Your Brochure Is Killing Your Sales
Your Brochure Is Killing Your Sales
What do you do with them?
In the majority of cases I bet you either leave them to fester in the lovingly designed show carrier bag or you scan some of them and then throw them away.
Do you read any of the brochures you get through the post or left
by sales people?
If you do not read brochures why do you think your prospects will?
If your brochure is all about you and very little about your
customer it will not get read. If it is not read it cannot sell
anything. That means you lost another prospect because your brochure did not do its job right.
... What A Brochure Is Not ...
Designing a brochure is not simply the managing director,
marketing director or Mr Average Copywriter simply dumping
everything they can think of about your company and its products
into a four page 4 colour brochure.
Explaining how your business has grown from strength to strength
over the last 5 years, or how the new widget is now also
available in puce and lemon is boring.
In fact most brochures are deeply boring. Maybe not to you as the
business owner - but to the most important people you know.
Your customers and prospects!
Neither are brochures an art gallery for your in-house or
external graphic design team to show off their brilliance with
well produced photos, line art and consistent house style.
After all winning awards for your brochure is not as important as winning sales. Is it?
Have you found salespeople who are unwilling to give customers your brochures? That is because good sale staff instinctively know whether your brochure helps or hinders sales.
... So What Is A Brochure ...
Purely and simply, another sales tool. Part of your
marketing tool set. Please treat it that way.
To create it you turn the dial to your customers favourite radio station: WII FM. Better known as What's In IT For Me!
... Use Sizzling Copy To Hit People Between The Eyes ...
Do not take up the space on the front, or back, covers with your
logo, managing directors head shot or a stock photo of a forklift
truck or someone attractive sat gazing transfixed at a computer
screen.
... Smash Through Buyer Inertia With A Captivating Headline ...
Instead use a great headline to encourage people to open and
investigate what you have to say.
You could use any of the following headlines:
If you are in the car hire business you could say,
"7 Reasons Why Car Hire Is Costing You Too Much".
Then explain why in your copy inside and further explain how you can make sure the prospect avoids those costs.
Perhaps you are in IT or software services? Your headline could be,
"How To Sell More to Your Old Customers".
Then you explain how implementing a customer relationship management system gives the ability to follow-up properly.
But whatever company you're in tell your customer something you
know they want to know.
... Write Copy That Tells And Sells ...
When writing the copy inside your brochure make it
interesting, arresting and intriguing.
Give your prospects some interesting facts they do not know.
Stir in some Great Customer Testimonials. No testimonials? Start talking to your customers now to get some.
You are writing the copy to sell your product or service. So the
writing is vitally important. Next you need to make sure you have necessary line art, photos or other graphics at appropriate points in the brochure. Whatever you do remember
graphics are there purely to support the copy.
With any graphics make sure that you have a caption to avoid distracting people from wondering what that graphic was about.
Make sure that your brochure has all the ways your customer can get hold of you and order. That includes having an order or enquiry form they can fax to you.
Finally, one of the most important elements in the brochure: The Offer and call to action.
You need to offer your customer something for doing business with
you.
You could offer any of:
- free bonus reports
- audio CDs
- DVDs
- Different payment options
- Strong guarantees
- Bundled with other products or services
Whatever you do make sure you've a call to action with a deadline for your offer. Your brochure needs to make clear the next step for your customer.
... How Do You use Your Brochure? ...
Don't leave it lying around like yesterdays newspaper. You have
paid good money to produce it. Treat your brochures with respect
and give them or send them to people you want to do business
with.
At trade shows a good approach is to suggest that you will send a
brochure to your prospect. That way you can keep following them
up with further offers.
Jay Abraham is the highest paid marketing guru in the world at $5,000 per hour. He notes that sending a brochure to a prospect without a well-written and interesting covering letter reduces response.
If you feel you must leave brochures around tradeshows try stapling an envelope with an interesting headline, such as "5 Ways To Slash The Cash That Drains From Your Web Site" to your brochure.
Your letter will get read.
The letter needs to spell out your major benefits are and where they are in your brochure.
Proof of effectiveness of adding such a letter is given by Troy White, writing in Duct tape Marketing, he says:
"...Info USA who sells direct mail database lists started testing
this (sales letter,Jim) with their catalogs and saw an immediate 300% improvement in orders. All with a simple letter attached to it!"
Similarly use direct mail and send them out to the companies you want to do business with. Make sure a personalised selling letter goes with every brochure you put out there.
Write and design your brochure as if you were standing in your customers and prospects shoes.
Do it right and your brochure gets read from cover to cover and prospects find it informative and buy from it.
Remember if you are unwilling to invest up front in producing a brochure that sells you cannot expect anyone to take action from it and you have completely wasted your money to produce it.
