In Your Clients Shoes

get In your client’s shoes

ISSUE 01 / JANUARY 2012

what can we learn from the world’s best marketers?

35 Point Checklist

A surefire way to a get the best print advertising

The Cat, Mouse, and the Cheese A new approach to getting more business

8Profit Activators to galvanize your business

Dear friend, Ask someone in the marine industry about the last four years and they’ll most likely tell you, “Business has been slow.” I talk to managers in boating companies every day, and see the resulting fear in their faces and hesitation in their voices. I know from experience that it is not easy to sell boats. This is due to the reality that boats are not a commodity but a total luxury. In fact, boats are probably last on the list of priority purchases for consumers. I put together this mini guide and gathered valuable marketing information from different marketing experts. It is my pleasure to share this with you.   The growth of our company is directly connected to your success, so I hope those tips  will be profitable to you.

editor

Vincent Finetti

askyourself the following:

• Do you want more qualified buyers to contact you? • Do you want to cut your advertising costs? • Do you want to learn the secrets of world class marketers? • Do you want to maximize your market shares? • Do you want to help your sales team with marketing that actually SELLS?

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Marketing is the key to your entire business. The most successful companies in the marketplace are not the ones with the best products or best services,

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Intro

but the ones who market them the best!”

Prestige Vision Inc Phone: (1) 250 585 2628 Email: [email protected] Online: www.prestigevision.com

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Pull vs Push: Compelling ads that sell

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The Shortest Path to a Sale

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The Importance of Marketing

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8 Profit Activators

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Marketing Q&A

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War of the Words

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Mouse, Cheese and Cat

Effective Demonstrations

 

What role does marketing play in your business?

Is your sales pipeline inverted?

To galvanize your sales

Questions to help steer you in the right direction Visual and Copywriting in Advertising: Back to the Basics

The utlimate way to think ‘Client First!’

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The Stadium Speech

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35 point Checklist:

Maximize the impact of your message How to produce killer print advertising

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the shortest

path to THE sale L

ike many in the marine industry and business world, I used to think that sales were the lifeblood of every business. That is, until the day I heard this definition of marketing: “Marketing is the shortest path to the sale”. In other words, the goal of marketing is to make selling easy and, ideally, unnecessary. This quote created some curiosity and even though I was working in the marketing field, I had little knowledge of the subject matter. I started studying marketing ferociously and very quickly, realized that marketing was the spinal cord of every business and part of the product or service itself. By speaking with others, I discovered that most people are oblivious to this truth. I came to the realization that marketing is overlooked in the boating industry and does not have the place it should have. I kept hearing from different companies that their marketing budget was cut significantly. I then stumbled on some academic research that proved that in the last six recessions, companies that did not cut back their advertising budget achieved greater increases in profit than companies that did make cuts. All of this pushes me to find out more about marketing. I am an avid reader (read more than 300 business books over the last three years) so thought that I knew a lot about marketing. I realized that I did not know a lot. I started following world class marketers and spent countless hours reviewing the best marketing books by thought leaders like David Ogilvy,

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Seth Godin, Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, Dean Jackson, Joe Polish, Dan Sullivan, Ken Blanchard, Harvey Mackay, Tony Heiz, Eric Ries and many others. I then decided to put together and share this knowledge with the people who make my fabulous job

possible: You. But before starting, I need you to be aware that I am still not a world class marketer and what I am sharing with you might or might not work in your situation. The boating world is so vast, from dinghies to mega yachts, that the methods mentioned might or might not work for you, but the fundamentals are there and must be understood and applied. I didn’t invent anything but carefully selected proven methods of world-class marketers and authors. Many of you have more experience than I have in boat sales and marketing but it is sometimes necessary to go back to the basics and fundamentals. I am not here to judge you or tell you what you are doing is wrong. I am simply trying to help you, give you some feedback and apply some fundamentals that can be easily implemented to improve your company’s success. Marketing is not about spending money and crossing fingers until we get a sale. Marketing is about thinking in the shoes of your clients, using creativity (that sells), fundamentals and proven techniques. Marketing is not about thinking of the market, it is thinking as the market. If it doesn’t sell, it is not marketing.

The World of Marketing Has Changed Have you Been Left Behind?

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odern marketing and branding have done a complete 180. With the technological advancements, much has changed in how we reach the consumers. Well, almost everything. The good news is marketing isn’t magic or luck. The rules have changed but the fundamentals have stayed the same. The rules that have dictated how businesses attract clients and generate profits have changed. This isn’t a temporary downturn; it is a fundamental shift from the crazy-easy money years, with lasting effects from hard lessons learned, on the spending habits of consumers. You could use the same growth strategy you used last year and the year before, but for most companies, if you keep on doing what you have been doing, you’ll keep on getting what you have been getting. What might have worked three or four years ago does not work today. How can you prosper in this economy? It is very simple, start using your brain instead of using your wallet. All profiting companies achieve success from a great product accompanied by innovative marketing ideas. One of the first actions that you can do is change the why of your business and shift your focus from YOU to your CLIENTS. When I go to work in the morning, my main goal is not to sell virtual tours or applications but to help a client sell more boats. This is what drives our company and why we took the time to

write this report. I was in your shoes as a boat broker for many years and understand the pain and difficulties of selling boats. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, said, “We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.” This is brilliant and we can clearly see the main focus of the business. When somebody asks you how is business, how do you usually respond? You probably don’t say our customers “’bought our boats’’, rather, you say ‘we sold a few boats’’’. It is time for you to switch your mentality. Great companies solve problems and don’t just simply look at their personal benefits.

Stop selling boats and start offering a lifestyle, a solution, and a “dream come true” experience to your customers

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why is marketing

so important?

