How To Increase Your Profits By 33%
How To Increase Your Profits By 33%
It’s a simple yet common question, “How can I make my business more successful?”
Success can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people but when it comes down to it, the success of your business should only be measured by one thing – profit.
At the end of the day, it’s not how many people came in to your store or phoned in. It’s not even how many widgets you sold. At the end of the day, what truly matters is how much of a profit you made.
It would make sense then that your efforts focus on profit as the end result.
With that in mind, there are only three strategies to increase profits for your business.
- Increase the pound size of each order
- Increase the number of times people buy from you
- Increase the number of people who buy from you
Most likely, your business is already primed to attack each of these three angles and implementing that attack should be fairly easy.
So, how can you increase the amount of money that someone spends with you?
The classic example of this is “Do you want fries with that?”
Maybe this just means putting your prices up? You may be interested to know that if your profit margin is 40%, putting your price up by 10% could sustain a 20% reduction in sales revenue with no impact to your profit.
(Read more on price increasing)
Secondly, how could you increase the number of times that someone buys from you? Maybe the way to do this is to offer incentives for people, such as special offers or simply by staying in communication with your client and prospect database via newsletters? The more often you are ‘in front‘ of your customer, the higher the chance they will think of you when they need the product or service that you offer.
Finally, how can you increase the number of customers? This is really down to your marketing activity. If you are really clear about your ideal customer and the benefits of doing business with you, the challenge is to get your message out there and attract more custom.
If this seems like a big hurdle, increasing each of these areas by only 10% will impact your profits by 33%.
For example, if you are selling a £10 item to 10 clients 10 times a year and your profit is 10%, that will give you a turnover of £1000 and a profit of £100.
Increasing each by 10%, will increase your turnover to £1,331 and your profit to £133 – a 33% increase overall!
3 Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know
3 Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know
If you are serious about developing and growing your business, then there are certain measurements that you should have in place so you know where your business is heading.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!
Break Even Point
This is the minimum level of sales that you need to make, to cover all your business costs and start to get into a profitable situation. Assuming you know your fixed costs (e.g. salaries, rents, rates – often referred to as overheads) and variable costs (these relate to the cost of production and vary with quantity e.g. raw materials) within the business, the simplest way to work this is as follows:
Work out your gross profit (GP) = Total sales – Variable Costs
Calculate your GP percentage = Gross Profit ÷ Sales
Break Even Point = Fixed Costs ÷ GP Percentage
For example, if your sales turnover is £500k, your fixed costs are £100k and your variable costs are £200k – your break even point will be £167k; meaning that once you have achieved £167k of sales revenue, you are in a profitable situation – below this number you are making a loss.
(Use the free break even point calculator to calculate your break even point)
Cashflow
Cash is the biggest killer of businesses – large and small. Knowing what money is coming in and when and what money is going out and when is vital. Unfortunately most accountants only provide historic information on your finances; often at least a few weeks if not months after the end of your accounting period. This doesn’t allow you to do much about a cashflow situation.
You should be able to forecast what cash is coming in through the orders that you currently have and hopefully can forecast. Be realistic about when the invoices will be paid and look at the worse case scenario rather than the best so you are not left with any shortfalls or surprises if money doesn’t come in on time. Likewise you can look at your outgoings, your fixed and variable costs for the business. Particularly take note of tax bills such as VAT or NI contributions as these are often a big chunk out of any business’s cashflow when these fall due.
(Forecast your cashflow using a free cashflow template)
Conversion Rate
In order to survive in business, you need new customers doing business with you. Only you know how many customers you want over the next 12 months – for some it will be 1000s, for others maybe only 10s. Either way, you need to be aware of your sales pipeline or funnel. This allows you to track a potential customer from the prospect stage right through to the point at which an order is placed or a buying transaction occurs.
Now whilst there may be a number of stages in the sales process for your business, for simplicity lets just look at prospect through to initial engagement, followed by proposal and finally order placement.
Working this backwards, the first important measure to know is your conversion rate. Of the potential clients that you get to make an offer to or engage with in a sales conversation, how many of those lead to business? For the sake of argument lets say you close 1 in 5.
