You want the secret to increasing your sales in this wonderful economy? Be different than your competition. Challenge every idea you have ever heard. Be an innovator. Be audacious. Stand out from the crowd and be seen as well as heard!
Get your head on and launch that new business, create that new product or service that disrupts the competition. Just remember ideas are cheap. It’s the application of the ideas that is the hard part.
There are 3 primary things you will need to innovate and prosper; those being ideas, talent and capital. Over the past couple of years almost everything has been focused on capital. Hoarding your cash, managing your cash flow, working within your budget. Yes this is very important but so is the need for you to continue to invest in research and development as well as marketing. You can’t or shouldn’t put this part of your business on hold completely.
You might need to have a retreat and get away from everything to be able to listen to the market so you know where to focus yourself. And when you more, invest in products for the long time and then keep them in front of customer’s noses so they have enough time to decide to buy what you are offering. Don’t get into any decision for the quick buck.
As for marketing be as aggressive as you can. I know I need to do an update and do a few additions but here are 122 marketing ideas you can use. I use them, you should also. http://www.larsonassociates.ws/marketing_tools Some have a cost some don’t, most fall in-between. My point here is that you don’t want to disappear. Customers are hard enough to come by even in a good economic cycle. The last thing you want to go and do is make them nervous as to how you are doing. If you can, increase your exposure, widen your communication channels and create an aura of confidence.
So perhaps now more that ever it is time to consider the entire concept of direct mail and maybe ask what would be the purpose to use this channel, what would we be trying to do if you used direct mail who do you want to target with a mailing piece and what are the ways we could integrate it with the kinds of online channels we are now using?
Even as we push harder into the digital world of the web, social media marketing email marketing, blogs, video, mobile don’t overlook what could be sitting right at your doorstep or your customer’s doorstep or should we say their mail boxes.
As I showed 2 days ago, people, ya people like you and I trust the printed ink on paper word more than they see and read online. Use that to your advantage.
Larson Notes & Satire: When do you do your best thinking? Mine these days happens to be at 5:10 in the morning. I am in the process of getting ready to run in a marathon this spring with my son. Now a marathon is not something you take lightly. You don’t just go lace up your “sneakers” and go run. It takes months, even for me, months to get my body and mind physically ready for the challenge in all ways so also the growth of a good business. It is not just 1 thing, it might be 1 more thing but it is not just 1 thing. That 1 thing might be what you need push your entire business over the edge into double digit growth. As you know, at least I think you know, I am pushing triple digit growth for the year 2011 with the Larson Challenge http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge to double the size of your business. Join in, it’s free and no purchase is necessary. So in your quiet time ask yourself, what is that 1 thing you need?
If you’re not doing direct mail marketing, even as little as a direct mail post card, think about it. Direct mail is durable, less disposable and more sensory that anything else out there. You want to be attention to yourself send out a mailing to those increasingly empty mailboxes. Now I know you think of us here at Larson’s as the company of the melodious voices that pound the phones as a group of trained telemarketing professionals but don’t think that we don’t have the resources to put it all together for you. As a 36 year Chicago Ad and Graphics Professional I know how to make it happen. I can only say use me, so many times.
Go on make me work, I dare 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
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why Not Use The Cheapest Printer
We are in a recession or are we. I guess right now it all depends on the person perspective of you. Your business and your micro economic outlook. No matter. The fact is that we are all trying to produce more with less of an advertising budget.
With that in mind it can be very tempting to just go out and buy your printing, anything from business cards to that new brochure to a hot little direct mail piece, from the printer with the lowest cost, right?
Well you might be able to save a few bucks up front but is it cost effective? Well. . . most likely not. If you are one of those who expect your printer to be doing more than just putting ink down on paper buying cheep makes no sense. If your printer has not evolved into a marketing consultant who works with you from their area of experience and knowledge to create the right kind of printed piece for what you want to get done, you are getting short changed no matter what the price.
If you are doing a direct mail piece, your printer should be able to get the most out of your project, and I am not talking about the most copies. If you’re planning on doing a new brochure your printer should be able to consult with you on the latest trends and practices to help make your brochure stand out from the competition.
Your printer should be able to evaluate your objectives and your target audience and market and then suggest what you might want to have happen on that printed page. Those little things like size, color, n umber of folds, kind of paper stock, estimated postage costs, etc.
Maybe you can be cross channeling your new brochure or mailer into other kinds of media like a blog, a social media push or a special web promotion. If your printer is as good as he should be he is at the forefront of what is happening in the world of advertising.
