Author Archives: Chuck Sink

What to Do if Marketing Stops Working

Do more marketing.

Yes, it is that simple and now you may think you wasted time opening this article, but read on. You’ll appreciate the message if you have an open mind.

When I say “do more” I’m specifically talking about doing more of what works, not necessarily about increasing budgets. And, if your budget is too low for what you need to accomplish, then you need to seriously ask yourself why that’s so. Is your business cash strapped? Is it fear of the unknown? Probably more the latter. Small business owners are usually afraid to spend money on marketing services unless they can envision and believe in a successful result.

Trust Yourself First!

Do you trust that your marketing team or agency has your best interests at heart? Do they understand what makes your business valuable to real customers?

Are you willing to commit time and expertise to your branding and content strategies? Will you task yourself and your team to keep pushing forward to move the needle?

Can you trust yourself to do what it takes as company leader to assure that your marketing efforts bring growth and profits?

Let’s be honest! I’ll start.

This gets a little personal. I’m the carpenter rebuilding my own house and the progress is frustrating! I need to live and work in this partially built structure (brand). While it’s way farther along than when we started, there are still some important renovations left unfinished.

  • My website is old and needs a redesign. I attempted to freshen it up but that only revealed that I need to do it right, from the ground up.
  • I need to apply better SEO practices to our own website. I know how, I just need to do it!
  • We have a vast body of work. I need a Demo Reel Video to showcase what we actually do for our clients.
  • I should hire a business administrator or virtual assistant to give me additional time for relationships & client strategy.
  • I’ve started a dialog with a social media manager and need to hire the person sooner rather than later.
  • I’ve held back on paid advertising for my company but recommend it to some clients.

You know, just like I do, that you need to prioritize your marketing efforts over dwelling in your comfort zones or putting out fires. If you need to work on your business rather than being buried in it, get some help.

Get help from someone with acute listening skills who quickly understands your business and target market and can effectively customize your marketing campaigns. Avoid getting shoehorned into someone’s go-to service template!

Your Turn…

Do you want to grow? Then do what growing companies do. Rise above the low-level noise of your competition and do more marketing. Help is available from a good listener with a successful track record.

Are You a Marketing Leader?

The Transparency of Real Leaders

Every Business Owner I’ve worked with closely has spilled some beans to me about his or her business challenges, sometimes personal challenges. Beyond the important conversations concerning their markets, we often get into the confidential internal issues at the company that deal with employees, contractors, and vendors. We share personal stories.

While I’m certainly no coach or counselor, I appreciate it whenever clients trust me enough to open up and tell me what’s really on their minds. I’m happy to listen in confidence and respond in kind. Perhaps surprisingly, these deeper conversations can be crucial to strong brand development and better marketing executions.

Every business has some nuanced or even bold advantage that helps it differentiate value from its competition. Those unique attributes need to be understood by the market or the brand loses equity to those competitors that communicate better.

Do you know what clearly differentiates your product and service quality from your competition? Have you driven those points home to your marketing director or agency partners, and do they know how to execute in your particular market?

Availability, openness and transparency with your marketing advisors clear a pathway to full understanding of your value proposition and how to craft your messages to attract new business. A trusted confidant who gets to know the company’s leadership personally, and thereby fully understands the firm’s culture, can do a better job as your marketing partner. They’ll know how to differentiate your singular distinction to attract the kind of customers you can best serve.

And, if you’re really serious about achieving positive results from your marketing campaigns, there is one crucial thing for you to do.

The Secret of Marketing Success

Risk being a pain in the butt. Does a laissez-faire attitude cut it when overseeing the most critical functions of sustaining and growing your business? A true leader leads the single most important function in the company: marketing!  Why? Because marketing makes up your products & services, prices, distribution and promotion efforts. And promotion includes advertising, public relations and personal selling. Quite a lot to marketing, isn’t there!

