1. business and industrial

Presenter:
Winston Marsh
March 2009
Business Growth Centre
email: info@businessgrowthcentre.com.au Web: www.winstonmarsh.com.au
1
CONTENTS
HOW TO GENERATE AN AVALANCHE OF NEW CUSTOMERS & CLIENTS! ... 3
Two Critical Marketing Questions.......................................................................................................6
Know who your prospects are and what they think! ............................................................................7
METHODS YOU CAN USE TO GENERATE THAT AVALANCHE OF NEW
PROSPECTS .................................................................................................................. 11
Where Success Comes From..............................................................................................................12
Mainstream media advertising (press, radio, television)....................................................................13
Radio, Television, Magazines ............................................................................................................16
Yellow Pages .....................................................................................................................................20
Electronic Marketing..........................................................................................................................22
Direct Mail (or direct marketing).......................................................................................................24
Telemarketing ....................................................................................................................................29
Other Methods ...................................................................................................................................30
Dumb Way.........................................................................................................................................32
Marketing in Person...........................................................................................................................33
The Most Important Marketing Tool .................................................................................................34
If You Have Courage!........................................................................................................................37
More Miscellaneous Methods ............................................................................................................38
This Way Is Often Forgotten! ............................................................................................................39
The Best Way.....................................................................................................................................40
Easy Marketing ..................................................................................................................................41
The Power of Something for Free......................................................................................................42
HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD: YOUR CHECKLIST! ............................. 44
Summary of Business Notions ...............................................................................................................46
THE THREE BLACK BOXES OF BUSINESS ............................................................... 47
The First Black Box................................................................................................................................47
How to Generate Endless Suspects....................................................................................................47
Do What Other People Don’t Do! .....................................................................................................48
“I work for the best widget maker in Australia” .................................................................48
The Three Vital Questions.................................................................................................................48
Test and Measure...............................................................................................................................49
Referrals ............................................................................................................................................49
What System Do You Have in Your Business to Generate Referrals? ........................49
The Second Black Box ...........................................................................................................................50
Use a System .....................................................................................................................................51
A Word About Motivating People.....................................................................................................51
The Third Black Box ..............................................................................................................................52
Get Their Details! ..............................................................................................................................53
Overcoming the Junk Mail Negative .................................................................................................53
The Referral Loop..............................................................................................................................53
The Missed Opportunity Loop...........................................................................................................54
The Ignored Fourth Black Box...............................................................................................................54
Double your business.........................................................................................................................55
What’s in a Business Plan?................................................................................................................55
THE LOYALTY LADDER ............................................................................................... 57
2
How to Generate an Avalanche
of New Customers & Clients!
Creating an endless supply of new
customers, clients or patients for your business
1) What are the critical requirements for a successful business? The
capital… but that’s comparatively easy to get… particularly if you
have a properly researched and carefully prepared business plan.
It therefore all boils down to one simple business maxim or
Business Notion … Business Notions are simple, practical
commonsense ideas that I’ve found over the years apply to almost
every business situation. I reckon it’s worth making a mental note
of them. You’ll find all of the Business Notions I’ll talk about at the
end of this workbook.
2) BN – Do what others don’t do
3) There are three black boxes that any business owner or manager
should concentrate on.
The first black box contains a device to generate an endless supply
of new customers, clients, patients, patrons, guests or whatever
they are called in your business… that’s what we will be talking
about in this teleseminar.
The second black box contains a device to sell your product or
service to maximise the value of that sale.
And the third black box contains a device to build and maintain
the lifetime relationship.
Now this TeleSeminar is all about creating the first of those black
boxes… the device to generate an endless supply of new
customers, clients, patients or whatever you call them.
People who have a need for your product or service but haven’t
done business with you yet because they don’t know about you
are called “suspects”.
“Prospects” are suspects who have found out about you through
your marketing.
Better still, “qualified prospects” are those that know about you
and really want your product or service and have the time to make
a decision to buy now, the money to afford the product or service
and the authority to make the decision to buy.
3
If people don’t know who you are, what you’ve got, where you are
or why they should buy from you… and, if they don’t know about
you, how the heck can you hope that they will buy from you?
That’s the single, biggest problem for many businesses... they are
such well kept secrets that people, particularly good prospects,
just don’t know about them.
By the way, let’s talk about the difference between business-tobusiness and retail (or domestic) for just a moment. There’s no
difference because, in both cases, the decision is made by a
person not a business.
And what about the person that says “I’ve already got too many
customers”? Well the answer is really quite simple…put your
prices up (and remember it’s quality not quantity you want so
always measure results so that if you get less business but more
profit, you keep on doing it – eg for the same product or service, 8
sales at $200 profit will always beat 10 sales at $150 profit).
4) Here’s another BN – Be a better marketer of what you do than
doer of what you do
5) Because if you generate prospects (the first black box) who buy,
make and maximise the value of the sale (the second black box)
and lock them in for life and keep them coming back (the third
black box) you’ll have a very successful business. That will put
you on the beaches while there is still sand in the hourglass of
your life.
These are proven solutions that will work for any business… you
may have to twist them or manipulate them to suit but they will
work. Don’t say they won’t because that’s a self fulfilling prophecy
(Henry Ford).
The only difference between a big business and a small business
is that big businesses have more money and more people to stuff
it up quicker than small businesses.
6) So let’s get down to business of generating new prospects. The
usual approach is to sit around and wait on the assumption that
if you have a better mouse trap the world will beat a path to your
door.
Or you could go out and knock on doors where you’ll get lots of
knock backs but some will say “yes.” But knock backs are
discouraging and there must be a better way… and there are lots
of better ways, which we call “marketing.”
One important point… we have to assume that your product or
service can deliver on the promises you make for it (if its a shonky
4
product or your business is shonky you’ll never be successful no
matter what results you may get in the short term).
And equally importantly that there is a need or, better still a want,
for your product. Coz people buy what they want rather than what
they need (they all need financial planning but they don’t want it…
what they want is to make sure the tax boys don’t get their greedy
hands on their hard earned money!).
5
Two Critical Marketing Questions
They are without doubt the most important questions you can ask
yourself about your business… surprisingly few people in
business either ask them or know the answers as far as their
business is concerned. Know the answers to these questions and,
more importantly, act on them and your business will succeed
beyond your wildest dreams!
The first critical question: Who is your ideal prospect? If the
ideal one walked in the door what would they look like? (By the
way if you sell to businesses, you need to answer this question in
two bites. Firstly the ideal company for you to have as a dream
prospect and, secondly, the ideal decision maker in that
company).
What is the prospect’s demographic characteristics (from the
Greek demos = people, graphics = numbers)? In other words, who
are they? Although their name might not be known, what do you
know about them, their lives and what they do?
What is the prospect’s psychographic characteristics (from the
Greek psycho = the mind, graphics = numbers)? In other words,
how do they think? What are their needs and wants, desires and
aspirations, problems and solutions, what do they know about
your products and services, about you and your competitors and
how do they feel about them?
To really understand a prospect you’ve really got to know heaps
about them. Firstly, it’s the things that are statistically
measurable about them, the demographics. Then you have to
know how they think and feel and those are their psychographic
characteristics.
On the next page is a Checklist to help you zero in on the ideal
prospect for you… people with want, the money and an itch or
reason to do business with you.
So, start thinking about your ideal prospect and go ahead and
complete it. Its probably the most important thing you’ll ever do!
6
Know who your prospects are and what they think!
CORPORATE –
(“WHO ARE THEY”)
About the company/organisation
Size?
Expanding?
Products?
Location?
Turnover?
Market?
Profit?
Competition?
Decision-maker?
Staff numbers?
PSYCHOGRAPHIC
(“HOW THEY THINK”)
Generally
What are their concerns?
What do they want from business?
What makes them feel good?
What’s their biggest problem?
What are the priorities for money?
What are their other problems?
What do they want for themselves?
About your service
Do they really want it?
What are their concerns?
Do they really need it?
What problems does it answer?
Is it something they love?
Where does it rate in their thinking?
Will it make them feel good?
What will it do for them?
7
About you and your competition
You
What do they like about?
What do they dislike about?
Why would they choose?
How do they perceive?
Why would they buy?
What is unique and special about?
DEMOGRAPHIC
(“HOW THEY MEASURE UP”)
Age range?
Manages the business?
Sex?
Car (Make/year)?
Marital?
Hobbies/Interests?
Children?