They should be working with you to help you to target new areas to attract new customers. If you are not using variable data your printer might be able to help you with their valuable insights on when and how to use this technology to make it even more relevant to your prospects or present customers. This kind of technology might help to keep you relevant.
You should only need to communicate with them on what the goals and timing of your project is and they should be able to help you get the highest ROI possible. If they can’t, go fish.
Larson Notes & Satire: Printing is just one part of what should be in your marketing attack but it can be the anchor or the glue that keeps it all together.
No other medium is a grounded as the printed piece. Yes it might have some upfront costs that keeps you from using it, but that is why more and more people trust printing. You can’t sit down and punch out a quickie. Think about it. Any electronic medium can be done with almost zero out of pocket cost except for your time and energy and of course your computer and software. But a mailer or a brochure? Not so easy to do for a time only expense. You have to spend some money to make it, produce it and then to send it out.
So maybe you need to ask yourself? Are you a real business, a hobby business or just throwing some mud on the wall to see what sticks kind of business?
Do things right and you can sit back in your chair and toast your competition: ah yes “Here’s mud in your eye!”
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
With that in mind it can be very tempting to just go out and buy your printing, anything from business cards to that new brochure to a hot little direct mail piece, from the printer with the lowest cost, right?
Well you might be able to save a few bucks up front but is it cost effective? Well. . . most likely not. If you are one of those who expect your printer to be doing more than just putting ink down on paper buying cheep makes no sense. If your printer has not evolved into a marketing consultant who works with you from their area of experience and knowledge to create the right kind of printed piece for what you want to get done, you are getting short changed no matter what the price.
If you are doing a direct mail piece, your printer should be able to get the most out of your project, and I am not talking about the most copies. If you’re planning on doing a new brochure your printer should be able to consult with you on the latest trends and practices to help make your brochure stand out from the competition.
Your printer should be able to evaluate your objectives and your target audience and market and then suggest what you might want to have happen on that printed page. Those little things like size, color, n umber of folds, kind of paper stock, estimated postage costs, etc.
Maybe you can be cross channeling your new brochure or mailer into other kinds of media like a blog, a social media push or a special web promotion. If your printer is as good as he should be he is at the forefront of what is happening in the world of advertising.
They should be working with you to help you to target new areas to attract new customers. If you are not using variable data your printer might be able to help you with their valuable insights on when and how to use this technology to make it even more relevant to your prospects or present customers. This kind of technology might help to keep you relevant.
You should only need to communicate with them on what the goals and timing of your project is and they should be able to help you get the highest ROI possible. If they can’t, go fish.
Larson Notes & Satire: Printing is just one part of what should be in your marketing attack but it can be the anchor or the glue that keeps it all together.
No other medium is a grounded as the printed piece. Yes it might have some upfront costs that keeps you from using it, but that is why more and more people trust printing. You can’t sit down and punch out a quickie. Think about it. Any electronic medium can be done with almost zero out of pocket cost except for your time and energy and of course your computer and software. But a mailer or a brochure? Not so easy to do for a time only expense. You have to spend some money to make it, produce it and then to send it out.
So maybe you need to ask yourself? Are you a real business, a hobby business or just throwing some mud on the wall to see what sticks kind of business?
Do things right and you can sit back in your chair and toast your competition: ah yes “Here’s mud in your eye!”
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Trust In Ink On Paper
In all its technical savvy and the ability to push your message out at the press of a key, customers, prospects and consumers still seem to favor and trust the printed word.
If you have a few dollars to spend on advertising you might want to keep this in mind. People still prefer things that are printed more than not. So where and what kind of print advertising should you be doing? Some of that has to do with the kind of business you have and the product/service you are selling but:
When it comes to Direct Mail:
61% - will recall seeing or receiving your piece.
66% - Will consider another purchase (if directed toward current customers)
70% - Positive spin if it is targeted to the interests of the recipient
78% - Felt the company was interested in building a good relationship
68% - Helped make a purchasing decision in favor to the sending company
74% - Found print more appealing that other kinds of ads
When it comes to Magazine Ads
84% - Read the ads when in print (This goes down to 72% if an online advertisement)
54% - Influenced the buying decision
47% - Pushed the customer to get more information online
20% - Trusted the marketer
Larson Notes & Satire: I have in the past put ads in trade magazines. I have done classified ads a few times. And it can pull in a new account or two. I think that more than new account selling Ads be it trade magazines or consumer if you are B2C cement in existing customers rather than going out to find new ones. When I what new, the best way I have seen is to start with a telemarketing attack with a direct mail interwoven in at the same time.
