Follow Up With A Call – Telephone Marketing WORKS
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How many of us HATE cold calling? – I know my hand is up in the air!
But how about warm calling? That’s a little easier, isn’t it.
The truth is, no one likes the rejection that comes with cold calling, so the question is, how can we make our telephone follow up a welcome part of someone’s day?
Let’s turn that question around… who would YOU like to hear from when you pick up the telephone?
Personally, I would say this is my list of people I want to hear from on the phone (in that order)…
- Friends and Family
- People who are going to help me accomplish a goal I am aware of, and ideally have asked for help on.
- People who are calling to discuss or warn me of important information. Face it – no one likes bad news, but what if you got a call that the stock market was going to crash tomorrow or your loved one was in the hospital and needed help… you’d rather know than not know, wouldn’t you?
You can accomplish all three of these objectives in a good telephone conversation to prospects.
Sample Marketing Campaign For Real Estate Agent
For example, as a commercial real estate broker, our marketing campaign was something like this:
- Develop a "FOCUSED" list of prospects who all owned a certain type of property in a certain neighborhood. Work on becoming an "expert" in this area. (Easier said than done, but there was plenty of "fake it til you make it" going on…)
- Send out an informative newsletter to people highlighting topics of interest to them. My goal was always to make these as niche-focused as possible. Instead of sending a generic newsletter to everyone on my list called "What’s going on with Seattle Apartment Buildings," I would send a mailing about, "What Every 5-20 Unit Apartment Owner in Queen Anne Needs To Know About Increasing Vacancy Rates." That’s much more specific and since everyone I’m sending it to could recognize himself as a member of this category, and is likely concerned about rising vacancy, it’s something he’s more inclined to read.
- Follow up with a phone call. Note – we do some research and "warm up" our list before we start calling them, don’t we…
Once on the phone call – We introduce ourselves and build credibility with a short statement of our specialization in the marketplace and a reference to the mail we sent out.
- Follow up with a thank you card for everyone we’ve talked to, whether or not a meeting was scheduled. This will help the prospect remember us and like us MORE the next time we call. For those we are not able to have a conversation with, call and leave a voicemail at least 3 times.
- Repeat the sequence quarterly. Mailing and contacting each prospect 4 times a year.
We quickly engage the prospect by giving him an exciting, scary, or relevant news item that might effect his strategy and ask him for HIS opinions. Notice we are not launching into a long spiel, but rather we are asking for HIS opinions – who do YOU like to hear talk – yourself or a salesman.
Our goal is to get the prospect thinking about his investment strategy, build rapport and credibility as an expert in our corner of the marketplace and propose a reason to get together to further discuss any concerns he has raised during the course of the conversation.
Altogether, the conversation should only last 4-5 minutes. If it goes longer, it may be that you’re giving too much information on the phone and not asking the prospect for a sit-down meeting to go into further depth.
This is just one example of a relationship-building telephone marketing routine. In real estate sales, the "deal" often gets done after the prospect and agent have known each other for months, if not years. You can not antagonize your clients or be too pushy. This is very different than a sales call in which products or services are purchased over the phone.
The thing I want to point out is that it meets my criteria of who I would like to hear from on the telephone. Someone I know – like friends or family. You WILL get to know someone if they call you four times a year. That’s more than my Grandma calls me and she LOVES us. Also, as my prospect gets to "know" me through voicemails and mailings, he will feel more comfortable taking my calls even if I haven’t spoken to him yet.
Second, if the salesperson is doing a good job in delivering value – such as news about the marketplace – that helps the client form his investment strategy, it won’t matter if the client is not looking to sell his property right away, he can still benefit from the conversations, even if he doesn’t plan to sell or buy property soon.
This is the type of relationship that you can develop with your clients over the phone. It can be hard at first, but it only gets better. Keep your focus on the client and providing value for him each time you talk. Ultimately, the client wants to feel like you are a valued expert who will advise them in their best interest, not a salesman who’s always thinking about wringing money out of them and working in his own best interest.
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I was talking to an attorney the other day who shared an important marketing strategy that she had been teaching to the junior associates in her office.
It was a simple strategy, but extremely effective. It’s something you can do, too, to make more money and build more credibility in the eyes of your clients.
The question essentially boils down to, "What else can we help you with?" Or, in the words of McDonalds – "Would you like fries with that?"
