Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

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This is to follow Adam’s post on the Scott Ginsberg seminar, and specifically to follow Adam’s post with some more specific thoughts about what it means to us.

The post was initially made restricted, but I have now shifted some of the more confidential comments to a “part2” restricted post here….

1)  Be Remarkable

(in the truest sense of the word) – as in, present yourself in such a way that other people want to talk about you.

One of Scott’s most telling points (and he had stolen this from others) is that:
1)  If we talk about ourselves, the listener (naturally) assumes it is marketing, and is inclined to switch off.
2)  However, if other people talk about us, then this provides our name/brand some instant credibility, in the listener’s mind.  The extension of this is that the amount of credibility we gain is proportional to the listener’s view of the person talking about us.

2)  Reasons Our Competitors do better

He listed these reasons:
1)  They have more FANS then we do
2)  They are more noticeable
3)  They are LESS BORING
4)  People hear ABOUT them, not FROM them (i.e. word of mouth)
5)  They are doing the opposite of us (and everyone else).

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3)  Become like Yoda

Scott’s other telling point is that the way you choose to be remarkable must be aligned with your own philosophy (for us, this would be a corporate philosophy).  That way, even the outlandish things we do seem congruent with what the purpose of our business is (hence seem almost natural, though perhaps still crazy, to the customer).

By purpose of business, I don’t mean – make wads of cash, retire young, develop cocaine-addiction, etc…

Scott put it this way –

Imagine everyone actually did as you said (scary thought, I know) – if this happened, then what would the world look like?

When you can explain this, then you are close to understanding your  philosophy

I’ll have a stab at what this means for us:

We’d be in a world where everyone had access to the energy they needed to live a good life.  The energy would be delivered in such a way that was efficient (technically and economically) and ecologically sustainable.

Customers (large and small) would be a true partner in the energy-supply delivery chain.

Needs to be worked on, obviously…

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4)  un-Sh*t, first

As Shane has alluded to, such noteworthiness is a double-edged sword.  With mature products, there is also a significant downside risk for us if we stuff things up very badly – i.e. people will talk about us, but not in endearing terms!

This is especially the case for us, as our business model is predicated on high retention rate, and

Hence, we need to make sure we apply Shane’s patented un-SH*T technology first, before we encourage people to talk about us.

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The rest of this article is predicated on the assumption that un-Sh*t technology has been duly applied, and our products are awesome.

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5)  Within our Applications

During Scott’s talk, a number of things occurred to me, including the following.

With all of our products, we need to develop them in a way that both prompts, and facilitates, the customers to talk about them.  Examples we have already included are such as:

[Details moved to private post]

We all need to be thinking of enhancements like this – but particularly the Product Managers (and our Chief Software Engineer) and the Marketing team (led by our GM Marketing & Sales) should be.

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6)  Business Philosophy Cards

These need to be redone, even before we change the company name.

The main idea in this is to make the business cards different, such that people actually:
1)  Stop and look
2)  Comment
3)  Show other people
4)  Remember
5)  Keep the card handy

Any ideas for what should be included on the card should be sent to Kim, who can keep a record on the Wiki – but my general idea (reinforced by the session) are as follows:

[Details moved to private post]

 

7)  APPRO Conference

The following thoughts pre-suppose we decide to go.

[Details moved to private post]

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8)  Parting words of wisdom

From Scott:

Ideas are free, execution is priceless

Consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness

Tags: 04 - Sales & Marketing, business growth, communication, GM Marketing Sales, innovation, management of software company, positioning, Scott Ginsberg, strategic planning, word of mouth

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Buzz Marketing, Event Review, Vision, Word of Mouth Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.