Jim Connolly Marketing

Marketing 101: The sales multiplier tactic

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sales multiplied, marketing tips, inbound marketing

At the beginning of my marketing career, I was introduced to a very effective marketing idea. I call it the sales multiplier tactic. It’s spectacularly powerful and there are several ways YOU can benefit from it.

Here’s how it works.

The core idea is extremely simple. If you want a business that grows quickly, design your business so that when someone uses your services, they get more value from it if their contacts also use your services.

  • This was how LinkedIn grew. Early users asked their contacts and clients to join, so they could connect. TikTok did the same.
  • It’s also how every hit TV show becomes a hit. The first viewers tell their friends about it, so they can chat about the show with them or share in-jokes, which only fellow viewers would understand, etc.

However…

What if you already have a business and it doesn’t have the sales multiplier tactic built in? After all, the vast majority of business owners are in this position.

One option is to retrofit the sales multiplier tactic to your business. Retrofitting takes a little time and creativity, but it’s relatively easy.

However, there’s an easy and extremely popular alternative that any business can use.

Making the sales multiplier tactic work for your business

A highly popular alternative option, is to add it to your marketing, rather than your service.

One example is my newsletter. It works like this.

  • Someone within a company or network subscribes to my newsletter.
  • Then, they read one, which will help overcome a problem their company or network has. So, they forward it to a few other people.
  • Why? Because it’s easier for them to get their colleagues on board with an idea I mentioned, if they’re able to read it for themselves.
  • Some of those colleagues will subscribe and do the same.
  • This is how I’ve attracted many of my largest clients, as details on how to hire me are at the bottom of each newsletter.

That example only works because it’s an ad-free newsletter with useful information, not a series of special offers and sales pitches. For the sales multiplier tactic to work for you, your marketing needs to contain something helpful, interesting or informative. This holds true if you’re using it on a podcast, a YouTube channel, your social media account or anywhere else. 

Whichever route you choose, if you get it right the impact it can have on your sales results is amazing.

Needed

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needs not wants, professional service provider

Today, I’m going to show you how to grow your business, build your reputation, keep your customers or clients happy and generate extremely valuable referrals.

Better still, all it takes is one adjustment to the way most small businesses operate.

When I share this idea with business owners, I use the following example. Think about some of the most powerful commercial logos. Apple, Chanel, McDonald’s, Adidas, IBM, Google and Target, etc. All of these designs look simplistic. A child could reproduce any of them in a few seconds.

Now, imagine for a moment what happens when a business owner hires a great designer to create their logo. The designer then gets back to the client with exactly what the client needs… a powerful, extremely effective, yet brilliantly-simple design. Like one of the world-class examples I just mentioned.

Because the client is not a design professional, they want MORE for their money. So, they demand changes.

  • More detail.
  • More lines.
  • More complexity.

If the designer gives the client what the client wants, the client ends up with a confusing piece of junk.

If the designer gives the client what the client needs, the client ends up with an effective, professionally designed logo.

How to get this right

The best service providers use education, to help the client understand what the client needs.

When the service provider does this correctly.

  • The client ends up with what they want and what they need.
  • The service provider ends up with a delighted client, who has a great piece of work. That’s the kind of client who provides valuable referrals.
  • The marketplace gets to see your very best work, which helps you build an excellent reputation.

Your clients deserve your very best work. And so do you, my friend.

Take their attention to the bank

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marketing, small business

Photo: Pexels

So, you want to get your products or services noticed? Of course you do. You work hard, your business is excellent and more people need to know about what you do.

However, before you start working on how to get noticed, you’ll need to put some foundations in place. Otherwise, you’ll blow a ton of money, waste your time and miss out on some potentially great opportunities.

With this in mind, be sure to check the following.

  • Do you have an accurate way to measure the number of prospective customers or clients who notice you?
  • Have you determined the number of people you need to notice you, in order for your business to flourish?
  • Are you able to accurately track whether you are getting noticed by the right people, or just a poorly targeted mix?
  • When people notice you for the first time, do your *touchpoints build an image of trust? *Touchpoints are the places where a new prospective encounters you, such as your website, Linkedin, your newsletter, your office, your store, your advertising, etc.
  • Will new prospective customers find your marketing message compelling enough, to motivate them to place an order, to contact you, to come back for more, etc? [This tip will help you]
  • And have you made it extremely easy and intuitive, for them to recommend you to their friends and contacts?
  • Do you have a robust strategy to get their permission to stay in touch with them?
  • Are your systems, both online and offline, regularly tested, to ensure they’re working, or are you losing prospective customers or important data, without even knowing it?

