Trigger Happy

By Glen Gardner

Normally being "trigger happy" might not be such a good thing, but when it comes to marketing and effective advertising it can be a great thing.

Knowing what the buying triggers of your customers and potential customers are can be a great tool in making your marketing dollars go further. It can also make your advertising much more effective.

The triggers are the things that happen to people that will move them from being cold to hot when it comes to your product or service. An example would be body work. Until I either hit a deer or slide on the ice, I'm not a hot prospect for a body shop. Once one of those triggering events happen, then I'm all of a sudden in the market.

In the case of the body shop, talking about those specific events will make my marketing dollars more efficient. If I have repeated the message enough, people will associate my business with that triggering event. That's why it's so important to run consistent frequency. We don't know when that trigger happens, but we do know what it is.

The job of good marketing is to make sure you get the call when they are ready. So go ahead and be trigger happy!

--  Glen Gardner GG&A Public News Service YourNews.com Madison 608-848-8502 office 608-345-5291 cell 800-881-9146 fax gardner.glen Skype

Part two: Ask smart questions, they think you're smart. Ask dumb.......

By Kim Peterson

According to Jeffrey Gitomer's “Little Red Book on Selling”,

Here are the dumbest questions salespeople ask-and why they’re dumb:

·   Who are you currently using..?  Pre-call research should tell you that.  And maybe the prospect feels that’s none of your business.  Good start.

·   Are you satisfied with your present ….? Everyone will tell you they’re satisfied. So what?  Well, OK, if you’re satisfied, I’ll just leave and quit.

·   How Much are you currently paying for…?  None of your business #2.  Let’s get down to price as fast as you can.

·   Can I quote you on…?  Why send a quote- the next person who quotes 2 cents cheaper gets the business.  What about the value?

·   Can I bid on…?  Same as a “quote” only worse.  This is a 100% price driven sale.  Low margin.  Low commission.  Low percentage of success.  How low do you want to go?

·   Are you the person who decides about….?   Come on.  This is THE question that breeds the most lies.  The answer is most often “yes”, and the answer most often is false.  Why ask a question that breeds misleading information?  The correct question to ask is:  How will the decision be made?

·   If I could save you some money, would you…?  Every salesperson thinks that the customer will jump at the hint of saving money.  This tactic actually has a negative effect on the buyer and makes the salesperson work twice as hard to prove himself and usually at a lower price(and lower commission).

And the worse question of them all:

·   What would it take to get (earn) your business?  This question literally is saying to the prospect: “Look, I don’t have much time here.  Could you tell me the quickest way to get this order, and make me do the least amount of work possible to get it.”

 Sales Truth:  Salespeople become known by the questions they ask.

The sale is yours for the asking; all you gotta do is ask for it in the right way!

Chicago Just Got Closer

By Julie Hein
I know that our friend Eliot Keller is dancing in heaven as they announced federal funding for passenger rail from Iowa City to Chicago.  This is good for everyone.  Millenials who want to be close to the fun and shopping of a big city will soon (well, 2015) have a way to groove into Chi-town and back without the monotony of driving or paying all those annoying tolls.  One of the true joys of living here is that it's so close to everywhere--the Twin Cities, St. Louis, KC, Chicago. 

MAXIMIZING YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS

By Jeff Taylor

How do you get your loyal customers and advocates who love you talking about you more? Consider these ideas on how to get these advocates to help your business.

1. Create a Fan Club – Formalize an official fan club where you send your fan club "Fans Only" offers or even send them gifts.

2. Bring them to Your Store or Place of Business – Get to know them! Why not have a mixer where you invite them to your work to meet employees that work for you. People want to get to know who they are advocating so it’s important to put faces with names.

3. Early Deals – If you know you will be having a huge sale, why not reach out to your advocates a week or two earlier and give your deals to your VIP’s

4. Give them Schwag – Your loyal customers are going to likely use or, better yet, wear things with your logo on them. So if you got it, send it.

5. Thank Them – When an advocate has said something nice about you, why not send them a note? Sometimes a simple thank you goes a long way.

Event marketing, part 2 of 3

By Chris Law

Event Marketing, part 2 of 3

In my time with Z102.9 and 1600ESPN, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of several events and live broadcasts.  Many went very well, others unfortunately didn’t.  Here I have a mini-list of things to consider before booking that live broadcast for your birthday bash.

1)     Make sure there is something in it for the customer.  Yes, we covered that in part one, but I need to mention it again here because frankly, it’s just that important.  Peoples’ lives are busy and if you want your customers to make an appearance at your party, they need to have a reason.  Free popcorn, free soda, and balloons for the kids just won’t cut it.

