Is Your Compelling Offer Actually Alienating Your Prospects?
Last year when the government was offering its highly touted “cash for clunkers program,” I heard a commercial on the radio for an auto dealership that really brought home a major problem I see small business owners making every day. The car dealer was berating the governments program… saying that by the time the majority of people got qualified and completed the mountain of paperwork needed to complete the transaction, the money allocated for the program would be gone.
The dealer then went on to proclaim that any customer buying from them didn’t need to worry about this situation at their dealership. Instead, they would instantly discount all of their new cars by the same amount the government was offering, so come on in and buy from us today… no hassle, no problems, simple and easy.
Yeah right… if ONLY! Is there anyone remotely alive today that actually believes this garbage? Now granted, this dealer isn’t lying… they will indeed give you the same amount the government is promising… but the way they do it is to discount the car that amount from the “sticker price,” which we all know is already over-inflated by close to that exact same amount they’re offering.
Unfortunately, most people show up expecting this wonderful discount and then realize they are more or less being exposed to a “bait and switch” routine. Ahhh, the auto industry. Is it any wonder why most people would rather go to the dentist for a root canal than visit a dealer showroom?
Are You Making This Same Mistake?
My point is this. Are you doing something similar in your business… perhaps without even realizing it? Do you promise your customers excellent customer service? Most businesses do, don’t they? And then when you try to call them, you get a nightmare handed to you as you try to navigate through a maze of voicemail messages that never mention the problem you’re calling in with… and never allows you the option of speaking to a live human being. Excellent customer service???
What about your offers? Every business no matter what you sell should have at least one compelling offer. So what are many businesses using to entice prospects to “give them a try?”
They offer them a 30 day “free trial for $1.” This allows them to capture your credit card number and billing information. Then at the end of the free trial, they will “automatically” provide you with their product or service on a monthly basis, and charge your credit card automatically so there’s “no hassle” for you whatsoever. And of course, you can “cancel” anytime between enrolling and the thirty day trial period.
That’s a very compelling offer for someone truly interested and qualified in buying what you sell. Unqualified prospects (those who either don’t really want you sell, or can’t afford what you sell) will never take you up on this type of offer. Even for a buck, they simply won’t take their time knowing they aren’t really interested. Good! That’s what this type of offer is designed to do… “pre-qualify” a serious prospect and eliminate the unqualified ones so they don’t eat up your precious time, energy and effort.
So what’s the problem with this type of offer?
Nothing, except for one thing. How many of these offers have you personally subscribed to lately? If you have, did you ever try to “cancel” your trial before the thirty days expired? Good luck!
Many of these types of offers become your worst nightmare when you try to “opt out” of the service. They either make it next to impossible to locate the proper way to unsubscribe by “hiding” it on a landing page smothered in articles and information (think fine print)… or they require you to complete pages of paperwork before they accept the cancellation.
Although these unscrupulous practices are now starting to diminish, the reason for that involves the fact that so many “web shoppers” have had this happen to them, so they no longer subscribe to these types of offers. If you’re using this type of offer for your business, now you know why your “opt in rate” is lower month to month, and will probably continue to decline in the future.
Look over your business processes carefully and see if you spot any deficiencies that may be creating a roadblock stopping your customers from buying what you sell… or interacting with your business in an enjoyable way. In today’s economy, it can mean the difference between surviving… and thriving.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
Do You Have a “Compelling Competitive Advantage” Over Your Competitors?
How to Survive (and Thrive) in a Wal-Mart Dominated World.
With Wal-Mart, Costco and several national chains now getting into traditional small business services, the need to create a strong competitive niche is greater than ever.
And I am not just talking about a new business that wants to decide how they should be positioned to effectively compete. EVERY business must continuously modify their positioning to remain competitive in this turbo-rapidly changing business environment.
In coaching clients in over 200 industries around the world, here are the six situations I find companies in on a regular basis & which defines you best?
Leverage Off Current Compelling Advantages — these are successful businesses that are going slower than desired and/or facing pricing pressures and have an opportunity to greatly increase their business, and potentially own their industry, with the proper repositioning based on what benefits they already provide to clients.
