A+ Sales and Marketing Your Business

[Brent Deines]

We also support our local church which puts a great deal of emphasis on reaching and helping others in the Eugene area.

I support Life Outreach for the same reason you support equitas. The impact even a small donation can have in a third world country is incredible, and I feel that providing water and food to those who are dying without it is our responsibility. If everyone in the USA would just give a few dollars a month we could wipe out world hunger! Give up a latte and save a life! Delta Kits has paid for several wells now, so I share your passion for providing clean water to the world.

My brother has worked for World Concern, Food for the Hungry International, and most recently, Medical Teams International, all of which are good organizations. My mother-in-law has MS and we know many who have died of cancer, some at a very young age, so we like to support the MS Foundation and that American Cancer Society as well. There are many, many, worthy causes, but also some to watch out for, so it pays to check them out thoroughly to be sure you are a responsible giver.

Another of my favorites is McDowell Ministries http://cf.jittle.com/mcdowellministries/home/index.cfm. Clifton McDowell used to repair windshields, so I had the privilege of meeting him in person here in Eugene. Their organization is small so donations do not get caught up in a lot of red tape. Clifton and Leta are very humble and have devoted their lives to helping others in numerous ways. If anyone wants to help a fellow windshield repair technicians change the world, I highly recommend chatting with Clifton.

Sorry, my last few posts probably don't belong in this thread as they really have nothing to do with marketing and sales, but I do think charitable giving is a part of the success puzzle that is often overlooked.

[ChipStop]

Well said.

[ChipStop]

Post #10 Fishing for Whales

I just came back from the Gulf Coast where me and my family spent our Holiday with my in-laws. It was a great time. Kids opening presents, season's lights hung from the tree. It was a great time to be away for a short time, and reconnect with the ones I love. I enjoy the coast. It's waves and the sunset over the endless horizon. A few years ago, while living there, I was honored to be on an all men's fishing trip. Deep Sea fishing with a full crew to answer us at our beaconed call. The warm salt spray let us know that the air was full of life, and for just a few hours, we were apart of it. At one with the sea. We had a great day of fun, fish , and friendship. The only thing that would have been better than the fish we caught, is if we had seen a whale. Whales are not known to live normally in the Gulf of Mexico, but legend has it, that if you stay on the water long enough, you just might catch a glimpse of one.

Whales. . . the BIG catch. . . larger than life. . . . able to sustain a whole village for a very long time. As we sail the sea of broken glass, fishing for enough to sustain our way of life, there is this innate desire, by many of us to just once, land a whale of an account. Whales are great, they allow us to take mini vacations, without the pressing need of the present. Whales allow us to not just survive, but to thrive in our chosen like of work. I have found that the more whales I land, the more stable my life in the WSR business is.

In previous posts I have alluded to the sales cycle I use in my business; which includes: planning, prospecting, meeting, recommending, closing, and servicing. When we reviewed the cycle, I noted that you could start at step 2, without considering step 1 the planning step. While this is true, I believe that planning is the key, and necessary pre-curser to prospecting. . . . IF. . . . you want to fish for whales!

In the next few posts, I would like to set sail into some deep waters. I would like to share with you what we do to land big fleet accounts. Some may say, "Mark, aren't you giving away the ship?" Hardly. Believe me, there are no "secrets" to this business. Just good business development principles. WSR--when taken seriously, can be a very stable and prosperous endeavor.

SO what do you think? Are you ready to set sail? Are you ready to launch out into the deep? If so, check back from time to time, as we go for the big catch. I will try to show you concept by concept what it takes to land them.

Yours for the things that matter most,

Mark Howie

[WSDSteve]

Would anyone be able to share some sample Direct Mail letters, or letters to give to Human Resource Managers to put with paychecks to promote a windshield repair day. Thanks for sharing. Many of us to excellent repairs. The letter writing design is another whole ballgame.

[Kgobin]

In my opinion, this is what should be in your direct mail letter (see below).

Letterhead
A sales letter should include your company logo, name, and address. You can have a printer print your letter on your existing letterhead stock, print the letter in combination with your standard letterhead design, or print a letterhead that has been specifically designed for your direct mail piece.

