The “Information Age” Has Changed The Way We Communicate In Business, With Increased Competition, Information, And Technology The Consumer Is In Greater Control Of The Process Than In Years Past.

In the early 1900's companies competed on a local and regional basis using geographical areas to define territories, competition was fierce and the advertising was mostly comparative in nature. This lead to the idea that advertisers had to, and needed to, use more "brains" in their advertisements to differentiate their products or services.

Post WWII everything changed, Americans had unprecedented prosperity and income. In addition, free time started to grow rapidly. These developments led to technological advances and in 1945 the television was first commercially introduced; fewer than 7,000 TV sets exist, with only 9 stations in 5 markets. By 1952 there were 20 million households with black and white sets and by 1955 primetime ad spots were selling for $4000 per/minute.

Advertisers were able to reach the entire nation with their campaigns, however television time was limited and extremely expensive, so it became imperative to build brand awareness through creativity and repetition.

Unfortunately, television created the "brand builder" concept. This was necessitated because of limited supply and the increasing cost of commercials. Commercial times had shrunk from two minutes to 30 seconds, so advertisers had less time their build their case, thus the "slogan and logo" was born.

Large national companies made huge dollars advertising in this fashion and it has benchmarked the industry, which created what we call "institutionalized advertising”. Everybody figured "this is how you do it," build a brand. The Brand Building concept has been taught by Universities and Business Schools and is being implemented by the big advertising agencies and their smaller branch counterparts. The emulation of Fortune 500 advertising and marketing techniques has gone on for over 40 years and is being employed by all companies today, big and small.

If this makes sense to you, your businesses marketing and advertising may be feeling the symptoms of "Brand Building". Is your focus primarily on getting attention? Is there a heavy reliance on design, pictures, and humor? Are you trying to use Creativity and Repetition to sell your message? Are your advertisements chalked full of Generalities and Platitudes? If your answer is YES to any of these questions then you're probably not advertising and marketing your business effectively.

The Old Way

Before you are ready to implement the powerful marketing strategies contained in the Avidity Group 10 Step "Maximize Marketing Performance" Systems™, you must first understand the "Old Way" of doing things.

Back in the "Days of Simple Selling" the seller had the power because there was limited competition, limited information, fewer choices and low education on products and services. It was much easier for the customer to make a buying decision because they had only one choice…to the consumer the salesperson was the only expert.

However, over the last 20 years the landscape of business has changed, there are now many more businesses competing for the same prospects. Increased technology and increased information have given the buyer more control of the process, which creates longer buying cycles, fiercer price competition and increased resistance to the sales process. The increased competition and information have created a confidence gap between the buyer and the seller.

The "Confidence Gap" represents the buyer's inability to determine whether any of the businesses or any of the products or any of the services are any better, any different or any worse than the others. The buyer doesn't have control, so they stall, think, compare, and will try to gather as much information possible.

Here are a few examples of how the business world has tried to bridge the confidence gap:

• C & R: Creativity and Repetition
• Better Customer Service
• More Sales Training
• Advertising Tricks, Gimmicks

The New Way

Let me explain why it's important to focus on marketing instead of selling. As we’ve discussed there was a time known as "the days of simple selling." The days of simple selling are generally considered the days prior to 1980 or, in some cases, before 1990. In this period of selling, it was relatively easier for a salesperson to close a deal. The reason? The marketplace was simply less crowded.

For example, in 1980, if you wanted to buy a Ford pick-up truck, where would you go? You went to THE Ford dealership. This was the only way to see your choices and ask your questions. You couldn't go online or to Barnes & Noble and read fifteen magazines that compared and contrasted new cars and trucks because these sources of information didn't exist. The dealership was the only source of up-to-date information. As we’ve said before, in the days of simple selling, there was less competition, fewer choices, and it was easier to make a buying decision. Quite simply, in the days of simple selling, the seller had the power because the buyer had very few options!

The questions you may be asking yourself are "How do I figure this out?" and "How do I fix this problem?" Go to the business section of any bookstore and you'll find all kinds of books on this topic. You'll find books that preach "Better Customer Service." The theory, if you have better customer service, you'll have more customers. The problem with this philosophy is you must have a customer in order to give them service. You can't just say, "I've got great customer service." It doesn't work that way; you must have a system that will drive the customer to you! One of the things you might hear business gurus say is, "If you have more sales training and if you are better at sales, then you'll be able to get more customers." The problem with that is, again, you've got to have prospects in order to use your sales skills. If you look at all the sales training books and all the sales training seminars, they are all short on advice in one MAJOR area: "How do you find someone to sell to in the first place?"

These examples reveal a problem. We used to have the days of simple selling, now we have The Confidence Gap. You, as a business owner, need to overcome this in order to be successful.

You may be familiar with name Napoleon Hill; he wrote the book, Think and Grow Rich. He had a saying: "It is as useless to try to sell a man something until you have first made him want to listen as it would be to command the earth to stop rotating." Do you believe that? Think about it; if they don't want to listen, trust me, they are not going to want to buy what you are selling. They are going to view you as a pest. That's where the difference between sales and marketing comes into play.

In sales, you are trying to make the prospect want to listen. What we're presenting is a marketing system that does the job of making prospects want to listen to you and your offer. The system prepares the buyer to come to you, which gives you a greater opportunity to sell. Sales skills are still extremely important, however if the prospect is ready for the pitch your time will be used more productively closing the sale, rather than trying to chase them down.

Four Major Benefits of Our 10 Step "Maximize Marketing Performance" System™:

• Spend less time creating marketing materials and more time implementing the system and you’ll be closing business and making more money.
• You’ll take the decision making process out of your employees hands and place that burden on your shoulders. The system, once completed gives you more control of the sales process and your sales team.
• Will allow you to truly empower your people by giving them the tools to succeed in sales.
• Most importantly, by implementing a system of sales you duplicate your knowledge, enthusiasm, and ambition.