Tag: website traffic

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Stop Fishing for Prospects

Today’s post is about fishing

Here’s a story.  My grandfather would drag me every summer to a lake in Minnesota.  It was the most GOD-AWFUL experience for a teenage girl.  He would take out the boat early in the morning.  Every once in a while he would grunt and stop the boat.  Hour after hour we would circle the open waters looking for mudflats.  To my casual observation it was hellish – looking back on it – it was brilliant.

Rather than wasting a whole bucket of minnows or worms on worthless feeder fish he was looking for the elusive Walleye – the prized fish from that lake.

So you might be wondering why I’m talking about fishing…

Well – it’s because most people who are struggling with business are fishing in the wrong place.

Struggling business owners spend all of their valuable time fishing for customers in the wrong places.  They use their best bait trying to land any kind of customer.  Then they focus all their attention to get any prospects into their boat.  At the end of the day the results are disappointing.

All the while they ignore the big fish swimming close by.  Sooner or later the average fisherman gives up, and takes up golf.

This is my formula to become a better fisherman…

1) Know your fish

Where does your fish hang out?  Are they local clients hanging out at Chamber events?  Are they businesses on the internet?  Does your business cater to a specific type of business customer, or a consumer.

2) Plan your fishing trip, and be patient

Find out information about the lake.  Don’t throw all your bait (advertising and networking) away at the beginning of the fishing trip.  Put out a feeler line in a spot.  When you get a bite, plan to fish in that same spot until the fish move somewhere else.

3) Bring enough resources

Fisherman are very resourceful.  They bring enough resources to stay out on a lake all day long.  Translated, don’t go out on the lake of business unless you can wait out finding the big fish.  Better to wait until you have the resources, than take short trips back and forth to shore.  You’ll have a better chance finding the real fishing spots, not just the obvious shore fish.

4) Become a better fisherman

Fishing is about patience – I’ve found that many business owners suffer from impatience. They think every fish swimming by will be so enamored with their bait fishing will be easy.  They don’t realize how picky fish are.  You’re target market is looking at bait from a lot of lures.  When you know what tickles your target market’s fancy your bait will be the most attractive.  The only way that happens – know your fish

Are you still struggling planning with your fishing trips?

Last piece of advice don’t assume it’s the equipment.  Smart fisherman won’t buy a bigger boat, or a better lure.  Translated to business – Smart marketing doesn’t need a bigger website, or brand advertising.  Targeted direct marketing maybe the bait you need to find your prize fish.

As my grandfather always said – you won’t get more fish with a bigger boat, but you will feed your family with patience.

So today’s question to ask yourself – are you fishing in the right pond (location) for the right fish (customer) with right bait (marketing/advertising/sales process)?

Shameless plug – if you aren’t sure you’re reaching the right clients contact a marketing professional (such as Lady In Red Marketing) for a second opinion.  Better to work with a professional fisherman than starve.

Until next time – live with passion and market well

Christine Cavaliero
Owner – Lady In Red Marketing

 

Lady In Red Marketing is your virtual marketing partner helping you maximize your business results – Like us on Facebook.  BestSEOinTown helps you reach your internet customers with social, mobile and internet marketing.

 

 

 

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Talking yourself out of a sale

Hello All Readers-

This has been a crazy few weeks.  Time seems to fly when your immersed in work.  I don’t need to go into specifics, but let me tell you my head is swimming.  The past few weeks have been a whirl-wind of sales calls.  Most of them amounted into “much ado about nothing.”  Frustrated I began to introspect – what the heck am I doing wrong?

Which leads me to my blog post today.  Talking can be deadly when it comes to sales.  We all know a salesperson who can “sell ice to Eskimo’s.”  I assumed my father was one of those people.  He commanded authority with his facts and figures.  He was a wealth of knowledge about every subject.  Everyone seemed to love him, but he had an average sales career!  After I took off my rose colored glasses I began to examine why.  My father was a schmoozer, but not a closer.  Then I identified this happens to a lot of salespeople.

I identified an average salesperson has two distinct character flaws.  First, they throw around facts, figures, technical terms and acronyms.  Depending on the industry listening to a sales pitch seems like gibberish.  The more complicated the subject, the more gibberish is floated around.

Your average customer doesn’t need to know every technical specifications, or your industry babble. Floating too many facts will make them weary.  The customer assumes you’re trying to hide behind the facts.  The techno-babble will make them throw more questions at you.

Back to my problem – talking about social marketing, blogs, posts, SEO, traffic, conversions, and webpages frighten prospects away.  They only care about more leads, and more business.  Asking a prospect about their website put them on the defensive.  They don’t want to appear out of touch – so they will shut down the conversation, rather than appear naive.

