12 Golden Rules to Effectively Handling Enquiries

The more I show clients how to handle enquiries from new prospects over the phone, the more I find myself coming back to the same dozen 'sobering' truths … truths that help you understand the mindset of the caller.

These truths may at first appear negative.  They’re not.  They are simply a realisation that everybody – including your prospect - sees life through their own ‘eyes’.  And having an insight into how they ‘see’ (and feel) can help us to better relate to their needs.  So let’s consider the following:

1. The enquirer, regardless of what they say, isn’t just after ‘information’.  They HAVE a problem or a need.  Often a problem/s so complex they don’t fully understand it themselves. They crave to have it solved, and they’re looking for a solution.

2. Just making the phone call can sometimes be a big thing for them, because they have their own uncertainties and insecurities to contend with.  You need to be empathetic and make the process painless.

3. They’ve probably been disappointed by past efforts to find a solution.  So expect them to be distrusting until they know you are ‘real’.

4. They ARE going to buy.  Whether it’s from you, or a competitor, whether it’s today or in six months’ time, they WILL ‘buy’ something. Your task is to educate them to why your solution is best for them  (That is of course, IF your solution is indeed the best one for their particular circumstances.  Otherwise, you should guide them ethically to an alternative.)

5. They will have pre-conceived ideas of what’s ‘expensive’.  BUT on the other hand, when they find their ‘answer’, they will pay whatever it takes.  So it’s your ‘duty of care’ to ensure you ethically educate them to your solution, AND to show that your solution isn’t expensive, but is good VALUE.

6. They will initially have little or no concept of what your business does, and will tend to pigeonhole you with other firms who appear to deliver what you do.

7. They may nod in agreement at things you say in the initial discussion, but in truth, they’ll understand and absorb only a tiny fraction of what you have said.  Which means you need to go slowly, never assume.  And most importantly, through questions, do a regular ‘temperature check’ on their understanding.  CRITICALLY important.

8. When it comes to the Information Pack, brochure, or perhaps even DVD you send them, remember they have no basis for appreciating the VALUE, or of the decades of research and development behind this information. So unless positioned correctly, there is a very real risk it will simply sit unopened for weeks, until they’ve lost interest.   And when you try to follow up after their interest has waned, you become a ‘pushy’ salesperson, not a professional with the answers to their perhaps years of frustration.  What’s the solution?  You must position the value of the pack correctly UP FRONT before you send it.  Again, they won’t give any priority to the pack unless you position it correctly on the phone.

9. Remember that the person who has the information IS IN CONTROL of the transaction.  If you give it (the Pack) over to the prospect prematurely, without first gaining a firm commitment that they’ll review it, you lose the control.

10. Getting that firm commitment means getting their undertaking that they will go through it in a pre-agreed timeframe, in preparation for a follow up discussion.

11. Even after all the above, they’ll often say ‘yes’, but then nothing will happen.  In 95% of cases, you WILL have to follow up.  When you follow up, even after all the great positioning, there’s a chance they’ll say they can’t go ahead ‘just now’, for any number of reasons.  Often these reasons are NOT the real reasons.  You need to get as many of these potential issues on the table and out of the way as possible, before you hand over the information.

12. Remember that none of this is ‘manipulative’ or unethical.  It is simply acknowledging the foibles of human nature, and helping (ethically leading) people to come to an informed outcome.
 
Some of these 'golden rules' may not apply to your transactions with new prospects.  However, that said, I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get some real distinctions out of these 12 points for you and your own frontline people.

Let me know your thoughts …
Chris Newton

If you know anyone who would find value in reading this article, please forward (or tweet) this link on to them.

Do your profit cogs have teeth missing?

I sat across the desk from a business owner who has a great business concept.  His business should have been doing a whole lot better than it is.  

I could see this wasn’t because of any ‘financial meltdown’.   It was because some of the ‘cogs’ in his business that should have been producing profit, weren’t ‘meshing’.  And faulty cogs in a business chew relentlessly through profits that should be in the bank.

Now, I love bringing things down to their lowest common denominator.  So I pulled out my pen and asked him for a piece of blank paper ... And found him an extra 240% net profit.

I’ve been doing this for 28 years, so finding that additional profit was fairly straightforward.  It’s something I’ve done with hundreds of businesses. 

