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For a recent VIP Members’ Conference call, our members were invited to submit questions to Chris. We received some great questions that are highly relevant for everyone. We covered some of them in the call, but Chris has answered all of them below so that everyone can benefit. Thank you for taking the time to submit your questions. This has proved very popular so we’ll be doing it again soon.
How would you write an email campaign to gain new and keep existing customers for a Photography business with a small website.
The key is to create an email campaign that is giving real value. You need to give useful tips, advice, suggestions etc that has the reader looking forward to receiving your messages.
To do this, you need to step into the shoes of your customer and ask what knowledge you have – that they probably don’t have – that’s going to be useful for them.
In the case of a commercial photography business, you may think they’re just looking for a photographer. But it goes far deeper than that. They’re actually looking to create an amazing brochure, or ad campaign or whatever – that’s going to bring them or their client more business and increased profits.
So ultimately, your role is not just as a photographer. It’s as an integral part of their advertising/marketing campaign.
So I would be sending out tips and advice about how to effectively use photography in brochures, ad campaigns etc. Come up with 10 great tips and 10 things to avoid and turn that into a 20 part email campaign that can last anything between 6 months and a year.
You are not overtly selling yourself in these emails (although you would want a paragraph about you and your services plus contact details) but you are establishing yourself as an expert in the field. When the readers of your emails do need a photographer, you can be certain that the majority will turn to you.
I sell a very successful herbal viagra alternative but nearly all advertising media will not allow me to use the word Viagra. How do I get around this, the viagra word is so powerful but I am not able to use it. Everyone who wants this type of product uses the word viagra and everyone recognises this word.
One way around this is to use Viagra as a keyword in your pay per click advertising. But be careful about also using it in the ads.
Beyond that, you need to really focus on the benefits that your product offers and focus on the advantages of it being herbal. I would also pursue PR because there’s nothing stopping you talking about Viagra in Press Releases and once you’re on the media.
There ought to be a joke here about VIP Members, but I’m not sure what it is!
I'm selling luxury goods on a fairly tight budget, what's my best marketing method?
Pay per Click
Joint Ventures
Referrals
Internet Advertising
Affiliate Programmes
Low cost Advertising Tests
When setting up a telesales business function how much about the products do the telesales staff need to know or should the lead just be quantified and passed to a more experienced member of sales?
You need to lower your expectations when it comes to telemarketing staff.
It’s hard enough to get people who are decent communicators and good at selling. If you can also find someone who can get a deep understanding of your product you’ve found a gem – so hold on to them.
So generally it’s best to use telemarketing for lead generation. In other words, the telemarketer is using the phone to ‘qualify’ people. Come up with some basic questions for your telemarketer to ask – and if they meet the criteria have them schedule a call with a more senior member of staff.
If any of your telemarketers get good at this (and actually continue to turn up for work – another telemarketer ‘issue’) you may want to look at giving them further training on the product.
Most important of all, make sure that as much of your telemarketers’ pay as possible is performance related.
How do we move away from being paid on a time basis (business advice and executive coaching), with the aim of increasing revenue and decreasing hours worked?
It’s very simple (but not always easy) First you need to educate your clients to focus on the results of what you are doing with them, rather than the time it takes. People are willing to pay for results rather than hours – but they need educating.
Another option would be to triple your prices and halve the time you work. Your income would go up and your working hours would be reduced by 50%. This is not as crazy as it sounds. You would probably need to do this over time but in your profession, if you position yourself as world leaders, there are a proportion of people who will pay anything for the best.
The third option is to take all the information and knowledge that you have and turn it into information products – Books, Ebooks, CDs, Seminars, Internet Seminars etc. Using the marketing strategies on this site, you’ll be in a great position to promote these products. When you sell information, your income is related to your ability to market – not the hours you work.
Whatever you do, understand that the question you are asking is one of the most important there is – so keep asking it until you find a solution. The idea of being paid by the hour is very ‘last century’ It’s not how the world’s great achievers live their lives. It’s not how I live my life and in the information age there’s no reason that it should be how you live your life. But it may take some time to make the transition.
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to contact the decision making person as companies are reluctant to give names. How do you send letters etc if you can't target them properly?
You shouldn’t have to spend your time hunting for the names of decision makers – there are companies who have already done that for you.
These companies sell mailing lists (both business and consumer lists) and have teams of people doing this research.
For example, if you are looking for people in companies with a £1million plus turnover, who are responsible for IT, there’ll be a list out there that you can rent or purchase.
You will normally pay anything between £100 and £250 per thousand names. Check out
www.MarketingFile.com for some examples of the lists available.
There’s also a huge book of mailing lists called ‘Brad’ that you’ll find in most public libraries.
I have a CD called After Trauma which could help comfort victims or anybody badly affected by the recent bombing. I am prepared to reduce the price from £12.95 to £8.00 in order not to profit unduly from people's distress. It could really help them but I haven't got very far in my efforts to bring the CD to the attention of those who could put it their way. It is available on my website firstwayforward.com/trauma.html
I would think outside the box on this one. Rather than trying to sell your CD at a reduced price (it will still look to many like making money out of events from people who do not understand your costs/profit margins) you should consider approaching the media with your expertise on the subject.