As owner and CEO, you must get involved and stay involved in your campaigns. It’s your responsibility to keep marketing and sales at the top of your business priority list. How do you do this? In short, by communicating more. Here’s what that looks like:

  • Clearly articulate your cultural values and your firm’s USP – unique selling proposition.
  • Lead or attend marketing meetings on a regular schedule.
  • Attend every meeting that includes campaign pitches.
  • Do not delegate your leadership. Provide your knowledge and ideas directly!
  • Provide key insights and feedback from your industry.
  • Freely give of your specialized expertise.
  • Provide resources for photography, video and other crucial assets as needed.
  • Hold yourself and your team accountable for following through.

Over the years, I’ve repeatedly observed successful sales and marketing campaigns yield sustained business growth. I’ve also seen great ideas and creative energy come to nothing because of lackluster leadership and effort. The common factor in most successful campaigns has been the CEO’s time, leadership, commitment, and support.

Every Team Needs a Head Coach

A team needs its head coach on the field with them if they expect to win.

Your team will only perform to the level they perceive you expect, and guess what? They’re human. You need to remind them of your expectations and provide guidance regularly or inertia will set in and cause efforts to go stale.

Your sustained enthusiasm for building your brand and growing your business is the energy that’s needed to fuel your campaigns. And when your team feels your energy and support behind them, they’ll be moved to perform. Let them show you and the market their best stuff!

Leave a Recall Impression

If you were once a salesperson and then become a business owner, the tables suddenly turn, and then you discover the real reasons people buy. You also find out what it’s like to get bombarded by those in your previous profession and why your past sales calls often went unanswered.

I’ve been in the same selling situation as the buying situation I’m in now. Having experience on both sides of the table offers me much deeper sales and marketing insights.

It’s a go!

Most recently I needed to procure services for a couple of client projects and had several pros in my network to call on. All have networked with me and marketed to me in similar ways, and I had no strong loyalties one way or the other. I made my selections and so far, so good.

Why did I choose whom I chose? What most influenced my decisions? In each case it was the strongest and most relevant brand impression left with me. The deciding factors were the suppliers’ focus on their relevant specialties along with my perceptions of their quality, personality and integrity.

Branding Matters!

This is why I always harp on branding. The most powerful brand elements reside in your head and mine! And when we take them to heart, we develop brand loyalty and know whom to call again and again for those needed services or products.

Brands have the power to open relationships! Your brand is only as strong as its recall impression. What does your brand stand for and why does it matter?

Need help with that? Call us and we’ll figure out the messaging that will make your potential customers realize it’s you they should call first.

Curiosity and Ideas – a Salesperson’s Best Friends

If you’re involved with business development, you know of certain places where you can find opportunities. You also know there are certain activities which have proven to bring you new business. So you go to those places and repeat those activities consistently. Over time, this may become disappointingly dull or the value of your time spent doing the same things may be questionable.

What if you could expand your opportunities by expanding your interest in what’s going on all around you? Can you bring valuable, creative energy and solutions to people unexpectedly?

Can you tell me about this?

Asking the right questions, often of perfect strangers, leads to opportunities. How many stories have you heard about a seemingly random, happenstance meeting that led to something great? I’ve heard hundreds of such firsthand experiences and have a few of my own to share. I’m sure you do too.

Many years ago, I was curious about a sign I drove past that I hadn’t noticed before. I made a u-turn and pulled up to the building. I inquired about what the company did (thinking at first it was a bakery) and learned it was an industrial manufacturer of niche papermaking equipment. I got the President’s card from the receptionist and never made direct contact. I put his email address into my newsletter list and that was that. A full nine years later, I got a call out of the blue from the guy, and his company became one of my best clients for several years.

Did You Know…?

One day I was drinking a certain brand of tea in the office, and it dawned on me to call the brand’s headquarters in Connecticut. I got the VP of Marketing on the phone and told him about qualitative market research which he happened to be interested in. That serendipitous phone call led to millions in revenue for the company I worked at. I duplicated this tactic and landed business with a major coffee maker brand – Keurig – when it was first entering the commercial market. I have similar stories.