It works. Now most of my customers don’t want to go full boat, but you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. But then what works for me might not work for you. Anyway it’s 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
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
If you have a few dollars to spend on advertising you might want to keep this in mind. People still prefer things that are printed more than not. So where and what kind of print advertising should you be doing? Some of that has to do with the kind of business you have and the product/service you are selling but:
When it comes to Direct Mail:
61% - will recall seeing or receiving your piece.
66% - Will consider another purchase (if directed toward current customers)
70% - Positive spin if it is targeted to the interests of the recipient
78% - Felt the company was interested in building a good relationship
68% - Helped make a purchasing decision in favor to the sending company
74% - Found print more appealing that other kinds of ads
When it comes to Magazine Ads
84% - Read the ads when in print (This goes down to 72% if an online advertisement)
54% - Influenced the buying decision
47% - Pushed the customer to get more information online
20% - Trusted the marketer
Larson Notes & Satire: I have in the past put ads in trade magazines. I have done classified ads a few times. And it can pull in a new account or two. I think that more than new account selling Ads be it trade magazines or consumer if you are B2C cement in existing customers rather than going out to find new ones. When I what new, the best way I have seen is to start with a telemarketing attack with a direct mail interwoven in at the same time.
It works. Now most of my customers don’t want to go full boat, but you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. But then what works for me might not work for you. Anyway it’s 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
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Leverage Customer Data
How many times have you bought something from a company only to receive a week or so later a promotion on the exact same item you just bought? You aren’t alone. If you are a company that is doing that you are just plain dumb. Sorry to be so blunt but you are. You are not only wasting valuable resources of time and money in misaligned marketing but you are driving your customers away from you. You are telling them “I don’t know you or want to take good care of you.” Now if you took and looked at what they are buying and send out promotions in line with what might complement their latest purchase then you’re on target, and if your business is too big to watch out for this huge mistake there is software available to help you in this.
Yet, here are a few helpful hints to help you leverage that data, employ some analytics and start some insightful marketing that keep you on track.
1. Prioritize data. Data even the basic data is gold when you start to apply it to your marketing, strategies campaigns and tactics. It can provide a big upward movement in the kinds of results you get. Cross platforming it from sales to marketing to IT to customer service thru finance will make sure that you company is all taking the same thing to each customer.
2. Make it accessible. Many companies have customer data that is collected but it is “owned” by the salesman or the marketing department or finance. You need to all be on the same page. This data needs to be accessible to everyone in your company. Therein lies my case for not having sales people on 100% commission.
3. Keep it updated. Keeping data updated is everyone’s responsibility. It is not sales or finance that needs to keep things updated. Everyone needs to be working on the file.
4. Analyze it. After you set up a practice of keeping your customer data updated and clean you need to look at it and analyze it. As much as we might want to be trite and say, statics can lie, data doesn’t. If you don’t look at what you have collected on your customers with the intent to sell them more of what they need (note that I said need) they will buy from somewhere else.
5. Test measure and improve. Using your data is not enough. You need to be testing different offers, different ideas measuring the success against what is or was business as usual. As you get in results or non-results you need to be keeping track of that so you can do better next time.
Larson Notes & Satire: How many times has it happened that you place a call to order something or make a change on one of your accounts, you give the nice lady or gentleman your phone number, your account and all pertinent data only to be transferred over to the person in the company that can solve your problem only to have to give that person the exact same data? That really busts my chops. Like what’s wrong with these guys? At they dumb or something? I just gave “you” that information.
So if you are going to do something, do it. Inaction is worse than anything you can do. These days even a poor marketing attack that is consistent is better than no marketing attack. You sit in the sidelines, that is what you will do. Sit on the sidelines. You want to play with the big kids, step out and make it happen. Beat them at their own game by selling to your customers over and over again and again with things that they need, that you know they need because of what they bought from you in the past. It’s not all that hard if you have your eyes open
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Yet, here are a few helpful hints to help you leverage that data, employ some analytics and start some insightful marketing that keep you on track.
1. Prioritize data. Data even the basic data is gold when you start to apply it to your marketing, strategies campaigns and tactics. It can provide a big upward movement in the kinds of results you get. Cross platforming it from sales to marketing to IT to customer service thru finance will make sure that you company is all taking the same thing to each customer.
