Articles Archives - Page 9 of 11 - Hybrid Business Advisors

How Many Potential Customers Slip Through Your Fingers

Posted on by Joan Nowak

Most businesses spend a lot of time and money generating new leads — to get strangers to raise their hand and say “tell me more”. But if your marketing ends there, a lot of potential customers slip through your fingers. Unconverted prospects offer a goldmine of opportunity if you stay connected and patient.

Timing Is Everything

Not everyone who shows an interest and would benefit from your products or services is ready to buy right now. They may not have the money in their current budget or simply have other priorities today. Or may be satisfied with their current suppliers. They may have a contractual agreement in place. In other words, the timing is wrong.

Fortunately, time has a way of changing things. A ‘no’ today does not mean forever. So it is important to stay connected with warm leads or prospects who represent a potential goldmine. After all, you…

Know they have a need because they already called, visited your website or stopped by your location.
Already invested money and time doing the hard work.
Captured their attention and gave them a compelling reason to call or visit.

Isn’t it worth staying in touch to continue to build the relationship and create future sales?

Stay Connected To Convert More Prospects

Here’s the good news. It takes little time and money to stay connected with unconverted prospects and turn them into paying customers. Here are a few keys to generate future sales and profit.

Develop and Maintain a Database. Whether you use Outlook or Google Contacts, ACT or other CRM systems, a database for customers AND warm prospects is essential if you want to stay connected easily and effectively. Make sure you use the tools in your system to categorize contacts as customers or prospects for more targeted and specialized communication. It will help you avoid sending a ‘VIP customer special’ to a prospect or a ‘give us a try’ message to a long-standing customer.

Create a System. A structured and systematized program allows you to connect with all warm leads at once and can supplement individual calls. Some simple ways to connect include newsletters, letters, postcards, flyers, social media, and email – with special offers, free information, savings or simply a holiday wish. The method you choose will depend on your target audience. How do they prefer to receive information? The frequency of your communication will also depend on your industry and target. With that said, my B2B clients get the best results when they connect monthly; B2C clients often benefit from weekly or semi-monthly communication.

Plan It, Then Do It. You probably plan your marketing to attract new prospects or sell more to current customers. You need to do the same with unconverted prospects. Determine the frequency for your program, come up with the dates (for the entire year), and brainstorm possible themes and offers for each effort. If you take the time to plan it, you may find what many of my clients find. It will be more innovative, more effective and will actually get done. And that’s the key to getting results!

Educate To Sell. Use your stay-connected efforts to educate and continue to build relationships with unconverted prospects. Remember to include an offer and call to action like you would if you were targeting new prospects.

So what would your sales look like if you did a better job staying connected with prospects who already expressed an interest in your services? How many new customers could you get if you converted just 5% of your warm leads? For most small businesses, the answer is a lot! So start tapping into this potential goldmine and watch your sales and profits grow.

More Ideas to Grow Your Business

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Where Does Your Time Go?

Posted on by Joan Nowak

The Secret To Get More Done

It’s no surprise that a lot of new year goals and resolutions include get more done or be more productive. But the key to changing behaviors, such as time management, begins with recognizing the problem or need. If it’s one of your goals, you’ve taken the first step.

Fact, there are only 24 hours in a day. You can’t add more hours. But you can get more done when we improve efficiency and eliminate the time wasters.

Below are seven common reasons why people lose precious time each day along with some suggestions to correct them. The good news is that little improvements in any of these areas help you get more done at work and at home.

Disorganization. Whether in business or at home, getting organized is a key to getting more done. If you spend a lot of time ‘looking for stuff’ to start or finish a project or work in an environment full of clutter and distractions, tasks becomes a chore and take longer to complete.

Solution: Make getting organized a priority. Create a filing system (onsite or in the cloud) that works so papers and other important documents are off your desk and stored in a place that is easy to find. Take advantage of scan technologies to keep important information – without the paper! Instead of post-it notes, use a calendar and centralized to-do list (paper or electronic) to remind you of important business and personal meetings, tasks and activities.

Unclear Goals/Lack of Focus. Without clear goals, everything looks like a priority and it’s difficult to focus on the right stuff!

Solution: Set specific personal and business goals. Then identify what you need to do in order to achieve them. Chunk down the activities where needed and schedule time to work on them. Whether you call it an action plan or not, use this list of goals, activities and completion dates as the litmus test when faced with requests for your time. Is the task or request moving you closer to your goals or simply a distraction that holds you back? Say NO to things that don’t move you forward.

