In the current climate it is tough for young people to get a job.  More and more people are using the opportunity to start out in business.

We asked a couple of seasoned campaigners for their tips for starting in business.

Charlie Mullins shares his top tips for young people starting out:

1. Go for it heart and soul

I am living proof that anyone can successfully start and grow a business, no matter what their background. I was never really interested in school and don’t have a qualification to my name, but I did throw everything into my one passion – plumbing. So my one piece of advice to any young person starting out is that you have to go for it 100%. You’ll get out of it what you put in and its success will rest in your hands.

2. Aim for the top

I never had money as my main goal, but I did aim to be the best in my field. I wanted to be the top plumber and to be the best. So I have always been very particular about how things are done and about the service that my customers receive. And I think this focus has played a key role in the success of Pimlico Plumbers. We stand out for being professional and because we have developed a strong reputation. Set out to make your business the leader in its field. Think about the service you are to provide, how you will deliver it, what expectations you will have of staff. Customers need to know what they will get, and this must be consistent.

3. Uni vs apprenticeships

Charlie Mullins

If university is not for you then don’t sweat it. A university education is not the be-all-and-end-all as far as getting on in business is concerned. Plenty of the most successful entrepreneurs never went to university. There are now loads of training and apprenticeship opportunities out there, and learning on the job like I did will show you a business from the ground upwards.

4. Talk to people

Get out and about and talk to people. You’ll be amazed how helpful people can be when you’re starting out. With the internet, you also have bags of info available at your fingertips, making reading up on all the issues around starting a business even easier. Currently there are also a number of free courses available for entrepreneurs, which are run by the HMRC and Business Link.

Charlie Mullins is managing director Pimlico Plumbers (www.pimlicoplumbers.com)

5. Do your research

Even large companies have to keep asking their customers questions to find out about them and what they want and need.  Don’t go in to your business venture blind.  Take your time to understand where the need is, who your customers are and what you’re going to offer them.  Ask your friends and family their opinion – they should be brutally honest with you.

6. Get expert advice

Take advantage of the experts and advice around you, as well as that of potential suppliers and customers.  Just like when you’re starting a new job, if you don’t know something then just ask.  Make full use of the people and resources available to you.

7. Find suppliers you trust

The success of your business relies on your reputation to be able to deliver what your customers want, when they want it.  Take your time to find not only good quality and good value but also reliability.  If your suppliers let you down then you’re going to be letting your customers down – and your reputation will crumble, leaving you with a failing business.

8. Be organised and motivated to push your business further

Olivier Chameyrat

After creating your business online, the work simply doesn’t stop there. You need to have marketing ideas; ways to get people to visit your site, promotions to keep them coming back and keep them interested.  Excellent communication can really help you push your business along – make sure you keep a database of your customers so you can contact them regularly with product updates and promotions.

9.  Enjoy it

You don’t want to be doing something you don’t particularly like.  Think about your hobbies and what you like doing in your spare time – maybe you’re a photographer and you could sell some photography equipment in your spare time.

Olivier Chameyrat is the MD of PIXmania (www.pixmania-pro.co.uk)

Do you have any other advice for budding entrepreneurs?  Please leave your ideas in the comments box below.

Doing this will also ensure that sales people have the right reasons for committing to the job offer, and remain grounded in both good and bad times.

To do this, simply go ahead and ask the sales person to write down 35 reasons why they want to be a car sales person, consultant, telemarketer, etc. within your organisation.

Why 35? Because the first 15 reasons are usually surface level, external reasons, which are relatively easy to communicate. Having done this exercise with thousands of sales consultants in the past couple of years, a common theme that has always popped up is that by the time they reach around the 15th reason they usually get stuck. The final 20 reasons are the core deep motivating drives for why they want to have this position.

If you include this exercise in your interview process, several things will happen:

1. No completion: The sales person fails to come up with 35 reasons. Any time this happens alarm bells should start ringing. I have never hired someone who has not completed their 35 reasons.

It’s really simple: If they can’t come up with enough reasons for why they want to have this certain role then they don’t want it badly enough.

2. Repeats: You will also get a lot of people who repeat their answers; they are simply trying to cheat their way through so that they can show you they really want the job. You know what they say: once a cheater always a cheater.

