HOW TO ARRANGE YOUR DAY FOR MAXIMUM MARKETING ADVANTAGE

I called a realtor in Belmont, MA the other day about a property I was interested in seeing. The owner answered the phone and told me she was "busy" just then (it happens) but would call me back "in one hour sharp." I confirmed the time with her and gave her my name and phone number. That was days ago... and I'm still waiting for Mary Frances Owens, of the company bearing her name, to get back to me. Now, consider what I'm saying: the property in question is in the half million dollar category... the broker's commission about $30,000.

BUT I STILL CAN'T GET A RETURNED PHONE CALL OR ANY SEMBLANCE OF INTELLIGENT HANDLING!

Nor is this situation in any way unusual. In just the last few days:

• a broker with whom I wanted to discuss listing one of my properties for sale didn't call me back;
• a broker who had already seen the properties and expressed an interest in listing them failed to call back at the time specified for our appointment... and has in fact, so far, failed to follow up at all, and
• the plumber whom I wanted to do some minor repairs on a bathroom (and whom I'd used before) failed to respond to my letter asking him to do the work.

What's going on here, anyway?

Just this: these people have no conception that, whatever else they may be, they must also be marketers... and must find out and practice how to arrange their days for maximum marketing advantage. And so do you!

Getting Prepared To Reap Maximum Marketing Advantage

• Get yourself a computer and laser printer. This advice should be superfluous in these days of rock-bottom hard-ware and printer prices, but it most assuredly isn't. I don't think a single one of the culprits mentioned above had this necessary equipment. This is a scandal. Not only are prices low now but so is the cost of running them. Brand-name laser printer prices have fallen to well under $1000 and laser cartridge toner prices, too, have come down substantially.

  (Note: You'll want to get your toner cartridges where I've bought mine for the last couple of years: Advanced Laser Products, P.O. Box 1534, Brookline, MA 02146 (617) 278-4344.

  They have the lowest prices I've found -- just $45 per refill, delivery charges included. The quality is consistently high and the page output superior (up to 5000 sheets per cartridge). Moreover, because of the extremely high quality of toner in these cartridges, your printer's drum can last up to twice as long -- which is a big savings to you!

• Divide your word-processing files into three sections: a "work room" file where you store necessary marketing data and information you'll be using in your various communications; a "template" file where you have ready-to- use marketing communications that can be used as is or tailored as necessary, and a "storage" file where you keep actual copies of marketing documents used.
• Review all the marketing communications you're currently using and make sure they're recipient-centered, that is that they focus on what the recipient gets from you. I don't care who the recipient is; he wants to know what he gets from you. The features of your product or service are never as interesting and motivating as the benefits this all- important person gets!
• Get rid of all "marketing" communications that are about you -- and not about that all-important recipient. If the communication is about you, your product, your service, the features of your business, you're wasting your time and money every time you use it. You can't just review your marketing communications, you must prune every communication that's selfish and "me-centered" and resolve to replace them with unrelentingly recipient-centered communications!
• By the same token, you must also review your marketing actions... not just the communications you use, but the actions you take that are supposed to support them. Keep a log for 10 business days with the following information in it:

  -- How many prospect letters did you receive? How long did it take you to respond?

  -- How many prospect telephone calls did you receive? How long did it take you to respond?

  -- Once you responded the first time, how long did it take you to follow up? Once? Or twice?

  -- How many people who wanted your help on a matter which involved material gain for you had to call you back or otherwise contact you again... because you just didn't do what was necessary to accommodate you the first time?

  All of us like to think we're organized. All of us want to believe we're good people performing our job in a professional way. If you ask Mary Frances Owens... and the other disorganized real estate agents... and my plumber, I bet every single one of them would tell you they're hard- working, well-organized, absolutely professional people. But the proof of this pudding, dear reader, is in the eating.. and the sad truth is every single one of them when asked to demonstrate their client-centered marketing techniques failed. End of story, as Ross Perot says.

Beginning Your Marketing Renaissance

• get to your office 60 minutes before your co-workers... before there are other people to deal with, before the phone starts ringing. Do this whether you work with others... or work at home by yourself. As everybody knows who has ever spent an hour alone working, really working, on moving business, you can get a tremendous amount done without the interruptions that characterize life in the American office.

  During this time:

  -- Make sure there is no follow-up task from the day before that still remains to be taken care of. Were you, for instance, just too tired or busy to get out some follow-up correspondence before you left last night? Do it now! Look at 9 a.m. as the beginning of a new chapter of your business life. Before starting it, conclude the marketing tasks that were a part of the previous chapter. Had poor Mary Frances Owens done this, she might be demonstrably closer to being significantly richer... but she let muddle and disorganization rule.

  -- Use your fax machine. The time to send the bulk of your faxes is either after 5 p.m. or before 9 a.m. For one thing, the phone rates are less expensive. Then there's the matter of impact to consider. If you're on EST, if you send a fax at 5:01 p.m. you can still get to most of the country during their current working day. And if you send your faxes before 9 a.m. EST, you can reach everybody just when they get to their offices; in other words, you can be one of the first things on their plates.