Ages?
Sports?
Education level?
Holidays where?
Schooling?
Company?
Job/Title/?
Industry?
Professional/White collar/blue?
Products?
Income?
Reads what newspaper?
Home & Mortgage?
Reads what magazines?
Area/suburb/town?
Listens to what radio stations?
Owns the business?
Watches what television programs?
Works in the business?
Belongs to Clubs/Associations?
8
Your Competition
SUMMING THEM UP:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
Congratulations! Now that you’ve done that you should have a pretty
good idea of your ideal prospect. Knowing this will help you fashion
your product or service to deliver what they need. When you know this
about your prospects you can exceed their expectations. You’ll be
incredibly successful.
9
Two Critical Marketing Questions (continued)
The second critical question: (And I first heard this from a
marketing legend called Dan Kennedy) Why should the ideal prospect
choose to do business with you rather than your competitors, doing it
themselves, or doing nothing?
What is your unique selling proposition? Why is it better, easier, nicer,
simpler, more effective, more profitable or whatever for that ideal
prospect to do business with you?
What sets you apart or differentiates your business from your
competitors either because your competitors don’t do some of the
things you do or they do them but make the mistake of thinking that
everybody knows about it and therefore don’t highlight it to prospects.
It means that you can differentiate your business with a guarantee,
your range, your experience, your expertise, your team members, your
quality, your service, your exclusiveness, your satisfied customers,
clients and patients, your owner operated status, your membership of
a group, your hours, your location, your speed, your attention to
detail or whatever.
And it’s got to mean something to your prospect, it’s got to solve their
problems, be the answer to what they want and be readily perceived
by them to do that… it’s got to have a WIIFM for them.
It’s important to know these answers coz you need to know who you
are aiming for and what ammunition you should use to be most
effective.
1) BN – The curse of assumption
2) BN – Use meaningful specifics not meaningless generalities
3) BN – Test and measure… for example, if I produced an advert that
cost you $200 and, each time you ran it, it generated $2,000
worth of profits how often would you run it?
4) You and your team members must always ask new prospects how
they found out about you. And when you do find a device that
generates prospects who are converted to profitable sales… keep
on using it until it ceases to work. You may use it for ever.
10
Methods you can use to generate that avalanche of new
prospects
1) Media advertising (press, radio, television) and, just as you
suspected, one of the ways to generate prospects for any business
is to use what we call mainstream advertising… press, radio and
television…and many people are convinced that its the only way,
which frankly is absolute rubbish as you’ll find out.
So we need to spend a bit of time talking about advertising, but
before we do, can I ask you to think about the advertising you’ve
done in the past?
How successful was it? Did it generate an avalanche of prospects
all itching to buy?
What about these other ways of advertising that could maybe
more cost effective and prospect productive for you.
2) Billboards and other outdoor advertising
3) Cinema screen advertising
4) Yellow Pages and other directories
5) Web sites and e-mail (electronic commerce)
6) Direct marketing
7) Telemarketing
8) Letter box dropping with brochures, leaflets and catalogues
9) Sponsorship and donations
10) Trade shows, exhibitions and expos
11) Cold calling
12) Personal marketing (and networking)
13) Business cards
14) Talks and speeches
15) Articles and advertorials
16) Publicity and P.R.
17) Promotions
18) Team (and family) marketing
19) Referrals, endorsements and recommendations
20) Not forgetting database marketing to your existing customers,
clients and patients
11
Where Success Comes From
When it comes to generating prospects for your business let me tell
you where the money is… its knowing who your ideal prospect is and
continually zeroing in on them.
When it comes to success, there are four things you must keep in
mind:
Number one is your target market, your ideal prospect.
Number two is the offer you make that prospect that excites
them to do business with you,
Number three is the creative effort you put into getting
through to that prospect, and
Number four is getting the timing right.
Its getting the market right, being able to walk in their shoes, think
like them, hurt like them, have their problems and pains, their joys
and sorrows, their needs and wants but… more importantly…
knowing who they are and how best to reach them.
It’s no use offering water to a drowning man; you need to offer it to a
thirsty man. So it is with your prospect generating efforts. You’ve got
to get to your ideal prospect, your target market… the correct
audience.
A ho hum offer expressed with little creative ingenuity to the right
prospects will always produce results but the most fantastic offer
delivered in the most creative fashion to the wrong prospects will
never work.
12
1. Mainstream media advertising (press, radio, television)
For a simple press advertisement. Remember these rules:
(1) The headline is 80% of the impact and deserves 80% of your
time
(2) Positive headline works better than a negative one
(3) The body copy should amplify and explain the headline
(4) Maybe 3-4 paragraphs typically of 2-3 sentences each of 1015 words
(5) It should lure or persuade the reader to read on
(6) Have the reader identify with what’s being said because its
pitched at their self interest
(7) The reader should form the opinion that here is the answer
to their prayers
(8) And the advert should compel them to take action (which
should be easy to do immediately by calling in or writing or
by free phone or free fax or e-mailing or visiting your web
site at any hour )
(9) And have a coupon (you’d be surprised how often used…
months after too)
(10) This is in accord with the AIDA formula
(11) There should be loads of proof of claims made particularly
using testimonials
(12) Where possible the solution being offered should be a cure
not prevention
(13) A photo (or less effectively, an illustration) should be used
where it builds the case being made
(14) Generally one larger photo at the top of the advert with the
headline underneath
(15) All photos should be captioned
(16) Whilst artists love it don’t reverse out of a solid colour
(typically white print on black)
(17) Use serif type fonts for headlines (Times Roman, Courier,
Garamond and Bookman) are typical rather than san serif
type styles (like Helvetica)
(18) Avoid fancy type styles
13
(19) Don’t use all upper case for headlines (follow the rules of
grammar and capitalise beginning of sentences and proper
nouns although capitalising the start of each word seems to
be effective (test and measure different versions of the same
advert)
(20) Headlines don’t have to be short and there’s no truth in the
rumour that long headlines (at least those up to 17 words or
so) don’t work Both “Sore Feet?” and “A Fantastic Idea That
Helps You Make Friends With Your Feet Again” are both
good headlines and you can only determine which is better
by testing and measuring the results
(21) The body copy should be easy to read and, in my opinion,
no less than 10pt (I prefer 12pt) although remember, if the
headline grabs them, they’ll read on and battle small print
and dreadful reproduction to gain the answer to their
prayers
(22) The headline font size should be 2 to 3 times the size of the
body copy font
(23) Low fog… (short sentences, minimum usage of three or
more syllable words, no jargon); switch on “Reading Ease” in
MS Word
(24) Get a 14-16yo to read it… if they can’t understand it, noone can
(25) Your name, address and logo should be at the bottom of the
advertisement (you can out it upside down in Hindustani
and they will still find it if they want what you’ve got)
(26) And, above all, the prospect must see a big fat WIIFM for
them.
(27) Here are some great examples of headlines from my good
friend and copywriting genius Peter Sun created at a
conference off the top of his head… you could easily create
the stories that go with them
•
Here’s how to get the best looking pergola in Brisbane
•
How you can sell 5 Combine Harvesters in 3 days!
•
Here is how you can spend a fun weekend with 38
friends for just $199
•
You’ll never get stuck in the mud with this Yamaha!
•
A $190 tail-light for just $79!
•
How to pay off your 25 year mortgage in 7 years and get
a tax deduction without increasing your repayments.
14
(28) Here’s a great way to check an advert and that’s to give it to
a typical prospect and get their reaction… if they say they
like the advert but don’t ask more about it, forget the
advert… you want them to be really excited and wanting to
know more about the product or service.
One of advertising’s pioneers called advertising
“salesmanship in print”… and that’s what any good advert
ought to be.
15
Mainstream Media (continued)
Radio, Television, Magazines
Frankly I reckon that if you can get your press advert right then
translating it to radio or television is relatively easy if you keep in
mind that what you want to achieve is new prospects for your
business and not winning awards. After all it’s about feeding families
not egos.
1) With radio commercials, ask yourself how long is it since you’ve
heard an advert that’s been so interesting to you, so relevant, so
compelling and indeed so persuasive that you’ve had to write the
phone number or address of the advertiser down (pulling the car
over to a screeching halt, if necessary) or immediately pick up the
phone and ring the advertiser or drop everything and hightail into
their store or at least make a conscious mental note to do
something about what you just heard.