Prospects just care about solving THEIR problem.  A long list of a facts will rarely impress them into buying.  Your job as a salesperson is to identify their most pressing problem first.

P.S. – the last thing most sales hinge on is price.  If your customer is sold, they will always find the money…

Second, average salespeople talk TOO MUCH.  The customer is thinking, they’re talking.  The customer is looking, they’re talking.  The customer is talking, they’re talking over them. The customer is walking out the door, they’re chasing them down talking all the way.

The best advice I ever heard from a manager was ask a question, and then BE QUIET.  The person who speaks first loses. Good sales technique identifies what people really want to know, and how it differs from what you’re telling them.

Bottom line – keep everything simple.  Stop trying to make the sales process complicated.    You can’t talk someone into a sale, but you can sure talk them out of one.  Need a perspective – give your pitch to a person in a “non-sales” environment.   Gauge reactions, listen for their critical questions, wait for the “WOW” look in their eyes.

Have a good week and market well,

Christine

 

As always – If you like what I’ve said – retweet, Like my fanpage, and check back often.  Post a comment  –  Know of a business professional who is interested in social, mobile and website marketing.  Let them know about Lady In Red Marketing – forward them my blogposts and URL.

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Lady In Red Marketing – Shark Tank Blog – Rain and Traffic

Hello all blog readers and ships at sea…

I have one housekeeping note for my readers. I am all for sharing the latest tools of internet marketing, but PLEASE don’t use my blog comments as a place to advertise. I will just delete, or mark your posts as SPAM. When you have a JV opportunity which you want to share contact me offline. Enough said.

We’ve been having some really rough weather here in Connecticut. Bad rain last week, and third day or watching the rain fall this week sparked thoughts of traffic. Not the crappy traffic on I-95, 84, or any other major highway, no I’m thinking about website traffic.

Many prospective customers ask “how can my small business reach more customers on the web?” Technically there is the fast lane method and a slow lane method. You really need a mix of both to get effective website marketing success.

Slow Lane methods are institutional advertising – branding marketing. Yellow Pages, Newspaper, Mailers, Snail Mail, Signage, Brochures, Business Cards, etc. All valid but a much slower way to reach customers.

Fast Lane Marketing – hit the customer where they are looking for a product or service…right on the web. This is why you need to be ranked on Google. Statistics prove people don’t look past the first three pages of Google. This is why ranking high on search engine traffic (for keywords) are so critical.

There are several different ways to get your website recognized on the web. First consider the age of the domain. Let’s say for arguments sake you’ve been on the web for five years. Google will give you more rank recognition than someone who just got onto the web last week. Really this isn’t something you can control, so it “is what it is.”

Second – how many people visit your website from keywords on the browser? This is where my business (and other competitors) enjoys a love/hate relationship with Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Obviously we know the insider secrets of the HTML code and what the big dogs at Google are looking for.

Back to the traffic conundrum (for my fellow readers a conundrum is a question without an answer).

Third you should have content that people want to see. Let’s say you put together a website that is static. This is something that stays the same year in and year out. BORING! Don’t change your website look and content every day, but have some interesting content to lure your visitors back. Website surfers (and Google or other search engines) have the attention span of a 2-year old. They get bored and move on to another site if you don’t have something new to say.

Last, share links with other website. Google loves links, especially links with educational or civic organizations. Link building adds legitimacy to your website. This is the equivalent method of being recommended by a friend or colleague.

Now let’s focus on local versus global traffic. When you are a Brick and Mortar business focus on local website marketing. A civic organization like the local Chamber of Commerce usually has a website which is linking tool. Use the local website marketing techniques especially if your business comes from a small circumference from your front door. Now if you’re service is delivered electronically you may have to compete on a global level. That means you’re going to look at global traffic such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Adwords and possibly PPC campaigns.

When you are reviewing your 2011 marketing plan do a quick market research project, think Show Me the Money! Review your 2010 revenue and sales. Once you’ve determined who those customers are, and where they live, and how they found you, adjust your marketing plan to reach more of the same type of people.

I’ll close with this…focus your energy on running your business. I found that when you are a small business owner you can get distracted. One of my favorite authors about personal development and time management is Dr. Steven Covey. Currently I’m reading “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” for the 30th time. My advice is balance your time and commitments. Pay someone to get you on the right road with website marketing. Consultants can move you much further ahead than doing it on your own. As always contact me if you have a website marketing project – BestSEOintown

Market Well To Enjoy More Profits!
Christine

P.S. – check out my friend blog (Daily Marketing Tips – http://www.dailydirectmarketingtips.com). You’ll uncover a treasure trove of information about marketing

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