Marketing and Advertising with Chris Newton

Unearthing a piece of the 'Profit Code'

2012-02-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

With the marketplace bouncing, business owners struggle for answers.

One client nailed it when he confessed, “In the good times Chris, we burned a lot of leads. You had to be tenacious to even get our attention! Now we need every enquiry we can get”.

Times are tougher, but this holds a great opportunity for you.

‘Crack the code’ on how to get leads and sales flowing for your business in the current environment, and own your market at the other end of the tunnel.

Today, I’m going to give you one simple insight that could help you crack part of that code:

Your market doesn’t know what you do, nearly as well as you may think they do. In fact, they don’t even know that they DON’T know. And therefore, they don’t care.

OK, you may have heard that before. But what does it mean for your industry? It should be a call to action for even the most astute and switched on companies.

Unearthing an opportunity

I canvassed this issue with a client of one of those very switched on companies. In fact, I workshopped the question with his whole team of some 30 people. First up, I asked them what the PERCEPTION of their industry was out in the market place. The industry at large.

The responses came thick and fast as I struggled to keep up writing on the butcher’s paper…

Pushy, untrustworthy, misleading, expensive, nasty surprises, lack of knowledge, promises that aren’t kept, a nightmare experience, no follow up, unhelpful, disinterested, …

Boy, THIS industry had serious perception problems! Can you guess the industry? Actually, it really doesn’t matter. Do this exercise with ANY industry and chances are you’ll get feedback like this.

But here’s the kicker. We then did the same exercise on their perception of THEIR company. Again, the responses came thick and fast, but very different:

We care, ethical, integrity, we listen, team spirit, systemised, deliver on our promises, industry respect, family values, welcoming, professional …

Now, I hasten to add that this company actually DOES deliver on these things. In fact, part of the reason I agreed to work with them was because they are quite extraordinary in their systems, performance standards, and all those other things.

BUT … and it’s a big but …

I then challenged them with this question: “YOU know you do these things, and why they’re important … but how much of this does your market know?”

They simply weren’t COMMUNICATING the very things that should set them apart from the ‘chaff’.

Out of that exercise came a whole new strategy. We’ve now worked with this company to help them encapsulate their extraordinary story. To make ‘the invisible visible’.

Their ‘magic story’ is articulated in every piece of collateral, every letter, every proposal, every brochure, in the way their people position themselves with their clients, in the website, in a corporate video, in new TV commercials …

I can’t stress this enough. The big thing missing for them, and for almost all potentially great companies, is COMMUNICATION.

Your collateral has to tell your story in terms that the marketplace understands, and will get excited about, and will rave to others about. It’s not hard. It just needs to be done ...

It doesn't matter if you’re a large financial institution, a trade business, a professional adviser, a wholesaler, retailer, butcher, baker or candlestick maker for that matter … IF YOU’RE NOT TELLING YOUR STORY COMPELLINGLY, if you’re assuming your market KNOWS or CARES, you’re losing out on huge sales opportunities.

Finally, let me share an email I received …

This client supplies high end industrial pump solutions … the $5,000 to $50,000 variety … to sewerage works, pump stations, refineries, etc. We’d helped him articulate his magic story through a series of very specific white papers.

He wrote (paraphrased):

“One of our resellers was having a squabble over pricing of an $8,000 pump with a prospect, and just couldn’t get the sale across the line. However, then the customer got hold of one of our white papers and liked what he read. Now he is buying not only pumps, but motors, valves and piping. And here’s the good bit …

- We did not compete against any other supplier. No quotes were called.

- We were past price now, simply providing a solution …”

Your market doesn’t know what you do. And they don’t know that they don’t know.

What hourly rate should you charge for your expertise?

2012-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

Do you charge an hourly rate, !FIRSTNAME!? If you do, this might be like rolling the proverbial grenade at you. But before we do that, have you heard the one about...

The Repair Job with an Added Kicker?

As the story goes, a repairman was called in to fix a washing machine. The lady of the house led him to the laundry, and showed him the faulty machine.

The repairman inspected it for a few moments, stood back, and gave it a solid KICK! To the home owner's astonishment, the machine began to work perfectly again. And without any further comment, he wrote a bill for $120 and handed it to the owner of the home.

At seeing the bill, she was indignant. "How can you charge me $120? You've been here less than two minutes! And all you did was kick the washing machine!"

The repairman replied: "Well, that’s $40 call out fee ... and then there's $80 for knowing where to kick."

Chuckle we may at that little anecdote, but there's actually a key distinction in this story for YOU. It is...

The VALUE of knowing where to kick

Think about it. How many years has it taken you to know ‘where to kick’ to solve problems and achieve results? That knowledge has a 'marketable' value.

Think of the number of times you’ve been confronted with a specific problem or challenge that needed a creative solution. How many mistakes did you make over the years to be able to get that solution?

How many tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes, delays, making good and lost productivity has it cost you? Sure now, you can fix the problem and fast. But surely that doesn’t DEVALUE the results you achieve, does it?

Look at the OUTCOMES, not the inputs

Really, it doesn’t matter if you create the solution in a week, an hour or a minute, if your expertise delivers what the client needs, what is that worth to your client?

It’s for that very reason that charging by the hour or day is crazy. Once you and your client have agreed on the value of the result, that should be the basis of your fee.

Of course, that opens up a whole new topic of HOW to ‘position’ yourself ethically yet assertively on the value of your outcomes, and get agreement on the fee up front. But from that point on, there should be no time clock, no accounting for your hours, and no apologies if you come up with the solution while playing golf.

When you begin to focus on the VALUE you bring to the client, you will not only ethically make more money each job (by charging the actual value of your service), you’ll win more jobs. Why? Because while everybody else is probably toting up their hourly rates and … all looking the same ... YOU will be the standout.

So then... what is your hourly rate again?

Chris Newton

P.S. In the past, this topic has created some really valuable discussion. If you'd like to share your thoughts, please leave a comment.

What your business can learn from an Italian immigrant and a Jewish copywriter...

2012-01-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

To start off the year, let me share a 'rags to riches' story with you that underlines a ‘survival strategy’ for tough times (and the good times too).

Many years back an Italian man migrated to Australia with not much more than the clothes on his back and his skills in cutting hair, and he opened a men's hairdressing salon in the CBD.

This salon was so successful it soon grew to six to eight stylists working for him at one time and after many years, he was able to retire and pass the business over to his son. But here’s the interesting bit. Even in his retirement, he would sit at the register and keep a keen eye on what was happening in every facet of the business. He watched every penny that went into and out of that business. He could have smiled when he took the money, but hey, no one is perfect!

Today, that business has expanded to a chain of salons. Even though the son doesn’t sit at the register as his father did, and no longer works in the business day to day, at close of business, without fail, he calls in to each branch to check on the productivity of each stylist, the number of clients they had that day, and notes the day's takings.

Micro managing? Or just good business sense in running a tight ship?

Another great example ...
In my formative days as a copywriter, I backpacked with my wife and landed a job in a direct mail agency in South Africa. It was run by a highly astute – and dare I say, very successful Jewish gentleman who had an amazing way of imbuing his staff with a tight ship culture.

Each morning he would ask his secretary to collect all the discarded envelopes from the day’s incoming mail. She was instructed to cut them open, and clip them together with a bulldog clip. This then became his ‘notepad’. Anyone who entered his office saw it on his desk with his notes on it. His ‘lead by example’ message was not lost on the staff. No one DARED waste a thing.

Of course, this may not be how you'd like to manage your business! But tracking where your money is coming from and going is not a luxury and imbuing your team with a respect for not wasting is a real key to surviving and thriving.