Addressee
many direct mail pieces, particularly those mailed by local businesses, do not personalize each letter. Instead the letter begins with a generic introduction, such as Dear Sir or Dear Madam. If you are using a generic introduction, do try to personalize as much as possible with greetings, such as Dear Oregon Resident or Dear Employee. It is preferable to address the letter to a specific person, but it will add to the cost and the complexity of the mailing.

Attention-grabber
Grab the reader's attention in the first sentence. This is the most important part of the letter. Unless your first sentence is highly compelling, most readers will not continue reading the letter.

Focus on benefits
you want to focus on the benefits of your service in the body of the letter. Your service has many features that your customers will ask about, but it is the benefits that will sell them. A benefit is what your customer derives from the service.

Testimonial
A testimonial can be used to add credibility to your company and your service. The most important aspect of the testimonial is the person who offers it. Make sure the person is someone the reader will respect.

Highlight key phrases
keep the reader's attention. Some readers will skim through your letter and could miss the most important points. Highlight key phrases that stress benefits to keep the reader interested in your service.

Call to action
Call your readers to action. They need to feel like they should act quickly or they will lose the offer. Make it easy for the readers to act, by listing a toll-free order number or including a postage-paid reply card.

Add a postscript
Add a postscript at the end of the letter. Many readers skip to the end of the letter for the "bottom line." A grabber "P.S." statement will ensure that your message isn't lost.

[ContactPoint]

Outbound Calls are Critical to Success

We were working with a company two years ago that wanted thought their staff had a handle on making outbound calls. We were recording and coaching their inbound calls and the wanted us to start helping them with their Outbound Cold Calls. We began recording calls but we couldn't find any. The company was a bit upset so we decided to record all 120 reps accross the country for a full day and we found that only 6 calls were made!!! They were floored. We worked with them on a program to increase that and now they are averaging 2 hours of outbound calls per day!

It takes work, but most of the challenges we see is getting over that initial fear. So spend time on training your reps and that will help them.

[iamlove158]

You make a good point, Maybe I should swing by the next time I’m in SF. Would be

interested to see what kind of effort they have, although I hardly have.

















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[jrbball32]

Website / Online Leads Help To Grow the Business - IMPORTANT for everyone NEWBIE or EXPERT

I haven't seen much attention paid to this aspect of marketing your business, but I know from personal experience that it was beneficial for me. Being a smaller windshield repair business and having to compete in the market with all of the "big dogs" didn't really give me the luxury of hitting the pavement every day while radio/tv/print ads from the competitors are reaching people every day.

A really cost-effective plan if you want to grow your business is to work with a web design/marketing firm to give you that advantage. I worked with a company to set up a simple website for me and almost instantly s(within the first day or two) started getting leads. People don't always turn to the phone book anymore (I know I don't), and the web is a great place to be noticed.

The firm that I used was worth every penny that I spent on my page and I know that they actually work nationally, even though they're a smaller firm. All I had them set up was basically a single page with my information and had a place where they could either call or submit their email/phone number to "Request a Quote" and that was about it. All I had to do was respond to their call/email (customer service) and I could have a job that day or the next. It was really simple and very effective.

However, the most important aspect of the site was including their search engine optimization (SEO) package to the site to make sure that when the general public did a search for different keywords, my business was one of the top search results on Google! That evened out the playing field a little bit. You start generating that much traffic and give people a quality product/service and your business will start growing without you taking hours out of your day to "pound the pavement" or cold call.

I went on a bit of a rant there, but if anyone wants to know more about how my page was set up or the suggestions that I'd have for you, let me know. You can just reply on this message board.

[adam@gtglass]

speaking of calling people out in the headlight forum...

this post I'm replying to is most likely someone advertising web services or "seo" (search engine optimization) services.

Seeing as their join date is Feb. 13th and that's the first post.... just a guess, but they likely are trying to sell something.

Cheers,

Adam D

[josephm8777]

I am new to this business and I was wondering what is a good action plan for starting up a marketing campaign?

What should I do first and then next and so on.

From what I have been reading I need to start by calling every company with a fleet in the phone book to get commercial business.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.