The Sun Asda and Tesco

I was doing the weekly shop the other week and the cashier said to me 'would you like a Sun to read, its free,' I was about to say no and then she said 'you can have £5 off your shopping bill,'

Well money for nothing and the Sun for free that's almost a song. Anyway it was a deal based on an irresistible offer. Why wouldn't I want £5 off for no effort on my part, even if I don't like reading the Sun, who's headline was all about the none football activities of our England football captain that was.


When I said okay to the cashier, she opened the Sun and she tore out the coupon that was in a full page ad that Asda was running.


It was interesting to see how Tesco reacted to the competitive threat and a reminder that coupons are a direct response tool to bring new customers or clients into your business.


You don't however have to spend money on full page ads in national newspapers to take advantage of this lead generation mechanism. There are online and offline methods which are both low cost and very effective. 


If you want to know which work best or tell other people your experiences with coupons please leave a comment.


Regards


Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

No Posts Last Month

Greetings all blog readers!


I did not make a post last month because I was very busy helping my brother sell one of our businesses. 


In terms of what's going on at the moment I am currently working on a new business development course which will be supported  by coaching.


This will be launched in April of this year. Its taking the Michael Gerber principle a bit further, 'working on the business not in the business.' 


The objective is to grow a business incrementally by between 2-5% per month, addressing seven results divers. The course only requires an hour a week of the business owners time and I am throwing in some time management principles that will help you create additional time, if you are time pressured.


You can in fact sign up to the time management report on the blog and that will explain some of the concepts. Since I've not been attentive to my readers if you sign up to time management report I'll send you something else that you will find useful.


That's all for now.


Regards


Mark






Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Sales and Marketing Questions

Here are a few questions to simulate your strategic thinking for the New Year. 

If you are getting too many no’s or don’t knows, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to reply.

1. What sets your business apart from the competition, why should they choose you instead of your competitors? 

2. Have you got five or more lead generation strategies to generate sufficient leads to achieve your budget for 2010? (Excluding referrals).

3. Do you close above 50% of your prospects? (A prospect is defined as someone that has shown an interest in your products and services).

4. Have you got three or four referral systems that are being consistently worked by the appropriate people in your organisation? (Word of mouth does not count).

5. Are you spending sufficient time in managing and developing your sales and marketing activities?

6. Are you attempting to increase the size of every sale with every new and existing customer/client?

7. Do you have a cheaper alternative when people cannot afford to buy from you?

8. Are repeat sales built into your sales model?

9. Do you know how long an average customer/client stays with you in years?

10. When you have lost a customer/client do you know why?

11. Do you continually communicate and educate your customer/clients in terms of the benefits and applications of your products/services?

12. Do you have a very strong initial offer to start a relationship?

13. Have everyone that 'sells' been trained in consultative sales?

14. Have you done anything before that’s worked in sales and marketing, but you no longer do it? (If yes start doing it again).

15. Do your sales people have script books that enable you to ensure that your sales expertise doesn't ‘walk out the door’ if your best salespeople leave?

16. Is it really easy to buy from you or could you make it even easier?

17. Do you use joint ventures to obtain more customers or sell more products and services?

18. Is your website generating sufficient leads in relation to your investment in it?

19. Do you take advantage of your existing relationships? (For example has your solicitor, accountant or banker helped you beyond just providing a service?)

20. Is the time that you are investing in social media and the internet producing a return? 

Let me know what you think to the questions or if you have any issues.

These questions are from our strategic business audit document.



Regards




Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Get More Done In 2010

Just a quick post to suggest that its worth completing the form 'How To Remain Focused The Secret To Time Management.' It only four pages so it won't take a lot of time reading it! 

Regards


Mark

A Results Driven Approach To Your Business Success

Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Sell it again Alice

Last Friday I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane and enjoyed seeing Alice Cooper in his 'Theatre of Death' tour in Nottingham.


It was the third time I've seen him and he keeps on coming up with new ways to 'act' out his death!


Hanging, guillotine, a box full of spikes and a large syringe administered by his nurse the 'killer. Tiffany Lowe, after the song poison.


Its all harmless fun, it was a real laugh hanging out with lots of people with strange makeup and black Alice wigs. They weren't all middle aged + but it wasn't a family show either!


Anyway back to my normal subject of marketing. Prior to the gig there was a bloke with a drum handing out leaflets promoting the recording of the gig.

This was on a memory stick, which enabled the punters to take away half he concert. The other half was available via a download later on plus some other goodies.

As you can see I was one who decided to part with more money.


So Alice sold the gig twice, not to everyone of course, but that's the opportunity for you and many people in different walks of life. The opportunity to record to reproduce your knowledge, your skills digitally, then to sell it again.


So the question that's worth asking is. What do you know or what skills do you have that are worth something to someone else?


What are your skills and knowledge, which can be reproduced and sold many times over?


That's real leverage.


He's another idea even if you don't want to sell it; you can still help other people by sharing your knowledge.



Food for thought for the New Year.

All comments welcome have a great Christmas and all the best for 2010.


Regards




Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved