Gross sales were up 11.53%

Just finished books for 2008 and gross income up 11.53% last year. Now I need to talk to my CPA to legally lessen tax exposure.

The plan for this year, 2009, is to double, yes double the company size. I want fast hard growth so I only need to go through the growing pains once. I did this twice before with companies I was involved in. It’s a fun and exciting, but a hard ride. We will then we will be at the company size that was put into the (revised) company business plan created 6 years ago.

Larson note: Not every company has to have aspirations on becoming a mega company. I could say been there done that with a past company which grew to 37 employees. Found myself wiping more noses and babysitting than I cared to be doing. Growth is a choice with direct ramifications on who you become.

I am in business to have fun and to help my clients make money. When they succeed I and my company succeed. We form a synergy between us.

What do you want to become? Are you looking to become a multinational, a billion dollar business or is a small 1 to 5 million dollar company good for you? Does it fit with your perception of who you are, your lifestyle, your family and faith walk? Think carefully about who you are and what your true capacity is. I can happily say that we are a national company with clients in multiple states. I can proudly say I have an international company with client(s) in a few other countries outside the United States. Is small good enough? It is for me.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.S.S. If you are in Credit Cards I have just signed up the services of an EXPERICENED merchant service salesperson. Interested in using him, call today.

*Source: Larson & Associates

Grasping The Power of Web2.0 and Social Network Marketing

The marketing revolution we have come to know as Social Network Marketing is one of vast potential and opportunity to market your business exponentially.

To take advantage of what you have in your hands don’t be making the mistake of thinking online social networking as a toy or a hit-and-run marketing tool or effort.

It is real and it is here to stay even as it develops right before our eyes.

SM is about building relationships just like if you were there f2f. (I wonder at the people who gather in 1000’s on followers) Look for people and companies with common ground or your target prospects. Hobbies, interests, geography. Then start connecting with your “target” though forums, groups and (yes) blogs.

In SM you need to take advantage of opportunities to share your knowledge. Look for all the opportunities to offer your expertise and knowledge to everyone you can in a nonabrasive way. Hi-touch/Soft-sell. Once you have begun to build relationships and connections in this way your prominence in online networks and thus your business will grow.

Larson note: It is along slow process to stand out from the crowd. Make your territory (of knowledge) and hold on to it. Be the expert that people look for on a topic. You are the king or queen of your area of expertise. Push your MySpace, your nings, your MerchantCircle, your twitter relationships as you tip toe through the art of the soft sell.

Yet, if you don’t have the patience to devote months to the effort, back out now and don’t waste your time.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.S.S. If you are in Credit Cards I have just signed up the services of an EXPERICENED merchant service salesperson. Interested in using him, call today.

*Source: Optinetresrouces

Trade Magazine Inserts, should you?

If you are a company who is or could be targeted towards one industry or market segment, you might want to consider a trade magazine insert.

In any direct marketing program, be it email, traditional mail, etc, the object is to get your message looked at and read. If you can narrow notch yourself or your message a trade magazine insert might be a good channel for you to be using.

A trade magazine is delivered to a person in that industry with a vested interested interest in the “topic” of the magazine. So logic only tells us that your message to that specialized industry will be delivered (in the magazine) opened, and might have a better possibility to be looked at even more so that a traditional direct mail piece and it will probably will not cost any more that a mailer.

Larson note: In direct mail it is all about audience and visibility. You want no need to be seen, to stand out from the crowd. By adding a trade magazine to your marketing mix you can have added impact. Change the paper, color, texture, make yourself stand out and be seen. Most publications will help you define your target based on the BPS statement. Costs are based on the % of the circulation you choose and are usually not more than traditional mail. Is there a fit for you?

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.S.S. If you are in Credit Cards I have just signed up the services of an EXPERICENED merchant service salesperson. Interested in using him, call today.

*Source: John Sonnhalter

Using Social Marketing with a Tradition Marketing Campaign

Blogs and interaction, a key element in social media marketing can be integrated into your traditional marketing attacks.

If you or your company has integrated a blog to your site or set up a blog site, by adding bookmarking capabilities to your blog you can increase the number of return visitors to your blog. This will in turn add links pointing to your blog, increasing its popularity and its page rank. Including applicable articles or blogs mentioning your company and its offerings will in addition help to align your company with key phrases that will fuel your offline marketing. This in turn will continually strengthen your direct marketing campaign.

Using social networking helps in Search Engine Optimization efforts. You can accelerate the pare rank while increasing exposure quickly.

Larson note: Social marketing, the site ability and the blog capabilities, can push your marketing campaign from average to spectacular. You don’t think Microsoft is blogging for their healths do you?

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.S.S. If you are in Credit Cards I have just signed up the services of an EXPERICENED merchant service salesperson. Interested in using him, call today.

*Source: Kelly Cutler, Marcel Media

E-Mail for Acquisition

You should not think of email as an acquisition tool but rather as a tool to complements other acquisition elements of your marketing.

Using things like search ads, banner ads, promotions, in store list creation.

While most people are looking for a quick payoff such as information, they may also be interesting in hearing more form and about you. You can then use an email campaign in this process and drive home your message, up to and including a purchase request. Yes you can ask for the order.

Larson note: This approach will work best for companies whose products and services require a lot of information to be sold properly. It is also good for companies (like mine) that have multiple services to sell. You can get multiple messages across over time and in complete thoughts.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.

