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.

Google Friend Connect Additional Features to Leverage Your Social Networking

I’ve been spending a lot of time expanding my knowledge of social media and social networking.  As I mentioned in a couple of earlier posts, Google has some pretty cool tools in the Google Friend Connect products.

The latest tool I’ve added is the social bar, which is what you see at the bottom of my pages.  At first I was thinking, “Is this going to take away from the look or be distracting?”  Then I figured the benefits would far outweigh any minor design issues.  After all, you are visiting me because of my content, not for my artistic abilities.

Another thing is at the purpose of my blog is to tell you about the different marketing tools available.  While I haven’t completely figured out how all the intricacies of Google Friend Connect, I know for a fact that Google is setting a lot of web standards. In addition, social media is definitely the wave of the future and if there are free tools that put me at the forefront, I’m going to use them and learn how to profit from them as quickly as possible.

The toobar I just added is at the bottom of my pages.  It’s very easy to install.  For instructions, go to Google Friend Connect and follow the directions.

Have fun!

Top Small Business Marketing Tips – Spend Less to Make More

With the economy slowing, business owners are contacting me more frequently asking what they can do that is is new or different to spur on their business and turn things around.

“Paul, do you think I need a web site?”

“Should I advertise on TV or the radio?”

“Should I join BNI or another networking group?”

“I need something really kick-ass to get people buying more.”

These are all things that I am hearing.  Whether the economy is slow or not doesn’t impact my response.  It still comes down to the basics:

1. Set yourself apart from your competition and give your prospects and clients a good reason to buy from you now with a powerful Unique Selling Proposition. Here’s mine – I’ll increase your sales 20% or more in as little as 90 days, guaranteed.  That’s unique and it gets me business.
2. Be sure that every staff member who is in contact with a client understands basic selling skills. Each of them must kn0w and be given incentive to cross-sell and up-sell.  Focus on increasing the value of the transaction.  I’ve increased client sales by over 10% in 30 days just teaching this one!
3. Get a database program and develop a relationship with your clients.  Communicate with them monthly and ask them to buy from you again.  Ask for testimonials and referrals. Have a strategy to work the referrals.  Add a newsletter and start sending birthday cards and other greeting cards.  This can easily result in another 10% increase in your sales.
4. Get a few joint venture partners with whom you can share lists and market to each others clients.  You endorse them and they endorse you.  It’s that simple. Last year, I made over $24,000 in sales from joint venture referrals.  My total cost was less than $400.  If you aren’t doing joint ventures, you ar leaving a fortune on the table.

There you go.  4 strategies that can easily increase your sales by 25% or more this year. The key is to act now.  It’s smart marketing that can make you an absolute fortune and will save you an absolute fortune in advertising fees.

The reason I guarantee my work is that I implement the above 4 marketing pillars in my clients.  If you are wondering if I can do the same in your business, be sure to drop me an email or give me a call at 513-829-6368.

Small Business Marketing Tips for Increasing Profits in a Down Economy

When I watch TV, listen to the radio or happen to flip through a magazine, I like to pay attention to the ads to try to see if they make any sense. I’m one of the weird marketers who thinks the primary purpose of an ad is to increase sales.  If brand awarness is also heightened, that’s a plus.

I’ve had a lot of high paid marketers tell me I’m full of it and that I don’t realize the value of a brand.  To me, the value of a brand is in the sales and profits it generates, not in how many people recognize the name.  I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, which is home to the largest advertiser in the world, Procter and Gamble.

I’ve heard the CEO, A.G. Lafley speak and have read several quotes of his.  When he speaks, he talks about company profitability and sales.  He mentions brands as they contribute to profitability, not how they increase the awareness of the P&G name.  I pay a lot attention to P&G ads.  Every one of them highlights the benefits of using the brand.  Whether it’s whiter teeth, cleaner clothing or cleaner floors, the ads promote what the brand will do for the consumer.  The brand is built and strengthened and more people buy it because it works, not because they’ve heard about it!

The lesson for you, the small business owner/marketer is to realize your ads have one purpose and that is to  generate sales, not awareness.  When the creditors are at your door, you’re paying them with money, not a brand name.  Next time an agency or media rep tells you about brand-building, say “Great!  How will I track sales results from the ad?”

In a slow economy, it’s not time to cut back on marketing or advertising, it’s time to make sure you’re getting a good return on it.  Market smart.  Write good sales copy.  Make your marketing work for you.  Let your competitors build their brands. You can say hello when you are at the bank making deposits resulting from your marketing while they are making withdrawals to pay for theirs.

Small Business Marketing tips to Profit in a Recession – Advice from a Friend at the Small Business Development Center

I’m going a bit off topic with this post. My past few were about the importance of leverage and systems. I’ll be going back to the topic but I had a conversation with a Joint Venture partner today that I wanted to pass along.

He and I are both small business marketing and growth experts and are giving a Growth Strategy Seminar for our local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) clients. The SBDC is an organization funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that has a mission to help Americans start, build and grow businesses.

The Director of the local SBDC is a friend of mine who used to be president of a fairly large, worldwide insurance company. He’s working with the SBDC now because of his passion to help the small business owner succeed and prosper. In preparation for the seminar, we asked him what are the most important messages we need to communicate to seminar attendees (particularly in light of the tough economy).

