Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

We’ve talked about it before and we’ll talk about it again. What am I referring to?

Getting rid of unprofitable clients, of course.

Getting rid of them? Yes. That’s what I said. You don’t have to renew contracts with clients who are more work than they’re worth and you don’t have to sell to prospects who are looking to bleed you dry.

You don’t have to do it.

Ever. Even if you’re struggling to meet your sales quota for the month.

The truth is that – again – you need to have faith in your product and your price. Clients and prospects may nag you for a lower price, or for more services than you’re offering, and you should take that as a sign. What kind of sign? A sign that these clients are going to cost you more money than you’re going to earn from working with them.

In business, it is completely acceptable to draw this conclusion. Clients who have no respect for your product or price have no respect for you. They’ll call you regularly, expect top-notch service for the low price you’ve agreed to, and they’ll eventually eat at your motivation to succeed until it’s gone.

Completely gone.

Your short-term goals will become destroyed because you’re too busy servicing someone you compromised with. You’ll no longer have time to focus on making new sales or upselling current clients. Your long-term goals will shortly follow.

Destroyed.

Do you want that to happen to you?

If not, take action. Don’t beg your prospects to take your business. If they demand a price that is too low, walk away. Don’t let your current customers walk all over you. If they do, raise their prices upon renewal and let them walk if they don’t like the price.  Let someone else deal with the headaches.

Seems harsh? You’re in business for a reason. You have goals for a reason. In the end, you do have to provide the best customer service possible – but not if it means sacrificing your success – your motivation – your time to do so.

Be successful!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

I think by now you’ve gotten the point when it comes to the traits good marketers must have in order to become successful. Even still, today I’d like to go into detail on one last point.

Communication.

Simply put, any good and effective marketer is going to be an excellent communicator – and I mean in all aspects of communication.

Verbal communication is essential when building relationships with clients and prospects. The better you are at painting a verbal picture of your products and services and how you are better than the competition the better your odds of earning trust and business.

Written communication skills are essential as well. Your written communication skills will determine your ability to convey ideas via email, especially when it comes to important contract points. They’ll also determine your ability to create sound marketing pieces – like print advertisements or website copy.

Do you have the next big catch-phrase up your sleeve? Are you ready to write the next big marketing campaign?

Take, for example, the 1991 Chevrolet campaign marketing their line of trucks. Researchers knew that the truck was  of the most dependable on the market but they also knew that the general public didn’t see the truck in the same light. They knew they needed to launch a campaign that would market the truck in a positive light. They took Bob Seger’s hit song, “Like a Rock” and coupled it with a series of images of the truck in captivating backgrounds and before they knew it the truck was gaining signifant recognition.

And, to prove how effective the campain was, the “Like a Rock” ads still play, with variations, today. When people hear “Like a Rock” they think of Chevy – even if they’re not watching a commercial.

Now that’s communciation.

Do you have what it takes?

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

One of the most important things to remember, as you build your portfolio of marketing skills, is that you must build strong relationships with your current customers.

Wait. What? You’re asking yourself why you need to build relationships with people you’re already doing business with. You probably think you should be focusing your time on new clients and leaving the current ones to your customer service team. You’re wrong. It’s very simple. Here’s why.

• Your current customers are a source of future business. As your industry grows and changes your current customers will want to be on top of changes within the industry. If you have products or services that address those changes, your current customers will likely stay with you.
• Your current customers are a great marketing tool. If they like you, they’ll tell their friends about you. They’re a great source of word-of-mouth promotion.
• It’s cheaper to keep current customers than it is to find a new customer. It’s also less time consuming. Your business will suffer if you’re always trying to replace current customers and then grow your base on top of that. Keep your current customers happy and add new ones at a regular, steady pace.

A good marketer understands that building strong relationships is about more than landing a new client. It’s about keeping everyone you come into contact with happy, focused, and ready to grow.

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

Today we’re continuing down our list of traits effective marketers have and I’d like to point out something very simplistic. Effective marketers, simply put, have an unwanning desire to grow.

They want to grow their businesses. They don’t want to sell just enough to take home a certain paycheck. They aren’t satisfied with a stagnant business, even if it is profitable. They want to continuously ebb, flow, and expand.

What type of growth are effective marketers looking for? There are two kinds, and you know what they are. The first is growth from the aquisition of new customers. The second is growth from the expansion of current customers – selling them new products (or more of what they currently buy).

Most companies gain the majority of their growth from finding and obtaining new customers. Selling to current customers, while it does aid the bottom line, is really a form of retention – letting your clients know you are on the ball and can serve their ever changing needs. Letting them know not only about new products, but about new ways to use the ones they already have, will keep them happy and content for years to come.

How do you feel about your business today? Are you looking to grow or have you hit a plateau? If you’ve hit a plateau, what are you going to do to move past it?

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert