Greetings!
We're are not fools and neither are you!
In this issue of CHAKRA our featured columnist Carl Gould asks about your businesses image. Karl Gibbons gets involved in a political thrlller. We take a look at how 'service is the new selling' and why you should consider becoming a Brand Butler and the Buddah shares his wisdom.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get reading CHAKRA! |
Why Image Matters
by Carl Gould |
There are countless reasons why style matters, ranging from 'feeling good about yourself' to 'projecting a professional image' to 'being in touch with the latest trends' . These are all good reasons and ones that are valid in how you craft your professional persona.
But what about image? Does image matter? Does the image you project make a difference in how you are perceived? In many ways, your image is your brand. How you dress, your appearance, how you carry yourself, and your choice of words says a lot about you. People want to believe in you, they are craving genuine leadership, authenticity, and people who are congruent. By congruent, I mean their actions, words, style , image are all saying the same thing. That message, your image, needs to be uniquely YOU.
The more congruent your message, the more clearly you are communicating. The marketplace will understand what you are all about. Always remember that people are watching you. They are watching your every move. If you are being flamboyant or provocative, you are being noticed. Even if you are trying to be inconspicuous, you are being noticed. Your marketplace will notice you and some at least will respond to you. They will respond to you because the image you are projecting resonates with them. The question remains, are the types of people responding to you, are enough people responding to you, and are enough of the right types of people responding to you in the way that you want? This question can be answered in the image you project. That is why image matters. In this game, you get what you give. What does your appearance say about you? Your image has a direct impact on your income. Notice what has happened to Tiger Woods? He did not live up to his image, and he has suffered greatly as a result.
Decide on the message that you want to send to your prospective customers and existing customers. Do you want to hip, trendy, bold, conservative, tried-and-true, traditional? Once you have decided, make sure that everything about your image aligns with that message. For example, if you are going to project a conservative image, you might choose the color navy blue for your logo, marketing collateral, 'A' suits, brochures, business cards, etc. Next, you might create a logo and a slogan that is conservative in nature. You might drive a conservative automobile. You may sell conservative products and services. You may choose a conservative lifestyle, etc.
Your image matters. Delivering a well-crafted, consistent message will do wonders for the stability and sustainability of your business in both the short and long term.
About the author: Carl Gould. A lifelong entrepreneur, business mentor, and award winning coach, Carl has been at the global forefront of the entrepreneurial community. Recently, he teamed up with International best selling authors Ken Blanchard and Stephen R. Covey on their latest book project, Blueprint for Success.
With 90 independently owned and operated offices worldwide, Carl has created the largest business mentoring organization in the world. Carl and his team of mentor coaches have overseen the development of thousands of small businesses on six continents and have conducted over 50,000 coaching sessions with entrepreneurs.
For more information and to read Carl's Bog, go to: |
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Brand Butlers
or why serving is the new selling |
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At Your Service
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It has never been more important to turn your brand into a service. Jaded, time-poor, pragmatic consumers yearn for service and care, while the mobile online revolution (it's finally, truly here!) makes it possible to offer uber-relevant services to consumers anywhere, anytime. Basically, if you're going to embrace one big consumer trend this year, please let it be BRAND BUTLERS!
With pragmatic, convenience-loving consumers enjoying instant access to an ever-growing number of supporting services and tools (both offline and online), brands urgently need to hone their 'butlering skills'*, focusing on assisting consumers to make the most of their daily lives, versus the old model of selling them a lifestyle if not identity.
Here's why consumers are embracing these BRAND BUTLER-style services:
For consumers, time, convenience, control and independence are the new currencies: this need requires B2C brands to turn many of their 'campaigns' if not all interactions with their customers into broader services. In short: a shift from 'broadcasting' to assisting.
Relationships with brands are now more down to earth and less reverential. From individualism to eco-concerns to decreased spending power in developed economies: for consumers, the practical and pragmatic rule.
Yet, in uncertain times, there's also a consumer longing for institutions that truly 'care', which is more about showing empathy and providing customers with a status fix than being purely practical. This too requires brands to master more service-oriented personae.
On top of all of the above, the current mobile online revolution (hey, it took more than a decade of breathless predictions, but mobile internet usage is now finally exploding around the globe) is shifting these consumer expectations even further into the always-on, instant gratification online arena. For brands, this means that there are now endless creative and cost-effective ways to deliver on this need for assistance, for 'butlers'.
For the record: Brand Butler is NOT
Simply offering excellent yet tried-and-tested customer service and support functions, or typical online features such as price-lookup or anything facilitating ecommerce activities. While excelling in offering these hygiene factors of course do contribute to an overall 'feel' of assistance for customers, we would qualify them as (after) sales support, not 'butlering'.
BRAND BUTLER services typically do not replace top quality products and paid services: they go 'over and above'. In other words, while it would be fantastic if one of your BRAND BUTLER services is so well liked that you can charge money for it, and turn it into your core-offerings, in most cases BRAND BUTLER services can/should only exist because they support your core (and hopefully outstanding) products and services.
Last but not least, as BRAND BUTLERS is all about relevance and service, this is not about gimmicks or entertainment for entertainment's sake. Don't be fooled: despite its perhaps somewhat tactical feel, BRAND BUTLERS is about turning marketing into a service, and thus it is one of the most important branding trends currently out there. Equally important: Anything that delivers on consumers' wants the way that BRAND BUTLERS does is something you want to run with today. No budget? Just kill a number of (traditional) advertising/marketing activities to free up some capital, and/or give priority to the online part of your BRAND BUTLER omnipresence (apps!), which is more about creativity than about drowning in money.