2. Make it accessible. Many companies have customer data that is collected but it is “owned” by the salesman or the marketing department or finance. You need to all be on the same page. This data needs to be accessible to everyone in your company. Therein lies my case for not having sales people on 100% commission.
3. Keep it updated. Keeping data updated is everyone’s responsibility. It is not sales or finance that needs to keep things updated. Everyone needs to be working on the file.
4. Analyze it. After you set up a practice of keeping your customer data updated and clean you need to look at it and analyze it. As much as we might want to be trite and say, statics can lie, data doesn’t. If you don’t look at what you have collected on your customers with the intent to sell them more of what they need (note that I said need) they will buy from somewhere else.
5. Test measure and improve. Using your data is not enough. You need to be testing different offers, different ideas measuring the success against what is or was business as usual. As you get in results or non-results you need to be keeping track of that so you can do better next time.
Larson Notes & Satire: How many times has it happened that you place a call to order something or make a change on one of your accounts, you give the nice lady or gentleman your phone number, your account and all pertinent data only to be transferred over to the person in the company that can solve your problem only to have to give that person the exact same data? That really busts my chops. Like what’s wrong with these guys? At they dumb or something? I just gave “you” that information.
So if you are going to do something, do it. Inaction is worse than anything you can do. These days even a poor marketing attack that is consistent is better than no marketing attack. You sit in the sidelines, that is what you will do. Sit on the sidelines. You want to play with the big kids, step out and make it happen. Beat them at their own game by selling to your customers over and over again and again with things that they need, that you know they need because of what they bought from you in the past. It’s not all that hard if you have your eyes open
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year and get listed on our web site @ http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Larson_Challenge . Email us your company name and web address to get listed. Make this year your best ever!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Boosting Electronic Marketing With Social Media
You’re doing an electronic newsletter or you send out email marketing or blasts. So how do you measure the impact of your social media marketing on your electronic or email newsletter marketing? Are these two forms of multichannel marketing even compatible. Should you care or should you expect more than you’re getting?
Social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MerchantCircle and Twitter are great ways to push your social Media marketing onto your electronic or email marketing to get an even stronger longer lasting use of your marketing effort.
Start with putting your Social media links into your electronic marketing because they are like little magical friend and customer finders. With the viral nature of social media your influence grows exponentially. It is a fact that social sharing increases audience exposure by a factor 3 to 5 times over a simple Forward to Friend request.
Now the measurement side of the equation. Measuring how social media affects your email or electronic marketing isn't all that difficult because most email service providers offer social sharing-tracking as part of their metrics and reporting function. The key is increasing social sharing, growing your audience and measuring how that growth leads to increased sales. And I can only say the sales aspect is what is should be all about, not the sheer number of fiends you collect
So here are ways to make it happen:
1. Reinforce the opportunity to sign up. It may seem strange to be putting a sign-up link in an email that is going out to people who have already opted into your emails, but keep in mind that if what you write and say is any good it will be or might be forwarded and that is where the pay off comes. When the email is shared you now have a new audience to sign up for your mailings or to become a follower of your social media marketing efforts.
2. Build up your call to action. Because ESPs track only the first impression when an email is shared, give all recipients a reason to connect with you directly by including a call to action. The call might be to download a white paper, enter a contest, etc. Use your head on what kind of action you could be asking for. At this point is always a good idea to use a unique URLs or special landing page to help you track where your new recipients are coming. If you need help in this area contact us and we can help you in this regard. I have been producing custom landing pages for customers for over 12 years.
3. Offer incentives. One company offered a gift to subscribers who shared content and got 10 friends to sign up for their newsletter. Their newsletter is now growing by double digits, and so are their sales.
4. Design your emails for multiple platforms and multiple hardware options. These days you have no idea how, when or where your email or newsletter is going to be read. Different browsers were a problem in the past. Now, differing kinds of hardware from computers to iphones and everything in-between.
5. Tailor special emails to your high end social media contacts. Let them know what is happing and let them in on new products and services early and often.
6. Once you get a new member to sign up, monitor each lead source as it moves through the sales pipeline so you can determine what's working and where to allocate future efforts and not when an actual sale occurs, how, when and why so you duplicate the effort and can improve on what you are doing. If you understand your sales cycle from start to finish you can predict with a certain amount of accuracy when they will make their 1st and subsequent purchases.
