Part 3: Making A Case For Recognition

How Can I Find You When I Need You?

If there is someone in your town who is in business and they don't know your company's name or what you do...I guarantee you are working 3 times harder than you have to. I can also be pretty darned certain you are not making anywhere near the money you should be. You know this is true.

Often times, we're so busy chasing after new prospects we forget it is far more profitable if we let them come to us. Sure we cannot just sit and wait for them to show up, but we've got to make it super easy for the ones who need us...to find us.
When their equipment is broken, and needs repair or replacement, there is but a small window of opportunity. And when that window opens up we better be the voice they hear shouting in their heads.

That has been the major point of this 3 part series. Getting yourself noticed.
But more than that. Just as every child knows he should go to a policeman when he is lost or needs help, every person in your town should know that he must come to you for help with his office equipment. There should be no question in his mind whatsoever.

You understand that. When I recommend technicians should be serving as ambassadors and not just fixers. Your head nods "yes" when I show you how important it is to copy the successful folks at UPS and FedEx by making your vehicles stand out.

Today you can get you company's name etched into the brains of your community by
adding these additional strategies:

I'm going back to the technicians for just a moment- because they are out there doing good deeds. People (customers) view them as non-threatening- they will open up and talk more easily with technicians. (With obvious salespeople, their guard tends to go up.) However, technicians are often shy to spread the good word. So to maximize their exposure and minimize their participation there are 2 simple strategies you can implement.

1. Uniforms. Just as UPS and FedEx drivers wear clothes that let the world know exactly who they represent, your company should be doing the same. Pants, shirt, and jackets for all seasons.

2. Case. This is where I make my case for recognition...literally! Every tech carries a toolcase, but I can never recall seeing a company name on one. Why the heck not?
What are we trying to hide? You can wrap them just like you could wrap a car or city bus. You could have them painted or you could have stickers made. In the case of the newer black nylon bags, you could have cloth patches sown on or have them custom embroidered. Now your tech's gonna stand out. Get noticed. In fact you could do the same for your salesperson's laptop bag. The more outrageously noticeable the better.

Well there you have it. If you don't like these ideas, hopefully I've jump-started your brain into thinking of how to get noticed. How to be on the mind of your community so that when an emergency or any relevant buying opportunity arises, you
are the one they call. When they need you...and they call you...now you're in the drivers seat on the road to maximum profits.

O'k...I teased you on the balloon thing. I'd really like to get feedback on this from those of you who are bold enough to try it. It goes like this:

Most of the time when you show up at a customer's office, you're fixing something that's broken or else your trying to take their money, ie. sell them something.
Both of these activities let a cloud of negativity float in the customer's mind.
It makes them not want to call you. Not want to see you there in their place.

However the one, most purely positive experience, comes when you deliver a brand- spank'n new piece of equipment. Everyone is happy! They have purchased that new machine with not only cold hard cash, but with the countless hours of frustration they invested in trying to get the old piece of junk to work.

Now, their relief has arrived!

It is the single best opportunity to play on their good feeling about you and your company.
(they must love you right now...they said so with their checkbook!)You have an opportunity to turn this one placement into many if you play your cards right. But so often we just send out the delivery guys in blue jeans who roll the machine in, drag out the old one and say, "sign here." Delivering machines is seen as a necessary evil, a burden.

Turn it around!
Make buying from you so much fun they want to do it again and again.

After all, there are only three ways to grow a business. 1. Increase the number of transaction you do (get more customers), 2. Increase the average size of the transactions (get them to buy more), or 3.Increase the frequency of transactions (get them to buy more often).

Oh, no! It's getting late. I Thought I could finish this but I can't tonight.

Tomorrow...I'll tell you exactly how you can use balloons at the time of delivery to
insure that your customer will buy from you more often. Plus, how you'll create such a buzz that all his friends and neighbors will be looking for you too!

Now Get Out There and Be Like the Toucan...get noticed!