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January 31, 2008
One of the most powerful tools in marketing is the testimonial. Yet they are used by so few?
Put yourself in the shoes (phew!) of the prospect.
She can listen to you, try and believe you, hope that you are paying attention and addressing her concerns (I sure hope you are) OR she can read what another client says about you.
Which is more believable?
Sure, the prospect is going to have to listen to you and hope you address their needs regardless of whether you have testimonials, but which would you rather have working for you:
1) Your best salesperson talking to a prospect,
or?
2) Your best salesperson talking to a prospect just after the prospect conveniently had a minute to flip through a 3 ring binder full of letters from your clients saying that you hung the moon (or whatever is important for your niche).
DUH. It’s obviously number 2, right?
So can anyone explain to me why so many businesses fail to collect testimonials at all, much less collect them with systematic regularity from every single client?
Can anyone add to that why they might collect them and then NEVER USE THEM????
Double DUH with whipped cream on top.
I hear you, I hear you. ‘OK Mark, so how do we get them from every client?’
Ok, first, you have to think about your business and STRATEGIZE. I know, its a stretch some days. And it seems simple, but often it’s the simple yet important things like this that we forget about when we are neck deep in our businesses and trying to get that next sale, find that new customer, deal with the crisis of the moment (I’ll get to that in another post.)
Thats why you have to have systems in place. When I say systems, I dont necessarily mean ‘computers that you love to hate’, I mean a systematic way of doing things so that no matter who performs a task, the task is always performed the same way, at the same level of quality.
Your systems need to include that you ask EVERY client for a testimonial. If you can’t get one from every client when you do business with them, you’re likely to lose them because you clearly aren’t taking care of them very well. After all, if they cant or wont say something nice about you, arent you being kind of a screwup?
Ideally, your clients should be so thrilled to speak for you (on paper, typically) that they will gladly write one for you.
Remember, if you continue to be successful, they will continue to be able to enjoy your products and services that are oh so much better than that other guy’s. If they arent glad to do this, guess what the problem is? Walk into the restroom. Look into the mirror. Its you. Its not that the customer is a jerk, its that your business did something (or didnt do something) to position them so that they wouldnt care much for you after they gave you their money. Look in the mirror again, just to be safe, ok?
By the way, don’t take it too personally when I say ‘you’. I mean ‘your business’ when I say that most of the time. On the other hand, go ahead and take it personal, but FIX IT!
Back to the testimonials?You have to have a form for this. Yeah, its another form, but a form is part of a system. Just humor me, ok?
Some people see a blank piece of paper and freeze up. They just cant think of what to say. That’s when you have to step in with yet another step to train your clients so that they behave as you wish.
The 2 most common approaches to this challenge are:
1) Write the testimonial as if your customer said it and GET THEIR APPROVAL and have them sign it. Its best if they can do this on a piece of their letterhead (surely you have a piece of blank letterhead from them?). Most clients will gladly let you write a reasonable, honest testimonial if they are allowed to approve it and sign it.
2) Give them a form that asks their name, what problem you solved for them, how much money you saved them, but DON’T ask them questions that result in answers like ‘we’d love for you to marry their first born daughter cuz you’re such a great guy’, and so on. Think about why it’s important to ask specific questions like this, rather than just have them write ‘Dave is a great guy, I’d do business with him again.’ That’s a pile of dog stuff when it comes to testimonials. Testimonials serve a purpose. Ask specific questions because you have specific reasons. I guarantee that you do.
3) Be sure that you ask at a time when they are just oh so happy to comply because they are at that moment where they are really happy with the transaction. In a clothing store, it might be while you are ringing them up, packing their clothing etc and the ‘buzz of the new clothes’ is still going on. In a car dealer, it might be months later, when you are following up to make sure they are absolutely happy (don’t tell me you aren’t doing this?) This time will be different for some businesses, but it will STILL be applicable for every business. Don’t even think about starting that ‘but Mark, my business is different’ horse hockey.
The Super Big Gotcha To Avoid
Never, ever use a testimonial without getting approval from the client. If its not obvious why, think about it. There will be a quiz. Again, thats NEVER (just in case I wasnt clear).
Copyright 2006 - Mark Riffey. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit where credit is due and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.