A hands-on start would be to establish the themes your brand is about, and dream up an integrated 'suite' of BRAND BUTLER services, both online and offline. Use the eight categories above (Transparency and 'In the know', Saving money, Finding, Connectivity, Health, Nutrition & Exercise, Skills & Advice, Eco, and Tools & Amenities). Obviously, we hope you will add a few categories of your own as well.
On a related note: when plotting your BRAND BUTLER OMNIPRESENCE, many of your ideas will probably revolve around existing customers. Either because they're linked to a purchased product or service, or because they're a distinctive perk. However, there's a huge win in services that are open to non-customers, too. This is where BRAND BUTLERS truly replaces the old broadcasting / advertising model.
Oh, and if you're at an agency: be the first to establish a dedicated, globally acclaimed BRAND BUTLER department, agency or consulting firm.
On our end, we will bring you another Trend Briefing in March courtesy of our friends at http://www.trendwatching.com
At your service ;-) |
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Well.......did you enjoy it? Was it helpful? Please email and let us know. We are always pleased to hear from you especially if you found something in the CHAKRA that's prompted you or your client to try a new approach or adopt a new idea in business.
Tell us about your challenges and successes - we are always looking for interesting articles and guest writers to feature in upcoming issues of CHAKRA.
Make it happen!
Karl M. Gibbons & Adrian M. Bevan
Third Eye Management |
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Political Thriller |
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Third Eye President Karl Gibbons & Karna Small Bodman.
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In my role as PONG (President Of N.A.P.L.E.S. Group) it was my pleasure to host author Karna Small Bodman as guest speaker at one of our recent meetings. Karna, who is much more accustomed to receiving email from POTUS (what makes you think I am a huge West Wing fan) shared with us a real insiders view of the White House and some of her challenges as an author and running her own small business.
Karna began her career in San Francisco as a reporter for KRON-TV. She then anchored the news for KGO-TV and covered breaking news stories throughout the Bay Area. She received a contract and moved to Washington, DC to anchor the Ten O'clock news on Channel 5, host a nationally syndicated program on business and economic issues as well as a three-hour news/talk radio show.
When Ronald Reagan was elected President, he stood in front of Blair House and named Jim Brady as his Press Secretary with Karna as Jim's Deputy. She was immediately thrust into the tough task of explaining domestic policy initiatives to members of the national press corps. But there were benefits - being involved with the most important issues of the time, almost daily meetings with the President and traveling on Air Force One. She was also sent to South America and the Far East to give speeches to government, business and student groups on the President's economic priorities.
Karna briefing President Reagan.
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Later, she had an opportunity to focus on foreign policy and became a Senior Director and spokesman for the National Security Council. She attended arms control talks with the Soviets and traveled with the team that briefed the leaders of Great Britain, France and Italy as well as Pope John Paul II. Those were heady days, "evil empire" days, so it was a unique experience to chat with the Soviet Union's General Secretary Gorbachev at that first Summit meeting in Geneva.
When Karna left The White House to become Senior Vice President of a Public Affairs firm, she was the highest ranking woman on The White House staff.
By now, Karna had written TV news scripts, briefing papers for the President, newspaper columns and magazine articles, but she had always wanted to write novels. So she 'made it happen' first came CHECKMATE and then GAMBIT followed by FINAL FINESSE. She is currently working on her fourth novel, CASTLE BRAVO. TOP SECRET FOR CHAKRA READERS EYES ONLY: After the event Karna kindly autographed copies of all three of her books with a special dedication to Mr. Bevan (an avid thriller reader). These copies are now being stored in a secret location in our Naples office awaiting his arrival. Schhhhhhhhh...........dont tell him! |
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Great Management Quotes |
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"Like a lovely flower full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they teach."
Buddha
from The Dhammapada
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the north eastern region of South Asia who founded Buddhism. "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE.
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| Events & Happenings |
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Speaker: Joshua A Gropp, Esq. (Adjunct Professor at Ave Maria School of Law)
Title: Copyright & Trademarks in Business
Speaker: Michelle Borders
Title: Launching a new business brand
Michelle Borders
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A Final Thought |
Measuring Success.
Mr Gibbons and I sat in on a number of seminars on various business topics at a recent Business Expo in Atlanta. Depending on who you listened to, the economy was either on the rebound, had bottomed out, or is still tanking! In our view, most small-to-medium sized business have either closed up shop or have found their own "manageable" level. What do we mean by "finding their manageable level?". Well, most have trimmed costs, tightened their economic belts and established a monthly overhead that they can cope with and have then set an achievable breakeven number. The breakeven number may be expressed in dollars of sales, numbers of products sold, revenue per salesperson or, better still, gross profit per salesperson. The measurement expression doesn't matter that much - the fact that they are measuring does! So, whatever you see as the pulse of your business, make sure that you track some form of measurement to gauge how you are doing throughout the month/quarter/year. After all, if you wait until you get last month's financials to measure last month's performance then there's nothing you can do to correct last month! If you want to understand what Third Eye can do to help you define how to measure your business performance contact Karl or Adrian for a no-obligation consultation. Or why not take our complimentary Business Health Check ? |
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