I think one of the greatest challenges is knowing where to place your focus in your marketing. If you get this right then you will develop a marketing system that over time brings you a consistent reliable stream of new clients.

For many business owners though marketing (like many things) becomes overwhelming because of where they place their focus.

Having coached hundreds of small business owners over the last few years the biggest obstacle to building an effective marketing system is that we get seduced by the latest marketing idea of the month.

Doesn’t it seem like every month there is a new marketing must have tool that every one is raving about?

You know what I mean … one week we are being told that Social Media is the only way to market in the so called ‘New Economy’ and if you are not marketing using Social Media then you will be left behind. Well maybe that is true but only if your target market are there on mass.

The next week we are hearing that Video Marketing is the future and if you don’t start learning how to do video then you will not reach your market.

Every six months another expert is telling us that the only way to get new clients is to hunt them down on the phone and make 500 cold calls a week.

The next week somebody else is telling us that speaking is no longer an effective way to market and the only way to move forward is to join their Mastermind group … and on and on it goes.

I don’t know about you but I find it all quite exhausting just trying to keep up.

So who is right and who is wrong?

Who’s advice should you follow?

What must you do to develop an effective marketing system?

Here is a clue … before you go any further you will want to get this clear in your mind … all of these are tactics. Business owners who struggle with their marketing have a tendency to leap from one tactic to the next to the next and fail to understand how each tactic relates to their overall marketing strategy.

What is most important in developing the marketing in your business is the underlying strategy. You must get clear on the strategy first before deciding which tactics to implement to achieve that strategy.

Understanding which strategy is right for your business right now is really simple. First there are only three key areas to work on in developing your marketing strategy. These are:

1/ Attracting Leads – A successful marketing system starts with your ability to attract leads to you. This involves underdstanding WHO you want to attract and WHAT will make you attractive to them. The fastest way to attract leads that we have found is to make them an irresistible offer which is focused on helping them get a solution to their problem.

2/ Converting Leads To Clients – Once you have your lead generation system in place then the next step is to convert your leads into paying clients. It is important that you think of marketing as being a step by step SYSTEM rather than a one off event. Design your marketing funnel with a series of steps to lead your prospects through so that they arrive at their own conclusion which is they want to do business with you.

3/ Increasing Value Of Clients – The real profits in your business are what is known as the back end. This is where you look for strategies to increase the value of each client over time. There are many strategies you can use here including cross selling, ascension of products and services, product line extension, and turning your clients into referral sources.

So how do you decide which of these three areas to focus on right now?

Its simple …

If you have more clients than you can handle right now then focus on maximising
profitability by increasing the value of each client to your business.

If you have an abundance of leads but not enough clients then you need to focus on
developing your markeitng strategy to improve the conversion of leads to clients.

If you are not attracting enough leads to your business, which usually means you are also not getting enough clients, then you need to focus all of your
efforts on attracting more leads.

Usually what we find is that start up businesses need to focus 80% of their marketing efforts on attracting more leads and converting those leads to clients. More established businesses should focus 80% of their efforts on increasing the value of their clients to the business.

So first decide where you are in your business development.

Next decide what is most important for you at this stage of your development to focus on … is it attracting more leads, converting more leads into clients, or increasing the value of each client?

Then decide what is your strategy going to be for the area you are focusing on.

Then implement tactics to help you achieve your strategy.

Along the way do not allow yourself to be distracted by the latest marketing craze just because everyone else appears to be following it. Keep it simple and maintain your focus on what is most important for your business right now.

Click Here To Find Out How The Attraction Marketing System Can Help You

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Those businesses that go on to great success typically have worked out what is known as the ‘Optimal Selling Strategy’. They have usually done this with one lead product or service selling it as a front end product.

So what is an Optimal Selling Strategy?

An Optimal Selling Strategy is simply figuring out the most cost effective strategy for selling your lead product to a new customer. Its all about customer acquisition. You need to develop such a strategy in your business to acquire as many qualified customers as you can and do it fast.

To develop your Optimal Selling Strategy you need to firstly identify what will be your front end product. This is a product that will have maximum appeal to your target market and sell at a low entry price in order to attract the maximum number of new clients.

NOTE: The intention of this Front End product is not necessarily to make money from it. Instead its used as a magnet to attract the maximum number of new customers and clients into your business. Many businesses will happily lose money on this front end product just to establish the customer relationship.

When I looked at my target market of small business owners I quickly discovered that while most of them recognise the need to have a Marketing Plan less than 5% actually do. So I asked them why don’t you have a marketing plan. The response was that the usual approach was too long and complex. That is why I developed the One Page Marketing Plan and have used it as a front end product to great effect. It ATTRACTS lots of new customers.

