It's kind of funny.  I've been slow to adapt to the wave of social media, eschewing the 'online' community in favor of in-person, or at least relationship-based interaction. In the past few months however, I've established an Hpowermarketing identity on Twitter and now have several thousand people following me, as well as being listed on 10 or so lists.  Please don't misunderstand this as bragging, pride or vanity.  I'm not selling anything online; the only things I post are articles...

Read More "Facebook... becoming a fan"

Recently HPM was honored with The Best In Business award by the Small Business Commerce Association.  A fine honor, to be sure!  They sent me a lovely notice that I was able to integrate into a timely press release which has been distributed all over the world, and back again!  I've received kudos from as far away as the middle-east, and as close as just down the street. So I got to thinking, wow, people take this kind of thing pretty seriously; "Winning" is a big deal! ...

Read More "What "Winning" Means To Me"

HPM Receives ‘Best of Business’ Award Small-business group recognizes agency’s innovation in generating leads for clients PHOENIX (Jan. 5, 2010) — The Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA), a San Francisco-based group that offers tactical guidance to small-business owners, has recognized Phoenix-based Higher Power Marketing (HPM), a leading innovator in the per-inquiry (PI) advertising business, with its 2009 Best of Business Award in the marketing consulting...

Read More "HPM Wins Best In Business!"

It's been quite a day so far... and interestingly, quite a few weeks.  I know I've been mostly absent from my blog the past few weeks, but when I get focused on giving, there sometimes isn't enough time to give to this too! An article forwarded to me by a trusted colleague made the point that if all you do when communicating is talk about what you want to 'get', you somehow (not so mysteriously to me) end up getting nothing, and may find yourself only 'wanting'. I define 'wanting' as believing...

Read More "Give to Get - No. Give to Give"

This article is by noted author and historian Pam Geller; it is EXACTLY what I was referring to in one of my earlier posts about change and human history.  Now, admitedly, Ms. Geller may have an agenda or axe to grind, I do not know, but suffice it to say that she touches on very key points about what is happening, and what one possible path might look like, should we continue walking it. This is too important to me to just sit idly by, letting the absurdity of Barack Obama's clarion-call...

Read More "So We Don't Repeat The Past"

A quick thought:  For the most part (at least 51%), I’ve moved from an unconscious, automatic-response kind of life, to living an awakened, deliberate, purpose-driven life!

 -Peter

I don't make much of a secret about my being a friend of Bill W's; while I don't talk in any detail about my fellowship or the program, folks who know me know of my relationship with the 12 Steps. That said, one of my recent morning meditations found me examining a phenomenon that happens frequently in my fellowship, as well as the prepoderance of human interaction:  Change.  I'm not going to focus too much on my fellowship, other than to say there are some I see coming to meetings...

Read More "How to Maintain Change"

When you see the initials CEO under a person's name on a business card you likely think of Chief Executive Officer.  A common assumption, 99.99% of the time you'd be right... I can shed some light on that miniscule spec 0.01% exception... which I think you'll find entertaining. I get inspired with all kinds of great ideas... with all due respect and credit for these ideas going to my Higher Power... and sometimes I come up with some nifty thoughts all on my very own, which I get to take...

Read More "CEO? I Think You'll Be Surprsed!"

I was sitting at my computer early Sunday morning about ready to start looking at movie times for later in the day.  The day's headlines all kind of blurred, still dominated by Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett's passings...when my eye continued down the screen and saw what I thought had to be a mistake:  "Pitchman Billy Mays Dead at 50".  Naturally I clicked to the article, which had only been live for about 10 minutes, and read the nearly detail-less story of the man's...

Read More "Billy Mays"

Here's most of a letter I sent out to HPM's staff earlier today... this blog entry was inspired and suggested by Roger Eon, our Media Development and Affiliate Relations Manager... Last Friday was HPM’s 10th Anniversary!  Before you begin wishing ME congratuations, let me be the first to extend credit to my Higher Power, whom I choose call God.  He inspires me, and it's my simple willingness that lets His greatness be expressed in what we do at HPM. While the business model went...

Read More "Longevity... the Power Behind it"

My son and I had a great day planned for Father's Day:

Breakfast, a movie, sitting talking, lunch, a little shopping, work out at the gym, then dinner (with my partner Joanne) and then after a day-full, a hug and kiss at our parting till later in the week.  I'm really blessed he lives so closely to me... just 10 minutes.

Breakfast was nice... we beat the rush (about 20 people) by only a couple of minutes, but that little buffer was enough for us to get seated and served, with plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before going to our very early movie.

I had a really interesting experience on the way to the movie… I was walking with my son from the car to the theatre, which is in a shopping center, when I looked down at the curb.  I saw what I thought was a cover to a cell phone; upon picking it up I saw that it was actually a cellphone… an iphone, to be precise.  My son and I had about 30 minutes until the movie, so we looked around for anyone who might have dropped or lost their phone, but there were only a few people around (since it was only 8:55am).  I turned on the iphone and without having ever having held one before I felt guided to navigate through to the iphone’s settings to find the owner’s name and see if there was a phone number (other than the iphone’s number)so I could call the owner and let them know their iphone was safe and available to be picked up… and there was!  So I called it, but only got voicemail.  So I left a pretty detailed message and hung up. 

Then I wondered, if I could, perhaps, without being very invasive, find someone else that might know who the owner was and get in touch with him or her (the owner’s name was Donnie).  I found an entry for "Pappa" and hoped it was this person’s father.  I called but got voicemail, so I hung up without leaving a message.  Then I found an entry named "Mama" and dialed it.  I got a live human being and quickly got to the point of my call, which was wise, because it was this person’s mother, and she said she initially felt alarmed that her daughter (now you know it was a “she”) was not on the other end of the phone.  We made arrangements for her to meet my son and I after our movie, which was now about 20 minutes from starting.  I felt good. 