So you couldn’t go far wrong could you if you asked the radio
station to take your print advert and have the right announcer
read it in the right way, asking them to add the appropriate sound
effects to dramatise and underline the message.
The real advantage with radio is that once you have the listener’s
attention you are playing in the best theatre in town… the theatre
of the mind… and the listener will put themselves into the action.
By the way, I’m not a big wrap for jingles. Why? Well, in my
opinion, a great radio commercial is really the advertiser talking
directly to the prospect… following the AIDA formula… and who
sings to people when they are talking to them?
Remember the message is important but even more important is
making sure that you select the right radio station and the right
times to air the commercials… when your prospects are listening
c/f 15yo head bangers with 60+retireds.
Then give it frequency… to make sure it gets heard by your
market and regularity… keep running it (maybe in bursts) until it
doesn’t produce prospects that turn into profitable sales that more
than pays for the advertising.
The real measure of a great radio commercial is when you leave
name/address/phone off and 100’s of anxious prospects ring the
radio station to get your contact details.
Ensure that you make it easy to phone coz of the listeners in cars
with mobiles who have nothing much else to do and will phone
immediately they hear the advert if it appeals to them.
16
2) There’s not too much different for a television commercial.
Should be your press advertisement with extra dimension of vision
and sound.
Forget all the singing and dancing and expensive sets, talent and
production values and think about pulling the message through
with a voice-over reading the message… if its the right message for
the right target at the right time it’ll work sensationally.
So just get whoever is making the commercial to use the pictures
and sound to dramatise the message in the minds of your market.
The same comments about scheduling, frequency and regularity
apply as for radio.
It’s not the money you spend but the results you get and
expensive doesn’t equate to results
By the way if advert doesn’t work first time it’s probably not going
to work… change it.
3) And a final comment on magazine advertising… advantage is
that many are highly targeted and are generally around longer
17
Powerful and Compelling Words & Phrases To Get Attention!
Announcing
Advice
Free*
The secrets of
Sale
You*
New*
Hate
By the way
Now
How to
This
Amazing
How would
5 Ways to
Yes
Save
Here
Breakthrough
How much
Proven*
Protect
Life
The real truth about
Discovery*
Do you
The truth about
Save*
Only
Attention
Bargains
At Last
Sex (or Toothache or…)
Wanted
Good news
Guarantee*
Love*
Money*
Facts you should know
7 Reasons why
Results*
Health*
Easy*
(Words marked with an asterisk are part of the 12 most powerful words in the
language.)
18
Advertising Alternatives
2) Billboards and other outdoor advertising – like buses, seats and
so on. Really must be a compelling headline may be coupled with
an attention getting visual because of limited space and short
exposure… look for action and give a phone number eg restaurant
for truckies or your web address.
3) Cinema slides – think of it as radio with one or more attention
getting pictures (or television if you’re spending on a movie type
advert) and select theatres and movies to match your target
audience
19
Yellow Pages
Now let’s consider a couple of Business Notions that apply not only to
Yellow Pages but all of your marketing and sales activities
BN – People are desperately waiting to be led
BN – People are people
BN – People want reasons why- educate, inform, instruct, give
tips, hints, ideas, illustrations, case histories, suggestions,
examples, demonstrations, statistics, stories are sensational
(mother told us a story), testimonials are terrific (the most
powerful marketing device known to humankind). So, if
that’s what they want… give it to them… plenty of reasons
why, facts and proof as to why they should buy from you!
4) Yellow pages and other directories – are really newspaper
advertisements that are around for much longer. Ask yourself why
do people go to the Yellow Pages? It’s because they’ve decided to
buy and want to find someone to buy from. They’re looking for
information.
And giving them that is pretty easy too! Remember the second of
those two critical marketing questions I asked you earlier?
Why should the ideal prospect choose to do business with you
rather than your competitor, or doing it themselves, or doing
nothing?
Wouldn’t some of those points you have used to differentiate
yourself make a great Yellow Pages advert? Some typical headlines
that work:
If you are looking for widgets here are 5 great reasons to call
Jones Brothers first!
Floor coverings are free!
If you need a lawyer
Warning! Don’t call any picture framer until you read this!
Looking for a great dentist?
Whichever way you look at it, the headline is the most important.
Body copy must amplify and explain… after all they’re looking for
information.
Phone number at bottom… large enough to read easily. Logo and
company name (gut feeling about 10% of advert), address and
sometimes a map helps.
20
Oh and the offer of a free “whatsit” works wonders too (a call to
action).
Spot colour or extra colours aren’t worthwhile and photographs
don’t come up too well either… a line drawing or similar art works
best.
When you get a Yellow Page advert that works (remember test and
measure) you’ll find that doubling the size increases response
about 4 times, but get it right first… a great small advert will
always beat a name, rank and serial type large advert.
All of the other comments about print style and stuff for
newspapers apply (after all, as I’ve already said, just an advert
that last for 12 months) so go back and review those. Whenever
you travel check out adverts for your industry in other directories
21
Electronic Marketing
5) Web sites and e-mail – Firstly, a web site… Decide what’s needed
for your prospects. Apart from their demographics and
psychographics are they computer users, computer literate, where
and what do they use their computer for (and remember more of
the population are increasing computer literacy every day), do they
have broadband and son on.
There are 4 critical questions to think about for your web site:
1) Who do you want to come to your web site?
2) When they come what do they want to see?
3) When they come what do I want them to do? (And the
answer must be to at least leave their e-mail address.
4) How do they find out about my web site?
So, how do you get them there… search engines, links and so on
and promoting the pants off your site in all the other adverts you
do.
When you get them there the rules of good advertising,
particularly press, I’ve talked about apply…quick download, great
headlines, reader focussed copy, easy and quick to view, decide
and act.
Great for selling many things (not only pornography, CD’s, books,
software miracle lotions, potions and pills) but almost any product
or service and giving information. In many ways like a worldwide
yellow pages directory.
If you have a site you have to get people to visit it so promote it
everywhere, get into search engines (test them occasionally).
Keep it updated, current and relevant.
Secondly, e-mail marketing is a bit like direct mail if you
carefully target it to people who are interested in your message
but spam is a big problem as is stacks of unread mail. Spam, like
junk mail, is just stuff your reader doesn’t want to get so make
sure it’s of interest to them.
That means the subject line of your e-mail is just as important as
the headline in an advertisement so spend time making it relevant
to your recipient.
At least start collecting e-mail addresses of customers, clients and
patients and think of it as an alternative to postal direct mail.
22
Getting people to sign up for your e-mail newsletter (hints, tips,
ideas, case histories, other stuff of value to your typical prospect)
can be a prospect generator but recognise the down side
(frequency, topicality, relevance, etc). Always collect names of
website visitors.
BN – The person that owns the database owns the business
BN – Junk mail is only stuff that your prospects don’t want to get.
BN – Life is a passing parade
23
Direct Mail (or direct marketing)
6) This is a prospect generating method that most businesses don’t
exploit… and yet every business should, so let’s share some
secrets of the mail box.
The best prospects are your existing customers, clients and
patients and people who look like them. Out there are a whole lot
of people who look like your existing clients (remember earlier you
got a picture of your ideal prospect in answer to the first critical
marketing question “Who is your ideal prospect? If the ideal one
walked in the door what would they look like?” (And you’ll know
the answers if you’ve completed the Checklist of an Ideal Prospect
in this Workbook.)
How many people… suspects… do you think there are like you’ve
described there within x kms of your office?
So you know who you want as prospects, its just that you don’t
know their name or where they are. You could get a list of people
who fit the description, for example… yellow pages, business
directories, parent’s list, service club members, non-competitor’s
customer list.
You could hire a list from a list broker… you’ll only get labels or
other one time use media coz you don’t own those names as they
have only been hired; however you do own the names of people
who respond.
You could create your own list with a competition. For example
one with radio or newspaper… Win a free 21st birthday party if
you are having a 21st this year (radio- for a reception house or
caterer) … Planning to renovate your home…? (Newspaper- for a
builder or renovator).
