It is January and it is cold outside where I live. This is the time of the year when anything above freezing is considered a warm day. One of the complications of living in a cold weather region is the number of things that won’t work in temperatures this cold, like old batteries in cars. They can lose all their power in cold weather. When that happens, you need a jump start to get the engine running again.

Sales can be like that old, cold battery. If you are having trouble getting your sales started, take a look at your marketing. Are you marketing the right thing to the right people at the right time? A simple assessment of what you are marketing, to whom you are marketing and when you are marketing can tell you a lot about what you need to do to jumpstart your sales. Let’s take a look at each of these components of good marketing.

What are you selling? You may give me the name of the product or service your business provides your customers. That may not actually be what you are selling – or I might better say, that is not why people are buying from you. Who is the largest package delivery company in the U.S.? You might have guessed it was the US Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. Actually, it is Amazon. When I think of Amazon, I don’t think of it as a package shipping service, I think of it as a very large general store – similar to Walmart or Target, but with many more products. But Amazon has made their business work because they sell anything and deliver it to your door overnight. What they are selling is convenience. So what are you selling? Why would people make a purchase from you instead of another company? This needs to be the key message in your marketing.

To whom are you selling? Not everyone is a potential candidate to become a customer of yours. There are people who will never buy what you are selling. There are others who are in need of what you offer. Do you know who is a great fit for a sale and who is just a good fit (or not a fit at all)? There is little sense chasing someone who will never buy from you. Stop wasting time and money! If you do a little research and define your target market, you will get better results from your marketing. This is key to getting sales in your door. Do target markets change over time? Yes, they often do. That is why it is crucial for you to be aware of who is buying from you and why they are doing so.

When are you selling? For some industries, there are seasons of high demand and seasons of little interest. For other industries, critical factors – such as an economic boon or downturn – will impact selling time frames. It is important that you understand the best time to sell in your marketplace. Get your marketing out in front of that time frame and promote your product and services. For instance, we are just ahead of the busy season for tax preparation, home sales, warm-weather vacation rentals, floral sales and green milkshakes. We just passed by the busiest time for sales of health care plans, toys, cranberries, farm implements and eggnog. Know what time it is in your market and get out ahead of it.

If you want to jumpstart your sales, get your marketing working for you. Don’t waste your marketing efforts with the non-essentials that can gobble up both time and money. Keep your marketing simple. Promote what you sell to the right people at the right time and get your sales running once again.