www.internetknowledgesolutions.com Learn how Chicago Custom Clothiers can get more new local customers via a combined internet marketing strategy that blends Google Places with Facebook Social Media Marketing to get more new local customers for men’s custom tailored suits by out-marketing other Chicago custom clothiers.
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Article by Gardner Wilkinson
You have tried all the selling tactics-cold calls, customer surveys, questionnaires-that used to work even a few years back. Yet the growth seems to have reached a plateau and you are wondering how to get the sales graph to peak again. You are not alone. Every business around is working to understand how to make sense of the present business climate and get the most out of their sales strategies. As companies try to adapt their sales models to suit the changing times, here’s the main reason the old tactics won’t work as well as they used to:
The customer is king.
Previously there were few players in the market. So customers accepted what they got. Today, with the influx of players big and small, customers have become more demanding and want greater value for their money.
Today’s customers are accustomed to sharing information online. They want to know what their favorite brands or companies are doing. They want to be more involved, and social networks create those opportunities. It is a good idea to have a presence in platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, and get your customers to engage through the new media.
Harness the customer’s values, not their needs, in your sales strategies. Ultimately, buying is a psychological decision, and needs do not impact customers so much so as when you can match your product to their values. How you find their values is through the oldest route: Listening. Listen to their conversations, online and off. Find out what engages, drives them, and incorporate those values in your sales pitches.
Here are 5 steps that you could take to orient your business to a more values-based sales model:
1. Create products that make a genuine impact in the lives of your customers.
2. Share more information with your customers, be more transparent.
3. Adopt new media such as social networking platforms.
4. Involve customers increasingly in the processes of the company (for example, if you are a maker of branded chips, you could ask them to participate in thinking of a new flavor for the chips).
5. Find out what customers really want, and incorporate those findings into your sales pitches.
So, this gives a brief account of why what got you here won’t get you there – 5 steps to a more values-based sales model. Use this as a tool to boost your sales in the present economy.
About the Author
Sales training – As you increasingly find out why what got you here won’t get you there – 5 steps to a more values-based sales model could help you turn around your business. Opt for the productivity training and professional guidance offered by The Sales Coaching Institute to help make the transition easier.
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Article by Rashi Lally
Determining whether or not your Affiliated Article marketing campaign is working for you is a very important part of the advertising process. This is so important because while there is a great deal of Article marketing which can be done without a great deal of expense, other types of Article marketing do have financial costs associated with them. Also, in both cases there is a time and energy burden to orchestrating the Article marketing. For all of these reasons it is important for business owners to continuously evaluate their marketing techniques and strategies to determine what is working and what is not. This will help the business owner to focus his efforts on marketing strategies which are providing positive results as opposed to those which are either not providing results or are only providing lackluster results. This article will examine a few different marketing strategies as well as how business owners can evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.
Article Affiliate marketing is certainly one of the most cost effective online marketing strategies available. This marketing strategy involves having other website owners known as affiliates post an advertisement on their websites to direct Article traffic to your website. This marketing strategy is cost effective because in most cases the affiliate is only paid when he produces a desired result such as enticing an Article user to click through the advertisement or to purchase a product or service once they click through the ad. While the business owner is only paying for the advertisement when it produces a desired effect, it is still worthwhile to evaluate the effectiveness of these ads to determine whether or not they are working well.
Fortunately affiliate marketing ads have a natural feedback mechanism which makes it easy to evaluate how well the ad is working. This feedback is provided in the form of code imbedded in the advertisement which specifies which affiliate generated the website visitors. This information is provided for the purposes of issuing payment to the affiliate but it can also provide the business owner with useful information on which affiliate ads are the most effective. This information is especially useful when the affiliates are posting different ads. The business owner may conclude the ads posted by the more successful affiliates are more appealing to potential customers and may opt to use this style of ad for all of their affiliates.
Business owners who use Article marketing strategies such as posting on message boards to promote their business might want to consider asking customers to complete a short survey when making a purchase. This survey can include useful demographic information which is always helpful for marketing as well as information regarding where the customer learned of the products or services you offer. Including the message board web address as one of the responses will give you a good indication of whether or not the message boards are helping to drive customers to your website. You may also have some unofficial feedback in terms of the response to your postings on the message board. If the general consensus is in support of your posts, you may infer you are generating some interest in your business or website through this tactic.
