There seems to be a belief that the oft-quoted line from Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams movie, “If you build it, they will come” applies to websites.

It’s as if you build a website and suddenly hundreds of new customers will appear.  That just because you’ve built a website the search engines will suddenly give you a page 1 ranking.

The reality is that if you consider how many websites there are competing for the search engine’s attention, and then consider that the search engines rank pages, not sites, you get some idea of the degree of difficulty.

Aggregator sites

In the trade service environment, you also have to take into account what are called ‘aggregator’, or ‘portal’ sites. These are the sites that sell advertising along with the promise that you will get more business by advertising.  Did you ever take the time to look into the site to see how easy / difficult it is to find what you want? (Try it sometime; you may be surprised at the degree of difficulty.)

These sites attract the search engines because they have both content and relevance.  Content means a significant number of pages and relevance means the information is relevant to the search topic.

So even if you advertise on an aggregator site, there’s no guarantee you’re going to be found if someone searches for ‘electrician newcastle’

How do you compete with these sites?

Maybe you’ve heard of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?  This is the phrase used when you try to engineer your site to increase its relevance and attractiveness to the search engines to get a better result.

This is a very interesting topic. Just for interests’ sake, try searching SEO. Here’s what happened when I did… there were 184,000,000 results!

184,000,000 different pages each professing to have the secret to SEO.

Interesting that one of the top results was a press release from Yahoo! saying that firms need to improve their SEO activities. Here’s a quote from the article:

The search marketing team of Yahoo! says that firms need to upgrade their search engine optimization (SEO) campaign to make sure they get better return investments.

On their blog, Yahoo advised marketers to do proper keyword selections, saying that this area is important especially when a company starts using professional SEO services. They added that, depending on the goal of an SEO campaign, sites will need to focus on high-volume search terms or product-specific phrases.

It is also important for an SEO campaign to respond to consumer behaviour.

The Yahoo! marketing team explained: “Users are more sophisticated in their searches now, and we’ve seen that up to 20 per cent of searches in any given month can be search queries never seen before by a search engine.”

The Belfast telegraph published an interesting article on SEO called “Angelina Jolie, Britney and Beyonce nude, dirty tricks and the changing face of SEO” – take a minute to read it here.

While Yahoo! are giving us hints, remember that it’s really NOT in the search engine’s best interest to tell you exactly how to win at SEO.  Why? Because if they did tell you, how would they then rank sites?  And, more importantly, how would Google, the biggest search engine, compensate for the revenue loss as people stopped using their sponsored link advertising program?

The truth is that they really don’t want you to know how to do it, and that’s why they are constantly changing their ranking systems.  That’s why here are hundreds of books, articles and DVD’s sold on SEO.  And there are hundreds of companies selling their SEO skills.  And why doing it successfully costs a significant amount of money.

How much is an SEO campaign?

I called a prominent SEO company in Sydney last week to ask them.  They quoted me $600 per month over 12 months for 1 term.  That means if you want to get a top ranking for 1 page (e.g. electrician Newcastle) you would be paying $AU 7,200 per year.

Google’s keyword research tool tells me that in January 2010 there were 260 searches made for that term.  That’s $2 per search!  And there’s no guarantee that what they do will get you near the top of the first page.

That’s risky.

Is there another option?

Yes, actually there is and it’s using sponsored links advertising.  These are the little ads that appear to the left of the search results page.  Here you can, for less than the cost of an SEO program, not only promote your site but you can promote it against any search terms you choose, you can track your results so you know what’s working and you only pay when someone clicks your advert.

So for a few dollars a day, you can run ads wherever you want, whenever you want and be in control.

And if you don’t want to do it yourself, for a fee (of course) we can help.  Or you can buy a study guide and do it yourself – if you have time.  The best study guide I know of is by Perry Marshall; it’s called the “Definitive Guide to Google AdWords” and it’s available for about $US100 at PerryMarshall.com

Get it and read it, the content is current and valuable.

At Mediaglue, we can help you craft and maintain a comprehensive Google Adwords campaign to help drive specific, targeted prospects to your website. As part of the Acorn Software Group, we are better positioned than most companies to be able to offer a solution to your marketing needs because we know the trade service industry inside out.