3. Bad motivation: This is found in around 20% of cases, so not many, but something to watch out for. You get some sales people who have the wrong motivation drive for wanting the job. They say things like:

• I want the job so I can get out of debt
• So that I can pay the bills
• So that I can get some experience in the work place

Alex Pirouz

Stay away from sales people like these, as they tend to crumple under pressure, and leave if the going gets tough.

4. Completion: When you get the form back and look at their reasons and see that this person has written 35 or more, excluding the above pitfalls, you should know that you’re onto a winner. Do everything you can to ensure that sales person is hired and managed properly to stay in the long term.

By following and applying this one strategy you will be able to maximise your success rate of only hiring staff that have shown the greatest  enthusiasm, drive and dedication for the role.

Alex Pirouz is the founder of RIDC Advisory Pty Ltd www.RIDC.com.au

In this ‘how to’ article we will look at a number of straightforward actions that nevertheless can have a big impact on online sales.

They won’t all apply, but it’s worth checking where you stand on these before even considering more advanced ideas.

1. Inspire trust

People must trust you before they’ll purchase anything from your site, especially if you’re unknown to them. There are a number of ways of gaining that trust, and you may be able to come up with your own ideas.

• Have you supplied your contact details on every page, including a telephone number and your postal address? It’s a legal requirement anyway, but it makes sense.
• If a visitor emails you promote confidence by responding quickly and professionally, in the same way you’d  answer the telephone.
• Display logos showing your membership of trade bodies such as the IMRG or FSB, and join at least one of the merchant accreditation schemes like ISIS or SafeBuy.
• If you have a shop or employ people, publish a photograph of your staff or premises to prove you exist.

2. Accept PayPal

Some online shoppers have a balance in their PayPal account, especially if they have sold off some items on eBay, and it may be burning a hole in their pockets. That’s why it’s quite common for online stores that start accepting PayPal payments to see their sales  increase by around 10%. This may vary depending on the typical demographic of your buyer, but if you don’t already accept PayPal it’s well worth the minimal effort to do so.

3. Be transparent

Unexpected P&P is a major cause of cart abandonment; highlight delivery costs on your home and product pages so that buyers don’t get a shock when they try to check out. It also gives customers the opportunity to look for additional items to justify the cost, and that’s more revenue for the site too.

It’s also important to be clear about your returns policy, and this is part of the inspiring trust aspect too if a shopper is new to your site.

4. Spill the beans

It seems incredible to me how some online retailers miss sales by simply not providing enough information about products. Learn from the best online retailers who have spent huge amounts of time on their descriptions and pictures of their products. Don’t just have one small image of a product, but have multiple angles as well as allowing visitors to zoom in — M&S and Lands End are good examples for this. Also include details like dimensions and what it’s made of, if appropriate. The more information that you provide, the easier it is for people to buy, and indeed, it’s a way to encourage them to return.

5. Optimise for search

Providing a lot of information on your products also has major search engine benefits. Search engines love it and if the content is constantly evolving, they will rank you even better.

People do see optimising their site for search engines as a bit of a black art, and they are partly right as there is a lot involved, but here are some basics:

• When people search, they type a “keyword” or “key phrase” into the search box. Identifying the most popular keywords and phrases for your product range is the most important step. You can find this out by subscribing to Wordtracker for a trial (www.wordtracker.com).
• You can also identify phrases that are well used, but have fewer than average relevant pages on the web. These are your best opportunities – they represent niches where there are plenty of potential customers, but not too much competition.
• Tools such as Google Adwords can help identify unique search terms. Even if you’re not planning to use a pay-per-click (PPC) scheme it’s worth signing up as it will save a lot of time. Once you know your key phrases, you should make sure these appear regularly in your site. This should include in text, product names, page names and titles, and even image names.

6. Maximise site performance

Both Adobe, the people behind PDF files, and Google have said that improving speed can reduce abandonment rates and increase sales by between 30% and 40% when selling online. Google has also categorically stated that a speedy site will rank better. And obviously buyers like fast sites too. In my experience, moving our customers to faster hosting packages has seen traffic to the sites grow up to 50%.

It’s simple. Hosting is an area where it’s foolish to cut costs if you want a successful web business.

