The answer to all these questions is YES! A clear and loud YES! You definitely can make small changes that have huge returns, the key is in the what you change. All too often we change the wrong stuff, or more importantly, the stuff that doesn’t really matter. For example, if you want to contact more people to get them into your pipeline everyday, here are some of the things you might consider to do that: create a system for recording information from those contacts, work out how best to contact them, find a database of prospects, set a goal for each day. From that list, what task could you accomplish quickly, easily and move closer to your ultimate goal? For me it would simply be to set a goal for each day. Why, because I could spend a bunch of time getting ready to do something, but that doesn’t matter if I am not doing it! Does that make sense?

No to my title – Can your toilet paper help you have the best year ever in 2012? You bet it can! Here’s how. Let’s say you own a restaurant and when customers use your restroom they always complain (to themselves at least) that you have the cheapest, most sandpapery toilet paper of any restaurant they go to. It’s not a big thing, right? It’s only toilet paper, but in the customers mind they begin to ask themselves, what else are they skimping on. Or they do not enjoy their experience as much at your place. It’s negative, and you don’t want that – so I would change out the toilet paper to the most luxurious you can afford to buy. It sends an important message – we care about everything for you when you are here with us. That’s how you can make a difference.

I attend a meeting at a nice facility every month and in the bathroom they have one of those electric blowers to dry your hands. It is one of the high powered versions that would blow the hair off a hairy man (you know what I am talking about). People hated to use it also because it was so loud. So guests asked for paper towels, but they did not want to have the mess, so they came up with a brilliant solution. Let’s step it up a notch they said – and they put nice, rolled hand towels in the bathroom as an alternative. Is that a big deal, no, but it says a lot a them and the sort of place they run – “top notch”.

So I would challenge you to take a look at something that potentially could turn people off in your business and change it today! It may not be toilet paper, but whatever it is, fix it and reap the rewards of looking out for the little stuff!

Make today awesome for you!

Neil

January 1 brings with it an automatic change – you are in a new year (a fact that I seem to forget until March! – especially when writing checks), but what that brings is an opportunity to start over again. To have goals and ideals that can drive you to your next destination. I am not a big believer in “New Year’s Resolutions”, as they tend to be broken just a few short days later, but I do believe it is a time to be reflective on what has worked and what hasn’t!

When it comes to your marketing, here’s is my tip this week – get rid of what’s not working and look for something that might. Actually here is my formula for marketing change:

1. Have 3-5 marketing methods that you regularly use to generate news business.

2. Track them carefully enough so you know if your time and or money are actually bringing you any business.

3. Rank them in order of effectiveness

4. Eliminate the worst performer(s)

5. Find new ideas to replace the poor performers

6. Model them after the success you are having with your best performers

If you don’t have any successful methods currently – we need to talk – NOW!!!

That’s it – my marketing tip of the week that should stand you in good stead for 2012 and to make it your best year ever! By the way, I just did this with the least profitable part of my business. It’s going to be a big change, but I am moving on from the very thing I started with (my Coffee News publication) and replacing it with some other marketing avenues that I believe will be wildly successful. Stay tuned for updates on that. That’s a big change for me, as for over 5 years it has been the heart of my business, but it was time to move on and I am excited to do just that.

May the start to 2012 be awesome for you ,

Neil

I belong to a forum where this concept is used very effectively for online products and I have read many times about a product I may possibly use in the future but had decided in my mind that I would wait until I needed it. Then I hit the sales copy where they tell me why I need it now, not next week. All of a sudden I am thrown into a dilemma – I didn’t want to buy now I wanted to wait, but they just told me they would only offer this bargain price for 24 hours, or after every sale the price goes up, or another tactic I have seen offers a bonus to the first 50 that buy. Do you see the mental anguish I go through? I didn’t plan on buying, but now I “have” to – that’s what I call great marketing. Helping prospects move to action sooner rather than later. So how can you apply this to your marketing plan?

There are actually a few different types of deadline tactics, each one very effective depending on the product being sold. While one may not work for a specific product, another deadline tactic may work quite well. It’s important to try each of these and determine which are most effective for you.

Buy 1 Get 1 Free

You are telling potential customers that if they order by the deadline, they’ll get something free with their purchase. People tend to respond to this type of tactic if it’s a product that they really would like two of, or if the bonus product is something that is desirable.

