Welcome back.  If you missed Part I of this article, I highly suggest you go check it out to find
out what Rule #1 is all about.  You can check it out here: READ PART 1 HERE

Today I want to cover Rule #2, which is a very important rule of effective “Next Generation”
email marketing.

Rule #2 RELEVANCE

Let me tell you a quick story about an experience I recently had.  I purchased a service from
someone online.  I was in his follow up sequence which was fine.  The problem was that
the follow up sequence kept promoting me to purchase the service I just purchased.  This was very
annoying because I had already purchased what he was promoting yet the email messages
continued to come.

The dumbest thing you can do (sorry for the harsh language) is send emails to people
that are not relevant to them.  This will certainly not work in your favor.  If you just
purchased a product or service do you want to keep receiving emails promoting that
product or service that you already purchased yesterday?  How about if you are promoting
a gender specific product or service?  Do you want to send it out to the wrong gender?

Make sure that you are sending relevant emails to people, this will certainly increase your
email marketing success.  This is a key component.  You need to realize that in order
to get your email messages across, you need to make sure the emails you send are
relevant to the reader.

How about this example.  Imagine that you just purchased a nice suit or dress either online or in a
store and a day later you get an email telling you that you can save money on that
product.  Would that bother you?  Maybe you would go back the store and demand a refund
of the extra money you spent or maybe you would just be mad about it. Either way, as the
email sender or business, this would not be very beneficial to your business.

Again, this comes back to relevance of emails.  When using your email to communicate with
your prospects or existing customers, make sure that what you send is relevant to them.  This
is a major benefit of “Next Generation” email marketing.

Stay tuned for Rule #3 because this rule is one of the most important aspects to email
marketing success.

If you have any questions, please leave your comments below or if you would like to find out how Automatic Profit Solutions can manage your email marketing campaigns for you using
“Next Generation” email marketing solutions, please call us at 888-931-4609 for more information.

Chances are that you have received some type of email promotion from a business
in the last day or so right?  And hopefully by now as a business owner, marketing director
for your company, or even a sales or service professional you have been taking advantage
of email marketing to grow your prospect list, your business and your sales.

Or perhaps you believe email marketing won’t work for your industry or profession or
that it is a complete waste of time because when you get those marketing email promotions,
you just delete them right away. Whatever you may believe or have been doing, here is
the brutally honest truth.

EMAIL MARKETING IS NOT DEAD

In fact, email marketing is no more dead than letter writing, talking on the telephone,
or texting for that matter.  But it is pretty safe to say that that email marketing is no longer
cutting edge technology anymore or that the old ways of email marketing are becoming extinct.

When email first became a popular mode of communication, it virtually changed the
way communication worked in a way that can only be compared to the invention of the
telephone. Email combined the quickness of a telephone conversation with the ability to
document what was said of a letter writing exchange.

At the time to be able to send an email that reached the recipient’s email box in a moments
time even if they were on the other side of the world was mind blowing.  I can remember
the first time I got email, I was in college at the time and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Email quickly became a tool used by many companies large and small to promote their
products and services.  The benefits that email marketing provided was tremendous. Things
like speed to market, cost, and return on investment (ROI) were the main reasons.

So in the last decade marketing your products and services using email as the primary
mode of communication with your customers, clients, or prospects has grown in two parallel
lines. The legitimate side of email marketing and customer support has grown and
become more sophisticated and useful.

Many local and national businesses were able to build impressive online business
empires supported by email marketing and ongoing email communications with a growing
customer and prospect base.

But it was the other parallel line that grew like a cancer to the point that it ruined email
communications and has interfered with email deliverability for the many legitimate email
based internet merchants working in cyberspace. The spam merchants working with
sophisticated mass mailing services and software have flooded email boxes of every citizen
of cyberspace to such an extent that without spam control software both at the server level
and at the desk top level, it is virtually impossible to use email for routine purposes any more.

But enough about the doom and gloom.  The fact is, email marketing is alive and well and
can still be an effective tool to grow your sales, profits, and business.  But, the old way of
email marketing is dead and already out dated.  In fact, the “Next Generation” of email
marketing has already began.

