SMS Business Opportunity

Hug Your Customers

JoeFBrannonIII — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:41:07 +0000

Often times when I visit with small businesses, they focus a bulk of their marketing efforts on acquiring new customers. Time and again studies have proven that it is much more expensive to acquire a new customer, than it is to retain a customer. One of the strategies I’m constantly working to integrate with our clients is to capture data from the customers that already love them and create campaigns to drive them in more often. My focus is on not just driving new customers, but driving loyal customers.

Let’s look at the math using a restaurant with an average ticket of $20. This restaurant for this example currently has about 200 customers that come in at least once a month ($4,000 in revenue). Now if we can create campaigns to drive just 10% of those customers back in twice per month then we’ve created additional revenue of $800 off customers that already love our business. What better way to drive these folks back in than by text. If you send out a message to 200 customers, 97% will be opened and you can immedalty track the effectiveness of a specific campaign.

So the question is, what is a good way to capture my current customers database? Well there are two fairly easy ways.

Put up a poster with an incentive. For instance text SAVOR to (Your Code) to receive a FREE dessert for joining our text club. Click here to download a poster you can use immediately.
Get your employees involved. Create each one of them their own keyword. I would recommend just creating their name. Create an offer they can tell their customers about and have a contest to see which employee gets the most subscribers.

Systemize How You Build and Manage Relationships

JoeFBrannonIII — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:44:37 +0000

In any B2B sales company, it’s important that you create efficient sales processes to maximize your efforts and potential. I’ve personally seen very talented and capable sales reps fail because they are not organized and do not follow up effectively. I’ve been using a CRM for over a decade to help me stay organized in my businesses. Currently our company uses zoho.com. One of the main reasons I recommend Zoho.com is because the first three users are free.

Why use a CRM?

Information

If you are truly maximizing your time, it’s almost physically impossible to remember everything about every encounter you have everyday. Since you want every prospect and customer to feel like they are your only one, then you need a system to remember the small details and follow up accordingly. Let me ask you a question. Let’s say you are on a phone call with a prospect and he mentions that he can’t visit with you because their spouse is in the hospital. Of course your immediate reaction is to empathize and ask when you should follow up. You make a note in your calendar to follow up at the appropriate time. That’s usually the end of it. Most sales reps won’t even make a note in their calendar to ask how their spouse is doing. What I would recommend to do in the situation is make a note in your CRM to follow up. I would also make a note to ask about their spouse’s illness. I would login to AceOfSales.com and send out a Get Well Soon card. Click to see the blog post on Ace Of Sales. So when I call back now, I can make sure to ask my prospect about their spouse.

Follow-Up

One of the biggest weaknesses I’ve seen in sales reps is a lack of organization, which makes their follow up skills horrendous. With my CRM, I never have to think about follow-up. Since I follow a sales process, I just make a task for the next step, select the appropriate date and then complete the task or event. On paid versions of zoho.com, you can actually set up automated workflow tasks. Therefore, you can automate the process. We use this and it probably saves me at least 5-10 work hours a week.

CRM’s can be very intimidating so I recommend starting out slow. Start by using it to manage your leads, opportunities, tasks & appointments (called events in Zoho).

Implementing a CRM

1. Go to Zoho.com and sign up for a free CRM account.

2. Implement a simple sales flow process to start following. Click here to download the check list we use.

3. You are not going to break anything, so once you get logged in start creating leads. Here is a document that explains basic terminology in zoho.

If you would like one-on-one training, please feel free to call Joe Brannon at 615-255-3199 ext 12.

Are you an Ace of Sales?

JoeFBrannonIII — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:23:28 +0000

What are you doing to separate yourself?

Did you know on average only 15-18% of e-mails are opened? One of the main reasons is because there is so much spam being emailed. Another reason is most emails looks the same. Just regular text, doesn’t capture the imagination of your prospects or clients.

I’m a huge Jeffery Gitomer fan, so when he rolled out Ace Of Sales a couple of years ago, I had to see what it was all about. Gitomer is a New York Times best selling author, syndicated newspaper writer, and arguably one of the most respected sales gurus alive today. If you have never read a book by him, you need to pick up The Little Red Book of Selling. I’ve read this book at least a half dozen times. While there is nothing ground breaking about the principles, they are organized in an exciting way that will engage you and remind you of the simple things you need to do to be successful in sales.

