Tag: sales - Page 4

One of the biggest misconceptions that business owners have it is that if they have a marketing strategy developed, all of a sudden, overnight, an influx of leads will come through the door.

It's hard running a business, and even harder to manage the fact that many entrepreneurs and CEO's want everything 'yesterday' and are impatient by nature. That same impatience often makes them very success, as does their attention to detail, but when it comes marketing, unless you have an unlimited budget, it is impossible to be an overnight success.

As an owner of an agency, I know this thought process too well.

It takes a good 20 to 40 hours minimum to write a marketing strategy, and that is after research and a 4-hour workshop. To expect that to be finished overnight in itself is impossible and would be only at the determent of the client. No-one is that good, that innovative and creative to put their knowledge into a strategy that is campaign driven to drive leads. No-one. We could put 20 people on the one strategy and it still would not be right after a week - and that is fact.

I come up with my best ideas away from the office. Not sitting at my desk under pressure.

It's not in your imagination, but marketing your business is getting a whole lot harder. What was once an easy to achieve goal, is now polluted by too many choices for both your customer and yourself, in the marketing mix.

As a customer, it is confusing and very few companies have fine-tuned the art of simple. We all learn at University to "Keep It Simple Stupid" - the KISS principal, but too many of us have forgotten that and perhaps we no longer believe it to be relevant. I do. Confusing the client, and our clients confusing their customers is a huge mistake and only when a customer identifies this do they start the breakthrough to achieving their next step towards achieving their ultimate marketing goal.

Marketing Eye has for years focused on the small to medium sized business market. We have done incredibly well specialising in providing businesses that are looking to catapult their business growth by providing them with a qualified outsourced marketing department.

We are about to embark on our last quarter of the financial year, and like most companies, we are seeking to accelerate our sales performance and leverage our current marketing structure and assets.

Marketing Eye is one of Australia's most recognisable marketing consulting firms due to our online performance. We were early adopters of everything from websites through to social media use. We know that every single month search engine optimisation must be a priority, and blogging keeps our prospects coming back time and time again.

Marketing can often be defined as a science and a bit of luck, while sales is a skill that requires knowledge and expertise to close.

Some people are satisfied with minimal sales and minimal income, and there is no motivational factors that will ever change that. All motivating them will do, is change their expectation of entitlement.

The countdown is on and while we are all still enjoying the Spring Racing Carnival, there are a few large retailers who have already put together their Christmas displays and have started their Christmas marketing campaigns.

So what should you do? Do you start early because they have, or do you wait until it is closer to Christmas? Here is your retail marketing “TO DO” list to help you decide.

The sales manager is arguably one of the most important people in any office. Often when you are a smaller business, the entrepreneur or CEO doubles as a sales manager, and this can get a company so far, but not all the way.

Mark Twain once said “it usually takes me three weeks to write a good impromptu speech” and he probably wasn’t joking. The best speeches you’ve ever heard were meticulously scripted and rehearsed before they were delivered with that engaging element of panache that had you so hooked.

No matter whether you are a politician, motivational speaker or inside sales rep, you need a good script and you need to practice it. A dynamic script will ensure you have every base covered, including lapses of knowledge, any objections you may counter and a deep understanding and awareness of the product.

For a long time Marketing Eye has been toying with hiring an Inside Sales Executive, similar to a format that exists in the US. What has held us back in Australia is that we have not been fully equipped to train an Inside Sales Executive and therefore have been sitting on our hands when a decision has had to be made.

With an office move in Melbourne to a larger space, finally, the time had come and an opportune meeting with an American Inside Sales Specialist ensured that Marketing Eye Melbourne had their very first person in this position on board.