Are YOUR customers "users", "choosers" or "braggers"? There is absolutely no more important customer than the one who willingly talks positively about your business and will refer quality customers to you.
Do you know how many of your clients came to you as a product of word of mouth marketing?
When you are looking to build more clients do you turn to the more traditional ways of trying to get new business, such as advertising or direct mail?
At a series of customer service workshops IACC sponsored last November we started out by emphasizing the critical importance of moving customers up in status from purely being "users" of a product/service to becoming "choosers' and thence eventually becoming "braggers".
Do you have a word of mouth marketing strategy?
Such a strategy can be one of the least costly and most effective ways of marketing your business.
One of the very first things to do is to analyze where your best customers actually came from. Do this by recording the names of your top say, 50 clients and then identify the source of those clients. Were they referred by another client, a friend or family member or another business and if so who? Did they come from yellow pages advertising, via an internet search, a direct mail campaign or from meeting someone at a networking function? To answer these questions you will most likely need to speak directly with your client or gain their input from a survey which might also usefully address other important feedback.
Now that you know how many came to you via word of mouth marketing; via a referral from an existing client or a business alliance or from your informal and formal networks you can start to build a framework for your strategy.
The next step is to contact each of the referral sources to find out specifically why they have "bragged" about your business. It could be that they have experienced "out-of-the-ordinary" customer service or that they really appreciate your customer loyalty program or when you provide them with that "something special" when it's not expected. It could be that they also perceive you to have the best reputation in your field or industry. Or maybe in their view, you have a remarkable and unique product or service offering that no other business can match.
Once you know why people are "bragging" about your business, you can be sure to preserve and build on the things that are important to them to refer you even more business and to duplicate this positive sentiment across your client base.
Another component of the strategy is to compile a list of the people you know who are likely "choosers" that you would like to move up to "bragger" status. Make up a set of action plans to meet with them and explore with them what you need to do to help them to talk positively to others about your business.
An important part of getting the mix right is to look at ways of returning the favour to your referral clients by being an equally positive advocate for them. This might involve speaking highly of them or referring clients to their particular business as part of a networking or alliance arrangement. Another measure can be to reward them appropriately via your customer loyalty program.
If you don’t already have a system of tracking the source of every new client why not start now? It will give you a valuable insight into where best to spend your marketing dollars and energy in the future.
DESIGNING BROCHURES AND FLYERS THAT ARE TARGETED, HAVE IMPACT AND ACHIEVE EFFECTIVE OUTCOMES.
Planning and creating the format and content of your advertising and marketing material can be a daunting experience. Basically there are three important aspects to consider:
1. Target Market
You must be quite clear about your target market before you go to copy. The development of "Customer Profiles" for each segment within your target market is a great way to start. Theses help to clarify what is required to satisfy customer needs.
In describing your customers you should be looking at their characteristics, their needs and wants, and the promotion strategy that is most likely to grab their attention and attract their interest.
By focusing on the following five critical elements it is possible to develop an offer to the customer that will hopefully exceed their expectations and in the process provide a clear path to the design of your advertising copy.
NEEDS
What's expected?
What will the customer consider a "must"?
LIKES
What's possible?
What might the customer like as an extra?
BENEFITS
What's the fit for this market segment?
ADVANTAGES
How do the benefits transform into advantages?
What's in it for them?
CONCERNS and RISKS
What frustrations might your customer have with your product/service?
What issues might impede a smooth transition to sale?
What objections might the customer raise?
2. Physical Design
This is to do with the overall appearance. It needs to be attention grabbing, attractive and appealing to the eye.
The fundamentals to consider are:
- Strong HEADLINE
- Shape and Size
- Subheadings
- White spaces
- Diagrams/pictures
The critical factor is to focus on producing an effective communication that will achieve measurable outcomes.
An impressive physical design that lacks good message structure and content directed at the needs of the prospect will fail to attract interest. A famous quip from an advertising grand master is quoted as follows; "Don't tell me you love my advertisement, tell me you want to buy my product".
