Expo Scotland Seminars – 2 April 2014

Mike Lever – To Buy or not to Buy
Psychology of human behaviour

What happens in the customers mind?
Story starts with Adam Smith, recognised as the founder of economics. Started predicting human behaviour – demand and supply curve. This model sets the price but this is not always what happens. There are differences at both ends of the spectrum. Rolls Royce has just had their best year despite the economic recession. There comes a point where it just becomes too cheap to believe i.e buying an iPad in the pub.

So now Consumer Behaviour models are more important because of its two categories:-
Rational and Predictable.
Human behaviour is rational and it's not.
Prediction can just be a law of probability.

Nobody ever enthuse about putting fuel in you car. It is never seen as a positive customer experience. But a glass of wine that work out at £22 per litre can. What's the difference? Pleasure, its an emotion that affects consumer behaviour.

You can feel positive about a place if you have been there before and had a good experience. It makes you good to be there. Therefore need to make customers feel positive about you.

When your customer is in a happy mood they are better placed to make decisions. They can be more receptive to information and will be more adventurous. You can up sell and cross sell more easily.

What is the one thing that you can do to make your customers more positive?

Car dealership that asks for customer testimonials. Title as car dealership of the year would help. Engaging on a different topic, taking an interest in customers can translate into sales.
Being transparent, allow customer to believe and trust in your product.

How to see yourself as customers see you:-
Find out with questionnaires and find out what can be done to influence customers first impressions. Most businesses look at their business through their own eyes. Real and personal customer experiences matter. Find out what they think.

Whenever there is customer contact always leave them in a better place than they first met you. Customers can become advocates and ambassadors for you business.

Networking for Dummies
Stefan Thomas

Author of Business Networking For Dummies

Attending a networking event for the first time can create a situation where you believe and convince yourself that everybody else is better than you, better businesses, better at networking.

Need to relax into it. Speaking to the guy next could introduce you to everyone but sometimes the person with no one next to them is in that position for a reason.

Business networking events ask you to introduce yourself in 60 seconds. This can be daunting but be a confident presenter. Joke, make positive body impact, positive facial impressions (smile) and end with strap line.

When you do not have a job and identity, you do not have anything to put on a business card. Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself requires you to get out of your comfort zone.
Toddlers don't do that, they are in an adventure zone. If business is quiet get adventurous.

Get more out of business networking
Evian water – they have lots of competitors so they have to get your attention. Red top is used on their bottles since its associated with danger or action and we are hard wired to notice red first. Branding message includes pictures of white capped mountains. Picture of a young attractive sports person because we like to be associated with these people and think we might even be that person. We pay £1.99 for a bottle of Evian while others sell at much less.

Once people take notice of us, we them need to impress and express what is important to your customers. What is really unique about you? If you have good customer service that's good but no one ever admits their customer service is not good.

Deliver what you are saying with passion and confidence. Excite your audience.

When does the DFS sale end?
We know that they have cheap sofas but they continually advertising so that at the point at which we think of buying you are in our minds.
If not there when people want to buy then you are not in the picture.

If you don't use Twitter and your customers do, then you need to be there.

If you don't use Google+ and your customers do, then you need to be there.

Note continually what your customers are doing, interested in etc.
I know a Carpet fitter, computer engineer but when we meet they do not ask do you need a carpet fitted, do you need a computer fixed. Networking is not about stuffing a business card into people's hands. Get on to customers turf.

Never underestimate who the people around you are, who they are connected to and what they might become.

Pitching your business
Mel Sherwood – the Pitch Bitch

There is a fear of public speaking and a reluctance to blow your own trumpets. People can do themselves a disservice.

Crippling stage fright, memory loss, hesitation, repetition, crisis of confidence.

Ability to communicate is crucial to your success. You need to be pitch ready.

You need to know who, why and how you are going to say it.

Tools in elevator pitching are the three Cs.

C Clarfiy your objective
What do you want to achieve? It is not about selling, it is about grabbing your attention and curious to find out more. Get people interested. General message will usually stay the same.

C Creating your content
Clear and concise, target who you are working with, what is their problem, how can you solve it? What makes you different? Why but from you as opposed to everyone else?
Stories and evidence, case studies.
Questions can be good for making instant connection, immediate impact.
Be clear about how you want people to react I.e. Visit your shop.
What you do. Start talking about the benefits of what you do rather than the features.

