Catering and Event Business Promotion Ideas: The Need For Speed

Screw this detail up and you’re losing thousands of dollars every month. Get this right and you’ll get more business without spending more on advertising.

Hurry up! That’s right, speed is what you need.

Your potential customer is busy, distracted, and impatient. When they’re in buying mode, they want instant gratification. They want answers; they want to get things going, now. If you can’t provide that near-instant response, they’ll keep looking.

For example, even if a bride-to-be has two years to plan her wedding, when she decides today is the day she’s going to buy a caterer, then today is the day she wants to talk to someone. Not later, after the client’s deadline is met, now.

If her call goes to your voicemail, there’s a good chance she’ll never leave a message. She’ll just go through her supplier list and keep calling until she talks to her competition.

You have to break the speed barrier and respond to customers faster than your competition.

Here’s how to add speed to your marketing;

Add a contact form to each page of your web properties. And make it obvious! Don’t make the buyer look for a contact form because most visitors to your site won’t think of it. You’ll get more leads by making your “contact us” form as visible as possible.

Have your web leads land in a special email box which will notify you immediately on your mobile phone or PDA. Yes, your spouse will be annoyed that you’re going through his Blackberry, but he’ll be less annoyed than having to listen to you complain about his lack of business.

ready pencils. Carry a pen and a small stack of index cards with you everywhere. As soon as possible respond to that hint. You may only have a minute before your plane takes off, but use that minute to recognize the advantage. That quick call can prevent buyers from calling your competition anymore.

Avoid voice mail. Get your prospects directed to a real live person, even if it’s a virtual assistant. Give the receptionist enough information to get through to the person she’s calling and answer a few questions.

If you can’t afford the cost of a receptionist, have your office calls transferred to your mobile phone every time you go out. Most phone service providers make it easy to forward your calls to a mobile phone. If your provider doesn’t, check out Google Voice.

When can you slow down?

Most time management experts tell you to turn off your emails and let your calls go to voicemail so you can work. That’s nonsense for executives, bureaucrats, and middle managers, but for salespeople and freelancers it’s suicide. You must be there to answer the call, unless you have too many customers.

Or is there a better way? See, the “follow-up fire drill” mentality is essential when you’re just another vendor in a long line of competitors, where the slowest responder loses.

If it’s just a name and number, you need to answer first.

If potential customers only see you as an expendable product (I just like to say “expendable”), you’ll always be jumping through hoops, and you’ll always have to compete on price.

The trick is to make customers want you, and only you. Once a client thinks of you as their perfect choice… you no longer have to jump every time the phone rings.

How do you become the most obvious best choice? We’ll talk about that positioning of your brand next time.