The following aren’t necessarily in the order of importance, but if all are implemented you can’t help but succeed.  Next to each To-Do is a link for more information:

1. Create Data Base of your clients.  You need all pertinent data like name, address, email, spouse’s name, birthday for them and their spouse, and whatever data you need.  I would also get the data of every family member.  http://www.kenvarga.com/news/a-method-to-collect-information-to-create-your-customer-database/

2. If possible, connect with your customer/clients weekly. 

3. Dominate your market by becoming the expert that everyone goes to when they need what you offer.  http://www.kenvarga.com/news/dominate-your-market/

4. Do Special Events.  IE:    "Give A Little And Get A Lot— how this simple principle can cause a crowd of people to market your business to the world!  http://www.aweber.com/b/1Bvci

5. If possible, do a 30-minute radio talk show in your local area.  In it, address the pain the listeners are in and how you are able to help them.  http://www.aweber.com/b/1LBOq

6. Each time a customer buys from you, put the transaction in your data base and have an employee call to thank the purchaser for being your customer.  Ask the customer: “Why do you purchase from us and not our competition.” They will give you information that you can use to create more customers. 

7. Create a Referral System where you bring your customer/client from being a customer to becoming an advocate of your business.  http://www.kenvarga.com/news/growing-through-referrals/

8. Make sure your advertising is responsive and measurable.  Create a free report.  http://www.aweber.com/b/1Q_wC

9. Upsell.  Create a package of your products and offer them to your customers as a package.  http://www.kenvarga.com/news/promotions-you-can-take-to-the-bank/

10. Inspect what you expect.  I used to call my own office to make sure my people answered the way they were taught.  http://www.kenvarga.com/news/inspect-what-you-expect/

Technorati Tags: database creation, dominate market, free report, measure advertising, referral system, special events, upsell

Every small business has a set budget that they use to market and build their business.  Here are some cost-effective methods that will help you to get your new customers and grow your business.

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

Online newsletters and ezines are one of the most cost-effective tools you can use to market your business. Customers and prospects who subscribe to your newsletter mailing list are giving you the opportunity to establish a relationship with them. That is very important.  It gives you the opportunity to develop a relationship with them. Once they opt-in to receive your newsletter by email, you can build that relationship, establish trust, and nail down sales by sending the newsletter regularly. The more subscribers you get the more sales you’ll land.

How can you get people to subscribe to your online mailing list? Better yet, how can you get a lot of people who don’t even know you yet to subscribe to your ezine, thereby asking you to send them information on a regular basis about your business? In my last blog article I gave you some ways to build that list. 

Here are several more ways that I thought of since, to accomplish that feat without spending bucket loads of money on marketing.

1.  Ask people to subscribe to your newsletter mailing list when they complete a purchase. This is done at the time of purchase.  You should train your sales people to ask for it.  Yesterday I had a hamburger for lunch at a restaurant called, “The Fox and The Hound.”  When I received the check, my waitress mentioned that they have a gift of $5.00 the next time I visit if I would complete a form and allow them to communicate with me via email. You can do the same thing. Just because someone bought a product from you once doesn’t mean they’ll remember to come back the next time they need something that you sell. To get that customer back again, be sure you capture the customer’s email address as part of the sale and include a checkbox on the form letting people indicate that they’d like to be included on your mailing list.

2. Ask current subscribers to forward your newsletter to their friends. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow your newsletter list. Remind your readers to spread the word about you by including a note in every newsletter asking them to please forward the newsletter to their friends who would be interested in reading it. Be, sure, too, that there’s a prominent link to your subscription page in every issue of your newsletter. I use a “Forward to a friend” link at the bottom of my Marketing Tip of The Week newsletter.  Sometimes I also ask you within the body of the newsletter, near the end of the article, to forward the newsletter to others.

3. Promote your newsletter at seminars and talks. If you give seminars or talks on your area of expertise, be sure to let your audiences know that you have a newsletter and what the benefits of subscribing to the newsletter are. And don’t forget to include your newsletter subscription link in your handouts. I do this whenever I speak at Chamber of Commerce’s in my state, and also whenever I speak at a seminar.

