Tips for Marketing an Intangible Service
Henry Devries a self marketing specialist www.henrydevries.com wrote an article in the San Diego Transcript July 9th 2003 and here is a summary of the key points he sees on selling intangibles.
These steps come from the office of Dr. ArLyne Diamond of Santa Clara, California.
A trained clinical psychologist. www.diamondassociates.net
Before you read these tips I must say they are not about the Joe Factor but about good solid methodologies to use in getting candidates for your business. I can provide the techniques and methodology to use when you are inside the candidates arena. These are the practical approaches that work. Some of the ideas presented are a little to sales like for my taste. However with right technique of questions they can be very useful. That is just one of the many tactics that the Joe Factor uses, how to ask the right questions that yield results.
So, what are some steps you can do to mitigate the risk for your prospects? Here are Diamond’s top 10 tactics for selling intangibles:
1. Get references and leads from people who have experienced your best work.
2. Ask satisfied customers if they will write you a letter of reference to use in part in your brochure to give to prospects.
3. Be visible — give speeches, write articles, attend functions.
4. Volunteer. There is no better way to establish a relationship with someone than through doing work together. Get involved and get known for being a competent, pleasant and intelligent worker.
5. If you get a foot in the door and prove yourself, offer one or two hours of your services for free.
6. Offer a “pilot project” which will enable your customer to determine how well you work and how much he needs what you have to offer.
7. Help smaller clients share expenses by suggesting a consortium to use your services. This is an especially good technique if you are offering information and/or training services for nonproprietary information.
8. If you are developing a new product for a client, offer generous support services.
9. Network with others and become part of their “virtual” organizations. Include them in yours as well. Remember, you have to give to get.
10. Above all else, be ethical, careful, competent, helpful, pleasant and fun to do business with. Being fun to do business with will result in doing more business.
I hope this produces some thought provoking ideas for you to take action on. I am open to discuss any or all of these techniques and show you how to really leverage them using my technique and getting the outcomes you desire and have earned the right to.
Thanks
Joe”Factor” White
3 responses so far ↓
writeideasmarketing // April 5, 2007 at 1:18 pm |
Great advice, Joe. One point I might add is – be cautious not to give away too much for free. It’s one thing to give away a candy bar – its another to give away the candy store. While many of these techniques can help you get your foot in the door, remember that you are in business to make money. The clients that you want to get your referrals from are ones that love you because you provide quality services for a great value – not because you give things away for free.
Andrea Morris
Write Ideas Marketing
Carole DeJarnatt, Alliance Advisors, Inc. // June 12, 2007 at 8:51 pm |
Good advice and most are areas I have tried. And it works. The one thing that has probably helped me most is writing articles and submitting through an article submission website. Also networking is something I do weekly, if not daily. Being seen and getting known.
Joe White // June 14, 2007 at 1:42 pm |
I agree Ezines are great tools to build traffic. My networking philosphy is pretty simple make two new contacts per day and hold yourself accoutable for that action.