Help-My-Business.com and MentoringSuccessGroup.com has just released an excellent FREE whitepaper ‘Calculating Customer Value’.

This is a 15 page pdf document that is accompanied by an Excel spreadsheet. By calculating your customer’s lifetime value to you and your business, this whitepaper discusses how to prioritize your time where it matters most, and how to minimize the time and energy wasted on prospects and projects that won’t ‘pan’ out.

It’s a great read; grab your copy now. It’s free and there’s no obligation.

Here’s the link: Calculating Customer Value: FREE Whitepaper

As the economy shows some early signs of improvement, it’s a great time to review your  sales performance data and focus on the aspects which continue to lag behind our expectations. Implementing a sales turnaround plan for your company is actually quite straightforward.  Here’s how…

The first task is to analyze and discuss the sales data and the sales processes with each key manager in your company, and not just from the sales and marketing department.

• What specific strategies can we do to improve our sales?
• Are there customer segments or marketing segments that we are overlooking?
• How can we focus the entire company around implementing sales improvements?
• What are the easiest and most rewarding opportunities that we have (the ‘low hanging fruit’)?
• What are the obstacles that currently confront our sales team which need to be eliminated or removed?
• Are there sales territories or customer / market segments that are underserved or overlooked?
• Where are our best opportunities and how profitable are they?
• How are our sales teams aligned to best capitalize on those opportunities?
• What is the individual performance of each of our sales people?
• What corrective action are we taking with sales people who are not meeting established sales expectations or quota?

Effective sales and opportunity management is the key to improving results. A lot of companies struggle with identifying and prioritizing the best sales and marketing opportunities for them. Best in class companies do a great job at sales opportunity management by continually analyzing their pipeline, analyzing each customer opportunity, and prioritizing the allocation of resources to focus on the best opportunities.

A quick way to organize your best sales prospects is to consistently maintain and update a top ten opportunity list for each of your sales reps.  A simple spreadsheet which is updated once a week by your sales reps and reviewed by management is a great way for you to do a top ten account review. Have your reps focus on those ten accounts every week.

Make sure that you’re consistently and regularly holding your sales team accountable for achieving progress with each of their top ten accounts. They need to quickly articulate the sales plan and goals for each of their top ten accounts.

Get each sales reps to realize that they need to focus their time and energy on the best opportunities, as opposed to just churning out the sales activity. Many sales reps can get overwhelmed by the volume of activity that they need to generate in order to do their jobs effectively and achieve the necessary results. They quickly get lost in the volume of activity and soon begin equating activity with productivity. Being productive in sales means being able to qualify your best opportunities and focus your time and attention on moving those opportunities forward.

Life is not fair.

As a business owner I’m sure you know of inferior products and services that do a lot better than yours. You gripe and sigh and wonder how can people buy those lower quality products while yours rot on the shelf?

It’s all about marketing.

I always wonder about the miracle that takes place in the life of the winners of the American Idol show. Possessing all that talent how could these winning contestant remain hidden for so long?

The answer again is lack of marketing.

Once they enter the competition millions of people suddenly become aware of them and the rest is history.

There are so many business owners who think a great or even superior product will guarantee their success in the marketplace. But if life were only that simply. If people don’t know that your product exists, you’ll remain undiscovered like an American Idol winner before entering the show.

This reminds me of the poem:

‘The codfish lays ten thousand eggs,
The homely hen lays one.
The codfish never cackles
To tell you what she’s done-

And so we scorn the codfish
While the humble hen we prize.
It only goes to show you
That it pays to advertise!

- Anonymous

Products don’t sell themselves and talent isn’t worth squat if people don’t know how good you are. There are no ‘entitlement tickets’ that you can use to enter the halls of business success.

And in this attention age where you are competing with millions of other business owners for consumer attention, modesty is no virtue.

I’ve seen many marketers who have separated themselves from the crowd by just being ‘wacky’, crazy and a little off the edge. Are these marketers really out of their minds? No. They are cackling!

About six years ago when I started marketing my copywriting services online, the number of other copywriters advertising in Google could be counted on my fingers. It was easy way back then
to get a top 10 position in Google’s natural search results without even trying.

Today the tables have turned. You have to be intentional to get those high rankings because your competition is trying to bury you alive.

