Let’s begin by addressing those that are thinking about becoming a restaurant owner for the very first time.  Congratulations!!  Serving the dining public is a noble cause and one that if handled correctly can be quite profitable.  This I will address below, but before I do do remember that once you get into the restaurant business you’re really entering the stealing customers from competitors business.

Maybe stealing is a bit harsh, but you do need to know that as with any small business, you’re job is not to try to expand the size of the market but rather to better serve those already buying the products and services customers demand.  Hence, when you get a customer, it really means someone else is losing their business.  Stealing, persuading, enticing or whatever term you choose…  Just know that’s you’re real goal.

Okay, now let’s say you are a current restaurant owner looking for killer restaurant marketing ideas to either rescue your current state of affairs or possibly rocket upwards to becoming the most talked about and visited restaurant in town.  Years ago, I was one of the most sought after and successful managers mainly because of my ability to dramatically increase sales in all types and sizes of restaurants.  My secret was simple:  I did what worked and most of the time that did not include implementing any so called restaurant marketing ideas.

How I grew those sales was with implementing a few key principles, learned over time.  The first principle being that faster you ran customers through their dinner service the more likely they were to return.  In my many years of running restaurants, I never once had a customer complain about the service being too fast, but several did complain it was slow.

Next, I treated every customer in the restaurant as mine, and only thought of the waiters and waitresses as those I hired to help serve my customers.  This line of thinking caused me to keep engaged with and stay abreast of the goings on at each table, which in turn, the customers loved and also caused them to make more frequent return visits.

And finally, the number one reason I was successful at growing restaurant super quick was because some of the things I did try, which I guess you could call marketing ideas, really did work.  Case in point, visiting local hotel concierges to thank them for the business already sent my way and to offer a small box of chocolates as an extra gesture of my appreciation had my phones ringing off the hook.

Try any or all of the above and let me know how it works for you.

Rob

For as long as I can remember when something really good happens or something really bad, they tend to happen in groups of three. What I have found is that with each new product launch sequence the number three is just as significant. Firstly, its important to note that there are three types of product launches. An internal launch, a partner launch and a joint venture (JV) launch.

The purpose of an internal launch is to prove you have a product to sell and can be succeed at both selling and delivering it. This new product launch is also the one that will cause you the greatest amount of work for the least amount of income. This is because you’re trying many different things to make your launch a success, not knowing which is the best investment of your time. As you get into subsequent launches however, you’ll do less of what doesn’t work and more of what does.

A partner launch is just that. This is where you ask one or two friendly affiliates or partners to help promote your product as you re-launch it for a second time. The reasons those affiliates climb on board to help you promote is more because they like you and less about how much money they looking to make. Reason being, if it was only about the money, at this stage you don’t really have the kind of proof the majority of affiliates really want to hear about. ie. will you pay your affiliate commissions on time, will your sales process ensure a great conversion rate and will refunds be kept to a minimum. This is also the phase where you begin to shift your relationship building efforts towards affiliates rather than solely with your customers.

The third phase is the most profitable, even though it really ends up being quite a bit more work than the partner launch. This is because building relationships with lots of affiliates or partners takes time. The main benefit however is two fold. One is relates to the financial benefits. And second, if you properly collect the emails of affiliate directed traffic to your offer, you’ll own a highly valuable list with which to email market to for at least the next year and sometimes longer.

Whatever you do remember every new product launch is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

2. Limit Your New Product Launch Offers To Succeed.

The real estate industry has been using limited time, limited quantity offers to assist with new product launch housing sales for many, many years. Even when it comes down to the buying and selling of what real estates agents call existing inventory, scarcity is always a very important weapon of influence.

Wikipedia says: ‘Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human needs and wants, in a world of limited resources.’ Even though a world of limited resources may not be the case, people in general are conditioned to want things others can’t have. Be sure to use this buying trigger when preparing your new product launch offers.

A business model that continually rolls out new product launches for single items may not be profitable enough to support your needs, but if you ignore scarcity altogether you’re sales will suffer. The retail industry however, doesn’t seem to get this. Notice that ‘open 5 days’ has quickly become ‘open 7 days’ and ‘open during regular business hours’ has been quietly replaced with ‘open 24 hours’ (aka 24/7).

