Most individuals would say, “To Make a Profit.” Personally, I feel that is the wrong answer. It’s part of the answer, but not the answer. Profits are a result or an outcome of what we do and they only tell us if our business strategy and execution are viable.

Peter Drucker stated that, “concentrating on the belief that creating profits as a purpose was not only wrong, it could very well be harmful. “ He felt that it causes a business to make bad decisions and lose sight of those things that delight customers. He also said, “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”

The ultimate objective of a business is to satisfy customer needs and wants at a sustainable profit. The sustainable profit part is critical.

Customers are the ultimate asset for any profit making company. They really provide all of a company’s real value. Unfortunately, customers are one of the few aspects of a business that are not managed as an investment. We must always keep in mind that we must profitably provide a better solution for our customers than our competition.

There is an old saying, “A good salesman can sell anything once. The trick is getting them to buy again and again.” The reason I say this is because marketing gets translated most of the time into simply persuading someone to try something for the first time. Companies are constantly trying to change someone’s attitudes or behaviors.

Today’s customers buy competing products from multiple companies with seemingly no real loyalty. Therefore, the most important element in profits is designing ways to have your customers allocate a larger share of their wallets to you. In my Marketing Tips of the Week, and also this blog, I try to help you accomplish that.

So, in essence, the primary goal of marketing must be the creation of loyal, long-term customers out of first-time or occasional buyers. Accomplishing this requires a clear and precise understanding of what makes customers want to be loyal. Gathering and understanding customer needs is the job of marketing. Review the issues in my Marketing Tips of the Week that help you to accomplish this.

If you have any additional ideas to build loyalty, please comment.

Technorati Tags: business purpose, customer, customer creation, customer loyalty, Customer Retention, lifeling customers, profit, profits

There are lots of opinions in the press about whether the social media work, or whether they are just time wasters.  Different people report different results. 

Remember, these media are only tools, and the only determinant as to whether you use them or not is whether they increase your bottom line.

Ignore the hype and focus instead on how to make them work for you as the tools they are.  Don’t drop everything else you are doing to pursue them, expecting they are going to make you wealthy overnight, as some claim.  They are not.

Dedicate a portion of your time and budget to learning how to implement them.  But make sure you don’t neglect what’s already working for you.  Just add these tools at a pace that compliments, rather than disrupts, what’s already working.

When you see these new media for what they really are… tools…not miracle workers, it becomes not a matter of whether or not you should use them.  Instead the question becomes how do you best use them to get the results you are after.

Don’t let fear of these new media, or lack of knowledge, stop you.  Begin by focusing on creating systems and processes which are easy to implement, and can be repeated over and over.  This is a great basis for eventually outsourcing the work, so you can put it on automatic pilot.

With social media you now have the potential to spread your message farther and wider than you could before.  Like any tool, you just have to learn how to use it to your advantage.

Besides blogging, your social media efforts should start with Facebook and/or Twitter.  Your profile on these media is an important way by which media users can find you.  So make sure you create a profile pertinent to your purpose for the page.  Use keywords that can help them find you.

Probably, the best possible scenario when using Facebook is to build a Fan Page for your business.  A fan page has a similar feel to your regular Facebook page, but it allows you to create a public profile so that you can share your business and products with Facebook users. You can find out more by going here: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages

Here is a good example of a fan page: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=mari+smith&init=quick#/marismith?ref=search&sid=1386575769.1132394570..1

If you’d like to learn more about Facebook and Twitter marketing, here is a good inexpensive resource: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=1081671
 
What are your thoughts or experiences with social media marketing?  Let me know in the comment box below.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Social Media, Twitter

Remember, a Joint Venture involves two or more professionals or businesses, who have common prospects, or possibly complementary services.   These entities now join together for mutual marketing and sales, usually for specific prospects. 

They will work together to create joint marketing materials, joint sales calls, referring of prospects, joint direct mail, e-mail or advertising campaigns.  They might even combine their services, talents and assets to create a larger base of potential customers. 

When I had my Insurance Agency, I would do Joint Ventures with accountants, financial planners and various attorneys.  Each individual professional benefited from wider exposure, more referrals, and marketing that is more efficient.

