Poor Examples Teach Good Lessons

Hey, we all know that top-notch million dollar companies have a lot to teach us, but what about those floundering business that end up bankrupt? Could it be that they are there to set the perfect “poor example” for you and me?

What is it that just annoys you to no end when you’re out shopping or dining? For me, it’s going through a drive through that doesn’t include eating utensiles with the order, or dealing with a clerk who’s too busy carrying on a conversation with someone else to be polite to you. Do these companies know how incompetent their staff is?

Yeah, all we need to do is take a look at what they are doing, and simply run the other way. We know what we should never do in our own business, just by looking.

Nobody knows like the customer, the good points and bad points of the business they’re patronizing. Every time you are the customer take a good look at your surroundings, and the service you are receiving. Make a mental note of the improvements you could make…and yeah, keep track of the faux paus that will annoy your customers.

Our number one concern in the business world is the customer. As you continue to receive Amazing Marketing Strategies emails, you’ll find your knowledge of your customers growing, as well as the acquiring tools to improve your marketing strategies.

Next time, we’ll learn the secret to direct mail success.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

Learn From The Best

People have heroes they look up to, and try to immitate in hopes of acquiring the same level of succes or fame as their star. As a businessman, I have “heroes” that have made a mark on the business world. There are some excellent companies across the country that we ought to look at for tips on creating successful businesses of our own. Let’s look and learn from:

1. Federal Express When a company’s employees are on top of the latest information and company statistics…you take notice. Yeah, add to that friendly, on-time service, and I’m impressed. Federal Express has been noticed for its quick service, but it’s friendly staff who take the time to listen, are helpful and courteous, and who know the business add to it’s renown.

2. Omaha Steaks The best price in town isn’t always the selling point for customers. If you’ve chomped on one of Omaha’s best corn fed beef steaks, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Superior products account for a lot.

Omaha Steak Company isn’t just a run-of-the-mill meat house. It’s mail order format sets it apart from most, and it’s service puts it a cut above. Do you have an upcoming family birthday? Omaha has a service for sending their products as gifts. Next year, you won’t have to go through the ordeal again…just let them know by checking off a box that you want to do it again next year, and you’re shopping is done for another year. That’s service, not to mention a brilliant marketing strategy!

3. Opryland Hotel Nashville has a corner on the hospitality industry. While most hotels are poorly run, Opryland has an eye out for its busy businessmen. The helter skelter schedule of running a business meeting, can be overwhelming. Yeah, sometimes I’m worn out long before I ever stand to speak. Getting the meeting rooms arranged and ready to go can be stressful, without the cooperation of skilled staff members.

Opryland Hotel has a unique method for helping out business men - a gold guitar-shaped lapel pen. Clerks know who will be needing help in a hurry and are trained to respond quickly and efficiently to anyone wearing the lapel pin. Wow! Why don’t all hotels implements such a grand idea?

We could create quite a list of excellent companies who have great success, but the key to all of their successes is marketing their products and services while keeping a sharp eye out for the needs of their customers. Yeah, customers are number one in the marketing game.

What about poorly run companies? Could we learn a few things from them as well? Check out the next email!

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

Dress For Success

The image that greets your customers is important. What will they see…neat clerks with smiling faces or disheveled, unorganized reps that give your business an appearance of slothful and unfriendly service?

Dress codes often meet with resistance. Who wants to wear a necktie all day? Yeah, they’re a real pain in the neck, but business etiquette requires that people on certain levels wear a neck tie.

Imagine the president of a Fortune 500 Company walking into the office for a day of work in jeans and a ragged tee-shirt. No, the pictures just don’t match.

Look, it really doesn’t matter what our opinion is, when it comes to business and dress codes. Let’s face it, people are going to think in a certain way. We can’t change that. Yep… unfortunately, we’ve got to go with the flow. Would you rather be right or rich? Yeah, me too…so on with the annoying necktie.

