Like my colleague Chad, I’ve recently been in the market for a new car. It’s been more than 5 years since I’ve needed a new vehicle, and a lot has changed since my last purchase. Because car buying is one of the largest purchase decisions a person will make, you face a lot of anxiety. Still, I found the entire experience to be fascinating from a communications perspective. Here is my take on what dealerships are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and some free advice on how they can improve:

What They Are Doing Wrong
Web banners leading to nowhere
It’s extremely frustrating to click on a banner promising a great deal on a car, only to be taken to dealer’s site where that information is nowhere to be found. While the hope may be that once I’m on the site I’ll find another vehicle I like, in reality I felt duped and quickly exited the site promising never to return.

Poor follow-up
On most dealer sites you can send an email inquiring about a particular vehicle you’ve spotted. Unfortunately, in most cases instead of getting a response to your specific inquiry, you get multiple emails from the “Internet sales manager” explaining the virtues of buying from that dealer – with no reference to the car you have questions about.

Lack of consultative approach
I provided multiple sales people with information on the make, model and price range I was interested in. Instead of using that information to provide me with ideas on cars that fit my criteria, most acted like they had no prior knowledge of who I was or what I was in the market for.

What They Are Doing Right
Leveraging the Internet
Posting cars on Vehix.com, Carsoup.com, Autotrader.com and even Craigslist means more eyes are seeing their inventory. Most dealerships are posting on multiple sites, and those that aren’t are definitely missing out on potential sales.

Low pressure approach
It’s was refreshing to see many dealerships doing away with the hard sales pitch and at least giving the impression they understand you have reservations about making a large purchase.

Ways to Improve
Better promotion of “certified used cars”
I had heard the term before I started my car search, but I honestly thought it was more of a gimmick than anything. However, I learned that certified used cars have been given a full inspection and come with an extended warranty. Considering many used vehicles don’t have any warranty left, knowing it’s been inspected and is covered certainly sets a vehicle apart. Still, most dealerships simply stick a “certified” logo next to an online listing and leave it at that, and most sales people I met didn’t effectively persuade me on the benefits of buying a certified car. It’s certainly something they should be educating customers on to differentiate themselves.

Act like you care
Even though most sales people are extremely friendly, you can’t help but sense that once the paperwork has been signed they are moving on to the next customer. A handwritten thank you note from my salesman would have done wonders to make me more loyal to the dealership I purchased from.

Faster communication
In today’s Internet age, salespeople have the tools to communicate with customers in real time. There’s no excuse for taking days to respond to an email or voicemail. If I ran a dealership, my sales people would be encouraged to use text, email, and even social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to sell cars.

-Jeron Udean

Recently my husband and I decided to paint our stark and boring white living room walls a warmer, more welcoming color. So we headed off to Home Depot to get some color ideas. In one of the catalogs we found a beautiful living room that had an Italian feel to it. The walls were golden yellow which created a warm, sunny feel and we agreed that was the color we wanted. We proceeded to pick little square paint swatches from the display wall and tried to match them to the color in the picture (I don’t know why we didn’t just look up the color shown in the catalog?). We thought we had found the perfect match and purchased a couple gallons of paint.

That night, my husband rolled out the walls with the new paint, and the next morning the room looked warm and cozy. But as the morning progressed and the sun began to shine in, the room took on a whole different look. I almost choked on my coffee when I walked back into the living room. All of the sudden our Italian bistro looked like a school bus!

We thought the color would tone down a bit after another coat, but that didn’t happen. We went to Home Depot again, and this time we settled on a color that looked about three shades lighter. My husband rolled out the new, toned-down yellow paint. However, the next morning our school bus room turned into a big, bright lemon!

On the third try, we finally got the right color and ended up with a room that we both enjoy immensely. We learned a lesson, and an expensive one at that. The next time we decide to paint a room, we’ll purchase a small quart size can instead of two gallons and we’ll paint a few different areas, instead of the whole room!

-Jane Tomassetti

I recently made a trip to Haskell’s after hearing rumors of their fabulous sales. Sure enough, the rumors were true—the store was full of discounts and deals at almost every turn. Feeling pleased about my inexpensive purchases, I made a Twitter post citing the great deals at Haskell’s.

Hours later I received an email notifying me that I was now being followed by Haskell’s, TheWinePeople on Twitter. I must admit, it was a bit of an eerie feeling to have TheWinePeople watching me so closely. I later discovered they actually replied to my previous mention about their discounts, tweeting “Sweet tweet! We appreciate it. When you come into the store, be sure to mention you tweeted us and pick up a free wine tote.” Eerie feelings aside, I was elated that on top of my discounted items I would also be getting a free gift!

