by Bill Cherry

What is a focus group?
A focus group is a method to learn what potential customers think about a product, service, or idea. This research method has been used for decades by many of the largest corporations. A focus group consists of a small group of people that get together in a room and talk about products, services, or ideas. The researcher listens and watches the group’s responses to gain insight into customer’s attitudes about the product or service.

Many companies that develop new products or services want to know what customer’s needs are so they can solve those needs with their product. Not testing a new product before a roll out can be disastrous. If the research is not done, then the actual roll out is the test and that often is a poor result.

The test for a new product is “Does it fill a need or solve a problem?” Sometimes researchers come up with a brand new product that has never existed and has no purpose. The candy Pop Rocks is an example. Food researchers were looking for a tablet that would convert water into a carbonated drink. They discovered that when they put the tablet sized nugget into their mouths it would pop and produce a nice flavor. The company did not do anything with it for 20 years until an employee saw its potential as a candy.

Focus groups can provide information such as the price customers are likely to pay, colors preferred, materials and design styles, features customers want and more. Of course focus group information is not a scientific method and you must be careful in analyzing the results. Most scientific surveys need around 1200 people in a sample to get a valid result. Focus groups only have five to ten participants which are not statistically valid but its purpose is not for the same kind of data collection.

An example is a lady whom I coached two years ago. I will call her Sandy. She was a musician and had a band as her profession. I found that she and her sister developed a special, new kind of women’s purse and she wanted to market it. Sandy had a local seamstress create a prototype of the purse to show her friends.

I told her to get some better prototypes made and hold a focus group. She found a Chinese broker to have four samples made and shipped back to her. The samples looked very good. It was then time for a focus group.

She arranged to have nine women in her target customer’s demographic meet at a friend’s house. They had lite refreshments and chatted a few minutes. Then the interesting part began. Sandy brought out the four samples purses and passed them around and watched and listened to their comments. Then she started asking questions about what would they pay for the purse, which colors are preferred, and more.

As she listened to their comments she learned suggestions on different fabrics, materials, hardware, etc. Many of the suggestions were very good ideas and helped to improved the product. As a result of the focus group, she was better able to satisfy her customer’s needs.

To create a focus group you need a product, or an issue you want to learn about. Make a list of the information you want to know. They could be things like the right prices, sizes, materials, design, colors and fabrics. You want to learn what customers want in the product, and what will cause them to buy.

A good size for a focus group is five to ten people. I prefer to invite ten so if some don’t show up I still have enough to hold the focus group. They should be examples of your target demographic; age, sex, race, income, geographic location, etc.
1. Prepare your questions and attitudes you want to learn.
2. Get a recording devise to record the session.
3. Arrange a comfortable location to hold the meeting where you will not be disturbed.
4. Contact the participants and get commitments that they will show up. Tell them they will receive $10 at the end of the hour to motivate their keeping the appointment.
5. At the beginning of the focus group introduce everyone. Lead them in some chatter to warm them up. Explain what they will be doing and emphasize that they be completely frank in their opinions. Feel free to say anything.
6. Present the products to be evaluated and pass them around.
7. Listen and record their comments.
8. Ask the questions you have prepared and record the responses.

When the group is over, thank them, pay them their $10 and let them go. Analyze the information but be careful, it is only from ten people so keep that in mind. Focus groups are an easy and affordable way to gain some basic information that can be valuable in a business.

by Bill Cherry
Everyone at one time or another has had a good idea or an idea that’s not so good. You have had that flash of brilliance when the light bulb in your head went on and you know this is the big one. Of course after a day or so the idea fades and soon forgotten.

What is a good idea? Sometimes we think we know but usually we don’t. A good idea will either satisfy a need, create a new product, or a new technology. Does your new idea do any of these?

Often really good ideas are very simple. Take the Hostess Twinkie; simple is the word. During the great depression in the 1930’s a manager at Continental Bakery wanted to create an inexpensive snack that they could sell year around. They came up with a simple sponge cake with cream filling. Actually the original Twinkies had banana flavored filling. What could be simpler than a sponge cake with cream filling?

Pop Rocks candy was created while food scientists were trying to develop a tablet that created a flavored carbonated drink when dropped in. One of the scientists popped one into his mouth and “Pow” Pop Rocks was born. An example of accidentally discovering something while looking for something else, called serendipity.

Some ideas are bad. Take New Coke for example; after millions of dollars and over a year of research the Coca Cola Company created a product that was one of the greatest product failures in marketing history.