Larson Notes & Satire: Each kind of marketing you use can and should be tied together. Nothing should be a standalone activity. Why waste the effort of what your spending good time and money to achieve a one shot wonder. You need more bang for the buck. That means cross marketing yourself and all your efforts. Why do something that will get you one look when one thing might be able to get you a half dozen looks? It takes 7 to 9 touches to make a customer. People only see about 1 out of every 3 or 4 outreaches you make. That means it can take anywhere from 27 to 32 sales and marketing outreaches to find and make a customer. I never said marketing was for the weak of heart. If you’re not in it for the long haul don’t waste your time and money.
This is one of the many different ways to get multiple looks off your marketing. In actuality there are hundreds of tricks to get people and friends of people to look at you in all different kinds of ways.
I ways suggest to my telesales customers that they use a direct mail piece to boost what I am doing on the phones. I always suggest that my customers be sure to have not just their telephone number on the piece mailed (and you would be surprised at the number of direct mail pieces that go out without a phone number on it) but that have their web site and email address on it as well, another big thing that is forgotten.
But if you just remember to keep your eye on the target, the sale and this is a road to get one nothing else matters. Does 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
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year!
Social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MerchantCircle and Twitter are great ways to push your social Media marketing onto your electronic or email marketing to get an even stronger longer lasting use of your marketing effort.
Start with putting your Social media links into your electronic marketing because they are like little magical friend and customer finders. With the viral nature of social media your influence grows exponentially. It is a fact that social sharing increases audience exposure by a factor 3 to 5 times over a simple Forward to Friend request.
Now the measurement side of the equation. Measuring how social media affects your email or electronic marketing isn't all that difficult because most email service providers offer social sharing-tracking as part of their metrics and reporting function. The key is increasing social sharing, growing your audience and measuring how that growth leads to increased sales. And I can only say the sales aspect is what is should be all about, not the sheer number of fiends you collect
So here are ways to make it happen:
1. Reinforce the opportunity to sign up. It may seem strange to be putting a sign-up link in an email that is going out to people who have already opted into your emails, but keep in mind that if what you write and say is any good it will be or might be forwarded and that is where the pay off comes. When the email is shared you now have a new audience to sign up for your mailings or to become a follower of your social media marketing efforts.
2. Build up your call to action. Because ESPs track only the first impression when an email is shared, give all recipients a reason to connect with you directly by including a call to action. The call might be to download a white paper, enter a contest, etc. Use your head on what kind of action you could be asking for. At this point is always a good idea to use a unique URLs or special landing page to help you track where your new recipients are coming. If you need help in this area contact us and we can help you in this regard. I have been producing custom landing pages for customers for over 12 years.
3. Offer incentives. One company offered a gift to subscribers who shared content and got 10 friends to sign up for their newsletter. Their newsletter is now growing by double digits, and so are their sales.
4. Design your emails for multiple platforms and multiple hardware options. These days you have no idea how, when or where your email or newsletter is going to be read. Different browsers were a problem in the past. Now, differing kinds of hardware from computers to iphones and everything in-between.
5. Tailor special emails to your high end social media contacts. Let them know what is happing and let them in on new products and services early and often.
6. Once you get a new member to sign up, monitor each lead source as it moves through the sales pipeline so you can determine what's working and where to allocate future efforts and not when an actual sale occurs, how, when and why so you duplicate the effort and can improve on what you are doing. If you understand your sales cycle from start to finish you can predict with a certain amount of accuracy when they will make their 1st and subsequent purchases.
Larson Notes & Satire: Each kind of marketing you use can and should be tied together. Nothing should be a standalone activity. Why waste the effort of what your spending good time and money to achieve a one shot wonder. You need more bang for the buck. That means cross marketing yourself and all your efforts. Why do something that will get you one look when one thing might be able to get you a half dozen looks? It takes 7 to 9 touches to make a customer. People only see about 1 out of every 3 or 4 outreaches you make. That means it can take anywhere from 27 to 32 sales and marketing outreaches to find and make a customer. I never said marketing was for the weak of heart. If you’re not in it for the long haul don’t waste your time and money.
This is one of the many different ways to get multiple looks off your marketing. In actuality there are hundreds of tricks to get people and friends of people to look at you in all different kinds of ways.
I ways suggest to my telesales customers that they use a direct mail piece to boost what I am doing on the phones. I always suggest that my customers be sure to have not just their telephone number on the piece mailed (and you would be surprised at the number of direct mail pieces that go out without a phone number on it) but that have their web site and email address on it as well, another big thing that is forgotten.
