EastLake Marketing Group Commerical

EastLake Marketing Group creates marketing solutions online and offline. I'm talented at what I do, I've also pooled together a group of equally talented folks to work with me. This is how EastLake Marketing Group creates innovative marketing solutions that are designed specifically for your company. The end result is reaching your target audience and gaining your business more customers and revenue. Get In Contact!

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Maddison D. Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot!
916.548.6328 – Marketing Consulting

Marketing Question Of The Month

This month's question involves networking. How often do you attend networking events?


Maddison D. Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.477.8424

8 Marketing Strategies Every Small Business Should Be Using

There are eight very important marketing strategies every small business should be using to gain new customers and to retain current ones. I won’t go into detail on each one of them, because my feeling is, these are strategies that you folks should already know. If not, then give me a call, I can help you.

a. Networking
b. Social Media
c. Direct Mail
d. Print Advertising
e. Promotional Products
f. Warm Calling
g. Follow Up Contact


Maddison D. Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.477.8424

Question Of The Week

This week's question is:
Is your marketing plan ready for 2012?

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Maddison D. Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.477.8424 - Direct Line

I'll Be Back!

It has been a wonderful, fun-filled, busy as all get out 2011. I am so looking forward to 2012. I can't wait to give my clients more of me, more of what makes them money and helps them grow their businesses. If you have yet to experience what I offer, well then, you are going to have to Get In Contact. See you all next year!

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.477.8424 - Marketing Consulting

New Contact Number

As of today I have ended my eleven year relationship with Sprint. My new carrier is now T-Mobile. You may contact me at the following phone. 916.477.8424.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.477.8424 - Marketing Consulting

Question Of The Month

This month's question is.
How does your marketing efforts generate new business within your company?

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

Old-School Closing Strategies That Work

Once your marketing efforts gains a prospect's attention you have got to sell to them. Every business owner has to implement one or more of the following sales closes. How well you do that determines if you make a sale and a new customer. The following closes are from the book Selling Today.

1. Trial Close -
Is a closing attempt made at an opportune time during the sales presentation to encourage the customer to reveal readiness or unwillingness to buy.

2. Direct Appeal Close -
This close involves simply asking for the order in a straight forward manner. It is the most direct closing approach and many buyers find it attractive.

3. Assumptive Close -
This closing approach comes near the end of a planned presentation. If you have identified a genuine need, presented your solutions in terms of buyer benefits, presented an effective sales demonstration and negotiated buyer concerns satisfactorily, it may be natural to assume the person is ready to buy.

4. Summary-Of-Benefits Close -
This close is to reemphasize the value-added benefits that can help bring about a favorable decision. This tactic is also referred to as the step-by-step close. This closing statement gives you the opportunity to restate how the benefits will outweigh the costs.

5. Balance Sheet Close -
The close is for the customers who are having difficulty making a decision even though they have been given plenty of information. Let's assume that the salesperson draws a T on a sheet of paper and places the captions on each side of the crossbar.

6. Management Close -
To close a major account, salespeople sometimes call on top management for help. One important reason to involve management is to make prospects feel your whole
company's resources will be available to support the customer.

7. Impending Event Close -
This close involves making positive use of the negative needs of the prospects well enough to turn their objections into your selling points. More often than not, you will need to have a good relationship with your prospects to make the method work.

8. Special Concession Close -
Offers the buyer an extra incentive for acting immediately. A special inducement is offered if the prospect agrees to sign the order. The concession may be part of a low-price strategy, such as a sale price, a quantity discount, a more liberal credit plan, or an added feature that the prospect did not anticipate.

9. Multiple Options Close -
In many selling situations it is a good idea to provide the prospect with options regarding product configuration, delivery options, and price. This is especially true when you are dealing with the price-conscious transactional buyer.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

Question Of The Week

This week's question is:

How often do you utilize direct mail to generate new customers?

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

Marketing & Selling Your Product Or Service To Different Communication Styles

There are four different types of communication styles. These styles are good to know when marketing or selling your product or service to potential and current customers. Knowing your communication style and that of the target you are marketing or selling to guides to process along more smoothly. When you know a person's communication style, you are better equipped to offer them exactly what they want.

Let's discuss the four different communication styles in detail. The following examples are from the book, Selling Today.

Emotive Style: Are expressive and willing to spend time maintaining and enjoying a large number of relationships.

Marketing & Selling To Emotives -
- Be enthusiastic
- Don't be too stiff or formal
- Take time to establish goodwill
- Maintain eye contact
- Be a good listener

Directive Style: Described as frank, demanding assertive, and determined.

Marketing & Selling To Directive -
- Keep as businesslike as possible
- Be efficient, time disciplined, organized
- Identify their goals
- Ask questions and note their response

Reflective Style: Tends to examine all the facts carefully before arriving at a decision, gathering all available information and weighing it carefully before taking a position.

Marketing & Selling To Reflectives -
- Use thoughtful, well-organized approach
- Present information in a deliberate manner
- Provide documentation
- Never pressure for a quick decision

Supportive Style: They complete their tasks in a quiet unassuming manner and seldom draw attention to what they have accomplished.

Marketing & Selling To Supportives -
- Take time to build the relationship
- Listen carefully to their opinions and feelings
- Provide assurances for their views
- Have patience, give them time to comprehend

I encourage you to take time and find your communication style, also find out the styles of the folks you market and sell to, doing this will help you prosper in your business far more than you ever dreamed.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

The Top 10 Business Magazines You Should Be Reading

If you own or operate a business especially a start-up business, you should be reading the following magazines. I know, who has time to read a magazine while running and growing a business? I say, make time, cause you will learn a ton of strategies and techniques from actual business owners who have already experienced or are experiencing what they write about.

