By Mark Alison
Long before ABC’s Shark Tank showed us how business people think, Harvey Mackay wrote a book titled, “How To Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” My guess is that every Shark, including Mr. Wonderful, has read this book. Mackay, now 83 and still active with over 48,000 Twitter followers outlined more than a sales strategy. He outlined a primitive customer relationship management system (CRM) that became the cornerstone of his success.
His CRM, or as he titled it, The Mackay 66™ is a series of responses to questions that Mackay learned about every customer, over the course of his meetings with them. It covered topics like education, family, special dates, life experiences and business goals. In effect, it was a true “relational” database that helped him communicate on a deeper, personal level with his many customers. At the time, his business consisted of selling paper goods like envelopes, stationary, etc. There were no Office Depot stores but he competed with 600 other sales people for the same client! Mackay definitely had his work cut out for him. Mackay thought he could create a “social” relationship within the framework of business. What Harvey Mackay accomplished was quite amazing for the time before computers. Today we would look at his client profile and call it LinkedIn®.
We live in an amazing technology environment. Between Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter® Instagram® and others we can get a handle, virtually, on anyone we talk to. Their educations, work history, competence and sometimes passion is written out for us to read, on the internet. In other words, Mackay’s 66® is already there for us to peruse so we can relate to the customer immediately. But do we? The simple answer is, no. When I am asked by customers if they should invest in a CRM system I ask them if they are using the one they have. It’s not the tool so much as the discipline.
Mackay proves that the answer to creating more sales is not technology. It’s not fancy (CRM) customer relationship management software or even highly integrated program like Salesforce®, lead tracking software. But it is a discipline that many entrepreneurs, small businesses and solo practitioners don’t do. The discipline of keeping up with customers and potential customers on a personal level like Harvey Mackay did. He took enough interest in clients to send them a clipping of items of interest between the times he spoke to them. He sent regular cards on their special days. He simply moved their index card to another call date following each encounter and made himself follow through. Discipline.
This works for anyone; plumbing companies, cupcake stores and even automobile dealerships. By the way, I have purchased over 20 cars in my lifetime and never once has the salesperson ever followed up on a regular basis. Maybe that’s why I have never bought two cars in a row from the same dealership.
I think Harvey Mackay would categorize today’s social media as anti-social media. Frankly, there is no “social” in snippets of one-sided conversation left on Facebook or Twitter. These are opinions and not engagements that lead to significant social interaction. In Mackay’s world, social was useful, respectful communication normally done in person. And since bad news always moves faster than good, my opinion is that social media can “break you” but it’s not likely to “make you.” Going viral is more by luck than design.
So how does one get the word out and distinguish ones services today? Is the Internet the answer? People who sell Geo-fencing, digital marketing, Ad words and web banners would have you think so. When it comes to buying Internet advertising for anything other than national clients, I don’t do it. I’ve learned that millions of “hits” don’t necessarily translate into big dollars. Keep in mind all I have is experience to draw from but so far it has saved our clients a lot of money. Harvey Mackay’s wisdom again – “When a person with money meets a person with experience, the person with the experience winds up with the money and the person with the money winds up with the experience.”
Marketing is not rocket science. It’s simply providing goods and services people want at a price they are willing to pay. If you follow Mackay’s advice, the reach is exponential. One person tells two and two becomes four and so on. And the way you get to that first person and keep those others is by finding relatable topics and connecting on a level that transcends business. So we’re back to true “social marketing.” Buy a Harvey Mackay book and have everyone in your organization read it, do it. You will outsell, outsmart, outmotivate and outnegotiate your competition according to Collins Business Essentials. I agree.
Here are a few other Mackay quotes that are worth passing along:
“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”
“It isn’t the people you fire who make your life miserable, it’s the people you don’t”
“Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”