Increase your Business 10% to 75%

I know how you can increase your:

  • Appointment Setting
  • Closing Rate
  • Repeat Business
  • Referral Business
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Loyalty

And it does not have to cost you one more dime than you are currently spending to do business.

By implementing this one technique, it could increase your gross sales, net profit, and personal income by 10% up to 75% or more.

How much would you pay me to do that for you?

Problem is, I can’t sell you this technique. All I can do is urge you to implement it immediately.

Here’s the technique….

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

This is it:

Smile.

Not a fake smile, not a smiley button, not a phony smile, but a genuine smile can increase your business.

If you are the top dog in your business, then smile when you are with your staff and your customers.

If you are the intern, or newsest employee, smile and you will attract positive results.

Marketing is about relationships.

And people don’t like to hang out with grumps. They don’t like to work with grumps. They don’t like to spend money with grumps.

Imagine what could happen if everyone in your organization simply started smiling.

You would attract business. You would lessen the severity of problems. You would be more successful.

If you doubt what I’m saying you can keep on doing things the way you have been and try and come up with some other trick or shortcut to increase your business.

Or you can Google the words. “reasons to smile” and you’ll find dozens of websites that will show you all the benefits of smiling.

Go ahead and 🙂

Are Your Best Customers the Ones You Lost?

It was a Monday.

December 29th to be exact.

Just a few weeks ago when I was reviewing some of the people I had contacted in the past year and some that I was going to contact for 2015.

I’m talking about business here.  In my world that means advertising and marketing both radio and online.  But my style isn’t that of a pushy sales guy.  I focus on relationships.  For the long haul, not something short term.

Two particular conversations with two folks online come to mind as I write this.

Listen

The first was with a young guy who does web work and also oversees the marketing for an upscale car company.  “J” and  I met a few years previously when we were both involved with a local TEDx Fort Wayne event.   In 2014 we connected and I helped him by selling him advertising for an event he created for the car company.  It was short term, not the way I usually work, and not the way I wanted to work.

However “J” had a plan and I needed to work with his plan instead of attempting to force him to follow my plan.  Afterward, “J” wasn’t available  very much and I was concerned that it was a one shot deal.  But then I simply focused on the relationship.  A couple of months had passed and we connected again in the late fall about doing some brainstorming for 2015.  These were just online communications, but then on December 29th, “J” contacted me.  He wanted to meet to discuss plans for 2015.  Which we are now working on.  This was not a lost customer, it was simply a matter of timing.  My time table wasn’t as important as his.  That’s a lesson all people in sales need to remember and practice.

The other conversation on December 29th also took place online.  “T” is this guys name.  I first met “T” in 1998 when we both worked on the air at a couple of radio stations in Fort Wayne.  5 years later, we worked together again, this time in the sales world of radio. “T” was my manager at first.  Of course I outlasted everyone except some of the jocks at that station and over the years kept in touch with “T”.  He is very passionate about what he does and for the last couple of years he has handled the advertising for a home builder.  But I have known “T” when he was not on top of the world too.

I saw his company on an account list last year and in November asked my manager if they ever did business with “T”.  I was told that no one wanted to work with him.  My co-workers were frustrated with “T” and after multiple meetings, gave up.  I asked if I could have a try at working with “T” and was given the go-ahead.

My December 29th conversation with “T” was done entirely on Facebook’s private messenger feature.  I got to hear “T”‘s side of the story. Man, was he frustrated.  He said all anyone wanted to do was argue with him and no one really listened to what he wanted.  They all had their own agenda and were trying to push him into something other than what he wanted.

I listened.  I offered to help.  I empathized.  All I wanted to do is sit down with “T” and see if I can help him with his company advertising. We will meet in a couple of days.  I have nothing specific to sell him at this point.  Instead I need to find out what he wants to buy.  But before we even get to that stage, “T” is going to get to rant and rave to my face about how things didn’t go well in the past.  Then we are going to see what can be done to repair that relationship.  “T” is not mad at me, I wasn’t the one who he has dealt with in the past.  But I can see if I can make it better and perhaps one day help him spend his advertising money in a way that he is comfortable.

I won’t get there by arguing. Or by trying to push him into something he doesn’t want. And there is a possibility that “T” will not spend any money with me.  If he does, he could become one of my best customers.  Not just because of the money he spends.  But because he will then recommend me to others, if I treat him right.

First things first, as my Dad would say.

