What can we learn from men with little white balls… and dimples…

The news for the first half of last week was dominated by a pair of dark-haired, youngish-looking brothers. And the weekend… much the same. But this time, not the Milibands – that bit of particular sibling rivalry is now confined history, at least for the time being.

Step up to the tee the Molinari brothers, part of the European Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor. “And you know what…” (as Mr Miliband would say) , one of them is even called Ed!

As a keen, but exceptionally mediocre golfer I took off to Wales on Thursday to watch the spectacle unfold. Friday morning I was up at 6.00am. I drove to get a bus, to the bus that would take us to a bus… to get to the course… with me so far?

What did I see? Crowds, crowds and more crowds.

No sooner had I paid £6.00 for a dreadful bacon buttie, than down came the rain… Well not really down – Umbrellas offered no respite from the relentless horizontal soaking I encountered. I couldn’t have got any wetter if you’d laid me in a bath full of water and hosed me down for an hour. Mad. It was Glastonbury without drugs or music, (allegedly).

But as the rain eventually subsided, I started to see something special unfold. The game of golf that Mark Twain famously described as “…a good walk, ruined”, was very special when played as a team game in the Ryder Cup format.

There were lessons in business for me to take from this…

The first thing that struck me was the camaraderie and power of the team. On any other day these players were fierce rivals, yet here they were encouraging each other, helping line up critical putts and generally working together. Such power as a team.

How are the team you work with? Pulling together, or everyman for himself? Are there rivals you too could be collaborating with? T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achieves More.

I watched each player address the ball. Whether preparing to drive 230 yards straight as an arrow or putting a 3 foot winner, their focus was intense. Mentally adjusting and feeling the job of every muscle. Rehearsing and imagining every element of the swing. They are capable of blocking out all the stress that comes from 70 million people watching all around the world on TV or 40,000 people on the course.

How focused are you on your business? How focused are you on meeting your customers wants and needs? How focused are you on winning business when others call it a day?

Above all else, I witnessed how much of winning is about attitude. When these players are at the top of their game, so much of it is in their heads. They have to believe it’s possible. They have to believe they will win… do you?

They don’t go it alone, they don’t turn up and just hit and hope. They don’t just go with the flow. They would never win a match let alone a hole with that attitude. They practice, they get coached and they practice some more. They have a game plan – do you?

If you need some focus and to improve your business game plan (not your golf) call me on 0845 053 4937 or email me at steve@eurekasales.co.uk

There was a well known saying, “Half my advertising works and half doesn’t, but I just don’t know which is which”.

And back in 1930 or whenever this quote was first used, it was quite true. However, times have moved on and this just doesn’t have to be true any more.

It’s easy to get a pretty good handle on most, if not all, of your advertising and marketing just through using Tracking Numbers…

Tracking Numbers is simply a service that allows you to track and monitor how many telephone calls you receive from each individual advert or piece of marketing that you do.

How’s does it work?

You acquire a set of new different phone numbers from a broker, there are several in the uk – and you point them all at your existing phone line. Don’t get hung up, (pardon the pun) on the technicalities, it’s really easy to do and you don’t need to change lines or providers and your existing numbers work just the same.

The only difference is that now you know which advert or piece of marketing generated each call as they all have a unique phone number. This means that you can go online and see exactly how many calls you’ve received on which phone number.

Here’s a really simple example;

Let’s say you run a gardening business. You have an ad in Yellow Pages, plus ads in two other local publications, you have a website that you drive traffic to via Pay Per Click, you have a flyer and also cards that you distribute.

That’s 6 separate pieces of marketing:

1. Yellow Pages (OK maybe not, just an example)
2. Parish Mag
3. Local Paper
4. Website
5. Flyer
6. Cards

How do you know which one produces the most inquiries? Which ones to continue and which ones to dump?

You buy 6 separate phone numbers – all local numbers and allocate one phone number to each stream of marketing. Then I’ll know for sure, over time, exactly which bits of marketing are working best for me.

You don’t need 6 new telephones these all ring on the usual phone line, you just get to track results automatically… in the voice of a meerkat… Schimples.

