INTRODUCTION
In a business nothing happens till someone buys something. The most important function of every business is to create and keep customers. It is that simple and that difficult.
Practically all business failures are caused by a lack of customers. If you have enough customers, you can do almost everything else wrong and still make profit, but if you don’t have enough customers, you can do everything else right and go broke.
The biggest initial and ongoing problem for most businesses is how to win and keep customers to make a healthy profit without knocking on doors and spending a fortune on marketing. The above problem can be solved by a process called MAGNETIC MARKETING.
To be a magnetic marketer all you need is the right mindset, a little common sense, and an understanding of why people buy and the knowledge of a few simple techniques that anyone can apply to grow their business. They have been divided into six basic parts
1. Get the magnetic marketing mind set
2. Scan your market for opportunities
3. Create visibility
4. Use networks and referrals to build your business
5. Close the sale when customers come to you
6. Service, Service, Service
1) GET THE MAGNETIC MARKETING MIND SET
There are two widely held marketing myths that get the novice/new business owners in trouble. Recognizing and correcting them at the outset will save you a lot of time, money and frustration.
Myth no 1 BECAUSE I LOVE IT, IT WILL SELL - the problem with this kind of thinking is that you are assuming your customers have the same wants, needs, tastes, and view of the world as you do. YOU DON’T GET RICH SELLING WHAT YOU LOVE, YOU GET RICH SELLING CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT.
Myth no 2 IF I DO THE BEST JOB, THE CUSTOMERS WILL COME - In the marketplace there is no best work. There is only the perception of what is the best. What you perceive as the best work, someone else may perceive as average, or poor work. What one customer thinks is a great value is a waste of money to another. The success of a business is determined by the number of its customers and how much they spend. And that’s determined by what they think, feel and believe about the business PERIOD. When it comes to marketing, how you perceive your business is irrelevant. HOW CUSTOMERS PERCEIVE YOUR BUSINESS IS EVERYTHING.
To adopt the magnetic marketing mind set, forget about your own view of the world. Put aside your ego, your prejudices and your opinions and look at the world through your customers eyes.
Key questions to be answered
• Who are your customers?
• What do they want?
• What is the value to them?
• How can you provide it?
2) SCAN YOUR MARKET FOR OPPORTUNITIES
What do my customers want most and how can I provide it? Find a need and fill it.
The key to making money is to satisfy unmet wants in the market place. Your first priority is to find out what your customers want most. Then focus on using your passions and strengths to satisfy those wants. When customers want what you are selling earning money becomes incredibly easy. You don’t have to spend a lot of time, money and effort hyping what you sell. You just have to position yourself in the market so customers know who you are, what you offer, and how to reach you. The result is they come to you.
The biggest payoffs come when you’re the first business to spot an unmet want and fill it. This is true for two reasons. First, you have a monopoly until competitors discover it. Second, being the first business to offer a new product or service positions you as the preeminent market leader.
WHERE’S THE PAIN: find out what is bugging your customers and potential customers. Where there is perceived pain, there is a sense of urgency about solving the problem. A problem is the difference between what the customer has and what he wants. So ask the customer WHAT DO YOU HAVE? And WHAT DO YOU WANT?
3) CREATE VISIBILITY
In addition to selling what customers wants, you need to get their attention and convince them that you have what they want and that you are the best person to buy it from. To do that you have to become visible. People can’t buy from you till then know you exist.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR: every business lives and dies by its reputation, and a good reputation doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with deciding how you want others to perceive your business and working hard to communicate it.
UNIQUE SALES PROPOSITION (USP) : you need a USP for one simple reason. No matter what you sell, the odds are overwhelming that a lot of other people are selling it or something very similar too. Your job is to come up with a strategy to convince them that you are unique memorable and a better value than the rest. Begin as usual by looking at your business through the customers eyes by answering the following questions
• What motives are their buying decisions based on ?
• What do they value most when they buy from a business like yours ?
• What can you do for them better than anyone else can?
