I’m a small business with an artistic product. I sell 2 t0 3 units per years. Ranging from 125k+. My product is in a league of its own and I’ve been called a visionary but my industry is considered small. Upper-class customers contact me to buy my product. I’m the only one in the world to offer this specific concept so they cant go anywhere else to get it. I’ve had 4 sales in the past six months that I haven’t been able to close on. I’m a master at my craft but I seem to have trouble closing/locking in the sale. How do I lock-in the sale with someone that has contacted me but has limited time, expendable funds, and a taste for outrageous, expensive toys?

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Jay’s Answer: Before you begin to try to close, find out what their (emotional) needs are. Why did they contact you today? What will they do with their purchase? Where have they seen one before? You want to engage them to find out their needs but also help them to truly visualize owning it. That’s why auto dealers know that when they ask “what color are you looking for?”, once you respond you’re now emotionally involved in the purchase.

I need a monthly (or bi-monthly) marketing plan for upscale ladies boutique (in the south) during this slow economic time. Right now, we are keeping our heads above water, but I want to replace my usual fashion show/luncheons with events that are more effective in bringing customers into my store during these days of slower financial times….perhaps highlighting breast cancer awareness in some way in October and bringing in a coupon card for a % off during a slow month…I want to be sensitive to the harder economy and yet keep my store alive.

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Jay’s Answer: Bring in local speakers who can talk about a range of topics that would be interesting to your clientele: improving your business appearance, better body language, dating tips, how to balance career/family, PR tricks, etc. Unless you know what problems your clientele are having, you’ll have to guess about the topics (or take a poll). The point is to get people to keep physically coming into your store – and each time they do, there’s a no main display that inspires them.

I belong to a networking group which has been around for 4 years. We only allow one person from each industry so there is no competition. We exchange referrals. We are a BNI group but I want to brand our group name in our area and build membership.

We want to be the brand of choice in our area so any recommendations, conventional, or out of the box would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer: What makes any referral group worth one’s time is the quality/quantity of leads (and resulting business). Why not create case studies of members (both new and old)? A series of stories of why people joined, how they worked together, what the results were (and what they honestly wished was better). If you can say that on average, your investment of an hour a week and $X/quarter results in $Y, then that’s a strong reason to join.

You also want people to join who are strong referrers as well. These people may be selling a higher priced offering (houses) that need a quality support team. These people may be looking more for quality help for themselves. So, commission a study of customer satisfaction of people in the group as well.

Between income and quality, you’ll have a strong marketing message.

What would be a great tag line for my new Real Estate Investment business. It’s name is Fehu Real Estate Investments. Fehu is the Norwegian rune symbolizing wealth creation.

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Jay’s Answer: Taglines should focus on a clear benefit you offer your clients. They shouldn’t be generic, but instead mentions a benefit that your competition doesn’t offer (otherwise your tagline is generic and therefore, not memorable/useful).

Here are some ideas to play with:

• Generating Real Wealth
• Your Future Wealth Is Our Business
• We Appreciate Great Properties

My wife and I opened our own High End Fashion Boutique last week and despite marketing our shop in the local newspaper, sending text messages on their cellphones, setting up a Page and Group on Facebook and inviting almost the whole town – people are still not visiting our boutique…

What can we do to get more people to our store? Do you have any ideas to raise “awareness”? I even want to offer a Louis Vuitton Handbag valued at thousands of Rands for a competition, if it will generate enough funds…

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Jay’s Answer: A simple addition (if you don’t already have it) would be a website that’s SEO optimized for your region. Since everything is one-of-a-kind, you may not wish to make the website a catalog of items that people can order from (worldwide) but you do want people to be able to get a sense from your website the experience that’s “in store” for them.

Before you try to get more people to your store, focus on the people who have already visited. Did they purchase things or not? If not, then having more people come through may not yet be a good idea – you want people to come, buy, tell their friends, and repeat. If people did purchase, then you need to give them a reason to return (regularly). Perhaps a VIP preview of new purses in one month, outerwear another month, shoes etc. Or, give them coupons to gift to their friends.

Have you contacted local clubs whose members might be prospective customers? For example: Mothers’ club, Women entrepreneurs, etc.?

