Ideal Marketing Company Blog

What does the word ‘salesman’ mean to you?  For most it doesn’t conjure up the most positive of images.  What about an ‘expert’ or a ‘consultant’?  If you were thinking about buying a product or service would you rather seek advice from a consultant or a sales person?  Most people would rather seek independent advice from a consultant that be sold something from a salesperson.   If you have a product to sell would you rather be seen as a consultant or a sales person – given the choice?  

I have a friend who sells greetings cards – yet the shops he visits don’t see him as a sales person.  He advises them on what layout will work best for them, he arranges the card so that they are in a logical and eye catching display.  He updates their cards so that the prominent ones are for the most timely event.  By sharing what he knows about the best way to set up cards, he sells more so the shop owner wins and he wins.  Yet they don’t see him as selling. they see him as an expert (which he is) offering the best advice to a customer.  

The best way to be taken seriously is to learn to alter your approach to winning business and use a consultative selling approach.  Never try to sell anything until you have first understood what the person’s problem is.  What are their problems?  What has happened to them in the past?  Why do they buy from your competition at the moment?  Is price important, is it service, is it something else?  What can you do to make their lives easier?  

Steven Covey uses the expression “seek first to understand and then to be understood”; this applies as much in the area of selling as anywhere else. It only by understands their situation that you can understand how you can help.  And only then can you recommend the best product or service to help their situation. If you only have one product, it will give you the understanding of how to approach selling it. There are a hundred ways of selling a product and most items have plenty of features.   

Only once you understand what problems that the person has can you decide which of the features to tuned into benefits.  Listen to what your prospect has to say, listen to their problems, ask questions about what they hope to achieve and where they have gone wrong in the past.  What do they like and dislike, and how are they hoping to move forward?   

Be like Columbo.  Gather the facts before jumping to any conclusions.  And if you can’t work out what the problem is, ask ‘just one more question’.  Better to know to much about what a customer wants than jump in and offer a solution that is not what they are after.  The best thing is after asking questions and learning about their problem, you can often offer solution that is A. obviously the best one and B. something that they would never have thought of.  

Now you are no longer seen as a salesperson like all the others, now you are seen as some sort of mind reader / expert – so why would they not buy from you?  

If there is one thing I enjoy as much as creating marketing ideas for clients, it must be talking about marketing.  I’ve spent the the past 2 days doing just that.  I was in London on Wednesday and Birmingham on Thursday with recruitment companies talking about how they can generate more business using various low cost marketing ideas. What’s strange is that even though I made the same presentation 4 times in 2 days I didn’t get bored for a second and really enjoyed the interaction of the groups.

 One thing that really interests me is why some people seem to get so much out of these sessions whilst you always get at least one person who glazes over, refusing to makes notes and leaves none the wiser.  My goal at these events is to inspire the people present to act on at least 3 of the ideas and come away wanting to get on with one of the idea as soon as they get back to the office.  It doen’t always happen, but all 4 groups this time seemed very keen and I’ve feedback from 3 people already saying that they have made a start which is good news.

These meeting are part of what is known as the Elite group run by www.recruitmenttraining.co.uk .  They specialise in the recruitment industry and run monthly meetings for senior staff (usually owners) of recruitment firms who want to grow, develop and improve their company.  They meet each month, discuss issues – which they help each other with – and always have a guest speaker of which I am one of many.  If you are in the recruitment industy or know of sombody who is they will let you attend a free taster session so you can see what it’s all about.  From speaking to people who attend I would reccomend it if you are serious about growing your compny and want ongoing support to make it happen.

Somtimes working in an office with only your own ideas for company can be a lonely business so it’ good to do these type of things every so often.  I don’t think I could be a speaker all the time, but doing such event a few times a month is a real joy and I love the thought of being able to  help 40 companies in 2 days.

Another bonus is you get to meet so many interesting people.  You learn about their problems and what they have had to overcome in orther to get where they are.  Almost everybody who attend is what I would call a success because they are either financially succesful or you know by their attitude that they wil be soon.  It reminds me how impotant it is to spend time with positive people.   

