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Competitive Advantage E-zine
Formerly Sales and Marketing Strategies & News E-Zine
December 22, 2005 http://www.thecompetitiveadvantage.net
Editor: Lori Smedley, lsmedley@douglaspublications.com
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You have received this newsletter as part of your subscription to Sales and Marketing Strategies & News Magazine. Information on unsubscribing to this e-mail newsletter is located at the bottom of this e-mail.
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CONTENTS:

*  Competitive Advantage: Consumers demand socially responsible businesses
*  Sales Tips: Five strategies for moving closer to the sale
*  Marketing Tips: Marketers should reconsider ads in news media
*  Career Enhancement: Unlock hidden success traits
*  Direct Marketing: Words that reach readers
*  Motivation: Quick and creative ways to reward
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Competitive Advantage
Consumers demand socially responsible businesses

There’s no law yet, but there will come a time when companies will be required to submit an annual report detailing ways in which they have been good corporate citizens.

Many companies are already including in their reports details of their socially responsible activities and chronicling the positive impact those acts have had on the communities in which they operate. In 2005, one-third of America’s top 100 companies voluntarily reported on their own progress on these issues, according to accounting firm KPMG.

That’s good, but only one out of 100 invited an outside auditor to verify the company’s reports. In fact, in that regard the United States is lagging far behind Britain, where 71% of top companies issue social progress reports—half of those verified by an independent monitor.

Does it matter? Yes. It matters to consumers, who repeatedly report to surveys and polls that they make purchase decisions based on a company’s reputation and how responsibly the firm behaves at home and abroad. That’s particularly true when it comes to buying big-ticket items. It also matters to investors. That concern has given rise to an entire industry devoted to monitoring and reporting on corporate social responsibility.

Accounting firms see social auditing as a business-development opportunity. Many investors, however, see a conflict of interest in having financial auditors also conduct social audits. Investors are more likely to favor audits by organizations such as TransFair USA, which audits food growing and processing companies for compliance with labor practices and environmental impact.

Now there are also accrediting organizations whose business it is to verify the reliability of independent auditors. Social Accountability International, for example, is an accrediting agency that certifies the monitors of outsourced makers of toys, apparel and other products. Firms that work with SAI-accredited monitors can earn SAI’s seal of approval.

Over the next five years, companies that do not carry a seal of approval from a credible organization will be at a disadvantage in the marketplace.
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Sales Tips
Five strategies for moving closer to the sale

Before you meet with a new prospect, form a plan for ending the meeting. Usually, you will want to guarantee another meeting by supplying a reason to get together again with the prospect.

Here are five of the most effective methods for taking that next step to the sale:

1. Outline. Sketch out an overview of how your company can help prospects meet their goals. Then say: “Let’s get together next Monday at 2 p.m. so I can give you an idea of what our suggestions for you might look like.”
2. Expert. Bringing in a product expert, a company resource or your manager is a great way to advance the sale. Tell your prospects: “Let’s set up a meeting for next Tuesday at 10 a.m. so I can introduce you to our technical people.”
3. Recommendation. Arrange to introduce your prospect—by phone or in person—to a happy customer. That provides a great third-party endorsement. Say something like: “Let’s get together with Trisha Groves of ABC Co. for lunch next week. How does Wednesday sound?”
4. Demonstration. Offer to show how your product or service works. That shows prospects how they could benefit by using what you have to offer. Tell them: “I’d like to come back here next Thursday to show you how this model works. Will 10 a.m. work for you?”
5. Tour. Ask to see the prospects’ workplace to learn how they might implement your products/services. Ask: “Can you and I tour the plant next week so I can see where the equipment would actually be used? My schedule is clear on Monday.”

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Marketing Tips
Marketers should reconsider ads in news media

Online or off, local or national, news consumers don’t believe half of what they hear or read. Nonetheless, they still retain a favorable attitude toward the media and appreciate that most media outlets provide timely and objective information on a wide range of topics.

By wide margins, more Americans give favorable than give unfavorable ratings to their daily newspapers (80% vs. 20%), local TV news (79% vs. 21%) and cable TV news networks (79% vs. 21%), according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

At the same time, growing numbers of people claim to get their news online. One-third of people say they rely on the Internet for news, as do 27% of people in their 40s and 25% of people in their 50s.

However, the sites they are visiting for news, for the most part, are online versions of the mainstream press.

These readers choose online news sources for the convenience, not because most news sites are free for the viewing—although many charge to download articles for printing. And most people who read newspapers online daily are also reading the corresponding print versions more often than they did before they began consuming news online.

All that suggests that there is opportunity for marketers to do crossover promotional campaigns and that the death of mass-media advertising was prematurely predicted. People still do consume news on a daily basis.

Furthermore, the daily news habit is particularly ingrained among middle-aged, highly educated, well-paid workers. That means companies making and selling big-ticket items know just where to go to find their target market.
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Career Enhancement
Unlock hidden success traits

When you think of strong leaders, you may envision gruff generals making hard decisions. But 10 years of research by two business professors has uncovered some easy-to-overlook leadership skills:

• Keep everyone in the loop. Build trust by letting co-workers know before you launch a project or make a commitment that may affect them. Example: Before promising a certain product to a customer, confirm with your production team that they can meet your schedule.
• Share your expertise. While you don’t want to go around butting into your colleagues’ business, you should offer to help if you see a co-worker struggling with a problem.
• Resolve disputes. Leaders often make excellent referees. By brokering fair compromises among warring colleagues, you can enhance your stature by keeping the peace.
• Turn the other cheek. When pushed, impulsive hotheads often explode. But if you resist the bait and keep your composure, you can outlast adversaries who try to rile you.

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Direct Marketing
Words that reach readers

Savvy copywriters borrow from successful authors, and so can you. Their techniques:

• Don’t “tell” about your product. Describe something that “shows” people how it relates to them. Consider this example from Weber, the grill maker: “You’ve probably had to apologize when you cooked on an ordinary gas grill. The flare-ups that singed those costly steaks. The cold corners that made it hard to cook food evenly.”
• Energize your copy with strong verbs instead of adjectives and adverbs. Examples: Choose “delve” over “search deeply” to describe what your research department does. And don’t say your customers “walk leisurely” through your mall. Instead, say they “stroll.”
• Provide “visual sound” with dialogue and quotes. Example: Instead of writing reams of copy about how quiet it is inside a moving Rolls Royce, one copywriter did it with this quote: “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock.”

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Motivation
Quick and creative ways to reward

Lack of recognition is the No. 1 cause of employee dissatisfaction. Give creatively to team members, and they will give back productivity, loyalty and team spirit. Try these low-cost ways to reward them:

• Encourage team members to applaud one another. One way is to take turns awarding a special coin or trophy at monthly meetings. The reigning champion could make a short speech praising the person that he or she felt contributed the most over the past month and then present the award to the new winner.
• Create a Wall of Fame in a public space to showcase team accomplishments. Display awards members have won, or simply post letters from satisfied customers.

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Competitive Advantage e-zine, formerly Sales and Marketing Strategies & News E-zine, is published by Douglas Publications LLC.
Visit us at http://www.thecompetitiveadvantage.net.
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