You’ve got a wonderful product. You’ve created a great looking marketing promotion. You send it out and expect your phone will start ringing. But it doesn’t. Frustrated, you think it’s not working, so give up or change it. Sound familiar?
So what’s going wrong?
When selling, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is not targeting the decision maker.
The person who stands to gain by taking action or lose through inaction. The person with his balls on the line. And the person who controls the cheque book!
There are five things we drill into our clients over and over again.
You must…
a) Know exactly who your target market is. Ultimately it’s a single individual who has hopes, desires and fears. He or she wants to gain something (which your product will help them do), or avoid losing out on something (if they don’t buy your product).
b) You must be able to get to them. i.e. You must know how to reach them economically. Get the promotion into their hands.
c) The material must make them sit up and take notice. The material must succinctly demonstrate why they should be listening to you right now. It must talk to what they can gain by using your product and lose by not doing so. It must contain a sense of urgency.
d) Consistently follow up. You must not give up on the first touch. You must contact them at least five times initially with follow up messages that “add to your story”. It’s all about timing. People buy when they’re ready. So it’s up to you to be in front of them when circumstances change.
e) Eight out of ten promotions will fail!
You must test different message variations, delivery methods and even targets to see what works and what doesn’t. Remember, whether you like or dislike your material is completely irrelevant. It’s what your target market thinks that counts. And the only arbiter of success is a positive lead.
Doing anything else is a complete waste of your time.
So if a promotion fails, how can you go about finding out what went wrong?
First run through the points above.
Ask yourself…
- Are you targeting the right people? And how could you find out?
- Is your message actually being delivered? Is your email getting through? Are your letters being opened, FAX’s being read?
- Does your material speak to solving their problems, with a sense of urgency? Can they easily see that the value you provide is far greater than the cost?
- And finally, have you given up too soon?
One way to find out is to call them!
Yes, get out from behind your desk. Stop hiding behind emails, letters and faxes. Get on the phone and have a real, live, conversation.
You’ll be surprised at what you’ll learn. People are very willing to give feedback and help you if you genuinely want to know. Be humble and don’t try and defend yourself.
“The customer survey you did for us saved our business!”, Darren Chamberlain.
And if you’re thinking “This is too hard, I’d rather send them an email with questions”, STOP!
In a 5 minute conversation, you’ll learn more than you imagined. You can hear the nuances behind the words. You can drill down to the truth. Something you’ll never be able to do with an email.
As they say, “feedback is the breakfast of champions”.
Then incorporate what you’ve learned into your next promotion.
Okay, maybe all this is sending shudders down your spine. If it is, we can do this for you. We provide a Feedback Survey Service where we will call around 30 of your prospects or clients and find out how you’re going.
See below for more details.
Finally, regardless of whether you use us or do it yourself, take action. Ignorance is not bliss!
Rashid.
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