Make Yourself Available Online!

How many physical sales appointments do you think is possible to run in one week? Well, there are a lot of variables that affect the answer to that question. In the earlier years of my consulting I remember running between 15-20 per week! That is lot of driving, talking, and eating fast food in between appointments. Now consider this. How would you like to present to 15-20 potential prospects all at the same time from the comfort of your own office?

Small businesses and organizations have to learn how to take advantage of advancing technology. In this case I'm eluding to the use of webinars. This isn't a new concept. However, many of you haven't taken the time exploring the possibility of hosting webinars on a weekly basis. Just do a quick online-research on webinars and you will notice that the cost-per-month to present large amounts of prospects is worth it when you consider gas cost these days! (Check out www.gotowebinars.com)

Take a moment and think about the potential of webinar use in your sales process.

Keep It High Touch!
-Ernie DiMalanta

Shhhh. Listen when you're Social Networking

Several days ago I attended a conference on eMarketing Techniques up in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, while working on my blogs, I remembered an observation I made at the conference that I wanted to share with my readers. It's nothing earth-shattering but I found it as a pleasant reminder for those looking to inbound their inbound marketing.

On separate occasions, every speaker encouraged everyone to "Listen." Now you may think that tip is a no brainer, but this is often the step that is skipped when engaging in social networking and is the one I like to begin with when I work with my clients. As you map out your social networking plan take a moment to listen to what's out there in your industry.

1. Read other blogs
2. Participate on forums
3. Follow key individuals on twitter
4. Subscribe to valuable RSS feeds
5. Join LinkedIn groups
6. Listen in on webinars

Whether you are trying to launch a blog, grow your twitter base, establish your fans on facebook, draw traffic to your Youtube channel. Remember to open your ears and listen. You will gain a better understanding of what your target will want to hear.

Keep it High Touch!

-Ernie DiMalanta

Observe Your Market Not Your Bottom Line

Just the other week I had one of my clients send some of their team members out to observe their target audience. The results that were brought back to the table was invaluable on a number of levels. It helped them learn more about the type of people their reaching, it forced them to look outside of themselves, and it opened discussion on ways to improve their service.

When was the last time that you made observations of your market? Actually moved beyond basic demographics that you pulled up from some list provider, and tried to understand the psychographics of your customer. What are their buying habits? Where do they like to shop? What do they do during their free time? What type of personality do they have? What values do they live by? As a small business, you don't have the money to engage a market research firm to do in depth analysis. However, that doesn't mean you have to do business with your head in the ground. Take some time this week and go where your people are and just observe. Believe me, you'll learn something new about your market every time you do this.

Keep It High Touch!

-Ernie DiMalanta

Email Optimization: How Simple Changes Increase Open Rates, Clickthrough, Response, and Average Order Size

Article shared from Marketing Profs...

Email marketing is likely your most effective tool for improving customer relationships, building brand awareness, and generating sales. It is also the most abused one.

Practitioners of knee-jerk planning rely on emails to bolster a sagging month or fill in the holes left when other marketing techniques miss their mark. Even though it works (which is why it is abused), there is a price to be paid.

Customers become disenchanted when they receive numerous emails promoting one sale after another or one product over and over. Everyone's threshold is different. Some may opt out after a week, others a month, and still others a year or more. (Note: there tends to be a jump in opt outs at the

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Keep It High Touch!

-Ernie DiMalanta