Sales

Learn when to call…

If you are like me, you hate sales calls: doing them, almost as much as getting them.  If you have a small business, you probably get them and do them a lot.  The trick to making (and receiving) sales calls, is doing them when they will be best received… here is a few tips.

  1. Never call after 4pm, or before 8:30am… period.  
  2. Try calling no more than 2x per day.
  3. Call first in the morning, leave a message saying when you’ll call back later that day, and do it.  
    • (10am and then later at 2pm are good times).
  4. After 2 or 3 days of call attempts, email to ask to set up an appointment.  (email the admin if you can), then switch to once per week.
  5. Figure out their “slow day”… here is a hint, its probably NOT Monday.  
    • Often it is Friday at 10am or 2pm.
  6. Don’t call on the weekend, or at lunch.

A Focus on Small Business

Small Businesses, whether they be a burgeoning startup or a solid “mom & pop” or something else entirely, have needs.  They need sales.  They need cost efficient Marketing techniques.  They need to reach “the right people” at “the right time”.  They need passionate fans to help evangelize their greatness.  We at Karmaback have interviewed dozens of small business owners around the country.  Now, we are proud to announce, Karmaback is dedicated to helping companies (of all sizes, especially small) to address these needs directly… with results.

Sales: The Goal.  This is the ultimate need of any company, and for small businesses, it is usually the #1 topic on their mind.  How am I going to make rent, lease, payroll… How can I keep my dream alive?

Karmaback’s answer: We believe you should be delighting the people who love you.  Give them special deals and special offers.  Let us help you make those offers viral, so friends of your fans can see the generosity and the love.  Karmaback Social Coupons are live now, and they are going to get even better soon: http://karmaback.com/sweepstakes/social_coupons/

Efficient Marketing: This means reaching “the right people” at “the right time”, with the “right message”.

We can’t help you with your message, but we are dedicated to helping small businesses reach the right people at the right time.  Social Coupons do this… Social Sweepstakes do it better.  http://karmaback.com/sweepstakes

Passionate Fans!

We can help almost any company find them, reward them, motivate them, and leverage them.

This is what we do!

Let us help you!

We’ll only charge you if we are successful… and it will be 100% more efficient than any other advertising or marketing method you’ve used before.

If you are a big company, we’ll help you too… especially if you treat your customers with respect, love, and almost act as though you are a small company, even though you are big.

How to Build a Marketing Plan

I’ve scoured the internet for a nice, simple, method for how to build a Marketing Plan, and all I find is very short, confusing, unorganized stuff (and very little of that).  So, without further ado, my 10 steps for building an “AWARD WINNING” Marketing Plan.

  1. Learn what the heck Marketing is in the first place.  (See my blog on my topic here…. my 5 year old son could figure it out… so can you).
  2. Research your 5-Cs. Customer, Company, Competition, Collaboration, Context
    1. This can be done fairly easily with some Google searching or industry related press reading.
    2. I find doing it in order is the best..
    3. Just jot down as many notes as you can for each section.
    4. Below is the goal you are trying to reach for each C
  3. Customer – Write down WHO is your ZEBRA (Ideal) customer.. then expand that view just enough to encompass a market that is of a “small, but big enough” size.  The goal here is to choose a FOCUSED group of people who you can clearly identify… NOT make it the biggest set of people possible (that’s for Business Plans, not Marketing Plans).
  4. Company – Write down what are your companies strengths, weaknesses, vision, and values.  (This will help in the rest of the plan).
  5. Competition – Write down a list of competitors and note their “pricing” and their “differentiation” claims.  SPEND LOTS OF TIME HERE.  It’s worth it later.
  6. Context – Write down trends in society, business, culture, and geography that MAY (or may not) cause you PROBLEMS or create OPPORTUNITIES.
  7. Now, write down your 4 Ps – Product, Place, Price, Promotion.  First up: Product.
    1. To get Product right (for Marketing purposes), it must fit in the following Sentences:
    2. ACME (YOUR COMPANY/PRODUCT/BRAND) is a _______  that does ____________ for ________.
    3. UNLIKE OTHER _______ we do _________________________.
    4. Now list 3 Benefits. ( NO MORE )
    5. Now list 3 Features. ( NO MORE )
    6. If you can get this focused with your product, you’re ready for the next step.
    7. NOTE: If you have engineers/tech people, don’t invite them to help with this section… do it yourself (or have someone do it for you)… then correct as needed.
  8. Place – Where do you plan to sell?  What is your selling motion?
  9. Price – How much will you charge?  What is the upsell path (or options)?  What is the average lifetime value of a customer?  How does all this compare to the competition?
  10. Promotion – NOTICE, I am last here… many people think a “Marketing Plan” is just this section… (the Advertising, PR, etc.)… but it is not.  This is important, but not the MOST important.  To me, the first C is most important (Customer) Followed by the first P (Product).  Anyways, here’s promotion:
    1. How much can you spend to acquire a customer? (see average lifetime value for hints)
    2. How many customers do you want to acquire in a period? (therefor, that is your budget)
    3. What “Free-ish” marketing can you do? (PR, Social Media, SEO, other)?  How can you measure its effectiveness?
    4. What “Cheap-ish” marketing can you do? (SEM, Google Adwords, Google Adsense, CMP, CPC, CPA)?  How can you measure its effectiveness?
    5. What “Expensive, but hopefully measurable” marketing can you do? (Partner/Reseller Marketing, Paid Banners, Trade Shows, Events, etc.)? How can you measure its effectiveness?
    6. What “Brand building” MUST you do? (non-measurable stuff like TV, Print, Billboards, etc.).?
    7. Now, allocate budget from 2-6… where you don’t spend 1c on the next item, till you’ve spent all you can (reasonably & scalable) spend on the prior number.  MOST COMPANIES SHOULD NEVER GET PAST 4.  (at least not in the early days).

Hope this was helpful!  

Comments and Arguments and Links are always MORE than welcome.