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Mark Riffey is the CEO of Rescue Marketing Inc ( www.rescuemarketing.com ), a Columbia Falls, Montana based firm that specializes in helping small business owners get the most out of their marketing and technology dollar and implementing techniques, strategies and solutions to put your business on autopilot.
After purchasing several small, struggling companies and surviving their turnarounds, Mark now uses the experience and lessons learned during those times when helping a business owner ‘makeover’ a struggling business. He is Montana’s only Dan Kennedy-certified Independent Business Advisor.
The father of 2 teenage boys, Mark is heavily involved in Scouting, having run summer camps, and served as VP of Marketing for Montana Boy Scouting. He is currently the Scoutmaster of a northwest Montana troop, and in his spare time, helps the high school jazz band raise funds for its activities, and serves on the local Rotary chapter’s board of directors.
January 17, 2008
To complete a comprehensive competitive analysis, you must know the competitive landscape. You must know who your competitors are. Prepare an overview of your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses. Position each competitor?s product against your products. Understand the customer needs and preferences that are you competing to meet.
When you consider your competitors, determine what are the similarities and differences between their products and yours. You must also consider how their prices compare to yours and how well they are doing. You must have a specific plan to compete. For example, you can offer better quality services, lower prices, more support, or easier access to services. You must address the following basic issues:
? Define your target market.
? Determine the size of the target market.
? Drill down to your specific segment within the target market.
? Define the size and the revenue opportunity that your segment represents.
? Determine how fast the overall market and your specific segment are growing.
? Learn what factors are most important to your customers such as price, technology, ease of use, or new uses.
? You must know the most important characteristics in your industry. Is is driven by high or low volume? Is it capital or labor intensive? Is it seasonal?
? Identify and profile your targeted customers by their consumer budgets and by how they make decisions to buy a product.
? Identify your direct and indirect competitors and understand their impact on you.
? Identify the features that differentiate your product from the competitors?.
In order to address the basic issues, you must know where to find competitive and industry information. Information is available from the Federal Commerce Department online or in the library. You can review Edgar Online and business websites to obtain required financial filings. Look for an industry trade association and industry publications. Go to Hoovers Online or Bacon?s to look for business publications in your industry. You can also check online for www.usdata.com or for North American Industry Classifications www.naics.com.
After all basic issues have been addressed and your competitive research is completed, you should be able to describe all of your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. You should be able to clearly articulate what is different about your product and why customers will choose your product rather than the competitors?. You should also be able to describe your target market and target customer and what will motivate them to purchase your product. Finally, your should be able to explain how you will gain and keep a sustainable competitive advantage.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Indigo Business Solutions is a registered trade name.
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Discover the secrets to success and grow!
About the author:
Jo Ann Joy is the CEO and owner of Indigo Business Solutions, a legal and business consulting firm that is a ?one stop shop? for businesses. We provide legal and business services and all professional services to businesses, and they will not be ‘referred out’ to other professionals.
Jo Ann has a law degree, an MBA, and an Economics degree. She is a strategic business attorney who works closely with businesses to improve their performance and their chance of success. Her background includes commercial, corporate, contracts, real estate, accounting, financial planning, mortgages, marketing, product development, banking, and business planning and strategies. She ran a successful business for 10 years and writes and gives presentations on many different legal, tax, and business subjects.
Please visit our website at http://www.IndigoBusinessSolutions.net for more information on business, legal, and tax topics and for free copies of articles and EBooks.
January 6, 2008
Effective marketing comes with practice. Sure, you can research data concerning proven marketing tools. There is a great deal of information available. But, the reality is that all tools do not work for all businesses. Your task is to determine which tools will help you market and sell your particular product or service. And believe me, it requires much trial and error to develop a solid marketing plan that produces your desired results.
Every day small business owners confront their lack of marketing experience. Many entrepreneurs are knowledgeable about their product, but don’t have a clue as to how to reach their target audience. Let’s consider a few tips as you forge the path to learn how to effectively market your business.