Order Now to Get Special Price

People are always looking to save money. The Order Now to get Special Price tactic is effective for this reason – that if they order now, they’ll get the product for a special price which is lower than the regular price.

Limited Quantity

It may seem a little odd, but some people get easily pressured into buying something simply because there is a limited quantity of it. If you watch QVC or HSN, you’ll see this tactic used a lot. There is a product that has only been produced 1000 times, and if you don’t order it now, it’s gone for good. The Limited Quantity tactic puts pressure on the buyers to make the purchase, making it a very good deadline tactic.

So why should you use a deadline tactic? Well, for starters, a lot of customers are very savvy. They really think about each and every purchase they make. Deadline tactics keep the customers from second guessing purchasing a product. Having a deadline for a product will make sure that customers who are interested in the product will purchase it the minute they see it.

I hope this helps you achieve more with your marketing today! Be sure to watch your email tomorrow morning bright and early for a special 1-day offer you won’t want to miss!!!

When I first heard this story, I thought it was perhaps a publicity stunt or something, but I have found out it is true and it is genuine.

A kind-hearted business man decided to visit one of America’s poorest cities and do the unthinkable – give away (anonymously – to the public at least) $100 bills to the people who need it most. WOW!!! He hit the street with 200 x $100 bills (all stamped with Secret Santa) and gave them away to people who would have probably gone without this Holiday Season. Make sure you take a look at the video below.

This has inspired me to do 2 things. Firstly, challenge you with the question – what can you do for someone else this Holiday Season? What can your business provide for someone who is in need so their experience will be better because you entered their world? Yes, I guess I am coming at this with a bit of a marketing angle, but realistically I really want you to think about this more form the angle of doing something for someone else and not getting any recognition for it. A radical concept – yes, especially as I encourage everyone to take advantage of marketing opportunities any way they can. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that you will be repaid for the kindness you show – and what better way to show it than right now to someone who may need it more than you even know. Be a Secret Santa to someone today.

On that note, I want to offer you something very special – an opportunity to make your marketing wishes come true. I want to know – What Marketing Wish Do You Have That You Can’t Fulfill Right Now? Yes, I really want to know! I am going to help someone make their wish come true, but I can’t do that unless you tell me what that wish is. You can be naughty or nice, it can be big or small, but the bottom line is, I want to know so I can see if we can do something about it.

Here’s how you enter, just go to my blog page for this post and add your comment/request to the bottom of my post. Then sometime between now and Christmas, I will award a winner or perhaps even a number of winners. All you have to do it tell me what your greatest marketing wish is?

I wish you a great day and hope you are able to brighten someone’s world today!

P.S. I do have a few other gifts for you as well – FREE Training!!!
Click here to signup for our 2012 Business Blueprint Session Live
or click here to signup for our Webinar!

Last Sunday my good friend and business associate Jack Klemeyer and myself made a rather lengthy trip from Indianapolis to Owensboro, KY (about 4 hours), while we were driving we solved the world’s problems, but we were there to meet with a potential new client – GuitarGoods.com (they have a great online store with everything a guitar enthusiast would ever want). They were looking for some fresh approaches to marketing for their online store. We spent some time finding out more about their business, asking them questions and generally trying to gather as much information as we could. After we were done Jack and I headed over to Moonlite BBQ for a bite to eat before we headed home. It was there that I experienced another of life’s great “ah-ha moments”.

I thought the food was great and tried to restrain myself to just one plate (of the good stuff). I was headed over to the dessert section and noticed that they had the smallest bowls I have ever seen for your dessert. Now being the image conscious guy that I am I decided I had two choices, cut back on my dessert or look like a pig and make multiple trips – then I spied the solution. The lady in front of me had obviously been there before, she knew the drill. She headed over to the salad bar and picked up a sald plate to pile her dessert on – absolutely brilliant, I said to myself. So without thinking much about it I blurted the following out, “Mate, that’s the best idea I’ve seen in a long time!”. You ‘d have thought I’d let out a string of obscenities (which if you know me never happens), in the middle of a church service. Everyone stopped piling their plates and looked at me, starred at me, like I was an alien or something. Then in her best Kentucky accent (my friend Paul Dunbar would have felt at home) she said, “Where are you from?” A question I get asked quite frequently still today, even after living in the USA for the last 21.5 years. I was an oddity in Owensboro, KY (and I know some of you think I am no matter where I am, right?). We had a bit of a chat and she was so excited that this Aussie had chosen to visit Owensboro, KY last Sunday.

