Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business
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When times are rough it’s tempting to wait for things to change.
But waiting is a really bad idea.
Why?
Look around you. Change, lots of change, is already happening. It’s everywhere. And you’re right in the middle of it.
Here’s what we know: With change comes opportunity.
This means there are opportunities everywhere and you’re right in the middle of them.
Stop waiting.
Start looking for the opportunities. Because they’re coming at you faster than ever.
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When a prospective client or customer decides not to hire us or buy from us, how can we turn their no into a yes? And how can we do this, even when they’ve had their objections or concerns fully answered and they still say ‘no’?
Faced with that kind of rejection, there are 3 broad ways we can choose to respond.
Yes, it’s number 3 I’m going to focus on. Because it’s exceptionally effective.
Imagine how the following might work, as a massively more effective way to respond to a prospect’s ‘no’.
Here’s what we know for absolute certain. Very, very few people respond with that type of good-natured, yet professional strategy. But when they do, they get remembered for the very best of reasons. It’s exceptionally powerful and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it work.
Here are just some of the outcomes this can generate for people, who were originally rejected.
In many cases, the prospect who rejected them suddenly wonders if they made the wrong decision, in choosing the other provider. I’ve personally seen this result in an immediate about-turn, with the rejected provider winning the deal.
Much more commonly, I’ve seen the rejected provider given the contract, as soon as the winning provider screws up!
It’s as if the prospect is unconsciously looking for their original choice to fail, after becoming fully aware what a wonderful provider they rejected. By respecting the prospect’s decision and leaving the door wide open to them, the rejected provider makes it extremely easy for the prospect to contact them.
But that’s not all!
Ask anyone who uses this approach and they’ll confirm that it also results in a number of referrals, from the prospects who didn’t change their mind about hiring the rejected provider.
I’ve used this strategy for years and seen amazing results. My clients have, too. So give it a try. You literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
From a sales and marketing perspective, which of the following do you think gets the best results?
The second option in both those examples always performs better (sometimes by factors of hundred’s of percent) in tests.
There are 3 important points from that short exercise.
Minor adjustments to your sales or marketing can create breakthrough results.
In the above examples, tiny changes to the text were made. However, by increasing the number of prospective clients (or customers) who take action, those changes can result in a very tangible, positive impact.
For instance, a client of mine made a change I suggested, live on our first Zoom meeting. He was able to see a clear, measurable improvement with a tiny textual change to a call-to-action button on his website that same day. He then rolled it out to all his relevant pages the following day, with equally outstanding results, but this time across his entire range of services. We tested, measured and adjusted until he squeezed out close to a 175% increase in the click-through rate from those pages, to his sales pages.
Test, measure and adjust?
Yes.
If you’ve followed my work for any period of time, you’ll know that every marketing adjustment you make needs to be tested and measured.
That process is then repeated until you see no further measurable improvement. Then, you move on to the next marketing element to adjust and improve.
The type of subtle adjustments I’m referring to here, either cost nothing or very little for you to put into play. This means they can be deployed quickly.
So, you now have the freedom to make adjustments to each part of your sales and marketing. In fact, that’s exactly what EVERY professionally marketed business already does.
Different marketing adjustments, tactics and strategies work differently in different industries. And even within the same industry, there are dozens and dozens of things that will determine how effective any change to your marketing will be, for your specific business.
Some of the most common factors include.
You don’t need to make major changes.
You don’t need to spend major money, it usually takes just a little of your time.
But you do need to find out what works best for you and your business.
You can waste a massive amount of time focusing on the wrong things to adjust. You can waste even more time, making the wrong adjustments. And in both cases, you’ll be leaving a potential fortune on the table.
This is one of those areas of marketing where it makes no sense to dabble with it yourself, unless you absolutely have to. So, if you can afford to invest in expert marketing help, do.
Note: I explain why in more detail here.
When done correctly, this strategy will give you a huge spread of improvements that will combine to increase your sales. It’s a proven, low risk, highly effective and exceptionally robust way to grow your business in any economy.
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You’ve never heard of sub-scratch before. That’s understandable. It’s a term I created. Here’s how I explain it to clients, and why you need to AVOID it.
I was prompted to write this, after learning about the following, recent sub-scratch example.
A business owner wrote, and sent, a very pushy marketing email to everyone in a local business directory. None had requested the information. She then discovered that she and her ‘spammy email’ were being trashed in the local Facebook business group. The business owner then posted confrontational responses to some individuals in the group, making things even worse. By choosing to dabble with the initial marketing that caused the problem, then dabble with the PR required to mitigate the problem, she’s seriously damaged her reputation within her target marketplace.
I made my own sub-scratch mistake well over 20 years ago. It cost me a fortune. I still cringe when I think of it. I had a financial investment decision, which I was maybe 80% sure I knew the answer to. Rather than hire a professional Financial Advisor, I dabbled. I asked a wealthy friend and he agreed I was right. So, I proceeded. I was wrong and so was my friend. It ended up losing me thousands. I still needed to hire a professional Financial Advisor, but she needed to unpick my DIY financials, before building me a solid foundation.
