Did you know it’s Small Business Advice Week (31st Aug – 6th September)? The aim is to help the UKs 4.5 million SMEs (small and medium employers) thrive in what can still be tough times for many.
So with this in mind, I thought I’d tell you about the book I’m reading right now, which is Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas.
First of all, it’s a really excellent book. And if you’re thinking it might cover stuff about sales funnels that you’ve heard before, then you’re in for a nice surprise!
A central theme in this book is to give your prospects and customers exactly the information they want, when they want it. And this book really does practice what it preaches in that it’s taken what could be rather dry business theory and made it speak to busy small business owners. It does cover how to set up a sales and marketing system that works in the long term – for both your business and your customers – that is built on solid relationships. But it uses lots of quick-to-understand concepts (buckets, funnels and taps) and looks at plugging the gaps we all have in our marketing systems.
One concept that really grabbed me was the logic sandwich. If you’re wondering whether to sell using facts or emotions, this could be just what you need. Because when people are first looking at your products, they need an emotional approach. Then they’ll want to know all the facts and figures about your product – that’s the logically part. Finally, when they are just about ready to buy they’ll switch back to using their emotions again. And those are the three layers of the sandwich. If you get this wrong, you can end up by hitting them with the facts too early and scaring them off, for example.
One thing that many small business owners are afraid of is being too ‘salesy’. Watertight Marketing shows you that a more subtle approach that goes at your prospect’s own pace is much more effective in the long run than selling fast and hard. That’s a big relief for those of us who aren’t natural sales people!
The book is very practical, and you can download workbooks from the website given in the book to make it easier to implement what you learn as you go along. I haven’t had a chance to do that just yet but I definitely will.
So I recommend you grab yourself a copy of this book!