Sandy Barris - The Measurable Marketing Madman - Page 10 of 10 - Helping You Market Your Products, Services and Ideas More ProfitablySandy Barris – The Measurable Marketing Madman | Helping You Market Your Products, Services and Ideas More Profitably

Secret No. 25: What Details Do You Know About Your Newest Client?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

Do you know any of the “little things?”

Do you know her birthday?

Do you know the name of his spouse or kids?

How about hometown, favorite store, or favorite sport?

What about your client’s hobbies?

Do you have similar musical tastes?

Do he like cigars? What is her favorite adult beverage, or is she a nondrinker?

Does your client have a favorite perfume or cologne?

When you learn even the smallest detail about your clients and prospects, record those things into your contact management system.

It is especially important to note the details about your clients that are unrelated to business.
You can use this carefully gathered information in many ways-for example, sending them cards on their birthdays or anniversaries; alerting them to newspaper stories, magazine articles, and Internet links about things in which they are interested; giving them tickets to events that they enjoy; and many other things, all of which are related to your discoveries of their interests.

“Remember, it’s the perfection of the smallest details that make big things happen.”
-John Wooden

When you remember the smallest details, you will be amazed at how your clients will remember and appreciate your thoughtfulness. These acts of caring on your part can lead to a genuine, longlasting relationship with your client.

Everyone is different, and each relationship has a different dynamic that builds and changes over time. Marketing is relationship building. Every great business person understands this and works at building longterm relationships with his/her clients.

The most important sale that you ever will get from a customer is the second sale because it is the start of a lasting relationship. In addition, the second sale can lead to a profitable future, perhaps as much in friendship as in business.

How well are you getting to know your clients and prospects?

Posted in database, direct marketing, information, marketing, relationships, research, Salesmanship | Leave a comment

Secret No. 6: What Is The Most Important And Valuable Asset That Your Business Has?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

Is it the beautiful building in which you are located?

Is it the money that you have in your business account at the bank?

Is it all of the products on your merchandising shelves?

Is it the stock in your warehouse?

How about your great employees? Is it them?

No, it’s none of these things, though all of them are important.

The most important assets that your busiÂness has are its clients and customers! Period.

Without them, you have no business.

“One of the most important lessons
of business is the value of concentrating
on the customers you have.”
Tom Monaghan

I surely hope that you have all of your clients and customers logged into a carefully organized database. It makes it so much easier to stay in contact with your customers if you have all of them in a database.

In addition, it makes implementing many of the marketing methods discussed in this blog much simpler.

A client once hired me to write two marketing letters, one to his active customers and another to his inactive customers. When I had finished writing these letters, I asked my client to send me his database so that I could handle the task of mailing out the letters.

What a mess!

There were about fifteen hundred names in the dataÂbase, which turned out to be his accounting database. The only contact person listed for each customer was the person in the customer’s office who was in charge of accounts payable!

I’m sure that it was important to know who that person was when my client had invoicing issues. However, an accounts payable contact was not the person to whom we wanted to send mail regarding a new product offering.

To make matters worse, my client’s “active contact” database had at least five thousand names in it. On top of that, prospects and active clients were thrown in together. In other words, there was no separation into “current client,” “inactive client,” or “prospective client” files. What a disaster!

Lesson learned: I should have asked my client how his database was structured before I wrote the letÂters for him. My mistake!

We had to put the project on hold until he could find the time to get his database organized with the correct contact names plugged in for each active and inactive customer.

As of this writing, we still haven’t mailed those letters.

Time is money. Please don’t make this mistake with your most valuable asset.

If you don’t have a customer database, or if your database is a mess, it will put your business at a competÂitive disadvantage.

What are you doing to maintain the database records for your #1 asset

Posted in database, lists, marketing | Leave a comment

Bonus Secret No 101: Which Sale Is The Most Important One You Will Ever Get From A Client?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

I’ll bet you’re thinking it’s your first sale with a new client.

You’ll be surprised to find out that a secondtime buyer is at least twice as likely to buy from you again, when compared to a first time buyer.

The second time client will usually buy again because you have proved that you add value to his/her life. The customer who has had his/her wants and needs fulfilled comes back for more.

That said, it’s very important to know where your profits will be made.

They are either made on the “front end,” at the time of the first sale, or they are made on additional, “backend” sales.

Are your products/services the type that will result in repeat business? If so, your initial sale could be small, but be designed to lead to many larger and more profitable sales.

Most businesses profit more from additional sales than they do from first sales. For that reason, it’s important to know whether you want a customer for the long term or if you’re making a “oneshot” sale.

Is your marketing designed to generate additional sales, or is your focus more “single sale” oriented?

Although “backend” sales are vital to the survival of most businesses, one of the biggest mistakes that many businesses make is NOT capturing valuable client information so that they know which customers are returning to buy again.

