Provocative Questions!
By admin | September 3, 2008
I’ve been asked over the years the following question: “What words can be used to get a person to buy from me?”
My answer has always been: “It isn’t so much the words you use, as much as asking a PROVOCATIVE and COMPELLING QUESTION. That’s really the power. Words are very important, but if put together in a provocative and compelling way, it becomes dynamite.
Let me give you a few examples and remember, you can massage this to anyone’s business.
Let’s assume you offer products that are health related. The provocative and compelling question in this example would be: “How Much Younger Do You Want to Look?” This could be used by any physician, or any occupation that is health-oriented. Even a chiropractor can ask this question, then tell how he can accomplish helping you stay younger and looking younger.
Here’s a few more that you can massage for your business. These two I’ve used for realtors, but they can be used by anyone. It’s the question that creates the desire, and then your explanation will give the solution.
Here are the two:
“How Much Better Do You Want To Feel?”
“How Much Happier Do You Want To Be?”
If you really know your market, what their thoughts, wants, fears, and desires are, then these kinds of PROVOCATIVE and COMPELLING QUESTIONS break through the clutter of junk that is running through their mind.
Instead of promising one benefit or feature, after another, you are focusing on your prospect’s emotions.
Here are some templates to use:
How Much Better…..?
How Much Energy ….?
Tired of the same Old…..?
Isn’t it time you….?
Isn’t this the most unusual….?
Wouldn’t you be better off……?
I would read voraciously every headline that jumped out at me, write it down, and use it in the future to create a PROVOCATIVE and COMPELLING QUESTION. I’d suggest you start doing the same thing. It’s just a simple matter of taking proven headlines that jump out at you, and adapting them to your own business.
I can hear some of you saying, “But my business is different, I’m a plumber, or I’m a florist.”
If you’re a Plumber use: “Don’t you Think You Deserve a Plumber that Arrives on Time and is Clean?”
Or if you are a florist: “Isn’t it Time You Showed Her How Much You Really Care About Her?”
The provocative and compelling question works because it engages your prospect or client. Try it. Let me know how you massaged this to fit your own business, or leave your response in the comment section below this article.
Topics: Questions-provocative and engaging | No Comments »
How To Make Business Come To You!
By Ken Varga | August 15, 2008
I have often heard the following statement… Your marketing’s most important function is to promote your product or service. Wrong.
In fact, the most important function of your marketing should be to establish that you are knowledgeable and can be trusted.
Most of us don’t do business with people we don’t trust. Even if someone has the lowest prices, if the prospect doesn’t trust them, it will be very difficult to close the sale.
This is where the term Education Based Marketing comes in.
Education Based Marketing is a powerful marketing strategy that establishes trust and credibility by using educational messages. It is the opposite of traditional marketing, which uses selling based messages.
Don’t you tired and tune out when you hear worn out, old sales pitches. You set up barriers immediately the moment you begin hearing them.
But people sit up and listen when you share important facts and expert information that will help them make a good buying decision.
Whatever you are selling, you should imagine being in your prospect mind and listening to the mental conversation they are having with themselves the very moment they decide that they need your product. This is the secret to attracting qualified prospects early in the sales cycle. You must find the answers to the questions in their heads and use them as the basis for your educational marketing message.
Educational information that helps your prospects solve problems and make better decisions is the type of information that will attract prospects.
By offering helpful advice, you establish yourself as an authority because prospects see you as a reliable source of information and the expert they are looking for. Be careful not to give in to the urge to include a sales pitch with your educational message.
Instead, after you have provided some helpful information, you should warmly invite your prospects to call you, visit your website, or come to your store to take advantage of a free offer.
Those of you reading this blog that seek to develop a relationship of trust by delivering a non-threatening educational message will position yourselves as your prospect’s first choice, when they decide to purchase something like what you are selling.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Education based marketing, Grow Sales | No Comments »
The Moment of Truth - Making your Competition Irrelevant!
By Ken Varga | August 9, 2008
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.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Business ideas, Finding Prospects, Getting Referrals, Grow Sales, Growing your business, Niche Development, USP | No Comments »
Creating A Customer Before Your Competition!
By admin | August 6, 2008
When I had my 35 companies, I created ways to be in touch with my customers constantly. At least once a month. With the advent of the Internet, I was able to communicate with them on a weekly basis simply by pushing a button.
One of the companies I had insured over 600,000 Nurses for malpractice insurance. I bought my first computer in 1974 from a company called Nixdorf. The discs themselves were so large in size, that in order to do a backup, we had to use 4 of them daily.
Anyway, the reason I’m mentioning this now is that I struggled for a few years trying to figure out a way to get to my potential customer before my competition. That’s when I hit on an idea. Every student Nurse has to take a course called “Legal Aspects of Nursing” in their senior year. When I interviewed a few of the instructors, I found a way to help them, and also a way to be in front of my potential market on a weekly basis.
I created a ”Malpractice Case of the Week” in which I would outline a real case in Malpractice, then list three questions for the students to answer for the Instructor. In essence I was doing the work of the instructor.
The most important part of this was that it gave me the opportunity to be in front of my potential customer before my competition.
I also was able to get from each school, the graduation date of the student. Approximately three months before graduation I sent an email once a week, alerting them to the fact that when they graduate, we would be sending them an application for enrolling in our malpractice insurance. I also explained the many benefits they would receive from us when they became our customer.
Think of the many ways in which you can get to students to promote your company and products.
If you are in the auto products business, you can give a talk to the students before they get their drivers licenses, and create a data base to be in touch with them constantly before their birthday.
If you are a florist, you can speak to seniors about the health benefits of flowers and/or other products.
If you are in the insurance business, you can set up a talk with high school seniors, before they take their driver’s license, and communicate with them via email before they take their drivers test, and the products you offer.
What I’m saying here, is that you should think of methods and ways to get to your future customer before they need your services, and to create a bond with them, so that when they need your product or service, you will be first in their mind.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Finding Prospects, Grow Sales, Growing your business | No Comments »
Marketing With Your Business Card!
By Ken Varga | July 30, 2008
Whenever I go to a Chamber meeting or a networking function, I’m always astonished at the way individuals meet. When I’ve gathered the business cards that were handed to me, they all looked alike and none of them jumped out at me.
The reason I’m writing about this, is that I just came back from a Chamber Networking meeting that was designed to put everyone in front of each other over an hour period of time. You should have seen the “off to the races” scenario. A bell rang every 30 seconds, so you only had 30 seconds to give your card and say something.
Everyone who gave me their business card told me their name and the company they worked for or owned. None of them prepared an “Elevator Speech” to fit into 30 seconds. And, most importantly, none of them had their USP or Elevator Speech on the back of their business cards.
Look at your card and the cards you’ve gathering over the years. Are any of them unique? Do any of them motivate you to call them or to do business with them?
Within the hundreds I have accumulated over the years, they are all the same size. Nothing is different about them.
Why not be creative.
Let’s assume that you want your business perceived as being on the cutting edge. What could you do?
How about a business card that looks like a razor blade with your information on it and also your USP and/or Elevator Speech on the reverse side.
What could you do if you owned a restaurant? How about an irregular card that looks like someone took a bite out of the corner?
For insurance agents, or really for anyone, create a free report. You can get the facts on how to do this by reading a copy of ”How to Print Money Legally”. You received a free copy if you recently bought my book, “How To Get Customers To Call, Buy & Beg For More”.
Have the front of your card say the following:
FREE Report Reveals How You Can Protect
Your Family’s Dreams and Future.
(See back of card for details)
Your Name
“Your Dream Protector”
ABC Insurance Agency
Address
Phone #
The back of the card could read something like this:
Dear Friend,
For many families, an unfortunate event, such as a fire,
earthquake, flood, hurricane accident, can wipe out
everything they now own…overnight!
Imagine losing your home, your car, your savings, your
business and having to start all over from scratch.
To help you protect yourself, your family’s dreams and
future against any unexpected disastrous event, ask for your FREE special report called “How to Protect Your Family’s Dreams and Future from Unfortunate Events.”Call the 24 Hour Recorded Consumer
Awareness Hotline at 222-2222 Today.
