Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Importance of Patience In Marketing Services

It's been said that sales quotas (whether they be weekly, monthly or quarterly) are one of the biggest obstacles to effective sales performance.The rational is that the pressure to meet the deadline causes sales people to attempt to "hurry up " the sales process.They typically do this by presenting their solutions way too early in the process.

As all of us know who have attended any sort of comprehensive sales training program in the last 10 years, presenting your solution before you have uncovered the key problems and made the prospective client lust after your solution (ok perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but you get my point) is one of the biggest obstacles to success in selling.

This issue has implications and lessons for the world of marketing.This is what I mean.When I review marketing materials, sales letters, websites and so forth, I ask the logical question "What do you want the reader to do once they've finished reading this?" The answer is invariably that they would like the reader to call to learn more about their services.

When you think about it, that is a huge request.Consider this, someone you don't know, who you've never spoken with, receives your letter or visits your website.What are the odds that based on what they read they'd want to actually talk with you?

OK, perhaps if they're desperate they might.But really, come on, how many of your prospects are truly desperate?The reality is that it's extremely unlikely anyone is going to pick up the phone based on a sales letter or some copy on a website.Why?They're afraid of being sold something.

As it's often been said, "We love to buy stuff; we just don't like being sold." So why do we persist in having a marketing strategy that revolves around the hope that people will "call us up" after they read our sales letter or visit our website?Because it seems like it's quicker.We don't have any patience for anything that has more than one step to it.But what we perceive as the quickest way to make sales is really an illusion.The reality is that we're making life harder (not easier) for ourselves.

Much the same way as the sales rep thinks he can expedite the selling process by cutting to the chase and just telling the prospect about how wonderful his services are, consultants and small business owners think that they can likewise speed up the process by having the call to action be call me now!And they're invariably disappointed.

So what's the alternative?When it comes to marketing your services it's crucial that you think of it as a two-step process.Step one is How Can I Get People To Express interest in what I do?Step two is: How can I convert large percentages of those who have expressed interest to buy my services?

Thus the "selling" is done in step two, not step one.(Except that you naturally have to "sell" prospects on expressing that initial interest.) So if this makes sense, why are so many people reluctant to do it?

Simple.It adds another step to the process.It adds a bit more time.And we're just not very patient.As I've said countless times before, marketing isn't complicated.(Although some of us seem compelled to make it so.) It's simply a matter of thinking about marketing your services using two steps.

Not one.And that requires patience.Hope this give you some good food for thought.
About the Author

Mark Satterfield is the founder of Gentle Rain Marketing.

The firm specializes in helping clients get more business Quickly, Easily, with No Cold Calling.Get the FREE report that describes the system you can implement in less than 30 days at http://www.gentlerainmarketing.com


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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Advertise, Do not Spam

There is a fine line between advertising and spam and unfortunately many business owners do not understand the difference between the two. This is important because while a cleaver, well planted Internet marketing campaign can help to attract new customers and keep existing customers dutiful, junk mail is likely to alienate both new clients and living clientele. This can be remarkably fatal to advantage margins for the problem owners. This composition will hold a look at a few keystone Internet marketing strategies such as banner ads, email drive and moral board posts and depict how each can almost immediately cross the column enjoys cleaver publicizing to spam.

Heading ads are one of the numerous regular strategies which go together with an World wide web commercial list. These ads are commonly ads which come into sight at the top of websites and span the width of the website. It is loves this advent that they earned the refer banner ads but actually heading ads can refer to ads of a make of a lot of sizes and shapes which come into sight in an collection of countless sites on a web page. In a few cases the business owner purchases promoting chamber on these online pages but the banner ad may similarly be placed as portion of an exchange or an affiliate marketing cause.

Banner ad exchanges are situations in which one interest owner posts a heading ad on his web page in exchange for one more interest owner posting his headline ad on the variant website. These agreements may be proposed for my part between affair owners also complementary businesses or as share of exchanges facilitated by a third festivity. In the case of affiliate marketing, an affiliate posts and commercial for your problem in exchange for compensation when the headline ad produces a desirable conclusion such as generating online page trade or inventing a purchase. The vocabulary of these agreements are was determined beforehand and are customarily based on a scale of pay per notion, pay per click or pay per acquisition or usher.

Now that you absorb anything headline ads are, it is moreover focal to get hold of how they can be overused and become visible to be direct mail. Judiciously placing your headline ad on a few online pages which are likely to attract an hearer akin to your target receiver is lovely commercial, placing your title ad on any website which will exhibit the ad in spite of of the target audience can be construed as junk mail. Information superhighway users who imagine as though your banner ads are all over they circle will not doable carry your problem mortally and are not doable to procure goods or services like you as a effect of your banner ads.

Piece of email campaigns can additionally be really positive devices in the industry of World wide web sales promotion. These campaigns may subsume sending repetitive e-newsletters full as well as notice as at any rate as ads, direct, useful electronic message courses or emails offering discounts on goods and services. Dedicated clients who opt into your email time table will possible not take a look at these emails as unsolicited mail and may pay for further merchandises and services delight in your affair as a end product of this sales promotion policy. Similarly, potential shoppers who pass through in particular demand added mind on your products and services will further catch this class of commercial to be prolific. Save for, piece of email recipients who did not appeal hint are doable to take a look at your emails as unsolicited mail. Harvesting piece of email addresses in a deceptive deeds and by means of these addresses to send out ton emails will doable all the time be consideration to be spam.

After all, example boards furnish an excellent opening for business owners to pay money for one or two unengaged advertising where it will be found out by members of the target receiver. If the wareses and services you grant request to a accurate niche, it is advantageous to join example boards and surf the net forums appropriate to your industry of possibility. Here you will get your hands on a sturdy community of Web users who may taste an awareness in your products. You would believe coupled with a link to your interest in your signature or posting the link whenever it is applicable to the conversation. But, fondness should be taken to methodically digest the message board guidelines to make sure you are not doing what on earth irrelevant. This formula procedure is good-looking advertisement. Conversely, retorting to every warning along furthermore a link to your website when it is not appropriate to the communication is potential to be construed as direct mail by peculiar members. When they start off to behold your posts as direct mail, they are not likely to visit your website via the links you profession.


Near to the Creator

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an information superhighway commercial advisor and co founder of

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