7. Simplify address input

Do you use address look-up software?  This is where you ask customers to type in just their postcode when they check out and then the software fills in the full address automatically. This not only streamlines the process, but also reduces the risk of cart abandonment. Plus the addresses will be more accurate so you will definitely reduce costs by having fewer failed deliveries. Check out postcode look-up services from Postcode Anywhere (www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk) who work on a pay-as-you-go basis.

8. Hold back on customer registration

We all know how annoying it is to have to remember lots of passwords and I resent being made to create another account on a site I’ll use once. In fact, I click away from a store that takes this tack, and I am sure I’m not alone. People don’t know if they’ll return to buy again before they complete their first order so why force them to register? Give them the option to register later and I bet your cart abandonment rate goes down.

9. Measure results

Testing different alternatives to your site and measuring the results may be dull, but the two examples below illustrate that massive and unexpected gains can result from small changes.

Chris Barling

In one documented case sales doubled simply by removing the discount code field from the checkout. The verdict was that buyers without discount codes felt ripped off if they didn’t have a code. In another case sign-ups increased by 200% after “Free trial” was changed to “See plans and pricing.”

Go for it!

These suggestions aren’t particularly exciting, and may even sound dull. But they will increase your orders and a big bonus is that they are easy to implement, particularly if you use a packaged e-commerce product with these features built in. What’s holding you back?

Chris Barling is CEO of Actinic (www.actinic.co.uk)

Charlie Mullins offers his top tips.

1. Size should be no barrier

First off, no matter what size your business is, you should look to use a creative and active marketing strategy. We’re the perfect example. You might not expect a plumbing firm to invest heavily in marketing, and many of the methods we use are not on the average small firm’s agenda, particular for businesses in the trades. But when competition is fierce, you really need to focus on reaching customers and making your business stand head and shoulders above the rest.

2. Get online

The most recent additions to Pimlico’s marketing armoury are designed to engage further with customers and the media – we now have a blog spot on our interactive website and an active Twitter account, which now has nearly 600 followers. Don’t be afraid of these new communications platforms, as they really can help generate customers. And all you need to use them is some time and commitment.

3. Be visual

Above all, you need to stand out from the crowd and this doesn’t have to mean spending thousands on flashy advertising campaigns – we have never done that at Pimlico. It can just be simple things, for example, our fleet of vans are adverts on wheels – they come complete with number plates such as ‘LOO2OLD’, ‘BOG1’ and ‘F1USH’ and play a special version of Mambo Number 5 when they reverse. Something that guarantees attention. You can now even buy your own replica Pimlico toy vans!”

4. Employees and PR

Public relations is a key part of our marketing strategy and what better way to promote your firm than a positive story about an employee. I’m proud of my workforce and we’re not afraid to shout about them. You will often find stories that are appealing to the media from within your own employee base, so make use of this free resource as a source of positive PR. Again, keep it simple, as something as straightforward as a long-serving employee can be enough, or someone attempting an amazing feat for charity. Employees are your biggest asset.

Charlie Mullins is the managing director of the UK’s largest independent plumbing firm Pimlico Plumbers (www.pimlicoplumbers.com)

Do you have any other tips for marketing on a shoestring? Please leave your ideas in the comments box below.

Any new business needs a website. Whatever industry sector a company operates in, its website will be one of the main places people go to find information on its products and services. The web is far too big to ignore. If you don’t have a web presence, you’re missing out on free advertising and potential customers.

The basic process

1. Choose a domain name
2. Check availability and buy the domain
3. Choose a hosting package and buy it
4. Install a content management system (CMS)
5. Customise your website with a theme
6. Begin using your website

Free platforms vs hosting

It is possible to create a website for free using the many blogging platforms available, such as Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress.com. But using such free platforms usually means a compromise when it comes to the web address and site design. For example, Blogger allows you to create a blog-style website from a variety of templates for free, but the address will be www.(companyname).blogspot.com. Other services operate similar policies. A proper domain name is far more professional for business use. With your own domain name, your web address could be your company name – www.yourname.com, .co.uk, .info, for example.

Register a domain name

Domain names cost money, but they aren’t usually expensive. The first thing you must do is decide on a preferred web address. For most businesses the name of the company will do, although sometimes a clever play on words, popular advertising slogan or product/service name will be used. It is probably best to keep it simple when starting up.

