to us while we…” BigRed’s became the extra pair of hands, or extra employee, their customers needed to live their lives the way they wanted to live them.
Chutzpah knowledge is power
Just a little bit of chutzpah information can go a long way. By knowing your customers and figuring out how to give them even more of what they like about your company, you too can re-brand your company as an essential part of your customer’s life.
Take the time to answer the following questions. You may even want to start asking your present customers what they like about your company, why they choose your company. Stay open minded by asking yourself, “How can we do it differently?” You are looking for your new, enlightened position in your customers’ minds.
#1: List problems that you solve for your customers.
#2: Who are your customers?
#3: What is the brand (position) of your business in the community?
#4: How does your customer find you?
#5: How can you help your customers?
2. Your Most Important Marketing Tool Costs 5¢
If you had $5,000 dollars you could put up a billboard on a busy thoroughfare by your office or store. Hundreds or even thousands of drivers would pass by it everyday. Over the course of a month you would be able to teach many drivers what you think they should know about your business. For a few moments you would have a captive audience as each driver glanced at your well-designed sign. If traffic backs up your sign gets noticed for minutes or (sadly for the driver) hours.
What if you could place your $5,000 billboard directly in front of your customer’s nose? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could place your billboard in their home, say on their refrigerator, or in that tray where they store their keys? What if your ideal customer kept your billboard in their wallet or purse? Wow - that would be chutzpah marketing!
Well, you can.
Your most important marketing tool is a mini-billboard in the form of a chutzpah designed business card, flier, or brochure. I’m not talking about your standard business card, boring flyer, or fluff filled brochure. I’m talking about chutzpah mini-billboards.
When I suggested mini-billboards to Big Red he looked at me as if I had pudding for brains.
“Mini-billboards?” Big Red laughed. “Why would I want to spend hard earned money on business cards? Who would I give ‘em out to? I’m not a lawyer or realtor.”
“Mini-billboards can take the form of chutzpah designed, hard working business cards, company brochures, sales fliers, or much need consumer information. Mini-billboards may cost just pennies, but they are designed to keep your business name and offerings percolating throughout your community,” I said.
Big Red was not impressed, “But we have never done mini-billboards before, I don’t see any reason to start now.”
“Fair enough, Big Red,” I said. “Let’s say you’re at the bank and the teller says, ‘I’ve been meaning to get lunch at your place, I love your burgers.’ You thank her with a big smile, reach into your back pocket and pull out a mini-billboard and say. ‘I miss seeing you darlin’ while you write on the back of your mini-billboard ‘one free soft drink’ and sign your name. While handing your mini-billboard to her you say, ‘Let me buy you a soft drink. Even if I’m not there, just give this to the cashier and they’ll know you’re my friend… they’ll treat you great.’ Now think about how special the bank teller will feel being treated so kindly by you. I bet you’ll see her in a day or two. And she probably will tell her coworkers about how nice you were. Maybe they’ll come in for lunch too.”
“I could do that, that would be fun.” Big Red smiled.
Mini-billboards are powerful tools to get your important information in front of your customers. For just pennies, they keep reminding your customers of your brand. As we go along in this chapter, I will give you lots of mini-billboard ideas that you can start using right away.
Old boring standard business cards
If you ask entrepreneurs why they have business cards they tend to look at you strangely and answer with one of two statements:
Because I’m in business.
So I can conveniently give out my basic information: name, address and phone number.
That is not chutzpah talking!
For most entrepreneurs, a business card is just a 2 inch by 3.5 inch piece of card stock with their name, address, and phone number printed on it. Some are more fancy than others with bumpy ink and nicer paper.
They look like:
This is a basic card that makes a few assumptions:
The reader doesn’t need or want more information
The reader has 20/20 vision
The reader knows what you do for a living
The reader knows what services you provide
Some entrepreneurs add a little flash of art to their card:
This adds a nice focal point, but why? What has Ima Professional taught the reader about her business?
Chutzpah business card
A chutzpah business card is a fingertip billboard that lets the holder receive your message in 3 seconds. Ask yourself this question:
If you had only 3 seconds, what would you want to teach the public about your business?
Don’t get concerned about the 3 seconds. That’s a lot of time when it comes to holding someone’s attention. In the first 3 seconds you have to get the reader to want to spend more time learning about your offerings. If your card has information relevant to the reader, your card goes home with them and it becomes a reference card.
