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My comment is that they are wrong. Every single
one of them is a brand manager. Mike Litman is
clearly a brand manager. He is managing not only
the brand of his program, but the brand of himself.
Each of us is a brand manager.
What I define as a brand is this. If I took six
people, three associates of yours from the broadcast
world and three friends of yours, locked them in a
room, tied them to a chair and injected them with
Sodium Penothal and said,  tell me about Mike
Litman. The first three or four sentences would be
your brand definition in their eyes.
Whether you re an employee or you re looking at
a community situation or you are looking at a
business situation, everything that you say and/or do
impacts people s perception of you. Which is your
brand.
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Interesting. Let s talk here.
Many people know you. They see you on television in
your 1-800-FLOWERS ads. Can you tell us a little bit, from
an advertising perspective, why you decided to make that job
into you being the brand?
It was many years ago and back then we weren t
as well known a brand. 1-800-FLOWERS.com was
clearly not as well known.
We re a family business who operates florists,
which is a very personal business, and there were a
few company names.
We were the first company whose name was a
telephone number. We were the first company
whose name was a telephone number who used that
same name to become a brand and used it of course
in several different channels, not just the telephone.
Our stores are called 1-800-FLOWERS.com, and our
website is called 1-800-FLOWERS.com.
But it was impersonal and our agency made a
recommendation for several years that we
personalize it by putting someone who is clearly
 nutty passionate about flowers, and what they can
do for people s lives, and for me to step in front.
For years we resisted it. And several years ago
when we decided to try it, it was a big success
because it personalized our brand to show that we
are real people. A real family of McCanns who are
nuts about what we do as florists.
The website is 1-800-FLOWERS.com. Is that right, Jim?
That s right.
(To listeners)
We ve got about a minute left before we wrap up here
with the one, the only Jim McCann. Stop and Sell the Roses
is a must read. If you ever had an inkling of a thought of
being in business, you are in business, and even if you are
194
just listening right now, and not in business, it s just a
touching human story of an individual who in a span of his
life went from a social worker to a florist to a mega
entrepreneur. Entrepreneur of the year. Retailer of the year.
Direct marketer of the year. The guy is just absolutely
fabulous.
(Back to Jim)
Is there any books through your transformation that have
impacted you that you can recommend? Anything that you
came across in your life that you can recommend to my
listeners right now?
Michael, I m a ferocious reader. I read everything
I can, whether it periodicals, or books. I don t get to
read as many books as I d like, but there is a book
by Michael Tracy that I recommend called The
Discipline of Market Leaders which I think lays out in
blueprint form how you have to think about your
product or service and how you market it in a way so
you put your energies into resources. There is a
book by a terrific guy, who I am fortunate to call a
friend. It s called The Making of a Blockbuster. He
talks about a very different kind of business. A
consolidation business. A roll out of a business. I
highly recommend that as well.
Great. Jim, unfortunately, this is the part of the show
that I never want to happen, but it always does. It s been an
absolutely tremendous, fast-paced and profitable 27
minutes., Jim. I look forward to seeing you again. Jim
McCann, thank you for appearing on The Mike Litman
Show.
My pleasure, Mike!
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Chapter Nine
Conversation with
Conversation with
Jay Conrad Levinson
Jay Conrad Levinson
(Introduction to the listeners)
Tonight is an absolutely explosive show! The
ingredients, the recipe tonight will blow your mind. We re
going hard-core tonight. Why? Listen to this&
Seventeen years ago a revolution in the business world
took place. At that point we didn t know about it. What
happened is this: a book was published. A revolution [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]