Ace of Sales’ online program is only $20 a month and it allows you to do a lot to enhance relationships with customers and prospects. Instead of trying to explain it in detail I decided it would be best if you just clicked here and watch a quick video on it. Once you’ve watched the video, I recommend that you go to AceOfSales.com and sign up for a free demo. If you need any one-on-one training, just call Joe Brannon at 615-255-3199 ext. 12

SMS University – Lesson 8

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:30:27 +0000

The Future Belongs to You

Congratulations! It’s your final lesson of SMS University. You should be well versed with selling SMS and training your customers to use it to create a positive return on investment.

Video:
Zoho, Keeping Up

Sales Homework: Sign up for a free Zoho account here.

Account Retention

The best revenue is recurring revenue. To make sure you’re retaining clients and building recurring revenue, you’ll need to check in frequently, educate your clients, and impersonate their accounts.

Checking-In and Education
Call and check in with each customer at least once per month, more often for clients that are more active SMS users. Make sure they are using the tools and features correctly and in a way that fits their goals. Be sure to educate clients on other features and give ideas as to how they can use them.

Training Your Clients

Here are a few tips to help you get started:
1. Set up a time to sit down with them and focus on the features they’ll use most (for most retailers it’s keyword auto response and group messages).
2. Direct them to the help section of the website and the help videos.
3. Help them set up their first campaign and check in regularly by phone or in person.

Success Stories

Send Us Your Success Stories!
Now that you’ve completed your SMS University Training, you’ll soon have your own success stories to share.
We want to hear about your successful campaigns! We will craft your story into a case study to share in training, on the resources page, in the newsletter, and on our website.
Download the Case Study Template here and send your story to marketing@strategicmobilesolutions.net .

Congrats!
Job well done! By now, you are well on your way to being a successful SMS dealer. Keep up the good work! Feel free to look back over your SMS training emails if you have questions.

SMS University – Lesson 7

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:25:27 +0000

Networking

Find new relationships in your community and nurture them. You never know when a relationship will lead to a referral.

Videos Links:
Networking

Sales Homework: Find at least one networking event/organization to either visit or join. Many communities have a great chamber of commerce. Download the homework here.

Call to Action

One of the most important parts of using the keyword feature is the call to action. Without an attention-grabbing call to action, how will you build a database of contacts?

Follow these tips to craft calls to action:
1. Keep it short. Attention spans are minimal. Only include info you need.
Yes: Text PIZZA to 978-242-5555 for a free slice of cheese pizza!
No: Take out your cell phone and text the word PIZZA to 978-242-5555 to take advantage of Mr. Cheese’s super spectacular deal of the day: a free slice of our heavenly cheese pizza.
2. Include an incentive to text in.
Yes: Text WIN to 978-242-5555 to enter the sweepstakes for a free carribbean vacation.
No: Text WORD to 978-242-5555.
3. Put the keyword in ALL CAPS. It makes it more visible and obvious that it’s the word to text.
Yes: Text VIP to 978-242-5555 to join our exclusive text club.
No: Text vip to 978-242-5555 to join our exclusive text club.
4. Keep the keyword short, singular, and easy to spell.
No: Text DIAMONDS to 978-242-5555 to enter our sweepstakes for a free diamond ring!
Slightly better: Text DIAMOND to 978-242-5555 to enter our sweepstakes for a free diamond ring!
Best: Text WIN to 978-242-5555 to enter our sweepstakes for a free diamond ring!
WIN is shorter and less likely to be misspelled than either DIAMONDS or DIAMOND
5. Include the SMS number, and make sure it’s the right number!
6. Make sure the call to action is visible.

Other Channel Integration
One of the best tips for campaign success it to integrate your SMS campaign into every other communication channel that your client uses.

Including:
Email marketing
Direct mail
Employee communications (especially at checkout!)
Point of Sale signage
In-store signage
TV commercials
Radio
Websites
And anywhere else your client has a chance to communicate with their customers.

Case Study: The Memphis Grizzlies

Check out the Memphis Grizzlies Case Study here to see a great example of using multiple communications channels to broadcast calls to action.

