Information Marketing Association

Creating A “Dream Come True Experience” For Your Clients…

Joe P. — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:32:12 GMT

Take a moment and ask yourself…do you deliver the average, “satisfaction guaranteed” type of appointment for your customers? Or do you give your clients a “dream come true...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Art of Making Your Customers Feel Special

Charles O. — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:01 GMT

The last time I was at LaGuardia, the shoeshine did a fantastic job and I was looking forward to a repeat performance. The gentleman shining shoes was warm, friendly, and took great pride in his work. I was looking forward to seeing him again. On this trip, a different fellow was manning the stand. As I took a seat, I couldn’t help but notice how different this guy’s approach was. Instead of warm and friendly, Joe seemed pre-occupied. Joe worked quickly and efficiently and after he was done, my boots looked great. A few minutes later Joe made a classic blunder that undermined his efforts to fill the seat of his shoe shine stand. Let’s take a look at why it is so important to really wow your customers and how you can do this in your business. A few minutes later I happened to walk past the shoe shine stand once more. This time I noticed that the seats were empty and Joe was sitting down pretending to text on his iPhone. However instead of texting he was really looking at people shoe’s and when he spotted business travelers, he would say “shine em up” or “shine your shoes” under his breath in a feeble attempt at subliminal marketing. When he spotted my boots, he said “shine em up,” then looking up he recognized me and said “oh, I already got you.” Not exactly how to go about making your customers feel special, if you know what I mean. Nurture your customers Making your customers feel special is not a one-time event. It’s not a line item on your check-list that you can check off and then forget about. That feeling of specialness that you want to create for your customers has a short shelf life. In other words, you have to nurture it. If it is a checklist item, it should be on a reoccurring checklist. Your prospects and customers don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Demonstrating that you really care for your customers is a big part of making them feel special. Nobody wants to feel like just a customer number. So how exactly do you help your customers know how special they are to you? Tell them they’re special Everybody needs to feel special. What a way to differentiate your business from your competitors. Go out of your way to tell your customers how much you value them and appreciate them and it will go a long way toward making them feel that they are truly special to you. You can do this through a thank you card for their business. You can do this through a note sent on various holidays or the anniversary of their first purchase. Your personal touch here is what communicates the greatest depth of feeling. For example a hand written note is way better than a generic pre-printed thank you. The first comes across as sincere whereas the second is easily forgettable. Be [...]

How You Can Buy Growth Like The Big Fish

Ryan D. — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:40 GMT

Social sharing sites are freaking red hot right now. Over the past month, we’ve watched major tech companies shell out eye-popping stacks of cash to acquire hyperactive social apps… LinkedIn bought SlideShare for $119M, Zynga paid $200M for DrawSomething, and of course Facebook bought Instagram for a cool $1B. So what exactly is going on [...]

The Missing Ingredient that Causes Websites to Flounder

Charles O. — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:38 GMT

These days it seems like everyone has a website. However, the uncomfortable truth is that in most cases, those websites aren’t earning their own keep. They’re not adding value to the business whose name they bear because they were created with something very important missing. That single, simple missing element is responsible for the poor performance of under-performing websites more than any other element that may also be lacking. Without this element in place, websites are pre-destined to flounder. When this element is in place, it is sooo much easier for the website to make a valuable contribution to your business. What about you – does your website have this crucial piece of the puzzle in place? Clarity of Purpose What is it that is missing from most small business websites that if it were present would enable the website to really add value to the business? The answer is not some technical thing-a-ma-jig or some new-fangled, wiz-bang technology. What’s missing for far too many websites is clarity of purpose. This isn’t only an affliction among small business websites – I’ve worked with lots of bigger organizations that wrestled with the same issue. What is the primary purpose of your website? If the answer doesn’t roll right off your tongue, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Lots of businesses owners, managers, and even website committees at larger organizations struggle to get this right. Why is this so hard? There are two reasons that websites are often launched without the proper clarity of purpose. The first has to do with forgetting that the proper order in which to shoot is ready – aim – fire. Instead when it comes time to launch a website they go with ready – fire – “what did we hit?” That is often a very costly mistake. It’s so much easier and cheaper to do it right the first time than it is to do it over again. The second reason that websites are frequently launched without a clear understanding of the purpose of the website is that of data overload. You see, with everything that is done on the Internet, the amount of data that is available is absolutely overwhelming. It is the myriad of possibilities of what could be done, that cloud and confuse the real issue. The right question is not, “What can be done?” but instead, “What is most important?” Primary or Secondary Contribution When you lay it out properly it’s super easy to get really clear about the correct purpose of your website, regardless of what industry you’re in. The proper purpose for all websites will fall into one of two categories. The main purpose of a website is either to serve a primary role or a secondary role as it relates to the company’s bottom line. Essentially this means that your website’s main goal should be to either contribute directly to your company’s sales or to play a support role. Which category your website falls into will depend on which [...]

Time To Get Uncomfortable

Sean G. — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:55:45 GMT

“The way we change is by doing something that makes us uncomfortable.” ~Sean What to do when your own brain attacks! Sean and I did a coaching call with a newer VIP member ‘Bigglesworth,’ who is making huge changes in her business. She has implemented a new sales system, updated pricing and packaging for continuity, [...]

Ask PW — “Got any tips for writing copy specific to inviting people to live events?”

Michele P. — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:57:23 GMT

Karen Keeney (KarenLKeeney.com) sent me this question and it’s perfect since this is event season. (Actually sometimes it feels like it’s always event season but that’s beside the point.) Getting people to an event is probably one of the most difficult of all marketing tasks. Not only do you need to convince them to plunk

Ultimate Training Webinar -May 2012 Replay

Richard R. — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:59:11 GMT

Topic: Marketing Strategies for Finding Private Money – Part 2 Part 2- Creating Mailing Lists Held at 8pm ET (7pm CT, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) with Richard Roop Review opportunties Download slides here in PDF of Part 2 Review Part 1 Here: Marketing Strategies for finding Private Money – Part 1 Listen [...]

Are You In A Hurry For Success? If Not, WHY?

Michael G. — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:47:32 GMT

“If you were going where I’m going, You’d be in a hurry too.” The late, great Jim Rohn said that. Although he could have been speaking about several things, including Heaven, the consensus is that he was speaking about success. If success and all it meant to you was a real goal, then you’d be [...]

How To Read Minds…

Joe P. — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:41:57 GMT

One of the most important jobs of your marketing is to… “read the minds” of your prospects. Or as Robert Collier put it in his great reference work on direct response copy writing, you...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

To Attend or Not to Attend — 3 Keys to Determine the Right Event for You

Michele P. — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:56:01 GMT

There are more events out there then you can shake a stick at. On one hand it's great, on another how do you decide which is the right one to spend your hard-earned money (and time) on? Well never fear, help is here. Read on to learn 3 keys to help you decide which is