Mastering Stay In Touch Marketing

Perfect Customers Make For Perfect Business

Wouldn’t business be great if you sold only to Perfect Customers? You would make more money in less time and enjoy it more. Sounds autruistic but, there is a bisis underneath. First, let's define who they are, then describe how to attract them.

Perfect Customers are ones who:        
-    buy premium products,
-    make repeated purchases, and
-    refer other Perfect Customers

Buy Premium Products
Most customers are price-conscious and pay just enough to get features they want. Conversely, a Perfect Customer pays a higher price to get greater value. Value ranks ahead of price.

That means, as a small business owner, you are well advised to offer premium level products and services in addition to your standard, best-price items. When offered correctly, it is a proven reality that 20% of current and new customers will buy premium items. You will be surprised to find the people in the 20% may not be who you think.

Make Repeat Purchases
It is five times easier to get existing customers to buy again than it is to get new prospects to buy for the first time. This is low hanging fruit. Take advantage of it.

Perfect Customers are predisposed to buy from you again. The relationship is already established and they trust you. Implement a system to stay in touch with them. Reach out and touch them on a regular basis through email and Facebook. Since most small businesses do not do this, you will stand out immediately.

Refer Other Perfect Customers
Research shows that satisfied customers are willing to refer their friends if they have received valuable service. However, many of them just forget to do it unless prompted.

All you have to do is ask! Make it a habit to remind them that you are accepting referrals. Say to them, “I do my best work for…” then describe the characteristics of the referral you are looking for. Perfect Customers will gladly connect you with others.

Greater Profits With Fewer Sales
Imagine how much better your business life will be when total revenues are greater yet, you are serving a smaller number of customers. You can spend more quality time with customers who truly appreciate the value you deliver. That’s what Perfect Customers do for you.

How To Find Perfect Customers
The Holy Grail of marketing is finding Perfect Customers. The secret of finding them lies in magnetic attraction. These special customers are magically attracted to high value and are willing to pay more for it.

In upcoming posts I will reveal more detail about Perfect Customers and how to find them. Get automatically notified when new posts come out by going to my Facebook business page and clicking the LIKE button at the top.

 

Yours In Success,

Bill Van Hoy

Do You Recognize The Major Warning Signs Of Business Stagnation?

Thousands of small businesses die slowly every year and they don’t know why. Many operate with undefined direction and unwritten processes that drift unnoticed in unpredictable directions. Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist, recognized this phenomenon when he wrote in The Art Of War, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

According to the US Small Business Administration, 31% of small businesses fail in the first two years and 56% fail within four years. One of the major contributing factors is failure to plan. Sounds overused and simplified, doesn’t it? Many entrepreneurs have plans, but most of them are in their heads. Trouble comes with the inability to see the plans clearly and review them regularly.

Necessity To Write A Business Plan Is Undeniable

Successful businesses generally have written plans. Finding the time to create it is the great quest.

At one time or another, we all experienced the year-end sales push. It’s this time of year when we are singularly focused on closing cases to meet our sales goal. Everything else is pushed aside.

What if we broaden our mindset to think about how to achieve explosive growth? We could force ourselves to schedule some time to reflect on what we did right and what we did wrong this year. Then, we could plan how to expand next year.

Questions Are The Key To Success

Start by gathering this year’s numbers. Then consider the following questions:

• What important programs did you start this year but did not implement effectively?
• Are you frustrated about inadequate sales?
• Did you acquire too few customers?
• Was the average case size for new customers too small?
• Is your process cycle-time too long from initial sign-up until final delivery and payment?
• Is your net profit too small considering amount of gross sales?
• Are you doing too much yourself? Would additional support help?

Answer these questions plus others that come to mind. Next, pull together a plan to resolve them.

Business Plans Can Be Brief

Business plans do not have to be voluminous documents with in-depth analysis and lengthy strategies. For many small businesses, a brief plan may be just what you need.

I developed The Vision-Strategy Quick Plan to help focus on narrow issues. It worked wonderfully on many occasions. It is a handy methodology for complex planning as well. Here are the simple steps.

