Learn How to TRIPLE Conversions of Prospects to Customers

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AppId is over the quota

One of the objections many business owners have about using direct marketing is time. Many say they do not have the time to implement it. Read this post as you will learn that a great deal of this marketing, from lead generation to follow-up, can be completely be automated.

Regardless of what business you are in, what you sell, or how you sell it, making a sale is essentially a multi-step process.

Customers come from leads that are ready to buy and leads come from interested prospects.

If you fully grasp this approach, you will be ready to change your perspective of how much time you spend on your business rather than in your business; meaning that you will quickly find the time to implement marketing technology systems.

Based on a recent 2 year study by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), if a business uses multiple channels in an effective way to connect in intelligent ways with the right WHO, you can TRIPLE, yes TRIPLE the probability of converting a prospect into a customer.

Based on this discovery, it is clear that all savvy marketers need several automated moneymaking systems. These include:
- Internet Marketing Systems;
- Stay-in-touch Broadcast Messaging Systems;
- Toll-free Recorded Messages; and
- Automated Webinars.

After you capture contact information of a prospect and they are in your leads list, you can use the broadcast messaging, the recorded messages, and the automated webinars to connect in intelligent ways so you can TRIPLE the probability of converting a prospect into a customer.

The rest of this post will provide an overview of automated webinars as they can be your cash machine.

Automated webinars, sometimes called evergreen webinars, are valuable to your marketing because they:

- Increase credibility and price elasticity: automated webinars allow more time to build rapport, share your story, and tell your prospect 'why you' enabling you to sell bigger ticket items.

- Educate prospects: use the automated webinar to do the heavy lifting of educating your prospects which is so key in complex and high-end sales.

- Ratchet up conversions: while a good direct mail, or even online, campaign that generates 1% conversion is considered a success, a well-oiled automated webinar can pull up to a 30% conversion rate.

- Upsell existing clients: automated webinars help maximize the lifetime value of each customer by giving them multiple opportunities to make purchases at higher prices.

- Automate sales: who would not want to have a sales force working for them around the clock making sales and bringing in money?

Here is a simple 3 step formula to follow for automated webinars.

- Conversion: you must have a powerful message that gets people to take action as all the fancy gadgetry and tools in the world will not really help unless you have a powerful message.

- Traffic: all forms of media, both offline and online, can be used to recruit prospects; this includes direct mail, post cards, classified ads, social media, email lists, and joint ventures.

- Automation: having an auto-responder sequence that follows up with each prospect at each step in the sequence through the entire process; this increases your conversions.

You can only make so much money through work so you try to get leverage in order to increase your money making capability. There are three chief leverage opportunities: people; marketing; and technology.

Most business owners do a good job with people in that they have salespeople that sell their products or run their business.

Most business owners can do a better job with marketing as they learn and implement direct response marketing.

Most business owners fall short when it comes to leveraging technology. Hopefully this post has provided insight about how to use technology so you can begin to actually automate your marketing with the right technology for even greater leverage and that you know how to TRIPLE conversion of PROSPECTS to CUSTOMERS.

You need to find an airtight system that condenses the entire sales process - from lead generation, qualification and education to proposing and closing - into one concise and consistent process that works. It does not require finding, hiring, training, and motivating or managing a team of sales reps. The only thing missing is a way to put it on autopilot so youi have more time to enjoy life again.

Webinar technology has been around for years but only recently has it become highly sophisticated, affordable, and completely automated. Today there is not reason why you should not be using some form of automated webinars to simplify and accelerate your sales process. You will be able to reach a much wider audience by offering days and times that fit their schedule - morning, noon, and night - no matter what time zone. And the best part is, you can be sound asleep while they are glued to their computer screen and reaching into their pockets.

I Hope You Enjoy the Article and I Trust You Found It Insightful! Let me Know What You Think.

Until the next time, I invite you to learn more about me and my various activities by checking me out at the links below.

Have a Great Day and More Later,

Mike Farrell

Meet me here: http://www.facebook.com/mifarrell

Join me here: http://www.myaspenibiz.com/

When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own internet marketing company and consulting firm from up in the mountains of Colorado.

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How To Make Powerful Offers That Instantly Attract New Customers To Your Business

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AppId is over the quota

Getting new customers is easy if you know how. Most people in business do it the hard way. I'll show you the easy way. And it's also the cheapest way to get all the customers you want.

To do this I need to explain what's known as the "Lifetime Value" of a customer to you. No matter how large or small your business, no matter what product or service you sell, you must first calculate the Lifetime Value of your customer. Once you know it, you can decide exactly what you can afford to spend to bring in a new customer - and the best way to go about it.

In a nutshell the Lifetime Value of a customer is...

The average purchase value, multiplied by the number of times they buy from you in a year, multiplied by the number of years they remain your customer.

For example: You own a restaurant and your regular customer spends £25 each time they visit you, of which £15 is profit. Let's say they come to eat 12 times per year and stay with you for 2 years on average.

This makes your regular customer worth £15 x 12 x 2 = £360 in profit to your business.

