A potential buyer is someone who wants to buy something from you.

Potential buyers are people who may know about your company or you, but have never bought anything from you. How to include them in the orbit of your business?

It's not easy at all. Many small firms fail to truly expand precisely because they fail to attract the attention of potential buyers and turn them into visitors.

For many years, businessmen believed that the main way to withstand competition was to increase the assortment and keep prices lower than those of competitors. With a certain amount of irony, one can say that too a large assortment and low prices are the two main reasons for the collapse of firms!

Let's explain this idea.

Too much assortment can lead to large inventories, which will affect profitability. Think about where the niche market is for you and what you will actually be selling.

Too low prices for many small and even large firms can be a harbinger of collapse. If you can't compete with Wal-Mart on efficiency, you can't compete on price either. Emphasize your positive aspects: specialization, customer service, staff competence, warranty service, home delivery, repair services, gift wrapping etc. Emphasize your differences from any Wal-Mart if you are not able to compete with them in prices.

Let's talk more about the range.

The average person encounters hundreds of commercial offers every day: on television, radio, newspapers, billboards, taxis, and even, as in Sydney, Australia, in the showers of hotel rooms.

More than 15,000 new products enter the market each year, and 90% of them fail to sell!

Consider this: PC owners can choose from over 30,000 programs on offer;

Car buyers can choose from 572 types and models;

If you have a credit card, you get over 300 catalogs between September and Christmas;

There are 138 varieties of toothpaste (these are not trademarks, but varieties: in tubes, in single packs, in various colors, for smokers, non-smokers, for people with bad teeth, for tea or coffee lovers, for people with yellowing teeth ...).

In Consumer Reports, David Pittle writes, "Over and over again we hear about people having difficulty deciding what to buy."

And yet, in some areas of business, a wide range works. Charles Lazarus, founder of the well-known toy company Toys I Us, says: "When parents have no idea what to buy for their child, they go to the department store, where they have the widest choice." That's fine for a company like Toys I Us, but not so good for a little corner store. It, naturally, will lose in assortment to large firms.

What to do in this case, to lure a potential buyer?

For a small entrepreneur, a large assortment can rarely be profitable due to the high cost of inventories.

Let's look at another reason why small businesses fail. They are trying to compete with the big firms on prices.

Large enterprises will certainly offer better prices. They have greater purchasing power and lower overheads relative to sales volume and can therefore be successful at very low cost. trade margins. They have already pumped billions of dollars out of the American consumer by saying, "No one can match our prices!" or something like that. In 1993, for the first time, these price-beaters sold more ready-to-wear clothes than specialty stores. For the first time in its 116-year history, Budweiser has reduced the price of beer. To keep its place in the tobacco market, Philip Morris reduced the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 40%.

Can it work? Maybe - but for large firms! Even for such giants as "Philip Morris", the result can be very different. The short-term effect will be expressed in an increase in sales, but in a decrease in profits. On the day that the Marlboro cigarette price cut was announced, the price of the company's shares on the stock exchange fell. Investors did not consider that an increase in the number of potential buyers of Marlboro would lead to an increase in the lower limit of the share price. Even more than a year later, financial analysts are trying to find an explanation for what is now called Marlboro's Black Friday. The market share owned by this company has increased, but competitors do not retreat, in turn reducing the price of cigarettes. As a result, smokers are happy with lower prices, but in general the cigarette industry is becoming less profitable.

Take American Airlines as an example. Year after year, this airline has been ranked at the top of the air passenger surveys. At some point, she decided to increase traffic volumes by lowering ticket prices. This idea seemed quite timely. After all, different airlines have very different fares depending on the time of year (and sometimes even depending on the time of day). Why not replace the puzzle like “at what price should I fly?” introducing easy-to-understand rules? The problem turned out to be that other airlines followed American Airlines' lead. Some smaller companies, like Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines, managed to do well because they didn't have the federal tax and markup problems that American Airlines had to account for. Soon she was to return to the well-mastered old methods and rates.

Today's consumers know perfectly well who does what. They will place your company in their mental “scale”, on which they “mark” where to buy what. Renowned authors Jack Trout and Ol Reis call this “positioning”—the process by which consumers envision a “place” for your product in their minds.

As noted forecaster Laurel Cutler says, “The consumer of the nineties is the most intelligent and savvy consumer. We have taught people to think."

The problem with price cuts is that they can lead to a "price war". You will soon find yourself in the position of the owners of the Kroger supermarkets in Cincinnati, who increased their discounts on new foods to the point that pig farmers came to them to buy milk for piglets at five cents a quart, because it was cheaper, than regular piglet feed.

Therefore, the desire to lower prices and increase the range may not be the best way attracting a potential buyer.

Below we will give some examples of using certain techniques to attract the attention of a potential buyer to your business. To make it easier for you to understand what to do, we will tell you the story of how we first got into business.

We were quite competitive in terms of prices and assortment, but in our store we limited this competition to a certain category of goods.

When we started, our little baby store had an annual turnover of about $25,000. What would make a potential buyer come to us, passing by a huge department store and a number of large specialty stores? My father-in-law came up with the idea: “Let you have inexpensive goods, but in the widest assortment in the city!”

It was autumn, and we thought about what a person might need for the winter, and not very expensive at that?

What if you try to trade in small things that warm children - mittens, scarves, muffs? It turned out to be what we needed - inexpensively, and we could offer the widest range of these goods in the city!

We decorated the windows ourselves:

"THE BEST RANGE OF CHILDREN'S GLOVES, MUFFS AND SCARVES IN OUR CITY!"

Soon people started coming in and wondering what the best range of muffs and gloves was. While they were in the store, we managed to offer them overalls (we had them, perhaps, in the poorest assortment) - after all, the sale of one overalls was equal in money to the cost of three dozen pairs of gloves.

We were sometimes able to sell either a jumpsuit, or a suit, or a girl's dress - all this because we had what a particular buyer wanted, and in the widest range.

So, although we didn't have the widest range of all products, we managed to achieve it in some of what our customers required.

What have we achieved? We have transferred our Potential Buyer to the rank of Visitor.

You need to make the first favorable impression on the Visitor, and this is achieved by a calm, warm, caring atmosphere. If you succeed, then by doing so you win future customers. If you ignore or, even worse, annoy these Visitors, then you lose them forever. And sometimes, worst of all, they will tell their story of a failed visit to your store to a dozen or more of their friends and pals.

Not so long ago, a supermarket lost our family in this way...perhaps forever. And since we were spending about $100 every week in their grocery department (which means about $5,000 a year, or about $100,000 over the next twenty years), such a loss is quite significant even for a large enterprise.

Here is how it was. We went to the counter to buy some small things. The seller looked and said:

Get a number!

What? we asked.

Get a number! - repeated the seller, directing us to a typewriter like a cash register, issuing tear-off paper numbers. So I'll know whose turn it is.

But forgive me, because there is no one in the hall but us!

If you want to be served, then you must have a number! These are our rules! - once again repeated the seller, already annoyed tone.

We went to the machine and tore off the number - sixty-one.

The clerk glanced at the wall board and yelled, “Next! Sixty-first!"

This is us, - we had to respond, and only then we were served.

What happened? The people who tried to take care of us, trying to create the impression of professionalism and competence, forgot about the human factor. They only remembered that everyone had to "pay by the numbers." This is how robots work, not people. In any case, people should not act this way if they want their potential buyer to rise to the next step and become a Visitor.

Stan Golomb develops marketing programs for dry cleaners, restaurants, dentists, medical services, pizza parlors and many other businesses. When he takes on new clients, he always asks them to think seriously and answer one key question for the business, namely “how much do you collect per hectare?”

“Farmers always calculate yields per hectare,” explains Stan. If the average yield is, say, 50 centners per hectare, then a yield of 30 centners immediately tells him that something is wrong.”

So why shouldn't an entrepreneur compare the results of his activities with "yield per hectare"? In business, this “yield” is calculated in relation to the rest of the market. “Area in hectares” in this case can be the number of transactions in a given market segment that are concluded and executed by one enterprise. Do you want to know how you are doing? Pay attention to your "yield".

Start by defining your market. Your primary market is where eighty percent of your Potential Buyers live. Find out the addresses of 300 of your current customers. Based on this data, you can estimate where the vast majority of your customers live. If you are a typical small business, over 80% of your customers live within a three to five mile radius of your business.

Then calculate how many families live in your area of ​​the market. Go to the post office - there is data on the number of postmen and how many houses each of them serves. Let's say you have 5,000 houses on your lot. You do business with 1000 clients. This gives a "yield" of 20%, meaning you serve 20% of your potential market. Your task: to find a way to increase the "yield"!

There are two ways to increase it:

1. Increase the number of families served by your business.

2. Convince those families that already do business with you to spend more money with you.

When you have an idea of ​​your market share, you can begin to systematically increase it. Even if all customers in your market are already covered, you still have the opportunity to dramatically increase sales by applying appropriate incentives so that each of them spends 50% more.

Your sales volume will depend on a number of factors:

1. Geographic location of your part of the market.

2. Population density.

3. The level of income of the population in this part of the market.

4. The type of activity in which the population is engaged.

5. The image and style of life adopted here.

6. Ethnic characteristics of the population.

7. The average age of the population.

8. Typical weather conditions in the area.

9. The number of competitors in a given market.

10. Type of competition.

11. The nature of your activities to improve your competitiveness.

The combination of these factors determines why one business has a turnover of $5,000 a week, while another, similar, barely manages to reach two thousand. Whatever factors you have to deal with, you can always increase your "yield".

Think about how farmers increase yields per hectare? Someone increases watering, someone adds fertilizer, someone starts using pesticides to control pests, someone develops hybrid varieties. They sow, cultivate, fertilize their fields, trying to do everything so that the yield per hectare pays off their costs as much as possible. What can you do with your business?

Life forces you to reckon with some unchanging factors. Let's take them as a given. You cannot change the economy of your market segment, population density, its geographical boundaries. It is not possible to significantly change the location of the enterprise or influence the methods of the competitor in the field of prices and discounts on goods or services.

However, much can be done to make your business more successful, and only you can do this through your own actions. You can do nothing, and then you will reap the benefits of doing nothing - nothing will change, except perhaps external factors that affect your business.

Take the dry cleaner industry as an example. Their annual turnover can be very different - from 50,000 to 1,000,000 dollars (most dry cleaners operate within these limits).

But whatever this turnover is, it can be increased by 20, 50 and even more percent. And this is done by analyzing the local service market and corresponding actions.

For example, there is a highway to the north of you. You don't have any clients on one side of it. The railway is located in the south, because of it there are few customers from the south. In the west - a golf course, there are also not many customers there. To the east, your market appears to be bordering on Fairview Avenue. If your business is located in the center of this lot on Ogden Avenue, you have to reckon with the indicated boundaries. The only way to attract buyers is to send them flyers, as well as phone calls. At the same time, pay special attention to the appearance of your store: shop windows, signs, interiors, the rumor about which will be transferred from visitor to visitor. According to a recent survey, four out of ten potential buyers decide to enter into a relationship with you. business relationship according to the appearance of your enterprise.

Once you have an idea of ​​your market area, like a farmer has about the yield in his field, you can start thinking about how to cultivate this "own field" to increase yields and, consequently, profits.

If something doesn't want to change, change that "something"!

Sid is one of the world's leading insurance agents. When we want to understand how to find Potential Buyers, we call Sid. He manages thirty insurance agents, but still personally distributes insurance policies. In his lectures and seminars, the most frequently repeated phrase is "if something doesn't want to change, change that 'something'!"

What does Sid mean by this?

Nothing more than the following: “It is not enough just to do what everyone does. And more importantly, it’s not enough to simply repeat what has worked before.” Peter Draker writes that "every enterprise must be ready for change ... in everything!"

The fact that some idea, concept, theory worked in business for many years does not mean that it will continue to be suitable. This is a kind of part of the philosophy, expressed in the words "the only constant essence is change!"

Sid Friedman's desire for change extends to his vision for the future. We talked with him, trying to figure out how he became one of the leading insurance agents.

Question: How do you determine the contingent of people who may need your services?

Answer: I do targeted marketing. I find people who are somewhat similar to each other. I cannot say that my market is all around. I live near Philadelphia, but this is not my market. Just as it is neither New York nor Atlantic City.

My market is people who have something in common with each other. So if I want to involve funeral directors, I go where they are. I go to their meetings, speak there. I write articles for their special magazine. When I manage to understand their life and work, and they understand me, then a certain relationship is established between us.

As soon as I manage to get one funeral director as a client, I can already go to the next one. I go to my only client so far with a list of funeral directors and say, "Joe, do you know anyone else on this list that I could talk to and offer my services to?" I go to those people who trust each other and use their connections with each other.

I am very careful with whom I work with and to whom I offer my services.

My market is not all people. You can, of course, act randomly and achieve a certain success, but in this case you can be compared to that single spermatozoon out of a billion of its kind, which fertilizes the egg, and this happens purely probabilistically. I don't want to be like that. It is pointless. I prefer to know in advance which sperm will work and use only that.

Question: What can you say about those who have already used your services once? Are you doing something special to encourage them to contact you again?

