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Hi,
I have a confession to make – and I’ve decided to make it since attending the Basingstoke Ecademy networking event last Thursday evening.
By the way – thank you to everyone who turned up at Down Grange to share a drink or two and do some informal networking. It was lovely to catch up with so many of you who we haven’t seen for quite a while due to the slowdown over the year-end period. There was such a good buzz among everyone and it was encouraging to meet many new people too. It would be lovely to do something similar every other month. Keep your eyes on the club forum as well as in the diary section of the Marketing Edge.
Speaking of networking – this issue is jam packed with advice to help you network more effectively. David’s feature article asks the question ‘Will You Make More Sales and Better Profits When You Stop Networking?’ Hmm, if you think that sounds crazy, stop whatever you are doing and read it straight away.
Then we are also making available the home-study version of our very popular Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar. For anyone who missed the live event you’ll definitely want to get your hands on the downloadable version. You can work through it at your own pace and geography is no issue (keep reading for details on how to get hold of a copy).
So the confession...
Nope, I didn’t eat too many choccies, mince pies, and evil nosh over the festive season. The growing belly is for the best reason in the World: David and I are delighted to announce that we will soon be parents! We also found out recently that the new addition will be a girl ('Someone else to boss me around!' says David). Thank you for all the well wishes we’ve already been receiving.
Anyway – back to business! Enjoy this issue of the Marketing Edge, and see you again in two weeks.
The 'Performance-Tuned Networking' Seminar In-a-Box
Are you a Service Industry Professional reliant on word-of-mouth to grow your business, but anxious because you are not getting the volume of referrals that you are hoping for? Our Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar will teach you how to work each and every potential referral source in the most effective way possible, maximising your potential revenue!
The live seminar was held in August 2008, and now you can get your hands on the entire audio recording and workbook as a ‘home study’ course!
Pick up a copy at our online store.
Read some participant reviews below. |
Will you Make More Sales and Better Profits
When You Stop Networking?
I was chatting with a colleague recently, and he said something really interesting. Talking about the recent evolution of his service business, he said that in early years he had spent a lot of time and effort networking. “But the interesting thing is,” he continued, “I made more sales at higher profit margins when I stopped networking.”
How does that work? Well it worked for Allan because when he went networking he wasn’t meeting the right people. But it may not have seemed that simple at the time. And that’s what I want you to think about within the context of your business right now.
Your Target Audience and “Bracket Creep”
When I was an accountant (don’t worry; it was many years ago and I take my tablets religiously) we used to monitor a phenomenon known as ‘Bracket creep’. In the Income Tax world, this describes the effect of changing circumstances on the tax you pay. You see, when tax brackets are set a lot of thought is given to who will be paying what rate of tax; it must be fair. But inflation soon changes the picture - people who should be paying low rates of tax ‘creep’ into higher brackets and get penalized unfairly.
Right, let’s stop talking about tax. How could bracket creep affect your marketing? Like this: When you started out in your business, you likely had a clear picture not only of what services you intended to offer, but also of what an ‘ideal client’ for your services looked like. The ideal client matched your service offering perfectly and could afford your rates – sure, they would haggle, but it wasn’t because your fees were beyond their means.
But what happened next? For many of us, as we started to market our business we started to meet more and more ‘prospects’ who didn’t match our picture of an ideal client. They were interested in our service, but perhaps not in exactly the format offered – it started to need tweaking and re-shaping to match the new market. More importantly, our fees started to look too high, so we started discounting - offering the same services for less money because we weren‘t closing deals.
Did you notice the bracket creep? Prospects that weren’t ideal for your business started to dictate the shape of your services, and before long they became the ideal client of a new business – one you never intended to own and operate!
If this has happened to you the failure lies nowhere else but in your marketing. Please don’t believe that your original service was impractical, or that your original fee structure was unrealistic. (I am assuming that you did some market research and that you verified not only the need for your services but also the price point at which it should be offered.) So how can this problem be avoided? Or, if it’s too late for that, how can we correct the predicament?
Key 1: Market to your Target Audience
Remember Allan, who started us off? When he stopped networking (talking to the wrong prospects and selling the wrong services at the wrong price) he replaced the effort he had spent there with a marketing effort directed at the right market – his ideal clients. They don’t go networking, so he had never been effectively marketing to them previously. Allan found them by implementing carefully-planned pay-per-click advertising campaigns, but there are so many other approaches which would have worked too.
