Potential customers: how to find and retain them. Potential clients: where to look for them and how to work with them

Hundreds of customers pass through the stores every day, sometimes more. And they go to some store again, and to some store they never set foot again! Why is that? What needs to be done so that customers come a second and a third time, and so that they become regulars? Read about this in this article; we will talk in detail about the types of buyers and how to attract them.

Potential buyer

The potential buyer of your store is your target audience, these are representatives of your target group, that is, that part of the people that you would really like to influence in order to attract them to your trading or manufacturing enterprise. Potential buyers are also present in another niche that interests you – a secondary one. This is a part of the population that is inclined to make purchases from you or your competitors. And the third group of your potential buyers are those who have never purchased anything from your niche products and do not intend to do so yet.

Why is this happening?

People may not yet realize that they need your product. For example, older people cannot even imagine how much more enjoyable their life will be if they buy... a color printer! Only you can tell them what kind of photographs they can print of their grandchildren, girlfriends, friends, acquaintances. After all, it is older people who still love to store photographs on paper! Therefore, this category of people are also potential buyers of office equipment stores, as paradoxical as it may sound!

What are the goals and objectives of working with a group of potential buyers? An entrepreneur needs to draw their attention to his store, invite them to his place, show the sales floor and products, provide services for them, even in a demonstration room. free version. In this way, you can convince a potential buyer to make a first trial purchase. Well, then everything will depend on the quality of goods, services, and the ease of receiving and using them.

How can you attract customers to your business or store?

The first thing your potential client sees is an advertisement. Think over the text, practice it on several clients, place it in the most popular media of your settlement, or in those places where your target audience most often happens. The second important factor in attracting customers to your store is its sign and beautiful windows. It will be great if there is a promoter at the door of your store, whose goal is to invite as many customers as possible to the sales area. Only the promoter must be “alive”; it is best to hire a person who is associated with the theater, one who has creative abilities.

To attract customers from your target audience to your store, you need to offer products and services that your competitors do not yet offer. Buyers are generally satisfied with the traditional buying process, but new products are part of satisfying the demands of novelty and curiosity.

Also use unusual methods of promoting your product. For example, many marketers believe that rumors work great if they are generated correctly. For example, have you heard that the Metel store brought fur coats at a price of 30 thousand and a million? Want to see million-dollar fur coats? Many fashionistas will not react at all to fur coats worth 30 thousand and will come running to see what’s so great about a fur coat if it costs a million?

Technology for spreading such rumors: places are selected where representatives of the target audience most often appear. In our example, these are fashion salons, fur shops, expensive beauty salons, medical centers, beauty salons, sports and fitness rooms. It determines which employees communicate with clients. And they are invited to tell visitors of these places, as if as a joke, in secret, with surprise, or as if reading a newspaper with news, about million-dollar fur coats. Yes, you will have to work hard to come to an agreement with these people, but an additional fee has never bothered anyone.

What about social networks? Do you remember them? This is where rumors and news spread in three seconds! Find interest groups and participate in the discussion, tell the story! What to do then? Do you really need to bring a million-dollar fur coat to your store? Of course not! Come up with a joke to make everyone feel good and happy. A girl comes to the salon, and it says - if you are looking for a fur coat for a million, contact the seller! And the seller gives such a lady a gift, for example, a discount card or a souvenir.

The most active participants in spreading rumors are grannies who, with free passes, can ride buses all day long! They talk to each other, and so loudly that the whole bus can hear. What are they talking about? It's up to you to decide, because you're the one hiring these sweet older women! They get an increase in their pension, and you get a great, working advertisement.

You can attract customers to your store in another marketing way: come yourself and bring a friend, in which case you will receive a nice gift. For example, bring three friends and get a gift for four! And give a box with four items that these people need in life.

You can also attract attention to your store by using the help of those who are already your customers. If one customer recommends your product or service to another, and the person makes a purchase from you, then the person who recommended receives a gift. And it is fair that the new buyer should also receive something. This is where a discount card comes in handy again.

Advertising in which the seller asks the buyer to do something works great. For example, a gift has already been prepared for you because you saw our advertisement. Come and pick up your gift! A person comes to you, you give him a tour of the store, he buys more, receives a gift, and then he will definitely come to you again if he likes the quality of your product.

IN Lately It has become fashionable to carry out partnership promotions. This is when stores advertise each other. Did you buy 1000 rubles in our store? Then you will receive a bonus check for 250 rubles if you buy something at the store across the street. Oddly enough, this promotion works; people often give coupons to acquaintances, friends, and family. But precisely for those who need such goods. Why not targeting? And even completely free! Precise hit on target.

Email newsletters also don’t need to be discounted if your target audience is constantly online. To organize it, it is necessary to constantly, when giving a discount, a discount, a gift, ask to fill out a form that contains an item - e-mail. Then all addresses are entered into a single file database, and a mailing is sent out inviting you to visit the store, take part in a promotion, etc.

Constantly expand your target audience, post products for other ages, for others social groups. In this case, targeted advertising will significantly increase sales. For example, introducing social products at low prices to your line will attract an audience that has never visited you at all and will not visit you at normal times, only during promotions and discounts! And not because there is no money, because the fact that there are discounts is simply needed.

Random buyer - how to win his heart in one store visit

In order to make casual customers regular, it is necessary to take care of the convenience of being in the store, the benefits of customers, and ensuring that the assortment is amazing. You can come up with anything on this topic, the main thing is that the buyer, when visiting your store, is charged with positivity, so that he only has pleasant emotions. Use original service techniques, the beauty of the interior, the efficiency of a comprehensive purchase, the convenience of the purchase process itself, the sellers must be trained perfectly, and each of them must demonstrate a good mood, with a smile on their face.

