In each month's Trendletter, Trendlines' chairmen and directors D. Todd Dollinger, Steve Rhodes, and Tina Ornstein share their opinions and observations on business — and beyond. This short column appears at the "top" of the Trendletter, hence its name "From the Top."
December 2004 It's the Marketing ...
Bill Clinton's first run for America's presidency was a marketer's delight. Call them clients, customers, constituents or just plain citizens — Bill Clinton knew how to sell them: he listened to them. President Clinton was — and still is — the consummate politician; and that means he is the consummate marketer.
Here's what he did: He surveyed, he asked questions. Customers want to be asked what they want. And they want to help design and define the product because it creates a sense of ownership and responsibility. Bill Clinton identified an unfilled market need — talking about the economy. Then he tested his product by taking it out on the road and presenting it to his key customers. Feedback in hand, he modified his product. And then he rolled his product out across America.
Bill Clinton's product is Bill Clinton. His winning message was all about the economy — and what he would do about it; that was his positioning statement. He didn't let the competition position him — he established his position in the market by presenting a consistent brand image and message. He listened, he developed his product, he tested and modified the product. He won.
Knowing what your customers want and getting them involved is what gets you elected or selected — and gets products sold.
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
November 2004 Yes, But ...
Recently I was reminded of a conversation that Steve Rhodes and I had in Germany some 12 years ago. At that time we were managers of a young Israeli medical device company and had just signed a $25 million contract with a large international company. The negotiations had gone on in Germany and Israel for more than a year, and now was the time to celebrate. As we gathered for dinner, we found ourselves sitting alone with our new partner’s chief negotiator, someone we had spent a great deal of time with during the course of negotiations.
Suddenly he leaned forward, lowered his voice, and looked me straight in the eye. He said "I want to tell you what we call you." I silently assumed some things that he might say, but I was wrong. He said, "we call you 'Mr. Yes, But.'" Before I could ask what he meant, he added that “through a year’s negotiations, you never said 'No.' Everything was 'Yes, but.' Before you got to the end of the explanation, we knew we weren’t going to get what we asked for, but you always managed to do it in a positive way that advanced the negotiations."
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
October 2004
Todd's Top 10 Rules for Meetings
KNOW why you're there. Have an agenda and agree upon it in advance.
ARRIVE early. If you need to set up a presentation, allow enough time to get it done. If you are going to be late, call (before the time the meeting is supposed to start).
BRING paper and a pen; it's about respect. It assumes that the others will say something worth taking note of.
LEAVE the laptop in your bag (unless it's your technology). You're there to build a relationship, not hide behind a machine.
TAKE notes — or at least look like you're taking notes. Don't doodle (l'kashkesh) — someone will see.
DRESS like you're serious about being there. You don't want to be the topic of conversation because you're the person in shorts (even if you do have great legs).
LET the other people speak. You'll learn more. And the more they speak, the smarter you'll seem.
ACKNOWLEDGE the other persons' comments. Show that you are listening.
SUMMARIZE. Note the action items (who is supposed to do what).
SAY thank-you. Your mother was right. It won't kill you.
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
September 2004 Happy New Year
To continue a tradition we started in 2002, this year we are making New Year's donations to two organizations serving those in need: Kishorit is a "village [in Israel's Western Galilee] for people with learning, functional and adaptive disabilities" that is home to nearly 130 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 56. To reduce its dependence on parents and the government, the non-profit organization supports a number of profitable "branches," including a toy factory, therapeutic riding stables, kennel, organic vegetable garden, and organic goat farm. Residents play active roles in the running of these and other community services.
As the country's only national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (Israel's Red Cross) relies heavily on its paramedics, drivers, trained volunteers, and staff to cope with the country's crises.
We wish all our clients, subscribers, suppliers, and friends around the world a healthy, happy New Year. May this year be successful, rewarding, prosperous, and most of all, peaceful and safe.
Steve, Todd, and the entire Trendlines team
August 2004 Telephone Training
Remember what they say about first impressions? You only have one chance to make them. Well, at Trendlines we know that how we answer the phone is our "first impression." Lately, I've noticed a lot of businesses are making a bad first impression, especially at this important first point of contact.
Here's a typical conversation I had recently with a leading Tel Aviv law firm. My thoughts are in italics.
Receptionist: Hello. How about telling me the name of the firm? How do I know I reached the right number?
Me: May I speak with Moshe?