Have You Simply Been Focused On Providing Excellent Service?
You Need To Identify What Other Needs Your Clients Have That You Can Help Them With.
So many service providers get caught up in providing their own excellent product or service, that they don’t focus on being a RESOURCE for their clients and helping them meet their other needs.
The attorney I spoke to had a NICHE focusing in estate planning (writing wills, doing tax planning) for high net worth individuals. She did not do things like creating LLC’s, helping people buy and sell property, or handle litigation, divorce, bankruptcy, adoption, or any of the myriad other things that attorneys help people with.
However, she did realize that she had captured the mind share (attention) of her clients and they respected her opinion and appreciated her help.
She was in a unique opportunity to extract information from them and advise them on other strategies to meet their needs.
In this case, she limited herself to recommending other attorneys in her law firm who could also serve her clients. If they had other legal needs, she could immediately put them in touch with an expert she knew, and the fees from the additional legal work would go to benefit her firm. She didn’t get anything out of it, like a referral fee, but she did benefit the client by putting them in touch with excellent service providers, benefit the law firm, by helping them develop new business, and enhance and reinforce her credibility in the eyes of her clients as someone who was committed to helping them and was well positioned to do so.
Is this a strategy that you could implement within your business?
What if you are more of a one-man or -woman show, rather than a partner in a large law firm?
There are still lots of ways you could implement this strategy.
How Can YOU Implement This Up-Sell/Cross-Sell Strategy?
For example, realtors can refer people to mortgage brokers, home warranty programs, attorneys and title companies they work with. They can even make a 25% referral fee by sending clients to other agents, if they’re not in position to help that agent themselves.
Dave Ramsey is a radio personality who talks about getting out of debt and personal finance. He has a national audience, and he says to them, "If you need help with financial planning, real estate, taxes, etc. Go to my website and look at my endorsed local providers." Then people can do business with the people he recommends, and he gets a kick back for sending over the business. Brilliant, simple, you can do it, too.
This is rampant in the world of online marketing. If you have a list or sell a product, you know what your list members are interested in based on how they found you or what product they bought. (For example – give me your email, and I’ll give you a report on how to improve your credit score or I’ll sell you my book on how to not get burned by mortgage brokers). If you had a list of people like this, you’d know they were probably interested in improving their credit and/or obtaining financing. You could sell these leads to a mortgage broker, or let the mortgage broker play to email an ad to your list. You could call up the prospects and see if they were interested in getting a loan, you could email them an affiliate offer and earn a commission or a referral fee if they signed up to buy the product you recommended.
There are lots of different ways to go if you have people’s attention as a credible advisor and know what they’re interested in… their concerns and dreams.
Make it a point to ASK them, so you can find out. Then find a worthwhile way to help them with the most common and pressing concerns.
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Making your own cheap postcards is a great way to save money and get your message out.
When I was just getting started as a real estate investor, I made $10 an hour at my day job. I new I wanted to do mailings to targeted lists like foreclosure leads, bankruptcy filings, probate sales, etc. but it had to be CHEAP because I didn’t have a lot of money to spend.
I found that I could make my own very cheap postcards with the following approach.
Steps for Creating Your Own Cheap Postcards
- On your computer, or by hand if you want a different look, divide an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper into four quadrants. Create two sheets like this – one will be the front side of the cards, and one will be the back side of the cards.
- Write your sales copy on each side of the card. One side will be mostly blank and you will put the mailing address label there. The other side is where you have the opportunity to put your sales copy. You can put a black-and-white photo or drawing if you want, but I have found that with limited space, long copy on postcards pulls very well.
- Make sure you include a call to action and your contact information (phone, fax, website, email, etc.) so people can get in touch with you in the way that is most comfortable for them.
- Print out and bring your two "sides" of the postcard to a local copy center. Get the postcards printed on light card stock (tagboard) on a color that is easy to read. (I like light yellow. But different colors may pull well with different audiences – for example – lime green is great for teenagers, but adults don’t like to read things printed on this color.) Make a two-sided copy so you have four "front of the postcard" images on one side of the tagboard, and four "back of the postcard" images on the back. You should be able to have this printed for about ten cents per sheet. If you are printing a lot of post cards, find out if you can get a price break if you order a certain quantity (e.g. over 1,000).