Here are two product examples that I would have sworn would be failures, the Hoola Hoop and Pet Rock. But history proved me wrong. Both huge successes. The fact is that no one really knows if a product will be a winner. Not even Donald Trump.

Here is an easy way to create a new product. Find a product used for one use and apply product in another industry. For example, I used a ball from a game named racquetball as a toy for my dog to fetch. The racquetball could be used for both the sport and the dog toy.

What do you do if you do have a great idea? First write a detailed description of the product. Second draw a simple illustration of the product. Make copies of them and mail them to yourself. When the envelop arrives put it in a file and don’t open it. The postmark date is proof when you created the idea.

If you are going to patent your product idea, there are a few things to do first. Have a patent search done on your idea to see if any other products beat you to it. It takes around three weeks and cost around $300. Next file a provisional patent. You can file it yourself and it doesn’t cost much. The provisional patent is a temporary patent that gives you the right to use the Patent Pending trade mark. The provisional patent will only last 12 month. Next is to file the patent. Use a patent attorney to do that. It will cost $5,000 to $8,000.

Next you will need to create a prototype of your product idea. Find other products that are similar and made of similar materials and then find out what company made them. Find a company that will agree to make prototypes, for a price of course. You may have to talk to several companies before you find one that will agree to make the prototype. They will also want to product your product when it is ready to roll out. Get your cash ready.

Get with an accountant and have him or her help with determining your production costs. You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars developing a product only to learn that there is very little profit in it. These are some of the basics of creating a new product. Of course there is much more to it but go for it. If you don’t you will regret it.

By Bill Cherry
Every year thousands of prospective business owners want to buy a franchise business. Some franchises are very good, and others are scams. Below is some helpful information everyone considering investing in a franchise should know.

What is franchising?
A franchise is a legal and commercial relationship between the owner of a trademark, service mark, trade name or advertising symbol, and an individual or group seeking the right to use that identification in a business. Generally, a franchisee sells goods or services that are supplied by the franchiser or that meet the franchiser’s quality standards.

The success rate for franchise owned businesses is very high. According to studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1971 to 1987, less than 5 percent of franchised businesses failed or were discontinued in each of those years.

Although forms of franchising have been in use since the Civil War, enormous growth has occurred more recently. By the end of 1990, more than 500,000 franchised establishments in 60 industries achieved gross sales of over $700 billion dollars and employed 7 million full and part time workers.

Industries that rely on franchised businesses to distribute their products and services touch every aspect of life, from automobile sales and real estate to fast foods and tax preparation.

One reason franchise businesses have a limited failure rate is the many benefits provided the franchisee. Benefits of Franchising: Business franchises often provide a full range of services including:
Site selection
Training
Product supply
Marketing plans
Financing

There are a number of aspects to the franchising method that appeal to prospective business owners. For example, easy access to an established product and a proven method of operating a business reduces the many risks of opening a business.

The franchisee purchases not only a trademark, but also the experience and expertise of the franchiser’s organization. If you are not prepared for the total commitment of time, energy and financial resources that any business requires, you should stop and reconsider your decision to enter the franchise business.

Research Your Options:
As in all major business decisions, nothing substitutes for thorough investigation, planning and analysis of your options. Many so called franchises are scams. The questions below are a guide to your research. Read the franchisor’s entire publication before you begin to gather information.

Ask yourself these questions:
Is the product or service being offered new or established?
Does the business require special skills or aptitudes that you may lack?
Do you feel strong motivation for producing the product or providing the service?
Does the product meet a local demand? Is there a proven market?

Who is the competition?
If the product requires servicing, who bears the responsibilities covered by warranties and
guarantees? The franchisee? The franchiser? If neither, are service options available?
What kind of reputation does the product or service enjoy?
Are suppliers available? What reputation do they enjoy?

Visit at least one of the firm’s franchises. Ask for a list of all of the firm’s current franchises and make sure that you select the one to visit. Avoid calling those names recommended by the franchiser. At the very least, the franchiser must provide you with the names of 10 franchises in your prospective market area.

When you meet with the franchisees, observe their operation, discuss expenses and ask how well the franchiser supports the franchise units. Does the franchiser actively promote and market the products or services of the franchise? You should determine the reputation, stability and financial strength of the franchiser.

When you meet with the franchisees, observe their operation, discuss expenses and ask how well the franchiser supports the franchise units. Does the franchiser actively promote and market the products or services of the franchise? You should determine the reputation, stability and financial strength of the franchiser:
How long has the franchiser been in the industry?
How long has the firm granted franchises?
How many franchises are there? How many in your area?