Your Brochure Is Killing Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Symcox's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
You probably pick up other company's brochures when you visit trade shows.
What do you do with them?
In the majority of cases I bet you either leave them to fester in the lovingly designed show carrier bag or you scan some of them and then throw them away.
Do you read any of the brochures you get through the post or left
by sales people?
If you do not read brochures why do you think your prospects will?
If your brochure is all about you and very little about your
customer it will not get read. If it is not read it cannot sell
anything. That means you lost another prospect because your brochure did not do its job right.
... What A Brochure Is Not ...
Designing a brochure is not simply the managing director,
marketing director or Mr Average Copywriter simply dumping
everything they can think of about your company and its products
into a four page 4 colour brochure.
Explaining how your business has grown from strength to strength
over the last 5 years, or how the new widget is now also
available in puce and lemon is boring.
In fact most brochures are deeply boring. Maybe not to you as the
business owner - but to the most important people you know.
Your customers and prospects!
Neither are brochures an art gallery for your in-house or
external graphic design team to show off their brilliance with
well produced photos, line art and consistent house style.
After all winning awards for your brochure is not as important as winning sales. Is it?
Have you found salespeople who are unwilling to give customers your brochures? That is because good sale staff instinctively know whether your brochure helps or hinders sales.
... So What Is A Brochure ...
Purely and simply, another sales tool. Part of your
marketing tool set. Please treat it that way.
To create it you turn the dial to your customers favourite radio station: WII FM. Better known as What's In IT For Me!
... Use Sizzling Copy To Hit People Between The Eyes ...
Do not take up the space on the front, or back, covers with your
logo, managing directors head shot or a stock photo of a forklift
truck or someone attractive sat gazing transfixed at a computer
screen.
... Smash Through Buyer Inertia With A Captivating Headline ...
Instead use a great headline to encourage people to open and
investigate what you have to say.
You could use any of the following headlines:
If you are in the car hire business you could say,
"7 Reasons Why Car Hire Is Costing You Too Much".
Then explain why in your copy inside and further explain how you can make sure the prospect avoids those costs.
Perhaps you are in IT or software services? Your headline could be,
"How To Sell More to Your Old Customers".
Then you explain how implementing a customer relationship management system gives the ability to follow-up properly.
But whatever company you're in tell your customer something you
know they want to know.
... Write Copy That Tells And Sells ...
When writing the copy inside your brochure make it
interesting, arresting and intriguing.
Give your prospects some interesting facts they do not know.
Stir in some Great Customer Testimonials. No testimonials? Start talking to your customers now to get some.
You are writing the copy to sell your product or service. So the
writing is vitally important. Next you need to make sure you have necessary line art, photos or other graphics at appropriate points in the brochure. Whatever you do remember
graphics are there purely to support the copy.
With any graphics make sure that you have a caption to avoid distracting people from wondering what that graphic was about.
Make sure that your brochure has all the ways your customer can get hold of you and order. That includes having an order or enquiry form they can fax to you.
Finally, one of the most important elements in the brochure: The Offer and call to action.
You need to offer your customer something for doing business with
you.
You could offer any of:
- free bonus reports
- audio CDs
- DVDs
- Different payment options
- Strong guarantees
- Bundled with other products or services
Whatever you do make sure you've a call to action with a deadline for your offer. Your brochure needs to make clear the next step for your customer.
... How Do You use Your Brochure? ...
Don't leave it lying around like yesterdays newspaper. You have
paid good money to produce it. Treat your brochures with respect
and give them or send them to people you want to do business
with.
At trade shows a good approach is to suggest that you will send a
brochure to your prospect. That way you can keep following them
up with further offers.
Jay Abraham is the highest paid marketing guru in the world at $5,000 per hour. He notes that sending a brochure to a prospect without a well-written and interesting covering letter reduces response.
If you feel you must leave brochures around tradeshows try stapling an envelope with an interesting headline, such as "5 Ways To Slash The Cash That Drains From Your Web Site" to your brochure.
Your letter will get read.
The letter needs to spell out your major benefits are and where they are in your brochure.
Proof of effectiveness of adding such a letter is given by Troy White, writing in Duct tape Marketing, he says:
"...Info USA who sells direct mail database lists started testing
this (sales letter,Jim) with their catalogs and saw an immediate 300% improvement in orders. All with a simple letter attached to it!"
Similarly use direct mail and send them out to the companies you want to do business with. Make sure a personalised selling letter goes with every brochure you put out there.
Write and design your brochure as if you were standing in your customers and prospects shoes.
Do it right and your brochure gets read from cover to cover and prospects find it informative and buy from it.
Remember if you are unwilling to invest up front in producing a brochure that sells you cannot expect anyone to take action from it and you have completely wasted your money to produce it.
Your Brochure Is Killing Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Symcox's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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