Thursday, April 30, 2009

Online Ad Success

You want or need to get a more successful online ad out there? Don’t we all. Most online ads fail because they are based on a faulty premise which is. If I put my ad next to some interesting content it will get noticed.

There are 3 basic rules I would follow.

1. Focus on the most important needs of your most important customers. If your ad has a solution to their problem likeminded customers will start to seek you out.

2. Switch your focus from getting a message across to helping customers get things done. Nobody wants to be sold but they do want to buy.

3. Do your research. If you stop and ask your customers “would you use this?” and the answer is “no” you will be saving yourself allot of pain and aggravation. If they say yes, its full steam ahead!

Larson Note: If you do and keep focused on your top 10 customers and what they need and use you will keep close to the strong part of your company and its products and services.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Could You Be A Corporate Social Media Director?

Do you think you have what it takes to be a social media director for your organization? Here is a test that was emailed to me a few months ago that I parked for later use. A variety of skill sets are required because there are so many tasks involved. You can’t fail the test, but you could discover where you need some help.

These skill sets are required whether your organization includes just you and your computer or it includes thousands of employees spread over several continents. Whether you’re committing a couple hours a week, or you’re company is hiring an executive level social networking czar, certain activities are needed to pull off this endeavor.

Starting Line
1. Are you willing to dedicate a certain percentage of your time to the social networking effort?
2. Are you passionate about social media and capable of sharing an energetic, professional point of view to your team and to the public?
3. Can you own the responsibility for the success of the organization’s social media plan?
4. Can you conduct discovery of the internal culture, overall marketing plans and the organization’s business strategy?
5. Can you identify clearly identified social networking goals?
6. Can you rally the organization’s resources where required to help you fulfill the social networking plan?
7. Are you capable of articulating a social media strategy that has actionable, measurable goals?

Toe The Line
1. Can you maintain blog duties on a daily basis? This means writing, publishing, promoting, gaining approvals both accurately and swiftly.
2. Can you identify the on line or enterprise software tools required to monitor your organization’s social networking metrics. Can you monitor and update your organization’s content on the major social media sites? Can you tie this data into a measure of success against your defined goals?
3. Do you have a public relations or marketing degree or equivalent experience?
4. Are you an excellent communicator orally and in writing?
5. Do you have experience with other successful on line community building?
6. Do you have website experience? Are you versed in search engine optimization?
7. Do you have leadership skills?
8. Do you have the stamina to patiently shepherd your organization through the social media maze over a sustained period of time?
9. Do you have an in depth knowledge of the currently available social media tools and adapt your strategy to use them to their best benefit?
10. Are you aware of which tools are most predominant within your target demographic?
11. Do you have a strong familiarity with Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Nings, YouTube and other startup SM sites?

Go
1. Can you oversee the organization’s use of social networking tools?
2. Can you provide guidance to your team members on social media best practices? Do you stay current on available social media tools?
3. Can you define the rules of engagement within social media?
4. Do you have a plan to provide consistent messaging and brand protection for those on your team engaging in social communities?
5. Do you have relationships with industry expert bloggers?
6. Do you have a plan for developing more sophisticated videos, applications, photographs and other digital multimedia presentations?
7. Are you a creative thinker who can develop interactive, intriguing and interesting ideas with the potential for viral sharing?

Test Scoring: 25 Correct: You’re ready!24 or less Correct: Might want to get a coach or a little more training!

Larson Note: This is only the start of what is happening as companies try to get a handle on Social Media for business exposure and expansion. I’m sure you can add additional requirements. We can all question whether all or which of these skills are really required to be called to have SM “expert status”, yet I think we can agree that there are some very unique skills required. You need an understanding of marketing issues and tacticts as well as technology tools. You need to immerse yourself in the social media world out there, getting current and staying current. A patient, creative mind is required. Most important you have to don the mantle of social networking champion. Can you, could you, will you go down this new marketing field?

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Marketing Has Not Really Changed

Do you remember in the past we were told that the web changed everything? That doing business would never be the same. That print advertising and salesmanship was going the way of the dinosaur. The traditional business models were out and only an online business presented a viable way of doing business. With the dotcom bust we learned (I think) that you can’t run a business at a constant loss because you eventually cease to be in business. Now once again find ourselves being told that traditional business has been overridden. This time it’s called social media so as you get deeper into this new “marketing venue” keep it in a balance with your business pan, your marketing plan, and your available time.