The fact is the majority of businesses and companies today either don’t know how to use email marketing effectively or they have not adapted to the “Next Generation” of email marketing yet.

You see the enemy is not “spam filters”.  Yes, it’s true that not 100% of your emails will
get through to your customers, or prospects, but that is not the real problem.  There is no
perfect system or solution out there BUT, there are 4 simple rules to follow to create the most
effective email marketing campaigns out there today that will turn prospects into buyers,
buyers into customers, and customers into repeat customers.

So over the next several days, you will discover the 4 simple rules to follow that can
create a massive influx of sales, revenues, and profits using email marketing.

Here is your first rule.

Rule #1  BUILD BETTER RELATIONSHIPS

Whoever is in charge of marketing your products or services in your company or
business needs to build a loyal relationship with your customers, clients, patients or
whatever your call a person that does business with your company.  You need to create
value for these people and you also need to show them your appreciation.

When you do this effectively, you will have a much greater chance that when you email
these people that they will read what you are saying or better yet, buy what you are offering.
You see, business is about people and when you build a community of followers, they will
actually look forward to hearing from you.

Also, when we are talking about email it is not just about sending email marketing promotions.
That’s right, email marketing is about communicating with your prospects, customers, clients,
patients, members, etc.  This is where you create the value.  I can assure you that if all you do
is send email promotions for sales, you will quickly be ignored and forgotten.

Bottom line is YOU NEED TO BUILD A STRONG RELATIONSHIP with your prospects and
your existing customers in order for your email marketing to be effective.

Follow Rule #1 and you will see a massive change in your email marketing results.

Stay tuned for Rule #2, you won’t want to miss this one!

If you have any questions, please leave your comments below or if you would like to find out how Automatic Profit Solutions can manage your email marketing campaigns for you using “Next Generation” email marketing solutions, please call us at 888-931-4609 for more information.

I was working with the sales person recently at a car dealership and he seemed very
professional and knowledgeable at the time.  In fact, I did buy a vehicle from him that
day.  We spoke about lots of things as I was waiting for paperwork and such to be finalized.
It turns out we even knew some people in common.

Well, let me tell you what happened from there. Before I left he said he would call me
in a few days to clear up a few things and check in with me.  I had such a positive
experience so I told him that I was going to write a card to the CEO of the car dealership
about my experience and how he was such an asset to the organization.

So I go home that day and write a card just like I said I was going to.  I also sent him a
thank you card with a $10 dollar gift certificate for Starbucks coffee because in our
conversations he said he liked coffee.

Before I bore you to death, let me just explain what happened in the past few days
and weeks after the sale that will make sure he will never have a repeat customer again.

A few days go by after my car purchase and no call.  A few more weeks go by and
still no call. In fact, he was suppose to call when my new license plates come in.
A month goes by and still no call.  To make things worse, my temporary license
plate tag had expired.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I stopped by the dealership to
ask if my tags were in.  They were of course but I never got a call.  The sales manager
who was at the front who helped me find out if my tags were in said “Didn’t your
salesperson call you about this?”  My response was NO.  Well he was clearly upset
about it and apologized for that.

So lets recap this transaction:

• I sent him a Thank You card with a $10 gift card

• I sent a card to the CEO of the dealership on his behalf, and in return he completely dropped the ball.

• I didn’t even get a thank you card from him.  After all, I bought the car from him, not the other way around.

This sales person sure did promise a lot and then completely deliver not a little,
but NOTHING.  I am sure that the CEO would love to know how many times this
is happening in his organization each day.

Repeat buyers of your products or services is literally the most profitable aspect
of any business.  If you make the sale, you need to cultivate that sale and turn that
sale into repeat business.

**You can check out another blog post that will show you exactly what I am talking about
Click Here to read that article.**

Make sure that if you do anything in your business that you under promise and
OVER DELIVER!  Make sure you value and appreciate your customers, clients,
and patients because without them, you won’t have a business very long! This is
exactly why I created my VAP Factor marketing and business model.

