by invitation
I just finished the book The Perfection of Marketing by James Connor. When you are in a recession such as this one and your business is up 40% from last year, there are times of extreme discomfort as you speak with other professionals in other companies and/or industries. It’s true that most people don’t remember it being this bad. Most over 35 will have a short term memory as recessions tend to occur every 7 years. Most will probably choose not to remember this one.
In December 2008, it was obvious that we were headed into hardship, especially if you take into consideration the fact that we operate in one of the least useful of industries in these economic times – entertainment Industry. If we sold cheap drinks we could at least gain from those drowning their sorrows – the fact is that we are one of the most expensive locations to drink. We do however gain from the 5 L’s of marketing – location, location, location, location and location. We are also exceptionally customer-centric. I spend 2-3 hours per day talking with and listening to our present, and future, customers ensuring that their experience is worthy of a recommendation.
I have to admit that I actually get a kick out of talking with our customers and often wonder why other brands find it so intimidating. When you treat people with respect they have the most subtle and polite ways of telling you that you screwed up, sometimes almost apologetically. What a far cry from my woes with most of the service companies I have to deal with that actually maximise my level of sacrifice when in fact I’m just trying to get them to deliver on what they sold me – nothing more, nothing less. I’m not even fishing for some brand love…
As one of the two founding partners of Silk, I have been tempted to pass on this task as it takes up too much of my time, but I never do and today I’m glad because I can’t think of anyone else in my company, apart from my partner, who has an equal amount of time wasting chores, that cares as much as I do about our customers. And it’s rewarding 5 months on from our change in strategy to see the pay off. We never focused on the bottom line though it’s become more than obvious how much that’s grown organically. And now I’m fond of organic/slow growth too. I understand it and every day I fear I might screw it up which keeps me concentrated on my customers. And they thank us every day.
We put all our marketing behind the sales process and none of it on traditional or non traditional media. We do however use social media tools to facilitate our work especially when you need to talk to and listen to so many people every day. Yes there is some automation but even that is tweaked every so often so that the human and authentic voice is not lost.
The consequence is a far deeper reach than we ever anticipated or could ever hope for – covered by the New York Times, Vogue Germany, and others; invited into the prestigious World’s Finest Club (only one in Portugal), voted World’s Best Rooftop Bar 2009 by UCity Guide and part of Portugal’s € 4 million national tourism campaign – so far so good.
This isn’t an ego trip but a simple message – this stuff works and it is painfully, and at times embarrassingly, simple.
As we roll out the second half of 2009’s strategy, 2 months early, I’m excited to find out more with our survey that we are sending out to all our members and judging from their input so far in the Silk Club Members site, an invitation only ning hosted network, we should get a much clearer picture of where we are and where we are heading. My next challenge will be too sell internally the idea that we should share the results with our members, pledging to act on at least 50-70% of their suggestions within the following 3 months.
