marketing

The Internet is full of useful tips on just about any topic you might be interested. Today I was looking for information on technical writing and stumbled across a business guide written by an Israli technical author. The report, How to Attract and Convert More Clients–Back to Basics, by Hillel Porath has a few rough edges but it also has a great list of follow-up tips that will help you make the sale as you convert your prospects to clients.

1. Ask your prospect when would be a good time to follow up. Then follow up as often as they say you should.
2. If your prospect is local, ask if it's possible to visit their office. Face to face interactions are very important.
3. If you are sending your prospects email, follow up. The first follow up should be at least two days after your initial email and the second email should be at least three days after that.
4. The reason for follow up is because your prospect is busy. The purpose of a follow up contact point is to remind your prospect about your call and to get them thinking about buying from you.
5. Be direct in your follow up. Ask your prospect if they received your previous email and then ask a follow up question. The prospect should not be the one leading the conversation. You called, you lead.
6. Listen to your prospect's tone of voice if you are calling on the phone. Match your tone to their rhythm.
7. You never know who is going to buy. Don't pre-judge people and omit them from your list of follow ups.
8. Whatever follow up strategy you have—stick with it. Of course you can modify your strategy if you need to, but get the foundation right (and consistent) first.
9. Always make sure the company you are contacting actually needs your product or service.
10. "Don't go chasing birds in an open field." If someone is not interested and you see they don't have a need for your service, leave them alone and move on to the next prospect. You will never catch the birds you chase in an open field.

You can download the full report from Promoting your business at elephant.org.

Not all effective marketing campaigns use a single business at their centre. More and more I am seeing industries engage in, "co-opetition." I was first exposed to the ideas only a few years ago at a tourism conference. In co-opetition several businesses within the same industry will pool their resources to promote their business.

For example: the golf courses locally pool their marketing resources to create a single promotional piece which explains how Owen Sound is a golf destination. It promotes the whole range of courses and gets avid golfers to the area where they may play a few courses rather than just one. I think it's a fantastic idea and I know there are other industries that take advantage of this kind of co-opetition.

Is your business one that would benefit from aligning itself with others?

Edward de Bono is a writing machine. He has written over 60 books and invented terms like "lateral thinking". I have a few of his books and was very pleased to pick up a copy of Sur/Petition recently. In it he talks about the value of value monopolies. Unlike commodity economics, value monopolies prevent you from competing with other vendors based on price alone (as is the case in commodity economics).

de Bono describes a number of different "value monopolies" in his book:

• Physical uniqueness. There is only one Mona Lisa. The original can never be replicated. Its market value may rise and fall, but it will always be unique.
• Technological uniqueness. Not just, "first to market" ideas, but the kinds of uniqueness that are enforceable by patents like those found in the pharmaceutical field.
• Name recognition. There are people and there are brand names. Both have a value monopoly because of their "name recognition."
• Dominance. It's easy to be the dominant force if you are already the dominant force.
• Cost of entry. Where the cost of entry is high and requires a continuous injection of development funds, there is protection from newcomers.
• Brand image. Differentiated from "name recognition" brand image includes the circular nature of popularity. Retailers stock a product they think consumers will demand. Because the product is stocked, consumers demand it, thus justifying the retailers' initial purchase of the brand.
• Segmentation. Niche markets are your friend. To have a dominant position in a very small market is not enough. If the market gets bigger others will start poking their nose into your niche.

Is your business successful because it relies on its monopoly? What if you weren't the only one? How would you compel customers to stay with you, and prospects to consider buying from you? If you know and enjoy the lessons behind niche marketing, you may want to pick up a copy of Sur/petition from Edward de Bono for a few more lessons.

The Annual Library Book Sale raised over $28,000 this year (several thousand dollars more than any other year in its history). This is a great opportunity for people to drop off boxes of books they're done with AND pick up new boxes of books. I tried really hard to spend $20 at the sale. I came away with 32 books and still had to give a $4 donation to get me up to the $20 mark.

In the marketing section of the sale I found a number of gems. Sometimes I recognized the author and sometimes I judged the book by its cover and bought it solely on the title. Here are a few of the books I found:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This book is precursor to The Secret. If you don't know about it, find a copy and read it. Or at least watch some of his classic videos.
• The Money is the Gravy. I loved the title. I admit it.
• A Passion for Excellence by Tom Peters and Nancy Austin. Written in the 1980s I'm hoping to find some tips that apply to today as much as they applied to yesterday.
• Getting Through to People by Jesse Nirenberg. A somewhat hokey-looking book written in 1963 with the following back-cover claim, "the author reveals constructive ways to convey opinions, get your message across, or hold a group's attention—all using nothing more than clear thinking and persuasive considerate words!" and then it gets better and claims the book is, "A must for anyone who wants to achieve personal or professional effectiveness." How could I resist?!

Be sure to check to see if your own library has an annual book sale. It's a great way to support the public library, and you may just find a few new gems for your personal library. You can always donate the books back to the library when you're done with them.