- Have the copy center do two cuts (one vertical, one horizontal) to cut each sheet into four quadrants. This should be about $1 "per cut" which is just $2 for the whole print run.
- Now you have cute little postcards that you can stick address labels on and stamps on and they are ready to go.
Special Note About Making Your Postcards
These days, you can also have postcards made for you in 4-colors for pretty cheap. The nice thing about printing your own is:
- You can do small print runs (you don’t have to order a huge number).
- You can do them fast (don’t have to wait for print company to make them and ship them to you.
- You can make them at home, and print them out on your computer with a "mail merge" so you don’t have to use address labels, you can just print right onto the postcard.
- Sometimes things that look "home made" or "less professional" actually get MORE interest from the people you mail to. You look like a mom-and-pop business rather than a big corporation sending junk mail. Consider who your target audience is and whether this approach might be more effective.
Postcard Template To Make Your Own Postcards – Cheap – Using Microsoft Word
If you want to use this strategy, the only hard thing about it is setting up the template for Microsoft Word.
I hope this is helpful!
Good luck with making your own cheap postcards!
Emily
P.S. If you prefer to have your postcards printed, I have had really good luck getting unbelievably cheap 4-color postcards printed here.
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How To Find a Good Postcard Printer
By · CommentsFinding a good postcard printer is a necessity whether you want to make business postcards, or just stock up on some customized personal postcards that you can use for routine correspondence at home.
Here are a few things to look for when you’re selecting the postcard printer you want to work with:
- Quality of the end product – The age and type of equipment that a printer uses can affect the quality of his output, whether it is color postcards, glossy or matte finish, or even whether he is able to use embellishments like foil. Sometimes your options are more limited when you use the mom-and-pop shop around the corner, if they have not been able to invest in the latest and greatest equipment to do the printing.
- Production Time – How long will it take to create the print job? If you go to a place where they don’t have a ton of business, or you decide to make your own postcards, you can have your postcards printed on the same day you decide to get them. If you need a larger print run, or order your postcards from an online postcard printer, you may find that it will take longer to have them in your hands. If you can, it’s good to plan ahead so you can order your postcards several weeks in advance of when you’ll need them.
- Price – Although it’s nice when price isn’t your primary concern, it’s ALWAYS a factor on my list when I make a business decision. Ask your postcard printer if there are any price breaks if you order a certain quantity of the postcards. Compare the cost of various features – for example – full color on one side and a black and white or 2-color printing on the other side. Also if you work with an online printer, be sure to factor in the cost of shipping and any "rush" on your order, to understand the true cost of having your postcards printed.
- Layout Support – One of the biggest impediments to many small business owners coming away from their print shop with postcards they are happy with, is having a good graphical design layout. It can be expensive to hire someone to design your postcards. Unless you are using a text-only postcard, or have a photo that you’re going to use for one side, chances are you’ll need some graphic design done for the elements of your post card. If you’re working on a budget, having a good template to work from can save you a lot of time and money. Even if you’re proficient at Photoshop or Publisher, consider starting with a template that will work for your postcard, and then adding embellishments like your photo or logo. My postcard printer, for example, has thousands of templates that you can use, you can also make your own in their postcard designer online, or upload images or graphics that you’ve created on your own software.
I have had thousands of postcards made… some I’ve printed myself on my computer, some I’ve printed at the local copy shop (Staples) and some I’ve outsourced to an online printer. If you have time to order through an online company, I would highly recommend it.
I found that they offered the best quality product at an unbelievable price. The slow turn around time was the only disadvantage.
Find out who my online postcard printer is.
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Taking Advantage Of Outsourcing Your Web Design
By · CommentsSpending time trying to design and build a professional looking website on your own can be tiresome, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the designing process. Outsourcing this task can save you plenty of time, which is why many businesses are seeking web designing services. You’ll see much better results from using a knowledgeable web designer to complete this task for you. You’ll also find the investment is well worth the returns you receive. Creating and designing a good website can involve plenty of technicalities to get it right, which is another reason to let a professional handle it. It’s up to you whether you prefer to work with an individual freelance designer or a bigger company that specializes in web design. You can either approach them directly or through freelance sites such as Elance.com and Guru.com. Throughout this article we’ll be looking at some of the more obvious advantages you can gain from outsourcing to a web designer.
