They give you an inch. You take a yard.

Commitment-Consistency Theory (CCT) has particularly useful implications in my line of work (sales). CCT states that "persuading people to comply with a small and seemingly harmless request greatly increases thier likelyhood of complying with a subsequent, larger request" (Vaidyanat & Aggarwalhan, 2005).

For me, this reads as asking the client for a inch early in the sales process and warm them up for when I ask for the whole yard at closing time. Now, the article we read for class applies specifically to environmental, cause-related marketing communication, so I'll stick with this thread.

My clients often ask about "green" options. Most times they are expecting recycled paper. Easy. Recycled a slightly more expensive stock and gives me a chance to upsell as the higher recylced percentage means higher profit margins for me. Now that I have this this small commitment to recycled paper, I introduce our FSC/SFI certification, which is a sustainable print process that adheres to very strict certification standards. It costs more, and I make more. This process allows my client to put an FSC or SFI logo on thier piece, in addition to the recycled logo, and increase the appearance of thier consistency of commitment to green practices. "People have a strong desire to appear and be consistent in their behaviors" (Vaidyanathan & Aggarwal, p 234).

The innitial, small commitment they made is to use recycled stock. The second, more significant commitment is to using FSC/SFI certified standards to produce the entire project.

The trick here is that customers are less willing make a larger commitment to appearing consistant when the funds come out of thier pocket, which Vaidyanathan & Aggarwal's research demontsrated when a test group showed that "...the compliance inducing power of the commitment is not strong enough to overcome subjects' preference for cash back" (2005, p 240).

While I stuck with cuase-related maketing our article focused on, CCT or "foot-in-door" persuasion works in a number of sales scenarios. Small buy-ins and commitments early in the process are the inch they give you take a yard later.

References

Vaidyanathan, R. & Aggarwal, P. (2005). Using commitments to drive consistency: Enhancing the effectiveness of cuase-related marketing communications. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(4), 231-246.

Short, sweet and woth 25 out of 25 points.

Motivation is an ironic topic this week as I am struggling to find it for the Week 3 assignments on a fine Saturday night. I don't want to get too thick here and will take a page from Lafe's book in brevity. I like bullet points. Lets use them!

What did the author present that applies to your work setting?

* I'm in sales. Motivation is everything; both my own desire to be a Sales Phenom for sheer vanity and my uncapped earning potential. Hitting my draw is obviously a big motivator, but once you get over that draw that commission check can get pretty attractive.

* Motivation is a tricky thing sales and, I believe, largely internal so Shah and Shah's references definitions of "Achievement Motivation", "Competence Motivation" and "Incentive Motivations" (Shah & Shah, 2007).

What did the authors present that you most agree with?

* I strongly agree with their assertion that motivation, satisfaction and inspiration are all related forces which interact with each other.

* The entire section of "Being a Motivating Manager" really speaks to me. In my professional career there are 11 individuals whom I have reported to directly and it has a been a diverse cross section of motivators ranging from those I would work with again in a heartbeat to those who genuinely deserve a lifetime in the unemployment line. Point seven about Non-Financial Rewards really is very important.

What do you define as motivation?

* Simple. How badly do you really care about overcoming the obstacles toward completing a task.

* Having the will to accomplish something.

Which theory of motivation applies to your current work place? Is it working?

* Jeremy Bentham's "The Carrot and the Stick Approach" is most applicable.

* However Douglas McGregor's "Theory X and Theory Y" approach is a strong contender. We are currently working very hard at move away from the authoritarian X to the participative Y.

* Is it working? Depends on who you talk to. There is progress however glacial the speed may be.

How can you apply the info presented to improve your professional communication?

* Whatever theory you are subscribing to, be cognisant of the motivators and motivation level of the people you are communicating with.

* It is VERY hard to do but be a motivating force to those around you, not a toxic demotivating force. By understanding the ways in which motivation CAN work you can apply the best tactics to be a leader.

What must you understand about motivation to be a successful 21st century leader?

* People are no longer willing to spend a lifetime doing something they don't absolutely love. The less motivating their work environment, the less likely they are to a.) stick around for any length of time or b.) contribute to your organization while they're there.

* To that end, "Treat Staff Well" and "Think Like a Winner" are the two biggest roles of a successful, motivating manager.

Enrichment

* I did read "Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation", which was simply a more in depth look at a few of the motivation theories put forth by Herzberg and Maslow.

