Tweet

Lesson #2: Use Secrecy to Seduce Your Customers

Article Overview: Throughout Warner’s entire career, he has granted just three interviews with the media, this despite being one of the wealthiest men in the world. Does he really value his privacy that much? Or rather is it yet another weapon in Warner’s chest of arms that works to further lure in the unsuspecting customer and make his products irresistible?

Lesson #2: Use Secrecy to Seduce Your Customers

Throughout Warner's entire career, he has granted just three interviews with the media; this despite being one of the wealthiest men in the world. Does he really value his privacy that much? Or rather is it yet another weapon in Warner's chest of arms that works to further lure in the unsuspecting customer and make his products irresistible? On top of refusing public interviews, Ty Inc. doest not list its telephone number on any of its promotional material, including its website. Meanwhile, the Ty Inc. headquarters resides in suburban Chicago in an unassuming concrete building that boasts no corporate logo, not even a company sign or street number to identify the premises. To the unassuming passerby, one would never know this is where the world's most successful toy company is located. The company's official mailing address is also nothing more than a humble P.O. Box.

In addition to keeping his own privacy, Warner is quick to ensure that those closest to him reveal none of his personal or corporate secrets either. He has agreements with his childhood schools not to reveal any of his personal or scholarly information. Current company employees must also promise to never disclose any information about the company or the CEO himself. Doing so would result in their being let go.

All of this secrecy is not because Warner is a recluse who values his privacy. Instead, it is an actual ploy to increase interest in his products and keep his customers guessing about not only the products but the man and the company behind them.

Still, Warner is astute enough to realize that all secrecy is not good all of the time. To that end, he embarks on a little game of give and take every now and then, giving his customers enough information to keep them wanting more. For instance, once a week, Warner himself responds to select questions from Beanie Babies fans on the ‘Ask Ty' section of his website. This gives his fans just enough to make them feel like valuable customers, but not enough to let them in on the whole operation.

Warner is also careful to ensure that while guaranteeing secrecy among his employees, he also makes them feel like a valuable part of the team. In 1997, he created a limited edition Employee Bear only for his employees. In 1998, he then gave each of his employees two Billionaire Bear Beanie Babies, a trend he would continue in later years. When the company surpassed Mattel and others to become the number one toy maker in the world in 1998, Warner also gave many employees bonuses that essentially doubled their yearly earnings.

Much the way Warner limits supplies of his products to leave his customers eagerly wanting more, so too does he use the same strategy with regards to the restriction of corporate and personal information. In limiting what people can find out about him and his operations, Warner is only adding fuel to the fire that leaves retailers and collectors guessing and grasping for what will happen next.

Related Articles
  Easy Management Insights - Keep Your People Informed
  You’re on show - ethics in sales
  Should you Reveal your Pricing?
  Who Is Your Proud Family?
  Three Marketing Lessons from Realtors

Article Tags: beanie babies, ceo, corporate logo, corporate secrets, current company, little game, mailing address, passerby, ploy, premises, promotional material, scholarly information, secrecy, suburban chicago, telephone number, toy company, ty inc, wealthiest men in the world



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
How to Do Great Marketing with (Amost) No Money - I've given this presentation to CEOs many times. Now i can share it with you. But I cannot because I do not yet have 20 posts. Jeff Ogden, President Find New Customers
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods - We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her. Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails. I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out. So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote:140e27hj]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:140e27hj] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.
Re: pitching - Friendliness is closely related to the concept of "permission marketing" as articulated by Seth Godin. The subtitle of his book says it all: "Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers." The old method was "interruption marketing" where you suddenly get an ad in your face whether you want it or not...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

How To Become A Member of the Paparazzi

Implementing Internet Business Ideas

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.