Advertiser Missed An Opportunity

I was recently driving home and heard an ad on the radio, now the odd time there are good ads on the radio but often they are not.  In this case an advertiser paid good money for an ad but missed a great opportunity.

It was for a local building supply store who had recently changed their brand such that they now represented a different chain.

The ad, though I don’t remember the actual words, went something like,

“We still have the same friendly service, the same low prices, the only thing that has changed is our name”.

I thought what a wasted opportunity!

Here is a perfect chance to invite people in to the store to see what is different.  Why not project the message,

“not only have we changed our name, but come in and see our new line of…”

“We have recently changed our name and as a result, we now have access to many products we couldn’t get before”

and so on.

You see, if all they do is tell you that they are the same as they were, then why would I go in to the store?  What is the call to action? (There was none in the ad by the way).

The point here is that you need to use every opportunity you can to get people in to your store.  What better time than after a name change, or renovation, or new manager, or whatever.  In fact, any reason you can think of can be a reason to come.  And people like to have a reason.  You give them a reason and they will come.

And the reason should not be “because we are the same as we were before”.

A lost opportunity.

Prospect or Customer?

Often times, you will hear someone talk about getting more customers. The media rep will tell you to advertise “to get more customers”, your business might need more customers.

But see, when you advertise, you do not get more customers. It would be nice if you did. But what you are getting is actually more prospects. You see, that is the difference between a prospect and a customer.

Often times, you will hear someone talk about getting more customers. The media rep will tell you to advertise “to get more customers”, your business might need more customers.

A prospect can be defined (by dictionary.com) as someone who is a potential or likely customer, client, etc.

When someone responds to your ad, they fall into that category. They are a potential or likely customer – or they would not have responded.

A customer (dictionary.com) is a person who purchases goods or services from another, a buyer.

See, the difference is the transaction of actually doing business.

Who cares? Well, it matters actually – a lot! Read on…

It matters because it allows you to separate the two in your mind and in your actions towards each group.

It allows you to look at your advertising differently.

We say there are only 3 ways to grow your business. They are

1. traffic

2. conversion

3. back end

See, getting a prospect, and the act of turning them in to a customer are 2 different steps. Each can be handled, improved, tested on their own.

You can increase your advertising – that will get you more prospects. Chances are, they will continue to convert at the same rate. So if you advertise to 100 people and 10 of them respond to your ad, you have a response rate of 10%. If you want 100 new responses (prospects), then you advertise to 1,000 people.

OK, so lets say that your conversion rate from prospect to customer is 20%. That means that 20% of the people who respond to your ad turn in to buyers. Then, you advertise to 100 people, 10 respond (prospects) and 2 buy (customers).

Why does this matter? Well, because now if you want to double your business WITHOUT spending more on the ads, you have 2 options. You can either double your prospects, or you can increase your conversions. If you can get more people to respond to your ad (by making a more effective ad) then you could get 20 people out of every 100 to respond. That is one way to grow your business. Then if you can close 4 respondents out of 10 (instead of 2), you have doubled your business as well.

If you just refer to advertising as the act of getting more customers you tend to ignore your closing rate and you don’t isolate it and spend time working to improve it. What if you could do both?

If you advertise to 100 people and got 20 responses (instead of 10), and then were able to convert 4 of 10 into buyers (instead of 2), then now for your same advertising dollar, you are getting 8 sales instead of 2.

So look at both steps in this process as separate steps and work to increase rates of both prospects and conversions to sales. Then watch your business grow.

Have An Impact On Your Business Today

If you have poked around our blog for any length of time, you will have heard us say that there are only three ways to build your business. We usually say that they are:

1. Increase the number of prospects – that is people hearing about your business

2. Turn more prospects into customers

3. Increase customer value by either increasing the size of each sale or getting your customers to buy more often.

Those same three concepts can be summed up into three words:

1. Traffic

2. Conversion

3. Backend

So, those are the three ways to grow your business. Now, if you want to see the three things that can have the greatest impact on your bottom line in order from most impact to least – for the dollar spent. Watch this:

1. Backend

2. Conversion

3. Traffic

It costs you almost nothing (or very little) to increase your backend where as increasing traffic is the most expensive (and least effective for the dollar).

