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Suzanne Lowe, author of Marketplace Masters, has a new blog focused on marketing for the professional service sector. It's called The Expertise Marketplace and it's off to a great start.
You can find an interview with Suzanne Lowe in Management Consulting News.
Many of you asked about the research I used in my previous post about the power of words in marketing.
I read about the research in the book, Jump Start Your Marketing Brain, by Doug Hall. The research is reported on page 84.
If you haven't had a look at this book, it's full of practical, data-supported ideas to give your marketing a lift.
You can find an interview with Doug Hall in Management Consulting News.
Whether it’s a Web site, advertisement, or other marketing collateral, we’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Having a visual of the product enhances marketing communication, we’re told, because people don’t have time to read. I don’t doubt that people fail to read most of the advertising copy they come across, but that’s because of the hype that’s part of most ad copy, not people’s lack of time to read.
In a study of 3,600 consumers, researchers concluded that to get people to notice an ad, text was twice as important as pictures. Your clients are interested in reading about your services, but you must grab their attention. What’s new about your offering? What’s your story? Is there news?
What’s most important is that the fluff be ruthlessly eliminated from your ad copy, Web page or other marketing communication. If you include hype and half-truths, you make it nearly impossible for clients to separate the wheat from the chaff. The result: a lost sale. Ten different studies have shown that when the bull is stripped from ads, consumer interest skyrockets.
Of course, other studies have shown that long ad copy does work when selling products and services. When it comes to marketing consulting services, though, to improve your client’s rate of interest, make every word count. And remember that the “right” words, not just any words, are the ones that sell.
It’s axiomatic that you should sell benefits, not features. Many consultants work hard to clarify the value of their offerings, and that helps clients make informed decisions. But can you do more?
To boost the value of your product or service in the minds of clients, do what some politicians are famous for—go negative. No, that doesn't mean you should slam the competition. Instead, think about the attributes of your offering that could help clients prevent a loss or avoid a risk, and include those attributes along with the benefits you normally spell out.
The urge to avoid loss is a powerful motivating force in buying behavior. In one study, business buyers were motivated to invest in Internet technologies due to fear of obsolescence, not because of the opportunity to enhance their businesses.
Some consultants sell exclusively on fear, uncertainty, and doubt. I’m not advocating that questionable approach.
But an honest assessment of how your product can avert a loss focuses the client’s attention squarely on what makes your product different. Include that assessment in your sales and marketing communication to add some punch to your proposal. That may be just the differentiator you need.
The consulting industry gathered steam in 2005, emerging from its worst slump in thirty-five years. Yet as the New Year gets underway, we face some of the same challenges as in the recent past, like mounting fee pressure, more sophisticated buyers, and toughening competition. So will it be the same thing, different day?
Well, not exactly.
In today’s market, a rising tide won’t float all boats. Instead, the rewards will follow those who lead in their markets. Expect the gap between the winners and everyone else to widen as clients become choosier about where they spend their consulting dollars. The result will be rising profits for the winners and unrelenting fee pressure for others.
Fortunately, it’s not as difficult to float to the top as it may seem, especially for competent consultants. Here are four tips, from the January 2006 issue of the Guerrilla Consultant, to get your year off to a flying start.
Many consultants know intuitively when they’ve hit the wall and a prospective client isn’t going to buy. Others give up too early, while still others keep hitting their heads against that wall. So when do you stop trying to convert a prospect to a client?
At a minimum, you should plan three to five sales discussions with a prospective client before throwing in the towel. Research shows that a prospective client’s first opinion is often incorrect, and that it’s not until the third exposure that the client can fairly evaluate proposed benefits. Assuming you've made the value of the offering clear, that’s when the client’s positive thoughts are most likely to outnumber the negatives.
The key is to keep the door open so you get to the third presentation, whether that’s in person, by phone, e-mail, or other mode. Consider staging how you communicate your marketing and sales messages to your prospective clients. Use the first interaction to spark interest, the second to clarify value, and the third to respond to concerns and ask for the sale. That sequence isn’t set in stone—your client’s needs must dictate how you proceed.
Of course, you won’t always need three meetings—sometimes once is enough for a client to buy. But even if a client says yes in the first meeting, don’t assume it’s a done deal. There is a chance that client will decide not to buy after the initial decision.
At some point, though, it’s best to call it a day. If you’ve given four or five sales presentations, you may still close a sale but, by then, the odds are working against you.
"We regret this situation has occurred and realize this may cause concern for our associates and customers.” -Stephen P. Weisz, President, Marriott Vacation Club International
Talk about an understatement.
The concern: computer tapes containing the personal information of more than 200,000 of Marriott’s timeshare owners, timeshare customers, and employees vanished from an office in Orlando, Florida. The perpetrator(s) made off with social security numbers, bank information, and credit card numbers.
In 2005, more than 55 million Americans were exposed to identity theft from 130 reported computer break-ins. What’s worse is that many attacks are either unreported or undetected, raising the likelihood that the number of breaches is greater than anyone knows.
Battling identity theft is hard enough under normal circumstances. But if we can’t trust organizations to do their part to safeguard our personal information, we’re one step closer to raising the white flag.
Marriott’s problem isn’t the first such case, of course. But it’s a stark reminder that the world of commerce runs on information and trust. If computer break-ins continue unchecked, consumer trust will erode, leaving all of us at great risk.
Why do some consultants generate leads and win project work with ease, while others wait for an eternity just to get a response to an e-mail or a voice mail sent to a prospective client?
In the latest issue of Management Consulting News, Jill Konrath, sales strategist and author of the new book, Selling to Big Companies, has the answer. Her advice is practical, relevant, counter-intuitive, and it works.
Have a look at the interview with Konrath.