Now, let me give you some more examples.
Here’s a message I created for an Accountant to put on the back of this business card.
“How Much Money Would You Take Out of Your Business
If you Didn’t have to pay Tax on it?”
Or this one I created for my Loan Officers in the Banks I helped start.
“In the business of Friendly and Superior Banking Services
And Giving you Ideas on how you can Grow your Business
And Get more Customers.”
What do you think of that one?
With the next printing of my business card, here is what will be on the reverse side:
…helping businesses increase customer acquisition by up to 32.7% in as little as 3 to 6 months, and increase customer retention by up to 90%.
I’m sure that if you brainstorm long enough, you can come up with a unique design, for your business card, and make sure that your USP and/or elevator speech is included on the reverse side.
And one more thing…make sure that when you hand the card to someone, it’s reversed where the back side is what they see immediately.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Business card marketing, Elevator Speech, Finding Prospects, Grow Sales, Growing your business, Networking, USP | No Comments »
A Method To Collect Information To Create Your Customer Database!
By Ken Varga | July 25, 2008
A method to collect information to create your customer data base.
When I published my book, “How to Get Customers to Call, Buy and Beg for More” I needed a way to know who bought it. Normally, book authors don’t care. But, because I realized that building a customer data base was essential, I needed a method to get whoever purchased my book to give me their contact information. Since I wanted to be able to communicate with them after they purchased and read my book, it was essential that I collect this data.
The information I wanted them to give me was their name, address, city, state, phone number, fax number, and also their email address.
By the way, before I continue, I wanted to mention that I get most of my great ideas while walking on my Treadmill. Originally, I would have a pad of paper with a pen on the rim of the Treadmill. Unfortunately, when I wanted to rewrite my notes and put it in my “Things to Do Folder”, most of the time I couldn’t read my own handwriting, because I was walking at a fast pace and trying to write at the same time.
I solved this problem by installing a Recorder in my ceiling, over the Treadmill, with the microphone hanging from it. It really worked out well. Now I just take the cassette out and rewrite my notes. If you also get your greatest ideas while exercising, try this idea. If you exercise outdoors, get a small recorder that you can put on your arm, or in a pocket.
Anyway, here’s what I came up with to solve the problem I was thinking about.
I created a reply card, which was attached after the last page of my book, offering a free gift.
CLICK HERE to see what the reply card looked like.
You can use the same concept with a handout to your customers, offering them a free gift if they complete the information card.
Some of the additional information you should gather is birth date, anniversary date if married, and also birth date and name of the spouse. This way you can communicate with them on these special days. You probably will be the only one that is doing so. Therefore your business will stand out in their minds.
Topics: Database creation, Grow Sales, Growing your business | No Comments »
How To Survive This Recession!
By Ken Varga | July 22, 2008
When faced with a downturn in the economy, there are a couple big mistakes a business can make:
1. Do nothing
2. Do the wrong thing.
Doing either of these can put the nails in your coffin.
The problem is that the fear of doing the wrong thing often
causes many business owners to do nothing. This often leads them to stop or cut back on their marketing. This is the worst thing a business owner can do.
But if you want to give yourself the best chance of making the right decision, what can you do?
Well one smart thing would be to pick the brains of successful business people and model what works.
What if you could have 38 of the top marketing experts tell you what they would do in a recession to keep their business growing? Do you think that you might be able to pick up at least one thing you can do to help you prosper in this shrinking economy.?
Recently, I was interviewed by Scott Aughtmon about what I would do in a recession to make sure my business continued to thrive. Scott also interviewed Jay Levinson, Seth Godin, Michael Gerber, Yanik Silver, Alex Mandossian, and 32 other top experts in business, sales, and marketing about how they would survive in a recession.
To see what these experts said they would do, and to learn what you can do to prosper in this recession, GO HERE. It is definitely worth your time to check this out.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Business ideas, Finding Prospects, Recession | 1 Comment »
How To Create A Mafia Offer
By Ken Varga | July 17, 2008
If you are a business owner or manager, then you are always looking for ways to make more profit doing what you do best. If I told you that one of the most radical methods for insuring your success in business was not a matter of beating your competitions prices or service, you would probably be intrigued as to how this was possible. What could this method possibly be?