But if you just remember to keep your eye on the target, the sale and this is a road to get one nothing else matters. Does 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
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. Take the Larson Challenge to double your sales this year!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Get On Facebook NOW!
Have you made your Facebook Fan Page Yet? http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans If not why not? Its quick, it’s easy, it’s free and now Bing is indexing it.
I have been telling you to get a Fan page. Maybe not as much as some of my other advice but since the advent of Facebook Fan pages I have been pushing their use. Now your participation on Facebook was no longer optional but we can almost say it’s mandatory. If you’re not on Facebook you need to be playing catch up.
Bing announced an expansion of its partnership with Facebook and it’s a huge. Bing will be enhancing its search engine results with Facebook Likes. When you search for information on Bing, with “Liked Results” you will now see which of your Facebook friends liked that same result listing.
Bing will also be enhancing its index with Facebook profile search. By pulling in your Facebook friends, Bing is essentially narrowing down your list to those included in your own social graph. Bing is even enabling users to take action and add the friend directly or send them a message.
Now before you start to worry about the Facebook’s privacy which is always suspect, Bing’s “Liked Results” will only be surfacing content that is specifically designated as “public” and linked to a person’s Facebook friends. This will only be the same information anyone could access by viewing their Facebook network directly, except and here is the biggie, it adds greater importance by being presented along with traditional Bing search results. For all you keep it secret people you the User will also be notified when the feature goes live and have an opportunity to disable the functionality if they so choose.
The features are start rolling out as I write with full features expected over the next few weeks – it will initially only be available in the U.S.
Larson Notes & Satire: If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, don’t say or post anything on the web that you would not want your mother to see.
As for this new Bing launch, you might say, its only Bing, most searches are down with Google. Ok, maybe but do you think for one minute that Google is going to stand by the sidelines and let Bing get one up on them? I don’t. Aside from that Facebook is basically free in cost. I’ll say that you can get into some paid marketing if your business warrants it, but you don’t have to and like any Social Media site if you place your web link on it, it is another link that can be aiming people to and at your web site, which I might add all the search engines like.
If you don’t, it’s no skin off my teeth but every one of my web customers is on Facebook not to mention a few other key Social Media sites and even if I am not a competitor of yours, one of them probably is.
Be seen, be found.
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
I have been telling you to get a Fan page. Maybe not as much as some of my other advice but since the advent of Facebook Fan pages I have been pushing their use. Now your participation on Facebook was no longer optional but we can almost say it’s mandatory. If you’re not on Facebook you need to be playing catch up.
Bing announced an expansion of its partnership with Facebook and it’s a huge. Bing will be enhancing its search engine results with Facebook Likes. When you search for information on Bing, with “Liked Results” you will now see which of your Facebook friends liked that same result listing.
Bing will also be enhancing its index with Facebook profile search. By pulling in your Facebook friends, Bing is essentially narrowing down your list to those included in your own social graph. Bing is even enabling users to take action and add the friend directly or send them a message.
Now before you start to worry about the Facebook’s privacy which is always suspect, Bing’s “Liked Results” will only be surfacing content that is specifically designated as “public” and linked to a person’s Facebook friends. This will only be the same information anyone could access by viewing their Facebook network directly, except and here is the biggie, it adds greater importance by being presented along with traditional Bing search results. For all you keep it secret people you the User will also be notified when the feature goes live and have an opportunity to disable the functionality if they so choose.
The features are start rolling out as I write with full features expected over the next few weeks – it will initially only be available in the U.S.
Larson Notes & Satire: If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, don’t say or post anything on the web that you would not want your mother to see.
As for this new Bing launch, you might say, its only Bing, most searches are down with Google. Ok, maybe but do you think for one minute that Google is going to stand by the sidelines and let Bing get one up on them? I don’t. Aside from that Facebook is basically free in cost. I’ll say that you can get into some paid marketing if your business warrants it, but you don’t have to and like any Social Media site if you place your web link on it, it is another link that can be aiming people to and at your web site, which I might add all the search engines like.
If you don’t, it’s no skin off my teeth but every one of my web customers is on Facebook not to mention a few other key Social Media sites and even if I am not a competitor of yours, one of them probably is.
Be seen, be found.
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Faster New Year Sales
By all accounts I am reading GNP in the Sates will be going up 2.6 up to 5%. Better than going down 2.6 to 5%, but is that good enough? Not for me and it should not be good enough for you either. I dare you. No I double dare you to join in with me to make this the year you more than double your business. No matter that my state is going to raise my income tax by 66.66% and that will cost people their jobs mark my words. But this is not about how the state or any government runs their, sorry, OUR government. It is about how I run my business. So in order to run it you need a plan.