When I told this story to a colleague once, he smiled and commented:

“Whenever I go into a company as a management consultant, one quick look in the stationery cupboard will tell me a lot about the way the company is run. If there is no stationery register or control over who takes what, or if there is an oversupply of stationery and duplication of ordering, and no seeking of competitive pricing, even if the cupboard is untidy … there’s a good chance the rest of the organisation is run the same way.”

This lack of attention to small details manifests itself in ‘cash flow complacency’ … a compacency towards receivables, and an ad hoc approach to payables, overstocking of product, carrying of dead stock, leaving unclaimed stock with distributors …

Now, if this in ANY way gives you an uneasy feeling that you should do some investigation into your systems, great!

Time to call in your accountant and explore ways you can tighten your ‘ship’.

Until next time,

Chris Newton
Results Corporation

If you know anyone who would find value in reading this article, please forward (or tweet) this link on to them.

7 'Profit Turnaround' initiatives to make 2012 a success for your business...

2011-12-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when we look at our lifestyle and businesses, and resolve to improve on the previous year. Here are some suggested New Year 'resolutions' for your business in 2012, along with some links to HOW to make them happen.

1.) I will map out my strategies and drive my plan proactively, instead of reacting

Before you look at anything else for your business in 2012, step back and take a look at the big picture. What do you want to achieve? Where are the areas of growth for your business? [Marketing? Where do you start? How does a 72.8% lift in sales sound?]

Then map out the journey a prospect will go through [Creating a Marketing Machine], from first contact to conversion to repeat purchase. Make sure all the elements of your marketing fit together cohesively, and look to increase the conversion rate at EVERY stage of the sales process.

2.) I will track ALL my marketing, from lead to conversion to future sales

There is nothing more true in marketing than the old adage: "If you do not measure, you cannot manage." The problem is, everyone pays lip service to this truism, but the importance of measuring and testing your marketing is often overlooked. [Are you looking for sales in all the wrong places?]

The biggest excuse business owners use is that they are too busy to measure. However, if that's YOU ... think of it this way. You may be "busy" with procedures that are leaking business to your competitors, or at the very least, not achieving the profit margins you deserve.

The bottomline is - if you constantly test the effectiveness of everything you do, while at the same time constantly trying to improve performance, you will ultimately succeed in optimising your profits.

3.) When I am selling, I will do more "ASKING" than I do "telling"

Unquestionably THE most powerful approach in selling is by asking questions [A powerful lesson in asking questions]: questions about your prospect, their situation, their needs, and what they're looking for.

Again, this seems SO patently OBVIOUS! But listen to yourself. Listen to your sales people. Are enough of the right questions being asked to truly diagnose the problem or need? There’s a real temptation most especially with a salesperson with lots of product knowledge, to revert to TELL MODE.

Be like an investigative doctor, probing deeply about the symptoms in order to diagnose the problem before prescribing the treatment. Doing it any other way would be professional malpractice. The great thing about asking questions and listening to the prospect’s answers is that you can then ‘prescribe’ the solution exactly for their needs, using their language.

Getting to know what your prospects are looking for is the quickest way of increasing your conversion rates, the effectiveness of your ads, and ultimately, bottomline. [Improve your conversion rates ]

4.) I will follow-up my old leads

Many years ago, a switched on client of ours, Mark Hartley of The Tree Doctor in Rooty Hill in Sydney (yes, Rooty Hill) purchased another tree surgeon business. He came across their old ‘quote book’, but was told all those leads were dead. Not daunted, he got his team to follow up every 'dead' lead, until they told him not to. He simply DIDN'T give up.

Result? He converted 32% of the old leads on the first follow up! And a further 10% in subsequent approaches. He estimated that one idea was worth around $80,000 in additional sales to him, and more than funded the purchase of the business he’d taken over!

So what should you do? Ensure you squeeze every possible sale, (as long as you do it nurturously and ethically) with a Multiple Contact Strategy. [Hidden Profits in Multiple Contact Strategies]

5.) I will only create 'educative' marketing material

Businesses across the country pour money down the drain with 'branding' ads. Ads with catchy slogans and lots of white space. Ads that quite simply do not work. [Why would a salesperson be vauge and walk away?]

Sure, a punchy headline [the 20x multiplier - headline] and a compelling offer [Multiply your success up to 300%] are important, but if you do not educate as to the REASONS WHY a prospect should act [Truth About Advertising] (whether that is contacting you, requesting a free report, or buying from you), they won't. You wouldn't expect gimmicky, punchy lines from a salesperson, and selling in the written word is no different.

Make a point this coming year to only create brochures, advertisements, sales letters, etc., that EDUCATE.

6.) I will get my quotes paid on time

When I first started out in consulting over 27 years ago, I used to invoice my clients and wait to be paid. It only took ONE client to fail to pay, leaving leave me with thousands of dollars of bills to pay my suppliers on his behalf, to teach me the folly of that.

So from that point on, my ‘terms’ have been 50% up front, and 50% on delivery of the creative. It works for me. Or in the case of monthly installments, they are paid up front on day ONE of each month.

You ARE no different, UNLESS you choose to be. It’s all about positioning. [Are your invoices inviting bad debts?]

It’s your choice as to whether you stand meekly in line, waiting to be paid, and being someone else’s ‘rich uncle’. Or whether you establish the ground rules, and be proud that you deliver such an amazing service, and that you expect to be paid.

One more tip. Consider re-writing your quotes to reflect this new mindset. [Are your quotes losing you business?]

7.) I will create a white paper (or another white paper)

One of the best ways to increase the number of prospects who contact you is by creating a white paper [Could this get you a truckload of quality leads?]. It is a great way to find prospects at all stages of the buyer cycle, from the ready-to-buy to those who are interested but perhaps months or years off buying.

But more than that, having a ‘white paper’ also positions you as the 'expert' in the industry, and gives you an opportunity to pre-educate your prospects before selling to them.

So it has a two-fold effect: it increases leads, and it increases conversions.

That’s it for 2011. My team and I wish you every success and great prosperity in the year ahead …

Chris Newton

Results Corporation

If you know anyone who would find value in reading this article, please forward (or tweet) this link on to them.

12 Golden Rules to Effectively Handling Enquiries

2011-11-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

The more I show clients how to handle enquiries from new prospects over the phone, the more I find myself coming back to the same dozen 'sobering' truths … truths that help you understand the mindset of the caller.

These truths may at first appear negative. They’re not. They are simply a realisation that everybody – including your prospect - sees life through their own ‘eyes’. And having an insight into how they ‘see’ (and feel) can help us to better relate to their needs. So let’s consider the following:

1. The enquirer, regardless of what they say, isn’t just after ‘information’. They HAVE a problem or a need. Often a problem/s so complex they don’t fully understand it themselves. They crave to have it solved, and they’re looking for a solution.

2. Just making the phone call can sometimes be a big thing for them, because they have their own uncertainties and insecurities to contend with. You need to be empathetic and make the process painless.

3. They’ve probably been disappointed by past efforts to find a solution. So expect them to be distrusting until they know you are ‘real’.

4. They ARE going to buy. Whether it’s from you, or a competitor, whether it’s today or in six months’ time, they WILL ‘buy’ something. Your task is to educate them to why your solution is best for them (That is of course, IF your solution is indeed the best one for their particular circumstances. Otherwise, you should guide them ethically to an alternative.)

5. They will have pre-conceived ideas of what’s ‘expensive’. BUT on the other hand, when they find their ‘answer’, they will pay whatever it takes. So it’s your ‘duty of care’ to ensure you ethically educate them to your solution, AND to show that your solution isn’t expensive, but is good VALUE.

