Drayton Bird has been described (by a competitor) as “the greatest living direct marketing expert” and has nearly 50 years experience in marketing, PR, advertising, research, and direct marketing. He reveals what it really takes to make a business stand out in a crowded marketplace.

SuccessTrack: What factors will make the most difference to a business owner’s success in this market?

Drayton Bird: There are three crucial factors. The first would be to study. If you want to get to the top in marketing, in business, study. Spend a lot of time reading, learning, watching what other people are doing and stealing ideas. I’m not particularly intelligent but I’ve studied all the time.

The second thing that would make a massive difference is measurement. Someone once said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

The third thing is remembering where the money comes from – which is the ‘customer’. Therefore the one thing you must study more than anything else is your customer.

Unless you can climb into your customers’ minds, unless you understand what your customers think, what motivates them, you cannot possibly succeed. Too often, people don’t start with the one thing they really need and that’s an understanding of their customers.

SuccessTrack: What do you study?

Drayton Bird: I study everything. I started by reading about business generally. I read everything I could get on advertising because that seemed so obvious.

More importantly, all success, all ingenuity, depends upon ideas. Where do ideas come from? They come from knowing lots of things and then putting them together in surprising and unexpected ways. That’s where ideas come from.

Don’t confine yourself to your field – study other people’s businesses. If you’re interested in communicating with people and persuading them, don’t just study the obvious – study other ways of communicating. I’ve learnt a tremendous amount from studying very good writers.

There are no boundaries to knowledge. If all you’re interested in is how to run a fish and chip shop, good luck. But you will do a better job if you have a broader mind.

SuccessTrack: So success is about bringing your product and your customers together?

Drayton Bird: That’s all you are trying to do. If you want to succeed in persuading people to buy what you want then you have to study these two things: the person you’re trying to sell to and how to relate your product or service to that person.

Be aware that when you’re selling something, nobody wants to read what you’ve written or to listen to what you’re saying. They don’t. They’ve got better things to do. So your challenge is – how the hell can you get them interested?

The other thing you have to do is answer the question “Why should anyone choose your product?” Can you do something that no one else can do? Can you do something better than anyone else?