How to acquire clients online, part 1

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Posted on 18th November 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence

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Client acquisition may sound complex, but it can actually be a very simple process to understand. And small-business owners should find comfort in knowing that there are a variety of ways to acquire new customers.

A good way to look at the whole picture is to look at yourself as a relationship manager. As a relationship manager, you maintain a balance, tending to both sides of the equation.

And in order to attract a potential client, to begin your relationship, you’ve got to look at a variety of different mediums, including search engines, e-mail marketing and banner placements. Customer acquisition is basically the end result you should be focused on delivering from the marketing campaign.

New Internet traffic solutions are being developed on a continuous basis, so it can be fairly easy to get caught up in the potential of thousands of prospects knocking at your virtual door – caveat emptor!

One of the biggest factors that people have to be careful about, especially if they’re in the mortgage or finance business, is cost-per-lead agreements. The price usually sounds great, and they may even boast exclusivity, but the actual conversion rates have been known to suffer.

To be clear, the most important question you should be asking upfront is, “Is this lead going to be resold? Is this just for my use?”

The lead industry can be tricky, so make sure you’re completely clear on what the details are before you jump in. Once you’ve figured that part out, you’ll want to look at what specific types of leads would work best for you and your Web site.

In order to determine what’s best for your site, you can employ Web metrics. These analytics measure your visitor activity, for instance:

when somebody comes to visit your site
how many pages they visit
what actions they take
Basically you are tracking their movements across your Web site. Web metrics are still evolving, and can get complex in a hurry, so as we usually suggest, if you’re not a professional in a specific area, it would do you good to employ someone who is. Let them play at it, so you can do what you’re really good at.

There are several easy-to-use analytics tools out there that you can use, though, including Google Analytics (absolutely free), Hit Box, Web Site Story, and Yahoo! Analytics. The point is, you want to try to predict as much as you can prior to placing media buys, such as Google Adwords or other online traffic solutions.

You want to predict the action that your site visitor will take to make sure you’re allocating your marketing bucks in the most efficient and effective areas. For example, you wouldn’t want to pay for an online campaign that drives visitors to your site when you’ve got faulty conversion points within your site. Testing the conversion flow on your site first, will point out weaknesses, points where visitors fail to follow through on a call-to-action. So test, fix the leaks, then look into media buys.

Next in this series: It’s not a magic wand.

This post is the first in a series of excerpts from OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with Justin Abernathy, co-CEO of SureClick Promotions.

Creating an Absolutely Irresistible Offer – Laura Harkin

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Posted on 8th May 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence

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The success of every direct marketing campaign is intimately related to the offer being made. You may have a very good offer…but you will see a huge difference in profits if it is not just “very good,” but absolutely irresistible.

If you want to spend your time and money wisely, come up with an irresistible offer, and of course, have a list of the right people to present it to. (for tips on building your prospect list, read this!)

Here we offer you six pointers to make your offer absolutely irresistible to your potential clients:

First of all, define your target market
This is so key that having clarity on who you are targeting with your offer will put you 90% ahead of the competition. The majority of business people design an offer, and only then, they start thinking who to present it to. By working through this process the right way, you ensure that your offer is 100% designed to meet your target market’s needs or desires.
Second, make the offer’s value easy to see
Today, everyone is swamped with all kinds of sale offers, thus, people are always on guard and not very patient. An irresistible offer is grasped in seconds, without any explanation.
Third, the offer should include a discount or gift, or both
People take action when they know they will receive something of value for free or at a much lower price, thus, as you ask them to do something for you, give something back, as a sign of appreciation. This simple gesture can increase the response rate to your offer by as much as 30%. Remember, people don’t make the decision to buy based on price, they make it based on value.
Fourth, the offer must have a valid reason, and it should be communicated clearly
Any irresistible offer that doesn’t have a valid reason is suspicious; it is just “too good to be true.” You must have a reason to offer such an amazing deal; it can be your business’ anniversary, Christmas, customer appreciation week, opening week, end of the quarter, etc. Think out the box, but always with a good reason.
Fifth, generate urgency
Prompt your clients to act immediately by setting an expiration date, an extra bonus, a limited quantity or any other mechanism that will make people buy right away. Open-ended offers rarely yield great results.
Sixth, make the call to action easy to understand
Just as its value, the offer’s call to action must not leave a single doubt on the customer’s mind. Tell them exactly and clearly what you want them to do, make it easy to do, and give as much detail as necessary. Keep it simple…
Analyze these pointers with your business coach and give them a try the next time you think about creating a direct marketing campaign…then be sure to track the results and response from your clients and prospects.

An absolutely irresistible offer will give you absolutely remarkable results, and now you know how to do it!

The One Thing an Entrepreneur Must Do Every Single Day – Laura Harkin (OneCoach)

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Posted on 14th April 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence

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There are countless things an entrepreneur has to deal with and take care of during a typical business day…however, there is one thing that is crucial for business success and should never be overlooked on a daily basis. That’s getting — and keeping — clients.

Your product or service may be the best in the marketplace, but if you don’t reach the people who use it, it is completely worthless. As a small business owner, you either devote an important part of your time to getting and nurturing clients, or you better find someone to do it for you.

This is a daily task that cannot be neglected. You exist because you have clients who buy your products or services; thus, they deserve your regular attention and care.

Follow these 4 tips to get and keep clients every single day and ensure the success of your business:

Make it your #1 daily task
As soon as you arrive in the office, devote the first two hours of your day to getting and keeping clients. You might send emails, write thank you notes, send out relevant information, or make some phone calls — the idea is to make customer service and sales follow-up your #1 daily priority. If you make this a routine, soon you will see your business develop exponentially, and you will make sure your customers are not neglected amid tons of other things to take care of.
Practice, practice, practice
Practice makes the master. You must be the best at what you do, and no one gets there without practice. Any skill can be mastered through practice, thus, practice your presentation, practice answering objections, practice your closing argument, learn from the best in the field, read blogs and books, study, and improve yourself every day.
Repeat what works
Every business depends on trial and error to find what works best for it and its clients. If you try something and it doesn’t work, take it apart and analyze what went wrong. For example, your demographics were correct, but maybe the offer was not appealing enough, or the message was not well communicated, or the timing was not right; you find out what didn’t work, change it, and go for it again. If it works, keep doing it. Remember — this requires tracking so you know what is working and what isn’t!
Know your client
Nothing will ever happen if you don’t know whom you are selling to. You can only reach the right people, the ones truly interested in your product or service, if you know them well enough to know where to find them. Learn everything you can about them, where they live, what they do, their hobbies, their gender, their ages, their purchasing habits, what interests them, what worries them, etc. Only when you know all this, will you be able to talk directly and accurately to them, in a way that will make them seriously consider your product or service. Once you know your clients, pay attention to them — to what they say, what they like, what they don’t like, what they wish they could get in the future — this way, you are prepared to tackle their needs and desires as these manifest, and you will attract more people like them.
Any good executive business coaching firm will confirm it. No business can excel without caring for its clients; for sales to grow, you must focus on your clients and their needs.

Your typical day list may have 30 things to take care of; however, your focus should be on the things that produce sales. The rest can wait or can be delegated.

How do you balance your day-to-day activities and still maintain great sales and customer service practices? Share your tips in the comment section below!