Small Business Marketing - Summer Reading List

Summer is here & most of us take some time off for some much-needed rest & rejuvenation. But that doesn't mean your marketing has to stop.

In fact, while you're enjoying the time off, pick up one or more these great marketing reads:

1001 Ways to Market Yourself and Your Small Business, by Lisa Shaw - this little book is a fast-paced, fun read and covers just about every marketing tactic pre-1997. Good sage, basic marketing advice.

(The) eBay Marketing Bible, by Cliff Ennico and Cindy L. Shebley - this book written by my good friend and business attorney, Cliff Ennico a certified eBay Instructor. Don't let the title discourage you if you're not on eBay - this book is a great online marketing source as well. And, don't overlook Chapter 5 - Offline Marketing Strategies and Tools, featuring yours truly as the quoted contributor.

Guerilla Marketing, by Jay Conrad Levinson - this is actually a series of many books, each tailored to a specific marketing niche such as his title specifically for Home-Based Business. Each of the books in this series is worth the read and the franchise has become legendary in business book circles.

Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results, by Jack Mitchell - written in a no-nonsense, folksy manner by the CEO of Mitchells/Richards two of the most successful clothing stores here in Connecticut. This guy can sell anything to anyone. If you've ever been to one of his stores you know the average price of anything in there is several thousand dollars, and his customers beg him for more. Fortunately for us, he tells us exactly how he does it.

Imagineering: How to Profit from Your Creative Powers, by Michael LeBouef, PhD - more than just a marketing book, this is really an idea book and shows the reader how to think big and unleash creative potential personally and professionally.

Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?, by Seth Godin - the premise here is to take a step back from all the "toppings" such as ad words, blogs, videos, etc. and concentrate on the basic ice cream so that you make it great, THEN add the toppings. Billed as "the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore" this small book is full of interesting and funny stories.

Mismarketing: Case Histories of Marketing Misfires, by Thomas L. Berg - written from an academic point of view in 1970, this interesting book is still very on target. Professor Berg analyzes some of the biggest "oopsies" by some of the biggest US companies including DuPont, General Foods, Dow, and Union Carbide.

(The) Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success, by Lon Safko and David K. Brake - this book really is the size of a bible. It begins with a framework, explaining in detail how/when to use each tool available, then moves on to over 100 social media tools and their applications, and finally the authors have included mini exercises and assessments for business owners to conduct their own social media audit.

Where's My Fifteen Minutes?, by Howard Bragman - written by "the" celebrity PR guy, this is a very good primer on the art of the media and how to harness its power. He should know as he has represented some of the biggest celebrities and companies all over the world.

Affordable Marketing Solutions: Proven Techniques to Profitably Market Your Small Business, by Randye Spina - OK, so I'm shamelessly plugging my own book here, but I'm always so happy when I receive feedback from readers who tell me that my book REALLY helped them. I show you how to market your small business effectively and efficiently without wasting time or budget - period. I promise.

Copyright 2015 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC

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Small Business Sales - Part Two

Here, we pick up with the second half of the Sales how-to's, courtesy of my friend and colleague, Gene D'Agostino who is graciously sharing his lifelong knowledge of sales with you here.

Last blog we discussed the elements of a systematic sales approach that included:

1. Focus on the customer
2. Engage emotionally
3. Interrupt patterns

The dreaded sales call - Part Two

Mistake #6 - They fail for get a COMMITMENT TO BUY
Before making a presentation be sure your prospect is ready, willing & able to BUY. Too many salespeople get swept up in any opportunity to show their products or services, they get caught up in becoming educators, as opposed to salespeople.

Mistake #7 - They chat about everything else and AVOID STARTING THE SALE
Sure, building a rapport is necessary, but far too often the small talk doesn't end so that the sales process can begin. Unfortunately, the prospect usually recognizes this before the salesperson & takes advantage of it. This leaves the salesperson back on the street wondering where they stand...but never really knows.

Mistake #8 - They prefer "MAYBE" to "NO"
"I want to think about it." This is the deathknell of the salesperson's ability to meet their goals. Too many salespeople accept this & then have to go back to their office without a definitive answer. But the truth is, getting a "NO" is far better to a salesperson's ability to manage their time (not wasting too much of it following up a dead prospect) & manage their goals. It is far better to recognize the prospect is not a good fit for your product or service than to continue wasting time when your time can be much better spent with qualified prospects.

