I Hate To Say Goodbye...

I hate to say goodbye to any client. I know you do, too.

We work so hard to find them. Then we put massive effort into nurturing them as prospects and converting them into clients. It’s often a long process in which we’ve invested much in financial and other resources. So when they leave us, it’s not an easy thing to take.

A CHALLENGE FOR 2011

With increasing competition and noise in the marketplace, focusing on capturing our audiences’ attention, attracting them, converting them into clients, then retaining them long-term is more important than ever. That last element--retaining--is the one that seems to get too little attention.

My challenge for you in 2011 is to understand and act on, more than ever, your awareness of the value of an existing client. What measures can we each take to ensure our client bases will increase in the coming year--not just through new client acquisition, but because of aggressive client retention activities as well?

I will propose one possible direction to get your mind going on this subject:

Imagine offering your existing clients better deals than you give prospects to get them to become first-time clients. This is backwards from most companies’ approach. In the scenario I’m proposing, your absolute best deals would be available to your longest-term clients.

Can you take this concept and create a culture among your clients in which it becomes something of a competition to be an ongoing client who gets the premier deals from your company?

Of course, this is just one of many possible directions. Pull your team together and share this message with them. Then dig deep and find the best way(s) for you and your people to keep your clients actively engaging with you this coming year.

Here’s to your client loyalty success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

Finding Our Hidden Marketing Assets (Part 2 of 2)

In my last post, I talked about people and organizations that may be seen as marketing assets. Today I’ll share two other categories of possible assets we should each examine with the help of our marketing teams.

The two categories are: tangibles and intangibles. These categories cover just about anything that isn’t a person our group of people. I enjoy working with clients to find these resources because they are usually much more readily visible by me than by the people working day-to-day in the business. That’s the power of your mastermind team. Since they aren’t in the trenches in your business every day, they stand in a better position to see these assets and opportunities. Here’s a short list of items under each category to help prompt the creative juices as you consider your own situation:

Tangibles

Wasted production space
Overstocked items
Old inventory
Repackaging current products or services
(bundling, re-purposing, etc.)
On-hand collateral material
Databases
Etc…

Intangibles

Successful campaigns and activities from the past
Joint-venture opportunities
Bartering
Publicity opportunities
Unused intellectual property
Relationships and connections
Etc…

Between the lists I shared previously and these two, every person reading these posts has the opportunity to identify and engage at least a couple of meaningful assets at no financial expense to increase revenues.

I’d love to hear your success stories or answer any questions you have. Just comment below. Let’s uncover our hidden marketing assets and put them to work.

Here’s to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

Finding Our Hidden Marketing Assets (Part 1 of 2)

Any time I ask business owners and marketing managers what the one thing is they’d like more of to effectively market themselves, I always get the same response that has already popped into your head: money. While more money can be hugely beneficial in marketing our businesses, we all have other assets--many of which may be hidden from our immediate view--that can be used to meet our marketing objectives.

Today I’d like to share two of four categories of assets we should take time to carefully explore: people and organizations. Our connections and affiliations can be leveraged appropriately, tastefully, and effectively to ultimately bring us the greater success we’re each seeking. Here’s a partial list of places to look to get your mind going:

People:

Vendors
Clients
Employees
Friends
Family Members
Inactive Clients
Old Colleagues
Past Employees
Past Co-workers
Past Business Partners
Mentors
…and the list goes on.

Organizations:

Associations
Chambers of Commerce
Networking Groups
Mastermind Groups
Seminar and Workshop Groups
Business Societies
etc…

Gather your team and take a look at the resources and assets available to you as a collective group in terms of relationships and associations with other people and organizations. You’ll be surprised at the opportunities available in these largely untapped asset pools.

Next time I’ll share some insights on two other groups of assets to consider diving into to find unused marketing opportunity.

Here’s to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

2011 Marketing and Business Plans

The holiday season is here! And with this season comes a time of reflection and planning for all business owners.

What went well in 2010? What could have been better? What are we going to do to make the most of our opportunities in 2011?

It’s extremely valuable, at least once a year, to step away from our businesses, evaluate what has happened since our last examination of the company, and plan for the upcoming year. For many of us, December is the time to undertake this task. For others (like retailers, who are in the middle of their busy season), this activity may make more sense after the first of the year.

I’m going on my annual retreat next week. This is a solo experience where fresh mountain air, fluffy holiday snow, and a crackling fire combine to take me away from the trenches of everyday business and open my mind to limitless possibilities. (Who knows, I may even buckle on the ol’ skis and hit the slopes while I’m at it just to make the experience complete.)

After this solo portion of my review and planning experience, I’ll take what I come up with and present it to my team for further examination and input. By month end, I’ll have my 2011 plan in place.

However you choose to engage in this activity, I strongly suggest you do it. A two-part solo/team approach works well for me. Perhaps a team retreat is more suited to your situation. Whatever the case, it doesn’t have to be expensive, but the outcome is genuinely invaluable.

Here’s to your 2011 planning success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

Need a team to work with you on your marketing? Check out http://www.marketingsuccessinstitute.com/mastermind.html