Category: automotive

Knowing Where to Put the ‘X’

Principle: “Knowing where to put the ‘X’ in each part of your life is a critical determinant of everything you accomplish.”

There’s a story about a nuclear power plant had a malfunction that their own engineer’s couldn’t solve.

The plant management finally called in one of the nation’s top consultants on nuclear power plants.

For two days, the consultant walked around the plant, studying hundreds of dials and gauges, taking notes and running calculations.

At the end of the second day, he took a marker out of his pocket, climbed up a ladder, and put a large black “X” on one of the gauges.

“This is your problem,” he explained. “Repair and replace the apparatus connected to this meter, and the problem will be solved.”
He then left.

The plant engineers did as he suggested and sure enough, this fixed the problem.

About a week later, the plant manager received a bill from this consultant for $10,000…for “services rendered”.

The plant manager was surprised at the size of the bill.

After all, he reasoned, the consultant had only spent two days, walked around a little bit, placed a “X” and left. $10,000 seemed like a lot of money for such a simple job.

He wrote back to the consultant, “We have received your bill. Please give us a break down and itemize your charges.

It seems all you did was to write a big ole “X” on a single gauge. Ten thousand dollars seems excessive.”

A few days later, the plant manager received a new invoice from the consultant. It said, “For placing an “X” on gauge: $1.00. For knowing WHERE to put the “X”: $9,999.”

Having a clear and honest understanding of who you are, and what’s important to you is what separates the superior from the average.

It requires Honesty to step back and look at ourselves objectively to see what Current Reality really is in regards to these talents AND then be comfortable enough to be AUTHENTIC in our thoughts, actions and words.

Brian Tracy, in his book – “Focal Point” – says there are Two Steps you need to do to double your income.

First – Identify the things (the 20%) you do that contribute the greatest value to your earning potential.

Apply the 80/20 Rule or Principle – which states 20% of your actions contribute 80% of the value.

Then resolve to spend MORE time on those 20% activities.

Stephen Covey called them “Boulders” or First Things.
It’s learning to do The Hard Things First.

Second– Identify the 80% of your activities, customers, employees, products or services that provide low to no value and resolve to spend less time, effort and resources on them or better yet, eliminate them altogether.

Success is a choice.

There is an Abundance of Opportunities for everyone but only a small percent will ever find them – Why?

Because of CHOICE.

Those who become DOMINATE their market are Proactive.
They take Personal Responsibility.

Accepting Personal Responsibility means you refuse to make excuse or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about.

Accepting Personal Responsibility is the very foundation of high self-esteem, self-respect and personal pride.

When you make excuses, blame others, complain or criticize, you essentially give away all your power to someone or something else.

These are all Principles or Natural Laws of God.

Here is the best definition of a Principle I’ve seen:

Principles are:
UNIVERSAL: They work everywhere.
TIMELESS: They work all the time. Past, Present and Future.
SELF-EVIDENT: You can’t argue against them.

Know what’s important. Know where to place your ‘X’.

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Is Facebook for Me?

If you have a doorknob that customers can turn, Facebook is for you.

If you sell something that is Unique, Facebook is for you.

If you sell to consumers, Facebook is for you.

If you sell a fun experience, Facebook is for you.

A high ticket business, like an auto dealer is probably at the top of the list of businesses that can benefit from Facebook Direct Targeted marketing, but frankly just about any brick & mortar can benefit.

What if you could predict, with uncanny accuracy, who was likely to buy from you and who wasn’t.
Would this be a huge competitive advantage?

What if you had a way to know more about your clients and potential customers than they knew about themselves?

What if you could spend pennies to reach large numbers of people then have the ability to easily sift thru the whole lot and cherry pick the ones most likely to buy from you?

The Facebook marketing application is the ultimate sales tool to accomplish any and all of this, because selling & marketing is all about relationships and Facebook is the ultimate relationship building tool.

We have an Essential Elements Discovery process where we help every business owner figure out their target market before we start helping them with their Marketing, Selling and Business Practices.

One of these Essential Elements is determining who your Target Audience is. Learn more here: 

One of the greatest strengths of Facebook marketing is your ability to target specific consumer groups who are highly engaged. In fact, Facebook is 89% accurate in their targeting capabilities. It’s almost scary how accurate they are.

