Five Marketing Strategies for Successful Businesses

Five Marketing Strategies for Successful Businesses

You can reduce effective marketing to five steps—five specific actions—that you can put into practice right now. This is your task: USE at least one of these RIGHT NOW.

The five components that comprise an organization's marketing plan are known as the "5Ps," or the formula used to analyze marketing in the past. These five elements will also become a part of their brand if they are applied consistently, effectively, and for a sufficient amount of time. 

Everything is going OK so far. The list usually consists of people, product, location, process, pricing, promotion, paradigm, viewpoint, persuasion, passion, positioning, packaging, and performance; however, the difficulty is that no one can seem to agree on which specific 5 P's are crucial. 

Whoa. It seems difficult, don't you think? I will attempt to condense good marketing into five steps, or five tangible acts, that you can put into practice right now. This is your task: USE at least one of these RIGHT NOW. 

First Step: Advance

Would you want to give something new a try? When a prospect inquires about pricing the next time you're chatting with them, DOUBLE your standard rate and observe the outcome. 

Am I crazy?

Perhaps, perhaps not. On the other hand, you may be insane for competing on price rather than value. Companies that fight on pricing lose. Clearly. 

Undercutting your pricing is the simplest thing your rivals can do. Actually, they'll imitate your pricing right away. Lowering the cost of anything requires no inspiration, originality, innovation, market leadership, or vision. And it's harmful to everyone concerned. Profits are always reduced when prices are lower. Research indicates that a 1% decrease in pricing corresponds to an 8% decline in earnings. 

How do I create a link to my website?   HERE

When you double your standard pricing, what happens? 

Multiple items. Prospects believe:

* A rise in your product or service's worth

* A higher degree of status while utilizing or possessing your good or service

* A greater degree of faith in you and what you have to give (the halo effect)

* A greater degree of assurance that your item or service actually functions

One of my respected marketing consultants once offered me some really wise counsel. Be costly or... be free, she urged. Being among the most costly service providers is impressive. People brag about their $21,000 platinum-plated cell phone or their $200,000 Italian sports vehicle. About their $19,000 GM vehicle, hardly one talks about it. 

With remarkable success, I've assisted businesses in tripling their pricing, and I've assisted individual consultants in tripling [and in one instance tripling] their rates. They gained more clients in each of those instances rather than less. Move 3 has instructions on how to accomplish this. And maybe this implies that along the line, you'll lose a few unprofitable clients. You won't have room to service the more lucrative clients when they come along if you don't let go of some unproductive ones. Maintaining a concentration on catering to a market segment that can afford to pay your previous cheap rates is tantamount to professional death. Clients are not found by price. VALUE locates customers. Additionally, clients that respect your work need to ◜ and will ⿽ pay in line with that worth.

Free is another effective pricing point. Of course, free is amazing as well. This brings us to our next point: giving value initially is a key component of rising ahead. without charge. Have you thought of a fantastic prospect? Fantastic! Forward it to them. Better yet, have a lead for business for them? Give it to me! Have you read any study findings, articles, or profiles that have an immediate bearing on their business? Trim it off, then mail it with a brief letter to the person at the top. The door is now open for that prospect.

Step 2: Enter the Room

Relocating entails getting nearer to the client. Imagine yourself in their shoes, consider their issues, and consider their customers and future business. What should be done first? Investigate. Getting ready. Assignments. Every salesperson now has access to industry, regional, business, and corporate news via the Internet. How can you expect to present a convincing solution to a prospect if you aren't doing a thorough investigation into their problems, difficulties, and constraints? 

Not a fan of spending all day at the computer? Taking to the streets is an even better idea. Get personal knowledge about what's going on in their world, including their issues, viewpoints, hurdles, and priorities. You may also learn about their hopes, only-ifs, and highest aspirations by visiting businesses and speaking with connections in the sectors you serve.

Does all of this work? Indeed. Is this the level of effort that most salesmen make? Not in a manner. which is precisely why YOU ought to. Which gets us to Move 3.

Step 3: Proceed Forward

Going above and beyond what the majority of salespeople do is necessary to advance. To distinguish between being a partner and a peddler, one must put in the effort—yes, the genuine, hard labor. 

Do you want to proceed? 

Don't do anything your prospects don't like to begin with. 

Here are the top 10 traits that buyers find objectionable in salespeople, as reported in a poll by Purchasing magazine. Check to see whether you or your sales team are engaging in any of the following professional faux pas:

10. Not fulfilling commitments

9. A lack of originality

8. Not keeping or scheduling appointments

7. Ignorance about the client's business ("What do you guys do here?").

6. Considering the client as expendable

5. Not following through

4. Insufficient product expertise

3. Being too forceful and not paying attention

2. Apathy or lack of intention ("Just checking in")

... and the most disliked thing is not being prepared.

You may also advance by raising your prices (do you recall Move 1) and providing concrete data to demonstrate the worth of your product or service. 

Jeffrey Fox, the author of the enlightening book How to Become a Rainmaker, refers to this process as dollarizing. One of the most effective sales strategies is "dollarizing," which is essentially changing the conversation from "selling what you're selling" to "selling money" once you demonstrate (using actual numbers that your prospect will provide you) the return on investment: how THIS much spent will generate THIS much in savings, profits, sales, new clients, hours, etc. 