Finally, an Article marketing strategy can be evaluated by studying website traffic results as well as sales receipts. Anytime you implement a new Article marketing strategy or technique it is worthwhile to study your website traffic reports and sales receipts carefully to determine whether or not there is a spike in either traffic or sales immediately after the marketing effort. For example, if you send out an e-newsletter to those who have requested additional information about your products or services, you may notice there is an increase in traffic or sales soon afterwards. This is a good indication the e-newsletter was well received and effective. However, if there is not a marked increase in traffic or sales subsequent to the e-newsletter it indicates the marketing effort was not effective.
About the Author
For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:-www.article-promotion-course.comwww.articlemarketing.reprintarticlesite.com
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Article by Fiona Walsh
Mention the word brand and all kinds of companies leap to mind – Nike, Starbucks, BMW, Gap and Coke to name just a few. Branding has become very popular in business. Just about every business owner I have met over the last few months speaks about their branding strategy and the importance of brand to their success. But what is branding exactly?
One of my favourite definitions comes from Catherine Worrall, owner and creative director of Ideastream Design (www.ideastreamdesign.com), an award-winning brand strategy firm in Vancouver.
She says, “Brand is the conversation people have about you when you are not in the room. It is what people think and feel when they hear your company name or see your product. Where a company, product or service has a recognized brand, it creates visibility, credibility and profitability.”
A lot of people think that branding is only for the big corporate players with huge budgets to spend. Not so. Lots of companies start building significant brands when they are just starting out. The Great Little Box Company and Men in Kilts Home Services are two that come to mind; both these companies paid significant attention to their brand from the time they started business.
Jane Langton, a realtor with Prudential Sussex Realty (www.janesellshomes.ca ), says that she branded her business shortly after she started her real estate career. “I wanted to create an image that described my business and created easy recognition. I did this to set myself apart from everyone else in the market. It keeps me top of mind with my customers and has been a great marketing tool for attracting new business.”
Ideastream Design has created successful brand strategies for all sizes of companies from start-up to multi-million dollar enterprises and Catherine says a solid branding strategy is fundamental for sales success.
“If you open a retail store, you would never consider not having a sign out front to catch the attention of people and to announce your presence. Operating a company without a strong corporate brand or product brand is exactly like doing that.” Branding doesn’t do the selling for you and won’t fix your sales challenges directly, but a strong brand will impact your sales by:
• Allowing you to ask a higher selling price. By being branded you are not a commodity any more and research shows that many customers will pay six to 12 percent more for branded goods and services
• Shorten your sales cycle. Branding creates an image in the buyers’ mind that helps them make a buying decision.
• Successful branding drives word of mouth in the market which means your marketing dollars go further. Third-party endorsements are the most valuable marketing tool.
• Increasing customer loyalty. Loyal customers are like money in the bank; it costs a lot more to find new customers than it does to keep existing ones.
Catherine finished up our conversation by outlining three key things to consider whenever you are building a brand or rebranding:
1. Define who you are.
What is the purpose of your company, product or service? What is your corporate personality? What do you promise to deliver? What do you stand for?
2. Stand out.
What differentiates you from the competition? What is unique about you that customers will respond to? What need do you provide a solution for?
3. Be clear on who wants what you have.
A successful brand creates a relationship with its customers. What is important to your customers? What motivates them to buy? Know who your best customer is and put your focus there – don’t try to please everyone.
Good branding is not about spending pots of money – it is about getting clear on what you sell and who you sell to. Developing a strong brand is good sales strategy. It goes a long way to establishing trust and credibility with your customer.
© 2009 FM Walsh & Associates Inc.
About the Author
A featured speaker, columnist and part of the Ghost CEO business coaching team, Fiona Walsh is an expert on growing profitable business quickly. Tired of seeing business owners work too many hours for too little money, she is passionate about taking the guesswork out of business development. Check out http://www.fmwalsh.com and http://www.ghostceo.com for more business tips.
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Related Sales Strategy Articles
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Article by Ben Frank Jr.
Here are 5 easy ways to make more sales with your home marketing business. Simple sales tactics that work.
1. The “Past Purchase” Strategy
The “you can qualify for a discount if you bought one of my products in the past…” strategy tells your prospects they can save so much money on your new product if they have been a loyal customer. You could just have them e-mail their past receipt to you. You could even allow people to get a discount if they have ordered through one of your affiliate links in the past.
