Seek and Destroy- The Secret to Your Success

If you are like me you likely have problems seeing your service or product in a big picture way. You likely see what you do or sell to be just that.

You need to seek and destroy the obstacles blocking you from seeing the truth about what you sell. How do you do that?

You have likely heard the 'know thy customer' adage. You know, find out all you can about your customers so you can not only communicate your offerings better, you can find out what else they might want. Trust me they want to buy more stuff, you need to find out what. How should you start?

You can start out by creating the stupidly terrifying and mega easy questionnaire. Most of us fear asking for answers. Half of it is that we feel we are imposing and the other half is we will get answers, some may give us a boo-boo on our ego.

Let me ask you this; let's say you just bought my ebook and I sent you a questionnaire with questions on how I can help to bring you more customers. Would that piss you off?

If you just cleaned a persons carpet and you sent them a little survey or directed them to a website to help them in the future, would they mind? heck no

Developing the right survey

I will give you an example of a survey but you must be made clear on a few things first. People lie. They may fib a bit on their income or on their true feeling about your thingy. To diffuse this it is wise to do blind surveys so they will be more likely to answer it. Don't ask for their names or any other identifying information.

Make a survey through an online service like surveymonkey or have them fill out self mailer cards if you deal face to face.

You are after only one thing, the truth

Questionnaire example:

Thank you for trying ________________. It means a lot to us to make sure you
got everything you wanted from our ____________

If you would please take 3 or 4 minutes to answer these questions it would help us to serve
you better in the future. Thank you very much.

This is an anonymous survey so no name or email is needed

Please tell me the main reason you purchased our (service/product)

_______________________________________________

Please rate on a scale of 1-5 (five being best) why you made the purchase

__ The offer was too good to refuse

__ What was said in the ad

__ Our company name or reputation (or if you are online, your personal name)

__ Timing- You have been thinking about it for a while and there we were

How did you find out about us/me?

__________________________

On a scale of 1-5 how would you rate your experience with us/me?

___

What is it you liked best?

______________________________

What could be improved?

______________________________


Would you tell your friends or family about us/me?

_______________________________

Will you buy from us/me again? If not please explain why

_______________________________

Did you consider buying from someone else before us/me?

____

If so, who was it?

________________________________

Why did you choose my/our product or service over them?

_____________________________

What is your household income?

__ $30,000-50,000

__ $51,000-70,000

__ $71,000-100,000

__ $100,000+

How old are you?

___

Are you single or married?

____

Do you have children?

____

What magazines, newspapers or social websites do you enjoy?

__________________________

Do you use Twitter?

__

Final question: Do you feel like your purchase was money well spent?

__

Thank you very much for your time and please feel free to contact me
personally with any questions or comments.

Bob Crabtree
XYZ Inc
333-444-3333
bob@XYZ.com


The reason for doing a survey is reasons that can turn your business into a very
successful business. No matter who writes your ads nobody can create a successful
ad without knowing really well who you are dealing with. If you keep sending out
ads or creating sales pages that speak to everyone you will not make it.

Next week we take this a step further. Because all of the answers will not be the same
you will need to segment your list into categories of customers.

This will help you a lot with selling more and wasting less on advertising.

Until then, go get some


Paul

Feeling Business Pressure? Stay Strong, Be Smart

I know you are feeling the pressure from running your own business. Everyone is.

In these uncertain times it is important to stay focused. Your business success or failure does not depend on your next ad (I hope), it depends on your plan.

What is your plan for the future?

I have a very motivated train of thought. It is very hard for me to stay focused on one thing. I find that nothing has helped me more than planning. I don't mean a business plan or a 10 year forcast, I mean a daily plan.

Look at your situation right now. What are the things you are lacking to get your business running smoothly? It could be getting your marketing in order to making sure your taxes are in order.

You need to first write down what you need to do. We all procrastinate and that level depends on how we internalize the issue. The more you have built up the matter in your mind dictates on when and if it ever gets done.

Instead of waking up and going through the day doing things you don't mind doing, creat an itinary for the day. You may be running your business for 10 hours but you need to spend some time working on your business.

After you look at what needs to be done, start scheduling those things on your daily schedule. If you need to get your website optimized you sit and complete that task. I am not saying that you need to learn SEO or how to create a website. You figure out how you will take care of the issue and have a completion date.

You may do work on it yourself or you may research who can do it for you. Get the time or costs calculated and schedule that in your planner.

The important thing is to DO IT!

When I write out my schedule it looks something like this:

Tuesday

6am-7am : Create postcard for Joe

8am-10:30am: Work on my website

You get the idea. If I do not write these down for some reason it all becomes optional. I am not kidding, I will pick what I want to do instead of what I have to do.

