Many small business owners fail to take advantage of their most important asset, their customer list.

Most of the small business owners I meet are constantly searching for ways to expand their customer base when it’s been proven time and time again that you can make more money from your present clients than constantly looking for new business.

So, I devised some secrets to begin the process of retaining good customers and generating greater profits from them.

Get to Know Your Customers

Small Businesses today are finding that in order to survive super discount competitors and huge company advertising blitzes, they must go back to the relationship building of the good old days.

In cities and towns of yesteryear, the shopkeeper knew his customers by name and the type of merchandise they needed and made certain he had it in stock.

This kind of relationship coupled with personalized customer service and a genuine empathy with customers, is what keeps them coming back to you instead of going to your competitors.

Gather Customer Information

A database of customers is the most valuable asset your business has. Yet only 10% of the retailers in the United States keep a current list of their customers!

Statistics show that businesses spend five times as much for new customers than they do on their present customers, yet a regular customer is worth 10 times the cost of acquiring a new customer!

Today, however, a mailing list is not enough. To build relationships with customers that commands loyalty, you must gather information, which is valuable to you.

For example, age and even ages of relatives, size of home, color and style preferences, date of last purchase, amount of purchase, brand preferences, important dates including birthdays, anniversaries.

Serve the Customer

Waiting on customers courteously is just the beginning of good customer service. First, find out what the customer expects from you. Make sure your salespeople praise every customer, show an interest, and establish rapport.

Get in the habit of corresponding with your customers. Send them notes, cards, articles, and clippings that interest them. Send them thank you notes and cards telling them about private specials and trunk showings. Mail out a newsletter explaining what’s new in your company.

Reward the Customer

A study by the Rockefeller Foundation found that a whopping 68% of customers stop buying from you because of an attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager, or employee.

In other words, if you ignore customers, 7 out of 10 will not shop with you again, for no special reason.

By segmenting customers into groups, you can treat customers individually, based on their buying habits and the information you’ve gathered.

New customers need to know that you value them as a new customer and that you actually care if they shop with you again. Send them a thank you note after their first purchase.

Use What You Know to Get New Customers

Once you’ve built a list of customers, their preferences, demographics and transactional data, you’ll be able to use this important information to find new customers with similar characteristics.

Start a Referral program by rewarding customers who refer their friends and relatives. Obtain a list of new movers to your area with similar age and income parameters to your present customers.

Use testimonials from satisfied customers to attract new customers by mail. Obtain a mailing list of targeted prospects that match your customer profile.

Tell a Friend

You now have the customers on your side; you now need to have a program for them to refer your products to your friends.

When you have done that, aided with good products, you should be able to boost your site’s traffic and have good sales. Refer-a-friend codes are available to help you put a plug-in to your website.

You should also offer incentives to your current customers to tell their friends and business associates about your site in any way that is appropriate to the content and purpose of your site.

You may need to try several different incentives before you find one that works.

An inexpensive, yet effective incentive is to give them more chances to win a contest you are running for every friend they refer to your site.

Another is to give them some kind of priority access to your services. It might be something as simple as offering a 10% coupon on products they purchase from your site after they have sent a few new customers.

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
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This issue includes…

° Viral Marketing - What Will and Won’t Work

° Weekly Marketing Freebie

° Internet Marketing Special Offer

° If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now

° How to Use PLR Articles to Increase Traffic

° Tell Me What You Think!

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The 60 Second Weekly Tip
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Viral Marketing - What Will and Won’t Work

Trying to force people to forward your info to a friends
or family in order to be rewarded or win looks skanky in
today’s ultra-permission-based world. Especially when you
tell visitors nothing about their friend’s or family’s
privacy in the space directly next to the e-mail form.

A true viral campaign gets forwarded because your readers
are compelled to do so by the pure quality of the content,
not because you bribed them with points or something else.

What absolutely will NOT work…

Suggesting that your readers forward your message to their
friends and family will not work. Adding a line at the
bottom of your email that reads “Please feel free to
forward this message to a friend” is more likely to get it
deleted than forwarded.

What absolutely WILL work…

Offering something worthy of sharing like a valuable
discount, relevant or timely information, research or
studies that are included in your email will encourage the
recipients to share with their family and friends.

Interactive content like a quiz or test - especially if
it’s fun - will also inspire forwarding.

Jokes and cartoons are almost always forwarded to
everybody the recipient knows. Why? Because they are
entertaining and entertainment is meant to be shared.