Here are 5 steps you can use to get yourself ready. It is never too late to do your sales planning and forecasting:
1. Assess All Your Business Relationships. Divide your customers up into 3 groups, the top 20%, the second 20%, the bottom 60%. Hopefully by this time you have been able to establish a strong working relationship with your top 20. Hopefully these companies and people have come to rely on you for the service or produ8cts you provide them. Now, sit down with your staff and ask what products or services you are already offering that can piggyback on the coat tails of services to that which you are giving to your top 20.
Next look at your second set of 20. Are you getting all the business you should be from them from your existing sales line? If not get cracking. Work to build your relationships with this second group with the goal so selling them more and pushing them up into the top 20.
At the same time, while we are having fun, maybe you need to fire your bad customers. They are probably sucking the life blood out of your company, in valuable time and resources.
2. Put some sales training money into your budget. Sometimes you need to spend in order to get. So put some money into your budget. Now before you start to spend a dime of that money, sit down and get real. Maybe some of that sales staff are not the people you need. Ok swallow hard, admit your mistakes and let them go. If is much easier to train and motivate people who want to be doing what needs to be done. I am not saying let go the people who don’t say what you want to hear. Maybe they are saying what you need to hear. I am saying let go the people who are not there for the good of you, the company, themselves and each other. Sales is teamwork. Look at pro sports they are always trading to build a better team.
And in case it did not cross your mind, get yourself some training also. All good things start at the top.
3. Get value out of new hires faster. Have you heard the new buzzword? It’s called “onboarding” Onboarding is all about getting new hires up to speed faster. If you can put together a step-by-step process to your sales training you can take part in the benefits of this thought process. It is really about staring early, creating the right network and getting them out working. When I heard this I did kind of laugh because this sounded pretty old school but some companies and people don’t think like I do and need to have a 2 month formal program. Ouch! Talk about a money and time waster. So what is it? Well
First it is about starting early. You need to recruit for cultural, experience and skill set. Then you need a fit to your company’s corporate culture. Yes even a 1 person company has a culture. This is or should be part of the interview process.
Second find or create the right network. You need to be meeting the right people at the right time. In person or online. Makes no difference.
Third. Get those sales people working. Ok sounds really dumb but no reason to put a 1 to 3 month training course in place. This is me talking and I don’t know what I am doing so you may choose not to listen and I will not take offence but I would put them in real life working conditions, almost immediately. I am not saying sink or swim! What I am saying that in hitting the “road” and getting out in front of real prospects they will learn faster and quicker and how things in your company work, both on the inside and the outside and how the whole process form sale to delivery actually work. Stand by your salesperson, but remember that they need to feel a since of contribution to the company. That is why they are in sales.
Forth is the need for standards and accountability. What is the definition of success in your company? When you fail to set standards for your staff or even yourself you have no benchmark to hit. No standard of excellence. How do you know what is good and bad if you don’t or aren’t able to put it down on a piece of paper. When a sales person is or hits 80% of the sales goal or expectation don’t baby them and say that they are making “good progress” or “gosh you almost hit it” Fact is they missed the mark! Or did you fail them? You need manage your sales people in real time. Not quarterly like an accountant but daily or at the worst weekly! Their failure is your failure.
Fifth is the myth of a paycheck. I don’t care what your sales competition is, although I have very definite opinions on the matter which I will at this time keep to myself, but no matter if you are 100% salary or 100% commission or any combination in between. Truth is a sales person or many of them will adjust their standard of living to what they are bringing in or what I call “The Oscar Syndrome” which is that’s “Good Enough”. NO NO NO! It’s not good enough. Do be a settle for kind of Owner of Manager. People, your people what to be the best. They are begging to be the best and it is your job as an owner or manager to let them or help them achieve their true potential.
Larson Notes & Satire: Join me in taking the Larson Challenge to grow your business by 150% or more. I am going to do it. It is down on paper on how I am going to achieve it. I wrote it, now I need to read it daily and then (the hardest part) implement it on a daily no hourly basis!
If I can do it, you can too.
12 Days Of Christmas, no partridge in a pear tree or a couple of turtle doves. No 8 maids milking some cows in your conference room (unless you’re from Wisconsin) or 12 drummers drumming though your office just our 12 Days Of Xmas Telemarketing Special Get 12% more calling time at no extra charge to any 2 month program 12/26/10 thru 1/6/11 / only 1 award per day.