Holly Stiel is a trailblazing service philosopher who innovated a method of training based on her 17 years as a world-class concierge. Her clients include: Disney, Nordstrom, AVEDA, American Express, and has been the spokesperson for The Visa Signature card. Stiel’s 30 years of service experience have been parlayed into three books and three award-winning instructional DVDs. With a team of producers she has custom-designed the corporate service training programs for Hilton and Hyatt hotels worldwide. With her business partners at Talent Mondial she brings an international focus on delivering service as smooth as SILK™.

Email: Holly@ThankYouVeryMuchInc.com
Website: www.ThankYouVeryMuchInc.com
Phone: (707) 884-4278

Author of:

• Ultimate Service
• Neon Signs of Service
• Wisdom of the Wizard
• Neon Signs of Service™ (DVD)
• High Road of Service™ (DVD)
• Concierge Express™ (DVD)

I was nominated by my management to arrange a big gathering for all natural gas processing facilities and related engineering services organizations in the company. The gathering will discuss all aspects related to Gas Processing such as best practices, lessons learned, new technologies, revenue enhancement, and cost savings, etc.. I have selected you as I believe you can help me getting a catchy and attractive title and theme for such event.

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Jay’s Answer: Here are some ideas to play with:

• Getting Every Drop Of Gas
• Gas: The Past, The Present, And The Future
• Petroleum Best Practices
• Don’t Be A Gas Dinosaur

My company develops hardware/software touchscreen solutions for various verticals. Last year, we signed up for a tradeshow that we attend every year. We have put a significant amount of money down so far. Due to the economy, company executives have since pulled us out of the show, it will cost us 2 to 3 times what we have already paid to complete the show. As of now, if we don’t go, we will eat the cost. Without taking our typical large wooden booth (which would cost 10′s of thousands of dollars to ship and build), what are some creative/inexpensive ways to fill our 20×20 booth and drive more traffic?

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Jay’s Answer: Instead of trying to sell anything at the show, why not thank your customers for their years of support and get to know them better. Ask questions, find out what people are using/needing. Find out how people are using your products. Find great stories of how your products have saved lives, businesses, etc. Do market research. Perhaps hire some freelance programmers to create some games that show off your touchscreens and let people sit and play. While people are queued up, talk to them.

I work for a very successful engineering firm that has been in business since 1972. We are best known for the quality of our work, our innovation and commitment to what we do, not too sound so mainstream but it is the truth. One of our retired owners has been writing the story of the company and wanted all key senior engineers to write about past project involvement while they are all still around. I thought it would be a great idea to create a book for our 40 year anniversary. Most of our new engineers do not know the story of our company and I think it is worth telling it. However, there are key close minded senior engineers that oppose to the idea. I need your opinion on why would you oppose, and why you would think it is a good initiative.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d oppose it if: I was embarrassed by the work, didn’t want the recognition, or thought it was a self-congratulatory project that doesn’t have any real value.

I’d be in favor it it if: I had pride in my work, I saw that my story would inspire others, or was a project that could help my company’s bottom-line.

I need a strategy for a training online and web conferencing renting business based on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blog, YouTube. The purpose is to attract new clients for online training or for renting the web conferencing platform.

- How could I find Twitter followers?
- What profile to create on Facebook, who and how to invite and in what position (friends/fans), to do what? Why would they befriend my company?
- How to use LinkedIn?
- How to link all of those?

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Jay’s Answer: Your ultimate goal is simply to get more clients. By using Twitter, etc. you’ll be adding a number of layers of work with an unclear benefit to your business (even if you get people following you, etc.).

People who need your specific services will find you online through the search engines (using a set of keywords). Make sure that your website is well-optimized for these terms and consider PPC as well.

To build trust in your offerings, do it the old-fashioned way: testimonials, case studies, and guarantees. If you clearly articulate your benefit, showcase others that have used it (and are big fans), compare how much better your services are, and have a low risk to try it out you’ve got a good start.

Another avenue to explore: focus on a niche that you can help. For example, web conferencing for college interviews, corporations who are cutting costs, angel investor groups, etc.