Making The Most Of Newsletters

Newsletters can be wonderful tools for communicating with your customers or prospects. Because of their format, they're often infused with more credibility than traditional brochures. If your newsletter is little more than blatant self-promotion, however, it's likely to hit the wastebasket before it hits your target's desk.

By following a few basic tips, you can cultivate interest in your newsletter and make it an effective marketing tool.

Keep it interesting. Whether you're informing prospects or current customers, provide useful content and avoid the temptation of use a hard-sell approach. For example, include a how-to article about some aspect of home buying or selling. While these topics relate to your field and reinforce your message, they also offer valuable advice and will help cultivate a loyal audience.

Do it yourself . . . or not. The abundance of desktop publishing programs on the market makes it easy for virtually anyone to create a newsletter. However, poor knowledge of design basics and overzealous use of difficult-to-read fonts has led to more than one design disaster. Before you try to do it yourself, consider hiring a professional graphic designer to create a template into which you or a staff member can input copy. If you still want to give it a shot yourself, pick up a book on graphic design basics before you create your masterpiece.

Find your look. Depending on your budget, you can choose from a variety of styles-from a simple, one-color piece to a multi-page, full-color format. Factors such as the number of colors and pages, type of paper, and paper size can mean big differences in cost, so ask for quotations on different specifications from several printers.

Keep it short. Generally, it's best to limit your newsletter to eight pages or fewer and keep articles at 300 words or fewer. If you have a lengthy or complex issue to address, try to break it up into two articles or one longer article accompanied by a short sidebar piece.

Remember what a picture's worth. Photographs add interesting elements to your piece-as long as you use something more creative than the traditional "smiling head" shots. If you choose not to use a full-color format, keep in mind that photographs reproduce best in shades of black.

Don't ignore the details. Triple-check spelling and grammar. Typographical errors can quickly damage your credibility and distract your reader. In addition to running the document through spelling and grammar checkers, have someone proofread it-preferably someone who hasn't seen the article before. He or she will be more likely than you are to catch any errors.

Include a feedback mechanism. Make it easy for readers to respond by including a contact name, phone and fax numbers, and postal and e-mail addresses.

Cost Cutters

Looking for ways to cut your newsletter costs? Here are a few tips:

Team up with another business that reaches out to similar prospects. Split the content-and the cost-of the newsletter.

Run your rough design by your local post office. Sometimes, simple size changes can cut postage costs.

Get prices from at least three printers, and let them know you're soliciting multiple bids for the job. Competition can help you get a better price.

Offer an e-mail option. This allows you to save on postage and printing, but send it only if customers ask. New laws are cracking down on unsolicited e-mail.

We've found newsletters to be a great marketing mechanism. Keep in mind, if you have truly timely news, you can turn your newsletter into a subscription based newsletter. This can lead to another cash flow source.

Customer Service A Chickens Way

Anyone who knows me knows my favorite fast food restaurant is Chick-fil-A. Aside from the fact their chicken is especially good and I can always get sweet tea, I have a valuable business reason for eating there - they serve up amazing customer service. And these lessons aren't just served in my nearest location. But in any city, any town, any time I have been to a Chick-fil-A, I have left feeling like the most valuable Customer.

Now you may wonder what you can learn for your business, from a fast food restaurant. In short, plenty. Just because your business is different does not mean you can't take someone else's ideas or techniques and make them applicable to what you do. So I challenge you to be open to what you can learn from a chicken.

They are focused.

Chick-fil-a knows their expertise is making good chicken. You don't drive up to their window with options such as beef, pork or fish. Their focus stays on what they know. No empty promises of the best steak in town or a delicious oriental creation, just chicken. We should do the same for our Customers.

Don't pretend to have expertise where you can't deliver. Customers are good at sniffing us out. If you promise something you can't deliver just to get their business; you will be without a Customer.

They give me what I want.

I love Polynesian sauce (dipping sauce for nuggets) for my French fries. Chick-fil-A never charges me extra even though I don't order their nuggets. They are happy to give me what I want.

How many times to we charge our Customers all these added fees if they want something that is not the standard? When your Customer is hungry for something different - make it easy for them to eat.

They rest.

I often crave chicken on lazy Sunday afternoons but Chick-fil-A is never open for business due to clear company values and beliefs. They choose Sundays as a day to rest. They are never open, no exceptions, and according to their business plan they never will.

