How to Sell More Things to More People More Often

I’ve just read an interesting definition to the role of marketing in an organization.  It’s the title of this post "Sell more things to more people more often."  This little quote is brought to you by Clark Parker, Chief Marketing Officer from Kimberly-Clark.

The role of "Chief Marketing Officer" is a new one for Kimberly-Clark, and it’s a role that many organizations are trying to understand.

But regardless of what you call it, one thing is certain, the marketing function is evolving into something bigger and broader.  Companies are recognizing that with the onset of more social media, either they control their brand, or their customers will control it for them.

But how do the rest of us accomplish this feat; selling more things to more people more often. 

1. Recognize that it’s not about Selling.  It’s about getting chosen.  The actual sale is the byproduct of a well defined and designed marketing system.  There are a myriad systems that are functioning between what you put out into the marketplace (your brand, your promise), what your ideal customer perceives it to be, and ultimately their decision to exchange their money for the promise.
2. Get real about who your ideal customer is and what’s important to them when they are buying what you are selling.  Getting real means to get into their mind and understanding your customers’ inner voice and how they are hearing and understanding what you are offering.
3. The features of your product are really not that important, it’s the feeling and the personal benefit that your customers receive that gets them to choose you.  For example; Amazon.com has a feature called "one-click"  It allows you to enter your billing and shipping information once and then use it over and over to buy what you want.  The benefit to the customer is being able to quickly choose it, click it and forget it – until it shows up in the mail.  Yes, it’s saving time, but even more viscerally, it’s saving me from getting up, finding my purse, then the credit card, then typing the info, the numbers, the experation date, the 3-digit code, the address…. you see where I’m going.  Saving time is nice – but it’s that long list that’s even more powerful.
4. Make it easy for them to find you.  If you want to get chosen, you need to get found in the places where your customers are.  You can’t have too many placements of all your contact information.  Put your phone number on the web, an e-mail to a real person, real people to contact, web sites, addresses, etc.
5. Make it easy for them to give you their money.  Amazon makes it easy.  It’s hard to purchase from another online bookstore because I know that I will have to go through that paying process.

All of these seem so obvious, yet so many of us fail to look at each of these areas in detail.  Take a moment and pick just one of these points, then do a quick inventory of where you can improve.