How To Find “Hot Pockets” Of Internet Customers Eagerly Looking For What You Sell.

By now, I am sure you have gathered I am a big fan of Gary Bencivenga. His “Fuzzy Dice” secret for exploding your sales makes a lot of sense.

A master salesman once told him that selling is quite a simple process, unless you go out of your way to make it complicated. He then taught him his greatest secret for keeping it simple. Gary found it worked like a charm in advertising on the internet as well.

Once you apply this principal to your market, you’ll find it will attract customers the way a large magnet draws metal filings. The key is corral customers by intercepting them whenever they are looking for what you are selling. Applied to the internet, it means matching your selling process to the way people search on line.

Gary calls it his “Fuzzy Dice” Secret.

Let’s say that you sell car accessories. Now, you could create a website and a series of Google and banner ads, trumpeting your product line, “Car Accessories”.

Logical enough, right? It’s what most companies would do. Trouble is, people don’t go online searching for a “product line”. Almost nobody searches for “Car Accessories”. That’s way too broad. When you type those words into the search bar, you get more than 49 million results.

People go on line for a single product. For example, Fuzzy Dice. You know those tacky, spongy dice that dangle from the rearview mirror. Or, leather steering wheel covers, car stereo subwoofers or Mercedes replacement hood ornaments.

Since that’s how people search, that’s the way you should sell. Sell the way your prospects buy … with a rifle shot like “Fuzzy Dice”. Not a shotgun approach like “Car Accessories”. Intercept your hot prospects when they are looking for someone like you.

So … don’t sell a stock market newsletter. Sell a report on “three oil stocks that may soar in the next 12 months because of the worsening worldwide oil squeeze. Don’t sell “retirement planning”. That phrase brings up 41 million internet results. Offer a FREE video on How To Retire To Mexico and Live Like Royalty on $500 a Month or Less.
Don’t sell “gourmet foods” … sell Imported Smoked Scottish Salmon and give it the full sales pitch on why it's the best you can buy.

Yes, you might have many other “gourmet foods” in your quiver …. but you create a simple landing page for each of your best selling products. You then follow up with an e-mail campaign introducing the newly found customer to the other products you have in your gourmet foods store.

The Proper Use Of Emotion & Senses Is Key In Direct Marketing

It’s a lot of fun sitting at our conference table discussing the keys to successful direct marketing.

Yesterday I recounted a situation with a wholesale company that I found very frustrating.

A candy wholesaler on the west coast does $5MM to $6MM in sales per year. Almost all of their sales come from their website. They do no advertising. They have never sent a follow-up e-mail campaign asking for a reorder. All they do is sit and wait for the next order. They almost do not care whether the next order comes or not. They seem to be fat and happy with the sales they have and rather look forward to being lazy.

What a crime! With the proper Customer Retention Management (CRM) they could easily double their sales with the customer base they have.

Here’s the opportunity:

Candy directly affects one of the senses: TASTE. Candy is also consumed. IT IS USED UP and NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. And, candy can relate to certain periods during the year: CHRISTMAS, THANKSGIVING, EASTER, etc. What an opportunity to sell more to the customer base this company already has. Direct marketing is an emotional sale. When the senses are involved, the emotional side of the sale is enhanced.

Hence, this is why you see such a success with the following in direct marketing:

FLOWERS: They involve smell and vision beauty. They also involve certain days of the year with heightened activity …. Birthdays, Valentines Day, anniversaries, etc.

TRAVEL/RESORTS: They involve the eyes and dreams of pleasure. Here pictures of a South Seas Resort can weave the dream of pleasure.

PERFUME/COSMETICS/HAIR STYLES: These products and services involve the sense of smell and vision of beauty. One very smart marketer used YouTube with a before and after picture to sell their cosmetics.

The big point we were discussing was the opportunity many companies have by properly keeping a complete database of their customers. Particularly if they are able to tie in their products and/or services to the basic senses. It becomes very easy to weave the dream to create additional sales.

Don’t be lazy and wait for sales to come in over the transom. Create a compelling reason for your customers to come back and buy more.

Pay Attention To What You Learn From A Merge-Purge

Most direct mailers will perform a merge/purge on the prospect lists they rent for a mailing against their customer or donor file. Obviously, the primary reason is they do not want to mail someone who is already their customer.

