Many business owners stop marketing when their business gets busy. Then when their current workload eases they start marketing again. This stop start approach to marketing is not ideal and makes it much harder to build a business in a systematic and planned manner.

The best approach to marketing is to be consistent. Always have some marketing taking place even if you are already very busy. For some people this is a hard concept to put into practise. I use the momentum principle when it comes to marketing. Getting it going takes a lot of effort and it takes a while for the results to pay off. To keep it going doesn’t take as much energy. If you have stop/start marketing you ultimately need to put more time, energy and money into it to get the results you need.

When planning your marketing you are not planning for today your are planning for tomorrow. Personally I like to know that I always have about ten proposals being considered by clients at any one time as this means that my businesses work load for the coming month will be on track with my forecasts. If I have more proposals pending I know that I am in for a very busy month and I can sub contract some extra help to accommodate it. If I have less than ten proposals I know that I have to get out and look for some more projects.

Take a longer term, more consistent approach to marketing your business and you will smooth out a lot of the peaks and troughs that cause all kinds of problems with cash flow and staffing. Your business workload will become more manageable and you will feel more in control of your business.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY? Think about your own marketing. Do you tend to stop/start marketing? If you do, start to think more long term about your marketing. The work you do today will get you customers tomorrow. A change in philosophy towards your marketing is the first step in the end of the stop/start marketing cycle.

Everyone knows that marketing is really important but the biggest battle for most small business owners is finding the time.

Successful businesses are normally good marketers. They know it is important and they make sure that they devote enough time to marketing their business regularly. This is the key to their success, not the amount of money they spend.

Marketing needs to become as important as opening the doors in the morning. It needs the same attention as paying your bills or collecting money from your customers because it determines the long term success of your business. But because it is less tangible and generally less demanding (if you don’t do your marketing no one rings and chases you) it is easy to put off to another day. Another factor is the average business owner doesn’t really know how to market – they are good at what they do – not at marketing, which is logical.

But you can learn how to market, you can use your network of business associates and mentors to learn. If you ask people they will normally be very forthcoming in telling you what works for them.

There are plenty of good courses that offer simple marketing skills for all levels of business experience or else you can pay for a marketing consultant to teach you. Regardless of how you improve your skills, the point is that you need to commit time to marketing.

In your diary and weekly schedule, there should be blocks of time marked out where you focus on nothing but marketing your business. How much time is up to you. The more time you spend marketing the greater the results will tend to be but if you spend all of your time marketing and no time running your business the end result could be lots of new customers who leave because the business is poorly run. Clearly it depends on the size of your business and your support staff.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY? Go through your diary and block out time for the next month to spend on marketing your business. You determine how much time but it must be adhered to. If you are not sure where to start, read a book that tells you how to market. Set up your files so that all of your material is at your fingertips. Meet with your business associates and mentors to get their advice and recommendations, but start it today.

This is a question that I get asked a lot and to try and come up with a simple answer is often difficult. The best way that I can describe the role of a marketing company is to say that it is a business that helps other businesses to grow.

Having worked on many marketing projects for a very diverse range of clients over the past ten years I have come across a lot of very good and very ordinary marketing consultants. A good marketing consultant (or marketing company) will have a balanced mix of technical know how and practical experience. They will know a region inside out and they will have the experience to know what will work for a particular business and what will not. They will market the business as if it was their own and they will have a proven track record of businesses that they have helped to grow.

Some of the main ways that a good marketing company can help a business to grow includes:

Develop marketing strategies
This involves determining exactly where a business wants to be in a say 3-5 years and developing a strategy that will help the business to get there. Marketing strategies need to be tailor made for each individual business simply because every business is different. A marketing strategy should be a simple document, produced in a manner that will enable the business owners or manager to implement the recommendations themselves if they choose.

From my own experience, a good marketing strategy encompasses a wide range of subjects included identifying a business’ current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It makes recommendations on the business’ promotional material, advertising, corporate image, public relations activity, internet strategy and levels of customer service.