The key is to make sure you don’t simply get noticed, but that you get noticed by the right people. And that when these prospective customers notice you, you’re optimized to turn their attention into money in the bank.

Get this balance right and you’ll convert more people into customers in 2025 than ever before.

Reject the masses. Here’s why

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marketing specific, targeted message, marketing tips

Here’s a very straightforward, proven way to build a successful service-based business. I’m going to suggest you reject the mob.

All right. That’s the intro finished. Let’s go!

Depending on the service you provide and your location, there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of prospective clients.

Except, they’re not really your prospective clients at all.

No.

Whilst you may be able to provide a degree of service to some of them, for the vast majority you won’t be exactly what they’re looking for. You can’t possibly be. None of us can.

After all.

  • Some will want a more local provider.
  • Some will demand the lowest priced provider.
  • Some will insist on the absolute premium, and happily pay the maximum to ensure it.
  • Some will need a provider that speaks a certain language.
  • Some will be looking for a provider from one of their networking groups.
  • Some will want a provider with a rare, highly specialist knowledge.
  • Some will require a provider who charges annually in arrears.
  • Some will only hire a provider with offices in multiple locations.
  • Some will want unlimited phone access at no extra charge.

Given you can’t possibly serve the majority of your marketplace, I have a strong recommendation for you. I recommend you adopt a much more focused strategy.

Here’s why. Along with how it works.

Shun the masses

The temptation is to try and have as wide an appeal as possible, so you get a shot at as many prospective clients as possible. That’s a very common approach. It seems to make sense, but it’s completely wrongheaded. A bad mindset to work from. And a very expensive mistake.

Why?

Because by trying to be somewhat relevant to everyone, you fail to be directly relevant to anyone – including your actual prospects.

Your actual (genuine) prospects need to see your marketing and immediately identify that you’re talking to them. By weakening that message, you lose them.

They’ll assume you’re not what they’re looking for, when you’re exactly what they’re looking for and exactly what they need.

So my plea to you is simple.

Reject the mob. They’re not interested. They’ll waste your time. They’ll want ‘this’ when you offer ‘that’. And you’ll go nuts trying to make them happy, let alone keep them happy.

Embrace your actual prospects instead

Focus on being directly relevant to the prospective clients you can absolutely delight with your services. These are the people who will hire you, pay you the correct rate, recommend you to their friends and stay with you for years and years. These are the clients you can confidently build an amazingly successful business with.

These are the clients you need. And they need you. They really need you!

Now, go and let them know! Focus all your marketing, so that it’s strikingly obvious you’re exactly what they’ve been looking for.

This works better than marketing. Try it!

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Creative marketing, marketing small business, jim connolly

Photo by Eva Bronzini on Pexels.com

So, how do you grow your business without doing something that looks like marketing, feels like marketing or is as dull as marketing? 

You replace regular marketing with something better. It’s worked for me and my clients for 30-years.

Here’s how it works, along with a few examples.
 

This is better than marketing

Imagine you’re walking in the park on a scorching hot day. You didn’t bring enough water and now you’re feeling really, really thirsty. It’s getting warmer. You notice your throat is now dry. Thankfully, you finally spot a sign for ice-cold drinks with an arrow pointing to a small hut. You walk over, buy a bottle of water and eagerly gulp it down. You then buy another bottle for you to enjoy on your journey home. You thank the vendor and head back.

That sign with the arrow, saying ‘ice-cold drinks’ didn’t feel like marketing.

It didn’t pester you, it didn’t bore you, it wasn’t dull and it certainly was not an unwanted interruption. It was exactly what you were looking for. And the vendor just sold a couple of bottles of water to a very happy customer.

You’re happy. They’re happy.

Everyone’s happy.
 

