Building Your MLM Business Online

As a professional services provider, it’s wise to remember that customers are calling upon you to provide something they can’t do for themselves. The very fact that they can’t do it themselves means that they are uncertain about what it is that needs to be done, how it should be done, and at what cost.

What can you do to improve the chances that this customer will ultimately become a raving fans and the source of many future referrals? Eliminate the mystery of what you are doing. The degree to which you can give your customer confidence, clarity and control will result in a great experience for you and your customer.

As entertainment, mystery is a lot of fun; as part of real life – not so much. In fact, in the workplace it leads to anxiety and stress. Your job is to demystify the journey you will be taking your customer through.

Provide and Guide – From the very beginning, spell out what is going to be happening. Walk your customer through the various steps and milestones. Have a checklist; it provides comfort to your customer. The first time you explain the process, just assume that the customer may have some confusion. With your patient guidance, they will begin to get clarity with each step. Seeing progress on the checklist will give them larger and larger chunks of confidence. This means greater confidence in you and their decision to engage you.

Explain and Ask – Commit yourself to educating the customer. Short term, this education will go a long way in soothing the pain of change. Keep returning to and explaining the process. While it is very familiar to you, it’s brand new to the customer. Give them greater understanding of what is happening and why. In the long term, the better educated the customer is, the better able they are to refer you in an intelligent and meaningful way. Don’t forget to ask questions and probe for areas that are still unclear to them. Again, much of the customer’s anxiety is unspoken.

Review and Celebrate – Take the time to sit down and review significant milestones with your customer. It showcases the accuracy of the “map” and the guidance you are providing as well as reinforcing the steady progress that is being made. And it’s a great opportunity to celebrate with the customer. They are closer to completing the transformation that is going to make their business better; you are closer to the finish line of your mutual success.

New customers are entering into change with many unexpressed emotions that could range from concern to fear, mild stress to anxiety, will this cause pain, will this cost me my job.

Proactively addressing the unspoken worries of your new customer by providing and guiding, explaining and asking, reviewing and celebrating will give them the control, clarity and confidence to get through the process with more success and less stress. As a result they will be thrilled with you and much more likely to rave and refer.

Dawn Westerberg has been developing effective Marketing Strategy for entrepreneurs for twenty five years. She helps entrepreneurs focus on the right target audience to attract ideal profitable customers who do repeat business and are happy to refer. Also published at How To Give Your Customers Control, Clarity And Confidence.

An orchestra creates a singular experience by bringing together dozens of instruments to create a symphony. The power of the performance comes from the integration of the strings, horns, percussion and other instruments. The listener enjoys the combination of many sounds and combinations.

When your marketing plan is conducted like an orchestra, strategically leveraging a variety of marketing tactics, you create a more memorable experience for your prospects. The reason for this is that it allows your prospect more ways to receive your message, ways that are more appealing or convenient for them.

It usually requires a variety of touches for a prospect to respond. They hear you speak at a conference. They Google your name and find a variety of articles and press releases in which you are mentioned or that you have authored. They visit your website and read through the testimonials and customer profiles. They receive direct mail or an email that informs them of your offering. Through all of these tactics, if you are thoughtfully providing memorable and valuable messaging frequently, the prospect is able to know, like and trust you. When the moment of acting or the need to reach out occurs – you are top of mind.

When you limit the type of marketing vehicle used to communicate your message, you make it easy to ignore the message. Email blast after email blast, makes it very easy for the recipient to simply delete without reading. We’ve all had those mornings when email after email begins to populate the screen and in an attempt to prioritize and filter – it’s just easier to delete those emails that simply aren’t critical in an effort to make the workday more manageable. Telemarketing call after telemarketing call typically trains the recipient to let the call go to voicemail. You get the point.

They say variety is the spice of life. It’s also the juice of effective marketing. Your target market enjoys variety as well, so deliver through a diverse combination of tactics. My tagline is “Fall in Love with Your Business Again”. That starts to happen when your marketing becomes effective. I use a combination of direct mail, online articles, social media, press releases and speaking engagements. It’s a theme that I repeat often, but it works: all of these practices allow my audience the opportunity to know, like, trust and try me.

