This month our business of the month is www.petalandbean.com, selling the most gorgeous flowers and unique gifts for that special someone! Petal and Bean is a full-service floral and gift provider, capable of sending a gift of flowers almost anywhere. Check out their brand new eCommerce webiste KaTasidy created at www.petalandbean.com.
The real difference-maker in our professional careers is not always our experience
and education, but, in many cases, it is our ability to know how to navigate through life with grace and dignity. E-mails play an important role in our daily lives. We need to avoid these faux pas if we want to be effective with our e-mail communication.
*Answering e-mails while you are on the telephone with someone else. The person on the phone can hear you typing and can tell you are distracted.
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your client base and potential prospects. Reach even more people having a custom blog installed on your website - not by using a free blog service that takes people away from your site. Do you need a custom blog installed on your website? Call KaTasidy! We can install a simple blog to correspond with your clients or a more complex blog where you can upload photos, sales videos and more. Reach an untapped pool of clients by bloggin - contact us today and we can get started on your new Blog project.Birthdays are for gift-giving, right? Actually, by employing an amazing quirk of psychology, guerrillas can actually receive from people on their birthdays. And
here's how.
Psychologists have long known about a social phenomenon called the "reciprocity norm". It states that when a person receives an unexpected personal gift or favor, he or she is often compelled to give something in return. You might write off this phenomenon as simply good manners among friends. Not true! It has been proven in all kinds of situations-even among strangers on the street.
So how does the reciprocity norm transfer to birthdays and your business? Simply put, there is no time of the year when people feel more compelled to accept a personal gift than around their birthday. In fact, it's the one time when they are looking for excuses to celebrate.
And this is where your efforts as a guerrilla marketer come in.
By sending a no-strings-attached offer in the mail to existing and potential customers near their birthday, in the form of a birthday card and gift certificate, you put the reciprocity norm to work in its most compelling form. Those who redeem the certificate will almost certainly enhance the experience by buying something. And that something, very often, is more valuable than the offer itself.
There is a catch. You must make the offer attractive. Discounts or buy-one-get-one-free deals can work, but giveaways are best. If you're a video store, offer a free rental plus popcorn. If you're a salon, offer a free pedicure. If you're a restaurant, make it a free appetizer-better yet, appetizers for three, so friends will come.
After all, if three free appetizers will prompt someone to spend $60 in entrees and drinks to celebrate their birthday, isn't that worth it to your business?
Getting current customers to tell you their birthdays is easier than you think. Ask them if they would like to receive a free offer near their birthday. When they say "yes", ask them to fill out a card with their name, contact information and birthday. Now you have your list.
It's possible to get similar information from direct mail database services, for people in your area who don't currently patronize your business. Try it-response rates for birthday certificates are five to seven times higher than traditional mailings. Isn't that the kind of present your business deserves, 365 days a year?
-- Content provided by Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing.
I wonder about the many things we could do if we didn’t know that we couldn’t do them. Many people never make a serious effort to achieve worthwhile objectives because they assume they
can’t reach them.
Here’s a story that demonstrates what even a little extra effort can produce. Sir Walter Raleigh attended a prestigious boarding school when he was a youngster. He was an excellent student and wanted to be number one in his class. However, one lad always finished ahead of him, so he determined to discover the secret. Each night when he prepared for bed, he looked across the grounds that separated his room from that of his competitor and noticed that his candle was still burning. One night he noticed that the other boy studied only about fifteen minutes longer than he did. After that, Sir Walter Raleigh studied an extra twenty minutes every night. At the end of the year he was the number one student.
I’ve often wondered how many students miss out on a college scholarship because they did not study an additional twenty minutes each day. Research shows that over 98 percent of all scholarships are either academic or hardship, so some deserving students miss out not because of lack of ability, but because of lack of effort. Many times people grow frustrated because promotions or raises don’t come as fast as they think they should, so they jump ship when just around the corner the promotion awaits.
I have often used the phrase “and then some,” pointing out to my audiences that you should keep every promise, and then some; give your clients or customers everything they expect, and then some; give whatever you do an honest effort, and then some. I first learned those words from former secretary of state James Byrnes, who used that phrase when someone asked him to explain his success in life and in the political arena. I believe that little extra effort – that going ahead from where they are to do the best they can with what they have, and then some – is what separates the successful from the would-be successful.
Message: When you go the extra mile, you are seldom delayed by a traffic jam.
Content provided by Zig Ziglar. This article is an excerpt from Zig Ziglar’s book Life Lifters. www.ziglar.com.
"Profit is the applause people give you when you help them!" -- Ken Blanchard