Do one thing and do it better than anyone – Orville Redenbacher

In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!, law #5 is the law of Focus.  It states the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.  Narrow the focus to a single word or concept. It is always better to focus on one benefit, rather than two or three.  Examples are FedEx - overnight delivery and Domino’s Pizza -home delivery.

Companies trying to offer too many services spread themselves too thin.  They can easily be beaten by companies who specialize in just one service.

I applied this law to marketing my wife’s property management company.  We noticed most of the competition were not just property managers, but also realtors.  By focusing only on property management, we gained an advantage over the realtor/property management companies.

Most of our clients say they chose us because we are not realtors.  If you are looking for a property manager, why would you hire a realtor?

The targeted anti-realtor message is on all of the marketing for the company.  We have branded ourselves as an alternative to the realtor/property management companies, and occasionally take a few jabs at the competition.

Now that the company has grown to a significant size, it is tempting to add realtors, mortgage, title or other services to create new revenue streams, but this would weaken our message and we would just blend in with everyone else.

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Does anyone have time to talk on the phone anymore?  Do your prospects really want to talk to you?  Are you cold calling?  Seriously?

With Facebook and the other million social media sites, your customers have plenty of friends.  They are not looking for someone to get to know, they want someone who is going to get the job done and not waste their time.

The internet has changed the way people buy forever.  The consumer now can do research, compare prices and make purchases online without ever talking to a salesperson.

As a customer, I would prefer not to hear a sales pitch, have an awkward conversation, feel pressured or listen to some slick salesperson trying to close the deal. 

As a small business owner, I would rather communicate by email.  This gives me a chance to edit the conversation, give my full attention, not be surprised or need to rely on thinking on my feet.

When people visit my website and are interested, they fill out the contact form (where only name and email are required fields), which sends an email to my phone so that I can immediately respond.  From there, we will email back and forth a couple of times to work out the details. By the time we actually talk, it is a done deal.

Customers today only want to talk to you after they have made a decision to buy, and only if buying requires that they talk to you.

If your website is visible, with a powerful message and clear call to action, closing the deal is just a matter of getting out of the way and not saying anything stupid.

Once you have a happy customer, then you can sell, up-sell, deepen the relationship and ask for referrals.

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I used to watch the people at work run around all day long talking about how busy they were.  They would talk about all the things they had to do, but never really accomplished anything.  They were very active, but not at all productive.  If they didn’t  have anything to do they would get really nervous.  I think most were afraid if they stopped they would realize how miserable they were.

Since employees are basically just renting out their time, I would hear things like, ‘I like to be busy because it makes the time go faster.”  If you stop and think about it, you are saying that you want to speed up your time.  Since you are going to die someday, maybe that is not the best approach, maybe you should find something productive and meaningful to do with the limited amount of time you have.

What are you busy doing?

Focus on producing, it makes you feel good and creates the things that you want in life.  You will get things done and achieve your goals.  You will value your time and enjoy your life, instead of just trying to hurry up and get it over with.

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I recently signed up for Google Voice, and I have to say that I am impressed.  Another superior product offered by Google for free. 

My wife’s property management company covers three counties, that have two different area codes.  Since our office is in one area code, I was considering adding a line with the other area code to appeal to the prospective clients in that area.  With Google Voice we were able to create a phone number in the other area code, and just have it forwarded to our regular office line (problem solved).

This helps out with local business marketing as you can create new phone numbers to have the same area code as your potential clients.  By doing this you also give the perception that you might have more locations or be bigger than you are.  It is very easy to then create a widget to put on your websites and blogs, so that customers can just click on it and have Google connect their call for free.  This is a very clear, convenient call to action for your marketing.

Google Voice has many cool features, but I like the voicemail the best.  When I answer the phone it will say the person’s name and I can decide if I want to pick it up immediately, send it directly to voicemail or listen in on the voicemail with the option to pick up.  I also have my voicemails transcribed and emailed to me.

Google Voice is currently by invitation only, but you can request an invite here.

Yes, Google now has your phone calls, emails, searches, blogs, blog feeds, analytics and they want your health records too.  No, you do not have any privacy.  Yes, Google is taking over the world and there is nothing you can do about it, so don’t worry and just enjoy it.

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If you go to the National Small Business Association website you will see find aides and information for starting a business. The NSBA has a regional office near many major cities.

I owned a small business and I vividly recall those stressful days. With three young children, it was difficult to make payroll.  But, it was worse paying the government taxes, not to mention healthcare costs.

We are inundated daily with promotional ads by every conceivable organization and causes that have been underwritten by lobbyists. Small business owners do not have a voice in Congress. They have no powerful lobbyists waging daily campaigns on their behalf. Solution! Let’s start a not-for-profit Small Business Organization.

It won’t be easy. We all have skills we can contribute to give our politicians the real picture of the backbone of not only American business, but America. Eventually, we’ll have the money and lobbyists to get the real story out!

Crazy? I don’t think so. Email me your thoughts.

Frank is a media consultant in Treasure Island, Florida with over thirty years of television and radio management experience. Contact Frank for consulting on marketing, advertising and branding.

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