4. Promote your newsletter in your 30-second commercial. Many organizations, such as your Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Clubs, give members a few seconds at the beginning or end of meetings to introduce themselves and their businesses. End your "commercial" with an appeal to visit your website and sign up for your newsletter. Remember to tell them how valuable it is to them and how they will benefit from it.

5. Offer a free gift – If it’s on your website, make it downloadable of course, so you have no delivery charges — to those who sign up for your newsletter. To simplify the delivery process put a link to your freebie in the thank-you note you send to new subscribers. And, just in case any of those new subscribers pass on the link to their friends who haven’t subscribed, put a subscription box on your free offer page, too. Lead it off with a note that says "Not a subscriber yet? If a friend sent you a link to this page, sign up for your own copy of (your newsletter name.)" If your business is offline, you can also offer a coupon as an incentive for them to visit your establishment.

6. Get a friend in your industry to promote your newsletter to their mailing list — then promote the friend’s list in yours. This is called a JV, Joint Venture.  It works for both of you.

7. Send a postcard mailing to targeted mailing lists you’ve built from collecting business cards or from the newspaper. I have found post cards to be the lowest-cost way to build my list.  Use the mailing to solicit newsletter signups. To get the recipients to take action, offer a free gift (a downloadable product) to people who subscribe by a specific date, or offer a coupon for when they visit your establishment.

8. Never stop soliciting subscribers.  This is the most critical step of all.  I’ve found over the years that individuals quit too soon.  Keep at it and you will succeed. Also, email addresses change, and people’s email addresses become undeliverable. People’s information needs or product needs change, and they unsubscribe. Keep your list fresh and growing by continually promoting your mailings.

I hope these additional suggestions help you grow your list and make it very profitable.

Technorati Tags: build email list, customer list, grow email list, Growing your business, postcard marketing

Here are a few ways I’ve used to make my competition irrelevant. 

Focus on the moment of truth, the place or position that your products or services will be offered to the customer.  For example, if you have a retail establishment, this may be a wall display or a counter display.

On the internet this may be an on-line store, E-bay if you have an account with them to offer your products, or your own personal web site.  Sometimes the moment of truth may be in the form of a bid or proposal after several months of working to convert your prospect into a client or customer. 

The moment of truth is the moment that the customer has an option to make a purchasing decision, to buy your product, or to invest in your services.  This is the moment you need to put your best foot forward.

Each time you present something to your prospect or customer, provide a value proposition to them.  Your value proposition should be something that can be conveyed in three to five precise and succinct statements. 

A value proposition should contain the essential elements of feature, advantage, benefit, and offer.  This is a reference to a specific important feature of your offer, the advantage as compared to the competition and what’s in it for your customer. 

The other thing you can do is to differentiate yourself from the competition.  Common examples of differentiation for products may be size, speed, color, or accessories.  Examples of differentiation for services would be performance, quality, availability, or ease of use.  Show how your product or service is better than the competition.

In today’s world, our clients and customers are bombarded with so much information, advertisements, and commercials that it is sometimes impossible to keep the attention of your prospects focused on what you are saying to them. 

If you focus your methods on the Moment of Truth and create a differentiation, you will leave your competition in the dust.

Technorati Tags: differentiation, differentiation and positioning, differentiation of products, differentiation of service, value proposition, winning against competition

Here’s an interesting question:

“I’m a personal lines insurance agent, and I would like to be able to have a 95% closing ratio, high retention, and a great system for getting my clients to give me referrals.”

All I can say is WOW.  When I was in the insurance business, I created ways to prospect that were not normally done within the industry.  Of course, back then, we also did not have compliance departments breathing down our necks, as most of the insurance agents have today.

Any of my readers can massage the suggestions I’m going to give here to fit their own industry or business.

The first thing I did was to create a prospect list.  I started with 100, and then increased it to 1000 individuals whom I wanted as clients.

Then I accumulated articles and any other free information I could locate, and kept in touch with them over a period of at least one year.  My thoughts were that if after one year, they still didn’t want to do business with me, then color me gone and out of their life.

By doing this, I developed a relationship with them.  Of course I also created unique letters to send them with various forms of GRABBERS.

For instance, I created a letter like the following where I sent a shoe with the letter.