After the movie, I called the mother again, as we had agreed, and she told me that she had reached her daughter… that her daughter should actually be there to meet us.  She described what her daughter would be wearing, and in only moments I identified her!  She and her boyfriend were there, and were just overjoyed at our having found the phone and taking the efforts to return it to her.  I thought to myself, “What else would I do?”, and then I realized that some people would see another person’s loss as their personal gain, choosing to use the phone, and perhaps the personal information contained therein, for their own selfish uses.  I thanked God for a clear path on how to treat others, how to affirm our Universal connection, how to bring comfort to others, and how the act of bringing comfort actually brings me comfort!

It was a Happy Father's Day... in a great many ways!

-Peter

Have you heard the "commercials" littering the radio airwaves, predominantly on Sunday mornings for "HD" radio?  They're not new, stations have been airing them for the better part of 4 years. They're promoting MORE, supposedly better sounding stations.  If you buy an "HD" radio you could listen to literally 3x the number of stations you receive now.  An FM station broadcasting at 99.9 (which is really 99.90) now has entirely different programming on...

Read More "The Meaning of "

This is from the thread of an email conversation I had with one of my friends... we connect on a very basic and far-reaching level.  He suggested that I post this on my blog, titling it "Highs and Lows", and I agreed. This was my last entry of the conversation: "I know exactly what you’re talking about… if you look at each, the highs and the lows, they are exactly the same thing… they are feelings that are really projections of expectations.  When...

Read More "Highs and Lows"

The thing that seems newest to me in business is more an attitude than anything else.  I don't know if it's the beginning of the dissention many are feeling with what has been communicated to me as a president unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions, "...he wants to reach back into 8 years of Bush and not accept responsibility for what he's doing now and the effects it's having.  It's as if Obama is afraid to cross his own party's line in the Senate, afraid the old...

Read More "What's New in Business?"

We're in the midst of gearing up what looks like a significant lead generation campaign for a client and while they've committed to a specified number of leads, they STILL want to be able to cancel with 24 hours notice if the lead quality doesn't meet their benchmarks anywhere along the way. We politely told them that we're not going to let them do that.  We explained to them that the initial test bed they've committed to is the smallest possible sample we could statistically use to determine...

Read More "Clients Who Micro Manage"

Immediately following Response Expo I took the better part of 10 days off on vacation; that includes the weekends, so it was really only 5 business days, but it seems like it was forever since I'd been back in my office!  I'm amazed at how easy it was to fall out of the natural rhythm of day to day business, and how much discipline it's taken to return to it. As I've written (quite extensively), Response Expo 2009 seemed to be teeming with positive energy.  That's not to say that everyone...

Read More "Back to the Basics"

Now that Response Expo is over and everyone is either headed home, or is already back, I can look back at the week and offer up a one paragraph glimpse of what I saw and experienced; then I'm going to want your feedback, your comments, your observations, your thoughts and perhaps most importantly, what you took away from the conference and my blog. Here's my snapshot:  I came to Response excited to see people I hadn't seen since September, or since last year's Response Expo, but I also...

Read More "Post Expo Recap"

Sorry for the late check in but it's been a busy morning... was up at the crack of dawn, tackling the business I wasn't able to get to yesterday.  I wonder who else among us is doing double-duty; taking care of existing business (email and voicemail) while also being here at Response full time for 3 days? Had a great breakfast with one of our most valued partners and enjoyed hearing about new opportunities and sharing what's new with our company that can help them.  The best relationships...

Read More "Thursday at Response"

The day has been about as wall to wall with activities as I'd imagined it would be!  And that's a good thing.  I've attempted to carve out time to write on a couple of occassions today, but instead chose to engage in conversations with people I know, and just as rewarding, with people I didn't know... until now! I've asked just about everyone I've met with what they thought of this year's Response Expo (Day 2)...here's a sampling: Dynamite... we're getting to see everyone we...

Read More "An Invigorating Day at Response Expo 2009"

This morning started early... a 7:30 breakfast with a person who's name was eerily familiar, but from another part of the country.  I just assumed someone I knew in Phoenix would never move and live somewhere else.  So we meet up and in about 15 seconds realize we know each and instantly reconnect the dots to all that we've done in the intervening years. We talk about what's working, what's not and decide that there's more for us to be doing with and for each other.  I dropped...

Read More "It's All About Clear Communication"

I was recounting my day to my partner, telling her of the overall sense of optimism I felt from all my interactions of the day.  She asked me what I thought about that.  After a few moments reflecting, I was struck with the idea, that upon even further contemplation, I believe clearly has merit.  Mind you, this is inspired thinking, not of my own doing... coming from my Higher Power (yeah, the God thing... no NOT religious, just spiritual)... so relax into this, knowing the only...

Read More "DR and PI as the Barometer of the Economy"

Putting a close to the day, I wanted to share comments I've heard from attendees from a variety of perspectives: One of our Media Partners told me, "We're getting good offers but there seems to be a disconnect from the agency to the client, like the agency isn't telling their clients what they're doing"  When I probed for a little detail what came out was that a misunderstanding had developed between the client and the media, the the client assumed leads were coming in from one...

Read More "The Evening"

The biggest difference I note between this year's Response Expo and last year's is a positive sense of hopefulness among attendees.  Last year's attendees seemed to me to be preoccupied with why results were down and costs were up... there seemed a sense of fear that something was wrong that needed to be fixed and there was a general groping for answers...none of which seemed readily apparent. This year, thus far, in a matter of just a few appointments there's a palpable sense of optimism. ...

