Once you have identified who your likely prospects are, you must then ask them what motivates them to buy the type of product or service that you offer.  This is really knowing what your customer expects.

Here are some things to ask about:

1. Do they ask friends for referrals?
2. Do product reviews influence their decisions?
3. Do they look for discount coupons before they purchase?
4. Do they look for a Brand Name?
5. Do they buy as a result of getting an ad in the mail?
6. Do paid ads influence their buying decision?
7. If so, where would they expect to find an ad for this type of product or service?  In a paper, weekly shopper, magazine or Yellow Pages?
8. Do they buy this product from a catalog?
9. Do they need to see a demo before buying?
10. Do they respond to telephone solicitations?
11. Do they look for a convenient location to buy the product or service?
12. Do they listen for ads about the product on radio or TV?
13. Are there specific features that they look for whenever they buy the product or service?
14. What else influence them to buy the product or service?

When you have gathered the answers to some of these questions, you can now use them to help you determine where and how you should advertise. 

Let me hear your thoughts about this idea or if you can add to this list.

Technorati Tags: Advertising

In addition: “A company that digs too deeply into someone’s personal social media activities can expose itself to privacy violation claims, being accused of something like cyber stalking….. a company that relies on information obtained from social media sites to make decisions in the hiring process, or uses it to manage its employees on a post-hire basis, can set itself up for breach-of-privacy type claims.”

These are excerpts from an article on social media risks written by a friend and colleague, Don Phin of "HR That Works". Don has helped many businesses avoid litigation with his guidance.  

The article brings to light many issues I think every business person needs to understand and address with emerging media in order to not be derailed by our legal system.

I think it best you read the article for yourself.  This is not an affiliate link; there is nothing to buy or sign up for.  It’s pure information. Here is the link to read the article: Social Media Risks Report .

Let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Social Media, social media legal issues, social media management, social media risks

One of the biggest complaints I often hear about Social Media is that the gains are incremental, meaning that it can take a long time to just create 100 followers or friends, and most of you become bored or give up before you reach 1,000 followers or friends.

The thing to remember is that each contact you make is one more notch of visibility for you. You never know who will be able to assist you, so it is wise to cultivate each person as an individual as much as possible. I’m on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and a few other social web sites and I know how difficult it can be.

At a minimum, respond to direct messages or inquiries. Thank people for recommending you and keep many marketing channels open. Count each new contact as a sign that your marketing is working. If you speak to large groups, invite them to connect with you more personally through your social media profiles.

Do whatever it takes to build a group of loyal fans around you. Once your network gets large enough with at least 1,000 true fans, your business will stabilize.

So keep at it and don’t give up.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Linkedin, Social Media, social media fans, social media followers, Twitter

I heard this statement from a very astute entrepreneur whom I respect a lot. When he made this statement I asked him to explain what he meant.

In a simple sentence he said, “Say Goodbye to former competitors.”

A bad economy causes a lot of pain. A lot of people and industries are suffering as never before, and there is nothing positive about that. However, I see a silver lining in the economic slowdown we are experiencing today.

When you get over the worry and fear, you will discover that there are areas of opportunity and growth. In fact there are actually more opportunities than ever before.

In a bad economy, you can surpass your competition. You can win very easily in this economy, if you know how to benefit from bad times.

Others are dropping out of the race and looking backwards. They are terrified, and you are prospering. Not only because you apply the lessons from my Marketing Tip of The Week and from this blog, but because you are seeing opportunities and overlooked markets that they are not seeing.

As a business owner or professional, you should be anything but fearful in a bad economy. In a bad economy, other business owners become paralyzed. They don’t know what to do. They retreat and stagnate.

A small handful of businesses actually become strategic during hard times. By taking on a growth-minded frame of mind, they capture the vast majority of new clients in the market. But even more important, positive thinking companies will capture, “steal” in an ethical manner, 15-20% of the best customers from all of their competitors.

You can have your best years while those around you are facing disaster. You will come out of this down turn stronger, more prosperous, and ready to grow faster than you ever imagined.

What is your biggest challenge in this downturn? And if you have no challenges, why do you think that is? What did you do to eliminate challenges? What’s working for you?

I’d really like to hear from you on this. Getting a discussion going on this topic might be very helpful for all the readers of this blog, so let’s hear from you in the comments below.

And if you would like to get more people in on the discussion, go ahead and tweet this to your twitter list.

