Marketing Strategies For Business Owners in Competitory Times.

BE ORGANIZED FOR THAT ELEVATOR SPEECH.

You have to be able communicate your organization's benefits quickly & distinctly. How is your business better, faster, stronger? By developing a strong, unique selling position, you will be able to command higher prices-and who doesn't want to command higher prices? Be ready to communicate it distinctly to a prospective customer in a minute or two.

You must be able to state to a customer how your different than your competitor, your customer will suppose you are selling a commodity service and that means death in the ultra-competitive marketplace of today. You owe it to your stakeholders to command the highest feasible price to ensure that you have the financial resources to grow your business when the opportunity is present and to be able to survive downturns when they come along too!

LEAD THE FIELD.

Once you develop your organization's unique sales position, do everything possible to be the market leader. Persistently create new ideas and innovative ways to service your customers. Having a company and starting up with a new idea is just the beginning.

Constantly identify where your business is going to and what the innovations of the market are going to be. Even if you're not the original market innovator, don't be afraid to run with your competition's new ideas. Frequently the second company to market figures out how to improve a product. Minor improvements can make the difference between hanging on and market domination.

CREATE A STRONG SYSTEM FOR LEAD GENERATION.

There is no shortage of ways to develop leads for your organization from online leads, to telemarketing, to classifieds, to Radio and Television. Lead generation and prospecting are essential daily activities. Attend your industry's trade shows, design a lead-generating call center program-commit to making lead generation a priority.

Business owners oftentimes repeat the error of trying to instantly service the new business from a generated lead. The most consistent, strong businesses comprehend that new business is an on-going activity that needs to be focused on day in and day out. Waiting until business is slow to try to generate business is dangerous-as frequently it may well be too late!

ASK YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS TO BUY MORE.

One of the best opportunities for extra business is your current customer base. No matter what you sell there should be opportunities to sell extra products..

The first place to start is at the order point. Continually look for an upsell opportunity. Offer discounted pricing when they buy a 2nd product, offer a companion or complimentary product if it makes sense. We typically suggest that a specific upsell item be chosen for each product to be sold. Another option may be to to offer seasonal products as the upsell item. Your should set a goal to increase each incoming sale by some proportion. Testing will tell you what it should be.

The second part of selling more to your current customers is to repeatedly ask them to buy more of whatever they have purchased in the past. This is an unbelievable opportunity for most companies. We have located opportunities for clients to sell 3 times as much product just.Frequently opportunities exist for clients to sell as much as three times as much product by repeatedly asking if a customer would like more. Your company will want to develop a system for this type of repeat business.

REACTIVATE OLDER LEADS AND EXPIRED ACCOUNTS.

Once anyone sticks up their hand and says, "I'm interested in your products" you need to repeatedly call on them to get them to purchase or start buying again. You do not want to merely drop a brochure in the mail or just send a few emails; follow up as aggressively as you can to get the order. When essential, increase the attractiveness of your proposal, but repeatedly ask for the order. Do this for both new and past clients. Do not leave past customers unattended - find out what is required to get back their busines. Attempt a different approach including telemarketing-yes, it still works- to get their attention and learn what is necessary to get them to order.

TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS - CONTINUALLY - AND SOLICIT THEIR OPINIONS.

This is another vital part of the branding process. Continuously talk with your customers and clients in order for them to comprehend how valuable their business is to your business. Constantly let them know how much you appreciate their business. Ask your clients for their honest feedback at all points of the transaction.

Put a form on your web site to ask for customer feedback. Ask clients if they use your website and request tips on how to improve it for them.

Ensure that customers can contact you without difficultly. Entirely too many web sites do not have basic ways to contact the business such as a phone number. This doesnt achieve anything, other than frustrating customers. Regularly evaluate any customer complaints in order to identify product or service issues before they impact your bottom line.

ASK FOR TESTIMONIALS.

These are FREE commercials. Once you've paid for cable time or other form of media, you realize the benefit of a free commercial. Place customer testimonials into your "on-hold" messages, your company's brochures or hand outs, and on the website.

As opposed to paid ads, testimonials are largely seen as unbiased endorsements of your organization and its products or services. Ask customers if you can write one for them and have them sign it. Do the work for your client and make it straight forward for them to give you their testimonial.