I would venture to say that every professional and company has many opportunities to create joint Ventures.

Here’s an important part of a Joint Venture.  Both parties must assume responsibility for marketing the joint venture. A Joint Venture Partner who expects to ride the back of the other partner will quickly find themselves alone. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. When you form a Joint Venture,  your partner will define your company and will directly impact your sphere of influence and reputation.  Each Partner’s reputation “rubs off” on the other. So make sure that you take care when approaching someone as a Joint Venture Partner.  As the initiator, you have the advantage of choosing who you want to join forces with. Do Joint Ventures only with those partners that have the reputation you want for yourself and the market reach that you desire.

2. When you approach another business to become your Joint Venture partner, you will have to sell them on the idea that the partnership will be beneficial to them, not just for you.  They will have a real profit benefit. You must always be ready to give before you receive.

3. You must also be the one to assume the responsibility for the Joint Ventures success and you will have to do the vast majority of the work, at least at first.  You will be approaching individuals who may like the concept and want it to work, but they will also be skeptical.  You will have to carry the ball and show them that you are committed to the Joint Venture and that you will produce results for them.

If you follow thru, the Joint Venture will be an ongoing marketing strategy that will create more and more new customers for you and your business. 

Technorati Tags: joint venture secrets, joint ventures

I recently received an email from my dear friend Dan Kennedy, in which he had an article on Innovation that I want to share with you.   Here is what Dan had to say…

“A great example, and perhaps my favorite example of Innovation, is Tom Monahan of Domino’s Pizza.  In fact, I spoke about him for the ten years that I was speaking on The Success Tour.

Tom is very innovative and a creative guy and his innovative attitude has communicated through his ranks, and I’ll tell you my favorite Domino’s story.

There is a Domino’s franchisee that bought a domino’s pizza place and opened it at a resort area near a resort lake.  The first problem with his market area is that most of the residences live there only six months out of the year.  It’s a place where people come in the summer and really nobody stays there in the winter.

The second problem he discovered shortly after he was opened was that there was no way that he could deliver the pizza in thirty minutes or less consistently…you all know that is Domino’s guarantee…because it’s a big lake and the houses are stretched all the way around the lake and trying to do it in a car was impossible.

He needed to get the shortest route between the two points, so he began to deliver the pizza by boat because every house was right on the lake with a little dock.  So he was the first Domino’s franchisee to do it by boat.

The next problem he discovered was that boats don’t exactly stay stable like a vehicle does and so the pizza was getting there in thirty minutes but it was all smooched to one side of the box and stuck to the lid.  Kind of the opposite of what it is that they advertise.

You know what they did?

The Domino’s engineers got together and invented a device solely for his use, no other reason, invented a device that holds the pizza’s in the boat, keeps them hot and keeps them stable, regardless of what the boat does underneath it, which must somehow involve a gyroscope.

The next problem he had was that at night, unlike the lighted road and lighted address, the docks and the lake are dark.  So his delivery guys were getting lost out there in the lake with the pizza.  So he had to go around and put lights on every body’s dock at his own expense and paint numbers on the docks so when people ordered their5 pizza they could just give their dock number and the guy in the boat could get there.

That’s a lot of inventions, isn’t it, to make a pizza business work?  Here the up shot.  That franchisee, in a six-month period of time, out grossed two-thirds of what the Domino’s franchisee’s do all year long and on an annualized basis, if you take what he does in six months and multiply it times two, to do an equivalent comparison; he out-grossed all 2,999 other franchisee’s last year as a Domino’s Pizza franchisee, delivering pizza by boat on his lake.  The ability and the willingness to innovate, to make it work, is a very important characteristic.”

You can find more important information at Dan’s web site. www.dankennedy.com.

Now you can see how and why innovation is critical to any business.  Keep thinking of ways to innovate your product and business.

Technorati Tags: dan kennedy, innovating, pizza

Here are a few examples:

I consulted with a company which had 6 restaurants.  It catered to different groups of individuals.  4 catered to local residents, and 2 were in locations that catered to the business community because the two were located among office buildings and hotels.

If you’re going to do a direct mail promotion, the questions is: should you mail the same offer to both groups?

My answer is no.  For the restaurants located in the business community, I would get a list of the executives and managers who worked in the office buildings.  I would then send them a mailer that contained a brief cover letter, a brochure stressing that the restaurant was the perfect place to stop for dinner with visiting executives whom they have to entertain, or the perfect place to stop after work for Happy Hour.  I would mention that it was a great place to meet, greet, network and mostly relax in a great environment.

I would also enclose a few coupons for a 2-for-1 executive lunch and/or dinner.  I’d would also have something in the envelope for the secretary to use for lunch.  It would offer a 50% discount for lunch.

For the neighborhood restaurant I would get a list of the area homeowners with families and I would mail them a letter, but with a different brochure.  I would also create a small booklet of coupons.  Perhaps two offers for 50% off of lunch, and depending on the day of the week that we are slower than usual, I’d offer a 2-for-1 dinner, early-bird dinners for two, or all-you-can-eat for spaghetti on the slow days.  This could be only for the hours of 4 thru 6PM. 

John, here’s one for you for your dry cleaning business.   Because you have a few locations, I’m going to assume that they are located in different neighborhoods.  If you are like most dry cleaners and advertise in the local community weekly newspapers, and since there are quite a few newspapers to choose from, you must be selective.  Let’s assume there are two newspapers and one goes to the high-income neighborhood and one goes to a middles-class neighborhood.  The questions is, “Should you run the same ad in both papers?”

In looking at the papers in my area, I find that most merchants run the same ad in both papers.  They are wrong to do so and here is why.

Just as I mentioned in the restaurant example above, there are different groups of individuals you are trying to convince to visit your establishment.  Therefore, the messages should also be different. 

To the high-income neighborhood, I would write an ad that stressed how important it is to be looking your best for upward mobility and how individuals would see them as well dressed. I would then offer them one suit cleaned and pressed free, with another suit at full price or one tie done free with each suit.  You can create other offers for other garments

For the middle-class neighborhood, I would write an ad that stressed quality cleaning at a very modest and affordable price.  I would also create a small booklet entitled, “How Dry Cleaning can Help Certain Clothes Last Longer,” and just as above, offer discounts to get them into the store. 

I’m sure you can think of others, so let me hear some of them in the comments section.

Technorati Tags: attract customers, more customers

1. Everyone has a strip shopping center or mall near them.  Wherever there is a grand opening, attend the opening and talk with the business owners and staff and hand out your business cards.  Remember to have your Unique Selling Proposition stated clearly on the card to tell them how they will benefit by doing business with you. Even if it’s an established shopping center, do the same thing. Use this method to introduce yourself and your services to them.  With the Banks I started, each time we opened a branch, I had our various staff members visit with all of the businesses within a 5-mile geographic area of the branch.

2. Create flyers with your business information on it and place them at the grocery store, coffee shops, library, or other places people meet. Always carry them with you so that you never miss an opportunity to place them when you come across an opportunity to do so.

3. There is a place called www.VistaPrint.com, where you can obtain free or low cost business cards. Make sure you add your USP, again to let everyone know how you can benefit them.  While you are out running errands, drop off a business card at every business you see, such as Restaurants, Medical Professional Offices, Gyms and Health Clubs, Drycleaners, and even gas stations.  You never know when someone will need what you have to offer.

4. Getting back to # 2, you can do the same flyers with Door Knob Hangers.  Go into neighborhoods and put the flyers on the doorknobs of the residents.  You can even hire a high school student to do this as a part time job.  I used this method also with the Banks I started. It is very cost effective.

5. Put together a presentation that is very informative about how your product can benefit others then contact organizations, such as your local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, etc., and offer to speak at their monthly meeting.  They are always looking for speakers to educate and inform their members.

6. Develop a press release announcing something that is currently an important topic that you can attach your information to, and offer a free report that reveals the 5 items that will help them solve this problem. Then send it to your local newspaper and other free area publications.

7. Always ask for referrals.  Give your business cards to your family members, neighbors, wherever you shop, and ask them to pass out your cards to their patrons, or whomever they cross paths with.  Offer an hour of free service or a free product to anyone who refers a client to you.

OK.  That’s just a few ways to market your business frugally.  I’m sure if you put your mind to it, you can think of others.   Let me know in the comments section other ideas that you think of.

Technorati Tags: business cards, cheap ways to market, flyers, frugal ways to market, inexpensive ways to market, word of mouth advertising, word of mouth marketing

I told him that it didn’t have anything to do with referrals, advertising, or any of the other methods used to create a customer.

Before any of those methods will ever have an impact on your business, you have got to uncover and communicate a way in which your business is different from every other business that says they do what you do. You have got to create a simple idea or position in the mind of your prospective customer or client.

You must create an environment where your prospective customer or client will think of you immediately when they need what you have to offer.

Fed Ex with its “Overnight” theme, and Domino’s Pizza with its “Delivered In 30 Minutes Or It’s Free” promise, are a couple examples.

Another example is how I am offering those of you who do business-to-business selling to put your own title page on my “10 Marketing Mistakes That Steal Your Cash” book and gift it to your B2B customers…free of charge to you.  I also allow you to use this newsletter to help you grow your business; you can use it in your newsletter, on your website, or any way that will help you grow. Just let me know when you do so. 

When you offer additional benefits like these to your B2B customers, you now become not only the person who provides your product, but also someone who wants to help them grow their business and get more customers.  See the difference?

Here are a few more examples:

Whatever business you are in, you can make arrangements with a car wash to detail your customer’s vehicle whenever they visit you.  If you’re an accountant, while you are preparing their return, you can have their vehicle cleaned.  I bet when they leave, they will rave to their friends about this unique touch.

How about becoming dominant with your offer?  I know of an accounting firm that offers their clients a 100% refund on their preparation fee when they refer four new clients.  They are known as the 100% refund guys.

Here’s the last one.  Solve a problem.  Is there something that customers or prospects fear in your market or seem to believe is universal for what you do?  If so, create a system of communicating how you have the answers. For instance: “Painless Dentistry”.

I’m sure you can offer a guarantee that no one in your industry would dream of doing. When I had my insurance company, the department of Insurance said that our customers had a free 30-day look.  They could ask for a refund if they didn’t want the product.

I turned that into a guarantee.  “If within the next 30 days you feel our product doesn’t meet your expectations, just return it and we will refund the money you gave us.”

I don’t know why a guarantee scares most business owners.  You probably guarantee your work anyway.  You just don’t say so. Boldly announce that you guarantee results and watch what happens.

Put your creative head gear on and I bet you will come up with a few ways to dominate your market and become the “one” to buy from.

The last step is to communicate your difference in all your promotions and marketing tools, literally shouting about that difference.

Technorati Tags: dominate your market, dominate your niche

Direct mail puts your message right in front of your prospect in their own home or business. If you send the right mailing to the right list at the right time, your direct mail is cost-efficient and an easy way to get customer attention and sales.

Here are a few ways that I’ve used direct mail in a few of my businesses.

As a reminder:  Car dealers and other businesses who rely on residual income a number of times during the year, use this tool very well. 

In this fast paced world that we live in, it is hard enough to remember birthdays, let alone when our last doctor visit was.  That is where your direct mail piece comes in. 

A reminder could be anything from a postcard reminding your customer when they are due for an oil change, or a suggestion to repeat the purchase of a birthday cake.

As long as the service or product is something that needs to be repeated or gets used up, this method will work for your business. Your customer will appreciate this service and will be happy that you provided them with such individual attention.

As a promotion. I don’t think there is a customer who doesn’t like to save money.  This is a great method to grab attention and offer an opportunity to save money.

Sending a postcard with a chance to win a new product or offering $20 off a purchase of $60 or more, will inform new and existing customers about what you have to offer and induce them to visit your place of business again.

Make sure you set an expiration date and make it prominent on the mailing so that your customer will rush to save money NOW, before the promotion is over. You can simply say that those taking advantage of this offer within the next 5 days, before (date) will receive (such and such).

To notify your customers of New Products or Services. It is always an exciting time for any business when they decide to offer a new service or handle a new product. This is a great time to share this excitement with your customers.  For example, if you sell software, you can say that you developed an update that will enhance their ability to (whatever) by 45%, therefore saving (Xdollars). The more specific you are, the more you will educate and motivate your customer to take advantage of the offer. Whatever business or service you are in, you can utilize this method to increase sales. Your customers will appreciate your honesty.  And don’t forget the human nature side of this method…people like to be kept informed.