Determining your Target Audience:
To market and sell your business, product or service properly, the very first thing you must do is get clear on WHO your ideal customer is, where they are hanging out, what their challenges are, etc…Every marketing piece must know what your clients and potential clients “hot buttons” are; what’s important or relevant to them.

People only care what’s important to them, not what’s important to you.

Your customers and prospective customers are always asking, WIIFM? (What’s In It For Me)

Once you find who the target truly is then you can know what their hot buttons are.

Facebook marketing helps hone in on the following:
Demographics like:

  • Geographic location
  • Income
  • Gender
  • Education
  • Language
  • Occupation
  • Religion
  • Age
  • Political affiliations

 

Psychographics like:

  • Spending habits
  • Hobbies
  • Values
  • Concerns
  • Desires
  • Lifestyles
  • Interests, hobbies and activities
  • Type, style model of vehicles owned
  • Who is a likely new or used vehicle buyer within the next 365 days, 6 months or next 90 days.
    Leads, warm leads and HOT leads!
  • What brand they are most interested in
  • Age of vehicle they now own
  • You can hone in on your competitors customers and market area
  • General shopping behaviors (grocery, retail, etc.)
  • Where they get their digital information from
  • Travel habits
  • How recently did they purchase a home
  • Who is likely to move within a certain time period…(you set the time parameters)
  • Who has recently moved
  • Likely to purchase a home with a certain time period
  • Type of charitable interests they have

Just to name a few…

If you are one of the few that actually collects customer data and already has an email marketing strategy, we can supercharge your marketing by downloading your customer’s emails or phone numbers into Facebook and create a custom audience within Facebook for you.

Then, to sweeten the pot even more, we can take this list of your existing customers and create a “look alike” audience of potential clients that have similar likes, interests and behaviors.

This is where knowing your 20% that generate 80% of your revenue and profits (the 6th Element in our Essential Elements Discovery Process) really starts taking your business and personal life to a whole ‘nother level.

The thing about Facebook Direct Marketing is that the possibilities seem endless, and in a way maybe they are, because they are constantly changing and enhancing their marketing tools.

Caveat: Unless you are doing this full-time, the typical business owner wouldn’t and shouldn’t do this on their own.

To further your understanding of this Essential Element, read my blog here: Who should you be selling to?

We help small business owners Work less and Make More money by helping you to:
• Leverage your time
• Increase your cash flow & profits
• Identifying and focusing on the Right clients, employees & products/services

How: By implementing the 80/20 Principles of Marketing, Selling & Business practices, strategies and techniques.
• Essential Elements Discovery Process
• Automated Email marketing
• FB marketing
• FB retargeting
• Video marketing
• 1-on-1 “Do It For Me” coaching, consulting, mentoring

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It is better to talk to 10 people and convince them 100% of the way then to talk to 100 people and only convince them 10% of the way. – Jay Abraham

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Always Make it Easy to Do Business With You

One of the biggest business advantages you will ever have over your competition is to always make it easier for your customers and clients to say YES than it is to say NO.

Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business practices is holistic and encompasses not just your marketing but also your selling and business practices and systems.

It never ceases to amaze me how many businesses that I visit in person, on the phone or the internet, seem to have never looked at their business and practices from their customers perspective.

Every day, look at a different part of your business from your businesses practices to your signage and everything in between and ask yourself these questions:

How easy is it for someone to find your store or your website?
Once they arrive, how easy is it for them navigate and find what they want?

How diligently do you follow-up on inquiries, sales requests or orders?

How diligently do you keep your customers informed on the progress of their order with you?

How knowledgeable and friendly are all your employees?

Jay Abraham says we need to remember these 6 Things about our business:

1. You cannot serve too much.
2. You cannot educate too much.
3. You cannot inform too much.
4. You cannot offer to much follow-up and follow-thru.
5. You cannot make placing an order with you too easy.
6. You cannot make calling, visiting your website or coming in to your place of business too desirable.

 

There are two absolutely Essential Elements you need to have and tell the world about if you want to make it easy for your customers to say Yes!

