How Essential Business Coaching helped ‘Print Me’ generate the right customers and increase profits
The Situation
Sandy was exhausted and just covering all her costs, even though her business had plenty of enquiries and she and all her staff were busy. She couldn’t keep going at this pace without generating more profit. Worse, she began to dislike working with many of her customers.
Understanding how to find the right prospects for Print Me
Sandy had not thought about which of her products and services were most interesting to her as well as profitable for her business, nor had she been specific about what kinds of companies and individuals would be most likely to need those selected products/services. Developing a short list was the first step.
She needed to look at the messages she was putting out and where she was distribution her communication to discover: 1) How to discourage those she knew were not her best customers, and 2) How to interest those customers she wanted specifically to reach. Creating a profile of the type of customer most likely to want her short list of products helped Sandy to imagine what would trigger a positive response: verbally, and visually. We then thought about where those companies and individuals would be most likely to go to look for her short list of products, and asked ourselves: “What will they want to see or hear?”
The Outcome
Sandy completely changed the message content of the materials going out and added two new avenues of message distribution: a blog and videos. She engaged a copywriter as a strategic partner, who professionalized her message, and assured her of consistently attracting her profile market. Her new brochure was now distributed upon request and primarily electronically in PDF, instead of scatter shot, at a huge savings. She realized that the market she wanted to attract was much more likely to look online first, and to want to ‘see’ finished product in action. Her blog, which was closely monitored, created testimonials as well as allowing Sandy some self-expression, which she had missed.
Sandy noted some important outcomes: 80% of the enquiries coming in matched the ‘profile’ type she had created, the company was selling nearly 60% more of the short list products with the greater profit margin, and her staff were much more focused and consistent with production – now that the company was not responding to ‘all callers.’
How would you benefit from coaching?
Answer these questions to understand if the content of your messages and the avenues you use to get your message out are generating attention/enquiries from the right clients for your business.
1 Do you have a lead generation process that you can say is consistently creating the leads you want most?
2 Do you know which are the products and services you want to have as top sellers?
3 Do you know what percentage of your enquiries does NOT fit a best customer profile?
4 Do you know what makes a lead one that will create an enquiry from a company or person ‘qualified’ to be your identified ‘best client’?