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Supporting Our Local Community: 2011 MS Walk in Durham Region
April 19th, 2011 | 
Author: AMR Media again this year has sponsored the MS Walk in Ajax/Pickering. We are proud to particpate both in the walk and to pledge a local team of walkers.
2011 MS Walk
Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating disease that affects many Canadians. The local Durham Region Chapter offers many services and support to those suffering from MS in the local community. Part of the money raised during the MS Walk will stay within the local Durham Region community and directly impact its member’s lives.
AMR Media is proud to participate again this year in the 2011 MS Walk.
Win A Free iPad at the MS Walk in Durham Region Ontario
The Durham Region MS Society is giving away a free iPad this spring.
As prt of the 2011 MS Walk campaign the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada’s Durham Region Chapter is giving away a free Apple iPad. This is an amazing oppurtunity to both support a much needed cause, the MS Walk in Durham Region, and get a great iPad tablet.The Shandex Group (http://www.shandex.com) graciously donated this wonderful prize for those who sign-up at the MS Walks in Pickering/Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville or Uxbridge.
For more information check out the MS Durham website.
Ajax Downs
Horse Racing at Ajax Downs
See the latest Quarter Horse Racing photos taken at Ajax Downs.
The collection of photos taken in September 2010 showcase the live action that takes place every Sunday and Tuesday.
For more information on the new pictures taken view the photo gallery of the races at Ajax Downs here.
Is business to business sales based on fear?
For many years now I’ve tried to understand the logic or process to how businesses buy stuff, particularly capital equipment. I’ve read and heard many people talk about a wide range of reasons B2B customers purchase from them. If you were to get 5 sales people in a room and ask them they would all have different reasons. Here are some of the more common reasons I’ve heard.
Relationship Sales: They buy from me.
Now I have to laugh at this one. Come on lets think about it here. You’re so special to this ‘customer’ that they will buy from you because of you? Or even be persuaded by you? Ok I’ll give in to the persuasion but I can’t help but laugh at the part that the sales person is the key. If this were the case then every ‘good’ sales person would win every order and price would never be an issue. Now that never happens.
Agreed you do have to have a relationship with your prospect in order to sell them your products or services. But it is far from the most important trick in a salesman’s bag. What about from the supplier’s point of view. We are a large industrial capital equipment manufacturer and our customers purchase from us because of the relationship our customers have with our sales team. WHAT! How can any business survive on such an outrageous belief.
Customers buy because we are the best in the industry.
Ok we all want to and feel we are the best. Get over it, you’re not. Every major industry has at least 3 top companies, each of which offers something very close to the same product. The differences are generally so minimal that the customer sees you as all the same. This is why every company making a capital purchase mandates having 3 quotes. Being the best is extremely difficult to quantify. Take the automotive industry. Here you would think it would be easy to determine who the best was. Find a car that goes the furthest on the least amount of fuel and delivers reliable comfortable driving. Yea like I thought, you don’t even know where to start. So being the best isn’t the critical key to success in selling capital equipment or for that matter anything else.
We offer the most features.
Somewhat like being the best features and benefits are often a cloud that customers walk through. Capital equipment sales are synonymous with complex sophisticated technology. Many manufacturers dream up cool catchy terminology to help differentiate themselves from the competitors. This then becomes a tool to setup an advantage for buyers to purchase form you. I remember when Chrysler was in the middle of the mini van war. They advertised that they had the most cup holders then any other manufacturer. Now hold on, do we really need or could even use 27 cup holders? No we wouldn’t and that became such a useless reason to buy. So features and benefits are not the primary thing buyers use to decide what to buy.
We’re the lowest price.
Starbucks coffee comes to mind when I hear that. They are far from the lowest priced coffee in the marketplace. I don’t have much to say on price other then it is usually a scapegoat for either the customer or the sales person. Sales people will use it when they have lost an order and can’t find a way to rationalize the loss. Customers will use it when they what to get rid of you. They see no value in what you are selling and as such force you to see that. So price is as well not the biggest driver to purchase.
So what is the main reason people buy capital equipment?
