When you are starting out in business there are a few things that are generally understood. You need to have a plan, you need to have a product and you should have a good idea of your market. On top of that, you need to make sure that you have secured the financing that will see you through the start up, until the business pay’s you back.

But how many of us truly understand the real Nature of our business? Is it really about having the best technology, the best knowledge about your product or industry or the most offices available to make it easy to contact you? It might surprise you to learn that, although all of these things are important and do serve a key purpose in your business, they are not what your business is really about.

Your business is about MARKETING your products and services. Today’s consumer is a much more sophisticated shopper who does their homework before making a purchase. The advent of instant access to consumer information has done away with spontaneous purchasing or using the local store or shop because it is convenient. Although we may still patronize friends or friends of friends in the business we are interested in, we also look beyond these methods to make sure that we are still getting the deal we want. To be successful today any business person needs to accept this and adjust their thinking about what their business is really about. And once again, that is Marketing their business.

Any business person must realize that they are a Marketer first and a Retailer, Restaurateur, Banker, Doctor, Real Estate Agent or Broker second. The acceptance of your role as a marketer is paramount to your success in whatever area you focus on. In the world of sports the athlete that trains and prepares the most is the one that is going to stand out in their field. In the business world the marketer that incorporates and practices the best marketing methods, will win.

Success in business is dependant on two things, attraction of new customers and then their retention. This is why Marketing must be priority one regardless of all of the other tasks that face us in our day-to-day operations. The purpose of this article, by the way, is not to dismay you, but rather to provide you with some insight about marketing opportunities that are available to help any business incorporate these best marketing practices into their operation. And they are available today. Automated Marketing Solutions or AMS is a full service provider of marketing technology and solutions that incorporate the latest Direct Marketing techniques. AMS’ Direct Marketing solutions provide inexpensive, results oriented programs that use proven sequences to attract and retain customers. Their solutions work for the smallest start-up business to mid sized companies.

A key aspect of their technology solution is the ability to place an entire Marketing Program on Auto-pilot. What is meant by Auto-pilot? Once a business marketing program (including voice messages, e-mails, faxes and other broadcast and mail out collateral) is compiled and sequenced, it is loaded into AMS’ Lead Management System. This system provides the unique ability to manage and control that program without any further human interaction.

The benefits to this system are significant time savings on what would otherwise be labor intensive tasks and consistency in marketing messages. It also means that businesses never need worry about loosing customers who misinterpreted your lack of contact for apathy. If you would like to here more about AMS marketing programs and how they can benefit your business, join us for one of our live tours today… You will be surprised at how quickly and economically you can implement and start benefiting from AMS’ tested and proven technology and experience.

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In marketing circles we refer to the Internet as On-Line Marketing and NO Marketing Program is complete without an Internet presence. That being said, let’s look at some of the reasons why you need to be there.

Websites are an effective way of doubling and even tripling the number of leads you get each month. Why? Well, the Internet attracts a different audience than some of the more traditional marketing methods do although those in the know always explore both avenues. Therefore, when you are on the Internet with your own website you are appealing to a different group of people. You also take advantage of these people surfing because it is easy and non-threatening for them.

This brings up an important consideration. To stop those surfers dead in their tracks your website needs to be credible, things that come from the design of the site itself, the content, 3rd party validation and more. This is why it is important to work with a company that not only understands how web sites work but how they look and can provide proven and successful Direct Marketing response techniques to entice and capture those surfers as well as the individuals that know what they want.

An Internet presence also provides your Marketing Program with yet another option of staying in touch and relationship building. It gives you an excuse to send along a friendly e-mail, fax or voice broadcast letting existing clients and prospects know that there is something new at your site that they may be interested in.

The real importance of the Internet to Marketing Programs could fill volumes. But if you are interested in finding out in a crisp and informative way just what a Website delivered through a knowledgeable marketing partner can do for you then I would suggest you Click Here Here you will find a complete article explaining why you need an Internet presence, how it works, how to integrate it with your current marketing technology, the mistakes you need to avoid and much more. You will quickly see that the Internet is nothing to be intimidated by but a Marketing Tool that will complete and enhance your overall Marketing Program.

