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 | >> work at home? share a laugh...and a helping hand |
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This article may only be reproduced in its
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electronically or in print. A courtesy copy of your publication would
be nice, too!
Happy Home Business Hint: Ice Cream Marketing
by Dan Reinhold
I was thumbing through an old copy of Business Week in a doctor's office and I came upon a really cool article.
It told how people will shop at several businesses for major purchases. In this case, it was appliances.
Anyhow, it also mentioned that people almost always BUY from the last business visited.
Probably just because they're so worn out from going everywhere else.
One appliance store, the article went
on to say, was sharp enough to notice this behavior and came up with
the very coolest sales tactic of all: ice cream.
Whenever someone came in and poked
around a while, the salesman that greeted them politely answered
their questions and assisted them in any way they required. No
sales pressure of any kind, just the best possible upfront customer
service.
When they were about to leave,
however, the salesperson ran to a nearby freezer and gave a
half-gallon of ice cream to them.
I have dreams like this quite often myself...
Now think a moment...you're out
shopping for a major appliance and as you were leaving, you are
handed a totally free half-gallon of rather yummy-looking ice cream.
What would you do??
Ask for a big spoon?
Well, that's my answer!
You'd head for home to a) greedily
devour the delectable morsel before the kids discover it or
b) stash it away in your own freezer to enjoy and possibly even
share later.
So what's your opinion of that business, let alone that salesperson?
I'd say I just made a goooood friend.
And where would you most likely buy that major appliance?
More often than not from those nice people who gave free goodies that made you stop shopping to you.
The "stop shopping" part is the key, y'see.
"But, but, but, Daaaaan", you're probably saying in that adorably exasperated way of yours, "how's that gonna help meeeee???"
Simple. Give away your own kind of "ice cream".
If you haven't got one already, grab
an autoresponder service right now. My hands-down fave is
Aweber. It's got everything you could possibly need and even better
yet, the best "free test drive" ever.
Set up a subscription form
(Aweber provides this too!) or some kind of highly desrable mailing
list form that relates to your market's desires that requires an e-mail
address or other contact info. Once they sign up, provide a thank you
response that icludes how to get a zero-cost goodie from you.
Warning, Caution, And All That Stuff: It's
got to be something THEY want and you must not dangle it in front of
them to intice them to join the list. If they don't perceive any value
in it, they'll forget you quicker than yesterday's headlines. If you
use it as a bribe to sign up, they'll just take it and say bye bye.
You can pretty much bet that'll be the last you hear from them.
So think in terms of what your
potential customer would want that you could give away that's of
sufficient value to them to convince them to return and ultimately buy.
Gotta go appliance shopping...I'm outta ice cream!!
WAHumorWayBook2@aweber.com Dan Reinhold is the proud author of "The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!", the essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan's also the editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane the work-at-home community can be! Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!! "The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!"is now available at www.WAHumorWay.com WAHumor donates 10% of gross profits each month to
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