What goes on your chutzpah business card? Your positioning, so that potential customers know what your business can do for them.
Most of this information comes from how you answered the 5 questions in chapter 1:
#1: List problems that you solve for your customers.
#2: Who are your customers?
#3: What is the brand (position) of your business in the community?
#4: How does your customer find you?
#5: How can you help your customers?
Building your chutzpah business card
Most business cards you come across are 2 inches by 3.5 inches and are only printed on one side. Most business cards give the business person’s vital information. Our goal is to have mini-billboards that generate lots of business for you.
Same size, oriented vertically:
You may find the basic business card size plenty of room for your chutzpah business card. If your business is easy to explain this space may work well.
But…
A business card is not limited to 2 inches by 3.5 inches. Think about this for a moment. If a driver stopped in traffic was stuck in front of your billboard, wouldn’t you want it to teach the driver about your services? In fact, with chutzpah thoughts, wouldn’t you want your signage to be interesting and informative? Wouldn’t you want it to motivate the driver into action; motivate the driver to call you; to refer to your business? Wouldn’t you need space to put in all this motivational stuff? In billboards, that means mega bucks. But, in business cards, that means pennies.
The standard card is 2 x 3.5 inches and it has 2 sides. A chutzpah card can be whatever you want. Think of them as mini brochures. A fold over card is 4 x 3.5 inches, two sided. When folded, it is the standard 2 x 3.5 inches with attitude. This card costs a few pennies more, but gives you an easel to create your masterpiece. You have two 2 x 3.5 areas and one 4 x 3.5 area. The card can be printed either tall or wide. Now we’re talking the beginning of a chutzpah card. Let’s create…
When folded it looks like a tent:
Folded the opposite way your canvas looks like:
When folded it looks like a book:
Your work area has numerous usable sections:
Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed with all this space. After playing with your copy for just a little bit, you will learn that it is easy to fill this space with chutzpah information that sells your business.
Keep the following in mind while you create:
Use/Stress
Clear and accurate words
Testimonials
Your qualifications
Show how your business is user friendly:
Extended hours for your convenience
Only offer what you actually do, not what you wish or hope to do.
Show that your staff is friendly with action words and/or pictures.
Show don’t tell. Paint pictures with your words. Talk to your customers’ needs.
Common words
Guarantees (Clear easily understood.)
Use a logo if it adds to your message:
Adds a feeling
Teaches something
A logo of a family teaches family. Teddy bears, lambs, puppies: teach caring.
Association logo teaches entrepreneurism.
Maps can be helpful.
Use photos as testimonials (happy customers using your product or service.)
Use a line drawing to teach a feeling.
Religious symbols may be helpful if you wish to limit your customers to a particular religion.
Why choose you? – Say it!
Be positive, uplifting!
Use large enough print to be easily read. Use clear type styles for optimal readability. Your clients won’t be impressed with your artistic flare if they can’t read your card!
Use white space to show importance and to control the reader’s eye.
Avoid
Misleading statements
Lying
Puffery
Braggadocios statements like:
Friendly staff
Highest quality care
“Friendly Staff” is meaningless. Who wouldn’t say that?
Boring staff pictures of people standing doing nothing.
Talking about your wants
Jargon
No small print on guarantees. It makes your offer seem like a trick.
A logo for the sake of having a logo:
A shape or swirl is not a logo unless you have a lot of money to teach that it is a logo.
Generic logos are generic and make you look generic!
A picture of your office tells potential customers that they will be paying your mortgage.
A photo of your cat, dog, or horse tells the reader that you’re a little confused about what you sell (Unless you are a Vet).
Photos of your family. Focus should be on your customer’s family.
If you do not know the purpose of a graphic, leave it out!
Religious symbols tend to limit and may leave people feeling excluded.
Negative statements.
Don’t assume that all your customers have great vision. Avoid hard to read type styles.
Avoid cumbersome print and hard to read fonts. Make your mini-billboard easy to read and inviting. People will not bother with a crowded mini-billboard.
Chutzpah logo
The purpose of a logo is to convey a feeling and to be a focal point in the reader’s mind.
