|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Testing Your Way To Prosperity
I have always enjoyed talking to a Realtor friend of mine about his Father-in-laws business. His business is Gold Mining and he has been involved in it full time for nearly his whole life. My friend has a good relationship with his Father-in-law and often spends time helping him in this business and has learned a lot about prospecting and mining and the other facets of this extremely risky industry.
One of the interesting things that I learned from my friend is that gold mining is a lot more complicated than it seems. You don't just go find nuggets and start digging, at least, not any more. There are very few places where gold can be found in large enough nuggets to make this an effective option. In most instances the actual gold is very fine, often almost too small to see, or is embedded in some other rock.
You don't just sift through the dirt and pick out the chunks of gold. Instead you have to dig up tons of earth (sometimes as much as 2 tons per ounce of gold), crush it and run it through several physical and chemical processes in order to extract the small amount of gold from the rest of the dirt.
Prospecting in business is much the same. You have to go through a lot of useless dirt before you find the gold.
Unfortunately for my friend, there is no set system for processing the ore and turning it into the much desired end result, pure gold. Since the geological and chemical makeup of the rock and earth varies dramatically from location to location one has to test different processes through trial and error to determine whether or not there is a cost effective way to extract the gold. For instance it doesn't do you much good to pay $500 to extract an ounce of gold if the going price of gold is $300 an ounce.
Finding not only an area that has rich reserves of gold but also a cost-effective process for extracting it is the key. Successfully accomplishing this is called "CRACKING THE CODE" by some in the industry. Once you have cracked the code you are set, because you know that it's just a matter of how much raw material you put in the front door that will determine how much gold comes out of the back.
Your business is no different. "Cracking the Code" should be your major focus. Once you have successfully cracked the code, or in other words, created a system that regularly and dependably brings in business regardless of the external environment you have effectively created your own little gold mine. It will simply be a matter of how much you put in the front door, so to speak, that will determine your income.
The important question then is: "How do I crack the code?"
Just like gold mines different businesses have different dynamics. There are any numbers of variables that change from industry to industry. The fact is that each of us has a somewhat unique situation we call our business. And some techniques will work better in some businesses than others.
Therefore, the only way to "crack the code" in your business is to do the same thing as the gold miners do. You must systematically test different tactics and faithfully track your results. This is the only way to know which systems are working and which are not. If they are not working you must refine and improve them. Even if they are working you should continue to test in order to continually improve your results.
In gold mining you have to put out thousands if not millions of dollars attempting to crack the code. In business the only risk you have to take is an inexpensive test. Each of these tests puts you that much closer to cracking the code for your area.
Don't underestimate the power that one or two small changes can make in your business.
There is real power in testing. By improving one area of your business you will improve your business geometrically. But by testing and improving in multiple areas of your business you can create exponential growth in your business.
For instance, let's say you are able to improve the response rate to an ad by 20%. If the other factors of your business stay the same then this will result in a 20% increase in your business (for no extra cost because you are paying the same for the ad whether it produces better or not).
Now, on the other hand, let's say you improve the response rate to your ad by 20% and you also improve your conversion rate of leads converted to customers by 25%. Now you not only are getting more leads but you are converting more of them to business.
This actually results in a 50% overall increase in your business and income. That's exponential growth! All of this at no extra cost to you. You are simply making the existing systems in your business work harder for you and work together.
After this you could find other cost-effective promotions for bringing in leads and other ways to improve your conversion, you could work on increasing the income per completed transaction, or increasing the number of referrals received from past clients or increase the number of ads you run. The potential for improvement is nearly limitless and the risk in nearly nothing.
It is amazing to me how few people test and track the processes in their business. They place the fate of themselves and their families and perhaps many others on the hope of pure guesswork. It's no wonder so many small businesses go under.
Constantly testing and refining your marketing systems will yield rich rewards and is simple to do.
First, look at your past history and establish a baseline for each factor in your business.
Such as:
Cost per lead
Conversion rate for each ad or promotion
Conversion rate of leads to transactions
Average Gross Profit per transaction
Average Net Profit per transaction
Average number of referrals received per client
Average amount of repeat business over time
Etc.