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
Here are 5 steps you can use to get yourself ready. It is never too late to do your sales planning and forecasting:
1. Assess All Your Business Relationships. Divide your customers up into 3 groups, the top 20%, the second 20%, the bottom 60%. Hopefully by this time you have been able to establish a strong working relationship with your top 20. Hopefully these companies and people have come to rely on you for the service or produ8cts you provide them. Now, sit down with your staff and ask what products or services you are already offering that can piggyback on the coat tails of services to that which you are giving to your top 20.
Next look at your second set of 20. Are you getting all the business you should be from them from your existing sales line? If not get cracking. Work to build your relationships with this second group with the goal so selling them more and pushing them up into the top 20.
At the same time, while we are having fun, maybe you need to fire your bad customers. They are probably sucking the life blood out of your company, in valuable time and resources.
2. Put some sales training money into your budget. Sometimes you need to spend in order to get. So put some money into your budget. Now before you start to spend a dime of that money, sit down and get real. Maybe some of that sales staff are not the people you need. Ok swallow hard, admit your mistakes and let them go. If is much easier to train and motivate people who want to be doing what needs to be done. I am not saying let go the people who don’t say what you want to hear. Maybe they are saying what you need to hear. I am saying let go the people who are not there for the good of you, the company, themselves and each other. Sales is teamwork. Look at pro sports they are always trading to build a better team.
And in case it did not cross your mind, get yourself some training also. All good things start at the top.
3. Get value out of new hires faster. Have you heard the new buzzword? It’s called “onboarding” Onboarding is all about getting new hires up to speed faster. If you can put together a step-by-step process to your sales training you can take part in the benefits of this thought process. It is really about staring early, creating the right network and getting them out working. When I heard this I did kind of laugh because this sounded pretty old school but some companies and people don’t think like I do and need to have a 2 month formal program. Ouch! Talk about a money and time waster. So what is it? Well
First it is about starting early. You need to recruit for cultural, experience and skill set. Then you need a fit to your company’s corporate culture. Yes even a 1 person company has a culture. This is or should be part of the interview process.
Second find or create the right network. You need to be meeting the right people at the right time. In person or online. Makes no difference.
Third. Get those sales people working. Ok sounds really dumb but no reason to put a 1 to 3 month training course in place. This is me talking and I don’t know what I am doing so you may choose not to listen and I will not take offence but I would put them in real life working conditions, almost immediately. I am not saying sink or swim! What I am saying that in hitting the “road” and getting out in front of real prospects they will learn faster and quicker and how things in your company work, both on the inside and the outside and how the whole process form sale to delivery actually work. Stand by your salesperson, but remember that they need to feel a since of contribution to the company. That is why they are in sales.
Forth is the need for standards and accountability. What is the definition of success in your company? When you fail to set standards for your staff or even yourself you have no benchmark to hit. No standard of excellence. How do you know what is good and bad if you don’t or aren’t able to put it down on a piece of paper. When a sales person is or hits 80% of the sales goal or expectation don’t baby them and say that they are making “good progress” or “gosh you almost hit it” Fact is they missed the mark! Or did you fail them? You need manage your sales people in real time. Not quarterly like an accountant but daily or at the worst weekly! Their failure is your failure.
Fifth is the myth of a paycheck. I don’t care what your sales competition is, although I have very definite opinions on the matter which I will at this time keep to myself, but no matter if you are 100% salary or 100% commission or any combination in between. Truth is a sales person or many of them will adjust their standard of living to what they are bringing in or what I call “The Oscar Syndrome” which is that’s “Good Enough”. NO NO NO! It’s not good enough. Do be a settle for kind of Owner of Manager. People, your people what to be the best. They are begging to be the best and it is your job as an owner or manager to let them or help them achieve their true potential.
Larson Notes & Satire: Join me in taking the Larson Challenge to grow your business by 150% or more. I am going to do it. It is down on paper on how I am going to achieve it. I wrote it, now I need to read it daily and then (the hardest part) implement it on a daily no hourly basis!
If I can do it, you can too.
12 Days Of Christmas, no partridge in a pear tree or a couple of turtle doves. No 8 maids milking some cows in your conference room (unless you’re from Wisconsin) or 12 drummers drumming though your office just our 12 Days Of Xmas Telemarketing Special Get 12% more calling time at no extra charge to any 2 month program 12/26/10 thru 1/6/11 / only 1 award per day.
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://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
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. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.
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