Which store attracts and retains customers:

• convenient, with clear signs
• where affordable goods, an adequate combination of price and quality
• where in one place - the whole complex goods and services
• a huge number of ready-made ideas for using goods and services
• bonus points or discounts, gifts are given for purchases
• competent and friendly sellers who understand the product, do not skimp on positive emotions and attention to the buyer and his problems
• elements that provide a positive attitude. Recently I saw a huge cage with a squirrel in one of the beauty salons; it funnyly offered its sides to visitors to pet and scratch, and begged for cookies. Women began to go for procedures more often; according to the salon manager, sales increased. There are also aquariums, jukeboxes, original mimes, and theater promoters.

So, in order to retain a new client, you need to convince him that you will do a lot for him, and even more, which your competitors do not.

Why your customer may never come to you again

There can actually be a great many reasons for such a buyer reaction. For example, waiting always has a negative impact on customers. A person came, chose a product, but the seller was not there, or the cashier “moved away.” The need to wait has long since sunk into Soviet oblivion, so now it causes nothing but violent irritation. Avoid the need for clients to wait, and encourage staff that they have enough time to do their own thing.

The second extreme is that sellers are too intrusive; many buyers may leave because of this. So teach trade ethics to your staff!

A negative feature of many stores is that it is not clear what is where, where to look for this or that product. The too large assortment and the huge number of price tags are frightening that it is even impossible to understand how much a certain product costs. A sales area that is too narrow or small, where it is difficult to move around and look at the goods, is also a nuisance for the buyer. Playing negative role and the impossibility of trying on, or when you cannot touch, twist, or hold the product in your hands.

Another factor that works very unpleasantly is when “a product with a 20% discount” is indicated on the shelf, and its full cost is calculated at the checkout. You need to go, prove it, take the price tag from the counter, call a senior manager for investigation. And there’s a line of buyers lining up behind you! This will definitely prevent you from further visiting the store!

E. Shchugoreva

Elena Shchugoreva - business consultant, trainer oratory and speech technique, head of the online school “Speaker Master”. She can be contacted by email [email protected] or through a group on Facebook

People quite often use the phrases “potential client” or “potential buyer,” but few of them know what such a client is and how to find one. This is exactly what we will talk about in this article, and also give our recommendations on how to work with a potential buyer so that he becomes a real client.

Who is a potential client from a salesperson's point of view?

In a broad sense, a potential buyer is a person who has the physical and material resources to purchase a product. Note that this concept is significantly different from the point of view of a seller and a marketer. In sales, a potential client, in addition to the above resources, also has a need for a product. The only thing that prevents the transaction from being completed is his uncertainty. The seller's task in this case is only to convince the client.

Experienced b2b salespeople keep a record of potential clients. IN this list Customers who have a need for a product, but have not yet confirmed their intention to purchase it, are entered. In this case, the employee tries by all means to “put the squeeze” on the potential buyer. This is especially true for long-term sales, where sellers must be much more active, constantly notifying customers about new products, services and promotions.

Who is a potential client from a marketer's point of view?

For a marketer, the entire target group for which the product was intended at the stage of its release are potential customers. Any businessman, when producing any product, thinks about who it will be intended for. For example, a luxury car manufacturer targets wealthy people for whom the premium quality of the product is important. The marketer’s task in this case is to identify and describe the potential buyer as accurately as possible.

Identifying potential clients comes down to answering a number of questions:

• What problems does the buyer face, and what product characteristics will help solve them?
• What is the gender, age and status of the potential buyer?
• Where is the target group of this product geographically located?
• What matters most to the client? important role when choosing a product?

Where to find potential clients?

At the formation stage, small companies face the problem of finding potential buyers. Young entrepreneurs often do not have the opportunity to pay for expensive advertising or cooperate with retailers, which forces them to look for people interested in buying on their own.

As we mentioned above, you first need to identify and describe the target group for which the product is intended. If we're talking about about a young business that cannot afford to carry out an expensive marketing research, then in this case you can turn to the developments of clients. There are practically no free niches left in the market, so in most cases you can find competitors. Analyzing the activities of your closest competitors will give you basic information about your target group. Another relatively inexpensive option is to purchase information from thematic Internet resources that collect similar data.

How to work with potential clients?

Work with potential buyers is based on the basic competencies that an employee must have, his experience and talent. In order to convert a prospect into a client, the salesperson must use the skills of persuasion or even suggestion (in short selling).

Moreover, in many large companies There are sales scripts for working with such buyers that help the seller build a conversation in such a way that it ends with a deal.

Experienced sales managers don't just listen to what prospects tell them—they listen to what they're saying, because people are never 100% honest with sales reps.

Can potential clients be blamed for this? Hardly, because one of the most important tasks of a good salesman is to recognize the true intentions of the person to whom he wants to sell something. To learn how to better understand your customers, let's look at a few common phrases, as well as their true meaning and response options.

1. “Contact me in a couple of weeks.”

A sales manager may interpret this phrase as: “I’m interested, but this moment a little busy". However, what it really means is, “I don’t want to tell you no over the phone right now, but I’ll tell you no in a couple of weeks via email.”

If a potential client believes that what you offer will help their company save money or stand out from competitors, then they will want to use your services now, not sometime in the future.

What's the best way to respond?

“Okay, I'll contact you. And so that I can provide you with the most relevant information, could you please tell me [clarification question]?” This will allow you not only to find out more information about the potential client, but also to engage him in a full conversation.

Another answer is also possible, like: “I understand that you are busy. Do you have time for a five-minute conversation? I would like to make sure that our further conversation makes sense.”

2. “I don’t have time”

According to Listen Current Director of Sales Suzanne Harron, this phrase should be understood as follows: “I don’t understand why your product is so important to me.” In the end, even very busy man will always find time for what will really help him.

What's the best way to respond?

"No problem. I’ll be happy to contact you in a few days (week, month, etc.), but if you have a couple of minutes to spare right now, I can tell you how our product can help you with [customer situation].”

“The key here is to convey to the person how your product will help them solve their pressing, specific problems,” explains Harron. Once a person realizes the relevance of your offer, he will immediately take the time to listen to all the details.

