Practical Tips

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people who’ve been on our marketing lists will call at some point.

And the common theme is, "We keep getting your stuff - and quite often we’d just delete it. But then one day, there was something that just hit the spot and we thought we’d call to see what you could do for us…"

Along these lines I had a visit from Joe (and yes, he knows I’m going to be writing about him ;-))

Joe met me at a talk I gave around 20 months ago. He’s been on my email list ever since.

Joe thought the talk provided a lot of value and so did *most* of the emails. So he quite happily stayed on the list.

However, there’s a certain irony here. You see, Joe went to great lengths to say that normally he *hated* getting "marketing" emails. But he always opens mine - checks it quickly, and if interested (which is not always the case) reads it.

And even if he’s short of time, he feels "compelled" to open the email to have a quick squiz.

So what’s going on here?

The simple answer - as articulated by Joe - is VALUE.

I provide value and in his words give away lots of good quality and f.r.ee information.

Not everything I write is going to be relevant for you at the moment you open it (or scanning the subject line) decide not to.

But one day, you might be experiencing something and that email hits your inbox at precisely that moment.

Reminds me of a participant a marketing seminar we gave. She commented that "She felt like she was hitting her head against a brick wall with her marketing - and just wanted the pain to stop." And that very morning, I’d sent out an email promoting the course with EXACTLY that title.

She opened it and booked!

When I asked her if she remembered the previous email promotion (with a different headline) and subsequent ones - she didn’t - as they weren’t relevant to her situation AT THAT SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME.

So what’s the lesson?

People will be ready for your message when they’re ready - not when you need to make a buck!

They have their own fears, frustrations, wants and desires. They’re not sitting there wishing you’d just come into their lives and interrupt their day with stuff that doesn’t interest them.

<Quick Aside> Most cold calls fall into this category. And if you’d like to learn calling strategies that actually work (meaning you don’t call under false pretexts like most of the calls you get, and you don’t rabbit on with drivel that has your prospect slamming the phone down), drop me a note and I can help.

However, people will respond when you can show them that you can solve their problem - when they want it solved.

All you have to do is keep in front of them in an unobtrusive way so that when they’re ready, they’ll call you.

Does this work?

Absolutely!

Some of our F.ree report strategies have returned up to 30% response rates - and to put this into perspective, direct mail one shots return maybe 0.5 - 1% response.

Yes, the lists were targeted, but why would you want to send something to someone who would likely have no interest in what you were promoting?

The bottom line?

Keep talking with your prospects and customers. Remember the 90 day rule. You must keep in touch with clients and prospects at least once every 90 days or you risk them taking their business to the next person who contacts them.

And on that note, I’d really appreciate some feedback - what you like about this newsletter, what other topics you’d like me to cover etc.

And Finally…

If you’d like a boost with your marketing, go ahead and request our f.r.ee report on "Skinning the Marketing Cat - 24 strategies that will get you more clients FAST" - by going to http://www.revealedresources.com/files/24marketingreportdl.html.

If you’re involved in any sort of tradeshow promotions, download

http://www.revealedresources.com/files/tradeshowdownload.html

And finally, here’s another sample we’ve just done for a client in the OH&S field

http://www.revealedresources.com/dm/OHSReportdl.html

Happy marketing…

Rashid.

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