Examine the attitude of the franchiser toward you. Is the firm concerned about your
qualifications? Are you being rushed to sign the agreement? Does the firm seem
interested in a long term relationship, or does that interest end with the initial fee?

What is the current financial condition of the franchiser? Check the franchiser’s financial
statements in his disclosure document. If the franchisees are paying their upfront fees but
not their royalties, this may indicate that franchise units are being sold to investors but
that they fail to open or perform too poorly to pay royalties. Who are the principal
officers, owners and management staff? What is each person’s
background? How much experience in franchising do they have?

Compare sales promises with existing documentation. Be certain that the sales
presentation is realistic and that major promises are clearly written into the contract. Be
alert for exaggerated claims and pressure tactics.

For newly established franchises, make sure the franchiser has registered the company’s
trademark. If not, the company’s name and logo may have to be altered, forcing you to
change your market identity after you have established yourself.

Verify earnings claims and compare them with other business opportunities. Investigate
all earnings claims carefully. Earnings claims must (1) be in writing; (2) describe the
basis and assumptions for the claim; (3) state the number and percentage of other units
whose actual experience equals or exceeds the claim; (4) be accompanied by an offer to
show substantiating material for the claim; and (5) include certain cautionary language.
Treat this opportunity like any other investment. Does the franchise offer the return you
require? If not, you may want to look at a different business.

What is the legal history of the franchiser? Have any of the executives been involved in
criminal or civil actions? Is any litigation pending, particularly involving any restrictions
on trade that may affect the franchise?

Is the franchise a member of the International Franchise Association (IFA)? If not, why
not? The IFA has a strict code of ethics that must be met before a company can become a
member.

What is the full initial cost?
What does it cover?
Licensing fee?
Land purchase or lease?
Building construction or renovation?
Equipment?
Training?
Starting inventory?
Promotional fees?
Use of operations manuals?
What ongoing costs are paid to the franchiser?
Royalties?
Ongoing training?
Cooperative advertising fees?
Insurance?
Interest or financing?

Are you required to purchase supplies from the franchiser or a designated supplier? At
the prices competitive with other suppliers? What, if any, restrictions apply to
competition with other franchises? What are the terms covering renewal rights?
Reselling the franchise?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires sellers of franchises and other business opportunity ventures to provide prospective investors with the information they need to make an informed investment decision.
It also requires that all earnings claims be documented, that the information investors receive be complete and accurate and that investors have adequate time to consider and evaluate the disclosures before making any final purchase commitment. All required information is given to prospective investors in the form of a franchise disclosure document, which must be furnished at least 10 business days before any purchase may occur. This document includes 20 important items of information, such as:

Names, addresses and telephone numbers of other franchisees.
A fully audited financial statement of the seller.
The cost required to start and maintain the business.
The responsibilities you and the seller will share once you buy a franchise.
Litigation involving the company or its officers, if any.

Get Professional Advise:
You should consult a franchise attorney, an accountant and/or a business advisor to counsel you and go over the disclosure document and proposed contract. Their advice will help you make a realistic and sound decision. Remember, the money and time you spend may save you from a major loss on a bad investment.

Be very careful choosing a franchise in which to invest. You will have to live with it for many years.

June 30, 2010
by Bill Cherry

There are several good reasons to have a business plan. First, most people want to use a business plan to get investors. A potential investor needs a good reason to give you his or her money. Second, going through the process of creating a business plan forces one to examine every detail of the business venture resulting in gaining a detailed knowledge of every aspect of the business. The third reason is to keep a business on track. Many businesses can get side tracked by new opportunities, or other distractions and lose focus on their core competency, what they do best.

Most business plans are basically documents of facts and figures about a business. If you want to use the business plan to raise capital it needs to be written differently. You have to give the investor compelling reasons to want to give you money.

That being the case the business plan must be written like an advertising document, written to persuade. Getting an investor to give you money is an emotional event. Your written document must elicit emotion.

First let me say this, some think if you put the business plan in a fancy leather binder it will influence the investors positively. Not so. Experienced investors are not impressed with fancy looks. They are interested in the meat of the document.

Many students ask me how long a business plan should be. They think the more pages the more impressed the investors will be. Again, not so. Would you like to wade through 50 pages of minutia? Make your business plan as long as it needs to be but no longer. Don’t fluff it out. Keep it to fewer than 15 pages and fewer than 10 is better.

