\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

The best kept secret of postcard marketing with difference - revealed!

1. Golden Rule #14 of Successful Advertising.

2. Introduce Yourself To Your Customers Even Before You Open Your Business!
Business Booster #3

3. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy” Today you’ll see 2 brilliant marketing angles
implemented by real businesses in real life - no BS.

Word count for this issue: 1161 Approximate time to read: Less than 4 minutes.

===============================================
1. Golden Rule #14 of Successful Advertising.
===============================================

You must test every advertisement, sales letter or marketing campaign before betting your Shirt (or your business’s future) on it. Don’t be seduced by the media reps or the list brokers with promises of huge readerships and hot buyers lists. Test everything on a small scale before you commit large amounts of your money to it.

What the large (and successful) companies always do is test a campaign in one region, city, suburb or newspaper first. If it works they expand it. If not, they change it until it does work.

This way even failures can make you rich. Because when the 8th, 9th or even the 10th test you run is a winner, you just keep on repeating it. And will it more than make up for the failures. And this is what you have to do if you want to make money.

================================================
2. Business Booster #4 - Introduce Yourself To Your Customers!
================================================

Introduce Yourself To Your Customers Even Before You Open Your Business. Politicians do it –
going door-to- door, shaking hands. Does it work?

Well a Chinese restaurant owner dressed up in a suit and went to all the real estate agencies within 3km of his restaurant with a sample of his food and a menu. He dressed in a suit and personally introduced himself as the owner of a new restaurant.

He said”I’d love to have you come in and here’s a sample of our food.” He also gave them a menu to go with it. Within 30 days he had a booming lunch and dinner trade. Another example is a chiropractor who wanted to set up in an area already over serviced with other (well established) chiropractic services.

He went around for 3½ months, 10 hours a day introducing himself to people. He knocked on over 12,000 doors and spoke to over 6,350 people inviting them to an open house at his clinic. In his first month he earned over $71,800 and saw 233 patients.

Who else could do this? Plant nurseries, car repairs, dentists, accountants, lawyers, convenience stores, in fact anyone who gets business from their local area. Once you’ve gone around you could always follow up with a letter saying . . .

“Dear Friend, As you may recall I came to your house a little while ago to introduce myself to you. Well my (your type of industry) business is now open and I’d like to offer you a (free offer) to see you come in and try my service. Please bring this letter with you to get this offer. Regards, John”

Beats spending thousands of dollars on advertisements, or just sitting there for 2 years, paying dead rent, hoping people will come in, doesn’t it?

And now long awaited secret being reveled DRRRRRRRRRUMS

===============================================
3. “I spy with my little eye”
===============================================

Postcards increasingly become the tool of choice when it comes to successful marketing promotion. One of the reasons for this is that one doesn’t need to open it - the postcard is already opened. There’s no other option for the recipient to glance over it and here comes the next step - your post card should have a great benefit driven headline that appeals to your target market.

Let me explain - say you are in the business of fitness, you are running a busy gym and you wanted to make use of the direct marketing postcards. For the purpose of this exercise let’s assume that your intention is to help people to loose weight. So the target market description would be anyone who’s concerned with excessive weight…

A great example of post card marketing with the twist.
Not only they appeal to their target market - people who are concerned with excess of weight, but they also made the card - so that it prompts action, that you “win”… in this example I “won” half price joining fee.

The postcard is a great tool to keep in touch with your existing customers, ask them to buy more while keeping your name in the front of them:

This is a great example of joint venture postcard marketing
Do you realise that this business paid nothing for this promotion - why because they have approached their suppliers - Jane Aredale and asked them to provide the cards as well as postage for promoting their products. Clever isn’t it? Want to learn more techniques like that?

More to come. Stay tuned, sell more, prosper and most importantly - have fun!

=====================================================

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #15 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Buster #5 Secrets of designing irresistible
offer that sell to your best customer.

3. More of “I spy with my little eye”

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #13 of Successful Advertising.

2. Use “Multi-Selling Channels” To Get New Customers - Even If You Have Little Or No Money! Business Booster #3

3. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy” Today you’ll see 4 brilliant marketing angles
implemented by real businesses in real life - no BS.

Word count for this issue: 1574 Approximate time to read: Less than 6 minutes.

================================================
1. Golden Rule #13 of Successful Advertising.
================================================

Nobody has been able to show a relationship between advertising recall and actual sales. The
standard form of measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement by mainstream advertising agencies and media representatives is by recall. Or how many people actually remember the advertisement after it runs for a set period. This has to be considered as is really stupid.

The only thing that should count from your point of view, is not how many people remember your advertisements - but how many actually went and bought your product. If all you want is recall, just run advertisements featuring chimpanzees dressed in a swimming costume. Sales is where it’s at, so don’t get bamboozled by fancy words and advertising jargon.

==================================================
2. Business Booster #3 - Use “Multi-Selling Channels” To Get New Customers - Even If You Have Little Or No Money!
==================================================

This has to be the best kept secret of the mail order industry. If you are marketing products directly through TV infomercials (half hour commercials),newspaper advertisements and mail order … you will sell 8 times more again if you also get the buyers into your retail store. In fact, the really switched on retailers and corporations (including banks), are jumping on the direct mail and direct response marketing bandwagon like hungry fleas jumping on a dog. All hands on deck so to speak.

So before we can look at different ways to sell your product, we need to look at what most people in business are doing … and that is, in most cases, they are only selling their products through one “selling channel” - a retailer will only sell in a shop, a wholesaler will only sell to retailers using agents or sales representatives, a mail order merchant will only sell using mail order, and so on.

If you compare your business to a building that is only supported by one foundation pillar (the selling channel), and the building gets bigger and bigger, that’s OK as long as that pillar remains strong. However, if for any reason that one pillar weakens, your whole building comes crashing down. If, on the other hand, you build your business on many pillars (selling channels) and one of them weakens due to economy or whatever … your business still stands firm.

In other words, the more ways you sell or distribute your product the more solid your business. Joseph Cossman - a self made millionaire - used this multiple selling channel technique to sell millions of dollars worth of products over 20 years! In his opinion …

>> 25% of your success is product

>> 75% of your success is in the

selling and promotion of that product He used this procedure dozens of times and it never failed him. So now we use the same process for selling our information products.

We’ve sold our products using direct mail, faxes attacks, magazine and newspaper advertising. We’ve used retail and online bookstores and wholesale distributors. We have sales people selling our products and we have been participants in trade shows and even sold by seminar selling methods. We’ve licensed other people to reproduce and sell our products.