One: You must have a UPS (Unique Selling Proposition) – see my article on that subject right here;    USP! What is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

The more clearly you communicate what makes you the better choice (benefits, advantages, guarantee, etc) the more often people will choose you over your competition and see you as more valuable.

You can easily tell people why they should choose you in your marketing.

All your marketing should be built around explaining and reinforcing your new USP to your prospects.

Every business, every business owner and/or every product or service they sell is Unique.

You have a story to tell. Tell it to the world.

What makes you Unique is that distinct and appealing idea that sets you apart from all of your competitors.

Here’s a Key thought: Always realize that your clients and prospective clients are asking…WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).

How does what you offer Benefit me? How does it solve a problem I have?

If you can’t articulate your USP in 60 seconds or less, neither can your clients and prospective clients.

Some of the things that make you Unique are because of:
The buyer you serve
What you sell
An unusual angle
What your product or service does not do
The time frame you offer
Your Risk Free Guarantee

And that brings us to the second Essential Element: you need to provide a Risk Free Guarantee

Look at every aspect of your business from the products or services you provide to your clients and even your employees and make a list of all the obstacles that could prevent any of them from purchasing from you, dealing with you or choosing you over your competition.

Here are the categories to pay attention to:

Financial reasons – What could it cost you if the relationship or transaction didn’t work out?

Emotional Reasons – What emotional withdrawals could occur if the relationship or transaction didn’t work out?

Measurable reasons – Can it be measured so your clients can see the actual impact on their personal, business or financial life?

I know a car dealer in Canada that dramatically increased his business by offering a two week, 100% money back guarantee on any new or used vehicle purchased.

Now, in the state of Wisconsin, offering that on a new vehicle is tough because the very minute the customer drives away from the car lot, that vehicle now must be sold as a used vehicle, BUT…put your thinking cap on.

Bottom Line: The biggest secret to success in your business is to always maintain an edge in everything you do.

And the best “edge” you can have is to make it easier for your customers to say YES than it is to say NO!

 

We help small business owners Work less and Make More money by helping you to:
1. Leverage your time
2. Increase your cash flow & profits
3. Attract and keep the Right clients, employees & products/services

How: By implementing the 80/20 Principles of Marketing, Selling & Business practices

  • Essential Elements Discovery Process
  • Automated Email marketing
  • FB marketing
  • FB retargeting
  • Video marketing
  • 1-on-1 “Do It For Me”   coaching, consulting, mentoring

 

Contact me here

Larry Carey
Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business practices

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6 Ways to Disqualify Tire Kickers

These are based on the Marketing Principle: It is better to talk to 10 people who want what you have to offer than 100 tire kickers.

In marketing, we teach our clients that it is better to Reach 10% of the Market and persuade them 100% of the way than to Reach 100% of the market and persuade them 10% of the way.

When you are in the business of selling, you better be good at figuring out as quickly as you can, these 6 things.

Here are 6 Ways to disqualify the tire kickers.

1. Are they the decision-maker? Do they have the ability to say yes?
Don’t waste your time making a presentation to an audience that can’t make the final decision.

2. Are they a member of your target audience? Every business has customers or clients that can be broken out according to the 80/20 Principle.
20% of your customers are generating 80% of your profits.

By the way, this principle holds true for your employees and your products/services you offer.

If you want to be more effective, you have to separate these and start focusing on the 20%.

Let’s say you have 3,000 active customers.
This Principle or Natural Law will show you that 600 of those are generating 80% of your profits. And ultimately, you will want to know who the 4% are that are generating 64% of your profits.

Helping you discover this 20% is the 6th element of our Essential Elements Discovery process.

See my article on this subject here: “Who should you be selling to?”

3. Do they have the money?
My two main businesses have been the automotive retail industry and real estate.
Two big ticket items. You better be good at qualifying whether your prospect can afford what you have to offer.

In the auto industry, there are “tire kickers” and there are “buyers”.

When you are strictly on commission, you better learn how to quickly and respectfully qualify your audience.