*Source: Acxiom Digital

The Week Ahead for January 26-30

Monday: December existing home sales, December leading economic indicators
Tuesday: January consumer confidence, November Case/Shiller home price index
Wednesday: Federal Reserve Meeting
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, December durable goods orders,
Friday: December: Fourth Quarter GDP

Larson note: Too early for any positive changes. Everyone is sitting around waiting for the other guy to make a move or get positive. Make your move now before things start to open up. I’m looking for March to be the month that the country and would start to feel good about themselves. Until then I’ll be picking up my marketing pace. I’ll be picking up some new accounts along the way and have my company running on all cylinders when the wake up begins. From my years of running I have found that it is always easier to go into a sprint when you are already moving then from a dead start.


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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.

Measuring Your E-Mail Campaign

What is the best way to measure the success (or not) of your email marketing campaign?

Some companies measure the success by opens and clicks. Others (like me) measure the success solely based on sales volume, revenue and new clients or 1st time customers.

But, is there a grey area in between? The marketing department could measure the success of “prequalified or interested leads from an e-mail campaign. If marketing uses behavior tracking and lead scoring together with their marketing programs they can go beyond the easy trackable stuff. Then they can start to see which leads, demographics, offers, had the best responses and to whom for now instant sales (although most email campaigns have a 24 hour life), but in future sales that need to be nurtured but a trained sales staff. (trained sales people?)

Taking those leads, coupled together with other interactions within the company makes the campaign and measurement must broader based, deeper, longer lasting and more profitable.

Larson note: As we talked about before the more ways you can reach out and touch your customers or prospects the more you can hammer out your (consistent) message. E-mailing is considered cheep, or should I use the word inexpensive, but your ROI can go out, way up off the charts if you let your sales department join in the fun to close those needed sales. Now dare I say sue a little snail mail?


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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.

*Source: Lisa Cramer, FirstWave

Green Ally in Obama

Barack Obama's inauguration this week gives rise to the thought if he can turn the economy around have marketers shouting out environmental messages wonder and what the new presidency will really mean for green marketing.

While the green movement does seem to have an ally in Obama, who is pushing for funding of alternative energies and sustainable industries, green marketing is showing signs of waning interest from consumers after reaching a high point last year.

“The first half of 2008 was prob­ably the peak of green marketing,” said Russ Meyer, chief strategy offi­cer at agency Landor Associates, pointing to examples such as the launch of Clorox Green Works, a line of eco-friendly cleaning prod­ucts, and the significant media sup­port behind green products.

In the second half, however, con­sumers began losing interest in spending more for green products as the economy worsened.

With Obama coming in as president, there is renewed interest in sustainability and the ability to turn away from nonrewable energy and hi pollution products and packaging

The new president “gives green marketers greater visibility than we would have otherwise,” added Matt Williams, EVP, partner and group planning director at agency The Martin Group. “As long as green is in the public conversation, that is good for green marketing and green in general.”

Let’s set the record straight though, the only way American business responds to sustainability with anything approaching enthusiasm is if there's a return on investment. We are totally profit driven.

This was as true last year as it is this year. What has changed, however, is the general attitude toward sustainability.

“The atmosphere has changed tremendously with the change in [presidential] administration, and it is now very positive about sustainability” because it looks like the new administration will invest in some significant initia­tives, Wellman said.

Still, there are signs that green marketing will evolve in 2009.

Global warming is the marketing concept that decreased the most in terms of importance to marketing executives, according to a recent survey of Marketing Executives Network Group members by Anderson Analytics. Green mar­keting dropped 5%.

“Marketing executives are focusing more on marketing basics in 2009, which is an indication of their nervousness about the economy,” said Tom Anderson, founder and managing partner, Anderson Analytics. The most important marketing concepts in this year's survey were customer satisfaction, customer retention and marketing ROI.

Still, several industry executives agreed that sustainability has gained too much momentum to disappear completely as a marketing concept.

For example, Wisconsin's Focus on Energy Program, which offers incentives for homeowners and businesses to install energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, has gained popularity since its launched 10 years ago as a pilot program, said Tim Wirtz, account supervisor at Hoffman York, the agency that works with the program.

When the state made the decision to harness wind power and put up 100 wind turbines, Hoffman York faced a challenge and engaged in marketing efforts to combat some residents' ‘not in my backyard' senti­ment about the wind turbines, he said.

“We tried to show people [energy efficiency and renewable energy products] are not only good for the environment, but they can help you save money in the long run,” he said of the agency's overall efforts. As a result, “a mainstream audience that didn't know much about this movement a few years ago, now is very aware and knows the right questions to ask.”

Due to this momentum, marketers are unlikely to overlook green messages completely. However, they will tweak their mes­saging so that it speaks more directly to what consumers are concerned about now.

“There will be less messaging about sus­tainability directly in green marketing this year,” said Meyer. Instead, marketers will try to “shape their message around value and efficiency,” he explained

Green messages will continue to come from marketers this year, Williams agreed. However, there will be “a stronger empha­sis on product enhancement and the economic message,” a trend that was already beginning to happen before the economic downturn as consumers got used to see­ing green messages and began to feel they didn't need to make a sacrifice in order to buy something that's good for the environ­ment, he added.

It was apparent at the North American International Auto show in Detroit this month, where every manufacturer that dis­played had a hybrid, plug-in or electric battery car to show off, that environmental messages are still important to some marketers.

The auto industry had come under some fire from members of Congress, in the wake of a $17 billion government bailout, who said Detroit had not invested enough in hybrid technologies — and automakers were eager to prove them wrong.