Mistake #9 - They see themselves as BEGGARS rather than DOCTORS
By conducting a thorough examination of your prospect you are in a much better position to recommend a solution they are likely to want to purchase, rather than find yourself begging for a sale. Be sure and use your tools just as a doctor uses theirs to qualify your prospects.

Mistake #10 - They work WITHOUT A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH to selling

Oftentimes, salespeople find themselves ad-libbing or "going with the flow" allowing the prospect to dictate the sales process. By following a specific set of outlined steps that allow you to cover all the steps of the sales process in a logical manner you will get closer to a sale while not veering off track.

Now, let's put these to the test with a cold call. You probably have only 3-5 seconds to get a prospect's attention & they're on to you. They know a cold call when they hear one so you must sound & act like no other salesperson before you.

Here's how:

Salesperson: Hello Prospect this is Gene (pause) Gene D'Agostino (the pause is the interrupt that gets their attention)

Prospect: Hi Gene (confused or curious)

Salesperson: Sounds like you don't recognize the name? (pattern interrupt)

Prospect: No I'm sorry (embarrassed or impatient), I don't

Salesperson: That's OK. I don't believe we've spoken before. Do you have 30 seconds & THEN you can hang up on me?

Prospect: OK

Salesperson: I often talk with people who, like you, are [frustrated by__________/confused by___________/troubled by_____/kept awake at night by_________]

Prospect: Well what business person isn't?

Salesperson: Which issue is the one that has been taking up most of your time?

What happens here is that it doesn't sound like a sales call. Beginning the call very differently than most. This interrupts the pattern by stating that is OK to hang up on you in 30 seconds. Also, by stating that you know they're having an issue reassures them that this is typical & that you have experience with their peers/competitors. Bottom line: there is NOTHING about this phone call that is a "typical" sales call.

Once you get the "go" for the call (i.e., they haven't hung up) then take just 3-5 minutes to talk about their issue & ask for a meeting. Try this "When I speak with people in your situation about these issues that are important to them, they often invite me in to speak with them further. By doing so, understand that just because we meet doesn't obligate you to DO anything. Any chance you have your calendar handy?"

This approach, combined with the 10 mistakes we've discussed should get you well on your way to a successful, more confident sales process.

You CAN do this.

Now, go pick up the phone!

Copyright 2015 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC. All rights reserved.

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Small Business Sales - The Painless Way to Succeed

The Achilles heel of most small business owners is sales, especially cold calling. I hear this time and time again so this blog and next month's, I am addressing this very important topic.

My friend and colleague, Gene D'Agostino has graciously shared his lifelong knowledge of sales with you here. Gene is the former VP of TEM Associates a sales training organization. I can personally attest to his expertise as I was one of his students.

Here, we whet your appetite with some Common Sales Mistakes made by both sales & non-sales professionals.

Next time we'll tackle attitudes & techniques that will assist you in developing a systematic sales approach - one that can be used for "cold calls," leaving voicemails that get returned, holding your price and navigating through multiple decision-makers. So whether your business-to-business, or business-to-consumer you will learn easy to apply sales techniques that will help you grow your bottom line.

So, let's begin.

The dreaded sales call - Part One (Stay tuned next month for Part Two)

Ask anyone if they like making sales calls & my guess is 99% of non sales professionals say they'd rather swallow daggers than pick up the phone to make a sales call - especially make a cold call. But yet, so much can be accomplished by simply picking up the phone. When you consider the cost of marketing, you have to admit that making a phone call is awfully affordable. So why don't more small business owners do it? Why do so many put it off for so long?

Well, what I discovered for myself was that I had the absolute wrong mindset. You simply MUST believe that you are selling something valuable & when sales is done right, it has a better ROI than most other marketing techniques.

Like everything else in life it is important to have a plan for your efforts. Without your own selling system you will default to the prospects' intentions. So many times buyer & seller are just dancing in the dark, not sure about their respective roles or responsibilities. This is called "mutual mystification." We'll help you overcome that as well as create the major concepts of a sales system.