Make an immediate statement that spells out courtesy, competence, and integrity with the appearance of your staff. Dress ‘em up.

Once you’ve made the right impression, then what? Watch for my next email. We’ll talk about some companies who stand out from the crowd when it comes to service.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

Customers: Seeing It Right!

We’ve discussed the value of customers, and their long-term effects on the success of your business. What can you do to strengthen your customer relationships, and ensure a thriving list of loyal, long-term clients?

Make customers your number one priority. What can you do to convey their importance to them? Brainstorm - and don’t forget that your employees may have some valuable insight too.

First impressions are seldom given a chance to be reversed. Don’t mess it up! Yeah, they say not to judge a book by its cover, but customers will judge your place of business by its appearance.

Do you sound professional? Many customers will call your establishment for a price or hours before ever stepping foot inside the store. Make sure that the telephone etiquette of your staff is up to par, and helpful.

Hello? When a brand new customer walks through the door, is he greeted by an empty room or a smiling, helpful clerk? Double check your procedures for greeting customers.

Public retail stores must look at their environmental setting. It’s just hard to get around the fact that if you’re in a lousy setting, you’re going to be affected by the surroundings.

Have you found yourself in the waiting room of a service center, in a dirty chair, with outdated magazines piled on tables littered with empty coffee cups? Yeah, I doubt you’ll go out of your way to go back, especially when a service center across town offers the same service in the setting of a brand new building with a sparkling waiting room.

Most of your customer’s have five working senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Let their senses be tantalized rather than repulsed when they enter your establishment. Yep, a clean shop, pleasant music, a bowl of mints, shiny counters, and fresh air scents go a long way toward bringing customers back time and time again.

How do your employees appear to customers? We’ll talk about making a good impression with personal appearance in our next email.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

On the Cutting Edge of Competitive Marketing: How Much is Your Business Worth?

Previously, we talked about goal setting - the foundation for successful busniness stategy. Let’s take things one step farther in this email.

What is the value of your customer? Truly your clientelle dicatates both the long-term and short-term success of your venture. In other words, wise marketers pay attention to the needs and demands of the customer. Regardless of the type of business you are marketing, you’ll still need to keep your finger on the pulse of these key players.

First of all, we need to know who the customers are. Client lists are important tools for keeping track of these important assets. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your business’ worth can be assessed on the building, furniture, and stock alone. Without a long list of satisfied customers, they carry very little real value.

Manufactures are in on this important principal. Warranty cards fulfill dual purposes. Not only does the manufacturer know who the customer is, but can track the sale all the way back through the chain of stores, warehouses, etc. These lists are then implemented in their marketing strategies.

Do you have a customer list? Can you reach your valuable clients about valuable sales? If not, you may want to carefully consider ways to get on the band wagon. Find out who it is that is making your business profitable!

In the upcoming articles we’ll take a look at your business from the perspective of a potential customer.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

How To Make Sure Your Ads Produces Impacting Results

You’ve discovered the secrets to creating effective headlines, subheadings, and captions. You’ve explored tips for creating effective copy. Now it’s time to discuss the call to action.

How many times have you had a customer on the hook, only to lose them before you had netted the sale? Yep, there’s nothing more frustrating. The dollar signs just evaporate when you feel the splash and see the ripples of the “one that got away!”

All of your previous work is fruitless if you don’t close the sale. Do you find it hard to ask for an order? Often salespeople who find themselves falling short are reluctant to ask for the sale. According to Zig Ziggler, a master sales trainer, asking for the order separates the poorly paid professional visitor from the kingly compensated professionally sales person.

How about it? Does your ad make a clear call to action? Does the reader know exactly what you want them to do, how to do it, and when to do it? Keep your facts clearly organized in a 1,2,3 manner so that your potential customers aren’t puzzled.

There’s no certain place that the call-to-action must fall. Typically direct marketing packages include them in the form of a sales letter, brochure, or a reply card.

