SIMB Articles

Note: In this article I am reacting to the book by Mark Stevens called “Your Marketing Sucks“

1. The importance of a value proposition

Before marketing your business, you MUST figure out what it is about your business that makes you genuinely different from your competitors. This is called a value proposition. Your value proposition should not be the usual clichés about how hard you work, or how much expertise you have, as these are assumed. What you need is something that gives you a competitive advantage.

Some examples of good value propositions are:

• Low cost leader (Cheap as chips)
• Best of bread in terms of quality (BMW)
• The most technologically advanced (Nike)
• The most convenient (7/11)
• The easiest (Apple – it just works)
• The fastest (Snap printing, Ferrari).

Your value proposition is something that must be communicated in every single marketing communication (email, snail mail, online), over and over and over.

2. Your customer must fall in love with your product or service.

Customers will buy your product or service not because they think it is “satisfactory” or “good enough”, they buy when they think it’s awesome, that it’s going to change their world and they can’t do without it. In short, they must LOVE your product. So, when you get in front of a potential client it’s your job as a salesperson to make this happen. Just how this is done is the trick, and obviously what you’re selling and the context will differ dramatically, but some important aspects for my industry will be:

• Creating an emotional connection.
• Building trust and credibility.
• Convincing them that they need (not want) what you’re offering.
• Convincing them that you are the only person that can deliver it as <value proposition> cheaply/quickly/high quality as they need it.

Not so different from a standard relationship is it?

3. The 1-2-3 punch.

So you’ve developed your value proposition and you’re ready to start marketing. Before you do, be aware of the following: Do not expect your prospects to do the work. They should not have to pick up the phone, or write a letter to take up your product. You should be calling them.

The most successful marketing strategy is often to use the 1-2-3 punch, that is, a synergistic combination of email, direct mail and calling.

• Send a targeted email with a punchy subject that is relevant to the prospects industry. Having a non-targeted subject will ensure that your email ends up as junk.
• Follow up the email with a phone call. If the call goes through to voice mail, that’s OK, leave a short message that reinforces the main points of the email.
• Have something arrive in the snail mail letter box a few days later.

If certain prospects have not contacted you within a week, call again. With sales, persistence is the key.

4. You cannot create a sales person, and not all sales people are sales people.

Mark says that a sales person is born to be a sales person: they are relentless, and they close deals. People that are not born sales people, even with the best of intentions, cannot end up becoming effective sales people. To make matters worse, most people who say they are sales people are not. They are just trying to be. Perhaps they are “giving it a go” because they had no other options, or perhaps they just think they’re naturally sociable and therefore a good fit. Wrong. Good sales people are rare, and it is your job as a business owner to find them, and fire those that are not working.

My opinion: I’m not sure about this one. I’ve heard both arguments, that you can, and cannot, make a sales people, and, I’m inclined to believe that some people at least can become a sales person if they undergo a shift in “state of mind” and learn to overcome fear (perhaps with the help of a psychology of hypnotist). But I’m no expert.

That’s all for today.