As small business owners, you and I need to make sure we don’t create sub-scratch problems. We need to be very intentional about the things we absolutely know we’re able to do, and those things where we lack the knowledge required. It’s always more effective and far less expensive, to hire an expert at the start, rather than afterwards.
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It’s good for your business…
When you make short-term decisions that are consistent with your long-term plans.
When you hire amazing people and pay them what they’re worth.
When you build a reputation as a trusted source of value.
When you connect with the right kind of people.
When you feed your mind with rich mental protein and take care of your body.
When you pause to reflect before saying, publishing or sending anything important.
When you start each morning thinking about the things you’re grateful for.
When you start your working day, writing a list of things you want to achieve. And close each day, with a review of the things you’ve learned.
When you build your primary marketing channel on a platform you control. Your website. Your email list. Social media platforms can, and do, wipe out businesses by deleting their accounts.
When you treat different clients differently, according to their unique needs.
When you make promises to your clients and deliver on them.
When you learn to absolutely LOVE what you do. Because work becomes joy and this improves literally everything.
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Think about it. When you’ve delivered a project for a client, you want them to say to themselves, “this is much better than I expected“.
When you tell someone about the service you offer, then quote your fee, you want them to say to themselves, “this quote is much better than I expected“.
When someone experiences your customer service, you want them to say to themselves, “this service is much better than I expected“.
There’s REAL power in those 5 words. They’re a sure sign that you’re exceeding expectations. And the most successful business owners strive to exceed expectations, with every interaction.
Here’s why.
They know that by truly exceeding expectations, they’ll retain more clients. They know they’ll also receive highly valuable client referrals. And they know they’ll build an exceptional reputation, too.
The reason the majority of small businesses fail to achieve this, is that it presents the business owner with 2 tricky challenges. When you overcome them, you can benefit from all the advantages of exceeding the expectations of your clients and your marketplace. And that’s what I’m going to share with you today.
Let’s start by looking at those 2 challenges and how you can turn things around.
They know how hard they work. They know how passionately they care about their clients. They then confuse their hard work and passion with delivering a remarkably good service.
Working hard doesn’t mean you’re exceeding expectations. After all, you can work darn hard just delivering exactly what your client expects from you! That kind of hard work is merely meeting expectations. Not exceeding them.
How do you find out for sure, if you’re exceeding expectations?
Simple. Just look at the number of referrals your clients give you. This will sound harsh if you’re currently not receiving regular referrals. But in every industry, people proactively recommend the products and services that really impress them. They want their friends to know. That’s how word of mouth marketing works.
Some clients will stay with an “okay service provider” for years, just because it’s easier than switching to a better provider. The provider can wrongly assume this loyalty is a reflection of truly remarkable service.
It isn’t.
When a business isn’t getting a regular stream of client referrals, it’s a sure sign that the business isn’t exceeding what their clients expect from them. And it’s a wake up call. A wake up call to put things right, to up their game, to go from average to remarkable.
At least it should be.
Even if a business owner accepts they’re not exceeding expectations, it can be a challenge to figure out what they need to do, to turn things around. Every marketplace is saturated with average providers. And this can make it tricky to get out of that mindset. To see what’s truly possible and blow the lid off the service you provide.
Fear not!
Here’s something I share with my clients, to help them overcome this challenge.
The best way to elevate your own expectations of what’s possible, is to look outside of your industry and beyond your competitors for guidance and inspiration.
For example.
Then, look for better ways to deliver your services, based on what you learn from these (and other) examples of excellence. It takes a little effort. That’s for sure. However, it’s a proven way to radically improve your services. A proven way to get people saying your offering is “much better than I expected”.
And I’ve seen it work hundreds of times with my clients, helping them smash their sales targets into pieces. It’s one of my marketing tips for 2024, just as it was for 2004.
In my experience, it’s the first of those challenges that’s always the toughest.
Even when some business owners know they get very few referrals, they’ll still fail to accept it’s down to them.
In short, they’ll refuse to acknowledge the problem.
The second challenge is a little less tricky.
It means embracing the edges. And that feels riskier than staying in their comfort zone. But as any entrepreneur, I mean real entrepreneur will tell you, the riskiest thing you can do is cling to the overcrowded middle ground.
Make no mistake, consistently exceeding expectations takes real commitment. And that’s why so few of your competitors will do it.
It’s also why this wonderful opportunity is open to you.
It’s an opportunity to attract the best clients, to attract endless referrals, to retain your clients for longer and build an outstanding business. A business that’s much better than people expected. A business that will thrive in any economy… including this one.
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Right now, there’s a motivated sales force out there, who happily work for free and are waiting to tell people all about you and the services you provide.
I came up with this idea 20 years ago, after studying the world’s top industrial designers and commercial designers. It blew me away.
Here’s what I discovered.
