There are many different methods of judging the effectiveness of an advertising campaign but the two elemental goals should always be getting new customers into your establishment and getting them to purchase your products and/or services. The methods of attracting new clientele differ in format and effectiveness but at the end of the process you always want to see your customer traffic, and your revenues, increase. The only thing that would better the experience of meeting a new client and highlighting your products and services is to take it to the next step, that of seeing revenues generated by their visit and money hitting the bank.

Where a lot of businesses fail to capitalize on the new client is in knowing how to treat your new client, learning what it was that made them come into your establishment and closing a sale. Closing a sale is the goal that we will work towards in this column.

 THE NEW CLIENT 

When a new client comes into your establishment via an advertising promotion or campaign they have several different questions on their mind. They are wondering if you can do the services you claim to do, if you can do them very well, if they’ll be treated properly and if you have what it takes to be their supplier of choice. One of the most common mistakes that businesses can make is to run a promotional campaign and then fail to capitalize on the opportunity they have been presented with. The main criteria that will determine if you will be able to maintain a relationship with the new customer is how they are treated. It won’t help if you provide the best service in your neighbourhood if you treat someone poorly. Imagine how someone feels when they come into a business for the first time and excitedly present a coupon they’ve received only to hear “Oh, you have a coupon. I’m sorry but we don’t honor these anymore” or call to book an appointment for a special offer and are told “Sorry, we only have space for three discount customers a day”. The impression that the customer will leave with is that they are second class and have been treated as such. If you run any form of campaign for your business that involves a special or coupon you must treat these potential customers from the first contact as if they are your oldest and dearest clients, and soon they will be. The first impression that many customers have of a business is the impression they receive on their first phone call. Make sure whoever answers the phones is properly trained on your services and products, the length of time needed to complete an appointment and is fully informed of any specials or promotions that your business is conducting. The first opportunity to generate revenue for the business begins at the same time as the first phone call. When someone is booking in for an appointment the receptionist should also take a moment and advise them of any specials that are in effect and inquire if the time can be reserved for that now as it is in high demand. For example, if a new client calls in to an automotive service garage for an oil change, the receptionist could take the opportunity to inform them of the special currently being offered on wheel alignments. They could say “Mr. Smith, we have the time reserved for your service at 4:00 p.m. While I have you on the phone I wanted to take a moment and tell you we are running a special offer on wheel alignments. We are doing this service at 50% of our normal price. It takes an additional half hour and I could book the time now. Will your car be due for this service in the next couple of months”? By using this type of questioning and suggestive selling you will be able to generate added revenue from any type of service appointment. Also, by inquiring whether the car will be due for the service rather than asking if they would like to book the time, we take away the opportunity for the caller to say no to the offer and now have them thinking about a needed service for their vehicle.

 DETERMINING YOUR CLIENTS NEEDS AND CLOSING THE SALE 

An often overlooked skill that many businesses fail to develop is that of properly training your sale representatives to listen. We often train salespeople on when to talk and what to say but we don’t train them on when NOT to talk. You must determine why someone chose your business over another because that will open the door to filling that need. When a new client calls your business they are doing so for a reason, whether they saw an advertisement or by word of mouth. One very effective way to determine why they called is to ask. You could say “How did you hear of our business” or even simply “How will we be able to assist you today”? and then closely listen. If they are calling in from an advertisement then you should reference the advertisement in your conversation. For example “Oh, you saw our ad for the free massage. That’s fantastic. Allow me to set an appointment for you to take advantage of the introductory offer we have running”. If the customer was referred by another customer then you can say “Oh, you’re a friend of Mr. Smith. He was just in last week and took advantage of the 2 for 1 entrée special that the restaurant is running. I know he loved it and I’m sure you will as well. What night did you want to reserve and for how many”? There is another sales technique at play here, that of the third party referral. When you mention someone that the customer personally knows who has used your business in the past you will make the decision to purchase a much more comfortable and safe decision. No one wants to be the first at anything and no one wants to buy something only to find out later that it’s not suitable or of inferior quality. When you mention a colleague or acquaintance that has purchased from you in the past you will greatly increase the likelihood of selling to the new customer. By using leading questions you will be able to quickly source out the need or motivator that made that person call into your business and begin to work towards fulfilling that need. By assuming the sale (assuming during your conversations that the customer is definitely there to purchase) you will be able to lead a customer towards the close. One thing that you want to do is to structure your queries properly so that you can take away the option of having someone say “NO”. You can achieve this by asking questions that are not able to be answered with a yes or no. Instead of asking “would you like to book in for a manicure”? you could ask “do you have any weddings or special occasions coming up that you need to look your best for”? or instead of asking “would you like to buy this car”? you could ask “which of your friends will get the first ride in your new car”? These questions will move a customer away from deciding whether they want to purchase a product or service and get them thinking about how they will best use the product or service after they have purchased. In this way you are taking away the decision making ability that every customer has and replacing it with a mental image of them enjoying the purchase. However, to realize this image they will need to purchase your product and they are now much closer to making that decision.

The last sales technique we will touch on is the timing of the close. A common mistake that many sales representatives make is that they will ask the customer for the sale and then get scared or nervous while the customer is deciding. They feel pressured and begin to chatter away with all kinds of (usually) repetitive or inconsequential talk to fill the silence and defuse the pressure. What we need to teach is that while the pressure is there and does build the longer that the customer takes to decide, the pressure isn’t on the sales representative alone. The customer is feeling the pressure as well and the longer it takes them to decide the more the pressure will build. There is an old sales theory that is quite true that states “The first person to speak after the close loses”. This statement basically is telling us, as sales people, to close the sale using whatever method works best for us and then ….. STOP TALKING! Let the pressure build and don’t be afraid of it, the pressure is working for us. Many customers will decide to purchase at this point because they feel that they owe it to the sales person for the time and care they have taken to help them. They would almost feel guilty to say no at this point.

