Be Legit

Happy Hump Day Everyone -

It's the middle of the week and we can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Within the past few months and even further back, I've noticed that many companies, in particular retailers, have really hurt themselves much more than the economy would dictate.

First off - Retailers continue to train the consumer to wait for the sale. All you have to do is look back a few years at the fall of Eatons in Canada. They at one time rivalled the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) as the top retailer in Canada. Not to pump the tires of HBC as I think they are pretty garbage too but Eatons tried to overtake and gain customer loyalty from HBC by promoting continuous sales and the wrong way of doing things. Look who ended up surviving and is now thriving. Give it a few years and Wal-Mart will rule the world.

Second - And this is the main point of today's post. BE LEGIT...
I'm going to use Granville Island Brewery (GIB) as an example here. Being a young guy and a hockey player, naturally, I love my beer. What good Canadian doesn't enjoy a few wobbly pops with the crew?
As you may or may not have heard, Granville Island Brewery was recently sold to Ontario-based Creemore Springs Brewing. To me, this was the companies worst move, and to be blunt, really pissed me off. GIB used to be an absolute favourite and my go-to-beer. You may now be wondering what was so horrendous about their decision to sell. It seems like a great deal for GIB, they're making money, and in the process gaining more customers and market share through expansion in Canada as well as the United States. So here's what is so upsetting to me: GIB and I had been good friends for a long time; probably too long if you know how old I am. They established a real, home-brew type feel that they never lost even through expansion and a massive gain in popularity. The names of their beer resemble Vancouver landmarks and tell a story on every bottle. Their twitter handle @itsgoodtobehere further promotes their local feel and branding to their brewery. It's such BS. They're complete sell-outs. They sold to an Ontario Based company which is owned by another sell-out, Molson-Coors. Notice Molson pulled the "I Am Canadian" ads. Fair play, they're being mildly legit. Kudos to them.

The reality is that GIB have lost face or Guanxi as the Chinese would say. They have lost complete trust with their customers and I hope it hits them hard.

My apologies for singling out GIB as they do produce good beer. It's a shame I will not be drinking it and am canvasing a boycott.

In today's economy, companies, businesses, and brands are all fighting for the few dollars people or companies have to spend. This further promotes the need for everyone to be legit, and do things right. I'm seeing this all over the place; Companies thinking short term and hitting the panic buttom.
Relax, it's not as bad as you think and in the long run, you'll lose if you think that way. ie, Eatons.

Thanks for tuning in, please leave a comment.

Twitter Quotes and Interpretation

Good morning bleeps - (Is that the blogger term for people? Twitter has tweeple)

On a daily basis I get hundreds and hundreds of tweets that show up in my tweetdeck. As I'm sure many of you know, the majority of tweets are never read or even seen. I personally have my "all friends feed" which I occasionally will look at to see if there is anything interesting and every now and then, add the user to my group that I do pay close attention to. I've labeled this group "Interesting People". 
Now you know how I operate my TweetDeck... Whoopedy Doo...

The following are a few tweets and what they mean to me:

@bcbusiness: The salespeople have conquered the boardroom and are blaring their rock and roll.
     - Yes, us salespeople are awesome. We take over, conquer and are rockstars.

@benkepes Ho.ly Sh.** th.is sh.ort u.rl w.ar is get.ing ug.ly >>ROFL
     - With Google and Facebook both getting in on it, things could get pretty messy fairly quickly. bit.ly is clearly the leader in this space but I'm not sure they have monetized it as much as possible.

@mktgdouchebag: Fast forward to one year from now: You'll be making fun of Facebook like it's MySpace.
     - This guy is not afraid to speak his mind. Hence the username "mktgdouchebag". Not so sure I agree with this one. Facebook has become almost a necessity to people. It is such an integral part of day to day life for the majority of people. I think twitter will go down before facebook. Prediction - Twitter gets spammed out in 2 years.

@paulcastain: It's almost 12:00 on the East Coast . . . Are you at least halfway through your action items for today? Lock and load gang!
     - What can I say about Paul? Although I've never met him in person, I've chatted with him on the phone and he is a great motivator and I admire his constant drive to help people. He expects, nor does he want anything in return. Paul knows how to use social media. I'd put him in the "guru" category. With regards to this post, it never hurts to have a little kick-start mid-day.

@TopSalesExperts: How to Lose the Sale, Quickly and Easily - Here are five sure-fire ways to guarantee that you will not get the sale...
     - I'm asking the same question as you. Sure, everyone knows what NOT to do. Uuuuhm, how about you be the expert you are claiming to be and give me some tips. (generally their tweets are in fact good)


What this all boils down to is the extreme importance of being relevant and providing good content to tweeple/fans/followers. This will start conversation, show that your brand, and more importantly YOU, care about people. Selling today is still about people. If your client thinks you're greasier than a meal at McDonalds, and grimier than a garbage man, they will not buy. (No offence to the garbage man, you are all very nice people).

Twitter is NOT: (and I can not stress this enough)
a) A means for spammy self promotion
b) Meant for idiots - You will only hurt yourself and your company
c) A broadcast tool to tell me what you're wearing today and how delicious your breakfast was.
     ***News Flash*** Nobody Cares

That's it for today, I'm off to take out the garbage then grab a meal at McDonalds.
Yummy Yummy : )

Welcome - First Post

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls - Welcome to my blog.

I'd like to thank you for taking a look. I'd like to say that I am a total blogging newb and honestly don't have a clue what on earth I'm doing. If you happened to read the description, it states that I will be talking and posting on Sales and Marketing with a specific focus on Marketing Automation.

One of the main things I'd like to accomplish here is a community of sales and marketing people within the B2B space. I believe we all have something to share and offer. Whether you're a seasoned vet or a newb, please, feel free to post your comments, take time to learn, and ask questions.

You will see lots of links and posts to Sales Jedi's (yes Paul, I stole your term).

Stay tuned for updates.