Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

Ask What’s Good? and What If?
The Times Mirror Group was a firm, like many today, that was created of several
smaller firms. Each of the smaller companies had its own booth at trade shows.
The group wanted to display teamwork and make the point that they were all a
part of one company. How could they do that? One year at the American Society
for Training and Development’s (ASTD) Expo, they decided to ask the question:
“What if we tried to get attendees to all of our booths?” They decided to play on
attendees’ love of gadgets and need for completing a project.
They decided that each of the companies would hand out one tool of a total
toolkit. Attendees needed to visit all of the companies to complete a full tool set.
Once attendees had all the tools, they would also receive a zippered case to hold
all the tools. Because the companies shared the expense, the cost was reasonable.
And the message was easy: “We have all the tools you need!”
Was it successful? Learning International, one of the companies involved, more
than tripled inquiries from the year before. What “what if” question could you ask to
boost sales? What barrier have you recently encountered to which you could ask,
“What’s good about it?”
Transform Your Viewpoint
There are many ways that this technique can be used. Eagle’s Flight of Ontario,
Canada, used it to help their clients transform their viewpoint of what was important
to a consulting company.
Eagle’s Flight’s corporate values are not what you would expect of a successful
consulting firm with employees numbering close to one hundred. Eagle’s Flight
wants its employees to love what they do and to express that in significant ways to
its customers. In addition, they want their customers to know that life is for more
than work. They remind their customers of this through their marketing campaigns.
For example, on the inside back cover of their catalog they had printed,
“P.S. Don’t forget to call your mother!” to remind clients to remember people who
are important to them.
In previous marketing schemes they sent greetings for Valentine’s Day and
Groundhog Day. When it was time for another message to their clients, they decided
to play off their catalog and send a Mother’s Day greeting complete with a
ten-minute calling card so that clients could call their mothers on “Eagle’s Flight’s
dime.”
Marketing: Can It Be Fun? 239