How To Get Your Customers To Fall In Love With Your Products And Services

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Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd.

My hair grows so damn fast. I have to get a hair cut every 3 weeks. Every time I need a haircut I go to Peter in downtown, Vancouver. You know… Peter actually worked in New York 10 years ago. I guess you could say he earned his chops in New York. And he’s cut hair for many celebrities, including Jim Carrey, etc. Then he moved to Vancouver and opened his own salon. Well, if Pete is good enough for Jim Carrey then he’s good enough for Dan Lok. I’ve been going there for 8 years now. Talk about customer loyalty! Yeah… so I’m sure you are asking why am I so damn loyal? Right? What makes Pete different than the other hairdressers? Why do I go back to him again and again? Well I’ll tell you. Pete works at it. He builds loyal customers in each interaction and builds them into every haircut he produces. He didn’t attract the stars simply because he cuts hair well (though he does). He also offers exceptional customer service. And I have to tell you, even if Pete’s haircutting ability wasn’t 110%, I’d probably still go back. Why? Customer service. Commitment. Quality. So ask yourself, how do YOU build loyal customers? The best way to build loyal customers is by using the loyalty ladder concept. I want you to picture an ordinary ladder. Now consider each rung of the ladder.

Each «rung» is a «stage» of loyalty a customer may have.

There are many different stages of loyalty customers demonstrate at each rung of the ladder:  Raving Fan  Devotee  Member  Customer  Shopper  Prospect  Suspect Let’s describe each of these in more detail. Suspect The suspect is the lowest rung on your ladder, when a customer starts out on your loyalty ladder. This is when customer’s are at the very bottom of your ladder. These are people who may or may not want or need what it is you sell. They may not have any money. They are simply people who are not buying. Prospect Prospects are suspects who have taken some sort of action like subscribing to your newsletter, giving you their email addresses or those who have asked you for some sort of free information. They are people who may turn into active customers, but aren’t there yet. Customer A customer is anyone who has actually spent money with you. You have to differentiate between your prospects and your customers. This is one of the reasons it is so damn important you segment your lists. You don’t want to have everyone on ONE BIG list. At the very least, you should have a prospect list and customer list. You should treat your prospects and customers very differently. You should always give your customers more attention. Give them a better deal than everyone else.

Why? They are already paying you for your products and services. Prospects are important, but customers are even more important. Member A member is someone who buys from you more than once. These are customers that now trust you. They feel they belong with you in some way. Now listen up. Customers who make two purchases are 10 times more likely to make more than someone who makes only one purchase with you. So anyone who is a member deserves special attention, because if they buy twice, they are likely to buy again. Devotee What’s the difference between a devotee and a member? A devotee is someone who not only buys from you, but tells other people about you. They send you referrals. They promote you actively. They are happy to be your free sales force because they get so much value from you. Raving Fan The next stage in the ladder is Raving Fans. Usually only 1% to 5% of your customers become Raving Fans. They’re one of your most valuable assets. They pretty much own everything you have. And, whatever new products and service you come up with, they will buy without blinking an eye. The Raving Fan will stick with you for years as long as you don’t screw up in a major way. There’s a very strong trust and bond with you and the Raving Fans. They trust you 100%. They want to see you succeed. They want to see you do well. If a devotee is someone who sells for you, a Raving Fan is someone who can’t STOP selling for you. Raving Fans tell everyone about how fantastic you are. They talk about your company. They love you. These days it’s more expensive than ever to get a new customer. Most businesses in fact are acquiring their customers at a loss or break-even point. That means you have to get your customers to come back to you and buy again and again. Why? That customer isn’t simply profitable to you. They are your most important resource. What you want, what you need is as many raving fans as you can get.

You will succeed when you sort your prospects from suspects, move people up from prospects to customers, from customers to raving fans. You need to have a marketing system that automatically moves people up the loyalty ladder as quickly as humanly possible. Very soon, it’ll be like me and Pete. I am one of Pete’s Raving Fans. I send him clients. I sell for him WITHOUT him asking me to it. I write about him in my article! I only go to him and nobody else. And I am thrilled to show up every month, 12 times a year to give him money. And I’ll keep going to him unless he retires from the business. That could be another 10 to 20 years. You see how much a Raving Fan like me is worth to Pete’s business? Sincerely, Dan Lok

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Are You «Shooting» Your Marketing Dollars with a Shotgun or a Rifle and WHAT’s the Difference?

