Quantum Marketing
May 30, 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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Humphrey! Thanks for visiting!
Right on Jack
This is a lesson for all businesses not just one’s online. The “little connections”
are the important ones when it comes to the sale.
You can get lots of traffic with the other stuff but traffic doesn’t mean anything if no one buys.
The humanity part of marketing on the internet sometimes gets lost is the pursuit of rankings.
People buy things not spiders or bots. The more transparent , accessible and human we are, the more people will remember the small things when it is time to buy.
Quantum Marketing - The new buzz word for the new era of being social.
Did you make that up Jack? If you did I am witness to it!
Seth Garrison’s last blog post..Links for 2008-05-29 [My Web 2.0]
Good post Jack.
I remember calling Mike Enlow years back… same thing happened. He answered the phone — we talked for quite awhile.
I called to find out about a seminar he did (with Halbert, etc) and the tapes he was selling — VHS, no DVD’s then.
The tapes were a little pricey — I really did not have the spare funds.
Short of it… he gave me the seminar — out of the blue.
He asked for my mailing address — said he was going to send me something, but I never expected he was going to send me the seminar.
Thought he was going to send some report or something.
I can remember that day like it was yesterday.
Funny how things like that stay with you.
Andrew
I agree, these little things really add up. Any time anyone contacts me, I try to get back to them personally as quickly as possible. As a result, many write back and thank me for the quick reply. The point is, if they take the time to write back and thank me, this means getting a quick reply is not normal. It makes me wonder how the other marketers are treating their customers. I have no way to measure this, but I believe this practice has lead to some high responsive customers that buy just about everything I produce… all from quick response and personal service.
We talk constantly now about “viral marketing”. The parallel here is that viruses, too, are “small things”.
The “virus” in marketing is nothing more or less than a single unique message…and, just like viruses require a host, the marketing message requires a host…and another…and another.
A host can become a “vector”….meaning not merely a “carrier”, but a “transmitter” of the virus. To give a crude example, a male mosquito might carry a virus, but since it doesn’t feed off of warm-blooded animals it won’t be a “transmitter”. Only the female mosquito will become a transmitter.
…and not all female mosquitos “infected” will “transmit”. Some, for instance, will be squashed or killed with insecticide before they can “transmit”.
An “epidemic” occurs when a sufficient number of vectors become transmitters. It’s a numbers game. Viral marketing, then, is the process of:
1. Implanting the “virus” into enough individual hosts that the vector process has a chance to take hold and to overcome the rate of natural “transmission dropouts”. If only one in 100 vectors (”carriers”) become transmitters, you have a high dropout rate to overcome and if you want to start an epidemic you have to be personally implanting your virus continually using as many of the well over 500 methods of implantation that are available as you can.
(There’s a very successful marketer of dental services who was asked for a way to get 100 new patients. He said…”I have no idea. In fact, I don’t know of any way to get 20 patients, or 5 patients. But I know 100 ways to get ONE patient, and I use all of them.”)
2. To deal with the dropout rate, you have to enhance the probability of “transmission”, and this is really where the “tipping point” is achieved.
What, then, enhances the probability of transmission?
1. Surprising service (like you describe with John Reese in your article) enhances the probability of transmission.
2. Unexpected value, ditto.
3. Encouragement and gratitude expressed to “transmitters” in the form of special “rewards” or benefits, ditto. Sometimes the product or service itself becomes more valuable the more it is shared. For instance, LinkedIn becomes more and more valuable to you yourself the more people that you invite to join…and then those people develop value for themselves by inviting people to join, etc. This isn’t accidental and it can be applied to many situations.
4. Providing a platform for user personalization, participation and sharing, ditto.
5. Capturing the deepest possible understanding of the interaction between users and your product or service, coupled with continuous extension and improvement that addresses their frustrations and wishes regarding the product or service, ditto. (Version 1 only needs to be “good enough”…but you’re always working on the next version.)
Many think that “viral events” like the explosion of Facebook, YouTube, etc. just happen for some mysterious reasons that no one knows why or how. Not so. Items 1 through 5, to varying degrees and in different ways, were present in all of these.
But it all starts with personally implanting viruses and then continuing to do so, just like John Reese.
Sheesh Brian! Thanks for sharing that man! Want to write for FTR?
Favorite: “There’s a very successful marketer of dental services who was asked for a way to get 100 new patients. He said…”I have no idea. In fact, I don’t know of any way to get 20 patients, or 5 patients. But I know 100 ways to get ONE patient, and I use all of them.”
Hope even more pick up on this discussion. This is a good one!
Andrew,
And look what’s happening again because of that. Mike’s getting more love for something he did years back.
Some people will Google him and find out more about him and his products because they are just hearing his name for the first time in your reply.
Your story is more powerful than any other form of marketing because 1) you gain nothing monetarily from telling it and 2) You aren’t Mike, and for that reason people believe such a thing more than a testimonial on a sales page or any thing else a marketer could use to gain new customers.