Ford showed off an expanded hybrid selection, General Motors unveiled its intentions to compete in the electric battery market and Toyota plans to sell 180,000 units of the third-generation Prius in the US during its first full year.

“People are interested in curbing carbon emissions and saving money at the pump,” said Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. This is why car manufacturers face a challenge marketing green vehicles now compared to six months ago, when gas prices were significantly higher.

For drivers who want to be more eco-friendly, but can't afford to buy a new elec­tric car, the association launched the Web site www.EcoDrivingUSA.com which provides eco-friendly driving tips, such as maintaining a steady speed.


Larson note: Green is still in, but now without a price. No one really cares much about soy based inks for printing. They do care about the money they pour into their gas tank at each fill up. Then don’t care much about recycled paper and its use, but they do care about filled up landfills and where to put their garbage. Green is cost effective but sometimes the upfront costs are too prohibitive. Look at the Wisconsin Program, Focus on Energy, to give incentives to homeowners and businesses. Now we’re talking. More later but there is a place for green and when the price of gas goes up again (and it will) there will be a reunited interesting in alternative energy (again). So let’s get going now before the pump price hits over $4.00 again.

Side note is looking at what fuel pricings together with the economy did to United and American Airline’s in the last quarter, ouch!


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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.

*Source: Direct Marketing News, Chantal Todé, Bryan Yurcan

Encouraging Dialogue With Your Core Customer Base

It is a fact that customers that have contact with a company in more than one channel have higher company interaction and engagement. They have a deeper understanding, tend to spend more with that company and have a longer higher customer “lifetime” value.

Some examples might involve, direct mail with its high redemption rate, but then in adding telemarketing you get some instant feedback. Kick in some email marketing and some mobile and you have them on 4 important, “in their face” channels. This allows you to reach your core customers and prospects with consistency and timeliness. Thus when they are ready to buy, then know you are ready to sell. You are not the forgotten supplier. The deeper you can penetrate into the forging a relationship, the more likely your customers will be buying form you. Connection of your consistent message across all used channels will give them choices for responding to your offer.

Larson note: Never understatement using multiple tools to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. Any marketing program done using multiple channels goes up by the square root. 1=1 or 12=1 but 1+1 does not equal 2 but rather 1+1 becomes 22 = 4. 1+1+1 does not equal 3 it becomes 32 = 9. Use the power of leveraging your message and you will have a greater impact.

Just remember that any marking tool you decided to use must be done well, consistent and at 100% effort. 75% effort is only a waist. It’s all or nothing. Better to use only 1 tool well than 3 tools at an average effort.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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.

*Source: Smart Reply

Bad Emailing

To me the worst thing you can do in an e-mail marketing attack is to mix up your acquisition and retention list. That is going to ding your complaint rate and make your emails less deliverable. You can then fail to unsubscribe people when they complain which is just plain illegal. The third thing you can do is to not take a look at technology that is out there to improve. And last you cannot be constantly testing and testing to see what works. At some point you need to know.

Never assume that just because you got permission to send emails that you are or will not be considered a spammer. There are way too many marketers out there that get permission but then send stuff that is inconsistent with the reason the receiver gave permission. Keep true to your requests.

If your customers are not receiving the messages they want at the frequency they want they are not going to be your customers for long

Larson note: Are you a good e-mailer or a bad one. A conscious e-mailer or a spammer? It is a very fine line.

There are lots of reasons for using email as a big part of your marketing campaign, cost for one. Quickness for another. Timeless. Special events or sales. New products of service announcements.

It all flows together. Acquiring your list, working your message the timing and frequency, it can work if you work it correctly.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Need a sales manager but don’t think you can afford one? Try our virtual sales manager service. You get all the control and training a sales manager gives without the cost of hiring one.

*Source: Customer Relationship Management

Enticement or Deceit?

Sometimes you might come across a white paper that sounds so good you have got to down load it. Then in order to get it you need to register and become a member etc.

This is usually where I pull up and say “Oh bother” and stop. To me it is a double edge sword. If you go this route you want to show how you are a leader in the field. A trustworthy person. But then up comes the registration and you feel double crossed all in the name of data capturing.

Give the viewers some free info and you can go a long way. Let them get to know you, trust you, love you. Don’t put up your most secret stuff, but just enough to =get the drooling all over themselves. At the bottom you can do an enticement to have them register for more. This strategy will create a positive user experience and secure the loyalty and give you needed credibility.

Larson note: Who wants to be put on a spam list? Not Me. Ease them into wanting more. Make them hungry. Why when you go the food store do they have people out there making things up for you to sample? 2 reasons: 1) so you feel guilty and buy a small box or can or 2) You like it enough to buy enough for dinner that night. It works and works quite well. Give enough and if it “tastes” good they will be back for seconds. Food or information the desire can be made.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: 321 takeoff

Wake Up and Sell Something!

I woke up one morning to the headline in the business section of one of the papers I read saying Prices, industrial production fall.

After thinking through this terrible awful headline I sat back and had a sip off coffee.

Consumer prices and industrial production fell in the U.S. as a record slide in retail sales destroyed companies purchasing power, idling a quarter of the nations factory capacity with the cost of living falling 0.7% making industrial output to shrink 2%. Then I read how this attributed to the lowest level of confidence in at least 3 decades. Taking another sip of coffee I thought 3 decades that was1978. Interesting as I flipped open my profit/loss book. 1978 sales grew that year for me. Interesting, and not just a little 3% or 4%. In 2008 prices rose only 0.1% which was down from 4.1% in 2007. Personally my company did much much better in 2008 than 2007. Interesting. Take out food and energy and consumer prices were unchanged in December and up only 1.8 for the year. Over all energy costs were down 21% for the year the biggest decline since 1958. Again interesting.

