Finding the right printer

To produce thousands of copies of a fifteen page brochure at a rate of one page per minute with men working 24 hours a day would perhaps take over a week. But to produce the same quantity of brochures using your desktop printer would take over a decade! Clearly, desktop printing is not really an option in terms of cost, quality and speed. Hence, when you need large volumes of brochure or catalogs to be printed, it is perhaps a good idea to let the professional handle the job for you. There are, however, several things you need to consider in choosing the commercial printer for your particular print job. Perhaps one of the things you need to consider is the kind of printing process used by the printer. Do they use offset printing or maybe digital technology? Is letterpress and screen printing also available? After you have decided on which printing process to use, you now have to determine which printer has the right equipment. Find out the number of colors they can handle, how long they can do the print job and what other equipment and services do they offer. Also, find out what kind of print job each printer specializes and what types of binding and folding equipments they use. But aside from determining which kind of printing method and printing equipment is appropriate for you, it is also essential to know what kind of workers will work with the print job. Understand that although the printing company has the right equipment and printing technique it does not mean that the equipments and facilities will make great print jobs. Look for samples of work of these printers and focus more on their printing technique not merely on their design process. Also, look for clean colors, smooth text and focused images and graphics. It is also a good idea to visit the printer to get a good feel of who you will be working with. And when you meet them face to face, ask them what you want to know about their service. You can ask questions such as how many presses they have and what are the capabilities of each; how long they have been in the business; what software they accepts and what kind of payment they receive. You can also ask their previous customers for feedbacks to know if they are able to meet their customer’s printing needs. It is essential to know this information ahead of time so you would not regret your choice later on. When you are able to find the right commercial printer, they will be able to make your printing job look great.

Postcards the best kept secret of modern marketing

What can be more effective than a brief, captivating message printed on a postcard? It's quick and easy to read at a glance. Yeah, it has a friendly feel that appeals to the emotional side of your potential customer as well. Sure they'll realize it's an advertisement right away, but it has the appearance of a personalized friendly correspondence that is pleasant and low pressure. No, you won't close any deals with a postcard, but you can quickly and effectively state the offer and its advantages and give them a compelling reason to get in contact with you. Yep, it'll be just enough to whet their appetite for more! People Can't Resist Reading Postcards How often do you get the mail, look at the name of the addressee and pitch the envelope and its contents directly into the trash? I do it everyday. Yeah, who needs more mail to sort through with all of the junk mail that fills our mailboxes and inboxes? What about postcards? ...no envelope to hide the contents...just the flip of a small piece of paper...and yep, you've read it! It just makes good horse sense that the advertisements that get read are going to bring more response than those that don't. Yeah, no rocket science involved here! Postcards are much more likely to get read than other mail or email...the curiosity factor combined with the ease of reading, work together to make these extremely effective marketing tools. Postcards Save You Money Add 4 to 9 cents in printing costs, and 23 cent postage... and yeah, postcards are extremely inexpensive advertisements! Think friendly...which provides a more personal feeling...the little bars and lines of prepaid postage, or the colorful design of a stamp. Yeah, you can invest a little extra time in placing stamps on each card and create a personalized affect that won't go unnoticed! Watch out for cheap immitations! Modern postcards are high impact creations. We're not talking about old-fashioned... home printed... uneven edged catastrophies here. The postcards of today have tones so vivid they jump off the paper at you, and pictures so realistic you could pick the flower of the page and put on your kitchen table. For the miniscule amount of money you MIGHT save... if you don't make too many mistakes along the way...heck, I say just order them! Yeah, let the printer do all the hard work while you rake in the profits they'll bring in

3 Perfectly effective ways to lose customers

1. Let Them Procrastinate Yeah, procrastination has stolen millions of dollars from the pockets of business men and women just like yourself. The longer it works on the customer, the less likely they will be to open their wallet and hand over the dinero they've been hording there. Here's how it works… First, the customer leaves your store without making the purchase. Second, time causes the desire for the product to fade, and distracts them from making their way back. Finally, your "almost customer" totally forgets about making the purchase, and you can kiss potential profits good-bye. Don't let it happen to you! Make deals so irresistible they just can't say no, and set an expiration date. Yes, put a little press on them to buy TODAY! Reward them for complying, and make sure they forfeit the deal if they don't. Don't be victimized by "almost sales" that could be turned into REAL profits! 2. Stay Off The Top Of Their Priority List Hey, sometimes we need to be reminded of exactly what is and what isn't important in life. Where we spend our money indicates its level of importance. Are your customers telling you that your product isn't significant to them? Put them where you want them to be with a dramatic word picture that evokes the emotions that drive purchases. Let me say it this way… If you're trying to sell them a home business… let them feel the freedom of being their own boss, and setting their own schedule. Are you selling water skis? Get them on the water in the hot summer sun with the wind blowing their hair and water spraying around them. Let them FEEL the importance of the decision. You CAN motivate buyers to put a high priority on your product! 3. Don't Build Trust Do your customers feel confident that your company will provide the services that it says it will? How many times have you raised an eyebrow at an offer that makes big promises? Yeah, if you don't already know they are a reputable company, you're likely to take claims with a grain of salt. Unconditional guarantees give credence to your desire to please customers. Testimonials are evidence that you have a proven track record. Put some facts in front of your "almost customers." Let them know a little bit about you and your staff. It's always easier to trust a person, than a business. Internet customers are at especially high risks for feeling a legitimate amount of distrust. After all, anyone can make grand claims, but who is responsible for upholding them? A personal photo, a little information, and a phone number where a contact can be reached go a long ways toward building trust on the Web. How many "almost customers" have slipped through your fingers? You can effectively turn them into loyal customers who regularly frequent your place of business with the business savvy insights we've talked about in this article.

