Want More Customers? Then You’d Better Be Doing This!
In order to be successful as a small business owner, you need to make sure that you are leveraging yourself to make the best use of your time, money, and resources. The one area that this is paramount is in your sales efforts! If you aren’t maximizing your time, money, and resources in this area, there is a good chance that you won’t be in business for long – or at least not as successful as you could be.
The reason this is so important is that in today’s world, people are getting bombarded from every direction. We have more and more opportunities, and less and less time to take advantage of them. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, IBM did a study and found that the average person gets bombarded by 3600 marketing messages a day! They also found that it takes 26 impressions to move someone from apathy about you and your product to being ready to buy. So, as a small business owner, how can you ever hope to be successful with your sales efforts? Here are the 3 key things that sales masters do to catapult themselves to success:
Key #1 – Have A Sales and Marketing System
Gone are the days of what I call “churn and burn” sales. In the past, it was common place to make a sales call, have the prospect either buy from you or not, and then move on to the next guy. If you do this today, you will be out of business quickly!
The shift you need to make is from “churn and burn” to having a predictable, long term strategy that fosters a relationship built on trust with your prospects. In order to do this, you have to have a system that allows you to have multiple interactions with you prospects. By touching them multiple times, in various ways over time, you are working them through the process of getting to know you and building trust. Then, when they are ready to buy, they will come to you!
Key #2 – Leverage Your Database
The foundation for any sales and marketing system is a strong database. Whenever you interact with someone, you should gather their contact information, and then put them into your marketing system. Once they are in your system, you can market to them in multiple ways, including: phone, fax, e-mail newsletters, cards, direct mail, seminar invitations, special events, and a multitude of other things that will build a relationship with them over time.
The great thing about having a strong database is that you can take advantage of technology and market to your database passively! For example, an e-mail newsletter is something that you can set up to go out on a regular basis, and it only takes a small time commitment. Traditional methods such as direct mail can be set up once as a yearly campaign, and then sent out automatically. This is a great way to get those 26 impressions, and also leverage your time and effectiveness.
Key #3 – Add Massive Value With Every Interaction
In order for any sales and marketing system to work properly, you need to be adding massive value every step of the way! Think about this for a second. If I am marketing to you, and every time you receive something from me, it adds value, what kind of impression does that make? How about if you aren’t adding value, but instead are wasting my time?
By adding value during every step in the process, you are building trust and a solid reputation. Your prospect can’t help but think, “Wow! If they are adding this much value for me and I’m not a customer, imagine what it will be like once I purchase their product or service!”
By implementing the 3 keys above, you will build a sales and marketing system that will add value for every prospect you come in touch with, and it will only be a matter of time before you have a massive increase in sales, and a bunch of happy customers!
