Shelley McQuade

Shelley's career in branding goes back 25 years. Her keen understanding of what influences customer behaviour propelled her into leadership positions where she played an integral part in the exponential growth of organizations working with the likes of HP, Kodak, Mazda, Motorola and LG. She also taught as an adjunct professor in the School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Niagara College.

Most recently, she was a partner at a training and consulting company where she turned their highly effective, yet intangible services into a tangible, systemized approach with a technology component. Now she's off exploring new frontiers with the start up of salesfertilizer.com This dynamic tool is designed to help B2B professionals, salespeople and business owners uncover their unique strengths and map those to the customers that value them most to achieve "off the chart" results.

Shelley sits on the Burlington Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Business Excellence Awards Committee and is the founding Chair of the Value Accelerator Group.

The Tribe has Spoken - Are You Listening?

I met Marty Neumeier (renown speaker and author of Zag, Brand Gap) when he was conducting a workshop at the Design Exchange. In conversation, Marty shared that he began his career implementing brand strategies only to realize there were a lot of flawed strategies that execution couldn’t fix. This prompted Marty to focus his effort on brand differentiation – the #1 strategy of a successful brand in Marty’s eyes. If you’re looking for verification of the power of differentiation think IPOD. 4th to market in the MP3 player category, Apple has 72% market share, a price point that is 2 to 5 times higher than the competitors....well I think you get the idea. High performance brands are way out in front in terms of loyalty, profitability and they’re tough to beat – unless of course you find your own unique way of differentiating.

One of the first rules is you can’t be all things to all people. In the session Marty talked about knowing your “tribe”. I caught up with Marty to get further clarity on why the tribe matters. “You have said the emphasis today needs to be on the Unique Buying Tribe rather than the Unique Selling Proposition. Can you explain that?”

Marty Neumeier: The Unique Selling Proposition was the brainchild of Rosser Reeves, an advertising genius from the "Mad Men" days. He worked for the Ted Bates agency and wrote a bestseller called, "Reality in Advertising." His thesis was simple: Advertisers need to focus all their energy on one strong claim or one strong concept. In a time when the industry believed "the more you tell, the more you sell," this was a refreshing idea that caught on almost immediately. It was so powerful, in fact, that to this day advertisers search high and low for "the big idea" to hang their campaigns on.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this inclination, as far as it goes. Without a unique value proposition, your campaign---and your business---will lose focus and have no compelling point of differentiation. The problem is that the principle now seems dated. Customers today don't like to be sold. What they like to do is buy, and they buy in tribes. Every brand has a tribe that supports it. If you talk WITH your tribe, they may well continue to support it. If you talk AT your tribe-using manipulative one-way conversations-they'll tune out in a New York second.

So rather than focusing on a Unique Selling Proposition, focus on a Unique Buying Tribe. If you find the right tribe and give it the right stuff, you'll get enough love to sustain your brand. People crave tribal identity. What they want to know is, "If I buy this product, what will this make me?"

Thanks Marty for sharing your insights. Marty is currently Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency.

Two Pigs an Oinking and a Chicken in a Pen

I opened up a Christmas card the other day from my cousin and was thrilled to receive two pigs (she assured me there was no pun intended). Will my pigs be arriving in a one horse open sleigh on Christmas day? Hmm good question, if they are arriving via one horse open sleigh I won’t be seeing them; they’re going direct to Zimbabwe. I’m guessing this was in response to the goats I gave her last year.

In this festive season we often get caught up in consumerism. We’re decking the malls and buying incredible amounts of stuff for people that “have everything”. We’re so busy purchasing, partying and stressing all of the holiday festivities that we forget to adopt an attitude of gratitude.

This year, we’ve all experienced some kind of financial repercussions from the economic downturn. That being said, we’re still well over half way up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs while a good chunk of the globe is in need of food, shelter and clothing.

