Herman: John L. Herman Jr., Author

Marketing Made Easy...

Salesman ask me for ideas on how to close a deal in this struggling economy. Marketing people ask me for creative ideas to gain customers as we slide down the economic hill. These questions indicate I am talking to ostriches.

Many of you have read about my theory that people are one of three animals…ostriches stick their head in the sand and see no reality, deer-in-the-headlights are spooked and get run over, and lions leave a jungle that has been devastated and go find new territory to survive.

Why do salesman think they can just adjust their style or come up with some new rhetoric and get the deal done? Do they not understand the buyer is broke? Do they not get the fact that the customer in front of them is in a daze and doesn’t know if they will still be there when the product being pitched is even delivered? Salesman need to work on their relationships, not their closing ratio. Learning how to help your customer at this time may not mean a sale today…but when the recovery occurs your help will reap rewards. Why not spend time with your customers and ask them how they are doing and what your company might need for them when they get in better shape. Maybe you will hear something to take back to the home office and help your company…which may be as good as gold. There won’t be higher sales for awhile and slipping numbers will be the future for months to come.

Marketing amazes me. I still wonder what the people are thinking at the old fashioned Department Stores who fill pages of newspapers with ads for suits, furniture, women’s clothing, etc. when they anchor a Mall where about sixty stores sell the same products and crush them on price because none of them run full page newspaper ads! Can you tell me why a car dealer is still spending money on TV or Radio ads when they can’t write the orders of customers who show up because no one is giving credit right now? Marketing habits are hard to break. I know of many businesses that go broke following the herd. When we owned the restaurant named the best in Baltimore all of the local newspapers and magazines came calling…showing me the beautiful ads my competitors were running. I asked the ad salesman how he thought those restaurants were doing? He said “Just look at their ads…this guy on the back cover owes us one hundred thousand dollars…he must be doing great!”

People can’t see the forest for the trees.

You want traffic on your car lot? Instead of spending thirty thousand dollars a month on ads why not give away one free car a month (retail value twenty grand) in a drawing at your location. Only those filling out a card with one of your salesman can win. The card gets you specific information about the customer…how old his current car is, how much they pay monthly, what type of car they want to own next, and income information. They don’t have to test drive a car or fill out a contract or anything else. The marketplace will do the marketing for you. People will spread the word that each month so-and-so dealership is giving away a car and lot traffic will grow monthly at far less cost than the big-time ads. If a person knows they could get that next car for free they will come and try to win. And you will get valuable information on people who may need a car in the near future. And talk about free advertising…call the media on the day you draw the first winner and every TV station will show up to televise the event, talk with the winner and ask you about the promotion. The newspaper will print a picture of the car winner who paid nothing and got a free car just for stopping by your place.

Marketing is simple. Stop doing what everyone else is doing and be different to be noticed. When everyone in your business does the same program you get lost in the crowd.

• Posted: 17 December 2008
• Comments: 1
• Category: Running a business

Comments