The advantage of a list you create is that you can put it on your
computer and establish your database. Don’t wait till you’ve got
everything you think you could possibly need… start with name
(first name, initials and surname), postal address phone number
and e-mail address… and remember names and addresses are
gold
So now you have a list of prospects what are you going to send
them? Don’t send them junk, send them something that has a
chance of being of interest to them and you know that because
you know the psychographics of the ideal prospect… how they
think… don’t you and send it in an interesting way too. So here
are some pointers
• Forget what your English teacher taught you
24
• Personalise always and if you can’t what to do (not sir/madam)
• Not “dear” but “good morning” or “hello”
• Get their attention… how… the rules of writing a press advert
apply here too
• The headline is 80% of the effectiveness… if they don’t read it
you’ve wasted the letter (sometimes put headline in a Johnson
box)
• Write letters like you would say them
• A letter is you talking to your prospect one-to-one, really its
salesmanship in print
• So have a picture of your ideal prospect in your mind’s eye as
you write the letter
• The body of the letter should amplify and explain the headline
and tell the whole story in easy readable style
• It should intrigue, excite, enthral but above all maintain
interest, be sincere and compel action
• Always ensure you answer the prospect’s question… WIIFM?
• The letter should look good on the page
• Same rules for print fonts apply as press (Times-Roman or
bookman for headlines) and use serif for body copy too (lots of
great copywriters swear by Courier)
• Font sizes-headline 16pt centred bold, body copy same font 1012pt LH justified with ragged RH margins
• Now here’s some ideas about layout:
(a) Use indentation (particularly first word of the
paragraph ),
(b) Both sides justified in some places,
(c) Single line or one sentence paras,
(d) Double space between paras,
(e) Bullets, boxes (sensational) or numbering,
(f) Italics, bold type and underlining,
25
(g) Comments in quotation marks and actual dialogue
work well
(h) Add handwritten comments
(i) Don’t end the page with a complete sentence
(j) Add at bottom of page “Please go to page x”
• As for press the letter should follow the AIDA formula
• Signature panel on RHS and not “yours faithfully” or “yours
truly” and
• Personally signed (or look like it) in blue ink
• A letter has an extra powerful element… the PS… spend time
getting it right coz… explain and last impressions linger
• PS should succinctly summarise the key benefit and why the
reader should act now
• Low fog (short sentences, minimum usage of three or more
syllable words, no jargon, some short paragraphs)
• Get a 14-16yo to read it to see whether it is understood
• Length just long enough to do the job.
Above all
• Make sure you tell the reader what you want them to do (a
call to action) and
• Make it easy for them to act (toll frees, web sites, e-mail
answering machines, credit cards, payment options, act
anytime day or night
• Reward prompt action by bonus or similar
• Free gifts and premiums.
Giving a guarantee (the stronger, the better… like double money
back) increases response and demonstrating and proving your
claims with genuine, believable testimonials is paramount.
Remember the list of Powerful & Compelling Words and Phrases in
this Workbook.
26
Don’t use hackneyed phrases (“Enclosed herewith”, “please find”,
“In response to”, “I am writing to say”), clichés or industry jargon
(unless you are sure the recipient understands).
Read it aloud to see how it sounds. Great way to do a sales letter
is to record what you say when you are selling someone face-toface and transcribe it.
Of course you have to get the letter opened so getting it into the A
pile (what they want to read) rather than the B pile (what they
don’t want to read) is critical. The personal mail characteristicshand addressed, plain envelope, stamp, a bulge in it (unless it
ticks or exudes white powder) and, to get it opened even quicker,
posted from overseas or
Not a big wrap for teaser copy on envelope although you can test
and measure lines like… private, confidential, personal, immediate
reply requested, etc.
So, some examples…
Dollar coin (“Use this bright, shiny dollar to get all the petrol
you’ll need to drive the extra distance to our store to save big
money”)
Bank note (“Now you’ve opened this letter you are already making
money or This is a deposit on 20 minutes of your time… if you
think I’ve wasted it after we talk, I’ll give you the balance”)
Headache tablets (“Are manufacturing delays giving you a
headache? The first way to cure your headache is to take these,
the second is to...”)
Tea or coffee bag (“Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, sit down
and take a moment to read this letter”)
Scratchy or lottery ticket (“There are two ways you can make
big money, here is one. Let me tell you about the other or See!
Already your luck has changed!”)
Computer chip (“This tiny chip is a microprocessor capable of
handling thousands of transactions accurately every second. Don’t
you wish you could get staff like that?”)
My favourite is the soap letter (“You don’t know me from a bar of
soap so here is the soap”).
Don’t forget unusual mailing shapes… mailing tube, jiffy bag…
and enclosures… article, chocolates (beware hot weather), sweets
(pythons), hand puppet and messenger or courier delivery.
27
A yellow ‘Post-it’ note works really well. If it comes from someone
they know…
Piggyback mailing /endorsed mailing /third party mailing.
By the way you can try postcards too…
• Not often used
• Have urgency about them
• Can be large, oversize
• Can be colourful
• Often saving on mailing cost.
Don’t just mail once but follow up, couple of weeks after, with a
second letter (Enclose a copy and start… “Here is a copy of what I
sent you last week. As I haven’t heard from you I am writing to tell
you that the offer is still open. You will make big savings if you
hurry”). Then a third letter (“This is my final offer or Jeez, you
must be busy or…”) often get 50% or more of the response of
original mailing response.
Test mail to get the timing right (business people don’t generally
want this sort of mail on Thurs or Fri) and see how long delivery
takes.
Try different times (seasons, activities and think about the
prospect’s activities not yours).
And what sort of response can you expect… existing clients 520%, people like them you don’t know 3-5% and people you don’t
really know 0-3%.
But its not quantity its quality, not numbers but dollar sales. Its
testing, measuring and improving (phoning non-respondents to
find out why is rewarding)
Frankly for most about 40 letters a week would give you the
business wanted.
When all said and done it depends not on offer or creativity but
the target market, the list, the people to whom you mail. When
you’ve found them and they respond keep on mailing them and
perhaps take a loss on first mailing to win a lifetime client.
Now there is a magical ingredient we can add to our mailings... the
FPF… the fabulous phone factor…
28
Telemarketing
7) When used in conjunction with your mailings can increase
response up to 6-10 times [existing clients from 5-20% up to 30200%, people like them from 3-5% to18-50% and people you don’t
really know from 0-3% to 0-30%]. You phone two or three days
after you mail the letter… not weeks later!
Telemarketing can be either outbound (when you originate the call
as a follow up say to a letter) or in-bound (when the prospect
initiates the call as a result of your marketing efforts).
So let’s do some outbound telemarketing to follow up the letters
you’ve mailed to prospects. You need a good telemarketer or client
service officer or relationship manager or Director of Client
Relations or… and something for them to say. So how do you get
the right telemarketer? Run an advert to get someone that doesn’t
look good necessarily but sounds good. Then create a good script
to stick to and PRD until its right… then modify with trial and
error, test and measure.
Much the same applies to in-bound telemarketing where the
prospect is initiating the contact… example you have offered a free
report in an advert headlined “5 Incredibly Dumb Things Most
People Do When Redecorating Their Homes”
29
Other Methods
8) There’s a lot of Letter box – dropping with brochures, leaflets and
catalogues currently so advertisers think that it works but there’s
lots of competition too.
Remember its still advertising so AIDA and all the advertising tips
apply but its less targeted although you can target by
socioeconomic boundaries etc Bureau of Statistics (Aust) or Dept
(NZ) of Statistics can give valuable info and assistance.
The real key here is getting it read so make it unusual (heavier
stock), different (post card, larger or envelope), bulbous (frig
magnet), interesting (info quality), actionable (great or free offers),
retainable (by durability of information).
Frankly I’d rather use the Post Office bulk householder or bulk
business delivery or at least letter box drop immediately after the
postal delivery.
Test and measure (plot responses by area) and, because of the
passing parade, drop in more responsive areas more often, even
the same dropper.
Response is typically <1% (includes those who complain).
9) When it comes to Sponsorship and donations – you must
determine why you are doing it. If it’s because it’s an personal
interest or a pet cause maybe do it for the feel good factor and the
tax deduction.
Frankly you can’t afford to be like the big companies with money
to burn so, if you are doing it for sound business reasons, you’ve
got to make sure that you get business from it.
An arty farty platitudinous freebie advert in a program or
catalogue doesn’t do much.
Banners, naming rights and such like are a waste of money, so if
its impractical to get names (like footie crowds) do high visibility
handouts, offers, vouchers, giveaways and coupons.
Test and measure… would this money spent on some other
activity give better results… feeding families not egos.
10) Trade shows, exhibitions and expos – are either good ways to get
prospects or an abject waste of time depending on how and why
you go about it. Ask these questions
• Who is my ideal prospect?
