Small Business Marketing Tips & Strategies

The Sandler Rules - 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How To Apply Them

If there is anything that professionals service providers hate worse than marketing, it is probably selling.

I'm a big fan of the Sandler Sales system, and I've posted about it several times on this blog. I wish they had taught this stuff in college (but would I have been smart enough to take that class?).

The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them.  Adapted by David Mattson, outlines 49 "Sandler Rules". These timeless selling principles will be more successful by showing you how to be "180 degrees different from the traditional salesperson".

The principles are divided into three main parts. Part One outlines six rules, or core concepts, that will transform your selling process (or help you get one).

Part Two contains rules that focus on execution. The 27 rules in this section outline many of the tactics that you will use "where the rubber meets the road" during your sales calls.

The rules in the last section help us remember the proper attitudes that we need to have in order to be successful in sales.

Follow the rules in this book and your sales will definitely improve.

Marketing for Accountants, CPAs, and Professional Service Firms - New E-Book

Marketing for Accountants, CPAs, and Professional Service Firms - New E-Book

Free e-book outlines what works and what doesn't when it comes to marketing professional services.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 05, 2009 – Professional service firms have traditionally relied on referrals to grow their practices. However, for many firms, referrals may not bring in enough new business to meet the firm's financial goals.

According Kansas City area Duct Tape Marketing Coach Bill Brelsford, "Many professional service providers believe marketing (other than referrals) won't work for their type of firm. It's not unusual for them spend a lot of money on a campaign that produces little or no results, causing them to sour on marketing."

In his new e-book, "Saying the Wrong Thing Louder Doesn't Make It Right", Brelsford outlines why referral marketing works and how most frustrations related to professional services marketing are caused by failing to stick with what works for referrals when engaging in other marketing tactics.

The e-book starts by telling the story of a typical accountant who starts his own practice and then challenges he faces while building his business. A discussion of why referrals work, why the "other marketing stuff" doesn't. The e-book outlines the elements of a successful referrals and concludes with a discussion of how to apply the principles of successful referral marketing to a firm's other marketing activities.

The free e-book “Saying The Wrong Thing Louder Doesn't Make It Right” can be found and downloaded at http://www.rebarbusinessbuilders.com/freeEbook.aspx

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About Rebar Business Builders

As an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing coach, Rebar works with professional service providers to install marketing systems that allow them to spend less time chasing business and more time working with profitable clients.

Free e-Book - Marketing Professional Services

I just posted my first e-Book on my website. In it, I discuss marketing for service professionals – specifically, why referrals work, how to get better referrals consistently, and how to apply what works for referrals to the rest of your marketing activities

This e-Book is totally free. No registration required.  You can download it here.

New Drip Marketing Program - Beta Program Saves You Big Bucks

Drip Marketing With Swiftpage

I mentioned in a previous post that I am part of a partnership with ACT! and Swiftpage

I am very excited about this partnership. I have spent most of my career automating business systems to make them reliable, consistent, cost effective, and measurable. I really like what Swiftpage brings to small business.

Swiftpage helps put your sales and marketing initiatives on cruise control. With it, you can build and deliver multi-step marketing plans that use different media (phone calls, letters, postcards, fax, and e-mail).

A strong drip campaign can operate like a sales rep or customer service rep for a fraction of the cost.

You can even send messages based on the recipients actions – send one message to the people who opened your e-mail and a different one to the people who didn’t.

Drip Marketing Beta (or Pilot) Program

I have put together a new program to help small business get up and running as quickly and effectively as possible with Swiftpage. Since this is a new program, there will be a beta phase as we work out the normal bumps that are part of a new service. The good news for you is, you can save some big bucks. Here’s how it works:

I will work with you to design your drip marketing campaign.  Together we will plot out the objectives of the campaign, what each step will consist of, the look and/or copy of each step and to whom it is going to go to and when.   

I will then set it up for you in SwiftPage. I will also work with you to follow up, evaluate, and make adjustments to your campaign as necessary.

The beta test investment is $899 and in exchange you agree to excuse any lumps and bumps in the process and be willing to give us feedback on the program as well.

After the beta period, this service will be competitively priced between $2500 - $4500, so this is a sizzling hot opportunity. 

If you are interested in participating, please contact me so we can have a short discussion to make sure that this program is right for your business.

P.S. SwiftPage works great with ACT! If you own ACT!, I’ll show how the two work together to create a great small business CRM system. If you don’t have ACT! but want to set it up, we can price that separately for you and get you up and running quickly.

7 Tips For More Productive Networking

Recently, I've been talking to several business owners and independent professionals who are frustrated with the results they get from attending networking events. Networking came become a huge drain on our time - particularly if we are not consistently generating business from these events.

Networking is one of those important business skills that they don't teach us in school. Here are a few tips both I and my customers have used to achieve better results when attending networking events.

Go in with a plan - What is your goal for this particular event? Have you identified specific people you would like to meet?

Have something to give - the golden rule in networking is "give to get". I find that following this rule makes me a better listener, which in turn makes me a better salesperson. One of my favorite ways to give at my regular networking events is to act as a connector. Because I attend these events regularly, I have a good idea of what everyone does, which helps me introduce people who can help each other in their business.

Form a tag team - Some people are uncomfortable talking about themselves, but love to make referrals to others. If you fall into this category, trying going to your next networking event with a "tag team" partner. Spend a little time learning about the types folks each of you would like to meet and then spend your time at the event looking for great contacts for your partner.

