Read More...]]> Last year we worked closely with MKFM, an exciting new radio station that is on a mission to bring local radio back to Milton Keynes.

As part of their application to get a permanent licence to broadcast on air, they have to show a number of things, amongst them being a demonstration of being able to run a professional radio station and that the community needs and wants a local station.

I’m firmly behind this mission.

So I’m pleased to announce that after a very good meeting with Chris Gregg from MKFM we’re playing a key part in helping them to promote themselves.

We’ve got a couple of initiatives planned to coincide with their next FM broadcasts, which I’ll be announcing very soon.

At the meeting, Chris explained to me the impact that we had on driving listeners to the station.

“The greatest challenge we faced in launching a new community radio station in Milton Keynes was telling people that we were on air and explaining that we were just on for a limited time as a trial broadcast.

We used a range of marketing solutions to reach potential listeners, from street marketing to social media, but the most effective by far was our leaflet delivery campaign which we ran with The Leaflet Delivery Company.

This was the only way we could be sure to reliably reach every household in Milton Keynes, the service and support was far beyond our expectations and we were able to see results in real time, as our daily updates of the areas the leaflets had gone out to tied in with the texts and calls we were getting from new listeners in these areas.

The results were especially tangible when our own staff, contacts and clients were mentioning seeing our leaflets and this single piece of marketing has played a massive role in taking MKFM from zero awareness to a familiar brand in just 6 months.

As we move forward to full time broadcasting with two more trial broadcasts in 2012, we look forward to working with Trevor and his team again, and we always recommend this service to our own clients (alongside radio advertising of course!!).”

We’re looking forward to working with them further this year.

Read More...]]> In the marketing world, there’s a number of things that you can do to increase response from any particular advertising peice.  You can use special offers with deadlines, strong headlines,  problem solving copy and really strong calls to action for example.  But once you’ve got the enquiry, once someone’s raised their hand to say that they’re interested, how do you convert them to a sale?

Here’s not the place for a complete sales lesson, but one of the things that you can do is offer a guarantee.  One that means something and is different from your competitors and one that isn’t overused.

Domino’s pizza when they first started delivering to their customers, differentiated themselves from their competitors by coming up with a great guarantee and set the standards for everyone else.  “Fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door within 30minutes or your pizza is free.”

This has seen them through the  last 40 years or so, but recently they’ve had to change it because of allegations that the guarantee caused their delivery drivers to drive carelessly and have accidents (There have been plenty of law suits agains them).  So they’ve changed their guarantee to what in my mind is even stronger -

“If you are not completely satisfied with your Domino’s Pizza experience, we will make it right or refund your money.”

What does “Not Satisfied” mean?  It could mean anything,  it could mean you didn’t like the order process, the food didn’t taste right, the delivery wasn’t fast enough or the delivery driver was too spotty!

In the eyes of some, Domino’s have taken a very brave move by offering this all encompassing guarantee.  What if every customer complained that they weren’t happy?  It’d be financial suicide – However, they understand that in general, people are decent and honest and they aren’t looking to rip you off.  Yes of course they’ll got some idiot trying it on and they’ll honour the guarantee, but on the whole a good guarantee will encourage more people to come and experience your service than attract those looking for a fast buck or a freebie.

In the leaflet delivery industry, just about every leaflet delivery company says that they will guarantee to deliver your leaflets – Well whoopie!!  They aren’t guaranteeing anything – They’re just saying that they will do what you are paying them to do.  That’s what you’d expect anyway isn’t it?

Our guarantee has always been that if we don’t deliver the leaflets to the areas agreed within the timescale agreed then we will give double your money back.

So what’s your guarantee?  What can you do to reverse the risk?  Give it some real thought. Put some effort into it.

Read More...]]> We launched our franchise offering to the world this week. We’ve been running a pilot franchise of The Leaflet Delivery Company in Aylesbury for coming up to a year. we’ve been refining our systems and procedure ready to launch to market and now we’re ready to go.

So, announcing our new franchise website www.leafletdeliveryfranchise.com which explains our full offering.

I’m really pleased with it – And credit goes to our friends at the design agency 1985 ltd who have done an excellent job in putting together a lot of information in to a clean, easy to navigate site.

Read More...]]> As a leaflet delivery company, I buy alot of delivery bags and delivery trolleys. They’re considered to be consumable as they get a fair bit of wear and tear. I probably spend over £2000 per year on the items.