C Communicate
With confidence, credibility and conviction.
Be prepared, be you, sincere. Speak with enthusiasm and passion.

Great pitch would be engaging.
Voice commanding
Confidently delivered
End with a call to action

Attitude has to be right, address the opportunity in a positive manner, let the pressure go. This can come through in your voice. Do not talk in a monotone. Make interesting by varying pitch and tone. The lower your voice, the more authoritative you come over.

Nervous voices with um's and ah's are a no no.
Open hand and eye gestures, smile, help power poses.

The Importance of Being Relevant
Teresa Jackson

Email marketing campaigning
Easy to measure what works, who opens, who reads, who clicks through and outperforms other channels.
Email success because they know the sender, reputation and know who you are reason to open. Up to 60% open because they know and trust the sender.
Content first and then design.
Average open rate is 21%, click through rate is just about 3%

First need to collect email addresses
Suggestions on how to collect
Add a note to usual email signature
Have a sign in form from Facebook or website
Create an offer
Host your own event

Buying lists is possible

Send welcome email as an introduction
Include a giveaway
Don't forget to include unsubscribe option

Getting your emails open:-
Key is knowing the sender
Subject line with good info
Must be valuable

Don't use Outlook choose an marketing software.
Subject lines – tell don't sell. Better if it sounds useful to you. Must be simple and to the point. Subject must match expectations or you will get deleted before opening in future.
Localise is good
If regular newsletter, make subject line different not the generic one every time.
Relevant content NOT a market trader.
Try to segment list in advance and then send to just those interested.

Segmenting data.
There is the ability to get away from spray and pray.
Targeted emails will build reputation and improve open rates and increase subscribers.
Lists can categorise into segments – product, geography etc.

Customer persona
Job, age, sex, interests, cares for, how can you make life easier for her.

Try and avoid spam filters.

Permissions
Implied because they have you business card
Explicit – when you ask
Confirmed – when you have to enter your email on a website in order to get something.

Unsubscribe
Remind people how they got on to your list in the first place.
Human spam filter – they do not want to read everything you send.
Send too frequently and you will get unsubscribes.

Junk folder will attract
Excessive use of exclamation marks
Large fonts
Why pay more
Last chance to win
Click here

Emails need to be able to be read on a mobile

Test your sign up form:-
From: field must be your address and the one your clients are expecting
Subject lines: try different things and monitor success.
Content: do not over complicate
Abandoned basket technology tries to win back customer
Pre header can be a sales tool

Stand out with Social Media
Sam Flynn http://www.samflynn.co.uk

Not many go out and inform businesses how to use Social Media. Sam runs workshops on Twitter, Linked in and Facebook.

Standing out is the difficulty. Strategy has to be first and foremost.
Lots are using it in the wrong way.
1% very little, 4% small amount, 15% some, 60% the odd thing. 20% nothing.

Personality
Brandonality – every business has a personality. No two personalities are exactly the same so need to stand out as a business. You are the face, so be me on social media.
Virgin – Richard Branston is the face of the brand.
Social media can be boring so make entertaining and stand out.

Businesses like yours are using social media, others socialise.

No one goes on social media to buy. They go on Amazon.
Trust of brandonality is why people follow you on social media. Sales messages on social media are a turn off. The more you trust a business the more likely you are to do business with them.

Post
Useful information, something that adds value to followers day. Be the expert on social media.
Business broadcast: telling people what goes on in your business today. Gives them more of an understanding. Do not turn it into a sales pitch. The more information you share the more you harmonise with your customers.
How do you get responses: ask a question to get that interaction.
Personal: non business related, it's the new business on a golf course. Should be 50/50.
Offers and competitions: that's the time to sell. Deadline offers that add value.

Too many businesses see the word Media. It is really Social. Be social on social media to see any impact. Engage the target market. You need to listen and not just broadcast. The more conversations, the more business. Why would you not want to be talking to your customers? It is a quick fire way of talking to them.

Do not speak to everyone on Twitter, converse with only those who are important. Power of the retweet is high. Reply and use mentions. @_samflynn

Inbox messages are important on Linked in. Comments on status updates stand out in making yourself known. Comment on others comments.

On Twitter use searches. Tweet about chipped windscreen and within 30 seconds tweet back from Autoglass.

Followerwonk.com allows you to find people interested in certain topics. Searches for key words in biographies.