1) Remember that successful marketing is built on building and nurturing relationships. The importance of networking cannot be stressed enough. The development of both business and personal contacts is crucial. Show up at events your potential clients are likely to attend. Join and participate in the activities of trade organizations in your field. Bear in mind that you must be discerning when selecting organization affiliations. Choose only those that you decide offer the best visibility to your intended audience. Also, while you should bring added value to the organizations you join, be careful that you do not become so involved with the organization that your business suffers. Determine how much time you can devote to your networking activities and learn to say ‘no’ when you’ve reached your limit.
2) Stay informed about your industry trends and current business information that concerns your clientele. Knowledge of the events that affect your industry helps you to develop your marketing techniques. Keeping abreast of this information also provides a method to track your competitors’ activity.
When you keep abreast of current business activities you have knowledge of events that could possibly affect your clients. The ability to discuss and or address these matters adds to your credibility. These interactions solidify those all-important relationships mentioned above.
3) Create a plan that includes a constant blend of marketing approaches. No single idea is going to develop all of the business you are seeking. You must use an arsenal of techniques to ensure that you reach the universe of potential clients. Build up a mix of free, low-cost and more expensive sources to advertise your product or service. Use the more expensive approaches on the segment of your clientele with the highest incoming producing potential.
4) Develop a consistent way to reach your target audience. This form of branding will make people expect to hear from you in some form or fashion. You become a part of their routine. Distribute a newsletter, periodically write articles for your local newspaper, or host a monthly, quarterly or annual event. These are all examples of ways to provide continued exposure for your business.
5) Offer something for free. An example of your free item can be the newsletter you developed following tip #4. In this case, the newsletter has the added value of building a database of contact information for future marketing purposes.
There is little else to be said about this approach. Whatever you develop and offer, the word ‘free’ will attract people’s attention. Once you’ve received attention, you must follow up with quality service. You don’t want to be in the position where your free offer represents an inferior product or poor service.
Effective marketing techniques are a result of study and research of proven methods, and then the development of your own approach. You must then get out there and test your tactics to determine what works and what doesn’t. Abandon what is ineffective and formulate new approaches. This method will help you to develop a successful marketing program.
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Written by Brenda Weathers Hargroves, small business coach and author ? Brenda’s consulting firm, Business At Hand, is located in Lutz, Florida. Her mission is to share successful methods for implementing and operating a small business or social entrepreneurship venture. She offers individual/group entrepreneurship coaching sessions, small business workshops/seminars and encourages book signings.
To contact Brenda for assistance call (813) 962-8918 or send an email to businessathand1@hotmail.com. To purchase her book, The Heart and Soul of Entrepreneurship, or for more information about her services visit her website at http://www.businessathand.biz.
December 31, 2007
Companies decide to expand their organizations globally and are unsuccessful because they fail to realize one very important thing. They do not change their marketing efforts to adapt to those of another country. Some people feel one country?s values, beliefs, culture, economic conditions and competitive conditions are not very different from another. But a message that works in one country can fail miserably in another because countries are very different from each other. Companies need to make variations to their marketing approach when doing business internationally.
To overcome global marketing struggles and conquer your competition, we?ve created Global Marketing: 5 Steps to Succession to help you guide your way through the marketing process.
1. Do The Research!
With any kind of marketing there should always first be some kind of research when developing your marketing strategies. This is especially important when a business is expanding internationally because their targeted audience is much different than their home land audience. Researching the demographics and also doing some kind of research to figure out if there will be a demand for your product or service is very important. Make sure there is a want or need for your product and then figure out for that country who your audience is and what will be the best way to target them.
2. Recognize Cultural Differences.
Countries differ in many ways including language, religion, social structure and education. These differences have significant impact on a business?s marketing strategies. Through one?s research they also need to find what traditions, tastes and preferences are of other countries, so their marketing ideas can accommodate to the country and be effective. If one does not take the cultural differences into account then most likely their marketing campaigns will be considered meaningless or offensive and could damage the credibility of that company.
3. Develop a Unique Marketing Mix to Appeal to the Purchasing Behavior of a Certain Segment in a Given Country.
This secret also includes some research. One needs to identify groups of consumers whose purchasing behavior differs from others in an important way. These segments can be found though the geographies, demographics, social-cultural factors and psychological factors. The segment that would best benefit the company is the one that then needs to have a unique marketing mix that will appeal to those purchasing behaviors. The marketing mix will include a firm?s choice about product attributes, communication strategy, distribution strategy and pricing strategy that they will offer their targeted segment.
