Category: Weekly Story

I received a mysterious email this morning:

“Hi, I hope this email finds you well and I can connect with you soon. I wanted to reach out one more time to see if we can interest you in some information about how we can help. Best regards, Claire…”

“Help with what?” I thought.

“…reach out one more time…” told me she’d emailed before.

So I searched for past emails from Claire and unlocked the mystery.

She wants to help build a website for my podiatry practice.

“…Our podiatry websites are uniquely designed to attract new patients to your practice,” she chirped in her first email to me last month.

(Sigh)

I’m not a podiatrist. And I don’t play one on TV. And I don’t help any podiatrists with their marketing.

So Claire is barking up the wrong tree.

List quality matters more than quantity.

Maybe Claire’s list has lots of podiatrists. I have a feeling, though, that her list is full of people like me, people wondering, “Why did she send this to me?”

I’ve seen countless marketers struggle because they target rotten, stale, poorly-constructed lists.

Then they blame the medium (“Email marketing doesn’t work!”) or the message (“This content didn’t resonate with the audience.”)

Speaking of content, this morning’s email wouldn’t have worked even if I was a podiatrist.

“I wanted to reach out one more time to see if we can interest you in some information about how we can help.”

No reference to the past email. No explanation of how she could help. No call to action.

That adds up to no sale.

Here’s the formula: Build a list of people who will truly benefit from your products or services. Deliver content that helps them discover how your products and services will help them. Request action to continue the sales process (schedule a phone call, offer a demo, etc.).

If you do that, email usually works.

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

A client complained to me that his email campaign wasn’t working.

“The phone’s just not ringing,” he said.

He’s a commercial real estate broker.

He sends notices about properties for sale to prospects. The emails link to a more detailed flier and prospectus.

I checked the stats for the last email he sent before he told me the campaign didn’t work.

Twenty-two people clicked the link to the flier/prospectus.

I suggested he send a follow-up email to those who clicked, inviting them to tour the property. I suggested he should follow that email with a phone call one day later.

He did what I suggested.

Five people scheduled tours.

Two bid on the property.

He sold it for more than he’d hoped.

He now tracks who clicks on his emails and conducts the same follow-up every time.

Digital marketing tools — email, social media and others — haven’t reinvented how business-to-business salespeople close deals. You still need to pick up the phone. You still need to meet in person. You still need to work through the details.

This broker was blasting emails and expected the phone to ring off the hook with buyers asking, “Where do I sign.”

When that didn’t happen, he decided email didn’t work.

But it DID work…

…as a prospecting tool…

…to show him who was interested…

…so he could get to work connecting with real, warm prospects…

…and close sales more quickly.

If you typically close deals with one-on-one, personal interactions on the phone or in person, don’t expect your email campaigns to change that.

Emails won’t close the sales. Those personal interactions will.

But emails will reveal with whom you should interact. You don’t have time to call the 2,200 people in your database. But you can easily call the 22 who clicked on your email. Chances are one of those calls will lead to a sale..

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. Here’s a fun riddle: Name the two states in the USA that border the most states. Answer: Tennessee (Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas) and Missouri (Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska). 

