We’re Just Gettin’ Started: Daily Deal Offers in 2012
By Charles Martin | January 6, 2012
All the news about daily deal merchants pulling back in 2012 is wishful thinking on the part of the merchant. Of course, when I wake up on January 1, I always put together that dream list chock full of long and distant runs, a few marathons (I have and will complete a few this year), breaking habits, and other such resolution fare. But I know come August, I’m still thinking about how to make a lot of it happen. Life is life. Merchants can’t predict how sales will be this year, but a lot would like to imagine that the daily deal marketing they did in 2011 that probably DID bring in repeat customers, will be something they can forgo this year.
That’s not reality. And we’re still one of the best solutions to hyper-local marketing around.
The many merchants that email or call me daily to re-run and even offer their services as free testimonial stars never hits the headlines.
The truth is the daily deal space is just getting started. Last year was possibly our first real year. My company, LivingSocial, doubled or possibly tripled it’s work force. We tried a lot of great ideas. Some are still in play. Others not. More are on the way. We know what to keep. We know what we should stick with.
The good news is that while the press wants to put the last word on our eulogy, we are just like any 2 year old company. We’re just gettin’ started.
The other good news that often gets lost in the static is that, unlike a lot of our competitors, we are aware of the need for more and more of what I call “merchant love”. In fact, we just hired a specific person to run merchant love and he comes from the top of a few great companies. I, like the other hundreds of LivingSocial sales folks on the streets of America, Canada, and many foreign environs, work hard to make sure we find what works and what doesn’t. We get involved at the micro level. We worry about the future of what I’ve recognized as the backbone of our economy. We worry about you Mr. and Mrs. Merchant and it isn’t fair to say that we haven’t worked hard to bring you the customers that mean long-term dollars to your business.
After all, it would be foolish for us to run amok on Main Street and load a bunch of one-offs that will ultimately spell ruin for our mutual businesses. The very reason you have trusted us with your future customers is that we have a mutual win-win. If you do well, we do well. You’ll tell your friends. More deals get run. Merchants welcome new and engaged customers. And so the story goes.
Every single day I work through many deals that are vetted, looked at, vetted, and then looked at again by a crack team of traffic specialists that are very strict about quality. If your company isn’t really showing a good face on the web or if your customer happy factor is low or non-existent, we will ask to work together at another time. We want to know people like what you do. As per usual, the deals we DON’T do never get into the news stream. I’m selling 30+ deals a month. Probably 25% of that number doesn’t even see the light of day.
Sure, there are deals that might have been disastrous. If you read the new bio on Steve Jobs, you’ll find (or maybe even remember) that many of Apple’s first computers were real expensive disasters. No bulk refunds were given. We stuck with Jobs for three decades and now Apple’s product is the supreme choice. We try to avoid disastrous. What part of “we’re just gettin’ started” is not clear?
I work for a company like Apple. I wake every day knowing that the captain up in the tower is probably not sleeping as much and is worrying much more than I about how to make it all work. I can guarantee you that the solution for tracking and making it easier for people to repeat their visits to your business is on the horizon. We understand that it’s the mother lode. They don’t share these ideas with me, but I know we’re on this track because of the type of company I work for.
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Where you are. Where you’re going.
By Charles Martin | December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas everyone.
No matter how you think 2011 is ending, it’s not any different than the last ten or twenty Decembers you’ve had.
We forget. We forget it’s all a cycle.
When you take that long flight across country, remember there’s more empty and distant cloud layers out the window than buildings and mountains. Have you ever watched a very tiny car below travel along a long and desolate road? That’s life. Lots of flat. A little bump.
Take it all in. Measure. Measure again. And then cut.
Cut it and go. Let go.
2011 was one of the best years of my life. There were rocky days but all in all, I’m grateful for the people that I’ve met along the way this year. I’m grateful for a wonderful family, a few good friends, and an awesome job.
We’re getting on a new flight next week.
Pack your bags.
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2012 – The Year of All of Us
By Charles Martin | December 7, 2011
I saw it on the freeway today. A big rig was getting back on the freeway after a sidelined repair. Every other big rig in the active lanes stopped so she could get on.
It was moving.
Funny but true.
I saw it last week when we had a power outage that has run 6+ days for some.
Standing ovations at Starbucks for electric company workers. Those guys and gals who are part of a giant bureaucracy, but at the same time feeding a family in a nascent and forgotten part of southern California. I realized that as I went and kabbitzed every hour or so in the wee hours of last Sunday night. Yes, I was on the street at 1AM. Meeting and greeting. Every time I flip a switch now I think of those guys. As a kid, I spent so many hours just sitting on over-turned buckets asking some dad why and how and what his brake job or lawn mower repair was all about while everyone else rode bikes or played football. This is what I did the other night. It’s really the basis for my early education. And my appreciation for what goes on out there.