Now, of the prospects that you initially engage, how many of those carry on to the next stage and are willing to accept a sales proposal. So, for example, if you are conducting a telemarketing campaign to your target market, where the aim is to get an appointment – what is your success rate here? Again, for this exercise, let’s say 1 in 10.
Finally, looking at the initial stage of the process – how do you identify your prospects in the fist place and is there a process of qualification before you start the telemarketing or next step of engagement? Maybe for your business only 1 in 10 actually get past these initial hurdles before becoming a qualified lead that you feel worthy of following up.
So what this now means is….if you want 10 new customers in the next 12 months and we use the above numbers by way of an example…you need to propose to 50 prospects, telemarket to 500 in the first place and have an initial prospect list of 5000.
Now whilst there will be variations for your particular sector, the principle is the same for any business and knowing these numbers for your business will help you much more effective in your marketing; as well as looking to improve your success rate at each of these stages.
Protect Your Ideas*
Click on the image above to find out more about software to help with your business planning
Build it, then sell it
People often ask if they can sell an idea for a new product or service to a company that will implement it. But ideas that can’t be protected are worth relatively little. I don’t mean necessarily legally protected, but at the very least, protected with marketing momentum, image, and awareness.
Relatively few of the well-known successful start-ups depended on the ideas. What matters is doing it, starting it up, getting it done. For example, when Apple Computer started in 1976, thousands of people had the same idea. Altair and MIPS were already producing. Every hobbyist club in the country talked about it in their meetings. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, however, did it. They found the resources, contracted people, took the risks, and started it up.
There are plenty of good examples. Was Federal Express patentable? No, but they did it. Look at Amazon.com—it was a good idea, but very copiable. In that case they knew they had to move fast and gain visibility very quickly to pre-empt competition. McDonald’s?
There are companies whose main advantage is the idea. Kodak, Polaroid, and Xerox are examples, but these are exceptions, not the rule.
By the time you’ve had a good idea, so have hundreds or thousands of others.
So how do you approach a large company with a good idea? I say, simply, don’t; not until you have momentum. Sure, some ideas need larger companies to move them forward, but if your idea is that good and not legally protectable, why shouldn’t the big company move on it? Managers are charged with enhancing the value of the company they work for, and you’re saying there’s no patent, so why not? They aren’t bad people, it’s just that you don’t own the idea.
Besides, larger companies move very slowly, and unless you’ve proven the idea and developed the concept, it’s even harder to think they’ll do it better.
My advice is to build some advantage first, develop this idea, bear down, and make it work. After that, then you will have something to sell. Even without patents, you could have trademarks, service marks, and legal protection against people trying to trade on your company’s name and trademarks.
Think of it from the buyer’s point of view, for a while. Which would you rather buy, an idea, or a business? Turn your idea into a business that works, with sales and employees and a market position, and then you have something to sell.
Remember that there are almost always people proposing ideas to large companies, and you’ll have to make sure the contact in the company understands that you might have something that’s very worthwhile. It’s hard for me to think you can do that without building it first, then selling it.
Think about what it is you own that they would need your participation for—perhaps it’s your expertise or name in an industry.
*Disclaimer. NB these articles are for informational purposes only. They are not designed to be used as a substitute for legal advice.
Will Your Business Survive in a Downturn?
A challenging time for business can be the best time to secure your long term future and prosperity. It is even more important to be smarter than your competitors.
If one company takes action to respond to the situation and one company just hopes for the best, who is the most
likely to survive and be ready for the upturn?
If you want to do nothing and hope for the best, don’t read on. You will have plenty of time for reading when your competitors manage the downturn better.
So where to start. Take a look at the world around you and assess the risks. What is the effect of a downturn going to be on those areas that affect your business:
Sales & Marketing – Redouble Sales Effort
Sales are the lifeblood of your business but a lot of MD’s/Owners do not like the sales side of business and rather let it happen. Not anymore. Good salesmanship is not actually that difficult. It is mostly common sense – know
who is buying and not buying. Talk to the ones who have not placed an order this month and understand why.
Is there any fundamental change likely in their buying pattern?
Do you know how much share of business you have with each of your customers?
Can it be increased?
It is much easier to get business from existing customers than capturing new ones. Are there some obvious customers who you do not trade with?
