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The Five StarNaming Test

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13 tools for resolvingconflictDoes YourSound BiteSay Brand?

Non-Profits Cash InWith Promotional Products

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4 Brilliant Results | November/December 2004 www.brilliantpublishing.com

Feat

ures 14Non-Profit

Market Analysis

An in-depth look at various methods of mar-ket analysis to help organizations identifywhat they do and how they can better servetheir existing constituents.By Bill Nissim

22Important PresentationPointers:During and After

Over 93% of your perception as a speaker is from factors other than what you say!By Randall P. Whatley

27A Five Star Naming Standard …a Quick Test

There are three types of business names,Healthy, Injured or on Life - Support. Whichone are you?By Naseem Javed

Departments6 Publisher's Letter

80 Calendar

Columns34 Business & Brand:

Plop Plop fizz fizz…Does Your Sound Bite say Brand?

55 Hot Products…What We LoveA showcase of some hot products we thought would get your creative juices flowing.

56Technology:

Clash of the Titans When Search Engines CollideBy Naseem Javed

64What Works:Case Studies that Delivered Brilliant Results!

82The Last WordBrilliant Results talks to Martina White, Director of Marketing,Membership Acquisitions for the National Wildlife Federation

22

40

34

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Contents

8 Non-Profits Cash In With Promotional Products!

Brilliant Results talks to some of our Country's largest Non-Profit Organizations to find out the secret behind their successes.

Cover Story

4013 Tools for ResolvingConflict in the Workplace

with Customers and in Life.Sage advice and steps to resolve any conflictbefore it costs big dollars.By Lee Jay Berman

50Matching Your Philanthropyto Your Brand Strategy

In the 'New Brand World' your customers are more interested than ever in the choices you make.By Pam Van Orden

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:02 PM

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Document1 11/19/2004 1:42 PM Page 1

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Publisher’s LetterBrilliant Publishing LLC

9034 Joyce LaneHummelstown, PA 17036

Ph: 717.608.5869Fax: 717.566.5431

PUBLISHER / ADVERTISINGMaureen Williams

[email protected]

EDITORIALEditor in Chief

MaryAnne Morrill

Senior EditorTiffany Owens

Style EditorCharity Plata

Contributing WritersSharon Biernat, Shannon Bell, Lee Jay Berman,Andy Carr, Nicki DeMattei, Steve Falknor,

Naseem Javed, Karen Kravitz, Marsha Londe, Bill Nissim, Pam Van Orden, Shelley Sake,

Chris Smith, Randall P. Whatley

PRODUCTION / DESIGNArt Director

Percy Zamora

Contributing DesignerChuck Moser

PhotographerEd Norton

Brilliant Results is published bi-monthly byBrilliant Publishing LLC, 9034 Joyce Lane

Hummelstown PA 17036 (717) 608-5869; Fax#(717) 566-5431. Postage paid at Mechanicsburg PAand additional offices. POSTMASTER please sendaddress changes to Brilliant Results, 9034 Joyce

Lane, Hummelstown PA 17036. Volume 1. Number2. Brilliant Results subscription rates: one-year

$120; Canadian $160 USD; one-year foreign $225USD. All subscriptions are non-refundable.

Copyright © 2004 Brilliant Publishing LLC. Allrights reserved. The publisher reserves the right toaccept or reject any advertising or editorial materi-

al. Advertisers, and/or their agents, assume theresponsibility for any claims against the publisherbased on the advertisement. Editorial contributors

assume responsibility for their published works andassume responsibility for any claims against the

publisher based on published work. No part of thispublication can be reproduced in any form or by

electronic or mechanical means, including informa-tion storage and retrieval systems, without writtenpermission from the publisher. All items submittedto Brilliant Results becomes the sole property of

Brilliant Publishing LLC. Editorial content does notreflect the views of the publisher. The imprints,

logos, trademarks or trade names (Collectively the“Marks”) displayed on the products featured in

Brilliant Results are for illustrative purposes onlyand are not available for sale. The marks do not

represent the implied or actual endorsement by theowners of the Marks of the product on which they

appear. All of the Marks are the property of therespective owners and is not the property of eitherthe advertisers using the Marks or Brilliant Results.

efore going forward, I need to takeyou back to our last issue. I wasthrilled to have our inaugural issuefeature the boys from Orange CountyChoppers, one of the hottest brandsin America today! It was my goal tolaunch this new magazine with a big,bold statement. Based on all of yourpositive feedback, I think we pulled itoff! Yeah!!! However, I do need toclarify… our collectors edition “metalmasthead” (as we lovingly refer to ithere at BR) was definitely fun to do,but those of you who know me shouldknow that I’m more in tune with styleand fashion than to have a chromeand black logo for this magazine.

What you see in this issue repre-sents our true rollout. The true futureof a magazine built for business pro-fessionals, by business professionals!Our mission here at BR is to provideour readers with cutting edge ideasand access to the right relationshipsand resources to ensure your promo-tions get results.

I recently visited a beach on asmall island off the West Coast –Basically, next stop, Japan! As I saton that beach looking out at thenever-ending horizon I contemplatedmy future, and the big-picture futureof business in this great nation ofours. It struck me that even in thesetumultuous times, people are usingpromotional products to get theirmessages across, and generate rev-enue for their causes.

Whether it’s a yellow ribbon car-magnet to display your patriotism, or ayellow silicone bracelet encouragingus to “Live Strong”, these promotionalproducts send loud messages and…raise big money! As Martina Whitestated in this month’s “Last Word”column, “my favorite promotionalproduct is the one that gets the bestresults!” In a world of literally hun-dreds of thousands of options, andjust as many ways to implement them,well… the future looks bright for mar-keters who are using promotionalproducts as their vehicle of choice.

This month BR is focusing on non-profits that use promo items to get results. Today, in the U.S. alonethousands of non-profits spend an estimated $650 million on promotionalmerchandise to get you to contribute totheir causes annually! That tells methat those promotional items that somepeople refer to as “trinkets and trash”(which, by the way is a term I HATE)can make an enormous impact. Why?Because in today’s world we are over-whelmed by businesses trying to getour attention, but the “back to basics”,direct marketing, “thank you”,approach can be incredibly powerful!

As the year comes to a close, it’s agood time to sit on a beach and reflect.I would like to take this opportunity tosay a giant “Thank You” to my staff, toall of you who read this magazine andof course to our advertisers whosesupport is making my dream cometrue. The incredible volume of feed-back we received about our premiereissue sent me a clear signal that thismagazine is not only valuable to thosewho read it, but invaluable to makeyour businesses successful and yourdreams come true too.

I wish you all a happy holiday sea-son, and a safe and prosperous newyear. See you in 2005, and as always…

Have a Brilliant Day!

Maureen

“The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades…”

TM

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8 Brilliant Results | November/December 2004 www.brilliantpublishing.comwww.brilliantpublishing.com

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Brilliant Results | November/December 2004 9www.brilliantpublishing.com

If you wear it, hug it or carry it, there is a good chancethat it has a nonprofit organization’s logo. In the current competitive philanthropic climate, charities are increasingly expanding their use of promotionalproducts for donation requests. For many years, returnaddress labels and the annual calendar have been thegifts of choice for most charities.

Today, the standard address labels and calendarsremain the preferred front-end direct mail incentive,but they have been joined by an imaginative array ofback-end gifts. Whether it is The NatureConservancy’s crane, The National WildlifeFederation’s polar bear or the World WildlifeFederation panda, the introduction of plush toys hasresulted in increased donations. According to MartinaWhite of the National Wildlife Federation, when herorganization first started using plush animals theysaw up to 75% increases in donations.

White added: “Of course, this has leveled out over the past four years, as the market has come to expect these incentives.”

Still, plush animals remain popular, and mostdirect mail solicitations from wildlife-oriented charities now offer one – a generous donor could collect a zoo of plush animals!

Cash In withPromotional Products

-Profits-ProfitsBR1204_Section01.qxl 11/26/04 11:11 AM


If wearables are your cup of tea, the T-shirt, poncho, windbreaker and sweatshirtofferings are unlimited for those willing to makea donation. Often used as gifts for donations,these items have now become a staple of manynonprofit organizations’ online gift shops. Oneof the most popular wearables has been theLance Armstrong Foundation’s “Live Strong”bracelet. This $1 yellow silicone rubber bandhas sold at the rate of 100,000 per day, andthere currently is a three to four week deliverywait. The bracelet craze is proof positive thatpromotional products, presented as part of animaginative charity campaign, can be profitablefor a nonprofit.

If you would rather carry your gift, there isbound to be a nonprofit offering a tote bag orbackpack in just your size. If you are worriedabout rain, umbrellas tend to make springappearances on direct mail solicitations, andinsulated mugs, to keep those winter bever-ages warm, are available on most Web sites.

Determining How Much To SpendIn order to be deemed outstanding, even the

most creative nonprofit campaign must have amethod of determining how much is too muchto spend on a fund-raising program. This isbecause government regulators, voluntarywatchdog organizations, the media and thegeneral public all are interested in knowinghow much of the money contributed to a non-profit organization is spent on fund raising andhow much actually goes to the cause. This ismost frequently determined by dividing thetotal amount of public contribution by the fund-raising expense, with a predetermined percent-age indicating when too much was spent.

Wilson C. Levis, director of the AverageGift Size Study Project, has developed a supplemental way of evaluating fund-raisingcosts in an effort to answer donor’s

This $1 yellow silicone

rubber band has sold at

the rate of 100,000

per day, and there

currently is a three to

four week delivery wait.

The bracelet craze is

proof positive that

promotional products,

presented as part of an

imaginative charity

campaign, can

be profitable

for a nonprofit.

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“How much of my gift will be used for fund-raising?” questions. The Average Gift SizeStudy Project suggests that a third element, thenumber of gifts, should be added to the avail-able information package used to evaluate fund-raising costs. The following chart illustrates theusefulness of the cost per gift parameter.• Comparing Charity A and Charity B we find

that both have the same fund-raising cost per-centage of 45%. However, when the cost pergift (CPG) is compared we find that Charity Aonly uses $2.25 of each donor’s gift for fund-raising, while Charity B uses $15.00.

• Comparing the fund-raising percentages ofCharity B and Charity C makes Charity C lookmore cost effective than Charity B. When com-paring the cost per gift (CPG) of these twocharities, it also confirms that Charity C is themost cost effective fund-raiser.

Since there is often a difference in the constituen-cies of various charities, some having small-amountdonors and others with large-amount donors, thisfact tends to skew the fund-raising cost percentage.By formulating the average cost per gift (within cer-tain limits), it may help to determine the efficiency ofa nonprofit’s fund-raising efforts.

Who and How To Ask For a DonationAccording to a recent article Navigating the

Future: Philanthropy and a Changing World, writ-ten by Susan Raymond, Ph.D., there are four prin-cipal sources of donations:• Corporations whose giving in the last 30 years

has doubled in inflation-adjusted terms with aminimum projected level of giving in the range of$17 billion by 2015.

• Individuals whose rate of giving in five of the last10 years has seen a growth rate of more than 9%,giving this sector a minimum projected givinglevel of a quarter of a trillion dollars by 2015.

• Bequests that now represent $21 billion and are pro-jected to reach a minimum of $35.4 billion by 2015.

• Foundations that have had inflation-adjusteddeclines in giving in only four of the last 20 yearsand are on target, particularly with the entry ofthe Gates Foundation, to reach a minimum of $58billion by 2015.

Thus, according to Dr. Raymond’s projections, aminimum of $360 billion in philanthropic givingcan be anticipated by 2015.