Nobody cares that you are better. You may lay a thousand eggs compared to your competition but the question is, ‘Can you cackle as loud?’ Are you advertising in the places you should with the consistency you should? Are you striking those Joint Ventures you need to stay competitive? How about your social marketing? What are you doing to get the word out?

It’s hardly likely that you’ll get a show like American Idol to give you instant publicity, so you have to break through the barriers for yourself and the internet provides unique opportunities to this. Just one popular video on YouTube can skyrocket your business into the record books.

I’ve learned in my short life that success in any area has more to do with hard work than inspiration; more with effort than talent.

So how is your cackling?

-Ray Edwards

Having a small business is not always easy because there are so many different things that you have to do to make your business successful. Too many people don’t take the time to do what they need to before they start marketing their small business. This is a mistake because if you don’t do some important things first, then you will always struggle with success. This article is going to give you small business marketing advice that will help you market your business effectively.

One: The first piece of advice you need to know is that it is important for you to research all of the different marketing methods that are available for you to use. By knowing the different methods, you will be able to choose the best ones for your business.

Two: Educate yourself on each of the promotion methods that you choose to use. Start with one method at a time and learn all you can about using it effectively. Then when you have that one method down, you can add another one until you have five to seven methods working for you at all time to bring traffic to your business.

Three: Take action with the methods you learn about. Too many business owners know what they need to do to market their business, but they never do it. If you don’t take action with what you have learned, then you will never find success.

This small business marketing advice is vital to you effectively marketing your business. Don’t make the mistake that so many others make. Don’t ignore this advice and assume that it is not important because you will quickly see how important it is to your marketing your business.

Hirer Internet expert Jeff Schuman to promote your small business online. His small business marketing strategy has gotten his own Team-Schuman.com website on page one of Google for over 3400 unique keyword phrases. This brings him thousands of dollars in free monthly website traffic and he can do the same for you.

View Jeff Schuman’s credentials and small business marketing program here: http://small-business-marketing.team-schuman.com

I remember the conversation vividly. An entrepreneurial couple came to me for help because of a chronic problem with late payments from clients and the impact was, of course, their own financial struggle. I listened to what was happening and suggested they change their business model to require payment up front.

They said “Oh we couldn’t do that – no-one would pay us up front. No-one in our field does that.” I asked why and they didn’t really have a good reason other than being afraid that they would lose business if they asked for payment up front.

What I suggested next, however, brought on an immediate gasp and even more fear. But in fact, when they got past that fear and implemented this strategy, they easily got payment up front AND converted more prospects to paying clients.

The answer was to require payment up front AND include a guarantee. The word “guarantee” for some reason, makes a lot of entrepreneurs fearful. They are deathly afraid that if they offer an guarantee, they will end up refunding money to client after client.

But in fact, that’s just a fear. If you are 100% confident in the product or service you provide as a small business owner, offering a guarantee should be a no-brainer. Here’s how:

Guarantee the results:

If you have a track record of proven results in business, and you are confident in your ability to help your client achieve the result, then there’s no reason you couldn’t guarantee that result. One of my clients is a makeup artist. Having done hundreds of brides, she was confident in guaranteeing natural, flawless makeup application that lasts throughout their wedding day. That’s a result her clients are always looking to achieve, so it was a brilliant focus for her in converting prospects to clients.

Guarantee the service:

If service is of high importance to your client, it could very well be the thing to focus on in your guarantees. It can be the level of service you provide. For example, you can guarantee that your client will always get a response from you within a certain time frame.

Guarantee the experience:

Depending on the type of product or service you offer, you can also guarantee the experience your client would have. It’s similar to the service guarantee, but focused on what your client would experience after having done business with you. For example, if your clients tend to be afraid of the hassles in your industry, you can guarantee them a hassle-free experience.

Guarantee that they’ll be fully equipped:

For some services that depend on the client’s commitment to taking action, it may not be possible to guarantee the results. That’s because you have no control over how much action they take. However, you can certainly guarantee that they will walk away with everything they need to achieve the precise result they were seeking. For example, when I do a live workshop, I guarantee that my attendees will walk away with the exact formula for attracting a steady stream of clients like a magnet to their businesses.