Also better than marketing

I recall walking into the study to ask my wife, (the author Sharon Bennett Connolly) if she wanted a coffee. I quickly noticed that she was listening to an interview with a musician, whose work she loves. He was talking about his new album and the inspiration behind some of the tracks. Like thousands of other listeners, Sharon was buying the album as he spoke.

That radio interview sure didn’t feel like marketing.

Sharon had been looking forward to the interview all morning. She was listening intently and enthusiastically as the musician spoke. He wasn’t being dull and she was delighted, after enjoying his interview and ordering the new album. The musician was happy having had a great interview and probably selling tons of albums. The radio show had just provided a great 30 minutes of entertainment.

Everyone’s happy.
 

And this is better than marketing, too

People like myself, who share our knowledge in a newsletter, on social networks, a podcast or whatever… we don’t need to market what we do. People hire us, knowing in advance what to expect. We simply make it easy to contact us and we keep being useful.

It’s a joy to share useful ideas. Our community gets some useful advice. Everyone’s happy. It doesn’t feel like marketing. 

I don’t buy ads. I don’t network. I have never had, or needed a LinkedIn account. And prospective clients come to me, I never have to pester anyone, ever.

Here’s the thing: growing a business doesn’t have to be dull and uninspiring. It’s a choice. A really bad choice, but a choice nonetheless.

Now what?

Simple.
 

Follow your heart and follow your head

Follow your heart: if you dislike the prescriptive marketing crap that’s based around pestering, interrupting and irritating people, please stop. You won’t be very good at it and it will make you miserable.

Follow your head: if you want to thrive, you’ll need to replace bullshit marketing with something better. 

The examples I’ve shared are all things that have been intentionally baked into the business. That means they’re not something you add to the business. They’re the natural consequence of their day-to-day workflow. And by default, unlike traditional marketing, these are non-prescriptive. I know from the work I do with clients, that your specific mix must be developed around you: your personality, your industry, the things that bring you joy, the kind of business that would inspire you every day and pay you a ton of money as part of the process. 

That’s how to grow your business in a way that feels natural and authentic. And it’s how you create a business that thrives for you on every possible level.

Boost your sales in seconds

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buying decision, seconds to decide, prospecting, marketing tips

Many important decisions your prospective customer or client make, are well on their way to being made within seconds.

Think about it.

  • Open an email and in seconds, you’ll decide if it’s important or an instant delete.
  • Read the title of an article or newsletter and in seconds, you’ll decide to read it or scroll past it.
  • Read the marketing messages of any company and in seconds, you’ll have a good idea if their product or service is suitable for you.
  • Enter any store and in seconds, you’ll get a feel for whether the place is likely to be expensive, inexpensive, thriving, quiet, independent, national chain, aimed at a certain age-range and so on.
  • Talk with a service provider and in seconds, you’ll start deciding if they’re professional or not.
  • Return a faulty product to a store, and in seconds you’ll know how helpful or accommodating they’re likely to be.

In the same way that you and I start to form our opinions within seconds, so do our prospects. That’s why we need to create a strong first impression.

Here’s a useful way to get started

Take some time to consider what you want your prospects to feel about your business, in order for them to buy from you or hire you. Universally, you will need prospects to feel they can trust you. Other feelings will vary depending on things like your industry, the type of prospects you seek to serve and the way you’ve positioned your business. For some of you that will be exciting, creative, cutting edge and dynamic. For others that will be safe, consistent, secure and established.

Then think of all the places where your prospects are likely to encounter you or your business. The places where initial opinions are formed in seconds. For example; on your website, at your premises, on your social media accounts, at a networking group, through an advertisement, on a webinar, at a conference or event, etc.

Make a list. Write it down.

At this point you know how you want your prospects to feel, and the places where they’re likely to encounter you.

It’s now time to check out how consistent your business/brand is with those feelings, in those places. Anything that’s inconsistent needs to be removed, or replaced with a consistent alternative. As you go through this process in each of the relevant places, you’ll make it easier and easier for prospects to choose your business. 

And remember, your prospects will form their initial impressions of you and your business, regardless. So, take control.

Help them to feel that you’re exactly what they’re looking for. The best fit. And the obvious choice.