by Angela Taffs | Oct 11, 2016 | Business Success, Customer service
Do you know that one of the best ways to delight and surprise your clients and build raving fans for your business is to do something unexpected to thank them for their business and make them feel appreciated?
However, very few businesses think about thanking their customers for their business. Even fewer actually find original ways to do so.
One of the simplest and best ways to do this is to send them a surprise in the post. In this world of online technology, receiving something as simple as a handwritten note will make you stand out from the crowd and get you noticed.
Your clients will appreciate that you have taken a few minutes out of your busy day to think just about them.
And you don’t just have to restrict this sentiment to clients. Why not send something to a prospect that you would like to work with?
How to delight and surprise your clients
It doesn’t have to be expensive to send something personal in the post. After all, remember the adage that ‘it’s the thought that counts’.
Take a look through the following list to get some ideas flowing:
- You could simply buy a pack of plain note cards and write a personal message to them.
- Or buy packs of postcards with motivational quotes on the front and pop a handwritten note on the back.
- If you see an article in a magazine that is relevant, how about cutting it out and sending it to them – so much more effective than sending a link to an online article via email?
- Consider getting some personalised bookmarks printed up with your branding and sending those out as gifts.
- Think about sending a voucher to spend with your business. If you are a masseur, hairdresser or provide products, a voucher is easy. If you are a coach or consultant, create a voucher to redeem for a free 30-minute session with you.
- Do you have a client that you suspect is feeling tired or overwhelmed? Why not pin a tea bag to a short note telling them to take 5 mins out on you and sit down with a cuppa? Guaranteed to make them laugh, feel loved and remember you!
- Or how about sending a small (or large) chocolate bar to give them a treat?
- For long-standing and valued clients, send a beautiful notebook
- Or an inspirational book of your choosing
- Or a gift card ……
These things are inexpensive yet will help build relationships that will generate you much more money in the future through clients who feel nurtured and valued and who will stay loyal to you. Your gift doesn’t have to be expensive to be memorable. It has to be special and feel personal.
What ideas do you have to delight and surprise your clients in unexpected ways? Let me know in the comments below.
by Angela Taffs | Jul 26, 2016 | Business IT, Sales and Marketing
Recently, a member of the Absolutely Fabulous Business Women Facebook group asked me about email etiquette for her home based business. She asked if she could send her newsletter to contacts in general, past colleagues and friends in addition to targeting former clients and prospects.
Email etiquette is such an overlooked subject and so many female entrepreneurs fail to understand the implications of getting it wrong.
If you have a list of people that you want to contact but are unsure about email etiquette, here are a few tips for getting it right.
Email etiquette tips
Firstly, I would never recommend sending a newsletter to anyone who has not subscribed. If you are using mailing software such as Mailchimp, this is strictly forbidden and if recipients report that they did not subscribe, you may get blacklisted.
It is also bad manners to automatically assume that someone wants to receive this newsletter and inviting yourself into their inbox without seeking permission first. They may already have an overflowing inbox and your addition to this is likely to cause offence. It’s like walking into their home without knocking and sitting down in front of them with no introduction and starting up a conversation.
Plain rude! And likely to get you in to hot water legally ……..
Legal email requirements
Secondly, in the EU you need to be aware of legal restrictions in spending unsolicited email under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
This states:
Use of electronic mail for direct marketing purposes
22.—(1) This regulation applies to the transmission of unsolicited communications by means of electronic mail to individual subscribers.
(2) Except in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (3), a person shall neither transmit, nor instigate the transmission of, unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing by means of electronic mail unless the recipient of the electronic mail has previously notified the sender that he consents for the time being to such communications being sent by, or at the instigation of, the sender.
(3) A person may send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing where—
(a)that person has obtained the contact details of the recipient of that electronic mail in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient;
(b)the direct marketing is in respect of that person’s similar products and services only; and
(c)the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.
(4) A subscriber shall not permit his line to be used in contravention of paragraph (2).
