So many times marketing and sales people want to get up and start telling about their product, their company and their offering. The inexperienced will do this without regard to the customer, his wants or needs. The more experienced and seasoned marketer will do it more in response to a customer.

Regardless, this technique is many times, one way, canned and not tailored to a specific customer problem.

Many times a customer has a problem, needs a solution but is fearful of a tele-sell sales approach. What works well is that 1-2 page summary sales sheet that immediately captures the customer’s interest, identifies with his problem and suggests a solution.

Understanding your clients/prospects problems is paramount to selling. If there were no problem there would be no need for a solution. No need for a solution and you’re out of business. Understanding the pain and restating it in the form of "What is not ideal" is part one of the summary of information, i.e. stating the problem.

For an extreme example, if you are marketing and selling light bulbs, your problem identification part of the summary might start out, "Tired of reading in the dark?"

Once you have the prospect identifying with you immediately, its time to put them at ease and tell that, "There is good news. A solution is available." Discussing what it would be like if the identified problem was solved now generates the true interest of the prospective client. Using our light bulb example, "Research has shown that retention and entertainment increases significantly when adequate light is available."

Many times a prospective client understands these first two items of the Marketing Summary and feels that the obvious is being stated. If this is the case, the question on their mind, now becomes, "How come I haven’t moved on this problem solving?" For the light bulb example, "Many people find they don’t know where to get the best light bulbs for their reading enjoyment and do not know what kind to get." (Excuse the extreme example but it really exemplifies the summary steps).

What the Marketing Summary is doing here is stating the obvious but leading the client to the solution and the eventual call to action.

Next comes actually describing the steps required to solve the problem. "Buying long lasting, high wattage, whit light bulbs will increase your reading pleasure. Finding the right company that has the best variety is the key to solving your problem. You woe it to yourself to solve this problem and be on your way to happy reading!" (Again, the extreme).

Finally, no marketing is complete without a call to action. Whether it is a T.V. commercial or this 1-2 page summary, telling your prospective client what to do is a must. "Brite Lites Inc. has been providing beams of light to readers across the world for many years. Please give us a call, visit our website and schedule a free consultation (in the light) to discuss how we can help you with your lighting challenges."

Obviously more than the few example sentence here are needed for a true summary, but it is clear to see that providing your message in this manner can be efficient and quite effective. In today’s world of information overload, clients like summaries, lists and scannable information. This 1-2 page Marketing Summary alone can do more for marketing your business, products and services than any other printed communication.

For a real example of the summary used at Marketing Now, our marketing consulting company, please email me at [email protected] with "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY " in the subject line.