Qualify - We all have a limited amount of time, so it is important to qualify the people you meet before you let them into your prospecting system. I don't mean qualifying as we normally think of in selling. Rather, you should be prepared to have a structured conversation that allows you determine if this person is available to "date" before you automatically add them to your prospect list.

Don't sell at the event - Similar to a cold call, the goal is not to make the sale, but to get an appointment. You may not be able to set the exact date and time of the appointment but you should create a clear expectation of how and when you will follow up to set the appointment.

Follow Up - It doesn't do any good to go to a networking event, collect a bunch of business cards, and then leave them on a pile on your desk. Create a system to make sure you consistently follow up with everyone you have qualified to be in your prospecting system.

Cultivate - If people aren't thinking of you before they have a need for your services, do you think they will think of (or remember) you when they do have a need? You need to have a system in place to first achieve "Top of Mind" status when you meet a new contact. You also need to make sure that once you achieve "Top of Mind" status, that you stay there.

Promotional Products Distribution Telesummit Recordings Available

Back in March, I participated in The Business of Promotional Products Distribution Telesummit. I was one of six panelists that led discussions related to marketing and sales for the promotional products industry.

Each of the six sessions were recorded and are now available from PPDGYM. You can purchase an individual session, or all of them as a group. PPDGYM.com gives you the option to instantly download your files or you can order the recordings on CD.

For more information about the The Business of Promotional Products Distribution Telesummit recordings, visit the PPDGYM web site.

9 plus 1 Benefits of Blogging

John Jantsch of Duct Tape marketing recently posted his list of 9 Hidden Benefits of Blogging. Here are two of my favorites from his list:

"Blogging keeps me focused on learning - The discipline required to create even somewhat interesting content in the manner I’ve chosen requires that I study lots of what’s hot, what’s new, what’s being said and what’s not being said in order to find ways to apply it to the world of small business."

and

"Blogging makes me a better salesperson - I write like I speak and often I write to sell an idea or even a very specific tactic. It’s amazing, but I find that clearly stating idea pitches in writing has improved my ability to quickly articulate them in selling or interview setting. It’s like you build up this reserve bank of preprogrammed discussion points."

One benefit that I would add to John's list is blogging helps me meet and start conversations with people I would probably never meet otherwise.

Read the rest of John's list of blogging benefits and let me know which one is your favorite.

Why Referrals Work and the Other Stuff Doesn't

Referrals and face-to-face meetings are the preferred tactics for marketing professional services. Most professionals will tell me that the "other marketing stuff" doesn't work, but if they can get in front of the right person, the usually close the deal.

Have you ever thought about why that is? Here are some of the reasons meeting face to face, whether by referral or not, tends to be the most effective way for us to gain a new client:

• We are specific about who we help
• We are specific about the types of problems we solve
• We talk in plain English – not in corporate marketing mumbo-jumbo
• We tell our story – People remember and connect with people through stories
• If we are successful generating business from our local chamber or other networking groups, it is because we are consistent. We show up regularly and participate often.
• We listen to the client’s issues, show them that we understand, and explain how we help them solve their problems.

Why the other stuff doesn’t work

Many of the frustrations professionals have with traditional marketing stems from doing the opposite of what works for referrals.  

• We are too general – we try to create marketing materials that appeal to everyone and end up being special to no one
• We create materials that are filled with jargon, buzzwords, nonsense, and fluff
• Rather than telling our story, we talk about “fair pricing”, “good customer service”, and “quality work” – just like everyone else
• We are not consistent. We do one mailing and stop. We don’t follow up. We fail to continue to market to our existing clients

For some reason, when we start to create “formal marketing materials” we stop talking to people and start talking at them.

Create more effective marketing materials by focusing on your potential client rather than lecturing them on how great you are.

LinkedIn Adds Subgroups

There are now over 300,000 groups on LinkedIn where professionals are discussing, sharing news and collaborating with each other. To make group more useful and productive, the folks from LinkedIn added the ability to create subgroups.

LinkedIn describes subgroups by comparing them to break-out session at a conference. Subgroups allow you to have more focused areas than in the main group. Subgroups also allow you to send more focused announcements to your group audience(s).

You can great subgroups and invite people to join them from the group's "Manage" tab. Once you've created the subgroup, here are four easy ways to get it going quickly:

1. Set the aims for the subgroup by posting a featured discussion in the subgroup
2. Kindle the conversation by posting a news article with a brief comment every day for the first month of the group
3. Provide an ongoing focus for members' attention by adding 10 RSS feeds related to the focus of the subgroup
4. Drive attention to the subgroup through your comments in the main group and in other groups where you participate

One + One + One = $329 of Savings For You

This is one of those deals that almost seems too good to be true, so I had to triple check to make sure it was right before I passed it on.

Through the synergies of a couple of different partners, small business owners can get a great deal on some great software tools to them grow their business.

The first deal comes from Palo Alto Software, who are bundling their Marketing Plan Pro software with ACT! 2009. The price of this bundle is $259.95 – a $150 savings over the price of purchasing them separately. You can learn more about the Marketing Plan Pro & ACT! 2009 bundle here.

But the deal gets sweeter because Swiftpage is offering a free one year subscription to their service ($179 value) to owners of ACT! 2009.

What that means is for $259.95 you get three great software tools to help you create and implement your marketing system AND you save $329.

I use and support all three of these products, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need help determining if these products make sense for your business.