In this case …

I looked at his lead generation, and clearly it wasn’t working effectively.  In fact, it wasn’t working at all.  His ads had weak headlines. There was no call to action.  The ads did little to tell his ‘magic story’.  And they did even less for his image.


I showed him that by re-writing his ads, and by making some basic changes to his website, and by proposing a way to double his referrals … he would conservatively increase his sales leads by 85% … with very little effort.


Then I focused on his current conversion of enquiries to sales.  His gut had been telling him this was a weak ‘cog’.  In fact, his people were way worse at converting sales than he, especially over the phone.  They’d take names, send brochures with a form letter, and THINK they were selling.


A simple role play of what NOT TO DO, and an explanation of some supporting sales collateral, and we agreed he would, at the very LEAST, improve his sales hit rate from the present 3 out of ten to 4.  That was ultra conservative.


And while that doesn’t sound much, that small improvement represents a 33% increase in sales.  I believe we can lift it to 6 out of ten personally.


Then I looked at his pricing. He had been way too wary of putting his prices up, but with the new presentation and sales collateral I described, agreed it’d be a snap. I reminded him too that sellers will often have more problem with price than the buyer ever will.


At this point, I stopped the exercise.  I knew that if we continued to add in more ‘profit factors’, his profit potential would look unbelievably huge.  But even that little exercise took his sales from $2,850 a week to some $6,500 a week. And his profits from $950 to over $4,000 … a week.


Here’s the really interesting part in all this...


He’d been holding back from taking his ‘hot business concept’ to other parts of the country, because the profits were too thin.  Now, he could see a whole new profit ‘engine room’ that will allow him to expand gradually, but with absolute confidence.


You know, it’s this pencil and a blank sheet of paper exercise that has kept me buzzing all these years.  In some cases, I see such huge potential, I may well get involved in a JV with the client.  And in this may well be the case here.  


Not every venture qualifies to that level.  But there are some amazing ‘sleepers’ out there with profits waiting to be unlocked.  


In a similar exercise several weeks prior...

By phone this time, I identified the missing ‘cogs’ for an importer of industrial equipment. 

Fixing his processes will take his business from under $2 million to over $6 million in the next twelve to eighteen months.  With an 800% increase in his NET profit line.

Look, before I go on, I've got to say something...

As I write this, I get the sense that it sounds like gratuitous trumpet blowing.  But in truth I'm only stating the facts.  And if I don't tell you the sort of things that I do, it won't get your attention, and that will serve neither of us.


Frankly I see all too many business people missing these opportunities.  They don’t measure the key performance indicators that flag these problems, so they don’t know it’s happening.  Or if they do, they haven’t been able to find ‘marketing’ people who understand that their business IS a piece of machinery, let alone who have the skills to fix it.


I’ve worked with literally hundreds of businesses, doing this.  I’ve owned retail businesses, had equity in a national trade service franchise, worked with professional firms … and I’ve done it over and over again. 


In my seminars, I’ve worked through my examples … such as a lead generation ‘information based’ strategy for a retirement village client that produced a 3,000% increase in enquiry. 

And wrote an ad that produced a 280% increase in sales for an automotive aftermarket company.  And I developed a sales training video program for a national tyre group that DOUBLED their forecourt sales.


For the trade service national franchise group, I developed a selling presentation script which increased the success in conversions to sales by better than 80% for some of the operators, and increased their revenue performance by an average 120%.


My case studies fill my manuals, e-books and online resource library.


Why am I telling you this?

I’d like to offer you an opportunity to have me (and my team) do it for you.
Normally, unless it’s on a profit share basis, I don’t consult one-on-one anymore … but this is different.


First up, I’ve been really taken aback by the overwhelming response we’ve had to this blog. 

One blog entry a few weeks back was featured in the New York Times business blog and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog...

But more than that, I've been impressed by the comments coming back from my subscribers and readers. 

There’s clearly a lot of pain out there, and a lot of businesses looking for help.  And for a small window of time, I can provide it.


Second, I’m doing it as an advanced training exercise for my team over the ‘down time’ between now and the end of January. 

So I am looking to do a number of small projects.  For those four to five weeks, we’ll roll our sleeves up and work on the ‘cogs’ for clients’ businesses … helping individual businesses get geared up for a blockbuster 2012.


Third, my experience tells me that in one or more of the projects we’ll review, there will be another ‘sleeper’ … a business 'super success story' waiting to happen.  


