STRANGERS, PROSPECTS AND CUSTOMERS

L Pemberton

Strangers, Prospects and Customers are three completely different marketing targets, and you market to each of them for different reasons and with very different systems and offers.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE THREE IS ENORMOUS.
Lets examine them . . .

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PROBLEM WITH CUSTOMERS WHO WON'T BUY
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If your past customers seem no longer willing to pay your fees, it could be for any number of reasons;

perhaps they were only interested in the one product or service that they purchased
perhaps it is too soon after their last purchase for them to purchase again
perhaps they were dissatisfied with some aspect of your service
perhaps they were dissatisfied with the price they paid for the service -- their perceived value of what you provided may have been less than what they paid
perhaps a competitor is offering the same quality at a better price
perhaps your follow-up marketing system and offers to your past customers were weak
perhaps you didn't follow up with your customers at all and just assumed that they would come back to buy more from you on their own
perhaps you need to entice your past customers with a preferred customer offer
perhaps with the current economic downturn they feel they can't afford your standard prices at this time -- if that's the case, then you may need to repackage your services to offer them options that would be within their current budgets, or you may have to target higher income prospects who aren't affected as much by these current economic conditions

The bottom line is, you need to find out why your customers aren't buying your products or services. Once you find out the real reason, it's relatively easy to fix that problem -- remove that obstacle. You can't guess at the problem, you have to determine what it really is.

You can survey your current customers to get their honest feedback on your services. Keep in mind, that while it's nice to hear compliments, only the comments about what they were unhappy with are the areas where you can make improvements in your services and your sales.

There are lots of ways to get more of your prospects to buy from you, and more of your customers to buy more often.

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PROBLEM WITH PROSPECTS
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If your problem is really in converting your prospects into new customers,

perhaps you are not following up with your prospects. You may be waiting for them to follow up with you -- like many small business owners do
perhaps your follow up process needs improvement
perhaps you are not following up enough times -- prospects rarely buy after the first follow-up -- it may take 8 or more follow-ups
perhaps your description of your service and its benefits needs improvement
perhaps your offer to your prospects is not enticing enough
perhaps you are not using a Sense of Urgency when you make your offer, and your prospects are putting off their buying decision
perhaps your prospects need to sample your services before they will make the buying decision

This list is just a sampling of things to look for in your research.

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PROBLEM WITH STRANGERS
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If your problem is really that you are not getting a reasonable number of prospects from strangers when you place an ad, send a letter, etc.

perhaps you are using the common, but ineffective 'One- Step' marketing strategy -- that's when you just describe your product or service, list a few features and benefits and ask people to buy, or to call for more information. This marketing system absolutely doesn't work for small businesses.
perhaps you are confused about the purpose of prospecting pieces sent to strangers -- they should not be to promote your business or to try to sell your products or services. They should only be used to generate prospects. This is a major marketing error made by many small cleaning businesses.
perhaps you are targeting the wrong group of people -- people who have no interest or perhaps simply can't afford your services
perhaps you are not using a headline that gets attention
perhaps you are not clearly defining who should read your marketing piece in your headline
perhaps you are not making an enticing 'prospecting' offer in your headline or sub-head -- an offer that would be difficult for your prospects to refuse
perhaps your marketing piece is confusing
perhaps you aren't using a strong 'Call to Action' in your marketing piece
perhaps you aren't giving your prospects a number of different ways to respond to your offer
perhaps you aren't making it easy for them to respond
perhaps you aren't providing a strong Sense of Urgency to overcome the natural tendency to put action off

This list too could go on and on.

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As you can see, all of the above are possible reasons for sales problems. And all of them are obstacles between you and your potential buyers. Only YOU can remove those obstacles.

This really is what the process of marketing improvement is all about -- removing obstacles between you and your potential customers.

It's critical that you understand the difference between your Strangers, Prospects and Customers. It takes completely different types of offers to overcome the natural resistance within each group. Once you understand which types of offers work best from each group, you remove major obstacles between you and the people who would love to buy from you.

It's not that difficult to remove the buying obstacles between you and your prospects and customers -- you just need to know the steps to take.

Removing obstacles between you and your customers is like tearing down a wall -- without the wall, your sales will flow -- it's one of the most profitable activities you can do.

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