| My
partner and I have just started our business by combining our
services of bookkeeping, organizing, administration, writing and
marketing for small businesses who have little or no staff or
who would like to outsource. We have done direct mail, tons of
networking, flyer distribution, e-mail campaigns, and have had
talks with many prospects. We seem to not be able to get any
paying clients yet. How can we employ some of the marketing you
talk about on your flyer--connecting emotionally, turbo charging
marketing, etc.?
Andrea Glass
www.mobileofficeresources.com
A:
Andrea,
First of all, it's encouraging that you are
attempting several levels of marketing tools such as networking,
direct mail, e-mail, and sales. I am going to assume that
your product/service offering is needed by a target market of
significant size to consistently grow your business.
Though it's hard to know all the details of
everything you're doing, here are the main points you should be
striving to achieve:
- Make sure you are targeting a specific
market instead of "shot gunning" your marketing efforts.
That is to say, don't try to sell to every type of company
- Do not try to sell this target by telling
them everything you can do right away., E.G. A list of
products or services. This is confusing in a confusing,
over-communicated world. You must first get into their head
with the
one compelling reason to use you.
This should be a results based reason with an underlying
emotional basis. What do they fear will happen if they
don't use you? What happy result will come about if they
use you? Think about what keeps these targets up in the
middle of the night worrying about and the results they would
like to see in their business. Federal Express didn't
start by telling you they could ship everything for you;
they told you they would do it overnight, When is
positively, absolutely has to be there the next day. This
is the Primal Tactic™, the
simple emotional message you need to convey to your target
audience to get them to listen to your story.. How do you
know what this reason is? Simple, ask them. Call,
write, or e-mail many of your target customers as possible.
Don't try to sell them, interview them, Tell them you
are taking a survey on the aspects of their business that
pertain to what you can do for them. Offer them a free
gift such as the survey results, a small promotion token, or
even 1/2 hour of free consultation (not selling). You will
find that by just listening, you will find the answers.
- Tell a story that means something to
them. Use a case study of how you saved a company
thousands of dollars - or made that company thousands of
dollars. Specific result orientated testimonials are
great for this. Make sure you can use the testimonial persons
full name and company as this gives it more substance and
weight.
- Create an action plan to keep in contact
with these targets. Be consistent in your efforts.
Don't send one direct mail piece, send several and test your
results.
Stay focused on your key message, be
consistent in your efforts and you will see the customer come,
and the profits grow.
Rodger B. Price
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