“Social media is here. It’s not going away; not a passing fad. Be where your customers are: in social media."Lori Ruff - Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencers

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites.

Social media marketing programs usually centre on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A business message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.

"How many kittens must I wade through before I find out what the page is about?!! Sheesh..."facebook

So you've got a facebook page. Now what? How's it working for you? Are you flying by the seat of your pants or have you pulled it apart and worked out how to make it work for you and your business?

Who benefits the most from Facebook marketing?

On the contrary to what many believe, online-business marketing on Facebook benefits small, traditional retailers the most.

Small businesses offer unique products or services to a smaller range of customers and facebook provides an excellent opportunity to reach the exact target audience with a personal approach.

"If I like it, I'll buy it.  Pure impulse shopping."

It begins with creativity. Creativity is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more it grows.

Retail Stopping Power makes casual passersby focus attention on the visual presentation and really consider the merchandise. Once focused they become potential customers and the presentation becomes a "silent seller".  Effective visual merchandising techniques establish and maintain the store's physical (and mental) image in the customer's mind, providing support for the rest of the store's selling effort.  In other words, merchandise should be displayed and signed so effectively that it can sell itself, without the help of a salesperson.  I call it the "got to have it" syndrome...

This seminar enables you and your team to learn or brush up on what impacts customers and how to maximise the silent selling power of your business.

The more you know about your potential customers, the easier it is to make them your customers. No matter what you do, your business will stand for something in the minds of your customers, and potential customers. That something is your niche, also known as positioning.

Whatever niche you select you need to be sure that it can be clearly communicated to your target market. Once you begin to establish that niche, it will be very difficult for anyone to take it away from you.

This seminar looks at cost-effective methods of marketing -  all designed for you to own your niche. Chockablock full of things you can do tomorrow – and the good news is you won’t go broke doing them! You'll walk away with lots of ideas and a desire to get started IMMEDIATELY!

"Men go shopping to buy what they need.  Women go shopping to find out what they want"

Men and women communicate differently. The marketers have worked this out.  You just have to look at the ads specifically designed to entice women as opposedshoes to the ads designed to capture a man’s attention. Two different worlds.  It’s now time for salespeople to “get it!”

The most significant variable in every sales situation is the gender of the buyer, more importantly, how the sales person communicates to the buyer’s gender.

Men and women communicate differently, very differently. Everything from eye contact, to body language, to the usage of language and the processing of information is different in men and women.

A guy walks up to me and asks 'What's punk?'. So I kick over a garbage can and say 'That's punk!' So he kicks over the garbage can and says 'That's punk?', and I say 'No, that's trend!'"

To fulfill customer needs you need to recognise them. And there is stuff going on right now that is dramatically changing the needs and demands of our customers.

Trends come and go so quickly, and at an ever increasing rate, that it can be hard to keep up – let alone spot the authentic ones that will impact upon your business.

In this seminar I will outline the 5 BIG trends that are upon us right now and how they are changing the way we do business … NOW! Ignore them at your peril...

For anyone in sales it is important to be able to recognise the ‘buyer’ type of your potential customer so that you can target your sales activity to them.

In this seminar we teach you the profile of the 8 distinct buying types and how to maximise your opportunity to get them buying – from visual merchandising tips, to communicating with them, special offers and pricing, developing trust and recognising the different shopping styles of males and females.

Recognising the type of buyers you attract (and, yes, you can attract all 8 types) and how to work with them will make it so much easier to target your marketing.  Don't be a slave to 'scatter gun' marketing that only works for a small proportion of your customers.

Not everyone buys on price – learn about the other touch points and what buttons to push with your buyers.

IDEAL AUDIENCE:  Small business owners and senior staff

TIMING:  1 - 2 hours (depending on depth of conversation)

Where to start?   Fill in our Contact Form and we'll be in touch.  Let's start the conversation...

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest learning." Bill Gates

Not just a dated line from an old Carry On movie – the customers are truly revolting.

In an environment of bland global brands, lack of originality in products or service, mass consumerism, a total disregard for any form or sincere or authentic customer service and the ease in which we can now access a wealth of information – from researching competitive brands and prices, to talking direct to the customers of businesses we are considering doing business with (through reading reviews on mobile apps and sites, sharing our experience on blogs, facebook, twitter and other social media sites) customers are saying – enough is enough!

They are voting with their increasingly vocal skepticism. They are no longer prepared to suspend belief. They want what they want on their terms and the world is now small enough that they can always go somewhere else to find it.

'Buy, buy, says the sign in the window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard.' Paul McCartney

Each and every piece of merchandise is important to the success of a retail store. If you have too much merchandise, it’ll stay in your store longer than it should, and your store will be crowded. You’ll eventually have to mark it down, reducing your profits.  You also risk boring your customers if they come into your store and see the same merchandise over and over again.

On the other hand, if you have too little merchandise, your store will look empty and no one wants to come to a store with empty shelves.

The goal of this seminar is to show you how to: buy merchandise; negotiate the best price; price your merchandise for maximum profits; and, finally recognise when enough is enough.  

I present buying strategies in the context of buying from a rep at a trade show, but you can use these strategies when you’re buying from anyone – anywhere.

"You've been drafted into a war you didn't start, ... Focus on your customers and lead your people as though their lives depended on your success."

The biggest mistake made by small business is trying to be all things to all people. Successful customer service is all about finding out what are the most important things for your customers and then being the best at giving it to them.

In this seminar we’ll look at true customer focus –

how to establish a viable target market,
how to identify the key needs and desires of that market, and
how to design a business that singularly focuses upon satisfying those needs.

Find out how to jettison all the stuff that takes up considerable time and resources and isn’t really important to your customers anyway. Just concentrate on what is important to your customers.

IDEAL AUDIENCE:  Business owners and senior staff

TIMING:  2 hours  

Where to start?  Fill in our Contact Form and we'll be in touch.  Let's start the conversation...

Few people today have to respond as quickly to changes in consumer demand as does the retail salesperson. What sold like wildfire yesterday may be dead stock tomorrow. Similarly, salesperson to customer retail sales techniques that may once have worked wonders in our fast-paced world now may lead to disastrous results, especially sophisticated, street-wise consumers who have "heard it all" and "seen it all".

If you're using outmoded techniques or if you fail to understand the psychology of why people buy, your earning power, your career, and your well-being are in jeopardy. If you lack the proper tools and the techniques, the marketplace can quickly become a jungle that will chew you up and spit you out. In fact, staff turnover in retail is among the highest of all industries or professions.

Starting with what to do even before customers walk in the store, progressing through all the critical elements that lead to the sale and offering coaching through your post-sales issues, this seminar spells out what you need to know to increase your sales results every day, regardless of what you're selling.