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Helpdesk

The problem

'My company is looking at different marketing strategies as it expands. What sort of timescale should I be looking at for implementation?'

Over to the expert

Whatever you do, don't hold your breath while waiting for marketing to take effect. Instead, hold your horses because it's not going to happen instantly.

How long does it take for a prospect to become a customer? Well, let's first look into the chemistry of prospects. Prospects are like you except that they're probably doing business with one of your competitors. Fortunately for you, that competitor most likely doesn't know the full meaning of follow-up, with the result that most customers feel ignored after the sale.

These are among your hottest prospects. They already do business with a company such as yours and may be disenchanted because they've been left alone after making their purchase.That's why guerrillas identify their best prospects and then begin the courtship process. It is a courtship and it is a process. Armed with that insight, you can transform them into customers.

Most business owners contact prospects once or twice, and if they don't show an interest, the business owners move on to greener territories, on to the nonexistent 'land of instant gratification'. A good business continues romancing those they are courting. Eventually, those prospects feel so cared for, so important, so attended to, that they turn to you.

How long does it take until this happen? Try seven years on for size. That's the outside. It could happen in a month, even a week or less if the prospects are in the market right now and neglected by their former supplier. But it probably won't happen soon and it most assuredly won't happen if you ignore them after contacting them once or twice.

Remember that prospects have minds that are more open than you think. Allegiances that are lost every day, allegiances gained every day.

Marketers don't lose them because they recognise the slow motion process of gaining them. When they speak to prospects, whether in person or through one of the venues of marketing, they do not talk about their businesses or their industries. They talk about the prospects themselves – which is the topic most on the mind of prospects and one that ceaselessly interests them.

Give them time. Give them information. Give them attention. While you're waiting, walk a mile in their shoes so you can be better prepared to talk to them about how their feet feel.

People patronise the businesses they do for an enormously wide variety of reasons. Often, it's location, though the internet is changing that in a hurry. Frequently, it is mere habit.

Keep in mind that people are attracted to businesses that have established credibility. You get it with superb marketing and commitment to a plan. Marketing continues to be a blend of art, science, business and patience.

Here's what they're thinking: It's not 'tell me a story about you.' Instead, it's 'tell me a story about me. Tell me how you can save my time, increase my income, reduce my stress, bring more love into my life, cause people to think highly of me.'

It works. But it rarely works instantly. That's why the most crucial ingredient in the blend called marketing is your own patience

Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the best-selling marketing series in history, Guerrilla Marketing, and chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a marketing partner of Adobe and Apple. For more information visit www.gmarketing.com