Cindy, over at Royal Things (http://royalthings.blogspot.com/2010/09/give-hoot-give-way.html), is giving away the Give A Hoot cricut cartridge.
Pop over there and take a moment to leave a comment to be entered for a chance to win. Winner will be picked on 9/24/10.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Fantastic Blog Hop
I was so impressed, I wanted to share this blog hop with all of you. There are some wonderful projects that these ladies put together. I hope you all stop by and give a look and a comment or 2. It ends on Sunday night so you have plenty of time to hop through.
Enjoy the Spooktacular projects.
http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Enjoy the Spooktacular projects.
http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
guest-blogger-michael-katz-e-nurturing-e-newsletters
I thought this was another intersting article for Direct Sales people. Hope you like.
Posted on May 27, 2008 by Amy Black under Email Marketing
I invited email newsletter expert Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development (he wrote the book on email newsletters!) to write about the impact that email newsletters can have on a business. Here’s his perspective.
Best,
Amy
The following was written by guest blogger Michael Katz
According to my friends at the reference desk of the Boston Public Library, there are more than 1.9 million professional farmers in the United States today. Interestingly, this same source couldn’t find a single person in the nation categorized as a "professional hunter."
Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me. Despite having slept through much of Mr. Schweitzer’s 10th grade social studies class, I did learn that the people who grow food for a living are considered more anthropologically advanced than the hunter/gatherers of the world. And so it makes sense that in a highly developed country such as this, hunting as a career option has all but vanished.
What is surprising however, is that in the world of Western business, hunting – not farming – remains the dominant strategy for growing a company.
Cold calling; direct mail; email blasts; and most newspaper, TV and radio advertising represent hunting strategies. You come to work in the morning, look for your target, aim your weapon, and if you’re good, you’re eating by lunch time. This is the way most companies bring in business.
Farming strategies on the other hand – approaches that seek to grow the business by developing existing relationships – are considered optional add-ons by many companies. These tactics include things like loyalty, referral and feedback programs; customer events; thank you notes; and my personal favorite, electronic newsletters.
Although hunting has its advantages (results tend to come faster and are generally easier to measure), for my money, farming is a much better way to live.
Here’s why:
1.Farming is more targeted. Most of the challenge in hunting is finding your prey in the first place. Ask anyone who hunts and they’ll tell you that the majority of the time and effort is spent stalking, not shooting. A farmer on the other hand, doesn’t spend even a second wondering where the crop may have wandered off to today. He just opens the backdoor and there it is, right where he left it yesterday.
In business as well, there is no more targeted a place to look for more revenue than within your own house list. All of the people who have bought from you before are by definition people who are likely to buy from you again, and no matter how good your segmentation research is, it’s guaranteed to be a less accurate predictor of future behavior than working your existing relationships. When you send a monthly E-Newsletter to these folks you are looking for sales in the best place possible.
2.Farming is self perpetuating. Let’s say I go out hunting penguins and I catch five of them by the end of the day. Am I now more or less likely to catch any tomorrow? Who knows?! Every day is a blank slate, and today’s success doesn’t impact tomorrow (if anything it makes it harder, since I just thinned out the penguin population).
When I farm however, not only do I eat today, but in the process of harvesting I gather the seeds for tomorrow’s crop.
Similarly, while direct mail, advertising, telemarketing, and other hunting tactics may be successful in creating leads in the short term, they cease to be useful the minute you stop doing them, and they get less effective over time. Each wave of a given hunting tactic to a given audience is less effective than the previous, which means that over time you spend more money for reduced results.
A relationship based approach such as an E-Newsletter, on the other hand, gets easier over time. Your list gets bigger, your reader connections get stronger, and the same effort yields more results.
3.Farming creates an asset. You hunt for 20 years, and what do you have to show for it? Hunting skills. You farm for 20 years and not only do you have farming skills, you’ve got a farm to pass on to the next generation. Both approaches feed your family, but only one builds something of value that lives on.
In business, your database of contacts is your farm. Cared for properly, it gets bigger, better and more productive over time. The truth is, for most of us pure service providers, our house list is the most valuable asset we’ve got, and by increasing its value, we increase the value of our business.