Seriously, it works like a dream – and it’s one of the most under-used tools available to businesses in the UK. It costs just a few pounds to set up and next to nothing to run. Yet it puts you in control and lets you test and measure your marketing effectively.

Oh, and there’s are additional benefits too. this type of system will also tell you how many calls you failed to answer. Just imagine that! You’ve purchased an ad, a potential customer has seen it, called you up…but nobody picks up the phone.

You’ll know exactly how many calls you’re not answering, that could prove invaluable. Stop losing customers and find an answering service that will take your calls 24/7. Mine calls are all answered – and I only pay for that service when they take a call!

If you’d like more information about these types of services just call me on 0845 056 3911 – the call will always be answered by a real person any time of day or night… and I’ll know it was because of this article – go on test it out.

We live in the information age – don’t fight it – embrace it. Email marketing can be fast, efficient and effective, here are my top tips for getting it right…

Businesses using permission based e-mail marketing report that it’s very easy to see a direct correlation between an e-mail shot being delivered and a spike in visitors to their website. So… remember, make sure your website is full of benefits – and that you are driving people to the relevant landing page within your site – don’t waste the traffic.

Keep in mind that hundreds of e-mails pour into people’s inboxes every day. Your challenge is to make sure that your e-mail gets opened. Here are several key factors help you succeed where others fail.

Get permission to send people e-mail. Obtain Opt in commitments from new prospects before sending them e-mail marketing materials. At the end of your e-mail. You must also provide the facility for people no longer wishing to receive e-mail from you to unsubscribe or opt out.

Work a niche. As with any marketing campaign, you must clearly define your target audience. What do they want, what might they really need, what problems have they got that your product or service will solve.

Grab their attention! The subject line of your e-mail must be compelling enough to make people want to open your e-mail and feel safe in doing so.

Be sure you are spam filter friendly. Because of the multitude of junk mail being circulated around the Internet, spam filters have become far more sophisticated about weeding out what is deemed to be junk mail. Use the wrong words in your headline and even in your copy and away you go… straight to the junk folder, never to be read. Professional e-mail marketing software, like Aweber or Constant Contact will check your e-mail before you send it to establish its deliverability against spam filters. Where possible incorporate the name of the person you’re sending to in the subject line. This can often tell the filters that you know the person you’re writing to and so avoid your message disappearing into dreaded black hole of a junk folder.

Don’t send Incognito. The “from” line of any e-mail still remains the primary decision factor for people to open or delete messages without reading them.

Get straight to the point. Your subject line gets attention. Start your message with a clear headline that is full of benefits to create immediate interest. Use short and concise bullet points to build desire and end your e-mail with a call to action. What is it you want the recipient of your mail to do next? Tell them clearly what to do and how and when to do it.

Don’t stand on ceremony. Be professional, but informal. Keep your copy, light and conversational as much as possible. Don’t go flat out to impress people with your command of the English language or your extensive vocabulary. Your e-mail should read as if you were talking directly to that person, even though you may be sending the same e-mail to 10,000 people and the click of a button.

Don’t confuse your message. Stick to promoting one item or event per e-mail. If this is difficult because you have a range of products and services that are inseparable. Make the purpose of your e-mail to get people to visit a separate dedicated landing page where you can then provide all of the relevant information.

Send a test message. Please…before you send your marketing message to 10,000 people, check the content, the layout and check it works. Programs such as Aweber let you test your e-mail in HTML and plain text before you commit to sending it.

Follow-up. Have your next follow-up message planed and prepared. Integrate your e-mail with other direct marketing strategies such as direct mail or telesales, but whatever you do – follow-up. If you’re not following up, you run the risk of leaving 98% of your business on the table for your competitors.

Over 120 people in the audience of an Essex FSB seminar listen intently on “How To Beat The Recession and Boost Your Sales” with FSB member Steve Clarke.

Steve Clarke is the Managing Director of Eureka Sales Solutions Ltd. During his business career he has taken company’s from start up to stock market floatation. He was instrumental in developing the sales & marketing strategy that allowed his last business to reach £30m in sales in just eight years.

Now Steve spends his time helping SME’s grow their businesses through the implementation of simple low cost or no cost grass roots marketing. You can download more free marketing tips at his website.

www.eurekasales.co.uk