Understanding the power of this kind of marketing (what everyone who has been to a mom and pop hardware store has experienced first hand) is the key to understanding why it doesn’t take a million visitors to be a success.
It takes far far less traffic to generate goodwill and clients and sales.
The reason most people think they need a million visitors is because their system is so pedantic and cold that it would take that many visits to convert enough people to customers to make the venture worthwhile.
Of course having a product that is in demand is a given. Assuming that is the case and one still thinks they need a huge amount of traffic to succeed, they either have a product designed to suit the masses and need that many visitors even at a good conversion or they have a marketing system that is too automated that makes a human connection nearly or entirely impossible.
In any case, even with automation, people should strive to make their marketing system more personable because that is proven to hit home with customers of all kinds, including me!
p.s. - We just got back from Sears where I got a new grill and weed trimmer. I was told by the salesman that they’d need a couple days to put the grill together and I could pick it up on Tuesday.
We came home and had a message on the machine that he was able to get someone to assemble a grill for me today and I could come back and pick it up this afternoon.
He clearly saw that I wanted to grill this weekend when I was there and remembered that after I was gone and worked on finding a solution.
He already got his commission. He didn’t have to call and I could have just come back Tuesday and not known the thing was already put together the day I bought it.
Guess what? I am going to find that guy the next time and make sure HE gets the sale. He placed something in my mind that won’t soon disappear. He basically put more money in the bank that he can withdraw the next time I need lawn and garden stuff, which will actually be soon.
p.s.s. I know that good customer service is not a new idea, by the way. It’s just that I also know we all need reminders of it constantly.
We KNOW it makes all the difference in the world and that we should always practice making those connections and treating people with uncommon respect and service, but we all slip on that as time goes by.
It’s the people who need less reminding of this fact that reap the biggest rewards in business.
You mention that you’re going to express your gratitude to this guy by giving him your future business. This is important, but it’s kind of a one-off and really isn’t the only (or best) way to express your gratitude.
The best way of expressing your gratitude to someone other than giving them your repeat business would be to “give them” something from your own business.
For instance, say you have a shoe store. Sure, you can buy your next appliance from this guy at Sears, and that’s great, but you could also make him a real special deal on his next shoe purchase!
Or, say you help people with Web marketing. Make him an intriguing offer. Tell him you can help him set up a website that will drive local customers to see him at Sears. He probably never thought of doing that…and then, of course, he becomes YOUR repeat customer. You’ve just flipped the equation while still being genuinely grateful for what he did for you.
There’s a big difference between “I’ll let you do something for me in the future” but “Let me do something for you.” This is gratitude that comes back around full circle to your own business, and benefits both of you, but instead of just GIVING repeat business you’re GETTING repeat business.
Oh - and these aren’t mutually exclusive. You can do both.
P.S. on my “full-circle gratitude” comment: Carry special “gratitude” business cards that you hand out every time someone gives you good service. ( We forget that you can have printing placed on the BACK SIDE of business cards. This is wasted space for most people who use business cards, and it’s like renting a billboard but only using half of it!
The message on the back might be:
I sincerely appreciate the excellent service you provided for me on ________. Please let me extend a special “thank-you” with a discount of 20% off anything in my store (or whatever you’re offering). Bring this card with you, and in case I’m not in the store when you come in, my initials below will alert my staff that you’re a friend of mine.
__________
(Initials)
If it’s appropriate to your business, you could offer them a “lifetime discount”, for instance! Wutta deal.
Initial the card in their presence, place it in their hand with a sincerely warm handshake, look them in the eye and say “Thanks for everything! I look forward to having the opportunity of reciprocating the wonderful experience you gave me today.” Hand them the card with the backside UP…you don’t have to worry about them turning it over, trust me.
OK, I love this post! Heres my “marketers are real people” story….
I was Las Vagas last year at the ASC Summit (great event), where I was privileged to listen to Howie Schwartz. And as chance would have it he walked into the lunch spot after his power packed speech (which had more golden nuggets than McDonald’s serves in a month) So as non-stalker as I could I offered him a seat at my table. Howie and I got to talking and we realized we live 20 minutes from each other. When I returned home I emailed him to follow up, and say that I would join conversation domination but could not afford the private seminar in his home. THATS when Howie opened up his home and invited me as his guest. Now I am a loyal raving fan of Howie and all the products he puts out. I will be in attendance to see him next week in NYC. Join me if you can, you wont be disappointed.
http://www.onlineprofitworkshop.com/
That’s a great blog post Jack.
It reminds me of the book “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson. Where he talks about the small insignificant daily actions that seem irrelevant at the time. But they build one on top of the other over time, till one day you answer your own phone.
And then a whole new concept has been established, and the rest of the world
is racing to catch up. Seems so insignificant at the time, the guy answered his
own phone. But like you Jack, is John Reese just a guy when it comes to the Internet.
Keep up the great work you and your team do for all of us.
Gary McElwain