I’m back from the holiday hiatus. Well, okay, it wasn’t a real hiatus. It was too much holiday and I got plain ‘ole lazy. Bad, nt! Bad!

Here’s a little story for y’all. My son wrestles for his high school team and also plays football. He’s pretty good at them, too. But that’s another story. Back in the Fall, I get a call from the mother of my son and former Mrs. T. Seems she was recruiting donations for the school’s Booster Club auction.

Aside from skiing, I wasn’t much into sports in high school, so I didn’t have a clue what a Booster Club did. But, being the nice guy I am and wanting to support my son, I donated a small website. I also whipped up a nifty little poster to display on the auction table along with a holder for some business cards. As it turned out, this was one of, if not the most, pricey things in the auction.

Am I altruistic, or what?

Okay … confession time. Sure, I wanted to help out the Booster Club. But, I also knew there would be a lot of business owners and corporate types at the auction. I figured it would be a good way to get the name out there. I also figured some local insurance agency, travel agent or the likes would win the bid.

Boy, was I wrong.

About a week after the auction, the phone rings. It was the guy who made the top bid. We talked for a bit and set up a meeting … at the swankiest, high roller country club in the area. The Fates had smiled on me. He owns seven companies and needed to consolidate a variety of sites into one. He also needs a capabilities brochure and some other literature, along with marketing consulting.

Cha ching! A small donation on my part not only got some dough for the Booster Club, it parlayed itself into several fairly large projects.

The moral of the story is that doing a good thing can often have a big pay back. Plus, looking out for more unconventional marketing opportunities can help separate you from the pack.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

If I had a dime for every designer gave up on their marketing efforts just before a client was ready to sign on the dotted line, I’d be lounging on a warm, sunny beach, sipping umbrella-adorned drinks.

The story goes something like this. A designer decides to do, say, a postcard mailing. The have their nifty cards designed and printed up. Let’s say it’s a series of four cards. They mail out the first and wait. Nobody calls. The next one goes out. They check the phone to make sure it’s still working. On to number three and four. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not even a peep from a prospect. So, our designer decides that postcards don’t work and gives up.

There’s a couple of fairly obvious problems here. First, the designer didn’t make follow up phone calls. If you mail anything - a postcard, letter of introduction, brochure, etc. - and don’t follow up, you’re pretty much throwing your marketing money away. Second, doing a four postcard mailing isn’t enough in most cases. Sure, you might luck out and hit a prospect at the right time with the right offer. But, research shows that it takes several points of contact before a sales is closed. The National Sales Executive Association, in the US, did a study that found 80% of sales are made during the 5th-12th contact. Here are statistics from their survey findings:

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact

3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact

5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact

10% of sales are made on the 4th contact

80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact

What this means is that you’ll need to have a system in place to reach your prospect from several angles. Those can be an intro letter, a direct mail piece with a specific offer and a strong call to action, a phone call and perhaps setting up a lunch meeting. Lather, rinse repeat.

It also means not putting all your marketing eggs into one basket. At any given time, you should have several marketing, promotional and public relations activities going. Over time, review what’s working and what’s not. Toss the bad ones and try something new, but only after you’ve given the activity a reasonable amount of time to bring in some results.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Here’s a typical scenario. A designer gets a call. The person on the other end of the phone needs a [insert gig du jour]. After a wee bit of a scramble, a proposal or estimate is whipped up, the project is confirmed, money moves and things get to rockin.’ The project moves along and is finally finished. The client is pleased as punch. Our designer gets paid. Everybody’s a happy camper and move on to the next thing on the list. All is well with the Universe.

Or is it?

Although this is the way most independent designers work, it tends to be a first cousin to the notorious “feast or famine syndrome.” Our little scenario is project-based thinking and not necessarily a good idea for you or your client.

Why?

Glad you asked. It’s not a great working model for you because it centers around the one-shot deal. When things dry up you might find yourself flipping burgers to meet your overhead. Although you might look simply smashing in a nifty fast-food uniform, odds are, it’s not what you had in mind.

It’s not a good deal for your client because, frankly, you’re doing a disservice by providing only what they ask for and not using your gray matter to root out what might be of value to them.

I’d like to offer a better idea. Ask a boat load of questions. Get to know your clients’ businesses, their competitive arena, their industry, their audience. In essence, learn all the gory details and become a partner in their success. Then, put on your consultant cap and get to thinking. What would help them out? What ideas can you offer up?

