Category Archives for Business
“Zero-Based Thinking”
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 is a life strategy that I know has the power to reduce your stress, make money flow to you from unexpected places, help you at least double your productivity, and ultimately, make you a much happier person.
Are you wondering what the heck I’m talking about?
It’s so important and has helped me so much over the years; I just have to tell you about it so you can put it to use in your own life.
Once you try this you’re going to wonder why everyone doesn’t do this at least once per month.
I have found over the years that it’s the SIMPLE principals that work best for me. It seems that every time something gets complicated or too many people get involved or there are too many moving parts it turns out to be just a big pile of useless crap that doesn’t work.
Is it like this for you?
Good, we have one more thing in common.
This strategy was personally taught to me 7 years ago on a tele-seminar with Brian Tracy.
You’re thinking, “Who the heck is Brian Tracy and why would anyone listen to him?” Right?
Brian Tracy is the leading authority in the WORLD on personal achievement. He has written over 20 books and recorded over 100 programs, which are sold in just about every county in the world. There is no other human being on the planet who knows more about success and achievement. Go to his web site at BrianTracy.com and you’ll see for yourself everything he does.
Trust me, he is the real deal.
Anyway, about the tele-seminar, (which cost me $79 bucks!) I was explaining to Brian all the stuff going on in my life at that time; all the business projects, friend/family commitments, recreational stuff…everything. Some of the stuff was working but most of it was NOT. It was all intertwined together and I was getting pulled in every direction. I was just about at the breaking point.
This is what he told me to do, and I still do this 3 years later about once every two weeks.
He said, “Get two large pieces of paper; you know the kind they use in meetings on the big pad.”
He said, “Tape the two pieces to the wall in your office. At the top of one paper write, “WHAT’S WORKING,” and at the top of the other write, “WHAT’S NOT WORKING.”
He then said to list everything that’s working in your life under “What’s Working”. Everything in business, relationships, finances, fitness, etc. Everything.
And then he said list everything that is NOT working in your life under “What’s Not Working”.
Now if you are like me when I started this exercise you will have a lot more stuff under “What’s Not Working”.
A lot more.
Then Brian said something to me I will never forget; He said, “If something can be fixed immediately, under “What’s Not Working,” fix it or STOP it and get out as fast as you can.”
Ask yourself this question….
“If I knew what I know now about (your item), would I have gotten into it in the first place?” (This is called zero-based thinking.)
If your answer is NO, then get out of it as fast as you can.
He called it creative abandonment. STOP doing what is not working in your life. End a relationship that is not working. Stop an advertisement that is no longer working. Fire an employee that is no longer pulling their weight. Etc.
Get out of ALL the energy sucking, time consuming, high stress activities you have gotten yourself into as FAST as you can.
And then he said, “Look at the list of “What Is Working” in your life and do more of it. A lot more of it, as fast as you can!
If a marketing method is working – expand it. If you have a good relationship going – make it better. If you fitness program is working – get more fit.
You get the idea, right?
I told you that this was simple, but it’s also brilliant, isn’t it?
After you start doing this you will see the headaches in your life disappear; money will start flowing to you from unexpected sources, you will laugh at stress and you will feel much much happier.
A few cautions:
1. Don’t tell people what you are doing. (They will think you’ve lost your marbles.”
2. Learn to say NO to new opportunities a lot more and be very selective with new ventures so that you don’t keep piling more stuff to your “What’s Not Working” list.
3. The grass is NOT greener somewhere else; Tt’s greener where you water it! I talk to people all the time who want to get out of the business they are in and get into another totally unrelated business because the think another business will be better or easier. Every business has its own set of problems. Stay with what you know, get good at marketing, and you will make all the money you want.
So I challenge you to do this exercise right now. Just getting all this crap out of your head will be a stress reliever in and of itself.
After you do this for a while, your “What’s Working” list will be much longer than you’re “What’s Not Working” list.
And you will be very selective what you will now say YES to.
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
Zombification
Good Morning Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and president of Marketing Automation Group.
I’m going to teach you how to raise the DEAD. It’s called Zombification.
Why are you laughing?