Now, I currently buy my bags from a company in Nottingham. They treat me well, they print my logo on them, they turn them around quickly and the quality is good. I’m happy with their service. The guys there know me by name and I feel looked after. I like doing business with them.

The trolleys however are on online purchase, I don’t know anyone at the company. I simply go online, place my order and they turn up two days later.

When I was speaking to the bag company the other day, I happened to mention that I was also about to place an order with the trolley company. The person I was speaking to then said “Oh, we do trolleys” – She then directed me online to a section of their website that was hidden away in the links down the bottom of the page. They sell the exact same trolley that I’ve been using for the last couple of years.

I asked her why she hadn’t told me previously that they sell trolleys – She then said that she thought I was only interested in delivery bags, so never thought to.  I’ve spent approximately £1200 on trolleys since starting the company,  that’s £1200 that I would have preferred to spend with them.

Of course, they then took my order for the trolleys.

Then it struck me – I’m probably as guilty as them in not letting my customers know everything I do. We have a lot of very happy customers who I have a very good relationship with, who probably don’t know the full extent of services that we do.

It’s probably not clear enough on my website and I haven’t been routinely telling them when I speak to them on the phone.  I bet I’m losing orders that my customers would be more than happy to place with me.

I’m not going to miss out again and I’m starting right now.

We deliver leaflets and magazines – We cover Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard, Aylesbury and Bedford.

We run an online print website  www.guerrillaprint.co.uk – But we don’t just print leaflets.  We can print Letterheads, Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Brochures, Newsletters and virtually another other print that you use.  We do this at some of the most competitive prices in the UK. I bet I could save you money.

I have an online marketing resource called www.swipeanddeploy.com where for a small monthly fee (£10) you can gain access to loads of downloads, templates, sales letters, graphics that you can use straight away to help you get new customers.

Are you guilty of not letting your customers know exactly what you do?  What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to let sales that you could have made go elsewhere?

Take the decision to tell your customers the extent of your service so they can buy more.  Look at different ways you can let them know.  An email, a letter,  put out some leaflets with your invoices.  Make a point when you’re on the phone to say – “Did you know, we also can help you with…”

However you do it, make sure that the people who are already buying from you know what you do.

Big tip here – It is not your customers job to find out what you do – It is your job to tell them.

Read More...]]> Yesterday, we were expecting a large delivery of magazines which needed to be unloaded from a lorry.  We have a large flatbed trolley that we use for these deliveries.  However, when we loaded the trolley up, we noticed one of the tyres was flat.

I fetched our footpump and attached it to the tyre and started to pump it up, but for some reason it wasn’t inflating.  Further inspection revealed that a valve had snapped on the air chamber of the pump.

So, we had a lorry semi-blocking the road and no operational trolley to unload the boxes onto.  Luckily our office is in an area where there are a couple of hardware shops that sell tools and the like and I thought that one of them surely would sell a footpump.

I legged it round to the nearest and asked the assistant if they had a footpump.  He told me that he thought he had one somewhere and helped me search an area of the store for it.  whilst doing so, I explained my predicament and that I was in a hurry because of the lorry waiting for me.

Eventually he found the item, blew the dust off it.  But what he did next really surprised me.  He looked at the item, saw the price on it, (About £35) and then said “That’s expensive, why don’t you go to Halfords, it’ll be much cheaper there.”

I told him again that I needed it urgently because of the delivery waiting to be unloaded and that I needed it.  So he then said – I tell you what,  I’ll knock 20% off for you.

Now the fact that he was steering the shops customers elsewhere was bad enough, potentially losing a sale and a customer, but then, slashing the stores profits by giving me a discount was totally unecessary and unforgivable.

To be honest, at that time, because of my pressing need to get the trolley operational,  I would have probably paid an extra £10-£15 without batting an eyelid.  I needed the item and I needed it now.

If he was my employee, we would have had to have serious words.

Discounts have their place,  but they should NEVER be given away as a matter of course.  When you give a discount, it comes straight off your bottom line and straight out of your pocket.  You can’t go to the supplier of the item and say, I sold this for less than the recommended price, so can I have it cheaper.  It’s not going to come off the cost of goods sold.

If you know the lifetime value of a customer, you can use a discount to attract someone new, effectively “Buying” a new client, but other than that they should be used very sparingly.

We constantly get asked to discount our prices, the answer is always a resounding no.  We have a set price structure per thousand leaflets and we reward people for ordering more.  As they order higher quantities, the price per thousand gets cheaper.

