Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

This 3 letter word can destroy your sales results

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marketing tips

When it comes to creating a powerful marketing message and attracting new customers, ‘new‘ is overrated. It can also destroy your marketing results.

There are 3 core reasons for this.

  1. The newest product or service is always a riskier bet. At best, it’s a bigger gamble than the trusted incumbent. At worst, the customer feels like a paying guinea pig.
  2. The newest product or service is seldom the best. It lacks the improvements that come from years of feedback. It lacks the robustness that comes from stress-testing.
  3. New doesn’t last for long. This makes it a short-term marketing message. Anything that’s new is only new for now.

A dozen better alternatives

Instead of relying on new, offer your marketplace something more compelling. More motivating. More attractive. For example, instead of offering them a new way to do something, offer them:

  1. A faster way.
  2. A more enjoyable way.
  3. A greener way.
  4. A proven way.
  5. A stylish way.
  6. An original way.
  7. A premium quality way.
  8. An ethical way.
  9. An exciting way.
  10. A safer way.
  11. A more reliable way.
  12. A cost effective way.

In short, be extremely careful about how and where you use the word new, as you put your 2021 marketing strategy together.

How to be in high demand and earn the highest fees

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workaholic, love work

We know why the most successful businesses and freelancers are always in high demand. Its the same reason they command the highest fees.

They provide something of value, which is in short supply.

We also know why the average business isn’t in high demand. It’s because they provide something, which is in abundance.

Here’s the thing. It’s not enough to work hard, work smart and care about your clients. Most of your competitors already do that. To think otherwise is to underestimate your competition. And that’s a big mistake.

To be in high demand and earn the highest fees, you need to embrace the tricky stuff. The things that are in short supply, because they’re too challenging or uncomfortable for most business owners.

This includes a willingness to:

  • Set higher standards than your competitors.
  • Do work that’s meaningfully different.
  • Initiate.
  • Be there for people when they need help.
  • Encourage others.
  • Connect people.
  • Treat different customers differently.
  • Make promises and keep them.
  • Inspire your customers, your team and your marketplace.

Is this easy? No, of course not!

Here’s a better question: Is it worth it? Yes, absolutely!

You see my friend, the very fact it’s so challenging is why it’s so rare, in such high demand and so valuable.

Marketing 101: Never sell to a stranger again

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marketing close

Smart people speak, because they have something to say.

Dull people speak, because they have to say something.

And the difference between those approaches is huge!

The same is true in business

When smart business owners connect with their marketplace, they have something interesting to share. When the average business owner connects with their marketplace, it’s usually a sales pitch or special offer.

Most small business owners connect with their marketplace when they need something. They need more clients, customers or sales… so they interrupt strangers with a needy message. They have nothing of interest to say.

Yes, the business owner is interested in gaining clients, customers or sales, but that’s only of interest to the business owner. The marketplace just sees another sales message from a stranger and ignores it.

A far better approach to marketing

The most successful small business owners do things very differently. They remain in contact with their marketplace, on an ongoing basis. They use articles (like this), newsletters and social networks to share valuable ideas and information. This keeps the smart business owner front of mind. But it does more than that. It causes their marketplace to think of them as a useful asset to their business.

So, when the smart business owner DOES have a marketing message to share, it’s received with enthusiasm. It’s received by people who, before they even read it, already know and value the source of the message.

And it massively improves their results.

More importantly, it can do the same for you and your business.

How to be totally and utterly irreplaceable

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How hard would it be for one of your clients or customers to replace you with an alternative provider?

I was thinking about this yesterday when a salesman came to my home. He asked if he could quote me a price to look after the trees and hedges, which surround all 4 sides of our house. I said that I wasn’t interested. He then said that if I told him what my current guys charge, he’d beat their price. I explained that I still wasn’t interested. I thanked him for his time and he left.

Just think about that for a second. Imagine being so valuable to your clients or customers that they send competitors away, uninterested in hearing about their lower price.