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What is marketing? We could argue and talk for hours about the definition of marketing. A great definition would be easy to understand and have a positive impact in our life and business.

he good news is that I found it for you after sorting through tons of material on the subject: marketing is the shortest path to the sale. We should regard marketing and advertising as part of the product and treat it as a production cost, not a selling cost. It follows that it should not be cut back when times are hard, any more than you would stint on any other essential ingredient in your product. David Packard of Hewlett-Packard once observed, “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people.” Because the purpose of any business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: Marketing and Innovation (Innovation doesn’t necessarily mean technology. It means bringing greater value perception to the market ‐ In other words, that the market desires you). Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. Today, when top management is surveyed, their priorities in order are finance, sales, production, management, legal and people. Too often, marketing and innovation are sadly missing from that list.

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not marketing. I stumbled on some academic research that proves that the wrong messages can actually un-sell a product. In a Claude Hopkins book he cites a study that showed how a certain beer had lower popularity among people who remembered its advertising as opposed to beers that did not have any advertising. The brewer had spent millions of dollars on advertising, which un-sold his beer. David Ogilvy reported seeing an advertisement actually sell not twice as much, not three times as much, but 19.5 times as much as another. Ads or marketing collateral are not written to entertain or seek applause, they are written to sell your product. Don’t try to show off. Do just what you think a good salesman should do with a halfsold person before him. But be cautious, a very small difference can make a big impact. Just like in life, everything will make a difference in marketing. This is why it is very important to understand the basics and proven marketing methods. One of my favorite laws in life is the law of winning edge, which states that a small difference in effort will create a huge difference in results. Let’s use the example of a horse race:

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Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs.

Horse #1 might be 0.01% faster than Horse #2 but will gain 100 times more. Horse #1 will be 0.05% faster than the horse #4 and gain 1000 times more.

This applies in boat sales as well; the difference between losing a consumer to the competition is pretty small but the difference in numbers will be huge!

What makes a difference? Selling a boat is

different than selling shoes, clothes or cell phones…you are not in the commodity business. The luxury industry is unlike any other, utterly unique, existing for reasons all its own. So too, is the marketing of it. I love this quote from the CEO of Rolex: “Why would I need to know how the watch industry is doing? I’m in the luxury business.” Though exaggerated, the proclamation is revealing. No one wears a Burberry trench coat merely to stay warm. No one buys Dom Perignon just because they’re thirsty, and no one buys a Riva Yacht simply to navigate from point A to point B. Luxury products exist for a much less rational reason. Therefore, marketing these items must be much more emotional. In short, mass marketing is the business of selling reality. Luxury marketing is the business of selling dreams. Ask yourself the question, what exactly are you marketing? A product or an image (emotional reflection of your product in the customer’s head).

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There is no reward for second place in sales!

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What are the consequences of a bad or wrong marketing strategy? If it doesn’t sell, it is

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arketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. I love this quote from the CEO of Rolex: “Why would I need to know how the watch industry is doing? I’m in the luxury business.” Though exaggerated, the proclamation is revealing.

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profit activators The Before Unit

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very time I want to improve an area of my life or encounter a challenge, I like to ask myself three simple questions:

1. Where am I? 2. Where do I want to go? 3. How am I going to get there? Asking yourself those 3 questions from a marketing perspective is a great initiative but might be a bit complex and overwhelming. An easy alternative to this is to look at it in 3 dimensions. This will bring clarity and make it easier to develop the right marketing strategy. Those 3 dimensions include: The Before Unit The During Unit The After Unit Look at your business as three independent units with their own distinct measurable monetary goals, and impact areas. You can easily triple your business by looking at it this way.

This is the unit in charge of finding, identifying, educating, and motivating prospects to come to you for the first time.

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Positioning and Identifying a Target Audience The idea is to narrow your focus and select a target market (positioning). Who are you going to serve? Too many companies are trying to think about and capture the broadest possible audience for their business, trying to be too much to too many people. The way to greatness today is to transfer your ultimate passion away from your product, your service, your company, and instead, fall in love with your client. Here is an example of a photography company who understood the concept of positioning perfectly:

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Use Direct Response Offers to Compel Prospects to Contact You:

There’s nothing more exciting than transforming your company from being a manual labor prospector into an automated marketer. There is a lot of different ways that you can compel prospects to actually contact you or your dealers. Compelling is like when you’re stuck in traffic because of an accident. You’re upset because everyone is driving slowly, but when you pass in front of the scene, you cannot not look. In the same way, you should position your product or pitch to be so compelling that people cannot not look at it. Here is a quote from Guy Kawasaki, author and ex-chief evangelist at Apple: “If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing”. I hope this will motivate you to start thinking of using magnetic marketing rather than using megaphone marketing. Be creative and find a way to compel your clients to contact you.

The during Unit This is the unit of your business that delivers the experience that people have when they are doing business with you.

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Patiently and Systematically Educate and Motivate Prospects to Meet You...

...When they are ready! Buying a boat is a long process and you know that you don’t get clients overnight. You can’t afford to build your marketing campaign for immediate buyers. You need to be patient and build trust. It is very important to determine your client’s buying periods. Is it 4 weeks, 6 month, 2 years, 5 years? Once you’ve determined the average buying period, make a solid plan to consistently inform, educate and nurture your clients until the final purchase. Too often companies fail to follow up with potential clients and end up making significant effort for a short period of time for nothing simply because they

Selling is not yelling didn’t take the time to constantly follow up and care about the clients until they were finally ready to buy. Educating prospects and clients is the absolute best technique, and it’s the most ethical form of advertising and marketing. That’s why it’s irritating to see 99 % of marketers simply trying to sell you something. Your prospects are lost with so many choices in the marketplace. The only thing they are looking for is an expert to educate them on how to make the right choice for them. We want people that are pre-

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Present a Unique and Easy to Start Offer:

The truth is, it would be very difficult for you NOT to take a cookie under those circumstances - even if they weren’t your favorite cookie - because I’ve clearly gone out of my way to make these cookies for you, and it would be rude to reject me. Consumers don’t want to lead. They want someone to tell them what to do... and make it EASY for them to do it. I listened to a Tony Robbins interview recently and when asked

