Advice for small and medium-sized enterprises on sales and marketing strategies to adopt to attract, retain and grow customers. Lucidity London is an independent marketing consultancy which provides research, strategy and programme implementation services to local, national and international clients from our HQ on the outskirts of London, England. We help our clients inspire growth by combining in-depth analysis with clear insights and practical expertise in marketing and operations.

1. © 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

2. 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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3. Sales & Marketing Strategies Lucidity London Page 3 of 4
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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4. 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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