Marketing Seminar thoughts

Marketing Seminars

Thanks to all the delegates who attended my marketing seminar on Friday. There was a great cross section of business owners in the room with a wide range of experiences. I’m pleased to say that the feedback was very positive. Brian Haworth from www.bfas.org comments were typical – “Helpful friendly advice and discussions which will benefit our business.”

At each seminar there usually emerges a theme which people take away with them. I’m not if that was the case of Friday, but if I was to choose 2 areas I would say ‘testimonials’ and ‘re-examining product ranges’ were the key areas that emerged from Friday.  In yesterday’s marketing blog I added some useful information about how top get more testimonials. Today’s marketing blog contains one of the sections from the seminar notes on how to widen the range of services that you offer.

Extend your range

Armed with what your customers like and don’t like, you can begin to extend the service you offer them. When Direct Line started, it offered only car insurance; now twenty years later, it is a business with more than 10,000 employees offering a range of personal finance products to more than 10 million customers across the UK and Europe.

They were the first company in the UK to offer quotes over the phone and use the phone as the main channel of communication. They offered cheaper insurance (price) and saved time (convenience) for car owners. Their original advertising used the distinctive red telephone which is still used today.

During the first three months of operation, Direct Line gave 9,000 car insurance quotes over the phone. It now sells a policy across Europe every 10 seconds and is the UK’s largest direct car insurer, receiving 22 million telephone calls daily. Direct Line was able to do this because it spotted a gap in the market (the hassle of getting car insurance) but operated in a marketplace where repeat business was the norm.

After becoming very good at what it did, the company was then able to ‘up sell’ to its existing customer base, offering discounts for more than one insurance policy taken out by customers. Its current service includes critical illness cover, breakdown cover, mortgages, loans, home insurance, savings, tracker ISAs, travel insurance, cash mini ISAs and pet insurance.

Don’t lose track of what you REALLY offer your customers. Railways offered transportation and could have viewed air travel as an opportunity rather than a threat. My nephew and niece have recently decided to start selling fresh farm eggs as a way of making more pocket money. This will also give them an opportunity to sell other products related to eggs which will probably give them far more profit than the eggs themselves.

Think about what your customers REALLY want and see if there are ways of delivering this.

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.

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