Note: Some Links may be out of date.

Blitz Ezine # 199 January 27, 2003
Improving your Customer Service - Cultivate Relationships

Note: This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content may be outdated

Ooops - :o)
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter.
Issue no. 199, Jan. 27, 2003

************ In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues
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Blitz Comments
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This week we've been swamped - both with new business and we got about 6 inches of new snow (no complaints about either)... so part 2 of the Froogle lesson will be in next weeks issue. Again our apologies to those of you chomping at the bit, but feeding the kiddies comes first :o). And next week is our 200th issue - I can't believe it either... so make sure to check it out for some nice things (can you say, discounts, f r e e stuff).

One of the reasons for the rash of new business is Customer service, we continue with a golden oldie below.

Part 2 of getting into Froogle with information on the data feeds will be included in the next issue (we hope ). If you missed out on the last issue you can check it out by clicking on the link below.

Getting Into Froogle

Also we have the same food for thought as last week, but that link should actually be called a feast for thought... so if you missed it last time, make sure to check it out.

More News -

Google Danced on Jan 26th. Make sure to check your results and any new pages / tweaks you've been working on, make sure to get them up ASAP.

If your site was slow / offline on Saturday it could have been from the SQL Slammer. More details can be found at the following link.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/25/internet.attack/index.html

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Food for thought
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Loads of food for thought can be found in Marketing Sherpa's marketing inspiration for 2003. Almost 700 tidbits of wisdom and advice, including something from yours truly. You can find it at the link below.

http://inspiration.marketingsherpa.com/

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8 Ways to Kick Off a New Business By Kevin Nunley http://www.drnunley.com
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Kickoff time in football is similar to kickoff time for a new business in one important way: it determines whether you start out struggling to regain the upper hand, or get up and running with confidence.

Kickoff time doesn't determine the outcome of either a game or a new business, but getting off to a winning start never lost any points. To get your new business off to a great start, follow these 7 guidelines:

1. Know Where Your Sales Are - Before you flip your sign to open, upload your business site, or spend a single penny on marketing, know where your sales are going to come from. Who is your target demographic?

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is not knowing who is going to buy from them. Why? Because if you don't know who your customers are, you can't market to them. And if you can't market to them, your business will go out of business.

For instance, if you are starting a business selling athletic gear online, find out not only who wants your products, but who actually buys your products. If your products are meant for kids, you have to market to them as well as their parents. Find out where they spend their time online; what sites they are likely to visit. And always consider what problems your target market has and how you can help to solve some of those problems with your products or services.

2. Find Mentors - You aren't the first person to start your own business. Hundreds of thousands of people before you have walked the same path your are about to walk. Take advantage of their experience. Try to talk to a few small business owners who have been in business between 6 months and 5 years. They have been in business long enough to have acquired some substantial wisdom.

One man I knew started his own business with that traditionally masculine, "I'm not going to stop and ask directions" attitude. After he had made some mistakes that almost cost him his business, he decided to talk to some other business owners about their experience. He quickly discovered that his mistakes could have been avoided if he had just stopped to ask directions.

3. Do Your Market Research - Don't just ask your family and friends if they think your business idea is doable. Of course they are going to be more positive than realistic.

Get out and conduct your research with a pen, paper and your legs. You can even call potential buyers and find out their views. This is a great opportunity to make contacts and pre-sell your products or services, as well as find out about your target market.

4. Finance 101 - You are starting a new business to make money. But what's the good of making money if you are so ignorant of what to do with it that you lose it all? At least one person in your business (and if you are a solitary business owner, that one person is you) must know basic business finance to some degree. You don't have to get your accounting degree, but you must know some basics: record keeping, business or corporate taxes, expenses, deductions, etc...

Don't make the mistake of going into business with no knowledge of how your finances should work. Even if you trust someone else to handle your finances, you should understand the basic workings of incoming and outgoing money.

5. Promote Like a Pro - Whether you are starting an online business or a regular business, you have to find the methods of promotion that work for you. Now, just because your business is online doesn't mean you shouldn't promote offline. You can use anything from billboards to T-shirts, brochures to cable television commercials. Much of your best traffic will come from offline promotion. Many websites are lost in the vast reaches of cyber space, but if you put your URL in front of people's faces, they will seek you out.

If you are starting an offline business, the same idea holds true in reverse. You should combine both on and offline advertising and promotion. Why? Because, even if your business does not exist solely online, you should still have a website. A lot of times, people are curious about your business, but they don't want to call or drop by. That takes time out of their busy schedules. But most people do have time to check out your website to help them decide whether or not they should stop by.

You website can be one of your best methods of promotion. Include your website address on all print advertising, as well as any other media you use to advertise.

6. Get All the Information - Don't ignore business areas that you do not understand. Sure, it takes a lot of time and effort to learn a bunch of new information, but having the right business knowledge is what will make the difference between success and failure.

Make the learning as palatable as possible. If you hate reading boring business books, then attend a training seminar or get advice from other business owners.

7. Expect a Battle - Put yourself in your competitor's position. What would you do if a new business opened up and started stealing your customers? You'd fight back, right? You would increase your marketing efforts, hold special promotions and sales, maybe even tell people negative things about your competition.

So when you open your business and your competitors try to take you to the mattresses, don't put up the white flag. Launch your own promotional assault and show them what you're made of. And don't leave your motivation and success to chance. Write down a list of the promotion actions you plan to take and WHEN you plan to do them. Stay on track and don't let yourself get discouraged. When your enthusiasm fails, take your list out and make yourself go on to the next activity. Marketing often takes longer than expected to product results. It starts working just when many are ready to give up.

Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copywriting. See his 10,000 marketing ideas and popular promotion packages at
http://DrNunley.com
Reach Kevin at kevin@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006.

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From the Archives - Blitz 84
Oct 2000
Customer Service how the little guys can win.
C= Cultivate your Relationship
Continues next week.
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Cultivating your Relationship- Building your customer base is what will help you survive in your internet business. If none of your client’s reorder products or services your business will soon fail. We have been blessed here. This year 80% or so of our business has came from previous customers.

Update - this is still the case, although not as high, the bulk of our business comes from happy customers.

I try to think of my new customers as seeds that I have planted and they are beginning to sprout. So how do you make this new sprout a healthy plant.

Water them- If your new customer never hears from you after you sell them something, then they will dry up and blow away. There are a couple of good ways to water your customers- a) send them a note about your new products and services. b) Sign them up for your newsletter (but only if they opt in). c) Send them a follow up note (after the purchase asking them how they liked it etc)

Sunshine- Learn everything you can about your new customers. Then you can send them a bit of sunshine. Examples include-birthday cards, Christmas cards, Thank you notes etc.

Plant food- Support- we will talk about support in depth in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned. The first step in all of this is knowing that your customer is worth more to you than just that first purchase. If you cultivate them they will continue to be your customer for a lifetime.

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Nice Tool you can Use
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Ever wonder what the google bot 'sees' when it visits your site. Wonder no longer, because now you can know. Check out two handy tools at the URL below.

http://www.y2kinternet.com/spiderview.cfm
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html