Sandra P. Martini In marketing your services or widgets, what approach do you use? Do you scatter your marketing efforts over a range hoping to hit something? Or do you take careful aim, hitting the target more times than not? Shotgun Marketing Gun aficionados are going to shoot me here (no pun intended), but whenever I use the term “Shotgun Marketing”, I have this vision of Al Pacino blasting away in Scarface – I’m repeatedly told that he does not use a “shotgun”, but you get the idea.

A shotgun shoots shells over an area with the hope that at least some of them hit the target. The word “shotgun” is actually defined as “covering a wide range in a haphazard or ineffective manner”. Examples of shotgun marketing include cold calling, bulk mailings and advertisements in large circulation general newspapers. In the online world, shotgun marketing includes banner advertising on sites that get large quantities of generic visitors and spamming emails. If you are a professional services business (virtual assistant, web designer, etc.) and haven’t adequately researched your prospective clients, your marketing is going to have the same ineffective scatter-type effect. You will blanket an area with postcards, direct mail campaigns, newspaper ads or online advertising without ever actually knowing if your prospects are “being hit”. Depending on your business, this could be good or it could be bad – either way, it’s going to get real expensive real quick. You naturally get wider coverage using the shotgun approach to marketing – this could be good if you are trying to blanket an area to let them know you exist (for example, a new coffee shop or a new mechanic in town). The downside is that it’s costly as studies show that you need to be in front of someone 7 – 10 times before they even recognize your name. Rifle Marketing I think you know where we’re going with this one. Rifles bring things into focus, allowing you to take careful aim before pulling the trigger. If you know your target audience, really know them, you should be able to initiate marketing campaigns with sniper-type accuracy. “Rifle Marketing” allows you to be more personal in your marketing campaigns. You can also devise campaigns that are made up of more than just a simple postcard or letter. For example, to symbolize how much time (or business) your potential clients are wasting (throwing away) by not hiring you, send your sales letter in a small trash can with a label on it (always send First Class). Your letter is bound to be opened more often (and more quickly) than all the other letters arriving in envelopes via Third Class mail.

Innovative campaigns such as the preceding not only increase the chance that prospective clients will call you, they tell the client something about you before you even speak: you are results-oriented, you think outside the box and you think before you leap. This is the type of person that smart business owners want on their team. Which is better? At first glance, you may want to say that the “rifle” approach is better than the “shotgun”. However, it depends on your business, your personality and your target audience. Shotgun campaigns are, by their very nature, less personal than the rifle campaigns. This may be appropriate to your business. I generally think of shotgun marketing as creating awareness and rifle marketing as getting results. Whichever your preference, remember to keep your marketing campaign true to your personal style and that less done well is much better than more done poorly.

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Online Content Networks: Make Easy Money Writing Online?

Stephen Ashton The thought of making even a part-time income as a freelance Web writer from home can be quite appealing. Yet, finding small niche sites that are looking for articles, paying a decent amount of money, and buying content from freelancers with your particular expertise can be a daunting task. Enter online content networks. You probably come across articles on some of the larger content networks on a regular basis through search engines. Having experience working with three such networks, I’d like to share some background on content networks in general, what they’re like to work with, and then follow with a comparison of the three networks I’m experienced with. What Are Content Networks? When I refer to content networks, I mean a group of websites, each covering a niche topic, but still housed under one large umbrella site. The three content networks I’ll soon be comparing are www.About.com (where I was a former writer), www.Suite101.com (where I am a current Editor), and www.AllInfoAbout.com (who I am currently building my third niche site with). Often, sites within a content network are managed by an expert in a field who serves at the site’s writer, front-line editor / proofreader, blogger, and manager of a discussion forum, newsletter, or other site features. In some cases, writers even have some say over the design and layout of their site and content. What is it Like to Work for Content Networks? What it’s like to work with content networks can vary greatly from one network to the next.