The first concept in a sales system is to focus on the customer. In Gene's more than 35 years selling, he says "Most salespeople think they're focusing on customer needs, but they're simply waiting for a break in the conversation to jump in with their canned 'benefits' speech." Ah, so true. We've all experienced this whether we're buying a house, a car, advertising, or a complex software solution for our business. We're being 'sold' & we hate it - we want to 'buy' instead.

The second concept is that you must get the prospect emotionally involved. People (yes, even business people) make their decisions emotionally & then justify them intellectually. You know "Wow! Those $250 shoes [that you'll wear maybe twice] are only $99!"

And lastly, a good salesperson must interrupt patterns. If you move and sound and act just like every other salesperson your prospect has encountered in the past, you will get the same kind of run around those who came before you did. If you act differently, you'll get different results. Results that bring you success.

Mistake #1 - They TALK instead of LISTEN - Too many salespeople monopolize the time they have in front of a prospect by talking too much. The 80/20 Rule of Marketing applies to Sales too. Salespeople should talk just 20% of the time, while allowing their prospects to talk 80% of the time.

Mistake #2 - They PRESUME instead of ASKING QUESTIONS - Salespeople tend to think they have all the answers. Learn to ask questions early on so that you fully understand their problem. Then offer the right solution to them that fits. Imagine you are a doctor writing a prescription. You would listen to your patient before writing a prescription to fix their ills. Same here.

Mistake #3 - They answer UNASKED QUESTIONS - For example, your prospect says "Your price is high", but that is not a question. Before you start talking about value or quality - or worse - lower your price, get to heart of the issue.

Mistake #4 - They fail to get the prospect to reveal their BUDGET UP FRONT - Before you get so tied up in investing time (both yours as well as your prospects) you MUST get to the tough question "Is your prospect ready, willing & able to financially commit to solving their problem?" If yes, you're ready to begin the discussion in earnest, if not, then you're setting yourself up for the age-old standard reply "I'll think about it" which can drag on for a very long time, waste far too much of your time & make you look bad.

Mistake #5 - They make TOO MANY follow up calls - Stop wasting time chasing a dead sale. If the prospect hasn't returned your calls or emails just leave it & move on. Remember that you will never close 100% of your prospects - often for reasons that are beyond your control. Put your energies towards qualified prospects only.

Stay tuned for #6 - #10 in next blog!

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Small Business Sales Tips - Part One

The Achilles heel of most small business owners is sales, especially cold calling. I hear this time and time again. So I've asked my friend and colleague, Gene D'Agostino, a sales trainer to share his lifelong knowledge of sales with me here. I can personally attest to his expertise as I was one of his students.

The dreaded sales call - Part One

Ask anyone if they like making sales calls & my guess is 99% of non sales professionals say they'd rather swallow daggers than pick up the phone to make a sales call - especially make a cold call. But yet, so much can be accomplished by simply picking up the phone. When you consider the cost of marketing, you have to admit that making a phone call is awfully affordable. So why don't more small business owners do it? Why do so many put it off for so long?

Well, what I discovered for myself was that I had the absolute wrong mindset. You simply MUST believe that you are selling something valuable & when done right, has a better ROI than most other marketing techniques.

I'm covering 5 of the Top Ten Most Common Mistakes that people make when making sales calls. Stay tuned for the second half in my next blog post.

Mistake #1 - They TALK instead of LISTEN
Too many salespeople monopolize the time they have in front of a prospect by talking too much. The 80/20 Rule of Marketing applies to Sales too. Salespeople should talk just 20% of the time, while allowing their prospects to talk 80% of the time.

Mistake #2 - They PRESUME instead of ASKING QUESTIONS
Salespeople tend to think they have all the answers. Learn to ask questions early on so that you fully understand their problem. Then offer the right solution to them that fits. Imagine you are a doctor writing a prescription. You would listen to your patient before writing a prescription to fix their ills. Same here.

Mistake #3 - They answer UNASKED QUESTIONS
For example, your prospect says "Your price is high," but that is not a question. Before you start talking about value or quality - or worse - lower your price get to heart of the issue.