If you have a database of contacts, I would suggest contacting these people individually to let them know about your business and inviting them to subscribe to your future newsletters. They can then opt in out of choice keeping you in line with the law.
Also, if you have various types of contacts such as colleagues, friends, clients etc, they are unlikely to all be attracted to just one message. Friends would respond better if addressed in a different way to colleagues as would clients and prospects. It will take a little more work creating separate messages but should get you far better results.
by Angela Taffs | Jul 26, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
Stop selling and start to make more sales
Really? Yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me on this one.
As I tell all my clients, the sales process has changed over the years. People no longer want to be sold to. They want to gather information, get recommendations from people they trust, search for comparable solutions and take their time to make a decision on their final purchase.
The old style hard sell approach has little room in today’s environment.
If you want to make more sales and to turn a prospect into a client, you need to nurture a relationship rather than going for a kiss me quick sale. Take the time to build trust and gain respect that will get you remembered for when that person is ready to buy. Give them something for free to show them how good you are and get them to want to come back and buy.
Here is an example that happened just a short while ago.
I do as much as I can to help people and to give them tips and advice for free. I do this to build relationships and is a reason for setting up my Facebook group so that others can share their valuable advice to support each other.
Take time to build relationships
This builds trust and respect and many of my clients come from this group.
One day in the group, a lady asked for some help. It was outside of my expertise so I tagged someone else who I knew was an expert in this particular field. What this person did was jump straight in with a sales pitch. No offer of support or just a quick tip. Just sell, sell, sell.
The lady who asked the question was not looking to buy. She had merely asked a quick question. I then found someone else who I thought may have an answer and she promptly gave some valuable advice and was more than happy to help.
What transpired from this was twofold.
The person who went straight into sales mode didn’t do herself any favours at all. I spoke to the lady who asked the original question and she felt uncomfortable being sold to when she had merely asked for a quick bit of advice. Additionally, I personally shall never suggest anyone goes to this person for help in the future. I also suspect anyone else in the group who saw the conversation may be reluctant to turn to her also.
However, the second person who answered the question did so in such a manner and was so helpful that she gained a new client over the course of the next couple of weeks. The lady asking the question was so impressed with her willingness to help and the quality of the response she got, that whilst she was not initially looking to buy, she saw the value of working with this lady. She also decided to sign up to my membership club as she was confident that I could her source information even if I didn’t have the answers myself and again, was impressed at how I went out of my way to help her.
Create an environment in which people want to buy from you
So think about how you can change from trying to sell to creating an environment in which people want to buy from you. It’s not as hard as you think.
Think about how you can
- Help your prospects by sharing tips and advice
- Entertain them with real life stories and quotes so they get to know and like you.
- Educate them as to what they need to do to solve their pain point and why they need to do it
- Inspire them to them to buy from you by providing the solution to their problem
You may be surprised that when you stop selling you start to make more sales!
P.S. If you are not already in my Facebook group but would like to join for advice and to share tips of your own, hop over and join now
by Angela Taffs | Jul 12, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
How to create 15 pieces of content from just one blog post
Do you still struggle to come up with ideas of what to post on social media? Do you get brain freeze trying to think of different ways to engage with your audience?
Well, I have a trick for you that is going to save you so much time and energy and give you oodles of content from just one source.
By repurposing content, you can reach new audiences, gain new followers and drive more traffic back to your website.
Firstly, you will need a blog post. This can either be a brand new post that you write or go back and find a favourite that you have created before.
From this one blog post, you can now create 15 pieces of content (at least).
All you need to do is create the following:
5 headlines
Yes, from this one post come up with 5 different headlines. This will allow you put out the same post a number of times but to potentially gain more attention with a variety of catchy headlines.
1 key question
Ask a question that leads back to your blog post. If you are a VA and your blog post is about saving clients time by doing their social media scheduling, ask the question ‘How much time do you spend on scheduling your social media and what else would you prefer to be doing with this time?’