Read More "Appointments and Fun"

Yeah, I know, corny, but it was the first thing that came to mind, so I went with it! The day has so much promise in front of it... I've got several appointments, the first of which start 24 minutes from right now (so I better be brief and to the point, right?), phone conversations, educational sessions, this afternoon's Keynote Address, and then dinner.  It's going to be a full day.  I fully expect things to change on the fly, as they always seem to at every trade show I've ever attended,...

Read More "Let the Games Begin"

Nearly right across the street (and the light rail) from PetCo Park, the new Hilton Bayfront San Diego is home to this year's Response Expo.  It's clean, white, with lots of vertical design lines... giving it kind of a beachy, retro look (to me). There's a Fox Sports Grill, and Starbucks that you actually have to go downstairs from the main lobby, then outside to get to... There's a spa and a work out facility with several treadmills, elipitical machines and a recumbent bike, as well as...

Read More "The Hilton San Diego BayFront"

It's 9:02am and I've been feeling that pre-show nervous energy that I experience before every show.  I know, I know, it's not like I'm on stage, speaking or anything that puts me out there in such a personal way, but I'm not going to pretend I don't have butterflies about doing a good job blogging for you during the Expo.

So it's not cold feet, it's pre-show jitters.

Everything I've read and personally experienced shows me that when I experience pre-anything jitters, I'm most open to being inspired and sharing that inspiration in such a way that everyone who receives it can understand it.

Write to you later!

-Peter

Here it is the Sunday night before Response Expo...my introduction, of sorts, to the conference's community on my observations, thoughts and experiences... as well as your insights.  I'll be bringing a little bit of everyone I interact with into my multiple-times per day check-in.  I won't use names, unless you want me to, so your deepest insights, no matter how great or small, your identity will be kept confidential.

So here's the skinny as I make my final preparations:  My two Monday appointments (late afternoon and dinner) have both been cancelled.  Conflicting schedules is the culprit on one, family obligations, the other.  And I feel perfectly at peace with the free time now afforded me to enjoy my first evening in San Diego flying solo... so whether it's heading to the Gas Lamp district or going to the gym then dinner in one of the hotel's eateries, it's just as it should be!

And that's my theme for the opening of the year's Response Expo.  Be at peace with whatever comes your way.  I consciously and deliberately live my life with this in my mind and heart:  Desire everything.  Require nothing.  Be happy with what shows up.  I read that in one of the Conversations with God books nearly a decade ago, and it stuck.  Obviously.   So that's my initial take on Response Expo 2009.

I'll have something more tomorrow morning before I get on my flight, I'm sure.

Have a great night!

-Peter

I was having lunch with a buddy of mine last week; he's a pretty high powerd VP of Sales for a good sized radio broadcasting company.  As it usually does, conversation turned to business that we're doing together.  I'd made a proposal to spend a certain amount of money and he needed to make sure that it didn't foul up their rate structure relative to the political windows before primaries and elections.   That was all the opening I needed to state my case to a money-man at a broadcast chain.

Here's what I told him:  I think that this country's political process has devolved from attracting people who are interested in serving the public interest, to becoming available only to those who have a lot of money.  Money and fundraising have become the twin-engines that drives our political process.  Money.  Why do candidates need money?  To run radio and TV commercials.  It costs a pile-load of cash to pay for media... even at what the FCC calls the Lowest Earned Rate... otherwise known as the lowest rate on the outlet for the time period the candidate is requesting.  Anyone care to guess how much polticians spent on media across the country in the past general election?  Best estimate I've seen is somewhere over $3.2 BILLION. 

So, money, not the desire to serve, has become the primary qualification for running for elective office.  I'd lke to change that... at least as far as radio and TV go, because they are regulated, albeit lightly, by the government... it's also where the vast majority of the money is being spent.

Here's the plan I gave my friend over lunch.  For primaries, every registered candidate automatically qualifies for twenty-one (21) FREE commercials per week for the 4 weeks leading up to the primary election on any and every radio or TV media outlet they desire.  Cable systems would give candidates the same 21 FREE commercials on each insertable channel desired by the candidate.  The candidates would receive 60-seconds commercials on radio, 30-seconds on TV.  The candidates would receive 60-seconds spots on radio, 30-seconds on TV.  All commercials would air Monday-Sunday 5am-1am, otherwise known as a "broad rotator"; their commercials would air in all days and "dayparts" i.e, 5am-10am, 10am-3pm, 3pm-8pm and 8pm-1am.

And for general elections, each candidate that qualfied through the primary would receive twenty-one (21) FREE commercials per week for the 4 weeks leading up to the general election on any and every radio or TV media outlet they desire.  Cable systems would give candidates the same 21 FREE commercials on each insertable channel desired by the candidate.  The candidates would receive 60-seconds spots on radio, 30-seconds on TV.  All commercials would air Monday-Sunday 5am-1am, otherwise known as a "broad rotator"; their commercials would air in all days and "dayparts" i.e, 5am-10am, 10am-3pm, 3pm-8pm and 8pm-1am.

That's it.  No more, no less.  No opportunity for candidtates to buy more commercials.  Twenty one (21) commericals per week on radio will, in less than 2 weeks, establish enough frequency for over 60% of that outlet's listeners to have heard their message 3+ times.  The same for TV

If PAC's want to buy commercials on behalf of a client, they may do so, but not at political rates, but at whatever rates the outlets care to sell them at.  But the root need for BIG money in our election process will be removed, while simultaneously leveling the playing field so that everyone who wishes to run for public service will have equal access to the media to state their piece.

Maybe we'd start attracting the best and the brightest instead of the rich and power hungry.  A return to a government of the people, by the people, for the people is long overdue; this would be one small step in the right direction that will hopefully spawn inspired thinking and action, leading us to other great accomplishments!