Public Fund-Raising Fund- Number Average CostSupport Expense Raising of Gifts Gift Size Per Gift

CostPercentage

A B B/A x 100 C A/C B/C

Charity A $1,000,000 $450,000 45% 200,000 $ 5.00 $2.25 CPG

Charity B $1,000,000 $450,000 45% 30,000 $33.33 $15.00 CPG

Charity C $1,000,000 $150,000 15% 30,000 $33.33 $5.00 CPG

a minimum of $360

billion in philanthropicgiving can be

anticipated by 2015.

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:02 PM

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This positive climate for philanthropyis further borne out by the PhilanthropicGiving Index Summer 2004 published byThe Center on Philanthropy at IndianaUniversity. The Philanthropic GivingIndex is a semiannual study of the climatefor philanthropic giving and fund-raisingin the United States, or in simple terms,it is similar to a Consumer ConfidenceIndex for charitable giving. The subjectsof the survey represent a cross sectionof the nonprofit sector in terms of sub-sectors, revenue size and donor base.The above graph compares the currentconsensus of the panel with respect to the fund-raising climate over the past year.

When this information is combinedwith Dr. Raymond’s research, we have notonly indications of a growing fund-raising“pot of gold,” but also of a populationwith an increased willingness to give.

So, as they used to say in the oldgame shows, the $64,000 question isthis: What methods are the most suc-cessful in obtaining your nonprofit’sshare of this bounty? Returning to theIndiana University’s Center on

Philanthropy’s report, we find that themost successful solicitation techniquesin their survey were major gifts anddirect mail.

In the past, fund-raisers have beenquite successful at predicting the effective-ness of direct mail, and those predictionshave only varied from actual numbers byabout seven tenths of a percent.

Based on the information presented,nonprofit organizations that want to beflush will consult with promotionalproducts professionals. The promotionsprofessionals can provide campaignswith gifts that meet effective cost ofgift parameters, attract the attention ofpotential donors and reward thosedonors in such a way that the nonprofitorganization’s name appears in theircheckbook over and over again. Withsome $8 billion dollars in annual indi-vidual giving up for grabs, today’seffective nonprofit fund-raiser shouldbe receiving much more than loosechange. The appropriate and sophisti-cated use of promotional products willensure that savvy fund-raisers gettheir fair share. •

In the past, fund-raisers have

been quite successful at

predicting theeffectiveness of

direct mail, andthose predictionshave only varied

from actual numbers by about

seven tenths of a percent.

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By: Bill Nissim

Irecently attended a lecture series at OxfordUniversity and one presenter, Dr. RichardSchoenberg, illustrated why some organizationssucceed while others fail to harness the essence ofcustomer satisfaction. His concept could beapplied to any ongoing concern and quicklydepicts gaps between products/services offeredand actual consumer behavior. Several monthslater I came across another body of research thatdealt with similar issues, but the model andapproach differed. Dr. Clayton Christensen(Harvard Business School) proposed his theory,which unveiled the difference between innovativeverses, a sustaining business model and theprocess of emergent verses deliberate strategies.A myriad of other relevant concepts from accom-plished authors were also applied to this article tocomplete the discussion.

Nonprofit Market AnalysisNonprofit Market Analysis

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This meta-analysis (culminationof works) illuminates and discusses the essentials of severalacademic theories and compares/contrasts them to an archetypal,nonprofit organization. Theassumption is that nonprofits utilize flat organizations and theirbudgetary constraints limit accessto consultants who can acquireand apply such concepts.Furthermore, fulfilling their dailychallenges affords little time toreflect on strategic shifts in theirvalue segment. This brief alertssenior management to contem-plate these theories and to assessapplicability to their own organiza-tional design. The following stepswill help the organization’s man-agement apply these concepts totheir own business.

Step1: Defining BusinessModel Type

Organizations tend to defineWHO they are and WHAT theydo based on the task at hand.For example, if you knitsweaters for the homeless, onemight consider themselvesclothiers and their goal is toclothe those in need. Anotherway to evaluate our example isbased on disciplines and meth-ods that constitute a businessmodel. To continue with ourexample, if one were to makethe highest quality sweater,then they would be considered“best product” and the organi-zational attributes would be

structured around that process(The Discipline of MarketLeaders, Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema). If you highlycustomize your sweaters, youwould be considered “customerintimate” and if your organiza-tion was highly efficient at thatprocess, you would be deemed“operationally excellent.”

According to Treacy &Wiersema, all organizationsoperate in all three arenassimultaneously, but the entityis organized around one domi-nant process. By stepping backand considering these twostrategic issues, mainly WHATyou do and HOW you do it, youcan quickly identify your busi-

ness model type. This determi-nation, in my opinion, is criticalwhen undertaking a value-gapanalysis.

Step 2: Value-Gap AnalysisThe framework of a value-gap

analysis is comprised of two con-stituencies: identification of gapsin consumer value that are notbeing fulfilled and re-definingthe competitive rules. Let’s lookat an organization that most arefamiliar with – the airline indus-try. Back in the 1980’s,Southwest Airlines found a gap(low-cost, no frills travel) in the air-line industry and built a businessmodel around that unfulfilledneed. Management understood

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/18/04 12:35 AM


that competing head-to-head (using their rules) ofthe other giant airlines meant certain disaster.Southwest Airlines, in effect, changed the rulesand was rewarded with market dominance andmonetary prosperity during tumultuous times.Southwest built a low-cost business model byemploying point-to-point service; one aircraft type(Boeing 737), which reduced maintenance costsand cross-functionally, trained all their employeesto engage in multiple activities.

A value gap analysis consists of plotting yourdirect competitors on at least seven key attributesthey consistently deliver. Next, by observingbehavior or through surveys, have your target audi-ence rate each attribute in terms of importance.The variance between competitive offerings andcustomer behavior will readily emerge. By reduc-ing, eliminating, or increasing those attributes, anew position will be created that more accuratelysuits the behavior of your targeted audience. Thisexercise not only identifies opportunities, but alsoreduces or eliminates activities that consumers donot value and in turn, reduces associated costs.

If we apply this theory to the Southwest exam-ple (see graph), one can quickly assimilate attrib-utes of importance to the discount traveler and byfilling those needs, how a successful businessmight be developed. As the graph indicates, cus-tomers felt that food and comfort, which airlineswere offering, possessed little value when com-pared to on-time flights and a fun experience. As aresult, Southwest eliminated meals, minimizedseating, but focused on frequency of on-time flightsand created a “fun” experience from check-in tothe destination arrival.

To summarize, Dr. Richard Schoenberg suggestsmapping the behavior of your target audience andfind “gaps” that are being ignored or underdevel-oped. Next, adjust your business model to elimi-nate, reduce, or increase value in areas that aremeaningful to the user. Finally, change the rules ofthe game and make them hard to follow.

Step 3: Sustaining verses Disruptive Business

Another approach to assessing the marketplacefor your organization considers circumstances overgenerally accepted quantitative tools/methods forcreating growth. Let’s start with how the organi-zation categorizes its business.

According to Christensen, people “hire” prod-ucts to do specific “jobs” in everyday matters (TheInnovator’s Solution, Christensen). Most profes-sional organizations utilize market research per-sonnel or firms to quantitatively analyze the “num-bers” and derive correlations between attributesand customers. Christensen suggests that “thefunctional, emotional, and social dimensions of thejobs that customers need to get done constitutethe circumstances in which they buy.” The criticalpoint here is segmenting your business around cir-cumstances verses customers determines yoursuccess. Returning to the Southwest example, thecircumstances of discount and business flyers war-ranted a demand for inexpensive, high frequency,and fun travel. The Southwest business modelembodied functional (frequency/inexpensive),emotional (fun/relaxing), and social (light-heartedservice, whimsical) with every experience. Inshort, Southwest segmented their business alongthe circumstances of travel and not the customerand has built a 20-year history of success.

Christensen asserts three approaches to creat-ing growth; sustaining, low-end disruptions, andnew market disruptions. What is the importanceof these concepts to nonprofits or any otherorganization? The unequivocal answer is allorganizations need to grow! By now, you havediscerned WHO and WHAT your organizationdoes and if the dominant process entails bestoffering, customer intimacy, or organizationalcompetence. Next, you have undertaken a value-gap analysis and determined gaps and shiftingthe rules of competition. Also, you’ve considered

Christensen suggests that“the functional, emotional,

and social dimensions of the jobs that customers

need to get done constitutethe circumstances

in which they buy.”

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:03 PM

ASI� ��

BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/17/04 11:13 PM


the circumstances to WHY people buy and how they hire products/services toachieve them.

The next step involves howyou are going to create growth.A sustaining approach seeks tocontinuously improve the offer-ing and initiate cost contain-ment. A second approach isdeemed a low-end disruption(ex. Southwest A/L) that deliv-ers “good-enough” performanceat affordable prices. The final,or new market disruption, com-petes against non-competition.(The depth and complexity ofthis topic could not be con-tained in this article and theauthor recommends readingChristensen’s book.)

The importance of whichgrowth strategy you selectsolidifies the direction andactions you’ll take. If yourorganization continuouslyimproves its methods to delivera service while clamping downon costs, the path takenequates to a sustaining strate-gy, which increasingly addsmore performance to capturegrowth. If the increasing capa-bility exceeds what customer’sdesire (over-shoot needs), thepossibility exists for a segmentof donors to seek other venues.An example might be a grass-roots organization that, overtime, has taken on too many

causes in an effort to grow. Inthis case, donors might feel themessage has been diluted andwill find another cause to sup-port, which is more centered.

Step 4: Deliberate verses Emergent Strategies

A final theory posed byChristensen culminates WHATyou do and HOW you do it in rela-tion to the marketplace and yourorganization on the whole. Hesuggests that two simultaneousprocesses operate in every organ-ization that defines strategy. A“deliberate” strategy is derivedby analysis, is measurable, and isimplemented by senior manage-ment. An “emergent strategy” isderived from unanticipated oppor-tunities and is a process of dailydecisions of the organization.

Let’s go back to our sweaterbusiness example. You maketwo sweaters – one out of cot-ton and the other wool. Yourstrategic direction is to donatethe more durable sweaters nextyear, but the organizationreceives requests for the cheap-er cotton sweaters. Thus, theorganization allocates resourcesto invest in cotton material andthe net result is the organiza-tion’s actual strategy. Here liesthe critical point – do you adaptemergent opportunities/prob-lems or force a deliberate strat-egy on your organization?

SummaryThe intent of this meta-

analysis was to introduce sev-eral market analysis theoriesand then generate reflection onthe part of nonprofit manage-ment. Nonprofits stretch theirresources to accomplish thetask at hand without having toconsider “competitive forces”which are lurking around thecorner. Since time, money, andenergy are limited commodities,the ability to think strategicallyabout your organization’s direc-tion is more critical than ever.

Undertaking a marketplaceanalysis achieves two strategicobjectives: it identifies WHATyou do and HOW you do itwith respect to the currentcircumstances of your donorbase. A value-gap analysisquickly discerns those attrib-utes, which are important,and those to increase,reduce, or completely elimi-nate. Defining if you areattempting to sustain yourcurrent activities or createnew value will determine afuture direction. Finally, willyou follow the emergentopportunities or drive deliber-ate strategies to initiategrowth. These questions willnot only define your organi-zation’s future, but also re-organize how you serve yourexisting constituents. •

Bill Nissim consults with non-profit organizations on brandmanagement issues. His websitecontains reference materials,links, and helpful articles on themany facets of branding atwww.ibranz.com.

An example might be agrass-roots organization

that, over time, has takenon too many causes in

an effort to grow.

