4 WAYS TO INCREASE S.ALES
- Is your marketing just pumping iron?

by Charlie Cook
www.marketingforsuccess.com

At every gym there are the regulars in the w.eight room. These
are the guys and, more and more, the women who work out 5 days a
week, lifting heavier and heavier weights. You may have seen
them. They're 'b.ulked up' and their muscles bulge. Are they as
powerful as they look?

Body builders may look like towers of power but few, if any, can
play a sport. All that pumping iron builds muscle, but only a
few people, such as NFL football players, are able to put to use
more than 25% of the muscle they have. All that muscle looks
impressive, but if all you can do with it is lift weights at the
gym, what good is it?

It's the same with your marketing. You may be spending a lot of
time and m0ney b.ulking up your marketing and advertising or
your website, but is there any correlation between marketing
activity and results?

You could send out 20,000 brochures, spend $15,000 a month on
advertising, or spend $250,000 on a web site, as one client did.
You could b.ulk up your marketing with a lot of effort and big
budgets without improving your marketing results.

You could be pumping iron with your marketing, lots of activity
but not enough s.ales.

Take these five steps to make better use of the marketing muscle
you have, attract new clients and increase your s.ales.

1. Set Goals for Your Business
The first question I ask people who call me about growing their
business is what their goals are. I ask them how much revenue
they want to generate in the next twelve months. Few have a
specific number in mind. They just know that they want to make
more m0ney.

Of course you want to make more. Who doesn't? But in order to
create a marketing plan that will get you where you want to go,
you need a clear idea of your destination. Without a plan,
you're planning to fail.

Set your revenue goals, for the year, the month and the week.
Write these numbers down post them prominently so you see them
every morning. With your destination in mind you can determine
the best way to get there.

2. Set Lead Generation Goals
To achieve your revenue goals you're going to need to attract
prospects, lots of them. Most businesses convert 1% to 10% of
their prospects to clients and customers, even with excellent
salespeople. You'll need to attract 10 to 100 prospects for
every sale you'd like to generate.

Based on your revenue goals, determine your monthly s.ales
targets and, in turn, the number of qualified prospects you need
to attract. That number is your monthly lead generation goal.
Write this number down next to your revenue goals.

3. Create a Lead Generation System
Imagine your prospect is Donald Trump or Meg Whitman, the CEO of
eBay. What's your objective? You want these busy people who have
a lot on their minds to contact you and buy from you.

It doesn't matter what you are selling or to whom you are
selling. To attract prospects, they have to be motivated to
contact you. You need a lead generation system that prompts them
to call you, email you or stop by your showroom.

The lack of a simple and reliable lead generation system is the
number one barrier to growing most small businesses.

4. Avoid Losing Potential S.ales
On average, businesses of all sizes miss 80% of potential s.ales
due to lack of follow-up. Most companies lack the simple
marketing systems they need to capture these s.ales.

Once a prospect contacts you, you need a system for converting
them to clients. And once you've closed the first sale, you need
a system for getting your first-time customers to buy again.

And it doesn't stop there. People who have purchased your
products and services are your best source for new clients.
You also need a system for mining this resource to generate a
flood of referrals.

Don't just "pump iron" with your marketing. Set your goals and
establish marketing systems to generate more business than you
can handle. When you have a reliable system for generating leads
and converting prospects to clients, you'll develop muscle where
you want it, in your bank account.
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2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
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The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small
business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients
and be more successful. Sign up to receive the F.ree Marketing
Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your
business' at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com