What about an action plan to start a dialogue with them?
Is your service good?
What can you do better?
Examine your pricing. When did you last increase prices? You may have to find the courage to put prices up but if you don’t – Are there some low cost marketing actions that you can do?
Websites are not expensive and can replace expensive and quickly out of date brochures.
ACTION STEPS
- Put a Sales & Marketing Plan together now
- Review your pricing strategy
- Sell, Sell, Sell
Operations & Resources – Doing the right thing, efficiently
When times are good we all get into a “nice to have” syndrome. Things get added because we think it might make life easier or better. In tough times decide what is really essential and what can be done without.
Look at your headcount. Make a 10% headcount cut part of your contingency plan. Usually there is someone whose performance is not satisfactory but the issue has not been tackled. If they need to go, should you start the process of removing them anyway? Make sure you use an HR Specialist to help with this. It can be done but has to be done correctly.
Often things can be made simpler and better. Time for radical thought. Look at how you’re doing things and see what can be done to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
Usually the people doing these things know most about them. So if you have staff involved in these activities get them involved too. Set up improvement teams. Give the projects titles and make a fuss of them. Review them regularly. Do it now while you still have the luxury of time and cash.
Communicate with your staff, management team, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to keep them informed of what is happening with the business.
ACTION STEPS
- Review your staffing- consider outsourced services
- Reduce inefficiencies and waste in your business
- Implement good, operational business processes
Finance – Cash is King
Cashflow has to the number one priority. If you run out of money the business is dead and all the hard work you have done is down the pan. And maybe your house with it! So do you know your break-even? Do you do a monthly cashflow forecast for the next 3 months?
These are two essential measures of the health of your business. If you do have them, we would recommend you start to do them right away. Most businesses know their costs base pretty well and what orders their customers are likely to place in the next month.
Forecasting sales for months 2 and 3 can be more difficult. Moving annual totals come highly recommended to cover the future trends in sales. You will quickly spot the turning points when sales go flat and subsequently start to turn down.
Clearly if the sales trend is down and approaching your break-even you need to take action. If you are not in this situation you should at least have a contingency plan to reduce costs. You also need to know how long these are likely to take to come into effect. It takes time to reduce costs. Your cashflow forecast can be used to see how this works.
Review your credit control processes. Do you get a signed order for everything? Do you get proof of delivery for goods? Make sure you have processes in place to follow up quickly with late payers.
ACTION STEPS
- Review your cashflow now
- Look at cost reduction and where savings can be made
- Focus on getting money in that is owed
Conclusion
The old adage “failing to plan is planning to fail” is so apt for recessionary times. So start as you mean to go on.
It’s easy to make lists, much harder to actually make things happen.
If you’d like some help with this give us a call and we’d be delighted to help. You’d be surprised what can be achieved in a short space of time.
And how much more gets done with regular review dates with us to help you make sure that you really do implement your action plan.
Influence Mapping – How to Sell to Corporates
INTRODUCTION
We have all worked in large organisations and the larger they are, the more a knowledge of the internal politics and unofficial communications systems is of value in surviving and making progress.
For people outside the organisation who are trying to get things done within the organisation, the situation is twice as bad because they not only have to figure out the official hierarchy and communication channels, but also the unofficial ones.
Most good sales people develop an instinct for how to learn the politics of a client organisation, but once they get beyond a certain size it is very difficult to be properly effective unless you practically live in the client organisation and this is particularly so if your interaction with the client needs to be of a complex or widespread nature.In the 1960s IBM came up against this problem in a big way in trying to sell their large computer systems into large organisations, where the supply of a new system fundamentally affected dozens of sectors of both the official and unofficial decision making structures.
This is where Influence Mapping was born.
Multi level contact occurs quite naturally between two large organisations that do business together, but IBM was the first to see the value of managing and co-ordinating this interaction rather than just letting it happen and of doing a forensic job of mapping how all the interactions and influences worked. In particular they became masters at managing the interface between the techies, who understood the product and the management who did not, but had the decision making responsibility.
