The 8 Touchstones of Marketing.

Regardless of your definition of marketing, there is a process associated with marketing your business, products, and services. This process or plan should be framed as one or more goals (I prefer SMART goals), underlied by one or more strategies (a defining statement of action or policy). These strategies are then accomplished by using a series of tactics, or action steps.

Quick Marketing Definition

Before we get to the 8 Touchstones of Marketing, let me prop yet another definition of marketing up in front of you:

Marketing is a two-way interaction with the public, prospects, and peers to present them with the best face of a business. You do this to inform and persuade them of the benefits of purchasing from that business.

The 8 Touchstones

I see a lot of small businesses whose marketing plan is merely to open their doors - physical or digital - and hope for people to storm in. As has been said elsewhere, "Hope is not a strategy."

The next step up is to open the doors, and then find a way to shout, "I'm here!" That's a little better, but what do you do when people actually show up?

Your marketing plan should include tactics for informing people about the benefits of doing business with your company. But once contact is made, you need to move them along a path to keep them informed and happy, and lead them to a place where they'll purchase from you.

Your marketing plan should have these touchstones, in this order:

Find leads ("A lead is anything with a heartbeat") by communicating with the public

Turn these raw leads into prospects (people who have an interest in your product or service) by starting an informative relationship with them

Help persuade prospects to make a purchase

Help new customers find joy in their purchase (minimize buyer's remorse)

Persuade existing customers to purchase more/more often

Help people move from being customers (purchasers of services products) to fans of the business

Help fans find more prospects (become unpaid marketing/sales reps for the business)

Start the cycle all over again

Line vs Spiral

Essentially, your marketing plan is about helping - or guiding - people through steps from being a lead, to a prospect, to a first-time buyer, to a happy repeat customer, to fan, to unpaid marketing & sales representative.

Many entrepreneurs think of moving through this marketing process as a line. Probably not a straight line, but they see it as following the steps - first A, then B, on to C, etc. However, this process is actually a cycle; it starts in one place, and then moves around until it arrives at that starting point once again.

Sure, when you arrive at the starting point, you can pick up more people to insert into your marketing process. But one of the objectives of moving people along this process is to raise them higher than they were. For instance, one cycle can be explained as taking a person from being a lead, to a prospect, to getting them to make their first purchase. Now they're back at Point A, and this is where a lot of marketers drop the ball. They leave the new customer on the same level as people who've never bought from the company! The idea here is to raise these new customers up a level, and help them become comfortable enough to make more purchases from the business. While the strategy is the same ("Help them feel happy enough to make a purchase"), the tactics are different on this level (for example: instead of a price discount on a single item, you give them a larger discount based on volume purchases). On this cycle, you want to move them from first-time purchaser, to happy repeat customer, to fan of the business.

These cycles should be an upward spiral. You might be bringing the customers over "the same old ground," but since both of you are familiar with the process, you can use more detailed and intricate techniques to interact with them. As an example, you might have added a prospect to your list with just their first name and email address. When they make their first purchase, you can add more detailed info to their record; last name, address, birth date, and phone number. You might then go on to ask them for even more detailed information about themselves. If you've developed the relationship well enough, they should be happy to provide it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

5 Explosive Strategies To Maximize Your Follow Up Results.

To obtain a strong pipeline has to be the # 1 goal of every sales person; this is vital for you and your company to survive in the long term.

Today, I'll talk to you about how to maximize your follow-up activity to create a solid pipeline and to blow up your sales.

Have A Purpose

Always have a purpose, you must have clear goals before starting to make phone calls, you have to know exactly what goals you want to achieve:

How many phone calls do you need to get a quote?

How many daily quotes do you need to get a sale?

How many sales do you need to get this month / quarter / year?

Having goals will motivate you during your follow up activity.

Work On Your Tone Of Voice

Your tone of voice is one of the most important factors when it comes to telephone conversations.

Make sure you have a pleasant tone of voice. Research shows that 38% of your communication is made up from your tone of voice and 7% from the actual words spoken.

