This month's newsletter has a leaning toward online
sales and marketing. My internet business is growing
daily and I'm discovering tips all the time that help
me to automate and grow the business. Each issue I
will be sharing some of
these ideas as well as the traditional sales and
marketing tips. Take a listen to the audio jukebox in
the quick links section, there are some great tracks.
For all you A1 personalities who don't have the time
to read the long version, the short bullet pointed
newsletter will be out in the next day or two.
If you enjoy the newsletter, please forward it to your
friends. To get the most from the newsletter, view in
HMTL
and
connect with the Internet to hear our audio clips.
Marketing with Newsletters |
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We all know how difficult it is to find new clients.
When we have them as clients we have to do
everything we can to keep them and provide them
with great customer service.
What we need to do is develop a 10 touch plan so
that we can be in contact with them at least ten
times a year. Often we think that we have sold them
our product or service and they won?t need us again.
There is always going to be staff turnover,
executives leaving the organisation and joining other
companies and as long as we stay in touch, more
business will follow. I recently returned from speaking
in Sydney and this was as a result of a CEO selling
his company in the UK and taking a senior position in
Australia. By staying in touch he hired me to speak
at the company in Australia.
So we either have to be with them face to face, on
the telephone, by email, or the easiest way to keep
in contact is by newsletter. I like to produce the
electronic newsletter as the costs are minimal and I
can see all the statistics of how many people open
the newsletter, unsubscribe or link through to the
website. (I?ve always been driven by ratios; I feel
they are so important in selling)
Publishing a newsletter is a cost effective way to
build your loyal customer base. You keep your clients
updated about your business, latest offerings, as well
as new products and services. It keeps you and your
business visible
Good information gets distributed. So, a newsletter is
a means of viral marketing, your clients will pass it on
to their clients and before you know it the telephone
will be ringing from new clients that you never even
knew existed. When I sent out my first newsletter, I
received a call the next day from someone who had
been forwarded my newsletter and this resulted in a
number of talks and training days with that company
Here are some tips for producing your newsletter
- Always ensure that you have a main article that
provides information that your readers will find
valuable. Your articles form the body of your
newsletter. They should be informative and arouse
the interests of your readers. Articles should be well
written, and checked for spelling and grammatical
errors. Your readers will be appreciative of the fact
that you have given much thought and preparation
to your articles. I always try to add value with good
practical information.
- Keep abreast with the current developments of
your field. Your readers want to know what is new
and what is hot.
- Within your Ezine, throw in links to related
articles that you have written or been featured in
when appropriate.
- Offer testimonials from satisfied clients
- Give real life examples and show how you?ve
helped clients
- Case studies always position you as the expert in
your readers? minds more than you coming out and
saying so.
- Jot down eight questions your clients have asked
you in the past
- Answer each one in a short article, as there may
be many other clients who have the same questions
in mind.
- If you have been to any industry conference
workshops or seminars where you?ve picked up some
helpful hints, share these with your readers
- Recommend books or resources and offer reviews
on some of these books. By the way, take a look at
my new list of recommended books at
http://tinyurl.com/s6j
67
Watch a video on creating a
newsletter
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Technology - Is your website working for you |
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When speaking to audiences around the world, I
always ask who has websites and most of the people
raise their hands. I then ask who generated a large
or even small proportion of business from their
website or generated some decent leads. Very few
hands are raised. What is happening is that so many
organisations have developed websites that are
really worthless and it is like receiving the glossy
brochure in the mail that goes straight into the bin.
Most of the time, they will have a decent website,
but it is not seen by anyone, it does not market the
goods or services and clients don?t return because
the website is not updated with new information or
reasons for clients to return.
I now have six websites and developing another ten.
The only purposes of my websites are to both sell
products or services and give good solid information.
Millions of people are looking for free information each
day on the internet, so, how much free information
are you giving to your potential clients. Give them
articles or eBooks where you develop an online
relationship. They will then see you as the expert in
your field and in turn this will result in enquiries or
sales.
Some of the essentials for a good website are:
- Great content ? provide good valuable
content.