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By Randall P. Whatley, President, Cypress Media Group

Studies have shown that an audience bases theirjudgment of the quality of a speaker as follows:

• Body Language: 55%• Vocal Qualities 38%• Words 7%

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Over 93% of your perception as a speakeris from factors other than what you say!

Eye contact The eyes communicate powerful cognitive mes-

sages. Presenters should not underestimate their abilityto persuade an audience with their eyes. Following aretips to achieve better eye contact with an audience:• Mentally divide the room in 3-5 equal sections, and

make eye contact with each section • When speaking from notes, follow these rules:

- Look at your notes - Absorb one idea - Make eye contact with individuals in the audi-

ence - Speak your full idea - Repeat this pattern

Facial expressionsFacial expressions also communicate cognitive

messages and emotions. They enhance your verbal communication by producing “feelingtone,” the impression that you care about what you’re saying.

The following tips will help you use facial expres-sions to increase your persuasiveness:• Smile before you begin speaking • Don’t be either mechanical or melodramatic;

act naturally • Think about what you’re saying and react

with facial expressions to match or enhance the thought

Hand gesturesHand gestures are important to emphasize

words and emotions, illustrate verbal messages, or even replace verbal messages altogether.

Following are tips on using better hand gestures:• Keep your hands by your side or neutrally in front

of you, unless you can use them to make a point. • Avoid doing the following with your hands:

- Putting them behind your back - Putting them in your pockets - Putting them in front of you - Using them to fidget

• Keep most gestures at chest level • Think about what you’re saying and react with

hand gestures to match or enhance your message

PosturePosture is an important element of your body

language because it can communicate your mes-sage with confidence.

Following are tips for achieving better posture:• Before your presentation, sit or stand straight • Walk confidently to the podium • Assume the “basic speaker stance,” which is as fol-

lows: - Feet 12-18 inches apart and turned slightly out-

ward - Weight evenly distributed over the balls of both

feet - Body leaning slightly toward the audience - Hands at sides - Elbows loose

ImprovisingNo matter how well you prepare a presentation,

problems sometimes occur. If this happens, youmust improvise to salvage your presentation.

It is important that you remember the followingwhen problems occur during your presentation:• Problems should be ignored, if possible • Extra audience attention should not be called to

the problem • Quickly solve the problem, but if you cannot, move on • Avoid breaking the flow of your presentation

when a problem occurs • If you have to delay your verbal presentation,

remind the audience what you were talking aboutbefore the interruption, and then continue

www.brilliantpublishing.com24 Brilliant Results | November/December 2004

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:03 PM


Following are ways to handlespecific problems that occurduring presentations:Microphone problems• If you experience feedback, popping

noises, or distortion, you may be tooclose—move back

• If the microphone problem contin-ues, fill your lungs with air andspeak without a mike

Audio-visual support problems• You cannot depend on audio-visual

supports for presentation successand you must be prepared to pro-ceed without them

• If an audio-visual problem arisesduring your presentation, choosethe path that is least distractingto the audience to correct the problem

Dropped note cards• Continue without them, if possible • If you cannot continue without

them, stop, pick them up, and continue

Unfriendly audiences• Answer hostile questions briefly,

without becoming defensive, andthen take another question

• Address unfriendly audience mem-bers by first stressing areas of mutual agreement or understanding

• Handle hecklers by pausing, makingeye contact with the heckler, butnot saying anything. Usually anaudience member will addressthem. If this fails, ask the heckler tospeak to you after your presentationis over. If you are heckled a thirdtime, request that the heckler beremoved from the room

Evaluate your presentation afterward

Once you finish presenting, evaluateyourself within 24 hours. If you haveideas on how to strengthen yourmaterial, make the changes immedi-ately while the ideas are fresh.

If you have ideas on how tostrengthen your performance, makenotes and implement these ideaswith your next presentation.

Review any evaluations that youreceive. Do not dwell on negative com-ments, but focus instead on your overallscores and averages in each category.

Randall P. Whatley, is a 26-yearmedia veteran with diverse businessexperience. Whatley is president ofCypress Media Group, Inc.,www.cypressmedia.net, an Atlanta-basedadvertising, public relations, and train-

ing firm. He has extensive experienceadvising government officials, politicalcandidates, public officials, and corpo-rate executives on media relations andpresentation skills. His presentationskills have been honed as a lobbyistand political consultant on over 50campaigns in four states. The authorcan be reached by e-mail [email protected]. •

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TBrilliant Results | November/December 2004 27

here are three types of business names, Healthy, Injuredor on Life-Support.

Corporations must know the hidden powers of theirnames. Each business name has several components ofteninvisible to marketing executives and these characteristicsand split personalities determine the success or failure ofa name. To measure the effectiveness of a name or to seehow much extra luggage a name is burdened with, usethe following guidelines for a general check up.

Today, good corporate identities skate at bulletspeed on this flat new earth, a place without bordersor passports, time zones or delays. Under the newrules the global name driven economy is hummingalong with the help of the now-ubiquitous Internet.

The right name works like a key, which can open thedoors of this net kingdom. Indeed, for marketers, whomust learn to play on this one flat earth, the competitivefog is so thick that without the right key the name iden-tity is simply doomed. The ’60s were for burning flagsand bras – now is the time to burn most of the old mar-keting and branding books. This name rating provides awake-up call for corporations to reposition, recharge, andrestart the main engines.

So are all the Great Names gone? Only a myth? For atime, North American corporations were convinced thatstar quality names were all taken and they had to accept whatever weird, silly names could be delivered by agencies,

Each business

name has several

components often

invisible to marketing

executives and

these characteristics

and split personalities

determine the

success or failure

of a name.

a Quick Test

Naming Standard...

www.brilliantpublishing.com

By Naseem Javed, President, ABC Namebank

A Five Star

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:04 PM

who, despite delivering award-win-ning logos and commercials, seriously failed in naming. A falsemyth was created to cover the lack of skills and naming was farmed outto skateboarding freelancers for “a-buck-a-name.” Five hundred bucksgot you 500 names. Where else wouldnames like “Oinga or Boinga” comefrom? What ever happened toPurpleFrog or PinkRhino?

It is a false rumor that all good nameshave been taken. But one must under-stand what makes a good name today.

This is all about the structure of aname and its impact and not about itstype font or logo. Equally important isvisibility in global e-commerce, a micro-multinational formation in a maze ofcountries and cultures. A star qualityname not only has instant accessibilityand quick search-ability on the ’Net,

but must be distinct and memorableto an overly strained populace typ-

ing with tired fingers. The old-fashioned gigantic logos andsplashing colors and stripes have

nothing to do with this.No delays, no barriers,

just access. No matter

what a name isused for, either a

corporation or con-glomerate, con-

sumer brand,trust, union,

bank, gov-ernmentagency or aWeb portal,

it is still aname to a customer, and it must

achieve its goal. All names areseeking attention frominvestors, shareholders or cus-

tomers, while trying to provetheir point of view. Good names

have direct impact on corporate per-

sona and positively influence customers,shareholders, media and public opinionat large.

So, how does a name measure up?As the rating below will reveal, manycorporate names on the list may be inserious need of re-evaluation for their relative positioning on the nationalscene and also the emerging globalmarkets. The prevalence of geographicor descriptive names reveals corpora-tions stuck in the last century; namesformed of initials or pure dictionarywords can be impossible to work within daily commerce and on the ’Net; andquestions are raised by some of themore casual names which may not com-mand the sobriety and trustworthinessnow demanded by investors and cus-tomers due to recent fiascos.Corporations must ensure that they areappealing to a ’Net savvy, globally inter-active audience. It’s time to explore thepowers of healthy names and the newlaws of marketing.

A Five-Star Standard for Naming…

A Quick TestHealthy Names: When a name is fit to play the

game, it can join the race and sprint to win.1. Easy to Use: Is the name very easy to

understand? Spell, type, talk about orrefer to? This name is linguisticallyacceptable as a transparent word-mark in the global marketplace.Examples: SONY, Microsoft. TELUS

2. Unique and powerful: Is the namedeveloped with a unique alpha-struc-ture, as a one of a kind word-mark inthe world? Powerful, yet very friendly,this name works like a kind of magic,while emulating sobriety. Examples:INTEL Panasonic, 3M.

3. Highly Relevant; Does the name fit thepersonality and the type of business it’s


So are all the Great Names gone?

This is all about thestructure of a name

and its impact and notabout its type font

or logo. Equally important is visibility in

global e-commerce, a micro-multinational

formation in a maze of countries

and cultures.

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:04 PM

Make your name and number always handy!Over 83% of businesses purchase products and services

from the advertisers who supplied them with a calendar

P: 800.383.7149 W: warwickpublishing.com E: [email protected]

ASI 95280

BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/17/04 11:14 PM


in, and quickly conveys the market-ing objectives? Is it trustworthy andrespectful, and does it fit like aglove? Examples: PlayStation,DirtDevil, HeliJet, Technovision, asSony is to sound and TELUS totelecommunications.

4. Identical dot-com: Is there a 100%identical dot-com to go with thename? Are there other characters,words, dashes or initials insertedinto a URL causing major distrac-tion? Dot-com is the only goldstandard. Less than 5% have anidentical dotcom the rest have eas-ily forgettable suffixes or extrawords inserted in the URLs.

5. Ownership: Is the name globallytrademarked and does it have afull intellectual property plan tostay on course as a global word-mark? Sometimes a single countryregistration is not enough. Lessthan 5% of corporations haveglobal protection the rest shyaway from dozens of countries allbecause of the name.

These five critical steps areabsolutely necessary for a name topass this acid test of a 5 StarStandard, otherwise a name will neverperform or win the race. Unhealthynames will have a very hard timebuilding any significant CorporateImage and sooner or later will bechanged. Injured Names will seriouslyhurt the business growth and some-times may even kill the project, first.

Injured Names: When a name appears to be

injured. It can stay in the race butmay not win. 1. Diluted: Are there far too many

identical or similar names in themarketplace? Can this name easilyget lost in e-commerce, tradedirectories or in the huge globalmarketplace? Like Allied,Quantum, Dynamic, Prism, Axsis,Nexis etc.

2. Confusing: Is money being spentcorrecting various perceptions ofthe name in the marketplace? Arethere constant struggles with thepositioning of the image? Did thebusiness style change but not thename? Is the name selling dis-tilled water or computers or both?

3. Descriptive: Is the name simply adescription of what the companydoes? Does it resemble words on astring rather than a properly format-ted name? Was it a very long namethat got initialized and is now astrange acronym? Are these only dictionary words? Why not sharethe profits too as dictionary wordsbelong to the general public.Examples: North Western PipelineCompany, or NWPC or NOWEPICO.

4. Geographic: Was the name bor-rowed from the atlas? Does thename tie to a locale while thenational and global opportunitiesare seriously missed? Business isonly global. E-commerce has nonationalities or passports.Worldwide, geographic namesare very cumbersome. Like,Pacific Northern, Pacific Rim,East this and West that.

These five critical

steps are absolutely

necessary for a name

to pass the acid test

of a 5 Star Standard,

otherwise a name

will never perform

or win the race.

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:04 PM

Is Your Promotional Dollar Measuring Up? How many of your

promotional products sit in the junk drawer?Now, how many times do you open the fridge?

That’s space worthy of your logo and

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BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/17/04 11:14 PM

®TM


5. Surnames: How is the founder doing?Hopefully doing great? Unless legendaryand dead, the use of a founder’s surname isalways a high risk when it comes to mediaexposure as it ties the company to a singlepersonality and his or her sometimes-exoticbehaviors. Globally, surnames are beingchanged at a very fast rate.

