May 2008

Sounds kinda neat huh? I’m sure someone else has coined this phrase by now, so I didn’t even go searching for it before writing this post. (I swear!)

Besides I have a definition for quantum marketing I want to run by you.

Quantam Physics and Quantam Mechanics are said to be the study of the “little things” that make up the Universe. We’re talking the smallest stuff science has been able to measure and even things they know are there but are so small and fast that measuring them is not yet possible.

Yet what scientists have found in the last century about the little things is that they mean a lot. In fact, they mean everything, because they make up “everything.”

Quantum Marketing, therefore, is the study and application of the little things that mean a lot in business and marketing. Things like how approachable you are for clients, customers, prospects and possible associates and partners. Like how you treat an email from a client or prospect that, in the scheme of your day-to-day responsibilities, is seemingly insignificant or at least far less significant.

First, let’s look at the opposite of Quantum Marketing.

If you send a mail to your list of customers or prospects from a “do not reply” address and you don’t include any way for people to contact you personally IN that email either, you are definitely not practicing Quantum Marketing.

This is because such a setup prevents you from being open to the “little things.” Like a personal connection with a list member that could turn into a sale, a coaching gig, a member, or even a heavy-duty evangelist for your company.

Some people think this kind of marketing, where you are insulated from the “dirty masses” in a virtual impenetrable fortress of solitude, is the epitome of success. “I’m so busy and important that I automate everything to the point where I’m really not talking to ANYONE in my network of clients and prospects unless I decide to reach out to THEM.

Being so busy and “important” that you can’t be approached by anyone looking to buy your products or get clarification on some facet of your business is a CHOICE.

Marketing on the quantum level is about making human connections .  It’s taking the time to make those connections with people who can turn out to be the best customers and evangelists you can have in your business. Many people call it relationship marketing, but that doesn’t get to the true heart of it in my opinion.

To this day I keep myself open to people contacting me in various ways as much as I possibly can. Sure, a lot of “connections” are seemingly insignificant at the time and most don’t turn into business-altering relationships or sales, but that’s not necessarily the goal, is it?

Every little reply I make to everyone I can get to is another iron in the fire. The people who recognize how busy I am and act kind of surprised that I write them or call them back as fast as I try to are people who usually never forget such a thing.

John Reese is a Quantum Marketer

I remember my wife asking me to call John Reese’s office a long time ago about a commission check his office sent that wasn’t signed. It was a clerical error and I 100% expected a clerical person to answer the phone. When is was John himself who picked up the phone, I was flabbergasted.

I was a lot greener then, and to say I was star struck is an understatement. I couldn’t believe I was talking to John Reese about such a small thing and that he was handling this relatively insignificant situation himself. And here’s the thing: I didn’t think LESS of him because he answered the phone himself. I thought a lot more of him because of it.

I couldn’t imagine a person as busy and in-demand as Reese would ever answer his own phone. Dealing with other big name people before him had left me trained to expect an assistant to answer the phone if there was anyone around TO answer phones at all.

I remember that day as a business-altering check point. I was under the impression that success meant never having to answer your own phone or reply to customers or affiliates via email yourself. That was the attitude the previous dealings with big names had pounded into me.

By picking up the phone, John added something to his business. He gained a supporter. An evangelist for his company and him as a person. This led to links and affiliate sales of his products over the years that made that call worth it.

Years later John’s “Quantum Marketing” is still paying off for him right here with me telling this story. Now multiply that by the number of times John picked up the phone and answered his email personally every time he possibly could over the years.

Remember how successful John is today. Some significant part of that success is absolutely attributable to Quantum Marketing. The little things really do mean a lot if you stop to think about it like this.

How Approachable Are You?

If some portion of John Reese’s massive success can be traced back to how he treats individuals and how he approaches being approachable, then Quantum Marketing is a big deal even if it deals only with the little things.

Little things make big things possible. The largest things in our Universe are made of the smallest things.

The biggest success stories and the largest, most profitable companies on the planet are made up of a conglomeration of little things that mean a lot. They mean everything.

The Social Web

Social marketing is quantum marketing. Little connections between people are the thing everyone is going so ga ga over right now on the web!

Rack up a critical mass of “little connections” and you have a serious amount of attention coming your way.  That fact is what all the SEO’s and traffic experts are talking about.  That’s why so many businesses desperately want to be a part of the social scene.

When people complain about how time consuming social marketing is compared to other marketing where you are more closed off to the connections that provide your business with possibilities, they are failing to see how important all the little things are to growing a business based on reputation.

John Reese is a reputation manager.  He can sell product today based on his reputation alone and he got his reputation in part by being open to connecting with people on the quantum marketing level.  This is evident in the myriad testimonials from previous clients and customers he’s racked up over the years that talk as much about Reese “the person” as they do the product or service he delivered.

Everything is Time Consuming

We do a lot of extremely time consuming things in our businesses.  The things we don’t complain about taking “too much time” are the things we’ve assigned a high value to based on the perceived and real return on that time.

Since social marketing is still widely misunderstood and no one really knows how to measure it yet to assign concrete value to it, you have tons of bloggers and experts rebelling against it in favor of what we know how to measure already.

String Theory is comprised of a bunch of things that cannot now nor in the foreseeable future be measured.  Yet physicists are talking about it and exploring it with enthusiasm in the hope that someday it will be proven or disproven and that they will be able to have been a part of that process of discovery.

Social marketing is much more measurable and concrete than String Theory.  Railing against it makes no sense at all in my opinion!

Make the Little Connections…

… and truly big things can and do happen for your business.

Whether “Quantum Marketing” sticks (and I hope by capitalizing it throughout this article it is seen as important enough to stick)  :)  at least some readers might remember to keep making little connections to build their reputation and their business.

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