FACT:  Your customers go through a buying pattern before they purchase from you
QUESTION: Do you know what this buying pattern typically looks like?

Think about the last time you began your search for a product or service.  I bet you went through the following stages:

KNOW:  First of all you had to do “some” activity to find out possible vendors.

Common ways you may have done this include:
* Ask someone
* Google terms on the Internet
* Draw from your memory bank — (maybe you met them, saw an ad or heard them on the radio)
* Draw from your own contacts   (you have them in your contact list)
* You searched for them in a directory

Once you have a list of vendors, the next logical step is to check them out to see if you LIKE what they have to say.

Common ways you may do this are:
* Visit their website
* Call them
* Email them
* Ask others about them
* Draw from your memory bank on past interactions with them

So let’s assume you like what they have to say, the final test is do you TRUST that they will deliver on what they say?

Trust can be a toughie, and quite frankly the level of trust required depends mostly on the risk involved in the purchase.  In other words, if you see the purchase as low risk, then little trust is involved.  But if you are relying heavily on the purchase or it is costly, then TRUST becomes more and more important.

Common ways you gain trust include:
* How familiar you are with the person or company
* What others have to say about the person or company
* Reports or proven facts about the products or services
* Guarantees or Warranties on the product or service
* Demonstrations or proof of their expertise in the market

So Here’s The BIG Question?

Do enough people even KNOW you exist?  Think about how many NEW clients or customers you need every year.  Let’s say it’s 50.  Now think about your conversion rate.  Let’s say that for every 10 prospects that call or walk into your store you convert 1 into a new client…that means you now need 500 prospects to contact you somehow.  Now think how many need to be checking you out behind the scenes via your website or by asking referral sources and you know that your lead number has to be much larger!  At a bare minimum multiply your prospects by 10 and that means you need to be capturing 5000 leads.

How many have you captured to date?  In other words, how many are currently in your database that you are staying in regular contact with?  If it isn’t meeting your requirement for captured leads, then you need to focus on HOW you are going to capture more!

So stop worrying so much about making your website pretty and start focusing on people finding your website and what you have on it to capture leads.  Start getting out from behind the computer and get back to meeting new people and exchanging contact information.  Increase promotional activities that include savvy techniques for capturing leads.

In other words focus on capturing and counting your leads FIRST and then SECONDLY improve your ways to build the LIKE and TRUST factors.

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cidnee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

Productivity

It’s all well and good to have a sound plan or system on paper, but it is another to put those plans into action and then to maintain those activities on a consistent basis.

Because so many business owners remain the key rainmaker for their organization and still carry out a ton of the work, non-time-sensitive activities, like marketing tend to fall to the wayside.

Let me ask you this.  If you were meeting with a new prospective customer to work on a sizable proposal, would you miss the meeting because the printer needs fixing or you have a ton of emails in your inbox?  Of course not!

It’s time to consider marketing your biggest client.  It does, after all, bring in more money than any other one activity, yet we constantly put it aside for less important issues. Want to make a big difference in your business?  Then start keeping your appointments with your marketing.  Here’s how you can harness the 5^th “P”

1. Make Appointments With Your Marketing – In your calendar, set aside consistent meetings with Mr. Marketing.  Try 1 hour a day at least 3 days a week for a start.  Now don’t break these appointments.
2. Minimize Distractions – Turn Notifications off on your Email, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, close the door to your office and remain productive for one hour.  After all if you were in a meeting with a client, you wouldn’t be answering emails, phone calls or questions from staff or family members!
3. Make a Priority List – I like to create a list in Excel and then next to each item I rank it first by priority (1 is high and 3 is low), and then by the amount of time it takes (.1hrs, 3 hours or 40 hours).  Now multiply these two columns and sort your task from those with the lowest to the highest.  For big tasks, you might want to break them down to smaller tasks so they get started and don’t remain too far down your list, especially if they are a high priority.
4. Create a Weekly Task List – of everything you want to accomplish that week so that when you sit down you know what it is you’re working on.
5. Too much on your plate? Then ask yourself, can you outsource this to someone else, and is it really that important right now.  Remove those items that others can do or that can be delayed with little detriment, to a later date.
6. Be Held Accountable – who do you have to hold you accountable on your marketing?  Face it – we all work best to hard deadlines.  Choose an accountability partner, or of course you can always enroll in one of our courses!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

The big question after you are LIVE is, “now what do I do?” The quick answer is start by posting updates and inviting people to be part of your network. In this article, let’s start by looking at what type of information you can post to boost exposure and promote your business. I’m not one personally for updating the world on the newest run in my nylons. So what kind of comments should you post? Strategic, well-thought-out ones of course, mixed with a personal flavour – hmmm sounds just like live networking.

Here are 10 clever ways to use your updates in Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Twitter to get results.

1. Think Media – Did you know the larger news and broadcast media are watching social networks for relevant news ideas? Well they are. So think of some catchy headlines that are topical and use these for updates.

2. Q. & A. – Do you get asked a lot of common questions? Pose the question via your update and then develop a link back to your site for the answer.

3. New Article or Newsletter Link – Check the software you are using. Can it automatically update your status? If so, set it up to do so or manually enter the topic and a link to read more.

4. Conduct a Poll – Want to test a new product or service or gauge market demand? Ask people what they think on a topic.

5. Brag - Share your successes. It lets people know you are in business and making progress. This could be a big client or an award or media exposure, as examples.

6. Invites - Invite people to your next Free tele-seminar or webinar or even to a paid event.

7. Share Interesting Resources – This could be a helpful tool, recommended reading, a great blog or a useful website.

8. Announce New Products or Services – Again, this lets people know you are invested in growing your business.

9. Introduce/Promote Others in Your Community or Network – Networking is about connecting people. Make sure you “give” back and support others by singing their praises, providing a testimonial or commenting on a useful page on their website.

10. Stay Human – Ask for help or expose a weakness. Because you may never meet these people face to face, it’s important to show people you are just like them. Poke fun at yourself every now and then, or allow others to help you. Otherwise they may see you or your company as too high-level for them.

Think about it. If you can think of 3 examples for each of the above ideas you would have 30 updates. That’s a month’s worth!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

I love to write – creatively as well as for business. So last year I decided to take a course at a nearby college to learn how to hone this skill. I learned a very valuable lesson that REALLY should be the GOLDEN RULE for your marketing.

It’s always better to SHOW your audience than TELL them.

Speaking is a great way to do this, especially for those of you in service based businesses. Here are just a few of the key advantages of integrating this into your marketing:

• You have the opportunity to educate your target market in your area of expertise
• By demonstrating your expertise, you increase trust and credibility with attendees
• The content you create can be used in multiple other ways – articles, audio CD, teleseminar, webinar, report or book.
• You get to hone your public speaking skills and may find that you can even get paid to speak!
• Most importantly, you have the opportunity to attract more prospects to you and your business

Okay, so you know that speaking is for you. You do after all possess some public speaking ability. Maybe you have even done some talks already. If this is the case and you are finding that you STILL are not getting the leads you think you should, it could be because one or more of the following areas are not aligned.

• You are not presenting your subject in an appealing way or with a catchy title – Create at least 3 various topics to present. This allows the organizer to choose the one that is most appropriate for them. Research various topics that other speakers in your area of expertise use to give you inspiration in catchy titles and content.
• You are not attracting the RIGHT type of speaking engagements – Look for speaking engagements that have your qualified prospects in the audience. Don’t be afraid to ask about the audience or expected numbers. There is nothing worse than doing hours of preparation only to find a handful of people in the room when you are expecting 50!
• You are giving too little or too much away in your talk – you should be looking to explain why your topic is important to the attendee and what the key areas are they need to address. You are giving away too much if you start explaining HOW they address each area.
• You have no mechanisms in place to capture leads AFTER your talk - This is probably one of the biggest mistakes many speakers make. If you walk away after a talk HOPING that people will contact you, you are losing valuable control in your marketing system. Think of ways that you can contact them. Perhaps you can offer to send them the PowerPoint slides for your presentation or a special Trial of your product or services. By having a lead capture system in place you will be able to measure your results and implement a strong follow up campaign to move prospects closer to a sale.

