30 ways to Discover Your Untapped Wealth

Now is the time to make a cuppa and sit down to a little bit of motivational and focussed thinking. These 30 questions will immediately show you your business’ strengths – and where you can take positive action that will produce rapid results.

My experience has been that if you are willing to spend a few minutes giving them serious thought – the results can be quite profound. For each ‘No’ answer you are probably missing out on untapped revenue, but the aim of this excercise is not to make you feel bad – it’s to inspire you and stimulate your business. Have fun!

1 Do you know what your USP is? What are 3 things that set you apart from the competition?

2 Do you emphasise and sell the benefits of your product or service in all of your promotional print material, emails, websites etc?

3 Have you tried Telemarketing to capture new customers? Did you measure the results effectively?

4 Have you tried Direct Mail to capture new customers? Did you measure the results effectively?

5 Have you tried PR to capture new customers? Did you measure the results effectively?

6 Does your advertising include powerful direct response ads that stimulate the reader to action by contacting you – or are they common and just like your competition?

7 Do you advertise only in the places that your competitors do?

8 When you speak to a potential new customer, do you use words that immediately capture the customer’s attention and that set you apart from the rest?

9 Have you tried pay per click search engine advertising?

10 Have you tried advertising on the internet?

11 Do you regularly send emails to your customers and prospects?

12 Do provide training in leading edge sales skills for your team?

13 Is your place of business considered a ‘Destination’ that your customers ’just have to return to’?

14 Would you describe your business as ‘Experiential’ – appealing to the 5 senses?

15 Do you collect and utilise testimonials from your A level customers?

16 Do you have reward for referrals programs in place?

17 Is your branding and image authentic?

18 Do you give your customers something of value in return for their contact details?

19 Do you know how to write a media release to immediately attract the attention of the reader?

20 Do you email newsletters to your customers and personalise them by using their names?

21 Do you know that your client’s birthday is the most important piece of marketing information there is?!

22 Do you know that the best selling technique is asking questions?

23 Do you collect qualified contact information to build mailing lists of your target customers?

24 Is your CRM so good that your customers become evangelists for your business?

25 Dou you know why including a ‘PS’ in all of your letters and emails is crucial?

26 Do you continually communicate with your current customers by email, phone, text, or by mail to tell them about special offers and new arrivals?

27 Do you use 1 or 2 marketing methods for your business promotion? Did you know that you should be using between 6 and 10?

28 Have you any idea how wealthy you would be if you used 10?

29 Did you know that following up on a direct mail out with a telephone call, you will probably increase the response rate 100 to 1000%?

30 The fabulous news…your competition is likely to have answered ‘no’ to more of these questions than you!

 Free Tip and the Best News of all…

All you have to do is choose only 3 of the above strategies that are the simplest for you to achieve, and start improving them today. 

Print this sheet out and come back to it in a couple of weeks and then months and try something else.

 

PS: Need help?

Simply Contact Kim and give her your 3 choices to develop a strategy with you.

I look forward to sharing the adventure with you

 Now it is just that Simple…

 

10 Christmas Email Tips…Its not Quantity- its Simply Quality

Is it the right time? Is it meaningful? Is it relevant?

by Kim-Denyse, Director of kim-denyse.com

Most Businesses rely on the Christmas period to be one of the most successful of the year and depend on this success to carry them through the quieter months of February and March. Therefore, so does your competition. Right now is the most crucial time for you to make some very significant business decisions.  These decisions could mean ‘Make or Break’ for you. Looking at your overall business plan and budgets can be very daunting, especially when you are gearing up to be very busy, but some actions you can take can be a lot simpler than that.  Your email marketing plan for instance

Emailing is simpler, but it does not mean that some strategic plan is not required. Its not, ‘What you do but How you do it’ – in other words don’t just say it and then pray for it. Here are some simple email tips you can immediately practice that will mean you can keep both your brand and your self-respect at the same time

Measuring success is determined by looking at the bottom line and the amount of revenue you have generated. Your product could be the best on the market but it is how you are marketing it that will determine how well it sells and an email can play an important role in this. Remember that increasing your profits requires far more that just increasing your contact list. Your business success depends on the trust you earn by creating a customer experience. Put your customers first, be in their shoes and email them with information that is at the right time, meaningful to them and relevant to their bottom line

You will use different approaches to the different types of customers you have. For instance you may be a retail Business targeting everyday Retail Consumers or you may be a business targeting other Businesses – or both. Therefore it makes sense to approach them in different ways that makes sense to them.

