Marketing Delusions

When it comes to marketing your business, you have two choices. You can combine proven marketing techniques with a high degree of energy and a dose of common sense or you can put your name on the back of a bus and delude yourself into thinking that you are marketing.

What to do when a client says ‘No’

In every salespersons day there are times when you hear a NO. It’s a fact of life and all good salespeople face this rejection over and over.

Now, everyone will tell you that you have to get used to the rejection and not take it personally. Obviously this is easier to say than it is to do, but what if there was a way to turn that rejection into a positive?

When someone says no to your offer, don’t be insulted, offended or hurt and don’t take it personally. Be respectful and politely ask why. Pay attention to the answer and take notes if necessary. Hopefully you’ll gain useful information that will enable you to make the sale the next time.

Now, here is the important part – thank the prospect for their time and tell them that you won’t bother them again until you have something better to offer them. Then, when you really do have something better, call them. Your call will likely be taken because you were polite in the face of their ‘No’

When you get to speak to them, simply say, “Do you remember I told you I wouldn’t call until I had something better to offer you? Well now I do. Here’s what it’s all about . . .”

By finding out why you didn’t get the business, you can work to tailor you offer, product or service to better meet the needs of the prospect. You’ll be able to rescue lost sales and turn more ‘Nos’ into ‘Yesses’.

Customer Retention

Customer retention is more profitable that customer acquisition. It always was and always will be!

Your Ad Sucks!

How do I know your advertising sucks? That’s an easy one. Almost all advertising sucks these days. Now I have to confess, there are some small companies doing a good job. Not everyone consistently throws money away on useless ‘image’ type ads – but many do. Here is a small questionnaire you can use to evaluate your current ads.

(1) Do your ads look like your competitors?
(2) Do you advertise in the same media (TV, radio, magazines etc.) as your competitors?
(3) Does your Yellow Pages ad look like a brochure (name, address, phone #, services and years in business etc.)?
(4) Do you advertise because you or someone you know thinks that you should?
(5) Do you use an advertising agency?

If you answered YES to questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 then why are you paying an advertising agency to look like everyone else? If you answered YES to questions 1, 2, and 3, why?

If your ads don’t attract attention with a headline, a headline that reaches out and grabs the prospect and makes him read, you’re in trouble. If the information in your ad isn’t interesting, you’re in big trouble. If you haven’t made an offer or caused the prospect to take action, you’re dead! Your ad officially sucks!

Look at your ads and evaluate them based on the above criteria. Are they good ads? Do they make you money or do they cost you money? Do you have a way to know?

Your Advertising Agency Sucks. . .

Your Advertising Agency Sucks. . .
That’s right – your advertising agency sucks – totally. Let me give you a tour of a typical ad agency. You walk in the large ostentatious looking door, across a marble floor to be greeted by an immaculately dressed and coifed receptionist. She guides you into a large tastefully decorated office, but only after you have passed by a large room full of the most advanced computers and printers that you have ever seen. You’re about to meet the shark – oops, I mean the account executive.

The so-called ‘account executive’ is in reality a salesman. His office is adorned with awards, plaques and large color posters and prints of ads done by the firm. Perhaps he was even voted ‘Ad Executive of the Month’! Are you suitably impressed? If it’s a really big agency you may even get to see a Clio – the advertising industry version of the Oscar. Unfortunately, having a Clio just means that the ad they created caused a buzz in the advertising business. In fact, none of this stuff means that any of their clients made more money because of their efforts!

Advertising agencies are all about creating ‘buzz’. They want to build a ‘brand’, create some noise, and get people talking about you. You, on the other hand want to make more money.

All your friends have told you that you are going to have to advertise if you want to grow. You’ve seen all the big companies advertise – in fact you are bombarded by ads every day! This must be the way to go! Except that . . .

It’s a trap.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you sit around and hope that customers will find your business. Hope is not a marketing strategy. You must promote. You must market. You must be aggressive. You must not turn over the future success of your business to some smiling salesman whose only goal is to make money for his company!

Here’s a fun little idea. Next time you talk with an advertising executive, ask him why his company doesn’t have billboards, bench ads, TV, radio or newspaper ads. You’ll get some BS for an answer, but the real reason is that he knows that he won’t get a positive return on his investment. In other words – he knows that he will lose money! If you get nothing else out of this article, remember this:

“Marketing is only for selling stuff!”

