How To Hit The Economy Head-On And Win

| Categories: Building Strategy , Business

Blog by Fuel Accountants

The economy continues to struggle, now is NOT the time to panic. In fact, if you follow our proven strategies, you can use the recession in your favour and capitalise on the weaknesses of your competitors. What may surprise you is that numerous studies dating back to 1923 (Ronald S. Vaile—Harvard Business Review) and continuing through to 2001 (notably by Malik PIMS ) have shown that in times of recession those companies that maintain or even increase marketing spend, prosper most.

But, of course, you need to apply the right strategies. Ones that will give you the greatest return on investment for the least time, effort and cost.

So let’s take a look at our ‘More ESP Guide To Building Your Business In A Recession’ with 3 easy-to-apply strategies…

How To Hit The Economy Head-On And Win

Business Building Strategy #1: Optimise All Existing Marketing Pieces

We regularly remind you about the importance of using the ‘Marketing Assets’ in your marketing pieces. Remember, these are the things that make your marketing work. Look through your existing Marketing Pieces (ads, letters, leaflets, etc.) and evaluate the quality of the Marketing Assets in each one.

The Marketing Assets Quick Guide

  • Unique Perceived
  • Benefit Benefits
  • Irresistible Offers
  • Headlines
  • Guarantee/Risk Reversal
  • Sales Barrier Demolition
  • Reasons Why
  • Social Proof
  • Call To Action

Ideally, you should score each Marketing Asset out of 10, with ‘10’ being perfect and ‘0’ being ‘not used’. Those that score less than 8 need to be improved.

It’s important you improve each Marketing Asset; however, if all you did was to replace your current headlines with benefit-based headlines, you’d see a big spike in results. That’s the power of using the Marketing Assets. Remember, all these improvements can be made with zero additional cost and the results will be instant!

Business Building Strategy #2: Make Sure You Are Using Strategies Across The ‘3 Business Multipliers’

As we mentioned in Issue #1, it is critical you use several strategies across each Business Multiplier (Lead Generation, Sales Conversion, and Customer Maximisation).

Doing this automatically gives your business added stability and the ability to improve the overall performance of the business in each of the 3 key areas

Business Building Strategy

#1: Improve Your Customer Experiences Using ‘Moments Of Truth’

Without any doubt, your customers or clients are your prized possession. We’ve found that most business owners don’t truly appreciate the importance of their customers and, as a result, never get maximum value out of them.

One of the best ways to increase customer value and reduce attrition (customer losses) is to use what’s known as ‘Moments Of Truth’. Let us explain…

In 1987 Jan Carlzon, the CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, wrote the book, ‘Moments Of Truth’. It explained how he took the airline from deficit to profit by ‘moving’ the airline to a customer-focused organization.

Now, as you know, there have been many books written on customer service, but where this book and Carlzon’s strategies really differ is his focus on each interaction the customer has with the business.

He calls these ‘Moments of Truth’ and, of course, each interaction can be a positive or a negative experience. Scandinavian Airlines prospered because they worked very hard to make sure each Moment Of Truth with their customers was a very positive experience, and the results they achieved were a testament to this.

So how can you use this to your advantage? There are just two simple steps…

STEP 1:
Write down all the possible interactions (moments) you have with your customers.

STEP 2:
Systemize the positive experience at each interaction (moment).

Let’s take a look at each one…

1. Write down all the possible interactions you have with your customers.

This is simple. Here’s what you do…

  • First, you need to identify every single interaction (moment) you have with the customers.
  • For example, every meeting, every phone call, e-mail and letter—basically, every contact you have with your customers.

2. Systemise the positive experience at each interaction (moment).

  • Break each interaction down so you can identify each specific area.
  • Then prepare how to maximise the interaction so the customers have a positive experience (WOW Moment) with you.

Let’s say you have periodic meetings with your customers. Each meeting is, of course, a Moment Of Truth. What you need to do is break down each phase of the meeting, right from the moment the customer walks through your door to the moment they leave.

All these things are very important and will make a significant difference to the ‘experience’ the customer has.

KEY:

  1. The effect on the customer using traditional marketing strategies. Notice the
  2. Moment Of Truth was a negative experience, taking the customer’s satisfaction down, creating discontent with an existing customer.. It’s this that often results in fewer future sales, or worse, the customer leaves and buys from a competitor. Moments Of Truth approach. By breaking down each step even further, the interest level and satisfaction level is raised even higher.
  3. Shows the drop in interest level and satisfaction using traditional techniques (or none at all).
  4. Shows the increase gained by using Moments Of Truth techniques.


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