A Free Flowing Universal Marketing Cycle

Today I continue on with my learning experience from the book I’ve been reading.  You can read the first two parts of my posts here and here.

In the next part of C.J. Hayden’s book Get Clients Now! she begins to introduce us to The Universal Marketing Cycle.  She includes in the book and on her website – Get Clients Now! – this diagram of the cycle.

Is there a clog in your pipes?

You can see that there are four main parts to the cycle:

1)    Filling the pipeline.

2)    Following up.

3)    Getting presentations.

4)    Closing the sale.

Your clients should be moving through the cycle at various stages all the time.  However, when there is a clog in the pipeline, then the whole cycle begins to slow.  Understanding the cycle and recognizing where your weakness is or where you’re struggling right now is the key to your success. 

Ms. Hayden’s book offers us a 28 day plan to get more clients by helping you beef up your efforts in one part of the marketing cycle that you feel you are particularly lacking in at this moment.  It does not mean you are to ignore the rest of the cycle, and at the end of the 28 days you will either continue on with your plan again if you need to or move onto another part of the cycle.

In her book, she gives us a list of questions to help us to determine where in the cycle we need help right now.

Filling the Pipeline:

• Are you a brand-new business?
• If you sat down to call every lead you currently have, would you be through before lunch?
• Have you already called every prospect in your book within the past 30 days?
• Are you not calling the prospects you have because you already know they don’t need you or can’t afford you?
• Are you a business where it’s either unethical or inappropriate to call on prospective clients, or your pone just isn’t ringing?

Following Up:

• Do you have a drawer full of business cards from people you have met but have not spoken to since then?
• Have colleagues handed you leads whom you haven’t gotten around to calling?
• Are there prospects who said no or didn’t return your initial call whom you haven’t contacted in the past three months?
• Do you have a wide network of personal contacts with whom you never talk business?
• Are there people you haven’t been in touch with who inquired about your services in the past, but weren’t quite ready or didn’t have the funds?

Getting Presentations:

• Do you follow up with prospective clients consistently, but can’t seem to get an initial meeting?
• Do people refuse to take your call, or brush you off quickly when you do get through to them?
• Are all your prospects already working with a competitor – or at least that’s what they tell you?
• Does everyone you talk to seem to think what you do is too expensive, will take too much time, or is just not for them?

Closing the Sale:

• Are you regularly getting to the presentation stage, but don’t seem to close enough sales?
• DO your prospects seem to be going through the motions of allowing you to present, but have no serious interest?
• Are you encountering objection that prevents the sale from going through?
• Do you often walk out of a presentation not knowing where the client stands?

After answering these questions you will be able to determine where you will focus your marketing efforts on the Get Clients Now! 28 day plan.  By understanding the problem area, you’ll be closer to finding a solution.

Get Clients Now! is more than just a book that offers solutions – because as Ms. Hayden reminds us, we already know what to do; it helps you to set up the plan to do those things and to get results in just 28 days.  Be sure to check out the Get Clients Now! website at www.getclientsnow.com and order your book so that you get can your marketing plan in motion.