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Direct Mail for Bus Services
Bus Services work on economies of scale; lots of seats on one vehicle and many people going the same way are what make it all work. But without massive amounts of riders how can you expect to have a successful bus company? The fact is you can’t and that is why bus services need a robust marketing and advertising program.Advertising on the buses themselves is not enough to fill up those buses. Bus services need to discover low-cost strategic marketing concepts and inexpensive advertising to get new customers. Direct mail and direct mail marketing coupons are a good way to alert customers that bus services exist, which can save them money on their commute to school or work.It is recommended that direct-mail marketing coupons in those little coupon packages are sent out every three months to everyone along the route with in a five-mile radius. These direct-mail packages should be sent out to insure that ridership stays at a high level.One thing that can be done is to turn the coupons into a bus pass good for one day and people will use that bus pass and hopefully enjoy the bus ride and enough to become a regular customer. Direct mail marketing and direct-mail marketing coupon packages work very well for increasing ridership for bus services. Please consider all this in 2006.

arget market. You identified four competitors in your target market. These four competitors currently handle on average 6 procedures a day. You plan to start a non-invasive cosmetic treatment center that uses the most advanced technology and is thus capable of performing an average of 7 procedures a day. Using this data you calculate the following statistics about your market and market potential:

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Your productive capacity: 7 procedures a day x 250 days = 1,750 or 21.875% of the total market. The average selling price for a procedure is $400. Thus, the revenue for the first year in your business plan financial projection would be 1,750 procedures times $400 or $700,000.

Overcoming Sales Barriers
Every successful sales professional at some time in their sales career have had to deal with failures and overcome sales barriers. A sales barrier is anything that prevents a salesperson from attaining desired sales goals. It may be something major over which there can be no control such as loss of a sales job, a family adversity or losing a big sale order due to unforeseen events. It ca also be something minor over which there can be control such as procrastination, lack of motivation or a bad habit.How can you expect to be successful in sales without facing obstacles and having failures? Overcoming obstacles is the means by which growth and development tales place. If you willingly accept your failures and learn from them then you will avoid making those same mistakes again. Sales barriers are really stepping stones to achieving success in sales and should not bee seen as negative or failure indicators. If failure occurs then let go of shattered goals and embrace new ones.An excellent strategy in overcoming barriers in sales is to gain support and learn from other people who have faced similar barriers. These sales professionals can provide proven methods that actually work and even be a great resource to draw upon. Try to gather their input and feedback on failure. Often times our sales superiors will be able to provide quality feedback on what you are doing and suggest specific changes in your sales presentation.You may have heard the phrases ‘setbacks into comebacks’, ‘adversity into opportunities’ and ‘failures into success. Such phrases can all be used to describe overcoming sales barriers and are quite dramatic. To obtain desired results one also need to be optimistic and have a strong belief in one’s abilit

Business plan financial projections seem daunting because they are so uncertain. This very uncertainty, however, is what makes preparing them easy because you can’t possibly be right. You can’t predict the future. None of us can. All you can be is competent in the way you prepare your business plan projections.

Before you finalize your business plan this year, consider these six caveats to preparing your business plan financial projections:

1. Don’t offer pull-out-of-the-air, “conservative” guesstimates about getting some percentage of the overall market demand or year-over-year growth.

It is a mistake to assume that business investors will appreciate your being conservative with your business plan financial projections in the early years of your business. Don’t think for a Wall Street minute that presenting “conservative” business plan financial projections indicates “realism” to prospective business investors. Business investors invest for one reason: to earn a return on their money. How long the money is invested influences the amount of the return earned. Let’s say a business investor wants to triple an investment. Well, if that investment triples in 3 years, the return is 44%. If it triples in five years, the return is 25%. Adding just two years to the investment period nearly halves the return! Now do you see why time is so important to a business investor? Here are a few other examples: let’s say a business investor wants to:

Make 5 times an investment in 3 years = 71% return
Make 5 times an investment in 5 years = 38% return
Make 7 times an investment in 3 years = 91% return
Make 7 times an investment in 5 years = 48% return
Make 10 times an investment in 3 years = 115% return
Make 10 times an investment in 5 years = 59% return

So, while you may find it attractive to figure out how to make “just a living” until the business venture proves itself, you now understand why business investors want sales and earnings to grow absolutely as fast as possible, without being deceived, in your business plan financial projections. On the whole, business investors are risk averse only to the extent that they don’t want to lose their money or tie it up in a low return investment. Typically when you make the claim that your business plan financial projections are “conservative”, it usually just means that you have no idea how and why you’ll achieve a certain level of sales within a certain time frame. Interesting, these kinds of estimates, provided that you’ve done some good thinking about market segments and overall demand, often turn out to be too low. Remember, it’s just as bad to underestimate your sales, as it is to overestimate them.