Hey we ALL have dead customers. Not Dead Dead – I mean customers that don’t come into your store or call you for an appointment anymore. It happens. Sometimes their needs change; sometimes their financial circumstance change, and sometimes, we change.
BUT the end result is a customer who stops coming in and buying from you. Which is awful because we all know the effort it takes to get a customer in the first place?
Now I don’t want you to feel bad about NOT doing this stuff, but… Guess how many business owners have an active “Customer Reactivation” plan?
1 in 100… maybe…
I’m going to show you exactly what to say to a dead customer so you can zombify them. Remember, Zombies are the living dead – Zombification helps them find their wallets again. By-the-way, How’s this analogy working for you?
You might not even KNOW your customers are dead because you haven’t established a standard for dead-ness. So, first things first – we need to make a list of who’s dead and who’s not.
Answer this question – How often do your customers come into your store or call for service on their computer? Is it every 2, 4, 5, or 6 months.
The amount of time I use to determine if a customer is dead is 12 months.
Why?
Because I have customers who come in every 3, every 4, every 5, AND every 6 months. So if a customer doesn’t come in my business in 12 months they have missed at least 1 visit if they usually come in every 6 months.
So we have established a “DEAD” customer if they have NOT come into your store or you did not service their computer in say 12 months. Or you may just know they are dead, just making sure that you would consider them DEAD.
Now, to that list of dead customers, I want you to send them a letter that says the following. If you have their email address, send them and email.
I almost forgot – I hope you have the ~Contact.FirstName~s and addresses of all your customers. If you don’t you can’t do this. So PLEASE for your own sake START getting the ~Contact.FirstName~s, address and email addresses of all your customers when they come in or you go to them. Just have them fill out a form.
Dear Client Name,
I want to sincerely thank you for all times you have (come into our store) or (allowed us to service your computers) and for all the business we’ve done together in the past.
However, (this is important, because “However” sound grave), I recently noticed that we haven’t seen you in quite a while. I was hoping to find out why.
Perhaps we’ve done something wrong – and if we have, I’d like to know what that is. This way, maybe we can fix it for you, but certainly I can make sure it won’t happen again to anyone else.
(Now this is IMPORTANT)
Also, I wanted to make you aware of a (New product, service, or upgrade) that we’ve just rolled out.
Because you’re an important client, I wanted to extend to you a (some kind of reward, discount, something extra) on this (new product, service, or upgrade)
Committed to your success,
Jane Doe
ABC Business
123 Any Street
Any City, 12345
P.S. Please give me a call anytime at 123-4567 and I hope to see you soon.
NOTE-You MUST make them an offer. Make it as good you’re reasonably able to do.
Now, let me tell you why you probably won’t do this. You’re thinking that you’re going to make them upset. You’re thinking that if YOU got a letter like this that you’d turn on the paper shredder.
Question – there are business owners and there are clients – which are you? Do you think you are normal? Uh HELLO! You RUN A BUSINESS. That makes you ABNORMAL.
Remember, we’re not like most people. We’re different. NEVER assume that you are a model of your client, because you are not, and you never will be. So you CAN”T draw an analogy between your thoughts, behaviors, and choices and theirs.
Please GET this; Even IF they turn on the paper shredder – they were dead ALREADY, You’re not in danger of ruing a relationship with a dead client.
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
FREE Business Marketing Strategy – Use Letters Not Brochures
Good Morning Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
Here is another FREE Business Marketing Strategy.
Use Letters Not Brochures
Fancy, 3-color brochures are very expensive. You have to get at least 1,000 printed at once. Then you have your money tied up in inventory.
Why Brochures Don’t Work
They immediately yell out ‘This is a sales message.’ Once someone thinks you are trying to sell them something, they are much less receptive.
Have you seen the cartoon with General Patton?
Patton is in the middle of a huge battle and a man comes up to him with a box full of guns. Patton says ‘I don’t have time for a salesman right now; I’m in the middle of a war’.
You see, even if you have exactly what a prospect needs if they think you are a “salesman” it will be difficult to get through to them.
It’s the same thing with your sales message. A brochure is immediately recognized as a sales message. It’s fancy but boring.
With brochures, you can’t cheaply and easily change your message. Things can change quickly. Maybe you decide to change an offer or worse discontinue a particular service. You can’t change your brochure so you either have inaccurate information or you have to spend a ton of money all over again to get it redone.