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Consumers need prompting. We have all been raised to not impose on people, and not to make people go out of their way for us. It goes both ways. Make sure your team avoids weak propositions like, “If there’s anything I can do for you, or if you have any questions...don’t hesitate to give me a call; I’m more than happy to help.” I like the example of bringing you into my home, sitting you down in the living room, and saying “If there’s anything you want to eat or drink, there’s lots of stuff in the fridge...just feel free to help yourself. I’ll be in the other room.” Again, I would be completely sincere in that offer, and I would love it if you would feel comfortable enough to help yourself to something in the fridge, but I know that’s not what you would do. Now, contrast that with me coming into the living room with a plate of freshly baked cookies, holding them right in front of you and saying, “Would you like a cookie?”

what [is] the most important thing to succeed in a business, he responded without hesitation: an attractive offer

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interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified and predisposed, and actually happy and confident to seek out your services or products. A lot of times, people start using free reports as their offer. They think, “Okay, I’m going to select my target market, I’m going to run a direct response ad offering a free report” not realizing that educating is not enough. You can’t send out the reports and then sit back and expect people to call. Make sure that your report is built to meet them. You need to ask them for the sale. Your report needs to have a motivator - something to connect the dots that makes it easy for people to want to meet you.

Imagine I am selling a horse for $5000. Which of the following offers would you be most likely to accept? Pay me $5000 and buy this horse. Pay me $5000 and get this horse for a week; if you don’t like it, bring it back and I’ll give you your money back. Take the horse and come back in a week. If you like it, keep the horse and pay me $5000. I know it might be difficult to build a Mafia offer (an offer so good you can’t refuse) when you ask somebody for $1 million in exchange for a luxury yacht but they are different ways to make your offer more appealing. There are always multiple ways to present an offer to a customer. Think about it and strengthen your offer.

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Deliver a Dream Come True Experience from Your Client’s Perspective The idea is that you want a customer who goes through the process to say, “This was the best boat buying experience I have ever had”. I highly recommend you to read the book, “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service” by Ken Blanchard. You will rapidly understand the importance of the during unit. I remember reading the story of Steve Wynn (Hospitality and Casino guru in Las Vegas). He got inspired to build his hotel empire after his wife and daughter shared with him an amazing customer experience at the George V Four Seasons in Paris. Today, before every shift, the employees of Wynn gather in a meeting room and share a customer service story from their previous shift. One of the stories was: Mr. X called me and told me he had to cancel his stay. I asked him the reason and he told me that he forgot his

I heard that Ritz Carlton has a daily budget of $1000 per employee and per customer to fix any issue or complaint to offer the best customer experience. They very rarely use the money but the fact that the money is there and available to any employee without asking permission to management is the best catalyzer to a solid customer experience.

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Deliver Some Free AfterSale

Look at a boat buying experience as an example. The customer had a great experience at your dealership and bought the boat of their dreams, wired the money, got a fantastic delivery and is ready to spend the summer on his new boat. The majority of the companies will stop providing free service as soon as the client finishes paying for the product and take possession of it. This is a big error. When is the new owner most likely to talk about his new boat buying experience? Within 30 to 90 days, right after he just got his boat delivered. Imagine that the sales rep drives to their home one week after and delivers a gift to make sure everything is good and show appreciation.

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It is in the during unit that you must absolutely deliver extra service and care (even after you’ve already been paid) so you can be sure that they will talk to their friends about you

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medication at home in San Antonio. I had a cousin living there so I asked him if he could go to his house, pick up the medication and express post them to the hotel within 24 hours! The client couldn’t believe the service and was happy to stay and enjoy his stay at the Wynn.

The After Unit This unit is all about 2 things: Nurturing lifetime relationships and Orchestrating referrals. Businesses fail to leverage marketing opportunity in this unit but it is much easier than the before unit.

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Nurture Lifetime Relationships and Focus on Lifetime Value

Imagine looking at the lifetime value of prospect the moment you meet them; it will change everything about the way

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you think about your business. Let’s assume you are selling small fishing boats, and your average customer usually spends about $40,000. Now imagine looking at this client for the next 10 years. She might upgrade to a higher-end model if she’s satisfied. And if she refers just one person, that immediately doubles the amount. That would be $160,000 instead of $40,000. Don’t leave your current client as a onetime transactional thing. It is far easier to get somebody who has bought a boat and had a great experience to come back than it is to get somebody to try it for the first time. I came across research showing that

it is 6 times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to get someone who has done business with you before. If you look at the majority of businesses, they spend most of their effort on getting new customers, and they neglect the ones they’ve already got. Make sure your clients are not tempted to try someone else just because you are not in contact with them or lose touch with them. Nurture, nurture, nurture.

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Orchestrate Referrals by Giving Your Clients the Opportunity to Feel Great We can divide referrals into 3 categories: Passive Referrals: Meaning somebody calls you up and says, “Hey, my brother just bought a new boat, and he said I should give you a call to come and see what you’ve got.” So, it’s happening without you really doing anything to make it happen. Everybody gets those kinds of referrals.

Orchestrated Referrals: This is where the real value is, where the real opportunity is; the only type of referral that you can control 100% is the orchestrated referral, where you are asking for and getting a very specific type of referral. Have you ever heard someone exclaim that they just had the best meal in their lives or watched the most moving film ever? Yes, many times, simply because after a great buying experience, the consumer is always happy to share the experience with their friends. Turn this to your advantage during this moment of excitement after a fantastic consumer experience; create a situation to orchestrate referrals.

Reactive Referrals: This is where somebody calls up and says, “Hey, my brother John is thinking about buying a new boat. You should give him a call.” Now, you have to react to that referral and do something to make it happen.

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Marketing | Q&A Would you rather be rich or famous?

