Customer Preview

    You can’t sell what your potential customers don’t know about!  Building customer interest and excitement is the first step to successfully marketing many products. Autoresponders play a vital role in building this interest and excitement. For instance, if you were developing an e-book, you may want to start telling your website visitors and opt-in subscribers about it. Start building interest; tell them what this product will do for them, and how soon it will be available.

     Do more than build interest by telling them about it. Use an autoresponder to let them preview your product! Even though you will be selling the product, you can allow your potential customers to preview the information. Have you ever seen previews for movies that will be playing in theaters soon? It is the same concept.

     Load one chapter of the e-book into an autoresponder, and put a form on your website where your visitors can enter their name and email address to receive the preview chapter free of charge. This gets their name on your list of potential customers. Each week, send a reminder email, letting them know how close the release date is, and what they can expect from your product – keep building interest and excitement.

     Finally, a couple of days before you are ready to launch your product offer those that received the preview the option to buy a pre-release copy. You can opt to offer a discounted price, or leave the price as it will be on launch day – the choice is yours.  You may also give them some BONUS information or products if they purchase a copy during the pre-release.

     Take a look at the list of people who signed up to receive the preview. How many of them are still ‘subscribed’ to that list? They’ve had the option to stop receiving notices about your product, but they chose to keep receiving the information you were sending. These are highly targeted prospects for your product. They have already shown you that they have an interest in your product, and a large number of those people are simply waiting on the autoresponder broadcast message that will let them know that it is time to pick up their copy of your product!

     Isn’t automation a wonderful thing? Using an autoresponder, you are able to see how much of a market there is for your product, and build a great deal of interest in it before it is ever released. This is the key to making sales on launch day. Use autoresponders to build the interest. Get your prospects excited about what is about to come – and on launch day, give them what they are waiting for and watch the sales pour in!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The anticipation of what's coming 

can be the thrill of life!"

Influence

    Influence is defined as the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.  Sometimes we may think that we have to some SUPER person in our career field before we can have an effect on someone’s life.

     Maybe we think that we must be a famous scientist, musician, artist, actor, sports figure, or someone else of great notoriety before we can make a change in the life of another person.  But that thinking is not true.

     Most of the time people are influenced by those that are the closest to them.  Children can be affected by their parents, or school teachers, or neighbors, or others in their lives that impact them personally and leave a long-term change within their character or thinking.

     Sometimes we may decide to make certain coarse changes within our lives because of the negative influence others may have upon us.  Note the comment of one individual several years ago when asked who the greatest influence in his life was:  “I’m influenced by alcoholics, drug addicts, theives, time wasters and no hopers.

I do everything i can to never be like them, they influence me in ways that they do not know, mainly because they are either too drunk, too high or too busy theiving or wasting time to even know how much of an influence that they have on my life to never fall into the trap that they have.

Thanks for motivating me, i owe my life to all the worlds losers, lol”    

     The point is we may be influenced from situations or people within a specific group or category that we might not think that they could affect us so deeply.  The source of our changes from being influenced is endless.  However, we must determine WHAT we are going to allow to influence us.

     Hopefully we can, even if the situation is negative, how we can use it as a positive influence for us and become a better person in the process.  The entire world tries to influence us in everything in our lives and our human nature is to let certain things do that, but we must work hard at being selective as to what we hear, see, and think about all matters.  However, we’re only human!  

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Everyone will touch someone

in some way during their life."

Formatting Messages

    My Mother used to send my wife and I letters on a regular basis.  However, she NEVER used capital letters or any punctuation within her structure.  We first had to go through the letter and try to edit the content into a form that we could read.

     Have you ever received emails that were all broken up? These emails have one or two words on one line, then eight or ten words on the next line. In some cases, one word begins on one line and ends on the next. These emails are very hard to read, and they appear to be very unprofessional. Is this what you want your autoresponder email messages to look like?

     If not, you need to learn how to format your messages. Start by reading the instructions for your specific autoresponder. Each one operates a bit differently in the way that it handles text. For instance, some autoresponder messages will be messed up if you do put a ‘hard line break’ at the end of each line, while others will be messed up if you don’t!  Find out what the right option is for your autoresponder!

     Because each email client is different, you should not allow any line in your message to exceed 65 characters. This will help prevent lines from breaking up, and it is achieved by hitting the ‘enter’ key at the end of each sixty-five character line. The best way to be sure that your autoresponder messages are delivered in the correct format is to send them to yourself, before you send them to your list!

     Once you get your message you will have a better idea of how it is going to look to others.  Remember you may have to PLAY with the autoresponder entries until you get it just the way you want it to look.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"At least let people understand what you say,

even though they may not understand what you mean!"