If that turns out to be your business, there might be a JV opportunity, ramping up your business to a whole new level, in return for an agreed profit share.


Either way, this is a once a year opportunity.  If you want to take it, you can simply contact us, briefly outline your business and tell us what ‘cogs’ you feel are missing that hold you back from making it a goldmine.


And if we agree it has potential, we’ll roll our sleeves up and get down to the nuts and bolts of how we’d work with you.


How much will having us work on your project cost you?   As a ballpark, it could be in the region of $2,000 to $12,000 … depending on what is entailed.  


But let’s be very clear on something. 

If we do take a project on, we will have VERY clearly mapped out in advance what the potential outcomes will be for you … at best and worst case.  And if it doesn’t show potential to rapidly return you your investment in multiples of net profit increases, we’ll politely decline.


Importantly too, I’ll be personally involved … at every stage.  Including the creation of ‘marketing collateral’, scripting of sales presentations, redesign of websites, providing of sales training tools.  Whatever it takes to make success happen.

As well as identifying those ‘cogs’ that are going to get the ‘business machine’ running at its peak, and that produce the quickest and biggest impact on profits.


And importantly, we will do the actual ‘where the rubber hits the road’ stuff that’s required to IMPLEMENT …


So there you have it … if you’re interested in having us work on your business in our down time between now and the end of January, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.


Don’t procrastinate however.  This isn’t a contrived ‘while stocks last … free set of steak knives’ offer.  It’s an honest and straightforward fact that we can ONLY take on a small handful of projects.  We’ll give our all to those projects … but those who aren’t quick to respond will simply miss out.


And without sounding too cute about it, 2012 is going to be a year where businesses will struggle and flounder if they try to operate profitably with ‘inefficient cogs’ … or they can take affirmative action and get solid marketing strategies in place, to guarantee they’ll roar into life in 2012 and produce windfall profits, while others are battening down and pulling back and wondering what hit them.


Again, to flag your interest in this opportunity, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.


Either way, my kindest regards.  All the best to you and your business, now and 2012 …


Chris Newton

"To say the meeting got off to a slow start would be an understatement..."

Many years back, I had travelled to Munroe, Wisconsin in the US, to visit the headquarters of The Swiss Colony.  This company is one of the legends of mail order and online catalogue marketing, and still mails tens of millions of catalogues every year.  After some perseverance, I had secured an appointment with the head of marketing and his team to learn how they do what they do, explaining I was researching for a business venture back home.

To say the meeting got off to a slow start would be an understatement.  Perhaps they wondered WHO this guy from the antipodes was, and why they should even give up their valuable time to tell ME their secrets.  And I don’t blame them.

But just when they were glancing at their watches, something changed the whole dynamic of the meeting.  It was a tide-turning ‘event’.

I asked them why they’d dropped a certain feature out of the inside front page of their catalogue.

It’s as if they all froze.  Then the head of marketing turned to me and said, “You know, that has been a subject of heated debate around here.  Some of us battled to keep it, some insisted it had had its day.  But you know, you’re the first person who has picked up on that.  What do YOU think?”

From that point on, they leaned in and asked if I’d mind going through other pages with them. They confided with me on their strategy.  And I was invited to tour closed off areas of their operation. I walked away with far more than I’d ever expected.

The instant change in mood was SO profound, it has stayed with me all these years since.

As far as I can see it, the meeting which they had agreed to, was initially an imposition on their time.  A PR exercise perhaps.  But when I asked a question that got right inside their heads, the walls came crumbling down.  And the more questions I asked, the more we became collaborators with a common purpose.

I fervently believe that business people just don’t ASK enough questions.  Or more to the point, they don’t ask the RIGHT questions.

Asking the right questions might seem simple.  But there’s a trick to it. It’s...

PREPARATION

You see, before I travelled to The Swiss Colony, I had studied their current and back issue catalogues like an archaeologist deciphering the Rosetta Stone.  I had studied what I thought was great about their marketing, and where I felt their weaknesses were.

Which meant, when I got in the room with them, I suspect I knew a lot more about their business than a lot of people they meet who are trying to SELL to them. And they responded positively.

Most businesses just don’t teach their people the awesome power of preparation and of asking questions.  It’s that simple.

How many times have you had someone trying to sell something to you and you know in the back of your mind that they know nothing about your needs? 