Imagine being the sales manager of a small fishing boats company. You are at a boat show in a conference room filled with hundreds of boaters or future boaters (interested in the same category of boats that you are selling). Would you rather: 1. Step on the stage and promote your company to the entire room for a few minutes, then give your business card or brochure to each of the boaters in the room. 2. Not talk or interact with anybody but receive the contact info of the 50 prospects that will invest in a new boat in the next six months? This is the difference between promotion marketing and direct response marketing. I see way too many boat builders focusing solely on brand exposure. I have seen full page color magazine advertising with only the logo of a company! Do you really believe that seeing a logo on a page will motivate a prospect to buy? Selling is not yelling. Would you rather dominate 100% of the people 10% of the way or 10% of the people 100 % of the way?

be extremely cautious of brand exposure, you don’t have the budget for it and the majority of your marketing dollars will go to waste.

What are the dangers of brand exposure?

I remember watching a video from Dan Kennedy, a world-class marketer. He

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mentioned that every time he asked an audience which company used a little bunny to a play drum in their commercials, 30% would say Duracell while it was actually Energizer. What does it mean?

a shocking percentage of viewers remember your advertising but forget the name of your brand. Many small businesses fall into the trap of attempting to imitate the brand strategies of big, international companies like McDonald’s, or Starbucks. These companies have multimillion dollar advertising budgets to build their corporate brands. Instead of having a recognizable name or face attached to their companies, they use slogans (I’m loving it!) and brand logos.

Be cautious of local ad agencies that will gladly take your money and try to sell you into this exact approach. They often talk about building your brand through repeated exposure, which essentially translates to you spending thousands of dollars on advertising that doesn’t get measurable results!

Emotional or rational advertising?

Did you ever wonder how your client makes a buying decision? Whether you sell a canoe or a mega yacht, the buying decision is the same.

Emotion drives us when it comes to decision-making. People buy with emotion and justify with reason.

empathy sells. Nothing will attract your client more than feeling that your company put themselves in their shoes

People are not rational creatures and it has been demonstrated numerous ways. One of the first very persuasive pieces of evidence came from Dr. Antonio Demasio when studying a patient named Elliot who had lost the ability to experience emotions due to a brain tumor. He was a perfectly rational creature. Demasio discovered that Elliot was pathologically indecisive because he couldn’t experience emotions. He struggled to make even the smallest decision. He would spend hours to figure out what to have for lunch. When presented with two commercial offers, he would spend all day deciding which one to choose. So remember, feelings comes first and emotion is vital in decision-making.

Why putting yourself in your client shoes will pay off big.

An old adage says that you can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in his/her shoes. I remember going to a financial advisor for the first time and seeing a nice pair of shoes hanging out on a beautiful frame on the wall of his office. After a few greetings, I couldn’t restrain myself from asking why they were on the wall. He responded that it was a way for him to remember daily to put himself in the shoes of his clients. Fail to understand your client and you will go the wrong direction, lose market shares and struggle in today’s challenging market.

Empathy sells. Nothing will attract your client more than feeling that your company put themselves in their shoes. Your clients ask themselves four important questions 1. What are you trying to sell me? 2. How much is it? 3. Why should I trust you? 4. What do I get out of it? Help them answer those questions by educating them, building trust and creating a lasting relationship that goes far beyond “making a sale”.

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Does creativity help sell?

Yes, as long as you never forget that you don’t want to be creative to seek applause or win an advertising award. I am sure that you are more interested by selling a boat than winning advertising awards. Start your creative process by keeping 2 majors things in mind: • My campaign must sell • I will put myself in the client shoes Here are two examples of creative campaigns that sold and were focused on the client and not the product. I remember hearing about this Porsche dealership in Toronto that was using Google Street View to capture photos of customers’ homes. Then, they would use Photoshop to add a Porsche in front of their driveway and send them a beautiful postcard with the caption: It is closer than you think! Of course, there was the campaign from Dassault selling their plane, the Citation. They sent to prospects carrier pigeons with their address and asked them to release the pigeon if they wanted to receive an invitation to an event to discover the last Citation. It was a very original and fun way to request marketing material. I am sure that a few pigeons finished on the prospect’s kitchen table or some got lost on the way back. However, once the interested prospects released the pigeon and it arrived at its destination, they sent the customer a brochure with an invitation for a show event. This campaign generated two Citation sales!

“The reality is these brands have different images that appeal to different kinds of people. It isn’t the whiskey they choose, it is the image”

What are our customers buying, exactly? Customers don’t buy a product, they buy an image. Let’s take whiskey for example. Why do some people choose Jack Daniel’s while other’s choose Johnny Walker, Glenfiddich or any other brand? The reality is these brands have different images that appeal to different kinds of people. It isn’t the whiskey they choose, it is the image. It is exactly the same in yachting. There are thousands of boat builders worldwide, and people do not try out every model. They will be attracted to the boat that is most associated with their image.

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But what exactly is an image? We could define it by the personality of your product. The personality of your  product is an amalgamation of many

things: the name, the price, the style of advertising and, above all, the nature of the product itself.

You must create an image your prospects can relate to In other words, define your brand: • Who is our target audience? • What are our areas of expertise? • What do we do better or differently than our competitor? • What personal characteristics do we want to be known for? Do you have a well-defined brand image? If not, it is time to seriously think about it and define it.

Why will a client choose my brand over another?

Imagine John Smith going to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show and shopping for a center console fishing boat. He has a choice between Boston Whaler, Grady White, Edgewater, Scout Boats, Jupiter Boats, Pursuit Boats, Everglades, Contender, Hydra Sport, Deep Impact, Intrepid, and this is just to name a few. Do you think that John Smith will try them all? Do you think he will go to see each builder and patiently go through the entire sales pitch? It’s pretty doubtful. So, what can you do to give yourself the best chance that John Smith will buy a boat from you? If you want to sell what John Smith buys, you have to see through John Smith’s eyes. Once he is ready to make his final decision, John Smith will ask himself only one question, whom can I trust the most to give them my money? Did you ever ask yourself how you could gain a customer’s trust?

