Tag Archives: Madison Avenue

Oct26

How do you win a client over?

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Lois Geller

A few weeks ago, we pitched a bank for their marketing programs.

Since most of our clients have been with my agency since we were on Madison Avenue in New York City… I was thinking I was a bit “rusty” in presenting to them.

I always do a lot of research first.

So, I went into massive “preparation mode”, and did my homework on the bank…even went into three different branches. I was being a “mystery shopper”, though I already had accounts there.

I looked at their collateral materials and their mail campaigns and their social media programs. Their website really needed help. It was not memorable, or user-friendly. It also didn’t even mention business accounts, though the clients all said that was their major objective for this year.

Reviewed their competitors materials and checked out their social media programs.

Then I met with my creative brain trust.

We have a Creative Strategy Man here who always comes up with big ideas. He did in this case, as he had for three other banks we’d worked for in New York. It is a breakthrough idea and all of a sudden everyone in my office was getting excited.

My art director was drawing ideas, my account person was figuring out how it would work…and Voila! We had three great concepts.

We knew we’d “wow” them.

We went into the presentation with adrenalin pumping! We were so excited about the possibilities of our breakthrough approach. We even worked out a pro forma projection on the response we’d be getting, and then how they might re-invest the money in future programs.

Then we got the sad call.

The Marketing Director called me back last Wednesday, and said that they thought our program was great, but too complicated for him to understand. He’d decided to go with a graphic arts studio that would use one particular color throughout the campaign.

My thoughts….

Somehow, a tag-line popped into my head, as I hung up the phone. It was for Syms Clothing, and it was “an educated consumer is our best customer”. We didn’t get that bank and maybe thankfully so. The next one may understand marketing better, and be results-oriented. I can’t wait to meet that group!

In the meantime, here are the lessons I learned:

1.Listen hard to what the client wants, not what you think will bring the best results.
2. Discuss the ideas along the way with the client, prior to the presentation.
3. Have another program in mind for an easy way for you to begin working together. It can be as simple as some creative changes to their current programs.

Let me know about your most effective presentations for new business. Please post some comments.

Before panicking, call a copywriter!

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Lois Geller

Before panicking, call a copywriter!

In New York City, on Madison Avenue (where we used to have our offices) there are hundreds of advertising executives. They live under a lot of stress and many of them try to develop outside incomes so they can walk away from the fray someday.

It’s still a lot like Mad Men.

Some of them invest with Wall Street brokers. Some buy art. Some buy gold.

Two friends decided to do something different. They bought into a Washington State orchard that had a mail order apple business.

Everything went great in the first season. But in the second season, disaster! A hailstorm pockmarked all the apples before they were picked. Shaking, the farmer partner called New York. “We’re ruined. We have to cancel all the orders and send those checks back.”

One of the Madison Avenue guys was a top copywriter. He said, calmly, “Give me a couple of minutes. I’ll call you back.”

He thought about it for a minute and then wrote:

“You will notice that your apples have marks from hail damage. This is due to the high altitude at which they grow. The hail marks are your assurance that these are the sweetest, most delicious apples you’ve ever had.”

He faxed the note to the farm in Washington with instructions: Have the note printed and inserted into every order.

There were no complaints from customers and in Year Three many of them wrote on their Order Forms: Hail-damaged if possible, please.

Just goes to show you what you can do with a little creative copywriting.

Muffins and Mayhem

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Lois Geller

Muffins and Mayhem

I’m not sure how long ago I met Suzanne Beecher, but we were in our office on Madison Avenue then…and she’d set up an appointment…and was on my schedule.

I walked toward our board room, and the smell of fresh-baked brownies wafted around the office. People were peeking out from their desks, wondering if someone was baking. People who usually stay huddled behind their computer screens were appearing outside the board room to see if we were getting Duncan Hines as a new account.

followingSmell

But there she was, Suzanne Beecher, blonde and smiling and carrying a huge box of brownies for everyone. She was definitely my kindred spirit.

suz-side-porch

She told me then she was starting a new venture, an online book club…talking about different types of books and perhaps getting libraries to sponsor her business…so she could email her reviews each week to her readers.

It sounded a little far-fetched to me, but I figured if anyone could do it…Miss Enthusiasm would. Well. 350,000 people now read her DearReader.com and her daily column. She’s homespun, down-to-earth and funny and when she writes you feel like she’s writing only to you. She reminds me of Fanny Flagg.

We’ve talked on and off over the years and 2 years ago, I was visiting Sarasota and invited Suzanne to meet me for lunch. She did, and it was delicious to see her…and she told me she was going to write a book about her life, and add some recipes…and some photos of her family. We dropped her at her home, met her husband, Bob, and I missed her as we drove back to Miami.

Well, last month I received her new book (in uncorrected reader’s proofs), and she asked me to give it a read. I just loved it, like I do her. It’s her story of her own dreadful kind of upbringing, her challenges in life with illness and business. And, the whole time I’m reading it, I’m thinking I’m sitting at that little café in Sarasota yakking with her again.

Muffins&Mayhem

You get a snapshot of her life as a little girl, and cooking when she was eight, while practicing singing her backup part to the Monkees. Then years later when she met her husband for the first time as she hobbled around with one leg in a cast and the other taped in an ace bandage.

Sprinkled with her grandma’s favorite recipes, she writes about her wonderful magazine that she had to walk away from, and her overnight stay with her grandson in the hospital, and life, in general.

suz-cookies-in-oven

What happens to Suzanne, happens to all of us. And the difference is she gives and shares more of life and love in her book than we often can. That’s why you’ll love this special book.

Buy it at amazon.com today and take it to the beach, or read it in your comfy chair. You’ll feel like you’ve just caught up with your best friend. Then buy lots more copies for your friends and family, as I am.

Suzanne called last week to see if I liked the book. I said I did so much, I was going to even try one of her recipes for my company last weekend. (I have a plant in my oven), as I never cook. So, I did ask her how I sift flour, or if I needed to.

Sifting Flour

On Monday she asked how my cooking went (afraid that she’d heard about a blazing fire in Miami). I told her no, not yet. Maybe this weekend I will try that marinated flank steak though. I’ll let you know how it works out.

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