As a marketing consultant, you know what marketing is and what it does. Marketing’s job is to pull buyers to you. Given that you know the channels through which to communicate, it is the creative approach of the message that will deliver a response.
My most favorite Pyramid Awards are those given to distributor self-promotion. These awards are given to those who spend their own money, not other people’s money. It is given to those who have scored well with a self-promotion and the award epitomizes practicing what they preach. I appreciate the message they deliver and the response mechanisms they provide. I could care less if they send an apple, an orange or banana. I leave that creativity to our superstar gurus like Mary Ellen Pahlka-Sokalski.
If a company positions itself as a creative agency and individuals position themselves as consultants, they have moved beyond being considered “merchants of stuff” and are poised to help clients and prospects navigate areas where outside expertise is needed:
Safety motivation and performance audit
Loyalty motivation and performance review
Wellness motivation and performance review
Marketing program and performance review
Sales motivation and recognition review
Here's a sampling of how to leverage the area of expertise you choose to focus on using a courtesy review:
***
We offer A Courtesy Review:
Our agency specializes in (safety, loyalty, wellness, marketing,…). Each year we review the results, trends and most current techniques for our client’s to achieve their goals. We offer you the opportunity to have our expert team conduct an evaluation which will help you ensure your efforts and achieve your goals for 2020 and beyond. As with our current clients, we will provide this service with no cost or obligation on your part. Our reviews have provided a roadmap for businesses in our community to increase sales, retain and recruit with greater efficiency, lower costs in business premiums and lighten the burden on executives assigned with tasks they can easily outsource. Additionally, many of our reviews bring with them concepts and ideas from our marketing team that we suggest without any creative fees.
***
This is a formal letter that can be accompanied by a glamor piece as well. It is a serious offer to establish your credentials and open the door to a sit-down. When you get a sit-down, the recon you bring back is priceless. The problems and needs are there for identification and ultimately should earn you an invitation to solve it all.
I consulted for “The College Board”. I had no less than 10 billable hours of interviews reviewing their work. It gave me the basis to make recommendations for new testing enterprises. I was invited in to do a review. I had nothing to sell them after my job was done, other than another consulting gig - I was a true consultant. My point is that they needed the outside review for their entire team to evaluate and get on the same page for their future work. I found a politically divided company and they were less so when I left.
Is there anyone out there who owns a business where they have not received a call, e-mail or mailing from an insurance company, accounting firm, HR consultant and the like. They all come knocking on the door seeking an opportunity to review what we are doing and apply their experience to help us.
Reviews need to be accomplished by the end of summer. Every budget, every major change is conceptualized and presented in a physical year budget. Hence, most changes for 2020 are decided in October/November.
So the take away is as usual. Allocate no less than one day a month to be your own VP of Marketing. Create a quick campaign with “review” as the theme. Execute it for no less than 100 prospects and reuse it each year in a similar timeframe. If it does not work, can it! If it produces a 1% response, take yourself out to dinner … you are a marketing all-star.
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.