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M a r k e t i n g  t i p
Five questions that will make your marketing and sales more successful

At some time, all sales and marketing professionals are victims of a common mistake - making assumptions about the target audience that are not wholly accurate. If left alone, this mistake can continue for months or years until something eliminates it from your sales and marketing messaging.

The assumption mistake is when you assume that the recipient of your marketing or sales message will understand something that in fact many people do not. To give an example, it would be an assumption mistake to say to a prospective lessee "you'll save money with Section 179" without explaining how this saves money. Many people don't know about the Section 179 tax benefit and/or how it is applicable to their future equipment financing. Furthermore, they may not be able or willing to calculate the actual savings, meaning they may not understand the actual amount they will save on their taxes.

Whether you are developing a new marketing piece, reviewing existing materials and Web sites, or want to enhance your sales pitch, it is valuable to review your message (what you write and say) by asking yourself a few questions. These questions will help identify if you are making an assumption mistake. Once you understand where your message is less-than-perfect, you can make the proper adjustments until the answer to each of these questions is as strong as possible.

Who cares? Look at the main benefit and features you communicate to potential customers. Ask yourself "who cares?" You may find that only some people care, meaning your message is worthless to the other people; or worse yet, most people don't care much about this feature or benefit.

So what? Like our Section 179 example above, look at your message and ask this question. If the answer is obvious - such that nearly all your target audience can figure it out - then all is well. If not, it is time to do some wordsmithing. For instance, "same-day approvals" may not pass this test as well as "review multiple payment options the same day."

Prove it. This is the claim-buster. You may assume that the recipient of your message believes what you are saying, but think about how many times a prospective vendor hears from brokers about "great customer service." They probably hear it so much that it means nothing. So, think about how you can really prove it, like "over 50% of our business is repeat customers" or "in business for over ten years by offering unparalleled customer service."

Why us? The benefit sounds great, but why would you assume the customer or vendor is going to use your company? Refering back to the Section 179 example, once your client understand the tax benefit, why do they need to use your company to take advantage of it? You could, for instance, offer a worksheet they can provide to their accountant at the end of the year, because then the answer to "why us?" is you make using Section 179 easier than everybody else.

What next? This question helps to avoid one of the most common and costly assumption mistakes - assuming prospects know how and when they can respond. Does your Web site make it clear that a prospect can contact you for more information even if they aren't ready to fill out an application today? Does a vendor know that they can request information by mail or e-mail or do they think they must call you during business hours? Be sure all the response options are abundantly clear so that otherwise great leads don't fall through the cracks.

Take a look at a page on your Web site, the last marketing piece you sent out, or your typical cold call pitch. Ask these questions to indentify anyweak areas that you can strengthen.

S a m p l e  d e a l  o f  t h e  w e e k
Well-established business acquires ten trailers