Step 6 to Small Business Marketing Success–Make Selling a System

Do you know the fastest way to dramatically improve your marketing? The quickest route to growing your business?

If you guessed having a good sales process you win a gold star. Congrats.

So how is your sales system working out? For many small businesses this is weakness because it hasn’t become a system within their marketing plan. Their focus is on getting the contract signed but the start to finish process, especially what you do when the project is complete, is an afterthought.

As a Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant I have direct access to proven tools, methodologies, and detailed steps that lead to successful marketing results for small businesses. And the Duct Tape 7 Steps is a really rock-solid system that works.

So, if you haven’t looked through steps 1-5, start here before you read this post.

Now, on with Step 6 to Small Business Marketing Success

How to make selling a system in your small business

“The lack of a semblance of a systematic approach to selling is the biggest weakness for most small businesses.”
– John Jantsch

Creating a selling system in your business is really the quickest route to better marketing results. You’ll stop chasing the leads that are not a good fit while increasing the number of ideal prospects becoming clients.

Here’s the formula…

Have an initial set of steps for leads

If you want prospects to become customers it’s important to create some type of response to get them to the next step. This is a simple set of procedures that many businesses don’t have in place.  Think about creating a series of questions to each potential client using a custom form developed in Wufoo. Just have a call-to-action and educational steps that become a filter, so you’ll be working with clients that are the right fit.

Create a set presentation

This could be something as simple as a call or maybe it’s a product demo. Regardless it’s important to have a way to present your organization. This step is basically where you show them your unique way of doing things. Create a short but detailed slideshow or create a video about your business. Create some type of presentation on a laptop or tablet so you can present in person. Just present useful information while working to discover their unique challenges.

Nurture them during the process

Don’t assume steps 1 and 2 above will take care of business. You’ll need a systematic way to keep prospects interested as they get closer to a buying decision. This is where you find your own way to stay in touch and keep the prospect interested and engaged. Email marketing systems like Campaign Monitor, Active Campaign, and MailChimp make this painless.

Create an orientation process after they buy

For most small businesses, selling is over when the customer buys from them. But as John Jantsch writes here, “Your lead conversion system must be created in a way that delivers the same experience once a prospect becomes a customer as was delivered throughout the courting period.”

Here, it’s important to keep up your education-based approach. Continue to teach your new customer how to get the most from their purchase. This phase runs the gamut, from a basic training video to creating an online portal with links to educational and orientation materials. Or you could simply point them to your posts or ebooks you’ve created to make sure they get the most out of their experience with your company.

Set up a review process

So, what do you do when the project is done? Most small business owners say “Goodbye, it was great doing business with you!” And because of this, they are missing out on a huge opportunity. Having an end-of-job results review process is the best way to complete your selling system. Tell them up front that there will be a review meeting when all is done. This tells prospects that you are serious and results matter to you. It also gives you a space to address things that may not have gone as well as you’d expected. It’s also where you can get a client testimonial or craft a case study based on your conversation. A win-win situation. Setup your own system or check out a tool like Survey Gizmo.

This is just one step in a series.