• What benefits are they really buying from you ? (Hope, peace of mind, lowest price, self-esteem, e.t.c.)
NB : you are your business’s most important advertisement, Decide how you want to be perceived and send that message.
WHOM DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE YOUR MESSAGE: what groups of people have the money, the greatest need, and the inclination to buy what I am selling? In short, you need to target your message to a specific market and create visibility in that market. The goal is to create and keep customers.
PROMOTE THYSELF :
There are inexpensive ways to create visibility. There are free ways to create visibility. And you can literarily be paid to increase your visibility. Here are five specific ways but just one is of importance to us right now
Volunteer to speak at luncheons and meetings that potential customers are likely to attend. Professional associations, service organizations (such as rotary, lion’s e.t.c.) or business networking functions are all ways looking for people willing to speak on topics of interest to their members. Tell your audience how you can solve their problems. It’s another way to create visibility at no cost.
One additional low cost tip : when you speak, leave a trail of tangibles. Pass out at least one piece of printed information that the members of the audience can take with them and that includes the name of your business and how to contact you.
4) USE NETWORKS AND REFERRALS TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS.
Would you prefer to choose a service/product on the basis of their advertising or by getting recommendations from people you trust. The answer is obvious. When it comes to winning and keeping customer, the magic word is TRUST.
Once people know you, like your work and trust you, they readily come back and will gladly recommend you to other. Business is and always will be people and relationships. Your most powerful sales force is an army of satisfied customers. Absolutely nothing sells you better than a customer telling others how wonderful your products, services and you are. AND THEY PAY YOU.
TIPS IN NETWORKING AND GETTING REFERALS
MAKE THEM AN OFFER THEY CANT REFUSE :Find people who can benefit from what you sell and who have influence among your potential customers. If you know them contact them directly if not go through someone. Once you have been introduced, offer them a free sample of your work or a healthy discount in return for writing a testimonial letter or statement for you and encouraging those he/she wields influence over to purchase what you are selling.
Some of your clients may have trouble writing a good testimonial or not know where to begin. In that case, write a few good working models for them to adapt as they write their own. Show them letters others have written.
REWARD THOSE WHO SEND BUSINESS YOUR WAY
MUTLIPLY YOUR MARKETING EFFORT BY OUTSOURCING IT : Marketing can be outsourced to those who will advertise, sell and distribute your products or services in exchange for a piece of the action. The key is to find a company/individual with marketing muscle and expertise to sell what you produce and then convince them to partner with you is a win/win for both of your businesses.
Whether you produce a product,, a service, or both, there are sure to be other people around able to market it and make if far more profitable than if you try to go it alone. Seeking them out and selling them on marketing what you produce might be your biggest and best sale of all.
5) CLOSE THE SALE WHEN THEY COME TO YOU :
If you are selling what people want, and they know about it, they’re going to contact you to find out more. When that happens the following questions need to be answered in a relatively short period
1) Are you selling what they want to buy ?
2) Can they afford it ?
3) Are you speaking to the decision maker ?
Don’t just assume you have what they want, take some time to describe
your product or service. Then ask some questions : how did you find out
about me? What is there situation now ? What would they like it to be? NB :
if you feel what you sell isn’t right for them tell them so because happy
customers tell 3 or 4 people, but dissatisfied customers tell 8 to 12 people,
and they tell even more. Nothing would make or break you faster than word of mouth.
Find out if they are the ones who will make the buying decision. Otherwise you risk wasting a lot of time and energy. Ask at the outset : Are you the buyer or will others be involved in making the final buying decisions. If someone else makes the decision, explain the basic benefits and tactically ask to speak to the decision maker.
FIND THE HOT BUTTON :
PEOPLE BY WITH THEIR EMOTIONS AND JUSTIFY WITH LOGIC. We like to think our buying choices are logical and rational but as with other choices in life, we don’t choose what we need, we choose what we want and then use logic to justify our choices.
For example people spend billions every year on diet books, exercise videos e.t.c. though there is a logical reason for buying these products i.e. a more productive healthier life, people usually buy for the emotional reason which is that trim bodies look much sexier and that is what the ads capitalize on. They buy the promise of sex appeal and justify the purchase by telling themselves what they are really buying is good health.
Similarly no matter what you sell, there will probably be an emotional benefits that motivates a given customer to buy from you. It might be your personality, your low price, your convenient location, your reputation for personal service, the recommendation of satisfied customers, or any one of a number of other things.
As you ask questions and present the benefits of buying what you sell, watch very carefully for any emotional responses. ONCE YOU FIND THE HOT BUTTON, CONCENTRATE ON STRESSING THAT PARTICULAR BENEFIT.
OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
Most people who are interested in buying aren’t going to buy right away . They will probably raise objections with the hope that you’ll ease their concerns and persuade them to buy.
Don’t let objections throw you. They’re a statement of interest. If you\re going to make sales, you have to handle objections. Here are some strategies for doing just that :
1. The best time to handle an objection is before the customer raises it. As you sell your products or service, you will hear the same objections being raised by many different customers. Those are the objections you want to head off at the pass.
But you won’t be able to predict or handle all objections up front. So here are two other tactics for overcoming them.
2. Listen, agree and empathize with customers objections. If you argue with them, you’ll just lose them and the sale. Nod your head in agreement and tell them you understand how they feel. Your goal is to achieve a oneness with the customer that lets him know you’re on his side and want to do what is best for him. If he believes that, you’ll make the sale.
3. Eliminate the objection. If a customer says I CAN”T AFFORD IT, you counter if we come up with a payment schedule to fit your budget, would you be willing to buy?, if he says YOUR PRICE IS TO HIGH, you counter with If I show you how it’s worth far more to you than the price you’ll pay would you be willing to buy? If the answer is yes, build value by telling him about all the benefits of the product or service and what it would to for him.
NB: CUSTOMERS WANT TO BE CONVINCED THAT WHAT THEY’RE BUYING IS WORTH MORE TO THEM THAN THE MONEY IT COSTS.
MAKE IT EASY TO BUY AND ASK FOR THE ORDER.
Once the customers want to buy, a whole new set of problems and fears starts to bother them.
• What if your products don’t work?
• What if they aren’t happy with it?
• What if their spouse, business partner e.t.c. doesn’t like it?
• They need time to think over it
Your job is now to reassure them and take the fear out of the buying decision. ALWAYS OFFER A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE and you’ll close more sales.
If they are afraid it might not work for them, tell them you have numerous satisfied customers who had the same initial concerns and are glad they went ahead ( as evidenced by the testimonials). If they want to think about it remind them of the money back guarantee and give them an incentive for buying today. Throw in something extra or give a discount for acting now.
Finally you must ask for the business. You don’t need tricks or clever lines to manipulate a customer, ask politely for the order e.g. would you like to try it?, I know you are going to like it, can we start filling the form? Try it you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. You are going to get some refusals of course but don’t take them personally or let them immobilize you from asking other for their business. Also ask customers who don’t buy if you can check with them at a later date to see if they might be interested, and ask if
They know anyone who might be interested.
6) SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE
The surest, fastest and least expensive way to build your business is to take very special care of your customers, it costs approximately one-fifth as much to keep a customer as it does to get a new one. The small cash is in closing sales and the large cash is in keeping customers. And the way to keep customers gets back to those three magic words SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE.
NB: it is extremely tough to change a negative image in the customer’s mind.
Keep in mind the following key points.
1) Reliability is paramount: Do what you say you are going to do. Do it when you say you would do it, do it right the first time and get it done on time.
2) Responsiveness is crucial: If you want to lose customers, ignore them.
3) Make them glad to hear from you: people like to buy from people they like.
4) Look, listen and ask for feedback: don’t just assume your customers are ecstatically happy about the job you are doing. Find out by getting candid feedback.
5) Under promise and over deliver: The key to a great reputation is to exceed their expectations. Pleasantly surprise them. Throw in something extra; charge less than the initial quotation price.
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