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Archives for November 2015

November 28, 2015 by RonTester Leave a Comment

How to Market with Local Networking Groups

DoThisNotThatMarketing.com local networking meetingLocal Networking Meetings Can Help You Grow Your Business

Many small business owners have heard of local networking meetings but aren’t sure where to find them or how they might help them grow their businesses. You might be convinced of the benefits of marketing your small business but you may not know where to start. If it seems like an impossible task to find places to market your business—read on! There are plenty of resources you can tap in the form of local networking groups. These various groups will allow you to grow your business, get referrals and make money. 

Business Networking International (BNI) is one of the largest groups created specifically to help members increase their business through networking. Not only can you get referrals for your business, but you can gain networking knowledge, be a part of business trade shows, and periodically free workshops on networking. You’ll also receive newsletters that provide valuable networking education. Joining a chapter means that you’ll be the only business that provides that service or product, so you’ll have exclusivity within the chapter. To find out more information, search their website to find a chapter near you.

Have you heard of Mastermind Groups? Mastermind groups offer a place to brainstorm, get peer support, education, and ultimately achieve success. By collaborating with others, you will be able to cross-promote your business and extend your network. Do you feel like you are all alone in your business? Joining a mastermind group can help you get rid of that feeling because you will be working with others that can advise you and vice versa. There are quite a few places to find mastermind groups, including Meetup.com, Craigslist.org,  Plant Dreams and MasterMind Finder. Mastermind groups can be conducted in person or online. If you can’t find one geared towards your needs, you can start your own group. For more information, check out this post from the Smart Passive Income blog.

Are you a woman looking for a networking group that caters to you? Joining a group such as Women in Business Networking can help you as a woman tackle specific issues and challenges related to running and networking your business. Groups are area specific, so you will want to search for one in your area.

Local merchants associations are another great tool for networking your business. These are specific to your area and doing an online search will allow you to find one near you. These associations are non-profit groups that promote unity among business owners and help business owners pave their way to long-term success. Need help with a marketing campaign? Local merchant’s associations can also help you with multiparty marketing campaigns.

As I mentioned before, I’m a big believer in Meetup.com. Meetup is a great way to join groups in your area with a focus on small businesses. Go here and search for a group near you. Some Meetups require fees for joining their group or for specific functions. Each group has their own page with the information you need to join. Group activities include workshops in social media marketing, get advice from other business owners, and help avoid costly mistakes in your own business.

With all of these local networking groups available to you, from online mastermind and Meetup groups to merchant associations in you area, you’ve got tons of opportunities to join and grow your business. Visit several groups before joining and making that commitment to a particular group. Be sure to ask questions about how often they meet and any obligations required of you. Once you find one you that is convenient and interesting, make the commitment to join. Once you join, make the commitment to go regularly. Make joining a local networking group fun and profitable to you and your business.

If you’ve participated in a local networking group and would like to share your experience, comment below.

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: DoThisNotThatMarketing.com, Local Networking Groups, Ron Tester

November 18, 2015 by RonTester 1 Comment

Creating a Sales Funnel for Your Small Business

DoThisNotThatMarketing.com simple sales funnelSales Funnel = Clarity

One way to help make your sales strategy meaningful is for you to create and draw out a sales funnel. I know you’ve probably seen sees funnels before, but have you ever created one? Not just thought about it, but actually put pencil to paper and drew it out? You should. Go get a piece of paper and a pencil. I’ll wait….

Now we all know what a funnel looks like and a sales funnel is very similar. The sales funnel is called that because it’s wide at the top, which allows for lots of potential customers to go through, and narrow at the bottom, where potential customers are turning into actual paying customers and repeat customers. Creating a sales funnel helps you visualize your sales process and the specific steps that lead to sales. Although you know where the money comes from, seeing it in black and white can make it stick in your mind’s eye and keep you focused there.

A Quick Explanation of the Sales Funnel Stages 

As people enter the sales funnel as potential customers, some will drop out immediately as they will not be interested or in need of your product or business. You walk into a fancy jewelry shop and find out they don’t change batteries on your Timex watch. You slip out of their sales funnel.

The next tier of the funnel is for potential customers who have shown some interest in your business. They sign up for your email list, request a brochure or a meeting, etc. You should be thinking about how to get the right customers from this stage to the next stage of commitment. Eventually, your goal is to funnel all of these prospects into the next stage of commitment or funnel out all those that are ultimately uninterested or not a good fit for your business. It’s dangerously seductive to look at a ton of prospects sitting at this stage of the funnel and think, “If only half of them convert to buying customers, I’ll be rich!” It makes wishful thinking your strategy and can make you think you don’t have to work as hard to keep filling your funnel. If they’ve been sitting at this stage of your sales funnel for a long time, you want them to choose to go one way or the other. Either move them forward in the sales process or let them go.