1. It is just another channel. That isn’t to say that it does not have its own unique flavor or that it isn’t exciting, but it is just another marketing tool. Keep in mind social media marketing does require specialist skills. But these special skills are still based on established, sound, traditional marketing wisdom; any deviation from this is in being able to execute your plan through this medium. You and other social media gurus have not found the nirvana of marketing, only another way to get the job done.

2. The myth of inbound / outbound marketing. I recently sat through an online webinar (I really don’t like them) that tried to argue that in the past we pushed marketing messages at our audience, but now our prospects would somehow come seeking us out for information on our companies. What planet is this guy on? Marketing, regardless of how and where it is done, is about creating a captivating message and placing it in places that our prospects will find it, see it, and hopefully act upon it. Do you really care if that is on in a flier or on a bill board, or on MySpace? It is essentially all the same. The style and use of what you put out there must work for the channel you are using, but again that is basic Marketing 110. As for twitter, about the only reason a business should be tweeting is to attract attention to your brand and your company. Does your marketing message have anything what so ever to do with telling people “what you are doing”. Do your customers really care? Think about it. Social media, same as other media, depends upon you creating captivating content.

3. If you can’t measure it don’t do it. Measuring ROI is not hard, in fact it is easy and frankly if you don’t do then I suspect that you are not really in business. Of course trying to measure the ROI on a single Tweet or a single post to a group on LinkedIn is ridiculous. The point of measurement is the ROI from LinkedIn or MySpace in total. Consider each of the new media channels as a “campaign” in their own right. One of the down sides to social media is the additional step of “conversation” has a cost (time cost) that you will have to go through and a necessary evil. It causes extra work (read cost) and yes it slows down the campaign (reduced effectiveness), so you need to factor all these factors into your thinking when evaluating the different places and parts of social media (LinkedIn, MySpace, ning, MC, Facebook, etc), but don’t be taken in by those that claim you can’t measure ROI from social media, you can and you must. At the least get a timer to time the time you are on the sites and create a excel spread sheet to keep track of it and the hits you get off each site.

4. Selling is bad; it is all about the community and participation. Have you ever tried to place a PR story was really an advertisement? It just doesn’t work does it? You need to treat social media in the same way. No hard sell, deliver on messages in a well structured way, ensure that once their interest is grabbed to follow you and create a trackable (think ROI) way for them to engage with you, not at you. Accept that you might have to do come out and get actively involved in the SM experience before you get your desired goal. It is all about community and participation!

5. Social media introduces the revolutionary concept of dialogue. This is almost right, but not completely. In the past marketing did the prelim work and sales did the dialogue in active f2f interaction. It is now all bleared together? As a marker you are going into a new world of marketing in real time. You are going to have to brace yourself for some conversations with your target market. Worse yet, is that they can talk back at you. So you need to figure out how this real time dialogue is going to be managed.

I know that a number of people will simply say that I don’t get social media or that I’m too old school. Really? I’m here actively working it aren’t I and you are reading this blog aren’t you? So I offer you the thought that there is “getting in it” and then there is “being swept away by the hype”. I am happy with the getting in but don’t think I will be swept away. The skill of a good marketer, and I hope your marketing person or company is to understand the dynamics of each new channel and figure out how to apply it to your or their clients company and when and how to use it. Marketing must deliver a ROI, I do believe that businesses are there to generate profit and above all I do believe that social media is just another marketing channel to be judged in the same ways as any other.




Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Week Ahead for April 27 – May 1, 2009

Monday:
Tuesday: April consumer confidence
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, March personal incoming, spending
Friday:

Larson note: Well I did my part this last week by buying a new washer and dryer. As for the rest of the week, more ups and does on reports as well as corporate 1st quarter reports (which I don’t cover). Keep your head on and your focus on want is the right thing to do, for future growth and market share.

Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of April are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and an Art Studio.

Howard’s out of office public schedule for the week:
Monday: Marathon Training 6:30amTuesday:
Wednesday: 12:00 Rolling Down the River business expo, St Charles ILThursday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Friday:

Trade show schedule:
> April 29, 2009, Rolling Down the River business expo, St Charles IL.
> May 5&6 2009, 2009 Design 2 Part Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL,
> June 9-11 2009. Intl. Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule: Palatine Invite Alumni 1 mile run Saturday April 24, Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Friday, April 24, 2009

Personalize Your Marketing Adverting & Sales Efforts

In any kind of advertising, marketing or sales effort you usually have only a few seconds to capture your prospects attention. This does not give you much room to maneuver of flounder over how to dive your message and create interest to their specific need(s).

