REMOVING,OBSTACLES,SALES,REMOV marketing REMOVING OBSTACLES TO SALES
Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t
REMOVING OBSTACLES TO SALESby Charlie CookDuring the summer Olympics I watched the men's and women'shurdles. I'm always impressed by these athletes' ability to runat full speed and leap the hurdles without breaking stride.But each time I watch this track event, I have the samereaction. If they just went out on the track and removed thosebarriers, it would be a heck of lot easier to get around thetrack. The athletes could run faster, more smoothly and wouldn'trisk falling (as the accomplished Flo Joyner did).If you are struggling to attract clients, you may feel likeyou're running the hurdles. Obstacles like limited promotionalbudgets, ads that don't sell, web sites that don't generateleads, prospects that aren't ready to buy or who think yourprices are too high, all get between prospects and the sale.Do you find yourself struggling to overcome hurdles to gettingthe sale?You can clear the track of the hurdles that are getting betweenyou and potential clients once and for all and create a clearpath for prospects to become clients. If your target market knewyou and how you could help them, understood the value of yourservices and contacted you when they were ready to buy you'd berolling in revenue.Is this how your business works?Are you getting a steady stream of calls and new clients?What can you do to remove these obstacles and increase yoursales?If you haven't already identified your marketing obstacles,start by doing so. The first step is to list them. Once you knowyour biggest obstacles to increasing sales, you can look forways to get rid of them. (If you have other staff involved insales, get their input too.)Below are two common obstacles to sales. For each I've includedsome simple strategies for removing these obstacles. Once youunderstand that marketing obstacles aren't permanent, you'lldiscover that you can remove more and more impediments and clearthe way for increased sales.1. Lack of AwarenessYou're just starting your business. No one has heard of you, andgiven your lack of revenue, you have little to invest inadvertising. What do you do?Use lead generation strategies that are free or almost free.During a severe downturn in the economy, a local financialservices firm offered a series of workshops for free to privateinvestors. Within a year the firm grew their assets undermanagement from $5.5 million to $15 million.Using an ezine I sent to librarians and online editors, I grewthe value of a web site about search engines to almost a milliondollars, without spending a dime on advertising.This strategy works equally well for established companies. LesSchwab Tire Centers fixes flats for free, giving away over $10million in repairs each year. Building goodwill with giveawayslike this and an unusual dedication to customer service, thischain of 300 tire outlets earned estimated revenue of $1 billionin 2003.2. Lack of Results from AdvertisingYou're not getting a positive return on your ads, should you buymore ad space? How much? Where?In my experience, there are two obstacles to increasing saleswith advertising. Its either the message or the audience. Bothcan be fixed to increase sales.If you want people to respond to your advertising, get theirattention and prompt them to contact you, write your marketingmessage, ads and marketing copy from your prospect'sperspective. Identify and address their concerns.No matter how good your marketing message is, it won't help youunless its seen by people who want your products and services.Even if you do your homework up front, there is no guaranteeyour ad will draw sales.Track each ad campaign and each sale to determine which adssell. No matter how good your copy is or how many people seeyour ad, if the ad audience doesn't include people who want yourservices and are ready to buy, it's the wrong audience. Dropthose ads that bring in meager results and identify additionaladvertising opportunities, ones that will be seen or heard bypeople who want to buy your products and services.Stop wasting your time struggling to jump over marketinghurdles. Instead, you can identify the obstacles that get in theway and eliminate them one by one. Make this shift and you'llincrease your sales and be more successful.-2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
REMOVING,OBSTACLES,SALES,REMOV