So from first hand experience, we can confirm that this “multi selling channel” approach really works. We’ll take a look at the successful formula that Joseph Cossman and many other successful business owners have used, but before we do so, you’ll need to develop a couple of selling tools to promote your new product.

Tool 1: Promotional Article; A new product is likely to be sold through several “selling channels”. To be able to do this you’ll need a “promotional article” or a catalogue sheet, written about your product. This sheet should have a photo of your product and a good description of what your product is and how it’s to be used, plus what benefits the customers will get by using your product. Keep this sheet low cost - black and white will do fine. This selling tool will be used to give to your distributors, to accompany press releases, used at trade shows and so on.

Tool 2: A Testimonial Sheet;This should be from your satisfied customers, end users, distributors and dealers. Testimonials sell and give your product credibility. The best way to get them is to audio-tape your happy customers telling why they liked using your product or doing business with you. That way you can use the testimonial in a transcribed form (on paper), or on audio-cassette. And If your products are expensive enough to warrant it, you can even do the testimonial using high quality on video which is really effective. Today you can actually most of them on DVD because the costs are so low and easily accessible using very low cost tools.

Tool 3: A Good Sales Letter (Or Two) This is what will accompany the first two selling tools. A good sales letter will open many doors for you and your products, when you are selling to wholesalers, distributors, retail and business customers. Now that we have the necessary “selling tools”, lets look at how we can use them to sell your products. Obviously, not all of these will apply to every product or service, but with just a little imagination I am sure you’ll be able to make some of them fit whatever you are selling.

===========================================
3. “I spy with my little eye”
===========================================

Today you are in for a real treat. I’m going to share with you not one, not two - but FOUR great marketing concepts.

You know that in order to sell more you need to be different, so that other people will take notice of you and your business. But how I can be different if I sell safety equipment - how exciting this is? Well let’s see… here what can be done:

Now if you really wanted your business to be noticed by your prospective customers, not only that but also remembered.
Besides - make people REALLY want to know what a heck is this.
Click bellow to find out…

Did you know that one of most effective methods to reach your target customer is to send them a postcard? Why is that you may ask - well for starters - it’s already open. When a person gets it from the mail box - they have to read it. So you get their attention - now what - a good headline will help, indeed. See for yourself a great example:

Finally the easiest way to attract new business is to SAMPLE your product and service. The strategy must be simple to execute, follow and understand. The cost of attracting a customer will be only your cost of product or your time. See for yourself how this clever business did it:

More to come. Stay tuned, sell more, prosper and most importantly - have fun!

=====================================================

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #14 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Buster #4 Secrets of designing irresistible offer that sell to your best customer.

3. More of “I spy with my little eye”

How to Sell Your Products and Services Now
by Diana Barnum

Need some ideas to kick-start your sales? Or maybe you’re looking to increase them or add some pizzazz to your campaigns? Try some of these ideas!

1. Make your reader visualize they have already bought your product in your ad. Tell them what results they have gotten and how it makes them feel. They’ll already become emotionally attached before they buy.

2. Turn your ad into an article. It could be a story, or how-to article. This will lead them into your ad without them knowing it’s an ad. They’ll already be interested when they get to your sales pitch.

3. Make sure you show your reader that they are getting a bargain. Tell them the usual price you sell your product for is $99. Then tell them if they order today they can buy it for $69.95.

4. Direct your ad headline to your target audience. Your readers will feel important and belong to a select group of people who buy your product. For example; “Attention! Accountants, Discover A New Way To Increase Your Client Base!”

5. Tell your reader how fast they can receive your product or service in your ad. Their buying decision may be based on how fast they can receive your product. They may need it by a certain deadline.

6. Use bullets to highlight your product or services benefits. Benefits are the key to selling anything, make them standout in your ad. You can use dots, dashes, or circles to highlight them. Learn lots more tips from correspondence courses at American Writers and Artists Institute; then get some help putting what you learn to use: http://www.presssuccess.com/specialty.html

7. Give a money back guarantee that surpasses a normal one. Instead of the normal timed guarantee, give them extra back. Tell them they can keep the free bonus. Add their bonuses right in your site’s shopping cart. Get ideas for shopping cart set up, with a 30-day trial, plus some product subscriptions sites offer product you can sell by visiting: http://www.presssuccess.com/specialtyB.html

8. Tell your reader they’ll receive surprise bonuses. Raise your reader’s curiosity and make them want to buy, so they can find out what the surprise bonuses are.

9. Let your reader know this specific package will not be offered again. You must create urgency so people buy now. Package your products and services up with something new each month to offer variety and a reason to invite prospects, clients and new site visitors to take a look. For example, add new content from an affordable monthly ebook wholesaler who offers two new ebooks each month complete with their own web pages with content and graphics for a quick, simple, professional choice. Get more ideas here: http://www.presssuccess.com/specialtyB.html

10. Give readers a couple tips in your ad copy that will help them with their problems. This will give your business credibility and gain your readers’ trust to buy your products or services.

No need to reinvent the wheel, either. Get affordable help along the way. Take your cyber-tour today and check out the Work Stations at: www.movingaheadcommunications.com . And you’ll find that help is as simple as ABC! Or You can Buy The Whole Course at www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #12 of Successful Advertising.

2. Test Different Marketing Ideas, Headlines And Prices Business Booster #1

3. The 3 Most Important Elements Of Any Marketing Campaign

4. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy”

Word count for this issue: 1033 Approximate time to read: Less than 5.5 minutes.

=====================================================
1. Golden Rule #12 of Successful Advertising.
=====================================================

Client testimonials increase credibility - - and sales. Like a referral, a testimonial is a
third party endorsement and therefore is much more believable.

If you say something about your product or service it may sound like boasting. If someone else says it, it’s more believable.

Hardly anyone (except mail order companies) uses testimonials. Use them in all your advertisements, letters and brochures. Why? Because …..They work.

=====================================================
2. Business Booster #1 - Test Different Marketing Ideas, Headlines And Prices
=====================================================

Recently we had a new idea for a product, so to test it, we did 8 different promotions with 4
different headlines and 2 different prices. We tested 1,000 of each and here’s what happened:

2 promotions got 0 response
5 promotions got between 1-5 responses
1 promotion got 20 responses

This means that the best headline/price combination got 20 times the results of the worst. Imagine what would have happened if we only tried one, or if we didn’t monitor what we did. Chances are it would have been a big flop. Now we are going to take the winner and test it
against another 4 different ways. Then, once we’ve confirmed the best promotion, we’ll test 5,000 or 10,000 of that one. If successful, we’ll continue the ‘roll out’ at 20,000 to 30,000 a week!