4. Is there a sense of urgency? Do they have an immediate problem that they need a solution to?

Twenty or so years ago I spent a year having Jay Abraham teach me his marketing principles. One of his pieces of advice that really stuck was “It is better to talk to 10 people who want what you have to offer than a 100 tire kickers.”

Jim Rohn had a similar approach when he said “the best advice I can offer is for you to realize that you have permission to ‘talk about what matters’ only to people who care.”

5. Do they want what you have to offer? Does your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) match what they want?
A unique selling proposition (USP) is your unique answer to these questions:
• What does your product or service do that your competitors doesn’t?
• Why should I buy from you instead of anybody else?
• What guarantee can you make that nobody else can make?

These are the things that make it easier for them to say Yes rather than No!

Effective marketing/selling gets people to raise their hand and say “I want what you have to offer.”

It’s the difference between chasing leads versus having them chasing you.

Which one sounds like more fun, easier and more lucrative?

Read my blog on this issue here: USP! What Is Your Unique Selling Proposition? 

6. Do you have a solution for their problem?
Whatever you sell needs to be in harmony with the natural and existing forces in their life right now.

The sooner you learn how to disqualify the 80%, the faster you will dominate your market.

 

Two huge mistakes almost every business makes

1. They don’t capture the contact information on everyone they come in contact with, name, address, phone number, email address are the basics.

But if you want to excel at this, learn as much as possible about them as you can so that in your future communications, you can share things that are of interest to them.

I used to find out all of the demographic and psychographic information I could.

2. Businesses have no consistent marketing strategy for follow-up.

Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up with things that add value to their lives.
That is why, over the course of time, the more you know about who you know, the better and more trusting your relationship with them will be.

Effective marketing/selling is all about creating trusting relationships.

How badly do you want to not only DOMINATE your market within your industry but do it with less time, effort and money invested?

How badly do you want to have more personal time and more consistent cash flow and higher profits?

Remember this: It is better to reach 10% of the market and persuade them 100% of the way than to reach 100% of the market and only persuade them 10% of the way. 

Stated another way: Ten sales are better than 100 “be-backs.”

 

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Double Your Business in the Next 12 to 24 Months

Referrals are one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to double your business in the next 12 to 24 months!

The best way to double your business is to have every customer bring a new customer.

And the very Best way is to have every Ideal client (the 20% of your clientele that generates 80% of your revenue and profits. The 80/20 Rule) bring you a new client, just like them.

What would it be like where prospective customers call or walk in pre-sold and ready to buy?
How would your business and your personal life be different?
What would happen to your stress levels?
What would be the impact on your financial security?
How would it feel to have a stable income and cash flow?
How would it affect your family life?

What if you could cheerfully outspend your competition by 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 or even 4-to-1 to bring in your IDEAL customer?

You would destroy some of your weaker competitors.

Almost every business owner I’ve ever spoken to says they get most of their business from referrals…and yet, while they may not exactly be living paycheck-to-paycheck, they do not Dominate their market.

In fact, they pretty much have good months and bad months; just like their competition.

Their income, cash flow and their personal time is not stable and consistent.
Why?

They don’t make it easy for their clients to refer.
They put all the risk on the customer.
They rely on tactics and practices instead of Principles.
They forget that selling is all about relationships.
They have systems based on policies & rules instead of Principles.

They are reluctant to ask for a referral because they think their customer believes it is only for the money!

If you want your ideal clients to refer other ideal clients, you have to make it easy for them to do it when it’s natural for them to do it.

Not just because you are paying them by offering a chance to win a new iPad or even if you are offering them a free iPad IF they refer.

When the subject of whatever your business is about comes up in conversation, you want your ideal customers to talk about you.

You want them to refer you.
You want them to be your outside sales force.

Referrals come pre-sold or at least mostly pre-sold.
They tend to spend more and stay longer.

And, the original customer that did the referring, now has even more emotional commitment to you so consequently, their Lifetime Value increases.

