Tag: marketing

  • A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

    This article is a broad overview of the kind of marketing that gets good results. We will discuss very specific ways to implement the plan. Now, I am not talking about the kind of plan that you might have learned in Marketing 101.

    What I’m talking about, is a list of methods, philosophies, mission like statements that give direction to all my marketing efforts and those of successful marketers. Remember in a previous article, I said that marketing is EVERYTHING you do in your business, from ordering paper clips to handling customer returns? Marketing encompasses more than just advertising and web site design.

    This article is based on a business philosophy that I believe in because I’ve seen it work. You might not agree with it completely, but I’m sharing this with you to help you in developing your own ‘business philosophy’.

    A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

    · What I think doesn’t matter. Only what the market wants or believes it wants is important.

    · If you market and advertise your products like everyone else, you will get no response. You must differentiate yourself.

    · Don’t market in a threatening aggressive way. Don’t ask for money in any significant way on the first contact. Even after several contacts, your customers don’t believe you or trust you.

    · Trust takes time. So reassure them and sell them what they want. If they are satisfied with the first purchase from you, they are more likely to come back. And repeat business is where the real profits are in any business.

    · Don’t fall in love with your merchandise or your products. If what you have in stock isn’t selling, dump it and reassess the market. Only what the market wants is important.

    · Don’t get married to what your selling — i.e. if your customers want “D” and you’re selling “A”–find the best and cheapest source for “D” and sell them that! The market is the ultimate judge.

    · Don’t sell your merchandise at the lowest possible price. Get a good price for your items. Charge enough to make a healthy profit. How can that be done with ‘commodity’ items? By adding value. Enhance commodity type products in a tough market with free tickets to a basketball game or a free car wash, etc… find something of value that may cost you nothing to acquire, but will be appreciated by your customers and makes you stand out.

    · Only by making a healthy profit can you expect to be in business for the long term.

    · The market does not respect “cheap” products or services, but they always like to think they are getting a ‘deal’. So whenever possible explain in concrete terms why this is a better deal for them than they could find anywhere else. Your “deal” could be a few hours of your time to help them through a particular set-up problem with your item, or it could be donating 10% of the purchase amount to their favorite charity, etc.–it doesn’t always have to be a deal by lowering your price.

    · Put yourself in the prospects’ place. Feel what she feels. Think how she thinks. You must know him/her better than he knows himself. What is he/she like. What do they want, really want? It’s not your item isn’t what they want–it’s the results they will get from using your item that they really want: The new skills they’ll learn from your content, the knowledge they’ll gain to help them in their jobs or relationships, the feeling of pride they’ll receive by showing the item they just purchased from you to all their friends.

    · People buy for their reasons, not yours. Therefore give them every reason possible so they can pick and choose the reason that suits them best.

    · Strip everything from your business that does not directly produce sales, profits and new customers. The only business expenses you should have are the ones that will generate more sales and profits. Before buying anything for your business ask yourself, “Will this help me generate more profits or sales?”…if not, don’t buy it. It’s a waste of money.

    · Focus all your energies and resources on selling something. You have to have something to sell. Is that obvious? Yes it is, but there are a lot of people who want to make money in business and don’t know what to sell! Find something to sell! Constantly develop or obtain new products to sell. When you find one that sells well with your existing customers, that’s the time to ‘roll out’ big to other lists.

    · The money is made in the selling. You cannot make any money if you don’t have anything to sell. Obvious? Yes! But a lot of people will look for months for something to sell, because they can’t come up with a product or service to sell, or can’t get started or finish the book they were writing. Forget it !! Stop “looking” and start testing, testing, testing instead. TESTING and DOING is the key to success. Don’t worry about what to sell– just sell anything–if it works, keep doing it, if it doesn’t work–don’t sell it anymore–find something else. You never know what people will buy until you place the item in front of them. I would never have thought ‘pet rocks’ would sell and I would not have sold them if I had a retail store, but look at what happened! They became a nationwide craze.

    · Realize the significant difference between being “professional”, having a certain “image” to maintain and getting “results”. Jay Abraham emphasizes this, and he’s right. This is a difficult concept to explain. The idea here is that RESULTS are all that count – your ‘image’ and being perceived by others as ‘professional’ are nice, but should take a back seat to being productive. If you’re worried about your image, you’re not going to be successful. All your efforts should be placed on satisfying customers wants.

    · Always strive to be personable and friendly – the down-to-earth approach to business is what keeps people coming back to you. Even in this age of the Internet (or maybe because of it) people want to know who you are, as a person. Are you nice? Are you a jerk? Do you love kids and dogs or cats? Do you love to read books? What kind? You see what I mean.

