The front page proclaimed: “Sale! Today everyone wants a deal.” 53% of folks today bought most products on sale; that’s compared to 48% three years ago.

But… the business section of the same paper reported iPhones are driving Apple to record profits. This… in spite of ‘every Apple’ costing about 30% more.

So what gives? Are we a nation of cheapskates? Or is paying a 30% premium something we’ll do all of the time?

BOTH statements are true.

Dan Kennedy often mentions that people will gladly pay ANYTHING for stuff they care about and is important to them.

That’s why the same guy that gripes about a $3 increase in his cable bill will also happily drop a few c-notes for that whiz-bang, super-duper driver for his golf bag.

And ’split personality spending’ cuts across all products and services.

Remember the luxury toilet paper I mentioned awhile back? It’s selling like crazy in the U.K.

Here’s why you should care:

The money is out there. It hasn’t gone anywhere. People are still spending it.  But YOU need to package yourself in a way that screams “I’m different, better and worth my pricing.”

Mercedes and Chevy both sell transportation. Chevy makes it about the journey. Mercedes makes the journey an experience.

Provide an ‘experience’ along with the sale for your customers.

This is what we do for you with Exceptional Living client newsletter.

Few bother to send their clients a newsletter and no one sends ANYTHING like Exceptional Living.

Be different. Be better. Add to your clients ‘experience with your company… every single month.

The May issue is locked and loaded at WebToPrintIQ. Check it out and be impressed. You can be certain your customers will.

Brett and I have newsletters ideas that work.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Newsletter Expert”

PS: At just $1.49 for 6 pages in full, edge-to-edge color (personalized and mailed first class… so what’s holding you back? Click here!

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http://www.WebToPrintIQ.com

About David Gruttadaurio

David Gruttadaurio is widely recognized as the expert in print newsletter marketing and relationship-based marketing.

David now has clients from around the world who are successfully using his products.

He is the editor of Exceptional living newsletter and a published author in print and online magazines and blogs.

David and his family live in the small town of Princeton, Indiana.

Copyright 2010

The results were astounding… but not really surprising.

-  Small business owners put in an average of 55 – 60 hours a week.

-  Small business owners spend almost every weekend catching up on work.  They have no plans to take any time-off.

-  62% said not taking vacations doesn’t bother them.

-  64% said they wouldn’t think twice about doing it all again.

FEAR was the number one reason for not taking more time off. Fear of giving up control and fear of not making money while they were gone.

**39% acknowledged a skilled staff would make things easier; but most weren’t willing to take the time to train them.

TSS is the problem!

THIS is the problem! TSS (Time Suck Syndrome™) is why so many small biz owners are overworked, not as happy as they should be and haven’t attained the financial success they desire.

All because they can’t let go!  They are addicted to running each of their day-to-day operations.

TSS is the biggest hindrance to small business success. YOU are the only thing standing in the way of your success!

Yes, it takes hard work. Yes, it takes time. But that time should be spent creating systems to automate the process of growing a business, training employees and executing sales and service processes.

THIS stuff is the ‘hard work’ that makes success easy.

It’s true that a great company cannot run without the entrepreneur.

But… spend your time doing the things that bring in the most money and that make your business run effectively WITHOUT you being involved.

These are the things that will make your business and your life Easy, Simple and Profitable.
Suffering and saving your way to profits leads to a life of anxiety and mediocrity.

Smart biz owners understand and appreciate the power of a client newsletter. But the time to put one together is usually just too much work.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, folks.

This is one of those things you can completely outsource at WebToPrintIQ.com. Because it’s 97.99% Done For You.

Make this your first step to REAL business independence.

Brett and I have newsletter ideas that will work for you.

- David Gruttadaurio

“The Print Newsletter Expert”

PS: Click here and I’ll send you a hard copy of our relationship marketing marvel.

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http://www.WebToPrintIQ.com

About David Gruttadaurio

David Gruttadaurio is widely recognized as the expert in print newsletter marketing and relationship-based marketing.

David now has clients from around the world who are successfully using his products.

He is the editor of Exceptional living newsletter and a published author in print and online magazines and blogs.

David and his family live in the small town of Princeton, Indiana.

Copyright 2010

Still hard to beat it. Still tastes like crap. And they don’t make cherry-vanilla flavored castor oil.

Harsh reality is the same way.

Sometimes harsh reality can be tough to swallow. Like castor oil, it only comes in one flavor… harsh.