Four things almost every business owner seems to have in common:
1. Not enough time – personal and business
2. Uncertainty of income and cash flow
3. Not enough clients or more accurately, not enough of the “right” clients
4. Not enough of the “right’ employees

What would it feel like to have all of these things?
• More time – both business and personal
• Less unanticipated problems which will mean less headaches and less stress
• Consistently improving results which will mean consistently improving income and cash flow
• Relationships of trust with every employee, vendor and client.
• Customized Solutions that work for you. Every business and owner is unique.
• Personal 1-on-1 mentoring where you can rely on someone with competence and character to help you to ask the right questions, come up with the right solutions, help you anticipate problems before they arise.

What would your life be like a year from now if you were achieving one of the following:
1. The same results you are now getting but with less time, effort and/or money invested on your part.
Or

2. Better results with the same amount of time, effort and/or money invested on your part.
Or…Best of all

3. Better results with less time, effort and/or money invested on your part

Or…you might choose to spend more in time, effort and/or money and absolutely CRUSH your competition.

Principle Centered Marketing Selling & Business Practices is holistic in that it encompasses your employees, your clients and your systems.

Because we focus on principles and because you, your business and your challenges are unique, the solutions we create for you will be implemented in a different order than they would be for a different business with its own unique circumstances.

What works for another business may not need to be implemented in your business.

Thru our Smart Questioning process, we help you discover: What you want and need, Who your perfect employee and client is and How to best connect all the dots.

Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business Practices involves every aspect of your business from the message(s) in your marketing, to teaching and making sure every employee from the sales rep to the receptionist always know that the client is asking WIIFM (What’s In It For Me): To think benefits NOT features and that it’s all about providing Value.

We help you generate a business based on creating, growing and retaining your most productive clients and employees.

We help you create an environment based on trusting relationships.

Double your business in the next 12 to 24 months.

 

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Marketing Principle: Marketing is simply Salesmanship

Marketing is simply salesmanship in advance and salesmanship is all about creating and maintaining principle-centered relationships.

The stronger your relationship is with your clients/patients/customers, the more successful and profitable you are going to be.

Nothing happens until someone sells something.

We are all salespeople – parents, children, pastors, teachers, waitresses, police officers, doctors… makes no difference.
We sell every day; ideas, services, products, ourselves….Everyone has to sell something every day.

We come out of the womb selling. We had to convince our mothers that we were hungry, tired or just wanted attention.

As you were growing up, you had to “sell” your parents to get what you wanted.

You had to sell yourself to your spouse, your boss, your co-workers, your friends, your customers, your students, etc. etc. etc…

Selling is more about Principles than it is about techniques.

Once you understand the Principles, there are a 101 different techniques to selling.
But, one caveat, Never Break the Laws of God or man.

Selling and marketing is all about creating and maintaining principle-centered relationships.
You build and maintain relationships on Trust.

People buy from people they like, and people will like you if they trust you.

I have a simple formula for trust:
Trust = Competence plus Character demonstrated over Time

Competence is talent, ability, skill, and knowledge.
Character is integrity, motive, and intent.

When trust is low, everything slows down in relationships.
Low trust causes suspicion which slows down decisions and communication.
When trust is high, confidence is high, decision-making is fast and communication is effortless.

In other words success is about building sound, trustworthy relationships.

15 Habits to cultivate within yourself and your business that will help you build strong meaningful relations – both personal and business:

1. Be Honest & Authentic. Always be straight with people.

2. Act with Kindness & Courtesy. Be Respectful of everyone; even those who might be “in-your-face” and/or disagree with you. You may have to “fire” a customer one day, but be respectful about it and then move on.

3. Be Transparent – An Educated Customer is the Best Customer. Consistently tell the world what you offer, why you offer it and how it will benefit them.
Tell the complete story about what makes you and your product or service unique. You don’t have to just tell the good, tell some bad as well. Every product or service will not be the right fit for everyone. Admit it right up front. Stating what you can’t do builds trust and alleviates unpleasant problems down the road. I’d rather lose the sale right up front and build a reputation of integrity than lose a client after the sale due to disappointment.

4. Apologize When Wrong. When you screw up, take responsibility, apologize and make some sort of meaningful restitution.

5. Be Loyal – especially to the Absent (never talk badly about anyone behind their back).

6. Deliver Results – One of the best habits you can cultivate in order to accomplish the results your clients/customers/patients expect is to clarify expectations, the next habit.

7. Clarify Expectations – Make sure everyone fully understands, including yourself. Almost all conflicts are a result of violated expectations. Even though most of my business is done with a simple handshake, it is still imperative that the expectations of effort, responsibilities and results are clarified in writing.

8. Be a Student of your Business – Constantly Improve by exposing yourself to new ideas, techniques and people. This allows you to be innovative.

9. Be Honest about Reality. Being self-aware is one of the foundations of ever achieving greatness. You have to know what motivates and de-motivates you. What your strengths and weaknesses are. You must maintain an unwavering faith in your vision or desired end result and that, in the end, you will prevail but at the same time you have to confront and be honest about the facts of current reality.

10. Be Proactive – Take responsibility and hold yourself and others accountable. Learn to “Think Win-Win or No Deal.” Never blame someone else.

11. Listen with the Intent to Understand Rather than Simply to Respond. Ask Smart Questions and listen.

12. Keep your Promises. One of the best ways to accomplish this is under-promise, over-deliver.

13. Extend Trust -Give trust and expect it in return.

14. Actively Seek Complaints – Be open to feedback; That means proactively seek out complaints as an opportunity to build trust.

15. Have an Attitude of Gratitude.

Every TOP salesperson and develops their own style and techniques but they all adhere to the same Principles

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4 Things Every Client wants

Here are the 4 things every client wants and effective marketing is essential to letting the world know you offer them.

Price – Product or Service – Customer Service – Lifetime Relationship

Price: The great thing about being a Principle Centered business is that when you adhere to all of our Principles, you don’t have to be the lowest price…just provide a fair price.

Product or Service: Clients buy solutions to problems. If they are in need of a drill bit for a ¼” hole and you are a chiropractor, obviously you aren’t even on their radar.

But if you are one of a hundred hardware stores in their market area, then in order to get their business, you need to be proactive in building and maintaining that relationship where they view you as their trusted adviser for all of their hardware needs.

The more you understand their needs, the better you can serve them and the more valuable you become.
The more you understand them, the better you can anticipate their needs.

Customer Service: I want to do business with an auto repair shop that knows my driving habits and my vehicle so well, that he can anticipate my maintenance requirements, he knows the the idiosyncrasies of my particular make/model to anticipate a problem before it arises.

What are the biggest fears of having to buy a new or used automobile? Getting ripped off on price and what if something goes wrong with my car after purchase? This is especially true for used cars.

According to Stephen Covey in his book “The 3rd Alternative” there is a car dealer in Utah who sells all of his new vehicles for just a few hundred dollars over cost. He then helps his customers sell their car during the next model year for roughly the same price they paid for it.

He does his research and only sells vehicles with the highest resale value.

Before retiring from the auto business, we went to a One Best Price business model on new cars and it worked quite well for us.

For used cars, it is extremely easy to stand out from the crowd and NOT have to fight the “price war.”

Once we know what makes you unique (USP), and what the Lifetime Value (LTV) is of your customer base, and we help you create your Risk Free Guarantee, you will DOMINATE your market.

Knowing your audience is essential.
Our 50 Question Discovery Process helps you with that.

Finally a relationship based on High Trust is what creates a Lifetime Relationship: Your clients want someone whose judgement they trust.

I have a simple formula for trust.
Trust = Competence plus Character.

Clients want a trusted adviser they can rely on. Someone who has demonstrated a competence in their field and has the character to do what they say they are going to do.

Learn more at  When Trust Is High

Any business that can provide all four of these will DOMINATE their market.

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7 Reasons to practice Principle Centered Marketing:

Here are 7 straight forward Reasons that Principle Centered Marketing works.

1. Constantly chasing down NEW clients no longer has to be your main priority. The question you need to ask yourself is would you rather be always chasing down new clients or have them chase you?
Jay Abraham taught me that getting customers and clients to “raise their hand” and ask for me was what good marketing was all about.

2. Your share of the market increases.
Customers or clients no longer shop around, even temporarily. They trust you so your competition doesn’t get ANY of their business.