FEAR
Fear is the underlining reason all purchases are made in a business to business sale. Ok stop screaming at me, it is. I challenge you to list any other reason that isn’t connected to a fear. So lets go through the top reason why people buy.
Relationship
The fear is that the buyer doesn’t want to make the mistake of purchasing the wrong thing. This fear will drive a person to seek out someone who he can trust. This trust is what is thought of as a relationship.
Being the best
Again the buyer sees his neck on the line when they are making a purchase. The culture within this company may be such that they need the best in order to be successful. It’s this fear that drives them to seek out ‘the best’ based on their perspective.
Features
Some people are very fearful that they won’t get ALL the bells and whistles in a product. This is why Chrysler made a product with 27 cup holders.
Price
This is fairly obvious. The buyer is fearful that they will be ripped off and pay more then they need to for your type of product.
3 Important Tips In Capital Equipment Sales
- Find the customers ‘hot button’
- Associate a fear with the ‘hot button’ and describe how you solve this fear.
- Don’t over do the ‘fear’ association. Plant the seed and let it grow.
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Strategic Checklist for Successful Email Marketing
The key to any successful strategy is to continue to develop, review and refine to form a comprehensive strategy. Knowing what works and what doesn’t is critical in moving forward. Often marketers fail to see their own pitfalls for fear of being embarrassed or worse reprimanded. An open approach will allow you to see not only what didn’t work but more importantly what did. It’s the ‘did’s’ that you build on to improve your strategy.
Where to start when developing a framework for success?
For small companies an often overlooked area that has a huge impact is brand equity. Your company has a brand regardless of how small or large it is. Your customers, prospects and competitors know you and have developed their impression of you company. This is part of your brand and is better kept under your control then someone else’s.
Email Marketing Strategy Checklist.
Email Branding
Message Design
Do you message reflect accurately your brand? When design your email and especially when you use a template it’s very important to make sure the look and feel is inline with your brand image.
Content
Does the content within your email follow your brand image? Does it compliment and strengthen your brand or does it confuse viewers?
Landing Pages
Landing pages are one of the best places to ‘brand’ your company. Make sure your landing page, destination pages And responders all follow a comprehensive brand image.
Opt-in
Your opt-in pages and processes must follow your brand strategy. Remember that first impressions count and opt-in pages are set the tone. Make sure this page strengthens your brand equity.
Welcome Messages
Do your messages deliver the same message your brand does? When welcoming a new prospect this page sets the tone for how they see your company. Make sure it fits your overall brand strategy.
Segmentation
Demographics
Are you tracking and using every piece of information you have on your contacts? Don’t stop with the first name or company name. Look to more common facts shared throughout your database. Focus and deliver your message to like groups and speak in a way that addresses their needs.
Click Through Activity
What happens after you send out the email? Are you tracking analytically data on your website and closing the loop with your email campaigns? This is a great opportunity to can insight and measure the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.
Purchasing Activity/Conversion
Can you segment your lists to show conversion history and purchasing? Integration of conversion data with your segmentation processes will give you a clearer understanding of these groups.
Variable Content
IS your content the same for all segments? If so you are missing a great opportunity to focus and target your message. Define your segments clearly and use these boundaries to develop your email content.
Click Stream
What happens after they click? Look beyond the initial click to track what happens next. Knowing where users go after the initial click can give you valuable insight to each segments behavior.
Conversions
What are your conversions? Do you simply count purchases or do you have other measurable for conversions? Have a few different conversions to measure; remember your users and segment groups behave differently.
Basic Analytics
Do you measure the basic information on your website? Tracking and watching simple items on your website will open the door in to patterns both as a whole and for each target group.
Building an effective email marketing strategy requires regular review and refinement. Begin with defining some common and measurable characteristics within your industry. As you refine your strategy you will add new items and define more clearly others. This process and the analysis of data collected will begin to show patterns and behaviors that in turn will help to drive your marketing strategies and business goals.
Tags: marketing tips, marketing tools, newsletter marketing, Online Marketing, online marketing tips, online newsletter, opt email list, sales and marketing plan, sample marketing strategy, small business marketing, strategic marketing, technology marketing, web marketing, website marketing |
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