Too Many Text and Phone Interruptions. In the cell phone era, it’s become easy for people to connect with you at any time. Most people silence phones when in meetings – it’s the professional thing to do! But what about when you are working on projects or other important tasks? These little interruptions rob you of precious time.

Solution: Silence the cell phone or put it away so it’s not a distraction. Set expectations and boundaries, define your working hours (even if you work from home) and communicate them to clients, family and friends.

Poor Planning. If you want to accomplish more, you need to plan better.

Solution: As I mentioned above, a central to-do list and calendar helps keep you organized and focused. But you need to block off time and put tasks on the calendar to actually work on them. Most people assume they can accomplish things quicker than they can. Be reasonable, allow for some unplanned stuff and build in a little buffer time. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t finish something. You’ll improve your planning and scheduling as you learn. Just start doing it.

Procrastination. This is a big time waster and often results when you are unclear on what you need to do or you are faced with doing something out of your comfort zone. You know, the tasks you don’t like doing, so you keep putting them off – even though they are important.

Solution: In his book, Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy provides 21 ways to stop procrastinating and get more done. One of the takeaways that I use often is to attack the ‘biggest’ frog first! Early morning is when I’m at my best, so I try to work on critical tasks at that time. It also gets the task off my plate early, so it’s not hanging over me all day long. I find this works and other suggestions in the book may work for you. The key – don’t let procrastination stop you from accomplishing what you need to do.

No Routines. While routines may be boring, they bring a sense of clarity that helps us accomplish more. Think about some of the routines you employ in your personal life – from getting up in the morning to homework and bedtime routines for children. These help you operate efficiently without a lot of thought. Employing routines, personally and professionally, contributes to efficiency and helps you achieve more.

Solution: What routines can you build into your day? Here are a few to consider: handling email, returning phone calls, working on projects or business development tasks, attending meetings or conference calls and going to the gym/exercising.

Lack of Training. When we do something new, it always takes longer. But as we learn and gain proficiency, the time spent doing goes down. Think about the first time you used email, text messaging or Quick Books? They took more time initially, but as you learned and used them, it became easy and efficient. Training is a way to shortcut the learning and improves efficiency sooner so you get more done.

Solution: If you lack skills in critical areas, from technology and financials to marketing and time management, get help or invest in training. It will save precious time now and money in the long-term.

Disjointed Processes. Systems are one of the best leverage tools out there for busy entrepreneurs. Streamlining and standardizing procedures to make daily operations easier, efficient and more effective are a key to getting more done – and getting it right each and every time. They eliminate waste and save you time and money!

Solution: Make documenting procedures a priority. Start with the most critical – those that impact your time or income/profit. Take it one at a time, but get started. Each system you build saves time and improves profit. It’s a win-win.

Surfing the Web and Social Media. The introduction of smartphones has literally put everything at our fingertips. It’s a great tool if used with discipline. Be cognizant of the time you spend online. We often think it will ‘just take a minute’ – and end up online for 10-15 minutes.

Solution: Take control of your web and social media time and you will have more time to spend on other things. Set specific times for these activities – preferably non-business hours. If you tend to get ‘side-tracked’ a timer can be helpful. Set it for 15 minutes and it will act as a friendly reminder to get done and move on!

If you are not sure where your time is going, then consider doing a personal time study. It’s easy. For one-two weeks, literally, write down everything you do each day – from the trivial phone call to project work and appointments. Note the amount of time you spend on each. At the end of the study, identify which tasks moved you toward your goals. So where are the time wasters (tasks and people) in your days? This can be eye-opening and should give you a good starting point to make the changes.

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7 One-Minute Insights for Success

Posted on by Joan Nowak

As a Ken Blanchard fan, I find his One-Minute series of books are packed with common sense ideas and practical advice for business owners or professionals. One of my favorites, The One-Minute Entrepreneur, is loaded with success concepts and a lot of one-minute insights.

I thought I would share some pearls of wisdom from this book – along with my take on them. Hopefully, these will provide some light-bulb moments as you plan your own entrepreneurial success.

#1 – A good life is built on strong, solid values such as integrity, love, honesty and purposeful work. I would suggest that the same is true of your business. When you love what you do and do it with purpose, integrity, and honesty, you build a reputation that attracts quality people – from customers to employees and more. Be the business others want to be associated with.