Executive Summary
This is the first and most important section of the business plan. The most important thing the executive summary should do is to get the interest of the reader and entice the reader to read on. Write the summary so that the reader’s interest is peaked right away. Explain what the business is all about in the first two paragraphs and make him want more.
The executive summary should be no more than two pages summarizing the purpose of the business.

Mission Statement
Include a mission statement. A mission statement states the philosophy within which the business will operate, not a description of what the business does or will do. An example is, “We believe our customers are always right and we do everything we can to insure they are happy.”

The next session is the Operating Statement
In this section tell what the business does or will do and how it operates. Make it a detailed description of how the business operates.

Important Document
Include a resume of each of the owners and a two or three paragraph statement on each of his key employees. In addition include copies of documents like lease agreements, insurances coverages, and contracts with vendors and owners.

Next comes the financial projections. No one knows what sales will be so forecast what you realistically think you can sell. Gather the start up costs and then calculate the fixed and various expenses. Identify the ongoing expenses and determine monthly operating costs.

Determine on average what the sale amount will be per transaction. Project sales for each month of the first year. Then send all your data to Bob the accountant and have him or her, Bobette, make your financial projections look realistic.

Marketing Analysis
There are three parts to this section. The national, regional, and local data. The national market analysis will have projections of your business category nationally. Get the data from Googling the national association. You will find plenty of data. Next do the same thing on a regional or state basis, and then on a local level.

Competition Analysis
Select three or four major competitors and write a page on each describing who they are, what they do, what are they known for, what they do best, and what vulnerabilities each has. Details here will pay off.

Marketing Plan
This illustrates how you will achieve the financial goals in the projections. Will you advertise? If so will you use radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail or other medium? If you will use radio advertising which stations will you choose? If TV which programs will you advertise in? Identify the demographics of your target customer. Get very detailed here.

Summary
Finally write a summary. A few paragraphs will do. Remind the reader of all the benefits of investing, the excitement and the monetary benefits. Sell it.

June 23, 2010
by Bill Cherry

Creating an advertising campaign starts with defining three things:
1. Establish an objective
2. Develop a strategy
3. Create the tactics to accomplish the strategy

1. Establish an objective- what do we want to accomplish? Increase sales dollars, sales percentages, or sell a certain number of units. There can also be non monetary objectives such as developing the image or awareness of a product, service, or person.

2. Develop a strategy- the strategy is the thinking and planning how to accomplish the objective. Will we use advertising, direct sales, on site promotions, telemarketing or other means?

3. Create the tactics-the tactics are the execution or doing part of the planning. If the strategy includes using radio advertising, the tactics decide which radio stations will be used. Will the direct sales focus on certain zip codes, or will the telemarketing use cold calling or buy a list of contacts to call?

Date-Next is establishing a date to hold the campaign that does not conflict and compete with other major events.

Budget- Determine the amount of money to spend on the campaign. Each month of the year should have a portion of the annual advertising budget. Determining how to spend a certain month’s budget is an important decision. How much should be spent on this campaign. Don’t blow all your money on this campaign.

Example: campaign for a car dealership

Date- Thursday through Sunday March 13-16th.

Budget- To sell 20 cars we will spend $25,000 for the campaign.

Objective- To sell 20 cars, increase sales 15% over the same month last year, and have gross sales of$400,000.

Strategy- Target young males age 20 to 35 years of age. Use advertising, out bound telemarketing by the dealership sales force, newspaper, and Internet.

Tactics- To accomplish the objective using the strategy the tactics will be to choose the radio and television stations, which newspapers to use, the script for the telemarketers, and how to use the Internet.
Advertising- To reach young males age 20 to 35 years old we must identify their media habits. From research we determine the best way to reach them is with radio and television advertising. We will advertise on sports television, and prime time TV programs. On radio we will advertise on five radio stations that our target customers listen to.

The newspaper advertising will be in the Saturday classified advertising sections. On the Internet, we will use Craig’s List. It is free and has a very high traffic profile of buyers.

Budget allocation:

Television $10,000
Radio $10,000
Classified newspaper $ 5,000
Internet $ 0
Total $25,000

When the time comes, begin the campaign but monitor all the advertising to insure it runs when it should. The television and radio stations will provide a schedule when the spots will run. When the campaign is over, evaluate the campaign’s success or failure.