Life Support Names: When names have too many obvious prob-

lems, they struggle and wait to be changedand eventually die. 1. Spelling Problems Do customers spell this

name four different ways? Is it also splittingthe customer traffic in four different direc-tions? Is it resulting in a quarter of your totalprofits? Is the name caught in translationissues, sending strange messages to our high-ly cosmopolitan societies, and scaring poten-tial customers away? Axprts, InConeXXus.

2. Split Personalities Is this name transmittingdifferent and weird personalities to differentgroups at different times? Is it costing a lot ofextra money to maintain its course? Examples:GoldShares – are they stockbrokers, gamblers,jewelers or miners? SoftStreams – a river? Aromantic Web site? Piped music, softwaredevelopment? Or what?

3. Structural Issues: Is it a too-short alphanu-meric combination or a footlong name?Customers may be clicking onto the nextpage with big sales missed in seconds.Were dingbat symbols inserted or wereweird formations created? Is this creativeoverkill hurting the business? Like @Home,MBANX, ING, BENQ, NZNX, AUNX.

4. No Dot-com This name lacks an identical dot-com. Instead, we see a twisted URL withexcessive luggage or a series of forgettable

weird suffixes such as dot-biz, dot-net, dot-info and so on. Some corporations have theiridentical dot-com redirected to a dot-ca site toappear domestic. This is practiced by a lot ofmultinationals. However, it works best whenthere is an original dot-com in the first place.

5. No Proper Trademark No proper trade-marks? Why join the race? No matter howbig the celebrations for the name launch,the real parties happen at the law firmswho later enjoy the legal entanglements inperpetuity. Corporations should allocatelegal resources upfront to globally securegreat names, rather than fight losing bat-tles over weak names later.

Recommendations To measure the effectiveness of a name,

obtain a professional detailed analysis of yourspecific name in conjunction with your partic-ular markets and in your special hierarchy ofnaming architecture All this should be backedby solid suggestions along with new choicesfor brand new 5 Star quality names.

This is not difficult at all. However, it isimperative that the proper Rules of CorporateNaming and the right expertise is applied. Aproperly executed exercise is the best solutionto a lingering problem. •

Naseem Javed, author of Naming for Power andalso Domain Wars is recognized as a world authorityon Name Identities and Domain Issues. The Presidentof ABC Namebank, www.abcnamebank.com, withoffices in New York & Toronto. E-Mail your URLs orcurrent business names for a complimentary evalua-tion. Please identify your job title and backgroundinformation on your company and the use of thatname. All correspondence is confidential. E-mail:[email protected]

©

Corporations should

allocate legal resources

upfront to globally secure

great names, rather than

fight losing battles over

weak names later.

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MicroClairAd_1204 11/19/04 5:03 PM


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“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz…” It is just a sound bite, butwhen we hear it, only one product comes to mind. If, assome say, we have reduced the meaning of our time tosound bites, then no one has done that better than suc-cessful brands. For good or ill, our culture is a market-driv-en society, and advertising is the driving force of that mar-ket. As the late Marshall McLuhan said, “Historians andarchaeologists will one day discover that the ads of ourtimes are the richest and most faithful daily reflectionsany society ever made of its whole range of activities.”

Not only does advertising motivate our actions, whenit is successful, it moves and entertains us. Nowhere isthis truer than in advertising’s use of the sound bite.Whether it is a slogan or a jingle, who does not knowwhat is “M’m! M’m! Good!” where M&M’S melt or whatis 99.44/100% pure? The only surprising thing is how longwe have known about these products. Would you believeone brand is 122 years old and still going strong, whilethe baby of the group just turned 50? A good sound bitehas staying power.

That influence and staying power is perhaps best illustrated by the advertising campaign, “A Diamond isForever.” Prior to the DeBeers mining syndicate associat-ing a diamond with eternal romance, the diamond solitaire as the symbol of betrothal did not exist. Now,because of one simple advertising slogan, the diamondengagement ring is virtually standard worldwide, anddiamonds are, with thanks to Marilyn Monroe, a “girl’sbest friend.” The diamond as a precious gemstone has

“Products aremade in the

factory, but brandsare created in the

mind.” Walter Landor

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


become such a part of society thattoday even women without engage-ment rings are purchasing special ringsto wear on the right hand because spe-cific branding has created a nouveauattitude that a diamond on the righthand shows how much a woman valuesherself. The DeBeers slogan now haseven more value behind it. Not bad forfour words that just turned 56 years old.

These advertising cultural changesare not just a thing of the past, but alsothe often-observed phenomena of asuccessful sound bite. Case in point,“Absolutely, Positively Overnight” hasmade overnight package delivery astandard business practice. It was only16 years ago that we decided we need-ed to “Just Do It.” Then, there are thesound bites that transcend their brandsand become a part of the everyday lan-guage, such as “Where’s the beef?” So,whether it is diamonds, overnight deliv-ery, exercise or hamburgers, the rightsound bite can make all the difference.

So, how does a company develop asound bite that resonates with the publicand establishes its brand in the heartsand minds of consumers? Because theUnited States is a combination of manycultures and traditions, its citizens have a

wide range of differing ideas about whatis and is not important. Although all slo-gans or sound bites mean something,what that something is can differ widelyfrom one person to another. It is thisneed to attract customers over a broadspectrum that promotes the systematicambiguity of sound bites, making themthe language of consensus. Examples ofthis phenomena abound, most people canagree that they want to “Have it yourway” and that “You deserve a breaktoday.” However, whether or not theyneed to eat at Burger King or McDonald’sis another matter.

Developing the right sound bite orslogan for an advertising campaignoften requires that a company thinkoutside accepted paradigms. For exam-ple, the advertising mantra ”sex sells”is not necessarily true if you examinethe recent ranking by Advertising Ageof the 100 greatest ad campaigns of thecentury. In the Advertising Age rankingsonly eight campaigns invoked sex, onlyseven employed celebrities and onlyfour played on consumer fear and inse-curity. For those of you who might becurious, the top ten of Advertising Age’s100 greatest ad campaigns are:

1. Volkswagen, “Think Small,” DoyleDane Bernbach, 1959.

2. Coca-Cola, “The pause that refresh-es,” D’Arcy Co., 1929.

3. Marlboro, The Marlboro Man, LeoBurnett Co., 1955.

4. Nike, “Just do it,” Wieden &Kennedy, 1988.

5. McDonald’s, “You deserve a breaktoday,” Needham, Harper & Steers,1971.

6. DeBeers, “A diamond is forever”,N.W. Ayer & Son, 1948.

7. Absolut Vodka, The Absolut Bottle,TBWA, 1981.

8. Miller Lite beer, “Tastes great, lessfilling,” McCann-Erickson Worldwide,1974.

9. Clairol, “Does she…or doesn’t she?”Foote, Cone & Belding, 1957.

10. Avis, “We try harder,” Doyle 10.Dane Bernbach, 1963.

Developing theright sound biteor slogan for an

advertising campaign oftenrequires that acompany think

outside acceptedparadigms.

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BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/17/04 11:15 PM


Companies often keep using a successfulsound bite for years, and it is not just manufac-turers that successfully use ”gray haired” soundbites. Most people know what state is for lovers(Virginia) and what state they love (New York).This sound bite durability is due in part to thedifficulty of creating a sound bite that meets keycriteria for effectiveness.

According to adslogans.com, a Web site devotedto designing and evaluating slogans, there are 10key criteria for evaluating a slogan’s effectiveness:

1. It’s memorable.2. It recalls the brand name.3. It includes a key benefit.5. It differentiates the brand.6. It reflects the brand personality.7. It’s believable.8. It’s strategic.9. It’s competitive.10. It’s original.11. It’s not in current use by others.

By assigning values of Agree = +10, Neutral = 0and Disagree = -10 to each of these statements, anevaluation score can be arrived at by subtractingthe total disagree score from the total agree score.This evaluation provides a simple starting point forfocused sound bite analysis, but does not addressthe amount of effort, thought and creative geniusinvolved in sound bite creation.

Corporate image consultant Dennis Keeneupped the stakes for creating a winning soundbite when, in a recent BusinessWeek article, hesaid that “people don’t trust inconsistency, and

advertisers who change directions frequently aresusceptible to not being trusted.” This matter oftrust is reflected in the number of brands usingsound bites that are 30, 40, 50 and, in some cases,over 100 years old. For those who may doubt thestaying power of a good sound bite, test yourmemory with a few of these sound bite seniors(answers appear at the end of this article).

When you consider that the total of all printedknowledge doubles every 4 or 5 years and thatmore than 1 million new Web sites are createdevery day, creating a memorable sound bite is adaunting task. Add David Kiley’s recent observa-tion in his BusinessWeek article A New Season forCar Slogans that even major industry leaders arehaving difficulties breaking through the “ad clut-ter” and reaching their targets with lasting brandmessages, and it is easy to see why successful oldsound bites keep on “going and going and going.”

These aspects of sound bite development donot even take into consideration the millions ofdollars spent on the average ad campaign. Here,promotional products can provide some assis-tance. After a company has created an effectivesound bite, the use of promotional products canhelp make that sound bite memorable. Whetherit is “The Ultimate Driving Machine” inscribedon a BMW logo key chain, a tote bag thatencourages its owner to revisit that great vaca-tion spot, a pair of sandals that leave imprints inthe sand, a coffee mug that conjures up memo-ries of “Good to the Last Drop” coffee or a penthat reminds you to “Never leave home withoutit,” creative promotional products can ingenious-ly bring your brand to mind.

1. Breakfast of Champions

2. When you care enough to send the very best

3. When it rains, it pours.

4. Mmm, mmm good

5. I’d walk a mile for a

6. Shot from guns

7. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking

8. 99 and 44/100% pure

9. Snap, Crackle, Pop

10. The instrument of the immortals

Bonus. His master’s voice

Sound Bite – Slogan Company/Brand Decade Appeared

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


For those companies interested in exploring thebrave new world that micro chips have opened upin the promotional products arena, your sound bitecan now be heard as well as seen by your clients.This new sound power can give your company adistinct sales and marketing edge. Promotionalproducts manufacturers like Clegg Industries cur-rently produce a wide variety of high-qualityresults-driven sound promotions. Whether yourcompany interests lean toward direct mail, invita-tions, packaging, pens, key chains, buttons, cards,or even magazine inserts, these can all beenhanced by the power of sound. Yes, be it wordsor melody, you can now bring your sound bite tolife. Further, recent studies by sound product man-ufacturers have found that adding sound:

• Increases response rates by 500%;• Enhances the impact of print advertising; and • Audio branding reinforces your name and message.

Additional innovation in sound is availablefrom companies like Citiscape Shapes, Ltdwhose CD business card combines the power ofsound and image. This innovative business cardwas recently used by Hamilton County, Indianaas a part of its award winning CountyGovernment Tent Project. The CD business card

allowed the county to provide visitorswith a county map and forms alongwith sound information from the dif-ferent county departments. This ver-satile business card can incorporateyour company’s mission statement,facts, products and services all set toyour unique company melody, jingleor sound bite.

For those organizations interested inreaching that younger audience,MusicCard Services from the PhoneCardServices Company opens up the excitingvenue of free music downloads that aredigital quality and completely legal.Their custom designed plastic cards,featuring your company logo, artwork orlatest exciting product, come with aprinted PIN number that opens upaccess to a website with over 700,000songs. Once your customer downloadsand installs the free jukebox, they canredeem their pin and be able to make

their musical selection. Just another way soundcan become a perfect reinforcement for your mes-sage. This is an item that when given out at atrade show or other event is sure to make it homewith your potential customers.

