It’s impossible to manage what you don’t measure.

Hi Business Owner,

My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.

Here to fill you in on something you may not be aware of.

This past week I received a call from a friend who is in the insurance business. He asked me if he should renew his yellow page advertisement. When I asked him how much revenue his ad has generated, he didn’t know.

There is a very important lesson here for anyone who spends their hard earned money on marketing or advertising: It’s impossible to manage what you don’t measure.

Let me explain: He couldn’t make an informed decision about renewing his yellow page ad because he didn’t know how much business he was getting from it… if any.

He wasn’t measuring his results, so how could he possibly know if it was a good or bad business decision to renew it?

So what should he do in this yellow page advertising case, and what should YOU do as a business owner with your own advertising?

You need to create a simple advertising source form and train your people who answer the phone to ask each and every customer…

“WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?” or “WHERE DID YOU GET OUR PHONE NUMBER?”

And then, when you enter new potential customers into your computer database, you needs to add how the customer found you. In this case, “yellow page ad”.

At the end of the year, (hopefully well BEFORE it’s time to spend money again,) you will be able to analyze how much business/profit came from this group of customers, which we know found you via your yellow page ad.

The decision wether or not to continue advertising the way you have been can be made just by looking at the numbers; Without any stress or guessing.

Your answer will be obvious. It’s either:

YES – I made more profit than the yellow page ad costs, so I should run it again.

NO – The ad costs more than the profit I made from it, so I will not run it again.

Better Opportunity – The ad made a profit, but if I spend the same money on other advertising that I do, I would have gotten more business and profits.

There are only 3 things you need to make sure you are doing so that every dollar you spend in marketing and advertising is making YOU more than that dollar. They are:

1. Make sure you know who your target client is.

2. Make sure all the advertising you do is traceable.

3. Make sure you track your advertising. Don’t be lazy or sloppy like most business owners- KNOW YOUR NUMBERS! You should know what it costs to generate new clients from each marketing and advertising method; new mover program, referrals, yellow pages, the internet, open houses, etc.

The better you know your numbers – The better your decisions will be about spending your advertising dollars.

Put another way, – The better you know your numbers – The more money that will end up in your bank account.

Period.

If you have any questions, need some immediate advice, or would like to get involved with my program please give me a call at 585-633-7563.

To your success,

Bob Britton