Larson note: Now taking another sip of hot black coffee, how can I, you, we, take advantage of what is going on here? Well as production goes down doesn’t that mean that inventories are going to be going down? Then as people, someone, anyone, you, me, Tim my neighbor buy’s something, all those factories are going to have to start making things and buy raw materials and purchasing services again. They are going to be making new stuff and who are they going to buy their raw materials and services form? Joe the raw material guy or Tom, Larson & Associate’s client? NO brainer if I have my way I will have Tom in a position to sell the stuff or at the worst bid on selling stuff or on their next project to as many people as possible. It is all in your perspective and the positioning of yourself now, not later. When people are buying it is too late (well it is never too late) to ride the crest of the wave or prosperity as you power into the shore. Don’t let the headlines dictate what you should be doing. There is activity out there in companies purchasing departments; the only question is who will those purchasing professionals be buying from?

Sure I want us working more at our industrial capacity and sure I want unemployment lower, much lower. What can I do? I can sell something.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

http://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate


P.S. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Daily Herald, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal

High Hopes of Obama

Most Americans believe that Obama is on track to succeed and are rather optimistic he can help to revive the economy according to an Associated Press – GfK poll.

Public expectations for his performance in office higher than any other incoming president in a generation. On the eve of his inauguration the poll found that 65% of those surveyed believe that Obama will be an above average president and 28% of those believe he will be outstanding.

In retrospect George W. Bush went in with 47%, Bill Clinton 56% and George H.W. Bush 38%.

While we are facing the hardest economic crisis since the”Great Depression” the poll found a broad optimism that Obama could help turn things around. 71% of those polled believe that the economy will improve during his 1st year in office; 65% said unemployment will go down; 72% said the stock market would be on the rise and 63% said their personal economic situation would improve.

Larson note: I am also looking with great anticipation and excitement to a President Obama. I love his infrastructure plan as a long time coming, Roads, bridges, rail (we need double track laid in many places), mass transit upgrades all needed 10 years ago but I’ll be happy to get those things underway next week, thank you.

And although I am (maybe) one of the few who can say that2008 was better than 2007 I am looking forward to an even better 2009. Prediction for Larson & Association would be a modest grown in gross sales of no less than 33% but would not be surprised with doubling our sales and doubling our staff.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Daily Herald, Associated Press, Gfk

The Week Ahead for January 19-23, 2009

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, December housing starts
Friday:

Larson note: A pretty slow week on reporting but we need to digest some of what came down last week prices, industrial production etc. and with the Obama inauguration we can sit back and enjoy with great expectations.

I would expect both these repost to be a wack on the side of the head so think how lower employment and lower housing starts can “help” your business or how can you take advantage of it. There are ways, but they are unique for each business and part of the country you have your office in or area sell to.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

Old School Direct Marketing Still Works

Back in November, Cushman's Fruit Company was selling 24 of its legendary HoneyBells in a quintessential, full-page mail-order ad that appeared in PARADE magazine.

This was direct marketing at its classic best. Just how classic you ask? First of all, the written words alone had incredible stopping power, beginning with a headline in the form of a curious question: “What the devil is this? Then Ed bit into one and the plot thickened.”

What followed was an extraordinarily interesting, cleverly written story about Ed Cushman and the origin “of the strangest looking, fiery-orange, bell-shaped oranges anyone had ever seen.”

In addition to such original, copywriting craftsmanship, what really helped this ad stand out was its compelling positioning of HoneyBells as “available once and only once each year.” Overall, this Cushman's ad goes a long way toward leveraging the law of supply and demand, not to mention a number of old-school DM principles that can still carry a lot of weight in today's new-media world.

Larson note: Act now or it is gone. Those words still work but if you use them you have to mean them. You can’t have a last chance sale every other week. When I was learning the art of advertising and direct marketing, before anything else we had to learn the rules. Yes, there are rules in this creasy business. Once you knew and understood the rules and were able to apply them to perfection maybe, just maybe on rare occasion could you break the rules but even then you hard to validate was to why you were breaking the rules. But as shown above there is a reason why classic ideas rule the marketplace. Don’t mess with success!

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Haymarket

What is the most effective use of B2B telemarketing?

Companies that align their telemarketing activities with sales and driving businesses will probably be increasing their telemarketing budgets. Conversely if you are using telemarketing for company awareness and marketing surveying you are more likely to retract your dollars to this area.

Focus the majority of your telemarketing efforts on measurable activity that drives leads to your sales department. Keep your phone people and your sales team in constant communication with each other in order to ensure you are getting the right type and level of leads that they can work with and win over.

Larson note: Your internal and external sales and promotion and sales people need to be on the same page now more than ever when every dollar needs to be accounted for. Phone and b2b can work together if you let them.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Telenet,

Sympathize to Make Money

What is one key to be making (more) money in an economic downturn? Try sympathizing with your customers. Think about it. The vendor who is nimble and can come up with a workable solution for their customers will be successful. You need to think out of the box. It can be hard work but it can be the make or break to a deal. JIT delivery, you hold it in your warehouse until ?, you finance or find your client financing. You need to do whatever it takes, whatever that might be.

The key is to keep focusing specifically on customer’s needs, not your needs.