4. Identify Market Segments that Transcend National Borders.
In order to do this, a company needs to find the similarities among the consumers in a certain segment. Such similarities like values, age, and lifestyle choices which need to translate into similar purchasing behaviors. Once these similarities are found, a company can then view the global marketplace as a single entity and sell a standardized product worldwide using their same basic marketing mix to help them position and sell that product in a variety of national markets.
5. Decide if standardized advertising will work for your company.
If a company?s advertisements legally and ethically can be viewed in their home land country but also in other countries, then standardized advertising is a great idea. If the advertisements are not offensive and abide by that country?s laws then most likely using the same ads instead of developing new ones for different countries is going to be a significant cost saver. Also, there is concern that creative talent is limited and that one large marketing effort has better results than 40 or 50 smaller efforts.
On the other hand, cultural diversity makes it exceptionally hard to develop a single advertising theme that will be successful worldwide. Also, advertising regulations might block implementation of standardized advertising. Laws vary from country to country and so what might be acceptable in one country is breaking the law in another. Differentiating between the two and then deciding what will work for your company might save you money or avoid a lawsuit.
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Crystal Vilkaitis is a graduate of DeVry University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. As a writer for Red Rocket Media Group, a full-service marketing firm in Colorado, she is able to further her interest in global marketing. Her marketing experience, extensive global marketing, research, and keen understanding of international businesses have helped Red Rocket’s clients achieve new heights. For more information, visit redrocketmg.com
December 28, 2007
When thousands of people descend upon a trade show exhibition hall with their co-workers, customers and client prospects, the good news is that there is a lot of sales prospecting and high-powered networking going on. The bad news is that the conference site may become a Mecca for theft. Not only are the Hershey Kisses left on the trade show booth counters at risk, but also your company?s sensitive top-secret information may also be in danger of being stolen if left unattended or unsecured.
The big issue, then, is how can you safeguard against theft of company equipment and knowledge during a trade show exhibit?
According to Karla Krause-Miller, Director, Cappa and Graham, Inc., the event planning company in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, it starts with the security guards who are hired to check trade show attendance. They are busy making sure that all visitors are legitimate and have the proper badges. The guards do not have the responsibility of insuring that your equipment is safe. You must be aware that it is up to you to protect against any trade show booth theft. With that in mind, there are certain rules and precautions one must take at the trade show exhibit hall in order to insure your trade show booth is secure.
The first rule is to keep your valuables either locked away or in your line of vision at all times. This goes for purses, briefcases, cell phones, laptops, company manuals, price lists, and anything that may be of interest to your competitors. Theft happens extremely fast. You need to keep your eyes focused on protecting your vulnerable assets at your trade show display.
Be aware that anything you leave in your trade show exhibit after the show is also at risk for theft. Never leave valuables or any confidential company items lying around your trade show booth after hours. Be sure to detach all plugs and movable connections to your trade show booth demonstration equipment, such as a keyboard, mouse, floppy drive, monitor, etc. Take these items to your hotel room to keep them safe overnight.
Never count one hundred percent on your trade show booth lock box. It is ok to lock up large pieces of equipment that can?t be easily moved and have them stored overnight at your trade show booth, but whenever possible, remove valuables from the trade show booth counter lock box at night. There is standardized keying that can unlock most pedestals where demonstration supplies are stored. That?s a big help when you lose your key, but can be a liability if someone else has access with a key copy.
Use laptops that have only demonstration software on them. Be sure that none of your sensitive corporate information is stored on the hard drive.
Beware of security issues beyond the trade show exhibit floor– from hotels to meeting rooms and places where visitors meet. Use the hotel safe deposit box for jewelry and cash, not the one in your individual room.
Before you go to an out-of-town convention, check online for travel alerts so you can better prepare and know what precautions to take. When you get to your hotel, ask the front desk about how safe the neighborhood is and what places to avoid.
When you leave your room later in the day, you many want to put a ?Do Not Disturb? sign on your door to detract intruders from breaking in.
Be ever vigilant in keeping your trade show assets protected. If you do, you can
have a worry-free trade show experience?whether it be the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Santa Clara Convention Center or the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
By taking steps to insure against theft, you can better enjoy a trouble-free networking and sales experience with the hundreds of industry visitors to the trade show exhibition.