What if I told you that instead of focusing on offering a cheaper service or product to your customers or clients, that what I want you to do is increase the value of your service or product in their eyes to such a level that they can hardly refuse your offer?
Now, you have heard me talk many times about creating value. But today I have a new twist for you…no matter what you sell, one of the most scientifically effective ways to maximize your profits would be to create what is known amongst the business savvy as a “mafia offer.”
If you think this is some clip out of an old mobster comic, you should think again. A mafia offer is an offer that you can craft for almost any business which will allow you to close maybe more than 80% of prospective buyers. Imagine closing on 80% of the clients who review your products or services. Sounds too good to be true, but with a mafia offer it isn’t; and, 80% is only the beginning.
Since mafia offers rely on offering a proposal to each and every customer that they literally "cannot" refuse, you insure your business’ profits and future. I am sure you are intrigued, so read on to understand how a mafia offer works and how a cutting-edge theoretical construct known as the Theory of Constraints, or TOC is the backbone of the mafia offer’s almost surreal effectiveness.
Basic business theory tells you that supply and demand is behind every instance of buying and selling in the business sector. This means that even if it costs you near nothing to acquire a particular item, it will demand a significant market price if it is in high demand. Market value is a function of supply and demand.
Now, imagine you could instantly increase the demand for your particular item significantly above the rest of the competition. This means you could sell your item at a higher price than the competition and still make more sales than the competition, simply because your item is in higher demand. Sound impossible? It is not, and this is the basis of the mafia offer.
A mafia offer is essentially an offer that is so good to any purchaser who is in the market for your product or service that they would have to be absolutely illogical to buy that good or service from anyone but you.
Now, in order to craft your own mafia offer, you need to understand a principle which was pioneered by Eliyahu Goldratt back in the 1990’s. This theory is known as the Theory of Constraints.
The Theory of Constraints essentially states that in any business, there is always an internal or marketing constraint that limits the system’s performance relative to its goal. In other words, there is always a particular issue in any business’ structure that limits how much profit can be generated for a given amount of overhead. The mafia offer is essentially building a business proposal for clients that seeks to remove constraints on their perception of the value of your product or service.
As an example, say you are in an industry where the standard delivery time for your type of product is 2 weeks, but your customers and potential purchasers would love to have the product sooner. However, the constraints of equipment performance, design, material acquistion for producing the product, etc., make it difficult for any business in your industry to improve on that time.
Let’s say you get your production team together and you break down the whole production process into its miniscule parts. Then you challenge all the assumptions to that process. As you do so, you discover that if you stockpiled enough material on hand you could deliver the product in one week or less. However, you would need to be able to finance the stocpile of materials.
In studying your competiton, you discover that none of them finance or stockpile materials. Everything is ordered on an as needed basis. You also discover that none of them have the assets or collateral to get the financing required to stockpile materials. The interest on such financing would eat away substantially at their profits.
So you decided to proceed to get the financing, stockpile the materials, and offer your customers and potential customers delivery in one week instead of two.
Now this is a mafia offer. Why? Because, since delivery is important to your customers, they would be crazy to turn down your offer to get them the product in one week, whereas if they went with your competition they would have to wait an additional week.
The second reason it’s a mafia offer is becuase your competition can’t, or is unwilling, to match your offer, at least in the near future.
So creating a mafia offer requires you to examine the constraints on your company’s processes and removing the constraints that will allow you to give your customers what they want, while at the same time creating a condition that your competition is unable or unwilling to duplicate.
You should read Eliyahu Goldratt’s works before you begin crafting a mafia offer. Start with these three books: "The Goal", "It’s Not Luck", and "The Theory Of Constraints".
Topics: Attract More Clients, Grow Sales, Growing your business | 2 Comments »
Postcard Marketing…wonderful ads for your business!
By Ken Varga | July 10, 2008
Postcards are wonderful ads for your business.
We all know that direct mail, is one of the most effective advertising methods that is available to any business…large or small. A way to make direct mail even more successful is to put your message on a postcard.