The legend that “You never get fired for buying IBM” was one of the bits of marketing genius that came out of this and successfully kept other suppliers with better, more innovative and cheaper products out of their market for a long time. Influence mapping is about mapping out the personnel terrain, understanding its dynamics and most importantly, identifying the key “opinion formers” and planting the seeds with them that will create the image of your supplying organisation that is required. Whether we have the time, patience and dedication to do this in our relationship with any other mega client – and whether we can make it worth while is a matter for debate.
THE INFLUENCE MAPPING PROCESS
Defining the Influence Requirements
As regards a business advice practice for example, we need to write down a set of actions we want the prospect organisation to take, or opinions we want them to have, such as
o Feeling that consultancy in general is added value to what they do.
o Actively recommending us to clients
o Recommending us to colleagues
o Asking our advice etc
The Organisation Map
We need to build an organisation chart. It needs to show not only who reports to whom, but also what each key person is responsible for and how influential they are in influencing the delivery of our needs as specified in above.
People Classification
We need to classify each individual (or sometimes group of individuals) as to the type of contribution theymake to the influencing and decision making process, in terms of things like
o Are they a decision maker?
o Or an Influencer?
o Or an opinion former?
o Or combinations of two or more?
o What do they influence the most (in our field of view)
o Whom do they influence significantly?
o Who are they influenced by?
o What formal decision making group(s) are they in, if any
o What opinion forming group(s) are they in
o Who are the informal group leaders, or opinion formers in their group
The Network Influence
It is rare that a complete set of everything is assembled at any one time. However, after a reasonable part of the above data is assembled, a pattern will emerge that can be mapped, showing in a dynamic form how decisions are made and influenced, how opinions are formed and “nodes” will appear showing where the key people and groups are that influence opinions, decisions and actions
The Strategy
A reasonably coherent network diagram, even if partly complete, will begin to show clearly where and on whom our efforts need to be expended to maximise the result we are looking for, what type of information we need to present to whom and how we have to manage the players with more minor roles.
Meetings, Bloody Meetings
Meetings Bloody Meetings
“Meetings are a waste of time. I’m just too busy to spend time in meetings. I’ve got too much work to do”. Sound familiar? And when I hear this I often do see people flying around frantically fire fighting, often getting lots of interruptions and not being at all sure where they are going. Does that sound familiar too?
I like to think of meetings as gaining leverage for myself. Making sure that people know what I am trying to achieve and helping me forward. Likewise I like to know what others are trying to achieve and helping them forward. This way I cut down on my interruptions and know I will have a focussed discussion with my colleagues…so I don’t need to interrupt them and hopefully they don’t interrupt me.
Its not that I’m anti interruptions – what I call corridor conversations. There will always be the unexpected and that’s fair enough. Its just that I’d rather be better organised than that and have my mind clear to discus important matters when my mind is really focussed on the topic, rather than in the middle of five million other important things I am trying to achieve.
So what are the constituents of a good meeting?
o A leader. All teams need leaders. Leadership styles need to change with the situation. In the middle of a crisis we need a dictator – just ****** do it. But more often it is someone who can set up a discussion, draw in different opinions and only then conclude. It may be a good idea to rotate the leadership of a meeting – it helps people develop and enables them to run meetings as they think they should be run. It also helps them understand that running meetings is not as easy as they might think – which might make them more supportive at the next meeting!
o A plan: The meeting needs to know its direction. How long the meeting is going to take, what we are going to discuss. Too often meetings try and boil the ocean all at once. Provided I know that the topic is coming up in the meeting I don’t need to bring it up in the middle of another topic. It is the role of the leader to manage this plan.
o Minutes: These are a useful way of asking people to discuss the issue outside of the meeting – or to do something. It enables the meeting to move on and not get bogged down in the detail. They are also a good reminder of what was agreed.
How long should a meeting last?
My view is that anything more than two hours is beyond my concentration level. If it needs to be more than that then there should be a scheduled break. That way people stay focussed and therefore effective. It can be very useful to make it clear that the meeting will last no longer than a certain time. This can be achieved by telling people that we will stand up at a certain time. It is amazing how much more quickly meetings go when people are standing up!
How often should a meeting take place?
For management teams my view is that we should meet once a month on a rhythm that fits the business – the third Thursday of the month is quite a good time. However in some situations that require tighter management, once a week is effective – first thing Monday morning, or Friday morning. These become more tactical meetings dealing with day to day issues. I find them more effective with junior staff, less necessary with experienced staff or teams.
