You Can Have Everything in Life You Want . . .
If You'll Help Enough Other People Get What They Want

That's the philosophy of master motivator Zig Ziglar, who publishes the free weekly e-zine, the Zig Ziglar Newsletter. (Subscribe at www.zigziglar.com) Here's a recent message from Zig:

"Each day is a miniature lifetime and your attitude concerning each day makes a difference. If you make today a good day and repeat that process daily, you'll live a lifetime of good days. I confess that this approach to life is simple, but it isn't simplistic. Occasionally, someone accuses me of saying that today is a good day regardless of how it's going. A degree of truth lies in that observation, but years ago I decided that every day was going to be a good day. This expectation has had a direct influence on what has happened in my life -- and it can do the same for your life. Expect today to be a good day, and then do what's necessary to make your expectations come true.

10 WAYS TO BUILD TRUST AND BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
By Charlie Cook

You wouldn't buy a car if you didn't think it could get
you home. And you wouldn't purchase it from a dealer
you thought was robbing you blind on the price and might
not stand behind it if the engine fell out as you drove
it off the lot.

Before making a purchase from you, buyers need to trust
that your products and services will do what they are
supposed to. Does your marketing help establish the trust
necessary to convince prospects to buy from you? If you're
struggling to attract clients and customers, use the
following tactics to convert prospects to clients.

[Read More!]

How To Recover Your 'Almost Customers'
By Bob Leduc


You'll always need to find new prospects for your business. But don't overlook the prospects you already attracted. Many are close to buying. Use these four simple procedures to convert those "almost customers" into paying customers.

1. Make A Memorable Impression

Create a reason for prospects and customers to notice you ...and to think of you when they encounter a competitor.

Many prospects who do not buy from you the first time will come back to buy later. Existing customers will also remember you. They'll come back to buy again - and they'll send pre-sold referrals to you.

One easy way to establish a memorable identity is to create an important reason for customers to do business with you instead of with your competitors.

The advantage you offer doesn't have to be dramatic to be memorable IF you promote it aggressively. It can be as simple as delivering faster results, more personalized attention or a better guarantee than your competitors.

Tip: Combine several small advantages like those described above to create a big (and more memorable) advantage over your competitors.

[Read More!]

Show Your Warts: An Honest Way to Make a Buck
By Bob Bly for Early to Rise

Legendary adman James Webb Young, who started selling fruit by mail around the same time that Harry & David did, tells the story of an apple-growing season that nearly ruined him.

Violent hailstorms bombarded his apple trees with ice pellets, bruising and pockmarking the fruit.

He feared massive complaints and returns if he shipped the bruised apples to his mail-order buyers. But if he didn't ship them, he would have to refund all their money -- and his business would be destroyed.

The apples were damaged only cosmetically. The hail had discolored the skin, but this did not affect the flavor or freshness of the fruit.

So, Young went ahead and filled his orders with the pockmarked apples -- and in each box, he enclosed a preprinted card that read as follows (I am paraphrasing):

"Note the pockmarks on some of these apples. This is proof that they have been grown at a high mountain altitude, where the same extreme cold that causes sudden hailstorms also firms the flesh and increases the natural sugars. This makes the apples even sweeter."

According to Young, not a single order was returned. In fact, when orders came in the following year, many order forms had handwritten notes that read, "Pockmarked apples if available; otherwise, the regular kind."

[Read More!]

Business Gifting at Its Best!

For more than 25 years, The Sharper Image has shared the fun of discovering some of the world’s most innovative merchandise. The brand is now one of the most widely recognized and positively perceived names in America and for the past 10 years, The Sharper Image brand and products have been the driving force behind some of the most effective client and customer rewards programs for companies all across the country and internationally, too.

Those same products that motivate and reward are perfect for holiday gifting.

Your local account manager can assist you with your holiday plans. No other company can match the prized "trophy value" and unsurpassed enthusiasm for a gift from The Sharper Image.

Here’s what you get from Sharper Image Corporate Sales:
Uniquely Impressive Products - Exclusive products generate excitement and leave a lasting impression.

Easy-to-Manage Programs - Regional account professionals help to assist with your holiday gifting plans.
Perceived Value - Special corporate discount pricing adds greatly to the perceived value of your gifts.
Flexible Redemption - Redeem Certificates and Reward Cards at more than 140 Sharper Image stores, via our catalog or online.

Merchandise Certificates - Certificates in any denomination can be personalized with each recipient’s name and your holiday greeting.
Reward Cards - Versatile Reward Cards can include your company logo.
Private Logos on Products - Imprinting of your logo on our products to create a custom look.
Online Certificates - Quick-as-email electronic Certificates that are redeemable by phone or Web.

See Sharper Image Products at our Xmas site here.

