AUGUST 2007
Greetings & Salutations:
Why is it? ...
The grass is always greener on the other side of
the fence!
Unless you growed up on a farm ... as I did ... you might
not get the real meaning of that old adage.
Back when I was a kid ... even before I had ever heard that
maxim ... I noticed that some cows would stand on one side of
a fence, with lush, green grass covering their hooves, and put
their heads between the strands of barbed-wire to eat a single
scruffy clump of grass on the other side. Many times, they
would go so far as to push a section of fence down, just to get
to the grass on the other side ... making it necessary for me
to spend hours re-planting posts and re-stretching wire.
Although rebuilding fences was no fun, it was often heartbreaking
to see how some of the cows injured themselves on the barbed-wire.
It probably wouldn't have been so upsetting if the grass in
our neighbors' pastures was better or more plentiful than the
grass in our pasture but it wasn't. -- Each year, in order to
keep our cows well fed, we seeded our pastures with the best
feed grass on the market. Our neighbors, on the other hand,
just let the wild prairie grass grow ... or not grow ... as it
would. One neighbor had to rebuild his fence every year
to keep some of his cows out of our pasture. Another neighbor
never built a fence in his life but some of his cows were fat
and healthy from eating our grass ... .while I rebuilt our fence
to keep his cows out of our pasture.
Of course, when I was young ... just growing up on the farm
... I figured it was just the nature of "stupid" cows.
-- After I growed-up and left the farm, I realized that cows
and people were very much alike.
Right now, you're probably thinking, "I know where ol'Jim
is going. He's gonna tell me ... like everybody else does
... to quit looking for a 'greener pasture' and look for the
'greener grass' in my own pasture."
Wrong, cow-patty breathe! -- If you're thinking something
like that, you better don't quit reading.
Although I wholeheartedly agree that finding greener grass
in your own pasture is preferable to continually seeking greener
pastures ... possibly injuring yourself, or knocking down some
well-intentioned fences, in the pursuit ... the "greener
pastures" analogy offers a much greater ...
Marketing Secret
Return with me now to the days of my youth on the farm.
Let's see what kind of "marketing secret" we can learn
from the cows.
By the way, for those of you who didn't grew-up on a farm
... "cows" are for milking, "cattle" are
for eating; hence, the terms "milk cows" and "beef
cattle."
Anywho ... in my youth, I considered all cows to be stupid
animals always looking for a greener pasture - but - looking
back, most of the cows actually stayed in their own pasture.
They might, occasionally, when grazing near the fence, reach
across for some tasty morsel on the other side - but - they were
quick to retreat when pricked by the barbs on the wire. -- I
guess they're the ones that give that "milk from contented
cows."
Even so, every once in a while one of those "contented
cows" would ... without reason ... begin breaching fences
to graze in other (not necessarily "greener") pastures.
Of course, I considered my cows to be "stupid" for
leaving a pasture of feed grass, to eat the wild prairie grass
growing in the neighbors' pastures. -- But, what about the neighbors'
cows who left their pastures of wild prairie grass to eat the
feed grass in our pasture ... shouldn't I have considered them
to be "smart" cows? -- Actually, in both instances,
they were just "un-contented cows."
Then again, there was the little black and white heifer that
headed for the neighbor's pasture every morning. (I'll
never forget her because I still bear the scars from her sharp
little horns.) -- The only way I could keep her in our pasture
was by driving her into the neighbor's pasture each morning.
Within minutes, she would breach the fence back into our pasture,
where she would spend the rest of the day.
Think about it for a minute. -- Aren't cows and people very
much alike?
Most people ... like "contented cows" ... are completely
satisfied to stay where they are. They very rarely, if
ever, leave their comfort zone and, most often, when they do,
they return at the first hint of pain or resistance.
Other people ... like "un-contented cows" ... are
forever looking for something (they don't know what). They
either leave where they are to get to somewhere they think is
better, or they leave to get away from where they are.
Sometimes they wind-up in a place "not as good" as
the place they left ... other times a place far better. -- Never
satisfied, they just keep searching for that "greener pasture,"
thinking it must exist somewhere other than where they are.
Some people ... like my little black and white heifer ...
belligerently breach the fences of life, just because the fences
are there. -- They don't really have a reason but they aren't
going to let any fence stand in their way.
The old adage -- The grass is always greener on the other
side of the fence! -- is based on the assumption that a cow sees
"greener" grass in the next pasture and heads for it.
It ain't so (I've seen cows breach a fence to get out of a "green"
pasture into a "brown" briar patch), but a "greener"
patch of grass could represent a motive force in the human eye.
