Posts Tagged ‘lead generation’

I’ve read a number of your books and I’ve based my yellow pages advertisement on your concepts. I think our advertising grabs the viewer’s attention, speaks to what we do and how well we do it. I just opened a new studio that is in a premium location for foot traffic, in the center of my city. I have excellent window graphics, with details of my services, such as airbrush makeup, nail services, spray tanning, airbrush tattoos, as well as hair and makeup styling. We also have an awesome display of bridal jewelry in the window. My studio is very cutting edge, comfortable and attractive, but my phone doesn’t seem to ring. Even though many people look in, few are actually coming in to see what we do. I’ve tried some new tactics, including cold calling on the Fashion Industry and Hairdressing/Fashion colleges, but that’s been slow to help. I also have a brochure, which I crafted to your guidelines. Is there anything else I need to be doing, without spending a fortune?

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

As you already know from reading my books, there are three factors that go into creating strong advertising, target, offer and copy.

You have to assess where your message is lacking.

Is it your target, offer or copy that needs help, or is it all three?

From the little bit you’ve told me, it sounds like your target needs some adjustment, and perhaps your offer as well. You need to make sure you offer what your targets really want to buy versus what you want to sell them.

It sounds like your shop is trendy and cutting edge, but if your marketing is being run through mediums frequented by pensioners and great grandmothers, you aren’t targeting the right people.

So where are you going to find the young, hip customers you want?

And once you find them, is the offer in your ads speaking to them and their needs?

These days running ads in the Yellow Pages probably won’t bring you the customers you want. For businesses that want a young clientele, a social media presence which they can use to engage clients and leads is vital.

But social media isn’t the only way to target the customers you want.

You can also advertise in niche, community or alternative newspapers that tell people about all the cool places in their city.

It sounds like you are in an urban center and virtually every city around the world has some sort of local paper for the young, hip and trendy. In Boston it’s The Phoenix, In Las Vegas it’s the City Life. What is it in your city?

You can also use strategic alliances with other cool shops that do business with the customers you want, but sell different services or products.

For instance, if there’s a pub or restaurant that you’re fond of and sells to your target market, why not work something out with them where you get their database of customers and their customers get some type of free service from you the first time they visit?

When a new business opens, people need to have a reason to come in, so a free giveaway the first time can really help.

If they come in for the free service and like what you and your team do, they’ll be back, so you’ve got to be prepared to offer outstanding value the first time a customer visits you.

These are just a few ways to target the market your business needs, but if you re-read Instant Cashflow, you’ll find a number of other strategies you can use and once you’ve got the strategies in hand, adjust it to fit the in the “Target, offer, copy” formula.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Anything you can suggest to train new salespeople to pick up the phone in the Insurance business? They seem to hate making calls, even to customers who have bought from us before. How can I improve their collective attitude and generate more business from my telemarketer?

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

There are a few immediate concerns that pop out of your letter. First, maybe you have the wrong people for your telemarketing jobs. Certain personalities don’t like interacting with people they don’t know. What does your hiring program look like? Are you using personality tests to help figure out who would do best in certain positions and which positions don’t match with certain personality types?

It could also be that they’re not comfortable with what they are offering. In this case, either they don’t understand the offer or product, or they don’t believe in it. If this is the situation, you have to either develop a better offer or train your team in a new way, designed so they understand what they are selling implicitly.

Maybe they are too comfortable. If they earn a good wage and there is no REAL incentive to pick up the phone and get the sale, what is in it for them? They may work for you, but you still have to teach them why it benefits them that your business gets more sales. It could either be the carrot (or the stick) in this case.

You could play nice and offer quarterly goals they can reach to earn more money. Or you could go the other way and make it very clear that if their attitude toward the phone continues this way, they won’t have a job for much longer.

No matter what the issue is, there is only one person who can change and who is accountable for it, and that is you. It seems to me if you have a problem getting your team to do their job, you have a major leadership issue.

Remember, the boss isn’t there to be a team member’s friend. The boss is there to make sure the business continues to grow and evolve to reach its potential and to do that, your focus has to be on results.

