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Issue #44 ~ February 9, 2010 Printer friendly PDF file
Pants on the Ground
By Scott Gillespie
“Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground. With the gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground. Call yourself a cool cat, lookin’ like a fool. Walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground.”
If you’ve never heard that before, you’re probably wondering if I’ve finally lost it. Well, those aren’t my lyrics, they are the lyrics of “General” Larry Platt, a civil rights activist from Atlanta, GA. His lyrics were made globally popular with his 15 minutes of fame on a recent episode of American Idol. Beginning at the age of 16 and continuing now at age 62, Larry works tirelessly in his quest for equality. If you saw his performance, it’s likely you’ll never forget it. (If you didn’t see it, click here to see what the buzz is all about.)
So what’s the point of all this? He is memorable, and his performance is memorable. Thinking outside the box, General Platt used one of the most watched television shows in America to draw attention to a cause with a little diddy and a message.
Another platform was recently used to allow businesses to think outside the box to capture our attention. During the Super Bowl, it cost these businesses $3-million for 30-seocnds of air time. Many advertised, and few succeeded. For the handful that did, the hefty price-tag was well worth it as those memorable commercials will be talked about throughout this week, and even debated as to which one was the best.
Now, we may not have the ability or desire to make the kind of national splash that General Platt did, or shell out the greenbacks for a Super Bowl ad, but we all can create a memorable impact and experience for our customers and prospects. So ask yourself what you are doing today that will keep you in the forefront of the minds of your customers and the people you want to be customers a month from now or a year from now.
You may be thinking, “I have a pretty cool radio ad and some really great looking brochures!” - or something to that extent. Well, so do many businesses in your industry. And they may all be pretty good, just like yours. What happens when everyone has a good radio ad and some very attractive and effective brochures? They all become vanilla and you fight with them to stand out. This is where you need to get creative and think outside the box. In fact, don’t just think outside the box, you need to step right out of the box and into a world of memorability.
Let me paint you a picture of what I mean. Let’s say you’re sending a prospect an introduction letter and a brochure. You could go the vanilla route and send it in a business-sized envelope with your company logo in the corner and get shuffled around with the rest of their “junk” mail. Or you could go the memorable route, stand out and be sure they not only read what you sent, but remember doing so for quite some time. Check this out…
If I have a particular prospect that I want to get their attention, I’ll put a creative, memorable letter and a Snickers candy bar into a bright red mailing tube - 2” in diameter and about 12” long. I then hand-write the mailing label and send it on its way. Imagine getting this in the mail. The first thing you see is the obvious - a bright red tube hand-addressed to you. The next thing that grabs your attention is the clunk you hear when you tip the tube back and forth. How long would it take for you to open this? Immediately?
So you pop off one of the end caps to see the Snickers bar fall out on your desk and quickly look inside to see what came with it. You pull out the letter that starts off…”Dear Susan, Take a minute to enjoy the Snickers while picturing your…” and then go into the value proposition you are relaying. Keep the letter brief, and give a call to action followed by a specific day and time that you will place a follow-up phone call. I then finish it up with a P.S. that says “While you are finishing up your Snickers, visit me on-line at www.helpingusellu.com.” Many times I will get a call from them that day or at least before the time that I said I would call.
This is just one small example of something you can do. But it gives you the idea of what can be done to stand out and be remembered without having to walk around with your Pants on the Ground!
Now Go Get ‘Em!!
By Scott Gillespie
“Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground. With the gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground. Call yourself a cool cat, lookin’ like a fool. Walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground.”
If you’ve never heard that before, you’re probably wondering if I’ve finally lost it. Well, those aren’t my lyrics, they are the lyrics of “General” Larry Platt, a civil rights activist from Atlanta, GA. His lyrics were made globally popular with his 15 minutes of fame on a recent episode of American Idol. Beginning at the age of 16 and continuing now at age 62, Larry works tirelessly in his quest for equality. If you saw his performance, it’s likely you’ll never forget it. (If you didn’t see it, click here to see what the buzz is all about.)
So what’s the point of all this? He is memorable, and his performance is memorable. Thinking outside the box, General Platt used one of the most watched television shows in America to draw attention to a cause with a little diddy and a message.
Another platform was recently used to allow businesses to think outside the box to capture our attention. During the Super Bowl, it cost these businesses $3-million for 30-seocnds of air time. Many advertised, and few succeeded. For the handful that did, the hefty price-tag was well worth it as those memorable commercials will be talked about throughout this week, and even debated as to which one was the best.
Now, we may not have the ability or desire to make the kind of national splash that General Platt did, or shell out the greenbacks for a Super Bowl ad, but we all can create a memorable impact and experience for our customers and prospects. So ask yourself what you are doing today that will keep you in the forefront of the minds of your customers and the people you want to be customers a month from now or a year from now.
You may be thinking, “I have a pretty cool radio ad and some really great looking brochures!” - or something to that extent. Well, so do many businesses in your industry. And they may all be pretty good, just like yours. What happens when everyone has a good radio ad and some very attractive and effective brochures? They all become vanilla and you fight with them to stand out. This is where you need to get creative and think outside the box. In fact, don’t just think outside the box, you need to step right out of the box and into a world of memorability.
Let me paint you a picture of what I mean. Let’s say you’re sending a prospect an introduction letter and a brochure. You could go the vanilla route and send it in a business-sized envelope with your company logo in the corner and get shuffled around with the rest of their “junk” mail. Or you could go the memorable route, stand out and be sure they not only read what you sent, but remember doing so for quite some time. Check this out…
If I have a particular prospect that I want to get their attention, I’ll put a creative, memorable letter and a Snickers candy bar into a bright red mailing tube - 2” in diameter and about 12” long. I then hand-write the mailing label and send it on its way. Imagine getting this in the mail. The first thing you see is the obvious - a bright red tube hand-addressed to you. The next thing that grabs your attention is the clunk you hear when you tip the tube back and forth. How long would it take for you to open this? Immediately?
So you pop off one of the end caps to see the Snickers bar fall out on your desk and quickly look inside to see what came with it. You pull out the letter that starts off…”Dear Susan, Take a minute to enjoy the Snickers while picturing your…” and then go into the value proposition you are relaying. Keep the letter brief, and give a call to action followed by a specific day and time that you will place a follow-up phone call. I then finish it up with a P.S. that says “While you are finishing up your Snickers, visit me on-line at www.helpingusellu.com.” Many times I will get a call from them that day or at least before the time that I said I would call.
This is just one small example of something you can do. But it gives you the idea of what can be done to stand out and be remembered without having to walk around with your Pants on the Ground!
Now Go Get ‘Em!!