So… why haven’t you taken action yet with a company newsletter?

Perhaps you’re thinking, “But my business is different.”

Hmmm… Really? Are you sure?

Because the last time I checked, ALL businesses:

1. Have competition.
2. Must advertise or somehow 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 profitability and success.

How can YOUR business be different?

Thinking this way creates a massive roadblock to making any real progress.

Or… Maybe you’re content with the way things are in your business.
Congrats! You’re flyin’ high and soaring with the eagles. Of course, our most successful clients realize complacency is the enemy of both security and success.

Or… Maybe you don’t want to spend the money.
Sorry, but it’s time to cowboy up (or cowgirl up) and don’t let ‘I can’t afford it’ stop you. ‘Cause if you let it stop you now, you’ll always let it stop you.

It’s a given that you NEED to keep your clients from wandering off. You NEED your customers to buy more and to buy often.

Don’t rip yourself off.  Don’t use these excuses to let you off the hook from actually trying a client newsletter.

So yes, Exceptional Living newsletter WILL work in your business. Brett and I absolutely guarantee it.

I have newsletter ideas that work – YOU just have to take action.

So let’s skip that nasty castor oil. Cowboy up and click here, partner.

-David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

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http:/www.WebToPrintIQ.com

Copyright 2009

This post is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio.

George Patton once said, “A good plan violently executed NOW is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

Let’s back up for a minute. I’ll bet you didn’t know this:

In the summer of 1912, Patton was a 27 year old Olympic athlete. He participated in the first modern pentathlon. He finished 5th.

One of the events was fencing.  After the Olympics, Patton studied with the greatest swordsman in Europe, the French ‘Master at Arms’.

He became the US Army’s youngest ever ‘Master of the Sword.’ Patton used his skills to improve and modernize the army’s saber fencing techniques.

But it was too late. The nature of war was changing quickly.

Saber cavalry units became obsolete – almost overnight. By the end of WWI, armored (tank) combat had replaced horse cavalry warfare.

However Patton’s skills and the lessons he learned were not wasted. He simply adapted his ‘move forward and attack’ saber techniques for use with armored warfare.

He became the most feared U.S. general in WW II.

3 Ways To Apply These Lessons In Your Biz

1. TAKE ACTION!  Don’t sit around analyzing things to death (paralysis by analysis); get something up, and start selling it NOW. Make it better as you go.

2. LEARN FROM THE BEST! If you want to learn how to market your business, seek out and learn from those who are doing it, and doing it well!

3. ADAPT! Sure, things change in your business – sometimes overnight. Patton went from being a saber expert to a tank warfare expert. Take the lessons learned and skill sets mastered and adapt them. Never say, ‘but my business is different’.

Regarding ‘Take Action NOW’: Do this by getting out of your comfort zone.  Never tried newsletter marketing? Just do it. And now you can do it for less money than before.

Only $1.49 for a personalized, 6 page, full, edge-to-edge color company newsletter that’s PRINTED and MAILED first class for you.

There’s still plenty of time to get started right now. Click here to activate your free account.

Got an account already? TAKE ACTION NOW! Log on here.

Make Patton proud.

We have newsletter ideas that work.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

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http://www.WebToPrintIQ.com

Copyright 2010

This post is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio

If you’re late long enough, at some point you start getting those nice letters from the collection agency.

First, you get a letter with the typical request to pay your debt; you’re urged to ‘govern yourself accordingly.’(I never understood what that meant.)

If you don’t respond, a second letter arrives in the form of a ‘friendly reminder.’

Keep ignoring them and things begin to get ugly. A third letter arrives with that big, red ‘Final Notice!’ stamped on it.

Those are called sequential mailings. They are based on a principle called ‘repetition for emphasis.’ If something is important, it gets repeated more than one time. Not verbatim, but it’s restated in a slightly different way multiple times.

Sequential mailings work for collection agencies. And they’re just as effective for entrepreneurs.

It’s the key to making your marketing work.

“You can’t advertise today and quit tomorrow. You’re not talking to a mass meeting. You’re talking to a parade.”

So said Bruce Barton, a founder of advertising giant BBDO.

Bruce’s point?  Repetition is critical.

No single ad will ever bring in enough customers to keep a business thriving and successful.

In fact it’s been proven repeatedly most consumers will not respond to a marketing piece until at least the seventh exposure.

This is why sequential mailings are so effective.

And it’s the same principle that makes company newsletters work.