June 19, 2010
By Bill Cherry

Many business owners and managers think that sales is marketing. That’s not exactly correct. Sales is part on marketing. In business classes there is a principle called the four “P”s of marketing. They are Price, Place, Promotion, and Product. All marketing activities fall into one of those categories.

Marketing means different things to different business people. If you ask ten business professionals what marketing is, you will get ten different answers. My view is that a business exists to earn money, not to improve a community or employ people. That being the case, my view is everything that happens in a business should be to help the marketing effort.

Marketing for a small business involves many things. The first thing is knowing who your target customers are. What are their demographics, psychographics, media habits and everything you can learn?

Demographics- describe a group of people such as age, race, marital status, income, education level, where they live and more.
Psychographics- describe what a group of people thinks, their beliefs, attitudes, and why and what they buy.

Having a clear knowledge of your customer’s demographics allows you to pick the right kind of advertising to use to reach them. Knowing the psychographics allows you to determine what the advertising message is and how to craft it to influence the customer.

Advertising is an important part of marketing. Which kind of advertising to use is a difficult thing to know? Should you use radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail? Which will get the best results? You have to learn about media to avoid wasting thousands of dollars.

But there is more to marketing than advertising. Nothing happens until something is sold. As a business owner or manager you need to learn about sales. If you have no sales skills, get some good CDs and learn about it.

What products or services do you sell? Is there a demand? What is the competition like? How does your pricing compare with the competition? How is your customer service? These are just a few issues that must be analyzed.

The most important marketing tool is to create a unique selling proposition; how to make your product, service, or different from the competition. Do you have the cheapest prices, deliver products fastest, or are your products or services the best? You must fine some way to be different from your competition or else why will people buy from you?

As a small business owner, learn all you can about marketing. It is a life time process.

June 16, 2010

1. Get More customers
2. 2. Get customers to buy more
3. 3. get customers to buy more often

1. Get more customers
Most business owners and managers use advertising to get more customers. In fact, they often spend 50% of their marketing budget on advertising. They generally use radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail and a few other mediums. Each of those mediums can generate new business if they are used correctly.

The problem is most owners don’t know which kind of advertising to use. Every day businesses waste hundred of thousands of dollars buying the wrong advertising.
There are several other ways to get new customers without spending a lot of money.
Partnering:
There are many ways a business owner can team up with another business owner to co-promote their businesses together. For example-

I have an auto detailing shop and I want more customers. I contact the owner of a car dealership and say I have an idea that will make money for the dealership owner without costing him anything.
The idea is I will prepare an email or regular mailer offering free rock chip repair to all of the dealer’s customers.

The dealer sends the mailer out to his customers. Some customers will come to my detailing shop and get the free rock chip repair. I will sell some of them some of my services and make money. Then I split the profit with the car dealer owner and we all win. He makes money for doing nothing, his customers get
free rock chip repair, and I make money and add customers to my customer base. Win, win, win.
This marketing activity costs me nothing.

Referrals-are one of the most cost effective and profitable methods of non advertising revenue. Referral customers are better customers, they buy more, they keep your product longer, cost nothing. Most sales people hate asking for referrals and customers hate being asked.
Get a good set of CDs on referral systems and implement them right away. It takes the fear out of the referral process. A good referral system can generate 15% increase in sales right away.

2. Get customers to buy more.
Up sell several examples are-
Cars sell under-coating, credit life insurance, detailing

Carpet cleaning- sell upholstery cleaning or Cross sell cleaning air conditioning ducts
Tire store- up sell tire quality- front end alignment- air conditioning service

The throw in up sell- Best Buy-
if you buy a frig and range I’ll throw in a small DVD player.

3. Buy more often- Example:
A carpet cleaner company that cleans for a customer once every six months can offer an annual contract for a discount.
The carpet cleaner can offer other services like window cleaning, or lawn care.
Establish a regular re-contact plan sending a mailer, e-mail, or call customers every month or so.
A business can arrange with his printer, “I’ll give all my business’ printing if you give me great price.”

Bill Cherry

The Magic of the 12 Reasons to Buy
Create Your Story
How to Handle Objections
Use Sales Aids
Create a Recontact Program
See 5 prospects per week give info

The Magic of the 12 Reasons to Buy:
Why should anyone buy from you?
How is your business different from the competition?
Most businesses compete on price
Overcome the price focus. What benefits can you offer, or bundle together?

Introduction:
Every business owner needs to know basic sales skills. You don’t have to be a great sales person. Selling is like learning to ride a bike. It’s not rocket science. You can learn basic selling skills that will help you increase your income.

