DuctTapeMarketing.com
March 06, 2007 

In this issue:

Resource #1 - The Duct Tape Marketing Forum
Resource #2 - The Lead Generation Machine
Main Article - Lead Conversion is the Ultimate Measure of Success
Resource #3 - Referral Flood Power Groups - Now forming - limit 10
Resource #4 - Duct Tape Marketing Coaches
Free Magazine - Free subscription to B to B Magazine
Featured Reading - The Daily Drucker - Peter Drucker
Featured Listening - Music from the Big Pink -  The Band

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Featured Resource #1 - New Tool - The Lead Generation Machine

Could Your Business Stand a Consistent, Predictable, and Growing Flow of Highly Qualified Leads?

Introducing. . .

The Lead Generation Machine
Create a Non-Stop Flow of Highly Qualified Leads for Any Business - The Duct Tape Marketing Small Business Marketing Lead Generation Course

Now available as a self-study program including 3 workbooks and over 3 hours of audio training (includes transcripts)

Featured Resource #2

Duct Tape Marketing - The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide - foreword by Michael Gerber,  author of the E-Myth, afterword by Guy Kawasaki, author of Art of the Start - Hardcover, 304 Pages, Nelson Business.

Check out the book

"I have read your book and I am impressed with the "hands on" approaches you use. Having taught marketing at the MBA level I appreciate your book for getting past the theoretical approaches that are so commonly used."

     ~ Thomas Lowther - Senior Director - American Institute of Architects

Featured Article

What Gets Measured, Gets Converted, Gets Results
Lead conversion is the ultimate measure of success

I'll attribute the title of this article to the legendary Peter Drucker, although, that's not exactly what he said - it does capture the spirit though.

I find that small business owners aren't that hot at tracking and measuring important indicators of marketing success. In all my years of working with successful small businesses, I recall only a handful that measured what mattered. And, rarely did that include the one indicator that, if improved, could give a business the quickest jolt.

Measuring and tracking sound boring and complicated. Most of the books on the subject of marketing metrics are so full of academic speak they don't provide much in the way of simple and effective. Simple and effective are the two most important elements when it comes to getting the attention of a small business owner.

So, what to measure. Here's the simple list. Start today or you will never have a benchmark to set marketing goals around. I'm going to start with the assumption that you know how much revenue and how much profit your business makes and that you want more of both.

1. Leads - where do they come from, how many, and what generated them - if you don't know this, it's likely you are wasting lots of money on things that are not generating leads, or potentially worse, not sticking with a great tactic.
2. Average $ - What's average amount of business you do with a client - your existing clients want to do more business with you. It's easy to create an average dollar number and give your attention to creating more opportunities and more profitable clients - this way you can weed out clients that fall below the number eternally.
3. Conversions - How many of those leads turn into clients - the biggest time killer of all for the small business is chasing leads that are not qualified, not educated (by you, not in life), not ready to appreciate your value. When you measure this, you have to fix it, it's too painful otherwise.

As you can see, no rocket surgery with this list, but tell me, are you really measuring these three little things? Without some knowledge of each, your marketing effort is little more than a passing hobby - "this sounds good, let's try it this week."

Here's the tip that will give your business a jolt.

Tripling or quadrupling your lead conversion number is usually the easiest thing to do once you start paying attention to it. It's much harder to triple the number of leads so focus on what you say and do on the phone and across the desk, prepare marketing materials that over educate and get everyone in your firm on the same page when it comes to telling the value proposition you have.

I'm not simply talking about getting some sales training or reading a Gitimer book, (although both might be good tactics) I'm talking about a fundamental, strategic shift around what prospects come to know about you and your unique benefits. Focus on that, measure the conversions, and pretty much everything else will start to fall in place.

So here's the Duct Tape Marketing Lead Generation system in three steps (Taken from Duct Tape Marketing - The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide - Chapter 13.)