So you need to look at your target market and ask yourself (and them) what is their one single greatest problem or challenge that they all have that you can provide a solution for?

When you have the answer to this question you then want to develop a product that helps your target market get a solution to their problem. This is going to be your front end product. You want to then develop your Optimal Selling Strategy to sell as much of this front end product as you can.

NOTE: The idea behind selling your front end product is to acquire more customers. Chances are good you will only break even on the front end. This means that the real money you will make in your business is in your back end products and services.

So how do you take your front end product and now develop an Optimal Selling Strategy around it?

There are a number of keys to consider including:

1/ Media – What is the best media to be able to reach your ideal customer or client? There is a range of media that you could market through including print media, radio, TV, direct mail, internet, social media, direct sales. What you need to decide is which of these media your target market are most likely to respond to. For instance if you are selling a hearing aid product to those in the 70 plus age group then chances are good social media is not your first choice of media. In this case you would be better off advertising in a magazine that targets this age group. So do some research to identify which form of media is most likely to reach your target market.

2/ Message – Next you need to decide what form of and style of message will be best received by your target market. What are they likely to respond to? What will get their interest? Are you going to deliver your sales message through the printed word, video or audio? Discovering the best format for delivering your message, and identifying what message will connect best with your target market is the next step for you.

3/ Process – Marketing and selling your front end product should be treated as a multi step process. You need to know what steps you want to lead them through from the moment they receive your message to the point where they say YES to your front end product. Design out the steps in the process.

4/ Numbers – Next you need to know the numbers involved in selling your front end product. So you will want to track the average cost to acquire a lead, and the cost to acquire each new customer. The key in developing your Optimal Selling Strategy is to be able to acquire a new customer and fulfill the product at a price point that enables you to break even. If you can do this then you continue to market your front end product. So you want to keep score of the numbers in marketing your front end product.

5/ Test & Measure – As you develop your Optimal Selling Strategy for your front end product you will want to test and measure every step of the process. You need to continue to refine your approach. This means you will need to keep tweaking different aspects of your Optimal Selling Strategy in order to optimise its overall performance.

Once you have developed your Optimal Selling Strategy you will want to focus all of your efforts and resources to making as many sales of your front end product as you possibly can. By doing so you will be acquiring a large database of customer and clients who will be more willing to invest in your highed dollar value products and services.

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By attending the Mega Networking & Referral Event you will meet 20, 30 or more new business contacts. This is more than what most Small Business Owners would meet in 3 to 6 months of attending networking meetings.

Watch this video for more info:

Put yourself on the Priority Notification List by going here:

http://www.MegaNetworkingEvent.com

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At the event we are giving you 10 different opportunities for you to promote your business. You will have the chance to:

* Meet New Business Contacts
* Generate Referrals
* Identify & Establish New Joint Venture Partnerships
* Attract New Clients
* Plus … You will hear from leading Australian Business Growth Specialists

To place yourself on the Priority Notification List and be the first to hear all of the details when we officially launch head over to:

http://www.MegaNetworkingEvent.com

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Melbourne, Australia (PRWEB) August 2nd, 2008 – With the likelyhood a global recession hitting now extremely high many small business owners fear for their survival. Increasing cost of living mixed with declining consumer confidence spells trouble for small business owners many of whom have only know good economic times over the last 10 years or so.

So what is the key to not only surviving but thriving during a recession for small business owners?

Attraction Marketing expert Rod Moore of Profit Minute believes that now more than ever small business must focus on developing and implementing effective marketing systems. Most small business owners have on clue about marketing or how to attract clients. During prosperous economic times that is okay, however during recession effective marketing is critical Moore says.

The problem for small business owners is that they are typically very good at what it is they do in their business, but they lack the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively market what it is they do. The end result is that they are set to struggle during tougher economic times.

When asked what the solution is Rod Moore suggests that now is the time to be thinking about, developing and implementing the right marketing systems rather than wait until we are in the depths of recession when cash flow has dried up.

Moore says that the most effective marketing system he has come across is what he calls ATTRACTION MARKETING. This is a combination of Direct Response Marketing with an understaning of the psychology of what motivates your customers to buy. In effect it is about making your business more attractive than your competitors.

With attraction marketing you can literally attract a steady stream of new clients to your business already pre-sold on wanting to do business with you. This type of approach to marketing (which is very different from more traditional types of advertising and marketing) can be extremly powerful.

Those small business owners who embrace attraction markeing today will stand a much better chance of prospering during recession than their competitors will Moore said in a statement today.

Attraction Marketing is the most powerful way for small business to find new clients today as it is in tune with shifting consumer attitudes and the way in which people do business today. Outdated traditional forms of advertising and marketing simply get lost in the clutter and do little to create new clients.

If you are in small business, home based business or are an entrepreneur today then you would be wise to investigate how attraction marketing can greatly impact on your ability to find and attract new clients to you.

