Do You Have This Important Tool in Your Marketing Arsenal?
Many business owners do not understand the authenticity and validation that a simple toll-free number adds to their business presence. It is particularly important that any business owner whose market is not exclusively local consider beefing up the image of the business with a toll-free number. Even for a business whose presence is local, it may be useful for current customers who may want to contact the business while travelling. ===
Make Access Easier for Customers - Prospective and Current
=== As a business owner you want to make it very easy to obtain leads and subsequently, customers. The simplest tollfree option to set up will provide you the ability to allow customers calling your tollfree number to ring through to a fixed number of your choice. ===
"Just" a Home Office? - Increase Your Business Presence
=== If you have a home office or are a small business owner, however, you probably need to be accessible wherever you are. Why? Because it's likely only you. You're the boss, customer service and technical support. There are other toll-free options that will give you the flexibility you need. Some services will provide you the options to - ring to voicemail ( often the voicemail system is included and some services will deliver the voicemail to you in digitized format, such as a .wav file.) - ring to your cellphone - ring to any other location you choose - use it as a fax line as well (incoming faxes may be sent to a fax machine of your choice.) This may be of particular importance to you if you are a home office user who does not want customers or prospects being redirected to your home line. You may have concerns if you have children around but can't afford a separate line, you may be using a shared line, or you may be on the move so much that a toll-free number bound to one location is simply not useful. An added advantage is that these ring-to settings can typically be changed on the fly from the service provider's website and take effect immediately . There may also be the option to program the system to route the ring to different locations automatically at pre-determined times. ===
Take Your Marketing Up A Notch
=== One of the big weaknesses of marketers, whether affiliate marketers or small business owners trying to get the word out about their business, is the lack of measurement. In order to know whether you are getting a return on your investment, whether you are targeting the right market, or using the right proposition for that market, you need to measure. The good news is that obtaining a toll-free number is now inexpensive enough that you can set up one toll-free number per promotion, per slogan, per ad, or per target market. Also a good service will provide you with backoffice records that offer excellent stats on how the promotion is doing. You may also have access to every number that has called your toll-free number - very useful for follow-up. This way you can maximise your advertising dollars and save a lot of money. Now isn't that your bottom line? ===
About the Author
=== Sabrina Hinds uses experience gained through implementing and supporting technology in corporate environments to help you implement telecommunications and technology that works for you - whether in residential or business environments. Visit http://tollfree.connection-store.com/ for more information about toll-free services.
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Sell Big Ticket Items Now! - 1 Simple Step To Keep Your Fears From Holding YOU Back
First, some background on today's topic. I've had a terrible week. Not
terrible as in I got nothing done because I did actually get quite a bit done.
But man, I struggled. And I didn't even really understand why.
I have to admit, most of what I got done happened between Thursday and Sunday.
Have you ever had a week like that where you struggled to get things done?
Or worse yet, struggled and didn't get anything done? Or maybe it just FELT LIKE
you didn't accomplish anything?
I hate weeks like that and I rarely feel that way. So why was this week
different? At first, I couldn't put my finger on anything specific. Looking back
and replaying my week in my mind didn't cause anything to stand out either. In
short, nothing really clicked as the cause for the way I was feeling and acting.
So then I decided to do what I always do when I am trying to solve a problem. I
just kinda let it go for a while and did something else.
And THEN, I finally figured out what the problem was!
It wasn't anything specific about THIS week. It was related to something I had
done several weeks ago. And it's very ironic that this was the cause of my
problem.
You see, several weeks ago I had drafted my 90 marketing plan. This document
describes what I plan to do in my Big Ticket Marketing efforts over a 3 month
period.
It's actually not that hard to figure out but it is something that you need to
track closely and see which weeks of marketing effort have the biggest payoff.
In other words, you want to track which things you did that resulted in the
biggest payoff in sales, opt-ins by potential customers, joint ventures,
branding, etc.
Basically all the stuff we need to do to as part of our Big Ticket Marketing
efforts. We want to repeat those things that give us the largest payoff in our
next 3 month marketing plans and drop those things that didn't work out. And of
course we always try new things that we think will work, as well.
Anyway, the reason that I was struggling and feeling like I wasn't accomplishing
this week was because...
I was in OVERWHELM!
I had a lot of tasks I wanted to accomplish, because I'm an ambitious guy. I
want to do well and I have a lot of goals I want to reach. This is all fine, but
the point of having a 90 day marketing plan is so that it will be easy to focus
on the specific set of tasks that I need to accomplish each week by focusing on
ONLY ONE main area each week.
And normally, this system is very effective at keeping me focused. But,
ironically, the act of creating the 90 day marketing plan made me look at
everything I had to accomplish in the next 3 months and I was sort of stuck in
that mode. I wasn't being effective at focusing on this weeks tasks because I
was in OVERWHELM thinking about everything I had to get done, overall.