Mistake #4 - They fail to get the prospect to reveal their BUDGET UPFRONT
Before you get so tied up in investing time (both yours as well as your prospects) you MUST get to the tough question "is your prospect ready, willing & able to financially commit to solving their problem." If yes, you're ready to begin the discussion in earnest, if not, then you're setting yourself up for the age-old standard reply "I'll think about it" which can drag on for a very long time.

Mistake #5 - They make TOO MANY follow up calls
Stop wasting time chasing a dead sale. If the prospect hasn't returned your calls or emails just leave it & move on. Remember that you will never close 100% of your prospects - often for reasons that are beyond your control. Put your energies towards qualified prospects only.

Remember, that marketing TODAY keeps you in business for TOMORROW. Contact us today to ask about My Affordable Marketing Plan TM - Small Business Marketing. Revolutionized.

©2015 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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The ever-important timing consideration of small business marketing

Marketers should take a cue from stand-up comedians - Timing is everything!

The other day I spoke with a small business owner to review his marketing campaign that fell flat. He & his partners wanted to know what could be done to improve their efforts in the future. As we're reviewing the piece on the phone I asked "when did this launch?" I found out they emailed school superintendents the first week of school. Ah ha!

They had the target correct, the offer was pretty good, but boy was their timing off. So let's talk about the relationship between timing and marketing success.

Keep reading & you too will see why it matters very much WHEN you market - even if it's to the right audience.

Most marketing campaigns begin by applying the standard formula for success:

60% audience; 30% offer; 10% design

So where does the timing factor fall? I say it's a portion of the 60% because if your audience doesn't get your offer when they're ready to purchase then it's a wasted effort, no matter how good the offer is.

1. Industry Timing - My client's case in point is a perfect example of this. Decision makers at schools are otherwise distracted during the first few weeks of a new school year, so it is not the best time to get their attention. Similarly, consumers won't be installing pools in February, so you must know the best time to get the attention of the target decision makers. If you're marketing to a new industry segment, educate yourself by doing your homework so that you don't waste efforts.

2. Channel Timing - Brand Mechanics recently published a detailed analysis of the 10 best times of day/week for social media marketing. Some of their findings are common sense, others were a bit of a surprise to me. For example, as I wrote in the email chapter of my book, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically the best days to email B2B, while Thursdays and Fridays are best for B2C. But, I hadn't known that the highest percentage of Facebook shares happen beginning Friday evening and all day Saturday. And, Bitly says that most B2B links are clicked weekdays in the 11AM hour.

3. Time of Day - Yes, this matters too. Salespeople know that you don't call prospects first thing in the morning, but did you know that a blogs best times and highest read rates are early morning? For emails too timing is important. The best open rates for B2B are between 11AM-2PM during peak days.

4. Lifecycle Timing - Also called "triggers" there are certain events that would naturally trigger purchases. These include buying a new home or having a baby. Getting to these folks at the time they need your products & services is crucial to your success. Selling furniture? Purchase new homeowner lists in your target zip codes. Selling diapers? Advertise on the new mommy blogs, or partner with a local hospital. Consider Facebook's advertiser tool called "real time" marketing. One of their best case studies comes from a wedding photography studio. The studio tested putting an ad on a user's page as soon as they changed their status to "engaged." The company claims that with just a few hundred dollars' investment, they've made many thousands of dollars by getting to newly engaged folks before their competitors could.

5. Event Timing - If you're having a seminar, workshop, or special event consider 6 weeks' notice, with email follow-ups at two week intervals as the date gets closer. The day before you should plan on sending a final reminder too. I recently received an email inviting me to a seminar the very next day. Not good timing & I wonder how many folks showed up.

6. Two-Step Follow-Ups - One shot marketing almost never works, so how do you plan your follow up touches to maximize response rates? Consider that each channel is handled differently, so follow these industry guidelines for the two most common prospecting channels:
• Direct Mail - follow up with a phone call within two weeks
• Direct Mail - follow up with a second mailing within four weeks
• Email - follow up with a phone call within three business days
• Email - follow up with a second email within two weeks

7. Holiday Timing - It seems that retailers are always one season ahead & while consumer may not respond right away, it makes their to-do list & acts as a reminder. There will always be those that are on top of gift/card giving, but consider those last-minute shoppers that you can appeal to as well. And, remember there are many holidays that marketing can play upon if it makes sense for your business. For example, Arbor Day for a landscaping firm or tax deadline dates for financial professionals.

