What your business can learn from an Italian immigrant and a Jewish copywriter...

To start off the year, let me share a 'rags to riches' story with you that underlines a ‘survival strategy’ for tough times (and the good times too).

Many years back an Italian man migrated to Australia with not much more than the clothes on his back and his skills in cutting hair, and he opened a men's hairdressing salon in the CBD.

This salon was so successful it soon grew to six to eight stylists working for him at one time and after many years, he was able to retire and pass the business over to his son.  But here’s the interesting bit.  Even in his retirement, he would sit at the register and keep a keen eye on what was happening in every facet of the business.  He watched every penny that went into and out of that business.  He could have smiled when he took the money, but hey, no one is perfect!

Today, that business has expanded to a chain of salons.  Even though the son doesn’t sit at the register as his father did, and no longer works in the business day to day, at close of business, without fail, he calls in to each branch to check on the productivity of each stylist, the number of clients they had that day, and notes the day's takings.

Micro managing?  Or just good business sense in running a tight ship?

Another great example ...
In my formative days as a copywriter, I backpacked with my wife and landed a job in a direct mail agency in South Africa.  It was run by a highly astute – and dare I say, very successful Jewish gentleman who had an amazing way of imbuing his staff with a tight ship culture.

Each morning he would ask his secretary to collect all the discarded envelopes from the day’s incoming mail. She was instructed to cut them open, and clip them together with a bulldog clip. This then became his ‘notepad’.  Anyone who entered his office saw it on his desk with his notes on it.  His ‘lead by example’ message was not lost on the staff.  No one DARED waste a thing.

Of course, this may not be how you'd like to manage your business!  But tracking where your money is coming from and going is not a luxury and imbuing your team with a respect for not wasting is a real key to surviving and thriving.

When I told this story to a colleague once, he smiled and commented:

“Whenever I go into a company as a management consultant, one quick look in the stationery cupboard will tell me a lot about the way the company is run. If there is no stationery register or control over who takes what, or if there is an oversupply of stationery and duplication of ordering, and no seeking of competitive pricing, even if the cupboard is untidy … there’s a good chance the rest of the organisation is run the same way.”

This lack of attention to small details manifests itself in ‘cash flow complacency’ … a compacency towards receivables, and an ad hoc approach to payables, overstocking of product, carrying of dead stock, leaving unclaimed stock with distributors …

Now, if this in ANY way gives you an uneasy feeling that you should do some investigation into your systems, great!

Time to call in your accountant and explore ways you can tighten your ‘ship’.

Until next time,

Chris Newton
Results Corporation

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The Power of Expectation... Miraculous?

I remember reading an article in Inc. Magazine about General Schwarzkopf.  When taking over a new command, Schwarzkopf questioned what proportion of the helicopter fleet was ‘battle ready’ on any given day.  “75% Sir!” was the answer.

Wondering why it was 75%, and not 74% or 76%, he put out an edict that, forthwith, the new fleet readiness was to be 85%.  And no doubt there were rumblings within the ranks that it could never be done.



But sure enough, operability MIRACULOUSLY rose to 85%. And stayed there.

The message in this little story? NEVER underestimate the Power of Expectation.

Another of my favourite anecdotes is of a new manager in a factory.  On his first inspection, he enquired of the day shift supervisor what their production totals had been for the day. 

Without any further comment, he took a piece of chalk and wrote that number on the concrete floor and moved on.

You can guess what happened when the night shift came on duty, can’t you?

Yep, they asked what the number was.  Next morning, when the day shift arrived, the number had been rubbed out, and a BIGGER total had been written on the floor!  And so it went each shift, exceeding the previous ‘norm’. 

Interesting isn’t it?  Set expectations low, and that is what you’ll get.  Set them high, and MEASURE the performance standards, and again - that’s what you’ll get.

Benchmarking is the key.  Just verbalising expectations won’t cut it.  Expectations need to be very specific, easily broken down into their components, and attributable back to those involved. 

And as the saying goes, “If you don’t INSPECT, don’t expect!”.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

Two powerful lead-generating examples for your SME

In a previous blog entry I introduced you to the power of a white paper.

Today we will look at two powerful and very different examples of white papers.  As you'll see, white papers can be used for almost every industry, from security providers to industrial waste pumps to professional services.

(Note:  If you didn't have the chance to read the previous blog entry, click here and read it first.  There are subtle distinctions on how to write a white paper that you will not pick up in this blog entry.)


Example 1#: Small newcomer takes on big established brands

Watchdog Security Group is an established and successful business in their ‘local patch’ in New Zealand.  But when they decided to expand their market, and venture into new locations, leads were hard to come by.