Also, be careful not to talk about scarcity when moving people from suspect to prospect in your new product launch prospecting sequence. Scarcity, can work against you in this phase. But definitely go out of your way to use it in the prospect to customer phase. Because at this stage it’s one of your most valuable assets.

Ever notice which items hold the greatest value: real estate, yachts, fine art, rare collectibles, etc. etc. Every single one of them sold with the feature of limited supply. For a new product launch to succeed, you need to plan out the limited supply/time offer you’ll include with your offer.

3. Suspect, Prospect, Then New Product Launch Customer.

Clients tell me all the time that their new product launch strategy isn’t reaping the kind of rewards others seem to be enjoying. Is there anything they can do to make things better, they ask. Well, to begin with what looks like success on the outside may not be true on the inside for the other businesses. In fact, most business owners that are running truly successful growing operations are not spending a whole lot of time bragging about it. What you need to do is look at your new product launch conversion numbers and work to improve them from one business cycle to the next.

Before setting out on any new product launch campaign its worthy to take note of how suspects become prospects and then prospects become buyers. This is called your pre-sales funnel. What’s truly important is that when most new product launches fail or sales begin to slow the real culprit is nothing more than customers thinking clients should be calling them instead of you calling on suspects that qualify as prospects, suitable for your offers. Remember, new product launch suspects don’t become prospects without help from you and your sales team, even when that team is made up of affiliates and/or in-house personnel.

Prospecting is so important to the overall success of every new product launch that if a salesperson won’t do it or doesn’t want to learn to love doing it, failure is inevitable. Conversely, even if the selling skills of a salesperson are somewhat lackluster, as long as they love prospecting their suspects to prospects to customers conversion rates will continue to improve.

Learning to and loving prospecting as important as it is still may not guarantee success. This is due in part to rushing the pre-selling phase when in client acquisition mode. A new product launch that fails is usually preventable with proper pre-planning and pre-selling.

4. A New Product Launch Engagement Before Marriage Tip.

First a glance, then a date and before you know it your new product launch engagement will feel more like a marriage proposal than anything else. Yes, a growing intimate relationship is the best way to envision every new product launch event because in reality they serve as tools with which to re-ignite or renew the buying interests of your prospects and those that want to be.

Suspects offline are like visitors online. And if what every new product launch needed was prospects with which to introduce your product and services, then really what’s needed is to either create them or find them in the first place. For almost every business, this is a proactive process. All transactions are emotionally driven and not logical. And buyers come in all shapes and sizes as do their buying habits. Prospects might tell you their buying decisions are logical but that’s not really the case now, is it.

Also, every suspect and visitor can’t be turned into a prospect either. It’s a numbers game and that’s exactly what salespeople have discovered early on. Any idea what percentage of people become prospects and prospects… buyers. The numbers are unique to every business and its business leader. First, you need to begin collecting those numbers then improving upon them. No matter how good or bad you perceive your numbers to be, remember they can always get better.

The science of numbers collecting and improving upon is call conversion rate tracking. This is a critical feature to every new product launch because what will happen if you follow those numbers is you’ll make each new product launch more successful than the last. Even though all new product launches are not created equal your return on investment (ROI) will tend to improve over and over and over again.

Just as if you were trying to pick up a person of the opposite sex, getting your first date nailed down can seem nerve-racking. However, just like a new product launch your experience of what worked and what doesn’t tends to improve your success rate, reduce time spent and sometimes even allows you to upgrade your target.

Sooner or later you’ll be looking marriage down the end of a shotgun barrel, or maybe even a sale or two or three or many, many more.

5. Can A New Product Launch Really Be Destroyed.

Sure it can, or like I’ve seen so many times before, instantly abandoned or pulled from the market completely. Does that mean the product was a bad one to begin with, far from it. What it means is that the sales didn’t justify the time, effort and money invested. So why does one new product launch succeed while others get totally destroyed. Preparation!!