The Vision-Strategy Quick Plan

Vision – If things work out perfectly, where do you see yourself in 3 years? What do you see as desirable outcome(s)? What will the best outcome(s) look like? Include specific goals as best you can.

Opportunities - What benefits do you hope to gain emotionally, financially, professionally, etc.? Why is this vision important?

Obstacles – What things are standing in the way of achieving success including issues, people, uncertainties, and fears?

Strategies and Tactics – What various actions can you pursue to achieve the opportunities? What must you do to overcome the obstacles? Be specific as possible and include start and completion dates.

Timing – Summarize the timeline you envision that leads to ultimate success. What are the milestones for completing the tactics, the strategies and achieving the vision?

The Vision-Strategy Quick Plan has been useful to me many times. You may want to try it as a starting point for your business plan.

To make it even easier, I am providing you a complimentary PDF worksheet. Download it at the following link:
Download Vision-Strategy Quick Plan template

A Little Planning Goes A Long Way …Quality Planning Leads To Incredible Success

If you have in-depth questions, feel free to contact me through this link:
Provide feedback and ask questions

 

P.S. With a plan, it’s a business. Without a plan, it’s a hobby.

2.2 Million Small Businesses Will Go Out Of Business In 2011

2.2 million small businesses are projected to go out of business in 2011, many due to the bad economy. According to the US Small Business Administration, 50% of small businesses will close their doors within the first five years. And it’s likely to get worse.

According to economic forecaster, Harry S. Dent, Jr., the American economy will continue to decline from 2011 to 2014. His research in The Great Crash Ahead shows overall consumer spending declining because aging Baby Boomers are paying off debt, saving more and spending less. This could be the end for unprepared small businesses.

But some small businesses are having the best year ever.

You see, when 9% - 17% of the work force is either unemployed or under-employed, 83% - 91% is still employed. And for sure, a full 5% have rapidly growing incomes.

The Social Security Administration has tracked income statistics for decades. They found the percentage of people who are doing well remains the same year after year. Specifically, 5% are doing well or very well, 15% do OK, 60% struggle, and 20% are dead broke. While individuals may move up and down the spectrum, the specific percentages across these strata remain the same. It follows our understanding of Pareto’s 80-20 rule, doesn’t it?

So what does this have to do with your own business?

I am reminded of what marketing guru Dan Kennedy has to say, “You will not win by catering to the majority.” That is to say, your business will not succeed if you try to sell to everyone. Don’t try to sell to people that are broke. Instead, focus your products and services narrowly on the market segment that has money. There are fewer people in that group, but the marketing results are worth it.

And while you are at it, consider that people prefer things that are new, unusual and different. A surprising number are willing to pay a higher price to get it. So, raise your prices on premium offerings …raise them considerably. More on this in a future post.

Times are tough now and getting tougher. So, learn how to thrive by creating unique experiences for your customers and clients. Visit Value Marketing Systems to see how you can be creative.

P.S. Share with friends on Facebook

Top 10 Facebook Business Pages

Are you making all the money you want with your small business? Do you want more sales? One way to promote greater sales is using a Facebook business page with a compelling Welcome tab. A Facebook business page is essentially a virtual billboard for your business. Whether you sell business-to-business or business-to-consumer, there is an awful lot of traffic passing by your business page billboard every day.

Presently, Facebook has over 800 million active users worldwide. Many of our real world friends and business acquaintances use Facebook. They see whatever we post whenever we post it whether on our personal profile or business page. So, whenever you post a new sales offer or just an informational update, all the people who “Liked” your page will see it. It is free and easy advertising.

Some small businesses have proactively created impressive pages, but they are few in number. There is still enormous opportunity to differentiate your business from competitors by building a Facebook business page with an attention-getting image and a call-to-action. This is much better than the basic wall with chronological postings.

Some outstanding examples are shown in the report Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages: 2011 Winners! written by Phil Mershon at Social Media Examiner. These top 10 business pages were picked out of 1400+ entries. There is lots of inspiration in these examples.

The #1 and #2 entries shown below encourage viewers to LIKE their page.

    

You can design and build your own page or get someone to do it for you. For the do-it-yourselfers, I created a free guide, “How To Build Custom Facebook Business Pages.” To get immediate access, go to my Facebook business page, Stay in Touch To Make More Money, and click the LIKE button. Fill in your email address and we will email you a copy.