Check the availability of your domain name before you purchase. There are lots of different websites selling domain names. If you know anyone who runs a website, ask them for a recommendation. Most domain sales sites have good and bad points, and ultimately the best option may come down to personal preference.

Most of these sites have a domain name checker on the homepage that also provides a quote for the cost of available domains. Domains can cost as little as £7 for a .com. Other options will be cheaper, but for most users .com is preferable as it is the widest-ranging domain, but a .co.uk can often be more effective in targeting local traffic.

Find hosting

Once you have a domain, the next thing you need is somewhere to host your site. Most domain sellers also offer hosting packages, and if you’re a novice, it’s probably best to opt for one of these. Again, prices vary, and it’s best to shop around, but you should be able to find an adequate package for around £5 per month / £60 a year. The amount of space offered is something to consider. If your website will need to host lots of content, especially large files such as video and photographs, it is worth considering paying a slightly higher monthly fee for unlimited space.

Install a content management system

A content management system (CMS) allows you to organise, upload and edit new content onto your website. The CMS will be the software you use to run the website day-to-day. It will also allow you to adjust the design of the site quickly and easily.

Several different CMS are available. Some people design their own from scratch, but for the sake of simplicity, WordPress is a common option for both individuals and small businesses. Many hosting sites include a link for easy WordPress installation, making it simple to get the CMS up and running for your site. If your host doesn’t have a link, visit WordPress.org to download the CMS and follow the installation instructions.

Find a theme

WordPress is very easy to use and customise to your liking. Thousands of free themes are available through the software. To begin with, play around with a few different themes before choosing one you like best. Click the ‘Appearance’ tab on your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘Themes’ sub-menu to browse a selection of different themes.

Free themes are available all over the web. Some of the best can be found at Smashing Magazine, which covers web design hints, tips and trends.

Once your chosen theme is installed, your site will begin to look something like a business-ready website. If you want to make changes to the colour scheme and layout of your site,  you may need to learn some basic HTML and CSS. This may sound daunting, but it is actually very simple. Some excellent free HTML and CSS tutorials can be found at W3 Schools.

Once you have a basic site up and running, you can start to build up content. Begin with the basics – an ‘about’ page detailing your business, what services you offer, how you can be contacted. Post a blog about developments in your industry. Tell customers where to find you offline. Whatever you do, remember to keep it professional – your website is one of the most visible elements of your business.

From a study conducted by 1&1 Internet Ltd,  of more than 1,800 UK adults, 37 per cent have walked away completely whilst a further 9 per cent have opted to spend less as a direct result.  Many consumers feel that small business websites today are mostly unattractive and often contain errors.  Whilst 1 in 3 consumers are willing to provide valuable feedback to business owners, a further study of small firms finds that half have never asked clients about their experiences of using their website.

The majority of UK businesses have now taken steps to launch a website and battle for valuable online visibility.  However, 1&1’s ’2011 Digital High Street Audit’(1) finds worryingly low levels of consumer satisfaction with the small business websites available to them.  The risk to firms from providing a bad online experience is clear – 49 per cent of consumers believe that a bad website makes a worse impact than a business having no website at all.  This conclusion has led 37 per cent to walk away from companies completely in favour of using a competitor.  An additional 9 per cent of Britons have found themselves reducing their spend with small companies as a direct result of being deterred by a poor company website.

Oliver Mauss

Oliver Mauss, CEO 1&1 Internet Ltd. said, “Research shows that keeping an ugly or badly functioning website online can comprise a risk to sales revenue.  Consumers have ever higher expectations, and it is essential that every company website inspires confidence.  Businesses that invest carefully in their web experience will see higher levels of customer spend, retention and referral”.

Many business websites have not evolved as they should have in recent years.  One-third of consumers surveyed (34 per cent) believe that in general, the small business websites they use are “tired” and “unimpressive”, and 41 per cent frequently find errors such as typos or broken URLs.  It is thus unsurprising that a further study of 480 UK firms(2) finds that 50 per cent have never asked their customers for feedback about their website.  However, many owners are aware that they have website problems.  66 per cent of companies surveyed admit that they struggle to maintain an attractive website, with the most common pain-point being the sourcing of fresh content (38 per cent).  30 per cent have been ‘reluctant’ or ‘embarrassed’ to recommend their website to their customers because they knew of faults.

