Mastering the ABCDs of Small Business Marketing & Selling
I believe that small business marketing and selling follows a certain flow. The pace of the flow may differ depending on what you're selling, but I still see the flow for virtually every small business. If you acknowledge and understand the flow for your own business then you can implement processes and systems to work within the flow. I call it Mastering the ABCD's of marketing and selling. Attention. The first step in the flow for attracting new clients is gaining attention. Your prospects need to know you exist and want to know more. This is going to be accomplished by effectively communicating your key marketing message. It comes down to what you say when someone ask what you do, or what attention grabbing headline you use in your letter or brochure, or what title you give your article or speech. Words are critical here. The key to generating attention is focus on results, not process. People want to know what they'll get from you, not necessarily what you'll do or how you'll do it. Don't talk about you, talk about them. Focus on the primary problems, issues, and challenges you want to help them solve. Building Interest, Credibility, and Trust. The next step in the flow is building up their interest in what you have to offer as well as your credibility and trust. You've gained their attention and they want to know more. You need to give them information that will provide them with ideas they can actually use. You need to provide them information to educate them to your way of thinking and what kind of results you're capable of producing. Information to build interest, credibility, and trust could take the form of an article, or a tip sheet, or an audio tape, etc. The objective at this phase of the flow is to let the prospect see you as a possible source of help, and let the ones who are ready to explore the possibilities reveal themselves to you. Conversation. If you're managing the flow correctly, by providing useful information, the prospect sees both a need and a want that you just might be able to fulfill. Now they're ready to discuss their needs. Through conversation you work to see if you can come to a conceptual agreement about how you could help the prospect. You are discussing if the services are right for them or not. You talk to the prospect and determine more in detail about their needs and then you explain more about what you do and discover how well they match. Deal. If you've reached this stage of the flow, then you have agreed in principle that working together is the right thing to do. The conceptual sale has been made and now you're ready to structure a deal. The key here is structuring a win-win agreement that ensures everyone understands the expectations, and that they will be met. This involves negotiating the deal and getting agreement to proceed with the work. Now think about your own marketing and sales flow. Where do things go wrong? I would contend that a lot of small businesses are guilty of trying to skip steps in the flow. I've seen it and I'm sure you have also. Here's what that might look like. - You get a whiff of attention, they go straight to the conversation. "Let's set up a meeting and I can learn more about your business and tell you more about our unique approach and experience."
- You gain attention and build up some interest and credibility, but then going straight for the deal. "I'll send you an engagement letter to sign that will detail our methodology and give you range of prices."
- You gain attention, build some interest and trust, have the conversation, but then skip the deal process altogether. "Great, sounds like we have deal. I can have the team here to start on Monday."
You need to be patient to make the process work. Skipping steps most likely leads to disappointment. Understand that effective marketing and selling is not an event that happens between projects. Mastering the ABCD's of marketing and selling is about consistently sharing valuable ideas and information to continuously pursue your passion. And through a focus on sharing solutions and information, you'll become a better marketer that knows how to consistently attract clients. (c) - Kevin P. Dervin, KPD Marketing About the Author: Kevin Dervin is focused on helping small businesses that are ready to grow, but struggle with how to consistently attract more clients. He has created http://www.proven-small-business-marketing-solutions.com to be an online resource for small business owners to share what he has learned and continues to learn. Visit his site for more great marketing information you can put to use in growing your business today. You can also find Kevin's Kansas City based KPD Marketing practice at http://www.ABCDgrowth.com and subscribe to his free ezine called ABCD Grow. Everyone who subscribes will get a copy of his free report "Five Fundamentals To Help You Boost Your Service Business And Increase Your Satisfaction!"
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Starting Small Business Promotional Campaigns
So you're starting a small business. You figured out what you wanted to sell or do and went out and got it all set up, had your DBA framed and on the wall and now all you need is for someone to buy your product or use your service. Right?
Boost Your Business With Testimonials
When used correctly, testimonials can boost your response dramatically. They help build the prospect's perception of believability, stability, honesty, and value in your product or service. When prospects see all those testimonials, especially from people to whom they can relate, they gain confdence in you. They become less worrried about making an error in buying what you sell.
Common Exhibit Marketing Mistakes: Ten Tips on How to Avoid Them
The key to great exhibiting is marketing. But marketing is a very inexact science that leaves room for a multitude of errors to occur. The following are 10 of the most common marketing mistakes that exhibitors often make. Learn to avoid them and you will increase your chances for a successful tradeshow.
Stop Your Marketing Leaks
Thirty percent of all the drinkable water that runs between the plant and your faucet is lost to leaky pipes. In marketing, thirty percent of our business is lost to leaky follow up. Even professional sales people have leaky follow up when they stop after one or two contact points.
Non-Aggressive Marketing Ideas for Enterpreneurs
Do you cringe at the thought of trying to promote your business ? Does it feel like "selling yourself" or
egotism? Many individuals are not comfortable with marketing dimension of running a business.
How to Use Marketing Judo to Beat Big Competitors
If yours is a small business and you have big or even huge competitors, you may be laying awake at night wondering how can you possibly beat them. You can't out-advertise them, or out-promote them, and you probably won't be able beat to its prices. For example, think about a small business whose biggest competitor is Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon.com or some other huge retailer. Is there any way to compete successfully against these Goliaths?
Benefits of Developing & Maintaining a Database
A database is more than a simple list of names and addresses. What turns
a list into a database is the additional information, coupled with your ability
to select names from or report on the list using any combination of data
elements.
