TESTING: The Golden Formula for True SUCCESS

How many people or companies do you know that get it right the very first time?

I can’t think of any. As a matter of fact, I would contend that the very purpose of business is to revise, fix and innovate better solutions to existing problems. This is an ongoing process based upon the feedback that businesses receive from the marketplace. The great businesses cherish this process. The “wannabes” think they already know all of the answers.

Ask any professional entertainer and they will tell you that they constantly revise their presentation to their audience based upon the feedback they receive. A true professional will constantly test their current approach against new ideas. Then, after much adaptation, they have a presentation which maximizes their message.

That being said, it is amazing to me how many small businesses never measure the relationships they have with their customers.  More importantly, they never ask themselves how they can be of better service. The same old advertising message circulates month in and month out. The results are very predictable and usually apathetic.

This also occurs quite regularly in the field of sales.

I can’t count the number of times that sales clerks have approached me with the standard greeting, "May I help you?" Although technically there is nothing wrong with this approach it still does not engage the customer in the buying process. Years ago when I worked in retail, I developed over twenty five opening lines that I could use with prospects as they were browsing around the store. I would care to venture, any of them worked better than, "May I help you?" Some were peppered with humor. Others were displays of my genuine interest in the customer. I would experiment with all of my opening lines to see which ones permitted me to enter into a genuine dialogue with the person that was standing in front of me. I learned very quickly, that the very worst opening line I could come up with was asking a question that would result in a "YES" or "NO" answer. I was always among the top salespeople on the retail floor, and I attribute that success to my willingness to learn from the communication that I had created.

Many years later, this experience has assisted me greatly with regards to understanding marketing. As a student of how positions and ideas are communicated to the marketplace, I have learned to cherish the feedback of the marketplace and check my ego in at the door.

No matter what business you are in you cannot improve upon the standard that has been set unless you are willing to TEST and compare results. I contend that the most innovative and dynamic companies in the marketplace are those institutions that make this willingness to adapt to new feedback the integral part of their corporate cultures.

Years ago, I learned that I had a huge investment in what I had come to know. However I also learned that what I knew, and what I needed to know to be successful, were often two completely different items. This has made me appreciate the process of testing all the more.

There have been hundreds of great books written about testing. I will try to summarize what I feel are the most important aspects of TESTING in the following acronym which I developed:

This is the Golden Formula for any business enterprise. Your returns will get better when you do.

There are four factors to effective testing:

The sad fact is that in most of the business world there is no measurement of the Golden Formula.  Advertisers spend over 100 billion dollars every year and guess as to the effectiveness of their expenditures. This is one of the major benefits of advertising online. Everything can be measured exactly.

However, even some of the worlds most famous celebrities understand the importance of this basic principle. Take for example pop icon Madonna. Her latest reinvention of herself into a Kabala-loving, middle-aged mother with-children has amazed even the most seasoned branding experts.

Recently, the New York Times reported on the methods that she used to develop music for her past album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Borrowing a testing idea from the movie industry, Madonna had the music played without her vocals, by top DJ’s in dance clubs in Liverpool, Ibiza, and other hot night spots in Europe. A DJ who collaborated on the album with the pop icon said, " you’ll know within ten seconds of putting it on at a club whether it works out or not."

We all have a tremendous investment in what we think we know. Measuring how our message is received and acted upon tells us in effect how well we understand the wants and needs of our customers.

The feedback of the marketplace is what makes the cash register ring. A good marketer is constantly testing their message and monitoring the feedback to make sure that it resonates loudly with the marketplace.

If you want to really accomplish something BIG, simply monitor the feedback you receive from the little changes you make to your ongoing campaigns. In other words, learn a powerful lesson from a “material girl” pop icon.

Ka – CHING!

What are you waiting for?