I use an activity called "The Money Machine" in my lectures that will assist you in clearly stating this in hard currency. 

The Money Machine surpasses this by enabling you to monetize against:

* rival goods and services

* The potential for inaction

* The possibility of doing things on their own

* Additional items The potential customer feels at ease enough to invest money on

Send me an email at david@unconsulting.com to request a free copy of my Money Machine spreadsheet.

Your product or service suddenly turns into a true investment because you can demonstrate to folks the arithmetic involved in getting this much IN for this much OUT. Nothing is more straightforward than selling money at a bargain!

Another approach to proceed is to give up on the absurd game of "closing the sale." Closing is not a method; it's not a ruse; it's not about looks, magic words, or power struggles. The two best questions to ask your prospect as you wind down your value-based talk are these ones. Closing should be a logical continuation of your engagement.

1. Does the discussion we've had thus far make sense?

2. What should I do next, in your opinion?

Response to Question 1: Of course, it makes sense if you've planned the meeting, spoken about the prospect's main concerns, and valued your solution. 

Response to Question 2: "Let's do the paperwork" or "Let's go ahead."Alternatively, you may very much assume that the deal is not ready to close if the prospect responds to this with "Get Out" or "Drop Dead." Really, if you pay close attention to the response to this question, you'll be able to address any underlying worries, reluctances, or problems with the prospect before they abruptly say "No" to any other conventional "ask for the sale" line that so many sales trainers advise against. Recall that your purpose is to assist the prospect in making a purchase, not to make a sale. Please feel free to get that permanently tattooed on your forehead.

Step 4: Step Aside

Another issue that most individuals in sales and marketing struggle with is the idea that you can't please everyone. Finding your specialization and asserting your knowledge in a certain field is what Move Aside is all about. Stated differently, you want to become the ⿌Go-To Guy◽ for your particular product or service, not the jack-of-all crafts and master of none.◰

When you provide these two mental representations of your product or service to potential customers, their responses will differ significantly:

* I believe we can work this out.◰

This is just what we have been searching for

I'll give you an illustration. There is a legitimate business that offers services including house cleaning, odd tasks, catering, and carpet removal. I'm not sure about you, but when I need a caterer, I search for someone who works around the clock. I want to avoid worrying about whether they washed their hands before feeding my visitors and after the carpet cleaning procedure. In fact, I might even be more drawn to Wedding Bells Catering than to Sam's Catering or Good Eats Catering if I'm searching for a caterer for a wedding.◰

Here's one additional instance. Numerous graphic design firms handle a wide range of tasks, including book packaging, wine labels, websites, collateral materials, brochures, and logo creation. They take care of everything. And things are typically going well for business. (But let's be honest, they probably wouldn't have asked for my assistance if they were going crazy!) While some of them struggled to set themselves apart from the competition, others found it difficult to build a solid clientele and network of referrals. We've had some success growing their present business, but most of my customers hesitate when we discuss the possibility of "Moving Aside" and specializing in one area or creating a whole new firm. 

Take a look at it here: http://www.max-effect.com

Step 5: Proceed by Yourself

You are now adrift in a sea of gray. Me-too is in charge today. The same old thing, offered by the same old people, in the same old way, is appearing everywhere you turn. dull. and lethal.

The issue is that gray is not widely purchased. You might as well close your business today if you, your brand and your products become just another face in the crowd. To put it another way, every business experiences bankruptcy. It's only a question of time. Need evidence? Seventeen of the top 100 businesses from fifty years ago still exist today. Furthermore, not one of the 17 is now leading the market. 

Why? Change occurs. You're blending in if you don't stand out from the crowd, and no one will even notice you, much less want to find you and tell their friends about you.

This is an illustration of a business that, while it hasn't been performing poorly, isn't as notable as it once was. 

An official from American Express was just on the phone resolving a billing issue. Have I met your expectations for this call? the operator questioned her at the end of the conversation. and the executive said firmly, "No."Her billing issue was resolved by the representative. That is what is anticipated.

Now, THAT would have gone above and above expectations, wouldn't it, if the representative had given the executive a $50 American Express gift card to use at any of American Express's online retail partners? Telling that tale to ten or twenty individuals would be worthwhile. Just picture the executive saying to someone, "Hey, I called AmEx to fix my billing error." What do you think? They succeeded! That's not a lone move.

This is an excellent way to determine whether your sales and marketing tactics fall into the "moving alone" category:

* is just not practiced in your field.

* Clients will comment on (very noteworthy!)

* defies ordinary knowledge (what I refer to as "uncommon sense").

* People believe you're insane (even your competitors).◰

* Others will truly be afraid to emulate you, especially your rivals.

Act foolishly. Go bonkers. Put some attitude on it. Make an impression. 

The author Seth Godin summed this up well when he remarked, "Safe is risky." Furthermore, the danger is secure.◰ 

Allow me to summarize the five marketing moves before I sign off:

1. Advancement equals Increased Value

2. Advance = Draw nearer

3. Go Forward = Become More Astute

4. Shift Aside = Become Specialist

5. Go Solo to Draw Attention

Combining these will also enable you to perform the Ultimate Move, which is to become incredibly talented.

And keep in mind these timeless words from Jerry Garcia:

You wish not to be regarded as the greatest of the greatest.

You want to be the only one doing what you do.◰