White Hats

     Some of you may not remember this, but I recall watching the old westerns on TV back in the 1950s and 60s.  There were characters like Hopalong Cassidy, the Cisco Kid, Roy Rogers with Dale Evans, and who could forget the Lone Ranger and his companion Tonto?  There were also many western series on TV:  High Chaparral, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Zorro, The Big Valley, Wagon Train, Bonanza, and my personal favorite Gunsmoke.  There were many others at that time also.

     If you will remember, however, the basic theme in all these programs was the good guys wore the white hats!  Regardless of what the bad guys did at the end of the program, in that brief 30 or 60 minutes of fast-action western flair, the good guys had to win!  It was a simple rule written into the programming ethics of that time.  No matter HOW unpredictable the situations proved to be, in the end the good guys would always come out on top!

     Compare that to today’s programming.  There are not very many westerns that are made today, but the principle is still in place:  there are the GOOD guys and there are the BAD guys!  The problem is that there are no more WHITE hats!

     At times during a movie or TV program it is very difficult to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know the program will explicitly define who is on this side and who is on that side.  Well, almost all the time they will do this.  The problem is that in many cases the good guy has to be as bad (or worse) than the bad guy to defeat him.  And at times the movie or program will very realistically reflect the “real” world because the good guy doesn’t always win.  There at times when the finale of the movie or the TV episode ends in a stalemate!

     Sadly, that is truly how live turns out.  We can’t tell the good guys from the bad and at times we make terrible decisions based on an assumption that turns out to be incorrect.  If we could only return to those thrilling days of yesteryear:  When the good guys always wore the WHITE hats and we knew who we should be supporting, because in the end the good guys ALWAYS win!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Things may not always be as they appear.

But time has a way of exposing the truth!"

Email Courses

     How can you make more sales on your website?  How can you deliver the purchased products to your customers?  Offering free things to your website visitors is one marketing method that often results in a lot of sales. Free courses that are delivered via email are very popular, and people sign up for such courses on a regular basis to learn more about a topic of interest to them. These courses are best maintained and delivered with the use of autoresponders.

     An autoresponder can be set up to send out a series of lessons for an email course. The lessons can be set for distribution at specific intervals. You determine how often the lessons for the course are sent to the people who have signed up for it. Email courses are very different from traditional courses, web based courses, or any other type of course.

     Perhaps one of the best conditions of an email course is there is no student and instructor interaction. The instructor writes the information out, puts each lesson in an autoresponder series, sets the timing for the lessons, and the rest is automated. You can opt to have lessons delivered daily, every other day, every three days, or any other time frame that you think works best for your email students.  Then YOU are done with the course!

     Email courses are commonly used to sell products and services. For instance, if you sell widgets, you might develop a course that teaches people how to use widgets or how to care for their widget. Experts agree that an email course can be written for almost any product that you can imagine – if you put enough thought into it.

     Start by determining what your course will be about, and how long it should be. If the course should be delivered every other day for two weeks, you know that you would need seven lessons. Write the lessons, and load them in the autoresponder. Set the interval for each lesson, which in this case would be 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.

     This means that the first lesson would be delivered one day after the person has requested the course, and the second lesson would be delivered three days after the person has requested the course, and so on. The interval for each lesson is set for the number of days after the person has signed up.  Make sure that everything is spelled right, and that your sentences are grammatically correct. You want the lessons to look and sound as professional as possible.

     Next, simply advertise the email address that will activate the autoresponder. Make sure that you run a test first, sending each lesson to yourself. This will allow you to see what your email students will see when they sign up!

     It does take some time and work to get this set up and functioning the way you want, but then your course will run on autopilot by you using your autoresponders!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Fall in love with learning.

You will be amazed at where it can take you!"

Noise!

    Have you ever been trying to talk to someone on the phone and that outside construction begins again and you can’t hear a word you are saying?  Or maybe you’re trying to watch your favorite program on TV and the kids start making those terrible noises that they always make!  Whatever the case I think you can understand how irritating loud noises can be at certain times.

     However, have you ever considered this subject from the reverse prospective?  Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.  You are outside enjoying a relaxing afternoon sitting under your shade tree while sipping on your favorite beverage.  As you relax in your favorite chair, recliner, or (my personal favorite) your rocking chair, you have the radio tuned to the music you enjoy listening to and all of a sudden, just at the best part of your song, a jet plane goes passing overhead, making a roaring noise as it disturbs your moment of peace.  What a terrible sound that is to your ears!