Logos are expensive to use correctly and I can honestly tell you that the average company does not need a logo to grow a thriving business. I have heard lots of sad tales of inexperienced entrepreneurs spending thousands of dollars for graphic artists to develop a “killer” logo for them.
Overall, logos are expensive, but they do work. Having said that, logos are not a necessity. Getting your name out is a necessity. Many of my consulting customers add their logo years after they are established.
For logos to work you have to put them on everything your business produces. The logo:
has been plastered on billions of things over the years. Few people know that IBM stands for International Business Machines. More people know the company as Big Blue: IBM.
A name can be your logo; it works well for Xerox, Kodak, and McGraw Hill.
A graphic is usually the choice for conveying a feeling. A dentist I know uses a simple drawing of a puffy cloud with two soft “W’s” for far off birds. His tag line reads “Gentle Care.” This is an effective logo for a dentist.
A logo needs to be versatile. It needs to work in lots of different locations, some big—some small. Color is very effective in a logo, but it should also print well in gray scale. Color is expensive to print but adds a lot to the presentation.
To keep down costs, dream up what you want as your logo. Bounce it around for a while. Find an artist within your circle of friends and family. I know a chiropractor who got a great logo from a 14-year old cousin with a knack for drawing. Chutzpah marketers are creative. Be cautious when hiring a graphic artist. They know art, not marketing. A logo is not art-it is a marketing tool.
What makes a logo a good logo?
Instantly recognizable, makes a clear statement.
Produces a desired feeling within the reader.
Clear artwork—even when small.
Works in color and black and white. The feeling of the art cannot be dependent on the color.
Your name incorporated, or sits well right next to it.
It’s time to start playing with your own mini-billboard mock-ups, yeah! Don’t bother cutting up paper into card size shapes. That will just drive you nuts. Use regular, and cheap, 8.5 x 11 copier paper. You’ll need lots, so crack open a ream of paper. Half of one sheet is a front or a back cover. A full sheet is the inside of your business card. I advise you not to draw on both sides as it will “bleed” through. As you go along you can tape paper together to make a mock-up.
Now, allow yourself to be creative. Write big! Use colors. Experiment. Get creative. Go too far—then throw that one away. Express yourself. Be honest. Write from the point of view of the potential customer. Clearly show how your company is going to help them.
Getting your card printed
This is the easy part. You take your mock-up to a local printer, office superstore, or an Internet printer. All things being equal, I recommend a local printer because you will get better service and the local printer can be a referrer to your business. However, a local printer will most likely cost more than an Internet printing company.
Ways to save money on printing:
With a Google search for “Print business cards” you will find lots of printers that compete on price. Many boast thousands of free templates to choose from. This is well and good as long as you can manipulate their template to fit your chutzpah card.
You can save money with your local printer when you buy in bulk. Buy business cards, fliers, and menus all at the same time so you can keep the cost reasonable.
Many local print shops take your basic print order and job it out to one of the many huge regional printing companies. You can go directly to the large print company via the Internet.
You should use up 5,000 cards in a few months or you are not chutzpah growing your business. Due to radical changes in digital printing the cost has come down over the last few years. 1,000 cards will cost less then $100, while 5,000 cards will cost around $200.
Build your business card yourself or get it typeset by that computer nerd brother of yours who eats for free at your house all the time. Resist printing your masterpiece on your $100 ink jet printer with the pull-a-part business card paper. It looks cheap, and I’m being very polite when I say that. It also is not cost effective. You are going to hand out tons of your business cards if you have chutzpah. (Relax, I’ll show you how shortly.)
If you go the local print route, here is a tip on saving money. When the printer shows you his paper choices, listen politely, then say, “I want that kind of paper there, (point) in a comparable no name brand.” He will start with expensive, designer paper. You don’t need that expense. You need good quality, moderately priced stock. A chutzpah marketer does not spend a dime if 9¢ will do! You are shopping for value not vanity.
It is worth your time to comparison shop for a printer. Get at least three competitive bids.
Internet printing has come a long way. With little computer experience you can build a great mini-billboard from scratch I do not recommend that you use their art, as it is generic- not chutzpah. But, uploading your art is easy and the cost savings is impressive.