If they interview you and get some of your tips on dealing with trauma, not only will it help some of the people who read/hear/see the interview, it will also position you as an exert on the subject, which can only help your business long term. So everyone wins.
What would you do if a client just does not return your calls even after repeated requests?
Well I would fire the client – but that may not be quite what you had in mind, so….
Whenever you’re having trouble getting through to someone or getting them to return your calls – whether they are a customer or prospective customer, you have to start being creative in your approach.
If you step into their shoes for a moment, you’ll realise that for them to return your call, there has to be something in it for them.
Secondly, you have to break their pattern. You have to show that you’re different from all the other people trying to get hold of him.
Here’s an example. Call up the secretary or leave a message that says:
“I’m calling Mr Smith because I need to speak to him in the next 24 hours regarding the thousands pounds. And if I don’t get the information from him personally I wont know how to get it to him. And that’s really all I can say on the subject – here’s my number…..”
When Mr Smith calls, explain to him that you just had to speak to him because your product/service is going to make/save him a fortune. In fact, if it doesn’t make/save him x you personally guarantee to deliver one thousand pounds in cash to his door. So whatever happens his decision to call you back was the best he’s made today because worst case it’s going to make him a thousand pounds and best case it’s going to make him x. Now, when would be the best time to come and show him the product!
This is just an example. You can tailor make it to your business. But you get the idea – you’ve got to be different and sometimes it helps to be a bit outrageous.
How do I write a good headline for a Martial Arts supplier web site?
Well, I wouldn’t write a general headline to sell your products because this is a classic case of a niche market where you want to test using the front page of your website to capture email addresses, so that you can communicate to this audience forever. (Hopefully you’ve listened to the seminars on the site where I’ve discussed this.)
So I would do a headline that says something like:
‘The Seven Secrets of The Martial Arts Masters - How to Unleash The Fighting Genius Within – FREE Report’
Obviously you’ll need to write the report – or get someone to write it for you. Then have some copy getting visitors to sign up for your free report. Then use email to keep driving them back to the site.
When they sign up, you may want to offer them a tick box to select the particular martial art they are most interested in, so that your emails can be even more personal.
Next term is the biggest term for recruiting new girls to our school. However, we have an
interim head before the new one starts in January. How do we ensure that this is not seen as a negative?
One of the greatest gifts you have as a professional communicator is the ability to direct peoples’ attention.
You need to direct people to the other key benefits that the school offers (you and your colleagues should have a list of the top three)
Next, if it comes up, you need to ‘re-frame’ the issue of a head:
First, explain that one of the strengths of the school is the team that runs it (teachers and staff) This is what’s key – and while the head is important – it’s the people your daughter will interact with hour by hour that will make such a difference to her education. It’s the teachers, not the head that will have her off to Oxford or Cambridge etc etc.
Second, the fact that this process is taking several months is because we’re committed to bring in an outstanding head who will be the icing on the cake for this incredible team.
I manufacture Sofas in S.Wales. I am about to start an E - Commerce site to sell these products.
Initially I'm promoting the site via Googla Adwords. I've taken your advise about
separate Ads for keywords etc.... The main Keyword being searched upon on Overture is "sofa". What Ad would you write to promote this product?
Each ad should have the keyword as the headline and repeated in the text of the ad. In addition, I would test combinations of phrases such as:
Free Delivery
Sofas to make your home beautiful
Buy Now, Pay Later
Exclusive
Superb
Comfort
Prestigious
Highest Quality - Lowest prices
Hi Chris..can you advise me how i should market and set pricing for my niche, specialised service, to give my business at every level, the high quality feel, while aimed at top quality clients without previous examples of this at the level i am taking my service? Thanks
Here are my thoughts:
1 The only people who really know how much you can charge are your customers, so you need to test different price points.
2 If you have a high end product you can probably price it at the higher end of what you have in mind, if you back it up with superior marketing.
3 If you have no previous examples, use a very strong guarantee.
What is the marketing average for opted-in subscribers and the average sales conversions from that list of opted in subscribers for a list building web site like your Cardell Media site, where you don't directly sell a product
You should be able to get 10-20% of visitors to op into a Free offer. The sales conversions will vary enormously depending on what you’re selling, how much it costs and how qualified people are.
As a Will writing company how do we get in front of a minimum of 20 people per week.
There are obviously 101 different marketing methods for you to test but here’s what I would do if I were in your position.
I would team up and set up joint ventures with people who have relationships with those who are seriously planning for the future. Anyone looking at life insurance, pensions etc is taking time out to prepare for the future. That’s the time to sell them a will. Have your joint venture partners set appointments for you to see their clients. Give them a percentage and/or you can recommend their services to your clients.
Any tips for overcoming the objections on the price of services, such as marketing, from SME owners?
This is an important question because it affects everyone and it keeps coming up again and again. So I’ve dedicated an entire audio seminar to the subject which you can listen to in the seminar section.
Thank you again for all these great questions….
Chris
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