Introduction - Growing Profits For Businesses

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi everybody.

I thought I should properly introduce myself.

My name is Steve Gibson and I live in Edinburgh.

I help business owners get more clients and increase the average profit per client.

I do this by uncovering the overlooked and under-performing marketing assets that exist in almost every business. I then help the business owner create and implement systems to maximise the return from these assets.

And, because these assets already exist within the business, this can usually be achieved without having to spend an extra penny on advertising or conventional marketing.

The main areas I concentrate on to achieve this are:

Identifying/creating and integrating a unique selling point
Improving phone and sales conversion rates
Up-selling
Referral systems
Client loyalty programming
Bringing back former clients
Working the customer list
Joint Ventures
Improving existing advertising
PR

I really enjoy what I do as I love meeting and working with entrepreneurs.

Anyone who’s got the balls, or the ovaries, to dream the big dream and go into business for themselves and who truly comes from the attitude of adding value to their clients' lives, has my respect.

And the opportunity to connect with such people and help them achieve the dream they have for their businesses is something I’m very grateful for.

Steve

[Jayne]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forum. My main problem is staff (all women) you'd have to have balls of steel to take that lot on :D I wouldn't want to put any poor man through that, It's a wonder my husband still has hair.

There will be many you can help on here though, good luck :D

Jayne

[fastfences]

Hi Steve,
All the best with your bus and welcome to the forum.

cheers, Nigel

[epiphany]

Hey Steve, you are only a stones throw away. I am sure we will meet up eventually and you can tell me all about how I need to upsell more :D

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Steve,
I've read your previous posts - welcome - I'm up in Scotland later this year - would be good to meet up!

Looking forward to chatting around the forums,

Rob

[epiphany]

Always nice to put a face to a name :)

[daveashton]

welcome and nice to see we have some competition in Scotland at last :D

[ebonybailey]

Welcome.
You could start a section of your own on here I'm sure we would all be interested in how we can profit more from what we already have. I'd be interested to know how you get paid!!??

[directmarketingadvice]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

I hope I can give some useful advice to people here, learn things I can use and make some great contacts.

Epiphany

I'm sure we'll meet sooner rather than later.

I'm going to the Bacon Eggs and Entrepreneurs thing in Edinburgh next week. I expect to to see Hamish from Business Buzz there. Are you coming along too? If not, maybe I'll see you at the next get together that Hamish organises.

I'm in the process of writing a couple of articles. One is on up-selling. I was planning to offer to email a copy to anyone here that's interested in reading it.

Rob

Let me know when you're visiting and we'll get together for a coffee.

Ebonybailey

The people I work with fit into 2 categories:

(1) For some, it's just a case of finding out what's possible. They just need the techniques and they'll take the ball and run with it.

With these people, we get together for two hours and I find out what they're doing right now and show them exactly how they can improve in the various areas I listed. I then follow up by email with a summary of the meeting plus any ideas that come to me over the next few days.

When I work this way, there's a pre-agreed fee but, if they're not convinced the ideas will bring in at least double my fees in increased profits within the first 12 months, I don't get paid.

However, given that most businesses don't have referral systems, do very little up-selling, never try to bring back lost clients or consider joint ventures, it's pretty easy to find significant, instant growth.

(2) However, most business owners are consumed with the day-to-day, dealing with clients, staff, puting out fires.

You could tell them what to do to grow their businesses. They could be completely convinced that the ideas will work. However, if you went back 3 months later, they wouldn't have implemented any of it.

They've either not had the focus to put it into practice or, for some reason, they've hesitated.

With these businesses, I find out which of those 10 areas can be massively improved.

Each area (and I would typically work on between 5 and 7 areas for a client) is treated as a separate project. And we agree on a project one at a time.

There is a pre-arranged fee for each which is based on the return I expect the business to achieve and the amount of time and effort I will have to put in.

Once we've completed one projectand we're both happy, we commit to the next one. That way, the business owner doesn't feel like he's taken on some long-term business partner.

Again, I have a "double my fees" guarantee. Where results are easy to measure, we track the returns. Where we can't do that, it's a case of whether the client is convinced of the benefits.

