Want to Jump Start Your Sales? STOP Marketing! Part I of V

It is conventional wisdom. If we are starting out in a business, the first thing we must do is have a logo and "identity". Then we must have some flyers and brochures - some marketing materials, we say. Then all we have to do is get the word out. Place an advertisement in the local newspaper. Join the local chamber and network, network, network. And then wait for the phone to ring.

Most of us are cruelly reminded that business does not work this way. And still, we keep buying into this lie. Over and over and over and over, year after year after year. If the business is struggling, it must be that the flyers aren't snazzy enough. May be our web-site needs rework. Or our logo and "brand identity" need a face-lift. Or we need to hire a PR firm, a marketing firm or an ad agency.

NOT true! In fact, for most businesses, this is a very dangerous route to take. Marketing this way can cost you thousands of dollars, without ever seeing a dime - not to mention lost time and missed opportunities.

What's the right way to jump-start your sales?

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If you are cringing while reading this, do not despair. Most of us go through this many times in our business careers.

Recently, I heard a very successful CEO tell me that he wanted to expand in new markets. In order to do that, he was in the process of hiring an expensive ad agency. In my conversation with him, one thing became quite clear: he was not clear about what exactly the product would be, how it would benefit the customer and how it will stand out in the marketplace so that people will buy it and pay a decent price for it.

He was expecting the advertising agency to figure it out for him!

If the advertising agency knew the answers, it would be them reaping the profits from the products, not the business owner. Let’s face it, as a leader of our business, it is our responsibility to know the answers to these questions.

You see, there is simple law of business success we are violating when we let the outsiders do our thinking for us. It is this: clear intentions produce clear results. The opposite is also true: unclear intentions produce unclear results.

As hard as it may be, we must be clear about our products and services inside our own heads, not in the heads of an ad agency!

More specifically, we need to be clear about three things: 1) what business we are in, 2) what our customers get, specifically and precisely, by doing business with us, and 3) what makes us different from our competitions’ products and services.

The more clearly and precisely we can answer these questions with conviction, the clearer our results will be. The more clear we are about these three questions, the higher our sales will be and the higher we will be able to charge for our products and services. This will show up on our financial statements as revenues and profits.

Granted, finding answers to these questions is not easy. That’s why it requires some structured, disciplined thinking.

In the next three issues, we will go through a set of guideline you can follow to do this kind of structured thinking.

Until then:

• Register for our monthly, FREE workshop coming up next month. It's the easiest way to really understand what I am trying to communicate in this series of articles. This also a place where you can get used to doing some structured,disciplined thinking about your business.

• Check out some of the other articles on this web site by clicking on the “Resources” tab.
  
  
• There is a recommended list of reading I’ve put together. You can have this for free. To get your copy, call 301-916-4015 Ext 12 or e-mail me at bhavesh@ambica.net.

Wishing you all the success…

Bhavesh Naik