Build A Lucrative Relationship With Your Customers!

Profitable Relationships

Building a profitable relationship with your prospects and customers, like any aspect of successful marketing, is like learning to ride a bike or play a musical instrument.

You’ll fall off a few times, or play ‘bum’ notes, before you begin to get the hang of it — but once you do, you’ll go on to do a few cycle stunts and play music that people want to listen to! Practice is important.

Copy!

And as leading copywriter Allan Forrest-Smith advises, the easiest way to practice is to copy the experts. After all, if they can bring in millions with their copy, why reinvent the wheel? And they probably copied it from an earlier success anyway — why do you think the text in the body of an advertisement or web page is called ‘copy’ anyway?

We’re not talking plagiarism here—but many of the most successful sales letters of all time have either taken their inspiration from earlier successes or have themselves inspired others.

And email marketing is just like that. Practice and draw ideas from others’ emails. Use current topics or popular themes, use timeless truths or your latest product as themes.

But this is all about building a relationship with your prospects and customers — and they’ve given you permission to be in touch with them by email (see other posts on this blog).

Five Magic Questions

Michael Rassmussen has carved out an Internet Marketing niche for himself in the

field of Email Marketing. His advice is that you need to address FIVE MAGIC QUESTIONS that the recipient will have when you are crafting emails to your lists:

• Who are you?
• What do you want?
• Why should I care?
• What’s in it for me?
• What do I do now?

Unless you answer these five questions in your email, your target will move on to the next email and you’ll have lost her/him.

Killer Subject Lines

But the body of the message will be wasted if your email Subject line — your ‘headline’ — doesn’t get your target excited or intrigued enough to open your email in the first place!

So your Subject line is the key to getting your email read.

As Allan Forrest-Smith points out, the whole purpose of your Subject line or Headline is to get the reader to carry on reading. And the purpose of each paragraph and sub-header is to get your reader to keep on reading!

Try to make people curious with your headline—and to want to open your email to

find out what it’s all about — ie ‘What’s In It For Me?’ (abbreviated to WIIFM in the

industry)!

To do this your subject line should be benefit oriented — asking a question is often

effective. But your subject lines should be ‘blind’ — they should entice irresistibly

without revealing the content up front.

Opening Up!

So, you’ve got your target to open the email — what now? The Opening section is now vital to keeping your prospect on the page — and to keep him/her reading — so it has to be conversational and interesting. And it MUST grab the reader and involve him/her immediately — so it has to be about them, not you!

Think about the emails you receive… Which do you open? Which do you go on reading? Most of us prefer emails that sound as though they’re coming from a friend with something interesting or useful to tell us, don’t we?

As Michael Rassmussen notes, your opening should be conversational and get to the point really fast. Talk to the reader—not about yourself!

Assuming that your reader is still with you, you now need to keep the content in the body copy super-relevant and focused on the purpose of the email! Don’t go off on any tangents or turn into a blabbermouth! Your target doesn’t have time to waste, so respect her/him accordingly!

Action! And Keep It Tight!

The purpose of your email is to get them to take a specific action — so the whole copy should focus them to this end. The last things you want to talk about are how your personal life is going, your recent vacation or the car you drive, or how much work you put into your product (although there may be a place for these in the ‘story’ you tell on your sales page).

The reader doesn’t care about you — only him/herself!

Bullets!

So keep the body copy of your email relevant and tightly focused. You can use powerful bullet points to hint at the particular benefits the reader will gain — but they should never reveal the content or the secret. Otherwise you’ve given the reader the information to make an immediate decision not to continue reading!

Michael gives an example of the benefit of a blind bullet over a plain one:

· Plain Bullet: “How to make your bullets powerful by making them blind”

· Blind Bullet: “A simple change you can make to your bullets that will triple their power”

I think you can immediately see the difference—and how the second bullet forces

the reader to keep on reading, to find out more!

Use Your Head-ers!

Michael also points out the importance of making your body copy easy to read — split it up into paragraphs of a few lines each and use sub-headings to break your text into ‘bite-sized’ chunks.

Alan Forrest-Smith also points out that the sub-headers in any piece of copy should tell the whole story by themselves — since many people skim through the body.

In an email — particularly a plain text mail — it’s important to make your sub-headers stand out. Use capitals and a line of asterisks or dashes above and below

Bucket Brigade

You’ve probably heard of the ‘Bucket Brigade’ in copy writing. This is the use of little pieces of copy in your email that forces people to keep reading. Phrases like ‘As a result…’, ‘As I said…’, ‘Why?’ and ‘Oh, and let’s not forget…’

Call To Action

But the whole purpose of your email is to get the reader to take action! NOW! So your call to action must be clarion clear! And URGENT!

