2000 Professional's Guide to Target Marketing: How to Gain Profitable New Business - Softcover

Unknown Author

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156070510 ISBN 13: 9780156070515

Publisher: Aspen, 2000

Synopsis

The approach to marketing set forth in this book is more than a sales technique. It's a philosophy that allows the professional to turn the right prospects into great lifelong clients. This book is not about closing sales; it's about opening relationships.

Truly professional marketing is not about trapping prospects into buying. Successful marketing results in clients who are greatful for the help and guidance the professional provides. Clients can discern in expert marketing that the professional is genuinely concerned for the well-being of others.

As a professional, you already have most of the skills you need to become more valuable to your clients and also to become a better salesperson. The suggestions in this book will help you: Be an expert diagnostician of client problems; be good at asking questions; deal with people in a non-threatening way; be trustworthy; be organized and systematic; be good at learning the why; and, be able to get to know your clients well.

This book gives step-by-step processes to help you market and sell services to both current clients and new clients. While acquiring high-quality new clients is a challenging opportunity, retention of current clients is the most important part of any marketing program. The primary focus should be on rendering high-quality service that clients perceive as valuable. Client service and communication skills are covered in this book to help you improve your ability to retain these clients.

This book offers practical guidance in how to prepare for a meeting with prospects or clients, how to conduct an interview, how to offer a solution, and how to obtain a firm commitment.

The biggest marketing mistake most professionals make is that they look, act, and talk like their competitors. Your business is unique. Finding the value in your uniqueness is the basis for improving both your client relationships and your bottom line. If prospects see no difference between you and our competitors, then they must make decisions on the basis of price. Target Marketing provides an effective way for you to soar above the crowd of competitors, expand your services, charge higher prices, and (for accountants) avoid the workload compression problems of traditional compliance work by creating work to be done in the off-season.

Using the material in this book, you will be able to accomplish the following: Decide what kind of clients you want to build your practice around; learn what clients and prospects look for in their professional relationships; see your relationships from the point of the view of the clients; learn how to develop contracts that result in prospects; understand and discover the needs and wants of a prospect or client; and, learn to present to prospects the benefits of your services in a manner that increases your percentage of engagements obtained.

About this title

About the Author

David Cottle consults with professional firms and service businesses on profitability improvement, partner/executive incentive compensation, marketing, client service improvement, executive leadership skills, and strategic planning and management.

This is his fifth book based on his experience working with clients in 40 states in the United States and 15 other countries. Mr. Cottle speaks often for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and more than a dozen State publications. He has authored more than a dozen seminars on marketing, profitability improvement, management, and executive skills.

Mr. Cottle practiced accounting for 12 years in Dallas, Texas, in the 1960s and 1970s, working his way up to become a partner in a successful local firm. Since 1979, he has consulted with professional firms and owner-managed businesses on profitability, practice management, and marketing.

Mr. Cottle is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Institute of Management Consultants (which granted him the designation "Certified Management Consultant"), the Florida Institute of CPAs, and the Texas Society of CPAs. He is also a member of the National Speakers Association.

From the Inside Flap

Sell yourself as a unique commodity in the marketplace using the proven strategies featured in this one-of-a-kind resource. Professional's Guide to Target Marketing will help you develop relationships with current or prospective clients that pay off with more work and higher profit margins--without resorting to a "hard-sell" approach.

David Cottle's refreshing approach to marketing will help you: Determine the type of client you want to attract; develop contacts that turn into clients; target the real needs and wants of a prospective client; see situations from the client's point of view; and, present the benefits of your services in the most effective manner.

The bottom line: You'll make more money on current clients and develop innovative ways to land moneymaking new business.

This indispensable resource comes complete with a FREE companion CD-ROM full of checklists, worksheets, and other tools for more effective marketing. All documents are compatible with Work or WordPerfect for Windows and can be customized and printed right from your computer!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

The "Garden of Eden" Days of Marketing

In the old days, marketing depended heavily on firm reputation, public respect for the professions, and recommendations of referral sources. Even today, developing effective referral sources is one of the most important parts of your marketing effort. Yet just a generation ago, it was the single most important marketing tool.

You may remember those good old days when most professions lived in the Garden of Eden and when you may have practiced passive marketing. That is, you waited for prospects to come to you as a result of a personal recommendation from a referral source. Or perhaps a referral source pre-sold the prospect on your firm and gave you the lead on which you followed up. Such prospects had some desirable characteristics, such as the following:

*They were already interested in you by virtue of the recommendation;
*They were already considering changing professionals;
*You were probably the only professional they were talking to, so you had no competition for the prospect.

The sales effort was mild, you didn't need much selling skill, and your batting average of getting the client was very, very good. You had to make major mistakes to lose one of these. The closing ratio was high and you found it easy to bring in new clients. Perhaps 70 percent of the prospects you talked to engaged you.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aspen
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0156070510
• ISBN 13: 9780156070515
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400