Here is what he said is the most important marketing messages that business owners need to know:

1. Keep on marketing. This is no time to cut back on the life-blood of attracting and keeping clients.
2. Know your customers, their needs and why they are buying your product or service.
3. Have all clients and prospects in a database so you can regularly communicate with them and give them reasons to purchase from you. Use your database to build demographic and psychographic profiles of your target market.
4. Market to your target market. It is a huge waste of resources to be marketing to people who are not prospects. Unfortunately, most businesses spend the majority of marketing resources on people who will never buy from them.
5. Give clients a consistent experience. Remember that your product and service are elements of your marketing mix. For years, the buzz word has been “exceed expectations,” which is great but the first part is to provide a consistent client experience. Most people expect, and are satisfied if you do this.
6. Track and measure what marketing is working. If you don’t track, you don’t know if it is working. If it isn’t working, you are wasting resources. If it is working, you want to build on and improve it to maximize results.
7. Don’t try to find the magic bullet. Small improvements in different areas can yield exponential increases in sales.

There you have it. If you find yourself swimming against the tide or so overwhelmed with what you should be doing next, you want to give me a call. If you want to see how you can achieve dramatic increases in sales (or to just stop the bleeding!), you want to give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you.

Small Business Marketing to Up Your Profits in a Down Economy

The most powerful, simplest and inexpensive marketing strategies to bring your business a flood of sales and waves of profits is the joint venture (JV) or strategic alliance. Essentially, you are leveraging the relationships another business has with their customers to build your own business. They work as well in both online and off line and can be very simple or very complex, multi-million dollar deals.

Your starting point is to identify non-competing businesses that have a client profile similar to yours. Approach the owner with a letter or phone call and let them you have a unique idea that can generate a lot of new clients. There are a couple of things you can try.

One is to offer to pay for a mailing to their clients recommending your service or product. Include a special offer, with a deadline for redeeming, that is unique to their clients. I’ve found that creating a coupon on which the offer is printed improves response.

Some businesses you approach will express concern about the confidentiality of their list. If so, offer to have them send it directly to their list themselves. You will want to write the sales letter or coupon yourself but allow them final approval on the copy.

Another tactic is to create a mailer on which you both print an offer and mail it to your combined client lists and share all expenses equally.

I believe it is very important to conduct due diligence and to take the time to get to know your potential business partner as well as the quality of their products and services. If you plan on recommending somebody to your valued clients, be sure they will meet your standards and expectations.

Typically, only about three of ten business owners will wish to pursue a joint venture so you’ll need to make several calls but it will be well worth the effort. In my opinion, the JV is about the most powerful marketing strategy any business, large or or small can implement.

Can you hear me now?

As a hobby, I am a woodworker.  I have learned to build fine furniture, jewelry boxes and a wide variety of other wood projects. I’ve even done some custom commission work and made decent money for doing so.  Someday I’ll get some pictures of my work on my site so you can take a look at my work.

Yesterday, I was down in my shop working on a shelf for the patio and took a look at my tools and other things in the shop and wondered which were the most valuable.  I actually have several thousand dollars worth of woodworking machinery and hand tools.  I’m pretty proud of my collection.  I couldn’t decide between the top two so it ended up being a tie for first place.

What would you guess I chose?  Was it my cabinet saw, router, planer, workbench or any of my hand tools?    My cabinet saw is definitely what I use them most and if you were to survey woodworkers about the most valuable tool, the cabinet saw would win, hands down.   What But that’s not the case for me.
The two items have a combined value of $30.  One is my safety glasses and the other are my hearing protectors.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I believe the two most important selling and marketing tools are closely related to my choice of shop tools.  In sales and marketing, your eyes and ears are the most important tools.

A 1972 UCLA study concluded that the words we say account for 7% of our overall communication!  The other 93% of our communication is non-verbal and consist of body language and voice quality.  Now you can see why I chose the tools that protect my eyes and ears!

Your eyes allow you to read the body language and emotions of your customer.  You can see if you are connecting with them or if you are boring them.  Are they engaged with you or just being polite?   Your ears allow you to hear voice inflection and tone.

Can you read or have you ever studied body language?  Crossed arms and legs reveal the other person is closed to your comments or you.  A person leaning back with arms behind the head is saying “Oh really, prove it!” Someone leaning forward is engaged and interested in what you are saying.

Entire books have been written about the topic and can help you, not only in sales and marketing, but also in personal relationships.

Understanding body language can mean a huge difference in your sales.  The scope of this issue goes way beyond this newsletter but if you would like to know about some of my recommended resources, give me a call or send me an email.

We’ve all heard the cliche that God gave us one mouth and two ears so we can listen twice as much as we talk.  Well, there’s a reason it’s a cliche – it’s true, particularly in sales. You will only know what benefits to stress when you understand your client’s needs.  How can you propose a solution if you’ve done all of the talking?

Listening is an art.  A key listening skill is to avoid formulating a response until you finish listening to what your client is saying.  Notice I said listening, not hearing.  Ask your client or prospect to clarify and elaborate be sure you are answering the question they asked.  Avoid interrupting, unless it enhances or clarifies the topic.

Think of how frustrating it is for you when someone interrupts you in the middle of a sentence or answers your question with an irrelevant answer.

Remember the E.F. Hutton commercial years ago?  Their USP was that when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen, inferring their advice was more valuable than you could get elsewhere.  Just think about that, their sales soared because they said YOU should listen to THEM!

Dean Whitter countered with Dean Whitter grows one client at a time, meaning they took the time to listen and take care of you before they moved on to the next client.

As you look to improve your selling skills and learn new methodologies or new concepts, remember that the things that can make the biggest difference is how effectively you read the body language of your client, how effectively you use your own body language and finally, how well you listen.