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Articles
Referral Marketing:
(Part 3 of 4)
Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse
Referral Marketing
Brenda Mahoney,  in the January 2009 newsletter, shared her expertise by explaining  "What is referral marketing?". Response from readers was so positive that Brenda committed to a series of articles that describe each step required to establish a referral marketing system.

In this third of four articles, Brenda explains the difference between an offer and a reward. She also suggests multiple ideas on what to ask for from your existing clients and how to best communicate it to your referral sources.

Read the complete article Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse...
Articles
Social networking and face-to-face marketing
by Barry Siskind
Trade Show FloorA decade ago - the world was a twitter (oops) about something called a virtual trade show and how this heralded the death of face-to-face marketing as we knew it.

Well it didn't! Today we're barraged by the concept that social networking will replace face-to-face marketing. The reality will be nothing like the hype.

Barry Siskind, trade show marketing guru, in  Social Networking and Face-to-Face Marketing, shares his insight on making social netwroking and face-to-face marketing work together.
Book Reviews
Writing for sales
There comes a time for every sHow to write proposals, sales letters & reportsales person when they have to communicate their value on paper.

It may be in response to a dreaded RFP, perhaps the culmination of several weeks uncovering "business pain", or a short letter documenting what was agreed to verbally.

All to often writing can undo what was already accomplished and the sale is lost. Why?  We spend too little time planning and far too much time documenting.

In his book  "How to Write Proposals", Neil Sawers delivers value to the reader as clearly and simply as humanly possible. Examples, recommendations of common tools, and a sprinkling of solid business advice fill out this superb, easy-to-use guidebook recommended for business writers of all skill and experience levels.

Strategico newsletter readers may;
  • Preview  a sample chapter online to determine if the book would work for them
  • Win one of three books by completing "Comments or Questions" within a Take Action  "What three objectives does the discovery process address?" (hint: read the sample online chapter)
  • Order Neil's book for $9.95 including shipping vs. the regular $11.95 plus shipping
Articles
 Retention is Today's Sales StrategyChuck Dennis
A sad, but all-too-common, scenario: businesses knock themselves out trying to gain new customers, while practically ignoring their current customers. How short-sighted is this?

We all know it costs six to ten times more to bring in new customers than it does to serve existing ones. Yet businesses continually incent their sales teams to bring in the shiny, new customers, while serving the tried and true customers often gets taken for granted

Chuck Dennis,  brings over twenty years of customer service and business management experience to client engagements. Recently he reflected on the thought provoking, yet overlooked idea that we overlook the most powerful sales strategy!

Read the full  Retention is Today's Sales Strategy article....