Dec 2017 Hospitality Review - Dig

It can work in just about any industry. I got my own personal strategy from the cosmetics industry. Do you know what REVLON and other cosmetics companies sell? They sell HOPE to women! It may not be in their public mission statement but you can bet their marketing people understand it. And that is why cosmetics that cost $75 for a small bottle of goo sell better than cosmetics that cost $20. Because there is more HOPE in an expensive bottle than there is a cheap one. And when you link that with a celebrity who endorses the product, you get the consumer making the irrational (but profitable for the cosmetics company) decision that if they buy that $75 bottle of goo, they can look more like that beautiful celebrity. If you are a man and you are now laughing about how vain and stupid women must be to fall for that, how do you think the golf industry works? It has been said by more than one golf equipment marketing executive that “golf is a multi-billion dollar industry based on irrational hope”. NIKE can sell expensive golf clubs to hacker golfers with minimal ability (but lots of money) on the ridiculous premise that, by buying those clubs, they will be using the clubs that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy uses and they will play a bit more like them. Unbelievable? Yes. Effective? Also yes. HOPE is also what every consultant sells. It’s just that most of them don’t know that’s what they are selling. And I can make more money selling hope than selling a 60 minute presentation at a conference. How do I do it? I make my testimonials the centrepiece of my marketing. I have a page of about 40 testimonials on my website and while some of them talk about the humour in my presentation and the work I did in customizing my message to the audience, the overwhelming impression to a person who reads some or all of them is “These people were really happy with their decision to engage Martin’s services” and I am urging them to HOPE (and believe) that if they hire my services, they will feel the same way after THEIR conference. If I sell an hour of my time, that’s a commodity, if I sell the hope that the CEO of my client company will feel he/she has

made a good decision, that’s an intangible and is harder to put a price on. What we must do as salespeople who value our margins, is get focus on the result rather than the product/service. An hour of my time is worth $X and can be undercut by a competitor offering an hour of his/her time cheaper. The CEO picturing the good feeling after the conference (like so many others have had) and calculating the return on investment by his people changing their behavior as a result of my influence – that has to be worth much, much more. And it is. What are you doing in your industry? Are you selling a commodity or an intangible? Indulge my humorous side for a moment. Here’s how a retail shopping centre would look if retailers sold intangibles instead of commodities. The jeweller wouldn’t have “50% off” in the window, he/she would have a sign that says MEN: ARE YOU TAKING YOUR RELATIONSHIP FOR GRANTED? BUY YOUR PARTNER SOME JEWELLERY BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES AND YOU LOSE HER FOREVER. The optometrist wouldn’t have “Buy one get one free” in the window he/she would have THINKING OF GETTING MARRIED? COME IN FOR AN EYE TEST. YOU MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND. The pet shop wouldn’t have “Puppies half price”, it would have PARENTS: IF YOU DON’T BUY YOUR CHILDREN A PET, THEY WILL REMEMBER IT FOREVER AND THEY MAY NOT DO EVERTYHTING THEY CAN FOR YOU WHEN YOU ARE OLD AND DEPENDANT ON THEM. Obviously, I am being facetious with the above examples BUT if they were the type of signs in the window rather than “SALE” or “50% OFF” which seems to dominate the retail landscape, don’t you think the retailers’ margins may be a bit better than they are? My challenge to those of you who are in industries whose margins have eroded is to shift focus. If you take the two industries I quoted at the start of this article, if real estate agents were selling STRESS MANAGEMENT to vendors, then commissions may go back to 3%

instead of down to 1% where they are heading at the moment. Other computer companies should learn from APPLE who got out of the computer industry years ago and got into the ENTERTAINMENT industry which is much harder to put a value on. And if you are lucky enough to be in an industry that isn’t suffering from eroding margins, you are probably selling intangibles already but if you aren’t, do it before your competitors do because there is no reason why healthy margins can’t be maintained or improved upon if you provide the right solutions. I hope the above is helpful and I look forward to Saturday when I can enjoy my game of HOPE, I mean golf. Martin Grunstein’s outstanding results with over 500 Australian companies across over 100 industries has made him this country’s most in-demand speaker on customer service. He is contactable on 0414933249 or through his website www.martingrunstein.com.au.

December 2017 www.australianhotels.asn.au

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