Larson note: Become one with your customer. Sympathize and empathize with them because in reality their problems ARE your problems.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Bluewolf,

Blogging and Search Engines

One of the biggest benefits to blogging is that it really does help with search engine optimization. You get traffic for each of the different keywords that are related to your article.

One idea that came to surface was having a blog that was generating a high amount of traffic and as it got older that SE interest dissipated. This idea was to regenerate the blog. Do some research to see what key words were generating the activity, and then tweak the blog title, the headline and the article incorporating some updated faces or information. If done right you can see the same kind of interest from the SE’s as the blog before this one.

As an additional add on, write a new article that links to the old article and you have an additional link that references the relevant keywords making your article even more powerful and popular

Larson note: This can also be done in linking your blog to other web pages or blogs that blend in with yours. The end goal aside from rankings is your purpose for your blog. Mine is to generate ideas, thoughts and business. Higher rankings help in this effort.

So the question I lay before you is, what is the purpose of your blog?

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://www.businessiibusiness.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://businessiibusiness.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Direct Marketing Association, HubSpot

Online Hybrid Chat for Customer Service

Should you use online chat to answer questions? There are many ways to look at this question. Today many of the SM sites have build in chat capabilities, you can have the software build in to your web site, you can go with an IM system or even twitter.

When customer confusion is lessoned, feedback, give and take are going on with customers, a positive experience is gained. This can provide a win/win situation for both the company and the customer. Yet, while human interaction thru chat services provides a valuable purpose it also represents a very significant expense.

With that in mind you might want to consider a hybrid strategy which can blend human responses to automated ones. Things like frequently asked questions and site search capabilities can go a long way to helping the customer along this path. Positive online customer experiences must include a service support interaction that is built around the customer and treats them like humans at all times. It starts with a web strategy that embraces, encourages, sells and continues to satisfy the customer in their online experience. Customer support is an opportunity to ensure your companies direct connection with the customer on the front line. Make it a good one.

Larson note: Don’t do anything to keep your customer from having a good experience in any kind of interaction with you or your company. Every touch point that is made is a chance to be positive and rewarding or negative and divisive. In this case we are talking about online touch points. The younger your customer the more important this is, but keep in mind that older All thumbs web users are going to try it.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Larson & Associates,

Viking Laws (of marketing) of Life

Be Brave and Aggressive
BE direct: Don’t let your people guess what you’re up to or the directing your going. Tell them directly.
Grab all opportunities: When you see an opportunity go for it. Don’t play at it.
Use varying methods of attack: Don’t do the same thing time and time again. Be aggressive using all the means at your disposal.
Versatile and agile: Things change as you are going along in any marketing attack. Don’t think that just because you started with one plan you cannot change your mind. You competition sure won’t.
Attack one target at a time: Don’t spread yourself out too thin. Take one objective at a time. Once you have it, secure it than look for your next conquest.
Don’t plan everything in detail: Make an outline of your objective and the tools you might need to sue. Plan out your initial attack thoroughly but then be ready to change and adjust as you go.
Use top quality weapons: Use the best you can afford to use. Be these technology, ideas or people. Do the best get the best. It will pay off every time

Be Prepared
Keep weapons in good condition: Don’t let your skills and technology get rusty. They need to be ready when you need then and not a minute later.
Keep in shape: Mentally, physically and spirituality. When your mind body and soul are all working in top condition so will your progress towards your objectives
Find good battle comrades: Surround yourself with the best people you can. Kept your people happy and they will follow you to the ends of the world.
Agree on important points: Find points of agreement. When you and your team are on the same page working towards the same objective, looking out for each other’s backs, you will be safe.
Choose one chief: There can be only one commander, chief, warlord. If it’s you lead, if it’s not you follow and be the best follower you can. Lean the skills so when your time comes to lead you will know and understand all that was there to learn.

Be a good merchant
Find out what the market needs: Ask questions. Send out scouts. Listen.
Don’t promise what you can’t keep or do: Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Don’t demand overpayment: Be fair in all undertakings. If you gouge your customers you might get away with it, once maybe twice but it will catch up on you and when that happens you will have lost a customer for life.
Arrange things so that you can return: Always leave on good terms. Maybe Cortez burnt his ships so his men could not go back to them but you don’t have to. Keep your bridges strong and secure so when you need to follow the same route again (and again) they will be there for you.

Keep the camp in order
Keep things tidy and organized: Know where things are so when you need them they will be there for you. Every minute looking for something is a minute lost and never regained. It could cost you the customer
Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group: All work and no play make’s Johnny a dull boy. When attacking, attack but there must be down time. Don’t forget to play along the way.
Make sure everybody does useful work: Don’t give out busy work. Put value to things and importance to activities. And don’t let yourself left out of some of the grunt work, It will keep you shape and help your people admire you and teach them that no task is too small.
Make sure everyone does “their” work: We all have tasks that go with our station and titles. Make sure your work is done and done right. Lead by example and make sure that your people are doing theirs. Have them do reports if necessary but even in these make them have a purpose in your companies statistics.
Consult all members of the group for advice: When faced with a task, be it large or small ask for advice and ideas. This will allow your people to buy into the company’s direction and attack. But be carefull not to have people fearful not to speak them mind. You don’t want yes men but honest brave men


Larson note: I rule my company Period. The buck starts and stops on the ebony throne upon which I sit. But when making plans I consult and implement ideas for my associates so that they have ownership in what is happening. Each of us keeps our ears toward the market looking for areas to advance and attack for ourselves and our clients. People who follow me on a regular basis as well as friends and coworkers know that I will say things to tweak (or twit) their noses to make them think out of the box. I’ll bate them to think harder. Even if I don’t a certain viewpoint I might just say something to get a reaction. Not only is it fun, but thought provoking. Push, pull drag crawl to each victory, for in war and sales there is no 2nd place.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Larson & Associates, Norwegian Singers Association of America

CRM and Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty we all want it, we long for it we hope for it.

