Can you sell what you wouldn’t buy?

You are a savvy shopper, right?. You think before you buy and so does your customer. He’s looking for the same things you are… value, features, performance, benefits. Oh, yeah… and style, color, newness, hipness, whatever.

Take a quick look at your marketing strategy. Look at your products, your message, your results. Would you buy your product from your company? If not, why would anybody else?

Ask your key people how they would answer these questions. Get their honest answers and empower them to suggest necessary changes. Be ready to change your marketing plan as often as you have to so savvy shoppers will buy from you.

Gratitude makes great marketing!

My wife likes gardening and she likes to bring her garden into the kitchen. Fresh herbs, root vegetables, fruits and berries. I am grateful for these things, but they are not the point of my story.

A few days ago, she received a greeting card in the mail. I recognized the logo on the card, so I assumed it was a “special offer” for a “special customer.” It was something far more powerful… a thank you card from Gardener’s Supply Company.

The copy thanked my wife for her recent order and welcomed her into Gardener’s Supply community. No special offers. No hype. Just gratitude. It made an immediate, positive impression.

Think about it. When you check out at the grocery store or your favorite retail shop, the clerk thanks you. Restaurant servers do the same. Online retailers often include a thank you message on their packing list or invoice, but it doesn’t make much of an impression. Does it?

Gardener’s Supply — a company willing to make an extra effort to deliver extraordinary customer service. Now that’s powerful marketing.

Trash talk your competition… artfully.

When I was creative director for a SoCal ad agency, I used to do a lot of field work before crafting a marketing strategy. I’d spend time with the client, usually the CEO of a midsize company, and ask permission to chat with key staffers including the sales manager and ride along with two or three sales reps.

No time for a ride along? Here’s some great advice from Kevin Sasser on The Sales Wars blog.

I used to compete against Microsoft in the Content Management space and so often I would get, “So, why should I buy your solution over one of the biggest, most famous companies in the world?” Start off your response by complementing your competitor. (Read that again if you have to) “To be honest, I love Microsoft. I own stock in Microsoft. As soon as my wife lets me, Im getting an Xbox.”

Read the entire post here.

Share this with your sales team. Ask how they respond when a prospect or long-time customer asks why he should by from you instead of your competitor. Make sure your marketing folks hear their answers, then ask how they will use what they heard to shape your message about the competition.

Selling marketing services to entrepreneurs.

So, I’m reading Seth Godin’s blog about how to read a business book. He linked to the 800-CEO-read blog for May 16, 2008, What is Wrong With Business Books?! – Part II which quoted rather freely from the anonymous “Uncle Saul” at socaltech.com.

And I’m thinking, Seth Godin writes/sells books. I get why this is important to him, but it’s also important to marketing agencies, consultants and service providers who are selling to entrepreneurs.

Bottom line: know who you’re pitching before you make the pitch. Entrepreneurs are different from serial entrepreneurs, who are different from professional managers or second generation owners.

Hey! Somebody’s talking about you.

Somebody’s talking about you, your company, or your products… and you can find out what they’re saying, whenever they say it. All it takes is a few minutes of effort and zero cost thanks to Google Alerts. Free and easy competitive intelligence.

It will take about 10 seconds to set up an alert for your name. Another 10 seconds for your company’s name… 10 seconds each for your product names. Just enter your search terms, type of search and frequency. The tricky part is the email address. If you have the time, enter your own. If you don’t, assign a dedicated surfer. Ask them to visit the links and report back or forward anything significant.

So, somebody’s talking about you. What’s next? Join the conversation. If they’re saying something nice, say thank you. If they’re saying something negative, say thank you and add some positive comments that might turn them around.

You can also try a customer-focused marketing twist. Set up alerts for key customers, companies, products. If somebody says something nice, send a personal note including the link. If somebody says something not so nice, teach your customer how to use Google Alerts.

Has blogging helped your business?

Clients and friends have been asking about the ROI from by blogging efforts. I hold them accountable, they hold me accountable… it’s a good thing.

This morning, I was prompted to write the following response to a LinkedIn question by Susan Solomon, VP Marketing at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.

My blog is only two months old, so results are very preliminary. It has generated a few leads, but it’s been more helpful as a credibility builder after the first contact. Back in the day, I used to hand out a brochure after a first meeting with a potential client. It was intended to build credibility, remind the prospect of our discussion if s/he was in shopping mode, and provide something tangible s/he could pass along to a colleague.

Today, the first meeting is likely to be via email. By including a blog address in my signature, and a link to a specific article in the message, I have effectively replaced the brochure of old.

How about you?

Selling isn’t a numbers game.

Sales people have product to move, quotas to meet. They have less time and larger territories than ever before. And to make matters worse, selling cycles are getting longer as decision makers strain to balance the competing needs for value and quality.

Why then do so many sales reps ignore sales leads generated at great expense by advertising, websites, direct mail, email and other promotional efforts?

Simple. It is more productive, more cost-effective for them to work existing leads, recontact existing customers and develop referral business than it is to call on an unqualified lead.

What do sales reps want? [...]

Walking the aisles of a virtual trade show.

There are things I like about going to a trade show: Looking at one nondescript booth after another and wondering what the heck business these people are in. Being invited to enter yet another prize drawing so the marketing manager can show the boss how many “leads” were collected at the event. Asking a question and watching the exhausted booth person search for answers that weren’t on the well rehearsed script.

Things I don’t like: The travel. (Just shoot me.) Walking the endless rows of nondescript booths wondering what the heck business these people are in. (It’s a love/hate thing.) Paying $12 for a steamed hot dog and a 3/4 oz bag of chips.

But I digress…

Get sales and marketing on the same page.

All too often, sales and marketing people have different objectives. If they do, they can spend more time bickering than creating bottom line results. Or worse, they just go their separate ways.

If you want to find out if your sales and marketing people are working together, send them a simple questionnaire. Make sure a copy goes to every sales rep, manager and executive. Send it to every person in the marketing department and the people at your ad agency, design studio or public relations firm.

Ask them this…

Why advertise in a down economy?

OK, fine. Nobody likes the “R” word. But like it or not, we are smack dab in the middle of a recession. The question we all face is what do we do about it? You want to cut costs, but where? For some companies the decision is easy, the first cut they make is advertising. But you are not so sure.

I can think of eight solid reasons to continue advertising during a recession. They might even justify boosting your budget, but only if you are prepared to come out the other end as a market leader!