What do you think? 

If you like it, copy and paste it into an email and send it to everyone you know.  Retweet it to everyone who's following you.  Post it on your FaceBook...give this idea an opportunity to live and breathe.  Let's see what we can make happen. 

I'm heartsick over what's happened to our political process and the greed that drives our political engine.  It's time for a shift; this proposal is the start.

-Peter

I don't go in for forwarding emails very much, especially when much of what I have to say comes from the heart and most of what I see in emails doesn't resonate with my soul.

This rings true with me because it's about the human condition, and while not universal, it paints an accurate picture of sorts.  The condition that Dr. Cosby writes about is a human condition... where human beings have come to believe more and more about their separation from one another, instead of their obvious solidarity and unity. 

Most human beings tend to use only their 5 senses to immediately judge how different each person is from him or herself, instead of letting our most obvious traits help us see how we're all really the same.

Here's what Bill Cosby has to say on the matter:

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.
I can't even talk the way these people talk:
Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be...
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.
And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth
In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around.  The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.  These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2?  Where were you when he was 12?   Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father?

We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.'
Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed.D.

As defined by Wikipedia, Per Inquiry advertising is:

Per-inquiry advertising (PI) - also known variously as cost per lead (CPL), pay per lead (PPL) or cost per action (CPA) - is a form of direct response marketing in which the advertiser receives free ad time and space while paying only for results. In return, the advertiser gives up control of where and when the ads will run.

Agencies that offer PI have relationships with media outlets - radio, television, print, Internet sites, interactive TV and mobile media platforms, and movie screens - and access to their unsold inventory of ad time and space. The agency acquires the rights to the unsold time and/or space and places the ads as it becomes available.

The advertisers pay only for qualified responses. What constitutes a response is negotiated between client and PI advertising agency. Packages can be structured for a variety of results: per inquiry (any response), per lead (name and contact information) - even per sale.

For PI to work, the responses must be trackable. Some PI advertising firms also provide exclusive toll-free numbers and Web addresses for potential customers to respond. A few go so far as to field responses and arrange fulfillment on behalf of their clients.

PI appeals to clients who care about how well their advertising works, not necessarily when or where it runs. It allows companies to boost business without the usual risks associated with advertising and establish stable, predictable CPL within their business plans, assuring a positive return on investment (ROI).

That's the long explanation, courtesy of HPM; yes, we wrote the Wikipedia definition of Per Inquiry advertising.

To make a long story very short, Per Inquiry advertising is performace-based communication.  The media gets paid for each lead they generate when they run a client's advertisement in their unsold time or space.

That's what we do at HPM; while we aren't the first Per Inquiry advertising agency out there, we are among the biggest and fastest growing.  The 5 Top Reasons We're Among the Biggest and Fastest Growing:

1. We give our clients and our media partners honest appraisals of everything we do.
2. We don't lie.
3. We do what we say we're going to do.
4. We're always researching ways to help deliver a better Return On Investment for both our media partners and our clients... we want everyone to win!
5. We implement better working, inspired ideas, with today's cutting edge technology.

Sound like we're really patting ourselves on the back, huh?

Not really.  Every success we have comes from letting go of our egos and letting ourselves be guided by our Higher Power.  And every failure we experience... and yes, we have our fair share of them, is an opportunity to accept responsibility and grow from, so that we don't have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

We give credit where credit is due... and accept responsibility where it belongs; I guess people really connect with that!

-Peter

I have two dogs, Lewis and Clark; they were into everything as pups, so the names fit... and they still do.  So this morning, I'm sitting Indian style on a carpet square in the kitchen during my quiet time, while the boys' food is rehydrating (don't ask) when Clark Nudges me.  He'd been outside and had trotted back in to see how breakfast was coming along.  He, and his brother, both" know" when the 10 minutes it takes for their food to rehydrate is up.

So I feel this wet nose on my upper arm, The Nudge... telling me "it's time".  So I look up at the clock and sure enough, once again he's nailed the time, to the minute.  It's uncanny.  As I looked him in the eyes just after he nudged me I knew that this would be my topic for today's entry.

Do I think my boys can tell time?  No.  Do I think they've got a sense of the passing of time and have a sense of an internal "clock"?  Absolutely.  Which got me to thinking, wondering how they come by that innate sense of the passing of time... and how they connect that with an action they know will get my attention and cause me to move?

God.  It's the only answer I can come up with.  He/She/It gives all beings and creatures some of His/Her/Its essence so that we may draw breath, be expressive and otherwise do His/Her/Its will on a daily basis.  And I guess included in that is the simplest of expressions, "It's time", communicated by the simplest of gestures, The Nudge.

I'm pretty sure I receive many "nudges" during the course of every day.   I used to flat out ignore them, pretending they didn't exist.  Then I became even more arrogant, running roughshod over them, exerting my will over them, especially when they got in my way, or were not to my liking, or I thought that attending to the "nudges" would have created inconveniences for me if I paid attention to them.  Then a funny thing happened.  I decided to allow the "nudges" to reach me, and to guide me... and I became willing to acknowledge them, to embrace them, to do as they inspired me.

Today, and each day, I work deliberately to feel the "nudges" that come to me, no matter the source, because I know that the truly great things I've created (and there are some real joys I've made) have come from the inspiration of a "nudge".  They are gifts from my Higher Power, I call God.

The next time you feel a 'nudge'... the simplest gesture, that communicates the simplest of expressions... stop for the second it takes to notice it.  See what it inspires you to do!

And then tell me!

