A long term view

Well for the three of you that haven't come down with Piggyitis, or Swine Flu as it's more commonly known, hello. I'm a little worried that some doctors are just getting lazy with this pandemic.

"Doctor, this man's been shot!"

"No problem nurse, it's clearly another case of swine flu - plenty of rest and fluids and he'll be fine."

"Shouldn't we remove the bullet?"

"Nah - couple of Lemsip should do the trick."

But I digress, as indeed I often do. To be fair, if I didn't include those parts where I do digress, this blog would only ever be about 2 sentences long, so I appreciate your patience.

Recently I was put on to a company called Infusionsoft. As I am not an official partner, I have not included a link here but I did want to give them credit for a particular philosophy: People buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell.

I thought about that for a while and it actually makes perfect sense to me. I make a lot of sales calls in any given day but if I only applied myself to those people who had a need when I called, I really would be limiting the amount of opportunity that there is out there.

In the world of promotional merchandise, this way of thinking has become more important than ever. So many customers are telling me that their budgets have been cut or frozen and that they don't anticipate needing anything for at least six months.

Now it would be easy for me to be disappointed, but actually I'm just the opposite - I'm delighted to have called them when I did. You see we get a lot of phone calls from people who need a complicated order delivered yesterday. It happens all the time and I have spoken about planning in this blog on more than one occassion. So how wonderful to get the chance to speak with a company who are not panicking - who have time to strategise and partner themselves with new suppliers and new ways of thinking.

I am now and have always been interested in the long term. I want people to see what we do and how we add value so that when they find themselves in need of some new marketing ideas, they won't need to trawl through piles and piles of catalogues which all look the same. They'll think of Merchandise Mania and they'll call.

Great for me, but how does it apply to you? Well just how are you keeping yourself in the minds of people who told you three months ago that they weren't looking for your services right now? Did you diarise a time to follow up and did you share something with them that they could use right now? In most cases, the answer is no, and that's a shame, because you may well have just handed your next great customer over to your competitors.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Get yourself on their desk. Get yourself in their home and in their car. Get yourself in their reception and in the minds of all of their staff. A useful piece of promotional merchandise will create a buzz in the minds of your potential customers and when they are ready to buy, just who do you think they will call first?

A good calendar will stay on a desk for a whole year. A fun toy may well go to the child of a powerful CEO who will think of you every time he sees his kid playing. Even a simple pen might be the one thing they needed to scribble down the contact information of their next big client and thank goodness your pen was there!

Think about it, a good piece of merchandise is an extension of your sales force. I met someone last week who wanted to send out mouse mats to 1000 potential customers. Now if any of these customers sign up, they're worth £5000 each. Now what do you imagine the chances are that out of 1000 people, that at least one of them will convert into a client? The mats were 85p each. Now if I told you I could turn 85p into £5000 you'd give me the money, right?

I almost feel like an employment agency sometimes. I have the cheapest labour on the market. I will get you a sales representative who will actually sit on your potential customer's desk and remind him about you every single day, and all for under a pound! I challenge you to find a better deal than that.

Remember, people buy when THEY are ready to buy, not when YOU are ready to sell. Position yourself correctly, and they will be ready to buy from you.