After writing the post “The Backwards Bookstore” I contacted both Borders and Barnes & Noble. In my correspondence I simply referred them to the post to allow them to draw their own conclusions. their responses were pretty much as I predicted. Here is the response I received from Barnes and Noble:

Dear Member,

Thank you for inquiring about your Barnes & Noble Membership. We’ve changed our communication policy to further strengthen the privacy and security needs of our customers.

To respond to your request, we must ask you to reply to this email with all of the following information:

-Member name
-Member mailing address
-Barnes & Noble Membership number

If you do not have your Membership number available, please provide one of the following:

-Phone number
-Last four digits of the credit card #
-Last store in which your Membership was used.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Diane
Customer Service Representative
Barnes and Noble Membership Services

I received a form letter prior to this one stating the usual “thank you for contacting us.” then I received the above which completely side stepped any of my points or commentary. Instead, they concentrated on the word membership and would not engage in correspondence unless I provided them with additional details. Contrast the above response with the one I received from Borders:

Dear Chase,

Thank you for your wonderful comments praising the staff of our Springfield – Borders store. Your comments have been forwarded to the General Manager for the store and the District Manager for the area, respectively. They will have the pleasure of congratulating the store staff for truly going the extra mile.

We are always excited to hear when a customer has had a particularly positive experience in one of our stores – this is the kind of feedback that keeps everyone striving to do their best. Customer service is one of our top priorities and we are happy to hear that we have employees who seem to more than exemplify the term!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We look forward to seeing you at one of our Borders locations soon!

Sincerely,
Ashley
Borders Customer Care
http://www.borders.com

As you can see, they used my first name and you can tell that they read the entire post. Companies that truly care about client service go to these lengths. I applaud Borders for their efforts and this simply reinforces the statements made in my previous post as well as my subsequent decision to patronize Borders over Barnes & Noble.

I recently made a trip to a national bookstore and had some rather startling revelations. I have been buying my business literature from them for quite some time. This includes both audio books as well as the occasional paper based ones. My family and I purchased books from here so frequently that we purchased a $25 membership that granted us discounts on our purchases. We enjoyed going there as a family and had pleasant things to say about the corporate chain. So, why would they want to drive us away?

Let me give you a little background and we’ll delve into why, in my opinion, that they have things backwards. I recently journeyed to this bookstore with a business partner of mine. I was in search of the new 4-Hour Workweek, MP3 on CD edition,  by Timothy Ferriss. I checked the price online earlier that day and wrote down the Member Price ($21.56) and the ISBN so I could find it quickly. As I looked around and found the work in question, much to my dismay the price was $29.95 (see image to the left). Members receive a 10% discount. But even with the discount I would have had to pay $26.95 (over $5 more). I questioned a clerk about this and was told that it was cheaper to order it online than in the store. I thought that this was odd but had no time to investigate. So, I simply deferred on the purchase and waited until I was in front of my computer to make the purchase. Shipping was free so there was a clear savings. Once in front of my computer I began to investigate further and found that this was universal. In addition, they were granting the Member Price to everyone. Even those who did not pay. The website said “Limited Time Offer!” When I clicked on the details, it went into effect on November 2, 2009. As of this post, February 23, 2010 (4 months later) the “Limited Time Offer” was still posted and live. To me, 1/3 of the year is not a limited time offer. It is a new standard.

I questioned individuals that represented this establishment as to why they had lower prices on every item I price checked. They attempted to elaborate on everything from overhead in the store to shipping charges for internet purchases. They tried to explain away the gap. To which I responded, your shipping is free and the product is cheaper. Are you trying to drive people out of your brick and mortar stores and push them towards purchasing online? The silence I received as an answer was deafening.

Let me explain why I believe their approach is backwards and what course of action their policies pushed me to take. First of all, if you have a brick and mortar storefront your overhead will be higher than a website’s. If not, you are doing something seriously wrong. But, if you have a storefront, you are seeking increased foot traffic and attempting to entice more visitors in the door to make more sales. It would make sense to give your in-store clients, the ones who left their home to visit your establishment, the discount. Give greater discounts or a greater value to the in-store clients and you can help make up your overhead difference. Their current model penalizes you for visiting the physical store. You receive no more value by visiting the brick and mortar store than if you just stayed home and visited online. At their current rate with their current model, they will eventually start closing their brick and mortar locations. As more people learn of these practices, they will stop visiting the store. Less foot traffic equals less store sales. Less store sales equals less stores open. You get the picture. Their model is counter-intuitive and a recipe for eventual failure. At the bare minimum, they should have the same price online as they do in-store. They are literally competing with themselves. It is easier to capture client dollars once their in-store than when they are on your site. They can price compare and easily jump to another online store when on the web. They can’t leave your brick and mortar store and go price checking as easily.

The loyal clients purchase the memberships. They are purchasing the right to acquire books, audios, movies, etc at a discount. When the establishment gives the same price to all clients regardless of membership, it devalues the membership. It leaves the member asking “what did I pay for?” I know it left me feeling that way. Why did I pay $25 to receive the same discount that everyone else is receiving for free? This means that someone who randomly happens across their website, that has no history with them,  receives a less expensive price than someone who pays for the annual membership and takes the time to actually drive to their brick and mortar location. Does this equation add up to you? Reward the passerby and penalize the loyal. Yet another recipe for failure.

