Become a Great Marketer

By Stephen Bean | Feb 05, 2010

Typically, during most weeks from Monday through Saturday I am very involved with the operation of my laundry equipment distributorship and coin laundry. However, on Sunday afternoons, I work as a volunteer in the emergency department of a large hospital in the suburban Detroit area.

There are signs posted throughout the hospital in all departments that read: “The Patient is the Center of All We Do.” It conveys an important message to the patients and visitors, and it presents a strong call to action to the staff while absolutely reflecting the attitude of the hospital.

That very same sign ought to be posted in your self-service laundry with the word “customer” substituted for the word “patient.” Marketing is truly an attitude, and your attitude will definitely determine your altitude in terms of your entrepreneurial success.

Once the signs are posted, the following are eight steps you can easily take to become a great marketer. Notice, I did not say good marketer. I said great marketer, because the difference between good and great is simply a little extra effort.

1. Always focus on the customer’s point of view. You need to view your business solely from the customer’s vantage point – not yours. The customer is the most important ingredient in your business. Without loyal customers, you merely have a room full of washers and dryers. So, make it your business to fully understand how your customer views your business and its services. You can – and should – do this with survey forms and regular conversations with customers. Don’t let their whispers turn into screams.

2. Always exceed your competitors’ overall service. Notice I did not say equal your competitors’ overall service; I said exceed. You need to focus on providing exemplary service if you want exemplary results. This takes effort so increase your multi-vitamin dosage if necessary, but get it done. Don’t make excuses… make good. You must be perceived by customers as superior to your competitors in some strikingly different ways. To dramatically improve your success, dramatically improve your total service. Never underestimate the power of “Wow.”

3. Constantly interact with customers. The only way you will be able to totally understand your customers is to get to know them. Take the time and make the time to do so. Don’t just ask your attendants what the customers are saying. Make it your personal business to understand the collective psyche of your customer base. Customers appreciate your interest in them. No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Show concern for their concerns, and they will repay you with loyalty. Get proactive in this area and don’t sit still because, as the English poet William Blake so aptly put it, you can expect poison from standing water.

4. Make sure your overall service is completely efficient. There is service, and then there is totally efficient service. Huge difference. All aspects of your service must be efficient – from ease of parking, the use of your machines, getting change, the products you vend, your customer lounge and so on. In other words, don’t make the customer work hard to use your laundry.

5. Anticipate absolutely everything. Be constantly vigilant (that does not mean paranoid) of all events that can occur – positive and negative. By maintaining this type of constant surveillance, you will be in a position to take advantage of good things that can occur and to head off or mitigate the potentially bad ones.

6. Always think and focus on the long term. Always take the long-term view. Think ahead and plan ahead. Anticipate the results of your marketing promotions, interactions with attendants and customers, and your relationship with suppliers. Be aware of current news events and competitor actions that can affect you and your customers financially and politically. In other words, stay smart and be curious. Be on guard and creative. Creativity results from being curious. If you are not curious, you are likely lacking creativity, and that can make you poor real fast.

7. Be sure that every marketing promotional activity is measurable. If you can’t measure it, you simply can’t market your product efficiently. Design your promotional programs so they can be measured for efficiency. If Coca-Cola ran a generic ad, saying “Thirsty? Drink Coke!” they would find the response hard to measure. However, when Coke runs an ad that says if you bring in six empty bottles of Coke and you will get one free, they can measure that.

A lot of coin laundry advertising is completely ineffective. In fact, in many cases, if it had been a prizefight they would have stopped it. Try to feature items in your ads that customers will have to mention when they come in, so you can measure the drawing power of your promotion. Things like offering free soap or a free drink on a given day if they mention or bring in your ad are good examples. But, of course, there are many more.

8. Be sure to follow Steps 1 through 7. Being an ineffective marketer means that you are diagonally parked in a parallel universe – and your potential customers will pass you by like a ship in the night.

Finally, when designing your marketing programs, if you run into a glitch and your project does not seem to be working, look at the part that you did not think was important. You will likely find out that it was. And when structuring your marketing strategies, break away from the mainstream. Only the lead horse has a totally clear view. You don’t want to be a part of the herd – you want to be the rancher.