The thing is, just because a client asks for a whatever, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what they really need. By asking questions and digging deep, you can offer ideas that will help your clients meet their goals. You add value to your relationship. You become a needed resource. You separate yourself from your competition, because they’re not doing their homework.

As you learn more about each of your clients’ businesses, you can position yourself as a consultant and offer up suggestions. Now you’re getting somewhere. You’ll find you no longer live project to project. You begin to create projects.

One of the best times to map things out is during an annual client review. December and January are good times to do this. Set up a time to get together with each of your clients. Lunch is a nice idea – on your dime, of course. Review what’s been done during the previous year. What worked well, what could use some improvement and such. Ask them about their goals for the upcoming year.

Take what you learn and give it some thought. What can you do to help your client meet their goals? Put together a proposal and present it to your client.

If you handle this right, you’ll find you can schedule much of your workflow for an entire year, or at least several months out. You’ll know what needs to be done and when. You’ll decrease or eliminate those nutty rush gigs. Your clients can accurately budget for upcoming projects and avoid rush fees. You’ll both sleep better at night because you’ll know what needs to be done, when and how much it’ll cost. No surprises.

In addition, raising yourself to a valued consultant status can justify higher fees. Plus, you become proactive by generating projects rather than sitting at your desk waiting for the phone to ring.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

My friend, Illise Benun and her Marketing Mentor partner, Peleg Top, are teaming up with HOW Magazine to develop a conference for creatives. But they need your help. Here’s the scoop:

This conference, presented by Marketing Mentor and HOW Magazine, will be created for designers, illustrators, copywriters, photographers and anyone who wants to earn a living by selling their creative services. We’re looking to create an event that is focused, affordable and provides lots of networking. But first, we need to know what creative freelancers want/need.

Can you take a quick 3-minute survey *(by this Friday, Dec 7)*
and share some of your thoughts about this idea?

Here’s a link to the survey.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Voicemail. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay as the new gatekeeper. Here are a few ideas to get it working for you.

When you call a prospect and get their voicemail, consider it a blessing. You get to leave a detailed message without interruption. Plus, the message will be without potential errors that an operator/receptionist might make, or worse, forget to pass along the message.

Before you start dialing for dollars, have a clear idea of what you want to say. That may sound pretty obvious, but when you make a connection it’s easy to get a wee bit flustered and confused. You can ramble on about this and that, hang up and then realize you forgot to leave your phone number or other pretty important information.

It’s also a good idea to write it down. Not so much as a script, but highlights to keep you on track.

Speaking of a message, it’s usually a good idea to have one. Don’t just say, “Hi this is Mortiemer Marketer. Please call me back at 555-5555.” Unless the prospect is already aware of your brilliant capabilities and stellar services, there’s no incentive to make that long stretch to the keypad and punch in your number.

A better idea might be saying something like, “Hi Ms. Bigbucks. This is Mort with ABC Design. Jane Doe suggested I give you a call. She thought you’d find our free report, “How to make a million bucks in less than 2 hours,” useful. If you would give me a call back at 555-5555, I’d be delighted to share the details with you. I’ll be in the office this morning until 11:15 and back in after 3:30. I’ll look forward to hearing from you! Again, my name is Mort Marketer and the number is 555-5555.”

Let’s take a look at what just happened. First, you made contact. That’s a good thing. Next, you dropped a name to make an association. If you don’t have a referral, you might use a group you both belong to, like the Chamber of Commerce, or reference a news release, their web site, etc. You provided an offer that might be helpful to the prospect. Give to get and become a resource. Finally, you gave your phone number and the times that you’d be available, along with repeating your name and number. That saves the prospect from having to replay your message.

Other things to consider when playing the voicemail game are:
1. Speak slowly and clearly

2. Get to the point and don’t ramble on

3. Your tone should be friendly and approachable

Even though voicemail can be more reliable than a real live human, don’t make book on your message getting through. This stuff isn’t perfect. On occasion, I’ll check my messages and when I sign in to the system, I get somebody else’s voicemail. I can only assume somebody else is getting mine. It doesn’t happen too often, but it does happen.

Also, give your prospects a break. If they don’t come rushing to call you back, it’s likely that they’re busy with their job. Odds are you’re not at the top of the list, unless there’s a very pressing immediate need. That happens too.

If you don’t hear back from them, give it some time and make another call or make some other point of contact like a letter, postcard, etc.