A strong opening line, great visuals, clear theme is needed to drive your central message on how you can ease their pain. Ask your present customers what their current needs are so you can stay on top of what is important to your prospects. Then sit down and craft your message to those specific needs, wants and desires.

Larson note: It is all about taking directly to your prospects as a person not as an audience. In the age of digital both electronic, web and print you can narrow in your focus and hammer home your message. People need and expect this personalized marketing. So don’t fight it. Give them what they want and they will reward your effort allowing you to provide them with your product or service.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Testing Social Media for Business

Social Media, everyone and every business is doing it, right?

You need to understand the motivation for getting into and using social media. Rather than taking an everyone is doing it approach, you need to define the reasons and goals for how it will help your company. All social media is not created equal. Some work better than others and some will work better for your business than they do for other businesses. Figure out who your target market is, and what kind or results you want to achieve. IM, twit, blog, ning, MySpace, Facebook, etc etc etc.

Larson note: If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times. Test, test, test. You cannot test enough. Try things; play with the new online sites and programs and add-ons. You cannot know enough about SM and then, just when you think you might have 1 or 2 or maybe ever three tools figured out, it changes. My only big warning is watch the time you put into SM. It can, if you’re not careful, eat you and your business, alive.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

How Good Is Direct Mail?

The US Postal Service (USPS) has been capturing statics about direct mail for about 20 years now, through their Household Diary Study, This survey is done yearly with over 5,200 US households who (actually) volunteer to log the mail they receive and record what they do with it. The 2007 study published on the USPS web site showed that 48% of direct mail recipients read the mail and an additional 33% at the least scanned over the piece. That is a whopping 81% of mailed out pieces that are LOOKED at. WOW!

The report further breaks down the numbers showing the differences in open rates between different types of advertising and how the volume of advertising affects consumer behavior.

Larson note: Direct mail advertising still works. If you have the time and/or budget to work in a few different areas or marketing together mail, electronic, print you can connect on different parts of your target market’s mind and perception of you, Visual, sound, and touch make a very powerful impact on the mind.



Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Marketing Symphony In The Making

Like most Web 2.0 areas, social media marketing is not a very well defined or even understood marketing tool. The so called experts have seemed to latch into one or two areas, learned how to use them and hand the word expert on the back end of there name and off they go. Dare I say there are no long term experts only people running ahead of the pack. Truth is we are all running not just to catch up but to keep up it this evolving web world. What was once true 6 months ago has changed. E-mail, social and mobile marketing, blogs, continue to evolve as a tool to find ways to use.

SM is only one tool to use but an easy one to use in a multi channel attack is easier to careate with web based marketing. How easy is it to take your message and e-mail, blog, twit, go mobile, post on a ning or facebook, all with the twinkling of an eye.

Multichannel marketing is not a fad but has been around for years in the traditional marketing advertising world. It was just a little slower.

Larson note: Your marketing needs to be thought of as a symphony. Violins, cellos, horns, trumpets oboes. Each element is part of the process. One does not negate the other. Learning and using Web 2.0 marketing tactics does not or should not stop you from looking at trade show marketing, direct mail, telemarketing attack, an ad in a newspaper or magazine, putting in a classified ad in the paper and/or Craig’s list. Singularly you have a solo, if done in concert together you have a symphony.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Week Ahead for April 20 – April 24, 2009

Monday: March leading economic indicators, Boston Marathon
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, March existing home sales
Friday: March durable goods orders, March new home sales

Larson note: I see a “feel good” week ahead. With the stock market up, earnings of the (bailed out) banks good if not great people might pock their heads up and smell the roses. Don’t be lulled thinking this recession is near over. At a minimum we have 2 more months of working our butts off. Then you can start to roll that economic rock you have been pushing uphill down and pick up some good solid economic speed, but keep your head on and prepare yourself and your company working hard for a little while longer, when it happens the pay off will be huge.