2. The “Control Panel” Strategy
The “do it all from one location…” strategy tells your prospects that they can access, use, or control your product from one place. People don’t like to use a product that requires them to relocate or move to different locations to gain their desired benefit. That’s why remote controls, control panels, keyboards, cell phones and other helpful tools were invented.
3. The “Funny” Strategy
The “they all used to laugh at me until I discovered (your product’s name)…” strategy tells your prospects that people made fun of your negative situation until you found or invented the right product. You can tell them it worked so well you decided to start selling it to help other people that have been laughed at too.
4. The “Not All Here” Strategy
The “I wanted to decrease the load time of this site so not all these (bonuses or benefits) are listed here…” strategy tells your prospects that there are a ton more incentives for buying your product but you didn’t have room to show them all.
5. The “Hide And Seek” Strategy
The “I don’t hide behind an e-mail…” strategy tells your prospects that they can also call your personal phone or cell phone number. People will like that you are only a phone call away in case they need some quick support. You can tell them that if you’re not there, your friendly, certified assistant will be there to help them.
No matter what you market and sell in your home business, whether it be your own information products or affiliate products, you can sell more and earn bigger income checks if you apply these and other internet marketing and sales strategies.
About the Author
Starting a home business? You must take a look at the Internet Home Business Advantage website, as well as visit the Home Business Blog
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Article by William Lee
The question probably does come up every now and again in a lot of businesses as to which aspect of the organization is more important, the sales strategy, or the marketing strategy. The politically correct answer when dealing with the people in these departments is that both are of equal importance. But that’s not always the case.
What Type Of Business Are You In?
Depending on the type of business you are in, the entire organization might skew more towards sales or more towards marketing, just based on the nature of the market you are in. In my previous job at an FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company, it was becoming more and more sales oriented, as costs were slowly going up, hence volume sales needed to move up to keep shareholders happy.
If you have a product which is already available in the market such as selling cars, but you intend to sell luxury cars, then marketing may be more important to you than sales. When I say this I don’t mean that you don’t need to sell any cars, but that branding your product may be actually more important to your needs.
You will need to figure out what is the best way of mixing your sales and marketing strategy to suit your market’s and products’ needs.
What Are You Better At?
Another thing to consider is what skill are you better at? For one man or small businesses, the sales and marketing strategy may actually be carried out by the owner him/her self.
Some people are great sales men whereas others are great at marketing their product and branding. You should play to your skills yet still try and maintain some sort of balance between the two.
I heard of a story once about a credit card salesman, who worked for bank A. While showing one of his interns around, he went to a rival bank, bank B and asked to see the bank manager. Once meeting him, this brave salesman asked if the manager would like a credit card from bank A instead of bank B. The manager was furious and shouted at him to get out of his bank, yet he persisted asking him if he would like a credit card. In the end, the manager agreed to at least give his business card to the salesman as long as he left the bank.
The salesman then went downstairs and sold bank A’s credit cards to some of bank B’s teller staff.
So if you’re good at selling, use the skill to your advantage.
How Is The Market Behaving?
Your must also carefully keep an eye on how your industry as a whole is acting. Trends come and go and it is during these times where you may have to switch your plans from marketing to sales oriented to keep up with the competition. The best example of this is when your whole country or state is having a ‘mega sale’, this might be a good time to switch to discounting and a strong sales oriented approach, albeit for the short term.
Carefully considering what are your needs, strengths and conditions of your industry environment are a great way of telling if your business should be marketing, or sales skewed. But the most important thing is having a quality product/service to sell otherwise neither strategy will work in the long run.
About the Author
William Lee gives business advice and tips to those who wish to know how to start a business, but just never knew where to look.
This article is copyrighted, all rights reserved, and it may be used only if kept entirely intact with the author’s name and URL. http://xanydude.blogspot.com
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Article by Ben Frank Jr.
Your home based business and internet income streams are going to grow and thrive as you learn how to become a more effective marketer. Here are some secret sales strategies that can boost conversions and profits in just about any home business niche.
1. The “How Did You Feel?” Strategy
The “have you ever missed (a big sale, a valuable opportunity, etc.)?…” strategy tells your prospects to actually mentally answer the question and think back in time. They will likely feel it felt bad and how it affected their life negatively. Now, when you present your special product offer, they will think twice about passing it up.