So, how can you increase your backend? Well, first look around and see if there are any ways that you can increase the size of each purchase. Are there products you can bundle together? Can you recommend additional products to customers as they are completing their transaction? Can you partner with another, somewhat related business and get a commission for sending them clients? Are you following up with past customers – make them an offer they can’t refuse, get them back to your business. Increase their value to you.

If your business has been struggling in this economic decline, then start with the cheapest, easiest way and grow your business today.

Lowest Price As A USP

In the absence of any other differentiation, lowest price becomes the deciding factor on a purchase. What that means is that if you don’t give your customers a better reason to shop with you, they can only compare your price against others and go to the lowest price.

This is not a place where you want to be as a business, you will likely go out of business in a hurry. You would be far better to stand out in your marketplace with a different message and change the focus of your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – that is your marketing message – to something else that matters to your customers. Your USP needs to answer the question “why should your prospects do business with you above any and all other options”. And you need to give a compelling reason.

Lens Crafters will get your glasses ready in about an hour, Wal Mart is the low price leader (one of the few businesses to successfully pull off this USP), Domino’s Pizza was the first to deliver in “30 minutes or it’s free”.

Each of these companies chose a particular feature of their business and decided to become the leader in that marketplace.

Is there a void in your marketplace? What can you do or deliver that no one else in your marketplace can? Then, before you decide on a USP, make sure that it matters to your customers. It might be an acccomplishment to be able to deliver a certain widget in 10 minutes but if your customers don’t care, or that is not what they are looking for, then don’t try to make it your USP. It won’t help you if no on is looking for that feature.

Find some way to stand out in your marketplace. Something that matters to your customers and that is currently not being delivered to them. Integrate that into your business, sales and marketing do deliver the message over and over, consistantly.

If you don’t find a way to stand out, your customers will buy on price and you will either lose customers or lose money.

Capture, Communicate, Offer

Capture the name of a prospect, communicate with them and make them an offer. The three basic steps of every follow-up system – and something that almost every business can implement – but for some reason, many do not.

The problem is that many businesses simply just focus on getting more people in the door. Of course this is the more expensive way to try and grow your business but that is all some people know.

What you want to do is make better use of the traffic that is already comig in your door before you invite more in. If 100 prospects come in contact with your business and 50 people buy, what are you doing with the other 50? There are many reasons that a person does not buy right now. Of course, these reasons will be different for different businesses and in different industries but I bet if you ask some people why they didn’t buy and if you check around, then you can find out. Sometimes it can be a silly reason you aren’t even aware of and by following up with those prospects, you may be sitting on a goldmine of potential business.

First, let’s change our viewpoint a bit and let’s put everyone who comes in to your business into one of two categories. They either buy today and are a customer, or they do not buy today and they are a prospect – someone we expect to buy in the future. If you can first view everyone who doesn’t buy as a future customer, you will treat them differently and begin to view them as ann asset which will gain value in the future. So get their contact information and begin to follow up with them.

People buy from people they know, like and trust. Once you start to build a relationship with a prospect, you greatly increase your chances of moving them along your sales process. Many business owners don’t think of building a relationship with their prospects but once people get to know who you are and what your business is about, you will start to see repeat buyers.

The last part of the equation is to make these people an offer they can’t refuse. If you have a list of prospects and are in regular contact with them, make them a special offer. Give them a discount that no one else is getting, add in some personal touch and make them feel a bit special, turn your prospects into an elite little club and make them feel special and privileged to be there.

Once you learn how to take people who are not purchasing from you and follow up with them by communicating and makeing them a special offer, you will grow your business larger and at much less cost than you could just by inviting more people in the front door.

