OK, so I’ve now seen just one too many companies BURN UP their advertising money …

Let’s be clear, advertising has only one job, to get SALES, money in the bank, thus MARKEITNG is MATH …

Good sales and profits from an advert, good advert … the whole winning awards with your advert rubbish is exactly that, rubbish.  Awards only count if they are for sales.  Yes you want a brand image, but not at the expense of sales …

So, #1 on your list is the target audience.  ask yourself these two questions … WHO specifically is my target audience for this marketing campaign?  And you better be specific, it could even be a single company or person …  Then ask, WHERE will I find them in the highest concentration?  Rarely is that reading a newspaper, it’s usually on a database, online, as members of a club, as clients of another company and so on.

Then #2 is the offer you make to them, you have to test several offers, NOT just pick one that’s easy for you.  Ask yourself these two questions again.  WHAT do they want to buy or achieve through my product or service?  Too many companies focus on the product or service not the end result.  Then, WHY do they want or need my product or service.  Here, you’re looking for benefits to them, real benefits, come up with at least 7 great ones …

Finally #3 the Copy - ask yourself, HOW can I best get my message to them?  Could be a letter, an event, a call, an email a website a personal visit, a package or maybe an advert …

All the Best … Brad Sugars

Imagine that with one simple question I could help you double your profits …

In fact, imagine that with only a few words you could stumble across the one area of your business that is literally overlooked every single day in most companies, to the point where people dismiss it as, “yeah, we’re OK in that area”.

Well, here it is … with one caveat …

If you dismiss this it’s at your own peril …

The Question …

Do you know your conversion rateS?  and yes the ‘S’ is meant to be in ALL CAPS …

Why … ?

Well, first of all do you even know the overall conversion?  If not, you have some serious room for growth, in fact, whatever you think it is, your gut feeling, halve it and, you’re MUCH closer to what it really is.

So, why RATES plural … ?

Simple, do you know it for every step of the sales process, contact 1, contact 2, and so on through however many contacts there are.  Or, each stage, like in a retail fashion store, getting you in the store is one thing, starting a conversation is another, getting clothes tried on and so on …

Then stage 3 … do you know it for each and every sales person at every stage of the process ?  Bob might beat Mary, but Helen beats Bob, and all at different stages of the sales process, so maybe they can learn each stage from each other.

Then Stage 4 of knowing your conversion rate, do you know it for each marketing medium.  As in, do you know what the rates are for Yellow Pages V Referrals, not just think you know, but actually know.

Finally for the more thorough amongst us, the 5th and 6th stages, how much they spend on the initial transaction andthen stage 6, how much are they worth over their lifetime of buying from you?

Finally Stage 7, how many referrals do you get from each marketing medium and from each salesperson and so on?

Is this a lot of work?   YES …

Imagine though you knew that every $1,000 advertisement bought you 100 leads and 20 sales of $500 each.  How often would you INVEST $1,000 to make $10,000 and what if they came back for 3 years on average and spent another $2,000 on average … ?

Yes it’s work, but it’s much better work than struggling to pay the bills because you don’t know your numbers.

All the Best … Brad Sugars

P.S.  Meet with one of my coaches if you are struggling with knowing your numbers like this www.actioncoach.com …

01-blog-acquisition-cost-lifetime

Click the link to download and listen for some simple yet powerful lessons on how you can buy as many new customers as you need …

All the Best … Brad Sugars

Simple words today …

Anyone can be a father, but it takes a lot of work to be a DAD …

Remember kids spell LOVE their own way … T.I.M.E.

Spend the day with your kids …

Brad Sugars

My Australian Seminar Tour …

http://www.businessisbooming.biz/

REGISTRATION CODE is BS001

Brisbane - Monday August 10th

Perth - Tuesday August 11th

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Sydney - Thursday August 13th

Adelaide - Friday August 14th …

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Register now or send this invite to your Australian friends and colleagues …

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.”

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more: 

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.” 

Just a short note today, as often I’m asked by people if I think they should franchise their business and it happened again today …

Simple answer, if someone who runs the businesshalf as well as you could do it and the business has great margins then yes.  You see franchising is brilliant if done correctly, especially for people new to owning your own business.

But, as a franchisor maybe 20% of your franchisees are going to do it as well as you did when you started the company, so don’t expect the 80% to.

As for profits, it kills me to see unproven franchise models being sold when even the original owner couldn’t make money from it.  It’s almost fraud, to me it feels like a rip off.  The model has to be proven and usually that takes at least 30 franchiseunits operating to prove.  Also the franchisor HAS to make new sales to stay profitable usually until they get about 50 to 100 franchises running where royalty keeps them strong and profitable.

The royalty fee you charge a should be covered in the economies of scale the franchisor brings with buying power and the like, so that doesn’t really matter, but the business has to be profitable …

So, overall, good margins and an easy to run and manage business are two of the things I look for in a franchise.

I am currently looking to buy more franchise companies and build them into a global entity …

All the Best, Brad Sugars