Maxed Out — these are businesses that are primarily one-person shows that must step back and determine how they take their business to the next level. If the success of the business relies just on their talents, they are going to have a tough road to pave.
Need to Reinvent the Business — these are businesses that either are in an industry where profits have eroded or worse, their product or service has become obsolete. Did I hear “China”? or yes, Wal-Mart?
No Established Industry Need — these are businesses that are struggling to sell to an industry that doesn’t perceive the need for, and therefore the value, of the product or service. One could say “ethanol (corn fuel) was there before the rise in oil and the big push to become “green”.
Commodity Business — these are businesses that are in commodity type industries where everybody appears the same and price becomes the main competing method. Unfortunately, there is always some “ignorant” competitor that sells at non-sustainable margins & until they go under (often taking good companies with them).
Communicating Your Message — these are companies with strong products or services that are unique but the message needs to be repackaged so the target audience perceives the value.
Each of these requires that the business first reevaluate their positioning in the market and then build a systematic marketing/sales process to communicate this message effectively, and a supporting business structure to ensure that they can deliver on the new promise.
Know where your business is perceived to be in the market. If you are struggling with selling your product or service, finding your Compelling Competitive Advantage” is the first place to start.
It’s ALL about implementation! So focus on your Compelling Competitive Advantages and prosper.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
The Power of a Meaningful Conversation
One thing I hear often from business owners is that they can generate business IF they can just get in front of the prospect or at least have a “meaningful conversation” with them, they can close business. The key word here is “IF”.
This month’s Implementation Master Interview is with John Carlton, one of the top copywriters in the world (more on him in a separate email). John will share several strategies, and tactics, for getting these meaningful conversations with your prospects.
A Meaningful Conversation is one where you get the opportunity to learn about the prospects needs and share your benefits… in contrast with a quick call where you get the chance to tell what you sell and they say, “not interested”. This can happen via a one on one call or meeting; or by getting the prospect to watch your video or listen to your teleseminar; or even getting them to read your detailed copy. The key again is to have them get clear on what your product or service does for them and how it can benefit them.
In our Sequential Marketing training www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com/public/236.cfm we teach the process of using your Compelling Competitive Advantage™ (USP) to quickly demonstrate superior value. The tool we utilize is a “7 Minute Assessment”. The premise of this tool is to request a small, precise amount of a prospect’s time in order to provide a measureable value (they get value from the call), and to demonstrate how your product can benefit them.
In doing this you breakdown the objection of “time” (just 7 minutes versus 30+), of being “sold” (you are not selling but instead establishing value), and value for their time (you are sharing 1-2 valuable pieces of information with them).
In this challenging economy, where competition is fierce, finding a way to stand out and differentiate yourself is key… and the 7 Minute Assessment is a great tool to achieve this outcome.
I will be building on this month’s theme of getting “Meaningful Conversations” with your prospects each week. In the meantime, think about how you can shorten your sales approach using a “7 Minute Assessment” or introduction, or demonstration.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
Live from StomperNet on Stage
Just recently spoke at StomperNet, Brad Fallon’s and Andy Jenkins Event.
Watch this Stomper Net video of me live from stage.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
How to Slash Your Marketing Cost and Increase Your Conversion Rate
Are You Laser Marketing™?
Marketing efficiently is becoming increasingly difficult as prospects are overwhelmed with more and more marketing messages daily. In fact, we have a client that needs to spend $45 a click on Google in order to secure the top paid listing spot!
In the past I have talked about the need to clearly understand what your marketing acquisition costs are for each medium/channel you generate leads from. Today I want to discuss the importance of using a Laser Marketing approach to not just cut cost, but also to dramatically increase your marketing effectiveness.
The key today is to Laser Market. What does that mean? It means zooming in on your best target prospects and devoting all of your resources into converting them into clients, customers or patients.
The full Laser Marketing System™ consists of 6 Processes for Obtaining New, Lifetime Customers Efficiently:
1. Invest your marketing efforts and capital on exclusively marketing to your targeted, qualified prospect.
And then…
2. Powerfully compelling these targeted prospects to purchase or at least try the product or service you provide.
And then…
3. Use The Powers of Persistence and Education to get them to appreciate the benefits you provide (deploying the marketing tools we discussed above).