    · OK, I’ll say it again- only results count – if you want to be in business longer than the statistical averages then FOCUS ON RESULTS!

    · If you’re not selling enough merchandise, at a profit, to make a living, stop what you’re doing and think! Start over…get out of that BOX you’re in.

    · You get better results by being yourself rather than trying to impress your customer and clients with your superiority. Be humble, admit mistakes and move on. You’re a business person, but you’re a human being first.

    · Don’t worry about who likes you and who doesn’t like you. People spend half their lives just trying to please people that will never like them back anyway. You’re much better off and will have a more loyal customer base by bonding with others who like you for yourself.

    · Therefore my job is to: Sell merchandise I feel comfortable and proud of selling and which I know my customers will value more than the price they paid.

    · Advertise, market and promote my product or service by being totally focused on the buyer and their wants and/or testing the market to see if it’s what the market wants at that moment.

    · Don’t assume people will order from you without asking them to order it from you. They won’t. You have to ask them to order from you.

    · Don’t over complicate the running of your business. Keep it simple and focused.

    Business Philosophy, Final Thoughts

    When someone buys from you, do you ever send a “Thank you” card or letter saying how much you appreciated their business? If not, then you have not learned the art of marketing.

    Joe Girard made the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most automobiles because he understood this one aspect of business: he appreciated his customer. He sent ‘Thank You’ cards, Christmas cards, Birthday cards and letters to his customers constantly- he built relationships with all his customers and his customers responded in droves by buying from him and no one else.

    If your customer expects Y then give them Y times 3. Always do more for them than they expect. Very, very few local businesses (even most national ones) I’ve done business with has ever sent me a ‘Thank You’ card or even a coupon so I could get a deal from them the next time I buy something. You will generate a lot of goodwill and customer loyalty by just being thoughtful.

    If you give your customers more than expected then your prices can keep going up. Psychologically it is better to charge your customers higher prices if, and only if, you can deliver more than they expected.

    One final word about marketing. Develop a marketing attitude in everything you do.

    What do I mean when I say, ‘marketing attitude’? I mean that you have to put yourself in your customer’s place, think about their wants and ask yourself continually how your product or service benefits them.

    Stop thinking about what you want (at least while you’re selling) and never stop thinking in terms of communicating with your customers the more salient points and benefits and the results they will get when they purchase your merchandise.

    BONUS: Three CRITICAL Business Strategies For The Real World

    RULE #1: Do not use your cash to buy anything that does not help you produce more cash!

    New business owners go out to buy every piece of equipment they can think of that they might need, but may never need and have little cash left over for marketing their product or service.

    Don’t you fall into that trap. Only cash pays the bills and only cash can be used to generate more cash through marketing.

    RULE #2: Treat Your Internet Business Like A Business And Get Serious About It!
    Conduct all your dealings in a business like way, friendly and personal, but business like.

    Order business cards that state something unique about your business on the front and back of the card. Also, if your sales volume really picks up and it makes economic sense, use an “800? number for people to call and order from you instead of only using online orders. Why?

    It’s just one extra option. Remember that people buy for their reasons, not yours…that also applies to the way they like to buy. They will want to order the way they want to order, not the way you want them to order.

    Also don’t believe that the only way to market your business is using online methods. Try sending postcards, letters and other offline methods to drive people to your web site. Think about every method that’s available to you and test all of them.

    RULE #3: How Specialization Can Increase Sales

    The importance of specializing and knowing, inside and out, what you’re selling cannot be overemphasized. Specialization helps you focus and you build a more valuable knowledge base.

    Although I have sold other products and services in the past, my focus is publishing information. I read just about everything I can get my hands on when it comes to information publishing. Sometimes I browse the business and periodical sections to gather ideas, see what’s new or find something I read a long time ago but forgot about.

    I love business information, and I get paid to advise retail clients on how to improve their businesss. It’s my focus and I constantly find ways to build my knowledge and capture new opportunities.

    Has this ever happened to you? When you purchase a new car (or anything) suddenly you start to see a lot of “your” car on the roads? It seems as if everyone has the same car you do. You didn’t notice so many people were driving the same kind of car you had before because you had taken your old car for granted and didn’t focus on it- but now that you have a new car, your focus has changed because of your interest in the new car.

    The same thing happens in business. Once you pick a focus, a specialty, all of a sudden you are surrounded with great opportunities that you weren’t aware of before you started to focus.

    You begin to see opportunities others are not even aware of. That’s the reason you specialize– to become aware of opportunities that others with less focus than you, pass up daily.

  • How Important is Marketing in Your Business?

