Five Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make Which Keeps Them at a Competitive Disadvantage

Mistake #1

Act like a salesperson and you'll be treated like one!!!

I have seen this over and over again in my career and have actually worked for companies which train on exactly how to be treated like a salesperson.

They will recommend calling a prospect and asking permission to talk to them. Something like: "Hi, how are you today, It's Me from XYZ Company, do you have a minute???" Or, "Hi, it's Me from ABC Company, have I caught you at a good time??"

In most cases the answer is of course "No, try me back another time." Followed by the "Click" of the phone being hung up....

It's the exact same when a secretary/administrative person answers. Most people are trained to say something like "Hi it's Me from ABC Company, is Pete Theboss available?" What's the typical response here? "No he's not available, may I take a message?" or "What is this in reference to?"

By using this wimpy approach, you are giving the prospect the opportunity to shut you down before you ever get a chance to say why you're calling or how you can help them. The entire approach just screams SALES CALL.

Whether you own the business or are a salesperson, you need to put yourself on equal or superior footing with whomever you are calling. Do not give them the opportunity to take control. You must be the one in control. Your prospects will respect you more if you let them know that your time is just as valuable as theirs is and give them a great reason to stay on the line with you.

While working for a major marketing consultant and dealing with business owners all day every day, our inbound telephone call script never even used the word "Hello". We identified the company name, our name, asked for their name and got down to business. We immediately put ourselves in a position of authority and not just some phone peon.

When calling someone for the first time, try to sound as if you are already familiar with them, even a friend of theirs, and them with you. Particularly if a receptionist/secretary answers try something like: "Hi, it's Me calling for Him"....and just leave it at that....

Mistake #2

Sounding just like your competitors

I was recently consulting for a company and what they were most proud of with their new company and what they felt differentiated them from their competition was that they "have a lot of experience, offer personalized customer service and they make the process easy. "

Yeah, I'm sure their competitors are calling and saying, "Hey we're brand new, we have no idea what we're doing, our customer service stinks and working with us is really difficult!!"

Virtually every business, big or small, which I encounter seems to have a similar approach. That they're:

Experienced Will save you time Make you money Have great customer service Blah, blah, blah....

You need to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

I've always believed in an education based marketing approach to differentiate myself. I remember in the early 1990's while working for a major publisher who was migrating from a print publishing format and was starting to add CD delivery of their information. Computers in offices were just starting to be used and frankly most people weren't all that good with navigating around these new tools. So I went around to my clients and prospects offering them "10 Tips on Using The Computer". These tips had nothing to do with the services I offered. They were general tips which anyone could use to learn how to do common tasks on their new computers.

This offer of FREE and VALUABLE information got me in the door, built respect and rapport, and earned me the right to then discuss why they should consider the products/services I was selling.

You should create something similar. The approach of calling people to introduce yourself and your company by stating how you've helped many people just like them and will save them time and money is stale and weak.

As Chet Holmes, author of "The Ultimate Sales Machine" would say, "you will attract people much more quickly and in much greater numbers by offering to teach them something of value to themselves rather than just trying to sell them something".

Call them and offer to teach them something that they will find valuable. "Hi, it's Me. I'm a specialist in X and I've created a free report outlining the "The X Mistakes That People in Your Industry Make" and I want to stop by and give you your FREE copy of this valuable report"....

This approach works even better if you have a book or are working on a book. My Mentor Gerry Robert calls this the "interview" technique. It goes something like this: "I'm the author of the upcoming book "The 7 Dangers That People Like You Should Avoid" and I am interviewing respected business people in the area for possible inclusion in my book. You are a highly respected business owner in your industry, and I would like to interview you."

They'll likely invite you to visit with them within a couple days.

Prospects will be much more open to meeting with you if they don't believe that you're just trying to sell them something, but that you are sincerely interested in helping them.

Mistake #3

Not Building TOMA

TOMA you ask?? TOP OF MIND AWARENESS.

It wasn't that long ago that growing a company was fairly easy. Business was booming for everyone and there was plenty of room for more companies and more competitors. That just simply isn't the case anymore. Markets are shrinking. Companies are scared to part with their money. Competition is intense for the few companies willing to do business and spend some money.