Second, conservatively test the individual factors of your business.
Such as:
Ad Copy
Best days to advertise
Small vs. Large ads
Editorial Style vs. Display Style
Free Reports
Follow-up letters
Inserts
Telephone Scripts
Using free recorded messages
Follow-up schedules
Past Client Follow-up
Referral Scripts
Etc., Etc., Etc.
Third, change or add those factors which testing proves to be better. If it is a better way of doing a certain part of your business then replace the old way with the new. If it is an additional way of increasing business then add it to your existing system.
By continually testing and improving your way of doing business you assure yourself of staying ahead of your competition and guarantee future growth that can be exponential growth. The sky is the limit.
Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers and real estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and much more visit: http://www.MortgageMarketingTips.com/
Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!
Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!
Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!
Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!
Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!
CNNMoney.com - 15 hours ago
Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc. (OTCBB: AMKT) announces that IMAX Theaters is piloting Proximity Marketing at its Palisades theater location in NY, ...
Bizjournals.com, NC - 11 hours ago
Database marketing firm Merkle Inc. has signed up the Limited as a new client in a three-year contract. The Columbia firm will analyze customer data to help ...
Merkle Selected by The Limited to Support Integrated Customer ... MarketWatch (press release)
all 17 news articles
Boston Globe
Bizjournals.com, NC - 15 hours ago
United Parcel Service Inc. rival FedEx Corp. will cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, the company recently disclosed on its blog. ...
FedEx cuts marketing spend by more than 25 percent Reuters
FedEx to reduce marketing budgets by 25% Brand Republic
all 43 news articles
Bizjournals.com, NC - 15 hours ago
Downtown Greensboro marketing firm Bouvier Kelly has won three awards from the Carolina Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society for its work with ...
CNNMoney.com - 6 hours ago
TMI's marketing plan includes a program where LTC facilities can lease the equipment necessary to perform skin assessments and store the necessary data ...
Wellstar/TMI Announces Estimated Three-Year Revenue Projections MSNBC
all 9 news articles
Canoe.ca
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - 13 hours ago
By Sarah Talalay | South Florida Sun-Sentinel University of Florida fan Michelle Jackson has her outfit for college football's national championship game ...
BCS National Championship notebook Dallas Morning News
Danny Wuerffel to Tim Tebow: Return for senior year Orlando Sentinel
all 3,405 news articles
CNNMoney.com - 16 hours ago
Proton will start by marketing a variety of enhanced water products that provide health benefits for people and the planet as well as the commercial product ...
MSNBC - 2 hours ago
The initial stages of marketing the properties for sale have already begun, and the Company will expand those efforts now that the properties are completely ...
Indianapolis Star, United States - 12 hours ago
With a team of 25 brokers and additional market research, marketing, and client support staff, Summit Realty Group specializes in office, industrial, ...
MediaPost Publications, New York - 1 hour ago
by Erik Sass, 7 hours ago Katz Media Group is launching a new national marketing unit that will focus on creating custom solutions for advertisers that take ...
Katz Launches Katz Marketing Solutions Streaming Magazine
Katz Media Group Reorgs to Trim Costs MEDIAWEEK
Katz Media Group Launches National Marketing Unit to Exploit the ... Earthtimes (press release)
Radio Business Report - AdAge.comall 24 news articles
4 Steps To Increase Your Job Sign Marketing
It's no secret that using a job site sign can be an effective way to market your company's services to neighborhood homeowners. But most job sign marketing... Read More
High Response Marketing With Low-Cost Postcards
Postcards can drive a huge amount of traffic to your web site, generate a flood of new sales leads or produce a surge in any business activity... Read More
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are... Read More
Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 2 of 2)
Last time we discussed how online coupons and promotion codes can motivate buyers. We discussed examples of coupons and some of the aspects of these offers that... Read More
Brainstorming Techniques as New Product Development Strategies
When developing new products and strategies, coming up with unique ideas is often a struggle. It is one of the reasons why, in any industry, there is... Read More
Direct Marketing Puts Information In The Buyer?s Hands
Direct marketing is advertising from a manufacturer or front-end supplier directed to the ultimate consumer of a product or service. Another way of looking at direct marketing... Read More
The Key to Success
Good business is about communication... not just what you say but...Early Monday morning the phone rang in my office; it was very early for a business call.... Read More
Off The Shelf Software for Making Business Lists
Available to all small businesses are business lists, which come on CD ROMs. This off the shelf business list software can help you in your small business.... Read More
What Does Marketing Mean?
