 |
| |
|
-
Australia
-
>
-
Media
-
>
-
News
-
>
-
Bob Pritchard AISMM, BSc, CSP, International Marketer of the Year
|
| |
Bob Pritchard AISMM, BSc, CSP, International Marketer of the Year
July News - Building Business Up In Down Times |
| |
Bob Pritchard AISMM, BSc, CSP,
International Marketer of the Year
Welcome to the business and marketing newsletter that goes out monthly to some 14,000 business people in 31 countries. This month’s article, “Building Business Up in Down Times”, was suggested by Rhett Simonds of the major homebuilders, ‘Simonds’. Rhett’s view, which I share, is that while the finance industry may be tight in this recession, lots of businesses, including his family’s business, are doing well.
Institute for Sales, Marketing and Management
I have been a Fellow of the Australian and American Institutes for Sales, Marketing and Management for about 6 years and it has been a tremendous help to me in business for a host of reasons.. With a stack of benefits from some 700 business ebooks, to coaching, free access to networking functions, conferences, monthly ezine, 24 hour help lines as well as the designation AISMM after my name, I use its facilities constantly. It has made me build my income and saved me a fortune in advice.
I am very proud that I have now been offered the position of Patron of AISMM and I commend the organisation to everyone in business.
A fulltime regional director of the Institute can earn $120 – 200K p.a. and for a member, the benefits are invaluable. So if you are still looking for that role in business that provides you with the income and the satisfaction you seek, I suggest you contact the institute and get more information on this exciting role. It is the opportunity for you to be the “go-to” business person in your area.
For more information, go to www.aismm.com.au
Consulting
The consulting side of our business is terrific as companies take advantage of the plethora of opportunities that are currently available in this economic climate. Now is the time to ensure your business model and marketing message are right and to source out strategic relationships and other opportunities to prepare the groundwork for the good times ahead.
If you need help to build your business? Give us a call or send us an email. We would love to work with you!
Investment Opportunities
We have two terrific investment opportunities at present. Both will produce high multiple returns in a very short period of time. Email me personally at bob@bobpritchard.com for details.
Last Month’s Article
The June article, “Communication is the Key to Wealth” - which explained how effective the DISC system of behavioral analysis is for ensuring you have the right people in the right jobs, that your team is well balanced, and for assisting you to communicate effectively with people - received an excellent response. Many people use it very effectively, many people use variations of it, and there were several comparisons with NLP. It was clearly apparent that the use of analysis tools can have a profound effect on the operation of your business.
This Month’s Article –
Building Businesses Up in Down Times
- 93% of the population is still employed
- The last 12 months have seen tax cuts, reduction in gas prices, stimulus handouts, lower interest rates
- The price of major purchases … houses, cars, appliances … have all been reduced
This means almost everyone has more disposable income than they have had for years. But while 50% of the business I talk to are doom and gloom, the other 50% are doing great business, gaining sales and market share.
Why? It is all about attitude, applying yourself to the business environment. The reality is that there has never been a better time to win new accounts, build your brand equity, strengthen relationships with customers, develop a smarter business model, introduce cost saving technology to enable you to better plan, minimize stock, improve customer analysis etc.
In bad times, the strong and the smart thrive, the weak and lazy fold! Lisa Barone said in Outspoken Media “You can either keep complaining how the recession is taking away your clients or you can see it as an opportunity to create your own success. The choice is yours.” If you are not doing well, it is likely that you just suck at what you are doing!
Stop listening to the doom and gloom, these are exciting times. While things may tighten, now is the time to get your business in order so that when the market comes back (and it will in the not too distant future), you will be better positioned to roar ahead.
This is the time to get smarter about the way you market your product or service, focus on the delivery of valued benefits, go out of your way to provide awesome service and build word of mouth.
Don’t forget, PriceWaterhouseCoopers studies show that:
· 42% of business growth is due to customer service, 28% is due to advertising.
· 31% of ROI is due to customer service, 8% is due to advertising.
· Customer service leaders can charge 9 – 13% more than their competitors without losing business.
Some of the things you should focus on:
1. Don’t save money, make money. Don’t reduce rejections, create more responses, create opportunities that didn’t exist.
2. Position your product or service so that it creates new opportunities for potential customers, you will increase the consideration you receive in future.
3. Improve opportunities with existing customers. Really get to understand your customers, create new ways to help them. The cost of sales to existing customers is relatively low and sales cycles are shorter.
4. Build relationships with the senior management at clients. In tough times, senior management make and influence more decisions. Have “business discussions” rather than sales discussions.
5. Be enthusiastic and positive. If you have a good product or offer a great service, now is your time to shine. People want hope … give it!
6. Make sure that you track every marketing and sales dollar. Evaluate new, direct and low cost, highly targeted media. Don’t use non-targeted traditional media.
7. Don’t cut your marketing budget, but spend it more wisely. Now is the time to get market share as competitors cut budgets.
8. Phone and mail senior executives. Tell them you want their business. This is inexpensive, personal and is a break from emails etc. It can show you care.
9. Direct Mail DON’T junk mail. They are two totally different things. The difference is value. DO follow up with a phone call.
10. If you are looking for ways to cut marketing spend, improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns, then digital mediums such as mobiles can produce great results.
- 75% of people read texts immediately
- Response rates from SMS are 4 times that of Direct Mail and email
- Costs are cents per message
- SMS maintains communication, increases loyalty
- Great for promotions, easy to monitor results
11. Marketing success requires boldness. Research by Buchen Advertising of successive recessions, showed that without exception, sales and profits were stable for companies that maintained advertising and dropped off at companies that cut back.
12. Learn from the experience of others. Don’t wait until you have experienced it yourself before you change your ways. What this downturn has taught us is that it is better to know than not know.
13. Role Models. Improve your attitude, life and business by focusing on role models. Apply their lessons to your situation both as inspiration and practical tips.
14. Keep your team motivated and positive! Go back to basics, keep your team engaged and boosting productivity. Increase intrinsic rewards and be positive.
15. Take charge, reduce costs, eg. real estate sucks at the moment, renegotiate your leases, don’t pay over the odds.
16. If you are an employee, step up your performance, make your position really count, seek advancement. Don’t be oblivious to the changed situation.
Savvy companies and savvy individuals will understand the new market dynamics and figure out how to make them work to their advantage. Some companies freeze like deer in headlights, making cuts to employee levels, reducing marketing spend and cutting initiatives rather than improving the quality of employees from the increased labor pool and getting more from employees, maintaining marketing spend and initiatives but increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness.
In this exciting but challenging time, you can either flourish or fail. The choice is entirely yours!
To engage us for marketing, or to enquire about booking Bob for a speech, please contact us. And don’t forget to have a good look at AISMM.
See you next month.
Best Regards,
Bob Pritchard AISMM, BSc, CSP,
International Marketer of the Year
Global cell: 61 411 708 688
US Cell: 1 818 633 4402
bob@bobpritchard.com
|
|
 |
|
|