Tip for October 1, 2005

Quick: Another reason to have a marketing plan? (second of four) Creating a calendar of marketing tasks makes it easy to develop the content you need for your marketing messages. By noting upcoming deadlines, and frequently reviewing your marketing plan, your subconscious mind will be thinking about upcoming tasks while you drive, read, or sleep. As a result, a lot of the hard work--the thinking--will already be done when you sit down to create an article, brochure, newsletter, or press release.

Tip for October 2, 2005

Quick, yet another reason to have a marketing plan. (third of four) Your marketing plan provides a location where you can track the results of your various Guerrilla Marketing weapons. Simply note the number of responses and the number of sales next to each of your marketing activities. Trends will soon become obvious, permitting you to weed out the slow performers and concentrate on the weapons that deliver the biggest profits.

Tip for October 3, 2005

A final reason to have a marketing plan (fourth of four) Deadline Madness is never pretty. Deadline madness results in embarrassing mistakes: typographical errors, misspelled names, missing names, incorrect prices, and transposed digits in phone numbers, etc. No one can do their best work under deadline pressure. And costs rapidly escalate as your project enters its final stages. A simple error that you could have changed for free early in your brochure production becomes a costly change when it has to be made on the printing press. Avoid stress. Avoid costly mistakes. Use a marketing plan to work backwards from the "street date" of your promotion, so there will be sufficient time to fine-tune your project.

Tip for October 4, 2005

The most common promotional items are wearables -- T-shirts, jackets, baseball caps, and headbands. recent statistics show sales accounting for 20% of the $7 billion promotional products industry.

Tip for October 5, 2005

FREE targeted advertising can be yours today when you follow Guerrilla Lon Stockton's lead. He runs an internet access business in Virginia and finds that most of his local media just don't deliver the target. His simple solution is a visit to local bookstores where he slips his card in books and magazines on connecting to and using the internet.

Tip for October 6, 2005

What the prospect is thinking in a sales situation. A prospects' thoughts as you describe your company's features: "What's in it for me?" The importance of breaking down your company's features into advantages and ultimate benefits to your prospects is well illustrated if you imagine the prospect saying "so what?" to your remarks. You: "Ms. Prospect these are the fringe benefits we offer our temporary employees." Prospect: "So what?" You: "The fringe benefits we offer our temporary employees enhances our ability to attract and retain temporary employees who are available for repeat assignments with your company. These employees when reassigned to your company arrive ready to work with little or no indoctrination, they get right to work and are quickly productive. Prospect: "So what?" You: "You save money." Prospect: "Oh!"

Tip for October 7, 2005

The Harvard Business Review proved that it is a guerrilla marketer supreme by putting free copies on seats of the New York/Washington airplane shuttle.

Tip for October 8, 2005

Political Guerrilla Bill Barbee used the web and email to get a city councilman re-elected. When he discovered that computer ownership in his county (Ventura, CA) was over 55%, he decided to campaign electronically. His councilman went on to become Mayor.

Tip for October 9, 2005

One key to developing buying motives. Listen for volunteered comments by the prospect that will help you identify if the buying motive is time, money or peace of mind. The prospect says: "I often wish I had more time to get my job accomplished in a normal work day, instead of skipping lunch and working late." Perhaps the reason the prospect is skipping lunch and working late is because his or her technology isn't the state-of-the-art product you represent. Listen for volunteered comments and ask for clarification on unclear statements. Ask additional questions

Tip for October 10, 2005

A survey of national advertisers in the U.S. found they believe that online services can be used for the following marketing activities: information resources, 94%; customer services, 88%; sales support, 79%; advertising, 74%. Sounds about right to me.

Tip for October 11, 2005

Guerrilla John Weiss entertains prospects with offbeat humor and gets repeat traffic and great word-of-mouth in return. His company created a web site for an acne treatment product that included a forum entitled "Confessions of a Pizza Face," and an interactive game called "Zit Hunt." It may not be pretty, but it worked well enough to get covered in "Internet Life" magazine.