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Dick Wheeler is President of Professional Exhibits & Graphics, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with showroom in Sacramento. Firm is full-service premiere trade show exhibit, graphics and management services company. http://www.proexhibits.com
December 25, 2007
Optimize Your Web Site To Grow Market Share
So much of our business today is dependent on the success of our website. It does not matter if you are P&G and looking to find ways to make your website work harder for you or are a Real Estate giant like Coldwell Banker, your website needs to deliver the goods.
Your website needs to accomplish two things ? and a few additional functions if you are a web retailer. It needs to deliver your brand in a way that is in keeping with your brand charter and it needs to be easily accessible. In short, it needs to tell your customers who you are and whom you are for (brand) and it needs to gain you ?top-of-page? awareness on major search engines.
Web Optimization is More Important Than Ever
Research today indicates that the web has become the first go-to source for finding just about anything from movie listings to the latest news. Proof of this phenomenon can be seen in the decline in circulation of daily newspapers and the lessening of the importance of Yellow Pages advertising. As the cell phone becomes the home?s main telephone, even the White Pages, as we currently know them, will change or will become less valuable.
Stealing Share? entered the ?web? business, not because we could build a great looking branded website (which we can) but because it was quickly apparent to us that designing a great website needed to be a whole lot more than just a graphically pleasing entity. It needed to excite the interest, not only of your customers and prospects but also of the search engines that will seal your fate based upon page placement.
An Optimized Web Site Builds Business
If you want your website to become a REAL force in your business and marketing mix, then give it the respect that it deserves and don?t just simply hand it off to the local website developer or an in-house tech guru.
Our Web Optimization Process
Let me take you through just a few of the steps that Stealing Share goes through before a single page of a website finds its way to a www.com address.
First, we evaluate, grade and make adjustments to your brand. We need to make sure it reflects the current precepts and needs of the target audience that you wish to influence and position against. This includes our behavioral modeling and a research project from Resultant? to completely understand your target audience and identify the language and phrases that your target market uses when touching your category of service and/or product.
Then we begin to write the content ? using the key phrases and language used by your target market. We incorporate them into the actual text of your site. This is important is important because as the search engine spiders index your website, they look for a repetition of keywords and simple keyword phrases in order to rank your site according to relevance.
Brand Guides The Web Optimization Process
Building a website in this way requires an outside-in approach ? something virtually impossible to do in-house because your own beliefs and desires clouds your thinking. It is a delicate balance between telling your story and allowing the story to be written by the needs and desires of your target audience ? and in their language.
The end-game is to get your website a first page listing on major search engines ? a listing ahead of your competitive set. Now you could buy a sponsored link, for sure, but it is an expensive gambit with a lot of waste. At Stealing Share? we believe that careful planning and diligent brand work will take much of the guesswork out of the website optimization equation.
We have a few proprietary tools that we use as well. We also have developed some special considerations that have come our way from experience, to enhance the site and help it?s web optimization.
But knowing your target audience inside and out, and developing the content with the target audience’s search phrases integrated right in, is at least? 1/5th of the battle. The remaining 4/5th is between our clients and us.
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Tom Dougherty
CEO, Senior Strategist at Stealing Share, Inc.
(http://www.stealingshare.com)
Tom began his strategic
marketing and branding career in Saudi Arabia working for the internationally
acclaimed Saatchi & Saatchi. His brand manager at the time referred to Tom
as a ?marketing genius,? and Tom demonstrated his talents to clients such as
Ariel detergent, Pampers and many other brands throughout the Middle East
and Northern Africa. After his time overseas, Tom returned to the US where
he worked for brand agencies in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
He continued to prove himself as a unique and strategic brand builder for
global companies. Tom has led efforts for brands such as Procter & Gamble,
Kimberly Clark, Fairmont Hotels, Coldwell Banker, Homewood Suites (of
Hilton), Tetley Tea, Lexus, Sovereign Bank, and McCormick to name a few. Contact Tom at tomd@stealingshare.com
December 19, 2007
Have you ever wondered why some businesses thrive and other business owners struggle to survive day after day just managing to pay their bills.