The bottom line: My point here is not to suggest that you fire your sales team and cancel your advertising. The great news is that these two approaches – farming and hunting – are in no way mutually exclusive. In fact, the two approaches complement each other well; a customer who already gets your E-Newsletter is much more likely to accept your telemarketing call.
I am recommending however, that you take it from me and Mr. Schweitzer, and pay less attention to hunting strangers, and more attention to nurturing relationships with the people you already know. I’ll be in study hall if you need me.
Posted on May 27, 2008 by Amy Black under Email Marketing
I invited email newsletter expert Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development (he wrote the book on email newsletters!) to write about the impact that email newsletters can have on a business. Here’s his perspective.
Best,
Amy
The following was written by guest blogger Michael Katz
According to my friends at the reference desk of the Boston Public Library, there are more than 1.9 million professional farmers in the United States today. Interestingly, this same source couldn’t find a single person in the nation categorized as a "professional hunter."
Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me. Despite having slept through much of Mr. Schweitzer’s 10th grade social studies class, I did learn that the people who grow food for a living are considered more anthropologically advanced than the hunter/gatherers of the world. And so it makes sense that in a highly developed country such as this, hunting as a career option has all but vanished.
What is surprising however, is that in the world of Western business, hunting – not farming – remains the dominant strategy for growing a company.
Cold calling; direct mail; email blasts; and most newspaper, TV and radio advertising represent hunting strategies. You come to work in the morning, look for your target, aim your weapon, and if you’re good, you’re eating by lunch time. This is the way most companies bring in business.
Farming strategies on the other hand – approaches that seek to grow the business by developing existing relationships – are considered optional add-ons by many companies. These tactics include things like loyalty, referral and feedback programs; customer events; thank you notes; and my personal favorite, electronic newsletters.
Although hunting has its advantages (results tend to come faster and are generally easier to measure), for my money, farming is a much better way to live.
Here’s why:
1.Farming is more targeted. Most of the challenge in hunting is finding your prey in the first place. Ask anyone who hunts and they’ll tell you that the majority of the time and effort is spent stalking, not shooting. A farmer on the other hand, doesn’t spend even a second wondering where the crop may have wandered off to today. He just opens the backdoor and there it is, right where he left it yesterday.
In business as well, there is no more targeted a place to look for more revenue than within your own house list. All of the people who have bought from you before are by definition people who are likely to buy from you again, and no matter how good your segmentation research is, it’s guaranteed to be a less accurate predictor of future behavior than working your existing relationships. When you send a monthly E-Newsletter to these folks you are looking for sales in the best place possible.
2.Farming is self perpetuating. Let’s say I go out hunting penguins and I catch five of them by the end of the day. Am I now more or less likely to catch any tomorrow? Who knows?! Every day is a blank slate, and today’s success doesn’t impact tomorrow (if anything it makes it harder, since I just thinned out the penguin population).
When I farm however, not only do I eat today, but in the process of harvesting I gather the seeds for tomorrow’s crop.
Similarly, while direct mail, advertising, telemarketing, and other hunting tactics may be successful in creating leads in the short term, they cease to be useful the minute you stop doing them, and they get less effective over time. Each wave of a given hunting tactic to a given audience is less effective than the previous, which means that over time you spend more money for reduced results.
A relationship based approach such as an E-Newsletter, on the other hand, gets easier over time. Your list gets bigger, your reader connections get stronger, and the same effort yields more results.
3.Farming creates an asset. You hunt for 20 years, and what do you have to show for it? Hunting skills. You farm for 20 years and not only do you have farming skills, you’ve got a farm to pass on to the next generation. Both approaches feed your family, but only one builds something of value that lives on.
In business, your database of contacts is your farm. Cared for properly, it gets bigger, better and more productive over time. The truth is, for most of us pure service providers, our house list is the most valuable asset we’ve got, and by increasing its value, we increase the value of our business.
The bottom line: My point here is not to suggest that you fire your sales team and cancel your advertising. The great news is that these two approaches – farming and hunting – are in no way mutually exclusive. In fact, the two approaches complement each other well; a customer who already gets your E-Newsletter is much more likely to accept your telemarketing call.