If you are anywhere near my age, you’ll remember a Coke commercial that featured thousands of children of all races singing, “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony . . .” It was a classic – people loved it. Even today you can ask anyone 40 or older if they remember that ad and most of them can still sing the song.

That ad made millions for Coke. Right?

Wrong! Sergio Zyman, the master marketer at Coke pulled that ad because every day it ran on TV and radio, Coke was losing sales!

Zyman knew that marketing is an investment. It must pay a return on that investment. Insist on getting a return.

<>“If the mere attraction of attention were the only thing to be considered in successful advertising we would find here and there conspicuous examples of its force. Unfortunately, such examples are not to be found at all. As a matter of fact, the history of American business during the past 25 or 30 years,” (1885 to 1913) “is cluttered with the wrecks and scrap-heaps of fortunes lost by the sole method of paying out money for attention-getting publicity that never even paid for itself. Look through the files of the magazines and you will find that 90 percent of the advertisers of even a comparatively few years ago have disappeared, and their places have been taken by new adventurers on very much the same road to extinction. These wrecks and scrap-heaps are the monuments of the advertising promoter’s theory that merely attention-getting publicity pays.” (taken from The Elementary Laws of Advertising And How to Use Them” by Henry S. Bunting) Attention- getting publicity rarely pays off for small business.

The goal for your small business marketing should be:

“A low cost way to acquire customers that is elegant, efficient, repeatable, measurable, enhances our credibility and builds trust”

This is a tall order. It can be done. Read on for some ideas that really work.

The Most Important Words Your Client will ever Hear

A few years ago a friend of mine offered to take me for a ride in his plane. We flew for a few minutes with nothing below but green fields of hay below. Then in the middle of acres of green was a field of pure gold! It was incredible to see – a field of golden Canola. Your business can be that field of gold when you learn how to use the words ‘Thank You’. That’s right, learn to say and teach your staff to say ‘Thanks’, and you’ll be amazed at the results.

We Live in a World of Rudeness

We truly live in a world of rudeness. People haven’t been taught proper manners and to a great extent are so self centered that they don’t care about other people. This is where you can stand out. Be that person or that business that cares. Thank your customers for their patronage – make them feel wanted and appreciated. This is a feeling that customers don’t get in many instances and as a result you and your business will be the beneficiary of both repeat business and referral business.

One of the best and most profitable ways to say ‘Thanks’, is to send a short ‘Thank You’ note in the mail immediately following a clients first visit to your firm. You could just say:

Hi, just a short note to thank you for visiting our store recently. We truly appreciate your business and we hope to see you again soon.
Yours truly,
xxxxx

Now if you are really on the ball and want to guarantee that customers’ return you can ad a small coupon or gift certificate to your note.

Here is a simple way to pump up your referrals. Send a small note of thanks to any of the folks that provide you with services. People like your hairdresser, lawyer, accountant and auto mechanic would love to hear someone say ‘Thanks’. The next time one of them performs a service for you send a thank you note, personally written and include your business card. These people all know many people and some of those people could be perfect clients for your business.

You don’t think that this works? When was the last time someone sent you a ‘Thank You’ note?

Simple, efficient, repeatable, elegant and measurable marketing. What more could you want?

There is No Comparison Shopping

When interviewed, most consumers will tell you that they “always” comparison shop. Those consumers are liars.

Hidden camera studies consistently show less than 1 in 10 shoppers actually look at more than 1 brand. In fact, tests done in grocery stores show that consumers took less than 5 seconds (on average) to select a product!

Grocery shoppers (and your customers) buy products based on trust. This trust is built up through experience with the brand.

Think about McDonalds. The food sure isn’t great and it isn’t the cheapest. It is however, always the same. So, when faced with a choice between McDonalds and “Lou’s Burgers”, most people will choose McDonalds. Why? They know and trust the McDonalds experience and they know nothing about “Lou’s Burgers”.

The lesson here is simple. You must build trust into your brand. Whatever products or services that you sell, you must work to increase your clients’ trust. Above all else this means being consitent. Be consistent with every product and service that you offer.

Consistency builds trust and trust = loyalty. Trust begins when reliability is established. Deliver what you promise and more than what is expected – always

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