For some reason when I have it scheduled I see it as a task to be completed and it has less 'think time'. I don't really build up a lot of bs emotions like I do when I just go through the day doing whatever.

Guess what else, use this to get things done for YOU. Maybe you want to learn a new language or get better at something... SCHEDULE THAT TIME TOO!

I absolutely promise you that you will get more done doing this. This is SO valuable to your future. You will make more money and waste less of your life.

Owning your own business is toughest because it takes massive discipline. We don't usually hold our time accountable, we're the boss.

You absolutely need to teach yourself this technique. All the marketing in the world will not help you if everything else is half-assed.

You had the balls to start a business now use your brains to grow it.

Go get some

Paul

Vampires: Your Ads Are Sucking the Life Outta Me

You likely own a business. You likely do your own advertising. You are likely driving me nuts with your crap ads. What is a crap ad you ask?

A crap ad is a sales letter, postcard, website, flyer, banner towed around by a plane or any other device shoved in my face without meaning.

You spend money to bother me and all I get to see is crap.

Do you know why you bug me? Because you don't spit out anything I care about. I have posted in my blogs many times about not generalizing and realizing what your service is not what I want to buy, the result is.

Do you listen? Why do I still get business owners who read this still sending me scratchy toilet paper? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

(deep breath) It's okay, you can still change your blasted ways quite easily. I will take you by the hand and walk you through a basic concept.

Let's say I hire you to do whatever it is you do. You show up and do it very well. Now tell me what the customer is seeing/thinking/feeling after you're gone.

Have you ever really thought about what happens once you are out of the picture? There is no doubt you focus on things like doing a great job or having integrity and pride with what you left behind... that is not what they are feeling. They likely are not thinking about you at all if you did well.

They are in the moment. They are enjoying the fact that their carpets don't smell like dog. They feel more comfortable financially after meeting with an adviser. They love that their lawn is plush and greener than their neighbors.

They are not thinking about you, but that is good. What they will do is connect that plethora of positive emotion to what you did for them. Those are what you use in your ads. Take the focus completely off of your company.

I am not saying don't mention any specifics about your company but you need to get them emotionally involved with your ad first. Get them to want to know who you are.

When your ad shows up NOBODY wants it. They were not getting ready to contact someone offering your service on the way to the mailbox. Simply announcing you and your service will waste massive amounts of possible revenue over time.

You know the processes of your business very well and that is why you normally focus your ads on that. Nobody cares at first about how you do whatever you do, they care about what they get from what you do.

You need to convey that IMMEDIATELY. 80% of people read the top of an ad without reading the rest. If that headline, caption or image does not connect, they are gone.

If you are not quite sure how people feel about what you do, find out! ASK THEM. I know it is a strange concept but if we don't take in new information we don't learn.

Simply ask your customer/client what they liked about your service. Try to get as many as possible and then start creating your ads using those insights as the theme.

Keep in mind if you are using images; make sure they convey the same emotional connection as the rest of the ad. If you do a home service don't plaster a picture of a home as that is meaningless. If they feel it is meaningless what happens? Yep, they're gone.

Once you start to know your customers this process becomes easy and you make more money.

Here is a final mental image I wish to leave you with-

You are asleep in your coffin in cold dark cellar. You wake to hear creaking boards but know that no one dare challenge you. The creaking stops and total silence once again puts you at peace.

WHOOSH! the casket flings open to see me standing over you. You mutter "Paul Van Helsing!" and I yell "TO HELL WITH YOU IRRITATING DEVIL! I'LL FINALLY BE RID OF YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Before you can react my stake centers over your heart, with a massive smash of my mallet I drive it into you.

Go get some


Paul

Your Ads Are Losing You Money!

I think there is an overwhelming dangerous way of attributing success or failure to our advertising attempts.

Most of us take in account what the ad costs. Most of us measure that against the end result. which is profit after cost.

Almost nobody sees the big picture

While we can call an ad successful if it makes money (or creates more customers at break even), we may be missing out on $1000’s. Let me explain-

Let’s say you do a very affordable ad in the form of a flyer. Maybe you spend a couple hundred bucks and write the ad and create the visuals. Now you distribute those and make a couple thousand dollars.

Now unless the cost of the product or manpower is very high, or your pricepoint is too low you should make a nice little profit.

Rarely do people think about what might have been. What if your same ad was written and presented very well and doubled the response?

Maybe you generate $4000 in sales without spending much more if anymore money.

What is written in your presentation is sink or swim, do or die. Your product or service will not sell nearly as much if presented as just a product or service. You could sell to those that happen to be in need, but far more are in need of their money.