Significantly, many British consumers are keen to help business owners create a more satisfying online experience.  Given the facility for providing feedback, 33 per cent of shoppers would provide a review or recommendation for improving a small business website.  Hence, companies should add a feedback form to their website, or set up an email address for collecting valuable user comments.

(1) 1887 UK adults surveyed by OpinionMatters via electronic feedback form
(2) 483 UK firms with a website surveyed via electronic feedback form

A good accountant will not only handle your financial and operational data but will offer professional business advice on a number of other topics too, leaving you free to focus on maintaining and expanding your business.

Did you know that according to government statistics, businesses with 1 to 9 employees are more likely to turn to an accountant for help with employment law than any other type of professional advisor?

1. Identify the areas where you need support and what you will need your accountant to do

Consider the complexity of your accounting needs. Evaluate whether it is just end-of-year financial statements and tax returns that you will need guidance on, or if you will require support throughout the year. Also try to foresee any future requirements you might have, especially with regard to raising external finance, and consider whether your accountant is equipped to deal with these.

2. Big is not always better – look for a good match

Smaller accountancy firms can often be better suited to smaller businesses. An accountant running a small practice is a business owner just like you; they know what it’s like. Consider also your personal needs and preferences. Would you prefer to work with one person on a day-to-day basis (typical of smaller firms) or would you feel more comfortable knowing there is a larger team dedicated to your account?

3. Make sure that the accountant has previous experience working in your sector

This is not essential, but experience working in your sector or a similar one will be a good indicator of the accountant’s suitability and suggest they have some good business insight into your area of speciality, which may prove invaluable. Contacts in your sector are also a big plus; many businesses have been able to source valuable customers or suppliers through the network of a trusted accountant – at no extra charge!

4. Arrange to meet with a few different accountants so you can compare services and fees

As with any business or financial decision, value for money should be a key consideration when deciding between accountants.  Make sure you understand how much your potential accountant will be charging you and how and when you will be charged.

5. Consider how they can add value besides book-keeping

Your primary consideration when choosing an accountant should be the value he or she can bring to the business. Whilst their primary task is ensuring all your accounts are in order, it is their ability to deliver specialised expertise and resources that will guarantee a successful business relationship. Try to gauge how strong their network of contacts is, and whether they are able to provide services above and beyond your book-keeping needs.

6. Ensure that the accountant you choose has a professional qualification and belongs to a professional organisation

Although they are relatively rare, you may come across people offering “accounting services” who are not qualified. Unqualified accountants are unlikely to carry liability insurance and any apparent fee savings may turn out to be costly in the long run.

Accountants should display this information on their website or other promotional material. If they do not, it is essential to ask. Look for a qualification from a professional body such as ACCA, ICAEW or CIMA.

7.  Ask to speak with some of their other clients for recommendations and a first-hand account of working with the firm

Don’t underestimate the value of speaking to other businesses or acquaintances about their experiences working with an accountant. It may also prove valuable to talk to non-clients to find out their perception of the organisation.

8) Ensure the accountant is somebody you can work with – they will be a key business advisor, so a good working relationship is key

It is of utmost importance that you trust the person who will be handling your finances and feel comfortable to ask them any questions you may have. Most accountants will offer a free initial consultation, allowing you to assess how successful your working relationship might be. A breakdown in communications between you and your accountant may lead to financial confusion, hassle, and ultimately expense, to you and your business.

9. Agree fees and charges upfront, along with how and when you will pay

You should not overlook the necessity of comparing the fees of several accountants before you make your decision. It is vital that you understand how and when you will be charged and what this fee includes. For example, is advice included or will you be charged at an hourly rate for any one-off questions you may have?

Emmanouil Schizas

During the recession, many businesses have faced cash-flow pressures and accountants have often been able to adapt their fee and charge schedules to accommodate them. If this is likely to be an issue for you, be upfront about it and you could work out a much better deal.

