:The Flash Advancer

Introduction

Customer contact is essential in a fast paced business world. Many professionals and small businesses live off their customer contact but to many it is ad hoc and with too much strategy.
Many still find it difficult to set up a strategy that will make life easier for them and better for their clients.
The following points will provide and framework and kick start to those wishing to bite the bullet and create a process that is both positive and profitable.

1. Develop a 12 month Customer Contact Plan

a. Creating such a plan provides you with a broader view and allows you to ’see’ where your activity time is being spent.

b. To enhance the plan consider using ‘colour codes’ to identify areas of commonality and where leverage can be gained.

2. Identify customer ‘types’ and market accordingly

a. By ‘grouping’ client types you will be able to market more effectively and also begin to know where your business comes from.

b. This will also allow you to react/respond differently and with ‘intention’ to each group.

3. Complete standard items in ‘chunks’ to save time and increase visibility

a. Identify items like writing out cards (birthday, Christmas, other seasonal cards) and take the time to write them all out at one time.

b. This will save time in the long run.

c. Sort each card into date order and place in tickler file. When the day arrives (or a week prior) send out the card.

4. Invest in technology to automate newsletters/messages

a. There is considerable technology that can automate messages for you. Investigate some of these.

b. These will allow you to write a few regular newsletter at once and then set them up to go out at regular intervals.

5. Create ‘contact points’ throughout the year

a. Key clients may require a visit, an extra call or a personal note. Diarise appropriate times up front so you are well prepared.

6. Set reminders for key actions so nothing falls through the cracks

a. Set up reminder times for cards, anniversaries etc. This will remove the requirement to remember.

7. Set up templates for standard activities

a. On reviewing your plan, you will see a lot of dates and activities. Identify those that require an invite and set this up now, so there is no pressure to do it when the time comes.

8. Create a simple yet effective loyalty program

a. Loyalty programs don’t have to be complex. A simple, graded points system is all it takes. (Check with your Accountant as to allowances if necessary.)

9. Create standard surveys (automated) that seek client feedback

a. Surveys (on- and off-line) are tremendous methods for gaining feedback and testimonials.

b. There are many web-tools that can automate these for you, or you can create your own and do it manually.

c. Either way - do it!

10. Request ‘testimonials’ at key points of interaction.

a. Testimonies are powerful tools for your business. They convince others far quicker than we can when we promote our own product.

11. Engage a third party for accountability

a. Take the time to have a third party review your plan with you every 6 - 12 weeks. The benefit is significant.

Bill James-Wallace helps his clients grow their business through better and more strategic customer relationships. Drawing on his 18 years experience in the financial industry as a Sales Manager and Manager of Training & Development, he helps business owners play on the same field as corporate entities.

Bill can be contacted at bill@resultdrivensolutions.com
His blog-based website is http://www.resultdrivensolutions.com

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A general counsel of a large international consulting firm told us about his experience talking to an interviewer who had called to discuss his satisfaction level with his outside law firm. He had been using the services of a “high end, expensive” law firm out of New York.

We asked if the interview questions allowed him to speak about all the issues that
were on his mind regarding his relationship with his lawyers. His response was,
“There were many small things that had been bothering me about our law firm but
none that I thought were big enough to discuss with them. This interview allowed
me to get some things off my chest.”

That’s interesting, but his next comment floored us. “I know now if those issues
had gone unchecked I may have gotten to such a level of annoyance I would have
shopped for another law firm.” That’s pretty explosive. In other words, if his high-
priced law firm had not taken the initiative to determine the loyalty levels of their
key clients, they wouldn’t have known about accounts that were silently in jeopardy.

He told us he would not have responded to a traditional survey!

When we talk to our clients’ customers, we know we must ask the questions that
allow the customer to respond with information that will be of value to our client. In
the previous story, the upper management in the law firm can now act on
information that’s of significant business value. We won’t argue, by the way, that
they used the most effective method of gaining real information about what resides
in the heads of their customers. People respond well to personal interviews using
open-ended questions that allow them to use their own words. It’s those very
words and thoughts that must be captured, not the responses to questions created
by survey designers.

Speaking of surveys. If your company surveys your customers regularly, don’t be
mislead into thinking that you understand what is in the heads of your customers.
There is a difference between gathering information and allowing people to vent,
which requires specialists (like Davis, Kingsley & Company).

Surveys collect point-in-time responses using pre-determined answers. However,
it’s difficult and sometimes impossible to find out how to improve business
performance in any area. You might get information about what’s broken but
unless a company lets customers express their own thoughts, they won’t have solid
information on what and how to improve things. Surveys have limits on the value
they can offer. Upper management should know this.

