Category: Client Retention

Unlock the Full Potential of Your Small Business by Identifying Your Target Market

Posted on by Don Vanpool

Every small business owner wants to build a successful and lucrative business. To do this you must be able to clearly identify your target customer. Let me give you an example to illustrate the importance of knowing and understanding just exactly who your target customer is.

A U.S. based pharmacy chain is testing a new customer rewards program in four markets and according to its web site, promises to roll it out nationwide.

The card offers the typical benefits—it’s free to sign up, customers earn points and get percentages off of brand products, coupons will flow freely in the mail and so on. But one of the new so-called “benefits” involves earning points toward free health screenings.

Here’s the deal. When a cardholder racks up 500 points… or spends $500 on non-prescription products… since one point is worth one dollar… they will receive a certificate that can be used for free health screenings such as glucose and cholesterol readings.

The program also gives 25 points for each prescription filled, but doesn’t include prescriptions paid for in-whole or in-part by state or federal health care pro- grams like Medicare or Medicaid.

But wait a minute. Isn’t it safe to assume that people spending $500 at the pharmacy… or filling 20 prescriptions at the counter… are already screened? Who exactly is this “benefit” supposed to be benefiting?

With the American health care system in a state of disarray and pharmacies like Walgreens stepping up to fill the affordable health care void with inexpensive health care screenings and advice, what is this pharmacy getting at?

Shouldn’t first-step screenings that are so vitally important to customer health come more often than when $500 is spent on toilet paper and a Kit-Kat bar? Rewarding more affluent customers who can afford to spend $500 on non-prescription items… or are constantly filling prescriptions at the store… doesn’t seem like the best way to promote public health. Real innovation here would be free screenings for poverty-line customers… or at least a more realistic point offering.

This is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse as the old saying goes. Here is a major retailer that has failed miserably to even remotely analyze who their target customer is and what it is they want. After all, there’s NO magic to selling. Find out what your customers want… and then give it to them. This retail pharmacy has completely missed the boat here.

Knowing and understanding your target customer… and then mapping out their thought process are two critical fundamentals that must be executed properly if you want to build a successful and profitable business.

The first step in this process is to identify the physical characteristics of the entire universe of customers that could be in your target market. From there you will want to understand the emotional descriptions of segments in your target market and better understand what they want. For example, a consumer looking for child care could want low prices, or a nurturing environment or an educational setting. This would obviously depend on various physical characteristics of the market. Finally picking a niche in your market and the revising the physical description of your target market will complete the process.

P.S. Also remember, to determine how likely your marketing is to convert, simply fill out my Conversion Equation Evaluator.

This evaluator has the unprecedented ability to predict the future success of any marketing collateral you develop… as well as predict whether that marketing will be profitable or not. And, it’s 100% free to use!

After calculating your marketing conversion level, I can show you exactly what to do with your website and marketing collateral that could double or triple the number of prospects who respond to your marketing.

Just schedule a complimentary meeting with me

 

 

 

 

How you can create dynamic content that will generate all the leads your business will ever need

Posted on by Don Vanpool

There is a simple way to develop great content, and then use it to create a multitude of products and services that will add additional support and revenue for your business. Your first job is to write out a series of 20 questions, along with the answers to those questions.

I’ll bet that as a small business owner you constantly get asked the same questions over and over about what you do and about your product and/or service. Sit down and write out your list of the top ten most frequently asked questions you hear from your prospects and clients.

Next, write out the top ten questions that your prospects and clients “should” be asking. These are the questions that they don’t know they don’t know. These are the things that they need to know about your product or service, but don’t.

The reason for writing down these twenty questions simply comes down to the basics of effective marketing. Prospects will buy what they want, not what they need. They want an expert, someone who can help them accomplish their goals and objectives.

These twenty questions position you as the expert. The first ten questions answer all of the questions prospects have about what you do, and the next ten establish credibility, rapport and position you as the expert in their eyes. It’s very important that you take your time and create these questions accurately.