=====================================================
3. The 3 Most Important Elements Of Any Marketing Campaign
=====================================================

Always Test The 3 Most Important Elements Of Any Marketing Campaign.

a) The list (or who you target).

b) The headline of any advertisement, the opening statement of your letter, or the first thing you say person-to-person over the phone.

c) The offer (or how you package what you are selling).

Recently I developed a new product promotion and tested 3 headlines. The best one got 12 times as many orders as the worst one. I’ve listed them below. See if you can pick the winner. The answer is at the end of this business booster.

Headline #1: Labour Law Warning To Employers: Don’t Hire Any Staff Until You Read This Sub-headline: New Report Reveals Shocking Truth About Unfair Dismissal And Sexual Harassment Laws

Headline #2: Are You Having Sex At Work? New Report Reveals How To Protect Your Business From The New Unfair Dismissal And Sexual Harassment Laws

Headline #3: How To Protect Your Business From Unfair Dismissal And Sexual Harassment Claims.

Great marketing is nothing more than the scientific process of elimination. It’s like a tennis tournament really. You start with a field of 16 starters and pit them against each other until you get the winner. The good news in marketing is you may often get several winners, but you must follow the basic recipe I’ve given you here. The offer might mean that if you sell beds you
test by offering 6 months interest free payments, or a set of sheets and a pillow with each bed.

If you sell swimming pools you may offer 12 months free maintenance or a year supply of chemicals. Or you may vary the payment terms. Or you may try different prices and financing packages. Or servicing contracts and so on. And of course the list (who you target) is the most important part. The customers must want what you are selling and must be able to pay for it Remember this:your existing customers are always the best prospects for any promotion you run.

Headline Question The answer to the headline question is that No. 3 beat No. 2 by 1200% - that’s 12 times as many orders!

=====================================================
4. “I spy with my little eye”
=====================================================

You know that in order to sell more you need to be different, so that other people will take notice of you and your business. You may ask yourself “But how can I be different, I am selling toilets - how exciting is that?” Well let’s see here what can be done:

Simplicity is the key. Saving money can be a factor too.
What if you have the premises and wanted to fence it - why do boring old fence - try real…

More to come. Stay tuned, sell more, prosper and most importantly - have fun!

=====================================================

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #13 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Buster #2 Secrets of designing irresistible offers that sell to your best customer.

3. More of “I spy with my little eye”

www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

“Junque” Mail

If you don’t get Denny Hatch’s newsletter, you’re missing a real treat.

Denny was the founder and of Target Marketing magazine, Who’s Mailing What (Now called Inside Direct Mail) and several great books, including Million Dollar Mailings and Method Marketing.

He’s an amazing guy – and his recent newsletter had an article so good, I asked for permission to share it with you, in it’s entirety.

You can subscribe free at www.businesscommonsense.com
- just please mention my name.

Here’s Denny’s article:

* * * * * * *

Let’s get this out on the table right now—I love junk mail.

Compared to spam—the ultimate time sucker—a little daily junk mail (which can be opened over the recycling bin) is dream stuff.

And by the way, I love the term, “junk mail.”

Years back, any mention of the term “junk mail” in the media brought huffy letters from members of the direct marketing community demanding an apology from the offender.

When the great West Coast copywriter, the late Bill Jayme, was asked what he did for a living. “I write direct mail solicitations for magazines,” he said, “such as Atlantic Monthly, BusinessWeek, Civilization, American Heritage and many others. High-class junk mail. I call it “junque mail.’”

Jayme went on to say people love junk mail—and junk.

“Vintage car buffs love junk yards,” Jayme once said to me. “Antique collectors love junk shops. For a brief period, Wall Street had a love affair with junk bonds. Vacationers love to head for the Caribbean with a pile of junk fiction. And what would a Hong Kong fisherman be without his j**k?”

General agencies hate direct mail because it is accountable and for years have tried to persuade their clients that it is the ugly little step-sibling of advertising.

Junk mail—direct mail—is in fact the aristocrat of advertising.

Pankaj Shah’s Master Plan

Pankaj Shah is founder and CEO of GreenDimes, a company that is hoping to put direct mailers out of business by generating anger at unwanted mail and its alleged destruction of trees and damage to the environment.

One of Shah’s citations is the WildWest Institute’s statistic that 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce 4.5 million tons of junk mail, with 44 percent of that thrown away unopened.

(For the record, more than 90% is thrown away unopened.)

According to the crawl on Shah’s Web site, he has stopped 1.6 million pounds of junk mail, planted 320,000 trees and saved $4 million gallons of water.

Shah—with 50,000 members and 16 employees—has a dream: to stop 95% of all junk mail.

Actor Matt Damon, who sits on Shah’s board, did the talk show circuit to promote the GreenDimes Web site. Included on his rounds: “Oprah,” who mails tons of junk mail solicitations to get subscribers to the magazine that bears her name.

Oops.

“Everybody gets junk mail, and nobody likes it,” crusader Shah told The New York Times.

A Look at the Numbers

* Stop 95% of all junk mail and a First-Class stamp would cost somewhere between $5 and $10—maybe more.

* Because of junk mail, the United States Post Office is in business, reaching every address in America every business day.

* Does nobody like junk mail? According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), direct mail generates $700 billion in sales.

That seems to me a lot of people like junk mail and happily spend money as a direct result of it.

When I tell people that my career was spent creating junk mail, more often than not the response will be, “I hate junk mail.”

“Do you hate catalogs?” I ask. “No, I love catalogs.”

“Then you don’t hate junk mail.”

In addition, nobody likes an empty mailbox. If I receive no mail (it very seldom happens), I get a brief pain in my gut. Nobody cares about me. My letter carrier is the one person from government who touches me every business day and lets me know the system is still working. Did he have a heart attack and die? Or is the system busted? Has the government run out of money? In short, mail is a good thing.

Junk Mail—Its Exquisite Efficiency

The DMA currently estimates that in order to generate $700 billion in sales, marketers will spend $56 billion on direct mail and catalogs this year.

That translates to every $5.60 in marketing costs bringing in $70 in sales—a glorious return on investment (ROI). The biggest expense is postage. Of that $5.60, maybe $1.50 is the cost of paper.

What about the destruction of trees?

Every paper company and saw mill spends a fortune on reforestation—planting multiple trees for every one cut down. The result, according to the American Forest & Paper Association: The United States has 20% more trees than it had on the first Earth Day celebration more than 25 years ago.

“Trees are a crop that must be harvested slowly,” said Rush Limbaugh.

And unlike toilet paper, paper towels, cups and napkins, corrugated shipping containers, computer paper, stationery, throw-away diapers, airline and movie tickets and shopping bags, the paper used in junk mail creates wealth and jobs.

