George Clay

New customers are the lifeblood of your business.  But how do you find and develop new prospects…then convert them into paying customers?

Your Prospect Call List

Start with  prospects your sales team has been meaning to contact…but never get around to calling. This is your prospect call list…or your house list of existing prospects.

But chances are these prospects are often neglected. Sometimes it’s because sales and marketing wants only the “hot” leads that are ready to close. Or perhaps it because you’re too busy tending to your paying customers.   But at the end of the day, you need to find time to make those calls and qualify each lead.

That’s where my TRIAL OFFER comes into play.  Here’s how it works. Select the prospects you want contacted.  Keep this list small and focused. EXAMPLE:  Select 30 prospects already familiar with your company or service…but who you have not heard from or contacted in perhaps 90 days.    I teleprospect  this list for you.  I speak directly with the key decision makers (no gatekeepers!)…then—by asking very focused questions which allows the prospect to do most of the talking — I find out their REAL interests and/or objections.  This is NOT one call telemarketing. It’s a methodical process that establishes good rapport…forwards the sales process…and gently prods the prospect to becoming involved with your company. It takes time and effort…but it PAYS as hit-or-miss telemarketing never did.

Phone prospectors — the really good ones — can work any industry. Technical data and industry buzz words are helpful.  But over the phone skills —genuine friendliness…business savy…good etiquette — are even more important.  That said, the more information I have about your business and industry the better.Building strong relationships on the phone is what I do best. A busi­ness that sac­ri­fices cus­tomer loy­alty for short term gain is NOT a good match for Mar­ket­ing Direct. My clients put their cus­tomers first. If that sounds like you, I can help you and your sales team “cul­ti­vate” key seg­ments of your cus­tomer and prospect base with niche spear­head projects that add value for your cus­tomers and make you out­shine  and out sell the competition.

New customers are the lifeblood of your business.  But how do you find and develop new prospects…then convert them into paying customers?  Give my TRIAL PROGRAM a test drive. I’ll prove what I can do for you.

Email the contact form below…and I’ll answer whatever questions you have.  I look forward to hearing from you!

“Always do right. It will please some peo­ple and aston­ish the rest.” …Mark Twain

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Which ads attract new customers?  Does repeating the same ad pay? Do ad slogans help a product launch? Are headlines in ads important?

George Clay

You have a product or service you want to launch.  How to do it?  Hire an advertising agency?  Their marketing strategies of clever slogans and big product launches work some of the time for some of the clients.  But for YOU — the small business owner — those big ad budgets get mighty expensive.

Wasting money on advertising is easy. But there is a cost efficient marketing alternative.

• Test Cam­paigns: “Almost any (adver­tis­ing) ques­tion can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally by a test cam­paign. And that’s they way to answer them — not by argu­ments around a table.”

From radio ads to direct mail to internet advertising to print ads, test your ads on a small scale before spending money on a big scale.  Test everything you do — headlines…offers…body copy…illustrations…price points, etc.When tested and measured by response rates rather than by personal opinion you will be shocked how often ads you think are winners are duds…and vice versa. EXAMPLE: The most graph­i­cally gor­geous and clever sales lit­er­a­ture will fail…unless it appeals to valid needs of your cus­tomer. A sim­ple let­ter — black and white —address­ing these needs will out pull slick mail­ings that miss your customer’s “sweet spot”

• Things Too Costly: “Many things are pos­si­ble in adver­tis­ing which are too costly to attempt. That is another rea­son why every project and method should be weighed and deter­mined by a known scale of cost and result.”

That’s especially true when it comes to advertising campaigns  or product launches. You may “oh and ah” over the expensive graphics. But the final jury and the only jury that matters is the customer. Do they buy it..or reject it. Does your ad make a profit for you…or for the creative team you paid to create your advertising? Do not rely on personal opinions. Rely on measured returns you can count.  If your test fails you are spared the need­less expense of a big (and wasteful) ad cam­paign.  If suc­cess­ful, you expand your test…one step at a time.

• Good Busi­ness: “…most national adver­tis­ing is done with­out jus­ti­fi­ca­tion. It is merely pre­sumed to pay. A lit­tle test might show a way to mul­ti­ply returns.”

The Depression Changed Marketing

Done right, any prod­uct or ser­vice can be mar­ket tested using this sim­ple method. Research proves that one ad can sell 151/2 times more than another…that with small differences in copy or headline one ad can pull FIVE times more orders than its competitor.  But it wasn’t always so!  In the early days of advertising there was almost no research.

Then came the depression.…when cost-conscious advertisers DEMANDED to know the factors behind the success or failure of advertisements. This is when meaningful, scientific advertising really began. This is when WISE advertisers learned how to test and measure the efficiency of their selling efforts.