Sending a newsletter once or twice a year doesn’t keep you in your client’s awareness path.  Even sending a quarterly newsletter is unproductive.

You have to consistently and regularly mail a monthly company newsletter. It’s called relationship marketing.

I’m not being self-serving here, folks. This is how marketing that works… uh, works.

Newsletter marketing isn’t a sprint. It’s a cross country race. You’re in for the long haul.

Just keep it friendly, not ugly.

BTW: If you didn’t see yesterday’s email, click here to check out the April Exceptional Living client newsletter.

We want to be your newsletter publishers.

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Copyright 2010

This post is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio

It’s a fitness equipment company.

And like most fitness supply stores, they also had a shoe department.

This is where it gets interesting: They recently spun off the shoe department and made it a separate enterprise.

That isn’t the interesting part.

Then they created a new market for custom fit shoes. They call their new enterprise Ultimate Fit.

Their specialty is fitting shoes based on the customer’s feet, gait and body mechanics.

Can’t say for sure what that means…

But I can tell you this: They have a hit.

We drove by the place and it was hopping. There were at least a dozen people (mostly kids with parents) in the store.

Then… they branched out to setting up spaces in the fitness clubs and doctor’s offices. They promote their biz through organized races and walks in the community. They hold clinics to educate consumers on the importance of properly fit shoes.

Do you get it?

They reinvented themselves. They became About Something Significant. Dan Kennedy talked about this in his January newsletter

Granted, at the end of the day, they just sell shoes.

But to their clients, their community, their industry… they are much more significant than the sum total of what they sell.

Why can’t you do the same thing? And please don’t say your biz is too ordinary to be About Something Significant.

With this in mind, how many of your competitors send a monthly client newsletter? I don’t know you personally (yet), but I do know the answer:

Zip, zilch, nada, zero.

Stand out, be significant, reinvent yourself. Begin the process in a very tangible and real way. Send your customers killer newsletters each month. Our customer newsletter templates online are free to use. Exceptional Living is… well, exceptional.

They’ll remember you as being About Something Significant.

Activate your free account if you haven’t done so yet.

Taking action just feels right.

-David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

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http:/www.NewslettersMadeForYou.com

http://www.NewslettersMadeForYou.com/blog

About David Gruttadaurio

David Gruttadaurio is widely recognized as the expert in print newsletter marketing and relationship-based marketing.

David now has clients from around the world who are successfully using his products.

He is the editor of Exceptional living newsletter and a published author in print and online magazines and blogs.

David and his family live in the small town of Princeton, Indiana.

Copyright 2010

This email is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio

People today are mailing less.  A lot less.

As Americans turn from paper to electronic communications, the amount of mail handled by the Post Office continues to drop.

From 213 billion pieces in 2006 to 177 billion last year.

BTW:  Those numbers are staggering. Now you know why our mail occasionally takes a ‘left turn’ on us. Overall, the U. S. Postal Service is incredibly reliable.

Anyway, this means that your marketing will stand out even more in your prospects and clients mail boxes.

And it will get even better. Volume is expected to drop to 150 billion by 2020.

This is good news, indeed.

Now is the time to step up your print marketing. While everyone is falling back to email-only marketing, your mail will definitely get noticed.

This is why company newsletter marketing is so hot. No one is doing them… including your competitors.

Some biz owners think they’re hopelessly old school. Others may have tried client newsletters and failed (they’re harder than they look).

Most entrepreneurs think of printed newsletters as quaint old things, like handwritten letters or electric typewriters. So while marketing certainly isn’t exempt from fads, client newsletters are absolutely evergreen.

And if you do it right, your customers will actually look forward to getting their client newsletter each month. It’s relationship marketing at it’s very best.

Exceptional Living is now only $1.49 each – printed, personalized, addressed and mailed first class.

Activate your free account and jump in. You can play with the cool editing features, upload images to your account, etc.

You don’t pay a dime until you decide that you want to place an order. In the meantime kick the tires on our free newsletter templates.

If you do choose to order, for less than 18 bucks a year per client, you can keep in touch every month and build your customer relationships.

I’m hard at work on April’s issue of Exceptional Living. It should be ready for viewing in the next few days.

I’ll keep you ‘posted (pun intended).

Taking action just feel right.

-  David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

PS: Save $77! I’ll waive your first month’s subscription of Exceptional Living print newsletter!

