Niche Marketing Matters

I just finished reading a book called “Cowboy Values: Recapturing What America Once Stood For” by James P. Owen. While I chose this book for my own reading pleasure, it became immediately apparent to me about how the values of the American cowboy described by Owen need to be practiced by current day entrepreneurs.

For me to use the comparison of the old west cowboy persona to that of the 21st entrepreneur is no accident. I have been called a maverick or a cowboy for much of my career — and that reference was not always meant as a compliment.

The message Owen offers is that the American cowboy lives by and upholds seven core ‘cowboy’ values: courage, optimism, self-reliance, authenticity, honor, duty, and heart.

1. Courage means that you do what is right even if others suggest you should not.

2. Optimism is a mindset that that things are more likely to go well than go badly and that by thinking this way you will make it true.

3. Self-reliance is not just doing things solo, but instead it means being responsible and getting the job done.

4. Authenticity means being yourself and not just following the herd. If you are different, celebrate your differences.

5. Honor is telling the truth, meeting your commitments, and not backing down when others tempt you to do otherwise.

6. Duty is similar to honor, but it is the expected behavior that comes with the job — if your job is to ride the point (i.e. to lead the herd), then do your job well and do it with pride.

7. Heart is both passion for living and empathy for others.

Little has changed since the mid to late 19th century and all seven values apply to entrepreneurs today. There are bad guys out there that must be confronted and we need to get through the current economic storm. Yet, if we do our job with pride, respect others, and make good choices everything is going to be OK.

So, cowboys and cowgirls, saddle up your horse and go make me proud.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.

“Better to trust and be disappointed once in a while, than it is to distrust & be miserable all the time”
- Coach John Wooden

A common definition of trust is when you rely on the integrity, strength, or ability of another person—it is an expression of our confidence in others. Occasionally, we just feel it, but most of the time other people have to earn our trust.

Why are we so stingy with our trust? I think it is a learned behavior. People break promises and sooner or later we learn to be cautious or not to trust our instincts or impulses. Better safe than sorry.

Yet, this same learned behavior impedes our progress with new people and new ideas. John Wooden tells us to trust first, if we can. There are many good people out—you just need to trust them and give them a chance.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.

A British teenager who was found dehydrated and freezing after 12 wintry days lost in Australia’s wilderness said he wrote farewell notes to his family and expected to die of starvation. Jamie Neale, 19, told Australia’s “60 Minutes” television program Sunday that he was “a total idiot” to venture unprepared into the Blue Mountains, 60 miles west of Sydney. (Source: Associated Press - Australia July 19).

What I love about this story and the quote is the authenticity of teenager’s remark. He spoke the truth. It struck me as remarkable.

It seems that the rest of us are mired in a self serving game of “lawyer-speak” and political correctness. Or, maybe it is just plain old lying.

The headlines are full of athletes caught using steroids and celebrities caught stepping out on their spouses— all deny the wrong doing. Later, when the evidence proves otherwise, they admit to the wrong doing. Generally, it is done with great reluctance.

Wouldn’t it be great if they just told the truth in the first place and admitted that they made a mistake. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

The same applies to a service provider who screws up an order. If you made a mistake, just say so. More than likely your customer will forgive you and they will be astonished by your candor.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.

As many of you know, I am writing a book on negotiation which leverages my work as a trainer and lecturer in negotiation, along with my personal experiences in negotiation. It is a fascinating subject which seems easy on the surface, but is very difficult to practice.

The other day in my consulting practice I confronted an unethical negotiator. After much discussion I had secured an agreement in principle with the owner of a small business. Something was a little odd about the interaction, but I ignored my intuition. It was a small project and it was really going to be more of a favor on my part since the opportunity came to me on a referral from a good friend. I also knew that I could be a big help to this small firm—it was obvious that the business owner needed my assistance.

After we had structured an agreement, the other party decided to reopen the discussion in an attempt to amend the terms in his favor. Honestly, this caught me by surprise since I had already rearranged my schedule and had started to gather the appropriate resources to begin the project.