One of the attributes of commercially successful design, is that the object needs to be reflective. In other words, it causes us to think about it. To reflect on its utility, uniqueness or beauty.
I’ve found that a commercially successful business also needs to be reflective. A business that’s useful has utility. A business that’s meaningfully different is unique. And a business that runs smoothly is a thing of beauty.
Allow me to explain why this should matter to you and your business.
Designers know that reflective products almost sell themselves.
For instance, my wife bought me some Apple AirPods just after they launched. Their unique look caused total strangers to ask me about them. Their ability to instantly connect wirelessly, inspired me to tell my friends about them.
Just by owning them and using them I became an unpaid salesperson for the product.
Take a look at your products, services or business model and look for ways to make things more reflective. How many unpaid salespeople are there, who’ll spring into action as soon as you give them something reflective to share with their friends? Give it a try and find out.
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This could be the right time to expand the marketplace you serve.
It really could.
But often when a small business owner explains their scenario and asks for my advice, the solution is not to expand. Their existing marketplace tends to be more than big enough.
Usually, to get the business results they want, the answer is for them to make their prospects more interested, more engaged and more reliant on the products or services the business provides.
Here’s a quick overview of what this might mean for you and your business.
Now what?
If you’ve deployed this process already, and seen a significant increase in your market share, then look to expand your marketplace. The work you’ve already done in maximizing the sales potential of your business, will make the expansion spectacularly more effective.
However, if you haven’t already given your services, products and brand this type of radical review AND implemented the improvements, do that first! Then, expand your marketplace.
No, of course not.
The rewards are huge and the work required is considerable. Don’t believe anyone who says you can have it all, with growth hacks and tricks. That’s bullshit.
Yes, of course it is.
People in your industry, have already optimized the sales potential of their business and successfully expanded in to new markets.
Only you can answer that.
Today, I’d like you to consider your answer to the following question.
How enthusiastic are you about your business?
Here’s why your answer to that question is so important: People can tell almost immediately if you’re enthusiastic or not. And that matters! It matters because is has an immediate impact on how they feel about you, your business and the service you provide.
Allow me to explain.
When you speak (or write) with enthusiasm, people feel more positively about you. Enthusiastic business owners exude confidence, which is essential. Think about it, we only hire people or buy from them, if we have confidence in them.
I once heard the definition of making a sale described as, ‘the transfer of enthusiasm‘. That’s a great example of just how essential enthusiasm is to the success of your business.
Also, when you speak with enthusiasm, people listen more attentively. They’re drawn in. You sometimes notice their body language change, as they lean forward because they’re paying attention. And this happens in seconds.
All these benefits of enthusiasm, and more, combine to create an immediate, positive impact. In a moment, I’ll give you 10 important ways that this can help you greatly improve your results.
When enthusiasm is lacking, people are less motivated by you. They pay less attention to what you say, because your lack of enthusiasm is talking louder than the words you use.
I experienced this recently, talking to a business owner. She was saying positive things about what she wanted to achieve with her business, yet she was clearly lacking in enthusiasm. And it sucked all the confidence and impact from her words. I honestly can’t recall much of what she said. Just her total lack of enthusiasm.
Here are 10 ways you can improve your results, by letting your enthusiasm shine through everything you do.
Okay. So, not everyone reading this is brimming with enthusiasm right now.
Let’s look at that.
Think of it like this. You’re the business owner. So, you’re in control.
This means you have the freedom, starting right now, to build a business that enthuses you. A business that excites you on every level.
Remember: You choose where you work. You choose who your clients or customers are. You even choose what you charge. This means you get to decide where you work, who you work for and how much money you make.
So, if your current business doesn’t cause you to feel enthusiastic, improve it until it does.
You can do it. That’s for certain. I know, because I see it happening every day with my clients.
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I have a beautifully simple, yet powerful marketing tip to share with you today. It’s all about how you can spectacularly increase your sales, by making some tiny improvements.
Let’s go!
Though it was years ago, I vividly recall speaking with the owner of an office supplies company. I’m going to call him John. He was introduced to me after a talk I gave and said he had something he’d like to share with me.
He explained that for years, he’d been frantically trying to work out why his biggest competitor was doing so well. That’s because on the surface, they seemed very similar to John’s business. And yet they’d grown 5 times bigger than John’s business, serving the same marketplace.
Then he discovered their secret!
John hired a former employee of his successful competitor. He quickly discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or tactic that made that competing business so successful. Instead, it was the cumulation of lots of little things. These little things compounded, just like compound interest. It resulted in an outstanding difference, which their customers adored and their prospects were attracted to.
It was also undetectable to the competition, including John.
John had been looking for a mountain and totally missed the many molehills, which made all the difference. With a large number of relatively small improvements, John was able to significantly increase his revenues and profits.
In short, if you create enough molehills, you end up with a mountain. By looking for small improvements to the way you look after your existing customers, and the way you attract new customers, you can achieve spectacular sales results.