 Teach yourself and the sales staff in your business these techniques and your sales will soar!

Simple, effective and affordable small business marketing. A marketing plan is essential for a business home Internet marketing opportunity. To succeed in any business, whether a home business or not, you need a marketing plan that sets out your Internet marketing opportunity campaign.

Marketing is one place where even small mistakes can have lasting consequences.

If the idea of marketing your small business falls somewhere between flossing your teeth and cleaning the toilet, you’re not alone. As entrepreneurial as any small business owner has to be, there’s something about sales and marketing that can be intimidating for even the most ambitious business person.

And while marketing is obviously a “big deal”, many times the marketing of a small business is put on the back burner somewhere after buying a new coffee pot for your office and coming up with some cool business cards.

Yeah, those business cards count as marketing - sort of. But it’s no exaggeration to say that how you go about marketing your business will make or break it, which means that marketing your small business calls for more than just a passing thought.

Research, Research, Research

The best place to start with small business marketing is perhaps the easiest. Research - and lots of it!

Marketing

You can start by looking into your competition and finding out what they’re doing to get the word out about their business. Pay special attention to those businesses that seem to be industry leaders in your market space.

What are they doing that’s contributing to their success? How are they increasing brand recognition for their business? What are the things that are most appealing about their website, sales collateral, and other advertising?

Take notes as you go. Call the company and ask for literature. Cruise their websites for ideas.

The best part? This part of your marketing plan can be from your desk with a nice cup of coffee from that new coffee maker!

A Little Reality?

It’s easy to get carried away with big ideas for small business marketing. Now more than ever, there are a lot of cool ways to get the word out about your business. From Flash-enabled websites to high-end, professionally designed logos, you could easily spend thousands and thousands of dollars marketing your small business.

But you do want to give it some thought - a lot of it, in fact!

Small business marketing is kind of like shopping for a house. It’s a good idea to identify your budget first so you don’t fall in love with something you can’t afford!

Sit down in the early days of your business and decide how much you can afford to spend marketing your small business. At this stage in the game, it will be difficult to do this too far in advance, so just figure out a budget for the first 3-6 months. Hopefully the small business marketing strategies you choose will be so successful you’ll have even more to spend later.

But for now, let’s just get your business off the ground!

Divide and Conquer

Now that you have a “big picture” number in mind, it’s time to divide it up. You might start with the obvious, like business cards if your business is the kind that needs them, or internet advertising if that is more suited to your type of business.

From there, you can prioritize the things you “have to have” versus the things you’d “like to have”, and make compromises accordingly.

Stay Flexible

You know that old saying, “The only sure thing in life is that things will continue to change”? Well, it was never truer than for a small business. In the beginning you’ll likely have all kinds of ideas about how things will turn out and about what will work best. But it’s next to impossible to foresee at the outset the future of any small business.

So remember, slow and steady wins the race. Take things a day at a time, review the results from your existing small business marketing measures, and be willing to make adjustments as you go.

With a little luck - and a good small business marketing plan - you’ll have even more money to spend as your business grows!.

From politicians to phone companies, reality-oriented marketing has become the hot new trend that can benefit your business.

Interestingly, back in the 2004 election year, presidential team created a presidential or “marketing” campaign that went deep into a community, attaching itself to high-profile decision makers, neighborhood leaders and trend-setters to get their message out. The business sector has now harnessed this marketing strategy.

The phone industry, can we say AT & T, created local marketing teams that went deep into communities to find neighborhood leaders to pitch its newest service. The telecommunications giant developed lists within the communities that included Sunday School teachers, “influencers”, trend setters and others whose opinions are sought out and valued by neighbors and peers. This strong word-of-mouth influence has helped AT&T find customers that have agreed to sign up for their TV service after the influencer’s hosted TV parties.

Jaguar is capitalizing on a marketing trend that is referred to as a “living product placement.” The luxury car maker is using high-profile trend setters to drive around in their car and hope to be “seen” in it. Just ask any perfume, cosmetics, handbag maker or fashion house how important it is for them to find a celebrity (based on high-profile) to wear their product in public.

Let’s look this marketing trend a little closer:

* First, companies are going deep into a local community to find the decision-makers and trend setters who others value and respect for information from presidents to commercial lifestyle brands, i.e. Jaguars, host TV parties, women’s fashions, etc.

* As the major television networks lose market share and viewers to cable channels and Internet programming, companies that would normally advertise on these channels are looking for ways to tap local markets to find their customers.

* Network marketing businesses have understood the importance of reality-oriented marketing by inviting friends, neighbors, family and business associates to their homes to try cookware, make-up, necessary home products, health supplements and the list goes on.

* Banks are using real customers in advertisements, on billboards and on television to share the benefits of using this specific bank and services in their everyday business.

* The Wall Street Journal, car companies and others are highlighting their customer with real names and photos with the benefits of using their products and services.

* Businesses are bringing in their customers to taste foods prepared by local chefs (Think: kitchen appliance centers, supermarkets, culinary sections of bookstores, wine stores, and confectioner’s businesses to name a few).