They learned what kinds of headlines attract the most readers…why copy under pictures gets higher reading…which kinds of pictures get attention…how split-copy advertising works…which appeals succeed…which fail. They learned that almost any question about the effectiveness of their advertising could be answered cheaply, quickly, and finally by a test campaign. And that’s the only way to answer them — not by arguments among corporate decision makers.

• “Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.” …David Ogilvy, OGILVY ON ADVERTISING
  

• “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.” David Ogilvy

• “Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, “Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money.” That is not a popular appeal.” .…Claude Hopkins, SCIENTIFIC ADVERTISING

Your questions and comments  are welcome!

Mar­ket­ing Direct, Inc.
1845 Sheri­dan Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103
619–692‑3110
(Monday-Friday — 9:00am-5:00pm)
sales@mardirect.com

Email us or call us at 619–692‑3110 (Pacific Coast USA).

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George Clay

Because you control who is mak­ing the calls and when they are being made, outbound telemarketing costs are much easier to control than inbound costs. So keep it sim­ple.  Does not matter if you outsource to a call center or do it yourself  in house,  test b2b outbound using one tele­mar­keter.  Test on a small scale. Grad­u­ally expand your b2b outbound telemarketing…but only when test results merit growth. By test­ing and mea­sur­ing lead gen­er­a­tion response rates you’ll know what’s working…and what’s not.

And care­ful who you hire!

The right tele­mar­keter will prove invalu­able. The wrong per­son can cause real harm. This check­list may help.

Lead Generation Trial Project: Set a goal — say 30 days — for get­ting 50 new qual­i­fied b2b sales leads from out­bound b2b telemarketing .

• Have tele­mar­keter con­tact 100 prospects.

• Have some sort of prepara­tory mail­ing. Brief and intro­duc­tory. Test it two ways. (1) Call first…saying “I’d like to send you some­thing with your per­mis­sion and get back to you after you’ve had a chance to look it over. You’ll find you can save a lot of money with our ser­vices. In fact, we’ll give you a 30% dis­count on your first order”.
• Sec­ond way to test out­bound tele­mar­ket­ing is to call after the mailing…and not before.

• Both meth­ods min­i­mize intru­sion factor…making it eas­ier to “get in the door”. Saves time for telemarketer.

Your lead generation questions and comments  are welcome!

George Clay

Out­bound B2B tele­mar­ket­ing costs depend on total dial­ings per hour…total deci­sion maker con­tacts per phone hour…and total qual­i­fied sales leads per phone hour.

Full time out­bound tele­mar­keter in busi­ness to busi­ness tele­phone pro­gram can make 25–30 com­pleted calls per day — i.e., call in which deci­sion maker is reached. In part-time effort, 5 to 7 com­pleted calls in an hour are gen­er­ally attain­able.

Deter­mine (1) cost per out­bound tele­mar­ket­ing phone hour, (2) cost per out­bound call, (3) cost per qual­i­fied sales lead, (4) cost per order (or appoint­ment). Con­trol of these out­bound tele­mar­ket­ing sales met­rics is vital to any call center’s suc­cess.

• Deter­mine break-even points based on out­bound tele­mar­ket­ing sales met­rics includ­ing …prod­uct mar­gins…real­is­tic close ratios from qual­i­fied sales appointments…realistic aver­age orders…buying cycles — both fre­quency of pur­chase and likely dol­lar amount of repeat orders.
• Include costs for sales lit­er­a­ture. Test call scripts, follow-up sales let­ters and those all impor­tant lead nur­tur­ing call backs to improve effi­ciency of your sales mar­ket­ing lead gen­er­a­tion efforts.
• Track results. Set real­is­tic goals. Include num­ber of com­pleted calls per day.…..number of qual­i­fied sales leads per day…dollar value of sales per quar­ter.…appoint­ments made by phone and results of these appointments.

Your outbound b2b telemarketing questions and comments  are welcome!

call 619–692-3110 or fill out and email the contact form below.

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George Clay

Common Mistakes, Costly Mistakes In Advertising.

• Test Campaigns: “Almost any (advertising) question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally by a test campaign. And that’s they way to answer them — not by arguments around a table.”

• Just Salesmanship: “Advertising is salesmanship. Treat it like a salesman. Force it to justify itself”.

• Good Business: “…most national advertising is done without justification. It is merely presumed to pay. A little test might show a way to multiply returns.

• Things Too Costly: Many things are possible in advertising which are too costly to attempt. That is another reason why every project and method should be weighed and determined by a known scale of cost and result.”

• Letter Writing;“Letters to inquirers, follow-up letters, whenever possible they should be tested. Where that is not possible they should be based on knowledge based on tests.”

• Offer Service:“Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising.”
• More  MARKET TESTING TIPS …read on line.

The author is Claude Hopkins. As an advertising copywriter, he was tired of the platitudes and puffery of most national advertising campaigns (like John Wanamker, he believed much advertising was a waste of money).  For Claude Hop­kins, if you aren’t test­ing the mar­ket by mea­sur­ing how well (or poorly!) your ads are doing then your adver­tis­ing strategy is a hit or miss gam­ble.

In his book SCIENTIFIC ADVERTISING he shows you how to remove this gam­ble from your business marketing and advertising. It’s all here. From mak­ing small con­trolled tests with a lim­ited bud­get to split copy test­ing of head­lines and short copy vs. long copy. Not just another mem­oir of adver­tis­ing  strategy and per­sonal opin­ion.  Regardless of product or service, this is mar­ket­ testing wis­dom that has stood the test of time. Indeed, what you get today from any of the notable direct response marketing gurus is simply a repackaging of what Claude Hopkins said nearly a century ago.

• “After I read his book, my eyes have been opened to all the companies around that are wasting money on ineffectual giveaways and promotions.”                                                      …Return Customer

• “This will be a beneficial read for anyone in marketing or sales. Even though this book was written 90+ years ago, most of the principles discussed are still relevant today.”         …The Book Reviewer

• “If you’re serious about learning about marketing that really works, get this book.”  …MarkAtwood.com

• “Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times.” -David Ogilvy

Meet David Ogilvy — his marketing advice will help you!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br2KSsaTzUc

Your questions and comments  are welcome!

call 619–692-3110 or fill out and email the contact form below.

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In this market anyone with money to spend should be treated like a king.

Is your company getting it right…giving your customers more attention… better service…better quality…and greater value for their money?

“There is only one boss. And he can fire every­body in the com­pany from the chair­man on down sim­ply by spend­ing his money some­where else.” … Sam Wal­ton

Targeting your customers are the price driven bottom feeders. Because their markets have vanished these predators have reinvented themselves as “experts” in your niche field. Their strategy for getting your customers is simple: Beat any price. But trading margins for volume —- unless checked —-can cannibalize a market…turning once profitable business models into shipwrecks. Take note: Studies show it takes seven years for a brand to recover its value once it’s been discounted. Seven years! Customer Service means survival. If you don’t love your customer, get another customer. If you can’t find a customer to love, get another business.

Your questions and comments  are welcome!

call 619–692-3110 or fill out and email the contact form below.

So says the 2009 Response Rate Report (March 2009)  by The Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Some findings from the report:

• In the direct order sector, outbound telemarketing had the highest average response rate among all media (4.41% for house lists and 2.92% for prospect lists), followed closely by catalogs (3.95% for house lists and 1.85% for prospect lists) and direct mail (3.65% house lists and 1.65%-prospect list).

• Response rates were higher than in previous years, perhaps as a result of better list management and more sophisticated targeting.

• The Catalog and Retail segment outperforms other industries in direct mail response rates.

DMA’s Response Rate Report was conducted through a survey emailed in December 2008.  When the survey was closed, 1,175 responses were received.  Although the report surveyed twenty-four major industries, only thirteen are covered in-depth in this report.

For Winning New Customers: You’ll find direct mail and email shortens the sales cycle of almost any telemarketing program…especially when it comes to winning NEW customers. Test scripts, literature offers, and call back programs to improve response rates. When handled properly, outbound telemarketing can deliver sales conversion rates much higher than the response rates from direct mail or email campaigns that are not supported by follow-up calls.

For Launching New Products: Now you can have in a well planned telemarketing program an efficient way to tell prospects and customers about your new products and services. But without any costly travel or wasted commuting time.   A well executed telemarketing program will accomplish this — it’s good business because  it will improve efficiency, boost sales and deliver customer care that keeps your customers from drifting away.

Your questions and comments  are welcome!

call 619–692-3110 or fill out and email the contact form below.

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Make outstanding service to customers and prospective customers your goal with each outbound sales call.

• Be on time with your follow-up sales calls. Prompt follow-up separates you from the competition and helps build long lasting business relationships.“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your product or service, and bring friends with them”. —W.Edwards Deming

• Boost your customer service by having sales rep and telemarketer work together…as a sales marketing team. Example: When cross-selling lead generation develops have your sales rep off-load the sales lead to your telemarketer…who then makes follow-up call to the prospect.  This gives field sales more time to develop new sales leads and boost sales of their bread-and-butter accounts. Also, this dialog expands product knowledge and prospect call list for telemarketer. Best of all, your prospect enjoys exceptional customer service by getting lots of   follow-up service!

