Marketing Tips

Archive for November, 2009

Building A Referral Based Sales Channel

So you’ve been thinking about growing your payroll business and are looking for strategies that will take you to the next level… there are three levers that can be pulled to achieve this probably more:

• Sales Force
• Marketing Campaign
• Referral Business

The simplest and least expensive of the three is to tap your existing clients who you serve and serve well to assist you in your efforts to grow.

What we need to understand is that we already have an indirect sales force working for us each and every day weekends too! What I am talking about here are your clients. The clients you serve you strive to satisfy and who when asked will hopefully tell those who are interested in knowing how they get their payroll out each week.

This is wonderful!

…BUT there is so much more to be done here!

These clients love you but probably don’t exactly wander around with your cards in their pocket just waiting to bring up how wonderful you are to random people they bump into.

That’s your job.

What these clients can do for you is to provide you with a foot in the door with the people that they already do business with.

A few months back a client of mine was speaking before a group of their peers at a conference. He made a very succinct point. He said and I am very loosely quoting here… that simply asking a client if they know anyone who might need payroll services is a very weak question. He said this because it is a question that can be answered very simply with a yes or a no. Usually no. He then went on to suggest that what we really need to be asking our clients are questions like these:

• Who cuts your hair?
• Where do you get your car washed?
• Who delivers your bread to make those tasty cheeseburgers?
• The list is endless.

These kinds of questions easily deliver the opportunity into your lap to make warm selfintroductions to new prospects. The conversation goes like this:

“Hey there Mr. Barber… I was just over at Bob’s Burger Hut delivering their payroll for the week and Bob said I ought to come over here for a haircut. He seems like a pretty satisfied customer with a big grin.”

Now this is all well and good but how do we dig up new prospects from an excellent client who would be a great reference and is highly satisfied but isn’t really that forthcoming with conversation or leads?

Let’s take a look at a visual example of a simple restaurant client and how they can provide you with a warm entry into 5 new prospects offices.

Some assumptions about this client…

For argument’s sake let’s assume that they serve both food and spirits and have a takeout service. This sets the stage for us to think about what kind of relationships are established by the client with their vendors. As many reading this are Accounting Professionals of one sort or another you may even have a little list of their vendors sitting in your office! Now be ethical and get their permission to use them as a reference as you contact them. They might even be able to help you narrow down the list.

Who might my client play with in THEIR sandbox?

1. Hard Liquor
2. Beer amp; Wine Vendor
3. Soft Drink/Pop Vendors
4. Potato Chip Vendor i.e. Lays/Fritos
5. Laundry Service
6. Floor Mat Guy
7. Food Products
8. Dishwasher Service i.e. EcoLab
9. Cleaning Service
10. Office Supplies

Ok so now we have a rough sketch of some of our client’s vendors of choice. Now we need to eliminate the vendors that are less likely to be a soft target for us to approach.

Well it looks like 6 of 10 were pretty tasty looking clients so let’s run with it!

What have we done here? We have opened the door to six new prospective clients who you can now have a warm conversation with. We can now honestly say to the prospect:

“Hey John! Bob over at Bob’s Burger Hut said I ought to give you a call. I do the payroll for his company and he mentioned that the two of us might be a good fit to do business together.”

Woohoo!

…but… what are we forgetting?

What is missing here? Oh yes the carrot.

Now there are some misconceptions out there about what flavor of carrot is the best flavor.

There is some debate over how carrots are best delivered.

There are some people who have never heard of the carrot.

YOU MUST REWARD THOSE WHO REWARD YOU

The way in which we reward our allies in the search for payroll clients can be varied and different for each payroll service bureau who strives to reward those who refer business to them.

HOWEVER!

I have two core points that have made a lot of sense to those in the industry who I have consulted on this topic:

• You MUST reward your cheerleaders!
• A ‘discount’ is not a tangible exciting reward

Expanding on the first point I would also point out that prerewarding can be even more effective. Thanking your clients who are most likely to refer business to you is like baiting the hook. Make sure your likely cheerleaders feelthelove!

On the second point a discount on payroll services is…

B O R I N G …Yes.. It is.. come on

GET CREATIVE !!!