Network Marketing Is Definitely A Relationship Business
Heavily branded websites like amazon.com are household names and
carry an implied trust with visitors. However, the vast majority
of websites are not well known and are found and visited as a
result of search engine searches. In these instances, the
visitor is probably arriving at the website for the first time
and human nature often dictates fear or suspicion of the unknown.
Systems - Marketing Your Business Successfully
Business Systems that work for anyone, are a fundamental necessity for any networking venture. While most people rely upon their own company business system or plan for success, there is always a different option.
After The Mailing Is Done, What Happens Next?
If you're doing any sort of marketing effort, whether it's getting news coverage or sending a postcard, you must be prepared for what happens next. If you're sending postcards promoting your business, and you have people working for you, tell them that you sent the card. There's nothing worse than having your customers, postcards in hand, coming into your business and being greeted by an employee who says "Huh? What special promotion?" Fortunately, there's any easy way to solve this problem. Here's an idea from one of my postcard marketing workshop participants: Whenever she has a mustn't-be-ignored announcement for her coffee house staff, she puts it in their pay envelopes. So, in a nutshell, chance favors the prepared marketer.
Marketing Plans... A Simple Approach To Get Off The Marketing Roller Coaster
Are You Riding The Marketing Roller Coaster?
Laws of Marketing ? The 10 Immutable
Most marketers believe that anything is achievable if you are energetic, creative or determined enough. But laws of marketing follow laws of business, and if you violate them, you risk your marketing dollars. The conventional answer to all marketing questions is money, which is not true.
10 Powerful Marketing Tips
1. Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. People read postcards when the message is brief. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.2. No single marketing effort works all the time for every business, so rotate several marketing tactics and vary your approach. Your customers tune out after awhile if you toot only one note. Not only that, YOU get bored. Marketing can be fun, so take advantage of the thousands of opportunities available for communicating your value to customers. But don't be arbitrary about your selection of a variety of marketing ploys. Plan carefully. Get feedback from customers and adapt your efforts accordingly.3. Use buddy marketing to promote your business. For example, if you send out brochures, you could include a leaflet and/or business card of another business, which had agreed to do the same for you. This gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers.4. Answer Your Phone Differently. Try announcing a special offer when you answer the phone. For example you could say, "Good morning, this is Ann Marie with Check It Out; ask me about my special marketing offer." The caller is compelled to ask about the offer. Sure, many companies have recorded messages that play when you're tied up in a queue, but who do you know that has a live message? I certainly haven't heard of anyone. Make sure your offer is aggressive and increase your caller's urgency by including a not-so-distant expiration date.5. Stick It! Use stickers, stamps and handwritten notes on all of your direct mail efforts and day-to-day business mail. Remember, when you put a sticker or handwritten message on the outside of an envelope, it has the impact of a miniature billboard. People read it first; however, the message should be short and concise so it can be read in less than 10 seconds.6. Send A Second Offer To Your Customers Immediately After They've Purchased Your customer just purchased a sweater from your clothing shop. Send a handwritten note to your customer thanking them for their business and informing them that upon their return with "this note" they may take advantage of a private offer, such as 20% off their next purchase. To create urgency, remember to include an expiration date.7. Newsletters. Did you know it costs six times more to make a sale to a new customer than to an existing one? You can use newsletters to focus your marketing on past customers. Keep costs down by sacrificing frequency and high production values. If printed newsletters are too expensive, consider an e-mail newsletter sent to people who subscribe at your Web site. 8. Seminars/ open house. Hosting an event is a great way to gain face time with key customers and prospects as well as get your company name circulating. With the right programming, you'll be rewarded with a nice turnout and media coverage. If it's a seminar, limit the attendance and charge a fee. A fee gives the impression of value. Free often connotes, whether intended or not, that attendees will have to endure a sales pitch.9. Bartering. This is an excellent tool to promote your business and get others to use your product and services. You can trade your product for advertising space or for another company's product or service. This is especially helpful when two companies on limited budgets can exchange their services.10. Mail Outs. Enclose your brochure, ad, flyer etc. in all your outgoing mail. It doesn't cost any additional postage and you'll be surprised at who could use what you're offering.
Rules of Thumb for Marketing to Your Past Customers
Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly.
Top 10 Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Writer to Write Your Marketing Materials
1. It costs less to delegate to a professional than to waste your valuable time trying to do it yourself. How many prospective clients could you call in the time it takes you to put the words together yourself?
Direct Marketing: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Unstoppable
Every business needs customers, but more importantly every business needs to maintain those customers while constantly retaining new ones. The only successful way of doing this is by learning everything about your customers, including who they are? What do they have in common? Do they share a hobby, an age range, a life stage, or a geographic community? Can you break them down into groups? The answers to these questions hold a wealth of information for you. Although direct marketing can be overlooked by many businesses, here are statistics proving the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns over the years.
Open Doors by Building Relationships
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get others interested in you." - Dale Carnegie -
Receiving a Brochure Printing Quote
Brochures are a great way to get your message across. While having a brochure can be extremely useful, it is sometimes hard to know whether it is affordable. The price for brochures can vary widely, with many variables contributing to the final quote.
Meaning and Marketing -- The Links
You know who you are and what you want and what it means or will mean for you to be FULLY ALIVE and you also know that you can change it it -- your definitions.
Niche And Grow Rich
Unless you've been living under an Internet rock, you've
probably heard the buzz about Niche Marketing. Right now
it's the hottest marketing topic online.
|