Trouble shooting
Many businesses find themselves in financial trouble due to a lack of customers. One prime example of this is retail – we have more shops now than ever before and there are more on the way. A marketing company can identify why a business is losing its share of customers and make recommendations to correct the problem.

Training
Understanding marketing, advertising, public relations and the media is a difficult task. They are specialised industries that all business owners need to know a little about. I have found that in recent years more businesses are looking for specialist training in these areas so that they can take more control of the future growth of their business.

Because of this, experienced marketing consultants are sought after to pass on some of their skills and knowledge.

Mentoring
Many businesses look for marketing companies to assist them in the growth of their business in an ongoing capacity. The marketing company may develop a strategic marketing plan and then work with the business to implement the plan over a period of time. In my business we have many clients that we have been working with for years in the capacity of a marketing mentor.

A good marketing company will develop a long and loyal list of clients. It will grow by word of mouth advertising and referrals from satisfied customers and it will produce results. In fact one of the best ways to decide on which marketing company to use is to ask for a list of customers that can be contacted as referees to verify the ability of the marketing company to produce results and to deliver what they promise.

More and more businesses are using the services of a marketing company to help their businesses to grow. The costs associated with using this service is normally far outweighed by the results achieved and if the marketing company is any good, it will be the beginning of a long and beneficial relationship for both parties.

Simple strategies for making a good sales presentation

There is no doubt that there are very few methods of advertising as effective as calling on someone directly. This generally means making an appointment and visiting a prospective client. For many people this is an everyday occurrence but for others, it is unheard of and in reality quite daunting.

Most people doing sales calls do them poorly. This is often due to a lack of training and experience. Perhaps your business could benefit from more structured and planned sales calls. For those businesses that employ professional sales staff that are well trained and motivated the results are awesome.

Over the years I have written a lot of business by doing direct sales calls. Sometimes for employers and sometimes in my own businesses. The situation doesn’t matter, neither does the type of business you operate. A prospective customer appreciates you making the effort and if you look after them they will reward you with loyal business for a long time.

There are of course a few important protocols that you should follow when making a direct sales call. Follow these, be patient and you will be amazed at the results. Remember that there are thousands of books written on this subject so if you feel that you would like to pursue this form of marketing spend a few dollars and invest in some. The best sales book that I have ever read was written by Dale Carnegie in 1953, called “How to win friends and influence people”. The title is terrible but the book is fantastic. If you look on the shelves or in the draws of any top performing sales people you can rest assured that there is a copy of this book close by.

A few points to remember when making a sales presentation:

• Find out a bit about the person or company that you are targeting before you make contact. Being prepared is a major advantage.
• Make sure that you are talking to right person.
• Make an appointment and identify how long you will need.
• Arrive on time, neatly dressed and be organised. If you can’t turn up on time how can the customer possibly be confident that your business could deliver products on time?
• Look around the office or building for anything of interest that you could start a conversation with. Asking questions is a good way to break the ice.
• Keep small chat to a minimum and thank the person for seeing you. Don’t be overly familiar and don’t assume that the person you are seeing wants to become your best friend.
• Explain why you are there and get down to business. Respect the customer’s time.
• Ask them about their business and their requirements.
• Outline your product or service (in a few minutes) based on the information that they have given you.
• Ask for the person’s thoughts or questions as you progress.
• Don’t talk about sex, religion or politics in any shape or form.
• If they ask you for more information get it to them quickly and call to make sure that they received it.
• Leave with a clear plan for the next contact.
• Don’t be afraid to ask them for their business.
• Understand that the potential customer wants to know what is the benefit to them – they don’t care about a pile of other information. If they want more information they will ask for it.

The final point is probably the most important but the least often done – asking for the business. I have seen thousands of great presentations with bells and whistles, overhead projectors, laptop presentations, glossy brochures and high tech videos but by far the most common fault that sales people have is that they don’t ask for the business, which is of course the whole reason that they are there.At the end of their presentation they pack up all of their gizmos and walk out the door without once ever asking the customer for the business.

By following the above suggestions you will dramatically increase your chances of conducting successful sales calls. Always be prepared, develop a reputation as a sales professional and take a long term view to selling and you will succeed.