Recommendations to Survive and Thrive - Part 2
Clients, Clients, Clients
Marketing, Marketing,
Marketing
Advice from BillQuick Customers, BillQuick Advisors and
consultants has one consistent theme for surviving and
thriving in this economic climate:
Don't stop marketing.
If anything,
increase your marketing activities.
Marketing does
not mean major advertising campaigns or expensive shotgun direct
mails with fancy 4-color inserts. Successful professionals, and
those who work with them, say marketing can be low cost and high
impact.
The top three
suggestions are:
-
Talk to
your clients - Regularly. Sending an email or talking to
clients at a local meeting is not enough. You must actively
nurture the relationships. That requires meeting
face-to-face. To maximize your market impact with the lowest
cost and time, meet with clients once or twice a week for an
early morning cup of coffee or quick breakfast. Don't
linger. Meet for 15-30 minutes. (They're busy too.)
Meeting before the business day starts energizes you and the
client because it is a positive meeting.
Have a couple questions ready to show you care about a client as
more than a revenue stream. Exchange ideas about ways to cope.
Ask them for feedback on new service ideas. Most people
willingly and immediately help. Your client begins thinking
positively and beyond the current situation. You are attached to
that positive memory. In these conversations, it is critical
that you do not let them turn into commiseration sessions.
After meeting face to face, stay in touch. Set a schedule of
emails and telephone calls and BURN it into your Outlook or Day
Planner. There is nothing short of a natural disaster or illness
that should keep you from your marketing follow-up. Try to meet
every 4 to 6 weeks for another quick face-to-face. This
marketing strategy puts you at the head of the line when an
opportunity comes up. And who knows, your "research" might
identify how to save clients money by tapping into your
expertise. That's a Win-Win your client won't forget.
-
Talk to
your former clients. Rekindle the relationships.
Start soft; this is not a sales call. You are reestablishing
a relationship and that takes a little time and effort.
Begin with an email or phone call. Ask how they are doing.
Be positive. For example, you may write:
"Hey, Bob, been a while since we talked.
"I thought about you this morning when I was having coffee
with Joe. He's a member of my professional association. We meet
every few weeks to talk about ways to cope and get ready for the
upswing that's coming. A couple things he said reminded me of
your operation. [Be specific if you can.] I thought you may want to hear about it.
"What Joe does is [example] pay for leads. His professional
staff get a part of the fee for any new business they bring in.
His engineers are all over the place drumming up business. They
got so excited Joe brought in a business coach to give them a
quick marketing tutorial - easy, quick stuff they can do. They
got two new jobs within a few weeks after the sessions. Not big
ones, but a start."
Something as simple as sharing does a lot to rekindle an old
relationship. Share ideas you read, hear from others, and come
up by yourself. Send the former client a link to a web site,
blog or article. When you make the effort, you are sincere, and
you are consistent (keep in contact), you open a door that most
people appreciate and will reciprocate. Move toward a
face-to-face meeting, then do the same as you do with clients -
stay in touch.
-
Give back
to your clients and former clients. It has to be
something of value. No charge, no hidden gotcha's. This is a
way to say, "I like you as my client and I want to keep
you."
Defining what to give is where many professionals get tied up.
Some think this means a marketing premium like a keychain or
business card case. Wrong. You provide services, so focus on
services. Others get bogged down in thinking about how
much revenue is being lost. Important, but very short-sighted.
The problem is "value" is equated with cost. Again, cost is
important, but you're missing a key fundamental of marketing:
It's about the client!
Think about the value from a client's point of view. What would
they perceive as the value of a giveaway service? You can gauge
this very easily: What would the client save or earn having
received the service from you? Don't know?
Then take suggestion #1 and #2 above and ask. Meet or call a few
clients. Tell them about the new service you're developing and
that you need their help. Lay out the service and ask them what
they think. Will this part of it help you? What if this was
added at this point?
Let them tell you what they think and ACTIVELY LISTEN! That
means you don't debate or argue, you ask them questions. Probing
questions. Clarifying question. Open-ended questions. You are
there to learn - either to test your new service in the harsh
light outside your mind and offices, or to build an idea from
the ground up. (By the way, this is called product management, a
marketing activity.)
When you have a good handle on what the service should be, use
the same clients to test market it. Give it to them free. Make
sure they receive strong value. And as any good business coach
will tell you, document the entire service (from prep to
delivery to follow-up) like you were writing a franchise manual.
This ensures you know the exact time and effort required, and
will help you control the cost of giving the service away.
Now, execute! Start generating positive word of mouth among your
clients. Have your staff use your "franchise manual" to deliver
the same service. When the business cycle turns back up, you may
well find that you have a whole new service area, tested and
ready for widespread delivery.
How should you deliver the service? It could be a one-to-one
analysis for a client or it could be an intimate seminar in your
offices for a small group of clients. It may sessions done
on the web or a teleconference. (Remember to document everything
during these sessions. They help perfect your service, reduce
costs, improve marketing effectiveness, and fine-tune service
delivery.)
For example, an IT consultant may visit a client's back-office
for a couple hours to identify possible risks. The result may be
a recommendation to safeguard data with automated
backup to a remote cloud site. Or an architectural or
engineering firm may hold a small seminar that shows
construction clients how to improve internal procedures, better
deal with permitting agencies, and so on. (Wow! Your
take-it-for-granted expertise has real world value to those who
don't have it.) Similarly, accountants, attorneys and other
professionals may offer accounting, technology, legal and
other useful information (high value) to clients, and perhaps,
extend the give away to the clients of their clients, too.
As you can see,
these marketing strategies are very low cost. And year after
year, good times and bad, they prove to be the most effective at
keeping and gaining clients. And when the economy turns from
poor to good, you are in the right position, with strong
marketing habits, strong client relationships, and new,
highly-profitable services.
One last 'by the
way', these three strategies also establish and strengthen your
personal brand as a professional. Branding is a marketing
activity.
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