Junk Mail—the Aristocrat of Marketing Media’

* Direct mail is the most precisely accountable of all advertising methods, measurable down to 10th and 100ths of a percent.

* Contrast this with what the general agencies do—try to create awareness by spending millions of dollars of television airtime and space advertising (for which they get fat commissions) without a clue as to its effectiveness.

* Unlike spam, direct mail is the rocket science of marketing. It requires enormous skill and discipline for one reason only: the cost. At roughly 50 cents a mailing—and up to $1 or more for a catalog—it does not take much direct mail sent to the wrong people or containing a poor offer to result in rivers of red ink.

* In the international marketplace where theft and piracy are rampant, direct mail is the best secret medium to use for testing the efficacy of a new product or service. If you announce a new product in a magazine, newspaper or on television, it becomes public knowledge instantly and fair game for the world’s thieves and weasels that never had an original idea in their lives. They will steal it, manufacture it and sell it worldwide for less than your cost within a few weeks—or less.

* By contrast, a wee 20,000 test in four states will go unnoticed, as will the confirming tests of 200,000 and even 2 million. By the time savvy marketers have a fix on the ROI—thanks to judicious direct mail testing—they can go out via more direct mail, inserts, space ads, television, phone calls, the Web, billboards and skywriting. The market will be creamed before the rascally copycats can get an RFP out to their man in Taiwan.

* A consultant e-mailed me with the following question: What do I tell my clients who are upset when customers complain about receiving so many catalogs? The response:

If I had a store in your neighborhood, I would know when you are ready to buy because you would come in and make a purchase. As a cataloger, I don’t know when you want to buy, so I have to periodically send you my “store” to alert you about new products and offers. You are able to shop my catalog from the comfort and convenience of your home without spending money for gasoline or wasting time going from store to store looking for just what you want, only to find the store is out of stock. My entire reason for being is to be able to get you what you want and save you time and money. I am honored that you are a member of my family of customers. Thank you.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Twenty-one years ago some sensation-seeking jerk like Pankaj Shah dumped on junk mail, and I ran a column much like this one in Peggy’s and my cranky little newsletter, WHO’S MAILING WHAT! (now Inside Direct Mail). It triggered the following letter from Bill Jayme:

Apropos of your excellent defense of junk mail in your September issue, here’s another that we did back in the early 70s for the DMA when Congress was threatening to withdraw Third Class preferential rates. Change “dime” to “quarter” for that phone call and everything still holds, no?

I found the mailing Jayme sent me—a stylish and persuasive 9” x 12” personalized mailing to every member of Congress that contained a ringing defense of junk mail sent out by the DMA (which, at the time, was called the Direct Mail Advertising Association Inc.). It was written by Jayme and designed by his partner, Heikki Ratalahti, under the direction of [Chris] Stagg, [Bob] Dale and [Dick] Archer.

WWW.COPYWRITINGWIZARDS.COM

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #11 of Successful Advertising.

2. Secrets of writing powerful headlines that could make you rich.

3. Do we need another soft drink?.

Word count for this issue: 2042 Approximate time to read: Less than 7.5 minutes.

=================================================
1. Golden Rule #11 of Successful Advertising.
=================================================

Consider using benefit driven headlines in all of your advertisements.

On average 5 times as many people read the headline as read the rest of the advertisements copy. If reader’s attention is caught by the headline - they will read on.

Unless your headline sells your product or service, you’ve wasted 90% of your money. The best headlines are those that promise the reader a benefit - lose weight, meet new friends, less tooth decay, easy to maintain garden, make more money, get relief from arthritis, increase your sales and so on.

Please remember that the headline is the “Advertisement For Your advertisement.”

=====================================================
2. Secrets of writing powerful headlines that could make you rich.
=====================================================

It pays to have Powerful Headlines On All Your Ads, Letters and Promotions!

A headline is an ad for your ad. 80% of your promotion’s success or failure lies in what you say in your headline. A good headline can also be used as the opening line for your sales and telephone people.
In order for it to be effective, a headline must promise a benefit (the biggest one you can find about your product).

What is the reader going to get if they read further?
All too often people talk about ‘features’ in their sales and marketing efforts. For example, a car advertisement may say” “Fully adjustable leather seats and welded alloy body. What it should say is:
“Arrive safely and rested thanks to the welded alloy body and fully adjustable leather seats”.

Once you, learn to speak about the difference you or your product is going to make in your customer’s lives, you’ll be on your way to marketing heaven. But be warned. It’s like learning a new language and you’ve got to practice … and practice … and practice. It took me years to really understand how to do it. Was it worth the effort? You betcha!

Good words to use in your headlines are:

- You
- Your
- Yours
- New
- Good News
- Attention
- Money
- Sex
- How to
- 7 Reasons Why
- 9 Ways To

… and what is the best word of all? … FREE - FREE - FREE! Did I say FREE!!!!

Everyone loves to get something for nothing. Whatever you do, your headline must be easy to understand and offer a benefit. Here are some headline starters you could use:

” How to …
” Free Report (gift, consultation, trial lesson, product give away, ice cream) ” 7 Ways to . . . (have a better looking lawn) ” Wanted: ” Announcing:

Learn how to write headlines, and the best way for you to get good at it is to get hold of some good headlines and practice re-writing them to suit your particular product or service. You should write out at least 50 headlines following this formula, and here’s a few to get you started . . .

>> At Downtown new Mexican restaurant your first meal is FREE

>> Your TV fixed in 4 days or it’s FREE

>> How to become debt - free and stay that way - forever!

>> Do you make these mistakes in job interviews?

>> Smart Car Owners: Save up to 87% off retail prices on your spare parts

>> Attention Home Owners - Don’t buy any curtains until you read this

>> Wanted: Your old shredder - Get a minimum $300 trade in on our new models

>> Good News for Franchise Owners: Here’s how to get hundreds of qualified leads at half the cost

>> Why some foods explode in your stomach

Want to see more headlines like this - go here:http://www.copywritingwizards.com

===============================================
3. Do we need another soft drink?
===============================================

Whether you are a mortgage broker, plumber wholesaler, retailer, a service provider or in any other area of the business - you are faced with a steep competition.

Open the yellow pages and you’ll see pages and pages of similar businesses - advertising… spending their marketing budgets - big and small ones.

Let me ask you - do we need another soft drink? - No Do you care about new pizza place? - No - you got used to the one you buy from now. Do you give rats about Joe’s lawn moving business? NOPE!

