Last week I was introduced to a great little app by Frances Pratt, our HerBusiness blogger and sales guru. Pomodoro (yes, Italian for tomato) is a little time management tool that breaks your time into 25 minute blocks. So you actually focus on one task for long enough to get something worthwhile done!
It’s probably a sad reflection on the relentless demands on our attention that a tool like this is desirable – but that’s the 21st century so I’m loving it!
The excess of information and general clutter in our world has important implications for the way we market.
It’s made it so much more challenging to get attention. Marketing as usual is no longer cutting it – people get bored, switch off, or don’t even notice in the first place. Research shows:
- Multiple different messages are more likely to be remembered;
- It takes an average of 5-12 contacts before a customer buys;
- Mixed media contacts are more likely to be appreciated as helpful rather than intrusive;
- 80% of sales are made after the 5th contact – but most businesses give up before the 4th. So if you communicate in ways that they perceive as worthwhile, you’ll be way ahead of your competition.
How could you initiate and maintain touch with your prospects and existing customers with more imagination and flair?
- Email – easy and cheap, but for those very reasons, becoming harder to use effectively. Be purposeful and use sparingly.
- Social media – where does your ideal target customer hang out – and appreciate value from you?
- Snail mail – send a thank you card, a product sample, a printed guide with some genuinely useful information, an invitation to try a new product or service.
- Events – run one yourself, or give them a ticket to someone else’s. If it’s relevant, it will be very much appreciated.
Despite all the brilliant technology we have at our disposal, many sales are still made because you met face to face. It changes relationships. Period.
Ask yourself: How many times do I connect – memorably?