Jeff…Now You Can Increase Your
Net Worth By $1,000,000.   Effortlessly!
            (Include one Right shoe with your Letter)

Dear Jeff,

As you can see, I’ve sent you a “right” shoe with this letter.

I did it for two reasons:

First, because what I have to share with you is so important, I needed some way to make sure this letter got your attention.

Second, because I want us to start off on the right foot, I thought sending you the shoe was a good way for me to get my foot in your door.

Anyway, here is what this is all about…

(Continue with the rest of your offer)

Think of ways to adapt this letter to the product or service you are selling.

Another thing you can use is to offer my book, “10 Marketing Mistakes That Steal Your Cash” to your prospect and clients. Go to www.kenvarga.com/report.php and take advantage of the free book offer.  It’s free and will bond you with your customer.

In prior blog posts, I gave you suggestions to the last two items of your question…high retention and a referral system.  Refer back especially to the last post on “How To Create Lifelong Customers”, and to the post on April 26, 2008, “Growing Through Referrals”.

Technorati Tags: Closing Ratio, Getting Referrals, growing referrals, Referrals, retention, retention rate

Questions:  I’m a financial planner and I would like to qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table, (an industry honor), make a holy land visit with my spouse, and become one of the top 10 agents with my company.

Regarding the visit to the holy land, NOTHING should ever stop anyone from achieving their dreams.

I have a phrase I always say to myself.  “Just Do It.” 

Set up the visit now and whatever is currently stopping you will no longer be there when the time comes.  So, “Just Do It.”

Now to the other parts of your question…

If you implement the concepts and strategies I’ve suggested in my Marketing Tips of the Week, and this Blog, you can’t help but qualify for the MDRT and also become one of the top 10 agents for your company.  When I was in the industry, I qualified for a club in the company I chose to write business for.  It was called the 100 Million Dollar Club.  That’s correct.  I did over 100 million dollars with them.

The way I did it was to create unique letters, like to ones I have shown you in earlier blogs and in my Marketing Tips of the Week.  I also created reports to send them that helped them financially and with their health. Someone asked me to put some of these reports and unique sales letters together and perhaps I will offer them to everyone soon.  Let me know if you’d be interested in getting them.

Anyway, you must set up systems and strategies that will keep you in your prospects’ and existing customers’ minds.  Whenever they think of Insurance, your name should immediately come into their minds.

Here’s a letter I used when I wanted to get referrals:

Linda… Your Help Will Be

Greatly Appreciated!

Linda Dawson
7008 Seaworld Drive
San Diego, CA 92109

Dear Linda,

Thanks again for your business and continued support. Because of valued clients like you, my business has grown substantially.

As you may have noticed, as my business has grown I’ve been able to offer you a better level of service. And to serve you even better, I’m presently figuring out ways to take my practice to the next higher level. After considering all the options, I feel you, as one of my valued clients would be the best person to help me do it.

Would you please help me extend my products and “personal touch” services to your family members, relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors, business associates, and other people whom you have a trustworthy relationship with?

You can use the enclosed Tell-A-Friend Certificate to record the names of the people whom you think would benefit from my products. Please mail the Tell-A-Friend Certificate inthe enclosed postage-paid envelope.

Linda, thanks for helping me grow my business.

Best regards,

Your Name
“Your Dream Protector”

P.S. Have a fantastic day.

ABC Insurance Agency, Inc.
– Specializing In Protecting Your Dreams –
123 Main Street, San Diego, CA, 94000
Phone: 619-123-4567, Fax: 619-123-4568, Email: client@abcagency.com

Here’s the Tell A Friend Certificate:

Tell-A-Friend Certificate

YES! I’d like you to extend your product and outstanding service to my family, members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. So they can also protect themselves, their valuable assets, their dreams, and their future better. By helping you grow your business to the next higher level, you’ll be able to provide me with an even better level of service.

