Negotiating to get what you want

Are you a candidate for the Emily Dickinson Award? And what's that you ask? The award for a creative person, cloistered in their own creative castle, that no one has heard of and won't until after they're deceased and someone with marketing savvy finds and promotes. (I love many of Emily’s poems – particularly The Bustle in the House* – but find it a shame she couldn’t enjoy her own success and find the solace and joy she gave to others.)

To help you avoid being such a creative candidate, you've got to promote and negotiate. Today, let's discuss a bit of negotiating – a vital skill in life because you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

What follows is an email thread from today. I’ve changed the person and products names for confidentiality. But, it doesn’t matter what the product is. Marketing is marketing.

I once foolishly applied for a job as a Marketing VP at a computer company. I say it was foolish because I don’t do well in formal job settings any more. I don’t have the patience for corporate folderol. I made it through their screenings and into an interview where they asked me if I’d had any immediate experience marketing their kind of product.

I told them that I really didn’t care what the product was so long as it was ethical and of high quality. They said they wanted someone who had sold this before. I said I’d sold pearls, gold, real estate, computers, concerts, singing contracts and so forth through TV, radio, print media, direct mail, with a sales force etc. That it didn’t matter what the product was because no one cares what your product IS, only what it DOES.

They didn’t agree and fortunately, I wasn’t hired.

So read this conversation with an open mind, substituting your product or service for his. Negotiating is the same. Know your product. Ask questions and find answers. Do your homework. Never talk price but talk value, value, benefits and value. (Read my book Marketing Singers for more negotiating strategies. This is just a snippet.)

Here’s the thread:
On 3/31/2010 9:43 AM, Steve Jones wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I should have reported to you sooner. I had a great trip. Both XXX Inc. and YYYY Products met with me a couple of weeks ago. Like you had advised, I focused on products, not the deal. They did seem to love my original design, and showed interest in the newer product concepts as well. YYYY Products said that their contact at Apple had been asking them for something "new." They felt that my stuff might fit the bill. They took samples to a Las Vegas trade show last week but were not able to get time with Apple.
>
> XXX Inc. told me that they serve the mobile professional and asked for a derivative product that was (deleted for confidentiality) and briefcase. I should have that for them in a couple more days. My patent agent is filing applications as I come up with designs.
>
> It all went as well as I could have hoped, but I am wondering what happens next. I know how to develop products and even test for market interest, but it gets sketchy from there. If they don't make clear requests, then I can only imagine that I must work on marketing the product through an e-commerce website.
>
> Any reactions?
>
> Steve

Hello Steve,
Sounds like it is progressing.

I just met the VP of Marketing and Products for the new Sharper Image company. His name is Federico Bellegarde and he lives in NYC. I'll find his phone number and send it to you. I would think he might have some interest and is a very affable guy.

Take each company one step at a time, build value, make them salivate and then ask them what they think. Ask them "is this a product your company would be interested in selling?" They'll usually give weasel word answers and then you take each caveat or weasel word they pose and ask what that means. Ask them the path to commercializing this product with them... what do you want, when, where, how it will fit into their profile, what they'll do to promote it -- actively (advertise it) or passively (stick it in a catalog), if they have samples of contracts they use for licensing a product like yours, etc.

In other words, get pushy and ask a ton of questions. If they give vague answers don't think you'll ignorant or stupid, think they're obtuse. It's your product... you have a right to understand and they must provide the complete understanding. I'm not demanding at this point. That's a mistake. But I am curious and want to know.

Good luck,

Mark

PS. Here’s the Dickinson poem I like that captures much of what I’ve experienced in the death of close loved ones:

The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, -

The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.

Working on the headline

A question came up about a new advertisement. As mentioned previously in other blogs, much time is spent worrying about the graphics. It’s certainly a worthy consideration, but not nearly so important as the headline. Graphics attract attention – get eyes to the copy. But graphics don’t sell. They lead the read in. Once there, the headline must grab the reader.

You grab the reader by putting him into the picture by showing him what is in his best self interest. Translated... benefits.

Too many advertisements are all about the advertiser: “We are the best...” “We are the cheapest...” “I invite you...” It’s all about you and not me. As the consumer, I’m all the matters in a sale. What you do doesn’t matter until what you do for me becomes my passion.

Another way of saying it is “no one cares about your product, they only care what it does for them!”

