Questions typically discussed in a first meeting:

"What do you do?" "How can you help me?" "Why should we hire you?"

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Can DMRG help? That depends on YOUR specific circumstances.
Below are some questions we can discuss that help us focus on your situation and your needs.
We don't need to discuss ALL OF THEM. Pick whichever ones you prefer.

40 Questions about your past 
and future marketing results:

What's your biggest marketing opportunity today?  How much would you like your company to grow over the next few years?  What specifically would you like to see improved?  Current or Past Customers How many customers do you have now?  How many added in last 6 months?  last 12 months?  Is there a target number of new customers you want?  In what time frame? Why this many? Is there a ballpark average amount a typical customers spends on your products?  Is there some average purchase amount, per NEW CUSTOMER, you've seen so far?  Has this average purchase amount, per new customer, gone up or down recently?  Which is more profitable: 1st sales to new customers, or multiple sales to existing customers? When typical customers buy, do they buy once or more than once?  If they buy more than once, is their purchase the same product or is it something else? If customers typically purchase from you more than once, on average, how often a year?  Who sells your products?  Company sales people?  Independent resellers? Retailers? Direct Mail? Other? Of all the customers you currently have, about what percent of them are beyond their first purchase? Are there any distinct characteristics about those customers who purchase from you more than once?  How are customers different who spend more and less?  Beyond the first time sale, do you ever ask customers why they purchase from your company?  Do you want to increase the average purchase amount per existing customer?  What is this average now and what would you like this average increased to?

And how are sales leads being generated now?  Are your marketing, advertising and sales as effective as you want them to be?   How's your marketing performing for you currently?  How were most of your customers generated?  Is one method most effective?  Has your marketing always performed like this or just recently?  What marketing and promotion methods are working best now?  And how is "best" measured, increased sales or profits? Or other? Do you have a preferred strategy for doing this?  Do you have specific strategies for making improvements?  Where is there room for immediate improvement?  Is there anything about your present marketing capabilities you don't like or want to change?  Do you want to repeat past strategies, refine existing strategies or develop new strategies?  New Customers? Would you expect to see the same average purchase per customer among new customers?  Would you expect new customers to spend more, less or the same as the average current customer?  Using ball park numbers, new customers would generate new revenues, on average, of about how much? Have you analyzed and calculated AVERAGE cost per new customer? On average, what level of marketng investment would you expect to acquire a new customer? Do your have a budget established this year for generating new customers? Will the average investment per new customer be higher or lower than last year? If higher, why? If lower, why? Is there a process you use to determine what this budget amount is... or should be?

Other points we can discuss:
Questions related to the TIMING of your results improvements:

• In what time frame would you hope to see results improvements accomplished?

• Is there a marketing opportunity that needs to be taken advantage of right away?

• Have you already spent some time on results improvements?

• Has any time been set aside to develop new strategies for results improvement? If so, how much time?

• How much do results improvements need to be "proven" before investments can be made?

• If yes, how should results be proven or validated for you to be satisfied improvement has actually happened?

Questions related to PAST EFFORTS to improve your marketing results:

• Have you tried any solutions already?  How happy are you with the results?

• What other options are you considering?

• Have you used a variety of marketing strategies or just a few?

• Does improving marketing results require someone's full time attention?

• Have you used direct mail or other forms of direct marketing?  Have results been tracked directly?

Discussions with marketing advisors often begin with a long description of things the advisor can do or has done.

Think about it.  Could advisors make things up? Claim to be good at a variety of things? Anything advisors say could be self-serving.  If advisors assure you they can help, how do they know that before they understanding your specific circumstances?

At first, our answer to "can you help us" is "don't know".

We have credentials like other professionals: college degrees, years of experience or client testimonials. By themselves, those credentials don't solve your marketing problems.  DMRG's help is not a one-shoe-fits-all approach. Does how DMRG helps fit with what you need? We can't answer that yet.

After discussing your circumstances, then what?

Does DMRG have solutions toyour problems?  Do you see DMRG as a resource that fits your needs? If we both see a fit, that's a good start. We can proceed.

If either of us doesn't see a fit, it's over and we can both move on. No problem.

IT'S OK FOR YOU TO SAY NO. You won't hurt our feelings.

We can spend lots of time describing our capabilities, our experience or describe examples of how we've helped other clients. But if we don't know what you need, all that can be a waste of time.

Or, we can discuss the questions above to help us focus on what you need and how we can help with your circumstances. That's where we suggest beginning.  Discussiong some questions like those above.

It's not always comfortable admitting problems exist.   Or, things might be more complex where one problem can be the result of another problem which is being caused be other interrelated problems and so on. Your situation might be relatively complex. Even more reason for us to understand before suggesting solutions.

Asking questions

How, as soon as possible, do we see if there's a fit - or not? By asking questions. Your answers allow DMRG to see if DMRG can help or not.  You don't need exact answers. Educated guesses are fine. If your other decision makers are needed, they can help answer some questions. If it makes you more comfortable, DMRG can sign a non-disclosure agreement. If you don't have one, we do.

You'll first meet with me, George Wehmann, owner of DMRG.  I ask some questions and then you can ask questions.

Which questions would I ask?

That's up to you.  Below are 40 questions to choose from. Some questions are revenue oriented, some expense oriented, some are customer oriented and some are general. We can discuss any questions you choose.  Discussing them all is not why there's so many.  There's so many so you have more choices to consider. Once you've picked questions you'd feel comfortable discussing, sort them in order of importance. This helps me see how you outline your priorities and makes sure we discuss issues you feel are most important.

At the end of the first meeting...

Up to this point all our discussion will focus on you and your circumstances, which is proper. Then, with your input, I'll present my suggestions. How much time is needed for this.  Thay depends on you, on your schedule and how much time you have to dedicate to determining if we have a fit.  I may outline suggestions right away or in a follow up meeting.  Once that happens, we can decide if we want to proceed further.

No thank you, it's over

At any time, either of us can say "no thank you" and end our discussion. You have no obligation nor will you be charged anything.  If you like some of my suggestions, but want someone else to apply them, that's your option.  Go for it.

But if we both feel there's a fit, we can discuss steps to proceed from that point forward.

No thank you OR I want to think about it.

When I ask if you feel we have a fit, there should be nothing to "think about".   If you feel you need to "think about it" our discussion has failed to uncover and address additional matters that concern you.  If you want to "think about it" I'll take that as your polite way of saying "no thanks". 

Sometimes people don't like saying "no". Instead, the way they prefer to say "no" is by saying "let me think about it". And that's OK.