But in all cases, you have the ability to focus on a subject you enjoy and are qualified to write on (or they probably wouldn’t have accepted your application in the first place). You also have a lot of flexibility in your schedule, because you’ll work as a freelance writer. Despite the fact that pay scales and methods can vary greatly, you also have the potential to earn money and over and over again from the same articles you’ve written, instead of simply being paid a one-time fee. The Networks Please note that all information I mention regarding the networks below is pulled from personal experience and from information readily available on their websites between late 2005 and May 2006. Each of the networks reserves the right to change their general pay structures, writer requirements, and anything else at any given time, and you should check the network’s official site for the latest information. The information below is opinion-based from experience, and will cover some of the best and worst points of each network. www.About.com – One of the best qualities of About.com is the fact that they have the best pay structure for new writers (called Guides on the site), currently listed on their site as a $500 per month guarantee for the Guide’s first twelve months on the job. Another positive note with About.com is that they have the backing of, and are owned by, The New York Times Company. That fact can help Guides more easily get review copies of products and books, interviews, and other necessary contacts for information they’d like to use on their sites. Despite how good that may sound, the biggest negative aspect of About.com is that they have somewhat rigged rules, in order to keep the network looking unified, so you have less control over your content there, and they probably take the least amount of feedback from writers.

www.Suite101.com – The difference in pay scales between Suite101 and About is similar in that the basic pay scales are based on pageview rates (the number of pageviews your site draws for the network), but different in that Suite101 currently has a set rate for all sites ($2 per 1000 pageviews as listed on their site now) whereas About’s rates are variable. The biggest plus to working with Suite101 is that the company just underwent a reorganization and is going through a series of positive changes and growth right now, including hiring a large number of writers. Suite101 is also fantastic at listening to writers’ and editors’ feedback and suggestions to consider improvements network-wide. The biggest negative for writers would be the fact that there is no guaranteed pay. It’s strictly based on pageviews. www.AllInfoAbout.com – All Info About (or AIA) is a UK-based network with writers all over the world. The best part about AIA is that writers retain the most control over their content, and can decide how to lay out many aspects of their site (from their color choices to whether or not they want to include a blog to organizing their navigation structures in the most effective way to suit their content).

The biggest drawback is that the network doesn’t pay.

However, writers have control over most of the ads on their site, and they can monetize them in other ways such as selling their own relevant products or services. But despite the lack of direct payments, AIA recently started breaking sites onto their own domain names, instead of sub-domains on most networks, and running a site on their network instead of on your own can allow you network support through the writer community and enormous cross-linking opportunities to help you grow your traffic. Overall, each of these networks has their pros and cons. If you opt to give content network writing a try, just be certain to weigh how much the issues of pay, freedom over your content, and open ears of management mean to you. Once you have your own priorities, you’re sure to find a content network that will fit the bill.

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Three Reasons to Offer an Online Newsletter

Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com If you want an easy and effective way to keep in touch with your target market, consider offering an online newsletter (ezine). Here are three main reasons to implement this as part of your business building strategies. 1. To continuously build your email list. Offering an online newsletter is one of the most effective ways to build your email list. If you’re already offering a Pink Spoon (your freebie offering, like a special report or short audio) to entice people to sign up for your list, consider adding a newsletter as well. For example, when someone signs up to receive my Pink Spoon, «5 Keys to Wild Abundance in Your Business,» they also receive a free subscription to my ezine, Creating Client Abundance™. Then, to help others help you build your subscriber base, add a tell-a-friend opportunity to your newsletter.

