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Blitz Ezine # 231 November 3, 2003
Earn more and work less - How to Keep your Customers

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 Some links and/or content may be outdated

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 231, November 3, 2003

************ In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues
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Blitz Comments
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Welcome to the first monthly issue of Blitz. We've changed our format a bit. As many of you know spam filters now filter out almost everything so we decided to just send you a link and then you could view the issue when you wanted. This is also the smallest monthly issue you'll receive. We hope you like it, learn from it, but more importantly use it to help build your business.

Next issue we hope to have some more graphics as well.

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In this Issue
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-Thanking your customers.
- Google buys ppc from About.com
- Adding a counter.
- Guest articles.
- Review of Eragon
- More...

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Food for thought
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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

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Building Your Business
Cultivating
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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.

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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Search Engine News
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Google buys Sprinks -
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum86/132.htm

Google IPO in the works? - a whole forum dedicated to that question.
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum86/

This past weekend Google also updated their directory listings from the Open Directory Project.

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Quick fixes
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Continuing on our thankful theme. Go to your local department store and buy a pack of thank-you cards. Sit them next to the place where you fulfill your orders. After you complete the order jot a brief note to the customer, include a couple of business cards and seal the envelope. Set the note aside and mail it about a month or so after you send the order. You'll be surprised how many additional orders you'll get by using this simple technique.

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Guest Articles
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8 Ways to Earn More Without Working Harder by Marcia Yudkin

Conventional wisdom has it that there are only three ways to grow your business: find new customers, increase the amount of each sale to existing customers or get customers to buy more frequently. But I've seen business owners go blank when presented with those three options. So here is a more useful list of ways to increase your total revenues without in most cases having to put in more hours at the office.

1. Charge by the project rather than by the hour. Hourly fees are a death trap for the experienced professional. You get penalized for being able to zoom right in to the nub of the problem and its solution. If you are good at what you do, instead provide customized quotes for each whole project. Most clients prefer this anyhow, so that they know in advance what they will owe you. The exception is when you can't nail down the scope of the project before getting started; in that case alone, revert to hourly fees.

2. Boost your exclusivity and perceived value. If you emphasize that you don't sell to just anyone who shows up at your door, but you have certain criteria for the clients you choose to serve, people become more eager to engage your services. Likewise, if you drive home the value that you provide with testimonials, case studies, client lists and specific results you have achieved in the past, you'll get a greater return from all the marketing you're already doing.

3. Create higher-end, higher-priced programs and options. A photographer friend of mine learned that people enjoy options to select from, and they most like to select the next-to-most-expensive option. So to increase her income from framed family portraits, she simply offered a larger and more expensive frame as the biggest option. Customers were then more likely to choose the second biggest, which cost more than the previous second biggest frame.

4. Create a repeat-billing product or service instead of selling one-shot products or services. Get clients to sign on to some sort of ongoing service plan, and you get a longer, larger return from each of your marketing efforts. For the photographer, this could be a plan for enlargements tailored for a number of holidays spread throughout the year, such as Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas and Valentine's Day.

5. Revise your current products and services for a specialized market and charge more. Whatever the industry, people believe they have special needs and therefore they will pay more for products and services specifically for them. By making small and in many cases insignificant changes in your offerings, you can increase people's willingness to pay more for your items or your knowledge.

6. Sell related products and services - your own or someone else's - to current and past customers. Hair stylists easily sell mousse and conditioner to their clients, who want to look as great when they're on their own as they do when walking out of the salon. When people buy from you, what else do they typically need to enjoy a complete solution to their problem? Mark up the offerings of other service or product providers along with your own, and your total revenues go up.

7. Make it possible for clients to prepay and "stock up" on your services or products. I pay for the next winter's fuel each summer and get a lower price per gallon, and the fuel company gets lots more money earlier. Similarly, offer a slight discount for six months or a year's worth of your consulting services, and your cash flow can instantly improve.

8. Simply raise your prices. Most entrepreneurs charge too little and are thereby earning less than they could with every sale. Raise the price of your book from $17.95 to $19.95, or of your fee for cleaning teeth from $90 to $99. Usually there's little or no resistance from your market. Sometimes with a significant raise in prices, you lose some customers but revenues increase overall. That's the goal!

Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books. She runs a private member site, MarketingforMore.com, which supports business owners who are growing their businesses. Learn how to avoid the most common pricing mistakes in her free report, "Charge More & Get It," available from http://www.marketingformore.com/survey.htm.

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Links you can use -
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An excellent site dedicated to being thankful.
http://www.bethankful.com/

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Fun and Games
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Thanksgiving is coming up - below you'll find some nice places to explore.

An American Thanksgiving
http://www.night.net/thanksgiving/

The First Thanksgiving - great educational site from Scholastic.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/thanksgiving/

Puzzles, games, crafts and more.
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/thanks/

Thanksgiving recipes - everything from Turkey to Cranberry Tea.
http://www.thanksgivingrecipe.com/

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Reviews
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I read a really awesome book by a guy who started it when he was 15. If you like Lord of the Rings and fantasy then you will definitely enjoy Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/eragon/

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Useful links to our site
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Find more useful promotion and design articles here -
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/articleindex.htm

Check out our archives for issues you may have missed.
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/ezinearchives.htm

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Next Issues
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Dec. - The best of Blitz
Jan. - Optimizing your pay per clicks.
Feb. - Taxes and building your business.

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Final Thoughts
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During this time of thanks we want to just let you know that we appreciate you making us a small part of your Life.

Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com