The “high-end law firm from New York” dodged a bullet by finding out what’s in
their blind spot. The cost of not asking or not knowing could have lost them a great
deal of business. Ask the right questions, allow customers the freedom to speak
their mind and analyze their feedback to be of solid value to make improvements.

Does your firm have a process to capture what resides in the thoughts and minds of
your key clients? Can you afford to leave it unattended?

Darcie Davis, President of Davis, Kingsley & Company is a
management consultant, speaker, author and trainer. She works with
companies to secure genuine feedback from their clients before advising
them on strategic decisions about sales, marketing, and operations. Her
advice will keep your clients out of the jaws of the competition.

Learn more about Customer Satisfaction and Feedback Programs
offered by Darcie and her firm at http://www.DavisKingsley.com

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As competition within the online affiliate sales arena rises to a fierce boil, affiliate sellers expecting any degree of success must first find effective methods to set themselves apart from the crowd.

An uninitiated affiliate may expect to make sales simply by
placing a referral link on his website, or by distributing the link in an email. On the other hand, a seasoned affiliate seller knows that a unique marketing twist of one sort or another must be built into the campaign for a satisfying profit to be realized.

One tested and proven method is to develop a unique landing
webpage for each and every affiliate campaign engaged.

A landing page is nothing more than a proprietary webpage owned by the affiliate seller, hosted on his website, and and located at a URL within that domain. A well developed landing page will not only contain the actual affiliate referral link, but will also serve as an introduction to the product or service being offered, and will warm the customer prior to directing her to the main sales page.

Here we present three types of affiliate landing pages that have been proven effective in promoting a broad range of affiliate products and services.

However, the reader should note that no particular order of
effectivenes is presented here. Determining the best type of landing page for a particular affiliate campaign will be a matter of careful consideration and diligent testing.

Landing Page #1 - The Product Review

This style of page takes the form of a factual and objective
report, and should be completely free of any wording that
attempts to sell. Direct experience with the product is a must, as the writer will be providing her or his own first hand observations regarding the benefits and problems that arise while actually putting the product or service to use.

Typically, a single product is reviewed for the sake of simplicity. Yet some successful landing pages do feature reviews of multiple products within a given category. In this case, each individual product should be rated by means of an easy to understand system, ie. one to five “stars.”

For the sake of credibility, the product review must reveal both positive and negative product attributes. Still, the positive factors should firmly overshadow the negative in a realistic and honest sense. If not, look for a different affiliate product to promote.

Landing Page #2 - The Pre-Sell

This tactic has also been referred to as the “soft sell.” The content here can borrow some of the effects of the product review method, but should be more directed overall toward defining a problem and offering the affiliate product or service as a solution.

It is advisable to carefully examine the main seller’s page to discover and capitalize on overlooked product benefits or hooks. It is also acceptable to use highlighted or bolded words and phrases to a degree, providing they will enhance the reader’s understanding.

A strong headline may be used, and bulleted lists may also be inserted to clearly illustrate product features and benefits. But keep in mind this is a “soft sell” page. The purpose is only to warm the reader. There should be no hard sell or call to action other than asking her to “Click This Link to Learn More.”

Landing Page #3 - The Forced Opt-In

This type of page typically consists of nothing more than a strong headline, a problem reinforcement, an offer to solve the problem, and an autoresponder opt-in box. The prospect can be immediately redirected to the main salespage after she signs up.

Experienced affiliate marketers have varying opinions as to the effectiveness of this landing page, especially when used behind a paid advertising campaign. There is some conjecture that too many prospects are lost when they fail to opt-in.

Another viewpoint is that this tactic produces a high quality list of action-taking propects with a proven degree of interest. Given these two viewpoints, it may be wise to perform a split testing action, using the forced opt-in page and at least one other landing page configuration.

Regardless of either view, the forced opt-in tactic will enable the affiliate to capture a unique and highly targeted mailing list, a valuable asset in and of itself.

No Hype - No Bull - No Pie In The Sky!

Dan B. Cauthron tells it like it really is, and shares 30+ years of direct marketing wisdom. Entrance to his member’s only website will never cost you a penny: http://DanBCauthron.Com

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If you ask me, residual (also known as passive income) is the most important type of income of all incomes. Residual income puts money in my pocket without work and effort on my part. It is the right type of income to work for, indeed!

And this is the type of income you should go for as an Internet Business owner. You might not realize it but this is also one of the many fantastic reasons why you engaged in an Online Business in the first place. This is the right type of income you should game for!

For the same amount of work and effort you put into your business, you want to work effectively and efficiently.

In my experience, it is easier to sell to the same customers who bought from you before. This is simply because your previous customers trust you (if your customer service was fantastic, of course!). You have already built a relationship with them and there is no reason why they should not trust your next recommendation.

In order to build residual income or create back-end selling, you sell to the same customers.

Let’s face it. You can only earn and spend so much from one-time sales. You can only buy as much as you can sell. Period.

The main problem with one-time sales is that very often, the income is a one-off. You do not get to spend it again and again. That is not a fun type of income to work for!

If you have realized that sort of problem, this may be the compelling reason why you loathe your 9 to 5 job. Your employer only pays you once for the work you done once. If you want to receive another paycheck, you will have to go back to work the next week or month! There is not enough leverage in this type of income.

Since you are going to start an Internet Business, please do not let the same drudgery take over your soul in the name of business! That is totally insane!

If you are reading this and have yet to realize what back-end selling is (or even know what residual income is for that matter), then read this carefully. It might just change your narrow perception on Online Business and you might want to e-mail me a thank you note for sharing with you the good news on the possibilities of earning the same income over and over for a work done once.

If you sell to one customer at a time, you will never make much money online besides profiting from only ONE profit stream. It is also expensive in both time and money to get the next new customer.

So since you can only earn so much from one-time sales, why not create back-end selling?

If you are selling Information Products such as E-books, you can create back-end profits. This could be done through your own products or products you are an affiliate for. Remember that anytime you are selling always create back-end sales items.

If you do not agree with me yet, let’s review a case study below:

Assuming I sell a $20 E-book. I have sold 10 copies so I earn $200. Let’s say I have spent $100 on advertising so my net income is $100. Not really interesting though it beats a good 90% of the people out there who are not even making any money on the Internet.

$20 x 10 sales = $200 gross income

$200 - $100 (advertising fee) = $100 net income

But if I were smart and with some (just some!) ingenious concepts applied, I built in say, 5 to 10 other offers (same theme as the E-book) for products and services I either own or am an affiliate for within the content of the E-book.

And also assume that I would earn $30 on the average for any one of the products or services sold. That is $30 a sale. If 2 of the same 10 customers buy just one of those items, I would have earned an extra $60.

2 x $30 = $60 back-end sales

I know that the figures are rather small but if the whole process is repeated over 10 times with the same conditions, how much will my income be?

Give me a moment while I use my calculator!

$20 x 100 sales = $2,000 gross income
$2,000 - $100(10) (advertising fee) = $1,000 net income

I earn $1,000 net income as a result of 100 sales. If I have included back-end sales:

$1,000 net income + [2(10)x $30 = $600 back-end sales] = $1,600 total income!

That is an additional $600 in my income just by working smarter and not harder. Now do you see where the good money really is? Furthermore, there is no advertising expense incurred to include the back-end sales items within the E-book.

Of course this is just a mock-up case study. The results can vary depending on how respected I am, how good the quality of my E-book is, how I market my E-book and how compelling my sales letter is to get my potential customers to buy from me.

However, this method of creating back-end sales has been put into great practice by top Internet Entrepreneurs from around the world which is what makes them rich and TOP of the world!

If you are living on one-time sales from your products today, then you must do something about it SERIOUSLY. The figures get rather interesting when you count that you actually lose money often or just break even with your advertising expenses.

“So, how do I start?” you ask. “Simple,” I say!

If you create your own digital product (E-book, software, template), include links to other relevant products you either own or are an affiliate for.

For example, if you composed an E-book on making vegetable soup and sell it for $20, you will want to include advertisements of the other E-book you composed on making chicken soup and sell it for say, $15. Since your customers trust the quality of your first edition, a fraction of them will probably be interested in purchasing your other E-book in the series!

If you do not have a product of your own and do not intend to create one, then you can source for products with resell rights that you can customize with your own affiliate links for a reasonable fee.

At this time of writing, this is the type of income I am receiving from. I resell other people’s product and earn residual income as a result of the same customers purchasing access to a suite through my affiliate link found within the same product.

On the final note, a friend of mine who attends Business School once told me that the biggest expenses in life are taxes and interests. I shook my head and slowly told her, “No. The biggest expense in life is the money you do not make.” Who do you agree with?

Copyright (c) Edmund Loh

About the Author:
Edmund Loh is the author of the E-Biz Wiz Blog and Starting An Internet Business Special Report with over 6 years of web designing experience before he engaged in an Internet Business. Visit his website for more online business ideas, tips, and information at http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/ebizwiz and also get a free copy of his Special Report.

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