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We hope you find this arcthve useful. A subscription to The Small Business Advisor Newsletter is free. Subscribe now - it's easy! CONTENTS
++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTES/TIPS/etc
For general searching: AltaVista. www.altavista.digital.com
For people/business searching: Bigfoot. www.bigfoot.com.
Searches white pages and e-mail data. 1. Contact your suppliers to ensure they will be able to ship your orders even in the event their computers fail. 2. Call your payroll processing service to ensure they are Y2K compliant. 3. Ask your security system supplier if your installation is Y2K compliant. 4. Determine if your cash register (and other point of sale equipment) will operate properly after 12/31/99. 5. Check to ensure that your
business liability insurance policy will cover any losses due to Y2K-related
problems. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESS IN
1998 Wow, another year gone! You know what this means, don't you? New opportunities for business success in the New Year! But - What did you put off this last year that you really wanted to get accomplished? What changes did you not get around to making? Start the New Year off right by taking care of a few important items that can make a difference in your business and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Start with the following suggestions and add your own. 1. PLANNING. Review your strategic plan (You do have one, don't you?). Are you on course to your objectives and goals? Update your plan as may be necessary and make any additions and/or deletions based on any changes in your desired goals. Remember the importance of planning - without a plan in place, effective decision making is difficult if not impossible. 2. CUSTOMERS. Make a point to contact all your existing customers - remember, they are most likely to purchase your product or service. Have a "preferred" sale, send them all an announcement of some kind, ask for suggestions. Make them feel how important they are to your business. Make personal individual contact with your larger customers. 3. TELEPHONE. Review your telephone charges. It may be possible to do a lot better. Shop around for your long distance and 800/888 service. 4. SUPPLIERS. Contact all your current suppliers and attempt to negotiate lower prices. Review your previous year's usage and consider a larger bulk buys in order to obtain additional discounts. 5. ACCOUNTS. Contact all overdue accounts. Offer to negotiate payment terms, if necessary. Decide if you want to continue to work with these customers. 6. EMPLOYEES. Do you have employees? If so, make a point to sit down with each of them and ask for suggestions that might improve your product or service. Ask if they need anything that might make them more efficient. Be sure to give feedback at a later date as to how you used any of these suggestions. 7. GUARANTEES. Review your product or service guarantee - it is as generous as it can be? Is a "life time" warranty in order? Exceptional warranties sell products! 8. TECHNOLOGY. Are you using
technology to the fullest extent possible? Remember that technology is
one of the great equalizers between small and large companies.
8. CUSTOMER SERVICE. Improve it this year! Review your customer service policies. Do you need additional telephone lines? Can you ship product faster? Provide better prices? Discounts? Personalized service? Should you be accepting credit cards? Would a toll-free number be useful? 9. MARKETING. Plan your year's marketing budget. Either define a budget amount or have it vary with total sales. 10. INSURANCE. Review your insurance program. Are you double insuring? Shop your policies for better prices. Are any changes required? 11. ORGANIZATION. Okay THIS is the year you are going to get organized. Do it - the time savings are amazing. If nothing else, get yourself a good personal information manager (PIM) and use it. I like ECCO. Remember, the continued success of your business is dependent on many factors, some of which are not under your control. It is up to you to take advantage of those you can do something about. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ MAKING E-MAIL PERSONAL
One thing that people who write sales letters for a living will tell you right up front--the letter is a very personal way to communicate. Even the cold sales letter from a stranger that arrives un-asked-for in your mail communicates in a way that's more personal than TV commercials or newspaper ads. Always remember that e-mail is really just an electronically delivered letter. Try to make your e-mail speak directly to the reader in a personal way. When e-mail becomes impersonal, it loses much of its effectiveness. I appreciate the information I get from a document sent down by an autoresponder. How much MORE I appreciate that information if the writer includes a short personal note at the beginning. How can the busy Internet entrepreneur handle the massive crush of daily e-mail and still give personal replies? Most start-ups don't have that much e-mail to begin with, so making e-mail "hand sent" can be a good way to build relationships with customers and prospects. Later, when the volume of e-mail increases, you can answer many requests with a form letter topped off with a few personalizing words at the beginning or end. After all, e-mail is a terrific way to bring people together. Keep that personal touch for maximum results. (Kevin supplies marketing advice and copywriting fast and at low cost. Reach him at (801)253-4536 or DrNunley@aol.com. See his Marketing Info Supersite: http://www.DrNunley.com) ++++++++++++++++++++++++
We could easily spend a month straight talking about "direct mail." There's a zillion books on the subject; it can be very, very complicated. But you know me --I'm a great believer in simplification. So first, a definition. Direct Mail is anything you mail, hand or present to someone to introduce your business, your services, or to ask for an order. As you may have guessed, Direct Mail encompasses a very wide range of products; everything from a simple postcard to a multi-page letter, or series of letters --to a newsletter, or an item mailed to a customer or prospect. Why use direct mail? Two good reasons. It's relatively cheap, AND it gets results. What kind of results? Well, crystal ball time! That's a completely reasonable question to ask, but almost impossible to answer with any degree of certainty. With so many variables involved in Direct Mail, I really can't nail this one for you. However, having given my disclaimer,
let me take a whack at it. For direct response-oriented materials (those
which you want to send out in order to make people buy something), here
are the NORMAL response rates --contrasted to normal display advertising
rates, just for fun: % responding to single direct
mailing
.25% 5% The response and closing rates for Direct Mail are higher than those for classified or display advertising simply because Direct Mail is usually more targeted than print advertising. Which is why I like Direct Mail better than I like advertising. It gets better results. But do you see how things
work here? It's what we call the "Law of Large Numbers."
Again, Direct Mail consists of something as plain as a one-page letter, and gets as fancy as a whole bunch of items stuffed into a good-looking package. But for the most part, an effective and economical direct mail campaign you can use to get started will consist of a series of letters (or flyers or postcards) sent to targeted prospects. Here's how it works. Say, for example, that you've decided to do a mailing to insurance agents in your area, seeking new clients for your home inventory video services. You can look in the Yellow Pages to put your mailing list together, but these listings won't tell you the name of the person you want to contact. Depending on the size of the firm, this may be the president, the vp of sales, or the office manager. So you may have to do some phone work to find out who should get your direct mail offer; just call 'em up, explain BRIEFLY what you're doing, and ask for the name and title of the person that should receive this information. (Get the spelling of the names right, too!) An alternative is to get hold of your local Chamber of Commerce membership list, or their business directory; they're available in most all cities. So, you've got some names? Now what? Well, my direct mail pieces typically have four elements. First is a personalized letter. Second is my business card. Third is a sheet or flyer that gives the benefits of using me as a source for copywriting business communications. And last, it would contain a postpaid business reply postcard. Now, assuming you've sent your articles to the right person in the organization, you have three obstacles to overcome. First, you've got to get that letter opened. Second, you've got to get that letter READ by the right person. And lastly, you've got to get that person to take some action! How do we get it opened? Well, you can spend hours and hours writing and editing and laboring over a great sales letter, but your time will be wasted if your prospect doesn't open it. Remember, businesses get dozens of direct mail offers every week --most of it unsolicited stuff --and your letter is competing for your prospect's attention! My advice to you is to avoid gimmicks. For business types, what traditionally works best are personalized business letters, mailed in #10 size envelopes. Don't use labels. Type the addresses right on the envelopes, or print them on with a laser or inkjet printer...especially if you're sending out a lot of letters. I also occasionally hire someone with good penmanship to address my direct mail envelopes, supplying them blank envelopes, the proper sort of pen (I prefer Pilot Rolling-Ball black markers), and addresses. They receive a nickel for each addressed envelope. Mail first class and use a stamp! Don't use a postage meter. Stamped mail is likely to get opened faster than metered mail. If you want to attract a lot of attention, use three or four stamps instead of one 32-cent stamp. Use good quality #10 envelopes with your company's name and address (logo, if you've got one, too) in the upper left hand corner. If you're going after four or five prime prospects, you might try sending your materials to them by Priority Mail or FedX, and put it in the appropriate envelope or pak. It is definitely expensive, but have you EVER seen anyone toss away an unopened Priority Mail pouch or Federal Express Letterpack??? And don't forget followup. You'll get replies: cards will be returned, and you'll no doubt get phone calls and email, too. Follow up on your leads PROMPTLY by sending the information you promised, or calling your prospects as they requested. I've seen good direct mail campaigns that have cost five figures sink quickly at this point, because their users weren't foresighted enough to prepare to deal with incoming leads promptly and efficiently. (Steve Yankee is an independent copywriter and sales consultant. He can be reached by e-mail at syankee@springlakemi.com, or writing to Steve Yankee Communications, 101 Washington, Suite 230, Grand Haven MI 49417. Phone 616-844-6783.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++
You're finally putting the finishing touches on your web site, and it's looking pretty good! Are you sure about that? Just because your site looks great when YOU view it, remember not everyone on the web uses the same browser as you! This can have a major bearing on what they see. It's important to find out what your site looks like from different browsers. When your site is nearing its final stages of completion, before you start telling people about it, test the site from a few of the major browsers. There are many factors that can cause problems, amongst them are the use of tables at your site. (Tables are commonly used to divide content into sections, or cells for the purpose of rearranging text and pictures on your page.) Even if you don't use tables, consider taking a look at your site from a few different browsers. What you see may surprise you. If you do not have access to the major browsers, (Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer, and AOL browsers handle the lion's share of surfing) contact a friend or associate who does. Have them visit your site and check each and every page for layout problems. After all, when someone visits your web site and sees that you have some major flaws, they are not likely to stick around, much less buy something from you! I even go as far as checking my site using different "versions" of the browsers I mentioned. Remember, many people do not upgrade their software as often as you might. If you have access to some older versions, check your site with them. Although it is virtually impossible to make your site look great in every version of every browser, (older versions don't support tables or frames) it is certainly worth making an honest effort. If your friends can't help, try Bobby. Bobby is a simple to use program that serves two purposes. It will help you make your web pages accessible to those with disabilities, and it will also find these html compatibility issues that prevent pages from displaying correctly on different web browsers. Visit http://www.cast.org/bobby/ and see what your site will look like from all the major browsers AND different versions of each! You simply fill in a form with the URL of the web page you want Bobby to examine. Select a browser that you want the view the web page from, and press the Submit button. Bobby does the rest! The point to remember on this subject is this. Make sure your site is easily viewed and navigated from all of the most popular browsers. The higher the number of happy visitors, the higher the number of purchasing customers! Well, that about does it for this tip, I've gotta get back to fixing a few problems Bobby found at MY site! (Courtesy JDD Publishing, Home of "The BizWeb E-Gazette!" For a free subscription, mailto:Subscribe@JDD-Publishing.com Visit http://www.bizweb2000.com for free online marketing help!)
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