Now if the statistics are correct 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years, then this could quite possibly be you.
Let?s face it, when someone first goes into business it?s usually for one of three reasons:
1. They just received a huge pay out from somewhere, maybe an inheritance, redundancy package etc.
2. You?ve lost your job and can?t find another one or you don?t want to find something else so you figure it?s a bout time you work for yourself instead of making someone else rich.
3. You think your boss is an idiot and figure, guess what? I can do a better job than this guy. FYI. If you already employ people then guess what they are thinking J
Anyway, so you decide to go out beg, borrow and steal as much money as you can and instead of working for an idiot, you know work for a lunatic: yourself!
I have seen it time and time again working with business owners; the problem is they don?t plan enough to really make a success of their chosen business.
In fact they kind of just fly by the seat of their pants, putting out fires as they go.
I?m getting a little off track at the moment so I?ll get to the point.
We?ve all heard the wealth guru?s talk about creating multiple streams of income in your life. The problem is most people only have one: their job.
And remember what that stands for?Just Over Broke.
But the same thing applies for your business, most people have only one way of generating new customers and it?s usually the yellow pages.
But guess what happens if that strategy fails to pull enough new clients to sustain your overheads?
That?s right, you go out of business.
But it?s really quite simple to correct, it?s a brilliant idea that I learnt from one of my mentors, it?s called the rule of 10 X10.
What this means is that instead of having only one way to generate 100% of your clients, you find ten ways to generate 10% of your clients. So if one particular way fails, then you don?t care!
This is the easiest way I know of to make life far less stressful when it comes to attracting new clients to your business.
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Scott Patterson has been involved in Marketing for the last 14 years, by applying techniques he was able to learn for the masters to grow not only his own businesses but many of his clients businesses anywhere up to 600% in 3 months. ?These results truly are possible if you just stick with the basic principles? www.the-marketing-mind.blogspot.com
December 18, 2007
Yes, definitely, but you’d never know it when you see how few businesses take advantage of that potential.
Smart internet marketers work hard to develop a relationship with their customers and prospects. They give away free reports and ezines filled with useful information. They know that by creating an atmosphere of trust they will be able to sell to those customers over and over again.
Once that trust is established, they know that when their name appears in the ‘from’ field, people will stop and see what they have to say today, because it will probably be interesting.
Not to stray too far from my subject, but I do have to mention that some of those formerly smart marketers are blowing it now. They’ve switched from sending something interesting every few days with a little advertising thrown in - to sending heavy advertising with little or no information almost every day. I’ve started deleting them - and I’ll bet you have too.
But now let’s leave the internet and go into the bricks and mortar world. Do customers at the hardware store have a lifetime value? Of course. If they find what they need, get courteous service, feel that they are valued, and the prices aren’t too far out of line, they’ll come back over and over. And if the hardware store owner recognizes their value and sends them a special ‘insider’ promotion now and then, their loyalty will increase.
At least one hardware chain is now building lists and offering incentives through a little keychain card that tracks purchases and rewards the customer with a coupon every quarter. Now there’s an effective way to determine the value of each customer!
How about the furniture store? Also of course. Think about it. If someone buys a couch, won’t they soon want a chair? What about some end tables or a lamp? How many dollars does the average family spend on furnishings over a ten year period?
Capture that lifetime value by giving previous buyers some special incentive to remain loyal - like an early bird shopping night or a special coupon. How about an occasional e-mail with furniture care tips or a coupon for a free can of upholstery cleaner or wood polish? How about letting them know that you’ll special-order anything they need?
If you have a store, start collecting those names, addresses, and e-mail addresses. Then start making your previous buyers feel special by offering something extra - just for them.
I think those examples are obvious. But what about high ticket items - like a car or a house? Can smart businesses and sales people create lifetime customers for those items? After all, most people don’t buy cars or houses every year, let alone every week.
They can. But very few make the effort. And just think of what they’re worth!
Plenty of people like to drive new cars, so they switch every 2, 4, or 6 years. I have no idea how much commission the sales person makes on each car, but I’ll guess at $1,000 for an average car. If you remain in car sales for 10 or 15 years, that customer could earn you another $5,000 - or perhaps much more. Remember that when you’re cultivating that lifetime customer, you are also cultivating his or her family and friends.