So, what action did I take? I took my business elsewhere. This is the most powerful thing a consumer can do. Vote with your dollars. I went to their national competitor that was one block away. I visited their competitor and began to question their representative as to their business practices. They had the same price online as they did in-store. They offered free shipping online to make things equal as to someone making a purchase in-store. They did not charge for their membership at all. And their staff appeared to care more about answering my questions  than the establishment I just left. Same experience online as in-store, no charge for membership and friendly staff, I was sold. I signed up for a membership on the spot. They send out coupons and special offers to their members to enjoy equal savings online as well as in-store. And the current membership offer was 30% off of your purchase. As you can see from the image above, the total discount to people who had to buy online with a members price was 28%. I saved an additional 2%, was able to leave with my product in hand and did not have to pay a dime for the membership. They have a recipe for success.

The establishments in question were Barnes and Noble and Borders. In my opinion, Barnes and Noble has things backwards and Borders is on the right track. So, as of this post I have said “bye bye” to Barnes and Noble and “hello” to Borders.

If you have a brick and mortar storefront and an online store, take heed. Do not compete with yourself and do not penalize your loyal clients. Do not take on the practices of backwards bookstores.

Tell me if you have heard this tale before.

A man is in the bar of his hotel after a long flight. A beautiful young lady comes up to him and asks if she can buy him a drink. The man graciously obliges and allows the young lady to purchase him a cocktail. The next thing the guy knows he wakes up in a bathtub full of ice. Next to him on a chair, in the bathroom, is a phone and a note. The note says, “Call 911.” The gentleman picks up the phone and dials 911. The 911 operator answers and the man begins to describe what has happened thus far. The 911 operator tells the man not to be alarmed. And then instructs him to reach behind him and feel is he has a rubber tube sticking out of his back. The guy reaches around, shivering in the cold ice tub, and his numb fingers feels what appears to be a rubber tube sticking out of his back. He begins to become frantic. The 911 operator tells the gentleman to be calm and that an ambulance is on its way. She then continues on to explain that he has been the victim of black market organ harvesting and that they removed and stole his kidney.

Many of you have heard this tale before. Upon researching it, this tale is 100% false. However, many years ago (before the instant information highway as we know it existed) this story spread across the US like wildfire and many people who heard it then still recall it today many years later. Why? This story is “sticky” as the Heath brothers would put it.

The Heath brothers researched why this and so many other stories and advertisements “stick” and why others don’t in their book titled Made To Stick. In Made To Stick they uncovered that 6 particular qualities made a story or advertisement sticky. They are:

• Simplicity – is the message simple and easy to understand?
• Unexpectedness – does the message have any kind of unexpected revelation or shock value?
• Concreteness – is the message solid?
• Credibility – does the message derive from a credible source or backed by one.
• Emotions – does the message play on your emotions and create emotional response?
• Stories – is your message told in story format?

Because this is an entrepreneurial blog focused on business and commerce, we will reference the listed qualities in the context of marketing and advertising. You do not have to have all of the listed components to make your message sticky. However, the more of the components you add and have them work in unison, the stickier the message will be. Think back to the commercials that really stand out in your mind and you will realize that they encompassed a majority, if not all, of the listed qualities above. Remember the “Where’s The Beef” commercial? What about the non-smoking “Truth” commercials?

If you would like to maximize the advertising dollars that you are spending, whether it is print, radio, Internet or TV, then you need to buy this book or CD set and review it. There is a lot of information contained in the book so you may have to reread it. Or, as you cover each quality, begin to craft your message and then tweak it when you get to the next section to encompass the next quality.

To anyone that reads the book or listens to the CD set and crafts an advertisement from it, please contact me with it when you are done. I am always interested to see what type of creativity others develop in their advertising message. Now, go out and create your own advertisement that resonates as long as the organ harvesting story.

You can find the book via our store or online at Barnes & Noble.

Did you know that you can say the same thing with different words, however you may convey different meanings? In sales and marketing your task can be difficult enough to gain credibility and build value without your own words getting in your way. I learned the following list from the master sales, marketing and entrepreneurial guru – Dan Vega. Simply substituting the words with negative connotations with words that have more positive connotations can mean the difference between more revenue in your pocket or that revenue venturing into your competitor’s.

An example of replaced word usage could be:

• The price of the unit is $1000 with $100 monthly payments. All we need to do is sign a few contracts and your purchase is complete.
• Your total investment in the unit is $1000. Your monthly investments are $100. All we need to do in order to help you acquire this unit now is to fill out a few forms and get your autograph.

The second sentence is much more friendly, open and inviting in the sales process than the first sentence. Your ability to close your opportunity is greater by simply utilizing the second set of positive or neutral words.

So, the next time you plan on designing a marketing campaign, creating an advertisement or writing sales literature, check your vocabulary and utilize words that promote positive connotations as opposed to negative ones. Don’t let wrong word usage kill your deal…I mean opportunity.

To all who may be in Southern California (Aliso Viejo area)  and also own a business, whether physical or in the virtual space, you should check out what Scott Bradley and Kirsten Wright have going on. They are putting on a workshop to teach you how to leverage the social web more effectively for your business and greater continued success. To find out more information, follow this link and read about the event on their site.