The way to greatness today is to transfer your ultimate passion away from your product, your service, your company, and instead, fall in love with your client Trust is engendered by your brand image, which combines your value with your credibility, while simultaneously mitigating risks and fears in the customer’s mind. So, to maximize your chances of profit and gain market share, make the advertisement about them. The point is to stop using advertising that’s about You... Start using advertising and marketing that is about them.

’You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.’’ - Dale Carnegie

measurable profile and low sales. Ovigly positioned it as a car for winter. Three years later, it was voted the best car for Norwegian winters and sales soared significantly.

Well I am sure this applies to sales and marketing as well. ‘’You can make more customers in two months by becoming interested in them than you can in two years by trying to get them interested in you.’’

When your product is essential, people look for you rather than you having to look for them

Why is positioning critical for your business?

Positioning can be defined as what the product does and whom it is for. For example, what brand comes to mind when I say MP3 player? iPod (Apple). Similarly, what do you think of when I say photocopies? You think Xerox or Cannon. Thus, these brands have positioned themselves in the minds of their customers such that whenever the generic product is mentioned, those brands come immediately to mind. Here’s a great example of positioning a brand. In Norway, Saab had no

Imagine you have intimate knowledge of your clients and prospects—what keeps them up at night, what they’re most excited about - Then combine this understanding with what you know and do best, and you’ll be creating “dream solutions” that your clients love and your competition can’t even copy.

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How can I easily improve sales closing ratio?

Did you ever go through an important event or process in your life, and you didn’t know what was going to happen beforehand? Maybe you purchased a new car, or underwent some kind of medical procedure. Or maybe you were making a BIG purchase, such as land, or a home, or a building. And when you didn’t know what to expect, didn’t you feel a bit nervous? Even a bit lost? Even worse…didn’t you feel a bit fearful? Well, believe it or not, that’s how most of your clients feel when they work with you. Your customers are afraid: • of You (selling situation, salesperson, selling environment, contract to sign, etc.); • of making mistakes; • of being lied to; • of incurring debt; • of judgment of others; • of the unknown; • of a bad past experience; • of a prejudice; • of the overall economic situation; • of third party information; • of making a decision between two or more brands; • of committing to recurring expenses

Sales & Marketing are about removing the fears, indecision and procrastination from customers. Your prospects must overcome many fears to invest in a boat. 16 pvMagazine/ January, 2012

Can we rethink the way people buy boats?

Yes, you should. Successful companies will be the ones who will be innovative and reinvent the way consumers shop for boats. Stay away from the classic product/sales situation. It is not attracting for clients anymore and they feel the pressure of the commercial environment. Take for example how Tesla is reinventing the way people shop for cars. They are abandoning the more traditional car dealership models and setting up shop in retail locations. The clean looking shops contain hands-on exhibits, interactive touch-screen experiences, and a design center where customers can customize their own models. This new type of store offers an interactive experience that is unprecedented in the industry. The purpose of the store is not just to sell cars. Rather, staff are charged with educating customers and building relationships. The marketing value of a mall location is to attract foot traffic and build a buzz around the brand in the hopes of generating a kind of cultural momentum. What are you doing differently? It might be time to rethink the way people shop for boats.

How can you get your prospects to contact you?

You now realize that it is much easier for your sales team to sell a boat to a pre-qualified, pre-motivated and pre-disposed to buy client rather than yelling to everybody how wonderful you and your company are. In order for them to contact you, you must give

them something valuable, educate them and ask for their contact info in exchange. Here’s what matters to your client: Trust – How can you be more trusted than by giving away free information and advice? You usually trust your doctor, lawyer, or mechanic because you perceive them as experts, correct? So, giving free educational info will help you be perceived as an expert and automatically increase your trust from your customers. Price and Quality – There is a big difference between the lowest price and the best quality. So, what do your customers want? Do they want the best price or the best quality? They usually want a combination of both. Here is an example of an interesting headline that can help improve perceptions of trust and quality: “Free recorded message (video, report, etc.) reveals how to choose your new center console boat properly, at the lowest possible price.” When you put your own ego aside and focus only on what your customers really want without any mention of YOU or your business, that’s when the real magic happens. They don’t see that there is a sales message involved. They see that it is completely and exactly what they’re looking for. Therefore, they feel safe to call or contact you, and you increase your trust level with them.

Should I use testimonials to help me sell more boats?

“What your clients say about you is 1000 times more persuiasive than what you say about you even if you are 1000 times more articulate,” - Dan Kennedy. If you are not familiar with him, he is the marketing genius that helped hundreds of companies to make millions of dollars by applying client oriented and influential marketing techniques. What exactly should you say on your testimonials: Highly Specific Outcome “At 93 Miles-per-hour with the engine operating at 3310 RPMs the loudest sound in my new Lexus was the turn signal.” The key is to be very specific with the numbers. It’s not “Over $1000 in a day” it’s $1017.23 in a day. The Before and After I used to be frustrated that I was only able to use my boat from June to September, now I can go boating any month of the year with the reverse AC system.

When collecting a testimonial, remember media doesn’t matter; however, the best testimonial is: • • • • •

•

Video Audio, or Written (if it’s all you can get) Should have the person’s full name Should have a still picture of the person (with audio/written testimonials) Ideally, the picture should show use of your product where appropriate

Can I use demonstration to market my product?

Yes, clients love proof. Demonstrations that show how well your product performs are above average in their ability to persuade. Certainly, the company that is using demonstration to their best advantage since many years in the boating industry is Boston Whaler. They became famous with their campaign of the huge truck driving on top of the small hull; The boat cut in half by a chain saw and still floating and navigating easily or the 100 people onboard a small boat to prove that it is truly unsinkable.

Why is it so important to educate my customers?

