Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Here are another 5 ideas on how to create happy customers…

1. Sort mistakes FAST. We all make mistakes and errors happen. One of the ways that a customer judges your business is how quickly you accept that you have made a mistake and how quickly you sort it out. If you have got something wrong, it is down to you to correct it as quickly as possible, minimising its impact on the customer.

2. Don’t worry, be happy. Do you like your customer? If not, what are you doing talking to them? If you know you are a grumpy, backroom boy then spend as little time talking to customers as you can and put somebody who loves dealing with customers in the front line.

3. Be honest. Be honest with your customers at all times. If you ever try shading the truth or telling an outright lie it will come back to haunt you in the end. If you can do something, tell them, if you can’t, tell them, if you are too busy to do a proper job, tell them. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and admire your integrity.

4. People buy from people. Remember that you don’t really buy from companies. You really buy from the people who work for that company. If a customer leaves, it is often because the person (account manager, shop worker etc.) just wasn’t giving them the service they required.

5. Be positive. We’ve all got problems, but if your customer asks you how you are, don’t use that as an excuse to talk about all your problems or badmouth your other customers. I have stopped using companies because (even if I didn’t ask) the owner seemed to use me as an agony aunt for all the wrongs in his world. It wasted my time and left me feeling depressed every time I called him!

6. Be good at what you do. At the end of the day, you have to be good at what you do if you are going to retain customers for the long term. Every piece of training you and your staff undertake will help to retain customers. Don’t short change your customers by skimping on the constant training or re-training of your staff. Invest in the best systems, equipment and people that you can afford to make sure that when people come you, they are getting the best and can be confident that you will do everything you can to stay the best.

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.

… it’s hard to drain the swamp

Direct Marketing Guru Drayton Bird has probably helped more companies in the UK become successful through his marketing ideas than anybody else.  Many, many people have learned a great deal from him (including myself) and this article come from his website www.draytonbird.com

 If you find what I’m about to suggest pathetically obvious, I’m sorry. Many of the things I’ll put to you are.

And the reason is simple. Although we may know things, far too often we don’t do them.

So here’s something one of my clients does. They send out the same (not very brilliant) e-mail week after week after week.

Let me guess what you’re thinking. Is it something like this?

“Isn’t that far too often? And anyhow, if they sent out a variety of imaginative ones they’d do better.”

Well, they do it for two reasons.

1. Because it works. And it works because you never know when prospects will buy, so you have to keep plugging away.

2. Because it’s better than nothing. And they’re so busy fighting alligators that they’d probably send out nothing if they weren’t careful

I constantly see clients who spend weeks, even months, squandering priceless days and weeks over small details that will make little or no difference – when they should just get on with it.

As the French writer Voltaire, put it over 250 years ago, “The best is the enemy of the good”.

A tale of two firms

Three years ago my partner and I went to see two firms in the same city on the same day.

One spent six months having meetings about the copy we suggested – in fact I have no idea if it ever went out.

The other got the mailing we proposed out within a week, and were our biggest client within three months. Today they are the leading firm in their field.

This has little to do with us. But it has everything to do with two things.

1. They communicate more than their competitors. Once they have a prospect they keep everlastingly at that prospect. I once asked their marketing director how long they keep mailing and e-mailing people. “Until they give in,” he replied.

2. They don’t sit around wasting hot air on whether something will work or not. They get on with it.

The American expert Richard V. Benson said, “There are two answers to every problem. Answer #1: Test everything. Answer #2: Refer to answer #1.”

People test to find out whether one message will work better than another. But there is another, even simpler reason. It is to eliminate useless discussion. Why waste time? Let the customers decide for you!

I’ll wager that if you communicate more often than your competitors, you will outdo them. Keep at it till it doesn’t pay … then give it a rest and try again.

There is a direct relationship between profit and communication. The more you tell the more you sell.

If you spend 5 minutes a day thinking of reasons to talk to your prospects and customers – things that might benefit or interest them (not you) – you will find it the best ROI you ever had.

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.

It can be hell being a customer 

I was talking to Paul, a friend of mine who runs the Talking Company www.thetalkingcompany.co.uk and he told me the story of a business man dies and goes over to the “other side”. When he passes into the next world he is greeted by St Peter, who says:

“We do things differently now. Rather than you going straight to heaven or hell, we let you spend a day in each. After the 2 days you choose where you want to go.”

