How To Prepare For The
Prepared Customer
By Tom Egelhoff
 Have
you ever heard the phrase, "knowledge is power?" I'm
sure most of you have but have you ever taken the time to focus
on what that statement really means?
To me, it means that I want to feel comfortable that the person
that I'm buying a product or service from has the necessary knowledge
to provide it. And therein lies the power.
Confidence in your shop and your personnel has to be in place
or the sale will never happen. If your customer does not have
total trust and confidence in you they will walk.
So what am I talking about when I ask you to "prepare
for the prepared customer?" We are living in an age of information
that is unparalleled in human history. With cell phones, palm
pilots, laptops, 24/7 news, and the Internet any customer can
do their own research on any product you carry in enormous detail
before they ever enter your shop. The problem is the information
they find may not always be 100% accurate or up to date. So how
do you keep up with them? Let look at some ways to do that.
If you are a regular reader of my web site then you know that
one rule of business I stress is that you read something about
your industry at least 20 minutes each and every day. If you
follow this simple guideline at the end of one year you will
know more about your industry than 75% of the people in it and
probably 100% more than almost any customer.
I already know what you're going to tell me. "Tom, I
work 14-16-18 hour days, I don't have the time to read."
My answer to you is, "Yes you do." What you don't have
time to do is thumb through 25 trade magazines each week deciding
what to read. There is an easier way.
Use the same resources your customers are using. One of my
favorite sites for researching any product is www.findarticles.com. I just paid a visit
there and clicked on "automotive" and did a quick search
on "car alarms." Guess what? Up pops 6,655 articles
on car alarms. I know what you are going to say again. "If
I don't have the time to thumb through 25 magazines, how am I
going to wade through 6,000 articles?" True.
But there is a difference. Not every magazine will have only
car alarm articles. In less than two minutes you can quickly
examine the headlines and a short synopsis and bookmark the search
of the articles or individual articles you are searching for.
Each synopsis will include the name of the magazine it came from
and the date the article was published. That leaves you 18 minutes
for reading at least one or two articles each day.
The site is set up to email articles of interest to your other
locations and printer friendly versions are also included. Print
a couple out and start a reading program at your weekly sales
or training meeting. You can print them out and put them in binders
for future reference. Create your own industry-training manual
to get new hires up to speed on industry and product knowledge.
Tear out the old articles and replace them with new updated ones
as you come across them.
You can also create a manual of articles to use as a sales
aid. In many cases, just showing them the headline of an article
from an industry magazine can influence a customer. You can also
keep selected articles in a binder in your waiting area to re-enforce
customer confidence that you know your stuff.
Nothing worthwhile is easy. And reading is something that
is very easy to put off. What if I told you reading could get
you free advertising? Would that encourage you to do more of
it?
Who do you think is going to know the latest info about your
industry? You, or the mainstream press? If you answered "you"
then you would be correct. You are always going to know the latest
developments about audio systems and car alarms long before mainstream
America will. So how does this knowledge get you free advertising?
When you come across an article about a new advancement print
the article or tear it out of the trade journal. Attach your
business card to it along with a brief note. "Here is a
new advancement in our industry that I think your readers might
like to know about." "I would be happy to give you
in-depth information about the affect this innovation might have
on the residents of (your city, USA)." "The best time
to contact me is."
If they decide to do the story, and quote you in the article,
what does that make you? Correct an expert in the field. And
it all happened because you did your daily twenty-minute reading.
Does this technique always work? No. But with the right subject
and the right editor you are bound to get in print sooner or
later. Just keep trying and keep reading. If you were ever a
Boy Scout then you know the simple two-word motto. " BE
PREPARED."
Based in Bozeman, MT, Tom Egelhoff is the author of How To Market, Advertise & Promote Your
Business Or Service In A Small Town, and The
Small Town Advertising Handbook: How To Say More And Spend Less.
He is also a seminar and workshop presenter and trainer.
Would
you like Tom Egelhoff to speak on prepared customers at your
business function or convention?
Click here for
information, topics and pricing.
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