Your Name: ___________________________________________________________________
Please note: I’m looking for the people who are between 30 and 45 years old and own their own homes. If you have more than three names, please write on the back of this form.
Name: __________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________
City__________________ State: __________________ Zip: _______________
Phone: ____________________ Fax: _______________ Email: ___________
Name: __________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________
City: ___________________ State: __________________ Zip: ___________
Phone: ____________________ Fax: _______________ Email: ______________
Name: ___________________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________________
City: _________________ State: __________________ Zip: ____________
Phone: ________________ Fax: _______________ Email: ______________

Please Fax this certificate to 123-4568. Or Mail it in the postage-paid envelope provided.
ABC Insurance Agency, Inc.
123 Main Street, San Diego, CA, 94000
Phone: 619-123-4567, Fax: 619-123-4568, Email: client@abcagency.com 

Implement this system and you definitely will accomplish the three things you emailed me about.

Technorati Tags: Getting Referrals

This is a very interesting question.  It is from a network marketing subscriber. The questions is: ”I’d like to go to the Ambassador Level in my company in the next 3 months.”

Assuming that you ’re following the selling and recruiting training that your parent network company provides, here are some things to keep in mind and apply that would help you grow rapidly.

1.  Remember, everything you do in your business is about benefits…what’s in it for your prospects, customers, and distributors?

This means that your prospects, customers, and distributors need to experience the promised benefits of your products to become prospects, remain customers, grow into distributors, and remain distributors.  This means that, as much as possible, in all your interactions, you should be making sure that the person you are interacting with is experiencing one or more benefits of the products. 

So for instance, when talking with a prospect, help them imagine how their life will be better after using the product.  One of the best ways to do this, as I’m sure you know, is to give them free samples.  When talking with a customer or distributor, make sure they are using the products as often and the way they should.  Why?  Because if they don’t use the products correctly, they are unlikely to experience the benefits.  And once they stop experiencing the benefits, you lose them.  This leads us to the next point…

2.  You must follow up and keep the awareness of the benefits alive in the experiences of your contacts.  You can do this in a couple of ways:

a. When you talk with a prospect to whom you’ve given a sample, or to a customer, or to a distributor, you can ask “So how is it going for you with such-and-such a product?” Don’t be afraid that if you ask they will discover that they don’t like the product and will stop buying.  The fact is if they don’t, they will stop sooner or later anyway.  So it is only to your advantage to find out as early as possible how they are doing with the product, so you can fix any problems that are starting.

b. Another way is to collect success stories of using the products and pass them on to all your contacts.  For instance, you can give away a free prize for the person who submits the best success story of the month. Or you can make them “famous” by publishing their story in your newsletter. These stories remind readers of the benefits of using your products.

3.  You must have an “Amazing Referral Program” that you have created to get your customers to become advocates of your business, and refer everyone they know.

In the prior Blog post, I went over a shortened version of what an, amazing referral program should be about and the way you ask for those referrals. So review that blog over and over again, and create your own, “Amazing Referral Program.”

4.  Now comes what I refer to as my “Visualization Technique.”  I’m a firm believer that we are what we think.  If we think negatively, negativism will follow us.  So believe that you’ve already achieved the Ambassador Level, and visualize what it will do for you both financially and also personally.

For example, if you believe that achieving this level, will provide the finances for purchasing a 6,000 square foot home, then visualize yourself living in it and experience the feelings you will get when you are living in it.

5.  Since you are selling health-related products, join organizations or volunteer your time in places where you can meet people who have health issues and who may be able to take advantage of your product.  You have to be careful here with the rules of the specific organization about whether you could talk about your product, etc.  But the idea here is to find out where your prospects are and go there.

6.  Build strong relationships with your customers, prospects, and distributors.  With strong relationships you have a strong business.  Two of my books can help you with this. One is called “The Secrets To Creating Lifelong Customers”, and the other is called “Up The Loyalty Ladder”.  They can both be found on my website at www.kenvarga.com.

The important ingredient to building strong relationships is to know what’s important to your people besides just the business, and to become a resource for them regarding those important things.  So for instance, if one of your distributors often needs babysitting services, you can send him news clippings of things related to babysitting, or keep your eyes open for good babysitters, or offer to babysit in an emergency.  Helping them with things that are important to them builds and deepens relationships.

7.  Lastly, you need to know your particular numbers.  In other words, you need to know how many people you need to contact to yield how many prospects.  How many prospects will yield how many customers?  How many customers will yield how many distributors?  How long does a distributor remain a distributor? Etc.