2)     YOU need to be the star of the show.  Few people will show up at an event just to see our on-air staff, and those that do typically aren’t your best customers.  Radio personalities are very good at talking to people over the air, so let’s get them talking about your event and the reasons your customers should stop by.

3)     The most important element of a live broadcast is the commercial package that comes with it.  Before people can attend your event, they have to find out about it.  Yes, some of your customers will hear about your event in real time with the live on-air breaks, but that pales in comparison with how many people will find out about it via the commercials we run before it.  A live broadcast without an up-front advertising schedule is nothing more than someone standing out front of your business with a really big megaphone.

4)     Don’t forget about your existing customers.  The most likely people to attend your event are those that already know and love you.  Let them know about your event well in advance via email, phone calls, signage at your place of business, newsletters, your webpage, Facebook, twitter, while they shop… you get the idea.

5)     Timing, timing, timing.  This can mean a lot of things.  Thinking about throwing a 1^st anniversary party for your winery?  That might be a problem if it’s located on a scenic and twisty road in the middle of January.  Putting together an outdoor event in June?  Better have a backup plan in the event of rain.  Thinking of a big Saturday sidewalk sale in Iowa City in the fall?  Better check that Iowa football schedule first.

6)     Make sure you are ready for it.  Live remotes can be great tools to help a grand opening get off the ground, but if things aren’t running smoothly they can do more harm than good.  Nothing is worse than having throngs of people show up to opening night at your restaurant only to find out the computers don’t work right, your servers don’t know the menu, and your head chef doesn’t know medium rare from medium well.

These things all appear common sense, yet anyone working in radio very long has been a part of an event in which some or all of these things weren’t considered.  In part three, I’ll share details of a few events I’ve been a part of--some that went well and others that didn’t.

Persistence

by Kellie Lalal

You know the old saying “persistence pays off”.  How many times do we question ourselves on whether we should continue to bug, bother or poke at someone for something that we want really bad?  We all know thou, that before we can get our own way, we must prepare the way to be successful.  In Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Green Book of Getting Your Way” he tells us to look to your kids or your cat for persistence clues.  When you look at either one of their actions, you will see that neither one gives up, ever!  A child will pull on your sleeve, ask the other parent, beg, pout and perhaps throw a temper tantrum to get what they want.  If an adult in business did any one of these we might question their maturity level (even thou we have all seen so called ‘adults’ act this way).  Now looking at your cat, they will jump on tables, rub your leg, meow loudly and scratch you till blood is drawn to get fed.  They don’t give up when they are ready to be fed!  All of these clues tell us that if we provide a compelling enough reason to the person we are asking, they will see our way and provide us the prize we desire. 

Persistence is a positive trait to have both in business and in your personal life.  My motto is “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”.  Think about it and have a great Z day!    Here is the website for Jeffrey Gitomer.

B-I-N-G-O and Bingo Was His Name-O!

by Jill Dennis

I'm always amazed how strong my 5 year old son's memory is.  He's in Kindergarten now and his teacher has been teaching his class how to spell colors.  She writes short songs that include the spelling of a certain color of the day and puts those lyrics to the tune of a song that the children will know.  Right now he is singing a song about the color BROWN to the tune of B-I-N-G-O.  Singing those "color" songs has helped him to recognize the letters and words when he sees them on paper.  Your memory doesn't have to work as hard when you can hear something repeatedly. 

According to Roy H. Williams in his book The Wizard of Ads, there are only two kinds of ads:  echoic (sound) and iconic (sight).  Echoic ads are far more intrusive than iconic ads.  Hearing a commercial on the radio works along this same premise....hearing it is far more intrusive and the more often you hear the commercial the more likely you'll remember it.

The following quote from Roy H. Williams in The Wizard of Ads drives this point home.

"You hear even when you're not listening, but you don't see unless you're watching.  This is why you can sing hundreds of songs you never intended to learn , but you can't name the color of the car that sits in the driveway just five houses down the street from your home, even though you drive past it several times a week."

BEFORE You Advertise

By Julie Hein

I heard a story that really baffled me. A friend of a friend (FoF) went shopping for furniture after work. He was talking on his mobile phone when he entered the store. A salesperson approached him, and FoF shooed him away. FoF continued his conversation, while wandering the store. It’s a big place—thousands of square feet, just so you know that it wasn’t some tiny boutique-ish place.

When FoF finished his call, the salesperson proceeded to tell him that speaking on the phone is not proper behavior for a customer. After a brief conversation, FoF was invited to leave. TO LEAVE! He’s not a mouthy guy. Just busy. And he’s building a house, so he needs oodles of furniture.

