Start a word-of-mouth epidemic and make your brand go viral

Today in our globalized economy one has to stand out in order to get attention.
I know that you want to get more customers and drive sales, that's what we all want. But not everybody knows how to accomplish that. But Customer Service is probably the most underrated marketing method, especially if you want to increase that word-of-mouth-factor and get people to talk about your company, you'll have to improve your customer service. At most of the time, customer service SUCKS. Let me give you an example: I will go to a music festival this summer with my friends, it's in the East of Germany and it is called Splash. They hire hip hop artists to perform on stage. This year, the line up was horrible and many people tried to contact the organizers via the facebook and the twitter page of Splash, but they just ignored the complaints. Anyway, I think because of that many people won't go there next year, because of a bad customer experience. But now I'll go on about Customer Service Marketing. When I was listening to EoFire while working out in the gym, JLD and his guest went on with discussing Customer Service strategies. One that I really liked was the one which a dentist used. As we all know, many people are scared of going to the dentist. But instead of having someone below him to call his customers to remind them about their appointments, he does that by himself. Some of you might say "Ugh, what a waste of time", but these people are just wrong. This way, he can make the customer feel better. What would you think if you had an appointment with a new dentist tomorrow and he gives you a call and says something like: "Hey this is Dr. X, we have an appointment tomorrow, I will be your doctor, I know many people are scared of going to the dentist and I wanted to give you a chance to ask me any questions if you are feeling uncomfortable about your visit tomorrow." How does this sound for you? For you, it sounds like this doctor finds a way to make a customer feel better. Because nobody else does that, this doctor benefits greatly from that, because people would tell their friends about their positive experience with that doctor and the doctor will get more customers, because this is how a word-of-mouth-epidemic can be started.
I think the concept, to do more to makr a customer happy is very important for long- and short-term growth.
Try it for your business and let me know if you were able to benefit from this article in the comments!

See you
PHH

Research referenced:
http://www.dentaleconomics.com/articles/print/volume-99/issue-1/departments/practice-success/how-to-win-in-this-economy-with-great-customer-service.html

http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2014/01/great-customer-service-high-patient-satisfaction-increased-production-for-your-dental-office.html

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GC4rMjHWCvM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMXuQ3b5zB0

Train your brain and your body at the same time

If you want to improve your body and become smarter, you don't have to choose what to do, because thanks to improvements in technology you can do both at the same time. 

About a year ago, I listened to music when I was working out or going on a run just like everyone else, until I started give the Podcasts App from Apple a chance. In a short time I discovered some great podcasts to which I could listen to while working out. Podcasts proved to be ideal for workouts, because my time is being used more efficiently. There are tons of Podcasts now, but here is a list of my favorite podcats:

- The Top by Nathan Lathka: 

On a daily basis, Nathan Lathka talks to entepreneurs about their companies and how they did what they did. he gets on point really fast and goes straight for the numbers.

- EOFire by JLD:

He talks to entrepreneurs on a daily basis about their biggest challenges and their big takeaways from their experiences. He gets really deep in his talks and also shares his income report on a monthly basis.

Go and give those a try, you can also listen to them while travelling, leave a comment if you like those podcasts.

How to get Rich without a college degree

How to get Rich without a college degree

What do rich people teach their kids, that poor people don’t?

The rich teach their kids to acquire assets (stocks, real estate, etc) instead of teaching them to spend money on liabilities (a second flat screen TV, another car, basically thing which won’t give them money in return) like the middle class and the lower class do. The rich people invest their money in profitable assets to get more money in return (positive ROI) and buy liabilities afterwards. Middle class parents teach their kids to acquire liabilities right after making some money. This is why it’s hard to have other people working for you if you don’t invest in assets.

But how does one get rich without an education?

Find ways to invest your money, it’s easy to get started, even without money.

An example is Robert Koyisaki who described his first real estate investment experience in

his book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. During a time, when the economy was terrible in USA, people tried to sell their houses, because they feared that their houses would be worth even less soon. Robert Koyisaki managed to buy a 75.000$ house for 20.000$, he asked his friend for 2.000$ as a loan. After receiving the money, he went on and made a down payment on the house (2.000$). Afterwards he started to run ads and advertised the house as a 75.000$ for only 60.000$. As a result, he closed his first real estate deal and made 38.000$ in return in less than 30 working hours.