If necessary, record your voice to understand what kind of impression it gives you when you listen to the recording. It is also very important that you make sure that your tone of voice is congruent with the message you want to communicate.     

The average sales rep only makes 2 attempts to reach a prospect ( source ).

You must be consistent with prospecting, you need to continuously grow your pipeline.

Be sure to contact your prospects as much as possible. Research shows that at least 6 attempts should be made by sales people to have a successful conversations with the prospects.

Realize that your prospect may still be at work, in a meeting, on vacation and so on so try to understand what is the best time to reach them.

According to Callhippo's research, the best day to call your prospects is Wednesday, the best time to call is between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m and the second best time to pick up the phone is between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 p.m.

Many sales people keep calling without ever leaving messages and this is an easy way to lose opportunities so be sure to leave a voicemail and be very concise when you leave it, your prospect needs to understand exactly the reason why you are calling them.

Mix your message

It is important to be creative when you contact your customers. Some prospects may respond better to some channels than others.

Phone calls and e-mails are fine, but there are several other channels you could use, such as social media, text-messages, videos, word of mouth and so on.

Be positive

Do not be scared by the many "I'm not interested" that you will encounter and use these experiences as feedback to improve your approach. Imagine that every "no" is an opportunity for you to improve and succeed the next phone call, imagine having an arrow and aim at a target. The first few times can be demotivating when you miss it, but little by little with practice, you will be able to improve your strategy until you hit the exact center of the target and after a while it will become an automatic process.

Your Prospects Are Gold

Always remember: Every single prospect that you have is literally gold and must be treated like it.

The biggest mistake you can make (Like many sales people out there) is to prequalify your prospects.

Every single prospects represents an enormous opportunity for profit, for future business, referrals and so on, so be sure to maximize every single opportunity that has been offered to you.

If you like this article, don't forget to share it with your friends and family!

Remember: Sharing is caring!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com

Why Identity And Sales Success Are Linked.

What do you do when your sales targets are not achieved despite having been through a sales training and coaching program? This is a situation no-one wants to be in.

Sales performance is affected when your identity is incongruent with your role as a salesperson. Being incongruent could be a temporary issue, and if you are currently experiencing this, you will want to fix it urgently. A lack of conscious identity can attract sales inhibitors such as low-self-worth and low-self-confidence.

Conversely, salespeople who have created a strong identity combined with sales competence often become top sales producers.

So what is identity?

Identity is who you believe you are, the way you think about yourself, the way you are viewed by the world and the characteristics that define you. It is being the kind of sales person who has the qualities to do what needs to be done to achieve the desired outcomes. This may read like a simple thing to do but is far from it.

The reason being, identity is internal and therefore unconscious, so behaviours whether effective or not are reflected unconsciously to the external world. This is why if a salesperson has low self-worth, and from experience some are good at hiding it, no amount of sales training will solve the problem. For example, business development skills not applied post course. When questioned excuses are used and not limited to, "I am too busy with account management... I have not had the time."

Your current success or lack of it reflects your identity so, what have you been telling yourself about yourself and to others?

If you are not achieving the results you want, then begin by being your own best friend. Visualise being the person already having the new identity including how you feel when in various sales situations. Your emotions are the key to developing and locking in your new identity. Find a quiet space at least twice a day and go through the process.

Your thoughts will more than likely give you reasons to drop the impending changes, "This feels uncomfortable so it cannot be right... While I have not been doing well, I am okay." Do not listen to thoughts and feelings that try to hinder your journey. This is a natural reaction from your subconscious mind. It does not like change. As you replace the old identity it is anxiety collapsing as the new identity becomes stronger.

The great news is, once your subconscious mind has accepted the change there is no going back. It will embrace the change and help you achieve your goals. However, in the short term it will require repetition, repetition, repetition, and patience.

So what identity are you going to create?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

Ways to Raise Venture Capital to Start a New Business.

