For many business owners their business is down by 30% to 50%, and for some they just aren't finding anyone to buy.
So, how can you increase sales when no one is buying? You couldn't. The problem isn't that no one is buying, it's that many business owners have seen their business drop by 30% to 50% and then, in fear, they stopped marketing, or turned it way down . . . "to save money." Those are all the wrong things to do.
Let's look at "the marketing formula". To be in control of our marketing I have developed a formula that shows you the three parts of marketing that we will be measuring and controlling.
Marketing is composed of,
- The number of people that get to see you in your marketing (and also that need you). Doesn't do any good to get your marketing in front of someone who doesn't need you. We should be in control of how many people get to see us.
- Percentage of those that see you that act -- this is the conversion rate of your marketing materials. The conversion rate is controlled by what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to. We are in control of that.
- Number of people who act the way we wanted them to act, it could be they call us, sign up for something, buy something, etc.
# people who see us X conversion rate of marketing = # of people who act
So, let's say that we want 10 people to call us this week. And that we know when we've sent our marketing out before that 5% responded. Now we know how many people we should get our marketing in front of, 200 people. We are in control.
200 people X 5% = 10 people call
But here's what happens in a recession. Fewer people are responding. It could have dropped to 2.5% response rate. As long as we keep marketing the same way we always have we'll lose half of our clients.
200 people X 2.5% = 5 people call
The mistake that most businesses make is, first, that they keep marketing the way they always did, so they see their market drop in half. They panic, and do you know what they do? Most people see their profits drop, and sometimes below break even. So, they think, costs have to be cut. They will then cut everything in site . . . including their marketing.What should they have done?
If you are getting a marketing response rate of 2.5% and still need 10 people the logical thing is . . . double the number of people who get to see their marketing!!!
400 people X 2.5% = 10 people call
And now you have as many clients as you always had. In fact, if you want more just turn it up more. One problem is that people look at marketing as "an expense" instead of a return on investment. You SHOULD know what your ROI is for your marketing.
Do you know that if you spend $1 on marketing how many dollars you generate? Is it 5 times, 10 times, 100 times? Anything that multiplies your dollars should result in your sending out your marketing. Any multiplier less than that MUST BE FIXED. There is NO OTHER OPTION. Don't stop marketing, fix it, or do it.
Let's look at another side of the fact that people believe no one is buying.
Back at Christmas I was talking with a construction company owner. He said, No one is buying. In fact, he said that times had been bad for a long time, and Christmas is his worst time of the year. It's the worst time of an already bad time.
Yet, I showed him that there were 13,000 people looking for a construction company right here in Kansas City. He was shocked. The problem was that as he continued marketing the way he had always marketed, he wasn't getting in front of THAT 13,000. He didn't know that they were there, or where they were.
Let me show you how many people are looking for what you do and how you can find them. Would that help you?
Google provides a tool called "Google Keyword Tool." It's at
Go to that tool and type in the keywords you THINK someone would use to find you. Google will then tell you exactly how many people are searching that way, and will show you other ways people are also searching.
A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to capture about 5% of those that are searching. You'll at least be able to get them to your website, and then your website also has a conversion rate. One problem is that most websites are delivering less than 0.1% conversion.
If you'd like to know how to get more, go to my website at http://www.leaders-perspective.com to get a copy of The Marketing Funnel.