Create Your Story:
You must get the prospect’s attention. When you finally get a prospect to listen to your sales presentation, you need to keep his attention so he is open to your message. There are many ways to do that but they should always start with an interesting, compelling story. Now most of us have never thought of our product or service as compelling, but every product has a story, even if it is an uninteresting one. How was the business started? How the product or services come to be? What was the need that the owner filled with the product? Create an interesting story even if it has to start with, “Once upon a time.”

Use some kind of attention getting tactic. One radio advertising salesperson I know always entered a new prospect’s office wearing two great big rubber ears. Then he proceeded to talk about everyone that listens to radio. You can also use a shocking statement like, “I will not sell you anything today Mr. Jones.”

Reasons to Buy:
Do you know 10 reasons a customer should buy from you? Most people don’t. Make a list of reasons to buy from you and memorize them. Learn them so well you can spout them off one after the other. This will give you amazing confidence. Don’t learn a few of them learn all 10 and be able to tell them easily.

10 Objections You Will Get:
You can anticipate the objections you will get from a prospect. Write down 10 objections you can think of. Then write three ways to over come each objection. MEMORIZE THEM. I guarantee you will feel unbeatable. This gives you so much confidence you will look forward to talking to prospects. DON’T CHEAT ON THIS. If you want to really increase your sales and income, memorize them. Do what the other sales people won’t.

How to Handle objections:
Handling objections is the single most feared part of selling. Why? They don’t want to look stupid if they can’t answer the objection. Like riding a bike, handling objections can be learned, it’s not magic.

Many objections can be addressed before they arise by including them in the sales story. Ex. “When I started my business back in 2003, I realized businesses like yours didn’t have any suppliers of quality widgets, they were all made too cheaply. I saw a need to provide a quality widget at a fair price.”

Prepare for the sales call:
Most sales people don’t prepare for the sales call. Take just 10 minutes and review information you will use during the sales presentation. Review your story, the most likely objections you will get, how you will overcome them, what solution you will offer, and how you will say these things.

Overcome the objections:
Here are the time tested basic steps to over come an objection.
1. restate the objection
2. answer the objection
3. Get agreement, “does that answer your concern?”
4. Continue the presentation or as for the sale.

Ex. Objection: “I think your price is too high.”
Mr. Jones, you think our prices are too high, is that right?
Yes.
Mr. Jones, we deliver orders to our customers within 24 hours. Does you other vendor do that?
No
We also provide a money back guarantee if you are unhappy for any reason. Does your other vendor do that?
No
Mr. Jones, can you see how we provide much more value for the price than your other vendor?
Yes
Well then, let’s get your order going so you can start enjoying the additional values we offer.

Use Sales Aids:
Use them every time. Graphs, newspaper or magazine articles, high light them. Anything in print tends to give additional credibility to your claims. Find articles that support your position. Highlight in yellow certain lines in the printed materials to point out to the prospect. Don’t read the entire article, just the highlighted lines. Use three or four different articles courses.

Get testimonials from happy customers telling their positive experience. People buy on the approval of others. Testimonials are very powerful. I once worked for a company that had each sales person carry a thick three ring binder full of letters of testimony about their positive experience. Read three or four to the prospect. Let them do the selling for you.

Get letters of endorsement from people or organizations of authority. Get endorsements from local Mayors, leaders of non profit organizations, state departments etc.

Online reviews have become some of the most powerful marketing tools. Just as Amazon. Com and eBay provide an opportunity to write a review about their shopping experience with the seller, provide you customer the same on your website.

Third party calls. Have one of your happy customers call your prospect to tell how happy he is with your service. Few things are more powerful.

Create a recontact program for prospects. Not everyone will buy from you now. Some may buy later in the years so stay in contact. Send them an email one time, three weeks later send a post card, then three weeks later make a phone call. Keep your name “top of mind.”

See 5- 10 prospects or more per week face to face. Nothing replaces meeting new prospects.

Study CD’s DVDs about selling skills. Get some from the local library or buy some. Just listening will improve your skills and you will learn a few techniques you feel comfortable doing. Have your employees listen also. It will make them more customer aware.

If you are shy:
If you are very shy and just can’t talk to prospects in person or over the phone, use the following:
Business cards – put your business selling points on your business cards. Just give them out.
Flyers – Create a flyer about your business, and the advantages of doing business with you. Give and send them out threw mail and email.
Post cards – Send them to people you would like to do business with.
News release – write a release about your business and send to local media.