3. “I have only recently been in this position to make purchasing decisions.”

Potential clients often state that they have just taken office and do not want to make a decision about purchasing a particular product. What it really means is, “I'm afraid to disrupt the status quo and take on the responsibility of purchasing a new product.”

What's the best way to respond?

In such a situation, you should find out if there is any more authoritative person responsible for making such decisions. You can say the following: “I understand. Could you connect me with someone from your management? I would also like to send you a document that explains in detail how our product will help you deal with [problem description].”

However, if you are confident that the person you are talking to has the authority to make decisions, then you can say the following: “I understand you - and I just want to give you information. I would love to send you case studies detailing how other companies are already using our product. In addition, I can send you a sample [trial link, test period] so that you can thoroughly study our product before making any decision.”

4. “We don’t have the funds for this”

According to sales professionals, a lack of budget usually hides the following doubt: “We are not sure that your product is effective.”

What's the best way to respond?

But if the person is in the later stages of making a purchase, then focus on the ROI of your product and demonstrate to him how not having this valuable acquisition will negatively impact the company's bottom line.

5. “This seems like a good fit for us.”

When your potential client calls your product “a good option,” the manager is already mentally celebrating the victory. However, Mark Gibson, director of sales at Centrify, urges people not to jump to conclusions: “A phrase like this often means that the customer really likes your product, but he is also considering two or three other options that also seem good to him.” Thus, until the potential buyer has signed the contract, you should not rejoice in your triumph.

What's the best way to respond?

If you've already figured out what's stopping a potential client from making a purchase, it's time to dispel those doubts. In this case, the last sentence of the previous answer should be replaced with: “I know that you have doubts about X and Y. Is that what is stopping you from making a purchase?”

6. “Your product would be useful to us, but we need feature X.”

In some cases, potential customers aren't just making up excuses—your product is actually missing some feature that is very important to them. However, sales experts say it often means, "You haven't shown me how your product will solve our problems."

What's the best way to respond?

“Thank you for informing me. Why is this feature a priority for your company? Once you've established why it's important, continue the conversation by saying, "I definitely understand why you need feature X. Since we don't have one, you can achieve the same results by using feature Y."

With this response, you can demonstrate to a potential client that you are informed about their needs, which improves sales effectiveness by 69%. In addition, you show your attentiveness and responsible approach by offering the buyer alternative options solutions to his problem.

7. “When can I start using your product?”

If a potential customer asks you about a delivery date or start time for a product, this is usually a good sign. According to Mark Gibson, such a question means that the person is most likely interested and thinking: “When can I use the proposed service?”

What's the best way to respond?

You should answer like this: “What date is optimal for you? I will do my best to ensure that you receive your order on that day." Even if in the end it turns out that you cannot make such a promise, you will show your boundless desire to help.

If you are not entirely sure that a potential client is ready to make a purchase, ask next question: “Is there any reason why you need our product right now?” This will help you figure out the client's needs that he hasn't yet mentioned.

Potential buyer

Introduction to the concept of “potential buyer”

A potential buyer is someone who wants to buy something from you.

Potential buyers are people who may know about your company or you, but have never bought anything from you before. How to include them in the orbit of your business?

It's not easy at all. Many small businesses fail to truly expand precisely because they fail to attract the attention of potential buyers and convert them into visitors.

For many years, businessmen believed that the main way to withstand competition was to increase the range and keep prices lower than those of competitors. With some irony, we can say that too much variety and low prices are the two main reasons for the collapse of companies!

Let's clarify this idea.

Too much assortment can lead to large inventories, which will affect profitability. Think about where the niche market is for you and what you will actually be selling.

Too low prices for many small and even large firms can be a harbinger of collapse. If you can't compete with Wal-Mart on efficiency, you can't compete on price. Emphasize your positive sides: specialization, customer service, staff competence, warranty service, home delivery, repair services, gift wrapping, etc. Emphasize your differences from any Wal-Mart if you are not able to compete with them in prices.

Let's talk more about the range.

The average person encounters hundreds of commercial offers: on television, radio, from newspapers, sees them on advertising stands, in taxis and even, as for example, in Sydney, Australia, in the shower stalls of hotel rooms.

Every year more than 15,000 new products appear on the market, and attempts to sell 90% of them end in failure!

Consider this: PC owners can choose from more than 30,000 programs on offer;

Car buyers can choose from 572 types and models;

if you have credit card, then between September and Christmas you receive over 300 catalogues;

There are 13 8 varieties of toothpaste (this is not trade marks, namely varieties: in tubes, in single packages, in various colors, for smokers, non-smokers, for people with bad teeth, for tea or coffee lovers, for people with yellowing teeth...).

In Consumer Reports, David Pittle writes: “Time and time again we hear about people having difficulty deciding what to buy.”

Still, in some areas of business, a wide range works. Charles Lazarus, founder of the famous toy company Toys I Us, says: “When parents have no idea what to buy for their child, they go to the department store where the widest selection is available.” This is, of course, good for a company like Toys I Us, but not so much for a small corner store. Naturally, it will lose out to large companies in terms of assortment.

What should you do in this case to lure a potential buyer?

For a small entrepreneur, a large assortment can rarely be profitable due to the high cost of inventory.

Let's take a look at another reason why small businesses fail. They are trying to compete with large firms on prices.

Large enterprises will certainly offer more favorable prices. They have greater purchasing power and lower overhead costs relative to sales volume, and can therefore achieve success with very low trading margins. They have already siphoned billions of dollars from the American consumer, saying: “No one can compare with our prices!” or something like that. In 1993, for the first time, these price-gougers sold more ready-to-wear clothing than specialty stores. Budweiser has reduced beer prices for the first time in its 116-year history. To maintain its place in the tobacco market, the Philip Morris company reduced the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 40%.