#2 – Becoming a successful entrepreneur and having a spouse are not mutually exclusive. Balancing work and family (spouse and children) takes planning and a commitment to both. Things that are important to your business get scheduled so they get done. Apply the same principle to your family. Build your business to work FOR you.

#3 – You’ll never achieve more than you think you can. So why not dream big? Don’t let little, safe goals hold you back from achieving more in life and in business. Take a look at the goals you’ve set for the coming year. Do they WOW you? If not, think bigger or better.

#4 – To create a successful business, you must first master the basics. Here are four things that are obvious – but worth mentioning:

Sales must exceed expenses. While you need to invest in growth, build overhead expenses as you build customers.
Collect your bills. Be reasonable, but don’t be your customers’ banker.
Take care of your customers. They are the lifeblood of your business – and they pay the bills. You work for them!
Take care of your people. Nurture them as they are the ones who make it happen. In the eyes of others, they are your company!

#5 – The best management includes day-to-day coaching. It catches your people doing things right and re-directs their efforts when they are off base. A serving leader helps others win. Teach, delegate, inspire, engage and congratulate them. It’s a recipe for building a winning team – one that serves your customers and helps you achieve your goals.

#6 – Success occurs when opportunity and preparation meet. Coming up with new ideas is rarely a problem for entrepreneurs. Implementing them is another issue. It requires preparation. What is the goal? What do you need to do to accomplish it? How do you get it done consistently within the company? Get others engaged and remember, ideas without actions are simply dreams. Results come from doing.

#7 – Take care of your numbers and your numbers will take care of you. While financials may not be your favorite thing, winning in business requires that you understand them. So here are two things to keep in mind. First, sales growth is important, but cash flow and profit are the keys to staying in business. Make sure you put the focus on all three. Second, little issues become big problems when they are ignored. It’s not enough to know you have a problem, you need to take the right corrective action to fix it. If you are not sure how to fix a problem, ask for help.

Create your own one-minute insights

Form a new habit this year by writing down your own one-minute insights. Whether you use a notebook or electronic device, capture pearls of wisdom you gain from reading, listening or learning. Over time, you will have a log of quotes, tips and other information to inspire and remind you to focus on what’s really important to you in business and in life.

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3 Ways to Get More Sales From Current Customers

Posted on by Joan Nowak

What are you doing to grow your revenue or sales year after year? If you are like most businesses, your resources are going to attract new customers. But what about your current customers, those that already know and like you?

What if you took just 5% of your marketing budget and dedicated it to grow sales to past or current customers? How much more income could you generate? Whether you sell to other businesses or consumers, don’t overlook this golden opportunity.

3 Ways To Capture More of Their Budget

Up-Sell: Upgrading customers to premium products or services is a simple way to grow sales. Premium products or services deliver more perceived value and command higher prices than standard offerings. So take a look at your current line-up. What can you do to beef them up with more features, special treatment options, extended warranties, higher service levels, faster delivery, etc? Think good, better, best. Once you have them, start promoting them!

Cross-Sell: Think complimentary products or services. Things that logically go together or are natural fits. Window washing with house cleaning, desert or wine with dinner, brushes and tarps with paint, and bookkeeping or payroll with accounting services are just a few examples. Whether you bundle or package them or leave them as a stand-alone option, these products or services offer customer convenience and incremental profit opportunities for you. And they can be delivered directly by you or seamlessly through a third party. The key here is to ask. So get creative and partner up if necessary to take advantage of these opportunities.

Re-Sell: Get customers to buy again and again. Some businesses, by their very nature, have recurring customer opportunities. Dance studios, cleaning services, and lawn care companies come to mind. However, most companies need to create repeat business.

Quality and convenience when it comes to service, product line, payment options and hours of operation certainly go a long way to keep them coming back. But making them feel appreciated and staying connected is vitally important. From birthday cards and punch-cards to customer-only offers, participation in surveys or research groups and volume incentives, these are all simple ways to stay connected and show you care. Whether you do so via phone, mail, email or social media, make sure your customers know you value their business and reward them for their loyalty. It will go a long way.

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Strategy Before Tactics For Business Success

Posted on by Joan Nowak

As a business owner, do you feel like you are fighting an uphill battle and losing ground? Doing lots of stuff but getting nowhere fast? Then it’s time to put the brakes on and start working smarter.

We’re all familiar with the saying, ‘Can’t see the forest for the trees’ and this is true for many small business owners. Engrossed in the details and daily operations, owners often ignore or don’t see the big picture. Whether you are solving problems or developing your business, think strategy before tactics.