And don’t even get me started on our political freedom. As a post boomer female, I haven’t experienced workplace prejudice; I’ve shared equal rights with my male counterparts and had the ability to be all that I can be. It may seem like a small thing but on the world stage where many girls are struggling to get an education it's paramount.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day hassles, focus on the things that aren’t going right and believe that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Wake up, we are in Shangri-La and the grass doesn’t get any greener. We have the right to choose and an attitude of gratitude and the good life is a choice. I learned this little trick many years ago that may help if you’re down, feeling sorry for yourself or otherwise irritated. Write down 5 things that you are grateful for. Do it every day and eventually that feeling will disappear. As Aristotle so aptly quoted “We are what we repeatedly do – excellence then is not an act but a habit”. Why not start the New Year with new habit – an attitude of gratitude.

Coffee Talk

Now that the recession is officially over (well maybe not officially over but certainly a marked improvement compared to this time last year) it’s time to refocus, regroup and engage your team. That’s right, engage your team. Why? So they in turn can engage your customers. According to Gallup, organizations that achieve both customer and employee engagement are rewarded with customers who deliver a 23% premium over an average customer. Hmm a premium, music to my ears – couldn’t we all benefit from more customers that deliver more $.

So what’s the magic bullet, how do you engage your team? Well, it’s not a magic bullet but it is proven; firms that communicate effectively are 4.5 times more likely to report high levels of employee engagement versus firms that communicate less effectively. This stat is courtesy of the folks at Watson Wyatt.

The challenge, all of us are doing more with less and squeezing in effective communication time is tough. Behold the power of “Coffee Talk”. Short but sweet; this meeting is best held on a Friday morning or afternoon for 15 to 20 minutes- tops.

As the leader, you bring in or supply your team’s favourite beverages – coffee, tea, lattes - you get the idea. Depending on the size of your team you sit, you stand, whatever works in your space. Here are the:

5 Coffee Talk Rules

Rule # 1: Kudos - Each person on the team shares something that went right this week. It could be a new client, accolades from a client, a tough deadline that was met – the sky’s the limit!

Rule # 2: Mission Critical aka Did we drop any balls? - Using a round table format figure out what went wrong. Next discuss - Did we fix it? Does it still need to be fixed? How can we prevent this problem from happening again? Can we systemize the fix?

Rule # 3: Heads Up - This is a recap of what’s on the horizon for next week, next month whatever works within your organization. This is designed to bring potential problems to the forefront. Is someone swamped? Who can lend a hand? Is someone stuck? Who has a solution? This informal brainstorming and planning goes a long way in getting everyone on the same page and building team cohesion.

Rule # 4: Parking Lot It - Is there a problem to big to solve in a short session, a process that is broken and needs repair. Many meetings get unwieldy as people go off on tangents about every bugaboo they’ve experienced since the dawn of time. Don’t squash it, just parking lot it. Put it to the side and schedule another meeting to prioritize and deal with Parking Lot items.

Rule # 5: Give a little bit - If time permits get everyone on the team to share something about them. To level the playing field, have each person answer the same question. What was your best vacation and why? What was your favourite childhood story? This simple process builds trust and helps people to get to know each other, both precursors to creativity and innovation – something every workplace could use more of.

So go ahead, pour a cup ‘a jo, share the coffee talk rules and watch your workplace transform from a “he said she said” finger pointing place (well maybe this isn’t exactly how it is at your place of business but you get the idea) to a “we’re all in this together, making a difference” mode.

The Power of the Pitch - Elevator Pitch That Is

Talk to any company and the mantra is the same – we want to grow our business. Here’s where it gets a little fuzzy. The weight of this growth falls on the shoulders of marketing and sales. It’s marketing’s job to get the leads and sale’s job to close them. Don’t get me wrong, that’s why they are there and that is their job, however there’s a hidden sales force right before your very eyes that can unearth a gold mine if you engage them. I’m talking about your entire organization – yup everyone from the receptionist to the CFO.

