Marketing department, we have a problem...

We've written in the past about the importance of being highly focused in three key areas: who you are selling to, what you are saying to those people and the way you are delivering your message. Now, let's talk for a minute about the order of things.

Everybody with a business interest is out there marketing. It may not be the most sophisticated program around and the messages may not even be correct. But rest assured, whether they have websites, signage, advertisements or they just talk about their businesses, they are all marketing in some form or another.

The question is, are they doing a good job?

We've mentioned before that there are several things you can do right now that will improve your marketing immeasurably such as mining past clients, setting up a referral program or tightening the focus on the three Ms (market, message and methods). But how do you know if your marketing is solid? How do you know if your efforts are worthwhile?

In the absence of measurable objectives (and, unfortunately, so few of us have those), here are a few indicators that things may not be going so well:

1. You are competing on price. This may be an indicator that your customers can't distinguish between you and your competitors. If you are not special, you have no choice but to compete on price. And there is always someone out there willing to beat your best price. Determine how you are different and then sell that.

2. You fall victim to the every advertising salesperson who walks through the door. Here comes the Yellow Pages guy. Now it's the local newspaper. A radio campaign? Sure! How about a few brochures? If you don't have a plan, you likely have a steady stream of disjointed sales approaches (gimmicks?).

3. You cannot measure the results of your marketing efforts. Are you just aiming a shotgun into the sky, hoping to hit something? If you can't measure the results of your efforts, how do you know if you're moving forward?

4. Your marketing plan consists of "waiting to see who calls or walks through the door." Unless you are out there in a disciplined, definable way, you are just walking around in the dark, hoping to bump into something.

5. Your customers are here today and gone tomorrow. Repeat customers are among the easiest and least expensive to find. You must develop a plan to keep them coming back.

6. Long-time customers are heard to say, "I had no idea you could do that." If you can't explain to your current customers all the ways you can help them, you'll be hard-pressed to explain it to those who've never heard of you.

7. You don't know the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of all of your customers. This customer list should be at the very heart of your business because nobody is more important to you than those who already know and trust you. (Bonus secret: Take even the smallest portion of your advertising budget and, instead, spend it on keeping current customers happy. Then watch revenues take off.)

8. Most sales leads come from your salespeople. Your marketing efforts should be generating your leads so your salespeople can make the sales, upsell customers and work on referrals.

9. You are not benefiting from customer referrals. We mentioned earlier the importance of asking for repeat business. Another question you should be asking current customers is this: "Do you know anyone else who might benefit from our products or services?" If your marketing program consists of just two things, good repeat business and a solid referral plan, you are already miles ahead of the competition.