Ways to Market Your Business

As Forest might say, "there are a Go-Zillion ways to market your business."

You probably can’t, maybe shouldn’t even try, all the means available; at least not from the get-go.  A good way to start is utilize the free and low cost services such as email marketing and blog posting.  They help build your audience over time and provide valued content for search engine crawlers. 

Here are ways to market:

·        Email marketing

·        Social media posting

·        Search engine optimization

·        Window signs to attract walk-in trade

·        In-store displays to sell add-on services

·        Text messaging

·        Getting on the GSA schedule 

·        Responding to RFPs

·        Off-line word-of-mouth advertising

·        Network at business meetings

·        Giving speeches and seminars

The following have costs associated:

·        Posting videos on YouTube

·        Ads on search engines

·        Banner ads or links on websites

·        Guest posting on websites

·        Using affiliates to promote your products

·        Direct mail  

·        Print Classified ads

·        Paid display advertising in newspapers or magazines

·        Radio advertising

·        TV advertising

·        Ads on side of your vehicle

·        Door-to-door canvasing

·        Cold-call telemarketing

·        Ad in the Yellow Pages

·        Exhibiting at trade shows

When you get customers, especially in the early days, it is important to find out how they came to hear of you; that is, what ad form got them to act.

Marketing Your Business

Marketing your business begins with an Air-Tight Plan

Use one sheet for each product group.

The short listing below will help you refine your marketing strategy and get your business started on a full fledged plan.  Look for other posts to continue this discussion. 

Your Product/Service  Name:  

Describe the types of individuals or businesses you expect to use these services. Include age, gender, income, and other important demographics.

Indicate when and how often they might need your services.

Describe the benefits your products and services will offer customers (the SPECIFIC problems the product solves or SPECIFIC advantages it offers to the customer)

How many other companies offer services like yours are in your area?

How will your service differ from your competitors?  

What's your primary competitive edge?
What makes you different from (and better than) your competitors? 

The 11 Second Elevator Pitch

Do you have an 11-second elevator pitch?

Here's a few examples:

Franklin Jones Corp. is a buyer and reseller of medical equipment used in pain management and minimally invasive procedures when a live x-ray image is required by the doctor.  

ZEG-IT Media is a marketing firm for small businesses and startups that performs essential marketing functions at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time market staff.

It something you be using EVERY TIME you tell people what you do.  If it takes longer than 11 seconds, you need to rethink it.  

Profile of a Sales Person

Don't hide from the truth!

Is your our company holding you to the highest standards of professionalism, your customers surely are.  You need to learn and practice your sales skills daily. Why?  Simply because from your first contact with a customer, you’re being graded – by the customer. Often times, the first impression that you make may determine whether or not you’ll later make a sale. Be positive and upbeat without being overbearing. Practicing your opening dialogue (presentation) will allow you to ease the flow of conversation and listen to cues from the customer. By setting a level of comfort that extends from you to the customer, you will dramatically increase your ability to obtain information and close sales. 

In addition to developing your speaking and message delivery skills, you will also need to work on your listening skills. Since your overall goal is to motivate and direct a customer through the many stages of the sales process, you must be a good listener. To effectively ensure that one call will lead to the next stage, you must develop superb notetaking skills, noting and recording key points along the way. The key points are your signposts to help you know where you are in the sales cycle.

How important is this?

Extremely important.  Here’s why.  I was entertaining two executives from a large Fortune 500 company interested in doing a joint venture for computer hardware.  We were in my office and I was explaining how our company monitored and recorded sales calls for training purposes.  At any given time, I could enter a call and listen to the conversation between the sales rep and customer. The execs asked for a demo so I clicked into one of our newer reps line.  This rep was a law school grad but decided he hated practicing law and came to us.  I won’t go into all the details of the call but suffice to say it was eye-opening.



The customer made some comment about the Cleveland Browns and the sales rep responded by saying our chances looked good this year with the new pitcher the Indians had just traded for.  It went on and on with the total disconnect. In other words, the sales rep just wasn’t really listening.  He was so delighted that the customer was talking, he ignored the real conversation.  The whole call lasted nearly 20 minutes without so much as one customer problem being uncovered or any product being offered. 

