In my series of articles in this magazine I’ve been discussing strategic marketing and its importance in helping small business owners to generate more leads and close more sales.

Today, let me explain how a coach can use strategic marketing to generate all the leads their clients can handle.

In a previous article, I said that the biggest mistake business owners make is offering incentives as their initial offer to their prospects.

Look at every business website you come across, and look at the offer. “Call us,” “free estimate,” “schedule an appointment,” “free consultation.”

Every business uses these types of offers, and they are ALL designed to position the business in front of their prospects so they can close the sale.

Those incentive offers worked 30 years ago before the internet, since the only way for a prospect to get information about a product or service was to contact the business directly.

But no one wants to do that… not then and certainly not now. 30 years ago there was no other choice, but with information available at the touch of a button, it’s no longer necessary and prospect’s aren’t taking the bait.

They know they will immediately be subjected to a sales pitch… or at least pressured to take an additional step in the business’s sales process that they aren’t ready to commit to yet.

Here’s what’s actually at play here. When a prospect is interested in a product or service, they immediately want to know, learn and understand the benefits that product or service will provide to them.

If they will benefit, then they begin to look at the objections to purchasing it such as price, inconvenience, time commitment, etc.

If the objections aren’t severe enough to kill the deal, then the prospect makes the decision they will buy the product or service… and now it becomes a question as to whom they will buy it from.

There are always multiple vendors selling any product or service, so vendor selection becomes the final decision they have to make.

That is the normal buying pattern for most prospects today.

That’s why the initial offer must be for information. For service companies such as kitchen or bathroom remodeling, the information should be for an Idea Guide or a Showroom Guide that displays the state-of-the-art models available to consumers who are thinking about remodeling.

For professionals such as Lasik, Dental, Chiropractic or Accounting, they should offer a Candid Answers report that details their process and how that process provides the desired benefits to the prospect.

For vendor selection, each business should provide a Consumer Guide or a Contractor Standards Guide that details the standards consumers need to consider when hiring a specific vendor… and then include a comparison guide that details how every vendor in that industry compares with those standards.

This is the initial information prospects crave today, and it allows them to conclude whether or not a product or service is right for them.

Then… and ONLY then… are they ready to sit down with the sales person to complete the purchase.

But here’s the biggest problem business owners face. Prospects today are inundated with marketing messages – some 3,000 per day is the average.

Research now shows that prospects MUST be exposed to your messaging 5 -12 times before they decide to buy.

5 to 12 TIMES!!!

And those 5 to 12 messages MUST reinforce the benefits of ownership, overcome the objections to ownership, and highlight the vendor selection criteria that prove your business is the best one to buy from versus all of your competitors.

So your initial informational offer details everything mentioned above, and then your “drip campaign” of 5 to 12 additional points of contact reinforce that same information so you can drive home to prospects the fact that your business is indeed the best value in your market.

Any coach that follows this simple process will see their client’s bottom line revenue explode.

In future article, I’ll help you learn more about strategic marketing, and in the process, use that information to close more coaching clients.

So until next time,

Adrian Ulsh