However, there's a lot to be learned in the merge/purge process. It has been proven over and over again multiple buyers or multiple donors are better responders. They respond at a better rate and they also purchase or donate at a higher amount.

The first thing to decide is the merge/purge hierarchy. List #1 is obviously your own house file. Many mailers will start the merge/purge process with the rental list that gives them the best response. Then proceed from there. When you find a "hit", a name that appears as your customer as well as a customer on the list you are renting, don't throw the name from the rented list away. In their rental agreement, most mailers make sure they have a clause in the agreement that says they reserve the right to mail that name at a later date.

You now have found a name that is not only your customer but a customer also on the list you are renting. That person is a multiple buyer. Mark that person on your customer list as a multiple buyer. Mail multiple buyers from your customer list under a separate code. You will find the response rate and average dollar order is higher than those who are not multiple buyers. Since you have reserved the right to mail that name from the rented list at a later date, a month later mail that name again with a different offer. You will find the response will be at least 50% to 60% of the original mailing.

Now what do you do with names you find on both your customer list and several of the lists you are renting. The same thing as above. These are multiple-multiple buyers. Then how about those names that are multiple buyers on the lists you are renting but do not match any name on your customer list. Code these names as "outside" multiple buyers. You'll find these names respond better than those you rent who are not multiple buyers.

You can learn a lot from paying close attention to your merge/purge process.

Make sure you discuss this and make a solid plan with your list broker and your merge/purge supplier.

The Important Rule Of Belief

Yesterday we had a discussion at our conference table regarding the enormous number of e-mails and web site promotions we get … all badly crafted … promising the world if we purchased the product or service being promoted.

In today’s skeptical, over-marketed world, with our search for more powerful claims, we can forget too easily one very important copywriting rule:

Never make your claim bigger than your proof. Then, always join the claim and proof at the hip in your headline. This allows you to never trumpet one without the other. If you remember this rule, there is no more powerful or consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims right up front with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar. Why? Because you have created belief. This is particularly true if you are building content copy for your website.

The famous copywriter, Gary Bencivenga says, “Whenever you face the question: ‘Which of these headlines or main themes will likely outpull the other?’ One of the most reliable ways to know in advance, without spending a dime or precious time on testing, is to ask: ‘Which headline offers the more compelling proof?’

Your prospects are not morons. They are as savvy as you. They can spot sales hype miles away. Hype your copy and they will stop reading your e-mails and web pages right away. This is why the smartest, most reliable way to get a prospect to read your message and respond is not to crank up the volume on your promise. That just makes it look like a bigger pile of hype and disbelief.

With this in mind, take the following two headlines … which one promises the reader more proof?

Headline (A.) Tension Headache?

Headline (B.) When Doctors Have Tension Headaches, What Do They Do?

When John Caples tested these two headlines, headline “B” won by a fat and happy 71%

Gary is so right …. He says, remember this always:

Almost everyone in the world, in every field of endeavor, is desperately searching for someone to believe in. Belief is today’s most overlooked, most powerful key to boosting response in any medium.

To learn more about copywriting's important rules of belief, go to:
http://netwriting.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Some Final Thoughts

We have discussed many of the important attributes that are the difference between ordinary and extraordinary companies. This final post on the subject focuses on people, questioning, inclusion, mentoring and being able to to go back to find the company's future.

People:

Extraordinary companies have extraordinary people all of whom are passionate. Ordinary companies have average people and none of them are passionate. Extraordinary companies attract extraordinary people. Ordinary companies attract ordinary people. When an ordinary company hires an extraordinary employee, the result for that person is painful and short-lived.

Mentoring:

Extraordinary companies create extraordinary employees and know how to mentor them into becoming future extraordinary top management. Ordinary companies do not focus on mentoring their employees. They are not interested nor do they know how or want to take the time to do it.

Questioning:

The extraordinary company's leaders and employees questions everyone they come in contact with. These are not "accuracy" questions but rather questions to learn something new. The ordinary company asks few questions. And, more often than not, they don't know the proper questions to ask.

Inclusion:

The extraordinary company includes all its trusted advisors and vendors in its research and decision making process. The ordinary company doesn't trust its advisors and vendors. They spend most of their time squeezing another discount from them ending up with fewer sources of supply and ideas.