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Copyright 2010

This post is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio

This is because people generally hate writing. And they fear sounding dumb even more.

But you gotta have testimonials!

You can talk all day how wonderful you are. But when people hear the same thing from someone else, NOW it becomes believable.

4 Testimonial Tips You Need To Know:

1. Do not ask you client: “Can you write a testimonial about me”

You won’t get any replies. Instead, send a form with four or five leading questions that cannot be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If you use mail, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope along with a nice letter.

Bad example: “Did we do a good job?”
Better: “What did you like best about our job [or product]?”

Phrasing your questions like this will get much better comments.

2. Long testimonials are better than short ones

Saying “…fabulous…” or “…excellent, wonderful” looks suspiciously faked and skillfully edited. I call these ‘movie review’ testimonials.

Full sentences – two or three of them – come across as more believable and sincere.

3. Specific, detailed testimonials are better than general or superlative testimonials.

Bad example: “We are very pleased with your product.”
Better: “It’s hard to find a company like yours that really cares about the customer. Thanks for…”

The prospects you’re trying to sell probably have the same problems you solved for your current customer. Let Mr. Customer tell Mr. Prospect how your company came to his rescue.

4. Always use full attribution. Use their full names PLUS the city and state they live in.

Bad example: “D.G. in Indiana” or simply saying, “David G.”
Better: David Gruttadaurio, Princeton, Indiana

People will be more likely to believe it’s a real testimonial if you provide full disclosure.

NOTE: You must get written permission! Even this should be done in a non-threatening way to your client.

Don’t ask, “Can I use your testimonial?” Instead ask, “Can I use your name and tell people you are a happy customer?”

Testimonials are one of the eight Involvement Triggers used in Exceptional Living client newsletter. Discover the other seven. Click here.

Taking action just feel right.

- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

Copyright 2010

This post is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this email is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of David Gruttadaurio

As promised, this is 2 of 5 marketing strategies you can use in your own business.

We have a copywriter in the group. He’s worked for Donald Trump, Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup For the Soul series) and many other heavy hitters.

He told us he’s studied fundraising for years. He wanted to figure out the number one reason that motivated people to give money.

Then he asked us what we thought it was.

The answers ranged from ‘guilt’ to ‘a love for people.’

The answer?

People donated money because they were asked to do so. Yep… it’s really that simple.

BIG TAKE AWAY: It sounds simplistic, but it’s true. The reason we don’t sell the service or the product is because we don’t we don’t pull the trigger: we fail to ask for the sale.

This hit hard. Looking back, I could see how true that was in my own experience.

Plus, our own attitude can affect the results. If we’re not 100% committed to asking for a buying decision, our prospects can sense this.

The saying goes, “he who hesitates is lost.” A lack of confidence in ‘pulling the trigger’ will almost always fail.

This applies to your sales copy, ads, online selling… all of it. You must have a call to action. You must say in some form: BUY NOW TODAY.

When you look at the monthly offer I include for you each month in Exceptional Living, you will see exactly how a direct response ad works.

Take me up on my offer: CLICK HERE and have me send you 3 samples of a client newsletter that really pulls the trigger.

Taking action just feels right.

-David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

If you were an ‘Oldsmobile’ man, you bought Oldsmobiles until the day you died.

Brand loyalty ran deep and was taught to children – even down to grandchildren. Those were the days when the phrase clients for life REALLY meant something.

When I was a kid we used to go to the same restaurant every week in our neighborhood. Like clockwork. If we missed a week, the owner called to make sure we were OK.

He did it because he was really concerned about us, not because he didn’t get our money that week.

But that was then – and this is now…

Consumers today desert you at the drop of a hat.

These new rules cut across entire industries and into big cities and small towns.

A marketing plan from 1970 just doesn’t work anymore.

What HAS NOT changed is that 75% of all buying decisions are STILL based on relationships.

We just have to work harder to earn (and keep) the loyalty of our clients.

Communication is the key to any relationship.  A client newsletter is the most powerful way to communicate to your customers.

Here’s why it works:

Every time your client gets your company newsletter, it’s another chance to get to know you a little better.

Consumers will buy over and over from people they like. Don’t you?  It’s enjoyable buying from someone pleasant and likable.

It makes you feel good about your buying decision.

If you haven’t looked at Exceptional Living, maybe it’s time to check it out.

It’s the ultimate relationship marketing tool for modern times.

-David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”

PS: Click here to get three multi-industry issues sent to you.