Access FIT

Change by design

"Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones." - Herbert Simon

Failing... slowly

Seth Godin insightfully said “If failure's not an option, then neither is success…"

He's right of course, because playing it too safe too often merely perpetuates the status quo... and long-term success occurs beyond the status quo. 

So without risking failure, without challenging the status quo, without looking beyond business-as-usual true, enduring, success is only illusory.  

The status quo feels safe to us because it's what we know (and what everyone else is doing)... but the truth is that the status quo is actually failing slowly and blind adherence to it only means that you are actually failing slowly too.

Look at direct response marketing, for example, we are now at a point where a one quarter of one percent response rate is typical and a one percent response rate is considered exceptional.  And yet many of you are still looking for that "killer headline", "irresistible offer", "more creative copy", "compelling testimonial", "emotional connection" or some combination of the above that will somehow make your direct response mail piece work for you... it won't.

Sure you can "tweak" your direct response mail piece all you want but if the best you are going to do is a one percent response rate (a number that is declining all the time) you are condemning  your business to fail slowly if you rely on direct response marketing for your member acquisition demands. 

The fact is that most businesses don't actually collapse suddenly... they fail slowly. 

And the problem with failing slowly is that you rarely see it coming (even though it is coming for a long time) and you rarely understand why it happened (because you were doing what you had always done when you were "successful").

Henry Ford famously said that,  "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”  Unfortunately, when you fail slowly you rarely have the insight required to begin again more intelligently.
 
Failing slowly only seems like the safer option right now because it is largely indistinguishable from success... at least until it is too late.

If failure is inevitable (and it is) it is much better for long-term success to fail fast, fail cheap, fail small, fail often, but fail intelligently.

Direct response marketing

I recently heard a health and fitness marketing “guru” say… “In direct response marketing one percent is gold”.

And remember that’s responses not sales.

Not that long ago direct response marketers were touting two percent as average, then it was one percent, and today apparently one percent is exceptional.

Michael Scott Scudder recently reported that most clubs now get ¼ of one percent response rates… in that context I guess one percent is gold.

Of course, a one percent response rate is a massive, not to mention expensive, 99% failure rate… not something that I’d like to bet my future on.

Tis' the season for giving!

A special treat for my regular readers...

In the spirit of the season I have decided to give my business development report The Lead Box Is Dead...Long Live iPOS: The Humble Lead Box Concept Reinvented for the Twenty-First Century away to the first 10 owners or managers to contact me at the one time only (NEVER TO BE REPEATED) price of $24.90!

That's 90% off the already discounted First-Mover price...

So what's the catch?

The catch is that you have to agree to:

(1) implement it within 90 days of purchase;

(2) provide detailed feedback on your experience with it; and

(3) allow me to use your experience as a case study.

That's it... just e-mail me with your name, business details (health club, personal training studio, training club, boot camp, CrossFit box, yoga or Pilates studio) and website address (so I can confirm it is a legitimate business) and I will send you the Discount Codes for my payment processor within the next 48 hours.

Remember there are strictly 10 only at this heavily discounted price!

Happy holidays!

Kym

Sometimes your best isn't enough

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required." - Sir Winston Churchill

Market hard… sell easy

Business luminary Peter Drucker famously said, “…the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

He’s 100% right.

A lot of people will tell you that your marketing isn’t intended to sell but only to get the prospect to call, visit your website, or come in for a tour… where your sales team can convert their interest into a sale.

I think that these people have set the bar too low based on years of mediocre marketing efforts that have gotten little or no response.

When Apple releases a new product (or even a new version of an existing product) people aren’t calling, visiting their website, or coming in to ask questions… they are lining up around the block to pay a premium.

The right marketing sells there is no question about it.

Of course, a lot of Apple’s marketing is in the product itself… elegance, innovation, user friendliness, community… what’s in your products and services?

The myth of the average customer

"Average is for marketers who don't have enough information to be accurate." - Seth Godin

Make your marketing win-win-win

Most of our marketing efforts are completely self-serving… we need revenue and so we offer a discount… we need more members so we offer a free week trial… we need a low cost member acquisition promotion so we run a referral campaign…

When we market we are first and foremost thinking about a win for ourselves.

Of course, it’s natural for us to think of a win for ourselves because we need to win to keep our business running.

But winning at the expense of our customer is a pyrrhic victory (a victory that is so costly it is actually a loss). For example, spamming people gets your marketing message out there but it’s likely to convince people not to buy from you because they get so used to associating your brand with spam.

Marketing that only seeks a win for ourselves is bad marketing.

Obviously we need a win for ourselves but we need to create a win for our customer too… that’s a win-win.

So a free trail is a win-win right? Not always… the purpose of the free trial is for the prospective new member to inform their decision making about joining your club. But for many people a single session isn’t enough time and for a lot of people a week or two weeks won’t be enough time.

Therefore, that generous two week trial you offer can be seen as a sales opportunity for the business (much like that free weekend holiday at a time share) from the prospective new member’s perspective… and it’s their perspective that matters.

So to create a win-win you often have to go way beyond what you consider a good deal.

Marketing that achieves a win for ourselves and a win for the customer is good marketing.

However, to create a win-win-win scenario you need to create a win for yourself, a win for the customer and you need a winning advertising channel.

So what is a winning advertising channel?

A winning advertising channel is one that is low cost (because you need to get your message out there often), is targeted (because you need to get your message in front of the right people), is scalable (because you are going to have to rely on it more and more), and is manageable (able to be changed, tracked, and improved because you are going to have to respond to changing markets and consumer preferences).

Unfortunately, these criteria pretty much rule out traditional media (which is exactly why we came up with iPOS).

When we can combine a win for ourselves, a win for our customers, and a winning advertising channel you get great marketing… win-win-win.

Think beyond what you already know

It’s hard to think beyond what we already know… that’s why most people don’t bother.

The problem is compounded because we don’t know what we don’t know… and most of the time we aren’t really interested in finding out (after all it might expose our ignorance or incompetence).

For most of us most of the time it’s easier to settle for the devil we know.

What you already know got you here… but will it get you where you want to go?