Good web sites to try are:
Their prices are good and their web sites are easy to use, but for a beginner, there is little hand holding. Also, be forewarned, the web sites are set up to let you easily order “add ons” for an additional price. These add ons can quickly add up to a bloated price. Only buy an add on if it will generate more sales, not because your ego would like it. As I said, a local printer costs more, but will hold your hand, so to speak. Check your Yellow Pages for local printers.
Handing out your chutzpah business cards
In this section I will specifically be talking about business cards. However, any style of mini-billboard can be substituted in the place of the business card. At the end of this section I will give you some examples of other types of mini-billboards, see: Chutzpah mini-billboards in action.
I am pretty sure that most business cards go unused, even the boring ones. But, a chutzpah marketer puts the little billboards to work. In this section I am going to give you secrets on how to put your business cards to work. But first, a story…
Back when I had been a therapist in private business for around 15 years, a woman made an appointment. During the initial minutes of the intake interview she pulled out one of my cards from the paperback she had in her purse.
New customer: I’ve been using your card for my bookmark.
Dr. Phil: Looks pretty beat up…
New customer: I’ve had it for over 7 years (She started to cry).
It turned out that this woman picked up my card during a PTA meeting at her son’s school. When I asked her why it took so long for her to call, she simply replied, “I wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
Business cards have a life of their own. I have had new customers tell me lots of interesting things:
You’ve been on my dresser for a month.
You’ve been in my wallet…
I stuck your card on the bathroom mirror so I would remember to call you.
Your card has been nagging me from my change saucer for months.
I found you on my sister’s refrigerator…
The one that still surprises me…
I don’t know where I got your card.
A chutzpah business card is a powerful marketing tool. For just pennies you get to place your information in people’s hands, homes, and work places.
Shhhh, this is a secret: How to hand out business cards comfortably
The most important secret is that you place your card into every hand you can. (It is really not a secret, but it seems like it is because so few people do it.)
Handing out a card or brochure is like tossing seeds onto the earth. What eventually happens to the seed depends on where it lands. Some seeds will land on rocks. Others will find themselves shaded by stones. Still, others will land under the shade of trees. But, a few will land on fertile moist ground. These few will reap rewards. By keeping the price of your business cards and brochures extremely low, you will be able to toss them into the winds of our society. It only takes a few of them to germinate into new customers. You will not know which cards will germinate, so it is important to put a lot into circulation.
To be able to give out your cards you must keep them handy. A chutzpah card that is four layers into your purse is an unhappy business card. The act of handing your card out should be a seamless part of your conversation. Giving your card is as simple as a smile and a handshake.
“Nice talking to you,” as you hand her your card.
“Please feel free to call me…” as you hand him your card.
Please do not make a production out of handing out your card. It should be as socially easy as a friendly handshake.
Once, I handed my card to a doctor at a hospital lunch. She stiffened up and said, “You carded me. I should card you right back!” She went and got her bag and returned rummaging around in it.
“Here’s a card for you.” Then she proceeded to hand out her cards to everyone else. “I’m carding you, I’m carding you, I’m carding you…” She made me feel uncomfortable, and by the looks on other’s faces I was not the only one.
I advise you to practice handing out your card so it becomes more comfortable. Numerous times I have watched entrepreneurs lose credibility in social settings because they were uncomfortable about handing out their card.
A chutzpah marketer always gives two cards. If they say, “You gave me two.” Respond with a smile, “That’s ok, give one to a friend.” I often hear something like, “My friend Susie is always fighting with her husband.” Or “Everyone I know could use your help!”
If you are doing business with somebody ask, “Do you have a card?” They usually don’t. “Here is one of mine,” I say as I give them two.
When you give a tip at a restaurant, assuming you are a fair tipper, leave two cards.
Whenever you are asked for your name, like at a hotel check-in or the vet’s office, hand them two cards and say, “All that information is on my card.”
When you pay a bill or send something in the mail, always put in two cards.
I have my web site information on my card, www.CopitchInc.com. I have a links page with lots of valuable links to web sites I am comfortable referring people to. As I hand someone my business card I’ll often say, “If you go to my web page there is a link to…” I find that people appreciate the leads.
While waiting in line at Costco, I gave out cards to two women who were talking about one of their baby’s ear infection. I asked, “Have you been to Healthcentral.com on the Internet? No? They have lots of valuable information about ear infections and children’s health. Here’s my card. If you go to my web site (pointing to the web address on my card) you can skip right over to get the information you want.”