The 7 Marketing Strategies That Make All The Difference Part III

Regardless of whether you sell products or services, offline, online, or a combination of both, there are seven strategies which could substantially increase your results providing you apply them to your business!
The first and second strategies have been sent to you already. If you missed them click on the links here which will take you through to them.
Click here to read Stratgey #1
Click here to read Strategy #2
Here’s the 3rd strategy ……
Before people Buy,
They Have To Trust You
Although the recession is over I’m sure most of you would agree that it can still be pretty tough getting new prospects to buy. This is because your prospects are still being careful with their budgets and desperate not to make a mistake by choosing the wrong product or service.
Become a Trusted Advisor to Your Customer
When prospects first come into contact with you, they are always going to pigeon-hole you into just one of the following three categories:
1. ‘Trusted Advisor’
2. ‘Consultant’
3. ‘Salesperson’
Only one of these three has the prospects best interests truly at heart. And it’s this one that can lead to maximum long-term sales and profits.
As soon as your prospect receives your mailing, sales letter, email, advertisement, or phone call, they will immediately (and understandably) put you into category 3. “Salesperson”.
Remember, your prospects naturally have a healthy scepticism about your claims, and a natural resistance to being sold to.
The key to being able to differentiate your company and gain the market’s attention (and custom) is to raise yourself from a ‘Salesperson’ to the ‘Trusted Advisor’ role by POSITIONING your company properly.
Whilst you could position your business as the fastest, the safest, the most creative, most expensive, the most honest and so on, there’s only one positioning that will work for virtually any business in any market…
The answer is to become the recognised expert…
It’s a FACT that prospects nearly always prefer to buy from an industry expert.
Why? Because it’s the safest choice. Your customers will feel that, as an expert, you are the most likely of all their options to deliver on the benefits and promises you are making.
But you can’t just say “We’re the market experts” and expect people to believe you. You have to earn the right to be regarded as their “Trusted Advisor”.
How do you do this?
Well, there are several different ways but one of the very best is to produce a Free Report or Buyer’s Guide. This is much better than offering a free brochure, because reports appear more tailor-made for the prospect, and their content can be on a very specific subject.
A special report is usually a step by step list of guidelines produced by a specialist for the benefit of the reader. The report’s aim is to instruct the reader how to achieve a certain objective successfully, or avoid common mistakes that others have made.
The report should come across as an independent piece of work that relates real-life examples, not theory or concepts. It should never try to sell your company and its solutions, until the very last page. Here you can offer further useful information (another report on a different aspect of your industry is ideal), as well as making a hard offer, if appropriate.
Examples include:
“The five biggest mistakes people make when buying new windows –
And how to avoid them”
“The seven key questions you must ask before buying your new windows –
And the answers to them”
“ A Quick But Essential Guide To Network Preventative Maintenance”
Other tools that can be used to help position you and your business as the true experts, include video profiles, interview transcripts and recordings, webinars, teleseminars, live events, and ‘how-to’ articles published online or via press releases.
Strategy #4 which is all about how to make your marketing messages come alive is coming soon. Look out for it in your inbox.
2 Comments
Eamon John Sheppard
10th December 2015Richard
I have tried to answer this question below and would like you to overview these 5 mistakes that most people make when choosing a window company to do their replacement windows
“The five biggest mistakes people make when buying new windows –
And how to avoid them”
1- Contracting a National company rather than a local family company as National companies tend only to be interested in profits where as smaller family run companies generally have Their customers interests in mind without any gimmicks
2- Being sold to on the night is not always the best option as its pressure selling however with a smaller local family run company they they customers interests at here. They find out what their customer requires and sends them a written quotation along with an emailed quotation within 48 hours.The customer then has plenty of time to decide which company they feel comfortable with
3- Always try to see previous work by the company that you contract to carry out the work for you and make sure you visit their showroom. A Company is only as good as their last job and their installation teams
4- It’s always advisable to get 3-4 quotations at least as they are free and this then gives one a good idea as to the correct price they should be paying for their windows or doors. Do not fall for so called ‘special offers’ as most companies up their rates prior to accommodate for these and then reduce them so getting a good few quotes tends to show one if they are good offers or not
5- Always check out a companies reviews on line and on their websites and if you aren’t able to leave a google review then it may mean that Company has requested that no customer is able to leave one which is not always a good sign
Richard
Can you get back to me to let me know what you think of my answers above I’m not that good at writing and I would like to widen the advice I have given on my falcon windows website as I want to make it more helpful to the general public
Also have you got an email address I can write to you & if so what’s your email or would I have to email your secretary and if so what’s her mil address please?
I am wanting to write relevant specific pages to what we offer our customers to add to our website which I may need help with can you inform me of anyone you recommend that could help me with this that are competitive
I look forward to hearing from you
Eamon
Falcon Windows Ipswich
Richard Lomax
11th December 2015Hi Eamon,
I hope you’re keeping well!
The 5 points you mention above make good sense for a potential buyer to consider. If you are going to present these guidelines in a ‘Buyer’s Guide’ and/or on your web pages, I would consider expanding on each point with some more detail, examples, relevant images, and possibly customer testimonials if they illustrate any specific point.
For example, what does your quotation cover specifically? e.g. removal of old windows, sealing and draft-proofing, guarantee ‘U’ values etc. and show me an image of your quotation so I can see how comprehensive it is.
Please contact sally@common-sense-marketing.com She will be able to provide a quotation for web site copy writing, of for reviewing and improving your first drafts.
Best regards,
Richard