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Mark Wheatley's Blog List
23 February 2010 11:13
Have you got a detailed marketing plan in place? Do you have more than five different methods of attracting leads, that produce a predictable number of prospects?Are the methods that you use to generate leads creating sufficient leads to meet your monthly sales targets, taking account of the percentage of prospects that turn into sales?If the answer is no to these three questions then you''ve got a marketing problem.On my website in the news section I''m offering a limited number of free consultations. These are not some elaborate trick to put you into some program or take money off you.I am building some examples of my work for marketing purposes, (recordings and transcripts) so that''s what''s in it for me.Anyway if you are not generating sufficient prospects here''s a great way of solving the problem.Just visit my site at www.wheatleyassociates.org and fill in a contact form or send me an email off the contact page to arrange your free consultation. I am only doing ten free consultations on the subject of lead generation, so don''t delay.RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessMark Wheatley associates is a business development company that helps companies and professional firms grow providing low cost
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19 February 2010 04:20
This is time sensitive, could you help me with this?My son Joe is currently competing in a film festival competition with Dorset Cereals. One of the prizes is based on the total amount of votes from the public. For the past few weeks he''s had the top spot and unfortunately with just one week to go, he''s dropped down its a bit like the X factor. The deadline is Friday 26th Febuary at Midday.I would greatly appreciate it if you could take just a minute out of your day to vote for him on their website.The URL ishttp://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/simple-pleasures-film-festival/gallery/1/entry/74Scroll down the page to find Madeleine by Joe Wheatley and hit vote. Don''t worry, you don''t have to put your email address in the form.If you have time let other people know on your Facebook Twitter etc. Thank you so much,RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessMark Wheatley associates is a business development company that helps companies and professional firms grow providing low cost business growth strategies and sales techniques through coaching training and consulting services www.wheatleyassociates.orgCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights ReservedA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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12 February 2010 11:26
I was doing the weekly shop the other week and the cashier said to me ''would you like a Sun to read, its free,'' I was about to say no and then she said ''you can have £5 off your shopping bill,''Well money for nothing and the Sun for free that''s almost a song. Anyway it was a deal based on an irresistible offer. Why wouldn''t I want £5 off for no effort on my part, even if I don''t like reading the Sun, who''s headline was all about the none football activities of our England football captain that was.When I said okay to the cashier, she opened the Sun and she tore out the coupon that was in a full page ad that Asda was running.It was interesting to see how Tesco reacted to the competitive threat and a reminder that coupons are a direct response tool to bring new customers or clients into your business.You don''t however have to spend money on full page ads in national newspapers to take advantage of this lead generation mechanism. There are online and offline methods which are both low cost and very effective. If you want to know which work best or
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04 February 2010 07:24
Greetings all blog readers!I did not make a post last month because I was very busy helping my brother sell one of our businesses. In terms of what''s going on at the moment I am currently working on a new business development course which will be supported by coaching.This will be launched in April of this year. Its taking the Michael Gerber principle a bit further, ''working on the business not in the business.'' The objective is to grow a business incrementally by between 2-5% per month, addressing seven results divers. The course only requires an hour a week of the business owners time and I am throwing in some time management principles that will help you create additional time, if you are time pressured.You can in fact sign up to the time management report on the blog and that will explain some of the concepts. Since I''ve not been attentive to my readers if you sign up to time management report I''ll send you something else that you will find useful.That''s all for now.RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights ReservedA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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23 December 2009 03:36
The other week I mentioned that I would tell you about the other e-mail marketing solution that I recommend.Infusionsoft is much more than an e-mail marketing system. Its used by many of the leading internet marketeers and various business building guru''s such as Michael Gerber who wrote the EMyth.Its not the cheapest system on the market but its very good, check it out and see what you think.RegardsMarkA Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights ReservedA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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16 December 2009 08:34
Here are a few questions to simulate your strategic thinking for the New Year. If you are getting too many no’s or don’t knows, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to reply.1. What sets your business apart from the competition, why should they choose you instead of your competitors? 2. Have you got five or more lead generation strategies to generate sufficient leads to achieve your budget for 2010? (Excluding referrals).3. Do you close above 50% of your prospects? (A prospect is defined as someone that has shown an interest in your products and services).4. Have you got three or four referral systems that are being consistently worked by the appropriate people in your organisation? (Word of mouth does not count).5. Are you spending sufficient time in managing and developing your sales and marketing activities?6. Are you attempting to increase the size of every sale with every new and existing customer/client?7. Do you have a cheaper alternative when people cannot afford to buy from you?8. Are repeat sales built into your sales model?9. Do you know how long an average customer/client stays with you in years?10. When you have lost a customer/client do you know why?11. Do you continually