The first challenge in approaching customer loyalty is to determine what customer loyalty means. It is or should be different for each and every company. To formulate your loyalty plan take into consideration 4 elements

Your market(s)
Your competitors
Your business objectives
Your customers perceived value with you

There is no one size fits all. Look for different ways to align internal functions with external business functions and feedback. Identify examples which have made customers loyal to your company and seek ways to maximize those and clone them with other customers of yours. Figure out what made these customers loyal and find the silver thread which can connect all your customers to you. If you use CRM software you can find these treads of similarities that run through everyone.

Larson note: When looking for the one trait of that makes customers loyal to you just remember just as all of our companies are unique so too are all your customers unique...

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

P.S. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Larson & Associates, Opinion Research Corp

Can Your Service Center be used for sales?

With the current economic climate, most companies are looking to existing customers for sales growth. I can only say yes to this. These are people who know you, love you and have bought from you in the past. A (or should be) much easier sell. If don’t right, and I do mean right, transitioning your contact center to be trained to make sales up selling is a natural move to utilize your people better.

1st the foundation for a strategic service center is (usually) a well run part of your operation. To improve productivity into sales managers and people need visibility into their performance and how THEY are helping the client not pushing things down the throat of a client. Remember your best customer service people are about helping and solving problems for clients not selling to them. In fact they hate it when they are asked to sell.

2nd achieve service excellence. You cannot sell a client anything that did not get good service in the first place. If there is anything that makes you stand out from your competition it is what we call “First call resolution” or taking care of the problem on the first call. Do this and you are well on your way to a better client relationship but warning you need to empower your people to be able to do this. Nothing gets a client angry (at least me if I am your client) then to have to ask to speak to a manager to get any satisfaction.

Finally you can turn almost any situation into a great one if you have a foundation of great service.

Larson note: Don’t make customer service people sales people. They hate it. But do let them be a customer helper, a spokesman for the customer and together with sales find a solution to ANY (almost) problem a client might have with one of your widgets. Help more, and as a result sell more.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Howard Larson, Larson & Associates, motivation services

The Week Ahead for The Week Ahead for January 12-16, 2009

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: November business inventories, December retail sales
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, December producer price index
Friday: December consumer price index, December industrial production

Larson note: Don’t expect too much good news this week. In fact you are really going to have to wait till February if you want to really see any good news in these reports save, the consumer price index and business inventories (not this report the one in February). Now is the time to be brave and stick your preverbal neck out a little and position yourself for what is (really) happening in business, or you can play Monday morning quarterback and wait till the new out of these and other reports say move forward. I’ll give you just 1 guess what we are doing.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

Working on the Home Front

For 14 months now all associates of Larson & Associates have been working from a home based office. We still have things to do to streaming the process in regards to communication and interaction but it has been wonderful for all those concern. With various online tools we (and you) can make it happen. Land-line phones, laptop and cell phone they call come in to play.

Now our offices where we meet clients are called Starbucks, Caribou and Seattle Coffee. We don’t commute to work but walk 20 feet to our offices. It is so much easier to stay home than to fight the snow, salt trucks and the bad drivers. Slipping all the way to work. (It is snowing today btw)

We publish our news letter, deal with e-mail, accounting, customer service, technology and information and media services. This is not being lazy at home, it is about being more productive.

Many workers have similar options. Hewitt Associates, a Lincolnshire Illinois based human resources firm, found that 91 percent of 854employers surveyed offered some type of alternative work arrangements. Options included working from home/telecommuting (43 percent); compressed work schedule (29 percent) and flex time (63 percent).

About 45 million Americans work from home, according to TeleworkCoalition Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington D.C. That’s up from about 41.5 million three years ago.

Larson note: It’s good and getting better. If you have options for working from home, or a 4 day work week look into it.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Howard Larson, Larson & Associates, motivation services

My future Ning and SM activity

Social Media takes time and a great need for a person to be an active participate. As (most) of you all know, (if your reading this you do) I am an active blogger so I am giving notice to all SM sites save 1, which is MerchantCircle and TeamCircle (which I am already a Featured Member and Lindy was the one to introduced me to ning so it is a mute point), to give me and my company “Featured Member” status or I will stop blogging quite so heavily and thus reducing the lovability to Google, Yahoo, MSN and the other search engines love of the site and page.

Larson note: Like the rest of you I only have so much time to give. Either a site has to be producing new clients and income for me, or be a great souses of knowledge or it must go by the wayside. That is not to say that I will stop total participating in any of the SM sites I am in, just reduced participation. Time is the most precious asset I (and you) have. Spend it wisely.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Howard Larson, Larson & Associates

How to Follow on Twitter (thoughts)

Taken from NikkiPilkington https://twitter.com/NikkiPilkington

Why don’t you follow as many people as follow you Nikki?”

“I’m following you, why aren’t you following me, Nikki?”

“I stopped following you because you’re not following me Nikki”

Just 3 of the messages I’ve received recently talking about who I do and don’t follow on Twitter.
You may have already read my post ‘How I use Twitter’, and this is in a similar vein, but here are my thoughts on following and followers.