10. Don’t rush the decision!

An accountant is an essential advisor for any business, so investing time in choosing the right person for you is imperative in order to gain maximum value. Up-to-date payments and ordered accounts will allow you to concentrate on building your business and planning for the future.

Emmanouil Schizas, SME policy adviser, ACCA (www.uk.accaglobal.com)

How do you get on with your accountant?  Do you have any other tips?

Paying for traffic is the most effective method of increasing visitors to your site. PPC complements other marketing methods and the big advantage is that it will reach your target market much quicker.

Setting up an advert campaign can be tailored to your budget and it’s easy to measure. You’ll be able to target your audience specifically and know if they reached your website as a result of an advert. You are in control of the pages your visitors see, so you can sit back and watch your traffic increase.

1. Don’t expect instant ROI

It’s really important to research your target market carefully. Highlight and analyse your online competitors and look for those gaps that competitors aren’t filling, the niches within your market to expose. Be realistic in your expectations. If this is your first time using PPC don’t expect instant ROI.

Usually the first month or two can be used as a testing period to analyse the market and visitor trends. Use as many research tools as possible to look for opportunities combining the use of Google’s keyword tool. Google insights and Google trends will give you the in-depth information you need to target your audience.

2. Track goals not clicks

You should set defined goals for your campaigns. Contact form submissions, document downloads or online transactions, you’ll know what’s important to achieve from PPC. Make sure you fully understand the analytic jargon that is often bandied about.

3. Focus on the right keywords

The most effective keywords are competitive these days due to the number of advertisers online but PPC ads are assigned a position in the sponsored search results by ‘ad rank’. An advert’s ‘ad rank’ is determined by a combination of the keyword bid and its quality score – a score out of 10 based on how relevant the keyword is to the page it is pointing to.

If you create adverts with relevant content, the quality score will increase. Having a higher quality score means you can bid less and still achieve a high ad rank and position in the sponsored search results.

4. Entice the user

To increase the click through rate (CTR) of your adverts your advert copy should entice the user, offering something that is interesting and relevant to their query. Including your keywords in your advert copy means that users will automatically see your ads as relevant and your keywords will appear in bold in the ad copy, making them stand out.

5. Include a call to action

To entice the user to click on your advert you should include a call to action (a reason for them to click the ad). This helps give the user a sense of direction. To really make your ad stand out it is important you separate yourself from the competition. Having something extra to offer the user will increase your ad’s popularity.

6. Watch your conversion rates

Having a good conversion rate is the most critical factor of PPC. There is no point in having your target audience visit your website if they aren’t converting into sales/leads. To increase customer conversion you should make it as easy as possible for them to buy, so instead of leading them directly to your homepage, try to select the most relevant page for them to land on.

7. Make it easy to buy

Make sure your options to buy are clear and easy to use. Difficult checkout pages and those pages with no clear message often confuse visitors so ensure your website is quick! Slow loading pages can leave users frustrated and they will be less likely to return.

8. Watch out for click fraud

Search engines are continuing to develop programs that monitor click fraud, looking at click patterns and ads that have a spike of clicks or any other unusual behaviour that could be suspicious. Setting your campaigns to run only in the areas of the world you want them to will help reduce the risk of click fraud. Keeping up to date with the click forensics click fraud index will also give you all the statistics and figures surrounding click fraud. The report is produced every quarter and outlines the percentage of click fraud in particular areas.

9. Target keywords around your strengths

Although PPC can bring about quick results it is still an ongoing development for many companies, you should always be monitoring and optimising your campaigns for better performance. The best way to integrate your PPC campaigns into your existing marketing activities is to understand your target audience and how to address them through PPC. Look at where the strengths are within your business and target keywords around that area or subject, from this you can then analyse how your key areas perform online.

10. Complement with search engine optimisation

Jamie McGrath

Search engine optimisation (SEO) and PPC complement each other very well, and I would advise anybody looking to make the most of their website to use both of these methods. Paid adverts have become more advanced and, as there is a lot of competition, it is easy to waste your money.

Simply bidding on keywords is not enough to get you good results from paid adverts any more. PPC will always get quicker results than SEO, but SEO secures the long-term sustainability of your website and often produces a higher ROI, conversion rate and click through rate compared to PPC.