Finally, be sure to keep track of your activities. Trust me, if you don’t you’ll forget who you called, when you called and when you’re supposed to call them back. Keeping track is easiest with a Contact Manager application like ACT! or Now Up To Date. I use an older application called Personal Organizer. It’s still available here.

The nifty thing about these contact managers is that you can make notes about your calls and also schedule reminders for future activities.

So, in the end, consider voicemail your friend and another tool in your marketing toolbox.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Sales letters are an inexpensive way to connect with your prospects. You should already have letterheads, envelopes, business cards and a printer, so all you’ll need to shell out for are some stamps. You can’t get much more frugal than that (”cheaper” and “tightwad” just sound bad). You just whip up some poignant prose, drop your letter and card in the envelope, slap a stamp on and voila. Off to the post office you go. How simple is that? Then you sit back and wait for all those prospects to hand you over their juicy projects.

I talk to a lot of designers who do just that. The only problem is, the phone never rings.

What happened? Or, more accurately, what didn’t happen? In most cases, they failed to ask the critical question after reading back their letter – “So, what?” When writing a sales letter, postcard or other promo piece, you need to put yourself in the prospect’s position. Focus on their needs and business. But, many designers are too busy focusing on their business. Bad idea. The prospect doesn’t give a hoot. They’re interested in what’s in it for them.

Always include an offer within your letter. Maybe it could be a free consultation, white paper or report. A web designer might offer a site critique. Give some hard thought to what you can offer that’s of value to your prospect. Don’t forget to extoll the benefits.

Next comes a call to action. That’s simply where you tell the reader what to do next. Usually, it will be to call or email you so you can set up a meeting or provide more information. None the less, also include a stamped reply card or a fax back form. They help boost response rates. Make everything easy for your prospects.

Another important point is understanding the role of your sales letter. With direct response for hard goods, you shoot out your mailing and wait for the orders to come rolling in. Graphic design is a service and things don’t work the same as hard goods. With your letter, you’re not selling your services. That comes down the road. All you’re selling is the appointment. Often, you’re simply selling name recognition to help warm up a follow up phone call. Always, always, always follow up by phone. Did I mention “always?”

A lot of sales letters I see are are short little ditties that say something along the lines of, “I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Joe Schmo Design. We’re a yada, yada, yada … I’ll give you a call in a few days to arrange a meeting.” But the research shows that longer sales letters sell better. So, be sure to address your prospects’ needs and also include the usual background. Don’t forget to include some testimonials and some of your clients. Third party endorsements are always handy. To avoid any readers thinking, “Hmmm … doesn’t seem like this guy understands confidentiality,” make mention that the clients listed gave you permission. And of course, get permission.

Finally, include a secondary offer. These are often a “P.S.” Secondary offers can be a tip sheet, a report, maybe even an e-book. Again, they should be something with real value.

Why a secondary offer, you say? Well, most of the recipients won’t have a current need for what you’re selling or they have a graphic design source. So, you need to wait for something to change. But, your secondary offer might be just the ticket to get them to contact you. You get their info and add them to your contact manager. After a few days, give them a call and ask if your report, tip sheet, etc. was helpful. That helps to keep the dialogue open. When you call, also ask if you can put them on your list to receive other helpful stuff from you. These can be links to articles on the Web and such. You become positioned as a resource for them. Odds are, when project time rolls around, you’ll be on their mind.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

I’ve written about planning your marketing efforts several times here on BoDo, but now is the time of year when it bears another mention. Without a plan, your marketing … and your business in general … just “happens” to you. That’s a bad idea. With the new year looming, now is the perfect time to put together your goals for 2008 and your strategies to make those goals a reality.

Your plan doesn’t need to be a lengthy tome that rivals War & Peace. It simply needs to be a written set of goals along with the steps needed to reach them.

So, where do you start? A bit of soul searching is likely in order. What do you want to do? What’s your passion? Are you happy with the direction your business has been taking? Or, is a change in order? The thing is, unless you’re doing something you enjoy and can make a decent living doing it, there isn’t much point. As someone once said, “Find something you love doing and you’ll never work another day in your life.”

Goals are what you’re trying to accomplish. The kicker is that they should be realistic and have a timeline attached. If your goals are out there in the Stratosphere, odds are you’ll lose interest or spend way too much time trying to reach the unattainable. The same thing goes for a timeline. Without one, you’ll likely put things off and/or never know if you’re making any progress.