And once you know this...

...you'll know what you can afford to spend in order to get new customers.

Most marketing promotions consist of ads in the newspapers and magazines, beautiful brochures and outdoor signs. They do mail shots telling the world about their wonderful products, service and themselves. And they usually offer a 'special' discount. Something weak, like 10% or 15% off or £10 discount every time you spend £100. Let's face it - how excited do you get when you see these promotions?

Well, let me tell you about Warren, an Australian entrepreneur who built a business starting from zero using this approach. He spent $1 million building 3 tennis courts, swimming pools, game room and barbecue facilities in the middle of Sydney. The place was magnificent. There was one problem:

He had no customers.

So this is what he did. For one month he advertised in the local newspapers: Free Tennis Lessons, Free Court Hire, Free Barbecues and Swimming Pool Parties. And guess what happened? That's right!! The place was packed out from 7 a.m. 'til 10 p.m. every day that month.

He gave away lots of tennis lessons, sausages and court hire. It cost him a few thousand dollars. The interesting part is that at the end of the month, he had a going business. The courts were booked solid, and have been ever since.

Warren understood what a new customer was worth to him. He knew that once people got used to playing at his courts instead of someone else's they'd be back. He charged more per hour for court hire and coaching than the other tennis court complexes. But the customers got extra value with the swimming pool and barbecue facilities and friendlier service.

Because Warren knew what the Lifetime Value of his customer was, he gave something away and ended up making a fortune.

But what if you don't have a tennis complex? How can you apply this to your business? Here are some examples:

Accountants, lawyers and specialist consultants can give away a free consultation worth £150.Florists - a free bouquet.Grocery shops - coupons for free food items.Car service centres - free first service or free brake checks.Landscapers and nurseries - free lawn reports.Retail businesses - no strings attached free gift vouchers.

Anyone can use this technique. I am always offering potential customers FREE information. And some of those people end up spending thousands of pounds with me.

What I am really doing is "buying" new customers.

"Buying" new customers with an irresistible offer really works, and it works amazingly well almost every time. However, please be warned, it won't work if:

your offer is weakyou target the wrong peopleyour product or service is lousyyou don't follow up your customers

Human beings are creatures of habit. We keep doing the same old comfortable things we've always done. To get a potential customer to break their habit of going to another business, you must give them a very strong reason to try you. That's why a FREE offer is so effective.

It's a risk free way for them to get to sample your product or service.

A Word Of Caution

Before you rush out and start making free offers to the world, work out the Lifetime Value of your customer and test all your offers and ideas on a small scale.

Analyze the results, adjust your approach if needed, and only then go all out. If you test everything you do on a small scale first, you'll never get burned.

But you will knock the socks of your competitors every single time, because they'll still be offering 10% off.

Melina Abbott helps small business owners get new customers and more sales. You can download her popular free bulletin - How to Attract New Customers in 7 Easy Steps - at http://www.businessbyresults.com/free-marketing-resource/

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What Your Customers Really Want And How To Give It To Them

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AppId is over the quota

Do you know what your customers really want? I mean REALLY want?

I'll get to the point. Have you ever heard of the radio station WIIFM?

It Stands for "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?" It's what your customers always think of first when listening to you talking about how wonderful your product, widget or service is.

It doesn't matter what you are selling? you have to cater to the customer's self-interest.

Put yourself in their shoes. Don't you do the same? When some boring website / sales person / leaflet goes on about how wonderful the company is or how long it's been in business I just switch right off.

Who cares?

I want to know how this is going to do one of the following:

make me more moneysave me timemake me more beautifulmake me feel fittermake me more attractive to the opposite sexmake me live longeretc?

Are you starting to get the idea? People do not care about you or your company - unless you can appeal to their self-interest. We are at heart quite a selfish bunch.

Appeal to people's emotions and desires rather than using cold hard logic. When you talk about your product or service always let people know what THEY can get from it.

Remember we buy what we WANT, NOT WHAT WE NEED. Otherwise there would be no Porsche cars, designer labels, caviar or large fancy houses.

Have you done or experienced this before?

A couple of years ago I wanted an iPhone. My mentors had one, my friends were getting them, I was seeing them everywhere. But I had a perfectly good phone - I didn't 'need' an iPhone.

However every time I met someone who had one I would ask them what it was like and what was good about it. In truth I was gathering data to justify it. This lasted a few months.

At the same time my business was growing and I needed support in managing my diary. And I had to relinquish my much loved paper based diary, which I lived by - and move to Google Calendar. (This was a big deal at the time).

But of course I couldn't be getting my laptop out to book a sales conversation with someone I met at a networking meeting, could I?

So as soon as my wonderful VA told me to get an iPhone - that was it - I had the justification I needed to get one. I then did a bit more justifying - that it wouldn't cost much more than I was currently paying, it would allow me to check emails on the move, etc, etc. So I got one!

I wanted it - then justified it as a need.

And that is what we all do - whether you are conscious of it (as I was) or not.

The truth is we buy what we want and then justify it as a need.