Could this work? Maybe - but for large companies! Even for such giants as Philip Morris, the result can be very different. The short-term effect will be an increase in sales, but a decrease in profits. On the day when the price cut for Marlboro cigarettes was announced, the company's stock price fell on the stock exchange. Investors did not consider that an increase in the number of potential buyers of Marlboro would lead to an increase in the lower limit of the stock price. Even more than a year later, financial analysts are trying to find an explanation for what is now being called Marlboro Black Friday. The market share owned by this company has increased, but competitors do not retreat, in turn reducing cigarette prices. As a result, smokers enjoy lower prices, but the overall cigarette industry becomes less profitable.

Let's take American Airlines as an example. Year after year, the airline has been ranked top in airline passenger surveys. At some point, she decided to increase traffic volumes by reducing ticket prices. This idea seemed quite timely. After all, different airlines have very different fares depending on the time of year (and sometimes even depending on the time of day). Why not replace the “at what price should I fly?” conundrum. introducing easy-to-understand rules? The problem was that other airlines followed American Airlines' lead. Some small companies such as Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines were able to operate successfully because they did not have the problems with federal taxes and markups that American Airlines had to take into account. Soon she had to return to the well-mastered old methods and tariffs.

Today's consumers are well aware of who does what. They will place your company in their mental “scale”, on which they “mark” where to buy what. Renowned authors Jack Trout and All Reis call this “positioning,” the process by which consumers envision a “place” in their minds for your product.

As renowned forecaster Laurel Cutler says, “The 1990s consumer is the smartest, savviest consumer. We taught people how to think.”

The problem with lowering prices is that it can lead to a “price war.” You will soon find yourself in the position of the owners of the Kroger supermarkets in Cincinnati, who increased their discounts on new food products to the point that pig farmers came to them to buy milk for their piglets for five cents a quart, so it was cheaper, than regular piglet feed.

Therefore, the desire to lower prices and increase the range may not be the best way attracting a potential buyer.

What to do?

Below we will give some examples of using specific techniques to attract the attention of a potential buyer to your business. To help you understand what to do, we'll tell you the story of how we first got into business.

We were quite competitive in terms of prices and assortment, but in our store we limited this competition to a certain category of goods,

When we started, our small baby supply store had an annual turnover of about $25,000. What would make a potential buyer come to us after passing by a huge department store and a number of large specialty stores? My father-in-law came up with the idea: “Let you have inexpensive goods, but in the widest range in the city!”

It was autumn, and we began to think about what a person might need for the winter, and not very expensive?

What if you try to sell small things that keep children warm - mittens, scarves, muffs? It turned out that we had what we needed - inexpensively, and we could offer the widest range of these products in the city!

We decorated the windows ourselves:

“THE BEST ASSORTMENT OF CHILDREN’S GLOVES, MUFFTS AND SCARFS IN OUR CITY!”

Soon people started coming in and asking what the best range of muffs and gloves were. While they were in the store, we managed to offer them overalls (we had, perhaps, the poorest assortment) - after all, the sale of one overalls was equal in money to the cost of three dozen pairs of gloves.

We sometimes managed to sell either a jumpsuit, or a suit, or a girl’s dress - all this because we had what a specific buyer wanted, and in the widest range.

So, while we didn't have the widest range of all products, we were able to achieve it in some areas that our customers wanted.

What have we achieved? We have transferred our Potential Buyer to the rank of Visitor.

You need to make a favorable first impression on the Visitor, and this is achieved by a calm, warm, caring atmosphere. If you succeed, then you thereby win future buyers. If you ignore or, worse, annoy these Visitors, then you lose them forever. And sometimes, the worst thing is, they will tell their story of an unsuccessful visit to your store to a dozen or more of their friends and acquaintances.

Not long ago, a supermarket lost our family in this way... perhaps forever. And since we spent about $10,000 each week in their grocery department (that's about $5,000 a year, or about $100,000 over the next twenty years), that's a pretty significant loss even for a large business.

Here is how it was. We went to the counter to buy some small things. The seller looked and said:

Take the number!

What? - we asked again.

Take the number! - the seller repeated, directing us to a cash register-type machine that issued tear-off paper numbers. - So I will know whose turn it is.

But excuse me, there’s no one in the hall but us!

If you want to be served, you must have a number! These are our rules! - the seller repeated once again, in an irritated tone.

We went to the machine and tore off the number - sixty-one,

The salesman looked at the wall display and shouted, “Next! Sixty-first!"

“It’s us,” we had to respond, and only then were we served.

What happened? People who tried to show concern for us, who tried to create the impression of professionalism and competence, forgot about the human factor. They only remembered that everyone had to “pay off the numbers.” This is how robots act, not people. In any case, people should not act this way if they want their potential buyer to rise to the next step and become a Visitor,

How much do you harvest per hectare?

Stan Golomb develops marketing programs for dry cleaners, restaurants, dentists, medical services, pizzerias and many other businesses. When he takes on new clients, he always asks them to seriously think about and answer one key question for the business, namely, “how much do you harvest per hectare?”

“Farmers always calculate yield per hectare,” explains Stan. If the average yield is, say, 50 quintals per hectare, then a yield of 30 quintals immediately tells him something is wrong.”

Therefore, why shouldn’t an entrepreneur compare the results of his activities with “yield per hectare”? In business, this “yield” is calculated in comparison with the rest of the market. “Area in hectares” in this case can be the number of transactions in a given area of ​​the market that are concluded and carried out by one enterprise. Do you want to know how you're doing? Pay attention to your “yield”.

Start by defining your market. Your primary market is where eighty percent of your Prospects live. Find out the addresses of 300 of your current clients. Using this data, you can estimate where the vast majority of your customers live. If you are a typical small business, over 80% of your customers live within three to five miles of your business.

Then calculate how many families live in your market area. Go to the post office - there is data on the number of postmen and how many houses each of them serves. Let's say there are 5,000 houses on your property. You do business with 1000 clients. This gives a “yield” of 20%, that is, you serve 20% of your potential market. Your task: find a way to increase the “yield”!