Simply add a line of text at the top or bottom of your newsletter that asks your reader to pass it along to anyone they know who might find it of value. Or to take it up a notch, use your shopping cart’s tell-a-friend code or software like TAFPro to make it super-simple for your current readers to recommend your newsletter to others. 2. To create a place for your list to get to know, like and trust you. You know by now that in order for someone to invest their time and money with you, they have to feel good about you. They have to feel like they know you, like you and trust you before they will become a client or customer. A newsletter is a great way to allow that process to happen. And one way to let your subscribers get to know you is by writing about your personal life, as much or as little as you’d like to share. If you’re in touch with your readers on a regular basis, and you provide them with valuable information, and you let them get to know you a bit, I guarantee that many of them will become clients and customers over time. 3. It’s cheap (even free) and easy! Your newsletter can be created and delivered in a variety of ways. You can write it yourself or hire someone to write it for you. You can provide a 500-word article, or simply one tip. You can create a new issue each time or you can create a certain number of issues consisting of «evergreen» topics. For frequency of delivery, you can send it once a week or once a month. You can set it up to go out automatically through an autoresponder or you can send it through a broadcast service each time you put it out. For physical delivery, you can send it out through your web host, if they have this feature available to you, or through a free (www.ezezine.com) or paid (www.aweber.com) list service. Just a sidenote here: As your email list grows, it’s inevitable that some readers will unsubscribe. Sometimes they’ll tell you why, and when you receive this feedback from them, please don’t take it personally, but consider using it to inform your work on your newsletter in the future. For example, if a handful of your readers tell you that they unsubscribed because the information you’re providing isn’t relevant to them, that’s ok.

You can’t please everyone, nor should you try. But if a significant number of readers are unsubscribing for the same or similar reason, you might want to take a discerning look. Are you providing the content you promised you would in the copy that encourages people to sign up? Or are you providing quality content, just not to the right niche? Or is it something else altogether? Producing an online newsletter really can be as simple as sharing one tip via a text email on a consistent basis. You can always expand from there, if you want. If you’re ready to start acquiring more clients and customers sooner rather than later, go on and create your premiere issue today. And then send me a copy at alicia@clientabundance.com!

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Using eCourses to Leverage Your Expertise Online

Donna Gunter You’re a wonderful service provider, whether you’re a massage therapist, real estate agent, mortgage broker, web designer, etc. However, as a service provider, you have only so many hours in the day to work with your clients, yet there are still hundreds and hundreds of people in the world who could really use the knowledge and expertise you hold about the service you provide. Enter the eCourse. eCourses are a timed-released format of delivering valuable information to your customer base via email. The course segment emails consist of shorter pieces of information that can be consumed in generally 1-2 minutes. Using autoresponder technology, the lessons can be delivered with a specific interval of time in between and delivered automatically, with no regular human attention needed beyond the setup of the eCourse. How cool is that? Never been exposed to an eCourse? Here’s one you can sign up for right now: «5 Keys to Putting Money in Your Pocket with a Virtual Assistant», found at http://www.

Boost-Your-Bottom-Line-with-Virtual-Assistance.com. The eCourse can be offered free of charge and used as a marketing tool to gather contact information from prospective clients and to expose them to your expertise and sell them on your products and services. Or, it can be offered for a fee for clients who might want to get a taste of what you offer but aren’t willing to pay your full service fee yet. An eCourse is pretty simple to write. Come up with a topic that is appropriate for your target market. Each lesson becomes a simple article. Write 5-10 lessons, and you have a terrific eCourse on your hands. Or, if you like to write Top 10 lists, create one of those and make each bullet point become one of your lessons for the eCourse. Write your eCourse in a comfortable and conversational tone–just as though the reader were sitting down to have a chat and a cup of coffee with you. Include new and innovative information in what you’re writing so that the reader is assured that you’re the expert. Give some real-life stories or practical applications about how the reader can apply the information in your eCourse. Cite valuable resources in your materials that will further help your reader. To keep your reader motivated and empowered, sprinkle some inspiration in with your eCourse message. You’ll want your reader to come away with useful and valuable information and be anxious to receive or buy further information or expertise from you. If you’ve been in business for awhile, you know that it takes 7-10 «touches» for a client to decide to buy your product or service. A multi-issue eCourse gives the prospective client multiple opportunities to «check you out». And, because you’re getting in front of the prospective client each time s/he receives a new segment of the eCourse, the eCourse permits the prospective client to get to know you before hiring you, thus making the eCourse the perfect relationship builder and lead generator.

Once you have the content for your eCourse, you can format it in plain text, or in HTML, using a program like FrontPage. However, you won’t want to have to personally send out the ecourse to everyone who subscribes, so I use the autoresponder and subscription features that come as part of my shopping cart program. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial here and use all of the features of the program:http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?pr=31id=59401 Demonstrate to the world what a phenomenal service provider you are. Start drafting your first eCourse today!

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