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

Sure it’s easier to do things this way, especially with Excel and other business plan financial projection software. Costs are real, however. You need to know what they are very specifically. If you’ve done your homework in developing your business plan, then you should already have this information, or at least the basis of it. Just estimate and calculate your costs on a product-by-product basis.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Think about what percentage of the overall market share your competitors already own. Assume that they will continue their present trends in growth. (Note: some competitors may already be trending down and losing market share.) Temper your market share estimates with some discussion of how your entry into the market will affect these trends. Then, estimate the percent of total, potential demand that remains available to you.

Now, based on the limitations of your operations plans, calculate how much of this remaining available demand you can achieve. This is a very simple calculation. Start with your overall productive unit capacity and factor it by the expected yield of sellable product, then multiply these unit sales by their respective selling prices and voila, you have the revenue numbers for your business plan financial projections.

Let’s take an example.

Your research indicates that 2 out of every 10 females age 23 to 55 will under go some type of non-invasive cosmetic treatment in your area. Your research also shows that this number is expected to grow 20% each year over the next 5 years. There are 40,000 females in your target market. You identified four competitors in your target market. These four competitors currently handle on average 6 procedures a day. You plan to start a non-invasive cosmetic treatment center that uses the most advanced technology and is thus capable of performing an average of 7 procedures a day. Using this data you calculate the following statistics about your market and market potential:

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Publicity: Repeat for Results
As I plan for the coming year, one of my top goals is to actively seek publicity on a regular schedule. Publicity isn't guaranteed. You can send several press releases and get few results. But one well-placed, well-timed release can result in thousands of dollars in new business. It has happened for me, and it can happen for you, too. But do not expect that writing and distributing one press release will be enough.Just as with any other kind of marketing, publicity has to be done over and over again to continue getting results. I have also discovered that sending press releases regularly can help establish your expert reputation with the media, even if the releases aren't used in stories. When they see your name come up, over and over again, in timely, well-written releases, they begin to think of you as an authority on your subject. And they will contact you when they need you.So, send releases to local media to announce your workshops and speeches, and to television and radio stations to announce your availability to comment on timely news stories. Send announcements, articles and tips to print media such as newspapers and magazines. Do not send the same release over and over to the same media, but contact them with new and timely information.You may have noticed that I used the word "timely" in several places. Timeliness is important. If your story has a hook that relates to current events, especially if it gives a new spin on an ongoing story, the media will be interested. Keep looking for timely tie-ins to get your story in the media.

wants to triple an investment. Well, if that investment triples in 3 years, the return is 44%. If it triples in five years, the return is 25%. Adding just two years to the investment period nearly halves the return! Now do you see why time is so important to a business investor? Here are a few other examples: let’s say a business investor wants to:

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Real Estate Postcard Marketing: Postcards + Website = Leads
Advanced summary: For real estate agents, this articles offers advice on improving your real estate marketing program by combining your postcard marketing and Internet marketing channels.Your real estate marketing program should cover more than one channel or medium. When you combine multiple marketing channels to serve a common goal, you can accomplish more than if you simply used one form of marketing.Here's a specific example using real estate postcards along with your website:Real Estate Postcards + Website Lead Generation Many real estate agents use postcards to promote themselves within their community. In fact, real estate postcards are one of the oldest forms of agent marketing. Today, most agents who use postcards also have websites -- personal marketing websites designed to help them attract clients and grow their market share.But many of these same agents fail to combine the two marketing channels as effectively as they might. I know this for a fact, because I've worked for the two postcard marketing companies -- one of which catered almost exclusively to the real estate industry.Missing the Real Estate Postcard Connection After being exposed to thousands of real estate postcards daily over a long period of time, I've learned one thing above all else. Most real estate agents are not combining their postcards and websites as effectively as they could.In fact, the most common "call to action" I saw on real estate postcards was the ubiquitous "Learn more at www.whatever..." Not a single reason was given to visit the websites, other than the exciting opportunity to "learn more." Yawn.With small adjustments to their strategies, these same agents could