The business man thinks for a moment before coming to the conclusion this sounds like a sensible proposition. The first day he goes to hell. It is very different from what he thought it would be. A beautiful fairway stretched out before him, the grass was greener than he’s ever seen, the people around him were more radiant and on the whole everything was idyllic on every level. Music stirred powerful emotions within him into a sensation of bliss. In short, the business man had a great day.

The following day the business man flew up to heaven. Clouds, carols and angels. Yawn, yawn yawn.

At the end of the 2nd day St Peter appeared and said:

“Ok. You’ve spent a day in heaven, a day in hell, which do you choose?”

The business man replied, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to have to choose hell.”

Suddenly the ground opened up and the business man was cast into the fire, brimstone suffering and despair of hell. No golf, no green, no beautiful, radiant people.

“Woh, stop; hang on a minute. What’s going on? This isn’t what you showed me yesterday.”

To which the devil replied, “Yesterday you were a prospect, today you’re a customer”

How do you treat your customers?  Are you all over them like a cheap suit when you are hoping to work with them?  Does the experiance change once they start dealing with you.  Thanks for the story Paul – and experiance I’m sure we’ve all had from time to time – let’s hope we don’t repeat it ourselves.  

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.

The world’s most comprehensive NLP website is launched

A new NLP website which is believed to contain the largest internet-based selection of videos, audios and articles on the subject was publicly launched on Sunday at the bi-annual London NLP Seminar at Regents Park College. Two years in development, www.myNLPresources.com is an extensive collection of valuable material from some of the world’s finest NLP trainers & innovators. The launch was witnessed by some of the NLP industries best known practicioners such as Michael Breen & Judith DeLozier.

Site founder Jamie Smart comments “We can create a space where everyone on the planet can get access to, learn, share & benefit from real NLP skills. We want to evolve the world’s most useful, cool, vibrant NLP-oriented website anyone has ever seen, with a ‘non-denominational’ community of NLP trainers, practitioners & other learners.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that NLP is one of the most powerful tools there is for helping people accomplish what they want, whether it’s to cure a long-standing phobia, improve their health, eliminate anxiety, or increase confidence, wealth, relationship satisfaction – the possibilities really are endless.”

“Whilst a seemingly endless number of books have been published about NLP, experience shows that NLP is easier to absorb in video and audio form” says Smart. The website  www.myNLPresources.com website allows people to have the kind of experience people wouldn’t normally get outside of expensive training courses. Smart adds “NLP is considered to be the most powerful approach yet known to aid communications, create change, and deliver excellent performance but until now no website has existed which contains all the aspects of NLP to enable people to fulfill their true potential.”

The site is launched by Salad, one of the world’s leading NLP companies, who already have customers worldwide from more than 80 countries. Many of them are already keen students of NLP. “We always listen to what our customers tell and it was clear that there is a thirst for more knowledge about how NLP works and how to apply the techniques to achieve successful results,” says Jamie. “This website will act as a ‘one stop shop’ for people who are interested in learning more about NLP and what it can bring to them.”

The site contains a number of free resources for those interested in developing their NLP skills, & applying them in areas ranging from health and wealth to communication and achieving goals.

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.

5 more ideas for you on how to keep customers happy. I think the first point is particularly pertinent. How many company have you stopped using because they were a hassle to deal with or because of the objectionable personality of you main contact?

1. Be easy to do business with. Do people have to spend ages chasing you down? Does everything have to be done in triplicate? Are your opening hours restrictive and your staff suspicious? Break down all barriers and make it as easy as possible for anybody to do business with you. Make them feel significant and wanted every time they want to part with their hard earned cash.

2. Take action. If you are asked about something that you don’t know the answer to, say you will get back with the answer and make sure you do. Get known as a person who follows up words with actions and results.

3. More is more. One of the reasons we love going on holiday to Crete is that when you go out for a meal, you often receive more than you bargained for. Puddings will turn up without being ordered or a bottle of dessert wine will arrive with 2 glasses. In Greece it is a sign of friendship. How lovely to receive a little something extra that is unexpected – try treating your customers to more than they bargained for.

4. Demonstrate care. If you care for your customer, show them. If you don’t, perhaps a competitor will.

5. Employ good staff. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys as the old saying goes. Your staff are your company in the eyes of many customers. What are your staff like? Would you be proud to have your company represented by them? Do they have an excellent attitude – always keen to help and sort out a customer’s problem?

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.

An Accumulation of Riches

This article has been contributed by Brian Tracy from www.briantracy.com

One of the greatest success principles of all is called the Law of Accumulation.