So what’s your guarantee? Overall, it is important to pay close attention to the key objections or hesitations your prospects may have and insert some powerful guarantees around those objections so that you can easily convert prospects into paying clients.

And now I’d like to offer you the FREE one-hour audio seminar for solo entrepreneurs on “How to Create a Steady Stream of Clients And Cash For Your Small Business” at: http://www.greatsmallbusinessadvice.com. From Allison Babb.

Based on data collected recently by my business performance analysis engine at www.MentoringSuccessGroup.com, by far one of the biggest opportunities that comes with perhaps the lowest investment of your money and resources is….(drum roll) customer service. For little more than an investment of your time, and training your employees, you can make a significant impact on your customer loyalty, and consequently, repeat customers.

Speaking of customers, did you know that studies have proven that it costs 6 times more of your money, time and energy to attract a new customer or client, than it does to keep your current customers happy, and returning for more?

What baffles me is that when the financial pressures increase, and our personal stress level goes through the roof, customer service is the first characteristic of our business to be ‘laid-off’ or eliminated. In fact, our analysis engine is acutely aware of the apparent absence of customer service during the past few months. Based on the data that we recently have collected, renewing your focus on ‘Exceptional Customer Service’ during the next 6 months will clearly give your business a distinct competitive advantage.

Here’s Why It’s Important To You…

The American Customer Satisfaction Index, a survey conducted by the University of Michigan, is at its lowest levels in the past 10 years. The IBM survey of recent retail shoppers revealed poor customer service was second only to long lines. Good customer service is essential in developing loyal customers who are only a click or a few steps from visiting your competitors.

1. Assess Your Organization

Customer service begins with the internal customer also known as your employees. Assess your organization from the top down. In many cases, poor customer service is a symptom of a more serious undiscovered problem. HINT: Incorporate proven criteria such as the Business Performance Analysis Engine at www.MentoringSuccessGroup.com to determine what you do well and where you need to improve.

2. Assess Your Customer Service Training

Poor customer service is not because your employees don’t know how to, but probably more often than not they don’t want to. If your customer service training focuses only on knowledge and skills, you are draining your K.A.S.H. Box because you are failing to address attitudes and habits.

3. Don’t Assume That Your Employees Know What Good Customer Service Is

With the world a far different place than 50, 30 or even 10 years ago, don’t assume that your potential and even current employees know what good customer service is. Specifically define what good customer service is.

HINT: Good customer service is when a customer comes back, spends more and doesn’t visit the competitor.

4. Deliver Customer Service Training in Real Time

Customer service training should extend beyond the procedures and policies. Infuse good communication skills and professional appearance within your learning sessions. Create mentors that new employees can job shadow.

5. Ask Potential or Existing Employees If They Buy From You?

If you are a retail chain, ask employees if they have ever bought from you? What did they like about your store or business? Many businesses ask the “Why do you want to work here?” question. Why not dig a little deeper?

6. Ask Yourself If You Would Buy From You?

This question may sound ridiculous, but would you buy from you?

7. Focus on Delivering Exceptional Customer Service

Exceptional customer service is when a customer brings or directs a new customer to your business.

Customer service is the beginning and the end for any business. All businesses are in customer service because without customers there would be no business. If your customer service is not at the exceptional level, then you are missing incredible opportunities to build your business and you are wasting a lot of money and resources. And,if that isn’t bad enough, your poor customer service is growing your competitor’s business.

So many small business owners treat their sales and marketing effort as a sort of ‘black art’.  It’s the attitude that, hey, things are going well this week, I’ve got a little money in the checking account, so…why don’t I throw a couple thousand dollars on a few advertisements.

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunithy to provide some consulting work for a company that does exterior remodeling, putting new exterior siding on homes, roof repair, things like that.  Here’s what I told them (and I’m pretty sure that there are some lessons here for you and your business as well).

The key to any effective sales/marketing campaign for 2009 is researching the concept of determining your ‘customer value’.   Many small business owners throw a bit of money on marketing, which is a common but fruitless exercise.  There’s no specific strategy, no specific targets, just throw some money at the wall and see what happens, and so on.  Any apparent success is either accidental or just plain lucky.