The key is to be ruthless in cutting out of your diary marketing efforts which do not get you leads within your target market. Don’t fall into the trap of courting prospects that will never buy what you are selling at a reasonable price – your time is better spent finding prospects that more closely fit your ideal profile.
This is yet another example of quality far outweighing quantity. I’d rather have a handful of prospects that are likely to do business at profitable rates than a whole rolodex full of prospects who will cost me money to do business with – I’m sure you would too! So cut out the deadwood now, and start focusing on marketing efforts that result in quality leads. If networking is not doing that for you, then stop networking. Like Allan, you may well end up making more money.
But beware – it’s called ‘bracket creep’ because it sometimes happens so slowly you’re not aware of it. So you also need the second key to avoiding it.
Key 2: Regularly Review your Marketing Efforts
When I state the obvious I always worry that someone’s going to organise a lynch-mob and run me out of town. But the opposite often happens – readers thank me for reminding them of something that’s gotten crowded out by the day-to-day. So I’ll risk it again!
You really need to set aside a couple of hours about every three months to sit back, disengage from your lead generation efforts, and dispassionately analyse how you are doing. Ask questions like: How many leads did each of my marketing initiatives generate? How many of those leads did I close business with? At what rates (comparative to my list prices)? What reasons did most ‘lost’ prospects give for not moving ahead? What’s the trend as far as profitability is concerned? As far as hours worked per week is concerned?
If you do this regularly you will start to build a profile of your marketing success, and you will be in a position to immediately identify the deadly trend of dropping profitability coupled with rising hours worked. That’s a sure sign that your marketing is not effectively generating quality leads, even if your sales close rates are stable or rising.
When you see that happening, stop whatever marketing you’re doing. Reaffirm what your ideal client looks like. Then implement new marketing strategies which get you in front of more prospects that look like ideal clients.
Like Allan, you’ll make more sales and earn higher profits. Guaranteed.
©David Deakin and Zee2A Limited 2009. Would you like to reprint this article? You may do so as long as you include the copyright notice and the following paragraph: David Deakin, CEO of Zee2A, is a marketing mentor who works with Professional services Executives yearning to take their business to the next level. Through one-on-one and group mentoring programmes he helps them to create sustainable marketing strategies that attract more clients at profitable rates. To learn more, sign up for his e-zine, or make an enquiry please visit www.zee2a.com.
What they said about the Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar
'I found the Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar very informative. It was great to get innovative ideas from the guys at Zee2A but also from other delegates from a variety of different businesses. I would recommend these short seminars to organisations looking for a fresh approach to marketing'
– Craig White, Business Development Manager, ACTIVE
'I came away from this seminar with a much better Verbal Signature, a clear strategy for asking for help with referrals, and the confidence to tackle my future marketing efforts more professionally. Vanessa & David brought clarity, energy and encouragement to a sometimes daunting activity'
– Ann Lewis, Leadership Coach.
'In the Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar you gave us proven tools and techniques to increase our chances of fishing in the right ponds for profitable new business. You highlighted planning, persistence and patience as being three of the keys to success, along with, of course a well-honed Verbal Signature. Plenty of great ideas and tips'
– Michael Warner, FCA.
- Did you attend our VIP Reception at Business South last year?
Did you read about it and see our photos and wish you could have been there?
Would you like to join us this year?
We have just agreed with the event organisers to host another VIP Reception at Business South in March 2009.
Our clients, Marketing Edge E-Zine subscribers, and our Marketing Edge Blog readers will be the first to be invited once we have secured our timeslot.
Watch this space!
- On Thursday 29th January at 6:00pm Vanessa will be presenting a 45-minute interactive presentation entitled "Three Steps to YOUR Professional Brand" 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.
In conclusion, if you enjoyed reading this issue of The Marketing Edge, please forward it on to your friends and colleagues and help us spread the word! (But please erase the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. You don’t want to be inadvertently unsubscribed by one of your recipients!)
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ISSN 1756-350X
Volume 2 Issue 2
21st January 2009
www.zee2a.com
You have received this newsletter because you signed up for it or registered for one of our programmes.
In This Issue
David and Vanessa,
Your Zee2A Mentors
David and Vanessa work with Executives in the Professional Services Industry that are frustrated and dissatisfied with their current marketing activities, profitability, and business growth.
Through personal one-on-one mentoring they teach them how to become Marketing Masters, by among other things helping them create sustainable and repeatable marketing strategies that actually work!
Click to learn more about our mentoring programmes
Click to find out about our home-study information programmes
Food for Thought:
"The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results."
- Edward de Bono
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