The big players in the security industry had all but tied up the market.  Being a 'newcomer' made sales tough.

We created two special reports (white papers) that would educate the market and position them as a true authority on security issues.  One targeted business security and one residential security.  It was a 'soft sell strategy' to get a foot in the door AND importantly, to build a database.

  

In the document, we highlighted the various security weak points that are well known within the industry, but little known to the marketplace.  And of course, in highlighting the weak points and how to overcome them, we had a great opportunity to showcase Watchdog Security's range of solutions WITHOUT coming across like just another brochure.

 

Early feedback on the success of these white papers is very encouraging.  The response from the marketplace is exactly as we predicted, with the company being seen as doing a valuable educative service to the community, while establishing themselves as a trusted supplier.  We’ve also crafted some advertisements to trial to endeavour to actively generate qualified leads through the media, as well as having the white papers featured on the Watchdog website as yet another lead generator opportunity.

Example 2#: 'Zeroing in' on a niche target market

What happens when you have a very specific market with only a relative handful of high end, high value prospects?

That was the case when we were approached by a supplier of heavy duty industrial waste water pumps.  While they could actually identify a number of potential prospects ... municipalities, mines, manufacturers, they knew that there would be many more ‘out there’ that were as yet unidentified.

A white paper strategy was the perfect solution here.  Their prospects were typically engineers and specifiers who had a strong technical understanding of their operational requirements, but often DID NOT know of the special unique features of these particular pumps. 

Consequently, although we still used a me-to-you approach, it was more appropriate to use fairly technical industry languaging, supported by technical diagrams and photos.
 


Promoting the white papers was a fairly straight forward exercise, with half page horizontal ads appearing in various industry specific magazines, as well as ‘pay-per-click’ advertising and SEO strategies. 

'Squeeze Page'

To maximise the requests, and therefore to build a substantial database, we designed what is called a ‘squeeze page’.  In essence, this means that visitors are ‘squeezed’ into one action step.  Requesting the reports.  We also secured a new URL to enhance search engine results – www.pumpfacts.com.au.

And while I can’t give you the actual dollar sales potential of this strategy, I CAN say that with 91 requests for the various reports coming in from specifiers and engineers from all over the country, at $50,000 to $250,000 and beyond per sale, THIS is a very powerful strategy for this application.

In a future blog article we'll look at two more powerful examples, so be sure to subscribe to the blog to make sure you don't miss them!

Until then, start penciling down some ideas for your own white paper. If you'd like us to help you create a white paper and build a promotional strategy around it, give us a call on +617 3300 6909.

Or go to our advertising and marketing website and use the contact form to contact us (don't forget to put 'help with white paper' in the comments section).  

You might also want to include a brief summary of your business, a backgrounding of your industry and marketplace, and what you are hoping to specifically achieve with your white paper.

Could this get you a truckload of quality leads?

Would you like to know about just one idea for your business that has delivered a truckload of qualified leads for our clients, and for our own business? 

Well, over the coming blog articles, I'm going to let you in on just such a powerful strategy.  Especially as it can deliver those leads for less than two dollars a lead.

If executed correctly, this strategy will almost certainly deliver you a stream of high-quality pre-educated prospects - no matter what industry you apply it to.  In fact, it could be the most powerful lead-generating strategy you ever implement.

Best of all, it dovetails nicely into the promotional channels you are already using, online and offline.

What is this strategy?  Well, you may have heard me refer to this before.  It is called 'packaged information'.  More specifically, a 'special report' or 'white paper' that you promote out in the marketplace. 

By the way, don’t be put off by the term ‘white paper’.  It sounds a bit pretentious but it is a pretty good description of the function for this document, so let’s go with that.

What a white paper is, and what is it NOT...

Essentially, your white paper will be a document that presents valuable information that you’ve created and collated.  It ‘educates’ your prospective client or customer on how to address and solve a problem or series of problems they are facing.  Often though, it must start with educating the prospect that they even HAVE a problem.

(That’s why there’s such a huge untapped potential here!  Most businesses fail to tap into the market of individuals who could and would use their product or service.  But don’t because they don’t yet KNOW they need it.)

The next logical step for the white paper is then to demonstrate the solutions you can bring to the table, with subtle proof statements and case studies woven throughout. 

Bear in mind the caveat here.  The white paper must not try to directly 'sell'.   A white paper is not an ‘ad’ for you.  It is not a thinly veiled ‘spiel’ about your services. It is NOT a company brochure or a trumpet-blowing exercise.  Again, this is where most business fail in their marketing.  They try to SELL more than educate.