Visit our website for more details and a show case of what we have done for other simPRO users: www.mediaglue.com.au or contact James Yuille on 1300 884 757 or james.yuille@mediaglue.com.au

Tags: business, growth, web stratedy

Two-thirds (65%) of retailers currently lack fully automated loyalty tools at the point-of-sale, and both card and non-card loyalty programmes need to be simplified for retail employees, according to a survey of 165 retailers by Aberdeen Group*.

This inadequacy at the point of sale suggests that there is a significant gap between customer service processes and technologies at the focal point of retail customer service. Considering that the store still accounts for the greatest share of sales for the average multi-channel retailer, this gap undermines the retailer’s ability to build long-term, profitable customer relationships.

The report, entitled ‘Cutting edge customer loyalty: Retail best practices’, also found that 50% of the best-in-class retailers identified already use fully automated loyalty processes at the point of sale, which are responsible for improved performance metrics such as a 16% year-on-year increase in customer retention.
The company’s original ‘Responsive Customer Loyalty’ report in June 2008 showed that loyalty has become one of the most critical factors that impact retailers’ sales and customer retention performance. But in order to ensure effective results, loyalty platforms and points solutions need to be combined with the key loyalty-related process workflow functions: planning, implementation, evaluation, and analysis.

The focus of large retail companies has largely been on the upgrade of legacy loyalty systems that are five to ten years old, or sometimes even older. These systems require constant updates for new loyalty scenarios and business attributes and, in the past three years, both ERP and best-of-breed loyalty companies have turned their focus toward providing loyalty solutions for small and medium-size retailers. These segments are most likely to grow and adopt loyalty solutions within the next two years, while large retailers will continue to update, improve, and adopt solutions that are function-specific (such as CRM, business intelligence, personalised e-mail, gift cards, private label credit cards, and rewards cards).

Interestingly, the 2008 report indicated that the top pressure for 58% of best-in-class retailers was the need to develop Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), which was defined by the report as “the present value of future cash flow through long-term customer relationships”.

However, in 2009, year the top pressure facing 61% of companies is the pressure of survival in global recessionary conditions that have changed the consumer spending landscape and made it more unpredictable than ever. Moreover, the second biggest business challenge (for 35% of best-in-class retailers) is the need to reduce customer acquisition costs in a recessionary market that is characterised by the high cost of goods sold. Best-in-class businesses cited the following key pressures:

1. Increased competition in a tough economy: 61%;
2. Need to reduce customer acquisition costs: 35%;
3. Need to reduce customer retention costs: 30%;
4. Need to increase brand awareness: 22%.

Among the 2009 survey’s key findings and recommendations for retailers:

* 90% of the best-in-class retailers indicated some level of success from their loyalty programmes. In contrast, less than one-third of Industry Average and Laggard retailers reported success from their programmes;

* Best-in-class retailers were found to be 1.8 times more likely than Laggards to develop customer behaviour-based promotions that ultimately drive greater loyalty;

* Best-in-class companies were also found to be 70% more likely than their peers to develop multi-tier rewards plans for their most profitable customers.

* In order to achieve best-in-class performance, retailers should conduct customer wallet share and market basket analysis, measure the net profit margin impact of customer loyalty expenditure, adopt rules-based and POS-integrated customer loyalty systems, and upgrade their loyalty infrastructure on an annual basis.

The 2009 survey also found that grocery, department stores, luxury, and retail financial service institutions are particularly affected by the need to reduce customer acquisition costs. In the entire customer loyalty lifecycle process, the acquisition of a customer is the most difficult and expensive process, due largely to a fiercely competitive retail landscape. In today’s down economy, customer acquisition costs are even more risky due to uncertain consumer spending and downward pressure on both prices and margins.

Currently, with same-store sales in decline, retailers are using every possible price-based ‘customer pull’ strategy to drive incremental sales through untapped customer segments that have any amount of buying power. Such short-term customer acquisition tactics drive costs upward as retailers sacrifice their net profit margin to increase sales volume.

According to Sahir Anand, analyst for Aberdeen Group, the difference between the 2008 and 2009 customer loyalty-related business pressures is primarily due to current market conditions which have led retailers to adopt desperate, short-term tactics to survive the downturn rather than focusing on long-term customer relationships.