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14 December 2009 05:42
Just a quick post to suggest that its worth completing the form ''How To Remain Focused The Secret To Time Management.'' It only four pages so it won''t take a lot of time reading it! RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights ReservedA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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11 December 2009 05:59
Building your e-mail list is fundamental to growing your business.With a credible system you can quickly build yourself a list of opt in subscribers.A list should be segmented so that you can easily communicate with different types of customers or clients.You can segment your list by type of product or service purchased, by interest, by higher value customers and so on. In fact the more you segment your list the easier it is to get the message right, to promote the relevant subject that your readers or subscribers are interested in.As a rule of thumb don''t just keep ramming sales messages down peoples throats.Educate them, inform them, to keep them interested.The way to capture names is to offer something on a sign up form, such as a free report, a free video even a free gift. Something that people will value.The next step would be to build a programme of useful communications that would be sent throughout the year. You can tie in with holidays, and birthdays (if you gather that type of information).Then its all about maintaining that relationship.There are two systems that I recommend, Aweber is the first one I''ll cover.They have some great videos on their site,
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09 December 2009 08:35
Sell it again Alice http://ping.fm/zzRxfA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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09 December 2009 08:32
Last Friday I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane and enjoyed seeing Alice Cooper in his ''Theatre of Death'' tour in Nottingham. It was the third time I''ve seen him and he keeps on coming up with new ways to ''act'' out his death!Hanging, guillotine, a box full of spikes and a large syringe administered by his nurse the ''killer. Tiffany Lowe, after the song poison.Its all harmless fun, it was a real laugh hanging out with lots of people with strange makeup and black Alice wigs. They weren''t all middle aged + but it wasn''t a family show either!Anyway back to my normal subject of marketing. Prior to the gig there was a bloke with a drum handing out leaflets promoting the recording of the gig.This was on a memory stick, which enabled the punters to take away half he concert. The other half was available via a download later on plus some other goodies.As you can see I was one who decided to part with more money.So Alice sold the gig twice, not to everyone of course, but that''s the opportunity for you and many people in different walks of life. The opportunity to record
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08 December 2009 08:08
A new post on blog about sales objections and put offs http://ping.fm/qwHj8A Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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08 December 2009 08:03
Overcoming sales objections and put offs will increase your sales.A put off is something like ''send me something in the post or call me in three months, or he''s busy you''ll have to send him an e-mail.An objection could be ''that''s too expensive, you''ll have to get your price down.'' Another example might be ''we''ve already got one or our existing machine is okay, or we are happy with our existing supplier.I have a number of objections and put offs within my results driven sales system as you''d expect.What I''d like to do is build a bigger list with your help and I''ll develop lots of response and share what I put together with people that help me.So can you send me your common objections and put offs and in return I''ll send you a new objection book when I''ve designed suitable responses for you.If you have a standard reply to an objection or put off that you use already, could you send me that as well to help other people?I will send you a copy of this new objection book when its are collated, in February next year.All you need to do is send me some objections or put
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03 December 2009 08:43
A new post about what to do when sales go wrong! http://ping.fm/tL1oBA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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03 December 2009 07:50
Have you ever had a verbal conformation that the prospect wanted to buy from you, but later on they got ‘cold feet’ or ‘buyers remorse.’ There are a number of ways that you can try to overcome this situation. 1. Get them to commit to signing an order or agreement in the first place. 2. Write to them after they have placed the order, re-enforcing the positive points of your proposition, telling the customer or client what a sensible decision that they have made and how they will benefit from the purchase. The second point I don’t really like, but that’s a personal point of view. The first point strays into the area of legal advice, so no comment on that one! Talk to a practicing suitably qualified person. If a sale is going down the pan, you need to communicate and find out why.Don’t use e-mail, its too impersonal. Get on the phone or meet the person and ask them what are their concerns, try and isolate the real reason (s) someone has changed their mind, then offer a
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03 December 2009 10:45
If you are using Blogger, there are some great training videos here.Internet Marketing For Professionals - The Recognized Expert http://ow.ly/I7zR RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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26 November 2009 11:41
Tweepz.com - search, find and discover interesting people on twitter http://ow.ly/G02S http://ow.ly/G04j The link takes you through to a site which enables you to find people by their interests on twitter, the social media site.If you know of any other sites like this I would be pleased to hear your comments.Regards MarkA Results Approach To Your Business Success A Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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22 November 2009 04:21
Everything you wanted to know about twitter applications.http://www.squidoo.com/twitterappsA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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22 November 2009 03:07