2. The “Perfect Timing” Strategy
The “(a year, a month, a day or a full date) is the best time to (your product’s benefit)…” strategy tells your prospects to read more and see why it’s the perfect time to gain their desired benefit. It could be because you’re having a sale right now, you just released a new and improved version of your product, your offer of a free trial, you’re offering an easy payment plan, etc.
3. The “Don’t Be Scared” Strategy
The “stop being afraid and live the kind of life you deserve…” strategy tells your prospects that fear is holding them back from improving their life, solving their problems and reaching their goals. You can tell them it’s natural to be afraid of failing but not to let that stop them. You can tell them even you were scared at first but taking that risk really paid off.
4. The “Automatic Transmission” Strategy
The “it’s time you put your (a subject related to your product) on autopilot…” strategy tells your prospects they need to quit trying to gain their desired benefit manually. You can tell them that it’s hard work, takes up more of their free time or more expensive in the long run. You could use phrases like: it will work by itself, never mess with it again, etc.
5. The “Reverse Psychology” Strategy
The “if you want to buy this product because it (your product’s benefits/features), don’t…” strategy tells your prospects one of your benefits but with a little dose of child psychology. It gives you a chance to repeat one of your stronger product benefits and makes them want to buy it because you told them not too. People don’t like to be told what they can and cannot do.
Your home based business and internet income streams are going to grow and thrive as you learn how to become a more effective marketer. The are some secret sales strategies that can boost conversions and profits in just about any home business niche.
About the Author
Starting a home business or want to make money online? You must take a look at the Internet Home Business Advantage website, as well as visit the Passive Income Pro
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Article by Ben Frank Jr.
No hype here, just some terrific marketing techniques that can lead to higher sales conversions of your web site traffic and sales leads. Simply put, here are some profit strategies for marketers.
1. The “Call Me” Strategy: The “can you call me tomorrow?…” strategy tells your prospects that your message could be personal and they will read or listen to it quicker. You could just be referring to your free teleconference you’ll be holding. You can just invite them and give them a persuasive reason to register for the call.
2. The “If Your Anything Like” Strategy: The “if you’re like me, I’m too lazy, busy and tired to (your product’s benefit)…” strategy tells your prospects that you feel the same way they do when it comes to improving their life. You can explain to them how your product will gain their desired benefit with little or no effort from them.
3. The “O.T.O. Buzz” Strategy: The “check out the testimonials of our O.T.O. (one time offer)…” strategy tells your prospects on your first web page they will see a O.T.O. (one time offer) on your second page. By showing them testimonials before they see your ad, they will want to see what all the fuss is about.
4. The “You Won’t Believe” Strategy: The “I didn’t believe it, and I know you won’t either…” strategy tells your prospects that you know they won’t believe your product’s claims because when you first saw the product’s ad, you didn’t either. This will eliminate them not believing your product claims because you already brought it up and they may want to prove you wrong.
5. The “Years Into Minutes” Strategy: The “what took us X(months/years) to develop you can have in minutes…” strategy tells your prospects that it would take them months or years if they tried to gain their desired benefit by themselves. Most people want to save time and would opt for the ‘few minutes’ idea.
Website traffic is not easy to come by for most marketers, so don’t allow your website traffic go to waste. Make the most out of your internet marketing simply by using proven sales strategies like the ones above. Check my other articles to learn dozens of additional sales tricks, and my links below point to free guides that teach you to build unlimited free web site traffic.
About the Author
Learn Many Strategies for Massive Free Website Traffic at Web Site Traffic Generation and visit the Website Traffic Blog
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Article by Ben Frank Jr.
In marketing and business, it is often the small changes that make the biggest differences. Often times a marketer can greatly enhance their results simply by applying a new marketing or sales strategies. Try out these 5 to see how they work for you.
1. The “Prove Me Wrong” Strategy
The “my ($ ) challenge to you…” strategy tells your prospects that they can actually make money investing in your product if they can prove you wrong. You can dare them to find another similar product that has an even lower percentage of the benefits or features that your product offers or you’ll give them a check for a certain amount. The check could be a little over what they paid for your product. So it’s like they are getting a refund and making a little extra money at the same time too. You better be sure about your product and do some research though or you could stand to lose a lot of money.
2. The “To My Knowledge” Strategy
The “to my knowledge, no other business has ever offered…” strategy tells your prospects that you’re almost positive that no other business in your niche has ever given the same offer or product benefit as you. It’s a huge world and Internet marketplace so you can never be absolutely sure. It could be that you offer an incontestable guarantee, a larger amount of bonuses, a bigger amount of testimonials, a price as low as yours, etc.
