Author: Paul Tagent

Keep your customers happy – help them

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Assuming the project you delivered went well and that you kept your promises, a key area for business development is to try and attract repeat business from these existing customers. To do this do what you did when you won their business – keep them happy! All businesses encounter peaks and troughs and all will need help from time to time and when this help is required, do what you can to solve their problem.

I’m not saying that you should work for free. Similarly, I’m not saying charge for every minute. Just be helpful!

Make suggestions and point them in the right direction. They’ve come to you for your expert advice so give it to them, but don;t “give” too much! By being helpful you will solidify your relationship as well as prolong it and, in the business climate of today, you must keep the sources of new business as open and as varied as possible.

Another route to keeping doors ajar is the client survey. There are some who will say that this type of marketing is nothing more than ticking a box and offers nothing more than a heavy overload of manuals and forms! However, there are others who find they serve genuinely to improve quality and act as a safety net and reassurance to clients. The digestion of the results will require logging and measurement, but as long as the exercise doesn’t become to onerous and repetitive, why not implement a client survey to your marketing plan?

Finally and some would argue as a more valuable exercise, is the client review meeting. These types of face to face meetings provide an occasion for real, frank discussions from which one can learn and make adjustments to the business from. Before going into such a meeting there should be an internal review also which evaluates one of two things. 1) the monetary value of the client to the organisation and 2) a review of cross selling opportunities.

In business we have found that relationships play a major factor in retaining clients over a longer period and every attempt should be made to help and add value to your client base. Happy clients talk….but so too do unhappy ones!

Direct Marketing

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Too many organisations perceive direct marketing as just direct mail. This is not the case. Direct marketing is a marketing method and direct mail is just one of the initiatives available. It may well form over 50% of what is done under the direct marketing heading, but it is slowly being overtaken by the increasing number of press and TV ads with some sort of direct response devise –  e.g “Text Tell me more to 12345.”49936-on_target_direct_marketing

To me direct marketing could also come under the bracket of “pull marketing” where prospects are
being directly targeted and enticed in a companies’ marketing activity to respond; they are being “pulled.”

Anyway, no matter what heading or category direct marketing  is put under, each marketing initiative must have some sort of response mechanism which identifies the prospect and allows him or her to start a conversation with your organisation which could well lead to an appointment and (hopefully!) a problem-solving discussion and a business relationship.

But, don’t forget existing clients when you are looking at direct marketing. If you have got something new to say or are about to launch a new product or service, then existing clients should be given priority and should hear about this first!

There are loads of direct marketing companies and agencies out there who will tell you how to do mass mailings, but identify your market and tailor your  messaging. I’m not a fan of “buy now while stocks last” or “BOGOF” campaigns, but the underlying idea could be adapted. For example, target those people with a relevant need for your product or service and have the response go to a named and labelled person within your organisation; maybe even configure a new email address or phone number purely for direct marketing purposes?

Put yourself in the position of the receivers of your offer message – “How can I get hold of this?” – ……….and make it easy for them!

Presentations and the art of listening

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When I first entered the marketing and advertising industry, my CEO at the time said that presentations need to be dialogues rather than monologues and I’ve never forgotten this piece of valuable advice.

I used to dread making presentations and it is very easy to get yourself into a bit of a state when your presentation is looming. You can lose sleep by worrying about how you will be received, but always remember, you are the expert and that the audience is there to listen to you as what you have to say will be of value. Don’t get into the mind-set that you’ve come to do a presentation and try and avoid the natural instinct to just get it done as soon as possible come what may! The danger is that your presentation will be a monologue with no real human content; just your single-minded gabble!

When you pitch or do a presentation, there is a theory that the “sales” element should be 75% listening and 25% talking. With this in mind, why not open with a question to quickly engage your audience and get their input.

For example, you could start with “Good morning. I have got a considerable amount of interesting material with me to go through, but perhaps I could focus on any specific needs or areas you’d like me to address.” Quite often prospects are only to happy to have an audience for their problems and, as they talk, you could re order your pitch to target them even better.

I also came across some statistics recently about the percentages involved when delivering a presentation.

40% of people hear through their eyes (i.e. what they can see and the impression you make)
20% respond from their ears
40% react from their feelings

To me this indicates that words are simply not enough to win you the business or to make that great impression you want to make. Your appearance and your manner can have a huge effect. You know your market so dress accordingly. Similarly, with regards to your manner, you must be confident and positive, but also be professional. I know of one really good presenter who tends to swear a lot which doesn’t always go down well! If you are using equipment, use it as an aid not a prop.

