THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING & SELLING
Steve was having a problem. His business wasn’t growing and his income was flat.
He called me up one day, asking for help. During our conversation he asked, “What’s the difference between marketing and selling?”
“Marketing is what you do to keep your name in front of your customer. Selling is what you do when you’re trying to get your customer to buy something from you. Why do you ask?” I replied.
“Well… It seems to me that I do okay in selling, but I’m terrible when it comes to marketing.” Steve said. He continued.
“I do a pretty good job of closing sales, when I get in front of a customer, but getting in front of a customer is the hard part. And I do a terrible job of keeping my name in front of my customers and prospects.
“Because I’m so disorganized, by the time I get around to calling them to see how they’re doing, they don’t even remember who I am. Or maybe it just seems that way. Either way, I’m not getting any business.”
A Typical Problem!
Steve’s problem is typical of most of the salespeople and business owners. Every salesperson I’ve met says, “When I can get in front of a prospect, I can close the sale… (most of the time). But I’m not able to get in front of enough prospects.”
What do they do? They go out and spend a lot of money on advertising which does nothing more than lighten their Visa Card.
They don’t realize there is a difference between marketing, advertising and selling.
Marketing and advertising aren’t the same. You place advertisements in newspapers, magazines, and trade journals, and on radio and television. They’re very expensive and aren’t targeted.
Yes, you’re getting your name out there, and placing it in front of many people – or so says the person who sold you the ad – but the majority of people who are supposed to be seeing your ad aren’t the people who would be interested in buying your product or service.
Which newspapers and magazines do you read? How much attention do you pay to the advertising? If you’re like most folks, you flip through the pages as you look for the next article or story you want to read.
What do you do when you’re in the car listening to the radio and a commercial comes on? You push the button and search for another station that’s playing music or talking about something interesting.
And let’s not forget television. When does your remote control get the most use? When a commercial comes on!
Marketing Makes You Money
Marketing, on the other hand, is designed to keep your name in front of a targeted list of prospects. A well conceived and executed marketing campaign can bring you huge results.
It is a much more effective – and cost efficient way – of staying in touch with your prospects and customers.
To become a good marketer, you must have a good database, i.e. a list of people – prospects and/or customers – that you’re going to keep in touch with.
Most business- and salespeople – like Steve – do a poor job of keeping their name in front of their customers.
They get around to calling on the phone every few weeks, or is it months, at best. And see their customers face-to-face even less frequently.
If you have a database of 1000 people, and want to keep in touch with everybody once a month, that’s a thousand people you’re trying to contact. If you’re going to keep in touch every other month, that’s 500 people.
Good luck! Opportunities are going to slip through the cracks.
Without an effective marketing campaign, your customers don’t hear from you.
When a customer doesn’t hear from you it’s easy for them to forget about you.
If you don’t keep in touch with a prospect someone else will get the order.
If you don’t serve your customers, you’ll lose the business.
The old ways of marketing included sending out form letters, printed newsletters, and mailing catalogs. Many companies spend big money attending trade shows, conventions and conferences, but fail to convert those leads into sales because they have ineffective telephone techniques and no marketing programs.
These are all very time-consuming, labor intensive, and expensive. It costs a lot of money to write letters, mail newsletters, print boxes of catalogs that sit for years on the mail room floor, and attend trade shows.
Market Yourself Through The Internet
Today, the best – and most cost effective – way to market your business is through the Internet. A Web site offers you a powerful business promotion tool.
But just having someone visit your Web site doesn’t do you any good. You must capture their vital information, i.e. their name, address, company, position/title, phone and e-mail address.
If they visit your Web site, but leave without giving you their contact information, you’ve no way of keeping in touch with them. You’ve lost the prospect… forever.
Use Web Forms
The way to capture contact information is to use Web forms. A while ago I discovered two questions that changed my life:
1.What do you need?
2.How can I help you?
Prior to that I had web forms that asked such questions such as
“How did you hear of us?” or “How can I improve my Web site?”
Nobody ever filled them out, and if they did, I never did anything with the response.
Then one day I came up with the idea: Change the question.
Business took off like a rocket.
Much to my delight, people filled out the forms, and I had prospects for my services.
I just printed out the completed forms and called the prospect up.
In addition, once someone has given you their e-mail address, they’ve given you permission to keep in touch with them via e-mail. Start collecting e-mail addresses and you’ve the foundation for an e-mail newsletter.
The goal isn’t to work smarter instead of harder. The goal is to work less.
If you would like a free 90 minute no obligation “Test run,” of your business, and come away with 2 – 3 strategies to help you in the business right now, then quote 3FREE when you call or e-mail.
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