You can’t cheaply test it. You should always test, test, and test. With brochures you have to get a lot printed at once then if it doesn’t work, you have wasted a lot of money.
Why Letters Always Get Better Response:
Letters look and feel personal. People think of letters as personal and brochures as sales.
Letters are very inexpensive. You can get as few done at a time as you need. Your money won’t be tied up in ‘inventory’. All of your marketing dollars will be out there working for you
Letters are easily changed. If something about your business changed you can quickly, easily and inexpensively change your sales message.
If your letter didn’t work as well as you’d like, you can easily improve it. Letters have no waste.
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
“Your Business Will Never Get Better Unless You Are Willing To Admit That There Is Something Wrong With It.”
“Your Business Will Never Get Better Unless You Are Willing To Admit That There Is Something Wrong With It.”
Hi Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
Don’t Sell Yourself Short – It’s not what you have but what you do with what you have that will determine your success or failure. The story of the human race is the story of people selling themselves short. People have a tendency to settle for far less from life than they are truly capable of. Many people are spinning their wheels in careers where they should be moving rapidly onward and upward. Here’s how you can put your career on the fast track.
Choose Your Parents Carefully – Someone once said that the key to success was to choose your parents carefully. That may be partially true but it is even more important to choose your job or career with great care. The choice of a job or occupation for which you are ideally suited comes before anything else. If you try to work at something you don’t enjoy or don’t believe in, you’ll never be happy, and you’ll never be successful. Be the Best At What You Do – Which leads me to the next point. If you want to reach the stars in your salon, you have to become excellent at what you do. You have to pay any price, go any distance, spend any amount of time necessary to “be the best.”
Extraordinary rewards only go for extraordinary performance; average rewards for average performance; below average rewards, insecurity and failure for below average performance. And here’s a vital key, you are being paid today exactly what you’re worth – no more, no less. If you want to earn more, you must increase your worth, your value to others.
And that’s where I come in.
IF the marketing you are doing now is NOT filling up your store every week with high paying customers or you phone is not ringing off the hook it because you are using OLD methods, OLD strategies and OLD marketing ideas that just don’t work anymore.
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
Think Back To When You Decided To Go To Start Your Business… How Did You Imagine Your Career Going?
Hi Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
I know you must have imagined a fulfilling, successful career.
A career that gave you the opportunity to travel, drive expensive cars, live in the best neighborhoods, and plenty of time to spend doing what you love to do. But do not feel bad if this isn’t how things have worked out.
A high percentage of business owners really have a hard time getting their business to be successful. But I’ll tell you one of the biggest reasons business owners fail is that you guys were never taught how to be a savvy business person in school.
And this is NOT YOUR FAULT! That’s where I come in. My program is the mechanism you can use to learn how to run a highly profitable Business.
It’s not rocket science…I assure you. It’s all about gaining access to proven methods to not only bring in loads of new customers but customers who’ll say YES to high-end services.
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
Today I Will Face All Kinds Of Ups And Downs, Difficulties And Setbacks, But I Will NOT Let Them Get Me Down. Once I Start Toward My Goals, I Will Be UNSTOPPABLE.
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.
Sometimes when you are in business going it alone it feels like war. The only difference is you are fighting for the survival of your business not your very own life.
There are days when we feel the odds are stacked against us and we feel like throwing in the towel – we all have them.
Sometimes a little boost from someone is all it takes to change your thinking and attitude around 180 degrees.
The above headline is my “little boost.”
Be sure to print it out, make several copies, and place them around your home, your office, and even your car.
This has helped me many times when my back was against the wall and I’m sure it will help you along the way as well.
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
“There Are No Hopeless Situations; There Are Only People Who Have Grown Hopeless About Them.”
Hi Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
I have no doubt that you are a great problem solver in your industry and a good ethical person. You may also have a fantastic location. You may have the best employees with the best personalities. You may also do everything humanly possible to make sure your customers get the best quality service possible.
But this alone does not completely fill up all your appointment time slot or fill your store with high paying customers week after week… Does it? Nope.
So being the best you can and providing the best service must NOT be the secret to getting tons of customers because some of your competitors are getting plenty of customers, even if their services aren’t as good as yours!!!!