By making one or all of these sound promo-tional products apart of your next ad campaign,your company can increase the odds of yoursound bite appearing in the 21st Century’s list ofgreat advertising sound bites, ad campaigns orjingles. Creating and reinforcing a memorablesound bite can be the difference between asound bite that fades into the ether or one thatechoes in a consumer’s mind reminding them tobuy your brand. •

Sound Bite Answers:1. Wheaties - 1930s;

2. Hallmark - 1930s;

3. Morton Salt – 1912;

4. Campbell Soup - 1930s;

5. Camel Cigarettes – 1921;

6. Quaker Puffed Wheat – 1920s;

7. Timex – 1950s;

8. Ivory Soap – 1882;

9. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies – 1940s

10. Steinway & Sons – 1919; Bonus. Victor Talking Machine

Co. (RCA Victor) - 1901

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/26/04 11:11 AM


"Nothing gives one so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled

under all circumstances." Thomas Jefferson

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


onflict happens. It is

inevitable. It is going

to happen whenever you

have people with different

expectations. This makes

conflict management critical,

whether avoiding arguments,

disputes, lasting conflict or

ultimately, litigtion. Conflict

can be avoided if steps are

taken early in a discussion

to diffuse anger and facilitate

communication, and it can be

resolved by applying a series

of thoughtfully applied steps.

Cby Lee Jay Berman

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


As a full-time mediator and trainerin the fields of negotiation and conflictresolution, I see conflict in its finalstages – full blown litigation or onthe verge of it in pre-litigation mode.What I have learned in seeing thesedisputes for 10 years is that most ofthem could have been resolved in theearliest stages if the people involvedapplied some of the skills that media-tors use to resolve conflict. Andwouldn’t it be great if companiescould resolve these disputes beforeeach side spent hundreds of thou-sands in litigation costs, before theemployee was terminated or beforethe customer or working relationshipwas gone forever?

Here are some tools for avoidingand resolving disputes in the earlystages, before they become full-blown conflicts:

1. Stay Calm. Thomas Jefferson said,

“Nothing gives one so muchadvantage over another as toremain always cool andunruffled under all circum-stances.” The thing thatleads to conflict is escalation.What starts people escalatingis their anger. Most of usstop listening to understandas we get angry. Instead, westart listening in order toargue back. Remaining calmis essential for performingthese tools. To remain calm,

it helps to look at the big picture. Ifyou think about it, most every disputegets resolved eventually. So whenconflict inevitably happens, it ishelpful to stop and think that,chances are, it is going to beresolved eventually. As such, whynot begin problem solving now?

Finally, it is a fact that in our busylives with rush hour traffic, cellphones, PDAs, overfilled e-mailboxes, too many clients and notenough support, that we are all a littlemore stressed than we would like tobe. When a conflict arises, one of themost beneficial things you can do isto ask yourself, “What might I bebringing to the dispute?” We canusually look at another person andfigure that maybe he/she had aconflict at home or that he/she hasbeen under tremendous pressure.


The only way to

settle a dispute or

solve any kind of a

problem is to

listen carefully

to what the other

person is saying.

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


However, we are not usually self-aware enough toask ourselves what we might have going on. It isimportant in avoiding later embarrassment bychecking in with our own personal boiling pointbefore responding.

2. Listen to Understand. Now, picture a dispute in which you were

recently involved. Maybe it was this morning leav-ing the house, with a co-worker or client or evenwith a family member. As you replay that experi-ence, ask yourself how much listening was goingon. My bet is that any listening was only beingdone to formulate an argument back to prove yourpoint. When most of us get into a dispute, the firstthing we do is stop listening.

The only way to settle a dispute or solve anykind of a problem is to listen carefully to what theother person is saying. Perhaps they will surpriseyou with reason, or their point is actually true. Inthe mediations that I do, I often learn what peo-ple’s underlying interests ar by letting them go onand on telling their perspective of an issue untilthey give me the one thing that is standing in theway of them resolving it. They may start out bydegrading the product and personalizing it bysaying those of us who delivered it are all incom-petent, but I find that this is little more than theiranger speaking. What they really want is theirproduct fixed, not to insult us personally.

Psychologists tell us that anger is a secondaryemotion and that it is usually triggered as adefense mechanism to cover up hurt or fear. Whensomeone is angry, there is usually some hurt orfear that he/she is embarrassed about, or perhapseven unaware of because the anger is so all con-suming. In order to diffuse people’s anger, youmust listen to them. Hear them out. Let them gountil they have run out of gas. Let them vent aslong as they can until they begin to calm down.You then will see a person start to slow downsome, and begin to feel safe enough to finally tellyou that what frustrated him or her so much wasthat the salesperson never returned any phonecalls, and/or the customer service person kept try-ing to place blame elsewhere, rather than takingresponsibility and apologizing for the productbeing unacceptable.

The best thing you can do to get people to thepoint where they are willing to show some vulner-ability and trust you with some of the real reasonswhy they are upset is to engage in “ActiveListening.” Active listening means giving them

active physical and verbal signs that you are withthem and understand what they are saying.Simple things like nodding and saying, “Uh huh”or “OK, go on” can make the speaker feel as ifhis/her story is welcomed by you and that youwant to continue. On the phone, people hear deadsilence and cannot read your reaction to their com-plaints and thoughts. Given that we all sometimesfear the worst, people tend to shut down and stopfeeling it is safe to continue telling their story.

My friend and colleague Jim Melamed, a divorcemediator and trainer based in Eugene, Ore., said:“You cannot effectively move toward conflict reso-lution until each participant experiences him/her-self to be fully heard with regard to their perspec-tive – what they want and why.” That means, ifsomeone says that the product he/she bought fromyou is unacceptable, and they are interrupted andasked what would be acceptable before they havefinished telling all about the problem, that persongets the message that all you want to do is fix theproblem. The impression is that you do not careabout them or the problem you had with yourproduct, and that can feel a little like being sweptunder the carpet. A good customer service personin a situation like this would let the client finishbefore asking if there were any other problems.This may seem counter-intuitive because it mightbring on even more of the same, but this is whatyou want. People build trust as they are listenedto. If they had another problem with the deliverytiming or any other facet of the transaction, this iswhen you need to hear it – at the outset, not lateronce you feel as if you have met all of their originalconcerns. The only way to solve a problem is to getall of the broken pieces on the table at once beforeyou begin trying to “glue it back together.”

The most useful phrases in this part of theprocess (what mediators call the “OpeningStatement”) are questions such as, “Can I ask you- what about that bothered you so much?” or“What about that was so important to you?”These invite people to go deeper into the problemand tell you what the “real” problem is. Usually,this is where you hear that their boss is upset andthey are afraid for their job or some underlyingconcern. This is a problem that might be handledwith something as simple as a letter of apology,from you, the salesman or the president of yourcompany, addressed to them with a copy to theirboss, taking full responsibility and apologizing forthe problem. Then, you will have a customer youmight be able to keep.

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3. Accentuate the Positive. It is important to find some

commonalities, or create them,between you and the person onthe other end. It is helpful andempathetic to say, “Oh boy, Iknow what you are goingthrough. I’ve had a similar situa-tion just recently. Let me seewhat I can do about this.” Thisserves to normalize the situation.It tells someone that he/she isnot the only one who has gonethrough this and that his or herreaction to it is normal. Thatcalms people right away.

4. State Your CaseTactfully. The key here is to help peo-

ple understand your perspectiveon things without making themdefensive. To the extent you candisarm them, they will be moreable to hear what you are reallysaying. A couple of tips are toown what is yours – apologizefor what you or your team didwrong and do it first. Thisenables them to hear what youhave to say next. Also, try not tostate issues of difference as fact.Leave a little benefit of the

doubt. Rather than insistingsomething arrived on schedule,it is better to acknowledge anyroom for doubt by acknowledg-ing, “My information showsthem arriving on schedule. I’llhave to take a closer look intothis.” While you may still beright, clearly you have to gathermore information to convincethem of that, and if you are notright, then you do not have toapologize for misstating things.

It also is helpful to state yourposition along with your inter-ests. What that means is thatinstead of maintaining that thereis nothing wrong with yourproduct, which is purely argu-mentative and does not offerany support for your position, itis better to offer something help-ful, such as providing anotherperspective by sending someoneover to inspect the product inperson. That way, the customercan show and describe exactlywhy the product is not workingas necessary.

Your position is the bottomline of what you are willing todo. Your interests are the rea-sons behind that decision. For

example, it might be your posi-tion that you cannot take anyproduct back or rescind the con-tract. However, your reason forthat - your interest - may be thatyour bonus is tied directly toyour returns, and that you haveevery incentive in the world tosolve this problem another way.You may also offer what some ofthose things are, so that you arenot just taking away somethingfrom them or denying theirrequest, but offering positivealternatives in its place.

One way to do this is to use“I Messages.” An “I” messagesounds like, “When you didn’tcome home last night, yourfather and I got really worried.What we would like you to donext time is call if you’re goingto be late, so that we knowyou’re OK because we love youand care about you.” That ishow most of our parents werewhen we were teenagers, right?Seriously, can you imagine howwe would have reacted if theyhad put it this way instead ofthe scenario we remember ofbeing grounded for life whilestomping off to bed? “I” mes-sages are important becausethey describe the experiencethrough the speaker’s eyes,rather than simply the position(in this case the punishment).That disarms the person you arespeaking to, and it takes thefight out of their next statementback to you.

5. Attack the Problem, Not the Person. Your points will be heard

more clearly if you can deper-sonalize your comments andpoint only at the issue. Ratherthan accusing people of “alwaysmessing things up,” it is betterto say, “We’ll have to take acloser look at why this keeps

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happening.” In most statementsthat we make in a dispute, weare fighting with our own angerand are tempted to put a zingerinto the point we are trying toget across. You will be heardbetter and improve yourchances of resolving the issuethe way you want if you cancatch yourself and take thezinger out. Obviously, this iseasier with e-mail and requiresgreat concentration when in aface-to-face disagreement.

6. Avoid the Blame Game. Assigning blame is only help-

ful in one instance in problemsolving – if you assign it to your-self. Generally speaking, figuringout whose fault something isdoes not do any good if the goalis to fix a problem. It is a diver-sion and sometimes a costly onebecause if a person feelsblamed, he/she often checks outof a conversation. The trick toresolving clashes is to focus onproblem solving, rather thanpointing fingers. Focus on what

you and the others can do tosolve a problem and make it better, and it will be behind youbefore you know it.

7. Focus on the Future, Not the Past. In the past tense, we have

the purchase order, the con-tract, the agreement and thedeal as it was understood byall involved. The present andfuture tenses are where thesolution ends. Rather thanfocusing on what went wrongor who should have donewhat, the secret to disputeresolution is to treat it likeproblem solving and focus onwhat can be done to resolvethe problem. Once that isdone, companies can look tothe past tense to analyze whatwent wrong and how toimprove quality control andefficiency. However, whenthere is a problem that has anangry customer or a disgrun-tled employee, the solution isall that anyone is interested in.

8. Ask the Right Kind of Questions.Questions such as “Why is

that?” or “What did you think itwould be?” make a person whoyou are talking to defensive. Ifyou want someone to answer youwith real information, rather thanjust arguing back, it is best togive them a little information first.For example, “Since I don’t havea copy of the P.O. in front of me, itwould help me to investigate thisif you could tell me more abouthow the colors on your order aredescribed.” Telling them why youare asking, puts your intent first,so they don’t have to guess it.This questioning style tells a per-son that you are trying to do yourjob and to figure out some factsto get to reach a solution. Bydelivering your request in apoised and attentive tone, itmakes the person you are askingless defensive and gets you moreof what you want.