    How important is “marketing”? You’ve seen the letters, the emails, and the products: courses, books, ebooks and teleseminars showing you how important ‘marketing’ is.

    You and I have tools through the Internet right now that direct mail marketers just a few years ago would give their eye teeth for. These are incredible time savers and money-makers and they will allow you to generate tons of profits if you see the opportunity in front of you.

    The question is, “Is it ‘marketing’ that REALLY makes the difference in your business? Is the hype of ‘marketing’ REAL? How important is marketing to your business REALLY? Is it all a game and hype? Or is there more to it?”

    The answer is in your MIND. It’s your MINDSET, once again, that makes all the difference. It’s the way you look at things that will make the biggest difference in your life and your business.

    People who run successful cash-cow businesses think different than you do. They look at business opportunities in a different way than you do. They look at risk differently.

    They SEE OPPORTUNITY everywhere and take action to go after more business at every turn and every chance they get.

    They SEE RISK in every transaction but insure themselves against catastrophic loss by not investing large amounts of capital until they test and tweak their products and offers until the numbers are extremely promising.

    You may have learned something about business in the past that was NOT true, but you accepted it because you didn’t know the REAL truth.

    The problem is that most people are not open to the truth when they have an existing belief that contradicts what they are hearing.

    You need to open you mind here and suspend belief about what ‘business’ all about for the next few minutes.

    A lot of online business newbies say “I don’t know what kind of business to start!”

    So if you ask them about their hobbies, what interests them, etc. and you’ll ALWAYS find something they could start marketing immediately, but they hesitate because they are not sure they want to be “in” that type of business.

    They don’t know if they should open a physical store or a website or whatever…they are uncertain as to what course of action to take.

    They are trying to choose a business to be “in”… whether it’s the ‘mortgage reduction’ business or the ‘gift shop’ business or the ‘auto parts’ business and this is the wrong mindset…

    …100% wrong, that is, if you want to be successful, as you’ll see.

    Back to our question: “How Important Is Marketing…Really?”

    First answer this question:

    Are you “in” the “information marketing business”? Or the “web business”? How about the “mortgage reduction business”?

    Are you really “in” any kind of business at all?

    Bear with me here…I have a point that could explode your income to brand new levels.

    You’re in not in the “information publishing business”, you are not in the “mortgage reduction business” or the “coaching business” or whatever business you think you’re in.

    You’re in the “marketing business”.

    Your only business is “marketing _______________”
    (fill in the blank withy what YOU think your real “business” is).

    THINK about this for a moment. You can start any business you chose, but what is your REAL job in that business?

    Here’s a very important point that will become even clearer as we get to the end of this report:

    I started to make money consistently when I changed the way I looked at my business and exploded my income when I said to myself:

    “I am not in the “website building” business; I’m in the “business of marketing website businesses”.

    There is more to this than you think… so please stay with me.

    Let me give you some examples of how this mindset can TRANSFORM your business overnight!
    If you are an owner of a store that sells auto parts, are you in the “auto parts business”?

    No.

    You’re in “the business of marketing auto parts”.

    See the difference?

    The the point I’m making here is that ‘marketing’ is YOUR BUSINESS and your first priority. What you actually sell is secondary. And I don’t want you to think that just because you own a physical store that sells, for example, “gift items” that you are stuck with that method of marketing.

    A ‘physical store’ is just one method of marketing ‘gift items’… that’s all it is. Just like a ‘website’- it’s only one form of marketing.

    Don’t confuse a ‘method of marketing’ with what your REAL business is.

    With a physical store, if you get a good location you are able therefore to get your prospects attention for your products simply because they are riding in their cars past your store and see the sign you’ve placed out front.

    Your location and physical storefront is a form of marketing- it is NOT your business. You are not an owner of a ’store’.

    But don’t get stuck thinking a ’storefront’ is the only way to market your products (the “sign” and your storefront is a form of marketing – the marketing of your ‘gift items’, and to be honest, not a very good one because it’s passive …

    Think in terms of more pro-active forms of marketing like referrals, direct mail, press releases, coupons, display or classified ads and any other method that will bring business to your door…

    In other words you are NOT REALLY marketing your “STORE” – because your store makes you no money…!

    Right? It’s the SALE of GIFT ITEMS that makes you money.

    So you do not want to market your store. Because your store makes you no money. In fact it’s an expense. Your REAL business is the “marketing of gift items” You just use a physical storefront to HELP you market gift items.

