| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Small Business Marketing Tip - Putting the Customer First.
I am a great believer in the keeping to the basics - the totally obvious things that we all learn in Running Your Business 101, and then promptly forget. I often have people come up to me after a speech and say, "This is all blindingly obvious, just common sense." And they are right, but my immediate response is always the say, "So are you doing it??" This question is usually followed by a moment of silence before they explain they have moved on to other approaches now. You cannot forget the basics, because if you do you stop marketing. So if you find yourself by the end of this article saying "this is just common sense," do a reality check, and see if you have stopped using your common sense. I know I often do. The most important basic to remember is that Marketing is an Attitude to Business that Puts the Customer First. If you and everyone in your business understands this then everything else about marketing falls into place. You have to make your entire business marketing oriented. It's seems not to be a popular concept in the west, but we are here to serve our customers. If we don't they will go elsewhere. Let me relate a story. Some years ago, late on a Saturday afternoon my eldest daughter remembered she didn't have any school shoes for the start of term the following Monday. Panic! We rushed to a nearby and surprisingly empty major chain store where three members of staff were wrestling with a till roll. I waited... and waited... and waited... Eventually I said, "Can you help me please; my daughter needs some new shoes?" A girl looked up; surprised and apparently irritated by my presence, she pointing across the store said, "The children's shoes are over there, if you find a style you like I'll see if we have her size." We left... and we raced 15 miles to another town (the stores closed at 5.30 pm) where I knew there was a small privately owned shoe store. When I walked into this little double fronted store it was in chaos. They clearly were having a very busy day. There were empty shoe boxes and children everywhere and the owner of the store was on his knees in the middle of the store checking the fit of a pair of shoes. As I entered a bell rang on the door. He looked up immediately and said "Oh hello, I'll be with you in just a moment." And he was. I said "My daughter wants fashionable shoes for school but she can destroy a pair of Doc Martins in a week." "I know exactly what you mean," he said, "Let me see what I have." He quickly measured her feet and a minute later returned with two pairs of robust, but very fashionable shoes, one of which my daughter immediately loved. I have never forgotten that day. This was a man who understood service and delivered it so well that he was able to undercut the chain store prices. He is still in business today 10 years later - the chain store I am pleased to say, is not. You have to take this kind of attitude in everything your business does. I walked into an office once and there was a big poster on the wall. Rules of Our Business If you constantly think how can I make my customers feel great about doing business with me, then they will keep coming back, they will keep telling their friends and you will tap into one of the most powerful marketing technique of all, viral marketing, where doing business with you becomes infectious, and your marketing is done almost entirely by your existing customer evangelists telling their friends how great you are. About the Author: Founder and First President of the Professional Speakers Association (PSA), Rikki Arundel is a truly unique International Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Writer. She is openly and proudly transgender and an expert in sales and marketing communications with an impressive track record, and being transgender has provided her with a unique understanding of the differences in the way men and women communicate in business. http://www.RikkiArundel.com Get your free copy of How to Get Customers Queuing up to Buy at http://www.SpeakingandMarketingTips.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Create Your Own Rumors A consultant new in the city asked me how I managed to get business so fast. Working for that marketing company definitely gave me a jump start. Can Message Board Marketing Work For You? One of the things that makes the Internet fun is all the message boards and forums. You can sound off about nearly anything, get and give advice, and even build a relationship or two. A Simplified Marketing Plan that Works! When I started my first business in 1981, I researched business plans and marketing plans. I looked at all of the formats and read a lot about the purpose of creating a business plan. 50 Benefits Of Joint Venture Marketing What Is A Joint Venture?A joint venture is an agreement in which two or more businesses work on a project for a set period of time.Joint ventures can be long-term, like promoting a product together, or some can be short-term, like bartering (trading) products and services. Marketing Without Ego Our ego can get in the way of marketing our business. From our need to be right, to talking about ourselves incessantly; coming from an attitude of arrogance to getting attached to the outcomes of what we do, these are just some of the ways our ego can get in our way. Private Practice Marketing: 3 Secrets I Wish I Knew When I First Started Out I don't know about you, but I am still waiting for my first class in graduate school about how to develop, market, and run a private practice.I'm also still waiting for my father to have a discussion with me about the facts of life. Freebie Seekers? Turn Them Into Clients and Referrers - or Turn them Far, Far Away Many service business owners these days are "giving away" their business services - and then wonder why people aren't hiring them in droves. In the name of "marketing," business owners are providing way too much information for free. Postcards: Awareness Tool or Selling Tool? Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?In my opinion, the answer to the above question is, "They can do both jobs. It depends on what type of business you're in. Neuromarketing: Smart Marketing Or Jedi Mind Control Trick? In the international bestseller "Blink," Malcolm Gladwell explains why our decisions to choose brands, select a mate, sue our doctor or make choices that decide Presidential elections, aren't as simple as they seem.Why we often let unconscious biases affect our opinions about people who are taller or have a different skin colour. Top 7 Tips for New Businesses The marketing decisions you make for your new business are the most important part of making your business a success. Marketing is about building a strong presence, name recognition and credibility through various methods. Are Your Brochures Worth The Paper Theyre Printed On? Brochures are one of the oldest marketing weapons in the business arsenal. And for good reason. Top Web Site Blunders by Coaches, Consultants and Experts Of all the web sites belonging to coaches, consultants and experts that I have reviewed, more than three-quarters shared a very serious marketing blunder: Their potential clients wouldn't understand from their home page precisely what they do. Jargon gets in the way. How to Turn More Referrals Into Paying Clients 60% of all small business owners, sales and solo-professionals claim that more than half of their new business comes from referrals. Yet when asked about the process they so successfully use to get those referrals and turn them into paying clients, most will have a puzzled, deer-in-the-headlights, stupefied look on their face, and keep quiet. 10 Reasons Why Businesses Fail at Marketing. 1) They don't fully understand it.Perception: Marketing is advertising. 5 Reasons Your Marketing Communication is Falling Flat One of my associates sent me a promotional email she'd received. "I know this marketing communication doesn't work," she told me, "but why doesn't this make me want to buy?" I took a look, and what I saw was familiar and sad. Words that Sell We all know the English language contains hundreds of thousands of words. But did you know that only 21 of them can easily sell your clients? Yes! It's true. The Beginners Mail Order Opportunity Guide The "Mail Order" business is not a business of itself, but isanother way of DOING business. Mail Order is nothing more or lessthan selling a product or service via advertising and the offersyou send out by mail. The Great Direct Marketing Conundrum Many a home business owner has spent sleepless nights thinking of ways to turn his venture into a higher profit-making unit and build it to be his primary source of income. This is never easy for a home business because most start-ups face initial lack of money and cash flows. The Dare-To-Be-Different In Marketing Checklist There is a big payoff in being different. When you accept "what is" you place yourself in the category of "sameness," and people don't buy sameness. Survival Strategies 1. Do the moneymaking things first.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