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Hi, it’s Mike Kowalski from AMS. Welcome to this week’s Marketing Minute Tip. This week we are going to review all the different Toll Free Recorded Message Hotlines available so you can better decide which ones you absolutely need in your business. So let’s get started.

There are 5 different types of Toll-free Recorded Message Hotlines and here is how you can quickly determine which one best suits your needs.

1. The Information Hotline - This hotline is used with an unbranded ad (which is an ad that doesn’t readily identify you as the advertiser running the ad they’re reading) and has multiple ID numbers.

Here’s an example: I’m a Real Estate Agent and I advertise “6 Costly Home Seller Mistakes and How To Avoid Them.” I include an 800 number, the prospect calls the number and the caller hears, “Hello its Jack Lambert from Re/Max Realty and thanks for calling. To get your free report leave your name and address after the tone, thanks.”

Is the caller going to leave their contact information? No way. It was an unbranded ad and there was no mention that this was from a Real Estate Agent. The caller suspects the information is probably going to be biased and that it was an ad. So follow our earlier advice and keep the Recorded Message neutral not sharing any company information until they get your Free Report. You see, once they get the Free Special Report we always recommend you send after they leave their contact information, it doesn’t matter that it came from a Real Estate Agent because the information and the context now make logical sense. It’s giving the prospect information that they need and has positioned the agent as an expert who just wants to help.

Done this way your conversion rate should be somewhere between 60 and 80%.

This type of Hotline can have up to 1,000 mailboxes or ID numbers and allows you to attach different 4 digit ID numbers to the same script if you want to test the same ad in different mediums.

You can also have multiple scripts for different ads stored here. In the Real Estate niche some marketers have over 50 different scripts because they have over 50 different types of ads and they duplicate each script 3 or 4 times for tracking purposes. Another important factor is that this type of Hotline dead-ends at that particular mailbox to which the caller entered the 4 digit ID number. They can only listen to one specific message and that’s it, because that’s all you want them to do.

Later on, the reports this system automatically generates will show you the telephone number of the caller, their address, how long they listened to your message, and if that number is on the National Do Not Call List.

Sometimes, depending on what your philosophy is, you might want to call back the hang-ups. There are two thoughts on this. One is why would I want to call back a hang-up? They weren’t motivated to leave a message, so it’s basically like a cold call. The second way to look at it is, they were motivated enough to call they must have had some interest, so I’ll call them back.

If you choose to call them back your script should say something like, “Hello, it’s Jack Lambert from Re/Max Realty calling, I’m sorry to be bothering you, but you called our 800 number regarding the 6 Costly Home Seller Mistakes, and we’ve been having a bit of a problem with some of the messages. I’m just doing a follow up call to make sure we send you the Free Report if you wanted it.”

From there you can engage them in further dialogue. AMS knows of agents who make tens of thousands of dollars just doing that alone.

2. The Information Hotline WITHOUT ID Numbers – This is generally used with a Warning or Consumer awareness ad, but it can also be used with unbranded ads as well. Some marketers prefer to use separate 800 numbers for each ad they place…and they believe response will be higher because they didn’t ask the caller to take an additional step, i.e. enter an ID number.

But after performing several large scale tests in different niches, our results showed there was no difference in response rate. In fact one large test showed a higher response with a 4 digit ID number than without. This test was done to a target market group that had a high percentage of people over 50 years of age.

Unfortunately, I don’t know why that was. My only logical guess was because there was a 4 digit ID number, it reinforced their perception that a live person would not be answering the call.

Now these are the first 2 of 5 different hotlines you can use. At the beginning of this message I said this was a 2-part series. So to keep you from being totally overwhelmed with all this great information, I’m going to keep my word and save the rest of these juicy tidbits until next week.

To learn more about how hotlines can help you turn your prospects into profits, go to www.AutomatedMarketingSolutions.com

Or, to see more information about our complete membership system, go to www.ProspectsToProfits.net or give one or our reps a call at 1-800-858-8889.

To your marketing success,

Mike Kowalski
President
Automated Marketing Solutions

Welcome to this week’s Marketing Minute Tip. Do you know what this #1 mistake even is?