There are two ways to increase it:

1. Increase the number of families served by your business.

2. Convince those families who are already doing business with you to spend with you more money.

Once you have an idea of ​​your market share, you can begin to systematically increase it. Even if you've reached every customer in your market, you still have the opportunity to dramatically increase sales by applying incentives so that each customer spends 50% more.

Your sales volume will depend on a number of factors:

1. Geographical location your part of the market,

2. Population density.

3. The level of income of the population in this part of the market.

4. The type of activity in which the population is engaged.

5. The image and lifestyle accepted here.

6. Ethnic characteristics of the population.

7. Average age of the population.

8. Typical weather conditions in the area,

9. Number of competitors in this market.

10. Type of competition.

11. The nature of your activities to improve your competitiveness.

The combination of these factors determines why one business has a turnover of $5,000 a week, while another, similar one, barely manages to reach two thousand. No matter what factors you have to deal with, you can always increase your “yield”.

Think about how farmers increase yield per hectare? Some people increase watering, some add fertilizers, some start using pesticides to control pests, some develop hybrid varieties. They sow, cultivate, fertilize their fields, and try to do everything so that the yield per hectare recoups their costs as much as possible. What can you do within your business?

Life forces you to reckon with certain unchangeable factors. Let's take them for granted. You cannot change the economics of your market area, its population density, its geographical boundaries. You cannot significantly change the location of the enterprise or influence the methods of operation of a competitor in the area of ​​prices and discounts on goods or services.

However, a lot can be done to run your business more successfully, and only you can do it through your own actions. You can do nothing, and then you will reap the fruits of doing nothing - nothing will change, except perhaps external factors that impact your business.

Let's take the vending machine dry cleaning industry as an example. Their annual turnover can be very different - from 50,000 to 1,000,000 dollars (most dry cleaners operate within these limits).

But whatever this turnover is, it can be increased by 20, 50 or even more percent. And this is done by analyzing the local services market and taking appropriate actions.

For example, there is a highway to your north. You don’t have any clients on one side of it. Located in the south Railway, because of her there are few clients from the south. In the west there is a golf course, there are not a lot of customers there either. To the east, it looks like your market border is Fairview Avenue. If your business is located in the center of this Ogden Avenue site, you are forced to respect these boundaries. The only way attracting buyers means sending them advertising leaflets, as well as telephone calls. In doing so, pay special attention appearance your store: display windows, signs, interior spaces, the rumor about which will be passed from visitor to visitor. A recent survey showed that four out of ten potential buyers decide to do business with you based on the appearance of your business.

Once you have an understanding of your market area, similar to a farmer's understanding of the yield in his field, you can begin to think about how to cultivate your field to increase yields and therefore profits.

Interview with Sid Friedman

If something doesn’t want to change, change that “something”!

Sid is one of the world's leading insurance agents. When we want to understand how to find Prospects, we call Sid. He manages thirty insurance agents, but still personally distributes insurance policies. In his lectures and seminars, the most frequently repeated phrase is “if something doesn’t want to change, change that “something”!”

What does Sid mean by this?

Nothing more than this: “It’s not enough to just do what everyone else is doing. And, more importantly, it’s not enough to just repeat what worked before.” Peter Draker writes that “every business must be prepared to change... in everything!”

That some idea, concept, theory long years worked in business does not mean that it will continue to work. This is sort of part of the philosophy expressed in the words “the only constant is change!”

Sid Friedman's passion for change extends to his vision for the future. We spoke with him, trying to understand how he became one of the leading insurance agents.

Question: How do you determine the population of people who may need your services?

Answer: I do targeted marketing. I find people who are somewhat similar to each other. I can't say that my market is everyone around me. I live in the Philadelphia area, but that's not my market. Just like neither New York nor Atlantic City is.

My market is people who have something in common. So if I want to attract funeral directors, I go where they are. I go to their meetings and speak there. I write articles for their special magazine. When I manage to understand their life and work, and they understand me, then a certain relationship is established between us.

As soon as I manage to get one funeral director as a client, I can already move on to the next one. I go to my only client so far with a list of funeral directors and say, “Joe, do you know anyone else on this list that I could talk to and offer my services to?” I go to those people who trust each other and use their connections with each other.

I am very careful about who I work with and who I offer my services to.

My market is not all people. You can, of course, act at random and achieve some success, but in this case you can be compared to that one sperm out of a billion of its kind that fertilizes an egg, and this happens purely by probability. I don't want to be like that. It is pointless. I prefer to know in advance which sperm will work and use only that one.

Question: What can you say about those who have already used your services once? Are you doing anything special to encourage them to come back to you?

Answer: Of course, we mutually sell services to each other. I'm not just a stranger, you become an important person to me. Now I’m trying to keep you - this is task number one. How exactly am I trying to keep you? I send birthday greetings, letters, using phrases like: “I saw an article here and, in my opinion, it may be of interest to you.” By informing you about any events that may be of interest to you,

Since you bought A, and, in my opinion, B, C, D or E may also be useful to you, then I am trying to see you and tell you about it. For example, if you purchased group insurance from me, then I can talk to you about additional pension contribution, annuity insurance, monthly contributions to Pension Fund- you will know that I do this too. I don't expect you to buy my services every time I call, but my point is that when you decide to buy something, you may well contact me.

Question: Do you exclude some segments of the potential market from consideration in order to find those who really need your services?

Answer: It all starts with planning, doesn't it? Can I pull the trigger without knowing what I'm aiming at? Everything happens not according to the principle: “Attention! Fire! Hit! If I know what I want to achieve, then I must consider whether the client can afford my services, does he have enough income, is his business profitable? If profitable, is the client the type of person who cares about the future? Will they buy my services when I come to them? There's no way in hell I'll deal with engineers - I just don't know how to work with them.