When we advise clients on how to get the best out of their leaflet delivery campaigns, we always recommend that they should have an offer with a deadline.  But offers should make you money not cost you money.  I never recommend flat discounts, but look at ways to use an offer to increase the order value or increase the frequency of order.

For example “Buy two get one free”.  Order 10 or more widgets and you’ll receive a free XXX.

Are you giving discount unnecessarily?  Are you giving away money when you don’t need to?

Give me a call if you would like any help or advice on how to craft a great offer for your business.

Read More...]]> This is a question that we get asked all the time – Now along side some trade secrets to ensure that we get reliable delivery people, the backbone of our guarantee is our GPS tracking system.  We’re often getting asked how that works, so I’ve recorded a short video to show you.

Read More...]]> We’re expanding the business, with new areas being brought on and leaflet delivery franchises being made available and as such, I’ve decided to take on a full time operations assistant to free up my time to work more on the business.

Yesterday, I conducted a number of interviews, and one of them, I’m sorry to say must lay claim to a record of the shortest job interview ever. Here’s what happened.

The young lady attended the interview, on time, smartly dressed as you’d expect someone to be at a job interview. We got the pleasentries and introductions out of the way and I opened the interview in my usual manner by asking what she knew about us. I like to see that a candidate has done a bit of research and preperation.

I was astounded at what came out of her mouth. Here’s what she said.

“Nothing really, I don’t really know what job I’ve applied for – I’m just after any job I can get.”

There followed 30 long seconds of silence, during which I decided that I was not going to offer her the job, I ended the interview by politely telling her that perhaps she should have done a bit more preparation and that there were other people that I had already seen that had researched us as a company, found out a bit more about the role and put some effort into their preparation.

I wished her well and asked her to leave.

I could have spent the next half an hour or so going through the motions, but to be honest, rightly or wrongly, in those opening moments of the interview, I’d lost interest in her, I’d already made my decision that I wasn’t going to employ her, so why prolong it – I value my time highly, so I spent that the next 30 minutes doing something far more productive.

This young lady may have been the best worker ever, I may regret ending the interview so soon without finding more about here, but the impression that I got from the initial encounter removed any desire I had to see if she had the required attributes to work with me.

I’m all for personal development, training and mentoring an employee, but at the interview stage, it is the candidates job to convince me that they understand what I need in a member of staff and that they either have the required skills, or that they possess the aptitude to learn and develop new skills to meet my requirements.

This then started me thinking. An prospective employee attending an interview is effectively doing a sales pitch, for them to offer me their services in exchange for me giving them money. Whilst I’ve entered the market place by putting out an advertisement saying that I’m looking for a new employee I’m effectively their prospective customer.

Two lessons jumped out at me here.

1. First impressions count… Alot. Think about your first dealings with a prospective client. You know that you’re good at what you do. You know that your clients are happy in the service you provide. But unless you make a great first impression, you may never get the chance to demonstrate that you are the right person to help them.

So, how are you answering the phone? What does the greeting area in your building look like? If a client turns up unannounced, what state is the office in? How are you/your staff dressed? Think about all of the things that are valuable in creating a first impression.
2.  The more you know your prospect and their needs, the easier it is to match your service to those needs.   Are you finding out about your customer either pre-interview or during the interview before you try to sell them your service or are you blindly pitching what you do in the hope that it’s what they need.

Do you know about their company, their industry, who their competitors are?  What problem is it that their trying to solve by speaking with you?  What are they looking to acheive? What have they tried before?  What did they like/not like about their previous solution?  What’s worked for them in the past?

Once you know all this information, it becomes alot easier to offer your goods/services showing that you understand them, you understand what they need and you can propose your solution in a way that fits their needs.

Read More...]]> Firstly, A happy new year to you all. I hope that you had a great xmas and new year and that you’ve managed to get a decent break.

Like a lot of parents at Xmas, we’ve been a victim of some very successful marketing by certain companies and gone overboard with our sons christmas presents. But there was one present in particular that impressed me with their marketing, not just to get the sale, but to maximise how much I’ve spent with them not only to start with, but probably for the next 1-2 years.

Have you heard of Skylanders? It’s the latest gaming craze available over all the gaming platforms such as Xbox360 and the Playstation3. If you haven’t heard of it, what’s different is that with the game software, you get a “Portal of Power” that plugs in to your machine. Then you have a selection of toy characters that are placed on the portal and as you do so they come to life in the computer game.