For more information about customer loyalty programs, gift cards and referral programs, please call us on 1300 139 467 or fill out the Contact form and we’ll discuss how you can have your own customer loyalty program, gift cards and referral program.

*Aberdeen Group

Update: May 29. For a comprehensive report on Customer Loyalty, see this article from Aberdeen Group.

This is an older article, one I wrote back in 2004. It’s now on many other article sites around the world and ranks very highly. For that reason, I’ve posted it again on this site.

My mother instilled in me an ethic of reliability and punctuality. It’s been with me for as long as I can remember. I was never late for school, for scouts, for sports training; I’ve never missed a plane, train, bus or ferry.

You could set a meeting with me today for November 12, 2007 at 11 am and I guarantee that as long as I’m still breathing, I’ll be there. You won’t need to remind me.

I allow travel time and parking the car time in between client meetings; being late is just not part of my agenda. Nevertheless, every now and again it happens. A client meeting runs over time; there’s a traffic accident or roadwork and things just go pear-shaped. So here’s what I do to prevent stress…

When I schedule meetings, I always say I’ll be there at (say) 2pm “Give or take a few minutes – is that OK?” and invariably it’s OK. So I have a small buffer. But if I know I’m delayed, I take another step and call at my earliest opportunity, saying, “I’m running a few minutes behind schedule and expect to be there at 2:15. Is that still OK or did you want to reschedule?”

Most times it’s OK but if it isn’t, I say “OK, when I get back to the office, I’ll call or email you to find out when it suits you to meet again” Then I’m at their mercy because I’ll do whatever it takes to make it at their convenience. I figure I’ve put them out so now it’s my turn.

What gets me annoyed is when people don’t tell me when they have to cancel. Like today; I drove 35 minutes for a 9:30 meeting only to find the client would be out until 2pm. And he wanted the meeting… I billed him for my travelling time, stating on the invoice “Travelling time to appointment cancelled without notice”

What made it worse was that it was the second time this week only he called to cancel the first.

Another client, who knows that Friday afternoon is difficult for me with family sport commitments, cancelled their second consecutive Friday afternoon meeting – they knew on Tuesday they were going to cancel, yet didn’t tell me until today, Thursday.

Like most people, I budget my time and allocate it to projects, research, marketing etc. I turned down another meeting on Friday because I was already booked and now can’t reconvene with the second client for another week.

The results of all this:

1. One morning and an afternoon that could have been billed but now isn’t
2. Time today that had been allocated to preparing for Friday now unused
3. An alternative client who could have had his problem solved earlier now waits a week
4. My cash flow adversely impacted as of course I can’t invoice Friday afternoon

This is neither a professional nor a profitable way to conduct business – for any of the parties involved. Not for me; not for any of the three clients.

Why did it happen? The bottom line is that both clients who messed up my schedule ironically really need my services because they’re reacting to crisis rather than planning their time and actions. Someone else’s priorities interfered with their day / week. As a result, they jumped in response – putting out the fire instead of having support mechanisms or systems in place to deal with them.

Do I just say “Ah, that’s business…” – yes I have to right now but it begs the question: How much do these clients value time, especially other peoples? If they do it to me, how many others do they do it to.

Or do I change my habits and say, as another coach I know does:

“Cancel or not be available for any appointment with me and the fee stands, along with the remainder of all fees for the remainder of our agreement AND our agreement is immediately cancelled as I can’t and won’t work with unreliable people”

He never gets cancellations… His fee? $1,000 per hour. The duration of his agreement with you? Minimum 13 weeks.

A reputation as being unreliable gains momentum quickly and it’s one you can’t afford.

Punctuality leads to reliability, which leads to trust which is seen as professionalism. That’s why mother taught me about punctuality.

I urge you to reflect on the way you conduct your timetable and to ensure that you respect other people’s time the way you would have yours respected by others.

Why do people continue with high-cost, high-risk lead generation when there is a better way?

Let me ask you a simple yet profound question: If I banned you, effective from today, from making another cold call, would your business survive?

A cold call is any unsolicited sales call or visit you make. In other words, where you intrude upon or interruct the prospect to make your “pitch”.