6. They will initially have little or no concept of what your business does, and will tend to pigeonhole you with other firms who appear to deliver what you do.

7. They may nod in agreement at things you say in the initial discussion, but in truth, they’ll understand and absorb only a tiny fraction of what you have said. Which means you need to go slowly, never assume. And most importantly, through questions, do a regular ‘temperature check’ on their understanding. CRITICALLY important.

8. When it comes to the Information Pack, brochure, or perhaps even DVD you send them, remember they have no basis for appreciating the VALUE, or of the decades of research and development behind this information. So unless positioned correctly, there is a very real risk it will simply sit unopened for weeks, until they’ve lost interest. And when you try to follow up after their interest has waned, you become a ‘pushy’ salesperson, not a professional with the answers to their perhaps years of frustration. What’s the solution? You must position the value of the pack correctly UP FRONT before you send it. Again, they won’t give any priority to the pack unless you position it correctly on the phone.

9. Remember that the person who has the information IS IN CONTROL of the transaction. If you give it (the Pack) over to the prospect prematurely, without first gaining a firm commitment that they’ll review it, you lose the control.

10. Getting that firm commitment means getting their undertaking that they will go through it in a pre-agreed timeframe, in preparation for a follow up discussion.

11. Even after all the above, they’ll often say ‘yes’, but then nothing will happen. In 95% of cases, you WILL have to follow up. When you follow up, even after all the great positioning, there’s a chance they’ll say they can’t go ahead ‘just now’, for any number of reasons. Often these reasons are NOT the real reasons. You need to get as many of these potential issues on the table and out of the way as possible, before you hand over the information.

12. Remember that none of this is ‘manipulative’ or unethical. It is simply acknowledging the foibles of human nature, and helping (ethically leading) people to come to an informed outcome.

Some of these 'golden rules' may not apply to your transactions with new prospects. However, that said, I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get some real distinctions out of these 12 points for you and your own frontline people.

Let me know your thoughts …
Chris Newton

If you know anyone who would find value in reading this article, please forward (or tweet) this link on to them.

Do your profit cogs have teeth missing?

2011-11-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

I sat across the desk from a business owner who has a great business concept. His business should have been doing a whole lot better than it is.

I could see this wasn’t because of any ‘financial meltdown’. It was because some of the ‘cogs’ in his business that should have been producing profit, weren’t ‘meshing’. And faulty cogs in a business chew relentlessly through profits that should be in the bank.

Now, I love bringing things down to their lowest common denominator. So I pulled out my pen and asked him for a piece of blank paper ... And found him an extra 240% net profit.

I’ve been doing this for 28 years, so finding that additional profit was fairly straightforward. It’s something I’ve done with hundreds of businesses.

In this case …

I looked at his lead generation, and clearly it wasn’t working effectively. In fact, it wasn’t working at all. His ads had weak headlines. There was no call to action. The ads did little to tell his ‘magic story’. And they did even less for his image.

I showed him that by re-writing his ads, and by making some basic changes to his website, and by proposing a way to double his referrals … he would conservatively increase his sales leads by 85% … with very little effort.

Then I focused on his current conversion of enquiries to sales. His gut had been telling him this was a weak ‘cog’. In fact, his people were way worse at converting sales than he, especially over the phone. They’d take names, send brochures with a form letter, and THINK they were selling.

A simple role play of what NOT TO DO, and an explanation of some supporting sales collateral, and we agreed he would, at the very LEAST, improve his sales hit rate from the present 3 out of ten to 4. That was ultra conservative.

And while that doesn’t sound much, that small improvement represents a 33% increase in sales. I believe we can lift it to 6 out of ten personally.

Then I looked at his pricing. He had been way too wary of putting his prices up, but with the new presentation and sales collateral I described, agreed it’d be a snap. I reminded him too that sellers will often have more problem with price than the buyer ever will.

At this point, I stopped the exercise. I knew that if we continued to add in more ‘profit factors’, his profit potential would look unbelievably huge. But even that little exercise took his sales from $2,850 a week to some $6,500 a week. And his profits from $950 to over $4,000 … a week.

Here’s the really interesting part in all this...

He’d been holding back from taking his ‘hot business concept’ to other parts of the country, because the profits were too thin. Now, he could see a whole new profit ‘engine room’ that will allow him to expand gradually, but with absolute confidence.

You know, it’s this pencil and a blank sheet of paper exercise that has kept me buzzing all these years. In some cases, I see such huge potential, I may well get involved in a JV with the client. And in this may well be the case here.

Not every venture qualifies to that level. But there are some amazing ‘sleepers’ out there with profits waiting to be unlocked.

In a similar exercise several weeks prior...

By phone this time, I identified the missing ‘cogs’ for an importer of industrial equipment.

Fixing his processes will take his business from under $2 million to over $6 million in the next twelve to eighteen months. With an 800% increase in his NET profit line.

Look, before I go on, I've got to say something...

As I write this, I get the sense that it sounds like gratuitous trumpet blowing. But in truth I'm only stating the facts. And if I don't tell you the sort of things that I do, it won't get your attention, and that will serve neither of us.

Frankly I see all too many business people missing these opportunities. They don’t measure the key performance indicators that flag these problems, so they don’t know it’s happening. Or if they do, they haven’t been able to find ‘marketing’ people who understand that their business IS a piece of machinery, let alone who have the skills to fix it.

I’ve worked with literally hundreds of businesses, doing this. I’ve owned retail businesses, had equity in a national trade service franchise, worked with professional firms … and I’ve done it over and over again.

In my seminars, I’ve worked through my examples … such as a lead generation ‘information based’ strategy for a retirement village client that produced a 3,000% increase in enquiry.

And wrote an ad that produced a 280% increase in sales for an automotive aftermarket company. And I developed a sales training video program for a national tyre group that DOUBLED their forecourt sales.

For the trade service national franchise group, I developed a selling presentation script which increased the success in conversions to sales by better than 80% for some of the operators, and increased their revenue performance by an average 120%.

My case studies fill my manuals, e-books and online resource library.

Why am I telling you this?

I’d like to offer you an opportunity to have me (and my team) do it for you.
Normally, unless it’s on a profit share basis, I don’t consult one-on-one anymore … but this is different.

First up, I’ve been really taken aback by the overwhelming response we’ve had to this blog.

One blog entry a few weeks back was featured in the New York Times business blog and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog...

But more than that, I've been impressed by the comments coming back from my subscribers and readers.

There’s clearly a lot of pain out there, and a lot of businesses looking for help. And for a small window of time, I can provide it.

Second, I’m doing it as an advanced training exercise for my team over the ‘down time’ between now and the end of January.

So I am looking to do a number of small projects. For those four to five weeks, we’ll roll our sleeves up and work on the ‘cogs’ for clients’ businesses … helping individual businesses get geared up for a blockbuster 2012.

Third, my experience tells me that in one or more of the projects we’ll review, there will be another ‘sleeper’ … a business 'super success story' waiting to happen.

If that turns out to be your business, there might be a JV opportunity, ramping up your business to a whole new level, in return for an agreed profit share.

Either way, this is a once a year opportunity. If you want to take it, you can simply contact us, briefly outline your business and tell us what ‘cogs’ you feel are missing that hold you back from making it a goldmine.

And if we agree it has potential, we’ll roll our sleeves up and get down to the nuts and bolts of how we’d work with you.

How much will having us work on your project cost you? As a ballpark, it could be in the region of $2,000 to $12,000 … depending on what is entailed.

But let’s be very clear on something.

