Does the agency that "wants it more" win?

I just watched an interesting discussion on ESPN between Mark Cuban and Skip Bayless, where Mark told Skip that his statement that Miami wanted the NBA Championship more than OKC was "horses*#t" and "the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard."

Cuban explained his statement this way,  "Does anyone think that Kevin Durant, Russell Westbook, et.al. didn't want to win a close-out game for the NBS Championship?  No, it's that Miami was better prepared with adjustments and changes and they simply executed better".

I agree with Cuban's assessment that the media often tries to simplify with generalities and overstatement, but would add to it by saying that "there's no doubt that both teams wanted to win, but the Miami did more than just execute better, they convinced observers that they wanted it more".

There is a great lesson in there for agencies in a new business pitch - can you convince the prospect that you want it more?  I remember a new business pitch several years ago for a regional restaurant chain that our agency really wanted to win.  We had restaurant experience, had pitched the prospect in the past so we knew them and their needs, and they had a budget and attitude toward advertising that would allow us to do some great creative work.

We did everything right - we did our homework, we had some great insights about their customers, we put together a really strong creative pitch that included a built-in promotion angle that could be used for a long time, and the new business team did a great job in the final presentation (I gave us a 9 out of 10 rating after the presentation).

But we didn't win the business.  When the marketing director called me to tell me the bad news, he praised our efforts and recommended solutions, but just felt like "the other agency wanted it more".  He went on the say that "I know you guys wanted it as well, but I just felt like the other agency guys would crawl through a glass-lined pit to make my business succeed".

I never found out exactly what they did, or what we didn't do, that made him feel that way, but I never forgot what he said.  We wanted it, but they convinced the client that they "wanted it more".

I never went into a new business pitch after that without making sure that the client would feel our passion for their business and for them to succeed.  I'm sure I was over-zealous at times, but I think prospects will usually forgive too much attention and too many questions over the alternative.

I have always maintained that you win new business before the pitch.  So I believe that an important ingredient in the mix needs to be how effectively you build a relationship and convince the client prospect of your desire to work with them and to help them succeed.  You won't always win, but you won't be second-guessing yourself, and your efforts, after the fact.

BTW, I agree with Mark Cuban that most of what Skip Bayless and the sports media says is "horses*#t", but that's a story for another time.

Does your client have a "Genius Bar"?

David Asker's latest blog highlights the success of the Apple Genius Bar and what has made it such a big hit with visitors to the Apple Store.

As a quick reminder, the Genius Bar provides technical support within Apple stores to customers having problems with the product or application. The Genius Bar has been hailed by many retail consultants as a key element in the most successful retail concept of recent times and a builder of the Apple brand and relationship.

As Aaker points out in his post, "the Apple store's financial performance and impact on the Apple brand is amazing. The sales per square foot for its 380 or stores is more than $5,000, which is six to ten times other successful retailers, and the average store pulls in 18,000 visitors a week. Perhaps more important, the stores provide a way to express the Apple brand and showcase its products."

Aaker lists these seven reasons for its success:

1. Apple owns the brand and the concept. No other firm can have a Genius Bar because Apple owns the brand. Any other firm will at best be an imitator. 
2. The brand has a distinctive personality — humorous and understated yet competent and reassuring.
3. It is staffed by people that are both knowledgeable and disciples of the products and philosophy.  
4. Their training is disciplined following the APPLE dictum of Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome, Probe to understand the problem, Present a solution, Listen for issues, and End with an invitation to return. That means consistency no matter which store you are visiting.
   
5. Apple makes both the hardware and software and, thus, has a unique ability to create and staff a Genius Bar. 
6. It enhances the customer relationship with its person-to-person approach. 
7. It can transform a disgruntled, disappointed customer with the potential to have a distasteful retail experience and become a negative voice in the marketplace into a satisfied if not enthusiastic supporter of the Apple store. 

What about your clients? Is there a "Genius Bar" in their story? If you can find one for them, you can be their hero!

Are your clients thinking about how technology is affecting consumer behavior?

Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, has written an excellent post on Consumer 2.0: How brands and retailers must anticipate the shopper behavioral shift in five years.

His point is that so much dialogue has been focused on new technologies, that too many marketers are forgetting to discuss the "sea-change in consumer behavior expected in the next three to five years".  I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Khan.

The traditional sales funnel has been displaced by a new brand decision model that continues in many cases right up to the point of sale.  And with the continuing impact of peer-to-peer influence and the advent of mobile shopping tools, marketers cannot afford to keep their planning focus solely on which is the best technology to use.

He goes on to say that "smartphones and smart televisions and smart cars and smart clothes and smart food will shape consumer behavior in the next three to five years where most marketing fundamentals developed even a decade ago will be rendered obsolete".

I was particularly intrigued with his identification of four growing consumer behavior trends that will greatly influence how customers interact with brands and retailers over the next few years.

Customer impatience will doom many potential sales.  With so many options, consumers will have no tolerance for anything that delays their purchase, online or in-store.  Every element of the customer service response, from page uploads to physical or online/mobile checkout will be scrutinized and only deemed acceptable if there are no delays. It is not seconds, but milliseconds that will matter here.
A frictionless shopping experience will be the goal. The entire searching, shopping, browsing or buying experience has to be devoid of hurdles or pain points. Smooth transactions will be the minimum expectation, and intuitive response to customer overtures will be the norm.
The lowest price will be the deciding factor for most purchases.   We can only blame ourselves for this expectation. We have trained most consumers to shop by price – except in the case of brands that maintained their mystique and value to customers.  Consumers will not always expect cheap, but they do expect affordable.
Brands will need to be connected 24/7. Consumers do not expect brands to have a downtime in any area – be it shopping hours, product delivery, returns, customer-service calls or email or text responses. They expect to access the marketer or retailer on their own terms – always on, always there, always helpful, always friendly, always obliging.

We've all got to keep up with technology changes, but we can't forget how those technologies are impacting the buying decision process.The launch of new devices every year – new tablets, new smartphones, new smart TVs, new applications, new smart appliances, etc. – is forcing consumers to change their ideas about how to buy, when to buy and what to buy.  Are your clients ready for this sea-change?