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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Nicole Tietel
November 2007

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How to find and sell to wealthy clients

Nicole Winter Tietel,
Winter & Associates Inc.:
651.414.5000
nicole.tietel@winterandassoc.com
www.winterandassoc.com

ANY SALES-MINDED entrepreneur may notice that your company’s gross revenue tends to equate to the average gross revenue of the companies or individuals with which you do business.

Developing a new strategy to build additional relationships with wealthy individuals and companies can take your sales and profits to the next level. But sometimes cultivating relationships with those new and affluent clients means stretching outside your comfort zone.

Harder still, as a business owner you often wear so many different hats that you wonder how you can make time to find these prime clients.

As a financial adviser to affluent families and business owners, I have found four core strategies to be the most effective. They’ll require your time investment, but these strategies not only reach this critical target market, they also allow you to still be yourself.

Finding them

Finding the well-to-do customer requires more than just buying a list. You have to define a specific target market that works for your business. Your main job is to design your products and services to match their very specific needs.

A target market is defined as a group of customers who would talk to one another, read the same materials, belong to the same organizations and share with each other how great you and your company’s products or services have been for them.

Business owners in this case could be part of a multitude of industries. They are not necessarily a specific target market. However, you should know the specific target group you want to attract, such as dentists or women who own retail clothing stores.

Once you have defined your target market, write a marketing plan with one or two big-picture quantitative objectives. These objectives must be measurable to be effective. For example, “I am going to increase my gross revenue by 10 percent or 100,000 units.”

Develop a list of specific strategies and then create defined tactics for each strategy that will help you attain your objectives. Some examples may be a direct mail campaign, product sampling events, or advertising. Include the dates, costs and all other details for your tactics.

You’ll want to start with a target group you understand, where you may have common interests or talents. If you are in the printing business and love to play golf, targeting golf pros can be a great marriage of your passion and desire to reach new potential clients. A 5,000 piece mailing to golf pros in Minnesota at a total cost of $2,500 is a sample of a possible tactic that would apply in this case.

Knowing them

Knowing about the financially successful businesses or individuals requires you to be more familiar with them than your competitors.

Get to know their work schedules and the cyclicality of their businesses. If you plan to market to CPAs, please don’t call them April 1! Take the time necessary to research their financials, understand the trends in their businesses and search for media coverage.

On a personal level, it is necessary to have a good feel for your main contact’s personality type. Is the person a driver, the aggressive, give-me-the-bottom-line type? Or more analytical, the one who loves to crunch the numbers and wallow in data before making a decision?

Could your contact be the amiable type, the nicest customers you can have who just want everyone to get along but have a tough time making a decision? Or maybe you’ll be dealing with the expressive, extroverted, big-idea people who are often the social butterflies? You’ll want to know more than just what kind of shoes they wear but actually get inside them and walk around.

Spoiling them

When it comes to working with the affluent it’s the little things that mean the most.

These are people who already have big, expensive things and don’t need more of them from you.

While you will need to dress appropriately and drive a car that will not embarrass you to valet park at a tony restaurant, the affluent appreciate your personalized attention and a high caliber of customer service.

Your best bet is to make sure you know what your company can provide to make these customers even more successful or meet their individual objectives. A ride in your new Porsche alone may not impress them, but personal service and attention will make you shine bright.

Small but meaningful gifts associated with their favorite hobbies or interests, hand-written thank-you notes, news articles they may find interesting or copies of their grandchildren’s newspaper birth announcements are appropriate and can make the difference.

Anything more and you’ll be a schmoozer, pushing the limits and making them want nothing to do with you. The best gift? Honesty and sincerity in every interaction they have with you.

Staying ahead of them

Making sure your products and services are the most cutting edge, the most useful, the most appropriate and different from your competition are essential in working with the affluent. You need to use the most current systems and advanced technology, while not being afraid to invest in yourself through your image, education and even your support staff.

These four core strategies – finding them, knowing them, spoiling them and staying ahead of them – used together will grow you and your business to new heights, while preserving the honesty and integrity of your existing business foundation.