And then…
4. Employ our Customer Commitment Mindset skills to convert these hot prospects into Lifetime Customers.
And then…
5. Leverage off these “new customers” to generate other new customers through a referral program.
And then…
6. Expand these new customer’s buying patterns through up-selling and cross selling, conditioning them to purchase more often, and introducing them to your strategic endorsement partner’s products and services.
For today’s Tip I am going to focus on Process #1
Marketing to Your “PinPoint” Targeted Prospects Exclusively
The foundation of Laser Marketing is the realization that you can be far more effective reaching your targeted prospects with multiple repetitions than you can on looking for the diamonds in the rough.
If you allocate $20,000 per year as a marketing budget, and spread this among the 20,000 households or businesses in your service area, then you have only $1.00 per year to spend per household. But if you can identify the 10% of the households or businesses that use your product or service, then you increase your budget per household by 900%. And if you knew the 1% who were in the market to switch providers, you could increase your per prospect investment by 9,000%.
Pinpointing your target prospects goes beyond just the simple question of your marketing investment. If you can pinpoint the prospects that use your products or service, then you can produce far more focused advertising and promotional programs and offer far more compelling inducements to motivate these potential lifetime customers to take the first step.
For example, if a dentist knew which families were new to the area, and therefore needed to find a dentist, she could easily justify providing a “Free first dental visit” – since the likelihood that they will remain a customer are very high. In contrast, she would get overwhelmed with families that would take advantage of her offer, with no intent of coming back, if she made such an offer to the general public (mass marketing).
ACTION YOU CAN TAKE NOW
So how do you find your Pinpoint Target Prospects?
Well, before you can answer this question, you need to get clear on who your targeted prospects are.
What crucial factors do you know about the buying habits and personal interest of your prospects?
What do they purchase prior to purchasing your product or service?
What related products and services do they purchase?
What are their key demographics? High or low income, teenagers or elderly, blue collar or white collar workers, health oriented or sedentary?
What are their interests or hobbies?
What publication do they read?
One technique for determining your target prospects is to take a look at your existing clients. If you know what the profile of your best clients are, then you can use this to go after similar prospects.
Typically this involves analyzing your top 5-10% of your customers to see what the common links might be. As an example, if you sell to doctor’s offices, your evaluation might reveal that ones with 3-5 doctors are the best customers. And further that ENT doctors order 50% more than family practice doctors, and further that high income area ENT’s order both alternative care products as well as traditional products.
So, this example would suggest focusing on ENT doctors where family incomes exceed $75,000.
Other elements to profile might include the industry, business types, size of business, geography, niche served, etc.
Midwest Design is a premier landscape design firm that was marketing to higher-end homeowners and all businesses that might do landscaping. Upon evaluating their database, they found that 80% of their revenue came from commercial developers. Further analysis revealed that these developers fell into 8-10 groups and that two of these groups represented clients that had generated significant repeat business as opposed to one-time jobs. In fact, the lifetime value of the repeat client was 709% higher than the one time purchaser, and they represent 78% of his revenue.
I will be sharing each of the 6 Processes of the Laser Marketing System™ in the near future. But for now, let’s get you to identify your Pinpoint Target Prospects™ so you can redeploy your marketing efforts to win them as customers and stop wasting money reaching unprofitable “poor” prospects.
Small Business Growth Club Member Access
Members: If you are a member, then you can immediately access the 4 Part Compelling Competitive Advantage Execution Series by going to
http://www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com/members/135.cfm
This includes the detailed, step by step process to creating all 6 processes of the Laser Marketing System™.
Non-Members
Visit us at www.SmallBusinessGrowthClub.com and take the tour.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
What’s Your Compelling Competitive Advantage?
In a challenging economy it is critical to differentiate your business from your competitors. Fail to do so and you are certain to face fierce pricing pressure, and even then still struggle to win sales.