Like this one I just received…

Hello this is Gina, I’m calling from XYZ telecom. Can I speak to the owner of the business please?

(Me, knowing what was coming next) She isn’t here right now.

OK, I’ll speak with the manager then, is that you?

Yes.

As the manager then, you’d be able to make decisions about your telephone calls then. I’m calling to tell you how… (I interrupted)

Gina, I’m sorry, I’m not prepared to do business with telemarketers. I don’t know who your Company is or where you are, and I have no interest in changing carriers, thank you.

But sir, you must listen to me…

No, I mustn’t. Thank you, goodbye.

I hung up.

How many times every day does Gina get this?

What’s more to the point, how many times every day are you or your staff getting this?

Let’s assume you have a target market of 250,000 people. You employ five telemarketers to each make 200 calls per day; that’s 5,000 calls per week. In 12 months, you’ve called every prospect in your marketplace.

Let’s assume each telemarketer makes just one appointment per day. That’s 25 appointments made per week, not quite enough to keep your two salespeople busy, but too much for one.

They each make a sale for every three calls which is about four sales each per week.

Eight sales per week equates to 400 sales per year. Out of 250,000 marketing messages, 249,600 have said “No”. You’ve had a 0.15% conversion rate. Low, isn’t it? And at what cost?

Five telemarketers at $20 per hour is $100 per hour. With each working 30 hours, that’s $3000 per week in wages, or $150,000 per year. Now add call costs, rent and all the other employment overheads. This takes the total to around $200,000. That means that each of the 400 sales cost you $500 in telemarketing costs alone. Now add cost of goods sold, commissions for the salespeople and your other overheads and costs…

Not looking very pretty is it?

Let’s say your average sale is $4,000 and your cost of goods is 50% or $2000. Add 10% commission and cost of telemarketing (totals $900); add all your other costs and you’re on a hiding to nothing.

Is there another way?

Yes.

Several in fact; and they work very well. What’s more, they can reduce your cost per lead down to a few dollars or in some cases, a few cents.

If you’re in Australia and would like to know how to get leads quickly, for lower cost and with higher conversions rates than with telemarketing (or just about any other form of marketing), call us now on 1300 884 757.

If You’re Using Email As A Marketing Tool, Then Failing To Read This Could Cost You Thousands.

Due to the enormous levels of email abuse by the unscrupulous, Governments both here in Australia and overseas (especially the USA) are legislating against unsolicited emails, commonly know as SPAM.

“SPAM” mail is the practice of sending massive amounts of e-mail promotions or advertisements (and scams) to people that have not asked for it. Spam mail is controversial and there are many levels of definitions for it. Many times, spam e-mail lists are created by “harvesting” e-mail addresses from discussion boards and groups, chat rooms, IRC, and web pages.
(Source: Pugmarks)

Many business owners recognise these tactics as unacceptable but fail to see one common practice in the same way.

What is that practice?

It’s when you meet someone, take their card and add their name to your email broadcast list, sending them promotional material without their permission. While you may not think this to be a serious offence, let me tell you a true life story that happened just this week.

A client of mine had a stand at a trade show. On the stand they ran a competition offering a substantial prize. To enter, you had to place your business card into the entry box. On the front of the box was a clear and distinct message saying, “By entering this competition, you agree to receive promotional material about our upcoming events”

Hundreds of people entered. Over the next few days, the client transferred the entrant details into their database and began sending promotional materials. All was going smoothly until this email arrived (names changed to protect their identities)

Hi Graham

I would just like to point out we did not stop by your stand and provide our contact details or request to be sent any information. Our details must therefore have been obtained from our stand

Therefore the 2 emails you have sent regarding your business constitute SPAM and make you potentially subject to heavy fines under the Australian Anti SPAM laws. Please remove us from you mailing list until such time as we specifically request to be added to it

In addition your failure to provide an Opt Out facility in your emails is a further breach of the Anti SPAM laws, again leaving you subject to a fine

Best regards

Paul

Graham doesn’t know how their card got into the entry box. He states quite categorically that he didn’t put it there himself. We can only assume is was put there by a third party whoever that was and for whatever reason, we don’t know.