Answer: Of course, we mutually sell services to each other. I'm not just an outsider, you become an important person to me. Now I'm trying to keep you - this is the number one task. How exactly am I trying to keep you? I send birthday greetings, letters, using phrases like: “I saw an article here and I think it might be of interest to you.” By reporting any events that may be of interest to you.

Since you bought A, and I think B, C, D, or E might also be useful to you, I'm trying to see you and let you know. For example, if you bought group insurance from me, then I can talk to you about an additional pension contribution, annuity insurance, monthly contributions to Pension Fund You will know that this is what I do too. I don't expect you to buy my services every time I call, but by doing so, I am suggesting that when you decide to buy something, you may well turn to me.

Question: Do you exclude from consideration some segments of the potential market to find those who really need your services?

Answer: It all starts with planning, doesn't it? Can I pull the trigger without knowing what I'm aiming at? Everything happens by no means according to the principle: “Attention! Fire! Hit!" If I know what I want to achieve, then I must consider whether the client can afford my services, does he have enough income, is his business profitable? If profitable, is the client the type of person who cares about the future? Will they buy my services when I visit them? No way in the world will I deal with engineers - I just don't know how to work with them.

Personal characteristics, background, location, environment - everything has to do with the process of identifying the market segment I would like to work with.

Question: Many do not at all seek to disclose the details of their financial situation. How do you manage to overcome this barrier in order to assess whether a potential client can use your services?

Answer: I do not think that the reason for their unwillingness to share information of this kind with me lies in the presence or absence of some kind of desire. It's just that kind of audience. I know that dry cleaning business owners all over America, as well as all over the world, make a lot of money. Owners of several dry cleaners make even more money. If I wanted to get these Potential Buyers as clients, I would target the dry cleaning industry as a whole. I would find where they gather for their meetings, find the opportunity to be there as an invitee, in general, somehow infiltrate their environment. I would tell them that I would like to be involved in their business, reveal what they like and what they don't. I would start writing articles for their professional magazine, speak for free at their events. I would strive to become necessary for them, then they could become necessary for me.

I always have a plan of operation. I don't know how you can win battles without having such a plan. Although this is not a war, strategic planning is necessary before moving on to drawing up a specific plan of action.

Question: How do you deal with dissatisfied customers who got in trouble because of you?

Answer: Whoever has problems, I give my home phone number. This is the responsibility of the president of the firm. He is the main person when complaints and claims arise. Two things must be brought to the attention of the president: one is when someone on the staff is acting in a questionable way, and the manager should know about it, and the second is when the client has a serious problem, and the only person who can do something is company president.

Question: Are your employees doing the same marketing as you?

Answer: Not all. I would like them to carry it out, as this could make their life much easier and help them earn more. It seems to me that you can earn much more on services than directly on sales. At the stations Maintenance more cars are sold than in car dealerships.

Question: What special efforts do you make to close the deal?

Answer: One client told me that he would not be able to meet with me, as he was flying to Chicago. I asked him:

What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?

Airplane at 7 am, flight 1260 Philadelphia-Chicago.

Then I asked if I could fly with him, to which the answer was yes, of course. I called the airline, booked a ticket and found myself in a seat next to the person I needed. Thus we got two hours for business negotiations. I got off the plane with the concluded contract and gratitude from the client for the readiness to meet his circumstances. I flew home on the next flight.

So I did it repeatedly. I even had to fly to Los Angeles. In this way, I got a client for myself - two hours to Chicago and six hours to Los Angeles. After all, this is my client. He belongs to me. He has nowhere to hide, he cannot get rid of me, he cannot evaporate. He has no choice but to sit in a chair next to him.

Finishing the conversation with Sid Friedman, we present fifteen of his secrets on how to win the trust of the client.

1. Promise less, deliver more. Otherwise, the following may occur.

The average customer buys five insurance policies during their lifetime, from four different insurance agents. This happens because:

3 percent move to another place of residence;

For 5 percent, marital status changes;

9 percent refuse your services due to the fact that someone offered a better price;

14 percent were disappointed in the product or service they bought;

68 percent refuse your services because of inattention and indifference to the needs of the client.

2. Always give a 100% guarantee. If we were forced to live with a 99.9% guarantee, we would drink unsafe water for an hour every month, there would be two risky plane landings at Chicago airport every day, 16,000 letters would be lost every hour, and 500 wrong ones would be made every week. surgical operations.

3. Always and in everything be a professional. Professionalism is visible in the actions and knowledge of how to achieve the goal. A professional always tries to achieve the best result. A professional is always dissatisfied with himself.

4. Always have a notebook with you. If you hear or read something and like it, write down that idea or phrase.

5. Treat your life as an exciting journey. Monitor your business growth. Be who you want to be. First, determine the destination. What is your goal? Second, are you aware of your strengths and weak sides? Third, plan your trip.

6. Have the courage to dream big. See color dreams. Imagine what you are trying to achieve. Consider it in every detail. Draw, and the most ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.

7. Above all, be yourself. You should not strive to "become me". In this case, you will be a second-rate copy of me. You are the original. Borrow some traits from those you admire. Mentally replay events like a tape. What does not suit you, simply erase from this tape.

8. Control your time - thus you will be able to manage your life. This is done as follows:

Draw three columns on a piece of paper. In the heading of the first column, write - "URGENT", in the heading of the second - "IMPORTANT", and in the third - "OTHER". Always carry this leaflet with you.

9. Remember the four rules for controlling your time (the HR principle). Put all the papers on your desk in one pile. Now take the top one - you won't put it aside until:

Execute it, or

Postpone it to the future (but put a date on when you do it), or

Pass it on to someone else to execute, or

Destroy it.

10. Find out what everyone else is doing and don't do it. Stop competing. Start creating.

11. So form your image, image, so that others associate it with all the best. So work on yourself so that people start to take an example from you. Work on eliminating negative traits in your character and behavior.

12. Be able to recognize the behavior of losers. The following are some well-known behavioral characteristics of underdogs:

They are too busy with themselves, they don't have time for anyone else;

They cannot bear any responsibility;

They are characterized by inflexible behavior;

They do not perceive the picture as a whole, do not dare to invade an unknown area;

They refuse to obey, would rather lose than follow instructions and win;

They are lazy, will not spend a drop of their talent and time without asking for a raise;

They only criticize and shame others, constantly look for excuses for themselves and say that these problems are unsolvable.

13. In contrast, here are the characteristics of the winners:

They have a sense of humor;

They don't give up until they've done their job;

They do whatever it takes to be successful;

Their lives are well balanced. In life, besides work, there are many other things;

They are goal oriented;

They perfectly understand how you feel, sincerely give you all their attention;

They have a correct idea of ​​themselves, a good psychological state.

14. Don't take yourself too seriously, but take your business seriously.

15. Whatever happens, I can do it. Just eight words that will provide you with a guide for life.

Throughout the book, we will give you tips on how to use different media to gradually turn Potential Buyers into Advocates of your business. Let's start with newspapers, since they are a fairly simple way to attract the attention of Potential Buyers.

FACT: Newspapers reach more than 113 million adults every day in the United States. On average, six out of every ten people claim to read them cover to cover. Nine out of ten read only the most important news. If your business is looking for clients based on their gender, remember that nine out of ten men read sports pages, and eight out of ten women read leisure, gossip and entertainment pages.

The majority of newspaper readers are newspaper subscribers (seven out of ten), which means newspapers are guaranteed to be delivered to your Potential Buyers' homes, unlike radio or TV, which only reach their ears and eyes if the viewer or listener turns on the TV or radio. .

Newspapers are a very important medium for your business because more money is spent on advertising in newspapers than advertising in any other medium - approximately $34 billion a year.

Because newspapers are read by so many people every day, newspaper advertising can be a great way to introduce Potential Buyers to your product or service.

On a national scale, newspapers eat up about a quarter of all funds spent on advertising, but if we talk about local advertising, then newspapers account for about half of all money allocated for advertising (followed by television and the so-called "yellow pages" - a special type of telephone directories, each of which accounts for 13%.

Below we will give some recommendations on how to write headlines, text and illustrations for advertisements, that is, we will share the experience that we have gained over the years in attracting the attention of Potential buyers to your business.

Before turning a newspaper page, the reader's attention lingers on it for an average of four seconds. During those four seconds, he primarily looks at the headlines of the articles. Therefore, the headline is best written in such a way that the reader has a desire to read it to the end.

An ordinary woman reads only four advertisements in a newspaper, so the essence should be placed in the headline - what is new, freshest, only, paramount, using such keywords that can get a potential buyer to read your ad.

1. Promise a benefit or arouse curiosity. Remember that people buy only two things in the world: solutions to their problems and pleasant sensations. Think about these two criteria the next time you sit down to write an advertisement for your products and services. Emphasize the benefit that a person will receive by buying your product, not the properties of the product itself. If the shoe you are selling has a cushioned insole (product feature), say it is "shock-absorbing" (benefit). If the suits you sell are made from a blend of synthetics and wool (property), say they are "year-round" (benefit). Advertisements with headlines promising benefits are read by four times as many people as those with headlines that promise no benefits. Charles Mills, vice president of O. M. Scott, the world's largest turf grass grower, says, "People are interested in their lawns, not our seeds."

2. If possible, indicate the name of the product in the title. It's the name of the product, not the name of the company. Put your name somewhere else in the ad, but not in the title, unless it has some special meaning. "ONLY IN (name of store) YOU WILL FIND (name of product)." Most people like to see their company name at the top of an ad, although the bottom part is just as good. Be sure to include your address, phone number, and the name of the person you can contact for additional information.

3. Well (and often better than a short one) a long headline is perceived. Headlines longer than ten words read much better than short ones.

4. Don't try to be smart just for show. One recent ad for cars with catalytic converters was headlined "ARE YOU ALLERGY TO CATS?" A reader with such an allergy will, of course, pay attention to this ad, but it has nothing to do with cats.

5. Be guided by any "main idea". The great advertising expert, David Ogilvy said, “Unless your advertising campaign is built around some basic idea, it will wander in the dark like a ship in the night.” You must find something special that is in the product you advertise. The more of these "highlights" you put in the ad text, the easier it will be to sell the product.

6. Only sell one idea at a time. Otherwise, you will only confuse the reader.

7. Appreciate the word "new". The product is "new". The solution is "novelty". Ads with the words “new”, “new” in the title perform 20% better.

8. Use specific words in your ad title because they work. These words include (but the list is not limited to): new, free, amazing, just appeared, guarantee, you, now. If your advertisement is addressed to a specific audience, then also indicate its name in the title (asthmatics, rheumatism patients). Here is an example of a “working” headline: “TWO MONTHS AGO I WAS CALLED BADDLE.” You can be sure that bald men will pay attention to such a headline.

9. Include an indication of the local origin of your product. Supermarkets advertising the sale of local products report a sharp increase in turnover. People like to identify with a local product. They are proud that they buy "their own". It is for this reason that Senator Mondale won the election in Minnesota and Dukakis in Massachusetts, although they lost in almost every other state.

10. "Don't show off." Double entenders, puns, headlines that are designed to attract attention but are not meaningful do not work. There were advertisements on cable TV that famous people saying something like "Murphy Brown is 60 minutes." Each of these advertisements began with the template “Okay, although this is not true, but if it were for real ...” Most people immediately stop paying attention to such advertisements. We once made up the headline of an advertisement for winter overalls that were purchased in Finland like this: "TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THESE OVERALLS, WE HAVE VISITED HELSINKI AND BACK" . You can’t say anything, it’s funny, but she didn’t contribute to the sale of overalls.

A week later, we ran the same ad again, but the headline was changed: IN THE THIRTY YEARS OF OUR COMPANY, WE HAVE NEVER SOLD THIS ONE PIECE IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. This headline helped us sell sixty-three overalls. People read this headline and said, "These jumpsuits must be something amazing!"

11. Place the title under the illustration. Why? Because that's how people read. Take a look at any newspaper or magazine. If your ad looks like an editorial, then the readership immediately increases.

12. Don't capitalize headlines. If you type in the title of your advertisement lower case INSTEAD OF TYPEING IT LIKE THIS, you will also increase your readership. This happens because a person is used to reading exactly the lowercase letters with which this sentence is typed. Yes, of course, the heading will be typed in large typeface size, but still in lowercase letters.

13. The title should be clear. John Caples, headline writer and former vice president of advertising agency BBD&0, said, "When people see your ad, they think of completely different things." Don't make them think. Make them act.

14. The title must be believed. I will believe the headline "HOW TO LOSE 5 KILO IN TWO WEEKS" and not believe "HOW TO LOSE 5 KILO PER DAY". That's the difference.

15. The title should have been designed for your contingent. For young mothers and grandmothers in their sixties, the headlines of advertisements should be different.

16. Tell a story. People like to read different stories, and if your story is interesting, then the headline can get them to read the whole text. Here's the headline we used for men's workwear ads: "THE FIRST TIME WE SEE THEM AT THE HOTEL CRILLON, PLACE DE LA CONCORD, PARIS." And so it was in fact. The first time we saw these thick, rough overalls was on a hanger in the hotel bathroom. Back home, we ordered them for our store and our title helped us sell them!