Now that the economy is showing upticks. Now that the air is beginning to be let out of the unemployment numbers (or now that the Ellen watchers decided to quit cashing checks, that is), we’re ready for a Pivot.
Pivot.
I’ve heard it a few times in the past 72 hours. My smart friends use it. Ken. Brandon. They know. Probably Kobe does too. Once he gets back on the court.
Add Pivot to your vocabulary too.
The new world and 2012 is about Us.
I feel it. Not in so many years have I had so much fun doing what I do. I’m pivoting. I have witnessed the Tipping Point.
My company, LivingSocial, is counting another $176MM into their coffers this week as part of a tranche of a possible $400MM. It was from a meeting of Us. People with the vision. People with the same ideals. Not worried about a supposedly dying segment in hyper local marketing. Just like those big rigs. They let LivingSocial remain in the left lane. That great “Smokey and the Bandit” song rings true. ”… east bound and down, loaded up and truckin… we’re gonna do what they say can’t be done…”
In fact, many people I know are so geared up for a successful run in the next year. Prospect Mortgage’s Scott Groves is now 4x the team he was 12 months ago. And we thought mortgages were dead. Eugene and Kirk are selling more homes than we can count. Aren’t home sales down?
This coming year, you must be on a team that counts. Pivot if you aren’t. Now’s the time. Before the middle bunch wakes up and takes more of the bandwidth. If your team is one, two, or one-hundred, those that are moving towards a unified mission, will succeed. What I’m getting at is that after the New Year’s resolutions, after the first blast of hot air in January, we will have the party to ourselves. The scrappers, the hard workers, the truckers and 24 hour working electrical lineman will have all the open lane they need to go to the next level.
What’s your flight plan? File it and get moving.
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Life In the Right Lane: My First Six Months Selling at LivingSocial
By Charles Martin | October 17, 2011
and btw… sorry – I’ve been remiss. Been hunkering down to make this work. First time I’ve had such a gap in three years… welcome back!
Good sellers have it made.
Outside salespeople are usually not locked in a closet (aka a cubicle) and forced to fill the 480 minutes that is 9-5. We’re free to imagine the world as we see it. We’re artists (as actors) and creators. Our pitch is the script we write to a better world for both of us. A close is another front row patron who laughs at our worst jokes or cries at our most moving scene (in this case the giant check my company has just sent them).
All the best closers and wanna be closers I know, not unlike Shelley Levene, have their heart and soul in it. We all truly believe that our new gospel is the only gospel and it hurts when we aren’t getting our message through.
Where we’ve been.
Small and medium sized merchants were largely ignored in the dot-com boom. I witnessed this revolution first hand. A place I worked, EarthLink, enabled everyone to plug in and witness the new age. We never really focused on these businesses except to sell them the same access to the very same information superhighway as consumers would use, but at a higher rate. Then we sent their disc in a fancier box. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good deal. Remember what I said about gospel.
Sure, there were ways these businesses could reach customers online, but they had to pay up front and wait by the front door to welcome the masses. It was the same old wait and see game but with a different spin. I used to teach a class in hotel ballrooms on weekends for small business owners on the ins and outs of Lycos and other now-dead search engines. The idea was that everyone would find you Mr. Restaurant – but you have to learn tons of html and oh… “good luck!” Then others figured out that they could be the repository for all things small business. These electronic yellow pages were just that — another book that you fought to be bigger in. Some of my current colleagues are from those places and I don’t diminish their good works. For everything that was available in the last 12 years, their solutions served the need and they certainly came through on their promise.
This is something more. Way more.
I joined the new marketing revolution in April. Just a tad 6 months ago. LivingSocial is absolutely, by far, the best company to be working for. Period. I don’t post this so I get a raise or keep my gig. I’m in sales: No numbers? “Goodbye.” No meeting of quota? “We loved your humor, your spirit, and some of your blog posts…but… goodbye!”
If you are an active consumer like me, then you know that if a lot of people like the company they work for, then that usually means the product or service they sell is probably good for the end-user too. It starts at the top. Have you called Zappos lately?
Definitely true at LivingSocial.
The land of better: What I’ve learned thus far.
One of the first things that strikes me and really gets me out of bed (besides my REVV coffee and the talking Keurig machine) is the fact that I now really am helping someone be better, do better, and reap the rewards of better.
That someone is you: Mr. Small but Awesome Mediterranean Restaurant. Ms. Brazilian Blowout Goddess. Mr Fine Dining. Jack the Auto Detail God.