What’s the difference? In simplest terms, a strategy is a broad plan to achieve desired goals or results; typically longer-term or bigger picture. Tactics are the means, tasks or actions, to carry them out. They are what you implement or do.

According to Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”. While true in military terms, it’s equally true in business, especially when it comes to marketing. You have a lot of tactical choices. But if they don’t work together and support your strategy, you waste time and money.

So as you plan for this year, take the time to revisit your marketing strategy before you set up the tactics to get there. Don’t get concerned, it’s not complicated. A good marketing strategy simply requires two things. First, a narrow focus on your ideal customers. Second, some way to differentiate your business. Here is how you can approach this.

Define YOUR Ideal Customers

You can’t be all things to all people and most small businesses know this. They don’t intend to try to serve everyone but end up there over time. With a desire to grow, especially in tough times, it’s easy to lose focus and view everyone as ideal. Unfortunately, more customers and sales do not guarantee more profit.

Even as they grow and evolve, most businesses have an ideal customer segment. To get a good sense of your ideal target, follow these steps:

Make a list (10-20) of your most profitable customers or clients. These may or may not be customers with the highest sales.
From that list, identify those who have referred business to you. You definitely want more of these!
From the smaller list, identify common demographic characteristics. If you lack this information, do a little research or ask the customer.
Next, take a look at their behaviors. How do they buy, what do they buy, why do they buy? What are the challenges they face? What’s important to them? Not sure, ask.
Draw a detailed sketch of your ideal client – and use it in your marketing!

Differentiate YOUR Business

This is not a new concept but one that many small businesses don’t do. Making claims for great service or quality doesn’t differentiate you – unless you back it up with something specific.

Differentiation helps you stand out from competition but also reduces your need to compete on price. If ‘how much’ is the first question your prospects ask, then you likely have a vanilla brand. Here are some questions you can use to get to the specifics you need to set your business apart from others:

What made you decide to hire us or choose us?
What’s one thing we do better than others like us?
What’s one thing we could do better?
Would you or do you refer us to others? If yes, why or what would you say?

If at any time, the customer responds with something bland like ‘you provide great service’, dig a little deeper to get specifics. Try asking ‘What does good service look like?’ or ‘Tell me a story or a time when we provided good service.’

I have done this exercise with a lot of clients. Create a simple survey and start asking your customers relevant questions. It’s not only helpful but can be eye-opening. More important, it will help you uncover some specifics you can use to stand out. And isn’t that the key to attracting more profitable customers?

With a strong knowledge and understanding of your ideal customers and what sets you apart, you now have the foundation for your marketing strategy. Choosing the right tactics to reach your target and creating compelling messages for them is now easier. Most important, your marketing will deliver better results.

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3 Pitfalls You Should Avoid

Posted on by Joan Nowak

How Do You Respond to Opportunities?

When someone offers you a new idea for improving your business (or your life), how do you react? Do you look for the flaws and try to justify why it’s a bad idea? Do you dismiss it as something you can’t do because it may require too much work, time or money? Or do you find ways to apply it – in full or in part?

Today more than ever, building sales and profit in business requires more creativity. Customers won’t simply show up on your doorstep or hand over their hard-earned money to you. Fortunately, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to find ideas to grow or improve your business.

You simply need to pay attention to what others are doing and saying — with a different attitude. Instead of dismissing their ideas or suggestions, look for the strengths and potential. Then ask yourself ‘How can I apply it in my business or life? What changes can I make to improve it’?

3 Reasons Why People Dismiss Ideas

Why do so many people quickly dismiss ideas that might benefit them? Here are three pitfalls you should avoid.

Lack of Time. We’re bombarded with information, overwhelmed with work and don’t want to contemplate taking on something new. But with an open mind, you may just uncover something that is far better than what you are currently working on. To key is to capture the idea before it is lost, then consider it later when you are less overwhelmed.

Ideas often arrive unexpectedly and are lost quickly. So the next time something peaks your curiosity, write it down in a notebook, computer or your smartphone. Don’t evaluate it, simply capture the idea for future consideration. Periodically or as part of your quarterly planning, pull out your list of ideas and pick one to research, develop and implement.

When you have an easy way to capture ideas, your mind becomes a magnet for them – and you ultimately have control over which you choose to pursue and which you choose to dismiss.