• Will they attend this trade show, exhibition or expo?
30
• If yes, will I be able to attract their attention to my stand?
• And, if so, what do I want my team to do?
(a) Get their names and details for post show follow up?
(b) Sell them at the show?
(c) Just build a relationship with likely prospects?
• Will they be able to do this as well as renew acquaintances with
existing clients who will want our time and cannot be ignored?
If you are confident that there is value in the show then how are
you going to attract the right prospects to the stand, what will
your people have to do and how will they do it and how will you
get rid of time wasters and non-prospects?
How will you sell them or collect their name and address details
(for example, lots of companies have barrels to win and gets lots of
non prospects so you have to have some qualifying question or
hurdle and offer info or stuff only interested prospects would
want).
Follow up after the show is crucial… letter then phone call, letter
or phone call then letter then phone call or substitute e-mail for
the letter.
Pre-show activities are rewarding… invite prospects known or
from a database, reward them for coming, be able to identify them
(hence the reward).
By the way, booths in shopping centres are great for getting to
retail clients… ask yourself the same questions as above … the
most important
• How do we get the attention of the right prospects?
• What are we wanting to do?
• How do we get their details?
The stand must flag the right people down, get them to stop and
have them “warm” for the sales person to talk to… the sales
person must have a powerful “opening gambit”.
BN – Pursue prospects passionately and politely until they buy or die!
BN – Sales people are probably the worst people to follow up prospects
that have enquired and not bought (coz they make assumptions
about who will but based on purely subjective issues).
31
Dumb Way
11) Cold calling – means knocking on doors or ringing names out of
the phone directory and hoping to find someone who wants to
buy. Because you know the options discussed here, you never
cold call.
Warm prospects up first… so find a list of prospects, start with a
preliminary letter then follow up with a phone call or, not as
effectively, an e-mail (Some may use a phone call first or an email, but I’m not a fan)… maybe another letter, another phone
call, another e-mail. It’s a bit like catching and landing a fish …
tease them with t bait first and, when they take it, carefully play
them in. Offering them something (gift, sample, free trial, booklet,
etc) works gangbusters.
32
Marketing in Person
12) Now what we mean by Personal marketing (and networking) is
getting out there with the sort of people with whom your clients,
customers and patients associate and meeting and mixing with
them because people like your prospects will be there too.
When you do meet them and they ask what you do you’ve got to
be able to explain exactly and concisely in a way that makes them
say “Wow, that’s interesting. Tell me more.” (“I’m a small business
expert and I’ve developed an incredible way to double and
sometimes treble business profits” or “I am one of the few
builders who can complete a contract on time or give you the
building for free”)
Don’t forget to highlight your expertise, uniqueness, speciality, etc
without being a boor. Practice, practice, practice.
The 20 seconds in the lift technique (one-to-one) or introducing
yourself at a service club meeting (to a group are ways of getting
people to want to know more about what you can do.. Tips
• Don’t try and sell them on the spot
• Its about starting a relationship
• Always exchange business cards
• Drop them a brief note afterward
• Don’t assume that they want what you’ve got now
• Put them on your database
• Stay in touch
• Remember the passing parade
33
The Most Important Marketing Tool
13) Business cards -In your marketing armoury nothing is more
important than your business card. After your smile, greeting and
handshake its part of the formalities you exchange on meeting
someone that will help determine the first impression they have of
you. Yet, to my astonishment, I often come across people who
either do not carry their business card or have ones that do them
a disservice.
So here are some simple rules to observe about business cards:
1. Always carry them with you everywhere- you meet people with
whom you may wish to establish a business relationship
everywhere you go so just because you're relaxing by the pool or
walking through the supermarket doesn't mean you shouldn’t
be carrying your cards.
2. Make sure everyone in your office has a card- the cheapest
marketing material you will ever have is the business cards you
give to your team so that whenever they meet people they can
pass on a card that may bring them into your business.
3. Train your team so that they know how to use them- they
should proffer a card to everyone they meet particularly after
they’ve been asked the question “where do you work?” to which
they must answer “I work for the best widget dealer in town…
let me give you my card.”
4. Proffer cards with a flourish… not an outlandish one… but with
some theatre so that people know that your cards are of value.
Produce them for a silver card holder, for example, rather than
fumbling through your pocket or purse for one.
5. Accept other people’s cards with respect so that they know you
are interested in them, their card and value it (even if you are
going to dump it later!).
6. Have a card that is memorable- most business cards are boring
and bland and they never deserve a second look so it's
important that you incorporate a memorability factor into your
card.
And here’s how to have a great looking, memorable business card:
1) Your name should be the most important feature of the card…
companies don’t build relationships, people do.
34
2) That means your company name and logo are secondary to
your own name so make sure your name is more prominent in
the natural centre of eye gravity of the card.
3) For maximum comprehension your name should printed using
a serif typestyle (times roman or bookman, for example) with
only the first letter of each element of your name in upper case,
never all (like this Theresa Smith not THERESA SMITH).
4) Never use a bland title like Manager, Partner, Consultant or
Sales Executive because these rate low on the memorability
scale. If you are good at what you do (and, if you’re not, why
are you doing the job) you should tell people.
5) So chose a title that uses a word that implies expertise like
authority, expert, wizard, doyen, genius, specialist, legend or
guru. You could be an insurance expert, a customer service
wizard, a mortgage expert or even, dare I say it, a marketing
guru!
6) More than half your market probably need glasses to read so
don’t use small type that makes them go looking for their
glasses because, by the time they’ve found them, they’ll have
forgotten why they went for them.
7) That means then next most important elements, your phone
number, e-mail address and web site, should be in at least 12
point type (and please no difficult e-mail addresses with full
stops, underscores and other fiddly, hard to read bits.)
8) When it comes to phone numbers less is more so don’t have
business, mobile and after hours. Where possible have one
number where people can generally get you or that has a redirect facility. Forget the fax number unless its vitally
important to your business and new prospects have
unquenchable urges to fax you immediately.
9) Now you can add that which normally dominates business
cards… your company name and logo… preferably down the
bottom of the card. Remember, nobody cares about your
company until they know what you can do for them.
10) Personally I’m not a big wrap for photos on cards but if you
believe that your countenance is irresistible or it will aid their
memory go ahead and put it on. Frankly, my photo would not
assist me… who would want do deal with someone that looks
like me?
11) You may want to have a statement that really succinctly and
simply summarises you business. For example, my card reads
“Ideas and inspiration to make you say WOW!” frankly, it’s not
necessary if you get your title right (see 5 above).
35
12) If it’s appropriate, maybe have a free offer on the back and
draw their attention to it (like a bar owner’s card may say
“Your first drink is on us.”)
13) Now give it to your designer and get them to make it look
pretty without breaking these rules. Remember we want our
card to help us feed families not egos.
14) Resist the urge to design and print your own card on your
computer. They always look like they’ve been done on the
cheap and create a negative perception of you. Keep our artists
and printers employed… use their skills and talents!
So there we are then. A few simple ideas that will make your business
card work gangbusters for you. That’s assuming, of course, that you
have one to give to every one you meet because business cards stuck
in desk drawers or left on the bedside table guarantee that you’ll have
skinny kids.
36
If You Have Courage!
14) Talks and speeches – are one of the best ways of getting business
because, if you do right it, makes you the expert and people like to
deal with experts. Some things to think about –
• Where (target the right market)?
• Good speakers are made not borne (practise, practise, practise)
• What to say, how to say it (maybe get an expert to write it for
you) and what do you want them to do?
• How to get good (practise and get an expert to coach you),
• How you get interested prospects’ names
• And an extension of the concept of you delivering a personal
speech are seminars and workshops (where you and/or other
experts present the info)
• These can either be stupendously successful or a downright
disaster coz most people overlook the critical factor of getting the
people there!
• This is dealt with in detail on my audio cassette program The
Secrets of Successful Seminars but briefly here’s what makes a
successful seminar:
• Getting the audience there is 40%,
• The venue and props is 15%,
• The presenter and presentation is 15%, and
• The follow up is 30%.
• Example of article in paper about radical new weight loss device
surgically implanted to be explained at a seminar which is full
days before… prospects want it so they don’t care how good the
speaker or the venue is but if the seminar does a good job then
the follow up is critical.
