Graham McGregor: Do you have lazy marketing assets in your business?

A common problem in many businesses is that we have lazy marketing assets. Photo / 123RF

COMMENT: A common problem in many businesses (including my own) is that we have lazy marketing assets.

A lazy marketing asset is something that you have used in the past that worked well to improve your sales results.

However it is now a lazy marketing asset because you have not used it for a while.

Here's a good example:

A few years ago I created a simple one and a half page letter that I hoped would work well to get appointments with high value prospects.

I sent this letter out by courier to four large businesses that I wanted to have as marketing clients.

These businesses included two of the largest banks in the country plus a world famous computer company and a major league car manufacturer.

I made some minor changes to each letter that I sent so it was customised for each business that received it.

I also included an added value bonus with each letter as well.

Within three weeks I had appointments with a key decision maker at each business and one of the banks quickly hired me for a marketing project.

A short time later I modified slightly this same one and a half page letter and sent it by courier to another four businesses.

This time two of the businesses gave me an appointment and both businesses became marketing clients.

I then used this one and a half page letter another dozen times and ended up with a 50 per cent appointment rate and a 20 per cent sales rate.

This meant that half the people I couriered my letter to gave me an appointment.

And 20 per cent of the people I met in these appointments became paying clients for my marketing services.

Then I did something very foolish...

I stopped sending out this letter. And for the last three years I have not used it at all.

In other words my proven letter to get great appointments with high value prospects is now a lazy marketing asset because it is not being used. Why am I telling you this story?

It's pretty simple. Most of us in business do the exact same thing I have done. We try a marketing or sales strategy and it produces good results for our business. We then continue to use this strategy for a while and then stop using it.

So my recommendation this week is pretty simple.

Action exercise:

Ask yourself two questions.

Question one: What sales or marketing strategy have you tried in the last 1-3 years that worked really well in your business?

Question two: Are you using this strategy as much as you could? If 'no', start using it more often.

In case you are wondering I've taken my own advice…

I've just identified 10 new businesses that I would like to have as new marketing clients.

And I've created a modified version of my one and a half page letter to send by courier (along with some added value bonuses) to each business.

The first letter was sent by courier this week and the other nine letters are being sent next week after the holiday weekend.

I'm also offering to customise (for a fee) my one and a half page letter for a limited number of businesses to use as well.

These businesses will then be able to use my letter to get appointments with high value prospects for their own products and services.

In other words I am now using my proven letter to get appointments.

And by sharing it with other businesses it is now a new source of marketing revenue for me as well.

So instead of being a lazy marketing asset now it is now working hard for me.

Just contact me using the email link in this column if you would like further information about the opportunity to use a customised version of my letter to get appointments with high value prospects for your business.

In the meantime look for any lazy marketing assets that are not being used as much as they could in your own business.

And start putting these lazy marketing assets to work!!

"It's not what you've got; it's what you use that makes a difference." - Zig Ziglar.

- Graham McGregor is The Added Value Marketing Expert™. Register at his website www.addedvaluemarketing.com and Graham will give you a free copy of his brand new free guide 'Easy Sales with Added Value Marketing'. (This guide contains ten time tested strategies that any business can use right now to create easy sales and delighted clients and is with Graham's compliments.)