The other type of questionthat is especially helpful whenyou are trying to gather informa-tion is an open-ended question.These are the opposite of direc-tive questions, and they invitethe other person to tell you whathe or she thinks is importantabout the situation. “Can you tellme what happened from thebeginning?” or “Sounds as if thiswas really frustrating for you”can give you information that youmight later use to problem solve.

9. Pick Your Battles. It is also important when ask-

ing questions to remember to PickYour Battles. Human naturemakes us want to be right, evento the point of being defensive orarguing points that do not matterin the big picture. It is even fairgame to ask the other person,“On a scale of one-to-10, howimportant is this issue to you?” Ifan issue is a five to you and a nine

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to the person you are talking to, itis best to give that point up anduse the same scale when an itemis really important to you. Afterall, business relations are, like mybrother’s future father-in-law oncetold him about marriage, a “60-60proposition.” Most people think itis supposed to be 50-50, but thetruth is, when adjusted for eachperson’s perspective on howmuch they give vs. how muchthey receive, it really is a 60-60proposition. Another maritalproposition is also helpful here, doyou want to be right, or do youwant to be happy?

10. Link Offers. Car salesmen do this all the

time. They ask you what youwant your monthly payment tobe and then set the price of thecar and the interest rate on theloan or lease so that they canmatch your monthly payment.Essentially, it’s a way of saying,“I can either do this or that,which would be better for you?”It really is just sales skills – givingpeople the choice between twopositives, so that they feel as ifyou are trying to help.

11. Be Creative. Brainstorm. Remember that

everything is negotiable. Feel freeto think outside of the box inorder to expand the pie. Make itso that no idea is too far fetched.Being creative with resolutions

takes longer, but can yield a truewin-win solution. The best solu-tion to a dispute is to get morebusiness out of it. As such, onecommon problem-solving tech-nique is to propose that instead ofa cash refund, giving clients adeep discount on future orders inorder to show what a good jobyou are capable of doing for them.Many of the lawsuits I settle comeaway with win-win solutions,where instead of just compromis-ing, we actually collaborate toreach a solution that benefitseveryone. This requires listeningwhen asking the open-endedquestions and gathering morselsof good information that you willlater use to formulate proposalsthat meet their interests. Forexample, you might learn aboutparticulars that affected an order.From here, you can propose cre-ative solutions that replace thingssuch as broken items, or insteadof using the money to re-do theentire order, you can use lessmoney to ship a few dozen shirtswith their logo on them so thatyour counterpart can look like ahero in front of the boss. Thesekinds of fixes make clients lookgood and keep them loyal to you,even after an initial dispute.

12. Be Confident. You can do this! Many peo-

ple are afraid of confrontationand shy away from it. I havetaught everyone, from house-wives and high school grads tonamed senior partners in lawfirms and CEOs, how to dothese simple steps. The processworks. All you have to do is follow the steps.

Furthermore, you must do this.Now that you have these tools, itis imperative that you do some-thing about it. You owe it to yourcustomers and your co-workers.

13. Celebrate Agreement! This kind of negotiation is a

hard process. It requires two

people to remain in an uncom-fortable, potentially confronta-tional position for a long time torebuild trust and be creativewhile trying to figure out thebest, rather than the fastest,solution. Once it is accom-plished, both you and the personyou are talking to deserve agood pat on the back. There isnothing wrong with going tolunch or dinner to celebrate theresolution of a dispute thatcould have been destructive, but that ended with a win-win solution where everyone wassatisfied. This is an importantprocess for avoiding more seri-ous disputes such as lawsuitsand losing hard-earned cus-tomers. Congratulate yourselfand your partner in this solution.

After all, nothing is more impor-tant than your company and itssurvival. Nothing is better for yourcompany’s survival than learningto make peace and resolve theinevitable disputes that will arise.Learn to cultivate peace with cus-tomers, suppliers, employees,labor and management.

Utilizing these tools takespatience and generally requireschanging old behaviors. However,if people on the front lines, inhuman resources, customer serv-ice and client relations, use sim-ple tools such as these, theywould resolve most disputes atthat level, keeping them out ofthe legal department and out ofthe mediator’s office. •

Lee Jay Berman is a full-timemediator and trainer. He is director of the “Mediating theLitigated Case” program at theStraus Institute for DisputeResolution at Pepperdine UniversitySchool of Law. With the faculty ofthe Straus Institute, he providesworkshops and training courses forbusinesses in the areas of strategicnegotiation skills and conflict reso-lution skills. He can be reached [email protected].

Brainstorm. Remember

that everything is nego-

tiable. Feel free to

think outside of the

box in order to

expand the pie. Make

it so that no idea is

too far fetched.

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What a difference a decade makes. Tenyears ago, a mere three million peoplewere connected to the Internet.

Google was not yet a noun or a verb. Companiesdecided what they wanted people to knowabout them. Building a trusted brand was allabout advertising.

Fast forward to 2004. The Computer IndustryAlmanac forecasts that we’ll reach one billionInternet users this year. With a few keystrokes,customers the world over share information andexperiences that shape company reputations andinfluence brand value. Companies no longerdecide what people should know about them.Customers do.

Enter the age of the customer. From whatyour company sells to how you sell it, from the causes you support to the co-marketing

partners you choose, it’s a ‘new brand world.’ Your customers are more interested thanever in the choices you make. And the Internethas provided them with unprecedented accessto information about those choices. Smart com-panies, like Amazon.com, are using this trendto their advantage by putting customers at thecenter of their brand.

This year, the Amazon.com brand rose 22 per-cent in value, even as the company eliminatedall television ads. When asked how he woulddescribe the Amazon brand to someone who hadnever heard of it, chief executive Jeff Bezosreplied, “It’s about starting with the customerand working backward.”

What can this evolution in branding teachyou about planning your corporate philanthropy?

Five Steps into theNew Brand World

Matching Your Philanthropy toYour Brand Strategy By: Pam Van Orden

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Here are five steps to get you started on the path to cus-tomer-centered philanthropy.

1. Know your brand. When was the last time you satdown with the person who directs your company’s brand?If it has been a while, pick up the phone and schedulesome time together. Discover all you can about your com-pany’s brand strategy, brand promise, and brand value.Learn the role that customers play in shaping your brand.

2. Know who your customers are. Find out what yourcompany already knows about your customers. Where dothey live and work? What is important to them? Why havethey chosen to do business with your company? Createone or more customer profiles describing who they are andwhat their typical day might look like. Imagine how yourbrand fits into their lives.

3. Listen to your customers. Whether you use formal mar-ket research methods or simply pick up the phone and call afew of them, there’s nothing quite like the voice of a real cus-tomer to shape your thinking and inspire your plans. Discoverwhat causes they support. What do they think of your cur-rent philanthropic activities? If they could choose how youdonate money, what choices would they make and why?

4. Define your philanthropy attributes. Can you identifyany patterns in the information you have gathered in thefirst three steps? Highlight key words and phrases thatappear repeatedly. What adjectives are essential to defin-ing your brand? How do those compare with the words onyour customers’ wish list? Your final list will indicateimportant attributes for your philanthropy plan.

5. Create your customer-centric plan. Building on yourlist of essential attributes, design a philanthropy plan thatis responsive to customer wishes and advances your brandstrategy. As you consider partners, causes, donations, andpriorities, evaluate your choices against those things thatare most important to your brand and your customers.

Remember, the customer might not always be right.That’s why it is important to evaluate your customers’ideas within the context of what you know to be true foryour brand. Be authentic and trust your intuition. •

Pam Van Orden is president of Enlightened Brand Incorporated,a consulting company that helps its clients become market leadersby focusing on the blend of social, environmental, and financialforces that shape a brand in today’s connected world.

You may contact the author at: [email protected]

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B


illions of pages going to trillions. Most of theinformation available online is replicatedagain and again, then twisted, corrupted andre-entered. When one search questionretrieves one million answers, the systemfails — results have little or no value.

Now that the titans of e-commerce havebeen identified, search engines are leadingthe way for consumers online. At the sametime, serious questions are emerging relatedto the efficacy of these search engines, amongthem “When will the search engines collide?”and, “How soon and why could this happen?”

If search engines are the principal devicesfor business access, then today’s searchresults, which often include a great deal ofirrelevant information, are a serious problem.Imagine looking at a stock ticker tape, whereyou get lottery numbers, weather reports, andairline schedules nicely arranged in matchingfonts, along with the stock prices. How longwould such a product last? Not one second.

Ambiguity, Clutter In any research project, if the data flow

has too strong of a current and, as a result,constantly shifts the timeline and/or altersthe main question, then the results will havelittle or no value. “Freeze-frame perform-ance” is almost impossible on search enginesand the answers to a query can be confusing,or buried too deep.

Should the Internet be divided into cate-gories like “E-Commerce for Business” and“Chit-chat for the General Population,” per-haps?Today, finding a solution to this prob-lem may seem an impossible task, but then,only a decade ago, the Internet itself waspractically non-existent. Enormity Factor

The general availability of data is just toolarge to fathom. Billions of pages going totrillions. Who has the time or the interest tosift through all this? Most of the informationavailable online is replicated again and again,

ClashTitans

Clashof the

TitansWHEN SEARCH ENGINES COLLIDEWHEN SEARCH ENGINES COLLIDE

By Naseem Javed, President, ABC Namebank

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then twisted, corrupted and re-entered again andagain. When one search question retrieves onemillion answers, the system fails — results havelittle or no value.

Accessing the world’s data via the Internet isstill the best method, but cracks are beginning toappear. Information is only powerful when it iscohesive, pertinent, precise and crystallized.Otherwise, it’s nothing but junk. This is whatmakes the difference between a small diamondand a huge mountain.

Human Factor Both the brain and the computer monitor are

too small. Even with the largest screens, the mindsimply caves in when the number of hits foundnumbers in the thousands. Contrary to belief, thehuman mind hasn’t evolved at all in the last mil-lennium; rather it seems to be regressing underthe burden of all this garbage information.Searching online is no longer easy, and it’s gettingmore and more time consuming.

Though search engines are still the best models,they’re heading into an abyss. What would happenif the world’s 10 million libraries were assembledunder one roof? It’s great for a thousand miles ofshelving, but not practical for the human mind.

Now, when multi-billion dollar search technologiesrespond to queries and painstakingly screen a trillionpages and cough up thousands of sites in seconds,then what? Does more results mean more answers?No, it means more confusion, and the human effortexpended in reading and sifting through the garbageis going to add to our national debt. Ad revenues willshrink as the advertisers begin to realize the state ofthe overly crowded, partially disconnected and heavi-ly diluted marketplace. This is like a single personwearing a t-shirt with a slogan in a stadium of100,000 people, hoping to attract the right customer.This is not an advertising model, it’s a shot in thedark. It may be cheap, but not a sure bet. We betterstart a new system right now.

Garbage Factor Garbage in, garbage out. If loading up garbage

continues to be part of the game, then the outputresults will be the same. Let this be a victory forthe freedom of speech and democracy, but the pur-pose of searching is coming to a crossroad. Here,even Aristotle would agree that researching hasnothing to do with free speech. E-commercesearching is a fact-finding mission. It demands pre-cise answers. Right now, the search engine indus-try is going for the largest possible databases, evenat the risk of slowing down search results.