Receptionist: He's not here. Whatever happened to being helpful? How about asking, "Would you like to leave a message?" What if I want to give Moshe new business? Aren't I an important client?
Me: Can I leave a message?
Receptionist: OK. The receptionist takes the message and hangs up without another word.
This conversation doesn't make me, the customer, feel especially wanted, does it? In fact, it almost has the opposite effect. As a customer I feel almost unwelcome by my impression of a receptionist who isn't helpful. Perhaps this means that the lawyers in the firm aren't very helpful. The firm may never find out how many potential clients are turned off — and are turning away — by a negative first impression.
Steve Rhodes, Chairman
July 2004 Forward Marketing
The Trendletter is sent to thousands of people around the world every month. And every month we receive positive comments (and the occasional note of criticism) from our readers about one of our original articles, news, or some other item they saw in the Trendletter.
We publish the Trendletter to increase our clients' knowledge and to help them achieve their business goals. And the Trendletter keeps us in front of our clients and potential clients for our own business development purposes.
If you find the Trendletter of value, we hope you forward it to your business associates — we'll appreciate your helping us build our distribution to build businesses. Just hit Forward.
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
June 2004 It’s New ... and It’s Not
Our new Trendletter format — and our new website — are not new brands but, rather, a brand new look. We’ve revamped our look from website to brochure to all of our presentation materials.
Making these changes was a matter of following the same advice we give our clients: making all of our marketing materials more useful to our clients and others who are interested in learning about our firm and our services. We want our current and potential clients to know that we are client-focused — just as we urge our clients to be customer-focused. We believe our new look reinforces this philosophy. It's cleaner and clearer and highly accessible to our clients.
Our new image also supports our opinion about the importance of first impressions — it’s always worth the effort when we present ourselves (and our clients) to potential partners, customers, and investors, to be well organized, to the point, and respectful of the time of all concerned.
Take a look around. We’ve added to our original content, something we will keep doing. Let us know what you think; we’d like to hear from you. We want to keep getting better.
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
May 2004 The Dangers of E-mail
Have you ever written something nasty about someone in an e-mail? Next time, before you do, remember that once you hit Send, e-mail is out of your control. Over the years, we have seen any number of e-mails reach the wrong person, either because someone inadvertently hit Reply to All instead of replying to just one person, or because someone did not read all the way to the bottom of a long string. I make every effort to follow these basic e-mail rules.
Rule #1: Remember that once you send an e-mail, you lose control over who is going to see it, so watch what you write.
Rule #2: When forwarding an e-mail, read all the way through the e-mail before sending; you never know what's at the bottom of a long thread unless you read it first.
Steve Rhodes, Chairman
April 2004 Good Progress
As I write this, I'm flying home from the States. I find myself thinking (yet again) about the need to negotiate from the other person's point of view. It's when we take the time to understand what the other person wants — what the other person needs — that negotiations make good progress. And I do mean good progress.
Negotiations move ahead when you demonstrate interest in serving the other person. Relationships are built and negotiations progress when the other person knows that you are centering your efforts upon getting him or her what he or she needs. That's good progress, not just ... progress. Good progress is more likely to keep moving forward and less likely to slide back.
Succeeding in relationships and succeeding in negotiations are the same thing. When you understand what the other person wants, you'll find the path to getting what you need, and you'll find you'll make good progress.
D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman
March 2004 Keep Your Promises
Lately I have found that more and more people are promising to send me information — but then not following through. Personally, not only do I find this rude, but it also leads me to question their business practices. Overwhelming amounts of e-mail in the Inbox does not absolve us from the responsibility of keeping the promises we make. So remember — don't make promises you can't keep; and if circumstances intervene and you can't keep a promise, advise the other person. Not hearing anything at all is much worse than hearing that there has been a delay.
How you follow up is a reflection on you. It says a lot about how you will perform in the future. Show your potential clients (or partners, suppliers, or investors) that you are worthy of their trust.
Steve Rhodes, Chairman
February 2004 I Knew That
I'm accustomed to people not wanting to admit that they don't know something.
This was driven home to me by a client many years ago. He would respond with "I knew that" upon hearing anything that he did not know. He was so consistent in this that he came to be known in our office as "Mr. I Knew That." Well, Mr. I Knew That came to symbolize our need to communicate information in a way that one can learn without being embarrassed, without feeling that their intelligence has been questioned, and without thinking their authority has been challenged. People need to be taught in the way that best allows them to learn.
Mr. I Knew That taught us something. Most people do.
