Jumpstart Your Business

Your advertising message should be geared to address the following 5 questions on your customer’s mind:
What is it for?
Why do I need it?
What will you do to fix my need?
Why should I choose you?
Why should I not choose the others?

I saw this YouTube video and had to share it with you. There are some very good tips here. Your business runs on converting prospects to customers and it all begins with the offer. The focus is on using the right words like [tag-tec]guarantees[/tag-tec] and [tag-tec]testimonials[/tag-tec]. Avoid multitasking and use technology to automate the conversion of your prospects to customers.

First thing to do is try to protect your invention by filing a patent. You can go up on http://www.uspto.gov and there are step by step instructions on filing a patent. There are also searches you can perform to see if the patent already exists.

A supplier is a person or company which supplies products or services to another company, also called vendor.

A distributor or middleman is a person or company which sells mainly to retailers and institutions, rather than to consumers.

A merchandiser is a person or company that is in the process of increasing the market share of a product in retail outlets using display, stocking, and sales promotion techniques.

Pay per click

Pay you each time a reader clicks on an ad. Usually a few cents per click, though very highly valued keywords can bring $10 or more per click.

Pay per sale

Pay you when a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. Some of these are flat amounts per sale while others may pay a percent commission.

Pay per lead

Pay you when a reader clicks through and fills out a form, provides an email address, etc.

Pay per action

Generic term for any ad that requires the reader to take an action for you to get paid. Includes pay per click, pay per sale and pay per lead.

Pay per impression

Pay you a certain amount each time the ad is served. May only pay once per unique user.

Pay per day/week/month/etc.

Pay you a flat fee for the time period agreed, regardless of traffic fluctuations, click through rates, etc.

Whenever I went in to consult with a failing company, before the word got out as to who I was, one of the first things I did was talk to the front office to see how a typical customer or prospect was treated.

Too many executives never call their main telephone number so they never hear what their customers or prospects do, nor do they ever walk through the front door where the lowly customers have to deal with their receptionist and other front office personnel. (Even if they do, they’d get the special treatment).

If you can’t get a feel for what is going on, hire someone to do it and give you detailed feedback. You’ll be surprised……

Let’s imagine that one of the following happens:

• One of your workers looses it and shoots the place up.
• There is a serious fire in your restaurant kitchen.
• Your partner is seriously injured in a motor accident.

And the press comes snooping with questions that are relevant…. Have you made plans to handle the crisis?  Will the receptionist/host/hostess tell the same story as the person in the office or the person on the loading dock.

Is there an official or designated spokesperson for the company in times of crisis?  Are you prepared to present a unified voice and a single face to the public and not appear to be completely out of control even if you really are?

Put together a plan of attack and update it often.  Don’t get caught unprepared.

Remember that you’re in business to provide your customers with a product or service that they’ll acquire based on it’s ability to satisfy a need or want they currently have.  The emphasis here is on customer not product/service or your business. 

Everything you do should be geared toward your prospective customers:

• Your web site should be geared towards the prospective visitors and their needs not what you want it to look and feel like.
• Your e-mails should relate to the needs of the people you are targeting not what you want to say about your product or business.
• Your letters and flyers should follow the same principles like your email

Customers are always tuned to their favorite Radio Station WIIFM “What’s In It For Me” and the theme song of your radio program should always be “You,You,You.”