Making the most of every client interaction

John Jantsch offers tips on how to connect with customers so they refer your services to others.
 

BY RICHARD PACHTER


 

The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business To market Itself. John Jantsch. Portfolio. 233 pages.

I skipped his last book, a bestseller called Duct Tape Marketing, for reasons that are now unclear; perhaps out of loyalty to Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. Regardless, I may have to go back and give it a gander, as John Jantsch's latest is a real gem. Under the guise of developing a system for generating business referrals, the Kansas City, Mo.,-based author also provides coaching on just about every aspect of entrepreneurial enterprise — but more about that in a bit.

First of all, Jantsch identifies humans' inherent need to refer and recommend. He writes: "We refer to connect with other people. Being recognized as a source of good information, including referrals, is a great way to connect with others. Think about how eagerly you responded the last time someone asked you for directions, offering up your favorite shortcut and tips for avoiding traffic. We all do it. Making referrals is a deeply satisfying way to connect with others — asking for referrals is just the other side of the same phenomenon. I think the growth of many popular social networks can be traced to the fact that people love to connect and form communities around shared ideas."

In order to have customers refer you to others, you must ensure that you delight them and surpass their expectations. Guys like Kawasaki and Godin have been pounding on that drum forever, but Jantsch updates the pitch quite nicely by adding his own perspective and experiences. Then he invokes using Facebook and Twitter, among other things — which should be a no-brainer these days, although they're surprisingly absent from many businesses. He also covers stuff like product development and innovation, as well as market differentiation — all vital elements in today's commoditized marketplace.

His coaching is pretty compelling, too, as he implores would-be tycoons to pursue activities that have meaning to them and can provide something of value in a unique and personal way to their customers whenever possible. This too may seem obvious, but when considering the things that motivate others to recommend and refer, the idea of connecting with meaning and relevance is quite important.

In addition to the inspirational stuff, Jantsch offers some really good nuts-and-bolts suggestions for getting closer to customers and eliciting their kudos. The suggestions apply to a variety of businesses, so whether you proffer products, services — or any combination thereof — there's an abundance of ideas for making the most of each client interaction.

As with most books that demand a lot from businesses and stakeholders, the question lingers whether they are willing and able to commit to follow the ideas and actions outlined to attain the goal of self-generating customer referrals. The short answer, at least to me, is "probably not," and that's unfortunate.

But the good news is that Jantsch offers enough ideas and inspiration so that even if one picks just a few things, that might be enough to make a difference — or at least to get started.

Originally published in The Miami Herald

"Welcome To Macintosh"

"Welcome to Macintosh" is the first documentary of its kind to mix history, criticism and an unapologetic revelry of all things Apple into a movie experience. The film explores the early years of Apple, the many challenges Apple has faced, and what the future may hold for the company and it's products. Ex-Apple employees, engineers and community members offer insight on the company's innovations, failures, cultural impact and what the future may be like beyond the reign of its co-founder Steve Jobs. Interviews include notable Apple personalities Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the original Macintosh, Guy Kawasaki, long time Mac evangelist, Leander Kahney, author of the book "Cult of Mac", Jim Reekes, creator of the Macintosh start-up sound and Ron Wayne, original co-founder of the Apple Computer Company.

More info (IMDB) here.

Official website here.

Playing at various film festival and available to purchase here or rent from the usual places.

Reality Check

How to do almost everything well
Marketing maven Guy Kawasaki presides over an assemblage of experts with all the answers.
By RICHARD PACHTER

Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition. Guy Kawasaki. Portfolio. 496 pages.

Former software evangelist, would-be Hawaiian hockey goon, itinerant journalist and venture capital pimp Guy Kawasaki's new book is a group effort. He enlisted a legion of business superheroes to inveigh on a variety of topics. Even though Kawasaki, author of The Macintosh Way, The Art of the Start, Rules For Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy and other smart books, could have easily written most of it himself, he's still come up with a gem.

In a way, this compendium is like MBA in a Box, another compilation of wisdom by sundry sages and savants. In other ways, it's like a cocktail party, as Kawasaki effortlessly glides from table to table, chatting with his guests, who offer very bright and pithy comments in response to the host's queries.

Each brief chapter covers an important aspect of business. The book begins at the beginning: starting a business. That's pretty logical for Kawasaki, given his current occupation as a seeker of startups. And it's not a bad idea, as his audience from The Art Of The Start might have been expecting this to be its sequel, so perhaps this will ease them into the rest of this book. Regardless, the short chapters make Reality Check a good book to read in short spurts. Though there's a little overlap between chapters, this slight redundancy serves to reinforce the lessons.

Of value to most readers are the portions dealing with job seeking. The advice, both from the perspective of employee and employer, is realistic and sound. The chapters covering the vagaries and realities of the corporate world are also quite funny and true.

As a disruptive marketing maven and evangelist, Kawasaki is in a class by himself. He's had ample time to reconsider, revise and hone his points, and it shows. But his core stuff is as potent now as ever. He wants marketing to accurately reflect the products and the products to bring real value to users. Interactions with customers should be positive experiences for both parties. And hard work, innovation and elegant design are things to aspire to, not because they're ethereal and magical but because they're fun! Or can be, if done right and that's the point.

There's also a nice chunk devoted to altruistic enterprises, which is becoming an increasingly valuable part of the executive equation.

Kawasaki is a witty writer (and host), can drop Yiddish like a shtarker, avoids the vernacular (with one very excusable exception), and employs the term ''shiitake'' instead of deleting the corresponding expletive. There's bound to be plenty of things in the book that may not pertain to your profession or interests, but readers can skip the material or painlessly expand their horizons.

Reality Check concludes first with the author's hindsights, which Kawasaki has used as the basis of a commencement speech. It's funny, knowing and poignant. He closes with a 10-point checklist to sum up his main ideas, which is pretty amazing for a book of this size.

published 11/3/08 in The Miami Herald

Early Revolution

Unless I get bopped on the head and start remembering things I've forgotten (and don't remember forgetting) this is my first published business book review, not counting stuff I (think) I did for the local Mac club.

Chauncey Mabe, then and now the Sun-Sentinel's books editor, had me pegged (don't laugh) as a high-end novel guy — popular literary stuff like John Irving — and resisted my entreaties to review biz books until he finally acquiesced with this one.

Upon publication, in January 1999, he told me, "No more," but by June of that year, I was at The Miami Herald as a copywriter/producer/project manager in the creative services department, and the only stuff that ran in the Sentinel (or New Times) were things already in the pipeline. The following year, I began my weekly column in the Herald's Business Monday section.

APPLE'S FORMER `EVANGELIST' HAS FUN WITH MARKETING
By RICHARD PACHTER
Published Sunday, January 31, 1999 in the Sun-Sentinel (Broward/Palm Beach Counties, Fla).

RULES FOR REVOLUTIONARIES: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services. Guy Kawasaki with Michelle Moreno. HarperBusiness. 224 pages.

In the early 1980s, Guy Kawasaki was Apple Computer's original "evangelist" whose mission was to persuade the era's skeptical (and often recalcitrant) software developers to create computer programs for the company's nascent and prescient Macintosh. Now the head of a Silicon Valley-based venture capital matchmaking firm, Garage.com, Kawasaki understands the value of learning from one's mistakes. In and out of Apple's corporate orchards during the intervening years, he's lent his considerable expertise to a number of books on marketing and product evangelism.

This Guy knows his stuff — and his audience. To some, marketing is voodoo; it's not sales, per se, which tends to be black and white, and quantifiable. Marketing appears far too amorphous and complex, so books on the subject generally seize upon a principle or two and apply 'em to as many cases as possible. Because new product introduction is nothing if not marketing, Rules For Revolutionaries takes its decrees and then provides ample observations and analyses to back up each point.

With generous dollops of humor, irreverence and wisdom borne of his and others' corporate ups and downs, Rules For Revolutionaries' text is deceptively facile, but so densely packed, it's nearly impossible to absorb this huge and diverse mass of sagacity in a single reading. This is no small accomplishment. Many marketing tomes pretend to be weighty philosophical dissertations, but are too glib and paper-thin. Rules For Revolutionaries is the antithesis of this; it's bigger inside than its appearance suggests.

Naturally, given his Apple battle scars, there are numerous references to Macintosh campaigns. The triumphs and tribulations accompanying the creation, introduction and development of the prototypical user-friendly computer (replete with embarrassments, dumb luck and the occasional planned success) add authenticity and brio to Rules For Revolutionaries.

But the book is hardly a pro-Apple screed. Kawasaki's unequivocal partisanship is readily tempered by stinging self-deprecation. Despite his and Apple's valiant efforts at withstanding Bill Gates' assault, the author, in a Q&A on product evangelism, nearly chokes in response to his own question on the hardest thing he had to do: "admit that despite all the evangelism I did, Microsoft Windows was going to control the world."

As a guidebook for new product introduction, Rules For Revolutionaries more than fulfills its mandate. But it is well worth recommending to those involved in marketing, sales, advertising, management and other business endeavors. Its sly, delightful insights and practical suggestions will almost effortlessly empower anyone seeking to bring a product, idea or dream to fruition.