Mark Hale, super sales professional and owner of Wilson Printing was gracious enough to share some marketing and sales advice with you, our loyal readers, PLUS he offers you a gift at the end!
The simple law of business is that “Business goes where it is invited”. If you are going to take your business to the next level you are going to have to stop looking at marketing and advertising like an accountant and start looking at your business like a marketer.
When things slow down, the first thing the bean counters and accountant types want to do is cut expenses. The first line item on the P&L they come to is advertising. When you cut your advertising you are in effect speeding up the downward spiral of your sales.
1. Business goes where it is invited.
If you are not advertising, you are losing business. Remember, the competition is inviting your customers to do business with them.
You only coast when you are going down hill. No company’s sales are ever really flat, they are either getting better by a little bit or getting worse by a little bit. You have to fight sometimes for small increases, but as long as it is an increase, no matter how small, up is up. When you see your sales “flat line” you should increase your promotion and marketing.
There are three things to do to increase sales:
1) Identify what your customers want now and deliver THAT. Deliver it with better quality and service than they expect. Deliver it faster than they expect.
Do a survey of your customers to find out what they want in the way of quality, service, product and delivery from your type of business.
Some things you want to ask your customers are:
• How does your product or service make their lives or business easier and better?
• Why do they buy from you?
After you talk to a few customers you will begin to see common themes in their answers. You will use this information later to hone a message and develop a positioning that will make your marketing more effective.
2) Promote to your customers and prospects that you will provide what they want on a continual and consistent basis.
The more often you promote the more your sales will grow.
This involves setting up a budget for advertising and then deciding how you are going to invest that advertising money. Allocate a percentage of your sales toward advertising each week. As sales grow so does your ad budget and with it your ability to reach wider and bigger markets. For most businesses the percentage is between 7% and 15%, but what ever it is you should keep the percentage constant. You may have to adjust the percentage in the beginning to find the right percentage for your business type.
Now that you have your ad budget there are many advertising mediums you can spend that money on – radio, TV, billboards, newspapers, magazine and direct mail. I have found that the simplest and most effect medium is direct mail. It offers target ability, relatively low cost, is very effective and allows you to reach prospects frequently. As a business owner, I have found direct mail to be an effective direct response method of increasing sales.
You can send a personal letter or postcard directly to your customers and prospects for pennies.
Postcards are very effective because they;
1) Allow you to target your message and market.
a. You can buy a list that EXACTLY targets the prospects you want.
b. You can put forth a targeted message that attracts the type of customer you want.
2) Postcards allow you to put your message in the hands of prospects.
a. Postcards are very tangible; prospects can touch and hold on to your ad.
3) Postcards allow for a direct call to action and response.
BONUS OFFER!
Do you need more business? Wilson Printing is offering Money Management Solutions friends and clients a 10% discount on your first order of postcards or brochures.
Simply go to this link: http://www.wilsonprinting.net/Printed-Promotional-Materials/postcards.html Check out the price.
When you call, tell them Money Management Solutions sent you and receive 10% off the prices on their website.