What if you are Joe and wanted to promote your new and exciting business venture? Well…. how Joe is different from Bill or John - now we talking point of difference or Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Perhaps your prefer to call this Your Customers Unique Buying Advantage?
(YCUBA)

Our national icon - Warehouse using (you know it) “Warehouse where everyone gets the bargain and the money back guarantee” - shall we, get our marketing scalpel and dissect this one?

First comes the branding - Warehouse - it’s important when you are big and established, but when you are small (like 95% of New Zealand businesses) and new - branding doesn’t matter. Spend money on exposing benefits and not your name. Remember the slogan of modern marketing is “What’s in it for me?” - Joe’s Cleaning Services - “So what?”

The client of mine has increased their turnover from $300K to $1M by doing one small change in the way they promote the business.If you’d like to know how - click bellow:
www.copywritingwizards.com

Next is targeting - “everyone” - this is a rare exception when a discount chain of stores appeals to everyone. Normally you’d narrow your target. It’s hard to be everything to everyone. If you run an automotive workshop - you’d say “car owners”. If you are chiropractor - then you’d say “People with a spine” - it’s funny, it manages to cut through our immunity to advertising and it’s different. See how this Chiropractor made a difference:
http://www.orco.co.nz/gfx/chiro.jpg

Then comes The Proposition “gets a bargain” - hard to argue, isn’t it. You’d love to get bargain, I’d love to get barga1n, everyone likes bargains! It’s a discount chain after all!

And finally - the guarantee: “money back guarantee” - risk reversal. Why do you need it? Let’s see: Most likely you’ve been burned in the past by dodgy deals and so have many of your prospective customers. Naturally, you are skeptical. How would you overcome the skepticism? - By giving them a guarantee!

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #12 of Successful Advertising.

2. Secret # 2 of designing irresistible offer that sell to your best customer.

3. “I spy with my little eye” - new section of this newsletter will deliver to you unusual marketing strategies successfully used by a business “next door”

Keys to Getting Prospects to Listen to You

In your last Success Marketing Strategy I shared with you one of the biggest secrets in marketing that I know in order to increase response to your offers which of course is….multiple exposures.

The example I gave you was following up with the same list of prospects or customers several times using the same media. For example, instead of mailing once to the list, you mail three to six times.

Another way to get multiple exposures is through combinations of media. If at the same time the prospect is receiving mail from you he also sees your ad in the newspaper, sees your billboards, gets a coupon in a Val Pac, pretty soon he feels he knows you. There’s instant recognition of your name and business and again there will be results developed disproportionate to the amount of exposure.

Some direct marketers use other forms of media as reinforcement advertising. They really do not expect any response from billboards or radio commercials. That advertising is being used only to build recognition so that when a prospect gets some type of direct contact he mentally says, “Oh yes. I know you.” It is therefore, much more receptive to the offer.

The small business person has to carefully restrict expenditures on this type of reinforcement advertising but there are several low costs things that can be done including:

#1: A uniform business image - colors, your name, a logo carried over to your business locations, your vehicles, your uniforms, your signage and of course all your advertising.

#2: A slogan that makes sense that actually represents your business and is easy to remember.

#3: Repetitive contact with fewer prospects rather than just one contact with a large number of prospects.

#4: House to house or business to business distribution of flyers and brochures.

#5: Signage on company vehicles.

#6: The sponsorship of a civic event.

A plan using these other forms of reinforcement advertising helps a good offer perform as well as you’d like.

Now we are ready to move on. In your next Success Marketing Strategy we will begin talking about the actual direct mail piece or direct mail package and I will provide you will a couple of tested and almost universally effective formats you can use in developing direct mail literature.

For More Information: www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #8 of Successful Advertising.

2. Scratch your… discount - brilliant retail strategy

3. Getting Referrals - the seventh step in
Advanced Successful Selling.

4. How To Write Headlines That Get You Up To 300% -
400% Better Response

========================================================
1. Golden Rule #8 of Successful Advertising.
========================================================
Never ever run any advertisement without monitoring the response. In other words, if it doesn’t sell your products get rid of it. FAST!! 99% of ad agencies, newspaper and radio reps hate the idea of monitoring.

Their advice is “Repetition is the key to success!!” The only trouble is, they are referring to …

Their success - Not yours

Since they get paid by the quantity of advertising you place, it’s not always in their best interest to teach you how to halve the amount of advertising you do and double the effectiveness.

And that’s exactly what is possible. Once you find an advertisement, sales pitch or marketing strategy that works - - keep doing it. Remember, the market place is constantly changing. You may get tired of seeing the same old ads but your new and existing customers will not.

If it’s working don’t change it!

Statistics New Zealand tells us 57,890 people were born in this country last year and 28,140 died. If your advertisement sold baby clothes to new mothers this year, it will probably work just as well with new mothers next year.

If you were an undertaker and your advertisement attracted new customers this year, it will continue to work next year and the year after.

========================================================
2. Scratch your discount - What A brilliant retail strategy ========================================================

Now, if you are in The Retail business - this is your day, if not - your day will be in the next newsletter.

I have a confession to make - I don’t like shopping, MMM no let me make that very clear “I Hate Shopping with a passion!”.
Maybe this is a male thing {To Findout Check Out Your Preferences here}. However my lovely wife Erlinda likes to shop.

So, once in the blue moon I give up and we immerse ourselves into Retail Therapy.

As we walked into one of the shops, friendly shop assistant approached us and to my delight didn’t start with the standard old “may I help you?”. Instead she introduced herself - “Hello Jennifer” - I said. Jennifer asked if we’ve been there before and then gave us a “Scratch & Win Ticket”

She explained that we just need to scratch it - just like a lotto scratch ticket - and it will reveal OUR discount on any item in the store.

We did and to our excitement is was 30% off any item.
Jennifer mentioned that 30% is quite rear, most of “scratches” today had 10-15-20% discounts.

What Do You Think we DID?? What would you have done?, did we use 30% discount to buy any items in this store?

You betcha we did!! - we’ve spent healthy $136.50 on nice $195 dress.

Did we plan to spend this money in that shop?
Maybe, But I don’t think so, hmmmm…. Would you like to have their conversion to sale ratio in your business?

I am guessing that they would have increased sales by at least 50% during the time they ran this “Scratch & Win” promotion.

=======================================================
3. Getting referrals - the seventh step in Advanced Successful Selling.
=======================================================

Now, if you have missed the article on the sixth step - Ask for Order (aka Close) - you may review it here ..just look back through this blog.

The easiest way to build your business is through word of mouth. This is if you have clients. What if you have got just started?

In order to get referrals you need to communicate with your existing customers or if you haven’t got any - you need to network.

