Merchant Spotlight Continued... She discovered that, "The clear choice was 1ShoppingCart. I could
quickly and easily upload my digital products, create a sign-up form for an
autoresponder series, send out broadcast email and create an order page in less
than an hour, and I was in business! How much easier could it be?"
She sold products from her web site but Lynn knew as a solo practitioner that
for her sales to really take off she needed help. She believes, "The biggest
benefit was setting up my affiliate program in a matter of minutes and that
multiplied the sales force for my products and my income."
Congratulations to Lynn Pierce as she continues to see tremendous growth at
www.GettingToYesWithoutSelling.com.
She credits, "The ease of using the autoresponders and
the email broadcasts for allowing me to communicate much more often with my
entire database than I would with just an ezine. This has lead to a significant
increase in the size of my list and my income."
Get Lynn's "9 Steps to Getting to YES Without Selling" free mini-course at
www.GettingToYesWithoutSelling.com
Insight Continued...
There are several ways to refocus on your customers. Your success will be
determined by your commitment to act as your customers' advocate for better
products and clearer benefit statements in your marketing materials. These rules
sound simple, but they're easy to forget when surrounded by ad reps dressed in
black:
1. Involve your customers from the beginning.
An example. Companies
continue to develop the world's next best mousetrap because they believe their
customers buy "pest control products." Those companies don't know that their
prospects have termites, and have no use for a mousetrap. Get it? Ask your
prospective market very specific questions about their problems, and then build
what they do need. Nothing is easier to market than what people are
already asking for.
2. Continue to concentrate on your customers' problems.
Don't ever
stop asking them after your product's developed. Continue to inquire about their
challenges. Their industries change constantly, just like ours. Can you identify
or foresee problems they haven't? What can you do to eliminate or minimize your
customers' problems?
3. Clearly describe the customer benefits resulting from your
features.
List your features. Take each one and put it to the "What's in
it for me?" test. What does having that benefit mean to the customer? Then probe
further to uncover the benefit of the benefit, by thinking "What does that
benefit mean to our customer or to their clients?"
For example, a unified
messaging platform means you get e-mail, voice mail, and faxes all in the same
place. So, "What's in it for me?" Convenience due to one location with one
software program. Followed by, "What does that really mean?" It means you have
more time to call more prospects and pursue more sales.
4. Speak and write using "you" instead of "we."
Look at all your business
communications -- from brochures, to email, to your Web site. How
often are you talking about you, your company, and your products?
Compare it to the number of times you mention the customer,
generally referred to as "you." Talk more about them, and they will
be more interested in you.
5. Avoid industry jargon and acronyms (or at least explain them).
Let me just say
that "ISP, DNS, xDSL, mp3, Affiliates and FTP" aren't standard in
common conversation. Even people who seem technically astute tend
not to reveal their true level of understanding. If prospects are
confused they trust you less, lack rapport with you, and won't buy
your product.
6. Invite customers to offer their opinions for improvement.
In plain English, give
them a place to criticize your efforts and reward them for it. Take
as much feedback as you can get. When a customer invests their time,
even to complain, they are demonstrating that they value their
relationship with you and want to return it to a level of mutual
satisfaction.
7. Use technology to customize service.
We are sometimes too busy to
notice how another's solution would benefit our customers and us.
Take the time to invest in systems that improve your customers'
experience with you. Conversely, a company might invest in
technology for status or because they are early adopters. Either
way, ask yourself, "How do my customers benefit directly from this
new software?" If there is no concrete reason, you could probably do
without it and save money.
These are just a few ideas to think about when attracting new prospects and
serving your existing customer base. Future columns will look deeper into
marketing communications and sales strategies, including technology.
Martin is responsible for Marketing and Business Development at 1ShoppingCart.com.
If you’d like to discuss any Joint Venture, Affiliate or co-marketing opportunities,
you can reach him at Martin@1ShoppingCart.com.
Support FAQs Continued...
Shake Hands and Be Nice
When you send an email, the ‘sending mail server’ and ‘receiving mail server’
make a connection, or handshake. Every mail server has an identity, and each
identity has many unique attributes. Mail servers are identified by their IP
address and "name" (reverse DNS). For instance, if you looked up the IP address
66.70.75.210, that IP would be identified as mail210.autocontactor.com. You can
think of the IP address as the phone number of the server.
The two servers identify themselves, and communicate back and forth. It
basically works like a phone call:
The sending server (Server A), "polls" or calls the receiving server (Server
B):
"Hello, this is Server A, is Server B there?"
Server B would either reply with a "yes" or it will not respond.
Assuming that Server B replies, Server A would then come back with:
"I am Server A, and I have a message that is addressed to one of your
users."
Server B would offer one of the following responses:
"Yes, I am here, please send your message," or
"Yes, but I am having some problems communicating with you," or
"I am sorry, but I am not allowed to talk to you".
Packet Power
Once the connection is established, the two servers send data back and forth.
In this process, the two servers are constantly sending, and receiving "packets"
back and forth. Packets are simply little pieces of the data being sent. These
packets are like pieces of a puzzle that the receiving server puts together,
once the pieces are all collected, and accounted for. This is the basis for
what’s called the TCP/IP protocol, a standard for sending information on the
Internet and through networks.
If for any reason one of the packets does not make it to the destination,
server B would send a request for a resend to server A. If the packet is not
lost, and simply delayed, Server B could actually request a resend, and get both
the original and the resent message, and deliver both. This can cause duplicate
emails.
Surprising to most, the Internet itself is still in its infancy.
There are many different areas of the world that cannot even
get broadband service locally. There are no universal standards for software,
hardware and infrastructures. This causes frequent issues with communication.
Many times as the packets travel through different routers and switches
throughout the Internet, there is a good possibility that one way or another a
packet could be lost or corrupted.
In the next edition of ShopT@lk, you’ll hear more about servers and issues
you need to understand and consider when using email for your
business.
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