How to deal with follow ups.
How do you get people to do the actions that they have agreed to in a meeting? Its no good leaving it to the next meeting to review whether people have done the actions they agreed from the last meeting. I have found it effective to re-circulate the minutes a week before the next meeting. Instead of Portrait I set them up as Landscape with another column for people to record what they have done with the action. All I am really looking for is “done” – or an explanation on progress. If people haven’t done the action they are often reminded to do it before the meeting – if nothing else to avoid the embarrassment of saying they haven’t done it. Once everybody has commented the completed follows up can be re-circulated prior to the meeting. If people still haven’t done their action by then I have found that they will now try to get it done.
But what if they still haven’t done their action?
This is where the leader has to step in and deal with the individual on a one to one basis. There is probably some more fundamental problem that needs addressing. Maybe they are struggling with their work load – and maybe not delegating effectively – and maybe they need help with running their own meetings.
Team briefing.
Once the team meeting is over, it can be a good idea to make sure that the key messages/ decisions are communicated onwards. Often those who attend important meetings don’t realise their responsibility to pass on information at their own team meeting. A written brief may be the most effective way of doing that – or sometimes the minutes can be a useful reminder.
Do get the minutes out quickly.
I have always favoured quick and cheerful rather than slow and 100% accurate. Fundamentally minutes are there to remind people of what they agreed to do.
What do I do if some people can’t attend?
My view is that the meeting should run anyway. From time to time people can’t attend. However it may be important to deal with persistent offenders on a one to one basis.
One to one meetings
There is a place for a regular team meeting and there is also a place for a regular one to one session with each direct report. I recommend setting two hours aside in your diary each month for each person that works for you – just as you do for the team. This is a more flexible date between two people. My view is that it is flexible, but must happen sometime. So either person can change the date but must organise another time.
I find the one to one session is much more personal. However I do the same things as in a team meeting – plan what I want to cover, take notes, review actions. It is much more of a mentoring role, particularly with senior staff. It enables me to get buy in to my plans; it enables difficult issues to be discussed in a calm way; I often use it to get the staff member to set their own goals and targets – which means I have their buy in to the way forward right from the start.
In my experience I have found that if I have these two types of meeting running each month I am left alone for the rest of the month to get on with my own work. It reduces the level of interruptions and instils a sense of order. It enables more forward thinking which in itself prevents some of those crises.
Meetings, bloody meetings? I wouldn’t be without them!
Is Your Website Working?
Does your Website attract a steady flow of targeted traffic, build an opt-in list, supply you leads and income from sales of products and services?
If it doesn’t, then you need to examine your Website content, design and structure.
In most cases, Websites are designed and built first. Then the business owners try to figure out how to attract visitors. This approach is backwards.
Before you have a single web page built or content written you should have clearly identified your strategy for attracting visitors and converting them to leads or clients. Using the web to market your product or services requires a web marketing plan.
The web has the potential to be a powerful communication tool, but your Website needs to be designed in order for you to achieve your marketing goals. These goals also have to be measurable.
A Website built and managed without a clear marketing plan is usually a waste of time and money. Many Website are nothing more than web billboards. These sites generally do not attract clients and provide little marketing benefit.
What should you measure?
The most obvious category that can be measured is the amount of traffic that your Website is generating. The key value is the number of unique visitors that come to the Website. There are other values that are important, such as page views and average length of stay.
As you measure these values over time the goal would be to have a steady increase in all of these values.
Of course, if these visitors are not doing anything when they are on your Website they are of little value.
Do you have a call to action?
Your Website should be designed in such a way that your visitors are presented with a call to action. This call to action should be obvious to the visitor. Your call to action is another element that can be measured. How many visitors perform the call to action?
The call to action can take many forms. It may be opting in to a email newsletter list, or filling out a lead form. The ideal action is the purchase of a product or service.
When a site visitor performs the call to action, you have a conversion. The number of conversions divided by the number of Website visitors is the conversion rate.
One of the goals of the Website should be to increase the conversion rate.