Tip for October 12, 2005

Trouble setting prices? Guerrilla Marvin Mansky tried letting his customers do it for him in an unusual promotion! Marvin ran a promotion from Thanksgiving to New Years and let patients SET THEIR OWN PRICES for his dental services. Patients got a complete basic exam and cleaning and then paid what they thought it was worth. Most patients paid close to the regular rate. A few paid very little, but had been putting off dental care. And, some even paid higher-than-normal rates, because they so liked the whole idea. Marvin's dental practice was totally booked, and they had more new patient referrals than ever before!

Tip for October 13, 2005

E-mail Age Requires Fast Fulfillment of Promises Not long ago I attended a day-long coaching event in Cambridge, MA. One of the speakers offered attendees a set of his presentation visuals, which contained a lot of detailed information. All you had to do was offer your business card. I did. And I waited. Today--three weeks later--I received an e-mail attachment containing the PDF of his presentation visuals....along with a promotion for an upcoming event the presenter was hosting. The numbers are still instructive, but delay has considerably eroded my enthusiasm. Guerrilla Marketers recognize the importance of the fast fulfillment of promises in the age of instantaneous e-mail.

Tip for October 14, 2005

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown List # 1 One of Jay's most provocative books is The Ninety-Minute Hour, written in 1990. In this book, Jay discusses how to become so productive that you--too--can work a three day week. Step One of Jay's countdown to the Ninety-Minute Hour involves answering making five lists. These lists help you identify tasks that can be delegated to others. List # 1: Write down every business and personal chore that you do over the course of a month. This list should take you five or ten minutes to complete. Be as complete and specific as you can.

Tip for October 15, 2005

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown: List # 2 The second list you need to make in order to achieve the productivity of a Ninety-Minute Hour is to make a list of the chores that require your full attention and only yours. What are the tasks that you, and only you, can do? Which tasks are so involving that you must concentrate your full attention on them, not doing anything else while working on them

Tip for October 16, 2005

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown: List # 3 The third list on your way to Ninety-Minute Hour productivity includes chores that can be combined with other chores and opportunities. This includes both the chores you currently do and opportunities to learn, grow, improve, earn, exceed, and succeed.

Tip for October 17, 2005

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown: List # 4 The fourth list to make on your journey to Ninety-Minute Hour productivity includes chores that you can delegate to others. This is where you can greatly multiply your personal time. If it costs money to delegate, remember that your time is more valuable--in terms of your whole personality and time on earth--than money alone.

Tip for October 18, 2005

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown: List # 5 The final list on your journey to Ninety-Minute Hour productivity includes chores that you can drop. There's a good chance that you're doing a few things that really don't have to be done at all. Eliminating these unnecessary tasks will give you time to focus on the tasks that are really essential to your productivity and peace of mind.

Tip for October 19, 2005

Affirmations and Ninety-Minute Hours After you have identified tasks you can eliminate from your "to-do" list, write down two, or more, affirmations that describe what you're going to do with the information you have gained from your Five Lists. Read these affirmations out loud each day. Repeating these affirmations each day will greatly enhance your commitment to achieving Ninety-Minute Hour productivity. The affirmations will change the information in your Five Lists from theory to practice.

Tip for October 20, 2005

Guerrillas and Ninety-Minute Hours Delegation is the highest form of Guerrilla Marketing. Ninety-Minute Hour thinking advises that you delegate as many of your objectives as possible--just as long as they are handled every bit as well as if you were handling them. It encourages you to develop a frame of mind that guards your time and increases your effectiveness.

Tip for October 21, 2005

Over 33% of Americans now get strenuous exercise, down 4 points since l991.

Tip for October 22, 2005

Guerrilla Jeff McNeal wins business online with a rapid response. One recent prospect reported that after contacting fifteen suppliers Jeff was one of only two to reply within 48 hours. Other online vendors even replied with snail mail and fax and then did not include their email addresses. Even though Jeff's rates were a little higher than the rest, he beat out all his competitors with a 30-day, unconditional, 100% money back guarantee.

Tip for October 23, 2005

The sales success formula. The difference between success and failure could be one more sales call a day! I've seen salespeople who had it all together. People who should have been consistently at the top of the sales charts, taking all the prizes, winning all the contests but one ingredient was lacking. They didn't like to work. "A poor selling performance done consistently is more effective and brings greater results than a super selling performance done inconsistently." Do the extras that the other guy/gal fails to do and you'll move mountains. You'll be a sales leader!