Several emails were exchanged until fortunately an apology was accepted.

Think it won’t happen to you? That the legislation doesn’t have teeth? Think again!

“The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) has taken action against a spammer in the first case to be brought under Australia’s Spam Act.

“Spammer Wayne Mansfield, listed in Spamhaus ROKSO database, is charged with sending at least 56 million commercial emails in twelve months after the Spam Act 2003 commenced in April 2004. Most of the messages are believed to have been unsolicited and in breach of the Act.

“The article continues to explain the apparent legislative breeches and says,
Penalties for contravention of the Spam Act can be up to $220,000 per day for first-time corporate offenders and up to $1.1 million per day for repeat offenders. Profits can also be forfeited and compensation paid to victims.
(Article source: Spamhaus News)

Other articles on the site reveal how infringements in other jurisdictions have led to fines and jail sentences.

I urge each and every one of you to seriously consider your email newsletter transactions. In my opinion, using Outlook or any similar software to distribute broadcast emails to any list is fraught with risk.

Any person with any form of grudge against you can, and is likely to, report you for sending unsolicited emails. When your host gets wind of any complaint against you, your account may be frozen, leaving you without both emails and a website. Worse still; some hosts will simply delete you. Even your Domain name is at risk.

We all know that building a database of prospects and customers and keeping in touch with them is an effective, easy and inexpensive method of doing business. Done right it can be highly profitable. Making a mistake can be very costly as you have seen.

The anti SPAM legislation has serious implications for all email list owners, from the largest of businesses down to your local bridge club or your netball team.

I’m sure that you, like me, receive all forms of unwanted emails promoting all kinds of weird products we don’t want, don’t need, would never buy or even imagine using. The legislation is designed to catch those people, not innocent people like Graham. Inevitably though, the errant ways of the few will lead to restrictions for the rest of us.

Here’s what we suggest you do to minimise your risk:

• Never add anyone’s name to your broadcast list yourself
• Make absolutely sure that any and all outgoing broadcast emails clearly state your full Company name, address and contact information including the phone number
• Make absolutely sure that you provide an automatic Unsubscribe process. Simply saying “To unsubscribe, please send a reply email with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line” is clearly insufficient
• Provide a “Subscribe” facility on your website to allow interested parties to add themselves to their list. Add a privacy statement to the effect that their email details will be kept confidential
• Use a double opt in process even for those who voluntarily add their own names to your list. Double opt in means that after they have subscribed, they don’t receive any information from you until they have confirmed their subscription. Sure, some will chose not to confirm you didn’t want them on your list anyway so it’s of no concern.

One other point – today, more and more Australians are using html email templates for their newsletters. There are some problems with this; allow me to elaborate…

• Many host servers, particularly in the Corporate world, block html files meaning that your message goes unread
• Often your graphics won’t display meaning that your logo and parts of your message are lost
• Html files use more bandwidth than plain text files and some domestic users may block your messages because they have an adverse impact on their service fees
• They generally don’t result in traffic back to your website, meaning that your search engine rankings don’t benefit from the potential traffic such messages can generate.

Better instead to send a simple plain text message with a powerful subject line with a few lines of content that encourage the reader to click through to your site where you article or offer can be read and where you carefully take your reader to your required course of action.

If your email service provider doesn’t provide all of these facilities, change providers immediately. Stop sending broadcasts and download your data from their service for safe keeping. Look straightaway for a more professional service.

What you’re looking for is an autoresponder; preferably one that can manage several lists and one that has both serial and sequential capabilities. Autoresponders are masked under several glamorous names such as Email list managers, or Ezine blasters; let me tell you that they all do the same job.

Let me explain the two terms serial and sequential for you:

• A serial autoresponder manages subscription lists. Just like when you subscribe to National Geographic and you receive copies starting from the next edition, a serial autoresponder adds you to an existing list and sends whatever comes next.
• A sequential autoresponder always starts your subscription from edition 1 and sends each edition to you at pre determined intervals. Highly relevant as an enquiry follow up from a website.

Another point to consider is ongoing costs. It staggers me that Australian businesses are prepared to pay through the nose for such programs.