Jamie McGrath is search specialist at Chapter Eight Ltd.  call 0113 227 0800 or visit www.chaptereight.com

Do you have any other tips? Please leave them in the box below.

This week we look at the best ways to advertise your business locally. We look at what works well, what’s free and what costs.

There is also the opportunity for you to add your own experiences.

Word of mouth

Word-of-mouth advertising is most effective

The best advertising that you can get is word of mouth. It is free and very powerful. It is also the most elusive as it has to be earned and not bought.

There are, however, a number of things that you can do to promote word of mouth.

The first stage is to make sure that customer service is as good as you can get it. You have to remember that the customer is always right.

In some areas word of mouth can spread very fast – and this is particularly the case with local restaurants. Some of the review sites such as tripadvisor.com amplify word-of-mouth marketing and can have a significant impact on how a business can do. Don’t forget that this can be positive as well as negative.

Friend of a friend

This is a form of word-of-mouth marketing where you are offered a special offer, gift or discount for both you and your friend if you refer someone on. This may be in the form of special vouchers, etc. Ideally, the vouchers will have a time limit on them to encourage them to start shopping with you as soon as possible.

Local newspaper

In terms of hitting the biggest audience in the shortest period of time, the local newspaper can be very effective. They have a large, committed and locally targeted audience. In many ways they run a local monopoly.

The problem is that they know it, and this is reflected in their pricing.

Local radio

This can be quite an effective way to get a message out to a local audience, particularly for a new business, where it can create an awareness that you exist. Many local radio stations also have the ability to create radio adverts for you.

The downside is that it costs quite a lot of money and you will have to invest some time in getting your advert up and running. You will need to be very careful to consider the numbers of people that could actually listen to your advert (as opposed to the area that the radio station covers).

Sign on the side of a van or car

This is a very effective way of advertising a local business and gets seen as you drive along and while you are parked up. The signs can be permanent or you can also get magnetic versions that can be taken off if you don’t want to draw attention to your vehicle out of hours.

This works best if you keep your van or car clean.

Mike, who is currently decorating our offices, said that he got a customer yesterday from someone who got his number off the back of his van.

Signs on a building

A technique that has been used by builders and estate agents for years has been the sign on the outside of a building.

This can be put up on scaffolding, or on railings or even clipped onto a fence. They cost very little and can be surprisingly effective.

Free samples

For some businesses providing free samples can be very effective. For example, a cheese shop could put samples of cheese that are just about to reach their sell-by date on the counter. This stops the need to throw this away.

A wine shop could offer wine tastings.

A new restaurant could go down the high street with bite-sized samples of its food. This is quite a good way of raising awareness and people will remember you for it.

Put adverts in shop windows

Often the local supermarket or the newsagent will allow you to put up an advert for a few weeks.

Many shops will let you advertise in their shop windows – particularly for local events. Many shops will let you advertise a local event for free. It helps to have a smile on your face when you go in.

Sponsoring a local football or sports club

The best way is to get your logo onto the football shirts. You may also be able to get some mileage from the local paper.
Provide a prize at a local event and go along and present it.

This can be a good way to get the message across but should be looked at more as a charitable donation than as an effective way of advertising.

Be careful giving to things such as charity auctions as there are so many donations that it is easy for your message to get lost.

Signs on lamp posts

Judging by the number of signs on lamp posts and roundabouts it looks like this method of marketing can be quite successful.

These are best for advertising an event on a particular day and will need to be taken down afterwards.

These may fall foul of local regulations and could land you with a hefty fine – particularly in urban areas. In England these are governed by the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 Act.

A Boards

These are boards that can be placed out on the street to bring people in.

They do need to be placed in an area where people don’t trip over them. Watch out, as the local authorities can get a little sniffy on them.

Staff uniforms

Relatively inexpensive and a great way of promoting your business, a uniform can be as simple as a polo shirt. You can even get cheap iron-on kits to make your own printed transfers with an ink jet printer. These also get seen as your staff walk around town going to work and on their lunch breaks.

Do you have any other good examples of local advertising?

Please let us know of your experiences in the comments box below. You can also send us photos through the contact us page.

The mistake that is most common throughout the sales industry is that, sale consultants think they know what their clients want rather than ask. By asking the right questions you will not only uncover your clients buying strategy but most importantly find out if you can deliver on what they are looking for.