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You might remember that a few weeks ago i mentioned a campaign to have a cinema returned to the Market Harborough – town I like to call home.  It’s a great place to live, but a cinema would make it complete.  There was a cinema in the town until the late 1970′s, but it is now sitting empty.  Well the good news is that the campaign has been going well for the past few weeks and a great deal has been achived to move the idea of a cinema back to the town.  An important element of this has been the PR which I have been working on. 

It’s made me appreciated how important the human angle is when it comes to a story. 

In this case the focus of all the PR has been around Lucy and Mollie the 2 girls who origionally aproached the Harborough Mail, our local newspaper.   By the PR all about them and what are doing the campaign has a focus that it wouldn’t have if it was just a bucnh of cinema enthusiasts say.  You’ll see what I mean if you follow these 2 links to BBC pages that have covered the story…

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7000000/newsid_7005200/7005204.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2007/09/20/market_harborough_cinema_feature.shtml

The story is not about an old building, the story is about 2 11 year old girls brave attempts to do somthing that the community will benifit from.  It’s a much more interesting story.  And when I’m trudging the streets asking people to sign their names on my clipboard at least 20% of people say ‘you tell this girls what a great thing they are doing’ it makes me appreciate the power of personality in the news.

These ideas are discussed at the new Leiccetershire Marketing Seminar run by the Market Harborough based Ideal Marketing Company

A news release is like a short, pre-written article that people in the media can use and adapt as they wish.  But what about having your own article in the press?  The trick here is not to write a completed article, instead you want to pitch the idea of an article.

Select the type of publications that your target market reads – so if you want to target plumbers contract the various plumbing trade titles with an outline of what you are proposaing summed up in 2 sentances for example:

Whilst most plumbers are busy most of the time, few grow their businesses beyond small 2 person orgaisations.  Would you be interested in an article on how one Market Harborough based plumbers more than doubled in size over a 2 year period by adopting simple to use marketing ideas that enabled them to win more than 90% of all projects that they bid for.

Now not every plumbing magazine would be interested in that idea, but lets say 3 out 10 were.  They will then give you the number of words they want and a deadline they require the article by.  Your job is to write the basic article and then vary it as much as you can for the titles who come back to you.

Study the style of article in the magazine – some use a very punchy ‘top 10′ style approach.  Others  use a lot of quotes as if it was an extended interview.  Make you article suit the title.  Don’t ever send off the same article to all three titles - imagine how much they will hate printing the same article as their arch rival!  Also, make sure you change the headline, offer different photos etc.

The end result will be an article that will generate more enquiries than an advert would, but you won’t have to pay for the space in the title.  It will give you credability and generate enquiries and position you as an expert in your field.

You may have a cunning plan – but have you thought it through properly…

(This topic is covered in the new marketing semiar covered by The Ideal Marketing Company)  

You’ve probably heard the expression ‘fail to plan and you plan to fail’.  This is particularly true of marketing activity.  The biggest reason that clients come to me for help is because their business keeps going through peaks and troughs.  One minute they are millionaires, the next they are re-mortgaging their homes. 

Every business suffers from some form of seasonal variation. Some people will tell you ‘it’s the August doldrums’ or ‘we’re always quiet in December’ or whatever.  I once worked for a company that took 80% of it’s income in the final 6 weeks of it’s financial year because most of it’s clients were Government departments who wanted to spend any surplus cash just before the end of the financial year.  (One of my main jobs was a create products that they could sell that did not depend in spending large sums bfore the end of the financial year but instead would see well across the year!)

The point is that if you know that already that you are likley to have quite and busy times, then it makes sense to plan ahead for those predictable situation, then plan in marketing activity to cancel out these seasonal peaks and troughs. Develop products that fill in the gaps. Offer price incentives to encourage out of peak times.  Look at the holiday industry.  It is accepted that if you book a holiday in the middle of the school holidays, you’ll pay more than in February.   

But pricing is just one way of dealing with the peaks and troughs.  A clear marketing plan with activities set aside at specific times of the year is always the best way to keep a steady stream of business coming in.