A really cool multimedia experience is always going to
achieve a lot of sharing. Rich media is new and the novelty
and tech factors alone are often enough to make your readrs
eager to share it.

Oops! I almost forgot one really important thing…

You can craft a brilliant email following all the rules, but if a
reader visits your site and has an experience less that what
you promised, you are going to achieve viral marketing,
allright… the bad kind.

So be certain that your product or service is ready and is
as it was promoted.

Get powerful Viral Marketing Software to build your list while
spreading your message across the Internet.

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Weekly Marketing Freebie
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Paul Kleinmeulman has written a special report to totally blow the
lid off the traditional thinking of private label rights. It’s called
‘Think Outside The Box – Advanced Tactics of Using Private Label
Rights’

Think Outside The Box Free Report

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Internet Marketing Special Offer
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A few days ago I was invited to take a look at this cool software
that is increasing many people’s opt-in rates through the roof.

And the beauty is this is practically being given away . . . And you
can earn an incredible 90% in commissions promoting this!
(Yes I did say 90%)

Here’s the link - make sure you jump on this one today:

Popup Special Offer

Not sure if the price will increase, and for how long this commission
level will last, but right now its an awesome offer.

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Featured Article
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If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now

Hindsight, we all know only too well, is a wonderful
thing. For example, if only you had known how profitable
Google Adsense was going to be you would have started
building sites when it first launched and made a real
killing!

If you had only known that niche marketing was going to be
so wildly popular you would have focused on that instead of
going down the MLM path.

If you had only known the search engines were going to
change their algorithm you would have…

Stop!

In the world of Internet marketing, you can safely bet
that the ONLY constant is the rate of change!

There’s always news of the latest product dropping into
your email inbox. There’s always another promise of quick
and easy money. Google will keep changing its algorithm,
and new search engines are quite likely to pop up to
challenge the big dogs.

So - what can you do about this?

1. Continue to Educate Yourself

Understand that those who rise to the top of any field -
whether it’s Internet marketing or something else - are
good at what they do. This means that they never stop
learning. There are always new materials, new techniques
and probably new ‘experts’ showing the way.

Most of us learn in three main ways:

(a) From experts who specialize in a certain niches
related to our field;
(b) From other like minded marketers who are following the
same path as we are, and;
(c) By trial and error from our own testing and results.

You will find that the more you engross yourself in the
world of marketing, the more you will be able to analyze
which products, services and opportunities are right for
you.

2. Select One System or Product and Give it a Chance to
Work

Countless people who start out on the Internet with high
hopes follow the same pattern. They get excited about a new
product or system. They throw themselves into it and invest
long hours (and potentially quite a bit of money) in
getting it up and running.

It might be e-books sold from mini-sites; it might be
setting up a www.ebay.com business; it might be directory-type
sites with text manipulators; it might be AdWords or
content sites optimized for AdSense; it might be a quality
turnkey online business.

Then one day they get wind of another new system (probably
one created by someone who claims “the gurus are angry with
me for giving away all their secrets…”). Discouraged by
the lack of results with the first “opportunity”, they
decide to let it rest for a while and try the new one.

Back they go into the cycle of try-the-new-product, get-
discouraged, discard-it-and-try-the-next-thing.

And so it goes on. Months pass. Perhaps years pass. They
struggle to pay the credit card bills mounting from buying
into every new system that comes along… with very little
money coming in to offset their ‘investment’.

As they look back, they start muttering “If I had only
known then what I know now…”

If you can recognize yourself in this scenario, the good
news is this: Now you DO know better. You don’t know what
the next new product will be that’s going to set the
Internet world abuzz, but you do know enough to choose a
system that’s right for you and stick to it. I highly recommend
the Turbo Membership for this purpose. You can get a free
JV Manager there.

3. Regather Your Thoughts and Plan Your Future

Give yourself from two to four weeks to regroup. Go
through all the products you have on your shelves or on
your computer. Make a list. Decide which products you know
(so wise with hindsight!) to be worth keeping. Then analyze
the ‘keepers’ and pick on the best system for YOU to use at
this time.

(This will depend upon your level of knowledge and which
one you would enjoy most. Work with your strengths.)

Finally, devise a game plan. You are going to focus on
this ONE method and devise a practical time-line to achieve
results. Don’t be in a rush. Make sure you give yourself
enough time to see it ‘take hold’ so the money starts
flowing in. That will give you the motivation to continue.

Clear the decks, physically as well as mentally. Put all
the products that don’t fit in with your plan in boxes or
on disk for safekeeping. You may return to them one day,
but if you’ve chosen the system that’s right for you, you
probably won’t.

