If you want to improve your marketing, boost sales and increase the profitability of your business; you need to understand and use the power of questions!
In marketing – questions are like gold dust because…
The questions you ask determine the answers you get!
The answers you get determine the actions you take!
The actions you take generate either success or failure.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
Bob is struggling to win new clients for his business. The mailshots he has always relied on to generate his sales leads, have slowly become less and less effective. With very few leads, Bob is now making very few sales. So, Bob asks himself this question;
“What can I do, to make my mailshots more effective, so they generate more leads?”
The kind of answers Bob can expect might include:
“I could make a more attractive offer in the letter.”
“I could get my letters written my a professional marketing copy writer.”
“I could use a better mailing list.”
These are not bad answers – but they are answers to the WRONG question!
Bob’s problem is not the success of his mailshots! His problem is the number of sales he is making!
Bob should have asked himself a question like;
“How can I achieve a massive increase in sales and profits?”
This kind of question would lead to far more valuable answers, like;
“I could stop mailing 500 companies a month using the post and mail 100,000 companies a month instead using email. The savings will be massive – making the cost of each sale dramatically lower and my profits far higher!”
“I could advertise my widgets in ‘The Widget Gazette’ and get my sales message in front of 200,000 widget buyers next week!”
“I could start attracting leads using pay-per-click advertising on Google / Yahoo etc!”
“I could get my widget website fully Search Engine Optimised and use an SEO company that will work on a commission basis!”
“I could do an endorsed mailing with another company; where they recommend my widgets to their clients – the results can be stunning and the cost-per-sale is very low, increasing my profits!”
The marketing power of questions
There are an almost limitless number of GREAT answers to the second, more effective question! Each answer has the potential to solve Bob’s sales dilemma and with so many great options, it’s far more likely that he will turn his sales figures around!
If you want to make more sales or increase your profits – make sure you are asking yourself the right questions.
Excellent article – Thanks for sharing.
Jacqui R
Nice post Jim, and as always very timely for my business, not quite sure how you manage it – should I be scared yet? ;o)
I can’t take the credit for it being timely – it was written almost 2 years ago
Yes I’m most embarrassed, I read the date on the post after I’d posted the comment but then couldn’t retract it. I don’t even know how I got to this post in the first place which is the really really freaky part!!!
It is still so relevant for what is happening to me at the moment, so thank you