Why You Must Have a Top-of-Mind Marketing Program

Date: November 12, 2007
Word count: 1667
Reading time: 4-5 minutes
Benefits of Taking Action: an easy way to get referrals year-round

Why You Must Have a Top-of-Mind Marketing Program.

The 'Neglected' Referral System:

Attending Jeffrey Gitomer's seminar last week, he made two points that really caught my attention.
1. "You have to stay in touch if you want referrals."

Do you keep in touch year-round with your clients? If so, how much is your contact appreciated?

2. But what really struck me was when he said: "The single most valuable asset for your company over the next 100 years is your e-zine and that mailing list."

It struck me that he would make such an emphatic statement. I listen to his advice. But I think this recommendation is crazy unless your clients tell you that you are truly adding great value. Sure, his e- zine is excellent because he is an expert, he is creative and funny. He spends time writing every day and has done so for nearly 20 years. But like so many experts or top producers, I think that piece of advice is not replicable for most salespeople and most companies unless they use the content of a pro. I have subscribed to many well-known people's e-zines and within two months I have unsubscribed because I wasn't getting much out of them, not even the valuable reminders we all need.

Too many of them were mostly selling me stuff. And people hate to be sold. Me me me.

I agree we need to keep our names out there. I am convinced every salesperson and every company should be staying visible. Maybe a piece of this includes an e-zine so long as you hear a lot of people validating this.

1. What is a Top-of-Mind Marketing Program?
It's keeping your name in front of your contact sphere and especially your clients regularly enough so they don't forget you.

2. How Often is Enough?

I think once/month for most sales professionals reading this: financial advisors, insurance agents, Realtors, mortgage consultants, and media reps.

3. Why Do You Need One?

Your clients think about themselves 95% of the time. You are soon forgotten. The future belongs to those who:
a) build long-term relationships with their clients and
b) set themselves apart by bringing more to the table than 'business as usual'
Those looking for transactions or orders are destined to struggle at best. This has most recently been demonstrated by the number of mortgage companies and Realtors going out of business. They did fine during the re-fi and real estate boom. Where are they now? One realty owner shared with me last week that 3 out of 10 job applicants at Menards (hardware store) were Realtors looking for part-time work.

You must keep your name out there to maintain the relationship and to be top of mind when they need you again or when they are talking to someone who does so they can refer you.

4. Why is a Top-of-Mind Program a Challenge for Most Good Salespeople?

Most people who are good at sales are strongest in other areas and do not have the skill set or time to organize a regimented top of mind program. They are not going to write out birthday cards to all their contacts every week, thank you cards after every networking event, or spend a few hours writing a weekly e-zine. These kinds of tasks do not come naturally to most good salespeople. They generally need to be delegated.

5. What Are the Most Effective Ways to Stay Top of Mind?

Answer: With something engaging that the recipient will value and not find salesy or superficial!

How often do you get something from a salesperson in the mail or in your inbox that is like white bread - it has no value or content that is interesting to you? Or it's all about that person's industry - interesting perhaps to the person in the marketing department who put it together but of zero interest to most human beings! It's like the company brochure: that 'me me me' approach.

What is effective is up to you based on what your personal strengths are. What are you best at? What do you like to do? And what can you delegate? Here is a list of ideas.

Choose ones you can turn into habits and turn them into a way you can consistently 'touch' your clients once/month.

1. Phone calls. Use the FORD approach.

Call your best clients every three months and just connect. No need to sell anything. You can position yourself as a resource - find out what their needs are in other areas. Can you add value in other areas?
Beyond that, listen for change in their lives. The Ninja Selling program recommends you ask questions in four areas: FORD (family, occupation, recreation/hobbies and dreams/goals). If you listen carefully, there may well be changes going on that might benefit from involving you.

2. Coffees/meals/drinks

Again, you're only going to target people who like you a lot and/or who know others.

3. Adding value as an information broker:

resources to help that person professionally from books, audio programs, and articles to notes you took at a conference. This is my favorite way to stay in touch apart from coffee or beer. You can touch more people this way. It could be a monthly e-zine or a hard copy version. This is what Gitomer was talking about. BUT it must be something you get good feedback on. How important is the information (there is so much junk out there)? The advantages to e-zines are that:
a) People can easily hit "reply" and get back to you in a moment so you get unsolicited feedback.
b) It is much cheaper than mailing something
c) They can be forwarded to others (and potentially LOTS of people)
d) They are much less labor intensive
e) They can be compiled from anywhere in the world

4. Personal emails.

5. Social, community, sporting, special interest group events

Todd, a mortgage planner, likes to golf with clients, prospects and centers of influence. Tony, a financial advisor, likes to organize fishing trips with his clients. My friend Nicole runs a group for international professionals and several members have become clients of hers. Liz, a health insurance specialist, sees some of her clients at the French Alliance club. For others it may be ushering at church, coaching in the local school district or as president of your local Rotary.

6. Greeting cards. Personal cards are great to receive not least since we get so few these days. Whether it's for a client's birthday, a thank you or to commemorate an anniversary or holiday, you can set yourself apart provided you write them yourself and they do not have a pre-printed signature from a mass- marketed mailer! Unlike the newsletter, I think cards are deceitful if the pretense is they are personally written and are not. I know:
a) These automated programs are quite popular right now and
b) They are better than doing nothing and
c) Most good salespeople do not have the organizational skills to do this themselves BUT
d) I think the consumer will figure this out soon enough and see them as empty and insincere. You can fool all the people some of the time etc.

The solution is to:
a) buy the cards in bulk
b) get an assistant to track who should be getting them
c) have that person address the cards
d) once a week (or month) take 30 seconds/card and write a personal message.

7. Client appreciation events.

>From meals and events at restaurants or on river boats to wine and chocolate evenings, theater trips, brewery tours, and fund raisers, there is any number of creative ways you can keep your name out in front of your clients in fun and non-salesy ways.

8. Seminars

Even with seminars, the topic variety can be endless. You don't have to present every time and it doesn't have to be on your professional topic. It's ultimately about building relationships and adding value.

9. Surveys

Sometimes there is a place to get feedback from your clients. I may well send out a survey to you soon asking for your input on two topics close to my heart.

10. Your Advisory board

This is usually a group of clients who meet 4-6 times/year to provide business development feedback and potentially help with strategic planning.

11. Postcards from cool vacation or work conference locations

Did I say it was all about relationships?! How many times have you heard from someone on a trip? (dare I say 'never'?)

12. Personal gifts

Last year I remember doing a seminar for a large insurance company and one agent telling us that one weekend/year she would make quilts for some of her biggest policy holders. The price shoppers were not among the list; of course she targeted her best referral sources. How easy do you suppose it was for these people to talk about how different their insurance agent was?

At the end of the day, all of us will go out of our way to help people who go the extra inch for us (not extra mile necessarily). Why? Because they showed they truly cared about us.
You already know this.
What do you need to start doing more to set yourself apart?

13. Tickets to events

Jim is a regional manager for a large financial service company. When he was a producer and lived in Chicago, he had tickets for Bulls (Michael Jordan era), Bears, Blackhawks and Cubs games. He was always offering prime tickets to prime clients and prospects. It's a great way to keep in touch offering value.

Action Plan:

1. How do you stay in touch with your clients?
2. Is it great value to them and is it read and/or appreciated?
3. What do you need to start doing more to set yourself apart from your competition?
4. Who can you delegate some of the work to?

Look out for an upcoming survey from the Referral Authority on this topic.

Be a resource. Who else do you think might get value from reading this? Please forward this on.