If we do take a project on, we will have VERY clearly mapped out in advance what the potential outcomes will be for you … at best and worst case. And if it doesn’t show potential to rapidly return you your investment in multiples of net profit increases, we’ll politely decline.

Importantly too, I’ll be personally involved … at every stage. Including the creation of ‘marketing collateral’, scripting of sales presentations, redesign of websites, providing of sales training tools. Whatever it takes to make success happen.

As well as identifying those ‘cogs’ that are going to get the ‘business machine’ running at its peak, and that produce the quickest and biggest impact on profits.

And importantly, we will do the actual ‘where the rubber hits the road’ stuff that’s required to IMPLEMENT …

So there you have it … if you’re interested in having us work on your business in our down time between now and the end of January, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.

Don’t procrastinate however. This isn’t a contrived ‘while stocks last … free set of steak knives’ offer. It’s an honest and straightforward fact that we can ONLY take on a small handful of projects. We’ll give our all to those projects … but those who aren’t quick to respond will simply miss out.

And without sounding too cute about it, 2012 is going to be a year where businesses will struggle and flounder if they try to operate profitably with ‘inefficient cogs’ … or they can take affirmative action and get solid marketing strategies in place, to guarantee they’ll roar into life in 2012 and produce windfall profits, while others are battening down and pulling back and wondering what hit them.

Again, to flag your interest in this opportunity, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.

Either way, my kindest regards. All the best to you and your business, now and 2012 …

Chris Newton

"To say the meeting got off to a slow start would be an understatement..."

2011-10-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Many years back, I had travelled to Munroe, Wisconsin in the US, to visit the headquarters of The Swiss Colony. This company is one of the legends of mail order and online catalogue marketing, and still mails tens of millions of catalogues every year. After some perseverance, I had secured an appointment with the head of marketing and his team to learn how they do what they do, explaining I was researching for a business venture back home.

To say the meeting got off to a slow start would be an understatement. Perhaps they wondered WHO this guy from the antipodes was, and why they should even give up their valuable time to tell ME their secrets. And I don’t blame them.

But just when they were glancing at their watches, something changed the whole dynamic of the meeting. It was a tide-turning ‘event’.

I asked them why they’d dropped a certain feature out of the inside front page of their catalogue.

It’s as if they all froze. Then the head of marketing turned to me and said, “You know, that has been a subject of heated debate around here. Some of us battled to keep it, some insisted it had had its day. But you know, you’re the first person who has picked up on that. What do YOU think?”

From that point on, they leaned in and asked if I’d mind going through other pages with them. They confided with me on their strategy. And I was invited to tour closed off areas of their operation. I walked away with far more than I’d ever expected.

The instant change in mood was SO profound, it has stayed with me all these years since.

As far as I can see it, the meeting which they had agreed to, was initially an imposition on their time. A PR exercise perhaps. But when I asked a question that got right inside their heads, the walls came crumbling down. And the more questions I asked, the more we became collaborators with a common purpose.

I fervently believe that business people just don’t ASK enough questions. Or more to the point, they don’t ask the RIGHT questions.

Asking the right questions might seem simple. But there’s a trick to it. It’s...

PREPARATION

You see, before I travelled to The Swiss Colony, I had studied their current and back issue catalogues like an archaeologist deciphering the Rosetta Stone. I had studied what I thought was great about their marketing, and where I felt their weaknesses were.

Which meant, when I got in the room with them, I suspect I knew a lot more about their business than a lot of people they meet who are trying to SELL to them. And they responded positively.

Most businesses just don’t teach their people the awesome power of preparation and of asking questions. It’s that simple.

How many times have you had someone trying to sell something to you and you know in the back of your mind that they know nothing about your needs?

Their interest in YOU is superficial. Their true agenda is to SELL something to you. Often they don’t ask you questions at all. Or if they do, they’re not listening, but rather just thinking about what they’re going to say next.

Selling … in ANY form … has to be about asking the right questions, which means diligent preparation before the interaction.

True professional selling is about ‘helping people make informed decisions to buy’.

And that can ONLY occur when you know what they want … and you’ve figured out how you’re going to give it to them.

Sounds ‘motherhood and apple pie’ … but it IS the key to earning more business, at better margins, and building long term business relationships. Let me say it again …

Most businesses just don’t teach their people the awesome power of preparation and of asking questions. Those who do enjoy the fruits flowing in abundance from the 'cornucopia' of business-waiting-to-be-had. Yes, especially in the toughest times.

Unitl next time...

Chris Newton

The Power of Expectation... Miraculous?

2011-10-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

I remember reading an article in Inc. Magazine about General Schwarzkopf. When taking over a new command, Schwarzkopf questioned what proportion of the helicopter fleet was ‘battle ready’ on any given day. “75% Sir!” was the answer.

Wondering why it was 75%, and not 74% or 76%, he put out an edict that, forthwith, the new fleet readiness was to be 85%. And no doubt there were rumblings within the ranks that it could never be done.

But sure enough, operability MIRACULOUSLY rose to 85%. And stayed there.

The message in this little story? NEVER underestimate the Power of Expectation.

Another of my favourite anecdotes is of a new manager in a factory. On his first inspection, he enquired of the day shift supervisor what their production totals had been for the day.

Without any further comment, he took a piece of chalk and wrote that number on the concrete floor and moved on.

You can guess what happened when the night shift came on duty, can’t you?

Yep, they asked what the number was. Next morning, when the day shift arrived, the number had been rubbed out, and a BIGGER total had been written on the floor! And so it went each shift, exceeding the previous ‘norm’.

Interesting isn’t it? Set expectations low, and that is what you’ll get. Set them high, and MEASURE the performance standards, and again - that’s what you’ll get.

Benchmarking is the key. Just verbalising expectations won’t cut it. Expectations need to be very specific, easily broken down into their components, and attributable back to those involved.

And as the saying goes, “If you don’t INSPECT, don’t expect!”.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

How to Make Sure Your Invoices Get Paid

2011-10-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

As the economy continues to splutter, more of your clients are going to struggle to pay your invoices. No surprise there.

In fact, those who’ve long been in the habit of using YOUR money to run their businesses (or their lifestyle) will stretch things even more now. Some will default.

This begs the question...

How do you make sure you get paid in full, on time?

The best solution of course, is to get paid UP FRONT. And more on that in a moment.

Regardless though of what your payment terms are now, getting to the front of the payment line is a function of how well you’ve set up the expectation of getting paid. ‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid.

If, at the beginning of the business transaction, your client senses a casual approach to being paid, that’s what you’ll get. In contrast, by firmly but nurturously explaining your terms BEFORE providing the service, and then following up immediately if the client misses a due date, you have a far higher likelihood of being paid.

‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid is something many businesses are uncomfortable with. And they pay the price later in tardy collections, which then create their own cash flow crises.

Why not get paid up front?

Our own invoicing policy is an agreed first monthly instalment paid before we begin a project, and further instalments at the start of each month. If it’s a ‘lump sum’ project, we require 50% of the funds upfront.

Of course, to be paid up front, clients need to trust your capabilities to ‘deliver’. And trust that you’ll go all out to give them an amazing result.

But the key point is this.

Create the expectation of being paid up front, educate your clients to the value you’ll deliver, and most will accept this graciously.

On the other hand, if you present your product or service merely as a ‘commodity’, something your clients can get anywhere, you’ll simply invite them to shop around for another supplier who will give them 90 days … or 120 days.

Bottom line?

Be passionate about what you ‘deliver’, and about the value you bring to the table … communicating your ‘value package’, your legendary service, your responsive support, your problem solving strengths and so on … and you’ll create the right expectation in your client. They simply won’t go anywhere else.