Have you ever experienced that?
I think we all have at one point or another.
However, I am disappointed that I didn't recognize what was going on sooner. My
background as a software engineer for Microsoft forced me to be pretty
disciplined about focusing on what I needed to do and what our team needed to do
every week to accomplish our goals. And sometimes the ship cycles lasted between
1.5 to 2 years.
Plus I have a black belt in Hapkido (a Korean martial art like a cross between
Tae Kwon Do and Aikido), which requires a lot of training discipline, patience,
practice and long term view. But at the same time requires you to learn and work
on smaller portions of the entire body of techniques, patterns, because that is
the only way you can really learn what you need to know.
Anyway, my point is that I should know better and yet I still fell into the fear
from OVERWHELM. And I think everyone experiences not only overwhelm but other
fears about what they want to do as well.
The title of this article promised you a simple secret to keep your fears from
holding you back - from selling Big Ticket Items. Can you guess what the secret
is?
I'll give you a hint. It's not really a secret at all. In fact everyone knows
about this but unfortunately not everyone knows what to do especially in a case
like overwhelm.
Ready... the secret is ACTION!
Yes, ACTION. Now you are probably wondering... "Hey, wait a sec, you just said
you were in overwhelm, how can action possibly be the secret for that?"
Napoleon Hill, in his book "Think and Grow Rich" said, "Action is the real
measure of intelligence". Thomas Huxley said: "The great end of life is not
knowledge but action." Intelligence means nothing, action means everything.
I knew what I had to do this week and yet I was struggling to do it. I even had
a 90 day marketing plan with each week spelled out for me and yet I was stuck. I
got unstuck when I realized I was overwhelmed and decided to do something about
it. What I decided to do was to take action. But the type of action I decided to
take was influenced by my precious experience both in software development and
martial arts.
Have you heard of Kaizen?
Kaizen is a Japanese word which basically means 'continuous and incremental
improvement'. The word came from when the Japanese were introduced to the work
of W. Edward Deming when he was stationed in Japan to help them rebuild after
World War II. While there, Deming introduced them to what later became know as
Total Quality Management.
What I like about Kaizen is that it takes small action steps over time to solve
problems. The beauty of this approach is that you can take something that
currently seems daunting or puts you in overwhelm and start by only focusing on
one small step that you can take to help improve the problem. The small step is
so easy that you bypass your overwhelm and fears and just do that one small
step. Then after a little while you introduce another small step and
continuously improve the situation or problem until it is solved.
So in this way you CAN take action, even if it is very small, and slowly over
time each action you take has an effect that builds on all the others and
creates an unstoppable force until your problem has been solved. The fact that
the action is so small makes it easy for you to do SOMETHING and not focus on
how much you have to do.
Maybe a short example will help. One of my goals is to increase the readership
of my articles and to get more people exciting about Big Ticket Marketing. One
of the best ways to do that is to get my blog and my articles out to as many
readers as I can. So this week, I wanted to get my Blog and my articles listed
in as many E-zine and Electronic List directories as possible. I even have
software to help me do this.
Guess how many directories and list locations there are?
Well... there are over 1000 just in the built in database in the software I am
using.
I kept putting this off, because I had a bunch of other stuff I needed to get
done as well. But this was a major focus for me this week. Finally, what I
decided to do was to just add my information to ONE directory or list every time
I finished another task. Breaking it down so that I only had to worry about one
entry every so often REALLY helped me make some progress in this area, without
worrying about how many there were.
I still have a long way to go, but my initial goal was to get listed in 20-25
sites and I'm currently sitting at 17. A few more sites and I will have met my
goal!
Plus, Kaizen is really how I study martial arts so the process is very familiar
to me even when applied to something else.
Ok, so the one 1 simple step you need to take anytime you have a fear to conquer
or an overwhelming situation to deal with is to decide on one simple action that
you can do in a very short amount of time that will ultimately help you solve
your problem. Do this, and then increase what you are doing in that area by a
little bit each time and before you know it you will have your problem solved.
Try this! It works amazingly well with very little effort. And you get a huge
amount of satisfaction knowing that you are taking steps to accomplish what you
want to get done... and you'll be doing it almost effortlessly.
By the way, if you want a great little resource on how to apply Kaizen, you
should get The Kaizen Way - One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert
Maurer. It's a relatively recent book and a quick read at 182 pages. You can
find it on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble online. Maybe this is your first small
action step.
Also, check out the resource box below for some websites that will give you some
resources you can really use related to your Big Ticket Marketing efforts!
There?s More to Marketing ROI (return on investment) Than Meets the Eye
All too often people look at marketing ROI in terms of response rate: in other words, "I sent out 10,000 pieces of direct mail and only got 39 responses which is terrible." This is wrong think.