4. Stay Focused and Don’t Get Distracted by New Products

Resolve to buy ONLY products or services that will save
you time or money in implementing the system you have
chosen.

Never buy anything on impulse. Print out the sales letter,
read it through, then put it aside. Read it through again
the next day. Does it still seem so appealing? Check out a
few forums to listen to the buzz.

If a product doesn’t deliver, you’ll soon hear about it.
If it is exceptional value, you’ll hear about that, too.

Some questions to ask: “Will this help me to streamline
the business I have chosen? Is it worth the money? Will it
make a significant difference?” And above all, “Do I need
this, or is it just another distraction?”

Resolve to make this the year you will succeed. No more
pocket change. No more “If I had only known…”

You DO know. So make it work!

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Effective Marketing Strategies
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How to Use PLR Articles to Increase Traffic

Article marketing is by far one of the best methods of
promoting your business, building your subscriber list AND
increasing your profits.

When you submit your articles to article directories,
article announcement lists and ezine publishers you
accomplish several things…

1. You establish yourself as an expert in your field and
build trust with your readers. When you do this, your
readers are more likely to listen to you and follow your
advice if they feel you know what you are talking about.

2. By attaching a resource box to your article, you
provide a path for your readers to follow back your
website. If the reader is impressed with your content, they
will likely click on your link to see what it is that you
are offering.

3. You can increase your search engine page rank by
providing a one-way link to your website. Search engines
just love one-way links pointing back to your pages and
they give extra weight in their page rankings for this form
of linking.

The only problem with this system is that many marketers
are not comfortable writing their own articles. They just
do not know how to put their thoughts into words. Or they
do not have any thoughts worth printing about their chosen
topic.

That is why private label articles are in such high demand
these days. There are several of these services available
and more seem to be popping up every day.

When used correctly private label articles can give you an
advantage over your competition, in that they can increase
your traffic, your sales and your opt in subscribers.

However, a common mistake made by marketers using private
label articles is that they are far too lazy. They simply
copy and paste the article and submit it to article
directors or uploaded it to their website unchanged or
unedited.

Doing this will not only get you banned from submitted to
article directories, but you risk your site also being
penalized by the search engines for duplicate content..

So do yourself a favor and at the very least, change the
title and re-write at least 30% of the article. If you
don’t feel comfortable doing this, then hire someone to do
it for you. You can get rewrites for as little as $5 each
at many of the freelance sites

And just remember - a good article contains useful
information to the reader whether they buy your products or
not. Give them good content and you will increase the
chances that they will click your link in the resource box.

Private label articles can be a great tool to add to your
arsenal, provided you don’t get take too many shortcuts.

Click here for quality Articles Membership sites, and check our
Article Customization Tools.

Follow these steps and you’ll be surprised at the
difference it can make to your results.

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Tell Me What You Think
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This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I’ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I’ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

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That’s a Wrap for this Week
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That wraps up another week’s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don’t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I’ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business… and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business… that’s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues
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If you are an ezine writer, a marketer or an ebook editor, you probably want to check out the Buy Me a Drink software package. There are ways to let your clients and subscribers show their gratitude for you in an automated whole payment method.

According to many, it is such a cool and icy script to let people pay you for what you have done. Moreover, people receive acknowledgement and endorsement of their sites at the same time. So their tendency is to even buy you more drinks.

Sometimes, your customers will want to thank you or show their appreciation for something you have done like when you have created a very remarkable script or written an incredible article or a marvelous ebook that you give to your readers. Or even for just giving a fantastic idea to a friend in need.

If you run an ezine, your customers and subscribers will surely want to show their appreciation of the information you give them. However, you would not want them to email you several dollars to your account.

So what do you need? The Buy Me a Drink script is the perfect way for subscribers to show their gratitude to you.

Until now, there was no automatic solution that would let you gather an additional flow of income through your customers’ and clients’ openhandedness. With this script, you will not have to waste time editing the pages, inserting the information, and keeping the clients’ records.

Manually expressing your thanks to all the people is very time-consuming and a lot of effort is needed especially when you run and maintain a grandiose site. That is why John developed this script.

This script works with “sponsorships” and “drinks.” When someone pays for a drink, he is automatically directed to the “thank You” pages on your server. There he can fill in the information and show his information on the “cheers” list.

The sponsors also can access this and his information is included in the “sponsors” list as well. With this script, you can edit all outlines and templates and manually add the information you want to include there.

Moreover, you can modify one file and automatically make it multi-lingual. It could be in French, German, or Portuguese.

In addition, you can install this script on your server in just a couple of minutes. Detailed instructions will help you step-by-step as you go on with the installation. Its ease of use and its trouble-free installation separates it from the rest.

This is an excellent product that one has to have. The installation process is very easy to use that even non-technical people can install it with no hassle. An online installation manual for your “Buy Me a Drink” script is provided. In addition, it is a PHP script that is accessible and compatible with almost all servers.

Furthermore, it does not require you to pay a monthly fee. It is a service that resides on your server. And the good thing is, one does not need any MySQL script or database. This script can keep and manage all the records.

Moreover, you can get three additional language files like French, German, and Portuguese. Translating the script in those languages would be tiresome and time-consuming. So it is good that the script can be multi-lingual. Plus, you will obtain all updates to come.

You will get updated with all the new versions and new language files that are released. With this, you will not have a hard time asking your customers and subscribers to pay you and they can show their appreciation when they want to.

Bonuses are also included. “Buy me A Product” is a variant of the “Buy Me a Drink” script. This includes similar features and particulars but the difference lies in the products.

Instead of buying you “Drinks,” real “Products” to sell are included here. It is the easiest and most convenient way of creating your online business.

For $97, you can get a hold of both the “Buy Me A Drink” and “Buy Me A Product” scripts. This is just a limited time offer, so purchasing it right now is the best thing to do. Plus, you can use both of these scripts for advertising and promoting almost any product you offer and sell.

Or, you will also have these scripts pre-installed on your Turbo Membership account at no additional cost.

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
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Your goal is to create such powerful offers that anyone reading them will not pass on them. Difficult? Actually, creating a powerful offer like this is easier than you think.

Bonus pile on

Vegas World’s offer uses a concept some call “Bonus Pile On”. The way it works is to keep piling on bonus after bonus until finally you have to say “no more” and whip out your charge card.

It makes you think about how much value you are getting for such a little price. That’s the power of the “bonus pile on”.

So what is the best way to start using this in your business? Well, one of the most effective ways is through the use of paper and ink. You can give away a series of valuable reports with any purchase. What’s more, you can even make this information available as a download from your website so you have zero distribution cost.

Or you could make deals with other businesses that allow you to give away one of their products or services to your customers. If you really use your imagination here, you can really come up with lots of ways to create a “bonus pile on”. Having affiliations with other businesses will surely help you a lot.

Take action and make prospects now

There is no doubt about it. Deep down, most of us have a lazy procrastinator just lying underneath. This is the reason why you need some kind of deadline or scarcity factor to make prospects take action now. If your prospects believe an offer is going to be around forever, there is no reason to rush and take action.

That is why deadlines work so well. In your business, try to stamp a red deadline on the order form for the last day prospects can get over a certain amount in free bonuses. You will see that it is not unusual for people to be ordering right on the very last day of the deadline just because of that stamp.

100% No-Risk Guarantee

Finally, the last component of a powerful offer is to make your deal as risk-free as possible. Nobody wants to make a mistake and be stuck with something that does not deliver as promised.

You should make every effort to lift the risk from the prospect and place it squarely on your shoulders. Make a bold guarantee and make it for as long as possible. If you have a quality product, you should not worry because return rates will most often drop the longer you extend your guarantee.

Another strategy to try is offering a 30-day “hold-your-check or charge slip” trial. That means people will send you checks postdated 30 days out or you will not charge their credit cards for 30 days.

Now you have all the keys to creating your own irresistible offer and watching your sales soar. Just keep adding value and more bonuses until you come up with an offer than makes your prospect feel guilty for not ordering it.

Persistence, persistence

It is ridiculous to believe any one-shot advertising is going to make everybody interested in your service or product.

Think about your own life. You have probably received some offers that you were interested in, but you never acted on. Perhaps you put it aside for a phone call or maybe one of your kids came running in and distracted you or any number of other reasons. Your prospects are the same way.

To overcome this, you have got to create a plan for multiple contacts. This way you can take advantage of the “moving parade of life.” You are not selling to a standing army, but rather, a moving parade of prospects. People will move in and out of different needs and wants as they go through changes in their lives.

Consider this. Let us say you are an owner of a furniture store and you send the prospect an offer for deeply discounted furniture. Well, you probably wouldn’t have much luck because the house is full of furniture.

But what if when your second, third, or fourth offer came, the wife of your prospect had left and taken all the furniture with her.

All of a sudden, you have got yourself a very interested client.

This is how your offers should look to get more attention and sales.

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
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