Important Tools for Booklet Authors

Depending on your personality style, you're drawn to particular methods of promotion and sales for your booklets. Email and the Internet have presented easy, endless, and economical possibilities to reach a broader audience of targeted decision makers. That's become so much the case that now the very "yesterday" approaches have turned into the more effective ways. Here's two cases in point, from among the many possibilities you can consider or re-consider:

* Telephone - when someone emails a question or comment to me about booklets, and their phone number or website address is in that email, my immediate reaction is to pick up the phone and call them. This has brought more sales and loyal followers than I can tell you. First, it shocks the living daylights out of them that I called, especially when the call was 2 seconds after they hit "send" on that email. The call personalizes the interaction and allows us to explore what it is that best suits their want at that time. Sales often happen, either immediately or sometime later.

* Face to Face
<> Workshops and seminars, either as an attendee or as a speaker, allow an interaction that's even better than telephone sometimes. People are there because of their interest in the event, which says something right away. And they paid something to be there, even if it was connected to the transportation.

<> Add food or drink into the mix and it makes the connection stronger. You also have the opportunity to show and tell with booklet samples in hand.

<>Formal in-person presentations to large quantity decision makers, without food or seminar involved are also warranted at times. You've probably done these, as have I. The conversation usually starts by phone or a face to face somewhere and moves on to the formal meeting.

<>And then there are the endless number of networking groups, which require great focus to accomplish the outcome you want.

While I love email and the Internet, and I'm likely to keep those as a mainstay of my marketing, it makes no sense to ignore the results that come and will always come from that more personalized one on one approach. Pick up the phone and see what happens for yourself!

Until next time,
Paulette - noticing how the old becomes new again

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
Follow me www.twitter.com/pauletteensign

PublishingProsperity.com new and improved site and biz

Yesterday, www.PublishingProsperity.com was moved. Yup, we moved and improved this site that was launched in September to support your success with creating an information product line and selling those information products in bulk.

The site has been streamlined, simplified, made more user-friendly, and looks a little (lot?) better. Companies now move sites all the time. What's the big deal here with this one? A few things prompted the move that are worth mentioning to you. The entire experience from setting up the site starting in August until moving the account yesterday was one big learning experience, as things tend to be when you look at them that way. The learning experience went way beyond what was involved with the original host's membership site software, which was plenty in and of itself.

The much bigger deal that's relevant in this discussion is their customer service. They started off being mostly responsive, with some very minor and forgivable moments of delay. The delayed replies increased in frequency and duration. Again, so what?

The more frustrated I got, the more I was reminded that I could stick it out and be miserable, stick it out and modify my expectations, or I could go elsewhere. The choice was mine. If I stuck it out, I had no one to blame but myself, and I knew that.

There were simple things they could have done to keep me happy and still with them. For whatever reason, that was not to be. The most fascinating thing was that they replied within 5 minutes when I canceled the account, with a brief "sorry to see you go, best wishes, we canceled the billing and downgraded your access." Seemed like a variation of "don't let the door hit you on your way out," which they really had no basis for.

And here I am telling you about it. Obviously I am not about to include the company name here. However, you know it won't take much for me to speak poorly of them from the little I've said here.

This whole thing was on the heels of an exceptional customer service experience with a different company.

This other company is all about customer service and going beyond, delivering more than promised every single step of the way. And that is not an accident. It's well calculated.

While there will always be people who don't agree with my advice in part or in whole, there is plenty of room for all of us and our respective approaches, and for being human. I'm grateful to be reminded of better ways to operate a business than how the hosting company treated me, that's for sure.

What do you want known about you out in the world? How do you want people to feel about doing business with you? I'm clear about those answers for all aspects of Tips Products International, and am recommitting myself to doing it better.