Many industries face brutal competitive environments these days. The entire real estate, mortgage, and construction industries are just a few of these. Yet, over 5M homes will still be sold this year! This means there is massive opportunity for those that can clearly create and communicate their Compelling Competitive Advantage to the market in order to win a larger share of the market.
So what is a Compelling Competitive Advantage? It is a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) on Steroids. It involves creating a new strategic position in the market place and then making changes to the way business is conducted so that you are the only logical choice. We call that a Supporting Business Model. This “Model” is the key to enabling you to make, and deliver upon, an outrageous offer that your competitors cannot match. My friend Brad Fallon calls this a “Mafia Offer”.
The Domino Lesson
Years ago Domino’s Pizza did just that. They not only had a great USP, “Pizza Delivered in 30 Minutes or Less or It’s Free” but they also created a powerful, extremely difficult to duplicate, Supporting Business Model. They had inexpensive, plain vanilla locations that were located near their target market (colleges) and a sophisticated delivery system to ensure they could “walk their talk”. Their competitors… well there really weren’t any after they changed the rules, could not duplicate Domino’s offer.
So while your competitors are resorting to discounting away all their profits, you can develop a Compelling Competitive Advantage that blows them away, and lets you profit like crazy.
5 Steps to Creating a Compelling Competitive Advantage
Process #1 – Determining your Strategic Position in the Market
What special niche or segment of the marketplace should your business focus on? Determining this involves combining the skills your business has with the unmet needs of your targeted prospects and then designing your product or service to fulfill these needs.
To review, Domino’s Pizzas Strategic Position was “Busy college kids that wanted food fast.”
Applying this to the Realtor, they need to get clear on what their target buyer/seller needs… Today a buyer is looking for a great deal, and certainty that they are not making a mistake. A savvy realtor could create a system for providing a service that made the buyer feel “certain” they are making an informed, good buying decision (we created a system like this for a client).
Process #2 – Determining your Primary Competitive Advantage(s)
This is the most compelling advantage that differentiates you from your competitors. Your Primary Competitive Advantage can also be your Strategic Position.
Domino’s used, “Delivery in 30 minutes or less or it’s FREE!” This was the primary advantage that met the needs of their newly defined market position – the busy college kids that wanted food fast.
Process #3 – Determining Your Supporting Business Model
How will you specifically deliver what your Strategic Positioning and Primary Competitive Advantage(s) promise so that it meets the needs of your customers and is difficult to duplicate?
Domino’s built a supporting business model that enabled them to consistently provide their promised primary advantage – delivery within 30 minutes.
Process #4 – Determining Your Secondary Competitive Advantages
That is, what other competitive advantages does your business offer that your customers perceive as different from the competition?
Domino’s Pizzas secondary benefits might include favorable pricing, extra large sizes and broader selection of toppings.
Process #5 – Creating Your Compelling Competitive Advantage Statement
This is accomplished by combining processes 1-4. This simple 2-3 line statement will identify your differences to your targeted prospects and customers.
Domino’s Pizzas Compelling Competitive Advantage is really summed up in its slogan (something few companies can achieve) – “Delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free”.
ACTION YOU CAN TAKE NOW
Creating this takes work, and is a bit complex. To help you effectively execute on this powerful Speed to Growth™ principle, see resources below to give you all the help you need to dominate your market.
Take a few minutes to evaluate your customer’s needs… in this market.
Then identify ways you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and meet these needs.
Then evaluate your business to determine if you have the ability to meet these needs in a way that is not easily duplicated by your competitors.
AND…
Small Business Growth Club Member Access
Members: If you are a member then you can immediately access the 4 Part Compelling Competitive Advantage Execution Series by going to http://www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com/members/404.cfm
This includes the detailed, step by step process to creating all 5 Steps of your Compelling Competitive Advantage (5 hours of training). Start with Part 1 and then listen to the Advanced Training (with my $37,000-$67,000 private clients) at the bottom of the download page and then proceed to Part 2. We cover 7 different business situations to help you (from dead industries, to overly competitive ones… start up to seasoned businesses).
Non-Members
Visit us at www.SmallBusinessGrowthClub.com and take the tour.