Going Back To Find The Company's Future:

The company you own, head or work at was once an idea in the mind of the person who had the guts to start it. That idea was so strong it became an obsession. That obsession became a fledgling company eventually growing into what it is today.

Back when your company began, there was a "burning passion" in the person who originated the idea ... an idea his or her concept could become a viable concept around which a company could be built.

Extraordinary companies never forget what the pioneering spirit was that began their existence. They continually revisit the original concept to be able to map the future growth upon that original concept. Ordinary companies have long forgotten the reason they began ... often because they have been purchased and sold several times because their future has never been built on sound growth principals.

We hope this Ordinary vs Extraordinary series of posts contain ideas that you can put to use in your company.

A Possible Enormous Opportunity

The new Health Care legislation has passed. Wading through all the rhetoric, spin and misinformation, there will be opportunities to substantially grow or start your own independent business.

Yesterday Donald Trump spent several minutes on a TV newscast discussing the dramatic affect this legislation will have on the expenses of corporate America. He recounted a conversation he had with one CEO. This new legislation will increase the cost of his present payroll by $2 million. Not only is his company freezing new hires but also will eliminate as many jobs as possible. Then they will hire independent contractors on a 1099 form to handle the eliminated jobs.

One caveat for the independent contractor: Most states have tax and business regulations that clearly define the function of an independent contractor versus an employee. It boils down to the job function being performed. When I was a direct marketing consultant in California, I was performing a job clearly deemed an employee function. The way I circumvented the regulation was to incorporate and have my client hire the corporation rather than me as an individual. My company took on the function of Direct Marketing Director and assigned me to handle the job.

If you are an independent contractor performing creative input to your client, now you can offer management on the front end and production on the back end, just like I did.

Sure, there are many more functional duties to do this right, but your client now has an enormous opportunity to save big HR benefits costs.

What Is The Most Important Ingredient For Success?

Almost fifty years ago Bill Bernbach, the creator of the renowned Volkswagen ads of the 1960’s said, “The magic is in the product or service. Copy doesn’t create an advantage, it can only convey it”.

My very first car was a 1964 Volkswagen because Bernbach’s advertising sold me! The same year I began my direct marketing career. Today, forty six years later, your product or service still remains the most important ingredient. Bottom line … if it is in the “ho-hum” or “me-too” category, all the publicity advertising, direct and social media marketing will see through right to that boring fact.

Yesterday we had a tremendous conversation around the Direct Marketing Brainstormers conference table. It was so good, I wanted to post it to our blog!

So, how do you avoid bringing a “ho-hum”, “me-too” product to market? Your gut tells you because your experience proves Gary Bencivenga’s theory, “No matter how skillful you are, you can’t invent a product advantage that doesn’t exist.”

Here’s What Needs To Happen To Avoid The “Ho-Hum”, “Me-Too” Product or Service:

Research & Development:
Their responsibility is to come up with a product/service with blockbuster advantages. The need to research the market to find out what people want, need and desire. Then develop them based on their findings.

Customer Service:
Once Research & Development have “done their thing”, give Customer Service their assignment. They are your auxiliary sales force. When you are ready to go to market, your Customer Service Department has the ability to build an ever-growing army of raving fans who extol your product or service to others. Create a Customer Service plan based upon the information that has come from R&D.

Marketing & Advertising:
Here’s where the real magic is born. But, you should never build a Marketing Plan or create a word of advertising in support of that plan until the work of R&D and Customer Service is complete.

Back to Gary Bencivenga for a minute. He says to ask these questions before a great Marketing Plan and the Advertising to support it can happen:

1.) Why has this product/service been created the way it is?
2.) What consumer problems, desire needs is it designed for?
3.) What is special about it?
4.) How does it fulfill a customer’s needs better than the competition?
5.) What is the strongest proof to make your case believable?
6.) What are the best features?
7.) How do the features translate into customer benefits?
8.) Can any improvements be made?
9.) Who are the 20% that will give you 80% of the sales?

He finishes by saying, “Learning to spot great products and services forces you to see the world through the eyes of your prospects. That’s the single most valuable trait you can have as a direct marketer”