Effective marketing has to lead potential prospects through a series of baby steps.
Only with low priced items – within the so-called “discretionary spending” band, usually considered to be around $15 or less – can you go from informing a prospect of the existence of your product, all the way to a sale, all in one step.
Of course there are the exceptions. The NFL draftee who just got his signing bonus, walks into a Mercedes showroom, falls in love with an SLR Mclaren and plunks down the $500K on the spot.
That misses the much higher percentage who have to be walked up to purchasing bit by bit.
Repetitive exposure through ads and mailings.
A good website.
Free offerings such as DVDs or info packs.
Free estimates. Self-assessment questionnaires. Newsletter signups.
Demonstrations. Free trials.
Low priced “first services” or products.
Any effort to improve your new business development efforts should involve a careful analysis of where this process can be improved. If a step is weak or missing, a large percentage of your prospects are going to be lost right there. Instead of making it to the top of the stairs, they’ll end up in the basement. And you’ll have wasted a lot of your marketing investment in “first contacts.”
We call this the marketing chain because, like real-world chains, it is only as strong as its weakest link.
Something to think about.