3. Message Structure and Content
Again, the whole focus has to be on the prospect. You need to get the reader saying in the recesses of their mind, "Yes! That's my problem and that's what I'm looking for".
Use of simple direct language written from the heart with empathy in mind can be powerful. Short words and statements are desirable with use of positive connecting words to make the copy flow well.
Above all else, be positive, truthful and credible in presenting a strong SELL message to your identified target market.
Effectiveness Test
An age old and proven strategy to test the effectiveness of your brochure is to apply the following criteria referred to within the advertising industry as A.I.D.A.
ATTENTION
-Grab the Attention
-Flag down the reader and Stop them in their tracks
-WIIFT, what's in it for them, the customer?
INTEREST
-Engage the reader – create real interest – make them think hard and use their imagination about the product.
How? DIFFERENTIATION - highlight your USP (Unique Service Provision) and outline the benefits and advantages. Convey this in terms such as WHICH MEANS and SO THAT.
DESIRE
-Make the offer irresistible and build emotion. The temptation should, for example, make the prospect almost want to smell and touch the product.
Creating desire is vital as it is the critical link to the next step:
ACTION
Having grabbed ATTENTION, created INTEREST and built DESIRE you now have to make the deal happen. You must now compel the prospect to ACTION.
The aim with your advertising is to take the prospect on a journey constantly moving towards a decision to buy your product or service.
In addition to ensuring the design/content has AIDA it can also be vitally important to establish:
CREDIBILITY
This can be achieved by including testimonials and endorsements. Where these are inserted can depend on the nature of the target market and in some cases it may be relevant to tell a success story.
The main point to make here is that your credibility message needs to be authentic. It will be much more forceful if it comes from loyal customers who are eager to brag about your product/service.
OK, so let's now look at some practical tips starting with:
HEADLINES
The first point I want to make is what is called the 80% rule!
-80% of people only ever read headlines!
-Once you've written the headline you’ve written 80% of the ad.
The second point is headlines should have a "Point-of-YOU" with emphasis on power words such as "you" or "your". "How to" is also very effective.
Simply changing the slant and/or the context and the power created by one or two words can have dramatic effects.
Front panels on brochures that are covered with logos, business names, addresses OR in many cases heaps of information in small print, all lose significant impact opportunity.
Remember, we are all bombarded with a huge range of marketing images – some say a minimum of 200 images pass our eyes every day and if you watch the standard average of 4 hours per day free-to-air television it could rise to 2000 per day!
If your medium is the single page flyer or the front of a folded brochure you only have one limited chance to get your message across.
So, the top third of your flyer is the place for your HEADLINE
Develop headlines that make the reader curious and then demonstrate Benefit
Headlines that make the reader interested and also makes them think can be hugely effective. Open ended questions or statements that start a thought without finishing it and in the process entice the reader to find the answer are great examples. An added approach after having raised thought and interest is to then lead on with a statement starting with, "Learn How"
It's no good to just list features in dot points – that's pretty boring!
You have to pretend you are the reader seeing the product for the first time – what is it, what does it do, and what can it do for me?
So, it's critical your HEADLINE is always written with WIIFT ("What's In It For Them") in mind. Otherwise you have little hope of attracting your prospect to read your body copy.
BODY COPY
Let's now consider some pointers for the body copy:
Upper Case
Useful for emphasis in headlines and to make KEY words stand out.
But too many words in upper case make the text harder to read and consequently you can lose lots of impact and effect.
Bold
Bold is great for creating awareness and emphasis and is super for headings and sub-headings.
It is like a call or "shout" for attention – helps to make it stand out from the crowd – but if you keep using bold it could put the reader off and lose effect. If you shout too often it could be like the boy calling wolf too many times and readers may decide to ignore you!
Italics and Reverse Type
Graphic artists love italics and reverse type (where the letters are cut out of a coloured background – for example white lettering on a red background).