Over the years some have accused me of making up an Aussie accent just so I will stand out from every other marketer or salesperson, sorry to disappoint, it’s real. There is however a very big marketing tip we can learn out of this – what are you doing to stand out from your crowded marketplace? “The formula of telling everybody how great you are with your state-of-the-art solutions, commitment to customer service, and best prices in town just won’t cut it,” says marketing expert Lauron Sonnier, author of Think Like a Marketer. You have to be different, for a very good reason to make it today, with all the choices people have in front of them.

So how do you stand out from your crowd? Here are 4 things the Sonnier mentions in her book:

1. Do different things. “It’s easy to stand out when you do something no one else is doing, to beat your competition, you can’t just be a little better than they are. You have to do something different than they do.”

2. Do things differently.“This is where you demonstrate your understanding that the ‘how’ can be more important than the ‘what,’ ” she says. Add a special touch of class, elegance, humor or spice that makes even the common seem special.

3.Stir emotions; spread happiness.“When you stir positive emotions, be they joy or inspiration or peace of mind, you send a message that there’s more where that came from,” Sonnier says. And they’ll keep coming back for more.

4. Be consistent. The three aforementioned methods of standing out will work only if they are consistent. “Whatever it is, however seemingly insignificant, if it always happens or never happens, you have created something sticky. You have developed an identity that people can count on and will talk about.”

Here are a few of the things I do in my business to stand out from all the other marketing people:

1. Speak with a funny accent, not intentionally, but I do really bring the Aussie connection into my business. It does make me different.

2. Provide my clients with more than they asked for, always look to provide more value.

3. I am always on the lookout to make new connections for my clients.

4. Treat my clients business success like it was my very own.

So what about you? What are you going to do to stand out as you market yourself and your business? Work out what that will be and type it up, print it out and put it where you will see it everyday!

Go out and be strange today!

Neil

I know you’ve seen it, and if you haven’t then you have to be living under a rocks (if you know what I mean!). The infamous insurance commercial that apparently makes it so easy to get insurance that even a caveman could do it!

It’s been around for a while, but still makes an appearance every now and then, reminding us that if we want an easy solution, they have it. I am nor sure why the poor old caveman has been targeted, but one thing is for sure, they aren’t happy with it. What’s all this got to do with marketing – a ton actually. You see, most business owners and people who are in marketing have been fed the lie that it is really so easy that anyone with two brain cells could do it. Then you try it and it fails, you try again and don’t get the results you were hoping for, so you just give up. It’s a sad scenario I see over and over again as I meet with business owners. I don’t blame you either, it is extremely frustrating to put money out and get “nothing back” (I do believe that whenever you engage in marketing it has some positive effect no matter what, but that’s a different subject).

This week’s tip is two-fold, and addresses this common frustration – how do I get effective marketing in place for my business? I have 2 suggestions:

1. Don’t expect to be an expert unless that’s what you are prepared to do – become an expert. I think about my good friend Carl Shafer, with Shafer’s Collision in Avon. He came to me one day, very frustrated with his website and the fact that he couldn’t do everything he wanted to do with it. He had set it up, maintained it for a number of years, but was growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of knowledge on what to do next. When he and I talked, we arrived at the fact that he had 2 choices, well 3 actually, but 2 main choices. They were to completely hand it over to someone else to manage, or for him to learn everything he could so he could be the “expert” and do-it-himself. Does this sound familiar? Oh, by the way, the third option – have an expert set it up, train him and let him take it from there (an option I offer my clients and a lot of them love it!).

Think about this for a moment, how do you think Carl would feel (and how would you feel) if someone showed up at his collision repair shop and said, I would like you guys to repair my vehicle, but while you are doing it, I would like to learn everything I can, so I can open up a new shop across town, is that okay? I am sure Carl would be willing to help him to an extent, but either at a price or in a very limited capacity. Not because Carl isn’t a nice guy, it’s because he has over 20 years experience as an expert in his field and that knowledge is not only valuable it is his and he has cultivated it. He might say, fixing a crashed car is so easy, even a caveman could do it! But, I know for a fact, I have no idea how to fix that car.

