K is for.............Keep Talking and K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid)

Keep Talking.................to everyone about your business, how you can help and above all else to remind people that you are still here.
Clients/Customers will welcome a quick call, e-mail or letter from you as a reminder that you are still operating. Fitting in with the 80/20 rule this could be your lucky contact. For sales people it is important to remember that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.
When was the last time you picked up the phone to your best and your worst customers? A quick courtesy call will bring you to the forefront of their minds and wouldn't it be great if that call ended up with an order?
You could even be brave and ask them if they know of anyone else who would be interested in your product or service.......you don't get if you don't ask!

K.I.S.S or as we call it in a sales environment Keep It Simple Stupid.........so many people are tempted to go chapter and verse on a product or service with features, benefits, pain relief etc etc (In other words everything they have heard other people talking about) and overloading the prospect who walks away not really knowing what you were there for. Sometimes this can result in you losing a 'sale' because you have actually talked them out of buying or even missed the signal to buy.
I find a quick overview chat is good and then asking questions and allowing the prospect to ask questions that you can then answer using the knowledge that you have stored.

I remind you of an occassion that many people have heard about when I was working with a company and we were looking for sponsorship. The poor Commercial Manager was up against the wall, needing sponsorship, and spent half the day giving chapter and verse to answerphone machines and wondering why these people were not calling him back or not available to take his call. What would you have done in their position?
It demonstrates that you only need to give enough information to whet the appetite and then you get the second chance to go in for the sale but if you give everything in the first place, the brain overloads and they then have the opportunity of not taking your call and having to say no! Resulting in you getting despondent and the prospect being wary of speaking to you at any time.

J ........... is for Journal (Blog)

This is another way of showing your knowledge and encouraging people to use you and/or your business. It is also another place to keep information that you do not necessarily want to put in your website content, whether this is because of the volume of information that you have compiled or because they are your thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the view of your Company. If this is the case please make sure that you show this somewhere prominent in the Journal/Blog

This is also a way of showing your expertise in a your specific area of expertise and can help potential customers/clients make up their mind about using your business for their specific needs.

Have you got Ten Top Tips that you can share? Do you have a view on new industry news that you can share with your readers?

All of this is information that your readers will be interested in hearing and will make you stand out from your competitors.

You can also link it back to pages on your website to show more information etc and thus increasing the the chances of your potential viewers finding more out about your Business.

I is for Information

I is for Information

Everybody likes to think that they have learned something from you for free so give some information to show that you know what you are talking about but do not be tempted to give too much away as you will always be looked upon as the one to go to for advice without payment. Learn to know when to say ‘OK shall we formalise this and put a date in the diary when we can talk about rates/fees’

Always have information available for your prospective clients/customers. This can be in any format but should be available to hand over if requested or suitable. If its on your website, ensure that its up to date and relevant.

H is for ...........Handouts

Even if you only design them yourself and print them off, ensure that you have something in the form of a handout describing what you can provide, how you can be contacted, any offers that you have etc , ready to give away when you meet new people. When you create them yourself, you can, at least change the content and tailor it so that it is topical for the audience that you are encountering. For a large event when you know you will be dispensing numerous copies it would be worth investing in professional design and print quality.
As with Business cards it is always useful to have some close at hand at all times as you never know when they will be useful and you don't want to miss the opportunity for being remembered by a potential client.

G is for Growth & Graphics

Growth
As your business grows your public awareness will increase. Are you ready for this? Are there any areas of your business that need firming up? Before you incorporate growth ensure that the grassroots of your business are in sound shape. Have you got sufficient staff to deal with growth? Are your systems in place? Have you got contingency plans for this growth should you need to outsource? If you carry stock, do you have space, availability and consistent suppliers? If you make the product yourself can you cope with the increase in demand? If not have you made contingency plans?


Graphics
All of your graphics should be consistent throughout your business promotion. Too many businesses have totally different graphics for their advertising which makes it difficult for a potential client/customer to relate to your business. When we say repetition builds reputation it helps to have a likeness reapeated to be able to recognise it. Do not send out conflicting messages as it only takes a short while to confuse but a long time to draw back all that could potentially be lost by sending out these cross messages.

F is for ...............Flyers & Free Listings

Flyers should always be kept in your handbag, diary, folder, car boot and anywhere else that is easily accessible. You never know when you could be asked for your information and what a missed opportunity it is if you do not have it at hand to give to your potential customer. I would imagine that your competitors have an ample supply close at hand especially for this situation.

Free Listings fall into the same category as Directories. This is just a simple Google search and a little time spent filing details and keeping them regularly updated with contact details and where necessary a photograph or logo.

'E' is for..........

Exhibitions need not be expensive to attend and you will find many local ones could even be free to you.
If you are attending ensure that all the info and Point of Sale material that you use is up to date and plentiful to use as handouts.
Return on this investment may not be immediate but will help to build your reputation when combined with the other promotional tactics that you employ.

Expert.

Become an expert in your field. Become recognised by responding to queries on social networking sites, to radio, newspaper & magazine requests and soon the media will be approaching you when they have questions. Send topical articles in to business publications, which address relevant topics to your industry and when you have built a rapport with the journalists and editors they will start to contact you for responses to the issues that arise.

Editorial space is not difficult to achieve if you send relevant press releases to newspapers, magazines and trade press on a timely basis. It is always worth remembering that if you have nothing worth saying, don’t bother.
Recently, through a social networking site, a colleague of mine made contact over a shared interest and a few days later was asked to send some product samples to this same lady who was an editor to a fashion magazine, which subsequently reviewed the items and gained the client a considerable amount of page space. For the sake of spending a little time it is amazing what can be gained!