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So how do you get invited to your target
buyer's party? It's really kind of simple. Increase your Credibility
and Like-Ability. Increasing your credibility means becoming an
authority and giving some of your time to supplying useful information
to the masses. It's amazing how easy this can be. Let's try a test
of the credibility factor. Do these next steps and see what happens.
1. Find ten newsgroups that center
around your target buying audience.
2. Create an email tag that advertises your business for you.
3. Listen for one week to the conversations in those newsgroups.
4. Begin participating by offering useful information about the
questions and topics being posted. Don't advertise your business,
this is what your email tag is for. Just participate responsibly
by offering your expertise. Be a leader, be the voice of reason,
and supply useful information.
5. Now make a list of ten ezines that target your buying audience.
6. Write three informational articles. Don't write a glorified ad
about your business. Write something useful that pertains to your
business. Something the reader can actually take out and use.
7. Submit to the list of ezines.
These seven steps alone, done every
week, will create a flow of email with questions about your business
or targeted traffic straight to your web site that will increase
sales momentum which pushes your business forward.
So, now you have increased your credibility.
Expand on that. Once you have buying clients, ask them to recommend
you to three people they either do business with, or friends that
would be interested in your product or service. Invite every customer
to subscribe to your newsletter and encourage them to forward that
newsletter to two other people. This is called word of mouth advertising
and it works to accelerate sales. Once you have the momentum, never
drop the ball. Keep it rolling every week and watch your goals become
realizations.
Now for the Like-Ability. Get personal
with your clients. Be friendly, real and personable. Create a comfort
zone for your customers to reside and always, always make them feel
welcome. The first place to place the welcome mat is with your web
site presentation. Is it easy to load? Does it take a special gizmo
to view? Ever wonder about this technique? Web sites that make you
download a program so you can view their web page. What's with that?
It's like telling your customer to go home and change clothes before
coming through the door to shop. How effective can this possibly
be? These little things antagonize people, they don't welcome them
in.
You also create Like-Ability by answering
your emails in a reasonable time frame. This doesn't mean you should
be answering your email every 15 minutes, but you should be checking
it at least three times a day if your doing business online. Be
polite, be friendly, and use your emoticoms. Email is extremely
sterile, so punch it up with friendliness and emotion so your customers
can see you. You can actually learn to paint a picture of who you
are by how you write. Put yourself into your correspondence in upbeat,
friendly ways and you will win people over.
Answer your business phone responsibly.
What? Don't have a business phone? Get one. It's a cheap investment
for a great image. Then answer the phone with a smile in your voice.
Answer professionally with the name of your company and a welcome.
This will ease the mind of your customers and bring them squarely
into your corner. Remember you have four seconds to make the first
impression and the first words out of your mouth solidifies it.
Make sure the first words are friendly, inviting, and put your clients
at ease.
It's not that complicated to get invited
to the party if your willing to give a little with a smile. And
cyberspace invitations are tickets to success.
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