For additional information on how you can use Attraction Marketing in your business and for more than $497 in Attraction Marketing information visit the Attraction Marketing Revealed website at http://www.AttractionMarketingRevealed.com

About Profit Minute
Profit Minute specialise in Attraction Marketing systems for small business. They provide Attraction Marketing educational materials, online training, seminars and coaching programs for small business.

Contact:
Rod Moore, Attraction Marketing Specialist
Profit Minute
http://www.ProfitMinute.com

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That’s right … your clients (and prospective clients) hate to be sold. They don’t like to be interrupted by telemarketers at home in the evening, they record TV onto their digital drives and skip the ads when they watch it when it suits them, they are guarded and skeptical of anything you have to say about your products or service (no matter how good they are) and they haven’t got time to review your website, marketing collateral or follow up emails.

They hate to be sold …. BUT … and this is interesting … they still LOVE to BUY!

Think about it … aren’t you like this?

If someone is trying to sell you something and you don’t really need or want it what is your natural reaction? Most of us want to turn and run, right? We hear the voice of our parents from when we are young telling us not to sign anything etc etc.

Contrast this when you have a need or desire for something.

If you have a particular need for some service in your business then what do you do today?

Yes … you probably Google it.

You do some research … you click and flick. That is where you click on the web sites that come up in your search and make a 30 second assessment if you believe that site has what you are looking for and then you give it the flick if it does not.

When you come across that one site that appears to have the right solution to your needs you maybe make contact or research some more.

The point is … today when we have a need or desire we research for a specific solution and are happy to make contact when we believe we find it … and are more than happy to make a positive purchasing decision ie we love to buy.

So how does this apply to your business?

Well if you are still using interruption marketing today and trying to sell your products or services to people who don’t want them then … well good luck for the future! The web is changing everything.

The key to marketing your business in the future is to position yourself as an expert service provider in a specialised niche and gain visibility within that niche.

When your prospective clients go searching for your solution you need to show up.

When they land on your web site you have 30 seconds … the strategy behind your web site will determine if you have any chance of building a relationship in those 30 seconds or not.

You will need to ensure your total marketing strategy facilitates the purchasing process that they buyer wants to follow.

Your marketing strategy needs to make it easy for your prospective clients to say yes to you.

Does your marketing strategy do this …. find out here?

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How To Successfully Sell Your Service

Most small business owners do not consider themselves to be sales people or good at sales. They fear coming across as being pushy and as a result they have no sales strategy or at best an ineffective strategy.

In order to move your service based business to the next level you will need to implement the right sales strategy. Every business is different of course but there are some general rules that apply.

Here are five keys that will help you to improve your sales strategy for your small business:

1/ Only Sell To Those Who Want Your Service

There is little point trying to sell your service to those that do not really want it in the first place. A lot of small business owners spend way to much time trying to sell to a small number of prospects. You are better to spend your time attracting more prospects and only selling to those who indicate they need or want your service.

Sounds obvious yet you would be amazed at how many small business owners just do not have enough prospects entering into their marketing funnel.

Spend less time trying to convince and persuade and spend more time focused on attracting new prospetcs. Its a process of sifting and sorting.

2/ Let Prospects Put their hand up

When you have the right marketing strategy in place you will attract lots of prospects to you. Your next steps is to have the right prospects ie those most likely to use your service, put their hand up and indicate their interest to you.

Here is how we do it at Profit Minute. Our first goal is to attract prospects to us by giving away the free report ’7 Keys To Attracting New Clients’. This allows us to pull prospects to us and have them enter our marketing funnel.

The next step then is to have the right prospects put their hand up and indicate that they could use our Marketing Strategy Coaching to help them grow their business. We do this by offering a complimentary Sales & Marketing Audit which is a 45 minute consultantion over the phone valued at $297. This gives the prospect the opportunity to learn more about what is the right marketing strategy for them, and to find out how they could really accelerate their business by working with us.

Not all of the prospects who request the free report will go on to request the Sales & Marketing audit … those that do though have put their hand up.

3/ Sell in Person

To many small business owners today are trying to have their websites, emails or marketing materials do the selling for them.

This does not work effectively for selling services!

You need to do it in person … either face to face or on the phone.

4/ Add Value in Sales Presentation

You want to make your sales presentation a value added experience for the prospect. In other words do not just try and sell, sell, sell … there is nothing that will make your prospects run faster.

Instead provide a lot of value to the prospect in a way that they sell themselves on using your service.

When we conduct a Sales & Marketing Audit we help our prospects discover for themselves what challenges they have in marketing and what they need to do to improve in that area. As they think it through they begin to come to the conclusion that maybe they should consider using our services.