The alternative is to be a commodity. And that means, getting to the back of the line!

4 things to do immediately when sales start drying up

2011-10-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

FOUR things to do immediately when sales start drying up (and a personal invitation from Chris Newton at the end of this email) ...

The current economic conditions are a fact of life. But it’s no time to curl up in a corner in the foetal position.

Now is the perfect time to be actively looking at new (or old) ways to turn things around. Smart players boom in these times.

Let me give you four basic action steps to get sales pumping through your business again.

1. Tighten up your sales processes.

OK, I rant about this regularly. But I get to look inside lots of businesses, and I have to tell you ... SALES are being lost every day for the want of some simple changes.

What about when the phone rings with a request for information? Realise it’s NOT a request for information!! It’s someone wanting to BUY. Organisations are so laid back, they accept sending of a brochure and bland form-letter as handling the ‘sale’. It’s NOT. You need an elite team of trained ‘green berets’ hungry for sales, who make sure every possible (ethical) avenue has been covered, systematically and consistently, to get the sale. And you need to track what’s happening ...

What’s going on in the business? In the ‘good times’, it’s so damn easy to ignore things that make you cringe, and be too busy to do anything about it. Times aren’t ‘good’ right now. FIX these things internally that eat away at your market share. What sort of things? Customer enquiries sitting for days unattended to. Poorly worded letters going out, often with grammatical or spelling errors. That square peg in a round hole person who should never be handling sales enquiries, who is still there. I could go on.

Sales skills. Presenting at a conference recently, I invited a gentleman up on the stage. Like most of the people in the room, he thought he was pretty good at selling. But about 45 seconds into our role play (with me as the customer), he was stumbling, uncomfortable and disoriented as to how to handle my basic questions on price and why I should buy from him and not his competitor. To relieve him of his discomfort, I switched roles. With limited knowledge of his products, I showed him and several hundred other business owners how easy it is to keep control of the sale. The whole room agreed this change in approach would work for them. But up until then, almost NONE of them did these things. Bottom line, if your ‘green berets’ aren’t seriously honed in the skills to handle a prospect’s enquiries, you are losing market share. And with the “shrinking pie”, that’s a luxury you simply can’t afford.

2. Mass Marketing vs Boutique.

I’ve talked a great deal in the past about ‘mass marketing’ strategies. It’s time to think about ‘Boutique Marketing’. This is awesomely powerful.

There’s a wonderful story about how David Ogilvy arrived in New York, from the UK as an unknown, and went on to build one of the largest and most successful ad agencies on the planet. How? He focused in on exactly which companies he WANTED on his client list.

He wrote a list of the FIVE ‘blue chip’ companies he wanted to get. We’re talking Shell, Lever & Kitchen, Rolls Royce. The big guys.

He stuck his list of these five giant corporations on his bathroom mirror. And every day, would not leave that bathroom until he had at least one initiative to get one of those companies one step closer to being a client. The rest is history.

He ultimately got all five.

You see, when you break your market down into small ‘boutique’ numbers of prospects, you can bring enormous focus and energy to bear, just on them!   You can ‘afford’ to stand out and be noticed.

Fed Ex a package to the 5 decision makers, find ways to add value to them, create a dialog with them.

In tough times and in the ‘good times’, almost no one goes to this effort. If you can be a bright star on the horizon for your prospect list, odds are you will ultimately win the prize.

3. How many ‘dead leads’ do you have?

Just like some ancient reptile in Jurassic Park waiting to be reawakened, many of your dead leads may not be dead at all. Chances are, they’re just waiting for someone to come along and poke them into action.

One business owner said to me the other day that he has 50,000 unconverted leads in his database! It’s taken the tight times for him to think about re-approaching these people.

What if he can stir even 2% of them into life and they buy from him? For his business, the recession would be over! Do you have leads and past client names that are really just dormant, waiting to get a great offer from you?

4. Remember ‘Shoe Leather’?

I love this story. One of our clients is a very successful chiropractor.
We’ve been writing his ads, supporting collateral and client referral and reactivation pieces on and off for years. But he has just pulled off a coup of his own. With ‘shoe leather’ marketing.

No, he didn’t go door to door in desperation. He leveraged himself. He secured an invitation to go to the local gym, and for a nominal fee, offered to give the members a spinal check.

The result? Out of ONE visit, he’s gained 25 new clients. A good morning’s work? You bet! His ‘lifetime value’ of a client is worth some $4,000 to him over the next four years.

That’s $100K in new future business in a morning. Now that’s inspiring.

What’s the bottom line on all of this?

Tough times are not for sitting in an ivory tower and worrying. They’re times when different strategies, including well thought through ‘shoe leather’ marketing, can pay massive dividends. May you boom in the ‘tight times’.

Personal Invitation from Chris Newton:

Okay, this next bit is an invitation to work with us on your marketing ... if it's appropriate for you right now. Go to the link below to hear:

www.resultscorporation.com.au/offer.mp3

(If you have trouble with the link above, you can also listen to the offer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2agQgmvuGiM&feature=channel_video_title)

Chris Newton

Proof that you CAN boost your profits in 'recessionary' times

2011-09-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Some weeks back I wrote to you about our classic Breakthrough Marketing Strategies program just re-released from our archives.

I'd like to share excerpts from two of the emails I’ve received since. Not just because they're energizing to read, but also because they highlight how the Breakthrough Marketing Strategies still produce phenomenal results today. Perhaps even more so today. The first excerpt is from Neil Cavill, a restaurateur.

Hearing both yourself and Paul Dunn in the sample audio track gave me a ‘rush’ … A rush to go back and re-visit my roots in marketing, and to re-visit my original BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING STRATEGIES program I had purchased in the early 90’s.

Back then, after being ‘guided’ (seriously misguided?) by a few marketing companies to double my turnover, I realised their strategies also doubled my overheads and halved my profit.

Getting BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING STRATEGIES re-focused me.

Implementing the strategies meant our restaurant quickly became busier. Even more, we were making more than 5 times more profit than ever before. I worked only the busy shifts and continually ‘marketed’ my business from the outside and more importantly, from within the business.

Chris, I sold my share in the business (after 6 years) for OVER 15 times what I had paid for it!

I’m now back in the restaurant trade and I need my ‘tools’. I tend to follow successful programs, and BMS is the very best I’ve seen. I pulled out my old tapes and two were worn out/ broken, three were missing….presumably in the car that I’d sold in the 90’s!

I contacted the RESULTS CORPORATION and immediately joined the mentoring program. (And thank you too for replacing my old tapes with your new CD program!)

Already, I have put in place a few strategies that have increased turnover by 20-30%.... More will come …WOW!.

Anyone serious about bringing back the ‘love’ of being in business should take advantage of purchasing the BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING STRATEGIES PROGRAM. It has real life examples that are life and business changing.

Again, thank you Chris Newton for helping me out with the CD version and Grand Compendium…It will be worth its weight in GOLD!

Neil Cavill

And here's another... from the CEO of one of Australia's most successful Retirement Villages...

In 1993 I was in at the deep end, having just been appointed the manager of The Village Glen in Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne.

As a land surveyor who knew nothing about selling retirement units, I was daunted by our list of vacant units (50) after “the recession we had to have”.

Just by good fortune I came across The Results Corporation audio cassette program, “Breakthrough Marketing Strategies”. The investment required back then was $2,500.

This program, which I still use, turned our business around. Our management and sales and marketing “Results” mindset continue to deliver for The Village Glen. We now serve 900 residents in 615 units. And we have 800 active potential clients and a waiting list of cash buyers.