• Cus­tomers First. Focus your service strat­egies on what’s most impor­tant — the wants and needs of your exist­ing cus­tomers. Sure, get­ting new cus­tomers is impor­tant. But so is keep­ing your com­peti­tors from steal­ing your exist­ing cus­tomers! Tele­mar­ket­ing done with the right per­sonal touch is a great way to renew rela­tion­ships with lapsed clients and build your cus­tomer base.  Make calls to your prospect base . Add rou­tine emails and per­son­al­ized First Class follow-?up mail­ings to these folks. Tar­geted sales mar­ket­ing projects like these help cul­ti­vate your cus­tomer and prospect base…spreading good will and show­ing them you care.

• It’s About The Cus­tomer, Stu­pid! The most graph­i­cally gor­geous and clever sales lit­er­a­ture will fail…unless it appeals to valid needs of your cus­tomer. A sim­ple let­ter — black and white —address­ing these needs will out pull slick mail­ings that miss your customer’s “sweet spot”. Write your own sales let­ters and follow-up notes. You can do it! What’s more, by using tele­mar­ket­ing to follow-up those let­ters you’ll boost your response rates. Here’s good advice on mak­ing those sales and busi­ness let­ters work for you.

SALES MARKETING ACTION PLAN: Sit down with sales marketing team. Explain how your phone sales person or call center will help build customer service by improving lead nurturing and the overall lead generation process.  Share results from your outbound B2B telemarketing metrics so they grasp the numbers and understand the efficiency of crm done right.

There Is Only One Boss. The Customer!

“There is only one boss. The Customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money somewhere else.” … Sam Walton

call 619–692-3110 or fill out and email the contact form below.

George Clay

Now that customers are fewer, their loyalty shorter, and their demands greater, the customer experience game has changed. Up for grabs is anything that moves — including  your customers. To build a stable and consistent client base and keep your customers from drifting away the following crm strategy may help your sales marketing team enhance customer experience and build customer loyalty.

• Automate Your Sales Process. Is your prospect list scattered about on slips of paper, business cards or sticky notes? Get organized. Automate your sales marketing process so you can build your prospect list and have more time to contact new customers and better service the ones you already have. See the photo below? Those were the days before crm software changed the playing field.

• The right CRM software (ACT is a popular CRM software. My favorite, however, is TELEMAGIC)  will simplify everything you do.…adding speed and precision to your marketing efforts.

• EXAMPLE:  Send prospects you’ve visited or called in the last week  personalized, first-class follow-up letters detailing key points of your discussions. Prompt follow up always wins…and makes YOU outshine the competition.  From lead tracking to to getting appointments — crm done right will change your life and keep your customers smiling. Don’t leave home without it.

• Get Closer To Your Customers. Use your phone!  No other marketing medium — not television, not radio, not direct mail, not print advertising, not email —- gives you such a powerful, persuasive, and cost efficient person-to-person selling medium as telemarketing.  By speaking directly with prospects you can gauge each prospect’s interest level in your offer and thereby qualify your prospective database.  Done right —without the hype or pressure of an old way call center — there is real efficiency in telemarketing, efficiency you can use every day to build a  targeted sales marketing database to get and keep customers.

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. Trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

From internet advertising to print ads to direct mail, do you know which of your ads are pulling the most business? John Wanamaker— an advertising and merchandising genius — struggled with this same problem.

In 1876 — a full century before Wal-Mart or internet advertising — he created the first Superstore in America.  Calling it “the largest space in the world devoted to retail selling on a single floor”, he focused on high volume and low costs. Indeed,  before Wanamaker invented the “price tag”, most buying was done by haggling!

Realizing the power of advertising on consumers, Wanamaker wrote many of the ads himself…filling them with conversational language that discussed the bargains of the day. He was a man of integrity and insisted his ads be honest, with absolutely no stretching of the truth. He used money back guarantees…fixed pricing (no haggling—-ever!)…and in January 1878 launched the first ever White Sale.  Although he was the first retailer to place a full page newspaper ad (1879), he advertised outdoors on billboards and on specialty items  such as pencils and balloons. His message got through.   By 1881 his flagship store in Philadelphia had almost three acres of selling space on one floor, 46 departments and more than 2000 employees!

But newspaper advertising was where Wanamaker poured it on .  He used bold, consecutive full-page ads which were like news items themselves. So dominant and unprecedented was this method of advertising that it became known as the “Wanamaker Style” of advertising.  The style was copied by other retailers…and played a major role in the rapid rise of independent city daily newspapers.

Whether your advertising is online or print, there’s lots to learn from Old John. But his quip “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I just don’t know which half” is perhaps the most valuable lesson. Heed his words. Then read Scientific Advertising.  After only a few chapters, you’ll have a leg up testing which ads are working…and which ones are wasting your money.

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