Volume 1, Issue 3

August 15, 2006



This is usually the time of year where everyone talks about sun, swimming, freedom and all the wonderful things that come along with, you guessed it, summer. Since Get It In Writing is based in always-sunny South Florida, our change of seasons is minimal – it’s either hot and a little humid or super-hot and super-humid.

So instead of waxing poetic about the change of seasons, let’s get right down to business and talk marketing, sales and success! In this issue, we discuss taglines (what are they and how to develop a great one), brochures (part one of our two-part series on taking them apart and putting them back together) and customer relationships (good, better, best).

Yours In Success,
The Get It In Writing Team

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Quick Tip Strip

Creating the Perfect Tag Line

They’re everywhere! We’re literally inundated with them day and night. No matter where we are, we can’t escape them. Yes, we’re talking about the ubiquitous, omnipresent TAGLINE!

Here are a few tried-and-true tips to help you create your perfect tagline:

bullet Know your target audience
bullet Define your target response
bullet Brainstorm… brainstorm… brainstorm
bullet Simplify… simplify… simplify
bullet Write and rewrite… rewrite… rewrite
bullet And always remember to:
bullet collect other company’s taglines and analyze what works and what doesn’t work.
bullet start by developing a list of what’s unique to what you do and your way of doing it.
bullet your own mini-market research. Ask strangers (and acquaintances) if they understand your business after seeing and hearing your tagline.
bullet use your specific target audience in your tagline, if possible.
bullet keep it short (generally 3-5 words).
bullet turn the phrase around. If you can’t say it without skipping a step, then rephrase it.

Writer To Writer

Anatomy of a Brochure – Part 1

Writer to Writer

STOP! Put down that mouse, pen, pencil, whatever your implement of choice is and don’t write a single word of a brochure until you can confidently answer these questions about your brochure’s goals:

What is the brochure’s role? To build awareness? To use as a leave-behind?  A self-mailer? A point-of-sale display? Even though the facts about your company’s product may be the same, the way in which you word those facts can change radically depending on the goal of your brochure.

Who’s your audience? All your customers or just a segment? Who will be reading it: Creatives? Techies? Executives? The tone of your piece will vary greatly depending on who you’re addressing.

What do you want your audience to do? Buy on the spot? Ask for more information? Make an appointment? Although the end result you’re aiming for – greater sales – will be the same, consider your target response. The product you’re selling will guide what you ask your audience to do, which in turn will determine the words you use.

When you’re absolutely sure about your answers to these questions, start writing. And be sure to “tune-in” next month when we take a look at your brochure’s must-have components.

Look for Anatomy of a Brochure, Part 2 in next month’s issue

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Guest Column

Better Questions = Better Customer Relationships
By Mark Ware

You or your salesperson finally get an appointment to talk to “The Decision Maker.” You’re well-groomed, well-versed in your product, familiar with the competition’s products, your pricing is killer and you know your PowerPoint rocks. You even brought some brochures and catalogs. So, you’re all set, right?

Not so fast.

Once you’re inside the office, do you proceed as 99% of all salespeople do? Do you talk about yourself, your product or your company? Do you ask about the stuff in the office hoping to build some sort of rapport? Many salespeople have only one agenda: TALK TALK TALK, usually about themselves. Oh, they’ll mention that they want to know the prospect’s concerns ("So, tell me about your business..."), but in doing so, they just drone on barely letting the prospect get a word in. Then they forget (or are afraid ) to ask for the sale. If you were the prospect, is this the type of salesperson with whom you would spend big money? Not me – and probably not you.

The real key to “getting the sale” is in training staff on what NOT to do and what NOT to ask. Salespeople have to learn to break the traditional mold. Salespeople have to be taught – not to sell – but rather to ask and listen, which often creates an environment for buying, not selling.

Salespeople must ask questions that are compelling and unusual in the sense that few salespeople ask them. Stand out; be different. Let the customer do the majority of the talking about, of all thing, themselves!

How to start? With these questions:

  1. How has your business changed over the past six months?

  2. How would you characterize your business today?

  3. What’s the best way to get ahead of your competition?

  4. Tell me about the biggest challenges you face today.

  5. What do you hear from your customers about your business?

  6. How would you symbolize your business if you chose an animal?

  7. Why did you to start this company?

  8. What keeps you up at night about your business?

  9. What’s the difference between you and your competitors?

  10. Why do customers sign with you over the competition?

  11. What is your vision for your company?

Too many? Want more? Make these questions credible and be comfortable asking them in your own skin. So practice – a lot. Role play with your supervisor, owner, peers or employees. Then, practice some more.

How your business is perceived is vital to your customer loyalty. And customer loyalty is the key to long-term business success. To learn more, call us at 786.399.6571 or email us at info@perceptionlab.biz. Mention this e-zine article and get a two-month no cost trial – a $1199 value. Visit Perception Lab and Mark Ware online at businessmri.blogspot.com or call 786.399.6571.

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Promotions That Mean Business


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