17. Problem solving. It dawned on us that on children's raincoats you can place the initials of the child in the form of a monogram. Most children's raincoats are predominantly yellow in color and cannot be distinguished from each other in the school locker room. Therefore, your child often returns home in someone else's raincoat. Our headline read: "THIS CLOAK IS NOT MISTAKEABLE BECAUSE YOUR NAME IS ON IT." They sold out in three days!

18. Fulfillment of a dream. John Caples wrote the classic "THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SIT AT THE PIANO." The ad helped sell a mail-order piano course.

20. Last but not least, don't forget the headlines! If you think this is just ridiculous and isn't, take a look at the car and food advertisements in your local newspaper. They either have no headings (only the company name at the top), or are full of meaningless phrases like "MIDWINTER CLEARANCE", which means absolutely nothing.

In conclusion. Try different titles for the same product. John Caples said that when he tested different options, one of them could be twenty times more effective than the others.

For many years, sets of four notebooks were successfully sold thanks to the “BUY THESE FOUR NOTEBOOKS FOR ONLY 99 CENTS” ads, until someone offered the same product, but with an ad that worked much better: “BUY THREE NOTEBOOKS FOR 99 CENTS - THEN ONE, ADDITIONAL, YOU WILL GET FOR FREE!"

Only one in ten readers will read the text of your advertisement. The whole art of the headline is to get attention and keep it while reading the first few paragraphs. If you succeeded while he reads the first 50 words you write, then most likely he will read the next 250. Do not underestimate the power of the impact of words, even a single one. Here are some examples.

Shampoo sales were doubled by a single word. The instructions said: "Wet your hair, apply shampoo and rinse thoroughly." A smart compiler advertising texts added one word: "Repeat."

Well-known businessman Elmer Wheeler was famous for his inventing various phrases that increased turnover. One diner wanted to increase sales of milkshakes. In those days, some customers wanted to add an egg to the milkshake, which naturally increased its price and, accordingly, the profit of the enterprise. Wheeler came up with something that tripled sales: When a customer ordered a milkshake, the cashier would ask, "Would you like one egg or two?" - to which almost everyone answered: "with one" (and some - "with two").

The cosmetics firm Helen Rubinstein couldn't understand why the big department stores were turning down the free shopping apps that the firm offered them. We analyzed the problem and gave the answer:

You have used two incorrect expressions. First, the headline read: A GIFT FROM HELEN RUBINSTEIN. It shouldn't be like that. The gift must come from the specific department store where it was offered.

Second, if your store is high-end, don't offer "free coupons" to customers. Such coupons are given in supermarkets. Do you give gift certificates? The same product, but the words are different. By making these simple changes, Helen Rubinstein made sure that almost every department store took part in the advertising campaign of the company's products.

When you visit Disneyland, you are not a customer or a customer - you are a guest. One simple word dramatically changes the level of treatment - after all, people are much nicer to guests than to customers.

I like what our British relatives call Insurance companies engaged in life insurance, "insurance" . In this sense, it seems to me that I pay money to "insure" and stay alive, while the name of American similar firms says that I will win only if I die.

So, when you take on the text of your advertisement, remember the importance of each word.

Here are twenty tips to help you make great ads.

1. Get on with what matters most…as soon as possible! This is what most advertising educators can teach you. It is necessary to "load" the first three paragraphs as much as possible. The beginning of your text should emphasize the benefits that were reported in the title.

2. Write in short sentences. No more than twelve or fifteen words. Paragraphs should not be very long, consisting of two or three sentences. This will allow you to have enough free space on the area of ​​​​your advertisement and make it more accessible for perception. Remember that the reader is not "reading" but rather "skimming through".

3. Do not type wider than three inches (about 10 cm). This is due to the fact that just such a space is covered with one glance. This is especially true of the usual newspaper font (11.5 points in size).

4. Don't exaggerate. Don't try to prove that your product is "sweeter than sugar". Promise less, deliver more.

5. Be specific. Kipling's "six faithful servants" are still working - What, Where, When, Who, How and Why:

I have six servants
Agile, remote
And everything I see around
I know everything from them.
They are at my behest
Are in need.
They are called: How and Why,
Who, What, When and Where.

6. Speak as if you were speaking to someone at home simply, freely, clearly.

7. Type your text in a serif font. This is how the text is written. It has a special “serif” at the end of each letter, which makes the text more convenient for visual perception. And THIS TEXT is typed in a sans-serif font. You can see for yourself how difficult it is to perceive.

9. Write in present tense. Never use the past tense. The present tense implies that everything is happening right now, while the past symbolizes something outdated, of no use to anyone.

10. Use understandable words and famous names. I once wrote an advertisement for a new song that said, "...this is the best music I've heard since Glenn Miller died." I showed this text to different people, and almost everyone who was not yet thirty asked: “Who is this Glenn Miller?”

11. Use the recommendations of those who actually buy your product. Using neighborhood customers in ads is much cheaper than using celebrity names, and almost as effective as them. (“Look, here is a photograph of Mary Simpson! Because I know her ...”)

12. Specify the price. Once we prepared an advertisement for children's mouton fur coats. They were very expensive, and the advertiser advised us not to list the price. We persuaded her: “Then why did you buy them if you are not sure that you can sell these fur coats?” Nine out of ten newspaper readers say that price influences their buying decisions and product choices. If you do not specify a price, you will not be able to influence Potential Buyers.

13. If it's a sale, indicate how much the customer can save. This is especially true of advertisements for the sale of various food products. Everywhere the headlines are “Sale!”, but nowhere does it say how much I will win on this. If it's a sale, great! But tell me two things: 1) what is the real price and 2) how much can I save on this sale.

14. Read contest winning ads and copy their tricks. Why not? You know that there are artists who copy paintings by famous masters. Most popular singers will tell you that they started out by imitating those they admired. You can start with this too. Gradually you will develop your own style.

15. Does your ad contain all necessary information? Take a look at the ad text in any product catalog. In a very small space, they manage to tell you everything you need to know. Can it be washed? What are the dimensions? And the color? The more you tell about the product, the more you will sell it.

16. In English, the word "FREE" (FREE) still has the most powerful effect. The offer "Buy one for $10, get the second free" will attract 40% more customers than a "Half price" or "50% off" ad.

If you attach such a coupon to your advertisement, then at least 10% more readers will remember it. Before taking up the position of head of advertising at the National Westminster Bank of London, Danielle Barr was directly involved in marketing. She called all the agencies responsible for advertising this bank and stated that she wanted all advertisements to be accompanied by tear-off gift vouchers in the future. IN advertising agencies grimaced, began to grumble that “this will violate appearance”, “damage the image of the bank”, “why all this?”. Daniella explained in detail that among the more than a million readers of the London newspapers, there are sure to be those who fill out such a coupon, and thus they will be excellent potential customers for the heads of local bank branches, since they will have their addresses and names. (And this technique actually works.)

18. Place a gift certificate/coupon in the bottom outer corner of your advertisement. The reason is simple - it is easier to tear it off there.

19. Anticipate possible questions. What can you ask yourself about the promotional offer? These are the questions people will ask themselves when they read your ad. Answer their questions. That is why Q&A advertising is so effective. Take the opportunity to anticipate objections… and respond to them.

20. Follow the rule "God loves a trinity." Say what you are going to say. Say it. Say it again. (That is, repeat all three times!) Follow this rule, and your advertising will become much more effective.

The headline and text of your ad grabs attention and explains what you're selling. But if you can accompany your ad with an illustration, you will increase your readership even more. Below we give twenty rules that will help you keep readers' attention after they see your illustration.

1. Show your product in action. Photos of people using your product add credibility to it.

2. Photos with a caption under them should be placed above the text of the advertisement. Only then comes the title, and then the text. This is the order in which people read.

3. It is better to use photographs rather than drawings. They attract more attention, thanks to them the product sells better. Disadvantage: many newspapers are printed on outdated equipment that does not allow you to achieve good prints from photographs. This is exactly what our local paper did, and that's why we used drawings. In addition, the designs in some advertisements are intended to maintain a certain "style". An example of this is the New York Times ad for Lord & Taylor.

4. Does the "style" of advertising suit your business? Or business in general? The reader should perceive this advertisement as yours, and not someone else's. In our advertising class, we showed students advertisements for five different supermarkets after removing the names of those stores from the advertisements. Having given the students a list of five names, we asked them to correlate them with the proposed advertisement; no one exactly completed this task!

5. Does the “picture” itself reveal the essence of the matter? This rule also applies to television - turn off the sound and just watch the image. Can you tell what exactly is being advertised? If not, then it's bad advertising. This is true for advertisements in newspapers and magazines. If you close the text and the name of your company, can you tell what exactly you are trying to sell?

6. Make the illustration evoke the question in the viewer and reader: “What would that mean?” In this case, the reader will continue reading, trying to find the answer to the question.

7. Show in a picture what happens when you use your product. If you buy this washing powder with bleach, then the laundry will be cleaner after washing. If kids wear your clothes, they will definitely win a prize at the Easter fashion show. We once did an advertisement for a car service station, showing in a photo that the replaced parts fit neatly into the trunk of a client's car. Meaning: This company ACTUALLY gets the job done and DOES replace faulty parts. Here are the old replaced parts. Since so many do not trust car mechanics, this approach makes customers trust this workshop more. Thanks to just one illustration, the turnover of this service station has increased dramatically.

8. Use photos of real people. The recommendation of a real person is very important in the advertising business. A good example of this is all sorts of competitions. Does anyone actually win something? Are the Clearing House publishers showing a truckload of prizes to the homes of the winners of their ad maven contest and videotaping the reaction of these people who just found out they've won a million dollars? Here it works!

9. Illustrations should be simple. In one advertisement - only one character. Only one item. Don't mix everything together.

10. If possible, use children, animals or people of good appearance. It has long been proven that it is they who attract attention.

11. Color your illustrations. An increasing number of newspapers are printed with color illustrations. Previously, only a few could afford it, and the quality of color printing was rather poor (the colors "slid" one on top of the other, so that the color of the hat could merge with the complexion). Today, modern printing equipment allows us to achieve high-quality color separations. A color illustration costs half as much as a black and white illustration, but at the same time it attracts 100% more readers. The ratio is quite acceptable. Besides, who wants to look at black and white meat or a supermarket item that is also all black and white?

12. Be mindful of the background color. Of course, it may seem beautiful: black letters on a dark blue background, but then it will be impossible to read the text! And if the reader cannot read the text, then you will not sell your product!

13. Illustrations must be accompanied by captions. Signatures are read by twice as many people as the actual text of the advertisement. Therefore, the signature must include advertising elements.

14. Advertising placed vertically is more effective than horizontal advertising. By about 25%, and for the sole reason that people are used to folding newspapers, and since the most important messages are placed on top, then, after reading them, a person simply turns the page,

Therefore, first think, "is the game worth the candle."

16. The use of a negative image (white on black) in advertising does not give any effect. This achieves just the opposite effect, it scares the reader, as the process of perception is difficult, and he simply turns the page. The most curious example of this is a recent advertisement for a car club in which potential applicants were asked to fill out a membership coupon printed in negative (white on black), so that you had to have a white felt-tip pen handy to fill it out.

17. The task is to sell the product, not the advertisement itself. Unlike you, many graphic artists are sometimes more concerned with winning competitions than with how the product they advertise sells. They should be reminded what they get their paycheck for.

19. Repetition of the basics. Does the ad include your company name? Address? Phone number and name of an employee from whom you can get help? If there is a free car park nearby, where is it located? Are credit cards accepted? Take a look at the advertisements in your morning paper - very few, if any, show all the points we just talked about.

They believe her;

Large audience;

Plenty of space to describe the details;

You can go back to it and read it again;

The presence of sections on interests (sports, gossip, etc.);

You can use tear-off coupons;

Fewer people read it;

The average reader spends only four seconds per page:

Weak impact on readers from 18 to 34 years old, as well as those living outside the city;

Decline in reader response to tear-off coupons;

The placement of your ad in the newspaper does not depend on you.

We would like to show you in detail how some firms gradually move their customers up our scale - from Potential Buyer to Adherent of this particular firm. Therefore, in each section we will give an example from life - real stories about how certain firms managed to get buyers, customers, clients to turn to their services again and again. Here is the first such story.

Company: Cinema AMC Kabuki 8. Owner: American Multi-Cinema, Inc. Manager (San Francisco): Larry D. Wittenberger.

Joining AMC in 1981, Wittenberger is responsible for the lion's share of the success of the Kabuki 8 theater in the heart of San Francisco's Japanese side. He got his hands on marketing while working for Ringling Brothers, and that experience has now come in handy: Kabuki has become one of the most popular cinemas in the city, recognized as one of the most important markets for the American entertainment industry. At the same time, Kabuki is one of the establishments where the most various new products are used. Since opening in 1986, the venue's annual ticket sales have doubled to close to a million dollars. This is the only cinema that targets all categories of viewers: children, different ethnic groups, cinephiles, homosexuals and lesbians, casual viewers, etc.