p.p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

This is the story of a $51 million boondoggle called The Loop Trolley. The Trolley is a 2.2-mile streetcar line in St. Louis that connects the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park with the Delmar Loop entertainment district. Those who pitched the idea said the Trolley would be a major tourist attraction, shuttling visitors from a popular museum to a popular dining and shopping district. It hasn’t turned out that way. The Loop Trolley Company, the nonprofit that manages the line, projected annual ticket revenue of $394,433. After seven months of operation in July 2019, the Trolley Company reported 11,364 tickets sold for $22,283 in revenue. One month later, the Trolley Company announced it would hire comedians to deliver stand-up routines on the streetcar. They dubbed this add-on feature “Laugh Tracks.” “We’re super pumped about it,” Trolley Co. spokesperson Brittany Robbins told a local newspaper. “You know, the Loop Trolley is one of St. Louis’ great attractions, and this just adds to the experience St. Louis and tourists visiting from elsewhere will be able to enjoy when riding.” Ummm… Not so much. Laugh Tracks has derailed. Last week, The Trolley Company asked local governments for a $700,000 bailout to stay afloat. That’s after spending more than $51 million — from a $25 million federal grant, a 1-cent local sales tax and other sources — to build the thing. No one’s laughing now. I’m sad about this. A little mad, too. I’m a taxpayer, and I paid for this. I wonder who conducted the market research. I wonder if there was ANY market research.  Were there really throngs of tourists clamoring for an old-timey way to travel from the museum to the loop? If there were, show me the study. Were they really getting feedback that said, “I’d ride the Trolley more often…if only the ride was more entertaining?” If so, show me the survey results. Don’t get me wrong. I think the Missouri History Museum is a great place. I encourage you to go when you’re in St. Louis. Same goes for the Delmar Loop. I eat there often. I’ve spent countless hours watching movies and gobbling popcorn in the Tivoli movie theater, and I’ve bought countless treasures at Vintage Vinyl — one of the planet’s great used record stores. The Museum and the Loop are two great places in this great city. That doesn’t mean there’s demand to travel between the two on refurbished streetcars. Those who championed the idea are good, honest people who believed this would be a hit. The world is littered with failed business ideas hatched by good, honest people who believed they were on to something big. The common thread in many of those failures: Those good, honest people can’t answer two key questions: What problem will this solve? What desire will this fulfill? If you can answer those questions, you probably have a viable business… … and you have a good story to promote the business. Tom MarketVolt p.s. Here’s a fun riddle: Name the two states in the USA that border the most states. Answer: Tennessee (Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas) and Missouri (Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska).  p.p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

I live in Missouri…

…which is adjacent to Nebraska…

…which has a tourism slogan: “Honestly, it’s not for everyone.”

I’m not kidding.

And I love it!

In a press release that unveiled the slogan last year, the Nebraska Tourism Commission declared, “Nebraska may not be on everyone’s bucket list of places to visit, but if you like experiences that are unpretentious and uncomplicated or if you enjoy escaping the big city life for moments of solitude in the open plains, creating your own fun or exploring the quirkiness the state has to offer, chances are, you will like it here.”

Commission Chair Deb Loseke explained the campaign’s rationale. “We discovered that we can’t offer something to everyone – but to those that we can, this campaign speaks to their sense of adventure and discovering what we as Nebraskans are all about.”

That’s strong.

Pull out the virtual highlighter and note: “We discovered that we can’t offer something to everyone…”

That’s the big marketing idea here, ladies and gentlemen.

No business can offer something to everyone.

Good marketers recognize that. Good marketers focus on those who want what they offer. Just like an airplane speeding past “flyover country,” you should pass over those who don’t want or need what you offer and focus your marketing only on those who will care.

Don’t be afraid to focus on fewer. It will save you time and energy and generate better ROI. 

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. Here’s a fun riddle: Name the two states in the USA that border the most states. Answer: Tennessee (Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas) and Missouri (Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska). 

p.p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

One day last week, Burger King restaurants in Argentina stopped selling the “Whopper” for one day and encouraged customers, instead, to head over to McDonald’s for a Big Mac. 

It was “McHappy Day” in Argentina, the day McDonald’s donates a portion of sales to a charitable foundation that helps children with cancer. 

In print ads published after “McHappy Day,” Burger King trumpeted “A Day Without Whopper — The Day We Donated Our Guests to McDonald’s Charity.”

Here’s one such ad.

The move generated a ton of free press and social media buzz.

I think that’s a pretty good marketing stunt.

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

p.p.s. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

Earlier this month, I shared the news that marketing great Dan Kennedy was in hospice care.

Since then, I’ve been recalling many of the valuable lessons I learned over the years from Dan. 

Here’s one of my favorites: 

Dan often told the story of being disturbed at home by a door-to-door salesman who rang the doorbell while he was watching the ballgame. 

An unwanted pest! 

A few weeks later, again while Dan was watching a ballgame, someone started pounding on his back patio door. This time Dan was really P-O’d and was ready to let this pest have it. 

Turns out, it wasn’t a salesman this time. It was a passerby telling him that some brush in the backyard was ablaze. The good Samaritan diverted Dan’s attention from the ballgame, but he was far from an unwanted pest…

…He helped Dan avert tragedy. 

He was a welcome guest. 

The best marketers devise strategies and tactics to be a welcome guest, not an unwanted pest. 

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell and how. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will view you as a welcome guest and listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

p.p.s. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

I’m about to buy a new car in Chicago and ship it to my hometown, St. Louis (see last week’s email about the car salesman who yelled at me when I told him I wasn’t buying his car). 