If you are busy, never assume it will always be this way.  Keep your direct mail going, keep woorking on ways to get your website noticed etc.  Only by marketing continually will you ensure a busy and predictable furure.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

This idea is discussed at the new marketing seminar run by The Ideal Marketing Company on how to win more new business and how to keep existing customers for longer

Unless you have developed a brand new product or service, the chances are there are plenty of other companies around who offer something similar to you.  Take legal firms for example. Or coffee bars. Or accountants. You could take the view that they are all the same. So, one of the key areas that your company must address in order to produce any successful marketing is your USB – creating some special aspects to your company that make you different from the rest.

Much of your success in marketing your company will be based on how good you are at creating the difference between you and everybody else.  Dominos pizza made itself stand out from a crowded pizza delivery market by promising delivery in 30 minutes.  It didn’t talk about the quality of it’s pizza, it talked about this 30 minute deadline which was considered important to it’s core customers - busy working mums.  Even to this day, even though it’s dropped the 30 minute promise, it’s sponsorship of the Simpsons (a 30 minute programme shown around tea time) reflects this message that started the company all those years ago.

How to create your USB and stay special 

Once you have decided what it is that is so different about you (you’re the fastest, the happiest, the one will all the great deals, the oldest or whatever) you need to take this to the next stage. 

The danger is that people will say ‘so what?’ to whatever it is you are. You want to create benift for your company  and you do this by saying “which means that” after any sentance you create.  

Example: We are the oldest bakers in town WHICH MEANS THAT nobody knows more  about the types of bread you like to eat. 

Example: We bake more types of bread than any other baker WHICH MEANS THAT whatever type of bread you like, the chances are we will sell, so from now on you will always be able to take home the perfect loaf. 

This aspect of making yourself special is important becasue you don’t want to create a message that is all about you – you want to make it clear that what is special about you has a direct benifit for your potential customer.  One thing that really upsets me is when a copmany will keep talking about the fact that they were established in 1923.  That in itself is no big deal.  It is just a feature of the company – far more significant it that it thived for 90 years by offering brillinat service, great prices etc etc. 

So what is so special about you and are you ready to tell everybody about it? 

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Look at the way Gillette are always expanding their range and revising their product: even their central product needs to be replaced regularly.  No wonder Warren Buffet (the world’s most successful investor) is such a fan of the company.

When I was young I though that Disneyland was a place that you only went to once.  Now I have my own children and have been there I realsie that you start visiting once, go back then try another etc etc.  By the time our children hit their teens we’ll have been on at least four if not five visits.  The same applies a bit closer to home with places like Legoland.  As soon as you walk in the door you are urged to go back, buy a season pass etc.  Why?  Because the owners know that they have a good product.  You cannot get it all in just one day so it makes sense to get you to come back.  But of course the real reason is that having spent all that money to get you to try it in the first place, they want to make it clear that it is perfectly normal to come back again.  If all the guests only came once they would be out of business.  It is the repeat custom that gets you to come back. 

And of course neither of thse places has ‘one’ product to sell.  From coffee to keyrings they stock litterally thousands of items to consume when you are there or take away with you or give to friends afterwards.  The hardest part is to get you to walk through the doors the first time.  

The ski company Redpoint www.redpoint.co.uk has an incredible re-booking rate.  That means that once people go skiing with them, they want to come back, it is always attracting new customers that is the issue – people to try them out for the firt time.  Once they do, Redpoint then have a range of different ski breaks and other types of Austrian holidays to try out. 

So never go into a sale thinking about a one off sale.  Create a range of products, think about loyalty scheme, referal programmes, refer a friend discounts, new products, upgrades and maintanance contracts.  If you have only one product to sell and only sell it once your days are numbered.  Instead leave them wanting more – and then have plenty of ‘more’ to come back to.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Pleased to say that Friday’s seminar went well.  The ratings were very positive from those who attended but I felt it could have been a bit better, and I know that the next version of the new marketing seminar will have some improvements ready to go by November 2nd.  What did work very very well on the day though was the interaction between those present. 

A new part of this seminar is to get everybody thinking about their best new business marketing idea / customer retention idea at the morning and afternoon breaks. When we resume the break this is then discussed by the group.  This went down very well and produced some great variations on the main ideas discussed.  To find out more or to book onto the next seminar on November 2nd e-mail seminar@idealmarketingcompany.com  

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