-Peter, aka The Nudge

Okay, so the list of people I'm following and who are following me has jumped into the hundreds.  I feel so popular, yet I think "who" I am has less to do with it than "where" I am.  I'm on Twitter, at least my company is.  It's not that I think any less of myself, I'm only saying that having a presence of Twitter... and now some knowledge about how better to use it for a greater good...is the 1-2 punch behind the growth in the number of people 'following' me.  And while I don't have thousands upon thousands following me...yet, I have the belief that I will, in just a few short months. 

What I've been educated to in the past couple of weeks is that there is a bucket-load (more visual than plethora but means the same thing) of tools out there that will let someone as new and ignorant as me learn hwo to engage in, and automate the process of inviting people to follow me by supplying people on Twitter with concrete, honest-to-goodness content that might be meaningful to them and be difference-makers in their lives!

No need to read between the lines; there are several ways in which to make money by supplying timely and relevant information to people.  And I in fact have tapped a friend of mine to put together a video showing other Twitter novices how to do this, if they wish.  But for me, the profit motive falls to below the radar and sits squarely in the back seat, where it belongs.  As I've said before, if I miss out on 'making millions' from being on Twitter, that's okay... it's just not that important.  Really...

And that wasn't always true of me (although I often pretended it was).  Time was I'd be intrigued with, and take part in any money-making scheme.  I'd shell out money like nobody's business to 'learn' the tricks of the trade, purely on the come, determined to make my millions.  The only people who made money were the people I wrote checks to.  Today's Internet environment is substantially the same, with the profit motive, and extreme lack of value for money-paid being the engine that drives so much of what we all see on the web.

What I've found however is that there is the capacity, with not so much effort, at finding tools to be more productive and help others in the process.  This is how it's been with Twitter... from Twollo, to Tweetlater, to Twellow and Bitly, and, well, I could go on and on about all the different tools available to help me (and you) do more with Twitter, instead of it being another "Waste of The Web".

I feel glad to have stumbled onto these great tools that allow me to give timely, relevant content to more and more people everyday...without the profit motive being the driver.

-Peter

This has been a remarkably full week; it's already Wednesday, yet it's "only" Wednesday!

I've literally had a bazillion emails, voicemails, Facebook and Twitter updates... and that's just the online world.  In the real world, I've been living large too!

The watchword for everything this week, from my quiet time to my business time, to how I respond to people on personal and business stuff has been "Patience".  For decades I used to think that if I didn't receive a reply from whomever about whatever then life as I knew it was going to stop.  Slowly, over the past 10 years I've come to realize that more actually gets done for me, and for my benefit when I let the (far more powerful) Universe do its thing.  When I'm patient.

When I'm patient business comes to me that is meant to come to me... and often on better terms than if I tried to pry it free whatever shackles I imagined were holding it hostage.

When I'm patient I'm kinder to people and they're kinder to me... not because we're any nicer, but because the REAL us is given the opportunity to come out.

When I'm patient everyone around me and everyone who comes in contact with me is changed... feeding off my "frenzy" of patience.

I've had this entry on my mind since Sunday; patience told me to wait until I could write it down with the inspiration needed to communicate just how powerful patience is.

I'm glad I was patient.

-Peter

I was deep in conversation with a prospect this morning when our talk turned to the real nuts and bolts of the program; he asked me a question only two other prospects/clients had asked me in the past nearly 10-years, "Would media outlets prefer to receive a higher bounty for a sale or a lower payout on a lead?"  What an absolutely brilliant question!  And I told him so!

Take a guess, which do you think the media would prefer?  Unsure?  Okay, how about if I changed the question to this:  Would media outlets prefer to receive a higher bounty on a fewer number of sales, or a lower payout on a higher number of leads?"  Does that change in language give you an insight?

The answer is:  The media always prefers to be compensated on leads, or better yet, on a per call basis.  For the most part the media doesn't like being paid on a per sale basis.  Any ideas as to why that might be?

Among the several reasons, this one stands out as #1: The media doesn't like being held responsible for a call center or web page's ability to actually close a sale.  They're perfectly fine with being held accountable for number of calls or leads; they despise advertisers who want to pay them per sale.

When we approach our media partner with a Per ________ (call, lead or sale), they know that they are going to be paid $XX Per whatever it is we've told them... either Per Call, Per Lead or Per Sale.  So whatever that "Per" is, the media's ONLY concern is how many of those "Pers" are they going to get.  So while clients think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread to pay a media outlet $100 Per Sale, the media is quietly thinking, "I'm probably not going to see much out of this, so I'm not going to give them very many runs".  And when the client reports back to us the following Monday that they only made 2 sales, and we in turn report that to our media partners, they tell us outright (no longer so quietly), "Yeah, that offer was lame, we're not going to run it any more."  Now multiply that scenario times 100 media outlets and you can see how quickly a Per Sale program can fail.  Here's the big picture so you can see the dynamic in ful flow: 

1. We give the Per Sale offer to 100 media outlets, paying $100.00 per sale.
2. They run the offer, sparingly because they don't think the client's call center can close many sales, and they (the media) don't think they (the media) should be responsible for making sales... but they run the offer a little bit.
3. We get our sales report from the call center on Monday and it shows that there were only 5 sales; 1 sale from 5 different media outlets.
4. We now have 5 media outlets who managed to eek out some revenue, while 95 get goose-eggs... zero, zip, nada, zilch.
5. Immediately upon reporting out our results, 80 of the outlets cancel the client's runs, leaving us with 20 outlets to run the offer.
6. The next week the same thing happens, only this time, there are only 3 sales.
7. When we report out the results, 17 of the remaining outlets cancel, leaving us with only 3 outlets running the offer, so we cancel.
8. We give the client back their unused deposit, and everyone walks away a loser... the client spent a bucket-load of money on its sales systems, call center scripting, dubs for the media.  We expended our time and effort trying to get the media to do something they weren't that thrilled with to begin with and the media only participated half-heartedy. 
9. We've made a withdrawal from our trust deposit with the media and, while life goes on, it's not as happy a day.

