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| Sales Prevention Department: Holiday Edition |
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Is everyone in sales creation or sales prevention mode this Holiday season? Well my experience was sales prevention today… Today I went and did a little last minute Holiday shopping. First a stop at Game Stop for some video games for my son. Here’s where the fun began. I responded to a marketing promotion for a new Wii game. They got me! So I’m at Game Stop cash in hand, and I start asking questions about compatibillity of the included controller, and some basic questions regarding the game itself (that was in the promotion mind you). The answer I received was, “sorry we don’t know”. Ok, so I thought this might be just a case of a new un-educated employee…Nope! So, I proceeded to ask the store manager. She then proceeded to tell me that if I bought the game and it didn’t work I couldn’t return it. Perfect, I’m sold. Hoping this was an isolated case, I continued shopping. On to Brookstone looking for a digital photo album that play video. Front and center and it’s on sale. Perfect. Just a couple questions about compaibility for uploading video and I’m set. A friendly sales associate approaches and I fire away with the video upload questions. She didn’t have the answer, but her co-worker did, she “will be right back” with the answer. Waiting…Waiting…Nope, she didn’t return. I guess they don’t want my business, so I ended up buying it at Target. Am I that hard to please? I’m starting to think maybe I need a coffee to perk me up. So I grab my coffee where Starbucks nails it as usual. Same cup of $4 coffee I know and love delivered with precision… One last stop. My wife was looking for a new piece of furniture for the office. Just a quick stop in and out…Oh boy, strike 3 on the day. We find the product we are looking and head up to the counter to purchase the goods. Denied! The sales associate informs us that the server is running too slow to process my card, but they can take cash. Perfect, “where’s the nearest cash machine?”. The answer, “I’m really not sure”…So, we end of leaving with no purchase, no sale, and a sales associate with no commission. What a day… Is it just me or is this all too common? Lesson of the day: You can get your customers to know, like, and trust you. You can drive them to your product and service with your marketing efforts but If you don’t deliver the goods they won’t be a customer for long. I have ran into many small business owners with great marketing but their operations, staff, internal delivery couldn’t keep up with the leads they drive into their business. If this is you, clean up your house before you expand your marketing efforts in 2010. Make sure you keep those hard earned clients and don’t join the sales prevention department. Go Target, Attack, and Profit!
Posted in Marketing Lessons, Small Business Coaching | 
Tags: sales, sales operations | No Comments »
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| Quick Tip: Adding Facebook To Your Website |
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One way you can tie your existing website to your Social networks is to add the Facebook fan box to your website or blog. This widget is very easy to add to your site and is the beginning on linking your social media strategy together in layers. By “stacking” each social media on to of the other, you end up creating a very powerful social media system that will help you build relationships with your prospects. Enjoy the video, and let me know if you have any questions on how to implement this quick tip.
Facebook Fan Box from John Jantsch on Vimeo. ~Matt
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing Lessons, Marketing Tip, Social Media, Uncategorized |
Tags: Add Facebook Fan Box, Facebook fan box | No Comments »
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| Finding Your Ideal Client! |
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As a small business owner, defining and identifying your ideal client is critical. By identifying the key characteristics of your ideal client, you are also defining who IS NOT a good client. Understand the difference can mean the difference between success and failure. If you a familiar with Pareto’s law or the 80/20 rule, this couldn’t be more true. If you were to identify the top 20% of your client base, you will probably find that these are your ideal clients. They are easy to work with, value your service, and are profitable for your business to provide service. Start with these clients, and write down why they are ideal. After you have identified these characteristics, target more prospects like them and watch your profits soar in 2010! Enjoy!
Go Target, Attack, and Profit!
