Next Level Group

Do you know who your audience is for marketing purposes?  Your audience may be very broad or narrow.  The following general questions may help you “zero in on” those who may use your service and/or purchase your merchandise:

What types of services or merchandise may be marketed to a broad audience?

What types of services or merchandise may be marketed to a narrow audience?

Considering the categories above, in which does your service or merchandise fit and why?

While many services and merchandise may be marketing to a broad audience (things like food products [we all have to eat], roofing services [many of us own homes], etc.) the vast majority must be marketed to a narrow or targeted audience.  I learned, after wasting precious time, that effort to market or present my services to the wrong audience was not going to help me.

Who is your audience?

One very important thing about your audience I want you to consider is their age range.  Depending on the generation in which they fit, you must market to them in different ways.  In my next posting, I will include information on the 4-Generations, that are spending money, you may find interesting.

Do you have a vision for your business?  Have you written it out?  Your vision for the business is different from the mission statement in that it is your dream for the business.

Your vision is not shared with everyone.  The people who are interested in and excited about your vision are:

1.  Your family

2.  Your employees (make sure your employees and what you want for            their future is in your vision)

3.  Your banker

4.  Your strategic business partners

5.  Anyone else who may view your business plan

The key word is “dream”.  You wouldn’t tell just anyone about the strange dream you had last night (hopefully!)  Dreams are shared with people who are close to us; those we have allowed to get close to us. It is the same with your vision.  Believe it or not, there are people out there who don’t want you to succeed.  If those people are family and friends, you may not want to share your vision with them and, in some cases, you may even “fire” these people from the business-part of your life.  Share your vision and dreams with those who care and who are rooting for your success!

Stop and take a look at your business from someone else’s point of view.

Do you know what your customers/prospects think they are buying when they pull into your parking lot, walk through your doors, meet an employee, look over your materials, visit your website, see your advertising, meet you in person, call you on the phone, etc.?  What “feeling” are they going to walk away with after the sale?  After all, it is the “feeling” that they are really buying.  How good are you at predicting what those “feelings” will be and how your product (the business) as well as your merchandise will fulfill them?

Ask yourself: “What do I want my customers/prospects to feel when they have an encounter with my business?  What is the most important need that my product (the business) fulfills for them?  Why should they buy from me (what do I offer them that no one else does?)”

Identifying with your customer is not only important, it is crucial for the sustainment and growth of your business.

In my last blog, I mentioned the home theater business owner and how he or she is marketing by networking and meeting people at events.  I do want you to consider the possibility that this business owner did not make a good impression on you or others in the group.  This action could set back good marketing efforts tremendously.

What might the result be of making a poor impression on someone you have just met with regard to your business?

Remember, it is difficult to recover from making a bad impression and you will rarely receive a second chance to do so.  Do not forget that you and your business are the product and the marketing of each is crucial to your business success.

Let us say that you are interested in having a home theater set-up installed in your family room or den.  You belong to a networking group or have met someone at a Chamber of Commerce meeting who owns a company that offers this type of service.  Would your first thought be to contact this person, whom you have met and maybe had a conversation with, or to search on-line or in the telephone book for someone?

Most people will answer this question affirming that they would first contact the person they know.  Why?  They have:

1.   Met him or her personally

2.   Shook his or her hand

3.   Looked in his or her eyes while speaking with them

4.   Listened to a brief description of his or her business

5.   Watched how others in the group reacted to this person

6.   Possibly heard how they serviced someone else in the group

7.   May have had an opportunity to ask questions and gather information and specifics about the nature of the business

Think of every time you meet someone and he or she has asked you what you do (referring to your work.)  This could be many personal “hits” and marketing at its best.

I was a part of a group comprised of entrepreneurs and C-level executives.  We met one morning each week and shared our ideas and thoughts on a particular topic.  Before we began the meeting, we would go around the table and announce our name, the name of our business and our business focus. This was marketing.  As the meeting began, the owner of the group shared his thoughts on the topic and then called on a member of the group to briefly share his or her thoughts.  He then called on another person, and so on.  This is marketing.

Just being in the presence of other people who could be potential clients or who could refer business to me and having the opportunity to tell them who I am and what I do is an intimate form of marketing.  As I got to know them better, we marketed to each other, one-on-one.

Many business owners comment back that marketing and advertising are the same thing, that they both have to do with buying print ads, running commercials on the radio or television or having a presence on a billboard.  What do you think?

Advertising is one component of marketing.  Marketing is the “big picture”.  Advertising is transmitted to the masses; you are not sure who is exposed to your message.  Even though marketing is the “big picture”, it is personal, can be intimate and generally one-to-one.

Consider the word “value”.  I want to ask you a few questions as it relates to “value” in your business.

• What about your business do you consider a “value” to your customers?

• Take each item you mentioned above, and explain what about it is and can be “valuable” to your customers.

*  –

*  –

*  –

*  –

• How do you communicate those values to prospects or future clients?

In considering areas of your business in which you may not be providing value, please answer the following questions:

• What are some examples of “value” that you can begin providing right now that you are not currently?

• How do you intend to incorporate these items into your business?

Great job!  When you take the time to look at your business through your customer’s eyes, you may see and think of “value” in a new light.

Never, never, never forget that you and your business are the product. Focusing on this mindset alone can result in tremendous change and growth in the way you conduct business.  Now that’s real value!

In my last blog post, I talked about putting on “fresh eyes” when regarding the portions of your business of which the customer has contact.  Consider how you feel about these new areas and how you would feel/respond to a business that had similar challenges.  Then, if anything needs attending to – DO IT!  Your customers will notice and your profit margin will grow.

Other parts of your business that may need attention:

*Your employees:

• Unsmiling
• Unfriendly
• Not helpful
• “it’s just a job” attitude
• Badly or underdressed

*Your materials:

• Poorly printed
• Spelling errors and mistakes
• Looks like they have been copied too many times
• Little thought put into them
• Not user friendly

*Meeting with you:

• Are you on time?
• Does your visual image fit the prospect/customer’s visual image of you?
  • Are you dressed appropriately for your job?
  • Are you well-groomed?
  • Are your clothes in good condition?
  • Did you check your breath?
• Are you enthusiastic about meeting with him or her and can they tell it?
• Are you knowledgeable about your product?

You get the picture.  Customer service is more than just a face-to-face interaction; it also involves the customer’s perception of everything about your business and how it affects them.  Would you rather do business with a company that had little or none of the above challenges or one that you perceived “simply didn’t care”?  Don’t lose customers because you just aren’t paying attention!

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers.  From their point-of-view, are there areas of your business that they may not consider enough of a value to continue doing business with you?  What, other than an owner or employee with an indifferent attitude will assist in losing customers?

Often, a business owner is so focused on working in or running the business, that he or she may lose the ability to place themselves in their customer’s place.  Below are a few physical areas that may be overlooked:

* Parking

• No available spaces
• No defined spaces
• Potholes in the parking area
• Trash on the ground
• Unattractive, obtrusive, or no landscaping

* The appearance of the exterior building:

• Peeling or faded paint
• Dirty-looking
• Broken or missing items (cracked glass, a flag pole with no flag on it, etc.)
• Dirty fingerprints on the door
• Unkempt landscaping

* The lobby or waiting area:

• An empty reception desk
• A funny smell
• Out-of-date magazines
• Uncomfortable (or not enough) chairs
• Not clean or picked up

Next time you walk into your business, put on “fresh eyes” – the kind that have never visited your location before.  NOTICE the physical aspects of your business, and how you would feel/respond to a business that looked the same.  Then, if anything needs attending to – DO IT! Your customers will notice and your profit margin will grow.