We self-employed professionals spend a great deal of our marketing
effort on searching for the right words. We read books, take classes,
and hire consultants to help us write copy for our marketing materials.
Writing sales letters, drafting brochures, and composing websites
consumes hours or days of precious marketing time. But it appears that
many professionals have mistaken all this wordsmithing for productive
action.
Don't get me wrong; the words we use to market ourselves are
important and deserve our attention. But crafting the message and
delivering it are not at all the same thing. Here are some situations
I've encountered with clients that illustrate this all-too-common
marketing blunder.
"I spent $3000 on a brochure and I haven't gotten a single client from it."
If all we had to do in order to succeed at marketing ourselves was
spend money, I suspect many more of us would have thriving businesses.
But when selling your own professional services, it rarely works that
way. A brochure can be a useful device for getting a prospect's
attention or providing information about our services. Its true
function, though, is to open the door to more conversation, not to
close a sale.
Brochures don't get clients all by themselves. Before you begin work on
one, you should know exactly how you will use it. Will you send it by
direct mail? Distribute it through strategic partnerships? Give it to
people who inquire about your services? Include it in proposals you
write? What are the specific action steps you have in mind that require
having a brochure? The best marketing tools in the world are worthless
without a plan for how to use them.
"I can't follow up on these leads because I don't have a good sales letter."
The quest for the perfect sales letter seems to prevent far too many of
us from reaching out to prospective clients. It appears that many
professionals are convinced that there IS such a thing as the perfect
sales letter -- you know, the one that results in your phone ringing
off the hook with eager clients as soon as they receive it? Searching
for this holy grail of marketing, they delay and delay until all their
leads grow stale.
Instead of focusing so much on the content of your sales letters, put
your emphasis on repeat contacts using multiple channels over time.
Place a call, then send a note, call again, then send an e-mail. You
could make contact with a prospect four times over a two-week span in
less time than it takes you to write and rewrite one "perfect" letter.
A series of action steps like this will have much more likelihood of
resulting in a live conversation than almost any letter you could
write.
"I can't start marketing; my website isn't done yet."
The idea of marketing one's business on the web didn't even exist
before the mid-90's. And somehow, we managed to market ourselves
without it. Now it seems that having a website up has become a
prerequisite for getting clients. Actually, the universe really hasn't
changed that much.
For the vast majority of professional service providers, their first
few clients come as a result of pre-existing personal connections.
These clients are people they already know, or the friends and
colleagues of people they know. There's no need for a web presence to
land clients like these.
In fact, you'll compose a much better website after you have had the
opportunity to have a few real sales conversations, so you'll know more
about what works when you speak to potential clients. If prospects need
more information about you, put it on paper or send an e-mail. Just
because you CAN share information about your business on the web
doesn't mean you have to.
Brochures, sales letters, and websites are all excellent and effective
marketing tools. Writing powerful and informative marketing copy is a
useful skill to learn or hire out to a professional. Just don't let
your marketing get put on hold because you haven't yet found the
perfect words to use. In marketing your services, actions really do
speak louder than words.
Copyright © 2006, C.J. Hayden
About The Author
Now! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple
sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free
copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com
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online business ,matrix,internet marketing solution ,online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer ,computer training ,computer software andpersonal computer,Cyber Forest,internet weapon,talk about business ,business is my blood ,hasan's blog ,cyber business,my net info
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