Tips, tricks, news & other wisdom from the team at Inspire.
Before I go any further, I want you to banish all thoughts of what a successful sales and marketing message should look like.
Because what I’ve got to share with you goes completely against the grain of what most people think marketing is – we call it the ‘Re-activation Email’.
Quite frankly, it wouldn’t be too harsh to consider it the runt of the marketing litter. It’s a bit of an ugly little bugger, but it sure does get results.
As I mentioned the other week, I’ve always believed in the power of mentors – having someone who’s already trod the path that you want to go down is a very smart way to shortcut success.
Last week I mentioned one of my oldest mentors; this week I want to refer to one of my newest – the inimitable Nigel Botterill.
Botty’s a bona fide UK business superstar, with bags of sales and marketing experience. Last year, he introduced me to a very clever approach, that can be used with great effect in the kitchen industry…
Throughout my career, I’ve always had mentors, and there’s a simple analogy that explains why:
You wouldn’t attempt Everest without a Sherpa.
Having someone on hand who knows the route is hugely valuable, can stop you heading off in the wrong direction, and make sure you go the most direct way to your desired destination.
Following on from my Customer Experience thoughts last week, I thought I’d ask a question today:
What’s the difference between a Customer Experience and Customer Service?
Well, we believe that the ‘experience’ is proactive and takes place leading up to the point of the sale, while ‘service’ is reactive and will inevitably happen after the sale has been made.
Many advertisers spend a lot of money encouraging potential customers into their business.
But what happens when those prospective customers walk in?
The reality is that lots of businesses are simply wasting that advertising money by failing to maximise each opportunity that that advertising affords them.
I was flicking through the channels the other night and I caught one of those football shows, ‘The Premier League Years 2004/5’. It was the season that signalled the arrival of ‘The Special One’, Jose Mourinho.
It was 14 years ago now, but there are two big marketing lessons in the changes that Jose made to Chelsea, and I wanted to share them with you.
I had the chance last week to spend some time with legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
You know who I’m talking about – the guy who cut his own frostbitten fingers off with a hacksaw.
Although I’m not planning on climbing Everest anytime soon, Britain's greatest living explorer had some hard-won advice that I enjoyed digesting, and I thought it might be relevant for you too.
Over the years, I’ve realised that when it comes to marketing, there are three distinct types of KBB businesses:
#1 - Those who do no marketing (or very little), and rely solely on word of mouth
#2 - Those who do a few campaigns throughout the year; maybe radio for a couple of months, then a flyer-drop a couple of months later, or a newspaper ad with an offer to stimulate sales
#3 - Those who see their marketing as a process and a system, and have properly bought into the idea of 'rhythmic customer acquisition'…
Bear with me for a moment, please. Here’s a couple of questions:
Did you wake up this morning and decide that - today - you’re going out to buy a bed…? Or, a new washing machine…? Or, a new car…? Chances are, you didn’t.
You see, research indicates that if you take most products, only 4% of people want them TODAY…
I was chatting to a kitchen retailer a couple of weeks ago; talking through some marketing ideas for his business. We came up with some great strategies to generate more leads and win more work, but then he stopped me and said:
“Here’s the thing, David – ideas are not necessarily the issue; it’s putting them in place that’s the problem.”
It’s a simple statement. But to me, it’s profound in its ability to sum-up where so many kitchen businesses are at…
Drop us an email. We’ll be delighted to help.