As of right now (time of writing), I follow 412 people, and have 1128 people following me. So obviously I don’t have an ‘autofollow’ mentality, following everyone who follows me. I also don’t go around randomly following people in the hope that they follow me.

I’m not saying that my way of doing things is the right way, I’m just saying it’s how I do it, and it means that twitter works for me in the way I want it to.

So first up, who DO I follow?
People I know and like from Ecademy, LinkedIn, Xing, UK Business Labs, BT Tradespace and WeCanDoBiz - I’ve known some of these people for many years, and know that I will be interested in their Tweets.

People who have written articles that I like, and put their Twitter details at the end - I know that they may Tweet about other articles they write, and it’s an easy way to keep up with them.

People who are respected in my industry - they will Tweet SEO news, and links to articles I may not pick up on my own.

People who other people I follow have recommended - you could call it ‘networking’

People who retweet my articles and blog posts - if they’re retweeting me, they may be doing the same for other epople I should be aware of.

People who I find during random searches - I have alerts for various keyphrases and sometimes they throw up intersting people.

People who write apps / have sites I like / use - so that I can keep up with their news and developments.

People who have sent me an @ message - if you’ve taken the time to message me, I’ll check you out and probably follow you.

And who DON’T I follow and why?
People who have just one Tweet, usually promoting a website - your twitter stream doesn’t tell me enough about you to know whether or not I want to follow you.

People who have nothing in their Twitter profile - unless your Tweets are particularly interesting, if i know nothing about you, I won’t follow you.

People who Tweet constantly about themselves and their business - if you do this and share nothing else of interest, I’ll unfollow you.

People who don’t reply to @ messages - Twitter is a two way thing and if I can see people have messaged you but you’ve not replied, then I probably won’t follow you. Similarly, if I @ you and you don’t respond on more than a couple of occasions, I’ll probably unfollow you.

People who send me constant DMs promoting their business - I know what you do, I’m following you - don’t try and sell to me via DM.

People who only ever auto tweet - so their tweets are all automatically set up and they never actually post anything themselves. I get to see all the things they comment on, their latest blog posts, and in some cases their retweeted DMs yet they never actually Twitter themselves.

People who Tweet in a language other than English or French all the time. Although I do have a basic understanding of German and Flemish/Dutch, it is VERY basic, and I don’t have the time to look up translations for languages I don’t understand, sorry.

People who have twitter names such as MLM_1234 - I prefer people with real names, although I’m not anal about this - if you fulfil the criteria in the first list your name doesn’t matter.

So there you have it, some of the reasons I do and don’t follow people. If you’re following me and I haven’t followed you back, don’t take it personally - I just don’t know you yet. Send me an @ message to say hi, and I’ll probably follow you if you fit into the first list.

As an extra to this, most people who follow me will get a message saying “Thanks for the follow - check out http://tinyurl.com/5d2jg8 to see how I use Twitter! Send me an @ to say Hi!” - this isn’t automated, although it is a cut and paste message. I check out most people who follow me, and send them that message so that they know what to expect.
You can follow me on Twitter here - let me know what you think of this post, and please feel free to retweet it so others can read it.

And of course, please feel free to comment below!

Larson note: Here are my twitter thoughts on following

As of right now (time of writing), I follow 169 people, and have 164 people following me. MY following an d followrs goes back and forth and I really pay little attention to it.

Who do I follow and why?
Before I add anyone, I do look at their site we what they are tweeting and how often they tweet. If this meets with my personal satisfaction I add them.

People who have written articles that I like, and put their Twitter details at the end - I know that they may Tweet about other articles they write, and it’s an easy way to keep up with them.

People who are respected in my industry - they will Tweet SEO news, and links to articles I may not pick up on my own.

People who other people I follow have recommended - you could call it ‘networking’

People who retweet my articles and blog posts - if they’re retweeting me, they may be doing the same for other epople I should be aware of.

People who I find during random searches - I have alerts for various keyphrases and sometimes they throw up intersting people.

People who write apps / have sites I like / use - so that I can keep up with their news and developments.

People who have sent me an @ message - if you’ve taken the time to message me, I’ll check you out and probably follow you.

People who have an interesting business I want to know about and have a greater synergy with.
People who I consider a prospect.

And who DON’T I follow and why?
People who have just one Tweet, usually promoting a website - your twitter stream doesn’t tell me enough about you to know whether or not I want to follow you.

People who have nothing in their Twitter profile - unless your Tweets are particularly interesting, if i know nothing about you, I won’t follow you.

People who Tweet constantly about themselves and their business - if you do this and share nothing else of interest, I’ll unfollow you.

People who don’t reply to @ messages - Twitter is a two way thing and if I can see people have messaged you but you’ve not replied, then I probably won’t follow you. Similarly, if I @ you and you don’t respond on more than a couple of occasions, I’ll probably unfollow you.

People who only ever auto tweet - so their tweets are all automatically set up and they never actually post anything themselves. I get to see all the things they comment on, their latest blog posts, and in some cases their retweeted DMs (yes @thomaspower I’m talking about you) yet they never actually Twitter themselves.

People who Tweet in a language other than English all the time. Although I do have some understanding of French, Norwegian and Swedish, it is VERY basic, and I don’t have the time to look get out the old dictionary, sorry.

The big taboo (for me) People who tweet 10 to 12 times an hour. Hate my screen being filled up with 1 person.

Yes they are almost the same as Nikki’s but then why add or change something that doesn’t need it?