If you want to find out what the VAP Factor is and how it is the
“The Most Effective and Profitable Marketing Secret On The Planet”  you
can get your free copy by going to my website at www.AutomaticProfitSolutions.com

or simply click on the graphic below to take you there right now.

Want to know the fastest way to double your business income?
The proof is in the charts.

But consider what the significance would be if you were to increase each category
by only 10 percent?

The cumulative increase would be 46.4 percent! Not a bad increase in anyone’s book!

Think about your own business. How difficult would it be for you to increase the number
of customers you have by 10 percent? How about getting just 10 percent more from each
purchase?

And, with a little extra effort, do you think it would be difficult to get your customers… people
who are already doing business with you, who know you, like you, and trust you… to buy
more often or stay with you just 10 percent longer?

If you think about it, it probably wouldn’t take much to accomplish any of those goals.
But the resultant increase in income would be incredible.

Now take a look at your own business. In the table below, put in the number of current
customers (clients, patients, etc.) you have, how much they spend with you on average,
how many times they buy from you in a years’ time, and how long they do business with
you before they no longer need the products or services you sell, or they move to another
supplier or vendor.

Then, run some quick calculations on what would happen if you were to increase each of
the categories by whatever percentages you think would be realistic and doable for your
particular business in the current economy.

**Side Note:  If you don’t know all of those four things in your business, that is the first
indication that you are not maximizing your revenue and profit generating potential.
This needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY.**

So I hope that you can see that if you just strive to increase a little bit each each of
these four areas that your income and revenues will skyrocket just with a few little tweaks.

Don’t make things more difficult than they really are.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have not made a post in quite a while.  Well life sometimes throws you a change up that you will never be ready for.

As of this posting my Mom passed away a little over 2 weeks ago.  She was perfectly healthy until about 6 months ago when it was discovered that she had a tumor growing in her abdomen.  It turns out that it was a very rare and aggressive cancer, only several hundred people are diagnosed each year in the United States with this.

To make a fairly short story even shorter, she became very ill and I along with other family members were there by her side over the last month.

I spoke at her service and in that service I spoke about relationships because in the end, that is really all that you have.  And it reminded me that life is not much different in business either.

You see in business, the most overlooked opportunity that I see occuring daily is that people don’t build lasting relationships with the people that do business with them anymore.  Sure there are a few out there doing it and doing it well but they are the minority.  I am willing to say that over 90% are not doing it.  I know it happens to you to because it is happening to everyone.

All over the United States (and I am sure the world) you are becoming a victim of businesses that just seem to forget about you.  A place that you really like that never does anything to let you know how they appreciate you and that they want you to come back in again.  I know it happens because it happens to me on a regular basis and I know it happens to others too…guaranteed.  The business you are really in should be the relationship business with the people that do business with you!

When it comes down to life and business it’s about building relationships.  The only real difference is that the business relationship needs to be profitable for a business or company.  Marketing your products or services should be focused on building relationships with people that do business with you so they continue to do business with you.  This is the most profitable marketing strategy out there.  You don’t need a fancy degree or title to figure this stuff out.

Ask any business owner or company what they need more of and they almost always say more customers or more clients or patients.  The reality is, if they have been in business for any length chances are they do have enough but they just don’t realize how to make the ones they already have buy from them again and again.

Acquiring new “business” is very expensive and most businesses put a lot of money into advertising to attract those new people.  Then once they get someone to buy something, they completely move on to finding more people.

THAT IS A TERRIBLE MISTAKE!

What happened to the relationship there?  You cared enough about them to get them in but you don’t care enough about them to build a relationship that is profitable in the long term.  You can’t do that in today’s challenging and competitive business world.

During my Mom’s illness one thing that was clear was that she had built a wonderful relationship with people in her life.  The outpouring of support and visitors was evidence that she did something right in her life.

I tell you this story because like all stories there is a valuable lesson to be learned.  Although at the time, I was not thinking about business, after the fact, it was clear that you can make a strong case that with life and business you should focus on one thing and that is relationships.  When it comes to marketing your products and services, you should focus on one thing and that is building relationships.

In closing, I would like to say to my Mom that we had a great relationship and that you will be missed.  I love you.