37
More Miscellaneous Methods
15) Articles and advertorials – some tips • Get the right publication,
• Get it written to suit interests of the readers (maybe done by a
professional… why not contemplate using a ghost writer?),
• Make sure you get the right credit (“Fred Nurk is an expert in
revolutionary methods of retooling manufacturing companies to
slash staff numbers and plant down-time. He may be contacted
on… and his web site is…). My articles in accountants’ journals
generated me heaps of business.
16) Publicity and P.R. – It’s a lousy job looking for news, so if you
generate your own newsworthy releases for the right publications
they love you.
Whenever your business does something of interest (wins an
award, gets new equipment, wins a contract, someone retires,
sponsors something, etc) do a press release. Bear in mind
topicality and seasonality (back to school, summer, political
events, world happenings).
Look for opportunities to become the expert… conduct sidewalk
surveys or client surveys. [Accountant may poll clients and
announce that 53% of local business people surveyed expect this
year to be better than last (for the local papers), an engineering
practice may survey property managers to get feelings on new
building starts (for engineering/ property journal)].
Send a press release and, wherever possible, an interesting
photograph suitably labelled.
17) Promotions – can be anything from count the beans in a bottle to
a blow up roof balloon to local football club sausage sizzle outside
to skydivers to prettiest baby photos to new model launch to
project completion celebrations.
Keys are who do you want to impact and what do you want to
achieve?
Remember the hierarchy of interest if you want to get people,
particularly the press, interested… little kids, animals, attractive
people especially young big bosomed women not wearing a bra
who have just been through a car wash… don’t blame me for
being a chauvinist I’m just telling you what works
38
This Way Is Often Forgotten!
18) Team (and family) marketing – When answering the question
“What do you do” and “Who do you work for?” team members
should respond “I work for the best widget manufacturer,
pharmacist, restaurant, physiotherapist, bank in this town, state,
country.”
When asked “Who’s that?” they should reply “Its Bill Blogg’s
Enterprises, let me tell you why.”
Must be practised, rehearsed and drilled so write it down for them
and create a script.
Then they must faultlessly, flawlessly and confidently give several
reasons why so that they have the person saying “Wow! That’s
fascinating…” Make sure all team members know those reasons.
Examples
• Might not want to do business if they’re looking for “Cheap”
•
Guarantees that have real teeth
• Hundreds of testimonials from satisfied clients, etc.
And, thinking of personal marketing, think about your family and
what should your spouse, partner or children say about you and
your business when people ask?
39
The Best Way
19) Referrals, endorsements and recommendations – here are some
quick tips because 80-92% of new business comes from it.
Reward for referrals
Always ask every person who buys
Make them say WOW! (So that they talk about you; what do
you do to make their dealing with you memorable?)
Have a system to ask your database for referrals regularly
40
Easy Marketing
20) Not forgetting marketing to your database of existing customers,
clients and patients using the techniques mentioned earlier and
really exploiting the gold that is buried in your existing customers,
clients and patients and locking them in for life.
So that’s the low down on the methods you can use to generate an
avalanche of new prospects. You may find that just one of them will
work so well for you that it’s all you need. On the other hand you may
need to use a number of them to get the results you want… the
important thing is test and measure then improve… the Japanese call
it kaisan.
41
The Power of Something for Free
In my opinion one of the best ways to tackle getting those prospects to
put their hand up and tell you that they are interested in doing
business with you is to offer them something for free or at an
unbelievably good price. But it must be perceived to be of value…
you can’t try to offer them cheap stuff that looks cheap or is worth
nothing.
What you offer could be a report, an audio tape, a video tape, a
brochure, a newsletter, a recorded message, participate in research,
an audit, a consultation, an assessment, a seminar or workshop, a
free trial, a sampling, a gift or reward and you sheet the offer home to
your prospect by using one of the methods we have discussed here.
Let’s have some examples:
• A manufacturer could bring in a world expert and present a
seminar with a direct mail invitation getting prospect names
from a list which is carefully screened and checked
• A car dealer could buy a list of dentists and write a personal
letter offering them a brand new prestige car for a half
day…with a picnic hamper on the back seat because he realises
dentists are not appreciated
• A real estate agent could offer a free report on “5 jealously
guarded secrets to get thousands of dollars more for your home”
using a postcard that is regularly dropped
• A carpet retailer could get article in paper about the huge
container load of carpets that cannot fit into shop and is
therefore forced to takeover the town hall for a huge
manufacturer’s clearance at the weekend
• A restaurant could run radio competition for a person to win
dinner for ten and follow up all the entrants with a letter
consoling them on losing and giving them a free main course
• An engineering practice could arrange for a firm of lawyers to
write and offer their business clients an preliminary
Environmental Audit valued at $250 as a gift because it is so
vitally important to have done (engineers in turn could invite all
their clients to a seminar to hear these crack lawyers talk about
“Bullet proofing your business… 5 things your bank manager is
sworn to secrecy about”)
• A physiotherapist could have a shopping centre display and
have stunning assistants in skimpy gear give out free first
consultation cards
42
• The owner of panel beating shop could talk at local service club
on “How to make your car instantly worth thousands of dollars
more than other identical cars” and gives away vouchers for a
free 43 point car detail
• A Holiday park operator could offer free 3 day holiday as part of
market research and promote it in both local and distant
newspapers
• An Investment planner could take a very small advertisement to
promote free recorded message explaining the secrets of “5 ways
to instantly increase your return on fixed interest investments”
• A Home renovation company could promote business in yellow
pages with advert headlined “Your renovations completed on
time or you’ll stay in a 5 star hotel at our expense till they are!”
and then give 7 rock solid detailed reasons they can confidently
make this offer
• A Local service station could get article in paper reporting that
they will be offering free petrol for one hour in a week’s time
• A veterinary surgeon could be featured in local paper (who
received an anonymous phone tip about the happening)
because he’s had the first case of a snake(or spider or tick)
bitten dog this season and recommends that pet owners pick up
a free copy of his “What to do to save your pet’s life if its bitten
by a creepy crawly or a sinister slitherer”
And remember, the 6 P’s… PPPPPP… Proper Planning Prevents Pretty
Poor Performance.
43
How to stand out from the crowd: Your checklist!
…
Decide your title and get used to using it.
…
Summarize what you do it in a dramatic and compelling sentence
that takes no more than 15 seconds so that people say “Tell me
how do you do that?”
…
Look like the expert (self image, personal image, tools and
accoutrements).
…
Sound like the expert (master the skill of communicating
interesting information in an interesting way).
…
Get your own Personal Assistant as soon as possible. (Ensure
that they know what to say about you and their role.)
…
Establish at least 5 reasons why prospects should do business
with you. (What is unique special and different about you?)
…
Join, attend and get involved in a Service Club or other
community organisation.
…
Create and keep building your collection of testimonials.
…
Produce your personal introduction brochure.
…
Prepare your Special Report.
…
Prepare your FAQ leaflet.
…
Record your audiotape.
…
Put together your Personal Introduction Pack.
…
Get your web site up and going
…
Prepare your standard letters, scripts and checklist.
…
Prepare your prospect generation devices.
…
Create your database.
…
Introduce yourself to your database.
…
Stay in touch with your database (at least 6 times each year).
…
Remember the special days in the lives of your database.
…
Establish your “thank you” and “recognition” systems.
…
Create and regularly use your referral system.
…
Prepare and get published a series of interesting articles.
…
Write and send your e-zine to your database regularly.
44
…
Regularly conduct your ‘Sidewalk Survey’ or ‘Pavement Poll.’
…
Practise, rehearse and present your talk.
…
Devise unique and different add-on services and products to
differentiate you.
45
Summary of Business Notions
; Do what others don’t do
; Be a better marketer of what you do than doer of what you do
; Beware of the curse of assumption
; Use meaningful specifics not meaningless generalities
; Test and measure
; People are desperately waiting to be led
; People are people
; People want reasons why they should buy from you!
; The person that owns the database owns the business
; Junk mail is only stuff that your prospects don’t want to get
; Life is a passing parade
; Pursue prospects passionately and politely until they buy or die!
; Sales people are probably the worst people to follow up prospects
who have enquired and not bought… why
46
The Three Black Boxes of Business
There are three black boxes which you must have in your business to
ensure that it performs to its maximum potential and wrings out the
profits you need to fund your dreams so that you can retire
prematurely to the beaches of the world whilst there is still sand in
the hour glass of your life.
Create these three boxes and your business will function on autopilot
allowing you to achieve that result.
