Your prospects and customers make purchase decisions based on emotions, and guilt is an emotion that works when it comes to making sales.  How do you guilt people into buying from you?  Easy!  Send them a "no strings attached" gift.

You've probably received a small gift in the mail yourself, such as address labels or stamps.  They were useful and had some value to you, and you may have felt compelled to act because you received them.  Sending out a small gift makes people feel obligated to do something in return.  They would feel guilt if they did not return the favor by placing an order or making an appointment.

When sending out a free gift, it is important to match the gift to your market.  Booklets are appreciated by just about any market because they can contain information about any subject you can imagine.  They're also inexpensive and easy to mail.  But, there are many other items you could use, and what you choose will depend on your business, your market and your budget.

If you've got a stack of prospect's names sitting on your desk, send them a small gift and then watch the action.

Up and at 'em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com 

How often do you receive a gift in the mail from one of your favorite merchants "just because?"  You probably never have.  It is extremely rare for a business to send anything to their customers other than their latest ad or promotion.

Everyone loves a nice surprise.  It creates goodwill toward the giver, and a sense of being appreciated by the recipient.  This is not the same thing as thanking a customer for a purchase.  This is sending something to customers who may or may not have purchased from you in while, just to connect with them.

Connecting with your customers on a regular basis is extremely important if you're going to maintain your customer base.  People are fickle.  They come and go.  They're easily persuaded by what they perceive to be the next great thing or better perks being offered by your competition.  Sending them an unexpected gift will make them think twice about switching to another company.  Afterall, what are the chances they'll get a free gift from the competition?  

There are many kinds of gifts to choose from.  Booklets are wonderful to send because they get your message to your customer in a way that doesn't feel like they're being sold to.  You can have your company name printed on the front and add coupons to the back as an added bonus which will entice your customer to come in and buy something.  But, you won't want to send booklets every time.  

You can send something once every season or as often as once per month.  Flower seeds sent in springtime are a nice gift.  Steaks for the grill in summer could be another.  In the fall, perhaps a $5.00 gift card for a carmel apple latte.  In the winter, an ice scraper for the windshield.  You might even have different gifts for customers depending on the amount of business they do with your company.  Platinum customers would receive a $15.00 gift card, Gold customers would get a $10.00 card, and Silver customers get the $5.00 gift card.  

This is something to put some thought into and be creative and have fun with.  Your customers will enjoy the surprises, and they'll remain loyal so they can see what's coming next.

Up and at 'em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com 

One way to leverage your customer base and make more money from it is to use a bounce back offer.  A bounce back offer is a flyer, brochure, or letter that is mailed in the package with what the customer has ordered, which makes a special offer to the customer.

Once the offer is made, you need to sweeten the deal with a bonus which is offered to the customer for free if they act now and place the order.  Many companies use bounce back offers, but they don't always add a bonus.  Instead, they'll make the offer available for a limited time.  But, you'll get a better response to your offer if you do both.

Bonuses don't have to be expensive.  It could be something small that goes with the product you are offering, or it could be something completely unrelated that would be greatly desired by your customer.  Booklets make great bonuses because they are easy and inexpensive to mail, and people enjoy receiving them.

If you're shipping products and you haven't used a bounce back offer, give it try.  Not every customer will take advantage of your offer, but many will, giving you money you otherwise would never have received. 

Up and at 'em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com 

To gain attention in the over-crowded mailbox, many direct mail campaigns include premiums.  A premium, often referred to as a freemium, is a gadget, toy, device, or free product that is offered to the recipient of the mail piece.  Often, premiums are included in the envelope to get the envelope opened.  Other times the premium is used as a reward for responding to an offer.

It's been proven time and again that premiums work and increase response.  If you haven't tested your response using premiums, give it a try.  Chances are high you'll be pleased with the results.  But, what many companies don't know is that two premiums can work even better than one.  Here's why.

When a premium is offered in the envelope, it gets the envelope opened.  But, that premium's job is now finished.  The envelope is open, and you hope that the recipient will read your sales letter, view whatever else you included in the envelope and respond.  But, what if you could raise the response rate by adding a second premium - one they'd get only when they respond to your offer?

Whether you're offer is one of more information, or you're offering a special deal on your product or service, a small premium offered as a bonus will boost your response, as long as you match the premium to the market you're reaching out to.  

Premiums include a variety of items, from pens and key rings to t-shirts and mugs.  Booklets make excellent premiums because they have a high perceived value, they can be custom matched to any market, they can fit into a #10 size business envelope for easy, inexpensive mailing, and they are not breakable.  Another plus to booklets is that they are often shared, giving you more bang for your buck.

When using more than one premium, you can use two of the same kind, such as two booklets Like "How To Better Your Golf Score In Seven Days" and "The Best Golf Resort Vacations In The US."  You can also use two different but related premiums, such as putting the "How To Better Your Golf Score In Seven Days" booklet in the envelope, and then when they respond to your offer they get a free box of pro golf balls or some other golf related item.

Premiums cost next to nothing when compared to what a new customer is worth to your business over a lifetime, and there are many to choose from.  Don't put it off.  Do this now.  You'll be glad you did.

Up and at 'em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com 

When it comes to finding new clients, customers or patients for your business, how do you go about it?  Do you place ads in local papers or the yellow pages?  Maybe you are using tv or radio to attract business.  What about direct mail or a website?  These are all great ways to get your message out, but are you reaching the right people?

No business can market to everyone, so it's important to make sure you're reaching the people who will be most likely to want to do business with you.  If you're marketing to couch potatos, then prime time tv might just be your best bet.  But, if you're marketing to CEO's you may want to rethink that prime time commercial and go with an ad in a trade magazine instead.

Putting your message in the place where your market is most likely to see it is the begining of pre-qualifying your prospects.  You've already weeded out those who won't be interested in your offer because they probably won't see your offer, and if they do they'll just ignore it.  But, that's ok since you're only trying to reach the people who are truly interested in your services or products.

You can use a booklet to further qualify your prospects so you know who to spend your time with by offering it for free to those who request it.  In this case, the booklet should be related to your business in some way.  It should offer interesting information or facts that will give your prospects a compelling reason to contact you.  As an example, if you owned a company selling burgler alarms your booklet might give prospects "The Alarming Truth About The Rise Of Crime In Your City."  This booklet would explain the cold, hard facts on crimes that might have been prevented had the victims only had an alarm system in place. 

Now, here's the big payoff for you.  When people request that booklet, they'll have to give you their contact information so you can send it to them.  Now their on your mailing list.  And, when you send them the booklet, you'll include a sales letter (disguised as anything but, of course), and whatever other information you need to send that you feel will convince them that you're company, and only yours, is the one they need to contact in order to keep their family and possesions safe.  And just to make it easy on them, you might even include a reply card for them so they can set up an appointment or have you call them. 

Offering the booklet not only gets people to contact you, but it further pre-qualifies them as being potential buyers because they were interested in the booklet's content enough that they felt compelled to ask for it.

Pre-qualifying your potential prospects makes selling to them less time consuming and much more successful.  It's a win-win situation.

Up & At 'Em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com 

• Main
• archives
• Albums
• Links
• Admin

• Why Making Your Prospects Feel Guilty Will Get Them To Buy From You
• How To Surprise Your Customers And Win Their Loyalty
• How To Leverage Your Customer Base With A Bounce Back Offer
• Why Two Premiums Are Better Than One
• How Free Booklets Can Make Your Sales Process Easier
• Are You Losing Sales Because Of This?
• Are You Making Money Or Excuses?
• How To Get More Prospects To Respond To Your Marketing
• Five Things You Must Consider Before Choosing A Freemium For Your Direct Marketing Campaign
• Use The Wow Factor To Jolt Your Prospect To Attention
• Why You Should Use Limited Time Offers
• The First Step To Creating A Marketing Blueprint That Works
• Do You Know Where The Real Money Is In Your Business?
• A White Paper By Any Other Name....Is More Likely To Be Read
• Is Your Message Getting Noticed Or Ignored?

• About This Blog [1]
• Customer Relations [5]
• Direct Mail Marketing With Booklets [6]
• General Marketing [28]
• Holiday Promotions [4]
• Marketing Online With Booklets [3]
• Marketing Your Business With Booklets [36]
• Marketing Your Products With Booklets [12]
• Marketing Your Services With Booklets [4]
• Small Business Marketing [4]
• Success Stories [0]
• Trade Show Marketing With Booklets [9]
• Up & At 'Em News [1]

• RSS 0.90
• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom