Feedback from clients is the best gift a vendor can get.
This is especially true when it is straight up with no ulterior motive. We recently got amazing feedback from a client who chose us for a lot of great reasons. When asking for feedback, I always ask how we can do better. Ah. That’s where it gets interesting. Their feedback was essentially, that they liked us and they chose us because we approachable, knowledgeable, different, casual, informal. Moving forward, the feedback was that we should be more formal and a bit less casual. Hmmm.
Our clients and our competition acknowledge that we are market leaders but at what point should we suit up, lawyer up, and basically act like our competitors? How would we be different then?
I donated all of my suits to the Hope Program before we left NY, so I’m kind of screwed there. Although I do like our lawyers a lot, I’m not sure we need them at our meetings. I think we are in the process “buttoning up” in our own way, but we’ll still stick to our core values (and wardrobe) and keep winning new business.
Just when you think the industry is walking a little taller, our chins a bit higher, I get this example of marketing maroonery in my email – sent from a doctor, by the way. And we wonder why our giveaways are being outlawed…um, maybe there are more useful things we can provide doctors for their practice – the bar has been set fairly low.
*My thanks to Bugs Bunny and Bruce Grant for providing me a snappy title.
I just got a really big wake up call. We have been talking to most of the pharma companies out there about mobile marketing and for the most part, they are really excited about it – contrast this with the meetings at most of the major agencies. We had a meeting today where I thought we might need to bust out the defibrillator – I wasn’t sure these people were alive. And they sure as hell were not “getting” mobile – from the looks on their faces, I had to make sure I hadn’t accidentally started speaking in tongues. Of course, they pointed out that they had lots to think about regarding the print campaigns they were dreaming about.
Maybe the moral of the story is that I should be selling stuff that they know and “get” – like an eDetail…or maybe a podcast…yeah, that’s the ticket. We always say, “No one got fired for hiring IBM” but where is IBM now? Selling what you know is easy, selling the future is hard.
One of my colleagues at One Eleven forwarded me a link to an article from the New York Times – it had a quote from Barney Pell, CEO of Powerset (his company had been acquired by Microsoft) – In discussing mobile applications Mr. Pell came up with a truly beautiful observation:
“The small screen forces you to be even more ruthless and focus on usability almost like a haiku. Thatâs what happens with design for the small screen. You have to think about what the most important thing the user is doing is.”
I used this quote in a pitch today (yes, I sourced it – I thought using it made me look smart enough!) it really captures the essence of what mobile is all about – I have a feeling I’ll be using this quote again in my next mobile marketing pitch.
Link to article:
On a Small Screen, Just the Salient Stuff
Seth Godin has done it again. I love his blog – it truly inspires me (sign up at www.sethgodin.com) – every day brings another gem. Today, he blogged about mediocrity and how truly brutal it is to be a visionary – not only in pharma, but in life. Remarkable thinking and ideas are always met with resistance by those who want to keep things status quo. I do get it. I’ve been a pain in the ass rabble-rousing demander of change my whole life – and believe me, it is NOT always the path to popularity! I had a boss early in my career who did everything she could to help guide me back to the path of mediocrity – bless her heart, including sending me to the company psychiatrist to find out how to help me be “more like the others”. Brave soul that he was, he sent me on my own path and I’ve never looked back.
The truly new, innovative ideas will be beaten down – by your own colleagues (unless you surround yourself with like-minded thinkers), by your clients, by the industry – but without the challenge, what fun would it be to actually make it through the muck of mediocrity? Seth’s challenge to the innovators is to persist – stay the course you believe in and maybe you can be the one to bring about a change.
My mother tried really hard to understand why it was I had to take the path with the most resistance, but I think she appreciates the need to rise above mediocrity, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. Look around – overnight sensations take years – ask Steve Case about his 7 year overnight success -and I read somewhere that it took the Beatles 8 years to become a sensation in the U.S. – I have hope for One Eleven Interactive – my mom does too.
I don’t lose sleep very often, but recently, we have been in meetings with clients who CLEARLY have no idea about PDMA (Prescription Drug Marketing Act) – and more frightening, some of the vendors they are depending on to ensure adherence to requirements are in the dark as well. Since we are responsible for the delivery of online sampling programs, we make sure we are well versed in the PDMA requirements – especially in the arena of e-signature and ensuring that are clients’ chosen sampling paths are low risk.
We have decided to create an educational program for our clients that gives them what they need to know about PDMA – we are planning a 2 – 3 part podcast, each running a few minutes that helps our clients (and anyone else who needs or wants to know!) become savvy – our bet is that we will have better programs with educated clients and who knows – we could save our clients millions of dollars in fines – wouldn’t that give our programs a great ROI?
I was on a flight with my family and happened to reach into the seat pocket to retrieve a magazine. Instead of the magazine, I had the “barf bag” in my hand. Except it wasn’t called a barf bag, it was the “For Motion Discomfort Bag” (and you were instructed to “call the flight attendant for bag disposal” – nice, huh?) I started thinking about calling things as they are. Most brand sites DON’T put the side effects of their drug front and center on their brand sites. Some drugs have some rather unpleasant or weird side effects – instead of hiding it, why don’t we clearly state on the front page of the brand site what the side effect is – especially if it has become a brand thorn – and what the patient or caregiver should expect and what they should do.
My niece has suffered from discolored extremities. She went through a bunch of testing and it turned out that it is known to be a side effect of a certain drug. Had the brand put this information front and center on their brand site, my sister-in-law and her doctor would have known about these issues from a simple review of the brand web site, saving them countless, frustrating visits to the doctor. Now that they understand it is a side effect and is harmless, they have decided to stay with the drug.
I’m just wondering how many patients we could save a huge hassle, how many doctors we could save huge amounts of time and confusion and how much impact this could have on health care costs? The truth is powerful – think about embracing it.
I received this email yesterday – since this clearly is NOT a good example of an email campaign – not only did I receive an unsolicited email, they threatened me with an unwanted call as well (actually, today at 11:00 a.m. they called my PRIVATE cell phone to pimp their services…now that is really pushing the limits!) And the visual? Wow, that’s really creepy. Let this be a horrible warning.
The email breaks so many rules, it’s not even funny. First there’s the issue of the copy being in the form of an image. If someone blocks the image, no message. Then there’s the use of a copyrighted image, and the subject line itself borders on spam.
If you want someone to communicate with you, be friendly and direct and keep it simple. Perhaps just a simple introductory email from this particular vendor would be more helpful.
————————————–
Subject: Introducing X Company
Message: We’d like to set up a meeting with you to discuss our services which are…
Sincerely,
Vendor
Phone
Email
Mailing Address
[removal instructions]
————————–
That’s it. A simple message requesting a brief conversation and no creepy image from the Hobbit. No negative response and at least a chance of a positive outcome.