It isn’t enough for a company to simply set up a website – you need a website that is eye-catching and very easy to navigate. If you have one that is all style and no substance, this will be ineffectual for you in the long run. To effectively survive in the market and beat the competition, you need to have a site that contains high quality content, good design that grabs the visitor’s attention and has the right level of functionality. The website needs to strike the right balance between presenting the brand image of your company and ensuring that the customers are comfortable using it. One of the best elements of outsourcing is the recent trends in competition between the different firms that provide offshore web design. This means you can get the best deal out of it. These companies have to survive, which is why they will try to give you the best service. If you take advantage of this, you will be able to get a great product. It is unlikely that any in-house team you created would be able to match the professionalism and quality of the outsourced work. You need to consider the latest trends in web marketing like what is seen on this Halloween Super Affiliate site
You should be able to form a good strategy with the right outsourcing team, all the while taking many factors into consideration. They have a multiple skill set that can work on executing your website in the most effective manner. It really tops it all off that the development costs are so low. No stone will be left unturned when you are dealing with a web design company, and they will assist you in monitoring the growth of your site as well.
Many small business owners try to keep their spending to an absolute minimum, especially where advertising costs are concerned. But that shouldn’t mean avoiding spending on important aspects of your business. You can also use those funds to enhance your company’s brand on the internet. The sheer number of people using the Internet is increasing each day as many people are now counting on the web to meet their needs. As people become more internet savvy, they’re spending more time and money online than ever before, which means your website will need to have a professional image to raise your business brand. Having a strong online presence is important and nothing can do more justice to it than having a professional site. Need a fast way to earn some money online? Get the scoop at this Halloween Super Affiliate bonus web page
All things considered, anyone who is determined to create a successful web enterprise as well as an effective online presence should ensure that their identity is refined and crafted by professionals. You can build your brand through your web site and in time attract the interest of your target audience, which will inevitably benefit your company over the long run.
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Useful Tips In Pet Sitting
By · CommentsUseful Tips in Pet Sitting – Pet Sitter in London
Does being a pet sitter come across your mind? Do you know how to do it right? In this article you will get to learn some simple but useful tips about pet sitting.
If you love pets then pet sitting is for you Pet sitter normally stays in the pet owner’s place to look after their pets Listen well to all the details about the pets you will sit as there are some pets that require care and attention
Below are the tips you need in pet sitting
1. Obtain insurance Before you start make sure that you have your insurance Accidents may happen anytime so be sure to have your insurance Your expenses will be covered by the insurance in case something happened
Spend some time in your city’s shelter You will be able to learn more things in the shelter You will even get more tips and advise from the people working in the shelter In the shelter, you will observe how they treat and handle the animals
Share your specialty in pet sitting If you are really up to this kind of business, then you’d better hand out some flyers or cards to people in places such as park, community chapels and even in the shelter. Sooner people will start contacting you
4. Love the animals. It is important that you love animals before you start with this kind of job. Make sure to let the animals feel they are loved so they will love you back
5. Have one on one talk with the pet owner This is important as to avoid future problems and accidents while you are looking after their pets Gather all the necessary information about the pet you will sit. Pet Sitter at London
These pet sit tips will surely make your job a success
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Why Ads Should Be In Your Business Plan
By · CommentsBoth big and small business can benefit from advertising – the right type of advertising, that is. It helps to develop your current customer base. It is also main in making certain that your business stays relevant. Ads can also be used to market new products and services. Found below are several more excellent reasons why you have to really invest in ads.
PEOPLE WILL GET TO KNOW YOU THROUGH ADS.. As said, the exposure that your company requires can be supplied by ads. Let us say that on one hand you are a big company similar to Starbucks and on the other hand, you an individual player that composes self-help and relationship eBooks. Being a company like Starbucks, you would undoubtedly want the chance to show off a new line of products. It will also be in the best interest of the smaller player to do identical and promote new eBooks like How to Attract Men and an eBook comparable to How to Find a Boyfriend.
IF RIGHT WAY, CORRECTLY, ADVERTISING CAN BRING IN MORE MONEY THAT IT COSTS. When your ads are done exact, your ads ought to bring in more money that what they initially cost. This is due to the fact effective ads bring in more potential consumers. After all, how do you presume your clients will find out about a new post similar to the Building a Chicken Coop customer review if you do not advertise.