Larson & Associates Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of April are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and an Art Studio. Special bird dog rates apply in these industries

Howard’s out of office public schedule for the week:
Monday: Marathon Training 6:30amTuesday:
Wednesday: Thursday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Friday:

Trade show schedule:
> April 23, 2009, Greater O’Hare & Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Trade Show
> April 29, 2009, Rolling Down the River business expo, St Charles IL.
> May 5&6 2009, 2009 Design 2 Part Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL,
> June 9-11 2009. Intl. Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule:
Palatine Invite Alumni 1 mile run Saturday April 24, Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Friday, April 17, 2009

Gathering/Using Business Intelligence

The pathway to better business intelligence is not as complicated as people might be trying to make it. The implication of it might be a different story.

Start with clear goals and objectives and in kind of initiatives you want to make.

Second, identify and prioritize the metrics and measures that you have for each goal, objective and initiative.

Next, map out specific people or teams to measure and monitor what is happening real time, and empower them to freedom of action.

Fourth, monitor the data for your next course of action. You want to keep your progress moving forward in a way you want to have happen.

Lastly assess analyze and start all over again.

Larson note: However simple this all might sound it does come down to action and freedom. Can management give up control to let front line people do what needs to be done. Will those in the trenches if given the necessary freedom to act, pick up the ball and run with it?

The process requires the participation of everyone in a company. Management and staff in addition to the necessary technology to help collect organized and present the results in ways that can be acted on.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Last Ad Philosophy

Marketers base their understanding of ROI on a flawed idea called Last Ad Philosophy. Basically what this idea says it that 100% of the credit for a sales is attributed to the last ad, click or view that the customer had.

The truth is a customer is reached by multiple ads the span across multiple channels the span an extended period of time. Given this any idea that gives only one ad or channel the entire credit for a sale throws off a true picture of your ROI metrics and may really damage your assessment on what really made the sale, thus casing you to divert your funds from very successful place into a marketing tool that only is a catalyst to the purchase. It is a known marketing fact that 9 out of 10 customers are exposed to ads across 2 or more sites or channels.

There are some ways to measure cross channel effects. You can get impressions to users who click on sponsored searches, or do a pay for click campaign. Happily there is a growing trend of advertisers to applying more advanced reporting that go beyond the last ad philosophy. These new models assimilate all the marketing touch points in a customer’s history. They are far form standardized and have a long way to go but they allow a glimpses of a better picture of a company’s true ROI.

Larson note: What is the real reason or cause of a purchase? What is a catalyst to the sale and what is the deal MAKER? Test, test, test. Then ask why and you might want to have a questionnaire or survey given out to new customers or current customers for that matter as to why they bought.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Payment Methods At Stores

23.3% Cash
38.8% Debit/Check card
4.1% Check
33.8% Credit Card

*National Retail Federation 2008; Sample of 8,860 December 2-9, 2008

Larson note: Cash is becoming king (again). I understand that this survey is 4 months old but the trend is there and continuing to grow. Pay for it now and not on credit.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Marketing Singularly

Is it possible as I alluded to yesterday to market and measure your marketing to each customer as an individual in real time?

There are already easy things you can be putting in place to get your marketing on the cheap. Things like auto-messaging response to emails. On-hold ad messages on your phone. Cross referencing your CRP for name, telephone number, company name, buying patterns.

If you were to look at the dashboard or your car and see all the little gages and buttons what do they do as an individual stand alone thing? Not much. Sure oil gage? Gas gage? Speed? Power consumption? Put them all together and you can coordinate your driving experience.

Same is true with marketing. If you can coordinante all the variables on all the gages into a singular CRM system and keep it accessible you can begin to achieve real time marketing

Larson note: It is only at the point where you take in, coordinate all information into one place and let everyone in your organization have access to it that it starts to work. Sales does not trust marketing who does not trust customer service who has issues with management.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Make Your Marketing Real Time

Businesses must stop blasting their customers with normal outbound marketing techniques and move towards a coordinated combination of marketing cohesiveness. Moving into event-triggered, teal-time, inbound, multichannel you will be touching your customers and prospects on different levels of their emotional touch-points.

Based on your knowledge of a customer of industry, you should be linking your interactions in a flow of coordinated ongoing dialog based on past experience. You do this by using the data collected from past interactions. The technology is out there to achieve the goal of every marketer, that being interactive real-time marketing. Not a sit back and wait approach.

