Marketing Activities Test

Peter Drucker, famed business marketing guru, said it best when he stated... "Because its purpose is to create a customer, your business has two purposes and two purposes only: Marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation make you money, generate sales, produce profit. Everything else is an expense..." I've gone further to outright state that the absolute single most important difference between mediocrity and millions more over the life of a business or career is your ability to market masterfully and your competitor's inability to do so. Well, rather than devote THIS article to a mere theoretical discussion of things you can do to market better, I decided to actually "challenge" you - here and now - to put your marketing to the absolute "acid" test. Let's see, together, exactly how well (or poorly) your marketing stacks up. Are you game? Good. Because I've designed a pretty straightforward 35 question, self-diagnostic "assessment test," complete with a scoring table that let's you see for yourself exactly where your marketing stands. Once you take it, it'll either instantly open up "monster" prospect generating, and client-building opportunities and possibilities you weren't taking advantage of before - OR, it will reconfirm you're doing everything you could and should, and doing it at the highest level of performance you need to be operating at. So, with no further ado, let's take the assessment test together...and see how your marketing stacks up. How Do You And Your Business Stack Up? Self-Diagnostic Assessment Test Points 1. Do you have a powerful USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that comes across to the market you target as being the only viable solution to a problem they have that you alone verbalized for them or an opportunity you alone identified?__________ No (0 point) Yes (2 points)
2. How many different client-generating methods do you currently do/use?__________ One (1 point) 2-4 (2 points) 5 or more (3 points)
3. How many new potential selling/marketing methods have you tested in the last 12 months?__________ None (0 points) One (1 point) 2-4 (2 points) 5 or more (4 points)
4. Is your real estate business being marketed tactically or strategically?__________ Tactically (0 points) Strategically (2 pts)
5. Do you have comprehensive databases of your prospects and past buyers/sellers that identifies everything from names, contact numbers, type of buying, what they buy, what they didn't buy, where they originated from, size of past purchases, etc.?__________ No (0 points) Partial (1 points.) Yes On All Issues (3 points)
6. Do you actively use all the data above to target different categories of prospects/buyers in different ways for different products or services?__________ No (0 points) Yes (3 points)
7. Do you know exactly where all (or at least most) of your business is coming from and how to stimulate more people from those specific sources to transact business with from you?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
8. Do you know where your biggest source of untapped NEW business is located - and how to ultimately mine it?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
9. Does at least 25% of your business currently come from referral/word of mouth?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
10. Is the average number of referrals you get every month going up or down? Growing or dropping?__________ Down/Dropping (0 points) Up/Growing (2 points)
11. Do you have a reliable system of collecting and creating client testimonials, endorsements and success stories?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
12. If "yes," how many client testimonials and success stories do you have?__________ 1-5 (1 points) 6-10 (2 points) 11-20 (3 points) 21 & over (4 points)
13. Do you effectively and powerfully use your testimonials/endorsements in all the marketing, advertising, follow-up and sales efforts you do?__________ No (0 points Sometimes (1 points) Yes, always (3 points)
14. Do you have respected people in your field, market, industry who unhedgingly endorse you and your company?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
15. Do you have any strategic alliances/host beneficiary relationships actively in place right now that generate continuous new business for you?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
16. Do you have a systematic, ongoing follow-up system you follow and put into action for every prospect and first time client you acquire?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
17. How often do you follow up to past buyers/clients by phone, mail, e-mail or in-person?__________ Never (0 points) Every Six Months (1 point) Quarterly (2 points) More Often (3 points)
18. If yes, how many different progressive, backend repeat transactions do you so every month?__________ 1-2 (1 point) 3-9 (2 points) 10 or More (3 points)
19. Do you offer ethical bonuses (either tangible or intangible) as an incentive to transact business with you now?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
20. Do you do PR/media relationships/radio/newspaper/magazine interviews?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
21. Do you use the results of these activities in excerpts or reproductions as part of your marketing?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
22. Do you write articles, special reports or a book(s) you use for promotional positioning?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
23. Do you have a continuous way to build a growing prospect/client e-mail list?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
24. How often do you send quality e-mails out that provide a benefit to your clients and/or prospects?__________ Never (0 points) Infrequently (1 point) Quarterly (2 points) Monthly or More (3 points)
25. Are your e-mails, educational/content-based and not merely self-serving?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
26. Have you and all your people who have contact with your prospects/buyers had formalized "strategic" consultative/advisory sales training?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
27. Do you regularly educate and update your prospects and clients on industry, marketing, relevant events, developments, threats or opportunities?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
28. How many additional prospect lists have you located and use that better target your prime prospects?__________ None (0 points) One (1 point) 2-5 (2 points) 6-10 (3 points) 11 or More (4 points)
29. Do you effectively prepare prospective buyers from their very first contact experience with you to keep coming back to transact again and again?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
30. Do YOU personally talk to your past buyers, sellers, prospects, and clients regularly to learn what they want and then build a repeat transactional relationship with them?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
31. Do you regularly monitor your competitors to see what they do differently, better or are doing more effectively that your company don't do?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
32. There are between 15 and 30 key impact or leverage points that can positively increase your business' transaction performance. How many have you identified?__________ None (0 points) 1-5 (1 point) 6-10 (2 points) 11-20 (3 points) Over 20 (4 points)
33. Do you have a complete e-mail marketing strategy you constantly adhere to, implement and follow?__________ No (0 points) Yes (2 points)
34. Do you know all of the marketing assets (both tangible and intangible) your business has available to it? Like this Blog???__________ No (0 points) Some (2 points) Yes, most (6 points)
35. Are you effectively applying yourself as the most trusted advisor to all your selling, marketing, promotional and prospect development communications?__________ No (0 points) Sometimes (1 point) Yes, Always (2 points) __________ TOTAL POINTS


The "Key" For Interpreting Your Answers Now that you've completed answering all the questions in this assessment test, here's how to see what it all means to you: Tally up all the points your answers represent, by calculating the point status of each answer you've given (use the number in parentheses following each response). Once you get your combined total, here's what it tells you...If your total points equal 13 or less, it tells you that your marketing is very weak, your opportunity for professional growth and greater profitability, with a better marketing strategy to follow is almost assured . You are probably realizing less than 15% of your real business/financial/marketing potential.If your total points equal 60 to 74, you're marketing at a decent level; but your business has exceptional room for improvement. You can probably increase your overall performance by 80% or more, merely by better understanding and applying the marketing opportunities you have available. If your total points exceed 74 or higher, congratulations! You're a very fine marketer already and should feel good about where you've come, so far. But, ironically, because YOU understand so well the real additional marketing opportunities available to your busines - your business probably still has spectacular geometric growth possible if you decided to take your strategy and tactics to the highest performance levels possible. Nevertheless, I'm very proud of your level of success so far. Depending upon your score, and the actions steps it requires, I'll be teaching you different elements of the business building/marketing mastering process in subsequent articles and interviews I do. If you scored exceedingly high, congratulations. Keep going. Never give up.