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Greetings everyone! Our subscribers in the Southern Hemisphere are probably basking in glorious sunshine as I write this, whereas here in the North things are significantly more miserable! Here in the UK it feels like the "monsoon season" as it has been raining solidly for three weeks already. Many places are literally suffering severe flooding . And in Wisconsin, USA (where we were for the previous 15 months) they are waist-deep in snow and temperatures in the minus zillions. Commiserations, by the way, on the Packers lost Superbowl hopes for this season.
The Marketing Edge consistently provides you with practical and powerful suggestions for getting the most out of your marketing and customer service efforts. This issue delivers once again with our feature article: Never Cold Call Again! Happy reading.
You’ll also notice that this issue there is no Front2Back2Front or SoapBox features (don’t worry, they’ll be back next time!). Rather, this issue contains a very special invitation for you, our valued subscribers. We hope to meet many of you there! Keep reading ...
PS: David recently interviewed Richard Dagnall – an absolute genius of a service professional – who has established himself as a recognised industry guru. The audio of that interview will be available soon, and you can learn his secrets to success. The audio will be available at a significantly discounted rate to subscribers before going on general sale. So if you know anyone else who may benefit from learning these secrets please forward this email to them and suggest they subscribe now!
Are you a service professional
struggling to attract profitable clients
to your practice?
Then this special invitation
is just what you need!
We are delighted to invite you to a VIP Reception on Wednesday 5th March at the Business South 2008 Show, St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton. The reception will be held in the Directors Guest Room from 3:30pm until 4:30pm.
Our Marketing Guru, David will be delivering a free training session that will appeal to Service Professionals who are yearning to attract more profitable clients to their practices. He will provide you with the tools to find more profitable clients, and the structure to build trust so that you can close deals at the right price. You will also have ample opportunity to network among other guests, and meet potential new clients and suppliers. As if that weren't enough, you will also get free entry to the show, free VIP parking, and free drinks and canapés. Turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch - er, well - you get the idea!
If you would like to attend the reception please email us to RSVP before the deadline of Thursday 14 February.
Business South is supported by Southampton City Council, Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce, Hampshire County Council, Business Link, Southern Daily Echo and Hampshire Business Magazine and is an event best placed to meet the needs of the business community. For more information about the exhibition, click here.
We hope you will be able to join us - and why not bring a guest of your own? Just provide their details when you RSVP or forward this invite to them and let them get in touch with us directly.
If you would like to attend this event please RSVP before Thursday 14 February.
And Get More Clients
Into the Bargain ...
Okay, so that title sounds like a load of phoo-ey, right? (And yes, phoo-ey IS a technical term we marketing gurus use!) Everybody knows that the only way to get new clients is to cold-call, or cold-mail – how else do you find prospects that you might end up doing business with? That is at least how the accepted wisdom goes – and judging by the number of organisations in the UK currently selling lists of prospects carefully segmented by any number of weird and wonderful demographics, the accepted wisdom is still very much accepted. So how can I tell you that you’ll get more clients by NOT cold-calling?
Here’s something you might not have thought of before: Did you know that organisations like Sainsburys and Barclays Bank cannot cold-call? Now I’m not saying that there’s some kind of law that prevents them. Rather, I’m pointing out that it’s impossible for them to do so. How’s that? Because pretty much anyone who might appear on one of their marketing lists (and that includes virtually everyone over the age of sixteen in the British Isles) has not only heard of them, but also quite likely knows where their nearest branch or store is. The point is that we’re not cold prospects – we know them, we’re familiar with their logo and their place of business, and we have possibly even had some experience of them. We’ve already been warmed to them by our previous dealings with them, to the extent that we likely view them as part of our community. And that can make the world of difference to our reception when being marketed to.
Of course, part of the reason for that is the immense marketing and operating budgets at the disposal of these commercial giants. They buy this exposure by running TV commercials and radio slots ad nauseum (or at least it can feel like it!) and by having a physical presence on nearly every High Street in the country. Very few of the professional service organisations we work with have anything more than a fraction of a percent of that financial muscle – but there is still a vital lesson we can learn from their success. The lesson is this: Never market to strangers!
You may notice that the lesson sounds very like our title, and with good reason – cold-calling and cold-mailing are first-rate examples of marketing to strangers. Why not market to strangers? Three reasons (well, four if you count the conclusion): They don’t know you, they don’t like you, they don’t trust you - so they are not going to buy from you! You may want to remember this as the ‘know, like and trust threshold’ and test every marketing initiative against it. If a marketing initiative hasn’t already scaled the ‘know, like and trust threshold’, keep your money in your pocket.