So ...
Some Marketing Gurus Tell You To
Sell "greener" Pastures
By painting word-pictures, you are supposed to entice and
tempt the reader with "patches of greener grass" ...
luring the reader into your "pasture" with the promise
of providing something which is beyond their reach.
Using this kind of advertising approach, you are only selling
to those "un-contented cows." -- Even if your product
or service delivers every tangible thing you promised, the "un-contented
cows" you sold it to will still be the same "un-contented
cows."
Because ...
If The Product or Service You Offer Is Beyond The
Reach Of Your Customers Before You Sell It To Them, It Will Remain
Beyond Their Reach Even After You Sell It To Them!
With Advance APOLOGIES to the "Rolex" watch company,
let me give you an example ... exaggerated, of course, to give
you a better idea what I mean.
Using the "greener pastures" advertising approach,
what if the "Rolex" watch company advertised its watches
like this:
"The President of your Bank wears a Rolex. When
you buy a Rolex, YOU will be just as rich and powerful as your
Bank President!"
If being just as rich and powerful as the Bank President is
beyond the reach of the customer before they buy a "Rolex"
watch, it will still be beyond their reach after they buy a "Rolex"
watch.
Selling "greener pastures" is the kind of bull-stuff
that caters to those "un-contented cows." -- "Hype"
advertising that attracts "hype" customers.
Of course, if being just as rich and powerful as the Bank
President is within the reach of the customer before they buy
a "Rolex" watch, they might actually (but erroneously)
believe that buying the "Rolex" watch made them rich
and powerful.
Right now, you might be thinking, "Aha! I've got
it. ol'Jim is gonna tell me the 'marketing secret' is to
sell the greener grass in my customer's own pasture rather than
selling them a greener pasture."
Wrong, chlorophyll-breathe! -- Selling "greener grass"
can be just as counter-productive as selling "greener pastures."
The marketing secret in the old adage -- The grass is always
greener on the other side of the fence! -- is to directing your
advertising toward ...
Eliminating Fences!
By eliminating fences, you make your product or service available
to all the "contented cows" who are satisfied to stay
in their own pasture (a much, much larger audience). -- Without
fences, their own perceived pasture becomes larger and larger
... allowing them "free range" to avail themselves
of your product or service without pain or resistance.
Returning to our "Rolex" watch example, what if
the "Rolex" watch company advertised its watches like
this:
"Now, you can own a Rolex of your very own, just like
the one your Bank President wears. Our new monthly payment plan
makes it possible for you (even if you aren't rich and powerful)
to own a Rolex!"
The ad doesn't offer a "greener pasture" (or even
"greener grass") it just eliminates the fence that
has kept all those "contented cows" from moseying over
and taking a big chomp on a clump of "Rolex" grass.
If you entice, tempt and lure "un-contented cows"
into your pasture ... no matter how "green" it may
be ... you will still be stuck with a herd of those "un-contented
cows."
On the other hand, if you direct your marketing efforts toward
the much, much larger herd of "contented cows" ...
by eliminating fences, giving them a larger "free range"
to graze ... you'll end-up with a herd of "contented cows"
grazing in the satisfying grass in your corner of the "free
range" pasture.
It isn't what you sell that generates "satisfied"
customers ... it's how you sold it to them.
REMEMBER: "Satisfied" customers are the only
real assets any business needs to prosper.
Can you stump the old master? --
Betcha can't!
Over the past 50 years (man and boy), I have made bundles
of money in direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising,
entertainment (I was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist
& Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail
merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing,
finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business
consulting, steel fabrication, gold and coal mining, offshore
banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing. -- That being the
case ...
No matter what business you're in ... whether you're just
starting, well on your way, or at the top of the heap ... I've
probably been where you are, done what you are doing. -- So ...
Anytime you have a question about 'how' to do something in
your business - or - if you have any comments about anything
I've said in issues of this e-Letter; or if you want to add your
2 cents worth ... just "ask" me or "tell"
me.
Send your Questions, Comments or 2 Cents Worth
to ...
with "Question" - "Comment"
- or, "2 Cents Worth" in the SUBJECT.
If I, personally, don't have an answer to any question you
may ask, I will contact some of the professionals in your field
of endeavor (I will probably know one or more personally) to
get the real 'skinny' for you.
Note: If you want to ask a question anonymously
just tell me so when you send in the question. -- Nobody but
you and I will know who asked the question.
Copyright - 2007, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.