I hope this clarifies things.

Steve

[Alpha]

Hi Steve

Its interesting to note that you don't want businesses to feel that you are a long term partner.

I have always worked on the opposite philosophy, that I'm not just a short term fix as short term results can often be greatly manipulated.

I prefer to work very closely with the individual client and be there to support in the long term often revisiting business processes and strategies where they need changing and revising. In my experience people want to have the expertise on tap whenever they need to call on it and are more comfortable knowing that you are always there.

I wonder what other forum members preferences are?

Or whether they feel they need us at all!!

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Alan

I didn't explain that part properly.

What I meant is that I don't want my clients feel they have to marry me before we go on our first date.

By splitting my work into projects, the upfront investment is much smaller and they're not being locked into future projects. So resistance is reduced.

The reality is that (assuming the client is someone I enjoy working with and shows himself/herself to have the level of integrity I expect) I do want a long-term relationship with the client.

And, when I outline all the projects we could do together, it's clear that I want to work together long term and that I'm going to be an ongoing resource for that business.

I also make it very clear that, for me to be hired for another project, it's up to me to perform on the current one. So the client sees that I know that I've got to deliver.

Steve

[americatelefon.com]

Welcome to the forums, Steve!

[Alpha]

What I meant is that I don't want my clients feel they have to marry me before we go on our first date.

Well I'm sure that it depends on what you are like :D

Ok so sounds like the same philosophy.

Anyway hope you develop a prosperous client base. Would be good to pass on tips from time to time.

[daveashton]

I am curious as to know what your day rate is and you current capacity along with if you have a reference site for COL & COS analysis?

We have a new client who was referred by a worldwide management consultancy company that we don’t have time to deliver. Central Scotland based. aprox 10 days work to be delivered to the board on Monday the 3rd of October ( year end for them is the 31st of September.

COL is all telesales and is a 4 stage sell and strangely has an option for our clients client to refuse the deal (broker type system used) hence the COS requirement.

Included is also a 1 day Comm plan review/ re write and install minimum contributions. Bang for buck ratio is a killer 1:3 hence the urgency.

Please let me know if you can help.

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Dave

I doubt I'm your guy as I've no idea what COL and COS are.

If all they need more clients or a higher closing rate, then I'd happily sit down with the top brass for a few hours and see what they can improve.

However, it sounds like they already know what they want delivered and what it's going to look like. So they'd be happier with someone who delivers things that way.

However, thanks for running the idea by me.

Steve

[daveashton]

Bar stools.

If you are ever looking for work and you have at least 3 client references please feel free to call us!

[ebonybailey]

Dave,
can you explain a little more clearley what it si you want this person to do, I may know someone with a lot of experience.

[daveashton]

Can you call me again? PM sent with my mobi

[Julie]

Hi Steve

Welcome to the forums. I'd be really interested to hear more about your background ... how you arrived at this point.

Some of the marketing/sales ideas and opportunities you mention are 'one step beyond' the offerings of many marketing consultants. Perhaps the domain of people such as Jay Abraham et al, and not so common in the UK .... not at SME level, at any rate. (At least, not in my experience -- although it could be said that I should get out more! :)

In my research for our Guide, we asked SMEs what they felt was missing in their skillset. The top of the list was marketing and sales. Yet they said it was often difficult to find consultants or agencies who have a full understanding of the pressures of running a micro or small business, which compromised their ability to help, in any practical way.

The concept of 'guerilla marketing' is interesting to me because at least it acknowledges that most business owners spend so much time, money and effort on the day-to-day that they struggle to see what opportunites are there for them, if only they would stand back and look more dispassionately and creativly at the assets they already have -- and then look at ways to exert leverage on those areas to build sales.

If you can do that for your clients, then you are worth your weight in gold!

Julie

PS That's why I approached Dan Germain, Creative Director at innocent drinks, asking if we could include innocent as a case study. Their innovative marketing plan, delivered with real creativity and flair, is inspirational. People in particular love the wittiness of the text on their packaging -- now that's real marketing skill, getting someone to love your packaging!