Reverse can be really effective on large display boards where a few words appear in very large font.
Websites is another medium where it can work well with an illumined background.
It can be quite effective for headlines on brochures and flyers but there is a real need to ensure the font is large. Anything less than 16-point and many of your readers could have trouble reading it, so avoid using it unless you are clear about your target audience and you have the capacity to use large font. Be especially careful about using light colours in the background; for example a soft yellow or a dull green.
Graphic Patterns and Faded Visuals
Again, graphic artists and designers love to print over images to create a classy or trendy effect. This is most evident in modern magazines targeted at youth markets.
If it suits your target market then go for it BUT if not, don't use it.
Why make it harder and more difficult for your prospective customer to read and comprehend the message you are trying to get over?
Fonts
Well, what works best?
- Headlines
Sans serif works well and this is particularly so for emails and websites where the background is lit.
It is a clear, sharp font. Examples are Ariel, Helvetica and Verdana.
But it is wise NOT to use it for the body copy.
Why? These fonts are great for short, sharp impact but are said to cause greater eye fatigue and lower comprehension.
- Body Copy
Serif typeface is the preferred font for body copy – such as Times New Roman and Bookman.
Check out your local newspaper and any book you have been reading - you are bound to see a serif font has been used.
Why? Notice the little feet? It is argued that this type of font makes it easier for your eye to scan the words as it moves along the page
Photographs
Well, we all know that "a picture paints a thousand words".
The trick with photographs in publications is to make sure the picture used creates the right thoughts in the reader's mind.
If it doesn't achieve the impact and message that you intended to put across then it will be counter-productive. So, careful use of images is very important.
Just as important is the need to answer the "what's this about?" question that the photograph should create.
How? Photograph captions that appear directly beneath the image are your big chance to create the relationship and spell out exactly the message you want to deliver.
It should be up to, but no more than two short sharp sentences.
Timing, Timing, Timing
Good cash flow management is all about managing the time gap - the difference between when money comes IN and when it has to go OUT. The better you are at closing the gap the less likely you are to experience cash flow problems.
Contingency Arrangements
It's vitally important to have some contingency arrangements in place to cover the unexpected. Ideally, this is where retained earnings comes into play or in a fledgling business it might include an overdraft arrangement with your bank or you may need to factor your debtors if the circumstances require it.
Don't Mistake profit with Cash Flow. What's the difference?
Profit is what you make from sales after all expenses have been paid, whereas cash flow is the money that funds the running and growth of the business.
Don't get fooled into reducing prices thinking that any sale is a good sale. Unless there are special circumstances you need to price your products or services at levels that will ensure reasonable profits. Pricing slow moving or dead stock is a different matter.
Collect Debtors Faster
Look at ways of improving the terms of account on all but your best customers - reduce from 30 days to 21 days or even 14 days and seek up-front deposits where possible.
Inventory Reduction Methods
Replace stock that has not sold and replace it with faster moving lines.
Improve layouts and signage within the store to maximize sales
Introduce interest only and special lay-buy facilities
Implement JIT strategies and make appropriate arrangements with suppliers
Increase Prices
Investigate the floor stock and determine those items which have little or no competition and increase the prices on these.
Calculate your Stock Turns (Cost of Goods Sold divided by average inventory)
Stock turnover is an indication of your stock management efficiency, measuring the relationship of stock to sales, with the rationale that the lower the workable stock level to support a set volume of sales then the greater the efficiency of stock management.
You should strive to minimize the length of time stock is held prior to sale and aim for the highest practicable number of inventory turnovers possible.
Creditors Payment Cycle
Make arrangements with the suppliers that you enjoy strong relationships with to give you some extra leeway with the payment cycle. Make sure your return-to-supplier policy is well documented and favorable and negotiate beneficial product linked advertising and promotion.