Words need to fill your ad that invoke emotions. I see more ads focused on a price point or coupon more than what they are really tring to sell.

Far too many times people say to me “I sell lawn care dude, not message therapy”. That is where you lose big money! You communicate to yourself it is just _________. Who wants “just”?

By not digging into what people will feel once having their carpets cleaned or their house painted leaves a lot of money on the table.

When your ad finds it’s way to a consumer, they most likely do not want to see it (unless they found it by searching for it). If I am not thinking about getting my windows cleaned and an ad arrives that says-

Spit Shine Window Cleaning- Minneapolis’s #1 Choice

That ad is dead immediatley to those not already in a buying state for that service. It will go unread straight to the trash, no matter how great the offer. Most do not realize the importance of the first few lines and most lose out on LOTS of money and new customers.

There are a million ways to make the beginning of your ad more enticing without mentioning what you are selling. The key is hitting a button to get them to read more-

What Are People Saying About Your Home?

You do not need to go into a negative tirade about how bad something looks, in fact you don’t want to say that at all. You want them to think about it.

This headline could work for any home service. Since we are hitting a nerve with people and their pride and insecurity we have begun their journey into the rest of the ad.

I would likely use a curiosity type of first sentence-

“When looking around your greatest investment, do you notice this?”

Not positive or negative, be interesting. Most will wonder what you are getting at and keep reading. I would finish the paragraph with talking about the problems of have dirty windows/carpets, a brown lawn or paint color that is dating their home. They already notice this stuff, but sometimes mentally block it out.

Your goal in an ad is to create interest in what you are selling- nothing more. If you start to get into explaining out the features in a benefit driven manner, you will maintain their interest.

“With our Deep Clean Method we are able to extract dirt and bacteria festering in your carpets”

Most would simply say- “Truck mounted unit for deep cleaning”

Notice a difference? Now if I happen to get a flyer and I am not thinking about getting my carpets cleaned, which version do you think would make me stop and think?

How many of those people are you missing with every ad?

Here is the beauty of working harder and smarter on the ad (or hiring someone to do it right). You will get all of the customers your normal ads would get PLUS all the customers you are not getting.

In this economy I don’t know how anyone can afford to do it differently.

Go get some!

Paul

Don't Be the Best, Be Different

Here it is on a cloudy and cool Tuesday afternoon. This is the time of day I like to go through emails and work on some of the million things I need to do online.

Every now and then people send me a flyer, postcard or some kind of ad for my opinion. With these I also collect local business ads to examine. (it's kind of a fetish)

When I see the ads sent to me or the ads I collect I notice one common theme, generalized facts. Most small businesses do their own marketing which includes writing the ads. The problem with that is obviously we as the business owner know about what we are selling. We sometimes state things that are obvious to us but a riddle to those not involved.

When we fall in love with our business and lack any real sales skills we can get tunnel vision.

Since most ads in the postcard or flyer format look the same, the consumers stop paying attention; then the ad "fails". Usually when the ad fails we create an ad filled with more useless generalities with a better coupon.

What are useless generalities? Let's take this postcard in front of me- here is their focus as these are the words they used:

Experienced, Dependable, Professional and Detailed. This card is for window cleaning but it really does not matter.

Likely all of you use some variation of the words above. Now tell me what those mean to me, the consumer. I suppose you would say "well it is obvious". I will tell you it looks like all the rest and I would barely glance at it on the way to the trash.

When ads show up and have the exact same formula we stop paying attention. We have fell to sleep 10,000 times before reading this crap.

What you need to do is take a hard look at what it is you are selling and answer one simple question- why. These words- Experienced, Dependable, Professional and Detailed along with best, quality and affordable are meaningless drivel. You said everything that everyone else says.

So why should I pick up the phone and call? Don't tell me, you are counting on the offer/coupon to win the battle. It likely escaped you that people will not read your offer. They see those all the time also.

You may be thinking that most companies in your business basically do things the same way, and you're right. Maybe you are emulating a successful competitor hoping some of that gold will land in your pan.

You will likely help your competition by spreading the same basic message. In order to carve out your niche you need to focus on that niche. Instead of "anyone can use this" you need to boil it down so you can speak to your ideal reader.

I don't care if you are cleaning carpets or own a restaurant, you need to pinpoint whom you want to do business with. Maybe it is young families. Maybe it is seniors. There is no way to advertise to them both effectively.

It can also be said that wealthy people think and buy differently than the middle class. There is no way you can advertise effectively to both. A person that can justify purchasing a $80,000 car does not think the same as the person with the $25,000 Chevy.

If you want to get and keep your ideal customers attention you need to figure out what it is about what you have they want. A great way to get ideas is to ask your great current customers what they like most about what you provide them.

