Posted by JulieD on November 6, 2008 under How-To, Marketing, online | 
Want to build a huge list of pre-qualified prospects? Take tip from the President-Elect.
In trying to figure out how Barak Obama won the election, the pundits agree that his organization was great a using new media to keep in touch with and build their base.
So how exactly did they get people to sign up?
One brilliant example came before Obama announced his pick for his running mate. The campaign gave people the chance to be the first to know who he had picked by signing up for text messages or an email — no more waiting around for traditional news outlets to tell them the news. All you had to do was give the campaign a way to contact you and you could get a jump on even the media in-crowd. Who wouldn’t love that?
Of course, this meant you were added to their database, but people didn’t seem to care because, pay attention now, they were getting something they valued in return.
Is there something you can offer your potential clients in exchange for their contact info?
Can you offer them a “buy one, get one 50% off” deal on their first purchase? Can you give them a free, exclusive, special report (or ‘white paper’) when they sign up for your newsletter? Can you give them something that will provide real value for them in exchange for their permission to keep in touch?
Create value, create releationships, create business.
Posted by admin on October 15, 2008 under Customer Service, How-To |
The web is full of rants about bad customer service experiences, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are in charge of customer service for your company, here are five ways to delight your customers, gleaned from my years both managing a customer service department, and personally talking to tens of thousands of customers.
- Answer the phone, if at all possible, with real people - even ten years ago, my customers were astonished when a real person answered the phone by the third ring. It delighted them and started every conversation off well. These days, if you can have the phone answered by someone from the same country as your customers, you will exceed their expectations.
- Answer their question - not the question you think they’re asking, not the question on your script. Their question.
- Don’t waste their time - if it’s clear that you can’t help them, find someone who can. Even if you have to offer to refer them to another company. You’ll have earned their trust and they’ll remember that when they’re next in the neighborhood, or when someone asks for a referral.
- Be honest - customers are suspicious. They know about advertising tricks and they are worried about losing money and losing face. If you know there is something that other customers have had problem with or frequently misunderstand, highlight it, upfront. Explain how it can be avoided or turned to the customer’s advantage. Earn their trust.
- Don’t make excuses - if the customer is unhappy, the most powerful thing you can do is simply say “I’m sorry. What can I do to make this better?”. This is powerful voodoo. This is Kryptonite. This, assuming you’re sincere and give your reps the power to act on their promises, will defuse 99% of escalated cases.
Fight hard to empower your customer service reps, to allow them to do these things. Sure, there are some customers who will try to take advantage of you. Following these rules, however, lets you reward the vast majority of everyday people who just want to do business with you, and not get a migraine headache from the experience.
Posted by admin on under How-To, Writing |
Do you hate to write business letters? Do you spend a lot of time on each email only to receive slow or no responses? Use these six tips to develop a writing style that gets results.
One Letter One Subject
Each letter or email should address one issue only. You can always send another email to talk about a second subject. Keeping to one topic helps the reader absorb your point, and act.
Openers and Enders
Direct Marketing studies show that the most-read sentences in any letter are the first and last sentences (especially if that last sentence is a ‘P.S.’).
Make your purpose clear in the first sentence: “I am writing to share details about the Jones project”.
After that you can introduce background information, but do not start there. People are busy. Tell them what they are going to read about, in the first sentence.
Recap your purpose at the end of the letter, and use the last sentence to ask for an action: “Please let me know by Friday…”.
Bullet Points
Use bullet points to catch the reader’s eye as she is skimming down the page (between the first and last sentences).
- Bullet points catch the eye
- They summarize the details
- Use sentence fragments to keep them brief
- Use only 3-5 bullet points
Be Informal
Unless you are writing for a scientific journal or your industry has a very formal style (i.e. law), keep your style informal. Use ‘you’ and ‘I’ instead of writing in the passive voice. For example, say “We decided at last week’s meeting to push forward with…” instead of “A meeting was held and it was decided that…”. Conversational language keeps a document livelier-and readers awake.
Keep It Brief
Try to keep documents to one page (or one screen, if email). People will read a short document immediately but put a long one in a ‘to read’ pile. Short communications also force you to keep to the point.
Edit out unnecessary words and repetition.
Don’t repeat yourself (like I just did).
Edit
Always leave time for editing. Re-read every piece of writing before you send it out, even quick emails. Edit out half your words if possible. Seriously.
Don’t rely on your spell-checker. I almost proposed giving a talk on “Sex Tips For Better Business Writing” to my local Chamber of Commerce. Luckily that is one of those errors that leaps off the page, but the spell checker didn’t catch it!
Find someone else to proofread your work or use these copyeditor’s tips: slowly read your work aloud once to make sure there are no missing or incorrect words. Then read the work backwards to look for spelling errors. Reading backwards helps you see typos.
Always carefully check these typo hot-spots check:
- telephone numbers
- zip codes
- names
Also check for ‘smart quotes’ that are turned around the wrong way, and missing punctuation.
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Use these six tips to develop a clear, concise and correct business writing style. You will endear yourself to busy colleagues, and start to see improved response rates to your communications.
P.S. Contact me if you need a copy editor. (See what I mean about the P.S.?)
Posted by admin on under How-To, Writing |
IF A DOCUMENT is worth writing, it’s worth writing twice.
Although science fiction author Robert Heinlein famously claimed never to rewrite anything, he must be the only successful writer who can make that claim.
If you find it difficult to write well, remember that a first draft is just that. The trick to good writing is to dash off a fast first draft that captures the spirit of what you want to say. Don’t worry about spelling, structure or even perfect grammar. Now leave the piece for as long as possible. Then come back and re-read it.
Is the purpose of the communication clear? Write a sentence at the top that expresses that purpose, then rearrange the meat of your first draft below it. Cut out any repetition and tighten up long sentences. Summarize the main points in a final sentence, then tell the reader what you want them to do (e.g. “Call me with your opinions on this issue”).
If capturing a first draft on paper causes you trouble, try some different ways of marshalling your thoughts: draw a mind-map; make a list of bullet points; dictate your ideas into a voice recorder.
But always try to give yourself time to step away from your first draft and come back to it later. Good writing (and re-writing) takes time. As Pascal said, “This letter is long, because I did not have time to write a short one.”
