Sound business marketers place a great deal of emphasis on targeting the audience with whom they wish to attract. It makes sense, because why spend your advertising budget on an inappropriate clientele?
Following that logic, shouldn't they be just as selective in deciding whom they chose to do business with? For new business development, as well as a great many other facets of business, being selective in choosing whom to work with can be a good thing. Should an SMB take on every new client?
Definitely not! You need to think beyond just selling, and remember that you are entering into a relationship. Such a situation must be based on mutual respect and a large dose of reality.
As the owner of ...
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an you imagine your dentist offering a Black Friday special? “Come in Friday from 3 am until noon and have two cavities filled for the price of one!” Or perhaps your cardiologist offering a BOGO on heart valve replacements. Can you consider a cosmetic surgeon advertising for “Black Friday Nose job Special. Purchase a rhinoplasty and receive a liposuction and tummy tuck for half-off.”
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We have been writing about content marketing, also known as inbound marketing, for more than 18 months, and our clients are enjoying the greater exposure and qualified leads this marketing approach provides them. Yet we occasionally are invited to meet with prospective client firms that are reluctant in adopting the concept. I thought it might be a good time for those that are undecided about getting started with an inbound approach to have a look at what our firm considers to be the formula for online marketing success. Of course, those already using inbound marketing can use this as a checklist to measure the progress of their process.
Begin with the end in mind
Make sure you know where your success ...
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If you want to get your point across and make a friend, use plain English. Industry jargon may be fine for working around your coworkers, industry friends and associates, but it should not be used in sales presentations. Jargon is one of the greatest frustrations for a buyer. The inability to grasp what is being said when speaking to a sales person will kill a sale every time. Your job as sales pro is to close the deal, but your success rate depends on building rapport and a relationship with your prospect. If they cannot “get it” you are wasting your time. Your presentation should be easily explained in layman’s terms so that even a high school student can ...
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Or why pretending to be someone’s Grandmother isn’t going to help you get that order.
My latest favorite term is Sales Prevention Officer… borrowed from Jonathan Farrington on the Eyes on Sales blog. Professional, effective sales processes are a combination of art and science. A great sales person is trained in acting, engineering, politics, relationship building and strategic planning.
The best salespeople understand personal improvement is a never ending process. They study constantly and follow a process or systematic approach. They invest for the long term. But some people feel the need to cheat the system. They seek a faster and less arduous path to making fast money rather than a long term process.
That is why I admire some of the ...
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For many a small business, especially those that rely on generating as many leads as possible online, pay per click is an easy answer, but it may not be the answer to your marketing dilemma. Your lead generation is what drives your business, and your marketing budget must yield as large an ROI as possible, which PPC can sometimes deliver quickly. Sure, people will tell you all of the great things about pay per click, (otherwise known as PPC) but PPC has some downsides that need to be understood as well.
When depending on your PPC Article Imagewebsite to attract new clients and prospects to your business, there are a host of tools to consider. Pay Per Click is just ...
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While the world has “gone digital,” cold calling is out of date to say the least. However, there are cold calling statistics that make me wonder; well sort of; it’s a bit of a conundrum actually.
In the past I posted articles relating to the cold calling marketing strategy. One article alluded to the fact that cold calling has definitely had its day; another stated that the marketing shift caused by technology has left even the best cold calling sales people wanting, and another still that bashed the “training systems” still being marketed on the net.
In my training workshops, I speak to professionals and discuss cold calling and their reluctance, if not abhorrence of the concept, you can read more ...
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What inbound marketing does really, really well is eliminate the cold call. After all, when you have scores of interested people taking the time to visit your landing page or blog and then leaving you their contact information the odds are pretty good your call will be taken.
This behavioral bridge is amplified when they have taken advantage of a download (white paper, case study or some other relevant piece of information) and have something really tangible... and it has your brand on it!
What we are actually describing is an effort to create a warmer environment and avoid a cold one. To accomplish this a good sales professional will usually "prime the pump" with an introductory letter (print or e-mail) ...
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We know it as Cold Calling 2.0 (in our office we refer to it as interruptive sales) but there is a tactic in telemarketing and phone sales that is guaranteed NOT win the hearts and minds of your potential customers. Don’t know to what I am referring? Reverse – cold calling is the act of trickery in getting someone to phone you. Here’s an example:
“Hello, is Mr. Jones in?” “Will you please leave him a very urgent message about a significant purchase we would like to make?”
Obviously, when Mr. Jones returns to his office and is told by his secretary that a very important call may mean a big sale. Of course Mr. Jones will call you back immediately. ...
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You rarely hit a home run in small business marketing; small ball works best. A well defined marketing plan around a realistic number of differing tactics will run up the score nicely. But because of restrictive budgets (or sometimes attitudes) many small businesses try a tactic and when the home run doesn’t happen abandon it and move on to the next “idea of the week”.
This is certainly the case with direct mail. Before the onslaught of the internet, websites, e-mail marketing and social media the war was between newspaper advertising and direct mail. The savvy business person who was unafraid to invest the time and money to secure a well defined mailing list and manage it properly had a ...
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