Lack of Trust. Sometimes, we dismiss ideas because we don’t trust or like the source. Recognize that ideas can come from good or bad people. Even questionable business practices often have, at their core, a perfectly good marketing or customer insight. Break it down and reinvent some of the elements to fit your values and business practices.

Lack of Understanding. Sometimes, we dismiss ideas simply because we don’t understand them. If the results seem too good to be true, don’t simply dismiss it out of hand. Take the time to ask more questions and truly understand. Your decision to act or dismiss is now based on some level of knowledge.

Life is full of opportunities to be happier and more successful. Sometimes these opportunities smack us in the face, they are obvious. But often, they arrive as fleeting remarks or suggestions by friends, colleagues, customers or even a chance encounter with a stranger.

If you open your mind and eliminate the tendency to rationalize why ideas won’t work – you may just uncover a world of untapped potential. Listen to your team, your customers, and your “little voice,” – and seize the day. Then you and your business can, and will, become so much more!

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How to Diversify Products to Maximize Sales and Profit

Posted on by Joan Nowak

Most businesses have more than one product or service that they offer. They are not all created equal. So if you want to maximize both sales and profit, diversify products just like you diversify your customers.

What Are Diverse Products?

Some products or services are highly profitable, others produce low margins. Some are single transactions, others are recurring. Some have broad appeal, others have narrow appeal. Some are labor intensive, others are not. Some are clearly unique – nobody else offers this product or service – while others are vanilla in nature.

Many of us don’t think about it this way. But a little variety can really go a long way to help maximize profit and reduce risk. Financial planners use diversification when putting together an investment portfolio. You can do the same with your products and services portfolio.

Categories For Product Diversification

Whether you sell merchandise, finished goods, or services, your offerings will typically fall into one or more of the following categories:

Customary: Products or services that customers readily associate with you or your business based on your industry. These may or may not represent a substantial portion of your sales, but customers may view them as necessary to ‘be in the business’. For example, annual tax preparation services is a standard offering for accountants. We expect them to be able to do our personal or business tax returns.

Core: These represent a substantial amount of sales or profit to your business. They may or may not be unique but often are the products and services that are ‘top of mind’ when people think of your business. You sell a lot of these so declines in sales of these products would heavily impact your overall business.

Complimentary: Products or services that go well with your core or customary products. They are natural fits. They are not typically ‘standalone’ products for YOUR business, but they offer customer convenience and incremental profit opportunities for you.

These types of products or services may be delivered by your company directly or seamlessly through a third party. For example, payroll or bookkeeping services are complimentary offerings for accountants; window cleaning is a complimentary service for residential or commercial cleaning service companies; watch repairs and jewelry cleaning are complimentary services for jewelers.

Easy Entry: Services or products that provide an easy, affordable way for customers to try you out. This is done with expectation for additional or premium products in the future. For example, a financial planner may use a financial plan to attract portfolio customers; a car dealer may use oil changes to attract car repair customers and future new car buyers; a consultant may use webinars to attract private clients; an attorney may offer employee handbook reviews to gain access to employment law clients. Often, ‘easy entry’ products or services are lower margin and profit, but they work IF you upgrade or sell them additional products.

Bundled: Products that combine various elements, features or services for convenience, savings or added value into a single offering. Most are familiar with cable companies who package internet and phone with cable TV. But anyone can do this if the bundle is valued by your target customers. Here are some less traditional ones: Accountants can bundle tax services with quarterly planning, salons can bundle hair and manicure services, a hardware store can bundle paint, brushes, and drop clothes.

Premium: These are products or services that deliver more perceived value and command higher prices. So they generate greater profit. These are often upgrades to standard or core offerings or are products that are in demand but are unique or have little competition. Think good-better-best!

Leveraged: Products or services that generate revenue and profit without substantial resources – time, people and money — beyond initial development. Information products and alliance programs are examples of these offerings. These provide passive income for your business. Most businesses have the ability to create them.

Recurring: These repeat in a predetermined frequency, such as weekly or monthly, and can be packaged accordingly. Here are a few examples: maintenance or service contracts, quarterly planning services, education or activity (dance, karate) classes, cleaning services, and lawn care.

Think Diverse To Maximize Profit

So where do your products and services fall on the diversity scale? Are all your eggs in one or two baskets? What opportunities exist in some of the other categories? Time to start tapping into those possibilities. Think different, think diverse.

