When developing your company’s position you can use a number of methods and resources. One very useful method is to find your “Stadium Pitch,” a concept first described in a book “The Ultimate Sales Machine” by Chet Holmes.
The Stadium Pitch postulates the idea that an entire stadium, let’s say the Telstra Dome in Sydney, is filled with 80,000 potential clients or customers for your business. You are led to the centre of the field, given a microphone, and told you can say anything you want to turn them into your buyers. A daunting task for many, but what would you say? What would be the first thing that comes out of your mouth?
Here is how I think most people would start. “Hello my name is Fred Smith, and I am very pleased to be here. I just want to welcome you to the stadium. Blah, blah, blah, blah…” By this point you have spoken for 30 seconds and have said nothing of interest to your potential clients. Everyone is already completely bored and half of the people are getting up to walk out. What can you say that will keep the people in their seats? An effective way of immediately gaining people’s interest is to tell them something that they did not know. Remember, these people already have something in common with you. They are potential clients.
What if you told them, for example, some of your industry’s statistics? Let’s say you are in financial planning. You walk to the microphone and you say: “Did you know that in the next twenty years, seven out of ten people sitting in this stadium will retire with less than fifty thousand dollars in the bank?” If you were in the audience, what would you do? Would you leave at this point, or would you sit there curious and ready to hear more? Of course you would choose the latter.
Taking this approach, you have spoken for maybe five minutes, and have kept everyone firmly riveted to their seats. At the same time, you have likely interested many of your potential clients to ring your number. When they do, you will have the chance to obtain their contact information to send them the reports. You have suddenly increased your mailing list of leads that may convert into actual clients.
Become an Expert
Another way to position your business in the market, as well as generate more clients and revenue, is to become an expert in your niche. Becoming an expert is deceptively easy; you simply declare yourself as one. You may feel this approach is unethical but consider, in your own business, you probably are an expert.
As an expert, potential clients and customers look up to you and regard your word as authoritative. Just be sure to have the right knowledge and experience and make that known to all too.
To increase your standing as an expert there are several methods you can employ.
Publicity
Use press releases to attract the interest of radios, televisions, magazines, and newspapers. Being billed as an expert by these media venues will help you gain notoriety as an expert in your field.
Author a Book
Writing a book used to be more difficult. But these days, you don’t have to be picked up by a large publishing house to be an author. You can self-publish a book quite inexpensively and use it as a marketing and promotional tool.
For instance, you want to write a book about the ten ways to increase your superannuation. A book on this subject of approximately a hundred or so pages can be both informative and entertaining. All you need to do is provide the basic information such as the outline or some notes and have a ghost writer write it. You can have the entire book edited, formatted and printed by professionals so that you end up with a high quality publication based on your concepts and ideas.
Another way to use a self-published book is as a giveaway in your store. This concept works regardless of the type of store or business. For example, if you have a fashion store, you can write a book about fashion. For a beauty salon, you can write about improving your image. For a mortgage broker, you can write about getting the best loan.
Having the book for sale at your business can be an effective marketing tool too! When potential clients see that you are the author, they will treat you with respect and buy from you with trust.
In addition, books have an element of longevity. If you send out a free report, no matter how nicely presented on A4 paper, it will likely end up in the dust bin in a matter of days. But a good book stays much longer. People even pass them around and may give them away, which makes them less likely to be thrown away. Also, books are surprisingly affordable and inexpensive to produce.
About the Author
“Murray Priestley has 25 years of commercial and asset management experience having served in board, CEO and senior executive positions with a number of global public and private companies.”