Calculate Marketing as a percentage of sales
Set yourself a marketing budget based on a percentage of sales so that you don't overspend or lose traction. Make sure your marketing outlays are not burning cash but are working efficiently to generate well targeted sales.
Calculate Wages as a percentage of Sales
Wages should include all the add-on costs such as superannuation, training, commissions, payroll tax, and workers compensation
Calculate Rent as a percentage of Total Revenue
It is important to regularly review your location strategy. Although the preferred aim for retailers is to focus on location rather than to pursue lower rents, it can often be strategically wise to seek cheaper rent if it is unlikely to hurt the overall business.
Networking is one of the best ways to market your business and build relationships that connect people together. Networking involves introducing yourself, developing trust and rapport.
It also involves doing something kind and generous for someone and this may be as simple as connecting them to a useful resource or contact. That act of kindness is what s remembers and makes a network connection for you. This is what people remember about you. Its about making that chance meeting mean something. The world can be a very small place when you start connecting people together.
First Timer Networkers If you are feeling a little nervous at a function/event you have not been to before or are new to networking there are a number of quick things you can do so that the whole process is enjoyable and successful.
Let the organizers at the registration desk know you are new to the event and ask them for some direction
Ask another colleague to attend with you
Look for someone familiar at the event you know and once they ask you what you do, ask them if there is someone else they think might be good for you to meet and they may either take you over and introduce you or point them out for you.
Rather than working the whole room, choose someone you are attracted to or who looks interesting and focus on meeting three new people at the function that you can build a relationship with.
Concentrate on listening carefully to conversations and sparking up questions to build on the conversation
Don't focus on your business and what's in it for you as networking is about developing relationships not selling
Those contacts you meet that spark interest and require more time may appreciate getting together for coffee and a chat which then doesn't limit your networking time at the function.
Networking Etiquette Take plenty of business cards with you to an event
Talk openly with people, smile, shake hands and listen to what their business is before you talk about yours.
Exchange business cards when the opportunity presents during the conversation or if they ask for your card.
Ensure you follow up with contacts where discussions have developed within 24 hours and reignite the conversation. Send an email and attach brochures or information on your business including a web link if appropriate.
Make notes on business cards if there is something you need to remember or follow up on after the event.
Whenever you send any correspondence / brochures as a follow up, include your business card.
If alcoholic beverages are being served, drink in moderation and don’t over indulge.
Important note regarding friends: Don't spend all your time friends chatting and catching up. Yes attending events is a time to see those contacts you haven’t caught up with for a while however ensure you still set you new contact business card exchange goal and work towards achieving that. Utilise your current contacts to introduce you into their networks so you can broaden your own.
Building your business image:
Represent your businesses style and quality
Keep hairstyles current, clean and polished
Minimise and simplify jewelry
Maintain eye contact as much as 90% of the time as it builds trust, respect and rapport
Tips for effective Networking:
Be clear about your purpose for attending the networking event so that your investment of time produces a positive return
Smile and shake hands while making and maintaining eye contact
Avoid risky humour, smoking or being loud
Speak confidently and clearly – avoid speaking about yourself first
Avoid drinking alcohol excessively
Approach people and introduce yourself
Read newspapers and keep up to date with media developments. A successful networker becomes the eyes and ears for their customers.
Be generous with your energy and time to help others
Say thank you to contacts who provide you with opportunity or information.
Develop conversation showing interest and sincerity to build rapport
Generate new leads and new business
Keep conversation moving and relax through pauses in conversation as they often lead to further information that may be useful
Work hard at remembering names of people and what they do
Manage your time effectively and keep moving
Always be on the look out for opportunities
If you want to be successful, make sure you look the part and dress appropriate and take pride/care in your appearance.
Innovate new services and products into your existing range so you have something new to promote and spark new interest
Exchange industry or professional information and ideas
Successful networking is all about giving without expecting something back. Do something for someone because you want to not because you think you will get something in return. People do like to do business with people they know and trust or people that are referred to them by people they know and trust.
