Newsletters Made For You- Exceptional Living

I’ll bet this rolls off your tongue when you see a salesperson stalking you in a department store.

True, it can mean “go away and leave me alone.” But a lot of times it REALLY means:  “I’m not ready to buy yet.  But I will be later.”

Here’s the real question: When they’re finally ready to buy… will YOU be the one they call?

If it’s in the next 24 hours… yeah, they probably will call you. But after that, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

There’s this thing called ‘top of consciousness.’

Top of consciousness is when you are already in your customer’s mind when they decide they need your services. Think of it as a mental sweet spot.

If you aren’t at in that mental sweet spot when they need what you offer, then you go back to square one. You have to battle competitors all over again for your client’s attention.

If your client has to go to the Yellow Pages, look on the Internet or ask someone for a reference, the company with the deepest pockets – the most money to spend on advertising – usually wins.

When you market smart, you get directly to your customers often and regularly.

It sounds like it’s expensive to market this way – but it’s not.

Did you know…

1.  Acquiring new customers costs 5 to 7 times more than retaining a current one.

2.  It’s 8 times easier to sell to an active customer

3.  A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10%.

4.  78% of your customers are lost after six months of no contact with them.

And yet, 95% of businesses spend nearly all of their time, money and energy on chasing new clients.

They do nothing to retain existing customers.

What should this tell you? Staying at the top of consciousness is just smart marketing.

But here’s the tricky part: Doing it (maintaining client contact) in a fun and informative way, NOT with a blatant sales pitch.

A real-world example: I just sold $273 of services to customer I hadn’t heard from in four years. During that time, it cost me $96.00 to send her a monthly client newsletter.

When the time was right… when she wasn’t ‘just looking’ anymore… I was the one she called after FOUR years.

This was the BEST part: She referred me to two other new clients and they each gave me 6 referrals.

Do you see how this works? Relentless client contact crazy profitable!

Exceptional Living Newsletter makes sending a print newsletter fast, easy, painless, and profitable. Our newsletter template is online and 97% Done For You.

I do all of the heavy lifting for you.  Click here now to activate your FREE account.

Taking action just feels right.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Newsletter, client newsletter, company newsletter, customer newsletter, direct response marketing, marketing newsletter, newsletters, patient newsletter, print newsletter client, Clients for Life, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, marketing, Newsletter, newsletters, print newsletter, template

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Mark Twain said it first. Print newsletters have been saying for the past ten years.

Why?

1.  The internet. “We don’t need newsletters anymore. All we need is content on our web site. All we have to do is post our content online, and everyone will flock to our sites to read it.”  And it’s FREE!

2. Email is king!  Just send an ezine. It’s FREE!

3. Postage keeps going up along with printing costs… but email is FREE!

Yep… print newsletters should have died a long time ago.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral…

The print newsletter suddenly became Lazarus and a resurrection took place.

BTW: I love the internet. And email is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  But it’s not the ‘be all and end all’ of MARKETING.

In fact, it’s got some definite downsides.

Everyone is bombarded by email overload. And 91% of it is spam. That means 1 out of every 1.1 emails is junk.  Do you really think your ezine is being read?

A Nielsen Norman Group Report revealed that the typical email newsletter gets 51 seconds of your reader’s time.

That was four years ago. Today, many say its closer to 20 seconds. And, that’s if your email even gets  opened.

YOUR NOT AS POPULAR AS YOU THINK

While you believe YOUR ezines are special and opened like gifts on Christmas morning, in truth emails are routinely wiped out by the dozen in one swoop with the push of the delete key.

Even if the reader recognizes your name, you risk being expunged just because your email got caught in a large block of spam.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you stop doing email newsletters. In fact, I advise you to do an email newsletter on a weekly basis. But, I also suggest doing a monthly print newsletter.

Three Reasons Print Newsletter Are Still Breathing

1.  Printed mail gets delivered – It’s never blocked or caught in spam filters.

2.  Print newsletters have more perceived value – Think about it: How many companies are willing to do this?

3.  Print newsletter are sticky – Print newsletters have great ‘hang-time’. Not only are they likely to be read from start to finish, they usually get passed around.

Exceptional Living does all of this and more.  Check it out and click here now.

Let’s get to work,

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, direct response marketing, marketing newsletter, newsletter template, newsletter templates, newsletters, patient newsletter, print newsletter client, Clients for Life, customer, David Gruttadaurio, marketing, Newsletter, newsletters, patient, print newsletter, template

My parents divorced when I was in my early teens. That didn’t happen much in those days, but it did to us.