Finally, don’t be complacent or arrogant. You are the visitor, the guest, the invitee so never forget this. Also, you should know your subject matter inside out and if you don’t you shouldn’t be there in the first place!

Marketing Tools. There are lots on offer.

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Marketing is multifaceted. The suite of marketing tools available these days means there are a wide range on offer for you to place what you do in from of clients and prospects. To me, these “tools” can be categorised into 6 key areas which are –

Cold calling (canvassing) – Appointment making rather than selling
PR – This can be press releases and/or public relations
Advertising – Online and offline, both fall under the heading of paid for publicity
Direct Marketing – Not just direct mail but selling direct to customers rather than through a 3rd party
Print – Company brochures and literature
Conferences, seminars, exhibitions – Placing your skills and services in front of an audience

None of the above should be used as a singular entity or a solus route to a successful marketing campaign. In my opinion, all of the above could and should be used when developing a holistic marketing strategy. Each initiative must be used for the right purpose, with the right objective, at the right time, for the right target group.

I appreciate that the 6 above could be added to, but I didn’t include telesales as this is more about making a direct sale over the phone than the Cold Canvassing indicated in my list. There are cross overs between the skills required to sell a meeting and to make a physical sale, but the intrusion factor is quite different!

Similarly, there are other marketing related initiatives such as offering free samples or special introductory price offers and I haven’t included the wonders of client entertainment, but I don’t really feel I have much to offer here. Obviously taking a client or prospect out and plying them with alcohol or food at a sporting event can play a very lubricating role in your sales and marketing process, but it is really a form of bribery!

Think about what your marketing objectives are. These objectives have to be business related. Aiming for a date to retire or an annual turnover figure are more personal objectives really. Once you set your objectives, allocate a budget and a timescale. Plan what you want to do and more importantly why. Not everything you do will be a success so prepare to test activities and remember, you are unlikely to be an expert. There are good companies out there who can help!

 

Establish your brand

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The more you look around, the more it becomes evident that most service professionals are alike in relation to winning new business. You may be not be a marketing person or working within marketing services. You may be an accountant, an architect or a solicitor, but whatever the title and sector, we all have tangibles services to offer. Too often these services remain hidden secrets.

This must change!

We must make our services known. We must make our audience aware of our knowledge base and

experience so that our new business suspects could become business prospects and business clients. In every sector competition is fierce and everyone is clambering for attention. Most prospects will find it hard to differentiate between us and find it tricky to understand what the offers are so they need to be marketed to.

Prospects deserve to be spoken to in a professional, informative and considered way. Advertising is everywhere these days. On petrol pumps, on a screen in the post office, on the back of toilet doors, on buildings or even in the air so how do we decipher who is who and what is what?

People play a vital part when deciphering who is who. How may times do you meet the person before the company and say that he/she was so and so from somewhere? Similarly, how a company presents itself, the messaging it uses and the language it employs are also contributory factors. This is called……………the company “Brand.”

I think “brand” is one of those words that is widely used but never 100% understood.  What does “brand” mean, and how has the word’s application changed over time? The first definition of “brand” is the name given to a product or service from a specific source.  Used in this sense, “brand” is similar to the current meaning of the word “trademark.”

However, a brand is not just a logo or an icon. It is what the company stands for. It is the name. How it acts. How it makes people feel. Getting this right and marketing it correctly will ultimately influence whether a business succeeds or fails.

Yes, I am a marketing person and marketing people always go on about the importance of marketing, but take your time before rushing out and buying a cheap website, having a logo designed from an online store for $10, setting up Facebook and then hitting the networking groups. There are companies out there that can help you get it right first time. Yes, they charge, but that is what they do. They are called marketing companies. They are not called advertising agencies, website design agencies or social media agencies. These are likely to be companies “specialising” in 1 or possibly 2 areas of marketing and not the whole suite of marketing techniques.

We receive a lot of enquiries from people who have set out of the traps with their marketing only to regret it 12-18 months later. Cheap can be very expensive so do your research. How do the marketing companies you talk to present themselves? What is their “brand.” Do they speak your language and ultimately, are they nice people who you’re going to get on with?

We are here if you need us and are happy to meet people at our offices for a free initial conversation.

Advertising. Just adverts yeah? No.

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Advertising can come in many forms and, I feel, it comes under a heading of using this form of marketing as an activity to spread your message with the aim of making an impact.