Tell them exactly what you want them to do and how to do it! And what they should do it now, and not leave it ‘till later!

You can use a whole bunch of incentives to act now, including scarcity (time deadlines or quantity limitations) or bonuses.

PS: Oh, and don’t forget the PS! This is often the first part of a sales letter or email that people read — after all, I often go straight to the bottom of a sales letter to find out how much it’s going to cost me. Don’t you?

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Your goal in starting your own business should be to build a profitable commercial enterprise that works without you.

After all, systems should run a business, not the owner – and you don’t just want to exchange one job for another!

So, you should be looking to implement the systems and strategies that are most appropriate for your particular business’s needs (increase profitability, systems, controls, etc).

You need to assess the business in the five key profit generating areas:

• Lead Generation,
• Conversion Rate,
• Average Sale,
• Average Number of Transactions per customer, and
• Profit Margins.

Those areas are highlighted in the following equations:

Lead Generation x Conversion Rate = # Customers

# Customers x Avg. Sale x # Transactions = Revenues

Revenues x Profit Margins = £ Profits

These determine the profitability of any business, in any market, in any industry.

So stay focused on the things that matter!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

How To Make YOUR Business Fly!

Everyone looking to start their own business should think carefully about why you’re starting up and where your focus will be to optimize the returns from your business!

It’s easy to get caught up in the ‘I’ll start a Web business and make a fortune’ enthusiasm, without really thinking about your longer-term strategy.

Once you have established that the business can be profitable, you need to learn the difference between working on your business and working in your business.

As Andy Gwynn, of Action Coach says…”Small business owners can spend 60 hours or more per week just trying to keep their business running. Most often, what we find is that they are working on the wrong aspects and end up spinning in a relentless circle until the business finally folds in on top of them.”

He suggests that, from the start, you should be thinking how to build a profitable business that will have real value in the marketplace — ie it should become an asset that you can sell on and make a fortune.

The same good business principles apply to any type of business — they may look a bit daunting when you see them in black and white, but start by keeping them simple and work up each level as you get there.

The six steps you need to take in building your business are:

1. Niche - You need to think carefully about your business niche, and your marketing and sales. Where and how will you sell your products and services? Who are your customers (at least the ones you want)? How do you reach them with a message that will get them to visit your business and buy?

2. Leverage - You can’t realistically do everything yourself — you’ll need to outsource some of your business. So you need to think how to put systems in the business so that the customer has the same positive experience and you, the owner, reduce the amount of time you spend in the actual business (ie working “on” your business instead of “in” it).

3. Team — If you need other people to support you, or you will be working with joint venture partners or outsourced resources, getting the right team revolves around not only getting the right people on the bus but making sure they are in the right roles where they, and the business, will be successful.

4. Mastery - This is all about understanding and controlling what is happening inside your business. At this level, you need to address processes/production, financials, marketing/ advertising and your team — and how you will manage each aspect.

5. Synergy — the collaboration of the previous four levels moves you to the stage of a commercial profitable enterprise that can operate without you. This is important. Now, as an owner, you have a business that can really deliver some value in the market place without taking your every waking hour — and is based on your exit strategy!

6. Entrepreneur — at this stage, you have built a successful business. The best part is that now that you know the sequence, you can do it again and again in any business you become involved with!

You need to stay focused on your goals, testing and measuring results, working through potential obstacles for growth, systems implementation, etc.

Stay focused on these 6 steps and you’ll have a profitable business!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

To be successful on-line, as in any business, you need to build three things with your customers – CTR: Credibility, Trust and your Relationship. And there are two further words which should be central to your whole web business approach… but we’ll come to those in a moment!

Credibility: When your prospect reads your ad or your website sales page, you want to make sure he believes any claims you make about your product or service. Because, if there’s any doubt in his mind, he won’t bite, no matter how sweet the deal. In fact, the “too good to be true” mentality will virtually guarantee a lost sale…even if it is all true.

Building credibility is all about showing that you – or your product – have a proven track record. There are many ways of building credibility and this requires you to give ‘social proof’ of the reliability and benefits that you and your product provide.

If you’ve been in business for a number of years, you can point to this and your hundreds or thousands of satisfied customers, providing testimonials from customers to whom your product has brought specific benefits or success.