Fortunately we take very few per sale offers...they have to be well-tested and have extremely high conversion rates to qualify... because otherwise we DON'T do them... we avoid the scenario you see above by going through an exahuastive pre-qualifying process!

By contrast, when we do a Per Call or Per Lead program the dynamic is nearly 180° different.

1. We give 100 media outlets a Per Call program that pays them $15 per call.
2. The media companies know that they're going to receive $15 for every answered call... that's easy...
3. The media decides to run a lot of commercials because they figure it'll be easy to make the phone ring and get paid.
4. We get our call report the following Monday morning and see that we generated 600 calls!!
5. 92 of the 100 media outlets made money, and they're pumped up about running it even more this coming week.
6. We can tell the 8 who didn't get any calls that if they give the commercial a few more runs they'll make money too, so they say they will.
7. We have 100% participation for a second week and then our second week's numbers come out.
8. This time we've generated over 1,100 calls, and every single media oulet made money!
9. Here's the kicker.. since the client's call center answered so many calls, they got really good at answering caller objections and closing sales, so their closing ratio went up by 2% which made the client many more sales than they were expecting.
10. Since the client made more money, they gave us another $1 per call to pay to the media... which allowed us to pay more to our current outlets, and also attract new, bigger outlets...
11. You guessed it, the following week we nearly doubled our numbers and the campaign goes on for 7+ years like that... everyone, and I mean everyone made a lot of money!

Sound far-fetched.  Fact:  This is a true scenario- and it's the kind of thing we use to build our business and more importantly our clients' and media partners' buisnesses.

We've come to appreciate the difference between Per Call, Per Lead and Per Sale.  If you're a business looking to do a performance based program, don't be so quick to fall into the Per Sale trap...it can be a no win situation... talk with someone who knows what they're doing and can guide you through the benefits and pitfalls, so you don't end up making a business-ending series of mistakes.  If you're a media outlet, you already know what I'm talking about... and perhaps, if you aren't an HPM Media Partner, you may wish to consider becoming one.

-Peter Feinstein

During my quiet time this morning I was inspired by a line of thinking concerning accountability.  As I sat and let the thoughts weave through my consciousness, the idea of accountability sprang to mind. 

It focused on taking credit for the great things "I" do and taking responsibility for the mistakes I make.  It wasn't a long and complicated line of thinking... it went kind of like this:

Since I let my Higher Power (whom I choose to call God) guide me everyday, I give Him/Her/It credit for the inspirations I receive.  I can take credit for the actions I take, the work that I do, or the direction I give to others, as a result of the original inspiration, but since the 'idea' to do came from my Higher Power, He/She/It gets the credit for starting the ball rolling; I can accept credit for the willingness to listen to the inspiration and for putting into action the inspiration... and I can extend kudos to everyone who follows my direction and accomplishes great things... but to really accept accolades, I have to give credit where credit is due:  God's voice is my inspiration, where ALL my great ideas come from.

The other part of this stream of thinking that inspired me was Accepting Responsibility.  I made up in my mind that this line of thinking is all about when I make mistakes.  And this is really cool, because we all make mistakes; it's a human-being thing!  Okay, so there's guilt and then there's shame.  Anyone care to take a stab at commenting on the difference between the two?  Do you think there is a difference?  I believe there is a distinct difference.

Guilt is a feeling that I've made a mistake, usually for me connected with a sense of remorse and a desire to make right what I've made wrong.  It also comes with a sense of duty to examine what I did wrong and make note of it, so that I don't repeat that mistake over and over.  Shame on the other hand is the mind telling you that you're worthless pond-scum (or whatever comes to your mind), that your imperfections are unacceptable and that your defectiveness can't be fixed, so you shouldn't even try.  Shame is the great paralyzer; if you allow shame its voice, you can't take action... you can't allow guilt to help you through a situation, you won't allow the power of guilt to help you notice what you did wrong, accept responsibility for it and correct it.

I know, I know... what the heck does this have to do with Social Media, or Per Inquiry Advertising?  Everything.  Think about it.  What do you during the day that doesn't have some connection to every other thing you're doing.  The connection here is simple:  Be okay with making mistakes; no I'm not encouraging you to go out and purposely screw things up, I'm only saying live life from the belief that no matter what you're doing, you're going to make mistakes, and it's okay.  Use the sense of guilt you feel from discovering a mistake to help you accept responsiblity for it, correct it and learn not to repeat it.  Allow guilt to help you take action, without falling into the paralytic fear of shame...in your personal life, in your business life... in your life...

And when great things happen, always look for the source of the inspiration.. and give credit where credit is due!

A friend of mine has become addicted to social media.  He's hooked on Twitter, but I think in a good way.  He's seeing it for what it is, and perhaps seeing through to what it isn't.  And I think that's an important distinction, because for many human beings the creation of an attachment, bordering on a damaging addiction is all too easy to make.  Just look at the plethora of 12 Step fellowships that offer true help out from the traps of addiction for confirmation of this fact.

For me, I'm on Twitter and Facebook.  Both are fun, neither do much for me, other than give me a slightly easier way of communicating with people than I had yesterday.  The reality is... and that's the focus here... that still in order to accomplish anything two people have to communicate with each other one on one.  Twitter especially is like a massive introduction service. I get introduced, on an ever-growing daily basis, to some very brilliant people, as well as some who give me pause.  And while that may sound judgemental, it's really just setting up and keeping some pretty strict boundaries.