Don’t be afraid.  And don’t forget about those customers you  think you lost.  Find out why and do what you need to, to build that relationship.

 

It’s All About Relationships

People.

Human Beings.

You are one, and so am I.

ScloHobookgs

As we move forward into the future, 24 hours at a time, please remember, It’s all about relationships.

As I write about marketing and advertising, remember that the key to success is about human relationships.  Everything else in the marketing and advertising world is going to serve to enhance or detract from those relationships.

There are no secret algorithms or formulas that can overcome or bypass this relationship principle.

Because ultimately the decisions that are made are made by people.  Like You. Like Me.

As I dig deep into how marketing works and how to construct an ad campaign and a whole host of related subjects this year, remember the timeless principle, It’s all about relationships.

You as a consumer want to feel good, even when something bad is happening (car trouble,  illness, etc.) You don’t want to talk to a jerk or insensitive smart ass, you want someone who will tell you the truth with empathy and compassion.

You as a consumer want to feel good when something good is happening too (vacation, buying a new car, getting a tattoo). You want to deal with someone who will keep you in good spirits, not dampen the mood.

As you make advertising and marketing decisions this year, remember how you want to be treated and communicated with.

Want help?  Contact me.

Looking Forward by Looking Back-2

From the ScLoHo 2009 archives:

Last week, we went thru an exercise to help you identify what changes you want to make next, based on what you have learned this year.

Today, we’re going to take that information and apply it to your future.

Get out the papers you wrote on last week and read thru them one more time. Are there any answers you want to change? Do it now. Then come back. I’ll wait.


Now, let’s dig into the marketing of your business that you are designing for the new year and beyond.

Remember, what matters most is relationships.

Now that you have some concrete ideas on who you and your business are and who you want to be, the next step is to communicate in a consistent manner to your customers and clients your message.

Your message is your brand, your identity, it is what people think about you and if you examine and design your marketing to convey your message with the purpose of forming relationships, then you are on the right track.

There are multiple ways to convey your message, but you need to keep it consistent, even in the indirect messages your business conveys.

You also get to chose which media’s you want to use, but remember that you should commit to that media for a long time.

Why? Because you are building relationships and those relationships are built on trust which comes with familiarity. If you try something for a week, or a month and give up because you haven’t seen results, you are aborting your plan and wasting your time and money.

Cellphone contracts of two years in length are now the standard. Retail leases of 5 to 10 years are common. When you hire an employee, you expect them to last a few years, right ? So think of your advertising and marketing with the same time commitment.

And instead of relying on what form of media YOU listen/watch/read; determine which form of media your potential customers listen/watch/read. There is enough research out there to answer that question and if you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can help.

Email me at Scott at ScLoHo.net

Paddle Upstream or Go with the Flow?

Paddle Upstream or Go with the Flow?

From the ScLoHo 2008 archives:
Which would you rather do:

  1. Start at the mouth of the Mississippi and paddle your canoe upstream until you reached Minneapolis,
  2. Or Start in Minneapolis and head downstream until you reached New Orleans and the Atlantic?

The distance is the same.

The obstacles are the same, such as other boats, dams, etc.

The scenery is the same.

The area or territory you cover is the same.

So what’s the difference?

Going with the flow is much, much easier compared to the opposite.

I Googled both options and could not find anyone that made the trip upstream.

But there were plenty of folks that went with the flow. In 2002 a man swimmed the Mississippi in 68 days. A canoe trip takes about three months. It also takes three months for a single drop of water to make the journey. 90 days is the natural flow of the river.

Imagine the extra effort that it would require to paddle upstream? Not only will it take you more than three months, but it will take more resources, more strength and more stamina to fight the currents that are pushing you in the opposite direction.

My guess, is that it would take 2 to 5 times the effort.

And the question is why go against the natural flow?

This story is not about rivers though, but it does paint a very visual word picture.

This story is about marketing and advertising. All too often I have watched well intentioned business owners paddle upstream and fight the factors that they have no control over instead of using those same factors to their advantage.

Marketing and Advertising that goes with the flow, follows the buying processes that people go through. It mimics the relationship factors that we as human beings look for in our lives.

Bottom line, if your advertising and marketing efforts are contradicting the way people buy or want to buy, you are going to spend a lot more time, energy and money to accomplish what could have been done easier if you followed the flow.

If an advertising salesperson tries to sell you ads without these considerations, you just may be paddling in the wrong direction.