Ideas for Success – September 2023

Quote for the Day
“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
Stephen Covey

Focusing Your Sales Message
Anita Shaw, Director of PortfolioExec Ltd, was the guest presenter at my September Growth & Profit Club session. Through discussion and some fun exercises, we were encouraged to try different ways of ensuring clarity and focus in our sales and marketing messages.

Here are some of the learning points from the session.

Know your customer
The most important aspect of sales and marketing is to know who your customers are.
• Create customer profiles (one for each type of customer) and include demographics, values, pain points and goals.

• Know where they are likely to see you. Are they reading industry magazines? Are they networking? Are they on LinkedIn or other social media platforms? Wherever they are, that’s where you should be.

• Build your content around your customers. Write for them, not for your product or service. Think like them.

• Tap into their over-riding need. Tie into their emotions. Empathise. What problem do you solve?

Be specific
It’s easier to sell one thing at a time. Find a niche and focus your content to that market. Don’t feel you have to try and fit everything in to your ads and posts. Save that for your website or company brochure.
• Be precise. Ensure clarity of message.

• Edit, edit, edit – is there a better way to say it?

• Try writing it a number of ways.

• Restrict your parameters. Restrictions are great for helping you to focus your writing. If you only have space for 15 words, then you’ll say what you need to say in 15 words.

• Less is more.

Get Your Audience’s Attention
Make sure you have a strong start, whether that be a headline or a good opening line. Also, think about the ending. That should be strong and not just fizzle out. Put contact details or next steps on any post, ad or email.
• Heading – attract attention! Create curiosity.

• Don’t pitch.

• Use the Active Voice, not the Passive Voice.

• Entertain. Tell stories, use fun facts, analogies, quizzes.

• Use Calls to Action

• Use visuals. Remember that a picture can paint a thousand words.

• Use the inverted pyramid structure. The most important information goes at the top.

Next time you sit down to write a post, think outside the box and try writing your sales messages in different ways. Try freestyle writing and see what comes up. Give yourself some restrictions, e.g. 2 lines that rhyme, or write down the 5 key words that apply to your business then try and find other alternatives. You may find words that work better for you.

Growth and Profit Club
Please note that my next free Growth and Profit Club workshop on Zoom will be at 16.30 on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023. I will confirm the topic nearer the time.
Membership of my Growth and Profit Club workshops will allow you to access other business leaders’ experience, knowledge, and wisdom, and share your own, helping to develop the expertise and proficiency of everyone on the Zoom video call.
If you would like to discuss the challenges and opportunities for your business or would like to join my Growth and Profit Club, please contact me on alan@mrwcs.com or phone 07860 813444.