So let me ask you. What is the most important thing you need coming
into your business, day-after-day? Well, of course, its “suspects”--people you suspect may be interested in buying your product or
service because, without them, the business has nothing.
The First Black Box
The first black box must therefore be a device to generate an
endless supply of suspects. Do you have that in your business? If
you don’t, isn’t that the most critical thing you should create so that
you don’t have to worry about where your future clients, customers or
patients are coming from? What you want is suspects walking into the
business so that you can turn them into prospects (people who need
or want what you have got) and convert them into purchasers of your
product or service so that you get them climbing the Loyalty Ladder.
So, do nothing else until you have devised your black box to generate
that endless supply of lovely juicy suspects.
Now it really is quite simple. Its just that so many people are
frightened away from creating that black box because they think it
involves the horrendous expense of advertising or coming up with way
out marketing ideas. Nothing could be further from the truth.
How to Generate Endless Suspects
The first way to generate an endless supply of suspects is for you and
your team members to become advocates for the business. You should
be so excited and enthusiastic about what your business does that
people will want to know more about the business and, if you tell
enough people about your business, there will be some who buy.
An easy way of doing this is to get your team to respond differently
when asked where they work. You see normally they just say
47
something like “I work for Joe’s widgets” and that doesn’t excite most
people so they reply, “That’s great. Who won the football?”
That means I’ve got to introduce you to a very simple rule...
Do What Other People Don’t Do!
One of the questions that I have for you about your business is,
“What are you doing differently to everybody else?” because, if
you do things differently, you can break out of the rut of being
average. If you’re average people cannot see any reason to choose you
(and, as a result, you’ll achieve the same as your opposition). If you do
things differently they’ll see reasons that they should buy from you.
So getting your team members to do something different is really
worthwhile in this instance. What you want them to say is…
“I work for the best widget maker in Australia”
and, when they say that, the other person will no doubt respond,
“Who’s that?” That means your team member has a chance to talk
about your business and explain what you do, who needs what you do
and so on. Often it results in a suspect who will become a purchaser.
Another way of making sure that you have that black box to generate
an endless supply of prospects is to have an advertisement that really
works for you. Now the problem for most people is that they don’t
know whether their adverts work or not.
The Three Vital Questions
You see you must always ask three important questions when people
come to your business for the first time and they are:
1.
“Tell me how did you find out about us?” (This reveals
whether your advertising is working or not.)
2.
“What are your contact details?” (So that you can follow
them up until they buy or die.)
3.
“How much do you know about widgets?” (Because they’ll
tell you “not much” which gives you an easy way into
establishing your expertise and that’s what people really
buy).
48
Most people run an advertisement until they or their partner are tired
of it and then stop running it although that doesn’t matter because
they really don’t know if it’s working anyway.
When I ask most people how their advertisement worked they
generally respond with “Oh great” but very rarely do they know how
many sales it actually produced.
So here’s another important rule…
Test and Measure
Never change anything in your business, never try anything new,
never run an advertisement unless you measure the results.
That’s why you should always ask people how they found out about
you. When you get an advert that produces real results then you keep
on using it until it doesn’t produce those results.
(By the way, if you really want to know how to create adverts that
work, my audio programs “How to turn your business into a money
making machine” and “The Small Business Toolbox” are both
fantastic investments. Call my office on 61 3 9887 5511 or visit
http://www.bgrowth.com.au to purchase them.)
Referrals
Another hugely important source of an endless supply of suspects is
word of mouth referrals, endorsement or third party
recommendations.
In fact, if you are a retailer, a tradesperson or a manufacturer around
80% of your business should be coming from referrals. On the other
hand, if you are a professional then that figure should zoom up to
92%.
My question is simple--What System Do You Have in Your Business to Generate Referrals?
If you are like most people its luck and only luck. Sure, that will
generate you some referrals but you really need to create reasons and
rewards for people to talk about you lavishly and recommend you
highly. There are some great ways to do that so hunt them down.
(Listening to my audio programs will help you).
49
There are dozens of other devices you can use to generate an endless
supply of suspects. Your first step should be to find those that work
for you and get them working for you, and then you have it… the
black box to generate endless suspects for your business.
The Second Black Box
Okay, so now let’s assume that you are getting copious numbers of
suspects walking into your business. What do you need next? Well,
that’s your second black box--- the device to turn suspects into
sales and maximise the value of each sale.
What is that device? Well generally it is your team members and how
well do they go about converting every enquiry into a sale? Do they
say the right things in the right way to guarantee that the person they
are talking to is excited, delighted and incited to buy? Do they really
care whether they get the sale? Do they have both the arms and
ammunition to get that sale?
Let me ask you a simple question.
Somebody is going to walk into your business and spend $1 million
dollars. Who would you like to handle that sale and I reckon you’ll say
that it has to be you and that’s crazy! It means you are always
chained to the business because you are the one that does it best.
Your answer really should be that any member of your team could do
it because you have trained them in exactly the right way to maximise
the chances of getting the sale.
So how do you make this happen? Well very simply, you take a leaf
out of the McDonalds book and teach your team members what to say
and how to say it. Sure I know it annoys you when you go into
McDonalds and they ask you whether you would “like French fries
with that?” But there is a reason for it… they are maximising the
value of the sale.
In case you think that there is no relevance to you just remember that
McDonalds has created more millionaires than any other business on
the face of this planet by getting mums and dads who own hamburger
stalls to do it the best possible way for the maximum possible profit.
So how do you get your team to do and say the things they need to do
and say?
50
Use a System
You get them to practice, rehearse and drill using checklists and
scripts because that’s the only way. The checklists tell them what to
do and the scripts tell them what to say. Together they are called “a
system.”
You religiously practice, rehearse and drill the team in your systems
at your team meetings until they are word perfect and the way they do
it is natural, easy and relaxed. It becomes “the way we do things
around here”.
Some of your team members are going to resist this sort of training.
Well fight the urge to make them do it! Rather encourage them to seek
employment with an alternative employer who isn’t as committed to
making profits as you are.
A Word About Motivating People
However, also recognise that your team members will only do things if
you can answer the big question WIIFM (that’s what’s in it for me?)
and there are two important rules that you must remember here.
Firstly, what gets measured gets done (in
other words you’ve got to make sure that they
are doing it and ensure that they see you
regularly measuring their progress), and
Secondly, and more importantly, what gets
rewarded gets repeated (if your team members
already get paid for doing whatever they do now
and you want them to do something extra
you’ve got to give them some reason and
incentive to do it).
It’s important to understand that your team want to do the things that
you want them to do but only if they can see that there is a reason
and a reward for so doing. By the way, the reward doesn’t always have
to be monetary. It can be recognition, it can be responsibility or
authority as well as simple rewards like theatre tickets, free meals and
so on.
This second black box is hugely important. What’s the point of driving
stacks of suspects into your business if you don’t convert them into
sales? In fact, many businesses in Australia don’t need more
suspects--- what they really need is the ability to convert more of the
suspects they already get into sales. Maybe your business is like that.
51
Okay, here comes the final black box.
The Third Black Box
Regrettably this is black box that very few businesses in Australia
bother about and that will prove to their detriment in the long run.
You see the third black box is the device to build and maintain the
lifetime relationship and that’s your database.
Your database is the most important resource you own because
business today is all about building and maintaining relationships. As
population growth slows and competition increases you’ve got to aim
to win a bigger share of business from your existing clients,
customers, or patients.
As authors Peppers & Rogers say, “You’ve got to get a bigger share of
your customers rather than of your market.” You can’t afford to win
them only as one-off transactions but you must get them coming back
regularly to buy more, no matter how or long short the lifecycle of
your service or product. And you must get them to do it so
enthusiastically that they’ll bring their friends as well.
So it’s very important that you start creating a database. It doesn’t
matter whether you are a high volume retailer or a occasional capital
equipment seller, doesn’t matter whether you are in a service
business, a retail business, a professional practice or a manufacturing
business, your database is pure solid gold… if you work it!
52
Get Their Details!
Make it the responsibility of every member of your team to get the
name, address, phone number and e-mail of people when they first
contact you and then use the information to build the relationship
and to make them say “Wow!”
You should be in touch with you database 6 to 11 times a year--- yes,
that’s right! About once every month or two is ideal. You see, if you
don’t, then your competition will be in touch and lure them away.
How do you keep in touch? Well it can be by phone, mail, e-mail,
holding a seminar or inviting them to a function just so long as it’s
appropriate to your customer base.
