Do you own a great business?

Want more new clients, especially with B2B direct marketing?

Whether you sell a product or service, try these tips …

 

1) Make Marketing Job #1

This is a simple mindset that can lead to major breakthroughs.

But you may ask, Why is marketing job #1 and not sales?

Because marketing, done right, makes sales easy.

Marketing is like artillery softening up the beach head before the troops land. The better your marketing, the less resistance your sales will face. Sure, you could cold call 1,000 people and make a sale, but that’s a bloody business to be in.

Examples of how you can do your #1 job of marketing better:

* Write a new job description for yourself and list “marketing” as your most important task. Just like an athlete who works out first thing in the morning, if you put marketing first on your list of to-do items every day, you will see results.

* Do what all successful pro athletes do: Build on failure. Review what you’ve done each week to find lessons from failures — did a joke fall flat and turn off a client? Did a prospect ghost you on a Zoom call? Was your last email blast a bust? Whatever failures you made, find ways to avoid repeating them, just like an NFL quarterback learning from game film.

* Pretend you work for someone else (a very real worst-case scenario if your business goes bust). Set goals, deadlines, quotas, and most importantly, rewards for reaching your goals. Most of us who work for ourselves leave out that crucial last part!

2) Make Yourself Visible at Conferences

When attending seminars and events where your prospects are, you don’t have to be one of the speakers to be seen and heard by all.

You can do two easy things to get noticed: sit where you will be seen (the front, left-hand part of the room is a highly visible spot) and ask one smart, memorable question of the speaker.

I’ve done both and can testify that they work.

1. Sit where you will be seen. Upfront on the left is a highly visible place. In fact, you may find yourself sitting with the speaker before they go on stage. It’s how I met sales strategist Jill Konrath at one event.

2. Ask the speaker a smart question. This can get you noticed during the event … and after. I once asked Dan Kennedy a question about seasonality in direct mail: “Does response to really go down in summer enough that I should rule out certain months to mail?” Dan gave a detailed answer that was helpful to all. My question was part of the seminar recordings and was mentioned to me by one prospect who saw the video later — and wanted to contact me.

3) Develop a “Most Wanted” List of Prospects

The FBI has had a Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1950.

It seems to work for them.

Why? Focus.

Your marketing is the same.

You may think the market for what you sell is “everybody” … but how’s that working for you?

Because your time and money are limited, you can experience a giant leap in results by narrowing your focus to a “most wanted” list of ideal clients or referral partners.

Contact these people at least once a month with direct mail, print newsletters, phone calls, free products, books, or email links to helpful articles.

You may not see results right away. But if you’re diligent and automate your outreach as much as possible, you will almost always get those “fugitive” clients or referral partners.

Example: Let’s say it costs $12 to mail 12 letters a year to one prospect. And the value of a new client is $5,000.

That means you can mail 12 letters to 300 prospects in one year ($3,600) … win just one new client ($5,000) … and turn a gross profit of $1,400.

But that’s a response rate of only 0.33%.

You can do better.

With testing and smart work, you should be able to double or triple that response, to 1% or 2%. Which can deliver a gross profit ranging from $4,200 to $8,400 from 300 prospects.

Rinse and repeat.

Bottom line: When it comes to using these or any marketing tactics, the important thing is to not give up.

It’s easy to market your business diligently until you get busy, then stop marketing to take care of all the new clients. But that’s how you fall into the trap of feast or famine.

The secret to long-term success in marketing — or anything — is consistency, consistency, consistency.

Now, which of these tips can you use first?

Please comment below to let me know — and ask any questions. I’m happy to help.

Meanwhile, if you’ve got questions about B2B direct mail, learn how I can help you here.