[ebonybailey]

Michael to the rescue ah David!!

I have spoke to my guy and he will be in touch, do get that email to me with more defined information on how me and you move forward too, asap please

Michael

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Julie

I (accidentally) started on the marketing path in 1994 while working as a statistician in the marketing department of a very large company (valued at billions of pounds).

Having worked in areas of business where everything was tracked and measured, I was amazed by how haphazard and undisciplined everything was. Here was perhaps the most important part of the business, the part that determined how we communicate our sales message to the outside world, and they really had no idea what they were doing. They just seemed to be throwing stuff against the wall and hoping some of it would stick, but usually it didn’t.

It was obvious to me that, what these people were doing was not what made me, my friends or my family buy things. And, looking around, I saw that most advertising was that way.

A few years later, I heard a tape of Jay Abraham, and what he said was so simple and logical, I was hooked. I shared some of his ideas with a couple of friends who were in business and the results were very impressive.

For example, one of them changed the headline on an advert and tripled the response. And that was 15 minutes work.

At the time I was working in IT and, found myself in a job that I thought was a computing job, but where my success was based on my ability to persuade clients. Fortunately, one of my co-workers was the smartest person I’ve ever met and what I learned from him about sales, business and persuasion was priceless.

I then studied more and more of the people in the “non-conventional marketing” field plus classic advertising texts by people like Claude Hopkins and David Ogilvy and picked the brains of business people I met.

I then started putting together the pieces of what I had learned in my own life, from mentors, from business owners and from these writers.

I did more IT things (where I always ended up doing the persuasion/sales roles) and was involved in investment until late 1999.

I then lived abroad for a while and, when I came back to the UK, I started doing marketing things for business people I knew until I got it systemised to the point where I was confident about what I was doing.

we asked SMEs what they felt was missing in their skillset. The top of the list was marketing and sales

I think that that's because, when people start a business, they think they're an accountant or a plumber and that's where their skills are.

What they don't realise is, if you start a business, the primary function of that business isn't accounting or plumbing, it's bringing in clients.

So, probably the most significant factor in deciding whether you're a success is how effective you are as a marketer and salesman (an area where they've probably had no training).

So, many end up working really hard with the marketing skills they have just to get by or do ok . They rarely have the luxury to take that step back and look at what marketing possibilities are available to them.

It's quite sad to see people who have a really good product or service struggling, when you know how sincere they are and how many people would benefit from what they have to offer.

There are so many entrepreneurs who are saying "if people tried us once, they'd keep coming back, but we can't get them in the door that first time" or "I provide a beter service than my competitor, but he gets twice the business I do".

There's that one piece missing and so few places to get the help they can actually use.

That's what I love about working with entrepreneurs. They've had a vision for a business and the guts to go for it. And many of them are toughing it out despite the lack of information and support out there.

Giving them that one piece, in a way they can use it, and seeing the difference it makes is fantastic.

I'm sure you feel the same way about your guide and the pitfalls it helps people avoid.

Steve

[Julie]

Hi Steve

I couldn't agree more. I think there are two main types of business startups. The first are set up by technically skilled people -- the accountant or plumber you talk about -- a group I have seen described in an American book as 'propreneurs'. The second are the people whose technical skill is business itself: the true entrepreneurs. The people who probably ran their first 'business' ventures when they were young. Who totally understand how businesses work; that a business has to make a profit, otherwise it's simply a hobby! The Alan Sugars and Philip Greens of this world.

The failure of their business which can be the result of the first type of person not understanding how business works, how crucial the marketing and sales are, is really hard to witness ... as you rightly say. They don't understand that you can have the most fantastic product or service in the world, but if no-one knows about it, then you are likely to fail.

And I can say that with certainty because I was that person! Although a technically skilled graphic designer, it took me many years to realise the crucial importance of marketing and sales. Luckily I stumbled my way to relative success, but it was more by good luck than judgement...!

And, as you say, it was the 20 years of learning to do that; of working to fill in my own business 'gaps'; of making mistakes and then learning from them, that drove me to embark upon the three years of hard work which culminated in the Guide! :)

Julie