I’ve seen and met over three hundred local business owners in the past month. My seasoned colleagues have met thousands.
I’m impressed by you and I don’t impress easily. When the politicians say that you are the backbone of the new American economy, they aren’t kidding. When we pull into a Home Depot parking lot we go for speed and selection, but there truly is more to having an expert on your side. Home Depot might have experts, but you’ve got more. By virtue of this job, I am changing my buying habits and looking more towards Main Street and Side Street, USA. I stopped for a second a while ago and realized that all your labor, that commitment you have to your business, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, really means something to the world. It truly does.
When I meet you now as your advocate, I have a tool that allows you to instantly meet hundreds, if not thousands, of new and interested customers. Not unlike speed dating, this is your simple and quick chance to show the best of what you do. It could be your finest meal, or the results of your many years learning the skills of being a dentist, masseuse, cosmetologist, or Yogi. The future customers we will attract together, through a LivingSocial Daily Deal, will pre-pay for the privilege to meet you and that means they are invested in you.
Once your LivingSocial promotion runs, it’s time to present the best of your best and not be afraid to prove to these new customers that they’ve made the right choice. Our company uses the secret of something that’s powerful – impulse buying — to get people to commit to trying your company’s services and products. But that’s just the beginning. We present you in a way that, before now, was never possible. After all, most of you are not able to effect an instant online purchase that will mean so much to your future. And by the way, leveraging the psychological behavior of buyers is not subversive or under-handed. Marketers have been doing this since Biblical times. And, there’s one thing that is for certain: I don’t sell anything that has to do with false promises or deceit. Period. That’s my personal rule, but I also know my colleagues agree with me.
This is the first job where I get multiple emails a week of “… hey Charles, stoked with the results!… or…”wow… that wasn’t so bad, when can we run again?” I kid you not.
My colleagues and competitors truly want to be part of your success story. Luckily the folks I work for understand that if we strive to do everything right, and learn from the things that didn’t go so well, we will be long-term partners in your business. Our re-run rate (the rate at which merchants do a 2nd deal or more) is in the high 90s percentage-wise today.
For what we do, there are so many applications in the field and the revolution I speak of has all but made anything else obsolete. I think Google is a phenomenal company, but unless you’re Ford, you have no business buying AdWords. I know, if you’re like me, you throw the tired ECO-negative phone book back at the guy who demands it live on your porch for six months. Per this research, the average click to just “review your site” on Google, can cost an average of $77. That’s not warm and in the door.
With social buying, there’s no upfront hope-and-see investment. Now, you have a partner that will custom-tailor a promotion that will be perceived as exactly what your future customers are searching for. You will remind them that they haven’t figured out day camp for junior or that their hair needs a little help. You might even change a life or two in the process. I know I have.
Yes, there are costs involved. But what better way to spend marketing dollars than to be able to measure each and every introduction as it occurs on your home turf and THEN decide what you’ll do next. You do have to honor the commitment you’ve made to our mutual promotion, but that’s it. Remember, it’s like dating. You will only win over a select group of committed fans, but that’s purely gold bullion in the small business trade. In the old world, you would have already spent (a lot more) dollars and had virtually no voice in the way it ultimately worked out. Thanks to lots of available technology, my job is all about measuring results and honing your next promotion to be even better. Here, the learning is as much fun as the doing.
Whatever it takes.
Let’s talk about the resources for a minute. I’ve worked for a lot of great companies. I’ve worked at places that had the world in their palms. But finally there’s a company that has provided me more resources for success than any other. I’m lucky and that benefits you in great ways.
As a salesperson, I now have the benefit of a very large, but specialized team with a common drive to make your promotion the very best it can be. This means I have more time (and I’m awake) to take your call. Instead of sharing one support person among countless salespeople, I have a company of experts that make the production side of things easy and friendly to you, the merchant. Did I mention we have hundreds of salespeople in your streets? That’s commitment. Number crunching, data driven. That’s where I work. For someone that wants to win — and what good sales person doesn’t — Santa Claus finally read my list.
It’s not as much about the fact that I never go without. It’s more about the fact that my team has IQ. My team has been filtered and honed. We were brought into an organization that, in total, represents only one person for every 2000 people that applied. It’s common for us to welcome a new team member with the email of attributes that contain pearls like “double master’s degree”. I am so confident it will all work out because the folks on my team are committed to mutual success. There’s some kool-aid in my voice, but not much. We are literally the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods of marketers and lucky for you, there’s no waiting in line for our autograph.
I’m not banging on that big box store’s door outside of town, I am doting on you, Mr. Important Local Merchant.
Let’s talk. We’ll form a team… and every time we make a touchdown, you’re the ultimate winner.
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How to get that job in July 2011
By Charles Martin | July 18, 2011
I’ve got the best job in the world. Period. I’m a marketing consultant for LivingSocial. We are the best option for a small and medium-sized merchant to connect in their hyper-local market for real-time commerce. That’s another post for another day.
I also started another “best job in the world” in October of 2010. I worked at Open Table for a short while. A great job at a great company. In fact, I’ve been loaded into two great opportunities in the past 10 months.
The numbers don’t lie. The nation’s unemployment rate is high at somewhere near 9.5%. I’m going to tell you that those statistics won’t change in our lifetime. You might not agree. I’m sure that the bulk of the unemployment rate contains jobs that just won’t reappear. We can blame politicians, but history tells us that Presidents and our congress have little impact on jobs, especially in an immediate way.
We, as a nation, have been bullied into accepting subpar service led by inept call center reps in foreign lands. It’s not the foreign lands that are the problem. It’s the little they actually do for us. It’s the almost nothing they do for our economy. Companies really don’t care about giving you your credit card balance at 2AM and thanks to our dependence on the Internet, we opened this door many years ago. When I worked in retail they used to say that “Suzie the sales gal is dead”. She sure is. Suzie used to care about digging out ten pairs of white gloves and making sure you had the right pair. She was incentivized. She was part of the equation. Most jobs in America leave out the people that are actually doing them. Thankfully not mine.
The jobs that won’t return are jobs that our business owners have replicated in other countries or have deleted altogether. Manufacturing was taken out of the equation in the 1990′s and 2000′s. Now we are choking on sub-par minimum wage jobs. The people filling those jobs are not rising up like we did after high school. There’s a missing middle transition step from those jobs to a professional career.
It’s almost every day I hear someone say they have a fraction of college. It used to be rare or at least not the norm. Now so many 23 year olds I meet are just a few semesters into college and full of student loan debt and they’ve stopped. This isn’t the fault of Starbucks. It’s not the fault of our politicians. It’s the fault of US. We just give up too early. So so is just good enough now. This is also why there are so many unemployed. So many people think it’s ok to sit home and study Ellen. I’m not big on who collects unemployment checks because I know the stats on those are highly skewed, but there it’s more the norm now than ever.
If You Want A Job
The jobs I signed on for are sales jobs with forward-thinking, progressive companies that can’t replicate what I do in China or don’t cut back on the top of the funnel.
That’s the point.
Live at the top of the funnel.
Any company has a revenue stream and usually it’s driven by sales teams. That team can be three people or three thousand people. But companies will always need revenue builders. If you aren’t up to sales, think again. Thanks to a job I really enjoy and excel in, I have recruited numbers of good marketers to LivingSocial, my new sales home.
Sales and marketing jobs come in many different sizes and shapes. If you connect people needing home loans, you are a sales person. If you are a bartender, you are a salesperson. I could even argue your mail carrier can be a salesman.
There are jobs out there. Understanding the way companies make money and who the players are that bring about revenue, you can make lots of money. Retooling your approach is the hardest part. Many people I know are actually ex-sales people and since I’ve come into the gold mine that is my current job, I’ve received a lot of outreach from old high school buddies. I get them on the phone and after a few minutes I usually realize that they aren’t really up to the real challenge of what work in 2011 is about. If I work 12 hours today, it’s not enough. With 10, I can make my quota and a good living.
The so-called unemployment rate is helping employers do one thing. They are able to perpetuate the mystery of those numbers and make sure everyone is locked into the malaise of “what if” and what lies on the other side of employment.
That’s ok.
I’m a salesman.
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IQ
By Charles Martin | May 12, 2011
[sorry - been out of commission. new job. out of town. back in black. new music :: One Eskim0 - "Amazing"]
Started the new gig.
Great.
Period.
Sure, there are new things to consider. New people. Possibly new drama.
But one thing I’m grateful for is IQ.
It’s always an elitist sounding thing, but I am serious when I say IQ matters.
Of course, you say “my IQ is very high”. “I’m the smartest person I know”.
You’re not. In fact, of all of my friends and colleagues past and present only 5% have an IQ that carry them through the toughest of times, the hardest of negotiations, and the drama of human interaction. Those that aren’t distracted by the minutiae that kills deal-making are high volume thinkers. Also, most people don’t even understand the concept of capacity and IQ.
I was thinking today that many of my past work environments haven’t simply had the people with capacity. And while I don’t agree with anyone 100% of the time, the dilemmas, the challenges, the processes we must filter to accomplish our common goals (in my case, sales) is always easier if my superiors have the capacity.