Not sure where I heard it but what I’ve come to discover is that expectations kill relationships, new product launch included. Expect your friends to act a certain way and you’ll lose them or expect your customers to do certain things and they’ll buy elsewhere. Sometimes it feels like everything we try to do to increase sales, even when a new product launch is added to the mix, strains relationships. Imagine if you could reach your growing business targets and still keep your internal and external relationships all in tact… well you can.

Yes, preparation is the key that will reduce the stress and strain that sales targets cause. And passion will have you loving the whole preparation process, every step of the way. I remember hearing Earl Woods say while he was still alive that the reason Tiger is such a great golfer is because he loves working out on the practice range more than all the other players. Brian Tracy said it like this, love prospecting (sales preparation) and you’re bound to become ultra successful in sales.

A new product launch is no different. In fact, when an organization becomes focused on running, promoting and delivering one time sensitive event after the other sales tend to increase. However, the real ‘business growth’ magic comes when planning out each subsequent new product launch event. Because at some point in the planning stage people ask, I wonder what what type of event the clients would like. Answering and acting upon those answers are your number one key to sustained business growth… guaranteed.

Warning: Whatever you do, make sure that your business doesn’t fall into the automatic sales machine trap. Because, by virtue of what I’ve explained above, anything automatic can’t work. And every salesperson knows this cold. Every new product launch needs to be promoted with the greatest of care by people to people to succeed.

6. Funny Things To WOW Your New Product Launch Event.

The other day my wife told me about an event that sounded much like a new product launch. She said let’s go apple picking. Great idea I responded, to which she replied, if we don’t go apple picking soon, the season will be over. Isn’t it amazing how the thought that we might miss out on some type of opportunity, occasion or other special event triggered the need to promote it vigorously before it was a thing of the past. The influence that events have on our daily lives is incredible. New product launch events are no different.

One of the greatest struggles in business these days is the tug and pull between sales and production (production being focused on creating a quality product). And although quality workmanship is a very important feature that can easily be capitalized on in the early stages of any new product launch, it is by no means the total recipe for success. Don’t get me wrong, quality does have its place. It’s just not the only reason people make their purchase. They buy because they perceive the need for the new product or service.

Conversely, the sales department is by default charged with getting products to customers and collecting the money that comes as a result of the transactions. Probably one of the most under-rated professions in the world, ‘sales’ has a difficult balancing act between company and customer made easier however with every new product launch. Personally, I’ve interviewed many sales people looking for a new job and I can tell you that the best ones always ask how often new products are being introduced or events being staged. Salespeople you see are most effective when talking about a new product launch.

So if production is focused on quality and sales need reasons to meet its prospects, share stories and make sales, then what is the new product launch secret recipe. The hosting of special events. Every top selling organization (aka growing business) gets their entire company to focus on sales goals and the special events which will deliver on those expectations. Not only is this a successful new product launch strategy, but what it does is allow everyone to focus on one thing that will in the end maximize sales.

Focus on creating, promoting and executing special events. It’s the best new product launch method ever invented.

Rob

Just after college, the economy took a turn and so I decided to take off for a year to Europe to find myself.  Of course I had a good time, but it was not applying my college education and certainly not learning how to new product launch either.  What happened though, is that I began my income earning life in the profession of sales.  For a variety of reasons, this profession interested me greatly.  Quickly, I moved through the ranks and soon found myself heading entire business units, small business coaching and also managing several offline and online product launches.  Because of a webinars, uniquely intimate dynamic, their structure, set up and execution I knew this selling strategy would soon be responsible for some of the biggest sales conversions stories yet to be published.

Webinars are nothing more than glorified PowerPoint presentations that are conducted real-time online and delivered to hundreds of people concurrently.  Because audio is also available moderators/publishers can also speak to the attendees just like he or she would do when presenting in front of a live audience.

The top two elements that allow a new product launch to realize much greater success are: the time sensitive nature of the event and the perceived closer relationship between presenter and attendee.  The biggest trigger however lies in the fact that we’ve moved so rapidly from the information age to the mentorship age (which usually means coaching programs of some sort), that the best pre-sales introduction between attendee and presenter is with the use of a preview/sales closing webinar.