How To Use Information Products To Boost Your Credibility

We are all very familiar with information products (info products). We see them every where, we use them every day. Any time information, content, articles, video, instruction, etc is packaged and sold, you have an info product. A book, the daily newspaper, websites,magazines, dvd’s. They all count. When you go out and buy a book, you are not paying for the cost of the paper and the ink, you are buying the content contained inside of it. That is the part that has value to you.

Did you know that you can create your own information products to promote your own business? First we will look at why, then we can look at how…

There are a couple of reasons that you might want to consider this. First of all, it will give you an instant boost in credibility. You automatically appear as an expert if you publish information. In people’s minds, if you are published, you must be the person that knows something. For that reason alone, it can be worth doing. You can use this credibility to set yourself apart in your marketplace.

Another reason is that, depending on your business, you might find that there are things that you keep having to show people, or explain, the same things over and over again. Maybe you could create a product that would do that for you. A dvd or online video showing “how to” do something. Maybe a short manual, report or white paper that can explain a process or procedure.

The fact that you keep repeating the same things to diferent customers will indicate that they all have similar questions. So by creating a product that answers those questions, you will do three things. You will decrease the time you have to spend on that information with each client because you can refer them to the product instead. You have a great way to generate leads because you can run an advertisement that reads “to solve problem xyz, come to my website for a free video” and you look like an expert becuase you have published information that your client is looking for and know you have just gained their respect.

Yup, all from one measley little info product!

OK, so how do you make this? Well, some of that is going to depend on your business but just look around at the questions you keep answering and see if they can be best answered by video, audio file, or printed information. Then create the product and publish it. There are many self-publishing services online and it is very easy and inexpensive to create a workbook or dvd. A simpler way will be to publish the information on your website itself. Online video is commonplace and you can simply upload your video on to YouTube and embed a link on your site that will display it. Printed material can be released in .pdf format and linked to from your site for download. You can have people download it directly or (the better option) use it at a teaser to collect leads and then follow up by email to close a sale.

If you can have information on a topic that requires updating or is changing frequently, then offer a membership service. Either a website or a program by mail where you can charge people a recurring monthly fee for access to the information. This will add another revenue stream to your business.

Feel free to contact us for more details and help to get started.

What Is The Point Of Advertising?

I was recently looking through some of my local Yellow Pages and also local business websites in my area when I started to think about the purpose of advertising. I get the weird feeling as I am flipping through some poorly constructed ads and websites that some (ok, a lot of) businesses don’t understand the purpose of advertising.

I think that some businesses advertise in the Yellow Pages or get a website or on the radio or on local TV… because they feel they have to. They think that this is the “thing to do”, they do it because it is expected. They also see it as an expense.

Now, this last one blows me away because advertising is not an expense. Advertising is an investment to be made in your business and it should be using a tested and proven method. You should have a good idea what your return will be and it is best if you can turn it on and off at will. If your advertising is costing you money and you don’t know why you are doing it,

THEN STOP!

Because you are flushing money down the toilet.

You don’t advertise when you can afford it, you advertise when you want to produce results (typically sales). When times get tough for a company, they often cut back on their advertising first. Oh dear. How can a business expect to make money if they are not advertising? They should be advertising more to boost sales, revenue and profits.

The problem is that most advertising is done poorly and is wasted money. Poor headlines don’t connect with customers, poor copy doesn’t interest them, poor (or no) call to action doesn’t invoke the driving urge to run to their phone and call you right now to place their order.

If your advertising does not produce a predictable, positive result for your business, then stop wasting your money on it. Get it fixed. And then turn on the tap of new profits.

Why Does Your Small Business Need A Website?

As a small business owner, you are likely familiar with the internet. You likely use it for email, maybe researching products or services before you order, maybe ordering right online. But is your small business connected?