Overcoming the Junk Mail Negative
But you may say, “I hate getting junk mail and therefore so will my
client, customer or patient”. Yes, that’s right, they do. But remember
that junk mail is only mail they don’t want to get. So what you have to
do is simple. I’ve already mentioned the old WIIFM (that’s the ‘what’s
in it for me’ formula) so make sure that what you talk to them about is
of interest to them.
You can give them suggestions, tips, hints, ideas and demonstrations;
you can send them a newsy information sheet or a newsletter; you can
advise them of new stock or old stock being quit at low cost; you can
tell success stories; you can instruct or educate them and you can ask
them for referrals or testimonials. Look there are literally stacks and
stacks of reasons to contact your client base in a way that will make
them happy. (My audio program Building Business gives heaps of
ideas.)
So, in a nutshell, when it comes to a third black box, you need to
ensure that you are…
Loving your clients to death
because, if you love them, they will return that love. And how will they
do that? Very simply--- by introducing their friends.
The Referral Loop
And loving them creates a “referral loop” from the third black box
back to the first black box. They’ll start to introduce their friends and
colleagues to you because of the wonderful and caring way in which
53
you look after them. They’ll tell people about you and, by the way, it
doesn’t matter whether your business is business-to-business or
business-to-retail, people love to be loved.
And there is a great bonus in all of this because as the referrals to
your business increase your reliance on generating new prospects
from outside of your business diminishes. Prospects who are referred
are always better prospects because they already know about you,
what you do and what you charge and they are generally anxious to
do business with you. Making the sale becomes heaps easier.
Now there’s just one more loop that we need and that’s from the first
box back to the third box--- we call it the “missed opportunity loop.”
The Missed Opportunity Loop
The way this works is simple. You often have enquiries from people
who don’t buy from you initially and normally, if they don’t buy the
first time, they are just forgotten and ignored which is just plain
dumb.
First of all they should get a follow up letter
(because you have their address haven’t you?)
saying “…that it was nice of them to contact
you for assistance and you’re sorry that they
didn’t buy from you this time. You do hope that
they’ll be very happy with the purchase they
have made but you want them to know that you
are always available to help them in anyway
possible in the future and that you’ll stay in
touch with them…”
Then you do what you promise. You put them in your database and
you treat them exactly like you treat your clients… you love them to
death. And, if you love them like you love clients, guess what they will
inevitably become? Clients that’s what!
The Ignored Fourth Black Box
Oh, by the way there’s a fourth black box that I should talk about but
it’s probably of little interest because around 95% of all Australian
businesses ignore it! And what’s that? Well it’s the box called the
“Business Plan.” Regrettably most businesses don’t have a business
plan and therefore whatever they decide to do on any day is okay
because they really have nothing planned.
54
Probably so many businesses plan to fail because of their failure to
plan. After all…
If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it with amazing accuracy!
What should be the aim of your business plan? Very simply to get you
staggering increases in business and profitability. You see most
businesses aim for 10% growth every year because that’s what their
accountant suggests. Most businesses struggle to make that 10% and
generally just fall over the line.
What would have happened if the goal had been 20, 30, 50 or even
100% growth? The answer is that they probably would have struggled
and yet still just fallen over the line, reaching those much higher
goals.
Double your business
Quite frankly, any business can double its profit in 90 days. The
reasons they don’t are very simple.
• They tend to do what everybody else does and if you do
what everybody else does you’ll get what everybody else
gets (meaning a 10% increase), and
• They tend to do the same thing today as they did
yesterday and if you do the same thing over and over you
get the same result.
How many times can you walk down the same street and fall in the
same hole until you realise that you can walk down a different street?
Therefore in business its not what you do the same as everybody else
and its not what you do the same today as yesterday that matters--Its what you do differently to everybody else and what you do
differently today!
So think about getting yourself a business plan. No, don’t think about
it… just do it!
What’s in a Business Plan?
It’s made up of three components…
• The Financial Plan – now this is not a budget because budgets are
last year’s figures plus 10%. Financial plans are the results of what
55
you believe your business is capable of achieving when you get it all
together. I’d suggest that you do your planning this year with the
aim of increasing business around 40% and see the financial plan
that gives you! That of course means that you will have to look at…
• The Operations Plan –this is the plan for the people and resources
you need to deliver your service or product. Most people get into
their business because they know the operations side of the
business so thinking this through generally isn’t difficult. It does
lead to the tough one (well supposedly the most difficult component
of the business plan) and that’s…
• The Marketing Plan – how do you sell what the operations plan
produces to ensure that the financial plan is achieved? Creating this
is amazingly difficult until you understand the three black boxes.
Marketing is not rocket science. Its sitting down and simply
thinking through what you need to do to find the people who want
to buy your product or service and, when they do, having them
come back bringing their friends with them. It means putting those
three black boxes into action and then answering these three
marketing questions
1. Who is my ideal suspect (and ultimately ideal client)?
2. If they are my ideal suspects why should they chose to buy from
me instead of my competitor, doing nothing, or doing it
themselves?
3. How do they find out about me?
That’s the simple essence of the marketing component of a business
plan. Putting it together isn’t difficult but then that’s the subject of
another article.
There we are… the three black boxes of business plus one. Get them
working for you and you’ll assume your rightful place under the sun,
on the beaches of the world with those oceans of money gently lapping
all over your magnificent body. (You say you don’t have a magnificent
body? Don’t worry, if you have oceans of money washing over any sort
of body how does it make it look? The answer is fantastic!)
56
The Loyalty Ladder
It’s critical that everybody in your organization understands the loyalty
ladder and how it helps to build better, more profitable business.
The first rung on the loyalty ladder is “suspects.”
the team should understand that really profitable
Suspects are people within your sphere of
business starts with getting people to come back.
influence; in other words, people in reasonable
If you do this well, by looking after them, staying
proximity to your business who could possibly
in touch with them regularly and building
have a need for your product or service but
the relationship they’ll become “friends”
almost certainly don’t know about you.
of your business. Its not unknown for
Evangelists
What you don’t know is whether they are
friends to pop in and say “hello,” send you
in the market now or in the near future for
a Christmas card or invite you to family or
what you’ve got.
business functions. People on the friends
Advocates
rung are great because they start to
So you need to push them up to the next
rung of the loyalty ladder to “prospect.”
influence other people to your business.
Prospects are people who need or want
Friends
Some of them will climb to the next rung
what you have (and they are qualified
of the loyalty ladder and become
prospects if they have the authority to
“advocates.” Advocates are people who
make a purchase decision and can afford
actively refer people to your business.
Clients
to pay for it). The way you turn suspects
They are the people who generate word of
into prospects is through the traditional
mouth recommendations or third party
marketing approach. You can advertise for
endorsements. They are by far the most
them, get them through effective
Customers
wonderful assets any business can have.
promotion or attract them using public
(Remember, 80-92% of your business can
relations. There is another way that is even
come from this source.)
more important that people often overlook
Prospects
and that’s word of mouth referral. If
Its then but a small climb for them to reach
you’re smart you’ll get between 80 and
the top rung of the loyalty ladder and
92% of your new prospects from word of
become “evangelists.” An evangelist is a
mouth referrals.
person who recommends your business as
Suspects
the first port of call to solve any problem-Once your marketing proves effective you
- whether you have the capability or not.
take your prospects to the next rung of the
They have the attitude that “if you don’t know the
loyalty ladder and make them “customers.”
answer you’ll know somebody who does” and
Customers are people who purchase from you or
they believe other people should know about you
use your services--- once. Now for most
too.
businesses this is where the whole process
finishes--- sell them something, ignore them and
never see them again. If you’re doing that you are
missing out on an avalanche of profits from your
business and that is to get one-time customers to
come back again and again.
It’s very simple to turn suspects into raving
evangelists. All it requires is a recognition that it
can be done, the will to do so and the system to
make it happen. Most importantly it’s a mindset--a mindset you and your team must have.
By doing so you push them to the next rung and
they become “clients.” You see the difference
between a customer and a client is that a client
keeps on coming back. Your sacred mission in
business, no matter what your business, what your
product or your purchase cycle, is to turn one time
buyers into repeat purchasers. Every member of
Once you have that mindset and you’ve got the
systems and the committed team in place to
help people climb the loyalty ladder then you
will soon retire to your ultimate desirable
destination--- those wonderful beaches of the
world where life is absolutely fantastic
57