Small Business Marketing Tips, what about asking me to return?

What do these three quotes have in common?

1. “But Paul, I don’t want to bother them.”
2. “But Paul, I don’t have the time.”
3. “But Paul, it’s too expensive and they buy from me anyway.”

They are the reasons business owners and sales people give to me for not keeping in touch with their clients.

It’s been proven time and again that the easiest client to sell a product or service to is an existing or past client. It’s also proven that they are the best source of referrals and testimonials. That said, what are you doing to keep in touch with your clients?

Do you:

1. Capture all client names?
2. Follow up with clients to thank them for their business?
3. Keep in touch with phone calls, emails, newsletters, greeting cards?
4. Ask for referrals and have a special offer, discount or gift for anybody who gives you one?
5. Ask for testimonials and get permission to use them in your marketing materials?

If not, start now. If you don’t know how, get in touch with me because I already have these systems designed and can have you trained and using them in a matter of days.

Waiting and delaying is no different than holding the door open for your competition to come in and get the business away from you. One way or another, the level of success in your business can hinge on the outcome.

Small Business Marketing Tips – Most Businesses are Making Money In “This Awful Economy”

I gave a marketing seminar this morning to a group of about 30 business owners this morning that was sponsored by the local Small Business Development Center.  We asked the question, “How many of your businesses are doing well?”  Two thirds of them raised their hands.

Of the hands that didn’t go up, a couple of them were just starting out so nearly everyone in attendance was doing well (or faked it to be in the crowd).  Think about it, the companies that are doing well were at a marketing seminar, learning how to do better!  I should have invited a couple of reporters but I wasn’t planning on sharing any bad news so they probably would have ignored my invite.

Bloomberg reported this morning that retail sales actually ROSE 1% last month!  I wonder if the lead-in story on the national news will cover it tonight.  I don’t watch the news so I guess I’ll miss it but I just did a quick look at abcnewscnncbsnew.coms and none of them mentioned it.

Now, I don’t doubt that a lot of industries are hurting, BIG TIME but it shows there is opportunity.  The worst thing to cut in a recession, marketing, is the first thing way too many companies cut in a recession.  Then their sales suck and they say it’s the economy.

If I were to quit marketing, my sales would suck as well. However, over the past several months, I’ve busted my butt to get new clients and it’s paying off, big time.  A recession is acutally good for my business.  Smart companies realize they need to do smart marketing so they call people like me.

That’s a good note to end this post on.  If you want to increase your sales and are ready to do what it takes, call someone like me. Actually, strike that last remark.  Don’t call someone like me, call me. 513-829-6368.

Small business marketing tips to profit in ANY economy

Quote from Mr. or Mrs. faltering business owner, “Oh no, the economy is “bad” I better not buy anything. I better cut back on my marketing. I think I should save my money just in case the “bad” economy cuts into my cash flow.”

Does this sound familiar? Let’s move forward 6 months and ask Mr. or Mrs. faltering (soon to be failing) business owner, “How’s business?” They will reply “Oh this economy is killing me. Sales are way down. I’m not getting any new customers and I hear from fewer old customers than I used to.”

I say, “Hmmm, Mr. Owner lets look at a few other factors. Last year in the first quarter, you spent $10,000 on marketing and this year, $1,500. Last year, you sent your newsletter out monthly and this year, you cut it from the budget. Last year, you conducted sales training every week but this year, you decided the trainer was too expensive. Last year, you sent every client a thank you card for visiting the store and also sent out birthday cards. This year, you cut it from the budget.

Now, let’s look for the underlying cause of your sales shortfall. Because the media telling you the economy is bad and people are not buying, you slashed your budget on strategies that brought you clients, sales and profits.”

Hey, I’m a realist! I’m aware that the economy is faltering but the worst thing you can do is to stop marketing. If you are going to cut marketing, cut the marketing that is not delivering a measurable, positive return. If you don’t know your return, you need to calculate it. Drop useless image advertising that doesn’t deliver clients or prospects.

Learn and implement direct response marketing. That’s the marketing you see that has an offer and tells the prospect to act. If it’s good, you get a response and make money on it. If it’s not good, nothing happens and you lose money on it. Set a system to measure and track results. Determine your ROI and remember client lifetime value. If you break-even or lose on the initial transaction but know the client will be highly profitable over the next year, that’s good!

The lesson here is simple. A down economy is a bad reason to cut good marketing and a good reason to cut bad marketing!