Stop Spam
 |
How many of you have gone to see the latest movie hit, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"?
It has grossed over $140 million already,
and was made for a pittance by Hollywood standards.$5 million. ("Minority
Report" with Tom Cruise was made for over $100 million.)
Do you know the story of writer and star, Nia Vardalos?
Ms. Vardalos, a complete unknown until now, was performing a stand
up comedy routine about her family and non-Greek husband at a Los
Angeles nightclub some months ago. She "had turned to comedy in
a last ditch effort to support herself after failing to find work
in film or television." She'"d moved to LA after working six years
in a Chicago improvisation theater. (NY Times 8.29.02 B1&4)
Another lady of Greek ancestry in LA went to see it, and loved it.
She sent her husband to see it too. They agreed that it would make
a neat film.
When the wife and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hanks, suggested the
film idea to her, they found SHE HAD ALREADY WRITTEN A SCRIPT. (NYTimes)
Not
surprisingly, all the big (mainstream) studios turned the film down.
No one wanted to buy it or distribute it.
So the Hanks’ did it themselves, with an independent production
company of Mr. Hanks’, and HBO.
Next they did something else differently. They opened the film in
just a few theatres, to give it a chance to ‘take’ and
get good word of mouth to help it expand.
They decided against blasting it around everywhere like they do
with the big blockbusters that "bounce around the Top 10 list for
a few weeks and then disappear." So-called (predicted) blockbuster
films are opened at thousands of theatres, at great expense and
hype, and then disappear, often before their costs have been recouped.
Sound familiar to the ‘openings’ of new deals in our industry?
Anyway, "Greek Wedding" started slowly. It opened in just over 100
theatres. And now, 28 weeks into its run, it is "playing at more
than 1,500 theaters and shows no sign of weakening." (NYTimes)
And you know what Ms. Vardalos says now, AFTER all this success
in 28 weeks?
No hype in her language. No big predictions.
"I
thought this would be a nice little film, and if it had gone straight
to video [without ever having made it to the big screen-KK] and
been shown in Greek Church basements, I would have been happy."
Almost as an afterthought she adds: "Now I go to the mall, and people
want to have their picture taken with me. It's completely crazy.
Way beyond what any of us had imagined." (NYTIMES)
Yet in the beginning, even though she was struggling to make a living
in Los Angeles, she was determined she would do something with her
Greek background, because that's who she was. When a Hollywood agent
told her to change her last name and say she was Puerto Rican to
get work in film, she refused and did stand up comedy instead, earning
just enough to get by.
But it was "her thing" that she knew - life as a Greek married to
a non-Greek husband - and she felt confident she knew it, could
do it and show it. She was so certain she wrote a screenplay when
others were still ridiculing her.
How about you?
With the product or service you have decided to market - do you
believe in it because you have seen the results for yourself and
know it is good?
Are you willing to start slowly (she did her thing for six years)
knowing that you know it works, and "let word of mouth" help you
expand it? Not hype that has nothing but hot air?
How?
Find people who are a match for YOUR values. People who share the
same interests you do where your product or service (or business)
is concerned. People who would use the thing FOR THE SAME REASON
YOU DO.
There are millions of them. You have to keep on asking for them,
until you get enough of them that you are satisfied.
How do you do that?
DESCRIBE THEM. For example, say you market a phone service. You
could say, without much thinking effort, that "I market a long distance
phone service that's cheapest." Many people do say that. Think that
turns on the juices for many people?
When I asked a lady on a recent call who had said that, this question
(she reps Excel): Why do YOU use that service?
She said: “Blah blah blah; AND, it’s the first time a
phone company made me feel pampered.”
So now we have a group of people we can
approach.
“Does your phone company pamper
you?”
Who would respond?
Just people who wish their phone company
would pamper them.
And you start your own Big Fat Greek
Wedding right there.
Why not have everyone who wants their
phone company to pamper them together with you?
Is that EVERYONE?
Does that matter?
What if you have just 200 people who
come BECAUSE they want to feel pampered by their phone company?
How much would you be earning each month
from those customers?
What if 2000 people came?
Or 20,000 as this idea (and pampered
customers) grows by word of mouth and by YOU spreading the word
with lots of ways of reaching out to those people who want that?
Want to learn more about how to do this?
Specifically for YOUR product/service lines? And for YOUR business?
1.Chapter 17 in the new book, "Do You
Have a Plan B?" discusses that very thing.
2. Learn how to DO IT with a team, live, over three weeks.
Join us on the umpteenth section of the Dell
Advantage class, starting (named after Michael Dell, #1 PC sales
company, through direct sales on the Internet and by phone, two
options we teach you to use.
|
Other "NEW TIPS"
|
SECURE SITE 
Network of Related Sites