Mobile Marketing Guidelines, Ethics, and Laws

As marketers, we all need to be aware of the guidelines, ethics, and laws of mobile marketing for two main reasons:
1. As an industry, we don’t want text message marketing to be viewed as mostly spam and have open rates fall to those of email marketing. One of text message marketing’s greatest advantages is the open rate of 97%. If we continue to be responsible marketers, that open rate and good reputation will stick.

2. Text messages are covered under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991. The TCPA protects consumers from getting unsolicited texts, phone calls, and faxes. Read the full act here. It’s the CAN-SPAM Act of text messaging. You can be fined $500 per unsolicited text.

As text message marketers, we need to be aware of these laws and take measures to ensure that our customers are also aware. In order to initiate a text message to a customer, you must have express permission to do so. If the customer initiates contact by texting in a keyword, then they have given consent. Once they text STOP, or any other opt-out word included in the reserved keywords, they are automatically removed from our system and will not be able to be contacted again, unless they opt-in.

SMS University – Lesson 6

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:15:28 +0000

Positive Attitude

A great attitude backed with purpose creates a successful SMS dealer. A positive attitude gives you positive results, just as a negative attitude gives you negative results.

Video Links:
Positive Mental Attitude
Definite Major Purpose

Sales Homework: Write down where you would like to be both personally and professionally in 5 years. Then write down a statement that you can read everyday that will become your major purpose. Download the homework here.

Text Capture 101

Text Capture is a feature to collect messages from customers.

Many businesses use Text Capture as a virtual comments and suggestions box. Churches use the text capture feature to collect prayer requests.

Software Homework: Plan a Text Capture campaign to collect messages from customers. Download the homework here, complete, and email to professor@strategicmobilesolutions.net.

Test Before You Text

Before flipping the switch on any campaign, always test before you text. Test out every aspect of the campaign before releasing it into the wild. It’s a shame to group text hundreds (or just a handful) of contacts with the wrong directions, keywords, or any mispellings. Always test out the whole campaign on yourself first. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer, pretending you are new to the campaign, and test the whole process from call to action through all of the opt-in keywords.

Things to look for:

Is the call to action visible?
Are keywords spelled correctly on calls to action?
Are the same keywords used on the calls to action as the software?
Are the opt-in keywords mentioned in the first auto-response?
Before you send a group message, make sure any appropriate keywords are set up and spelled correctly.
When creating polls, test the poll first to make sure it all fits into one text message.

SMS University – Lesson 5

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:10:19 +0000

Follow Up

In sales, it’s important that you follow-up quickly and effectively. It will assist you in closing business more quickly.

Video Links:
Follow Up
Closing

Sales Exercise: Create an example follow-up email from a recent visit and include 3 open-ended closing questions. Download the homework here.

Polls 101

Polls are sent from the client to the customer and are used to collect more information about the customer and their interests.

You can use a poll to segment your audience by their interests, then send targeted deals and group messages to each segment.

Software Homework Plan a poll to collect more information or to segment your client’s audience. Download the homework here, complete, and email to professor@strategicmobilesolutions.net.

Resources Page

Check the resources page for help with:

Sales Training
UI Training
Marketing Materials
Industry Packets
Mobile Marketing Resources
Case Studies
Dealer and Rep Packets

Industry News

Stay up to date with all of the industry news by signing up for:
Mobile Marketer Newsletter
Mobile Marketing Watch Newsletter
Mobile Marketing Association Newsletter

SMS University – Lesson 4

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:01:27 +0000

Listening

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk and you’re sure to be more successful than the person that always talks.

Video Links:
First Call Agenda
Listening
Asking Strong Questions

Sales Exercise: Write down 15 original questions you can ask in addition to questions on the first call agenda. These can be follow up questions to an answer you have received from a question on the first call agenda, just note what your question is following up on. Use the homework link here.

Reminders 101

The Reminders feature sends a text appointment reminder. This feature is great for doctors, dentists, salons, chiropractors, and any other client that makes appointments.

View the Reminders video here:

Set up your providers, templates, and default settings.
Create a few reminders and send to yourself.
If you need help, view the videos again and use the help section on the UI.

Marketing Materials

Take a look at the Marketing Materials section of the Resources page before you meet with clients. There are a variety of materials and fliers at your disposal. For clients using the Reminders use the Reminders flier.

