This Friday is Black Friday, the official start to the holiday shopping season. The media is all prepared with their stories and advice on what to watch for and what to watch out for. This morning the "expert" on the Today Show suggested that consumers get to the stores early for the best deals and that supplies may be limited...really? I needed an expert to tell me that!
I don't set my alarm for 3am for much of anything in my life except maybe to catch an early flight or catch a trout. But hey, if crowds of people want to gather at WalMart at 4am, I'm not gonna stop you!
I like what the new electronics retailer did in my neck of the woods. I walked in yesterday and the greeter told me that all the Black Friday deals were already on the sales floor, no need to bust the doors down on Friday morning. Now that's convenient.
And doesn't it seem as if the holiday shopping season starts earlier each year. Black Friday used to really signal the official kick off of holiday shopping, but if your house is anything like mine, you already have a closet holding a cache of Christmas gifts.
I really hope Black Friday is huge for retailers, they need it. I hope shoppers sense the many signs of recovery and take a positive attitude into the holiday season. I also hope consumers take a responsible attitude into the holiday shopping season.
For those of you who set your alarm for 3am Friday morning, good luck, be safe and have fun. I'll be hitting the snooze button around 6:30am.
T. Ray
EVP, Jim Doyle and Assoc
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thanksgiving Quotes by EVP Tom Ray
Here are some great Thanksgiving quotes...
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. ~E.P. Powell
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin
Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labour when the end was rest,
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain.
~Alexander Pope
What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981
Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron
He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd
Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. ~Robert Caspar Lintner
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. ~E.P. Powell
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin
Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labour when the end was rest,
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain,
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain.
~Alexander Pope
What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981
Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron
He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd
Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. ~Robert Caspar Lintner
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sleazy…or just stupid
The things our AE’s do sometimes really make me fear for our future.
So the questions is, could either of these have come from one of you AE’s?
Sometimes you think your sales team is pretty good, only to find out that one of them has done something really stupid. Last week I saw two powerful examples of stupid.
Stupid Example #1 – An AE from a TV station trashed the coverage of cable using a statistic. The buyer asked him for documentation of where he got the number. Here’s part of his written answer:
It comes from the marketing firm, Jim Doyle and Associates, who have done extensive research on TV, radio, and newspapers. It’s based on Nielsan research over the last 10 years. The networks ALWAYS dominate TV viewing. The 23% watching hundreds of cable channels makes it virtually impossible to attain reach in cable. That's why it's so cheap! You can buy it for $5 a pop, but you only reach the 9 people watching the History Channel.
There were only a few problems with that answer.
Problem #1 – Jim Doyle and Associates hasn’t done any research on that topic. And never will.
Problem #2 – The agency buyer was a friend of mine and a former member of our Achievers Circle, so she called me (bad news for the AE).
Problem #3 – The buyer used to sell cable. Can you see this AE slipping deeper into a hole?
Problem #4 – Oh yeah, he spelled Nielsen incorrectly.
We need to remind our AE’s of three things:
– Liars get caught and when you’re caught you’re toast.
– You should assume that anything you put in writing is seen by a competitor.
– You never, ever win by trashing a competitor, especially when the buyer loves that competitor.
In case you thought the above was an exception, here’s an actual email exchange between a large market AE and an agency. Tell me if you think this AE has any chance of getting this order?
Email from Rep:
Subject: On air schedule
Bob, looking for an update. Thanks, Joe AE
Agency response:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Almost, Don. Will know which way I go next week...you're delivering good reach but you're
short on frequency when I compare what your competitor has sent me.
2nd Response from REP
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Thanks, as you know TV is a reach medium and the idea is to let the MOST people know about you and if they are hunters or thinking of going hunting then they are paying more attention to the ad, plus radio will help bring that frequency up cause (as you know) radio is a frequency medium.......Thanks and I hope we are able to do something. Joe AE
And the agency replies:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Respectfully, I disagree. TV must do both or it does neither. In fact it should be able to outdeliver radio in both cases.
Final AE response…for today and maybe forever with this buyer:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
We agree to disagree..........or maybe we don't!! Have a nice day.
The AE got a simple price objection and totally ignored it. In fact, the rep basically tells the agency that he was stupid to even bring it up. I’m sure that went over well. This is a rep who is clearly more interested in winning than making a sale. And that is not smart. What frightens me is that I think this kind of thing goes on much more often than we managers think. Scary.
So the questions is, could either of these have come from one of you AE’s?
Sometimes you think your sales team is pretty good, only to find out that one of them has done something really stupid. Last week I saw two powerful examples of stupid.
Stupid Example #1 – An AE from a TV station trashed the coverage of cable using a statistic. The buyer asked him for documentation of where he got the number. Here’s part of his written answer:
It comes from the marketing firm, Jim Doyle and Associates, who have done extensive research on TV, radio, and newspapers. It’s based on Nielsan research over the last 10 years. The networks ALWAYS dominate TV viewing. The 23% watching hundreds of cable channels makes it virtually impossible to attain reach in cable. That's why it's so cheap! You can buy it for $5 a pop, but you only reach the 9 people watching the History Channel.
There were only a few problems with that answer.
Problem #1 – Jim Doyle and Associates hasn’t done any research on that topic. And never will.
Problem #2 – The agency buyer was a friend of mine and a former member of our Achievers Circle, so she called me (bad news for the AE).
Problem #3 – The buyer used to sell cable. Can you see this AE slipping deeper into a hole?
Problem #4 – Oh yeah, he spelled Nielsen incorrectly.
We need to remind our AE’s of three things:
– Liars get caught and when you’re caught you’re toast.
– You should assume that anything you put in writing is seen by a competitor.
– You never, ever win by trashing a competitor, especially when the buyer loves that competitor.
In case you thought the above was an exception, here’s an actual email exchange between a large market AE and an agency. Tell me if you think this AE has any chance of getting this order?
Email from Rep:
Subject: On air schedule
Bob, looking for an update. Thanks, Joe AE
Agency response:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Almost, Don. Will know which way I go next week...you're delivering good reach but you're
short on frequency when I compare what your competitor has sent me.
2nd Response from REP
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Thanks, as you know TV is a reach medium and the idea is to let the MOST people know about you and if they are hunters or thinking of going hunting then they are paying more attention to the ad, plus radio will help bring that frequency up cause (as you know) radio is a frequency medium.......Thanks and I hope we are able to do something. Joe AE
And the agency replies:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
Respectfully, I disagree. TV must do both or it does neither. In fact it should be able to outdeliver radio in both cases.
Final AE response…for today and maybe forever with this buyer:
Subject: Re: On air schedule
We agree to disagree..........or maybe we don't!! Have a nice day.
The AE got a simple price objection and totally ignored it. In fact, the rep basically tells the agency that he was stupid to even bring it up. I’m sure that went over well. This is a rep who is clearly more interested in winning than making a sale. And that is not smart. What frightens me is that I think this kind of thing goes on much more often than we managers think. Scary.
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