But the opposite holds true, too. Our family shopped at the same dealership for over 30 years. But then ‘our’ salesman retired and we got a salesman who tried to pull the old ‘My manager says’ routine. The end result: we won’t return to that dealership. Ever. He had his eye on one sale - and it cost him and his dealership several more. My son likes to buy trucks!
Realtors are notorious for closing the sale and forgetting the customer, but that’s a subject for a whole article in itself.
If you haven’t determined the lifetime value of your customers, stop and think about it. How much do they spend, on average, each time they visit your store? How often do they visit? How many years can you serve them?
Then start gathering their names and contact information and creating a marketing plan to turn them into lifetime customers.
Remember, it costs more in time, effort, and dollars to gain a new customer than to keep an old one.
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Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with many more tips to share. Visit her at http://www.marte-cliff.com and sign up for her free monthly advertising ezine. Marte also offers a no-obligation critique of your present advertising.
December 6, 2007
Sizing a Market - This type of market research is designed to create an estimate of the market size (measured by units or dollar volume) that a new product is expected to garner in the marketplace. In general this is usually done for entirely new product category or anticipating the introduction of a new product that substantially changes the competitive landscape in which customers are already familiar (for example, I would suspect that the new premium chewing-gum category that has emerged in the last 18 months might have upset the conventional wisdom of analysts in that industry). Conducting this type of market research can be expensive, so the best place to start is usually by evaluating the off-the-shelf syndicated market research reports that are available for any market of a reasonable size. Sizing a market is almost always a quantitative market research study, although depending on the market specifics it?s possible that there might be a qualitative lead-in activity or even a qualitative follow-up to get more details on a specific portion of the market.
Product Concept Development ? Product concept market research is typically designed to provide customer input to help product-marketing managers develop products that more directly meet the needs of the target customer. Typically there are tradeoffs involving ease of use, price, industrial design decisions and bundling options. For the product marketing manager, conducting market research allows them an opportunity to get feedback from the group who is actually going to decide whether they?ll pay the bills or not, the customer. Product concept market research can be done either qualitatively or quantitatively. Generally the direction hinges on the customers familiarity with the product or changes being considered, and a terminology that is well enough understood by the potential respondents to ensure that clear communication is taking place without significant uncertainty that their definitions match what we believe them to mean. If the product category is understood, and the terminology is well enough defined, quantitative research is probably the best bet. Otherwise it?s likely to fall to qualitative methods to ensure a complete understanding of the concepts and to the respective reactions.
Customer Profiling ? The intent of customer profiling market research is to create a profile of a typical customer who purchases a certain product or service. Having a complete profile of a customer can be very helpful when defining a design center to develop the next generation of a product category and to ensure that the engineers and marketers have the right person in mind as they make those decisions. Creating a customer profile often includes collecting the following:
- Demographics (age, title, physical city of location),
- Firmographics (company industry, number of employees, decision making structure around the product category being studies) and
- A number of questions about the particular product was purchased, how it was being used, what product it replaced, the number of people using it?
In many cases, customer-profiling research becomes the ?bible? as a product development team makes decisions about what features or capabilities would be desired and which other ones would be passed over. For smaller companies conducting profiling market research is often the first type of research that a company does because it?s straightforward and it?s hard to argue with ?who are our customers??.
Positioning Research - Positioning research is often closely related to branding market research, as its function is to understand the positioning of one product relative to another. Much larger companies actually conduct positioning research simply to understand whether or not their ?line logic? is clear or understandable by their customers ? and doesn?t even get into the complexity of how customers relate their product line with other company?s products. This is often very interesting research because it’s often the case that the positioning developed by marketing managers is sometimes different than the way customers view strengths and weaknesses of different products relative one to another. Sometimes, to the chagrin of marketing managers, the phrase ?perception is reality? comes up over and over again in this type of research, as marketing managers realize that it takes more than words on a brochure to change customers? perceptions of a products positioning. Consider whether a Jaguar holds greater status than does a Mercedes. Which car would you expect to be more comfortable? Which car would you expect to be faster? Having a portfolio buy-up strategy, which calls out the benefits of the next product, without saying derogoratory about the product just down the line, is a challenging task, but that?s where positioning research really shines.
