People and Marketing

Successful Reseller Secret # 1

There are hundreds of ideas and tips for building a successful consulting practice, but none are more important than these two basic rules:
 

• People - You must have good people who are well-trained and properly motivated.
   
• Marketing - You must have a continuous marketing effort that never stops promoting a positive image through a variety of methods such as direct mail, telemarketing, yellow pages, newsletters, radio spots, television spots, newspaper articles, quotes, press releases, public speeches, seminars, trade show booths, brochures, business cards, letter head, and affiliations. You should spend 5 to 10% of your revenue on marketing if you are under $1 million, and 5% if you are over $1 million.

That’s it. That’s the magic formula. It sounds easy I know, but in practice, most companies don't follow these two simple rules. Many resellers don't have good people. They don't have people who care. They don't have people who embrace the challenge of diving right in and mastering their products and their industries. They don't provide good training, they don't provide consistent training. They don't motivate their people properly. Many resellers tell me that your sales people need to earn 40% to 60% of their salary based on performance in order to provide the right kind of motivation. Many resellers don't market consistently, they don't market well, and they take the easiest marketing paths which usually involve spending money and avoid the most effective and more difficult marketing paths that involve hard work such as writing, publishing, public speaking, networking with related companies and the press, etc.

Now that you've read this simple article you may think that it is too simplistic to be helpful. Therefore I now challenge you to take this test and see if you pass?

* YES   * NO    Do you have good people?
* YES   * NO    Are they well trained?
* YES   * NO    Are they motivated?
* YES   * NO    Do you have a continuous marketing effort?
* YES   * NO    Do you market through a variety of methods?
* YES   * NO    Are you conducting direct mail?
* YES   * NO    Are you conducting live seminars?
* YES   * NO    Do you publish small articles in local newspapers, magazines and newsletters?
* YES   * NO    Do you publish press releases regularly?
* YES   * NO    Do you attend trade shows?
* YES   * NO    Are you spending at least 5% of your revenue on marketing?

If you answered no to any question, then perhaps this article will help you identify a major problem in your organization. If you answered yes to all of the above, and your organization is doing poorly, then please call me - I've yet to hear about a reseller who has these simple things going for them that does poorly. Carlton Collins 770.734.0950. Thanks.

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