So, before you advertise, be sure your house is in order. Make certain that your salespeople understand that the customer sets the tone for the interaction. A little patience could have gotten FoF’s salesperson a big commission check. And worse than that, he told the story to other people who told the story and so on. Tales of abject stupidity spread quickly.

Check in with your customers to see what you could do better. Have a friend act as a secret shopper. Have them call your number during business hours and see how the treatment is. Have them come to your business and look/listen everywhere, including the parking lot and the restroom. Find out what could prevent someone from spending with you and fix it.

Ask smart questions, they think you're smart. Ask dumb......

By Kim Peterson

Sales Truth:  Salespeople become known by the questions they ask.

Looking for a few Power Question lead-ins?

According to Jeffrey Gitomer's “Little Red Book of Selling”, try these…..

·         “What do you look for…?”

·         “What have you found…?”

·         “How do you propose…?”

·         “What has been your experience…?”

·         “How have you successfully used….?”

·         “How do you determine…?”

·         “Why is that a deciding factor…?”

·         “What makes you choose…?”

·         “What do you like about it…?”

·         “What is one thing you would improve about….?”

·         “What would you change about….?”

(Do you say, “What don’t you like about….?”

·         “Are there other factors…?”

·         “What does your competitor do about…?”

·         “How do your customers react to…?”

To use questions successfully, they must be thought out and written down in advance.  Develop a list of 15-25 questions that uncover needs, problems, pain, concerns, and objections.

Start practicing and by asking the right questions you’ll begin to see the real rewards!!

Next time I will uncover:  “The dumbest questions salespeople ask-and why they’re dumb”.

An In-Depth Comparison Of Social Networking

By Jeff Taylor

There are a number of different social media tools that your business can use to build your brand and promote your products & services.  Some of these sites are very strong vehicles to communicate with your customers and others are better used to drive traffic to your website or build your overall brand exposure.

Here is a link to a easy to follow guide to help you leverage the major social media sites.

Your :30 second commercial

By Kellie Lala

We have all heard that in sales you need a :30 second elevator speech.  What’s that you ask?  If you were riding in an elevator and someone asked you what you do, you have roughly :30 seconds to tell them.  This message is a powerful tool to have in your tool box as it engages the other person and who knows, they could be your next big customer.

In Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Black Book of Connections” he talks about the :30 second commercial.  He says that the key is “engagement”.  Be sure that at the end of the :30 seconds they know what you do.  Be proud of what you do, say it with conviction and throw in a bit of enthusiasm.  If they show an interest in starting up a conversation with you after you deliver your message, you can then ask them questions and be a good listener.  All of this can lead to getting an appointment, developing a new relationship and better yet-a new customer.   

Want to see some examples of personal commercials?  Go to Jeffrey Gitomer's website, register if you are a 1^st time use and then enter the word EXAMPLES in the GitBit box.  Start today and own it!  Happy Selling!

Top 10 Reasons Not To Advertise

by Jill Dennis

I know. An advertising consultant telling you not to advertise?  Crazy, right? 

Advertisers believe that if they reach the right people their advertising will be more effective. That's partially true but the assumption that an advertising salesperson can give you exclusive access to a particular group of people is simply ridiculous.  Every consumer is reached by multiple advertising vehicles every day.  The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of the business or product and it's unique selling proposition.  Don't mistake response for results.  Advertising isn't scientific.  It's not who you reach, it's what you say.......  

According to Roy Williams...

WHEN YOU NEED TO ADVERTISE IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY

STEP 1.  Concentrate on reaching the "right people".  There are plenty of "wrong people" out there who can't possibly do your business any good.

STEP 2.  Make sure you reach the largest number of "right people" you can possibly reach.  It isn't important how often you reach them.

STEP 3.  Don't worry about what your ad says.  The only thing that matters is whether your delivery is "smooth", "professional", and "classy".

STEP 4.  Fill your ad with kinds of phrases and claims you've heard in other commercials.  Your ad should sound like an ad!

STEP 5.  Discontinue any ads that your friends don't like.  Listen to what your neighbors say!  Any ad that makes people uncomfortable can't possibly work.

STEP 6.  Let a TV or radio ad run twenty to thirty times, then change it.  Everyone has heard it and understands it by now.

STEP 7.  Don't be concerned about whether or not your delivery vehicle is intrusive.  Passive advertising works just as well.

STEP 8.  Expect the public to have an intimate knowledge of your product.  Use language unique to your industry.

STEP 9.  Impress the public.  Prove your superior taste!  The public is paying strict attention and doesn't miss a thing.  Beautify the pages of the newspapers and magazines.  People care

             more about YOUR taste than about what your product will do for THEM.

STEP10. After completing steps one through nine, if you feel your advertising isn't working, what did you expect???  These are the steps for advertising in the worst possible way!