Imagine closing 4 or 5 times the number of sales than you would by using more traditional means of selling products and services either offline or online.  Running a new product launch this way will generate results that will amaze you.

Rob

Let’s begin with price point.  I like to remind my clients that there are 3 types of purchases, Impulse, Referral and Big Ticket.  Impulse is for usually food, clothing and shelter items and others that are quite frankly below $100 and to which most buyers couldn’t care a less who’s selling the product.  They just got to have it.  Example, when you last got gas for your car, the relationship you held with the gas bar cashier was probably insignificant and you may not have even remembered their gender, their color or even their age.  Impulse purchases are what people make so often that they just don’t care about the relationship.

Next let’s discuss Big Ticket purchases.  Basically, these items cost so much you’re liable to take a couple days off work just to get to know the suppliers for the product(s) you want.  When satisfied you’ll probably make a buying decision.  ie: You might go to the Miami boat show before considering a new yacht.  Or you just might take a trip to see the admissions officers at a couple leading institutions with your son or daughter before deciding to plunk down tens of thousands for their college education.  It’s important to remember that no matter what you’re friends might ask or say, their ability to influence your final decision on Big Ticket purchases is very, very minor.

Lastly, we have Referral Sales.  The most important type of sale when considering any new product launch.  These types of sales are unique, because the price point of the product or service is usually more than an impulse purchase… which means we’d like a relationship with the supplier before making a decision, but because the item(s) is not expensive enough to warrant building a new supplier relationship ourselves, we ten to do the next best thing.  Before buying, we tend to proactively get or re-actively receive referrals from our peers.

Without getting overly complicated, a new product launch with a price point above what your market perceives is an impulse purchase and less than what they perceive as a major purchase always requires referrals by affiliates, and other referring channels to be ultra successful.  Product or Services sales and that goes for online and offline sales too.

Rob

So if product buyers tend to buy because of what they perceive they need, how should sellers behave to maximize sales.  Answer: the exact same way…  For sellers to be ultra successful new product launch champions its equally necessary to sell to prospects whose buying perception needs have already been identified.

And the best way to discover this is to ask them what products they’d like now or in the near future.  This will let you know if your new product launch is justified.  Survey Monkey is 3rd party software that is very helpful for both setting up the questions as well as the collecting of the answers.  However, if you’re doing a new product launch and your list is relatively small, its just as easy to ask a question or two as part of one of your broadcast emails and solicit answers by returning these exact same emails..

Go to Google.com/trends and type in any keyword you like or pick an existing one and you’ll quickly find that what people want to buy changes by the hour, the week and even by month.  It is for this reason, you can’t assume the demands of the marketplace to be consistent.  Although you may have a dozen roses to sell, there’s a good chance it will be easier around Valentines day and more difficult at Halloween.  Buying trends need to be taken into account when conducting any new product launch.

And if not buying trends or customer surveys how else can you discover your prospects interests to buy.  Get them to ask you questions for one.  Yes, potential product buyers that ask questions tend to be indicating their keen interest in what the sellers are providing.  Not always does that lead to a sale, but I can tell you that every time I’ve done a survey and made sales… the overwhelming majority of my buyers asked questions beforehand.

Seek to get your prospects engaged in the process of selling them and there’s a good chance you’ll deliver a product that better suits their perceived needs and your new product launch will succeed in a much greater way too.

Rob

Sure, there’s a bit more to it than that, but these basic elements are required for every new product launch you’d like to carry out.  Here are some other considerations…  first and foremost, who your customer really is.  Here’s a story I’ve told many times before to get a better idea who you’re really working for when conducting a product launch of any kind either offline or online.

Imagine for the moment the car you drive and maybe the dealer where you bought it.  My question is this.  Does the car manufacturer make cars for consumers.  The correct answer would be no they don’t, because actually they make the types of cars dealers like to sell.  Its very important to realize that if they don’t want to sell a certain car the manufacturer makes, it won’t get sold.  The same goes for any product that’s made to sell, either offline or online.

