Tips to give your business an edge in tough times
Dec 14 2008 By Jon Cooper
The businesses which are surviving and thriving in these challenging times are often those with an innovative approach to selling fairly ordinary products or services.
Here are some of the striking and effective things my clients are doing to get themselves noticed:
* Turbocharge your voicemail: Everyone hates leaving messages, and yet most of us record the same dreary “I’m either out of the office or in a meeting…blah-blah-blah” for our callers to listen to.
If you call a certain Birmingham IFA you will hear “This is Dave’s son Luke. Dad’s out earning money to pay my school fees. I really like my school, so leave a message and I’ll make sure he calls you back.” The kid’s eight years old, and Dave gets everyone leaving messages, mostly good humoured too. He reckons it’s improved his business.
* Call your bank and ask for marketing ideas: A client in the property business did just that, last month.
The bank suggested he set up a programme of seminars for the New Year, using advice from their resident expert in that field, and with an extended overdraft to fund the project.
Although they won’t always make it obvious, your bank has a vested interest in making your business successful.
* Ask your customers for advice: Next time you meet, or call a client, ask him “What could I do to make my products/services even more appealing to you?” or “Who else do you know who could benefit from my products/services?”, or “If you were running my business, what markets/products/opportunities would you be looking at for the future?”
Everyone is flattered when you ask for their advice, and you’ll get some surprisingly useful answers.
* Develop a 30-second personal ad: This is a concise, comprehensive and entertaining description of what you do, given verbally every time you hand out a business card. Designed to express precisely why your customers do business with you, it needs to be learned by heart and used consistently without variation.
A client of mine in the IT industry reports a 100 per cent increase in actual business connections from handing over a card since he started doing this.
If you try any of the above, I’d be keen to hear your experiences!
* Jon Cooper is the founder of JupiterDawn.com business consultants. Email jon@jupiterdawn.com with feedback and business strategy queries.