So often we cheat our Customers by not breaking from our work. Too much work can lesson our ability to concentrate, cloud our focus, and leave a bitter taste in our mouth. How much help are we to Customers if we are burned out?

They train their employees.

At a Chick-fil-A visit you will hear things like, "It is my pleasure to serve you." "Please." "Thank you." "I look forward to seeing you at the window." The atmosphere includes smiles, laughter, and happy workers who appear to love their job. And I doubt their happiness is based on a love for chicken - they have been trained to value the Customer.

If you want to excel as a business, hire superstars that believe the Customer writes their paycheck. Set expectations with your employees and staff that outstanding Customer Service is expected, not optional. Add Customer Service as a major part of an employee's orientation. And most importantly lead by example. S.Truett Cathy, chose to do things his way by taking care of Customers and employees by hiring operators and managers that believed in his philosophy. To date, Chick-fil-A, the company he founded has more than a billion in sales annually.

I encourage you to visit a Chick-fil-A when you get the chance. I will continue my weekly visits to reaffirm my Customer service beliefs (and to get a chicken sandwich, no pickle with a large sweet tea!). p.s. You will notice in both articles the word Customer and Client are capitalized. Capitalizing the word is just one way we can remind ourselves of the great importance Customers have for our businesses. After all, without them, we wouldn't be in business.

By Holly Powers

Create Win-Win Deals With Your Competitors

In the competitive world of the 20th century, we generally viewed competitors as the enemy. And a competitor was anyone who sold to the same target audience as us - even if they sold a different item. After all, since there was a finite group of customers and a limited amount of money, if they spent it with your competitor, there was less for you.

Fast forward to the 21st century. We have a different view of the world. We now recognize that the pie is big enough for all of us. As Cavett Robert, co-founder of the National Speakers Association, said "The number of slices of pie is only limited by the size of the pie. Just make the pie bigger!" (paraphrased)

So how can you and your competitors create deals that benefit both of you - and your clients? Here are a few ideas:

1. If your competitor sells a product that is similar to yours, joint venture on a mailing to the list of people who have already purchased their product. You can offer your product and share in the profits. People in a target market are rarely satisfied with one item; instead, they will continue to buy items that are similar.

2. If your competitor publishes a book, ebook, or website, ask them to refer people to your site as a resource site. This can be included in their product or as a follow-up email to their clients.

3. If you offer a member site, ask your competitor to refer people to your site - for an affiliate commission. For example, SellYourBrain.com is a member site that helps people finish information projects like ebooks. The natural competitors are ebook authors who tell people how to write ebooks. However, by their referring their purchasers to SellYourBrain, the client is more likely to finish their ebook - making the ebook author look better in their eyes.

4. In turn, offer your competitor's product for sale on your member site. Again, SellYourBrain offers a monthly discount coupon good toward the purchase of ebooks on how to write ebooks.

5. When you're interviewed for a story about your product or service, offer to give the reporter related resources. The reporter will love having additional people to round out the story and your competitors will appreciate your referral. You come out as the hero to both groups.

Joel Christopher, noted online list-building expert, uses the phrase "co-opetition". That's a good word to adopt. Look for ways to build cooperation with your competition - so that your clients and prospects are the winners.

By Dr. Jeanette Cates

Customer Service Tips for Mail Order Businesses

Can we be too good to our customers? No way! Our customers are the backbone of our business! They're right no matter what!

But I'm sorry to disagree with you. As small, honest and legitimate businesses - we have a tendency to place our product quality above money. While this is the "right" way of building a strong, solid business; there are customers that will try to take advantage of you. You have to learn how to notice this possibility coming and "bow out gracefully" without losing the customer.

Remember that most newcomers to the world of mail order think that they are ordering from BIG companies just because we have a company name! They cannot conceive how poor and struggling a lot of us really are. They think we can absorb costs and because they are poor themselves, will often try and take advantage of people like us. (If they only knew the many times I have personally had to hold an order up for mailing because I couldn't afford to pay for the postage to mail it back, or the guy who bounced a $2 check and caused a close friend of mine to go "in the hole" $15 in bad check charges.)

But because we are honest people who place our product ABOVE money we sometimes let people walk all over us. In fact - a mail order buddy of mine (who distributes shareware computer disks) is normally so happy when she gets an order that she gives the customer almost 10 times more than what they pay for. She is so excited about keeping a customer that she goes overboard to make them happy.

Unfortunately, a lot of people will take advantage of this situation. They think, "Hey, if I can get this much for hardly nothing, I'll see how much more they'll give me. Look at all the "freebies" I could get and all the money I could save." They'll lose respect for you. However, this line of thinking is only short term. Sure, as a customer, you might get some more free stuff with the next order, but pretty soon the business owner will realize what's going on. Then you'll lose that business contact forever! I can still recall the people who ripped me off before and I would NEVER do business with them again! This is a sad situation!

As a dealer, you can learn to give your customers what they pay for.
Go that extra mile on special requests, but never over-extend yourself if it means lost profits to your business. This line of thinking will cause you to set yourself up to be taken advantage of and then you'll become resentful toward your customers; which is bad.

Another friend of mine was so stunned by landing an on-going, monthly publication that she promised the customer "the moon" without even having to do so. When she lived up to all her promises she ended up paying $215 out of her own pocket to publish each issue. Of course, she had to cancel her contract forever - which is "bad business."

In mail order we all have the ability to make ourselves look "richer" than we really are. We can work co-op deals with other people to barter and trade for things we don't have and could never pay for. Then, when orders are filled professionally, the customer suddenly thinks the mail order dealer has a lot of money to spread around and can afford to lose a few dollars on them.

If a customer does not send the correct amount for you to fill his or her order - simply write them a nice letter explaining that they did not enclose the proper amount. Send them an invoice showing the amount they still owe and bill them before filling the order.

If someone calls you up on the phone and talks a "good" sales pitch (with the intention of getting you to fill their order before they pay you)kindly explain that your company policy is to receive payment first since they are a new customer. No other explanation is necessary.

However, don't go overboard and get crazy. If a new customer forgets to enclose a stamp, go ahead and send them information. It's silly to waste another stamp yourself to tell them to send a stamp. And not filling the order is also crazy. If the customer cared enough to write in the first place, you at least owe them a response. Besides, it might bring a big order. Don't get hung-up over a stamp!

Some dealers refuse to take personal checks because they are afraid they will bounce. Again - this is not good customer service since it's a lot of trouble to buy a money order when most people have checking accounts. This line of thinking will cost you lots of lost orders. However, you can hold the check for clearance before you fill the order if the amount is over $25. Use common sense and you'll make it!
stamp. And not filling the order is also crazy. If the customer cared enough to write in the first place, you should fill the order. Good customer service is the key to keeping your customers.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
This article may be reproduced and redistributed freely on the Internet as long as the resource box
remains intact.

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By DeAnna

Losing Angry Customers

This article offers five ways to help you deal with angry customers. While the goal of all businesses is to have only happy customers, we also have to be realistic and realize sometimes we are going to anger a customer. Isn't it best to know in advance how to deal with an angry one, of course it is. Read on?..

Handle the person first, then the problem. Let angry people vent their frustrations. This alone will go a long way toward resolving the problem. Many times people just need to let off some steam and you are their sounding board, whether you deserve to be or not.

Apologize. This is crucial. It shows you are committed to the relationship. Remember, the customer is always right, whether they are or not. So apologize, whether or not it was your fault.

Show empathy. Assure your customer that he or she has every right to be angry and disappointed and that you would feel the same way if it happened to you. Make them feel understood. Use your own experiences to show empathy.

Find a solution. Resolve the problem with your customer, not for the customer. Ask questions that will get the customer involved in the process, such as "How would you like to see this problem resolved?" or If you were in my position, how might you resolve this kind of problem for your customer?"

Follow up. After resolving the problem, you must follow up. Make sure things are satisfactory, but also look for additional needs that represent selling opportunities.

So, employ the above strategies and turn angry customers into happy ones!

Is your Online Business Customer-Friendly?

Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. So it is well worth exploring ways in which your customers can virtually "serve themselves," without the need for overtime staff, or lengthy voice mail procedures.

James Feldman is President of JFA, Inc., an online business offering high quality and unique gift items including automatic watch winders, Grundig shortwave pocket radios, and nitroglycerine pill fobs. The JFA Web site has been online since 1997, and has doubled its income every year - it's now a multi-million dollar e-commerce enterprise.

Jim, who's also a professional speaker and expert on customer service, highlighted for me how the online buying experience differs from the bricks-and-mortar model.