Testing
Once you have your measurable elements, traffic and conversions, you can test various ways to make your Website work. You can test various techniques for increasing traffic. Options here include search engine optimization of your Website, pay per click advertising, press releases and article writing.
Then you will also want to increase your conversion rates. Split testing is used to determine how various elements within the web page affect the visitor. You can change the elements on the page such as the headline or color of text and graphics, to measure the affect on the visitor.
Website Goals
You now have the understanding that your business Website should be working for you with a marketing plan. You need a call to action. You need to measure traffic and conversions, and then test to improve the results.
With these measurements in hand, you can now set goals for your Website.
via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Is Your Website Working?.
How to Ask a Closing Question…and then ‘Shut-Up’
Hundreds upon hundreds of books have been written on closing the sale. You can be the most knowledgeable of presenters, you can dress the part from head to toe and put on a show like Robin Williams, but if you do not how to close the sale, you might find yourself limited to a happy meal on your “night out”.
Many of the leading sales experts have defined closing as, “Asking a question, the answer to which confirms the sale”. Once this question has been asked, you must abide by the oldest, most critical rule of selling: When you ask a closing question…. SHUT UP! The first person that speaks loses.
There is a multitude of ways to ask for the sale. Your method of asking a closing question should befit your personal style of communication. The closing should be fluid and effortless when done correctly. For this reason it is important to set the tone for closing upon meeting your prospect, ideally when you walk in the door. You must ask for the sale as soon as you hear that first buying signal. One very important guideline in asking for the sale is to try to eliminate no as a possible response to your question. You may not get the much desired yes as a result of eliminating no responses to your questions, but you will unearth further objections and get the conversation going in a direction that will eventually lead to a yes.
It is very important that you phrase your question in a manner directly addressing your prospects main need or desire. For example….”Mrs. Smith, would you like your new drapes to be delivered before or after your dinner party on the first of next month?” or “Would you prefer to have your new boots in red of would you prefer the black?” or “Will that be cash or credit card?”
Notice that all of these examples incorporate the simple techniques of using time, choice or preference to eliminate no as a possible response. Your prospect will be forced to change the direction of the flow altogether in order to come up with a negative or no response to your closing question. The important lesson here is: Leave it up to the buyer to decide, but do not give him/her no as a possible response once you have asked a closing question.
Of course, it is always important to remember to confirm your prospects interest and to look for concrete buying signals before asking your closing question. For example, Mr. Rogers has stated that he needs a new printer by Thursday, BUT he has not said that he is buying it from you. Ask, “Mr. Rogers, would you like me to deliver your new printer by Thursday?”, and then you shut up! In this case, you have given your prospect the option to say no, but it is highly unlikely that he will use it. Even if he does use it, you have a handy response, “…when would be the most convenient time to make the delivery?”, and, once again, you shut up!
The key here is that you ask your closing questions in a friendly, sincere manner without high pressure and without being pushy. Ever hear the expression “the silence was deafening”? Even a minute of silence can feel like an hour during closing. The tension begins to mount as soon as you finish asking a closing question. With enough gentle, directing closing questions, you will be on your way to sales success. Remember, the sales are there and ripe for the picking. You will receive, but first….you must ask!
Building Relationships With Your Customers
No matter what kind of business you’re in, building customer relations should be one of your top priorities. All customers, whether on-line or off, like to feel that they are appreciated when they shop in your brick and mortar store or through your web-site. It’s easy in today’s hurry up, not enough hours in the day society we live in, for business owners to get all caught up in their everyday schedules of running their businesses and loose focus on why they have a business in the first place… CUSTOMERS!
Below are 5 techniques every business owner can use to help increase relations and build trust with their client base.
Emails
Email opt-in list building is creating a list or a collection of email’s of people who have a similar interest. List building is largely about building relationships with your customers and should be considered your business life line as it can directly effect your prosperity as well as profits.
Building a high-quality, robust and responsive mailing list can be worth it’s weight in gold. An opt-in list for your business is and important commodity and should be one of your priorities no matter whether you have a web-site or not. Building lifetime customers is arguably the most important thing you can do for your business and building a successful list can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure.
