Next Steps in The Marketing and Sales Process
Once we narrowly define our target markets and know as much about what they look like as we know
about ourselves, now what? We create messages that stick with our potential clients, messages that discuss our clients’ wants, needs and desires that resonate with them.
We try to reach out to these clients by sharing stories or narratives. We do so by sharing our own stories of struggle and success, stories of other businesses, or stories about how our clients were helped by our efforts. The tools we use are:
• Websites
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• Sales Letters
• Sell Sheets
• White Papers
• Post Cards
• Networking
All the time that we are creating these messages, we remember that small and large businesses have the same objective: to grow customers and their bottom lines. But they differ in the ways they outsource work to consultants:
• In some businesses budgets are smaller, and an outsourcing mistake might represent a financial catastrophe, so they are frightened by that prospect
• Building a relationship based on trust and credibility with them is more important
• Managing their expectations takes more time
• They often don't have your skills, products or services inhouse or a deep understanding of those skills.
For example, if you are a marketing consultant, your clients might have some sales people who are also called marketers but generally no one in the company has much of a clue regarding marketing, about what to do or how to do it or why they should care. But they know they need to grow their business and someone told them marketers may be able to help them do that.
So the first question usually asked of you is what do you do? When asked, avoid using the word marketing or security or IT or whatever your specialty is and also avoid the word consultant. These words don’t have much meaning to people who don’t know what you do. Instead, using marketing as the example, say something like: “My job is to get you noticed by the right people and to drive them through your door. My other job is to help you get your current customers to buy more products."
Selling and buying they understand. If they ask me how I will do that, I usually tell them a success story about a similar client. I never talk about strategies or tactics until I am hired and then those things are described in the marketing plan.
Networking to Grow Clients
Networking is one of the best ways to build a business and a personal reputation. Unfortunately, too many networkers do not get it. Networking is not about selling something; it is about building relationships based on respect, trust and credibility. When such a relationship occurs, a referral or a sale is more likely to occur.
To increase your chances of networking success, here are a few tips:
• Check out a variety of networking groups and associations before joining any.
• Join those that best fit your personality and your relationship-building style.
• Get involved in some official capacity to increase your visibility.
• Attend every meeting that you can. Be present to the opportunity
• Be open to helping others in whatever ways you can. When we give, we also get.
• Listen much more than you speak.
• Be prepared with a concise and clear unique selling position that you can share in a sentence or two.
• Don't sell, don't sell, and don’t sell.
In the case of small businesses, almost all of your clients will come through networking, word of mouth and referrals and leads. Here’s why:
• People like to do business with people they know and like
• People like to do business with people they get along with
• And people like to do business with people they know can and will do the job right
Networking results in leads, referrals and sales. Why?
• Increased visibility
• Increased familiarity
• Increased credibility
• Increased trust
Finally, here’s the lesson learned: Networking is about building relationships based on trust and credibility. And the most important message learned: It's always about them, not us.
