The Oh-So-Delicate Art of Marketing to Your Prospects Without Annoying Them

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How many times have you felt annoyed or irritated by someone giving you the hard sell? If you're anything like us, the answer is plenty! But there's more than one way to sell to a prospect, and there's certainly no need to annoy them. In fact, marketing the “softly-softly” way is something of an art form – and here's your first lesson.

Nobody ever said marketing was easy. In fact, it’s one of the toughest aspects of running a business, but it can be made much harder when you feel like you’re not getting through to your prospects. Even worse, if it appears you’re trying too hard, you can actually wind up annoying them. So how do you avoid this tragic fate? Below we’ll outline three key tactics to help you do just that.

Tactic #1: Aim for people who will actually care

Getting people interested in your product or service is more than half the battle of marketing. But it can be an almost insurmountable task if you’re talking to the wrong people. The reason that irritation and annoyance happens in marketing is that prospects can feel pestered by the promotion of products or services that they’ll never be interested in. If you’re trying to sell yourself to the wrong people, you’re doing a disservice to both your business and the prospect too. The solution? Know your audience, and target them in a way that’ll genuinely interest them.

Tactic #2: Don’t ask people to jump through too many hoops

None of us want to feel like we’re being pressured into something, or feel like unfair demands are being placed on us. The same applies to the world of marketing. If your marketing requests too much of a prospect (call us, email us, visit us, buy this to get that… the list goes on), you might just push them too hard. What it comes down to is simplicity. How many hoops do you want prospects to jump through in order to simply make an enquiry or claim an introductory offer? Whatever you do, your marketing ethos should be based on keeping this “first contact” process as straightforward as possible.

Tactic #3: Always know when to quit

Few things are worse than being bugged by someone selling something you just don’t want. Many companies have a sales ‘journey’ that involves a series of correspondence with a prospect. Even if that prospect clearly and concisely says ‘no’, they’ll still be contacted… like it or not. The secret to marketing yourself successfully is to avoid irritating prospects by knowing when to quit. If their tone is becoming irate, or if they’ve had to ask you more than twice (or even once, really) not to contact them, these are big red flags. Remember that just one irritated prospect might tell two or three of their peers of their “bad” experience. Mercifully, the reverse is also true.

Now that you’ve got the lowdown on taking the softly-softly approach to customer acquisition, you’ll need the right CRM platform to manage them all. For more info about how AutoVu could streamline every stage of your sales funnel, explore the site today or call the team now on 0845 474 8824.

About the author:

Jim Simmonds
Web designer and occasional blogger. As owner/manager of AutoVu Solutions, my commitment to my customers remains my highest priority. Our Field Service Management system is designed to make running your business a simpler process.

If you would like to know more about AutoVu and what we can do to help your business, why not check out our Frequently Asked Questions page, or Contact Us any time to discuss your specific requirements.

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