Until next time,
Paulette - staying awake and alert moving ahead
www.tipsbooklets.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.CollectionOfExperts.com
Follow me: www.twitter.com/pauletteensign

Making it Easy

A theme has shown up this week worth sharing with you. It's been about how easy it is (or isn't) to do business with a company, and the results that come from that ease or lack of same, whether it's the booklet business or any other kind of business, large, small, or in-between.

I watched someone go from "I don't have time for that" to "Let's do it" within a matter of minutes this week when she realized how easy I was making it for her to participate as an organizer of a Collection of Experts booklet. And within a few short hours, the orders started coming in to my office for people who want to be in that booklet.

At least 3 other people went through a similar process in some part of my business this week. Either they didn't want to do an online credit card transaction or they weren't sure how something connected with something else. And the last one was about a promotional interview, where I offered more than the person requested, and had it in his email inbox while we were still on the phone.

The rewards kept showing up each and every time. And these people all know they will get similar treatment moving forward with me.

The flip side of that is the stress involved in dealing with a particular vendor right now. It will take me a whole lot of effort to identify and move my that piece of business activity to a new resource. However, with each passing day, I am getting experiencing more reasons to create the time to do just that.

It was very different when I ordered some product from another vendor, who ended the phone call with "You can now scratch that off your to-do list for today. We've got it all handled for you." Yes, he was completely right about that.

How easy are you making it to do business with you? While my inclination is frequently to streamline things and have people be as self-sufficient as possible, these have been important reminders to me that we are people, first and foremost. As humans, that extra touch, the extra care is, indeed, rewarded many times over and well worth it. I know how much I enjoy it when someone goes the extra mile. Now I invite you to do the same.

Until next time,
Paulette - grateful for the reminders
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
Follow me weekdays at http://twitter.com/pauletteensign

Finally, The Meaning of Life

The title of this post is more useful to you as a booklet author than it may seem at first blush. Recently someone said (and I cannot recall who it was) that the meaning of life is, quite simply, "To Improve."

That stopped me right in my tracks. The simplicity, elegance, and all-encompassing nature of it was nothing short of jolting. I've often said the purpose of my own life is to learn and to teach. "To Improve" says it so much better.

What does this have to do with booklets? Well, only everything. The content of your booklet is intended to give the reader a tool to improve his or her life. The reader may or may not be the person who bought the booklet. It may have been a decision maker at a corporation or in an association. They might have purchased large quantities of the booklet to improve their presence in the world or to improve their sales results. Selling your booklet improved your own business and your feeling of satisfaction.

It accomplished spiritual, emotional, and practical purposes for improvement. Sometimes, it's as simple as that.

Until next time,
Paulette - remembering to keep it simple which often leads to the profound
www.tipsbooklets.com

"Thank You" is Good for Business

Booklets can be a great way to thank someone for their business or for subscribing to your ezine or for opening an account. Thank-you's can be a simple way to build relationship and foster goodwill.

In addition to using booklets as a thank you, there's other ways that thank-you's are crucial in business. Saying thank-you can be an important way of letting someone know you got their email, especially when their email was a response to some help you requested. They made the time to honor your request. Your thank-you both expresses appreciation and lets them know their email arrived.

In this day of dropped calls on cell phones and lost emails in cyberspace, it's even more important to let people know the communication cycle was completed. Plus it's common courtesy and decency. Assuming someone knows you appreciate their efforts and assuming they know their email arrived can be a recipe for unnecessary disaster.

Take a quick moment and send a one-line thank-you. The return on your investment of that quick moment is more than you might imagine.

Until next time,
Paulette - who believes there's no such thing as assumed appreciation www.tipsbooklets.com

Business Lessons from My Dental Hygienist

My dental hygienist recently left the general dental practice where I'd known her for 6 years, and went to work at a periodontal practice. She is solely responsible for dramatically improving and maintaining the health of my gums during this time. I like her, and I am grateful for what she's done. Yesterday I called to make an appointment with her for the first time at the new office, to learn the price in that specialized practice would be twice what I'd been paying at the general practice. Not acceptable, yet somewhat understandable.