WHICH OF THESE WORDS ATTRACT YOUR CLIENTS
By Charlie Cook

Whether it's your business card, tagline, article title,
web site title and description or ad, just the difference
of a few words can either pull in prospects and clients
or push them away. Getting it right can determine
whether your phone is ringing off the hook or you are
twiddling your thumbs hoping someone will call.

Just by changing a word or two or combining a couple of
phrases, you can increase your response rate dramatically.
Book publishers know that a book's title can make the
difference between it becoming a best seller or a loser.
Wouldn't you like your service and products to be best
sellers?

In the past if you wanted to be sure you'd found the best
name for your business or the right phrases to use in your
marketing materials, you needed to hire a marketing
research firm to get a reliable answer. Using phone surveys
and focus groups, a market research firm can tell you which
names turn prospects off and which make people want to buy
your services and products.
[Read More!]

Clone Your Best Customers
by Marcia Yudkin

Two businesses -- a women's clothing boutique and a mail-order operation -- recently consulted me about the same dilemma. Each had achieved satisfying sales through channels that didn't allow for further growth. They needed a fresh marketing program that would yield a steady stream of new customers, and they were confused about where and how to advertise.

Like Dorothy with the ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz, they already had most of what they needed for a solution, but they didn't know how to use what they had. They needed to investigate who their buyers -- especially their highest-spending and most frequent patrons -- were. In doing so, they'd learn how to clone their best customers.

The general principle: Discover the characteristics of your
current customers and use that knowledge to reach more shoppers just like them.

The clothing store already knew the age range, income level and some cultural interests and hobbies of its clientele. I suggested that they find out which newspapers, magazines and TV and radio programs their buyers read, watch or listen to, as these might prove prime advertising vehicles. Once ads are running in many places, you can also ask customers which media outlet persuaded them to come into the store, although many buyers don't remember this information.

The mail-order operation had little knowledge of the income or the educational level of its purchasers, since orders so far had come in through the anonymity of the Internet. However, it was relatively simple for them to send a follow-up questionnaire by e-mail, which asked a buyer's age, educational background, employment status (employed or self-employed), income bracket and profession. The brief questionnaire also asked how satisfied theywere with their purchase, generating glowing testimonials along
with a few complaints. Questionnaire answers would help this
business intelligently choose where to advertise.

To the clothing store, I suggested marketing strategies besides advertising for cloning its best customers. Since many store regulars were involved with charitable organizations, the store could let buyers know, through a postcard to its mailing list or a flyer slipped in with purchases, that it might produce a
fashion show to benefit their favorite charity. Most likely, customers' dearest non-profit organization appealed to others who would also be attracted to the boutique's distinctive style of clothing.

Since many patrons had creative hobbies, like painting, music, weaving or writing, it made sense to appeal to others who spent spare time on the arts. I suggested selecting a different customer's creative work to feature in the store every month. I envisioned a display of one woman's pottery or poetry, with a color photo of her wearing the store's clothing. Surely the woman in the spotlight would bring in friends like herself and patrons would urge their creative women friends to apply for the honor.

Scientists say human cloning isn't quite on the horizon, but in marketing cloning techniques like these already produce new customers!

-----

Marcia Yudkin is the author of the classic guide to comprehensive PR, "6 Steps to Free Publicity," now for sale in an updated edition at Amazon.com and in bookstores everywhere. She also spills the secrets on advanced tactics for today's publicity seekers in "Powerful, Painless Online Publicity," available from www.yudkin.com/powerpr.htm .

6 Steps to Free Publicity.

Sell It With a Simple Story

Pick up any magazine and look at the major articles. You will notice a pattern. Most successful non-fiction writers today begin their essays with some sort of personal story. It's become almost a cliche -- but with good reason. People pay attention to stories.

Trial lawyers use the same technique. According to Harry Beckwith in his excellent book "Selling the Invisible" available at Amazon.com , trial lawyer "Gerry Spence almost always makes a point with a story. Spence knows that for all the enormous changes in Western culture since the Greeks, today, almost 2,500 years after Euripides, our primary form of entertainment is still the dramatic narrative -- the story."

Marketers who sell their products with stories take advantage of this powerful aspect of human nature. Relevant, poignant stories can make your advertising more interesting, more personal, more believable, and more persuasive.

by Dr. Bill Nieporte

When you marry a "southern girl" (like I did) you learn a
brand new vocabulary! I just heard an interesting phrase
from my "southern born" wife. Commenting on a man who left
his wife for a "younger woman," Jeana said: "That woman
doesn't love him! She's just looking for a 'sugar-daddy' to
pay her credit card bills!"

Isn't that the approach many marketers take when looking to
recruit others into their business venture? How many times
a day do you get junk email from people offering (in
essence) to be your "sugar-daddy?" Here's just a few
examples of these offers in my email box for today: [Read More!]