Good marketing is green. What I mean is that it can be recycled and repurposed in a number of ways – the great blog article makes for a great webinar. The speaking engagement can be repurposed into a number of blog articles and a press release promoting the speaking engagement. The problem you solve for one customer makes for a great testimonial and showcase for other potential customers who are challenged with the same problem.

One of the characteristics of good marketing is that it is memorable. When I send out a direct mail piece it has a shape, a color, a tone, a message that is different from anything else the prospect is receiving. That appeal gives my message a greater chance of be heard and contributes to being top of mind with the prospect

Maybe it’s time to think about a change to your marketing if you aren’t seeing any results. If you know that your products and services are helping businesses, it is worth evaluating, recalibrating and finding a better way to share that message and improve your results?

If you would like to see better results from your marketing efforts turn to Dawn Westerberg Consulting and see how you can fall in love with your business again. Unique version for reprint here: Look For Better Results When Your Marketing Is Orchestrated.

Small business owners need to invest in marketing but should avoid those who promise a one-time, low cost, quick fix to business development. When it comes to growing your business, there is no “set it and forget it” approach to marketing.

You may have considered having someone else assist you with your marketing. And whether that involves hiring an employee or retaining a marketing firm, you many have concerns with whether or not you have the right person and if the marketing activities are making progress in attracting new customers.

It’s not unusual to have questions about the types of marketing tactics being employed. If email campaigns aren’t working, why don’t we spend more on SEO? If direct mail is working, should we quit attending events? What about the frequency? Should we have campaigns scheduled on a monthly or quarterly basis?

Small business owners also tend to get a little nervous when the marketing person wants to try something new. They fret over the marketing person suggesting a different look and feel than the stock art, multi-cultural crowd hanging around in the conference room.

Small business owners should enjoy the peace of mind that comes with engaging the right marketing person. There are six traits that you should look for when hiring or retaining a marketing person.

Good marketing people are curious. They love to delve into the details of where and how your products and services fit. Their curiosity drives them to want to know more about everything – the products, the services, the customers, the nature of the customer’s business, how the customer is using the product and services for better results, what makes a good customer, and how they can find more of these customers. When you hear them talk about these things, it’s a very good sign.

Good marketing people are consistent. They know that the challenge of making your brand top of mind with your target market requires a regular and strategic outreach. They understand the difference between spamming and reasonable frequency. Consistent doesn’t mean uniform – so they’ll be looking for ways to keep the message and tactics fresh for optimum results.

Good marketing people are results oriented. They watch key metrics to ensure the marketing plan is hitting on all cylinders. They are in touch with analytics and responses to campaigns and monitor them daily. They watch to see what works and what doesn’t work and examine the possible reasons why. They then test and refine. They will track how many raw leads are generated. They will calculate the number of raw leads that become quality leads and the percentage of quality leads that result in closed business.

Good marketing people experiment. They are constantly looking for new channels or approaches. They will experiment with segmenting the target list, or updating key messaging, or changing the packaging or delivery of the message. When there is time to revisit and re-evaluate, good marketers like to take a fresh look at an old effort. Perhaps the content was less than compelling. Perhaps the title was weak – or failed to address what the prospect was looking to learn or solve. Good marketers are keeping tabs on new technology and platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and how B2B are employing those platforms.

Good marketers look for ways to make marketing fun for the recipient. Some of the most successful B2C and B2B campaigns have been those that invite the prospect to have a little bit of fun with the marketing piece or message. Sometimes the fun factor can cause a marketing campaign to go viral and enjoy an unexpected reach when recipients share with their networks.

Good marketing people are open. They are willing to answer the business owner’s questions about the marketing strategy, plan and effectiveness without becoming defensive. If they don’t know the answer to the questions, they are open to researching, and testing if necessary, to get the answer.

Looking to find the best deal on strategic marketing, then visit www.dawnwesterberg.com to find the best advice on effective marketing for you.