When is change a good thing?

You've heard that commercial a million times. That ad is starting to look old. Your logo - does it really address who we are? The Sales Manager doesn't seem so hungry anymore, blah, blah blah. What is really going on here? Do the marketing materials need a kick in the pants? Well maybe, but let's hold our horses a bit. Remember, you live with your brand day-in and day-out. Your prospects aren't as aware of your brand as you are. My rule of thumb is, when you starting to get sick of your message, target customers are only now becoming aware of you.

It is so easy sometimes to change the commercial, change the advertising and logo, when you really must look deeper into your brand. Discover what about your brand is holding you back. Only careful analysis and stakeholder research will give you the answers you're looking for.

What you have to do is analyze your brand and determine if you are benefiting from a differentiation strategy, or are you blending in with all the competition in your category. If you are blending in then you know doubt have become simply a commodity item to your customer and this "lowest price trap" is the cause of your doldrums. The only way out is to develop a uniqueness that compels them to buy from you. It is your positioning strategy that must change - with marketing materials following its lead.

Of course it could be that sales manager. The mortgage is paid, the kids are out of the house - what's his incentive? This is a good topic for a future article.

Great salesmen, lousy brand image!

I have been investigating sales training recently and it absolutely floors me how these very successful people have such amateur brand images. I am left wondering - given the amount of success these folks have enjoyed - how much money are "they" leaving on the table due to their amateur presentations? Money on the table is one of their strategies after all.

Take for example Gerry Weinberg. He is very successful as a representative of the Sandler Sales Institute. Sandler on the other hand has a very professional brand presentation. I believe Mr. Weinburg is not inspiring confidence with such a tacky presentation. Sure they are making good money but I contend that they are also losing business due to their amateur brand image. I catch myself lingering at Sandler's site where as I exit Mr. Weinburg's site because it looks like snake oil.

Dan Kennedy is another example. This gentleman is wildly respected and perhaps this style of brand image is what Dan believes is the ticket to his success. I think he would be even more successful if he had an brand image that didn't remind me of late night medical miracle commercials.

Look at how Tony Robbins" handles it. He is selling also other products (like Kennedy) - lots of offers down the middle, lots of distraction - but a massively stronger brand image. I don't know for a fact but I believe from brand observation that Robbins is bigger than Kennedy. Even if you could prove that Kennedy is more successful, his brand does not convey that to me. Robbins has my confidence from what I observe. And to be honest I have not purchased the services of any of these gentleman. Given the 3 examples here in this post, who would you trust to help you make more money? Do you think Kennedy is short-changing himself?

I suppose you could say that Kennedy is differentiating himself from the others. Which is true if Mr. Haney is who you aspire to be. Do you trust the snake oil presentation or do you think I'm way off base?