When you visit the forum, you’re likely to see a response from Steve Hardman, Papadoc (Steve). This Top 25 expert has been a member since October 2004. I’ve always been intrigued by his alias and this was my change to learn more about him. He has a diverse background. I was fascinated by the range of activities in which he’s involved. And, he loves to cook. How can you not feel an affinity with someone like that? Read on to learn more.
Where are you based?
What do you do in real-life?
Tell us about your company.
Senior Publications – has several Internet properties that are tightly formed around the senior services industry such as home care and assisted living (e.g. SeniorMag.com). We are however, branching out in this niche and expanding to others, both online and off, and have some very unique and exciting ventures planned over the next two years that aren’t media based.
Above all though, we recognize that business must also be service based, and that doesn’t always necessitate the accumulation of profit. As such, we have chosen to provide our resources to senior meal programs throughout the
What kinds of KHE questions do you enjoy most?
I enjoy questions that come from people who are new in business that haven’t lost their sense of excitement or been indoctrinated with the idea that something cannot be done. They are open to new ideas, but aren’t looking for basic info or a complete “how-to” answer. They’ve researched much of what they need to know already, but they are looking for new perspectives, to fill in holes in their thought processes, and they are looking for criticism and alternatives, not just information and affirmation.
The other kind of questions I love are those that present huge almost insurmountable problems, like one person recently that is in charge of marketing baby food but isn’t allowed to advertise it or even talk about it in their country. These kinds of questions require getting into an entirely different way of thinking. It’s a good exercise to be yanked off that path and have to come up with a viable solution that doesn’t fit the mold.
Describe a specific KHE discussion you learned something from.
Just as I find that I can learn something from every person, I find that I learn something from just about any question that is asked, and that even includes some that may be poorly developed. The astute observer can at least learn something about the human behavior that precipitates the question.
One of the chief values of contributing to the KHE board is often found in the process of distilling one’s own thoughts. When you take what you’ve always known to be true and turn it into a sentence or paragraph, you must organize your own thoughts, and you invariably come up with ideas and alternatives that you never considered before. I find that it’s often a case of the instructor learning more than the student.
What is your favorite marketing book? Why?
Bluntly… all of them. Without exception, each marketing book that I’ve read shows both brilliance and idiocy, often in close proximity to each other. Every book has a basis in reality, but each loses that reality as the writer attempts to define his or her theory with a set of concrete attributes. The challenge to be accepted in reading marketing books is to read them all, then throw them all away, and apply proportionately equal weight to common sense, experience, principle, and theory.
One of my favorite authors (and speakers) however, is Jeffrey Gitomer – Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. It’s an odd title, but then again if you hear Jeffrey, you understand he could produce nothing but… He’s the class clown of marketing, he will make you listen and think of marketing in a whole new way, and his common sense will blow you away. Unlike most of us marketing folks, he’s easy to read and won’t put you to sleep. For those of you who are familiar with our own Deremiah Phillips, you will know why 17 states have now passed a law against putting these two men together in the same room. This much customer passion in one place has be controlled.
How many years have you been in marketing? How did you get started?
I started in marketing approximately 25 years ago, working for a small chemical manufacturing company. It was a unique job opportunity for a fresh face out of college and one that nobody else wanted because there was about a 98% chance that the company would close within 30 days. However, fresh faces can often bring fresh ideas, and haven’t yet been told what “can’t be done”. If I’d realized how desperate the situation was, I probably would have also stayed away. In the end, the company not only survived, but came out of debt in 3 years and I’d arranged a stock sale for the retiring owners.
It was here and through this experience that I learned the power of competing with the national giants head to head on your own turf, and that marketing involves as much common sense, guts, and determination as it does anything else.
Did you study marketing in college? Or have you learned on the job?
Though I studied general business and economics, the marketing part has come over time and is self-taught. After realizing that I what I was doing WAS marketing, I also went back and self-taught myself through the marketing course-work. Even though I found my way into a marketing career through non-traditional means, that should not be taken as an indication that I think a formal education in marketing is optional. It isn’t the end-all, but a formal education in marketing provides the basis for much of what will be done throughout the students’ career.
Do you have (or have you had) a mentor? What has he/she has taught you?
I’ve had many mentors over the years, most of whom they didn’t even know they were mentoring. In many respects, I think this is what most of us are doing on KHE, and it is our way of giving back to a career that has given so much to us.
The greatest of my personal mentors however, have had nothing to do with marketing per se. They’ve been common sense people who will tell you, that while it’s fine to read the book, put yourself in your customer’s shoes, and don’t be afraid to take on Goliath – just do it with brains, guts, and humor, not muscle. Don’t let the competition choose the battles or the battlefield – you choose your own battles and only pick those battles that you CAN win.
Very few of us will ever start a Wal-Mart. However, there’s no reason that we cannot be a Sam Walton if we just start to think things through to the end, learn to differentiate between facts and assumptions, and accept that failure is only reserved for those who try. There were many reasons why Sam should have failed, but only one that was absolutely critical to every success he ever had, and that was that he tried.
Learning to think is critical and I find that most few people have ever been trained to think beyond one layer or in multiple dimensions. Sometimes the answer to a question isn’t either A or B. The proper answer might just be to change the question or the assumptions behind it. This is the genius of the KHE discussion boards. While most people come up with one solution and go for it, the KHE boards come up with many ideas and effectively train them that there is more than one answer.
The most important question that I have ever been asked by a mentor is, “Then what?” and then of course, “Why?” If you cannot answer these right up till the very end, then there is no plan, marketing or otherwise.
The most important lesson that I’ve learned is that every business has a week spot. They value some of their customers more than others, and for most businesses, this means the biggest customer. Aim for that business that your competitor cares the least to defend (and might even want to lose) and never forget the small customer. Some of these can turn into your biggest assets – loyal customers will never defect.
Describe one of your non-marketing hobbies or interests.
I love cooking, though in raw theory and in the way that I do it, many of the principles are the same. Like marketing, cooking can be as much art as it is science, often you develop the best results when you toss the book, and again like marketing, cooks each have their own way of doing things. None are necessarily wrong, but it does impart a flavor that can be uniquely identified with the marketer… er uh I mean cook.
Cooking is free expression, it requires a depth of concentration that necessitates forgetting everything else, and in the end the product is something that makes people incredibly happy. Though I am the family cook, I often find myself cooking for large groups such as churches, kids camps, and group meal programs. I love a challenge, and while walking into a kitchen that I’ve never seen before to use unknown equipment to produce large volumes of food for hungry people is a bit disconcerting, the challenge of stepping up to the situation and succeeding is personally very rewarding.
Have you made any offline connections with people you met in KHE?
Several, and to a one, they have been great human beings. People don’t continuously share with others here for the points – they do it to share. I have always held the belief that people are at their best when they are working or giving of themselves. It only makes sense that those who are at their best often are also often some of the best human beings.
Do you have any advice for new members of KHE?
Share - You will learn more than you teach. Stay cool - The people here are good people, but they sometimes don’t mince words and will tell you exactly what you asked for, but not always what you want to hear. The later however, is also true of all participants. Nobody is afraid to disagree with anyone else.
Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?
Horace Mann – “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
Is there anything else you would like to say to the community?
Thank you for sharing your insights, and many thanks to those staffers that monitor KHE. You provide a greater service to new business people and people that want to learn than you know.