If you ask most companies and businesses what they need more of, you will very commonly here something along the lines of…

More New Customers

More New Patients

More New Clients

More Sales

While this is a necessary and important aspect of ANY business, this is
NOT the most effective or profitable business model.

In fact, it is not uncommon to see up to a 50% increase or more in bottom line profits in as little as 9-12 months.
So where is the “Hidden Treasure” you ask?

The answer is right in front of you.

Did you know that it costs six times more to get a prospect to buy from you than it does to resell to an existing customer, client, or patient, or whatever name you call someone that buys your products or services? That is why acquiring “new business” is so costly.  In many cases, money earned on the first sale usually doesn’t even cover the acquisition costs.

In fact, it is 16 times easier to sell to people who have or are currently doing business with you and your company.

With that said, why would any astute company or business owner, CEO, salesperson, or entrepreneur even let the thought of spending a minute of time or a dime of their resources on attracting “new business” before they do everything that they can to have the people that have or are doing business with them already spend more money with their company.

The biggest asset in any business is the people who do business with you.  This is where you should focus the majority of your time.  Learn how to improve your relationships with these people.  Find out their needs and wants and most importantly, give them a reason to do business with your company over and over again. If you do these simple things, you can see some pretty amazing results in your business.  Try them out and see the difference for yourself.

Dominic Sembello

Being a father is a fairly new experience in my life.  I have two small children…daughters in fact.  They have such an impact on my life that I find myself talking about them in my business a lot lately.

My oldest daughter is 3 1/2 years old and is quite the little talker.  She is constantly asking me questions.  Daddy this and Daddy that in her cute little voice.  Yesterday while at a small local restaurant, there was a large party of teenagers.  Maybe it was some type of team or something.  After eating, they all got up together and out the door they went.  There must have been about 15 or so people and when they left, it got pretty quiet in restaurant.  My daughter looked over at me and said “Daddy, where did all the people go?”

After I explained to my daughter that they were all done eating it sparked a great idea for an article.  I took the liberty of changing my daughters words slightly because I am not sure if she knows the term “customer” yet.   The point is, there are many companies and businesses out there that are struggling today.  There is more competition out there than ever before and prospects are more educated and expect more than ever before.  While it is an ever changing business environment, one thing still remains constant.  Regardless of your industry or profession, you need people to buy your products and services.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you heard of a company going out of business because they had too many happy, satisfied, customers buying from them? I am willing to guess you never have, which is exactly the point!

On the other hand you can turn your TV on today and see that even the largest corporations are having major problems today due to this exact problem…not enough people buying from them.

So why does this occur?  Well there are many reasons why this can occur but the bottom line is the inability to effectively retain and keep your customers coming back in to do business with you and your company.

It doesn’t matter what industry or profession you are in.  Your customers, or the people that buy the products or services you offer, are your biggest asset.  Without these people buying from you, you don’t have a business.   So if this is true, than one can reason that the most important thing or skill your business can possess is knowing how to efficiently and cost-effectively keep your customers, clients, patient’s, members or whatever name you call the people who do business with you.

I am amazed at the number of businesses that I go into on a somewhat regular basis.  These stores and restaurants have never once reached out to me to tell me about a new product or service they are offering, a promotion they are running, or a special event they are hosting.  Sure, I still go there occasionally but would I go there more often and bring my family, friends, or clients with me if I was enticed to do so?  The answer is yes!

So why is this overlooked by so many companies, business owners, and sales people?    Instead what happens is a business or company continues to do the same things day after day and year after year wondering why they have stagnant, minimal growth and profitability, or even worse a decrease in sales and lost revenues.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  In fact, this is probably one of the biggest and easiest areas in your business that you can change immediately that will have a huge impact on your sales and profitability.

If you want to grow your business to achieve maximum revenues and profitability, all you need to do is one simple thing…FOCUS ON KEEPING YOUR CUSTOMERS BUYING FROM YOU LONGER AND MORE OFTEN.  It really is that simple.

Here are a few simple low cost, yet highly effective ways that your business can do this:

1.  Make sure you have a database of your existing customers and past customers.

2.  Collect emails and use some type of email contact management program to inform your customers about various events and promotions you are offering.