How do you know you have been successful? That depends on your goals. I am looking to speak at least 20 times per year to an average audience of 50+ solopreneurs and business owners (so let me know if you are aware of such opportunities). At each event, I am looking to capture information on over 80% of them, and to close a minimum of $5000 in sales through each one (not on the day, but through my follow up campaign).

What are your goals?

_________________
Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget minded small businesses and professional services.  She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success.  Cidnee is also a sought after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

If you’ve never worked with a marketing professional, or this is the first time you’ve hired an advertising agency, here are a few “secrets” that will save you time, grief and money.

1. Provide background
Let prospective suppliers know how your organization is structured, who your buyers or users are, and what business issue you need your new agency to solve. They’ll want to know what your budget is, and how you will make a decision. TIP: Share your value proposition and what you feel has made your company a success. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Good agencies want to work with good clients. You may not get the best to respond if they don’t believe they can do meaningful work, even if your budget is impressive.

2. What are the “got to’s”?
These are the absolute minimum criteria for a company to be on your short list. They include things like years in business, previous experience in your industry, and geographic location. Provide a “fill in the blanks” form for their responses. TIP: Be very specific about your criteria. Instead of saying “seeking well-established agency”, say “Must have been in business 5 years or more.” WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Quickly and accurately evaluate responses, and exclude companies from consideration.

3. Ask about their processes.
You should understand how the agency works. What is their “sweet spot” – the typical account size range they work with? How would they communicate with you? How do you give them information? What is their approach or methodology for assisting you? How do they create plans and recommendations? How do they make the ads? How do they get paid? TIP: An agency with a defined business system they’ve used for many clients will be effective and efficient at creating solutions and getting them out into the marketplace. WHY IT”S IMPORTANT: Assurance that you are guaranteed an efficient use of their time, since most agencies bill by the hour.

4. Ask about their people.
You want experienced people who won’t have to learn on your dime. Get biographies of the people you will be working with directly. See the work they have done and ask about the results it generated. Get references and check them. TIP: Take extra time to check the “chemistry” between you and the agency team. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: You will be sharing your most intimate business information with these people, so you must like and trust them.

5. Avoid this!
Don’t make the RFP form long and involved. Avoid intrusive or irrelevant questions. Don’t ask for answers that can easily be found on the agency’s Web site. TIP: Don’t ask for ideas or ads “on spec”. WHY IT”S IMPORTANT: The only thing an agency has to sell is its ideas. Goods agencies won’t do the work before they get the job. The busy, successful agency you want on your business will likely not respond to your RFP.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Each owner has a set of talents that make his or her business unique, and some valuable lessons for all of us on what has worked for them.

On the principal that it’s easier to follow someone else’s best practices than spend time and effort making up our own, here are some lessons we can all apply from business people right in our own neighborhood.

We are not sharing these ideas for you to change your business partners and suppliers—these are simply people we have met and worked with whose business practices have given them above-average returns.

One is an independent insurance professional. Now, you probably all know that selling insurance is tough—in fact, there’s a saying in the business that “insurance is sold, not bought.” This insurance guy has created long-lasting relationships using a basic practice we should all follow: he makes and retains detailed notes about every single conversation he has with a client or potential client. Over twenty years, he has made a lot of notes! So now he can instantly and accurately recall exactly what his clients needs and issues are and offer products and services that change as people’s lives change. Because of this, his customers see that he has a detailed grasp of what’s important to them—a welcome change in an often-anonymous world.

