As I’ve said before, surprising your customer in a positive way is a great marketing tactic. Surprise your customer with your generosity. Customer’s might expect you to demonstrate generosity before the sale because they know you want them to buy. But what about after? That’s where generosity really stands out — when people don’t expect it. Some examples include; mattress companies tossing in a free set of linen after a been as been purchased, or a car dealer that gives away a free GPS system after you purchase a car. Not only does that develop powerful customer loyalty, but your customers will want to tell others about the amazing experience they had with your company. You want to make your customer feel like doing business with you is a pleasure, and generosity is just one of those details.

A. Smile
B. Make eye contact
C. Use the person’s name

It’s important to notice that not one of the 3 tips will cost you a penny! But they pay off very well. Probably the most powerful tactic is using the customer’s name. Say it and you’ll automatically stand apart.  Just ask yourself, how often have you been greeted at a business by a smile, eye contact, and the sound of your name?  It rarely happens, which is why you’ll score brownie points by saying hello and goodbye the right way.  If you don’t know the customer’s name when you say hello, learn it during your conversation with the customer and use that name when you’re saying goodbye.  Just by asking the person’s name, you’ll be proving that you care about him or her as a person, not just as a customer.

If your customer contact is primarily by phone, let the customer hear your smile in the tone of your voice, and be sure to use that person’s name.

90% of purchase decisions are made in the unconscious mind. A great way to access the unconscious mind is through repetition. People need to see a marketing message many times before they will make a decision.

Purchase decisions are made for emotional reasons, and people use logical reasoning to justify these decisions. Make sure your marketing messages appeal to both; induce emotion but back up your message with strong facts.

There are 2 different types of people. Left-brained people respond to logical, sequential reasoning. Right-brained people respond to emotional, aesthetic appeals.   Since about half of us are left-brained and half right-brained, you know how it makes a whole lot of sense to direct your messages to both left- and right-brained people – or you’d be wasting half of your marketing investment.

Also, for those left-brained people, your marketing messages should have a lot of numbers because those people love specific references.  Those messages should have a lot of words because those same people like copy.  There should also be lots of logic because those people always want to know why.  Other good things to include are lists and details.  To address right-brained people, you use pictures because they appeal to the imagination, color, rhythm and space.

An obvious truth about sales is that people like to do business with people they like. Your mission, therefore, is to be likeable. If you are, you’ll probably be your best marketing weapon.  If you’re not, your other weapons might not be able to help you.

According to Time Magazine, there are 5 personality traits that are considered the best to possess. They are:

1. extroversion
2. agreeableness
3. emotional stability
4. conscientiousness
5. openness to experience

These are some great personality traits that everyone agrees are desirable. The bottom line, people must buy you before they will buy what you are selling.  They must buy your employees before they’ll buy what they are selling. Your employees my be the most punctual, honest, efficient, and intelligent people, but if they are unpleasant towards customers, you will lose business.

A free consultation is a lot like a free sample. But it’s more than that, because it gives you a change to show how good you are. You have the ability to develop a personal, one-on-one relationship. You also have the chance to demonstrate how you can help this person through your products and services. The offer of a free consultation is easy to accept, and there are only 5 rules to follow:

1. Do not make a sales presentation. You offered a free consultation and that’s what you’ve got to deliver.
2. You must offer to leave after thirty minutes if it’s a thirty-minute consultation that you offered. Your prospect may ask you to stay and continue your consultation, and if you’d like to, fine. But you are honor-bound to offer to depart when you said you would. You prove in a consultation your professionalism, your ability to listen, your ability to help your prospect, your reliability, your enthusiasm, and your maturity in a potential buyer-seller relationship.
3. Prove how valuable you can be to your client. Do it with sincere, valuable help. Don’t worry about giving things away for free—that’s the whole idea.
4. Ask questions and listen carefully to the answers, responding to them the best way that you can. The idea is not to hold things back but to give freely. If what you give is valuable enough, you’ll be amply repaid.
5. Follow up within forty-eight hours. I know you’re busy and may have other free consultations set up, but no matter what, you should thank the person for his time and restate the high points of the consultation. If you’re not willing to follow up, you may be wasting your time during the consultation.