It is a lot easier to deliver what the client wants in your product or service than it is to guess or assume. If you identify your clients need, you will then be able to simply deliver that to them, saving you both time, money and improving the experience.

To do this we need to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes and think the way they do. The best part of this exercise is: you don’t have to be a physic to do it. You see as human beings when we go to buy a product/service we are always thinking: what’s in it for me (WIIFM). How will I benefit?

And this is where 95% of sales people go wrong, they assume that they know what their client wants in order to be interested rather than ask. By making this assumption, you run the risk of talking about things that the client has no interest in, there by losing that client forever.

We live in a fast paced society; customers are out there and ready to buy, mainly because they have little time to shop around. If you can’t give them what they want and don’t spark their interest they will go to someone who can, and they’ll do so quickly.

So what is the best way to find out what a client wants? You ASK questions! But not just random questions; you want to ask questions which are going to give you the information necessary to know their formula and the reasoning behind it.

There are several questions you can ask, but after continuous testing the one that has produced the best results throughout my time in sales is the following question:

When looking for a …………. (product/service) what would need to happen for you to know …………… (product/service) is the right one for you?

When you ask this question, the customer will outline for you the criteria they need to meet in their mind in order to purchase from you.

For example:

Let’s say for instance you are a car salesman, and you want to figure out what your clients are looking for in a car. You proceed by asking them:

You: Mr Jones; when looking for a car, what would need to happen for you to know which car is the right one for you?

Client: Well to be satisfied with my purchase I would need:

1. It to be black
2. Have air conditioning
3. Power steering
4. Low on fuel and Km’s
5. And most importantly have a good engine

At this point you have uncovered what Mr Jones wants in a car, so your job now is to figure out whether you can fulfil his needs. If you can, then you have a deal, so go right ahead and assume the sale. If you can’t, be respectful and let him know upfront that this is not something you can help him with.

Ok; now that you know you can deliver on the client’s needs, you want the clients to convince themselves on why they should buy from you rather than have you sell them. Let’s face it; no one likes to be sold, but we do like to buy and feel like we made the right choice, rather than having been pushed or pressured into it by the salesperson.

The way to do is through a strategic process I call: Reversing A Sale.

Reversing a sale is when you qualify the client by asking a series of well thought questions, that, when answered, not only takes away the objections a client might have, but also allows the client to tell you why they should have your product.

By using this angle, as a salesperson you benefit in the following ways:

• Authority Figure: Rather than asking for the sale you now get to approve the sale. This puts you in a far more powerful position.
• No Rejection: By first qualifying clients, you’ll never be rejected by a client again.
• Objections: By getting rid of objections throughout the qualification process, your client will have more interest in your product/service, and your close ratio will be much higher as a result.
• Fewer refunds: Because the clients sell themselves on why they should have your product/service, they are also less likely to seek a refund.
• No Emotional Attachment: Using the qualification process allows you to avoid any emotional attachment on the outcome of the sale.

One of the biggest barriers to making sales these days is the ability to handle objections throughout the sales process. By qualifying clients you will dramatically reduce the number of objections you handle, along with making the entire sale process a lot smoother for both you and your client.

In early 2010, I started consulting for a company called QC Seminars, an events company that offers wealth creation and NLP seminars and products.

After doing a bit of research, I found out the main objections they regularly faced when speaking with clients were:

1. No Time
2. Not Interested

Knowing this; I than structured the following questions so that when the salespeople spoke to potential clients they eliminated these objections, qualified clients and therefore increased sales and conversion rates.

Questions asked:

1. Given that there are limited spots left in our scholarship rate, you do need to qualify; have you got two minutes to quickly go through the process?
2. Ok, so how interested are you in doing NLP? And why?
3. If you were to qualify, would you be 100% committed to the dates?

Alex Pirouz

By doing this, we were able to produce over 1300 sales over a two-month period, which brought in revenue of over $2.5 million dollars. Creating a qualification process is not a one-day job, where you quickly put something together. To create a successful process, you are required to do sufficient research on your target market, as well as continuous testing and measuring.

Alex Pirouz is the founder of RIDC Advisory Pty Ltd www.RIDC.com.au