Another makes and installs counter tops and cabinets. If you ask him the single thing he does that makes him more successful than his competition, he’ll say, “I call people back quickly.” He calls his prospects to confirm an appointment. He calls if he is going to be even five minutes late. He calls to let people know the status of their job. He calls to say how a quote is coming along. “Hey, I have a cell phone,” he says, “it’s so easy to do.” As a result he closes more deals, gets more repeat business and is recommended more often by his contractor partners.

The last one is the Membership Development Manager at a nearby Chamber of Commerce. She uses new social networking tools like LinkedIn, where she has a personal profile and a special Chamber group to connect to chamber members and potential members. The Chamber website allows visitors to track using Twitter and Facebook. The site is updated regularly with information that directly relates to the Chamber’s core message, “Where business connects”. This chamber has a reputation for being forward-thinking and has attracted over one thousand members.

Keeping notes of customer preferences, following up, and using new tools to automate the process: things we can all do to make our businesses more successful.

We are looking for more “success stories” and best practices. If you know of anyone who would allow us to interview them for this series, please let us know.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Now, there was a time when great really meant something. Take Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, conqueror of lands, founder of cities for example. Now, he is great. Somehow I just can’t see Product XX’s great online resources changing the political and demographic history of three continents.

Or maybe Ramesses II, Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty, known as the Great. Can you imagine the great new flavor of Processed Food XXX ruling unchallenged for 66 years, causing the building of cities and monumental sculptures that survive for 3,500 years? Or inspiring poetry such as P.B. Shelley’s Ozymandias “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”?

OK. Actually, I CAN look on Processed Food XXX and despair. But Processed Food XXX great?!?! Not a chance.

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s east coast is truly Great. The reef system is thousands of kilometers long, and hosts a diversity of corals and sea life unmatched on the globe. Somehow it just seems insulting to compare it to the great customer (dis)service system of Company XXXX.

So let’s stop claiming every new and old product or service is great. After all, when every thing is great, nothing is great.

There are plenty of under-utilized superlatives available. Pick up a thesaurus or a dictionary and take a look. Click over to Thesaurus.reference.com, Merriam-Webster.com’s Thesaurus or any of the other online thesauri and peruse some of the

august, capital, chief, commanding, dignified, distinguished, eminent, exalted, excellent, famed, famous, fine, glorious, grand, heroic, high-minded, highly regarded, honorable, idealistic, illustrious, impressive, leading, lofty, magnanimous, main, major, noble, notable, noted, noteworthy, outstanding, paramount, primary, principal, prominent, puissant, regal, remarkable, renowned, royal, stately, sublime, superior, superlative, talented, able, absolute, aces, adept, admirable, adroit, awesome, bad*, best, brutal, cold*, complete, consummate, crack*, downright, dynamite, egregious, exceptional, expert, fab, fantastic, fine, first-class*, first-rate, good, heavy*, hellacious, marvelous, masterly, number one, out of sight, out of this world, out-and-out, perfect, positive, proficient, super-duper, surpassing, terrific, total, tough, transcendent, tremendous, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, wonderful, abundant, ample, big, big league, bulky, bull, colossal, considerable, decided, enormous, excessive, extended, extensive, extravagant, extreme, fat, gigantic, grievous, high, huge, humongous, husky, immense, inordinate, jumbo, lengthy, long, major league, mammoth, mondo, numerous, oversize, prodigious, prolonged, pronounced, protracted, strong, stupendous, terrible, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, voluminous,

alternatives to great. It is time to spice up and enliven our marketing language.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

Yesterday, August 19, Huffington Post reported that troubadour Carroll has, as promised, released his second of three songs/videos about his year-long saga of trying to get United Airlines to pay for the repairs to his Taylor guitar, broken by UAL baggage handlers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

The lesson to learn here is that while the benefits of good customer service might take a while to become apparent, bad customer service gets noticed – talked about, and publicized – immediately, and widely, and repeatedly. Businesses spend trillions of dollars every year in all kinds of marketing programs and tactics to gain customers. And everyone claims that they understand the principle that it is easier and less expensive to keep a good customer than to constantly find new ones.

