What's the One Thing?

What's The One Thing?

A colleague of mine sent me this photo last week. It seems this gent was a bit tired at the expo stand so thought he would take a nap. I think I need to add this to my list of "Things not to do when exhibiting" - fall asleep! Although, maybe he was just modelling for the coffins you see in the background!

I am often asked by people, what's the one thing that you can do at an Expo that makes the biggest difference. There is one thing that comes to my mind straight away. It makes the biggest difference when Exhibiting, Sponsoring or even attending to the everyday aspects of your work and your social life. That one thing is to smile more.

You would think it would be obvious but too often the expression on your face is different to what you think or want. A smile can relax you, relax your guest, put you in a better mood, release endorphins, create a better environment and quite simply, power up your attitude.

Your mission today, should you accept it, is to smile more. Are you up to it?




PS If you want to learn other tips tools and techniques for exhibiting, join me today at 3pm Melbourne time for the Exhibit Like A Pro webinar. Even if you can't make that time, register and you can access the recording. Click here to register.

What makes a Good Call to Action?

What makes a Good Call to Action?

In my Local Area Marketing and Get More Face To Face Sales presentations, I talk about making it easy for the customer to buy. One element of this is a clear instruction on what you want your customer to do. In essence, a good Call to Action.

Without knowing it, we are surrounded by Calls to Action. Think of some of the commercials you have seen or hear or interactions you may have had at a shopping centre.You will have heard

“Call in the next 15 minutes and get a bonus ….”

“Use EFTPOS when you next go shopping”

“American Express, don’t leave home without it”

“Have you had your Inner Health plus today?”

“Did you want fries with that?”

“Did you want to take advantage of our 2 for $5 chocolate bars?”

So what makes a good call to action? Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules. Each target market and each buy modality has a different approach. While there are no hard and fast rules, there are definitely some key principals to be considered.

Start with the Call to Action

When preparing an advert, writing an article, creating a commercial you MUST know what your call to action is before you start. Knowing the call to action will help sculpt what you are creating. The body of your content will be providing the evidence to support your reader or prospect to take action.

Make the Call to Action Crystal Clear

Quite simply, confused minds never buy.  So even if you are giving something away, a confused person will not claim it. Having multiple actions or confusing statements around the action we prevent people from taking it. Separate the call to action from the body of the text or the initial information so there is no mistaking exactly what the audience is expected to do.

Have a Strong Why

For anyone to take advantage of the offer, the Why needs to be strong for them. It can be evidence of success, a free trial, a discount, additional bundling of items or even a guarantee of results. Different audiences will have different drivers but you must be clear on what will appeal to your target market and build that in to the call to action.  The why my be initially mentioned or alluded to in the advert or article copy to get the audience ready for it. Whatever the reason, it has to be attractive and offer value to the audience.

Lay the Foundation for Action

Let’s be honest, a simple line saying “call now” will not bring about action. The foundation or need for action has to be built into the copy to make it happen. Infomercials are brilliant at this. Essentially, you need to highlight the problem that your product or service will solve. Your target audience needs to see their own pain in the copy. You can then show them how you solve the pain or get them to take action to find the solution to your pain.

Mind Your Language

Use the appropriate language to describe the urgency of the offer. This not only relates to the words you use but also to the emotive sense you create. Direct the audience to take action with words like:

•          Call
•          Buy
•          Donate
•          Register
•          Order and
•          Discover.

You can create a desire for the audience to act using phrases like:

•          Register in the next 5 minutes for....
•          Order now and get a free gift
•          Call now and you also get…
•          Be one of the first 10 people who…
•          To get your free copy of….
•          For a limited time only…

Deliver on Your Commitment

Too often business are so focussed on getting the prospect to act, they forget to respond. If you are offering something for the first 15 who respond, be sure you deliver it. One of my wives once got excited by an infomercial for some Victoria Principal cosmetic. She called and was advised that the phones were incredibly busy and they would call back if we left a number. We never got the return call and they lost a significant sale!

