"I hate sales pitches!" You may have felt this way yourself
or heard others say it. If it's such a common response,
what's the best way to organize your marketing to attract
new clients and customers?

While getting all aspects of your marketing right can be
complicated, the simple truth is that you can attract many
more clients and be far more successful by doing just one
thing.

To get the attention of your prospects and gain their trust
and their business, base your marketing on the way your
prospects make buying decisions. Just as a sweater needs
to
fit its owner, your marketing needs to fit your prospects.

Mirror Your Prospects' Decision Making Patterns
How do your prospects make purchasing decisions? A research
study by Enquiro and Marketing Sherpa found that 86% of
Internet users begin a search using Google. Of these, 63%
scan the search results, looking for key phrases in order
to determine which sites to visit.

If your target market doesn't find the key phrase they are
looking for, they won't contact you. It doesn't matter how
long you've been in business or how happy your clients
are;
if your marketing message doesn't match the language your
prospects use, tens of thousands of people will n/ever find
you. This is true even if they need and want your products
and services.

First
If you want people to respond to your search engine
listing, billboard ad, radio spot or business card, the
handful of words you use need to grab their attention.
Invest the time
and effort to create a brilliant marketing message. Tailor
it to your prospects' problems and concerns and they'll
take notice.

Once you have your prospects' attention, you may want them
to buy your products and services right away, but this is
not realistic. While a small percentage of prospects with
an urgent need may buy on first contact with you or your
website, the vast majority won't. The research by Enquiro
and Marketing Sherpa found over 80% of people looking to
buy research a purchase for a period of time ranging from
one week to four months, with 54% taking one to three
months.

You may be doing a great job at getting attention, but if
you're not motivating prospects to contact you, your
business is leaking leads. You could be missing more than
80% of potential buyers.

Does your company have a web site?
How many visitors stop by your site each month? How many of
these contact you?

If you're a small business you could easily be attracting
3,000 to 20,000 people a month. Typically, 10 to 30% of
these people can be motivated to contact you, amounting to
300 to 6,000 leads per month.

You may be attracting more leads than you need. Make sure
you capture them so you can market to them. One of my
coaching clients had a web site that was attracting 40,000
visitors each month. With a site this popular, he should
have been able to generate 8,000 leads each month. All he
needed was to structure his web site to prompt prospects to
give him their contact information. Instead he was getting
an average of only 10 leads each month.

Second
Motivate prospects to give you their contact information.
Give them a reason to contact you. I give away a free
marketing guide that prompts almost a thousand people a
month to give me their contact information. Once you have
your prospects' contact information, follow up regularly to
further establish the credibility of your firm and clarify
the value of your products and services.

Moving Prospects to Client or Customer Status
When you provide your services or develop your products you
shape them to fit your prospects' wants and needs.
Similarly your marketing needs to be shaped to fit your
prospects' buying patterns. When your marketing strategy
and materials reflects the information prospects are
looking for, you'll get their attention and their
business.



About the Author
2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
-
The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and
small business owners attract more clients and be more
successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan eBook,
'7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business'
at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com