Magnus Marketing Blog

In what has to be the most puzzling marketing launch of the universe, Kohl's department stores rolled out Vera Wang's line: Simply Vera. On September 9, across all Kohls stores the Vera Wang line was steam cleaned and placed on special merchandise displays in key departments: Misses, Lingerie, Shoes, Accessories, Sleepwear, and Domestics.

The associates reaction was mostly mixed, but leaning toward "This is the ugliest stuff I have ever seen" and "who the hell would actually wear that" to "eh, it could have been made of more high end materials" to "that sweater is OK, I'd wear it". The price is OK for the middle class woman, the look is not something you would consider everyday wear with the exception of a few pieces. The handbags are really great as is the sleepwear, the shoes are made for petite feet.

(If Vera Wang had created super career suits or formal wear, like prom gowns for Kohl's, I think that would have had greater impact. Plus, if she had used high end fabrics like Angora or cashmere for the sweaters, the price would make sense. )

Slowly customers came in and surveyed the clothing line, sales were flat, responses not overly loud either way. Some people called and asked, a few asked in advance, but nothing major. That is...until....Oprah. At 1 a.m. on Friday, I watched Oprah who had Ms. Vera Wang on for 30 minutes previewing her clothes which also happened to be 30% with an additional 15% for using your Kohls charge card. Wowee!

Well, ladies and gentlemen - on Friday there were 20 pieces of Vera pants, on Sunday evening there were 3. There was a run on the merchandise with some racks left EMPTY. Now there are fashonista wannabees wearing Vera (many ladies who shouldn't be) at 45% off. Many customers mentioned Oprah, they saw the pieces on Oprah and wanted to know if the pieces were available. Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. She should do a show on how to target business to business customers more effectively and have me on so I can have a multimillion dollar business overnight also.

Mix a deep discount with Oprah and watch the sales soar. Think of ladies in purple ruffle shirts and blue billowy skirts and $50 straight leg jeans in silky purple striped belted (vera's signature) tops and be afraid, very afraid. The high society of New Jersey outfitted in Simply Vera, Vera Wang. Some of these people forgot Kohls isn't Saks, one fashionista called an associate a stupid idiot for not finding her size. Nothing worse than snobby wannabes acting like jerks, right?

As the associates said, Oprah could hold a platter out with dog poop claiming it is the new nutritious mealof the century and people would literally scoop poop and eat it. Maybe that is scarier than the fashionistas raiding Kohls for purple shirts.

Sometimes things just do not work out...sadly this was the case with my biz dev guy. Last Monday, we parted ways and many of my posted words came back to haunt me. My biz dev guy had lots of IT experience and was good on the phone, he just wasn't good on the phone in the way I needed him to be. Hence the rule about be careful who you put on the phone and image.

My biz dev guy (BDG) seemed to be a good fit for a "smile and dial" lead gen project for a client of mine. The client is in a tough industry, computer disposal. We had a list, script, and BDG even had training. Things started off OK, he identified one lead, but then nothing. Little things had happened during the way - BDG told the client his phone wasn't working, BDG ran very late to the initial client meeting, BDG called leads that weren't quite complete, BDG mis-spelled a lot of notes and names, BDG had a lot of updated names, but no quality information about anything. He was learning, I supposed. But then...BDG went on vacation and took some classes (which he didn't tell me about).

While he was on vacation, I took the very same list and made calls. Within a short time, I generated leads and got a lot of information. Talked to people and quickly found out what was going on. I questioned it, but let it ride on the fact that I had more experience with the company.

Then, the kicker came. An invoice for 30 hours of work done around vacation and class. 30 hours of calls and database update with ZERO leads? You are crazy! I did exactly 9 hours of the same smile & dial and produced 5 leads and 2 send informations, one lead led to a meeting purportedly at a Fortune 500 company! I called him out on it and said 30 hours with zero leads is UNACCEPTABLE. Then he submitted a half-assed report and my client complained. We talked and he was done. I followed up on a couple of leads for Magnus he generated - they were for phone banging telemarketing, not what I do. He didn't qualify the lead either.

Since then, I smile and dialed for my client and got another 3 leads, averaging one lead every hour. My pitch is borderline unprofessional - I say the owner is my friend and I am just helping him out. It works naytheless.