So what would happen if you closely examined your past clients from 2008 and compiled the following information?
- zip code & street address
- apparent household income
- home value
- apparent age bracket i.e. 40-50; 50-60, etc.
- average sales revenue per average job
- did they just move in??
- how long have they lived at that address?
- net profit on each job after labor and materials  (this is the same as your customer value)  – let’s assume that it’s $1000

So if you determined from your research of prior clients that you would average $1000 pure profit on each of those jobs, the question becomes, how much of that $1000 would you spend for similar additional opportunities?   $200?  $400   $600???   Let’s say it’s $400.  You spend $400 and get $600 profit back.
Next you’d set a realistic target for 2009.  Let’s say you want to book 50 new remodel orders that you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten.  This would equal an additional $30K revenue for you guys, after you would deduct a $20K marketing budget.

So, its safe then to say that if I pumped $20K into a marketing project over the next 3 months, that I’ll land 50 new clients?  Not necessarily, because you and I both are aware of the sales pipeline effect.  You start pumping resources into a sales program and it takes at least some time for anything to dribble out the other end.  On the other hand, if you quit sales and marketing, your phone is ringing 3-4 months later from someone who got your brochure, and had saved it for just this moment.   So, treat your investment into any marketing campaign startup as just that, an investment.  If your overall strategy is 50 new clients with a marketing budget of $400 per client or $20K, start by trickling a smaller steadier flow of funds into the effort.  As you begin observing a return on your investment, then have plans in place to increase the size of your marketing budget up to your targeted level.  But don’t just start by throwing the full amount at the wall to see what happens.

Another thing to be aware of is how to communicate with potential clients.  There’s regular television channels, cable tv, radio, and newspaper.  Regular TV ads are very effective for mass market products that everybody uses, like toothpaste for example, or Ford F-150 trucks.  Darn near everybody brushes their teeth once in awhile, and many people own a vehicle of some sort.  But not everybody is a homeowner, and even fewer are homeowners with an income level to support the cost of a remodeling project.  So you need to be much more targeted in your communications.

There’s a huge reason why radio and newspaper companies are going bankrupt.  Take me for example.  I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper since we moved to Detroit.  Why should I – I can turn on the 10pm television news and know everything I want to know about the scum in Detroit city and the horrible economy.
I honestly can’t tell you the last time that I’ve listened to the radio.  It’s been months if not years. When I can teach Pandora.com to play only the music I like, or play my favorite cd’s in my truck, why listen to some twit babbling away on the radio, the stupid commercials, lousy reception, etc.

So here’s what I’d do if I were in your shoes….and take this as a FREE suggestion, so feel free to treat it for what its worth…

1.  Determine the customer value – this will determine perhaps the scope any marketing effort you guys would want to do in 2009.  It gives you a way to justify any money you do budget for marketing, because now you have some logical decision points and parameters established.

2.  Then collect as much detailed info about your past clients as you can.  Once you identify the key characteristics of your prime customers, you can buy targeted lists of these people to communicate with.

3.  Develop a multi-faceted targeted campaign strategy to achieve whatever objective you guys establish for 2009.  For example…
- 50 new remodel customers in 2009 at an average profit of  $XXXX.XX, we’re going to communicate with them via…these methods.

4.  Develop 3 different test groups of customers, i.e. different demographics, different marketing messages, etc.  Test, and find out what works best.  For example if you targeted a list of new movers into GR within certain income brackets/neighborhoods versus the general population, do the new movers have a higher tendency to contact you?

5.  Develop a communications campaign that reaches these people in more than one way.  I’d suggest highly targeted cable tv advertising, and direct mail postcards to the same neighborhood – i.e. I mentioned earlier that some cable networks, for example, can specify down to specific street addresses who will see what ad.  Chevy trucks for example will show one ad in one neighborhood, and another ad in a different neighborhood to find out what works better.   Direct mail postcards aren’t expensive, and cable tv advertising is far more inexpensive than traditional television.

If you need any assistance or have any questions about marketing your small business, feel free to contact me directly at sales@MentoringSuccessGroup.com.

About this author:

Cube Management helps companies accelerate their sales, by providing the Sales & Marketing talent they need to grow their business. Cube is a leading recruiting and consulting partner to mid-market and emerging growth companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. We work across the spectrum of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, providing holistic solutions that drive revenue and profit success.

The author, Eugene Rembor is CEO of Rembor & Partners management consultants. http://www.remborpartners.com