Good luck! Provide feedback and share your successes and frustrations.

7 Follow-Up Sequences That Convert Prospects Into Buyers

Let's face it, not all prospects agree to buy on the first attempt. Some are unqualified, while others are not yet ready to buy. What happens then? They cannot just be forgotten because money was spent to find them, such as the investment in a website, advertising, seminars, or maybe trade shows.

The relationship with them now is warm but, over time, the relationship will turn cold unless action is taken to nurture it. Since their contact information is in hand, why not stay in touch and motivate them to buy.

Eventually, some will change their mind and decide to buy. When that happens, you want to be in "top of mind" position, so they will think of you.

Here are seven strategies that nurture the relationships and convert prospects into buyers:

• Launch a short-term follow-up sequence - if they did not purchase, schedule 4 to 5 follow-up actions over the subsequent 4 weeks
• Demonstrate that you listened - immediately, follow up to summarize their goals and review how your product or service will help them
• Repeat the sales offer - list the features and benefits most applicable to them and consider a bonus or discount
• Transition to a long-term warming sequence - stay in touch via email and Facebook business page posts
• Establish yourself as a valued resource - routinely send interesting articles related to your area of service e.g. newsletter
• Become the person they are likely to refer to others - establish yourself as a resource of useful information within your specialty
• Periodically send other sales offers - remind them of the valuable products and services you offer

In the end, some of these prospects will convert to buyers. That makes the warming and nurturing campaign a rewarding investment of time.

Even then, small business owners have very little extra time and reluctant to invest energy into cumbersome programs. That is why many eagerly embrace turn-key solutions to follow-up marketing such as The Follow-Up System Toolbox 2nd Edition. With it, you can follow up with prospects and convert more of them into paying customers. Take a look!

5 Simple Steps To Incredible Sales Growth

Getting existing customers to make additional purchases is 100 times easier that getting non-customers to make first-time purchases. Yet many business owners make the critical mistake of failing to follow up with customers after the sale.

Think about it! You could be making more sales easily just by asking for the business. Do it with a simple two step follow up campaign focused on existing customers. Step-1 is a short term opportunity sequence while Step-2 is a long-term nurturing sequence. Use email to make this easy to implement.

Here are a few fundamental components of an effective customer follow up campaign:

• Start with a short term sequence - immediately send a thank you note that summarizes the benefits of the product or service
• Head off buyers remorse - five days after the sale, follow up to ask if they are satisfied
• Seize the opportunity for follow on sales - introduce other products in which they may have an interest
• Transition to the long term nurturing sequence - periodically send your newsletter or other informational articles
• Periodically send them a product offer - remind them of other products you offer

I suppose if it were easy everybody would do it. But many time-starved business owners perceive it as too complicated to implement. Well, there is a solution. If you are too busy to create your own email follow up campaign then search for software packages that have put it all together. Some include pre-written email templates where all you have to do is insert the specific name of your product or service.

I am a proponent of turn-key systems. That is why I created this ready-to-use Follow-Up System Toolbox. Click here to learn more!

Whether you use a ready-to-use system or create your own, it makes total sense to follow up with existing customers to collect the low hanging fruit of follow-on sales.

3 Critical Principles To Know About Marketing - Part 3 of 3

Are you stalled on what to do next to promote your business? Is it too hard or don’t you have enough time? Every day, small businesses lose sales – not because of inferior products but, because they did not promote their business.

Critical Principle #3 – Promote your business constantly. Do something today!

The number one job of a business owner is promoting their business. everything else is second.

Two habits account for insufficient promotion and marketing: perfectionism and procrastination. Perfectionism is an obsession with the ideal, which leads to paralysis. Procrastination is a refusal to take action because of uncertainty about what to do.

One or both of these may be getting in the way of promoting your business. They are keeping you from doing something.

Dan Sullivan, the founder of The Strategic Coach® program, says these habits can be eliminated with a simple solution he calls The 80% Approach™. Get started and do the first 80%, even if it is imperfect. Then go back and do the next 80%. Or even better, let other people do the next 80%. Once you have done the first 80%, going 80% of the remaining way takes you to 96% of the ideal.

