marketing tips Archives | Jim's Marketing Blog

The customer is not always right

November 6, 2017 by Jim Connolly

That old saying, that the customer is always right, is bogus. Worse still, if you believe the customer is always right, it will damage your business. That’s because the customer is very often wrong.

Allow me to explain!

That saying still persists, because fearful service providers are scared that if they say the customer (or client)is wrong, they might take their custom elsewhere. So, generations of business owners have worked under the erroneous belief that they should simply agree with their clients all the time.

That’s a really, really bad idea. It fails the client and it fails you.

Here are a couple of examples:

Designers end up producing ugly work, because the client made terrible design demands. The client is left with low quality design, which won’t work for them. The designer will never get to work with that client again.
Copywriters end up writing junk, because the client demanded uninformed changes. So, instead of a professional piece, the client gets something amateurish, which they could have written themselves. The copy fails to work. The client ends up unhappy. The copywriter is never hired again.
Coaches and mentors end up delivering a poor quality service, because the allow strong-willed clients to dictate what happens. The client then ends up hearing what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear in order to succeed. It fails the client. It fails the provider. Lose-lose.

It’s hard to grow a business with unhappy former clients and no referrals!

No, I’m not suggesting you argue with your clients. That’s a really bad idea and extremely unprofessional.

However, you do need to guide your clients. As a professional, it’s your job to help them make the right decisions, so they get the very best results. That means providing the client with your informed, expert guidance. It means steering them away from avoidable mistakes.

Because you’re an informed expert in your field, and they are not, there will be disagreements. When this happens, the key is to respond with education, not anger. This leads to helpful exchanges of ideas, rather than unhelpful arguments.

Your clients deserve your very best work. Agreeing with a client, when you know they are making damaging mistakes, doesn’t help them and it doesn’t help you.

Give your clients your very best. That’s what they pay you for. That’s what they deserve. And you cannot, on any level, afford to give them anything less.

Recommended reading on this subject: The secret behind the best paid, most valued people in your industry.

How to make your marketing totally, utterly unmissable

June 21, 2017 by Jim Connolly

What do the following have in common?

The trailer for a movie, which is part of a franchise you really enjoy.
A radio interview with a musician, whose music you’ve always loved, talking about their new album.
A Facebook post from an author, whose books you collect, announcing their new title.
A newsletter from a brand you like and trust, announcing an exciting new product.

The answer is that they are all examples of marketing you value. Marketing you wouldn’t want to miss. Marketing that doesn’t even feel like marketing.

How to create unmissable marketing

So, what was it that made those marketing examples unmissable?

You gave permission for the marketing message to reach you. You tuned into the TV station or radio channel. You liked them on Facebook. You subscribed to their newsletter.
The product being marketed (movie, album or book etc.), is something you’re interested in.

Without your permission, the marketer is being a pest. No one wants to be pestered with unsolicited emails, off-target advertising or unrequested social networking messages.

Without your interest, the “offer” is just another annoying, time-wasting, badly targeted sales pitch.

How to make your marketing unmissable

Firstly, make sure you only market to people who want what you’re offering.

Secondly, earn their permission. How? Here’s a strategy that works:

Think about the brands you have given permission to contact you.
Write them down.
Next, ask yourself why you did it. Why did you subscribe to their YouTube channel, their newsletter or their blog? Why did you like them on Facebook or connect with them on Linkedin? Why did you ask them to send you their catalogue or email you their updates?
Finally, see what you can learn from their strategy, which you can adapt, to earn the permission of your prospective customers.

It takes more effort to create unmissable marketing. However, it can massively improve your results.

Tip — Read this, it will really help your marketing stand out; “The Number 1 Thing You Must Know For Your Business To Succeed“.

How to delight your clients and build a worldclass reputation

March 29, 2017 by Jim Connolly

Today, I’m going to explain how the best service providers keep their clients happy, generate valuable referrals and build a great reputation.

It’s all about the difference between delivering what a client wants and delivering what a client needs.

Wants and needs

Think about some of the most powerful commercial logos. Apple, McDonald’s Nike, Adidas, Facebook and Target, etc. All of these designs are super simple. 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 a smart and simple design.

Because the business owner is not a design professional, they want MORE for their money.

More lines.
More colours.
More detail.
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 the best service providers 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 happy client, who has a great piece of work. That’s the kind of client who provides valuable referrals and the kind of work, which helps you build an excellent reputation.

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

Tip: Here are 4 Powerful words that attract clients like a magnet!

How to turn time wasters into gold dust

March 16, 2017 by Jim Connolly

How do you feel about people, who either ask you questions about your service or look around your products, then leave without buying?

Some business owners get angry. They perceive these people to be time wasters. In doing so, they miss out on a massively valuable opportunity. They leave a huge business asset on the table, untapped.

I’m referring to the enormously valuable feedback, which so-called time wasters can provide you with.

Allow me to explain.

Time wasters are attracted to us for a reason

If you’re attracting lots of the wrong kind of enquiries, there’s a reason. It’s usually a sign that:

Your marketing message needs to be improved.
You are marketing to the wrong people.
Or both.

It’s extremely easy to learn which applies to your marketing, so long as you ask these people for feedback.

Before they end the call or leave your premises, ask something like: What was it that prompted you to (visit or call) us today? This will give you some outstandingly valuable feedback to work with.

For example

If people often say they were looking for a low priced whatever, yet your prices (or fees) are average or above average, you need to review your marketing message. Take a look and see if you are overstating how low your prices are.
If you are not overstating how low your prices are, then you could well be targeting your marketing message at people with too small a budget.

You get the idea.

The key is to get as much feedback as you can from those who fail to hire you or buy from you. It will help you improve your marketing message, improve your targeting and generate more business!

So, reframe how you think about time wasters. Speak with them. Listen. Learn from their feedback. Then, make the necessary improvements to your marketing. Don’t just assume that someone is a time waster and therefore of no value to your business.

Their feedback could be commercial gold dust. In fact, it usually is.

Your marketing begins with the service you provide

January 25, 2016 by Jim Connolly

In this post, I’m going to share the answer to one of the biggest and most important problems facing business owners.

A fundamental truth

When we encounter outstanding value, we take action. We make a purchase. We tell our friends, so they don’t miss out.

At no point do we need to be pestered to make a purchase.
At no point do we need to be pestered to spread the word.

The outstanding value captures our attention and then motivates us to take positive action.

Your prospective clients are just the same

If your prospective clients encounter outstanding value, it will capture their attention. It will motivate them to hire you, buy from you and / or spread the word about you. If you offer outstanding value, once a handful of people know what you do and how you do it, the word will spread like a virus. [That’s why we call effective marketing Viral Marketing].

There should be no need whatsoever to keep pestering the same people again and again with your marketing.

However…

If you’re telling people about your service, yet they don’t hire you or tell their friends about you, you must take heed.
If your clients are not a very regular source of new clients, you must take heed.

You need to listen to the silence. It’s telling you something. It’s telling you that your service isn’t interesting enough to capture people’s attention and not valuable enough to motivate them to take action.

Confronted with this feedback, the typical small business owner does the exact opposite of what they need to do. Instead of pumping massively more value into their service or product, they look for magical ways to market an unattractive service, which no one is talking about.

Marketing begins with the service or product you provide

When I work with a new client, we start by making their service irresistible. I show them, often simple ways, to make their service vastly more attractive to their prospective clients. It’s only after this, that we dazzle their marketplace with the powerful mix of their newly-irresistible service and highly effective marketing.

Get those 2 elements right and the sky is the limit!