If you want customers, you've got to invite them to buy
Before you can make a sale, youâve got to get people in your store. Before you do that, theyâve got to know about you, what you offer, and what makes your business different. Imagine this: Youâre a salesperson and you walk into a business for the first time to make a sale. Youâre shown into the office of the big boss. Just as you start to launch into your pitch, he interrupts you and says: âI donât know who you are. I donât know your company. I donât know your companyâs products. I donât know your company stands for. I donât know your companyâs customers. I donât know your companyâs reputation.â Then, he stops, look you in the eye and says: âNow what was it you wanted to sell me?â Wow. Think youâre going to make the sale on this trip? The fact is the sales process starts well before your salesperson walks in the door or â in the case of your store â before the customer ever walks through your door. If they donât know who you are, what you do, and where you are, is it any wonder people donât come to your place or call you up to do business? Weâll put it this way: You have to invite them to do business with you. This is true, whether itâs a new store or one thatâs been around forever. You have to continue to invite people to do business with you. And think about this: people are getting hundreds of invitations every day, including invitations for your competitors. The more you invite people to your store, the more you help create awareness of your store or products. What youâre really trying to do is plant that little seed in their minds. Over time, it will take root â nurtured by constant reinforcement â and grow into recognition. Then, when people are finally in the market to buy something, theyâve already got you on their minds (or if you buy the cheesy seed analogy, in their minds). Itâs true. Over time, Share of mind = Share of market.
Quick Quiz!
Maybe youâve seen this quick quiz.  Don Benton of National Advertising Consultants uses a version of this exercise to show how some companies have created share of mind. Weâre going to put up several categories. We want you to look at each category and, as-quickly-as-you-can, write down the first name that jumps to your mind. Ready, go! Fast food restaurant               _________________________  Overnight delivery company _________________________  Soft drink                                _________________________  Another soft drink                  Â_________________________  Tires                                       _________________________  Mattress                                 _________________________   When youâre ready to see how you stack up to others, scroll down the page.  Â
Quick Quiz! Answers
 OK, let see how your answers compare to those that are mentioned most often: Name a fast food restaurant : McDonaldâs Overnight delivery company  : Fed-Ex Soft Drink : Coke Another Soft Drink : Pepsi Tires : Goodyear Mattresses : Sealy Of course itâs not important that you named the same companies we did. Whatâs important is what makes you think of these companies first. Each of these companies has created Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA). The whole TOMA thing starts with the building of your BRAND. Assuming youâve found your point-of-difference and assembled your Weapon of Mass Distinction, youâre ready to market your brand. Your brand is your identity â who you are and what you sell. Itâs not just the fancy wrappings; itâs truly the essence of your product. Cokeâs brand isnât the red can or even the Coca-Cola logo. Itâs the Coke itself. Itâs the fssst sound you get when you pop the tab, the swirl of carbonation in your mouth, and the taste. Sometimes, it takes the fancy packaging to get people to check out your brand. Your brand is really what you are when you strip away all the fancy wrappings. It may be your charming personality that gets you the first date, but itâs who you really are that determines whether youâll spend a lifetime with someone. If enough people know your BRAND, you have achieved Top of Mind Awareness. This happens when your awareness reaches critical mass. That kind of AWARENESS generates TRAFFIC to your location. If they donât come to your business, they canât buy. TRAFFIC makes people SHOPPERS or potential customers. Once theyâre at your store, itâs your job to keep them coming backâŠto turn SHOPPERS into CUSTOMERS! If they donât know who you are, where you are, or what you do, theyâll never walk in the door. Itâs worth repeating. Over time, Share of mind = Share of market. BRANDING = AWARENESS  AWARENESS = TRAFFIC TRAFFIC = SHOPPERS  SHOPPERS = CUSTOMERS
If I Had a NickelâŠ
âI donât need to advertise. Iâve been here 25 years in the same location.â If we had a nickel for every time we heard that, why weâŠuh⊠still wouldnât have enough for a double latte at Starbucks. Maybe youâve said it. And, it may have worked at one time. We donât live in that time anymore. Weâre a mobile society now. At one time, people spent their entire lives in one town, in one job, in one part of the country. Today, the average Baby Boomer will have had 9.6 jobs before they reach age 36, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that time period, theyâve moved - new homes, new towns, new states. Newcomers to a community have no idea youâve been in business all those years. They donât know who you are, or where you are, or what you do. Not only donât they know you, but youâre at a huge disadvantage with them. When people move, they tend to look for familiar, safe names. Brands and companies theyâve used and shopped before. Great if youâre running a national chain store or a franchise, but not if youâre a local legend. And when times are tough, people take less risk than ever. If theyâve never done business with you before, theyâre even less likely to do business with you now. And, think about this. Letâs say thereâs a young woman who has only had one job and sheâs lived in town her entire life. Now, sheâs married, pregnant, and about to buy her first home. Would she be a good prospect for an insurance agent? You bet. But it doesnât matter that youâve been doing business since before she was alive. She has only come in to âconsumer consciousnessâ in the last few months. Sheâs never thought about insurance before. If she doesnât hear your message when sheâs ready, sheâs not buying from you. Itâs not just the married-pregnant-new homeowner thatâs shopping for your services; a new generation is coming into consciousness every day.
Would you throw a party and not invite people?
Donât assume because youâve been there forever, people know who you are. A friend of ours was shopping for a big screen TV recently. He told us he was choosing between Best Buy and just ordering it on Amazon. When we asked if he had shopped one particular local store, he said, âI didnât know they were still in business.â They were. And, theyâd been in the same location for more than 20 years. That was well before both Best Buy and Amazon even came into existence âŠand flooded the airwaves and internet to invite customers into their store.
Years in business does not equal Top of Mind Awareness.