I have no hesitation in recommending this program. Your business will soar if you who are prepared to invest the time to listen and implement the ideas.

Peter Nilsson

Two widely different businesses. Both producing extraordinary profits with Breakthrough Marketing Strategies.

Especially NOW, having access to these strategies can be your secret weapon for huge profit growth.

The Breakthrough Marketing Strategies program includes an 18 track CD set, workbook and business self-audit questionnaire …

PLUS a bonus (electronic version) 942 page information packed Grand Compendium full of worked examples, marketing case studies, before-and-after re-writes of ads, sales letters and sales scripts, and much more.
Collectively they used to sell for $3,500.

Now you can get BOTH for just $484. We have just four left from the original print run, so getting in quick would be wise.

Incidentally, if you didn’t get to hear the sample ‘snippets’ last time, or want to revisit them, here’s the link: http://www.chrisnewtonblog.blogspot.com/

(By the way, some people have difficulty accessing the audio link online. If that's you, give us a call on +617 3300 6909 and we'll burn a copy for you and mail it out to you.)

Short business development Video from our UK colleagues

2011-09-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our colleagues in our UK office of Results Corporation have put together an excellent video that really encapsulates the basics on how we create a solid plan for optimising sales and client acquisitions.

To watch it, just click here. It may take a little while to load, but it is well worth it.

Or copy the URL below and paste it into your browser's URL address:

http://www.resultscorporation.co.uk/MARKETINGSALESMACHINE.asp?S=1

Enjoy,

Chris Newton

If you know anyone who would find value in receiving the recession proofing white paper or indeed to receive Strategy Briefs, feel free to email Daniel at: daniel@resultscorporation.com.au, and he'll organise to include them.

Are your quotes losing you business?

2011-08-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

You may have heard me say before: ‘tear up your quote forms!’

Now, that's a fairly provocative statement. And for many businesses, doing quotes is the only way they get business. Or that’s what they think.

There is a better way. Not only that, it will earn better margins, win MORE business, and serve your customers better. A different positioning in fact, that will leave your lower priced competitors scratching their heads as to how you're winning the business.

First, what does the word quote mean to your prospects?

It means: "Check my competitors. Shop against me. Find the best price."

Think about it. If that's how you're positioning your business, solely focusing on price, then your business will forever be fighting an uphill battle. Now more than ever, given the increasing influence of the Internet and the 'global village' market.

Let's re-think the way you position your 'quote'.

Start by not seeing it as a quote.

See your quote as a job specification, an action plan, a specification sheet... Call it what you will, but don't call it a quote. Get that word out of your vocabulary, and the vocabulary of your team.

Second, where do you put the price on your quote now?

Right at the bottom, at the very end?

Hmmm, what does the prospect do when they receive the quote? They go straight to the very bottom and take a look at the price before they read the details.

So how might you address that?

Think about putting it right up the top. Thank them for the opportunity to work with you on this project, state that their investment will be x, and then take them through the value they'll receive - list out the benefits. Like this:

"Based on our discussions and your specifications, your investment will be x dollars. Let me spell out exactly what you will get for your investment..."

Guess what your prospect is focusing on now? Suddenly you've turned the whole focus around. They're focused on the value they'll be receiving. And the price is out of the way.

And importantly, when you write your proposal, assume that you've got the job.

Now I don't mean you don't have to try. Instead, have the mindset, the 'belief system' that your solution IS the right one. And that your prospect would be crazy to go anywhere else.

And in truth, if you've done your fact finding and set up expectations correctly with the client, there's no reason you CAN'T be confident you've got the best price/value solution.

One final point...

Even in a struggling economy, buyers are more concerned with the value of what they're getting than the cost. There's a bit of wisdom here:

The seller often has more problem with price than the buyer ever will.

Hard to accept but true.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

P.S. If you'd like more help on re-working your 'proposals' or 'job specifications', take a look at this article on our Results Corporation website:

http://www.resultscorporation.com.au/Articles2.html

If we were to believe some online 'experts' ...

2011-08-14T23:19:00.000-07:00

Some experts would insist you won’t listen to an audio message online for anything longer than six minutes.

Well, here goes THAT rule!

We’ve just spent three days editing down these nuggets of ‘pure classic gold’ for you from 8 hours of our most treasured audio archives, which in turn were distilled down from three days of a professionally recorded Australian marketing event.

Click this link to discover more: http://www.chrisnewtonblog.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

P.S. If you have any problems with this link, try:
http://www.marketinghelponline.com.au/bms-sampler.mp3

World's Most Successful Business for his Industry

2011-08-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in our rapid pace technology driven world, we miss the most obvious basics that can create a competitive leap. Now I know you’re NOT in the dry cleaning industry. But when someone in a crowded industry with 8% of the outlets has 40% of the business, maybe the ‘basics’ have something to teach us ...

Mel Shapiro was a superstar in the crowded US dry cleaning industry (he had 126 competitors across the country!). Even though he had just 8% of the outlets, he managed to secure 40% of the business.

In fact, his main location did more business than any other single outlet in the WORLD!

So what's the secret to his extraordinary SUCCESS? It's not the way his factories are run. It's all about his customer interaction.

Some brief examples. His competitors have their management desk out the back. He places his IN FRONT of the counter. On the CUSTOMER’S side! His competitors' teams make do with casual clothes (consistent with the industry). He wears a suit.

It's his mindset, and the mindset of his team, that creates success, and it can work for any industry. He gives four rules of success:

No. 1 KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE.

“Happy people work better. They convey that message to the public. (It’s as if) you are the conductor of an orchestra… What are you conducting? Is it a funeral march? Or is it a happy tune? You must have a positive morale and everything you do must give that feeling…”

No. 2 KEEP YOUR PROMISE.

There’s that “DO-WHAT-YOU-PROMISED-YOU-WOULD-DO” again. Yes, there’s that “DO-WHAT-YOU-PROMISED-YOU-WOULD-DO” again. By the way, not only should you ‘deliver’ as promised, make sure your clients KNOW you delivered. That’s a key distinction. TELL them or how can they value what you’ve done for them?

No. 3 MAKE A GOOD PRESENTATION.

“What does that mean? You have to clean up your stores or office. Your sign programs have to be good. Get rid of that cluttered look. Develop a 'distinctive' look. Hire a graphic artist, and be prepared to PAY for quality…”

No. 4 DO GOOD QUALITY WORK.

“Yes, it’s important,” stresses Shapiro. “But, the difference between one supplier and the next isn’t THAT great. The secret is to capitalise where you can project a dramatic difference.”

What are the messages in all of this?

From an advertising perspective, it’s clear that until ALL these things are in place, the advertising proper can’t do its long term job. As well, it’s evident that, unless you have a particular flair in the area, it pays to call in professionals to look at your image… décor, signature, uniforms… and staff training.

Wouldn’t it be nice to steal the march on your competitors… suddenly appearing one day with a brand new “packaged image and marketing thrust” that’s ten years ahead of them? I don’t know about you. But the idea is irresistible to me.

Mapping out your Master Strategy

2011-07-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

If your business is like most businesses out there, you may sporadically do some unconnected, unrelated promotions, but have no real master strategy.

As I'm sure you have discovered, this approach produces varying outcomes, and offers virtually no measurement or accountability.

And when these random promotions DO capture leads there’s typically no system for handling them. They'll get misplaced, left so long they go cold, or mishandled because there is no follow-up system and no one has been assigned responsibility.

This results in massive wastage of marketing dollars, and massive inefficiencies, and ‘leakage’ of sales opportunities that should have been in the bag.

