15/06/2011
By Robert Craven, MD of The Directors' Centre
While in Mauritius I was asked to help a particular business, a professional service firm that felt that it’s growth had stalled.
I would like to paraphrase an hour’s conversation... condense it into a few lines...
- Is there a market for your service?
- Are there competitors doing better than you? Why? How?
- Does your brand/message/website confirm that you should be chosen by customers? Do you look like you are really good at what you do? Do you look like 'the expert' in your field?
- Can you answer the question, “Why should people bother to buy from you?”
- What makes you different from the rest?
- Are you a leader or a follower?
- Do you use testimonials and endorsements to promote your business?
- What is your ‘performance to date’ and your ‘potential to grow’?
- Put together an aggressive, six-week, marketing/sales campaign focusing on 20 target potential clients — contact each and every target every 10 days with a specific/unique interaction (send some research, invite them for coffee, send your brochure/testimonial, get a colleague to mention you to them, send a newspaper cutting, send them a free sample, offer a ‘try before you buy’ or a free business surgery/audit…)
- Invite/take out/host a private dinner for 10 target clients… present some research etc and get them to talk shop to each other…
- Take massive action…
On reflection, this is exactly what I'd say to a similar business in the UK - so in this instance the culture/background/business environment did not affect the advice!
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