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Ideas/Section-8
GENERATING LEADS THROUGH
"FREE ADS"
Do you want leads or do you want to get actual orders right away?
Again, be
explicit when communicating your objective to your reader. Do you
simply want them to fill out a coupon in order to receive more information,
or do you want them to enclose a check or money order for a specific
amount? Regardless what you want them to do, the choice is yours.
Some products are better sold on a two-step
basis, or what is generally
called "lead generation" campaigns. Here are the two steps
that take place.
>> First Step: The ad explains brief info about the product
and
asks reader to write or call for additional information.
>> Second Step: Readers who respond receive sales literature
which
encourages them to place an order for the product.
Some products are better sold using the two-step method. On the
other hand,
this method may prove extremely expensive for products that sell
for
under $100."
BUSINESS NAME
Your business name is a window by which customers (try to) judge
what you're
made of, what your size is, what your aspirations are, and how sincere
you
can be. Many new businesses fall into the trap of creating such
big names
that they begin to sound bogus. Here's a short checklist of do's
and don'ts
about choosing a name.
>> Remember that your business
name need not be your advertising
name. Example, if your business name is Ross & Johnson
Communications Services International Enterprises, you can use
R&J Enterprises, or R&J Services, or R&J International.
(Of course, a separate DBA filing is required.)
>> Avoid long names that will
be too difficult for customers to
memorize or spell. Using the above example, the full business
name will be too long to fit on the payee line of a check.
>> Avoid names that are too
difficult to spell. Also avoid foreign
sounding names or surnames that may sound classy to you may
actually be a turnoff to your customers.
USING THE RIGHT MAILING ADDRESS
Post office boxes are OK. But private mail boxes with a street address
are
even better. If you live (or have your office) in a city with a
name that
is difficult to spell or remember, get an address in the next city.
For example, if your business is located in a city named Lauderdale
Hills
you may want to get a P.O.Box just a few miles away in Miami. Not
only is
the latter (Miami) more recognizable, it is also shorter and easier
for the
customer to spell.
CANADA & OTHER FOREIGN ORDERS
In most cases, foreign orders, particularly those from Canada, may
represent
3% of the total orders you receive. If you gross $1 million a year,
this
means $30,000 of that comes from outside the United States. Of course
inter-
national orders are a little bit more tedious to handle. To start
with, their
different ZIP/Postal Code system makes data entry a little more
challenging.
Keep in mind also that shipments to some foreign countries can cost
$20 or
more! This is one reason why international orders are usually penalized
with a higher shipping & handling charge.Always require your
international
customers to pay you in U.S. Funds only. Make sure you specify this
in your
ad. Failing to do so will bring you unpleasant surprises.