Here’ the thing – the # 1 reason why people buy is relationships – fyi # 2 is the company, #3 the product/service. I remember sales guru Jeffrey Gittomer’s advice to a room full of eager entrepreneurs and sales people – you want more customers – make more friends – people do business with people they like. Now here’s where it gets interesting - you have a team of employees that all have a network of friends, all you need to do is equip them with the right message. I’m not suggesting you turn your organization into a hard core group of hunters, I’m suggesting you provide them with a powerful message that compels people to say hmm tell me more or gees I should really talk to one of your salespeople. Behold the power of the elevator pitch.

I must confess, in the past I have attended many a family gathering and should have used the elevator pitch – no-one could figure out what the heck I did – hmm you’re not going to generate many referrals that way. As a result, I have fine tuned the elevator pitch so even your Aunt Martha gets it. The formula is simple (adapted from author/speaker John Assaraf).

Highlight the customer problem you solve – i.e you know how.....waiting for a heating guy to come on a sub below zero freezing day to fix your furnace drives you crazy?
Present the solution your company provides – i.e. well what we do it is......guarantee we will be there in an hour to fix it or you don’t pay.

Simple, to the point, I not only get what you do, I see why you are different than your competitors. We learn through stories and metaphors. When you tell me a mini story that highlights what you do, I start to see myself in that picture. You peaked my interest “ Wow you guarantee that you will be there in an hour, how do you do that?”

Thanksgiving is a time to get together with family and friends, break bread and test your elevator pitch. It could lead to a new customer or two, definitely something to be thankful for.

Top Two Branding Blunders

Why oh why do companies fall into these branding traps that wind up costing them a ton of cash for virtually no return or worse yet, actually cost dollars in lost revenue. There are two big branding blunders (I’m sure there are more than that, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind) to be aware of if you are considering rebranding.

1: Fixing what isn’t broken

Change is not always good; there is something to be said for the familiar especially in tumultuous times. Take the “new look” of Tropicana orange juice. A US 35 million dollar blunder. Yes, that’s right, a 35 million dollar blunder (and that’s only the first 2 months not the final tally). Thanks to the new simplified look of Tropicana, consumers mistook them for a "bargain basement” no name brand and walked right on by and purchased a competitor’s orange juice. The Tropicana look was not broken. They were not losing market share. There is something to be said for the comfort of a familiar logo. That orange with the straw sticking out of it and dark green lettering for me represents premium, freshly squeezed OJ and it makes me feel good. And that’s what matters most your customer’s perception. Once you have lost a customer it’s tough to get them back. Good luck on that one Tropicana.

2: Fixing (aka changing) your brand/logo before you fix your product and/or service

We’ve all seen it – a new look, a new logo, an onslaught of advertising – all telling you we’re new, we’re great, come and do business with us. There’s just one problem – outside you’ve changed, you’re wearing a new suit so to speak but inside you’re exactly the same. Now I feel like I’ve been duped, you’re making a promise that you have no intention of delivering on or at least not in any immediate time frame. A certain Telco comes to mind that shall remain nameless. A new CEO comes in, anxious to make his mark and show he’s different, he immediately rebrands. Ahh I’m not quite sure how to tell you this but – you’re wrong – as a customer now I feel betrayed. I know nothing has changed, your product and service offering is status quo. So let me get this right, you’ve spent millions of dollars changing your letterhead, repainting all of your trucks, redoing your web-site and all of your multimedia and yet as far as I’m concerned you haven’t spent a dime to improve your customer service that quite frankly I think sucks. A word to the wise – improve your offering/service first and once you have it right and you’ve tested to make sure it’s right then and only then should you present a new face (aka logo) to the world.

Coca cola is a one hundred and twenty three year old company and its logo hasn’t changed. And by the way, they are still the dominant soft drink worldwide. Perhaps there is something to be said for deciding what you stand for and then delivering on it, consistently year after year. It’s not glamorous but it pays the bills and in fact chugs out a pretty decent profit. And at the end of the day isn’t that why we’re all in business?