Cinventure - For the Cincinnati Entrepreneur » Marketing

Please Bring Me the Competitor’s Advertisement

Thomas Goodwin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:51:45 +0000

A potential customer walks in the door to buy your product but you notice she is holding an ad from one of your competitors. Does this make you excited? Or anxious and nervous?

We should all be excited when someone walks in our door to buy from us, especially when we see they are serious about buying. Nothing screams “I’m serious about buying” like a shopper that has done the necessary homework and is standing at the point of sale waiting to hand over some money. In fact, it bodes well for us that they are standing at our doorstep with the competitors ad and not vice versa. (And it’s even better when you consider that’s your competitor’s ad dollars that were spent to get a customer in your door!)

So how do we handle situations where the customer is obviously knowledgeable about the product or savy enough to know how to negotiate and shop around?!

Simple. We have to know our product or service and we have to know our industry.

If the product is something very unique and hard to reproduce, it’s easy to distinquish your product from the competitions’ and therefore you can focus on that during your sales pitch. Move the conversation away from price and focus on the characteristics of your product that make people want to buy it.

Ah, but what if you’re in an industry where price sells? Let’s face it, anyone can sell something so unique and desirable that they have to go through you. But when you’re in an industry, say car sales, where the customer can easily walk out the door and over to another store there has to be more than just a good product.

Smile. Being friendly and engaging customers promptly when they arrive shows that you are sincere about helping them. They will quickly push price to the back of their minds if they perceive that the service is better at your establishment.

Be interested. Ok, so even with your bright smile they haven’t forgotten about that lower price in the ad they’re holding. Ask questions and listen intently to what they say and how they say it. If that price is so good, why are they coming to you?!

During the conversation, casually repeat some of their important points… “so you want to find something similar to this (pointing toward the customer’s ad) but in a red or maroon color?” and then once the customer acknowledges your understanding of what they want, immediately follow it up with some comments about what you can do beyond selling the same product to them. “I think you will find we have the same product as XYZ Company but we also want you to know….(insert your selling point here!) i.e. we have a great customer loyalty program, we have a more liberal return and exchange policy than XYZ Co., etc.”

Have a plan in place and be ready to ask the customer for a committment. At some point you will have to ask the customer if they will accept your price and terms. Do whatever you can to get a sale closed before the customer walks out the door. You don’t want the customer to have second thoughts and go back to the competition. Present your best offer and regardless whether the customer accepts the offer or walks out the door say Thank You and be sincere.

Saying something like “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of service this time, but we hope you will give us another shot in the future” or “Thank you for bringing in that ad, we appreciate knowing what the competition is doing and we certainly value our customers. We would be happy to honor their price and we appreciate your loyalty.“

Ok, some of this can sound rather canned and insincere if not expressed properly, but you have to make your best offer and no matter what the customer’s decision, thank them for coming to you before making a purchase. Every one of us has been in that customer’s shoes and we all enjoy being told thank you. Sometimes your politeness and sincerity can even lead to referrals or future business with the customer despite this particuar sale not being closed.

Why are you still sitting here reading? Go sell something!

Thomas Goodwin is an Ohio licensed real estate agent (Realtor) and insurance agent. He is the Founder and CEO of Northern Pine Properties, Inc., a real estate investment, development, and management company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! (And for Free, too!)

Thomas Goodwin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:28:38 +0000

So in my October 18th, 2007 blog article I talked about advertising exposure that claims to reach a large audience but fails to reach your target audience. I also briefly touched on the need to have good advertising exposure, effective advertising, as it’s all about quality over quantity.

Well just to briefly revisit this topic, there is nothing wrong with a free lunch when you can find it. Regardless how effective the exposure is, if you can find it for free, there’s nothing that you can possibly lose by taking advantage of it. I came across a way to submit your business into a directory on the Cincinnati.com website, which is the online presence of The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. You simply fill out this page with information about your business, namely what it is that you do, how to contact you, and then submit it for approval. It costs you absolutely nothing, except your time… and if you don’t have enough time to fill out a one page submission for free advertising then your business is obviously doing well enough that you don’t need to advertise. Or you need to manage your time better; we can do a separate blog series on time management and delegating work loads.

Another way to get free exposure for your business is to send (usually via fax) press releases to newspapers and local media outlets like radio stations. This form of free press is best used when you have a specific item or event to promote, or it’s a special occasion for your business (like your 10th year in business, landing a big contract or order, expanding your facilities or hiring more people, moving locations, under new management, and so on). If the message is good, and you can incorporate a few extra details about your business – ESPECIALLY if you can use the press release to draw people into your store or onto your website, then it will most likely have a positive return. The most it will cost you is the time to create the letter that you will fax.

I welcome any additional ideas on how to promote your business for free and hope to hear some great success stories as well.

Do You Want Fries With That?

Thomas Goodwin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:56:55 +0000

People often make fun of the fast food industry and you especially see this group used as the setting for jokes and sketch comedy on tv. We can look closer at this group and learn some important lessons about customer service and marketing.

The phrase Do you want fries with that? is actually a great example of two things: suggestive selling, or “up-selling”, and knowing your customer. In this case, the customer has approached the company and said I would like to buy a burger. The company knows its customers like fries with their burgers.
The suggestion that the customer try some fries will sometimes be met with a positive response and sometimes a negative response. Either way, the customer is already at the point of sale so it costs the company no additional money to market the fries to this customer. Amazon is a great example of a company that knows its customers and practices this suggestive selling.
Responding to customer requests quickly will only be met with disappointment if it sacrifices quality and accuracy. I have yet to see someone unhappy when his or her order is delivered quickly and correctly in a fast food drive through. I have, however, seen many people sigh, cuss, frown and so forth when they open the bag and discover the order is incorrect or incomplete. Regardless what industry you are in, responding to customer requests quickly and accurately will help build goodwill – that intangible quality that helps give you the edge over a competitor with a similar product.

