Successful Selling Secret (Ask Your Prospects What They Want)
As an advisor, it’s easy to assume you know and understand what your prospects want. However, you can never fully know if you are fulfilling the needs and wants – mostly wants – of your target market unless you ask them. Asking your prospects is a simple idea that, when done right, can be a very lucrative activity. In fact, one of today’s top marketing thought leaders, Ryan Levesque, has built an entire business-model out of this concept with, starting with his best-selling book, Ask. That’s why tailoring your message to market match for the right audience can be so powerful. It allows you to develop a well-thought-out marketing plan. You can learn what clients are willing to pay for your service, what they think of the competition and what they expect to get from it, among other things. Speaking the right language will help you retain your current clients and bring new people into your clients base too. Let’s take a look at five survey methods to make sure your marketing message is on point.
1) Facebook Groups
If you have a presence on Facebook and you should, creating groups is a good idea to better serve your client base and communicate with them. You can also use Facebook groups to get a better understanding of your clients. Use the polling option to allow you to directly ask your most loyal clients what they think about your business and the direction they would like to see it take. And it’s simple and easy – although not too scientific. But it will give you a great general view on a specific question. And if you allow readers to add their own answers, they often point out stuff you missed completely.
2) Email Surveys
If you send out an email newsletter it is easy to ask your subscribers to complete a survey. While this doesn’t cost you anything to do, you may find the response you get to be lower than you expect. Email marketing traditionally has a low open rate already, and then you are asking someone to fill out a survey on top of that. Be prepared to create a 3-5 email campaign series to get good results. Offering some sort of incentive to participate, like a competition or a discount, could provide increased participation. It can also lead to better customer loyalty and more sales.
3) Online Surveys
There are many companies offering you access to test your marketing message with their audience. There are some downsides with this approach, however. It does cost more than other methods and the results could be less reliable than you would hope. The people who fill out such surveys might not be exactly your ideal demographic. You can also never be completely sure of the results you get from surveys like this. There is a risk that the data will be unreliable as people are normally paid a small amount of money to complete the survey.
4) Website Surveys
Another option is to ask visitors to your website about what they are looking for and what they expect. This isn’t normally going to cost you anything once it is set up and should give you some valuable visitor feedback. Again, this could be a way to promote sales as well. A discount code could be offered to complete the survey and this will also improve sales. Services like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms allows you to set up a survey on your website for free.
5) Client Satisfaction
A good way to discover how well your marketing is meeting expectations is to ask clients once they’ve signed on with you. Did they get what they were expecting from the marketing which attracted them to the business? You can also learn how well your business performs. The response rate should be relatively good. Link to your survey in the follow-up email after they have purchased from you. Using surveys to gain information about your potential customers can provide insights you may not have expected. It will help you to make better decisions about your marketing, which will reduce your risks and increase sales to your target market. It is an easy and cheap way to find out more about your clients. Don’t overlook this tool to communicate directly with prospects and customers. Asking questions is an integral part of our systematic approach to financial advisor marketing. If you find you’d like help getting a system like this set up in your business, let’s chat about it.