Knowing this one piece of information will get you a lot more sales.

Not knowing it will cost you dearly.

Take a look at most business websites. They are just plain boring. They contain things like press releases, pictures of the company directors, buildings. They tell you how long they have been in business, how many combined years of experience they have, details of their products, etc, etc.

But how many of them tell you what they will do for YOU? Very few!

Please, please do not do this with your website. Appeal to your visitor's self-interest. Tell them what's in it for them.

In a nutshell, whenever you discuss your product/service let your prospect?

Know what's in it for them. Nobody cares about your qualifications and how pretty your building/office is.That you fully understand their problems and that you can solve them. Give them testimonials.Know that you have done things for other people just like them. Be specific and give examples. That way any suspicions that they have will be laid to rest.

There you have it. Always remember to tune into WIIFM. Best of luck.

Melina Abbott helps small business owners get new customers and more sales. You can download her popular free bulletin - How to Attract New Customers in 7 Easy Steps - at http://www.businessbyresults.com/free-marketing-resource/

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Why Defining Your Target Market Is the Fastest Way to Increase Sales and Attract Customers Who Buy

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AppId is over the quota

The purpose of a solid marketing plan is to act like a sorting and sifting machine that attracts a select group of customers who want what your business sells.This defines your "target market," and that's where you need to start. Otherwise your marketing efforts will end up attracting customers who really don't want to buy what you sell. And guess what? They'll waste your time and they won't buy anything! So to avoid wasting ad dollars on the wrong people, you must start by targeting the right people, and this article explains why.

I believe that most customers have no idea what, exactly, they really want or need. They have a "feeling" about it, or a friend told them to buy "such and such," but rarely will you meet a customer who truly knows the best way to solve their own problem. It's up to your business to provide the expertise and experience that guides them to a valuable solution, or the solution the customers really wants.

Your customers need help because we humans are goal seeking creatures, and it puts us in a position of always wanting, but not knowing how to get there. We try new things and then realize there's more to it than we imagined, so we look for help completing what we started.

For example:

Let's say your goal is to build a simple outdoor bench. You go to the hardware store and tell the clerk you need a drill and a selection of bits, bolts and nuts. (You have the wood.) The clerk hands you what you request, but when you get home, you realize the cord on the drill is too short to reach the patio and you don't have an extension. Then you realize that you bought the wrong kind of bits for the bolts you purchased.

Hmmm. What's missing in this picture?

The clerk didn't know what you had in mind and they didn't bother to find out. So you bought the products you thought were best, and none of them solved your problem. You can't really "blame" the store, but what if the clerk had given you some helpful direction that a few thoughtful questions could have supplied? How much more inclined would you be to shop at that hardware store again?

That's a hands-on example of why It's up to you, the business owner, to learn as much as you can about the people your business attracts so you can become their best problem solver. Better yet, it's up to you to attract ONLY the type of customers who have problems that your products and services are designed to solve so they know they're dealing with experts who will steer them the right way.

Effective marketing must be specific and targeted, so now it's time to get very specific about:

How your products are usefulWhat benefit they will experience (their value)Who the people are that will use them

These add up to your target market (your ideal clients.) Like all people, customers have their preferences, habits, fears and suspicions, desires and joys, problems and pain. Which of these things come into play concerning your products or services? Write them out. Now, reduce your description to the most accurate "fit."

This is information provides the fuel for your marketing and sales funnel. It's like drilling for oil. The deeper you go (the more targeted your market niche) the more likely you are to strike gold. But you cannot dig randomly. Look for indications that there's oil waiting to be discovered!

Here are some tips to help you define your Ideal Customer:

Find an image that represents your ideal customer (Or several.)

Answer these questions (Don't over think it.)

What are their hobbies, favorite foods or TV shows, preferred books, magazines, or clothing designersDo they have a family, want to get married, get into college, or lose 30 lbs.?Where do they live, what car do they drive, and what beliefs shape their lives?

So get busy and start brainstorming.

You can do as much research as you want, but the goal is to match your products to an ideal customer whose very thoughts you can read, and whose desires are reflected by your ads, sales letters, and by the brand presence you develop to attract this particular niche market. You can hire someone to do the work for you, but first be sure you can answer "How, Who, and What," plus the 3 questions above.

Marketing conveys the value you have to offer your customers. It's finding the words they want to hear that describe the results they want to get. When your message matches their desire, expect an oil gushl!

When you target your market, your business will experience incredible marketing power that produces sales easily and consistently. A little research and planning makes all the difference in the long run. Trust me, if you don't know what your customers really want and what motivates them to buy, now is a good time to find out!

Betsy Shulman loves to help business owners grow their businesses and increase their sales with simple marketing and selling solutions. That's why she uses a common sense approach that positions your business products so they attract targeted customers who are ready to buy. It doesn't need to be complicated! Her free Sales Action Guide: "How to Make Selling Easy" is filled with ready-to-apply selling tips. So be sure to visit http://www.rightmindmarketing.com/ and pick up your Free copy!

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