Specifically, the white paper’s objective is to:

• get qualified prospects to put up their hand, flagging their interest in finding out more about the ‘problem’ they may have.  
• educate your prospect through examples, case studies and logical argument to the solutions.
• through those case studies and examples, to subtly position you as an 'authority' in your field with the track record to deliver the solutions.
• and MOST importantly for your marketing success, it opens up a dialogue with the prospect.  And in doing so, gives you permission to talk with them in a collaborative way.  That permission, as opposed to trying to SELL to them, is priceless as you’ll discover. 

If this sounds a bit ‘theoretical’ so far, then hang in there for the next blog entry.   Next time we'll look at some real life examples of white papers, including our own that has generated 371 qualified lead enquiries for Results Corporation.  In short, we’ll start unpacking the secrets to how you can harness the huge lead pulling power of a white paper in your business.

Make sure you sign up to Chris Newton's Strategy Brief Marketing Course (in the top right), to receive the complete series on white papers.

For two great examples of white papers click here.

Marketing? Where do you start? How does a 72.8% lift in sales sound?

Few businesspeople can actually define what 'marketing' actually is. And the thought of having to do marketing can be daunting. Yet they (and YOU), are already doing marketing every single day, whether you realise it or not.

Marketing is your single most leveraged profit multiplier in your business. You can impact your profit line with just subtle twists on what you're now doing. And here's the really good bit. You only need to focus on 3 areas to get a massive jump in revenue. Those three areas are:
- the size of your client base
- your average value of a sale, and
- the frequency with which clients purchase.

Now just in case you're about to say you've heard this before... here's a critical point.

This blog and the supporting tools I create for small businesses are NOT about 'telling' you the obvious. They're about SHOWING YOU EXACTLY HOW to implement strategies to achieve the outcomes. And helping you set your priorities in an otherwise frantic day. Of course, once you uncover the dynamic behind such a strategy, often it IS obvious! Commonsense.

So what if you set an objective to improve each of the three areas of focus by 20%? You'll lift your revenue by 72.8%! I guarantee you, it IS worth doing. So take some time now for this mini-audit of your current marketing. First up, ask yourself:  

Focus #1 - Increasing the size of your client base

- Do you test different headlines on your ads and measure the outcomes?
- Do you test different offers?
- Do you tell your FULL story on your website and in your literature?
- Do you script the wording and role play how to deal with phone enquiries?
- Do you have a script and a system for generating more referrals?.

In just those five initiatives to increase the size of your client base, the leverage for increasing your profits is breathtaking. Testing headlines can multiply your number of enquiries by twenty times.

Testing offers up to three times. Role-playing how to deal with phone enquiries can DOUBLE your success on the phone. And so on! These are real figures, not theory!

And this is just scratching the surface. Let's look briefly a:

Focus #2 - Increasing the average value of a sale

- Do you articulate the full value of your services and charge what you're worth?
- Do you train all frontline people in professional selling and customer service?
- Do you test packaging products and services together?
- Do you have a SYSTEM for cross selling?

Again, these are just a few of the options open to you to increase your average sale value. Do nothing different than now, and chances are, it is costing you dearly in lost profits.

Finally, how can you increase the frequency of purchase by your client base?

Focus #3 - Increasing the frequency of purchase

- Do you have a 'client communications calendar'?
- Do you find ways to say thank you?
- Do you plan special events and actively create reasons to add value to your clients?


Where to from here?

Start doing 'stuff'. Remember, if you can implement initiatives to lift each of those three areas by 20%, it puts 72.8% on your revenue line. Do the numbers on what that does to your profit line! And work with your accountant too on ways to get your costs down as well, and your profits could well soar by over 100% or much more.

“Please don't hesitate to throw me in the bin”

So you've written an awesome sales letter. Spent hours sweating over every sentence. But does it go out to the prospect with a closing line that says, “Please don't hesitate to throw me in the bin”?

Of course you won't have used those words, but if it says “Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any further questions, or for more information” ... or words to that effect, you may as well have said “throw me in the bin”!

Wherever possible, say something PRO-active like: “Because this is so important for your business and I know you’ll have some questions, I’ll call you in the next four days ...” Then call. Will this make you more sales? You bet!

For more great small business strategies, ideas and tips go to MarketingHelpOnline.com

Record your gems!

If we had a dollar for every time a client has called me, or come up to me at a seminar saying, “I can't write a good ad or a sales letter. I just go blank” ... and then, when I ask them what it is they do, they proceed to articulate beautifully a string of powerful selling points about what they do! My usual advice is, go write that down now! There’s your sales presentation right there.