If you aren’t getting results with one group, yet you’ve trained them and given them every opportunity to succeed, it may be time to move on to the next set of employees and train them the right way from the beginning.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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I would like to know how to make effective cold calls. It takes me speaking to 100 business owners to get 1 perfect appointment. As you can see from the numbers, it’s a challenge for me. Is there some ideas I can use to convince my potential customers to give me a chance?

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Cold calling is certainly not easy, but with the proper preparation you can use it to find the right customers for your business.

To make your cold calling more effective, it could certainly help if you can find ways to get the name of your business known. After all, if you call and say you are from a business with brand recognition, you are far more likely to get past the first objection.

Could you try direct mail to do this? Maybe you could send prospective customers some info, including testimonials from current or previous customers that might make them a little more receptive when you call them.

Next, have a look at your scripts.

What is your intention for the call and what is the prospects outcome of your call? What are the needs of the prospect and of their business?

If you are simply after an appointment, then what’s in it for them?

Remember, your intention comes across in the call and they can hear it in your voice. If the words you use and they way you say them put sales pressure on the prospect, this can trigger an alarm for the prospect to shut down because they think that you are just a salesman and not at all interested in what they need.

Effective cold-calling is affected by a number of factors. Here’s some of them.
1. Your product or service
2. The market perception of your industry
3. The perceptions your prospects have of cold calling
4. The script and telemarketing team
5. Brand awareness and reputation

My biggest tip for cold-calling is to get them talking by asking open-ended questions. Remember not to talk simply about your business, but ask questions about their needs and why they are looking to buy.

When they answer your questions, they show their interest and by you listening to them, you show yours. It’s all about building rapport so they want to meet you, not only to buy from you once, but to buy from you over and over again.

Encouraging the prospect to talk and building rapport is crucial, so ask the right questions in your scripts and remember, the fastest way to better results is using the right techniques.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Over a year ago I started working part time as a mortgage originator, while also maintaining my full time job. I can only describe my attempts as being spectacularly unsuccessful. The biggest hurdle that I haven’t managed to overcome is lead generation. The main method that I have used to try to generate leads is building rapport with real estate agents, and working on building a referral network through them. For over a year I have regularly visited agents, and feel that I have a good relationship with a number of them and I always make sure that I ask for a referral in one way or another. So far, I have had zero referrals from any agents. Any advice on other methods by which to generate leads in this industry would be appreciated?

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

You may be right about the time issue. The agents may like you just fine, but they may not see you as committed to the task at hand, or not of much value to them.

Because they know you are only putting a few days per week into your business, they may not have the necessary confidence in you. They also may not be aware of any return the will get on investing one of their customers with you.

Generating referrals is not usually as one-way street. Often, the best way of getting leads from someone, is to give some. If an agent has a lead, they are more likely to pass it to someone that has provided them with a lead in the past.

This is how strategic alliances work, so while they may like you personally they aren’t seeing the extra value a relationship with you can bring to their business.

If you give more than you ask for and you will start getting a ton of referrals, so find ways to return the favor and build those relationships in a business-like manner, rather than the personal way you seem to be doing it.

Also, remember your target market. Since you are not getting mortgages for agents, but rather for buyers, perhaps you are marketing to the wrong group. Consider how you can reach buyers with your message rather than agents.

Real estate agents are often the gatekeepers to the target market if your target market is new home financing but there are a different set of gatekeepers for refinancing of homes. At least in the US, there’s at least as much, if not more, action around refinance than there is new loan origination.

This can be just one of the new options your business can look toward in generating leads. You could also just directly target people who have put their homes on the market or are looking to buy.

You say that you started your full-time job to gain some sales skills. If this is still your real aim, then think of ways to do this and convert more of the leads you’re getting into customers.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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Help Brad! I run a small Home Safety business in the United Kingdom. I am targeting locally through the internet, but it’s not working. I have a website yet there is something wrong as I am not getting any leads or feedback. After 8 months of trying and changing web site elements I am no further forward. What can I do?

Monday, April 18th, 2011

When it comes to advertising your business, remember that conveying the right message comes down to Target, Offer and Copy.

You’ve got to know the target you want to reach, which is the most important element.

Then you’ve got to develop an offer that appeals to them.