Responsive devices, such as a reply card, coupon, or order form, demand a call-to-action. Remember to restate the initial offer and any bonuses when issuing the call-to-action. Yeah, your direct mail marketing campaign can get those customers off the couch. Make your call-to-action loud and strong!

Exactly what is the most important factor in determining your business’ worth? We’ll talk about it in our next email.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

Capture Your Reader’s Attention With Graphics

So now you’re seriously thinking about creating your own ad copy…whether it’s a simple postcard, a sales letter, or posted to the web. We’ve already taken a close look at the format (anywhere from a solo piece of paper to Reader’s Digest Sweepstakes style of stuffed envelopes), and the art of writing good copy. There’s one more important aspect we need to look at - graphics.

Hey, it doesn’t matter whether your business is a dog grooming parlor or a coffee shop, a cute little drawing can give the words in your ad some zing. Yeah, there’s a little kid left in all of us that prefers a picture to go along with words…we never outgrow it!

Graphics can be involved or simple…they can range anywhere from a cartoon to a drawing, photograph, border, or simply a keyword in boldfaced print.

Clipart is commonly used to spice up copy for ads. Look for books full of clipart at a bookstore or library, or surf the net for a huge variety of clipart. Sometimes you can find free clipart on line, but even $20.00 will get you hundreds of images to choose from.

—– Allyn Recommends —–

Here’s a great resource for clip art, it’s an “all you can eat” membership model. One week is only $14.95, but I signed up for a whole year at $149.95, because I use ClipArt.com every week for my websites, and PowerPoint presentations. And that fee covers UNLIMITED use — everything on the site is royalty-free. (Those of you who have ever paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars for one stock photo know what a great deal this is.) Check them out for yourself.

o http://1trac.com/dt/t/clipart.php

—– Allyn Recommends —–

Build your own book of clipart with these freebies you’ll find in magazines, newspapers, or look for great ideas in own mailbox. Hey, that junk mail has GOLD in it.

Once you get a nice ad put together, get started on the next one. The key to getting customers into your shop or at you web site, is being in front of them at ALL time. It’s call a DRIP campaign.

Hey, it worked for AOL.

Send your leads, prospects, and customers… 4,5,6,7 or maybe a 12 pieces a year. Every piece does not have to be trying to sell them something. You just want to stay in front of them. Don’t let them forget you are there, and keep them up to date on the latest deals you might have.

You want to be the most logical choice, when the do decide to buy.

Next time we’ll dig deep, and get down to the brass tacks of making your ad copy do its job…spark some action.

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.

The Most Important Part of Any Ad

Are you ready to capture your reader’s attention with great copy? The headline is the place to start. How often do you scan the newspaper’s headlines before you decide whether or not to read the article? Yeah, that’s where we lose or gain the reader’s interest, so it’s a pretty important part of the ad.

Before you send your work off to the printer, check out those headlines. Do they make a promise of a positive benefit, or ask a provocative question? If you’re really on the ball, you might be able to get them to do both!

Warts Gone in Five Days or Money Back

What do we have in this headline? 1.Promise of a positive benefit - get rid of warts 2.Provocative question - five days? Are you in a hurry to get rid of he unsightly pest? 3.Strengthens promise - money back guarantee

A good headline should telegraph its message in twelve words or less. We used eight in the headline above. And yeah, it should be able to stand alone. Does it make a complete statement all by itself? If not, you want to do some serious editing.

Nothing says boring as loudly as a long page of unbroken print. Yeah, people are more attracted to short blocks of writing divided by short subheadings.

How often do you study the pictures and read the captions before you read the story? It’s nearly irresistible. Pictures paint the story and the words fill in the missing details. Use photos or clipart as tools to capture the attention of your readers.

Hey, you’re ready to go! Insert a photo with a powerful caption, snag the reader’s attentions with a cleverly worded headline, keep them focused with snappy subheadlines, and your advertisement copy is top-of-the-line.

Spice up your text with graphics…we’ll talk more about that next time!

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the resource box at the end intact.