My point is this, you are an expert in your business and unless you want to also be a marketing expert (which is fine by me), you need to consult someone who does this day in and day out, who has the knowledge and the shortcuts that will make your marketing successful. Then you can truly say, it is so easy even a caveman can do it (because you’re not doing it, although I am not sure I like the reference to being a caveman).

2. The other fact I have learned about marketing is simply this – it does not happen over night! It takes time. It takes time for things to develop and people to see your name or hear your benefits often enough that when they are in the market, you will be top of mind. That is truly at the heart of any secret sauce any marketing plan may have.

A great example of this would be exercise. Let’s say you want to get in shape to run a a marathon (not sure why you would do this, but never-the-less), you cannot wake up one day and be in the best shape to take on that huge challenge. It requires months and months or even years of training to be ready for this. But every time you do it, you are a step closer to achieving your goal as each workout in your plan moves you closer and closer to your goal – marathon preparedness.

If you want marketing to be a no-brainer, here are my 3 suggestions for you today:

1. become an expert in how to market your business, just like you are in what makes your business what it is, or
2. find someone else who is an expert in marketing and let them take care of the marketing, while you keep your business rolling.
3. Remember it takes time for any marketing campaign to truly be effective, give it the time it deserves.

I hope you have a great week and keep the new business rolling in. Let me know if I can help in any way,

So how do you get most of your customers/clients? Don’t say it (or send me that reply in an email), really think about it. Have you done an analysis? Do you really know? If not, what are you going to do about it? Throw stuff at the wall until it sticks? I hope not.

Whatever may be your best ways to get new business, I want to share with you how I recently used word of mouth to develop a great relationship and one new client (so far). There is a lot you can learn from this – the right way to do, “word of mouth”.

My friend Lavonda Henry, sent me an email about 2 months ago, telling me I needed to go to Facebook and respond to a questions someone had asked in one of the business groups. So I went over, took a look and saw that Sharon Smith of Maverick PR has posted that she was looking for someone who could build a WordPress site for a client. I jumped right on it and posted a response that I could definitely help her with this. I left it at that. Then a few days later, Sharon contacted me to ask me more about what I did and some samples of my work, which I provided. A few days after that, she asked me to submit a proposal for her client after giving me the basic scenario. I put together my infamous Boomerang Results Marketing Proposal (which includes some fun Aussie references) and once again left it in her hands.

A number of weeks went by before I heard anything more, I had actually forgotten about it when one Friday afternoon Sharon calls me to tell me to call her client, Andrea Liebross, and setup a meeting to build her new website. Two weeks later, Andrea had a new website, Sharon had a new vendor for WordPress sites (and as she has a number of clients who have web needs, this was a great connection for both of us), and of course, Neil had a big smile on his face with another very satisfied client of Boomerang Results Marketing. I am going to go into more detail on the actual project with Andrea another time, but you can take a look at what we created at andrealiebross.com – a nice bit of work if I say so myself. Ladies, if you are looking for great, not in stores, up to the minute clothing solutions, Andrea is your lady!

Alright, here comes the moral of the story, and the marketing lesson for today! The key to this whole relationship, which I believe will be very profitable for everyone (Andrea has already shared my info. with a business associate), is how it all got started. It was my relationship with Lavonda, making sure she knew what I was looking for, and what to do when that came along, that was the key to this whole scenario. She could have very easily passed it by and said to herself, Neil will see it, I don’t need to draw his attention to this, when in actual fact, I would probably never have seen it. Here it is: You have drive your own word of mouth marketing. You cannot expect that everyone will be thinking of you everytime they come across a problem you can solve. It hurts, I know, you would rather everyone just think about you, right? Sorry, it just doesn’t happen that way.

You need to educate people on how they can refer you, what to look for and how you want the referral to go. Here’s how I do it:

“I would like you to look for business owners who are fed up and frustrated with their website and lack of social media know-how. If you meet someone, or hear about someone who fits that description, tell them you have a solution, get their contact information and pass it on to me. I will take it from there.”

That’s what I tell people, and I don’t make it too confusing: listen, respond, get me involved, 3 simple steps you can do every day to educate more people to sell for you day in and day out.

Have a great week,

Neil

P.S. I have a ton of exciting new things coming out over the next month, so stay tuned for more new things from Boomerang Results Marketing – our business is to make your business, everyone else’s business!