3.  Send birthday cards and thank you letters telling your customers how much your appreciate them.

4.  Offer some type of Rewards or Loyalty program to keep them coming back to buy your products or services.

5.  Send or email them mini surveys to get their feedback on how to improve your business so they will have an even better experience.

The list is really endless but by doing these little things, you can ensure that they will keep using your business more often.  You can see that these things are very inexpensive but the return you can get is enormous.

As long as you can keep customers or people buying from you over and over again and not your competitors, you will see massive growth and stability in your business!

Most businesses either don’t attract a sufficient number of new customers, new clients, new patients, or they let their existing ones slip away. And, in most cases, it isn’t always because the owners, managers or operators of those businesses didn’t try.

Quite often, it’s a result of not understanding and implementing effective “customer-getting” and “customer-keeping” strategies.  Well, it doesn’t matter what you call people that do business with you (customers, clients, patients, members)…

The bottom line is…

If you really want your business to see maximum profitability and growth, you’ve got to make keeping your customers, clients, or  patients your number one priority.

Let me put it another way. When was the last time you heard of a company going out of business because they had too many happy, satisfied customers buying from them? My guess is, never.

On the other hand, you can probably name quite a few businesses that are no longer around because they didn’t have enough people buying from them, coming back for more and referring others to them.

Sounds simple right?  Well it is, yet this is overlooked or seen as a secondary focus by many businessess and companies today. This is by far the easiest way to generate more sales and more profits!

Take a look at your business and company and ask yourself this “Am I doing everything possible to get my existing clients or customers to buy from me more often?”  If your answer is NO, then it is time to look at how you can take better care of those people!  Take care of them and they will never use another company or business again.

For more information please visit out website at www.AutomaticProfitSolutions.com

Your past customers… those who have done business with you in the past, but are no longer considered “active.” That is, they haven’t purchased from you recently. Something happened. They’ve quit coming back. Maybe they’ve outgrown their need for your products or services. Maybe they’ve gone to another competitor. Maybe they moved out of your marketing area. Whatever the reason, they’re no longer doing business with you.

Remember, these former customers at one time liked and trusted you enough to purchase from you. It may have been a certain sale or offer that you ran. It may be that they did business with you because you were conveniently located to them. Or it may be that they were referred to you by a friend, a family member, a neighbor or a relative. Whatever the case, they, at one time, did indeed, buy from you. Now, just because they haven’t purchased from you again recently, doesn’t mean all is lost.

First, you need to determine when a customer or client is no longer considered current. This will depend entirely on your business. For example, a car salesman knows that many customers get a new car every 5-7 years. In this case, you want to continue to follow up with these customers during this time. Conversely, if you sell vitamins that time period might be 2 months before they would need more product. If that customer bought a 2 month supply of something and they haven’t been back in after 6 months, that could mean they are now a ‘former customer’. Just make sure that you define these in your business for your particular situation.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is that they fail to keep in touch with this group of customers. If you’ve run your business properly, they’ll remember the way you did things, how you treated them, and the quality of products and services you sold them. And it won’t take much to get them back to do business with you again. But what if you didn’t do things the best way? Perhaps they had a bad experience with your business or a certain person that worked for you.

Well, an apology or an explanation of the circumstances and what you’ve done to correct the situation can do nothing but help re-solidify an old relationship. You can use the same planning and contacting sequence that is listed above when determining how best to contact this group of customers. Whatever you do, don’t let this valuable resource fall through the cracks. If these customers left your business to go with a competitor, it won’t be long before they have some type of negative experience with that competitor, believe me. It’s just so rare that you find… in any type of business, industry or profession… a business that is on top of all things all the time. And most often, you’ll find that nearly every business is product-oriented, and not customer-focused.

Once you “get your act together,” and begin delivering more than the benefits that the products or services you sell provide, you’ll find that this group of customers can turn out to be a real profit center for you.  So take a look today at your past customers and tap a new resource!

Interested? Want more?  Visit my website – www.automaticprofitsolutions.com