Top Eight Marketing and
Sales Strategies
by
Oliver Wendell Holmes
said, "The great thing
in life is not where we stand, but what direction
we are moving." No matter what business you work
in, a "business as usual" mindset will insure
your competitors are making more money than you
are. If you don't stand out from the competition
you may find yourself stood up by your customers.
Now more than ever you have to focus, improve,
and possibly even change what you do to attain,
retain, and maintain customers.
Strategy 1. Think big and audit your time. No
matter the size of your business, place a mental
image in your mind as if you are the largest
and most successful person in your industry.
How much time is consumed by routine office work
someone else should be doing? Spend more time
with more important tasks such as marketing strategies,
improving customer relations, and implementing
new strategies to expand your services.
Strategy 2. Be different and stand out from
the competition. Jordan Furniture sells
more furniture per square foot than any other
furniture store in the nation. They transformed
their family-owned business into a multi-million
dollar corporation by following a principle
called "shoppertainment." To surprise employees
and customers, Barry and Eliot Tatleman dressed
up like the Lone Ranger and Tonto and rode
horses in their parking lot. They built an
IMax theater inside one store to entertain
children while their parents shopped. When
you drive around the back to pick up your furniture
they provide you free hotdogs and wash your
car windows.
Strategy 3. Build relationships with your
customers. For each month that goes by,
customers lose 10% of their buying power. Create
a customer database and contact them on a regular
basis. Mail them a postcard, birthday card,
sales flyer, newsletter etc. to keep your name,
phone number, and service on their mind.
Strategy 4. Collect E-Mail Addresses. Get
permission from your customers to use their E-mail
address. Periodically send updates and notices
to your client list. As long as you have their
permission and avoid overuse, E-mail can be a
powerful and inexpensive marketing tool.
Strategy 5. Hire top sales people. Successful
businesses realize the quality of their sales
staff is critical to sustaining their growth
in the marketplace. A top salesperson can outsell
an average one 4 to 1. Sales people must understand
their strengths and have a well-defined plan
to reach their potential. Many companies can
provide you sales assessments to both identify
top candidates and develop currently employed
sales people.
Strategy 6. Put a shopping cart on your website. Online
sales are still growing at a dramatic pace. This
is coming from people who want to save time,
avoid crowded stores, convenience, and the ability
to shop outside of store hours. Just consider
E-Bay for example, which generates millions of
dollars of sales each year. It does not cost
anything to set up an account on E-Bay, and you
pay a proportion based on the cost of the item
you are trying to sell. If you don't want to
use E-bay, consider using your own shopping cart
system on your website.
Strategy 7. Pay-per-click advertising. Many
business owners are finding classified advertising
is not an effective use of their marketing dollars.
Others are finding pay-per-click advertising
is an easier and cheaper way to reach a larger
market. Pay-per-click will insure you receive
top visibility on websites driving more customers
to your door. Advertisers bid on keywords and
the more popular the keyword, the more expensive
each click is. Prices vary between ten cents
to many dollars depending on the popularity of
the word. The most popular pay-per-click advertisers
are Google, Business.com, and Yahoo.
Strategy 8. Use customer service commandments
to create good habits. Bates Ace Hardware
store located in Atlanta created "Twenty Customer
Service Commandments" modeled after the Ritz-Carlton
hotels outlining specific behaviors employees
are to demonstrate when dealing with customers
and fellow employees. For example, "Accompany
a customer to the correct aisle instead of
pointing to another area of the store." They
print the commandments on a small card and
employees carry it with them at work.
Greg
Smith is a nationally recognized speaker, author,
and business performance consultant. He has
written numerous books and featured on television
programs such as Bloomberg News, PBS television,
and in publications including Business Week,
Kiplingers, President and CEO, and the Christian
Science Monitor. He is the President and "Captain of the Ship" of
a management-consulting firm, Chart Your Course
International, located in Atlanta, Georgia.
Phone him at 770-860-9464 or visit his web
site at http://www.chartcourse.com.
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