Three Great Marketing Tips To Beat The Credit Crunch

Hi everyone my sincere apologies, I have neglected my blog recently due to an illness and hospital visit, But I’m OK now and back to work.

Today I have THREE great tips for you, please let me know your thoughts and leave some feedback.

Many Thanks

Dave

PRICE

when customers need to think about it, it’s usually about Getting over the price problem.

Now more than ever your customers are watching what they are spending.

Yes There still spending, but their wanting to get the best their money will buy.

Rather than jump on the band wagon and start discounting your products to close the deal, why not try something a little different.

Next time your potential customer tells you that your product is to expensive ask them this question,

If your nearest and dearest had a serious life threatening health problem, would you if you were able to afford it hire the best surgeon your money could find or would you use the good old national health doctors to carry out the operation.

Without a doubt this will focus the importance of your customers wanting to spend their money on the best rather than saving a few pounds on something that does not have the same quality.

Pressure Selling

CLOSE! CLOSE! CLOSE! Remember this? Maybe you still sell this way.

One thing is for sure nowadays, customers are more clued up about smart sales techniques than ever before and the old close, close, close is a thing of the past.

As an example: if you were stood in a Que and someone pushed you, they would be sure to get your attention, your attention would be really negative and slightly misplaced I’m sure WHY, because people don’t like being pushed.

Now imagine your sales staff were pushing your customers around in a similar way, push, push, pushing for a decision,

Do you think your customers would have the same negative attention towards your sales staff, as you had with the person that pushed you whilst you were in that Que?

In today’s marketplace customers don’t like being pushed around, their getting used to it from all your competitors so they are less likely to stand for it by the time they get to you.

If your sales staff are still using the old style (bullying) selling techniques, its time for a change.

Remember your customers have been attracted to you by some means or another, don’t spoil that attraction by being pushy.

Get other people to promote your products

Quite often I hear about all sort of products, some new and some that have been around for a while and often I hear about these products from people rather than paid advertising or other media.

Take for example Google or Facebook, both of these companies have customers that can’t wait to tell everyone as soon as they bring out a new or improved product, that’s right their customers are motivated into telling everyone else how great they are.

Could you imagine how powerful it would be if your customers told all their friends how great you are?

My advice would be watch and learn from these businesses, try and find a way to use word of mouth advertising for yourself and feel the power of Viral marketing and what it can do for your business.

Try Before You Buy Offer

Using the social aspect of sales:

Sometimes the social aspect of a TRY before you BUY offer can be used to help people make the right decision, making the sales process faster and less stressful.

Quite often your potential customers have already decided to purchase your products/services and your try before you buy offer simply helps them to make a decision.

Don’t let your potential customers make the mistake of taking their business elsewhere, sometimes people want to buy your product/service but they need to remove the risk of buying from you.

Use a ‘Try before you Buy’ Offer,

Find a way to offer your potential customer an opportunity to try your products, let them test it or see if it works, don’t be fooled into thinking your product/service is to valuable to let potential customers try it for free.

Test it out!! it will pay dividends.

BMW or Mercedes will quite happily let you test drive one of their cars, WHY because they know that it works, many customers buy cars from one these two companies this is the same principle as a try before you buy offer.

Here’s what to do NOW:

Firstly: find a way to get potential New Customers to try your product and feel the value it will offer to them, make sure this trial is FREE.

Secondly: ask these potential New customers what they thought about your product or service after using it.

If they tell you they love it, ask them what is it, that they loved

The answer to this question should be the foundation of your sales pitch, remember questions hold the answers let your potential customers sell your product for you. Believe me when I say they will sell your product or service to themselves.

This would be a good time for you to say, I’m really glad you found our product or service useful, then you can use an assumptive close to sell your product/service.

If you ask this question in the right manner and say nothing your potential customer will be motivated into taking some action, this won’t work every time but it will massively increase the number of sales that you make, try it and see.

It makes little or no sense what so ever, that any business even small businesses would not have a try before you buy offer.

Another approach is to let your potential customers take all the risk, putting their faith in you and your product/service ask yourself what you would do in this buying situation?

If you wouldn’t buy your product neither will they.

Key Ingredients to Marketing Success

Six Ways to Marketing Success:

It’s FREE and you can do this RIGHT NOW, take a step back and look at your business from outside the box, this way you will see how you can Market your Business in a totally different way, ‘‘in a way your competitors aren’t doing it”.

Most businesses market their products in the same way as their competitors, they are all searching for exactly the same customers. did you know that at any given time between 3% and 7% of people are looking for your products or services.

Let me explain:

If you open your local newspaper (the one you advertise in) yours and your competitors adverts will look the same, sure you all have your company details on your advert which differentiates you a little but on the whole your customers are going to choose you and three of your competitors for their quotation. What you are doing is Marketing in a Vacuum. Have you ever tried advertising for the 93% to 97% of people that have not even thought about your product yet.

Marketing outside the vacuum will remove the competition and make your customers take decisive action. Most businesses are lemmings when it comes to advertising its all follow the leader, like something in their heads saying they have to market in the same way that everyone else in their profession markets. So all the electricians advertise in the local paper, all the hairdressers advertise in the yellow pages and all the double glazing companies use telemarketing and so on.