With that in mind, check out this first draft of a headline:

Final First Round
Classical Singer’s High School & University
Vocal Competitions

I added the italics to distinguish them from the rest of this blog. And they had put the first line in a much bigger font size. Again, that’s graphics and they don’t matter right now. The text better sell on its own or our ad is toast.

My question back to the writer was, “Why don’t you put ME into the opening line? Why would I care about “Final First Round”? The answer was that it brings up an inherent urgency... final offer... That’s true. It does. But that doesn’t matter until I am in the scene.

The writer reworked the ad and went to the basic principles. He came up with:

Your Last Chance To Win $2,300,000
in Scholarships and Cash Prizes

Classical Singer’s
High School & University
Vocal Competitions

Now this ad clearly puts YOU right smack dab into the opening of the ad. The subtle “Final” suggesting urgency is replaced by a direct statement. Advertising isn’t a great forum for subtle. Subtle appeals to the artist in me – my plays, stories and music provide great enjoyment for me t be subtle and gradually lead the audience into discovery. Do that in advertising and you won’t sell much. That’s a drag.

This new version is all about the audience, urgency, filled with an enormous benefit, emotions and specificity. It compels a person to what to know how this applies to them and how they can get it. Free money is always compelling. Sometimes it’s not credible, but mostly the allure of free money is irresistible. In this case it brings credibility to immediately tell of the sponsoring institution, Classical Singer, that has a heap of credibility to its audience. The rest of the body copy elaborates on the schools offering the scholarships and that builds credibility.

A good lesson on what must go into a headline.

Spend at least as much time working on your headline as you do your graphics and your graphics will end up being worthwhile... meaning you’ll make sales. That’s the idea.

Patterns

Human emotions and needs are immutable. They cross all cultures and all geographical barriers. Marketing is the art of understanding human patterns and behaviors. It assumes you know what you want and then you seek to observe patterns of human actions to see if you have something humans want or need. WANTS are the most powerful. People sacrifice wants for needs all the time. People need education but want a new TV. TV wins. People need good nutrition but want booze and drugs. Booze and drugs win all too often. People need to be slim but want a donut.

Check out this pattern of behavior: the pattern of doing business. Business is simple. Find that need or want. Find a product or service that fills it. See if you can make money on supplying that. Find the customers and find a price that they'll pay.

Don't find the product first and try to foist it off onto people. Clinton Felsted built his business doing exactly the opposite, which is the right pattern. He was doing programming for companies and asked if they needed anything else. They did. He built a program for that and sold it to them. Low cost marketing results.

Sophistication often gets in the way of marketing and business. It loves to over complicate things to make them seemingly more meaningful. But business and marketing are simple as I just described.

When I was in the Soviet Union teaching a ship load of highly acclaimed Soviet business leaders (they were leaders but I must use the term "business leaders" loosely as you'll see), I was trying to help them understand the process of commercializing a product... finding a product, and selling it.

I asked them a simple question: What one thing do you need to have a successful business? They first said money and I said, "no, I've started businesses without money." They said "a great product" and I said, "no, many successful businesses have started with a weak product and managed to transform it to a good one -- see Honda." They said many other things and all were exhibits of their failure to really understand business. When I ask this question to university students I teach, they instantly say, "a customer." Right.

When I finally pulled out of the Soviet's this answer, they shook their head and disagreed. Said one, "in Socialism we make what they need and they must buy it from us." He was right. In the fantasy land that is Socialism, customers are at the bottom of the heap. But in a free market, as I told them they would soon have, customer is king. I explained what I stated above about the simple nature of business.

To illustrate the point I brought up a 17 year old boy from the dock at Gorki (now Nizhny Novgorod) who was selling soldier hats, paintings and dolls. I asked them what his business model was. They managed to state that he did the following:
1. He noticed that tourists were coming and they all wanted souvenirs.
2. He found out the trinkets they wanted and how much they spent.
3. He found suppliers and artisans who would make those items for a price he could afford.
4. He sold the trinkets and made a profit.

I then asked them what I'll ask you: how does this differ from your business model? In all likelihood you'll say it fits about what you do. But the Soviet leaders were horrified to be compared to a young Speculateur! (A really nasty thing to be in a Soviet Socialist land.) Then I horrified them more. I said the only differences between him and them were two fold: he made a profit and didn't live on subsidies, and that the number of zeroes to the left of the decimal were more in their bookkeeping.

After some gentle discussions (I may sound tough but I really nursed them carefully through this so they'd learn), the light finally dawned.

Notice patterns. Follow successful ones.