Now, this may not accurately reflect your situation. But even if there is a shade of truth in this scenario, you need to fix it now!

TEN STEPS to a Lead Generation Master Strategy

A Lead Generation Master Strategy involves mapping out a series of highly logical steps, from lead to sale and beyond. This should be done before even considering the ‘creative’ elements of the pieces.

1. Set Sales Targets. How many new sales (as distinct from repeat customers) are required in a given period to achieve the revenue targets outlined in the overall marketing plan. Define this targeted figure and you can work backwards to determine the activity required to get it. Starting with …

2. How many leads are required? Determine the conversion rate of leads-to-sales which will determine how many LEADS must be generated to achieve the sales targeted in step 1.

3. Determine the ‘acquisition allowable cost of a lead’. As a simple example, if the company is prepared to invest $1,000 to get a SALE, and 1 in 10 leads turns into a sale, then the ‘allowable’ to get a LEAD is $100. Simple concept, but few companies know these figures.

4. One Step or Multi-step? Clearly, the bigger the buying decision, the more steps will be needed from initial lead to serious prospect. EACH promotion will have its own strategy. A website generated enquiry for example, may be followed by a qualifying phone call, sending of information with a promise to follow up, a follow up phone call, fact finding meeting, demonstration, proposal, further follow up call … and so on. It’s a system, not ad hoc activity.

5. Sales Processes. What process will maximize sales? This depends on the nature of the product or service, and how ‘warm’ and ‘pre-educated’ the lead is.

6. Target Markets. The correct selection of target markets impacts on your outcomes up to 1,000% or more. This one fact provides you with more leverage than virtually any other in your entire marketing thrust. What are your best target markets for new leads? The logical ones are not necessarily the best.

7. The Matrix of Activities. When the various media options are selected, a matrix can be drawn up. This matrix shows at a glance all the efforts to be tested, dates, response lead times, and most importantly, the cost per lead and cost per sale from EACH promotion. Like the conductor of an orchestra (with the overall objectives as your music sheet), you can increase the intensity of various promotions, add new ones and reduce or fade out others as the individual performances are analyzed.

8. The Allocation of Responsibilities. Once the processes have been flow charted, responsibilities need be established to ensure that the processes identified actually happen.

9. The ‘Creative’. Being creative is fun. But actually, it should be the LAST thing you focus on. Here’s a key fundamental truth: Once the strategy is right, the creative will come. But good creative with poor strategy will never work effectively.

10. The Review Process. At key points in the implementation of the Master Plan, perhaps monthly for some objectives, perhaps campaign by campaign for others, review the outcomes. Are you achieving what your overall plan requires. If not, what change in direction do you need to take to get back on course?

This approach takes discipline and constant attention. But it’s so analytical, and structured … it forces you to be more successful in your marketing. And how bad can that be?

Complaints!! Bane or Bonus for Business?

2011-07-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a company that loves getting complaints? Even to the extent of giving the customer something minor to complain about, just so they can handle it?

It may sound like a crazy proposition. But some leading companies overseas, and here as well, will go to that extent. And it makes good sense. They know that a customer who is disgruntled, and doesn’t get satisfaction, will often say NOTHING to the company, but will sure tell a lot of other people. This causes damage that could have been avoided.

On the other hand, if the customer complains, and the company is seen to do everything it can to fix the problem fast, then the company is a hero and can promote the fact. (“We’re not perfect, but we’ll do everything we can to keep you happy when something goes wrong!”). What’s more, the customer becomes their greatest advocate. The important thing is to KNOW when a customer is disgruntled to have a policy firmly in place for fixing complaints then to ENCOURAGE customers to come forward.

One bank overseas ran an ad that showed a person looking at the reader with the headline: “My salary is paid by the bank, but I work for you!” … with the theme that the bank was more than a big impersonal monolith… it cared.

Think of a number of cases where you’ve stepped in and fixed a problem, to be profusely thanked by the customer. Are you missing any complaints that could be spreading around the community? Maybe now’s the time to SEEK complaints.

Featured Report: 40 Hot Tips for Improving Your Marketing

2011-07-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Inside this free report are 40 hot ideas for increasing the effectiveness of your marketing. These ideas have been drawn from a multitude of sources over time. They are the results of campaigns conducted by various leading advertising agencies and marketing companies.

How were the comparative results obtained in some of these examples?

By using split run tests. Only ONE element (e.g. offer, headline, photo) is changed in the campaign in any one test. By isolating a feature like this, marketers can accurately track which version worked better and by how much.

A note of caution...

These results should be taken as indicators only of what might occur if re-done right now, today. Human nature doesn’t change, but lots of other variables do. And the test results apply to a multitude of different campaigns and products. So, take the results more as guidelines as to how you might trial changes to your own marketing, to lift response. That said, I'm sure you will find great value in reading about these 40 elements that have been tested, and how they have increased response rate time and time again.

Use the contact form below to request this free special report. Ensure that you enter into the contact form the name of the special report so we know which one to send you.

How to own your market...

2011-07-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a classic example of the power of creating a ‘reason for being’. This case study is from our archives. The concepts are as relevant today as then. The client, of all things, was a grave headstone mason.

He'd approached us with a problem. His Yellow Pages ad, he felt, did not do justice to his business and his life mission. His ad was just like all the others ... page after page of sameness in the classification ... Big logo up the top, the same bullet points as everybody else and a big phone number at the bottom.

It didn’t tell the full story ... his special story.

And when people called, what do you think they focused on? Not surprisingly they tended to focus on PRICE. Obvious when you think about it because all the ads were fundamentally the same, so price was the only thing they could focus on ... John Smith (not his real name) was convinced we could help him tell his story so he could break away from the 'price trap'. And to be honest, the more we probed him about his business, the more fascinating the story became. Our resulting headline read:

‘When you want a monument to your loved one that’s as special as they were ... speak with John Smith’

This ad created a very special personality around his business.

It spoke of the fact that his monuments ‘are cut from stone, rather than pre-made blocks’ ...
That ‘you must be 100% delighted with the finished work or you don’t pay’
That you get to approve the layout BEFORE work begins ...

Compelling reasons to commission him.

But here’s the interesting part. Do you think the OTHER stone masons listed in the Yellow Pages cut from stone as opposed to pre-made blocks? They might …

Do they guarantee their work or does the client take the risk? Do they let you see the drawings before work begins? They might …

The point is, their ads DON’T SAY if they do or they don’t!

And what that means ... the one who DOES say these things, ‘owns’ those ‘reasons for being’. The unique selling proposition of cutting from stone ... and the unique selling proposition of having a 100% delight guarantee.

This ad superbly pre-empted the market ... and positioned this company perfectly in that niche in the market that HE wants to serve. (Below is a reproduction of the ad.)

Two things happened after this ad appeared ... first, the number of calls from the Yellow Pages increased. Not dramatically, but they did increase.

Second, and FAR more importantly, the people who rang as a result were a different type of person ... they didn’t focus on price. They simply asked, “When can you start?”. They had been educated to what this remarkable stonemason is about ... creating beautiful monuments.

How OUTRAGEOUS are you prepared to be in your guarantees?

2011-07-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

When a client phoned me, he was obviously frustrated. "We’ve got the world’s best auto security locking system, but our ads barely pay for themselves” was his opening remark.

I just happened to have a copy of the magazine he’d advertised in, so I grabbed it. His ad had a good position, right hand page, early in the magazine.