The best way to keep your customers informed is by sending them a newsletter.  In your newsletter, you may want to include articles that relate to your business, special offers, or even stories about your staff.

When customers and prospects see your newsletter on a regular basis, they will start to remember you and your company as an authority and a reliable source for the products and services you sell.  There are several newsletter software programs that you can choose from to format a newsletter.  There are even online programs you can use at very inexpensive prices.  We use a service called Constant Contact.

Here is a very important point.  As you utilize direct mail in your business, be very careful not to bombard the customers with mail. A barrage of mail may invoke an unfavorable response whenever your company is mentioned.

If you have successfully used direct mail in other ways, let us hear what you’ve done. Leave a comment in the Comment section of this blog article.

Technorati Tags: customer acquisition, direct mail

I recently read an article where Herb Kelleher, the individual who made Southwest Airlines famous, said the following. 

“Southwest’s communication, its message, is its people.”

That means that they have trained their employees to be the Ambassadors of their company.  If you have flown on Southwest, you know what I mean.  Whenever I have flown with them, it was a pleasure. 

Southwest has over 25,000 employees spreading the word as Ambassadors and you could even call them missionaries, because they have converted many an airline passenger to their cause.

Here is a question for you.  “Are your employees your missionaries?”

Here are some guidelines for turning your employees into ambassadors/missionaries:

1. Train them, constantly, to keep their dedication, skills, and enthusiasm at the highest levels.
2. Select only those who you feel will be excited enough to represent your company on the highest level.
3. Keep only those who display their zeal when talking to a customer or potential customer.
4. Reward them well.  They are the individuals who are bringing profit into your company, so share the wealth.

This is a good place to start. If you need more detailed help in doing this, see Step 3 in my book “Up The Loyalty Ladder”, and Chapter 3 in my book, “How To Get Customers To Call, Buy & Beg For More.”

Technorati Tags: business promotion, herb kelleher, promoting your business, southwest airlines

I hope all of you have read the life story of David Oglivy, because when he started in the advertising business, he made a list of the corporations he would most like to have as clients. In fact ,he called this list his Most Desirable Customers List. I don’t remember reading anywhere how many names were on Oglivy’s list, but it didn’t have to be extensive for him to succeed. 

Unfortunately I never read what he did with this list he created.

In my suggestion to create the 1,000 list, I mentioned that when I was in the insurance business, I also created the 1,000 list.  My secret was to be in communication with them at least twice a month, and at the very least once a month, with valuable information that would help them. 

The information didn’t necessarily have to be in reference to their business. It could have been information that would help them lead a better life, a healthier life, or help them and their family to create wealth.   I can go on and on with ideas, but these few should give you an idea of what you need to do.

I had created over 18 reports that I would mail out to them.  Remember, back then it was regular mail.  Today you can email your prospect the reports.

Another thing I did was that whenever I came across an article in a magazine or a newspaper, I would get permission to reprint it to mail to my list.  I’d include a note such as, “Dear Jim, I came across this article and didn’t know if you saw it yet, so I decided to send a copy to you.  I know it will help…(whatever the article was about.)

And by the way, whenever I converted someone from my 1,000 list to a customer, I immediately added another name to the list, so that I always had 1,000 names.  Here’s the remarkable part…I had over a 90% conversion rate—90% of the people on my list became my customers over a five year period of time. 

That means I was in front of them, if once a month, at least 50 to 60 times over the five year period of time.  It doesn’t matter that it took me on average 9 months to get the majority of them to become my customer.  What matters is that you can do the same thing.  So begin today making your list of 1,000.

I know how much time it took me to create these reports, and some of you have asked me to create some way for you to access the ones I’ve already created, or to create additional ones.  I’ll only do it if most of you send me an email and tell me that you need me to do it.  I know how much time and effort it takes to write these reports, but the result is thousands of dollars in profit. So, send me that email.

Technorati Tags: customer acquisition, follow up systems, prospecting