I don't follow everyone who follows me... I read their profile, I look to see who they're attracting, and I decide if I have anything to offer them, and they me.  And if we do, then we're in the conversation together.  I have no grand designs to let Twitter, or any other social media platform replace real human interaction, at the personal level; I will let it however be a platform through which I can publish things that come to my mind to people who are interested... as well as pass along gems that resonate with me.

So as far as the bandwagon... I'm not on it, I'm not off it, nor am I undecided.  Instead, I'm following my intuition and taking advantage of what each platform has to offer me and others... and leaving the insanity of 'needing' it to be the next best 'thing' to others.  And if I don't make millions because I 'missed out' on an 'unbelievable' once in a lifetime opportunity, that's okay.  It's just not a big deal.  Life for me isn't about how much I make but how much I can contribute.

-Peter Feinstein

How do you handle uncommunicate clients?  I get asked that question a lot.  It's nearly unthinkable to not reply to an email or return a call from someone I know, whether it's personal or business.  But that's me.  I'm guessing there are as many different perspectives on this as there are human beings...kind of what makes the world go 'round.

So just how do I handle the unresponsive.  I assume the best and go from there, really.  Okay, I didn't always come from a place of peace, but ever since I began putting my faith in the Universe to handle the things over which I have no control (seems like a good idea, huh?), stuff just seems to turn out okay.  Sorry, I got off on a tangent.  I assume the best and go from there... I usually place a call to them at a reasonable time of the day; if I reach them I make sure I let them know that I was feeling concern for them, that not hearing back from them is so unusual I was just calling to make sure everything was okay.  99.99% of the time, everything was okay, they'd just deleted my original voice mail or email and, while they meant to reach out to me, they'd forgotten.  We all do it, we're human.  To pretend otherwise is just sillyness.

What's most interesting is when i put the other person's well-being first, making my call all about them, and the concern I feel for them, it lightens the load of the call... no matter whether it's a collection call, or you're introducing a new line of products/services you believe will benefit them... it all becomes easier because instead of putting my selfish wants first, I've put them first.  And when done geniunely, it's as transparent and easy to see as looking through a freshly cleaned picture window!  And it is a picture window... to your soul, to your belief system.

I used to be less trusting than I am today; years ago I mistrusted most, trusted very, very few... and I acted accordingly... and was treated accordingly.  But then I chose to shift my belief system...seeing the inherent flaws in distrusting people... so I began acting as if I trusted everyone... and amazingly, trust began to sprout like May flowers after April showers!  Trust was everywhere!

If someone's being uncommunicative, don't assume the worst - assume the best, and go from there.  Trust that putting their well-being ahead of your own self-centered 'needs' will yield a calmer, more open communication... and you might even find yourself letting them take their time in getting back to you as their schedule dictates.

Patience and trust... working together to bring you a more peaceful day!

Peter

Another gorgeous Spring Saturday in Phoenix; the breeze is blowing, creating a stirring melody through our chime garden.  The tunes are punctuated by an errant chirp of a bird, or more commonly the 'chirp' of one of our two mini schnauzers, Lewis and Clark.  Three guesses as to why we named 'em... the first two don't count!

I got to thinking about my business, and one of the more inspired (IMHO) thoughts raced through my mind is that my business reflects my life... mostly peaceful, with a little bump here and there, but nothing that isn't resolvable if I get out of the way and let God do for me that which I cannot do for myself.  Yeah, I know you may be thinking, "Why does he have to bring God in to it, why can't he leave religion out of day to day life and/or business?"  A fair question, so let's leave religion out of it, but I try to never leave God out of it.

Let me explain.  My belief in God is of a spiritual, decidedly non-religious nature.  I am not opposed to organized religion for those who wish to benignly participate in it; I am certain it helps them acquire and maintain the connection to a Higher Power, but it is not for me.  And while I 'religiously' practice my form of spirituality each day, I have no congregation, no pastoral 'leader' to speak to God for me, or to lead me in prayer.  I talk to God as plainly as I'm writing here, and He speaks back to me in pretty much the same way.  Yes, I hear God - Do you?

This Saturday morning, I write asking you to listen for God, and then listen TO God.  Lose the fear of doing what you know is right, lose the fear of letting go of required outcomes, lose the fear of letting him do stuff for you that you couldn't possibly do on your own.  Listen for God, he's in every kind word, every chirp of bird, every breeze that blows by, and in your heart.

He's also in the mean-spirited thoughts, words and deeds that invade our minds and lives.  It's true.  God is in everything, so he cannot be excluded from those things... but here's the caveat that explains how he's involved in the demons; God plants the seed of love in each of us... it is His Gift of free will that allows many to wander from God's inspiration, polluting His Will with mere mortal thoughts of selfishness, greed, pride, and so on. 

So when you feel an inspiration, something that goes beyond any experience you've ever had, stay with it, write it down, see what it says to you, but don't pretend that it's yours and yours alone... that's the mistake that leads to the negativity we each see (in our own ways).  Give God, or whatever you call your HIgher Power, his/her/its due!

My God told me: "You have the seeds of greatness within you.  Not for the power you can exert over people, but for the love you can extend to them.

-Happy Saturday,

Peter

I've been on Facebook for a couple of months and Twitter for a couple of weeks... and while I know I want to be there I haven't really completely 'gotten' why I'm there.  It wasn't to make money, I really didn't have a purpose for being there, I just put myself there... well, I got a great insight this morning after I got a notice that someone new was following me on Twitter!  I was thinking, why is someone following me?  And then I realized, maybe it's because, as this new follower pointed out to me, Twitter's a party, and he's following me because he's just interested in saying, "Hey Peter, I'm Perry, how are you?". 

It's a party... that's the thing.  So if you've been Facebooking, or Twittering like me, in a little boat on the ocean of social networking, without a sail or rudder, than maybe the insight I got from Perry Belcher (http://www.perrybelcher.com/) will help you too...