5/ Help Them Identify Their Go Ahead Reasons

Every prospect has reasons why they would go ahead and use your service.

Your job is not to sell your services to them, but to help them identify what those go ahead reasons might be. You do this by asking lots of questions.

Ask them questions that helps them identify the pain of their current situation.

Ask them questions that helps them imagine the pleasure of achieveing their goals after they work with you and use your services.

Ask them questions that identifys their core values … ie what would be most important to them if they decided to work with you.

Then when you present your services as the solution simply present it in light of what they have identified as most important.

So there are five keys to selling your service. Naturally this is a high level overview and every business will require its own unique sales & marketing strategy. If you are looking to take your small business to the next level then request a complimentary Sales & Marketing Audit today by clicking here.

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Is the furniture removal industry stuck in the old days?

Ok maybe it is not a sexy industry to do a marketing case study on, however they do provide a much needed service and like all small businesses have a need for effective marketing.

Recently my wife and I sold our house. Here in Melbourne the most effective sales method is to use the Auction system. Approximately 95% of homes in our area are sold through Auctions.

The Auction process involves a four week advertising campaign, then the results of the Auction are published. The reason I share this with you is to let you know that for at least four weeks we were advertising the fact that we are about to move to everyone who would take the time to look.

During the four weeks leading up to the Auction we had a grand total of ZERO marketing efforts from removal companies … I was suprised by this being a Marketing consultant and all.

Not a single contact, flyer, letter, phone call or door knock from an overly keen Removalist Sales Person!

Then three days after the sales results were published in the paper it happened.

On the same day we received a total of 9 letters from removalist companies. All on the same day …

Now let me say well done to those 9 companies for making some marketing efforts to win our business. I am sure there are far more companies that made no effort at all.

Here is the challenge, and this challenge is not just for removalist companies. This is a marketing challenge for all small business owners regardless if you are a coach, consultant, professional advisor such as an accountant, lawyer or recruitment agent. The challenges is gaining the ATTENTION of your potential client.

The nine removalist companies all sent nice flyers talking about how long they had been in business, how many vans they have, were they could move us to, how much care they take etc etc.

They all basically said the same things.

Two of them included a tea bag in with their letter which is kind of novel but lacks marketing punch.

All of these flyers came in plain white envelopes addressed to “The home owner”.

Now here is the killer point ….

None of them have contacted us again!

Think about it … here we are busy renovating our new house in another city, both my wife and I run businesses, we have active interests in other areas as well so we are flat out busy.

To busy to analyse, study, research and make a decision on which of the nine (who all sound, look and smell the same) removal companies to contact.

Imagine if just one of them contacted us again … ie followed up … we just might use them

It is interesting to see how similar and ineffective the marketing efforts are within this very narrow industry. It is what I would call the dumbing down of marketing initiative. This is where businesses within an industry all start to copy each others marketing activities until they reach a point where they all look the same and the potential customer has no way of identifying which company to choose.

You see this dumbing down of marketing occuring in many industries such as Real Estate, Accounting, Mortgage Brokers and Financial Planners, Personal Trainers and Life Coaches. They all tend to replicate the marketing of each other.

So what can we learn from this?

Well here are a few thoughts on what these removal companies could have done differently:

* First & Early – The first thing I would do if I was in removals is to make sure that I was the first to market my services to the potential customer. I would be sending my initial marketing peice as soon as the sales campaign started … something along the lines of … hey we see you are selling your home, good luck with the campaign and let us know if we can help.

* Database – I would then follow up within the same week and offer a FREE Report along the lines of ‘How To Maximise The Sales Value Of Your Home’. The report would be available at the website of course and require people to enter their names and phone numbers etc. Who knows … while they are at the site requesting the report they just may look at your removal services.

* Follow Up Prior To Sale – Next Step would be to send a good luck card the week of the Auction with a simple reminder of your services.

* Congratulations – When the property is sold at Auction I would send a letter of congratulations that included a booklet on how to select the right removal company.

* Offer A Quotation – I would then follow up three days later with another letter offering to drop by for 10 minutes and provide a comprehensive no obligation quote. If you can get in the door and meet them, or get them on the phone you will seperate yourself from the rest.

* Have You Decided Letter – Finally I would send a letter about two weeks later along the lines of have you decided yet and if not let us handle it for you.

Now these ideas are straight of the top of my head with no real thought gone into it but I am sure you get the idea, right? Marketing needs to have the right strategy in place. It is a process rather than a single event.

So how can you take these ideas and implement them into your business?

Do you look, feel and smell like all of your competitors? Now I’m sure you think you are unique … but what about your potential customers?

This is one of the reasons why we provide our complimentary Sales & Marketing Audit (Valued at $297) to help small business owners identify where there marketing challenges are and what they can do to attract more clients.

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