I know perhaps it is a little sad I made that connection and I really should get out more and perhaps concentrate harder while I am driving. However, reaching out and touching people with the right messages about your business that they can relate and buy into is a powerful way of attracting prospect customers to your garment decoration business.

One of the things I believe is that "business is more about people than people think business is about". A true marketer understands this and knows what motivates people to do certain things. They get right into the customer’s mind to understand why they buy, what is important to them about the purchase and why they choose one product or service over another. They then shape the product or service to provide those things.

Building strong customer relationships is a crucial part of this process. In a business to business selling situation, understanding your customers’ business and changing what you do to help them improve on what they do, is a fantastic way of becoming an important supplier to them.

Marketing people will tell you that the principles of marketing a business are based on something called the four Ps. These are questions that need to be answered in order to build your product and service around the needs and requirements of your customers.

Marketing is like baking a cake with ingredients and your customer's taste in mind. Not all customers’ tastes are the same so the ingredients of the cake and the type of cake you make will be different for different markets you are selling to. The key therefore is gaining an understanding of what your customer’s tastes are before you bake the cake.

These ingredients consist of the answers to questions around the four Ps of marketing, which are:

1. Product - What shall we sell?
2. Price - How much should we charge for what we sell?
3. Place - Where shall we sell it?
4. Promotion - How do we tell the customer about it?

So, when thinking about marketing your business, think of these key questions. Make sure you really know what the answers are to every single one of them and that they are truly what your customers believe rather than your perception of what they think.

Out of the answers to these questions will come the real customer benefits of what you do that you can use to put together a strong marketing message attracting new customers like a giant magnet to your front door.

Begin by looking at each market you are selling into separately. Get an understanding for the wider market where your customer sits. What are the competing pressures your customer faces in that market? And what might you be able to do to help them better?

If you do not know the answers to some of the following questions then talk to your customers to get their opinions. Having gone through the process you will find that you understand them better, your relationships with them will grow stronger and opportunities for new business will come from the conversations you have.

Okay, so how much do you really know about your customer? Ask yourself these questions:

Product

What products other than the ones I currently supply does my customer buy and why?

Establish what opportunities exist to sell more of what you do to your current customers.

What is it that my customer likes about the product and service I supply?

Establishing what these are will enable you to market the things you do well to other customers in the same market niche.

What product or service improvements does my customer think I need to make?

Look for ways to improve what you do that will encourage your customer to buy more.

What products do I currently supply that my customer does not know about?

Let’s face it, if your customers do not have a full understanding of who you are and what you can do for them then you have fallen at the first relationship hurdle. Be realistic. Your customers will never read your brochure from cover to cover and know everything there is to know about what your business can do for them. Very few do, so develop your relationship with them speak with them as often as you can to establish what opportunities there are to sell more of your current range to your current customers.

What products does my customer buy that I currently do not offer as part of what I do as a business?

Establish what opportunities exist to grow your product and service offering to better service the requirements of your current customers.

What is it about your competitors’ products and service levels in this market that are different to your own?

Establish how you differ so you can work on strengthening your weak points and sell in the benefits of your stronger points to your customer as added value in your offer.

Price

How do your prices compare with your competition in the same market?

The more you know about your major competition the better – their overheads, cost structure, what they are charging customers, the profit they are making, their plans for the future. A better understanding of your competing environment will guide you to make changes to improve your position. Do some research – you can easily buy this type of business account information from Companies’ House for less than £10.

Where does your price need to be to win the quotation you just issued?

Keeping in touch during the quotation process is important as you want to ensure that if there are any pricing issues that you can ask what they are and have the opportunity to negotiate. You should only lose an order on price if you choose not to take the order. Develop a strong enough relationship with your customer to ensure that that you have the opportunity to negotiate.

Place

What is the size of your current market? Is it growing or shrinking? Is competition increasing or declining? How attractive is it still? And what opportunities exist for growing your business within your current markets?

Some businesses in the garment decoration industry operate in just one market – schools for example. Some operate in many and you have to gear your business up to meet the demands of those individual markets. Before you decide to move into a different market, make sure you do your research, assess the level of competition there and how profitable such a move would be.

Promotion

How will you tell prospective customers about what you do? What will you say and how will you say it? What opportunities are there for advertising, trade shows and what will be the cost of that activity?

Having an in-depth understanding of any one customer in any one market means that you know what it is that they need. You know what types of marketing messages they will relate to that will attract them to your business. Whether that is a quality message, a message about delivery and supply performance, a stock holding message or a price competitive message. The important thing is to pick the right message for that market and build your business around supplying those things your customers need.

Develop an advertising message

Once you have the answers to all of these questions you can start to think about developing a marketing campaign that addresses the needs of the market you are selling into. You know what things are important to customers in these markets and you begin to tell them why you are best placed in the industry to provide those things.

If quality is an important factor, sell a quality message, if delivery consistency is an important factor sell a consistency message, etc, etc. Remember to structure the look and content of your advertising, selling the benefits you provide customers, not what you do as a business. Customers are only interested in what you can do for them and how your product and service will help them do it.

You may indeed have an eight-colour fully automatic printer or a 12-head super quick embroidery machine. But what benefits does this provide the customer? Match these benefits to the needs of your target customer in their market and your marketing message becomes a more powerful one.

Take a look at some of the ads in this publication. Which ones will make you want to pick up the phone and call them? Think why that was. Why did one ad’s message appeal to you rather than another? Did any of them make you want to call them first or even at all?

The advertising message that addresses the needs of the person reading it at the time they are reading it is the most powerful advertising message in the world. So having now identified and considered what those needs are in your customer markets, go out and do it better!

Have your sales and marketing message touch people more powerfully than it ever did before in ways that your target customers can relate to that will have them picking up the phone to call you first rather than the competition who may be advertising on the very same page.

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Ray Seagrave is the director of MBA Business Coaching and is a business growth and development expert. Seagrave provides personal and business performance coaching to professionals within the industry. Seagrave is also the author of Print & Packaging Success – a free business-coaching newsletter that helps owners and managers grow turnover and profits by ‘Competition-Proofing' everything they do.

To find out more and get a free fivepart coaching session on Business Winning Customer Service, visit www.print-packaging-success.co.uk or email ray@print-packaging-success.co.uk