In case not, the #1 mistake that business owners make when creating, revamping or just updating their websites is this. Telling instead of SELLING! They go on and on about how wonderful their customer service is, how dedicated they are to client satisfaction, how terrific their products are and how many enviable awards they’ve won. No doubt you’ve seen this personally. You may even know people who have been guilty of it.

And here’s the issue with this approach. Who really cares? For sure your prospects don’t because they don’t know you that well since they have not had time to build a relationship of trust or see these things for themselves. Even if they are well on the path to this point you certainly don’t want them to have to slog through a boring website filled with this self proclamation. Remember this; what they’re really more interested in is what you are actually going to do for them SPECIFICALLY. What kind of discount, deal, special service, hard-to-find-item, etc. are you going to provide?

That being the case, these become the unspoken questions you must answer on your website? And this can be accomplished by avoiding these 2 classic blunders…

1. Injecting every bit of useful, free information you can find about your field and generously populate it all over your website. This may set you apart from the “image advertisers” but it probably doesn’t put more money in your pocket. The reality is that web surfers are loyal to no one. Just because you gave them lots of free information, it doesn’t mean they’re going to choose you. It’s kind of like leaving your front door unlocked and then being surprised when thieves take every valuable thing you own without so much as leaving a calling card.

2. Providing a list of third party links of “interest.” It’s a nice gesture and I know you want to be perceived as being helpful. But, what you are really doing is injecting distraction that will take the prospect away from his or her main mission. And this mission is to digest what you can do for them and opt into your website so YOU get the lead and can start working with them. No doubt the surfer will appreciate your helpfulness, but it won’t pay your bills, will it?

Instead, try giving them just enough valuable content to get them involved and then GET SOMETHING IN RETURN i.e. their name and contact information so you can continue marketing to them indefinitely. It’s like the old adage goes, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.” SO, use your website to get your prospects involved with you! And once you have them involved, they will begin to understand why you’re the ONLY one of your kind they should do business with.

To learn more about how proven marketing tools and strategies can help you turn your prospects into profits, go to www.YourMarketingRobot.com

Or, to see more information about our complete membership system, go to www.ProspectsToProfits.net or give one or our reps a call at 1-800-858-8889.

To your marketing success,

Mike Kowalski
President
Automated Marketing Solutions

Welcome to this week’s Marketing Minute Tip. Remember those teachers in high school who gave you “open-book” tests? Remember how relieved you felt knowing you had easy access to ALL the answers?

Well, I’m going to do you one better. I’m actually going to GIVE you the answer key.

I’m going to show you EXACTLY how a profit-producing Voice Broadcast should go.

Here it is in 6 short steps:

You have a database of phone numbers for people with whom you already have some sort of relationship.

You write up a short, but motivating message that you want to leave them. Here’s an example for you.

“Hi, this is Michael Jasper from Re/Max Alliance. I’m calling you because you’re one of our best clients, and I wanted you to hear from me personally about a special Foreclosure Property Listing Program we’ve instituted for our top clients. Since you’ve been so great to work with, we’re going to offer you a 15% discount on admission to this program. All you have to do to qualify for this price break is call our 24 hour, toll-free recorded message line at 1-866-666-5555. If you listen to that message, you’ll get the secret password that will get you an extra 5% off, making the total discount an amazing 20%! You can also find this secret password on our web site, which is www.michaeljasper.com. Thanks for being such a great client, and I look forward to seeing you make more money with our program than ever before!”

You record this message using a regular phone; you then email your list of recipients to a place like Automated Marketing Solutions (AMS).

AMS then sends this message to the list of numbers you provided, during a specified time of day, when your client is least likely to be home and your message is most likely to be picked up by voice mail.

That’s it! Your clients just received a personalized message from you, without you having to call 20, 200, or 2,000 people! They weren’t harassed by a sales call, you didn’t waste time with someone who’s not interested and they can replay the message at their leisure to collect the pertinent information when it suits them.

And if a live human answers, the system simply hangs up! No one wants to bug them, and this system prevents that completely!

To learn more about Voice Broadcasting or any other AMS product, service or Marketing Membership program, go to: www.AutomatedMarketingSolutions.com

Or, to see more information about our complete membership system, go to www.ProspectsToProfits.net or give one or our reps a call at 1-800-858-8889.

To your marketing success,

Mike Kowalski
President
Automated Marketing Solutions