A successful new product launch per se for online products requires the following:  a product that has a history of selling, a sales process that has a history of converting a high percentage of visitors to sales, the publisher having a track record for paying commissions on time and most importantly a low refund rate.  Although this might seem difficult to assemble, its rather easy if you do pre-affiliate product launches and make sure commissions are as high as possible.

New product launches can be ultra successful when affiliates interests take top priority.

Rob

“New is exciting and old is not” as the saying goes.  So what really is new and how can that help us understand how to put together a new product launch and a successful one at that.  The picture on the left shows the new part of Singapore surrounded by the old.  Guess where are the people are… To best understand how ‘new’ effects a product launch we first we must equate the word ‘new’ with the word ‘more’ for one simple reason.  That’s because in today’s society most people live on fixed incomes as a result of what they get paid at their job.  And so if new is more, old has to be closely related to less… or that’s at least what our minds think.  And who wants less… NOBODY.

The next concept we need to understand is that ‘limited time more’ or ‘limited quantity more’ is really what gets people to buy products.  Just go to the local mall and notice the line up of shoppers trying to buy what they perceive as new ‘can’t do without’ products 15 minutes before the stores are closed.  You may be interested to note that many retail stores change their in store product plans and sales events on three weeks cycles or sometimes faster.  This is because they’ve learned that new products become old in customers eyes in usually less than a month.

Now for the sex of the matter…  Yep, sex sells.  Emotions drive the sale and logic cinches the deal… not the other way around.  Underlying what everyone wants is to become more than what they currently are, hence the attraction with a new product launch or the person promoting the new product launch.  Perceive others have more success in a certain area of our lives and presto… you tend to look up to that person… every move they make and every breath they take.

The attraction factor helps you succeed with new product launches…  Be attractive

Rob

Without getting into the thick of it, their product had been out on the market for at least 2 years and sales had fallen off more than expected.  This was mainly due to trying to move their sales process from offline to online… a common mistake.  While its true that some businesses can move from brick and mortar to online, it isn’t for everyone.  In fact, because the product was available 24/7 and was not going to be discontinued anytime soon, a new product launch would only make matters worse.

All of the above are critical to pulling off any successful product launch.  Anyways, let’s just say this…  a new product launch process may not be what you need.  It may be more along the lines of having a business coach that can guide you through rapidly increasing the revenue of your product(s).  Sure, this type of person is often difficult to find and potentially expensive to secure, but there’s an even bigger reason most don’t seek the help of an expert.

Its because, most business leaders believe that all a business coach will do is tell them what not to do (or do some things less) and to then ask them to begin refocusing time and sometimes money spent on more revenue generating ideas that will work.  Exactly… And having spent 17 plus years helping others to grow businesses, I can tell you some things will work, some things might work and some things definitely will not work…  New product launch processes or not.

In upcoming posts I’ll get more into what you need to know to grow your revenue, either with a new product launch or revenue acceleration program.

Rob

I got to tell you that when I arrived at Burbank airport, I was blown away at how normal Hollywood really seemed to me.  I mean it looked like almost any other mid-sized town in America, except for one big difference.  It was
built by people that fully understood the power of Celebrity, what it took to build it and then almost in a prejudicial kind of way allowed only those that wanted to play by celebrity making rules to be accepted into the town.  Traffic Voodoo 2.0 traffic building rules make celebrities.

The main premise of this rule #1 is that Google and the other search engines tend to judge you by not what you know, or who you know, but rather who knows you.  Traffic Voodoo 2.0 addresses this rule to ensure you become a big celebrity on web 2.0 properties because its takes into account one more celebrity making ingredient.

That element is called viral.  Yes, Traffic Voodoo 2.0 and viral go hand in hand, mainly because who knows you can and will exponentially grow when those you know tell their friends about you; often times for reasons other that what you do for a living.  Ever notice how people say remember Tom Cruise when he jumped up on Oprah’s sofa excited about his new wife Katie Holmes or how much Frank Kern is such an amazing California surfer dude.  When when people talk like this Traffic Voodoo 2.0 techniques are working in a very, viral way.

You can do the same and get tons of traffic too by using this celebrity making Traffic Voodoo 2.0 pattern for success… right now.

Rob