You can have the best little business ever with wonderful potential, but if you can't market it, you don't have a business at all.Learn how to market... Read More
Creating Great Charts for Persuasive Trade Show Presentations
A well-designed chart can be one of the most persuasive elements of your trade show booth display and literature. It illustrates to your customers why your product... Read More
FUNDRAISING - Free and Easy School Fundraisers - Elementary and High School Fund Raising Ideas
Parents are always looking for free and easy ways to improve their child's education. School funding plays a big part in the education that your child receives,... Read More
Marketing Without Ego
Our ego can get in the way of marketing our business. From our need to be right, to talking about ourselves incessantly; coming from an attitude of... Read More
Common Exhibit Marketing Mistakes: Ten Tips on How to Avoid Them
The key to great exhibiting is marketing. But marketing is a very inexact science that leaves room for a multitude of errors to occur. The following are... Read More
Differentiate or Die
Sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Well, I can tell you from personal experience with both my own business and with my clients, "differentiate or die" is not... Read More
Consumer Thinking And Search Marketing
12/20/04According to a recent article by ComScore Networks, about three-quarters of all consumer product research is initiated through a generic search term, such as "televisions" or "Adoption... Read More
Why Great Companies Survey: Martian Logic!
If an alien civilization from Mars was planning a friendly takeover of our planet they would seek to make sure they understood our way of life and... Read More
Postcard Direct Mail Marketing Works (Its Cheap, Quick, Affordable and More)
Used the right way and with the right audience, postcards often outperform their mailbox "competitors" in money saved and revenue generated (the competitors are sales letters, self-mailers,... Read More
New Years Planning Critical Success Factors
New Year's is a good time for strategic planning or re-planning your business. But don't think that's the only time. If you feel the need to re-consider... Read More
Niche Marketing: The Affiliate Angle
If you're just dipping your toes into the waters of Niche Marketing for the first time then Affiliate marketing is the ultimate low risk choice to get... Read More
Mail Orders Most Common Mistakes
THE GREAT MAIL ORDER MYTH There are a number of totally unrealistic beliefs about the mail order business. To belive in any of them can be dangerous... Read More
Marketing A Misunderstood or Scary Product or Service
What do you do if your business, product or service is something hardly anyone is aware of or understands? Or worse yet, if it is something they... Read More
10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochures
Businesses rely on brochures as their front line in communicating their products or services. Yet according to Shannon Cherry, APR, many find them not as successful because... Read More
Ten Reasons Why Most Yellow Page Ads Fail -And Yours Does Not Have to
Grant Directory users are ready to buy Yellow Pages have a major advantage over all other forms of advertising. It's used precisely when people have decided to... Read More
Marketing From Both Sides Of The Ball
In the world of business, marketing is often conveyed as a game. It is not uncommon to hear or read of a company "playing the marketing game"... Read More
8 Secrets to Marketing Success
The profits of a business are totally dependent on marketing. Otherwise few, if any, sales will be generated. But what is marketing anyway?Marketing is doing what it... Read More
Top 3 Reasons Why Your Headlines Fail
Many professional copywriters estimate that the headline contributes to 80% or more of the success of any ad, article, or sales letter. One direct marketing expert... Read More
Want to Increase Your Business? First You Need to Understand where You are at!
Are you having trouble understanding basic situational marekting concepts? Then this article is for you.Alex Margarit shows you a simple step by step way on... Read More
Making a Hit with Your Marketing Campaign
Considered a vital link in a show's promotional plan, direct marketing is vital only if it's done right. It's certainly not as simple as typing a letter,... Read More
Will Googles Gmail spell trouble for Email Marketing.
We wait with baited breath for the anticipated launch of Google's Gmail - a fre*e email account, capable of storing50,000 short, text only messages. That was not... Read More
Catalogs are Selling Machines
If you've got a mailbox, you're no doubt aware of the popularity of catalogs. People love to look through catalogs, and more important, they love to buy... Read More
Effective Use of Promotional Products and Ad Specialties
1. Determine the goals of your promotional products program. Do you want to create awareness? To attract new customers? To reward or provide incentives to existing customers?... Read More
2 Step Marketing
Do it Right.I receive postcards all the time. The other day I received a postcard trying to sell me a copy machine. It had tiny, tiny lettering... Read More
Why Cutting Prices Is Like Cutting Your Own Throat
Why cutting your prices is like cutting your own throat. It's the oldest sales tactic in the world? ... Read More
People Arent Interested in You or Your Company
Does your Web site talk about your company? Yes, I know, it's your company Web site! But the last thing it should talk about is your company.Yes,... Read More
Loan Officer Marketing ? How Branding Shapes Your Prospects Perceptions
Social scientists have proven that people experience what they come to expect. It's like the first time you watched your favorite movie. Before you saw it maybe... Read More
Direct Marketing Puts Information In The Buyer?s Hands
Direct marketing is advertising from a manufacturer or front-end supplier directed to the ultimate consumer of a product or service. Another way of looking at direct marketing... Read More
Marketing From Both Sides Of The Ball
In the world of business, marketing is often conveyed as a game. It is not uncommon to hear or read of a company "playing the marketing game"... Read More
The Silver Bullet For Success: Revealed
Looking for the magic formula or the whiz-bang approach that will unlock your business success? Are you willing to pay hundreds for it? How about thousands? Guess... Read More
Meaning and Marketing - The Hurricane
I step outside my back door and look at some large limbs lying on the ground. They are all dead. We've had the remnants of Hurricane Frances... Read More
Grab Your Audience by Focusing on Benefits
Have you ever chosen to pay attention to someone just because they were so self-absorbed they didn't even know you were in the room? Of course not!... Read More
Rules of Thumb for Marketing to Your Past Customers
Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly.It's a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to... Read More
How to Use Your Newsletter to Research Your Market
A few decades ago, in the early days of automatic banking terminals, the management at Citibank made a somewhat reluctant decision to introduce automatic tellers. They... Read More
Listen To What The Marketing Experts Say
But more importantly, watch what they do. If you do much online shopping, you're sure to have seen some great, and not so great, sales letters urging... Read More
21 Ways To Expand Your Subscriber List
Expanding your subscriber list, whether it be for your ezine, newsletter -- printed or electronic -- takes persistence, and commitment. Not to mention time and letting go... Read More
10 Start Up Marketing Tips
This list has been compiled as a result of years of working with business owners who didn't quite lay the right groundwork when they started up, and... Read More
Marketing Miracles - Do They Just Happen?
A simple answer to that is: Yes, Marketing Miracles happen! But, these marketing miracles do not just happen. The process is not instant. It is sequential. It... Read More
The Marketing Secret Every Child Knows
Little Kids Ask Until They Get What They Want.Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, can I have an ice cream? Can I, Can I, Can I, Can I? Please,... Read More
Marketing is More Important Than Expertise
Being a master of your craft, skill, or talent doesn't ensure the success of your business. You can be the greatest at what you do, and if... Read More
Why Target the Matures
The "Matures" are the generations that came along between 1909 and 1945. Born to and tempered by economic uncertainty, older Matures were nurtured by the New Deal... Read More
The Marketing Funnel: Simple, Effective Marketing Strategy
No matter if you're publishing your first book or producing your first invention, you need a simple, effective marketing strategy. So, hiring a marketing agency to develop... Read More
Top Web Site Blunders by Coaches, Consultants and Experts
Of all the web sites belonging to coaches, consultants and experts that I have reviewed, more than three-quarters shared a very serious marketing blunder: Their potential clients... Read More
How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Setting The Stage For Successful Marketing
Powerful Marketing has become elusive to many companies seeking strong sales results and overall growth. The sad truth is that Marketing comes across as a rather frustrating... Read More