Messaging Research ? Messaging research is very closely related to advertising research, although it tests the most basic concepts of an advertising campaign ? the most basic idea that is believed to be the primary motivator for a product. As an example, what do you see when you notice a Rolex advertisement? Do they tout the increased accuracy of a Rolex watch over others? Do they talk about how much more shock resistant a Rolex is than another watch? Do they talk about how much deeper in the ocean a SCUBA diver can go with a Rolex than another watch? No, they don?t message on any of these points, instead when you go to their website they show handsome people directing their million dollar yachts through rough seas, they show close-ups of the meticulously detailed watches, they show brave men, obviously risking their lives, climbing to the top of a snowy, distant peak. Their messaging is about living the good life and being ready for any adventure ? whether you?re made of that stuff or not ? as though having a watch that costs tens of thousands of dollars puts you just a little bit closer to intrepid. At the crux of messaging market research is, what are the few things that we should emphasize if we?re fortunate enough to get a few seconds of consideration from a potential customer? Messaging market research is about finding the blend of unique capabilities or attributes of our product and framing that in a way that makes sense to the people who are somewhat inclined to purchase our product. Messaging research tends to be qualitative because non-verbal communication is an enormous part of communication and many people want to be able to ?read? the respondents as they first try to digest our schpeel.
Industrial Design ? Industrial Design (or ID as it is more typically called) typically refers to the shape, feel and texture of a product. You could say that the ID of the RAZR phone is a big hit, big enough that other companies are quickly copying it. ID research is focused on understanding what effect the industrial design may play in the purchase of a certain category of product, and how to optimize a product’s industrial design for the target audience. If we all own the same products, it appears that ID is becoming one of the fundamental ways that companies are trying to differentiate products that are otherwise quite similar. ID market research has generally considered best handled in face-to-face qualitative research (often in-depth-interviews with one person at a time). However online capabilities have increased significantly in the last several years and there is a reasonable case for conducting ID research on a web site. If you?re looking for an example of how strong online capabilities have come take a look at the Audi web site ? where you can view their cars, pull back, zoom in, view the car from any angle just by positioning the mouse. The capabilities are available from some of the higher end online research houses. The one caveat is that people often want to feel the heft of a product to understand if it?s plastic, metal or wood, understand how quality the finish looks, feel the quality of moving parts. In many cases online research is capable of supplementing face-to-face methodologies and for some product categories may be able to replace it entirely.
Customer Segmentation - Segmentation market research studies attempts to understand what groups of customers exist in a product category in order to more precisely target their needs or to target the needs of a more attractive group (maybe the high quality group, instead of the value driven customers). While these customers may all be purchasing the same products, because they have different perspectives, they?re responses to product changes could be entirely different, so it?s a good idea to understand how large your groups, or segments are, and how they?ll likely respond to the changes that you?re company is considering. This is a type of market research that generally ends with a large quantitative bang. Segmentation research can be quite simple ? understanding how customers in the Eastern part of the country dress compared to those down South, or it can involve very high-end statistical analytics that can be very costly. However, good customer segmentation can greatly improve a companies product development and target customer efforts.
Channel Research - This research can take a number of forms depending on the critical business issue. Channel research can be conducted to understand how a company’s channel partners are ACTUALLY behaving, as opposed to how it’s believed that they’re behaving. Channel research can be conducted to understand what is motivating channel partners, or to understand whether a new channel partner that is being considered would be an appropriate choice for a certain product category. This is a very broad category of possible research methods that can span from efforts such as ?mystery shoppers? ? who walk through a typical customer process and report back on the experience, to price checks or product offering reports.
Price Elasticity - Remember back to Economics 101. As the price of a product increases the marginal value decreases (fair disclosure - I’m not sure that I actually passed EC101) and at some price-point the customers choose an alternative product. This research is designed to understand where that point is for different types of customers. Price elasticity market research really needs to be quantitative although there are times when an initial phase of qualitative research to understand the critical features and attributes may make sense. Pricing research is also very difficult to do because there?s the ?monopoly money? syndrome ? people tend to make different decisions with a theoretical exercise than they do when the money comes out of their pocket. Price elasticity research really needs to be well planned becuase there are number of seemingly insignificant but very important details to make decision on.
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