Being irreplaceable

If the salesman had been a little wiser, he’d have asked me what made my current provider irreplaceable. If he’d asked, here’s what I’d have told him.

The team who look after my hedges and trees have worked for us for years. They know exactly how we like things. They are extremely reliable and when we needed them in an emergency, they responded fast; removing a tree that had fallen down in a storm. They provide a great service, which they are very well paid for.

They’re happy and we’re happy.

They’ve made themselves irreplaceable by building trust. They’ve earned that trust by doing great work over the long haul and being extremely reliable. I have recommended them dozens of times over the years to friends, all of whom are equally delighted with them.

There are 2 pieces of gold dust in the previous paragraph:

  1. The best way to become irreplaceable is to earn trust. It was during our first year with the tree company that they came out to remove that tree, which was blocking a road on a dangerous corner. They were here in 40 minutes and charged us their normal rate, when they could have exploited the situation. Their attitude to service has remained every year since.
  2. When a provider earns our trust and does great work, it’s easy to recommend them to our friends.

Clearly, every business owner should strive to make their business irreplaceable. It improves customer retention, whilst also generating a regular flow of word-of-mouth referrals.

How do you become irreplaceable?

It’s not about one huge action. In the above example, my tree problem gave them an opportunity to shine, but it was followed by years of excellent customer service. It’s certainly not about being the lowest priced.

It’s about the daily interactions we have with our customers and our marketplace. It’s the compound effect of many positive experiences. We earn the position of being irreplaceable over the medium and long haul. Every interaction should be viewed as an opportunity to increase our value to our customers.

That’s how we earn (then re earn) the position of being irreplaceable. Yes, you need to re earn the position, because when you act like you’re permanently irreplaceable, you’ll soon be replaced by someone who out manoeuvres you.

Let’s look again at my opening question. Ask yourself, how hard would it be for one of your clients or customers to replace you? If you don’t like your answer, do something about it today… and every day, until they’d have to be crazy to switch to another provider.

3 Surprisingly effective ideas you can apply to your business, right now

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marketing tips, ask better questions, ideas

Today, I want to give you 3 powerful ideas, which you can apply directly into your business. These ideas are based on your answers to the following, equally powerful questions.

Okay. Let’s get started.

1. If your business was perfect in every way, what would it look like? The first step in building a great business, is to know what you’re aiming for. Include everything; from your working hours, revenues. profits and location… to the kind of clients you’d have and how your ideal working day would look.

With this picture of where you want to be, you can start developing a roadmap to take you there.

2. How easy is it for someone to clearly explain the benefits of using your service? The reason this question is so important is this: If people can’t easily explain what you do, they won’t recommend you to their friends.

Develop a short description of why people should hire you. Then, make it a prominent part of your marketing. This fantastic lesson from KFC will help you get it right.

3. What measurable difference makes your service more attractive than the competition? We live in an age where your prospective clients can find 10 alternative providers to you on Google, in seconds. Faced with such intense competition, you need to provide a compelling reason for people to hire you or buy from you.

Every business claims to offer outstanding customer service and value for money. So, if you want to regularly attract clients you need to provide them with something measurably better. Something they can’t get from your competitors. It takes time to come up with a compelling answer to this question. However, the time invested can lead to game-changing results. This post from my archives will help.

I hope you find these questions useful. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.

5 Words that can lift your business above the competition

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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“.

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.

1. Almost every business owner thinks they’re already exceeding expectations

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 may sound harsh, especially if you’re 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 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.

2. It’s harder to exceed expectations than to meet them

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.

  • Compare your customer service to Disney.
  • Compare your product’s build quality to Rolex.
  • Compare your design quality to Apple.
  • Compare your distribution to Amazon.

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. And I’ve seen it work hundreds of times.

What next?

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.

  • They’ll say their clients expect too much.
  • They’ll blame their clients for being ungrateful.
  • They’ll tell themselves their clients aren’t the kind who recommend others.

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.