Here’s an example. Let’s assume you have a business helping other businesses attract more clients and close more sales. Here are the top ten most frequently asked questions in that type of business,

  1. How can I generate more leads/ customers?
  2. How can I make more money/profits?
  3. How can I get prospects to visit my website?
  4. How can I make money using my website?
  5. How can I be sure your process helps me build my business?
  6. How can I make my products or services business different from my com- petitors?
  7. How do I get my prospects to actually buy rather than look?
  8. Why isn’t my marketing working like it used to?
  9. What should I say when someone ask me “what I do?”
  10. How can I find the time to do everything I need to get done?

Now let’s examine the ten things people SHOULD ask,

  1. Who is my target client and why is it so important to find them?
  2. How does my target client make a decision to buy what I sell?
  3. How do I create a short message that practically compels prospects to buy what I sell?
  4. What is lifetime value and why is it important for me to know it?
  5. What is a sales process and how can I find out what it should be for my business?
  6. What is the “marketing equation” and where should it be used?
  7. What is the “sales equation” and why does it close so many sales?
  8. What’s the difference between a landing page and a website, and which one do I need in my business?
  9. Be sure you answer each of these 20 questions thoroughly and accurately. Once you do, you now have all the content you need to create additional products and services?
  10. How can social media help me grow my business?
  11. How can I get my clients to give me more referrals?

Be sure you answer each of these 20 questions thoroughly and accurately. Once you do, you now have all the content you need to create additional products and services. And you have great content to write great reports and start building an email list to market your products and services.

P.S. Also remember, to determine how likely your marketing is to convert, simply fill out my Conversion Equation Evaluator.

This evaluator has the unprecedented ability to predict the future success of any marketing collateral you develop… as well as predict whether that marketing will be profitable or not. And, it’s 100% free to use!

After calculating your marketing conversion level, I can show you exactly what to do with your website and marketing collateral that could double or triple the number of prospects who respond to your marketing.

Just schedule a complimentary meeting with me

 

How to Always be Present and Make an Impact

Posted on by Don Vanpool

This week marks the first anniversary of my last day in the “office”. On that day 1 year ago, I did not know it was my last day or that as I left I would never return. That everything in my office would be a time capsule for how I left that evening. Or that I would never see my work teams again in person; or in some cases never see them again. Mindfulness and being present are hot topics in our business communities and this event brings the concept into focus more than ever

 

This lesson has helped me in many ways in my day to day interactions with colleague, clients and family. Realizing that anything I do could be the last time keeps the importance of mindfulness in sharp focus.

 

This lesson can help an individual stay present in each moment with family or work colleagues. Are you really listening? Are you contributing to your full capacity? Are you really conveying a sense of commitment to the other person? We may not get a second change for any of these things. I don’t believe in regret however I would have acted much differently that day through this lens.

 

And translating this into a business context means giving meetings, coaching sessions and reviews your full attention. Put away the phone and truly listen to others. Contribute as if this is the last time you will have the opportunity to contribute to those in the room. This could mean providing recognition for even seemingly small contributions and coaching on the micro skills necessary to execute on business plans. Act as if this is the last time you will have the opportunity to help your team succeed.

 

Focus on the tangible outcomes as well. Can you add more to ensure goals are met or that people in the room feel appreciated? As you conduct reviews with your team, are you providing the feedback and support they need to hit business goals? As you review plans with your team, your full attention is necessary to give your full weight to the team and leverage your years of experience. You can also get a sense of what is not said and what needs to be said.

 

If you read my blog from last week, you will see notes on how to manage teams remotely. Take those lessons learned and by fully present with your team. And even in a remote, dispersed workforce you can create and execute a strategy that truly set your organization apart.

 

P.S. Also remember, to determine how likely your marketing is to convert, simply fill out my Conversion Equation Evaluator.