Finding a work at home telemarketing job

Many of us have been fooled by the latest work at home hype that is popular today. Letter stuffers, medical transcription, online pyramids, surveys, and even eBay stores may all sound promising, but many times they let our hopes down. In the field of work at home telemarketing you may have discovered that there too just like the others are a lot of promising offers that are nothing more than cheap scams. This can be very disheartening when trying to start a new career. You may even wonder if there really is any legitimate work at home telemarketing jobs out there. The good news is there is! Right now there are many telemarketers making a substantial amount of money by working right out of their own home. The bad news is that these careers take a lot of work to find. Don’t let the hype fool you. Thought it may sound like there are millions of telemarketers making a great deal of money in the comfort of their own home, this is simply not true. While the industry is starting to really take off, there are not as many workers as you may think. The problem is that there are many online scams. Since so many online sources do not offer legitimate jobs, if you really have your mind set to working at home as a telemarketer you are going to have to do some serious homework. Keep in mind before you get started that though many work at home scams may try to convince you that you little or no experience, as well as very little skills are required, this is simply not true. You will not be able to just start a career up in this field by reading an e-book in one hour. Not only will you need good communications skills just like you would in a regular call center, but you also must be able to be knowledgeable about any services or products your company carries. Knowledgeable enough to perform customer service duties, take orders, make sales, and of course you must able to run any software associated to the job. Once you feel you are ready to take on the task of finding a legitimate telemarketing job, remember stay realistic. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Figure you will need to put in slightly less time finding a legitimate job as you would working a legitimate job. Do not limit your search to just the internet. Try calling legitimate call centers to see if they offer or know of any work at home positions. Ask around locally to see if anyone knows of any leads you can follow. Remember, real telemarketing positions are out there! Don’t let all the scams get you down. With hard work, luck, and a little help you will be on your way.

Does your marketing plan need changing

Change is good, right? Not always. But when is it bad? Is it a question of good or bad? Sounds philosophical. Maybe it is. Philosophize on this…why would one take something that is going good – no.. great – and change it? Obvious answer is to make it better. Not! In business or in marketing, change is not always good. When you have certain promotional actions that are in place making things happen, or in better terms, making you money – don’t change them! Why do I say this? Because I see it time and time again. Someone has a marketing campaign that is bringing in a good return on investment and they up and decide to change their postcard! What?!?!?!?!? Change your postcard – why??????? “Er uh, we just decided to do something different.” And then some three or four months down the road, they call back with their tail between their legs and ask – no demand to have everything back the way it was before. In this latter case – change is good. I am not just saying that to say that one should always keep their postcard marketing campaign the same and never change it. Quite the contrary. Change your marketing, change your habits, change your way of life when it warrants it. There is really some truth to the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Maybe it is human nature to want to change everything once something gets going just the way they planned it. Who the heck knows? All I can say is step outside the human-nature box. Change only when things are drastic or when change is warranted. Drastic circumstances deserve drastic measures. But how do you determine drastic? Sometimes that is really easy. Your company’s income is crashing. Do something! Change! Or better yet, figure out what you changed and get it back to what was working. How about a plateau? Does that deserve change? Depends on how long that plateau lasts. I have never seen things leveling off and staying level forever. It either goes one of two ways – up or down. I know an optometrist who had a very successful practice in small town USA. He never really marketed. He never really had to. People knew of him from miles around. Mainly he did PR stuff – a fundraiser here, networking there, etc., etc. His good works made him well known and respected and the community ooo’ed and ah’ed over him so much the paper loved printing it. But things changed. Malls started opening up. People started shopping out of small-town USA and into the bigger cities. The environment changed. But he didn’t. He still kept a good practice, but you could see something interesting – his gross income started to plateau. And over time – many years – that plateau gradually started to show where it was really going. I actually don’t have to say where – you’ve got the picture. Now, would that demand drastic measures? Taking into account inflation, cost of living and other factors that are on the rise – yes, I would say that would demand drastic measures. Did he take them? Not until the direness became all too apparent. But yes, he finally did take them. He started postcard marketing his you-know-what off! I have another client that is just a dream. They have had the same list for the past 5 years, ever since they have been in business – thirty thousand physical therapists they mailed to over and over and over and over and … They never changed. They figured if it was bringing in the income it was the thing that was working. And it worked and it still works. And today – they made Entrepreneur’s 100 Hot List for 2005. So, next time you think about changing your marketing plan, look to see if it needs it. Look at your numbers. Are they improving? Declining? If your income is going up – don’t change one single thing. But if it is going down or flat lining – for heaven’s sake, change!