So I was pleasantly surprised while having dinner the other day with my business partner at a local restaurant. This restaurant is owned by an entrepreneur who “get’s it.”

I know for the fact the owner is a consummate marketer and his success is evident at the large number of restaurants he owns.  As a matter of fact, he just published his first book, which was available for purchase as we entered the restaurant.

But this is not the smart strategy I am referring to.  The smart strategy, and one you can steal for your business, is what happened at the conclusion of our dinner.

When the waitress appeared with our check, she also handed both of us, two pieces of paper (notice she didn’t give us just one set, but two – one for each of us).

The first was a “business card” giving us a 20% discount at a future visit.  This is an extremely smart strategy to study for several reasons.

•    First, it was presented as a “thank you gift” for visiting that evening.  Who doesn’t want to be thanked and acknowledged for their patronage?

•    Second, the discount was substantial enough to get my attention.  Had it been a 5% discount – the card wouldn’t have mattered.  But a 20% discount is worth holding onto.

•    Third, the owner understands that consumers are funny and while they may enjoy dinner at his restaurant, it doesn’t mean they’re coming back.  By offering a substantial future discount, he tapped into human nature knowing that few of us can pass up saving money while enjoying a nice meal.

The only improvement I would suggest to him is putting a deadline on the card so that it forces me to use it by a certain date.  It could be a generic “Must Use Within 30 Days” or he could leave room for the waitress to stamp a date based on my visit date.

The other piece of paper was an invitation to join his VIP Club.  Again this example is worthy of study for several reasons.

•    First and foremost, he’s making a serious effort to get my attention and contact information.  I am sure he has an impressive marketing follow-up strategy by both email and direct mail.  I wonder what I will receive on my birthday and anniversary?

•    Second, he’s giving me several reasons to give him my contact information, including lunch at a 50% discount, giveaways, event specials, etc.

•    Finally, he’s reassuring me that my information is safe.

If you’re a bricks and mortar business owner – how can you use these two strategies in your business?

If you’re allowing people to visit your location and not giving them a BIG reason to want to return and be contacted by you in the future, you’re leaving large amounts of money on the table.  Study the Doc Magrogan example and use it in your business to improve your marketing!

To recap:

1) Ask for feedback (and capture contact info)
2) Create and share your story
3) Foster an environment of idea sharing
4) Create a “behind-the-scenes” experience for your customers

5) Disney speaks “Disney-ese”
Leave it to Disney to make the guest experience even more magical by coming up with its own language.   For example:

•    “Guest” instead of customer
•    “Cast member” instead of employee
•    “On-stage” and “backstage” to describe the “front office” and “back office”
•    And words like imagineering, edutainment, and merchantising are all further proof of Disney’s uniqueness and the effort they go to stand out.

Developing your own language and unique names for processes and services in your business is smart and helps prevent competitors from making an “apples to apples” comparison to you.

When I consult with business owners, we often spend time on this process trying to create a unique positioning (complete with a name) in the mind of their prospect and customers.

CopyDoodles® is an example where I created a word that has now taken on its own life.  When marketers mark-up their copy they refer to it as “copydoodling” or their letter was “copydoodled.”

Spend some time and think about how you can come up with your own language for your business!

Which brings me to our final lesson learned at Disney…

6) Disney has a profound belief and presence of its corporate culture
As we were touring the behind-the-scenes corridors and spaces of Disney, signs and posters for the cast members constantly reminded them of why their jobs were so important.

Even our hostess had a small business card that had certain values printed on them that she carried with her.

What does your business stand for?

If you have employees – do they understand why your business exists to serve its customers and clients?

Disney is a stellar example of a company that understands why it exists and it does everything in its power to make sure all the guest members do the same.

So that’s the six big lessons we learned this week at Disney.  I hope you can benefit from them.  For more information about my Elite Experience Mastermind Group, please email me at info@mikecapuzzi.com.

The tips I am sharing with you in these posts are the ones our group felt were the most relevant to their business (and your business!).  With that in mind, here are the next two strategies learned:

3) Foster an environment of idea sharing
Disney is very big on promoting the idea of sharing ideas from within its “cast member ranks.” (By the way, there are no Disney employees – they are all cast members, which fosters a stronger feeling of ownership.)

No matter what job function a cast member is performing if they have an idea that could improve the Disney Experience, they want to hear it.  They make this simple and accessible to all cast members and our hostess shared several examples of how the sharing of ideas has benefited the guest experience at Disney.

This concept of idea sharing is critical for entrepreneurial success, which is the reason why mastermind groups exist.  To give forward-thinking entrepreneurs a chance to share their ideas and get feedback from the group.

So here’s two ideas for you to consider:

-    How can you foster idea sharing within your business and amongst your employees.  How can you tap into their experience and wisdom to improve the overall experience?

-    Get plugged into a formal mastermind group or form your own!  The amazing success I’ve experienced over the past several years is directly attributed to my participation in several mastermind groups. If you are not familiar with the mastermind concept, read Napoleon Hill’s classic, Think and Grow Rich.

4) Create a “behind-the-scenes” experience for your customers
Another big ah-ha we went home with is to determine if you have an opportunity to share your own “behind-the-scenes” experience with a segment of your customer base.

Disney is able to create new revenue streams without having to change anything they are already doing.  By simply giving interested individuals a chance to see how they do things, Disney has created a business within itself.