Imagine I am an aluminum company shipyard. I would do a print ad with the following call to action: Download our free report that reveals the 10 main things you must consider prior to buying an aluminum boat. Now, imagine John Smith again who was struggling to choose between brands of aluminum boat companies. Do you think that he will see value in downloading the report? This message is direct response marketing, and will result in communication from interested, prequalified customers already predisposed to buying your products. Did you know that an “educated” client is worth 8 to 10 times more money to you than an “uneducated” client? You can give them the education needed to make them not only more likely to buy from you, but more valuable to your company when they do make that purchase.

Companies will spend thousands of dollars talking about how great they are or how beautiful their product is but never focus on what the client actually wants

Scan QR Code to watch client testimonial

Watch this great Client testimonial from the electric car company: tesla

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What differentiates a $1 bill from a $100 bill? The message. It is the same for words; some words are worth $1, others are worth $100.

Visual and Copy in Advertising: Back to the Basics “When you break down all the fluff, there are two ways to promote and market your business: dumber, slower, and expensive—or smarter, faster, and cheaper.” – David Siteman Garland, Host of the Rise to the Top

T

ime to go deeper into the practice and see what is necessary to create marketing that sells. If you don’t show it, you can’t sell it. If you don’t tell it, you can’t sell it. Show it right, say it right and you will sell it fast!

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Show Smart. Sell Fast.

We live in a visual environment and your consumer expects visual information from you. If you are not transparent, and show exactly what you have to offer, consumers will go somewhere else. 90% of people will respond better to visual information than text; this is one of the reasons visuals are extremely important.

Showing helps you to influence and sell more.

I came across a study of Aaron G. Newman’s, professor at the Victoria University of Wellington. He proved that images, any images, make claims more believable. In other words, if you put an image, any image, next to a claim, even if it is a decorative image, that claim will become more believable in the eyes of your ideal customer. 700 students were gathered and asked to rate a statement as either true or false. These were statements like the liquid inside a thermometer is made of magnesium.

Regardless of the statement, they were more likely to believe the statement was true when an image was placed close to it.

Showing properly helps you save time and bring in qualified leads

What is the first thing your customers want to do at a boat show? Do they ask for the price? Request a brochure? Watch a video or still photos of your boats? None of the above, they want to actually step on-board your boats. Thanks to Prestige Vision, you can now show a boat to any potential buyer around the world, 24/7. The Prestige Vision technology helps you walkthrough unlimited high-quality 360-degree scenes showcasing the entire interior/exterior and technical areas of your boats. The reason you can do this today is that I was in your shoes a few years ago and was wasting too much time showing boats to hull-kickers rather than focusing time on real buyers. There is nothing worse than trying to sell somebody that is not interested into what you have to offer. Don’t start selling until you are sure that the client likes the boat you have to offer. Technology can help you ensure that your prospects are interested in what you have to offer. Leverage those technologies to prequalify your prospects and interact with only those who will be potential buyers. Now that you understand the importance and benefits of visual information, you need to understand how to use the right message that will influence your prospects and convert them into buyers.

Transform Words into Sales

 

With the right words, you can build your brand, engage with your customers and encourage more sales. I love the saying that you will rarely lose a sale by a few dollars but always by a few words. This doesn’t apply only in face-toface selling but also in brochures, websites, email, print and any other type of advertising. The right words sell. It’s scientifically proven. To get the best results from your advertising campaigns, your copy needs to be relevant and engaging. Striking the right tone with your consumers can mean the difference between success and failure. And of course,

the fundamental in copywriting is the same: Don’t make it all about you. It’s not about you, it’s about the client. pvMagazine/ January, 2012

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The Cat, Mouse and The Cheese

I learned a trick from a world class marketer that I would like to share with you. Remember this and it will pay off big for your business. In every relation with your clients, always remember the analogy of the mouse: There are 2 things that matter in the life a mouse: • Get some cheese, (positive things) • Avoid the cat (negative things) Now you can translate this analogy directly into your clients. Reach them and focus on the cheese: what they want, their benefits, making money, their own pleasures and avoid the opposite (the cat or the whiskers), which is spending money, your benefits, your objectives, your own pleasure. Let me share with you a story that will really help you see the value of this cheese/cat theory. There was a sales rep who was selling birthday packages for restaurants. He put together a newsletter and sent it to thousands of restaurants. The newsletter described all the fantastic benefits and features of his solutions and why the restaurants should use them. He got absolutely no responses back. A consultant came and told him to forget about the newsletter and send one short email with the following sentence only: Do you organize birthday parties? He got hundreds of positive responses and was able to start communicating with those prospects and engage with them on a “cheesy” conversation. The reason he received such an overwhelming response was that he focused on the cheese (what was important to the prospect), rather than on the cat. So, talk about the CHEESE, not the CAT and your customers will WANT to talk to you. The same consultant went to see a realtor and asked him if he had emails of prospects that he helped in the past but no longer showed interest in his offerings or never ended up selling them a house. He told him to send the following nineword email: Joe, are you still looking for a house? The email incited curiosity from the prospects and the realtor got a huge response. Just like the mice, you can separate everything in your interaction with your clients. When you give them a free report on the 10 things to absolutely know before buying an aluminum boat rather than bombing them with emails or a newsletter telling them how beautiful your product is, they will be more engaged and more likely to buy.

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Stadium speech If you want to maximize the impact of your message, always imagine being in the stadium.

I

magine I could put you in a giant stadium right now as the presenter, and the entire audience is completely comprised of boat buyers. Are you ready right now? Could you walk out on that stage and present your company and product to the crowd? Before you walk out there, the audience is told, “You had to come, but you don’t have to stay. If the presenter fails to keep your interest, you can simply get up and leave.” Now, let me even further complicate the situation by telling you the good news and the bad news: The good news: At any given time, 3% of your prospects are currently in the market to buy your product or service and looking right now to get it. 6-7% are open to it, but not currently looking. The bad news: 30% are not really thinking about your product right now. 30% think they’re not interested (but might be, if you did a good job at presenting to them). 30% KNOW they’re not interested. Remember, 90% of the audience isn’t in the market for your boats at this time. At least they think they’re not interested. That means if you walk out there and start immediately talking about how great your boats are, 90% of your audience is going to get up and leave. You need to open your stadium pitch, with what I call “wow’s.” All great presentations start with information that makes

your prospects say, “Wow, I didn’t know that.” The focus must be on THEM and things of interest to THEM, not you. Rule number one of a great presentation is that it must be focused on the prospect and not on you (at least not initially). The right presentation can increase closing

 

ratios from one out of ten to eight out of ten. Let’s bring that stadium pitch down to its most practical application. Offer prospects something of value outside your product or service, something important to THEM. Let me give you a concrete example. I am offering virtual tours. If I follow the stadium speech formula, only 3% of my prospects are currently shopping for virtual tours. If my sales rep calls a shipyard and hammers out a spiel, do you want to invest in a VT, we offer great ROI, only 3% to 10% would say sure, give me more info. Now, imagine instead that we call and say, “We would like to share with you a free report of 10 proven profit activators for the marine industry.” How many more people would be interested to get in contact with us? You get me now, this is information that is of value to THEM, and creates a “superior access vehicle.” Again, the most important rule for building a killer presentation is to have information that is OF VALUE to your prospects -- even if they have never heard about your products or services. Information that is above and beyond the product or service you are offering will be considered extremely valuable to them.

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Fundamentals into practice When talking about marketing, we can choose an incredible number of different topics. We will not have time to review everything so I decided to put one topic into practice and go a little bit further by giving you the basics and fundamentals to get the best ROI.

PRINT ADVERTISING CHECKLIST I am a digital marketer and always compete with magazines for advertising dollars, so it wouldn’t be wise for me to encourage you to do more print advertising. However, the purpose of this report is not to sell you my service but help you. Stop spending money advertising with full page photos and a 4 word headline. You pay for the commercial space so use it wisely and get the best ROI. I notice that boating companies really believe in print advertising and still spend quite a lot of money on it. I feel that print advertising is wonderful and can bring good results as long as it is done properly, moderately and in the right publications. Every time I pick up a boat magazine I notice that many companies spend money on ineffective print advertising as a result of not respecting the fundamentals of print advertising. Therefore, I have decided to put together a list of tips based on research that I collected from world class experts on the subject.

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Make a compelling message. Compelling is

like when you are stuck in traffic because of an accident. You’re upset because everyone is driving slowly, but when you pass in front of the scene, you stare too. In other words, you cannot not look.

Keep the message simple and crystal clear. Don’t make your message

complex. Work with what you have. Be authentic. Avoid visual banality and use an attractive photo. If you want the viewer to pay attention, show her something she has never seen before.

The types of photographs that work best are those that arouse the reader’s curiosity. She glances at the photograph and says to herself, “What’s going on here?” Photos with “story appeal” are far above average when it comes to attracting attention.

Captions should appear under all your photographs. Twice as

many people read them as read body copy. And make sure you use your captions to sell, not describe!

Long copy – more than 350 words – actually attracts more readers than short copy. Dr. Charles Edwards concluded, “The more facts you tell, the more you sell. An advertisement’s chance for success invariably increases as the number of pertinent merchandise facts included in the advertisement increases.” Direct response advertisers know that short copy doesn’t sell. In split-run tests, long copy invariably outsells short copy. When you have a chance to communicate a lot of different sales points, use call-outs. They are

above average in recall tests.

Headlines: On average, five times as many people read the headlines than read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money. The headlines that work best are those that promise the reader a benefit. Ads with news recall on

average 22% more people than ads without news.

If you can, put a brand name in your headline. If

you don’t, 80% of readers (who don’t read your body copy) will never know what product you are advertising.

Body copy will be read by 10% of the readers but

that 10% consists of the prospects. These people are interested enough in what you are selling to take the trouble to read about it. What you say to them determines the success of your advertisement.

Focus on the clients or your brand. Avoid pointing out

others’ faults or yelling that you are the best in the world.

If you can, try editorial type advertising. Only about

5% of magazine readers actually read the body copy of an ad. However, six times more people read the article content of magazines. Turn that to your advantage. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract more viewers. It makes sense; people purchase a magazine for the content and not for the advertising.

Using testimonials from experts can be extremely effective but even more if you use a photo with them. Use images to make claims more believable. (Remember the thermometer experiment.)

Before or After: Dr. Gallup’s famous study did not find a single before and after campaign that did not increase sales. This can work particularly for shipyards offering refits or interior design companies. Advertisements in color usually cost 50% more than

B&W, but, on average, they are 100% more memorable; a good bargain.

Do not put a period at the end of the headline

Periods are also called full stops, because they stop the reader dead in their tracks. You will find no full stops at the end of newspaper headlines.

Do not set copy in a format that is too wide or too narrow to be legible. People

are accustomed to reading newspaper columns, which are set about 40 characters wide.

Don’t use all caps in title. Remember that our eyes are

creatures of habits. Professor Tinker of Stanford has established that capitals retard reading. They have no ascenders or descenders to help you recognize words, and tend to be read letter by letter.

Show the product in use. It pays to show the product

Help the reader with bullets, asterisks and marginal marks. Limit your opening paragraph to a maximum of 11

words.

After two or three inches of copy, insert a cross-

head, and then follow that pattern throughout the rest of the copy. It will keep the readers interested and willing to move forward.

A subhead of two lines, between your headline and your body copy, heightens the reader’s appetite for more. Set key paragraphs in

bold face or italic.

Using line-spacing

between paragraphs, will increase readership by an average of 12%.

Include a call to action

for each ad, call, email, QR code or URL, coupon etc…

Use real photography.

It has been proven that cartoons, drawings, 3D and other artistic elements attract readers much less than real photography. If you can, avoid using those types of material.

being used, and if possible, the end result of using it. In a commercial for motor oil, show how the pistons look Keep this print after 50,000 advertising checklist in miles. mind when creating your

What size type should I use? In general,

marketing campaigns

Set your copy in sanserif (proven to increase readership).

