Kiss On the First Date

Are you loosing clients because you want to kiss on the first date?

When I was a lot younger I ventured along this route a few times and got smacked many times! I got wise - eventually. I started using flowers, cards, letters, lots of gifts and time before I got my real kiss.

You can define the Coffee New kiss as the start of a relationship, a satisfied advertiser and a 52-week order.

Not getting your customer to kiss on the first date could be because of these unsuccessful attempts:

You are not visiting your advertisers regularly.
You have not yet become a trusted advisor to them.
You are not giving them free advice on advertising.
You are not giving them feed back on how many readers you have every week.
You are not giving them free tips on how to get more customers.
You selling advertising space.
You have delegated relationship building to other people.
You are not making positive contact with previous advertisers or potential leads.

You all know it is a lot easier to work on existing relationship than to get a new client. New Coffee News licensees get despondent when they can't retain their six weeks or 13-week advertisers. Why?

The most successful Coffee News licensees become STICKY and understand the “give to get” principles.
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We will now work on a few ideas to establish and maintain a long term relationship:

You need to understand and agree to the Coffee News principles and why it works.
We must identify the problems experienced by our clients and solve it. We may even have to tell some potential clients that Coffee News is not the answer to their problems. Give them alternatives and build relationships. Stop selling space.
Create awareness of the Coffee News brand. Everywhere.
Ask for and compile a list of testimonials. You can use testimonials as your Coffee News ads.
Study the principles of cold calling and compile a list of cold calling scripts. Do you know how many calls it takes to get an appointment or how many it takes to get the business? Coffee News licensees around the world recommends the book by Stephen Schiffman “Cold Calling Techniques That Really Works”. You can order it from http://www.amazon.com Have a look at what other Coffee News licensees had to say about Cold Calling
“Give to Get”: The easiest and cheapest gift is to deliver a copy of Coffee News to your advertisers every week while you spend 5 minutes listening to their problems and giving them advice. The simple fact you make the effort to give him a copy is enough reason for many advertisers to realize that you care.
You can compile a list of 52 (or 12) marketing tips. Create a set of 52 postcards with a tip on each. Allow enough space for a few comments. Send a post card to every advertiser and (potential or past advertiser) every week (once a month) with the tip and tell them how many readers you had for the week. We have just done the newspaper delivery and have found the advertisers a lot easier when they have to renew.
Why do readers read an ad? Just imagine yourself reading a newspaper. You only select what you read because of the headline. A newspaper’s headline must grab your attention before you decide to read it. Every successful Coffee News licensee has studied the principles involved in creating an effective ad.

Your ads will be more effective if they identify:

The problem your advertiser have to solve.
The solution.
The target market.
The biggest objection (see the point on objections below).
A case study or testimonial if space allows it.
Risk reversal: For example , “If you do not get it in 30 minutes it is free”
USP (Unique Selling Proposition): Why should I choose you? You have to have something NO ONE else has.

The ideas above are from Sean's web site on psychological marketing tactics. If you have not yet visited Sean’s web site on Brain Audit then do it as soon as possible. You can subscribe to his free newsletter and this will allow you access to many valuable reports. I have bought his ebooks and must say they are excellent. I do recommend you (urge you) to purchase his books before you get any other. Brain Audit

Why should you create your own referral group?
You want to help people and they want to help you. You need to work with a referral group who are part of your community. You meet every week with businesses that want you to help them in return they will help you. Get a list of all your Coffee News advertisers and meet once a week in one of your local restaurants. Invite other categories who are not part of Coffee News yet. Thye pay for their own breakfast.
You organise the list, the invites and you allow them to network. They will enjoy that value add.
Your local chamber of commerce may also be a great group where you meet business people.

Did you know that Harley Davidson did no advertising for more then 10 years? All they did was to create a community. Please read their story. It is available from Sean site when you join his newsletter. Brain Audit

Are you selling advertising space or are you selling value? To date we have sold a 13-week contract and a 52-week contract. These are all meaningless items. We know that people buy value and not a contract. From David Frey’s book (right click it and then save file as - give "what ever" and then open the file in acrobat) “The Small Business Marketing Bible” Click and down load the free first six chapters. I got the idea to change these contracts to a bundle or a package. This will help you to promote a higher perceive value to your customer.

Let’s consider the following example where we add value by giving our products a name and we share more perceived value as we coach the prospect into a long term relationship:

Coffee News More-Customers Intro Pack (Six Weeks). You can expect to become know just as your message disappear from your target market. Depending on how well you have designed your ad for your target market you may get one or many referrals. The package include:

Free advice on Coffee News ad design.
Free creation of the Ad.

Coffee News More-Customers Super Pack (13 Weeks). At the end of 13 weeks your prospects will know you, think you are worth something and think "it must be a good thing". You have been at your target long enough to build trust. You have had time to experiment with improving your ad to target your market. You are starting to become the first choice. They may like you. The package includes:

Free advice on Coffee News ad design.
Free creation of Coffee News Ad.
Three free changes to the ad.

Coffee News More Customers Ultimate Pack (52 weeks). Your prospects now remember that they always wanted your product or services and that when they get it they will get it from you. You have experimented with your ad, you have found the right head line and your target market not only like you, they trust you, you are their first choice and you get many new clients. You have captured your exclusive category in your target market's eyes. The package may include:

Free advice on Coffee News ad design.
Free creation of Coffee News Ad.
Twelve free changes to the ad.
Free advice and Brain Audit of their marketing plan.
Redesign Business Cards and other marketing material.
Free web page and web address for your Coffee News ad.
Free electronic books on how to get more customers.