However, before you jump on and have advertising run on the local radio, on TV, or on the newspaper, you will first need to consider your BUDGET. Keep in mind that as a small business, you budget will not be equivalent as the big players. Know you budget ASAP. Start with a small budget if you are a small business. When you turn out to be more successful, you can then look at an raise in your budget.
It may be really beneficial if you can get double duty from your ads by having them like coupons once they have been clipped from the newspaper. Doing this allows urge a customer to visit your store.
Small companies also can take notes from their big business counterparts. When advertising with a star, for example, be sure that you end up choosing someone who has a wide reach – demographic-wise.
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The Smartest Way To Use PPC Advertising
By · CommentsYou probably find yourself avoiding pay per click as an internet marketer. Many online marketers stay away from pay per click advertising because it can become quite costly to keep them running. After all, you don’t want to spend money online but to earn it! However, the good news is that if you stick to a few simple tips, you will find it easy to control your campaign expenditure and recreate prior successes. Following are some ideas you should implement to be successful with PPC.
Verify whether or not your advertisements are connecting to the right landing pages or not. You might have the best click through rate in the system but if the PPC ads do not point to the right pages, you won’t see a single sale. If your home page is not your preselling page, you will find that it may not be a good idea to redirect readers to it. Testing various pages with different advertisements is vital. Make sure to keep track of the advertisements that yield the highest sales. If you have an ad with a high conversion rate and a page with a high sale rate, you might combine the two-you should see your sales explode! Check out this Halloween Super Affiliate web page
Remember to set up different campaigns for the SERPs and for content pages. This way it will be far easier to market your products and services to your potential customers. The approach you take with search engine users will be different than the approach you will take with article readers. When creating your advertisements you need to remember your landing pages. You need to make certain that your focus is in the right place! You will find that you will end up spending quite a bit without making any sales.
The Adwords blog is a good source of information. While we don’t really want to advocate a site that is not our own, we cannot deny that the Adwords blog is a great site for tracking the developments in pay per click advertising methodology. Here you will be able to get the very latest ideas, trends and news about PPC.
It will also keep you informed about how different methods and algorithms are performing for people. The Adwords blog should definitely be one of your regular stops if you want to get the most recent and objective information on this form of advertising. A great new course in the new wave of internet marketing can be seen at this Halloween Super Affiliate page
It doesn’t need to be difficult to become successful with PPC. Even though PPC has been used for quite a while people still fear it might be too complicated, that is if they remember its existence. It is possible even for new online marketers to implement successful campaigns. All you have to do is learn as much as you can before you start sinking money into it. The more you know and learn beforehand, the higher your chances of becoming successful. Good fortune! It is possible for you to do it!
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mortgage refinance CPA marketing is the hottest new way for affiliate marketers to make money online. CPA stands for cost-per-action and affiliate marketers make money when they direct traffic to the merchant’s site. The difference is that unlike regular affiliate programs, where you earn a commission when someone buys something, in CPA programs you earn money when someone performs an action the merchant wants them to do. For example, you can make a commission when someone signs up for a free trial or a download of an e-book. This makes it easier for you to earn money since it is more likely for someone to sign up for a free offer than they are to make a purchase.
juegos A benefit to doing affiliate marketing is the ability to start doing business with no costs on your behalf. You will be selling someone else’s products and get paid a commission on the sale. One of the more popular ways to sell affiliate products is through ClickBank.com which is free to sign up with. They have thousands of digital products to choose from for you to market.
property management If you want to succeed as a CPA marketer, then you need to learn how. Fortunately, there is a great new learning program about to launch that will train you in everything you need to know to succeed in CPA. It is called Commission Payload and it is the brainchild of Alex Goad and Saj P, two of the most successful wunderkinds of online marketing. Both have launched successful internet businesses and thus have solid credentials to teach you how to succeed in this exciting young field.
You will need to drive traffic to your sites so you can sell something. The more visitors you have the better the odds of making a sale. The best free way to do this is to write articles about your product and submit them to article directories that you can sign up to for free.
Using these free methods is the best way to get started when you do not have any money to put into it. When you get some money coming in you can go get a paid web site which you can make more professional looking. You should always do some article writing, but when you have some money, try pay per click advertising to see how you do You can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.
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