This then opens up a conversation. Where people respond you can chat back with them, direct them to your blog post for tips and maintain ongoing contact with a potential prospect who may become a client – win win!!
2 quotes
These can be created either from your own words or find a famous quote that is relevant to your post. Find an engaging image and create a meme for each and post out on social media for people to like and share.
2 top tips
From your content pull out two top tips and use these as social media posts to provide snippets of valuable information to your audience to help raise your visibility and reputation.
1 x 60 second bite size video
Take one of your tips (or both if you like and create 2 videos) and record a video. Video is a great way of interacting with your audience and letting them get to know you. Again this will help build your visibility and trust.
1 x 15 min video tutorial
Now do a longer video talking about the content of your blog post. People who prefer to watch video can see who you are, hear how you speak and pick up your passion for what you do. You can post this out on social media and also showcase on your website and your YouTube channel.
Podcast
For those who prefer podcasts, take your video content and create a podcast. This again can be put on your website for future visitors.
Facebook live or periscope broadcast
A great way to gain new followers is to do a Facebook live on your business page or do a Persicope broadcast. You can talk about the content of your blog post and take questions from viewers and allow them to share their thoughts.
Worksheet
If relevant, create a worksheet or cheat sheet for your blog which you can offer out as a freebie. If you an events manager and your blog post is about planning a launch, how about creating a checklist for the launch day. You can then offer this as a freebie in return for an email address which you can then add to your mailing list.
Now you can see how from one blog post, you can create 15 social media posts that can be used again and again. What other ideas do you have? Share them in the comments
by Angela Taffs | May 31, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
Two genius examples of how to get your business in front of a worldwide audience
This past week I saw two pieces of marketing genius. They were completely different from each other but both had sprinklings of magic within them.
One was not done to promote a business and was done completely off the cuff without any payment and gained phenomenal media attention worldwide.. The other was indeed a little more premeditated, was a business promotion and cost money. But the way it was done again gained worldwide attention and gained tremendous visibility for the business in question.
The simple joys of life
The first was by the wonderful Candace Payne.
No, she doesn’t run her own business but she has wiped the floor as far as visibility is concerned and become an online sensation. And how? All by being herself and having some fun.
Candace is the lady who simply went out, bought a Chewbacca face mask, put it on in her car and screamed with laughter whilst recording it all on Facebook live. During her gales of laughter she spoke about her antics being one of the simple joys of life.
She didn’t sit back and plan how to get views and likes on Facebook. She didn’t watch endless webinars on how to create a perfect video or how to master Facebook live. She just got out there and did her own thing.
And the result has been simply breath-taking! She has so far had 1.5 million views of her Facebook live video, breaking all records. She has appeared on the James Corden show. She got to visit Lucas Film Studio where Star Wars was made. She got invited to the headquarters of Facebook. She is getting to meet movie stars and everyone wants to have her in their life.
Off the back of all this publicity, Candace has created a line of clothing being branded to enjoy the simple joys in life and her business is booming after just a few days.
I think we can all take a lesson from her to stop over thinking things, stop planning to the nth degree, stop trying to be someone you are not and to be true to yourself and let your true personality shine through. Oh, and stop taking life so seriously and have some bloody fun!!!
Way to go Candace
Free? Did you say free???
The second example is somewhat different but still just as brilliant in itself.
A local businessman, Rob Braddick, who owns a number of businesses in the area went and purchased one of the council car parks near to one of his restaurants, The Pier House in Westward Ho! He then pictured himself in front of the parking meter, covering it up and declaring the park could be used for free. Yes, FREE!!!
His social media post declared:
‘HOT OFF THE PRESS……
As of 4pm today my company ‘Braddicks Leisure Ltd’ has acquired a long lease on SEAFIELD CAR PARK at the end of Merley Road.
With immediate effect I’m making it FREE,yes FREE for the community and the public to use.
Please do park up and stroll over to The Pier House for a coffee or a cold pint.(not free!)
Enjoy.’
He paid thousands for the privilege of owning the car park so was he not mad to want to charge people to use it?