Established corporate identities with global cloutmay coast, but others with innovative ideas andemerging technologies will have to cope with thisimmense load of landfill. When you’re lost online,even big-budget promotions won’t help put youunder the spotlight. Newer, unexposed e-commerceidentities are facing a make-or-break proposition.

Start Your Engines Though it’s often a misunderstood process,

achieving success in e-commerce branding canbe relatively inexpensive. Unknown corporationscan still succeed at bullet speed. But to do thisthey need to have access to the next wave ofextraordinary browsers. The race is on to createthese browsers, which will do everything, includ-ing making discreet selective contacts, conduct-ing both general and specific searches andenabling swift transactions, all while buildingthree-dimensional purchasing profiles and com-piling them into wrap-sheets.

This will be the making of a true “online globalbazaar” in living color. This will further accelerateglobal communications and reduce time lagbetween ideas and reality. Businesses would heav-ily depend on the power of URLs and make surethat they are properly structured and protectedwith global visibility.Seek out the right expertisefor corporate image, name identity and cyber-visi-bility issues and make sure you don’t confusethese with general branding and graphic talents.All wil be extremely important.

Meanwhile, the sluggish performance ofimage on e-commerce will move the creation ofrevised name identities to the forefront.Advertisers will continue to exhaust themselvesin these massive landfills, and designing newmethods to reach customers will be an ongoingchallenge. Formats will gradually start to change,and they could re-emerge as a series of newsearch engine products and services. But all ofthis is unlikely to happen quickly. Only a titaniccollision would properly correct today’s alreadyoutdated searching model. •

Naseem Javed, author of Naming for Power andalso Domain Wars is recognized as a world authorityon Name Identities and Domain Issues. The Presidentof ABC Namebank, www.abcnamebank.com, withoffices in New York & Toronto. E-Mail your URLs orcurrent business names for a complimentary evalua-tion. Please indicate your job title and provide back-ground information on your company and the use ofthat name. All correspondence is confidential. E-mail:[email protected]

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:06 PM


Things We Love

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ReFresh Mints & StripsThey’ll think about yourcompany with everybreath they takeExpress Pens

Count It The stylish way tokeep track of yourgolf strokes Golf Gems

2

It is said that variety is the spice oflife, but here at Brilliant Resultswe know that innovative promo-tional products are the spice ofsuccessful businesses. Because ofour belief in the power of qualitypromotions, we are going to feature a few products that welove in each issue. We hope theseproducts, some brand new andsome just to good to forget, willspark a creative fire in our readersand provide the starting point for another winning promotion!

54 Brilliant Results | November/December 2004

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Things We Love

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6

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Carabineer Watch& Compass When it’s time toexplore your logo willbe along for the funTime Zone byCalconix

Flip FlopsEncase their feet in comfortand leave your impressioneverywhere they goNeet Feet

Mouse PadsMake your logo a partof every workday asyou brighten up theirworldWorld Wide Line

Travel Mug & CD HolderYour logo will be along for theride and a part of the fun Brand It Direct

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Things We Love

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Laptops with Style .Your logo on a styledriven wooden laptopsurround is bound to getattention . Tech Style

Executive Desk TopAdd a touch of class toan executive’s desk andkeep your name in frontof key decision makersTech Style

Clip It & Go This stylish clipboard getsattention wherever it goesand so does your logoTech Style

ClassyCelebrationsCelebratesuccess with this classy Milano Wine Set Leeds

Creative CalendarsKeep your name in their

face 365 days of theyear with a classic

Norwood

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Things We Love

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A Cup of ComfortYour clients will wake upevery morning with yourlogo on a quality mugWorld Wide Line

Image Products MatsMake your first impression countImage Mats

Unforgettable They won’t misplace these keyholders or forget to take your logowherever they go Key Bak

Emergency GearYou always remember the

one who is there for you inan emergency

Leeds

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62 Brilliant Results | November / December 2004 www.brilliantpublishing.com

W RKSWhatCase Studies in Success

Financial

Industry: Financial

Challenge: To build and shift internal sales efforts by encouraging current customers to do more than purchase CDs and by attracting new cus-tomers. To accomplish these goals employees had to refocus on selling a“relationship” generating referrals and sales of transaction accounts(checking, savings).

Solution: A creative promotion was designed by Promotional Strategy Partners, Inc.to provide a challenging and rewarding reason for approximately 600 retailbranch employees to learn about, refer, and sell a banking “relationship”with the primary focus on transaction accounts.

Each banking office received a mailing that included the announcementmaterials delivered in an Acrylic Bread Box complete with Wonder“ Bread,reinforcing the theme “…More than just a place to store your dough!”

Additional elements required for implementing the promotion consisted of:• Employee training booklet – a printed piece (shaped like a piece of bread)

describing the program• “Things You Knead to Know” training quiz - Branch drawing of

correctly answered quizzes. Winner received the breadbox as a prize for learning the material.

• “Dialing for Dough” 800 Number interactive trivia quiz – Employees couldcall the line which included a humorous recording when they made atransaction sale and win cash prizes instantly by answering trainingquestions correctly.

The use of the breadbox and “bread” theme throughout all the materialscontinually reinforced the new focus on transaction accounts. The use of an unconventional premium to announce the program was extremely effective in capturing the interest and attention of the employees.

Result: The Bank generated $75 million in sales, 90% of their 9-week promotionalgoal in the first 4 weeks of this campaign. The transaction mix, as a percent of the total deposit base, increased to 40%, which was equiva-lent to their mid-year target. Overall the promotion received rave reviews from employees and set the standard for future incentives.

Case study provided by: Sharon Biernat, PresidentPromotional Strategy Partners, Inc. – [email protected]

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Name the Star www.namethestar.comemail: [email protected] • Promotion Express asi#72850

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Non-Profit

Industry: Non-Profit

Challenge: Provide a unique promotional item for a Santa Rosa, CA non-profit organi-zation’s 100K Bike Race. The promotional item needed to be well suited tothe event, provide a sufficient imprint space for the non-profit organiza-tion’s message, and have a continuing usefulness after the event to rein-force the organization’s message.

Solution: The organization’s promotional products distributor, who also happened tobe an amateur cyclist, suggested an item that he refused to ride without –the 3525 Primary Care First Aid Kit‘.

Light, compact and perfect for slipping into a bicycle pouch, the First AidKit was a necessity for the many tumbles and spills one inevitably encoun-ters along the trail. The bandages had a good grip and provided the flexi-bility an athlete requires and the Swabplus‘ combined an antiseptic/anes-thetic all in one, easy to use cotton swab.

Result: The non-profit organization was thrilled with the #3525 and placed anorder of 8,000 pieces. The large imprint area provided the advertising expo-sure that they were looking for. The Primary Care First Aid Kit‘ was such aphenomenal success, that within days after the race completed, similarcycle race and marathon organizers were calling to place orders for theirupcoming events.

Case study provided by: Shelley Sake, Director of Sales & Marketing, Evans Manufacturing, Inc. – [email protected]

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:09 PM

Brilliant Results | November / December 2004 65www.brilliantpublishing.com

Corporate

Industry: Corporate

Challenge: Introduce an innovative training and communications product in an inter-esting and memorable way to new executive level prospects.

Solution: Developing an innovative program to introduce a new product is difficult, but this was Macromedia’s challenge when introducing Breeze, anovel training and communications product. The program began with thecreation of a mailing list of 200 select CEO-level executives of Fortune 500companies. A three-part mail campaign was then designed to put theemphasis on how much time these prospects could save if they usedBreeze. The first mailing was of zippered coconuts in a box with woodshred that effectively got the recipient’s attention. A second mailing of adesk fan with the message that Breeze users don’t get “hot and bothered”followed this. The final mailing was a folding beach chair proclaiming therewould be no more “running around” when using Breeze. This third mailingset the stage for an appointment and sales presentation. The mailers –each arriving three days apart – were fun, creative and an irresistible invi-tation to find out if this new product really could deliver all of the relaxingfree time it claimed.

Result: One brand new customer has purchased 50 Breeze licenses to managetraining programs at their 748 international hotel and resort locations.Internal tracking also shows an 80-percent recognition by recipients whenthe Macromedia salesperson calls.

Case study provided by: Nicki DeMattei, PresidentFocus 4 Promotions – [email protected]


BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/18/04 12:58 PM



Healthcare

Industry: Healthcare/Non-Profit (Donate LifeCoalition/Donor Network of Arizona)

Challenge: To heighten media exposure and awareness of the new organ donation

registry: AZ Donor Registry

Solution: April is National Donate Life month, and the Donor Network of Arizonaunveiled a new AZ Donor Registry, giving Arizona residents an opportunityto register to become an organ donor. The goal of this campaign was toeducate and motivate the media and trigger a flood of media coverage. Ata kickoff breakfast, members of the media heard inspiring stories aboutorgan donation. During the month, one promotional item was delivered tomedia contacts every week. The message could not be ignored! A mes-sage pen with six rotating messages about organ donation was sent thefirst week. The second week a robotic ring clock that had story ideas andthe message “Take the Time to Learn About Organ Donation” was given tomedia contacts. On the third week a memo holder that held more storyideas along with a flyer was delivered. The final promotional item that wasdelivered was an imprinted desk bell. When the desk bell was tapped a“CHEERING” noise sound chip went off to thank and remind people thatpeople were “Cheering” when you sign up to be an organ and tissue donor.

Results: RESULTS WERE INCREDIBLE: During the month of April, more than 85print and broadcast news stories covered organ and tissue donation aswell as provided information to the public about the new AZ DonorRegistry. Numerous media outlets-including local network affiliates volun-tarily called the Donor Network of Arizona and offered support andresources to help promote the cause. AND BEST OF ALL - 1000 new peo-ple signed up to be donors using the new registry!

Case study provided by: Karen Kravitz, PresidentCommotion Promotions, [email protected]

For more information about Organ & Tissue Donation - log on towww.donatelife.net

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:09 PM

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Travel

Industry: Travel & Tourism

Challenge: With little time to spare, find a yearly gift for a New York travel magazineto thank it’s advertisers.

Solution: Through a magazine industry referral, a Chicago based promotional prod-ucts professional was brought in to help in the quest. The promotionalproducts professional had often used picture frames for travel gifts (with apicture of a resort pre-inserted) and suggested a picture frame clock.TimeZone®, an industry leader with over a dozen original designs, wascontacted to provide samples after assuring the distributor that a two-week production was possible. TimeZone® suggested using one of themagazine’s covers from the past year for an insert in the frame. The clientchose an open book style frame and printed a mini cover to fit the frame. Afrosted silver imprint was applied to the frame and the insert provided aburst of color.

The magazine ordered 2400 clocks, which were produced, along withinserts, and drop shipped to 20 regional offices in 10 days.

Result: The gift delivered in every respect. The inserts of the cover were removedfrom the frames and replaced by recipients with their personal photo-graphs. This put the magazine brand (and clock) in front of the buyers’eyes every day. Plans are currently in the works to use a picture frameclock with the publisher’s other brands for this year’s gift.

Case study provided by: Chris Smith, Vice PresidentCalconix, Inc. – [email protected]

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:09 PM

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Retail

Industry: Retail

Challenge: To increase retail sales at nearby Toys “R” Us stores whenever a liveBarney show would play in the area.