Little Things Mean A Lot

One of the greatest success principles of all is called the Law of Accumulation. This law says that everything great and worthwhile in human life is an accumulation of hundreds and sometimes thousands of tiny efforts and sacrifices that nobody ever sees or appreciates. It says that everything accumulates over time. That you have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile. It’s like a snowball. A snowball starts very small, but it grows as it adds millions and millions of tiny snowflakes and continues to grow as it gathers momentum.

Learn What You Need to Learn

There are three areas where the law of accumulation is important. The first is in the area of knowledge. Your body of knowledge is a result of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small pieces of information.

Any person with a large knowledge base has spent thousands of hours building that knowledge base one piece at a time. And what you see when you meet the individual is an expert in his or her field, with that high level of knowledge that makes him very valuable in the marketplace.

Save Your Money

The second area where the Law of accumulation works is with regard to money. Every large fortune is an accumulation of hundreds and thousands of small amounts of money, and the place to start is to take any amount of money that you can right now and begin to save it. When you begin to save money, it sets up a force field of energy and it triggers the law of attraction. As a result you begin to attract to you even more bits of money to add to your savings.

Attract Riches Into Your Life

I’ve spoken to many, many successful people and they’ve told me the same story. That as soon as you start to put savings aside, it starts to attract into your life and into your work all the money that you need to achieve your goals. The reason why most people retire poor is they never put the initial savings aside to start with.

Get the Experience You Need

The third area where the law of accumulation applies is in the area of experience. You’ll find that successful people in any field are those who have far more experience in that field than the average. And there is nothing that replaces experience. Whether it’s in business or entrepreneurship or management or parenting or selling or anything else. Many people do not take the risks that are necessary to move out of their comfort zone because they’re afraid it won’t work out.

Everything Counts

But the fact is that until you move out of the comfort zone and get the experience from making the mistakes, it’s not possible for you to grow and become capable of earning the kind of money that you desire. Now here’s the key to the law of accumulation. It says that everything counts. Everything that you do counts. The biggest mistake that people make is they think that only what they want to count, counts. When you read a book, when you listen to an audio program, when you go to a course, when you go to bed early and you get up early and you work, it all counts. And it’s all going on the plus side of your ledger.

Use Your Time Well

But when you watch television, waste time, hang out, fool around and so on, all of that counts, as well, and it’s going on the negative side. A person who has a great life, by the law of accumulation, is a person who’s accumulated far more credits on the credit side than debits on the debit side. And here’s an important point. If what you are doing is not moving you toward your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals. Nothing is neutral. Everything that you’re doing is either moving you toward the things that you want to accomplish in life, the person you want to be, the wealth you want to accumulate, or it’s moving you away. Everything counts. The law of accumulation says that everything counts.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, begin today to build your knowledge base in the subject that can be most helpful to you in achieving financial independence. Whether it takes a week, a month or a year to become thoroughly knowledgeable, it doesn’t matter. Just get started today.

Second, get as much experience as you can in your chosen field. Start a little earlier, work a little harder and stay a little later. Take risks and try every different way you can think of to achieve your goal. This experience is invaluable and it accumulates over time.

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.

5 more ways to create Happy Customers

Here are 5 more ideas to use marketing to create happy customers

1. Listen to what your customers tell you. People value being listened to very highly. If you can be one of the few people who will listen carefully to what your customer wants, and show that you understand by delivering their request, you will stand out amongst all of their suppliers.

2. Really care about your customers. Take notes about when their birthday is, who their children are, hobbies and interests etc. This creates a far deeper level of communication and shows that you are interested in them as individuals.

3. Encourage complaints. Do you know what most people do when they hear a customer complain? They think of a reason why the complaint is not valid. When a customer complains, they are telling you that they want to keep using you despite the problem, but would prefer to do business with you if you could sort it out. For every customer that TELLS you about a problem, 10 customers may have experienced the same problem and gone elsewhere or are getting progressively more annoyed by it. When a customer tells you something is wrong, listen and then ask them if anything else is wrong. Most people treat complaining customers with contempt, when in fact, they act as an early warning system alerting you to the majority of customers who will sit in silence and then quickly leave you ‘for no reason’ one day.

4 Avoid confusion. If you have a contract, make it so simple that it can be explained in a paragraph. If you are doing work on a customer’s behalf, make sure that they understand exactly what you are doing and when. Don’t do anything that you think will confuse or frustrate your customer – just keep things simple and clear.

