3 Ways to Increase Your Sales
by Charlie Cook
Published on this site: September 3rd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Last week I got a call from Jose, who was looking for help
improving his ads. He'd been running the same ad in four local
papers for two months and only gotten one response. He was
understandably frustrated. With more than a dozen very satisfied
clients, he knows that the residential property management
services he and his brother provide should interest more people,
but he wasn't having any success getting attention or generating
leads.
Jose knew that to grow his business he'd need to do some
marketing. He had a web site and was doing all the networking
he could in addition to running his ads. Isn't this what he
should be doing to attract more clients? Aren't advertising,
web sites, mailings and networking what marketing is all about?
Webster's dictionary thinks so; it defines marketing as an
aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer
to consumer. In other words, marketing is a collection of
activities. Is this how you think of it? Has approaching marketing
with this mindset helped you increase your sales and pr0fits?
Think about it. You started your business to provide products
or services that help people. You work long and hard for your
clients to ensure they get what they want. You know that the
more helpful you are to your clients, the more likely they'll
be to hire you again and the more often they'll recommend
you.
Your products and services are focused around your prospects'
wants and needs. Focus your marketing on these wants and needs
and that will guide your marketing activities.
Marketing is Helping Your Prospects Get What They Want.
Marketing is not about you. It is not building your brand
name, (unless you're a Fortune 500 company and have the advertising
budget to match). It is not convincing people to buy your
products and services. It is not a group of activities that
move goods and services. It is about your customers and what
they want.
Working with Jose, I had shown him how to refocus his marketing
on what his prospects were looking for. A few days ago Jose
called me back to tell me about his experience with trying
out this helping model of marketing. During a recent visit
to Home Depot, he struck up a conversation with a prospect,
Bob, who asked what Jose did. Instead of going through the
litany of services his company provides, Jose said, 'We help
landlords manage their properties more efficiently and make
more money.'
That got Bob's attention; he wanted to know how Jose helped
landlords. Jose briefly explained his company's services from
the landlord's point of view. Bob asked for Jose's business
card, so they could have a conversation about Jose managing
Bob's 56 rental properties.
Whether you are crafting your advertising copy, elevator
speech, or the copy for your web or print brochure, it should
focus on what your prospects want. When your prospects see
you as helping them instead of just trying to sell them, they'll
be more likely to respond.
Want to help your prospects get what they want so you can
increase your sales and profits? Focus your marketing on helping
by doing the following three things.
- Regularly ask your prospects what they want, what their
goals are and how you can help them.
- Use this information to shape your marketing copy.
- Describe in brief and in detail your clients concerns
and how you help them on everything from your business card
to your sales letters to your ads and to your web site.
When you focus your marketing on helping your prospects get
what they want, you'll get what you want; more leads, more
prospects and more clients.
Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small business
owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and
be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing
Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your
business' at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com
|