Finally, that ad must contain copy that conveys your message to your target. Focus on each area in descending order of importance and you should be able to write ads that sell.

No matter what platform you are using, marketing is all about educating and informing your potential customers, target market and suspects, what you do and why they should do business with you.

The internet is just one tool you can use to reach that goal, but in this day and age, it is as powerful and important a tool as any.

You can develop ebooks about your business, spelling out the benefits of doing business with you, and give those ebooks away through a squeeze page.

A squeeze page is designed to help you capture leads, while giving something away to those that sign up.

You can also set up a blog and position yourself as an expert in your industry.

In your blog, you can talk about important events and innovations and make a name for yourself just by talking about things that matter to your potential customers.

Remember, people buy from people, so you need to build relationships and online is a great way to do just that.

You can also get your message to your target market by using social media, such as a Facebook fan page and asking your customers to find you there.

Once you have your page going, pick topics relevant to your business, but interesting to potential customers, and start discussion about them, or at least give your opinion.

If you make your message interesting enough, you’ll soon have people seeking you out to hear what you have to say and it’s the next logical step that they would buy from you once they’ve built that relationship.

Of course, using the internet is just one way to find more customers.

You can join trade associations, the local chamber of commerce or other community groups.

You should also seek out opportunities to speak for groups, to help you build a network of contacts and personal relationships.

Meet as many people as you can in your target markets. Look for ways to help them. When someone does buy from you, service them better than they expect. Get their repeat business, and referrals.

All the Best,
Brad Sugars

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I recently started a new pool care business. Breaking into an existing market place has been a little tougher than first thought. We subscribe to a service that provides us direct information on where the majority of pools are in our area and we have used a number of techniques to try and grab some of this growing pool care market. I am not completely happy with our growth and no one particular medium is returning spectacular results. We have tried many different ways to grow, but many were expensive and returned minimal results. I am now contemplating a direct mail out letter (although we do not have names only addresses) and a door knock? Just to say hello (not hard sell). So many of my customers have complained about some of the other pool care services in my area which is why I got their business, and I have personally gone out of my way with each new lead to give them the “wow” factor with my service. But again my high level of service is not generating leads. What can I do to turn this around?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

What regular services are you providing to existing clients? Have you got a loyalty program in place, do you ask for referrals?

I’ve a friend who runs a similar company to yours and they have built their business around service.

They have developed a loyal base of customers who refer them to everyone the business to everyone they know who has a pool or spa/hot tub.

They have a 10 trip card so after the 10th bag of product they get 50% off the next. They also have a reminder system to tell customers it is time to have their filters checked and serviced.

You said you give great ‘wow’ service, but you get no leads from your customers?

Interesting…

Ask yourself, is the ‘wow’ really ‘wow’ for them?

It might help to sit down with a few of your customers and really find out everything they want from the pool care service and what makes your business unique.

Use any complaints customers might have as part of your unique selling point. If they’re concerned about quality or service, address those concerns directly in your marketing material and make it work for you. Most importantly, take their advice to heart.

Remember, great service must be great service in your customers’ eyes – not yours.

Doing this exercise will lead you onto the next level of customer service, when you achieve it make sure you ask your customers for referrals – they should be happy to give them then.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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My wife & I have been operating a health spa for about 3 years now. Since the middle of last year, we began to feel a drastic decline in our customer visits and sales. What is the best method to improve the situation? These days we basically rely only on walk-ins and obviously that isn’t working.

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

It is around six times more cost effective to get an existing customer to come back than to find a new customer, so what are you doing to encourage repeat business from the customers that DO come in?

Repeat customers are the people who will make you rich and your business successful by referring their friends to you, so if you aren’t getting enough of them, some things have to change.

Where is your plan to help you get the customers you both need and want, instead of just hoping for walk-ins?

If people aren’t coming back to your spa, they probably aren’t receiving any extra value from doing business with you, so how can you change that?

They can probably find another spa, one that might be cheaper, better located or one that just makes them feel more comfortable, so you have to find something that sets your business apart from the competition and shout it loudly so everyone will hear what makes your business unique.

Once you have your unique selling point (USP), it’s time to move to strategies you can use to cultivate repeat business.