return investment. Typically when you make the claim that your business plan financial projections are “conservative”, it usually just means that you have no idea how and why you’ll achieve a certain level of sales within a certain time frame. Interesting, these kinds of estimates, provided that you’ve done some good thinking about market segments and overall demand, often turn out to be too low. Remember, it’s just as bad to underestimate your sales, as it is to overestimate them.

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Spam Bashing
I have done my penance in the advertising industry. You might even call me an “ad-man.” I have engaged advertising’s rude and unwanted impressions. I have penetrated the unaware with my client’s messages. Oh, yes, I have been apart of the creation and distribution of junk mail and newspaper inserts. I have sold obnoxiously intrusive radio spots to car dealers. I have seen the glory of toll free numbers on television infomercials. However, never in my most effective advertising moments have I subjected human beings to the equivalent of the unbridled invasion of SPAM!It was 1937, in the sleepy town of Austin, Minnesota, when the Hormel Company introduced a new product. Two years prior, beer began to be distributed in cans. The Hormel family looked around and said, “If beer can, ham can” (Or something to that effect). And the concept of canned spiced ham was born. They ran a contest in search of a name for their new product. The winner combined the “sp” from “spiced” and the “am” from “ham” and the rest, as they say, is history.Nearly forty years later, Monty Python did sketch wherein a bunch of Vikings sang “Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Wonderful Spam,” endlessly. The annoyance of their constant singing of “Spam” became a reoccurring theme. In 1994 a national law firm began soliciting business with unsolicited advertising emails. Their highly annoying efforts were dubbed “spamming,” in reference to the Vikings. The word “spam” caught on as did advertising with unsolicited emails. It has been all down hill from there.Hormel has consistently fought the use of their trademarked name. Recently, they received a set back by a court ruling that reads in part, "the most evident meaning of the term SPAM for the consumers ...

overall market share your competitors already own. Assume that they will continue their present trends in growth. (Note: some competitors may already be trending down and losing market share.) Temper your market share estimates with some discussion of how your entry into the market will affect these trends. Then, estimate the percent of total, potential demand that remains available to you.

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Why Not Stop By And Say Hi - Just To Keep You In The Minds Of Your Clients And Prospects
It seems like every time a hot prospect surfaces or a client’s contract is about to expire a loud speaker goes off in a salesperson’s head that says “attack”. Almost everyone is guilty of this behavior. We are motivated to make our numbers, save our resources, build our books of business and make money. Americans are instant gratification animals.However there’s a more stable and consistent approach that we know works, yet so few of us use it with any regularity. It’s having the where with all to know that just stopping by and saying “Hi”, sending a card, calling to see how everyone is, may be the easiest way of holding onto or getting new business.It boils down to looking at clients and prospects as friends or family members. You, hopefully, phone your mom, spouse, kids, etcetera, to see how things are going, well why not do that with clients and prospects. A word of warning: don’t do it every other day, or with some annoying and phony premise.If you treat your business resources with the respect and caring that you would like, you’ll find out how loyalty will build and how hard it will be for either of you to let go of your business relationship.Find out your client or prospect’s birthday and send them a card and make sure you sign it and write a personal note. Personalizing separates your card from the hundreds of cards your client may get over the course of a year, especially during the holidays. I always felt that those printed cards with the stamped company name and/or signature were spit out without much thought or caring.Call or stop in and ask you prospect or client if they’d like to go to lunch and stipulate that you’re not going to speak about business, but that you figured they’d make good

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Now, let’s say you’re were projecting 2,200 procedures per year. This would mean that you would have to alter your operating plan to be able to perform 2,200 procedures. You would also have to demonstrate how you would capture an additional 200 procedures from your competitors. Granted this is an over simplified example, but it should give you a feel for how this process works.

