A marketing lesson from Neil O’Brien.
Listening to the radio one day I heard a report that George Clooney was spotted in Blarney the previous weekend. The report added that a local woman called Michelle had snatched a kiss from George. I know a Michelle from Blarney and she is an extrovert so it did not seem completely implausible.
When I saw Michelle in the supermarket, I asked her the question that any woman in the world would love to hear.
“Are the rumours about yourself and George Clooney true?” I asked. “Yes, they are,” said Michelle laughing. She then proceeded to tell me what had happened.
She was working in a café in the village and heard a bit of commotion. She looked over and saw somebody who looked like George Clooney. She could see other people looking in his direction but none of them were approaching him. Michelle isn’t shy. She walked over towards him and called his name. ‘George,’ she said.
He turned around smiling and she went over and said, ‘Welcome to Ireland!’ and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
He smiled, laughed and said, ‘Thank you very much!’
“Michelle,” I said, “you’re the envy of every woman in the world.” The people who stood around and did nothing were probably thinking, ‘Is it him or not? What would I say to him? How will he react?
Michelle didn’t over-analyse the situation but took action- she walked over and got the result- a kiss from one of the hottest men on the planet.
As I was walking back from the supermarket I was thinking that there are marketing lessons here for business owners. When it comes to marketing, many business owners are like the people who stood looking at George and had not taken action. Will I send a letter or email? When is the best time to send it? What will I say?
People over-analyse the situation and end up doing nothing. They need to be more like Michelle- take action and see what result they get.
Test and measure. If it works, do it again. If it does not work either tweak and try it again or do something else and measure the result.
Many people procrastinate over which action to take and end up doing nothing. They could learn from Michelle who did not think about the situation for too long and just took action.