The way to avoid being crushed by your competitors is to be the one doing the crushing. Be THE definitive expert in your field. Be THE go-to authority. Be everywhere that your clients and prospects are likely to be found. BUILD TOMA!!

Whenever your clients/prospects turn around they need to bump into you. They need to know that YOU are the person in the industry that they NEED to do business with. This should be done both offline and online.

Piece of cake right?? Actually, it's really not that difficult if you're committed to taking regular action and spending time on this regularly. You need to be devoted to marketing yourself and your business. This requires you to attend local functions within your area, perhaps via the local Chamber of Commerce, trade organizations for your target market, or other similar organizations.

When I worked for a major publisher of tax information, I used to attend virtually every meeting sponsored by the state CPA Society; whether the meeting was tax related or not. If there was a room-full of accountants somewhere, I wanted to be in the room also.

Mistake #4

Not Participating

Whether it's online or offline, the problem with most companies is that they don't actively "work" opportunities to get the most out of them.

They attend networking events and spend the whole evening talking with one guy who isn't even a prospect for their business or with people they already know. They don't actively participate, mingle with as many people as possible, or gather cards and names. Go to events with a strategy and understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish and with whom you are trying to connect with.

It's similar online. You can connect with a lot more people more quickly without ever leaving your office. You can make excellent contacts and create wonderful relationships. It's really just about PARTICIPATING. I recently had a situation where I was working for a company and helping them to enhance their web presence and social networking strategies. I created a blog, and LinkedIn and FaceBook pages. Within just a few weeks, I was driving massive traffic between all of these different pages and generating interest in what I had to offer.

Simply because I participated. I joined LinkedIn groups and PARTICIPATED in the conversations. I posted Polls and made many new contacts. In one of the groups, which has over 2,200 members, within a week I was one of the top contributors. In another, the editor of a magazine liked one of my posts and wanted to do an article on me.

Mistake #5

Margins are too low

This one is totally your fault. Your margins are too low because you allow them to be. You have likely made the previous mistakes in this report and are therefore fighting for business at the bottom of the pond with the other bottom feeders. If you want to compete on price, you will always have margins that are too low. Your business will have customers rather than clients as there will always be some other company willing to do the work for even less. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!

Customer Vs. Client: a customer is someone who just once or occasionally buys from you. A client is someone who comes to you over and over again and with whom you have a relationship.

If you want to increase your margins you have to give your clients a reason to spend more for your expertise. You have to create an aura around you that YOU are the authority and that it would benefit them to work with you; and not the other way around.

One of the best ways to build an atmosphere of expertise is by using the written word.

There are many ways to do this. You can write a book; author a great blog; offer to write articles for free in your local newspaper; submit articles to industry magazines; create a monthly newsletter; prepare eye opening FREE reports; and the list goes on.

If you show or give away your book to a prospect or show them your articles from a newspaper or magazine, you will instantly be looked at in a different way. You will gain in stature in their eyes and be much more credible.

Another way is to offer free training sessions on your area of expertise. At your business location or even at a hotel or some other meeting place have a regularly scheduled free meeting where you share your expertise with others. For instance,

if you are a hair stylist, offer a monthly free session on how to best take care of hair. CPA?? Offer a regular class on taxes, bookkeeping, financing options, etc. Real estate agent?? Offer a class on how to get the most money when selling your home or how to get your dream house for much less.

Get the idea?? You can also tie some of these ideas together. Write a free report or book on a topic and then give live sessions to deliver the content and answer questions. Although not quite as powerful as a live event, you could use webinars as well.

When you do it right, you can even get other people to pay for your marketing by sponsoring your event or book.

These are inexpensive yet extremely powerful ways to grow your business faster and easier; crush your competition; gain in credibility in the marketplace; create more loyal clients; and to get higher margins.

Differentiate yourself. Be THE authority. Give of yourself. By avoiding the mistakes in this article, you will attract prospects who are predisposed to wanting to buy from you and willing to pay more for your expertise.

I'm an author, firewalker, and education based attraction marketing specialist. I help small business owners learn how to dominate their marketplace, crush their competition, get others to pay for their marketing and become THE authority in their field.

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