3. The “Disturbing Pics” Strategy
The “warning: this web site may contain pictures that are disturbing to some people…” strategy tells your prospects the only way they can figure out if they are the “some people” is to view them. They will have to decide for themselves. You want the pictures, graphics, artwork, videos or screenshots to be something that will convince them to order. Some persuasive but disturbing visuals could be medical/health-related before and after pictures, what you used to make and what you make now, you smashing up your competition’s product, the result of a mistake you made, etc.
4. The “Urgent Action Bonus” Strategy
The “check out your fast action bonus below…” strategy tells your prospects that if they order quick enough, they will get an extra bonus on top of your other bonuses. You could also give them a short, salivating hint about what the bonus will be about too. It will make it more enticing for them to scroll down your page and see all the details about it. That one urgency-creating bonus alone could be the difference between a sale and no thanks.
5. The “Shareware Tip” Strategy
The “this is a shareware tip, tell others about it below…” strategy tells your prospects that they could use your refer-some-friends form to refer other people they know who would be interested in the tip to your web site. But instead of just having them come to a normal web site, you could include the tip and referral system right at the top, in the middle or at the end of your sales letter. Just have the tip relate to your product and sales letter offer.
In marketing and business, it is often the small changes that make the biggest differences. Often times a marketer can greatly enhance their results simply by applying a new marketing or sales strategies. Try out these 5 to see how they work for you.
About the Author
Are you an internet entrepreneur? Take a look at loads of free resources for business and wealth building at the Wealthy Internet Entrepreneur and Master FREE internet marketing at Website Traffic Generation
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Article by Ben Frank Jr.
The more you know about marketing, promotion, and sales, the better your results will be as internet business entrepreneur. Here are some of my favorite marketing strategies for boosting sales and profits using the Web.
1. The “Work With Me” Strategy
The “have a chance to work directly with me…” strategy tells your prospects that they can actually be chosen as one of your apprentices on some of your next couple of product launches if they purchase your product. You can say they can apply at your thank you page. You just need to list all the details of the work you will outsource to them: how you will train them, how many hours a day they need to have free, how much they could potentially make, etc. You can tell them that only paid customers will get this opportunity because you want to know if they are serious and you want them to be familiar with your products.
2. The “Older Is Better” Strategy
The “you will get a time-tested way to (your product’s benefit)…” strategy tells your prospects that your product is based on classic, proven strategies to help them reach their ultimate goal. You could also use words like: oldest, treasured, old-fashioned, etc. Many people think that the old ways of doing things work better.
3. The “Use Of Force” Strategy
The “we forcefully made them spill their guts…” strategy tells your prospects that you made some experts give you some information against their will that will help them improve their life. It could now be in the form of an e-book, audio or video. You could use sayings like: we locked them in a room, held a gun to their heads, bribed them, blackmailed them, tortured them, tied them up, hung them from the ceiling, forcefully interrogated them, etc. All those types of saying would grab your prospects’ attention because (some are illegal actions of course) they are rarely used when trying to sell a product. Of course you need tell them that no-one was really hurt or harmed and your ad was presented figuratively.
4. The “They All Made Mistakes” Strategy
The “you will learn from their mistakes and disasters…” strategy tells your prospects that you got a bunch of experts together and asked them about the big mistakes they made while trying to reach their goals. This would work well if it’s an information product. People are very interested in other people’s failures for two reasons – they don’t want it to happen to them and it will make them feel better and braver knowing they reached their goal, even though they made some mistakes.
5. The “Helped Them All” Strategy
The “this web site has helped (no.) (your product’s benefit)…” strategy tells your prospects that they could be one of those people if they purchase your product. Tell them to imagine what they could be doing right if they were already one of those people. Tell them you know one thing for sure – they wouldn’t be reading this ad right now. It could also be the number of people who visited your web site and read your helpful content.
The more you know about marketing, promotion, and sales, the better your results will be as internet business entrepreneur. These are some of my favorite marketing strategies for boosting sales and profits using the Web.
About the Author
Are you an internet entrepreneur? Take a look at loads of free resources for business and wealth building at the Wealthy Internet Entrepreneur and Master FREE internet marketing at Website Traffic Generation
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