Every time as we move to the next value pack the client can identify himself with the benefits. Compare this approach with selling six weeks, thirteen weeks ads space compared the More Customers Ultimate Pack. Every time you tell them about a longer contract in weeks they get scared because they have been caught a few times.

Why should Coffee News become STICKY?

Everything we say in this document is an attempt to create stickiness. We want our advertisers to get so much pain from leaving us that they will not contemplate it. Have you been involved in a relationship where you considered leaving but you had some much to loose that you think twice. Creating your own web business is another excellent way to create stickiness.

People are going to the web to get INFORMATION. People do not go to the web primarily to buy. The buy transaction may happen if we have build enough trust. With a local Coffee News web site you create a page for each and every advertising category in your area. If you do this well you will rank number one in the search engines for your pages in your local area. Click here to see what Ken has to say about “The Internet is going local”. To date we have create a few web business using Ken's advice. Before you stop reading….

Can you type, copy and paste? Then you can create a web business for your Coffee News area.

Let’s list a few ideas on how would you use a web business?

You create a page for every long-term advertiser.
Your advertiser can use the page to attract potential clients.
On their Coffee News ad you indicate the web address for their business.
On the page you show what your advertiser can do for the reader. The advertiser uses the page to build trust.
The people interested in the ad get time to learn more about the advertiser with the knowledge that they will not get “the hard sell”.
The web page is non threatening and away to “hold hands” with no demands made by a pushy salesperson.
When the potential client trusts what they read they are enticed to ask for more free information. They may get a free report on the subject if they enter their email address. You get a notice via email when they have asked for more information and your advertiser gets a notification. This means a hot lead and your advertiser can approach them.
Many people are starting to use the Internet to find INFORMATION. They may want to know where they can get an electrician in Durban. If you have followed the web business principles well then these hot leads will find your electrician (advertisers) in Durban. Ken will help you with these.

Can you handle objections?

Many a business deal has been lost because sales people have not prepared themselves for objections. Sean suggests excellent advice on how to handle objections. He suggests the “Feel, felt and found” method.

Let’s consider an example:
Your potential advertisers tell you that advertising does not work. Your answer: “I know how you feel. Many of our successful Coffee News advertisers have felt the same. Today they have found Coffee News a tailor made solution for small to medium business like yours who focus on local clientele”.

What happens when you are scared you will loose an item you can never replace? You will protect it. Scarcity is a Coffee News commodity and you need to use it.

Let’s consider an extreme but possible example:

You invite 5 plumbers to the following presentation called: “The eight advertising secrets no newspaper want to share with Plumbers.” You can then create your own report but here are my eight “secret” suggestions:

No newspaper will ever want to advertise only one plumber.
No newspaper will tell plumber that people who read their newspaper and want his services will never do business with him because they are to far from him.
They will not tell him where his little ad will be dumped in their newspaper.
They will not tell him that all ads will not be the same size and that his ad will not be very visible.
They will not tell him that their ad will not be read when people are hungry and most aware.
No newspaper will design an ad not to mention an effective ad.
No newspaper will give them free advice on their advertising and marketing.
No newspaper will tell them if the newspaper does not target their market.

After this report you show them the Coffee News video. You share with them the principles of Coffee News and why it works. You also show them one of your prepared plumbers ads using Sean’s principles. Then you close the meeting, hand out your business cards. As a final reminder you ask interested parties to contact you as Coffee News can only help one plumber and you have scheduled another meeting tomorrow with another three plumbers in your area. You will have a guaranteed fight and one long-term advertiser.

Are you using your lists of contacts effectively? You have spoken to your current and past advertisers, you have met with many prospects. What are you doing to remind them of Coffee News? I have mentioned the post card that you send regularly. People really care when you they get a hand written note from you with free advice. There are other means as well and I have tried them both. In both cases I must caution you to familiarise yourself with Sean's principles before you embark on any of the two methods. The first is to create a weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter where you share valuable information with your advertisers. You need to give them what they want. This is not an opportunity for you to brag about yourself. Your readers only want to know "what is in it for me".
The second and more difficult is to use cellular technology and the short message system (sms). It is very easy to use but it is not so easy to find messages with "what is in it for me" benefits. You can use it to send readership statistics to your advertisers. You can use it to send community news. You can pre-set a message to wish them well on their birthdays. You could send them a marketing tip every week. I am using www.smsmalls.co.za

A summury of usefull resources:
Down laod the free six chapters "The Small Business Marketing Bible". It is a useful book and if you like the six chapters. The best way is to right click an "Save as target". Read the book at your leisure and then decide if you want to purchase the rest of the book.

You should get hold of Stephen Schiffman’s book “Cold Calling Techniques That Really Works”. Many Coffee News licensees around the word recommend the book. I could only get it from http://www.amazon.com

Create your own web business and create stickiness for your local community business. Have a look at what Ken has to say.

Understand how the brain works and become a expert on psychological marketing tactics through Brain Audit

Send out "what's in it for me" messages to your advertisers and potential advertisers when you create a database at www.smsmalls.co.za.
You can phone PJ Kruger at 082 926 0755.

Johan Horak
Happy Kisses.