Let's take a carpet cleaner that uses biodegradable products. Let's say his ideal customers are young up and coming families. To simply state he uses green products is not enough. He needs to push that he uses green products. I will show you an example of how an ad might start-

Does Your Home Have Healthy Carpets?

...find out 5 reasons why getting your carpets cleaned can make it worse


With this as my hook I would surely add a picture of a baby sleeping with his face on the carpet. Paint that mental image and provoke emotion. It is very rare you see ads that stop you in your tracks, right? This would jolt a mother who glanced at the ad- guaranteed.

What you don't want to do is deviate from the theme by getting general. You pushed a button now you need to build up a concern they did not have 5 minutes ago. You then need to follow up that concern with a solution to that concern.

Take some of the features and make them a little more interesting and bullet them- (don't go from a headline into the bullets. In this case I would explain 5 things most carpet cleaning companies do/use they should know about)

Here are some of your benefits when we take care of your home:

• EPA approved products (100% safe for your children and pets)
• Truck mounted unit (for a deep down clean and faster drying)
• No worries (Insured to $1 million for your protection)
• Accountability (your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed)

Notice all the "your" in the copy. Keep them involved by not generalizing

There are many, many companies in all different businesses using the "green" angle. I bet you have not seen one doing it right which means it can be exploited. There is no doubt things in your business you are overlooking.

I can do this type of ad for any business. The way I approach it is really take a good look at everything the company does and uses. This is really hard for the owner of a company. You must really step back and see it all.

Go get some


Paul

Where Did Everybody Go?

Today's topic- lost customers.

You have them, you may not realize it but you have money floating around in the abyss looking for a home. Guess what, it does not care where it goes.

If you look at your customer list right now how many people have not bought from you in a year? All too many times I have business owners say "I keep in touch with my customers; they love me!". Then I have them look through their list and 30% from last year has not been heard from.

Here is something you need to know; people can be indifferent. That means that even though they liked your service they really do not care. You have these customers, believe me you do. (look at the list)

Some of the customers for whatever reason may have been underwhelmed with your service. I know, you're the greatest. Let's come back to reality. People are different, some people may find you funny an cute while others find you're sarcastic and you have bad breath.

There is no "one size fits all" situation. There is something you can do to get back the hard earned customers waiting to be snatched up by competitors. Simply mail them something addressing the fact you have not seen them in a while.

Sometimes it helps to show concern. You can say "If there is anything we can do better to serve you please let us know". Give them a special that is not advertised as a "comeback special".

You may think, nah they'll be back... someday.

I wrote a postcard for someone for the spring. It was to all the people on his list that have not been heard from in a year. It was a light hearted theme that included a little kid as a detective searching for this person. I cannot divulge the wording but it was from "Agent Cody". This pretend detective was speaking to them with all sorts of detective speak.

So out these of these "lost customers" we found $60,000. Sixty grand that may not have ever comeback, who knows. We did not sit and wait. The response was immediate and in an uncertain economy, very welcomed.

With these postcards or letters feel free to get creative if you feel uncomfortable. It is natural to feel a little edgy because deep down you know they might not be scheduling because of dissatisfaction. Just buckle down and go for it

Go get some

Paul

All the Windows in Your Home Cleaned- $50

Have you ever looked through craigslist at "companies" screaming how they are cheaper than everyone. How they will beat any price. I'll tell you what, I see legitimate companies having a fire sale every now and then too.

This trend is nothing new and has been around forever. When we don't realize the value of what we are selling we can only look at how to cheapen it.

I have never really seen the "we'll beat anyone's price" work well in this business. Sure there are people out there looking to get their windows cleaned on the cheap, there are also Priests molesting children.

To try and win over a market of people that are void of finding true value and look for cheapest price; is business suicide. We are not selling products made in a third world country, we are selling our time and expertise.

Do you want a bunch of under-priced customers? How would you feel about your service after time? You must not be thinking it is worth very much which will lead to problems.

Most times we hit slow periods because of poor advertising. Some like to blame the seasons or economics or the planets alignment... maybe the ads suck. Maybe you are not putting out enough. I run a business cleaning windows in Minnesota and somehow got a 4% response on a flyer in January. Don't give me "it's winter". You just need more effort.

Most hate advertising as they associate it with ads that got no return. You will have flyers and postcards that stink. Insurance companies spend millions on campaigns that bomb, do you see them stopping? Do you see them going broke?

Start adding true value to your service instead of sucking it out. You can't possibly get away with "cheapest price, best quality". That does not exist and everyone knows it.

Raise your standards, build value, raise awareness and raise your price.

Go get some


Paul