Marketing and Selling

Simple Steps to Business Success: Workshop 4

Version 1 © Enterprise Growth Partnership Ltd 2014

Who’s this workshop for?

• You own and run a small business:

– You’re just starting out in business and wondering where

to get sales from

– You’re already in business and need to refresh your

marketing and sales efforts

• You’re an employee:

– You work in marketing or sales and hope to check or

improve on your skills

– You are moving into a marketing or sales role and want

to learn how to be successful at it

What is this workshop about?

• Taking a step back• ‘Selling’ it:

– What is selling and what is marketing and why does it matter to us that there is a difference?

– How do we get people interested in what you have to offer?

– How do we persuade customers to buy from you again and again?

• Action planning

Your Action Plan

Introduce yourself

• You• Your business or job• One thing that’s great about what you do• What you hope to learn from this

workshop

Taking a Step Back• Working on your business instead of in it:

– Do you know what you want to achieve for yourself?

– Do you have clear business objectives?– How S.M.A.R.T. are they?

• Why is it important to have objectives?

MARKETING AND SELLING

What’s the difference and why does it matter?

Discussion

Marketing and selling: what’s the difference?

What do you do / will you do to get business?

Is it marketing or selling?

Marketing and Selling

Marketing• One to many• Raising awareness and

creating position • Building a relationship• ‘Pull’: attracts the customer• Creates attention and

interest• Precedes selling • Brand

Selling• One to one• Identifying and matching

needs• carrying out a transaction• ‘Push’: going to the

customer• Creates desire and action• Follows marketing• Doing the deal

Marketing and Selling Definitions

Marketing• The process of telling people about you,

your products and services

Selling• The process of persuading customers to

buy from you

Marketing and selling: two links in the chain

A

• Attention (marketing)• Publicity• Public relations

I

• Interest (marketing)• Promotion• Lead generation

D

• Desire (marketing / selling)• Identifying and matching wants and needs• Negotiating a win / win outcome

A

• Action (selling)• Closing a sale• Taking the order / cash

Doing it better!

• Understanding selling and marketing helps you use your limited resources better:– Better use of your time

– Better return on your limited marketing budget

– Avoids repeating other people’s mistakes

– Helps you to look for new customers in the right place

– Helps understand what works and what doesn’t

– Bottom line: keeps you profitable!

MARKETING. THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

Getting People Interested in What You Have to Offer

Marketing:How confident do you feel?

Marketing: you’re lucky if you get it right first time!

Decide what to do

(plan)

Afraid it won't

work (risk)

Start to do it (implement)

See if it works (test)

Oops! (review & update)

Learn from

mistakes (improve)

Why should people buy from YOU?

It’s a competitive market

Different

Cheaper (Cost)

Killing Fields(No

focus)

Better (Niche)

Customers: Who’d Have Them?

Profiling your customers

• What do they have in common:– How do they use your products?

– How frequently do they buy?

– Are they looking for a particular benefit?

– Is it a question of lifestyle e.g. gyms?

– Is it where they live?

– Is it their age?

Customer profile examples

• Car manufacturer*:

How does the customer use the car?

What’s important to this group of potential customers (needs)?

Example manufacturer

Run about town Economy, small size ?

Carrying the family Seating & luggage capacity, safety, economy, price

?

Sales person on the road

Status, style, build quality, reliability ?

Leisure driving Appearance, performance ?

Local deliveries Payload capacity, economy, reliability, security

?

* Chartered Institute of Marketing

Customer profile examples

• Art gallery start-up (direct mail / premises):

Factor Relevant information

Socio Economic Class Middle to upper professional classes

‘Psychology’ art & jewellery lover, fashion conscious, eclectic taste, university-educated, upwardly mobile life-style.

Age 35 to 55

Sex Male or female

Income > £50,000 per year

Habits e.g. shopping at middle to high-end retail establishments.

Home address West Yorkshire & Greater Manchester

Customer Groupings: Sources of Data

• Desk / internet research

• Marketing list providers:– Database marketing companies

– Membership organisations

– Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce

• Competitors

• Online lists– Dun & Bradstreet

– Duedil.com

– Jigsaw.com

• Data Protection Act– WS3 Starting & Running Your Business

Deciding on Your Message

• You understand what they need now get inside their head.

• What do you want your customers to…– …think?

– …do?

• Ways you can encourage this (4 Ps / 7 Ps):– Price (create value, try not to discount)

– Product (product features, performance)

– Placement (distribution channels)

– Promotion (advertising, PR, voluntary work)

– People (training, appearance, behaviour)

– Process (customer service, delivery)

– Physical evidence (literature, packaging)

What do you want your customers to THINK and DO?

Positioning Exercise

TALKING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

A million and one ways to promote what you do

Talking to Your Customers

The promotional mix• There are ever more inventive ways to

promote what you do and try to stand out from the crowd

• What mix of activity suits you best?• As a small business, we don’t have either the

time or the budget to do it all.

