When trying to find a new supplier what turns you off the most?

• Unclear website
• Inability to find their website
• Poor signage (building or vehicle)
• Poor customer service either on the phone or face to face
• Confusing advertisements
• Not using a domain name for their email
• Only having mobile numbers listed – not a landline
• Bulk Emails to everyone and their dog, without personalization
• The feeling that the company you are looking at is too cheap and wouldn’t provide a quality service because of their over zealous discounting tactics.

There are a myriad of things that can turn a potential client off of your business, think about what you dislike when you are looking for a new supplier for either a product or a service. These types of critical errors in effect make you a bit of a scarecrow. Its time to discard the floppy hat and the beady eyes, to transform your business into a lead magnet instead.

So now have a think about the product or service you provide and how you market your business, are you lacking in customers because of some of the same problems? If so try some of these tactics so your business attracts leads like never before.

How to appeal to your target market and become a lead magnet.

• Ensure your website is easy to navigate, easy to read, succinct (everyone is time poor).

• Make sure you have an SEO and link building plan and that it is executed effectively, this could make the difference between just scraping by and doing really well. The investment is worth it, if you choose the right SEO company (we recommend www.mattersolutions.com.au)

• If you have point of sale, building or vehicle signage, make sure it is clean, easy to read, current and that you choose a legible font from a distance.

• You do not have a business without people, your staff are your biggest asset and the reason that people come back to your company to buy your products/services. If they are not coming back, perhaps look at your team and monitor what they say, their mannerisms and how they convert the prospect to a sale (or not). Listen to the phone conversations, if they have no enthusiasm or are rude then you will loose customers hand over fist. Getting the right people to promote your business, work in your business and grow your business is absolutely critical to the success of your business.

• Make sure your advertising message is just that – a message not an ad all about your logo and discounted price. Choose a catchy headline and consider the AIDA principle Attract / Interest / Desire / Action. Attract their attention (make the ad compelling to read), Gain the readers interest – you want them to read on, make them desire your product or service through detailing the features and benefits (e.g. your skin care range has a unique formula which will reduce the appearance of wrinkles). Then add in your call to action – this is your offer and the reason that they will contact you to purchase. Ads without offers are just branding and do not attract sales as easily as ads with offers.

• If you use a name@bigpond.com email address you are screaming “SMALL BUSINESS” to the target market – every single business should have a website these days, so if you have a domain name then ensure that you use it as an email address as well. It’s all about Perception.

• If you only list your mobile numbers and not a landline this again screams “SMALL BUSINESS” and may affect people’s desire to choose your product or service over your competitors. It is absolutely fine to list your mobile, but have a landline as well (even if it is redirected to your mobile) again – it’s all about perception.

• If you are going to send out bulk emails, it’s a great way to get a message across to your growing database, but make sure you add a custom field to the email so the person knows it is for them personally and their business personally. By saying “Dear Anna – Best Tyres,” You will get better results than a “Hi Everyone” email burst.

• Finally if you discount too much and that is the focus of all of your advertising, marketing and sales techniques then you are making the market think that you are CHEAP. Cheap says bad quality and if you want better customers who spend more, you need to NOT discount. Instead sell at the standard price that is competitive with the industry but value add, and up sell. Mc Donald’s are world leaders in the upsell – “would you like to upsize that?” Why not take a leaf out of the big boy’s book, if the theories work for them they can work for you too.

So hopefully you will have gained a few ideas from this week’s blog and will have a good look at what your team is doing, how you can improve your marketing and how you can make sure that you meet your KPI’s every month without fail.

Welcome to the New Financial Year – Let’s make this one – the one to remember because it’s the one where your business turned around.

If you need any Sales or Marketing assistance feel free to contact us to arrange your Free Consultation. Or alternatively if you want to learn more about Marketing but have a shoe string budget check out www.mymarketingresource.com.au