[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
charges, a sequence of past-due notices, and collection calls. However, we also
74
implemented a positive strategy. We started sending hand-signed thank-you notes
for prompt payment to anybody who did pay on time . . . those who were almost
on time . . . and even late payers who responded to a past-due notice. Guess what
happened? Those customers who received the thank-you notes became better
paying customers.
I know a Doctor who started a procedure of giving fresh, long-stemmed red roses
to his women-patients who showed up for their appointments on time, or paid
their bills on time, or referred another patient. "Funny things," he told me. We no
longer have patients missing appointments. Our collections have improved.
Referrals are up. And, some guys are starting to ask how they can get roses, too!"
Here are a few specific ideas you might adopt, as ways of saying thank you:
" Keep customers' birthdays on file, and send cards and or small gifts
" Send Thanksgiving cards or letters
" Make it a habit to drop a personal thank-you note in the mail each day, to at
least one customer
" Send a gift certificate or discount certificate to a customer who makes an
unusually large purchase
" Host a Customer Appreciation Event", a Christmas party, a backyard
bar-b-que.
" Have an occasional closed-to-the public, preferred customer sale
" Drop in personally on your best customers. with a surprise gift
I figured it up just the other day; in 1986, personally and for my various
businesses combined, I signed checks for well over one million dollars in
payment for goods and services to all sorts of people and companies. And don't
care what anybody says - a million bucks is a lot of money. Yet, I can count on the
fingers of one hand the number of the recipients of all that money who've
expressed any gratitude in any formal kind of way. Only one of them found out
about and recognized my birthday.
Just saying "thanks" is a big step ahead of the competition today.
DAN KENNEDY is a Contributing Editor of ThePhilolophy 0f Success Magazine: author and/oreditor of a number of books,
cassettes, newslletters and other publications, successful entrepreneur and executive. with ownership interest
in eight diverse businesses, and a popular speaker and seminar leader Mr Kennedy can be reached clo Kennedy & Associates
Konsulting. 5313 N. 7th Street. Suite 5-149. PhoenixArizona 85014 602/997-7707
75
ARTICLE REPRINT FROM
PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS MAGAZINE
March/April 1987 Issue
Successful Marketing Strategies
For
Any Business
By Dan Kennedy
Genius is sometimes defined as the ability to make the complex simple. Certainly,
"marketing" is a complex subject; so complex it's very difficult for many business
people to ever get a handle on it. Its complexity is intimidating. After years in
"marketing", I've finally found a definition of marketing" that reflects the genius
of simplicity. MARKETING is simply making the right presentation of the right
message to the right people.
With that simple definition as a guide, just about every businessperson can clearly
see his past errors, and do a more effective job of marketing in the future.
Let's talk about the right people first. Many salespeople and business owners have
dramatically unsuccessful experiences with direct mail and with telemarketing for
this simple reason: they're mailing to or calling the wrong people! Who are the
right people? Prospects who most closely match the demographics of your good,
established customers and/or your desirable customers. "Demographics" refers to
statistical, lifestyle and preference information about people.
The best way to explain it is through example:
Let's say you've got a restaurant, a small retail store of some kind or a service
business - maybe a hairstyling salon. Your business is doing well, but could do
much better. A good first step in seeking new customers would be to find out as
much as possible about your existent customers, in search of demographics that
might help you in the pursuit of new customers. For example, you might discover
that the majority of your customers live within a x-mile radius of your place of
business. Or, you might discover that the majority of your customers drive
late-model compact cars ... have MasterCards and VISA Cards ... subscribe to a
certain magazine ...are between the ages of 25 and 40... are married. Armed with
this information, you can obtain a mailing list, or compile a mailing list, of
prospects who closely match the characteristics shared by the majority of your
customers. You might, for example, get a mailing list of all the subscribers to
FAMILY CIRCLE MAGAZINE, who are between the ages of 25 and 40 and who
live within a 50-mile radius of your business. Is such a list available? You bet!
You might get another list of MasterCard and VISA Cardholders, who are married
and live within a 50-mile radius of your business. This is generally called LIST
SELECTION and many direct-marketing experts believe it to be the single, most
important factor in success or failure with a direct marketing campaign. I happen
to agree, and firmly believe that money spent in obtaining the best possible list is
76
more than recovered via savings on printing quantities (in direct mail) and via
improved response.
If you are unfamiliar with the availability of mailing lists and with list selection,
you should begin your education with a visit to the main public library in your
area, to study a huge directory: Standard Rate And Data Service (SRDS). This
directory provides detailed information on tens of thousands of available mailing
lists and list suppliers. In your local Yellow Pages, you'll also find list brokers
under the category "Mailing Lists." You should meet with several of these people
before choosing to do business with one of them. You may also want to deal with
national list brokers. There are a number of long-established, reputable list
brokers and many of them publish catalogs of the lists they own and/or represent.
If you'd like a free list of the brokers I personally recommend, just drop a note to
Postal Marketing Institute, 5515 N. 7th Street, #5-149, Phoenix, Arizona 85014,
and ask for the LIST OF MAILING LISTS.
You can also compile your own list for many purposes from local telephone
directories, a "Criss-Cross Directory that lists people by geographic area or
membership directories of certain clubs or organizations. And, still another list
compilation method, suitable for small businesses, is through inexpensive
classified advertising. I know an attorney, for example, who has this ad running
continually in the "business opportunity section" of his local newspaper. "Before
you buy a business, obtain free consultation on legal issues you need to consider.
Also: specialized assistance for the small businessperson with contracts,
incorporations, partnerships, buy-sell agreements, etc. Call for FREE BOOKLET: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
charges, a sequence of past-due notices, and collection calls. However, we also
74
implemented a positive strategy. We started sending hand-signed thank-you notes
for prompt payment to anybody who did pay on time . . . those who were almost
on time . . . and even late payers who responded to a past-due notice. Guess what
happened? Those customers who received the thank-you notes became better
paying customers.
I know a Doctor who started a procedure of giving fresh, long-stemmed red roses
to his women-patients who showed up for their appointments on time, or paid
their bills on time, or referred another patient. "Funny things," he told me. We no
longer have patients missing appointments. Our collections have improved.
Referrals are up. And, some guys are starting to ask how they can get roses, too!"
Here are a few specific ideas you might adopt, as ways of saying thank you:
" Keep customers' birthdays on file, and send cards and or small gifts
" Send Thanksgiving cards or letters
" Make it a habit to drop a personal thank-you note in the mail each day, to at
least one customer
" Send a gift certificate or discount certificate to a customer who makes an
unusually large purchase
" Host a Customer Appreciation Event", a Christmas party, a backyard
bar-b-que.
" Have an occasional closed-to-the public, preferred customer sale
" Drop in personally on your best customers. with a surprise gift
I figured it up just the other day; in 1986, personally and for my various
businesses combined, I signed checks for well over one million dollars in
payment for goods and services to all sorts of people and companies. And don't
care what anybody says - a million bucks is a lot of money. Yet, I can count on the
fingers of one hand the number of the recipients of all that money who've
expressed any gratitude in any formal kind of way. Only one of them found out
about and recognized my birthday.
Just saying "thanks" is a big step ahead of the competition today.
DAN KENNEDY is a Contributing Editor of ThePhilolophy 0f Success Magazine: author and/oreditor of a number of books,
cassettes, newslletters and other publications, successful entrepreneur and executive. with ownership interest
in eight diverse businesses, and a popular speaker and seminar leader Mr Kennedy can be reached clo Kennedy & Associates
Konsulting. 5313 N. 7th Street. Suite 5-149. PhoenixArizona 85014 602/997-7707
75
ARTICLE REPRINT FROM
PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS MAGAZINE
March/April 1987 Issue
Successful Marketing Strategies
For
Any Business
By Dan Kennedy
Genius is sometimes defined as the ability to make the complex simple. Certainly,
"marketing" is a complex subject; so complex it's very difficult for many business
people to ever get a handle on it. Its complexity is intimidating. After years in
"marketing", I've finally found a definition of marketing" that reflects the genius
of simplicity. MARKETING is simply making the right presentation of the right
message to the right people.
With that simple definition as a guide, just about every businessperson can clearly
see his past errors, and do a more effective job of marketing in the future.
Let's talk about the right people first. Many salespeople and business owners have
dramatically unsuccessful experiences with direct mail and with telemarketing for
this simple reason: they're mailing to or calling the wrong people! Who are the
right people? Prospects who most closely match the demographics of your good,
established customers and/or your desirable customers. "Demographics" refers to
statistical, lifestyle and preference information about people.
The best way to explain it is through example:
Let's say you've got a restaurant, a small retail store of some kind or a service
business - maybe a hairstyling salon. Your business is doing well, but could do
much better. A good first step in seeking new customers would be to find out as
much as possible about your existent customers, in search of demographics that
might help you in the pursuit of new customers. For example, you might discover
that the majority of your customers live within a x-mile radius of your place of
business. Or, you might discover that the majority of your customers drive
late-model compact cars ... have MasterCards and VISA Cards ... subscribe to a
certain magazine ...are between the ages of 25 and 40... are married. Armed with
this information, you can obtain a mailing list, or compile a mailing list, of
prospects who closely match the characteristics shared by the majority of your
customers. You might, for example, get a mailing list of all the subscribers to
FAMILY CIRCLE MAGAZINE, who are between the ages of 25 and 40 and who
live within a 50-mile radius of your business. Is such a list available? You bet!
You might get another list of MasterCard and VISA Cardholders, who are married
and live within a 50-mile radius of your business. This is generally called LIST
SELECTION and many direct-marketing experts believe it to be the single, most
important factor in success or failure with a direct marketing campaign. I happen
to agree, and firmly believe that money spent in obtaining the best possible list is
76
more than recovered via savings on printing quantities (in direct mail) and via
improved response.
If you are unfamiliar with the availability of mailing lists and with list selection,
you should begin your education with a visit to the main public library in your
area, to study a huge directory: Standard Rate And Data Service (SRDS). This
directory provides detailed information on tens of thousands of available mailing
lists and list suppliers. In your local Yellow Pages, you'll also find list brokers
under the category "Mailing Lists." You should meet with several of these people
before choosing to do business with one of them. You may also want to deal with
national list brokers. There are a number of long-established, reputable list
brokers and many of them publish catalogs of the lists they own and/or represent.
If you'd like a free list of the brokers I personally recommend, just drop a note to
Postal Marketing Institute, 5515 N. 7th Street, #5-149, Phoenix, Arizona 85014,
and ask for the LIST OF MAILING LISTS.
You can also compile your own list for many purposes from local telephone
directories, a "Criss-Cross Directory that lists people by geographic area or
membership directories of certain clubs or organizations. And, still another list
compilation method, suitable for small businesses, is through inexpensive
classified advertising. I know an attorney, for example, who has this ad running
continually in the "business opportunity section" of his local newspaper. "Before
you buy a business, obtain free consultation on legal issues you need to consider.
Also: specialized assistance for the small businessperson with contracts,
incorporations, partnerships, buy-sell agreements, etc. Call for FREE BOOKLET: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]