• Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
• If your purposes where not reached find our why?
• What communication message and was most effective?
• What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
• What sales channel was most effective?
• When and how did the customer contact you?

6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

• As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
• Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
• Consider server capacity
  Don't Cry Over Spilt Toner!
  Toner Spills, Clean Up and Prevention Nothing is more aggravating then pulling the tab off of a toner cartridge and having it spill everywhere! In this article, you will learn what to do after a toner spill and what not to do. Also, we talk about prevention. This is really the object of the lesson. Preventing toner spills.Using the Chicopee Stretch and Dust Towel These amazing yellow towels have a multitude of uses and can be used over and over again. Just stretch it and wipe up the toner spill. Use it to clean dust off of your copier, fax machine or printer, even your computer screen. Note: I am not trying to sell these towels, they just work so well! You can use a regular cotton towel if you would like.Investment When a business buys a piece of equipment it is an investment. This investment should be cared for and maintained and it will give you many years of trouble-free use. In addition to having a qualified technician perform preventative maintenance on your equipment, I believe that the customer can play a key role in helping a machine run smooth and have a more trouble-free exi
  Direct mail marketing executed in a professional manner can make wonder for your business in terms of awareness, sales, brand building and customer interest. Here are 8 important factors for a successful direct mail marketing campaign.

  Marketing Alternatives:

  • Marketing in Local or national radio stations
  • Advertisement in local or national newspaper
  • Commercials on local or national TV
  • Advertisement on billboards and posters
  • Direct Mail marketing via local flyers, postcards, brochures etc
  • Direct sales marketing through telemarketing
  • Business to Consumer communication via SMS & mobile communication
  Direct Mail Marketing – Primary Advantages for your business growth
  1. Target Advertising - most important benefit is the targeting a specific group of customers.
  2. Personalization of Marketing Message - tailored to your customers specific needs based on previous transactions and gathered data.
  3. Optimization of Marketing Message - Because of its direct accountability, direct mail marketing can be tested to find the best address list or customer target group; the best product offer; the best timing for your sales or marketing campaign (and many other factors). Then the winning tests can be rolled out to a wider audience for optimal results.
  4. Secific data collection on customers - Responses (and non-responses) can be added to the database, allowing future mailings to be better targeted.
  Successful Direct Mailing Campaign in 8 steps:

  1. Define PRIMARY PURPOSE of your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign

  • Information regarding launch of your newly established company
  • Increase sales and customer contacts
  • Decrease customer churn
  • Increase profitability from existing consumers
  • Counter on competitor activities and product offerings
  • Advertise your company’s new products / services
  • Advertise a promotion and limited sales campaign
  • Brand building for your existing product line or company
  • Others marketing purposes not covered in this article
  2. Marketing decisions based on UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS
  • Marketing Message – What and when do you want to communicate and to whom?
  • Total cost for the campaign; e.g. marketing material, advertisement costs, purchase of address information, distribution costs, and follow up costs such as telemarketing.
  • Sales targets – What is the total number of shipments, the number of responses, and the average order value per response?
  • Effect on churn levels on existing customer base – before the direct mail marketing campaign and after the direct mail marketing activity.
  • Hit rate, i.e. number of customers that you expect to respond
  • Break even for this campaign, i.e. what sales revenues are required in order for your direct mail marketing campaign to become positive.
  3. Consider the following CUSTOMER CHARACTERISTICS

  A very important aspect of effective direct mail marketing is understanding which customers to contact. Logical starting point for understanding how to construct your customer target group is to analyze your current customers. When you understand existing customer base you can effectively expand your customer target group by identifying similar companies that are not your customers today.

  • What revenues do different customer groups generate to your business?
  • Which of your products shall the customers purchase?
  • What industry segments are your customers active in?
  • Geographical distance from the customer to your stores?
  • Your potential customers turnover and sizes?
  • Timing - when should you activate your campaign? When is this customer group most likely to accept a sales proposal?
  4. TEST your direct mail marketing assumptions – GO LIVE
  • Test group - order or collect approximately 500-600 customer addresses
  • Divide these customers into 2-3 small target groups
  • Test different marketing messages or product / service offerings on each group of customers
  • Observe customer response, hit rate, number of sales and effect on revenue
  5. ANALYZE the Direct Mail Marketing Test, draw your conclusion and Decide
  • Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
  • If your purposes where not reached find our why?
  • What communication message and was most effective?
  • What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
  • What sales channel was most effective?
  • When and how did the customer contact you?
  = > Decide on final direct mail marketing message and product offering = > Decide on the timing for the direct mail marketing campaign.