Ezines
This is a great way of capturing the email address of those who are interested in your products or services. Just place a small subscription form box on your web-site, or place printed forms in your business somewhere, explaining the benefits of your product or service. Launching your own email ezine is a good and fun way to help you build customer loyalty and build a communication link to them other than through traditional advertising.
It builds trust in the eyes of your customers when done right. Doing it right means including useful information about different topics of interest. Make it cheerful and fun so your subscribers will be counting down the days until they receive your next edition.
In addition, be sure to include a note about your special promotions, offers and sales to all members. You can even include coupons that can only be found in your ezine that will allow customers to get secret, un-advertised discounts. This can also help you to track the effectiveness of your ezine. This method will also work with newsletters and emails.
Newsletters
An email newsletter is similar to a regular newspaper but it delivers news directly to your email electronically. Most companies have an email sign up form on their web-site for their newsletters. Your subscribers should be able to set their watches by the arrival time of your newsletter. While newsletters and ezine’s are pretty much the same thing it’s important to use one or the other to keep in touch with your customers.
Auto-responders
An auto-responder is an easy, web-based email marketing software that delivers your email campaigns, special promotions, sales notices, newsletters, ezine’s and follow-ups automatically. This is an absolute must for today’s business owners. Once set up, it will allow you to put your marketing efforts on auto-pilot.
The bottom line with auto-responders, and this is extremely important, is you must use a professional auto-responder such as Aweber or GetResponse. Equally important is to use an Opt-in only, type of sign up and I personally would forget about purchasing so called fresh leads.
There are tons of free auto-responder services out there but the simple fact is that they’re usually free for a reason; too many advertisements on your out going email messages and deliverability rates to name a few.
Article Marketing
Marketing by using articles can be one of the most effective and least expensive ways to promote your business. This is especially true if you have a web-site. Writing articles about subjects you know about that include keywords related to your business is one of the best ways to get search engines to notice you which can lead to increased traffic to your business. And no, contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be an expert in order to write articles.
Conclusion
Which ever way you choose to promote your business, always remember that the customer is the only reason you have a business in the first place, and you should do everything in your power to make their experience the absolute very best it can be. It’s not always about the lowest or cheapest prices either, sometimes it’s about how they are being treated that keeps them coming back.
via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Building Relationships With Your Customers.
Five Ways to Make Your Advertising Work Harder
One of the sharpest minds in the direct response marketing business is fond of advising potential advertisers that creativity is not a positive virtue for an advertising copywriter. Whether it is a print, on-line or broadcast ad, the worst response experts say people should give is to think an ad was exceptionally creative. Instead, the person should respond by wanting to buy the product.
Here are five ideas advertising writers may use to help make their ad copy more effective.
1. Proof. Let people know how good your product or service is by offering proof that it stacks up better than its competition, or that it has met or exceeded certain tests or specifications. When stating numbers, such as how much faster one medicine works when compared with another, round numbers are less effective. Therefore, try to use uneven numbers like 23.7% rather than round numbers like 25% and your message will be more believable.
2. Identification. Do not be afraid to let people know who you are, where you are located and what you think and feel. Rather than appearing to hide behind a post office box number, tell people that your office is located at 1234 Elm Street in the red brick Smith Building, which was constructed in 1916. This not only makes you seem more interesting, but also more believable and trustworthy.
3. Guarantee. People will always be more willing to buy from you if they trust you will refund their purchase price if they are not satisfied. Yes, you may have to incur some expenses paying for refunds, but your increased sales will more than make up the difference.
4. Accessibility. Similar to identification, it always is best to be easy to reach, so do not omit your contact information from your ads, especially ads in print and on-line messages. Whether it is your phone number, Internet URL, email address or all three, make sure they are correct and working properly before you publish the ad. For example, if you are publishing a toll-free number that only works from the USA, if you also include your regular telephone number with area code, potential customers from other countries may also buy from you.
5. One more thing. Every sales letter should have a PS following the signature. This part of the letter will most likely be read more closely than some other parts, so utilize it to reinforce your most important point, or offer an extra bonus to motivate the reader to act immediately.
By making sure your advertising message has met the above five criteria, you will ensure the next ad you write will help make your cash register ring even more loudly.
via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Five Ways to Make Your Advertising Work Harder.
