Is Your Knowledge an Obstacle to Selling More?

Jeremy Cohen
(718) 784-1121
Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm EST

Imagine you had the opportunity to ask Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking what they do for a living and how they do it.

Chances are, after fifteen minutes of astrophysical prattle your head would be spinning and you still wouldn't quite have the answer to your question. They are both geniuses hopelessly immersed in their fields.

When it comes to your business, you're the genius. As an independent professional or small business owner you pride yourself on your vast repository of knowledge about your services or products. You could talk for hours about your latest technique, newest gadget or industry trends. Your success is ultimately predicated on your ability and acumen. But in order to be as successful and as profitable as you want be you need to maximize your ability to sell your gadgets or contract for enough applications of your techniques and services.

If you've had some success in business you're undoubtedly doing something right. However, if you've found that sales have leveled off, in order to reach your next level of accomplishment you will likely have to try something new or take a different approach to marketing.

As a successful person (or someone who aspires to be successful) a method for increasing sales is to reevaluate your marketing material and make sure that your knowledge isn't jamming the effective communication of the value you provide.

Here are some steps you can take to clarify what changes you can make to your marketing to increase sales and be more profitable.

Examine Current Clients
Who are your current clients? Are they people you were already pretty much in the know about the technicalities of what you do or sell or did you have to educate them to understand how you can help them?

If you find that most of your clients were pretty savvy about how you can help them before you marketed to them there is likely opportunity for you to expand your market by reaching out to those who don't inherently understand that you can help them. What steps can you take to enlighten those who don't quite understand they can benefit from your service?

Examine Your Marketing Material, Advertisements and Websites
Often times your first contact with your prospects comes in the form of a brochure, advertisement or website. Are these tools only speaking to a fragment of your market?

Here's a quick, inexpensive way to determine whether you can increase targeted response to your marketing collateral by clarifying the results and value you provide .

Ask your friends and family who are in very different fields of work from you to review your brochures, advertisements and website. Next, ask them who your clients are and why your services or products are helpful to them. If their answers are inconsistent and unsure your marketing material may be too highbrow and is likely alienating potential clients. How can you clarify your value and communicate more effectively to a larger targeted market?

Move Your Marketing Forward™
Don't let your knowledge get in the way of making another sale. Make sure your marketing material clearly and concisely communicate who you help and the value of the help you provide. When you do you'll watch sales soar.