Do You Have The Midas Touch In Your Business?
I love to eat out and I love sushi
I love to eat out and I love sushi. So together with my wife we end up in a lot of little sushi restaurants all the time.
The other week we were at two different sushi places. And as I was gobbling down my mackerel and albacore, it dawned on me that I was holding a huge marketing lesson in between my chopsticks.
WHAT?!
You see, the first place we ate at, we had to wait for over 40 minutes to get our table. (I know, reservation would've been a smart move!) The place was buzzing with people.
The food was good - but it wasn't sensational. However, the place was hopping! And it was really fun to have dinner there.
The second restaurant where we had our dinner the other night had a total of 12 guests. We got our table right away and the food was amazing! On the top of that, they had a dinner special (on a Friday evening?!) so we ate way too much sushi and paid less than $25 for the two of us. It was sad to see that the place was so? quiet, almost deserted.
In the first restaurant our waitress gave us great recommendations what to order, so we also ended up having some drinks. She suggested a desert, but we just couldn't eat any more!
At the second place the service was a bit lame. We had two people serving us and I couldn't figure out which one of them was really our waiter. They never made any recommendations, didn't ask if we wanted any drinks, and as soon as they saw us finish eating they brought us the bill.
Clearly one of these places didn't have the Midas Touch!
So where is the marketing lesson? Here it comes...
How come one of those places charges five times the price, sells food that isn't the best (not bad, but NOT the best), and is bursting at the seams with patrons, while the other is barely making ends meet while providing awesome food at rock bottom prices?
I'll give you the answer. But first, let me tell you that this "economic discrepancy" doesn't apply only to sushi restaurants. In fact, most service professionals suffer from the same problems.
A typical coach, consultant, financial planner, or an accountant (and many others) think that getting better at what they do is going to get them more business. But it's NOT TRUE! If it were, everyone with a PhD would already be filthy rich!
The key is not getting better at what you do, but getting better at marketing and selling what you do! Because that's what brings the cash and makes you successful and prosperous!
So, back to the sushi diners...
You see, one of those places sells commodity - sushi. The other sells value - the total experience of dining out!
It's too bad that the place selling better food will soon go out of business because the only way they know how to try to get new business is to lower the price.
Just a little bit of marketing know how could make a world of difference, but they would rather just learn how to make their great sushi even greater!
Here are a few lessons (and questions) for you:
- Does your marketing sell commodity (what you do) or value (what your clients get out of what you do?
- Does your marketing distinguish you from competitors in ways other than just pricing?
- Does your marketing message grab attention of potential clients and generate a constant stream of new leads?
- Does your marketing system automatically convert prospects into customers, and keep in touch with current clients and centers of influence?
- Are you regularly checking in with your clients to see how satisfied they are with what they have bought from you and using their feedback to make improvements?
- And do you constantly look for new ways to serve your customers better but developing and recommending new products, programs, and services?
This is only a quick assessment of how well your marketing is doing. If you answered YES to all of these questions ? congratulations! But don't rest of your laurels! Your competitors are working hard to steal your clients.
And if you couldn't answer YES to these questions, you need to consider investing in your marketing know how. That's the only way you will ever make your business grow!
by: Adam Urbanski
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