Technorati Tags: competitors, dealing with economic downturn, how to deal with bad economy, stealing customers, survive the recession, surviving the recession

Here are some of the things I’ve experienced where the person lost my attention.

1. Opening the conversation by introducing themselves, their company and what they do.

2. If they are in my office, making small talk about the “stuff” they see.

3. Explain to me how your product or service will benefit me. (This is not a misprint. Read below to understand.)

4. Telling me what other companies they have worked with.

5. Showing me the awards they have received.

6. Giving me a brochure immediately.

7. Starting a telephone conversation with, “Hi, how are you?”

Again, these are just a few of the things that have turned me off and you have probably experienced the same.

The moment your prospect senses that you are trying to sell them something that they don’t need or want, they will tune you out and look for a way to disengage or disconnect from the call.

They really don’t care about you. They don’t want to know about your company, listen to you talk about your products or services, or making small talk.

What they do want is a solution to a problem. They want to know how you can help them improve their business. Here are some thoughts on how you can accomplish that.

You must direct all of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about you or your company.

When you meet someone, say something like the following, “Mrs. Prospect, many of our clients are currently experiencing (insert the problem here). How does that compare to your company’s situation?”

This demonstrates that you are knowledgeable about their business and/or the industry, and it gives them the opportunity to tell you about their most important concerns.

Over my last 40 some odd years, I have found that most people will tell you anything you want to know providing you give them a reason to do so. The key is to develop and ask high-quality questions.

Here’s really the bottom line…

The more time you spend talking about your product, the less inclined a prospect will want to continue that conversation.

The more you focus your attention on their situation—their problems—and demonstrate how you can help them improve their business, the more you differentiate yourself from your competition.

And this goes for anything you do in life. Whenever you are in any situation, if you talk about yourself, you lose them.

You only have a few moments to connect with a prospect, so keep it brief. Keep it focused. Keep it about them and you will keep their attention.

You’ve all experienced this, so tell me one of your stories.

Technorati Tags: differentiate yourself, differentiate yourself from your competition, differentiation, network meeting, Networking, phone contact, phone conversation, prospect's attention, sales meeting

It is very important to cultivate direct connections with customers and clients. Give them your direct phone line. Invite them to call you and let them know you are willing to help them in any way you can.

When you offer advice or information without immediate return, you gain a huge amount of influence with that customer.

This to me is building for the future. It very well may be beneficial down the road. So treat each person well, and take care not to get sucked into your own importance or self-hype. 

Make people feel special and they will come back for more.

How do you make your customers and clients feel special? Tell me in your comments below.

Technorati Tags: customer experience, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, customer satisfaction

I ran across this and found it so poignant, that I had to share it with you all. After reading this, let me know how you take the central topic into consideration in managing your business:

An Obituary printed in the London Times – Interesting and sadly rather true. 

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: 
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain; 
– Why the early bird gets the worm; 
– Life isn’t always fair; 
– and Maybe it was my fault. 

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. 

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. 

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. 

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. 

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. 

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason. 

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; 
I Know My Rights 
I Want It Now 
Someone Else Is To Blame 
I’m A Victim 

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. Hope you still remember him.

Technorati Tags: common sense, london times

The business magazines and newspapers are abuzz with articles and information on the rapid growth of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Businesses large and small are asking themselves whether they need to have a presence on these networking sites and are hastily trying to figure out how to fit social media into their marketing plans.

Do you have a Facebook page? If you haven’t yet built a presence, here are some things to consider before setting up a page for your business. If you already have a Facebook presence, some of this might help you.

Before you begin using social media like Facebook, you should define how you market and what types of marketing efforts have been most successful for your business. With over half of the Internet population using social networking on a regular basis, it is very important for every business to determine whether these are the appropriate media to reach the audiences that you want to reach. You should also determine if they frequent those sites.

You might find Facebook a valuable addition to your marketing mix or decide that it is not appropriate for your business, because it doesn’t fit your model.

As a business owner, you are the face of the business, and the business really reflects your personality. If you are a social individual, a person who makes and stays in touch with large numbers of people, then you probably already have a Facebook page and want to know how to make it more effective.

Facebook is an excellent thing to use to stay in touch in a very personal way with many individuals.

Here’s my suggestion…

Before you decide to use Facebook for marketing your business presence, try setting up a personal page for yourself and get acclimated to using the tools and features that Facebook offers.