The rep did mention we had a big inventory, so he was sure we could help the customer.  The problem was, he had no idea what the customer needed.  Why?  He, the rep, talked too much.  When the call ended, I said to the two execs that he was new but that was no excuse for the dismal performance.  To make matters worse, I told them, I’ll bet you lunch that the sales rep will be knocking on my door in a few minutes and telling me that he just had a great conversation. 

True enough a knock was heard and in walked the rep, excited to convey his happy call performance.  It’s easy to confuse conversation with sales dialogue.  In sales, you need to be directing the action, not merely responding to it.  You need to get the customer to tell you about his business.  You need to listen to what the customer is saying and respond accordingly, constantly shifting the conversation back to the customer’s business and what pain or problem they are experiencing. 

Time Management - It's Critical for Effective Sales

If there is one enemy you have in the world of sales, it is TIME. Time will help you or hurt you depending on your ability to manage it properly.  How you spend your time throughout the day will determine the level of success you will record at sales meetings.  While it’s important to talk with troubled customers, and to explain industry trends to customers, and even to have great conversations with wonderful rapport, the truth is . . . is all about sales. Your boss probably doesn’t care how great your conversation was – they are more interested in whether or not it will turn into a sale.

It’s all about SALES
TIPS TO PREPARE  YOUR DAY
Our best case scenario for proper time management:   Arrive to work ready and pumped
Have the customers you plan to call in a queue, hopefully computerized in this day and age

•      Get your coffee, sit down and start dialing

•      Keep dialing all morning – when you hang up from a call, start dialing the next

•   Don’t waste a lot of time entering notes and long dissertations about how the call went

•   Have your script memorized so it sounds natural and do not deviate from it – ever

•   Don’t get up and talk to others

•   Don’t bother other sales people and ask them about how their day is going

•   Don’t run into your boss’ office and tell him you got a great lead

•   Try to close every call you make – three times – ask for the order

•   Schedule an action item when you’re done – callback, send literature, send quote

•   Don’t send literature right after a call and don’t stop to put together a quote 
•   Keep dialing and prospecting

Here's why:

It will always be about sales because that’s how companies pay salaries, commissions, bonuses; it’s what pays for the computers and office equipment we use, all the supplies that we utilize, and the roof over our heads.
 It’s important that customers are happy. It’s important that you are happy and look forward to coming in each day. It’s important to earn a good living and buy the things in life that we want and need. What it does mean is that you must portion your time carefully.

With this  call-model, you'll make lots of calls and improve your chances of finding a customer with a need you can fill.  It's a numbers game; more numbers mean more results. You have to stay the course though.  

This call-model drives up your enthusiasm; the customer will “hear” it. If your not successful, don't get angry, rather leave the customer with the impression that they should buy from you now or someone else will.  

• Be thorough: 

• Be steadfast

• Ask for the sale

• Don't get all wishy-washy - just go for it

• Don't go off your script the moment a customer shows interest

That's just your morning. You can go to lunch with the satisfaction you put in a solid morning. Relax a bit, talk with colleagues, share war stories, talk about closing deals. And don't talk about the one that got away - it's a downer and drags everyone else into the much of poor mental attitude.  

Come back from lunch and get your quotes sent out;  send out the literature you promised in the morning.  

If you have other deals (and you should) to call back, get them out of the way now too.  Maybe brainstorm with a manager as to what you can say or do to close the deal. 

For the remaining part of the day, hit the phones again and a half-hour before you leave, get out all remaining literature and quotes. Then, conclude the day by setting up for the next day’s calls. Yes, tomorrow you do it all over again. The foundation of success is the effort you put in be maximize your time and spend it wisely.    

Measure your success - It's key.   

At the end of every week, do the following:

1.  Total the number of calls you made
2.  Total the number of actual pitches you made  
3.  Total the number of quotes you sent out  
4.  Add up the number and amount of sales you closed

For example:  

You made 95 calls
You pitched (in full, that means asking for the order)  25 times
You sent out 10 quotes 
You closed 2 deals

Your ratio is 95:2  

It means you need to make 95 calls to get 2 sales.  Keep track of this ratio each week.  It's a great motivator and predictor of success.