Centuries back there was a time when people used to exchange goods for their livelihood and there was no money to buy things, known by the name of, "Barter System". There was no buying or selling during those days. If you want "Wheat" and you had "Pulses" you could very well exchange the same with the vendor who had "Wheat" by negotiating a deal with him for exchange.

Then came an era when people starting working for others to earn money to run their livelihood. This further developed into Jobs from Government and Private Sector.

Now is the time when everyone enchants to open his own venture owing to establish something of his own and develop an empire which manifolds into a profitable venture as said "The Best income is even when you are sleeping the invest grows".

An Idea of yours in today's scenario can create a ripple effect which can change the lives of many. Very live examples are organisation like Facebook, Whatsapp, Google which started with a very small idea and from a room and have created an empire which inspires the Entrepreneur's to create a Value Addition not only for them through profit but for the Society too.

Many Starts up have started mushrooming in India now with many business ideas but they lack the rock bottom things and fail even though the business idea is too great. Inspite of the fact that they have best of people, knowledge, resources, ideas available to them but still they have tumbled. Very Live Example is Organisation like Snapdeal etc.

An Idea Flourishes when you have the Business Idea pitched to the Right People with Right Knowledge with effective and strong persuasion skills to invest money with returns they would be getting. Firstly the Entreprenuer himself needs to be convinced that it is a great and a profitable Venture.

Second Important Thing which Start up lack is Hiring the Right and Suitable Candidates. Branding Institutes like IIM /IITs do bring in good resources but they cost very heavily to the organisation. Its always essential to hire people with experience rather than branding institutes. Experience people turn around organisation as they know how to manage crisis, success of an idea comes with experience and experience comes with learning, you know how to turn failures as these people have already experienced it.

Maintain Low Cost and Invest heavily in your people is the Right Idea for the Start ups.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com

How to Draw Buyers Closer You

Every salesperson wants to have a relationship with a buyer that cannot be duplicated by their competitors. Salespeople try numerous strategies, few work effectively, until now.

Research into neuroscience has provided great insight into how our brain functions. As salespeople we need to know what this means in a sales context. Sales will change the relationship between yourself and the buyer because it is based on biology and not psychology.

Our brains are most comfortable when operating in autopilot. We also feel relaxed when in this state. Repeated conscious thoughts and actions are not stored in our conscious mind but transferred to our subconscious where autopilot happens. Example, have you ended up at an address you normally go to, but on the day planned to be somewhere else? Your subconscious mind took you there whilst you were preoccupied with other conscious thoughts.

To save energy our brain uses shortcuts to make decisions to solve problems quickly. If the buyer perceives you to be the same as your competitors they will switch to autopilot. If a buyer cannot see anything new, intriguing or different in you, or the product/service or the organisation their brain will go into the default mode. This means they will emotionally detach and will more than likely give you a price objection to create differentiation between you and your competitors.

As salespeople we need to be aware of three components of the brain:

The Primal Brain

This is the most primitive part of the brain and is in control of our instinctive and automatic self-preserving behaviors. The thinking rational brain, the neocortex, shuts down when the primal brain is dominate. It is driven by the fight or flight or freeze response to a threat either perceived or real. In sales this could be disguised as an objection such as "I will think about it."

The Mammalian Brain

Also known as the Limbic system it is the center of emotions and learning and where 'gut' feelings come from, trust and loyalty. The system evaluates everything as either pleasure or pain. Sales presentations need to focus on the 'why' and 'how' to connect to the mammalian brain.

The Neocortex

The neocortex is associated with high order brain functions such rational and conscious logical thinking and language. Salespeople who provide an overly structured features and benefits presentation focus on the 'what.' This triggers the neocortex resulting in an emotionally disengaged buyer.

What to do?

Do your homework to uncover information so your presentation disrupts the buyer's pattern of thinking. Focus on the new, intriguing or different using 'why' and 'how' in your presentation. When you do you will have a fully engaged buyer who will feel closer to you and open up about a problem they want solved.

If you have any issues selling whether new of a sales veteran fell comfortable to contact me. Any discussion is confidential. Please to be of service.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com