Buying online eliminates the physical presence and personality of the salesperson from the process. This makes the Web site copy critical in creating a one-to-one relationship with the customer or prospect.

Which echoes one of my favorite mantras:

Every page of your site should be written from the visitor's point of view, not yours.

A visitor should be able to look at your offerings, and immediately answer the questions:

"Why me?" - that is, is your Web site the right place for me?
"Why should I care?" - does this copy convince me that you can meet my needs?

It's much easier and immediate to jump from Web site to Web site than to move between real-world stores. So the visitor has far more freedom of choice online. Jim says that the challenge for customer service is therefore very clearly to focus on one customer, one purchase at a time. E-customers expect great service, with little or no direct interaction. They will tolerate some mistakes, but not many.

Jim offers five rules for effective online customer service:

1. Be accessible. Show very clearly on your site all the ways that your customer can contact you - including e-mail, phone and fax numbers, and your office hours.

And, if it's practical for your business, be personal - give your visitors a real person to call who has a name, as opposed to sales@mycompany.com

Of course, if you're really upscale, you can include a "Call-me" button on your site.

2. Return every e-mail or phone call in the same day, as far as reasonably possible. This may sound simplistic, but a recent experiment with the top Fortune 100 companies showed that nearly a third failed to respond to e-mail sent through their Web site within one month! Some of these companies still don't provide a usable e-mail address on their sites at all.

3. Acknowledge all orders. Send e-mail confirmations (this can be done very effectively with autoresponders), and if you're shipping actual products, give tracking numbers and expected delivery dates.

4. Provide a clear return policy, honor it and learn from it. This may give you more information about what's working and what's not. Jim's products are sometimes returned with no explanation, so his staff always call the customer to establish and resolve the problem.

5. Expect more phone calls. Jim says: "Customers can't read or write!" If your Web site traffic and response rates grow (which is, of course, what we want), so will the volume of phone calls, whatever your business or industry.

Regardless of the site quality, clear returns and privacy policies, secure servers, etc., people still require human interaction. All of my clients report talking to customers on the phone, and walking them through the Web site, where their questions are clearly answered. Maybe these psychological barriers will lessen, but right now, they are very much there.

If you can get the customer service aspects of your business working well, there'll be a definite bottom line impact. Jim is quite clear that his business has grown substantially through repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers.

And in contrast, we can see the impact of poor customer service and fulfillment procedures in many of the dot.coms that failed. Jim says that people buy things online in the expectation of getting something more valuable than the actual money they spend.

Does your Web site do this??

Make An Action Plan To Improve Customer Service

Customer Service is a critical factor for keeping your clients coming back and ensuring they'll refer you to others. Growing your business will be a difficult task at best if you don't perform, meet and exceed your client's expectations, and provide service that creates customers for life.


Customer service is all about the customer's perception. You have to do more than just get the job done. You must deliver on all the things (big and small) that affect the relationship with your client. Consider opportunities for improvement in the following areas.


1. Setting/Reviewing Expectations. Do you work with your client to set clear, appropriate, realistic expectations that you can always meet or exceed? Are you clear about the responsibilities (both yours' and the client's), timelines, and expectations of results? Are you then willing to go back and review these expectations with the client at key points along the way?


2. Communication. Do you have mechanisms in place to ensure you're communicating with clients at every stage of the engagement, from the sales process through to completion of the project? Being clear about where you're at, what's been completed, what's coming up next, who's responsible, what results you can expect, etc.? Has the client ever had to ask you for these things?


3. Organization. Are you organized? Punctual? Reliable? When you show up to work with your clients, have you done the work and are you prepared to make them feel comfortable and taken care of? Even though you've done it hundreds, maybe thousands of times before, do you take the time to organize and prepare to make it the best client experience possible?


4. Committing to the Little Things. Don't ever dismiss the power of all the little things. Together they can make all the difference and really separate you from the competition. Returning calls and emails in a timely manner. Providing useful information to folks on a regular basis. Showing appreciation for your clients through things like thank you notes, exclusive client-only briefings, and open house, etc.


Clearly these are not the only relevant areas for creating great customer service. I'm sure you can think of more. But, pick just one of these areas and create an action plan to improve it in your business today. Make a commitment to continuously improve the level of service you're providing and see how it pays off. When you've done it, pick another area and work on it.

By Kevin Dervin