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Growing Your
Business With Your Marketing Priorities
©2005 by Charlie Cook
None of us have enough time in
the day to get everything
done, but small business owners and
entrepreneurs like you
are particularly pressed. You wear so many hats;
there is a
seemingly infinite list of tasks to accomplish
each day,
from providing services to clients, managing
product
distribution and delivery, to keeping accounting
in order.
You try to fit in some marketing when you can,
but you're
not sure which activities are essential to do
each week or
each month to build a steady stream of clients.
You make
some calls, send out a mailing or put up a web
site, but
you still have that nagging feeling that if you
knew which
marketing activities translated into the most
new business,
you could be more successful.
You want more clients or, if not more clients,
higher
paying clients. So, what are the most important
marketing
tasks to do in order to attract more of the
right type of
prospects?
Build and Maintain Relationships with Prospects
Your number one marketing priority should be to
build
relationships with lots of qualified prospects.
It sounds
obvious, but remember that the reason to
advertise, network
or to have a web site is to generate leads,
leads you can
then convert to sales. Take a look at the number
of years
you've been in business and the size of your
prospect
list.
If your advertising, networking and web site are working,
you should be able to generate new leads and a growing list
of qualified prospects each month. A successful website,
for example, can generate hundreds, if not thousands, of
new leads monthly.
George recently signed up for my coaching services. He has
been in business for over ten years, but his prospect list
consists of less than 150 names. George should have contact
information for thousands of prospects by n0w. Even without
an active web based lead generation strategy, if George had
added every prospect and client to his list over ten years
his list should contain over a thousand interested people.
How many more s.ales could you close if twice as many - or
ten times as many - people know how you could help them?
The first step is to get prospects' attention with your
marketing message and materials. Then you want prospects to
take the next step; to contact you, buy from you right
away, or add their name to your mailing list. Offering
f.ree, relevant information such as a report or f.ree
workshop will prompt your prospects to give you their
contact information and increase the results generated by
your advertisements and mailings.
How big is your target market? What percentage of this
group is on your mailing list?
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Your goal is to help as many people in your target market
learn what you do and to get them to give you their contact
information. Once you have their permission to stay in
touch, you can go to work building a relationship with
them.
Demonstrate what you do so they understand its value and
you establish your credibility. When they know and trust
you, they'll be happy to tell you what they need and to buy
your products and services.
So how can you incorporate lead generation and building
relationships with prospects into your weekly schedule?
1. Each week reach out to get the attention of people who
haven't heard from you. Do this through your advertising,
web site marketing, articles, mailings or cold calls (if
you know how to use them). But don't spend a dime on any of
these unless you have a strategy in place for converting
this attention into s.ales and qualified leads.
2. Set aside time each week or at least each month to stay
in touch with your list of qualified prospects and past
clients. As your list grows, use your time to focus on past
clients first and use a mass mailing or email to stay in
touch with other prospects. Share an idea your prospects
they can use and they'll be reminded again and again how
much you know and why they should buy your products and
services.
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3. Use your communication with prospects and clients to
help them identify what they need and understand how your
products and services can help them. You may think that
doing this once should be enough, but most people are too
busy to read every mailing they get or to remember the
details until its pressing or important for them to act on.
With regular correspondence you'll increase the chances of
putting your information in front of your prospects when
they are ready to buy.
4. Set aside time each day to contact qualified prospects.
If someone has sent you an email, left a ph0ne message or
otherwise expressed interest in your products, pick up the
ph0ne and call them. Quickly identify whether they have the
authority and interest to contract with you and either
continue the conversation or move on to your next lead.
Get attention; build your list of qualified leads;
regularly help prospects with your ideas; and respond to
your most qualified prospects promptly when they request
services. Do these four things every week and every month
and you'll soon have many more prospects eager to learn how
you can help them, eager to buy from you and more new
clients than you ever thought possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The author, Charlie Cook, helps service
professionals,
small business owners and marketing
professionals attract
more clients and be more successful. Sign up to
receive the
F.ree Marketing Plan eBook, '7 Steps to get more
clients
and grow your business' at
http://www.marketingforsuccess.com |
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