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Find a Talk Trigger to Start Conversations

cutting marketing costs

This was so good I had to share it with you. You know when you read a book and you think “I can do that and this can really change my business”. It happened to me with a talk trigger.

Who doesn’t need to lower their sales and marketing costs…here’s a great option.

Has anyone traveled in the last 10-20 years and stayed at a Doubletree Hotel? I am guessing some of you have. Well, do you remember a chocolate chip cookie being given to you when you checked in? That warm cookie is saving Doubletree Hotel millions of dollars every year.

How or why? The cookie has given guests something to be pleasantly surprised about and a story that is easily shared with others. Who doesn’t like a warm chocolate chip cookie right!

This is called a talk trigger. It is something that causes people to talk about a business in a positive way. It is basically a way to amplify word of mouth advertising. Which by the way is how the majority of small businesses find their best customers. Here are the characteristics of an effective talk trigger. Call them the 4 Rs.

Must be Remarkable

Must be Relevant

Must be Reasonable

Must be Repeatable

Here is the sticky point with this. Finding a talk trigger is not easy. You have to really “know” your customers since your customers are the ones who validate whether it is something that has the 4 Rs. Furthermore, most people don’t find it on the first try, you have to test a few options until you find the one that is the winner.

So to do this job it has to be done with everyone’s knowledge and input from several people on your team and most likely with some outside help. Most importantly you need to get feedback from customers. Quality, honest feedback, not “pat you on the back” feedback. Most of the time no one on the team has time to do this so it never gets completed. But it can change the trajectory of your company once it is discovered. So that is the sticky point it can really move your company forward but you don’t the resources to do it. You need to find a way!

I am not going to go in detail on how you do this but if you are looking for ways to lower your advertising and marketing costs and improve customer satisfaction this is a great proven way. Here is a link to the book called Talk Triggers by Jay Baer which explains every detail.

If you would like to get more facts and figures about the Doubletree Cookie be my guest.

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