Quick Money: Who’s On Your List?

Hiya Friend,

I’m shakin’ things up just a bit here. You’re used to longer posts . . . soooooo . . . . I decided to save your eyes and appeal to attention deficit side . . . this one’s going to be a quickie. But not to worry. You’ll still go home with a prize!

Pick a business . . . any business. Ok. Now think about what type of business it is. Good so far. Now ask yourself, “Where’s my customer list?” If you said “Uh I don’t really have one” then shame on you.

It doesn’t make nary matter what type you own or operate . . . down-town store front retail, a restaurant, operate a corner hot dog stand, construction or plumbing contractor or direct response (please tell me you keep a customer list if you own a direct response biz or else double shame on you!!) . . . then you should be keeping a record of all your customers and prospects. 

These lists are plain and simple  . . . GOLD! 

It’s sooo very easy to start a list . . . Let’s say you operate a brick ‘n mortar retail business. The idea is to capture the name and contact information of your prospects (future customers)! 

Here are a few ideas for nabbing that illusive name and contact info . . .

Offer prospects a free report or perhaps a “new customer” discount coupon. Offer to put your prospects on the preferred customer list where they get special sale prices and notified first of special deals you offer.

You are most likely already advertising in your local newspaper. Switch your advertising to direct response type advertising. Direct response type advertising always asks for some type of action. For example: Visit the store and get your free gift or discount coupon pak, etc.

Think what your business can do that sets you apart from your competitors. A good question to ask yourself is “given all of the choices available, why should my prospect or customer do business with me?” The answer you come up with will be your unique selling position.

Come up with unique sales or reasons to attract both new and existing customers. Repeat business is the lifeblood of every business. Sometimes you can look at what your competitors are doing and you do the opposite.

Start today building your customer lists and stay in contact with them regularly. You don’t have to pitch them every time you communicate with them. Rather just send them thank you cards or remember their birthday. This will pay off in spades.

Warmly,

Emette

P.S. Today’s Free Marketing Goodie: Scientific Advertising Special Illustrated Edition from  Dahill Press. Email me at eemassey@yahoo.com and it’s yours! FREE . . .

Download THIS! How ‘Bout Some More Leads?

Whatsup? I’ve gotta say it’s sure been HOT in my little corner of the world . . . aka NC! Temps have been running the upper 90’s! Sweat! What about you? 

Seems hard to believe but all this heat got me to thinking. And just before my brain started slowly turning to mush I started pondering the whole marketing process. 

What’s the one thing that starts the entire sales funnel that eventually leads to money in your coffers? I’ll give you a small hint . . . it’s not a fancy website or high falutin’ printed brochure. NO! It’s . . . (drum roll, please) . . .

LEADS! You know .  . . Prospects!

You gotta get folks interested in what you have to offer before you can make a sale. In other words you gotta find leads. In the words of marketing legend Gary Halbert you must have a starving crowd.  

OK. I’m sure you didn’t tune in just to get the weather forecast, huh? I didn’t think so. But it’s a fair guess you did tune in to get some good marketing info pump up your sales, no?

So how do you find this elusive creature otherwise called a prospect? Where do they hide? How you find them? I thought you’d never ask!

One of the best, most cost effective ways to get buckets full of leads . . . and I mean high quality leads is to offer them something (of real value) FREE!

FREE, by the way, when used correctly is still a power word in the marketing language. So what freebie can you offer your prospects?

Start by identifying who your prospect is. What do they look like? What do they read? What products have they bought that is similar to yours? Get to know everything you can about your prospect. 

THEN you can tailor a freebie to get them into your marketing or sales funnel. Now you want to give them something of high perceived value. Something that solves their pain or problem. 

Never forget you are in the problem solving business . . . you don’t sell widgets you offer solutions that solves their problems and takes away the pain. Got it?

Free Reports work very well. You can create them quickly offer them on your website in PDF format or perhaps on a CD-ROM. Quality information is perfect. Maybe your free special report explains how to make money from home. . . or how to fix their lawnmower themselves saving a ton of cash . . . or how to end money worries . . . or how to grill up a gourmet meal in minutes flat . . . you get the idea. 

This special report doesn’t have to very long . . .five or eight pages should do it. And with all the word processing options these days you can make it look like professionally published and you can do it in a snap!

Oh, so you don’t write . . . no problem. What if you find something in the public domain and just repackage it. Or you get a college student to write it up for you for a small token. 

If you happen to be in the service business try offering a FREE CONSULTATION or 1^st TIME CUSTOMER DISCOUNT! In fact just the other day I helped a client put together a similar offer. I designed and wrote up a simple flyer and noted a 10% OFF deal if they brought in the flyer. So far it’s working beautifully. 

The key is getting creative and test what works. The only rules are giving exceptional value and treating your customers the way you’d treat your Mom!

I happen to be a marketing consultation and copywriter . . . Sooooo here’s my offer to you, dear reader! If you have a business that not getting the results you want, give me a shout. We’ll put our heads together and come up with a simply brilliant plan to get leads flowing and swell your bank account. Gratis!  

You can email me at: eemassey@yahoo.com . . . Just put “blog offer” in the subject line and leave me your phone number or best way to contact you and I’ll take it from there!

Warmly,

Emette 

P.S. If you respond really fast .  . . like within the next 5 days, I'll throw in a special report that shows you a complete marketing strategy that's guaranteed to put money in your bank account within the next 30 days!   So what the heck are you waiting for .  . . email me at: eemassey@yahoo.com . . . Just put “blog offer” in the subject line and leave me your phone number or best way to contact you and make your marketing sizzle with success!