Top 10 Magazines

Fast Company

Inc.

Entrepreneur

Selling Power

Forbes

Sacramento Small Business Journal

The Wall Street Journal

Money

Deliver

Bloomberg Businessweek

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

What Does The Word Free Really Mean?

What does the word free really mean? I'll tell you my theory in a second, hear me out first. The average consumer hears and sees the word free a gazillion times a day. So why is it that business owners constantly offer free coupons, consultations, prizes, dinners, seminars, etc.? Some of them don't even know why they do it. They most likely do it because every other business does it. Getting back to my question. What does the word free really mean?

The dictionary says that the word free means this: costing nothing; requiring no money to be paid.

Okay, there you have it. If it cost nothing and requires no payment. Why the hell do folks fear a free offer from a business? I'll tell you why, because the word free is over-used in the marketing and advertising world. You see free on just about every product or service. Some products and services should never be free.

Now let's explore what free means to the average consumer. Free to the average consumer means, Of no value, beware, and do not trust. Consumers have been burned everytime when the word free is invovled. They don't want to take anything free, because in their mind it means cheap. To some it means a business cannot sell an item or service for a price, so they give it away. No matter how good the product or service is, to a consumer free means, be cautious.

And with good reason. How many times have consumers been lured in with marketing and advertising using the word free? Gazillions! It is no wonder that we no longer know what the word free really means. My suggestion is this. Give the word free a rest. Let's stop using the word free in any form of marketing or advertising. There are a ton of other words in the English language that we can use. Such as: complimentary, or you can have it. I happen to like complimentary it sounds proper. Let's not just change the word, let's change the reason. Giving a product or service away should be just that, and with no strings attached. That's my take on the word free. Leave a comment regarding how you feel about the word free being utilized in marketing and advertsing.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

Finding The Valued And Not So Valued Customer Service Balance

Customer service is essential if your goal is to have long-term repeat customers. There is a delicate balance involved; on the one hand you take care of your valued customers. What about the not so value customers? Do you treat them differently? There in lies the dilemma for most businesses. How do you find the customer service balance between the valued and not so valued customer?

Some businesses offer different levels based on customers status. This method is based on top and medium level paying customers receiving the best customer service, and low level customers receiving mediocre service. Funny how nobody within a company ever wants to admit this fact, but it is practiced everyday by a large and small businesses. In my opinion the balance is found in treating each and every customer equally.

How can this be done? It begins from the very moment a customer is gained. No matter how much the monetary value of the first purchase. The focus should remain on the fact that they made a purchase. That act alone makes them a valued customer.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

The Ultimate Goal Is To Sell

I love how some folks on the various social media sites seem to want to regulate the practice of selling a product or service. I guess us business folk are interrupting their conversations about what they are doing at the moment. Now don't start attacking me just yet. I have no problem with random folks discussing their personals in a public forum. What I have a problem with is, some random person suggesting that I not sell my product or service or telling me how, when, and what I should be selling on a social media site.

Social media is no different than a brick and mortar establishment. Picture this scenario. You and your other half decide to go watch a movie at the local mall. You arrive a bit early. The movie does not start until an hour later. You go ahead and purchase the tickets anyway, with the intentions of passing the time by walking around the mall and checking out the sales. The two of you walk into a store to checkout a sale that caught the other half's eye. Immediately you are both greeted by a friendly sales rep. You tell the sales rep that you are just looking until your movie starts. Fair enough for the sales rep to leave you be now, huh?

No it is not. You have just walked into a retail store. The sales rep's job is to approach you and make an attempt to sell you something. They are not in business in the mall so that you and your other half can chill until your movie starts. Now they have no problem with you browsing the items that they sell while you determine if you are going to make a purchase. But you don't get the right to expect them to not make at least one attempt to sell you something.

That is exactly how it is with social media. If you befriend a business then you should expect at some point that the business is going to attempt to sell you something. We business owners are on social media sites to sell a product or service. Yes, we may chat it up with you, but make no mistake, our ultimate goal is to sell. Our conversations are geared toward building relationships with current and potential customers. We are going to post tips and other advice, we will post about our web sites and blogs. And yes, we attempt to make a sell. Because after all the ultimate goal is to sell.

Social media is the new way to sell to customers. If your goal is to just chat it up with others in your circle, feel free to do so. That is your agenda. Do not however, interfere with the agenda of businesses that intend to sell their products and services. We have the right to sell as often as we choose to. If for some reason you don't like it, then unfollow, unfriend, delete, etc. Because after all, the ultimate goal is to sell you something.

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Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting

The Most Important Thing To Do When You Want More Sales

The most important thing any business should be doing to gain more sales is, market to the customers you already have. Marketing your product or service to current customer's is how you gain repeated sales and referrals. A customer that purchased from you before is more likely to purchase from you again. They are going to do this before a prospect will. Why? Because they have already established a business relationship with you. A prospect does not yet know you or trust you.

Yes, it has been said many times by countless marketing professionals. Yet you would be surprised how many businesses don't utilize this valuable marketing strategy. They make a sale, then never follow up. Then wonder why they are constantly seeking new customers. Folks it is simple, so simple I can't understand why my clients and other business owners don't do it with every person that has made a purchase. If you want more sales. Market to the customers you already have. If you do not have time because you are too busy running things, then hire someone to do it for you. Not marketing to current customers is leaving money on the table for someone else to take. That someone would be your competition.

Get In Contact
Maddison D.Cephas
EastLake Marketing Group
The Small Business Marketing Spot
916.548.6328 - Marketing Consulting