That said, then why do businesses persist in giving crappy customer care? Today’s media-savvy consumers cannot be brushed off as minor annoyances. They have global reach. As Carroll has shown, any positive results that a company might have been gained from all that marketing spend can be quickly negated in one stroke. Have you seen the United Breaks Guitars t-shirts people are wearing to the airports?

UAL will be spending marketing money on damage control for months to come. You and your business can avoid a similar image catastrophe by making positive, responsive, customer service an integral part of your marketing plan and business operations plan.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

1. Personal satisfaction
2. Sales for your company (or yourself)
3. Preservation of the natural “buying-selling” ecosystem
4. Unsolicited praise from your client base

This particular post is about number four. Every once in a while, a user of your product or service might find themselves so overwhelmed by the quality you provide that they decide to take matters into their own hands.

It happened to Email Center Pro the other day. One of the service’s users ( Jennifer Haubein of Websites 2 Grow) decided that telling us how impressed she was no longer sufficed. She wanted to tell others in her circle of influence.

Here’s what she said:

And here’s why she said it (in other words, here are some simple rules for soliciting unsolicited praise. Please note that simple doesn’t mean easy.):

1. Customer Service: If this sounds cliche to you, then you’re not managing it correctly. It’s not a cliche, it’s the bottom line. Customer service can look very different depending on the situation at hand. At all times, however, keep the customer in mind. Zappos did; they just sold for nearly $1 billion. I’m just saying.

2. Customer Support: The customer is using your product/service, you’re meeting their service needs and then something goes wrong. Do you hide and distribute the blame? Or do you step up and meet their need at every turn? (Please note that this can blur quite appropriately with customer service.)

3. A High-Quality Service/Product: This speaks for itself — somewhat. You certainly can’t get away with a sub-par product or an inconsistent service, but just know that even good (rather than amazing) products/services can enjoy success if attention is paid to the other numbers in this list.

4. Did I Mention Customer Service?: This can’t be understated. Be remarkable. It works. The most uplifting emails and calls received at Palo Alto Software are by those who were even more impressed with our service and support than with our product.

Happy soliciting!

Jason Gallic
Product Manager for Email Center Pro

That’s why we’re keeping an eye on a new, interesting “buy local” movement springing out of Minneapolis. The 3/50 Project aims to save “the brick and mortars our nation is built on.”

How are they going to save it? By encouraging consumers to pick three local businesses they’d really miss if they were to close down, then having them commit to spending $50 (combined) each month at those stores.

The 3/50 Project isn’t an “all or nothing” campaign that insists consumers stop shopping in chains or franchises. Instead, our message is about balance—of the money you currently spend each month, we simply ask you to redirect an affordable $50 back to the locally owned independent businesses that have been forgotten of late.

According to the website, 68 percent of every dollar spent in a locally-owned business returns to the local economy –  in the form of taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. By comparison, when you buy at a national chain, only 43 percent of that money stays local. That’s a significant amount of money that can easily be funneled back into a community.

Enlisting business supporters, consumers, and organizations to get behind the movement, the 3/50 Project has gone national with supporters across the country holding events and community projects.

Palo Alto Software has teamed up with Rick L’Amie of Moxie Marketing in Austin, Texas, to support one such event. Moxie issued aB2B challenge to Austin business owners to help other businesses in the city. Each business that takes part in the challenge will be entered into a drawing to win one of three copies of Marketing Plan Pro we’ve donated to the cause. Winners will also receive a free 30-Day Moxie Quick Start Coaching program.

If you happen to be located in Austin, click here to enter the 3-Step Buy Local Challenge. All you have to do is name three local businesses, describe why you like them (stories will be shared on Rick’s blog), and pledge to support them.

If you don’t live in Austin, consider taking part in the 3/50 Project by making sure to spend some of your hard earned dollars in the stores and businesses owned by your neighbors. They’ll thank you, and you’ll be doing something simple to help your local economy.