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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Nikki Pilkington https://twitter.com/NikkiPilkington http://businessontwitter.co.uk/twitter/2009/01/who-i-follow-and-who-i-dont-and-why-on-twitter/

Five tips to improve e-mail marketing

Clean your e-mail list
Keeping a clean list is a challenge for all businesses, especially small business owners who have the time to do it themselves or have a person to handle it. Make 2009 the year to start by scrubbing your list or bad addresses before sending out your first campaign of the year. You'll improve your e-mail marketing performance, your reputation and deliverability rates. The first step is make sure your unsubscribe requests are up-to-date.

Look at what worked and didn't last year
Take a close look at your 2008 e-mail marketing successes and failures so you can repeat the winning campaigns and cut the under performers. Combine elements of your successful email marketing tactics to get better results.

Make a 2009 e-mail marketing plan
You should have an overall marketing plan and then individual plans on how to use different channels in your attack, like e-mail. We're all working so hard and running so fast, many of us are accustomed to leaving our e-mail marketing campaigns to the last minute. Do this and you will have a campaign that looks like it was a last minute idea. Start by looking at the calendar through your customer's eyes. Ask yourself what business and seasonal cycles are most relevant to your target audiences, then create an e-mail marketing campaign with the calendar mapped into those cycles. Putting in a few hours to plan out your campaign for the year will ensure that your e-mail marketing campaign(s) are timely and relevant and worth something to your clients, customers and prospects.

Use customer data in e-mail campaigns
Many of us are using some kind of CRM software and lead generation systems that is or should be filled with customer data that can help in defining your e-mail marketing campaign. You can build targeted, segmented lists based on customer data. Even if you don't use a CRM programming, you can still break your lists down based on purchasing records. You do have records don’t you? You also can conduct a quick poll through your e-mail marketing service to gather more information from your customers that will help you improve the targeting, relevance and timeliness of your campaigns.

Try something new
Challenge yourself in 2009 by trying something new, if you are an old hat at emailing of a newbie in e-mail marketing campaigns have some fun. Embed a video file or podcast into it. Add some multimedia to make your campaigns more interactive and engaging. Setting up automated trigger campaigns also can improve the timeliness and relevance of your e-mail marketing campaigns. It might sound too complicated or time intensive, but a good e-mail marketing service should have the tools and technologies to make it easy for you.


Larson note: It’s a new year, yes times might be tough, money tight if not scarce to be extravagant but go for it. Make your mark; establish your “brand”. Now more than ever you can stand out from the crowd and be heard and seen!

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

*Source(s): Direct Marketing Association & MotivationConnect

2 New services: Virtual Sales Manager and Total Salesforce Outsourcing

1) Virtual Sales Manager: Don’t have a sales manager but have staff that needs to be trained and managed? Try out virtual sales manager service. Get all the pluses of a real sales manager at a fraction of the cost.

2) Total Salesforce Outsourcing. Want a sales staff, local or nationwide but don’t have the time or expertise to put it in place. Try this one. We will sit down with you, over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative option for your company.


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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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

Projected Slowdown for local interactive ad spending

2007 - $8.7 billion
2008 - $12.8 billion
2009 - $13.9 billion

Larson note: All things are going to be a little slower in the first half of the year. Look for ways you can maximize your web presence and get more exposture for eash dollar or minute you spend in online marketing, that does mean you all you little twitter people.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

*Source: Borelli Associates, third quarter 2008

The Week Ahead for The Week Ahead for January 5-8, 2009

Monday: Construction spending
Tuesday: November factory orders
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, November consumer credit
Friday: December unemployment report, November wholesale inventories

Larson note: I will probably be too premature to see any inventory drops and the general employment picture will not be good. Just hang on to your hat and ride it out.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. New Larson Service: Total Sales Outsourcing Management! We will sit down with you over the phone and go over YOUR numbers to see if it is a cost effective alternative for your company.

Packaging Survey Results

Labor costs
Cost to process an order
2004 $7.872005 $6.72
2006 $6.48
2007 $4.81
2008 $5.21

Cost of labor as a percentage of company sales
2004 10.4%
2005 9.4%
2006 8.6%
2007 8.9%
2008 6.3%

Cycle time
The in-transit time in going up as fewer shipments go air
Total 5.0
Internal 2.3

Error Rate
Other 0.95%
Mgf 0.89%
Retail 0.88%
Ave. 0.78%
Wholesale 0.62%
3PL 0.21%



Larson note: The packaging and logistics industry are getting a solid handle on themselves despite the economy. Costs are down and error rates are down

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Parcel industry

Do You need your SE to Go Beyond Google, Yahoo and MSN?

Should you stop at Google, Yahoo and MSN? No way!

According to ComScore only 36% of users time is spent on the top 20 internet sites a 4% decrease from last year. When doing local searches, more that 50% or people ending up searching for local products and services on search engines outside of the big 3. With the emergence of hundreds of local search engines, there is a unique opportunity for businesses both small and large to maximize there online reach. This brings you to a choice, of doing your own internal list management, which can be labor intensive or get a provider to do a complete job, collect, enrich, optimize, distribute and manage your listings.

To get maximize reach you need to have a partnership is both local search engines the major engines as well as a long listing of the various Internet Yellow Pages.

Larson note: It is quite possible to do it yourself, if you have the time and what to do the research, if not get a pro to do it for you.

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.geocities.com/larsonassoc1979/1
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. Get in control of your own marketing destiny with a guerilla marketing consultation. Call today and schedule your appointment.

*Source: Direct Marketing Association