May 19, 2010
by Bill Cherry

1. What is newspaper advertising and when to use it?
2. What is TV advertising and when to use it?
3. What is radio advertising and when to use it?
4. Yellow page advertising and when to use it?
5. Direct Mail/ Direct Marketing.

2. General Advertising:
Target market:
Demographics: describes the customer’s age, sex, income, education etc. Demographics help identify the kind of advertising and what medium to use.

Physiographics: describes what people think, believe, opinions, morals, attitudes. Physiographics can be used to create the advertising message and how to present it.

Which media to use: it depends on the amount of money you have to use, the target market, media usage by the target customers etc.

Advertising is a lot like medicine. For example: if you don’t take enough antibiotic, often for ten days, you won’t get well. It’s the same with advertising. If you don’t buy enough advertising, you may waste the money you do spend. Frequency and consistency are important. One way to get your audience to remember your business is through repetition. One or two radio or TV spots a day will not do the job.

How much advertising will work depends on the market, the target customer, the competition and more. Talk to an advertising sales person to learn how much advertising you need.

Advertising should generally be done on a consistent basis such as every day, every week etc. It depends on your budget.

Cost factors: do you have enough money to buy adequate amounts of advertising?

Message: AIDA formula is a basic principle of advertising.
A- Attention of the customer
B- Interest in the product
C- Desire for the product
D- Call to action

The message must get customer’s attention, get their interest, create a desire for the product, and a call to action.

3. Advantages and Disadvantages of each medium:
Newspaper:
Advantages:
1. They give credibility to businesses that advertise. “If it’s in the newspaper it must be true.”
2. Very wide reach, all over a geographical area, reach lots of people.
3. Mobile, it can be taken with you and read as you travel.
4. It’s tangible so readers can touch it and read it over and over. See your ads several times.
5. Can target certain demographics by advertising in special sections like sports, entertainment, business, social, etc.

Disadvantages:
1. Morning and evening daily advertising is very expensive. Regional papers are more affordable.
2. While newspapers can target some demographics with special sections, the audience is limited.
3. Only 50% of the people in any major market get the daily paper.
4. Young people don’t read the paper; they get info from the Internet and iPods.
5. Newspaper demographics are mainly age 35 plus.
6. Quality of pictures and printing is not as good as magazines.

News paper circulation vs. readership:
What does it mean when the newspaper sales rep says the paper’s circulation is 200,000 people?
ANSWER: Circulation is not readership
Circulation is how many newspapers were distributed to homes, businesses, free give aways, and any papers they give away.

Readership is how many people read the paper. Very different from circulation.
The circulation might be 200,000 but the reader ship might be 70,000 people. And of those how many will read your ad? Even less, much less. Don’t be fooled by large circulation numbers.

4. Advertising Rates:
Newspaper ads are expensive. Local and regional newspaper ads are more affordable. The major dailies are very rigid on their price per column inch. They seldom discount. Regional and local papers are more flexible on rates. They all like to sell you an annual contract.

5. Television Advertising:
TV is the most powerful medium. People spend 4 hours a day watching it.
Advantages:
1. Color, motion, sound, site make TV the most powerful medium.
2. Can target specific demographics by advertising in different shows.
3. Can also reach very broad groups of viewers random schedules.
4. TV reaches 99% of all house holds, more than newspaper.

Disadvantages:
1. Very high cost (consider smaller local stations).
2. Must pay extra for TV advertising production.
3. Locally produced TV ads are poor quality.
4. Not mobile (but changing).

TV advertising rates:
TV ads are often called spots. They can be either 30 or 60 seconds long. Sometimes only 10 seconds. The rates you pay are determined by how many viewers will watch your spots. You can either run your spots during a program or adjacent to it. Prime time 7 pm to 10 pm costs the most. Day time spots cost less because it delivers a smaller audience.

6. Radio advertising:
Radio advertising can be very effective to reach the right audience. You can listen to the programming while on the go, or in a remote location. In every major market, the radio audience is split up between 20 or more stations, so to reach a sizable audience you must advertise on several stations.

Advantages of radio advertising:
1. The message of the spot can be changed in a few minutes.
2. Radio is a personal medium one to one communication.
3. Radio can target specific demographics groups through different music formats.
4. Radio is interactive, listeners can call in and win prizes.
5. Radio is less expensive than other media.

Disadvantages of radio advertising:
1. If you don’t get all the message in a radio spot, you can’t go back and listen to it like with newspaper.
2. Listening audience is divided into many parts of the listening pie.
3. Can’t reach a broad audience.