It can be easy to set up technology to respond to your enquiries giving the free ebook, download or special report. Make sure your systemise your response (whether you use technology or not) so that EVERYONE gets what they are promised. If you don’t deliver on your promises, it will not take long for your name and that of your business to be mud in the marketplace.

Research Your Customers

Clients often ask what is the best offer to encourage prospects to respond to a call to action. The answer lies with your customers. They know exactly what their problems are and what it will take for them to act on them. Using a simply tool like Survey Monkey with the right questions will tell you what the burning desires or problems your customers have. Use this research to craft your Call to Action.

Test It

Too often business create a call to action and then rest on their laurels. You need to test your call to action to see what works best. This means having two slightly different calls to action. Monitor the response that each one gets and then select the best one. Then you can again create a slight change to the call and split test it also. The aim is to develop a call to action that consistently feeds leads and qualified prospects into your marketing funnel.

Do It!

Your next step is to include a call to action on your next piece of marketing copy. Use these guidelines to create something and then slowly but surely tweak it until it gives you optimal results.

Warwick Merry is the Get More Guy - a motivational speaker and trade show specialist. He ignites and inexhaustible passion to Get More out of life. 

Sign up for his Get More Goer – a weekly slice of inspiration at www.warwickmerry.com

© Warwick Merry.  Distribution permitted with permission.

How Often Do You Touch Them?

How Often Do You Touch Them?
Too often I see sales people, internet marketers, and people working the expo booth expecting the next person they talk to or who reads their stuff to instantly buy from them. The reality is it probably won't happen.

I believe you need to touch people several times before they become a prospect or become more interested in what you have to offer. By the way, I am using the term "Touch" as in connect with them on some level. I am a huge fan of client and prospect Touch Points. The more quality touch points you have, the more likely they are to engage you or retain you as a supplier.

For example, I spoke at a conference recently. There were a few people in the audience who had seen me speak before, they also had received my Get More Goer on a regular basis. So it was no surprise to me that at the end of the session when I was offering my new Get More Business Success 12 CD Pack, it was the attendees who I had previously "Touched" who purchased it.

With the many Touch Points, you are allowing the prospect to Know You, Like You and then Trust You. So what can you do to provide quality Touch Points and when it comes to your clients and prospects, how often do you touch them?

PS Want to learn some more tips for Exhibiting and increase your Exhibiting ROI? Join Danielle Storey and Me on our next Exhibit Like A Pro Webinar. 
Details and registration are here.

How Good Are You?

How Good Are You?
I have been sharing the speaking platform with Brad Tonini (Australia's Sales Strategist) quite a bit of late. While he has many great ideas and messages, there is one that has been resonating with me quite a bit. It is his concept of "Are you good enough to get better?"

I know so many people who are good at what they do but they reach a point and stop. What about you, how good are you? Are you good enough to get better? It doesn't have to be in relation to your job functional skills either.

Can you get better at the soft skills, engagement techniques, industry knowledge, your leadership skills or your marketing techniques?

All I know is that once you are ripe, you rot. So be good enough to get better. How good are you?

How Is Your Community?

How Is Your Community?

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central during the week. My grandfather was a Rotarian and I always enjoy being able to contribute to my community.

What about your community? Do you contribute? That doesn't mean you buy chocolates for the local Kindergarten fundraiser or give money to the tin rattlers at the traffic lights, but do you give some kind of significant contribution of time, energy or resources to those around you?

At Rotary I was talking about the 7 Secrets of Success and one of them is contribution. It is amazing what Rotary and Rotarians do. The Box Hill Central Club is the home of Operation Cleft. It is this group of people who arrange for cleft palate surgery and speech therapy for those in need in Bangladesh. Basically, they are giving a smile for life!

If you are looking to contribute to your community, I can highly recommend Rotary - or at the very least a donation to Operation Cleft to get a year end tax deduction!

Click here to find out more about Operation Cleft and what they do.