For some of the businesses I work with the idea of communicating with their customers is not that appealing, they would rather spend thousands of dollars soliciting new business, than leveraging off their existing clients. :twisted”

Consider this example - let’s say that it costs $20 to attract a new customer and $5 to keep an existing one. Also let’s say that your business has got just 30 customers.

Should you focus on finding new customers and actually attract 10 of them, this will have cost you $200 or $20 times 10.

Since your focus has been elsewhere, because at the end of the period you find that you have only 5 of your original 30 customers Left. Each of these customers has cost you $5 to retain, so your total retention costs are $25 or $5 times 5.

The net result to your business is 15 customers, 10 new, and 5 retained, at a total cost of $225. Your average cost per customer is $15.

Now, let’s say that your focus had been on keeping customers (customer retention) rather then attracting new ones, and you decided to spend extra $3 per existing customer.

You attract 3 customers as a cost of $60, or $20 times 2. However your retention efforts mean that you now retain all 30 of your original customers at a cost of, $240 or $8 times 30. This time your total cost is $300, at an average cost per customer of $9.09

In the second case, your total costs for the period are
$75 greater. However your business has now 33 customers, over twice the number achieved with the first strategy.

The sad fact is that even in those businesses that understand this, and say they have a focus on retaining customers and getting more value from them, they can’t help but spend 70-80% of their marketing budgets on trying to get new customers. As soon as they got them and sold them - they tend to repeat..repeat and repeat

Now, let’s consider third scenario… No, I’m not going to bore you with the numbers this time, - consider that you’ve spent $5 more per customer on a formal referral program. So that 50% of your existing customers have successfully referred someone else to your business.
If you still follow the numbers you’ll end up with 49 customers.

The key here is FORMAL and SYSTEMATIC referral strategies.
Personally I have collected and used on various occasions
106 referral strategies. They definitely work and I spend almost nothing on advertising.

Why is it easy to get business through referrals?
Simply because it’s not you who’s promoting your business, but someone who has had experience as a customer and was extremely satisfied. You are biased and they are not, therefore other people believe they can be trusted more than YOU!

I would Like to invite you to tell me the best thing you’ve done to promote your business. I’ll share it with all of my subscribers, so that everyone can benefit, plus your business will be promoted for free. Axel@getleverage.biz and Put in the subject line “BestThingThatWorkedForMeWas”

==========================================================
4. How To Write Headlines That Get You Up To 300% - 400% Better Response
==========================================================

Why do most of the main articles in magazines start with headline relating to disaster, murders, sex and corruption? Well, I’m going to tell you. Its because that’s what sells newspapers.
It attracts people who read newspapers and sometimes even those who don’t, and they buy it.

The only purpose of a headline is to target the person you want to reach and to sell them on
wanting to know more.

The headline therefore becomes the ad for the ad. It must be strong enough to “flag attention” and stop the reader, listener or viewer “in their tracks”. Its job then is to entice them to read on or pay further attention to the message that follows.

Let’s face it; we all have natural resistance to advertising. These days we are bombarded with
thousands upon thousands of commercial messages. Unless the headline is of particular interest, or in some way says “I’m talking to you!” we will tend to ignore it.

How to target your market with your headlines

Being clever, humorous, or obstructive is one of the dumbest wastes of money you can make, when it comes to headlines and ad writing. Don’t do it.

Instead come up with a headline that communicates your purpose for running the ad and then qualify the reader. For example:

“If You Are Looking For a Convenient Source For Quality Plumbing Supplies, We Sell 100% Guaranteed Plumbing Parts Exclusively To Contractors At 10% Over Cost, With 30 Day Invoicing And A Special Added Discount for Orders Over $1500.”

Or

“Here’s a Quick & Easy Way To Become Tight, Lean Attractive, Radiant, And Remarkably Healthy In Just 45 Minutes, Three Times A Week… 100% Guaranteed Or You Pay Nothing.”

Whatever you sell, and whomever you want to reach with your offer, be specific. Call out to them in your headline. Send your message directly to your target prospects, and tell them what you are offering, and what’s in it for them.

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar.

To achieve maximum results advertisers should put themselves in the customers shoes and say
to themselves “What’s In It For Me?”

Just remember W.I.I.F.M.

How effective are your advertisements? Are you getting the response you want with them? If not Call Axel or Jason and we will help you at least double the response you are getting with
your advertisements, while cutting ad costs - guaranteed.

=======================================================
This is a fresh result from one of our clients:

“Axel was working with me since October 2004. Our first marketing campaign was a mail out to
120 of our non-active clients. The result: 30 of them have booked their appointments, spending in excess of $750. The cost of campaign was $60.

Axel keeps things simple and gives us hands-on help with writing the letters and ads. Next campaign has netted us $1,400 in sales. This campaign cost us around $100.

Axel has provided us with CRM database and has helped us to customize it to suit our needs. As
the result we can now track new business and keep in touch with existing customers. We are now moving into e-mail marketing, so I expect the cost of the marketing campaigns to be even
cheaper and results even better” N, Owner, Beauty therapy

Now, if you’d like to know how similar results can be achieved in your business, register
your interest by clicking on link bellow:

mailto:info@getleverage.biz?subject=TellMeMore&body=AxelHowDoYouDoThis

======================================================
In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #9 of Successful Advertising.
2. Getting testimonials - the last step in Advanced Successful Selling - don’t get it right and spend fortune on soliciting new business.

======================================================
And finally the thought of the month:

Expect nothing - enjoy the unexpected

Welcome to the Myprofile Reseller Partnership Program.
Are you looking for a rewarding career change?
Would you like to help businesses, teams and individuals improve their personal and workplace effectiveness to make a massive positive difference to their lives?
Would you like to be part of a dynamic growing business that is as committed to your success as you are?

Then Myprofile is for you.
What do we look for when selecting Resellers or Licensees?
 A demonstrated passion for personal development
 A passion for improving businesses, teams and individuals
 Professional (corporate) presentation
 Business (referral) networks
 Experience in HR, Coaching/Teaching, business, marketing or sales
 An entrepreneurial spirit
 A strong desire to succeed in your own business

What does Myprofile offer you?
 Access to global markets, sell, present or coach anywhere in the world
 A chance to be part of a multi-billion dollar industry
 World-class training and support systems
 Access to all Myprofile assessments
 Generous discounts, bonuses and overrides
 The advantage of time-proven programs, assessments and systems
 Personal satisfaction from working with a professional team Achieve financial success
Why not turn your business contacts and personal knowledge into a serious and ongoing business income.
If your background is in business, sales, marketing, HR/Recruitment, coaching or training/teaching, then this is the perfect opportunity for you.
Our Reseller program can be incorporated into your existing business or profession, or operated separately.

