The marketing confessions of a window cleaner
You never really know where your next new business opportunity will come from. But, what’s certain is that the more conversations you have about what you do, the more opportunities you’ll uncover.
And so…
…I recently changed my window cleaner from a traditional ‘ladder-and-sponge’ type of service to a small business offering a ‘hot-filtered-water-up-a-giant-brush-on-a-pole’ service. This was more to do with the fact that it was the only service on offer in my area, but that’s not the point.
The point is that I got chatting the tradesman about the difference in his method and the old ‘flat-cap-Joe’ type. I asked him why he thought his system was better, and whether he was a franchise or not (he had decent kit, a smart uniform and a professionally branded van).
He commented that these weren’t the normal type of questions he gets from his customers, but he explained his set-up anyway, and by return asked what I did for a living.
I told him. We help small businesses with big ambitions to get their marketing sorted.
It was right then, I watched him have a light bulb moment. He told me that the couple that ran the franchise were developing a new business proposition on a national scale, and were currently considering its marketing. Hum! ‘Interesting’ I thought.
To cut a long story short…
The outcome of our chat was that he put me in touch with said business owners. A week later we were having a new business meeting about how Clear Thought could help their business grow with some marketing clear thinking.
This could happen to anyone, whether you are the service provider, or service user. A new business opportunity could materialise at any moment, from any direction, and without warning.
How I was ready
I know that not everyone is naturally chatty (those who’ve met me will know that I am), but in case you find yourself in a similar situation, here’s some tips on being better prepared:
- Always have a practiced short summary about your business memorised (an elevator pitch). This means that at a moment’s notice, and without hesitation, you will always be able to talk about exactly what it is that your business does.
- Always have a pre-prepared selection of questions that will help you find out more about the kind of things that might be on their mind. Then you can deduce if your product or service can help them. Sometimes just asking the right questions can turn a casual chat into a serious conversation.
- Be totally up-to-date with your back-catalogue of literature or online content. Now you can easily point them at a relevant article or case study to substantiate your proposition (I also keep business cards all over the house, my hand bag and my briefcase which point people at our website in particular).
And finally…
Being a small business ourselves, finding leads and turning them into sales is always on a Clear Thinker’s mind. It’s what we preach and it’s what we practice.
I’ve heard sales trainers tell people to “always be selling” – I’m not sure I agree. If someone really isn’t buying then you’ll quickly become a bore and party invites will dry up pretty smartish. I’d say it’s “always be listening” and if there’s a genuine interest and opportunity, be ready to have a conversation. Because from conversations come opportunities, and from opportunities come sales.
By Cheryl Crichton | Associate Clear Thinker | Clear Thought Consulting Ltd | @cherylcrichton | www.clear-thought.co.uk
For more small business marketing tips, particularly on networking – you may like these:
- Blog: Three ideas for the back of your business card »
- Blog: Six things to do before a networking event »
- Blog: Key things to do after a networking event »
- Is this you? A small business with big ideas »
Clear Thought Consulting works with small businesses, equipping them with the marketing strategies, suppliers, skills and set-up that they need to become bigger businesses. We do this by planning and delivering 12-month marketing transformation programmes – supporting a small business through a step-by-step process to making marketing pay. We firmly believe that when you can’t out-spend your competition, you have to out-think them.
Published on 13 December 2010