Larson note: You can be taking your marketing to a real time activity level. All the bells and whistles are there to do it. Web 2.0, digital print, CRM, twitter(?). If sales can be real time, why not marketing. How fast do you think you can respond to market place changes, 1 week, 1 day, is 1 hour or less possible?

Need coordination help? Call us.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Online Revenue Loss Due to Fraud

2004 - $1.9 Billion
2005 - $2.6 Billion
2006 - $3.1 Billion
2007 - $3.7 Billion
2008 - $4 Billion

*Cyberource Corp. annual Online Fraud Survey; Sample of 400 online merchants in the US and Canada

Larson note: I see it at my sons Running Shoe store. Fraud, cheaters call it whatever you want but it is stealing! Out and out fraud, and with the economy in the tanks I would be more careful than ever before of you could get hammered harder than you already are.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

http://pacerrunners.ning.com



https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

The Week Ahead for April 6 – April 10, 2009

Monday: Cub’s Opening Day
Tuesday: March retail sales, March producer price index
Wednesday: March consumer price index, Federal Reserve beige book
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims
Friday:

Larson note: Last week was interesting. Wells Fargo makes a nice little $3 Billion profit, stocks surge over 200 points, yet unemployment remains week with over 8% which is really 15% when you consider those people that have taken themselves out of the job market or just stopped looking or never were able to claim unemployment like all those 1099 workers who were independent mortgage brokers or the ranks of consultants and outsourced services. Keep in mind that the stock market is looking 4 to 6 months ahead as a predictor so August – October. I still stand pat on my June/July but you need to be ready getting your company ready to grow. Putting in place all the growth tools you will need.

As for this week take is as it comes. Flat sales and flat prices and even unemployment. Keep your head on and your eyes focused on your goals.

We are still looking for that elusive sales representive for the Central States. Chicago based would be best but not necessary. How much is a sales person worth to your company? To my company 1 good salesperson is worth another 15 jobs give or take. Now that my friends is the real engine of economic recovery, people making money to spend on goods and services for their and their families betterment as they choose


Larson & Associates March's sales figures were up 68.6% over March of 2008. April looks a little shaky but that is explainable due to two huge specialty projects that happened last year, but then it is only April 13.

Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of April are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and an Art Studio. Special bird dog rates apply in these industries

Howard’s out of office public schedule for the week:
Monday: Marathon Training 6:30amTuesday:
Wednesday: Thursday: Marathon Training 6:30am
Friday:

Trade show schedule:
> April 23, 2009, Greater O’Hare & Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Trade Show
> April 29, 2009, Rolling Down the River business expo, St Charles IL.
> May 5&6 2009, 2009 Design 2 Part Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL,

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule: Palatine Invite Alumni 1 mile run Saturday April 24, Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Friday, April 10, 2009

WOM Marketing

Or do you say Word of Mouth

You receive about 500 to 3,000 commercial communications a day. This includes everything — banner ads on websites, newspaper or magazine ads, ads on the sides of trucks, labels on products. You won't read or actively see most of them, but you are still exposed to them.

How often do you act on them?

In the world of advertising and sales there is a “law” that says it take 9 times of seeing or hearing a message before a sale is made and people see only 1 out of 3 adds put before them. So it takes 27 messages to get though to a person for them to buy.

But imagine a friend calls you up and says, "There's a movie you've just got to see."

How often are you going to act on that? There are no hard statics that I know of but rule of thumb says that some people act on it once in every three times. But, let’s not get all puffy and downgrade this to say it's once every five times.

We now have a ratio of 5,000 to 5. That's 1,000 to 1. That means word-of-mouth is around 1,000 to 5,000 times more powerful than conventional marketing.

This means that getting a few people each day to tell their friends about your service or product can create more sales than all of your sales force and advertising put together. Here is another way to look at this: A magazine is limited to direct and pass-along readers. An ad may be seen by two or three people who read each copy. But word of mouth is unlimited. Consider this...

Watch how fast word of mouth spreads
Most people have about 50 names in their email list. So, let's say 25 people tell 25 people about your product — and every person tells it to 25 of his or her friends. Just watch what happens:

25 x 25 = 625 (that's the size of most neighborhoods!)625 x 25 = 15,625 (that's the size of a small town) 15,625 x 25 = 390,625 (that's the size of a city like Minneapolis or Oakland) 390,625 x 25 = 9,765,625 (that's around the size of New York City) 9,765,625 x 25 = 244,140,625 (that's the adult population of the United States) 244,140,625 x 25 = 6,103,515,625 (that's about the population of the WORLD!)