In the current climate pretty much all organisations have a website of sorts to act as a place to provide more information as well as an online advertising, but advertising can also take the form of sponsorship. However, the medium itself is usually the message as there is often very little room for the message itself. For example a leisure company aligning itself (sponsoring) a well-covered sporting event.

Sponsorship could also be demonstrated by companies or brands being associated with people or celebrities who might typify the brand values the company is trying to create. A good example could be a certain George Clooney and Nespresso.

There is also PR as a form of advertising where you can target certain geographic sectors or areas with positive messages about your brand, but PR can be deemed as having a low signal power compared to other advertising activities. It can really achieve its aim via a sort of stealth marketing; hiding it’s actual sales message among in a press releases about a new product or award!

Whatever “advertising” you decide to explore, the evaluation of advertising and its effectiveness is tricky. Usually you have to rely on additional measures to compliment advertising unless a direct response mechanism is incorporated. This makes advertising as a marketing tool could be limited compared with something like a digital campaign where you can see “hits” and “visits.”

However, do not underestimate advertising in its many forms as something to include in your marketing mix. What your advertising should look like and contain is something for another article……

Advertising. Does it work?

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This is something I get asked regularly by clients and it is normally followed by something about how much it costs! Two questions which are very hard to answer. However, I will try…….

To me the process of running an advertising campaign is something that can really add value to the marketing activity of a company. However, it’s not just about the anticipated image building benefits advertising can bring. It is also to do with to what extent can advertising generate leads.

Given the limited number of prospects who buy in the professional services arena and the infrequency of their purchase design making, a case needs to be made before doing any advertising. Not many advertising agencies seem to advertise. There might be a message in that!

As touched upon earlier, a consideration for implementing advertising as part of your marketing strategy is its ability to generate leads or open new doors. Don’t allow yourself to be seduced by the desire to become famous and to be talked about at dinner parties! In my opinion it is your job to focus your and your organisations’ attention on the additional benefit advertising can offer.

A well thought out media plan & advertising campaign can underpin your marketing strategy and aid other marketing areas, but, to give it the best chance of yielding a response, aim to produce a campaign that is unique, has real flair, is creative, well written and pleasing to the eye and its impact can be quite dramatic.

There is one obvious circumstance in which using advertising can be defended – when you launch a new product or service. This sort of campaign falls under the “announcement” heading which is aimed at building awareness, but it must contain the potential benefits. Merely stating that your organisation has a new joiner or a new department won’t cut it!

I think it is hard to deny that advertising will create curiosity and allow your sales people to make prospecting calls or follow up activity such as direct marketing as a minimum outcome of running it. In addition, advertising can also act as proof of commitment to marketing and raises profile both externally and internally as well as can maintain a trickle of new leads. This means that it very much can “work,” but you need to outline what the strategy is behind your marketing activity is before adding advertising to the mix.

Who knows, if you do decide that advertising is part of the plan, it may well even create a buzz within the industry and, whatever the outcome, please, please, please make sure that each campaign has an obvious response mechanism!

Marketing for New Business

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The process of marketing should involve much more than selling alone. Marketing should be planned wherever possible and a marketing plan should be well thought through, justified, communicated internally and of course, priced up.

In my opinion, without an organisation committing to marketing, it is likely that both the decision makers within the company and the company itself will lose motivation. No organisation can rely solely on word of mouth, it needs a plan.

With a marketing plan in place, it should receive adequate resources of time and money and it will be positioned as an investment rather than seen as a cost which wont be given the appropriate “value.”

Marketing Advice

Marketing is also not a quick fix or a decision made as a result of business slowing down. Yes, your company has a lot to gain from a possible short term fix, but in fact “selling” takes time to show results and a long term commitment is in your own interests. To me marketing therefore, should be a long term effort that is a process rather than an event. Marketing has a start, a middle, but no end.

There are a number of decisions to make when it comes to the appointment of the person (or people) who deliver the marketing activity, but we see 2 main options –

The company employs an in house marketing person (marketing employee)
or marketing is outsourced to a specialist marketing company

When considering option 1, if your role within the company is one of marketing, it is likely that it is not an easy role to play as you are unlikely to be the professional service provider nor a fee generator so you may well be perceived as an outsider and an overhead………no to mention a possible nuisance and a hard taskmaster in your attempts to turn unwilling participants into people who embrace the marketing efforts of the company! Don’t panic if you encounter resistance. You are the centre of excellence when it comes to marketing and you must fight back and justify your position!

If option 2 is the route your organisation decides to go down, there are plenty of marketing companies around, but be careful to do your homework. Speak to a number of companies. Do due diligence on each. You will also need to make sure that both you and the marketing company agree and sign up to the broad goals expounded in the eventual plan…….which includes the cost and fees!

