I got an email the other day from a company I occasionally buy products from. It was asking me to complete a short survey. She had actually sent the email a couple of times before but I was racing through my emails both times and simply deleted them (which is why asking only once produces such low results).

It was a polite request that I may model in the future:  If you could take just 5 minutes to answer a few questions it would be a huge help to me and most importantly, I'll be able to use that information to develop new solutions aimed specifically at what you want and need. Just click on this link to take this quick survey. (link withheld to protect the accused) Thanks in advance for helping me to help you take your business to the next level! P.S. There's a little gift for you at the end of the survey too :)

This third time I decided I could gift her my time; after all I was curious about what the little gift would be and I would like products more geared to my interests. I thought the gift would be a miniature version of one of her current products or a new freebie lead magnet she would be using for her email list.

I answered the survey questions, which did take about five minutes, and got to the Thank you/Gift page. That “little gift” was definitely little and certainly not a gift. A coupon is NOT a gift. I am not, of course, talking about the coupons your kids give you such as “I will clean up my room without complaining.” or your significant other gives you such as “A foot rub while you relax in a hot bath.”

If I have to give you money, it is not a gift -- it is a purchase.

Let me repeat that in case you missed it. A coupon is NOT a gift; it is a sales pitch!

It was not even a good coupon. It was 10% off her products and she semi-regularly offers higher percent-off coupons. I felt cheated out of my time which I would not have if a GIFT was not offered or if she had said I would get a 10%-off coupon in the first place.

Will I complete another survey for her? Not likely and she will not get the feedback she wants to keep me (and other customers) purchasing her products.

Think about the terminology you are using. Could it be misleading? Remember, most people will not tell you they felt wronged. They will tell everybody else and simply quit being your customer. I did not say all the thoughts in this post to the email sender; I wrote a blog so I could tell many, many people (I might send her the link).


Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

Click here to get your strategic plan in place.

Do As I Say... Not As I Do.

Does that ever feel like a statement that describes you? It describes me sometimes. I have a theory - Most of us as business owners know what we need to do to grow our businesses; we simply do not want to do it. It is not that we do not want our businesses to succeed, it is that many of the tasks we need to do are not natural for us.

We need to take the time to plan and set goals. This is second nature for me, but for many of my friends that is the hardest part. They like the excitement of jumping straight in the deep end without knowing if they can swim. I am the type that is going to wear a life vest on a cruise ship.

We need to treat our business like a business and not our baby. This was a little hard for me. After my first 10 months in business I took a long, hard look at all my purchases for that time and realized half of them were useless fluff and my business owed me money. I paid for those purchases out of my pocket because it was my baby business and that is what business owners do. Hogwash! I closed Bank of Me right then and "magically" my business started to grow up and support itself.

We need to sell. Once again, this is a little easier for me than many of the business owners I know. It does not matter if your business is interior design or medical equipment - a business that does not make money will die (even though it is NOT your baby, you do not want it to die). I use networking as my primary source of potential clients, however I am creating marketing materials and making marketing plans that include speaking to promote the new programs I am working on. That takes time and once in a while I get frustrated that I am not using that time for a task that makes me money now. In my head I know this will generate a lot of revenue in the future, but my bank account is screaming, "Feed me."

We need to follow up. I have a pretty good follow up system - when I actually do it. I have the tendency to let "real life" get in my way and I get home from my networking event and I do not send that "nice to meet you email". Three weeks later those cards are still sitting on my desk and then I am thinking, "they probably do not need whatever we spoke about anymore." and it might be a couple of months before I contact them with a "sorry I did not get back to you yet" email.

I am a loner. I like to be alone. I do not naturally reach out to people so follow up is an effort for me. I still attend events about creating a follow-up system. I do not really expect to learn anything I do not already know (I know what to do; I do not want to do it), but I might get more motivated to want to do it so in the future I can say that I took one of my less natural tasks and made it second nature.

What is it in your business that you know you need to do but just can not embrace?

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

Click here to get your strategic plan in place.

It is time to talk about tone of voice. We all have a distinctive personality that comes through in our writing. I am not a person to sugar coat my thoughts and some people like that about me and others are turned off.

I try hard to keep that bluntness from coming across as condescending or insulting. If I ever fail in this task feel free to correct me. I can take it; I wear my big-girl panties.

I have noticed a trend recently in marketing emails. You know the drill. You sign up for a free gift and you receive three to eight follow-up emails encouraging you to purchase a product tied to that freebie. (I have such a series.)

That can be a good marketing strategy, however I have noticed coaches that are offering one-hour webinars that have two minutes of useful content (that you probably already know) and 58 minutes of them telling us how great they are and how much valuable information they just gave us for free.

Since their webinar provided no value (or it was not in the direction our business is headed right now) we have already decided their (usually very overpriced) product is not for us. The follow up emails are sent trying to persuade us to buy their product. The third or fourth one will usually come with a headline, "I am a little surprised..." It will go on to tell us their product is the greatest concept since sliced bread and we are foolish for not buying it right this minute.

If I ever receive an email like this from you, I promise to send you a note telling you I do not appreciate being called an idiot for not buying your product and I will unsubscribe to your list. Please do the same when you get these types of emails. We all want more sales, but we should never insult our customers to get them.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

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