Here's a note we received today from the fine people at Target+Response:

It is with great sadness that Target + Response Inc. announces the passing of our founder and dear friend, Laurence Levis, after a courageous 16-month battle with cancer.  Larry passed away peacefully at home yesterday, surrounded by his beloved family.  He will be sorely missed by his friends and colleagues in the industry.
 
Larry’s roots were as a skilled salesman and sales manager in the radio industry.  He worked his entire career in Chicago, but he loved to build relationships nationally with a variety of marketers, broadcasters and other highly targeted media – media that were not historically viable to direct response advertisers.
 
Larry founded Target + Response in 1987, and applied a fresh approach to an old concept called Per-Inquiry (P.I.) advertising. With integrity and fairness to both media and advertisers, he created a platform that generated a new form of non-traditional advertising for the media, and a cost effective channel of sales leads for quality direct marketers.
 
From the very start, Larry established a legacy and culture that influenced and enriched the careers and lives of many people, and the success of many clients and businesses.  During his illness, Larry released himself from management duties of the business, but was comforted to know that Target + Response is well positioned for the future. 
 
Moving forward we will maintain the tenets that Larry fostered for the past 21 years. 
 
It’s been a privilege working with Larry for all these years, and he will be missed very much.  He is survived by his wife Debra, his four children and many family members.
 
An open memorial service for Larry will be held on Thursday, April 23rd at 4pm at Congregation Solel, 1301 Clavey Road, Highland Park, Illinois.  Target + Response will be closed on Thursday in Larry’s honor.
 
Condolences may be sent to LarryLevisCondolences@target-response.com or mailed to:
Target + Response Inc.
Attn: Debra Levis
420 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 201
Chicago, Illinois 60611-3569
 
Donations may be made to either:
The American Brain Tumor Association, 2720 River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018, or
Alternatives, Inc., Attn: Judy Gall, 4730 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60640.
 
Gary Kretchmer
President
Target + Response Inc.

We echo Mr. Kretchmer's sentiments and express our deepest, personal condolences on Larry Levis' passing.

Peter Feinstein, CEO, HPM

Did you ever have one of those clients where you think you've covered every possible question, every possible outcome?  I'll admit it, I have.  And I'm here to tell you that assumption is a real joy-killer!  So how do you avoid 'assumption'?  It's not as easy as you might think... we base much of our everyday life on assumptions. One of the things I do is make check-lists... for darn near everything we do in all our processes.  I know, it sounds kind of boring, but setting...

Read More "Cover everthing, don't assume"

I read a fun article over the weekend extolling the virtues of DR radio, at the expense of PI radio.  I skimmed the article once, then reread it more carefully and found it full of holes.  Don't get me wrong, DR radio has its place; we always counsel clients to combine paid media with PI because PI (like DR radio) isn't a panacea.  It's just one piece to the puzzle; admitting that means that both have their worth.  The holes in the article to which I'm referring however, from my point of view, aren't so subtle. 

The author actually said "with PI there is no negotiation".  I tend to doubt he has any experience in PI; were he to have actually discussed the matter with some of the PI shops he works with, he'd know that negotiation is an everyday thing.  It's a function of life.  Everything is a negotiation, period.  Don't get me wrong, he makes a very strong case for how adept he's become at circling the waters, just waiting for Friday morning when he can attack the media and 'negotiate' rates at up to 80% less than rate card.  That's called media buying 101.

He also, with an omniscience granted so few on this planet, 'knows' that the unsold inventory that PI receives is the inventory no one wants to buy.  That's pretty funny; according to several of the networks we do business with, they have HPM PI as a revenue income line, expecting us to deliver revenue for them on a daily basis.  When I asked them how they account for that, they shared (pretty universally) that they actually hold back some of their inventory for PI so they can make up some of the revenue that they know they're going to lose to: Cancellations, missed copy from clients, shark-like media buying services.

What I found most instructive was the author's apparent lack of understanding about the leverage PI carries.  When we approach a network with whom we've been doing PI for years (it'll be 10 years in June), and tell them we'd like to buy some time, we're put to the front of the line, with access to all the remnant inventory, at rates that are half again as low as quoted in the article.  The bargain rate mentioned in the article (roughly 20 cents on the dollar) is really nothing more than TWICE what we pay for the same inventory.  A DR shop that tells you they can buy time more cheaply than a well-connected PI shop really doesn't understand the nature of our relationship with the media.  The DR agency is at odds with the media, always looking for the lowest possible rate.  The PI agency is always balancing the client's needs with the media's needs... since we're always bringing our media partners money for inventory that would otherwise go to waste (read $0.00 revenue), we're really more like their heroes!  The typical DR Radio Cost Per Thousand (CPM) the last I'd heard was somewhere over $3.00.  Our CPM's are typically in the $0.50 to $0.80 range, which will always convert into a win-win situation for the station, the client and HPM.

Not everything the author had to say was as amusing as the elements I've worked to set straight here; all things being equal I might choose paid DR too (if I was him).  But, all things are not equal, and most clients we talk to (and I know they have a predisposition to be performance oriented since they're PI clients; I'm not an idiot) prefer the PI model, knowing that they can rely on a stable cost per lead/acquisition, rather than suffering the consequences of spending their personal fortunes, or company coffers, on paid advertising with no guarantee of an ROI.  Sometimes paid DR works.  PI always works, and if for some reason our PI's don't perform to our client's expectations, we give them their money back.  It's happened about 7 times in nearly 10 years.  How about that...when was the last time a DR agency ever cut a client a refund check?

Which would you prefer: to put your eggs in the buying spots basket with no promise of an ROI, or a system that maximizes your spend while guaranteeing an ROI?