Kabuki 8 was the first complex built by AMS in their quest to maintain their image as the owner of a shopping arcade system. Such a compact, urban complex was a rather risky business. Construction cost $18.5 million, making it the most expensive movie theater ever built. It employs 85 people, including seven managers. Even before the opening of the cinema, a commission for the recruitment and verification of personnel, consisting of representatives of various local organizations, was created, and it sometimes performs this function even now. Kabuki sponsors 3 different organizations.

Advance sale of tickets. Kabuki is the first cinema in the city to offer this service. Tickets can be purchased from the ticket machine in the lobby or ordered by phone. Plans for the future: use the information accumulated in this way about customers to contact those who are interested in a particular genre of films.

Advance ticket sales are especially useful when high-grossing films are on screen. Customers who pre-order tickets can be sure that they will get seats. In addition, Wittenberger can “count his chickens” even before a movie starts, as often 75% of the seats are sold out before the box office opens. Wittenberger sees advance ticket sales as particularly useful in attracting audiences who see relatively few films and, once they're out on a Saturday night, hate surprises (such as "ALL TICKETS SOLD" signs).

Discount for car parking. Only 50 cents for three hours of parking in the evening and on weekends - this is the cheapest parking in the city. The garage is located directly below the cinema.

Announcement of "popcorn Wednesdays", when at Wednesday evening screenings, viewers are given free bags of popcorn, which are also free and replenished as they are empty. The presence of a large number of buffets serving local specialties, delicious cakes and drinks.

Best movie playback quality. Kabuki is famous for showing copies of films without scratches, with excellent sound, etc. “Before showing a film to the public, we always carefully check the quality of the copy. If we find a marriage, then we immediately replace the copy, and if necessary, we quickly replace the film with another one.

Kabuki is also known for its cleanliness and grooming. There you will not see dirty floors, the seats are soft and comfortable, the rest rooms are kept clean and tidy. Burnt out light bulbs are replaced promptly.

Another notable feature of Kabuki are the porters and bartenders, whom Wittenberger taught to be "active". “We teach them to give maximum attention to each visitor - if they see that there is some problem, they should not wait for you to approach them.”

All of the above makes people return to Kabuki 8 again and again. However, the policy to turn Potential Customers into Adherents is based on two main marketing ideas:

1. Discount for regular "movie fans", those who visit "Kabuki" at least 200 times a year (there are some!). In this, Kabuki is perhaps the most successful marketers in the country. Build a cinema, and the viewer will fall down, but select the appropriate repertoire, and there will be even more viewers. In search of Potential Clients, Wittgenberger keeps in touch with almost every cinephile group in the city.

The San Francisco International Film Festival (run by the city's Film Union) is America's oldest film festival and one of the most successful. Since it began to take place in "Kabuki", the number of visitors has doubled. Previously, festival films were shown in different cinemas scattered throughout the city.

Wittgenberger convinced the skeptical festival organizers to show films in his Kabuki, and now they don't want to think about anything else. They love the place, especially because the more die-hard cinephiles can watch four films a day without leaving the theater.

Wittenberger states, "People from their own world come to this festival, and just imagine the publicity we get, not to mention the good relationship we have with those who really enjoy these films."

“We (AMS) are not really experts in the field of cinema - we are specialists in the distribution of films from different distributors. But San Francisco is a special market, a market where the art of cinema is especially popular. We are trying to meet this market need by serving various associations film lovers. We rent a screen to them, even a few screens for a day, for a week, and thanks to this we see many new faces in our cinema. And when they see how well we are doing, they come back to us again. This way we get great advertising and good attitude, and it does not cost us anything in terms of money.”

Now multiply this effect by the number of organizations each of which typically uses the Kabuki space for their own purposes:

American Film Festival.

National Association "Asia - America in telecommunications".

Jewish Film Festival.

Women in cinema.

Jazz at the City Film Festival.

- "Frameline" (a film festival for homosexuals and lesbians).

Irish Film Festival.

Latin Americans in cinema.

Thematic screening of Japanese cinema "Sakura Flower".

Cinema made by African Americans.

Friends of the Film Academy.

Film Foundation.

Society of Friends of Cinematography "Around the Cinema".

Wittenberger says that Kabuki has become San Francisco's unofficial Cinema Center, with a relatively large number of visitors belonging to its Adherents who spread the word around the world. “I know a woman who saw 200 films at Kabuki last year. She is like a living advertising agent for us, driving the wheel of marketing.”

2. The Kabuki Spectator program provides various prizes and awards - free popcorn, soft drinks and free movies. It is done like this:

From the brochure handed out in the foyer, you need to cut out your personal movie viewer qualification card and then present it to the cashier, who will stamp it. When you collect four seals, you will receive a plastic card with a magnetic stripe to record future information. Each cinema ticket purchased after that is worth two points. The first ten points entitle you to free popcorn, the next ten you get a free movie ticket, and so on.

Approximately every two months, Wittenberger sends prospectuses to his moviegoers about future film screenings and other events. Members of this "Cinema Viewer's Club" are also entitled to a discount when purchasing Premiere magazine.

Adding up all the perks, says Wittenberger, our Adherents are saving pretty well. If, for example, you visit us on a Wednesday evening, parking will cost only 50 cents, you can purchase a free ticket with your spectator card, and all the popcorn you eat will be completely free. So it's worth it!

And indeed, no one has ever dared to do such a thing in the San Francisco film distribution.

1. Create the basic prerequisite for a Potential Buyer to want to visit you for the first time. Offer the desired product at cost price or even cheaper. Write off the costs of the "advertising campaign", because ... that's it. Your goal is to get him to come to you FIRST.

2. Find out from existing customers the names of potential buyers. This method has been used by insurance companies for centuries. The best source of new Clients is an existing client. Let's call it "Network method" or "Work on recommendations" - whatever you like. It has long been known from psychology that people like to convince others of the correctness of their decision. Remember how your friends convinced you: “This film is a must-see!”, “Not to visit this restaurant - how can you?” So is your business - it must become such that "you had to go there."

3. Connect to the case those organizations in which your Potential Buyers are members. Many supermarkets offer a one percent discount to members of certain organizations. Meaning: now such organizations or societies will be your “advertisers”, and its members will buy more from you.

4. Try to contact potential buyers directly by mail. Most of the buyers live in a certain area. If you are a supermarket, they may live within a two mile radius of your store. If dry cleaning - then a couple of blocks from your enterprise. If the bank - then next to the branch of your bank closest to their house. Calculate the specific area in which your current customers live. There is a good chance that your Potential Buyers not only live in the same area, but share the same racial and social characteristics. Send them an offer they can't refuse. If it works, then next time expand the reach of your emails.

5. Participate in community life. Most small entrepreneurs succeed because they are involved in the social life of their neighborhood or county. People recognize them by their activities in various organizations, in schools, at sports competitions, etc. It is very easy to hide behind the thesis "Everyone knows what I do, and everyone knows where my company is located." This is wrong. It only means that you are suffering from "assuming syndrome", that is, we assume that everyone knows. Most of you have no idea. And since 20% of the population in your county changes their place of residence every year, it's worth doing community service and telling everyone who you are and what you do along the way.

6. Know your product. People love to buy from competent people - those who know everything about their product and can answer any question even before it is asked. It is worth remembering: "The ability to sell lies in the knowledge of the product." Famous insurance agents absorb information about you, while in their minds they automatically go over various options which could satisfy you. The more you tell, the more you sell. The source of information is your supplier. When a new batch of outerwear arrives in our store, we do not rest until we are sure that absolutely all employees have read what is written on the labels. Very few people do it, but in these little labels great amount information necessary for successful sale goods.

7. Take the time to professional training and self-education. Hold weekly staff meetings on new products and upcoming product arrivals. Get everyone's opinion, let everyone share their thoughts. Most employees don't give their opinion just because no one has ever asked them. It doesn't matter who the idea comes from. Often its author is the quietest and most inconspicuous person. But when he speaks...

8. Professional exchanges. Wherever you go, go to a firm that does a similar business. How are things going with them, what can be borrowed from them useful? Feargal Quinn, the owner of Superquinn, Ireland's largest supermarket, even runs a professional exchange program, sending a person from his supermarket to work for a while in another store in his chain. This person absorbs the positive experience of someone else's store and, upon returning, brings something new to the work of his own. This program proved so useful that Queenie even sent his workers to US supermarkets for the same purpose.

9. Attend meetings and meetings of professional associations. Their organizers are constantly looking for new, unusual (and often successful!) ideas. If you participate in a three-day workshop in your industry… Listen to thirty speakers… Come home with one new idea for your business… Great! You will be head and shoulders ahead of your competitors in turning Potential Buyers into Visitors.

10. Read. Take a look. Listen. Have lecture cassettes on hand about your field of work - or just the art of trading. See learning programs television. Read special magazines. As soon as we need to interview someone "the best" in a particular field of activity, we first of all call the publisher of a special magazine in this field. Everyone knows the winners. Any group of professionals represents a narrow close circle where everyone knows each other, and even more so - their leaders. It is their lectures that are recorded on audio and video cassettes, their work is written about in books and magazine articles that you read. Take a look. Listen.

Notes:

In English, this principle is called the four D principle after the first letters of the words Do, Delay, Delegate, Destroy. - Here and further note. per.

This refers to the coincidence in English of the word Cats - "CATS" with the abbreviation CATS - catalytic converters.

We are talking about subtle semantic shades of similar-sounding words - Amer. insurance company, assurance company.

American trombonist, jazz bandleader, arranger. Killed in 1944

Literally translated - "World of products".

The latter is open for publication and is intended both for the administration of the enterprise and for external users of state tax authorities, stock exchanges, banks, others, suppliers, buyers, potential investors. Maintaining financial records for an economic entity is mandatory.

When modeling the situation in the Kiosk problem, it has been assumed so far that a more profitable product can only be sold by direct contact between the seller and the buyer. The potential opportunities of the seller should be aimed at achieving the goal of profit. The means for this are the choice of arguments in favor of a particular product and a more appropriate sequence of their presentation. These methods of implementing a sales strategy do not require additional costs. We are talking about more efficient coverage of already incurred costs. Profit will now increase only due to an increase in the volume of sales of products that are more profitable in terms of the amount of coverage per piece or the amount of coverage per minute.

All buyers Potentially profitable buyers

As shown in the diagram, the initial stage of pre-contract preparation for the seller and the buyer is to study the market (1). The seller during this period studies the market, actively influences it in order to arouse interest in his product, identifies demand and looks for a buyer. The potential importer, in turn, studies the offered products of the industry, tries to influence the market in order to intensify competition between exporters, activate the supply of goods, encourage sellers to reduce prices and choose the most suitable partner. The next step for the exporter is to submit an initiative proposal for the product (2). Having familiarized the future consumer of the product with this offer and making sure that the parameters of the product meet the requirements of the customer, the importer sends a request (3) to the exporter, where he asks to send a detailed commercial offer for the product (offer) containing the information necessary to make a decision on the expediency of concluding a transaction. The exporter carefully studies the request, as necessary works out (4) the possibility of satisfying it with the manufacturer of the goods, with functional services and departments (monetary and financial, transport, marketing, market conditions and prices, legal, etc.), prepares an offer (5) and send it to the buyer. Having received the offer, the importer agrees (6) with the consumer of the goods on the expediency of concluding a transaction on the proposed conditions and sends the exporter an acceptance of the offer (7), i.e. informs the exporter of his firm readiness to conclude a contract. This usually ends

Very rarely can a bond be bought in such a way as to secure a given rate of interest. In most cases, bonds are bought from a bond exchange, where they are sold through a higher bid auction. This is done through agents acting in the interests of both the seller and the buyer. The potential seller instructs his agent about the minimum selling price, while the potential buyer tells his agent the maximum price he can pay. Agents work for commissions and, of course, try to get for their clients best price of the possible.

External clients are buyers, potential buyers, partners, journalists, suppliers.

The company actively "serves" 10% of buyers of the potential market, who have the opportunity to choose from the whole variety of products offered, including competing firms.

The consumers of this information are mainly external to the enterprise users, state tax authorities, bikes and other financial organizations, suppliers and buyers, potential investors. Financial reporting is not a commercial secret of the enterprise, it is open to information and is certified by an independent audit firm. Financial accounting is mandatory for businesses. International accounting standards, basic accounting principles are related specifically to financial accounting systems.

Sometimes the buyer is potentially ready to buy the product even at a lower discount than it is beneficial for the seller. With what it is connected Let's show on an example. Let, for example, for definiteness, the capacity of the batteries of the first type is 300 tAh h, the second type - 600 tAh h. The service life of elements of the first type is 3 years, the second - 6 years. The price of elements of the first type is 145 rubles. Let the ruble discount rate be 94% per annum for the seller, and 36% per annum for the average buyer (Sberbank's deposit rate). Under these conditions, the retail price of elements of the second type will be beneficial for the seller at a price not lower than 164.5 rubles, and for the buyer - no more than 203 rubles. As you can see, in this case, the consensus between the seller and the buyer is without any problems - for the successful sale of batteries of the second type, it is enough to set the price value between 164.5 and 203 rubles. (upper limit may be determined by competitors' prices).

