Throw away your company literature!
Have you ever really thought about why you have company brochures, flyers, literature, and even business cards?
Here are the brutal facts about your marketing materials: they are all about you, all about your services, all about your skills, training, certifications, number of trucks, the quantity of equipment, ad nauseam. For most business owners, managers, and marketing reps; a glossy, four-color, full-bleed folder or pamphlet about your company only serves to stroke your ego. And for the few of you that don’t do it for your ego, you create and print these marketing materials because you think that’s what you are supposed to do! Sorry. Wrong.
While I’m on this rant, the very common networking meetings are also almost always, in my opinion, a waste of time. You probably immediately thought about meetings like Chamber events, business networking luncheons, or other get-togethers primarily intended for you to leave the meeting with a handful of business cards. The more cards you walk away with, the more success you think you had! Oh, you also are excited if you got to spend time telling people about your company, services, skills, or expertise. Yes, you rock. But they really don’t care.
Just like your company brochures, these meetings are all about you and rarely bring anything to the prospect that is truly important to them. Should I say it again? It is not about you. It is about what they need and want!
I consult daily with many clients, teach classes to hundreds of marketers, sales managers, and business owners, and hear constantly the same bogus excuses or “reasons” why they need to have company literature. They even dream up plausible answers about why they need to attend a networking event. Reasons like: my competition are there, I need the visibility and exposure, I get a ton of work from other attendees, (sure you do), giving them my literature is the only way they will know what we do. Blah, blah, blah.
As is the case with most business cards, most of them are miniature sales brochures, sometimes using print so small it actually requires a magnifying glass to read the details like a phone number or email address! And once again, it’s usually a laundry list of the company services and certifications. Your business card should have the critical contact info, in a very readable format, and not be a sales flyer.
By this point, I hope I have you agreeing, but if not, here is the bottom line: In this fast and ever-changing world, people still do business with those they like, those they have a good relationship with, and especially those bringing value in advance. One of the best ways to bring “value-in-advance” is to continually provide helpful content and information using the many social media platforms available to you for free. Those like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many more.
You bring value in advance by doing your homework on your prospects and clients, and by learning about their business as well as their industry. This is the only valid way you can be sure you are able to provide exactly what they need and want. This makes it about them. This demonstrates your skills, knowledge, and expertise, without shouting it in one of your typical company brochures. This gives them confidence in you. Without that confidence, it’s very unlikely they will do business with you.
They don’t care about your certifications, they don’t “care” if you claim you are the Mold expert or the water removal guru. They only care about themselves, and if you do a good job showing and demonstrating to them you are knowledgeable about their business, they will have you top-of-mind and probably on their speed dial.
Most of the consulting and courses that AskDickWagner.com and The CREST Network teach are about helping you learn better ways to market, sell and be profitable – making it about your client and not about you.
Dick Wagner is an expert Marketing Coach and Consultant for the Disaster Restoration industry. I’ll always take your call! 419-202-6745