Those that remain can be converted to customers who buy one time and ultimately become repeat customers. Once you draw it out, the sales funnel will help you identify problems along the process, perhaps identifying a lack of exposure to potential clients or the need for additional sales training. In the end, you’ll save a lot of time and money by pinpointing the right customers identified through your sales funnel.

When creating a sales funnel, the best thing to do is make them personalized. There is no “right way” for everyone. Some are simple (see above) and some are more complex. DoThisNotThatMarketing.com complex sales funnelWhich one is the right one for you? Potentially both. Potentially neither. The real question is, what meets your needs? Ultimately, what’s going to help you turn prospects into customers? If you’ve never created a sales funnel before, or if your business is fairly straightforward with a relatively short sales cycle, I would recommend a simpler sales funnel to start out with.

  • First, you need to create a way to introduce your business to your leads. How do they find you?
  • Second, you need something that leads your prospect into the funnel, a low-cost/no-cost, low barrier to entry offer. This should require very little commitment from your prospect, like entering their email address in exchange for a report or a checklist.
  • Third, you need to educate your prospect. Teach them what they need to know to make an informed decision. Help them understand why your offering is the reasonable choice to help them meet their needs or solve their problem.  While you might fear this will delay the final sale, it gives you a way to position yourself to demonstrate your expertise or the repeated need for your product.
  • Fourth, you’ll ask for the sale. Make the offer. If you’ve made a good case for your offering, you shouldn’t have to trick people into buying. If you have to trick people into buying, you’re not making a good offer. Improve your product or service or improve the way you present it so that it make sense to the customer. Then asking for the sale becomes easier.
  • Finally, you need to follow up with your customer after the sale. When your prospect becomes a customer they usually like you more at that time than any other. They are on your side. Let them know you appreciate them. Ask them for referrals. Ask them what was most helpful in getting them from a “maybe” to a “yes.” 

There are some things you need to keep in mind after you’ve created a sales funnel. Be sure to revise your sales funnel and find ways to fix “leaks” or places that potential sales have fallen through. Make your funnel stronger over time. You will want to keep track of your results and be sure to measure your leads and conversions. Always look for ways to improve your numbers.

Having a sales funnel is a great way resource in your business. You will want to plan your sales funnel and not just wing it. A good funnel will move prospects through to becoming your customer and remove those that aren’t a good match for your business. That’s exactly what you want, right? More prospects converting to more customers generating more revenue and more profit.

Please leave a comment and let us know: if you are using a sales funnel in your business, how has it helped you? And if you aren’t using one, why not?

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: DoThisNotThatMarketing.com, Ron Tester, Sales

November 18, 2015 by RonTester Leave a Comment

Sales Strategy for Small Business

DoThisNotThatMarketing.com, sales strategyDo you have a sales strategy?

A marketing strategy and sales strategy are not the same thing, but a sales strategy can be based on your marketing strategy. Marketing is getting your business or product name out there where a sales strategy is about how you gain that customer and seal the deal. So, let’s learn more about how a sales strategy can benefit you and your business.

Still not sure if you need a sales strategy? Not sure how a sales strategy will benefit your business? If you want profitable revenue growth, you need a great sales strategy. It will pinpoint the places you need to hone in on for specific sales goals, both long and short-term. By creating a sales strategy, you ensure you are targeting the right market and approaching the right customers. And that’s exactly what you need—the right customers to create growth!

Here are a couple of key points to remember before you start creating a sales strategy. You will want your sales strategy to be unique to each of the products or services you sell in order for it to be the most effective it can be. Also, it’s important to revise and update your sales strategy regularly. But how exactly do you create a sales strategy?

  • Analyze the previous years sales, revenue, and marketing trends. Do you know where your sales and revenue came from last year? How about last year’s website traffic or online and offline leads?
  • Define your sales vision for the next year. Write down where you’d like your sales and your revenue to be in a year. Dream big!
  • Set your goals for the next year. Write down what roadblocks you need to break through to reach your goals and set aside a few of them to be worked on in the first quarter. Identify how you will measure your success towards these goals.
  • Check out your competitors and identify what sets you apart from them. Look at how your competitors have changed their website, check out their social media pages as well as their LinkedIn profile, scour the internet looking for press releases and news articles. Also, ask some of your customers why they choose you and your business over that of your competitors.
  • Review your marketing material, including your online presence (website and social media). Make sure your copyrighted material is still up to date. Make sure your online content is educational and relevant. If your website is just an online brochure, consider adding helpful, valuable content on a regular to keep your audience coming back.
  • Identify any problems in your sales and marketing. If you can’t identify problems, you can change them. Figure out how to break down barriers to sales growth.
  • Track and revise your strategy. Be sure to have regular meetings to track how effective your sales strategy is. Make changes as needed to increase your sales potential.

By creating your sales strategy, you’ll identify areas that need your attention and increase your sales potential. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. These changes can take a while before you start to notice their value. There is quite a bit of work to do here, but it’s worth it!

If you have questions about developing a sales strategy for your company, I can help. Email me anytime.

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: DoThisNotThatMarketing.com, Ron Tester, Sales

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