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Law of Expansion - Persuasion Strategies - Pt. 10
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Today's Law of Persuasion, the Law of Expansion, was triggered
by the current news in the stock market. Right now, things aren't
looking too rosy economically are they?
And if you're a typical business owner, you may be worried about
how the economy will affect your business. If you're not worried,
you know something I don't know!
What do we do when we worry? We contract, we pull our heads
inside our shells and hope things will change. If things don't
change, we worry more and contract even more.
Another way of saying this is that we put all our concern and
attention on ourselves, our survival. This seems to be the right
thing to do, but it's not. It's the exact opposite of what you need
to be doing when the economy is contracting.
When things are contracting, the best strategy is to expand.
If you have an expansion strategy you are seen as more visible,
more credible, and more valuable. Expansion doesn't necessarily
mean spending a lot more money on marketing. It may mean
doing many more low-cost marketing activities.
I'll bet you could expand the following activities by 10% to 20%
in your business in the coming months:
Networking
Networking will never go out of style because it creates business
relationships faster than anything else. The Woody Allen rule:
"80% of success is just showing up." Show up at more social and
business functions and be ready to talk about your business.
Follow-Up
It doesn't take a lot of money, time or effort to pick up the phone
but it can have a huge impact on your business results. You need
to master the telephone follow-up if you want more
appointments, more sales and a steadily rising income.
Strategy Sessions
A strategy session is a meeting with a prospective client to
explore working together. The old paradigm was 'sales meetings.'
Instead, position strategy sessions as a complimentary, yet
valuable service. "I'd be happy to meet with you to explore the
opportunities to grow your business."
Presentations
Talks, speeches, and presentations of all kinds have always been
effective marketing tools as they give prospects a no-risk sample
of what you're offering. Speak at chambers of commerce,
professional groups and service organizations. There's no better
strategy for positively increasing your credibility.
Web Content
You probably already have a web site. But is the content doing its
job? Is the information on your site giving your visitors what
they're looking for? Is it stimulating them to take action? Is it
generating new, qualified leads? If not, it's time for a content
overhaul. It won't cost you much, just time.
TeleClasses
A teleclass is simply a presentation by phone. Last week I did one
with about 100 participants from my home office here in Boulder
Creek California. Cost: $0. If you haven't caught onto teleclasses
yet, it's not too late to learn. You can connect with prospects
around the world and share the value of what you offer.
Yes, the same things you need to do in a good economy, you
need to do in a bad economy. But you need to do them better
and do them more frequently. You need to expand, not contract.
By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at www.actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses.
Robert's got some great tools on his website to help in all these areas. Check it out when you click HERE.
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