Dad ended up in Florida. He had a sister living in North Miami Beach and went there.

8 miles up the road he discovered the dog track in Hollywood, Florida. The first summer I spent with him he took me there.

I was amazed these magnificent animals could run so fast.

The reason they ran so fast is because they were chasing this little mechanical rabbit.  It was impossible to catch; but race after race the dogs would chase it relentlessly.

Do you feel like you are trapped on the marketing dog track?

Here’s what I mean…

Most (about 95%) of you spend all of your time, effort and money chasing a target that’s running away from you!

Did you know you can double your profits by retaining just an extra 5% of your existing customers? This is according to Lisa Ford, best selling author and industry expert on customer service.

Plus:

1.  Acquiring new customers costs 5 to 7 times more than retaining a current one.

2.  It’s 8 times easier to sell to an active customer

3.  Increase in customer retention 2% and it’s like cutting costs by 10%.

4.  78% of your customers are lost after six months of no contact with them.

Personally, I find these statistics exhausting!  It makes me think of those dogs chasing that little rabbit around the track.

Obviously we all need new clients.

But…

There is a much easier and less expensive way to grow your business into the one you’ve always wanted.

Make a list of all of your customers – go back three years. And then market the hell out of them. Set up a marketing calendar and list what you will send and when you will send it.

Use postcards, letters, flyers and newsletters.  This is what will happen: They will begin to buy from you again – and do so often.

A monthly customer newsletter is important because you want to build a relationship with them – not just sell them stuff. You want clients for life… right?

Remember, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper (and easier) to market to people that have already raised their hand once and said “Yes, I trust you enough to buy from you.”

Exceptional Living client newsletter is done for you. Really. The template is online. Takes about 27 minutes to get ‘er done.

There are five places you can customize. I even give you a ton of ideas on what to put in those spots with our Idea Generator TM.

Activate your free account – stop chasing the rabbit.

Taking action just feels right.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, newsletter template, newsletters, print newsletter client, Clients for Life, customer, customer newsletter, David Gruttadaurio, marketing, Newsletter, newsletters, service for life, template

Really… are you sure?

The last time I checked, ALL businesses:

1. Have competition.
2. Must advertise to get people to know about them.
3. Must convince people to buy.
4. Must keep their customers.
5. Must avoid failure on the path to profits and success.

Plus: Consumers are just like me and you – with the same dreams and desires as everyone else.

So how the heck is YOUR business different?

It’s big temptation to think this way…

But even more than that – it’s also a roadblock to your success.

Take client newsletters.

It’s a given you need to keep your clients from wandering off. Plus, you want your customers to buy more and to buy often.

Client newsletters will do this.

And it doesn’t matter what business you are in.

I don’t care if you have a restaurant, sell insurance, pump gas or dig ditches. It doesn’t matter if you live in a big city or a small town.

All businesses either make stuff or they do some stuff. And then we all sell said ’stuff’.  We keep score by seeing how much stuff we can sell.

So don’t rip yourself off.  Don’t use this excuse to let you off the hook from actually trying a customer newsletter.

You’re selling to humans, not Martians.  We use those emotions daily to make buying decisions – no matter what is being sold.

So yes, Exceptional Living Newsletter WILL work in your business. Click on the link to see why our newsletter template is simple to use.

Taking action just feel right.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, marketing newsletter, newsletter template, newsletters, print newsletter client, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, Newsletter, newsletters, print newsletter, relationship, template

We just got in… it was gritty and aggressive.

THREE LESSONS LEARNED:

-  Get in, get it, and get out.  If you dawdle, you may leave the store on a gurney.

- Guard your stuff. Thieves abound; turn your head for a split second and your hard won prizes can disappear.

-  Be prepared to hold your own and NEVER back down.  Civility is put on and there are no rules of engagement… so don’t take anything personally.

WHY I’LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN

Yeah… great deals were to be had.

But as I walked out, I had this empty feeling in my gut.

These Big Stores don’t give a damn about me. I know this isn’t a revelation – but the point was driven home with sledgehammer today.

If the stuff I bought doesn’t work – I just got a one way ticket to customer service hell.

If I had bought from a local merchant (and paid the freakin’ extra $100) and have an issue – I go deal with a person face-to-face. I don’t call some guy in India that’s impossible to understand and doesn’t give a rip about me.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

It doesn’t matter what day of the year it is, ’cause this applies 365 days a year.

It’s customer service; knock-their-socks-off GREAT customer service.

Example: One of my companies charges DOUBLE what my competitors do – and we have no problem staying busy.

Our service just WOW’S our clients – so they call us over and over again.

