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Home Entrepreneur Newsletter for Mel
Publisher: David Riklan – http://www.SelfGrowth.com

In This Issue:
– Recommended Product of the Day: Legit Online Jobs
– Inspirational Quote for Home Entrepreneurs: Warren Buffett
– Article: The New Black For Online Marketing? – By Martin Day
– Article: Breaking the Voice Mail Barrier – By C.J. Hayden
– Subscription and Contact Information

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** Recommended Product of the Day **
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* Legit Online Jobs: The Complete Home Job Resource *   
Find Legitimate Home Based Businesses and begin making $1000+ per day working from home. To get full access to the site that only lists real profitable home based business opportunities, go here.

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** Inspirational Quote for Home Entrepreneurs **
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In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield
- Warren Buffett

I

With information overload rapidly killing traditional forms of online advertising – today the key to effective marketing is relevancy.

Smaller businesses with a niche or limited product range are more often than not focused by default but for the larger company with a diverse product range the ‘all things to all men’ approach to advertising is becoming less and less effective.

Monthly newsletters may have worked in the past but with the online marketing juggernaut churning out newsletters after newsletter along with countless other marketing material the newsletter is loosing its punch.

With over zealous spam filters and the sheer weight of marketing material it is not enough that a newsletter is well written and well presented it has to be wanted, and to be wanted it has to be relevant.

How confident can a newsletter editor be that if a subscriber did not receive their regular copy that the subscriber would look to see why; how confident can anyone be that the subscriber would even notice?

For the larger supplier who has a diverse product range the websites and newsletter has to become ‘intelligent’ and move away from the ‘these are the answers to everyone’s problems’ and develop the individually customized websites and newsletters that says ‘these are the answers to your specific needs.’

Adding intelligence

To achieve high relevancy companies need to be able to accurately profile their customers and likely to be at the heart of a high relevancy marketing initiative will be a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database.

Along with demographic and personal information such as location, age and gender a good CRM database will also store the customer’s lifestyle preferences and build up an individual picture of each customer’s likes and dislikes.

Amazon is one such company that has led the way with website relevancy and with their ‘one stop’ shopping philosophy and vast range of stock it is easy to see why it makes sense for them to highlight to each individual consumer what products may be of greatest interest.

Amazon do this by greeting their returning registered users by name and offering recommendations based on previous purchases and profile information that can be further fine tuned by each customer.

A company that builds an effective CRM database with accurate and current information is in a position to develop both on and off line precision marketing.

With good CRM information newsletters can be delivered with the most relevant story first, a simple step that could make the difference between a potential consumer dismissing, or reading, what has been sent.

How to achieve accurate and effective CRM information

The CRM database is a pool of information and the first task for any company wishing to take the CRM approach is to populate the CRM database with quality information. The most obvious starting point is existing customers and the information that has already been collated such as any existing inquiry and ordering processes.

However, although useful ordering and inquiry processes will not on their own fully profile the existing customer and nor will they profile the potential customer.

A good, cost effective method of populating a CRM database is to conduct online surveys and questionnaires where demographic and personal information can be gathered along with lifestyle and general profiling information.

A small incentive may be required to ensure a good response but companies need to take advantage of the human trait where many people are willing to express an opinion. Online surveys can be targeted at the existing customer in the form of customer satisfaction and product evaluation surveys as well as the potential customer in the form of market research, advertising and general promotion.

Using today’s breed of online survey websites such as www.surveygalaxy.com anyone can now generated online surveys on the fly, they are easily adaptable and can be used to react quickly to shifts in the market. Online surveys offer an effect non-passive marketing channel, quite unlike any other form of advertising, where the survey mentally engages the consumer.

Using an online survey websites where the gathered survey information is stored in a database it is a simple task to upload the relevant information into the CRM database.

If the CRM database is the queen bee of any precision targeted marketing campaign then the online survey represents the worker bee, gathering information and delivering the message.

With good CRM information companies are able to reduce their costs by not wasting time sending information to people who have no interest in their product. By keeping their powder dry for when they do have something that a particular consumer will find useful and of interest they will be able to maximise their marketing resource and develop better communication with the consumer.

When it comes to marketing relevancy is undoubtedly the new black.

About the Author:

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. For more information, please go here.

Doing business in the age of voice mail can be extremely frustrating. While it is true that some people leave their voice mail on all the time, you can sometimes get through by calling off hours. Try calling before 8:30 or after 5:30. You may also find people at their desks during the lunch hour.

So should you keep calling or leave a message? Actually, you should do both. Assume that most people won’t call you back, so just keep right on calling them.

Josiane Feigon, principal of the telesales training and coaching company, Telesmart Communications (www.tele-smart.com), suggests that you try pressing “0″ or “0″# to transfer to the receptionist. That way you can verify that the person you are trying to reach is still in the same job position, and find out when they are expected to be in.

Whether you reach your prospects or not, never make them wrong for not returning your calls. Rather than saying, “I haven’t heard from you,” let them know you are eager to speak with them, and wanted to try again while you were in your office. Feigon recommends, “As a rule, try not to leave any more than three voice mail messages over a 10-day period of time and then lay off for a month.”

Speaker and trainer Melinda Henning of Doing Business by Phone (www.melindahenning.com) says that the way to deal with voice mail is to use it as an advertising medium. In other words, leave a voice mail commercial. Especially if you are cold calling, Melinda suggests that you compose a series of different commercials, each one revealing some new and interesting fact about your business, and another reason for someone to speak with you.

Whenever you leave a message, include some incentive for the person you are calling to have a live conversation. “I would like to introduce myself” is not a reason for prospects to talk to you. Why should they care? Tell them what it is you think you can do for them in their own unique situation. And do it in 30 seconds — no one likes long voice mails from strangers, and the delete key is at their fingertips.

Look for some connection between you and the person you are calling that you could put in your message. A mutual acquaintance, membership in the same association, or having attended the same event are all worth mentioning. If you have seen them speak, or read about them in the news, compliment them on it. Be warm, friendly and upbeat, so your message is a pleasure to listen to.

If you have called, left messages, and still can’t get through to the person you want, send an e-mail. Many people will quickly respond to e-mail because it is easy. If you can interest them in what you have to offer (without revealing all the details), they may be willing to set up a phone appointment with you to find out more. When you don’t have the person’s e-mail address, try finding it on the company’s web site or asking the receptionist.

Should you ever stop calling? That depends on the value of the potential sale. A $1000 sale might only be worth two or three calls to you, but a $10,000 sale would certainly pay for many more. Every salesperson has a story about a customer who finally said yes after the 17th phone call, so if it seems worth it, don’t quit!

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need,” go here.