Many owners think they need a website, some don’t see the benefits. A lot of businesses have websites, some do not. I say, what a shame! I believe that EVERY business can benefit from having a presence online. Let’s take a quick look at how the internet can help your business grow.

First of all, there is the “credibility” factor. Websites are so commonplace that in many cases, if you do not have one, you are automatically perceived to be less professional or legitimate. Your customer is thinking “why don’t they have a website?”, “maybe they aren’t worth doing business with”. It is like not having a phone. Not having a website can reflect poorly on your business.

Having a website acts totally in reverse… it makes you look more professional and trustworthy. You look like an expert – someone who takes their business seriously. If you have an established local business that did not previously have an internet presence, you can take this opportunity to develop one and use that as an excuse to hold a sale or combine it with a face-lift of your business or whatever. Make your website launch an event and use it to draw attention to your business.

What can you do with your website? Well, the answer to that can almost fill a book (in fact, I will be releasing one on the topic in the near future). Here are some quick ideas…

You can use your website to interact with your customers. You can set up a blog to keep people up to date on your ideas, products or new services.

Use your website to position yourself as an expert in your field. Use it to post articles and information on your area of expertise. You can post “how to” videos or audio files so that your customers can come to your site and learn how to do something and what you are about. If you do something better than your competition, make a video that explains why the way you do it is better.

All this leads back to positioning yourself as an expert in your field. And yes, as a business owner, you should feel that you qualify as an expert in your marketplace.

A website can be used to get feedback from your customers, what did they like about your product or service or experience? What changes would they like to see and why? Are there other services you could offer that are complimentary? And so on.

These are just a few quick ideas to get you thinking in the right direction. For more information, just shoot us an email and watch this site.

Leverage Your Database Of Customers And Prospects

The database is one of my favourite leverage points in a business. For a couple of reasons. First off, it is something that keeps growing with each new contact and sale. Second, you can leverage this asset over and over again. It is not just a one-time deal. Third, there are a number of different things you can do here.

Ok, let’s start at the beginning. You do have a database, don’t you? Believe it or not, this is one of the biggest hidden marketing assets that we find with clients! They either don’t collect contact information of buyers or prospects and if they do, they don’t do anything with it. People, people, people, if you have a list of clients who have bought from you before – trusted you with their hard-earned money and you made that a happy experience. Don’t you think they would buy from you again? It only makes sense. You see, basically there are only 3 ways to increase your business. You can get more clients, sell more often and increase the size of the transaction. That is it. And it is cheaper to sell more often to someone (repeat sales) than it is to get more clients.

So, what can you do with your database?

Well, first off, let’s do a reactivation of lost customers. Remind them that you are here, ask them to do business with you again. Make them a special offer that gets them excited. Send them an email or a letter directed straight to them that let’s them know you are thinking of them and would appreciate their business (people like to be appreciated).

You could set up a follow up program. Sure, start with the customer reactivation but then continue to follow through and send them relevant information and/or offers. This can also be done with brand new contact and customers which is why I like to distinguish it from the customer reactivation concept. Someone comes in your door and purchases, plug them in to your follow up program. Have you got a monthly newsletter you are sending out? Are there tips and ideas you can offer them that will help them with (or to use) their purchase? Someone comes in your door but does not purchase, are you following up with them? Are they being exposed to you on a regular basis?

Oh, that is a good one. The unconverted lead. Someone who showed interest in your product, service or offer but did not purchase. Did you get their contact info? Are you following up with them? Or did you just let that opportunity turn around and walk out your door for good? How can you get their information? Well, think a little and use your imagination. You could offer them a “free subscription” to your monthly newsletter. Ha, what an idea! Just ask them for their information. You could set up some kind of a draw for a free something or a discount on your service or product. Offer them a coupon in exchange for their information. There are a number of ways you can get this information from prospects.

