| Sometimes, when business remains flat and even your latest technology initiatives don’t get it and you don’t know why, have you ever felt like you were still working in the dark and wished that somebody somewhere could flip a switch and just turn on the light so you could see where you are going? That’s what happened to us a few years ago as we watched one dot.com company after another fall by the wayside and discovered that we needed to find a way to shine some more light on our own situation ourselves.
The light switch we found was labelled “Marketing Communications” and it’s been showing us and our growing clientele “The Way” ever since. What we are talking about here is not some hackneyed part of a Star Wars movie storyline, but a tried-and-true marketing communications process with quality-controlled steps in it, that if followed, can really show you the way to a more profitable business both in your “brick-and-mortar” world as well as online.
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| Here is the Marketing Communications “Way” we are talking about that really helped. It consists of taking the following steps:
1. Define the Opportunity: First, take some time out to define who the customer is and determine what the opportunity is with various groups or “segments” of the marketplace you wish to do business with. Ask and try to answer the question “Who is the customer and what does he/she want and need?”
2. Plan the Pre-Approach: Of course, the best way to answer this question is to ask it of people themselves, but this will be a lot easier in the long run if you plan the approach and get organized first. You need to ask and answer the question “How will I approach prospective or existing clientele and what is it that I need to learn about their wants and needs in order to serve them well?” You'll also need to ask and answer the question, "How will I be able to effectively manage information with people with whom I come in in contact?" Consider starting a simple 3 x 5 card file box, or better yet, consider moving forward by using some contact management software which can really get you organized, even helping you set up the tracking of all other marketing communications "events", phone calls, meetings, to dos, taking notes, etc.
3. Initial Communication: After determining your pre-approach, contact existing and prospective clientele and let them know you would like to get together with them to learn more about their needs and wants so you can serve them better with products and/or services more tailor fit to their needs. A face-to-face meeting is better than a phone call, or an e-mail for this, but in a 21st century world, an e-mail exchange sometimes can work here to. You just can’t see the body language and facial expressions (yet but even that’s coming soon technology-wise.)
4. First Interview: The next and very important step is a detailed face-to-face interview with existing and prospective customers to really learn more about their needs and wants and ways to address them. If you authentically care about people’s needs and wants and take off the selling hat for a while, you can learn a lot from them. This information can (and should) inform what you end up offering them in the way of products and services, including your technology-based products and services, which takes us to the next step.
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