7. Yellow Page advertising:
Advantages:
1. Yellow page directories are in every home, and business in a market, complete coverage.
2. Your ad is in the book 24/7 when a person wants to buy.
3. The Yellow page book is there when people are ready to buy.

Disadvantages:
1. High cost for the primary book in the market.
2. Can’t change the ad content for one year.
3. Your ad is next to your competition.

Major yellow page books vs. the many independent yellow page books. Advertise in the biggest directory if possible. It gets the most results. If you can’t afford to advertise in the biggest book, advertise in the next biggest one. Don’t buy advertising in the cheap books. It wastes your money.

Direct Mail: You can target exactly your target customer, no wasted circulation, very interactive.

Which media to use:
1. Determine your target audience: age, sex, income, geographical location life style, education, marital status, race etc.
2. What media will reach that audience? For example, Young adult males 18-34, single, white, high school and some college, live all over town but cluster in certain zip codes, listen to lots of radio, like fast cars, loud music, girls, drinking, parties, doesn’t read newspapers, gets info from Internet, radio, and TV.

Radio, harder rock format etc. TV they watch WWF, kick boxing, sports, movies
Which radio stations play the kind of music he listens to?

RADIO IS THE BEST CHOICE FOR MEDIA.

May 12, 2010
by Bill Cherry

Saving money with your graphic design:
1.Bleeds- ink that prints and runs off the edge. Using bleeds will often require the printer to use a large sheet of paper to print on thus increasing the cost.

2. Designing difficult designs to print-large solids. Graphic designers sometimes design features into a brochure that are difficult for the printer to print. An example is designing a large soloid color of ink on the brochure. When you have a brochure with the entire back page one solid color you can get lines across the page, or heaver ink coverage in some areas making the solid ink look uneven. You must have a very good pressman and the right kind of press to get a good even solid color. It’s harder than it looks. There are other design elements that are equally diffricult to print.

Saving by picking the right quantity to print:
1. Printing more lowers the price of printing.We all have heard or experienced the fact that when you print something like brochures, post cards, calendars, and other print job, the larger the quantity printed, the less the per brochure cost is. For example, printing 1,000 brochures have a cost of ten cents per brochure. If you print 5,000 brochures, the per brochure will be five cents each.When the printer says you can get a price break at a certain quantity, usually higher price, don’t do it. The per unit cost is lower with the higher quanty, but your total out of pocket cost is much greater. Don’t buy 5,000 if you only need 2,000.

2. Overs and Unders. It is a general practice in the printing industry that when a customer orders a certain quanty of printing, the printer can deliver up to 10% more of that quantity orders, or up to !0% quantity less than the amount ordered. If there are more brochures printed than 10% overs, the printer will try to sell you those also. Unless you need them, don’t buy them. Tell the printer you want them free. The printer will just throw them away so why not give them to you?

The secret about saving with the right paper:
1. What color is white? Ninty eight percent of all printing is on white paper. The kind of paper you print your brochure on can cost you more than necessary. White printing papers come in different qualities, number one paper is better but costs more than a number two paper, which is better than a number three paper. You save money when you use number three papers. For the general printing you do, you won’t be able to tell the difference between a brochure printed on a number one paper vs. a number paper.

2. Paper comes in different weights. Seventy pound, 80 pound, 100 pound etc. Picking the right weight of paper will also save you hundreds of dollars. Almost all brochures are printed on a 70 pound gloss text. Use this weight of paper and you will save money.

3. Paper comes in different colors and finish. White priunting paper comes in a range of white colors, from a warm yellowish white to a cool bluish white. Papers also come in various brightnesses. For your printing needs, just pick a number three paper for your brochure and you’ll be OK.

The number of ink colors used can affect the prices:
1. More ink more expense.
2. Four color is more expensive
3. Save money with two colors-magic

Which printer will save you money?
1. Get three bids
2. Printing is a commodity-price is king
3. Prices are nagotiable

The magic of printing two or four at a time:
1. Use two colors to appear as four colors
2. Duotones
Giving the printer extra time to prinbt saves money:
1. Printer’s always in a time crunch.
2. Every customer wants their printing yesterday
3. You can have two printer gets one- fast, quality, cfheap

Order on the internet
1. There is always a cheaper printer but be careful
2. Internet printing is incredibility cheap

Check your proofs-check your proofs-check your proofs
1. customer is responsible for correctness.