Issue #2595
- WEALTHY: 6 questions that could make your profits soar (Clayton Makepeace)
- HEALTHY: 2 ways to make your arms work harder (Jon Benson)
- WISE: Kerry Stokes on the customer
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- A case of negative viral marketing (Jason Holland)
- Realistic words for tough times (Jim Collins)
- It’s Good to Know… about Asia’s great brown cloud
- Add “contumacious” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
Master Mega-Profit Marketing from the Legend of Persuasion
What would you give to take driving lessons from Richard Petty? Voice lessons from Pavarotti? Art lessons from Picasso?
When it comes to direct response marketing, Bob Bly is a legend. He knows just what to do – and what to say – to make it very easy for people to buy from you online. Mastering his techniques can take your Internet sales from mediocre to gangbusters!
In an exclusive two-day event, this aficionado of persuasion will take a very intimate group of ETR readers and “brain dump” on them – teaching you everything you need to do (and not do) to make breathtaking profits online. It’s an intense, hands-on workshop like no other. And it’s designed specifically to substantially increase the success of those who sell online.
If selling more online matters to you, here’s how you can do it better…
“The most important adage and the only adage is, the customer comes first, whatever the business, the customer comes first.”
Kerry Stokes
How to Outsell Your Competition by Treating Your Customers Like Kings
Creating first-time customers is one of the costliest things – and the riskiest -
that any direct-response business does.
Consider what’s typically involved in creating a new-subscriber acquisition piece for a health or investment newsletter and testing it to 100,000 prospects…
• Copy (advance to copywriter): $25,000
• Design: $12,500
• Printing/List Rental/Postage & Mailing: $70,000
That’s a total of $107,500. Now, consider the fact that the publisher’s overhead isn’t even factored into this equation. And that he’ll probably have to test two, three, even four or more pieces before he hits upon a powerful new control. And that he’s going to continue to test new pieces against his control every six weeks or so to make sure he’s not caught flatfooted when that promotion peters out.
Bottom line: All told, the publisher is probably risking $1 million or more a year just to keep bringing in new customers. And that’s for each publication in his stable!
Yeah, I know. That’s direct mail, the costliest marketing medium there is. But even at the other end of the spectrum, on the ultra-cheap Internet, there are very definite costs – and, therefore, risks – associated with acquiring new leads and new customers.
Money must be spent to pay AdWords and pay-per-click costs, create and run banner ads, rent e-mail lists, write and design e-mail blasts, write and design landing pages – and more. And because there are no guarantees that any campaign will work efficiently, every test of every new campaign carries with it a very definite capital risk.
Making Secondary Sales to Existing Customers Is One of the Cheapest Things
- and the Lowest-Risk – That Direct-Response Companies Do
Response on promotions sent to existing customers is usually six to eight times higher (sometimes more) than promotions sent to cold prospects. Average sale is substantially higher, too – sometimes as much as two to three times higher.
And so, compared to the breakeven return on investment most marketers get when creating new customers, ROI on promotions to existing customers is off the charts.
In short…
It’s ALL About Customer Lifetime Value!
It amazes me when I see companies that seem oblivious to this simple fact of life. They risk alienating new customers with endless upsells on the initial inbound call, then utterly abandon them, failing to follow up with direct-mail and e-mail promotions. Or they ship faulty, shoddy products that blatantly under-deliver on the benefit promises made in their customer-acquisition promotions.
If they only knew how much money they’re leaving on the table, they’d turn over a new leaf in no time flat!
I mean, what would you rather have – a 50 percent net profit on one sale to one customer? Or SEVEN FULL YEARS of sales to each customer… making four to five or more sales to each one every year… and, because there’s a cost involved in delivering world-class products and stellar customer service, settling for a slightly smaller net on each sale?
It’s a rhetorical question. We both know the answer.
So now the question becomes… what can YOU do in the next five days to begin treating customers like gods?
Ask yourself…
1. “Do my promotions tell the truth, the whole truth, and NOTHING BUT the truth?”
Ask any soft-offer marketer and he’ll tell you: Promotions that create unrealistic expectations for the product invariably result in lower pay-up on the back end. Hard-offer marketers know that over-the-top promises result in much higher cancellation rates and much lower response to secondary sales and renewals.
What can you do to narrow or eliminate the gap between your promotional promises and the reality of the benefits your product or service delivers? Or, even better, what can you do to deliver MORE than your promotion promises?
Could you, for example, add unadvertised premiums to your welcome packages or product shipments? Promise 12 issues of your newsletter a year, but include the previous month’s issue – a 13th – in your welcome kit? Schedule a timeless “Gala Bonus Issue” to hit new subscribers’ mailboxes two weeks after they come on board? Maybe insert a gift certificate offering a substantial discount on something? Perhaps send an unexpected free report or other inexpensive gift to every subscriber or customer before Thanksgiving… “just because” you’re thankful for them?
2. “Do my promotions begin the bonding process with the new customers they create?”
Do you establish yourself or your spokesperson as an advocate who has a greater, higher vision for your prospect than he has for himself? Do you demonstrate this by giving away valuable, actionable information or advice in your promotions? What insights into your spokesperson’s life can you give away that make him feel more human, more like the prospect in his harmless little foibles, loves, and values?