IBM must become a customer-centric company, meaning that every element of its business must be related to the requirements of the customer. Every instruction to an IBM employee relates in some way to its goal of providing customers, potential customers, and sellers with the best possible service.

The action of the seller in direct interaction with a potential buyer.

Any form of communication used by a firm to inform or persuade potential buyers to purchase or remind them of its products or services.

Pt - all forms of activity aimed at informing (clarifying, reminding) potential buyers about their goods, services, ideas, public (charitable) activities, brand names, packaging, organizing exhibitions, demonstrations, holding contests, lotteries, quizzes, advertising in the media, etc.

An advertisement should be structured in such a way that a) catch the reader's eye b) make him read what was written to the end c) evoke positive emotions d) encourage action e) be remembered. It is necessary to make sure that the advertisement answers the possible questions of a potential buyer as much as possible. To do this, specialists of the enterprise are involved in the work on the text.

When the advertisement is ready, it is necessary to choose a distribution channel so that it falls into the hands of a potential buyer. In other words, it is necessary to publish an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine (more than once, but preferably at least 7 times), which the average buyer or potential partner likes to read.

There is also a more effective and less expensive channel - "direct mail" - direct mail advertising (see "Direct mail" [D 56]), when, after printing an advertisement in the form of a letter and multiplying it, you send it to the addresses of your potential partners or buyers.

A special section is devoted to the peculiarities of consumer behavior in relation to new products. The author introduces readers to individual differences people in readiness to accept an innovation (Kotler uses the word perception in this situation, interpreting it as an individual's decision to become a regular user of the product), dividing all consumers into innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. In addition, the success of a novelty largely depends on such characteristics of the product itself as comparative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility of the dating process and communicative visibility. It seems that such an assessment of a new product can clarify a lot in the behavior of potential buyers.

Market - a set of existing and potential buyers of goods.

The concept of intensification of commercial efforts is used especially aggressively in relation to goods of passive demand, i.e. goods that the buyer does not usually think about purchasing, such as insurance, encyclopedic dictionaries, grave plots. In these branches of activity, various methods have been developed and perfected to identify potential buyers and hard sell goods to them.

And now we will look at how buyers approach the purchase of new products. By novelty, we mean a product, service, or idea that some potential customers perceive as something new. A novelty product may have been on the market for some time, but you and I are interested in how consumers first learn about it and decide whether it is worth adopting. In this case, we mean by perception the thought process that an individual goes through from the moment he first hears about a new product to the moment he finally adopts it. 25 We define perception as an individual's decision to become a regular user of a product.

Suppose the firm learns that buyers of the target segment are primarily interested in two parameters of snowmobiles: size and speed. Potential customers and dealers can be asked how they perceive competitors' snowmobiles in terms of these parameters. The results of the survey are presented in the product positioning scheme in fig. 48. Competitor A is considered a manufacturer of small, fast snowmobiles, Competitor B is a manufacturer of medium-sized and medium-speed snowmobiles, Competitor C is a manufacturer of small and medium-sized slow-moving snowmobiles, and Competitor D is a manufacturer of large, slow-moving snowmobiles. The areas of the circles in the diagram are proportional to the sales volumes of each of these competitors 16.

Suppose, however, that management believes that the potential profit is higher and the risk is lower if the firm takes on the production of small, fast cars that compete with those of manufacturer A. In this case, the firm will need to study competitor A’s snowmobile and find a way to differentiate its offer in the eyes of potential buyers. Competitive positioning can be ensured based on the properties of the product, its design, quality, price and other characteristics.

This is a kind of "language" with which the company (enterprise) designates its products, as well as everything that is somehow related to them. Problem S.f. is that the widest masses of people (and not just potential buyers) from a distance, at a great distance, recognize the machines, equipment, devices, vehicles of the enterprise, as well as buildings, factories, etc. belonging to the company, clearly distinguishing them from similar facilities of competing firms. In S.'s system f. includes the following elements 1.

People who simply need your product or service, they just don’t know about it yet. Your task is to make them real customers.

Of course, finding potential customers is not an easy job. Therefore, competent managers entrust it only to experienced and proven employees.

So, what are the main search methods?

1. Advertising. Business without it is impossible. Whether you're in the business of selling toys or providing hairdressing services, running a shoe store or cleaning company, potential customers rarely find themselves.

2. Contact by mail. Also a very good way to find customers. However, this method requires careful study. If you just send a bunch of letters and wait for the influx of buyers, then you will not wait for the result.

Alternatively, break your lists of potential customers into specific groups. Let one trade manager be responsible for one group. An employee regularly, for example, every Monday, can send 10 letters in accordance with his list, and on Friday call the recipients and find out their opinion.

3. Participation in exhibitions, fairs and conferences. And what makes you think that your potential customers do not attend such events? How they visit! During participation in one exhibition alone, you can attract much more customers than in a month of mailing.

Moreover, it is not necessary to participate in such events yourself. It is enough to follow them and visit them in order to use the maximum opportunities for finding customers.

Well, we got it. And how to recognize them? Everything is quite simple here. First you need to define If you, for example, sell children's toys, then your target audience is parents and children. However, in most cases, the child will not be able to pay for the toy they like, so you are only interested in the parents as potential customers.

One of the secrets to attracting customers is a bright speech. Those who are endowed with the gift of persuasion and are able to colorfully describe any product are born. It has been verified that potential customers are more likely to “peck” on a verbal description than on a visual representation of an object. To this end, it would be useful to conduct trainings for trade managers. In such classes, you can train in the description of various products (not just those that you offer).

But what to do when a potential client is already on the doorstep? If you think that the job is done, you are deeply mistaken. Everything here will depend on how you present your product or service to him. Tell the customer what benefits he will get, what he will feel after making a purchase. Every objection needs to be answered and turned into a bargain.

Follow these tips and your potential customers will turn into real ones very soon!

The group of people on which the company spends all marketing efforts is called the target audience (from the English target audience, target group). At the same time, it includes not only those people who have already bought a product or used the company's service, but also potential consumers, whose involvement is necessary for the development of any business.

Potential consumers - representatives of the target audience

A very important aspect of any company's marketing is the target audience. By defining it for each product, you can direct efforts to a specific segment of consumers, creating for them the ideal product that will be sold to them in the right place. Among other things, the target audience forms the boundaries of the target market for the firm. To determine it, it is necessary to carry out special. Ultimately, this cohort will include those people who have a need for your product or service and who are interested in its benefits.

Since the target audience is a segment (or group of segments) of the consumer market, it has a number of features and characteristics that any of its representatives will meet. And the set of these parameters depends on who determines target audience. For example, characteristics such as:

Geographic (for example, residents of Eastern Europe);

Socio-demographic - men aged 25-35, with an income above the average, working as heads of departments and above;

Psychographic - people seeking self-expression in society;

Behavioral - people who bought the product once or less.

When determining the target audience, you need to monitor its size and population dynamics, since it is precisely its scale that allows you to assess the volume of sales and the size of the market as a whole. Such an analysis, in turn, allows you to predict the profitability of the business and the payback of advertising.

Every target audience has a core, which is a group of the most important and active consumers of the company's product. As a rule, it includes real customers who already provide a large profit or a significant share of sales. These people use the service or product the most, and also have a serious need for the product and are ready to purchase it by any means. It also includes potential consumers of products that can bring profit in the future.

Modern marketing defines two types of target audience:

The main one (it is also called primary), to which brand communication will be directed. These people decide on the expediency of purchasing goods and are the initiators of the purchase;

Indirect (or secondary), which is not an active participant in the purchase or is not its initiator. For brand communication, this type of audience is not a priority.

What is the difference between these types can be seen in a simple example of selling children's toys. In this market segment, the target audience is represented by kids who use toys and parents who buy them. Children do not buy toys, but usually initiate their purchase by contacting their parents. Thus, it is the kids who will be the primary target audience, while the parents will be the secondary one.

How to identify potential customers

An illustration of the ladder of customer loyalty is the process of developing relationships between the firm and the consumer.

The first step is the potential consumer. This type includes all people who, under certain circumstances, will buy your company's product.

The second step is for the real buyer. Here are all those who at least once bought a product of your company.

The third step is clients. These are the people who buy a similar product not only from your company, but also from competitors.

Supporters are on the fourth step. This type is similar to a customer, but only buys your product.

The fifth step is propagandist. This type of consumer not only regularly buys your company's products, but also actively advertises them among his surroundings.

The last (sixth) step is the partner. This category is more than just a consumer. Partners do not just buy your product, they work together with you - they give feedback, help to make the product better, and also attract additional buyers.

In fact, such a ladder is a segmentation of consumer loyalty to your company. Therefore, by identifying and placing its customers at specific levels, the company can find an individual approach to each of them.

For a business, there is no task more important and more difficult than determining who potential consumers are. This is what your company's marketing campaign will be based on. There are two ways to identify a potential client:

Based on the product being sold;

Based on the volume of the captured market.

In both cases, you will have to answer six basic questions.

What is the socio-demographic portrait of the client (age, income, gender, etc.)?

What are the psychographic features of the target audience?

What are the requirements for the product by the consumer?

What problems does the buyer solve by purchasing the product?

What influences the choice of the target consumer and how does he shop?

How does the client learn about the product, with what means of communication does he interact?

If your product has such characteristics that are difficult to change, then it is better to choose the target audience based on the capabilities of your product. In this case, the definition of this group will go according to the following scheme.

Conduct the most complete comparative analysis of the product, in which note the strengths and characteristics of the product. Ideally, there will be 2-3 such key features (for example, design, price, working conditions, etc.).

In addition to analyzing the product, you need to evaluate real buyers. This can be done (on the six questions presented above). After that, you will be able to understand what your product is valued for, what reasons people have to buy it, and how it differs from competitors' products.

After that, a SWOT analysis of the product is compiled. Determine the properties of the product that provide its sales. Also reveal it weak spots that cannot be improved in the short term. Based on this analysis, you will be able to determine your market and target audience.

Next, the market is segmented according to the key properties of its product. You need to define a number of parameters: current customers, potential customers, those people who will never buy your product. These groups are also described in six questions. After that, you will get a portrait of the target audience.

Now you need to draw up a plan for working with the target market, which will spell out marketing moves aimed at retaining current and attracting potential consumers. Make a plan for expanding the range and improving the product, as well as a pricing strategy for the product and a plan for its promotion.

If your goal is to run New Product in a new market, then you do not get restrictions from your existing product and its image. In this case, four steps will help determine the target audience.

Analyze and segment the market.

Identify segments that are most interesting in terms of profit and operating principles.

Based on the six questions above, describe the most likely customers.

At the end, draw up a plan of work with the target market.

How to draw up a portrait of a potential consumer

In order for an advertising campaign to be effective, it is necessary to analyze potential consumers before it starts and have a clear portrait of them: tastes and habits, in a word, to know the needs of potential customers. If the advertiser does not put himself in the place of the future buyer and does not speak his language, then advertising money can be considered lost.

Competent specialists concentrate their efforts on the most promising potential consumers. To do this, you need to carefully study this group of people so that the selected texts, illustrations and advertising messages are most effective.

If the target audience has not been defined, then the advertising campaign will be directed to a very wide range of consumers. This approach has two problems: the high cost of such activities and the risk of “missing” or only partially reaching the target audience. Thus, in order not to waste the company's resources, it is necessary to represent the group of potential consumers well.

If you want to have a characteristic of a potential consumer, then you should try to find out his needs, desires, goals, relationships with other people, etc. The values ​​and character of a person are largely shaped by the surrounding society in which people were brought up and lived.

As a rule, consumers adhere to accepted norms in their environment or try to imitate people standing on a higher rung of the social ladder. Thus, the place of residence, housing, furniture, food and places of recreation correspond to the general ideas of a person's social circle.

Educated people are more picky and picky, their acquisitions are usually more rational. They are not particularly suggestible and practically unaffected by unreasonable motives, they are more difficult to persuade. Uneducated people, on the contrary, are more easily emotional when buying and have greater suggestibility. Do not forget about the relationship of intelligence with age, occupation and income level.

The business in which a person is occupied most of his time undoubtedly leaves an imprint on him. People adopt the habits of their colleagues, try to imitate superiors or more successful colleagues. Also, the type of activity indicates the solvency of a person.

The level of security of a potential consumer can be attributed to the key factors. Naturally, high-income people buy more expensive goods, while low-income families buy lower-quality goods. It should be noted that when moving from a group with a low income to a group with a higher one, a potential consumer does not immediately change his habits and is in no hurry to adapt to the characteristics of the new environment. The inertia of thinking preserves the former predilections of people.

Potential customers can be segmented according to their buying behavior. The criteria here will be their activity, devotion to any brand, experience, etc.

Summing up all of the above, you can get a vivid portrait of a potential consumer of services and various kinds of goods. It will be advertised. Accordingly, the more accurate the portrait of a potential client, the easier it is to outline the circle of media and other parameters of a future information campaign. Effective advertising of a product will be based on the needs of the potential consumer of this product. Therefore, “for everyone” information will not be very effective, in contrast to campaigns aimed at potential buyers of your company.