Personal characteristics, biographical features, place of residence, environment- everything has to do with the process of identifying the part of the market that I would like to work with.

Question: Many people are not at all eager to disclose the details of their financial situation. How do you overcome this barrier to assess whether a potential client can use your services?

Answer: I don’t think that the reason for their reluctance to share this kind of information with me lies in the presence or absence of some kind of desire, it’s just the way the public is. I know that dry cleaning business owners all over America, as well as all over the world, make a lot of money. Owners of several dry cleaners make even more money. If I wanted to get these Prospects as clients, I would target the dry cleaning industry as a whole. I would find where they gather for their meetings, I would find an opportunity to attend there as an invitee, in general, I would somehow infiltrate their environment. I would tell them that I would like to be involved in their business, find out what they like and what they don't. I would start writing articles for their professional magazine, and speak for free at their events. I would strive to become necessary for them, then they could become necessary for me.

I always have a surgery plan. I don't know how you can win battles without such a plan. Although this is not a war, strategic planning is necessary before committing to a specific plan of action.

Question: How do you behave with dissatisfied clients, who got into trouble because of you?

Answer: Whoever has problems, I give my home phone number. This is the responsibility of the president of the company. He is the main person when complaints and claims arise. Two things must be brought to the attention of the president: one is when one of the staff acts in a questionable manner, and the manager should know about this, and the second is when a client has a problem serious problem, and the only person who can do anything is the president of the company.

Question: Do your employees do the same marketing as you?

Answer: Not all. I would like them to do it, as it could make their life much easier and help them earn more. It seems to me that you can earn much more from services than directly from sales. At the stations Maintenance sells more cars than car dealerships.

Question: What special efforts do you make to close a deal?

Answer: One client told me that he would not be able to meet with me because he was flying to Chicago. I asked him:

What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?

By plane at 7 a.m., flight 1260 Philadelphia-Chicago.

I then asked if I could fly with him, to which the answer was yes, of course. I called the airline, booked a ticket, and found myself in a seat next to the person I wanted. So we got two hours for business meeting. I left the plane with a concluded contract and the client’s gratitude for his willingness to meet his circumstances. I took the next flight home.

I did this many times. I even had to fly to Los Angeles. This way I got a client for myself - two hours from Chicago and six hours from Los Angeles. After all, this is my client. He belongs to me. He has nowhere to hide, he cannot get rid of me, he cannot evaporate. He has no choice but to sit in the chair next to him.

As we wrap up our conversation with Sid Friedman, here are fifteen of his secrets for winning a client's trust.

1. Underpromise, overdeliver. Otherwise the following may happen:

The average consumer purchases five insurance policies over the course of his or her lifetime, from four different insurance agents. This happens because:

3 percent move to another place of residence;

For 5 percent, marital status changes:

9 percent refuse your services because someone else offered a better price:

14 percent were disappointed in the product or service they purchased:

68 percent refuse your services due to inattention and indifference to the client’s needs,

2. Always provide a 100% guarantee. If we had to live with a 99.9% guarantee, we'd be drinking unsafe water for an hour every month, there would be two risky plane landings at Chicago airport every day, 16,000 emails would be lost every hour, and 50 0 incorrect surgical procedures.

3. Always be a professional in everything. Professionalism is visible in actions and knowledge of

how to achieve your goal. A professional always tries to achieve the best results

As a result, a professional is always dissatisfied with himself.

4. Always carry notebook. If you hear or read something and like it, write down that idea or phrase.

5. View your life as an exciting journey. Monitor your business growth. Become who you want to be. First, determine your destination. What is your goal? Secondly, are you aware of your strengths and weak sides? Third, plan your trip.

6. Have the courage to dream big. See colorful dreams. Imagine what you are trying to achieve. Consider it in detail. Draw, And the most ordinary people capable of extraordinary actions.

7. Above all, be yourself. You should not strive to “become me.” In this case, you will be a second-rate copy of me. You are the original. Borrow some traits from those you admire. Mentally play back events like a tape. What doesn't suit you, simply erase it from this tape. 8. Control your time - this way you can manage your life. This is done as follows:

Draw three columns on a piece of paper. In the header of the first column write “URGENT”, in the second header - “IMPORTANT”, and in the third - “OTHER”. Always carry this sheet with you.

9. Remember the four rules for controlling your time (the VOPU* principle). Place all documents from your desk in one pile. Now take the top one - you will not put it aside until you

Execute it, or

Set it aside for a future date (but set a date for when you'll complete it), or

Give it to someone else to do, or

Destroy it.

10. Find out what everyone else is doing and don't do it. Stop competing. Start creating.

11. Form your image so that others associate it with the best. So work on yourself so that people start following your example. Work on eliminating negative traits in your character and behavior.

12. Know how to recognize the behavior of losers. Below are some well-known behavioral characteristics of losers:

They are too busy with themselves, they have no time for anyone else;

They cannot bear any responsibility;

They are characterized by inflexible behavior:

They do not perceive the whole picture, they do not dare to invade an unknown area;

They refuse to obey and would rather lose than follow instructions and win;

They are lazy, will not spend a drop of their talent and time without demanding an increase;

They only criticize and shame others, constantly looking for excuses for themselves and saying that these problems are insoluble.

13. In contrast, here are the characteristics of winners: they have a sense of humor; they don't give up until their job is done: they do whatever it takes to achieve success; their life is well balanced. There are many other things in life besides work;

They are goal oriented;

They understand perfectly how you feel and sincerely give you their full attention;

They have a correct idea of ​​themselves and a good psychological state.

14. Don't take yourself too seriously, but take your business seriously.

15. Whatever happens, I can do it. Just eight words that will provide you with guidance for life.

Facilities mass media: newspapers

Attracting potential buyers through newspaper advertisements

Throughout this book, we'll give you tips on how to use a variety of media to gradually convert Prospects into Customers for your business. Let's start with newspapers, since they are a fairly simple way to attract the attention of Potential Buyers.