Reseller’s income earning opportunities
Our Reseller Partners program is a straightforward plan that allows Resellers to earn personal and residual income in four different ways:
1. Direct Sales Commissions and bonuses (personal sales)
As a Myprofile Reseller, you earn excellent profits on the sale of Myprofile pre-paid coupons to casual customers. Coupons are used to complete a Myprofile assessment on-line. Resellers receive sales commissions and monthly performance bonuses based on their personal sales for each month.
2. Ongoing Commissions
Resellers earn income every time one of their clients or customers places an order
with the company. Once you have signed a client they are always your client and
you earn ongoing commissions on all purchases made by those clients every month.
3. Recurring monthly commissions on Unlimited User subscriptions
Resellers have the opportunity to sign a client as an Unlimited User Client. These clients are usually from the recruitment and HR industries and are high volume users of pre-employment assessments. These clients pay a monthly subscription fee to Myprofile, based on the number of recruitment consultants using Myprofile. Resellers receive residual commissions on monthly subscriptions received by these clients.
4. Bonus Referral Fees
Resellers may introduce other Resellers to Myprofile and earn a one time referral fee for their sponsored Reseller. The referral fee varies in each country and is set by the Licensee.
5. Qualify as a Licensee
Resellers can qualify as a Licensee and increase their income by building a business with multiple distribution channels.
And for Licensees
6. Group override bonuses

Licensees earn an override commission on total monthly group sales of their Resellers, including their own sales.

Sales opportunities are everywhere
There are many opportunities for you to sell Myprofile solutions. We recommend that you commence your Myprofile Reseller business by focusing on one or two market segments where you can establish a solid client base. Where you can become well known and respected, and can leverage off the success of clients using their testimony to expand your network within those markets.
Choose from one of the many market segments and specialty areas below.
What is your background or profession? If you are a teacher, then education is one that you have expertise in. What are you passionate about? What contacts do you have? Are you connected in an industry or profession?

Myprofile is primarily a business-to-business company. Your best prospects are entities that use or would use, multiple profiles per month as a part of their activities or, the service they provide. Whilst you should sell to individuals, family members and colleagues etc for their personal use, the real money is made when you do business with other businesses.

Myprofile – Job & Careers
This product is designed for pre-employment assessment, employee relationships, communication and team building.
Businesses to prospect are:
Companies with many employees, i.e. multinational, government, councils, state owned enterprises, franchises, retailers, call centers, hotels and resorts,manufactures, IT, telecommunication, media, transport, banks.
Human Resources service providers such as: HR companies and consultants,employment and recruitment firms, internet job boards, career councilors, resume writers, vocational guidance.

Mycoach
This product is designed for coaches and managers to provide in-depth analysis of styles and how to manage and develop talent to maximum potential.
Businesses to prospect are:
Coaches, coaching franchises, management consultants, life coaches, business coaches, executive coaches and mentors, sports coaches, trainers, managers, executives, staff trainers, hr managers, conflict resolution mediators, consultants, business and university leadership programs, churches, sales trainers, training and technical colleges, business colleges.
In fact any business or organization that employs staff and wants to reduce conflict, increase retention and improve management skills.

Mychild
This product is designed for parents and children to improve relationships and to understand children’s potential and career pathways.
Businesses to prospect are:
Social welfare, family clinics, schools, colleges, parent organizations, teachers, churches and ministries, fund raising organizations, career guidance councilors, youth groups, youth support organizations, educational institutes, parenting organizations and services

Mynetworksuccess
This product is designed for direct sales home based businesses providing guidance on sales, prospecting, sponsoring and managing teams.
Businesses to prospect are:
MLM, network marketing organizations, direct sales companies, franchises, sales trainers, real estate, realtors

Mysalessuccess
This product is designed for everyone in sales or sales training, sales management, or hiring sales people.
Businesses to prospect are:
Business employing and managing sales representatives, including, retail, real estate, insurance, telecommunications, and outbound call centers

Myclient
This product is designed for the financial industry to provide understanding of clients’ behavioural and financial style
Businesses to prospect are:
Insurance, financial planners, financial advisers, accountants, mortgage providers, banks, funds managers, stock brokers, planners, wealth creators, property advisers

The Opportunity:
“Your success is what really matters”
This is not just another marketing slogan or sales pitch.
The Myprofile Reseller Program provides a competitive solution to its Resellers.
We share your vision of business and revenue growth and, most importantly, we recognize that we can only be successful if you are.
Our unique and immensely popular assessments are designed for everyone, everywhere. They provide you with a great opportunity to sell to individuals, businesses and organizations in many different areas.
Our continual product innovations will help you satisfy your customer needs
with world-class solutions that are designed around business needs.
With multiple income streams you can achieve excellent sales with Myprofile products. Our discounts, commissions and performance bonuses will help you reach your long-term financial and growth objectives.
And you’ll receive all the tools, advice and marketing and technical support to ensure you are successful in the marketplace.

Authorised Resellers
The Authorised Reseller status is for any individual or business that either wants to use the products in their own business, or wishes to promote and sell the products to clients.

Benefits
 Recognition as a licensed Myprofile Reseller
 Dedicated management and account support
 Access to all Myprofile assessment products
 A Complete Business Start-Up Kit which includes User Guide and marketing CD
 Generous discounts on all assessments
 Personal commissions (discounts) based on sales volumes as per the Reseller Agreement
 Personal performance bonuses as set out in the Reseller Agreement
 Residual commissions on monthly income from subscription clients
 Access to ongoing training programs
There are no educational or certification requirements to become an Authorised Reseller

Resellers can qualify to become Licensees
A Reseller can qualify to become a Licensee and earn a Licensee Override Commission provided they meet their country qualifications.

Authorised Licensees
Authorised Licensees demonstrate an increased dedication to Myprofile products.
Licensees have gained extensive industry experience in business or in their profession.
In return for their participation, Licensees will receive additional benefits such as override commissions, performance bonuses, the ability to recruit Resellers to their team and increased levels of financial returns.

Benefits
 Recognition as a licensed Myprofile Reseller
 Dedicated management and account support
 Access to all Myprofile assessment products
 A Complete Business Start-Up Kit which includes User Guide and marketing CD
 Generous discounts on all assessments
 Personal performance bonuses
 Access to ongoing training programs
In addition
 Licensees earn generous personal commission (discounts) based on their own sales volumes as per the Licensee Agreement
 Licensees earn an override commission on total Monthly Group Sales of their Resellers, including their own sales
 To maintain Licensee status and earn override commission, the Licensee must exceed set Monthly Group Sales targets (personal sales plus Reseller
sales).
 Licensees earn residual commissions on monthly income from subscription clients.
 Licensees earn a percentage of a Resellers Group Sales if their Reseller qualifies as a Licensee.