Groups of potential consumers

As we have already said, when researching potential consumers, they can be divided by age, income, gender, and other characteristics. Future buyers delimited by such parameters form target audiences.

Accordingly, in order to achieve success in each target group, it is necessary to conduct marketing and advertising campaigns aimed at it. To get detailed information about these audiences, you need to conduct a comprehensive market research.

In general, two methods can be used to develop a segmentation strategy.

A priori method

This method proposes to segment according to real mandatory differences (for example, between young and old people, active and passive, etc.).

Thus, only one variable is used to analyze the data - they compare men and women, young and older people, or even buyers in Moscow and Kazan.

The prior variable will be age. It is this characteristic that is responsible for the preferences of a particular product.

It is also necessary to note the gender of the potential consumer. Advertising information is perceived differently by women and men. Ladies are more discerning shoppers. Below in the table we give examples of the features of advertising for men and women.

Income is also a variable for analysis. Wealthier people buy expensive products and are less affected by price fluctuations.

Geographic location will be an important metric for developing an effective segmentation strategy. A small firm may be a leader in some area, but not in the whole country. Some regions need an individual advertising campaign. To conduct effective promotional activities in any region, you need to compare the per capita brand consumption rate in each region with the national average.

Consumption can be considered a universal variable, since segmentation by it will affect a very wide range of consumers. This scheme is indispensable if there is a goal in the overall development of the market. In this case, it is necessary to develop a program aimed at increasing the consumption of a particular product.

The basis of a priori segmentation will be consumer loyalty to the brand. Real data can be obtained after the study. Advertising coupons and demonstrations of this product in stores can help in persuading the client to use this product.

empirical method

It is also called the empirical segmentation method. It uses concepts such as “relationships”, “preferences”, “motivation”, “faith”, “benefit” and other psychological concepts to separate.

Segmentation by "attitude and benefit" is a search for key product features. In this type of separation, you need to start by asking consumers about what attracts them. product category in terms of benefits. After its definition, segmentation is performed.

Psychographics. Segmentation by way of life, which includes the interests, opinions, actions of a potential consumer. If you know the lifestyle of a future buyer, you can understand what he might be interested in: sports, reading, cultural events, etc. For example, if you segment consumers by psychographic metrics for a perfume line, then a potential buyer of this product can be described as a bit of a scandalous nonconformist who is bored with the usual fragrance advertising.

You can segment by culture or ethnic subculture. This division is indispensable if the product is targeted at different markets. Advertising campaign planned for countries with a similar culture and value system. It is also worth considering cultural differences in one country, for example, in Russia or the USA, where there is a significant proportion of ethnic subcultures.

Thus, it is clear that knowledge of the potential consumer's value system and his lifestyle greatly facilitates the work in determining the target market and developing advertising actions.

Potential customers for a business plan

When a business plan for any project is created, it must have a section on consumer analysis. Based on this research, potential buyers and their segments will be identified, which will be the focus of the company's marketing efforts. This section should have the following information.

Identify potential customers as accurately as possible

The first thing to start with is to describe a clear portrait of a potential consumer of the company's products. The accuracy of such an image should be high, since it is not enough to say that the target market of the company is individual entrepreneurs, because there are millions of such people. In the business plan, potential customers should be clearly described. For example, not just small businesses, but those with up to 50 employees are located in the district centers of a particular region. Or, for example, a potential buyer of our product is a man 30–40 years old, married, with higher education, with an income above average, holding a managerial position. He lives in the regional center, reads professional literature, spends little time on TV and is an active Internet user.

After clarifying and describing the target audience, you need to determine the demographic situation of your potential consumers. To do this, you need to answer a few questions.

What is the volume of potential customers that fit the description? Will the composition of this client base increase or decrease?

What average income data of potential consumers?

What is their geographical location?

Describe the needs of your customers and how your products can meet those needs

When the demographics of potential customers are clear, their needs should be described in the business plan. At the same time, information about the needs of future buyers can be presented in the form:

Past actions - a certain percentage of potential consumers purchased a similar product a year ago;

Forecast - a certain number of future customers indicated in the survey that they are ready to purchase the product in the next year;

Conclusion - since some potential consumers use a service or product that is worse than ours, the possible sales volume will be ...

The business plan also needs to list the factors that will influence a potential consumer in favor of buying your product. Here are the questions to be answered:

Is the price or quality of the product more important for a potential consumer?

What level of attitude do your potential customers expect, do they require ongoing support or will basic service be sufficient?

One of the key points in identifying potential customers is the evaluation of potential customers in terms of their decision-making mechanism. To do this, you need to ask certain questions.

Will your potential customers turn to friends or relatives for advice before making a purchase?

Do prospective buyers research other offerings on the market before buying?

If a potential consumer makes a purchase of a product or service, how much will it affect him or her operating activities(i.e. will it spend additional resources on learning new technology and so on.)?

So, in order for your business to be successful, and for marketing campaigns to not just waste your money, it is important to have the right idea about your current and potential customers. The time spent on studying and analyzing them will not be wasted - this way you will not only improve your promotion strategy, but also be able to find additional investors in your business.

In order to identify a potential customer, an organization needs a large amount of information about the market, which is often not available. Therefore, it is worth turning to professionals. For example, the information and analytical company VVS is one of those that stood at the origins of the business of processing and adapting market statistics collected by federal agencies. The company has 19 years of experience in providing commodity market statistics as information for strategic decisions that reveal market demand. Main client categories: exporters, importers, manufacturers, participants in commodity markets and B2B business services.

Commercial vehicles and special equipment;

glass industry;

Chemical and petrochemical industry;

Construction Materials;

Medical equipment;

food industry;

Animal feed production;

Electrical engineering and others.

Quality in our business is, first of all, the accuracy and completeness of information. When you challenge yourself with data that is, to put it mildly, wrong, how much will your loss be worth? When making important strategic decisions, it is necessary to rely only on reliable statistical information. But how can you be sure that they are true? It can be checked! And we will give you such an opportunity.

The company "VVS" works with a large number of domestic and foreign clients, each of which receives not only high-quality service, but also an individual approach. Thus, the company organizes operational activities aimed at ensuring that the customer achieves maximum success in his business.

The main competitive advantages of our company are

Accuracy of data provision. The pre-selection of foreign trade deliveries, which are analyzed in the report, clearly coincides with the subject of the customer's request. Nothing extra and nothing missed. As a result, at the output we get accurate calculations of market indicators and market shares of participants.

Preparation of reports on a turnkey basis and the convenience of working with them. Information is quickly perceived, as tables and graphs are simple and understandable. Aggregated data on market participants are summarized in the ratings of participants, market shares are calculated. As a result, the time for studying information is reduced and it is possible to immediately proceed to making decisions that are “on the surface”.

The customer has the opportunity to receive some of the data for free in the form of a preliminary express assessment of the market niche. This helps to navigate the situation and decide whether to study deeper.

We not only talk about the customer's market niche, but also suggest which niches are close. We give you the opportunity to find a solution in time - not to focus on your product, but to discover profitable new niches.

Professional consultation with our industry managers at all stages of the transaction. We are the creators of this niche of export-import analysis based on customs statistics, our almost 20 years of experience is the key to effective cooperation.

If you want to consult about the services provided by the company specifically for your enterprise, you can make a free phone call 8-800-555-34-20 or just leave a request for a call.

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In the theory and practice of sales, communication with potential customers is one of the most important and frequently raised topics. However, few people understand why they should be defined at all by an ordinary businessman.

Knowing your potential customers, you will be able to accurately determine the needs of your target audience, predict their questions and objections, offer the most optimal conditions for cooperation and promotional offers. As a result: the number of customers will grow, sales figures will increase.

From this article you will learn:

1. Criteria indicating who the potential customers are
2. How can you search for potential clients?
3. How to call potential customers the right way
4. How to work with potential clients
5. The role of Internet marketing in communication with a potential client

4 criteria for identifying potential customers

Criterion 1. The client must need your product

If you want a potential buyer to one day leave this category and turn into a real one, it is important for him to fit this condition. It makes no sense to waste your energy, nerves, time on a person who does not and may not have a need for your product. So why put up a cigarette stand in a kids café? Or offer the freshest tenderloin to a vegetarian?

But there is also another situation. When a potential client is not yet aware of his own need for a service. Then it is important for the seller to politely tell him.

Let’s say it didn’t occur to a bank executive how much the productivity of his loan officers would improve if they learned how to touch ten-finger typing on a keyboard. Imagine for yourself how in this case the proportion of nervous clients who get tired of the mere sight of a girl slowly typing documents with two fingers will decrease.

However, if we are trying to sell a product in which a person cannot definitely be interested, we have clean water imposition. And it is extremely important for the seller to remain persistent, not turning into obsession during negotiations with potential customers.

Criterion 2. He must have a desire to buy your product

Do you think that need alone can be the basis for a deal? If you think about it, almost every one of us tends to ignore many of our needs all our lives. And desires seriously contribute to this.

A simple situation: it's time to change your winter jacket, but a person wants to go to Turkey, and he spends all the remaining money on his desire.

The company needs new equipment, but a brand new Lexus is bought for the chief accountant.

Or even more absurd: the staff does not receive a salary, they begin to demand it, but the owners of the company lost money on roulette.

All of the above takes place on an impulsive level, familiar to all new parents. So up to four years, many children scream: “I want!”, - and it is difficult to stop them.

But back to our serious conversation. When should a direct sale occur, who should act as the lead initiator? You come to a person who you think fits the image of a potential customer and you want them to buy your product. The desire to receive this thing should be in him from the very beginning, or will you cause this feeling?

Criterion 3. The customer must have the funds to buy your product

The most modern, functional, beautiful Apple laptops would certainly look great in the premises of any company. But to offer such a product to the editor of a regional newspaper is absurd. And not for the reason that he himself would not like to sit at one, and journalists cannot work on such a keyboard. Everything is much simpler - there are no funds for such things.

When going to a business meeting with a person, several people who fit the first two indicators, consider whether these potential customers are wealthy enough to pay for your offer. But, here it is necessary to make a reservation, it has been verified more than once: in the presence of a strong desire, a person in almost any situation will find an opportunity to realize it.

Criterion 4: The customer must have the authority to decide whether to buy your product

It may well be a very ambiguous situation in which you will build a dialogue with a potential client for a long time and persistently, and later you will find out that he cannot make a decision on this issue at all. Where the deputy head of security has several assistants and his own deputies, this is quite possible.

Typically, such situations develop when working with corporate clients. You communicate with people, organize truly impressive presentations, and you are only promised to call back, think, consult. This means that these persons do not have all the necessary authority to give you an answer regarding the purchase of your services / products. But how can you admit this to a simple sales manager?

How to write a profile of a potential client

The client's portrait is a figurative description of the consumer. In marketing, the concept of "portrait of an ideal client" hides the target audience interested in your offer. When deriving this image, a large amount of information about demand is used.

By analyzing the portrait of potential customers, you will be able to attract visitors. Without such a tool, all your marketing activities will be of little effect.

The portrait you need should display: goals, problems, interests, demographic characteristics, desires of a small group of people.

Before compiling such a portrait, it is important to know who your target audience is. Here is a clear example of buyers of an educational site:

• Age. 18 - 42 years; 43 - 65 years old. The second group includes the most purposeful consumers, they have already realized that it is time to earn their income, and not work for someone. In the first - people for whom it is important personal growth who want to learn more, earn extra money to support the family.
• Floor. Men and women are almost the same number.
• Position in society- social. The class is average or slightly higher.
• Financial position. Family income is average, but preferably more.
• position in the family. 65% are married couples, the remaining 35% are single, single or unmarried.
• Education. Secondary special, higher - 80%.
• Place of residence. Urban residents - 85%, rural - 15%.
• Client problem. low wage, delays or desire to earn more.
• Client fears. Diffidence. However, in any case, it is important to understand that everyone has a desire to develop and grow. To conquer fear, we have pride, the desire for knowledge.

When evaluating a potential client, one can consider not only behavioral, socio-demographic, but also sociological, psychological indicators, religious views, nationality, etc. The more detailed the data in the portrait of a potential client, the easier and more productive it will be to conduct a subsequent PR campaign.

Start by analyzing the information, generating ideas, listing the needs of the potential buyer.

There are sources where you can take data to describe the portrait:

• expert survey;
• research of current clients;
• research of search queries from Yandex.Wordstat;
• study of existing statistics in areas;
• studying the behavior of visitors to your resource on the Web based on Yandex.Metrica;
• consideration of the social sphere.

As you build your prospect's image, ask yourself these four questions:

• What “problem” does the product solve when buying?

Example: when buying a puncher, people want to get not a device as such, but holes in the wall. Then the hole is the solution, and the perforator is the service. Thus, it is necessary to offer a specific solution, not a service. The consumer is usually not so important about the name of the product, he needs to understand which of the problems you will save him from.

• Who is the buyer of your product or service?

Suppose a novice IP manager needs accounting services. In order not to spend money on the salary of a permanent accountant, tax payments, furniture for a person’s workplace, he goes to a contractor. In case of incorrect reporting, the businessman can make a claim.