Effective Marketing Eliminates the Need for Selling

Confusion on this issue will always exist. That’s why so many companies have marketing departments and sales departments. The only reason you need both is because the marketing department is doing such a lousy job differentiating the business and products, the sales department has to hit the streets and do the educating for them. That’s why selling can be such a tough job.

With the Duct Tape Marketing system in place, the focus moves away from selling and towards educating prospects that have already expressed an interest in your business and, more importantly, your unique approach.

But, just as I have presented a set of systematic steps to apply to every aspect of your marketing to this point, I want to start the explanation of the lead conversion process with that same key point. This is a system, it’s not a technique.

The Duct Tape Marketing lead conversion system relies on three distinct components:

1. Discovery - In discovery, the central goal is to discover if a prospect actually fits your ideal target market. If you’ve done a good job in your marketing to this point, you will usually attract qualified prospects. Your lead conversion system should help you quickly make this assessment on an individual basis and continue to deliver the expectations you have set with initial lead generation activity.

2. Presentation  - Whether across the desk or over the phone, most businesses do indeed need to present an offer of a product or service to the eventual buyer. The Duct Tape Marketing tool of choice for this step is something I call an Internal Seminar. The Internal Seminar is a quasi-scripted presentation made as part of your initial client meetings.

3. Transaction - The final leg of the lead conversion system is a planned “first purchase” transaction process. In other words, a thought out and consistently executed way to take the order, deliver the goods, or execute an agreement. Put a little flair into this sometimes-awkward step in the client relationship building process, and you are well on your way to order number two and three.

Consistency Builds Trust
Once you build a system that works for you, it is essential that everyone in the organization use the basic steps in the system. Each person can personalize some of the words, but the Core Message and core steps must be used by all. Few things build trust like consistency of action and message.

Related article - Educating your referral sources

. ~ ~ ~

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson.

He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to John Jantsch and include the information about the author above.

Featured Reading

The Daily Drucker - Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker is responsible for launching the careers of more consultants than any other human. I think that's a good thing. The guy was so far ahead of everyone else in his time that he could write about something, put it away for 20 years and people would still think of it as cutting edge. The thing is, he was also so very practical and common sense - what a powerful combination.

This books gives you one of his best nuggets each and every day - 365 days a year. Great inspiration in bite size chunks.

Featured Listening

Music from the Big Pink - The Band


Seemed like a good time to do a really old re-issue CD. The Big Pink contains a couple of my favorite all time hits - The Weight and I Shall Be Released. Great iPod stuff. Good in fact for both a springtime run or a Saturday nap.

It's funny how this band, so associated with the whole 60's counter culture thing wrote such simple, down home songs.

Featured Resource #1
The Duct Tape Marketing Small Business Marketing System

This complete small business marketing program contains 15 workbooks, 12 audios CDs - packaged in a Duct Tape Marketing 3 ring binder. This is the same tool I use to coach my clients. Find out more.

 

Featured Resource - The Duct Tape Marketing Workshops - Does Your Group Need a Practical Small Business Marketing Speaker?

I am available to present small business marketing workshops, seminars and keynotes to groups and associations.

Find out more here

Featured Resource #3 -
Referral Flood - How to generate a flood of new business without spending one dime on advertising

The complete referral marketing system with over 50 real world referral tactics, examples and forms. Order now!

Resource - Get Local Search Engine Traffic

Don’t Let Your Small Business Get Left Behind in the Local Search Engine Game

Get your local business found online automatically by local prospects with a Duct Tape Marketing Local Search Engine profile. One of the best ways to get your business found in your town by local prospects. More

Featured Resource #4 - Blog Lightning - How To Create and Promote Your Blog In A Flash

Drawing from my experience creating blogs, including my award winning Duct Tape Marketing Blog, I have launched a complete step-by-step guide that takes you by the hand and shows you exactly what to do to instantly create and promote a successful blog for your business.

You also get 14 video screencast tutorials that allow you to watch over my shoulder as I actually do the steps I outline in the system - It does not get any easier than this! - Order Blog Lightning



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