The headline on his ad was ‘STOP THIEF’ (set under a big red stop sign). The copy then opened up with “No longer is your car at risk with the such and such security system”, followed by a list of bullet point features (incidentally I changed the name of the product for reasons you'll see below) …

Fairly standard stuff … features like: Easy to operate, self-locking, etc. But then, ‘hidden’ in the third bullet point was the statement: ‘Ignition suppression which completely and totally makes it impossible to start the car when then system is activated.’

My first reaction was that the client had lost a powerful opportunity to sell his system. He’d fallen into the trap of trotting out a bunch of fairly standard features, while what I saw as his BIG benefit was hidden away in the third bullet point.

Interestingly, while he was on the phone, I started flicking through the other ads in the magazine. Lo and behold … there was another ad a few pages further on … and its headline was ‘STOP THEIF’, and it too had a bunch of bullet points. This second ad was for the much cheaper security device, a steering wheel lock. No comparison to Mike’s high tech solution, but because they both had similar bullet points, appearing to be a competitor.

I challenged him: “Mike, you claim it’s impossible to start the car?”

“ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!” was his emphatic response.

“OK, here’s the deal”, I responded with my entrepreneurial adrenalin starting to surge through my veins. “I’ll write you an ad FOR NOTHING, and let’s see how it works. You run it and if it beats your old ad, and you continue to run it, then we can talk about a fee.”

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes to write the new ad. There was a man in a suit standing in front of a very expensive sports car … and the headline read:

I was convinced it would absolutely blitz the marketplace. Perhaps get him loads of PR too, as the media picked up on this outrageous guarantee. I was really excited with this ad, and eagerly sent it to Mike.

Now, for the real test. The only place that counts. The market.

So, how did my ad work against his original bland ad? Well, I’d love to tell you my ad with the totally outrageous guarantee statement did create an avalanche of orders. I’d love to tell you that … but I can’t.

You see, for unspecified reasons … Mike never ran my ad. I’m still trying to figure out why. (I think I really do know!)

Still, this should serve as a challenge to YOU. Are your communications bland? Are your ads making the same ordinary statements that your competitors are making, that keep your great product or service in mediocrity?

Think outside that box! What are your compelling guarantees? What COULD they be that’d set people’s imaginations on fire? What sets your product or service apart that will bring prospects to you in big numbers? What is it about your product or service that takes the focus right off price, and has people knocking at your door, saying “I WANT THAT!”?

Taking advantage of a marketing opportunity...

2011-07-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

This blog entry will pick up where the last blog entry in the white paper series left off, and give you one more example analysis to get your 'creative marketing juices' flowing.

Example 4#: A white paper that was created in a matter of days to capture a 'window of opportunity'

I was visiting our UK office just when the Global Financial Crisis was beginning to gather momentum in the media. Businesses were going into panic mode and yet I knew I could give them very simple, basic ‘survival’ guidelines that would help insulate them from the downward spiral.

So on the flight home, I wrote a special report called the '10 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Sales and Profits (& Recession-Proof Your Business)’.

Essentially the white paper was a temperature check for the prospect's business, with strategies, statistics and case studies that clearly articulated how not only to 'weather' the GFC storm, but to grow and profit despite it.

In reality, this white paper would have probably been a great tool for our prospects at any time, but because of the media attention around the GFC, it really struck a nerve. We were being inundated with online requests – consistently up to three or four every day in the early days.

After the initial flurry, we stopped actively promoting the white paper. Yet we still get requests coming in, and have over 370 new prospects on our database since we have made the report available. And while I was involved in creating a new venture and not looking for ‘consulting projects’ per se, I think you’ll agree it would have been a very fertile field had I been seeking them.

Here's a sample of the white paper:

This is the final blog entry in the white paper series. If you'd like help with crafting your own red hot lead-generating white paper, call me on (+617) 3300 6909, or simply use our Results Corporation contact form to drop us an email.

You also might want to request our own new white paper - '21 Tips on Creating an Effective White Paper'.

Marketing and the Pareto Principle

2011-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 Rule is not new. In 1941, Joseph Juran named it after Italian, Vilfredo Pareto, who’d observed that 80% of the country’s income went to 20% of the population.

In 1979, American Airlines identified that just 80,000 of their 25 MILLION travellers (3.2%) were generating 65% of their business! This revelation saved them millions on wasted advertising.

In fact, that revelation changed the face of marketing for airlines and many other industries with “frequent buyer” clubs.

Savvy businesses reap huge profits by focusing on their ‘A’ clients who spend the most. Hard to believe with this knowledge, the vast majority of businesses still don’t even segment their clients into A/B/Cs, let alone tailor communications to the ‘goldmine’ 20%.

A new take for small businesses on following up your leads...

2011-07-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

A quick entry for today...

Mark Hartley of The Tree Doctor of Rooty Hill in Sydney (yes, Rooty Hill!) really took upon himself to follow up every lead, even 'dead' leads, until they told him not to. He simply DIDN'T give up.

A red hot lead-generating white paper...

2011-06-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

In this blog article we'll pick up from where we left off with how to craft a white paper that positions your business as ‘the authority’ and gets qualified prospects to ‘put their hand up’. If you have not done so already, it might be an idea to read the first blog entry and second blog entry I have done in this series.

Example 3#: A white paper for the ages

As a business owner you'll no doubt identify with the white paper title and content we created for Sheridans Accountants and Financial Planners. More specifically, the principal of Sheridans created the content. Our task was to help mould it into a ‘marketing tool’.

As you’ll see, the white paper asks the questions business owners are thinking, and gives simple solutions to those questions. Each of these solutions is then supported with case studies and statistics taken straight from their client files.

Importantly too, the white paper provokes the prospect into thinking about different ways they can increase their profit, grow their business and build their asset base. Or to put that another way, to quantify the things they’re MISSING OUT ON now.

And of course the solutions eloquently showcase Sheridans' unique service and standards WITHOUT being ‘salesy’.

Being able to highlight your strengths through the medium of asking the right questions is a very powerful skill in creating a white paper.

However, a word of warning. Remember, the white paper must not look like a brochure for your business. The white paper must be a document designed to be genuinely informative, not simply to try to sell your services. It is best to imply the wisdom of using your services through your case studies to demonstrate how you do business. That said, your white paper must still have a call to action at the very end.

In my next blog entry in this series we'll look at one final white paper that netted 374 leads (and counting!). Make sure you sign up above to ensure you receive all entries in this series.

Why some graphic designers and internet marketers are missing the point completely...

2011-06-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you have ‘experts’ telling you how to design or write your website, you may be getting a ‘bum steer’.

What prompts me to write to you about this is that my graphic designer recently sent me a link to a blog that purports to ‘prove’ (through the use of eye tracking heat maps) that website visitors ‘don’t read’ ...

The contention is that the ‘old fashioned’ copy intensive format won’t work online, and that the only way to communicate in your website is with bullet points and highlighted key words and short copy.

This ‘proof’ really bothered me until it hit me during the night last night that the “232 test subjects looking at thousands of websites” were being expected to be evaluate random sites with no relevance to their interests.

OF COURSE these test subjects won’t ‘read’ the sites put before them.

It’s like putting a couple of hundred magazines in front of you on subjects that would bore you to death, and then watching your reading patterns! It ain’t going to happen. But put a handful of magazines amongst them that are on your particular passions and interests and I’m sure you’d be reading those line by line. Right?

My take on this? Of course, good clean layout and tightly written copy that encourages reading and scanning is desirable, but it doesn’t ‘prove’ that prospects won’t ‘read’.

It only proves that ‘people’ won’t read sites they have no prospect of being interested in. And really, aren’t we only wanting to talk to prospects?

If you’re interested, the link that purports to ‘prove’ people don’t read websites, (to my mind falsely so), is: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Anyway, I had to get this off my chest!