Here are 5 email tips for each of these target markets so you will become strategically savvy with every contact

5 Retail Tips

Here are five business-to-Retail Customer Christmas email tips that transcend sending  quantity and focus on quality instead

1.       Reward and encourage loyalty from your Customers!

Create an email promotion that encourages people to buy online. Gift vouchers are ideal for this. Here is an example: “We’ll give you a $20 gift card you can apply to your next purchase for every $50 you spend. It’s our way of saying thank you and Merry Christmas!” Remember to promote the gift vouchers  as the perfect gift for those “difficult to buy for” people. Gift vouchers are also great as last minute gifts! Plan to make gift vouchers the feature promotion of your  Christmas email sends. “Still floundering to find that perfect gift? Give them a gift Voucher!”

2.       Avoid offering too much.

 If you show too much product, you can confuse your subscibers and overload them with choices. Avoid this by grouping great gift ideas by price point. Eg  Gifts under $25, Gifts under $50, Gifts under $100, and etc. Then create supporting website pages to reflect those gift items. Add to this by featuring your top-rated products. You can increase the average order size by choosing your most cost effective products. Offering incentives such as “free shipping on orders over $100″ might be a great revenue boosting option too

3.       Bring that Experiential ‘I’m in your store’ feeling to the inbox.

Remind your customers of the terrific customer service you offer, your stress-free return policy your money-back guarantee, or your USP that makes you stand out from the competition. Be loud and clear. It may seem a little too obvious but this type of message might be just what your customers resonate to. To go beyond the norm and take it up a notch think about creating one to one connections by introducing livechat technology onto your website. Livechat technology is a terrific way to connect with your website visitors and email subscribers by having real-time conversations with them. As well as this connection, you also will appear bigger than you actually are! It’s all about connection…and making it easier for them which in turn shows your customers you care

4.       Create a sense of urgency with simultaneous assurance – Include the deadline date for shipping guarantees

Include , “Make sure your gift is delivered on time for Christmas – buy before December 21 “ for example. It’s also important to remember your international customers may have different deadline dates  than your domestic ones. So separate your domestic and international clients in your contact lists and send  appropriate emails at the appropriate times.  Segment your lists by country, and publish the single deadline date that applies to them. You will then increase the relevancy factor and you will be simplifying the process for everyone. Now you have not only created a sense of urgency you have also provided an assurance their gift will be delivered on time

5.       Segment  the Segments

You may be sick of hearing this but are you actually doing this yet? During the Christmas period you have many email campaigns to send and you really do need to monitor the numbers of emails any given subscriber receives. Do this by segmenting. Aim for quality versus quantity of send. Minimize the risk of being perceived as a nuisance and therefore ‘junked’ by being strategic in terms of who receives what

5 Business to Business Tips

 

1.       e-cards vs. Traditional cards

Use your Christmas card email as an opportunity to have fun within your company which will in turn enhance your image as being more human and personal with your customers. Organise an internal competition inviting your employees to have their children design an image for use on your corporate Christmas e-card. Let your customers know this and that you are sending them an e-card rather than paying for stamps and paper. Now you are ecologically friendly. Add to this by announcing that  you are donating those dollars you would normally would have spent to a worthy charity.

2.       Pay it forward to a Charity!

Include the announcement that for every purchase of $150 (or whatever dollar amount you like), you’ll donate 5% to a charity. Remember the tax advantage of charitable donations…its a win win win

3.       Develop a special Christmas email series

Alieviate your customers’ Christmas stress by sending them a series of 3 -5 light-hearted  emails. Show your personality wilst wrapping up your core business messages into the series. Eg.  If you have a  corporate brand in nature, this is a great opportunity to include a photo of you or someone in your team dressed up in a Santa Suit versus a business suit. Humour and humanisation goes a long way!

4.       Organise a Christmas party or event and send an e-invitation instead of a printed one!

Sweeter than the Christmas e-card idea;  organise an event and invite your customers. You then can very easily manage the flow of RSVPs. Emailing these invites makes it easier  to send segmented follow-ups. Eg  you can send a targeted email to those only who didn’t reply only to remind them to RSVP; whereas those who did could receive a reminder email with  ”See you tomorrow night” and important last minute particulars

5.       Remember your mobile Contacts

Did you know that 64% of key decision makers are looking at their iPhones, BlackBerrys, and other mobile devices?  If you think your recipients are using their mobile devices for emails, offer a link to view a ‘mobile-friendly version’ ( text only).  Include a link to this mobile friendly version the very top of your email

 

IMPORTANT:  One last tip for all of your email campaigns:

MAKE RELEVANCY A PRIORITY

Set to and segment your contacts now. Then design and write your emails targeting the different groups within your list. This will assist you in continuing to build your subscribers’ trust, which translates into loyalty and that translates into revenue.

So, now is the time to start. Make the time to sit down and plan your Christmas email campaigns! Ready, set, go!