Obviously not. The publicity he gained off the back of this gesture was quite frankly incredible. His story got picked up on and was published in national newspapers, radio stations and shared thousands of times on social media.
Local people are visiting his venue to have their picture taken with him with a typical comment on social media stating
‘Just shaken hands with the most famous car park long-leaseholder in the world (surely Sir) Robert Braddick!’
‘Ooooh, super excited to be able to sneak this little podcast in today -possibly the most talked about carpark in the UK! Behind the scenes with Rob Braddick – the most generous business man in Devon.’
He has been hailed as a ‘hero’, ‘star’ and ‘legend’ and has whipped up a media frenzy.
If he had spent thousands of pounds on paid advertising, there is no way his money would have gained him the attention that doing something wholly unexpected and out of the ordinary did. He went against the grain and instead of looking to make immediate gains by charging for his services, he gave something of value away for free. This got people talking and in the world of psychology, where the power of reciprocity is well documented, people now want to come visit his premises to buy food and drink to pay him back for his generosity.
So the lesson to be learnt here is not to always keep trying to sell. Think about doing something unexpected, giving something of value away for free and create an environment in which people want to buy from you.
Way to go Robert!
What genius way can you think of to raise visibility for your business? Leave a comment below
by Angela Taffs | May 17, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
The difference between features and benefits
The difference between features and benefits is the difference between your ideal client sitting up and taking notice of your marketing message or ignoring it and moving on.
All too often small business owners fail to attract their ideal client because all they talk about are the bog standard facts, or features, of their business. They fail to engage with their prospects on an emotional level that makes them sit up and take notice.
To gain interest from a prospect you need to make them feel that you are talking about them, that you can understand the pain point or problem they are having and that you have the resources to help them out (the benefits).
First and foremost, you need to know who your ideal client is and what problem they are having that you can solve. Once you know the pain point of your ideal client, to attract their interest you need to make sure you can explain clearly the benefits of your business and not just the features. If you can’t, your business isn’t thought through well enough and prospects won’t understand what you can do for them or why they should engage in conversation with you.
Remember to get across quickly and clearly what pain point you can solve for them and how it will change their life for the better by using your products or services.
As the saying goes
‘Features tell, benefits sell’
People don’t buy a bed. They buy a good night’s sleep.
People don’t buy books. They buy a way to expand their knowledge.
People don’t buy wellington boots. They buy protection for their feet from mud and water.
People don’t buy diet pills. They buy a way to lose 30 pounds in 30 days.
What is a feature?
A feature is a factual statement about the product or service.
But people don’t buy features. They buy benefits.
What is a benefit?
A benefit answers the question “What’s in it for me?”
Here are a few examples
Sun cream
Feature: SPF Factor 30
Benefit: Allows you to stay out in the sun for longer without getting burnt
Feature: Self-tanning properties
Benefit: A safer long lasting tan all year round
Feature: Once a day application
Benefit: No more chasing the kids around and stopping them having fun having to apply every hour
Handmade jewellery
Feature: Handcrafted
Benefit: Each piece is unique so no one in the world will have the exact same item as you
Feature: Gemstone jewellery
Benefit: Higher quality, will not cause skin irritation or discolour
Fitness instructor
Feature: Fully qualified
Benefit: Trust that they know what they are doing and are not going to leave you injured
Feature: Tailored exercise and nutrition program
Benefit: Results driven to help you lose weight, avoid heart attack and prolong life
Business coach
Feature: Online coaching course
Benefit: Learn from the comfort of your own home without time and cost of attending full day event
Feature: Qualified, experienced support
Benefit: Time proven advice to gain more clients and make more money
Go write down all the features you can think of relating to your product or service. Then alongside each of these write down the benefits. Start to use the benefits in your marketing messages so that your ideal client really understands what’s in it for them by doing business with you.
Remember, if you just talk about the features of your product or service and fail to talk about how you are going to solve issues for your prospects, you will miss out on valuable future clients.
