Nuggets Worth Taking In

by Paco Arespacochaga and friends

When a sales person goes out to begin his day, so many thoughts go through his head. It takes the right attitude to become successful in this environment. It also takes mastery of some fundamental skills to "bring it home".

However, we sometimes fall into the "sucky hole" of negativity from time to time and wonder how we can prevent it from happening to begin with. Well, my friends and I came up with some nuggets to help you validate your role in the world of Sales and Marketing.

Here they are:

Its about them, not you
be a good listener
engaged your potential client

Sound credible
let them know that you actually care

Rapport
Mirror and/or compliment their personality
tap into what they are looking for

Be yourself and tell it like it is
It prevents potential complains

Its not the product, its all about you
What would make the client want to buy “YOU”

Know your products
brag about your tenure in your industry
if you were a pilot without experience, people would be scared to fly with you

According to Jeffrey Gitomer: People don't like to be sold to, but they love to buy

Here Is a Formula Worth Remembering Wherever, Whatever!

by Paco Arespacochaga

Consistent Advertising = Familiarity = Trust = Customers. Please ingest and digest that formula and regurgitate it through a consistent definitive action.

Now what? Unless your the IRS, you have competition. And because most often than not, you're in business to make money, you must trump the competition. Listen, you may think everybody knows who you are and as such everyone would be compelled to buy from you but boy are you mistaken! People will buy from someone who is actively right in front of them when they need a specific product or service.

Why do you think Coca-Cola and Pepsi still advertise despite the fact everybody knows who these companies are.

It amazes me when business owners come to me and tell me they don't have the budget to advertise. I wonder how their budget is being handled. And sometimes business owners get to "cocky" and tell me advertising in general doesn't work at all! Now that's pure BS!

Whatever it is you do or wherever you are in life, it definitely pays to advertise. You want to get your name out there. You want people to know who you are and what you do. You want people to be aware of your products and services and you want people to see you as often as possible. When you do these steps, you're instantly setting yourself up as someone people can "reach" out for. You're setting yourself up for them to trust you. You're setting yourself up for potential clients or customers. And when this happens, your rewards or ROI become exponential!

Growth begins!

Give It Away! Give It Away! Give It Away NOW!

by Paco Arespacochaga

If you have a product that works but do not have the money to advertise your product, GIVE IT AWAY!  

Word of mouth is still the most cost effective, high yielding ROI form of marketing.

Your product or service worth is technically the cost of your advertising without the actual dollar amount.

However, the next time around... when your clients come around... CHARGE THEM!

Different Advertising Mediums And Which One Benefits Your Business

By Paco Arespacochaga

There are so many mediums of advertising ranging from TV all the way to Internet Video. In print, you have the newspaper on one end and the direct mail on the other. Radio and podcasts have their place in today’s business marketing environment as well. Rounding them up, there are different types of advertising but not all mediums truly benefit your business. What I will share will you should give you a “bird’s eye view” on where you should allot your advertising budget to.

Depending on what industry you’re in, different advertising mediums come out more effective than others. Take a moment to find out what makes a potential customer, patient or client seek your service or product.

I would assume there is a “need”.

Now take a moment to simulate where a potential customer, patient or client will go to make a purchase of your service and product.

I’m assuming it would be the Internet, the Yellow Pages, the Penny Saver or something similar.

And lastly, be ready to answer why a potential customer, client or patient will choose YOU over your competition when he/she is ready to make a purchase of your service and product.

Perhaps you had been successful in creating an effect Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) campaign that made a potential customer, client or patient remember you and what you have to offer.

Balancing your media mix gives you more opportunity to reap the benefits of your campaign in the form of a higher ROI (return on investment).
On the other hand, putting all your advertising dollars in one medium is like giving money away!

In this example, I will share with you how an effective advertising mix can be beneficial to your business.

Acme Carpet Cleaners began operation of its carpet cleaning business in the neighborhood. They started printing flyers and hired someone to go door to door and leave the flyer at a resident’s door, gate or mailbox. The flyer had a very good ad message (copy write). It introduced their business grand opening and a “2 room get the third one FREE!” promo. They also purchased a solid Direct Mail campaign from a reputable company like Idearc, RSVP or Valpak to drive the message across a larger targeted area.

They also invested some advertising in the LOCAL newspaper and Penny Saver.
On top of all of these, they advertised on Online Directories such as Superpages.com & Yellowpages.com and also did some Pay-Per-Click campaign.

And speaking of directories (phone books), when people are ready to make a purchase, they only go to the Internet and their local yellow pages. It’s a good thing Acme Carpet Cleaners had some presence there too!

And when they were done with the job, they were prepared and creative enough to leave a refrigerator magnet, with their phone number, with the client.

Now, do you think their cost of investment is costly? The answer depends on how the advertising budget is being looked at. The smart way of answering the question is to determine the number of NEW clients and ad campaign like the one above will generate. Also, the Average Value Order (AVO) should be determined to see if the number of clients times the AVO can bring a decent to significant return on investment (ROI). Getting a 5:1 return at the very least is a good thing!

And let’s not forget that carpets do get dirty again! So if you did a good job the first time around, you’re bound to get another phone call from the same client and that, my friend, is when real money is made!

In a Marketing Campaign, the Budget Must Reflect the Business

By Paco Arespacochaga

In today’s business environment, a business owner must be well equipped with ways and means to maximize his advertising and marketing investment. Yet, one question still brings back different answers.

“How much should I invest in advertising?” usually generates responses such as:

5% of your desired gross profit

10% of your desired gross profit

5% of the gross profit you made the last fiscal year

10% of the gross profit you made the last fiscal year

Don’t spend anything more than necessary

Don’t spend anything at all

And there are many more. All these answers are true to some extent because there really is no “one absolute” answer. In marketing 101, we were taught that a business should spend 10% - 15% of what they wanted to gross in revenue. So if a business wanted to make $150,000, it should set aside a budget of $15,000 to $22,500 just for advertising and marketing expenses alone.

The sad truth is that many start up business owners perceive advertising as a necessary “evil” as opposed to a business necessity. Feel free to call it business suicide if you must because that is what it is.

In a marketplace where everything is all about perception and perceived market value, taking no action in effectively positioning your products and/or services doesn’t mean you’re not you’re protecting your business equity. It is quite the contrary. This is because your inaction is giving leverage to your competition, which is doing the opposite of what you are doing.

Your advertising budget reflects the type of business you have. Invest in your advertising. You don’t wait to make money before you begin advertising. Begin advertising to MAKE MONEY!