Where Are You Stuck in The Marketing Cycle?

The very first step to successfully marketing your service-based business is to figure out where you’re stuck in the marketing cycle, or what area of marketing your services needs more work. This article will help you figure out where you may be stuck and what steps you can take right now to getting unstuck.

The Marketing Cycle
The cycle is the same for everyone marketing professional services. The stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle, in order, are: Filling the Pipeline, Following Up, Getting Presentations and Closing Sales.

Why is it important to figure out where you’re stuck? By identifying what needs more work, you’ll know where to focus and which strategies you should start implementing (and leaving other strategies for when you’re further in the cycle).

How do you know where you’re stuck? The answer is mostly instinctual. Most entrepreneurs whom I coach are stuck at filling the pipeline or following up. But if you’re still not sure, go over these questions:

- Are you a new entrepreneur? If you sat down this morning to call all your contacts, would you be done by noon (or sooner)? If you answered yes to these questions, chances are, you’ll want to concentrate on Filling the Pipeline with prospects, leads, contacts and referrals.

- Do you have a stack of business cards from people you haven’t got around to calling since you first met? Are there prospects in your database whom you haven’t contacted in the past 3 months? If you answered yes to these questions, you may be ready to concentrate on Following Up.

- Are you having a difficult time getting an initial meeting, despite repeated follow up? Are your calls ignored or quickly brushed off? A yes to these questions may indicate that you’ll want to focus on strategies that will get you in the door to Getting Presentations.

- Does one objection after another keep you from walking your client through the sales process? Do you give lots of presentations, but are having a hard time closing? If so, chances are you’ll want to direct your marketing efforts to Closing Sales.

So where are you stuck? If you feel like you need to concentrate on more than one area, choose the first one in the order given. If you’re still not sure, start from the beginning.

Copyright. Cristina Favreau. All rights reserved.

Cristina Favreau specializes in helping service professionals who love what they do, but struggle with marketing & self-promotion. If you want to create a super-charged, client-generating, customized 28-day action plan, she would love to help! Cristina’s Get Clients Now(TM) program is your chance to have her by your side for next 28 days, including 3 hours of one-on-one time and an endless supply of tools and strategies to keep you on track and get you unstuck. Check out www.cristinafavreau.com

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