Whilst focussing on how to make entrepreneurial businesses more businesslike, I have developed a simple manifesto. Using entrepreneurship as the starting point, it challenges how you do marketing and acts as a wake-up call for tired marketing departments that wonder why they don’t seem to be getting the results they used to.
This Manifesto reminds us of the fundamentals of business, and rattles that cage of corporate myopia that has mesmerised so many companies and killed any sense of action orientation. It puts the customer, and as a result - profit, back at the centre of your business focus.
I hope that you find this useful, how would you approach the statements below?
In no particular order, consider this list of 23 statements. How could you use, say, four of the most relevant ones to get you closer to your customers? I'd love to hear what you think and why...
- If there’s a choice between being better or different, then different wins every time
- Ideally you should be different and better.
- You must know why people should buy from you when they can buy from the competition
- What makes you different from the rest, make it important.
- Marketing is not a battle of the product; marketing is a battle for the mind of the customer
- How will you win this battle?
- You get known for what you do
- So what is it that you are known for? Is it the right stuff?
- Infect your customers and staff with your passion and excitement for your business
- They are your ambassadors!
- Selling is everything
- Most businesses think their product/service is pretty cool, so what’s the problem?
- Don't be afraid to put your prices up, now
- 95% of people do not buy on price, despite what they say.
- What the customer thinks matters even more than you can ever imagine
- Talk to them... do a customer survey, don't wait.
- Blow your customers away with your legendary service
- Or they will leave you in droves.
- Select your target customers and focus on them, what they want and need
- Ignore the rest. - Work the expert model
- Become the leader rather than a follower in your field/marketplace. - Feel the fear and do it anyway
- You won’t die. - Don’t compete on price
- There’s always someone out there who can do it cheaper than you - Understand and work your sales pipeline
- How can you convert leads into clients faster? - Do the maths
- Small changes in the right places have a massive impact. - Create a money and time budget for your marketing activity
- And focus on results.
- Spend time with weird people
- You don’t get great ideas staring at your computer screen.
- Work the 80:20
- Get effective by concentrating on the Law of the Vital Few and the Law of The Trivial Many - sack 20/30/40/50% of your customers.
- Ask for the business
- If you are not asking for it then I am pretty sure that your competitors will be!
- Make it easy for people to buy from you
- Make it as easy as possible. - You are too much in love with your business
- Get a grip on it! - Remove your self-limiting beliefs
- What’s holding you back? - Stop procrastinating
- It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. Take action now!
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