- Links ? develop a linking strategy. Have
all you
clients linking to your website and in return you link
to theirs. Also, develop a strategy to link to other
sites with high Google rankings. I use a great piece
of software that finds me linking partners based on
keywords and then automates the complete system
for me. See it at
http://tinyurl.com/p
mcfo
- Articles ? Write articles with valuable
information.
There are thousands of magazines that are looking
for articles. Find the magazines in your sector and
submit them to the editor. As a footnote always
have your contact details. Some years ago, I
approached the Financial Times regarding one of their
international newspapers. This resulted in me having
my own column for two years in an industry
newspaper that was distributed to forty two
countries. I didn?t earn much from it, but the
recognition, branding and business generated was
incredible. It was low cost, no cost marketing (my
favourite).
- One of the things that I discovered when I first
built my website was that every time I made any
change to the site, I was sent an account and this
amounted up over time (my wife asked if I had
shares in the website company). I changed website
providers and now use a great company called called
Advenzia
The biggest advantages to me are that I now have a
back office system where I am in complete control of
the site; I can make changes, add articles, and add
products at any time. I also have a full ecommerce
system for selling my products as well as a great
affiliate system where people can sign up as affiliates
to market my products and earn healthy commissions
for doing so. (If you would like to become an affiliate,
go to http://tinyurl.com/syb
5l ). The system I have on my website tracks all
affiliate traffic, commissions and is simple to use.
This month I managed to catch Peter and Mark from
Advenzia and interview them on how to develop a
website.
Take a listen at:
http://tinyurl.com/rllgd
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How to develop a Powerful Salesletter |
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I am presently developing a number of websites. My
main website is great, but it also confuses people.
I?m selling speaking, training, recruitment services
and 42 products. One of the changes I?ve made is
that I am now developing one page websites to
promote each product. I?m not the best at doing this
kind of thing, so I use a piece of software called 60
second salesletters. I fill in the gaps on the
questionnaire and voila - I have an instant one page
website. I can import images, use any payment
system for orders, change the colours and look.
For me it is ideal because I know nothing about
HTML, but can now make my own websites. Take a
look at some of the websites that I have produced
using 60 second salesletters:
Speak
for High Fees
Walking
with Tigers
Ezimail
Busine
ss Card Scanner
Articles
for Business
It's a huge misconception that people don't read long
salesletters. Billions of direct mail pieces have proven
that people buy, in general, at a higher rate from
long, benefit-laden salesletters.
While you may not personally read long salesletters,
people who are honestly, genuinely interested in your
product, idea, concept, or service will not only read
long letters but also buy from them.
Many years ago a very famous advertising man
named John Caples said "A letter can never be too
long, it can only be too boring."
"60-Second Salesletters" forces you to load your
salesletter with benefits. And this is what makes the
copy and the letter interesting to your prospects.
That's why they'll read it.
60-Second Salesletters" forces you to spell out the
features and benefits of your product, with proven
direct response principles plus an offer, guarantee,
bonuses and so forth built right into it.
- Create a separate letter for each of your
products or services
- Create multiple letters (as many as you want!)
for each product so you can test to see which works
best.
- Use different letters for the same product to
target different audiences who may be interested in
the same product for different reasons
- Develop different versions of your salesletters to
use for follow-up promotions
- Save as many different letters as you want -- or
even drafts and different versions of letters -- and
organize them in your personal archives
And more! With the ability to automate your sales
copy writing process and produce unlimited
professional salesletters on demand, you can create
a library of killer sales materials and watch its impact
on every aspect of your business and profits.
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Speaking Tips - How to market your self Internationally. |
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Here are this months tips on how to market yourself
internationally as a speaker
- Find five clients that will provide you with 50% of
your work each year. I have five large international
companies that each book me for between six and
thirty talks each year. I also have two or three
Companies that I am developing should any of
the ?big five? drop out.
- Actively prospect when speaking abroad. When
speaking overseas, I will scan the local papers,
magazines and yellow pages for potential clients. I?ll
then phone and establish who the decision makers
are and endeavor to set up a meeting and sell my
talks. A lot of these Companies are open and
receptive to meeting with you.
- Referrals ? always ask for referrals. Apart from
existing clients who I do repeat business with each
year, I have over 200 potential clients that have
been given to me as referrals. If you leave the client
satisfied, they will always give you referrals ? IF YOU
ASK!
- Network and socialize ? Before going on an
international talk, surf the net to see what social
events are happening while you?re there. Then
arrange an invitation, as you?ll always meet potential
clients at these events
- Have fun and take a tour ? If we visit a country
for the first time, we?ll always take an extra few days
to see the place. This normally includes a half-day
bus tour. It?s amazing who you can meet on these
tours. We?ve met and become friends with the Vice-
President of one of the largest insurance companies
in the USA and a grand old lady who turned out to be
the wife of the owner of one of the UK?s biggest
supermarket chains
Also, soon to be released is my new series ?How to
Find New Business and Clients for Speakers, Trainers,
Coaches and Consultants.?
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Morocco Magic |
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I recently returned from a fantastic trip to
Marrakech in Morocco. I ran two workshops at the
Entrepreneurs Organisation University. What
really
overwhelmed me was the positiveness and energy of
these young and successful entrepreneurs. Some still
in their twenties have already reached incredible
heights.
People travelled from over twenty countries around
the world to attend the university and the EO staff
organised a memorable event. Each night we were
treated to something really special and even now my
body is trying to catch up with sleep.
On one afternoon we enjoyed a special 4 x 4
excursion to the Atlas Mountains and there were
three others in our Land cruiser. One of the chaps
was British and now lives in Las Vegas. Mark, at the
age of 37 was living in Singapore and worth
$75 million and ready to retire and two weeks later
worth minus $5 million when the markets collapsed.
He struggled through the hard times and is now once
again on the top of the world and builds multi million
dollar casinos around the world. He enjoys suppers
with Celine Dion and has a wonderful story about
Michael Jackson. Take a listen to my interview with
Mark, it will really motivate you to take a chance to
become an entrepreneur and with the right attitude
overcome any obstacle.
Last week I spoke in Abu Dhabi and experienced
airline mayhem. It was a late booking and the only
flight was via Holland, so on Wednesday morning I
flew into
Amsterdam ready to connect with KLM at 1pm and
arrive at Abu Dhabi at midnight and be ready to
speak at 8am on Thursday morning.
Unfortunately a technical problem developed and
everyone waited until 6pm to be told that the flight
was cancelled. I managed to arrange a flight back to
London at 7pm connecting with the new Abu Dhabi
airline Etihad (superb) at 9pm and landed at Abu
Dhabi at 7.10 am and walked in to deliver my talk at
8am. Thanks to KLM and Etihad for all their great
assistance and customer care in making it happen
I don?t know what it is about Leeds; its hotels spoil
me for everywhere else. Last Monday I spoke in
Leeds
and stayed at 42
The
Place - and what a place! When checking in I
was
offered a glass of wine and then personally shown up
to my room which was fabulous. There was a bowl of
fresh fudge, a complimentary bottle of water and
state of the art sound, television and internet
system. The service throughout was excellent and if
you?re planning a trip to Leeds, this is the hotel to
book.
Staying in hotels so much of the time, I find most
hotels impersonal, cold and lacking in service. I have
had
such bad experiences that I have registered a
domain www.hotelsthatsuck.com so if you have
experienced a bad hotel please send me any photos
and details as I will soon have the website up.
The next Speakers Bootcamp is
in May in London, Please email me at
mail:frank@frankfurness.com for details.
If you haven?t had a chance to see the last
newsletter about the great tool that creates
headlines automatically, take a look at
http://tinyurl.com/qg
ke8
I?m still buying and reviewing a ton of software and
giving feedback each month. A special offer this
month is from Jay Jennings, the developer of Sonic
Memo (I use his software for all my audio production)
and he is giving away Sonic Memo Lite for free
(normally $37)
Take a look at a little video I produced showing how
I use this product at http://tinyurl.com/lca
c5
Download the
free version
Another new addittion will be the viral video sales
tips each month. You can use these for training,
to enhance your business and please pass these on
to as many people as you know that could use them.
To see the first viral video sales tip, please click here
Download the latest updated version of my Internet
Marketing eBook, click here
Take a listen to my interview with Mark Vlassopolus
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