But even if you’re just starting out and don’t have a ‘track record’ yourself, you can use a variety of ways to build credibility and increase the perception of believability – because, after all, it’s the perception you need to address up front!

Here are some tried and tested methods that will help boost credibility:

• Avoid baseless ‘hype’ – make sure your copy is accurate and truthful.
• For existing customers, who already know you deliver as promised, emphasize that trust.
• Include testimonials of satisfied customers – include full names and locations, if possible.
• Use 3^rd party testimonials (endorsements of the product type or solution by industry experts) or “lift notes” (brief notes or letters from a person of authority, possibly a celebrity).
• Pepper your copy with facts and research findings to support your claims (credit all sources).
• If you can swing it, adding a celebrity endorsement will always help to establish credibility.
• Give your own credentials or background (and photo) – or those of an expert if you’re using her/his real or ‘implied’ expertise (relating to your product or service, of course).
• Cite any awards or third-party reviews the product or service has received.
• Tell them a lot of your widgets have already been sold – “10 million people can’t be wrong”.
• Include a GREAT Guarantee or return policy and stand by it! You may give more refunds, but if you sell three times as many widgets as before, it may be worth it – crunch the numbers!
• Reveal a ‘flaw’ about your product (that’s minor or isn’t really a flaw). This helps alleviate the “too good to be true” syndrome and builds trust and your reader will start to subconsciously believe that you are revealing all of the flaws…
• If you advertise a deadline, don’t keep changing your deadline – you’ll reduce credibility.

Trust: There are two simple words which should be absolutely central to your whole approach to marketing on the Internet: Underpromise and Overdeliver.

Just tell people you will give them one thing and then give them what you promised plus a little bit more. The results of adopting this simple philosophy and incorporating it into your Internet business can be truly remarkable.

What makes this concept so incredibly powerful for Internet Marketers is that it doesn’t really take a whole lot of additional effort to give people more than what they expect. The huge value we deliver on our training courses and to the Internet Tycoons Mastermind Group are examples of this.

But by spending just a little bit of extra time giving you a few things you did not expect we established ourselves as someone who not only delivers what we promise but gives you even more. Ultimately this translates into a rock solid reputation and long term customers (you) who will buy from me over and over again. All of which equals more value for you and more profits for us!

Basically, you need to be kind and generous – and to do this genuinely. But in this business being consistently generous results in more than just a personal feeling of satisfaction, it results in huge profits. The benefits of practicing the underpromise and overdeliver philosophy far outweigh the extra effort and expenses on your part.

Kindness really does pay – and on the Internet it pays in a big way!

Relationship: The third pillar of your internet business is your relationship with your prospects and customers.

You’ve probably heard it said many a time that ‘the money is in the list’. Well, this isn’t the way of the world. People buy from people – people they Know, Like and Trust. So just think ‘KLT’.

So the key is to build an excellent relationship with your customers – and ‘the money is in the relationship’ is a rather more appropriate approach to your business.

How to do this? Well, there is plenty of free advice on the web about building your relationship with your customers. But the crucial thing is to get in touch – and keep in touch at least once or twice a month – with your customers and prospects.

Make them know you value both them and their business – but do this in a genuine way, without hype and fluff. Give them value!

It’s amazing that less than 10% of businesses actually follow up with their customers! When was the last time you had an email from your local shops, dentist or hairdresser?

Web technology provides a wonderful platform from which to develop your relationship with your customers.

You can set up your own web log, or Blog (see ‘Blogging For Profit’ on page 14) and you can personalise email very effectively using autoresponders to stay in touch with your customers (more on autoresponders in an upcoming issue of ‘Web Biz Insider’).

But you need to make it personal in order to build your relationship – there are any number of companies that send you their standard brochures and expect you to be ecstatic, aren’t there (perhaps your bank comes to mind)?

Two of the easiest ways to generate greater profit in your business are to get your customers to buy from you more often and to increase the average value of each purchase!

And, if your customers appreciate your relationship with them, they are much more likely to do both!

So, get inside your customers’ minds and think how you can build your relationship and boost your profits!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

If there’s one killer enemy that stops people making money on the Internet… it’s…

LACK of ACTION!

But please reflect a moment…

If you never DO anything, you’ll never get any RESULTS.

Not just that, but…

Action Overcomes Fear

And some of my favourite quotes from the wise are…

“Nature gave men two ends…
…one to sit on and one to think with.
Ever since then, man’s success or failure
has been dependent on the one he used most.”
George R. Kilpatrick

“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried”
Chuck Gallozzi

“Pessimism never won any battle”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
Anthony Robbins

I hope they help you, too!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Procrastination is my sin.
It brings me nought but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it –
in fact, I will – tomorrow!

