Visitor, your OCTOBER 2018 FocalPoint Newsletter is here

Yes, you must build trust and be likeable. Yes, you must have the right solution to your prospect’s problem.

Yes, your price point needs to be on target. But even when all those pieces are in place, you still need to leverage the Art of Persuasion to close the sale.

And that’s why you need to read this growth hack so you learn more about a core success skill.

Countless schemes from “wardrobe malfunctions” to dancing cats are regularly hatched to hijack the eyeballs web to promote a brand or a company.

Instead of trying to be clever, funny, salacious or cute, it is smarter to get authentic viral exposure for your business that reinforces why people should buy from you. 

It’s even better when, like Southwest, you get paid to get it and have a testimonial that you’d kill for.  But how do you do that if you don’t have a dancing cat or if people would pay big money to not see you have a “wardrobe malfunction?”

Here is all it took for Southwest Airlines to get a killer promotional video done for them by, get this, an A-list photographer and get paid to have it:

Read the amazing story and watch the video of how Southwest did it (Inc. online).

How can you delight your customers to the point they do this for you?

It’s not dancing cats, it’s dancing customers you want!

Strategic planning, company culture, and success – both long and short term – are inextricably entwined.

Making them all come together in harmony to achieve the maximum benefit for you company can be a delicate process.

Unfortunately, many companies approach the process incorrectly and end up with a plan that disappears in a desk drawer within two weeks of starting.

It starts with the right approach to creating your strategic plan.

In this article we take you through the sensible steps required to turn your plan into a driving force so your team works to achieve it as hard as you do.

Despite all the positive economic news we’ve experienced in recent months, lagging productivity is still an issue. One excellent way to boost productivity if by implementing an outcome-based culture (OBC).

In this article we reveal a simple road map to make OBC work for you and your company.

What are you planning – or what are you currently in – a joint venture or a partnership? These terms are often tossed around interchangeably, but the differences between them are very real, and important.

Liability, taxes, profits, losses are all handled quite differently between the two. Assumptions are dangerous.

Understand the differences and know which is best for you. We give you the details here.

One of the toughest things in life is knowing what you don’t know! How’s that for one of the world’s top oxymorons? By definition, we can’t know what we don’t know, can we?

A quick path to discovering the gaps in your knowledge is to find somebody who knows more than you and get help, but that’s not always possible. The next best thing is finding that knowledge in a book.

Be Our Guest – Perfecting the Art of Customer Service
by Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni

Let’s face it, other than Apple, when you think of customer service, what other ubiquitous brand comes to mind? Here’s a hint: it involves a World-famous mouse named Mickey.

Every time I go to Disney I feel like a giant mouse has taken me by the ankle, tipped me upside down and shaken me until my pockets are emptied! Yet, strangely, I don’t feel ripped off because their service is so stinking good when compared to almost everybody else.

Let me give you an example: A few years back I was in Orlando and came down with a bad head cold (great for a holiday), and when I get a cold I’m prone to nosebleeds. It was our last day and last chance to go, so I dragged myself off my deathbed (it felt that way) to go to the Magic Kingdom with my wife and daughter.

Despite stuffing my pockets with tissues, they were all used by the time we got through the main gates, so I sent my wife into the first shop on Main Street USA to buy a couple of travel packs of tissues. They didn’t sell them!

After listening to my wife explain to her why she needed them, the Disney cast member (they don’t have staff) disappeared into the back and emerged with a full-sized box of tissues and gave them to her no charge. Does that make up for the huge ticket prices to go to Disney? No, but it’s a great lesson in customer service.

Read this book and learn directly from their trainers about how they view their guests.

Available on Amazon.com

- Recommendation by Ben Pritchett

Inbox placement rates are continuing to improve in the US, with an average of 85% of promotional emails from US senders reaching the inbox up from 77% during the year-earlier period.

During the 12-month period spanning from Q3 2017 through Q2 2018, US senders experienced an average inbox placement rate of 83%, just 6% of emails landed in the spam folder, though 10% were classified as “missing” in that they never made their way past the initial gateway.

Across the dozens of countries measured, an average of 85% of emails reached the inbox during the yearlong period of analysis, slightly above the US’ 83% average.

When you read the full article, you’ll find a great deal more information on which industries have above and below average delivery rates along with data on delivery rates in different regions of the world. - Courtesy of Marketing Charts