 How
To Boost Your Sales And Make More Money In 2006
Why do so many entrepreneurial ventures fail or never achieve their true potential? Well, according to research, ineffective marketing plays a deadly role. No consistent system for acquiring new customers, generating repeat business or getting a steady flow of referrals are all killers.
Most people who decide to launch their own business usually have strong technical skills, or believe they have a good product. They are very good at their profession, but they probably have no formal training in marketing or sales. Too many business owners mistakenly believe that their technical skills or product alone will make their business a long-term success.
In
order to operate a successful long-term business you
must have a combination of a good product or
service that people want or need and an effective marketing
plan. Unfortunately most small business marketing consists
of hap-hazard, inconsistent activities. A last minute
rush to place a print ad, the odd networking event or
a few phone calls is the norm. This usually ends up
in wasted time, money, effort and endless frustration.
Not to mention no cash in your bank account.
You are probably so busy doing the day to day tasks of operating your business, you never take the time to develop effective marketing and sales strategies. I strongly recommend that you sit down early in the New Year and take the time to develop your marketing plan for 2006. A few hours of planning will save you a lot of grief, money and wasted effort. As the saying goes “those who don’t plan are planning to fail”.
Want to jumpstart your sales for the New Year? Then follow these eight easy steps that have been tested and proven to work again and again.
1.
Clearly define your target market –
If you try to sell to everyone, you’will end up selling
to very few.
2. Develop your core marketing message – The unique benefit or value that you offer that makes your business different for your competitors.
3. Implement multiple (10) lead or prospect generation systems – How do you get your target market to contact you instead of you chasing after them.
4. Put a process in place to convert your leads into paying customers – When your lead generation system is successful, how are you going to convince your prospects to lay down their hard earned cash? Follow-up! Follow-up! Follow-up!
5. Adopt a strategy of education based marketing – Make sure all your marketing activities and materials are developed, written and designed in a way that will educate, and inform your target market on how to solve their challenges and problems.
6. Set specific measurable, trackable marketing and sales goals – For example, 10 new leads from your web site a month, 5 referrals a month from your current clients, 15 new customers in 8 weeks or 10 % increase in your gross sales. If you’re not setting goals or tracking the results of your marketing activities, then you are probably wasting 80% of your marketing dollars. Marketing is an investment in your business so you have to track and measure your activities to make sure you’re getting a return on your investment.
7. Develop a yearly marketing calendar – It’s a to-do list of all your planned marketing activities with implementation dates, a budget and expected results. Your marketing calendar will help you stay focused and organized.
8.
Execution! Execution! – This is where
a lot of businesses fail miserably. At the beginning
of every New Year pledges
are made to do a better job at marketing and sales.
But as everyone gets busy doing
their day to day tasks, most businesses never get around
to writing down their marketing plans. If
you’re really serious about improving your sales in
2006 you must develop your written plan and take daily
action steps to make sure you execute all your steps.
When you follow these 8 tips I guarantee you that you
will have an outstanding year of business. Develop your
marketing plan and take daily steps to implement it.
Author:
Kevin Toney is “The Marketing Coach”. Kevin
coaches small businesses on how to increase their sales
by attracting more clients/customers, increasing their
repeat business and generating more referrals. Call
204-783-6342 for a Free over the phone Coaching Session
where you can get solutions to your marketing challenges
and issues. Go to his web site to subscribe to his Free
Marketing Newsletter and you will receive free monthly
marketing tips and advice.
Email:
TheMarketingCoach@Primetimepromotions.ca
Story update:
For those
of you who read my article on the Unicity
taxi incident, the poll results were overwhelmingly
in favour of the passenger getting a full refund. Thanks
to everyone who participated in the poll. Oh! by the
way, Unicity finally gave the passenger a refund, but
it was too little , too late the damage was done.
Visit
my web site to listen to an audio report 5 Marketing
Mistakes That Will Kill Your Business.
CLICK
HERE
Looking
to improve your sales ? I can help you make your marketing
more effective, affordable and targeted. Find
out if your marketing is as effective as it could
be. Do a quick and easy Marketing Check-up.
CLICK
HERE
JUST
FOR LAUGHS
Increasing Sales With Effective, Low-Cost, Targeted Marketing
204-783-6342
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