  -- Call up copies of marketing communications you've previously sent to prospects and customers and update them with current messages. For instance, in my Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck, I never have more than 15 empty slots due to heavy advertiser renewals. As the number of available slots drops, it is a very good idea to update the communications I've sent to prospects and motivate them to faster action by informing them my supply is what they want is dwindling. This always motivates them to faster action. Again, if you do this in the morning, you can fax this information where necessary... or put it in the early mail. And if you use your last document as the basis for this communication, merely updating it as necessary, you can get your message done fast.

  -- Review your call list to make sure all the people that should be getting called by you today will get that important call. Unless you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth, your prosperity depends on consistently making marketing quotas. To make these quotas means sending a certain number of marketing communications and placing a certain number of telephone calls and faxes which can then be translated into a certain number of successful closings. There is no way around this. The first thing you must do, therefore, is determine just how many marketing communications you need to send... and just how many telephone calls, etc. you need to place to meet your objectives. Then you must ensure that you day is arranged so that these all these communications take place. As far as the telephone is concerned, this means checking your call lists and making sure that you're placing -- and following up -- all the calls you need to meet your quota. Do you do this now? Or are you just winging it every day?

What To Do When 9 a.m. Rolls Around

Between 9-9:30 a.m. there are a host of rituals in the American office: co-workers need to be greeted, there's the inevitable coffee to be consumed, there are stories to hear and stories to be told... and, of course, the phone starts ringing with those fires that must be put out. In short, the things you must do to make your marketing successful are at risk. Beware!

• First, resolve to keep these time-wasters to a minimum.
• Second, use this time to improve your marketing communications. Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, so you won't be able to refurbish all your marketing communications in a short time. Don't worry about this. Just get started. If the review of the marketing communications you're using has indicated that improvement is necessary to achieve a more client-centered focus... then resolve to provide that focus. And work on this process during the first half hour of every day. Why then? Because most of this time is wasted anyway as you well know... and because it's too early yet to call your prospects and customers to advance your marketing with them. They, after all, are engaged in the same fruitless rituals as you and your lotus-eating co-workers. Be different! Turn this "scrap time" into a period when you sit at your computer, striving to turn all your marketing prose and approaches into the most unrelentingly client-centered process possible.

Making The First Mail Pick-Up

Track your mail for the next few days. Did you put together any marketing and follow-up communications this morning where it was very much to your advantage that the prospect/customer receive them ASAP? Just see for yourself when they actually go out. I am constantly told by "marketers" that their mail goes out "right away" only to confront them with postal evidence that proves their important communications often sit for two, three or even more days before being sent.

This is just plain dumb. If you are not hearing regularly from your customers that they are pleased and grateful for your prompt marketing attention, you can be certain you're blowing this opportunity.

The Correct Way To Make Your Marketing Phone Calls

• Start the day, as recommended, by checking your phone list and making sure you know who should be called and gathering all the information and factual material you need to make the call productive. In other words, know the audience... and get prepared to maximize your time.
• Then segment your day into "calling periods", times when it makes the maximum sense to use the phone to connect with people. If all your calls are local, make your prospecting and follow-up calls after 9:30 a.m. If you make calls nationally like I do, your calls should follow the time zones. If you're on Eastern Standard Time, make Eastern calls at 9:30; make Central calls an hour later, and so on. Save your Mountain and Pacific calls until just after 5 p.m. There are several reasons to do things this way:

  -- it's too mentally enervating to do all your calls at once. It's hard to stay fresh on the phone if you do nothing more than make calls. Resolve to make all the calls you must in a single day, but sensibly divide your day to keep maximum freshness.

  -- you can save some money either by placing your calls early (if you're in western time zones calling east) or later (if you're in eastern time zones calling west). And these pennies saved mount up!

Note: the existence of a series of template letters will help you do your follow-up correspondence and paperwork promptly. If you find yourself having to create new letters and other marketing communications for your prospects and customers after getting off the phone with them, you're not getting the benefits of these templates and need to devote some of that period between 9-9:30 a.m. to creating them.

Return Your Calls

At about 4 p.m. you should review not only all your phone messages but all the situations where the phone might be of assistance, namely:

• people who wrote and offered a good reason for prompt assistance;
• people who walked in, ditto;
• people who (unfortunately) had to call you more than once during this day;
• people who were referred to you by friends and colleagues, and
• people who for whatever other reason needed your prompt attention.

During the last 60 minutes of your "official" business day, run through these calls as promptly as possible. If the person is not available, leave a complete message not merely saying who you are and what your phone number is... but what you intend to do to provide the person with the data he needs. If the person is available, if you have the details he wants, provide them. If you still must get them, explain what you're planning to do.

Start by making the routine calls... end with the more complicated calls that will take more time and attention. Either way, arrange matters so that by 5 p.m. all your calls have been returned and so that everyone knows just where their business is.

There will, of course, be peremptory and difficult people who will not think even this degree of client-centered attention sufficient. But they, thank God, will be in the minority. Most people will understand that in a single day you cannot always solve their problem... but they will appreciate the fact that you have done what was necessary to inform them about just where the matter now rests and what you intend to do for them in the very near future. Poor Realtor Mary Frances Owens doesn't live by this rule... and as a result a potentially lucrative sale was lost. This Sunday, as before, she'll buy big, expensive ads in the Boston Globe apparently confident that they alone will do her job... never suspecting that her own poor "marketing" habits are sabotaging her significant investments. She may not do what's necessary to change and so improve her prosperity. But I have every confidence, my friend, that you will profit from her mistakes.