Either way, remember marketing is not just about getting a brochure done! The process should include areas like –

Having the tools of the trade (logo, stationery, website, sales piece etc)
Understanding the market you’re operating in – speak to existing clients, run a SWOT…
Building your own brand – What sets you apart from the competition? Are you consistent in your messaging?
Planning – How does marketing fit into the business plan? Who is doing what and why?
Existing clients – Quality deliverables through quality processes
Marketing internally and externally

A large feature in marketing speak is “focus.” Do you know where you stand in relation to the competition? What is your market share? Does every stakeholder or shareholder buy into the marketing plan?

Lots of questions here so I hope your grey cells are working overtime!

Onwards and upwards!

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Well, January is out of the way. Phew………and………breathe!
How did it go? Were there any changes in your market? Are there any new players in town? What did you decide to do?

One area that will constantly need addressing, updating and auditing is your marketing. Nothing stays still for long in the world of getting your name out there. Whether Google decides to unveil any more challenges or whether there are other platforms to use, marketing is a constantly evolving process. It’s not a singular event or a boxed ticked. Similarly, it shouldn’t have an end; just a start and a middle.

Maybe in December when you had 5 minutes, you may have constructed  a list of initiatives to implement and maybe even planned ahead, but will this plan still be applicable? What if there is someone new operating in your space? What if you’ve taken someone new on who might have some ideas?

The list of ways you can get your message out is a long and sometimes complicated one, but our advice is don’t panic! What we very much advocate is evaluating what you’ve done and testing new methods. For example, just because you advertising in a certain media in 2014, does this mean you repeat for 2015? No. Consumers like to be tested and challenged. They like to see something new and exciting. They don’t want to see an old typeface in a quarter page advertisement containing a stock shot. Originality + keeping your message modern are 2 key elements.

We are not saying that each year should come with a re brand. What we are saying is that it might be a good idea to look at your logo or your website or even your sales material to really gauge whether it is time to update any of it.

Marketing companies also need to stay on top of uncertainties in technology as well as invest in their skills and/or personnel. Maybe, if you’re using one, 2015 could be the time take a look at what else and who else is on the market?

Pay peanuts, get monkeys!

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I’ve been doing a lot of competitor analysis and market research over the festive period to try and gauge any shifts or trends in what the potential client is looking for from a professional service provider and what the industry is actually offering in return. What I have found quite frankly scares me.

I am seeing more and more organisations shouting louder about lower prices while, you, and me as customers, turn the volume off on the TV ads, ignore the adverts in the magazines and get driven mad by endless cold canvassing and hundreds of “blast” email marketing campaigns.

For example, I came across a number of marketing, website and graphic design “specialists” making ridiculously low financial offers across social media platforms in an attempt to drum up business. i.e I saw a “graphic designer with 10 years experience” offer logo design, stationery, some marketing collateral with “unlimited” amends for £200?!

From experience, this type of project can take anything between 2 and 5 days to deliver so £200 would imply a serious loss-leading campaign or worse still, a desperate scream for business. Not only that, making direct financial offers at ridiculous prices can convey a negative impact on the brand of the organisation making the offer and actually the industry in general.

There’s no easy way to say this, but, if you do not put a value on what you are offering, nor will the people you are targeting or working with. As the subject heading says, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

This way of marketing your products or services is an initiative a lot of industries seem to employ and in markets like retail, the price point can make a large difference to sales. However, it is my opinion that the best route to market is to try and sell the benefits as a package rather than putting all eggs in the financial basket. For example, I rarely see direct financial offers from professional services companies such as Solicitors or Accountants.

I’m not saying that every organisation should charge a premium, but it should have something special about it; a USP which can be marketed. Sometimes that USP are the people delivering the service. Sometimes it can be the product or service itself, but I feel the best route should be to market the “package” on offer.

What you should be evaluating when marketing your company and what it does is the reasons people buy from your business when they can just as easily buy from the competition? i.e. what makes your company different from the rest?

If the money things keeps raring its head, maybe ask a potential client or prospect what sort of value he or she would put on what you are offering. For example, what would it be worth to have a stress free house purchase or how much would you value would you place on having a strong brand, website and ongoing marketing.

Choose your price point carefully and stick to it. If you need to make a direct financial offer to your prospect market, make it realistic and limit the time it’s on offer. Around this, build your brand. research, develop and communicate your USP. Finally, allocate a budget to do this professionally as well as discuss timescales.