• Roll up a wad of crisp 5.00 bills and tie a ribbon around it. Go to the client’s site and hand it to them in person while thanking them for referring the new client to you. CASH IS KING!
• Multiple small denomination VISA Gift cards that the boss can pass down to his employees?
• Food? …preferably not from their menu
• Refer business TO THEM! Walk a prospect into their office that is looking for someone to handle a big catering job…

Whatever you do make it fun and make it personal. Why do we want to make it Fun and Personal?

Because that is a relationship.

A discount is just a transaction. If you want them to remember you and willingly drag business through your door without your prompting build that relationship. Reward your cheerleaders and they will reward you.

As it can be in working to grow any business doing nothing yields much lower results than doing something. Find that lever that will light up your business and hold on tight… growth can be a bumpy ride but most people only complain about it with a big sloppy grin on their face.

How to Reach Us: If you would like to contact Logan Cashwell directly he can be reached at 219 5670245 via email at lcashwelladaptasoft.comor visit www.adaptasoft.com

About the writer:  Logan Cashwell is a Business Consultant with Adaptasoft Inc. and has been working with Payroll Service Bureaus and Accounting Professionals since 2002 to enhance their business processes and their bottom line. Prior to joining Adaptasoft Logan was a Sr. Marketing Manager with Intuit Inc. working with their Complete Payroll Services business unit. Logan received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Development from the University of La Verne and a Master of Science in Leadership and Management with an emphasis in Strategic Management from the University of La Verne.

Branding You Should You Put Your Photo On Your Business Card?

I was at a networking event this week having a pleasant conversation with a nice fellow about Branding and how to set yourself apart in the marketplace. We were discussing the benefits of using a professional designer to create a brand for your business. Upon handing him my business card he said “I see that you have your photo on your business card. I’ve been told that it’s not a good idea to do that. What do you think?

I have my photo on my business card because I’m in a relationship building business and I want to be memorable. Think about all the business cards you collect when attending networking events. You get back the office and sort through the stack. Very few business cards stand out and you’re challenged to remember who the person was days or weeks later. Having a photo on your business card helps people remember you. People do business with those they know like and trust. If they can remember you that’s the first step.

That’s not to say that any photo will do. It must be the right kind of photo. It should be taken by a professional. You must be wearing professional attire. And it helps to have a pleasant friendly expression on your face. It also makes sense to use a photo that looks like you not some glamour shot.

So what else should you include on your business card if you want to have the best darn card out there?

Business Name and Title I know it seems obvious but try to include enough information on your business card so that people know what you do for a living. I don’t know how many times I’ve been handed a business card that didn’t tell me what the person does. Either they haven’t named their business correctly or they don’t have a title. So be clear and don’t forget your title.

Business Address These days it seems that more and more businesses are not including a snail mail address on their business card. To me this imparts a sense of “we operate out of a bedroom in our house”. List your business address and if you do operate from home and are concerned about privacy rent a street address from one of those mailboxes companies.

Phone Number Of course it’s obvious that you need a phone number on your business card. But it’s no longer necessary to crowd your card with a fax number. With so much business being done via email the fax has become somewhat obsolete. This will also help you to get less spam via fax.

Email Address Ensure that you are presenting a professional image to your prospects by including a professional email address. Yournameyourcompany.com is far better than lovetorideyahoo.com.

Tagline If you want to look “pulled together” in a branding sort of way spend some time strategizing around what type of tagline to use on your business card. Try to think like your target client when brainstorming. A tagline that is about how great you are doesn’t do much for your target client. Create a BENEFITDRIVEN tagline. And don’t say your service is excellent. Everyone says that.

Website Domain Name This is a no brainer. Any entrepreneur who doesn’t have a website these days really isn’t on the map as far as professionalism is concerned. To really take this a step further tell them to go to your website to get something for free. A free report articles resources and things that they could really use. For that matter you can also direct them to your blog.

Listing of Services or Benefits I actually prefer a listing of benefits on a business card. It really speaks to what you offer. Imagine a massage therapist’s card “banish stress relieve tension pamper yourself”. How about an Acupuncturist “live drug free enhance your wellbeing eliminate pain”.

So yes I think you should put your photo on your business card because it makes you stand out from everyone else. You get extra points if you have your card designed by a professional who is not your cousin’s friend from college. Invest in your business. It really pays off.

Copyright 2008 Suzanne Muusers All Rights Reserved

Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long the article is printed in its entirety including the about the author information you leave all links active and you do not edit the article in any way and include the copyright statement.

