PROSPECT: “Hey Joe, how is your business?”JOE: “Terrible! This economy is killing me.  Everybody’s doing bad!”

PROSPECT: “OK then, good to talk to you.”

PROSPECT: “Hey Dan, how is your business?”

DAN: “Not bad! Sure, last year I took a hit, but I’m digging back out of it. I’ve brought some new clients on board this year and I’m filling my pipeline with more prospects.”

PROSPECT: “Good for you!  What have you done to make the difference from this year to last year?”

To quote Monty Python, “RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!”  Nobody wants to talk to Joe. Even if Joe is telling the truth, nobody wants to go there.  Let’s put business aside for a minute and put ourselves in any conversation at a party or a ball game or golf outing and you spend a significant amount of time with several people. Now you’re driving home and thinking back about Joe and Dan.  Dan was a breath of fresh air when compared to Joe. In the future I’ll be sure to avoid Joe because he’s just flat out depressing. Dan, on the other hand, is the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to hear more about Dan and his strategies. I want to be like that guy. I’ll be sure to follow up with Dan.

We are all in the same game of growing our business and we’re all fighting the same battles. Being positive and staying positive is hard work but it also becomes a habit if you work at it.  What is the payoff of being positive (+) verses being negative (-)? Whatever the event is, you are constantly networking whether you realize it or not. Let’s take a look at the impact:

NETWORKING:

(+) Prospects will be more likely to engage and stay engaged in conversation.

(-)  Prospects will disengage and run away and never come back.

(+) Prospects will have favorable memories of you after the event and may tell their contacts about you.

(-)  Prospects will remember how negative you were and try to forget you.

(+) Prospects will be more likely to introduce you to other colleagues at the event.

(-)  Prospects will not want to associate themselves with you and your negativity and certainly don’t want to be responsible for bringing the downer into somebody else’s world.

(+) You leave the prospect with a positive subconscious feeling about you and your business.

(-)  The prospect is trying to get you out of their mind as quickly as possible. You’ve become forgettable, or worse, you will be remembered to be avoided.

(+) Positive events that occur the following week may remind the prospect of the good conversation they had with you at the event.

(-)  When something bad happens to the prospect the following week that will cause them to say “Joe was right” and you are associated with negative events.

(+) When you call to follow up with the prospect you hear “Sure Dan, I’d be happy to meet with you! Wednesday is good for me.” The prospect will make time for you.

(-) When you call to follow up with the prospect you hear “I’m really tied up for the next couple week Joe. Follow up with me in a couple week.” They go out of their way to avoid you.

So when somebody asks how your business is doing, take an extra minute and be positive about your answer.

This is a distilled version of “Healthcare Marketing: 8 Strategies to Accomplish More with Less“. This is for those of you who don’t think Healthcare Marketing applies to you….

On everybody’s radar today is dollars generated versus dollars spent. The question everybody is asking is how we can do more of the former with less of the latter. If there were one magic answer, everybody would be doing it. Well, there are answers, they’re not magic, they may not be easy, but they work.

1. The single most important and most obvious way to do more with less is to make sure you have a marketing plan in place. Trying “this” today and “that” tomorrow will only work if message and your target audience happen to intersect by accident. Targeting a specific audience through a specific medium or media with a specific message with a specific plan to track results and a specific measurement of success is the key. Yes it can be a lot of work, but it’s the only way to determine what works and what doesn’t. Not everything will be successful, but the only way to know is to target, to communicate and to track as best you can.

2. Consider client sources. Marketing directly to clients helps but going directly to referral sources is even better? I’m pretty sure clients aren’t lining up like the day after Thanksgiving at the front desk of your facility to buy your holiday bargains. They seek you out in hopes that you can solve their problem. Answer this question: “Where do they get the information which leads them to you?” If you have the answer to this question, then you have the target you should be directing your messages toward.