One of our mastermind members already does this in her business.  She runs an extremely successful elder law practice and for a high-priced fee, she invites other elder law attorneys to visit her office and spend a few days learning how she runs her business.

Do you have such an opportunity in your business?  Can you share some of your own business magic, help others and get paid handsomely to do so?

It’s definitely a mental exercise you should consider.

For more information about my Elite Experience Mastermind Group, please email me at info@mikecapuzzi.com.

We held this meeting at Disney for this specific reason – to learn how one of the world’s greatest companies creates exceptional experiences for its guests.  While we learned (and relearned) many of the things that makes Disney great, I thought I would share the six that clearly stood out.

1) Ask for feedback (and capture contact info)
Within minutes of boarding the Disney Institute bus, all of us were asked if we would agree to fill out a short survey regarding our tour.  They did not give us the survey, but instead asked for our contact information to email it to us after our return home.

Two important notes – the interest and mechanism to get our feedback (and contact information) and second the baby-step to get our agreement to do it.  Rather than overwhelm us during the tour, Disney smartly got us to agree first and captured our email info for follow-up.

Surveys are a very smart way to collect information and marketing insights from your customers.  I love using surveys to capture open-ended comments about how my products and services help them.  I then use the exact words they share when writing copy for my business.

2) Create and share your story
Within minutes of meeting our mastermind group, our hostess Maggie told us her story and how she came to work at Disney.  This is a very smart strategy top marketers and speakers use every time they speak, present or engage with a customer.

People like to do business with people they know, like and trust.  Part of this relationship-building process is to let people know how you arrived to where you are today and why you are in a position to help them.

Story-telling is one of the most effective ways to connect with other people and carefully considering and crafting your story is a critical exercise for all entrepreneurs and business owners.

This topic of “your story” came up during several mastermind members presentations.  As a matter of fact, the group helped one of our members create the beginnings of an amazing story that he never even considered using in his marketing (which is typical since we all tend to be to close to see our own stories). In a previous life, Dave was a former Alaskan bush pilot where he flew in some of the most dangerous terrains on earth.  One of the nuggets the mastermind group gave him was how he could use this unique back story in his real estate business.

Over the next two days, I will share the other four strategies that you can take from Disney and apply to your business to make it exceptional.  For more information about my Elite Experience Mastermind Group, please email me at info@mikecapuzzi.com

I normally don’t watch a lot of TV, but one show I’ve really come to enjoy and suggest all entrepreneurs watch is Shark Tank on ABC.

Each episode is a valuable lesson for all entrepreneurs.  During the show, five ultra-successful entrepreneurs and multi-millionaires (a.k.a. the sharks) listen as business owners and entrepreneurs from all over the country pitch their business ideas to them with the hope of having one of the sharks invest in them.

The sharks, all hard-core Type-A personalities pummel the entrepreneurs with probing questions.  And these aren’t softball questions…

Depending on the answers, the deep-pocketed sharks either invest in the idea or send them off without money, but a valuable experience none-the-less.

After watching my first episode, I immediately went to

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/

and watched a number of previous episodes.  There’s a ton of marketing and business lesions in each and I highly suggest you check them out.

In particular, pay attention to the questions the sharks ask and how each entrepreneur answers them.  They will definitely give you new insights into your business.

Here on the East Coast, we were hit with 2+ feet of snow over the weekend and we're  getting hit again today with another HUGE snow storm.

Of course if you live in the mid-Atlantic states you already know this and you already know the level of hysteria and “top of mind” attention all this wintry weather is generating.

Interestingly enough, there is a valuable marketing lesson here amongst the snow drifts.  One that can help improve your marketing, boost response and increase conversions.

The reason everybody is talking about the weather (you cannot watch five minutes of TV or listen to the radio without hearing of the big snow that happened and the one that’s coming) is because of the deep emotional reaction is stirs in everybody.

• Kids are hoping for a day off from school.

• Some adults are dreading the thought of driving to work.

• In others it rekindles fond memories of their care-free youth.

• Many dread the thought of shoveling out.

• And yet others welcome time spent out doors skiing, sledding and enjoying the beauty of nature.

No doubt about you’d be hard pressed to find anybody who doesn’t have some sort of emotional reaction to the snowy weather.

Now consider your product or service.  Does it stir a deep, gut-level emotional reaction with its intended audience?

If not, chances are you’ve haven’t done the necessary work to seriously consider the true emotional benefits you offer and how they impact your target market.

Not superficially like most marketing.  How many times have you heard something like “XYZ helps you make more money” or “ABC saves you time.”  That’s rather plain vanilla, don’t you think?  It’s not the deep emotional connection you need to make with your audience for maximum response and sales.

If you want to improve your marketing, boost response and increase conversion, you MUST consider how your product or service helps by making the connection to your target audience’s emotions.

How does it make them feel?  What does it really do for them?
Its well worth the time and effort needed to “go deep” and uncover these extremely PROFITABLE connections.

One of the easiest ways to determine this is by asking your customers and clients probing, thoughtful, open-ended questions about your product and what it does for them.

It might even be helpful (depending on where you live) to even use the blizzard metaphor as an example of what you are looking for.  Remember maximum response requires you to connect your product or service at an emotional level.

And now, it’s time for me to get back to shoveling my driveway…cause it's snowing again!