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| Give A Hoot, And Don’t… |
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Ok, so this isn’t a public service announcement on pollution. I wanted to share a tool that I use with Twitter that makes life a lot easier. I know many of you might use TweetDeck, but I prefer Hoot Suite. The coolest feature on HootSuite is the ability to schedule tweets throughout the day. I know other tools do this as well, but I have found this one very user friendly. One other feature is it shows “tweets” that mention you so you can monitor re-tweets and activity occurring on Twitter. This allows you to stay tuned to conversations occurring with your niche, marketplace, and prospects more easily. Quick tip: Make some time each morning and write 5-10 tweets, queue them up in HootSuite and you are set for the day. This keeps your account alive throughout the day, and you can focus on building your business while you are tweeting away on auto pilot. Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt
Posted in Seattle Marketing Coach, Small Business Coaching, Social Media |
Tags: HootSuite, Twitter, Twitter Tools | No Comments »
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| If I Get One More Useless Tweet! I’m Gonna… |
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Your prospects want to get to know you. After they know and like you, then you move to trusting you. At that point, you are safe to make an offer because you have some trust built up. Take an inventory, and understand what problem your prospect is trying to solve. Then, understand what information you can provide related to your product or service that adds VALUE to their day. Then TWEET about it…Pretty easy right? I am wrapping up a book about one of the greatest Advertising copywriters of all time, Claude Hopkins. A quote in his book “My Life In Advertising” hit a chord…
As part of your small business marketing and social media marketing system, add some value. Understand your prospects problems and you are sure to see solid leads start flowing into your small business no matter what tactic you decide to use. Now… Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
Do you find yourself wading through useless tweets on a daily basis? Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Social Media believer, but sometimes I think I think all we have done is given a bull horn to a bunch of folks who don’t understand the foundations of marketing. They are bypassing the fundamental’s of getting a prospect to “Know You”, and are thinking immediately of themselves and what THEY GET, not the value they are providing. As a small business owner, you can’t just go out there using these new Social Media tools yelling, “HEY I HAVE THE BEST WIDGET”. | In Celebration Of A Life Lived… |
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We lost a legend yesterday. Jim Rohn is/was one of the most foremost thought leaders in business, speaking, and life in my opinion. His works have influenced myself and thousands of others with a life truly lived. I thought I would pay tribute with a few of my favorite quotes from Jim that have had a profound influence on my mindset, success, and life. Most appropriate, Jim called these “Vitamins for the Mind”. One of my favorite thoughts was that our income is directly porportionate to the amount of VALUE we provide others. For those of us marketing our small businesses on a daily basis, this is one to live by. God Speed Jim!
Posted in Business Coaching, Marketing Lessons, Small Business Marketing |
Tags: Jim Rohn | No Comments »
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| Marketing Advice: Get Militant About Your Time! |
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The solution… Wow, I wish I had one. I have made of couple of realizations. Will power isn’t enough. Time Management systems are somewhat flawed as many of them reside on your computer where used to find myself getting sucked back into my computer ending up in an endless OCD computer loop. I picked up a book written by Kevin Hogan recently called “The 168 Hour Work Week”, which in my opinion is the most simple system to get stuff done I have seen. Pick it up and read that book! You are probably asking “How Is This Related To Small Business Marketing“….It does, trust me. Your marketing should be a system, and your system won’t work if you don’t get militant about the use of your time and actually get the tasks done consistently. A daily or weekly blog post, a daily twitter post, a newsletter, whatever it is…just get it done. Here’s a small exercise…For one day, write down everything you accomplished today. Next go through that list and put a star next to everything that actually made you money, or was a task that will put money in your pocket in the future. I was shocked when I did this exercise. Protect your time, take action, and watch as your leads increase and your profits grow. Now… Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
One of the most common constraints we all face as entrepreneurs is TIME! Let’s face it, we all have the same amount of time but some get exponentially more done than others. This year I set out to get more out of each day, and feel pretty good about the results. What I came to realize is that procrastination is my worst enemy. It chips away at your dreams and starts a vicious cycle of guilt, sabotage, and short changes your efforts as a business owner to realize your dreams…| Become A Social Media Pro For Your Small Business |
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If you are wondering how Social Media fits into your small business marketing plans, take a minute and watch the video below. John Jantsch has created a new program that we are providing as Duct Tape Marketing coaches that I believe will benefit your business lead generation efforts in big ways! This program is by far the most comprehensive and relevant Social Media information I have seen on the market. Enjoy the introduction. We will be publishing more information soon on our upcoming Social Media workshops based around the Social Media Pro platform. Social Media System Overview from John Jantsch on Vimeo. Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