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How to Avoid the Summer Sales Slump

Posted on by Joan Nowak

When the weather heats up, does your business cool down? Fewer calls, proposals, meetings, and events? With more people on vacation and kids out of school, some drop-off in activities that drive your business may occur. But the summer sales slump is less related to summer — and more related to your activities and expectations.

It’s easy to listen to and believe others in similar industries when they say things like “it’s hard to get new business during the summer” or “sales really drop off in July and August” or “marketing in the summer is a waste of time and money”.

When I started my business many years ago, I heard the same thing from others who were far more experienced than me. And I believed them. So I cut back on many of the activities that produce quality clients. And I got exactly what I expected – no new clients from June-August. I didn’t make that mistake again. The following year, I made a few minor tweaks but kept doing what I was doing the other 9 months. And I got new clients in the summer – some really good ones!

Fewer Leads, More Sales

Here is what I learned. While fewer people called me, the ones that did were more serious about getting the help they needed to improve their business. So I converted more of those prospects to paying clients. Fewer leads, but more sales! I’ve seen this play out again and again in my business and with my clients. We expect new business in the summer – we take action – and we get results. With different expectations, you can too.

So as you head into the summer, take some time to set priorities and activities for the next three months. Include some marketing and sales ‘stuff’ on your to-do list. If you already have consistent activities to generate leads and have extra time, use the summer to work on other areas of your business.

Summer Projects To Improve Your Business

How can you serve your customers better? Come up with one or two things you can start doing now.
What is the biggest complaint you get from customers? Work on a system to improve or eliminate the problem. Remember, think solution, not band-aid!
Change often comes from getting your team engaged. Pick one project for the team to work on together — to address a challenge or problem.
When was the last time you reviewed the procedures you have in place? Pick a few and start looking for ways to make them more efficient and effective. Not sure which ones need attention — as your team, they know where the problems are! Never took the time to document procedures? Now is a great time to start!
Are all your eggs in one basket as it relates to vendors or suppliers? Now is a good time to start exploring additional options — before a problem arises.

Get the most out of the summer. Think sales. Think productivity. Think profit. Then get to work to make it happen.

How Do You Measure Up?

For a comprehensive checklist to help you identify more hidden opportunities in your small business, check out my Business Success Checklist. It’s a great tool to help you assess progress and prioritize what needs to be done — all year round.

Direct Mail: 10 Tips to Attract More Customers

Posted on by Joan Nowak

Direct mail can be one of the most effective tools in your marketing arsenal – even with all the emphasis on digital marketing. For many small businesses, it generates one of the highest returns on both time and money. So here’s a few tips to get more from your direct mail efforts.

10 Tips to Make Direct Mail Effective

Target Your Mailings – Very Specifically. Direct mail works when the headline, copy and offers are compelling to the people you want to reach. You can’t create compelling messages with broad targets. Small subgroups with unique needs allow you to demonstrate value and talk their language which is a key to getting the actions you want. So think smaller to get bigger results.

Don’t Limit Direct Mail to Postcards. Letters and flyers allow you to provide more information or tell a better story. So ignore the myth that short and sweet is always the way to go. Break up the copy with sub-headlines for easy scanning. And use a PS in your marketing piece. It’s the most read copy in any direct mail.

Give People a Reason to Act. Give people a reason to act – call, visit website, stop by your location. An offer does not need to be expensive, it just needs to be compelling for your audience. Here’s a few to consider: samples, money-back guarantee, free trial, coupon, money refund, special deal or savings, a guarantee of service, unique reward or widget, or free information or help. Get creative and remember, include an expiration date to create a sense of urgency.

Include a Compelling Headline. It’s important to grab their attention. Whether you use a letter, postcard or flyer, the headline encourages them to read more. Make the headline ‘speak to them’ – another reason for a clear target! And remember, your company name is not a headline!

Don’t Gloss Over the Copy. This is one of the most important parts of your direct mail piece so make it powerful. Highlight benefits, not features. Use bullets or short segments of information. Use sub-headlines with longer copy. Use questions to identify problems, then, demonstrate how you solve them. Write like you speak, conversationally. Minimize buzz-words and jargon. Support claims and be credible.

Have a Clear Call to Action. Don’t assume your prospect knows what you want them to do. Be clear about it. If you want them to call, say so. You can also include the call to action upfront, in the middle, and at the end — or any combination.

Use a Good Mailing List. The best direct mail piece won’t attract new customers if the mailing list is not accurate or up-to-date. You can purchase a targeted mailing list, based on your criteria. Your local library is also a good source as many of them offer free access to a database of businesses and individual consumers or households.