Joining is easy
If you feel you have what it takes to become a Myprofile Reseller or Licensee, then we want to talk to you. Please send an email with your business profile or CV to Axel@myprofile.com.au. After we have received your information, we will contact you to discuss the opportunities with you.

There is a A$650 investment fee that provides for your Reseller License and you receive a complete Myprofile Business Kit to get you started. If you’re not working with Myprofile you’re missing out on a world of great selling opportunities,customer loyalty and profit potential.
Thank you for your interest. We look forward to welcoming you as a valued Reseller or Licensee with Myprofile.

Myprofile Reseller Program
Contact Axel Henriksen
telephone +64 9 483 4029
email axel@myprofile.com.au
Website www.myprofile.com.au/reseller

or

Contact Elise Chanesman
Telephone +61 2 9332 4288
Mobile +61 408 306 080
Email elise@myprofile.com.au

Company contact details
Head Office Myprofile Pty Ltd
P.O.Box 1497 Double Bay NSW 2028
Sydney Australia
Phone +61 2 9389 2800
Fax +61 2 9332 4699
Web www.myprofile.com.au
Email info@myprofile.com.au
ABN 37 097 530 428

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__\__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #7 of Successful Advertising.

2. Ask to buy (aka “Close”) - the sixth step in Advanced Successful Selling.

==================================================
1. Golden Rule #7 of Successful Advertising.
==================================================
Research clearly shows that ads that look like editorial articles get 500% more readership than ads that obviously look like ads.

Unless you haven’t heard or read a word I have uttered or written previously, no more needs to be mentioned here, does it??

O.K. I’ll explain a little. People don’t buy magazines or newspapers to read the ads, do they??

Of course not. You, I and everybody else, buy papers, magazines or watch TV for the stories.

By making your ads informative and looking like the stories in the publication you’ll get more sales. When writing your ad, pretend you are the editor of the magazine, writing about your company or product. (See Rule #6.)

======================================================
2. Ask to buy (aka Close) - the fifth step in Advanced Successful Selling.
======================================================

Now let’s assume you’ve been selling your entire life.
Whether you like it or not, this is the truth. Remember in kindergarten - you told your friends something cool about yourself, your parents or showed them a new toy. As a result of this you popularity went through the roof… suddenly you became a “cool kid”.
Consciously or subconsciously you had sold yourself.

Same thing with your first date… remember you had put on a nice clothes - that your parents called totally outrageous - but it was considered to be “cool” at the time.
You even told your date bunch of stories, some of them were true, some slightly modified and some were outright exaggerated {Lies or major BS}.

If they were believe they did the job, you got the second date as planned, if not - you learned your lesson and adjusted your opening or closing lines {You Learned to tell even better BS}. Or anything in the middle, that didn’t work as well as you had hoped for.

You probably went through the same process while finding your first job, getting your mortgage approved, etc. All above are selling systems - you sell yourself, your skills, your charm, etc.
Sometimes you tend to oversell … but of course an astute sales person never would do do anything as outrageous as oversell themselves.

Now, would you agree that the better your systems are the more success you are likely to have [in selling]?

Allow me to answer positively.

What tends to happened when you sell is this:
you know your opening line quite well - because you have practiced it a lot - “I like your hair”… hmm maybe not.
What about “This is my first time here. What’s good on the menu?” … ok - better. “Do you want to dance?” - “No” - “If you don’t want to dance, do you mind if I join you for some conversation?” - well maybe.

You know more or less your presentation - “I spent my last summer in Tibet” and the story goes on.

By now, you are getting to know how to handle their objections.

What you don’t use too often is the CLOSE.

“Your place or mine” line can easily ruin perfect presentation. You see, generally people don’t practice the CLOSE often enough. That’s why it’s important to know your close irrespectively of how frequently you use it.

So what is your CLOSING rate? How many sales do you close? 10%? 25% or maybe 75%? No matter how good you are - if you’ll be able to improve your closing ratio - and this WILL improve your bottom line.

Finally we have arrived at the Major point!

In sales (And I hope that you are in sales - if not - this letter has not been written for you) it’s vitally important to know your CLOSING STRATEGY. If you’ve done any sales at all, you would have to agree with me that knowing the Closing Strategy is one thing - But using it all the time Now That’s Totally Whole another Thing. It’s a matter of disciplining yourself to stick to it.

What are the CLOSING STRATEGIES?

Before we go into that - let me point out one more thing about the “Close”. An astute sales person is always ready to finalise the deal. He or She doesn’t need to finish presentation or qualification or objection handling. If the prospect is ready to buy - there’s no point to carry on explaining the benefits of the product or service - Now is there?

If they are ready to buy - and you would have established that by using trial closes - you’d ask for order using your CLOSING STRATEGY:

You can assume that the sale is to go ahead and ask them - “Where would you like it to be installed?” or - “When would you like it to be delivered?” “The Assumptive Close”

You may consider giving them an incentive, if they will make a decision now - by offering additional discounts.

Taking physical action is another technique - if they’ve decided to negotiate - narrow the price range and tell them that you have to confirm this with your office. Even if you are your office - you still can use it by saying: “Jo, I’m not sure that I can do this price for you, however if you’ll give me a few moments I’ll check with my office and find out for you, Now if I can get that Price for you, will you buy it?”

Tell them a story that will support your close.
“These people thought so and so and when they bought it, here’s how their lives changed”. This will link known and unknown, as well as invoke a third party into a closing sequence.

You can use the impending event technique - this can be based on upcoming price rise, stock running out, limited numbers, special discount available for limited time only, etc., only your imagination will set the limits on this technique.

If you remember only one thing about asking for order, this is it!: after you have asked your planned closing question - “shut up” - say nothing, zipppo “Bit Your Tongue and Start Counting”
- let your prospect think and for heaven sake don’t talk yourself out of sale. I’ve seen this happened many times - I have been guilty of doing this in the past.
And I’m sure you have as well…..

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #8 of Successful Advertising.
2. Getting referrals - the seventh step in Advanced
Successful Selling - don’t get it right and miss sale.

=========================================================

And finally the thought of the month:

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.

You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read them straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name three people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of three people you enjoy spending time with.

6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier?

The lesson:
The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

And don’t worry about the world coming to an end today.
It’s already tomorrow in New Zealand.