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A Brilliant Presentation - But Who Were Those People?
In
last month's issue of Emi I mentioned that I would be speaking to
the American Society
of Quality on "Keeping Clients For Life: How To Build
Customer Retention and Loyalty Through eNewsletters"
Well, I spoke and it didn't go over as well as I expected.
I walked on to the floor, stood in front of the audience and with
passion and conviction I began to talk about the importance of developing
stronger relationships with clients. About the fundamentals of relationship
marketing and how it is crucial for the long-term success of the
company and its bottom-line. About eNewsletters being the perfect
tool for this.
I tend to get very involved when I speak but I should have anticipated
this response. Before it was my turn to speak I shared some casual
conversation with the lady sitting next to me.
I asked her what she did for a living and she answered, "I'm
a quality control manager in the billing and mail sorting facility
of a large financial company. We secure USPS standards for all the
stuffing and sorting of bills sent to our clients in North and South
America". "Oh" I said...
The master of ceremony finished my introduction and called me to
step forward... I delivered my message expecting it to be received
with eagerness and excitement and instead I got some polite smiles
and golf claps.
When I wrote the speech I did my best to relate my message to the
audience. I used the concepts that TQM
or Total Quality Management advocates -- the ideas of building better
and ever- improving relationships with clients through better products
and services. But that wasn't enough to engage them.
Why, I asked myself? Then I thought back to the billing and mail-sorting
lady. Was she interested in the techniques of building customer
relationships via marketing? No, she was involved with improving
the mechanics and quality of billing and mail sorting. She did not
have responsibilities for enhancing customer relationships via marketing
communications.
The obvious conclusion: this was the wrong audience for the message
I was assigned to deliver.
Instead of walking out of there with a stack business cards from
interested prospects, I got a chance to prove once again one of
the golden rules of marketing "Sell to those who have the best
potential for purchase of your products and services".
Before you spend another penny in marketing ask yourself if you
are marketing to the right audience and if the tools you are using
to deliver your message are tools that will reach the majority of
those prospects with the highest potential for the purchase? Because
if not, guess where your money is going...
Before you spend your marketing dollars,
ask yourself the following questions:
|
How
does your "ideal" client or customer shape up as a
person? (Visualize him or her in detail. "See"
what he or she does, thinks, and wants.) |
|
Why
would that "ideal" person purchase your product?
(Does it make or save them money? Makes them feel or look better?) |
|
Which
marketing tools can help me communicate with my prospects?
(Industry journal ads? Trade shows? eNewsletters?) |
|
Can
I measure feedback? (Does the tool allow you to see who
saw your message? Exactly how many people bought your product
because of it?) If you don't know if your marketing efforts
are achieving their goals, how do you know where to spend your
money and time? |
Hopefully the previous questions will help you make
better decisions when it comes to spending your marketing dollars.
And specially better decisions when it comes to selecting speaking
engagements.
|
Bottom Line:
Every
company in the world has a specific target market and for every
target market there is an ideal marketing tool. Discovering
this for your company will be the difference between "wow"
sales and "oh, no".
|
|
Your
feedback is important. Let me know what you think of the article,
just reply with your comment.
If
you liked the article so will your friends so... [Forward To A Friend]
Marcos
and Group- making targeted eNewsletters that deliver on queue.
P.S.
Don't forget to rate this article using the box on the left hand
margin. |