5. Source new suppliers. Does your customer have problems with some of their suppliers? If you know of a good alternative, pass those details on. Make a habit of collecting details of reliable and good value suppliers who you can pass onto customers if the need arises.

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.

At Yesterday’s ACE meeting in London, I was delighted to get the oppertunity to talk to Simon Hazeldine who was one of the speakers.  I’ve head about Simon before and have had his books on selling reccomended to me. Looking at some of the article he has written last night I came across this one which I think is spot on.  I often talk about this subject at my seminars and Simon sums it up perfectly in this article.  Deatils of his book at contained at the end.  

 Why Your Customers Don’t Give A Damn About You

I have some very bad news for you. You had better make sure

you are sitting down. Prepare yourself for a shock. Your

customers don’t care about you. They are not interested in

you. To be frank – they don’t actually give a damn about

you.

I appreciate that this may be something of a shock for you.

After all you will have spent countless hours and a lot of

money attempting to develop a deep and meaningful

relationship with your customers.

However, let’s experience a harsh dose of reality for a

moment. You are only attempting to develop a good

relationship with your customers for one reason – so that

they keep spending money with you. You want them to spend

their money with you and not with one of your competitors,

don’t you? You are primarily acting out of self interest,

aren’t you?

So why should it be any different for your customer? Their

primary interest is themselves and their business. They are

most interested in the things that are important to them.

You see they aren’t really interested in you, your products

or your services at all. They couldn’t give a damn.

What they are interested in is what you, your products

and/or your services will do for them. They are interested

in what you can do to help them solve their problems and get

what they want. Although this may seem rather harsh it is

the truth, isn’t it?

So if your customers are only really interested in what you

can do to help them get what they want, why do so many

salespeople spend most of their time talking about

themselves, their products and services?

Far too many salespeople talk far too much about things they

are interested in. The problem is – your customers don’t

care. For example:

Salesperson says: “Our business was established in 1842″

Customer thinks: “So what?”

Salesperson says: “We are the market leaders”

Customer thinks: “How nice for you – so what?”

Salesperson says: “Our new model contains several advanced

features”

Customer thinks: “Why does he keep talking about his new

model? So what about the new features! Who cares?”

The salesperson is talking about what is interesting and

important to them. It bores, annoys and irritates

customers! Can I put it any more plainly than that?

Let me be blunt – you shouldn’t really talk to your customer

about your company, product or service until you understand

all about them, their company, their problems, their goals,

their criteria and requirements.

When you understand the customer, then you will be able to

tell them how you, and only you, can help them. Then they

will be very interested!

Spot the difference in the following examples:

Salesperson says: “Our business was established in 1842

which means that we have a long and successful track record

in helping our customers to solve exactly the same problems

that you are facing. In addition this means that you can

trust that you have a supplier who is in this for the long

term – unlike some fly-by-night cowboys!”

Customer thinks: “Interesting! I do need to find a long term

supplier to help me to solve these problems. I don’t want

to keep chopping and changing suppliers. I always like to

make sure that suppliers have a solid track record and these

guys have been around for over a hundred years!”

Salesperson says: “We are the market leaders in this

industry and this means that we have products that your

consumers want to buy. By stocking market leading products

you can be certain of excellent margins and high rates of

sale. This will impact your bottom line very positively.”

Customer thinks: “If we replace some of our existing lower

margin lines with some of these fast moving market leading

lines then we can get the percentage margin improvement we

need to hit this year’s budget!”

Salesperson says: “Our new model contains several advanced

features and these will help you to automate your current

manual processes and allow you to make the cost savings that

you said you needed to make.”

Customer thinks: “Right! If I upgrade to the new model I

will be able to automate the process and that’s going to

save time and money. That’ll keep the boss happy!”

If you know what is important to a customer you can then

determine how you can help them with their specific

problems, challenges and objectives.

Then they won’t just be interested in you – they will be

very interested in you! Not to put too fine a point on it -

they might even end up loving you!

Simon Hazeldine is a professional speaker, consultant and

author in the field of performance enhancement strategies,

the psychology of persuasion and influence, and the

development of mental toughness. His underground bestselling

book “Bare Knuckle Selling” is exclusively available here

http://www.bookshaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=113

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.

You may have heard of Bob Proctor as one of the authors of ‘The Secret’.  If so you might find this article of his useful.  As you might expect it covers the importance of Goal setting.

Do you have a definite purpose that guides your ambitions, vision, and goals?

“What a different story people would have to tell if they would adopt a definite purpose and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming purpose.” — Napoleon Hill, Laws of Success

It doesn’t matter how you think you arrived here on this planet or under whose direction – the fact remains that each of us has specific talents and gifts that are uniquely coded within our own DNA.

As you go through life, you don’t just pick up things you like doing by chance. You discover what you’re good at because you were meant to discover it, just as you were meant to figure out what your fingers do, and how your elbows work. Your unique gifts are hardwired into your system just as surely as your lungs are given their blueprint to breathe.

And it’s from these specific talents and gifts that you’re able to define and determine your definite purpose, the reason why you’re here. What’s in you cannot be found in another living human being. In fact, it’s quite possible that what you bring to the table hasn’t been duplicated – ever – since time began.

That’s right! This “purpose” is serious business.

If you fail to determine your definite purpose, everything else is wrong.

It’s like working with a broken compass – you may think you’re going North, but you’re not. You’re not sure which direction you’re heading, so, you’re just wandering aimlessly.

Without your purpose identified firmly in your mind, you will wander through life, never quite feeling that you’re “in the flow.” I say, then, that it’s imperative you recognize what it is you’re good at – what it is you really love to do. Your purpose in this lifetime is to do the thing that you love.

People will tell you they already know what they’re good at, and what they love to do most, but they’ll never earn money doing it. Whoever gave you THAT idea? When you’re sorting out your purpose, I don’t want you thinking about THAT non-issue at all. You can earn money at ANYTHING. Once you determine your purpose, you won’t even have to think hard on HOW to earn money – it’s as if you’re being guided by an unseen hand, heading in the right direction, and everything falls into place.

The key to your life is not that you settle for the “safe” thing that will bring in the money. The key is to turn and do what you really love. Fall in love with an idea. That’s your life! That’s your purpose.

Fall In Love With An Idea

More often than not, when we think of “love,” we tend to think of two human beings in love. When they’re in love, they enjoy the same ideas; their feelings are in harmony.

Love is resonance. Love occurs when two entities are on the same frequency. So, when a person falls in love with an idea, his conscious and subconscious are resonating — they’re in sync. And, it’s what’s going on in the mind that dictates the vibration of the body and moves the body into action. So, you must first allow yourself to fall in love with an idea. What is it you really love to do?

The psychologist Alfred Adler once said, “I am grateful for the idea that has used me.” When you fall in love with an idea, it guides you. You don’t guide it anymore.

Nor are you going to find yourself digging around for ambition or seeking to achieve your purpose. It’ll push you out of bed in the morning long before your alarm clock considers doing the same. When you land on your purpose and truly start doing what you love, it’s like being 12-years-old again, waking up to your first glorious day of summer vacation. What might have been drudgery for you just a day before is now grand opportunity and discovery.

You’re loaded with ambition.

Did the weather change?

Did the sun rise several hours sooner?

Of course not. The only entity that changed between the last day of school and the first day of summer vacation was YOU. In similar fashion, acting on your purpose pushes your ambition through the ROOF. The gifts within you were programmed to SING in a spotlight on center stage! Ambition is the talent agent that promotes these gifts and believes in your gifts to get them to that stage. The performance you do from that stage, that’s your life’s purpose.

This article is by Bob Proctor, one of the featured authors in the Jim Rohn Day After Thanksgiving Sale!  To take advantage of these incredible specials before they sell out go to http://thanksgiving.jimrohn.com

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.

Just got off the train from a tremendous meeting of the Academy of Chief Executives in London which was founded by Brian Chernett (pictured) . Twice a year they hold speaker ‘try out’ sessions for people who wish to speak at their monthly sessions for business leaders. Today I saw a great selection of experts talk from around the world about marketing, branding, leadership, creativity and a hsot of hot topics designed to give companies the edge.

It’s a great way for speakers to try out ideas for the group to see who will be selected. It ensures that the groups only get great quality speakers that present and I was really impressed at the culture of excellence that seems to permeate the group. In six months time I hope to be one of their speakers and today’s showcase was a real eye opener and will be a big help to judge what material will be suitable.

For more details about what the Accademy offers see:  

 www.chiefexecutive.com

Another plus for the day was the venue The Vintners Hall in the City was an extra-ordinary venue to host the event. Steeped in history and centrally located, it really reminded me just how important the venue is when it comes to putting on an event.

 http://www.tasteofthevine.co.uk/corporate-entertainment-wine-tasting-venue31.htm

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.