The big secret is that you can create chance meetings and opportune moments intentionally. Make it your intent to bring value to people by learning what they need and pointing them in the right direction to obtain it. This is done by asking questions, but you need to find the people to ask. Where are they? Everywhere – grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, churches, chambers of commerce, construction sites, town offices, BNI groups, coffee shops, hotel lobbies… you get the idea. Just go to these places armed with curiosity, approachability and ideas.

Creative Solutions Nuke Objections

There’s tremendous value in expanding your local presence beyond your traditional home turf. I did this early in my career by making a tiny mom & pop print shop in the North Country a significant competitor in Southern NH and Northern MA. This was unheard of at the time. Due to high demand, logistics and shipping costs, most commercial printers only competed regionally. But I found a way to do business successfully from a long distance. I became the territory rep of my small, faraway company and confidently dispatched objections about distance, turnaround time and logistics.

We didn’t have our own trucks and couriers like other printers, but we had a bus route passing near our shop. Most bus companies gladly accept parcel and freight business, and they run most routes several times a day. Did you know that? We did, and Concord Trailways became my local service equalizer for years! As a result, I more than tripled the company’s revenue by bringing business from the populated south to the rural and sleepy White Mountains region where we had our presses.

Value Driven Field Work

It’s easy enough to show up at places where opportunities may be found but simply asking questions of strangers can be awkward. However, if you have a valuable idea to offer, it’s just you trying to help with whatever situation you observe someone in.

Whatever your expertise, if you make a “cold call” in person or inquire from a stranger about a potential opportunity, be prepared to offer real, expert advice, and be objective about it. If you get back to the person with something of additional value, you’ll likely form a relationship. Create, build and maintain those relationships and more referrals will come your way.

 

 

Networking in Motion May 3rd – Manchester

Discourse & Ropes Course at Thrive Outdoors

Have a blast making new business connections!

It’s what Networking in Motion is all about!

Join us for lunch, networking and a fun activity on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at Thrive Outdoors in Manchester, NH. It’s free!

Event Details

Date & Time:  Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 12:00 noon – 1:30 PM

Location:  Thrive Outdoors – 190 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101

  • Complimentary lunch and beverages served
  • Open networking and round robin business introductions
  • Fun team-building exercise on indoor low ropes course – a blast!

Registration is required! Contact us online or call 603-345-7223.

You can also register by contacting Jake or Melanie at Thrive Outdoors – (603) 625-6600

Quality Promotes!

In my early career, I’ll never forget Richard! He was the senior member of a 5-man sales team at a printing company I once worked for. His sales were huge, and they just seemed to pour in without him doing any prospecting, cold calling, or appointment setting, etc. How unfair!

Then there was poor me. I worked my tail off to get new business and produced enough to be valued. I cold called like mad, set appointments and made pitches day after day. It was a constant struggle to sustain business growth as it ebbed and flowed in spite of my mighty selling efforts. But Richard just sat there on the phone discussing business and taking big, fat orders. Either that or he would meet his clients at the plant and entertain them as they brought him more projects.

Richard’s cup runneth over while mine was either half full or half empty, depending on my attitude.

The real kicker about Richard was this. Most of the new business inquiries calling in would ask for him even though he didn’t spend time prospecting. What did he have that the rest of us didn’t?

 

Never Compromise Quality

Richard understood quality and he never cut corners. While I was trying to figure out ways to lower costs or match competitive price quotes to “win” an order, Richard could smoothly negotiate price increases making sure to add value to the total package.

The primary value that Richard added was quality-assurance. Richard’s clients knew that if they worked with him, they would get the best quality products available. No shortcuts, no surprises; just predictable high quality at a fair, negotiated price.

I assumed price meant everything and I was wrong.

When Richard sensed cheapness or price challenge from a new business prospect, he would usually refer them to competing manufacturers whom he knew would cut profits to keep their machines running. Better they get the difficult clients.