I am recommending however, that you take it from me and Mr. Schweitzer, and pay less attention to hunting strangers, and more attention to nurturing relationships with the people you already know. I’ll be in study hall if you need me.
When is the Product Due to Arrive?
©Copyright 2009 Christie Northrup
Feel free to forward this article or post on your website as long as the entire article is left intact.
If you've ever been pregnant, you know the first question you're always asked as your belly begins to protrude:
WHEN ARE YOU DUE?
After a while, I got tired of the question and felt like hanging a sign around my neck with my due date!
As the "owner" of your direct sales business, you have a pretty good idea of when an order will arrive at your host's or guest's homes once you've processed it. Let's say it's a seven-day turn around. That means if you hold a party today, August 27, you should give your host until the weekend to gather any additional orders (do not give more than three days). If you input and transmit the order on line on August 31, the orders should arrive around Tuesday, September 7, which allows for the Labor Day holiday.
At your party tonight, make a BIG SIGN with the words: SEPTEMBER 7 (or whatever date is appropriate for your company's processing and shipping time).
During the demonstration or open house, people will ASK YOU what the sign means and you can explain that's the ANTICIPATED delivery day when they'll be able to:
•Decorate themselves with their new jewelry
•Create new scrap book pages
•Make a meal in their microwave
•Begin a new skin care regimen
•Display their new fall decorations
•If these don't apply, write a statement that describes your company's products
You can use my analogy from last week where I compared the product delivery day to the due date of a pregnant woman; this protects both you and the host in event of any delays. When guests don't have to guess when their order will arrive, they are more likely to make purchases for gifts and they'll also eagerly anticipate using their new merchandise in their order; it's almost like waiting for a birthday present to arrive!
During this time, they'll be thinking of you and what they ordered and telling their friends about what's "new" in their lives (most of us in the industry are women and we love to share shopping stories!) If you focus on WHEN the guests will receive their order, you'll have more EXCITED people telling others about your company and more hosts anxious to invite their friends to the next party.
In the meantime, be sure you Connect your Calendar to your Checkbook as you plan your family's schedule this holiday season:
Christie
http://www.lemonaidlady.com/
Monday, August 23, 2010
Free Crop Night
Friday, August 27, 2010 is Free Crop Night at Michael's in Rancho Cordova, CA. from 3pm - 8:30pm. Come join me for some scrappin.
Hope everyone is having a great week.
Hope everyone is having a great week.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Christmas in July Blog Hop
Jennifer sent me a PM via Facebook today and I want to pass it on. They have some great stuff on thier blogs and in their Etsy Stores. Th link is above and also in the copy of the message Jennifer sent me. You really should check this out. Oh also some nice giveaways as well.
Jennifer Nevarez Priest July 22 at 9:10am Reply
http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com/2010/07/christmas-in-july-blog-hop.html
Join me and other talented etsy artists and sellers on a Christmas In July BLOG HOP!! There are prizes and project ideas at each blog on the Hop. Hope you'll join us for a Merry time!
Well off to try and get rid of my scrapper/crafting block. LOL It is pretty sad when you can come up with anything.
Have a great day,
Kathryn
Jennifer Nevarez Priest July 22 at 9:10am Reply
http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com/2010/07/christmas-in-july-blog-hop.html
Join me and other talented etsy artists and sellers on a Christmas In July BLOG HOP!! There are prizes and project ideas at each blog on the Hop. Hope you'll join us for a Merry time!
Well off to try and get rid of my scrapper/crafting block. LOL It is pretty sad when you can come up with anything.
Have a great day,
Kathryn
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Cricut Expression Give Away
Ok, I know haven't been around. Well, life has been really busy in my house. I have had a B-day party, family here for over 2 weeks from out of the country, and tons and tons of other boring things that have to be taken care of. But I wanted to take the time out to post this so everyone could have a chance to win.
I am praying that after this week/my B-day week is over life will slow it's self down enough so I can being to really start scrappin again. I am really tired of looking at my scrap room and not being able to get 15 minutes to even go in there and try to get something done. My scrap room is also a spare bedroom, so it has been in use lately. But everyone is to be gone by the end of this week and I will be so happy. I know that sounds really mean, but my husband family is latin and I am the one serving, cooking, cleaning and being the servant.
Well God bless you all.
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