FACT: More than 1.13 million adults reach newspapers in the United States every day. On average, six out of every ten people say they read them cover to cover. Nine out of ten read only the most important news. If your business is looking for customers based on their gender, then remember - nine out of ten men read sports pages, and eight out of ten women read leisure, gossip and entertainment pages.

Most newspaper readers are newspaper subscribers (seven out of ten), which means guaranteed delivery of newspapers to your Potential Buyers' homes, unlike radio or television, which only reaches their ears and eyes if the viewer or listener turns on the TV or radio .

Newspapers are a very important means of communicating your business because more money is spent on advertising in newspapers than on advertising in any other media - approximately $34 billion per year.

Because so many people read newspapers every day, newspaper advertising can be an excellent way to introduce Potential Buyers to your product or service.

Nationally, newspapers consume about a quarter of all advertising dollars, but if we talk about local advertising, then newspapers account for about half of all advertising money (followed by television and the so-called “yellow pages” - a special type of telephone directories, each of which accounts for 13%).

Below we will provide some recommendations on how to compose headlines, text and illustrations for advertisements, that is, we will share the experience that we have acquired over many years in attracting the attention of Potential buyers to your business.

Heading

Before turning a newspaper page, the reader's attention lingers on it for an average of four seconds. During these four seconds, he first looks at the headlines of the articles. Therefore, it is best to write the title in such a way that the reader will want to read it to the end,

The average woman reads only four advertisements in the newspaper, so the essence must be put in the headline - what is new, the freshest, the only, the paramount, using such keywords, which can force a potential buyer to read your advertisement.

1. Promise benefits or arouse curiosity. Remember that people only buy two things in the world: solutions to their problems and good feelings. Think about these two criteria the next time you sit down to write advertisements for your products and services. Emphasize the benefit that a person will receive by purchasing your product, rather than the properties of the product itself. If the shoes you are selling have a cushioned insole (a product feature), say it is “shock absorbent” (a benefit). If the suits you sell are made from a synthetic/wool blend (feature), say they are “year-round” (benefit). Ads with headlines promising benefits are read four times more people than with headlines that do not promise benefits. Charles Mills, vice president of O. M. Scott, the world's largest turfgrass company, says, "People are interested in their lawns, not our seeds."

2. If possible, include the name of the product in the title. It is the name of the product, not the name of the company. Indicate your name somewhere else in the ad, but not in the title, unless it contains some special significance. “ONLY AT (store name). YOU WILL FIND (product name).” Most people like to see their company name in the header of their ad, although the bottom section works just as well. Be sure to include your address, telephone number, and the name of the person you can contact for more information.

3. A long headline is perceived well (and often better than a short one). Headlines of more than ten words are much better read than short ones.

4. Don't try to sound smarter just for show. One recent advertisement for cars with catalytic converters had the headline "ARE YOU ALLERGY TO CATS?*" A reader with such an allergy will certainly notice this advertisement, but it has nothing to do with cats.

5. Be guided by some kind of “main idea.” The great advertising expert, David Ogilvy, said: “Unless your advertising campaign is built around a core idea, it will wander in the dark, like a ship in the night.” You must find what is special about the product you are advertising. The more such “highlights” you place in the ad text, the easier it will be to sell the product.

6. Sell only one idea at a time. Otherwise, you will only confuse the reader.

7. Value the word “new.” The product is “new”. New solution. Advertising with the words “new” or “new” in the headline performs 20% better,

8. Use special words in your ad headline because they work. These words include (but are not limited to): new, free, amazing, just arrived, guaranteed, you, now. If your advertisement is addressed to a specific audience, then indicate its name in the title (asthmatics, rheumatism patients). Here is an example of a “working” headline: “TWO MONTHS AGO, THEY CALLED ME BALDE.” You can be sure that bald men will pay attention to such a headline,

9. Include a statement about the local origin of your product. Supermarkets promoting the sale of local products are reporting a surge in turnover. People like to identify themselves with a local product. They are proud to buy “their own”. It is for this reason that Senator Mondale won the elections in Minnesota, and Dukakis - in Massachusetts, although they lost them in almost all other states.

10. “Don’t show off.” Double entendres, puns, and headlines designed to grab attention but lack substance don't work. Cable television ran commercials in which famous people said things like, "Murphy Brown is on 60 Minutes." Each of these advertisements began with the template, “Okay, although this is not true, but if it were real...” Most people immediately stop paying attention to such advertisements. We once put the headline on an advertisement for winter overalls that were purchased in Finland as follows: “WE WENT TO HELSINKI AND BACK TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THESE ONE-SUITS.” You can’t say anything, it’s funny, but it didn’t contribute to the sale of overalls.

A week later, we ran the same advertisement again, but the headline was changed: “IN THIRTY YEARS OF OUR COMPANY’S EXISTENCE, WE HAVE NEVER SOLD SO MANY JUMPSUITS IN SUCH A SHORT TIME.” This headline helped us sell sixty-three overalls. People read this headline and said, “Those jumpsuits must be something amazing!”

11. Place the title below the illustration. Why? Because that's how people read it. Take a look at any newspaper or magazine. If your advertisement looks like an editorial, then your readership will immediately increase.

12. Don't make titles in capital letters. If you type the title of your ad in lowercase letters INSTEAD OF TYPING IT LIKE THIS, you will also increase your readership. This happens because a person is accustomed to reading precisely lower case, with which this sentence is typed. Yes, of course, the title will be typed in larger typography, but still in lowercase letters.

13. The title should be clear. John Caples, a headline writer and former vice president of advertising agency BBD&0, said, “When people see your ad, they think about completely different things.” Don't make them think. Make them take action.

14. The headline must be believed. I will believe the headline “HOW TO LOSE 5 KILO IN TWO WEEKS” and not believe “HOW TO LOSE 5 KILO IN 24 HOURS”. That makes all the difference.