Submit your application

• Where is the client located?

In order for the placed ads, a specific trading platform to generate income, it is important to choose a suitable location for them. For example, through such advertising platforms as Yandex.Direct, targeted advertising on VKontakte, you will be able to promote your info product.

• What problematic issues does the client face most often?

Usually this question is: "Where to buy?". Of course, it is possible to sell "on the forehead" directly through the selling site. But another way is best: it is more comfortable for a person to buy, having read useful content, going to the article page, to the site with a link to the selling page.

The most simplified method of forming the image of a group of potential customers consists of three points:

• Define the customer category. Suppose we take those who want to learn how to make money on the Web. Evaluate it in terms of what is achieved economic effect. To do this, answer the following questions: “Are there enough customers who can pay for your offers?”, “Can you meet their needs?”. At the first stage of e-mail marketing, work on one group of consumers, and then add others.
• Gather available customer information.
• In the map of needs, describe the portrait of the consumer. Let's dwell on this point in more detail.

Steps to map a potential buyer:

1. Describing the client(its location, economic situation, behavior, etc.).
2. We consider his tasks, aspirations - internal factors. Let's take an entrepreneur as an example. Such a person has the following goals: increasing profitability and developing his company. Then it is important to consider how many competitors he has, what their actions are, what difficulties there are with consumers, suppliers and others.
3. Incentives, goals - external factors. The goal of a businessman is to increase sales by 15% in a year, by 20% in two years, to sell the business after 5 years in order to delve into more promising direction. Here, a person's own aspirations act as an incentive to achieve their goals.
4. His feelings, knowledge. What problems does the client face in their work? What options for getting rid of them are you ready to provide him? How will the consumer feel when they achieve their goals? What information should he have in order to opt for your offer, and not go to competitors?

Where to get leads data

To begin with, let's analyze where to get information from to form a database of potential customers:

1. List of sites issued by search engines(Yandex, Google, Rambler). The TOP-30 search engines for various queries include those resources where information is frequently updated.

2. Advertising. Think of a list of advertising media that potential clients of the company use for their own promotion, as this will help us answer the question "How to find potential clients." The easiest way to work with contextual advertising, a variety of catalogs, advertising, trade newspapers and magazines. Also, radio, television, outdoor advertising will help you.

3. Electronic trading platforms. They are universal (diversified), sectoral, grocery. Here companies post their real requests, but to see them, you have to register or pay for access.

Here are some options for such resources: UseTender.com, Tender.su (universal), www.tradecable.ru (cable, electrical products), www.nge.ru (petroleum products), www.lke.ru (paints and varnishes), www. polypipe.ru (polymer pipes), www.cislink.ru (foodstuffs and other consumer goods), eMatrix.ru (computer equipment, components), b2b-energo.ru (power industry).

4. Information business directories. We should be most interested in directories containing data across the country and in all areas. Namely:

• Yellow Pages;
• Business address;
• Business Card;
• Allinform.ru;
• Compass Russia;
• Biz-Info.Ru;

5. Regional Internet resources. Examples include the information and business portal of the city of Izhevsk, the ALL-BIZ.INFO: Russia server, the Internet Capital advertising center. This list is almost endless, because our country is not small!

6. Bulletin boards. For example, "Avito", "From hand to hand", "Yula", etc.

What other methods can be used to search for potential customers

Once you've mapped out your potential customer profile, it becomes clear who to look for. Below we will talk about the methods by which it is possible to search for consumers.

There are several options for identifying potential customers that can reduce the time spent quite well. However, we note that one method alone will not be able to provide you with a large number of potential buyers. Only their combination will be effective. Try to put into work each of the presented methods, then you will find a suitable combination.

• cold selection

This method is the most widely applicable and effective. Its use suggests that you have very little data. Some salespeople eschew cold screening because they are afraid of being intrusive and consider it a waste of time. Therefore, you need to look for real masters.

Let's say you sell an advertising platform and come to a large business center for a meeting. Just think, many companies you don't know work in this building. Why not go to some and offer your services? You can kill two birds with one stone: identify the need, and if you're lucky, negotiate a deal.

But do not tell the consumer that you were just passing by and decided to meet. Then you will receive an answer from the interlocutor that he is busy, cannot communicate with you now and will be right. He has a full day scheduled, and you interfere with his plans, why should he want to work with you?

The task of "cold selection" is to make it clear to a potential client that his business is very important to you, that is, you came here only for his sake. You can say that you have heard only the best reviews about his company and will be glad to cooperate.

• word of mouth

A long-established method. You just need to ask buyers if there are other potential customers in the market. Just ask if anyone else would like to buy your product. So you will be able to increase the number of potential customers exponentially.

Remember that word of mouth will be more productive if you focus your efforts on finding new options with the help of those who have bought from you. And only then turn to the category that is not yet familiar with your offer so closely.

If the client was satisfied with what he received from you, he will list his friends and acquaintances for you without any problems. Although there are those who refuse to share such information, since such behavior can be assessed by acquaintances as an invasion. When you hear: “But don’t say that I gave you the phone”, know that the person does not trust you. If his friends are unhappy, he will feel guilty.

• Public opinion

This method is also called "center of influence". Public opinion is built by specialists, people with authority. They themselves do not invest in your offer, but they are able to advise you, your company to their friends. Let's say you sell computers, then a good programmer can tell those he serves about you, and with his help, a real increase in the number of potential customers is possible.

In this way, potential customers learn about your product, while they are not personally acquainted with you. Trust in you will arise, as an authoritative person spoke well of you. True, such people are not easy to find, but if you succeeded, do not miss your chance! Tell us about the benefits, advantages of your product, be sure to keep in touch in the future.

• Direct mail

This option has a low level of performance and is not suitable for everyone. Perhaps the main plus here is that it is possible to convey information about yourself to such a number of potential customers that it is impossible in person.

Another advantage of the method is that direct mail does not interfere with the recipient at an inconvenient time. In addition, it is many times more accessible than cold calls or PR. If you get a response, then you have managed to interest your potential client. But, unfortunately, such advertising annoys many, and not everyone responds.

• Finding potential customers by phone

This method has many advantages. For example, telephone communication makes it possible to act flexibly, responses to objections can be adjusted to a particular interlocutor. Moreover, at the end of a telephone conversation, the transaction can be completed, which will save you a lot of time.

• Former and current clients

“People are interesting to us when we see that they are interested in us,” said Publius Syr. Based on this opinion, remember that it is important to keep in touch with former buyers from time to time, even if at the moment your offer is not in demand by them. While you are thinking about how to attract new potential customers, competitors are processing your past and present.

With just one phone call, you can find out about the needs of your old buyer, let him know that you remember him, and, of course, remind you of yourself. Since if the consumer feels that he has been forgotten, he easily leaves for another company, which, in his opinion, treats him more attentively.

It doesn't matter what product you offer. In any case, it is necessary to keep a detailed record of information for each buyer. Write down when the person bought the product, how much. All the data collected is necessary to represent when a current buyer will need your services again, and when you should call him.

• Search for clients on the Internet

It is easy to find new consumers and information about potential customers on the Web. After all, they, like you, have sites on the Internet (official website, pages on social networks), so you only need to type a key phrase in the search engine. Then feel free to send your offer to the client's e-mail, but it's even better to call in person.

• Seminars

Conducting a seminar is an opportunity to tell the audience about your product. But remember that such an event is not intended for transactions. Once completed, hand out a short questionnaire (for you, it will be a prospective client questionnaire) to visitors, where they can describe how they benefited from discussing your proposal. Having received such data, you will be able to identify a group of potential buyers and build further communication with them.

• News

The media is a great way to find potential buyers, you just need to learn how to use this resource. Here you get data that allows you to reach a future client. Thanks to the media, it will be easier for you to communicate with him, because you are already indirectly familiar from articles in newspapers, interviews on local TV channels.

• Business connections

This technology works according to a very simple scheme: "My friend's friend is my friend." In the process of searching for potential buyers, try to remember all your friends and acquaintances. They will share reliable data about your likely customers with you.

How to create a database of potential customers

Now let's talk about how to collect the received data directly into the database of potential customers.

Create a table form for the customer base

First you need to understand what kind of information about a potential client you need in the database. Usually everything starts with a serial number ("No. p / p"). Further columns under the name of the company, full name of the head, his contacts. After that, there are columns with marks about paid orders / completed projects, pre-orders (which are under discussion).

Make the "Comments" field to mark the name of the person responsible for interaction and the difficulties of working with a particular client: what should be paid attention to, how best to communicate with him. That is, the table can have all the columns that you find useful.

Give a task to managers

So, you have found all the necessary data. Now all the information needs to be brought into a single form. To simplify your task, distribute the spreadsheet form to managers and tell them how to fill it out.

Consolidate documents received from managers into a single database

In this case, a very simple copy-paste operation awaits you, after which you will receive a ready-made database of all potential customers of your company. It is necessary to put the resulting table on the server, open access to all managers so that changes are made without delay. So you will be able to constantly monitor the quality of work of subordinates.

How to attract potential customers

• Direct mail.

We emphasize that you should not flatter yourself, this is not the most reliable method for finding potential customers. Although with a certain effort, it can also be useful. The best strategy is to send about 10 emails a day and call the same people a couple of days later.

• Through advertising.

Advertising in your area will be useful to attract potential customers, but it is important to present it correctly. To do this, first of all, find out what problems your potential buyer is worried about and offer him a solution. Don't forget to include your company's contact information in these ads.

• Exhibitions, conferences, fairs.

Such events allow you to collect a whole database of potential customers in a day and work productively on attracting. In fact, it is not necessary to become a participant in events, you can go as a guest.

• classic interaction.

Here you will have to follow several steps. First, sales managers form a list of potential customers and pay visits to all of them in order to establish communication and persuade them to sign contracts. This method can be called very productive, it is only important that work on it be carried out systematically.

How to write your first letter to a potential client

The first e-mail to your potential customer should be short, yet in an easy way to lead to subsequent communication. Remember that sales emails are necessary to build communication with potential customers, they are not like a regular mailing list. The bottom line is that the relationship with the addressee has not yet been built, which means that you cannot demand undivided attention from him.

Leaders often complain that letters go unanswered. There is nothing unusual in this, because most often such messages are unnecessarily complex, incomprehensible. As experience shows, almost any e-mail is built around this topic:

• subject: ABC (so we will designate the company for example);
• appeal: greeting + name + classic how are you?
• paragraph on merit ABC companies;
• description of goods and offers ABC companies;
• clients ABC companies (list of well-known names);
• interaction attempt under the pretext of a 20-minute phone conversation: “We would like to talk to you to tell you more about our services”;
• Contact details:“If you have any questions, we will be happy to answer this number (tel.) + link to the site;
• Regards + contact information.

Now let's look at why such emails are usually sent to spam. To do this, we will try to consider the newsletter through the eyes of a potential client:

1. The subject line doesn't tell me anything - why should I open it?
2. We do not know each other, so concern about my condition seems feigned.
3. I'm not interested in your company, why should I read this?
4. Which of the above should seem interesting to me?
5. If you cooperate with such serious organizations, you will treat me with disdain.
6. Do you really think I have time to listen to you for 20 minutes?
7. You seem to think that I am an idiot, unable to find your phone number and website at the end of the letter if necessary. And you really believe that I dream of meeting you, having already spent three minutes of my free time writing this letter.
8. The last one is a lie. What is respectful in your letter?

In general, the very fact that sometimes sales managers get at least some kind of answer is surprising. Such a letter is akin to a request to be blacklisted.

Now let's talk about the sales email scheme, which you are more likely to get a response to and which can lead to a meeting with potential customers:

• subject: something that can interest a potential consumer;
• appeal: Dear + name;
• enumeration of benefits:“I am writing to you because ...” (name all the useful things that you can offer the client);
• “Here is a list of companies similar to yours (list) that we have already helped” (complete with numbers of potential benefits);
• “As soon as you reply to this letter, I will send you all the necessary details so that you can decide whether our offer is worth your time”;
• your name, contacts.

Now let's explain why the modified canvas works much better:

1. The subject line encourages the recipient to open it. A good option to start communication may be to mention recent changes in the field of activity of a potential client of your service, etc.
2. Of course, most firms today use an informal style of communication, but the letter is still better to start respectfully. Formality offends few people.
3. People always appreciate if you can get to the point quickly enough.. For a potential client, the essence is the benefit that he can derive from cooperation with you. So let him know about it.
4. This is your sales letter that starts with a profit for the buyer. The listed firms must correspond in terms of the level of the company of the potential consumer. But it happens that there is no such list, then start with the phrase: "our clients hired us in order to ...".
5. It is foolish to expect that the first e-mail will force the client to agree on a meeting time with you. Therefore, you bring him to the next step, which will be an indicator of a person’s interest in communication.
6. A potential client is smart enough to call you or visit your website, if he needs it.