Customer contact time is an excellent marketing opportunity. There are a number of benefits to taking advantage of this time. You can improve or build on your relationship with the customer, up-sell the transaction, and gain valuable referrals, among other things. There is no considerable cost and your efforts can really pay off!

The best part about utilizing this contact time is that it is a win-win situation for you and the customer. He/she learns more about what your company has to offer and how you can help him/her. And for you, it usually results in better customer satisfaction, experience, and therefore, better business.

This customer contact opportunity takes place not only when a person is buying something from you, but also when people are shopping, coming in for repairs, updating, even visiting you to register a complaint.  All of these are superb opportunities for you to render superlative service and to market your other offerings.

People everywhere are trying to take advantage of this new craze by starring in their own videos and posting them on YouTube, or other videos sites.  If your video succeeds in going viral, not only do you gain notoriety, but you can harness your new found “fame” to promote your business or career (unless your video is negatively incriminating in some way, which is highly probable if it went viral).

There is a new tv show out there that has truly harnessed the power of viral videos and has achieved a high level of success. Tosh.0 is weekly topical series on Comedy Central that delves into all aspects of the Internet, but mainly viral videos. The host, comedian Daniel Tosh, takes the viewers through a series of videos and adds his hilarious comments along the way. The show takes viral videos to the next level, by including features like “Web Redemption” which offers the subjects of infamous viral videos a second chance to redeem themselves from the embarrassment with which they’ve become synonymous. Some famous examples are David After Dentist, Scarlet takes a tumble, and of course, Miss Teen USA 2007 - Miss South Carolina Answers a Question. Other unique features include Daniel’s own sketches, the Prank of the Week, and Viewer Video of the Week (which I’m sure has spurred even more crazed videos to be produced).

The show’s popularity has exploded recently. Comedy Central’s leading hosts used to be John Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but in July, Daniel Tosh came out on top with his show reaching 2.4 million viewers. That is the networks highest rated show since Chappelle’s Show. Behold the power of viral videos.

There is also the viewpoint that not all publicity is good publicity. Specifically, bad publicity is just that - bad. It can ruin you or your company’s reputation and end a career. Personally, I am in between on these viewpoints, but mostly leaning towards the latter. I believe all publicity, good or bad, can immediately increase your popularity. However, you must think of the long term effects. Kim Kardashian was lucky, she came out on top from her negative press. But others are not so lucky. I think that the chances of having your career benefit from negative press is very low. You are better off vying for positive publicity so that your reputation stays intact. Bad publicity can work, but it is short term strategy with an unsure future. ]]> http://michaeltasner.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=328 http://michaeltasner.com/blog/?p=325 http://michaeltasner.com/blog/?p=325#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:09:33 +0000 Michael Tasner http://michaeltasner.com/blog/?p=325 It goes without saying, you’d probably rather do business with a friend rather than a stranger. Unless that friend is Bernie Madoff… but why are you friends with him anyway?

One way to move away from the ranks of a stranger, is to become involved in your community. But you’ve really got to become involved, not just signing up for a committee for the sake of signing up. You’ve really got to work for becoming a community “friend” than business stranger. When people in your community see how hard you work and how conscientious you are, they’ll know that you’re doing it on an unpaid basis and they’ll assume that you work even harder on a paid basis, so they’ll be attracted to your business.

Not only are you  doing a great thing for your community, but you are incidentally marketing your business. Of course, you should not really act as though you’re marketing. Just doing these good deeds for the community will do wonders for your network. It takes your time and energy, but it’s worth it.

Drumroll please… everything comes back to relationships.  Building relationships is the most essential marketing weapon you could possess. There are so many outlets from which to build your relationships; social media, email marketing, video marketing, conversion, traffic, sales, leads, opt ins.  The list goes on, and on and on.  If you focus on the relationship (seeing your list as people versus emails) you are going to be 10 times better off in the long haul.

Here are 3 Keys to Help Build Profitable Relationships:

1. Practice education based marketing. Supply customers and prospects with tons of valuable information in articles, pamphlets, and videos. There are so many options!
2. Keep consistent contact. Make sure you’re staying in touch with your contacts on a regular basis.
3. Don’t be afraid to mine your list and your networks. Remove people that haven’t opened any of your stuff or who aren’t relevant.