Get started. Do something that puts your name out in some way, such as:

• Make a post on Facebook
• Advertise on the internet with Goggle Adwords
• Run a targeted ad on Facebook
• Send an informational email to your list
• Post a QR code hyperlink to your website or Facebook business page
• Run a discount promotion
• Host a clinic or seminar

You will be pleasantly encouraged when actions lead to satisfaction, a positive mindset and productive habits. The 80% Approach produces maximum results in the shortest period of time.

To learn more and get started promoting your business, contact me at Value Marketing Systems or 888-966-2011.

3 Critical Principles To Know About Marketing - Part 2 of 3

Did you ever talk to an old customer and find out they recently bought a product that you sell, but they bought from someone else? When you told them that is a product you offer, they said, "Oh, I didn't know that. Otherwise I would have gotten it from you."

It happens to many sales professionals and small business owners, whether they sell a variety of products or offer a range of services. You must continually educate current and past customers about all the ways you can help them. It's not their responsibility to find out, it's your duty to teach them.

Critical Principle #2 - Remind customers of all products and services you offer

Here are a few ways you can do this:

• Include them in a long-term relationship nurturing campaign
• Touch them weekly through email, Facebook business fan page, and blog
• Demonstrate trough stories how you helped others with a different product/service
• Periodically send sales offers highlighting a different product/service
• Make sure your website and Facebook business page shows the other products and services

By reminding customers of the range of products and services you offer, they will think of you first when they are ready to buy. Click here to learn more.

3 Critical Principles Small Business Owners Absolutely Need To Know About Marketing - Part 1

Do you have names of "cold" leads that used to be "warm" prospects before they chilled over time and neglect? You may be like many other hard-working small business owners who have drawers filled with names and phone numbers of once promising prospects who were not quite ready to do business. You tried to stay in touch, but other pressing issues just got in the way. You stopped contacting them after 3 follow-up attempts.

Studies show that it takes 5 to 7 touches, on average, before a prospect purchases a product or service. You stopped after 3 touches to move on to more promising leads. Those unconverted leads are still there.

Critical Principle #1 - Stay in touch with leads and prospects

Here's a few power ideas to help you stay in touch:

• Create a Facebook business page - use if like a community billboard
• Launch email follow-up messages - send out pre-drafted sequence of emails on structured schedule
• Touch each contact weekly - alternate various channels such as email, Facebook, direct mail, telephone
• Add variety to messages - send 3 value-added info messages followed by 1 sales offer
• Always include some type of call to action e.g check my blog post, click for more info, contact us today

How do you turn this into profit? If you currently sell a product or service, then you can double your sales volume in less than a year, more likely double within 6 months. All you have to do is stay in touch with leads and prospects. Click here for more information.

7 Simple Steps To Escape The Recession

Escape the recession - all you need are more sales, right? Thousands of small businesses have this priceless formula, but never use it.

Follow these simple steps to explode your sales.

• Touch past customers. Send an email, letter, or call. Educate them about other products and services you offer.
• Touch leads and prospects that haven’t heard from you in a while. Send an email with value-added, how-to ideas.
• Add variety to your touches in a 3-to-1 ratio. Send three value-added, how-to messages for every one sales offer.
• All messages, even value-added messages, should have a clear call-to-action such as, “Go to my website,” “Find out more,” or “Buy now!”
• Repeat the process – don’t stop. Continue sending the sequence of messages on a regular basis. Let each person hear from you at least once a week or every two weeks. Automate this using an email service provider such as AWeber Communications.
• Create a Facebook Fan Page with an interesting name, not just your company name. Link to your website and blog. Insert a Welcome page on the Fan Page with a large graphic image. Use the URL of the Welcome page as the destination address when hyperlinking from an email, website, or Tweet.
• Build your email list. This is the little-known secret to success. Gather email addresses at every interaction, point of sale, sign-up form on website, and more. Continually reach out to more and more prospects. Building your list is hugely important.

Get out of your sales slump once and for all. Start promoting. To learn more, check out the information at this website Value Marketing Systems.