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part of my book’s success. My book did the selling, not me.
Behind this phenomenon is a
push-pull polarity
—the genome that
determines if your company is one that grows spectacularly, a productocracy, or
one that struggles to survive. Companies held hostage by advertising chain
themselves to a
push
. Companies that grow like weeds and enrich their founders,
boast the
pull
.
Not long ago, whoever spent the most on advertising would win the sales. If
the toilet leaked, you searched “plumbers” in the
Yellow Pages
and phoned the
one with the biggest ad. If you ate a new snack cracker, you either saw it
advertised on television or it was slotted favorably in the grocery store, where its
colorful labeling caught your eye. Both required wheelbarrows of cash. To sell
large volumes of product, corporations had to buy large volumes of advertising.
Advertising
pushes
its product to the masses,
pushing
sales.
Conversely, the pull in the push-pull polarity is a productocracy where
products or services have gravity. Customers come to you. Each time the
product/service is used, its gravity strengthens. The essence of a pull is word of
mouth, social proof, and satisfied users.
A great pulling example is Tesla Motors. In an earnings conference call, Elon
Musk implied that his advertising expense (in 2015) would be none. And yet
Tesla has sold billions’ worth in cars. How does that happen? The pull of a
productocracy.
If clients are recommending and sharing your products on social media,
congratulations, your product is pulling. Which side of the fence your company
sits on is determined by one thing only:
the market’s reaction to your product.
When my book was first released, I don’t remember its first sale or how many
sold over the first few months. I didn’t care because that wasn’t important. What
was important was spotting
gravitons
, or instances validating a productocracy’s
pull.
I do, however, remember the first email from a stranger who said the book
was life-changing. Then the book was recommended on Twitter by a stranger.
Then I saw the same thing on Facebook, and it repeated. These gravitons
symbolize a productocracy and its pulling DNA. It also meant I could commit to
my book and endeavor for worldwide scale. Without pull’s gravitons, I’d be left
with just an unappealing push. And that would make me no different from the
other 900,000 books self-published that year.
No thanks.
Unfortunately, most companies operate from a push modality and rely on
multimillion-dollar ad budgets to maintain sales or marginal growth. Many of
these companies start as productocracies, but over time their operations
disintegrate into pushes, usually due to stakeholder demotions (more on that
later).
Think about it.
When was the last time someone recommended a McDonald’s hamburger to
you? Or a nice cold drink of Budweiser? Funny, eh? The truth is, I am suspicious
of any company who advertises heavily because it suggests a product that can’t
pull.
For example, I avoid both Geico and Progressive Insurance like a stranger on
the Vegas Strip snapping porn cards in my grill. Both companies advertise as
often as a Chihuahua barks, so anytime I see “Flo” or the gecko, I’m reminded to
shut off the television. Despite the advertising, I've never been recommended
either.
The same suspicions flow locally.
Ever get one of those thick envelopes filled with coupons mailed to you? The
one stuffed with advertisements from nearby home remodelers, pizza joints, and
carpet cleaners? Again, the businesses that advertise every week are foisting the
red flag of product mediocrity. I simply don’t trust them, and I’d rather go online
and post a query to the neighborhood Facebook group.
The evidence of heavy advertising signifies an increased probability that a
productocracy—an incredible “tell your friend” company—is not evident.
To test my theory, I conducted an unscientific study. By memory, I wrote
down every company who heavily advertises on the radio. Since I listen to a lot of
sports talk radio, this was easy. Whenever a company advertises so much that I
can’t stop humming their commercial’s musical jingle, they become top-of-mind
—but not favorably. So within a few minutes, I came up with five companies. I
removed their identifying names (but kept the industry). Here they are:
1.
AAA Flooring
2.
BBB Air Conditioning & Repair
3.
CCC Roofing
4.
DDD Pest Elimination
5.
FFF and Sons (HVAC)
So after compiling these companies, I logged onto Yelp and examined their
user reviews. Mind you, I didn’t do any research into this; I simply wrote down
my “top-of-mind” companies who advertised heavily. Here are the results:
AAA Flooring
77 reviews, Rated
1
star out of 5.
BBB Air Conditioning & Repair
22 reviews, Rated
2.5
stars out of 5.
CCC Roofing
18 reviews, Rated
2
stars out of 5.
DDD Pest Elimination
21 reviews, Rated
2
stars out of 5
FFF and Sons (HVAC)
149 reviews, Rated
2.5
stars out of 5.
The average Yelp rating for these advertising behemoths? A pathetic two
stars.
And if you included many of the Yelp “not recommended” reviews, it would
be in the ONE-STAR range. Conclusion? None of these companies is running a
productocracy. Read their reviews and some of their customers go as far as
saying they’re running scams.
They need advertising to survive.
Newer, oblivious
customers need to replace the dissatisfied ones—
the push is the business
. And if
advertising is needed to drive sales, sorry, you’ve got a product problem.
The truth is, many companies aren’t facing the reality of today’s consumers:
Few make buying decisions based on advertising. Instead, buying decisions are
made through social media, personal recommendations, and peer reviews.
Websites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and TripAdvisor give consumers a voice where
they can tell others about their favorite and least favorite companies. Before I buy
anything, I find it first on Amazon to examine its reviews. Advertising might get
me looking, but reviews compel me to buy.
The same buying behavior also happens within your community. For
instance, I belong to a Facebook group where residents of my community,
Fountain Hills, share local news and events. And yet, usually half the posts are
recommendation inquiries. Looking at it now, here’s what I found in the most
recent ten posts:
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