This was my mistake since I had ignored my intuition and had presumed that he would play fair. Instead, my client figured he could improve the deal at the last minute by haggling and playing tough with me.

I calmly responded that I would not agree to this tactic and that I would need to stick with the terms originally negotiated. He became angry and walked on the project. He basically told me I was an idiot not to play ball with him. I offered him my best wishes.

What my almost client did not understand is that I will not do business with unethical people. End of story. Life is short and I see no reason to spend my valuable time with people who cannot keep their word. While it may be true that I may miss out on a project now and then because of this conviction, I do sleep well at night.

In retrospect, I probably should have listened to my internal compass in the first place and declined to bid the job. Also, I should have reconfirmed the agreement a second time with him to insure that everything was acceptable. Was this last minute nibbling request totally unreasonable? Not really, but it was the manner in which he pursued it. It was audacious, rude, and unethical.

I feel great about this outcome. As my old boss used to say, “Not everyone gets the honor of being our customer”.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”

- George Patton, US General during WW II

Please extend my apologies in advance to James Surowiecki, the author of “The Wisdom of Crowds”. His best selling book suggests that groups make better decisions than any made by a single member of the group. To this notion I say “bull hockey” (note that I am expressing this opinion as an individual and I belong to no partisan group).

“Group-think” is flawed for a number of reasons. The chief flaw is the raw emotion of the crowd or “mob”. Call it herd instinct, but the weak and intellectually inferior will follow the strong and manipulative. Think of the failure of the crowd to second guess the lunacy of Nazi Germany during World War II. Of course, fear was a factor for many who blindly followed the crazed leadership in Germany.

By examining current events in business, we can find the same blind subservience to the wisdom of the crowd. Consider that General Motors has been given market feedback for two decades that the US auto consumer prefers small, fuel efficient vehicles such as those offered by Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Despite this consumer demand, GM decided to build large SUVs and full sized trucks. When the price of oil jumps, GM has no choice but bleed red ink.

(Note to self: consider selling the ¾ ton Chevy Suburban in the front driveway before it is too late.)

Entrepreneurs are often rejects from large corporate culture—they cannot follow the crowd, so they choose to do it on their own. Abandoned or fired by the crowd, entrepreneurs take it upon themselves to create better products or services. They may deserve the reputation of “control freaks” for their compulsion to do it their way, but at least they won’t be lead by the crowd, goose stepping off into oblivion.

Other examples of dumb crowds: Enron, the New York Knicks, AOL merges with Time Warner, IBM rebuffs startup Microsoft, Ford and the Edsel, Napoleon and the Louisiana Purchase, etc, etc.

My message? Think differently. Reject the crowd.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

(This is an reprint by special request of my blog from July 6th, 2007)

For most of us, knowing the difference between right and wrong is pretty clear, but sometimes doing the right thing is hard to do. Or, let’s say we are challenged to make the right choices.

Our government helps us out with our decision making process about right and wrong by making laws that specifically tell us what is right and what is wrong. It is illegal to shoplift. It is a legal requirement to properly label the ingredients on food products. While there is an occasional debate about the meaning of laws, we generally understand what is acceptable and what is not. Conveniently, these laws are enforced.

Ethical behavior is a slightly different matter, since ethics are established and maintained by the culture and they are not always written down or specifically communicated. If you find a wallet at a gas station that has $100 cash in it, the ethical thing to do is to contact the owner and return the wallet with the cash. If you go through the checkout line at a department store and the “new” cashier gives you back too much change, the ethical choice is to tell the cashier about the error. The challenge with ethics is that you are in charge of managing your own code of ethics.

Sales people deal with ethical challenges all the time. Maybe you have faced issues like these:

- Should I tell the customer about my product’s quality problems?
- My customer’s purchase order had the wrong price on the order (it was higher than what you quoted). Should I tell them?
- My expense account is to be used for selling expenses only, but how would my company know the difference between a personal expense and a customer expense?
- Your product was not made to the customer’s specification, but was shipped anyway. Do you tell them or do hope that they don’t notice?