Well the sad truth is that they are getting more and better customers because they do a better job at marketing their business…. not because they are better computer problem solvers or better people.
If you want to have plenty of clients the real truth is:
The Most Important Thing You Must Know Is Not About How To Solve Problems…
It’s About How to Market Your Business!!!!!
Because you can be the best damn troubleshooter and have the best damn people working for you but if you don’t have any customers what good is it?
I know this doesn’t sound right or even fair but that is the way it is and the way it will always be. In life you have to deal with the way things are to be successful. Don’t you?
It is NOT the best product or service that gets all the customers it’s the best-MARKETED product or service. Period!
Part of the problem here is that this is the exact opposite of what we are taught. You know you get really good at your profession and your phone will ring off the hook. You and I both know it doesn’t work that way does it?
So unfortunately, you will NEVER be able to get a constant stream of clients to come to your store or call you for an appointment until you lean how to…
Market Your Business
IF the marketing you are doing now is NOT filling up your store or making the phone ring off the hook every week with high paying clients it because you are using OLD methods, OLD strategies, and OLD marketing ideas that just don’t work anymore.
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
“The Marketplace & Competitors Are Always Trying To Beat You Down To A Commodity. Don’t Let That Happen.”
Hi Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
When we go to the grocery store and there is nothing to differentiate one onion from another onion, the ONLY thing that we can differentiate it with is PRICE.
Why?
Because it’s a commodity.
Price then becomes the only deciding factor. Competitors who are less astute will try to sell only on price, so they will try to beat you down and beat your competitors down by simply pooh-poohing anything they do that is different because they are trying to compete on price.
That’s also true for the marketplace, if you are NOT giving them criteria for what makes you different, what makes you special, what makes you premium. Then the only thing they can come back to is price, turning you back into a commodity.
You MUST create the buying criteria for what sets you apart from anyone else. It is pretty powerful to develop this mindset of everyone is trying to make you into an ordinary commodity and your job is to make sure that you stand out as extraordinary.
In my next email I will further explain to you why you don’t want to compete on price and then in future emails I will show you how to be DIFFERENT and SPECIAL so you can charge PREMIUM prices.
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
“You Cannot Escape The Responsibility Of Tomorrow By Evading It Today”
Dear Business owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group
I meet and talk with a lot of people during any given week and it seems like most are looking for that “magic pill” or that one “secret to success”.
Do you want to know the real secret to success?
You do. OK
Here it is:
The real secret is there is NO secret. Pretty profound huh.
All you must do is to follow as closely as you can what others have successfully done in a specific area and you will have similar successful results. It’s NOT a secret.
That’s what my program is all about. I have done all the developing, testing, and proving what works in your business’ industry. All you need to do is “follow the recipe” and “plug it in” to your business and you will get similar successful results.
Now I want to WARN you that if you don’t follow the recipe to the tee you will NOT get a similar result. It would be like trying to bake a cake and leaving out say the eggs or putting in something extra not in the recipe. Would you expect the cake to come out perfect? Of course not.
Now to the headline at the top of this page – you may be overwhelmed right now with all the things you must do to get the profits rolling into your business. But all you need to do is take one strategy at a time, say the new mover client attraction program and JUST DO Auto Repair. Then move onto the next strategy, say the referral program and JUST DO Auto Repair. Then the next strategy and then the next, you get the idea. Then for Gods sake KEEP DOING ALL THEM and before you know it you will be working less, making a lot more money, stress will vanish from your life and you will be a much happier person. I promise.
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
“Formerly Miserable, Broke, Desperate, Life-Long Mechanic Now Makes $740,000 A Year, Average $61,000 A Month… Now For The First Time Shares His Marketing Secrets With Small Business Owners”
Hi Business Owner,
My name is Bob Britton, a fellow small business owner and President of Marketing Automation Group.
What would it be worth to you to be able to get as many high paying customers as YOU want, when YOU want them, for mere peanuts?
Can it be as simple as mailing letters and like magic your phone rings “off the hook” from customers wanting to set up appointments with you or coming into your store?
YES it is that simple, BUT and this is a BIG but, you have to AVOID…..