Type is set black on white and not

in reverse-white (which is proven to decrease readership significantly).

use 12 point but there are always exceptions.

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now let’s have fun and put our checklist into practice to critique a few print ads:

This ad has great story appeal and a solid tag line that makes it a fantastic advertisement.

Great before and after effect that brings a solid story appeal.

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“Jealousy”. This ad has solid story appeal and a simple and effective headline but does it really sell? What will the viewer remember, the paint, the beautiful model or the car? (If it doesn’t sell, it is not marketing)

 

This ad does not have enough story appeal. Capitalization plus period use make the headline difficult to get. Reverse (white on dark) copy on bottom right doesn’t facilitate readership.

 

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This ad wasn’t done to win an advertising award! The car itself conveys the story appeal. Look at the amount of information the readers get from the advertisement. This ad does the work of a salesman. The image logo reinforces the credibility of the brand. The copy is magic and every word chosen perfectly to trigger the desired response.

This ad was done to SELL.

 

This has no story appeal,

bad layout with difficult to read text and hard to view image. It uses no headlines and the copy is set in reverse-white.

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Simplicity and visual clarity of the layout places the focus on the message! It uses editorial type advertising and has solid story appeal. The headline ties into the story appeal of the picture. There’s a perfect testimonial from an engineer (I would add his photo to make the statement more credible).

The body copy is placed in correct relationship to both the picture and the headline so it anticipates the reader’s visual preferences and enhances readability. It features robust buying benefits with long copy and a killer call to action.

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Marketing for Success

I

t is well known that the simplest things we do always generate the most dramatic results. This guide is composed of lots of basic concepts but if you follow them, they will help you to make major improvements in your business. Keep this report on your desk and review it regularly. It contains the basis for your success.

Stop spending money if you don’t reach the destination. However, make sure to spend enough money to do the job properly. The surest way to overspend in advertising is not to spend enough to do a job properly. It is like buying a ticket to go three-quarters of the way to Europe; you have spent some money, but you do not arrive. As a CEO and or marketing manager, you are one of the two most important people in your company, and understanding marketing is absolutely vital for you. Changing the course of your business is not easy but can be done as long as you have a strong willingness to change and are able to adapt and implement new actions quickly. Success belongs to the companies who can adapt quickly in today’s fast changing world. In 1981, no major American manufacturer had built a convertible car for five years. Sensing an opportunity, the CEO Lee Iacocca asked his lead engineer how long it would take to make a convertible for him to test. The answer was three years. Iacocca didn’t understand why it would take so long. It would take him 4 hours to take a chainsaw to a sedan and end up with a convertible. Within a few days, Iacocca had a freshly topless car to drive around to see if women would stare at him (his key indicator). They did, and the LeBaron convertible was born. It was a huge success, selling 21,000 units over projection in the first year. And finally, don’t forget to put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Offer them what they really want and not what you want or what you think they want. Understand “WHY” people LOVE you and your boats, be grateful, positive and jump in ALL THE WAY. Fair winds, Vincent Finetti

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Vincent Finetti is 32 and lives in British Columbia, Canada. He is married and has a 1-year-old son. He graduated with 2 bachelor degrees in coaching and physical education and a Master’s Degree in events management. He was a former athlete and member of the French Swimming National team for 3 years. He loves fishing and anything that floats, and the reason he goes to work in the morning is to help boating companies to sell more boats. He has been involved in pleasure boating for more than 10 years: as a boat broker for four years, boat builder for a year and sales associate in a ship chandler for 6 months. He has owned 13 boats, both sail and motors, over the last 15 years and sailed over 6,000 nautical miles, including a trip from Turkey to the Caribbean. He has spent the last four years travelling from boat show to boat show in Australia, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and North America. When he founded Prestige Vision, he was looking for a way to maximize his own brokerage listings and developed a 360-degree virtual tour process that skyrocketed inquires and sales. Today, this powerful tool serves over 175 boat brands in over 30 countries on five continents—helping to sell thousands of boats worldwide.

Book References Abraham, Jay. Getting Everything You Can out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-think, Outperform, and Out-earn the Competition. New York: Truman Talley /St. Martin’s, 2000. Print. Kennedy, Dan. The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost your Sales. NewYork: Adams Media, 2011. Print. Ogilvy, David. Confessions of an advertising man. [Rev. ed. New York: Atheneum, 19881987. Print. Hopkins, Claude C.. My life in advertising ; &, Scientific advertising. Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC Business Books, 19861966. Print. Holmes, Chet. The ultimate sales machine: turbocharge your business with relentless focus on 12 key strategies. New York: Portfolio, 2007. Print. Levinston, Jay Conrad. Guerrila Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print Kim, W. Chan, and Renée Mauborgne. Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 2005. Print.

Blanchard, Kenneth H., and Sheldon M. Bowles. Raving fans: a revolutionary approach to customer service. New York: Morrow, 1993. Print. Hopkins, Claude C.. My life in advertising ; &, Scientific advertising. Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC Business Books, 19861966. Print. Lehrer, Jonah. How we decide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print. Ogilvy, David. Confessions of an advertising man. [Rev. ed. New York: Atheneum, 19881987. Print Sinek, Simon. Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Portfolio, 2009. Print. Jantsch, John. Duct tape marketing: the world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville: Nelson Business, 2006. Print. Derek Halpern: Social Triggers.com http://socialtriggers.com/

Dean Jackson & Joe Polish: Ilovemarketing http://ilovemarketing.com/

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Notes

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Notes

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A special thank you to all our clients On behalf of our team, we would like to sincerely thank you for allowing us to do what we love. We love boats and we love helping you succeed. Feel free to contact me at any time if you need any help, advice or if you have any questions. Thank you again to all from the bottom of my heart. You made my dream of working in the yachting industry and around the world possible. Vincent Finetti, +1-250-667-2630; [email protected] ; skype: vincentfinetti

Thank You