What is your goal as a salesperson? Is it to sell products?

If so, you’re never going to get anywhere.

The truth is that to be an effective marketer you must be completely conscious of the needs of your customers. You need to get to know them, their businesses, and their needs. If you’re able to do that your sales problems will solve themselves because, in the end, they will essentially sell themselves.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you need to make a list of 100 potential clients and research each business individually from top to bottom. What you do need, however, is an idea of what niche market you want to go after. What are the goals of the type of business you are looking at? What products or services are currently unavailable that would help them to reach those goals? Having the answers to these questions will help you to develop a product or service that will essentially sell itself to your target market.

You should, of course, get to know some of your clients individually. The more they feel you care the better your relationships will be. The point is that you simply don’t have to make it difficult on yourself. Don’t try to jam your products down the throats of people who don’t care. Find the right market and sales will happen almost automatically.

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

Today we’re going to start addressing some of the characterists that set superior, effective marketrs apart from subpar or average marketers. One of the first and most important traits of an effective marketer is the ability to stay in the loop.

What do I mean?

You need to always be up to date on the current trends, not only in the world of marketing but in the worlds of those you wish to serve. An effective marketer knows how important it is to monitor the market, gather and sort through information, and have a great market research team on his side.

Knowing what is happening in the market will help you in a wide variety of ways. The research information you gather will help you to identify your target market and build a very strong brand.

The more you pay attention to what is happening in the world around you, the better your odds of moving forward in a successful manner. A great example of this type of research being used effectively is the Chick-fil-A fast food store, an establishment with more than 1,000 units in the United States alone. The company completed extensive market research, found out what customers liked and didn’t liked, and worked towards improvement. They’re one of the few companies experiencing strong growth, even in today’s economy!

Are you really in the loop or do you just scratch the surface to stay in touch? Think about it.

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

I know you probably have a wealth of information at your fingertips every day. You have marketing magazines, bookmarked websites, and maybe even a few textbooks and handouts from old marketing courses. You’re armed and ready to go – ready to market your product and make a bunch of sales.

And I have some news for you.

Having an arsenal of information means absolutely nothing if you can’t use it effectively. Having marketing information and marketing knowledge doesn’t make you effective.

So what do you really need to have in order to be an effective marketer? I’ve found, over time, that good, effective marketers have a number of distinct traits. They include:

1. The ability to keep up with current trends in the market;
2. The ability to stay focused on their customers;
3. The ability to stand out from the crowd;
4. Excellent communication skills;
5. Focus, drive, and determination;
6. A plethora of growth potential; and
7. The ability to build strong relationships

If you’re missing any one of these characteristics you’ll have trouble evolving into the hard-core marketer you wish yourself to be. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll take a look at each of these traits and what they really mean to your success. Are you ready to get to know yourself on a completely new level?

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

When it comes to marketing your product you’ll find you have a number of different things to keep in mind. The art of marketing can be complex and, at times, overwhelming but if you make a strong plan before you get started you’ll find everything to be a bit easier to handle.

In order to do so you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the 6 P’s of marketing. If you follow this checklist and formulate a response to each item on the list you’ll be well on your way to developing a very strong marketing plan.

So what are the 6 P’s?

• Product – Identify exactly what product you are focusing on during this campaign.
• Price – Identify your price and determine whether or not it is competitive.
• Promotion – What forms of promotion will you use to spread the word about this product? Will you use the internet, print ads, word of mouth, radio, television?
• Place – Where will you target the sale of your product? What geographic area will you be in when you manufacture the product and in what geographic area will you want to sell your product?
• Processes – You’ll need to make sure you have defined processes in place for manufacturing, marketing, sales, and sales fulfillment. Each part of the process should be planned before you launch your campaign.

Focus on the 6 P’s and you’ll end up with a stellar marketing plan. The answers to these questions will not only help you identify who you are selling to but what your other unique selling points are as well. Good luck!