This evaluator has the unprecedented ability to predict the future success of any marketing collateral you develop… as well as predict whether that marketing will be profitable or not. And, it’s 100% free to use!

After calculating your marketing conversion level, I can show you exactly what to do with your website and marketing collateral that could double or triple the number of prospects who respond to your marketing.

Just schedule a complimentary meeting with me

 

 

The Six Interconnected Steps to Digital Marketing Success

Posted on by Don Vanpool

Before you can even venture into the digital marketing world, there are six essential steps you need for success. Once you complete them, you are ready to create a plan of action for digital marketing success and see the results happen without worrying about backtracking later in the process.

1.     Define Your Target Market

Ideally, you will have already completed this task. Knowing your target market is essential to saving you time and money in your marketing process. To help define who exactly your target market is, you need to take a look at who your past customers are, the area around your business, and the digital marketing possibilities for this market.

Once you have a list of who your current customers are, you can think of the reason why they are your customers. These reasons and the attributes of these customers will show you a target market and how to approach it.

2.     Write it Down

Take a few moments to write a paragraph or two about who you will be targeting with your digital marketing. Write down which emotional buying behavior triggers them to make a purchase. Also, conduct research and find out what consumers need and expect from your brand. This way, you can focus on the interests and needs of your customers.

3.     Identify Value Proposition

Why do your customers choose your business for the services you provide? This is an important question to answer! You need to know what makes you unique from your competition. Is it the services you offer? Your products? If you have a hard time identifying these factors, ask several customers. Offer a gift card for a brief five-minute survey and you’ll have the answers you need to identify what is working and what isn’t.

4.     Create Key Messages

Your key messages are the messages you convey when you put together a marketing strategy, online or offline. To put together your key messages, you need to make a list of the benefits you offer that your competitors do not. You can make this list with the information you already have and add in further research from your competitive landscape. Once you have this information, you will be able to use it to build your strategies in PPC (Pay Per Click), your blog, or other avenues of digital marketing.

5.     Scope Out the Competition

The more you know about your competition, the more you can put together a better marketing plan. The most obvious list includes what your competitors offer for services and products. You also need to know:

  • Where they advertise?
  • What are their strengths?
  • What are their weaknesses?
  • How do you stack up against them?
  • In what ways do they market that you should?
  • In what areas do they lack that you could ethically take advantage of?

You may also take a look at the advertising platforms they use and in some cases, and with the right software, even see the details of their advertising campaigns the results they produce. Make a note of these resources to check them out later.

6.     Check Out Your Digital Market

Research can feel like a lot of work. Still, it’s essential to understand better marketing opportunities, your competitors, and how you need to put together a successful digital marketing campaign.

Use search engines with keywords for your business and observe the results. One great way to do this is to use the Google Keyword Tool and generate a list of keywords (with their usage numbers) to find what keywords are the most effective. This way, you’ll get information about the most popular search terms around the topic and how other businesses use them. Keywords are invaluable when putting together a digital marketing campaign.

P.S. Also remember, to determine how likely your marketing is to convert, simply fill out my Conversion Equation Evaluator.

This evaluator has the unprecedented ability to predict the future success of any marketing collateral you develop… as well as predict whether that marketing will be profitable or not. And, it’s 100% free to use!

After calculating your marketing conversion level, I can show you exactly what to do with your website and marketing collateral that could double or triple the number of prospects who respond to your marketing.

Just schedule a complimentary meeting with me.

Educate Your Customers

Posted on by Don Vanpool

Educate them about what, you may be thinking. Well, consider this, many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential…they’ve already bought from you!

Take the time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers and you will see a drastic change in your sales, customer quality and branding position.

Here are 4 key elements to use to retain your current customers:

  1. Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in person-by pigeon if you have too!
  2. Post-Purchase Assurance: This means you need to follow up with customers. Your customers need to feel like they are being supported for their purchase and with the item they purchased. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a Thank You note with your contact or customer service information can go along way in retaining a great customer.
  3. Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business or even come up with a club specifically to reward loyal customers. You can also do this with a preferred pricing option.
  4. Integrity: Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity and honesty go along way with customers. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of swindling and crap out there and the safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you and that makes for an amazingly supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas to a successful business:

  •  Quality product/service
  • Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer
  • Offer subject your customers find interesting

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them real information and insights and you will rewarded with loyalty and success

Stop wasting all your time on new prospects while your current customers fall by the wayside!

As Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and diverts some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every ways possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

P.S. Do not leave this blog until you have a plan of action!

PPS. If you’re looking for a proven system to grow your business …. we created business development software and high-end step by step training to support it…

I can find any business owner $100,000 in 45 minutes without them spending an extra dollar on marketing or advertising.

Visit me on optaprofit.com to find out how or book time on my calendar https://optaprofit1.youcanbook.me

Don Vanpool … AKA “The King of Cash”

Create a Market Dominating Position or Perish

Posted on by Don Vanpool

Most businesses are me-too with very little differentiation. They have not created a unique position in the market place, and if they have, are not communicating their uniqueness to the outside market. A market dominating position (MDP) is simply any value-added customer perceived benefit, or a combination of benefits, that differentiates you from your competitors, and does so in a strong enough manner that makes your business the logical choice in the minds of your prospects and customers. One great example is Domino’s Pizza, which built stores in areas with lots of colleges, which was fast hot pizza, targeted specifically for hungry college kids. A contemporary example would be stock trading start-up Robinhood with a hassle-free signup process, a sleek website design and zero fee trading.

Some key ways to differentiate yourself from the competition includes level of service:

Convenience – location, availability, ordering, delivery, and ease of payment

Speed – loan approval time

Education and training – on-line training for 24/7/365 access

Removal of potential risk – what is your guarantee

Quality

Security and safety – are your restaurant strictly following CDC guidelines

Another key category is selection. In Netflix’s case, all they had to do was match their competition in the areas of selection, and innovate int he area of convenience.

And finally, price such as single or fixed pricing. Businesses can differentiate themselves by offering a set price. Fixed pricing can be used for most businesses to establish an MDP when you use a little imagination. What about a divorce attorney that charges a fixed price for a divorce?

Your MDP will never be 100% complete and you will need to continuously innovate your business to stay unique. With the proper marketing you can then communicate that uniqueness to the market and crush your competition.

P.S. Do not leave this blog until you have a plan of action!

PPS. If you’re looking for a proven system to grow your business …. we created business development software and high-end step by step training to support it…

I can find any business owner $100,000 in 45 minutes without them spending an extra dollar on marketing or advertising.

Visit me on optaprofit.com to find out how or book time on my calendar https://optaprofit1.youcanbook.me

Don Vanpool … AKA “The King of Cash”

Educate Your Customers

Posted on by Don Vanpool

Educate them about what, you may be thinking. Well, consider this, many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential…they’ve already bought from you!

Take the time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers and you will see a drastic change in your sales, customer quality and branding position.

Here are a couple of key elements to use to retain your current customers:

  1. Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in person-by pigeon if you have too!
  2. Post-Purchase Assurance: This means you need to follow up with customers. Your customers need to feel like they are being supported for their purchase and with the item they purchased. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a Thank You note with your contact or customer service information can go along way in retaining a great customer.
  3. Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business or even come up with a club specifically to reward loyal customers. You can also do this with a preferred pricing option.
  4. Integrity: Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity and honesty go along way with customers. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of swindling and crap out there and the safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you and that makes for an amazingly supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas to a successful business:

  • Quality product/service
  • Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer
  • Offer subjects your customers find interesting

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them real information and insight and you will be rewarded with loyalty and success.

Stop wasting all your time on new prospects while your current customers fall by the wayside!

As Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and diverts some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every ways possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

So, there it is! Remember, we can help you put together the resources and tools to do exactly that. We can help you educate your customers and you can watch the benefits pay offer many-fold.