The Secret Marketing Formula

Your business survival is based on your ability to market yourself and your ability to convert "leads" or "contacts" into sales. All the money, product knowledge, commitment, time and motivation will go to waste until you can prospect effectively. Most people spend all their time learning about their business - how to do taxes, learning about their products, etc. Very little time is spent on marketing strategies.

In order to succeed in today's business world, you must distinguish yourself from other businesses. You must develop a marketing campaign that puts your organization above the competition.Unfortunately, most technology gurus abhor the word "sales." We can't stand the thought of having to get out and sell. We just want to create our products and services and have people beat a path to our door. Well, you can't avoid sales, but there is a way to look at it that will help you not hate it so bad. Matter of fact, you can turn it into something fun - a game -- if you think of it as a science.

As computer professionals, we think like computers, so science and logic are easier for us to grasp. If we turn sales and marketing into a scientific formula with logical steps, then we'll be able to do it successfully. That is exactly that this chapter is all about - discovering the formula that will make marketing and selling our computer-based business easy.

Become a Technology Doctor

All computer professionals are problem solvers. Like a doctor, you should be paid to perform diagnostics, suggest solutions, and then implement treatment. Just like untreated health problems can lead to discomfort, chronic illness and even death, so can a computer problem lead to business problems, decreased revenues and even the death of the business.

Most people don't question that they want a doctor to fix their health problems. This is because they understand the ramifications of not "treating" the problem. Make your customers understand the repercussions of not "treating" their computer problems, and they will not be concerned about the price for doing it. They will know that they need to fix the problem.

Just as doctors specialize in solving certain problems, you should specialize in solving specific computer problems. This helps you narrow your target market. You are looking for people who have specific problems. For example, if you create database programs, you might specialize in creating database applications that automate the sales and inventory processes for mail order businesses. In this case you would be looking for mail order companies that are doing well, but are outgrowing their "canned packages" or paper-methods for tracking their business.

As a computer professional, you need to be a technology physician. You will use the following steps in solving your client's problems:

• Listen carefully to discover all the symptoms;
• Diagnose the problem;Give a prognosis of what will happen if the problem(s) go untreated;
• Suggest a treatment plan; and
• Carry out the treatment.

Symptoms

Diagnosis

From discussing the symptoms & processes, form your diagnosis. This is a list of the root problems causing the symptoms.

Prognosis

Develop a prognosis. This is a list of consequences that will happen if the problem is not treated.

Treatment

Based on the diagnosis, propose a plan for treating the root problems so that the symptoms are eliminated. By following the specified treatment plan, the business will be "cured" of it's symptoms.

Duplicate

Once you know how to solve one business' problems you can solve similar problems for other similar businesses. You have learned the needs of your target market. You have learned the typical symptoms of your target customer. Using the symptoms, you can develop your marketing literature around your "cure" for the symptoms of your typical customer.

For example, let's say you work with mail order businesses exhibiting the following symptoms:

• They are having a hard time keeping track of orders. They lose them occasionally, or fail to ship orders because they are misplaced.
• Although they are selling a lot of product, they are experiencing serious cash flow problems.
• They have a lot of inventory, but there's always something missing when they go to fill an order.
• Customers are complaining about the time it takes to get orders and are threatening to buy elsewhere.

You can now create your marketing literature to address these problems and your solutions to them. You might say something like:

"Are you feeling overwhelmed keeping track of orders and inventories? Are your customers complaining about the time it takes to get orders? Are some customers consistently late paying their invoices? Are you experiencing cash flow problems? Our systems solve these problems. You will instantly know the status of orders, unpaid invoices, and your inventory levels.

These systems keep you ahead of your competition and keep your company going in the right direction."

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How You Can Order This E-Manual

"How to Get and Keep Customers for Your Computer-Based Business" Inside you'll find the "Secret Marketing Formula" practically applied to six popular computer-based businesses: desktop publishing, software consulting, hardware sales/service, Internet marketing consulting, database programming, and computer training. Letters, flyers, newsletters and ad copy for each specialty are included on an accompanying diskette.

The e-manual is $24.95 in downloadable Adobe PDF format - 

You can order on-line by going to our Order Form. OR

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