We suggest putting direct marketing on top of your list. Why? There are several reasons:

- It is more cost effective than mass media strategies like Advertising

- There is lesser “spill – over” than mass media like advertising and public relations

- You can “measure” the effects of direct marketing

Solving the direct marketing riddle

By definition direct marketing is a sales and promotion technique in which the promotional materials are delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means. Direct marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools a home business owner can employ to expand his business and make it more profitable. It can help you create visibility for your company and educate the targeted audience about the products and/or services you sell.
www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/starting/glossary.html

Direct marketing is not a complicated, puzzling marketing option that will leave you frustrated and down with a few thousand dollars. If executed with proper planning, focus and some creativity, these tools can do wonders for your home business. Some of the most popular and time-tested direct marketing tools are:

1. Brochures: A brochure is your sales person in paper. It gives your potential client all the information he needs on your company; an opportunity to evaluate your products, services, your expertise and a platform to get in touch with you for more information. A brochure created with serious forethought and meticulous detailing can do all of this and more for you. A few tips:
   • A compelling covering letter is a must to getting the prospect to read the whole brochure
   • A well-designed brochure must keep the target audience in mind, the level of sophistication in style and content and the market you are operating in.
   • A brochure must be aimed at finally getting the prospect to send in a business enquiry. Don’t forget to add the contact details; a postage paid business reply envelope attached with the brochure would be a good idea.
     http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol134/brochure.htm

2. Direct mailing: Direct mailing involves sending out sales letters, fliers, reply cards and other promotional literature through snail mail, to a pre-decided mailing list of potential customers. If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with the right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by the SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

3. Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can use the same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suit the message to
   The Definition of WOW
   Are you striving to be the best of the best in your business? It’s not enough to just be “excellent” or “outstanding” anymore. A company must be “WOW” in order to survive and thrive. Does WOW just mean providing great customer service? WOW is MUCH more than just “great Customer Service”!A WOW customer transaction means... Demonstrating all the behaviors that meet the basic product and service needs, transactional needs and emotional needs of your customers so that your organization can efficiently exceed all of its goals. Let's break that down and really understand what that means.I'll use an example of visiting the grocery store. When I go to the grocery store and put my milk, bread and eggs on the counter in order for the clerk to ring up my order, the behaviors she nee
   g direct marketing on top of your list. Why? There are several reasons:

   - It is more cost effective than mass media strategies like Advertising

   - There is lesser “spill – over” than mass media like advertising and public relations

   - You can “measure” the effects of direct marketing

   Solving the direct marketing riddle

   By definition direct marketing is a sales and promotion technique in which the promotional materials are delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means. Direct marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools a home business owner can employ to expand his business and make it more profitable. It can help you create visibility for your company and educate the targeted audience about the products and/or services you sell.
   www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/starting/glossary.html

   Direct marketing is not a complicated, puzzling marketing option that will leave you frustrated and down with a few thousand dollars. If executed with proper planning, focus and some creativity, these tools can do wonders for your home business. Some of the most popular and time-tested direct marketing tools are:

   1. Brochures: A brochure is your sales person in paper. It gives your potential client all the information he needs on your company; an opportunity to evaluate your products, services, your expertise and a platform to get in touch with you for more information. A brochure created with serious forethought and meticulous detailing can do all of this and more for you. A few tips:
      • A compelling covering letter is a must to getting the prospect to read the whole brochure
      • A well-designed brochure must keep the target audience in mind, the level of sophistication in style and content and the market you are operating in.
      • A brochure must be aimed at finally getting the prospect to send in a business enquiry. Don’t forget to add the contact details; a postage paid business reply envelope attached with the brochure would be a good idea.
        http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol134/brochure.htm

   2. Direct mailing: Direct mailing involves sending out sales letters, fliers, reply cards and other promotional literature through snail mail, to a pre-decided mailing list of potential customers. If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with the right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by the SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

   3. Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can use the same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suit the message t
      Executives and Emotional Self Awareness
      A major problem impairing an executive's performance is his Emotional Blind Spots. Emotions, whether we like them or not, have a significant impact on one's decisions. An example is the Enron case where executives ran into severe ethical and legal consequences after falling prey to the destructive negative emotions of greed and self-interest. It is perplexing how many success driven executives, choose to fear addressing the impact of negative emotions on personal and organizational performance.Helping executives become aware of the Emotional Blind Spots that cause them to steer into perilous decision making territory has helped them make better decisions and feel powerfully more secure in themselves. To help achieve emotional self-awareness we use a powerfully new coaching tool, the Min
      cate the targeted audience about the products and/or services you sell.
      www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/starting/glossary.html

      Direct marketing is not a complicated, puzzling marketing option that will leave you frustrated and down with a few thousand dollars. If executed with proper planning, focus and some creativity, these tools can do wonders for your home business. Some of the most popular and time-tested direct marketing tools are:

      1. Brochures: A brochure is your sales person in paper. It gives your potential client all the information he needs on your company; an opportunity to evaluate your products, services, your expertise and a platform to get in touch with you for more information. A brochure created with serious forethought and meticulous detailing can do all of this and more for you. A few tips:
         • A compelling covering letter is a must to getting the prospect to read the whole brochure
         • A well-designed brochure must keep the target audience in mind, the level of sophistication in style and content and the market you are operating in.
         • A brochure must be aimed at finally getting the prospect to send in a business enquiry. Don’t forget to add the contact details; a postage paid business reply envelope attached with the brochure would be a good idea.
           http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol134/brochure.htm

      2. Direct mailing: Direct mailing involves sending out sales letters, fliers, reply cards and other promotional literature through snail mail, to a pre-decided mailing list of potential customers. If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with the right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by the SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

      3. Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can use the same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suit the message t
         Are You Serious About Working from Home
         Are you so serious about working at home that you would pay money to prove it? If you answer yes to that question, you are a prime target for scammers because this is one tactic they love to use. They may word it differently on various websites and advertisements, but the main point they want to get across is that by sending them your money, you will be "proving" how serious you are about working for them.Nothing could be more ridiculous. Have you ever seen a legitimate company do something like this? Imagine applying for a job at any established company, and as you are handing your application to the receptionist, she says, "Thank you, Mr. Smith. In order to prove you are really serious about working for us, we will need to charge you a $19.95 application processing fee. Will that be
         n do all of this and more for you. A few tips:
         • A compelling covering letter is a must to getting the prospect to read the whole brochure
         • A well-designed brochure must keep the target audience in mind, the level of sophistication in style and content and the market you are operating in.
         • A brochure must be aimed at finally getting the prospect to send in a business enquiry. Don’t forget to add the contact details; a postage paid business reply envelope attached with the brochure would be a good idea.
           http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol134/brochure.htm

      4. Direct mailing: Direct mailing involves sending out sales letters, fliers, reply cards and other promotional literature through snail mail, to a pre-decided mailing list of potential customers. If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with the right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by the SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

      5. Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can use the same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suit the message t
         Customers Aren't Angry - They're Afraid!
         A tremendous amount of time, money, and energy is invested in corporate America teaching customer service reps and other associates how to avoid, reduce, and remedy conflicts with customers.Examine the classes offered by giants in the training industry, and you’ll always seem to find something pertaining to “Dealing With Conflict & Difficult Customers.”It’s an appealing title, to be sure, and robust registrations will support such offerings.But it’s all based on a faulty premise: That the major impediment that needs to be addressed, remedied, overcome, is dealing with angry people.What if customers aren’t angry?Wouldn’t this make most of these efforts misguided, if not utterly wasted?Wouldn’t that mean we’re prescribing the wrong medicine for what ails
         If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with the right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by the SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

      6. Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can use the same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suit the message to a telephone call; keep it short and conversational. Telemarketing, by far gets you the quickest result. One phone call can get your sales team appointments for demos or a meeting to talk about your company. Another valuable response it can get you is a confirmed negative answer. This will help you fine-tune your list better and not waste any more time or money in trying to contact a person who really doesn’t need your services or is plain not interested.

      7. Postcards: One of the biggest advantages of using postcards is its “openness”, literally. Use compelling and creative copy on postcards. Team it up with visual content, and nine times out of ten, the receiver is more likely to give it a read rather than dump it in the bin immediately. It is an effective and a very affordable way to contact and keep in touch with your existing and potential customers.

      8. Email: With the WWW being the life source of home businesses, can you ignore email? It is easily the most affordable and time saving direct marketing tool, that can get your message across to thousands of people and allow them to respond just as easily. Decide on the copy very carefully, so that it stands out above all the junk mail that account holders receive every day. You can buy mailing lists, again from list brokers. Fine-tune your message so as to be able to pack in the most relevant information in a short paragraph. Add visuals, links to your website and contact information. This should include a phone and a fax number a postal address and a contact person’s name.

      Before you begin a direct marketing exercise, spend considerable time on evaluating what tools would be the best for your business; effective but not cost-prohibitive; how would you tailor your message for brochures, mailers, emails etc., so as to break away from the clutter and maximize impact. Once you are through with this, spend time on creating the mailing list with the right names. If you are able to bring down the cost of your direct mailing exercise to even 30 cents, but have a mailing list of 20, 000 people, all wrong names…. every cent has gone down the drain! Someone once said, “There is a difference between Efficiency and Effectiveness. Efficiency is doing the right thing, but Effectiveness is doing the thing right!” So work at making an effective direct marketing plan and see your business expand and become financially more robust.