While you are getting familiar with Facebook, pay particular attention to learning how to use the tools to manage your identity and keep your personal and business social elements separate.

If you are thinking of using your personal page as your business page, then you will want to carefully separate each sphere.

Let say that you are an avid golfer and run a business. You must decide if it is appropriate for all of your golf buddies to be on your Facebook page, posting pics that don’t project a strong business image. You must not do this. My suggestion is to have a separate identity. One for your personal self and one for building your business.

While you are learning to use the tools and manage your Facebook account, do valuable market research by asking your clients and prospects if they are on Facebook and ask them to join your network.

You can also use the search functions for Facebook to identify other individuals who are already on Facebook that could be your customers.

These are tough economic times, and everyone should be looking for ways to market their business in the most economical way. If you have the time to devote to building and using your social network for marketing, social media may have marketing potential for you.

One of the first things I’d suggest that you do is to learn the Etiquette that is appropriate for social media.

Remember this is your network of friends. You don’t want to loudly broadcast your message as you would with a traditional advertisement, but rather to influence nicely.

Join the conversations, build a personal facebook presence, and you will quickly see what it offers for your future.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, marketing, Social Media, Twitter

Most individuals would say, “To Make a Profit.” Personally, I feel that is the wrong answer. It’s part of the answer, but not the answer. Profits are a result or an outcome of what we do and they only tell us if our business strategy and execution are viable.

Peter Drucker stated that, “concentrating on the belief that creating profits as a purpose was not only wrong, it could very well be harmful. “ He felt that it causes a business to make bad decisions and lose sight of those things that delight customers. He also said, “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”

The ultimate objective of a business is to satisfy customer needs and wants at a sustainable profit. The sustainable profit part is critical.

Customers are the ultimate asset for any profit making company. They really provide all of a company’s real value. Unfortunately, customers are one of the few aspects of a business that are not managed as an investment. We must always keep in mind that we must profitably provide a better solution for our customers than our competition.

There is an old saying, “A good salesman can sell anything once. The trick is getting them to buy again and again.” The reason I say this is because marketing gets translated most of the time into simply persuading someone to try something for the first time. Companies are constantly trying to change someone’s attitudes or behaviors.

Today’s customers buy competing products from multiple companies with seemingly no real loyalty. Therefore, the most important element in profits is designing ways to have your customers allocate a larger share of their wallets to you. In my Marketing Tips of the Week, and also this blog, I try to help you accomplish that.

So, in essence, the primary goal of marketing must be the creation of loyal, long-term customers out of first-time or occasional buyers. Accomplishing this requires a clear and precise understanding of what makes customers want to be loyal. Gathering and understanding customer needs is the job of marketing. Review the issues in my Marketing Tips of the Week that help you to accomplish this.

If you have any additional ideas to build loyalty, please comment.

Technorati Tags: business purpose, customer, customer creation, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, lifeling customers, profit, profits

Now on to our topic…

Can you imagine what your Social Networking followers would think if you sent them a card in the mail?

In our predominantly digital world, how much could you stand out by taking a few moments to select a special greeting card and sending it to your, here I go, “peeps” via snail mail? There is a company that I highly recommend to do this. It’s called Send Out Cards.

It is a wonderful automated system.

After paying a membership fee, you can create and send out a greeting card via snail mail for under $2 (which includes postage). You can also send out gifts if you want.

With Send Out Cards, you can do annual campaigns, upload birthdays and anniversaries and send to groups of people or all of your contacts. Here’s what you can do…

Take a photo with someone well known, and then send that person a greeting card with the picture on the front. Or take a picture holding your favorite book or information product and send a card with that picture on the front to the author or writer of the information product. Make sure you put in a note thanking them. You can even upload your own handwriting.

The possibilities are tremendous.

Those of you who have assistants (virtual and otherwise) can use them to help streamline the process.

Setting up the system to work the way you want will be easier if someone takes you through the process the first time. So if after checking it out you decide you want to use it, I recommend that you contact Janet Ostrov at www.sendoutcards.com/36043 (This is Janet’s link. I am not an affiliate and do not get anything for this recommendation.) She’s an independent distributor for Send Out Cards and she’ll help you set up the system to do exactly what you want and make the process easy for you.

If you test this let me know your results.

Technorati Tags: customer relationship building, postcard mailing