Slowing Sales? Lack Of Direction?
Take A Lesson From British Pop Culture — Ask
Many businesses struggle with direction, especially in the face of slowing sales. Large businesses often resort to lofty advertising budgets and ponderous ad campaigns. Small businesses show higher desperation but have fewer options. A few opt to simply run away.
The Chase
Everything is better with Bacon. In this case we will go with Kevin, not Francis (sorry loyal readers). We are going to run a 7 Degrees of Bacon scenario, so try to keep up. It will be worth the ride.
In the 1960’s, the Dave Clark 5 were almost as big in the UK as the Beatles… or so I am told. After the success of the first Beatles movie, the DC5 took one of their own songs Catch Us If You Can and turned it into a movie as well.
The movie featured the band in a story line that had a young actress run off with one of the band members. So far so good. Unfortunately, this put a real kink in the plans of her advertising partners as she was in the midst of a major campaign. They opt to turn the couples disappearance into a desperate PR stunt and crazy British comedy ensues.
Yootha Joyce played a supporting role in the film. Her later popularity on British TV as the character Mildred led The Smith’s to use her image on the cover of their new single: Ask. Only rather than a contemporary image, they drew one from the earlier movie. Morrisey is the lead singer of The Smith’s. Ask is a great inspiration for what a business should do and Catch Us If You Can is not… Got it?
Oh, and the product the young actress was helping to sell? Meat. Which is not completely unlike Bacon…
Moving On
Slumping sales and lack of direction are rarely fixed by ad campaigns. They are the marketing equivalent of shouting… while setting your wallet on fire. If you find yourself lost in a town or city, even though few people seem to be paying attention to you, shouting is not the answer. For that matter neither is running away.
The obvious choice is to Ask for a little direction. So why don’t businesses see this? Why do they choose to yell when they should simply ask?
The Smith’s Said It Well
Shyness is nice, and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You’d like to
Businesses were not intended to be shy. Most know this — perhaps that is why they are so comfortable shouting? Shouting may take more energy but it IS easier than opening yourself up to direct customer feedback. Whether you are trying to find out why sales are down or where to take your product next — feedback is the answer.
So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?
So ask. But ask open and direct questions, don’t try to angle the conversation in a poor attempt to avoid harsh feedback. If your questions are leading — who is actually giving directions? Don’t be coy, you are just wasting your time. Be direct and be clear because…
Coyness is nice, and
Coyness can stop you
From saying all the things in
Life you’d like to
Of course you can be too direct…
Spending warm summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg
So don’t offend. Also, while it is always better to err on the side of asking too many questions, there are limits.
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
And just remember, for a business — feedback = love. It is something I wrote about before. The Smith’s offer us one final take.
Because if it’s not feedback
Then it’s the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together
So if sales are slumping, if your business lacks direction — don’t run away, don’t shout, and don’t drop bombs. Ask! Reach out to your customers in an open and direct fashion. Ask them what is wrong. Ask them where they think you should head next. They won’t say No, how could they?
Thanks for taking the ride. I hope you enjoyed it!