One method used often in your industry is pre-booking.

After a customer receives a service and while they are paying, pre-booking is a system that, through a scripted conversation, leads to the customer booking their next appointment with you.

Simply saying something like, “This service should last for about four weeks, so let’s book your next appointment for four weeks from now. Would that Wednesday be good for you?” is a great way to ensure that a one- time customer returns to your business.

Also, follow up with your customers by calling them a few days later to see if they were happy with their service.

Most of the time customers that aren’t happy simply won’t come back, but if you address their concerns and promise them a better experience the next time, they are far more likely to try you again.

Once, you’ve figured the issues that are plaguing the service in your business and solved them, it’s time to find the right target market and reach them with your business’ message.

But don’t rush this step. It can be very costly if you don’t do it correctly.

Consider this seriously by first asking yourself who your ideal customer would be?

What do they look like, where do they shop, how old are they, how often will they visit your spa and how much will they spend when they are there?

These are just a few questions to help you get started, but, remember, if you don’t know who your target market, or ideal customer base would be, how will you ever reach them with your message?

I hope this helps and reading “Instant Cashflow” can offer you many more strategies to help you move forward. Let us know how you make out.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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My wife and I operate an Adult Store in a suburb of a major city. Our store opened 12 months ago. It has slowly grown in turnover, but it is just not turning over anywhere near enough. The store is attractive from the front, well laid out, and has the biggest range of goods in town, including the biggest DVD library in town. Our point of difference is we sell exclusive lingerie, costumes and jewelry and keep them in stock. We have priced goods so they are about 20-30% less than other Adult shops in the area and our exclusive lingerie, shoes, costumes etc are cheaper than can be found in the area. Our city and its surroundings have an overall population of about 70,000 and there are four other Adult shops. We were the fourth one to open and only one appears to do well, in my estimation because it is part of a name chain of Adult Stores. Over the last 12 months we have poured everything back into business and increased our stock levels, but we are now experiencing an extreme cashflow problem. How can we get this moving again? Access to cash is limited as we barely get enough to pay overheads, personal living costs and can only make a small dent in outstanding bills each week. Any thoughts or ideas on how to get a massive increase in cashflow etc to allow the business to survive?

Friday, April 1st, 2011

I can give you some ideas, but let me first ask, is there a market for your business in the first place?

It sounds to me like there is a lot of competition in your market and customer loyalty is a significant factor for you to overcome.

You’ve got to do your homework and figure out exactly who your customers are and why would they buy from you. You can’t just offer a product and expect people to buy it, even if you’re more convenient and your price point is lower.

You entered an already crowded market and in that kind of environment, you have to make it easy for them to buy and knowing who, what, why, where, when and how of your potential customers is vital in doing just that.

You have some points of difference and accentuating those may be the way to help dig yourself out of the cashflow issues that are affecting your business.

You could change the focus of your business to specialize in the areas where you have points of difference, developing a niche market in your area that needs your products and services.

For instance, since one of your points of difference is your exclusive lingerie line, change the focus of your business to selling your exclusive lingerie to that market.

Limit your stock to selling lingerie and costumes and providing the best possible service in those areas, making your shop the place to go in town for lingerie. Offer to get hard to find items, train your staff and turn your business into an upscale lingerie boutique.

If you went forward with that idea, you could develop strategic alliances or host/beneficiary strategies with salons, women’s clothing stores and spas and you could even throw special, private buying parties for your customers.

That’s just one idea, but the basic point is you have to find a niche market and make it easy for them to buy from you.

Remember, no matter what you sell, there is no business until you have customers, so don’t be afraid to try new strategies to get your customers in the door and then give them value, real or perceived, just so long as that value is something they can’t find in your competition.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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I need some advice and ideas for my new business. I am putting together a business plan and your books and blogs have helped a lot. I am starting my own very first business in America, and it will be a travel agency. I have been in this business overseas, but the American market is new to me. My question is what kind of marketing plan should I follow to ensure the success of my business?

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

The key to making any marketing plan work is a keen knowledge of your numbers or financials. Once you know what your break-even point is, you can begin plotting a strategy to bring in leads at a lower rate than you invest to bring them in. I call this Buying Customers and it is a unique way at looking at marketing as a whole and turning any business into a profit-making machine.