    It’s a completely different mindset than saying that your in the “gift store business”.
    Are you beginning to see this? We’re not done yet…

    How many ads have you seen in your local paper that try to market the ’store’ the person owns. I guess it’s pride of ownership that causes these shops to advertise the shop, instead of the gift items and the benefits of the products they carry.

    Believe me, very, very, few store owners understand this difference and the mindset I’m sharing with you!

    Let me ask you what would happen if you did not put a sign out or any kind of markings to indicate you had anything for sale at all in front of your store if you owned this gift shop?

    Nothing would happen, right? People would not stop at your store to buy anything because they didn’t even know you were there or didn’t think you were selling anything at all!

    So you see that a “sign” in the front of your store is a form of marketing, right? Is the sign there to advertise your store?

    No. It’s job is to DRIVE potential customers into your store TO BUY gift items.

    As odd as this sounds, what is the most prevalent form of marketing storeowners participate in?

    A sign. And maybe a few local newspaper ‘ads’… that’s it. Is it any wonder then why they can’t make a go of it?

    So the marketing for most stores is a simple ’sign’ out in front of your store that gives your name and maybe something that describes your store like “Gift Shop”.

    Ok?

    Now people at least know what you do and that you’re a business. No sign, no customers.

    Are you going to leave your entire businesses future dependent on that one ’sign’ in the front of your business or a few ads in your local paper?

    Sadly, most businesses do.

    They could be using a hundred different methods to DRIVE potential customers to their front door (direct mail, postcards, events and contests, sponsorships, drawings, JV’s, open houses, etc) but they don’t because they do not understand this important thing:

    They are not in the gift shop business they are in the “business of marketing gift items”!

    When you realize what your REAL business is you begin to see thousands of possibilities for getting more customers.

    You use anything and everything at your disposal, test every method and keep the one’s that work constantly.

    That’s how successful business people THINK: They see OPPORTUNITY EVERYWHERE! And it kills them that they will never have the time or money to take advantage of every opportunity they see because there’re are simply too many of them!

    Do you think that way? You need to if you want to grow your business.

    When you don’t realize what business you’re really in, you get stuck and confused because you think you are in the “Gift Shop Business” – a DEAD END – then you try to figure out how to market your ’shop’. But that is WRONG. That’s the complete opposite of what really, really successful businesses do!

    A successful person will turn the phrase “I am in the Gift Shop Business” into “I am in the business of marketing gift items” and suddenly completely turn their business around, overnight!

    Once a business owner realizes they are in the business of marketing they can develop a “direct mail” division or a “infomercial” division or an “Internet” division … anything that will drive customers to do business with them. These opportunities become INSTANTLY available because they realize this FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH:

    They are in the “business of marketing gift items”… and not the ‘gift shop business’.
    See the difference now?

    The illustration I gave you above is EXACTLY the same type of thinking that you need to employ and it doesn’t matter what you’re marketing.

    You are not in the ‘mortgage reduction business’, you are in the business of ‘marketing business reduction solutions’ …

    How about this:

    …your website is NOT YOUR BUSINESS. IT ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your potential customers. Your REAL business is the marketing of ‘digital information products’ or whatever it is you sell on your website.

    It’s the same for anyone who has a physical storefront – once you get into this MINDSET, the storefront is JUST and ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your customers to.

    You could also take orders…

    · by PHONE through running infomercials or ads, or
    · on your website or
    · through a direct mail package or
    · catalog
    · etc, etc, etc…

    I have seen businesses literally TRANSFORMED overnight into million dollar businesses when they realized what business they are REALLY in …

    …”the business of marketing”.

    This has been the catalyst for a transformation in my own business.

    In the past I’ve sold various types of internet marketing services and I thought I was in the business of ‘internet marketing’ or the business of I wasn’t. I was in the “business of marketing internet marketing services” and it doesn’t matter HOW – website, infomercial or direct mail, storefront, etc…

    I hope this concept helps you too. I hope it helps you to understand that the only thing that matters in business is marketing and sales.

    I cannot tell you what you should sell… I don’t think it matters as long as there is a strong market for it. You could be in the business of marketing wiper blades for cars or marketing a diet pill.

    As long as you are convinced the product is a good one and it will benefit the person you’re selling it to there is NOTHING stopping you from making a million dollars except YOU.

    You are the only thing keeping you back. There isn’t anyone on this planet that can stop you if you follow the laws of your country.

    Most businesses fail because the owner has given up too soon, just before striking GOLD. Or more likely it’s because the owner didn’t know what business they were really in– the marketing business. They thought the product was the most important part of their business and if the product was good, it would sell itself.

    Don’t let that happen to you. Know what business you’re in (’the marketing business’) and think like a master marketer at all times or at the very least hire a master marketer.