7-Step Marketing Plan to Win More Clients

Even the most brilliant ideas are worthless if you don't act to implement them. Read this guide several times, implement these steps in your business, and you too will benefit from these money-making concepts!

Step #1 - Think Strategically

Dr. Stephen Covey said you have to "begin with the end in mind." Thinking strategically is about deciding on where you're going and identifying ways to get there.

This is perhaps the most important step but most business owners skip it altogether. You can easily avoid making many costly marketing mistakes if you just take the time to think strategically about your business first.

There are 7 components to this step alone:

1) Marketing Mindset. The sooner you realize you can't build a successful business without having an effective marketing system in place. A system means you have a way to consistently and predictably generate new leads and turn them into clients at a profit.

2) Specific Market. You must identify an already existing group of potential clients who are currently looking for the type of solution you provide, have the means to make the buying decision, and critically important - you must be able to easily and affordably contact them. Please read that last paragraph one more time NOW!

3) Specific Need. Understand what your clients are really buying from you. Chances are you’re trying to sell the WRONG THING! Clients DON’T buy what you do - they buy solutions to their problems which is the RESULTS of what you do!

STOP - read the last sentence one more time!

4) Positioning. The art of making clients come to you is NOT using the “latest tricks” but in knowing how to set yourself apart from others offering seemingly the same product or service.

5) Monetization. Just because you have a good product or service doesn't mean you will be profitable. You need to identify and adapt a Winning Business Model proven to generate profits.

6) Message. You must create a Marketing Message that clearly and succinctly communicates your HUB - Hot Undeniable Benefit of doing business with you.

7) Media. Identify the best ways to put your Marketing Message in front of your Target Market.

Side Note: These are the most important concepts that make your business a huge success. Before you jump to printing fliers, creating websites, building blogs, or slaving over publishing an ezine you must make those strategic decisions about your business.

Can you see how having a step-by-step guide could help you quickly gain the "marketing traction", develop a fresh approach to promoting yourself, and get all the new business you want? And this is just step 1!

Step #2 - Develop Your Marketing Assets

Communicate your HUB and your Magnetic Marketing Message through client-focused promotional materials like websites, sales letters, postcards, brochures, presentations, etc.

Good Marketing Assets should help you do three things:

- Attract Attention

- Build Credibility

- Stimulate Action

One of the most basic yet most underutilized - Marketing Assets is client testimonial. Make it a point to ask each client for a testimonial and then use it in all your other marketing materials.

Step #3 - Generate Leads

Before you can have clients you must generate leads. Here are seven online and offline approaches proven to work well for promoting professional services:

1) Writing and publishing

2) Speaking, workshops and teleseminars

3) Networking (the 10x10x10 matrix)

4) Direct response advertising

5) FREE publicity

6) Joint ventures

7) Online marketing

Quick Note: These 7 lead generation tactics are just a tip of the iceberg of all the available ways to generate a massive "flood" of new leads for your business.

Still, effectively and systematically employing even just two or three of these tactics will generate more leads than you’ll ever need.

Step #4 - Follow Up and Educate

People make a buying decision when they are ready to invest in a solution to their problem - NOT when you want to make a sale.

That's why you need to develop, implement, and automate an education-based, "drip” follow-up system to keep in touch and achieve and sustain TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness)

The key to follow up without getting overwhelm is to do things once and leverage them over and over again. And automate as much as possible!

Step #5 - Master the Sales Process

Selling is an art and a science. You must quickly develop rapport with your potential clients, gain understanding of their problems and goals, coherently present and explain your solution, and finally - ask for the business without feeling guilty or pushy!

If you think you can build a business without mastering this skill you might as well do yourself a favor now and start looking for a job now.

The “trick” is to find and learn a sales methodology that doesn’t rely on tricks. In my training programs I teach a model I call "Q.U.E.S.T." It’s ideal for service professionals because it allows you to sell with integrity and become your client's ultimate trusted advisor.

Step #6 - Implement Profit Multipliers

Most professionals never reach the level of profitability easily available to them, because they don't understand the lifetime value of each client and don't have a way to effectively maximize it.

In simple terms, what it means to you, is that your clients are constantly being bombarded by competing offers and you must do all you can to turn one-time buyers into loyal clients who will do business with you for years to come!

If you've been in business for a few years now, and have a list of some current and past customers, understanding how to implement Profit Multipliers could mean easily orchestrating a 30% or 50% boost to your bottom line.

Heck, you could even double your business with no new clients at all!

Step #7 - Clear Marketing Action Plan

This is the "Holly Grail" most professionals say they want. And in fact - it's nearly impossible to build a successful business without at least some sort of action-oriented list of steps you need to implement to make your marketing work.

Here is what ultimately separates (at least in business) the winners from the losers:

1) Winners evaluate each strategy, tactic and idea for its profit potential vs. the required investment of time, effort, and money.

2) Winners create and follow detailed, step-by-step action plans for each marketing strategy they want to implement; they are always conservative in their calculations and evaluate the "worst case scenario."

3) Winners implement first and perfect later.

(c) 2003-2007 Adam Urbanski

Author: Adam Urbanski

The author, Adam Urbanski, teaches service professionals and business owners how to develop better marketing strategies to increase sales and profits. His website offers more how-to articles and free tips to create a winning marketing action plan at http://www.themarketingmentors.com

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