  6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

  • As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
  • Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
  • Consider server capacity f
    Considering a Career Change?
    Are you thinking about a career change? Many people do this because of specific problems or difficulties. Others want to make such a change because of some growing, generalized dissatisfaction. A career change is becoming more common. A few decades ago this kind of change was considered inappropriate. People were thought to be "job-hoppers" when they moved from job to job. People with this behavior were thought to be unstable and without loyalty. But now, changing your job or changing your career is generally considered to be a normal way to advance in work.There are some interesting reasons that people are motivated to make this kind of change: one is that the person's situation changes and a job or career change is required. For instance, maybe the spouse moves away, and the person must move with the family. Or, maybe the company goes out of business. It could be that the person's physical or mental capabilities change and they cannot perform that job or career.A common motivation is that the person was never happy with the job or career and the situation never improved. So, over time the person has grown a dissatisfaction wi
    d the best address list or customer target group; the best product offer; the best timing for your sales or marketing campaign (and many other factors). Then the winning tests can be rolled out to a wider audience for optimal results.
  • Secific data collection on customers - Responses (and non-responses) can be added to the database, allowing future mailings to be better targeted.
  Successful Direct Mailing Campaign in 8 steps:

  1. Define PRIMARY PURPOSE of your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign

  • Information regarding launch of your newly established company
  • Increase sales and customer contacts
  • Decrease customer churn
  • Increase profitability from existing consumers
  • Counter on competitor activities and product offerings
  • Advertise your company’s new products / services
  • Advertise a promotion and limited sales campaign
  • Brand building for your existing product line or company
  • Others marketing purposes not covered in this article
  2. Marketing decisions based on UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS
  • Marketing Message – What and when do you want to communicate and to whom?
  • Total cost for the campaign; e.g. marketing material, advertisement costs, purchase of address information, distribution costs, and follow up costs such as telemarketing.
  • Sales targets – What is the total number of shipments, the number of responses, and the average order value per response?
  • Effect on churn levels on existing customer base – before the direct mail marketing campaign and after the direct mail marketing activity.
  • Hit rate, i.e. number of customers that you expect to respond
  • Break even for this campaign, i.e. what sales revenues are required in order for your direct mail marketing campaign to become positive.
  3. Consider the following CUSTOMER CHARACTERISTICS

  A very important aspect of effective direct mail marketing is understanding which customers to contact. Logical starting point for understanding how to construct your customer target group is to analyze your current customers. When you understand existing customer base you can effectively expand your customer target group by identifying similar companies that are not your customers today.

  • What revenues do different customer groups generate to your business?
  • Which of your products shall the customers purchase?
  • What industry segments are your customers active in?
  • Geographical distance from the customer to your stores?
  • Your potential customers turnover and sizes?
  • Timing - when should you activate your campaign? When is this customer group most likely to accept a sales proposal?
  4. TEST your direct mail marketing assumptions – GO LIVE
  • Test group - order or collect approximately 500-600 customer addresses
  • Divide these customers into 2-3 small target groups
  • Test different marketing messages or product / service offerings on each group of customers
  • Observe customer response, hit rate, number of sales and effect on revenue
  5. ANALYZE the Direct Mail Marketing Test, draw your conclusion and Decide
  • Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
  • If your purposes where not reached find our why?
  • What communication message and was most effective?
  • What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
  • What sales channel was most effective?
  • When and how did the customer contact you?
  = > Decide on final direct mail marketing message and product offering = > Decide on the timing for the direct mail marketing campaign.