Thank goodness they do today. And I think that makes all the difference.
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People. Relax.
By Charles Martin | April 13, 2011
Recently the Dodgers had an incident in their parking lot. A person was brutally beaten and put in a medical coma. This was an awful occurence.
But…
Now, LAPD is amp’d. Now, acohol is ratcheted back. Even a hothead endorsed 1/2 price beer and food promo for some weekdays was eliminated.
Relax people. Really? We don’t have any proof that alcohol had anything to do with the incident. We don’t even think the perpetrators were in the stadium before it happened. Back in the day, the Raiders of LA had more LAPD in the stadium than were in Watts. It was awful and embarrasing actually.
I get modern liability woes. I get the worries and jitters of parents sending kids to games. But the CNN world of 24.7.365 updates on Mrs. Jones’s cat in a tree has killed the fun of going to a baseball game.
Baseball games are long. Even for the best of fans. Warm beer and good hotdogs are always the draw. If we are limited in that blessing — and I bet the 7th inning shut off will now be moved to the 5th… maybe 4th inning — what’s the use? The bullies win again.
Gosh damn it. RELAX. I’m sure that McCourt, the Dodger owner, had more belts before his divorce proceedings. But he didn’t beat up the judge. Let the responsible ones of us rule. That’s the American way.
Second — Kobe Bryant goes out and calls a ref a “faggot”. He is killed in the press.
RELAX.
Every gay person I know would think the response was ridiculous. He was fined $100,000 and he is “speaking with gay and lesbian groups”. Really? About what? Great wine and gardening?
Gay people are awesome and they should be ashamed. They certainly don’t need CNN in their corner.
Everyone knows that some slurs are worse than others and even faggot is bad if you know or think you know someone is gay and you want to slander them. But I’m sure the ref was wearing his big fat wedding ring and Kobe knew he wasn’t gay. And even if he was, I doubt Kobe hates gays. In fact, I can say he doesn’t and I don’t even know him.
The repeat of his lips moving over and over on TV worries me greatly. When will I be at Kmart and call my kid “boo boo” and have it play over and over on YouTube or NBC?
I think it’s closer than we think.
This is a scary world sometimes.
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Work
By Charles Martin | March 25, 2011
“Work” – What is it?
Is it the stage where you show your real self?
Is it the cringe of necessity that you avoid everyday?
It’s entirely up to you.
I recently became active in an astute network of sales professionals and I’d have to say, they make the old adage “it’s what you make it” — and today it’s also where you make it. These folks each rock $200k+ from their cars and nearby restaurants and if they’re like me maybe a little league ball field once in a while. What struck me most is that with the new face of work, work exists in all corners. I knew this but it was clear again. The folks that are tied to desks in a remote location far from home don’t want you to know this but it’s true.
The main ingredients to someone being successful at work and away from the old norm is asking the right questions:
- Is what I do relevant to the stakeholders in my organization?
- Who am I scaring today?
- What risks am I taking today?
- What parts of the standard equation for my company, service, or products needs to be completely deleted? And how can I get managers to change their notions of how that company, service, or product works better?
Every day, and even in dire, down times, I make sure that I keep the outside edge of my “work” on the fault line. I try to push norms into not-so-norms and I bring new concepts to surface for the entire organization – whether that be my clients, prospects, bosses, or family members. And even today, new forms, concepts, and approaches at my current company slowly rise to the surface that I had a hand in.
It’s not a solo world – yet. But protecting who you are as an individual and making sure you’re able to stay in front is paramount right now.
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RAK
By Charles Martin | March 8, 2011
I’m a big proponent of Random Acts of Kindness.
I saw on Springwise that RAK is winding its way into day to day business now and that’s a great thing. I will always be one of those that believe the little, tiny, things we do every day without any thought of what it may return will always have a more profound effect long term.
Get out and think of something that you can do each day that moves the world a centimeter or so. Call your kid’s school and offer some time you don’t have. Offer to walk your neighbor’s dog or care for them when their out of town instead of their normal dog-sitting service.
Move the world. You’ll be glad you did.
Topics: Greats in business, Mind and Planet | No Comments »
Adjectives
By Charles Martin | February 14, 2011
I met up with an acquaintance that had trained me at Houston’s the other day at same. I told him that he had done me a great service by being a drill sergeant in his approach to teach me super excellent customer service – the crux of their success.
He said that his training taught him to be better on the phone, with people, and succeed with his burgeoning acting career. But the bottom line was “don’t use adjectives” or at least reduce them. Cut to the chase.
I think its a good challenge for your workday. Try no adjectives for one day.
You’ll figure better ways to move your story.
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