Remember that “marketing waving guy” I told you about?<\/p>\n
The guy who waves and points and even tips his hat and bows when you drive by him and honk your horn?<\/p>\n
Well, yesterday, while driving through town, I saw him again.<\/p>\n
But this time… the dude instead gave me the finger!<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, it LOOKED like it, at least.<\/p>\n I think it was just the angle I was driving from and sunlight was flashing my eyes and blocking my vision. Most likely, he simply pointed at me and smiled when I honked.<\/p>\n Still… all this got me to thinking.<\/p>\n What if he DID give me the finger? Or what if he’d made a raunchy gesture? Or if he yelled an obscenity<\/em> about my mom or something?<\/p>\n Would I even care?<\/p>\n Probably not.<\/p>\n In fact, I’d probably make excuses for him — like a bad day, etc. <\/p>\n I mean, he’s the waving guy<\/em>.<\/p>\n He’d never do something like that in his right mind.<\/p>\n All of which proves a valuable<\/em> sales and marketing point:<\/p>\n If you are the “waving guy” of your market… who makes people SMILE<\/strong> and like you so much they look forward to spending money with you… and you screw up (as we ALL do), then you’re automatically in a MUCH better position than those just doing “business as usual.”<\/p>\n I mean, think about it:<\/p>\n When competitors or snarky people spread nasty rumors about you in the forums or social media sites, your fans rush to your defense.<\/p>\n When you make a mistake, all is instantly forgiven.<\/p>\n And when you have to raise your prices or change something about your services, people don’t freak out, call you names or assume you’re a greedy bastard.<\/p>\n Instead, they understand — and are behind<\/em> you.<\/p>\n I’ve observed this with many businesses over the years.<\/p>\n There are certain marketers who conduct their businesses with so much class and transparency and ethics, even when they make a huge blunder<\/em><\/strong><\/u>, nobody cares.<\/p>\n Nobody gets on their case.<\/p>\n And nobody makes a big deal out of it.<\/p>\n Anyway, just something to think about.<\/p>\n When you’re the “waving guy” of your niche, you wield a power far greater than anything your cash-flush, loud-mouthed competitors could even dream of.<\/p>\n And who knows?<\/p>\n Maybe you’ll even (figuratively!) give ’em the finger<\/em> on your way up.<\/p>\n Ben Settle<\/p>\n P.S.<\/strong> Two marketing “waving guys” that immediately come to mind are Terry Dean and Ken McCarthy — both perfect examples of how you can succeed BIG TIME without using the questionably ethical tactics so common in cyberspace<\/p>\n