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Helping business owners deliver revenue
Typically the main barriers business owners face when considering whether to use marketing to increase sales and opportunities to sell are: not having enough time; budget limitations and a limited knowledge about which activities will work. So how can you overcome these barriers and use marketing in the most cost effective and time efficient manner, allowing your business to acquire and retain more profitable customers?
Generate leads, leads and more leads
Most business owners will state that they do not get enough good quality new business opportunities. The first thing to remember is that if you continue to do what you have always done – you will continue to get the results you always got (or possibly worse if your competitors wake up!). The most important secret to successful marketing is consistency. If you select a few focused and targeted activities, and follow through in a consistent manner – you should be able to achieve a lot with modest resources.
There are numerous lead generation activities that you can choose from: from direct mail campaigns through to exhibitions and seminars – more about the specifics below. If you are not doing much, at the moment, consider instigating a small campaign to get you and your name in front of your key prospects. This could be an introductory letter/email outlining your services or simply picking up the phone and talking to your potential customers. Keeping the campaign small and focused will make it much easier to manage and monitor the results. It is also imperative that, whichever activity you chose, you include an offer and, except for telemarketing campaigns, a response mechanism.
Spend on marketing even when you have a limited budget
What can you do when you are left with little or no marketing budget; as all your finance goes into running the other aspects of your business (staff, production, premises, operational resources etc.)? Nothing, I hear you say. Well maybe not. Many marketing activities can be implemented at a very low or zero cost, including:
- setting-up a free-phone number for customers to call and order or enquire about your products and services
- announcing new business wins or major developments in the press and let them publicise your business
- running a sales promotion e.g. price-based discounts or extra for free
- running a small direct mail campaign to 200-500 people and follow it up with a call, if you focus on the specific needs of a smaller group of prospects you might be surprised by the excellent results
- printing leaflets and hand them out in areas where potential customers congregate, e.g. outside a train station or shopping mall
- submitting your website to the major search engines (there is a lot you can do for free with the search engines)
- creating a few simple datasheets that describe the what your product/service is and the benefits to the customer (the benefits are the key part here, not the features)
- writing customer case studies or acquiring customer quotes to place around the business premises and/or in customer quotes on your website
- developing a deep understanding of the top 20 businesses you want to do business with and target them with a clear understanding of their needs (especially useful for high value sales)
- creating some research on a topical issue and present it to your prospects/customers and the press, it will demonstrate that you know your market and help to build credibility
- setting-up open days or free product tasting/testing
- sponsoring a local event where you can introduce your product/service to a new group of customers
Know your customers and understand their needs
Never assume that you know all there is to know about your customers. Customer needs change and if you do not keep up-to-date with them somebody else will. When was the last time you asked your customers (and potential customers) what they really want from you, or how you can improve the products/services you offer them? Put yourself in the shoes of a customer: when was the last time you were asked for feedback about the service and/or products you purchase? Probably not recently! But if your suppliers asked you these questions more often and took on board your feedback, wouldn’t it make you a much happier customer?
Customers like to know that you are listening to their needs, and the businesses that listen usually win their business. How long would it take to write 5 questions about your product/customer service and then use them to gain feedback from your customers? Not too long!
Shout about what makes you great in the customers’ eyes
Every business has a number of things that differentiate it from the competition. This could be the high levels of customer service, a focus in niche markets that others do not address, or an innovative product/service and/or business processes that no one else can copy. If your customers and potential customers do not know about these, then tell them – write a case study, send them a short email or letter and emphasis these points, even better get an existing customer to talk about them through a testimonial.
Watch out on trying to differentiate your business on price though – unless you have the clout and resources of Tesco, there will always be somebody cheaper out there!
Build customer relationships
You can spend all your time chasing new business, but remember the 80/20 rule: that 80% or your business comes from 20% of your customer base (this even applies in low value consumer product/service markets). So what can you do to build stronger relationships with your customers? Talk to them frequently, even if you are not selling to them, as this will help to build trust. Give them something for free that will help them. Tell them about your products and services and how they will be of benefit to them. Ensure that you clearly understand their requirements and expectations. Try to focus on a smaller group of customers that you can deliver excellent products and services to, rather than a large group that you can only deliver average service levels to. Do not be afraid to turn away business if it is low value and would stop you from nurturing and developing relationships with higher value customers.
Deliver excellent customer service
Not many companies offer products or services that are truly unique and innovative, and many can be copied or imitated in a short space of time due to technological advances. Customer service is now the key differentiator in many businesses. So ask yourself: what do we do that makes our service excellent and how can we continuously improve on that?
Try something new
Be prepared to try new activities, and always conduct an evaluation of the end results, part of which should clearly identify why it was (or was not) a success. If a new activity is not delivering the expected results, do not be too quick to dismiss it as a waste of time, evaluate why it has not worked and try to identify what you could do better next time. If you still do not see any results, you will at least know what not to do in the future. And, more importantly, you will know why you should not use it again.
To summarise, doing nothing will never move your business forward. In order to get in front of your customers you must do something, and the more consistent you are the more successful you will be. Even if you have limited resources, at least start with something small and build from there.
“The customer that knows who you are can purchase from you; the customer that does not know who you are cannot consider you in their purchasing decision.”
Article written by Asomi Ithia, Marketing Consultant at Platinum Business Consultants Ltd. He can be reached on 0845 054 5061, or email info@platinum-business.com
The information in this article is for obvious reasons generic in nature. You are advised to seek professional advice before implementing any of the above. |