After a short time, maybe a month or so, the ratio will stabilize.  Now, you can work on parts of your call program, try to get more calls in, try to complete more presentation, try to get more quotes out, try to improve your closing ability.  The ratio will show you how you're doing.  

Remember, there are no no speed limits on the Sales Highway. 

Positioning Statements - Do you have one?

We asked in a prior posting – why are you in business?  That post dealt with having a customer-centric focus to your business.  Today, we go a bit further.  We are not providing answers today, just questions.  Questions that if you take the time to think about and answer, will help shape your company’s vision.

Your Target Market?

a)      Who is your target market

b)      Are you selling to businesses or consumers

c)      How do your targets make decisions

For ZEG-IT, it’s:  small businesses with limited marketing staff;  startups restrained by money 

Enter yours below:

Your Unique Value

a)      What are you the best at?

b)      What value do you provide

c)      What service offering are you most confident in?

For ZEG-IT,  simple custom-designed web and mobile sites at affordable monthly prices with no contracts. 

Enter yours below:

Your Believability

a)      How can you back up claims

For ZEG-IT, it’s: 

ê   Significant executive level experience in myriad industries

ê   Network of experienced designers, writers and artists to draw upon

ê   We are a small company and face the same challenges every day

Enter yours below:

Now, let’s put all these together:

ZEG-IT provides small businesses with limited marketing staff and startups restrained by money with one company for custom-designed web and mobile sites at affordable monthly prices with no contracts.  Leverage our significant executive level experience in myriad industries, network of experienced designers, writers and artists to find solutions to help your business grow.  We are a small company and face the same challenges every day and constantly seeking new ways to accomplish more with less.

As the magician’s say: “Wha-la!”  You now have a positioning statement for your company.

Why Are You in Business?

It may seem an odd question but it’s one that many business people get wrong. 

The real reason that you are in business is to find out what your customers want and supply it.

As a small business, you have many goals and objectives that you seek to achieve.  These goals often cloud our judgment and interfere with growth rather than contribute to it or sustain it.  The most important overall objective of your business is to find out what customers want and supply it.  In other words, find the customer’s pain and provide a solution to relieve it.

Every business requires a high level of service.  Your job is to examine the customer’s business, see the pain he/she feels, and provide a solution based on a fresh new perspective that is free of their encumbrances.  What would you do to acquire products if you were the customer?  Would you buy from your company?  If so, why? If not, why not? You must be able to empathize with the customer without sympathizing. 

To accomplish this, you need to develop skills that are unmatched by any competitor.  You must believe in your product and believe you can close every sale.  This is a journey – so why even start out if you think you will fail. If you don’t believe, you’re doomed to failure.  If you do believe, it is possible you will fail, but so what.  To succeed, you must believe it is possible to succeed.

If you work diligently toward your goal, you will reach your goals.  Work closely with your employees.  Together, you are a team. A team that wins! A team that sets goals, that practices together, studies and learns the product and solutions together. A team that accepts defeats without bitterness. This is the path to becoming an industry leader.  Together, you and your team will be the talk of the industry and be able to say we’re helping people because we’re helping companies to manage their costs and remain able to provide invaluable services to their customers.

At ZEG-IT we have a philosophy about customers.  See if you agree. 

Profile of a Customer

There are many times when you may tire of dealing with customers, especially the ones who are demanding and difficult to reach. Nevertheless, it’s important to remember the following concepts that describe what a customer really is.

•   A customer is the most important person in our business.
•   A customer is not dependent upon us; we’re dependent upon the customer.
•   A customer is not an interruption of work; a customer is the purpose of our work.
•   A customer is not an outsider to our business; he’s part of it.
•   A customer is not someone to argue with
•   No one wins an argument with a customer
•   A customer has needs and wants; it’s our job to provide solutions.
•   We are not doing a customer a favor by serving him
•   The customer is doing you a favor by giving you the opportunity to serve him.