Can you imagine having a phone conversation where you couldn`t
hear what the person at the other end was saying? You would
have difficulty getting much done and you certainly couldn`t
tailor your response to their needs and interests. Yet this is
the way many people market their products and services.

Most people make the mistake of thinking that marketing is one-
way communication. The tendency is to create marketing
materials and push them out to your target market and hope for
a response. Marketing monologues, whether in person, in a
brochure or on a web site are a sure way to scare prospects
and clients away.

If you want to grow your business your objective should be to
create a dialogue with prospects and help them become clients.
Starting your marketing efforts by creating a two-way
conversation with prospects can help you target your marketing
efforts and open the door to future business. Is your
marketing communication two-way? How often do you ask your
prospects to identify their biggest problem, relative to the
service or product you offer? How often do you survey your
target market to find out what they are worried about? Can you
list their most pressing concerns? Do you use this information
to regularly improve your marketing strategy and materials?

Large corporations provide annual job performance reviews and
conduct annual customer satisfaction surveys. While annual
feedback like this may be useful to you and is better than
nothing, your goal is to create an ongoing dialogue with your
prospects and clients so that you can regularly improve how
you market your services.

You won`t want to rush back to the office after every client
meeting to revise your marketing strategy, but the more often
you ask questions to understand client and prospect concerns
and then shape your marketing to match, the more new clients
you`ll attract.

Improve your marketing by listening to prospects and clients.
Get them talking by asking the right questions and then hear
what they have to say. Fortune 500 companies use marketing
firms, charging tens of thousands of dollars to conduct
customer satisfaction surveys. If you’re an independent
professional or small business owner, you can do it on your
own provided you are a good listener.

Good general questions to ask include: What`s the biggest
obstacle to growing your company? What problems are your
biggest concerns? What are your three most important
objectives for the next month? What’s the decision making
process in your organization?

The specific questions you use will depend on the problems you
solve for clients. If you install phone systems, you’ll want
to know what your prospects’ biggest concern is about their
phone system and its installation. If you`re an accountant
your questions will be about financial objectives. If you
provide conflict management you`ll want to find out the most
common sources of discord.

The objective is to understand your prospects needs and then
you can use this information to position your products and
services. Let your target market tell you what they want to
see and read. Good times to fine tune your marketing include;
before you develop your marketing materials, when you talk
with prospects and in your conversations with clients. List 3-
5 questions you could ask a prospect or client to identify
their biggest concerns relative to your service or products.

If you want to attract more clients, find ways to ensure your
communication is two-way. Frequent surveys, in-person
conversations and even watching how your clients use your
products are all good ways to get feedback. When your
communication is two-way you’ll know what prospects and
clients are concerned about and you can target your marketing
to increase your business.

2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

Paul White is a 42 year old former teacher. He now helps people
all around the world to become wealthy online. Whatever you
are selling, visit the popular site: http://www.profitmountain.
com (http://www.profitmountain.com) and if you subscribe to
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