3. Look at your farm system. As a slightly fanatical Steelers and Penguins fan, I can’t help but consider what successful sports franchises are doing. Today’s younger employees are tomorrow’s mid level management and somewhere down the road will be executives. Different stages of a career are target audiences, but also guaranteed to grow to the next target audience. Do you have a plan in place to carry your clients through the changes in theirs careers? Conversely, do you have a plan in place to bring the best up and coming talent to you organization?  Better talent will bring fans to your stadium. How are you attracting that future talent?

4. Better customer relations leads to word-of-mouth marketing, which is the least expensive but most powerful form of marketing. In a climate where many clients feel like the next person in line, the provider/client relationship is more critical than ever. Take care of the details with your clients. Do you really know anything about their families, or birthdays, or anniversaries, or alma mater? There is great CRM tool out there. If you need help in that area, contact me today!

5. Look at the structure your message and how it’s being delivered. It’s great that you just spent a pile of cash on the latest technology, but the harsh truth is that nobody cares. Clients cannot develop a relationship with a machine (although there are times when my wife thinks my laptop and I have something special going). Instead of bragging about your latest equipment, focus on its benefit to your clients. “We will increase your annual productivity by 230 house by helping you accomplish in five minutes what currently takes you an hour.” That sounds better doesn’t it? You haven’t mentioned the equipment and have already solved the problem. Don’t forget to throw in something to convince them that they can believe what you are telling them. Finally, convince them why their experience with you will be much better than their experience with the next facility that may be making the same claim.

6. Leverage the knowledge bases of your most trusted vendors. Your relationship with your vendors is just as important as your relationships with clients. I am one of those vendors, but there are several out there like me (well, not just like me because I am The Solutionist). With years of experience under our belts, a good vendor can be a good consultant and a good insurance policy by steering you around the rocks that lie beneath the surface. The key is to leverage a vendor you trust and can bring multiple solutions to the table The better your relationship with your vendor, the more your vendor will want to help.

7. Billboards are effective, but the way you are buying may be a way to do more with less. Billboards consist of two distinctly separate items. One is the rental of the board space itself and the second is the poster or vinyl. Many advertisers don’t know that they two are separate. The companies that show up in your office own the board itself, but also, in most cases, they will subcontract the visual to the same place as a vinyl broker would, but with a higher markup. Ask your billboard company to break out the vinyl printing from the contract.

 

8. Social Media Marketing or Web 2.0 is new to a lot of marketing departments. You hear about it, you understand a little, but you can’t wrap your brain around it. Do not discount its effectiveness because you don’t understand it. It can be fairly inexpensive or fairly elaborate. One thing is for sure; it’s not going away. Effectively combining the reach of your website, your blog, and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and a strategy to utilize the above is becoming increasingly effective. Throw in the power of relationship marketing direct mail and PURLs (Personal URLs), you can create an information stream which can turn target marketing into bull’s-eye marketing.

The bottom line is that effective marketing is an investment and not an expense. There are forms of marketing that will allow you to do more with less. Effective marketing is not to be confused with cheaper marketing. If your marketing strategy is effective and you can prove that with tracking, then there isn’t any reason you wouldn’t want to do more.

If you’ve ever exhibited at a trade show, you know they are a LOT of work. Since you are putting in the time and effort, here are ten things to remember to make your experience more effective.

1. You have 6-8 seconds to capture somebody’s attention and gain their interest as they walk by. A lot of type and details on your graphics is not going to grab their attentions. Put that information in the literature you pass out.

2. If a visitors walks past your booth and pauses, ENGAGE! That is their invitation for you to engage them in conversation.

3. Small talk wastes their time and your time. Get to the point once you engage. “Good afternoon! What interests you about my wonderful offering?” (insert your offering  in place of “wonderful offering”)

4. Don’t use important graphics below waist level on your display. Nobody’s eyes ever get that far down when they are passing by. A table or visitors’ bags are at that level anyway.

