Picture this.
How would you like to know that money is rolling into your bank account while …?
You are sitting on the most beautiful beach in the world.
You are warm.
You drift in and out of consciousness… hearing only waves.
At the same time, you are delivering an important message to 621 of your most valued customers and prospects. Not only are you delivering a message, but you are also marketing, selling, solving problems, building relationships, strengthening loyalty, all at the same time.
Last month, the above description happend to me, precisely as described, while siiting on 7 Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.
How was this possible?
Not because of some sophisticated technology, but rather, because I was using 13 year old – practically free- technology, combined with 100 year old marketing and success principles.
Wall Street Journal ran a great section on Web 2.o this week, but i would argue that most businesses haven’t gotten past Web 1.0 or even Web 101 – automation of communication.
Here is a brain storm of ideas on where you can start automating processes that will contribute to your business growth.
1. Thank you cards. To me, this is the most important. One of those “little big things”. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff was wildly wrong in saying the small stuff doesn’t matter. That doesn’t apply in today’s business world. Everything matters.
2. Frequest e-mail communication. Here are a few to look into:
www.aweber.com
www.constantcontact.com
www.clpsuite.com
www.myemma.com
www.icontact.com
Now what? Once you set this up, prepare the following steps:
1. Decide how you are going to add tremendous value to everybody you meet: weekly/monthly e-newsletter, advice, jokes, stories, tips, referrals, videos, audios, etc.
2. Create a place in your calendar to schedule your creation of your communications. Plan the process to invite everybody you meet to subscribe to your publication, and have an email that immediately goes to them upon subscribing, letting them know what to expect.
3. Send your content. Invite your readers to reply.
3. Survey’s. Find out what your customers are thinking. For example. What do you think of this posting so far?
Ask your customers: opinions on products, problems they need help solving, opinions about the news, what they like or don’t like about your service or product, when their birthday is, who their favorite sports team is, etc.
4. Phone Calls. It might be you, an assistant, a virtual assistant. Reaching out to current, past and potential customers over the phone is the fastest way of finding out exaclty what they want, don’t want, are thinking about, and how they feel.
5. Gifts. What creative, unique, personalized, practical, quality gift can you send to key decision makers, big accounts, people who know who you want to know, etc.?
Don’t get overwhelmed here. Gifts can be automated. Use a virtual assistant. (Jon’s Big Secret Revealed: Each year, I send a book and a personal letter to my top 40-50 clients. I spend 45 minutes on this total. I speak the personal part of the letter into a recording which is later transcibed, tell my assistant who in my database to send to, what to send, and all the work is done; the book ordering, printing of the letter – i send pre-signed letters to my assistant in Toledo – transcriptions, packaging and mailing is all done for very little cost to me.
I haven’t seen the inside of a post office in 5 years. I don’t plan to.
So, I want to hear from you. What do you do to automate important steps in your business? Or, what will you do in 2009 to automate important steps in your business? I look forward to learning from you.
Jon Berghoff
P.S. The creation of this posting was created entirely using free technology. Something to think about.
P.P.S. For 7 more days, you can save big on our Peak Performance Entreprenuership seminar on Feb. 13th, 2009. We will help you “automate your personal success”. Anybody looking to grow themselves and their businesses in 2009, this is the place to be! www.geconnection.com/PPE
December 16, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Jon, this is great! I currently automate my follow up process when somebody comes to my website, and i’m looking to upgrade to infusionsoft soon. do you have any recommendations for virtual assistants?
December 16, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Ryan, thanks for the quick reply. If you can swing it, Infusion is the way to go. I recommend http://www.awesomeassistant.info. Sue is fantastic!
December 16, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hey Jon.
First, great post. These are great thoughts and insight!
I agree with you that most businesses haven’t figured out how to use the Internet to market their business, much less capitalize on web 2.0.
I think many companys miss the mark with marketing in general. Telling people what you do is NOT marketing, but telling people what you can do for them IS! Automated or not, unless you get the marketing down, you’re going to have trouble!