The clever thing about this is that each character has its own unique powers and abilities, some perform better in different levels of the game and some areas of the game are not available unless you have a certain type of character. There’s over 30 characters to chose from (At the moment – I’m sure there’ll be more soon) and the initial starter pack comes with just 3 – But also with a collectors poster letting you know what others are out there ready to be unleashed onto our TV.

There’s an online version of Skylanders as well, where they’ve captured our details in order that my son can see his monsters Lair – Now I know that each time a new beast has been launched, I’ll be notified about it. And at £8 per Skylander, I know, that over the next year or two, I’m going to be in for at least another £100, probably double that when they bring out new accessories and software upgrades.

The makers of Skylanders, have clearly understood you shouldn’t be finding customers to make a sale, you should be making sales to find a customer. Once you have a customer, you need to know how to get them buying from you again and again and then make it easy and desirable for them to do so.

What could you do in your business to get your customers increasing the number of times they buy from you?

Read More...]]> I’m staying on the Muppets theme this week, not because I’m excited by the fact that the Muppets are realising a new movie (Honest!!) but because I’ve just seen another superb example of marketing, demonstrated by the director Jason Segel.

Jason had a clear vision of who he wanted to target.  In this case, laser targetting a specific person who he wanted to star in his movie. Hollywood star Amy Adams.  So what he and Kermit did was to create a video specifically inviting her to join the cast. In truth it probably wasn’t the only thing they did to attract her but it shows a bit of thought, a bit of creativity and effort that they’ve done to get what they wanted. Take a look at this video.

You can take away a number of learning points from this – Firstly, know what you want?  Who do you want as a customer?  Be as specific as you can on this, down to a named person if you can.  That way you can craft your marketing message to speak directly to them.  If that’s not do-able for you, then what’s the next common demoninator?  Get your target market segmented into as tight groups as you can and make your message specific to that group.

Secondly, put some effort into your message.  Don’t be lazy here,  show your target that you really want to work with them and that you’re prepared to put some time and effort into them.  Make them feel special, that you’re going to be attentive to them. When they read your marketing piece, you want them to feel that you’ve prepared is especially for them.

OK you haven’t got the budget that Segal has, but you’ll see if you watch this video that it doesn’t need to be expensive.  This video could easily be recorded in as good a quality using a handheld flipcam or similar.  But your message also doesn’t need to be video. It could be any other media, but just make it laser focused on the person that you are reaching out to.

Read More...]]> As I’m getting older – (I reached 40 this year),  I’m starting to realise that there’s very little new under the sun.  Most “New” announcements and “New” gizmos are just re-inventions or recycling of existing stuff.  Take a look down the toy isle of your local supermarket for instance.  I spend a lot of time there with my 6 year old lad, especially as he’s writing his letter to Santa.  The toys that are featuring more prominently now are Star Wars, Transformers, Dr Who, Lego and The Smurfs.  All the things that where around and that I wanted when I wasn’t far off his age

This isn’t a bad thing though.  Often, tired ideas are updated with the use of technology,   they’re improved to make them more useful, more  appealing and more fun. My lightsaber didn’t make a “Swooshing” noise when I hit my dad with it and we had to pull a string on the back of our action men to make them talk.

The Muppets,  one of my all time favourite shows,  – I still enjoy watching their movies now, are absolute experts at taking an idea and converting it into their classic humorous stlye.

Take a look at their production of Queens Bohemian Rhapsody for example, it’s hilarious, especially the bit where Animal is calling out for his Mama.

So, where’s the message here,  what can we take from this and apply to our businesses.  Well for one thing, the same rule applies to marketing.  I’ve spent alot of time studying the marketing gurus such as Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer & Joe Vitale and they all do what we should be doing.  Building a Swipe File of marketing that works and they employ a technique called Swipe and Deploy

A Swipe file is a collection of adverts, marketing pieces, articles etc that have elements in them that are deemed to be “Good Marketing”.  They then re-use those elements, reshaping and remoulding them to fit the product or service that they are creating their new advertising piece for.  So for example, they’ll have a swipe file of headlines that they re-use time after time such as “They laughed when I told them that I could teach someone to play the piano in 7 days” and “They laughed when I told them that my accountancy practice could save them £1000s in taxes”

I’ve put together a “Swipe File” of 101 headlines which you can have simply by clicking here. Feel free to deploy them in your own marketing and advertising.

So, are you going to try to re-invent the wheel with your marketing or are you going to be a marketing muppet by taking an existing idea and recreating it to fit your style and brand.