I’ve used them in various stages of building my companies. Here are a few reasons why I recommend them.
- They are small enough, that your customers will keep them, especially if you give them a coupon or other discount.
- They are easy to read. And since they are small in size, you are forced to rework your message, until it will fit in such a small space.
- There isn’t an envelope to come in between you and your message, so your message will be read immediately. You aren’t putting the individual in a position to have to open an envelope.
- Since postage has been increasing over the years, marketing with postcards lowers your cost to reach a prospect or customer. Therefore your ROI is much higher.
- Here’s the best reason. They are personal.
Here are some tips to have a successful Postcard Marketing Program.
- Make sure that your postcards are to prospects and customers that are likely to be interested in your offer.
- Create a postcard that looks like a personal message from a friend, instead of a printed ad.
- Get to the point to capture the recipients attention immediately.
- Try not to make it a sales pitch. Remember that I always say to create a relationship with your prospect and/or customer. So don’t try to sell them immediately. Offer them something, so that they will respond.
- Here’s something I learned by reading someone’s statistics. Send the postcards so they arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. Why? Because the volume of mail that the post office is delivering those days is lighter and your postcard won’t have to compete with other mail.
- Always send them First Class. If your postcard is 3 ½ by 5 inches, it costs about half of what a regular first class envelope would cost. If you make your postcard larger, than the cost will be higher. There were times when it was very cost effective for me to send large postcards. I did this to catch their attention. Sometimes I even created postcards that were not rectangular, but were round, or looked like characters.
Experiment with Postcards. Remember the prime objective is to get the individual to read it and respond to your offer.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Finding Prospects, Grow Sales, Growing your business, postcard marketing | No Comments »
Grow Your Business In Tough Times With Minimal Expense!
By Ken Varga | July 8, 2008
Here’s another interesting question I received from a subscriber:
How can I grow my business during these tough times at a minimal expense? We are a retail business in a 3 plus years of operation in a newly created concept which has 65 businesses inside a mall-like set-up where it is perceived by the consumer that the mall is an indoor upscale flea market. The mall does not allow garage type items to be sold. All merchandise must be new. The county laws do not allow for the store to be closed in and partitioned separately from one another. Our traffic is mostly Senior citizens.
I have a similar mall concept near me, but they do allow the merchants to have a wall between them, not necessarily a closed in area in the front where a person enters thru a door.
It’s kind of tough to separate yourself from the other merchants.
Here’s an idea for you…
Since everyone wants to belong to a special club, create a special club. Think of a catchy name for it. It could be called, “The Gold Club”, or “Customer Appreciation Club. Spend some time thinking about this. If you can’t come up with another catchy name, use one of these to start with.
You will have to offer something special to them as a member and also give them an incentive to give you their information.
You can create a flyer to hand out which explains the special club. It should include the following information:
We have created a special club, for special customers, who will have an opportunity to save 10% (or whatever you feel you can offer as a discount) during normal days. On the days when we have special Sales, we will notify you first, and offer you the sale discount before anyone else.
Please complete the enclosed form, and please accept this gift from us as a token of our appreciation.
Why are we doing this? Because you are one of our special customers, and we appreciate your patronage. You deserve preferential treatment.
You must offer something of value in order for the customer to want to give their contact information to you. This is very important. Also, make sure that one of the bits of information you gather is their email address.
Save the information you gather in a database program or in any spreadsheet program. If you don’t have a database program or don’t have the money to spend on one at this time, you can use Google’s free spreadsheet program. You can find it at: http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html
For emailing your customers, there are very inexpensive contact management programs you can use. For instance, I use Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), which starts at $15 per month.
Depending on what you are selling, will determine how you verbalize the offer.
Another thing I found very useful when I was selling insurance to seniors, was to purchase a list of the age brackets I wanted to send an offer to from the State Department of Motor Vehicles. Let’s say you want individuals between the ages of 60 thru 70, then you can request the list of only those ages, and also by county.
Let me know how these two ideas work for you.
Topics: Attract More Clients, Grow Sales, Growing your business | No Comments »