3. Your sales increase.
When your marketing is building strong, trusting relationships, your current clients turn into raving fans and become your own private sales force.
When I was selling cars and the subject of cars came up, I wanted everyone I came in contact with, prospects and clients, to talk about and refer me.
Because I had treated them with respect and honesty, and educated them not just on my product but on how to purchase an automobile, when the subject of automobiles came up, they automatically thought of me, even the ones who ended up not buying from me.
I created my own army of salespeople.

4. The Lifetime Value of your clients increase because they remain loyal to you.
– They purchase from you more often
– They refer others to you
– Over time, as trust builds, they are less likely to place price at the top of their list.

5. Your Cost of Doing Business Decreases.
Because customers and clients are now “raising their hand” asking you to help them, it costs you less in time, effort and money. Now you can focus that time, effort and money on your business.

6. Profits increase.
Same reason as above.

7. It’s more fun.

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8 Things Every Website needs to Include

There are 8 things every website needs to have in order to be effective at generating leads and sales.

1. Video – more and more important, although in my experience a lot of business owners just won’t do it. But if you can get over your nervousness, and get on camera saying who you are, what you do, and why you do it – that’s personal & powerful.

Example: As a car dealer, I would use my smart phone to take a short video at delivery showing my client walking around his or her new vehicle and driving away and then sharing that video via email with my client and posting it as a testimonial on my website.

You could use the same method in any other brick & mortar business.
The possibilities are endless.

2. Phone Number – Make sure your phone number is at the upper right side of every website page – It should also be obvious & prominent on your mobile site version too. Principle of Marketing: Always Make It Easy for your Customers to do Business With You.

3. Call To Action – You have about 3 seconds to convey who you are, what you do, and why the site visitor should care. If the home page is full of text about how great you are instead of what problems you solve, site visitors aren’t going to stick around.

4. Opt-in form – or some way to capture information so that you can market to them again. Offer something of value to your client as a way to capture their information.
Just saying “Sign Up for our updates” or “get our newsletter” will not cut it. Give people a compelling REASON to give you their information.

This underscores the importance of knowing your Lifetime Value of your customers or clients.

Once you know their value, it is a lot easier for you to calculate how much you are willing to invest or reward them with an “ethical bribe”.

5. Mobile Compatibility – It’s critically important that your website works properly with mobile devices (like iPads and Smart phones) Not just a tiny rendering of your entire site, but basic info like phone number, address, maybe a menu – depends on the business. Right now over 60% of local searches are done on a mobile phone and that’s only going to increase

6. Testimonials and Proof – If people love your service and you’re the best in your industry, say so! I believe the best way is to collect video testimonials of your customers saying that in person.

7. An effective “About” page – Typically your “About” page is the second-most visited page on your website. People want to know who they’re dealing with. Don’t hide behind vague reassurances or terminology, especially if you’re local. Videos of you and your staff are highly effective.

8. Social Media Connection – Now, more than ever, it is very important to have a connection between your website and social media.
Have you ever searched for something on Amazon and the next time you went to your Facebook page, you saw an ad for that very same product? That’s re-targeting.

Think about this: You spent thousands of dollars to create a website with the sole purpose of generating leads and ultimately sales. Don’t waste that investment by treating it like a digital yellow page ad.
That is just a waste of you money, time and effort.

The only goal of marketing for a brick & mortar business is to drive traffic either to your place of business or to your website and then you have to convert that traffic to sales.

With this simple tool of Facebook re-targeting, you make sure that everyone that visits your website, continues to be exposed to your message, product or services.

It requires a minimum of 5 “touches” before people begin to “hear” you message, and several more exposures (touches) before their action is initiated.

These simple 8 website principles are your key to having an effective web site that generate additional sales.

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Sell Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

If I’d of had this technology, information and paradigm 10 years ago, I’d
be sending this from my own private island somewhere in the South Pacific. :)

Watch this video I made on the “spur-of-the-moment” and with just a little
imagination on your part, I’m sure you’ll be able to see what I see and relate
to you in this video I shot while walking my dog in the country.

I could have put another quarter million dollars in my pocket with this technique of being able to sell anything, anywhere, anytime.

I don’t care what kind of business you have, I can show you how to increase traffic
and increase your income with this simple tool and way of thinking.

 

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