When you know your numbers you are able to keep track of whether or not you are on target to your goal of Ambassador.  Your numbers will tell you what activities you need to improve on in order to reach your goal.

If you execute the above steps well and diligently, you will reach your goal in the shortest time possible.

Technorati Tags: Getting Referrals, getting to "Ambassador" level in your network marketing, growing a network business, Growing your business, growing your network marketing business

In this post, I’m going to give some very powerful ideas for growing your business through referrals. One of our subscribers, who’s in the insurance and financial arena, had this as a question:

How to “Double my monthly new business income, increase income 25% from existing customers each month, and create a new revenue stream of at least $5,000 a month.”

There are many ways to accomplish these three items over the next 6 months to a year. Whenever I felt a need to increase my revenue, I contacted my current customers. Now, there are many ways to increase revenue and I will be going over them in future posts, but to answer the question in this post, I want to review for you the system I had for Referrals.

If you’ve been in the Insurance or financial planning business for at least six months, or have fifty or more clients, you should be obtaining most of your new clients through referrals.

To maximize your marketing dollars, you should first set up a system to compel your existing clients to give you lots of referrals, instead of trying to get new clients through other methods, such as cold calling, direct mail, telemarketing, advertising and so on.

When you acquire new clients through referrals, you acquisition costs are only a fraction of what it would cost to get them via any other method.

I hope you noticed that I used the word COMPEL above. This is very important, because if you don’t ask the question the right way, you won’t get any referrals.

Clients, even satisfied clients, don’t give referrals when you ask them. That’s right. Why? Because it’s the way you ask for the referral that makes the difference, and it’s only your loyal clients or advocates who will provide you with referrals.

If you think about it carefully, you will realize that even though accountants. Lawyers, real estate people, or other professionals, can give you good referrals, it’s your existing clients, especially your advocates, who can provide you with the best and most qualified referrals of all.

Here’s the key. In order to compel, again the word “compel”, your clients or customers to shower you with unlimited referrals, you need to consistently give them outstanding service, astonishing them at least 5 to 6 times a year. You can do this by implementing the strategies I outlined in my books and other posts.

In fact, when you go the extra mile to serve your clients better than their greatest expectations, they will brag about you to everyone they know, giving you more referrals than you can possibly handle.

A lot of businesses are run in such a shabby way, that they don’t deserve to get referrals from their customers.

Believe me, when you constantly go the extra mile to serve your clients like kings and queens, using the outstanding and “personal touch” services I share with you throughout my books and posts, they will provide you with tons of referrals if you just ask them.

When you go the extra mile to serve your clients better than their wildest expectations, they will want to return a favor to you. And what better way to return a favor than to give you referrals.

Unfortunately, the challenge is, while some of your clients may already have been referring other people to you without your request, most of them won’t think of doing so unless you ask them.

That’s right. Just like you need to educate your clients on the importance of having enough insurance protection for themselves, their families and their assets, you also need to educate them on the value of referring their relatives, friends, neighbors, and others to you.

Super satisfied clients or customers, may tell a few people about you on their own initiative. But if you ask them for referrals, they will give you five, ten or even twenty times more.

I have found that the reason may business owners who ask for Referrals get few or no referrals, is that they make it too hard for their clients to give them referrals.

That’s correct. It’s because they ask the question in a way that requires a yes or no.

For example, instead of saying “Do you know anyone who may be able to benefit from my product or service?” say…

“Whom do you know that may be able to benefit from the same outstanding product and service that you are getting from me, such as a family member, a brother, a sister, a cousin, an uncle or a co-worker?”

When you ask your clients this question, you are making it very easy for them to come up with the names.

Here’s another example. If your target market is business owners who have between five and ten employees and annual sales of $1,000,000, instead of asking your clients, “Whom do you know that may be able to benefit from my product or service?” say…

“Whom do you know that runs a small business with five to ten employees and has yearly sales of about $1,000,000, such as an accountant, a lawyer, a dentist, a pharmacist, a doctor, a contractor, a landscaper, a consultant, a restaurant owner, and so on.”

I know it sounds simple. It is. Try it and you will accomplish the three things you asked for in your question.

Technorati Tags: growing your buisness, Referrals