Contacting SMS

If you need help in billing, setting up your email, or have questions, check out the corporate office contact info:

Corporate Office: 615-255-3199 info@strategicmobilesolutions.net
Billing: 615-255-3199 Ext. 11 billing@strategicmobilesolutions.net
Marketing: 615-255-3199 Ext.12 marketing@strategicmobilesolutions.net
Tech Issues: 615-255-3199 Ext. 14 keithwilliams@strategicmobilesolutions.net
Email Help: 615-255-3199 Ext. 15 joeyiodice@strategicmobilesolutions.net

SMS University – Lesson 3

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:44:55 +0000

Sales Plan

It is important to have a plan and to work that plan. The sales videos will help you do just that.

Video Links:
Winning Sales Process
Phone Prospecting
Creating a Successful Elevator Speech

Sales Exercise: Create a list of 50 prospects you would like to sign up. Create an elevator speech. Send the prospect list and elevator speech to professor@strategicmobilesolutions.net . You can download the worksheet here.

Contacts: Push vs Pull

Gaining Contacts: Push vs Pull Techniques
As you land your first clients, one of the first things you will discuss is how to build your contact database. In the previous 2 lessons, we’ve discussed how to use the Keywords tab to ‘Pull’ customers and collect their contact information and how to use the Upload Contacts feature and Groups tab to ‘Push’ information to customers from an existing contact list.

PULL
Pros: One of the best advantages of gaining organic contacts through keywords and opt-ins is that they have clearly interacted with the system and have given consent to be contacted. These clients are likely to be more engaged in your communications and are less likely to opt-out of campaigns.
Cons: It usually takes more time and effort to build contacts organically through Keywords, but overall, you will see lower opt-out rates and more engagement. To build your database, we suggest placing Calls to Action on every other communication tool your client is using. For example, you can place calls to action on print marketing, in store signage, point of sale signage, email newsletters, and use employee communication to drive opt-ins.

PUSH
Pros: Using a list of existing contacts is a quick and easy way to send out information.
Cons: Some contact lists can be old, can contain land lines, or some numbers are no longer working. Uploaded lists typically see more opt-outs because a message has been ‘pushed’ to them. Make sure to always have each customer’s permission to reach them via text messaging and always include instructions on how to opt out in the first message.

Client Sign Up

Congrats! You’ve sealed the deal and now it’s time to get your SMS client’s campaign up and running. Read below for instructions on how to sign up new clients!

Two ways to sign up a customer. You can simply send them an invite by logging into your account, clicking on the home page, entering their e-mail address, and clicking submit. Once you click submit, your customer will receive a custom e-mail with a custom link inviting them to join.

If you want to sign the customer up yourself, you simply go to www.strategicmobilesolutions.net/get-started and follow the sign up instructions. When you go to sign up a new customer, look at the top right corner and make sure you are logged in to ensure you get credit for the customer.

SMS University – Lesson 2

JoeFBrannonIII — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:30:17 +0000

Building Your Prospect Funnel

By now, you should be making contact with local business owners and decision makers. This week, we are going to give you some tips to build your prospect funnel.

Video Links:
Building a Strong Lead List
Why Prospects Need Text Marketing

Sales Exercises: Sign up for local daily deal sites like Groupon, Living Social, Scout Mob, etc. These companies offer deals through email marketing and can become your next leads.

Groups 101

The Group feature uses a push technique to get in touch with customers. It is used to push information to them.

You can use the groups tab to send a follow-up message after collecting contacts with a keyword campaign. Many times, clients will already have a list of contact’s cell phone numbers. You can import these numbers and send a group message. Make sure the client has received permission to contact each customer by text. Include instructions for opting out in the first group message. To review importing contacts, view the contacts video here.

Software Exercise: Plan a follow up group message. Download the excercise worksheet here, complete, and email to professor@strategicmobilesolutions.net .

Scrub Before You Upload

If a large contact list is old or may contain landline numbers, you should consider scrubbing the list before uploading and texting those contacts. This will allow you to better manage your contacts and have a more accurate calculation of response rates.

In the past, we have used PacificEast. Their Line Identification Append (LIA) product will ID landlines and inactive numbers, which you can then discard. For any list under 100,000, the price is $100.

Commission Reports

Commission reports are generated weekly for the previous Monday through Sunday. To have commissions deposited directly into your checking or savings account, fill out and return the Direct Deposit Authorization form with voided check. Otherwise, commission checks are mailed by the following Thursday.