Last week I promised I was going to talk about making irresistible offers to your clients and prospects.
But over the past few weeks, I’ve had something on my chest and I’ve finally succumbed and decided to talk about it.
You see I’m going to talk about on something that’s filling up the newspapers at the moment. And that’s the economy.
Now. I don’t claim to know what’s going to happen like some commentators.
Sure, I have my own opinion on what’s going on, but I’m not here to give you my opinion on things like this. There’s enough so-called experts cluttering up peoples minds with that already, so I sure as hell ain’t going to add any more to it.
But what I AM going to talk about is what it means for anyone in business.
So lets assume that things are going to slow down, and businesses will find it tougher.
Now, most people in business see DISASTER. But what I see is…OPPORTUNITY!
OK. Just follow me on this one.
Its fair to say that over the last few years it was pretty easy being in business. The economy was on the crest of a wave. The streets were awash with money.
In fact, anyone who opened up any business stood a pretty good chance of succeeding, regardless of whether they were any good or not. They just hung out their sign and people would come.
But now that’s different. Businesses will struggle and businesses WILL go to the wall.
But when you think about it, the ones that go under first will be the ones that least deserved to be there in the first place. Harsh. But true. They’ll be the ones that selected crappy locations for their stores, or could never justify higher prices to their clients. Perhaps they blindly followed bad advice without working things out for themselves.
There’s plenty of reasons businesses fail. I’m not having a go at them. Not at all. Good on the for trying.
So lets be Darwinian and call it ‘Survival of the Fittest’. Because those least equipped to be in business will be the first ones to close up.
So, in order to not only stay afloat, but THRIVE, you have to really hone your marketing skills to a fine point. Have your marketing strategies so well developed that you’ll be able to keep raising your prices and getting new customers, REGARDLESS of the state of the economy.
And that’s hard, because when there’s less money around and people start examining their spending more thoroughly, you still have to be able to justify why they should keep you in their weekly budget.
And you arent just competing against other businesses in your field, you’re now competing against every other business you customers do business with. And that means groceries, school fees, petrol, entertainment, everything.
So avoiding ‘the chop’ is going to get tougher.
Now, to do this you need marketing strategies that’ll keep your product or service in the MUST HAVE basket.
You also need marketing strategies so lethal that you’ll be able to pounce on any prospect the second you sniff them out, and add them to your herd.
Because what will eventually happen is your competitors will start to go out of business.
And when this happens, all of a sudden there’s going to a release of new prospects into the wild. And if your strategies are sharp and effective enough, you’ll start bagging their old customers as fast as you can, while your competitors are left wondering “What the hell just happened”.
But wait, this is where it gets REALLY COOL.
You see, if your marketing strategies are that damned good that you not only stay afloat, but actually grow your business in tough times, then what’s going to happen in 2-3 years time when the economy is back on top again.
I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen. The strategies you developed in these lean times will have you miles out in front of them when they going get good.
And its all because you invested your time and money in developing better and better marketing when they were cutting back on it. You saw it as an investment; they saw it as an expense.
Its these skills you develop in the BAD times that will see you grabbing all the new customers when they start flooding in as the economy turns upwards once again.
You can even start this process NOW. Even if these people wont become clients for 2-3 years. All you have to do is stay at the forefront of your customers mind as THE GO-TO BUSINESS in your market. That way, when they’re ready to spend money, you’ll be the first person they’ll consider.
I wont go into depth about this now, but I’ve mentioned it before. Just start with the basics – newsletters, blogs, free reports, free audio interviews, free consultations, referral programs and so on.
And that, my friends, is where the BIG money is, and why NOW may just be the biggest OPPORTUNITY for business, not the biggest DISASTER the media are trying to scare us with.
Next week I’ll be back on track, talking about how to put together an irresistable offer that your prospects wont be able to refuse.
I look forward to talking with you all then
Hugh Thyer