Solution: During the spring of 2003, HIT Entertainment launched a 30-city tour of“Barney’s Colorful World” in a live stage show featuring every child’sfavorite purple dinosaur. A promotional campaign involving Toys “R” Uswould drive traffic to local stores and promote the live show, as well. In theweeks before the show arrived, participating stores designated a front sec-tion as “Barney’s Colorful World.” These sections were made over in fullBarney regalia, and customers were allowed to purchase tickets to theshow in advance. Stores also received flyers, window posters, standeecharacters, basket stand flyers and bag stuffers. Each of these items pro-moted an interactive “Chat With Me” event that would follow the show.Show attendees who brought their ticket stub back to the store within twoweeks of the show could arrange for a free phone call and special messagefrom Barney, himself, who could be scheduled to call the child on a specificday – the child’s birthday for example. This was HIT Entertainment’s firstteaming with a retailer, the elaborate, multi-faceted promotion was a flaw-less success.

Result: Hoping for a three-percent audience participation in post-show activities,Toys “R” Us reports an 18-percent rate of redeemed “Chat With Me” cards– a success rate that was substantial enough to merit continuation of theprogram throughout the remainder of the year.

Case study provided by: Steve Falknor, Senior Account ManagerShumsky – [email protected].

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:09 PM

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Hospital/Healthcare

Industry: Hospital/Health Care

Challenge: The hospital’s Women’s Center staff views the 5,000 births annually as amarketing opportunity to new mothers. The rationale is that growing fami-lies will select additional physicians, classes, and opportunities following apositive birthing experience with this hospital. A baby gift from the staffenhances the celebration. The right mix of branded product should be func-tional in baby’s early months (or years), generate good memories, and, ifuseful and used, provide exposure to others needing the right place fortheir special moment.

The hospital, convinced of the effectiveness of this marketing outreach, hasprovided a new-mother gift for a dozen years. But the diaper bag packageused so successfully for so long had grown stale. New colors and shapes,including a copy of a name brand retail diaper bag, did not elicit the posi-tive response-in-the-moment or as many sightings when baby was in pub-lic as they once had.

Solution: Rather than a revised diaper bag, we recommended a fresh mix of productand requested permission to conduct a focus group of new mothers. We veri-fied what we sensed; diaper bags were out. Today’s mothers prefer to selectfrom the many retail options. Additionally, formula companies distribute theirproduct via diaper bag, thus competing with the hospital!

We quickly established a new package that met the hospital’s budget andother criteria. “Mother Talk” is a class the hospital provides for new moth-ers, so we continue to visit quarterly and have tweaked the gift as a result.The true success of this program is that the component parts are not stag-nant.

Result: The soft fleece pink or blue baby blankets tastefully embroidered with thehospital bear (rather than the hospital logo) fulfilled two objectives.Mothers like and thus use the blanket. At home, in public (!), for warmth,or for a floor cover at playtime, the blanket is a treasured gift. Moms told usthe blanket was going into baby’s memory box when s/he needed it nolonger. Originally shrink-wrapped with snack bowl and wipes container, themost recent version added a carry bag…not a diaper bag but one to holdbaby’s assorted toys on an outing. Again, we used the hospital mascotbear to decorate maintaining the “gift” effect.

Case study provided by: Marsha Londe, Vice President, Carolyn Unger,Account Executive Summit Marketing – [email protected]@summitmarketing.com

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:09 PM

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BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/26/04 11:13 AM



Corporate

Industry: Corporate

Challenge: Studies show that the average person spends 250 hours of their life search-ing for a tape measure.

Solution: This makes the K2-N Tracker Tape Measure (price point as low as $1.99) ahigh return promotional product. This tape measure features a magneticbacking so your client can stick it anywhere – the refrigerator at home, thefiling cabinet at work.

Result: The beauty of this is not only will this handy tape measure always be with-in reach – your organization’s logo will always be within sight! This prod-uct features a 1 3/8” x ?” imprint area – that is huge and your customerwill see it every day, all day long. It is difficult for other promotional prod-ucts to give a company that large a return on investment.

Case study provided by: Shannon Bell, Next Products, Inc. –[email protected]


BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/18/04 1:15 AM

BR1204_Section03.qxl 11/17/04 11:17 PM



Business Professional

Industry: Business ProfessionalsChallenge: Finding an innovative method for self-promotion.

Solution: Every day small and large business professionals alike realize that the keyto building and maintaining a successful business is self-promotion. Overthe last five years the commercial use of CD-ROMs has grown significantly.Technological advances have now made CD Business Cards a reality.Putting company information on a CD business card has given businessesan edge over the competition.

Result: Gospel singer Rosita Matthews is an excellent example of the benefits ofCD business cards. She was looking for a unique way to deliver her mes-sage to buyers at a conference in New York City. By using a CD businesscard she was able to deliver music samples, a direct link to her Website,resume and promotional video on a disc that prospective buyers could putin their shirt pocket and not get mixed in with a jumble of brochures andflyers. Rosita’s responses exceeded expectations and she is now an enthu-siastic user of CD business cards.

Case study provided by: Andy Carr, President,Citiscape Shapes, Ltd. – [email protected] www.cardiscs.com

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:10 PM


You want to build your company brand recognition and out sell your competition. A subscription toBrilliant Results gives you the competitive edge.

In every issue you’ll find real world ideas and better ways to increase your brand building ROI,motivate your staff and build your customer base. Filled with outcome driven editorial and theresources to build long-term relationships for BRILLIANT RESULTS.

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Free Product Information. November/December Issue.For free product information from these suppliers of promotional products, complete and mail this

page to: Brilliant Results Magazine 9034 Joyce Lane Hummelstown, PA 17036.Or fax to (717) 566-5431.

TM

Name Title

Company Industry

Address

City State Zip

Phone Fax E-mail

Supplier Page No.AITG 75BAS 11Boca Terry 47Brand It Direct 21, 23Bravo Awards 71Brilliant Results Magazine™ 77Bullet Line Back

CoverCaddyO ™ 45Calconix / Time Zone® 51, 73Daiwa 79Evans Manufacturing 49Express 67Hartwell Industries / Liz Claiborne 13KEY-BAK® 25, 55Mediation Tools 69Merit Industries / Groline 57,59,61,63Micro-Clair® 33Neet Feet® 19Next Products 31Norwood 7, Inside Back

CoverPencoa / Supermatic Line 5PhoneCard Services 37Skagen 15Warwick Publishing 29World Wide Line Inside Front

Cover

THINGS WE LOVE Section

Supplier Page No. Product No.

Express Pens 54 1

Golf Gems 54 2

TimeZone by Calconix 56 3

Neet Feet 56 4

World Wide Line 56 5

Brand It Direct 56 6

Tech Style 58 7,8,9

Leeds 58 10

Norwood 58 11

World Wide Line 60 12

Image Products Mats 60 13

Key-Bak 60 14

Leeds 60 15

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December 8 Dialogue-Driven Direct Marketing: WinningCommunication Strategies to Increase Sales and improve CustomerLoyalty Webinar, co-presented by the Direct Marketing Associationand Colloquy. Cost Varies. Call (212)790-1500 or www.dmloyalty-web.org

December 9 How to Plan and Select the Optimum Promotion Plan,presented by Ennis Associates. Glenpointe Marriott, Teaneck, NJ.Cost $975. Call (800) 914-4194 or www.ennisassoc.com

December 9-10 Advanced Mediator Skills Forum, Los Angeles CountyBar Association’s Dispute Resolution Services, LACBA LexisNexisConference Center, Los Angeles, CA. For more information:www.mediationtools.com

December 14-15 U.S. Hispanic Marketing 2004, presented by theInternational Quality & Productivity Center. Intercontinental Hotel,Miami, FL. Call (800) 882-8684


BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/17/04 11:10 PM

January 3-5 The ASI Show! presented by The Advertising SpecialtyInstitute. Orlando, FL. www.asishows.com

January 8-11 Philadelphia Gift Show. Fort Washington Expo Center,Fort Washington, PA. www.urbanexpositions.com

January 10-14 PPAI The Expo 2005. presented by The PromotionalProducts Association International. Las Vegas, NV www.ppa.org

January 14-16 The Imprinted Sportswear Show. The Long BeachConvention Center, Long Beach, CA www.issshows.com

January 14-17 The Gift Fair in Atlanta®. Georgia World CongressCenter, Atlanta, GA www.urbanexpositions.com

January 28-30 The Imprinted Sportswear Show. Greater FortLauderdale - Broward County Convention Center, Ft. Lauderdale, FLwww.issshows.com

Brilliant Results | November / December 2004 81www.brilliantpublishing.com

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* To have your show listed in our Calendar please send your information to Brilliant Results magazine. *

BR1204_Section02.qxl 11/18/04 12:47 PM


Founded in 1936 by editorial cartoonist J.N.“Ding” Darling, National WildlifeFederation is the nation’s largestconservation organizationdedicated to protecting

wildlife and wildlife habitat. Its nationalgrassroots network gives a voice towildlife from the halls of Congress tolocal fish and wildlife agencies. Withmore than four million members andsupporters, NWF is committed to edu-cating and empowering people from allwalks of life to protect wildlife and habi-tat for future generations and to work fora brighter tomorrow for nature, wildlifeand FOR PEOPLE.

For over 60 years NWF’s foundation has beenbuilt on education because the organization believesyou can’t inspire people to protect something theydon’t first understand. To achieve its mission, NWFprovides individuals, organizations, businesses andgovernment with accessible, hands-on conservationeducation and action opportunities, leadership training and development,educational curriculum, information outreach andnetworking opportunities.

Recently Brilliant Results spoke with MartinaWhite, Director of Marketing, MembershipAcquisitions about the part that promotional prod-ucts play in the National Wildlife Federation’s mem-bership prospecting.

BR: How do you use promotional products toencourage new contributions?

MW: We have been using front-end incentives(items sent with a donation request) for years. Back-end incentives (items to be sent if a donation isreceived) are a newer addition to our membership acqui-sition efforts, switching from tote bags to more sub-stantial incentives four years ago.

BR: Do you have a set program of front-endincentives?

MW: Yes. We use 5 seasonal front-end incentives:June – Wall Calendar; September – Holiday Cards;November – Holiday Gift Wrap Collection; February –Spring Cards; and April – Spring Gift Wrap Collection.We also do monthly year-round direct mail solicita-tions that often include address labels and notepadsas front-end incentives.

BR: What back-end incentives are you using?

MW: Currently we are using two back-endincentives that are doing very well: a backpack

with our logo designed to appeal to softoutdoor users; and plush animals. Ourpolar bear collection is currently the most popular.

BR: Do you receive increasedcontribution amounts when a pro-motional product is included in the

solicitation?MW: We saw phenomenal lifts in

response rates when we first startedusing plush animals—up to 75% increases! Of course,this has leveled out over the past four years, as themarket has come to expect these incentives, but werarely mail a prospecting package without one now.

BR: How do you decide which promotionalproducts to use?

MW: We are always testing new ideas for products that will positively reflect our organization’smission and appeal to members and potential members.Front-end incentives are used throughout our member-ship marketing efforts, but we generally focus our useof back-end promotional products in online marketingand prospecting, where we contact lapsed membersand others whose names we rent and exchange withother mailers.

BR: Do you have a regular supplier/distributor/agency that you work with?

MW: We are always looking to test new ideas so thatwe keep our incentives fresh. We order new incentives intwo ways. Often we are contacted by vendors with anarray of promotional products. If they show us somethingnew and unique in our price range, we’ll work with themexclusively on the test and early rollout. If we come upwith the idea ourselves, we’ll solicit bids from a numberof vendors, asking for prototypes as part of the process.

BR: What is your personal favorite product/campaign and why?

MW: (laughing) My favorite is the one that is doingthe best! •

Additional Information about the National WildlifeFederation is available on their website at www.nwf.org.

Martina White, Director of Marketing,Membership AcquisitionsPhoto by: Ed Norton

BR1204_Section01.qxl 11/17/04 11:07 PM

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