15. The title should have been designed for your audience. Advertising headlines should be different for young mothers and sixty-year-old grandmothers.

16. Tell a story. People like to read different stories, and if your story is interesting, then the headline can make them read the whole text. Here's the headline we used to advertise men's workwear: "WE SAW THEM FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE HOTEL CRYON ON THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE IN PARIS." This was indeed the case. The first time we saw these thick, rough overalls was on a rack in the hotel toilet. When we got home we ordered them for our store and our headline helped us sell them!

17. Solving the problem. It dawned on us that children's raincoats could be monogrammed with the child's initials. Most children's raincoats are predominantly yellow, and in the school locker room it is impossible to distinguish them from each other. That's why your child often comes home wearing someone else's coat. Our headline read: "THIS CAPE CAN'T BE CONFUSED WITH ANYONE ELSE BECAUSE IT HAS YOUR NAME ON IT." They sold out in three days!

18. Dream come true. John Caples wrote the classic: "THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAT AT THE PIANO." This advertisement helped sell a mail-order piano course.

20. Last but most important, don't forget the headlines! If you think that this is just funny and it doesn’t happen, take a look at car advertisements and food products in your local newspaper. They either have no headings (only the company name at the top), or are full of meaningless phrases like “MIDWINTER CLEARANCE”, which means absolutely nothing.

In conclusion. Try different headings for the same product. John Caples said that when he tested different options, one of them could be twenty times more effective than the others.

For years, sets of four notepads sold successfully with the ad "BUY THESE FOUR NOTES FOR JUST 99 CENTS," until someone offered the same product but with an ad that worked much better: "BUY THREE NOTES FOR 99 CENTS - THEN ONE, EXTRA YOU WILL GET FOR FREE!”

Only one in ten readers will read your ad copy. The whole art lies in using a headline to attract attention and keep it while reading the first few paragraphs. If you succeed, while he reads the first 50 words you wrote, then most likely he will read the next 250. The power of words, even just one, cannot be underestimated. Here are some examples.

Shampoo sales doubled with one single word. The instructions said: “Wet your hair, apply shampoo and rinse thoroughly.” And the clever writer of advertising texts added one word: “Repeat.”

Famous businessman Elmer Wheeler was famous for coining various phrases that increased turnover. One diner wanted to increase its milkshake sales. In those days, some customers wanted to add an egg to a milkshake, which naturally increased its price and, accordingly, the profit of the enterprise. Wheeler came up with something that tripled sales: When a customer ordered a milkshake, the cashier would ask, “Do you want one egg or two?” - to which almost everyone answered: “with one” (and some - “with two”),

The cosmetics company Helene Rubinstein could not understand why large department stores refused the free shopping apps that the company offered them. We analyzed the problem and gave the answer:

You used two incorrect expressions. First, the headline read: “A GIFT FROM HELEN RUBINSTEIN.” This is not how it should be. The gift must come from the specific department store where it was offered.

Secondly, if your store is high-end, don't offer "free coupons" to customers. Such coupons are given in supermarkets. You give “gift certificates”. Same product, but different words. By making such simple changes, Helene Rubinstein made sure that almost every department store took part in the advertising campaign for the company's products.

When you visit Disneyland, you are not a buyer or a client - you are a guest. One simple word dramatically changes the level of treatment - after all, people are much more kind to guests than to customers.

I like what our British relatives call Insurance companies, engaged in life insurance, "insurance". In this sense, it seems to me that I am paying money to “insure myself” and stay alive, while the name of American similar companies suggests that I will only win if I die.

Thus, when starting to write the text of your advertisement, remember the importance of every word.

Here are twenty tips to help you create great advertising.

1. Get to the important stuff... ASAP! Most advertising professors can teach you this. It is necessary to “load” the first three paragraphs as much as possible. The beginning of your text should highlight the benefits communicated in the headline.

2. Write in short sentences. No more than twelve to fifteen words. Paragraphs should not be very long, consisting of two or three sentences. This will allow you to have enough free space on the area of ​​your advertisement and make it more accessible to perception. Remember that the reader does not “read”, but rather “skims.”

3. Do not type text wider than three inches (about 10 cm). This is due to the fact that one glance covers just such a space. This is especially true for regular newspaper font (11.5 point size).

4. Don't exaggerate. Don't try to prove that your product " sweeter than sugar" Promise less, but deliver more.

5. Be specific. Kipling's "six faithful servants" are still at work - What, Where, When, Who, How and Why*:

I have six servants

Agile, daring

And everything I see around

I know everything from them.

They are at my sign

Are in need.

Their names are: How and Why,

Who, What, When and Where.

6. Speak as if you were talking to someone at home, simply, freely, understandably.

7. Type your text in a serif font. This is exactly how this text is typed. It has a special “serif” at the end of each letter, making the text more convenient for visual perception. AND THIS TEXT is typed in a sans serif font (sans serif). You can see for yourself how difficult it is to perceive.

9. Write in the present tense. Never use the past tense. The present tense implies that everything is happening right now, while the past symbolizes something outdated, no one needs.

10. Use clear words and famous names. I once wrote an advertisement for a new song that said: “...this The best music, which I've been hearing since Glenn Miller* died." I showed this text different people, and almost everyone under thirty asked, “Who is Glenn Miller?”

11. Use recommendations from those who actually buy your product. Using clients who live in your neighborhood in advertising is much cheaper than mentioning the names of celebrities, and is almost as effective as them. (“Look, there’s a photograph of Mary Simpson! Because I know her...”)

12. Indicate the price. Once we prepared an advertisement for children's mouton fur coats. They were very expensive, and the advertising customer did not advise us to indicate the price. We convinced her: “Why did you buy them then if you’re not sure that you can sell these fur coats?” Nine out of ten newspaper readers say that price influences their purchasing decision and choice of product. If you don't indicate the price, you won't be able to influence Potential Buyers.