In today’s tough economic times, it is more important than ever to become an expert in marketing. As Dan Kennedy, author of the highly successful No B.S. marketing books (www.nobsbooks.com), says, “Every business is a marketing business.” Only after the business owner understands this key point are they ready to grow their business dramatically.
Grade yourself on each of the following key points with a traditional letter grade from A (for excellent) to F (for failure, or when there is nothing done in an area):
- Do you have a short answer for this question: Why, with all the other choices out there (including the choice of doing nothing), should I buy from you? Grade____
- Do you know the lifetime value of a new customer? Grade___
- Do you make it easy to buy from you? Grade____
- Do you understand that every contact with a customer is a marketing opportunity? Grade___
- Is there a script for all of your staff to use for every contact point with a customer? Grade___
- Do you have a clear strategic marketing and tactical marketing plan? Grade___
- Do you have a written marketing implementation plan for the next 30-60 days? Grade___
- Do you use this marketing plan to guide your daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sales and marketing activity? Grade___
- Do you act on your marketing plan? Grade___
- Do you contact all your customers by mail, email, or phone every month so that they don’t forget you? Grade___
- Do you personally call your top customers monthly looking for new ways to better serve them? Grade___
- Does your company have a plan to upsell or cross-sell to every customer? Grade___
- Do you have a clearly defined customer benefit statement for each of your products or services? Grade___
- Do you have a way to capture contact information for all prospects? Grade___
- Do you have a systemized plan to turn prospects into customers? Grade___
- Do you have good sales material? Grade____
- Are you only using advertising and marketing tools that allow you to track effectiveness? Grade___
- Do you concentrate on selling to a particular niche rather than trying to be all things to all people? Grade___
- Do you have sales training meetings? Grade____
- Do you have a marketing-based website? (A website that leads to sales or an appointment, rather than an electronic business card.) Grade___
- Do you use email marketing? Grade___
- Do you use social media to educate your customers and build loyal fans? Grade___
- Do you look for ways to WOW your customers on every sale? Grade___
- After you have wowed them do you ask for testimonials? Grade___
- Do you look for ways to create marketing partnerships that are beneficial to both parties? Grade___
- Do you remember to thank your customers at least yearly? Grade___
Review the grades you gave yourself and work on improving any grades lower than a grade of C or less. Give us a call if you need help or just want to brainstorm this list.