With more and more businesses taking advantage of the Twitter phenomenon, they are seeking additional and unique ways to reach their customers. SCG has embraced this social networking tool as a way to enhance creativity and industry knowledge. While my Twitter use has continued to increase, this was the first time I saw the direct positive effect of this Twitter relationship. In fact, my trips to Haskell’s have been limited in the past, but an offer of a free tote via tweeting has me going back to visit my new friends, TheWinePeople.

-Jamie Shubatt

After getting my taxes done one Saturday in St. Paul, I wondered if it would be too frivolous to take myself out to lunch at nearby Café Latte on Grand Avenue. After all, conventional wisdom says we should all be watching our pennies and buying only necessities. But the alternative – my freezer at home full of unappetizing microwave options – convinced me to splurge a little. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were others at Café Latte with the same can-do attitude.

The place was bustling with a healthy Saturday lunchtime crowd standing in line at this well-known gourmet cafeteria choosing from the mouthwatering selections of fresh-made soups, salads, sandwiches, baked breads, and pizza. While I glanced around at everyone’s trays standing in line, at least half of them had a slice of one of Café Latte’s signature desserts. How ingenious to display these tempting sweets right as the customers enter. Tough to resist – even in this economy.

Point being, a good brand is much more likely to weather these tough economic times than companies without brand strength. What is your company doing to build its brand strength and capture the attention of cautious customers?

-Steph Haugan

My mother always says, “Support your neighborhood store” and I have come to learn that this is especially important today. Just a few weeks ago my neighborhood Snyders Drug Store closed after being a fixture in the Glen Lake community for as long as I can remember. Once anchoring a popular local strip mall, the shelves are now barren, the lot is empty and the sign has been taken down. When I stopped in for the last time, employees told me they were being transferred to other stores, retiring or starting a job search. A hairdresser from the salon next door said, “It just won’t be the same without you.” No, it really won’t.

This was very sad for me and many other shoppers. Our neighborhood Snyders was more than a drug store—shoppers knew each other and the employees. Customers were greeted with a hello and smile, the pharmacists took the time to really listen and lend suggestions. Shoppers were actually asked if we needed help, instead of leaving us to confusedly wander, like a certain “Mart” which shall remain nameless. And Snyders always had that perfect little gift or trinket.

While Snyders couldn’t weather the storm, I will continue to support my local Fresh Seasons Market (a gem of a grocery store), Zoss Drug and the corner Dairy Queen (OK, I’ll eat a Blizzard if I have to). I will do my part to keep my neighborhood stores alive while others support giant eyesores like Costco. Stores like that can never fill the void left by the local store and now I realize that more than ever.

I’m glad I listened to my mom’s words. Just don’t tell her that.

-Jenny Silgen

Harpers Magazine

I have been teaching at the University of Minnesota since 1998. One of the
first courses I taught there, Advertising Campaign Planning, required some
serious creativity. Because of that I gave a lot of thought about our creative
process at SCG and how best to teach it to seniors just about to graduate.

There were several lessons I wanted my students to learn, but I wanted them
to discover these lessons themselves so they would remember them. One of the
two main lessons I wanted them to learn was that creativity was in large part
a manageable processthat could be structured in such
a way that it more consistently produced great creative work. (That process,
which our agency patterned after IDEO’s, will be explored further in an upcoming
blog). The other lesson I wanted to teach was that most ideas are
average and part of the role of the creative process is to open
the funnel to many intersecting and derivative ideas, with the understanding
that the vast majority of them would need to be eliminated later.

But as it turned out, the most urgent thing I needed to teach these students
was that they had tremendous untapped creative potential. I discovered this
when I decided to start the creative discussion by asking them to raise their
hand if they were creative. I gave no other instructions. A few hands went
up right away, then a couple more until within 30 seconds about half of the
class had their hand-up. I continued to say nothing and just waited through
an increasingly uncomfortable and awkward silence. Finally, the remaining students
all eventually raised their hands, even those that didn’t really believe they
were creative. The peer pressure and silence was just too much to withstand.

I then asked, “Why did it take you so long to admit you were creative?” The
answers varied but generally it was a relative comparison. “Ok, I can be creative
I guess, but not as creative as someone who is really creative.”

I mentioned to the class that they had to be really careful what they told
themselves, less they turn a false perception into reality. At the age of about
21 many of these very bright – all potentially creative students – had already
convinced themselves that they were not uniquely creative. Why?

According to R. Keith Sawyer, an associate professor of education and psychology
at Washington University, “Psychologists studying creativity have discovered
that it is based on cognitive processes we all share. Creativity is not the
result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don’t.”

In Sawyer’s most recent book, Group Genius, he writes that many people
have a vision of highly creative people as “lone geniuses.” “In
reality,” says Sawyer, “creative people network with other people.
A lot of creativity happens through collaboration. Much of my own research
focuses on the relationship between collaboration and creativity.”