In this case it was the person and the process that went wrong. I have learned from it and eventually will find someone to work with me in a similiar capacity. I lost a project and my business suffered.

Folks, this is what happens when the wrong person does your business development and represents your company. Do you see the critical nature of having the right person? For small businesses, finding that person is not easy. I hope someone comes along soon.

PS: Ladies and gentlemen - one other final word. It is about results, not effort - about performance and client delivery. If there is one thing I will not tolerate is promising a client something and not delivering. If people cannot live up to expectations they need to be cut immediately. Another thing I have noticed with clients and employers - they leave the deadwood in place and are scared, it seems, to be rid of it. Be rid of the deadwood, it will float somewhere where it may become a work of art - but it can't rotting in your office.

One of my clients and I had a discussion today about getting business. We agreed on one point - getting quality business takes time and it takes work.

Maybe this is why everyone looks for methodologies and consultants, people don't want to invest the time and do the work. They would rather rely on some fad or technique as a means of a magic bullet to attract and get big deals and lots of clients.

The reality is....that is not reality

There are people in sales today who send emails and actually believe that recipients will respond to them. "Email cold call" or not. They believe that if someone presses the "read receipt" and don't respond, they aren't interested.

There are people in sales and marketing who think that leaving tons of voicemails will generate business. If I make 150 calls a day and talk to 20 people, I will get 10 appointments a month and close lots of new business.

There are people who think doing an email blast to 1000 people will yield at least one deal.

Sure...and pigs fly. Work means that...work. It means doing the research, crafting messages, listening to prospects and clients. It means sending 3 emails, following up after each email and following up once a month every month until a discussion occurs. It means if someone says no, giving it some time and finding a reason to go back into the account - or finding a different way in. It means following up with your clients to see how you are doing and how they are doing. It means being nice to people and holding folks to performance standards.

People don't want to work for business, they want it to fall into their laps - write an email, make a phone call, buy a sales intelligence report, rely on some creative agency --- build it and they - the buyers will come.

But, folks, it doesn't work that way. The more effort you put out, the more return you will get, given that the effort is directed appropriately. Heed the words of a person who pursued an account for 7 months until the right email landed in the inbox of the right person when a callback came for a nice deal...time and persistence...time and work.

This is to those who are looking to do email cold calls. Don't think that an email cold call will prevent you from actually speaking to people. You will still have to follow up with a phone call and actually discuss your products and services intelligently with someone. And, if you send a great email, but can't back it up with substance and personality - you will fail.

Email cold calls are only as effective as the research and critical thinking that go behind them also. Emails that tout feature, product, benefit and the same crapola that your stupid brochure has in it will NOT get a return.

Please do not think that "email cold calling" is the panacea to poor sales and marketing capability, if you suck with regular cold calling and write inarticulately - you will still fail.

I have done email cold calling for many years along with telephone calling and integrated marketing. It takes research and time to perfect a true email cold call.

Does it ever end?

My sales guru Jill Kornrath had a note in her monthly newsletter about her Sales Shebang (which looks really interesting) about some chick Joanne Black who has this system for referral marketing. Her claim is that you never have to make another cold call again (I wish) because you can get all the business you need from your network. She advises people that cold calls are passe because you can just hit up your network (friends, family, associates, clients) and get all the business you need. I think somewhere it was advised to hit up 100 people and watch the business roll in. The idea of getting referrals is not new, nor is the technique of asking people who might know someone who needs your services or products. What I despise about this is the idea that this is all you need or primarily need to get business.

Marketers are now on the social networking fad line which is similar, target one - target all on Linked In. Related people must have similiar needs. I think this just means another great idea will become a commercial/advertising stream - more crap flowing through networks that were meant for genuine communication.

Like one of my prospects said to me recently, everyone has a methodology. Marketing is nothing but a series of recycled fads. Crap in, crap out, crap through whatever medium is still crap. Methodologies - smethodologies....talking to people is still talking to people, offers are offers. Maybe what IS wrong is that we as sales/marketing/biz dev people ventured so far from the old ways of selling that all we have is garnish without the turkey or maybe now have a lot of turkeys.

It doesn't matter what medium it is, the MESSAGE and the relevancy to the target is still what counts.