© 2014 Lucidity London l www.luciditylondon.com

Top 10 Sales & Marketing Strategies

How to Get, Keep and Grow Customers

Research Strategy Implementation

LUCIDITY LONDON Inspiring Growth

Sales & Marketing Strategies Lucidity London Page 2 of 4

Think Big and Audit your Time

No matter the size of your business, place a mental image in your mind as if you are

the largest and most successful person in your industry. How much time is

consumed by routine office work which someone else should be doing? Spend more

time on more important tasks such as marketing strategies, improving relationships

with customers, and implementing new strategies to expand your services.

Be Different and Stand Out from the Crowd

To offer, or at least appear to offer, better products and/or services than your

competitors, you need to innovate continually. So, keep your approach fresh by

finding out what your customers need, and then find solutions to those problems.

How do you make this happen? Talk to your existing customers. Conduct a survey

of current issues they face. This will give you a starting point around which to

construct new ideas. Do this regularly and you will build a growing pool of ideas.

You’ll also stay at the cutting edge of your industry because you will be tackling

current problems.

Build Relationships with your Customers

As each month goes by, you lose contact with up to 10% of your customers.

Create a customer database and keep in contact with them on a regular basis.

Send a postcard, a birthday card, a promotional flyer, a newsletter etc. to keep

your name, phone number, and service at the top of their mind when they consider

purchasing in your category.

Collect E-Mail Addresses

As part of your customer relationship process get permission from your customers

to use their E-mail address. Periodically send updates and notices to your client

list. As long as you have their permission and avoid overuse, e-mail can be a

powerful and inexpensive marketing tool. A local pizza delivery service ran an

anniversary promotion offering a pizza for the 1980’s price. To get this special

price, customers had to go to their website and register their email address. A

special anniversary coupon was then emailed to them. They collected 500 email

addresses in just two days!

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Avoid Poisonous Personalities Negative and unfriendly employees cost you money by chasing customers away.

Spend more time and money interviewing and hiring the right people, especially

those who enjoy helping people. Use behaviour based interviewing and screening

assessments to improve your chances for hiring success.

Put a Shopping Cart on your Website

Online sales are still growing at a dramatic pace. According to IMRG/Capgemini’s

e-Retail Sales Index, gross online retail sales are predicted to be worth £107 billion

in 2014, up from £91 billion in 2013. This increase is coming from people who want

to save time, followed closely by avoiding crowded stores, and the ability to shop

outside of store hours. Make an audit of what services and products you can offer

online.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Many business owners have cut back on classified advertising and instead they’re

using pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click will ensure you receive top visibility

on websites driving more customers to your door. Advertisers bid on keywords and

the more popular the keyword, the more expensive each click is. Prices vary

between a few pence to many pounds. The most popular pay-per-click advertisers

are found on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Use Customer Service Commandments to Create Good Habits

The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain invented the use of Customer Service

Commandments, outlining specific behaviours employees are to demonstrate

when dealing with customers and fellow employees. They print the commandments

on a small card and employees carry it with them at work. Furthermore,

supervisors reinforce good customer service by quizzing employees on one

commandment each day, and reward those that respond correctly.

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If you need help with marketing, call 0208 241 3730 or visit www.luciditylondon.com

Lucidity London is an independent marketing consultancy which provides research, strategy and

programme implementation services to local, national and international clients from our HQ in

London. Our mission is to help clients inspire growth in their organisations and we achieve this by

combining in-depth analysis with clear, actionable insights and practical expertise in delivering

marketing programmes.

Take your Message to the Media

Local newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations are always looking for

stories and topics of interest. If you’ve got some good news, collaborate with the

media and let your customers, suppliers and everyone else know how wonderful

your business is. Do you have an event planned, a new service to launch or an

interesting story with a regional angle to tell? If so, let the local (or even national)

media know about it through a press release.

Take Advantage of Trends

For some an economic downturn is an opportunity in disguise. A study by leading

strategy consultancy Bain & Co found that twice as many companies make the

leap from laggards to leaders during a recession than during periods of economic

calm.

No one can predict the future with any degree of certainty, but you can get a

handle on trends, which is one way to take advantage of change and convert risks

into opportunities. The ability to spot trends before others is, of course, extremely

difficult, however if you want to get ahead of your competition you must try to

understand drivers of change to discover new opportunities. For example, you

could ask your best customers how to improve their level of satisfaction with your

products and/or services.

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