95% of businesses only market their products in one or two ways, it might be the local newspaper, or perhaps its Direct Mail. Do you know how much potential business you might be missing only using a couple of ways to Market your Business? Imagine what might happen to your business if you used Five or Six ways to promote your product or services, I know your thinking what about the cost (it’s already costing me a fortune on advertising) but i’m talking about ”How To Get NEW Customers On A Tight Budget – And Get People To Do Business With YOU Rather Than Your Competitors”

What will happen, if you use more cost effective ways to market your business is that you will achieve what everyone continually tells me is ‘impossible, ”You’ll increase your profits by 50% or 100%”.

Lets have a look at some cost effective marketing methods you can use to dramatically boost your business:

Here’s my list, of the top six most cost effective marketing methods you can use to boost your business profits, Pick a couple of them and MAKE A DECISION to add them to your marketing mix in the next few weeks ahead:

Direct Mail
Internet Marketing
Email Marketing
Strategic Alliances
Referral Systems
PR

Step outside the box, use, test and measure your chosen methods.

Remember most other businesses are not willing to do this, it’s all too much effort and they’re more interested in moaning and blaming today’s economic climate because their businesses are suffering. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX and get your success story on the road.

Dave Edwards www.harlequinsalesandmarketing.com
How To Get NEW Customers On A Tight Budget – And Get People To Do Business With YOU Rather Than Your Competitors!

Marketing Letters “GET THEM OPENED”

Get YOUR marketing letters opened:

Today I would like to share with you a few facts about how to get your Marketing Letters (mail shots) opened.

These simple facts will ensure that your Marketing Letters provide an increase in future response rates, which in turn will generate more enquiries and More Sales.

All companies that send out mail shots are looking to generate more business or at least more enquiries but in order for this to happen your Marketing Letters need to be read, you could have the best offer your customers have ever seen but if your letter doesn’t get opened your prospective client will never know just how good your offer really is. There are lots of marketing gurus out there that will give you good advice about what to write in your Marketing Letters, but surprisingly not all of them know how to get your letters opened.

Read Mail vs. Junk Mail:

Have you ever picked up your post in the morning and separated it into two piles, usually one pile consists of flyers, post card offers and anything that looks like junk which ends up in the BIN!! the other pile consists of bills (easily identified) and letters that look you want to read them. Today I was talking with my Brother in Law He’s a Postman and I said to him I wish I had a job like yours where I could finish at lunch time. His reply was I would be home a lot earlier if it wasn’t for all the junk mail I had to deliver.

Junk Mail is easy to SPOT:

This morning I had a letter that nearly ended up in the bin, but at a second glance I realised that it was a Marketing Letter that was selling something I was interested in buying, I won’t bore you with what the product was but I will share with you the reason why it nearly went straight out with the trash, you see when I looked at the letter my name and address was spelt wrong and it was printed on a white self stick label, most mail shot companies use this method because the computer will print labels out more quickly than you hand writing the name and address on an envelope, any letter that uses this type of label looks like junk and usually end up in the bin.

Companies sending out mail shots like this will suffer in the fact that thousands of their Marketing Letters never get opened infact their letters meet with huge amounts of unnecessary resistance from potential customers, Just because their letters look like junk mail.

Make sure that YOUR marketing letters are opened:

Follow these few simple steps and I guarantee your Marketing Letters will be opened.

Be sure to correctly address the letter you are sending.

Do some research and make sure you have a name on the envelope (Don’t write your letter to the Director or any other title) and make sure your envelope is spelt correctly and displayed clearly.

Don’t use ‘window envelopes’ with the name and address of the recipient printed onto the enclosed letter.

Refrain from having any offers or message on your envelope it could result in as much as 100% of your letters remaining unopened.

Don’t use CAPITAL LETTERS and always send your letters with a stamp not a franking system.

My best advice is do some research, for the next week scrutinise all the mail you have delivered to your address, Which would you open? and which of your mail goes straight to the bin? Learn from this and make sure that in future you give some thought to your Marketing Letters. Remember the bottom is that you need to make sure that your future customers are reading your mail shots, and when they do make sure there is a COMPELLING OFFER inside that makes them TAKE ACTION!!

If you find this information useful please forward it to anyone you think might also find it interesting, or tell them visit my website www.harlequinsalesandmarketing.com and subscribe to my newsletter and I will also send them a FREE copy of my short e-book;
“10 ways to Success in business”

Make Money With Direct Mail

Direct Mail

Let’s remove any doubts; direct mail is a profitable source of income for any business when done properly, but not done properly it will waste your time and money.

For those that say Direct Mail doesn’t work then let me tell you you’re not doing it right.
Clever businesses will take the time to write direct mail properly, after all you would give this time if you were sat with a customer wouldn’t you? I have said many times Direct Mail is like having your best salesman in print if done properly. To remove the confusion.

Direct mail is anything you send to existing or potential customers.

