Those of you who know me will know that I am a keen advocate of using at least 6 to 7 marketing strategies in tandem, and on an ongoing basis.
Why? well over reliance on any one strategy is just too high a risk to any business and having a combination of strategies working together is ultimately going to yield an exponential result, as they accumulate momentum both individually and collectively.

When we talk about marketing strategies I am referring to those such as direct mail, telesales, cold calling, online marketing, social media, networking, strategic alliances and referral marketing as some examples. There are many more and upon examination you will probably find that you have more in place than you realise. It is important to consider these are planned strategies, not ad hoc activities.

Here’s the most important one though. The follow up!.

But Ronan that isn’t a strategy is it? Well I would argue it is actually the most important strategy. It’s also the most difficult, because it involves a lot of discipline, and well we all know that discipline is just hard work!.

Working as a Business Coach I frequently deal with the subject of the effectiveness of telesales as a strategy.
I am mindful that it is a much maligned strategy and it is actually hard to find advocates for telesales these days, but I won’t be convinced. We built a €20m business on the back of using the phone as our main sales strategy, and that is just fact.

The critics of the telesales strategy have forgotten the point in many ways. It is not the first call that is the most important it is the follow up call. 90% of all salespeople give up after their first attempt. This is just nonsensical in my view. Sales is by it’s nature the business of expecting a no more often than not. So what?
We succeeded because we recognised the value of the follow up.

Let’s look at the facts. We know that on average it takes roughly 7 “touches” with a prospect before you make a sale. If 90% of salespeople give up after the 1st attempt then what do you expect?

The same principle applies to all of the strategies I have discussed above.
If you have decided on Direct Mail as a strategy, just sending out a blast of letters and expecting the orders to flow in on your first attempt is just plain delusional. However used consistently it has proven to be a very effective strategy for many businesses.

Similarly just by hopping from one networking event to the next in the expectation of meeting someone who will take out their order pad on the night is just not going to work.

How many networking events have you gone to where you have met someone who takes your details, sends you a standard email the next day, and you never hear from them again?
They are sitting by their laptops waiting for you to email through an order. Are you?

The follow up is key. Consistent follow up. Persistent follow up.
It took me 18 months of calling our largest client every 12 weeks before I got an appointment. 18 months! but every attempt got me a step closer to getting the business. This was and is the mentality you need to be successful in growing your business.

In plain speak. You need to start the relationship cold. They don’t know you or your business, so the majority of them will just say no. There is no relationship, yet. But be patient. If they are really an ideal client they are worth waiting for.

Keep sending the letters, the emails, the newsletters, keep making the calls at regular intervals. Just imagine the cumulative impact of just doing these 4 things every quarter. If nothing else you will have built up an awareness of you, your company and your brand.

I guarantee you that your prospect’s awareness of you will surpass that of your competition, and that’s exactly what you want.

Remember that no is not no forever, it’s just a no for now. If you develop this attitude and approach it will build your confidence levels and ultimately your success levels.

Action points
Decide clearly what marketing and sales strategies will be.
Put in place a tracking process that measures each strategy and it’s results.
Ensure that you agree /plan a follow up plan for each marketing strategy.
Inspect and review on a quarterly basis the strategies and ensure that the follow ups are happening.
Plan to be creative in your follow ups. Your approach doesn’t have to be the same every time. Innovate.

Best of luck.
Ronan
Ronan Kilroy Certified FocalPoint Business Coach
Profitability, Productivity, Possibility.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.