Make It Personal. Mailing labels, meter postage, and non-personalized envelopes reduce open rates on direct mail, especially when mailing to businesses. Always personalize it with the name, use ‘handwriting’ fonts or hand write the information and place a postage stamp on it. Include your return address but consider replacing your company name with your name for a more personal look. It may cost a little more and take more time, but is often offset by increased open rates.

Start Small. If using a new direct mail piece, try it out on a smaller sample before doing large mailings. This allows you to test the effectiveness and modify if needed. If your piece has already proven to be successful, (it generates viable leads) then systematize it and send out a pre-set quantity each week or month to create a continuous flow of new leads.

Do Track Results. The only way you will know what works and doesn’t is by tracking the results. How many pieces did you mail? How many responses did you get? There are a lot of methods for tracking results, but the easiest and most effective way is to get in the habit of always asking people how they heard of you (or what made them contact you).

Finally, remember this simple rule when it comes to direct mail and all marketing strategies. If it works, keep doing it. I am surprised at how often small business owners replace or change a marketing piece because they get bored with it. They assume their prospects and customers do too. The time to ‘change’ or re-think your marketing is when it stops working – meaning it no longer generates quality leads and a return on investment for you.

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Online Reviews: Testimonials on Steroids

Posted on by Joan Nowak

When customers want to learn more about your business, review sites are one of the places they go. And it isn’t limited to hotels and restaurants! From physicians and plumbers to bookkeepers and attorneys, review sites and social platforms like Yelp, Facebook and Google offer a way for prospects to get the inside scoop about your business from those in the know – your current or past customers.

Like testimonials, online reviews from customers can give prospects a sense of security, improve your credibility, bring out attributes you don’t always promote and provide content for your marketing. As a result, they can drive more sales to your business.

But did you also know that online reviews can help improve your organic search rankings in Google? They can if you keep the following in mind:

Normal Frequency. Are customers, clients or patients writing reviews on a regular basis or are there long time gaps between reviews. Getting new reviews throughout the year is important.
Timeliness. How old is your last review – six months, one year, more? Recent reviews are more heavily weighted than older ones.
Opinions. While not totally scientific, Google can measure positive versus negative feedback – and gives more credit to positive reviews.

To Get More Online Reviews – ASK

The best way to increase the number of online reviews is to ASK your customers. Many of your loyal customers will be happy to help you grow your business – you simply need to make it easy for them to do so. Here are a few ways my clients have used to get customer feedback and reviews:

If you do after-sale feedback surveys, follow-up your conversation with a thank you email and request they write a review. Always include the link to the site — for example, your Google My Business URL.
Create a biz-card with a request for review and URL link (or instructions) to give to customers or patients at check-out. This is helpful for retail or medical practices.
If you leave an invoice at a customer’s home or business when service is completed, include a brief comment/request for an online review with the supporting URL. Mention this to the customer so the comment is simply a reminder.

So what is the downside of online reviews? The one I hear most is fear that a disgruntled employee or customer will write something damaging or vindictive.

Protect Your Reputation

While there is always the risk of not-so-good reviews, there are a few things you can do to make sure the positives outweigh the negatives – and protect your reputation.

Make service and quality a priority. Happy customers write positive reviews. Go back and look at any negative reviews, customer complaints or feedback surveys to identify the gaps or issues. Common ones include scheduling or late arrivals, long waits, re-doing the work (poor quality), lack of response, and multiple people or conversations required to resolve an issue. By improving the business, you will improve the reviews.

Be accessible. A bad buying experience can often be resolved with a conversation if you are available to them. How can people contact you by phone or email? Are your contact information included on your website and social media sites? Are your online business listings accurate? Even the best businesses make mistakes. Be professional and apologetic – and you may actually turn an unhappy customer into a happy one!

Monitor Your Reputation. Keeping track of what is said about your business (or key personnel) is important. Google Alerts makes it easy. Simply set up an alert using your company name and one for yourself and key people. Once set up, Google will notify you when these appear on the web.

Keep It Honest

Fake reviews or paying for reviews to build up the number is fraudulent and deceptive. Like any false advertising, it is subject to fines and removal from ALL review sites. More important, word of such deceitful actions can ruin your credibility in the market.

Build your online reviews with integrity. Ask your customers and make it easy for them — and you will reap the benefits.