|
Fresh, bright, innovative marketing always works better to
attract and retain clients. Marketing that is stale shows you're
not interested in your business. And if you're not interested in
your business, why should your prospective clients be?
(article continued below ...)
The enemy of any business is staleness. If there's one thing
I see day-in and day-out, it's stale, tired and worn-out
marketing ideas and attitudes. Take a close look and see what
you can do to brush away the cobwebs and jump-start your
marketing.
Is your marketing stale? Here's some telltale signs and some
simple things you can do to freshen it up.
1. You meet someone in a networking situation, but you don’t
clearly and memorably communicate what you do.
When they ask you
what you do, do you answer with a concise "solution
statement" or do you lazily tell them you're a management
consultant and leave them to figure out what this really means?
Start speaking in solutions. It's what they get - not what you
do that's important.
2. You don’t have a system to keep in touch with contacts,
prospects and clients.
If you determine after meeting someone
that you should keep in touch with them, do you have a system to
do that automatically? Most people don't. Here’s the problem:
unless there is an immediate reason to follow up, new contacts
fall between the cracks. The solution is a keep-in-touch
program. To stay top-of-mind, you need to make contact from time
to time. A simple email newsletter is one cost-effective way you
can keep your name in front of clients and contacts.
3. You have just completed a project both you and the client
are happy with, but you don’t ask for a referral.
Never fail
to ask the simple question, "Do you know of anyone else who
might be interested in receiving the same kind of value that I
provided for you?" Referrals from satisfied clients are
potentially powerful sources of new business. An associate
recently informed me that by adding a simple referral generation
system to his procedures, his qualified referrals went up
dramatically.
4. Your materials are out of date and the cobwebs are
showing.
This might be your business card that has the 415 area
code crossed out and 650 written in? Or do you still hand our a
brochure with an old address or testimonials from clients 10
years back? If you think people don't notice these things you're
kidding yourself. Prospects notice everything. Keep you
marketing materials, as well as others’ perceptions of you and
your business, fresh and up to date.
5. When you receive a good, qualified referral do you spend a
less effort turning them into a client thinking the sale is
already made?
Don’t take referrals for granted. Your business
could slide into the sea with this attitude. You need to treat
every referral and prospective client with the same attitude:
I'm interested in you, I want to help you and I don’t take
your business for granted.
6. Have you hit on a sure-fire marketing method…then
stopped innovating?
This is very common: one thing worked so
well that you never tried anything new. You always need to test
new promotional methods. Who knows… another approach might
generate twice as many clients at half the cost.
7. Are you working with the same types of clients as you did
five years ago? Ten years ago?
Sure, you feel comfortable
working with these clients. But perhaps it's time to raise your
prices, drop some unprofitable clients and reach out of your
comfort zone. You will experience a whole new level of
excitement about your business when you continually raise the
bar for yourself and your business.
About the Author:
Robert Middleton is the owner
of Action Plan Marketing at http://www.actionplan.com ,
a resource for helping Independent Professionals market themselves more
effectively. Contact him at robmid@actionplan.com
| 