* This article actually got me thinking. I read everything in the context of my professional life. I think I need to be applying some of the MCM lessons and in particular motivation, to my personal life. The research described in this article explains that the sources and applications of motivation are not necessarily universal across all professions sighting that "...teachers in the program do not match the behavior of people employed in business" (Gawell, 1997). Well, hell. If motivation can vary from one PROFESSION to another, imagine how much it can vary from professional life, to family life, to personal activities! Really interesting.

Gawel, J. (1997). Herzberg's theory of motivation and maslow's hierarchy of needs. Practical Assessment, Researtch & Evaluation, 5(11). Retrieved June 4, 2007, from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=11.

Shah, K. & Shaw, P. (n.d.) Motivation. Retrieved July 10. 2007, from http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html.

Who's Hungry

So "Brain Food" was presented in class. Lets make this a fun first case study. You are an MCM Sutdent (big strech) and you have been asked to create a campaign for the 3-location chain which we will assume is up and running with great product and service but sluggish sales numbers.

What would you do to get people to eat at Franklin's food stands? Budget is not an option. Get creative!

You'll go deaf (and broke) if you keep doing that!

Jianying Lu makes a good point in The Listening Style Inventory (LSI) as an Instrument for Improving Listening Skills when he explains that "Listening consumes more of and individuals time than writing, reading or speaking" (2005, p 45). Lu champions the importance of listening as a process as well as a behavior. Lu explains that listening the most important element of communication. The Listening Style Inventory (LSI) is a validated self assessment tool meant to improve your own behaviors and, man can I use it!

If I don't listen, I go broke. Sales is not about "showing up and throwing up" or "feature dumping". The most successful sales reps and consultants do as little talking as possible, at least early in the sales process, and listen as much as possible. And listen closely. If you interrupt, or are passive and detached from the conversation, you will have absolutely nothing to go on to move business forward or. Assuming you know their problem without listening to what they tell you; Planning your next leading question while they're answering the one you already asked; Being distracted by the BIGGER sale that just came in on your Blackberry; These are all poor listening behaviors evaluated on the LSI and will cause you to miss the REAL problem you can solve for them or the buying signal they just gave you.

Listening skills are getting worse and we only have ourselves to blame. If you don't use a tool, it gets rusty, and the 21st century professional needs a giant can of CLR for their eardrums! In a 2003 poll, "...seven in ten firms acknowledged that e-mail is critical to business," (Kubicek, 2003 p18). Kubicek goes on to explain that it is fundamentally important for organizations to conduct e-mail training to ensure it does not become the soul means of communication. It must be managed and used as one aspect of communication lest other skills go by the wayside. I think we can all agree that if that same poll were to be conducted today (just six years later) 10 in 10 firms would acknowledge that e-mail were essential, not critical, to business. Were will we be in six more years? We are rapidly turning ourselves into poor listeners. Most of our communication is done via e-mail and as a result we lose the paralinguistic and non-verbal aspect of communication. As a result, we are less capable of picking up on them when we do speak directly to a co-worker. E-mail is deafening us at a measurable rate, to the point that where we interrupt co-workes and ask them to, "Just put in an e-mail and send it to me." Not only are we creating an environment where good listening behaviors are needed, they're not wanted!

So the take away from all of this is I must make a concerted effort to maintain my listening skills in an environment that is quickly devaluing them. Or I'll become deaf to my clients and broke soon thereafter.

Kubicek, M. (2003, October). Breaking the e-chain. Training Magazine. p 18.

Lu, J. (2005, May). The listening style inventory (LSI) as an instrument for improving listening skills. Sino-US English Teaching, 2 (5), 45-50.

Welcome to Market Everything

When you go to a restaurant for the first time and it really catches your fancy; when you visit a brand store (like Fossil or Oakley, for instance) and you think, "they really get me", do you ever stop and wonder "why"?

I am very cognizant of when I have bought into a company's vibe, and I ask myself "what was the hook?" Why do I identify with it so immediately? Why do I have a brand preference right off the bat? It wasn't an accident. There was a marketing team behind that feeling.

Expanding on that, do you every visita business and think to yourself "Man, what I wouldn't be able to accomplish with this brand name/restaurant/business, a marketing budget and carte blanche to execute a marketing program!"

That is what I will explore with this blog. Each posting will be a case study wherein I spitball marketing ideas specific to a business that has jumped out at me. If money was no object, what would I do, marketing-wise, to grow business and increase brand loyalty?

I absolutely welcome your own ideas for the same locations. Mine certainly aren't the only answer. We can make this a case study and role play that we are the marketing team for the business in question. This will be fun!