Kaizen Marketing Explained

Last week, I introduced the concept of Kaizen Marketing.

Today, let's take it further -- all the way to the bank -- by examining how you market, then finding ways to improve, one small step at a time.

First, your marketing: What is the #1 way you find, get, and keep clients for your business?

Is it a web page that sells your service online? Answering the phone from prospects who see your ad or your web site and call for more information? Is it networking, attending trade shows, or public speaking? What is the most effective thing you do to find, get, and keep clients?

You can't improve what you don't measure, so describe your #1 marketing activity in detail. Answer these three questions:

1. How many phone calls/emails/web page visits do you get per week?
2. What EXACTLY do you say or write in response to these inquiries?
3. How many sales result?

When you know these 3 things about your #1 marketing activity -- number of inquiries; your sales message; number of sales ...

... you can ask yourself this second question: What are you doing to get better? (That's the kaizen part of Kaizen Marketing.)

Here are small, simple ways to improve your #1 marketing activity ...

To get more inquiries, you could add more keywords to your Bing or Google Adwords account, or bid higher on clicks; you could give a lunch-time talk to the local Chamber of Commerce; or you could mail a prospecting letter to a list of targeted prospects.

To improve your sales message, you could test different headlines, prices, and offers using Google Website Optimizer; you could read a book on sales from someone like Dan Kennedy or Tom Hopkins; or you could create a sales script based on proven versions from experts like Donald Moines.

Now. Before you think or say, "I'm already doing this!" ask yourself: "How well am I doing this?"

Unless you're getting as many prospects as you can possibly handle AND you're converting 100% of sales opportunities, congratulations! You can do it better. And you can start improving today, one small step at a time.

I say small because tiny, continuous improvements are at the heart of kaizen.

Rather than bet everything on one huge promotion that might flop, you're better off making small, sure improvements every day. Do that and you'll add 250 improvements to your marketing efforts every year, if you take weekends off and 2 weeks of vacation.

Again, you may think, "I don't have time for small steps. I want more sales and profits NOW!" Fine. But ask yourself: "How many improvements to my marketing did I make last year?" In all likelihood, it was far less than 250. You probably made only about 25 or 50 improvements to your marketing last year -- at most.

If you didn't make 250 positive changes to your marketing by "swinging for the fences," why not try a simpler, surer way?

Why not do one small thing every day to find, get, and keep more clients for your business? Do it for just one month and you'll make 20 improvements -- a nice leap forward.

Keep at it for 12 months and you will ratchet your marketing to a higher level 250 times.

What would that mean for your business, your income, and your goals?

Bio: Kevin Donlin can help you grow your business and enjoy the breakthrough results your hard work deserves. If you're interested in boosting your revenues and profits, please click here.