5. Always use additional lighting and pay for electricity if available. Don’t be fooled into thinking the exhibit hall’s overhead lighting will be bright enough. It never is. Visitors are attracted to a well lighted booth. It gives a feeling of being bright and cheery.

6. Never sit down! It sends a message that you don’t want to be bothered. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes because standing and working and exhibit can be exhausting.

7. Don’t leave your table at the front of your booth. Move it off to the side to create a space where visitors feel invited in. A table left in front tends to create a jam up of people in front of the booth and causes other visitors to be concerned only with trying to get around the jam instead of looking at your booth.

8. Take two different types of giveaways. Use a less expensive, but effective, giveaway for the freebie vultures. These are the people that come by your booth looking for the free giveaway. Don’t totally discount these people because the may actually just be trying to get your information and the giveaway will cause them to think of you whenever they use it. The second giveaway should be something a little nicer. It is a reward and thank you for a visitor stopping and engaging in genuine interested conversation regarding your product. You definitely want to give them a reason to remember you.

9. Prior to the show, send out a teaser piece to entice targeted prospects to track you down at the show. The piece will tell them where you are located and why your offering will help them. And most of all, let them know about the free gift they will receive when they stop by.

10. This may be the most important piece of advice to take away from this article. FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP! The whole reason you went to the trade show is to make a sale or gain a qualified and interested prospect! They are no longer a cold call.  At worst, the are now a warm lead if not a hot lead.

“Hello, you’ve just reached the most boring phone message ever created. Leave your name, number, message, time of call, date, employer, social security number, marital status, and your dog’s name. I will call you back.”

 

Something a little more creative is a colleague whose message says “In this day and age, you know what to do, so go ahead and do it.” I can say that’s a little better than the normal message.

 

When somebody calls you, you’ve got them listening already. They’re expecting to hear the normal boring message that everybody uses. Then, is the time to catch them off guard and send a different message. That is your opportunity to give them information and make them want to call you back. I change my messages regularly and I try to entertain and inform you when you call. (The information is free. I’ve tried to charge for the entertainment, but have not had any success to date.)

 

If you know me, you probably know that one of my hobbies is to break some rules; or at least test their flexibility. One of my telephone rules is that poor signal strength will never dictate when a call is ended. Even if I’ve pretty much ended the call, I will still call back to say goodbye. Another rule is making every touch I have with my clients different from everybody else that is trying to make contact with my clients. My voice mail is an opportunity to engage the caller and give them a little insight on what it’s like to do business with me. It doesn’t take them long to figure out that doing business with me is fun and never boring.

 

So, let me ask you a question. What message are you sending with your voice mail? Is your message saying “Hello, I’m glad you called, but I’m not different than the other 10 people trying to earn your business.”? What can you do to make your message say “HEY, I’m not your average vendor! I’m engaged, I’m excited, I enjoy what I do, I’m breaking some rules and I’d love to earn your business.”

 

I always enjoy the calls I answer with somebody on the other end saying “You weren’t supposed to answer, I wanted my friend to hear your message!” But occasionally I also get “That’s the dumbest message I have ever heard, you really need to change that.” Both are good because the message is remembered. People are talking about it and people are listening to it.

 

What message are you sending? Call me at 724.454.3573. You never know what you might hear. And if you’d like to tip the entertainment, that’s OK too.

By “gone”, I don’t mean dead; I could mean dead, but that’s a whole different article. What I mean is this; right after you shake your prospect’s hand and say “It was a pleasure meeting with you” and you walk out the door. What happens next?

 

Imagine a gecko (I’d use a fly here, but flies are way overused and quite annoying) hanging out in your prospect’s office watching the scenario play out when the meeting has just ended. You shake hands and walk out the door. The door shuts. What happens next is the answer to the question “How will you be remembered when you’re gone?”

 

Your information goes into a file with ten other vendors, your business card goes into a rolodex with 250 other cards and your prospect sits down and immediately jumps back into the day’s work thinking how much further behind she it because of the meeting she just had with you. (Insert sound of crickets chirping here – I use crickets here because they are performers not annoyers.) You, on the other hand, are skipping to your car and driving back to your office feeling good about yourself because the prospect was engaged and you had them eating out of your hand.