Regarding price, in most cases you should have a clear idea of how to price your product or service. There are usually other, similar products or services out on the market. Unless your competitive advantage is a cost reduction and/or unless price is a critical basis of competition, just estimate the value of your improvement and add it on to the average price currently offered in the marketplace. In order to make this estimate, you’ll have to be talking to potential users. Find out what they pay now. Find out how they feel about the current price. Ask them if they’d be willing to pay more and how much more. If you ask enough people, you’ll get a general idea.

3. Never determine price on the basis of a margin you think is attractive.

The market will pay you only for the value you deliver, which is determined by the consumer paying the final price. It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that a 20%, 40% or even a 60% margin is great. Never considering that if the product or service you’re offering provides a real advantage. If you do this, you may be grossly underestimating the price you can get in the marketplace and underestimating your business plan financial projections. Consumers don’t think in terms of margins. They could care less about what you ought, “reasonably”, to get for your product. That’s why you must find out the most that they’ll pay. This is the value of your product or service. Come up with some reasonable basis for determining this real value. Keep in mind the obvious: If the consumer’s value on the final product or service is less than your cost plus a reasonable profit to keep your business growing, you’re in trouble. Your business model will not be sustainable and your business plan financial projections useless.

Now calculate the costs of manufacturing and distributing your product. These costs flow directly from your revenues estimates and operations plan. How much will it cost to purchase what equipment and materials, hire what personnel, engage in what selling efforts, pay what accountants and lawyers, rent what kind of space and so forth, to achieve the revenues you're showing in your business plan financial projections. You must be very specific. Project your costs over time. Keep them tied to the units you need to sell to achieve the revenues in your business plan financial projections.

Obviously, costs and revenues work hand in hand.

4. Keep your fixed cost low.

Keep in mind that none of these revenues and the cost estimates are going to be perfectly accurate, which means the amount of profit or cash available to pay “fixed” cost isn’t going to be accurate either. As a result, you can lose your shirt trying to pay for equipment, a receptionist, or other activities that don’t contribute to the sole objective of making sales. Wherever possible, rent space, rent time on equipment, answer your own phones, etc. To the extent that you keep costs variable in your business plan financial projections, you can cut back when sales are slower than expected. It’s the worst situation to have a big, well-furnished office with an expensive secretary who needs the job, when the money isn’t coming in. High fixed costs in your business plan financial projections also send the wrong message to investors that you know more about the “form” of doing business than about actually making money.

Now pull all your numbers together to prepare the financial statements that summarize your business plan financial projections. You need three basic statements: cash flow analysis, income statements, and balance sheets. All of these come directly from the above calculations. Your cash flow analysis indicates when and what amounts of capital infusion you’ll need to start and sustain your business plan. Make your income and balance sheet projections on the assumption that you’ll get the capital. For the first year or two of your business plan financial projections, present each of these statements on at least a quarterly basis. Monthly is best. I suggest doing a 24- or 36-month projection depending on your growth plans and changes in the industry that you foresee. Follow these monthly or quarterly projections with annual projections till you cover a span of 5 years.

Finally, run through some “what-if” scenarios

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My whole life I was teased by friends and relatives that I was just a waste. Sitting on the couch, staring at the tv screen, playing video games. It started with Nintendo, then Super Nintendo, then Play Station, then Playstation 2, and now Playstation 3 and Xbox as well. So what's changed in all these years of playing video games? Well, now I'm playing on my 50 inch plasma that was bought FROM playing video games. Look, I know I'm kind of an average Joe. I like the simple things in life. A nice cold beer, an evening out with friends and some hang time in front of the TV doing what I do best. With this in mind, about a year ago I decided to search online for a Video Game Tester job. Wouldn't you know it, after reading numerous reviews, I found one that was right for me. Read on to see how you too can become a Video Game Tester and have cash rolling into your bank account for doing what you love.

Truth be told, starting your very own sports business may not as hard as you may think. In fact, a franchise business opportunity might be just what you need to get your foot into the door of a lucrative career in the sports industry. Consider for a moment the potential for sport franchises in today's marketplace. It goes without saying that a business that provides sports oriented products and services can attract consumers of all ages and backgrounds.

Teams that seek to have a measurable impact on business must improve their shared purpose, understand their interdependency, develop a clear goal plan and execute well together.

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