People want to do business with people. Let your clients ’see’ you every month. A monthly client newsletter set’s the stage for this kind of relationship with your customers.

And it works no matter what business you’re in.

I do 97% of the work; it’s brain dead easy to use with our online newsletter template. Click here to see what I’m talking about.

Taking action just feels right,

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, marketing newsletter, newsletter template, newsletters, print newsletter client, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, Newsletter, newsletters, print newsletter, template, templates

It’s impossible to have too many of them.

A cachet customer is a high-status client. The customers that are well-known and respected in your community.

A cache client gives your company instant status. Few will question your competence or credentials. It’s reassuring proof to others that you’re the right choice.

A REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

I live in a small town of 10,000. One of my clients is the guy that owns the local radio station that everyone listens to.

That in itself makes him a cachet customer.

This is how we maximized his value:  Not only have we done business with his radio station, we have also provided service at his home, his mother’s home and his brother’s house.

AND… I make sure everyone knows this. In fact, he even does a radio ad for us stating exactly what I just said.

His ’star power’ is so strong, people call us on their cell phones after hearing his radio ad. His endorsement also runs in a local newspaper ad as well.

We have several cachet clients – all prominent business people that everyone knows.  Guess what? They ALL do radio ads for me. At the very least, I use their testimonials in my print marketing.

WHY IS THIS SO EFFECTIVE?

1.  Statistically, most clients are followers, not leaders.

2.  Many fear making bad decisions; so they tend to trust the judgment of others. This is why getting referrals from ANY customer is so powerful.

3.  If that client is a cachet customer – someone prominent, well known and respected – their judgment becomes nearly infallible.

Why do you think big companies use celebrity spokespersons? Of course prominence doesn’t equal intelligence. However most people today just can’t see the difference.

BIG FISH – SMALL POND STRATEGY

You don’t have to be a large company or live in a big city to snag a ‘celebrity’.

They could be the client that owns a busy beauty salon or the customer that’s the local computer guru.

Offer them an ‘ethical bribe’: A great deal on your products or services for their endorsement. But however you do it, get them into your marketing stable ASAP!

Isn’t time that you turn your cachet clients into celebrity spokespersons for your company?

Let’s get to work,

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, marketing newsletter, newsletter template, newsletter templates, newsletters, print newsletter client, Clients for Life, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, newsletters, print newsletter, service for life

I had an ‘aha’ moment.  Boy, if Oprah finds out…

Here’s the skinny: Several month ago, Ms. Multibillionaire sued Mutual of Omaha.  The insurance company started a marketing campaign called “the official sponsor of the aha moment.” They also trademarked the phrase.

Oprah was miffed.  Winfrey thinks she owns the phrase – apparently she says it a lot – although she’s never tried to trademark it.

Anyway, they just settled out of court. No one knows how it really ended.

So… I guess I’ll just have to take my chances.

This is how my ‘aha moment’ happened.

One of my clients called to thank me for sending her the ‘magazine’ this month.

Magazine???  My mind was racing… did I send someone my Sports Illustrated by mistake?  No, no, no… she sounded happy to get it.

Then it hit me. She was talking about Exceptional Living customer newsletter – but she called it a magazine.

Huh… I never thought of it as a magazine before.  But I can see why she would think that.

After all, it’s printed in full, edge-to-edge-color; and it does have six pages. Perhaps ‘newsmagazine’ could work, too… hmmm.

My ‘aha moment’ was sealed.

Want to know when YOUR ‘aha moment’ will be?

The day your customers start calling YOU about the great ‘magazine’ you  sent them. Then you’ll finally believe:

-  Exceptional Living is really easy to create -  97% of the work is done for you with our newsletter template that’s made for you.

-  Exceptional Living really does bring in more sales from existing clients.

-  Exceptional Living really gets passed around and generates more referrals for your company.

Create your own ‘aha moment’.  Get started – activate your free account.

And don’t worry about Oprah; I won’t tell her.

Doesn’t taking action just feel right?

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, client newsletter, customer newsletter, direct response marketing, marketing newsletter, newsletter template, print newsletter client, Clients for Life, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, marketing, newsletters, service for life, template

Don’t have one?  You better not wait too long.

I’m not making this up. There is a real-life Director of WOW.

He works at High Point University. HPU is a private liberal arts university in High Point, North Carolina. It has about 4000 students.

The position was created TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN STUDENTS.

Gee… I wonder if applies to your business…

In their words:

“Without students, there is no university. To continually move forward, we must always ‘wow’ our students, our faculty, staff and friends. We must ‘wow’ anyone who comes into contact with our university.”