 

A week goes by and you haven’t heard from them….then two weeks…then three. You’re wondering why they don’t call. The meeting was great, the presentation was one of your best, and the prospect seemed excited. The reality is they may have been excited, but the other thirty-seven things on their to-do list took over the moment you walked out the door. In addition to that, somehow a gecko found its way into their office, but it’s cute and they tell ten colleagues about the strange gecko they found in their office.

 

STOP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Maybe I should say START DOING WHAT YOU ARE NOT DOING! The fact is that you are going through the same motions that 14.5 other sales people are doing.

 

Now imagine the gecko on the wall after you walk out the door in a different scenario. The door closes. The prospect says to her colleague at the next desk “Look at this guy’s business card, I haven’t seen that before!”

 

Colleague: “That IS different, what does he do?”

Prospect: “He sales fleugelshmaks. We could use those in the skizmflop market presentations.”

Colleague: “I never thought of that! What is that other thing?”

Prospect: “It’s a fleece throw with his logo on it. I’m keeping it here, you know how cold it gets in here with the air conditioner on so high.”

Colleague: “HEY, WHERE DID THAT LIZARD ON THE WALL COME FROM?”

 

If you need more ideas, sign up for my Product of the Week Update at www.Solutionist.biz or one of the many, many free newsletters available online.

Become memorable! Be different! Make a difference! Create and image! Make a brand! Break some rules! Get out of your comfort zone and into the profit zone.

 

BUSINESS IS FOR THE BIRDS 

 

I was stopped at a red light the other day and noticed a flock of geese flying overhead in their traditional V formation. As I watched them going over my car and heading off in the distance, I was wondering where they were going; which was the first one who decided to go; did they know where they were going? Just as my light was about to turn green, one particular goose from the middle of the left side of the V broke away and flew forward, but not to the front, but in a slightly different direction. The rest of the flock fell in behind, my light turned green and I made a note to write this article. (Yes, my brain is warped just enough to cause random thoughts associating the meaningless with strategy.)

 

For the sake of my waffle-brain, I like to categorize things into their own little compartments, like the squares on a waffle. So I’m going to put these birds into their appropriate business category. I’ll leave it up to you as to which one you are comfortable with or want to become.

 

Big Bird: The bird in front that is leading its industry. This bird is out in front working hard, breaking through the currents of the marketplace. She’s used to being there and is stronger, helping her weather the economic storms and accelerate when conditions are good.

 

Serif Bird: (A shout-out you printer-types) A serif is the small horizontal line at the end of the top of each side of the V. In bird-speak, it’s the back of the line; the last bird. If you’ve ever watched “Sgt. York” played by Gary Cooper in 1941, then you’ll understand that the last bird in line is the one to be shot down first. In business, this is the first bird to be knocked down by the pressures of economy. The birds in front never notice.

 

Mid Bird: This is the average bird. He drafts off the bird in front of it and flies in the same direction. Maybe this bird doesn’t know where he’s going or why. All he knows is that it works for him for the present, but somebody in front knows what is going on. This bird is relatively safe from being shot down by the pressures of economy, but is still susceptible to the stray shot.

 

Maverick: Ahhh yes, my favorite bird. The one who leaves the middle of the V, tired of going in the same direction. This bird finally pulled his resources together and went off to do his own thing. He understands the pressures of economy could shoot him down, and probably has been shot down in the past. He sets a new course and stands out from the flock, not satisfied with business as usual. He weighs the risks, but understands the rewards. This bird is a rule-breaker. I grin as I type this. If you know me, you understand.

 

So, if you see me out and about, give me a finger count on how much you liked this article, on a scale of 1-5; 1 being the “loved it” and 5 being “hated it”. (This visual is a softball setup for the witty.)

 

“Talk to me Goose!”