Imagine this scenario…
The phone rings. It’s someone claiming they can help with your marketing. They are touting some fancy new service, promising you the world.
Imagine politely explaining that you have everything covered… but this time you REALLY MEAN IT.
Our Three-Prong Approach
Most websites fail because they lack true salesmanship. Our process was born out of years of sales strategy. We took what works in the real world of face-to-face selling and translated it into a digital process.
Your potential customers are looking for you in all sorts of places online. Obviously the grand daddy of these “buyer hubs” is Google and that is #1 on our radar as well. However, as Google continues to expand their algorithm it’s becoming more and more important to be listed in every possible place your customers might be looking.
Local links from your chamber of commerce, local directories and other businesses are now more important than ever.
Critical Lesson – Not all customers are equal. Some are honest, understanding and PROFITABLE while others cause you to loose money, sleep and piece of mind. But this difference is not often thought about when shop owners put together their marketing strategies.
WARNING – Discount coupons and free oil change mailers may be attracting the “cheap-skate” customers you are trying to avoid.
What your past customers are saying about you is the #1 thing future customers look at. You can talk about your services all day but it’s what your past customers say that carries the most weight.
However, most customers only go online to create reviews when they are upset about something. It’s just human nature.
Yet at the same time it can be difficult to know when and how to approach the customers in order to grow your positive reviews. On top of that, there are some technical barriers to ensuring that your reviews land in the most impactful places.
Critical Lesson – The future of your service center depends on your ability to consistently earn good online reviews.
WARNING – Failure to get positive reviews formatted in the right ways can mean great hardship ahead. Statics show that shops with the best online reviews can win the vast majority of local business. Even if they are only in the lead by a few reviews.
I like to call this part of the strategy the “Digital Refrigerator Magnet”. This is where even great marketers tend to fall flat on their faces. Many businesses spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get in front of the right customer only to leave money on the table by not following up with them in an intelligent way.
By implementing handcrafted follow up sequences that resonate with your local community you can position yourself as a community leader. Once this is achieved, you will have built up massive trust and your customers who view you as an asset to the community won’t go anywhere else. In fact, they will be continuously telling their friends all about the great things you and your team are up to.
This final step maximizes your investment by making sure you don’t leave any money on the table and get as much as we can out of every lead generated in phase 1. This step also saves tons of money in the long run by ensuring that you never have to pay to get in front of the same person twice.
Critical Lesson – Put processes into place to stay in touch with your best customers in ways that they enjoy hearing from you. This means more that tweeting about a sale. I have found that if you promote people in your community (perhaps customers of yours) who are doing great things (charity workers, successful entrepreneurs, artists) your messages will be more welcome and you will be able to stay “Top-Of-Mind” whenever someone needs your service.
Each prong of this strategy can yield dramatic increases in your bottom line. However by chaining them together your entire business will be transformed leaving your competitors scratching their heads. So much of this goes on behind the scenes they will find it impossible to copy.
Click Here To Learn 3 Simple Tactics To Quickly Build Trust With Potential Clients
Thanks for the post Casey. I had thought about much of this before but never had I seen it so clearly defined. It has helped me shape all my current strategies into the three buckets that you outline here.
I’m looking forward to hopping on the phone with you for the 30 minute marketing overhaul and just wanted to add my $.10. best – Shane