If you don’t keep client information showing which customers are coming back to you, then you can’t use this information to stay in contact with them and sell them more products/services.

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next,
skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.”
David Starr Jordan

I have gone into a local hobby store several times during the last three weeks. Do you think they have ever asked me for any of my contact information? Do you think they are keeping track of the models or supplies that I have been purchasing?

Over the course of these three weeks I have easily spent at least $200.00 on various products/services for my son. You would think that they would want to make sure I had a good reason to come back.

If they had asked for my info and tracked the types of things I had purchased, they could then mail (or email) me marketing offers relating to what I had been buying. If they had my contact information, then they could let me know about upcoming sales or special offers.

And if they haven’t got my information, then they probably don’t have information on other customers either.

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus

The point I’m making here is that by not capturing this information, they may be leaving a lot of money out of their cash register.

Many businesses are not overly concerned with making a profit on the first sale to a new client because they have calculated that their profits will come from future sales. In other words, they know that they will profit from repeat sales to existing clients.

If you know that one out of every three customers who makes a purchase from your business will purchase repeatedly, you can take a reasonable loss on your first sale.

The key is getting them in the door the first time. If you can do that, then you know that you will profit in the future. So some of your marketing efforts should be designed to “hook” the first time buyer.

But it is equally important that some of your marketing efforts are designed to bring repeat customers back to you.

Does your marketing strategy include efforts to both bring in new customers and keep the “backend” sales coming in?

Posted in backend, database, life time value, LTV, marketing | Leave a comment

Secret No. 5: How Does Your Business Stand Out From The Growing, Charging, And Always Changing Herd?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

Does your business have a personality?

“Branding” simply means creating a personality for your business â€”giving it a unique look, feel, taste, touch, sound, smell, texture, color, or even typeface.

Branding also means using every opportunity to give your business a consistent theme and a “standÂ¬out” look. Having a recognizable brand is essential to surviving in today’s business environment.

Brand recognition alone may not be enough to get people to buy your products/services. People need reasons to buy. You have to ingrain your brand image into their brains by associating your brand with a positive feeling. When you do, people will remember your prodÂ¬ucts/services and will feel good about buying from you.

Getting your business noticed in an inexpensive way is very possible if you are a clever business owner who is motivated to create a brand for yourself.

First, you can create and perfect your very own brand in your local market and then decide if you want to expand.

Most small businesses don’t have the marketing budget that the giant corporations have to spend on their brand image.

If you have a little money, a lot of chutzpah, and know how to harness the magic of lowÂ¬cost or free publicity and promotions, you can make your brand and business stand out!

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your product and service and that bring friends with them.” Â
W. Edwards Deming

Make the invisible visible.

Make your business an obsession.

Take every opportunity, no matter how small, to talk about your business. This will get you noticed.

It’s important to make the media aware of you, your business, and its brand image. You have to make yourÂself available. Use the free publicity that the media can offer to spread your marketing message and expand your brand recognition to a wider market.

What are you doing to give your business a positive image?

Posted in branding, business personality, repeat customers | Leave a comment

Secret No. 4: Do You Have Millions To Spend On Marketing?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

Do You Have Millions To Spend On Marketing?

I didn’t think so!

Now, forget all that you may know already about marketing. What they teach in the marketing classes at colleges and at business schools does not always work well in the “real world.”

The standard approach of many advertising agencies lacks effectiveness when applied on a small business scale. This approach ONLY benefits companies with millions of marketing dollars. Typically, a “Corporate Marketing Strategy” is not what small businesses want or need.

In order to market your business effectively, you must learn to develop programs that take advantage of marketing secrets that your competitors have not learned.

You must adapt to new ideas in marketing and use your brain more than your checkbook. You absolutely MUST be creative.

Finally, you have to learn to compete on many different levels in order to survive and prosper.

“Profit in business comes from
repeat customers, customers that boast
about your product and service
and that bring friends with them.”
– W. Edwards Deming

In future blog posts we’ll look at new and “secret” methods of marketing.

Since few of your competitors use these secret marketing methods, you can leave them in the dust. Any one of these secrets could help you to bring in all of the money that you want to earn in your business. When you combine them, who knows how far you could go?

Which secrets will bring you closer to your dreams?

Check out => http://www.SMART-Marketing-Review.com
But, only if you want to save thousands of dollars avoiding the 7 Fatal marketing mistakes that WILL kill the response of most marketing efforts.

Posted in corporate strategy, education, marketing | Leave a comment

Secret No. 3: What Is The Difference Between Sales And Marketing?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

What Is The Difference Between Sales And Marketing?

There is an important distinction.
Successful businesses know how to use both.

Selling is interpersonal, one-on-one human communication. It includes telephone calls, networking, and face-to face meetings between you (or your sales staff) and your clients and prospective customers.

Marketing is developing various programs designed to reach out to and persuade prospects to raise their hands and say, “I’m interested in what you have to offer.” Marketing includes public relations (PR), advertising, direct mail, e-mail, and more. Marketing efforts are designed to target a specific group of people who have a need for your products or services.

Your efforts will educate these prospective customers about the features and benefits of what you have to offer and move them toward taking action — usually (but not always) making a purchase.

Salesmanship takes over after your marketing does its job. The job of sales could be handled by your clerk at the counter, or by customer service on the telephone, or through a face-to-face sales call to your prospect’s office. Closing some sales may require several contacts with the prospect. These contacts could include a marketing effort or a combination of marketing and an interpersonal sales call. Others sales are simple to close: just send one marketing message or make one personal sales call and it’s done. Sold.

“Selling is often considered a necessary evil.
As I see it, sales is a necessary profession in any free society.
It’s one of the noblest professions. Indeed, no free market system is possible unless goods and services are sold effectively.”
– Ted Nicholas

Building a successful business takes the combination of marketing and sales efforts working together to reach out and persuade people to buy your products and services on an ongoing basis.

For example: You receive a letter or postcard mailing from your local phone company with some strong offer (marketing effort). A week later, you get a phone call from one of their sales reps asking about the mailer, offering to answer any questions that you might have about it, and trying to close the sale (salesmanship). This is marketing and sales working together in a coordinated way.

How do you handle your marketing and sales efforts?

Is your plan in place?

Posted in marketing, sales, Salesmanship, Selling | Leave a comment

Secret No. 2: Do You Have A Magic Marketing Wand?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

Do you have a magic marketing wand?

Many business owners treat marketing as if it was something magical, and not subject to a systematic approach or extensive planning like the other parts of their business.

I have studied marketing and the masters who have created successful marketing efforts over the past 121 years. I assure you, there is nothing magical about marketing.

Every successful marketing campaign is planned, created, tested, and, most importantly, implemented, very specifically.

Just ike having a road map to see where you are headed.

Without careful plans and a road map, business growth is very hard to predict.

“The system is the solution.”
– AT&T advertisement

However, when you have plans in place, you can measure the results of your marketing efforts.

This allows you to step up marketing to produce business growth. If a particular campaign doesn’t work, you are aware of it right away and can focus on trying something else. Unless, of course, you have a magic wand!

A great way to begin planning is to create a 52-week marketing calendar.
Plan your marketing efforts for each week of the year.

Remember that every marketing idea doesn’t need to be a grand scheme.

It could be as simple as printing new business cards or placing flyers on cars.

Keep in mind that anything you do to keep your existing clients coming back or to bring new clients through your doors is better than doing nothing at all.

What are you doing to map out your future marketing efforts?

Posted in marketing, planning | Leave a comment

Secret No. 1: What’s Your Business?

Posted on by Sandy Barris

What type of business do you have?

You may be in the manufacturing business, or own a retail store, or sell insurance, or provide personal pet care.

You may have a store that sells actual “carry-out” items, or your company may provide training services.

The type of business that you operate is important, but you need to keep in mind that no matter what type of business that you have, you are always in the business of Marketing and Sales.

“Business has only two functionsâ€”marketing and innovation.”
– Peter Drucker

The dictionary defines the word “market” (the verb, or action form of the word) as “to offer for sale” or “to sell.” So “marketing” is the action of offering your products or services for sale and/or the action of selling them.

You see, it doesn’t really make a difference what you are selling.

What matters is that you understand that you are not merely in the business of whatever it is that you do… you are in the business of marketing and selling whatever it is that you sell!

I’ll say it again in a different way: the business that you actually end up generating from your clients, customers, or patients is secondary to the fact that acquiring those customers in the first place is the single most important activity that you’ll ever undertake!

Getting clients is the name of the game, and “marketing” is the tool that will get you clients. The ultimate purpose of every marketing effort, both big and small, is to attract and/or retain clients.

What are you doing to actively market your business?

Posted in business, getting clients, marketing, sales | Leave a comment

Sandy Barris – The Measurable Marketing Madman

Secret No. 25: What Details Do You Know About Your Newest Client?

Secret No. 6: What Is The Most Important And Valuable Asset That Your Business Has?

Bonus Secret No 101: Which Sale Is The Most Important One You Will Ever Get From A Client?

Secret No. 5: How Does Your Business Stand Out From The Growing, Charging, And Always Changing Herd?

Secret No. 4: Do You Have Millions To Spend On Marketing?

Secret No. 3: What Is The Difference Between Sales And Marketing?

Secret No. 2: Do You Have A Magic Marketing Wand?

Secret No. 1: What’s Your Business?

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