5 Ways to Use Your Business Cards More Effectively
Contrary to popular belief, the best use of business cards is not making origami or collecting dust. But, in this article you will find 5 of the most effective ways to use your business cards on a daily basis!
Sum of Its Parts
I just spent a week at the beach with my
family and, as much as I vowed not to think
about work, stumbled onto a highly relevant
lesson for marketing professional services.
The Six-Step Process That Grows Your Business
1. Examine your clientele and define your ideal
client. Of all the customers you've served in the last
couple of years, who are the ones you most enjoyed
working with and found most profitable? Create a
profile of the client characteristics that, for you,
define heaven on earth. These characteristics might
include income, age, lifestyle, attitudes, motivation,
profession, geography, etc. Before going on to step 2,
make sure that you've crystallized a single type of
client. If you have more than one type, choose one to
start with and simply repeat this process later with
the other(s).
Generational Marketing
Having run a multi-state franchise company with multiple brands it became obvious to me early on that if one were to properly respond to the needs and desires of your customer base; you must indeed, understand generational marketing. The X'ers have a completely different mindset than the "Boomers" or the "Matures." As I thought about this I also realized that it did not matter if you business was big or small; if you were the franchisee or the franchisor. All businesses must understand who their customers are and how the think and how this relates to their buying behavior. I am going to recommend a book to you, which you should go out and read immediately:
Create a Blueprint for Your Success
Having a strong foundation enables you to build a thriving,
profitable life and business. A simple method to create this
foundation is with Discovery, Vision, Planning and
Benchmarking, the four cornerstones of your life as well
as your business.
Communication Breakdown - Dont Let It Happen To You
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Print Marketing Campaign, Whats Important and Whats Not!
Every company searches to lure customers to their product. Unless you have a monopoly or unique product your marketing goal is to fulfill your customers needs with your products. Today finding that monopoly or unique program is virtually impossible, and even if you do find it chances are someone will copy it very quickly.
The Words That Sell
What You Say, Who You Say It To, How you Say It: If you have or can get a list of people who are already interested or genuinely likely to be interested in your product or service then you are well on your way to being successful with your postcard marketing. Before that, you have to answer the key question, "Who should I send my postcard offers to?"
Future of Marketing Part 2
In Part 1, I discussed how traditional marketing is no longer
working the way it used to. This is happening for a variety of
reasons -- people have too many mass media choices,
they're bombarded with way too many marketing messages,
the Internet is adding accountability to advertising, etc.
Marketing to Hispanics/Latinos
A powerful consumer market with annual spending power exceeding $350 billion, Hispanics-or should that be Latinos?-have become the largest minority group in the United States, and a marketplace well-worth looking into and with plenty to see--once you get the labels straight.
What?s Next? A Guide to Marketing Your New Business
Coming up with an idea, seizing the opportunity, and setting up a business was the relatively easy part. Now you are ready for the challenge of finding your customers, or at least make it easy for your customers to find you. Here are some tips for marketing your new and growing business.
Nine Must-Do Positioning Steps
Every professional or consultant knows that clients typically hire people they know, like and trust. But how do you build trust with strangers?
Five Tips for Trade Show Success on a Small Budget
No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses. Here are five tips for exhibiting in trade shows inexpensively:
Networking the Media
The media is a business's absolute best friend. It is THE
source of information distribution to the masses. Even "bad"
press has been known to stimulate business.
Fundraising Renewal Letters: Four Goals to Strive For With Each One You Write
In the fundraising profession, appeal letters that you mail to existing donors are called renewal letters. They are designed to solicit a gift, but, more important than that, they aim to persuade your current donors to renew their support of your organization. Donors renew their support with their cash, of course, but they also renew it with their commitment-with their hearts and minds. And that's why renewal letters are so vital. They help you maintain your broad base of support year after year, cost-effectively.
Chill Out With A Summer Time Marketing Plan
Is your business experiencing a summer time slump? Traditionally only industries related to travel enjoy a boost in business during the warmer months. The rest of us tend to take vacations, clean up our desk and while away the time playing computer games while we wait for business to pick up.
You Cannot - Not Market
Everything you do - or don't do sends a message and marketing is about sending messages. You can market well or you can market poorly, but you cannot - not market!
Are Your Marketing Efforts Working...Or Could They Use A Little Help?
Marketing is a broad business subject that encompasses a
range of activities including advertising, public relations,
sales, and promotions. Generally, you will find that people
often confuse sales with marketing, when in fact the two are
quite different. Marketing is all about getting a product or
service into the market, promoting it, influencing behavior,
and encouraging sales turnover. Sales, quite distinctly, is
the actual transaction of getting a product or service into
the hands of your customers.
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