Is Synergy Real? Or a Boardroom Term?
- Jack Klinefelter
- Jun 4
- 6 min read
synergy
/ˈsinərjē/
Synergy is the combined power or interaction of two or more elements, organizations, or individuals that produces a total effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. It is the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
The best way to illustrate the conundrum called “synergy” is with a short story: Travis was very tired of wrenching on his old riding mower. The mower repairman had warned him that the day was coming when getting parts to keep his old mower running would be over. He mentioned that the Zero Turn John Deere mowers were very dependable. He didn’t get a lot of them in for repairs and had heard good things about them… just a suggestion. He, the repairman, didn’t sell them but Jim’s Lawn and Garden usually kept a couple in stock. He referred people to Jim’s because they had a reputation of being informative and fair.
Travis went back to clunking around on the old mower for the next two months.
During that time he talked to Sal next door who had purchased the John Deere Zero Turn. He was very happy with how it got into tight spaces and never gave him a problem starting. He had purchased his from Jim’s who had steered him away from the low end units that weren’t as durable. He said he was happy he did because he had a friend that bought the entry level one and it didn’t ride as smoothly.
A couple of weeks after Travis had his old mower fixed and back into operation (that was a $600 repair) he saw a commercial on TV that showed a happy owner of a John Deere mowing a beautiful lawn lickety split, and it looked great.
Travis went online and started reading specs about the mower and all of the sudden, he started getting sponsored ads for the John Deere Zero Turn riding lawn mower. He began being fed a steady stream of ads and prices but he had just fixed his so he didn’t react to them.
Since it was spring now, the billboard on 7th and main had a picture of a John Deere on a plush lawn that said, "Zero Turn - Zero Regret”
Over that two month period, Travis saw many impressions about the mower he now wished he owned, but kept using his old one until that fateful day when the repairmen informed him that the deck couldn't be welded safely into place and that the part they needed had been discontinued. Disappointed, but now excited, Travis went online to see if Jim’s was the only lawn and garden he should consider and to check out the reviews. Yelp said Jim’s was conveniently close and had one of the two highest ratings with 4.8 stars. Off he went and was pleased to find the model he had researched, that his neighbor had bought at Jim's, was in stock at a reasonable price.
As he was checking out the clerk asked, "So Mr. Jones, how did you hear about us?” To which Travis replied without hesitation, Yelp, I found you online under the top ten lawn and garden stores in my area."
After Travis left, the clerk did his duty and filled out the field in the software that asked what ad dollars should be credited with the sale and he typed in “Yelp.” He never knew about the neighbor or the repairman that referred Travis to Jim's, nor did he ask if there were any other places where he might have seen Jim’s Lawn and Garden. The billboard, manufacturer TV spot or Meta ads were never mentioned. Synergy went uncredited but the owner felt really good about his $900 monthly Yelp listing payment. The owner, Jim, never knew about the feelings Travis had and where they came from. Suffice it to say that when Travis went online, he was already looking for something Jim sold. In essence Yelp isn’t really advertising, it is a directory much like a modern day Yellow Pages. Yelp was simply the conduit, synergy sold the riding mower.
Another example of synergy is our GM Claudio Ochoa, formerly known as “Clyde the Piano Guide” which morphed into “Clyde the Guide", which ended up being ”Clyde the Guy.” Consumers, and what was memorable to them, helped the metamorphosis along and he just rolled with it. Clyde sold 15% of the digital leads he was given. The national average is 5%, top performers achieve 7-8%; he doubled that and during events he sold 20%, one out of every five leads. How? He branded himself aggressively. He was on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube with interesting piano stories, pictures of happy customers, and educational information. Clyde was everywhere. He was in a market of about a million, and you couldn't search for anything about pianos without being served up a “Clyde the Guy” post. He is a living example of how branding yourself, in conjunction with a good product and organized follow up, can allow you to dominate the online traffic in a market.
The strange thing? We have some sales associates headed in the right direction by emulating his example, and guess who the top digital lead sales professionals we serve leads to are? Those who create synergy. Those who tell their story online best are those who sell more. It is no coincidence. If you are talented, aggressive, and organized, and you call, text and email your prospects, you will make a decent living. However, if you want to be a top performer, it will be impossible to play at the highest possible level without a social presence. That is where synergy is achieved. Many prospects will stalk your social content and give you a psychological grade that impacts how much they trust and want to interact with you. The vetting out of a luxury marketing specialist happens online. How is your social presence? That will answer this question: how is your personal synergy? The best of both worlds is a company that has a social presence, coupled with a sales associate who has their own social presence, that can access and add the company content to it. NOW YOU’RE DEALING WITH A FULL DECK!
Would you like more evidence that synergy works?
Here's a personal one: In the last year I have started working with dealers who I called on more than a decade ago. They have been receiving my blogs, which also host a video that lives on our YouTube. They have also heard about us through cost sharing groups and through manufacturer District Sales Managers that I’ve known for years. Many remember the work that I did with my wife, Tammy and our daughter, Lauren, back when mail was king. All of these past activities served our long term synergy and positive reputation. Synergy is Greek for "working together.” All of the branding and promotional work that you do works together to create a sum that serves as your reputation which as they say, if you have a strong one, proceeds you.
Clyde and I have both benefitted from synergy in different arenas, but then there are the BIG BOYS like Disney and Pixar and Amazon and Whole Foods. There are mergers and partnerships all over the world that prove not only the benefits, but also the existence of synergy. But if that is STILL not enough evidence, what about bees? What about cross pollination? Checkmate, right?
How do you best use synergy since it is not simply a boardroom myth?
Invest in it. Acknowledge it exists and post informational and exciting things that position you as the expert in the area… the “go to” person. Allow me to restate that there is a job opening that is available, that sales people should be clamoring to have: the position of being the most liked and respected specialist in your field in your market. All you have to do is have faith in the synergy and start posting better content than the others in your market. It’s not that hard. The world is full of idiots in the luxury marketing space trying to sell price instead of value. Educate. Be entertaining. Be lovable. Post and post again and give people things to inspire and educate them, and you will out-brand the folks around you… many of whom are lazy and looking only for low hanging fruit. Do I sound harsh and judgmental, yes, but let’s be real, I’m simply attempting to be motivational. If a person wants to live in cruise control, who am I to judge them? If they’re happy, that lifestyle is their right. But if you want to be special, if you want to be the most admired specialist in your market, the position is open because nobody I see is doing what Clyde did with personal branding and dominating the online piano interest crowd before he came to us.
We have proof of theory here at DSD. It is not boardroom banter. Synergy is real.
Get to work and put it to work. It will change your fortunes and your life if you stay disciplined long enough to own the top position in your market. It's a pretty cool place to be, ask us. LOL
I like to end articles with a quote. Sometimes I get to the end of an article and research quotes and can’t find one that summarizes the “heart and soul” of the writing so I write my own. This is one of those times;
“Often a sales professional is looking for that one thing that will make a difference. Often the proclivity is to search for the silver bullet of sales and marketing. Most often success is the result of the synergy created by the sum of many quality activities.” - Jack Klinefelter
Comments