Ok, back to the list of buyers. Can you set up a referral program? Can you recommend other, complimentary products – either that you sell yourself or from another business? Is your product or service consumable? Will they need more in a month, two months? Be in front of them when they need it again.

I mentioned about a referral program. The idea here is that, no, better yet, let’s just look at an example… Let’s say for instance you have a moving company and offer a moving service. You may be the first point of contact when a family moves to a new city. You know when someone is moving, that means they will need a few things, both before and after that move. They likely need the services of various trade workers – plumber for the new sink, painter to redo the bedroom, new carpet in the den, etc. They may even need to know where to eat out for the first few days in your town and where to shop. So that puts your business in a great position to be able to offer referrals to a host of other services. The trick here is to think of what other services or products someone might need if they just bought yours. Partner up with other businesses and offer to promote them for a fee or at the very least in exchange for them promoting you. It is a win-win for everyone!

Back to ideas for using your database, have you just released a new version of whatever your clients bought last time? Is there an advanced version that you can upsell them to later on? Have you just released a new product all together that they could make use of?

This all comes back to the idea that if you have a database of prospects and clients, you are in a great position to generate repeat business. Create a system and implement some strategies to make use of your database. Once you set it up, you can make it almost automatic. Ideally, you would integrate some of this with your website and follow up with a simple email follow up system for maximum returns.

Leveraging Your Transaction

We previously looked at pricing as a leverage point in your business and the possibility of adjusting your pricing to acheive your goals. Today we are going to look at the transaction itself. How can we take the action of doing business, closing the deal, making the sale and turn it into a leverage point?Well, at the point of the transaction, there are a few options. First, let’s look at a transaction that takes place online. If you are selling online, you can offer your visitor what is called an “upsell”. That is when they go to check out and you make them a special offer that they have to take right then. This ties in a bit with your pricing because if you have different service levels, this is one way to push people into the next level. Once the transaction is complete, you bring the customer to a “thank you” page. This is the point wehre they can download the product (if it is digital) or at the very least, you can thank them for their purchase and confirm what happens next (they enter more information, you are sending out their product, one of your agents will call them, etc.). It can also be a great time to offer people some other service or product that you sell. In fact, you could also them a related product or service that someone else sells. I’ll do an article later on Joint Ventures.

The point of transaction can also be used to invigte people to join a continuity program you may have. Could be a paid monthly newsletter, could be automatic shipments of consumable products, could be an ongoing support program. Whatever fits your offer.

OK, so this all sounds fine and dandy online, but your business may not be online and so what can you do. Well, first off, I am going to encourage you to explore if there is a way you can use the internet for your business. You may be able to integrate and automate some of these ideas into your daily business. But the point of this article is not to sell you an online setup, the point is to leverage the transaction to your benefit. No problem. First off, you could still collect email addresses of customers and send them an email. When was the last time you went to a physical store and made a purchase and then came home to a thank you email? I can’t think of one time. It would be kind of cool though. This will also open you up to being able to offer other products or services.

When a person “checks out” or completes a transaction, are you inserting anything into their package? Some kind of flyer or promo peice. Maybe you have a sale coming up you can tell them about. Or a special event. You can give them a coupon which they can use on their next purchase. This helps create repeat business and gives them a happy feeling as they leave.

You can still offer an upsell at point of sale. Think of “would you like fries with that?”. Is there a different version or accessories or something else you can offer at time of sale that will help increase your revenue?

The point of sale can still be used to offer some kind of forced continuity or warranty program. I am thinking of a recent purchase I made at Future Shop and they would try to sell me an extended warranty. I bet they make more money selling the warranty than they make on some of the products. But that is their business model. Low front end pricing and then an upsell. Can you incorporate that into your own business?

The main thing to note is that once a person makes a transaction with you, you want to make this a very pleasant and happy experience. They are in a buying mood and just trusted you with their money. This puts you in a good position to earn that trust again – possibly right away. Review your transaction process and see if you can leverage it for more profit.

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