Now that's growth!

Larson note: In today’s connected world we sometimes forget the tools or yesterday. A time of slower paced marketing when time was on our side but we can still use those marketing tricks of a few years ago. They do still work, both off and now online.

To the marketer Word Of Mouth of WOM is as good as it gets. WOM marketers are working their networks to get people talking. And now it is probably going to be on twitter or some electric kind of social media network, Facebook, MySpace, a ning or a host of other SM sites.

WOM marketers are talking to people to get people to talk to get the message out, their message out. Are you in the hunt?


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

How Can A Company Improve Their CRM

I have been kicking this stuff around a lot lately, CRM, ROI, loyalty, value added service. Now they actually went and did a survey on it. Here’s how the marketing “pros” see it. Where would you vote?
Larson note: I happen to agree with the majority on this one. CRM’s greatest asset is being able to refine and give your customers better service at and in all levels of your company, if our all connected to the data. Don’t let your CRP become the exclusive fiefdom of one department. Let everyone have access to
it and let your service fly through the roof!

*Source: DMNews

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

2 Business Trends for 4/8/2009

85% of companies cutting inventory as a way to reduce costs
Inventory or idle inventory is very expensive; Companies are finding out that caring inventory has an adverse effect on customer service and production.
Source: Delotte

55% of CPO’s saw budget cuts starting in late 2008
In this survey 14% or respondents reported cuts deeper than 15%. As in all things we are asking to do more with less.
Source: Accenture survey

Larson note: Auto cut production just to drop inventory. Rebates to get buyers making purchases. Marketing mangers trying to figure out how to increase ROI when they are still stuck in the fat cat era. My words to the wise, are be lean and be mean, but do it with a smile.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

On-Line to Face to Face Networking

It can be very easy to fall in the trap and sit in front of your computer screen and interact, to network exclusively on-line.

F2F networking is not going away. It is still needed if for no other reason than to validate the accuracy of online. You need both parts to be a successful networker in business today.

To get your networking running on all cylinders you need to be in both places.

Online your business card becomes your profile page. It states who you are and what you do. F2F it is your (read) business card and your actual appearance that people (right or wrongly) sum you up.

In SM it is creating the best work and picture you can to create a good impression and establish your “brand”. Read, read and reread, pour over it to look out for typos (yes I know I’m the typo king here). Then it becomes a matter of participation. You need to be involved in your on-line community.

The different SM sites all have different purposes. LinkedIn is more of a recourse tool than a networking tool. A ning a flowing networking device. MerchantCircle is redefining its self from what was once a very powerful tool into I’m not sure what. Facebook has the members and the money, but how will it bridge the gap from a pure social site into a Businesses SM tool? MySpace? Music lovers flock to it, the members at indeed there but can business not involved in use it? I will say it has been good for my CD / DVD duplication business, but not my telemarketing business. So you need to pick your spots with more appearing every week.

Can you take your On-Line and make it F2F. Even now we are seeing twitter clubs for F2F popping up. Ning sites are pushing the idea of local “clubs” to solidify their place in networking on all levels. I am working in this direction myself and hope to launch it this summer. The ning CHICAGO'S BLACK BUSINESS NETWORK has already done this with a weekly Thursday night networking group

So where do old line F2F networking groups fit into the mix? They need to transform themselves. Chambers, Rotary, Trade Associations etc can survive but they need to add in a virtual experience into the mix or continue to be known as the “good-old boys” club(s).

Larson note: Networking has become a new revelation. Those that can make the leap onto both sites of the world, virtual and real time will grow. Those that can’t? Well I’d place my bets, and time on those that push to be in both worlds.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Feelings About The Economic Recession

What are your feelings about the economic recession?

