I recently returned from a mission trip to Sudan. What an incredible experience! There are so many great stories to share. One day we visited a small market near our village. Many of the vendors had straw mats displaying fruits, vegetables or eggs. The more upscale retailers had erected crude wooden booths with tin roofs, each having enough room for maybe 2 to 3 people.

One of the things that struck me was the “sameness.” No one stood out in the market. Each mat looked almost identical to the next. All the booths had the same product mix. No color, no signs, no sales pitch…nothing to draw potential customers into their store. I didn’t know where to spend my money.

No one stood out from the crowd. As Seth Godin says “No purple cows.”

Does this describe your business? You are more or less is just like the business down the street – a good company that offers good service. Your potential customers are not sure who should get their dollars.

If a young woman is looking for a good dentist, why should she choose your practice over the other dentists near her home?  Be different and stand out from the crowd!

Show your customers and prospects you’re not the same as everyone else.

No, you don’t need a measuring tape or two #2 pencils to mark either a, b, c or none of the above. That’s old school. These things could only tell us the size of our brain and to some degree how well it worked. I think we all agree our brains have a lot more to tell us.

Now, there are companies like NeuroFocus that measure what’s going on with your brain. When you watch a commercial, they can tell you what aspects of the ad caught your attention, the point in the ad that you became emotionally engaged, and what aspects of the ad you retained in long term memory.

Wow! What marketer wouldn’t want to know the attention value, emotional engagement and memory retention of their ads? This might actually eliminate half of the Super Bowl ads.

And this information from our brain can be just as valuable for fundraisers. Wouldn’t it be great to know what it is about your direct mail letter or website that got your donor’s attention, engaged them emotionally and stayed in their memory?

Let’s keep measuring – even “Abby Normal” brains like mine.

Much has been made of the Susan G. Komen/KFC Buckets for the Cure campaign. And I’m quite sure the “powers that be” at Komen regret the once bright idea to partner with one of the nation’s largest sellers of fried food.

Nancy Schwartz in her blog, Getting Attention, did a wonderful job of analyzing the mistakes Komen made and the lessons any nonprofit or for-profit organization can learn from this situation. However, I disagree with Nancy’s praise of Breast Cancer Action, another organization fighting breast cancer, and their “What the Cluck?” campaign protesting Komen/KFC.

My guess is that Komen has learned a very valuable lesson and will not be partnering with KFC or any other fast food restaurants in the future. What bothers me is a nonprofit that is competing for the same fundraising dollars attacking another organization with a long history of great work. I’m not saying we can’t criticize, but the mistake Komen made was a marketing one, not a research/medical mistake. Komen is working as hard today as ever to cure breast cancer.

While many might think “What the Cluck?” is cute, I personally find it a little in bad taste. And how much good did BCA accomplish by encouraging people to write letters criticizing the Komen/KFC partnership? I think the folks at Komen already know they made a mistake, and those 3,000 people could have instead been encouraged to actually do something that might help cure breast cancer.

The lesson for all of us: Just because something tastes good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

It’s that time of year when those of us who don’t look good in prison garb write our check to the IRS. My question to you is, “Does anyone like writing that check?” The obvious answer is NO. We don’t like writing checks to big organizations where our money seems to be wasted or not appreciated.

You know the organizations I’m talking about…big government, big nonprofits and many companies.

Does this describe how customers feel about your organization? If the answer is yes, that’s not good. You have to help your customers get excited about writing that check.

First, make it personal. If Uncle Sam showed you exactly how your check was benefitting you or your family, you might be more excited about writing it. What’s in it for my customer is the question you should be asking. Show customers the benefit of writing you a check, not the features of your product or service.

Secondly, allow your customers to customize their purchases. I would much rather designate my check to help the men and women of our military or another passion of mine. Build a Bear, American Girl Dolls and Dell all let you customize your bear, doll or PC to your unique tastes. You now have a choice and don’t have to settle for the same model as everyone else.

Lastly, continually thank your customers. I’d love to get a “Thank You” note from the IRS saying “Dear Scott, your generous gift helped us buy a new flag for the White House.” That would make me feel good. Customers want to feel good about their purchase decisions. Send “Thank You” notes, call or give them something extra for free. Find special ways to thank your customers.

So, help put smiles on your customers’ faces as they write those checks.