Your own code of ethics helps make the little decisions easier along with the big ones. When you always tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything; it is easier this way. When you do the ethical thing, you have little regret or remorse about your choices.

So, what does a sales person’s code of ethics look like? Here are a few ideas:

- Always tell the truth.
- Don’t lie through omission; tell the whole story including the bad parts.
- Always do what you promise; if you can, deliver more than what you promise.
- When you fail to deliver on a commitment, tell the customer immediately. Don’t wait for them to find out.
- When in doubt about a choice, seek advice from a mentor (I.E. someone you admire and is ethical).
- Put your promises in writing to hold yourself accountable; this will also document your good behavior when you deliver what you promised.
- Treat your customer like you would like to be treated.

Do the right thing.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

Corporate America is accountable for what it does and does not do —businesses must be socially responsible (or, at least they should be). Social responsibility is a company’s duty to make the right choices that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society, as well as those of the organization itself. Recent headlines suggest that many companies don’t always meet this goal.

Of course, the firm is accountable to its stakeholders who are people within or outside the organization that have a stake in the organization’s performance. This includes customers, community, creditors, government, owners, managers, employees and suppliers.

Generally we think of an organization’s main responsibilities as economic and legal. Economic responsibility includes producing goods and services that society wants and to maximize profits for its owners and shareholders. Legal responsibility is what society deems important with respect to appropriate corporate behavior—it is the law. Making money and obeying the law is the minimum expectation as far as I am concerned.

A good company must also be ethical which means managing the behaviors that are not necessarily written as law and may not serve the corporation’s direct economic interests. Companies can demonstrate social responsibility by taking corrective action before they have to, by being bold enough to publicly admit mistakes, by embracing social programs which help the environment, by establishing and enforcing a corporate code of conduct for all employees including management, or by taking needed public stands on social issues even when it is controversial.

Business Ethics (http://www.business-ethics.com/BE100_all), a magazine dedicated to social responsibility, has developed a list of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens in 2007. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens list ranks firms based on how well they perform in eight categories: shareholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights, and product.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ first place finish marks the first time in the history of the “100 Best” that a company has ranked first in two consecutive years. Green Mountain has been among the top 10 companies on the list for five years running.

The list is drawn from more than 1,100 of the largest U.S. publicly traded companies and is largely based on the environmental, social, and governance research of KLD Research & Analytics. Rounding out this year’s top ten are Advanced Micro Devices, Nike, Motorola, Intel, International Business Machines, Agilent Technologies, The Timberland Company, Starbucks Coffee Company and General Mills.

This list suggests that being socially responsible is a good thing and has its rewards.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

P. S. Check out the full list of the 100 most socially responsible U.S Companies at http://www.thecro.com/files/100BestGatefold.pdf

The “Golden Rule”, also known as the ethics of reciprocity, is often expressed as, “Do onto others as you would wish them to do onto you.” The golden rule message is a simple one: do the right thing. Doing the right thing is best for others and ultimately is best for you.

The world’s religions teach us about the power of reciprocity:

Hinduism - “Do naught unto others what you would not have them do to you.”
Confucianism - “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.”
Buddhism- “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
Judaism - “That which is hateful to you do not do unto your neighbor.”
Christianity- “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Taoism- “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”

Every day sales people have to make ethical decisions regarding the use of company assets, whether or not to moonlight, how to price a product for different customers, and how to manage company information. For the individual sales person, the difference between right and wrong is governed by their own personal code of ethics. This code is learned over time and reinforced by the culture in which he/she lives and works.

When it comes to business ethics, sales management must lead by example. This includes the level of sales pressure put upon a rep, decisions affecting territories and compensation plans, and speaking truthfully at all times. To insure this behavior, leader selection is important; managers must practice what they preach. Ethics must start at the top with the key sales executives creating an ethical sales climate.

Companies need to communicate the desired behavior. One of the best ways is to publish a code of ethics or a values statement. Google lists the firm’s company values on their website for all stakeholders to read (customers, vendors, employees, etc). Firms like Google must encourage whistle-blowing so they do not tolerate unethical behavior by any employee.