Their interest in YOU is superficial.  Their true agenda is to SELL something to you.  Often they don’t ask you questions at all.  Or if they do, they’re not listening, but rather just thinking about what they’re going to say next.

Selling … in ANY form … has to be about asking the right questions, which means diligent preparation before the interaction.

True professional selling is about ‘helping people make informed decisions to buy’.

And that can ONLY occur when you know what they want … and you’ve figured out how you’re going to give it to them.

Sounds ‘motherhood and apple pie’ … but it IS the key to earning more business, at better margins, and building long term business relationships.  Let me say it again …

Most businesses just don’t teach their people the awesome power of preparation and of asking questions. Those who do enjoy the fruits flowing in abundance from the 'cornucopia' of business-waiting-to-be-had.  Yes, especially in the toughest times.

Unitl next time...

Chris Newton

How to Make Sure Your Invoices Get Paid

As the economy continues to splutter, more of your clients are going to struggle to pay your invoices.  No surprise there.

In fact, those who’ve long been in the habit of using YOUR money to run their businesses (or their lifestyle) will stretch things even more now.  Some will default.

This begs the question... 


How do you make sure you get paid in full, on time?

The best solution of course, is to get paid UP FRONT.  And more on that in a moment.

Regardless though of what your payment terms are now, getting to the front of the payment line is a function of how well you’ve set up the expectation of getting paid. ‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid.

If, at the beginning of the business transaction, your client senses a casual approach to being paid, that’s what you’ll get.  In contrast, by firmly but nurturously explaining your terms BEFORE providing the service, and then following up immediately if the client misses a due date, you have a far higher likelihood of being paid.

‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid is something many businesses are uncomfortable with.  And they pay the price later in tardy collections, which then create their own cash flow crises.


Why not get paid up front?

Our own invoicing policy is an agreed first monthly instalment paid before we begin a project, and further instalments at the start of each month.  If it’s a ‘lump sum’ project, we require 50% of the funds upfront.

Of course, to be paid up front, clients need to trust your capabilities to ‘deliver’.  And trust that you’ll go all out to give them an amazing result. 


But the key point is this. 

Create the expectation of being paid up front, educate your clients to the value you’ll deliver, and most will accept this graciously.

On the other hand, if you present your product or service merely as a ‘commodity’, something your clients can get anywhere, you’ll simply invite them to shop around for another supplier who will give them 90 days … or 120 days.


Bottom line?

Be passionate about what you ‘deliver’, and about the value you bring to the table … communicating your ‘value package’, your legendary service, your responsive support, your problem solving strengths and so on … and you’ll create the right expectation in your client.  They simply won’t go anywhere else. 

The alternative is to be a commodity.  And that means, getting to the back of the line!

Taking advantage of a marketing opportunity...

This blog entry will pick up where the last blog entry in the white paper series left off, and give you one more example analysis to get your 'creative marketing juices' flowing.

Example 4#: A white paper that was created in a matter of days to capture a 'window of opportunity'

I was visiting our UK office just when the Global Financial Crisis was beginning to gather momentum in the media.  Businesses were going into panic mode and yet I knew I could give them very simple, basic ‘survival’ guidelines that would help insulate them from the downward spiral.

So on the flight home, I wrote a special report called the '10 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Sales and Profits (& Recession-Proof Your Business)’.

Essentially the white paper was a temperature check for the prospect's business, with strategies, statistics and case studies that clearly articulated how not only to 'weather' the GFC storm, but to grow and profit despite it.

In reality, this white paper would have probably been a great tool for our prospects at any time, but because of the media attention around the GFC, it really struck a nerve.  We were being inundated with online requests – consistently up to three or four every day in the early days.

After the initial flurry, we stopped actively promoting the white paper. Yet we still get requests coming in, and have over 370 new prospects on our database since we have made the report available. And while I was involved in creating a new venture and not looking for ‘consulting projects’ per se, I think you’ll agree it would have been a very fertile field had I been seeking them.

Here's a sample of the white paper:

This is the final blog entry in the white paper series. If you'd like help with crafting your own red hot lead-generating white paper, call me on (+617) 3300 6909, or simply use our Results Corporation contact form to drop us an email.

You also might want to request our own new white paper - '21 Tips on Creating an Effective White Paper'.

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.

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.

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.