{"id":5866,"date":"2017-01-30T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=5866"},"modified":"2017-01-29T08:47:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T16:47:56","slug":"5866","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=5866","title":{"rendered":"Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Recently I was on a conference call at work, the subject of which was marketing to seniors; we were referred to an outline of a book by Dan Kennedy<\/strong> entitled,\u00a0No BS Guide to Marketing to Lending Edge Boomers & Seniors: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Take No Prisoners Roadmap to the Money<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/em>Quite a long title and I was to later learn that the only thing worth remembering is the ‘BS’.<\/strong> \u00a0As a senior (I’m not sure if I’m a\u00a0‘Leading Edge’\u00a0<\/em>senior, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of what works in marketing to me and my peers), so I listened and read the outline with particular interest.<\/p>\n

There is a section in the book that talks about\u00a0our\u00a0<\/em>heroes<\/strong> and that people selling to us should be aware of who our heroes are and talk them up when possible or at least don’t degrade them during your communication with seniors. \u00a0I couldn’t wait to see the list. \u00a0When I saw the list, I was waiting for the punch line, this couldn’t be real! \u00a0Who was on the list of heroes you ask? John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sally Field, Oprah and Meryl Streep.<\/strong> \u00a0These are people that we supposedly ‘identify’ with. \u00a0Really?!!! \u00a0Five very polarizing people – 2 very conservative male actors and 3 very liberal female entertainers. \u00a0I thought this list was totally contrived. \u00a0I identify with none of these people and they are certainly not on my list of heroes. \u00a0 \u00a0So I wondered whether I was out of step with my generation or the author was, so I did a little research on the author, Dan Kennedy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I quickly learned that he felt very highly of himself as being a ‘leading edge’ Boomer<\/strong>. \u00a0In his book introduction he states, “I have, and in random rotation drive, three classic automobiles including a Rolls-Royce convertible previously owned by Dean Martin. \u00a0I also have a stable full of Standardbred race horses and two homes, blah, blah, blah”<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0He goes on to liken himself to Paul Newman, who used to race automobiles as a hobby, while Dan harness races for fun. \u00a0He then says, “I am\u00a0the gold standard for seniors, if you can figure out how to successfully sell to me and satisfy me\u00a0as a customer, you can open the vault to all boomer and senior gold . . .”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess I should have been impressed, but I’m typically more impressed with people who don’t have to tell me how wonderful they are, but still I wondered where he got his list of heroes and was he out of step or was I?<\/strong> \u00a0So I sent an email blast to about 25 of my peers asking them who their heroes were and to send me at least one male and one female ‘hero’. \u00a0I said nothing else, I didn’t give them the list of five that Kennedy put forward, no coaching, no prodding, just give me your heroes. \u00a0The results are in<\/strong> and my initial reaction to Kennedy’s list was justified and my faith in our generation renewed. \u00a0Four key findings from my survey:<\/strong><\/p>\n