I have just signed up to http://ping.fm to save time on multiple postings on my social networks.A Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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21 November 2009 06:24
Talking more to your potential customers and your existing customers pays dividends.It''s kind of obvious, but how much time do you spend, finding out what your customers or clients want? Are they really happy with what you provide for them?Could you do anything more to serve them better?What are their frustrations how could you help them overcome them?How do you compare to your competitors? Ask your customers they will know.Early this year a client of mine who has a manufacturing business, asked me to create a unique selling proposition for him and part of the process involved talking to his customers.What we found that his customers felt that all manufactures in his industry, had poor product photographs.So we hired an expensive product photographer who took some really good pictures and together with a graphic designer produced a great new brochure. It was in fact more than a great brochure it was a presenter that my client''s customers used in their own sales presentation.The presenters were leather bound and they cost around £25 each. Here''s the best thing. his sales started to grow, he took on more accounts because of the presenter and the quality photographs.His prospects and his existing customers
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23 October 2009 04:42
I took my wife on a Mediterranean cruise with P and O to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. If you ever want to find out more about customer service and marketing I cannot recommend it highly enough. Also you have some fun, meet some great people and visit some wonderful places.Lots of the simple things are done consistently well. For example the staff always use your name, ask you if you are enjoying yourself, engage in conversation just in passing. Every effort is made to make you feel welcome. When I get a minute I will write some more specifics about how they go about it.RegardsMark WheatleyA Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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01 October 2009 03:51
This is an extract from an e-mail that I sent to someone on the subject of politics in organisations, its a few observations and quotes on that particular subject, which impacts us all from time to time.On the first management course I attended back in 1987, we had an organisational behaviour module, taught by a professor called John W. Hunt who wrote a book called managing people at work.Here are three things that he said during the lectures which I’ve often thought about in the years that followed. 1. There are three sides to every argument the person you are having it with (their version), your own version and the truth.2. Its very difficult to effect change without a crisis (you can see that now in the political arena ‘cuts’ have to be made to balance the country’s books. Some politicians don’t want to do it, but they have to because of the crisis). 3. Whenever you get more than two
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29 September 2009 08:42
Another quote from Sir John.''I''ve spent 30 years going around factories. When you know something''s wrong, nine times out of ten it''s the management - in truth, because people aren''t being led right. And bad leaders invariably blame the people.''The observation is spot on and can be applied to many different types of oganisations, business, politics, etc.I would be interested to read your comments.RegardsMark Wheatley A Results Driven Approach To Your Business Success A Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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15 September 2009 08:38
You cannot manage time you can only manage yourself and others.Most businesses that fail do so because of a lack of sales, caused through ineffective marketing.Ineffective marketing is normally caused by.1. A lack of knowledge and poor execution Or2. The business owner knows that marketing is important and they have the knowledge to build and implement an effective marketing plan........BUT they don''t seem to have enough time to do it.Sad but true the ability to manage self and others leads to insufficient time being allocated to building a marketing and sales system that works.Anyway that''s all for now I don''t have time!RegardsMark A Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights ReservedA Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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13 August 2009 05:35
One of the easiest ways to increase sales and profits is to obtain more customers/clients like your best customers/clients. If 100% of your customers/clients where like your best customers/clients what would your sales and bottom line profits look like?(Multiply your total customer/client numbers by the average annual sales value and profits of your best customers/clients).If you do that exercise and build a multi sequenced marketing campaign it can make a significant difference to your profits. In my coaching and training programme I can show you what is the best approach to take advantage of this marketing principle.RegardsMark WheatleyA Results Driven Approach To Your Business SuccessCopyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved A Blog Posting From Mark Wheatley
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27 July 2009 09:45
Let’s start with the purpose of a business, according to the author business writer Peter Drucker ‘‘there is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.’’Beyond that to retain customer/clients and make sufficient profit to sustain and grow the business, as well as satisfy the stakeholders.Business development is a series of management disciplines that should work congruently to achieve those three aims create customers, retain them and make a profit.Successful business development from a consulting point of view, which is my standpoint, is working on the business, maximising the results in certain key areas including:Strategy, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Operations including IT and Finance, taking account of people management and leadership.Techniques to measure the success of a business development project are again based around the three aims, number of new customers, improved retention and increased profitability.You could argue that this is business improvement, but the difference between business improvement and business development is the additional aspect, which is managing the future of the business, looking forward to make sure as best you can in an ever-changing world, that the strategy is robust enough to sustain the business in the future.Management need to undertake research, ask questions
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