Let’s dispel some of the myths about Direct Mail. The favourite is

‘Direct Mail doesn’t work.’

This is usually derived by the fact that when you get direct mail at home it ends up in the bin, (which means it must be a waste of money right?) the truth is that about 80% to 90% of people do throw direct mailing in the bin, however have you considered what would happen to your business if you could get customers to read your Direct Mail?

The reason that Domino Pizzas, Viking Direct and many other big companies continually fill up your post box with direct mail is because it works. How much do you think these companies spend testing and fine tuning their direct mailings, probably thousands and thousands why because it works, better still they know what works and what doesn’t. All this said I wouldn’t want to mislead you not all direct mail works and this is why, Small to Medium size businesses don’t spend enough time thinking about the message they are trying to get into their customers minds neither do they give enough thought about what they are trying to achieve, if they gave the time and consideration to think about this then direct mail would make their profits soar.

Another myth is that the response rate of Direct Mail is a very low percentage, compared to number of mailings you send and that you need to send a thousand letters to get a single response, this is nonsense and a dangerous way to budget for your direct mail, there are all sorts of factors that will make a difference to your response rate, your product, the price and so on what really matters is not the response you get but the profit you make, which is why testing what you send is paramount. Don’t use a Direct Mail campaign without testing it on a small scale first. Why?

The beauty of Direct Mail is that it is statistically very predictable.

Your Direct Mail will fall into two categories, existing customers and potential new customers.
If you have a date base of existing customers you are sitting on a fortune, start by mailing these, think of something you can offer these customers, send them a letter and measure the response. If it works, mail them again next month and measure the results and if it works keep doing it, when you perfect this try it out on new potential customers and again measure the response each time.

REMEMBER

Test your Direct Mail campaigns for new customers on a small scale before rolling them out.

Always send a letter with any literature you send as it will increase the response rate you get

Your mail should focus on the benefits of your product or service; your customers want to read what your product will do for them not you.

Spend your time wisely

Make sure you spend the time you need getting the headline right its 90% of what people read and has to make them interested to read the rest of your letter, you repeat a successful mailing a few weeks later and expect a response rate around 50% of the original mailing you sent, and following up your letter with a phone call will also increase the response you get.
Don’t make costly mistakes on your future Direct Mail, remember write for the reader not for the writer, and take the time to think what your writing in your letter.

Taking care of what we’ve already worked for.

The success of any business is the source of wealth it gets from Existing or new customers.

Don’t neglect your source of wealth. Don’t neglect your customers.

One of the best profit areas for any business is its existing customer base, how often do you communicate with your existing customers and do you realise how important they are?

Nearly every business owner I know, concentrate their efforts on looking for new customers and forget how much it cost them in the first place to acquire their biggest asset (their existing customer data base) once you have sold to them they should not become a number, remember they are still a customer.

Most businesses are sitting on a fortune,

it’s not hidden, just forgotten.

You can get access to this fortune by answering these questions.

Do you have something to offer your existing customers that would make them want to contact you?

Is there something that you are not offering existing customers that you could be offering them?

When was the last time you sent your customers a letter, an email or contacted them by telephone?

This might be interesting, what would happen if you made twice as much contact with your existing customers this year as you made last year, just be sure if you do communicate with them with whatever you decide to offer, make sure that you monitor the response you get.

I have helped many businesses to generate thousands without spending on anything more than a first class stamp, a little bit of time and an A4 piece of paper this is not unusual, sometimes all you need is to step outside the box and look back in to see where your next customer will come from.

Here are some useful things to consider when you’re looking for your next best customer.

What results could you get by using direct mail?

Do you spend time every day thinking of an offer you could make to your existing customers?

Do you always thank your customers for their business?

Do you always measure the response you get?

There are tons of marketing ideas on how to get new customers, but remember you are sitting on a fortune if you already have an existing customer data base.

Fighting The UK Credit Crunch

When market conditions soften and the recession mongers surface, the solution is not to batten down the hatches, start by asking yourself “AM I HAPPY?’ if the answer is yes tell your face about it then the whole world will get to know.

A friend asked me last week,

“How is the credit crunch affecting you?”

“Its Not!” I said!

We all have a choice YOU, ME and everyone else can choose not to participate.

THE WHOLE WORLD needs to wake up and smell the roses, the last time I looked there were plenty of people buying plenty of products, so the great news is your products haven’t gone out of fashion, just ask yourself, how many of your products you want to sell this month?

Whatever the number you have picked I am sure it will be considerably less than the number of products your competitors will be selling in this market place in your area, ITS NOW TIME crank up the pace!! Stack the odds in your favour and focus on things that really matter, all this talk of a downturn and recession is the best time to re-ignite the passion that is needed to make your business stronger.

Develop an action plan & this time:

Pull the trigger.

Ask yourself:

What do I need to stop doing and what do I need to start doing?

What do I need to do less of and what do I need to do more of?

And Remember this, if your not out there selling your being out sold!!!

So go get em! Absolute positivity sells absolutely anything.

The bottom line is get excited again and start;

SELLING UP IN A DOWN ECONOMY