Quality Fuels Word of Mouth

If you’re looking for more qualified sales leads, focus more on delivering premium quality to all your customers every single time you do business. Word of mouth referrals are the best inbound leads. Quality reputations can only be earned, and if you’ve earned yours, then go ahead and promote it!

Promote the one thing that separates your quality from the rest. If a prospect happens to see your company promotion and call you after also getting a referral, the sale is yours! And that was Richard’s secret to easygoing sales success. He promoted quality assurance and all his customers backed him up.

Best-in-class quality is the goal. Your marketing and sales efforts will work better as the quality seekers in your market find what they’re looking for in your brand.

Integrity is Everything. Pride is nothing.

“Three weeks to flatten the curve.”

This may start out sounding pessimistic and defeatist but please hang on for the hope…

Trust in major institutions including news media has fallen to pitiful levels.

Big tech has taken over and ruined the marketing experiences of consumers like me. How? By lying about our privacy and then bombarding us with notifications we don’t want, even after opt-outs and changing device settings. They also take money from and then censor their own clients’ and users’ messages. And it gets worse from there on a global scale.

Brand Dysfunction

Big brands – Corporations – have decided to overtly insult large pluralities if not majorities of their customers by shifting resources into ideological, agenda-driven activism instead of improving their products and services. Then they cheapen and reduce the sizes of their packages thinking consumers won’t notice much.

It’s as if the managers are carefully calculating numbers of consumers who will accept less for the same price and just buy more packages. Are they devising formulas to show the right short-term profit numbers instead of leveling with the consuming public about cost increases and why they’re happening?

But even more insidious for the business world is the chilling mob mentality gripping corporate boardrooms and the fallacy-based groupthink flowing out of them!

Now, if you disagree with me personally about how dysfunctional Corporate America has become, read a liberated woman’s story.

Take It from a Teacher

The education establishment in general has lost its priorities of teaching our kids skills and developing their talents in exchange for promoting statist social engineering, arrogantly defying the wishes of most parents.

All of the federal government including the military “brass” is facing a leadership and accountability crisis. Bringing this to light cost the career of a highly decorated Marine Corps enlisted officer who chose honesty over job security.

The overreaction and mishandling of Covid 19 by world governments has been staggering! The economic and social devastation was needless as we now know but harmful restrictions stubbornly remain in too many places.

It’s time to invite integrity back into the psychic fabric of humanity. There’s no more blaming anyone! Integrity starts with a commitment to complete honesty, especially individual self-honesty and humble reflection.

Pride – Misunderstood and Overrated

Human pride is the enemy. This is the pride of self that blocks us from seeing our own negative contributions in the world, and if you will, our sins. Pride tricks you into believing that you are somehow better than someone else. Pride is what tries to protect you or cover up when you screw up.

Why does pride lead the “7 deadly sins?” Because it is at the root of all the rest: greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. The opposite of pride, humility, cannot coexist with any of those dangerous derelictions, but pride will invite them in to disturb and disrupt your peace of mind.

Imagine if you will…

Imagine if every politician and community leader could accept full responsibility for their mistakes with no imperative to dodge, deflect and countercharge critics. How about if all of us could admit it whenever we’re wrong with a willingness to accept consequences without fear of unjust treatment.

Imagine a culture of forgiveness and a universal longing for goodwill and unity among diverse people.

Imagine if we all were willing to lose something in support of the truth and only the truth.

If those things were to happen…

I imagine that trust in our institutions would return, and our society could again be built upon a foundation of integrity and mutual respect.

SnowMotion Networking

Woohoo! Another Networking in Motion Event – March 4th!

In Beautiful Sunapee, New Hampshire!

Open Networking with light lunch, hot beverages and spring water provided.

Take the conversation on the trail and enjoy a scenic short winter hike with other businesspeople!

Date & Time:  NEW DATE: March 4, 2022, Noon – 2:30 PM

Location:  3 Timmothy Road, Sunapee, NH 03782

  • Dress for winter weather.
  • Bring rugged winter snow boots or snowshoes for the hike!

Registration is required by contacting us online or calling 603-345-7223.