Gloria Pitzer – The Recipe Detective (Retired)

Where to start? And How? Those are the two most frequently asked questions I hear from people looking to start their own web businesses – whether they already have an off-line business or want to start a new business on the Internet.

Most of us know someone who is making serious money with their Internet business – and we’d like to do the same. But those ‘where’ and how’ questions, coupled with the wealth of information available on internet business and business start-up, can often result in information overload and an on-going quest for that next bit of information or technique to enable you to get started…

Never-Ending Quest

And it can be a never-ending quest that sees you putting off your start indefinitely! There’s always something more pressing to be done, isn’t there (and not just checking your emails, walking the dog or having a coffee!)?

Well, you’re not alone! And yes – I’ve been there too!

At least 95% of us are procrastinators at heart, according to AnnA Rushton, author of ‘Procrastination – How To Stop It Right Now!’

AnnA admits to being a procrastinator herself. She notes that this isn’t a modern phenomenon related to our high-tech and high-stress society. Apparently, historical records exist that show our ancestors were just as bad – but imagine them putting off inventing the wheel, building Stonehenge or discovering America because there were just too many other things to worry about!

Your Lost Opportunities

Now – be truthful – how many opportunities have already slipped through your fingers because you didn’t act on them? What could you have done that would have improved your life beyond all your imagining, but you didn’t quite get round to it?

Well, building your own Web business is one of the easiest ways to achieve this – and it can be so low-cost and easy that you’d kick yourself if you didn’t get going, now that you’ve come this far and are reading this!

The Key To Getting Started

The key to getting started with your web business is to jump-start your willpower, so you can move from inertia to action. Try to understand the forces at work that are holding you back – both those inside you and the social pressure of ‘negative culture’ – the people all around you who tell you “don’t be so silly, of course you can’t run a web business”.

The Latin meaning of ‘procrastinate’ is ‘to favour tomorrow’ – or perhaps the principle of ‘Mañana’ that we’ve borrowed from the Spanish! But, according to AnnA, the key to overcoming our natural tendency not to start something is to recognise that procrastination is a four-letter word!

Yes – you may have your own four-letter word for it – but you can kill procrastination very effectively if you recognise it as

F*E*A*R.

The FEAR factor is huge when it comes to procrastination – are you afraid to start, afraid to keep going or terrified of succeeding – or all three? Fear paralyses us: whether real, perceived, logical or irrational it literally stops us in our tracks like ‘a rabbit frozen in the headlights’. And, believe me, I’ve been there many a time, too!

So, when you find yourself not taking the actions you know you need to take, look at fear in another way:

First * Examine * All * Resistance

The most effective tool in combating the first signs of procrastination is a pen and paper (but don’t spend hours agonising over the colour of ink or type of paper – just grab any old pen and paper!). Make it look like this:

Do this list for your Internet business – why you want to start and why you’re holding back… just keep going until you run out of things to put down.

One Small Action

Then write down one small action you could take to get started. For instance, you could put “Check the bookstores and online to see how many people are interested in my topic”.

Doing this will help you focus on what your real concerns are – do you feel afraid to take just the first step, or do you worry more about your ability to take the actions or project your fear forward into the consequences of those actions? And then to act!

To Do – Or Not To Do?

Then make yourself a list of ‘must do’ things in priorities A (important/urgent), B & C (least important). Each morning, write on a sticky note 3 things that MUST be done that day and put it where you can’t miss it – in the middle of your computer screen.

Notice that you are choosing to do those 3 things because you know that, once they are out of the way, you can do the more fun stuff! And make yourself a mental ‘Treat Jar’ – things you give yourself as a reward for doing the jobs on your To-Do list.

But don’t stop there – make yourself a ‘Not To Do’ list as well – all the things you should NOT do (but regularly do) until you have achieved the 3 things on your To Do list – checking the emails, walking the dog, having a coffee, etc.

In her book, AnnA also very effectively examines all the reasons why we hold back, and how we can overcome these, listed against the letters of the word ‘Procrastination’.

So, if you’re having trouble getting started with your internet business – or other opportunities are passing you by, have a look at AnnA’s book ‘Procrastination – How To Stop It Right Now!’

© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008, 2009

Action Overcomes Fear

“Procrastination is the grave in which
opportunity is buried”
Chuck Gallozzi
Personal Development Writer/Speaker

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com