39% Concerned, have cut back spending quite a bit
45% Concerned, have cut back spending a little
12% Not concerned, no spending changes
2% Not concerned have increased changes
1% Don’t know

*First Annual New Millennium Research Council Survey on Consumers and the economy 2008 respondents, March 5-9, 2009

Larson note: The raging debate is the recession over? He we bottomed out? IN the paper today it was noted that 22 local (Chicago area) companies are planning more layoffs in May. HSBC, BP America, Vertis Communication, American Color Graphics, Aromatics, Acetyuls Technology Department. You don’t need to be part of this. You can grow in an economic down turn but you need to keep focused and stead in your sales and marketing attack. Make your competition squirm as you attack vigorously with cost effective high ROI marketing.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

$3.50 and Friendship Buys You Coffee

How many times has a salesperson been hired away to a different firm because of perceived value? The idea that a salesperson that can make great relationships can bring his customers in mass with him is a myth. So will but most will remain with the original company. If the company has treated them right why should they change?

What salesperson does not think that they have a great relationship with all their customers? This maybe part fact but also part myth. This myth about their customer relationships creates the two biggest obstacles to a salespersons continued success:

1. Lack of Sales Competencies: As long as they believe they have great relationships with their clients they don’t worry about how good they are as sales people. They believe their customers like them and will buy from them no matter what. In addition, they start to become club joiners thinking the more friends I make the more customers I will get.

2. Prevents them from working harder: With the perceived relationship they start to become stagnet. They go where it is easy to talk to people (not prospects). They find places where people like them for fun not work. The potential of the meeting should dictate where the sales person goes to build relationships not the other way around.

Larson note: Relationship selling, positive selling bonds are good and necessary. But skills remain paramount. Relationship building provides the key to entry into discussions with your prospects. But to open the doors to a sale still takes skill and knowledge. To be top notched you need to learn both sides of the sales process, the people side and the skill side. USE both.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Consumers and Cell Phones

Customers plans for cut backs in their cell phone bill:

19% Very likely
21% Somewhat likely
21% Not very likely
38% Not likely at all
1% Don’t know

Larson note: 40% looking to cut back on their cell phone bill. This is a tell tale sign of what people are thinking. You can see them walking around, driving around (illegal or not) talking on their cell or (the funny ones) the Bluetooth who walk around talking to themselves, or so it seems when you first see them. Yet 60% are planning on no change. Is this because of the trend of making a cell phone their main line and discarding there ground line?

Do I hear mobile marketing?


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

The Week Ahead for April 6 – April 10, 2009

Monday:
Tuesday: February consumer credit
Wednesday: February wholesale inventories
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, February trade balance,
Friday:

Larson note: Over the last week there has been quite a lot of press published about if the recession has bottomed out. From where I’m sitting don’t believe it. Until companies stop shedding jobs we are not there. It is slowing but slow is not ending. IN my eyes we still have 3 more months of bumpy road to travel. Yet you can grow during this period if you have taken the time (never too late) to examine what and why people buy from you and keep focused on that! If you look below our company sales are up, but not without a struggle that began 18 months ago and was majorly restructured last July 2008 to allow us to achieve growth.

In our annual training/planning trip this year to a Northern Wisconsin resort we made a few slight adjustments to the overall business plan for 2009 but it remains for the most part intact and on target. Our plan is not a cast in stone plan but one that changes as needs and the economy change. If you don’t have a road map for your business you will never get to where you want to go. Your business plan is that road map.

We are still looking for that elusive sales representive for the Central States. Chicago based would be best but not necessary. How much is a sales person worth to your company? To my company 1 good salesperson is worth another 15 jobs give or take. Now that my friends is the real engine of economic recovery, people making money to spend on goods and services for their and their families betterment as they choose


Larson & Associates March's sales figures were up 68.6% over March of 2008.

Our focused industries we are looking to add clients in for the month of April are Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop, and an Art Studio. Special bird dog rates apply in these industries


Trade show schedule:
> April 23, 2009 Greater O’Hare & Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Trade Show
> May 5&6, 2009 Design 2 Part Job Shop Show, Schaumburg IL,

Time slots still available to meet & talk over coffee.

Racing schedule: Palatine Invite Alumni 1 mile run Saturday April 24, Madison Marathon Sunday May 24th.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

P.P.P.S. subscribe to our newsletter "Mastering Marketing Monthly" at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com

Friday, April 3, 2009

Need More E-Mail Opt-ins?

E-mail is an excellent marketing tool for many reasons. Cost and speed being two to the major reasons, yet on the down side it can be thought to be obtrusive to the recipienent if they don’t want it.