Once you have a goal - let’s say you want to increase billings by 25% - give yourself a reasonable amount of time to reach it. Maybe June 30, 2008 works. With goal in hand, or rather, on paper, break it down into the steps you need to take to reach it. This does a couple of things. First, it organizes your efforts. Things become clear. Each of these steps is something of a “mini-goal.” So, as you get things done, you’ll feel like you’re making progress and that typically encourages one to keep at it.

If you’re trying to increase your billings by 25%, what would you need to do? Maybe it means identifying and reaching a new niche market. Perhaps it means adding new services. Let’s use the former and break it down.

Goal:
Increase billings 25% by June 30, 2006

Action Plans:
Identify a niche that’s under served, yet offers enough prospects to be profitable
Conduct web searches
Check directories at library
Develop a list of 300 qualified prospects

Create initial mailing to generate name awareness
Design piece by January 15, 2008
Get printing and mailing costs
Print piece
Prepare labels
Label, stamp & mail in lots of 25 each week beginning February 1, 2008

Follow up phone calls
5 calls per day to 25 weekly recipients asking for an appointment
Target one appointment per week

Initial meetings
Research prospect, market and potential needs
Gather background info at meeting to further qualify prospect
Ask if I can prepare a proposal
Use tip-sheet as leave behind

Create proposals

Make presentations

Ask for the sale

You may find yourself doing additional tasks, but this should give you the general idea.

What you’ve done here is set up your marketing efforts for several months. And, it’s manageable. You’ll have some time invested in developing your list, but after that, things start to become automatic. You know each week, for 12 weeks, you’ve got to mail your intro piece. Then, the following week all you need to do is make five phone calls each day. Piece of cake.

Plus, each time you drop your stuff into the mailbox, you’ll get those nifty warm fuzzy feelings because you’re doing something to help reach your goals. The phone calls might be a bit tough at first, but hang in there. I guarantee after the first week or so, they’ll be old hat.

Add into the mix some networking events, writing some how-tos and tip sheets, news releases and other marketing and public relations activities and next thing you know, that 25% increase is getting pretty attainable.

Find some handy place to post your goals and action plans. Maybe the refrigerator door, or the bathroom mirror. Find some place where they’ll haunt you.

I use my contact manager/calendar to alert me with what needs to be done and when. Once you start getting busy, it’s easy to put this stuff off. After a bit, you get out of the habit and Mr. Feast or Famine can quickly come a callin.’

And there you have it. Taking a little time now to make your plans and then working those plans in a consistent manner will help ensure 2008 will be the year of you.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Have you ever run into something like this? You get a call from a prospect. They want you to come in for show and tell and discuss a project. You go to the meeting and they love your stuff. As you leave they’re telling you you’re the next best thing to sliced bread and they’ll call shortly to get things started. You’re thinking, “Woo hoo! They like me. They really like me.” You send over your estimate and then …

… nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even a peep.

So, there you sit at your desk thinking. “Sheesh, I thought it was a done deal. Were they just feeding me a line of hooie? What did I do wrong?”

Chill out. Sure, maybe they did get someone else. As my art school teacher used to say, “If they don’t want you, it’s their loss, not yours.” Often though, it’s a matter of changed priorities. In as much as the gig is on your front burner, something may have come up to put it on your prospect’s back burner. They may have been called out of town. It might be that another project took them by storm and their boss is on their back. Etcetera, so forth and so on.

What to do? Well, there’s not much you can do to get your prospect moving in your direction if they don’t want to play. A follow up phone call is in order, of course. If something else has come up, ask when you should call them back. For example, I’ve been working on a prospect, a Marketing Manager with a fairly large company. She contacted me looking for a site for one of their divisions. We met a couple of times and everything seemed to be moving forward. Then I didn’t hear anything. So, I picked up the phone and found out that the division head had put things on hold pending some legal issues and she was simply too busy to get back with me. I asked when I should call her to touch base. She said the mid part of Spring. So, down it goes on my calendar and I move forward with other prospects and projects.

It’s important not to put too much weight on any prospective project until the client signs in blood and the deposit check clears. It’s easy to start counting chickens before they’ve hatched and count on money that’s not in your account yet. Don’t fall into the trap.

You’ll get your fair share of tire kickers along the way, so you’ll want to keep up your marketing and promotion efforts to ensure you have several prospects in the pipeline at various stages of the sales cycle. You won’t close them all and there will be some you shouldn’t even tackle. But, the idea is to juggle several prospects at the same time, rigorously qualify them and focus on the ones you know you can win and will be a good fit for your practice.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt