Today you’ll learn how to use direct mail marketing and, yes, telemarketing to your full advantage. I know, the word “telemarketing” might as well be four letters, but there is a way to help customers feel like they are getting personal attention and keep them from blocking your number!


With the success direct mail marketing has had and the availability of computers, these can be used as a powerful marketing tool for your success. Telemarketing is best for high priced, high margin products/services.

Here are the key steps to putting together a highly effective direct mail marketing program:

1. List all benefits customers will get from the purchase of your products and services.
   
2. Pick the single most powerful benefit out of that list.
   
3. Build an attention-getting headline around that benefit. Remember to use emotion-fulfill the desire to be young, wealthy, desired, popular or successful.
   
4. Develop a sales letter using the headline you created to grab attention, provide information and motivate customers to act.
   
5. Put together supplementary items, such as a brochure, order form, reply envelope or note that encourages them to read the letter.
   
6. Rent or purchase a mailing list.
   
7. Compare cost of mailing vs. cost per order.
   
8. Continue to test and refine your direct mail marketing plan.
   

You can see how direct mail marketing can help you find a local or even country-wide target market to send letters or postcards to and draw in new clientele and customers. Fine-tuning your marketing campaign will bring better results and therefore lower the overall cost of the campaign. To be successful in telemarketing you need to:

• Put together a plan, so you know exactly what you want to accomplish during the call.
  
• Develop a list of topics to discuss and the questions you want to present around these topics.
  
• Input verbiage checking to see if you are calling at a good time.
  
• Include enough questions to keep the conversation interesting, but not too many to sound like you are interrogating.
  
• Start with broad questions and narrow your focus as the conversation continues.
  
• Offer feedback to show them you are paying attention and appreciate their time.
  
• Don’t insult their intelligence or manipulate them.
  
• Listen first, talk second.
  
• Be relaxed and conversational.
  

Telemarketing doesn’t have to be the trauma it’s made out to be. You can put together an honest, personal and effective telemarketing campaign that is endearing, informative and gets the job done. Think of how you would want to be treated on a marketing call. Ask your friends and family what they hate most about the telemarketing calls they get and work hard to craft your plan in a better way.

“When selling by telephone, you have approximately thirty seconds to convince the customer to listen to you. You need an opening statement that captures their attention, conveys who you are, what you want and why the prospect should listen.”  Jay Abraham

It’s easy to see how direct mail marketing and telemarketing can positively affect your business by bringing in new customers and increasing the level of awareness about your products, services and company branding. 

My complimentary business assessment gives you the resources and tools you need to work through these processes and put together the best marketing plan you can. Connect and let's talk about your business and the direction of your marketing. I promise to increase your leads and sales WITHOUT you spending extra marketing dollars.

Today I’d like to talk about how to turn prospects into customers and retain them for future marketing.  

While, your marketing is doing its job, you need to be working on turning those prospects into customers. There are a few key ways to draw them in and seal the deal.  You need to be:

• Inviting
  
• Informative
  
• Enjoyable
  

The biggest fear of most new customers is the dread buyer’s remorse. You want to avoid this at all costs and this should be mitigated if you've provided a quality product/service that delivers on the marketing claims you've made.

However, this can still occur. There are two ways to deal with this:

• Offer to refund money-no questions asked
  
• Offer a bonus they can keep even if they return the product
  

These offers alone will also mitigate buyer’s remorse because the customer will trust you more, just for offering these things.

There are number of other ways to turn a prospect into a customer:

1. Offer a special price as an opportunity for you to test the market.
   
2. Offer a lower price with the reason of pushing inventory to pay a tax bill, for your kid’s' braces, or another tangible reason. Customers love that this makes you feel so much more human.
   
3. Offer a referral incentive.
   
4. Offer a smaller, more inexpensive product first to build trust.
   
5. Offer package deals.
   
6. Offer to charge less for their first purchase if they become a repeat customer.
   
7. Offer extra incentives-longer warranties, free bonuses if ordered by a set date.
   
8. Offer financing options, if applicable.
   
9. Offer a bonus if they pay in full.
   
10. Offer special packaging or delivery.
    
11. Offer “name your own price” incentives.
    
12. Offer comparative data or other comparison tools.
    
13. Offer a trade-up or upgrade to something they already have.
    
14. Offer additional, educational information to help them make the decision.
    

The options really are as limitless as you make it. You can use these or other ideas to find what works the best for your business, products/service and target market. Remember this…

“By making it inviting, easy, informative, non-threatening, educational, inspiring and fun to do business with you, you’ll loft your company above the competition.” Jay Abraham

Need help with figuring out the best strategy for converting prospects into customers? Our complimentary business assessment gives you exclusive access to the STRETCHYOURSELF resources and tools, along with information from some of the greatest marketing minds on Earth.

Thanks, and I look forward to connecting with you!

There are 5 major components to good advertising copy: (The order of these is essential to success)

• Command Attention
  
• Showcase Value of Products/Services (End Result of Product or Service)
  
• Prove the Benefits  (Educate)
  
• Persuade People to Embrace the Value (What's In it for them to benefit their life)
  
• Call to Action
  

Advertising is sales in print. So, you need to think about the unique benefits your products/services offer and showcase that in a persuasive way. You need to emphasize results, not features.
Let’s take a minute to talk about each of these components:

1. Command Attention: This is usually accomplished with the headline. You need an attention-getter that makes people want to know more about your products/services. The best headlines give a vivid portrayal of the value or show how a problem can be avoided with your products/services. The headline is the advertisement for the advertisement.
   
2. Showcase Value: You have to showcase the value or the end results of your products and services and, more importantly, show how they will solve or prevent a problem. They need to know what’s in it for them. Include useful, factual and clear information to show precisely what the benefits are and how they are going to help the customer. 
   
3. Offer Proof: This is where you prove what the advertisement is offering. You need to establish you have a method to deliver. Consider information that establishes credibility and past performance.
   
4. Persuade: You need to add compelling reasons for your potential customers to purchase your products/services. Use a hard sell approach and create scarcity. This will enact your potential customers to feel like they have to act now. Which leads into the last component.
   
5. Call to Action: You need to compel your potential customers to DO something. They need to check out your site, sign up for your newsletter, purchase your products, contact you about services…something.  Offer a freebie-a booklet, sample, product, bonus, demo, consult, limited time price…the list goes on. There are lots of ways to get potential customers excited about ordering and help them feel like they are getting an amazing deal.
   

Good advertisements include all of these components and are not complete without any of them. You can sit down and think through any one of these components, then figure out how to best place them together for the most effectiveness, or I can help you with this. Connect with me for a complimentary business assessment and we'll look at your existing marketing material and put together great advertisements to command the attention you want for your business.  

I look forward to connecting with you.