When selling newsletter subscriptions, I avoid saying things like “When you subscribe…” Instead, I say something like “When you join me…” On the order form, instead of calling my product a subscription, I call it a membership.
What could you do to position your initial sale to a customer NOT as a sale, but as the beginning of a beautiful friendship?
3. “Does my product over-deliver on the benefit claims made in my promotions?”
Goes without saying: If the product is faulty, fix it. If it can be improved, improve it.
Then do this: Order a product from yourself, for yourself. Do it by phone so you get the live experience of dealing with the customer service rep. Throw up roadblocks.
I once called a client’s toll-free number and said I wanted a three-year subscription to his newsletter. “We don’t sell three-year subscriptions,” she said. “Just one-year and two-year subscriptions.” So I asked if I could buy a one-year subscription and a two-year subscription and have them run consecutively. That really pissed her off. “I’ve never heard of such a thing!” she said.
Challenge the operator and take notes. When the welcome kit or shipment/first issue arrives, note how long it took. Imagine that you’re a new customer who has been waiting for this delivery, anxiously checking his mailbox every day. Then open it.
How do you feel? What are your first impressions? Are you bowled over by the quality and quantity of what you see? Do you feel closer to the company and/or its spokesperson? Does the experience leave you looking forward to your next contact with them?
Even if your experience was 100 percent positive, get your best people together and spend a day brainstorming how you can make it better for your customers.
4. “Do my people go the extra mile to make customers feel like part of the family?”
Call your customer service number. How many times does the phone ring before someone answers? Are you put on hold? (Take notes.) Have a complaint. Be angry. Be insulting. (Scribble, scribble!) Call back with a gazillion questions. (More notes.) Try telling the rep about your cat. (Still more notes.) Then call with a big compliment. (Getting writer’s cramp yet?)
Now, have a meeting with your reps and set them on the straight and narrow.
5. “Does each promotion to my in-house customer file contain a component that strengthens the bond with them?”
I tell my clients that every promotion sent to existing customers must do two things: (1) It must, of course, produce profits. (2) It must make the customer feel greater allegiance and loyalty to the company and/or its spokesperson.
More important, no promotion should ever produce profits at the expense of the relationship we worked so hard to establish with our customers. When max short-term profits and max bonding go head-to-head, bonding must always win.
6. “Am I doing everything possible to retain customers who complain or cancel?”
A client of mine spends an average of $24 to generate each new customer. Does it make sense to spend less to keep one? That $24 could buy a LOT of tender, loving care for an irritated or disappointed customer. It could easily cover an apologetic telephone call or a FedEx package with a $10 “I’m so sorry!” gift enclosed.
Take a look at the process customers go through to cancel, and brainstorm everything you can think of to keep them in the fold. Think outside the box.
How about a “Hell NO!” letter: “Hell NO, I won’t cancel your subscription. The information I have for you in coming months is far too important to you! I’ve already refunded your subscription – that’s one thing. But denying you the critical guidance in XYZ newsletter is another. So please accept the next three months with my compliments…”
This gets you three more months to win your disgruntled customer over.
[Ed. Note: What do you do to treat your customers like kings? Let us know right here.
Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com. ]
I Can’t Take It Anymore…
When you are in the know about something – like I am about generating sales online – you can see right through the smoke and mirrors. You clearly see the true money-machine the Internet could be… in the right hands. Now I’m going to show you exactly how to make money online in 3 easy steps.
Yes, it’s that easy. And some have been hiding the real secret all this time. Check out everything for yourself by clicking here…
The Wrong Kind of Publicity
You’ve probably seen the Cash4Gold infomercials. You send in your old jewelry, and they cut you a check. But when one curious blogger tried it, he got back a third of the appraised value. He called to complain and get the jewelry back – and Cash4Gold quickly upped their offer.
The blogger considered this to be unethical (why wasn’t he offered the higher price the first time around?), and posted the story at cockeyed.com. It was picked up by other websites. And now when you Google “Cash4Gold,” it is #2 on the Google results page.
But what the company did next made it a lot worse.
They sent the blogger a series of e-mails offering “Cash4Deleting” the negative post. At one point, the offer was up to a couple of thousand dollars. And, of course, those e-mails ended up online as well.
Some say any publicity is good publicity… but in this case, I’m not so sure.
Aside from their clearly dishonest approach to running a business (which, in itself, pretty much assures that Cash4Gold has no future), they made a stupid mistake when attempting to bribe the blogger. Apparently they didn’t realize that anything you say in an e-mail can end up being seen by the wrong people – millions of them.
(Source: Consumerist and Cockeyed.com)
Worth Quoting: Jim Collins on Forging Ahead
“I don’t care how hard this period is. You have to have the combination of believing that you will prevail, that you will get out of this, but also not be the Pollyanna who ignores the brutal facts. You have to say that we will be in this for a long time and we will turn it into a defining event, a big catalyst to make ourselves a much stronger enterprise.”
Bigger Arms, Better Heart?
By Jon Benson
Strengthening my arms is a big part of my strength-training routine – and it’s probably the same for you. But here’s something that may surprise you: You can burn more fat AND help your heart… just by getting your arms involved in your workouts.
Here are two ways to make your arms do double duty when you exercise:
1. Build more muscle faster by doing sets of 5 followed by sets of 15 reps. Take a heavy pair of dumbbells and curl them for 5 hard reps. Then, without rest, do a set of form-strict barbell curls using 15 reps. Repeat this cycle two to three times, tops. That’s all you need to build larger biceps.
2. When you do your cardio, lift your arms high. Swing your arms over your head, if you can. Watch what happens to your heart rate! It will soar. That’s because your heart has to work harder to get blood to flow “up.” Swing your arms up when you walk, too, and you’ll improve your cardio conditioning and fat burning at the same time.
[Ed. Note: If you want to build more muscle in less time, while you burn body fat, pick up nutrition and fitness counselor Jon Benson's book, 7 Minute Muscle. It's a complete system that's guaranteed to work for you. Try it for 60 days and prove it to yourself.
For more easy-to-follow exercises you can do at home - plus dozens of strategies for getting fit and living longer - sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.]
It’s Good to Know: Asia’s Great Brown Cloud
For decades, smog has blanketed South Asia every winter. The so-called Great Brown Cloud pollutes the air from southern China to India and Pakistan, causing thousands of deaths each year and affecting climate. At times, airline pilots even have a hard time navigating.
Until recently, scientists weren’t sure where the smog comes from. The burning of fossil fuels in cars and factories does contribute, but now research from Stockholm University has found that two-thirds of the cloud is made up of smoke from burning wood and dung – which many in the region use for cooking and heating.
Armed with this information, the researchers hope that public health officials, with cooperation from local governments, will be able persuade people to gradually switch to cleaner burning gas or solar powered stoves.
(Source: Reuters)
== Highly Recommended ==
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Read on to discover how this “Off-Wall Street Cash Recovery Plan” could recoup 100% of your recession losses by September 30, 2009.
Word to the Wise: Contumacious
“Contumacious” (kon-too-MAY-shus) – from the Latin for “insolent” – means obstinate, disobedient, or overtly defiant of authority.
Example (as used by Bill Kauffman in American Enterprise): “Before a contumacious teenager can be turned into a disciplined, tradition-minded cadet, he or she must be admitted to West Point.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2009
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We write to every single one of our guests (we call them guests not customers, to remind ourselves of how we wish to think about every person who inquires about our services) thinking about them, where in the world they are, what may be happening in the news that may be affecting them (new road, subway failure, snow, hot sunny weather etc).
We ban jargon, we address every guest (customer) by their first name, we follow up every inquiry to make sure the person does not possibly miss a deadline that they just forgot about.
We never send spam, use bulk email lists or any form of unsolicited hounding, pounding or messaging.
We train each other to imagine the problem each guest is trying to solve, to empathize, identify with THEIR expectations and wishes…we take every opportunity to offer them something to make their decision, their valuable choice easier….and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
What do we do – or rather what business are we in? Travel – we select, get to know thoroughly and write totally honest descriptions of small beautiful hotels, we know them in every detail, every nuance of character, atmosphere and possibility of fulfilling dream vacation requests and we use no third party data, information or opinion – if we don’t know it for sure, we don’t say it/offer it or promise it.
As a result we have many very loyal, repeat customers.
Two to five times a year we send all those who ever contacted us (unless they opt out) a message about the new, the current season and views in the country we are designing people’s travel for (Greece) – we are based in the very territory we are advising people about (it’s more likely to be able to know what’s good in Greece…in Greece! Harder from an office in Torrance, Santa Fe or Tampa !
We – this is key – imagine the person, our customer, as a human form – the form takes shape over email correspondence, telephone calls and any communication with them and we treat them how we would l o v e to be treated ourselves, in the same situation.
Best wishes and the happiest of travels,
Roger
The Websites:
http://www.SuperbGreece.com
http://www.cretetravel.com
http://www.crete-hotels-rooms.com
I don’t have my own business, but I would just like to say that I am very impressed and would like to commend you on these suggestions. For me, and so many others that I know, customer service is non-existent. If I had a problem in the past, getting a name and then speaking to a supervisor used to be a good solution. Now NO ONE cares. A lot of (and I am not talking small) companies will not even allow you to be transferred to a supervisor. If anything, you have to leave a message for them. Employees are no longer required to give their names and if calls are being recorded to check for customer service issues (as they claim), NO ONE is listening to them!! I get so frustrated. It feels like you have to fight for everything anymore! I spent 6 hours total on a supposed “better alternative to the regular phone company”. The first 2 were to set up and account that they assured me would be no problem. The following 4 were trying to cancel and get my money back for a service that I couldn’t even use. They even made me pay an additional charge to ship their useless product back and then I had to fight for over a month to get it all back. I tried many ways to get to the “powers that be” to let them know what I had been through. I even went to their customer service web site (that claims customer service is no 1, etc,) and asked that someone call me if they truly cared about their customer service. Never heard anything. So I COMMEND you for caring!