The business landscape seems to shift almost daily. Business owners are left scratching their heads wondering what the next move is. Even as society moves into what some call the “data era”, questions remain.
Business owners are often left wondering, “Why isn’t my marketing working?”
Sandra Alexander, of Atlanta’s Salelynn Marketing agency, brings to her clients her 20 years of professional sales experience inside of industries such as transportation management, medical supplies, and insurance and with professionals in the real estate industry.
Sandra says, “The biggest challenge I saw professionals have during the past 20 years and likely going forward, is getting people looking for their services to choose them instead of their competitors. This was the case when the person was making a choice between professionals in the same office or the competitor down the street. What I can do for my clients is make sure they’re being seen and talked about when that person looks them up or gets a recommendation. Helping my client increase their presence by positioning them as the authority or expert in their industry increases sales, creates opportunities and eliminates client hesitation. It creates a reputation that translates into more business for my client as well as more prestige.”
Sandra continues “I’ve taken tons of sales training, and what is often missed or forgotten is that 80% of your sale is based on how you’re positioned in your prospect’s mind before you even ask for the sale. What is their perception of you?”
Some experts including Gary Vaynerchuk say we’re in the thank you economy. With the proliferation of social media platforms people now have the ability to easily talk about things they like and dislike. This means they can make recommendations about businesses. It also holds these businesses more accountable than they’ve been since the 1950s when national TV ad campaigns became available.
Sandra continues, “I make sure my clients become the obvious choice. I put their online presence together in such a way that their expertise shines.”
Professionals spend lots of time in school learning their trade. But few schools teach the business side. As consumer behavior changes and competition increases, this has put the squeeze on many professional offices who don’t know what to do to combat these changes.
Sandra advises, “A lot of professionals are very good on the technical part or the fulfillment apart. But as far as marketing themselves and bringing in those new clients, professionals are falling short. They don’t know how to build a communication process. The people coming to them have lots of questions and aren’t pre-sold that this professional is the expert. They have to convince this person that their professional recommendation is the way to go. This is an uphill battle.”
“Especially for business professionals this is a huge challenge. The potential client has so much minutia in their mind from things they’ve seen on television or tips they got from a friend. Now the professional is telling them to take a different strategy. The person questions this and these ‘on the fence’ people can be a huge waste of the professional’s time because they may take this advice and go with a different provider.” Says Sandra.
“Authority positioning helps eliminate this questioning and that person already has a seed planted in their mind that my client is the way to go. For example, if you look at noted professionals like Suze Orman, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Oz., Barbara Corcoran, Martha Stewart and the like, they are considered experts because you see them in the media. Because of that, their recommendations aren’t questioned, they command the respect of the public and their peers and they command huge fees for their time and advice. Their clients and patients seek them out, not vice versa. What they have done is use the media and authority positioning to their advantage. That is what I offer to my clients. I make them the noted authority in their industry no matter what that industry is. That starts on a local level and can be expanded to a national level if my client wants. If they want to become a celebrity or a bestselling author that can be done also.”
When done right this makes the market more efficient. People like to do their research on the Internet beforehand. And if a clear choice emerges they prefer to call on only one business according to a recent DMEautomotive study.
Sandra finishes with, “By the time they’re talking to one of my clients they’re 80% or more convinced based on how we positioned the client online and in the media. It drowns out false data and confusion that may have been in the person’s head, eliminates doubt and mistrust. This process eliminates price hagglers and filters out most of the non-serious people. My client just has to present a reasonable solution or plan.”
Time is a valuable, viable asset that any professional or person has. So building or hiring somebody to build a better system is the key to improving a professional practice.
To learn more about Sandra Alexander and Salelynn Marketing go to www.SalelynnMarketing.info or contact her at 888-281-5450