Service with a smile

BRENDON O'HAGAN/Sunday Star-Times

SERVICE ETHIC: Charm, presentation, ingenuity and good old-fashioned customer service are highly effective, low-cost alternatives that can help a business get ahead without breaking the bank, says New Zealand advertising expert Warwick McCormack.

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Money may not buy love but in the whimsical world of consumerism there's no denying the mighty buck's uncanny ability to woo shoppers.

Last year alone, Coca-Cola spent a whopping NZ$3.5 billion in advertising. In the same year, Nike blew a cool NZ$2.4 billion chasing customers. It's no surprise both are world leaders in their field.

Whether advertising bought them success or merely secured it is hard to gauge but one thing is certain; in the battlefield of public relations, money is a useful weapon to have in your arsenal.

The good news for cash-strapped small businesses fighting for survival is money's not everything.

At least that's the good word from New Zealand advertising expert Warwick McCormack, who teaches upstart entrepreneurs around the country "How to be your own PR machine".

He says charm, presentation, ingenuity and good old-fashioned customer service are highly effective, low-cost alternatives that can help a business get ahead without breaking the bank.

But key to their successful deployment is getting inside the head of that fickle, fair-weather creature called the customer.

"The [PR] battle is fought in a dangerous and dirty place – your customer's mind," he tells an audience of small business owners at a Christchurch seminar hosted by Canterbury Development Corp.

"The general public doesn't believe half of the stuff we tell them, the other half we tell them is the wrong thing."

To turn the doubting, don't-waste-my- time consumer to your way of thinking – and ultimately get them to lay down cash for your product – Mr McCormack says you've got to put yourself in their shoes.

Ask yourself why they should care about your product or spare the time to think about it, and how can you deliver that message in a succinct, interesting and efficient way.

For that, a background in psychology might prove more useful than a business degree.

He urges his audience to think deeply and creatively about how to pique consumer interest and sell themselves at every opportunity.

"Being your own PR machine, you've gotta start first with yourself.

"Tell yourself every day, leave yourself messages, write it on the mirror in your bathroom if you have to," he says.

The next step is to turn your mind to finding a way inside the consumer consciousness.

"If you can find the one little thing that motivates people, you can swing them to your way of thinking in a second."

Mr McCormack – who travels the country pitching sales and PR tips to more than 4000 small and medium-size enterprises a year – says small, thoughtful gestures in business can be just as effective as expensive PR campaigns.

He refers to a plasterboard manufacturer who outfoxed his competitor by taping a bag of lollies to each shipment he sold. The move was so popular, customers would clamour if they didn't get them.

It was the same story with one of his former employers, an advertising agency. Each year clients got a batch of warm hot- cross buns in a show of customer appreciation. If they missed their mark, the switchboard would go crazy, he says.

If sugar speaks more to customers than sophisticated PR strategies, he isn't surprised – nor is he questioning it.

He believes the heart of the most effective businesses – at least for small business – is human relationships.

"It's not about being slick or pulling the wool over people's eyes. Humans love to have human relationships in business. Most of us like being treated like a person, not a number," he says.

Still, business being what it is – ruthless and competitive – his spiel on "How to be your own PR machine" isn't without an element of shrewd business behaviour.

In his three-hour workshop, he tells audiences to study their competitors closely and pinch their best stuff.

"Steal their good ideas, take the method and make it your own, nullify their strength," he says.

He classifies leading businesses and their rivals as "brand" and "thought" leaders. He portrays thought leaders as companies that have an innovative twist on a common theme, like Subway (thought leader) and McDonald's (brand).

COMPANIES that set themselves apart from their competitors, even in a saturated market, have a better chance of succeeding, he says.

"You've got to start telling people how good you are or show them. We New Zealanders find it difficult to do that but you've gotta start amplifying yourselves, folks," he lectures.

Admittedly, a super-sized advertising budget can go a long way to broadcasting one's greatness. Still, creativity can also work wonders.

He cites the case of Jeff DeLong, an American who launched a highly successful line of unconventional greeting cards during his student years after crafting a press release headed "50 ways to leave your lover: Greeting Cards that don't Greet, they say Hit the Street".

The catchy headline made him an overnight success after he netted 20 news media interviews in one day.

Mr McCormack says press releases, blogging, websites, clever business cards and fliers, as well as shameless self- promotion, are all fair and effective means of getting the word out.

But instead of chasing down every consumer, selectively go after those most likely to want or need your service.

He refers to it as the "target audience" and suggests asking the following to narrow down the hunt: Why are you targeting them?

What can they offer in terms of money/prestige and influence?

How long will the "buy-in" take?

And can you afford to wait for their buy-in?

In theory, those businesses that find their target audience are in a better position to hone their sales pitch and build up a personal relationship.

He says loyalty is the pay-off.

"If you have a good strong relationship with your client when things turn to custard you may pick up the phone and yell at me but you might not fire me.

"But if I don't know you, have no relationship with you, if I really just think you're one of many who can provide what you can provide, it doesn't worry me in the slightest to fire you and find somebody else."

Roydon Gibbs, who runs a Christchurch business teaching people how to enhance presentations using technology, says finding a target audience is easier said than done.

"My challenge particularly is getting inside the heads of target audiences but also getting very clear about who the target audience is."

A further challenge, he offers, is getting people to understand what he is doing when he introduces himself as a "learning & development facilitator' – the title on his business card.

"My work is quite specialised. I know what I know but how to translate that into something that people will recognise is my key challenge."

Having a limited budget and not much time doesn't help but that's where the brainwork comes in, he admits.

"It's definitely about working with the smarts rather than the dollars to make it happen," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News