There are many more examples of things we should do and things we should NOT do but I wanted to focus on the two items listed above. Feel free to post your own thoughts and experiences via the comments section of this blog.

Advertising Exposure: Too Much of Not Enough

Thomas Goodwin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 01:49:41 +0000

Donald Trump is known for saying “there’s no such thing as too much exposure.” And certainly no one would disagree with this when you think about the good exposure. But I would venture to guess that no one likes bad press. And the only thing second to bad press is ineffective good press, or better stated… advertising that just doesn’t work.

I recently got a call from a gentleman that is selling ad space on the back or sides of trivia cards that are distributed to bars and restaurants. The idea is that people will be waiting for their food, or sitting at the bar drinking, and will look at these trivia cards or use them to make conversation with their friends and those around them. Ok, simple enough.

It turns out that of the 5 locations that he offered me, I was only even remotely interested in getting some advertising in one of them. Why you ask? Well, four of the establishments really didn’t attract young professionals, nor were they in growing areas. Then there was the “traffic count” that he was touting. “XYZ Restaurant has approximately 2,000 people visit it each month.” I paused for a moment and replied, “yes, but the same 500 people visit that restaurant each week, it’s a local hole-in-the-wall.” It seemed like he was trying to sell me too much exposure (number of restaurants) that wasn’t enough exposure (actual or unique traffic count).

He was taken back. He never recovered from that statement. He never brought up XYZ in the conversation again; rather, he focused on the other restaurants. But he knew I wasn’t going to spend advertising dollars chasing after so few people in the customer base. Besides, the more modern upscale restaurants have computerized trivia games at the bar instead of plastic or laminated cards. So he was pushing yesterday’s technology and lackluster locations.

Here’s what I learned from this encounter that I try to think about anytime I am asked to open the purse strings and spend money on advertising:

Is it geared toward the customer base that I am wanting to target?
Does the advertising give me a decent amount of exposure for the price?
How much control will I have over the ad and how my name is being used?
How will I be able to measure the effectiveness of the ad? (I have found this one to be especially important in online advertising).

These kind of questions fit in nicely to having an overall marketing plan in place. Think of your own business and some unique questions you would need to use as a screening process or criteria before committing advertising dollars. You can expand on some questions more than others depending on your particular business needs. In the end, it’s important that you have a plan in place and your budget reflects that plan and the goals that you have for your business. I welcome your feedback and hearing what you do to make advertising decisions in your own business.

Thomas Goodwin is an Ohio licensed real estate agent (Realtor) and insurance agent. He is the Founder and CEO of Northern Pine Properties, Inc., a real estate investment, development, and management company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Naming a company

Ryan Walker — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:03:18 +0000

Don’t:

Use redundant words
Sound shady
Be lurid
Use triple words
Sound desperate

Do:

Go medieval
Name it like a Spanish restaurant
Like it like something Captain Kirk would wrestle

Curious? Read the full article.

[via c|net News]

Being Provacative: The Art of Attracting Attention

aaron — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 19:46:52 +0000

As advertising reaches new levels of intrusivness, people are honing their abilities to “tune out” and ignore it all. When it comes to marketing your startup, mastering the art of Permission Marketing is a necessity. Even so, you must first attract a potential customer’s attention — even if only for a breif moment — so that you can obtain their permission to tell them more about your product or service.

Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users provides a great list of ways to Be Provacative

Be Visual
Be Different — Break Patterns and Expectations
Be Daring
Change Things Regularly
Inspire Curiosity
Pose a Challenge
Be Controversial and Committed
Be Fun
Be Stimulating. Be Exciting. Be Seductive.
Help Them Have Hi-Res Experiences

The full article goes into detail about each of these tactics. Definitely worth reading: Be Provacative

Free Business Building Teleseminar Series

aaron — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:08:57 +0000

Last week we brought you a review of the top online invoicing services, including FreshBooks. The makers of FreshBooks have announced a Fall “Build Your Business” Teleseminar Series that brings together a group of industry experts to share their knowledge and experience with participants. Participants will also have the ability to email questions and have them answered during the sessions.

The series has nine seminars scheduled between September 14th and December 7th:

Generate Referrals for Your Business
John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing
Introduction to Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Andrew Goodman, Founder & Principal, Page Zero Media
Advanced Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Andrew Goodman, Founder & Principal, Page Zero Media
Introduction to Web Analytics
John Marshall, CEO, ClickTracks
Advanced Web Analytics
John Marshall, CEO, ClickTracks
Introduction to Building Traffic to Your Website
Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide
Advanced Traffic Building Techniques for Your Website
Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide
How to Successfully Manage Projects
Craign Fitzpatrick, CEO, Devshop
Persuade More People to Do Business on Your Website
Jeffrey Eisenberg, Co-founder & CEO, Future Now Inc.

Visit the FreshBooks Fall Teleseminar Series website to sign up for free.

The Fortune 5,000,000

aaron — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:29:29 +0000

Spotted over on the Signal vs. Noise blog:

When you think small business, think 1-10 people not 50-100. There’s an endless supply of 1-10 person companies. Who cares about the Fortune 500? It’s time to care about the Fortune 5,000,000. Forget the enterprise market. Forget the mid-sized company market. Build for the smallest of small companies and you’ll find a thirsty, neglected market waiting for you.

Think long and hard about your target market. Read more about Side-Business Software: The neglected software market