You’re probably thinking ‘I’ve worked every lead I already know, so without marketing to strangers I’m not going to get even one more customer!’ We might debate just how effectively you’ve worked every lead you already know, but let’s agree for the purposes of this article that what you say is true. Really, if you want to grow your business you have no alternative but to market to strangers, right?
Ah well, having told you what not to do perhaps I should now share with you what you must do to turn strangers into profitable customers. The answer lies in identifying connections which link you with the strangers you wish to market to. What’s a connection? Think of it as an affiliation, a commonality you share with the individual you wish to engage in a marketing conversation. It really doesn’t matter that much what the nature of the connection is – are you part of the same church-group? Do you share a hobby? Did you grow up in the same town or attend the same school? Are you subscribed to the same Chamber of Commerce? A connection may even be established by subscribing to the same periodical!
It’s a fact that the single greatest human need is acceptance – a need to belong, to feel connected. In this twenty-first century world where the community values of our grandparents no longer have any kind of currency, we fulfil our need for acceptance through a bewildering range of virtual communities – some of them so virtual that they only exist in cyberspace! You would be making a dangerous mistake concluding that the connections we hold have little value – they are actually the most powerful marketing tools we have.
Don’t believe me? Then consider this - if you can identify a connection to your prospects, they are no longer strangers! If you’re still struggling to see this, perhaps you might want to tell me which of the following is a more persuasive marketing pitch:
- 20% Discount on our services during December!
- Produce a Basingstoke and Deane Council Tax bill to receive a 20% ‘community’ discount during December!
Of course if you’re thinking ‘Who wants to live in a dump like Basingstoke?’ you’ve just proved my point! We Basingstokers suspect how others feel about us (especially since that ‘Crap Towns’ book hit the shelves) but we know that we are part of a wonderful warm community and we look after each other. Which may or may not be true – but it’s our perception, so nothing could be truer for us. We’re connected, see? And we can’t be connected to strangers – that’s another impossibility.
I strongly urge you to do something right now that will have an immediate impact on your marketing success rates. Take a few minutes to consider where you might find communities with a high percentage of your prospects. Then consider how you might connect with those communities on the basis of joint participation, and frame a marketing campaign that emphasizes your connection.
Before long you’ll have added another connection to some of those community members – they’ll be profitable clients.
Are you a Professional Services Executive yearning to grow your business without sacrificing your quality of life, but not sure how to take the next step? You may be ready for The Marketing Edge programme. Contact us now at info@zee2a.com to discuss how the programme can help you to fill up your fee-book with profitable clients.
By way of reminder, below are listed the events where you can come along for some free (or almost free) training and networking:
- On Thursday 31st January at 6:00pm we will be presenting a 45-minute interactive presentation entitled "Cracking The Code of Professional Services Marketing" at the Wired Wessex Networking event at The Slug & Lettuce, 12 / 13 The Square, Winchester. Attendance is FREE, plus you get a drink and a bite to eat thrown in, and time to do some networking. Please visit Wired Wessex and register to attend.
- On Monday 11th February we will be attending the NHCCI Business Breakfast Club at the Holiday Inn, Lynchford Road, Farnborough.
- On Tuesday 12th February at 10:30am we are hosting a FREE training session at Tootsies Bar & Grill at The Oracle in Reading. Breakfast (which we hear is very good!) costs £8. On the day we will be giving away some Business Marketing Strategy Development sessions which normally cost £250.
- On Monday 18th February: "Ladies Who Latte" Networking, Chineham (Basingstoke) – It’s safe to assume that it’s Vanessa who will be there, not David in a skirt!
- On Tuesday 26th February we will be attending the Business Link Speed Networking event, Sandford Springs Golf Club (Newbury).
- On Wednesday 5th March at 3:30pm we are hosting a VIP reception at the Business South Show, St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton. More on that elsewhere in this issue.
If you would like David, Vanessa, or both of us to come and talk at one of your upcoming events, training sessions, or board meetings, please give us a call or drop an email to info@zee2a.com. Our diary is filling up FAST for February, but we still have some availability in March.
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ISSN 1756-350X
Volume 1 Issue 3
23rd January 2008
www.zee2a.com
In This Issue
David and Vanessa,
Your Zee2A Mentors
Food for Thought:
Luke: "I can't believe it!"
Yoda: "That is why you fail."
- Star Wars V (The Empire Strikes Back)
Don't miss out on regular boosts to your marketing effectiveness! Go to our Home Page to subscribe to The Marketing Edge.
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