Ethics are “maintained” by the culture and the company, but they are mostly managed by you. This is the hard part for many. Ethics is about doing what is right when no one is looking.

The right thing is best.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

My spam filter let an e-mail from am “unknown sender” named Jesus get through to my mail box today. My first reaction was to immediately delete it or hit the spam key, but instead I opened it. I thought to myself, “What if…?”

What if the “big guy” had something to tell me? Would he e-mail me like this or would he do the “burning bush” trick? Surely he is hip to the web and the possibilities of social networking. The burning bush is so last millennium (or, maybe older). I suppose Jesus could have left me a voice mail or sent me a text message. He must have many options to call upon us these days.

The e-mail read “Be grateful”. That’s all it said. No link, no parable. It just said be grateful. I paused a moment and then wrote this blog.

Hmmm. I guess I do have a lot to be grateful for—-a beautiful wife of 22 years, three great kids, my health, a good horse in the barn, enough money to do as I please, etc. The list could go on and on. I am truly blessed when compared to the others in the world; I recently read that over 800 million people go to bed hungry at night.

But, wasn’t this just a spam message? If it was just spam, now you understand why spammers spam. This unsolicited e-mail caused me to think and to take action, which is the goal of every spammer—they want to change the world (for better or worse) in some small way.

Essentially, spammers spam because they know that spam works. It may be that out of a million unsolicited e-mails only a few hundred people respond to the call to action. That click through rate may be enough for the spammer to feel successful (or grateful).

I responded to the call to action. This time the call was not to buy Viagra or hit on a link to a porn site, but nonetheless I did what the spammer wanted me to do. The spammer made me think.

Or, was it an e-mail from Jesus?

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

Gift giving practices vary from industry to industry, but an appropriate gift is a great way to say thank you and can help solidify a relationship between customer and provider. The operative word is “appropriate”.

Appropriate gift giving has these key elements:
1. The gift is well timed.
2. The gift is meaningful or relevant to the recipient.
3. The gift is memorable for the giver or the brand.
4. The recipient can and will accept the gift.
5. Nothing is expected in return.

Without these elements, the gift may be inappropriate or may be considered a bribe. For definition’s sake, a bribe is money or a favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust. The gift could be seen as a bribe if you’re trying to obtain a new client’s business or if you have contract talks underway.

The timing of gift is critical. The element of surprise brings a certain drama to the exchange that will flatter the recipient. Other times to give a gift include:
- Holidays. Promotions. Graduations. Weddings. Etc While this is the obvious time to give gifts, you may be one a herd of gift givers.
- When you want to strengthen your business relationship with a client.
- To celebrate a business associate or employee’s promotion or retirement.
- To celebrate a personal event of an employee, such as marriage or the birth of a child.

Gifts need to be meaningful and relevant to the recipient. I remember getting a golf bag from a vendor which I graciously accepted. The only problem is that I don’t golf, so I promptly gave it to my brother who does. My brother remembers the gift fondly while I don’t remember the name of the giver who gave it to me first. I guess that makes me a “regifter”.

One way to make the gift memorable is to personalize it with engraving or embroidery. It could read something like “To Tom Chaney, Congratulations on your promotion to Vice President. From Jack Thomas, May 16, 2008”. The date is also an interesting touch.

Just because you think it’s an appropriate occasion does mean that the recipient can accept it. You might want to call his or her company to discover whether it allows employees to accept gifts or if it places a dollar-value limitation on gifts received. Many large corporations have strict gift policies. Avoid an embarrassing situation of a returned gift by checking first.

You also might want to consider whether religious or personal issues prohibit him or her from receiving holiday gifts. A canned ham might not be appropriate for Islamic or Jewish business associates. Also, don’t send flowers to someone who is allergic to them.

A gift that meets these criteria will generally be accepted and remembered. Being remembered is what really counts.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved.

P. S.

The IRS allows businesses to deduct up to $25 for gifts you give to any one person per year. There is no limit on how many people you can give business gifts to during the year, nor on how much you spend for those gifts, although your business gift deduction is limited to $25 per recipient.