Posted by:
Troy White
September 12, 2008
Issue #502
Fellow Business-Builder,
A few weeks ago, I mentioned our house got broken into and our one vehicle stolen.
The good news is that they found our vehicle quickly (within a week) … the bad news is what has happened since.
Once the police found the vehicle, it was in the hands of the insurance company to get it fixed as quickly as possible.
They found it five weeks ago.
Since then, it has been an absolute nightmare getting the answers and action we wanted. The insurance company is non-responsive, the repair shop where they sent the vehicle is taking their sweet time to do … something … still not sure what.
Finally, I had enough and reported our insurance company to the Canadian Insurance Board (run by the government … which could have been another nightmare in itself!).
Amazing what happens when the right sized fire is lit under someone’s arse!
More has happened in the last 24 hours
than the last 37 days.
It will still be a while until we get our vehicle back, but there are people (the higher-ups, the mucky-mucks) now watching every step they take to get this resolved ASAP.
Now, I am not perfect and I have messed up projects in the past, but this was ridiculous. I learned a lot about the customer service perspective watching how this unfolded, and I vow to never let this kind of crap creep into my business.
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Posted by:
Alexis Siemon
September 9, 2008
Issue #499
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t used a phonebook in over two years. I feel a slight twinge of guilt when the new one shows up on my doorstep, because I know it’s making a short trip from my front porch to the recycling bin. I started performing my searches for local goods and services online ages ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
It seems I’m not the only one. Recent studies indicate that print Yellow Pages will be all but defunct in the next four years. The myriad of local business information available on the Internet and the bevy of options you can use to find that information have made it easier, faster, and more convenient than flipping through that bulky yellow book.
What does this mean to you as a local business owner? Well, if you haven’t taken the time to list your business online, your competitors may be leaving you in the dust.
Whether you run a restaurant, auto body shop, pet grooming service, or landscaping company, taking the steps below to position your business in front of local customers will make a big difference to your bottom line.
The Anatomy of a Local Business Listing
There are certain elements of your online listing that will be similar across the board - in a local search engine, Internet Yellow Pages site, or customer review site. Not just limited to your company name, address, and phone number, online local business listings allow you to display a ton of information about your business - for free! I’m always amazed when I see bare bones listings that aren’t taking full advantage of this opportunity for free advertising, but it happens fairly often. Below is just a sample of the information you are usually allowed to display:
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Posted by:
Troy White
September 5, 2008
Issue #113
In this issue:
- 3 key ways to build any retail type store (and websites could easily be considered similar to a retail store) …
- Making a fortune with Fortune Cookies (the how, where and why this wonderful item can make you stand out from the crowd) …
- Leveraging yo-yo's to draw in traffic and buyers to your store …
- And Much More!
For something different this week, I thought it appropriate to show how some of the various articles through Small Business Mastery could be tied together into a new client generation system.
We all need new clients. Some businesses have an easier time finding them than others. But the basics of lead generation and first time buyer conversion can be quite similar to online businesses as well as offline.
Following is a plan that ABC Juice Company could use to grow their business in their office tower location. Remember - what follows may be tailored to ABC Juice Company - but the marketing strategies CAN, and SHOULD be applied to your business as well.
The 3 Ways to Build Your
New Juice Business in an Office Tower
1) Attract lots of new clients – You are in a new location, people are unfamiliar with you being there, people do not know where you are, who you are, or how you can help them – you need to get the word out.
2) Get them to spend more on their visits to you – Find ways to upsell them at the till to make their visit more profitable – also need to address how to continually get them to purchase more products and services from you consistently.
3) Get them to visit more often – Once they are a client on your contact list, you can do extensive forms of marketing to get them in the door as often as possible.
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 29, 2008
Issue #492
Fellow Business-Builder,
I received this e-mail a couple days ago …
From: mark ……. [mailto:…….@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2:23 PM
To: troy@smallbusinesscopywriter.com
Subject: need your info on local marketing
when it comes to direct mail what’s my bang for bucks. reg envelops vs postcards i sale cellphones i wont to be the number one sale person in the state what sould i do
Is it just me … or is this person an idiot that should be put out of his misery?
He wants to be the number one salesperson in his field – yet can’t put in the effort to spell-check, acknowledge my name, or even use the correct $*@$%^ words!
He couldn’t even be bothered to try and sell me on why I should help him.
Me thinks he has a looooong way to go if he wants to be a master of persuasion and expert salesperson.
The reason I am bringing this up?
Carline wrote a brilliant post a few days ago about the power of a good sales letter. It saved her well over $800 with a few minutes of typing.
I also have an experience much like this that I want to share.
NOTE: I wrote this a few years ago so the actual dollar amounts may not make sense to you now … but the point behind the letter is what’s really important.
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 15, 2008
Issue #482
Fellow Business-Builder,
Can you believe August is almost gone?
Yeesh! That kinda flew by.
In between dealing with the insurance companies, estimators and police with our recent break-in, I found myself knee-deep in a brand new project for an exciting new client.
She has a program being released in a highly competitive field and hired me to help her find ways to grow her sales as fast as humanly possible.
Now a few details on the project:
- She is in Canada – and wants to focus on Canadian buyers (but the content applies to those who live pretty well anywhere).
- She has an amazing story (she went from $0 to $3 million in her first 6 months), and then another $3 million in the next 12.
- She is selling training in a field that is oversaturated with “gurus” – but she has no goal to be one. All she wants is to share the formula she used to create speed wealth like she did … rather than feeding people a little here – then upsell them to a little more – another upsell – a little more content, etc. She wants to give it all at once – for a sizable premium.
- She is the real deal and has proven to me time and time again she over-delivers.
- She is only offering the program three more times and then is out of it.
So, the foundation is set and I need to find out how to market her services, and who to market to.
We had discussed using online and offline media for maximum results in the timeline we set … and I think she really needs print materials mixed in to stand out from all the others.
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