Tip for October 24, 2005

Seven danger signals that you are not marketing: 1) Sales driven by price 2) No way of differentiating you from your competitors 3) You use a steady stream of disconnected sales gimmicks 4) There is no unified plan for communicating your message to customers and the trade 5) Most sales leads come from the sales staff 6) Longtime customers say, "I didn't know you did that" 7) There is no customer or prospect database that can be used for marketing.

Tip for October 25, 2005

Guerrilla Greg Dale of Carrollton, Texas sells all kinds of window coverings and wins against even the largest competitors. He puts his email address on EVERYTHING, from post cards to letters, ads, business cards, his van and even his wife's car. Customers always mention the E-Mail address as something that gives them comfort in dealing with them. Greg uses email for all kinds of things, quotes, follow ups and general correspondence with our customers through E-Mail. Even though they operate from home, customers say that they seem like a "real" business and not some "fly by night" operation.

Tip for October 26, 2005

Converting company features to customer benefits. Convert your company's features into ultimate customer benefits when planning a sales interview. Set up three columns: #1 Features, #2 Advantages and #3 Benefits Under #1 Features, write a feature your company offers (the service characteristic. This answers the question, "What is it?" EXAMPLE: Fringe benefits you offer temp employees. Under #2 Advantages, write the advantage that the feature offers your company. Temporary employee fringe benefits enhances your ability to retain temporary employees. Under #3 Benefits, write down the ultimate benefit to your prospects. It saves the prospect time, money and/or gives peace of mind. List every feature you offer and the corresponding advantage to your company and the ultimate benefit to your prospect

Tip for October 27, 2005

Guerrilla folk wisdom: advertise where competitors advertise; don't be afraid of the competition. People are used to finding offers like yours there.

Tip for October 28, 2005

If your business requires a little trust from your customers then you need great references! Guerrilla Ronald Smith develops new references with every new job using a customer satisfaction survey. Ronald's company sells and installs a skylight product for home remodeling. He knows that whenever people start work on their homes they are afraid of what might go wrong, so he let's his current customers put those fears to rest. They send out a customer satisfaction survey after they finish a job and ask for permission to use comments in their marketing. They also offer a free dinner to anyone who refers a new customer to the company. Nearly 70% of the surveys are returned and about 90% of those agree to use of their comments in marketing efforts.

Tip for October 29, 2005

If your business requires a little trust from your customers then you need great references! Guerrilla Ronald Smith develops new references with every new job using a customer satisfaction survey. Ronald's company sells and installs a skylight product for home remodeling. He knows that whenever people start work on their homes they are afraid of what might go wrong, so he let's his current customers put those fears to rest. They send out a customer satisfaction survey after they finish a job and ask for permission to use comments in their marketing. They also offer a free dinner to anyone who refers a new customer to the company. Nearly 70% of the surveys are returned and about 90% of those agree to use of their comments in marketing efforts.

Tip for October 30, 2005

Why self assessments are critical. Successful salespeople take that extra step and do the little things that others discard or fail to do. Too often, successful salespeople drift into a self defeating cycle of diminishing activities. The original concepts of thoroughness are abandoned or neglected. In the flush of success, the attention to details is viewed as less important and short cuts frequently replace methods that made a person successful in the first place. Mark on your calendar, a day and hour, once a week where you will spend 0 minutes in self critique. Make this your quiet time for self assessment. Question your thoroughness, tighten you activities and increase your sales

Tip for October 31, 2005

Updating your own web site (without learning HTML) The Internet continues to become more and more Guerrilla friendly. The latest advance is a Macromedia program called Contribute 2. Contribute 2 is not a web authoring program. You'll still use programs like Dreamweaver or Front Page to set up your initial site, and you'll probably want the services of a web designer to set up a pleasing layout and color selection. But, after that, you can be on your own. Contribute 2 allows you to edit existing web pages and create additional pages to your web site. If you can operate Microsoft Word, you can save money and avoid delays by making your own routine web site updates.

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