Here’s an even better tip. Grab a friend and a voice recorder. Your friend must be someone who's prepared to listen to your ramblings. Then, with the voice recorder set, proceed to tell them why they should buy from YOU, why your product is better, more efficient, longer lasting, more durable... whatever ... and mention all the extra special things you do that customers love you for.

The point is, you KNOW what sells. It’s just that often we get a mind melt when we try to write it down. Also, record yourself actually selling your product or service, perhaps on the phone. Having done that, you'll have the seeds of brilliant copy!

Sign up to my free strategy briefs for more small business tips.

Check out my sample articles.

Bouncing back to even greater profits.

When you have just delivered a product or service to a client, this is the best time to invite them to buy again. For example, someone who has just had a great time at a resort is hot to re-book. Someone who has just bought landscaping supplies is hot to build a barbecue or a pergola.

People are BEGGING to be led, to have someone show they CARE. And inviting them to again enjoy a purchase is a great way to show you care. It can be as simple as a brochure for your next product inserted with the purchase they’ve just made, or a follow up letter or courtesy phone call.

Hard as it is to accept, the most RECENT purchaser is the most likely to buy again.

Sign up to free Marketing Strategy Briefs like this one, or check out my sample Marketing Articles.

The hidden profits in a Multiple Contact Strategy

At one of our ‘boot camp’ workshops, presenter US marketing guru Jay Abraham had the entire audience stand up. Then he said, “Please sit down if you responded to Results Corporation’s FIRST letter inviting you to be here”. Some 15% of the audience sat down. “If you responded to the SECOND communication, please sit”. Another 10% or so sat.

After he’d repeated this several more times, there was still some 35% of the people standing! What he had so graphically demonstrated was that unless you have a MULTIPLE CONTACT STRATEGY, you are going to MISS OUT on a massive amount of sales. Especially if yours is a high ticket item purchase. (Our boot camps were $4,500+)

Also, vary your communications. One might be a letter … another a letter and CD, another an email … You might include a series of testimonials, samples of your product or special report, an ‘act now’ offer … and so on. You can have a lot of fun with this and you’ll boost your campaign results!

For more great gems like this one, sign up to my free bi-monthly strategy briefs at: http://www.marketinghelponline.com.au/enterprise/3-membership-sign-up-options.html

You can also find some great 'sample' articles on my website: www.marketinghelponline.com.au

Improve your business' conversion rates

This riveting interview reveals how one business owner improved his company’s sales conversion rate from 1 in 19 … to 1 in 4 …

The interview is just over 12 mins in duration, and chock full of profit making insights to have you challenging YOUR sales processes.

Click here to hear it now: www.marketinghelponline.com.au/1.mp3 (12 mins 18 secs)

For more great ideas, sign up to my free small business marketing strategy brief emails.

Also check out the great sample articles at my website: www.marketinghelponline.com

What ONE element in your marketing has the potential to multiply your results 300%?

What ONE element in your marketing has the potential to multiply your results 300%? In a word, your OFFER. But what constitutes an offer?

It can be a myriad of things… a price reduction, a free trial, a discount coupon, a free information kit, an extra strong guarantee, a free survey or consultation, free seminar, easy payment, small gift, creative ‘value add’ …

One swimming pool company once offered ‘An extra 5ft of pool if you buy in the off season’ …

You need to test different offers for different markets. But they are an easy and simple way to get up to 300% more of your prospects to ACT NOW.

Compare ‘50% discount’ with ‘Buy one, get one free’. Same intrinsic value, but the ‘Buy one get one free’ proposition has performed better time after time. Yes, by up to 300%.

But there’s a catch. Even with a seemingly good offer, all too often the initiative underperforms. Why might that be?

Typically, it’s because the value of the offer is not developed correctly. Or more accurately, the perception of value isn’t fully ‘dimensionalised’. If the promotion simply states: ‘Send now for a free information kit’ … there’s no perceived value. However, if the promotion explains that this free information kit has 14 little known ‘trade secrets’ revealed by leading experts, or that it reveals the 8 most vital questions you must to ask before making a buying decision … or whatever … THEN it becomes more desirable.

By painting the picture of its usefulness and value, it’ll have highly qualified prospects beating the door down… eagerly giving their name and a whole lot of other vital information to get hold of the offer. Which means you’ve now got a database to nurture into customers.

In summary, what separates a ‘good’ offer from a poor offer has a great deal to do with PERCEIVED VALUE you build around it. In some instances, I advocate devoting almost as much space to describing the benefits of the free information kit as to the product or service itself. One ad we ran for a client was all about the information kit offer, and boosted responses 3,000%.

You can check out my website for some great sample articles at: www.marketinghelponline.com

For more great ideas, sign up to my free small business marketing strategy brief.