The 11 Biggest Direct Mail Mistakes Made By Business Owners
#1: Offer Looks Like Junk Mail. The first thing 52% of your prospects do when they come home from work is go through their mail. The mail is usually divided either physically or mentally into three piles. The “A” pile is letters that look important, personal letters, notices, etc. The “C” pile is mail that clearly looks like junk mail. The “B” pile is everything else. The “C” pile mail usually gets tossed unopened, the “A” pile mail gets opened right away and the “B” pile mail may get opened after the “A” pile. You job is to make your envelope look like the “A” pile.
#2: Not Having A Headline Or Having A Lousy Headline: When I write a headline I normally spend half of my time developing the headline. In fact, typically I will write about a dozen headline before I settle on the one that I think will get the best response. The Headline is the most important part of the direct mail letter. It will grab the readers’ attention and pull them into what you have to say.
#3: Lack Of Testimonials: What your current clients say about you is ten to twenty times more believable than what you say about yourself. Testimonials are a great way to get instant credibility with prospects. How many testimonials should you use? As many as you can – and use them everywhere.
#4: No Offer/Lousy Offer: It is costly to get a new client. What will make someone respond? Well, I’ll tell you one thing – there is no way that someone will respond to a lousy offer or worse yet, no offer. Remember, the real money in getting a new client is in making them a “client for life”.
#5: No Deadline Or “Wimpy Deadline: People are natural procrastinators. Unless you motivate them to respond NOW, they never do. A deadline is what makes them respond. Deadlines create fear – fear of losing out on a particular offer or opportunity: One rule that I live by is never to give a prospect more than a 2-week deadline. If you do, you might as well save your hard-earned money and not mail.
#6: Focus On The Business Instead of WIIFM: How many times do you see salon advertising and all it says is how wonderful the salon is? It talks about how many years they have been in business, or the friendly service, or the big selection. But what about what the clients really wants? Clients ONLY want one thing – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).
#7: Trying To Accomplish Multiple Objectives: The salon or ad agency that created the mail piece tries to accomplish multiple objectives. A mail piece should ONLY have one objective. All you should care about is GETTING A CLIENT. A Client is the only thing that can put money in your bank account. Image can’t do that. Last time I tried, the teller at my local bank wouldn’t allow me to deposit “image”.
#8: Lack Of A Guarantee Or A ‘Wimpy” Guarantee: This is a very simple concept but often scares Salon owners to death. Study after study has proven that the better the guarantee, the more people will buy. Sure, some will take advantage of your guarantee, but they are insignificant to the number that will buy more. If you can’t guarantee your products or services, then find something else to sell.
#9: Failure to Tell Your Story: Clients and prospects like a story. They want to hear why you are making the offer that you are making. It seems to add credibility, and they believe you, they respond better.
#10: Cute: Why is so much advertising “cute”? Two reason. First of all, cute advertising is the type that wins awards, and ad agencies like to win awards in order to help them “pitch” new clients. Also advertisers like cute advertising because they think it gets remembered. Well, let me ask you a question? Can you give me the ~Contact.FirstName~s of the advertisers that spent over a million dollars each during the last Super Bowl in order to air their 30-second TV commercial? Bet you can’t ~Contact.FirstName~ more than one or two. Study after study has proven that the type of advertising that sells is still the emotional, direct response advertising and not the “cute” brand-building type.
#11: Sequence: Just because a prospect did not respond to your first offer does not mean they will never take you up on your offer. Sometimes they intended to respond but got distracted and forgot so they need to be reminded again. From all the mailings that I have done you can expect your response from your first offer to double (100%more) with your second and third mailings combined. You must follow up at least 3 times.
Leave out any one of these and you will most likely fail and NOT get the response you are looking for.
Good News- Just one small part of my program called ”New Mover Attraction” I GIVE you the letters to mail already written (avoiding all the mistakes above) and show you exactly how to mail them. If you can follow SIMPLE directions you CAN get a FLOOD of new high paying customers when YOU want them. Heck this is so simple even a third grader can do this.
My easy to follow 1 2 3 step, paint-by-numbers system will get you all the new high paying customers YOU want. It will also show you how
to explode all aspects of your business in a few short months.
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