  6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

  • As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
  • Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
  • Consider server capacity
    Think of Franchising Your Company?
    If you are thinking about franchising your company you might wish to know the statistics on franchisor success, it is not pretty and you need to know the risks. Franchisee Success it is a really good number there on that side of the franchising game, so buying a franchise is not as risky as franchising your current company the success of franchising companies is problematic. Franchising companies have a 5:1 failure rate, mostly due to over regulation and the litigious-ness of the franchising industry.Here is a thought for you. If we have 400,000 franchise outlets in the US and we have 5:1 failure rate for Franchisors, then aren't we missing 2 million small business franchised outlets? Not that every business should be automatically successful mind you, but if the failure rates for franchisors are that high, we have a problem with regulators and lawyers. What recessions, all we need to do is get rid of the over regulation and lawsuits and suddenly we are recession proof next business cycle? Here is a story that illustrates what happens to first time franchisors; who go charging off:http://ezinearticles.com/?Entrepreneurship-Stor
  2. Marketing decisions based on UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS
  • Marketing Message – What and when do you want to communicate and to whom?
  • Total cost for the campaign; e.g. marketing material, advertisement costs, purchase of address information, distribution costs, and follow up costs such as telemarketing.
  • Sales targets – What is the total number of shipments, the number of responses, and the average order value per response?
  • Effect on churn levels on existing customer base – before the direct mail marketing campaign and after the direct mail marketing activity.
  • Hit rate, i.e. number of customers that you expect to respond
  • Break even for this campaign, i.e. what sales revenues are required in order for your direct mail marketing campaign to become positive.
  3. Consider the following CUSTOMER CHARACTERISTICS

  A very important aspect of effective direct mail marketing is understanding which customers to contact. Logical starting point for understanding how to construct your customer target group is to analyze your current customers. When you understand existing customer base you can effectively expand your customer target group by identifying similar companies that are not your customers today.

  • What revenues do different customer groups generate to your business?
  • Which of your products shall the customers purchase?
  • What industry segments are your customers active in?
  • Geographical distance from the customer to your stores?
  • Your potential customers turnover and sizes?
  • Timing - when should you activate your campaign? When is this customer group most likely to accept a sales proposal?
  4. TEST your direct mail marketing assumptions – GO LIVE
  • Test group - order or collect approximately 500-600 customer addresses
  • Divide these customers into 2-3 small target groups
  • Test different marketing messages or product / service offerings on each group of customers
  • Observe customer response, hit rate, number of sales and effect on revenue
  5. ANALYZE the Direct Mail Marketing Test, draw your conclusion and Decide
  • Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
  • If your purposes where not reached find our why?
  • What communication message and was most effective?
  • What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
  • What sales channel was most effective?
  • When and how did the customer contact you?
  = > Decide on final direct mail marketing message and product offering = > Decide on the timing for the direct mail marketing campaign.

  6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

  • As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
  • Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
  • Consider server capacity
    Where to Buy Business Phones
    The latest technologies in the telephone industry have given business people a wide range of options to choose from. It has become easy to purchase a business phone from online business stores, mail order, direct buying and through telemarketing. Both prepaid and post paid cellular business phones are available in the market.Usually online purchasing and telemarketing involve more risks than mail order and direct buying. Privacy is the major problem of online purchasing. Buyers are required to give payment information including their bank accounts and credit card numbers. Before an online purchase, a buyer has to check the security measures ensured by online business sites. A product list with detailed information is available in online business phone purchasing. They include the type of business phone, brand name, model, price and key features. The buyer is allowed to take a suitable phone from the product list. Any damage or malfunctioning should be informed as early as possible. Customer satisfaction guarantee is available for most online business phone purchases.You can also buy business phones through mail orders. The term
    to analyze your current customers. When you understand existing customer base you can effectively expand your customer target group by identifying similar companies that are not your customers today.
    • What revenues do different customer groups generate to your business?
    • Which of your products shall the customers purchase?
    • What industry segments are your customers active in?
    • Geographical distance from the customer to your stores?
    • Your potential customers turnover and sizes?
    • Timing - when should you activate your campaign? When is this customer group most likely to accept a sales proposal?
    4. TEST your direct mail marketing assumptions – GO LIVE
    • Test group - order or collect approximately 500-600 customer addresses
    • Divide these customers into 2-3 small target groups
    • Test different marketing messages or product / service offerings on each group of customers
    • Observe customer response, hit rate, number of sales and effect on revenue
    5. ANALYZE the Direct Mail Marketing Test, draw your conclusion and Decide
    • Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
    • If your purposes where not reached find our why?
    • What communication message and was most effective?
    • What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
    • What sales channel was most effective?
    • When and how did the customer contact you?
    = > Decide on final direct mail marketing message and product offering = > Decide on the timing for the direct mail marketing campaign.

    6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

    • As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
    • Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
    • Consider server capacity
      Career Searching: A Vision Without A Plan is a Hallucination
      Success is not always something you necessarily find when you arrive. It may be the journey that gets you there.It seems as though people make career management more difficult than it has to be. When something threatens to make it simple, they almost invariably find a way to make it more complicated. For example, in recent years there’s been much more activity in the small to mid-size companies, yet the majority of people looking into a job change or career move continue to scour the newspapers for the classified advertisements, all the while complaining that there are so few meaningful opportunities. If they had the resources to scan the 300 leading newspapers and publications in the U.S. they’d still find relatively few meaningful opportunities. According to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, historically, most of the better positions are never advertised. According to R. L. Stevens Associates’ CEO, Randy Stevens, 70 to 80 percent of the meaningful jobs go unadvertised. If the same people would only get out into the market and make some new friends—contacts, they’d see new opportuni
      trong>response, hit rate, number of sales and effect on revenue
    5. ANALYZE the Direct Mail Marketing Test, draw your conclusion and Decide
    • Did you reach your primary purpose defined under section 1.?
    • If your purposes where not reached find our why?
    • What communication message and was most effective?
    • What print material (flyer, brochure, postcard etc) and was most effective?
    • What sales channel was most effective?
    • When and how did the customer contact you?
    = > Decide on final direct mail marketing message and product offering = > Decide on the timing for the direct mail marketing campaign.

    6. Take very good care of all CONTACTING CUSTOMERS

    • As a general rule - the more response alternatives your give your customer (Internet, mail, coupons, fax, telephone, SMS, in-person visits) the better is the hit rate.
    • Assign responsible person on your company for managing the customer responses.
    • Consider server capacity for peak in incoming traffic generated by contacting customers?
    • Secure mail server access on your company to the people involved in handling the customers response
    • Secure proper storage of the incoming customer mails?
    • If the direct mail marketing campaign involves coupons, take decisions on the in-house vs. external outsourcing? Remember to store the customer coupons are stored for sales and tax purposes.
    • Make sure your company’s telephone can handle simultaneous calls, a “call back” solution perhaps?
    • Customer contacts vary over the week and during the day. Peak for customer contacts are often in the beginning of the week and around lunch hours, but draw your own conclusions and be prepaired.
    7. DECIDE on FINAL STRUCTURE for your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign!
    • What message should be communicated to your target group?
    • What product offerings or services should be in focus?
    • What customer segment/-s?
    • What response channel/-s should be presented to the target group?
    • Where can you purchase or get free access to the customers’ addresses?
    • Make your product offering or service stand out from your competitor!
    • Size format of the print material
    • Text format of the add or sales message
    • Distribution format of the print material
    • Timing of the shipment (preferably Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday)
    8. IMPLEMENT
    • Depending on the distribution volume of your campaign, try to negotiate with your local distribution companies in order to achieve a better pricing structure.
    • Season variations or vacations: Are your customers in any way affected by the season, and will this affect your Direct Mailing? Are your customers at home or on some holidays?
    • Last minute changes: Have there been any large changes in the circumstances since you tested your hypotheses? For example, changes in competitors prices, marketing campaign from your competitors, bad publicity and so on? Will this require you to change anything in your campaign?
    FOLLOW UP and draw learning’s from your direct mail marketing campaign!
    • Which customers did actually respond?
    • What did the customer purchase?
    • When did the consumer of your product or services make the purchase?
    • Average Order Value compared to estimations
    • What did they not buy?
    • Industry segmentation based on customer response and
    • How did customers respond? Via what response channel?
    Who did some customers not respond?
    • Why did customers not respond? Contact a small group of customers.
    • Industry segmentation – can you identify any trends?
    • What would the customers like you to offer them in order to close the sale pitch?
    GOOD LUCK WITH GROWING YOUR BUSINESS AND REVENUES!