I requested shipping bids through an online brokerage and received dozens of offers ranging from $250 to $400. 

I’m going with the $400 bid. Why? Because the shipper who bid $400 was the only one who explained her price. 

I won’t bore you with her explanation. I’ll simply say I learned a lot, and I appreciated the education. 

Frankly, I would probably be OK with one of the lower-cost bidders. They’re all insured, and I have schedule flexibility. 

But I trust and I’m more comfortable with the $400 bidder because she said, “…because…” 

“Our bid is probably a bit higher than others because…” she said. 

Try “because” in your business. It can work wonders. 

“We’re raising our prices because…” (You’ll be surprised how few of your customers flinch and how many commend you). 

“I’m sorry we can’t do that for you because…” (They may be disappointed, but they’ll appreciate you more the explanation.)

“We’re having a sale because…” (You’ll sell more than if you simply trumpet the sale with no explanation.)

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

p.p.s. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

A car salesman yelled at me the other day.

He called to ask whether I was still interested in the car I test-drove with him.

I told him I was leaning toward another car, which I named.

“Have you read the Consumer Reports article about that car!?” he barked.

(He may as well have said, “What are you, some kind of idiot? You’d be a fool to buy that car!”)

“No,” I mumbled, “I haven’t read it.”

“Well you should,” he said sternly. “And then we should talk again.”

“Fat chance!” I thought.

I don’t get it when salespeople try to browbeat and belittle prospects.

I guess that  works for some salespeople.

But it doesn’t work on me.

The irony in this case: I told him I was leaning toward the other car, not certain to buy it.

The deal for my favored car may fall through. But if that happens, I’m not crawling back to the barking salesman.

Here’s what works with me (and works best for prospects in most situations): Mutual respect.

Barking like this salesman is blatant disrespect. It seems like a no-brainer no-no to me.

The challenge for us non-barkers is to refrain from more subtle forms of disrespect…

…Talking over prospects instead of listening…

…Assuming that we have “just the ticket” for a prospect when we have no understanding of the prospect’s aspirations and fears…

…emphasizing features instead of benefits.

Yeah, I said it… Emphasizing features instead of benefits is a form of disrespect. When we do this (and we’ve all done it), we put ourselves and our products at the center of the story. The prospects and the outcomes they desire become secondary.

Putting yourself first and your prospect second is a subtle form of disrespect.

It may be less blatant than barking at a prospect.

But subtle disrespect is still disrespect. The more you do it, the less you’ll sell.

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

p.p.s. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.

Last week, I sent this email about a repulsive person (Charles Manson) who did repulsive things (you know).

One of my subscribers replied and told me my email was “repulsive” and that she was opting-out from my list.  

I get it.

I suggested that marketers could learn a thing or two from Manson about how to woo prospects. In retrospect, citing psychopaths as “inspiration” is bad form.

I didn’t mean to make light of his actions…

…and, I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that he’s a role-model. 

In fact, as I noted in that email, Manson ultimately got it “way wrong.” 

So this follow-up email is a reminder that you should not market like Manson. 

Like Manson, many marketers are great at wooing prospects with empathy and big promises. 

But when it comes to fulfilling those promises, many marketers fail. They break the promise. They deliver something the buyer didn’t want, need or expect. 

Too many marketers trick people into acting. They convince prospects to buy products or services that won’t help them. They simply want to close the sale. 

I wrote this last week, and I’ll repeat it here because it’s a lesson worth repeating: 

Like Manson, we should try to understand our prospects. We should demonstrate empathy.

Unlike Manson, we should present a plan that serves the customer, that truly fulfills and protects. This means delivering products and services that improve a customer’s lot.

That’s the way to build a business.

Thanks for reading.  

Tom
MarketVolt

p.s. We help businesses figure out what they sell. Then we help them identify and connect with their target markets so people will listen to what you’re saying. If you want to discuss how to make it happen for your business, email me  at  tom@marketvolt.com. For no charge and no strings attached, we’ll discuss with you how you’re building email lists, generating new leads and generally finding and connecting with prospects.

p.p.s. If you like these emails, please do me this favor: Forward this to someone who might also enjoy it and encourage them to sign up for future emails on our website at MarketVolt.com.