     Just for a moment put yourself in the place of the pilot of that plane.  You’re speeding along as you’re enjoying your time flying.  Because flying is a real passion for you.  You can feel the slight rumble of the plane as you guide it through various maneuvers and you truly enjoy the sound of those engines as you bank right and then left.  Imagine how you would feel if at a sudden given moment the sound of those engines STOPPED!  How would you react no longer hearing the roar of the engines, knowing that now your plane is about to perhaps dive into what will no doubt become a terrible accident?  An accident that perhaps you will not be able to walk away from!  An accident that may even end with your demise!

     We have to remember that like many things within our lives, NOISE is a relative topic.  What will be considered as noise to one will be a very desirable and necessary sound to another.  We need to understand that at times it may be the sounds (noise) that we don’t hear that becomes what we should be listening to. 

     Have you ever heard that pesky little noise that a mosquito makes as it buzzes around your head or arm or leg?  Just remember that a mosquito can’t bite you while it is flying!  So when you’re outside and you DON’T hear that irritating buzzing sound:  You may be getting eaten alive by mosquitoes!  

        

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Don't forget: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

But, sometimes it gets replaced!"

Autoresonders and Customer Service

    There is no greater provision in your business than customer service.  Ideally, when you perform customer service, it is done on a one-on-one basis with each of your customers. That works quite well in the offline brick and mortar world – but on the Internet, that simply will not do. Your customers are literally all over the world, and there is no way that you can really deal with each one of them personally. That is where an autoresponder comes in.

     Handling your customer service with autoresponders is quite simple. When an order is place, an autoresponder can send out the receipt for the sale, the information for accessing the product, and a ‘thank you’ email. This happens whether you are logged in to your computer or on vacation in an exotic location! But customer service doesn’t always end right there, and if you are away from your computer, you may be letting your customers down!  You always want to provide the BEST customer service you can.

     Let’s consider an example: An elderly gentleman sees your product advertised and places an order. Everything goes through just fine, and he receives the receipt, the download information, and your ‘thank you’ email. Your product is an e-book, compiled into a PDF file. This particular gentleman doesn’t understand what a PDF file is, and he has no idea what you mean by ‘right click to download.’ He needs additional customer service for the product that he has purchased, and there is nobody available to help him – nobody but your autoresponder.

     In this case to provide a more efficient customer service you could set up an additional autoresponder that would send out a list of frequently asked questions or problems that deal with customer service or how to access the product. Also set up a support autoresponder. If he sends a message to support, he should get an instant message back letting him know that his message has been received, and how soon it will be addressed. This will give him some measure of comfort, and in most cases, he will wait that specified period of time for assistance.

     However, if he doesn’t know how to download the product, and he sends a message to support, and nothing happens, he will most likely become very dissatisfied in a very short period of time. The difference between a patient customer and an irate customer is one simple autoresponder message that can and should be set up in under five minutes.

     Really think your ordering process through, and consider the potential problems that may occur for your customers. Get an autoresponder set up to address those issues and you will find that your customers are more satisfied with your products, and extremely satisfied with your customer service – all because your autoresponders handled their problem right away!  By doing this you will also provide a means for referrals to help your business grow.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"To change your mind is wonderful - - -

To change the mind of someone else is a miracle!"

The Storm

    Now that Hurricane Dorian has pounded the Bahamas the eastern coast of the United States sits prepared for a great wind storm that may yet still do much damage as it hits.  When you consider what people have been doing to prepare it’s still amazing what this storm may do when it comes close to landfall. 

     People have been stocking supplies and boarding up their properties.  Many have followed the evacuation protocols and have left the area.  Still there are others who have decided to stay put and ride out the storm within their residences or with others.

     One individual, Tina White, a Charleston resident made the comment to ABC News “As long as it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be Hugo, we try not to go anywhere.”  She evidently considers Hurricane Hugo in 1989 as the “benchmark” to deciding if they will evacuate or stay.

     These are the types of decisions which must be made during an expected natural disaster as Dorian.  However, many people face much more devastating “storms” within their lives on a day-to-day basis.  One such major situation that many are facing today is the opioid addiction that is so prevalent.

    Other “storms” that people have to face are illnesses, crime, violence of many different types, just getting older, financial difficulties, and family issues, just to name a few.  How people deal with these situations varies from person to person.  Unfortunately some don’t deal at all!

     Some prepare very little as they do with a hurricane warning.  Others decide to wait and see what happens!  Some duck their heads into the proverbial sand and hope that things work out for them.  Many simply do the best they can and then wait to see what others can do for them.

     However, whether we want to admit it or not there is a “great storm” that is coming upon us all.  This is going to be the wrath of God!  The Bible tells us that the great day of God the Almighty is very close at hand.  Who will able to stand against his might and anger?  What would we need to do to be prepared for this coming event?  Is it possible to be a survivor?  These are questions which need our immediate attention.  These are question for which we must find the correct answers and prepare accordingly. 

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you have been forewarned,

YOU must prepare!"