Most businesses operate in a fairly small concentric circle around their business address. In that trading area they try to maximize their opportunities. How do they do that? By taking prospects through the sales funnel.
Often, the traditional sales funnel can be shortened by making it easy and obvious to do business with you. Even if it is easy, the prospects must find you first.
Make sure you are listed in appropriate directories.
Google Local http://www.google.com/local/add
Yahoo! Local http://www.listings.local.yahoo.com
Bing Local https://www.bingplaces.com
InfoUSA http://dbupdate.infousa.com/dbupdate/index.html
Yellow Pages http://listings.yellowpages.com/Services/ServiceClaimSearch.aspx
Yelp https://biz.yelp.com/signup
In addition, the old standbys like direct mail, coupon packs, ads in local papers and flyers in mailboxes still work when properly executed.
Let me share two examples that were not well done.
- Century Buffet: The coupon insert says, “Chinese, American & Japanese Restaurant”. Then on the side they start talking about Mongolian Grill BBQ. So, what kind of food are they specializing in? Do I have to wait for the “cook” to prepare my food or can I pick it up at the buffet table? Even funnier is how they cannot tell time. I remember working with my kids when they were first graders about telling time with the big and little hands. The ad says lunch is served “11 AM till 3:15 PM”. Then, dinner starts at 3:20pm. Where did the 5 minutes go—to the twilight zone?
- Snow removal et aI: I received a ½ sheet of paper in my mailbox. The firm seemed to have typed up a short ad. However, with all the snow we receive in New England, they expanded the ad. They poorly handwrote some other services. Mixed in were runs to the dump and cleanouts.
The additional info was taped onto the original ad and photocopied. How do I know? I can see the lines where it was copied. Why would I do business with what looks like a fly-by-night company? What if they fell off of my roof while raking snow off of it?
The Takeaway
Many of us would like to support our local businesses. Make it easy to be found and look and act professional when we find you
Over to you. Those are the ideas. Please comment below.
- How do you make sure you are found by potential customers?
- Would you eat at the restaurant or use the services of the roof raking company?
- How do you like to find local companies?
If you would like to contact me, you may do so by visiting my LinkedIn page, following me on Twitter, or e-mailing me at rcberman2 (at) yahoo (dot) com.