Here’s the top three things they did to create WOW:

1.   Brought in an ice cream truck and put up kiosks for free ice cream, food and drinks. This sells the value of generosity.

2.   Free car washes on the weekend. With all of the construction, this sells the value of respect for the students’ property.

3.   Valet parking for students after 9 PM. This sells the value of safety and security – even on an already-safe campus.

There’s a concierge desk, a hot tub and free snacks. Classical music wafts through the grounds. If it sounds more like a five-star hotel, HPU discovered when students know you care, they reward you by doing well in the classroom.

The list goes on and on. It’s really remarkable.

The bottom line is that enrollments have high skyrocketed and these students don’t want to leave.

How could this work in your business?

Be extraordinary. Be memorable. Knock your customers damn socks off.

Offer impossibly great customer service.  Let your customer know you and LIVE AND DIE by your guarantee to them.  Wow them so much they feel obligated to tell people about you.

You are the Director of WOW for your business. And I can help you with this.

A full, edge-to-edge newsletter will creates an amazing WOW factor for your company.

I do all of the heavy lifting for you. Exceptional Living client newsletter really is 97% done for you. The newsletter template is made for you.

It takes about two minutes to activate your free account.

This is how you get clients for life,

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, direct response marketing, newsletter template, newsletter templates, newsletters client newsletter, Clients for Life, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, Newsletter, print newsletter, template, templates

Back in the day – when I was a kid – shopping was a social event.

Dad went to the same hardware store every Saturday. He’d buy materials, of course.  But the store owner usually asked dad to have a cup of coffee  with him.

For the life of me, I can’t remember his name – what I do remember is that he smiled a lot.

I’ll never know, of course, if this was his plan all along…

He had this talent for developing a bond with his customers. Today we call it building client relationships.

No one knew about customer newsletters in those days. Looking back, I guess you could say the hardware guy used a verbal newsletter.

He would tell funny stories and jokes. They chat about current events; and he always made sure that we knew who shopped earlier that day (testimonials?).

He did just about everything a customer newsletter is supposed to do.

Exceptional Living newsletter is like that… like you’re having a cup of coffee with your clients.

It provides interesting info told in a fun, easy to read way.  It’s all about having a conversation with someone.  It’s about building relationships that can last a lifetime.

Creating clients for life – it just comes naturally to an entrepreneur – no matter what decade he lives in.

Give Exceptional Living a try.  It’s free.  And its fast and easy to get started.  All you have to do is to click here.

Get a conversation going over a cup of coffee with your customers, starting with the December issue.

BTW:  There’s a true story on page two called:  “The Day Christmas Caused An Outbreak of Peace.”  It’s an amazing WAR story.  Check it out at WebtoPrintIQ (it’s free).

Taking action just feel right.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Clients for Life, Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, direct response marketing, marketing newsletter, newsletters client, Clients for Life, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, marketing, Newsletter, newsletters, service for life

You probably got it wrong, too.

There’s this thing called “The Law of Leadership.” It states that it’s better to be first in your market category than to be the best.

Here’s why:

Marketing is really a battle of perception, not products and services.

People naturally attribute superiority to a product or service that’s first in its category. It doesn’t matter if there are better products.  If you’re FIRST, then you are the best… in peoples minds.

Why?  Because owning the leading position separates you from the pack. You’re not being compared to them.

THE FIRST IS ALWAYS THE BEST AND – THE ONE REMEMBERED

This psychological slight-of-hand is better than actually being the best!

I’ll prove it.

“Who was the THIRD person to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?”  No one cares. But everyone remembers Charles Lindbergh was the first.

Now ask, “Who was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic in a solo flight?” Your answer is Amelia Earhart.

See the difference? A simple repositioning of the question changes everything. Amelia Earhart went from being an unremarkable third to the number one female pilot in people’s minds.

When it comes to marketing, the same holds true.

Here’s a great example:

Kleenex isn’t the only facial tissue brand out there.  But it’s the first (invented in 1924) and still the best seller 85 years later.

In fact it’s dominance is so complete, it’s the generic name for almost all facial tissues sold today. People with a runny nose always ask, “Do you have Kleenex?”

BIG lesson here: The first position really isn’t held by you – it’s held by the consumer’s perception.  You just have to be considered first in their mind.

So… how do you get others to think you’re first in your market or category without LYING?

To be continued in Part 2.

Let’s get to work,

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Newsletter, client newsletter, customer newsletter, marketing newsletter, newsletters, print newsletter client, customer, David Gruttadaurio, exceptional living, Newsletter, newsletters, print newsletter