We all need to be careful to send our prospects emails that they want. You can encourage prospects to give you their email addresses in exchange of something such as a free white paper to download. Another way is to use telemarketing into prospects and follow up with different opt-in offers. Then you might want to redesign your web landing page to encourage opt-ins. You can send a direct mail piece out encouraging people to opt-in for more information. And lastly make sure you are getting all the harvested emails out of all your people that they collect as they are working. They all count.

Larson note: Now that you have all those nice active emails keep focused on your message. What you do and say is how you create your companies “brand”. Keep it as narrow nitched as you can. The narrower your focus the more powerful your message.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Making B to B Referrals Work

You have customers. At least I hope you do. So. .

To start, ask them if they know anyone in organizations, or clubs that could use your service like they do. I’m not talking about one of the official networking groups or clubs here but chambers, rotory, etc.

Everyone is facing the same kinds of problems right now. Clients, pricing, market share, so why not help each other out.

Sharing recommendations either in f2f or the different SM sites is key to building your referral base and your business. To aid in this process look at your top 10 clients. What makes them your best? How and what do you do for them. What other services could you be doing for them? How well do you know THEIR industries? Is that knowledge transferable?

Use your online newsletter to keep your present customers and prospects informed about what is new (and exciting) in your business. Put out the personal feeling of what you can offer them. And remember to send a “gift” or at least a thank you card for each refural they send your way. As Hank Trisler would say, “people never hear thank you enough”. You can go the card route but I would suggest the hand written note. An email just doesn’t make it. Buy a note card, get a stamp and send.

Larson note: It is only hard to ask for a referral the first time, the second and third it gets easier. Ask and ask again and without asking refer back to your sources. They will appreciate it. Make it happen for everyone.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Making E-Mail Work Without A CRM program

In a time like we are going though now, how can you make an email campaign work even without an expensive CRM program.

I would start by going slowly at first, building a foundation, focusing on who you and your company is. As you progress, you can ask subscribers what is important to them. Working with the structure and content, making it more and more relevant to your clients, prospects and subscribers.

If all you have to work with is an email list, start by sending a welcoming message out, stating your intentions and how often you plan to email out to them. Give them options and always be respectful of their “mail boxes”

If you can segment your list down to something as relevant as what you would find in some of Harvey McKay’s 66 you are well on your way.

Larson note: The more you know on each prospect the better you are able to connect with them I things relevant to them and how you could make their lives easier. As Hank Trisler would say, people buy on emotion and justify with fact. If you can hit your prospects on both sides of the fence at separate times you stand a better chance of success. E-mail being what it is, fast and efficient, you can push out our message with relevant ease.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
larsonassoc1975@yahoo.com
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.

Using Phone In Economic Turbulence

In so many ways we reach and touch our customers but phone might be the biggest and least satisfying way a customer interacts with us.

You need to be thinking of the phone as if it is the only way you are touching your customers because quite frankly for some customers it is. What would you want your experience to be if it was you on the other end of the line trying (sad way to have to express it) to buy form your company. Would you, could you greet them in a personalized way? Would you make them feel like they are your favorite customer? Would you give them special phone deals and rewards for loyalty?A well designed phone touch plan is as essential as a well thought out f2f plan. The first step is to understand why customers call you. Once you understand that, you need to know the common questions and request you are getting so that can be taken care of easily and professionally.With today’s CRM tools you can personalize the caller experience by instantly recognizing the caller’s phone number, their name, etc. If you are able to put in place an IVR (Interactive voice response) system interacting with your CRM system you can instaintious caller recognition. Today there are systems out there that allow you to integrate both CRM and IVR together in one seamless flow, of perhaps your CRP provider would be willing to write the software. (Might make their program more marketable and be well worth their while. By integrating your phone system with your CRM system and putting in place proven marketing strategies, you can keep your customers coming back time and time again.

Larson note: I eat pizza. I usually eat pizza weekly. Not only that but usually from the same place. Not only does this place know me, they know me by first name, they know me by last name, they know me by telephone number and they even miss me if I skip a week. Once my wife ordered and picked up the pizza and they asked her if I was ok and feeling well? Talk about knowing your customer. Do I feel special?

Howard LarsonLarson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisitionMaking good businesses great and great businesses even better847-991-0488
larsonassoc1975@yahoo.com
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com
larsonassociateshttp://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Want more Larson? Register to receive our monthly newsletter at larsonassoc1980@yahoo.com.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free ½ hour consultations for marketing your business. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.