| There
are two good times to take advantage of your
competition.
1. When business is good.
It is easier to make a good time better than a bad time
good.
2. During a recession is a
great time to increase sales because your competition is
cutting back their marketing.
But the trick is to
increase your marketing while decreasing your marketing
costs. In the 80’s, you know when the last bad recession
hit the United States everyone was walking around wringing
their hands asking each other when it would end. Most
everyone. I was among the aggressive that stopped reading
the paper and listening to the experts about how bad things
were. I was among the ones who did not react to the market
conditions. I acted. And I acted very, aggressively. A few
of my aggressive actions in a recession:·
• I went to my suppliers
and asked for and received much lower pricing and longer
dating to pay. When the market is slow their warehouses fill
up. They are willing to sacrifice price to empty them.
• Although I cut my media
advertising back I convinced the media that it was in their
best interest to lower the prices they charged me so I would
do some advertising when many of their other customers, my
By: Bob Janet Copyright Bob Janet 2009 competition, were
stopping their marketing.
• I decided marketing
directly to my prospects was a good way to go and made deals
with my printer to lower my cost on printed marketing
materials. Although I could not get the post office to give
me a discount on stamps I still found direct marketing using
postal mail along with flyers was a very economical and
successful way to reach my customers and prospects.
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• When my
employees were not busy I had them go door to door and hand
deliver our advertising / promotional materials. But not for
long, because as we became more and more aggressive in
contacting our customers and our competitions customers (our
prospects) our sales grew and grew.
• I used the
“Magic Words” WHO DO YOU KNOW? Every customer on your
customer list, every customer you sell to knows someone who
needs or wants the products and services you sell. All you
have to do is ask them, “Who do you know that also needs
or wants the products and services I sell?” It works, not
all the time, but it works enough to help you survive and
prosper in a recession.
• I sent my
employees to a places where I knew people talked about their
problems, needs and wants. Local bars. When my staff heard
someone talking about their problems that one of the
products / services we sold would solve, they got their
names and telephone numbers and talked to them about how we
could solve their problem. Then a follow up call was made
the following day. Many of these contacts turned into sales.
There are still people out there buying your products and
services. Not as many, but there are a lot of them. If they
are not buying from you they are buying from your
competition. All you have to do is take those customers away
from your competition. First you must stop the insanity “Doing
the same things over and over again and expecting different
results.” Your market has changed, you must change the way
you market and sell. You must become more aggressive. More
aggressive in our marketing and selling techniques. More
aggressive today than we were yesterday. And more aggressive
tomorrow than we were today. We must be more aggressive than
your competition in contacting your customers and theirs.
The old saying, “To increase demand for your products and
services, you must increase the offer. In the Houston
Astrodome 100 thousands salespeople were lined up against
the West wall. Directly across the Dome on the East wall
were lined up 100 Thousand Customers. Then, every ten
seconds, they walked toward each other until they were half
the previous distance apart.
•A
mathematician, a physicist, and an business professional
were asked, “When will the salespeople and the Customers
meet? ”The mathematician said: “Never. ”The physicist
said: “In an infi nite amount of time.
• ”The
business professional said: “When the offer is good
enough. ”You can survive and prosper during a recession if
you act, not react. •Work harder and longer hours.
•You must
lower your operating cost.
•You must
increase the number of advertising impressions your
prospects see. You do not have to increase your marketing
cost.
•Market to
your perfect prospects. Those people who you can make the
most amount of money from with the least amount of costs,
(time and money).
•Market to
your competitions customers.
•Use low
cost advertising: a. It cost no more to make a thousand
telephone calls than to make one. b. Arrange with a
noncompetitive business to hand out each others marketing
materials. c. Use your vehicles including personal ones, to
advertise specials with signs. d. Increase your point of
purchase signing. e. Use attractive signs outside of your
business. f. Create and hand out circular’s. g.
Make
presentations at clubs and organizations. Market to private
and public organizations. Don’t forget to use one of your
most valuable assets. Your customer list. Always go to your
customer list. If they purchased from you once they will
purchase your products and services again. The key actions
needed to surviving and prospering in a recession: 1. Take
advantage of the opening your competition is giving you when
they cut back their marketing and selling aggressiveness 2.
Lower your overall operating cost 3. Be more aggressive in
contacting your customers and prospects. 4. Increase the
offer to increase the demand for your products and services
5. Become more and more aggressive. More aggressive today
than yesterday. More aggressive tomorrow than today. And
always more aggressive than your competition .
Bob Janet’s
selling and marketing skills and techniques are not based on
theories or fads, but on 40 plus years of “Been there,
Done that” frontline experiences. His long and proven
track record of success combined with his unique speaking
and teaching ability makes him uniquely qualified to present
selling and marketing skills and techniques to business
owners, sales professionals and sales support staff. For
more information please call 704-882-6100 704-882- 4148
faxBob@BobJanet. com www.BobJanet.com
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