I also believe that part of our false beliefs about creativity results from
the educational process itself. Rather than reward original thinking, the system
tends to reward rote memorization, or accurate recitation of concept or fact-based
lecturing with short answer exams, multiple choice questions and so on. The
problem with that is that the real world of work can be very messy and the
practice of many professions ends up exactly that: practice. It is never really
perfected. An A in a class implies perfection or some level of mastery, but
the real world doesn’t just grade you, it can be much harsher than that, and
will often punish you if you produce merely “average” or unoriginal work. This
is especially true if you work in a field that includes communication.

At the end of my initial experience with the students, the conclusion I drew
is that one of the most important things you can teach someone is that most
of their ideas are “bad”. At our agency we define a “bad” idea as an idea that
is either predictable, unoriginal or off-strategy enough that it simply should
not be acted on. Once you accept the notion that most of your ideas are “bad”,
you can use that knowledge to become more consistently “creative”.

You need a lot of ideas to actually come up with a good one. It is the creative
process that allows the formulation of many ideas (often hundreds). Among
these ideas, some are flat-out “bad” ones, occasionally there are some good
ones, perhaps even a great one or two, but mostly they are in-between. It is
the process of creating a larger portfolio of ideas that allows those with
experience to shine a laser beam on just the right one. For us, the right idea
is an original one that uniquely hits the strategic bull’s-eye and is executable
within a predefined constraint.

Are you creative? Yes you are, but you might not yet be coming up with enough
“bad” ideas.

-Patrick Strother

The YouTube video “The Magic Hockey Helmet” has been viewed more than 217,000 times. In my opinion the world would be a better place if the view count were in the millions. The video was created by a nine year old Canadian hockey player who is wise beyond his years. Although he is recounting his own observations in hockey his message really transcends sports. In the video this young man talks about a transformation that takes place when he puts on the helmet and skates onto the ice for a game. Sadly the transformation he is referring to is largely that of parents who live vicariously through their children. Without the helmet, he is treated with respect and encouraged to do his best. With the helmet suddenly he’s treated as if he were 10-20 years older and immune to verbal assaults.

As a father of two young boys who participate in sports, I have witnessed numerous instances of verbal abuse directed at the kids, coaches, officials and even other parents in attendance. I have not personally witnessed any physical confrontations but it does happen. In 2000 a New Jersey man was convicted of manslaughter after beating a man unconscious during a youth hockey game. Both men involved had 10 year old boys playing in the game. Ironically the altercation began because the convicted man objected to the rough play on the ice.

The boy in the video quoted former Toronto Maple Leafs captain George Armstrong who said, “Hockey in Canada will be in good shape when parents decide that it is being played for their children’s benefit and not their own.” Well said young man.

-Randy West

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWjBvcfhRX0

The key to any effective lead generation program is the ability to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. Rest assured, if you’ve done your homework you will have the right message and the right audience. But delivering that message at the right time can be much more difficult for a number of reasons. Let’s be honest, decision-makers are not sitting at their desk waiting for your call. In most cases, they’re probably working on business objectives and your call is viewed as an interruption. Often times the result is a quick “I’m not interested” followed by an abrupt click ending the call.

With this in mind, my calling strategy begins by asking the decision-maker, “Is this an okay time to talk?” In doing this, I am helping differentiate myself from others while practicing one of our agency’s core values of putting others first.

When the concept of asking for time was first introduced to me I was hesitant because it gives the decision-maker an easy opportunity to end the call. I imagined that virtually everyone if given the opportunity would say, “I’m right in the middle of a meeting” or “This is a really bad time.” And while I do hear those responses, the vast majority respond positively. In fact, many decision-makers have even thanked me for asking! The next time I connect with them, they will remember my thoughtfulness and will be more receptive to my call.

-Randy West

As this Associated Press article points out, a spirited debate is taking place among Las Vegas tourism officials regarding the city’s image. In light of recent high profile business trip cancellations, some are arguing that Sin City’s image as a party town needs to be rethought. The rationale is that no matter how legitimate the city is as a business destination, the perception by many is of executives lavishly partying and basking in the knowledge that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Regardless of your opinion on that topic, there is a larger point to take away from the story. Your brand is a living organism that is constantly evolving and adapting to shifting market and societal changes. As marketers, we must continually evaluate whether our brand positioning resonates as well today as it has in the past.

Indeed, there are times when your brand needs a makeover. Sometimes all it needs is a cosmetic change and other times it needs a total overhaul. What’s important to keep in mind is that your brand is shaped everyday by what you do, what you say and who you are.

So, is your brand keeping up with the times?

-Jeron Udean