A few final words on timing:

-Before planning a big event Google the date to be sure it doesn't conflict with something else in your area, especially if the same audience would be interested in both.
-When doing your marketing planning for the following year, get out a calendar & plan for each one not just by launch date, but also by adding follow up efforts so you can better plan for budgeting & project management.

Marketing TODAY keeps you in business for TOMORROW.


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Small Business Slogan Development

This post continues with the branding theme as we go to the next step beyond logos which is having a good slogan (aka 'tagline'). A slogan or tagline is a brief sentence - or just a few words - that when located just after your company name, gives your audience a more concrete idea of what your company does. It acts like advertising in that it consistently brands your company whenever its name is used.

"Got Milk?," "Just Do It," "Mmmm Good," "The Ultimate Driving Machine," and so many others are imbedded in our minds that in fact, no brand name's mention is even necessary, we just know the company it refers to.

When I began my firm I too wanted a slogan & began tossing around several options. I settled on "big business marketing solutions for small business." For a long time I was happy with it & used it diligently on all my marketing collateral materials. Then, one day I was having a discussion with someone who saw my services as "accessible to everyone" & so I began to think that perhaps "affordable, accessible marketing for all" might be a more focused and warmer way to convey the same thing. So, after passing it by a few trusted people, I decided to make the change.

The lesson? It may take a try or two to get it right but it's worth the effort. When I go to networking meetings & say my tagline everyone gets it. It requires no explanation & invites further discussion - which is exactly what every business owner wants!

There are myriad branding companies who charge many tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to create these taglines for big corporations. But you too can affordably create a memorable, meaningful tagline that will help your audience 'get it'. Here's how:

1. Play the name game. If at all possible, try to get at least part of your company name in. This helps to reinforce your brand and helps your audience connect the name & tagline without much effort.

2. Make it benefit driven. By doing this, it makes your selling job much easier because prospects will see your company name followed by a benefit-driven tagline. By association your company will then be remembered for its benefits.

3. Ask for help. If you're not sure exactly how your audience perceives you then ask your customers, vendors, employees, prospects - even friends and family. As you begin to gather their responses you'll see a very definite pattern of words or phrases crop up consistently. These are the words you will want to incorporate into your tagline development.

4. Be specific. So many slogans have absolutely no differentiation for their intended brand. While researching this topic I read that "Simply the best" is used in 30+ company slogans. If you can easily replace your company name with your competitors, then so can your target audience! Pick something that is unique to what you do.

5. Rhyme Time. Some branding consultants say that your tagline should rhyme. This makes it impossible for anyone to substitute their own company name for yours if you add your name to it & creates a much more memorable line. Think of "See the USA in your Chevrolet" and you'll hear immediately why this works.

6. Phrase it in the positive. Research shows that if a slogan contains negative phrases, people tune out. For example, Lea & Perrins' old tagline was "Steak sauce only a cow could hate." Cute, but not positive. In fact, this conjures up strange images in my mind. Their current tagline is "Unwrap the Possibilities®". This plays off the fact that they still wrap their bottles in paper & this differentiates their product on the supermarket shelf. It also conjures up a "hmmmm" factor such that it makes you think of how else you might use the sauce (in dressings, soups, sandwiches?)

7. Keep it legal. If you absolutely, positively don't want anyone else to ever be able to steal your slogan, then you can easily protect your marketing investment by filing for a trademark. Go to www.uspto.gov for more information. But first, search the trademark database to be sure no one else has already done so.

8. Keep it short. Branding experts say that your tagline should never be more than 10 words. The fewer the words, the easier it is to remember.

9. Once it is final, use it everywhere! My tagline is at the end of my email signature block, on all my stationery & marketing collateral materials (including the banners I use for trade shows). Say it on your voicemail message, incorporate it in to your "elevator" speech used at networking meetings. The whole point is to begin to brand your company & each of these efforts will add to your success.

Now that you've got a great slogan, go tell everyone!

Copyright 2015 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC

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