Another example is The Info Product Business

An Info Product gives people information about certain topics, the topics vary.

You have to find a good opportunity where other people just see a fact, if you want to find a hot topic:

An example: You read a newspaper with an article with the headline Obesity is getting out of control - 2 out of 5 people are obese

Usually people would read that article and continue to read the rest of the newspaper, but some people find opportunities in everything. They would analyse the headline and think: “How can this problem be solved, or how can I make money out of that? Oh, a workout program with a nutrition plan would be great. I could sell that.”

If someone has this mentality, almost anything is possible in business.

The same story happened to the founder of Red Bull, who was on a plane and everybody on his flight was given the same newspaper, with this one article, which described a Japanese sugar drink, which is doing extremely well in Japan. Afterwards, he founded a billion dollar business, which became a lifestyle brand today.

What’s the lesson of this story? Wealth can acquired without a college degree or any other kind of education. One has to be open for everything and has to become financially intelligent.

Marketing Success Formula

Recently, I met Kevin She, he has been an entrepreneur since 2001. He taught me about a Marketing Success Formula, which his mini storage company “SC Storage” has used in its very successful marketing campaign. In the following I will change the formula, which is customized for Hong Kong markets to a version, which is usable worldwide.

A phone number which is easy to remember

x

A foreigner speaking Chinese

x

Repetitive Advertising (TV & Minibus/Taxis)

=

Marketing Success

Now I’ll convert this formula into a version, which can be applied anywhere in the world. I think it’s necessary, because this formula is very Hong Kong specific (Chinese language, Minibus, etc)

Phone number or a website, which is easy to remember

x

A foreigner speaking the local language

x

Repetitive Advertising (Billboards, YouTube, Cars)

=

Marketing Success

A foreigner speaking the local language is very effective as an advertising strategy, because it’s easier for the human brain to remember a special voice, than to remember a normal voice. Let’s take IKEA as an example. As of May, IKEA has a brand value of 11.8 billion US$ according to Forbes. Their advertisement form is an iconic voice at the end of video and audio advertisements with a foreign accent (in Germany it’s a Chinese/Indian accent talking in German).

Health care in the future

• face to face appointments with your local doctor will convert into webcam appointments via services like Skype
• pharmacies will deliver medicine with solar powered drones
• "In England for example, long-term care needs for illnesses like cancer, diabetes and dementia make up 70 per cent of health and social spending" -The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts, Richard Susskind, Daniel Susskind- As soon, as there are ways to reduce these costs, there will be a downward shifting cost curve in the health sector. Nurses might be replaced by robots, which could also cut costs.
• there'll be a dramatic reduce in prescription errors committed by pharmacists because of robots, who'll take the job of the pharmacists - Steiner, Automate This, 155 -
• Apps and technology will become more important for doctors and for patients:  Doctors will be able to save time, because the access to data is a lot easier with electronic systems than with long reference books. Patients can look up their symptoms online and find out, whether they need to see a doctor or not

Work 4 hours / week

Start to outsource as early as possible - let other people work for you while you sleep - find a VA

Define your goals: e.g. S.M.A.R.T.

Paid traffic is better than organic traffic - wether you use Facebook ads or Google Adwords, you can target a specific audience and become a brand. Don't waste a lot of time in the beginning with SEO - after a while your paid traffic will become your organic traffic once your customers recognise you as a brand.

Think 80/20 (Pareto-Rule: http://knowledgebyphh.blogspot.hk/2016/01/80-20-principle.html

80/20 Principle Explained

80% of all events are possible because of 20% of the causes

Examples:

• Microsoft: 80% of all the crashes in its products come from 20% of all bugs.  Rooney, Paula (October 3, 2002), Microsoft's CEO: 80–20 Rule Applies To Bugs, Not Just Features

• 20% of all people in the world own 80% of the money in the world.

• 80% of the plants grow out of 20% of the seeds.

The actual percentages can vary, e.g. 70/30; 90/10

This formula has been developed by Pareto.