How to make the first call to a potential client

If you just decide to call potential customers, remember: the first call is made only according to a clear plan. Structured, unobtrusive communication will allow you to immediately win over the interlocutor. The main goal is to say why it is better to cooperate with you. What is so difficult about this? Just in case, remember a few basic principles of work during cold calls:

1. You need to learn how to instantly reincarnate.

Many sales managers will say: "But I'm not an artist!". If you care about selling, you have to become one! Turn on the TV, where most of the show cannot find real characters, so they use the services of professional actors, and the viewer believes them. Such tricks increase the ratings with incredible speed. Always remember this, because your consumers are the same people.

2. Be able to fully capture the attention of your interlocutor.

Learn to use the right (rhetorical) questions. Work on the correct wording that can direct the client in a certain direction. Get him to say the first "Yes." Ease, ease - the key to your success in communicating with potential customers.

3. Explain the purpose of your cold call.

Let the person know why you picked them. Briefly but succinctly introduce your organization. It is important to dwell on key provisions, there is no need to “pour water”, as a person is tired and can hang up.

4. Do your best and get the first business meeting (acquaintance).

• It is important to learn how to formulate exhaustive answers to all questions voiced during negotiations with potential clients. You are limited in time, and you need to have time to convey a large amount of information. In this case, strategic business planning will become your lifesaver, that is, you need to think over a conversation plan with a potential client in advance.
• If you want to convince the interlocutor, create such an emotional environment in which he will feel complete confidence in how important it is for him to resort to your help.
• Most often, refusals are explained in a trite way: the question was constructed incorrectly, so a negative answer was the most logical. Imagine that you are an insurance agent. You say to a stranger: “Hello! Would you like to insure your life against unforeseen situations? Be sure that in 90% of cases you will hear: “No, we would not want to.” The reason is that your categorical question begs an equally categorical answer.

Correct Business Speech: Hello! We offer you to insure your own life against all kinds of accidents by obtaining an insurance policy from our insurance company (hereinafter a brief description of your benefits).

• The next question of a specialist depends on the reaction of a potential client to the service offer. If you suddenly come across a complete denial, you should not be intrusive - this can become a reason for forming an opinion about the low level of professionalism among the employees of your company. Remember, it is unlikely that anyone will remember the name of the caller, and the brand will remain at the hearing.
• Everything that you tell your potential consumers should be as truthful and realistic as possible. The client should have a picture about who he will be dealing with. Your brilliant reputation is a guarantee of the company's success!
• Do not forget about a simple rule: everything ingenious is simple. A person can feel affection for you when he hears his name: “Hello, Irina Nikolaevna (Irina)!”. In this case, a psychological mechanism operates, which implies the fact of acquaintance, a positive attitude, despite the fact that you are hearing each other for the first time.
• Maintaining a friendly tone while speaking additional opportunity avoid rudeness from the interlocutor. It is unlikely that a person will hang up without listening to you. But even if he did so, there is no reason to despair: such a reaction is also a reaction.
• The result of all work will depend on how you present yourself while communicating with a potential client on the phone. Just imagine, a complete stranger calls you and talks about nothing for more than half an hour. How will you react? Most likely, hang up, and if you listen to the end, you will not fully understand what the essence of his words is. Don't want to be in this speaker's situation? Then learn to introduce yourself:

"Hello Irina! I am a representative of corporation "X". Our company is located in the city "U" and is the leader ... ". So you at least give the potential client the opportunity to understand what your company does. Thanks to this simple move, the rest of the communication will be easier.

• Another important condition for success is a well-defined subject of discussion. It should appear throughout your communication with a potential client so that a connection can be traced to the first phone conversation.
• Keep in mind that every phone call brings you one step closer to closing the deal. Constantly focus on the observance of all agreements and compromises reached in the process of negotiations.

5 ways to call potential customers the right way

Method #1. We know you, dear customer.

The meaning here is very simple: show the person that you are familiar with him, his brand, type of activity. If you have experience using his products, tell him about it, let him know that you are happy with the purchase. Such a description will be pleasant to any potential client! In this case, it is highly likely that everything will happen with this person as you want. No wonder they say: "The cuckoo praises the rooster because he praises the cuckoo!". Do you agree?

Your task is to focus on the positive and your awareness. What is needed for this? That's right, prepare for communication, find out about its activities and its features.

Let's give an example from real life - a call to an elite women's cosmetics store:

The manager promised to visit the store and then call back. This dialogue ended.

The conclusion is simple: the manager must know the basics of his clients, otherwise he will not be able to help them in any way.

Having gone to this store, we call back and build a conversation a little differently:

- Nadezhda Ivanovna?

- Greetings! This is Marina calling from the Courier agency. Remember me?

Yes, yes, Marina. I'm hearing you.

- I visited your store!

- And what is your impression?

- Impression? Yes, just a sea of ​​​​emotions! You know, I couldn't decide which perfume to choose: Dolche and Cabbana or Marina de Burbon. Both have such a smell that it was difficult for me to stop at any one. What would you recommend to me?

After that, the discussion of perfumes, manufacturers, preferences began.

"Have you thought about my proposal?"

“Oh, can you remind me?

- Nadezhda Ivanovna! Let me not bore you with long explanations. Maybe we'll meet, I'll tell you everything in detail and show you!? When are you free?

The result of this communication was a meeting and (don't be surprised!) the signing of a long-term contract. In addition, the manager was given a boutique discount card. nice bonus, is not it?

Method number 2. And I know that you have news for me!

The very name of the technology suggests that the essence here is to constantly monitor what is happening. Is your client offering a seasonal discount? Call him immediately! Does he act as a sponsor of the exhibition? Run and don't miss the moment! You need to always stay abreast of changes, requirements, tastes of your client.

That is, even before the call, try to find all the available information about the person and the company. Where? For this, you do not need to conduct a survey of a potential client at all. Start with a website, see how your client is advertised, and you will understand a lot.

You probably thought: “To create an author's idea, you need to work for some time. How can this be discussed at the first call to a person? But you are only partly right. To make it clear, let's give an example again - a call to a dental clinic:

- Good afternoon, Ella Petrovna! My name is Marina, I represent the Courier agency.

- Hello!

Are these flyers in the mailboxes?

– Well... yes, partly.

- Yes, they are always thrown out, they don’t even carry them to the apartment.

The manager got into a difficult situation because she was not ready for such a situation.

But not everyone throws them out!

Sorry, this doesn't work for us.

- Sorry, goodbye, Ella Petrovna!

The manager thought for a long time how to fix the situation, and this is what happened in the end:

Hello, Ella Petrovna! This is Marina again, the Courier agency. Remember me? We are in the distribution business.

- Yes, Marina, of course, I remember.

– I have an exclusive offer for you, I am sure you will like it! Let's meet?

- Well, I'm here until six, drive up!

The idea was accepted with pleasure, and face-to-face communication with a potential client ended with the signing of an agreement.

Method number 4. You are cool peppers, but we are also peppers.

Sounds funny? The technique itself is much more serious. The point is: to let the consumer understand the importance of their company. Let's go straight to the examples:

– Good morning, Victor Alexandrovich! My name is Oksana, I represent Beijing, we are the largest supplier of Chinese tea in the city.

Hello, Peter Mikhailovich! My name is Aleksey. Our company has been on the market for eight years chemical industry. We want to offer you a joint commercial project.

As soon as the client realizes how important you are, his attitude towards you, the representative of the organization, will be more respectful, that is, you have more chances that they will listen to you and agree to consider the project.

Method number 5. Do you know? Well, of course you do!

Here you need to present in a conversation with a potential client for granted facts that the person will agree with. After that, you lead to the equally obvious statement that he simply cannot do without your services. For example:

This way you can connect with people who are not yet your customers.

How to work with potential customers on the Internet

In some cases, aggressive product promotion ruins the conversion, or the reason may be the seller's excessive intrusiveness. People can drop in to “just look”, and they are immediately offered to register / buy right now.

It so happened that not every client is psychologically ready to immediately spend money, while the owners of Internet resources do not always understand what is the right thing to do in this case. The more expensive, more complex your offer, the longer it will take a person to morally prepare for investing.

In the case of software products of various specifics, prices, and functionality, do not try to sell a "pig in a poke" at all. Create a limited trial so users can experience the real value of the offer.

Here you should not enter a long registration, a couple of simple steps will suffice. Otherwise, a potential client may get confused and lose the remnants of loyalty to the service and the company. After all, she sells what she can’t even try out before buying.

For this reason, it is necessary to approach the sales funnel wisely, work not only on conversion, but also stimulate a loyal user attitude in order to keep your communication going.

Let's say we sell a popular information product about do-it-yourself repairs. Here is how the work with a potential client should be built:

1. What does the person want? - Learn all about home renovation.

2. What do you want? - Get a client.

3. How to do it?

• Suggest free consultation, and as a bonus to your product, add an original video, make free reports, provide official papers.
• Your goal is to make the user regard you as a wise adviser, whose opinion is worth relying on.
• Give your consumers a few good reasons to subscribe to your newsletter.
• Offer a free "trial" video course on one type of repair.

Among professional marketers, there is an opinion that the user needs to contact the resource 10 times in order to agree to a purchase. True, these figures are not supported by the results of studies. However, this indicator highlights the fact that the longer and deeper the communication with a potential client is built, the higher the likelihood of a purchase.

At the same time, there are always tools for establishing warm and trusting relationships. It is only necessary to find ways to influence a specific group of users and start working with them.

What role does online marketing play in communicating with a potential client?

Internet marketing (online marketing) is a set of actions, the task of which is to promote a resource, a product on the Web, as well as in interaction with potential customers. This kind of PR, like offline marketing, can increase the popularity of the company, customer loyalty to its activities and offer.

What is the meaning and advantages of this type of marketing? Like other types, it includes the following main components:

• Product / service promoted on the Internet through certain tools.
• Offer- a unique characteristic of your product, a promotion, a discount, a bonus, a free service - everything that may be of interest to a group of potential customers.
• - people to whom you offer your product. The bottom line is that they are all looking for information about your product on the web. First of all, you will have to attract them to your site, only after that they will be able to become your customers.
• Conversion– Turning site visitors into real customers.
• Promotion- those techniques that you use to attract the target audience, get the best possible result.

This work with potential clients lends itself to very precise measurement. It is easy to check the statistics of impressions, clicks on links or banners, purchases. The latest statistical data management tools make it possible to see which links from the search, contextual, media advertising bring more people to the site. That is, you can track all the processes of your advertising campaign.

The main feature is the specificity of the audience on the Internet. It is fundamentally different from the existing one offline, therefore it requires a separate approach. This is where you encounter active, engaged users. They purposefully conduct a search for specific information and at any time can protect themselves from annoying advertising.

A look at an ad can last no more than a second. For such short term you need to express your offer as clearly as possible, to interest, to encourage a group of potential customers to continue exploring the site. It is simply necessary to communicate directly with such an audience: encourage them to click on banners, links, take part in surveys, comment, rate, and then place an order or contact you.

What Internet marketing tools can be used to build communication with potential customers:

Search Engine Optimization and Promotion (SEO)

An example of the search promotion of our client of the company "De Jure De Facto"

This is a set of measures aimed at promoting a resource in search engines for certain queries. First of all, this is site optimization - changing the structure, HTML code, navigation, content, which will allow the resource to become more convenient, carry more information for potential customers, and be well indexed by search engines.

The promotion itself consists in increasing the external link mass, constant analysis, revision of key queries, with the help of which optimization is carried out. Thus, SEO is financially low-cost, provides a long-term, stable positive result, although it requires serious time resources and effort.

A special kind of ad that appears near or above the search results if the corresponding keyword has been entered. All impressions are configured according to a number of characteristics: keywords, region, time, days of the week. This type of advertising is a win-win option when you need to attract the attention of a specific group of potential customers for a set period of time.

Compared to SEO, contextual advertising starts very quickly, is easy to control, but stops working immediately after being disabled. It is best to try to evenly distribute the available funds between this option and search promotion.

It can be displayed on any sites, looks like banners, teasers, informers, etc. The main goal is to initially inform about an existing product, create a favorable image of a product or company. Clickable banners are able to lure potential customers to your resource, a page containing certain commodity which further encourages purchases.

The launch of “medical” will bring the best result during the period of the highest level of demand or during discounts and promotions. But this type of promotion on the Internet is quite expensive.

E-mail newsletter

These are diverse email newsletters, including an appeal to a specific person or company for any informational occasion. So you can tell potential and real customers about a promotion, a new product, an offer, a new store opening. Here you will need the accumulated client base and contacts of people who subscribed to the site's newsletter.

PR campaign

This is the only free option that involves posting articles, releases on news and entertainment sites. The best result is possible if you do not pay for it, but negotiate free accommodation, providing an interesting informational occasion.

Ice Bucket Challenge Example

We are talking about posting video clips, flash games, applications, photos, stories on social networks that do not contain open advertising, but there is an indirect mention of your product or company. It must be something really attractive. Viral marketing works thanks to mass coverage: readers themselves are ready to like / repost a video, photo, application.

An example in the photo is a Zhdun meme that blew up the Internet in 2017.

The choice of an Internet marketing tool should be related to the type of product being promoted and the tasks that you set for yourself. It happens that 1-2 channels are enough, but most often the best result is achieved with their complex use. And we offer to start work on the comprehensive promotion of your site from the main thing - a professional audit.