How to Get the Message Out

AdvertisingYellow Pages

DirectoriesMagazine advertisingNewspapers

Radio

TV

Exhibitions

Vehicle signage

Window displays

Uniforms

Sponsorship

ElectronicSMS

Web site

SEO

Pay per click

Blogging

Telemarketing

Email marketing

Viral marketing

Social media

Pricing Credit control (e.g. payment discounts)

Special offers (e.g. BOGOF)

Vouchers

Tactical pricing

Printing Business cards

Letters (direct mail)

Inserts

Flyers

Point of sale material

Posters / banners

Post cards

Price lists

Terms and conditionsPackaging and labelling

Products Product range

Product development

Public Relations (PR)Editorial

Advertorials

Newsletters

RelationshipsReferrals

Networking

QuestionnairesSuggestion boxesParties (e.g. Tupperware)Workshops

Focus groups

ReputationProposals, quotations & estimates

Testimonials

Presentations

Speeches

Newspaper interviews

Voluntary or charity work

Professional committees

Strategic partnerships

SalesScratch cards

Promotional gifts

Incentives

Sales activity

Your Promotional Plan

Activity What we are doing / thinking of

doing

What else might work?

Actions we need to take & by when

e.g. Email marketing e.g. Monthly email newsletter

e.g. Personalised emails to target customers

Write the body text of a personalised email by…

How Much Talking?

• How many people do you think you need

to talk to in order to:

– Get them interested?

– Make them want to buy?

– Place the order?

Conversion Ratios

A• Attention (marketing)

• Suspects > Prospects

I

• Interest (marketing)• Prospects > Leads

D

• Desire (marketing / selling)• Leads > Offers

A

• Action (selling)• Offers > Sales!

1000 suspects

200 prospects

100 leads

50 offers

40 sales

Conversion ratio: 40 sales ÷ 1000 suspects x 100% = 4%

Want more? Double the Sales Activity!!!

HOW TO MAKE A...Selling: it’s a science as well as an art.

The Art & Science of Selling

• Selling is an ‘art’ (interpersonal skills)

– Belief

– Passion

– Enthusiasm

• and a ‘science’ (process)

– Sales don’t happen by accident

– Sales can be planned

– There is a process to selling effectively

– More sales activity will lead to more sales

THE SCIENCE OF SELLINGKnow the process. Trust the process. Adapt the process to your needs

Know Your Onions

• Know your products & margins

– What value-adding services do you

provide?

– Which are your valuable customers and

which are your high maintenance ones?

– What’s going to contribute to your profit and

what will just flatter the top line?

Sales Planning

• Do you have a Sales Plan?

– Plan sales by product / service /

revenue stream

• How much do you need to sell to meet

your objective?

– Define conversion ratios

– Set achievable targets

THE ART OF SELLINGGet creative: you already have it in you!

People buy People

• “Gut feeling” counts more than you may imagine

– Even complex sales

• We’re all different personality types:

– Visual

– Hearing

– Feelings-based

• Influencing styles:

– Negotiation / Vision / Logic / People Orientation / Association

– Match words & body language

– Use others

Questioning Techniques

• The person asking the questions is in control: make sure it’s

YOU!

– Conventional sell or Dialogue based sell – how do you sell yours?

– Open questions

• Active listening:

– Reflection / Summarising / Testing understanding / SILENCE!

– Aim is to understand the customer need to identify the best value

solution

“What’s In It for Me?”

• Negotiate a WIN / WIN Outcome

• Question their motives - uncover the real issues

• What ‘floats their boat?’ (Focus on the benefits not the features):

– What’s included in your offer?

– How do you demonstrate value for money?

• Handle objections:

– recognise, clarify, rephrase, address

– Don’t discount

– Do show flexibility – but not on price!

Settle on Your Winning Formula

• Are You Different, Better or Just ‘Cheaper?’

– Your Vision and Values make you Different

– Customer and Product Mix

– Sales targets linked to your Ultimate Destination

– Lead generation / footfall

– Process

– People

– Measure, Evaluate and Update

Marketing:How confident do you feel?

Downloads

• Business Doctors– Downloads

• http://www.businessdoctors.co.uk/yorkshire-west/News-Article?id=82

– Action Plan• http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEAActionPlan.pdf

– Business Plan• http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEABusinessPlantemplate.doc

– Cash flow Forecast• http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEACashflowtemplate.xls

Useful Web Sites• Businessballs

– www.businessballs.com– business models, tips and stories

• Federation of Small Business– www.fsb.org.uk– Representation and membership

benefits

• Groundwork– www.groundwork.org.uk– Free training in the event of

redundancy

• HM Revenue & Customs– www.hmrc.gov.uk– Tax, VAT, expenses, mileage, help

• Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce

• www.mycci.co.uk • Networking and membership benefits

• West Yorkshire Enterprise Agency– www.wyea.co.uk– Funding and support– Training Courses

wyea.eventbrite.co.uk

• Your Local Council• UK Government

– www.direct.gov.uk