The key to Buying Customers is lowering your customer acquisition costs. The best way to lower that cost is by utilizing referrals, but how do you get them when you are just starting out?

Network, network, network! How many organizations, clubs, committees etc. can you join and get something going. Meeting people and developing relationships with them is a great way to ensure you have the customer base you want, while not spending a lot of your resources to get them.

Next, hit the streets and talk to everyone you meet. Put together a simple sales kit that consists of an off the shelf folder, several suppliers brochures and your business card. Hand them to interested people and then stay in touch, again and again.

Once you have a list of leads, work that database. Get an email or follow up call system up and follow up every lead that is not either stone cold or dead!

Finally, test and measure everything you try and use those strategies that work best.

It’s important to remember that in order to create a marketing plan you first have to understand the basics of the existing market and how it is serviced. From there you can figure out what the gaps are in the area, what is good and what is bad. You can use this information to develop your own Unique Selling Points, what will be different about your Travel Agency, like whether you will cover the broad spectrum of travel or specialize in one area? Will your customers contact you exclusively face to face or via telephone or the web? So ask yourself, what weaknesses in the current market will you be addressing?

Unless you have a very distinct market or edge, it would normally be unwise to just use one medium or strategy to access potential customers, so  do as much work as possible up front understanding the market, and your offering and always test and measure.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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I bought a hairdressing salon 6 months ago & am not a hairdresser. I have been advertising in newspapers (not very successfully though), doing mail outs to clients – newsletters, offers & thank you letters for visiting the salon etc & spend a lot of time in the salon getting to know the clients. I know that we have attracted a lot of new clients as well as retained almost all of the previous clients but I still don’t feel the business has reached its full potential. I am always reminding the staff about rebooking clients & forever encouraging them to recommend & sell retail. One staff member is more motivated than the other & regularly receives a bonus, yet another one told me today she is sick of being reminded to do these things as she has been a hairdresser for many years. She has only just now started to rebook clients & sells approx $30.00 of retail in a good week. This staff member rarely earns her wages. My aim is to take the salon up a level but I am finding it difficult and I think a big reason is that I’m not a hairdresser. I was always of the belief that you did not necessarily need to be qualified in a certain trade to make a success of your business, but this experience is showing I may have been wrong. What do I do to turn my business around?

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

First of all, please try to accept that your key role is to give the team a strong leader, not shampoo or cut hair, so whether you are a hair dresser or not is irrelevant to the health of your business.

There are plenty of hair dressers that have no idea how to run a business, but they try it every day. And there are plenty of entrepreneurs, just like you, who don’t know a pair of shears from clippers who have run their own salon with success.

The keys to strong marketing is finding ways to generate referrals as well as testing and measuring. There are a few steps between the ad being read, and the sale, some of which you can track and anything you can measure, you can improve. It’s vitally important your team is all on board and working to give each customers a terrific experience in your salon.

As far as leads are concerned, how many phone calls and walk-ins do you get every day, week or month?
What is the rate you convert these to sales?

It’s important to remember that there is no “magic” formula that works for everyone or every business.  You should try different headlines, copy, pictures and offers and repeat the ones that work, and drop the ones that do not. This applies to newspaper ads, mailouts, sales scripts, any form of advertising.

Once you’ve got your marketing sorted out, it’s time to sort your team out. Remember, you can bring in more leads than you can handle, but if your team isn’t working together to provide a great experience for those new customers, you’re just wasting money.

You should never tolerate bad staff, especially those that are so obviously in revolt and refuse to follow your rules. If a staff member is barely earning her wages and giving you grief, why is she still a staff member? There are always better people and those that are not part of the solution are by definition, part of the problem.

It’s time to lay it on the line to team members that are below the line. It’s time to tell them to step up or step out.

It will probably help you get your entire team on the same page if you write down exactly what is expected from them.

At ActionCOACH we have 14 Points of Culture that team members adhere to. If anyone falls below the line, it can affect the rest of the team and, more importantly, the bottom line. By spelling out exactly what is expected we ensure the proper behavior of our team and you should do the same as soon as possible.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

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