About the writer:  Suzanne Muusers is a Business Coach and Business Expert based in Scottsdale Arizona. She is a credentialed member of the International Coach Federation and has owned or managed a business every year since 1981. She is the creator of The Two Page Mini Business Plan The Six Step Guide to Creating a Business Plan That’s Short Easy and Gets Results! Visit her site: http://www.prosperitycoaching.biz

Brand Filmsthen And Now
Part of what continues to fascinate me about advertising is the rare opportunity to define a brandto make tangible the intangibleusing mere words and images in a strategic or brand essence film. Its a slight honor to own the task. Typically you get all the trappings of a TV shoot but with less money less time more attention from the client and no category in which to enter the finished piece in an awards show. But it pays the bills and really the values in the learning and doing the thing itself; in other words in the writing.Before anything is filmed before anything is edited before the celebrity VO steps up to the microphone before the audience of skeptical regional sales managers settles in to watch what youve createdthere is nothing. There is the blank screen.Lucky you. Theres a story about Hollywood that says the reason everyone hates the writer is because the writer gets to see the film before anyone else; same goes for defining brands. If youre writing doesnt matter if youre a copywriter art director or a designer youre privy to the idea way ahead of everyone else.My memory is foggy. I think the first strategic film script I wrote was at HeaterEasdon back in 1995 or 1996. We did a lot of new product development for AnheuserBusch. Theyd send us a case of unlabeled bottles filled withsomething. Wed get a briefing from a brewmaster over the phone then come up with a name logo label tap handle neon sign and some kind of script for a video about the new beer.We were creating brands from almost nothing. Oftentimes our success seemed to have more to do with luck or synchronicity or personality. And maybe skill had something to do with it. Reminds me of the brandmaking process seen in Mad Men. Theres a heroic appeal to being The One Who Figures It Out. But the truth is you probably owe a thousand people equal credit for helping get your head your heart and your hands in the right place at the right time.The strategic films we created for Volkswagen during the Drivers wanted era were rarely made from nothing. More often than not we had too much information. Skill had as much to do with reading researching and editing as the writing. For example you might sense a connection between Juliet Schors The Overspent American and interviews the planners made while researching Jetta rejecters. Youd sense theres a headline or a sequence in there somewhere. Then you just kept writing until they appeared.The other distinction about any strategic film I made back then and those I do now is the Internet. Well not really the Internet per se but the significant changes in media business models measurement access to data consumer empowerment and all those other factors that have come to define the business and advertising worlds postInternet.In my experience strategic or brand essence films made to define a brand preInternet were done so with a very important but tacit understanding:The brand is in charge the brand is primarily communicated via words and images and the brand has something very important to tell its customers. This understanding very much affected how you put down the words.As plenty of other pundits and authors including myself have pointed out were not in Kansas anymore. That old point of view is probably one you want to avoid. Today the brand likely isnt in charge theres a lot more to the story than mere words and images can tell and the brands customers might actually have something more important to say about the state of affairs than the brand itself.But that doesnt mean you shouldnt write the script. Defining brands is still incredibly important and film is still a wonderful and very effective device for communicating what a brand is all about. You might not end up creating just a film however.Whats changed now is the scope of the writers assignment. Its not strictly about communicating what the brand means metaphorically anymore. Creating a brand film can be an opportunity to affect how the brand operates in the real world. In many ways the writers task when defining a brand now is in setting down principles for manufacturing customer service distribution policy pricing as well as communications. It can be a conduit for improving relationships between a brand and its customers.We live in an age of such transparency that to create a brands strategic film that glosses over how products are made and transported or how service is delivered is to invite investigation and potential ridicule. To try and define a brand without involving its evangelists in the process is risky. To ignore the opportunity to try and define fix alter or improve the company itself in the process of creating its brand is to abdicate responsibility for that brand.In many ways the process of writing brand films today can and should be a broader act.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;As a writer creative director and drummer Tim started in advertising in 1993 after receiving a B.A. in Jazz from the University of Cincinnati. Since then hes worked with TBWA/Chiat Day Heater/Easdon McKinney Silver Arnold Worldwide OgilvyOne Mullen and Carmichael Lynch. Tim now works for his own entity Hello Viking.

Tim has provided strategic and creative leadership to A.G. Edwards AnheuserBusch Brown Forman Goodyear HarleyDavidson Porsche PricewaterhouseCoopers and Volkswagen.
You may also find articles by Tim at the TalentZoo.com website under Marketing Moxie.