It’s not unusual for an Australian autoresponder to charge you a fee per 1,000 records stored plus a second fee per 1,000 emails sent. I did the maths recently and found that, if using a typical Australian product, I would be paying in excess of $500 per month for emails to my International database.

That’s ridiculous by comparison with the service I use. I pay just $US19.95 per month irrespective of how many emails I send, how often I send them and how many people I send them to.

The autoresponder I highly recommend is AWeber. Highly reliable, versatile and darn near bullet-proof.

Note: This article does not constitute legal advise. We recommend you consult with your lawyer for a detailed review of your rights and liabilities under this legislation. You should be especially cautious if you have US subscribers on your list.

I just listened to an audio interview featuring one of the world’s top direct marketing authorities and one of the world’s (supposed) top sales training authorities.

I was shocked with what I heard. The sales trainer, a man with a global reputation; author of several books and training programs, was boasting about a new way he had developed to close the sale. He explained that this new close was for advanced salespeople only, and shouldn’t be attempted until you had mastered his other 60 or so sales closing techniques.

He then delivered his new close. It was so corny it was almost laughable. It was totally manipulative, laced with tie downs and delivered with his usual smirk.

I was even more surprised that the direct marketing guru complemented him on this new discovery. Surprised isn’t the best word for how I felt; disgusted would be far better.

The close was written to be used on anyone who traditionally said “No” to a proposal. I tell you; if anyone tried this one on me, I’d short-shift them out of my office so fast their feet wouldn’t hit the ground.

Sleazy, underhanded and manipulative.

If I hadn’t been out walking and listening with headphones, I would have stopped the recording then and there. I’m glad I didn’t because as the interview continued, I was able to focus on the real issue – why were they doing this?

They’re perpetuating the myth that closing techniques work. They need to do so in order to justify continued sales and dependency. Think about this…

You’re a new or struggling salesperson. You’re out there desperately trying to meet quota to keep your job and it’s not working for you. Someone either hands you a book or audio program, or books you into a seminar focused on how to close more sales.

Diligently, you absorb the content and go out to apply your new knowledge. You may see some small improvement; they come mainly because you’ve started to think about what you’re doing and you’re paying closer attention to the conversation, not because of any new techniques.

You play the audio in your car every day and gradually become addicted to the voice telling you to keep trying and to keep on closing. It’s like a drug; you keep on searching for more. Every new book, every new audio and seminar your “guru” releases gets added to your library, thinking that the ever-elusive “Real Secret” will be revealed and you finally achieve the success that has eluded you.

The sad part is that the success you crave will continue to elude you.

Why?

Because you’re following the wrong advise.

They are deliberately creating dependency on a flawed technique and you’re the victim.

Look at this from a different perspective for a moment…

This guy has over 60 scripted sales closing techniques. So you learn all 60 by standing in front of the mirror every day and reciting them. You test them on your cat, your 2-year old daughter and the lamp beside your bed until they’re word-perfect.

Now you use them on a prospect; a human being. Someone with intelligence and emotions who sees straight through you and who knows exactly what you’re doing. Someone who doesn’t follow the formula and who says “No” when you least expect it.

So close number 37 didn’t work. What do you do now? Roll out number 25; maybe add number 59 if 25 fails? If any of Mr Guru’s previous 60 closes actually worked, why would he need to invent more?

If sales closing techniques worked, we would all buy everything that anyone tried to sell us. The real truth is that the entire concept of closing the sale is flawed. It never worked, it doesn’t work and it never will work.

Nobody wants to be sold. Nobody wants to be manipulated. Nobody wants to be “closed”.

You, the salesperson are poorer both in spirit and in reputation for trying to “Close the sale”. Your employer, sales manager or peers have it wrong if they think that learning more closing techniques is the key to making more sales.

I’ll never teach you sales closing techniques. I’ll never teach you manipulative tactics.

What I will teach you is how to open a sincere relationship with your prospect; how to earn their trust and how to identify their real issues and solve them in a partnership format that leads to high levels of repeat sales and referrals.

Call my office and we’ll talk about how you, too, can join the increasing list of people who know that the twin processes, TIPS and my unique Theory of Consequence, work together. Learn and apply these processes, and you will make more sales with less effort and Gain And Retain More Customers.