She phoned me today after hearing of my unwillingness to pay the new price and left me an excellent message. She gave me some options, including seeing her once a year instead of my pattern of every other month, and she offered to look for another hygienist for me. Talk about customer service!

Her approach reminded me of the fact that there are always options to offer people in our own businesses. Someone may want more than they are willing (or able) to pay. What choices can you give them, to keep them happy and to keep them in your universe? You never know what they will decide in the future, especially after you've treated them so well.

Until next time,
Paulette - impressed by the options
www.tipsbooklets.com

What Your Client Wants

I had a hair raising experience last week that lasted 4 days. Literally, it had to do with my hair, yet the whole thing raised much more than that. Sparing you some of the less necessary details, I risked going to a new hairdresser last week. (Men, stay with me here. This applies to you, too.) An hour-ish later, I left the shop with the color being drastically not to my liking, the cut wasn't it, and the style was definitely not me. That was Wednesday afternoon. By Friday, I felt I'd given myself ample time to determine if the new-ness about it would settle in, or it was simply not what I wanted. I determined the latter to be the case.

Then came the question of whether to go back to this same guy or go to yet one more new person. My logic said to give the same guy a chance to make it right, and if that didn't work, never would I darken his doorway again. Saturday I was back in his chair, and walked out of his shop 90 minutes later a happy camper.

What happened on Wednesday that caused the misstep? He never asked me what I wanted. He thought he knew what I'd like, based on his own professional expertise and his quick assessment of my appearance and personality. WRONG. He never asked me -- just kept telling me how great he thought that color would be, and how this shaping would be, and all of what he thought.

Have you ever done that with a new client? I suspect I've been guilty of it once or twice. Okay, maybe three times. It could have been a one-time sale this guy made if I'd chosen to go to someone else to correct it. Now he's got a very high likelihood of my being a loyal and continuing client of his. I liked what he did on the correction, and I liked how he handled the whole situation of wanting to please me to the best of his capability. He almost didn't have the chance to do that, and probably could have avoided the whole thing if he had first asked me things instead of making assumptions that he knew what I'd want.

Ask your client clarifying questions of the number of booklets, how they want them customized, how far in advance they need them, and anything else you think will help your client determine their own best decisions. Then give them what they want. They will be much more inclined to come back and buy more.

Until next time,
Paulette - asking what it is that you want
www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklets and Hotels

Yesterday brought a startling customer service experience, in a good way. Researching a place for a public workshop I'll be doing in Chicago in April (watch the speaking page at my site for details in this next week),a Wyndham hotel near O'Hare Airport turned out to be the ideal solution. It was not only perfect as far as the actual property and the staff telephone interaction, what I experienced next just astounded me. And I almost didn't notice it. They have something called Wyndham By Request. I clicked on the link and found a list of questions asking my preferences on everything from what I wanted as a complimentary beverage waiting when I arrived to which kind of pillow I preferred, foam or feathers. Seems like there were about a dozen questions in all. As you can tell, I was impressed, then and now. After all, here I am telling you about it. And I also looked to see if there were Wyndham properties in other cities where I'll be in the next 6 months.

I am sure that whatever it cost them to have that web page and provide these personally chosen preferences has to bring a huge return on their investment of time and money.

Booklets? Well, it made me think about how this same approach could be transferred into my own business and the businesses of my clients. There's lots of preferences that we can accommodate when we ask what they are. The trick is to think like that. First, create a list of the possibilities. What's the preferred shipping method? Is there a particular kind of packaging or packing? This is above and beyond whatever customization the client has already requested on the actual production. Choices and asking for input from the client. Those are the two big things.

Not only can I not wait to get to Chicago in April (and see lots of you there at my workshop), I'm eager to see what other Wyndham Hotels I can find to visit. And I'll tell everyone I know in the process. Now that's great marketing if you ask me!

Until next time,
Paulette - encouraged by a new marketing discovery
www.tipsbooklets.com